Alpha Boxed Set

by Treva Harte

  Arlin laughed and relaxed into the embrace, ignoring the smiles from the onlookers. They knew what Tala was like. What he was like with Tala. Not even marriage would change her teasing.

  “How did you have the time, babe?” He turned and hugged her back. More warmth sparked between them. “Between Hunt and Dunne—and I’ll bet you’ve been between them a few times—it’s a wonder your few brain cells haven’t scrambled.”

  “It’s male brains that scramble from sex, silly.” She tapped his head. “Living proof right here.”

  His Tala. He smiled and looked over his almost-cousin’s shoulder to see Ruth looking back at him. There wasn’t any jealousy or anger or puzzlement in her gaze. There was…nothing. Just a steady stare. The way one wolf might challenge another.

  He didn’t like it. Or maybe he did.

  Arlin looked away. How stupid was he tonight? He didn’t need to accept a challenge from an outsider. Male-female challenges had consequences among weres, ones he wasn’t prepared to make good on with Ruth. She wasn’t ready for the fucking or the fight he’d give her to show dominance.

  Arlin kissed Tala slowly, letting himself take a good, long time of it. Then he slapped her little rump and said, “Go fetch me your man.”

  “He’s right here.” Tala rubbed her ass, deliberately slow. “He keeps an eye on us. You know that.”

  “He doesn’t trust you after three weeks of married bliss?”

  “He doesn’t trust anyone. But he most especially doesn’t trust you, Arlin. No more than you do him.” Tala walked over to Hunt and put her head on her husband’s chest. “He also doesn’t fetch worth a damn. Let’s all go sit down at the conference table for this chat.”

  “I can see why you’re taking your time to sample all the wares,” his uncle whispered behind Arlin. “It’s not often we have two female weres sniffing around one male. Mated or not, Tala still checks you out.”

  Arlin growled as they began to seat themselves around the table. “It’s not like that with me. Or them.”

  Arlin couldn’t help but glance over at Ruth again.

  She sat up straight in her chair and kept her hands tightly clasped in front of her. What was she thinking now?

  “Huh. It’s always like that with weres. You, boy. Lupe.” His uncle turned toward the new were. “What do you think of the new female?”

  Lupe’s eyes widened a moment and he gulped out, “She’s beautiful. Sir. Sexy.”

  His uncle Rome nodded and dismissed the omega with one gesture. “See? Beautiful enough to make all the men here try for a taste if she was available. What do your parents think, Arlin?”

  “About what?” Arlin blinked and then shook his head. “No. It’s not like that.”

  “You bring an unattached female to the family and you don’t expect your parents to start checking things out?” Rome looked over at Ruth. “Were? She seems like one of us.”

  “If she is, she doesn’t know. And she’s not here because of me. It’s because others have found her out.”

  Wait a minute. If she’s not were, there’s no harm, no foul if we give each other a try. No one would expect me to keep her.

  “If she is were, you should be the reason she’s here. You and Tala have about equal shots at taking over all of the packs one day. Right now Tala might even have an edge since she has Hunt as her mate. You feel like being a beta in her pack?”

  Arlin’s hair rose on the back of his neck even though he knew Rome was trying for that reaction. Rome would no more want his darling Tala to be beta to him than Arlin would to her. “It’s a long time before Grandfather Dek goes. Longer yet before someone would ever take on you or my father for the right to be Alpha.”

  But even if his grandfather was crackling with life, his hair was white, just as Ruth had pointed out. Arlin’s father was getting gray at the temples. Strange how being away for a little while made you notice things you ignored before.

  “Just enough time to get a mate and start breeding.” Rome smiled but the smile was calculating. Dynasties were serious business. So was being Alpha.

  Rome was the presumptive Alpha in Grandfather Dek’s pack, but he had no direct heirs. Tala was his mate’s daughter, but Grey, the third in their ménage, was Tala’s biological father. A presumptive Alpha without heirs could be overturned and cast out in a different pack. The usual kind of pack.

  No wonder Rome kept an eye out for danger among this group. Hell, no wonder Rome kept an eye on him. Arlin had always been a potential challenge to his uncle’s leadership just by existing.

  Uncle Rome had always been fine with him, easy with letting Arlin run in and out of his home and play with Tala when he was a kid. But that was then.

  “It’s only been a few weeks since I left. You’ve forgotten who I am already? I still remember you’re my mother’s brother.” Arlin decided to answer the unspoken thoughts directly. “Just like Deklin Kinkaid is my grandfather. We all have kin ties. Close ones. Besides, I don’t want a mate, and I don’t need to be Alpha. Yet.”

  If Ruth isn’t were, she’d be perfect for someone who doesn’t want to be tied.

  “Maybe. But you’ve grown up some since you were gone. Yet is coming a lot sooner than you want to admit.”

  “Rome, I’d be more worried about Hunt than my boy if you want to fret about someone else taking over. Hunt’s already Alpha of one pack and he wouldn’t mind taking over another unattached were female.” Arlin’s father sat down next to Arlin as he made his point, lightly squeezing his son’s shoulder in greeting.

  “Hell, Lowell, do you really think everyone else would allow that?” Rome shook his head at Arlin’s father.

  “Even if he doesn’t claim Ruth for his pack—and I highly doubt your Tala would allow it—having one under his protection is a good bargaining chip with any pack that needs a breeding female.” Lowell glanced at his son. “Then again, Hunt’s already got the girl under his protection, doesn’t he? You brought her right to him, Arlin.”

  Rome leaned forward. “Even though she acts it, Arlin says she may not be were.”

  “Hmm.” Lowell frowned. “Maybe she’s like Leila—human but with something extra that works.”

  “Most women aren’t weres, you know. That’s a lot of our problem,” Arlin said. “Too much competition.”

  “Then she may be in even more trouble being with us,” Lowell shot back.

  Even if she is were, if she doesn’t know, she won’t want more. Becoming a were’s mate has never crossed her mind. She doesn’t even like weres particularly.

  No matter what she is or isn’t, if I keep her away from the rest and keep her safe, we’re good. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her, despite what everyone is saying. And what she doesn’t know could end up making me very happy.

  Arlin steadied. Forced himself to listen to the others, rather than his father and uncle.

  “…I appreciate all of you staying after the wedding to discuss a potential threat to my pack. It’s nice to be welcomed into the family.” Hunt was standing as he gave his little speech. He was charming. Everyone else said so.

  But Arlin didn’t need someone else to take charge of anything. Especially someone who had managed to make Arlin beg for mercy when they’d been in a foursome together.

  Arlin glanced around with those new, assessing eyes and realized if he believed no one else minded Hunt, then he wasn’t thinking too hard. His family could play games well.

  Lounging, chatting softly to their partners, sitting there with a poker face—only the smell of tension gave the weres’ real feelings away. Hunt could pretend it was a gracious gesture to have them all here, but the one thing that kept argument at bay among them was the real danger from outside.

  “Your threat is our threat.” Grandfather Deklin spoke formally.

  The important part of the meeting was now ready to begin since the patriarch had indicated his agreement with Hunt. Everyone settled down.

  “Dr. Laurenstein, you are the one perhaps in
the most danger because you’re not were and have no pack to stand for you.” Hunt turned to Ruth directly. “You gave us aid and I’m going to see to your protection.”

  Ruth nodded. “Thank you.”

  Screw Hunt. I’ll take care of you.

  “You may not be aware of what the Hollin pack is like. It’s led by an Alpha named Diogenes Hollin.”

  “That’s an unusual name.” Ruth’s formal voice sounded soft in the hushed, charged room. There was something odd in her tone.

  “Dio is—”

  Ruth’s face changed. She jumped to her feet, her hands grabbing for the conference table. “Dio?”

  She swayed forward. Arlin was the one who got there first, catching her before she crashed.

  * * * *

  “Who is Dio to you?”

  She came to, appreciating the darkened bedroom and resenting Arlin’s harsh tone. “I don’t know.”

  She didn’t know anything, not even how she had ended up in a strange room with two men looming over her.

  “That’s not an acceptable answer.” Arlin’s fist clenched and unclenched. “You’re terrified of him.”

  “Perhaps I’m more terrified of you.” She tried to retreat into that warm, dark, unconscious state again but it was too late. And too cowardly. She was simply going to have to deal with this as she had everything else during this insane twenty-four hours.

  “I’m not angry at you. There’s no need to be afraid of me.” Arlin’s voice was still rough. He’d completely forgotten to be civilized. She could almost see the were rising to the surface. It was ridiculous but his ferocity calmed her because suddenly she realized he wasn’t angry at her but for her.

  “Are you sure?” Ruth almost smiled. “You could’ve fooled me.”

  “Leave her alone, boy.” She knew that voice too. Dunne. The one she’d taken care of. The reason she’d been launched into this craziness.

  No, that wasn’t fair. He hadn’t asked to be shot. And she had been asked if she was willing to help. What she did after that was up to her.

  Dunne looked and sounded healthy and very alive now. Healing him was exactly what she needed to do. She’d never regret that.

  “Ruth.” Arlin sat next to her on the bed, picked up her hand, and stroked it. God help her. She wondered if he could feel her pulse begin to hammer. “Ruth. You don’t ever have to be afraid of me. It’s the bastards who scared you who should worry.”

  She wanted someone to be angry. Ferociously angry. Someone to hold her hand gently.

  “You don’t know why I’m afraid.”

  “Tell me. Let us help.”

  “I don’t…remember.” Ruth tried to fight the paralysis of fear. She didn’t remember. Not really. “I was very young. Before my new parents took me, I think. The memory is all jumbled.”

  There was a long, charged silence. Ruth took a deep breath.

  Arlin kept his grip on her hand, letting her squeeze back in return. “It’s all right, Ruth.”

  All right. It’s all right. How many times had she told herself that and never believed the words? But a hand holding hers helped. It helped more than she had ever imagined when she was alone and trying to move beyond the nightmares.

  “I remember hiding. And screams. And when I stopped hiding because it was quiet, I found blood. My parents were gone. I couldn’t find them. Or was that a nightmare? My adopted parents, the parents I remember, kept telling me it was.”

  She remembered a man standing in front of her, telling her to be quiet or she’d die next. He’d grabbed at her and she’d run, too afraid to talk.

  Or was that the other time it happened?

  “And Dio?” Arlin asked.

  “I remember someone screaming that name.”

  “Not Dios?” Dunne asked.

  “My birth mother didn’t speak Spanish. She was the one who scream—who said it.” It wasn’t so hard, in the half-dazed state she was in, to tell them. “Dio doesn’t sound the same anyhow. I thought she said ‘Die—oh!’ Over and over.”

  “What would Dio want with a non-were’s family?” Dunne muttered to Arlin, but Ruth heard. “There’s too much trouble going down that road.”

  Why indeed? It was another question to add to the others she’d carried with her.

  “I’m feeling more sure that Ruth is were,” Arlin said. “It sounds like a were raid. Grandfather Deklin barely survived the same thing when he was a kid.”

  She’d felt right with the room full of weres. She could tell the tension bubbling underneath, but she’d liked them. Felt comfortable with them. Was that normal?

  Ruth shook her head. She couldn’t ignore Arlin’s words. She couldn’t accept them, either.

  “No. No. I’m not one of you.” She forced herself not to shriek the words in hysteria. “Leave me alone. I’ve told you what I remember. Let me sleep.”

  It had been hard to say even this much. It would be harder to tell them what had happened later, what had happened when she wasn’t a child and protected by a child’s memory of events.

  She would. She had to.

  After she slept. She’d be strong enough then.

  Ruth turned her face away from the two men in the room and shut her eyes. Something wet and rough slid against her cheek. She almost opened her eyes before she decided it might be better to ignore him.

  But…had Arlin licked her? What else felt like that but a were tongue?

  Oh my God. She loved the feel of his tongue wherever he put it.

  “You’re safe, Ruth. I promise.” His words rumbled through her head.

  He had whispered them, right? She thought she had heard…something…but she wasn’t sure he had spoken.

  “Come on, kid. Time to leave. You need to calm down and get your head straight about what happens next. She’s safe enough. Hunt will make sure no one gets in this suite without permission.” Dunne’s voice whispered, even farther away. She was sure he spoke those words out loud even though she was already drifting further into exhaustion.

  “I’m calm.”

  A lady is always calm. But this time those words hadn’t been directed toward her. Dunne was talking to Arlin. Arlin wasn’t a lady. And never calm.

  “You’re twisted like a corkscrew about the girl. Come on. I have just the thing to help.”

  “Does it have something to do with being twisted with a cock screw?”

  “If you get really lucky and only if you stop trying to make bad jokes.”

  But Arlin liked women!

  There was a small scuffling sound and then a body hit the wall. Through half-opened eyes, she saw Dunne pin Arlin to the wall, using his height and weight to keep him there. He leaned into the younger man, panting a little.

  Then Arlin twisted and he ran his face against Dunne’s neck. There was the slightest breath of what might have been a growl.

  Dunne turned his head away and Arlin bit into the sinews of Dunne’s neck.

  Like a dog—or a wolf—would to show dominance. Ruth’s breath caught.

  Dunne grunted, but not in protest. He waited until Arlin had finished before he straightened himself up again.

  Arlin pushed Dunne away and smiled, a slow, showing all his teeth kind of smile, full of promise. The two men laughed, very softly, as they left the room.

  Well.

  Obviously Arlin didn’t confine himself to women.

  Oh. My. God.

  Ruth’s eyes had gone wide open, staring at the ceiling, as she tried to make sense of what had been shown plainly in front of her. She’d fallen into a world where she was a complete alien. This was an utter reversal of the code of conduct she’d known was the right way. This time was even worse than after she’d been orphaned and tried to understand her new parents’ household rules.

  She didn’t think she could take another upheaval of her life yet again, no matter how surprisingly enticing a were lifestyle was proving to be.

  Enticing?

  That treacherous, warm “in heat” feeling was slidin
g over her at the thought of Arlin and Dunne. Dunne and Arlin. She’d like to watch. To touch. To be touched.

  And then, as if more thought was too much, she fell into sleep.

  Chapter Four

  Arlin danced on one foot as he tried to shuck his shoes and his pants at the same time. Dunne leaned against the wall, laughing, as he dropped his shirt to the floor.

  “Miss me?” Dunne rubbed his hand against his hair, letting it stick up with the handling, then bent down to pull lube out of his shirt pocket.

  “Fuck, yeah.” Arlin wasn’t going to add out loud, “I missed all of you.”

  He didn’t have to. Dunne’s grin showed he’d heard Arlin’s thoughts.

  “They all say that. But they really just miss me.” Dunne slapped Arlin’s unprotected ass as the younger man balanced himself, freeing the last of his foot from his shoe.

  Arlin threw himself backward on the bed. “Ready when you are. By the way, why a whole new room? What’s wrong with your suite? Or mine?”

  “Talk later.” Dunne pinned him down, full weight pressing against him, and Arlin gasped for air. “Fuck now.”

  Arlin slid his legs up, spread over Dunne’s shoulders. Dunne leaned forward and buried his face against Arlin’s hair, growling as his lubed cock pushed against Arlin’s ass. “You shouldn’t have been gone so long, boy.”

  “Shut up and do it, like you said.”

  Dunne’s response was to push the first few inches of his cock inside Arlin’s ass. Arlin sucked in his breath at the initial sting. Damn, it was good. And damn, he’d missed it too much.

  Then Arlin forgot everything else but the sharp, slick pleasure of Dunne sliding in slow and deep. Inching out enough to make Arlin squirm. Sliding back in.

  He’d say it felt good to let go, to let the sensations build the way Dunne knew how to do, but he wasn’t sure the tension starting to ratchet up inside him was exactly letting go. It was more like the knots inside were being slowly, expertly, tightened and then burned away.

  Don’t think, either. Just feel.

  Dunne snarled once and slammed Arlin’s shoulders on the bed, pumping his cock hard inside.

  Their bodies slammed roughly together. Silently, except for the thud of the bed, the slap of skin against skin, the occasional gasp.