Who's Your Alpha? by Vicky Burkholder Page B

the expensive clothes lying in a heap next to her car. The cold breeze forced a shiver from her, as did her nerves. Then she shifted.
    After a short run, she stopped in the middle of the same clearing where she’d fought Ruby the night before. What if David decided he didn’t want her after their fight?
    He wasn’t there. She was sure he would be. Sure he’d be sitting there.
    She howled her frustration to the stars.
    And was answered from the direction she’d just come from.
    She howled again.
    Another answer. Closer. Then short barks, growing ever closer.
    Then there he was, tongue lolling, as he trotted up to her. She sat there. Waiting to see what he would do. He sniffed her, and then backed off and sat watching her.
    The hell with this. Sunny shifted back to human.
    She stood there, the cold air puckering her skin and drawing her nipples to nubs and waited. A very long minute later, David also shifted.
    “Why are you here?” he asked. “I thought you’d be enjoying your night with Mack.”
    “Mack is with someone else. He and I are friends, but that’s it. I was going to give myself to you as the husky. But I couldn’t.”
    Confusion, and defeat, crossed his face. “You don’t want me?”
    “What? Of course I do! Damn. This isn’t going right. David, I was stupid this morning. I wasn’t thinking straight. But I need to know if you want me because I’m Sunny, or because I’m the alpha bitch.”
    He wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her in heat. “Sunny, I don’t care if you’re the alpha or the omega. If you’re a bitch or a witch. If you’re smart or dumb. All I care about is you. Sunny. The only girl I’ve ever wanted.” Then he kissed her.
    And finally Sunny knew.
    When she could breathe again, she felt him shivering in spite of the heat between them. “David?”
    “Hmmm?” His hands massaged her back down to her butt and stayed there.
    “It’s freezing out here.”
    “Yeah, but you warm me up.”
    “Maybe, but wouldn’t your cabin be more comfortable?”
    He laughed. “Yeah, probably. Race you.”
    They both shifted and raced through the trees. Once back, they shifted again and Sunny gathered her clothes from where she’d dropped them. David led her inside. He pushed the door shut, took her things from her and tossed them on a table, and then pulled her into his arms.
    “Better?”
    She growled low in her throat. His interest was very apparent and she palmed him, smiling when he gasped. Not to be outdone, he stroked her, teasing and tempting. Somehow they made their way toward the sofa, but they collapsed onto the soft rug in front of the fireplace. Though she hadn’t had many men, Sunny was no neophyte when it came to sex, but what she experienced with David went so far beyond anything she’d ever had. Her orgasm left her shuddering and weak, but oh, so satisfied.
    “Sunny?” David lay next to her, holding her close.
    “Hmmm?”
    “I love you.”
    She raised up on one elbow to study his face. And saw the truth. “I love you too.”
    “Will you stay with me? Marry me?”
    She sighed and lay back against his arm. “How ’bout if we take it one step at a time? There are a lot of things to think about. I’d need to find a job here, move, all that stuff.”
    “Don’t you want me?”
    “Of course I do. How can you even ask?” She already knew the real answer, but part of her still held back. “Give me time, David. I know there’s no one else for me, but—”
    He sat up and pulled her to him. “But you’ve been through a lot in the last two days. I’ve waited ten years. I suppose I can wait a little longer.”
    Sunny thought over the possibilities. What did she really have to go back to? Her life in Pittsburgh was one of existence, not living. In the past two days, she’d felt more alive than she had in ten years. The mountain was where she belonged. And David was the one man she could commit to with no regrets or even minor qualms. Then she thought about Rommy