Twin Alphas: Desired (A BBW Paranormal Romance)

by Georgette St. Clair

  Vita blushed, playing with her sunflower necklace. “That was unlike me. I don’t ask men out like that.”

  Ajax and Barron exclaimed dismayed glances.

  “The beer was drugged,” Barron said. “That explains everything.”

  Karlie flashed him a look of alarm. “Who would want to drug your beer? And why?”

  Barron cleared his throat. “We...Let’s just say that someone has it in for our family, and we can’t discuss why.”

  “Does this have anything to do with why you rushed off and ditched Mackenzie last year?” Karlie asked.

  “Maybe. Kind of.” Ajax glanced at Vita. “You went up to the bar and ordered the beer, and the waiter brought it to our table…did you notice him checking us out in any way? Or the bartender? Did you notice anything unusual?”

  She shrugged, looking bewildered. “I wasn’t really paying attention. So we were drugged? Thank God Karlie was there to keep me from making a total ass of myself.” She glanced anxiously at Karlie. “I don’t remember too much. I wasn’t too bad, was I?”

  “Uhhh…no, not at all.” Karlie smiled politely.

  Vita rubbed her head. “I still feel kind of fuzzy.”

  “So does Mackenzie,” Barron said grimly. “We need to go to a Mage right away and see if he can tell what we were drugged with. Then we need to go to the bar and talk to the bartender and the waiter. The Tavern doesn’t up until the afternoon, though.”

  Ajax glanced at his watch. “We’d better hurry.”

  “Please don’t tell Mackenzie about this,” Barron said to Vita and Karlie. “I don’t want her to think that the beer, or the drugs, are why we got together with her.”

  “But were they?” Karlie pinned him with a skeptical stare. “Because you guys never really gave a great explanation as to why you ditched her last year. Yeah, I get the whole family emergency thing, but if you really wanted her, I would think that you would have tried a little harder to track her down and explain once things were resolved.”

  “They’re still not completely resolved, but yes, we did want her,” Barron said fervently. “More than anything. We want her as our mate, I swear to you. And we will treat her like gold.”

  “All right. For now. Just tell us what you find out about the drugged drinks.” Karlie looked doubtful, but she and Vita headed off to the opening ceremonies. Barron was tempted to tell her the real reason that he didn’t want her to reveal what was happening to Mackenzie, but he didn’t dare. He’d just have to pray that she’d keep her mouth shut.

  “Who the hell would do this to us?” Ajax growled as they headed off to find a Mage.

  “Whoever cursed us. I mean, all packs have rivalries. Enemies.” Barron rubbed his face with his hands. This was a nightmare. He’d lay his life down for Mackenzie – but how could he protect her from a curse, when he didn’t even know the origin of the curse?

  “Yeah, but this goes back a generation. Why would someone still be angry at our pack?”

  Barron didn’t answer; he’d spotted a Mage standing by a rosebush. The Mage was waving a long, gnarled wand over the bush, and flowers were bursting into bloom all over it. It was likely one of the rosebushes that was used by the vendors to make into wreaths and bouquets; the Mages could ensure that there was a never ending supply of fresh flowers for them.

  “Ricardo, right?” Barron had met him before. They saw a lot of the same faces year after year at the festival.

  Ricardo was a tall, lean Hispanic man in his thirties, with dark shiny hair and a goatee. “That’s me.” He glanced at the crowds hurrying towards the Central Pavilion area. “Shouldn’t you be getting to the opening ceremonies?”

  Barron glanced around to make sure that nobody was listening. There was nobody else close by. “We need your help. Somebody drugged our beer last night with something that had to have been magic in origin, and we want to see if you can figure out what kind of drug it was, who could have done something like this…”

  Ricardo waved his wand over them and frowned. “I’m not an expert on this,” he said. “My specialty is plant magic. However, I can generally sense the presence of magic, and I’m not picking up anything. What kind of effect did the drug have on you?”

  “It totally clouded our judgment. We ended up taking a woman back to our cabin – it’s a long story.”

  “A drug like that would leave your system pretty quickly. Like a date rape drug would for humans. Wait. The woman that you brought back to your cabin. Did you claim her?” Ricardo’s eyes widened in surprise. He saw the grim expressions on their faces. “You did. Dios mio. That kind of magic would be so illegal. Do you think that the woman did it, so she could trick you into claiming her?”

  “No way. She wasn’t even there when the beer was brought to our table. And she just wouldn’t.” Ajax shook his head.

  “You’ve got to tell the Sentinels. That’s a big deal. Huge.” Ricardo shook his head. “If someone is going around spiking people’s drinks, compelling people to bond with women who they didn’t want to claim…”

  “No, no,” Barron said hastily. “We’re pretty sure that we were the only target. It’s more complicated than that. We wanted to claim her anyway, but we couldn’t. There’s a curse on us.”

  Ricardo looked at him in confusion. “A curse? Explain this to me.”

  “We found out about it at the last festival. Well, it goes back further than that.” Barron took a deep breath. He hated having to dredge up their family’s tragic history, but he had no choice. “Our mother died in childbirth when she had us, and our fathers claimed a new mate a few years later, and they died in a car crash with her. Our fathers’ pack broke apart, scattered around the country. We were raised by our aunt and uncle. Up until last year, we’d always believed that it was just terrible luck.”

  “What happened last year?” Ricardo asked uneasily.

  “While we were at the festival, our aunt and uncle were going through their garage, clearing out old boxes of family belongings. They came across a box that had my stepmother’s stuff in it, including a diary. In the diary, she talked about a curse on the family, which doomed any woman that bore their children. My fathers had just confessed to her that they suspected they were cursed, and she was pregnant. They all died the day after she wrote that entry. Driving a brand new truck which mysteriously went off the road on a sharp curve.”

  “Well. Could be a curse, could have been sabotage.” Ricardo frowned. “Maybe from a rival pack.”

  “We followed up on it,” Barron said. “Ajax immediately cut things off with the woman who we’d been planning to claim. As soon as the festival was over, we started visiting Mages who specialized in curses. We had a really hard time finding someone who’d even speak to us, and he couldn’t give us a lot of information. However, he was able to verify that there is a curse on us, and that any woman who we bond with would die in childbirth. And he was fairly sure that if we warned the woman about the curse, she’d die immediately.”

  “Given that, why did you even come to the festival?” Ricardo asked.

  “The only way we could get out of coming is if we had a Mage swear to the fact that we had that curse. We contacted him after our visit, and asked him for an affidavit…and he suddenly refused and backed off. Said he wasn’t sure if we were cursed at all.” Barron scowled, frustration welling up inside him. The past year had been spent running into one dead end after another.

  “What about your fathers’ former pack?”

  Frustration boiled up inside Barron. “Every time we contact any of them and try to ask them about it, they say they don’t know what we’re talking about and change the subject.”

  Ricardo shook his head. “As I imagine that you’ve found out, there’s a limited number of Mages who deal in curses. Completely outside of my area of expertise; I wouldn’t even be able to detect one. They’re tricky, and require a highly skilled practitioner. Have you visited Cornelius, the Mage who oversees and regulates all Curse Mages?”


  “He refuses to speak to us,” Ajax said.

  “Then you’re screwed, and you’re also late for the opening ceremonies.” Ricardo turned back to the rosebushes with a frown, and began gesturing with his wand. More roses burst into bloom, and the conversation was clearly over.

  Chapter Six

  “I must say, if you’re trying to impress me, you’re getting off to a good start,” Mackenzie said.

  Ajax and Barron had brought out a massive breakfast spread. Stacks of fluffy pancakes, piles of crisp bacon and juicy sausages, jugs of maple syrup, cartons of orange juice…they’d brought back enough to feed a medium-sized army.

  They were sitting at a picnic table near the Crack of Dawn restaurant, and Karlie had joined them. Vita was her usual cheerful self. Karlie was oddly quiet.

  “Are you sure you didn’t drink anything last night? You seem hung over,” Mackenzie said, digging into a pile of fluffy yellow eggs.

  “I’m good. Just worn out after chasing after Vita last night.” Karlie managed a smile.

  “Last night went so well, though,” Vita said eagerly. “I can’t wait to see what happens tonight! Maybe I’ll meet the wolves who’ll claim me. Or maybe you will!” she added to Karlie, who made a face.

  “I’m dedicated to getting through this festival claim-free,” she said.

  “Look at the enormous bounty that my two hot men hunted down for me! Eat up before it gets cold, guys.” Mackenzie waved at the platters of food and Karle and Vita began filling up their plates.

  It was starting to sink in. This was really happening. Ajax and Barron truly wanted her.

  Oh, she wasn’t going to let go of the whole “family crisis” thing that had called them away last year. Their family was now her family. Their problems were her problems. However, they didn’t seem to want to talk about it right now, so she’d wait until she was living on their property and once she got to know everybody better, hopefully she could figure out what was going on.

  In the meantime, the crunchy, salty taste of bacon was heaven in her mouth, she was surrounded by friends, and Ajax and Barron were watching her with a mixture of lust and tenderness that threatened to melt her into a big gooey puddle. She had no complaints.

  “So, after the festival, I guess you all go back to your pack and do the whole Alpha’s Mate ceremony?” Karlie said. Her sister Amelia had done that the year before, after she’d been claimed. Karlie had been invited to the ceremony.

  Mackenzie gave a fist pump. “Yes! More partying! Ooh, you could come. Vita and Karlie could come, couldn’t they?”

  “Absolutely. We have guest cabins on the property,” Ajax said. “The Alpha’s Mate ceremony is a big ole party. That’s why we don’t plan too much for the month of June. Festival, claiming ceremony…week long hangover…”

  “Will your family be coming?” Barron asked Mackenzie. “I know your mom passed away. Is there anyone else? We never did get to talking about your family very much.”

  “That’s because Barron’s such a pig he rushed you right into bed without any chit chat,” Ajax said, shoving four sausages into his mouth. “Me, I’m the sensitive, gentlemanly type,” he said as he chewed the sausages. He dodged Barron’s punch and grinned at him.

  Mackenzie laughed. These guys would never bore her.

  “My mom was my onl family. Dad skipped out when I was young. I was an only child; Mom could barely support the two of us on her waitress salary, and she never remarried. I always wanted siblings. Seriously, I can’t wait to have cubs,” Mackenzie said happily. “They’ll all have so many brothers and sisters they’ll never be lonely.”

  She felt that flare of worry coming from Barron and Ajax again, more strongly this time. She glanced at them, frowning. “What?”

  “What what?” Ajax looked puzzled. “I didn’t say anything. Other than that you look incredibly sexy this morning.”

  She raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You didn’t say that.”

  He winked at her. “I was saying it with my eyes.”

  She started to laugh, then forced herself to be serious. She wasn’t letting him bamboozle her with his charm…even if he was awfully damned charming. “No, really. When I talk about having cubs, you guys act weird. What’s up with that?”

  Barron looked puzzled. “I’m not acting weird. Am I?” He glanced at Karlie and Vita.

  Vita shrugged, smiled, and ate more pancakes.

  “I have not yet had enough coffee to form intelligent thought,” Karlie said. She took a big gulp of coffee from her mug. “Also, you’re werewolves. And wizards called Mages are walking around making doves burst out of bushes and flowers grow and your power source comes from Spellectricity. Everything in this universe is weird to me. I mean, not in a bad way, wonderfully weird. What were we talking about again? Jeez, I need some sleep.” She shot Vita a reproachful look. Vita, pouring syrup on her pancakes, didn’t notice.

  Then she looked at Mackenzie. “What happened to your head?”

  Mackenzie patted the red spot on her forehead. “Oh, I was using a curling iron and I burned my forehead. Seriously, speaking of lack of sleep, I am so clumsy this morning. I tripped and banged my elbow coming out of the shower. Then there was the curling iron thing. Then I dropped a mug of coffee and burned my foot. After breakfast I should probably go take a nap before I hurt myself.”

  Mackenzie saw the stricken looks on Ajax and Barron’s faces. “What?” she laughed. “I’m fine! Minor injuries! It is so cute that you’re worried about me.”

  She grinned at Karlie. “You seriously, really need to hook up with an Alpha pair. I’m not even kidding. See how protective they are? And sexy, and thoughtful.”

  “I’m on Team Celibate for Life, thanks. But you enjoy.” Karlie finished her coffee and poured herself another cup.

  “Hmm.” Mackenzie looked at Karlie thoughtfully.

  “Don’t hmm me.” Karlie shook her head. “Now you’re looking at me just like my sister does when she wants to fix me up with someone. It will not happen. I have already had my heart sliced, diced, pureed, and handed back to me on a platter, thank you very much.”

  “On a platter? After it was pureed? Wasn’t it kind of liquid-y at that point? Wouldn’t you need a cup? Ow.” Mackenzie winced. “Bit my tongue. It’s okay, really. Quit that! I am not a fragile glass vase!” she added to Ajax and Barron, who were looking at each other with alarm.

  “Anyway, no fixing me up, no dates, no nothing,” Karlie said.

  “Of course not,” Mackenzie said, not meaning it. She was already mentally compiling a list of guys she could fix Karlie up with. She wanted Karlie to feel the way that she was feeling this morning. And Vita. And everyone.

  Everyone in the world deserved to be as happy as she was right now. Everyone deserved to wake up next to two incredibly sexy werewolves who loved them. She was grinning like a fool, and she didn’t care. Karlie was getting matched, damn it. She would be matched, and she would like it.

  After breakfast, Mackenzie, Ajax and Barron headed back to their cabin. As they passed by one of the stages where bands would be playing later in the day, Mackenzie heard a creaking sound.

  “Look out!” Ajax shouted. He pushed her out of the way, and he and Barron jumped in front of her just as a piece of scaffolding fell. Barron blocked it with his body, and she heard a sickening crunch as the scaffolding came down.

  People came running over, shouting. “We’re fine, we’re fine. Just a scratch,” Barron called out, crawling out from under the scaffolding. He was cradling a broken arm as he climbed to his feet.

  She stared at Ajax and Barron, horrified. Blood streamed from Barron’s arm. Ajax had a broken nose and it looked like his cheekbone had shattered. His face rippled as the bones moved underneath the skin, resetting themselves.

  “Oh, dear God. Are you all right?” she cried.

  “Never better.” Ajax spit out a tooth. “Don’t worry. It’ll grow back within the hour. It’s all good.” He flashed her a bloody grin, and she c
lapped her hand to her mouth and tried not to pass out.

  A group of stagehands gathered around the scaffolding, staring at it in dismay. “I put that up myself, and I swear to God that was rock solid. There’s no way it should have fallen,” one of them said, scratching his head.

  Ajax and Barron exchanged glances. “We should get back to the cabin. Now,” Barron said.

  * * *

  Barron cast a worried glance behind him. Their injuries had healed, and Ajax and Mackenzie were inside the cabin. Could anything happen to her while she was inside? Probably, but Ajax would literally be sticking by her side every minute. As long as the roof didn’t fall in on her, she should be fine.

  He pulled out his cell phone and dialed his aunt’s phone number. She answered after a few rings.

  “Aunt Millicent. Hello. Urgent question here. Was our mother suddenly very accident prone after she bonded with our fathers?”

  “What’s happened?” she demanded. “Tell me you didn’t bond with anyone.”

  He winced. “I wish I could tell you that.”

  “Barron! What were you thinking? You’re supposed to wait until we figure out how to lift the curse! You know the risks!”

  “We…bonded with Mackenzie. The woman we told you about last year. Somebody drugged our beer, and we all ended up in the cabin together.”

  “Somebody drugged your beer? Who?” Millicent’s voice was a squawk of alarm.

  “Believe me, we’re trying to find that out. But this morning she’s been having all these minor accidents, and then a piece of scaffolding almost fell on her. So, what about our mother?”

  There was a long pause. “Yes. Your mother became very accident prone after she bonded with your fathers. The thing is, she was always kind of clumsy before that, so we didn’t really think anything of it. But she was in the hospital several times with injuries before she…”

  She didn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t have to.

  Before she died.