Team: Alpha (Knights of Ares)

© 2013 by Honor James

All rights reserved. This book and all portions thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

www.honor-james.net

Knights of Ares

Team: Alpha

When Mikhail Rossov and Gareth Gruffyd met Daisy Choe she was young, perfect in all ways and everything they both wanted in their lives. But they were soldiers, duty and honor above all. After a wild weekend they had to go back and serve their country, to keep everyone they knew and loved safe. But they never once stopped thinking about her or the emotions she alone could evoke within them both. Fiercely protective they would have done anything for her, but she seemed to just vanish without a trace.

One weekend changed her life completely, turning it on it’s ear and showing her just who she could trust and believe in. The men she’d given everything to, including her heart, disappeared and never contacted her again. But she had someone very important depending on her so she did what she had to do. What she never expected was to come face to face with them ten years later. Not that way, not with them looking so good and not because her daughter went looking for her daddies.

When the heart is on the line and a life full and amazing is the future a man will do absolutely anything. Even stalking and blackmailing the woman that holds his heart and soul. But once the negotiations begin it’s nothing like either of the parties thought it would be. It’s sensual, eye opening and gives a glimpse of just what the future for these three, and their daughter, could be.

Genres
: Erotica, Romance, Suspense, Contemporary, Paranormal

**** This novel is intended for mature audiences only. This novel contains scenes of descriptive ménage a trois relationships (MfM) as well as double penetration, anal sex, and hotter than hell Alpha males that have made a life and living serving our country and giving all that they were to it, and then some. ****

Length: 71,370 words

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this novel for all of you that have believed in me. And to those that have helped me in taking this giant step in my life. Thank you to all of my fans, to the men and women who have talked to me over the months and helped me make this choice to self-publish.

Piracy

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First E-Book Publication:
July 2013

TEAM: ALPHA

Copyright © 2013 by Honor James

Cover design by:  Viola Estrella (
www.estrellacoverart.com
)

All cover art copyright © 2013 by Honor James

All Rights Reserved:
This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

Publisher:              Honor James Books

             
www.honor-james.net

Letter to Readers

Dear Readers,

If you have purchased this copy of
 
Team: Alpha
 by Honor James from Amazon Kindle, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

Regarding E-book Piracy

This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

The author works very hard to bring her paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

This is Honor James’s livelihood.
 It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. James’s right to earn a living from her work.

Team: Alpha

Knights of Ares 1

Honor James

Copyright © 2013

Prologue

            
 
Greensfield, Texas, population 341, at last count and literally in the middle of nowhere-America. Approximately 50 miles north of Sweetwater; the little town where he'd grown up resided amongst the dirt roads and swaying sun scorched grasses of Texas. It was a place where everyone knew your name and your business even when you wished they didn't. He'd grown up and been raised there by his single mother after his father's death in a trucking accident, and left as soon as he'd turned eighteen. He'd joined the Navy and eventually became a SEAL; doing anything to get away from the place he'd once called home.

              Now he was back for good. While his mother had died a number of years back, the house was still in his name, as was all the land that came with it. He'd been tempted to sell it a number of times but really, he just didn't have the heart to cast that all too final stone. It had been in his family for nearly two hundred years and to just up and sell that kind of history, just wasn't in him to do.

              Running a hand through his buzzed blond hair while shading his pale grey eyes in the harsh Texas sun, he took in the property he'd once called home. Fifty acres was what he had to his name, not the original two hundred-plus his many times over great-grandfather had worked. Pieces had been sold off in hard times or to help the county with its road network or other pitiful excuses to ruin what had once been fantastic. Still fifty acres wasn't bad, and the house still appeared to be in reasonably good shape.

              Grabbing his duffel from the back of his F-150 he walked up the cracked stone path and up the stairs that needed to be replaced. Dropping the bag onto the wraparound, southern antebellum all the way porch, he pulled out the keys. Unlocking the door he pushed into the stifling heat of the house and felt a pang of something clutch his chest. Pulling off the sunglasses that did little to cut the strong light of a Texas summer afternoon he stared into the gloom.

              He remembered running through the foyer, sliding down the banister of the curved staircase in spite of his mothers dire warnings of his impending doom; and the laughter of the afternoon tickle fights that had broken out in the salon. Now, there was nothing but silence and echoes of the past were the only ghosts in the nearly five thousand square foot house. Licking his lips, he turned his head to stare into the living room, the room where he'd broken his mother’s heart when he'd told her he was shipping out for basic training and never coming back. The room where she'd let a single tear slide down her cheek as she held in her emotions and only gave him that and a single nod; the room where he'd gone from a boy to a man with that single act.

              "Fuck me," he whispered into the silence. Coming home was a hell of a lot harder than anyone had ever said it would. No parades or parties, no crush of people slapping his back or hugging and kissing his cheeks. It was nothing but an empty house and a past he'd rather forget. "Welcome fucking home," he muttered darkly to himself.

Chapter One

             
Wiping at his brow in a feeble attempt to rid it of the sweat that seemed to be coursing from every pore in his body he squinted at a sudden glint of light. A vehicle was coming his way which either meant that one of the neighbors was coming to gab and give some not-very-helpful advice, or the sheriff was coming back out with some complaint or other.

              Not that Mikhail could blame the man; he was alone except for a deputy who was nearly as old as he was. Some of what was trickling into the town was beyond the older man's understanding. The sheriff was old school, had never fired his weapon and usually dealt with teenage delinquency and the occasional drag race. Drugs and gangs were outside the normal realm of his daily duties.

              Hearing the sudden silence of the engine being turned off and then all the doors opening and shutting he knew it wasn't the sheriff. Frowning, he set the axe aside and began to walk towards the vehicle, smiling faintly when he figured out who his guests were. He shook his head, not in the least surprised when a second and third vehicle pulled in behind the first moments later. "Are you boys lost or did you actually drag your lazy asses out here to the middle of nowhere on purpose?" he asked softly.

              "We're apparently out here on purpose," said the nearly seven foot giant with milky coffee skin. The flash of his white teeth was bright against his darker toned skin, "How you doing Wolf?" he asked using Mikhail's old nickname from his service days.

              Groaning, he shook the larger man's hand, "I was doing alright until I spotted your lot scurrying around my property. What are you doing here if you don't mind me asking?"

              "We mind you asking but we'll tell ya anyway," the cocky tone came from his left and he turned to see the Scot, as he was known, grinning at him. "We heard you were planning on getting this place up and running again and figured we'd come out and offer you a hand or twenty-two as the case actually is. Figured you wouldn't mind a little company in that big old rambler you have and as long as you feed us and give us beer on occasion, you get free labor."

              "Well you're more than welcomed and there are plenty of beds," he told all eleven of his closest and dearest friends and former comrades. "Go on in and make yourselves at home. There's no beer in the fridge but I'm sure we can pick some up since apparently I'm going to need to go shopping. I very definitely do not have enough to feed the lot of you," he muttered taking them all in.

              "Not to worry
amigo
," Antonio, their resident Spaniard, said with a grin. "We brought much food and plenty of drinks to ensure that if you didn't just let us in, we could bribe our way into your home. I will even cook the first meal," he announced puffing out his chest.

"No!" everyone said emphatically.

"Oh, that is fine, they will take my beer and steaks but they will not let me cook them," Antonio huffed out with a glare to everyone there.

"That's because we remember the last time y'all cooked for us," their Southern belle of the group, James, said in his lazy Missouri drawl. "Hell, I think the fire department in that county still has you blacklisted."

              Listening to the others laughing Mikhail smiled slightly and looked around. "I'm glad you came," he said softly to them once they'd quieted down. "But I have work to do, so I can't keep gabbing with you guys. Go on in and get yourselves situated."

              "Brick, Demon go and get the food put away," the commanding voice of their former team lead said as he came through the group. "Magnum, Viper go see to getting the gear stowed away in the spare rooms accordingly. The rest of us will lend you a hand if that's alright by you Wolf," Sphinx said as he stopped before him.

"Sounds like a plan to me boss," he grinned and shook the man's hand before giving him a quick man-hug. "Unfortunately there's plenty to be done so be ready for a lot of work," he warned them. While there were a few good-natured groans and whimpers with a couple of excuses of injuries acting up they were on board, he could see it in their faces.

For the next six hours they worked, talked, joked and took occasional breaks to drink lots of iced lemonade that Brick, or rather Thomas, had whipped up for them from the bags of goods they'd brought. But dusk was falling and Mikhail knew that they couldn't keep working so he called it a day. They'd managed to clear a hell of a lot of the brush that was just a fire hazard waiting to happen.

"So," Sphinx said pulling on his shirt he'd ditched hours ago like the rest of them. "What's the plan for this place buddy?"

"No clue yet," he admitted as they all began the walk back to the house. "I figure I'll get it cleaned up, mend or replace the fences and then decide from there. It used to be a cattle farm at one point but I'm not sure if I want that kind of headache. Besides the cost of buying enough cattle; the horses for wrangling them; feed and whatever else is needed, is a lot of work on a daily basis."

Marius, aka Sphinx, nodded as they all made their way into the house. "Well, whatever you plan know you've got help as long as you want and need it. We really don't have anywhere else to be or any place to be so you're stuck with us bro."

"Somehow that doesn't really make me feel any better," he teased with a crooked grin and dodged the fist aimed for his arm. "Please. I've been bruised and beaten enough to last me a lifetime, I really don't need more," he muttered keeping his eyes on his ex-team lead.

"I wasn't going to bruise you," Marius said and then grinned, "Much."

"Ha," he snorted rolling his eyes as he walked into the kitchen and stopped. "What the hell?" he looked at the table which was laid out and a meal on the stove and countertop ready and waiting.

Demon and Viper, or rather Dieter and Anton as their parents had named them, just whistled softly with smug looks on their faces.

Shaking his head he looked at them, "Thanks you guys," he murmured turning to take it all in again. "Who'd ever figured you two were domesticated let alone house broken?" he teased them with a sudden twitch of his lips. "Let's eat." he announced shaking his head once more.

Apparently some of his friends had hidden talents, it would be interesting to see just what they might be - or completely and totally terrifying. Grabbing a plate he joined the others around the food and got his share as he listened to the laughter and teasing. The sounds the house had been missing for too damned long.