Mated to the Alpha

8

“You’re going to need time to heal.”

“I’ve had time. Go out with me.”

She laughs. “I don’t think so. You’re not leaving this hospital for a long time.”

“I’m not leaving this hospital until you agree to go out with me.”

She stares at me with disbelief. f**k, she looks cute with the lines on her forehead out like that.

“You’ve suffered a serious brain injury and you’re trying to pick me up. You’re unbelievable.”

“I’m in love with you, Mila. You better believe that. Go out with me.”

“You need another MRI, not a date.”

“If I get another MRI will you go out with me?”

She walks over with the print-out of the results. My brain looks as swollen as a marshmallow in a microwave.

“I don’t know how to tell you this, Rylan,” she says in a soft voice. “The results are going to be the same. You won’t be able to leave for a long time.”

“Then you have nothing to lose,” I tell her. “But if the results show that my brain is back to normal, you go out with me.”

She laughs but agrees.

“Okay,” I say as I hop off the bed. “Let’s go. Now.”

It still hurts to walk, but I grit my teeth and head for the door. My bones are mostly healed, but the tendons still have some work before they get back to normal.

We head down to the MRI machine and she pulls some strings to let me jump the line.

Once I’m lying on the bed, I don’t move as the machine swirls around me.

My bear starts growling in frustration as the loud noise fills my ears. He’s pissed that I let Mila out of our sight. He doesn’t like that I haven’t claimed her body and marked her neck yet.

He doesn’t understand that women need a little time. They need to fall in love before all of that happens.

After the MRI, Mila comes back into my room with the results. She looks amazed. She keeps staring at them in disbelief and I have to fight back a grin as I watch her.

“You’re healed.”

I hop off my bed and go to her.

“It doesn’t make sense. Your brain was like a sack of apple sauce and now it’s perfectly normal.”

I laugh as I put my arm against the wall, pinning her in place. My bear is urging me to claim her now.

Do it.

Mark her.

I look down at the soft skin on the curve of her neck and my teeth start tingling with the need to put my mark on her. That will come soon. First, I have to get a date.

“You owe me a date.”

She looks up from the results and seems to notice for the first time how close I am. I can hear her heart start pounding as her cheeks flush an adorable shade of pink.

“You’re my mate, Mila,” I tell her softly as I move a little closer, hovering my lips over hers. “It’s going to happen. There’s no point in fighting it. We’re inevitable.”

“What’s going to happen?” she asks with a tiny voice. She looks flustered and thrown off as she glances down at my lips. I can smell her arousal perfuming the air between us. It makes my bear crazy.

It makes me crazy too.

“We’re going to happen,” I say in a low dominant voice. “Everything you can imagine. Sensual kisses, holding hands, hot steamy nights that you’ll never want to end, babies…”

“Babies?” she says with a gulp.

I nod as a wicked grin hits my lips. “Lot’s of babies.”

I can see her now—stomach all rounded with my child—and it makes my d**k ache. I get hard as a rock as I lean a little closer to her sweet curvy body.

“Don’t fight this,” I whisper as my lips move closer to hers. She can feel my warm breath washing over her lips and it’s giving her goosebumps all over that smooth skin of hers. “Go with it. You won’t regret it.”

Her hand is suddenly on my arm, but instead of pushing me away, she’s running her palm up and down my flexed muscles.

“I know you feel it too,” I say with a moan. “These strong feelings can’t be one-sided. They’re too intense for that.”

She swallows hard and licks her lips. “I do feel… something.”

“It’s the bond. It’s pulling us together. It’s pulling us where we belong.”

“But it doesn’t make sense,” she says and I start to feel her pull away. She’s a smart girl, an analytical type who uses logic over emotion. There’s no way I’m going to get her to believe me with words. She has to experience it.

I press my lips to hers and she tightens up at first, but then melts as I wrap my arms around her.

She whimpers as I thrust my tongue between her lips, claiming her mouth in a hard but sensual kiss.

Her hands grab my gown and tug on it as I kiss her deeper, showing her just how perfect we are together.

My bear starts pacing within, urging me on as I bring our mate one step closer to being ours forever.

“Your chest,” she says as she abruptly pulls away. “It’s vibrating.”

“It’s my grizzly bear,” I tell her with a grin. “He likes you.”

Her green eyes widen as she looks down at my chest. She reaches up to feel it, but then hesitates, letting her hand hover over my right pec.

“You can touch me anywhere,” I say as I take her wrist and press her palm against my muscular chest.

She starts to smile with an amazed look on her face as she feels my bear. He’s talking to her.

“I’m taking you out,” I say in a firm voice that leaves no room for her to argue.

She looks back up at me and nods. “Okay.”

“Tonight.”

She swallows hard. “Are you going to be okay by then?”

I lean down and kiss her again. Her eyes are closed and her chin is still tilted up with her lips puckered when I pull away.

“I’ve been waiting for you my whole life,” I tell her softly. “Broken body or not, I’m not waiting any longer. What time do you finish?”

“Eleven.”

“I’ll be waiting.”