by Jana Leigh
“Ms. Jewel called to ask where you and Mr. Lex were, sir,” the manager whispered.
Retten never smiled, he just nodded then leaned into the table. “Gentlemen, if you would excuse me for a few minutes. Please order anything you want. My treat. Please don’t wait on me to begin your meal. I will return shortly.” Retten nodded at Lex then both stood and left the dining room.
“Jewel called down looking for us,” Ret said as walked out of the dining room.
Lex frowned and followed quickly as his friend and Alpha went directly to the elevators. When they arrived to her room, it was already filled with men from the department. They were pissed when they walked into the room—she called them last apparently.
“What the fuck is going on?” Ret roared and the men all stopped what they were doing and looked at the two men. Lex crossed his arms and then looked at his men from the department and waited for someone to answer.
“Sir, Detective Campbell called in a break-in to her room. Someone left another baggie,” the technician said and Lex whipped his gaze to his female mate, who was leaning against the wall glaring at them.
“Get what you need,” Lex said and went to Jewel, gripped her by the arm, and said over his shoulder, “Lock the door on the way out.”
“Yes, sir,” the same man said and Ret followed them as his Beta dragged the struggling Jewel behind him until the got to the room they were staying in again.
“Dude, what is your malfunction?” Jewel steamed and pulled her arm out of his grasp.
“Why didn’t you call us?” Lex said darkly.
Jewel laughed and then glared at him again, “Because I am not a weak little girl who needs to have her big strong men come and help her out of a situation.”
“At least you are thinking along the same lines as we are,” Ret said and she shook her head.
“Huh?” she said confused.
“We are your men,” Ret said smugly, then took her hand, and led her to the couch.
Jewel sighed and shook her head. “Guys, I get that you think a mate is supposed to be quiet and nice, doing everything her big bad mates tell her, but that is not me, I am not that girl and if you need a girl like that, then this conversation is over.”
Lex and Ret both growled and her head snapped up. “Dammit, get this straight, we don’t care about how you act, or what you wear, we only care that you are our mate and we need to make sure that you are talking to us, period,” Ret barked and she leaned back and looked at them, shit, they were hot when they were pissed.
“I could smell the same scent, the one that smells like you but not, I don’t know how else to explain it. The scent was faint but there. Ret, did you have your family on the list of people to look at?” Jewel said curiously.
“Why would I, my father is the only family I have and he is out of the country, confirmed by flight and passport records. Retired and living in the Bahamas, other than that, it is me, no cousins, uncles, nothing,” Ret said.
Jewel frowned and then bit her lip as she focused. There was something there on the edge of her memory, something that should fit in here that is not. “Where is your mother?”
“Died in childbirth, my dad was devastated, said she was his true mate. There was some drama, apparently my mom was mated before to another wolf that was not her true mate. When my father and mother met, that was it. But the other guy didn’t like it, was pissed, and kidnapped mom, she gave birth and died before my father could get her back. I asked about the situation many times, but my father won’t talk about it, other than to say that she hated the other man. Said the other guy was deranged and used to beat her,” Ret said. “Everyone in the pack is pretty close-lipped about it, but I have gotten pieces here and there,” said Ret.
“I tried to investigate, but the files were sanitized, they say Ret’s mother died from hemorrhaging due to complications in the pregnancy. Police found her just before she delivered and got her to the hospital to give birth to Ret; she was able to talk to his father briefly before dying. No one knows what was said. Last I looked, the guy, Jeremy Ridel, was killed in an accident,” Lex said.
Ret shrugged, “Why would that have anything to do with this?”
“Why does any psycho do what he does? No one knows until you catch him. And I am gonna catch this son of a bitch” Jewel said fiercely.
Without thinking about it, she reached up and grabbed her men’s nice pretty ties, using them to pull them to her slowly. First she captured Lex’s mouth in a kiss, then released him, and moaned as she kissed Ret. Dammit, if her self-control hadn’t went out the window when they walked into the room all commanding and demanding.
“If you think you can detour us from this conversation you are sadly mistaken,” Ret said smiling at her.
“I’m not ready to be claimed if that’s what you’re asking,” Jewel said, knowing she felt their attraction, and was sick of fighting her wolf to get close to them. Hopefully this will keep them all satisfied until they could talk.
“That’s it?” Lex asked with his eyebrow raised.
“Fair enough,” Ret said and then looked at Lex.
“Game on,” Lex murmured against her throat, their clothes seemed to melt away.
They kissed and tasted each other, getting to know what each other liked for a while before Ret became uncomfortable and with a laugh, he picked her up over his shoulder fireman style and stalked into the bedroom. Jewel laughed when he flipped her over onto the bed and then followed. Lex crawled in after them and soon they were much more comfortable.
The men took over, Lex leaning over, kissing her, and palming her breasts, while Ret moved down kissing her body as he went. They were in control and she knew it. It drove her mad to think she was giving over a bit of control to them.
Ret made a noise of appreciation and began to torment her clit immediately. She growled and raised her hips, urging him on. In response, she swore that his tongue grew, and the thick, wet, flexible flesh pushed deep into her tight pussy, sliding repeatedly over a sensitive spot, causing her to moan loudly. She cried out as she came and clenched around his warm tongue. Her sheath rapidly relaxed and tightened, over and over again. Her hips bucked uncontrollably, and she attempted to pull away from the exquisite torture of his tongue.
Lex held down her now-thrashing arms, preventing her from pulling at Ret’s hair. Oh God, they had to stop, it was too much. Ret growled and held her legs and hips as he eased his tongue out of her channel and took a languorous lick along the seam to her throbbing clit. She would have jerked off the bed if she hadn’t been pinned down.
“That’s my cream, and I want it all,” he groaned as he swiped his tongue over her again and again.
“Stop, stop. Fuck me, please,” her voice took on a desperate, pleading quality.
“Of course,” Ret said, giving her pussy one last kiss, his eyes burning with lust.
They relaxed their hold and flipped her over onto her belly with ease. Ret’s strong arms pulled her hips back and positioned her ass up high at the edge of the bed where he now stood. She couldn’t help but rotate her hips and spread her legs more. His big hands massaged her taut buttocks, squeezing and pushing them apart.
“So fucking sexy,” he murmured, his voice thick with desire.
She felt his cock rubbing up and down her wet slit before he plunged deep into her pussy. As he moved she could hear how wet she was. She looked back over her shoulder to watch them. Silently, Lex passed a bottle of lubricant to Ret who squirted some of the cold gel in the crack of her ass. She felt exposed and vulnerable but knew that she was in capable hands. He carefully stroked a thick finger over her puckered skin a few times before pushing it inside. Ohh, that’s different. They were murmuring, Lex avidly watched his Alpha pump his finger in and out of her tight opening, matching the rhythm of the cock in her channel. She turned her face away, relaxed her shoulders, dropped her head, and enjoyed the sensations.
Ret’s free hand began to stroke her back, and he softly cooed unintelligible words to
her. His finger left her, and his cock slid from her slickness and stroked up to her back entrance. He tapped the head against her tightly closed back door as if knocking to seek permission to enter.
“Are you ready for me, Mate?”
She moaned her assent and arched her back. He slowly pushed his way into her.
“Ohh,” she panted. “Shit.”
It wasn’t exactly painful as he carefully pressed past the tight ring of muscle, but it was intense. It burned a little but in a hot, sexy kinda way, and his cock warmed her inside. Lex moved until he lay under her and smiled, “Ready to be stuffed with our cocks?”
“Shit, yeah, anything, just fuck me, please,” she begged and then waited as Lex slid into her slowly, she felt stretched and full as Ret slowly pumped in small increments deeper into her ass once Lex was fully in her pussy.
She heard Ret’s groan of pleasure and felt him tremble as he came to rest, with his soft balls squashed against her pussy, leaning over her back with his head on her back. He was bottomed out, balls-deep in her, and she loved it. The appeal of anal sex was no longer a mystery. In-fucking-credible.
“Someone move please!” she screamed as she felt herself beginning to tense up.
They began to move, and she continued to scream. Lex kneaded her breast while they kissed; this was raw and uncomplicated sex, just what she needed. This was good, and her mind shut off as the men established a rhythm, they were moving in and out of her in tandem, one pushing, one pulling, and all she did was feel—that is all they allowed her to do.
She was almost vibrating around Lex when she screamed her impending release. She felt her fingernails as they dug into Lex’s chest, shit, she was going to have to apologize.
“Fuck me. This is the best ever,” Ret spoke in a strained voice, as if through gritted teeth.
“Oh, God. Never before like this,” Lex ground out with obvious difficulty.
“Mine.” Lex held her face between his big hands and looked at her as if she was the best gift he’d ever received. Then he lost his expression to raw lust. “Keep looking at me,” he ordered in a steely tone that somehow managed to arouse her farther.
She riveted her gaze to his as he proceeded to fuck her fast and hard, she grinned at him. The room was filled with the sounds of moans, humming, and slapping flesh. The scent of sex was thick in the air. They spiraled in a tornado of passionate pleasure until, as one, they climaxed. Both men grunted and yelled out as they jerked and filled her up. Then collapsed in a pile of boneless limbs on the bed.
“We need to call Benny and Vander,” Jewel said breathlessly. “They will freak if they find out the killer was once again in my room without being told.”
“Let them know you are switching rooms,” Lex growled and handed her the phone.
Chapter Thirteen
“Well look who is up and about already.” Jewel just smiled at Benny. She was not remotely surprised he had found his way into her new room already. Right now, nothing surprised her about this situation.
“I’ve already ordered breakfast for us, but I made some coffee if you want a cup.” Jewel was drinking her usual diet coke, but Benny and Vander liked coffee.
“Yep, I sure do. So what has you so chipper this morning?” Benny asked.
“Nothing, I just got some sleep. I’m hungry and ready to eat, too. The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can move on. I just feel good,” Jewel said and felt her cheeks redden.
Benny narrowed his eyes at Jewel knowing that she was beating around the bush instead of telling him the truth. She was falling for the Alpha and Lex. Last night, although they did not mate, they did get to know each other. After having sex, they talked long into the night before having sex again just before dawn.
“Do you want to talk about it or do you want to just ignore it, because it won’t go away. They are your mates so you need to accept it or reject it,” Benny said and then narrowed his eyes when she smiled.
“Damn, Benny, I don’t want to talk about it now so stop trying to spoil my good mood,” Jewel protested. She didn’t want to share this with anyone yet, she couldn’t, for some reason it didn’t seem right to let anyone know until she talked to her men about what she was thinking. It had never been like that with Josh.
“Okay, whatever you want,” Benny said and dropped the subject, knowing when he pushed too hard with Jewel, she would get her back up.
“What I want is to focus on the case, we have to figure out who he is, and why he is playing games with us,” Jewel said as her partner came in. They all had talked on the phone late last night when she informed them about the new gift the killer left in her room. All of them agreed she needed to change rooms until they figured out how the killer got into her old room. So, she had taken over Lex and Ret’s room while they claimed to have taken hers. However, all they did was leave this morning before anyone woke up. She grinned to herself when she thought about their good-bye, hence, the second shower she took this morning.
Vander groaned when she handed him a cup of coffee and he said, “Thanks, whew, I needed a boost. Long night last night. After you called, I went and walked through the evidence and waited for the reports. The blood on the first necklace matches the blood from the first victim, and the ring matches the second.”
“Fuck, what is the deal with this guy? What are we missing?” Jewel blew out her bangs in frustration.
“We need to get a handle on this, the guy is beginning to escalate, and before the bodies start piling up, and the Captain crawls up our ass, we need to have something to tell him,” Vander said, sat down, and grabbed a plate. “First eat and then we can get busy. The boss says we have been asked to remain here unless another victim is found. The NYC Captain put in a formal request to work together on this.”
Jewel nodded and sipped her soda; she knew Lex talked about it last night, so it didn’t surprise her.
“Why is he so focused on Ret?” Jewel murmured aloud.
“We have cleared almost the whole list,” Benny said, with his mouth twisting humorously. “Even me.”
“Good to know,” Jewel laughed and looked at the older wolf. “Something that keeps bothering me, I keep having this scent, of Ret but not Ret. It has to be someone in his family. He says there is only his father, I don’t know what that would have to do with me, but we need to get a fucking handle on this. Benny, can you look into this, too, make sure Ret’s dad is where he is saying he is. Do it on the down low, too.”
Benny nodded and began to make a list of things he needed to check on. If senior was in the city, they were going to have a huge problem.
“Oh, and Lex called me this morning, too. He wanted to tell us that tonight is the annual police ball and we are invited. He knows, Jewel, that you may not have a dress so Dinky is coming to get you in a couple of hours to go shopping. Benny, you and I can just wear suits and ties.”
“Who said we were going? I don’t remember being asked to go to a ball,” Jewel said. She didn’t like to dress up, it wasn’t her.
Vander looked down knowing that he already said that they would go.
“Dammit, Vander, please tell me you didn’t?” Jewel said with a frown.
Vander smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “Listen, Jewel, this gives us an opportunity to meet more officers, and it’s for a good cause. It supports the sexual assault center for kids. I know how you are about that and how they always need money, so I knew you would want to go to support them.”
“Way to go, guilt boy. Yeah, you know I would do it for the kids. How much are the tickets? And you are going to pay more than the price for charity if I have to wear heels,” she ground out. Jewel knew her men avoided asking her because of what her response would have been, it was one of the things they talked about last night. Ret explained what their positions as the NYC Alphas would entail, she told them she didn’t wear anything she couldn’t hide a gun in or chase a perp down in, so that left out dresses and heels.
“Well, that is the kick
er. Lex said he already purchased our tickets and he would pick us up at seven to leave for the ball. Don’t you just love the free stuff?” Vander laughed and Benny high-fived him. Dipshits, she thought.
“Ummmm, no, if I have to dress up, you are paying, get the wallets out, boys. I think the charity is going to be getting a nice sized donation from Atlanta, don’t you?” Jewel said and watched as the guys grumbled but nodded their heads.
She sat back and laughed as they talked about what they were going to be doing for the day. Jewel and Vander were remaining in the room and working now that her whole murder board had been revealed. Together they were going to start fresh and see if they could find something they missed. Lex was at the department and was checking the video they requested of one of the victims.
Benny was going to do a little snooping at the crime scenes to see how the killer had gained access to the sites so easily. Apparently, Ret’s secretary was MIA and they were looking for her. This bothered Jewel the longer she thought about it, and reminded herself to ask Lex when he called.
Once they were done eating they set to work. Vander and Jewel used the notes they had taken and began to try to piece the new information with the old.
Later that morning, Lex came to the room to inform Jewel and Vander that Missy Weston was at the Coastal and they would be getting the video footage from that night sent to them by UPS. They should receive it tomorrow.
“Maybe there is something, or rather someone, on the tape that can shed some light on these murders.” Lex smiled at Jewel. She felt the heat of his gaze as it roamed over her body and she rolled her eyes. Horny bastard, she thought, and then shook her head and walked to the board. Vander had been talking on the phone but watched the interaction closely, when he caught her gaze he lifted an eyebrow at her. Shit, the jig was gonna be up soon, no one could be in the same room with them and not feel the pending connection.
Dammit, she could feel it running through her veins, pulling her to him. Once they mated, the bond would snap into place, something she kinda looked forward to the more she was with these two sexy men. Who cared if one was a billionaire and the other a captain on the police force? It was becoming clear that they cared for her, something she’d craved for a long time.