Chapter 8 : Volatile

*Gemma*

"Take off your clothes," Connor barked savagely, storming into the room.

I jerked to my feet and planted them firmly on the ground, but before he could reach me, Raisa put herself between us, slamming her palms into Connor's chest to stop his rampage.

"Alpha! What happened? I just sewed that lovely—"

He shoved her aside as easily as if she weighed nothing. But she was too graceful of a she-wolf to simply fall aside. She recovered within a second and pushed me behind her, her own feet planted in front of the male who stole her and murdered her family.

Surprisingly, he jerked to a stop. Even though he was a full foot taller than her and twice as broad, the Alpha looked down at her as if he wanted to obey but was very close to tipping over the edge.

Raisa held power over him. Did he know it, or was he just one member of the fooled audience?

She brushed a piece of damp hair off his scarred cheek, her fingers caressing his jaw. "What happened, my lord?" she crooned. "Shall we bathe together again? Just think of it…" Her voice dropped to a whisper as she lifted herself onto her toes to skim her lips over his throat. "Your palms over my breasts, sliding down to my thighs. I don't mind where your fingers go…"

For a moment, Connor's eyes glazed as she tricked him into imagining the fantasy, but then he shook his head and snapped his teeth in her face. "I know what you like. I want to know what she likes."

Raisa spun on me. Her voice was still sultry when she demanded, "Well, girl? What do you like? What do you desire from our gracious Alpha? He can make your dreams come true, and you don't have to do a thing."

Goaded on by Raisa's dark shift, he curled his lip over his sharp canines. "I'll do whatever you want me to and more… what's her name?"

"Gemma."

Connor laughed huskily. "Gemma. You look more like a waif than a wolf. Raisa, make her eat more than the others. You know I don't like them skinny."

"Of course," purred Raisa. "She must be hungry. She goes to the kitchen to eat lamb, and you eat me. How does that sound, my lord?" she asked, stroking her fingers across his collarbone. "It's far too late in the night to be pestering her. She came all the way from the East just to please you.... Let her have one good night's sleep before she lets you devour her."

"Devour," Connor repeated with hunger.

Enough with the eating, I wanted to shout. But Raisa's pointed look that only I could see told me I shouldn't. Instead, I bit my tongue and said, "I taste delicious after eight hours of rest."

Her widened eyes told me that she couldn't believe the audacity of the comment.

"I'm hungry now," Connor growled, forcefully pushing Raisa away. "Take that damn dress off, or I'll rip it off. You would like that, wouldn't you?"

Raisa was struggling to fend him back, trying to stall. "You're not a virgin, are you?"

"No," I said.

Connor's grin widened. "Good. Maybe you can show me something only Easterners know."

I'd lost my virginity when I was sixteen to an Epsilon male who left to live in Lyrehaven after his graduation. We'd hooked up fairly often before that, but never really made an official relationship of it. I knew early on that I only liked him sexually. Honestly, he had a very dull personality, but he did know how to make me moan.

Connor Herrick was a conqueror. He conquered land, packs, and weaker shifters. He conquered lovers, too. If he had a harem, that meant he was a good lover, having slept with Goddess-knew how many females.

Meanwhile, I'd come from a seaside village and only knew one male.

"I doubt it," I said, already forgetting the filter Raisa wanted me to have.

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Let me teach her first, Alpha," she said, her voice taking on an edge, "so she may pleasure you in all the ways you like."

Connor shucked off his shirt. "Let her look at what you're stalling from."

I hadn't had sex in two years, a fact that Cari had pointed out many times, rubbing it into my face despite her not getting any action lately either. We'd often sit on the square's fountain and shamelessly ogle any male who wandered by. There had surprisingly been a decent amount of good-looking shifters in Opal Springs.

Even though I'd only been with one male, I knew what I liked and had a list of what I'd always wanted to try but couldn't. And if I thought my packmates' bodies looked good… I obviously hadn't seen the Beast of the West's because Moon Goddess smite me and my traitorous instincts, he was a real specimen to ogle at.

Connor Herrick, the most dangerous, volatile male on two different continents, wanted to have sex with me—rather, he wanted me to have sex with him. I'd taken Lynn's place to be a breeder; that involved sex. I'd said I didn't mind giving him an heir if he could show me the rest of the world.

Well, there were two problems with my silly expectations. One, I'd been half-joking when I said that first thing. Two, it didn't seem like the West had much to offer except dust and war.

I'd been half-serious about the heir part, partly because I hadn't had sex in two years and my body craved it from someone. Anyone. It was stupidly desperate, and now I realized I'd bit off more than I could chew if the male who would be the father of my pups was a warmonger.

I wasn't an actor like Raisa was… but I could try, at least a little bit. I could let Connor pleasure me, and I could pleasure him, and I'd work my way into getting something else out of it. All I really wanted was freedom from my boring, going-nowhere life.

Was this my chance to be someone completely new? Someone reckless who embraced the archaic?

Maybe it was because I wondered if becoming one with Connor's magnificent body would be an education in more things than one.

Or maybe I was just slap-happy and needed those eight hours of sleep.

There was, unfortunately, no denying that my interest was piqued by Connor's upper half. That was just pathetic, being turned on by just a torso.

But it was a nice torso. Connor was pure muscle, tan skin glistening with the spilled alcohol, scars of varying sizes and lengths flecking his pectorals, ribs, and sides. My eyes traveled from his collarbone all the way down to his low-slung pants that didn't cover the veiny V between his hip bones.

Sweet Goddess above, smite me and my damn desires twofold. My hometown fling was nothing compared to this Alpha.

Connor and Raisa were both watching me, waiting for a reaction bigger than my widened eyes. I wasn't sure what they expected me to do or say, but words were failing me when I looked just a little lower than his hip bones. Drunk or not, lusting for me or Raisa or someone else, his c*ck was hard.

"Do you like what you see?" Connor asked, his voice rough. "I can show you more."

When he started to tug his waistband down, Raisa put herself in front of him, blocking him from my view. "If you're going to do this, do it elsewhere."

"Killjoy," Connor growled, then barked at me, "Go wait in your room, girl."

Raisa's eyes flashed with warning, but we both knew I had to obey. I bolted into motion, ducking around the larger-than-life shifters to hurry out the door and into my assigned room in the harem's quarters, which Raisa had pointed out to me on the way in. It looked more like a prison cell. I left the door cracked just an inch.

I sat at the edge of the bed with my heart pounding. What was Connor going to do? Was he going to abandon pursuing me and have sex with Raisa, or was he just going to follow me here and drop his pants?

It came down to one question and its follow-up inquiry: did I want to have sex with Connor Herrick? There was a difference between f*cking and making love, and he didn't seem like the type to know there was. Males in general seemed not to care as long as they got what they wanted.

I buried my face in my hands and tried to untie the giant knot of thoughts in my head at the same time trying to divide my morality back into right and wrong.

I was disgusted with him and his reign of terror. Just knowing he killed Raisa's family in front of her—even if she hadn't sounded particularly upset about her father—was enough for me to be completely repulsed. And I was disgusted with myself for even considering wanting to have sex with a murderer.

Then I wondered: if I refused to give him what he wanted… would he kill me too?

I had no plans of dying anytime soon, especially not on foreign soil by the claws or teeth of a dictator.

I dropped my hands. As long as it wasn't Lynn. I had to keep reminding myself of that to keep me grounded when I wondered how I'd ended up in this messed-up situation: I was here because I had to protect my cousin.

I stiffened when the door creaked. When it banged open and Connor stood there with his shirt still off and his pants zipper all the way down, I jerked to my feet. "Alpha," I breathed.

He crossed the room in three strides, taking my face between his calloused hands, and I thought that he would forcibly kiss me, but instead, he gently rested his forehead to mine and murmured, "I'm sorry, love, I let the wine get to my head."

Connor's breath was hot and reeked of a wine that I wasn't familiar with, his body pressed to mine so I could feel every hard ridge. One hand slid into my hair, fingers tangling in the strands, tugging on the ribbon. "Aeryn."

Underneath the alcohol, I scented his arousal. Wolf shifters were libidinous creatures. We gave off certain smells that attracted one to another, and it was impossible to ignore that pull. It was body over mind, making even the most sensible shifters dizzy with desire whether they liked the other or not.

"Connor," I breathed. "That's not my name."

That was a mistake.

He released me roughly and took several steps back. His gold eyes were glazed but they burned with a different kind of fire—the kind females feared, not enraptured by—when he growled, "My consorts do not address me casually. We will continue this when you find your manners."