Alpha Boxed Set

by Treva Harte

  But what do you deserve?

  Without warning, Dek stood up. Lowell stilled for a moment, the old wariness and respect stirring in him as Dek lunged toward his ex-omega.

  But times had changed. Lowell might not fight, but he refused to flinch at the attack.

  “Let’s be done with it.” Dek growled low in his throat. “I just have one thing to say in front of the family.”

  “Then say it.” Lowell growled back.

  “She’s your mate. When I found Lin, after all those years apart, I vowed she’d always stay with me. I wasn’t thinking about her as an adult. You did. You took her. But she was mine first. One of my pack before yours. Part of me. And I’ll hunt you and yours down if you ever hurt her.”

  Lowell relaxed against the grip Dek had on his shoulder. If that was all his former pack leader was concerned about, things were simple.

  “You won’t need to hunt anyone down. If any one of my pack hurts her, that one will be dead. I swear it.”

  “We’ll see. Now I have something to say to you in private.” Dek’s tone didn’t allow for argument and Lowell deferred to his old leader.

  They stood and headed for the door, matching each other stride for stride.

  “I suppose they’re going to go chew on rattlesnakes for dessert. Honestly, Mom, how have you put up with that display for years?” Lin’s words rang clearly behind them, just the way they were meant to. Lowell fought a grin.

  * * * *

  “She’s an arrogant female.” Dek leaned up against the porch railing. “I love her, but that’s the truth.”

  “I don’t mind.” Lowell let the amusement show, just a little. “She has other attributes that make up for it.”

  “I won’t ask.” Dek’s mouth twisted. “She’s my baby still.”

  “You said that before. Or close enough.”

  “I didn’t bring you out here to repeat myself. This is more important than my feelings.”

  Nothing more was said for a moment. Lowell stared out at the view he remembered from long ago. Not much had changed. There was peace here at Dek’s ranch. But only because Dek saw to it. He’d crush any threat against his pack. Dek never hesitated, always knew what to do.

  But they appeared to be waiting now.

  Dek’s words, when they came, made no sense. “Lin never changed around us.”

  “She has with me. She’s a were, sure enough.” Lowell shrugged. “By the time she had changed, though, I would have taken her even if she wasn’t.”

  “She changed? Then tell me this. Is she like us?”

  How had Dek known?

  Lowell swallowed. “You mean, does she grow fur and shape shift?”

  “What the hell else would I mean?”

  “Yes.”

  Dek let out a long sigh. “Then maybe it’s all right after all.”

  “But—” Now Lowell hesitated. Then he started off with a babble of words. “I never saw a female who is more were. Every instinct she has is right on the money.”

  Dek tensed again at the first word. Now he scowled. “But? You said but.”

  Lowell’s heart began to race. He wasn’t even sure why. What Lin wasn’t was so trivial compared to what she was. “Well. Don’t take this wrong, but she’s not quite…right.”

  “Shit! What does that mean?”

  “She changes but you can still see the not-were. I don’t think she knows. I didn’t want to tell her and make her feel wrong. But her transformation still isn’t complete. She crouches and you can still see…her. The old Lin. Her fur grows, but not as thick as most. She speaks to me, but the sounds are more human than were.”

  Dek shook his head and covered his eyes. Lowell gripped his old mentor’s arm. “It doesn’t matter to me, damn it. It doesn’t matter to anyone in the pack who saw her, or they would have said something. The two of us, we still…err, we’re right together. Perfect. It’s fine. Better than anything I’ve ever had. With time, I’m sure she’ll become even more—”

  Dek put his hand down but kept looking away. “Do you think I care about your feelings or your sex life?”

  “Then I don’t understand anything about why you’re asking me this.”

  Dek’s jaw was tight. “Leila never changed. We’ve been together almost all our lives and she never has.”

  “It never mattered to you. Two kids, decades later, and the two of you are still burning each other up. Anyone can see that. I want that for Lin and me. I have that with Lin and me. Dek, I know my past hasn’t been perfect, not what you’d want for your girl, but it wasn’t that much worse than yours before you met Leila. It just took me longer to find my mate and settle in. You know what weres are like without a mate. That will all change now. Jesus, Dek, don’t try to take this from us.”

  “I don’t want to take that from you, boy. And even if I did, I’d never begrudge Lin. If she loves you, she can handle anything you could do. You know that as well as I do. She’s my daughter and we value her for what she is. But I’m afraid. Leila and I are both afraid of what we’ve done.”

  No. Dek was never afraid. What the hell did he mean? Lowell shifted his feet, bracing himself. “Spit it out.”

  “Weres and non-weres can’t breed. I don’t know what Leila is. I thought she was some kind of latent were when I found out about Lin. Maybe Leila is. But our children aren’t. If they don’t change to were, true were, I don’t think they can mate. Not a one has become were, and they’re long past the age I was when I first had the change.”

  “Lin fucking well can mate—err, sorry.” Lowell blushed at Dek’s glacial stare. “That wasn’t what you meant anyhow. You mean you think we won’t have children?”

  “I’m almost positive.”

  No children. The reason one struggled to become alpha was to mate and breed. The whole purpose of the pack was to protect each other and the future.

  “I see.” Lowell stared down at his hands, avoiding Dek’s gaze as the older man had avoided his earlier.

  “You know…we both know…what that means. We love her dearly but if you want to void your—arrangement—with Lin, we’d understand. I’d understand if you want to walk from all of us. There’d be no bad blood between our packs. I’d explain to her.”

  Black loss roiled up in Lowell. He was alpha. He owed the future to his pack.

  Fuck owing. Fuck the future. He wasn’t going to face it without Lin.

  “No! You could never explain that to Lin because it’s not an arrangement. It was a mating. She’s mine.” And I’m hers. “We can work out something. Packs have lost litters before and managed. Hell, packs have killed pack heirs before and thrived. When other alphas took over, your parents’ pack gave killing you a damn good try. You survived. You created another, stronger, better pack.”

  “Rogue weres, blood coups, and badly managed packs exist. But what would your pack want from you? What would Lin want?” Dek tapped his fingers on the porch railing.

  His pack had always been ready to eat him for breakfast. He’d never been fully accepted since he first took over. Maybe he’d made a few wrong choices at first, but that had come from inexperience. This—this—was different. It was a deliberate choice to flout what the pack needed.

  Dek’s pack would have to decide, too. If they put the choice off for the next generation, it would only be more desperate for Dek’s children.

  Old habits died hard. Somewhere deep down, Lowell still believed Dek was the smartest were. The worthy alpha. Dek’s ex-omega fought asking the question and lost. If he admitted he needed advice, so be it.

  “What do you want to do about your own pack, Dek?”

  “After Rome, there will be no one.” Dek swallowed. “We haven’t taken in anyone else since I realized what the future meant.”

  Oblivion. That’s what no children meant for a pack.

  “The hell with that. We still don’t know if what you think is true. But if it is, my pack will make a different future if we have to.” Lowell gripped his old mentor’s
shoulder, wondering if he’d have it bitten off. He’d questioned Dek. Defied him. “Damn it, Dek. I intend to find that new future with Lin next to me.”

  When he first saw Lin, he hadn’t chosen her because she’d be a mother to his children. Maybe he’d figured that would all happen later. But it was Lin who had call to him above all.

  Something eased in Dek’s stance. “The future will come when it does and how it wants. Not even an alpha can change that.”

  “I’ll take care of my pack. And I’ll do whatever I have to for Lin.”

  Chapter Four

  “Why don’t you lighten up with your pack?” Lin arched herself up to allow him more access between her thighs. “Oh, that’s niiice.”

  If she didn’t care that they were up against the doorframe in the hall, not quite behind the concealing bedroom door, he didn’t either. Remembering where he was was getting more and more difficult anyhow.

  He was hard. Hard and wanting. She’d been all over him the second he stopped the truck, like she wanted him standing up against the metal door outside. He’d almost taken her then and there. He forgot now why he’d waited.

  Once inside though, he tried for a little finesse. Instead of entering her as soon as he ripped her clothes off, he’s just lifted that cute little skirt and stroked her soft wet pussy as if he had all night. The only objections she made were soft little sounds that weren’t really protests at all.

  Hell, if that’s what she wanted him to do, they did have all night.

  “All for you, babe. Everything.”

  His brain hadn’t quite turned off yet, though. He’s been an observer way too long to stop now. There was something else churning inside her. That’s right. He had enough sense left to remember now. That’s why he hadn’t just gone for the sex she’d offered right from the start.

  There was something else locked inside her. Something anxious. Something hidden. She couldn’t tell what had happened between her father and him, could she? He was damned good at not showing his emotions, but she was his bondmate. Already she could tell things about him no one else could. And she’d say things he’d never take from anyone else.

  Like, apparently, right now.

  She was finally talking instead of whimpering. And he was finally calm enough to listen to her words instead of her body language.

  “You were always so giving, Lowell. Back when you were an omega, you thought about what we wanted. And you wanted us happy. You’re sweet, Lowell. I saw how sweet back then and just now at—with the old pack. But you just snarl at your own family.”

  “I’m still giving. I’m gonna give you a mindblower of an orgasm in about ten minutes. Maybe less if you push my control.” He mumbled the words, already sinking back into the scent and the warmth of her.

  “Yeah, you give to me. Of course, I deserve all that worship.” Lin giggled and then sinuously moved her clit against his teeth. They both grunted. “But why not shine a little warmth on the others?”

  Lowell took the pads of both his thumbs and moved them up, pressed hard against her thighs. She squirmed. He knew she liked that. Besides, if he didn’t use his hands on her, he’d have to start working on that aching cock of his. She’d told him to keep his hands off that.

  And he had to obey her.

  “I’m not an omega anymore.” Except with her. She had a leash on him.

  “You think being nice makes you weak? Ahh, Lowell!”

  “Don’t want to talk.”

  “You want to fight, then?” Lin laughed and suddenly leaned over to dig her nails into his ribs.

  He squirmed this time. She threw herself on top of him, like a frisky puppy eager to play. He fell back on the floor with a thud, twisting his body to save hers. Damn. Her skirt slid back into place—just barely. That little slip of material was just begging to be torn off.

  “I remember how ticklish you were when I was a kid. Even I could make you giggle. The adults made you insane before they were done.”

  He remembered those long sessions of teasing in the living room. His cock bobbed.

  “Jesus, not now, Lin.” If she kept that touch going, he’d come all over her before he’d have the chance to service her. Even as he spoke, her fingers unerringly went to some of his most vulnerable points, stroking over his clothing. The material rubbed his sensitized skin. She knew all his pleasure points already. His piercing. The vein near the head of his cock. The skin between his balls.

  “I bet if I tied you down and used some feathers, you’d scream.” She brushed against his thighs, and he drew up in agony/pleasure. God, the ideas she could put into his head!

  “What—” A male voice intruded on the growing haze of sex and laughter Lin was covering him with.

  Three of them. The two huge male betas and tiny Mia stared at them.

  “We heard these weird strangling noises.”

  Christ. He tried to pull himself together, but Lin was too good at provoking the helpless laughter, even in front of witnesses.

  “You’re tickling him.”

  “He’s laughing.” The voice sounded awed.

  “Stop! Oh, damn it, Lin. That was evil!” He squirmed under her hands.

  “He needs a little more laughing. Pile on!” Lin offered, her voice a devilish invitation.

  Noooo. Lowell remembered the heat and the laughter from the old pack, the crazed almost-foreplay they would create together. The tickles that turned to nips and then panting, breathless collapse. But his pack wouldn’t. They’d stand off, they’d watch while their alpha turned into a whimpering, laughing mush under their careful gaze. And he couldn’t stop it. Couldn’t stop Lin.

  Oh my God.

  Hesitatingly, Oscar bent over, his huge hands closing over Lin. Fuck, no. No beta was going to paw—Lin twisted and somehow Oscar was sprawled over Lowell, with an oomph of surprised laughter.

  And then the rest of them were entwined together, no one sure where arms and legs went or who was tormenting who, but in one sweaty, laughing mass that demanded more touch, more laughter.

  The pack that laughs together and gets hot together, stays together.

  Lin’s thought slid into his mind right before her hand cunningly slid against his stiffened cock, under cover of some other humping body.

  He was a millimeter from losing control and coming all over everyone.

  No. He couldn’t allow that.

  “This is not a fantasy of mine,” Lowell growled. “Everyone get up. And out. You weren’t invited.”

  The laughter stopped. Slowly they all stood. Lowell glared and the others dropped their heads obediently.

  But he could still feel a bubble of merriment in the room. Lin winked at the rest of them, deliberately shifting her shirt down from where it gaped. Then she smacked Lowell’s butt.

  “He’s very, very ticklish. It’s a terrible weakness of Lowell’s.”

  “Mmmm.” Oscar didn’t quite agree, but his eyes twinkled.

  Twinkled. Lowell scowled. Things were going to be hellishly difficult to put back in the old order. “Out!”

  “Sure, boss.”

  “Whatever you say, boss.” But he heard a trace of laughter still.

  Lin got on her knees as they filed out and smiled sweetly at Lowell. “Now all we need to do is be nice to them some more, pay them a bit of attention and socialize them some more, and this pack will be fine. They’ll be eating out of our hands.”

  “Lin, I wanted to be eating you out by now. Instead we had a little slap and tickle with a bunch of other weres and I’m horny as hell. And frustrated to boot.”

  “Horny even though it wasn’t a fantasy of yours?”

  “Damn it, Lin!”

  “But that bit of fun was good for all of us. Don’t pout. Shall we go into the bedroom, then? I promise to make it up to you.” She kissed him slowly before she let her canines sink deep into his lower lip.

  He gave a low hum of pleasure.

  I promise to make you want me more and more, Lowell. Nobody else. />
  * * * *

  “So.” Lin drew the ribbon in her hair off and shook the tendrils free.

  She was back. Back in his room—their room. Lowell looked at the small glittering trail of female ornaments she left through the bedroom. He didn’t mind the ridiculously girlish clutter. She was claiming her territory in a human way, just as he’d marked her, were-fashion, much more primitively. He rejoiced because somewhere deep down, he hadn’t believed she would return after being with her family’s pack.

  “So?” He still didn’t believe it. He could sense danger in her overly casual pose and narrowed eyes. That little interlude outside with the rest of the pack had been just that. But whatever she’d wanted from it hadn’t satisfied her.

  Her next question almost echoed his own thoughts.

  “What do you want from me really?”

  “Want?” What the hell kind of question was that? He wanted his mate. He wanted to fuck her and laugh with her and be with her. What was complicated about that?

  Lowell moved toward her. Whatever was going on, he wasn’t going to let her run. “Just you. I thought I’d made that clear enough.”

  “No. We’re playing games and not going anywhere. D’you think I’m just going to maybe…oh, smack you a few times, make you lie down and we screw?” Lin looked over at the neatly made up bed. Lowell felt the familiar first prickles of excitement run down his spine as he looked over to the bed, too. They’d gone insane in that spot a few hours ago but there was no evidence left of what they’d done. The pack had tidied up after them.

  The faintest lingering odor of sex tickled Lowell’s nose, just enough to tug at him but not enough to overwhelm.

  “I don’t know what you mean.” He didn’t have to admit that hearing Lin’s suggestion made him swallow hard. “I haven’t been playing.”

  “You haven’t been truthful with me, either. We’re mates now. I know things. I’m going to know more before we’re done. Mated for life, Lowell. That’s a long time to try to hide from me.”