Chapter 3

Talon

Bidding for her was the dumbest thing I’d ever done.

Humans are looked down upon by our community. They’re good slaves and can run various errands, but that’s all the use they are to us.

I didn’t want the human at all, but my wolf, Lupin, was driving me crazy. He was a force to be reckoned with. While I was on the balcony at Red Lady, he was trying to surface. Keeping him under control was almost impossible. Each time that ugly bastard touched her, I had a harder time not going and ripping his arms off. No, it wasn’t me. It was Lupin.

After my victory over the Iron Fang pack, we’d come to Portland for a celebration. I came with Aria, the woman I was fucking. The more I fucked her, the more I felt she was the one I would marry.

Aria had all the qualities I was looking for in a wife. She was beautiful, submissive, ready to be fucked any time or anywhere I wanted, and obeyed my commands. Out of all the women who jumped into my bed, she was the most intelligent. I liked her for that. Sometimes, she helped me with my pack’s business.

She didn’t know I’d bought a ring for her from Tiffany’s and was going to propose tonight. It wouldn't be official unless I picked her out in the Moonlit Choosing Ritual in a month's time, but the ring would confirm my intentions toward her. It was a difficult decision to marry someone and get settled, but I guessed it was high time. At twenty-eight, I wasn’t getting any younger, and for all the wealth and power I’d amassed, I needed an heir. Once the ritual was complete, I was going to knot in Aria while I marked her.

I was Alpha of the Umbra pack, which was on the verge of becoming the strongest pack in America. Only two more strategically planned wars and I would be reigning over all the werewolves of America.

All the while we were traveling, I berated myself for spending three million on the human. Her honeysuckle and cinnamon scent was infuriating. Every time her scent hit the air, my blood burned with a heat that made Lupin out of control, feral. I hated it—hated her for stirring something so primal in me. An Alpha can’t be weak. He can’t afford to be distracted. However, no matter how hard I resisted, her scent clung to me like a curse.

Aria was surprised when I placed my bid, but didn’t question me. Like a good she-wolf.

In order to forget the foolishness of my actions, I pulled Aria into my lap as I stared at the girl through the tinted screen separating us. My Beta, Kenzie Simmons, was driving. He was being particularly warm to her, which infuriated me. He knew I hated humans and so he should have had more restraint on his emotions.

I ordered him to make her wear the collar I’d bought for some BDSM with my girl. It was a gesture that showed I owned the human, and Kimble better understand that.

He reluctantly made her wear it. Ever since, he had been tense, knowing fully well who owned the human.

Three million dollars wasn’t anything for me because my business ran into billions, but it was the absurdity of the investment that had me on the edge.

“What does my Alpha want?” Aria’s sultry voice snapped my attention to her.

I fisted my hand in her brunette hair, exposing her neck. She groaned as I kissed it while glaring at Kimble. I needed the fog to clear from my mind in order to figure out how to use the human or discard her somehow. Uncertainty wasn’t my forte. I made quick decisions, but the human’s presence was rattling my brain.

Aria undid my zipper and freed my raging cock. “Do you want to fuck my mouth or my pussy?” she asked seductively.

How would the human’s virgin pussy feel around my cock? Or her lips?

What the fuckity fuck! Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. What the hell was I thinking? Enraged with my own thoughts, I picked up Aria and impaled her on my cock. She moaned as she started bouncing on me, her pussy getting wet in seconds.

With my eyes firm on Kimble, I let Aria move over me. Her moans and groans filled the space along with the slapping of our flesh, and I knew Kenzie was listening through the screen. But the human’s ears couldn’t. My imagination ran wild, wondering how I would tie her leash to the high bar in my room and fuck her, choking the life out of her.

“Ah, my Alpha!” Aria cried, digging her fingernails into my shoulder. “I’m about to come!” This was my cue to come inside her.

“Come,” I ordered her and, on my order, she came all around me as I shot my release in her with a low growl. I was shocked at how fast I fucking ejaculated.

Suddenly, the human uttered, “I need to pee!”

Kenzie jerked his head toward her. He mind linked me and asked for permission. I wanted to punish the fucking human for making me spend so much money and for some other reason I couldn’t fathom. ‘Okay,’ I grunted. ‘But hold her leash the whole time.’

I alerted all my guards to gather, not because I wanted to keep her safe, but because I was still wondering what I’d do with my investment. Aria looked at me with a puzzle in her eyes. “Alpha?” she said in a husky voice, bucking her hips over my cock, ready for round two.

I grabbed her by her hips and removed her from my cock. This was getting frustrating as hell. Once Kimble was back in the car, I was going to fuck Aria again and so hard that she would scream my name and the human would listen to it.

The despicable girl got out of the SUV and walked toward the forest, with Kenzie holding her leash. He let go of it and she disappeared behind a tree. My hackles raised when I saw the leash disappearing into the underbrush. I shifted to the edge of the seat.

“Is something wrong?” Aria asked, her lips downturned. “Did I make a mistake? I’ll make up for it.”

“No,” I growled, silencing her as unease grew in me like a thorn.

Five minutes later, I was still watching that tree, and she hadn’t emerged. I tucked my cock in, zipped my pants, got out of the car, and shouted, “Check on her!” Her scent was so strong that it densely permeated the air.

Kenzie snapped his head toward me and then rushed behind the tree. “Shit! She’s gone!”

The gall! She was running away from me? I’d show her what it was to run from me. My hands rippled with fur as Lupin let out a dangerous snarl, and I jumped over the underbrush in pursuit. Cunning little slut. She took advantage of my generosity.

Sniffing her scent in the air, I ran after her like a bat out of hell. My wolf wanted to break free and go to her, but I contained him because she didn’t know who I was.

Rage blazed within me like wildfire, consuming every thought as I tore through the forest, each footfall a stamp of fury. My breath came in searing gusts, scorching the cool night air. Trees whipped past me, their branches snapping against my body, but I was relentless.

Her scent got stronger and I increased my speed, making the forest floor a battlefield, my rage driving me with the force of a thousand unforgiving lightning strikes.

When I heard soft feet padding their way through a small clearing, I put my hand up to signal my warriors to stop. She was my prey and I was going to hunt her. Maybe snap her neck.

She stopped for a few moments, whipping her head to see which way to go as I quietly stalked closer. She looked up at the North Star and veered west, slamming right into my chest.

A scream ripped from her throat when she craned her neck up to look at my face with her baby blue eyes. She was so short. Barely reaching my shoulders in height.

“Hello, Kimble,” I said, and she froze. “I’m Talon, your owner.” Her lips parted and she started visibly shaking. I enjoyed that sight. She had to know she was running away from the most ruthless predator in the world. Me.

Moonlight bathed her pale skin, highlighting the freckles scattered across her nose, forming a pattern that reminded me of a constellation. She stood in the clearing like a delicate wraith, her hair shimmering like spun gold. I found myself caught in her web, forgetting to breathe.

Before I could catch my breath, she pivoted and started running. Blasted human. I leaped, grabbing her leash and pulling her to me. “Not so fast!” I growled as she choked, her hands flying to the collar. I spun her around and hoisted her over my shoulder. Fuck, she was as light as a feather.

“Let me go!” she yelled, thumping my back with her tiny fists. “Leave me, you bastard! If you do anything to me, I’ll report you to the police. I’m a fucking minor!” More pounding. “You’ll go to prison!”

She kicked her legs and hands against me as I carried her back to the SUV. Her ass was high in the air, right next to my nose, and her smell created havoc in my mind. I must have fucked hundreds of women in my life. Aria, the last one on my bedpost, made it five hundred and forty, to be exact. But I’d never lost control.

Ever.

And I wasn’t going to lose it now. The more she kicked me, the more I tightened my grip on her. I slapped her ass. She yelped, shuddering in my arms.

When I reached the SUV, I opened the door and shoved her inside. I heard her scream “Monster!” as I slammed the door closed. Kenzie was staring at me with a look of disbelief.

As I got into the back seat, I looked at his shocked expression.

“What?” I barked.

“Alpha Talon, your claws have slipped out!”

Fuck. “Drive!” I growled. “We don’t have all the time in the world.” I clenched my teeth and willed my wolf to retreat. As soon as my claws withdrew, I seethed and stormed to the back seat. Kenzie slipped Kimble’s leash to me through the screen before he slid it up. I gripped it harder as she screamed and banged on the glass.

“Asshole!” she shouted.

“She’s mad,” Aria said softly, afraid of Kimble’s reaction, afraid I would kill her now. “Would you like me to talk to her?”

“No,” I grunted. “Come, fuck me.” I needed release and I needed it now. I tightened the leash in my hand, making Kimble’s back slam into the seat. She gasped, grabbing the leather in her hands as Aria climbed onto my lap and slid down the hard length of my cock.

This time as I fucked Aria, I wrapped the leash around my hand, fisting it hard.