The Alpha's Promise Read online

  Two men ran out of the front door, waving guns.

  The bike roared to life. He hit the gas and the back wheel skidded out behind them as they charged away.

  Chapter Two

  Melissa screamed and wrapped her arms around her tattooed rescuer’s waist as the motorcycle nearly popped a wheelie tearing down the back alleyway. He grasped her arm, as if to make sure she wouldn’t let go.

  “I’ll hang on, you put both hands on the handlebars,” she shouted, squinting her eyes as the blur of trees and houses whipped past.

  His abs were hard as rock under her fists. In fact, she was pretty sure his entire body strained with solid muscle. He looked like he worked hard with his hands. The worn work jeans and stained t-shirt were sexy in that rough and scruffy kind of look that was way too much her thing.

  But she needed to get away from the ‘bad boy’ attraction. It had only landed her in trouble.

  She twisted to look behind them and caught a glimpse of the blue car that had brought the mafia assholes to her apartment. “They’re onto us,” she yelled.

  Her rescuer hit the gas again and they screeched around a corner, skidding out. He slipped between two buildings, around a corner. She couldn’t keep track of where they were going—the dumpsters and buildings flashed by too fast. She had to squeeze her eyes shut against the wind.

  In another moment, he screeched up a driveway and leaned the bike all the way to the side, skidding under a garage door halfway in flight. In a flash, he dismounted from the bike and yanked her off. The garage door had already reversed directions to come down, shutting them in.

  She wobbled on her heels and tugged her skirt down over her ass. Her heart rapped against her ribs in a painful rhythm. They were in a huge garage. More of a workshop, actually, with saws and a workbench. Shelves lined every wall, stacked with paint, solvents, tools, supplies of every kind. Was this his workplace?

  Her rescuer stalked toward her. Everything about him screamed scary tough—the bulging muscles of his arms, the tattoos that sprawled from under his short sleeves and even decorated his knuckles, the five o’clock shadow on his sturdy, square jaw, the menacing snarl of his expression. Seriously—he didn’t look any more trustworthy than Jeremy or the assholes who’d been waiting at their place for him. Had she been right to leave with him?

  “Who are you?”

  He passed her and jerked open a door. “Get inside.”

  Right. Not the time for introductions. She scuttled past him, trying to ignore the size of his muscles as she brushed his hard body, or the way her body reacted to his nearness. A flush of heat washed over her, warming up her icy fingers and face, thawing a fraction of the fear that nearly overwhelmed her back in that closet.

  Of course she tripped, her heel catching the carpet as she passed him. He caught her elbow to stabilize her and she twisted to look at him. Slate gray eyes. They were striking against his tanned skin and sun-bleached hair. As they stared at each other, his nostrils flared. The gray irises flickered to pale ice blue.

  She gasped.

  He shoved her away from him and blinked, averting his head. She wondered why he tried to hide it—he’d already acknowledged what he was.

  “What color are you?” she blurted. “I mean, when you shift?” It was a stupid question to ask. She ought to start with his name or how he knew Ben, but the glimpse of those lupine eyes had her curious.

  He twisted back to look at her. The irises had returned to gray.

  “Silver.”

  A ripple of something went through her body—excitement, maybe. She suddenly desperately wanted to see him in wolf form. She knew he’d be incredible. Powerful and terrifying. Beautiful, even.

  But no. She needed to stop this. Tamp down any attraction she had for the hot male who looked like trouble. She needed to start finding nice, upstanding men attractive. The kind without tattoos and worn-out jeans. The kind who wore ties to work and saved their money in tax-free retirement accounts.

  She’d worked all year to get herself out of the party lifestyle. She’d taken the test to become a real estate agent and cut back her nights as a bartender. She’d been so close to getting rid of Jeremy and getting a real start. Now there were people trying to kill her because of him.

  “You hurt?” The guttural voice sounded right behind her and she jumped and spun around. A flicker of amusement flashed on his face.

  She stuck out her hand, pulling out her best professional real estate agent persona, chin jutting high. “I’m Melissa, and you are—?”

  His jaw tightened. Apparently, he didn’t like that. He ignored her hand and walked to the bookshelf in the small, dimly lit room. “Cody,” he barked back to her. He shoved aside some books and withdrew a gun, which he tucked in the waistband at the back of his jeans.

  She probably should have started with thank you instead of calling him on his manners, but now that he’d snubbed her, her spine had gone even straighter. She looked around the dank man cave and sniffed. “Is this your place?”

  His eyes narrowed. “Sorry it’s not the Taj Mahal, princess. I didn’t know I’d be hosting Ben Stone’s hoity-toity human sister-in-law.” He sneered the word human like it disgusted him.

  She bristled. Did he think because Ben was rich, she was too? “Listen, I appreciate the rescue, but you don’t need to entertain me. If I could just borrow your phone—” She’d dropped hers in the closet when he’d grabbed her. She needed to warn Jeremy about those guys before he got killed. She may not love the guy, but she owed him her life.

  He already had his phone out and up to his ear. “Yeah, I got her.”

  She heard the intonations of a male voice on the other end. Was it Ben? A slice of fear ripped through her. What if this guy hadn’t been sent by Ben? Maybe it was another enemy of Ben’s, like the South American pack that had tried to kill her twin Ashley last year? He hadn’t told her anything other than that Ben Stone had sent him. And he sure as hell looked like trouble.

  She inched toward the door.

  “You didn’t tell me how bad her trouble is.” He paused as Ben said something. “Yeah, Junior Rabago and his guys… you know—the mobster. They were camped out at her place. They own one of the local dispensaries—push heavier drugs through it. I found her hiding in the closet and got her out of there, but they saw us leaving. Don’t think they can trace us, because we lost them and the plates on my bike aren’t good… Yeah, I’m ready for them, if they come.” He peered out the blinds without moving them.

  It wasn’t a good sign that the plates on his bike weren’t good. Definitely another lowlife. She leaned her back against the door. She wanted to hear this conversation, in case it was with Ben, but also needed to be ready to run.

  Cody glanced over and narrowed his eyes, as if he knew exactly what she was doing. “You didn’t mention she was human.” Again, he said it like she was a stinky piece of dog poo that he’d gotten on his shoe. He stalked toward her with an expression of dark intent.

  This time she heard the response from the other speaker on the phone loud and clear. “Fuck you.” That definitely sounded like Ben.

  Cody threw a hand out next to her head to lean against the door, caging her with his body. Awareness lit up her skin, a wash of prickles heating everywhere he came close to touching her. “Where do you think you’re going?” he growled.

  “You’d better treat her right,” came Ben’s angry bark from the other end. Her brother-in-law was as gruff as this guy—he just seemed more refined because he wore a suit and owned a half billion dollar company.

  Cody lowered his face, almost leaning his forehead against hers, eye to eye. She had a feeling it was a wolf thing. He probably wanted her to drop her gaze and submit, but the challenge only made her grit her teeth and stare back with more daring.

  “You want her happy or you want her safe?”

  Her heart thudded, waiting for the answer, even though she wasn’t sure what it meant for her, either way.

  A long silenc
e came from the other end. “Safe,” Ben gritted.

  “Somehow I have a feeling obedience isn’t in her nature.”

  Something slithered in her belly. Not fear, exactly. Not excitement, although her pussy did clench at the word obedience.

  “Put her on the phone.”

  Cody flicked his brows and held his phone to her ear with a smirk. She snatched it away from him and ducked under his arm, stalking away with the haughtiest pride she could muster, which of course, was ruined when she tripped again on her damn high heel. Fucking shoes! She kicked them off.

  “Hi, Ben,” she said breathlessly.

  “Melissa. Are you hurt?”

  “I’m okay. Just… scared.”

  “Who were those guys, do you know?”

  “No. Jeremy and I weren’t really talking since we broke up. We just sort of cohabitated out of necessity.”

  “Dammit, Melissa, I said I would help you buy a house.”

  “I know, I know. I’ve been looking. I was already half packed to move out.”

  “Listen, Ashley and I will fly back early and—”

  “No,” she interrupted. “Do not cut your honeymoon short for this. I’m fine. Cody got me out of there. You don’t need to come.”

  She hated herself already for needing—once again—to be rescued by her sister, whose life was always together, who always did the right thing. If Ashley and Ben came home early on account of her, she would be the asshole who ruined their honeymoon for the rest of their lives.

  Cody peeked through the closed blinds again. He looked so damn alert and capable, like a bad-ass Navy SEAL, or Special Ops agent. If he was truly on her side, she’d be safe.

  Ben cursed. “You need to stick with Cody. Do everything he tells you. He’s alpha there, do you know what that means?”

  “Not exactly.”

  Ben blew out his breath. She heard her sister say something in the background and then her voice came on.

  “Am I on speaker?” she asked in a low voice.

  “No.” Melissa walked to the far side of the room, facing away from Cody, as if that would prevent him from hearing her conversation.

  “Hey, wolves establish dominance physically. I don’t know the shifter you’re with, but try to be respectful and obedient.”

  She snorted, looking over at Cody, who had crossed his arms over his massive chest, watching her with those assessing gray eyes.

  Respectful and obedient?

  For that ill-mannered asshole? Fat chance.

  “I’m serious, Mel. He promised Ben to keep you safe. If you interfere with his efforts, he’s probably going to punish you. Physically.”

  Her pussy clenched again. But that wasn’t right. It was Ashley who was into the authority figure type, not her. She just did bad boys. Or used to. Now she was doing suits and ties. Business owners or CPAs. Or maybe a nice lawyer. A dentist, even.

  Still, curiosity compelled her to ask, “How, exactly?”

  Ashley sounded slightly embarrassed. “Like a spanking. Or whipping. Hopefully nothing worse. But… I’m pretty sure Ben just sanctioned that in the name of keeping you safe, so just keep your head down and do what he says until this blows over, okay?”

  Like hell she would. And who did Ben think he was sanctioning her corporal punishment? She couldn’t stop herself from looking over at Cody again. Her pussy felt hot and wet under her skirt. An image of that scary tattooed man pushing her over the seat of his motorcycle and spanking her ass cherry red flashed before her mind and she flushed and turned away.

  His nostrils flared and he shot her a surprised look. The edges of his lips curled.

  Holy hell. Did he read minds?

  Ben returned on the line. “Melissa? Give the phone back to Cody.” He was a man of few words, her brother-in-law. No please or take care.

  But he did take care of her, she had to admit. His offer to buy her a house had thrilled her. She wasn’t going to let him buy the house outright. Just help her with a down payment. She’d get a house she could afford once he got her started. She knew just what she wanted—a CJ Steele house. One of the lovingly restored houses in Colorado Springs’ oldest neighborhoods. She adored the CJ Steele company’s work and admired the hell out of Steele, the up and coming real estate mogul who had made a small fortune buying and flipping houses over the past eight years. Her dream was to be his agent.

  She handed the phone back to Cody and listened to another terse exchange before he hung up.

  He sent a speculative gaze in her direction. “You’ll stay here until it all blows over.”

  It was terribly bitchy, but she’d just been informed this guy thought he was in charge of her, so she curled her lip and looked around as if the place disgusted her. As if she hadn’t already been living with Jeremy, the slob of the year. The place wasn’t gross, but it definitely could use a good cleaning. And it was just total man cave. Small, dingy, everything in dark colors like hunter green and navy blue. Ugh.

  His brows slammed down and he stalked past her. “I’m sorry it doesn’t suit your royal highness. Next time I’ll make sure to rent a mansion for your sleepover.”

  The word sleepover sparked a nervous flutter in her belly as it became real that she’d actually be sleeping here with this meathead. She glanced toward the bedroom. There was only one, as far as she could see. His place had used all the footage on the workshop/garage—at least fifteen hundred square feet. The inside was just a combination kitchen/living room, and a small bedroom and bathroom, as far she could tell. Another eight hundred square feet. And yes, the realtor in her had assessed the property and its approximate market value—about one hundred and fifty grand—the moment she’d walked in.

  “May I use your phone? I have to warn Jeremy.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Your boyfriend?”

  “Ex.”

  “Don’t you think he already knows? I’m guessing you weren’t the one who got on the wrong side of Junior Rabago.”

  She held out her hand impatiently. “Please? I don’t want him to come home and get shot, okay?”

  Cody’s fingers flexed into a fist before they reopened and dug his phone from his pocket. “What are you doing with a guy like that, anyway?”

  Irritation flared. Who in the hell was he to judge her taste in men? Especially when he didn’t look like the kind of guy you’d bring home to Mother, either? She wasn’t about to defend her choice to him. “Your phone?”

  He scowled and dropped it in her palm. She dialed Jeremy’s number, but he didn’t pick up. Of course he might be afraid to answer a number he didn’t recognize. She hit end and texted him.

  Don’t go home. Mafia-looking guys at our house. ~Melissa

  He didn’t answer. Was he already dead? What was the money they wanted paid by Friday?

  Reluctantly, she handed the phone back and looked around the small living quarters again. How long would she be here?

  “I need to get my purse and clothes at some point. Do you think those guys are gone from my place?”

  Cody frowned. “There’s no way in hell you’re going near your place, not until I know it’s safe. I can pick you up a few things at Walmart or something.”

  Her jaw dropped. “Walmart?” She put scorn in her tone.

  A tic in his jaw signaled his irritation. When he stepped toward her, she wrapped her arms around her middle defensively. He gripped her upper arms. There was domination and authority in the way he held her, but his touch wasn’t rough. In fact, the heat of his large, work-roughened palms on her skin sent flames of desire licking through her.

  “Baby, you’ll wear what I get you, or you can trot around in your panties for all I care.” He leaned closer to her ear. “Actually, I would prefer the latter.”

  She jerked away with a huff but more heat suffused her core. Whether it was from his touch or the suggestion of strutting around half naked in front of him, she wasn’t sure.

  * * *

  Cody inhaled and caught a whiff of Melissa’s a
rousal. In a flash, his vision domed, the beast within him roaring to the surface.

  What the fuck?

  He blinked and released her, stepping back, away from her sexy little body. Yeah, she was hot—all soft curves and smooth skin with a beautiful face to match, but her personality was shit. She was clearly a stuck-up, spoiled brat. And human. That ought to be enough of a turn-off right there, not that he minded sex with a human female now and then. It’s just that his taste—whether in she-wolf or human female—ran more toward tougher women. The kind who liked it rough and understood the rules—that he didn’t commit or make any promises. The sex was gratuitous, for their mutual pleasure, no strings attached.

  “I can’t wear cheap, ill-fitting clothes to show houses.”

  Real estate agent. It figured. He should’ve pegged her profession from the start. He had enough experience with agents. Bloodthirsty sharks, all of them.

  “You won’t be showing houses. When I said you’re staying here, I meant inside this house at all times. If you think Junior Rabago won’t wait for you at work, honey, you’re not as smart as you look.”

  Consternation puckered her beautiful face. “But—” she spluttered. “I have houses to show. I won’t go to the office, but—”

  “No.” He made his voice as hard and forbidding as he knew how, not that the girl seemed to respond to his alpha dominance in any way. Which was another source of irritation. For the fortieth time, he kicked himself for making a promise to Ben Stone.

  But no. Even as he imagined walking away from her little drama, he knew, promise or not, he’d protect this woman with his life, even as maddening as he found her. She didn’t deserve whatever kind of trouble was falling down around her ears. Besides, there was something magnetic between them—some chemistry that was highly unusual between a shifter and a human. He needed to explore it.

  She lifted her chin, her big blue eyes challenging him. “How are you going to stop me?” She sounded a little breathless, which sent a kick of lust straight to his cock. He caught a whiff of her arousal again and was suddenly sure she knew exactly how he’d stop her, and wanted a taste of it. Maybe there was one way she responded to alpha dominance. The best way, in his opinion.