Alpha's Revenge (Shifter Ops 3)

“Adele!”

“Rafe.” I rise on wobbly legs, and he scoops me up. I hang on, my head against his shoulder as he carries me like a bride back through Dieter’s house and out into the winter air.

Adele

“You can put me down now,” I insist as Rafe carries me across the threshold of his lodge. He hasn’t let me go since we left Dieter’s. We rode in the backseat of Deke’s Mercedes–which looks like it’s been off-roading and fallen fender first off a mountain.

“Nope,” he grunts. “No can do, princess. I’m never letting you go.”

I blink at him. “What does that mean?”

He knows what I’m asking. “It means I was an idiot. The biggest idiot who ever walked this Earth. I thought I could keep you safer by staying away, but all I did was break both our hearts and get you kidnapped again.”

I furrow my brow. “Was I kidnapped? I still don’t understand what that was all about. What did Dieter want?”

“I don’t know, but I will never let him near you again. I promise.”

Rafe carries me into his bedroom and kicks the door shut. My entire body tingles with awareness. Excitement. Now that I know what Rafe is, I feel like a virgin about to have sex for the first time.

With a wolf.

“Are you claiming me, Rafe?”

His eyes flash green. “Damn straight.” He dives onto the bed with me still in his arms, and we both bounce and fall into each other. “I mean, if you’ll have me.”

“Yes.” I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. “You’re mine.”

I’m rewarded with Rafe’s boyish smile–the one that makes him look ten years younger, the weight of the world erased from his face. “I am definitely yours. And you’re mine.”

“Are you going to be a bossy pain in my butt?” I ask.

He flips me to my back and pins my wrists beside my head. “You know it.” He nuzzles into my neck and nips the skin there.

“Aren’t you afraid I’m too fragile?” I can’t help but bring it up. I’m still hurt over it.

He winces. “You’re not too fragile. You’re the strongest human I know, Adele. The only thing that’s fragile is this.” He taps his chest in the place over his heart. “You’ve already captured it, so try not to crush me.”

“I won’t crush you. I think you’re crushing me, though.” I pretend to resist the hold he has on my wrists. The bulge of his cock presses in the notch between my legs. I roll my hips to meet his.

He lifts off me enough to tug my coat off my arms then my blouse. I’m wearing a plum satin bra, which makes him growl in approval.

“Does this mean you won’t get crazy over-protective?”

He trails kisses down my belly then unzips the side zipper of my skirt. “No chance of that, princess. You will have to surrender to my bossy protection or suffer the consequences.”

I work the button on his jeans. “What consequences are those?”

His smile grows feral. “I think you might remember from before…” He rolls me to my belly and pulls my skirt off my hips. “Mmm, matching panties. Almost too beautiful to take off.” He pulls them down. “But I have your punishment to consider.”

I part my legs and lift my ass. “Am I in trouble?”

His hand claps down on my cheek, stinging me. He immediately massages away the shock of it. “Big trouble, Adele.” Another slap, this time on the other cheek. When he rubs, his hand feels gloriously warm. He picks my hips up, pulling me onto my knees, my chest still pressed into the bedding, my ass presented to him.

“When you disobey, there will be consequences.”

“Mmm.” I give my hips a little shimmy.

Rafe chuckles and starts spanking me in earnest, laying a half dozen quick slaps down before he stops and rubs again.

It smarts, but it feels good, too. For as much as I resisted Rafe’s dominance outside of the bedroom, I love it here. It’s exactly what I craved most but never knew I needed.

“I need to know you’re safe, Adele. I’m in a dangerous business, and you’re the most important thing in the world to me.” He delivers three more swift spanks.

Tears pop into my eyes, but it’s not from the spanking—it’s because of his words.

“I’ll let you protect me, Rafe,” I promise.

“Of course, you did call me today, so that deserves a reward.” He pushes me back to my belly, leans over and nips my ear. “Was it hard to ask for help, Adele?” His voice is rich and seductive. Gloriously rough and smooth at the same time.

“No.” It’s the truth. Whatever my hang ups with asking for help are, they don’t apply to Rafe anymore. I’ve let him in. “I knew you’d come. I wanted you to rescue me.”

Rafe surges behind me, grinding the bulge of his cock into the cleft of my ass at the same time his teeth graze my shoulder. “Fates, Adele, I almost marked you. Hearing that… it’s what a male wolf needs.”