Alyssa's Wolves (Wolf Masters, Book 4) (2 page)

She kicked herself for not thinking this through ahead of time, but she’d never envisioned making her escape with shifters. This changed things. An idea formed in her head. “My boyfriend … he uh … hit me. I … uh … ran to get away. Would you be willing to take me with you? You are passing through, right?”
God, don’t tell me they live near here and just happen to dine at a truck stop before sunrise.

“We are.” Tall-and-dark narrowed his gaze at her. “You’re on the run from a boyfriend? Where’s your family?”

Alyssa swallowed, a new habit. Probably her my-life-is-a-mess-and-I’m-scared-out-of-my-mind habit. Could she trust these guys? Or would they turn on her and take her back to her family?

She couldn’t risk it. She had to lie harder. “I’m not from around here. We … my boyfriend and I … were driving through this area when he became abusive. Drunk. He was drunk. And he slapped me. He, um, threatened to strangle me. So, I, um, ran. I’m sure he’s passed out in his truck somewhere. If you could just take me with you before he wakes up and looks for me I’d…”
You’d what, smarty pants?
“I’d do anything. Do either of you have mates?”

The blond gasped, and she whipped her head from the darker guy to the blue-eyed man across the table. “Anything? You must really be in a pickle.” His eyes narrowed, but he chuckled. Was that a good sign or bad? “I’m Reese, by the way.” He reached out a hand to shake hers. “And this is Charles.” He nodded in the direction of his friend. His hand still hovered across the table, but he withdrew it abruptly.

What’s the matter with you?
She couldn’t even bring herself to withdraw her fist from her pocket to shake the man’s hand.

Charles cleared his throat, and Alyssa turned her attention back to him. “I can see you are definitely in a bind. Not sure I’m buying the whole story about the strangely abusive boyfriend, but obviously you need help. We’ll take you with us. Do you even care where we’re headed?”

Alyssa shook her head, relief allowing her to exhale long and hard. Had she been holding her breath?

Charles raised his eyebrows. “Worse than I thought.”

The waitress who’d given Alyssa a mug of coffee showed up, chomping on her gum and smiling broader than when she’d waited on Alyssa. “Hey, fellas. What can I get you?”

She cocked one hip to the side and propped her hand on it. The woman glanced at Alyssa for about half a second and then returned her gaze to the men, a sigh escaping her lips. Her blonde hair was done up high on her head and sprayed to the point of concrete. She was twice their age, at least, and yet she flirted relentlessly as though Alyssa were a mere bug she could stamp out while convincing these guys to pick her instead.

Reese shut his menu and looked up at the waitress. “I’m sorry, ma’am. Something’s come up. We’ll not be able to eat here after all. Please excuse us.” Reese stood.

Alyssa swallowed her tongue. Well, it felt like it. Were they going to leave her? Just walk out? The waitress paused in her chomping, her eyebrows raised in confusion. Finally, she huffed, turned, and walked away, mumbling incoherently.

Charles nudged Alyssa’s arm and nodded for her to stand. “Let’s go. I’m sure you’re starving, and we are too, but we’ll find something faster along the way. You don’t look like you want to hang out here chatting.”

Relief flooded Alyssa’s body. She let her shoulders drop several inches. They weren’t going to leave her. Thank God.

Without a word, she followed her saviors out of the diner and climbed into the back seat of their truck. She silently prayed to herself she hadn’t just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

“Relax,” Charles stated as he started the engine. “No one’s going to make you do anything you don’t want to do.”

Relax?
Was he kidding? She’d just climbed into the back of a truck with two men she knew nothing about. She was at the mercy of whatever they wanted to do with her. How was she supposed to relax?

Alyssa looked out the window as they pulled out of the lot. Whatever happened, it couldn’t be a worse fate than what had been in store for her yesterday. She slumped down into the seat, her eyes heavy. So tired. She clutched her bag with tight fingers as though her only worldly possessions might disappear with a poof if she let go.

“We’ll just drive for a while and then grab something to eat. Is that okay?” Reese angled his head over his shoulder to question her.

She nodded. “Thank you. I really appreciate your help.” At least she could be polite.

Reese smiled. “No problem. If I had a sister your age, I’d hope someone would help her out if she was ever in the bind you clearly appear to be in. Let’s get out of here. Get some distance behind us. If you need anything, yell. You look like you could use a nap. We’ll wake you when we stop.”

Exhausted beyond measure, Alyssa finally felt safe enough to let her guard down. She slumped against the door and closed her eyes. She had no idea if one of them would decide to claim her, but at least for the moment, it didn’t seem anyone was going to force anything.

Alyssa slept the entire day and most of the night, waking only occasionally to eat and use the restroom when they stopped for gas. She barely exchanged words with her rescuers. Every mile they put behind them put her more at ease.

When the sun rose again the next day, she sat up to look at her surroundings. “Where are we? I haven’t even asked where you’re going.”

Charles glanced at her in the rearview mirror and chuckled. “I noticed. That
boyfriend
of yours must have really frightened you.” He obviously didn’t buy her story but also didn’t pressure her for more details.

“Yeah…” she mumbled. “He did.”

“Well, we live on a farm outside Corvallis in Oregon. You’ll love it. My parents are the kindest people I’ve ever met. Don’t worry about a thing. You’ll be welcome there for as long as you need. We’ll be there in a few hours.”

“Do you mind, um … I mean…” She bit her lip before sitting up straighter and continuing. “Would it be too much to ask for you to pretend you’re like … with me?”

“Both of us?” Reese chuckled now. She was glad to know she was so amusing.

“No. Of course not.” She shivered. “I didn’t mean … I just…”

Charles reassured her. “Don’t worry. No problem. But, for the record, no one in our family would think it was strange for you to share us. It’s kind of the norm among my brothers.”

“You share? Women?” Alyssa cringed and scooted closer to the door. God. Maybe this had been a horrible mistake. She’d just gone from a pack that shared women to a pack that shared men? Greeatt.

“Don’t look so frightened. We aren’t going to rape you.” Reese turned all the way around in the front to look at her. “We just have a tendency to share is all. Charles and I haven’t really outed ourselves to the family just yet, but if you want us to pretend you belong to us, we can do that. I’m not sure I understand quite why, but we can play along.”

Okay. Deep breaths
. They seemed harmless. If they intended to take advantage of her, wouldn’t they have done so already?

“This isn’t really necessary, you know. My family won’t care what your reasons are for fleeing, but if you need time to think about it, that’s okay with us. Take all the time you want. I’m sure once you get comfortable you’ll see you don’t have to pretend.” Charles glanced her way again but kept most of his attention on the highway.

“Do you think perhaps … maybe…” How could she say what she was thinking? That she actually wanted them to claim her. Anyone would do as long as it wasn’t that greaseball Dwight Wells. If they were by chance followed from Oklahoma, it would make her life a whole lot easier if she was mated and claimed before her pack caught up with her.

Reese narrowed his gaze. “Are you asking us to claim you?”

Alyssa nodded.

“Wow, your plight is worse than I imagined.” He reached over the seat as if to touch her but then pulled back. “Let’s not jump the gun here. We don’t even know you. Maybe, in time, that could happen I suppose, but there’s no rush. You’re so young. What are you, like eighteen?”

Alyssa nodded.
Exactly eighteen
.

“Ahh, I get it,” Reese continued without waiting for a response. “You want to keep this boyfriend of yours from being able to claim you. Huh. I thought he was a euphemism. He must be a real ass if you’d let perfect strangers—two of them no less—take you as their own to keep him from getting you.”

“He is,” she stated clearly, not losing eye contact with Reese.

“Well, don’t worry. There is no way in hell we’d let anyone force you to mate against your will—not on our clock. Charles has four brothers. The farm is saturated with protection. You won’t be kidnapped from our domain. You don’t have to jump into any arrangement so young. Okay?”

“But, maybe?” She wouldn’t let the idea go. In her mind, the only thing that would assure her safety would be a claiming outside the pack. These guys thought a rough boyfriend was after her. They had no idea how powerful the pack leader was or what lengths he might go to in order to get her back. Fredrick Wells had been known in the past to send his thugs to retrieve wayward members. She wouldn’t put it past him this time.

The only thing that would save her would be if she’d managed to escape without a trace. If anyone had followed her, all bets were off.

* * * *

Michael Masters was sitting at the kitchen table eating his lunch when the screen door screeched open and banged against the wall.

“Hey, little bro.” Charles dropped his duffel right inside the door and kicked it out of the way.

On his heels was his best friend, Reese. That wasn’t a surprise. The two were inseparable and had been in Texas for the last six months following the rodeo circuit just for fun, though Michael suspected their reasons for getting out of Corvallis for a while had much more to do with their taste in women, specifically sharing women, than anything else.

He had no idea why Charles and his friend found it necessary to hide the fact they enjoyed threesomes. They weren’t the first in the family to lean that way. But he wasn’t about to question their reasoning.

With his sandwich midair, and his mouth open wide for the next bite, another person stepped through the door on Reese’s heels. Now this was a surprise. The petite blonde beauty took his breath away before she even fully entered the kitchen.

When she did finally step all the way in, Michael sucked in a deep breath and held it. He stared at her in disbelief. This woman, barely more than a girl, was his mate.
Fuck
. He froze in disbelief. Now? Michael himself was only twenty. She wasn’t close to being that old. In fact, he prayed she was at least legal. He had to force himself to keep from shaking his head in denial. He was too young. She was
way
too young. But there was no mistaking the impact her presence had on him. He finally exhaled, but it seemed the wind had been knocked out of him.

Long blonde hair hung down her back in soft waves. Her piercing blue eyes grazed over him only briefly. He could scent her as clearly as if she were in his embrace. A floral shampoo. The minty gum she casually chewed. Her own personal pheromones that tugged at his soul.

And then his gaze whipped to Charles. Oh God. Was she sleeping with his brother? And Reese?

Michael set his sandwich back down and narrowed his gaze at his brother. He stiffened, fisted his hands in his lap, and adjusted his cock.

Charles spoke, seemingly unfazed by Michael’s plight. “Michael, this is Alyssa. Alyssa, my brother, Michael. One of them anyway. The baby.”

Oh, thanks
. Just what he needed. Make him out to be a child.

Alyssa nodded his direction but barely made eye contact. She didn’t know—had no idea she was his. Huh. Perhaps she couldn’t because she was too young.

Charles looked at Michael and then back to Alyssa. “Sorry about my brother. He’s usually the chatty one in the family. What’s up with you?” He glanced back at Michael.

Michael swallowed. “Nothing. How do you … know each other?”
Please don’t tell me you intend to claim her, or I will seriously injure you without pausing to think
.

“Oh, we met on the road,” Charles stated vaguely. “She’s gonna spend the holidays with us.”

What?
This was seriously not happening. No way.

Michael stood and tried to get his legs to move forward. He needed to smell his mate up close. He ambled as casually as possible toward the fridge as though he needed a new drink.

As he brushed past Alyssa, he let his arm graze hers. He almost gasped. A tingly sensation ran up his arm and knocked him senseless. It didn’t happen for her though. She just stood there oblivious to the shock he’d gotten.

He breathed her essence in deep. Nope. She wasn’t sleeping with Charles. Not yet anyway. Not ever, if he had anything to say about it. And he fully intended to.

That information should have relaxed him, and it did, marginally. But still the questions hung in the air. What the hell was she doing here with Reese and Charles? What did “spend the holidays with us” mean? And, how was Michael going to survive having her in the house without taking her?

He was going to have to have words with Charles later. For now, he’d just keep an eye on the trio and make sure no one touched his mate. As long as everyone kept their hands to themselves, it was all good.

Neither Reese nor Charles seemed all that interested in her. He’d seen his brother, Justin, and his friend, Trevor, with their mate. From the moment they’d met, none of them could separate. If they weren’t touching each other, which was rare, they were at least following each other around the room with their gazes.

It was the same with his second brother, Ryan. He and Alejandro had mated with Lindsey, and the three hadn’t come up for air for weeks after they’d met.

Charles and Reese barely paid Alyssa any attention at all beyond that which was deemed polite.

An entire week went by. Michael eventually assessed that whatever was going on with Alyssa had nothing to do with Charles and Reese. In fact, those two men almost immediately met and claimed another woman, Jessica.