CHAPTER FOUR

NOLAN POV

Christmas was only a few days away. I was trying so hard to finish my last-minute holiday shopping and get the cabin ready. I was rich, so I could hire people to do most things. But I never let anyone else handle tasks for my daughter.

I knew an Alpha who did that. He was always surprised by the gifts “he’d bought” for his wife and kids. Gifts should be personal. If a man couldn’t buy gifts for his family, he was a terrible husband and father.

I had planned to finish everything yesterday, but I got sidetracked. Who would have thought the woman I bumped into could completely mess up my plans? I was already in a bad mood, just like now, because I had waited so long to shop. The holidays always seemed to sneak up on me. So, I was at the stationery store for little things to put in my daughter’s stocking.

Yes, I still filled a stocking for her, even though she was a grown woman now. We were going to the house in the woods to have family time. I was set on making it special, just like I had done every year since I won custody of her when she was small.

Even if it meant knocking someone down.

I had stormed into the store yesterday but I knocked a woman down. It was my fault, but I was already angry, and I started to blame her. When I tried to help her she slapped my hand away and told me off, I was strangely affected by that small reaction when it should have made me angrier.

She was right that I usually dated women who were 'shapey'—meaning women with big curves, the kind who looked like models. Those women were simple. Shallow. Easy to have a night with and then forget.

Gwen was not like that. She was messy and complicated. It made no sense that the more we talked, the more I liked her. I thought she just wanted me to have a drink with her and then leave.

But I was surprised she agreed to have a drink with me, and then let me take her to the hotel. As I thrust into her tight pussy last night, I was shocked again to find out she was a virgin. She was incredibly tight, and she made me cum after just a few hard thrust. It was over too quickly, so I convinced her to stay for food, and then I took her again.

Just like outside the bar, I didn’t want the night to end, even after we were done. It felt strange and a little scary that I wanted more. I actually thought about asking for her number so I could call her. If she had asked me to stay, I might have, and that was a rule I never broke.

Luckily, she said she had to get home. I offered to drive her, but she said she was fine. The snow had stopped, and her car, though old, had four-wheel drive.

The next morning, I woke up with a hard-on and happily thought about the night before as I touched myself. It was hard to decide what to think about most. I’d never been with a woman with her kind of soft curves before. It was a huge turn-on.

Her breasts were large, which wasn't new for the women I dated. What was new was that they were real. I focused on them, imagining myself covering her chest with my cum.

I got up, showered, and dressed. I made breakfast and tried to call my daughter. I loved her more than anything, but she was so hard to reach sometimes. Oh well. I would see her at the cabin. That’s when I remembered I still had shopping to do. And that I had planned to go to the cabin today to decorate.

I was so tense from the experience that I went to the gym. The place was surprisingly full for two days before Christmas.

“Nolan.” Watt, my business partner, my second-in-command (my 'beta'), and my best friend, came up to me.

“Watt, I didn’t know you were coming here.”

He shrugged. “I thought you were out of town with the clingy cat.” That nickname was cute when my daughter was two, but not at twenty-two. But Watt was her godfather and closer to her than anyone besides me, so he got away with it.

“I’m leaving later. I wanted to get a workout first.”

“Erica is here.”

Oh, great. Erica was fit, strong, and looked like a doll. If I met her in a bar, I would definitely have gone for it. But I never slept with clients, and she couldn't seem to get that into her head.

“Maybe I’ll work instead.” I walked toward the office.

Watt followed me. “I tried to call you last night.”

“I was out. I turned my phone off.”

Watt laughed. “Only you would hook up with a woman while Christmas shopping.”

I shrugged. “I’m lucky that way.” I thought back to Gwen. Yeah. I was lucky to have found her.

Watt got serious. “Seriously, man, I need to talk to you. The guys are starting to ask questions.”

I stopped at the office door. “About what?”

“About us,” Watt lowered his voice. “The pack. You’ve been distracted lately. You smell… different. And that woman you were with last night. Did you notice anything… special about her?”

I opened the office door and walked in. “She was just her, Watt. That’s about as special as it got. Tight, though. And she made me come fast.”

Watt sighed, closing the door behind him. “Nolan, listen to me. I know your type. You like the easy ones. But you spent the entire night with this one. That’s not like you. And last night was the full moon, man. You weren’t here for the run.”

I sat at my desk and rubbed my face. The truth was, I had felt a strange pull last night, a deep, animal hunger that wasn't just about sex. It was a need to claim. To claim Gwen as our mate.