Puppy Problems: A Reverse Harem Werewolf Romance (Her Secret Menagerie Book 3)

by Katelyn Beckett

  Gabe was right. We needed this.

  I pushed my plate away and slipped away from Leo, stretching and yawning. "That was a wonderful meal, guys. Will you excuse me? I have a million things to do and there's no internet out here."

  It was a ploy, something to give them a little fun and excitement. If there was one thing an alpha loved, it was pursuing their omega. And, to be honest, the play hunts we'd had in the woods were an absolute joy for me, too. Knowing that my predatory loves were out there, waiting to strike, throw me down on the fallen leaves, pin me and-

  My lips pressed together. The food had been a delight, but dessert was the real treat.

  "You're not going anywhere," Xav growled, shoving his chair over as he got up.

  Oh, so much more aggressive than usual. I shivered and skipped away from him as he tried to snatch me up. My back thumped into Gabe and I whipped around, giving him a grin, before I shot off toward the front of the tent and out into the woods.

  It was daylight. I had no doubt there were people around helping with the rescue that was near the house. So off into the forest I went, as fast as my feet would carry me. I giggled, listening to my alphas crunch along behind me, the sound of feet changing to paws.

  They wanted to play it that way? Fine with me. Did I ever mention how much my boys loved a little red riding hood cape I'd found for half-off at a Halloween store? We'd gotten so much mileage from that, it'd been worth every penny.

  I practically flew along the path, all of it familiar to me by now. Up ahead was a brook, something perfect to confuse their noses. I tossed my shoes on the ground and splashed into it, the water only coming up to my ankles. Though I had to be a bit more careful over the slick stones at the bottom, they didn't slow me down that much.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a flash of white-grey fur. My heart leapt and I snuck out of the water a few hundred feet downstream. They would know where I was taking them, but my pack would have the good grace to pretend they didn't.

  Far out in the trees stood a cliffside with a stone overhang. It had a cavern underneath it that absorbed sound incredibly well; something we'd discovered on our last anniversary. Halfway there, I climbed a tree and relished in the bark biting into my legs and hands; a hint of pain to tease me, just enough to whet my appetite for the wolves finding me.

  Careful as I could be, I scooted across a branch and pulled myself up to another. Twice more I did the same thing, coming back to the ground quite a way from the tree I'd first climbed. That might spice it up for them, confuse them a little. If my alphas were frustrated when they found me, it was even better.

  The cliffside was still another few minutes away when a set of jaws wrapped around my calf and pulled me to the ground. Well-practiced, I took the fall on my hip and laughed as I turned around to see Xavion growling at me, careful not to hurt my tender human skin.

  "Oh, no. A big mean wolf," I crooned, reaching my hands out for him. "And me, just an innocent little human. Whatever shall I do?"

  His lip wrinkled in a laugh, though I supposed it would look as if he were snarling to most. I knew my mate, knew what he meant by gestures that would frighten others. He prowled toward me and put his head in my hands, tongue falling from his mouth in a heavy pant. I'd run them harder than I'd thought. The leaves were changing colors, a far cry from the frost this time last year, but it was still warmer out than wolves preferred.

  I ran my hands through that thick pelt as he heaved his bulk upon my lap, throwing his upper body into my chest to knock me back to the ground. I took it with good grace and smiled. "I'm not going anywhere, Xav. I promise."

  Xav gave a grunt as the scamper-scratch of paws came from the woods. Without either of my other mates yet in view, I lowered my head and kissed the top of his snout. In turn, he lifted his snout and washed the underside of my chin and along my neck, slowly working his way down until he began to flea my breasts through my shirt, tail thumping the ground.

  It didn't matter to me if they were human-formed or wolf-formed, they were the same person inside. I shivered and smoothed his ears back as he continued lower, finally shoving under my shirt to explore further.

  Leo jogged up and raised his brows, both of them nearly disappearing into his thick hair. "Is there room for one more? Or is this a private event?"

  Xavion looked back at him, flopped his tail twice, then nestled his way back until my top; clearly trying to dislodge it. I slid out of it without a complaint but snorted as he snapped through the front clasp of my bra.

  "That thing was expensive," I told him, mock chiding.

  Gabe chuckled as he followed Leo in. "It's not like we can't replace it."

  "Oh? What if I said that was a dealbreaker?" I asked, looking between the three of them. "What if I said that because you tore up my things, I'm not interested anymore?"

  He sank down beside us and ran his fingertips over one nipple, tremors whipped through me immediately. "Then I'd say you were lying. And that? That makes you a bad girl. What do we do with bad girls, Leo?"

  "Bad girls get spanked," Leo grinned, looming over me. "Are you a bad girl, love?"

  "The worst," I whispered, trying to keep myself from biting my lower lip. It was a terrible habit I'd gotten after watching a bunch of romance movies during my pregnancy and, while the guys loved it, I thought it looked silly.

  Leo flapped his hand at my other alphas, shooing them away. The moment he did, I scampered up and darted back into the forest at full speed. Though I was perfectly aware that I was no match for the speed of my mates, it was one last little frolic before I was captured, knotted, bitten, and scratched.

  And I loved trying to make those moments last as long as they could. The more I teased the boys, the stronger their instincts would be. Chasing an omega through the woods usually had them hard before they caught me, and that made it all the sweeter. My men were powerful in the human world, but for me? Putty in my hands.

  This time, it was Leo who scooped me up from behind. He twirled me around, hands tight on my ass, and Gabe tackled both of us to the ground, half human, half wolf. We laughed as Xav joined us, slowly shifting back to his human body. It was his lips that caught mine up, his fading claws that shoved their way into the brim of my jeans. Gabe slid beneath him to worship me, kisses creeping down my shoulder and along my chest, then down my side.

  I threw my arms around Xav's neck, one leg curling around his hip just to make it harder for him to get my pants off. He growled at me, pulled his head back and gave me such a look. I beamed at him, hardly able to help myself.

  "Here we are, doing nice things for you," he gritted. "And you run off, teasing, tempting, you're not a wolf. You're a sprite."

  "What an insult," I joked.

  Xav flashed me a smile. "What have we told you about these cheap old jeans?"

  "That they're harder to rip off of me," I said, shivering as one of his long, thick fingers ran over my slit.

  When you have alphas like mine, you realize there's no reason in wearing underwear. It just gets ripped off and thrown somewhere inconvenient or accidentally embarrassing. Like the time we hadn't noticed the pair of bright pink panties on the living room mantle until we'd had company over. They hadn't noticed, but still; business deals were too important to worry about panties appearing in inopportune places.

  Frustrated, Gabe nudged Xav out of the way and the blue jeans ripped at the stitches, cool air brushing across my sex and making me pull my knees together. Three strong, brilliant, wonderfully loving alphas loomed over me and I just had no way to run away from them.

  Not that I wanted to.

  I pulled myself up, then dragged Xav down atop me. We kissed again, lips locking as I reached for his groin. There, mere inches above me, was what I wanted. I ran my fingertips across his head and got a hard twitch for my trouble. I meant to guide him into me, but my men had other plans. Xav pulled away from the kiss and spun me onto my belly. His arms hooked around my waist, pulled me to my knees, and the wolf i
nside of me gasped to life.

  This was what mating was supposed to be, what it meant to be an omega in heat. And though I wasn't at the moment, the wolf was pretty sure that I might be anyhow. I arched my back, spread my legs, and moaned as Xav sank deep into my hot wetness, fitting like he'd been made for it.

  Two thrusts later and I knew none of us would last long. The bulbous knot at the bottom of my alpha's cock was already swollen, aching to lock into me. I ground back against him, slick and begging to be tied to Xav, even as I pulled Leo close and took him into my mouth, then swallowed him the rest of the way down.

  Gabe hung off to the side, his eyes narrowed. I beckoned him forward but he snorted. Instead, he grabbed Leo's face and brought it to his, then kissed him full on the lips. I blinked, having not really thought that one through, and realized I liked it. Oh, I liked that a lot. I'd known that the boys sometimes had a rut between each other when I was on a business trip just to blow off steam, but I hadn't ever gotten the chance to see it up close and personal.

  Leo wrapped his fist around Gabe's hardness and stroked him with slow, smooth movements as Xav tightened his grip on me. I let him do the work, his motion driving my head back and forth along Leo as I shuddered. My toes curled, leaflitter collecting between them, and I knew the bite was coming. All omegas are marked by their alphas, but having the bite happen again? It was like an instant zap to my clit, something that set me off every time.

  Teeth snapped down on the nape of my neck and I had to pull away from Leo to howl, fighting off the transformation as Xav knotted me, locking us together. I was completely unabashed, crying his name out as he jerked against me what little he could. A knot only left so much room for an alpha to move, after all. The best thing about my alphas was that they always made sure I came first.

  A warm burst of wonder splattered across my tight, tender insides and I trembled beneath him, pulling Leo back between my lips so I could quiet down. I swirled my tongue around his head and twisted it down his length as Xav filled me so full a trickle of wetness escaped from between us and ran down my inner thigh. I ground my ass back against him, doing my best to fully milk him out.

  And that's when my phone rang.

  We froze in that position, Xav staring down at my abandoned jeans with hatred in his heart. I popped my mouth from Leo and cleared my throat, grabbing the phone and answering it. "Sadie Fontaine speaking."

  "Miz Fontaine, I'm real sorry to bug you. This is Paulette at the High Branch sanctuary?"

  One of ours, a newly founded one specifically for small breed dogs and cats. "Yes ma'am, I'm listening."

  "I'm afraid there's a dragon lurking around the skies overhead. What's the policy on that?"

  Xav drove into me again. I patted his thigh as my mind raced. It couldn't be Eskal. And there was only one thing to tell them to do. "Keep everyone calm. I'll be there in a couple of hours with a team. We'll see what we can do."

  The phone went dead on the other end and I sighed, flopping into the dirt. Xav patted my ass. "Always work with you. You know what you could've said?"

  "What?" I frowned, looking back at him.

  He grinned at me like a hyena. "That you were all tied up."

  I kicked him gently. He laughed.

  Chapter Six

  Leo

  We went back to the house once Xav and Sadie popped apart, walking our woods as naked as we wanted to be. What was anyone going to do if they saw us? We were allowed to be naked on our own property, damn it.

  Her phone rang again as we reached the steps. She sighed, pushed open the door, and stepped in. "Sadie Fontaine speaking."

  She was silent except for the occasional mmhm. I watched her, eyes tracing every curve on her and dreaming of what I'd do to her when she got home that night. Gabe and I had finished each other off, Sadie watching curiously and occasionally goading us on. It was a discovery, sure, and one that needed more investigating once life stopped happening to us.

  I headed upstairs, making it all the way to the second set, before Sadie sighed. "Leo? Do you have a minute?"

  And then I turned around and headed right back to my mate, head cocking to the side. She rubbed her nose with the palm of her hand about as hard as she could.

  "What's up?" I asked, sitting down next to her on the couch.

  She gave me a miserable look. "I hate to ask, because I feel like I'm ruining our day together, but I'm stuck running off anyhow. That was Doctor Sonnet with the museum. They're requesting someone come down there right this second. They don't know you as well as they do Gabe and they may be on better behavior if it's someone that they aren't familiar with. I hope. Could you...?"

  "Anything for you," I told her. She tucked herself against my chest and I nestled into her, holding her for that brief moment that we had.

  The damn museum was a problem. I wanted to end it, simply evict them all and be done with it. Who really cared if there was some special imprint of a long-dead animal or plant on the property? It was probably something the dragons had buried years ago, anyhow. I didn't seem much value in any of it, even if they did.

  In the end, I had to leave my mate alone to go cope with the dragon thing at one of the nearby pet sanctuaries instead of slamming in there, punching the dragon in its face, and strutting out a hero.

  And you have no idea how much that rankled me.

  We were going to need to invest in a helicopter if we kept getting stuck doing trips like this. I drove down to the new factory land, glared at the person checking everyone in, and walked directly into the office without a bit of clearance. Were they really going to try to keep me off my own property?

  Quick tip. If you're doing something that you shouldn't be or you're in a place where you shouldn't have access to? Look like you belong there. No one will stop you if you fit. You get caught only when you look guilty about whatever it is that you're doing. This goes triple for breaking into a building or sneaking something out in your pockets. I don't encourage any of that, but She knew I had plenty of experience in the past.

  But that's a story for another day.

  Doctor Pender sat at the desk; her hands wrapped around a rolling suitcase. She wasn't dressed to work outside, as she had been the countless times I'd seen Nicole before. I sat down beside her and looked her over. A bruise paling around one eye, a busted lip, and broken fingernails on her hands. Someone had been in a fight.

  "You look like shit," I told her, cheerful as I ever was.

  Her glare was enough to kill at this distance. I sat back and lifted a hand to ward it off, but she looked away from me. "That's what two weeks in jail will do to anyone. It took my uncle this long to come up with the money. I'm going home and whatever the fuck happened here can stay here. Dragons. Do you believe this shit?"

  "Crazier shit than that's happened in the past," I told her. "We can't know everything that's out there. Too much land, too little human courage to go explore it, and too many predators good at eating us."

  The glare vanished, replaced by terror. She stared over at me. "You're one of them, too. Aren't you? You're some weirdo dragon. Where did your pals take Olivia? What did they do with her?"

  She started to get up and I leaned back, cocking my head at her. She balled up her fists, tears appearing in her eyes. I hadn't been aware that those two had been so close, but I supposed it made some small amount of sense. People who ran around together in traveling bands like this tended to form relationships, romantic and non. Though from the tears, I wondered if some of it hadn't been a little romantic; even if it maybe wasn't out in the open.

  "I don't know anything about dragons or anything else. But I'm happy to sue you off the face of the earth if you come at me or try to get aggressive. You're dealing with a billionaire, sweetie. Check yourself."

  The realization sunk in pretty fast. I wasn't very fond of pulling rank on people like that, but sometimes it was for the best. She sat back down and clutched her suitcase again. "It just can't be real. None of it can be. There were d
ragons in the skies and now my only real friend just got disappeared by them. They probably ate her."

  "They didn't eat her," I said, rolling my eyes. "Dragons don't eat people."

  "You do know something about them."

  "I know more than something," I sighed. "But we're really not supposed to talk about it, okay? So as far as you know, I don't know anything about dragons or anything else out there."

  Her eyes shone as she sniffled. "But you think she's okay?"

  "I'm sure she's just fine. She's somewhere we can't get to her or her idiot dragon friends. That's why you're seeing more of those dragon reports on television. They're trying to find the dragons she's with."

  Tears came swift and steady. I blinked. The fuck? "Then she's going to get eaten by those dragons when they find the ones she ran off with. Oh, no! No, no, no," Nicole gasped, hugging her suitcase tighter. "I've got to find her. I've got to help her."