The Alpha's Challenge (The Wolfes Kinfoyle) [Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  If he didn’t realize that wish, at least Jacob got a tantalising glimpse of her midriff and his cock hardened.

  “Love to.”

  Jacob blinked. He sure would love to… “Ah, Dinner. Great. I’ll pick you up at seven.” Damn it, I need to get my head out of unlikely-to-happen scenarios and control my cock. He walked towards her, resisted the urge to lift the shirt even higher and see just how dark those nipples were, and went to kiss her cheek. She turned her head and he kissed her on the lips instead. Ari gave a soft sigh and opened her mouth just enough for him to slip his tongue between her lips, if he wanted to. Jacob gave into temptation. He wanted to.

  Her scent surrounded him and he sensed her astonishment. However, she didn’t pull back. Instead she moaned deep in her throat, a sexy, happy, and aroused sound, and drew him in. Jacob pulled her closer until his cock rested against her. Ari wriggled and ran her hands down his spine. Did she know what that did to him? She couldn’t. Nevertheless he had to stop her before she reached the one spot guaranteed to start his shift. For him it was the tiny indentation where in his shifted state, his tail was.

  It was the hardest thing in the world to end the kiss and put space between them. How he managed he had no idea. The only thing he knew was he’d have to give himself a hand and come as soon as possible. Or his shift would be hell. And this was one of the nights where he led everyone in the area, as they shifted en masse and celebrated their heritage.

  They were both breathing deeply and erratically as Jacob walked to the door. The air was heavy with their arousal, and he couldn’t control the way his heart jumped and his mind shouted “at last!” It had been a long wait to see if she’d ever respond to his subtle wooing. It had taken him even longer to accept he wanted her, a human, as his mate, and no one else would do. Today had been the first time she’d sent out the unconscious signal, showing him it could be time to act.

  Ari cleared her throat, and he turned to look at her. Her short gold-coloured hair was standing on end in tiny spikes and her face was flushed. A quick glimpse showed that she was as affected as he was. Her breathing was irregular, and her nipples now stood up and pressed against her shirt. He’d bet her pussy was damp, and her clit ached for his touch, just as his cock wanted hers.

  “I accept your offer to be my samba-dancing shifter. I mean… hers, of course.”

  Chapter Two

  Shit, had she blown it? Jacob had taken her by surprise when he’d kissed her. Ari hoped she hadn’t responded too eagerly, but hell on wheels, she’d been trying to get Jacob to see her as someone other than his old mate Ari for years. If this was the way, then let the fun and games begin. She pulled her thong out of her butt cheeks and wriggled to make herself more comfortable. It was no good. If Jacob continued to have this effect on her she’d have to invest in big knickers. Ones that didn’t soak so easily or take refuge up her ass crack at the first hint of excitement.

  It took an age for her breathing to slow down and her pulse to stop jumping around. She was well aware it was all so risky, but even if it ended in tears, as long as it was after her client had her wish, that was all that mattered.

  Ari sniggered to herself as she thought about the client. It had taken her ages to set up the fake identity, and make sure it would hold fast. The biggest risk was to ensure Jacob would take the bait. Again she giggled as she realized just what that expression could mean to a wolf.

  “Well? Did it work?” the tawny-haired girl, who wriggled around the door from the bathroom, asked Ari. “Did he fall for it?”

  Ari shrugged as she turned to her best friend. The fact Jenissa was Jacob’s sister was a plus. “Not a scooby. You know your brother. Clams have been known to open up easier than him. I think I got his interest, and he’s offered to be the…” She hesitated, not quite sure what to call the role.

  “The wolf in a hot bod’s clothing?” Jenissa rolled her eyes. “Ew, that’s my twin I’m talking about. I know we’re two peas in a pod, sort of, but oh no, no and no. Scary and mega yucky. But, I guess that’s how you see him.”

  “Not yucky,” Ari said. “But, well, oh shoot, you know how I feel about him. About all parts of him. You’ve run interference often enough for me, so I could drool in secret. A bit like you and my brother, in fact.”

  “And we all know how that’s going—not,” Jenissa said gloomily. “He doesn’t even notice I’m here. Seriously I reckon even if I shifted in front of him and rolled onto my back in my shifted state, he’d not even bother to rub my tummy. Just ask me to pass him the TV remote control or something. I mean sheesh, does he even know what type of person I am? Without the shifter bit, I mean. God knows how he’d cope with that side of me. Probably ask me how I did it so he could put me in a horror story.”

  Ari laughed and hugged Jenissa. The sentiments were oh so true, except it would more than likely be a dictionary or a reference book he asked for. Once Rob was in fiction-writing mode, a whole army of shifters could parade in front of him and he’d be oblivious.

  “Anyway,” Jenissa said, in a bracing “ignore me and my moaning” tone. “What’s next? Apart from coffee and a large chunk of that chocolate cake I stashed in your fridge.”

  Ari almost salivated. Jenissa’s chocolate cake was to die for, but the saying “a minute on the lips and inches on the hips” was so true with regards to the rich confection.

  “We hit the gym?”

  Jenissa did her “reel back in horror,” “are you kidding?” pose. The one where she opened her eyes impossibly wide and let the wolfish highlights show. “Wash your mouth out, woman. Nope, I’m shifting tonight. I’ll need the cake for stamina. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. You’ll need it to keep you awake, if you want to watch.”

  “I’m a glutton for punishment as well. I couldn’t not watch,” Ari said, gloomily. Those stolen moments were almost enough to keep her happy until she saw Jacob openly. Almost. Each involved more than one self-given orgasm afterwards, usually whilst she imagined Jacob’s voice telling her what to do. Does that make me kinky? Masturbating to the imagined directions of someone who sees me like an extra sister?

  “I know the feeling,” Jenissa said. “I’m amazed Rob hasn’t clocked how often I meet him ‘by accident.’ Bloody hell, it’s a wonder I’m not had up for stalking. Mind you, if he did ask me out I’d probably go all girly and blush and stammer and he’d make an excuse to rescind. Anyway, enough of my fantasies, they suck as usual.” She sniggered. “Oops, no, sadly there’s no sucking involved. So, go to the usual place and you’ll see us. Before you ask, yes, Jacob will be there of course. These shifts are his way of keeping us a nice cohesive pack. Seriously though, with us all shifted, how do you recognise him?”

  * * * *

  That was a question Ari asked herself later as she settled herself on a not-that-comfortable, rickety kitchen chair that she assumed had been thrown out because one leg was shorter than the other and the back was missing several struts. Even with a cushion she ended up with a numb bum. She’d set it to one side of the window, inside the old barn, on the edge of Jacob’s land, which, over time she’d discovered to be the best position for all her voyeuristic needs.

  The night was still, and the leaves barely rustled in the light breeze. To her right the moon was a silver orb, just rising behind the trees. All in all, a perfect night for shifters to play. Or as Jenissa had put it succinctly, reconnect with their inner selves, and check out the opposite sex. Although as Ari well knew, the only person Jenissa had eyes for was Ari’s brother, and he was no shifter. Half the time he was so immersed in his writing, she wondered just what he was.

  An eerie howl came from Ari’s left, and she shivered. Even knowing that it was Jacob issuing the call to collect and shift, it still made the hairs on her arm stand up. It was followed by several others, all slightly different, but each one as sense stirring and powerful as the one before. She couldn’t say who any of the other howls came from, not even Jenissa, but somehow she could recognise th
e timbre of Jacob’s every time, whenever she heard it. It made her want to kneel in front of him, dip her head, and do anything he wanted.

  How pathetic is that? He doesn’t even notice me except as a friend and I want him as my mate and Master. The thought was scary and exciting. Jacob Wolfe was the only person she’d discovered who would put her into a submissive mindset. She craved to see if he would do it for real, instead of in her dreams and fantasies. Although, she remembered just how he’d teased her pussy with his thigh. That not-so-gentle pressure had her worried she’d stain her skirt with her essence. Surely she could take it as a sign he was interested in her, just a little bit?

  Ari settled deeper into the darkness of the barn and waited. She knew fine well the risk Jenissa took in showing her where to hide and watch. It was a foregone conclusion that if she was discovered there might be more than hell to pay. Jenissa could well be banished, and Ari herself disappear, and turn up as human and veg soup.

  She took a deep breath to try and stop herself shaking. Of course that wouldn’t happen. Jenissa had been at great pains to reassure Ari that they never ate humans. That was a fallacy circulated by hunters, centuries earlier. In fact, she’d confided, in Jacob’s pack there were several vegetarians.

  All that apart, there would be more than a huge kerfuffle if Ari were discovered. Therefore they’d reconnoitred for several months before they decided on this vantage point. It gave a clear view across the open grassy glade in the middle of the woods, which was the spot where the pack played, socialised, and mock fought. Any discipline needed was never meted out there. That, Jenissa told her, took place in private and even she wasn’t privy to it.

  The howls got louder. It was a wonder they weren’t heard in the village. In fact, Jenissa had explained they chose where they shifted and ran very carefully. Jacob’s land was situated in such a way that all sounds were muffled by the surrounding hills and only echoed around his woods and in the valley, which was also part of his land. That was a natural phenomenon that the pack exploited to the full.

  A flash of golden fur caught Ari’s attention. The unusual dark-red ruff of hair tipped with silver around the neck of the impressive-looking wolf glinted bright in the moonlight. He loped into the clearing and stood up on his back legs before he circled the area and howled once more. Securing it for them.

  Jacob.

  Her mouth became dry as she stared at him. He was magnificent. There was no other word for it. As if on cue, Ari’s nipples tightened and she felt the familiar tingle in her clit as all her senses responded to him. She swallowed heavily as the wolf circled the clearing once more, stopped, then looked up at the barn, lifted his head, and sniffed the air. Surely he couldn’t sense her? After all, she was downwind, and deliberately wore no perfume. Ari had a brief moment of panic. What if he could smell her arousal? Even in the chilly night air her cheeks burned at the thought. How embarrassing would that be?

  With a shake of its head that somehow mocked her naivety, the magnificent creature moved away without another glance in her direction.

  One by one, other wolves of all shapes and sizes followed the golden wolf. The colour of their fur varied from almost brown to nearly grey, but none were as impressive as Jacob. Ari knew they ran in in order of importance. The fifth one looked towards the window and shook its brown-red fur.

  Jenissa, letting Ari know all was well.

  For over an hour she watched, entranced as the wolves played and, it seemed, chatted. Jacob moved from group to group, making sure he contacted each wolf, but not stopping for long. He looked, Ari thought, lonely. She knew the answer for that, if only she had the chance.

  Eventually, Jacob loped to the middle of the clearing. It was a sign for everyone to stop what they were doing and group together. Ari watched, as one by one they stretched and twisted until each had changed into their human form. Someone must have brought clothes because the pack put on robes or joggers. At that distance she couldn’t see features clearly. She reckoned it was why Jenissa had chosen the barn. It was one thing to see Jacob, and know he and Jenissa were wolf shifters, and another entirely to out everyone else. The last thing she wanted to say to the local minister or doctor was “oh I do like that tattoo on your left buttock” or some such thing.

  Although she had no intention of writing a shock horror article for the daily whatever, this way she couldn’t inadvertently give herself away, and let any of the shifters know she knew of their secret lives. After all, she wasn’t supposed to know shifters existed. It was only because she’d stumbled upon Jenissa in the forest one day, shifted and with a wicked thorn in her pad, that Ari knew what went on.

  “I don’t suppose you’re an Alsatian?” she’d asked.

  The wolf had shaken its head, made a pitiful noise and held up its paw.

  “Thought not. Ah well, let’s hope I’m nothing like Little Red Riding Hood.”

  Somehow she’d known the animal was no threat to her, and pulled the thorn out with a pair of tweezers she’d found in her backpack. To this day she had no idea why they were there. All she usually carried were wipes and plasters. Once the thorn was out, Ari had used her tiny pack of antiseptic wipes to cleanse the oozing wound, and muttered to herself about whether it made sense to bandage the paw of a wild animal. Especially one that, for all intents and purposes, didn’t exist in the wild in Scotland any more. Somehow she’d understood what the animal wanted, and she’d wrapped a bandage around the wound. It was unfortunate that the only bandage in her backpack—and she had no idea how that slipped in—was one with cartoon dogs all over it, but Ari reckoned beggars couldn’t be choosers. At least they were canines. The wolf had nuzzled her neck in gratitude and limped off into the undergrowth. Ari had watched it go, shaken her head and pinched herself to be sure she hadn’t dreamt it all, and made her way home. Several hours later Jenissa had visited her with a bottle of wine, a large bar of chocolate, and a recognisable bandage around her swollen foot.

  To say Ari had been taken aback was an understatement. Even when Jenissa had shown her the puncture hole she still thought it was a trick. It had taken a shift, when Jenissa was fully recovered, to persuade her.

  That, Ari mused as she watched people begin to shift back into wolves, had led to the question, “So if you’re a shifter, does that mean Jacob is one as well?”

  It explained so much, and Ari had at last accepted that Jacob wouldn’t look at her. It was a depressing thought. She’d lusted, and, she realized, loved him for years. Now though, after their meeting earlier, she wondered if maybe she’d been mistaken and she did have a chance. So, hang it all, she was going to do her best to have one night with him and bugger the consequences.

  She was so deep in thought she didn’t hear the soft padding of paws, and was unaware she had company until warm breath stroked her skin.

  Ari turned round and stared into the deep golden eyes of…

  “Jacob. You scared me.”

  She stretched out her arm and tickled him under the ruff of fur around his neck.

  Chapter Three

  I scared her? How the hell does she know it’s me? I ought to put her over my knee and spank her until she begs for mercy. Then spank her until she begs me to carry on. What the fuck is she doing here? She should be screaming for help, not ruffling my fur. Unfortunately, in his shifted state there was no way of asking what was going on.

  Jacob couldn’t believe how Ari had stretched out her arm and touched the ruff of dark fur around his neck. She showed no fear, and her eyes shone with a strong emotion that he hoped was arousal, or at the least, admiration. His soul cried out to her. How could she know how important that darker ring of hair was? It was his badge of honour. The insignia that marked him out as leader.

  The gentle touch made him bite back a howl, and rein in his cock. Seeing that in his wolf persona would surely send her running. Instead he suffered—there was no other word for it—her touch, and growled deep in his throat. The rumble reached her hand and she giggled. “
Oh, Jacob. Did you think I wouldn’t know it was you? If you hid in a pack of twenty or one hundred I’d know you.”

  She would? How? He’d not known it was her, until her scent surrounded him as he entered the barn. He was merely aware that there was someone in the barn, and watching his pack. If it had been anyone who was ready to take photos and expose them, there could have been trouble, especially if they screamed to the authorities about dangerous wolves roaming free. Jacob thanked his stars he’d sent the others away and chosen to investigate himself and not mention the peeping Tom—or, in this case, Thomasina—to anyone. Now he had to discover what had brought her there and why. To say nothing of how she knew the wolf she now cuddled was him. He made sure his hot breath teased the hair at the nape of her neck.

  “I’ve wanted to see you like this, properly and close up, for ages, you know?” Ari rested her cheek on his fur and Jacob let her. Now it was her breath that played and ruffled his fur. It was so seductive, so sweet and innocent, he nigh on purred.

  “Okay,” she went on, “it’s a bit underhand and unethical and any other ‘uns’ you can think of, and there’s probably a lot of them, but hey ho, I had to take what I could. If sitting in the dark and cold for hours, shivering and not able to bring coffee ’cos of the smell, meant I could admire you and wish I was down there shifting alongside you, then so be it. Mind you, believe me, I miss the coffee. It’s bloody cold. And, hey, it’s so weird talking to you like this, but then Jenissa told me you wouldn’t be able to understand what I say once I’ve told you I know you’re you, so it’s all fine and I won’t expire from embarrassment next time we meet.” She giggled. “And so it means I can say I’ve fancied you ever since we were tiny, and that watching you skinny dip with my brother was one of the biggest thrills of my teens. Talk about getting my knickers in a twist. Trust Jenissa to find out where you went. Mind you I reckon she could scent my brother at a mile distant.”