Alphas Gone Wild Read online

  Her shoulders drooped. She was disappointed. Her kisses in return had been no less eager than his. Her arousal perfumed the air and felt like a physical force pulling him back. His wolf raged against his skin, wanting out. Wanting her.

  She was far too dangerously addictive for him. There was no way he could just have a taste. No way he could touch her again and have any hope of holding himself back.

  It took a moment, but she recovered. “I… I can take the bus.”

  “No!” His wolf surged, and he lurched forward with the force of it. He stopped himself just short of grabbing hold of her again. Slowly, with extreme gentleness, he placed a hand on her shoulder. Then he bore his stare into her eyes to impress upon her: this was not up for negotiation. “I will drive you home.”

  She quivered under his hand, so he released her. But her jerky nod was all the assent he needed. He scooped her iPod off the floor, righted her chair, and busied himself with gathering her things off the desk and his off the floor.

  He would get her safely home as quickly as possible. Then he would figure out some way to forget what had just happened.

  And never let it happen again.

  Chapter Six

  The scorching hot kiss and the long, silent ride home had Mia twisted in knots. She had apparently replayed some of it in her dreams that night, if her roommate Jupiter’s knowing looks and Mia’s tangled sheets were any indication. She was just relieved there were no rips in her bedding from any accidental night-shifting. That hadn’t happened in ages, but then she’d never had a kiss be so powerful that it possessed her: mind, body, and soul.

  Lucas had insisted she no longer take the bus to work. He said he would send a car and driver, and sure enough, the next morning, a stretch limousine showed up at her dorm room bright and early, ready to pick her up. She was quickly exhausting Jupiter’s wardrobe, trying to find something appropriate to wear each day to SparkTech, but she took care to dress extra professionally that morning: a trim, black skirt, a muted-yellow light-weight sweater, and her long hair pulled back in a clip. Jupiter had laden her with a few gold bangles and pronounced her “perfect.” Mia couldn’t help hoping that would be Lucas’s evaluation as well. She certainly caught a few stares from her fellow McMahon dorm students as she stepped out Friday morning in her yellow-gold pumps and business-smart outfit. The high-class limo with the door held open by a black-tie driver in a Driving Miss Daisy cap only added to the effect.

  On the drive in to downtown Seattle, the urban canyon streets were still gray, shadowed by the early morning sun. Mia couldn’t decide what exactly had happened the night before. Lucas kissed her—had thoroughly kissed her—and his rock-hard erection against her body said he wanted to do much more than press his lips to hers. It wasn’t just a kiss, either: more like a volcano of passion erupting. But then he had just… stopped. Was he afraid they would be caught by his father, the Senior Mr. Sparks, CEO of SparkTech? She had snooped a little online and found Lucas had graduated from the University of Washington four years ago, which made him at least twenty-six. Wasn’t that a little old to be worried about what his parents thought? Or was it because she worked for Lucas? She decided that had to be it—he was afraid she might cry sexual harassment or some such thing.

  As if anything sexual involving Lucas could be termed harassment of any kind.

  And then there was the whole shifter aspect. To be honest, that was the part that excited her the most. He was wolf. And after what she had seen in the alleyway, he was an extremely powerful wolf, in both his human and shifted forms. She had always been drawn to powerful men—at least the kind who wore their power in their broad shoulders and in the muscles underneath their t-shirts. But Lucas was the kind of man she was truly meant to be with: strong, overwhelmingly sexy, and able to handle her in the event her inner wolf became unleashed. The thought of that alone made her squeeze her thighs together and hope the driver wasn’t a shifter, wondering why his passenger was getting aroused by herself in the back of his limo.

  The whole thing caught her completely off guard. She was trying to get her degree, get a job, help her mom… she had never imagined she would meet another shifter along the way, much less one who would be so profoundly protective of her. So insistent in ensuring her safety. And who lit her on fire like no boy ever had. But Lucas was no boy… he was most definitively all man. And when he held her in his arms last night… it wasn’t just the passion of his kiss that entranced her. It was the feeling of being utterly safe. Completely, passionately wanted. Of belonging in a way she had never felt with anyone else before.

  Lucas seemed such a perfect match for her. It must have been fate—or something equally powerful, perhaps destiny—that had drawn them together. Only he seemed to want to resist it. Why? And why was he so driven to care for her in the first place?

  As her limo arrived at the Russell building, Mia realized the things she didn’t know about Lucas Sparks far outnumbered the things she did.

  She strolled into SparkTech, pleased she was one of the first to arrive, and immediately went to Lucas’s office. If she could just get him alone for a little while, have a chance to talk, maybe she could reassure him that he had nothing to worry about—he wasn’t just her boss, he saved her life! She would never repay that by jeopardizing him or SparkTech in any way. And maybe, just maybe, he would see that he didn’t have to hold back from her.

  But as soon as she entered Lucas’s office, he shoved a pile of reports into her arms and sent her away. She spent the day going over every line: they were already into Stage Two of their due diligence on LoopSource, and these reports were supposed to help SparkTech determine the market potential of LoopSource’s new internet platform. It created apps that were super easy for casual internet users—basically it was a customization tool, but the tech part of this marketing report was thick with terms she didn’t recognize and struggled to piece together. The report itself glowed with numbers that seemed to say LoopSource was the next big thing in mobile computing, but the diligence part of due diligence meant evaluating the report as much as the data within it. No matter what else happened with her and Lucas, she needed to prove she could be an asset to SparkTech—so Mia rolled up her sweater sleeves and dug in. Lunchtime flew by, and it was well into the afternoon before the grumbling in her stomach could no longer be ignored.

  Just as she was ready to temporarily climb out of her analysis hole, Lev popped his head in her door.

  “Hey, new girl!” he said cheerily. “You know, we’re not actually operating a sweatshop here. You’ll allowed to take breaks for lunch.”

  Mia let out a small laugh and leaned back from her desk. “Just trying to make an impression, I guess.” She rubbed her weary eyes, unclipped her hair, and shoved her hands through it, stretching out the kinks.

  “Oh, trust me, you’re doing plenty of that.” Lev opened the door the rest of the way, letting himself in. He held up a white paper bag he was carrying, then set it on her desk. “Sustenance for the eager young intern.”

  “You brought me lunch?” Mia blinked up at him, amazed. Was everyone at SparkTech determined to look out for her? It warmed something deep in her heart, something she hadn’t felt with anyone other than her mom: a sense of family. Of belonging.

  “Well, big brother Lucas told me to take care of you.” He perched on one corner of her expansive desk. “I take those kinds of orders very seriously.” But there was mirth in his eyes, and he gestured for her to look in the bag.

  Inside was a chicken salad sandwich, fruit salad, and the most enormous, gorgeous-looking chocolate chip cookie she had ever seen in her life. It all looked gourmet. And very expensive.

  “Wow, Lev, I…” She doubted she could repay him—she hadn’t started getting checks from SparkTech yet—and she didn’t want to insult him by offering. So she just peered up at him as sincerely as she could. “Thank you so much.”

  “Whoa! Hang on!” He chuckled and put up his hands as if to fend her off. “It’s just a s
andwich. But if you’ve been giving Lucas half that big-blue-eyed treatment, I can understand why he’s smitten.”

  Her hand froze half-way in the bag. “Smitten?” Suddenly the jitters in her stomach went into overdrive. “What do you mean?”

  He looked at her like she was crazy, then lowered his chin. “I thought you two were…” Then his eyebrows hiked up. “Oh boy.” He laughed nervously. “You know, I really do have a big mouth. You need to just ignore whatever I say.”

  Mia frowned. “Does everyone think…? I mean, does the whole office believe…?”

  Lev held up a hand to stop her. “Nobody thinks anything, Mia. We’re all happy to have you here. Hey, if you and Lucas are just friends, all the better. Whatever your magic is, new girl, you just keep doing it. He hasn’t been this productive since…” His face morphed again into a stricken panic, like he wanted to pull the words back in.

  “Since what?” Mia’s eyes went wide. There was something in Lucas’s past. Something everyone was tiptoeing around.

  Lev slipped off the desk. “And… that’s my cue to go.”

  “Lev!” she chastised him, rising from her seat. How could she get him to spill what he knew?

  “Eat your lunch, new girl!” he called over his shoulder on his way out the door. “You need to keep up your energy!”

  And then he was gone.

  Mia slowly sat down, then carefully laid out the lunch Lev had so thoughtfully brought to her. Something had happened to Lucas. Something that his family—including Lev and probably his father, who she had yet to meet—all wanted to help him get over. Or maybe recover from? She didn’t know, but as she bit into her sandwich, she vowed to find out what it was and help Lucas in any way she could. If Lev was right—if she was having some positive effect on him—she wanted to do more of that. It was the least she could do for all he’d already done for her.

  Her inner wolf yipped in agreement. Probably a little too enthusiastically. And she was likely just looking for a reason to spend more time with Lucas. But she had a hard time thinking there was anything wrong with that, either.

  Chapter Seven

  Refueled by Lev’s lunch, Mia dove back into the reports, and the rest of the day slipped past. Before she knew it, the cool white carpet of her office was turning a dusky orange from the setting sun. She had finished reading most of the reports and had some initial thoughts, but she hadn’t really had time to process all of it yet. Just as she was wondering if she could take them home or if they were confidential to SparkTech, someone knocked on her door.

  Lucas stepped inside without waiting for her answer and closed the door behind him.

  Mia stared at him as he slowly approached her desk, cautious, like she might spring out at him at any second. “Hi,” she said trying to break the awkward silence that had already fallen.

  “Hey.” He gestured to the reports, but remained on the other side of the desk from her. “How’s it going?”

  “Pretty good,” she said. “I think the market might be ready for LoopSource, but I’m not really sure. I need more time to fully digest the reports. Is it possible to take them home?”

  He smiled and seemed to relax a little. “Sorry, they have to stay in the office. I’ve been looking them over, too, and I think your intuition is right. But I’ll be working the weekend to make sure before I take my recommendation in on Monday.”

  She smiled. “Maybe I could come in this weekend and help?”

  His smile faded away. “That’s not necessary.” He dropped his gaze to the reports, drumming his fingers on the desk, looking uncomfortable again. “Look, Mia, about last night—”

  She rose up from her seat, effectively cutting him off, and then quickly came around her desk. She did not want him apologizing for their kiss… especially if no one else in the office cared if they were together or not. He looked startled by her coming closer.

  She stared up into his eyes. “I don’t have a problem with last night.”

  He frowned. “Mia, it’s not a good idea—”

  “Why not?”

  “You don’t understand—”

  “No, I don’t understand.” She took a breath and tried to rein in her frustration. “Lucas, tell me.”

  He stepped back, and she could tell she had pushed him too far. “Look, what’s most important is your safety. And I came here to talk to you about that.”

  “Well, the driver thing is pretty cool. I think I can hang with that.”

  He didn’t smile at her weak attempt to lighten things up. “You need to move out of your dorm.”

  “What?” Her eyes went round, and it was her turn to take a step back. “Move out of my… I can’t just move out, Lucas!”

  “Yes, you can.” He had that resolute look that she was beginning to recognize as the no negotiations look. But this was totally ridiculous.

  “I’m locked into the dorm payments for the summer!” she said, stating the obvious. “And where would I go? All the good summer leases are gone by now.” The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced he had to be joking. She hoped he was joking.

  “We’ll take care of all that,” he said, his voice uncompromising. “You don’t have to worry about the money. We’ll find a place for you. Starting this weekend. We can move you into a hotel tonight, then get you an apartment in the morning. You have to do this, Mia.”

  “I… what in the world, Lucas!” She couldn’t believe he was serious, but her blood pressure was creeping up. He was ordering her to move out? And what if she didn’t? Would he fire her? This was getting more and more… crazy. There was no other word for it.

  “I’m just trying to keep you safe,” he said, but his voice was more strained now.

  She shook her head and crossed her arms. “You know what? You can work by yourself this weekend. I’m going home. To my dorm.”

  She stomped around her desk, yanked open the drawer that held her purse, pulled it out, then brushed past him, headed for the door. “We can discuss this on Monday!” she called back over her shoulder. She only hoped she actually had a job on Monday. But she was not letting him order her around and move her out of her dorm and just… gah! What was he thinking? The whole thing frustrated her beyond measure.

  He was following right behind her. “Mia, stop.”

  “No,” she said, without slowing down. “I am tired of this keeping Mia safe thing all the time.” She wasn’t really, but the idea that he wouldn’t even discuss what happened between them but felt like he could order her around… even her inner wolf was growling about that.

  He kept tailing her all the way out to the front of the office. “Mia, I’m just trying to…” He dropped his voice as they reached the elevator. A bunch of other people were already waiting for their chance to flee the office for the weekend. “Mia, stop,” he said under his breath. “Listen to me.”

  Luck was on her side, because the elevator dinged at just that moment. The other people filed in, and she followed right after. Mia glared at Lucas to keep him from following, and he stayed back, strung tight, watching as the elevator doors closed.

  She left him behind on the 32nd floor.

  The ride down was just a little awkward, but Mia ignored the stares.

  At the parking garage level, she got off the elevator with everyone else, but as they dispersed to their cars, she remembered she hadn’t called the driver. He had left her with a card for when she was ready, but she had left in such a hurry, she’d forgotten about it. She briefly debated taking public transportation just to make Lucas angry, but decided that was childish. Instead, she fished out her phone and the card and started dialing. Before she could finish, a limo entered the far gate from the street level. It was the same one that had picked her up that morning—at least it had the same stretched length and tinted windows—and she wondered how they knew, but then a glance at the waning light outside reminded her it was already late. Most people were leaving for the weekend, and surely the limo company had other customers to pick
up. They didn’t just sit around all day waiting for her call.

  Only she didn’t see anyone else to be picked up—everyone had already disappeared into their cars. She put away her phone and flagged down the limo as it slowly rolled between the parked cars of the half-full parking garage. It came to a stop in front of her, but she couldn’t see if the driver was stopping for her or not. She edged forward, looking around to double check if there was anyone else waiting. She was alone, so she crossed the rest of the space and reached the passenger side just as the driver’s door swung open.

  “You guys have great timing!” she said cheerily, returning the driver’s smile. Then a chill swept through her. She recognized him—but he wasn’t the driver she had this morning.

  He was the red wolf from The Deviation.

  She froze. He leered as he came around the front of the limo toward her, but just as she unlocked her legs, the passenger side door swung open, and a second man, another of the red wolves, scrambled out of the car after her. She didn’t get two steps before he was on her. Her wolf roared as he grabbed her roughly from behind. Her arms and legs flailed, trying to wrench loose from him, but his arm was locked around her waist, and she couldn’t get hold of anything. He was dragging her toward the car. In moments, they would have her. Her wolf raged underneath her skin, wanting loose so she could tear into him with her teeth and claws, but the first one grabbed her failing arms and held her fast.

  Two against one. Both wolves. Both bigger than her.

  She took a fast breath and started to scream, but a beefy hand clamped over her mouth, and her shriek died in the echoing chamber of the parking garage. She prayed someone would hear her one muted attempt at a cry for help before she was stuffed in the open door of the car.

  Suddenly Lucas was there, his own roar reaching them just before his fists. He hadn’t shifted, but even in his human form, he was able to clock the guy holding her arms. He went down on the pavement in a heap, and she renewed her struggle against the man holding her, slamming her heels back, trying to catch a piece of him. He grunted, so she must have hit something. As his hold on her loosened, Lucas yanked her free. When Lucas released her to go after him, she stumbled, falling over the body of the first wolf, who was still in his human form. Why weren’t they shifting? She didn’t understand, but she scurried away from the fallen wolf, putting distance between them and her before looking back.