Page 1 of Alpha’s Conquest

Prologue

Casey

I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be doing this. Not with him.

Every thought I had about turning around and going back home didn’t stop my feet from moving.

I wanted to resist this. I wanted to never see him again. It would be easier. I could pretend this never happened. But then… he would be gone. Then everything that happened between us would end. I would never feel his arms around me. I would never lie beside him, our bodies spent, feeling content for the first time in my life.

His body. His scent. The way he made me feel. It was consuming. Even when I knew I should say no, I couldn’t stop saying yes.

I’d made it to the sixth floor of the hotel without even thinking about it. A surge of intense emotions washed over me, and I couldn’t tell if it was dread over what I was doing, or anticipation of what awaited me once I got there.

Despite all my reservations, all my doubts, and the dim voice in my head screaming at me to stop, everything ceased to exist when I saw the door number. Room 607. My anxiety fled like a distant memory, and I raised my fist to knock without an ounce of hesitation.

He answered, his sculpted chest bare with only a loosely tied towel around his waist. His short, red curls were damp. I wanted to lick every droplet of water off his body. I could barely resist the urge as another drop slid down the hair on his chest.

He stepped to the side, holding the door open for me. “Come in.”

Walking past him, my heart sped at the sound of the door closing and the locks flipping into place, closing us in the room together. I turned, gulping, trying to muster up some level of courage. “I…”

The words died on my lips when he faced me and closed the distance between us. Water droplets dripped from his naked skin onto my shirt. The air was thick with his potent, earthy pheromones, making my head spin. The only consolation I had as every protest left my body was that he wanted me just as desperately as I wanted him.

My Alpha leaned down over me, his damp red curls brushing his forehead as his lips hovered over mine. Our breaths quickened, nearly matching each other, as desire started to overtake us. I wanted to feel his body beneath my fingers, to brush my hands over the thick red hairs on his chest.

“Adam,” I whispered when his lips almost brushed mine. I was already pleading, already begging.

His responding growl sent a shiver up my spine. He raised a reproachful eyebrow, and I knew I would pay for my mistake. “We talked about this.”

I gulped again, my eyes falling to the wet sheen on his lips. I wanted his lips on mine. I wanted his cock deep inside me. “Sir.”

“Better.” He bent to pick me up in his arms, and the towel fell off his hips as he carried me to the bed.

ONE

Casey

Casey

It’s the simple things in life that matter most.

The aroma of coffee in the morning. When the air is that perfect cozy warmth, no matter how hot it is outside. Having just enough pillows that you feel hugged from all sides. Soft sheets beneath your fingers, and the smell of fresh cookies in the air. Normal people would dismiss those things, maybe not even notice them, but not me.

The best thing of all was the scent of my Alpha boyfriend all over my pillow. Mmm, forest. Trees. Like camping in the woods. It wasn’t very potent, even without an inhibitor in my system, but I loved the way he smelled. I pressed my nose to the fabric, trying to catch a deeper whiff of him.

Footsteps approached from the hallway, accompanied by a metallic ping from a spoon hitting the side of a bowl. I rolled over to see Marshall in the doorway of our bedroom, holding a bowl of batter in one hand. He was wearing a gingham apron, and nothing else.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” he greeted with a grin. His short red hair was unruly and tousled, as if he’d woken up and went straight to the kitchen to make breakfast. “You finally have a half-day off from work and you decide to spend it sleeping.”

I knew he wasn’t actually upset about it, if that teasing grin on his freckled cheeks was anything to go by. I rolled into his pillow, burying my face in the trees. “Sorry I’m being such a downer. I’m still exhausted from last week.”

The bowl clicked again, closer this time, and the bed dipped from his weight as he sat beside my feet. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Casey. It happens to everyone. I know it wasn’t my fault either, so please don’t think I’m angry with you.”

“I don’t think that,” I confessed, and it was the truth.

“Maybe…” Marshall’s hand found my foot, and he gently stroked my ankle through the blankets. “Maybe we need to be more adventurous. There could be an unknown side of you, with hidden desires and unfulfilled fantasies.”

“Ahh, so I have secret kinks I don’t know about, huh? You think that’s why my heat lasted for four days, because I wasn’t being choked or tied up?” I peeked out from the pillow to see him shrug, his eyes focused on the bowl of batter on his knees. “I doubt adding handcuffs to our sex life will matter much when I’m in heat. You could do anything to me in that state and I’d enjoy it.”