Twin Alphas: Desired (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (3 page)

              “I am here on a special mission,” Karlie said, sipping a drink. “It’s called Operation Shut My Sister The Heck Up. She’s been nagging me for months, so I finally agreed that I’d come over here for one festival, and let a wolf buy me one drink.  Mission accomplished.” She held up her drink. “And I will be going home single. I am still not prepared to let my heart be stomped into the dirt again.”

              “I’m going back to the women’s quarters as soon as I finish my drink,” Mackenzie said. “We can walk back together. Karlie, this is Vita. Vita, this is Karlie.”

              Vita flashed her an eager puppy dog smile. “So you’re from Earth? Oh, my God, you have to tell me about it. What’s it like coming here? Do you think it’s totally weird?”

              Karlie sank into a chair at the table. “Not weird. Fascinating,” she said. “I was a biology major, and this world is very intriguing. The fact that all Alphas are born twins but the rest of the pack are born singletons, the fact that werewolves can mate with humans and have babies but the babies are only male…”

              “Hey!” A gruff, angry voice barked, interrupting their conversation.

              Mackenzie glanced up, startled.

              It was Ajax, and he looked furious. Fur rippled across his face, and he was shaking with anger, barely containing himself.

              “This one’s not available,” he growled at Reginald, jerking his head to indicate Mackenzie. “You can’t have her.”

              “Are you kidding me? You don’t want me, but nobody else can have me? You stupid, useless, self-centered…” Mackenzie let out a stream of curses as she turned and rushed from the bar, with Vita and Karlie following at her heels.

              As she ran through the crowd, she heard Ajax shout after her. “I never said I didn’t want you!”

              “What was all that about?” Vita asked as they hurried through the crowds, heading for the women’s quarters.

              “I just can’t believe he’d do that!” Mackenzie said furiously. “After what he did last year.”

              “What did he do? Slow down, woman, I’m not exactly a marathon runner.” Karlie was jogging beside her, huffing and puffing. “He’s not following us!”

              Mackenzie stopped and looked back. It was true, he wasn’t following her.  He was standing there staring, watching them. Watching her.

              She turned away and kept walking. Karlie and Vita kept pace with her.

              “Last year, I thought that he and his brother wanted to claim me,” she said. “After we hung out all day…I mean, Ajax didn’t come out and say they were claiming me, but he sure acted like it. He was jealous of other wolves looking at me. He was by my side every minute.  We went out into the woods togetherand had the most mindblowing awesome sex you can imagine.  Then we went to a restaurant and I was waiting for my food to come back, and this guy came up to me and said that Ajax had to go take care of something, and that he wouldn’t be able to talk to me again.”

              “It must have been a misunderstanding,” Vita protested.

              “Right after that, this girl came up to me and said she’d been with Ajax, and he was going to introduce her to his brother,” Mackenzie said. “As in, they were going to claim her. She even said that I was just one last fling, that Ajax wanted to get me out of his system.”

              “But – he’s here at the festival. That means he didn’t claim anyone,” Karlie protested.

              Mackenzie couldn’t argue with that.  “Maybe they led her on too,” she said with a shrug.

              “Isn’t that pretty much forbidden?” Karlie said. “I thought honor was a huge thing with werewolves, and Alphas were always expected to make their intentions known up front. From what Amelia told me, it’s not like they even need to lie. Plenty of the women who come here are just looking for a good time.”

              “I’m sure it was a misunderstanding,” Vita said brightly.

              Yeah, right, Mackenzie thought.  Vita was so chipper, she probably thought World War II was a misunderstanding.

              “How about if I go ask them what’s up?” Vita suggested.

Mackenzie blanched. “Good God, no.  I don’t want to hear from them or see them again.  I am going to spend the rest of the festival hiding out in my room. You have fun with Thomas. Really. He seemed to like you.”

“Are you sure?” Vita asked, looking doubtful.

“I want you to go have fun, and then come back and tell me all about it so I can live vicariously through you.”

              “I’ll join you,” Karlie said to Mackenzie. “We can bitch about men and eat lots of ice cream.”

              “That is the best offer I’ve gotten all day,” Mackenzie said fervently. “I am literally going to drown myself in ice cream. I will dive into the tub and you will never see me again. And when you speak of me, you can say, she died doing what she loved.”

              Several hours later,  Mackenzie was sitting on the couch in the common area of the women’s quarters, watching Karlie draw little dots on a map of the festival.

              “What are those dots?” she asked.

              “Ley line stuff.  Holes that I’ve spotted, in between Clair De Lune and Earth, where the barriers between our world and yours are thin.  There’s a cartography company in San Francisco that wants me to map this out for them, for a military contract.”

              Mackenzie squinted at the map. “And you can see those spots.  I’ve passed by a lot of places that you’ve got marked on that map. I never spotted anything. What do you see when you look at them?”

              “There’s an area of watery blue, almost like looking into the ocean, and the air around it is ripple-y and shimmery.” Karlie made another dot on the map.

              She and her family had grown up on a spot where multiple ley lines intersected, and because of that, they had unique abilities.  Only they could cross over from one world to the next – and return alive. They could also lead people from one world to the next, as long as they were physically touching the person.  Their family’s services were much in demand now, for trade and for the military.

              They could also see all the spots where it was possible to cross over – not just the huge, shimmering area of the Breach, which stretched hundreds of miles and which everyone could see.

              “You should come over to our world some time,” Karlie said. “I could take you.”

              “Hmm. A vacation from all the werewolves in existence. I could use that.”  Mackenzie glanced over at the empty tub of chocolate ice cream. “Should I go get more?”

              Before Karlie could answer, the door to the common room opened and a woman stuck her head in. “Are you two Karlie and Mackenzie?” she called out. Her voice was slurred. She’d clearly been having a good time.

              “That would be us. The spinster sisters,” Karlie waved at her. “What’s up?”

              “Some girl named Vita wants you to meet her at the Tavern On the Hill. Says it’s an emergency.” The woman left, slamming the door shut.

              “What kind of emergency could there be?” Mackenzie said, exasperated, but she was hurrying towards the door as she said it, with Karlie following her. “Couldn’t she just grab a Sentinel? Or for that matter, there’s fifty million Alphas here. If anyone got drunk and gave her a hard time, everyone would jump in and help her out.”

              “Do you know where the bar is?” Karlie asked, as Mackenzie broke into a quick trot

              “Yeah, I know it. It’s easy to spot. It’s on a hill. Got a big sign on it that says The Tavern.” Mackenzie broke into a jog. “Damn it. I just want to eat ice cream and get my sulk on.”

              “Again with the jogging,” Karlie griped. “If I drop, just leave me. I’ll be lying here having a heart attack.”

              They reached the Tavern a few minutes later.  The front doors were wide open, and, like everywhere at the festival, there were crowds and loud music blaring from speakers.  The bar was decorated in traditional English pub style, with dark woods and mirrors behind the bar.

Vita was waving at them from a corner table…sitting with Ajax and Barron.

              Mackenzie stormed over, just as a waiter set down a tray with a pitcher of beer and a bunch of frosty mugs on their table.

              “What is this?” Mackenzie demanded. “This is your emergency? Is this your idea of a joke?”

              Vita looked hurt. “I’m just trying to help. You were so upset. I thought you should clear the air.” Her eyes welled up with tears. “Did I do a bad thing?”

              Mackenzie felt a ripple of guilt run over her.  Upsetting Vita was like kicking a puppy. “I know you meant well,” she said, exasperated.

              Barron, who had a somber expression on his face when Mackenzie approached, punched Ajax in the arm. “Mackenzie, I believe Ajax has something that he would like to say to you.”

              Ajax took a deep breath. “I am sorry about earlier today.  I had no right to do that.” He looked thoroughly miserable, which cheered Mackenzie up a little. But only a little.

              Mackenzie plopped down in an empty seat, and Karlie joined her, as Vita started pouring drinks for all of them.

              “You’re sorry about earlier today? What about last year, when you vanished like a coward running from battle?”

              Ajax blanched at that. That had been a low blow, but she didn’t care.

              “I deserved that,” he said stiffly.

              “We both did,” Barron added.

              “Drink up, for heaven’s sake!” Vita took a big sip of her beer. “Mm, tasty beer. Guys, relax. There was some mistake last year, but I’m sure that you can work everything out.” She flashed her big, beaming smile at them all.  Mackenzie gulped down a healthy portion of beer. Yes, it was ice cold and delicious. Yes, she was still angry.

              Karlie waved at the bartender. “I’ll have a bottled water,” she said.

              Vita grabbed her mug of beer, stood up, and gestured at Karlie. “We should leave them to hash this out,” she said, and Karlie shrugged and followed her over to the bar.

Mackenzie drained a third of her beer in one long gulp, and Ajax and Barron followed suit.

She set her mug down on the table.  The two of them were so handsome. Just looking at them made her ache.  They were still looking at her the way the exact same way they had when she’d first met her –with that mixture of warmth and tenderness and possession. As if they wanted her.  She felt tears welling in her eyes, and blinked hard.

“I should go,” she said, but she made no move to get up.

“Please don’t,” Barron said, laying his hand on her arm. She felt a rush of arousal wash over her, and quickly took a healthy swig of the icy cold beer to distract herself. Damn it, she should be dumping the beer on her head to give herself a cold shower. She was turned on and furious at the same time

A man walking by the table gave her an appreciative glance, and Barron glowered at him, letting out a low, rumbling growl.

“Are you actually jealous of me?” she asked, astonished.

“Of course we are!” Barron downed the rest of his beer in one gulp, and Ajax followed suit.

“All right then. Tell me what happened last year.”

Barron and Ajax exchanged glances at each other. As they did, she felt the tension and anger in her loosening, replaced by something else. Warmth. Desire. They were so handsome. So sexy. She’d been with Ajax…now she wanted to be with both of them.

“We…there was a family emergency that we had to deal with. It’s something that we can’t talk about. Pack business,” Barron said. He was breathing hard, and staring at her as if she were the sexiest thing on the planet.

“After I ran off like that…we were afraid to talk to you.” Ajax reached out and grabbed her hand, and she felt a shudder of desire ripple through her. “We had to spend the rest of the festival dealing with the family problem, and then we didn’t think you’d want anything to do with us.”

“Of course I did. I just wanted an explanation. And who was that woman who came over to tell me you two were claiming her?”

Ajax looked bewildered. “There were a lot of women hitting on us from the moment we got there. I mean, not to sound stuck up or anything, but there were. Maybe one of them thought she’d have a chance with us if she scared you off. I don’t know.” He stroked his thumb across her hand and she stifled a shudder of desire.

The waiter, who’d been rushing by their table, grabbed up their empty pitcher of beer. She glanced down at her mug and realized it was empty too. When had that happened?