The Alpha's Secret, An MMF Erotic Romance (The Stonewall Pack Alpha Series) (4 page)

The orgasm seemed to last forever, but finally they released each other's shoulders and relaxed onto the bed, gazing into each other's eyes.

Gavin smiled.

Chapter 4

The next morning, Liam rolled over in bed. He could still feel the tightness on his neck where Gavin had bitten him. He wondered how Bridget would feel knowing they'd gone ahead without her. But what could she expect? They didn't have to all be celibate just because she was. Especially since her comments had clearly shown she felt the mating urge every bit as much as Gavin and he did. Except they weren't afraid to go through with it.

They needed to do something about her. Just as Liam pulled himself out of bed, the door opened and Gavin strolled in. Gavin paused to look Liam up and down, a smile on his face. For the first time in his life, Liam didn't feel self-conscious being naked in front of another man. No, he felt aroused.

"Want to do something about that?" Gavin said.

Liam chuckled. "I do, but right now I have other things on my mind."

Gavin dropped a newspaper on the foot of the bed. "Such as?"

"Figuring out what's bugging our mate. It feels like we're not complete."

"Because we're not." Gavin wrapped his arms around Liam and kissed him. "Good morning."

"Morning." Liam loved the feel of Gavin in his arms, even if it was through two layers of clothing. Gavin hadn't even taken his coat off before kissing him.

Still holding Liam, Gavin said, "In addition to some detective work, we need to let the sisters know about Fiona. And we have to corner our little mate for the date she promised us."

"I can't wait."

Gavin kissed him again, just a quick press. "It won't be too much longer. Could you smell her arousal last night? I'm surprised she could walk away, as turned on as she must have been."

"I smelled it. It was all I could do not to crawl under the table and stick my head between her legs," Liam said. One great thing about having a male mate was being able to be crude and not having to watch your language.

"Wouldn't that have surprised her," Gavin said with a laugh. "Although keep that in mind. Maybe what we need to do is seduce her. It wouldn't be hard."

"As long as she wouldn't hate us afterward."

"There is that." Gavin let Liam go then shrugged off his coat. "While you get ready, I'll call Deirdre and let her know we want to talk to her and her sisters. Then I'll call Bridget and ask her to lunch. We'll see what she says. Then I'll get to work on researching her past." He sat down at the little desk and picked up his cell.

Liam sauntered into the bathroom, aware of Gavin's eyes on his ass. God, it felt good to belong to someone. It'd been too long that he was alone. And now he'd never be alone again.

Twenty minutes later, showered, shaved and dressed, he pulled the small easy chair over to the desk. "What can I do to help?"

"I made the two phone calls. We have a date with Bridget at noon, and the family will meet us there at 1:30 to discuss Fiona. So, a short date. Bridget felt more comfortable that way." He scowled.

"Maybe we can get her to agree to dinner, too."

"Good luck with that."

Liam smiled. Gavin was probably right. But that didn't mean Liam wouldn't try. "What about the research?"

"You weren't in the shower long."

"No need to get defensive." Liam tapped Gavin on the shoulder. "So you're just getting started. What can I do?"

They had a few hours until lunch. Unfortunately, they hadn't brought much with them since they hadn't planned to stay even one night. Gavin had his laptop—which was never far from him—but Liam didn't.

"I'm not sure what you can do without a computer," Gavin said. "At some point, we might have some phone calls to make, but right now we just need to dig."

"What about a library? It would probably have a computer I could use."

"Good idea."

"Except neither of us has a library card for Marysburg."

Gavin closed the lid on his laptop. "But we can get one. Or sweet talk the librarian into letting us use my Fairfax County library card. One way or another, we can make it work."

Half an hour later, after prolonged negotiations with a librarian who was neither sweet nor pliable, Liam sat in front of a computer. He'd been told he could use it for thirty minutes, no more. Gavin sat nearby in an empty cubicle working on his laptop.

Liam had been tasked with hitting the online search engines to see what kind of a footprint Bridget had left online. Gavin was looking in more oblique databases, including a few somewhat shady ones, if Liam understood correctly. His mate wasn't above breaking the law to uphold it.

Bridget had a page on three of the major social networks. Liam looked through all of it, soaking up every bit of information he could find about his reluctant mate. She liked to read romances. Steamy ones, it looked like. And she did scrapbooking. She liked to shop.

He could only see so much, though, since he wasn't a "friend." He couldn't see all her pictures, for instance, although the one he could see—a profile picture showing her and her two sisters laughing, their heads all touching—made him want her even more. How could a woman who loved her family like that not want a family of her own? What he wouldn't give for her to love him like that.

What he didn't find was anything suggesting some sort of trauma in her early life. Nothing at all.

When his thirty minutes were up, the librarian bore down on him like a fearsome general, so Liam shut down his browser and joined Gavin at the cubicle. "I didn't find anything," Liam said. "You?"

"Not a thing. Not that there's not bad shit that's happened to her, cause there is. But nothing to explain why she doesn't want mates."

Bad shit? "How bad?"

"Her sister running away, her parents dying. Both those things were in the papers. Her sister's back now, so who knows how that drama played out." Gavin closed up his computer. "Let's head over to the restaurant. We can get a table and be waiting when she arrives."

"Sounds good." Liam didn't like the idea of bad shit having happened to his mate. Worse, he had the feeling Gavin had only unearthed part of it.

***

When Bridget walked into The Weeping Widow, she could smell that her mates were already there even before she saw them. She passed the busy hostess and ducked her head into the dining room. Sure enough, they sat in the far corner in a circular table with a booth. And they were both staring at her.

As she walked across the room toward them, their gazes didn't waver, although hers did when she saw Gavin put his hand over Liam's and squeeze. Getting awfully friendly awfully fast. When she got closer, she saw something else—a bite mark on each of their shoulders, near their necks.

Bridget stopped short. They'd marked each other. They'd done it without her. An awful sense of betrayal and abandonment washed over her which she immediately dismissed. It was ridiculous. What did she care if they marked each other? She didn't even want mates.

She headed forward again but more slowly. The feelings still churned in her stomach even though she tried to ignore them.

Gavin and Liam both stood, closing in on her from either side. One put his hands on her hips, the other on her back.

"It's good to see you." Liam dropped a kiss on her cheek.

Behind her, Gavin slipped his hand around her ribs and steered her toward the table. "Morning, beautiful." He slid her coat off her arms and directed her into the booth. Before she realized what was happening, she was seated in between them with no way out.

"You two planned this," she said.

Gavin laughed. "Of course we did."

Liam slid his hand up and down her thigh. "It's much better with no family around."

"And we're nice and hidden here in the booth." Gavin rested his hand on her leg, too.

Bridget immediately felt her body attuning itself to them. She yearned for more. Her body wanted to meld with them, and her wolf wanted to mark them. Even more today than yesterday. With their hands on her body, she struggled to remember why she resisted them.

"Just remember, we can always skip lunch and go back to our hotel room," Liam said. "Just say the word." His hand got dangerously close to her pussy.

Even
she
could smell her arousal. There was no way the two men could miss it. Still, she tried to play it cool. If she didn't, she'd give in. "Have you two looked at the menu already? They have really good food here." She opened her menu and tried very hard to concentrate on the dishes.

Gavin whispered in her ear. "I already know what I want to eat."

They were determined to kill her with lust.

Bridget cleared her throat and reminded herself why she was resisting. To give in, to surrender, meant giving up all that she was. It might feel good right now…really, really good…but she'd hate herself for it later when she'd become little more than a slave to her mates' wills.

However, two could play this game. She turned to Gavin, her mouth just a hair's breadth from his, and said, "Are you sure that would fill you up? You might need some cock with that for a balanced meal."

Liam knocked his leg against the underside of the table—he'd heard, of course—and Gavin crossed the millimeters to press his lips against hers. They both had their eyes open, his steamy. He pushed forward, trying to take control of the kiss, to dominate her.

"Would you like something to drink?"

The waitress. Bridget pulled away. "Just water," she said, wiping her mouth with her fingers. The feel of him lingered on her lips.

She didn't even hear what the two men ordered.

As soon as the woman left, Liam leaned in close. "Where's my kiss?"

"Who says you get one?" she said.

His finger traced a line from her temple to her chin. "It's only fair. If Gavin gets a kiss, then I should get one, too."

"Gavin stole a kiss." As soon as the words left her mouth, she wished them back. She knew exactly what Liam would do.

"Then I should steal a kiss, too." Liam turned her face toward his with one finger and captured her lips with his.

His kiss was gentle where Gavin's had been fiery. She felt herself give a little more. But she couldn't. She couldn't give in.

Bridget pulled away.

Liam slid his arm around her waist and let his hand rest on her hip. "Very nice."

"You don't have to sound so satisfied," she said.

"Why not? I am satisfied. For now."

God, she was acting like a shrew. She felt like a shrew. But what could she do when she had to keep her defenses up at all times and still they made inroads? She couldn't win.

The best she could do was change the subject. With a creeping feeling of despair warring with her ever-present arousal, she said, "You said you were meeting my family here after lunch. What's up?"

Gavin slung his arm around the back of her seat. "It'd be easier if I waited and told you all at once."

The despair won. It wasn't that she really had to know before everyone else. It was that she wanted to be more than just part of her family. Shouldn't mates confide in each other? Couldn't he tell her now rather than waiting?

Which was ridiculous, stupid. She didn't want mates, so what did it matter?

Gavin must have seen something in her face. He leaned forward, slipping one hand over hers on the table. "I can tell you now, if it's that important."

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

She felt a hand stroke her hair. "What's the matter, Bridget?" Gavin said. "Tell me."

She couldn't tell him. It would mean he'd won. She pulled herself together and took a sip of water. "It's nothing. What else would you like to talk about? There must be something that's a safe subject."

"I've got a subject for you." Liam's hand rubbed her back. "What happened to make you so afraid of having mates?"

Gavin growled softly.

Liam must not have been supposed to say that. Wasn't that interesting? "I've told you I don't know."

His hand continued to stroke her back. "Then—more interesting question—what do you plan to do with us now that you've got us?"

Gavin growled again.

Liam leaned forward. "I think the direct approach is worth trying."

"We agreed we weren't going to crowd her," Gavin said.

"Yeah, well, I changed my mind," Liam said.

"Would you mind not talking about me like I'm not here?" Bridget said.

Liam's hand stilled. "Then answer the question."

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" Gavin said.

"I don't know what to do with you. What can I do? I know what happens when someone refutes their mates. It's awful. I don't want that for you. But that doesn't change anything. I'm still scared. I still don't want mates."

After a short silence, Liam said, "I think you're stuck with us. You know, you could always claim us and then if you're unhappy, you could leave."

A shiver went through her when he said that. God, she wasn't even mated to them yet, but the thought of leaving them chilled her.

The men must have seen her shiver, but they didn't mention it.

"Or we could treat this as a business proposition," Gavin said. "Draw up a contract. A pre-nup, if you will. Lay out exactly what each of us wants, what our boundaries are, and what the punishment is for going over them."

That seemed awfully clinical. And yet, oddly appealing. "So, if you dominate me to the point that I become a shadow of who I am, the punishment would be…"

Liam sat up sharply. "We'd never do that."

"The punishment would be a sound beating from your brothers-in-law, followed by you moving in with one of your sisters until we could work it out." Gavin's voice was steady.

She looked at him sidelong. "And that doesn't worry you?"

He sat back, his arm again resting along the back of her seat. "Not at all. I agree with Liam. We'd never do that, so the punishment would never happen. But if it makes you feel more secure to have it all on paper, I'm fine with that."

There was something to that idea. Maybe a pre-nup was exactly what she needed.