THE AWAKENING

Tieran appeared at her doorway, interrupting her thoughts. He carried a tray of food that might feed a room of people but he
barely noted the strain.
She couldn’t help but appreciate the way his muscles bunched and bulged from the weight of the heavy load. Each time they
were alone, her hormones reacted like unruly teenagers, heedless of caution or reason.
His eyes darkened as her scent washed over him, her pheromones melding with perfect precision into a heady aphrodisiac.
“Your food,” he announced unnecessarily, placing the tray at the small table and turning to leave.
“Tieran...” she called out to him. “Can we talk?”
“I haven’t the time for idle chit-chat,” he answered curtly. “Is there anything else you require?”
“I require the father of my child to speak to me,” she said. “You treat me like a prisoner and a whore, neither of which I
appreciate. If we are supposed to be parents together, shouldn’t we try to get along?”
He cast her a short look but gruffly acknowledged the logic in her request. “Your request is valid,” he said, taking a seat furthest
from her in the oversized chair opposite the bed.
She withheld a sigh and tried not to feel bruised by his subtle rejection. He didn’t want to want her but like her, their hormones
were causing them to dance to a different tune. She secretly admired how strong he was to deny his own feelings.
As much as she wanted to ignore the pull, she couldn’t help the drift she felt toward him. She craved his touch, his scent, the feel
of him inside her. She slid her tongue lightly along the seam of her lip and he caught the subtle movement.
His eyes flashed and he growled low in his throat. “You wished to talk?”
“I...I don’t know anything about you,” she stammered, trying desperately to stay focused when all she really wanted to do was
drop to her knees and take that lovely length of cock hiding behind his jeans into her hot and greedy mouth. “I have so many
questions that I don’t know where to start.”
“Such as?”
“Well, where does the clan’s wealth come from? I mean, Clan Janus lives by a very different standard so I imagine there had to
be some smart investments on someone’s part to help sustain the clan.”

One dark slash of an eyebrow rose incrementally. “You wish to talk finances? I assure you, Cassandra, we are well and securely
funded. There is no need to worry where your next meal will come from.”
She frowned. “That’s not what I meant at all. Listen, in the normal world, people have to work for their money but as far as I can
tell you, you don’t punch a clock so there must’ve been some wealth pocketed somewhere in order for you to sit on your Alpha
chair all day.”
“I do not sit on a chair all day,” he said, affronted. “You imply laziness on my part.”
“No, not at all,” she said, rushing to clarify. “I’m just trying to understand and put things into place from the only perspective that I
have.”
“Oh, I see,” he said, slightly mollified. He shifted in his chair and sighed. “To answer your question, yes, Clan Barrachius has
always been smart with their investments. We’ve amassed a healthy sum of money over the centuries that is now handled by an
investment firm. Clan Janus has been foolish in not taking a more active role in the health of their clan finances. However,
according to Cristophe, Ulster has been amassing wealth through less than honorable means. He has far more than he shows.”
“I’ve seen the way they live. It’s shameful the way he treats his women. He tried to force the women to breed by getting a witch
to cast some kind of spell.”
“Did it work?” Tieran asked, concerned.
“No. The women always miscarried. And then he beat them for failing.”
The disgust in Tieran’s expression warmed Cassandra’s heart. The fact that he felt anything aside from hatred for the Janus clan
members spoke well of the Alpha. “An Alpha’s job is to protect his clan, not rule through tyranny.”
“Yeah, well, I guess Ulster wasn’t in class that day when they taught that lesson in Alpha school.”
At her quip, Tieran’s lips twitched in the subtle makings of a smile. “You are very witty,” he remarked, as if surprised by this
revelation. “And intelligent.”
She smiled. “Thanks. Before I was kidnapped and all that, I was actually an honor student with a full ride to college. I like to
learn.”
His eyes said he approved, though he said nothing.

“Were you always so serious?” she asked, trying to picture the austere man as a carefree boy. “I mean, what was your childhood
like?”
“I am as serious as I need to be. I have been training to be the Alpha since I was a pup. There wasn’t much time for foolishness.”
At her disappointment, he clarified gruffly, saying, “My brothers and I weren’t above getting into mischief now and then. We were,
as my mother used to say, a handful.”
That’s more like it.
She smiled at his sharing something that sounded somewhat normal and relaxed a bit. “What did you do for schooling? I’m
guessing you were homeschooled?”
“Tutors mostly. Then university studies. Our father wanted us to be educated. He said the world was changing more rapidly than
our species but we had to be able to keep up in order to protect the clan from outside forces. He said ignorance was never an
excuse for failing in your duty.”
She wondered what it would be like to have grown up with duty and honor and tradition pounded into your head. “What do you
do for fun around here?”
“Fun?” he repeated stiffly, retreating behind that damnable mask again.
“Yes, fun. You know, all work and no play makes Tieran a dull boy?” she teased lightly. “There has to be something you enjoy
doing that’s not tied to your job as Alpha. Maybe chess or cards?”
“I do not have time for games.”
“No wonder you’re so grumpy all the time,” she grumbled, sighing when she felt they’d taken two steps backward for every tiny
step forward.
“You believe I am grouchy?” he asked, mildly bothered by her observation.
“Well...yeah.” No sense in sugarcoating it. “I don’t think I’ve seen you smile once.”
“I like to hunt,” he said, surprising her. “When the moon is full, I change and run with the night. It’s the only time I feel free.”
She remembered the feel of the ground beneath her paws and how exhilarating it’d felt to simply put miles between herself and
everyone else.

“I think I would like that, too,” she admitted, smiling in understanding. A moment passed between them that resembled the
beginnings of camaraderie and she savored the brief respite.
“It is unusual for a female to turn,” he said. “I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that you are so different, in so many
ways.”
“That’s me, different,” she agreed. “I think the world my mother always used to describe me was, peculiar.”
“A human raising a werewolf, it’s a travesty,” he said with disgust.
“Well, it sounds like my parents had good reason to hide me.”
Tieran grunted with reluctant understanding. Maybe they were making some headway.
She grabbed an apple and bit into it, the juice dribbling down her chin before she could catch it. Tieran was on his feet in an
instant, wiping the sweet juice away with his thumb.
His eyes darkened and his nostrils flared when in such close proximity to her. Her heart rate kicked up and her temperature rose.
She swallowed the bite of apple and he removed the fruit from her hand. She knew what would happen now. It was always this
way between them.
But it hurt to know that he didn’t want to be with her, that he was driven by some biological programming and not true desire. She
forced herself to look away even as he pulled her into the rough shelter of his arms.
“If you leave now, we don’t have to do this,” she whispered. “I know it’s not me you want.”
He didn’t try to deny her statement and his silence stabbed her in the heart. Closing her eyes, she gathered every bit of strength
she had and pushed him hard in the chest.
“I’m not second prize,” she said harshly as she backed away. “I know I am not Serra and I never will be. You’ve done your duty
— I’m pregnant — so feel free to send someone else to bring my food that way neither of us has to suffer through each other’s
company.”
She expected him to stalk from the room, angry at her rejection or perhaps secretly relieved at her letting him off the hook, but he
shocked her when he simply stared, his eyes burning with even brighter sexual heat.

He walked to her with slow, deliberate steps until he was towering above her. “You are my mate. We are bonded in flesh and
blood. No one will bring you food but me and no one will be between those thighs but me. Am I clear?”
Cassandra’s lip trembled but she thrilled at his harsh words, still she pushed him further. “Why?” she taunted, meeting his stare
with open defiance. “You don’t want me. You’ve made that abundantly clear. I could leave right now and disappear and never
burden you again with my presence.”
She jumped when he snarled. “I would find you wherever you go. And if you threaten to leave again, I will tie you to this bed
naked until you disavow such insanity. Do not play games with me, Cassandra. You will lose.”
Moisture sparked behind Cassandra’s eyes and she hated that he’d managed to make her cry. She ducked her head, not
wanting him to see her tears. “You’ve made your point. Please go.”
“I cannot,” he said in a low, gruff tone. She risked a glance at him and gasped when she saw the lust had not cleared his gaze.
Just knowing that he grew hard as his stare roamed her body was enough to slick her channel with readiness.
She hated that she was primed for his cock at a second’s notice and yet, she eagerly anticipated the moment when he would
push himself deep inside her.
“I need you,” he admitted in a tone she’d never heard him use with her. God, she hoped he wasn’t speaking to Serra and using
her as a poor substitute.
“Me?” she dared, almost hating herself for needing to know.
“Yes, Cassandra,” he groaned, ripping his shirt from his body and shedding his jeans. He palmed the long, thick length that
seemed to pulse as it grew before her eyes and she quickly divested herself of her own clothing.
She knew by heart the feel of his hard, hot shaft as it passed between her nether lips, knew his particular scent as if it’d been
branded on her soul and she didn’t believe she’d ever tire of the feeling or the smell.
His stare centered on her rounding belly and he dropped to his knees before her. He pulled her closer and rested his head on the
soft skin of her stomach.
Nuzzling the flesh, he whispered something in a language she didn’t recognize but it caused a flood of emotion to ripple through
her and steal her breath.

But as quickly as the sweet moment had come, it passed and soon, Tieran had pushed her down to her back and hooked her
legs over his shoulders. She shuddered with delicious delight at the first strong swipe of his tongue across the sensitive, swollen
nub of her clitoris.
She arched and groaned, losing herself to the skill her Alpha wielded with his tongue as he swirled and plundered her most
private place until she was gasping and groaning loud enough to alert the entire house to their activities.
“Tieran!” she cried as every muscle clenched in wonderful unison, creating a tidal wave of pleasure that washed over her in pink
and amber waves of delight. She was still reeling from her orgasm when he pushed himself inside her, going deep enough to
pop a satisfied groan from his lips as he seated himself to the hilt with her legs still thrown over his shoulders.
He met her gaze and thrust against her, his hips flexing with masculine strength against her feminine core. She cried out as
another wave of pleasure rocked her body, sensation crashing down around her, ramping up the crescendo that never failed to
sweep her away.
Tieran’s body swelled, growing larger and fiercer as he rode the razor’s edge of passion. A growl rumbled in his chest that thrilled
her beyond measure and intensified her pleasure. An answering growl sounded in her chest and she squeezed her eyes shut,
losing herself to the blinding carnal sweetness of their joining.
The mattress soundlessly absorbed every savage thrust but the frame shuddered as it knocked the wall, creating a tell-tale
rhythm that told the entire compound what they were doing to each other.
On the heels of that dark, sinful knowledge, Cassandra tumbled over the ledge and hurtled into muscle-clenching pleasure as
her orgasm rattled through her body, erasing all rational thought and sending her drifting through a pleasure-induced haze.
Tieran shouted his release seconds later and flooded her channel with his thick cream, bathing her womb with the essence that
further bonded them with each spurt.
Rolling from her body with a groan, Tieran collapsed beside her, his breathing as harsh as her own as rivulets of sweat dripped
from his temple. He smelled of man and sex — a heady combination.
She could smell their joining in the air and the scent was sweeter than the most sought-after essential oil. She wanted to bury
her nose in his groin and inhale the scent that was quickly becoming the scent that she craved as much as she craved a steak,
dripping red with blood.
Tieran...her Alpha.