The Linchpin (Tundra Wolves Book 3)

by Maggie Walsh

  “Oh fuck. What did he say?”

  Tug smiled. “Nothing, he just sat there stone still, holding his breath. I kissed his cheek and walked away.”

  “So you’ve already planted the seed, you ass. Now I really want to meet him. When can we do this?”

  “I don’t know, love. Like I said, I have no idea when he’ll be in next.”

  “Shit. Okay, so how about the next time he comes in you call me right away, and I will make a beeline to the pub to come see you at work?”

  “I like that idea, baby. Are you sure you want to try this again?” Tug asked. He needed to make sure they were on the same page.

  Raiden sat up and threw a leg over Tug’s hips, then straddled him. “I am, babe. I really am.”

  “Okay then,” Tug replied, then grabbed Raiden’s face between his hands and drew him in, devouring his lips.

  CHAPTER 5

  Alex slowly walked into the garage, cautious of the man from the other day being there and growling at him again. Not that he was truly scared. Okay, maybe he was, but he didn’t think anyone would actually hurt him. Alpha Dell wouldn’t approve and that person would most likely get in trouble. Their alpha was a really good man who cared about everyone in the pack, and treated them all like family. Alex was sure if someone attacked him unprovoked, then Alpha Dell would take issue with that.

  “Hey, Alex, right on time,” Timber greeted, as he stepped into the workshop.

  “Hi, Timber.”

  “Just give me a minute to make a quick call, then I’ll meet you outside to check things and bring your baby inside.”

  “Sure thing. No problem,” Alex replied, and went back outside to wait for Timber.

  After a few minutes, the large door they used rolled up, making a bit of noise and grabbed Alex’s attention. He turned, expecting to find Timber, but gasped when his gaze met the large, angry man from the other day. He suddenly couldn’t remember his name though with all those bulging muscles flexing in front of him. Alex just gave him a strained smile.

  “You’re the guy who was here the other day. Timber said your mobile is having some issues, so what’s wrong with it?” The large, sexy as hell, intense man asked.

  He shrugged one shoulder as he frowned. “I have no clue, that's why I brought it to you. It’s making this strange whirr sound, and it’s a bit sluggish when I hit the throttle. Like it doesn’t want to go above thirty.”

  “Hmm, sounds like it could be a transmission issue,” the man replied, as he came closer, then opened the engine compartment.

  Alex watched as the guy fiddled around with a few things, twisted something, moved some kind of tube, but he had absolutely no idea what the guy was doing. The man knelt down on the ground to get a better look and leaned in. At that moment the back of his shirt rose up, exposing flesh and Alex groaned. Shit, the man even had muscles there. Alex wondered if the man’s ass was just as toned.

  He didn’t have to wait long to find out either, when the man shifted his weight and bent over, Alex wanted to drool. That ass was so scrumptious that Alex had the urge to bite it. He lifted a hand and swiped it across his mouth, sure to find moisture there and not wanting to embarrass himself if the man caught him gawking.

  Mr. Tall and Delicious straightened, and turned to look at him. “Looks like it needs a tune-up and I found a crack in one of the tubes. If I can have the keys, I’ll get it inside and take a better look, make sure there’s nothing more serious. Timber will give you a call and let you know what I found before we start any of the work.”

  “Um... okay,” Alex said, as he reached out with the keys dangling from his grasp. “Do you have any idea about how much it may cost?”

  The man took the keys and shook his head. “If it’s just what I already found, it’s gonna be about eighty bucks. But that will change if I find anything else.”

  Alex nodded. “Yeah, sure, right… Okay. Um… eighty’s not that bad, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed that’s all,” Alex said, with a smile.

  When the man returned the smile, Alex was filled with a sense of happiness. There was something in the guy’s smile that just put Alex at ease and kind of called to him. Alex hadn’t really checked the guy out before, with him being all growly and stuff the other day, but now that he was looking at him, Alex loved what he was seeing.

  The man was gorgeous. He had to be at least six foot two, maybe, and around two hundred and twenty-five pounds of hot hard muscle. His light blue eyes sparkled when he smiled. Alex’s attention was pulled to the man's hair when a gust of wind blew, sending a few tendrils flying around his face. The slightly wavy brown hair looked so soft, Alex suddenly had the desire to touch it, and help tame those loose strands back into the tie at the nape of the man's neck where they had escaped from.

  “Um, you okay?” the guy asked.

  Alex blinked a few times and met the man's gaze again, then wanted to cringe. The man was looking at him like he was sick or crazy or something, but Alex could actually see some concern there too, and that made him relax a bit.

  “Yeah. I’m fine. I was just thinking about the charges and wondering what I had in the bank. Thanks for looking at her and I guess I’ll talk to Timber later,” Alex replied, and started walking backward away from the man. For some reason he had the urge to run to the guy and wrap his arms around him to steal a kiss, and that thought had him running in the other direction.

  “Hold on. You need to leave your name and number.”

  Alex ground to a halt and turned to face Mr. Hot and Hunky. “Timber knows me. Sorry, but I gotta go,” Alex quickly replied, then continued walking away.

  Damn, he was such a dweeb. Ugh, if Bo could only see him now, his friend would be rolling around on the floor laughing. What the hell was wrong with him? Most of the time he was very confident with the men he was interested in or attracted to, but it seemed that not with this guy for some reason. With Mr. Intense and Delicious it seemed Alex was an idiot, and the guy most likely thought so too.

  Why had he been such a doofus in front of the guy? Just like he acted around Tug. The sexy bartender alpha was the only other guy Alex could think of that got him all flustered and saying stupid shit. Damn it, maybe he needed to get laid. It had been awhile since he had sex, and ever since last week, when Tug had whispered in his ear after Bo had blurted out his attraction to the man, Alex had pretty much hidden in his house, only venturing out to visit the garage about his snowmobile. Of course, he had a good excuse with having been lost in writing one of his books, but he wasn’t going to lie to himself. He was hiding, afraid of running into Tug and melting into the ground from embarrassment. Now he had one more guy he needed to avoid to stop that from happening as well.

  Alex made his way home and instantly booted up his laptop. He really needed to write, but a part of him wanted to talk to UM. He could confess his stupidity to his friend, and the man would make him feel better. UM always did.

  Alex quickly opened the app for My Darkest Desires and opened his account, then went right onto his message board. There was nothing there from UM, and he wasn’t sure the guy would even be on at this time, but he could still leave a message and hope UM got back to him sometime soon.

  Deltadawn: Hey sweet cheeks, was just wondering if you were around, but probably not. I mean it is the middle of the day and I am sure you’re at work. I was just hoping to get your insight on something.

  Alex typed out everything that had happened over the past few days and everything he was feeling. He spilled his guts about how horrified he was that Tug had found out he had been drooling over him, but of course he didn’t use Tug’s name. They didn’t do that. Then, he explained how he had met another hot man today, but again made a fool of himself.

  Once he was done, Alex went and made himself a cup of tea as he waited, hoping to hear from his friend, but no such luck. He sighed and signed off, then opened the doc to his latest book.

  ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  Tug pulled another beer from the tap, th
en handed it over to his customer and collected the money. As he turned toward the register, his gaze fell on the most gorgeous man in the world, and Tug smiled, receiving a bright smile in return.

  He stood frozen watching as his man walked across the room, moving straight for him. Tug met him at the end of the bar and the two leaned in and gave each other a brief kiss. “Hey, handsome. So, to what do I owe the honor of your surprise appearance today?” Tug teased, as he turned back toward the register and rang up the last order, handing the change to the customer, then he returned to where Raiden now sat.

  “I decided to close early and gave Timber and myself the rest of the day off. With the Dark Season coming we’ll be getting really busy in the next few weeks, so I figured we should take advantage of the break now. I only had a snowmobile to fix today and it was an easy thing. Tune up and a hose. No big deal. The customer will be happy though. The guy seemed really worried about the cost of the repairs, and I would have hated to tell him there was more wrong with the machine.”

  “Well then, it’s a good thing it was something simple. So, why do you look so upset?” Tug asked.

  “I don’t know. There was just something about the guy. He looked really nervous about having enough cash to pay the bill. I thought everyone in our pack was pretty well off. I mean, I know some are better off than others, and not too many have the funds like some of them over in Caleb’s new pack, but I didn’t think anyone was struggling. It kind of got me thinking. Is it just this guy, or are there others?” Raiden explained.

  Tug didn’t like hearing what Raiden was saying. As far as he knew everyone in the pack was monetarily fine. He would have to talk to the alpha about this. If someone was in trouble, they needed to step in and help the guy out. It’s what they did, they took care of each other. “Do you know who the guy is?”

  Raiden shook his head. “No, I’ve never met him before now. Shit. I didn’t even get his name from Timber. Once I was done with the job and had Timber call the little cutie, I closed up.”

  Tug raised a brow at his man and smiled. “Little cutie, huh? So, how cute was he?”

  Raiden smiled and chuckled, then leaned his arms on the bar and sat forward. “He was pretty fucking hot, babe. I mean, about five-eleven, maybe a hundred and ninety pounds, gorgeous light brown eyes. I wanted to check him out some more, but the guy was a little skittish. I couldn’t blame him though after I scared the crap out of him the other day.”

  “What did you do?” Tug teased.

  “Nothing really. I was in a grouchy mood and he was in talking with Timb and I…”

  “And you were all growly and foreboding. I know that look. Yeah, you probably had the guy shaking, baby. You are one hot man, Raiden, but when you’re pissed or not happy, you have this scowl that could make even Jude take a second look.”

  “Hey, I’m not that bad,” Raiden argued, as he stuck out a hand to slap Tug, but Tug jumped back laughing. He moved in again and slid a hand behind Raiden’s neck and pulled him into a kiss. When their lips parted, Tug opened his eyes and something behind Raiden caught his attention.

  Tug smiled when he saw Alex stroll in with his friends Marlo and Nelo and head toward a rear table. “It looks like our day may be looking up even more. First, my man surprises me with a work visit, and now Alex just walks in behind you.”

  Raiden’s eyes widened and he made a move to spin around in his stool, but Tug tightened his grip on his lover’s neck and stopped him. “What? I want to see this man you think is so hot and maybe could become our third.”

  “I know, baby, but be a little more discreet, will you? He just walked in with two of his friends. Back booth toward the pool tables. You know Marlo, right?”

  Raiden smiled. “Yeah, cute little omega. He’s the sweetest thing ever.”

  “That’s the one. Alex is sitting with him. Not the one with the purple streak in his hair, the other one with the long honey blond hair. I’ll go back to serving my customers and get you a beer too. In the meantime, just play it cool… and be subtle.”

  Raiden stuck out his tongue at Tug making him laugh. He knew Raiden was going to give him hell for that later. Tug turned and went to get his mate a beer as he looked for any other customers in need of libations.

  CHAPTER 6

  After what happened at the garage earlier with the hot mechanic, then not hearing back from UM, Alex had a hard time concentrating on his book. So, after a few failed attempts where he actually deleted about five thousand words, Alex decided to give up for the day.

  He spent another hour piddling around the house dusting, vacuuming, and even changed his sheets, but he was bored and a bit agitated, if he was to be honest. His thoughts kept going back to the hot guy and wondering what it would feel like to have the large man control him. Yes, Alex knew he was a delta, but he was very aware that he was also part gamma, and his submissive side was craving what it rarely got.

  Sure he had submitted somewhat to a few lovers before, like letting them take control and fucking him, or pushing him to his knees and making him suck them. Not that he didn’t want to, but he loved the force of it. It thrilled him to be taken by force, even if only pretending.

  As he danced around his living room with his Shark vacuum, his mind wandered to Tug a few times, and he wondered what Tug’s man looked like, or even if he knew who it was. His pack was the largest in the region with the highest number of members, and although Alex did know most of them, he didn’t know everyone. Just because they were pack, didn’t mean they ran in the same circles.

  The betas, alphas, and deltas spent most of their lives and time training, learning how to fight and protect the pack. The omegas mostly stayed away from everyone except each other and the gammas, and they all helped to take care of the children, because they were afraid that if an alpha got wind of them, the man would snatch them up, drag them off like a caveman, and claim them. Alex shook his head from that thought. Didn’t they know by now that the old Alpha York and now Alpha Dell would never let that happen?

  As with anything else in life, there were cliques. The pottery people stayed mostly with the pottery people, the glass people stayed mostly with the glass people, the jewelry people stayed with the jewelry people, then there was Alex, and his band of what he liked to refer to as the misfits.

  His pack was made up of artists. Pretty much everyone had an artistic talent of some kind, and that was how they all made money for themselves and the pack. Alex was the only writer among them, Bo was the only designer of sex toys, Nelo was the only beautician they had in town, and Marlo, well, Marlo was an omega, but he didn’t act like any of the others. It was probably because like him and Bo, Marlo had grown up as one of Caleb’s best friends too, and they spent their lives hanging out at the alpha house, and looked at Dell and Jude more as brothers.

  As they got older, old Alpha York discovered that Marlo was great at organization. The man could straighten out any mess in no time at all. He was a living Tetris game. So, old Alpha York had taken Marlo on as his assistant, and Marlo ran the pack better than ever before. Once Dell took over the reins, he kept Marlo on as his assistant. No one could ever claim that Dell was stupid, that’s for sure.

  But, their little band stayed mostly to themselves when it was time for some relaxation and having fun. Seeing as Alex spent most of his time locked away in his house, working on his books, and only socialized with his close friends and those he would fuck when his horny delta demanded, he didn’t get much of a chance to meet everyone in the pack. He had seen probably everyone a time or two and could recognize their faces, but ask him their names and he had no clue.

  As he had continued his cleaning, his fantasies turned to Tug as they always did, and Alex wondered what kind of man the alpha male was into. Did he like his men big like him? Smaller, maybe more demure? Would a horny delta do it for the big man, or was he into the whole owning an omega, complete domination?

  Not that Alex was against that, because damn, he had enjoyed many fantas
ies about giving himself over in submission like an omega did, and those fantasies always brought him the greatest relief when he came, but Alex didn’t think he could do the total submission twenty-four seven. He liked writing his books and going out with his friends, and if he had the omega experience, those things would be in the past. As much as he craved to submit, he didn’t want to give up all his freedoms.

  As another fantasy of Tug crossed his mind, with the man tying him up to a spanking bench and teasing him for hours until he had fucked him stupid, another man stepped into the vision. The man from the garage entered, all naked and hard, with a heavy cock hanging between his legs. The man stepped up to him and gripped the back of his head, forcing Alex to look up at him before he slid his long cock down Alex’s throat. At the same time, Tug moved between his spread legs and shoved a thick dildo up his ass and began to torture and tease him.

  The vision had felt so real that Alex had to stop vacuuming, take his cock in hand right there in the middle of the living room, then jack off until he came. Gods above, what would it feel like to be dominated by two? That was one of his biggest desires.

  After he got control of himself and cleaned up, putting everything away, then showering and changing, Alex quickly called his friends to see if they wanted to hit the pub for dinner and some drinks. Marlo and Nelo were in, but Alex was shocked to hear that Bo had moved to Caleb’s new pack two days before, and he didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.

  When Marlo told him they had all tried to reach him, but couldn’t, Alex felt guilty, because he had been so involved with his book that he had shut out the world. But, who would have thought that while he was locked away for a few days that one of his best friends would just up and leave for good? Well, Bo didn’t actually just take off. He had met his true mate and moved to Caleb’s new pack to be with Jag. A smile came to his lips as he thought about that development. Bo and the beta Jag from the Heart pack. Alex had always known that Bo’s boasting about topping was just that and the man actually did like to bottom too.