The Alphas’ P**n Star Mate

"Help?" His crooked smile as he tilted his face to the side said he didn't quite believe what I was saying. "You know someone who could fill in for me?" "I just might," I smiled up at him, half-spinning my body back and forth teasingly.

He chuckled deeply, then shook his head. "Nah. I mean, I would love to. Absolutely. But Rodger made it clear tonight you were not to be fucked with."

"But I'm offering." I walked on my tiptoes closer to Darren, getting so close that my chest was grazing against his abdomen. "You would be helping me out too." "Helping you out?" He lifted an eyebrow, his breath quickening when my nipples hardened through the thin fabric of my sweatshirt. "You have an itch you need scratched?" "Something like that," I bit my bottom lip.

His knuckles brushed under my chin, then he angled my head to the side, staring at my mark. "Does this have anything to do with that itch?"

"Yes," I breathed. I wasn't going to deny it. When Darren's eyes hardened over, and I could feel the impending "no" about to leave his full lips, I said, "He hurt me for a year, Darren. Not just me, but my wolf. She was tortured every day. I....I won't let him get away with it. I knew he didn't like me, but my wolf didn't deserve anything she had to endure. I just want to give him a small taste of what he did to her."

Darren stood silent, quietly tracing over the mark embedded in my neck. There were no sparks. Nothing was forcing me to submit my body to him. I was freely choosing this, which made me want it even more. It was never about my choice before. If Cameron could use the bond as a weapon, so could I.

"Fine," Darren said, opening his door and ushering me in. "Come in. I'll get you a drink and we can talk for now."

His apartment was as spacious as mine, but it was clear it was shared. I looked around in awe of the clash in decor. There was a lot of Asian influence in the decorating, but then there were large paintings of thick forests and deer antlers on the wall. My eyes stopped when they saw many carved wooden masks on one of the walls. There were about a dozen of them, and all were ornately painted. Some were strung with beads and other head-dressings as well.

"What are those?" I asked, pointing to the wall.

Darren looked in the direction of my pointed finger, handing me a glass of water. "The masks? They were from my tribe. Well, my mother's tribe. She collected them her entire life. When the tribe kicked me out after her death, I brought them with me." "Kicked you out?" I asked. "What did you do to get kicked out?"

"I was born," he shrugged. "My father was not a bear. He wasn't a shifter at all. The chief was happy to get rid of me when my mom passed away a few years back. We didn't have much, but my mom always treasured these. I treasured her so I kept them." "I'm sorry for your loss," I murmured, still staring at the masks. Each one was different. They were all well taken care of. No dust or grime on any of them.

"Don't be sorry. She's in the spirit world with my father now. My father was her mate and was killed by our chief for being human. It had been a long time coming, my mother's death. She loved me, but I could tell she wasn't happy without her mate. There's a picture of them."

He pointed to a picture on the shelf around the TV of a beautiful Native American woman with deep skin and silky black hair down to her waist hugging the middle of a big black man with an infectious smile. His eyes were staring down at her with so much love and adoration and she was looking at him the same. You could see that they were mad for one another.

"She was beautiful."

"She was," Darren agreed. "She was once the envy of the tribe. If it wasn't for our chief's cruelty she would always have been this happy. The bastard took that from her."

"I'm so sorry," I said again, touching his arm. I grew up without any parents. No one told me anything about them. I think it would have been sadder if I had known who they were, because then I would have known what I had lost.

"It's fine. Really. I'm happy my mom found her peace." Darren grabbed my hand and pulled me to the couch. "So. On to a different topic...." He wiggled his eyebrows at me. "You want to fuck a big bad bear to hurt your mate?"