The Linchpin (Tundra Wolves Book 3)

by Maggie Walsh

  “Yup. Our little man went to that orgy Gary and his men threw. Remember me telling you about it?”

  “Yeah, but what was Alex doing there?” Raiden asked, and Tug could see the bit of anger in his man's eyes.

  “Well, seeing as it was an orgy, I would guess that the better question would be who was he doing it with? And then I would say to you, don’t get hurt or angry. It was before we met him, well, you, and discovered him to be our true one, so we can’t get upset about that.”

  “Fine, but he’s our mate, so there will be no more orgies,” Raiden huffed.

  “Anyway, Dell reminded me that sometimes Alex can get lost in his work and that was probably the issue now. He suggested I give him a call instead of a text, because Alex is more likely to answer the phone than a message. With his fingers already moving across the keyboard, he won’t stop for a message.”

  “Fingers already moving across the keyboard? What does Alex do for a living?” Raiden asked curiously.

  “He’s an author. He has a few pen names from what I’ve heard.”

  Raiden sat up straighter as his brows rose. “An author? Wow, do you know what genre he writes?” Raiden asked, as he grabbed his bowl again, then started eating.

  “Gay erotic romance is his biggest, but he also writes close to porn with another pen name. From what I understand, the humans at the BDSM clubs down in the lower forty-eight can’t get enough of those. Marlo and Bo say Alex writes some pretty hot and heavy gay BDSM stories and the subs go gaga over them.”

  Raiden took a bite from his food then froze. Tug had no idea what his man was thinking, but whatever it was made Raiden looked like the cat that ate the canary. “What is it?” He asked.

  “Alex, is an author, who writes BDSM for the humans, and he went to an orgy recently. What are the odds?” Raiden asked absently.

  “I would guess pretty good considering who we are and what type of wolf he is.”

  Raiden’s eyes widened as a huge smile crossed his lips. “He’s a delta! Oh my gods, how did I not put this together already?”

  “What?”

  Raiden turned to full face him, his eyes were full of excitement. “Deltadawn,” he exclaimed.

  “And why are you talking about an old Tanya Tucker song?”

  Raiden laughed as he shook his head. “No, not the song, my friend, Deltadawn, one word. You know, the guy I talk to on that website, Deepest Desires. His handle is Deltadawn. Get it, delta? He’s an author. One who writes gay erotic romance and BDSM porn in multiple pen names and the last time I talked to him he was telling me how he was invited to an orgy,” Raiden explained excitedly.

  “Wait, so you’re thinking that your friend you’ve been conversing with online for almost three years is Alex?” Tug asked in disbelief.

  “Yes. Look, Tug, I know it sounds farfetched, but think about it. Dell did say that fate was moving our pieces around and drawing us together. We had our stuff to work out, and so has Alex, but now that we’re on the same page, I think we’ve finally found our linchpin, because Alex has realized what he truly wants too. All of us are in alignment on what we want.”

  “Which means what?” Tug asked. He was so confused.

  Raiden sighed. “Deltadawn talks to me about wanting two Masters. It’s one of his biggest fantasies. Anytime I told him about our situation and us looking for a third, he would get so jealous. He wants what we’re offering, babe.”

  “Okay, so say I believe what you’re saying and your friend Deltadawn is Alex, we can’t do anything about it if he won’t meet us. And if he really wants what we’re looking for too, then why is he not here?”

  Raiden smiled. “There’s one way to find out. Just let me get my laptop.”

  CHAPTER 9

  “So?” Tug asked from beside Raiden as they stared at the screen.

  “Let the site come up first, babe,” Raiden replied, with a chuckle as he logged into his account.

  Once his page opened, Raiden looked at his message box and saw that he had ten messages. “Well shit.”

  “What?”

  “I have a lot of messages from Deltadawn. Let me just open this here and... Here we are. Oh shit.”

  “Oh shit, what? Damn, baby, stop playing with me before I spank your ass,” Tug grumbled.

  Raiden laughed, then pointed at the screen. “Read for yourself.”

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

  “Okay, and?” Tug asked, and Raiden could hear the confusion. Geez, he guessed he would have to take the lead on this one.

  “That was sent yesterday around eleven. That would have been right after Alex dropped off his snowmobile with me. He probably went home and sent this. I wonder what he wanted to talk about?”

  “That still doesn’t say that this online friend of yours is our mate,” Tug argued.

  “True, but it doesn’t say he isn’t either. But I do believe some of these may,” Raiden said as he pointed to the other messages.

  Deltadawn: Hey Um, I really hope to hear from you soon, I could really use your perspective on something.

  Deltadawn: I’m really freaking out. I don’t know what to do. Remember that guy I told you about, the Dominant guy that lives in my town? I told you I found out he has a boyfriend and how my heart was broken knowing it would never be between us. Well, to my shock and happiness, I found out yesterday that his boyfriend is the guy I was trying to talk to you about in my last message. I know I am confusing you here, but I met this guy and he is so fucking hot. Huge! I mean big, like the other guy and soooo hot. As soon as I walked away from him after talking with him, I immediately started having fantasies about the two of them ganging up on me, if you know what I mean? Gods, I would love to see these two big Dominant males clashing. Now that would be hot. But to have them focus that heat on me... I think I’m gonna come in my pants just from the image in my head.

  “Oh fucking hell,” Tug groaned.

  “Right? Sounds like he wants us just as much as we want him, babe,” Raiden replied.

  “Raid, we don’t even know that this is Alex,” Tug argued gently.

  “No, but come on, does this not follow what’s going on with us right now?”

  Tug sighed. “Fine, I’ll give you that, it does sound like it could be Alex just from that, but let's not get our hopes up, okay?”

  “Fine, then let’s see what else he has to say, shall we?” Raiden said with a snicker, then looked back at the messages and read them out loud.

  Deltadawn: Yes, I know from my last message that you are probably confused by my dilemma, that I would need to talk to you, but the issue is that I met with both men at the same time and they both showed me interest, then we found out... well, let’s just say we found out we were compatible. Like SERIOUSLY compatible. We are planning on meeting up tomorrow night for dinner to talk about us and getting together. But…

  “But what?” Tug demanded, as he sat forward, making Raid laugh.

  “Still don’t think this is our mate?” He asked sarcastically.

  “Fuck you and read,” Tug huffed.

  Deltadawn: Gah! UM, I don’t know what to do, I have never been so conflicted or confused in my life. I really want to go meet these men for dinner tonight, but I don’t think I can. I couldn’t sleep last night, I can’t eat, and I can’t even concentrate on my work. I feel so... so... so sad and heartbroken.

  “What the hell? Why is he heartbroken? And who the hell is UM?” Tug asked.

  Raiden gave him a sheepish look, as he answered, “That’s what he calls me, UM. Anyway, as you said, why is he heartbroken? None of this makes sense.”

  “What does the next one say?”

  “There is no next one. That one came in at nine this morning, but that’s the last one,” Raiden replied sadly.

  “Shit, so what do we do now? Maybe we should call Dell an
d ask him if he knows what’s going on, or if he can help us?” Tug suggested.

  “Or we can do this,” Raiden said, then started saying what he was typing so Tug would know.

  UM: Hey gorgeous, your messages have me worried. Sorry I wasn’t here. Are you around?

  Raiden smiled, when immediately the little dancing dots appeared indicating a message was coming through.

  Deltadawn: UM! Oh thank god!

  UM: What’s going on, sweetie? You sound frantic. I thought you would be ecstatic knowing your Dominant guy was showing interest? And to now find out some other hottie you are fantasizing about is hottie’s boy toy? Damn, lucky you.

  “Really? You wrote that?” Tug asked, as he rolled his eyes.

  “Hey, if in the slight chance this isn’t Alex, then I still need to show my friend the love.”

  Deltadawn: I am happy about that, but at the same time I’m heartbroken. You know how much I crave to have two Dominant men command me, and it looked like I may have gotten my chance, but just not in a one night thing, but in like a real committed thing. But then... It’s too painful to say.

  “What? What’s too painful to say? Damn this is frustrating as hell. Just ask him if he’s Alex and we can go to him and find out what’s wrong,” Tug insisted.

  “I am not doing that. Just hush and let me do my thing,” Raiden admonished.

  UM: But it all sounds like you would be getting exactly what you want, so why heartbroken? What’s so painful?

  Deltadawn: I found out they’re lying to me. Not only me but my... friend. Someone who I look up to and respect like a brother. They lied to us. They said they were committed to one another and hadn’t taken a lover, but I know it’s not true. I know they have a third already.

  “Say what now? What the hell is he talking about? We didn’t lie. There is no other. And is that Dell he’s talking about? Does Dell now think we lied to him? Shit,” Tug protested, but Raiden ignored him and kept talking to his friend.

  UM: How do you know they were lying? Maybe there was just a misunderstanding?

  Deltadawn: I met him. Their lover. Their third. He approached me in the street yesterday, right after the three of us talked and made plans to meet for dinner tonight. I am supposed to be at their house right now, but I just couldn’t go. This guy said he lived with them, UM. He lives with them, yet they want me to go there and eat food that their lover prepared, and then try to sex me up? Then he told me about the other hottie, the boyfriend.

  “What the hell did someone say about me?” Raiden snarled, then typed.

  UM: What about the other hottie? What did the guy say?

  Deltadawn: He said the guy was a total bottom boy and not Dominant at all. He said that the guy let the other one, my fantasy guy, the Dominant one, do things to him that were... over the top. Things that I could never do. He said that they only used him as a slave, but when it came to the Dominant’s darker side, he always turned to his boyfriend for those things. He said they liked to play hard. Like edge play. Needles, knives, blood sport. I just can’t do those things, nor would I want to see it happen to anyone else. And what about their third? There is no way I am stepping into that relationship when they already have a third, but I know I am supposed to be theirs, not him. But how am I supposed to do that?

  “Are you fucking kidding me? Who the hell told him all of that and why?” Tug demanded angrily. Raiden had no idea either, but he was just as angry as Tug. Who the hell was going around talking shit about them and making things up? And why?

  UM: Are you sure he’s telling you the truth?

  Deltadawn: No, I’m not, and that’s half the problem. Even though I have known my Dominant interest for years, I still don’t really know him, know him. I have always thought he was a good and honorable man, but now... I just don’t know what to think. And the other one, the boyfriend, I met him the other day before I knew who he was, and he was really scary and gruff. Hot, but scary, so I don’t know anything about him. But then again, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and trust them, but I don’t know them. That’s what I am so confused over. I want to trust them. If I am going to have a relationship with them in any way, then I need to be able to trust them. Then this guy, the one who told me all of this, I don’t know him from a hole in the wall, so how do I trust what he says? But, at the same time, what if I don’t and find out he was telling me the truth? And if he is lying, why? He had no way of knowing what we were talking about, or what we are to each other, so then what is his reasoning? See? Confused.

  UM: Yeah, I get it. Believe me, I get it, and I understand why you are feeling like you are. The only thing I can tell you is, you’ll never know if you hide from it. You need to face them and talk to them. Ask them bluntly and plainly. If they are really for you, then you’ll know. I do know from the things you have said about your crush guy over the years, that you have held him in high regard as a good person, so maybe that’s where you should start.

  As much as Raiden was heartbroken from reading Alex had been thinking those things about him, that he was scary and had been gruff with him, Raiden couldn’t deny it. He had been gruff that first day he met Alex at the garage and could see how his attitude that day would scare someone. It still hurt him to know he had caused Alex to be afraid.

  “Once he gets to know you, baby, he’ll know what I do, that you are a wonderful man who he can trust and love with all his heart,” Tug said, as he ran a comforting hand down Raiden’s back.

  “We need to move this along and go to our mate, baby. He needs us and we need him, and together, the three of us can figure out who this guy was that talked to him and told him all that crap. You keep talking to Alex and I’ll go call Dell. We need to go to Alex now and take care of this,” Tug said, then stood and kissed Raiden’s head, before turning away with his cell phone in his hand.

  Raiden began typing again, trying his best to be a good friend like he had always been to Deltadawn, but at the same time trying to now help Alex. Fury and pain raced through him as his wolf growled and snarled, knowing that someone was trying to fuck with their mate, which could possibly make them lose Alex.

  ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  UM was right. Alex knew he was right, but it still didn’t stop the doubt from seeping in. Alex was so angry with himself. Even though he really didn’t know his mates that well, he should have had more faith in them. He should have given them his trust until they lost the privilege. But to trust someone, or two someone’s with not only his heart, but with his submission, he needed to know them first, and they needed to earn his trust.

  With that said, technically they hadn’t done anything to not earn it. This whole thing between them was just beginning and he needed to look at the facts he knew now, not what others told him. His dads might not have been the best people in the world, but they had given him sage advice when they told him he should always use his own brain, not others’. What they meant by that was he shouldn’t let what others said influence his thinking. People could talk and gossip about others for an unlimited number of reasons, and mostly those reasons were for their own gain, not others, so he should go by how people treated him and others in his presence, and never go by what others said.

  So, therefore, he needed to think about what he did know of his mates. What he himself observed of them and how they talked to and treated him as well as others, and whoever this other guy, Cilly, was, Alex needed to be wary of his intentions. Like his dads said, people talked and gossiped for their own good or their own agenda. So, what reason did this Cilly have for approaching him, and then lying? The reasons where limitless especially since he didn't even know who the man was.

  The guy had approached him on the street and right away asked him why he, Tug, and Raiden were at the alpha’s house. Which, if he stopped to think about that fact alone, made no sense and should have been a red flag. And if Alex was being honest with himself and remembering correctly, he had gotten a weird feeling and immediately had gotten suspicious and w
as on the defense when Cilly asked him that. So he needed to―

  A knock on the door drew his attention and Alex looked to the clock at the lower right hand corner of his laptop. Nine-thirty? Who was coming for a visit at this hour? Maybe it was Marlo or Nelo. They were known to drop by late some nights.

  Alex stood from his chair and stretched his arms over his head and his back popped. Oh, that felt good. He had been sitting in that darn chair for far too long. Alex walked to the door and gripped the knob, then pulled it open and froze, his eyes wide in disbelief.

  “May we come in?” Tug asked, the hesitant look on his face so opposite to the confident man Alex knew him to be.

  Being a bit stunned, Alex didn’t reply, or reject the request. He just stepped back and let the door open fully, allowing them in. Alex took a few more steps backwards, putting distance between them, but kept his gaze moving between the two big men.

  CHAPTER 10

  It had seemed like such a good idea an hour ago, when they were talking to Alex online as Deltadawn and when Tug had called Dell asking for Alex’s address, but now that they were here, standing in their mate’s home, with Alex’s wonderful scent filling the space and consuming him, Tug was thinking maybe it wasn’t such a hot idea to come. Maybe they should have filled Dell in on everything that was going on and gotten some advice.

  “So, um…” Raiden started, then looked to Tug for help, like he knew what to do in this situation.

  “Yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t make it for dinner or even call. I... um... I had some things to take care of and I lost track of time,” Alex offered quietly, as he looked down at his feet. Tug could see a hint of shame or guilt in the man's eyes before he looked away.

  This skittish man who stood before him was so not the Alex he had come to know over the past few years from working at the bar, and Tug didn’t like it. Alex wasn’t overboard arrogant like his friend, Bo, but he was usually more confident than this. When Tug shifted his gaze to Raiden and saw the same anxiety wrapped around his lover, it set his teeth to tingle and anger to seep into him. He let out a frustrated growl and both men’s gazes snapped to his.