Alpha Trio: The Complete Collection (4 page)

No such luck.

“I’m kind of keyed up still, actually. Do you mind... could we maybe watch some TV?”

He nodded, striding back to the couch and picking up the remote. Em sprawled in the right-hand corner, Cat took the left. Neither one of them spoke as he flipped through the channels, looking for something to occupy their minds. Tension hung thick in the air. Cat combed her fingers through her wet hair, flicking quick glances at him from the corner of her eye.

Kate Beckinsale in tight leather flashed on the screen and Em paused in his channel surfing. Then, realizing what movie it was, he snorted. Beside him, Cat giggled.

“I actually kind of love this movie.”

Em quirked a brow at her. “Seriously? It’s terrible.”

She shrugged one round shoulder, lips twitching. “You’re just biased. It is mostly from the vampire point of view, after all. At least, until the later ones.”

He shook his head, but left the movie on. Cat became engrossed almost immediately, her posture relaxing. She bent her knees and pulled them against her chest, baring the rounded curve of her thigh all the way up to her ass. Her panties were white, Em saw.

His cock took another leap in his pants. He wanted to smack himself in the forehead, try to reset his brain, which seemed to respond to every single thing Cat did with a rush of blood to the groin. He settled for rubbing at the spot between his eyes instead.

“Is this what it’s really like?” She was looking at him, chewing that full lower lip. “I mean, not this exactly but... vampires and werewolves... sworn enemies... fighting to the death... all that?”

Em scrubbed a hand hard over his cheek, feeling the rasp of his whiskers. He should probably shave. “No, not really.” He still couldn’t decide why he was telling her all this stuff. Sure, she’d seen things he couldn’t explain away but he didn’t have to give her the crash course. Yet, every time she asked a question it just felt natural to answer her. She must be a hell of a reporter.

“We’re not sworn enemies. Sometimes, on a very rare occasion, we even work together to deal with big stuff. An out of control coven, and rogue Shifter pack. They have their... police force, I’d guess you call it. And we have ours. We make sure when things of the unexplainable variety happen, they get taken care of.”

Cat bit her thumbnail. “So... tonight?”

“They were causing a disturbance that was likely to draw attention. We dealt with it. I’ll have to write it up tomorrow. Stuff like that is pretty commonplace, really. Just not usually in such a crowded place. Even bloodsuckers are generally more careful than that.” Em scratched at his chest, eyeing the smooth curve of her calf.

“‘Write it up’? Like, a report? Do you have a police chief and everything?” She snickered, her nose wrinkling. It was a cute facial expression that had the strange effect making Em want to kiss her on the tip of the nose and bury his cock in her at the same time.

Something of that must have shown on his face, because she shifted on the couch nervously. At some point, they’d both moved slightly closer together. Em’s left knee almost touched Cat’s bare right thigh.

“Like a report,” he replied, clearing his throat. “And not a chief, exactly. Though she does give out assignments and rides our asses about paperwork.” The smile that stretched his mouth was genuine. Some of the guys in the Pack thought it was weird for Em and his brothers, working for their mom. But the way he figured it, they’d just been groomed for the position their whole lives.

“Your chief... or whatever... is a woman?” She leaned closer, clearly intrigued. Her brows, which were shaped almost like upside-down V’s, lowered. He could feel the warmth of her skin through the fabric of his jeans. She smelled of soap, her own warm, sugary scent, and
him
. From the shirt. But the mixture of their scents sent a spike of lust through him. His cock throbbed.

“Mmmhmm.” He tried to concentrate on the movie, but it was mostly just a series of shifting shadows in front of him. He was really watching her out of the corner of his eye. She twisted toward him, not even paying attention to the TV anymore. Her right leg was laid flat, her knee touching his right hip. Her left leg was still bent. She rested her chin on it. Em tried not to stare at the soft shadow between her thighs.

“I would have thought...” She paused, fiddling with the sleeves of his shirt. “Aren’t wolf packs usually male-dominant?”

“We’re not exactly wild wolves, Cat.” It was taking all his effort to leave his hands limp on his thighs and not reach over and haul her into his lap. “And that’s not exactly true of them, either. The leader of Alpha Trio – and that’s just a designation, not a title – the chief, is the usually someone who’s worked their way up through the ranks and then gotten selected for the role.”

“And you and the others don’t have any trouble working for her?” She was biting her thumb nail again, eyes troubled. He wondered if it was something in her own work environment that made her ask the question, or if it was just general interest.

“I have no trouble working for her. Neither do any of the other guys... or girls... on the squad. She’s a seasoned fighter. She knows what she’s doing. She’s been where we are.”

Anyone who did have a problem with Elena Lupei was welcome to try her. Even though she was in her late fifties now, she had still been known to take down a young, arrogant pup from time to time.

“You respect her.” She said it as if she was surprised. Though, given his experiences with human men, he guess he understood that. In his world, you never made an assumption about someone’s abilities based solely on their gender or you’d end up dead real quick.

“I do. I didn’t always. But I think I get a pass on that. What 14 year-old-boy doesn’t think his parents have no clue what they’re talking about?”

Cat’s mouth fell open, her full lips damp from where she’d been chewing her thumb. “She’s your mom?” He chuckled at her expression, wide eyed and slack jawed. Everything she was thinking was written plain on the creamy skin of her face and in those oddly vivid eyes.

Maybe that’s what made her so easy to talk to. She was disarming because it seemed impossible she was being disingenuous. “Yeah. One of the best hand-to-hand fighters Alpha Trio ever had.”

“Are you fucking with me?”

God, how he’d like to. Em coughed. “Uh. No. Why?” She shifted again, tucking both her feet beneath her until she was sitting on her heels.

“I don’t know. It’s just not what I would have expected.”

“It’s all this bullshit,” he nodded at the TV screen. “Filling your head with ideas about what Shifters are like. I find it interesting that, of all the things you’ve learned tonight, the idea that a woman is the head of a fighting squad is the thing you can’t believe.”

Her eyes went wide. “Oh. Wow. When you put it like that...”

Em shrugged. Cat’s eyes dropped to his chest at the gesture and trailed downward, following the furring of dark hair that trailed off down his belly. He watched her face as a pink flush crept into her cheeks. Em fisted his hands as she chewed at her lower lip. His cock jerked against his zipper.

He heard the slight intake of her breath and was suddenly assailed with the sweet, musky aroma of her arousal. His eyes dropped to his lap, where she was staring intently, and he realized that the open buttons of his jeans revealed the top inch or so of his thick shaft, which was pulsing even now with fresh blood. She licked her lips.

Em couldn’t take it anymore. Rules be damned. He had to touch her, kiss her. His hand shot out and he caught her wrist, pulling her forward across his broad chest. She gave a soft cry of surprise as she tumbled against him, sprawling half in his lap. He gave her one second to pull away, slap him, whatever, if she didn’t want this.

“Emmmmmm.” Her shocked gasp of his name dissolved into a moan as he slanted his mouth over hers. Her lips were just as soft as they looked, plump and warm beneath his. She opened for him, eagerly. Em groaned as he plunged his tongue between the damp satin of her lips. She tasted of mint toothpaste as he teased her tongue with his. The tiniest flick of the slick, velvet appendage was all it took for Em to make a decision.

He was going to have this woman, and to hell with the consequences.

Her breasts pressed against his bare chest, separated only by the fabric of his shirt. He felt the hard point of her nipples poking him. He dropped her wrist and slid both hands to her hips, lifting her more fully over him without breaking contact with her lush mouth. Cat spread her legs, thank the gods, and straddled his waist. She kissed him back with a fierce passion equal to his own, her white teeth nipping at his lower lip.

Cat’s delicate hands stroked his chest and shoulders, her fingernails gently scoring his skin. When he pressed her down, moving the panty-clad mound of her pussy against the hard ridge of his cock, they both groaned. Her heat scorched him, even through both layers of fabric.

He sucked at her tongue hungrily. Cat speared her fingers into his thick hair and held his head hard, licking along the inner curve of his lower lip and rocking her hips. She was a living flame in his arms and he was on fire everywhere she touched him. He planted his feet on the floor and arched up against her moist cleft. She cried out into his mouth.

“Jesus, you’re so fucking hot,” he groaned as he dragged his mouth from hers. “You’re burning me up, baby.” He trailed his lips along her jaw, nipping at her earlobe and tracing the length of her throat with his tongue. She writhed in his lap, rotating her hips and grinding her pussy against him.

“Em, oh god, Em!” she whimpered as he sucked at the clean, damp skin of her throat. Her hair, still wet, brushed his cheek. It smelled of chamomile. The herbal shampoo his sister made for him. Cat, covered in his smells, was the sexiest thing he’d ever encountered in his entire life.

He swept his mouth along the color of the shirt, dipping his tongue into the shadowed well of her cleavage. She leaned back against his grip, her fingers tightening in his hair as he nudged aside the shirt with his nose to nibble at the upper curve of her breasts.

Em wished he had more hands. He didn’t want to release the soft, plump curves of her ass as he urged her to move on him but he wanted to tear open the buttons of the damn shirt. Frustrated, Em took the fabric between his teeth and jerked his head.

“Oh! What? Oh!” Cat jumped in surprise as he popped off the next several on the shirt buttons with a low growl. The plackets gaped wide, revealing the soft, pale mounds of her ample breasts. Her nipples were a dusky rose, puckered and hard under his gaze. Em nipped at the right one, drawing it into his mouth and sucking hard at the taut bud.

Cat shuddered on top of him. He felt the heat of her pussy increase and moisture began to seep through the fabric of his jeans, dampening his rampant shaft. Em wanted inside that hot, wet cleft so bad he ached with it. Pinned under his jeans, he was in danger of doing himself injury.

He released her nipple with a final lick and returned his mouth to hers. “Cat, baby, lift up for a second. Please. I need...” His fingers tightened on her ass as her hands slid down his neck. She scratched her fingernails down through his chest hair, flicking them across the flat disc of his nipples. Em hissed as a lance of desire zinged along his spine.

She rubbed her lips back and forth over his, panting a little, as she lifted slightly off of him. Her hair fell around his face in damp, sweet smelling locks. When her fingers reached his waistband and began tugging the zipper down, Em shuddered in anticipation. “Yes, Cat,” he moaned. “Take out my cock, baby.”

Cat gasped, biting her lower lip, her eyes dark and intense on his. “Em, I...” Her fingers brushed the base of his cock. He cursed. She moaned, her lashes fluttering down. She’d just begun to curl her soft digits around his shaft and tug him free when the knocking began.

*****

“Em! It’s Drei! Open the damn door, man!” Drei pounded harder on the wood. Cat scrambled off him, clutching the shirt closed over her breasts. Her eyes were wide and she was breathing raggedly, fingers pressed to her lips. The fingers that had just been about to wrap around his cock. Em shoved a hand through his hair as she stared at him with startled, soft eyes.

“Just a sec!” He spoke through gritted teeth, climbing reluctantly to his feet, and yanked the zipper all the way up on his jeans. He winced at the uncomfortable restriction. He turned to Cat, who still looked dazed and tousled. “Why don’t you go into the bedroom? There should be some sweats in the dresser. They’ll be big but...”

She was already scampering out of sight. He winced at the door shut hard. Em crossed the apartment in two long strides and threw the front door open. Drei shoved past him, knuckles scraped and a long gash on his right cheek.

Grig looked no better, his lip puffed and split and a huge purple bruise covering one side of his ribs. Both men were stark naked and blood spattered.

“Shit.” Em shoved a hand through his hair. “You guys stay here.”

“We need clothes, Em.” Grig indicated his nakedness, as if Em had missed it. Em rolled his eyes at his younger brother.

“Yeah, I noticed. But Cat’s in the bedroom.”

Grig’s dark brows rose. He cocked his head, his long hair brushing his shoulder, and sniffed. Em knew his brothers could both smell the tantalizing musk of Cat’s arousal. He narrowed his eyes as Grig opened his mouth.

“Stay. Here.”

He ducked into the bedroom. Cat was sitting in the middle of his bed, a pair of his sweats on. She’d had to roll both the waistband and the ankles. The fabric was stretched tight across all those soft curves. Em’s jaw clenched.

What he really wanted to do was peel them back off of her and finish what they’d started. But what he had to do was go back out there and deal with his brothers and whatever had happened with the vamps outside 5tM.

“Is...” Cat gulped, not meeting his eyes. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah. Stay in here for a bit.” He exhaled a long breath, scrubbed a hand over his face, and yanked two more pairs of sweats and two t-shirts out of the dresser. “I’ll call you in a minute. Okay?”

When she finally met his eyes, hers so dark a purple they looked almost black. Heat crept through his veins. It wasn’t regret he saw there, though there was a twinge of embarrassment - at being caught by his brothers? - but longing. Craving even. Her fingers curled into the bedspread, and Em realized she was holding herself back from reaching for him.

Hell. His own hands clenched on the fabric of the clothes as pulsing desire spread through him. His cock ached. They’d been so close.

“Okay,” she whispered huskily. Em forced himself to spin on his heel and leave. Another second in that room and he wouldn’t care that both his brothers were in the living room. He’d spread her out on the bed and fuck her until neither one of them could move. He closed the door behind himself and chucked the clothes at Drei.

“What happened?”

Drei glared. “Em.” Grig snickered and elbowed Drei.

“Leave him be, Drei.” Drei crossed his arms over his chest.

“We got three of ‘em. But that one Icy motherfucker skipped out while the others swarmed us.”

Grig tugged on the t-shirt. “Coward.”

“What does that mean for me?” Cat asked from behind him. Her voice stroked up his spine. He couldn’t bite back the low growl that rumbled out of his throat as Grig’s eyes widened.

“I thought I told you to wait in the bedroom until I called you?” At least Drei and Grig had pants on.

She stopped right by his elbow and tossed her head to look up at him. Her arms crossed beneath her breasts. What buttons were left were done up again. “Maybe wolf girls stay when they’re told, but have you ever known a cat to?” She quirked a brow at him. He narrowed his eyes.

“Fuck, Em, did you tell her everything?” Drei’s voice was harsh with shock. Grig, on the other hand, was laughing.

“I like her. You can keep a secret, can’t you sweetheart?”

Em’s lip curled back and he shot a venomous glare at Grig. “Grig,” he warned. His younger brother flashed him a grin. Em turned his steady gaze to Drei. “She’s already said she won’t go telling tales.”

“She’s also right here. And ‘she’ has a name!” She swung her head toward Drei, their crossed arm postures mirroring each other, though his older brother toward over her petite frame. Cat didn’t flinch at all. She glared up at Drei. “I’m not stupid enough to get myself committed by trying to enlighten the... what did Em call us?...
Mundanes
? So untwist your panties, GI Joe.”

Grig collapsed onto the couch at that, wrapping his arms around his stomach and doubling over as he guffawed. “GI Joe! Oh man. I really like her.” Em’s lips twitched too, but he fought down the urge to plant Grig a facer. Drei studied her from her bare toes up to her damp hair, eyes taking a leisurely course up her body.

Em clenched his jaw. Now he wanted to punch both his brothers. Finally, Drei turned his dark blue gaze to Em. “Can she be trusted?”

She was a reporter. He should mention that. They should inform command that there’d been a breach of secrecy. Em glanced down at Cat. She was looking up at him, that full lower lip caught between her teeth. He saw the knowledge in her eyes.

She understood that if he gave her up, her life was going to get very complicated. Maybe unpleasant. He didn’t know, he’d never had to deal with a secrecy breach. Em’s eyes took in every inch of her face, searching for any indication she planned on outing them. He saw no hint of duplicity. That open, guileless expression and her creamy, translucent skin hid no ulterior motives.

“We’re fine, bro.”

Cat’s lip slipped from between her teeth and the corners of her mouth ticked up the tiniest bit. Drei curved one brow at him, but then subsided with a shrug.

“I don’t think the vamp will be able to track her anymore. But it’s probably best we see her back to her apartment, just in case.”

“The sunlight thing!” Cat blurted. All three of them turned to look at her. Her cheeks flushed pink. “I mean... is that true?”

“See? He didn’t tell her
everything
.” Grig chuckled.

Drei inclined his head. “They are hypersensitive to sunlight. Yeah. Why?”

“Oh. Um.” She fiddled with the sleeve of his shirt momentarily and then straightened her shoulders, meeting his eyes boldly. “I was just thinking it might be... safer... if we go in the morning.” She tilted her head to the side. “Don’t you think, Em?” Her lashes lowered over her eyes. Heat bloomed into his chest.

“She’s right. I’ll take her back in the morning.”

Drei sighed. Grig snickered. “Safer. Mmmhmmm. Let’s get out of here before they go all Wild Kingdom, Drei.”

“Bye,” Cat tossed out to them, her eyes not leaving Em’s. She flushed at Grig’s words, but didn’t protest. “And... thanks.”

“Anytime, sweetheart.” Grig was grinning ear to ear. Drei grunted and shoved him out the door.

The second the door closed behind his brothers, Cat turned into his arms. “Oh, thank god.” She curled a hand against the back of his neck and tugged his mouth down to hers. Em flicked his tongue along the seam of her lips. Hers emerged immediately to tease his.

“Thank god?” Em asked.

“If they stayed another minute, I wasn’t going to be responsible for my behavior, and I figure I’ve already gotten you in enough trouble without cursing out your brothers.” She smiled before sucking his lower lip into her mouth. Em moaned.

His hands strayed down her back, stroking the long muscles on either side of her spine. “I would have liked to see that, actually.” He bent to press his mouth more fully to hers, pulling her lush body tightly against him. She wriggled, her hands sliding around his waist to slip beneath the waistband of his jeans. Her warm fingers curved over his buttocks, kneading his flesh. She stood on tip-toe to rub herself against his entire body.

She gave a little shimmy of her hips and the sweatpants slid down and puddled at her feet like a magic trick, baring the long, smooth length of her legs. She kicked them away.

This time she was the one to drag her mouth across his cheek, heedless of the stubble, and flick her tongue into his ear. “I don’t know what it is about you, Emilian. I’ve never reacted like this to a man before. I just...” She pulled back slightly, shaking her head. Her soft brown hair tumbled around her shoulders as she met his eyes. “It’s like... I’m craving you.” She flushed. “I can’t explain it.”

“I know.” That was how he felt too. Compelled to touch her, kiss her. It was overwhelming. She nipped at his jaw, scraping her teeth over his whiskers.

“Do you? Is it... a Shifter thing?” Her tongue laved the skin of his throat. Em groaned as the sensation immediately transferred itself to his cock. He wanted her mouth on him there.

“No,” he croaked, voice rough. “It’s...” What? Fate that he should be the one who was outside 5tM at the exact moment she stumbled out of that alley? That their bodies recognized something their minds hadn’t yet? “Not,” he finished. He didn’t know what it was. And he couldn’t think right now, with all of her soft, hot body pressed against him.

“Mmmm,” she responded absently, tonguing the flat disc of his nipple. “Maybe we shouldn’t worry about it just now.”

Em’s hands slid up under the shirt to cover her breasts. He kneaded her firm flesh, drawing the tight peaks of her nipples out and rolling them between his fingers. “Maybe we shouldn’t. Frankly, I can’t think of anything but your pussy. How hot it is, how wet, how good it’s going to feel around my cock.”

“Oooh,” she groaned, shuddering against him. “Yes, Em. God, I want that! But... it’s...” She met his gaze, lashes fluttering as he stroked and squeezed her breasts beneath the shirt. “It’s been awhile. A long while. It might take me a bit to get the hang of it again.”

He chuckled. “Don’t worry. We’ve got all night.” Her mouth curved up into a wicked smile.

“Good. Then I know where I want to start.” She kept her eyes on his and sank slowly to her knees. Em was pretty sure every drop of blood in his body rushed into his cock at the sight of her kneeling in front of him, her hair tousled and her lips swollen and damp from his kiss.

“Cat...” His fingers brushed through her hair. He wasn’t about to tell her no. “Take off the shirt?”

Her smile grew into a grin as she reached up and began undoing the buttons, baring a growing wedge of her creamy flesh with each tug. She kept it closed until she made it all the way down to the bottom and then pulled it slowly open, baring her breasts and the curve of her hips and belly. Before she tossed it away, she brought it briefly to her nose.

“It smells like you. That’s why I put it on.” Again, she flushed at the admission, but met his eyes boldly. This woman didn’t hide anything, or hide from anything. She’d taken what would have normally drove someone screaming into the night in stride with remarkable aplomb. Cat was something else.

“You smell like me now.” The thought sent a primal thrill through Em’s blood. Em’s wolf, always inside him but usually dormant unless called upon, drifted near the surface and growled, fiercely, ‘
mine
’.

Cat tossed the shirt away. “I like the sound of that. The thought of baring your scent makes me...” She shuddered, her eyes squeezing momentarily shut. She cocked her head as she leaned up and reached for his zipper. “Isn’t that odd?”

“Later.” They could worry about odd later. Em slid his fingers into the thick mass of her silky hair and cupped the back of her head. She tugged open his fly and then her soft fingers reached into his jeans and, finally, wrapped around the pulsing, hard length of his cock. “Fuck.”

“Ahhh,” she groaned. “There!” Cat drew his shaft out with her right hand and shoved his pants down to his knees with her left. She squeezed him experimentally, smiling when he hissed in a breath. And then she stroked her hand from base to tip, running her fingers along all eight hard inches. When she reached the head, her thumb curved up to rub across the flared crown. She teased at the small slit in the spongy flesh, wetting the pad of her thumb with the bubble of pre-cum and the massaging it into his skin.