The Alpha's Selkie Mate

Chapter 5

The male led them through the trees, his feet quick and sure across the presumably familiar earth. Meriwa’s fingers were caught up in his, wound through his much larger, far warmer digits. His heat sunk into her skin where his thumb stroked the meat at the base of her thumb.

She followed silently behind him, content to admire the stretch of his shoulders, noting how well they flowed into his elegant neck and the curves of his biceps. If anyone asked, she would deny how fascinating she found his hair, especially the spot where skin melted into very short bristles. Did humans – or shifters, rather - find the messy mop he sported up-top ridiculous, or did they feel the same way she did? That it was boyish and oddly charming.

Just looking at him was enough to make her body tighten and coil. That, in itself, wasn’t a feeling she was a stranger to. It was similar to the feeling of waiting for the perfect moment to strike down a tempting morsel of prey. Her mouth flooded in sharp anticipation and she ran her tongue over her teeth, snagging on a canine much smaller than what she was used to.

Soon enough – or not soon enough, if the pounding ache in her center were any indication – the trees around them thinned out, giving way to the long, desolate stretch of white sand that made up the coast. The perfume of the ocean danced with that of the pines, creating the loveliest of aromas.

It was little wonder she’d been unable to resist it.

Just out of sight, she knew, stood an outcropping of wide, flat stones. They were higher than the beach; the tips of the gentle waves didn’t come close to cresting them. Smooth, they’d weathered the ocean for centuries, but they weren’t without their scars.

It was in once such depression that she’d hidden her pelt.

Somewhere deep inside of her, Meriwa had half-expected someone to be standing up there with her precious pelt clasped in their upraised fist. The thought sent her heart skittering through her chest.

No one was there.

Still, she didn’t dare look in that direction fully. What if the male saw her looking out that way and it made him suspicious? He might be strong and virile, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be tied to him forever.

It’s just a rock. Rocks.

It’s safe.

I am safe.

It was a mantra that made her feel ridiculous. Even the lovers from before were nowhere to be seen. Their trail of clothes and that sweet, high laughter was gone.

It was just the two of them, all alone.

Well, almost.

Above them, the sky was crystal clear. Without a cloud in sight, the moon and her stars bathed the beach in vivid, white light. The beige sand, still wet from the close kiss of the tide, had turned into specks of brilliant, molten silver. It turned the stretch of land into a massive mirror for the Goddess above.

The sight was so beautiful that it gentled her racing heart for a moment, making her sigh out loud. Even she wouldn’t deny how wistful she sounded. Meriwa caught a flicker of a crooked smile in the corner of her male’s mouth, his chest puffing up.

He was proud of it, this land.

And he had every right to be.

It was stunning. So utterly peaceful.

Surely the Goddess approves of my choice, to make this moment for us.

If not, wouldn’t the waves boil and churn and the wind turn hurricane? Where was the divine damnation the Shaman had promised them?

If anything, the wind had calmed to a sigh. Soft and only a little cold as it whistled across the sand, just strong enough to make the open edges of the male’s shift dance upon it, drawing her attention back to him.

He turned towards her, using their linked fingers to draw her into his arms again. Meriwa fisted the red check flannel and tugged his mouth down to hers. It was impossible not to sigh into him at the gentle, seeking contact. Already it felt like a lifetime since he’d last had his lips on hers.

Wonder, he tasted even better with sea salt on the air. Just like the pines.

Slow but greedy hands curved around her hips, stomach, and ribs. Never staying in one place too long, lest the tingles and expectation left in their wake be quenched. When he squeezed the swell of her backside, it fired an arrow of heat directly into her center. Striking true. Her body clenched down on the empty places inside of her. So hot and wet. Desire coated the tops of her thighs beneath the too-short hem of her dress.

Soon, fingers ticked up the length of her spine.

Shivers and starlight, like he’d dragged a finger over the still surface of a tide pool.

When they tangled in the weeds of her hair, she could feel the scrape of his calluses on her scalp.

She tugged his bottom lip between his teeth, sucking ravenously. Almost humming under the touch of such a sturdy, strong male.

Meriwa had no idea why he, of anyone, had such a strong effect on her. As though he were the moon and she the tide, unable to resist being compelled by him. With his tongue stroking hers and his air in her chest, she found it hard to care.

All she knew was that she wanted more of it. Of him.

Need burned within her; she wanted to devour him, to crawl inside his skin and see what made his heart pump, to take a chunk out of him with her teeth and keep it within her until she, herself, withered and joined the Goddess.

It was wrong, she knew. But it wasn’t him, she told herself, that she truly wanted. It was the choice. The adventure that he represented. She knew that a taste would never be enough for her because adventure was what she craved. He was just in the right place, at the right time.

Not necessarily the right person. Oh, he was strong and handsome, not to mention alluring, but that was it. That was all it could be.

Being here, with him, was her choice.

And that was intoxicating.

Feelings like these… they belonged to a female’s chosen mate. Not a concept, or a high. No wonder her father thought her an abomination.

That didn’t stop her from pulling his wife-beater out of his waistband and chasing the skin underneath with an avaricious touch. Feeling his muscles leap beneath her fingertips was euphoric, enough to make her smile into their kiss. And the way his skin heated, giving off that smoke and maple and pine scent…

It made her dizzy.

He pulled back with a single, soft press for her lips. With his back to the moonlight, his eyes were entirely black – the same color as his long, thick lashes. She licked her swollen lips, loving how they felt just as tight and needy as the rest of her.

Meriwa quivered when his hands slid down the column of her neck and over her shoulders, dragging the string straps of her dress down and trapping them under his palms where they wrapped around her biceps.

Only the tension of his grip and the peaks of her n****e kept the dress from pooling around her waist.

A crescent carved itself between his heavy, dark brows, but his eyes never left her face.

“Are you sure?” His voice was gruff when it finally came. Like sandpaper. When she didn’t answer, he added, “If you’re not…okay with this, we can go back—”

Meriwa grabbed his shirt, stood on her tip-toes, and crashed her mouth to his. His answering groan, almost pained in quality, vibrated on her lips and even her tongue when she invaded his mouth again. It took him only a second to recover; then he gave as good as he got.

She enjoyed the challenge, though he would never conquer her.

His hand cupped her ass, dragging her towards him. Molding her soft curves around his unyielding, deliciously male form. The length straining against his jeans, nestled against her belly, hot and hard.

Inviting.

Without his hands to hold it in place, her dress slipped. Whispering over her skin, almost delightful in its tenderness.

“Goddess…” it rasped out of him, as though someone had forced it, scraping across her raw nerves.

The male looked like someone had punched him in the gut. A feline smile curved her mouth.

Before she could laugh, however, he hoisted her up by the ass and wrapped his lips around her n****e.

“Oh.” Every grasping pull of his mouth felt like it had a direct line to her core. It was nothing like she’d ever felt before. For a moment, she felt she could die happy with the feeling of his mouth there.

The only thing anchoring her to earth was the point where her fingers pulled at the roots of his thick hair. It made him moan and the vibration, where it raced across his tongue, made her buck like a wild thing.

But she was too high up, her gangly human legs locked around his abdomen, to seek her relief. Rubbing herself against him like a feral wildcat didn’t work – not without his length against her, filling the space between her thighs.

Whimpering, she tugged harder. It pained him enough that he nipped her lightly in return, stoking her fire higher. Meriwa hoped he understood her silent, desperate pleas for… what? Her body ached for something. To be filled and… and she wasn’t sure what else. Though it felt like he was the only one who could give it to her, whatever it was.

Goddess, she hoped he could.

She might know what mating was, but the sounds she was making – the sounds he was making…it was nothing like the grunts of pleasure taken, the whimpers of a female denied choice.

With one last, vicious tug that flooded through her, he released her flesh with a lewd pop.

The wind chilled her immediately and she quivered in his arms.

“Tell me what you want,” he said, hoarse with desire. His pupils were blown wide, his cheeks flushed a pretty red color that she wanted to lick, just to see if it was as sweet as it looked. He was looking at her like a man made desperate.

Even so, her throat closed up at his request.

Shaking her head, she ducked to kiss him. His mouth was wet, swollen. He hesitated for a moment before the swipe of her tongue distracted him and he gave in with a grunt.

The world spun as he fell to his knees, sinking into the sand. It was coarse against her back and shoulders where he laid her down gently, sticking down to where the dress looped about her waist.

He never stopped kissing her, not even for a moment. Instead, he just stretched himself out atop her, his weight borne mostly on the one elbow he’d planted by her head. He lined them up…just right. Every hard edge of him sunk into the soft curves of her.

She pressed her palms into his shoulder blades, forcing as much of his warm body down onto her as she could.

“Tell me,” he murmured against her lips, the fingers of the hand that wasn’t supporting his weight cupping the back of her neck.

He was too distracted by the very length of that neck when she bared it to him to notice that she didn’t answer again. When he set his teeth against the flutter of her pulse, she gasped, her back bowing.

Making her rock against his c**k.

“f**k,” he muttered, pulling back as much as her locked ankles would let him. He looked incredible, cast in shadow and silver light, hair flopping over his forehead into dark eyes. His biceps bulged as he nearly ripped his shirt apart in his haste to get it off. Sea water, the waves which lapped against them, had slicked everything to his skin.

The white tank top he wore made wet sounds as he whipped it over his head.

She stroked his abs, a pale, oval nail grazing the line of dark hair in the middle of the deep vee that disappeared beneath his jeans. He was strong, and from his build, she’d bet he was quick too. Maybe even quick enough to keep up with her. Eight perfect abs, wreathed in bronze skin, set below ribs that were a little too prominent.

Beautiful.