Sold To The Alphas: A BBW Paranormal Romance (3 page)

I suddenly wondered if feigning ignorance about what the "product" I was holding was, and how to "put it on" might get me off the hook. I decided it was worth a shot, anyway.

I looked Grayson right in his deep gray eyes. "I don't even know what this thing I'm holding is. Let alone how to use it."

He immediately scoffed, the dim glow from the truck's dome light revealing his full mouth curving just a degree. "I can see in your eyes that you know what the product you're holding is and what to do with it. Though, I can also see in your eyes something else. I don't think you've actually had personal experience with this product before. You're fighting not to show that you're a little intrigued. Maybe even a little excited already. You look like you're fighting to deny it, even to yourself."

I practically choked with indignation, making a sound like something between a sputter and a gasp. "You couldn't possibly be more wrong."

I'd meant to say my words loudly, and with conviction, and I was kind of surprised that they'd come out in a fluttery near-whisper.

Grayson's full mouth curved just a fraction again, and he lifted his broad shoulders in a slight shrug.

"Maybe so. We'll see. But right now, it's time for you to go into the restroom and do what we've asked. I'll say it again, because it bears repeating. You do not have a choice about this, Rowan."

"And what if I refuse? What if I refuse to put this thing on?"

Grayson lifted his muscular shoulders in a slight shrug again. "Simple. We'll put it on
for
you."

My jaw dropped while I surveyed his face, realizing that he didn't look at all like he was joking. Almost instantly, I closed my mouth, swallowing, picturing the scene if he made good on his threat. I pictured him and Chase, one of them holding me down on the truck seat while the other peeled off my jeans and underwear, spread my legs, and affixed the Tickler to my most sensitive spot.

Even just imagining this scenario, I felt humiliated, my hot face getting even just a bit hotter. Though at the same time, to my horror, I felt a few butterflies very inexplicably flapping their wings low in my belly.

Not wanting this shameful sensation to intensify by me thinking about the scenario that had caused it in any greater detail, I turned to Chase on my right, clutching the Tickler. "Let me out."

He immediately obliged, opening the door, getting out, and then holding the door open for me.

But just as I'd cleared the door, he took my sleeve to stop me, pulled me close, and spoke in a low voice near my ear. "Just so you know...later, we'll be checking to see that you put it on properly and didn't try to sabotage the effects, as this is going to become a regular thing. Grayson and I want to mate with you to produce a child, yes, but we also intend to have a little fun while we're doing so. We want you to have a little fun and enjoy the experience, too. It's no secret that a woman's enjoyment can aid in conception. So, go, and do what we've asked you to do."

I was standing close enough to Chase that I could clearly smell the clean, woodsy, masculine scent emanating from his hard chest. To my increasing horror, my horror about the whole general situation I was in, I realized that I found his scent absolutely heavenly.

Intoxicating. To the point that right then, I had to struggle not to breathe it in deeply, filling my nostrils with it. I'd never dreamed that any of the wolves would actually smell like this. I'd imagined they'd all have an odor of unwashed skin and rotting garbage.

Chase leaned in a little closer still. "Remember, place the product where it's intended to be placed. No funny business. We'll check later. We'll see you back here shortly."

To stop myself from further breathing in his scent and possibly enjoying it, I pulled my sleeve from his grasp and began stalking away, up the dimly-lit narrow path that led to the cinder-block public restroom. "I get your point. I should
not
place the 'product' on my nose, as I was going to before your million warnings not to."

I didn't exactly want to make Chase and Grayson mad, because as wolves, I knew just exactly what they were capable of; but at the same time, I hadn't been able to help my sarcastic little comment. I half-expected to hear maybe an angry low growl behind me, or at least the slamming of the truck door.

Instead, all I heard was a quiet, low chuckle. It sounded like a chuckle of true amusement, not one of harsh bitterness, like I might have expected from a wolf. Nothing about these alphas was as I'd expected. This fact was beginning to make me feel way off-kilter, unsettled somehow, as if the world wasn't quite the same as it had been before the auction that evening.

Down wasn't down anymore, and up wasn't up. Everything was beginning to go sideways, and that was the only way I could think of it.

While striding up the path to the restroom, I resisted an urge to turn around, just out of a strange curiosity to see how Chase looked when he chuckled.

Once inside the restroom, which was lit with a single bare light bulb, I used the facilities and then just rested with my back against a metal stall partition, simply trying to breathe and get my bearings. I was actually going to have to do what the alphas had asked, because Chase had made it crystal clear that he and Grayson were going to be checking to see if I'd placed the "product" where it was "intended to be placed." I knew there really wasn't any way around it.

I definitely didn't want Grayson and Chase to apply the Tickler
for
me. I didn't want to even think about the possibility of that again. The butterflies I'd felt when thinking about it the first time had troubled me and made me feel funny and strange enough.

So, after taking a deep breath, I grabbed the plastic package I'd set on the toilet paper dispenser, opened it up, and took out the small, clear pink, rubbery disk inside. "Just do this, Rowan."

I figured that while it might have been true that I had to do what I'd been instructed to do, that didn't necessarily mean that I
had
to succumb to the Tickler's supposed effects. I didn't absolutely
have
to become aroused. I could fight it. No matter what stimulation the Tickler provided, I could resist. I could at least try. I could show the wolves that I wouldn't bend to their will quite so easily.

After using the restroom, I'd left my jeans and underwear down around my knees, and now, with the fingers of one hand, I gently spread my feminine lips and pressed the rubbery disc to the very sensitive little bud between them. After a moment or two, I gave the disc a little nudge, finding that it already seemed to have affixed itself with some sort of adhesive.

It was only then that I wondered if the Tickler was supposed to be applied on a specific side, though there really hadn't appeared to be an "up" and a "down" side; and a quick check of the instructions on a little slip of paper inside the package told me that it didn't even matter.

Glad to just have the task done, I yanked up my underwear and jeans, then exited the bathroom stall, went over to the sink, and began washing my hands, on high alert for any sensations caused by the Tickler. But I didn't feel anything. I felt exactly as I normally would washing my hands. Which was to say, not aroused at all. Not tingly in any way.

Knowing that Ticklers worked from being warmed by body heat, I realized that it might take a few minutes for it to do what it was supposed to do. However, it still seemed like
something
should already be happening.  As I dried my hands with a paper towel, it just wasn't. Nothing was happening. I couldn't even feel the presence of the tiny rubbery disk on my most sensitive spot. I felt as if I'd never even put it on.

I soon left the restroom with a little bounce in my step, wondering if all the rumors about the effects a Tickler could have on a woman were just that- rumors. Maybe rumors spread around by the folks in Ashcrest that manufactured them and profited from their sale. After all, I'd never spoken to anyone who had actually used one before, so I'd never heard a firsthand account as to whether or not they actually did what they were said to. I definitely hadn't wanted to embarrass my friend who'd received a few Ticklers as a gift by asking her later whether or not she'd enjoyed them.

By the time I'd made it down the path and reached the truck, I was feeling pretty confident, because I still wasn't feeling anything at all. While I strode past Chase and climbed in the truck, I found it difficult not to give him a smug little smile. He got in beside me, shut the truck door, and didn't say anything while Grayson put the truck in drive and began heading down the road again.

I could just
feel
his gaze on me. Even though I was staring straight ahead, I could just feel that he was studying me out of the corner of his eye. And soon, I could feel Grayson doing the same thing. They both wanted to see if the Tickler was having any effect. I knew it.

And the thought almost made me laugh. If they expected me to suddenly start panting, moaning, and writhing in my seat, they were going to be very disappointed because I still wasn't feeling anything. I was becoming convinced that Ticklers weren't quite as effective as they were rumored to be.

We continued down the darkened road in silence. The April evening was unusually warm, and Chase had his window rolled down a few inches, which I was grateful for, because the fresh air coming in didn't allow more than the faintest whiffs of his or Grayson's scents to reach my nostrils.

After maybe a mile or so, Chase spoke, his deep voice not exactly warm, but maybe not quite as authoritative as it had been earlier. "Would you like to hear a little about your new home, or about us? About what we do?"

Not turning my gaze from the road ahead, I didn't even hesitate. "Not really."

Based on things I'd heard, I was already pretty sure about what the wolves did, and I had zero desire to hear details about attacking towns, looting, and ripping innocent people limb from limb. Though, despite this, and despite my rude comment, Chase responded as if I'd told him to go right ahead.

"We do some work for the royal family in Ashcrest."

I glanced over at him. "Do they pay you in sex toys?"Like the comment I'd made earlier, while heading to the restroom, I just hadn't been able to help this one. But also, like earlier, Chase didn't respond in anger; he simply chuckled, the sound a low, quiet rumble in his muscular chest.

"No. Believe it or not, we actually don't get paid in sex toys."

He chuckled again, the sound another quiet, low rumble. It struck me as odd that any wolf would have even the slightest sense of humor. I shifted in my seat, uncomfortable about this. And also, I suddenly realized, uncomfortable for a different reason. My sensitive little spot covered by the Tickler was now tingling a bit, making me want to squirm.

Not seeming to notice my discreet shift in position, Chase continued, his dark green eyes glinting in the pale moonlight filling the truck. "No, we don't get directly paid in sex toys, though we
have
recently received a few little gifts from Ashcrest, one of which you're now wearing.

“We have dozens and dozens of Ticklers, which is good, since they're single-use, and we plan to use a lot. We also have other fun little toys as well. Toys that we plan to acquaint you with in the near future. Though tonight...tonight, maybe we'll just become acquainted with each other's bodies."

Not a moment after he'd finished speaking, I couldn't help but slide my gaze from his handsome, square-jawed face down to his broad shoulders and well-muscled chest. Then, I slid my gaze even lower, to his tight stomach to his hips to his long, muscular thighs. Even in the dim, silvery light, I could see and appreciate that his body was nothing short of chiseled perfection, as was Grayson's. I'd obviously noticed this earlier, but now, their bodies were suddenly of more interest to me.

I didn't want
them
to know that. As I reminded myself, pulling my gaze from Chase's thighs, I was going to try to fight the effects of the Tickler. I wasn't going to allow myself to become the highly aroused, desperate sex partner that they obviously seemed to want me to be. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

Though, as several quiet minutes ticked by, the hum of the truck's engine the only sound in the cab, I realized that the task of fighting the effects of the Tickler was going to be a harder one than I'd thought. A much harder one.