Alpha Mate [Alpha Protectors 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Lyzie Carlisle

  “You know,“ she whispered, “the thought of being held and having sex with not just one, but two men, big enough to easily overpower a woman, is honestly mind-boggling to me. I cannot see myself ever being that careless or un-protective of my safety. And even though I can’t imagine myself having sex with two men, I find much to my surprise that what I’ve just witnessed had an effect on me. The mere thought of having sex with a date…has always previously made me feel sick and panicky. But not this time.”

  Jase heard tears in her soft, choked sounding voice. He hadn’t thought this would be emotional for her. He squeezed her waist. He hadn’t meant to upset her.

  “Don’t worry about how your body feels, darlin’,” Cole assured her. “It’s bound to happen.” He kissed Emily on the cheek again. “Want to take a little swim? I’ll race ya.”

  Emily chuckled. “You’re on. But I’m not swimming naked.” She grinned at both of them.

  “Don’t worry,” Jase said. “You’re the boss. We’ll keep our shorts on.” He shucked his boots and started to unfasten his jeans. Emily was faster and beat them both into the water. She’d kept her bra and panties on, but the moon outlined the sweet curves of her body. God almighty. She’d be the death of him yet. He’d been hard every time he thought of her, or spent time in her company. After watching the lovers here tonight, he was ready to explode. He’d best let her get way ahead of him. Maybe halfway across the lake would be safe. Cole didn’t appear to be any better off than he was.

  * * * *

  That night, after they took her to her place, Jase and Cole walked back to their vehicles together.

  “I think we need to call our leader and arrange for a meeting of the protection group to plan how best to keep her safe,” Jase said. “What do you think?”

  “I agree. She doesn’t need anyone giving her a hard time again. She’s had too much in her life already from what she said about her mother being beaten by that excuse of a man she lived with. She needs to know for certain that she’s safe in this town.”

  “We’ll need the entire group involved to make sure she doesn’t have any more scenes like she had with that idiot at the restaurant tonight. We should call Mike right now. Hopefully we can all meet tonight.”

  Chapter Four

  Jase and Cole headed to Mike’s house in Cole’s silver-colored pickup. It was late night and Jase stretched his legs out in Cole’s roomy truck interior.

  They pulled up in the parking area near Mike’s front yard. He’d had Trey and Derek landscape the grounds around his house and spa area. They’d arranged plantings of local flora and trees so that they blended into the surrounding country with red-rock boulders placed here and there. As they walked up the flagstone walkway to the front entrance, the sweet fragrance of the trees and flowering plants wafted to him. He breathed the familiar fragrance deep into his lungs.

  They knocked on the door. “It’s open,” Mike called from inside. “Come on in.”

  Mike’s home, part of the spa, was spacious and fragrant from incense which he burned in native incense burners. He’d had Troy and Doug decorate his home and the spa gradually over several years. Things looked like they belonged exactly where they’d been placed. Mike had collected paintings of Native Americans in various natural settings with their spiritual guides. Some of the art showed a vision the Indian was having. Every kind of shape-shifter in their protector’s group was represented in the dozen or more paintings, which in a few included naked men shifting into forms of wolves, owls, and jaguars. In addition, there were sculptures of men, women, or animals, on tables throughout the house. Jase liked the art and had some in his home.

  In a few rooms of Mike’s place, mostly the bedrooms, there were paintings of men and women, lovers, together in various sexual and loving situations. Some sculptures in the bedrooms were of nudes with black jaguars at their sides. Jase’s favorite sculpture titled “I am a Black Jaguar,” depicted a Shaman standing on the edge of a cliff with a huge jaguar beside him. The sculpture was at least four feet high, and occupied an important place in the den. Overhead lights shone on every piece of art. Mike had shared his home and the spa as well with all the members of their protection group.

  Most of them had homes as lavish as Mike’s and were also decorated with Troy and Doug’s antiques, and landscaped by Trey and Derek who also included interior plants in colorful pots. The pots were copies of ancient pottery made by Native Americans all over the continent.

  All of their homes were furnished lavishly with creature comforts. Those of their group who had businesses in town had also employed their fellow protectors for decorating and landscaping those locations expensively and comfortably.

  Jase and Cole stretched out on the comfy overstuffed chairs that were covered in fabrics soft to the touch. Mike had picked furniture for his home that would hold his big frame with lots of comfort. With his size, sandy-colored hair, and blue eyes, no one would suspect he was a black jaguar shifter.

  At last all the members arrived. The successful young men, most in their middle to late twenties, maybe a couple in their early thirties, like Mike and Luke, had pledged to help and protect those in need and in trouble. When they found someone in trouble, Mike was the one to contact, and he’d call them all together for a meeting on how best they could go about protecting the person who needed help of some kind.

  They all quieted and Mike opened the meeting. Jase and Cole told the guys about Emily, what she’d told them about her abusive childhood, and about the stranger bothering her at the steakhouse. The bully had been to the steakhouse more than once. Each time he’d sat at a table in Emily’s area.

  Mike began the discussion on what they should do. “Obviously we intend for Heat Springs to be, above all else, a safe place to live or a safe getaway for anyone who seeks it. Privacy and a break from public scrutiny are also important. From what we know about Emily, she had a rough childhood because of a bully of a father who beat up her mother to the point that Emily was put in foster homes. Being bullied by a customer doesn’t help her sense of well-being. As usual, we need to all be on the alert for anyone who might cause her discomfort or make her feel uneasy. We don’t want that happening to her.

  “Ben, I know you keep as close a watch as you can on who comes into your steakhouse. But you also have to run your business.” Mike’s gaze traveled over everyone in the room. “We need to all hang out at the steakhouse in the coming days to make sure this bully of a customer doesn’t come back. Jase and Cole, I know you eat there regularly. Troy and Doug, you’re there for lunch. Austin and Rex, I realize your business keeps you from doing that, but be ready for any trouble.” Mike looked at the others seated in the big den. “As often as we’re able, we need to eat lunch and dinner at the steakhouse for a while to keep a protective eye on Emily and the men who sit down in her section.”

  Jase knew it wouldn’t be a monetary hardship for any of them since they were all at least millionaires, and some billionaires, from their successful businesses, like Mike and himself and their brothers, and Chuck Nunez and Renato Cordova with their successful auto dealership. Time could be a problem for some of them, but he knew most of them would make allowances for Emily since she needed closer protection now from that bully in case he came back.

  Jase caught his brother Drake’s attention. He nodded to let Jase know he and his business partner Chase Granger would take time from their billion dollar private investigation business to keep an eye on Emily. Cole’s brothers would all help out, including Shane Adams who was a close friend of Ben Jones.

  “I think that about sums it up,” Mike said. “Use your own discretion in shifting if any possible situation warrants. Jase, Trey, Cole, and Derek, would you stay a while longer?”

  “Sure,” Cole answered.

  Jase nodded in agreement, as did Trey and Derek.

  The meeting closed, the rest of them headed home or back to whatever they’d been involved in when the meeting was called.

  Mike mo
ved to his well-stocked bar. “Can I get you a drink?”

  Cole shook his head. “I’m driving.”

  “Nothing for me,” Jase replied.

  Trey and Derek declined. Mike took a bottle of beer from the icebox and after removing the lid took a swallow. He looked at each of them. “How involved with your girlfriends are you?”

  Jase had a feeling Mike worried about their safety, both physical and mental, not to mention their souls. The Alpha Protectors had been formed with shifters, descendants of the original alpha guides who lived in ancient times. Their ancestors couldn’t resist playing around a little on earth in those days of the early dwellers of the American continent. As a result, they became shifters when they were caught up by earth’s pleasures. They had retained their original predatory animal shape only when they shifted to it from their human form.

  There always seemed to be hell to pay and in their case, the penalty for their ancestors’ mischievous behavior had been passed from one human generation of shifters to the next. This strong penalty came into effect when each of them met their soul mate. When they fell in love they would never find another soul mate or anyone they would love as much. This one-time love was a forever love. If their mate left them for any reason, they would live without the love of a mate for eternity.

  Jase swallowed as he thought of the enormity of the strong connection he already felt to Emily.

  “God, Mike,” Cole said, obviously recognizing the same threat to their well-being that Jase felt, and Mike worried about. “She’s a lovely, sweet thing. I’ve never known anyone exactly like her before. But I don’t see a problem. I don’t plan to get hurt. I’m not as inexperienced with girlfriends as you seem to think. You know I had a girlfriend in college and I survived our breakup. I’m old enough to know what I’m doing. I’m not some green eighteen year-old.”

  With a serious look on his face Mike listened to Cole. When Cole stopped talking, Mike said, “How will you feel if Emily rejects you for being a shifter?”

  “I guess I’ll deal with that if and when it happens.” Cole sounded irritated. Jase knew Cole, being the youngest, had always felt like he had to prove something to his older brothers. As a result, Cole carried a bit of a chip on his shoulders where his oldest brother’s advice was concerned.

  Mike continued to gaze at Cole. “You need to find out now before it’s too late.”

  “I know Emily,” Cole insisted. “I can handle things.”

  “Trey and Derek, how serious is your relationship with Lacy?” Mike asked. “Have you had sex with her yet? What about you guys, Cole? Jase?”

  Jase shook his head at the same time as Cole. He noticed that Trey and Derek shook their heads in denial.

  “Good,” Mike said. “Try to refrain from making love to your girlfriends until you know that they want a serious forever relationship with you. Give them a reasonable amount of time to get to know you if you can before you get more serious.”

  They all four nodded in agreement with Mike, although Jase didn’t really believe he could wait that long. Truthfully, he thought it would be almost impossible to resist Emily’s charms until that point when he knew for sure that she loved him enough to accept who he was.

  “Geez, Mike.” Cole shook his head. “She’s so sweet, I don’t know how I can keep from lovin’ on her.”

  “Try and hold out, like I’ve said.” Mike shook his head. “That’s all you can do. And I hope it’s enough.”

  Jase hoped they could, but if he were truthful, he didn’t think any of them could hold out for long. Emily was just too enticing for him. He had a feeling from what he’d seen, that Trey and Derek were pretty serious about Lacy.

  “Another thing,” Mike continued, “a good sign that you’re too close to losing your heart to your girl is your temper. The change in your shifter tempers will be noticeable when you’ve fallen in love with your girlfriends. You’ll need to be aware and refrain from getting into fights with your shifter friends because of the territorial emotion you’ll feel at that point.”

  All four of them gave each other a look of understanding.

  “That’s all I have to say,” Mike finished.

  Chapter Five

  Keeping in mind what Mike said, Jase and Cole agreed to ask Emily to go to the lake with them again, but only for fun, and not for making love with her. The following evening at the steakhouse, they asked her.

  Emily accepted their invitation and seemed happy to go swimming with them at the lake. In fact, she sounded happy to be going with both of them.

  When they arrived at the lake, Troy and Doug were there with a young woman. The three of them were stretched out all together on a lounge chair. They had their arms wrapped around each other and were obviously kissing.

  “I’ll race you to the other side if you’re game,” Jase challenged Emily.

  “You bet I’m game.” She smiled at him and then at Cole. “How about you, Cole? Are you ready?”

  “Just as soon as I shuck my jeans, babe.” Cole grinned at her as he unfastened his fly.

  The sun had dropped behind the hills to the west, but there was still a little light left. Jase got rid of his jeans and shirt and tossed them on a lounge chair. He turned back to see if Emily was ready.

  She stared, her eyes huge, at Troy and Doug and the cute young woman with them. He had a feeling he knew what Emily saw. He turned in their direction and wasn’t surprised to see all three of them naked. This was nothing new at the lake. Most couples and threesomes engaged in love play naked, but from what she’d told them last time, she’d never witnessed even a couple making hot, pleasurable love before the other night. Troy and Doug and their date were going at it hot and heavy. He imagined Emily had kept pretty much to herself during college from what she’d told them.

  Jase could hear their moans and loud groans, so Emily probably could as well. She stood watching them, seemingly fascinated as Troy lowered the woman over his aroused dick, and Doug bent over her back with his arms around her waist. Jase stepped close to Emily and gently put his hand at her waist. She jerked at his touch but didn’t move away. Cole moved close to her other side and put his hand on her shoulder.

  The only sound came from the three lovers who had now moved around so that the girl was on her knees straddling Troy. She twisted on her knees and grasped Doug’s cock, moving her fist rapidly up and down. Doug gave a groan that turned into a loud growl. He grasped the girl and pulled her legs out straight so that she was on her stomach flat on top of Troy, and Doug was kneeling between Troy’s legs behind her.

  “On your knees,” Doug ordered.

  Jase had a good idea what was coming. He felt a strong shiver go through Emily and glanced down at her face to see if she was bothered by what she watched. Instead of looking upset, she still seemed to be enthralled. Her nostrils flared as she breathed rapidly. He glanced back at the three lovers.

  Doug lifted the girl’s hips higher as he took hold of her. Meanwhile, Troy cupped her breasts, playing with her nipples. When she was kneeling with her hands on Troy’s chest for support, Doug took his rod in his hand and steadied her with his other hand while he rubbed the engorged head between her butt cheeks. She moaned and lowered her head and shoulders to rest on Troy’s chest, offering Doug a clear view of her willing pussy from her tight hole to her clit. Doug grasped her hips in both hands and slid his cock between her butt cheeks.

  She moaned softly. “Do it,” she ordered. “Come inside me.”

  Emily grabbed Jase’s arm, her fingers digging into him.

  Doug groaned as he pressed his dick slowly into her pussy. He pulled out and pushed back in. Troy kissed her and all three of them gave moans of pleasure and need.

  “Oh, my God,” Emily cried softly, as her knees buckled and Jase felt her begin to slide down, her grip easing on his arm. He wrapped one arm around her shoulders to stop her fall and slipped his freed hand under her hips, sweeping her into his arms. Without stopping, he turned away and strode to the nea
rest lounge chair. He lowered Emily onto the cushions.

  “Are you all right?” Cole asked as he dropped to his knees at her other side.

  “I—I’ve never felt such an aching need. What’s wrong with me? I’m on fire and it won’t stop.” She rubbed her hands over her thighs and mound.

  Jase shot a glance at Cole for his opinion. Cole gave him a quick nod, obviously agreeing with him that they couldn’t leave her feeling like this. He hoped they could control their own needs. “We can ease you if you want us to,” Jase offered, keeping his voice soft and low.

  “Yes,” she agreed, her voice breathless and sounding desperate. She looked from him to Cole and closed her eyes again. “Please, do something.”

  Jase moved her hands away from her thighs, raised her knees a little and returned to caressing her long legs. Cole pressed gentle kisses across her cheeks and down her neck to her bare shoulders. Jase slid her panties off. Her lips parted as she gasped with a deep breath when Jase smoothed his hand over her swollen, shaved pussy. She curved her spine as she tilted her hips upward. God help him, she was so wet with her cream. It wouldn’t take long for him to bring her the pleasure she craved. He spread her slick juices up and down her slit and slid a finger slowly inside her opening, deep within her hot silken passage. She cried out and undulated her hips. He pulled his finger out and pushed it back in over and over as he found her clit with his thumb and circled it. Her scent taunted him and he wanted to taste her so bad.

  Cole lowered her bra and covered her full breasts with his palms.

  “Oh, God,” she whimpered. “Please, I need …”

  “She’s coming,” Jase said softly, feeling strangled. Damn, she was beautiful and she was killing him. He didn’t dare mate with her even though his need tortured him. He had visions of sinking his cock deep inside her soft warmth over and over again as she knelt in front of him. He doubted she loved him enough yet. Maybe she never would.