Arousing Behavior

It wasn’t difficult for me to find her; Sienna’s tantalizing scent was like a beacon pointing me in her direction.

I reached the women’s restroom and was about to open the door when I heard her moan. The sound was filled with so much need and frustration that I knew exactly what she was craving.

Sienna hadn’t taken a partner for the season yet.

Cursing under my breath, I opened the door and walked in.

~What the fuck am I doing? This is a bad idea.~

She heard me enter because she was suddenly very silent, and with her mouthwatering scent wrapped around me, my voice was taut and deep as I said—

“I can scent your arousal, woman.”

She didn’t reply. Her meekness made me want to tear down the stall’s door, but I shoved the instinct down.

If she was submissive, she wouldn’t do well with this kind of aggression.

I had to choose my words carefully, so with a casual amusement in my voice, I said, “The Haze can hit you in the most unpredictable of places.”

I’d expected her to say something polite, trying to appease the big, bad alpha. Instead, she snapped, “Your point?”

I blinked, my wolf’s ears perking in astonishment. Not submissive after all. Because no one, even Hazed out of their mind, would ever talk to me like that. They simply wouldn’t have the balls.

Even more intrigued than I was before, I decided to test the waters. Taking a different approach, I said sternly, “Well, woman? Why aren’t you taking care of it?”

She had to have heard the command in my voice, the tone I used on my subordinates when I demanded respect.

Now, the question was, how would she react? Would she withdraw? Would she challenge me? Or would she lose her temper in the presence of her alpha?

And I got my answer. “What gives you the right to talk to me that way?” she seethed. “To come into a women’s bathroom, telling me how I should compose myself? Who the hell do you think you are?”

As soon as she challenged me, the Haze engulfed me entirely, consuming me whole, lighting my skin on fire, shooting electricity through my veins, and making my cock swell to a breaking point.

The next few moments were a complete blur. One moment, the stall’s door was there, the next it was ripped open and Sienna was sitting in front of me, wide-eyed, her knees turned inward.

She was so beautiful, with her blazing blue eyes, her skin slick with sweat, her hair framing her stunning face.

When my words came out, they were tensely dripping with desire for her. “Who do I think I am?” I asked, drinking in the sight of her, my mate. “Do you need reminding?”

I didn’t need to scent her to know that her Haze was back in full force; I felt it in every fiber of my being.

She was starving herself of what she wanted so badly, what she needed, and I wanted to give it to her, to satisfy her hunger.

I stepped into the stall as if in a trance. She gasped and stammered, “W-w-what are you doing?”

“You know who I am,” I said, taking another step, my need for her almost unbearable. “Say it.”

She swallowed hard. “You’re the…the alpha.”

I growled. In this moment, the last thing I wanted was to be her alpha, her superior, her leader. Here, with her, I only wanted to be her mate.

“My name.”

She shook her head, her eyes wide, and tried to sidestep me to get out of the stall, but I put up my arms and blocked her exit.

I was Hazed. She was Hazed. She wasn’t submissive. She could handle it. So why was she running away from her desires, her instincts?

“What are you afraid of?” I asked.

She tried to push my hand away, and the small touch was enough to make my Haze swell even more. I grabbed her wrist instinctively.

“Please…let me go.”

Her trembling voice cut through my Haze. She was fighting this for some reason, denying us the pleasure and release we both so obviously craved.

At that quickly, I lost any and all patience. “You dare give your alpha orders?” I snarled.

“I said please, didn’t I?” she shot back.

She did. She had said please. She had begged me to let her go. But the desire in her eyes was pulling me in like a riptide.

For fuck’s sake, I needed to get a grip—but I was so hungry, needing to taste her, just one fucking taste.

I tried to take a breath, but it was a bad idea. I could smell her juices on her fingers, fingers that had probably been inside her before I’d interrupted.

As if in a dream, I brought her still-damp fingers up to my nose and took a deep, long breath, taking in their scent. My Haze almost imploded.

I found myself murmuring, “You were…”

She caught on quickly. “Trying to take care of it. Like you said.”

“Why, when a man can do so much more?” I said, the Haze completely in charge of me, as my eyes dropped to her lips. They parted, and as if she couldn’t help it, she moaned.

I might’ve been an alpha, but that moan reduced me to a mere man.

There was only so much I could take, and having my mate inches away, Hazed and moaning, while doing nothing to ease her hunger, my hunger, was beyond me.

In a flash, I had her pinned against the wall of the stall. She wrapped her legs around my torso without hesitation.

I pushed closer to her, caging her between my chest and the wall, and rested my aching bulge against her parted legs, growling deep from my chest.

She was struggling against my grasp, not to get away but to keep herself from giving in. I couldn’t have that.

Her eyes were filled with pure pleasure, and I wanted her to embrace it.

Succumb to it.

My mind shut down. My thoughts were long gone. I struggled to focus.

All I could see was the spot between her neck and shoulder, that delicate, exposed skin, taunting me, tempting me to claim it.

I pressed my lips to that sweet, sweet spot and licked, tasting every salty drop of her perspiration as if it would quench my thirst for her.

She said something, but it was so breathless, and I was so focused, it eluded me.

Shoving my rigid erection against her damp underwear, I made us both groan.

My hands seemed to have a life of their own, and they went from her wrist down the sides of her luscious body and under her dress to cup the soft skin of her ass.

She started thrusting against me, and her arms flew around my neck as if she couldn’t keep herself in control anymore.

She was exactly where I wanted her to be, exactly how I wanted her to be, and my lips stretched into a satisfied smirk.

She was at the Haze’s mercy now, we both were; she wasn’t going to deny this any longer, and I was going to—

Her sudden enraged snarl made me blink, my vision clearing enough to realize she was no longer thrusting against me in my arms but squirming as if she wanted to end the overwhelming sensations.

But her Haze was relentless.

“What’s the matter, woman?” I asked, the edge of a growl in my voice, frustrated yet amused by her antics.

She glared at me. “Let go,” she said, her teeth clenched. “I mean it this time.”

“You sure about that?” I asked, pressing against her again.

She seemed to be visibly conflicted. “I know you’re the alpha. I know I am supposed to submit. But—”

“You won’t,” I finished for her, a smile making its way to my lips without my consent. “I know. That’s what I like.”

The way she challenged me, it was like a game. A game that she was fucking good at. I’d more than met my match in Sienna.

She frowned, unsure, and I knew the moment had passed.

Even though the Haze was still riding me hard, and my wolf was pleading with me to just take her, an even more primal instinct told me I needed to back off.

So I stood back, shoving down my desperate hunger, and swung open the door, gesturing toward the clear exit.

I might’ve conceded this round, but we weren’t done. Not by a long shot. And when she caught my gaze for a brief moment, I made sure she saw that in my eyes.

She looked down an instant later, demure like the submissive she’d almost tricked me into believing she was.

This was all part of her game—she had the alpha in her palm—I had been left wanting more, and now I’d think of nothing but her scent, her taste, her touch.

My wolf growled as I watched her leave. Her absence was felt even more than before, and we hadn’t finished what we’d come to do.

Contrary to what she might think, I would never force myself on her. Never hurt her. She wanted out, so she was given an out. Even if her Haze told a different story.

But it wasn’t just the sex that my wolf was craving anymore. Our mate was unmarked, in danger of being claimed by another.

The Haze was too strong, and the mating season would bring out the wolves in droves, all of them wanting to make her their own.

Every primal instinct I had was driving me to do the one thing that would provide protection for my mate.

~Mark her.~