His eyebrows hiked up, but his arms snuggled her closer. “I haven’t been anyone’s alpha in a long time. Why do you ask?”
“I’m not even sure what an alpha wolf is, not really.” She bit her lip. “But my wolf is saying you’re my alpha.”
The expression on his face morphed from surprise to an inscrutable expression so intense, it made her heart quiver. “Is that bad?” she asked, afraid she’d said the wrong thing.
“No.” It was a whisper. He pulled her in for a gentle kiss on her forehead, then he cleared his throat. “An alpha is the dominant wolf of a pack. Or a mating pair. Your wolf is saying… she’s saying she wants me to claim you.” His voice trembled, just slightly, and her arms automatically went out to hug him, hold him, beat back whatever was causing this torrent of emotion to run through him. She imagined he had locked away all his feelings for so long, and if he was anything like her at the moment, he was inundated with them. His large hands fanned across her back, holding her tight.
When they loosened, she pulled back to look into his eyes. “There’s so much I don’t know, but I don’t want you to explain if it’s going to… hurt you in some way.”
“It’s all right.” He cupped a hand against her cheek. “Although I will say that having you naked next to me makes pretty much anything bearable.”
She smiled, and her heart did that swelling thing again. Then she gave him a bashful look. “What does it mean to claim someone?” she asked softly. “Did we… I mean, we only made love, right? But it was incredible. Was that you… claiming me?” She shivered slightly at the word, and her wolf was back to panting and wanting Jared between her legs again. The sound of it was so… possessive and male and hot. Whatever it was, she was up for trying it.
She must be way off base because he just grinned. Not unkindly, but it made her duck her head, her cheeks heating with embarrassment.
“Hey,” he said softly, lifting her chin with a finger to peer into her eyes. “Never be ashamed to ask me anything, okay?”
She nodded. There was so much she didn’t know, she couldn’t afford to be embarrassed by that—not if she was going to embrace this shifter thing and live in their world. Because that was the leap she had already taken.
He stroked the long length of her hair spilling over her shoulders. “Claiming is the most intense sexual experience a wolf can have.” He grinned as her eyebrows lifted. “But it’s really much more than that. When a wolf mates, the female pledges her submission to the male, and—”
“Wait, what? Submission? Is that some kind of kinky thing?”
He laughed—the strength of his large chest heaving shook her entire bed, bouncing her along with it.
“Okay, okay,” she said, clinging to him, so he wouldn’t edge away with the shaking. “So, I’m clueless. I’ll shut up now and let you explain.”
He tamed the laughter then quickly rolled her on her back, pinning her to the bed and kissing her. When he let her breathe again, he said, “The only time I want you to shut up, Grace Krepky, is when your mouth is on mine. Or other parts of me.”
A warm gush of heat flooded her swollen and sore nether parts. Holy Christ, what would it be like to go down on Jared River? Her mouth watered just at the thought of it.
“What were we talking about, again?” she asked. “I’m feeling the need to have other parts of you in my mouth.” She gave him a dead serious look.
His eyes hooded. “You have no idea what that’s doing to me.”
“Let’s find out.” She licked her lips, hungry for him.
He groaned and rolled off her, but then drew her close again, cuddling. “Sweet Grace, we’ve already spent too much time alone in your room. We’ll have to get dressed soon. And wash the sex off us. Human ability to scent isn’t as strong, but it would take an idiot not to realize what we’ve been doing. And your father’s not an idiot.”
Her father. Right. She was going to need to tell him about all of this… at least the part where she was a shifter. But she had to make a plan before rushing into that. And before she could make a plan, she needed to know more about wolves.
She tried to put on a serious face and ignore the fact that an extremely hot shifter was lying naked in bed next to her. And that she wanted to have sex with him, many different ways, again and again. As soon as possible. “All right. Back to business. Tell me about this claiming thing. And I have other questions after that, but I’ll try not to interrupt.”