Compared to his the kids’ arms were thin and short. When Owen flexed his hands into fists and grinned the weres took a step back.
Owen lowered his arms. “Like I said, I admire a were with balls. But it took three of you to get up the courage to challenge me. Give yourselves another few years of growing up and filling out and try again. Hmm? Now go home, boys. I’m sure your mommas are waiting supper on you.”
In an act of deliberate dismissal, he turned his back on them and walked away. They might be young, dumb and full of…well, whatever…but he also sensed they were the kind of males who would challenge a higher-ranking were head-on and honorably. That roll of coins notwithstanding. Yeah, not the sort of were who’d killed Tom or Cory or who’d attacked him. He heard the door open and close behind him.
“That was interesting,” Suzanne said. There was a glimmer in her eye as she watched him walk up to her. Oh yeah. He liked it when this female looked at him with that kind of lusty approval.
“Seems every time I step in here somebody’s looking to lay a beating on me.” He fit his hands around her waist and pulled her body into his. “You included if I remember correctly. In my dreams I still hear the sound of those handcuffs you slapped on me.” Grinning, he rubbed his nose against her throat, tasted her with the tip of his tongue. Resisting the urge to bite, he leaned back and released her. Marking her, binding her to a lone wolf like him was something he’d never do to Suzanne. He liked her too much to ruin her life.
Tom clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s official now, buddy. Your first challenge for leadership in human form. Better polish up the brass knuckles ’cause I smell more where that came from.”
“Terrific.”
Owen hit the off button on Tom’s TV remote and stretched out on the sofa. A weird contentment stole over him when he heard Tom’s deep voice coming from the direction of the bathroom followed by Suzanne’s silvery laughter.
The evening’s challenge had been weighing on him. Obviously those males saw him as a frontrunner for pack Alpha. No matter how content he was living in this bubble with the two weres down the hall, this was temporary. He’d planted himself in the middle of this pack’s social structure and he had damn well better find a way to un-plant himself. Soon. The pack as a whole was coming to depend on him. Those two down the hall were coming to… Well, love was too arrogant a word but they did care for him.
He’d have to leave soon or risk hurting them. Badly.
“Want some ice cream?”
Looking up, he smiled when Suzanne skipped into the kitchen. Yeah, skipped. Her step seemed lighter than it had a week ago. She was cheerful, although that didn’t distract him from the way her breasts moved under her camisole top or the way her pert ass tightened as she stretched up on tiptoe to reach the bowls. Those slinky sleeping pants she wore did nothing but enhance her shape.
“None for me, thanks,” he answered and continued to admire the view. The two helpings of pie he’d had following dinner had left him a happy man.
When she turned back to him, full bowl in hand, she looked pleased to find him watching her. “I wanted to tell you how well you handled your first pack run.” She slid the spoon between her lips and her cheeks moved as if she was licking it clean.
The sight made Owen’s cock twitch.
When Tom came into the kitchen dressed in sweats and smelling of soap and shampoo he grabbed a clean spoon and helped himself to some of the ice cream in Suzanne’s bowl. “Nobody could have guessed it was your first.”
Suzanne nodded. “You got the word out to everyone, date and time were clearly established, you kept the speech short and the fun factor high. You did a good job.”
“Yeah. I excel at organization.” He winced at the flatness in his voice and hid it by pinching the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger.
“Maybe,” Tom added. “But you also made a good choice when you picked that little redheaded were to work at the pharmacy.”
“True.” Suzanne waved her spoon in the air, emphasizing her words. “Like most, this pack’s short on available females. You tackled two problems at once. And she might be timid but Geoff Amos seems to have taken a shine to her.”
Owen felt he had no right to take credit for any of that so he shut his mouth and stared at the ceiling. The end of the sofa dipped when Tom sat down. Suzanne dropped beside the other male, leaned into the side of his body and, facing Owen, crossed her legs lotus-style.
“Why did you leave the Army without a career plan in place?”
This time when he winced Owen didn’t bother to hide it. “Because I didn’t plan on leaving.” He fell silent for a moment, sorting through his thoughts, and appreciated the space the other two gave him before he resumed talking. “Not too long ago I was promoted to Sergeant First Class. It’s not an automatic promotion and not many soldiers reach it. I figured, this is it. I’m more than just a cog in the wheel. I can use my knowledge and experience and make a real impact. But ever since my pack died, ever since Cutler told me to get my ass on leave to Tennessee to help take care of those bastard rogues who killed them… It’s like I was restless. The Army was my life. I loved doing the job and everything about it and all of a sudden it wasn’t enough.” He felt his cheeks puff out as he exhaled. “I had the reenlistment papers in my hand. I had a headquarters position waiting for me. Instead I asked for my discharge papers. Twenty-four hours later, during debriefing in Germany before they flew me stateside, I realized I had no place to go and no idea what to do once I got there.”
He squeezed his nose again then sat up, tugged Suzanne’s spoon out of her hand and scooped some of the ice cream into his mouth. The strawberry sweetness of it was thick and cool on his tongue and the distraction pulled him out of his maudlin thoughts, somewhat.
“The day I turned eighteen I challenged my pack Alpha for leadership.” Shit. Why did he feel the need to bring that old news up?
As before the two weres kept quiet and let his thoughts spill out where they wanted.
“Fina’s father was a big son of a bitch. Fists like ham hocks and he knew how to use them.” Owen didn’t realize he’d started rubbing his jaw until he felt the movement of his hand. “I’ve thought about the whys over the years. Even at the time I knew there was no chance I could win. For a while I thought it was me just being a stupid, cocky kid. But that wasn’t it. I knew and he knew I had the makings of an Alpha. Like in Cutler’s pack, the drive to lead would have me challenging for leadership until one of us was dead. No pack needs that kind of upheaval.” He thought back on Cutler’s words and how right he’d been.
“It would have been years before Fina’s father was too old to lose and the waiting would have destroyed something in me. But how do you tell your mother her only cub has to leave? For his sake as well as everybody else’s? I took the easy way out instead.”
“No.”
The sound of Suzanne’s annoyingly sensible voice brought his head up.
“You did what was right for your pack. You left before a power struggle ripped their hearts out.”
“Yeah but I wasn’t there when they needed me, was I?” Owen lashed out. “Seven…only seven fucking rogues took out my entire pack in one night. You think I don’t know how to take out multiple targets if I have to?”
The room was silent for a moment.
“You think one more male would have saved them?” Tom asked quietly.
“I damn…” Letting his head fall back, Owen squeezed his eyes shut. “I don’t know. And that’s what keeps running around in my head. My pack needed me and I wasn’t there.”
“So you keep yourself at arm’s length from every other pack.” Like before Suzanne’s voice was annoying as hell…only it was because she was right. She didn’t sound judgmental even though he had no problem judging himself. “Hate to break it to you, big guy, but the façade’s cracking.” Leaning forward, she lifted the edge of his T-shirt. First her soft hair then her even softer lips grazed his belly. She looked up at him at the same time as she exposed the edge of her teeth.
Owen held his breath but it came out all at once when she bit him gently. When his cock started to harden it pulled blood and oxygen away from his cognitive functions, as usual. Before he was reduced to a grunting Neanderthal he caught the scent of their acceptance. He might be a clusterfuck waiting to happen but they loved him despite that. Accepted him. The quiet smell of it was filling the room.
They were patient, manipulative bastards. Both of them. And he loved them for it. Great. Yet another revelation he was too messed-up to handle.
When she took the spoon back and dipped the end into the ice cream, Owen watched with rising anticipation. The cold made him shudder when she tracked a circle of frosty dessert around his navel. He shuddered again when she slowly licked him clean.
“Oh yeah,” Tom growled. “Now we’re talking.” He dipped his spoon back into the bowl and she was soon gasping as he smoothed ice cream over her back, between where her top had pulled up and her pants sat low.
Owen liked the direction this was heading in too, especially when Tom eased her pants down then lifted her top up and off. In a soft cloud, her hair drifted around Owen’s belly. It gave him an idea. He handed the bowl and spoon to Tom and with a jerk of his head told the other were to get out of the way. Handling her carefully but without apology, Owen flipped her over. She looked uncertain, as if she had no idea where this was heading when he slid her naked body toward the end of the sofa. But it was her gasp—that soft, sexy, breathless sound—that got him hard when he lifted her hips. He planted them high on the arm of the sofa so her torso bent back on one side, her legs splayed freely on the other. With his hand on her belly, he steadied her then made quick work of stripping off his clothes. Tom followed suit.
Naked, Owen kneeled on the floor between her legs, kissed her soft thighs, let his stubble-rough cheeks graze her skin. While she watched him he draped her knees over his back, held onto her hips and lowered his mouth to her pussy.
Suzanne cried out and bucked. At least she tried to. He held her too tightly and loved the way her smaller body responded to him. The first, tangy taste of her went to his head like straight liquor. Her scent made his gut cramp with need. He slowed down, enjoying each twitch of her clit, the sight of her belly tightening, the anxious sounds she made when he thrust his tongue into her then dragged it back to circle her anus. Her legs flexed and he liked how her thighs felt against his temples. Liked how the movement exposed her folds even more.
When Tom came into his line of sight, ice-cream bowl in hand, Owen chuckled. The movement of his mouth made Suzanne quiver. He chuckled again so he could feel her response a second time.
Grinning like a maniac, Tom let the frosted back of the spoon hover over her nipple.
“No,” she gasped but it sounded more like excitement than protest. She watched the spoon, bit her lower lip then bowed her back and yelped when Tom pressed the metal to her nipple.
When he snatched the spoon away Owen swore her breast looked bigger, swollen, and her nipple was definitely harder. Still wearing that deviant grin, Tom worked the spoon across the ice cream. This time he held it over her other nipple, even longer than the first. Slowly a fat droplet formed on the back. It hung there while they held their breath, while Owen worked his tongue over her clit in sharp little flicks. When the ice cream fell all three of them sighed.
Suzanne shivered when the spoon followed the drop, smearing it around her nipple. Gooseflesh popped up on her belly and arms. She held Tom’s head when he bent to her and covered her with his mouth. The movement of his cheeks told Owen the other male was licking her clean, sucking the strawberry taste off her skin. Tom’s eyes closed and he looked more content than a male had a right to be.
Owen drove his tongue into her sheath and fucked her slowly.
“Want some cream with that, buddy?” Owen looked up. Like him Tom was naked and the other were’s cock was so hard it was bent back at the top, as if it was so eager it was looking to fuck his navel. Tom held up the bowl, looked at Suzanne’s pussy and licked his lips.
“Great idea.” Leaning back, Owen held on tight. He had to. Suzanne saw what was coming and she squirmed, hard. Her distended breasts swayed prettily. Her mouth formed a protest that came out as a squeal of delight as Tom dribbled half-melted ice cream over her pussy. Owen knew the thick liquid was cold because her hips jerked and she shivered whenever a droplet hit her.
He watched, mesmerized by her response—the way she gasped and squirmed when Tom bounced the back of the spoon on her clit. When Tom had finished tormenting her Owen stuck out his tongue and ran it through the thick, creamy sweetness coating her. She sighed and shivered again. He lapped at her, pressing the residual taste into her core where it mingled with her juice and exploded on his tongue like liquid ambrosia.
Nothing had ever tasted as delicious. Between his hands her hips trembled and he watched the movement spill through her arched torso. He watched along with her as Tom eyed her breasts and began stirring the ice cream again.
Breathing in the sweet arousal pouring off her, Owen flicked his tongue across her clit, drifted back to lick the mouth of her sheath and around her anus. Tom tortured then soothed her breasts with the cold cream and the heat of his mouth. When she came her body jerked so hard she almost hurt Owen’s neck. Crying out, arching so high he was amazed by her flexibility, she grabbed on to Tom’s head as her clit pulsed against Owen’s tongue.