Alpha Enticing

  The blonde amazon spoke down to her with a voice that could only be called gentle yet commanding. “Where are you going?”

  “Out.” She pointed to the door.

  “You only arrived seconds ago.” The female took her by the arm and led her toward the main floor. “You can’t have found what you needed yet. I can smell your discomfort, your need for release. Anyone here would be happy to help you. Pick someone out. I’ll make an introduction.”

  Sydney couldn’t breathe. “Please let me go. I want to leave. This was a terrible mistake.”

  “Sometimes wolves feel the way you do at first. We always manage to show them a good time. Maybe you’d like to sit and eat something. We can talk.”

  Sydney ripped her arm away. “All I want to do is go home. Thank you so much. I’m sorry. I’ve made a mistake.”

  “Who’s going to make you feel better if you run away already?”

  “No one.” She hated the sob in her voice. “And I think I prefer it. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “Listen….”

  A voice preempted whatever her newfound would-be jailor intended to say. “Off Crystal.”

  The tall woman nodded, her eyes widening before she retreated into the room. Sydney turned to see who on earth could have made the tall woman run away. With all the scents in the room and her head starting to pound, she couldn’t sense who had gotten near to her.

  Her heart fluttered, and she had to lean against the wall to support her. The most astonishingly beautiful man she had ever seen regarded her. He was tall with long black hair. His eyes, which revealed nothing of his thoughts, were equally as dark, and, adding to the picture, he wore black eyeliner under his eyes which accentuated the sheer feeling of nighttime all around him. He wore two large silver earrings in each lobe.

  His clothes, by contrast, were pure white. He wore loose pants that tightened around his waist, showing off how muscular he was, and a form-fitted V-neck t-shirt. Evident at the bottom of the V was a tattoo she couldn’t make out, but which looked red where it popped into view.

  Sydney’s entire body went into high alert, and she had absolutely no idea what he smelled like. The heat, which had dulled with her terror, spiked to life, leaving her aching to her bones and her head swimming. She didn’t know what aroma he would give off, but she would bet money it was something dark. Intense. All consuming.

  “Please don’t worry about Crystal. Getting people to stay is her job. To help those who might be feeling skittish to relax. I think she was having the opposite effect on you.”

  Sydney placed a hand against her chest. Had her heart ever galloped so fast before? She’d be lucky if she survived the night. The stranger had a voice to go with his appearance, husky, low. Even without the gift of scent she knew he was powerful.

  “I want to leave. She made me come further in here.”

  He raised one dark eyebrow and extended his hand. “Would you allow me the courtesy of walking you out?”

  “Um.”

  He was going to let her go. The idea relieved her anxiety a notch while making her body ache even further. How could she be feeling so many things all at once?

  “Yes. Thanks.”

  He extended his hand, and she walked in front of him.

  “Savage.” A brown-haired woman with perky breasts peeking through her black dress grabbed him by the arm. “Where are you going? I returned for more. Like last time.”

  “Hello.” The man behind her spoke to the slim woman. “How nice to have you here again. I’m occupied at the moment and….”

  Savage. The owner. No matter how little she knew about the place, she recognized his name. Savage Chaucer, her cousin had told her. The man who made sexual dreams come true. He had no limits. Her cousin had fanned herself when she’d talked about him. If the female wanted to see it, he’d have sex with a man in front of her.

  Sydney didn’t know if she wanted to see two men having sex or not, but she did know the woman in the black dress did not want to be separated from Savage. Her brief glance at the two of them together made her want to throw something at the woman’s head.

  With her hands shaking again, she ran for the door. This place did funny things to her, and, beyond her immediate reaction to the club’s owner, she didn’t want to stay around to see what else it did. She had to get out of there, fast.

  Chapter Two

  Oh hell. The redheaded goddess was not getting away from Savage. Giving in to the urge he’d had from the second the idiot brown-haired woman intercepted him, he picked her up by her shoulders and handed her to his pack mate Max. The other man would work things out with her. Savage darted to the side, ignoring whatever she was saying, and chased out the door, after the beauty.

  When he’d seen her, his entire body had come alive. She smelled like roses. Her scent chased all other aromas from the room until only hers existed. Like the sun. Like the moon. Like the reason for breathing.

  He darted out the door looking left and right until he located her on the sidewalk. Growling, which was weird since he was usually in better control of himself, he pursued her.

  “Hey.” He grabbed her arm, and she froze at his touch. “You said you’d let me escort you out.” His heart didn’t seem to want to settle. Why were there so many people on the street? Too many possible threats surrounded her. What if she crossed the street and a bus hit her?

  His apprehension wasn’t remotely reasonable. What the hell was the matter with him?

  “I…thought you looked busy. I knew, well, when I heard your name…you’re the owner of this place.”

  “Alpha.” He corrected her. No need to be so specific. Technically, she wasn’t wrong. He owned the club. Her understanding his position mattered to him for some reason.

  Her light eyebrows shot up. “Well, then you must be even more busy.” She looked down at her arm where he held her. “Seeing as you run San Francisco. Thanks for looking after me. I need to go.”

  No, she really didn’t. She needed to stay. Right where she was. Or better yet somewhere else. With him. Quiet. Where there weren’t so many people and cars.

  “Do you have to leave so fast?” He motioned toward the bench. “Maybe we could sit together here for a moment?”

  “Um.” She rubbed at her eyes, then her nose, then her neck, making her pale skin red where she assaulted it. Why did she do that? “Okay.”

  He let go of her arm as she sat on the bench. First she tucked her legs under her, then she placed her hands on her lap.

  “You know who I am.”

  “The woman used your name. Savage. It’s distinctive.” She looked at her hands. Up until then she’d been frightened but not submissive. He wanted her gaze on him once more, and his wolf prowled inside. What had changed?

  He nodded. While some Alphas knew how to gentle, he had never been one of them. His people came to him sometimes battered and abused. They quickly learned they could be themselves with him in his pack as long as they all carried their weight and owned their shit. What was he to do with a woman who smelled like roses and might float away in the breeze as though she were one of the petals? Why didn’t he want her to go?

  She was beautiful. Red hair. Porcelain skin. Blue-green eyes. She had breasts, hips, an ass. He liked all kinds of women, no matter their body type. Hers really worked for him. His cock had taken notice in the club and not sat down since.

  Her heat rode her big time. He could smell her agony, and it made his teeth ache. Why had she decided against getting relief? And fuck if anyone would be giving her pleasure except him….

  “Can I know your name?” He took her hand in his. Her fingers were rough and calloused from work. What did she do with her hands? He wanted to know. Needed to know.

  She raised her eyes to him. “My name is Sydney.”

  “Hi Sydney.” He smiled and his heart sighed.

  The knowledge of what was happening hit him hard. Perhaps it shouldn’t have taken him so long. He should have known in the
club. Only it had never dawned on him, not for a single moment that such a thing was possible for him. Ever.

  But it had happened. The Moon had gifted him a mate. Not just any mate. His True Mate. Savage’s wolf stood and howled. It was everything he could do not to let the sound loose.

  She was the most beautiful woman the Moon had ever sent down to Earth. For the first time in his life, he was actually stunned silent.

  Did she know? What was he to say at the moment of meeting his true mate? No one had ever told him. His family had always informed him his disgusting preferences were going to keep the Moon from ever choosing him a mate. He didn’t believe in their bigotry yet he must have somehow kept their falsehoods somewhere in the back of his mind.

  He. Had. A Mate.

  “I…I’m sorry I ran out the door.” She looked down again. “You have a lovely club. I don’t do things like this. I thought I could. Just once. Only I clearly can’t.” She shook her head. “Should have stayed home and waited out the heat in the cage like I usually do.”

  Her words took a second to permeate the haze around his brain. “You take your heat times in a cage?”

  The growl rumbling from him seemed to shock her. She scooted away, letting go of his hand. Shit.

  He held out his hands in front of him. “Sydney. I’m sorry. I don’t usually go around growling.”

  “By the moon, I’m really out of my depth here. I don’t have a pack. I don’t know how I’m supposed to treat a big-time Alpha.”

  “You’re not supposed to do anything in particular. You....”

  “I guess I’m not cut out for here.”

  She had interrupted him, which shocked him since no one had interrupted him in years. Not since he’d become Alpha. He grinned at the novelty and because he’d finally found a female in the world who didn’t seem intimidated by him in conversation. Plenty of women wanted him in the club, yet if he tried to speak to them outside? They could barely form words.

  Sydney didn’t want to be there. Fine. He could easily fix it. “You don’t seem averse to my presence.” Savage needed to check.

  “No.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “You’ve been nice. Above and beyond, really. I can see why you’re so popular. I couldn’t smell in the club but now that I can, I mean, wow, the whole picture. You must make female dreams come true all the time.” She colored a shade of red and placed her hand over her mouth. “Forgive me. What you do is none of my business.”

  “Sydney.” He liked saying her name. “I’ll never be….”

  The fire alarm boomed to life behind him, and he jumped to his feet. Oh. What. The. Fuck. Two of his pack mates raced outside.

  Max called out to him. “Someone got a little too adventurous in the fire room. All is well. We’re putting off the fire department.”

  That sounded right. His pack would handle things. “Tell them to make sure they mention the large donation I make every year.”

  People flooded out the door, including hordes of women in states of half dress who surrounded Savage. Their scents all assaulted his nose. No, they were wrong. He darted around, trying to get away from the clawing women.

  “Hey.” He cried out, moving left to return to the bench only to find it empty. “Sydney.”

  He called out her name. Where had she gone? He sniffed the air, trying to pick up her scent. Utter horror hit him when he finally located her. She looked around once, making eye contact with him for one second before slipping into a waiting taxi.

  His mate. Sydney. He had no last name. She left, and the world tilted sideways. No!

  Savage’s vision narrowed. Sydney was gone. He would not lose her. She was his. His, damn it.

  The Moon had gifted her, and she would not get away.

  His wolf prowled to the surface, demanding he change. He pushed it down. There would be a solution for this. San Francisco was his city. She was not going to get away.

  He would find her. He would catch her. He would…chase her.

  Savage breathed in through his nose. Yes. Chase her. That’s what this was. The mating dance. Female werewolves ran from their mates. It was part of the claiming. She might not even know what she was doing. Part of the male’s ability to prove himself worthy was his ability to retrieve her.

  “Max.” He grabbed onto his pack mate. “I need help.”

  “My Alpha?” The smaller man gripped him. “This is under control.”

  “I am not.” He shook his head, letting go of Max. “I have found my true mate and she ran away.”

  Max sped up to catch up to him. “That is the best news ever.”

  “She got in a taxi when I got surrounded. I only know her first name. Where are the tickets for tonight? I need to look her up. Find an address. Get to her.”

  Before she decided he was unworthy. Unless she already had. She’d been talking about his reputation before they’d been separated. Savage had never been ashamed of anything he had done in his whole life and never would be. Only she needed to understand all of his behaviors would change. His True Mate. She would be his one and only. Hell, he’d been celibate for so long he was practically a virgin—again.

  “Give me her first name. I’ll put it up on the computer for you.”

  “No.” He shook his head. The blazing fire alarm screamed out into the night. “Thank you anyway. I need to do it myself.” This was his chase, his woman to find, his to get back. “You want to help me, get the fucking thing off before I break it off the wall.”

  “It’s actually a centralized computer system and….” Max’s voice trailed off. “Not to worry. I’ll make it stop.”

  By the time Savage had found Sydney’s information, he had drawn a crowd around him. It seemed every member of the pack who worked tonight had heard his story and decided to swarm his office waiting for news.

  Savage’s head pounded. Amazing how he could go from the sheer elation of finding there had been only one Sydney at the party, Sydney Dyke, to utter and complete horror at the address on file. A PO Box in Idaho. It didn’t do him any good. None at all.

  He pushed his chair back. “If she’s from Idaho. She’s staying somewhere in town.”

  With a flick of his hand, he pulled up the video monitor from the door and snapped through until he saw her face come up. Seeing her eased something; he could breathe. She was real. He hadn’t lost his mind and made her up.

  The Moon put her in his path. There would be a way to find her again.

  Savage sent the image to the printer, instructing the machine to make fifty copies. “I wanted to do this alone. Only as she’s not living at a local address or anywhere nearby, I need to figure out where she’s staying.” Savage handed the pieces of paper now bearing Sydney’s face out to the group. “We have two things to do here. I do need your help. This is my mate. She’ll be your pack mate too.”

  Cheers sounded in the crowd, and he held up his hand. “Don’t applaud until I get her. This is part of the challenge. We need to be systematic. Someone email this photo out to the pack. If she’s staying with anyone, I want to know. The rest of you spread out, go to all the hotels. We have people on the payroll everywhere. I want to know where she’s staying. Worst case scenario, she is here with humans. That’ll be more complicated.”

  “My Alpha.” Archie, his second-in-command, addressed him. “Shall I place someone on the airport and bus stations?”

  “Yes. Report in. I want text updates every ten minutes. Go.”

  Savage had the power of San Francisco behind him. Sydney was not getting away.

  ****

  By the time Sydney got on the bus, she was panting. Telling the cab to wait at her hotel had been smart. Stopping only to put her regular clothes on, she’d abandoned everything. The bus pulled into traffic and every emotion from elation to distress flooded her.

  Savage was her mate. Her True Mate. She closed her eyes and leaned against the seat. She’d known it the second she’d been able to scent him. His aroma, mostly coconut and the ocean, threatened to overw
helm her. She was lucky she hadn’t fainted.

  The only thing she could hope was Savage didn’t realize their connection. She couldn’t have a true mate, not a week before she had to fight for her life against the Garto-Wolf. How unfair would it be to take on a mate and then burden him with her death? Everything in her insisted she run, and she’d acted instead of overthinking for once.

  Of course, if he did know, he would chase her. Male werewolves always pursued their true mates. They had since Lily and the first Alpha Wolf. How many times had she heard the story without really understanding it?

  When Lily had awoken a werewolf, she had run, not understanding what had happened to her. The Alpha Wolf laid chase. Ever since, a male werewolf would catch his female if she ran. Sydney creamed her panties. Already in heat, she was so turned on by being in Savage’s presence she could barely breathe from the need.

  How was she going to make it through the next week?

  If she survived the Garto, she would find him. Return to San Francisco. See if he could feel what she did….

  Sydney closed her eyes and leaned against the seat. Her true mate was the Alpha of San Francisco.

  What could the Moon have been thinking?

  She was so not Alpha-mate material.

  It took a full twenty-four hours for her to return to her family’s home. The usual buzz of activity sounded around her. In her pocket book were the bank notes her father thought she’d gone to Boise to collect. Fortunately, it had been such a long time since her dad did any of his own errands he had no idea how long it took to accomplish anything.

  Her family members seemed to be in their usual spots for mid-afternoon. Her mother had the girls around the fire knitting while her sister recited the Moon commandments. Outside her brothers and her father worked the field.

  They’d come inside, and all twenty-two of them would eat together before they went to bed for the evening. Some of the men might join males from other packs for drinks downtown.