She stopped, humiliated.
She wanted to clutch the now-slipping bra to her breasts and run into the woods. Shame made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. "A mistake, apparently."
Vic was still breathing hard, still furious. "This is a set-up, isn't it?" His shoulders heaved with each angry breath.
She remained silent.
"Fuck, Estrella!" Vic turned and stomped away, snarling. "Do you have any idea of how fucking worried I've been? Here I thought that you - one of our females and near a dangerous mating heat - was hurt and in trouble. I've been mentally figuring out what the fuck to do if you need medical help, and you're just trying to seduce me?"
Bitter disappointment mixed with the shame. She reached behind her back and tried to resnap her bra, blinking back humiliated tears. "I didn't think--"
"No, you didn't," he roared again. "What if you were in tiger form and you were injured? What am I supposed to do? The Alliance doc can only do so much. Do I fucking call an animal hospital and hope they don't try to put you down? A fucking ambulance? What?" He continued pacing furiously, his hands clenched into fists that were so tight she could see white at his knuckles. "Never, ever fucking do this to me again, do you understand?"
"I understand," she whispered. God, she felt like a bug. An ant.
A really, really horny ant.
She closed her eyes, determined not to stare lasciviously at his naked muscles any longer. It was clear that she and Jayde had been all wrong about this -- Vic was just thinking of her like an alpha thought of everyone in his clan. There was nothing more to it, and she'd embarrassed herself and jeopardized her place in the clan.
This was officially going down as the worst heat ever. Maybe she'd get lucky and never go into heat ever again.
"I'm your alpha," he snarled, pushing toward her. "Your safety and well-being are always at the front of my mind. You can't fucking jerk my chain and expect me to come running. Do you understand?"
"Yes," she said meekly.
"Look at me, Estrella."
She squeezed a cautious eye open.
His jaw was clenched harder than she'd ever seen it, and his eyes were so dark with anger they were almost black. As if to take the edge off of that, snow was falling in big, fat flakes now and dotted his hair and eyebrows.
"Never do that to me again," he rasped.
Yeah. She got it. She'd alarmed him. She yanked on the back clasp of her bra, determined to re-snap it, but her fingers were trembling from a mixture of the heat, nerves, and shame, and she couldn't quite do it. She gave up, crossing her arms over her breasts instead. "I'm sorry, Vic. I wasn't trying to scare you. I just wanted..."
Her voice trailed off with embarrassment. Now was not the time to confess her crush on him.
"The heat's clearly affecting you," he said after a moment, dark eyes glittering as he studied her face. "I'll forgive this lapse of judgment. It's clear you're desperate right now."
"Desperate?" She echoed. Did he just call her...desperate? Ouch.
"Approaching me for your heat. I must be your only option left. I just don't understand why you didn't pick one of the men I brought for you."
Well, it was a good thing she had no pride left after this debacle. Estrella shook her head, tamping down her own irritation. "Which one? The asshole? Or the chauvinist?"
His lips twitched with amusement, some of his anger receding. His arms crossed over his chest, echoing her own protective stance. She tried not to notice that he was really, really naked…and that it was incredibly arousing.
And not just to her, if the wood he was sporting was any indication.
But he was still talking, still arguing. "So you didn't like Nelson or Montgomery? I admit they're not my favorites, but they're both good candidates for a female in heat. Young, relatively attractive, tiger clan." He shrugged. “What more do you need?”
"Yeah, well thanks for that stunning criteria list, but I am not having the baby of either of those douchebags, much less sleeping with one of them."
"What about Cory? He seemed like a nice guy."
"His last name is Janitor, Vic," she cried plaintively. "If I'm picking men for ridiculous reasons, I don't want my baby to have a toilet bowl last name."
His brows furrowed. "Ridiculous reasons? Your heat's not ridiculous."
"But me picking men based on their looks and the fact that they can grow the same kind of tail as you? That's not ridiculous?" She sighed heavily, staring off into the woods. "It doesn't matter. They're not the ones I want."
"So who do you want?" The question was low, husky.
The words froze in her mouth. Vic had made it quite obvious that she'd made a bad call in inviting him out here. Like hell she was going to blabber about how much she wanted him. Her mouth remained mutinously shut.
"It's me, isn't it?"
Estrella remained silent, but she could feel the blush rising on her face.
"Fucking hell, Estrella. You're kidding me."
"I'm sorry that grosses you out," she cried. "Freaking sue me for having a crush on my alpha!"
"Goddamn it, why didn't you ask?"
"Hello!” She shouted at him, gesturing at her unclasped bra, her lacy panties. She felt like an idiot. “What do you think I'm doing?"
He charged forward. Before she could back away, his mouth claimed hers in a hot, hard, wild kiss.
Stunned disbelief rocked her. Vic was kissing her? The surprise of it almost overwhelmed her out-of-control hormones...
Almost.
A bolt of lust shot through her body, so strong it nearly knocked her over. She clung to him, her mouth parting under his hard lips. The kiss he was giving her was not polite, or tender. It was savage and hungry and punishing.
And she freaking loved it.
Vic's hands curled around her waist, dragging her nearly naked body against him. He rumbled low in his throat as his tongue slid against hers, as if pleased by the taste of her. She felt the stab of his cock against the crux of her thighs.
Oh god, this was everything she'd wanted. If this is a dream, don't let me wake up.
Then, he pulled away from her, the kiss ending so abruptly that she staggered against him.
"What is it?" She asked, the heat pounding through her veins.
Vic's eyes glittered with lust as he stared down at her. "Just tell me one thing. Am I the last resort?"
Estrella stared up at him, at the eyes as feverish as her own. The strong, stubborn set of his jaw. The dark hair that waved over his forehead. The big shoulders and strong arms covered in tattoos. A low moan of pleasure escaped her, just from looking at him. "God. Not in the slightest." She leaned forward, pushing her breasts against his hard chest, desperate to scrape her aching nipples against him. "I've always liked you, but I thought you didn't like me."
"Not like you?" He looked incredulous for a moment. "I practically browbeat you to join the tiger clan instead of the lions because I wanted to be around you. As it is, I've had to force myself to leave you alone since you never showed any interest before."
It was her turn to be surprised. "You wanted me? Even though I'm a liger?"
"Estrella," he whispered huskily, and his hand moved to ensnare her hair in his fist, an action that made a new rush of wetness dampen her panties. He slowly pulled her forward, until her lips were barely brushing against his. Her breasts flattened against his chest. "You're smart and utterly gorgeous."
"I'm six foot two. Most men don't want a giant in their bed."
"Their loss," he growled, then brushed his lips lightly over hers. "Do you want me for me, then? I want you to say it."
"I want you, Vic. So, so badly." Her hands slid up his arms, caressing his biceps. A purr nearly erupted from her when she felt how firm they were. "Are you sure you want me?"