Sold To The Alphas: A BBW Paranormal Romance (2 page)

After the three of us left the auction hall, the two alphas led me to a battered silver pick-up truck in the parking lot outside. The gray-eyed alpha got in on the driver's side, and the green-eyed alpha wordlessly opened the other door for me and gestured for me to get in, which I immediately did. That was when I remembered my things. My clothes, my toiletries, and a few other personal possessions I'd wanted to bring with me.

I suddenly felt very naked somehow, exposed. Very discomforted and strangely disheartened in a way I couldn't even explain. The man with the green eyes had gotten in the truck and shut the door, and I looked at him, hoping he had at least a fraction of compassion in him.

"My things. Please. My friend brought a big duffel bag and a small suitcase around to the side door of the hall. It'll just take me a second to grab them, I promise. Just a second or two, and then I'll come right back out here, and then we can-"

"I'll get your things."

With his handsome, strong-jawed face expressionless, the green-eyed man exited the truck and shut the door, leaving me alone with the gray-eyed man, who sat with one large, long-fingered hand gripping the steering wheel, staring straight ahead. He didn't seem like he was going to say anything, and the silence in the closed cab of the truck seemed deafening. So deafening that I felt the need to say something. I couldn't
not,
despite the fact that I saw this man as my enemy. This was a person who was to be endured, not liked, and definitely not befriended. I figured that just briefly, just right then, maybe just that one time only, I'd offer a few civil words, though without displaying any warmth in my voice, just to break the silence.

"You heard in the hall that my name is Rowan Evans, but I don't know your name. Will you tell me?"

He stared straight ahead at an orange-and-pink sunset for a moment or two before responding. "My name is Grayson North. The man who just left is Chase Gunner. Together, we lead a pack of several dozen wolves in a village we call Shadowfen, about thirty miles north of here. That's where we'll be taking you."

There was something about his deep voice that wasn't really cold,
per se
, but it was something that didn't really encourage any further questions, either. But still, even with this being the case, I couldn't help but ask just one more.

I swallowed beforehand, wondering if I really wanted to know the answer. "And will it be you or Chase...that will be mating with me in the hopes of producing a child?"

Still staring straight ahead at the sunset, Grayson made the faintest of scoffing noises. "Resources and women in our village are limited. We could only afford to buy one woman today. We both decided we wanted it to be you." Still not even looking at me, Grayson paused before continuing. "We'll share your bed until you become pregnant.

“When you do, we'll have a doctor from Ashcrest come in and give you a test that will reveal which of us is the father. And whoever that man is...that man will be your mate for life. After we saw you today and decided we both wanted you, this was the only arrangement agreeable to Chase and me." 

I sat speechless. I'd known it might be a
possibility
that the two of them might "share" me, but I supposed I hadn't been quite ready to hear that "sharing" me was, for sure, the way things were going to be.

I also, maybe, hadn't been ready to hear the subject of pregnancy brought up so soon. And I hadn't quite been ready for a reminder that my deception about my fertility may be called out soon. I knew the doctors from the great, wealthy manufacturing city of Ashcrest had the technological advancements to determine if a woman was pregnant very early on, and I also knew they could even determine who the father was from a very early stage, but none of that even mattered. I'd never be needing any test from a doctor. I'd never be getting pregnant. I'd eventually be revealed as a deceiver and possibly be killed.            Just then, Chase tossed my duffel bag and suitcase into the bed of the truck and got in.

Grayson glanced over at him. "I've just told Rowan our names, and I've told her about the arrangement we decided on as well. And now, unless you have anything further to add, or anything else to tell her, we'll start heading home."

Chase gave his head a brief shake. "Let's go."

Grayson started the truck, drove out of the dirt parking lot, and began down the main paved road leading out of Greenleaf. I sat silently between the two alphas. They didn't say anything, either.

In the fading light of early evening, I focused on the foliage bordering the sides of the road ahead. It was April, and a late spring had come to Northern Michigan in the form of glossy bright green leaves and pale flowering buds. I tried to think about these things and nothing else, not wanting to contemplate how sad I was, sure that Skye was back in Greenleaf at that moment. Also, I didn't want to contemplate being shared by my two taciturn wolf shifter companions once we got to Shadowfen.

I wasn't put off by the prospect of physical intimacy itself; at least, I wasn't
too
put off. A year or so back, I'd had a boyfriend back in Greenleaf, and we'd engaged in physical intimacy on a number of occasions, though it hadn't been very fulfilling. This particular boyfriend hadn't been very attentive, to say the least, and I'd found his stamina, as well as his level of caring for me, to be a bit lacking. The relationship hadn't lasted long. However, the physical relationship had taught me that I didn't need to be scared of physical intimacy, or hesitant about it; in fact, I'd discovered that I very much liked it. Or, at least, maybe I
would
like it, with someone a bit more attentive than my boyfriend had been.

So, it wasn't like I was at all necessarily
scared
of the intimacy that was going to take place likely not long after Grayson, Chase, and I reached Shadowfen. Rather, I was maybe just a bit hesitant, because of what Grayson had said about the two alphas "sharing" me.

I couldn't deny that I had some concerns about the two of them being too rough with me or abusing me. They were wolves, after all, and I completely expected them to be rough and callous, maybe even downright cruel. I wasn't sure that their treatment would allow me to get in the right frame of mind to be subjected to physical intimacy, and that kind of troubled me. I wondered if my experience with the two alpha wolves would ultimately turn out to be very painful.

Looking out at the darkening trees beyond the truck, I tried not to think about all this. I just couldn't. I had to clear my mind. I was sure there would be plenty of time for trepidation and thinking the worst, once we arrived in Shadowfen.

Grayson stopped the truck long before we even got there. He pulled over on the side of the road and put the truck in park only a few miles outside of Greenleaf. To the right of the truck, there was nothing but forestland. Or, at least,
almost
nothing but forestland. Cutting through the tightly-clustered trees was a very narrow path lit with two very tall, gray, metal streetlamp-type of lights. The path led to a small cinder-block public restroom with an adjacent stone bench maybe ten or fifteen feet beyond the road, a little respite area for travelers.

I looked from the little rest area to Grayson with my stomach in knots. "What are we doing? Why are we stopping?"

I wondered if he and Chase weren't going to wait until we reached Shadowfen to "share" me. I wondered if they both intended to take me right there at the rest stop or right there in the truck. I could hardly think of any scenarios less romantic or less arousing. Not that it even mattered. Despite the fact that I found both of the alphas almost unbearably attractive, and despite the fact that I'd been picking up little whiffs of rather pleasant, masculine scents emanating from them both, I had no intention of allowing myself to become aroused to the point of actually taking pleasure in our mating.

I'd allow my body to relax just enough so that intimacy wouldn't be painful, but that was it.

In response to me asking why we were stopping, Grayson and Chase exchanged glances, and then Chase pulled something small and wrapped in plastic from his pocket.

He handed it to me with his expression completely unreadable. "Go into the restroom and put this on. You'll keep it on until later this evening. And you do not have a choice about this." With his deep green eyes glinting in the dim light of what was now full evening, he paused before continuing. "It's meant to make things easier. For you."

He opened his door, making the dome light in the truck come on. Now I could see exactly what the small package he'd handed me was, and my face immediately burst into absolute flames. I knew what the little object inside the plastic wrapper was. I just couldn't believe that I was meant to put it on. I also couldn't believe that I didn't even have a choice about the matter.

*

I looked at the small plastic-wrapped object I held in my hand, the object Chase had given me. I looked at it, stared at it, but I just could not believe what it was. However, at the same time, I
could
believe it, because I knew damn well, what it was, and there was no denying it. Even in the dim light of evening, I could see through the clear plastic to the object inside the small package clearly, because of the dome light that had come on when Chase had opened his door.

I could see just exactly what the object I held in my hand was. And this seeing, this
knowing
exactly what it was intended for, what it was intended to
do
, was making my face flame hotter than I'd ever felt it burn before in my life.

The thing I held was a sex toy type of thing called a Tickler. Not even a month earlier, one of my good friends back in Greenleaf had been given several at her bachelorette party, and everyone present, myself included, had had a good laugh about it. A good laugh, though maybe a slightly uncomfortable one, because it was no secret that we were all more than a bit intrigued by Ticklers.

Maybe we were all a bit envious that the bride-to-be had received a few as a gift, though everyone present at the party had heard of them and was pretty familiar with how they were supposed to work and what they were supposed to do. But no one, including myself, had ever been able to afford one. Ticklers were manufactured in the great city of Ashcrest, several hundred miles to the south, and they were very expensive and hard to come by.

Basically, a Tickler was a state-of-the art "pleasure aid," as the package described it, consisting of a single part: a small, thin, flexible piece of soft, clear pink rubber about the size of a coin. This piece of rubber was meant to be pressed to a woman's most sensitive spot, whereupon coming into contact with even a slight bit of moisture, it would instantly form a light adhesive that would keep the small piece of rubber in place for a couple of hours. Once affixed, this little piece of rubber would become somehow almost magically powered by body heat to do what it did. And what it did, if the rumors were true, was also pretty magical.

Being that none of my friends were science geniuses, and I wasn't either, no one at my friend's bachelorette party had been exactly clear how Ticklers worked, what the science behind them was, or how the scientists at Ashcrest had managed to design them to function with no cords, wires, or batteries.

All we'd heard was that upon being warmed with a little body heat, a Tickler became "activated," and would begin to gently undulate, almost as if barely-perceptible waves were slowly rippling through it. Being that the piece of rubber was, at this point, directly affixed to a woman's most sensitive spot, this very gentle rippling action of course had the effect of causing a little stimulation.

What they supposedly did, was bring a woman to an absolutely desperate state of desire and arousal within an hour or so, which was the state I'd soon likely be in, if Chase and Grayson were serious about making me put on the Tickler. Despite the fact that I didn't want to be. Despite the fact that I was determined to merely endure our mating and not display any passion or take any kind of enjoyment in it. I certainly didn't want to be brought to a point where I was desperate for it, maybe even begging for it.

After a very long moment or two of me just staring at the small package containing the Tickler while my flaming face seemed to burn hot as the sun, Grayson spoke, his deep voice low and commanding.

"What Chase said is true. You do not have a choice about this. You go into the restroom; you put on the product you're holding; and then you keep it on until it's time for mating later tonight. It's meant to make for a much better experience for you, and everyone."