Ripples of Threat

by Rebecca James

  Roanan swallowed. “Let’s eat, and I’ll tell you more.”

  The alpha picked up his fork again and waited for Emory to do the same. “As you know, Josh is an omega. I only recently found that out. Josh knew a long time ago but was afraid to tell me because he thought I’d be disappointed.” Roanan met Emory’s eyes again. “I assure you, I’m not. I’m pretty sure the twins are alphas, but time will tell.” The air between them was charged, and Roanan felt almost light-headed with it. The food was right by him, but all the alpha could smell was Emory’s tantalizing scent.

  “Can we mate soon?” he asked, feeling ridiculous. What was it about Emory that made him so impatient?

  Emory smiled and nodded before finishing eating, but Roanan found he was no longer hungry and watched. As soon as the omega finished his food, Roanan stood and put out his hand to Emory, electric desire rushing through the alpha when the omega took it. In the bedroom, Roanan looked around at the large bed, maple dresser in the corner, and rocking chair by the window as though he’d never seen any of it before. What did Emory think of the room? Of Roanan’s house? Was he pleased? He couldn’t believe Emory would be sleeping with him there from then on.

  “I haven’t shared my bed with anyone in over a decade,” the alpha found himself saying. “I’ve had sex since then, of course, but never in here.” He turned to look into Emory’s soft eyes. “You’re special. I knew it the first moment I saw you.” He kissed the omega, nipping at soft lips, and when they broke apart, the omega nodded in a way that told Roanan Emory felt the same. He wasn’t sure how; it was almost as though Roanan heard the other werewolf’s voice in his head.

  Stepping back, Roanan pulled his shirt over his head. Emory’s gaze moved over the alpha’s chest, and Roanan was proud of his chiseled form. He reached for the omega and removed Emory’s blue T-shirt before tossing it onto the rocking chair with his own. Seeing their discarded clothes together made the alpha’s cock twitch.

  Next, Roanan pushed off his jeans and stepped out of them, pleased with how the omega’s breath caught at the sight of the alpha’s cock filling with blood. Gently, he pushed Emory’s loose pants until they fell at the omega’s feet.

  Roanan had already seen Emory nude, of course, but he took the time to really take the omega in. He had slim, toned legs that reminded Roanan of a colt, and an average-sized cock that was deliciously pink at the tip. When Roanan lowered himself to his knees and sucked the morsel into his mouth, Emory let out a hoarse groan. In the back of the alpha’s mind, he wondered if Emory might be able to speak with a little work. If he could make noises, his vocal chords had to work. The feel of the omega’s cock thickening in his mouth soon drove everything else from Roanan’s mind, though, and he sucked and licked, thumbing Emory’s tightening balls until the omega clutched Roanan’s head and spilled into the alpha’s mouth with a cry that almost made Roanan come untouched.

  The alpha stood and Emory sank against him, warm and pliant. Roanan loved the feel of the omega’s soft skin under his fingertips. He kissed Emory’s head and held the omega close until Emory finally pulled away and gave him a smile that was nothing short of sexy and full of intent. Gracefully climbing onto the bed, Emory presented his perfect backside to Roanan, tilted up and waiting, sweet hole glistening between rounded cheeks.

  Roanan growled and bent to take the bite he’d been fantasizing about since meeting Emory. The omega gasped and arched his back. Roanan bit the other cheek, admiring the teeth marks he’d left. When he tasted Emory’s hole, the alpha thought he’d died and gone to heaven, the slick sweet on his tongue. Could this omega have been made just for him? Roanan had never tasted anything this good, nor gotten such a charge from the feeling of a rim tugging at his tongue.

  Emory continued to gasp and sigh as Roanan licked him open, pushing his backside against the alpha’s eager tongue. When Roanan couldn’t stand the wait any longer, he covered the omega with his body and sank inside, mind bursting with pleasure at the feel of the slick, tight channel sucking him in.

  Emory wiggled and grunted beneath him, obviously blissed out. Roanan couldn’t think. Pure alpha testosterone took over, and he snapped his hips, surging forward and back, fucking Emory into the mattress. Covering the omega’s hands with his, he laced their fingers together and hammered between the omega’s legs. When Emory turned his head, presenting the smooth expanse of his neck, Roanan bit down hard, sinking his teeth into the skin and marking the omega as his own.

  By the time Ian returned with the boys, Roanan and Emory were curled into one another on the bed, the omega asleep and the alpha halfway there.

  “I see you made good use of your time alone,” Ian said with amusement from the bedroom door. “We’ll pack the boys’ things and come back tomorrow evening.”

  “You’re a good brother,” Roanan murmured, and Ian’s laugh was the last thing the alpha heard before drifting asleep.

  Chapter 29: Duncan

  The beta was headstrong and a bit of a brat. So, why had seeing Canaan obeying, standing in X formation with his cock at full mast, made Duncan so inexplicably hard? And why couldn’t he get his mind off the beta now it was over?

  What was it about Canaan that made the alpha want to break him?

  And why did Duncan find himself standing outside the beta’s fenced-in yard, watching him as he lay on a lounge chair, eyes closed, seemingly enjoying being outside?

  Duncan knew the moment Canaan sensed his presence. The nostrils of Canaan’s long, aristocratic nose widened, and dark lashes trembled against high cheek bones. Most interestingly, the beta’s cock also twitched under the cotton of his pants. Oh, yes. The beta wanted him.

  A feral smile slowly spread over Duncan’s face as Canaan opened his eyes and met the alpha’s gaze.

  “Hello,” Canaan said, but the hoarseness in his voice belied the casual tone. “What are you doing here?”

  “I came to fuck you,” Duncan said, watching for the beta’s reaction.

  A deep and satisfying blush crawled up Canaan’s neck and suffused the beta’s face. “W-what?”

  “You heard me. If you don’t want it, tell me now.”

  “I—well, I…” Canaan looked flustered.

  Duncan enjoyed watching the beta squirm. “Do you or do you not want my cock in your ass?”

  Canaan’s brows came together, and he moved in the chair, obviously trying to conceal his growing erection. “This is sudden.”

  Duncan chuckled. “No, it’s not. Not after the other night.” The alpha crossed his arms over his chest. “I feel like fucking, and the way I see it, you need a good fucking. Can you admit that?”

  Canaan let his breath out through his teeth. “You don’t beat around the bush, do you?”

  Duncan shook his head. “Don’t see any point.” He leaned against the waist-high wooden fence that surrounded the small yard, patting the top rung. “What I’d really like to do is fuck you out here, over this fence.” The alpha watched Canaan’s lips part and his breathing speed up. Yeah, the beta wanted it but was too proud to admit it. Duncan wanted to break that pride. “Well?”

  Canaan licked his lips, and Duncan’s gaze was drawn to the beta’s plump lower lip.

  “Just because…just because I came over to your place and we did things doesn’t mean I’m willing to bend over when you order me to,” Canaan said, the haughtiness of the statement ruined by the way the beta’s eyes greedily ran over the alpha’s body before darting to the fence.

  The beta’s sassy mouth had Duncan hard as a board, but Canaan had to ask for what he wanted. Dropping his arms, the alpha shrugged and turned to walk away.

  “Wait.”

  Duncan stopped, pulse pounding in his cock.

  “I-I want it.”

  Duncan turned around and watched Canaan gracefully rise from the lounger. He would like to have those long legs wrapped around him, but that would have to wait for another day.

  “Say it again,” Duncan said.

  Canaan took a deep
breath and looked Duncan in the eye with a boldness that brought a damp spot to the front of the alpha’s pants. “I want you to fuck me over the fence.”

  Duncan took a deep breath. “Ask me to do it.”

  Canaan’s cheeks colored, but he complied. “Will you fuck me over the fence?” There was a long pause before the word Duncan was waiting for. “Please?”

  The alpha let it out before patting the top board. “Strip. And bend over.”

  It wouldn’t be comfortable for the beta, but Duncan wanted Canaan to give up his comfort for him. The alpha sensed this man needed something, and the alpha was going to figure out what that was and give it to him while taking what Duncan needed in return.

  Canaan slowly and methodically took off his clothes, folding them and setting them on the lounger before walking over to the fence and studying it a moment. He then heaved himself up with his hands and dropped the front half of his body forward with a soft grunt that had Duncan pressing palm to cock. Canaan found a foothold on the bottom post, and spread his feet apart.

  Duncan moaned in appreciation at the ass he’d been fantasizing about displayed and waiting for him.

  Goosebumps rose over the graceful expanse of Canaan’s back. Stepping up to the beta, the alpha ran his palm over one plump globe and then the other before giving each a hard smack. Canaan didn’t make a sound, but Duncan could see the beta’s hard cock. Yep, Duncan thought smugly, He likes the rough treatment, just as I thought. As I’d hoped, he corrected himself.

  Duncan smacked Canaan’s ass again, pleased with the reddening hand prints forming on the pale skin. Duncan would like the beta to hold his ass cheeks open, but that, too, would have to wait for another time, as Canaan needed his hands to remain stable on the fence. Working some saliva into his mouth, Duncan spit onto Canaan’s hole, eliciting a full-body shiver from the beta.

  Duncan knew Canaan was aware that, although they were surrounded by woods, someone easily could come by. Other werewolves lived down the path and could pass on their way back from lunch at any time. If they did, Duncan was not about to stop fucking Canaan, and he thought the beta knew it, had seen Canaan weighing the possibilities before agreeing. Duncan enjoyed an audience and hoped the beta would, too.

  The entire thing took spunk, and Duncan respected that. He spat again onto the beta’s hole before spreading the cheeks to encourage the spittle to drip inside the small furl. Canaan wrapped his arms around the second post of the fence, bracing himself. Voices from the forest caused the beta to stiffen, and Duncan waited to see if the beta would back down, but Canaan remained silent.

  Pleased, Duncan leaned down and ran his tongue through the crack of the beta’s ass, loving the moans the act elicited.

  Mouth busy, Duncan slowly unzipped his pants. He could hear Canaan’s pants of anticipation, could feel the tug of the beta’s furl on his tongue. Jeans dropping to his thighs, the alpha straightened and brought the tip of his cock to Canaan’s hole. He pushed inside. Canaan let out a yelp at the intrusion, holding tightly to the fence.

  Duncan didn’t hold anything back. The alpha hadn’t been this turned on in—he didn’t know when. The voices in the distance grew closer and the alpha spotted several figures on the path a good thirty feet from where they stood. Duncan didn’t know if Canaan was so far gone he was unaware of their audience or simply didn’t give a shit, for the beta didn’t hold back his cries of pleasure. It was more than Duncan had hoped for.

  Canaan’s thighs tensed with every surge of Duncan’s cock. The beta’s face was red when he looked over his shoulder at the alpha, sweat dripping from his temples.

  Duncan saw the lust in the beta’s eyes. “You like getting a public pounding, don’t you? Admit it.”

  Canaan moaned, eyes rolling up in his head.

  Duncan reached around the naked man to twist a puckered nipple. “I said, admit it.”

  Canaan exceeded the alpha’s expectations with his hoarse reply.

  “I do,” the beta panted. “I like being bent over the fence, naked. And that people might see you, still clothed, fucking me this way.”

  Duncan moaned and rolled his hips before thrusting faster, watching the muscles in Canaan’s back grow tense as a tremendous groan rumbled up from the beta’s chest.

  Lifting his ass so Duncan’s knot slipped inside the rim, Canaan shouted, “Harder, you big fuck!”

  At those impudent words, an unexpected rush of tingling pleasure raced from the alpha’s groin to his head, and he spilled inside Canaan, body jerking. With a sob, the beta squeezed around Duncan’s sensitive cock, milking the alpha of every last drop.

  When Duncan recovered, the alpha cursed and pulled out, reaching to prevent Canaan from falling face first onto the ground in his post-coital haze. Duncan didn’t appreciate losing the upper hand like that. He would have liked to have continued for much longer.

  “Don’t think I’ll forget that, you cheeky little bitch.” The alpha was flushed and more affected by the experience than he chose to let on. He pulled up his pants and watched Canaan climb down from the wooden perch on shaky legs. It pleased Duncan to see the dark red stripe from the fence on the beta’s belly—a clear mark of the alpha’s domination. He’d like to cover Canaan in bite marks, and at the realization that the beta would probably like that, a thrill shot up the alpha’s spine.

  “Be at my house tomorrow night after sundown,” Duncan said, and left the yard without waiting for an answer, cock already thickening again.

  Chapter 30: Gabriel

  Gabriel wanted to do so many things. Hold his baby, play with Finny, touch his mates everywhere, and spend time with Emory. But he could only do so much, as his mates insisted he rest; so, Gabriel spent days on the couch napping, reading, or quietly playing with Finny. A little over a week passed, and Gabriel managed to convince Ian and Grey to allow a short visit with Emory.

  Gabriel had hoped to get Emory to write down some things about himself, but they’d wound up sitting on the couch just enjoying one another’s presence. Emory seemed to enjoy watching Finny play quietly on the floor, and Gabriel benefited from time spent with another omega. Before Emory left, when Grey, Roanan, and Ian were talking in the kitchen, Gabriel asked Emory a question that had been burning in him since the mute omega had arrived.

  “So, Roanan? What’s up with that?”

  Emory’s shy but slightly sly smile told Gabriel everything he needed to know, but even without it, the look Roanan gave Emory when he returned to the room said it all.

  As Roanan and Emory prepared to leave, Ian announced he would drop Finny at the nursery before heading out to put some work in at Darien’s greenhouse. He left with their guests. Still giddy from the realization his new friend would likely be mating into the pack, Gabriel didn’t immediately notice Grey’s serious expression when the alpha sat down next to him on the couch.

  “Have a nice visit with Emory?” Grey asked, wrapping an arm around the omega’s shoulders.

  Gabriel nodded. “Something seems to be going on between Roanan and Emory.”

  Grey nodded. “I expect to see a mating bite any day now,” Grey agreed. His long, black hair hung loose over his shoulders, and Gabriel idly played with a strand, admiring Grey’s strong features. He’d missed his alpha. After a few moments passed, Gabriel began to sense his mate’s somber mood.

  “I’m sorry,” Gabriel said.

  Grey looked into the omega’s eyes, waiting, and Gabriel swallowed. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to broach the subject. He wished he could forget what he’d done.

  “I know I shouldn’t have run. It was stupid, and I put Forrest in danger.”

  Grey stilled the hand running through his hair and clasped it to his chest. “You put yourself in danger.”

  Gabriel looked away, head tilting toward the back of the couch. The air thickened around them. Releasing Gabriel’s hand, the alpha leaned forward and nipped at the place of their mating bite, setting fire to Gabriel’s skin. When Grey released him, Ga
briel took a big gulp of air and shuddered.

  “I thought it better to leave,” he continued, chastised. “I thought you and Ian could pick up where you’d left off before I ever came here, except you’d have Finny, too.”

  “How could we do that?” At Grey’s sharp tone, Gabriel winced and offered his neck again. This time, the alpha sank his canines into the omega’s flesh and held on for several long moments, large body surging forward and hovering over the omega, occasionally shaking Gabriel in his grip in a clear show of dominance.

  Gabriel breathed shallowly, body on fire as he submitted to his alpha’s will.

  When Grey finally let go, he gripped Gabriel by the shoulders. “How could you think we could just forget you and everything we’ve meant to one another? Ian and I might have been together a long time before you came, but we love you. We don’t want to be without you. Ever. When you left, you scared us, and you hurt us.”

  Gabriel’s heart plunged, and tears sprung to his eyes.

  Grey took the omega’s hand again and kissed each finger before turning it over and kissing the palm. “Never. Never do that again. Do you understand me?”

  Grey had to know Gabriel couldn’t defy a direct order from his alpha, but he nodded anyway. He didn’t want to leave. He was tired of running.

  Before Gabriel could blink again, Grey scooped the omega up and carried him to the bedroom. In no time at all, Gabriel was naked on the bed with his alpha covering him with rough kisses that burned the omega’s skin and made him arch off the mattress for more. Grey wasn’t careful with him, and Gabriel exulted in that. For so long, he’d been treated like a fragile piece of spun glass, and he was sick of it.

  Clutching his alpha’s broad back, the omega dug his fingers into the soft skin, scoring it, bringing deep moans from Grey’s busy mouth as the alpha lapped at Gabriel’s nipples and sucked bruises down the omega’s ribs. When the alpha took Gabriel between his lips, running his tongue over the head of the omega’s sensitive cock, Gabriel shouted breathlessly.