Filthy Fae: A Dirty Alphas Novel (Heartland Forest Book 2)

by Alexa B. James

  The pleasure of both of them rose in me each time I took them in fully. When I couldn’t hold it any longer, I let out a cry around Aaron’s girth. My walls tightened around Mack, squeezing him in powerful pulses. His hands tightened on my hips, and he thrust harder, his own release filling me with a flood of hot liquid. Aaron followed, the salty tang of his seed sliding down my throat with each suck. When we finished, we collapsed onto the couch in a pile of naked limbs, each of my men snuggling close to me as we caught our breath.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Lance

  Gravel flew as I pulled up to a brown and white cabin and skidded to a stop. No sooner had I come to a full halt when Darrel was out the door and racing for the steps, leaving me to follow. Darrel grabbed a padlock securing the front door and wrenched, snapping it off. My heart hammered against my ribcage as we burst through the door.

  The house smelled of her and Aaron, and my wolf immediately settled. He’d been riding me since the moment those fae disappeared into nothingness with my mate, leaving us alone in an empty crime scene.

  After the initial inhale, other scents came to me. First, I noticed Mack’s minty smell, and then the clear musk of sex. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Those three acted like there was a going out of business sale on fucking.

  Still, something twisted in my gut at the thought of the three of them relieving stress together while they waited for us. Darrel and I followed their scent, finding the three sleeping in a tangle in one of the bedrooms. They looked to be sharing one outfit between them. Aaron wore pants, Scarlet a shirt, and Mack a pair of boxers. The fresh scent of soap clung to the room, and dampness lingered on their pillows.

  “I don’t see any injuries, do you?” Darrel growled.

  “I’d like to think they wouldn’t fuck if either of them was injured.”

  Darrel only shot me a look, and I shrugged, conceding his unspoken point. They would definitely fuck if they were injured.

  Scarlet’s eyes opened slowly, and she raised her head, her gaze immediately finding mine. “Lance?” Wiping hair away from her face, she looked around the room until her gaze landed on Darrel. “You guys found us.”

  It took her a second to untangle from Aaron and Mack, both of them rolling over when she crawled away.

  In two strides, she covered the distance between us and wrapped one arm around each of us.

  “Damn it, Scarlet! You could have died.” I leaned in, pressing my forehead to hers. The next moment, my mouth crashed down on hers. She kissed me back, burying her hands in my hair and dragging me closer. My wolf warmed at her touch, needing to be wrapped in her feel and scent. My tongue thrust into her mouth, hot and desperate, and my arms crushed her against me. I broke away, gasping for air. “I am so pissed at you,” I gritted out.

  “I know,” Scarlet whispered. “We fucked up, but we made it.”

  “Lance, man, either you should go take a walk, or you two should tell me to,” Darrel said, his hand clapping down on my shoulder. “But I’m not going anywhere until I know you and Aaron are uninjured, Scarlet, or that you’ve got a handle on your wolf, Lance.”

  I stepped back.

  Darrel was fucking right, as usual.

  I had almost lost her. My wolf knew it, and I knew it. But she was still standing there, panting and half asleep. Her lips were swollen, eyes wide, and she wore nothing but a T-shirt that didn’t do anything to hide her peaked nipples or her long, bare legs. I was so desperate to touch her that I knew I had to get some space from this woman, or I’d scoop her up and pin her to the nearest wall. I had a lot of fantasies about our first fuck, but having Darrel watching in concern did not play into any of them.

  Reaching up, she rubbed her eyes. “Shit. I have so much information to tell you guys. I don’t even know where to start.”

  “How about we start with coffee and some breakfast,” Darrel rumbled as he turned toward me. “Lance, would you and Jane mind heading off to get us breakfast? There was a place about five blocks back.”

  It wasn’t a command. Darrel was only making a strongly worded suggestion because he saw that I was losing hold of my wolf and acting unlike myself—well, unlike myself before I’d met Scarlet. Now, I always seemed to be losing my head.

  Scarlet crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. “I hope you funnel all your anger at me, Lance Knight. Neither Mack nor Aaron need that right now. They’re uninjured, but Aaron was mauled last night, and Mack had to carry him about forty miles.”

  “I carried him because Scarlet was hit repeatedly with a club.” The words were from Mack, who still appeared to be fast asleep on the bed when I checked.

  “Breakfast,” I growled as I turned toward the hall. It was all I could fucking say right now. I had more than enough anger to go around for all three of them. Darrel was right. I needed to get my head on straight before I interacted with people I didn’t want to fight.

  Jane kept her gaze on her phone as we drove to the store, and she didn’t offer to help me carry in the coffees and food. I bought a shit ton of sugary pastries, trying not to terrify the tiny human teenager behind the counter. His face looked bloodless as he filled a cardboard carafe with coffee and a pastry bag.

  As the young man gathered our breakfast, I peered out the window at the glimmering lake. There weren’t many boats out, but as it was a crisp February day. Only the hardiest of fishermen would head out on a day like this.

  Each house around the crescent-shaped lake had its own dock, many with slides leading into the water. In the summer, this lake would likely be filled with swimmers and pleasure boaters. I could imagine them floating on rafts and drinking beer.

  It wasn’t the kind of life I’d ever led, the kind of life where you passed out by a crackling fire after a full day of swimming and barbequing by the shore. I didn’t take vacations, but I found myself imagining Scarlet and my brothers laughing while pushing each other off the docks, wrestling in the water, and sunbathing by the lake. Even though I didn’t mean for it to happen, Mack was in the scene, too.

  Relaxation wasn’t something I ever considered offering to Scarlet, but I found it very appealing in my mind.

  “How much does a place like one of these cost?” I asked as I took the pastry bag from the man and set it on one of the coffee trays.

  The young human’s gaze dipped to my collar of tattoos, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. His voice came out high and reedy. “Like, a million, maybe.”

  I nodded, picked up my trays, and headed out to the van.

  By the time Jane and I walked back into the vacation rental, everyone was downstairs at the table. There was a mad grab for the coffees, and when Scarlet and Aaron scarfed down their fifth pastry each, my anger resurfaced. No matter how light their banter, their ravenous hunger gave away what a grueling night they’d been through.

  I settled into a seat and threaded my fingers together, waiting for the group to finish their breakfast.

  “Let’s go over what we’ve seen in the past few days, and maybe we’ll be able to get a better picture of what we’re dealing with,” Jane said, sitting down on the edge of the living room couch and resting her clipboard on the coffee table.

  The story they wove for us, about Zeezee and Zane’s fuck swap and the queen being warned off from attending the party was nothing like I was expecting, and then they explained the queen’s hunt.

  Both Darrel and my eyes glowed with our wolves by the time the story was over. My claws dug into the side of my chair as boiling anger surged through me. Everything in me wanted to take off and rip out the fae queen’s throat. She called a hunt on my mate and my brother. The bitch was going to die.

  Jane sat up straight, seeming to wake into the room. Her gaze tracked from Darrel to me, probably wondering why we were keeping Darrel’s discovery silent.

  “You do it,” I growled, nodding to Scarlet.

  As Jane explained about the incubus, Scarlet slipped off her chair and moved between Darrel and me, her hands r
eaching out to both of us.

  “Necro-Nancy, again?” Scarlet whispered. “So, she’s a demonologist, and she was at the scene of the crime? It lends credence to the theory that the incubus was at the party. Did you try calling this Necro-Nancy person?”

  “It didn’t lead to anything,” Jane said, holding up her phone. “No business, no voicemail. It just makes a beep and hangs up. I’ve been attempting to find information through other avenues.”

  “She could be the one who raised the incubus,” Aaron said, stating the obvious as he bit into his sixth croissant.

  Scarlet slipped her hand around mine and squeezed, picking up on what my wolf needed when I had no idea. “So,” she said, as she leaned into my side, “We have a missing necromancer from the Mage Union, a demonologist at the scene, an incubus on the loose who seems to be chasing my sister—”

  “Or you,” Darrel growled. “It’s gone after you twice now, and it made a point to lick me. It could try to impersonate me.”

  “Or me,” Aaron said before he nodded to Mack. “Or him, or any number of fae at the feast.”

  “He’ll impersonate someone that his target wants to have sex with,” Jane said as she continued to write. “If the incubus is after Scarlet, it’s going to impersonate one of you four.”

  A tense silence held us all captive until Scarlet said, “Regardless of who the incubus is chasing, my sister is missing. When I called my father this morning, both he and I confirmed that her phone is now off. Zane is most likely innocent and covering for the fact that Zeezee was there, but I don’t know for sure. All he did was lie to us. But he gets out in two days, and the queen plans to kill him. At some point, this incubus is going to transform into whoever it was raised to go after. ”

  Jane jotted down a note on her clipboard. “It’s likely that it will kill that person through an energy feeding.”

  “We don’t know who summoned it or who they raised it to go after.” Scarlet squeezed my hand. “The only person who seems like they might be able to help us is the demonologist who was at the crime scene.”

  “Fuck,” Aaron whispered, before stuffing the rest of his croissant in his mouth. “She fled the scene when Oxonos showed up. Doesn’t seem like someone eager to chat. And the necromancer who’s giving the Mage Union the slip doesn’t, either.”

  “There’s one more person,” Mack added. “Whoever warned my mother not to go to the party.”

  “Yeah, forgot about that one,” Scarlet said. “All we have are questions and a bunch of missing people. Fuck.”

  Fuck was right. Fuck just about summed it up.

  “You said there was salt everywhere?” I asked, rubbing my furrowed brow. “At the crime scene?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Among other things.”

  “Salt is used to banish demons. It’s a common usage.” I leaned back into Scarlet and turned slightly to face her. “It makes me think that the queen must know about the incubus.”

  Scarlet nibbled at her bottom lip, eyes troubled. “Her guards really didn’t seem to have any idea what that creature was. Would they lie about that to put on a show?” She glanced at Mack, her brows drawn together.

  “No.” Mack shook his head. “From the impression they gave, the feast is the first they heard of the demon. Those four hate my mother even more than this group. Trust me.”

  I didn’t trust Mack, but Scarlet clearly did. She nodded and turned back to me. “What are you thinking?”

  What was I thinking? I tried to form my thoughts into sensible words.

  “Let’s say the queen knows about the demon, but her guards didn’t until the feast. She plans to attend a party to meet your sister and brother-in-law for sex. Then, she arranges for an incubus to be raised at the party to go after your sister. She slips an anonymous note to her guard, telling her not to go to dinner. The incubus is conjured at the party and goes after your sister while the demon sends an energy through the party, forcing the partygoers to tear each other apart during sex.”

  “Which makes it look like one of the werewolves tore through the party,” Scarlet whispered as her gaze traveled far away. “Zane is arrested, and the queen declares that if anyone kills him, the fae will seek revenge on the werewolves, which will start a war. And then the incubus goes after Zeezee, presumably to take her form so the demon can suck Zane’s energy, removing the remaining evidence. The pack is framed for the massacre and for starting the war. Damn it. We need to find Zeezee before the incubus does.”

  Mack threaded his fingers together on the table. He inhaled a long deep breath, paused, and then said, “It’s something my mother might do. She’s probably the most conniving person in the world. But, if she hired someone to raise a demon in order to frame the pack for the massacre with the ultimate goal of taking over Heartland forest, King Oberon’s curse would kill her.”

  Scarlet nodded. “We don’t even know if it was the incubus that caused the massacre.”

  “I’m on the research for that,” Jane muttered, her gaze locked to her screen.

  Darrel crossed his arms over his wide chest. “My money’s still on the queen. It just seems like one hell of a coincidence that she was the only one warned not to go to this party. Did she tell anyone else not to go?”

  “She clearly didn’t warn Oxonos.” Aaron tilted his head back and forth. “I like her for it, too, to be honest. She’s definitely doing everything in her power to prevent anyone from investigating what really happened. Maybe she found a way around the curse.”

  “Or maybe the curse is bullshit,” Darrel growled. “A curse did nothing to stop fae from hunting werewolves from my pack, running them down like deer. Killing women who were protecting their children.” With every given moment, Darrel’s glower intensified and eyes glowed brighter with his wolf.

  Mack made eye contact with Scarlet at the table, and I could see him give the slightest shake of his head, but he wisely didn’t defend his position further.

  “Well, someone summoned the incubus for a reason. There’s one person who very likely has the answer to that,” Scarlet said. “She might be the person who summoned the demon, and if not, she probably knows who did.”

  “Necro-Nancy,” Aaron said.

  “The phone number is not traceable, but I have a contact,” Jane said, standing and smoothing her skirt over her curves. “It will just take some time.”

  “Meanwhile,” Scarlet said on a groan. “I need to track down Zeezee and pay another visit to my lying brother-in-law.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Scarlet

  We all piled into Lance’s van and headed back to Eureka. While Jane sat up front and discussed the investigation with Lance, I gave in to my body’s demand for sleep. After a long night of being hunted, I was more than ready to curl up in Darrel’s arms and close my eyes for an hour. When we finally pulled into Eureka, the sun was already heading west.

  “You could probably use a few more hours of sleep,” Darrel murmured as his calloused fingers combed strands of hair out of my face. “Why don’t you crash out in my room?”

  “I wish I could,” I said. “Unfortunately, there are probably a dozen emergencies I missed in the twenty-four hours we were gone. So, I have to make sure none of those are going to cause serious damage to the property while Aaron and Lance comb Zeezee’s apartment for any clue of her whereabouts. As of this morning, my parents are facilitating securing the pack and helping us get ready for an attack.”

  “That’s good,” Darrel said.

  I nodded. “Mom is leading the dominant wolves in teams of three, surveying the areas around the fae houses and searching every possible place my sister could be hiding. My dad is in charge of taking all of the submissive wolves and children to our safe-house and fortifying it for a week-long stay. After I take care of the essentials at the complex and visit Zane, I need to update the dominants on what’s going on.”

  After my long explanation, I only felt dog-tired. My eyelids grew heavier by the second, but I forced them op
en.

  Darrel nodded and gave me a sympathetic smile. “If you’ll let me, I’ll do that. And with your permission, Alpha, I’d like to bring half my dominants here to help. They’re ready to go at any time.”

  “We need to talk about how we’re going to schedule Scarlet’s guard,” Lance called back.

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” Mack said. “Two guards at all times. I’m taking a rotation, and I’ll be here until this is over. I’m the only one who can combat fae magic.”

  Annoyance surged through me. “First, Titania is hunting three of us. Second, the demon is most likely after Zeezee. My guess is that he figured out I wasn’t my sister at the queen’s feast, meaning I’m not the one who needs bodyguards.”

  “Like hell,” Lance said, glaring back into the rearview mirror. “One of us will be there until the hunt is over, and the demon is dead. We’ll also need a password, just in case this demon tries to impersonate one of us.”

  “If I could make a suggestion, why don’t you all abstain until you kill the demon?” Jane said from where she was sitting in the front seat. “It’s one sure fire way not to fall prey to an incubus.”

  My wolf growled.

  All four of the men in the car looked at me expectantly. Clearly, I was making this decision for the group. As I met Aaron’s smoldering gaze, I wasn’t sure I could hold out. Mack’s eyes held their usual mischievous glint that made my thighs quiver with anticipation. Darrel’s watchful expression filled me with longing to be wrapped up in his arms, to feel protected. But it was Lance’s stormy glare that really did me in. I pulled my eyes away and took a steadying breath.

  “What about names of—I don’t know—spices or something for a password? That way we can mix it up every time.”

  “Spices?” Aaron shot me a heated grin. “That has a lot of possibilities.”