Healed by the Alpha (Hunted Book Two)

Chapter Twenty Seven

Dominick

My early morning run wasn't the same this morning, this morning it felt more vibrant, more full of energy. This morning I couldn't stop the smile that was plastered over my face. This morning Emily was out with me. "You know," he started to say, panting between each breath, "I don't understand why you'd do this for fun." I rolled my eyes, "I don't do this for fun, I do this as part of patrol for keeping the pack safe." She paused and leaned over, her hands on her knees. "But people actually do this for fun. Like legitimately running for fun."

I let out a huge belly laugh, the noise waking up any crows that were hiding in the nearby trees. "Some people say you get a high from running like this." She looked at me confused, "a high?" How could I put this so that her poor innocent mind would understand? "When you run so much, there gets to a point where it suddenly gets easier and you feel really really good about it." I walked towards where she had stopped, "it's like the feeling you get when you're around someone incredibly attractive."

She raised her eyebrow and stood straight, "it is?" I didn't stop my stalking as I got closer to her, she noticed this and started to walk backwards. "It's the feeling you get from being close to that person, the adrenaline that rushes through your body when you are near them." I was looking straight down into her eyes, but I didn't stop backing her up until her back hit the tree. Her eyes were almost glowing with the anticipation of my words. "It's the feeling you get when you want nothing more than to rip-off their clothes, little varg."

Her eyes widened and her heartbeat picked up speed, I knew she was feeling it too. My hands touched her shoulders and moved down her body towards her hands. When I got to her wrists, I gripped them and pulled them up over her head, holding them together with one of my hands. "It's the feeling you get from touching them, from wanting to be near them." She let out a shaky breath, "like this?" Without a second thought, her leg had snaked up around my waist and she'd pulled me closer. I lost my grip on her hands and fell into her instead.

I looked down to check if she was okay but she was just staring up at me, "you're not the only one who knows how to play." Our faces were close enough that my nose could easily touch hers. So I did what any respectable alpha would do in my position, I leaned further down and claimed her lips. They were ready and waiting, plump and delicious. They were soft and easy to be hypnotised by and I had absolutely no way of escaping. I groaned as her teeth clutched onto my bottom lip, my delicate skin at her mercy. She sucked slightly before sliding my lip out of her mouth.

As soon as I was free, I caught straight back onto her lips again. I moved against her, my body wanting nothing more than to finish what we'd started last night. My lips savoured every taste of her, her mouth was open and incredibly responsive. She pushed her hips towards mine and my dick pushed through my jogging trousers, desperate to be near her mouth again. My thoughts clouded as I remembered the way I had felt in her mouth. The way she'd taken my mouth fucking like it was nothing more than a kiss.

I pulled back suddenly, "that adrenaline you feel right now?" She blinked you at me, surprised that I'd stopped. "That's the runners high you'll start to feel the more you run." She pushed off of the tree, lust still apparent in her eyes, "if this is what running feels like to you, no wonder you do it every morning." I smiled down at her and motioned for us to carry on, "running could never make me feel as good as having your lips on mine." She blushed and picked up her pace again. "Then I don't understand why we even got out of bed this morning."

I shook my head and laughed, "it's not about getting a high, it's about protection of the pack. I enjoy running, but if I could choose between that and having you cuddled up next to me? I'd pick the latter every time." She turned her face away from me, trying to hide the huge grin attached to her mouth. It didn't matter, I'd already seen it. The rest of the run was spent awkwardly trying to adjust myself, it didn't help with the non-stop thoughts of Emily pressed against a tree. Any tree we passed was a possible contender, but she was focused now, she was determined to get home and drink her hot chocolate.

I pulled out my phone when we got closer to the pack house. Three missed calls from Malik. What could he possibly want at this time in the morning? I was about to message him back when Emily chimed next to me, "oh look, Malik is up too." Sure enough, my beta was standing at the back of the house, a steaming cup in both hands. As we approached, I asked, "what's got you up this early?" He smiled at both of us before spilling whatever it was he was excited about, "apart from the fact that I love being your personal butler?"

I rolled my eyes and took the coffee from him, I was about to tell him to spit it out when his excitement won over. "We're going to find Ferdinand today." With all of the excitement over the past few days, I'd kind of forgotten about the moon goddess's supposed lackey. "You've set up a meeting?" I asked him, straight to business. "10am sharp, I've already given him the address to Emily's parents summer house and told him to meet us alone."

Emily was listening to the conversation, I could tell she was plotting, but I had no idea what she could possibly be plotting about. "You okay?" I asked her, she snapped herself out of whatever trance she'd put herself under and smiled, "yeah I'm great, we better hurry up and get breakfast though!" I sniffed the air and sure enough, I could smell cinnamon buns and pastries of all kinds. I looked towards Malik who had a sheepish look on his face, "you really are like my butler aren't you? Poor Amilie is going to be out of a job soon."

He laughed, "I'm not going to make a habit out of it, but I thought you'd need your energy today. Just in case.." He didn't have to finish his sentence, I'd already gone over all of the different ways this could fuck up. I  should really be leaving Malik at home with the pack, but something sounded off about Ferdinand and I wasn't about to go in without my heavy artillery. I looked towards Emily's retreating figure, I had a reason to want to come home now.