A Most Stubborn Mate [Wolf Pack Mates 7] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Cara Adams

  He turned to Steve with his finger over his lips, then opened his luggage, took out his swimwear and disappeared into the bathroom to change. He was only gone a few minutes and when he returned he was wearing his shirt and pants over the board shorts, and his bare feet were in his shoes. He’d picked up a towel and wrapped the purse in it, carefully sticking the bug to the metal frame of the window. He guided Steve out of the room and went to the elevator, pressing the up button.

  Steve understood, leading them into his room, dropping his clothing on the bed, and dressing in his own board shorts, with jeans and a T-shirt over them, and sandals on his feet. He, too, carried a towel. Zed was certain there’d be pool towels at the swimming area but he needed something to hide Josie’s purse.

  Even though the bug was in his room, until he was convinced there were no more eavesdroppers he wasn’t going to risk saying anything, so they traveled up to the pool area in silence. Josie was sitting on a bench beside a row of lockers. She was wearing that sarong again, but this time it was over a deep blue bikini. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail and she had flip-flops on her feet. Without saying anything she swiped her keycard over the locker pad, and a door opened. Zed stripped down to his board shorts and piled his things in the locker, as did Steve. Josie added her sarong and flip-flops to the now quite full locker, then tucked her keycard into her ponytail.

  Zed just stared at her. Then he shook his head, trying to make sense of her actions, and shut the locker door. Josie had already started walking though this anteroom and out onto the pool deck. He looked at the gray sky and wondered if he’d catch his death of pneumonia. Do hospitals here accept American health insurance? Then he sighed and followed Steve, who was already walking after her.

  * * * *

  While Josie was waiting for the men she’d walked around the area and seen the entry door to the fitness area, the lap pool, and a sauna. She’d have preferred to sit in a hot tub and talk, and Zed was right in that it was too cold to just stand around talking in the pool, although she did want to swim laps later, so the sauna would have to do. She just had to hope they’d get at least a few minutes alone in there.

  Not that very many people were around. There were a handful of mainly men in the fitness center riding bikes and lifting weights, and one other person swimming laps, but that was all. She also couldn’t stop thinking about getting both men back into her bed tonight. Had they enjoyed the ménage as much as she had? She’d never been so aroused in her life, and it’d only confirmed her fixed belief that the three of them belonged together. At least Zed was being polite to Steve. But she wondered what Steve was thinking. He was so careful and polite, she almost wished he’d let loose so she could see him at his worst and know what to expect.

  She picked up a pool towel and opened the door to the sauna. Awesome. It was empty. Now if only both men would get here before anyone else thought to use the booth. Josie spread her towel on the bottom step and settled onto it. She liked the heat but if they were talking as well as cleansing themselves, she rather thought she’d better start off where it was coolest. Not that anywhere in a sauna was cool. Perhaps what she really meant was least hot? Whatever.

  Steve followed her in. He was still carrying the towel from his room. He moved to the middle bench and sat down. Zed had left his towel in the locker apparently as he was now carrying a pool towel.

  “There was a bug in your purse, Josie, which is now sitting on the metal frame of my room window, but unless our luggage was checked by an expert, I don’t think anyone touched it. Which isn’t to say a bug hasn’t been dropped into the suitcase. We can all do a careful check of our luggage and the clothing we wore today later. But I’d be very surprised if the SUV hasn’t gotten one or more eavesdroppers on it now, and likely something so they can tail us as well,” said Zed.

  Josie nodded. Steve said, “I can go down to the Viennese equivalent of RadioShack and pick up a bug detector for us if you like.”

  “I like that thought. I’d much rather know what I’m up against than always having to be wary just in case.”

  “I’ll come with you,” said Zed to Steve.

  “Now, quickly, before we all get too hot in here, what did people think today?” asked Zed.

  Josie looked at Steve. He’d been the one to talk to Andre.

  “The Supreme is relying too heavily on Gustav, and Gustav has his own agenda. I don’t know whether he plans to rule himself or to put in a puppet Alpha, but he’s not letting people use their own judgment or make the changes that need to be made. Changes the Supreme has very likely agreed to. There’s going to be a battle not just for Supreme, but also for that pack when the old man passes on.”

  “I agree. Why on Earth haven’t they computerized all their records?” asked Josie.

  “I suspect that’s just one of several ways Gustav is using to maintain complete control, while pretending to do whatever the Alpha says. We need to speak to the Alpha alone tomorrow and make sure we hear from him what he knows about the missing pack. We can do our planning in our rooms when we’re sure they’re clean. I’m getting hot. Are you sure you plan to swim, Josie?”

  Josie smiled at Zed, then at Steve. “Yes. Why don’t you two go and get your bug-catcher. I’ll swim then go back to my room. We can meet in the restaurant at seven for a meal, if you like.” She pulled her keycard out of her ponytail. “You need this to open the locker. One of you, please bring it back to me after you’ve collected your clothes.”

  “Okay,” said Steve.

  Zed stood up and picked up his towel. “We’ll debug your room first, right after dinner.”

  Josie smiled. And then fuck, I hope.

  * * * *

  Steve left his clothing at his feet and began checking his cell phone at the lockers. Zed stared at him. “I’m looking for the nearest electronics store.”

  “I’ll give Josie her keycard back then return.” Zed left his clothing with Steve and walked off.

  Steve heaved a sigh of relief. Zed’s voice could by no means be termed friendly, but at least they were working together without fighting. Well so far. He’d half expected the big man to punch someone on the airplane. He really did need to travel business class on the way home. He was just too large for an economy class seat. Steve’s own knees ached from being forced up under his chin for so long, but at least his shoulders had fit inside the seat. Zed’s hadn’t.

  The nearest store was only a bit over a mile away. If they pretended to be going for a walk no one should question them and the gadget should easily fit in a pocket so again, no one would know about it. Unless they were followed, and they could watch for that happening.

  Half an hour later they were walking down the street and Steve was eagerly looking around, deliberately making like a tourist, pointing things out to Zed, so he could look behind them and all around them without appearing to be checking for trackers. “No one following us.”

  Zed actually smiled at him. “Does this mean you’ll stop acting like a six-year-old in a candy store now?”

  Steve laughed. “My guess is we need to go to Bulgaria. Is that what you thought?” He glanced sideways at Zed, looking behind them once again as he did so.

  “Romania and Moldova are still definite possibilities. But yes. I agree that Bulgaria is the place to go first. Although once we’re deep in the mountains, I don’t think borders are all that clear. It’s not like the North and South Korea with high fences and demilitarized zones and soldiers everywhere. It wouldn’t surprise me if the locals wander backward and forward from country to country all the time and no one really cares.”

  Once in the store he used his most colloquial German, wanting to give it a thorough test before he was forced to use it somewhere, and no one seemed to realize he wasn’t a native German speaker. Oh not Viennese, he didn’t have the correct accent for that, but not American at any rate. He made sure the salesman explained the gizmo carefully to him, and that he understood it, before paying, collecting his receipt and l
eaving. He even made a game of running it over his pants and shoes, the same ones he’d worn to the Supreme’s headquarters that morning.

  Nothing beeped. He would have been surprised if anything had been on him. He’d looked in his pockets and along all the seams of his clothing quite carefully, plus he didn’t believe Gustav had been granted an opportunity to stick a bug on him. It’d been Josie who Gustav had been close to.

  They went first to Zed’s room. He’d left the television on, and pointed to the window as they entered, reminding Steve about the original bug. He hadn’t forgotten. He began by running his new toy over Zed’s luggage, then over all his clothing, first the things he’d worn that morning, then the rest, but there was nothing among them. In his own room, there was the same lack of result.

  “So we just need to check Josie’s room and the car. When do you want to do that? And what do you plan to do with the one you found in her purse?” he asked.

  Zed sat on the end of the bed. “I think that if the bug on the SUV is so they can follow us, we’ll leave it until we are well out of town, then find a really bumpy road. After a mile or two we’ll remove it and hope they think if fell off naturally. If it’s a listening bug, that’s different. They might already suspect we know about the one in her purse. Leaving the television on was the best solution I could come up with but it’s not going to work at mealtime. She would always carry her purse then, and they’ll expect her to have it with her in the meeting tomorrow. We’ll have to convince her not to take her purse at all. Unless she has a second one with her I suppose.”

  “At the mealtime, people could be listening in the old-fashioned way as well, just with their ears,” added Steve. He didn’t know how much trouble the Supreme was in, but it seemed to him taking extra precautions was better than not taking enough. This job already had a sort of James Bond-like feel to it.

  “Understood. I’ll see you at seven.” Zed stood up and left, leaving Steve wondering what he was thinking and even more, what he was planning to do. Steve stretched out on his bed and settled back to think.

  * * * *

  Zed was so used to working alone it was proving very challenging to him to remember he had people with him this time. People who might be able to offer him useful help and advice. It’d never occurred to him to go buy a detector of electronic eavesdropping devices. Once the idea was put in his mind of course he knew all about them, and likely he could have managed to find a store and bought a gadget. Even figured out how to use it. But the useless human had proven to have some uses. The same when he’d heard Andre mention the photographs. Seeing the picture of Cinnabar Rudd and that other man could end up being helpful.

  He also couldn’t believe how much he wanted to fuck Josie again. No way was he going to give up on his aim of keeping her all to himself, but he would accept the presence of the human tonight and until he was no longer needed and could be sent home. After they’d found the missing pack he needed to rush back to Wolf Central and tell the Alpha how very ill the Supreme was and put in place some strategies for the inevitable shit-hitting-the-fan scene which would occur.

  Then he’d claim Josie as his and take her somewhere they could relax and be together, alone. Maybe one of the Greek islands.

  But right now he needed to plan leaving Vienna without being tailed by Gustav and his associates. Somewhere he could lose them. Which, since they were locals, wasn’t going to be all that easy, especially if he wanted to make it look innocent. He pulled up some maps on his phone and began his planning.

  By the time he needed to get dressed for dinner he’d sorted out several possibilities, but he could no longer think about anything other than fucking Josie. He went to the elevator and pressed down. The first time one opened there were other people in it, so he pretended he was waiting for someone else. The second one that arrived was empty so he carefully stuck the bug from Josie’s purse in the back corner on a piece of metal trim, then dropped his own keys as loudly as possible, making sure they knocked noisily against the metal handrail on the way down to the floor. He picked up his keys and pocketed them, just before the elevator stopped at the lobby level, where the restaurant was. Hopefully Gustav would believe that the bug had fallen off when Josie’d dropped her keys. That’s if they’d deliberately tried to put it with her keys. Oh well, it was the best he could think of.

  As always he was early and went straight to the table he’d chosen at breakfast time. Then he wondered if Gustav might have noted his habits and moved to another table in a similar position. Of course, they still couldn’t talk freely during their meal because he hadn’t checked Josie’s clothing or room yet, dammit.

  Dinner wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as it would have been if he’d been alone with Josie, or even free to talk, but she mentioned her swim, they discussed the weather, and the food was delicious. But his cock was so damn hard it was aching, and all he could think about was getting her into bed again anyway.

  As they stood in the elevator on the way up to her room, he wrote a note and showed her. First we debug your room.

  She nodded. Steve pulled the gadget from his pocket, and this time it was Zed who nodded. He’d assumed he wouldn’t have to remind the human, but it wouldn’t have hurt if they’d had to wait for him to collect it from his room anyway.

  Josie swiped her keycard and walked in, turning the television on before she sat on a chair. Damn, she was smart. Hopefully that would muffle the faint sounds of Steve moving around with his bug finder.

  Zed leaned against the wall as Steve shuffled around the room running the gadget along the skirting boards and under the bed, then in the closet and over her luggage. He opened the suitcase, looking up at Josie and she nodded. Steve placed the bug finder in the case, rubbing it along the walls and base of the luggage. It didn’t beep. His next stop was the bathroom then finally he checked the window ledge and behind the television but it seemed her room was quite clean.

  With a sigh of relief Josie turned off the television. “You won’t believe how tired I am of having that on all the time, blathering away in German.”

  “Tomorrow we’ll have to assume the SUV is bugged, and the Supreme’s office as well,” warned Zed.

  “But at least we know this room isn’t. That was a good idea, Steve, getting that thing.” Josie smiled warmly at the human and Zed’s heart clenched. Dammit, did she have to be so nice to him?

  “Be ready to leave for Bulgaria as soon as we’ve seen the Supreme tomorrow. We won’t check out, and we’ll leave our luggage in our rooms, but I want us to be able to park the SUV out front of the hotel and just come in, collect our luggage, check out and go. I’m hoping they won’t expect that and we might catch them unprepared. They’ll have to improvise to get people monitoring us and we might be able to lose them more easily. Once we’ve debugged the car, we can stop and change into more comfortable traveling clothes and get a meal or whatever we need, but losing any followers must be our first concern.

  “Thank you for telling us, Zed. I’ll wear boots I can run in if I have to instead of high heels.”

  Zed blinked. “I hope to hell that won’t be necessary, but yes.”

  “Is that the end of the business we need to do? Can we move onto the fun stuff now?” She smiled at him and his cock grew an inch and instantly became as hard as stone.

  “Hell, yes.” Steve started stripping off his clothing and dropping it on the floor.

  “Where are those handcuffs?” Zed asked her. He had plans for them, but this time they’d be restraining her.

  Grinning Josie went over to her suitcase and slipped one arm into her boot, withdrawing the cuffs from it.

  “What’s in the other boot?” he asked huskily.

  “I told you last night I didn’t bring my toy box with me,” she replied still smiling.

  He wondered if she was deliberately teasing him but he couldn’t resist. He bent to her luggage and lifted both boots, tipping them upside down. A flogger fell out of the second boot. A flogger with a
handle shaped like a dildo.

  “No toys, huh?”

  “No toy box,” she corrected him.

  “It appears to me those boots act as a mighty fine toy box,” said Steve.

  “Undress, Josie. It’s time to play spank the naughty girl.”

  She crossed her arms. “How do I know this will be good for me?”

  He crossed the room in three quick strides wanting to end this argument right now, and pulled her into his arms. With every pent-up feeling inside him, he kissed her. Her lips softened and she opened her mouth to him. Zed drove his tongue in and out of her mouth, fucking it hard and fast while he crushed her to him until he could feel her tightly pointed nipples through their clothing.

  Clothing. Oh yes. They needed to take it off. Reluctantly he pulled his lips away from hers and stepped back. “Undress.”

  Steve, who was quite naked and unembarrassed about it, unzipped her dress and pushed at the fabric on her shoulders. Then he bent down and unbuckled her sandals. She helped him, and it wasn’t long before she was wearing just her lingerie. Another lacy bra and panty set, this time in apricot.

  All the breath left his body and he just stared at her. She’d looked delicious in the pink lace set last night. She’d been adorable in her deep blue bikini. But this outfit was the best of them all. The color made her skin look creamy and edible. He wondered how many other sets she had in that suitcase. Red? Black? All the colors of the rainbow? He wanted to see her in every one of them, but he wanted her naked as well.

  She reached behind her back and undid her bra, then lowered her arms slowly, letting the straps gradually slide down her arms until a little more, then still more of her breasts was revealed. By the time her nipples were uncovered his dick was begging to be allowed out of his pants and his feet were glued to the floor. His mouth had fallen open and his tongue was stuck to the roof of it. He had to unlock his jaw before he could press his lips together. Across the room Steve’s cock was upright and waving in the air. If he wasn’t wearing pants his dick would have been doing the same thing. He launched himself across the small gap that separated him from Josie and pulled the panties off her, then flung her onto the bed and cuffed her wrists together. He held her down with his own body while he took the lube and condoms form the nightstand drawer.