Forbidden Alpha (Alpha's Obsession 4)

“Hello,” she says shyly as she gets out. She’s avoiding looking at me but I can’t look away from her blushing cheeks and pale blue eyes.

“Welcome back,” I say as my bear starts pacing around inside. He’s always been a chill grizzly and we’ve gotten along great, but he’s starting to get frustrated that I’m not sinking my teeth into her neck and laying our mark on her where it belongs.

“Look,” she says as she raises her hand in the air. She’s so cute when she gets all serious and defiant. I cross my arms over my chest and try not to smile as I watch her. “What happened yesterday was a mistake.”

“You think?”

She hesitates and then nods. “Yes.”

“I don’t think so.”

“You have a mate,” she says as she looks at me in disbelief. “Not a girlfriend that you kinda like or someone who you’re casually dating. A mate. That’s sacred. That’s not something to play around with. I’m not going to be the kind of girl who’s going to step in between a shifter and his mate, wedging their—

“Brooklyn.”

“No, I mean it. I’m not doing it again. It was irresponsible and childish—”

“And good?”

“And good, yes. No! Wait. That’s not the point! The point is—”

I grab her arm and spin her into my embrace. Before she knows what’s hit her, I crush my lips against hers and kiss her with everything I’ve got.

She melts into it, moaning into my mouth as she kisses me back. It’s been too long since I’ve tasted her sweetness. I’m never going to go this long without kissing her again.

“You were saying?” I ask as I let her go.

Her head is tilted back and her eyelids are closed softly. Her lips puckered in the air. She slowly opens her eyes as she descends from the high.

“What?” she says, looking dazed.

“You were saying something about how that was never going to happen again?”

She slowly lowers her arms and then shakes the daze out of her head. “I was saying… What was I saying?”

“Something about mates.”

“Right,” she says, snapping back to it. “I’m not going to come between you and your mate.”

“I know you won’t.”

“Exactly. Wait. What?”

“Brooklyn,” I say as I grab her arms and lean in close to her face. “You’re my mate.”

She just stares at me.

“We’re mates. My shifter bond is with you.”

“It is?”

I start laughing. “Yes! Were you thinking about me last night?”

She starts avoiding my eyes again and acting all strange. “No, I was… a… thinking about…”

“Me?”

Her eyes dart back to mine. “A little bit.”

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since you ran out of here yesterday. The past few hours have been torture for me. It’s been killing me not to be with you.”

She swallows hard as it all sinks in.

“Come with me,” I say as I offer her my hand. “I’ll make you breakfast and you can ask me anything you want.”

She looks at my outstretched hand and then slides her palm over mine. “But I had a whole speech prepared.”

I laugh as I squeeze her hand and bring her to my place. “You can recite it to me over coffee.”

“It’s not the same now,” she says as she follows me. “I was all worked up and passionate before.”

“Don’t worry,” I say with a grin. “We’re going to get plenty worked up and passionate before the day is through.”Brooklyn is watching me over her mug of coffee as I scramble some fresh eggs in a bowl. I can tell her mind is turning, trying to take this all in.

I’m just so relieved that she’s mine now. I have my mate here and no one can take her away from me. I don’t know how I survived this long without her, but I know if I’d have to give her up now, my heart couldn’t take it.

“What are you thinking? I ask as her forehead scrunches up a bit. I want to know everything about her—her thoughts, her dreams, the way she thinks. I want to know it all, but more than anything, I want to know what she looks like without those clothes on. I want to analyze and study every detail of her young ripe body. I want to know every inch of her intimately.

“All kinds of things,” she says as she lowers the mug onto the island. Both hands are wrapped around it, which squeezes her breasts together in the most enticing way. She’s wearing a pink t-shirt with a large round neckline that hangs down low enough to show me the top of her cleavage.

My bear groans inside as I look her over. Her big wavy hair is up in a messy bun, revealing the soft flesh on her neck. I feel my grizzly stirring inside as I look at the spot where our mark is destined to go. She must feel it tingling because she lets go of her mug and touches it.