by Kym Grosso
“What’s happening, Tris?” Logan asked, wondering if it had worked.
Tristan didn’t want to tell him what was happening, because what he was feeling was inappropriate, to say the least. “She’s falling asleep. Whatever was in those pills seemed to calm her. Let’s get back to the condo. Call Julie. Tell her to meet us up in my condo. She can heal and watch over this woman. Then call Mira and have her meet us at your place.”
Thirty minutes later they pulled up in front of Livingston One. The brand new skyscraper, home to Noir, offices and several luxury condominiums set aside for pack members only, gleamed with reflective black glass. Tristan had already owned the property prior to the fire; call it serendipity, but construction had just finished. With Noir taking the top five floors of the building, Tristan’s penthouse rested safely underneath it, with Logan’s under his.
As the car pulled up to the entrance, Logan handed the keys to the valet. “Hey Ryan, take care of my girl, here.” He patted his car.
“Will do, sir,” Ryan, a young wolf, assured him.
“Tristan’s in the back. Hold it a second while I get Toby,” Logan instructed. He whistled over to Toby, who jogged over, giving him a smile.
Both Toby and Ryan had been adopted into the pack by Tristan after they’d been abandoned as teens. He’d been putting them through college, and both kids worked for him, valeting cars.
“Toby, hold the door for me. Tristan’s in the back with a guest,” Logan said casually, wondering what else he should call her. Guest hardly seemed appropriate, but prisoner didn’t suit the situation either. He shrugged; either way she was going upstairs. They’d have her name soon enough.
“Yes sir,” Toby obediently responded.
Toby opened the car door, and held it wide open, and Logan leaned in to help Tristan. But Tristan held up his hand, gesturing for him to step back. It’s starting already, Logan thought to himself.
“I’ve got her,” Tristan told him as he effortlessly exited the car cradling Kalli against his chest as if he were holding a baby. “Thanks. Hey, how’s school going? Keeping your grades up?” he asked in a parental tone.
“School's going well. My chem class is tough but I’m studying hard,” Toby beamed.
“Good to hear. Just make sure you keep your mind on your grades and keep the distractions to a minimum. I’ve heard you two are turning into quite the ladies’ men,” Tristan teased, looking over at Ryan through the glass, who’d been playing with the radio, but glanced up in time to catch what his Alpha’d been telling Toby. He smiled and gave Tristan a thumbs-up through the glass.
Tristan nodded toward and smiled at him, acknowledging his response.
“Yes sir,” Toby laughed, shutting the car door. He and Ryan had had a great summer, parking cars and meeting the sexy women who frequented the club. They weren’t hurting for dates.
“Ready to go, Alpha?” Logan asked, rescuing Tristan from further conversation. “I’ll run interference.”
Tristan looked down at the tranquil woman who slept in his arms. “Yes, let’s go.”
They took the private elevator up to Tristan’s penthouse, avoiding prying eyes. As the doors opened, Tristan immediately started toward the guest room.
“Did you get ahold of Julie?” he asked Logan, without looking at him.
“Yeah, she’s on her way up. I’ll wait for her here and let her in,” Logan told him, knowing she’d have to be let in. Even though the private elevator opened directly into the foyer, only he and Tristan had the code to take it. All other guests arrived separately.
Julie was a nurse practitioner and all-round pack healer. While wolves healed fairly quickly on their own, given a full shift, it wasn’t always possible to engage in a transformation. Younger wolves didn’t transform until after puberty, and often got into scraps. Julie was also a midwife and attended most, if not all births, depending on what the mother wanted. She practiced both traditional and alternative medicine, catering to supernaturals. On occasion, she’d treat a witch or vampire, if it was a friend, but they generally didn’t need aid.
Tristan nudged the guest room door open with an elbow, careful not to hit Kalli’s head. She’d need to be cleaned up and fed before they settled her under the covers, so he decided to lay her atop of the comforter. Gently placing her down, he slid his hands out from underneath her warm body.
He sat on the edge of the queen-sized bed and sighed, watching her chest rise and fall under Logan’s tux. His wolf had been gnawing at him the entire car ride home; he begged to smell her, nuzzle her, lick her. And shit if Tristan didn’t want the same thing. He couldn’t understand why he was having these feelings toward a mortal woman he’d just met, one who could be involved in the fire. Still, staring down at her sweet face, he wanted to touch her.
Julie and Logan watched as the Alpha ran his fingers through the woman’s hair. Shit, here we go, Logan thought. He coughed, drawing Tristan out of his trance.
“Hi, Alpha. Sorry to interrupt,” Julie apologized. She walked over and looked at the girl in his bed, shaking her head. “Now, I know you missed me, big guy, but there are easier ways to get me in your bedroom.” She winked at him, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.
“Ah, Jules, thanks for coming,” Tristan greeted her, reaching over to squeeze her arm, welcoming her to his home. “This, here, is a very important person of interest.” He looked down at Kalli, and continued. “She’s been roughed up and fed on by vampires. But I need her well enough to question. You should know that we think she’s sick.”
“Did she tell you that? What happened?”
“No, but during the car ride, she started freaking out, screaming for her pills. We managed to get them out of her car and gave her one. Alexandra claimed there was a strange taste to her blood. I don’t know.”
“So she’s been with Alexandra? How long?” Julie asked in a professional manner, yet she was well aware that the girl had probably been tortured by the bloodsucker.
“Yeah. About two days.”
“Can I see the pills you gave her?”
Tristan reached into his inside jacket pocket, pulled out the small bottle and dropped it into her hand. “Here, this is it. Logan grabbed her purse. I’ll see if he found anything else.”
Julie pushed down and screwed open the safety cap, and shook a few tablets into her hand. “Hmmm. Bottle’s not marked and neither are these pills. Could be some kind of generic.”
“Not sure, but she seemed damn anxious to take one. Almost like she was having some kind of a panic attack. As soon as she took it, she calmed right down. She’s been sleeping for a good thirty minutes now. But I really need to talk to her.”
“Okay, well why don’t you go take a break and I’ll get her cleaned up. Try to feed her something. Here, let me get my bag,” She walked back into the hallway, where she’d left her medical kit. Picking it up, she caught Logan’s eyes. She smiled and mouthed: “It will be all right.” She could tell he was worried about Tristan.
“Okay you two, leave me be. I’ve got some work to do,” she ordered.
Tristan stood, rubbing his hand over his face. Before he walked away, he turned again to Julie. “One more thing. She might be a runner. I’m going to have Simeon stand guard at the elevators. Unless she can sprout wings and fly out from forty stories, she won’t get far. But we don’t know if she’s dangerous, so be cautious, okay. Text me when you think she’s ready to talk. I’m gonna go downstairs for a while to Logan’s.”
“No problem. Will do, Alpha.” Julie knew Simeon wouldn’t let the girl out of the condo. He was one of the strongest wolves she knew. If anything happened, she’d call on him right away.
“Thanks.”
“Thanks, Jules,” Logan added.
Clapping a hand on Tristan’s shoulder, he walked down the hallway toward the elevators, relieved to get away from the girl for a while. Logan sensed Tristan’s frustration about not getting immediate answers, but even more overwhelming was his Alpha’s attr
action to a stranger they’d just met. Unable to stop fate, he’d be damned if he didn’t fight tooth and nail to protect Tristan from being hurt. Despite his visions, he still wasn’t sure whether her nature was good or bad. Regardless, he was certain that the woman they’d just saved was about to rock Tristan’s world.
Chapter Four
Tristan fell back onto the soft leather sofa and sighed. “Well, that was fucking fun.”
“Yeah, I hear ya. I was two seconds away from staking that vamp bitch tonight. Seriously Tristan, I don’t have your diplomacy skills,” Logan quipped. He went over to the bar and poured them each a sizable glass of whiskey.
“I know. If she didn’t keep the vampires in this city on such a tight leash, she’d be dead. And I’d be the first one lined up to kill her,” he declared flatly. And after tonight he meant it. How did someone torture a human like that and feel nothing? He just could not relate. It was as if the vamp was completely devoid of compassion. The only feelings she had were about her own needs.
“Not only is she narcissistic, she’s a true sadist. Not that I haven’t seen it before with other vamps, but damn, she’s nasty.” Logan fell alongside his friend, shaking his head and handing Tristan a tumbler.
Tristan took a large draw of the amber liquid, savoring the flavor as it danced over his tongue. “Thanks, brother. I swear I feel like I’m ready to punch something. I need to shift. Run. Something. I love the city, but it would be nice to just go wolf right now.”
“I hear ya.” Logan needed to run too, blow off steam.
“Have you got the purse?” Tristan asked. He needed to know more about the mysterious woman lying upstairs in his bed.
“Yeah, it’s over by the door. Not much in it. Standard girl stuff. There was identification. Name’s Kalli Williams. Twenty-nine years old. City address. Nothing really out of the ordinary for a human.”
“Any more strange pills?”
“Nope, nothin’. Listen, I know you’re frustrated, but the girl will wake up soon and we’ll get answers.” Logan wasn’t really sure that what he was saying was true, but he was always the optimist.
“Will we? I gotta tell ya that I’m not convinced that girl laying upstairs in my bed has anything to do with the fire. What do we really know? She’s guilty of taking a freakin’ snake? And while I’d like to know where the hell she took Eve, not even the vamps saw anyone go into Eden. I’m telling you, Logan, something else is about to happen. I know you saw it in your vision, but I can feel it and it’s not good. The meeting with Jax can’t come soon enough. I’ve got to know if he’s in on this.” Tristan raked his fingers through his hair.
“Well, friend, nothin’s happening for at least a couple of hours so we might as well just chill…maybe with Mira,” Logan suggested, slyly raising an eyebrow at Tristan.
A grin broke across Tristan’s face, knowing exactly what Logan was thinking, and it didn’t exactly involve relaxing. But after sporting a hard on for the last half hour in the car, he couldn’t deny that he needed to get laid as much as Logan did.
Soft knocking at the door got their attention. “Come in, Mir,” Logan yelled, unwilling to get up to answer the door.
Mira walked in with a clipboard in her hands, tapping it with a pen. Tristan and Logan watched as she slammed the door and started pacing, immersed in thought.
Without looking up, she began speaking. “Hi guys, just wanted to bring you an update. Talked to Willow, and about fifty percent of the pack will be moved in with her by the end of the weekend. Most of the others are going up to the mountains. You may need to talk to Zed and Nile; both want to stay in the city at their own places. I don’t know what’s up. They told Willow it was work related, but I’d bet you it has to do with a woman. Probably human.” She rolled her eyes and kept talking. “Um, let’s see. What else did I need to tell you? Oh yeah, I ran through the list of all potential clients. Most are screened and clear. I have one or two that still need clearance.”
She stopped in her tracks and looked over to the men, who were staring at her with wide grins on their faces, enjoying an adult beverage. “What? Am I boring you? Or is it that you’ve started without me?” she joked. She’d freed her long blonde hair from the confines of its clip.
“More like stopping,” Logan responded.
“Thanks for the update. I’m glad to see you have it under control,” Tristan replied, complimenting her work. She was nothing if not a type A person who could teach a course on responsibility. Her driven personality was quite congruent with her Alpha status within the pack.
“Want a drink?” Logan asked, toasting his glass up in the air.
“No thanks, I’m good.”
“Yes you are,” Tristan teased. He patted the cushion in between Logan and him. “Come, Mir. Sit with us. Relax a bit. It’s been a long night.”
Mira took off her suit jacket and kicked off her pumps. Obediently, she listened, and squeezed herself between the two strong men.
“Now, you don’t think you’re going to get away with sitting like that, do you? Come here.” Tristan set his glass down on the coffee table, and then reached to swing her around so that the back of her head rested in his lap. Logan pulled her legs up onto him and began to rub her.
“I love it when you don’t wear stockings,” Logan remarked.
Tristan smoothed her hair out of her face and rubbed her head with one of his hands, resting the other below her breasts.
“Oh my God, okay, I think I died and went to heaven. What did I do to deserve this?” Mira moaned.
Tristan wanted release and Mira could give it to him. His wolf had been clawing at him; there was something about that human woman upstairs. Rarely did Tristan feel confused about his emotions. One of the benefits of being Alpha was the serenity of knowing what to do in almost every situation. He was a born leader: decisive, authoritative. Having the ability to quickly assess the state of affairs and determine the correct course of action, he didn’t vacillate. He and his wolf were always in sync.
Yet ever since he’d taken Kalli into his arms, his wolf wanted what he shouldn’t have. Not that Tristan’s cock disagreed, but his head told him otherwise. You couldn’t trust a woman based on looks alone. He didn’t even know her. Perhaps Sydney marrying had affected him more than he thought. Or maybe it was that he simply hadn’t had a break since the battle he’d helped Kade fight. He’d been dealing with Jax Chandler’s relentless pursuit of his sister. Then the fire and club rebuild.
As he stroked Mira’s hair, he reasoned that sometimes things just didn’t make sense. What he did have was a red-blooded female in his arms, and his beta, both of whom would ease any tension he’d been feeling over the past month. Instead of worrying about the suspect, he needed to ease his own sexual needs.
“Logan, isn’t Mir looking lovely today?” Tristan massaged her shoulders. She closed her eyes and moaned.
“Yes she is, Tris. You know, it’s been a long time since we played. The three of us…together. I’ve missed this,” Logan said as his fingers glided along the inside of her calves. He watched Mira’s lips fall open as he teased up toward her thigh. Her hips began to wiggle slightly, calling him toward her center.
Tristan looked over to Logan and met his eyes. “I’ve missed it too. Now look at how beautiful she is, Logan. I bet she’s nice and wet for you. Yeah, that’s it,” he encouraged as Logan pushed a hand under her skirt, still only barely touching her thighs. “Mir, tell him what you want.”
“Please, Logan. Touch me,” she whispered, reaching for Tristan’s chest.
Tristan found the side opening to her skirt and unzipped it. Then Logan tugged the skirt off until all that remained were her panties. Tristan began to unbutton each pearl of her blouse. Before long, her breasts were bared save only her bronze-colored silk bra. He rubbed his hands all over her chest and tummy, teasing her without touching her breasts directly.
Mira sucked a breath as the cool air hit her skin. She stared into Tristan’s eyes, intent o
n making love to both of her men.
Logan gradually slid his forefinger into the flimsy material, only enough to tease her.
“Logan. Tristan, please,” she begged.
Tristan’s cock hardened as she pleaded. Burying himself into her sweet heat could take the edge off of his day. God, she was so responsive, even after all these years. No, she wasn’t his mate. But she was loyal, sexy and available. What else did he need? His wolf roared in protest, and Tristan pushed him aside. The rational thing to do would be to make love to this ready and willing woman in his lap. He’d done it many times before, so why was the wolf upset? Ignoring his beast within, he extended a claw, and cut her bra free, exposing her creamy flesh. Her nipples peaked in response and she gasped at the act.
“Touch me,” she demanded.
Tristan, happy to oblige, grazed his fingertips over a nipple.
“More,” she cried.
“Logan, I think our little she-wolf is getting impatient. Shall we help her?”
“Ah yes,” Logan groaned as he slipped his fingers down into her slick folds. “She’s so warm and wet. Aw baby.” He withdrew his hand for a second, only to tear the panties off her body.
She moaned in protest. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you, Mir,” Tristan assured her, cupping her warm breast in his hand. Shit, Logan was turning him on by the way he touched her. Sometimes Tristan wondered if he could ever give up having threesomes with his beta. Sharing sexual experiences with his best friend completed everything he needed. He and Logan never had sex alone with each other nor were they in love, but he loved him and wanted to share everything with him.
Logan circled her nub slowly with his forefinger. She pushed her hips upward seeking more pressure, but he wouldn’t give it to her yet. No, he wanted to draw it out, make the tension and pleasure last.
Mira reached for Tristan’s belt, frantically trying to free him. She desperately wanted him in her mouth, seeking out his steely length through the fabric of his trousers.