Dire Wolf Mates - Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Embarrassment caused her face to heat, but she refused to duck her head or shy away. She met his steady gaze despite the almost overwhelming urge to avert her eyes and bare her throat. Between the heaviness of his natural Alpha dominance, and the sudden, persistent throbbing ache between her legs, Lucy could hardly breathe, let alone think straight.
“Uh, sorry, what?” She managed between suddenly dry lips.
His black eyes flashed gold as he cocked his head in a way that reminded her more of an animal than a man. He was positively gorgeous, with chiseled features, kissable lips, thick eyebrows, a day’s worth of scruff on his cheeks, and eyes that glowed inhumanly at her. Lucy couldn’t take her eyes off of him.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Lucy Corwyn,” she whispered back.
A deep rumbling growl came from his throat. His eyes turned completely golden as he swept her entire body with his gaze. She noted the deep, dusky tan that made his skin look like sculpted bronze. Probably from years on the open road. She’d seen his leather cut with the DWMC #55 patch on the back and surmised this was not only a Pack, but a motorcycle club too.
Swallow.
Was there anything sexier than a Shifter on a bike? Warmth spread throughout her limbs and her she-Cat purred deep inside her mind’s eye. By the time the stranger opened his perfect lips to respond to her statement, her heart was pounding inside of her chest.
What was he going to say? His name? She bet it was something cool like Michael or Damien. Her imagination as running wild, but a girl had to do something to entertain herself when she lived mostly alone. Lucy liked to spin yarns in her head about strangers she’d see on the road. It helped quell the loneliness.
Pity, he would be just another stranger passing through her life. But that was how things were for Lucy. That’s how they had to be, for her safety. So Michael or Damien was probably Bill or Ted. Her imagination was always better than the reality.
He cocked his head to the other side, his body practically vibrating with the force of his growling, and oh my gods, that sound was doing something crazy to her inner cat. It was like he was casting some strange spell on her without any words. She wanted to beg him to speak already. To end the madness churning deep within her. Then he did it. He finally spoke. One word only, but with it, Lucy felt her whole world turn upside down. The husky syllable fell from his mouth like liquid honey.
“Mine.”
His voice had gone even deeper, if possible. Lucy bit back her groan. His scent had surrounded her, and it was like nothing she’d ever breathed in before. Her she-Cat hissed and purred, then yowled so loudly, she actually winced.
“Um, what?”
“Mine,” he repeated, stalking her slowly across the room.
Lucy backed up against the wall, cursing herself for being dumb enough to get trapped. Her pulse increased and heart raced as his natural, wild musk—like open road and well-oiled leather, hot and clean and so damn sexy she felt her panties dampen—filled her nostrils. The cat growled at her to get closer, to rub her body all over the big mountain of a man—not man, Wolf—but she held herself still. Barely.
No. No. No. NO!
Yes, her cat insisted.
Lucy’s eyes flashed, her animal pushing to be let out. Her inner feline ready to go belly up for Mr. Big and Hunky.
Slut, she hissed at her beast.
Mate, replied the wily she-Cat.
Dammit. She couldn’t believe this. The enormous, sexy, tatted out Wolf was her mate.
“Fuck me,” she murmured, and was shocked when the man pounced over the desk and pinned her to the wall.
“Anything you want, you just have to ask, baby,” he growled into her ear.
Lucy closed her eyes and tried to ignore the throbbing of her sex as it instinctively prepared for his invasion.
No. Hard no.
She pushed against his impressive pecs and shook her head firmly.
“Whoa there, big guy. Back up a step,” she murmured and pushed again, but it was like trying to move a mountain.
“You smell so good,” he growled and nipped her earlobe, sending another wave of moisture dripping down her panties.
Lucy moaned. She needed to get away from him before she did something really stupid. A cold shower would work. Yes. She needed a cold shower to get her head on straight.
“Hey,” she growled. “No means no, buster, now back up!” Eyes narrowed, she gave him what she hoped was her I mean business face.
The stranger backed up a half step but kept his frying-pan-sized hands firmly on her waist. Lucy exhaled and tried counting to three. She knew what guys like him were like. Big, macho, bossy, and sexy as hell. They were monsters in the bedroom, wrecking a woman for life by getting her addicted to him. Then he would leave. They always left.
Sexy he might be, but he was a Wolf and an Alpha, and she was just her. No matter how much her inner kitty begged, Lucy knew better. Acting on this would be a huge mistake. She needed to work to make money to fix her ride, then she was out of here. Surviving was her gig, not shacking up with a bored Wolf.
“Your skin is so smooth,” he murmured in that deep, growly voice, drawing circles with his fingertips on her waist.
When had he hiked her damp t-shirt up? Dammit. She wanted to grab his hands, but if she let go of his chest, she knew he would be right back to smushing her against the wall.
Yes, please.
Her she-Cat was so down for that. Lucy shook her head.
No. Big fat double no.
“I said, back the fuck up,” she growled.
This time, he allowed the full force of his smile to spread across his ridiculously handsome face. His grin widened, and he took another, larger step back.
Come back.
Shut it, kitty.
“I am here for a job, not to be manhandled by some oversexed puppy,” she snapped.
“Puppy?” The cocky male snorted.
“You’re right. Puppies have better manners. You can’t just push women into walls with your big, muscular body, you know,” she told him, halfway to panic city.
“My apologies, mate. You just caught me off guard,” he replied, arching one perfect eyebrow, grin still in place.
“Fuck this fucking day,” she mumbled, then began to pace.
Her brain was going a mile a minute. She needed to try to get her thoughts under control, but first a little ranting was in order—in her own head, of course.
What in the ever lovin’ hell just happened? I just came in here for a damn job. Stupid freaking car! Always breaking down. Now this? Really? He called me mate. Mate. For fuck’s sake. He is my mate. My animal thinks so, yeah, but she is a horn ball. Besides, he can’t be mine. Is he a Cat like me? Nope. He’s a freaking Wolf. A huge, hairy, bossy, thinks he’s all that, Wolf. FML!
“Um, darlin’? You wanna take it down a notch? And I’m not that hairy,” he said, slightly annoyed.
Well, damn. So much for an inner rant. She’d said all of that out loud.
Double oopsie.
Lucy straightened her spine and turned to look at the tall, gorgeous Alpha Wolf.
“Look, Fido, there’s been a mistake⁠—”
“Oh, I don’t think so, darlin’.”
Cocky. So fucking cocky.
Lucy had always had a secret thing for bad boys, and this guy was the motherfuckin’ head honcho of bad boys. But was he really her mate? She knew all the Shifter myths of fated mates and true love and finding yourself in one other person created solely for you by the universe itself.
But she’d never really believed in them. It certainly never happened for her mother. Hope was a terrible thing for someone like Lucy, but right then, it was brewing inside of her like the beginnings of a storm.
If he was the storm, would Lucy be the calm? She wondered, really wondered, and for a minute, hell, she wanted to find out. Was she brave enough to stick around? Curiosity was a particular downfall for her kind, but one thing was certain, she would not be bossed around by this guy no matter what the Fates decided he was to her.
“No mistake here, darlin’. You’re mine,” he said, that sexy growl was back, and she shivered in response/
“Well, I don’t think so. And my name isn’t darlin’,” she muttered.
“Alright darlin’, how about baby instead?”
“It’s Lucy, My name is Lucy. And you are?” she asked.
“Lucy. I like that. My name is Derrick, Derrick Rand,” he replied, and reached out to shake her hand.
Fuck. His name was sexy. Not Bill or Ted, then. Dammit.
Lucy did not stand a chance in hell of surviving this.
“Oh, no you don’t. No touching,” she yipped, pulling back her hand at the last second.
She knew better. As worked up as they both were, if sexy Derrick here got his hands on her, it would be seconds before they started going at it like rutting beasts. As a feline Shifter, Lucy had to worry about going into her heat cycle only a few times every few years. But when presented with a viable male, one who claimed she was his, her cycle could start at any moment. Chances were, this meeting would have her coming into her heat in a matter of days.
Shiiiiit.
“Fine, darlin’. No touching yet,” he murmured.
“Ever. Unless I say so,” she countered.
And that will be never. She amended inside her head. She did not want to touch him. That would only start the mating fever even sooner. She’d been getting away with every three or four years since puberty, but she knew the stories. Once a female she-Cat Shifter found her mate, her ovaries basically exploded.
“Whatever you say, mate.”
She could tell he was a cocky bastard from the arrogant tilt of his head to the way his knowing gaze seemed to undress her right there.
Yes, please. Too many clothes.
Down, girl!
Lucy was not ready for this. She turned to him with her eyes narrowed and hands on her hips and said the only thing she could think of.
“This isn’t going to work. I don’t want a mate.”