Taming the Alphas: Part Three: Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance (3 page)

“Mmm, mmm, good—you look incredible, Beverly,” Dave said as I sashayed out of the bedroom. He and Todd were sitting on the couch waiting for me to go to the WAG meeting.

“Wowsa!” Todd’s eyes unabashedly roamed my body. When we first started seeing each other, he had been so shy about looking me over. He wasn’t so subtle anymore.

“You think so?” I said, giving a little pirouette in front of the men. It was always nice to have one man admire you, but two delicious weremen? It was a fantastic feeling! I knew I looked pretty good. I had on a sleeveless, form fitting black turtleneck tucked into a black plaid skirt. Happily, I was having a good hair day, and my blonde tresses flowed down my back with light curls at the ends. Silver hoops and several bracelets, along with a pair of scrumptious black leather boots completed the look.

I gave each of the men a sweet kiss and looked them over slowly. “You two are looking pretty delicious yourselves. Dave, I love that sweater on you. And Todd, those jeans are smoking.”  Dave was wearing a steely gray sweater that matched his eyes, paired with dark denims. The sweater was a little loose and relaxed, but the jeans were tight, cupping his beefy thighs and outlining his package. It was such a hot look. Todd had paired a green t-shirt with pale jeans that were ripped in several places, showing his luscious skin. Paired with his bedhead hair, ocean blue eyes, and toothy grin, he was the ultimate beach boy. I only wished the jeans were ripped in more places…

“I’m glad you like my outfit, guys.” It had been hard to decide what to wear. After all, what is the appropriate dress for a Werewolf Advocacy Group meeting? I wanted to look casual but smart and give the right impression. In the end, I decided not to sweat it. My black turtleneck was a classic standby.

“We could sit and admire you all day, Bev,” Dave said, glancing at his watch. “But we better get going, or we will be late.”

We quickly left the apartment complex, ignoring the nosey stares of Mrs. Oakley, the landlady in the lobby.

As we climbed into the car, I felt a small lump rise in my throat. Did these people
really
admire us, or was this some sort of trap we were walking into?

I hadn’t recognized the address for the meeting and I was surprised when Todd pulled into a small but luxurious hotel. For all the clubs I used to be in, we would have meetings in informal locations that were available free or for little money. I was pretty sure that someone had to have put up some cash for the meeting to be held here. As Todd self-parked to avoid paying a valet, I noticed quite a few cars in the parking lot. I wasn’t sure how many belonged to members of WAG, or how many were guests staying at the hotel, but it looked like the place was going to be busy. After parking, we walked towards the hotel. I shivered as I thought about what was ahead. Sensing my nerves, Todd wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “It’ll be fine, Bev.”

“Remember, we don’t have to do this Bev. We can just go home. It was your choice to attend this meeting,” Dave added.

“I know. But I want to do this.” I squared my shoulders and sucked in my breath as Dave shoved open the door. A doorman directed us to the meeting room for the WAG group. I am not quite sure what I expected, but as we entered the room, there was thunderous applause. I started to look around, and then I realized they were clapping for us. I felt like a star.

We were in a large room with small dining tables set up with candles, rose-patterned china, and cut crystal glasses. On the right hand side was a large buffet table.

Arturo and Lina rushed over to greet us. “Attention everyone!” Arturo announced. “This is Beverly Collingswood, Todd Becker, and their friend, Dave Barnes.”

“As if we didn’t know,” someone yelled.

“We have been wanting to meet you for so long!” another called out. Suddenly, they swarmed us. Some had paper and pen in hand and were asking for autographs. Others were just trying to touch us. One girl was so overwhelmed she began crying. It was so weird. I looked over at Dave and Todd. Todd’s mouth was open, and the normally stoic Dave looked stunned by the attention we were getting.

“Refreshments first, and then we will have our question and answer session,” Arturo said to the group.

Lina pointed to the large buffet table on the sidewall. As we neared it, I was amazed by the quality and variety of food. I had come to the meeting expecting chips and dip and maybe a beer or two, but nothing like this. Todd and Dave looked shocked as we gazed at the spread. We normally cobbled together meals of chicken, pizza, rice and beans; things that were filling and easy on our budget. This was a much pricier and fancier dinner than we were used to. There were platters of sliced, seasoned roast beef, baby new potatoes, green beans with caramelized onions and almonds, buttery rolls, and a fresh arugula salad with shaved Parmesan. Sparkling water, red and white wine, premium beer, tea, and coffee were at another station near the buffet.

As we filled our plates with the luscious food, I marveled at how tasty it all looked. We sat down with Arturo and Lina and made small talk as we ate. It was hard to focus on the conversation when the meal was so delicious. I bit into forkfuls of the salad, potato, roast, and green beans, relishing how savory they were. After we ate our entrees, we were served a small wedge of a chocolate truffle dessert with juicy raspberries and fresh whipped cream.

“Mmm, my mouth feels like it will explode from all these flavors,” I said, scraping the last bit of chocolate from my plate.

“Are you enjoying this?” Aimee asked as she walked over to our table and sidled next to Arturo.

“It’s amazing!” I replied.

Todd nodded his mouth full of truffle and cream.

“Totally amazing—but,” Dave said as he looked around the room, “renting this space and putting on this spread must have cost a fortune,”

Todd swallowed his last bite. “Yeah, this is awesome, but you really didn’t have to go to so much trouble,”

“Well, we wanted you to be happy of course,” Aimee said. “And you are very special. But to be honest, we have a dinner like this at every meeting. At the last meeting we had crab stuffed chicken wrapped in smoked bacon,” Aimee said, smacking her lips together. “It was delicious.”

“But how can you afford all of…” Before I had a chance to finish my sentence, Arturo stood up.

“Everyone, please take a seat in the adjoining room so we can start our short question and answer session with Beverly and Todd…” Though I had told Arturo the three of us would be attending the meeting, he did not realize that Dave was also a werewolf since the press had never mentioned him. Unlike Todd and me, Dave would not be in the hot seat getting questions. Lucky duck.

We walked into another room with dozens of chairs set up facing a stage. As everyone sat down, Arturo motioned to us. “Dave, please join Lina in the front row. Todd and Beverly, if you don’t mind…” I rubbed my palms anxiously as Arturo pointed to the front. Todd and I walked on stage and sat down in two of the chairs.

“We would like to start the meeting by welcoming you and letting you know how much it means to us that you are here. We realize that you will not be able to confirm if you are or are not werewolves. So as we ask you questions, please just answer in a way that you are comfortable with. Now, which audience member would like to ask the first question?”

It was chaos at first. Several people shouted out, clamoring to be heard. Eventually, things calmed down. We were peppered with a barrage of questions, like: What do werewolves eat? How long do werewolves sleep? As I looked at the expectant faces, I truly saw a sincere desire to become like us, or at least, to help us. These people were on our side.

Todd and I took our turns answering every question as honestly as we could. Each time, we would phrase our answers so we did not admit outright to anything. “From our knowledge of werewolves, they reach a top speed of 45 miles an hour,” I responded to a redheaded, reedy woman who had asked us about how fast werewolves could run. We continued to answer questions like that till finally Arturo said there was only time for one more. He pointed to an overweight, balding man in the front.

The man gave me a big grin and asked, “What is sex like as a werewoman, Beverly?”

I felt my face flush as the words flew out of my mouth, “It’s scorching hot! I love it!
Weremen do it better!
”

Oh no! What the hell was I thinking!? Did anyone notice? I felt my palms sweating as I looked around the room. There was a collective gasp from the audience. I knew that the way I had blurted it out, if anyone had any doubts before, they didn’t now—everyone knew we were really werewolves. I was horrified. What had I just done?

“Well, thank you so much for having us here,” I blurted out quickly. “It’s been nice meeting all of you. We have to get going now.” The crowd started muttering as Todd, Dave and I exited.

“Well, everything about that meeting was pretty good till the end. You pretty much admitted you were a werewoman!” Dave said as we walked briskly through the parking lot. I didn’t look at him but I could feel his steely gray eyes boring into me.

Todd frowned. “Lighten up Dave. Those people are on our side, and they know Bev and I are wolves anyway. They still don’t know you are.”

“And what makes you so perfect, Dave?” I lashed out angrily. “You don’t even have a job!” The instant I said it I regretted it. I knew Dave’s lack of a job was a huge sore spot, and the hurt in his eyes filled me with remorse. Ugh, I needed to keep my mouth shut!

Todd glanced over at me and shook his head. “Bev, you know what the job market is like right now. Let’s give Dave a break,” he added gently, “he’s doing his best.”

“Of course I know that. I … just wasn’t thinking. Dave, I’m so sorry.” I rushed over to him. I could feel his body tense as I grabbed his arm. “I know the job market sucks and you’re trying your best. And I ... I’m sorry I said what I did at the WAG meeting. You two are so sexy and hot that it just slipped out of my mouth.”

Dave grunted, casting his eyes towards the ground. “Don’t worry about it Bev. I know you deserve better than me.”

“Dave, I…” God—me and my big mouth, messing everything up.

“Can we talk about something else now, Bev?” Dave asked quietly.

Todd graciously tried to change the subject. “I’d like to know how the WAG group can afford all that. I mean, the place must have cost a fortune to rent, and the food sure wasn’t cheap!”

“Yeah, a lot of money, and apparently they have meetings every couple of weeks,” Dave responded dully.

I swallowed hard. As much as I wanted to tell Dave I was sorry again, I didn’t want to spoil the night by bringing it up more. I would say something later.

“What did you think of everything, Bev?” Todd asked.

“I was really surprised. I expected some little meeting hall and a bowl of pretzels. I certainly didn’t expect a roast beef dinner with all the trimmings. And that truffle dessert was to die for,” I said. My mouth watered as I remembered the velvety smooth taste of the chocolate topped with berries and cream.

“Speaking of surprises, George Marc, the manager of the movie theater, was in the pizzeria the other day. He gave me a few movie passes. Do you guys want to go see that new movie about a werewoman who falls in love with a billionaire?”

“You mean
Werechick in Love
? I would love that, Todd!”

Dave scratched his head. “Sounds kinda mushy.”

“Dave,” I whined. “I really want to see that!”

“Maybe you can see that one and Todd and I can go see the new thriller. I hear it’s pretty good.”

“Dave!” I frowned at him. “We hardly ever go to the movies.”

“Aright, alright,” Dave muttered.

Todd reached into his wallet, pulled out the tickets and studied them. “Looks like these are good anytime, including this weekend. I have to close the pizzeria so tonight is out.”

I lowered my head, frowning. Damn, that sucked. I hadn’t realized Todd had to close the restaurant tonight, and I was hoping for a little fun time exploring every inch of him and Dave back at the apartment. But my words had put a damper on things, so maybe it was for the best.

“Do you all want to go tomorrow? There is an afternoon showing at one o’clock. We could go to that and then maybe grab a bite to eat after. I don’t have to work tomorrow and I’m free all day…” he said, giving me a sexy smile and winking, “and all night.”

I couldn’t help but smile back.

“That works for me,” Dave said.

“Does that work for you, Bev?”

“Yes, that would be great!” Though I was disappointed Todd wasn’t going to be able to come up to the apartment, seeing him tomorrow would help, and the movies would be fun. It was pricey going to the movies and I hadn’t been in a long time. Some of my favorite actors and actresses were starring in
Werechick in Love
.

As we got in the car and started driving back to the apartment, I thought about the evening. I wished I hadn’t made the comment that ‘weremen did it better.’ Dammit. There was nothing I could do about it, so I would just have to put it out of my mind. And it was totally wrong that I’d lashed out at Dave about his lack of a job, but the fact was, it was true. I really needed to talk it out calmly with him, instead of throwing it in his face.

When we got to the apartment complex we made arrangements for Todd to pick us up a half hour before the movie started the next day. It would give us plenty of time to get to the theater, buy snacks, and get good seats.

After we said good night to Todd, I was tired but in a good mood. I decided to hit the sack early while Dave worked on a few job applications. Once I got in bed, I just couldn’t sleep. My mind wandered to thoughts of Dave and Todd with their hot, muscular physiques and big roaming hands—hands that I loved feeling all over my body. I wanted to call out to Dave so badly and have him satisfy the ache between my legs, but I knew that it was rare he got in the mood to do a job search. I would just have to wait till he came to bed.

I couldn’t remember dozing off, but when I woke, Dave was snoring softly beside me. I hadn’t even heard him come to bed. I glanced at the clock and saw it was already 10am. Getting out of bed, I quietly walked into the living room. There was a small pile of letters waiting to be mailed on the counter. It was obvious Dave had burned the midnight oil pulling applications together. I winced as I remembered lashing out at him the previous evening. I guess he had taken it to heart, and though I felt bad, maybe it had helped get his butt in gear. Dave slept for two more hours as I read the paper and got dressed. I put my little black plaid skirt back on and added a cute pink elbow length sweater, along with a paisley printed scarf.

Flicking on the computer, I checked my bank balance online. I was down to very little cash and I only had a few dollars in my wallet. I knew Dave didn’t have any money either. We could go to the movies with Todd’s free tickets, but after the movies it didn’t look too good for grabbing a bite to eat. My mouth watered as I thought of the roast dinner at the WAG meeting. I wished we could have that again.

“Hey babe,” Dave came out of the bedroom looking rumpled and sexy, “what time is Todd coming?”

“He’ll be here in under an hour, so you better get ready.”

As Dave took a shower, I watched TV and tried to cobble together a brunch with the meager amount of food in the fridge. It was slim pickings, but I managed to pull together a small platter of raisins, canned tuna, olives, and cookies. Not the greatest mix of food, but it was all we had. If Dave thought it was an odd combination, he didn’t say anything. He seemed in a pretty upbeat mood, and after eating we snuggled on the couch and watched TV till Todd came and picked us up. I couldn’t wait to go see
Werechick in Love
with my two handsome hunks!