Feeling his mouth settle in a determined line, Owen called up the pharmacist Cutler’s pack used.
“How do I get a pharmacist here fast?” he asked. He did the math in his head, calculating Ty’s graduation date. “One who’ll stay for two years and a bit?”
The day of Cory’s funeral was sunny and cool. The sky was so clear and looked so high up it almost hurt to look at. Like sentinels, Cory’s pack followed in the wake of the simple, gleaming, maple casket, attending it through the progression from memorial service, to testimonials and burial. Owen stayed close behind. He and Suzanne kept their eyes and ears open for whispered words of dissention, triumphant sideways glances, groups that kept to themselves too much. There was nothing out of the ordinary though and certainly nothing suspicious.
Every other deputy sheriff was there but they weren’t working. Like the other members of the pack, they needed a few hours away from the investigation to mourn. The members of Cory’s pack paid tribute to their murdered Alpha while the town was patrolled by Wally Pierce and police on loan from nearby counties.
After, in the community center, before the sandwiches and tea were served, Owen found himself standing behind Piper, off to the side, when Cutler walked up to her. Flanked by Nath and Fina, he handed Piper a beautiful silver box. His expression was grave. Both Nath and Fina looked pale but they stood strong. After saying a few words to Piper they nodded to Owen and stepped aside. Two more Alphas were waiting in line behind them, each holding a small, sealed, silver box. Piper’s hand shook as she accepted each box but she took the time to read the engravings, the words of tribute from other packs. She smiled as she listened to the comfort each Alpha tried to express, ran her fingers gently over the smooth edges and indentations of the boxes.
Standing in his freshly cleaned dress uniform, Owen pulled his shoulders back even farther. He blinked then searched the crowd for Suzanne and Tom. Their faces seemed to echo his thoughts. They’d catch whoever had done this. They’d punish the bastards who were trying to destroy this pack and god help them when they were found.
After the tributes, when the mourners were milling around carrying plates and cups, talking about Cory or commenting on how beautiful the flowers were, Owen clamped down on his emotions. Still standing close to Piper, held there by those dimmed brown eyes that kept coming back to him like she was reassuring herself of his presence, he wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of there. None of that showed on his face as pack member after pack member came up to him, introduced themselves, shared small talk then shook hands, hugged him or nuzzled him, rubbing their scents on him.
This isn’t my responsibility
, he kept telling himself when the urge to bolt got bad.
In a couple of days I can get out of here. These aren’t my people.
The nuzzling was bad enough but he wanted to pull his hair out when the questions started. A middle-aged couple wanted to know if they had the Alpha’s blessing to proceed with their daughter’s wedding plans. A pretty little bitch with hips that swung like they were on ball bearings asked if it was okay for her to attend school out of state come fall. A young male with hands like an iron worker wanted to talk about a start-up business loan for a cabinet-making shop.
After just a few minutes Owen was convinced the two hundred and fifty or so weres in the room were nuts. How could they ever imagine he was capable, let alone worthy of stepping into this role?
It wasn’t until he, Tom and Suzanne were back at Tom’s place that he took what felt like the first full breath he’d had all day.
Tom had the refrigerator door open and was rummaging around inside. “What do you want for supper?” he asked.
“Do I
look
like I give a flying fuck?” Owen bellowed. When Tom’s and Suzanne’s heads snapped around and they stared at him open-mouthed he tore off his jacket and threw it on the sofa. “I don’t have the answers and I will rip the head off the next asshole who—”
“
Hey
,” Suzanne barked at him. One of her hips shot out and she planted her fist on it.
He pointed a finger at her, growled then stormed off to the bathroom without saying anything. There he started yanking off his clothes as fast as he could. The need to wash off the smell of the pack’s neediness was overwhelming. “What the hell do I know?” he muttered to himself and cranked on the shower almost to the point of scalding. “Who the hell put me in charge of making decisions for strangers? Why don’t they just…” Naked, he stepped into the shower. It was so hot he shivered. “Leave me alone.”
A hand shot into the shower and turned off the water. Another yanked the curtain back. Owen spun around, grabbed the wall to keep from slipping and glared at Tom and Suzanne. Naked, dripping and shivering didn’t make holding on to his private outrage easy, not when faced with two deputy sheriffs in dress uniforms, looking at him like they were ready to rip him a new one.
“We
can’t
leave you alone,” Tom growled into the thick silence. “Like it or not you were born to live this life.”
“What life?” Owen barked. He scrubbed his hand over his face, wiped away the water streaming from his hair. “Playing nursemaid to a bunch of wounded crybabies?” As soon as the words came out of his mouth he wanted to kick his own ass.
“No. Being an Alpha.” Tom had never sounded so harsh. Command rang in his voice.
“I don’t want it. I never wanted it. I’ve spent my life—”
“You’ve spent your life,” Suzanne interrupted coldly, “hiding from what you are. Maybe coming from a small pack skewed your view of how a normal pack operates.” As she spoke she glared at him and flashed her canines. “I want to shoot myself for saying this but you are a good man, Owen Wells. The man for this job. You’re an Alpha right down to the marrow in your bones. Now put on your big-boy pants and do the job you were born to do,” she snapped. “Hmmph. And you call everybody else a crybaby.”
Anger made heat flare in Owen’s extremities. Guilt cooled it fast. When he felt his cheeks turn red, the expression on Suzanne’s face softened. Tom’s too. After a moment with him standing there, listening to water drip onto the shower floor from his body, Suzanne started to unbutton her uniform jacket.
“This still doesn’t mean I like you,” she said and her voice got low and sultry. He watched her eyes flare as she looked him over real good, especially when his cock started to get interested right back.
“Yeah. I know,” Owen replied and undid her belt buckle. Tom pitched in by starting in on her shirt buttons. “But you do like fucking me. Guess I can live with that.”
Tom’s shower wasn’t exactly big enough for three of them, especially with guys their size. When the water was turned back on Owen leaned into it and sighed. Suzanne’s soft, soapy hands started to move over him.
Once or twice, between the laughter as they jockeyed for position and fought over the bar of soap, he also felt a larger, rougher hand on his back. What was really weird was he liked it. Liked the fact Suzanne
and
Tom were both cleaning away the scent of the pack’s need. His rejection of it wasn’t right. He knew that. But he did need a break from it, maybe even needed a few hours to mourn in his own way. Resigning himself to taking Suzanne’s advice and manning up next time the pack marked him, Owen relaxed into the closeness and humor around him.
“We keep taking showers together,” Tom quipped, “and I won’t need that bigger water heater after all.”
When they were clean they grabbed towels and, in a clumsy clutch, made their way to Tom’s bed, yanked back the covers and rolled in. Righting himself, Owen sat up with his back against the headboard. He grabbed a pillow, made himself comfortable, spread his legs and glanced down at his swollen cock.
“I need that pretty mouth of yours,” he said to Suzanne and didn’t recognize the sound of his own voice. It was rough and deep, more wolf than man. She licked her lips and eyed him hungrily. “Great answer,” he teased and shook when she ran her soft, pink tongue over his length like he was a big old ice cream cone.
“Come here, baby,” Tom growled. He stretched out on his back and shouldered her knee up and out of the way so he could slide his head under her. “Give me some of that sweet pussy.”
Owen saw the other male’s hands slide over Suzanne’s hips, saw the indentations they made in her skin as he pulled her down to him. Heard the wet sounds of Tom’s tongue moving over her sex. Grunting with pleasure, Owen held her breast when she took the head of his cock into her mouth and applied just enough pressure to make his loins rock. His other hand held her hair out of the way and when he did she looked up at him. Her eyes were beautiful. The blue, highlighted by smoky kohl and color, stood out vividly. Hell, everything about her was beautiful. Holding her breast, he was as captivated as he’d been the first time he’d seen her. That soft oval face was radiant and when she flashed those white, straight teeth before grazing his cock head with them he knew he’d never experienced a moment as perfect as this one.
He looked down her body, past the indentation of her waist, the rise of that round split peach of an ass of hers. Tom’s fingers held her hard and his darker skin emphasized her paleness. Her hips moved in gentle rhythm to the sounds of the other male’s tongue working her. Looking past her, he could see Tom’s torso. The hard, muscled frame almost as large as his own. Tom’s impressive erection bobbed, drawing Owen’s gaze to the male’s shaft and the dark nest of hair at the base.
Shutting his eyes, Owen groaned as Suzanne ran a fingertip over his perineum, cupped his balls up tight then rubbed her lower lip over them.
“
Damn
,” he hissed and let his head fall back. She sucked him in deep and he could feel her throat muscles close around him. The sounds she made drove him crazy and he tightened his hold on her breast. One second then another then she pulled back, worked the head inside her mouth before starting in on his balls.
That tongue of hers made him ache but it was the gentle, rhythmic pressure of her sucking mouth that made him moan.
Owen held out as long as he could. When he felt the familiar tingle at the base of his sac he eased her away from him. Sometime he’d like to finish in her mouth, as long as she was okay with that. But not today. Today, after he’d spurned the needs of an entire pack, he needed to connect with this woman.
Her. And Tom.
“Slide back, baby,” he said quietly and eased her mouth away from him. “Take Tom in your pussy and give me your ass.”
There it was again. That drive to give orders, orchestrate. But Suzanne and Tom weren’t complaining and he was enthralled by the excitement in their expressions as she crawled backward. She was so damn sexy when she tossed her hair and let her breasts hang over the other male’s mouth. With a groan Tom grabbed hold and suckled one while she made soft, feminine sounds of pleasure. He held her other breast, his big hand almost dwarfing her, and pinched her nipple until she trembled.
Owen couldn’t take his eyes off them. Without looking he yanked open the night table drawer, grabbed the lube and walked to the foot of the bed. They were so beautiful together. Against Tom she looked so soft and delicate in comparison. When she slid farther back Owen heard the hot, wet sound of them kissing and squeezed the head of his cock, remembering how good that mouth felt on him. Her lush pink pussy hovered over Tom’s shaft. He and Owen groaned when she dipped her hips and moved her slit over Tom. The other male’s rod, now glistening with her moisture, bobbed as if it was seeking her heat.
When Tom wrapped his fingers around himself, held his cock straight up and ready, Owen took a step closer. He had to bite back a moan when Suzanne tossed her head a second time, palmed her breasts and started working herself down onto Tom’s length. Her swollen pussy lips stretched around him, wrapped him up tight, moved as she rode him. Down. Up. Small movements, controlled by those strong thighs of hers, the flexing of her ass. Then longer strokes as she got aggressive with him, tossed her head yet again, rolled her back.
The positioning of the other male’s arms told Owen his hands were on her breasts, the erotic sounds she was making told him how much Tom was pleasuring her. He watched with unshakeable focus as she took Tom deeper, harder, until he was buried inside her. When he was she rolled her hips, leaned back and gasped then her hand disappeared between their bodies.
“Not so fast,” Owen growled. Taking hold of her forearm, he brought her fingers to his mouth and sucked her cream off them. “That’s
our
pussy.” Looking over her shoulder, he met Tom’s glassy stare. The other male grinned, nodded and grabbed her hips so he could grind up into her. “Nobody gets you off but us.”
“Damn straight,” Tom said firmly. The muscles in his arms flexed as he encouraged her to ride him faster.
Owen squirted a liberal amount of lubricant onto his fingers. Exhaling, buying himself a minute to regain his control, he closed his eyes so the sight of them fucking wouldn’t get him even more turned-on. Bad idea. Without his sight his wolf focused on their scents, the sounds. Watching them was hotter than hell. Listening to them made his heart race and warmth tingle in his extremities. He put his hand between her shoulder blades and applied gentle pressure.
She turned her head and looked at him. Color had brightened her cheeks and her eyes were heavy-lidded and seductive. Glancing down his body, she looked at his cock with open approval and laid her body onto Tom’s. Like before, the sound of them kissing, even the sight of Tom’s fingers moving through her hair, filled Owen with unaccountable poignancy. That and a rising lust he had no intention of denying any longer.