by Anya Nowlan
When Cooper spilled his load in her and pulled out, Claire’s spasms subsiding along with him, she felt so worn she doubted she could ever walk again. Her body felt completely limp and exhausted as Argo gently peeled her off the couch and into his arms. She whimpered into his shoulder, her chest rising and falling heavily, as he carried her to his bedroom with Cooper in tow. She was placed down on the soft, silk sheets and Argo and Cooper got into the bed on either side of her. She was spooned between the two most gorgeous men she’d ever met and neither one of them seemed to be getting quite enough of her.
“I think this must be what heaven feels like,” she purred softly, her forehead resting against Cooper’s and Argo’s lips kissing a trail up her neck.
Both of the men chuckled and Claire could feel sleep claiming her.
But she should have known that things couldn’t be that easy. When something was too perfect to be true, she could bet that there was someone on the way to come and mess it up.
CHAPTER NINE
Cooper
It was pitch black outside when Cooper’s eyes shot open, the golden gleam of the wolf within him flashing through his gaze. Instinctively, he growled, a deep sound that traveled through his body and emerged on his lips. Next to him, he felt Claire stir and toss a little and he quieted the foreboding sound within him to keep from waking her.
His eyes got used to the darkness and he glanced down at Claire, sleeping soundly with her hands fisted in the sheets. She looked so angelic, so peaceful and pure that for the tiniest second, Cooper forgot about the danger he felt lurking somewhere close. His eyes narrowed as he caught sight of the bed to the right of Claire, distinctly lacking the sleeping body of his other mate.
The fuck is he up to now, Cooper thought to himself, slowly inching out of the bed so as not to wake up Claire.
He pulled on a pair of cotton sweatpants and closed the door behind him, letting out a breath as he heard it snap shut. The house was quiet and not a single light was on. Sensing that something was off, Cooper snuck through the house, quiet as a shadow.
He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to find. Argo asleep on the couch after watching football highlights for too long? That he’d left the room for a glass of water and Cooper had gotten spooked over nothing?
Both the living room and the kitchen were empty and Cooper’s usually smirking face was contorted with a scowl. He, Argo, and Claire had been enjoying their time together for a few days now. It was almost a week since Claire had arrived in Idaho and as far as Cooper was concerned, there was no way she could ever leave again. Their time was filled with good food, even better conversation, and absolutely fantastic sex. It quickly turned out that Argo’s trepidation that she might feel uncomfortable with the kind of affection Cooper and Argo shared was completely unfounded. If anything, it made her hotter and hungrier for them both.
All the stories that Cooper had heard from his parents and his older pack mates about how an Alpha triad worked had come true. He truly felt like Claire was the missing puzzle piece, the one thing that he and Argo had been missing to tie them together as an unbreakable whole. She fit in with them so easily that Cooper had to wonder how he’d existed, let alone lived, without Claire by his side and Argo’s.
And while he knew as much to be true for Argo, he could see a change in his mate as well. Argo seemed to stand taller and prouder now. Like the strength he was always meant to have was flooding back into him, filling him and making him better, faster, more cunning. It was a transformation that was both subtle and screamingly obvious to Cooper, who knew Argo better than anyone else.
With that came an ounce of trouble in their paradise. Cooper had seen it in Argo’s eyes. The time was drawing near when Argo would go out and see about staking his claim on what had once belonged to him. Cooper had caught him staring wistfully out of the window several times, or his train of thought unraveling as he caught sight of the mountain peak in the distance that marked the beginning of Longbrook lands. But while having Claire filled Argo with confidence that what he was doing was the right thing, it also doused Cooper in worry. Now, he and Argo had more to lose than ever before.
A lump formed in his throat as he saw something pass behind the closed glass door leading out onto the porch. He crept up to it and stared outside, seeing nothing but the full moon casting its eerie light on the yard. For a while, he stood there, watching, waiting. A thousand thoughts pounded through his head, the most prevalent of which being: Where the hell is Argo?
Cooper unlocked the door and padded out onto the porch. The cool night air made the hairs on his body stand up and something struck him as off again, his wolf growling and thrashing within him. He wanted nothing more than to shift and go patrol the surroundings of his home and find what was causing his wolf to react so violently, but he couldn’t leave Claire alone.
Cooper’s hands balled into fists as something at the corner of his eye made him whip around to face it. From the shadows of the surrounding forest, a lean, menacing body of a wolf emerged. He was younger than Cooper and it only took one glance to realize who it was. The family resemblance was uncanny. Though Argo was bigger and his mane was thicker and prouder, they shared the wide white markings that ran like a triangle around their cheeks and forehead.
“Achilles,” Cooper growled, eyeing the approaching wolf.
When he came closer, Cooper could see that he was missing a big chunk of his left ear. Cooper knew the story as Argo had told it to him, but he hadn’t imagined that Argo had actually done that much damage. From the look of things, Argo was more than willing to go the distance in the name of his pack.
Cooper was ready to shift, his shoulders tight with tension. Just as he was about to let the wolf overcome him, Achilles stopped. The shift took the smaller wolf and when he stood up as a man, wearing a malicious grin that looked nothing like Argo’s, Cooper relaxed a little. No point in letting madness win over his cool composure. In the light of the moon, Cooper could see that Achilles had similar blue eyes to Argo’s, but they were paler and held so much hate in them that the color seemed to dilute.
“So, you must be my brother’s bitch,” Achilles spat, placing one foot on the first step of the porch stairs.
“Careful, boy. I have no beef with you, but I am not above kicking some ragged wolf ass if I have to,” Cooper growled, forcefully relaxing his fists.
Achilles chuckled at that, shrugging his thin shoulders. He looked wiry, like he’d spent far too much time in his wolf form. Some shifters got like that, letting their animal control over their human side and losing much of their humanity in the process. They thought it made them stronger, to cleanse themselves of the human side, but it actually just made them weaker. One couldn’t rule both worlds without understanding one of them, and a predator without a brain was just a set of dumb teeth.
“What do you want, Achilles?”
“I want you,” Achilles said, pointing a bony finger at him, “To put a muzzle on your mutt before something happens that we both regret.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cooper shot back, crossing his arms over his chest.
It was a lie. Of course he knew what Achilles was getting at. It didn’t take much to realize where Argo was. By Achilles’s reaction, it was obvious that this wasn’t the first night that Argo had snuck out of bed and gone into the forest to check up on the Longbrooks. The only surprise was that it shook Achilles enough to come to the house and talk to Cooper. It reeked of desperation and a desperate enemy was one that couldn’t be reasoned with.
“Don’t front, man. I know you know. Argo’s here to take the pack back. My pack. The one he left. The one that Adriana left. The one that fucking Adam left. I am the only one, the only one who has been keeping things in line. The only one who has made things happen. None of you fuckers. And I swear, I won’t let Argo get away with it without a fight. I am not opposed to ripping out a few throats and you and I both know whose will be first.”
A demented g
rin crossed over Achilles’s lips, making him look more like a jackal than a human. Cooper’s stomach twisted and lurched as Achilles obviously threatened Claire. Every fiber in him was screaming at him to lunge at Achilles, to break his neck and beat his face until it was just a bloody pulp. Another flash of motion caught Cooper’s eye and that was when it all dawned on him.
Achilles wasn’t here to warn him, to convince Cooper to reason with Argo through whatever means possible. He was here to make an example out of Cooper. The moment he would jump onto Achilles, Cooper was sure they’d be surrounded by loyal wolves from the pack, ready and more than willing to rip him to shreds. Achilles wanted to take Argo’s power through whatever means necessary and Cooper knew as much as Achilles did that he and Claire were the source of that power.
“I’m not going to fight you, boy. Not unless you make me. I am on Argo’s side and if this was your plan, to come at me in the dark, and not even fight me like a man but have your cronies by your side… well, I don’t think you’re worth my fucking time. I’ll see you, pup, but not on your terms. On my terms. On Argo’s terms. We’ll take that pack from you all right, and it’ll be the best thing that has ever happened to them.”
Cooper raised his voice for the last few sentences, saying them so loudly that he was sure that whoever was waiting in the bushes would hear and take notice. He wasn’t afraid of Achilles, but he wasn’t about to get himself killed like a dumbass. Cooper figured Achilles was banking on him attacking the scrawny wolf in a fit of rage and then they’d have a tidy excuse to kill him and then Claire. Perhaps some of his lieutenants were apprehensive of just exacting vengeance when there was nothing to drive it. Perhaps Achilles’s hold on the pack wasn’t as strong as he thought it was. Whatever it was, Cooper didn’t want to play right into his paws.
It seemed that his guess was spot-on. This time, Cooper heard distinct rustling in the underbrush to his left and both he and Achilles glanced that way. A menacing growl parted from Achilles’ lips and his eyes flashed gold. But even the wolf in his eyes looked diluted and strained, like something had been gnawing at him from the inside and the shell was worn so thin that you could almost see through it.
“I’ll be nice this time, mutt. I’ll let you have your little fun with my traitorous brother and your little Georgia peach. But I will be back and if I see Argo on my lands again, even just once, I won’t promise that you’ll have your bae back in one piece, you hear? Have a nice evening.”
Achilles gave Cooper a mocking bow and stepped back from the porch. He shifted quickly and easily, much faster than Cooper could do it, and sped into the night in the direction where Cooper had heard the faint noises. The smell of wolves was thick in the air.
Cooper pulsed with rage. It pumped through his veins thicker and faster than adrenaline ever had. He hated the fact that Achilles knew so much about Claire already. He shouldn’t have been surprised. Shifter Grove was a small place, and Cooper had taken her to the store once or twice and all three of them had had dinner a few times at the Sunrise Diner as well. People talked and meant nothing bad by it. It was all fun and games until someone bad caught wind of it.
He was in the middle of trying to get his breathing under control and to relax his body before going back in the house when soft footsteps caught his attention. It was Argo, walking across the mowed lawn toward the porch. He had a kind of animal grace about him that Cooper had never seen so strong. Being in Idaho, near his roots, with Claire and Cooper with him was making him into a beast to take seriously. He wasn’t just the man Cooper loved anymore, but he was becoming a true Alpha.
The swagger was unreal, but Cooper knew there was plenty to back it up with.
“Achilles was just here,” Cooper said, forcing the angry tremor out of his voice.
“I heard the whole thing,” Argo said calmly, taking two steps at a time.
He came to a stop in front of Cooper, and Cooper didn’t know whether he wanted to punch him or kiss him.
“This is becoming real,” Cooper warned.
“I know,” Argo agreed, inclining his head a bit. “Question is, are you ready for it?”
“I think the real question is, why haven’t you two talked to me yet?”
Cooper spun around and stared at the door. Claire was standing with her hands on her hips, glaring daggers at both him and Argo. She was wrapped in a cottony robe that hugged her curves softly and with fury blazing in her eyes, she looked like a treat for a weary soul. Cooper had to stop himself from licking his lips.
If a woman looked as sexy as Claire did to him when she was angry then Cooper knew he and Argo had found a keeper.
“I’m listening.”
CHAPTER TEN
Claire
She muzzled her objections as Argo urged both Cooper and her to get inside. Claire took a seat on the couch, right where Argo and Cooper had fucked her for the first time a few days ago, and Cooper sunk down right next to her. He put a hand on her thigh like he usually did and Claire didn’t bat his hand away, though she felt peeved and confused and her irritation was currently directed at both of the men in her life.
She’d watched the exchange between Cooper and the guy named Achilles from behind the curtains. Something woke her up and when she came out of the bedroom looking for Argo and Cooper, she’d found Cooper standing on the porch, glaring at something or someone. Before she could open the door, another man had appeared and she’d thought it best to keep out of things.
That still meant she’d heard the whole thing, though. Her confused mind was feeding her all sorts of possibilities and options, but she knew it was best to get the information straight from the two guilty-looking wolves in front of her.
For the briefest moment, a little voice in her head said that it was good she wasn’t yet tied to them for life. Shady men would always be shady, right?
That’s not what Argo and Cooper are like! I hope…
“All you, Argo,” Cooper said, leaning back.
Their partnership was clear-cut. They formed a unit together, but Argo was clearly the Alpha between the two of them and in the relationship. Claire was sure Cooper would make a fine leader on his own, but in the Alpha pair, Argo had the lead.
“What do you want to know?” Argo asked, those cool blue eyes of his looking even more intense than they usually were.
“Whatever it is that you haven’t told me yet,” Claire said, speaking honestly.
Argo made a bit of a face. He’d flicked the switch on the lights in the living room, but Claire almost wished he hadn’t. The light made every emotion that crossed his face all the more obvious and intense, and she could see the way he was struggling with what and how to tell her. She had no doubt he’d tell her the truth, but seeing him in pain was making her react a lot more fervently than she’d expected.
“You know my brother died,” he started, and Claire nodded. “Well, I don’t think you know how he died. My sister, Adriana, was dating a werebear from a rival clan. One night, we tricked him into taking us, or specifically Adriana and me—while Adam followed—into their camp. I knocked him out and we broke into the home of the clan’s Alpha, Ryder. It was supposed to be our big break. We were going to kill him and drive the bears from the lands and take over. We were kids back then, but we were strong and there were three of us. We knew the dangers but Adam wanted to do it, wanted to prove that we were stronger than anyone else.”
Argo paced back and forth and Claire watched the way his hands balled into fists and then released over and over again.
“I went along with it. I should have been smarter. We attacked Ryder, but Adriana’s boyfriend charged in at the right time. We got out of there, me and Adriana, but they got Adam. I can’t even blame anyone but myself for it. It was dumb. I was dumb. Far too many people paid the price for the decision Adam and I made. So after Adam died, I left. I went as far as I could. I didn’t think I’d ever come back, but after finding Cooper I thought maybe there was hope. Longbrooks used to be a great pack. M
y parents ran it with an iron paw. But after they passed away and Adam died, many of us scattered. Achilles, my little brother, was left holding onto the frayed edges of the pack, trying to keep it together. I think losing his family really fucked with his brain.”
Argo stopped and turned to look at Claire. Her body tensed under his gaze and a little shudder of violent need traipsed down her spine. Even when he was talking about something so serious, Argo Longbrook was sexy as hell.
“When we decided with Cooper that it was time to find a third and you wrote to us, I knew immediately. I wanted to pretend to myself that I didn’t, but I did. That’s why we came out here so fast. Because I already knew you were the one. Even if you didn’t want to stay with us, if we couldn’t convince you, I knew it was now or never. It was my one chance to put things right, to get my pack back and give them and myself the triad they deserved.”
With a frustrated sigh, Argo came and sat down on the armrest, one hand clutching at his neck.
“So that’s why you were out. You were checking up on them, your pack?” Claire asked, trying to wrap her head around the whole situation.
She knew immediately that he was telling her the truth. The way Cooper kept looking at her, trying to gauge her reaction, told her as much even if Argo’s frustration wasn’t clear enough. They wanted her with him. She was already a part of their own little pack and they needed her as much as she needed them.
“Yes,” Argo said simply.
“And you knew about this?” she asked, turning to Cooper.
“I figured as much when we moved here, but he told me once you arrived. I kept hoping he’d put it out of his head, but I think the closer we have become, the stronger his desire is to unite his extended family together. I know it’s dangerous. We don’t even know if Achilles’s people want the triad anymore, or if Achilles is willing to back down without a fight. But Argo knows I will stay with him. No matter what.”