Owned by the Alphas

by Jayce Carter

  Joshua could turn on the security cameras at any time and ensure she was safe. It meant they were able to focus on their own work.

  While they employed people to take care of the daily tasks, they still needed the three of them. Each had their part to play in the company. Bryce oversaw most of the jobs and planning, Joshua dealt with clients and Kaidan did intel.

  In many ways, Joshua enjoyed getting back to work, back to normal life. Kaidan would pick Claire up and drive her to the house while Joshua started dinner. Bryce, as usual, worked late, some nights arriving after dinner had been served.

  When they reached Saturday, however, Bryce and Kaidan had an appointment. They had to meet the detective they knew who about Jackie’s case, hopefully giving them something. Four days of looking into it had yielded nothing, and they couldn’t approach Kieran yet.

  If Claire was right, and they spooked him, he could run. If he ran?

  Well, finding him would prove difficult. If anyone knew how to disappear, it would be him. He had enough contacts to manage it without a trace.

  And worse? They’d still kept it from Claire, only telling her they were “looking into it.” They’d claimed that it would take time to pull security logs, that looking at the police report, that finding the evidence would take time.

  Lying to her still didn’t settle well with him. It sat like a rock in Joshua’s gut, especially when Claire looked at him with those trusting eyes.

  Damn, he hated it. He understood it, even agreed with it, but he hated it. When she found out, he wasn’t looking forward to addressing the betrayal. He’d come to enjoy her playfulness, enjoy the newfound trust and easiness they’d developed.

  And she was playful.

  She showed right then, creeping into his room, having grown tired of waiting for him to wake. While Bryce and Kaidan rose early, Joshua loathed mornings. It was only just past nine, but it seemed his omega had gotten tired of the quiet house after Bryce and Kaidan had left.

  The bed dipped beneath her weight when she crawled in, lifting the blanket to get beneath.

  He expected her to wake him with a kiss, or hell, maybe a blow job. He pictured her wrapping those pretty lips around his cock, her teasing him to wake him, not realizing he’d woken the moment her feet had padded into his room.

  Instead of the warm mouth on his cock he’d hoped for, he got two freezing feet pressed between his legs and cold hands sliding around his sides.

  “Fuck,” he snarled, jerking backward.

  Claire broke into giggles, rolling to her back when he’d extracted himself from the icicles masquerading as appendages. The joy spread across her face and her laughter, full and unconcerned and honest, had him stilling.

  Even with how things had fallen into place, the evenings watching television with Claire stretched out on the couch, legs tossed on Kaidan’s lap, back resting against Joshua, she’d been cautious. She’d walk up slowly to Bryce and wait until he reached out to wrap an arm around her, to pull her close. She didn’t make the first move, didn’t jump into anything.

  So her playing with him, her being willing to tease him, warmed him in a way that made his chest tight. She’d risked his anger just to play a game?

  Was this the real Claire? When the layers of pain and trauma were all gone, when she wasn’t afraid, was this the real girl? He had to admit, he liked it.

  So Joshua leaned over her, capturing those freezing hands and pinning them above her head. “That wasn’t very nice.”

  “It wasn’t very nice that you’re still in bed. I’m bored.”

  “Bored?” He used his hips to pin her down so she couldn’t use her icy feet against him. “I think I can help with that.” His rocked his hips forward, rubbing his cock against her flat stomach. Sleeping naked had its advantages.

  “I just wanted you to get up.”

  “I am. Can’t you tell?” He ground his erection against her again. “Is that why you really came in here?” He kissed her soft throat, then dragged his nose up the side of her neck. “I think you wanted to make sure I paid attention to you.”

  “It’s not my fault you sleep naked. I didn’t know.”

  He huffed a laugh as she worked her thighs apart then wrapped her legs around him. The chill from her heels didn’t faze him that time, him being too distracted by all the lovely lines of her body. “Just hoped?”

  She didn’t deny it, tilting her hips toward him like an offer. His breath shuddered from his chest. She wanted him. Finally.

  Not that he’d been jealous. When he’d realized Bryce and she had solidified their own fragile connection, it had thrilled him as much as anyone else. It had helped to build strength between all of them.

  He knew damn well that in something like this, each relationship was different. He couldn’t apply one to any other. She had to find her way with each of them individually, so he’d never be pissed she’d taken a while, that she’d had to get comfortable with him.

  But, he’d craved her. That voice in his head that demanded he have her had grown louder. He’d wait as long as needed, as long as it took her to want him, but he’d be lying if he didn’t admit to pulling in a breath of relief at the idea of getting there with her, of feeling like it was solid between them as well.

  He lifted his weight up, releasing her hands. She wore the black lace panties he’d bought her, a matching bra making a striking image against her pale skin. So, she planned something. No other reason she’d wear something like that just to wake me up.

  This playful side of her pleased him, made him excited for the game, the chase, the hunt. He teased a finger over the line of her panties. “These look good. Someone with good taste must have picked them out.”

  “It couldn’t have been you, then.”

  He chuckled at her barb before grasping the panties and ripping them, the lace giving way beneath his strong hands.

  “Hey, I liked those!”

  Outrage was better than fear, so he only tossed away the scraps. “I’ll buy you more, sweetheart, just so I can tear them off you.”

  “You’re impossible.” Even as she said it, she lifted her hips, and while she no doubt meant it to get closer, it also gave him a damn good look at her soaked little pussy. He wanted to bury his face there, to plunge his tongue into her, to swallow down every drop of her again and pull all the sounds he could from her.

  Last time, when he’d tasted her in the back room of that restaurant, she’d moaned for him, but she hadn’t trusted him. Could he get to scream, this time? With her defenses down, with that trust between them, could he get that needy voice of hers higher? Hell, he wanted to try it when the other alphas were home like a dinner bell. A good scream could bring them running, and he’d been itching to take her at once.

  It gave him a sense of completion when all three of them took a woman—it strengthened them, bonded them. They’d gotten a taste when Kaidan had fingered her and she’d blown Joshua, when she’d crawled across the floor to lick the cum from Bryce’s fingers, but it had only been a taste.

  He wanted more, and he was starting to think they had a chance for it.

  “Come on, sweetheart. Take what you want.”

  Her eyebrows pulled toward each other. “What?”

  “You heard me. You want me? You want this? Go on.”

  “What if I don’t?”

  He tried for nonchalance, as it if didn’t matter to him. “Then I guess you don’t want to get fucked by me.”

  She thrust her hip up in a desperate plea, and if he were a weaker man, he’d have given in. He stood his ground, though. If she wanted his cock, she’d need to wrap those pretty fingers of hers around it and guide it herself. Sure, he enjoyed the game, the control of getting her to do as he wanted, but it was also for her.

  She needed not to be passive. She needed to take control, to take responsibility for what she wanted because it would give her confidence. She liked to lie back so she didn’t have to think, because if others did it for her, she never had to
face her own fears.

  A growl from her lips had him smiling. It wasn’t the deep one of an alpha. It was softer and higher than that, but damn it warmed him. Poor little omega, wanting cock but having to participate.

  After another moment, she closed her eyes as though it would give her distance. Still, she reached her hesitant hand between them. She had to stretch, small as she was, but her hand found his cock. She offered a tentative stroke, an exploration that he doubted she’d ever had before.

  From what he understood, that alpha had been her first. She hadn’t gotten the chance to explore, to figure out the whole sex thing. She’d never had the chance to play, to discover, to find what she liked. The fact she got to then, that she brushed her fingers over his length, it was something that should have happened years ago for her.

  Finally she lifted her hips again and nestled the head of his dick to her slit, aided when he moved for her. Once against her, she grazed his cock across her, pressing it against her desperate clit in a hard stroke before fitting it into the nook of her cunt. She grasped his hip, curling in her nails to pull him closer.

  So he gave her what she took, what she wanted and lifted his hips beneath her urging until his length filled every inch of her hot pussy.

  Her sigh was sweet, playful. Ah, morning sex is a wonderful thing. He smiled, leaning down and stealing a kiss as he set a languid pace, in no rush, ready to waste away the morning hours with his naked omega.

  Everything else could wait.

  * * * *

  Bryce sat across the desk from the detective. They’d worked with Sam Franklin plenty of times, and he’d been quick to offer a meeting.

  He worked on a special task force that handled crime against omegas, and that position had put him in a place to cross paths with Bryce many times. The truth was, the police were slow to do much for omegas. They tended to prosecute murder, especially when committed by strangers, but anything short of that was seen as a lesser crime. Alphas who abused their omega mates, or omegas who were raped during their heats—those things they ignored. It meant Sam would pass cases to Bryce when he’d done all he legally could.

  “What interests you about this one? You guys usually only get involved when there are living omegas. This guy, he’s only leaving a trail of dead bodies.”

  “That woman we’ve got some interest in knew the girl.” Bryce frowned as the words sunk in. “Trail? So this isn’t the only one?”

  Sam tossed the file over, letting it slide across the desk. “Interest in? I’ve known you a long time and you’ve never had interest in anyone. Tell me about her.”

  “That’s not what we’re here for.” Bryce picked up the file, but Sam flattened his hand on it first.

  “Consider it payment. I find this all pretty amusing.”

  Bryce lifted his lip, as if a snarl might frighten off the other man, but leave it to an alpha to not care. Besides, it wasn’t as if he was ashamed. He just didn’t care for people prying. “Her name is Claire.”

  “And?”

  “And I like her.”

  “Figured as much. Come on, don’t hold out on me.”

  Bryce narrowed his eyes and pulled the file from Sam’s grip. “She was friends with this Jackie, and she’s holding herself responsible. I want to figure out who did this so she stops blaming herself.”

  “So, it’s more than a fling?”

  “I hope so.”

  Sam’s gaze drifted toward Kaidan then back. “Just you?”

  Bryce didn’t answer, knowing Kaidan could answer for himself, and Kaidan made conversation better than he did. Meanwhile, Bryce went over the paperwork.

  “Not just him, no. Joshua and I are interested as well.”

  “Poor girl. She’s really okay with putting up with the three of you? The last time we handled a mission together, I thought I’d kill you all by the end.”

  “She’s hesitant, but settling in. If we can figure this out, it will help. She deserves some peace.”

  “Hard history?”

  “I’m starting to wonder if any omega doesn’t have a hard history.”

  “An omega, hmm? Not just an omega, but one with a difficult past? Well, I can’t say you don’t have a type, I guess.”

  “Shut up,” Bryce snapped as he moved his finger over the file.

  Bryce had seen plenty of ugliness, but the report, the pictures, page after page of victims reminded him that while he and his brothers helped omegas, many never got help. The picture of Jackie before she’d died, a picture of her and another woman, had him frowning. She was young, far too young for such an end. He knew Claire had helped her and imagined her trying to teach the younger omega, trying to take care of her, to be the family none of them had.

  He shook his head and pushed that away. He needed to focus on the details, not the emotional bullshit. He couldn’t save Jackie, couldn’t do a thing except help figure out if it was Kieran who did it.

  “What do you know?”

  Sam leaned back in his seat. “Not much. Eight victims that we’re sure of stretching out over three years. There’s DNA left behind, but no match for it. The physical damage shows it was an alpha, bruising showing a knot. All the victims appeared to be dating an alpha, but none said who it was, and even finding that was hard. All the omegas were hiding. Each one under a fake name, each having avoided alphas previously that we can tell.”

  “They were all hiding? That can’t be a coincidence. He has to be targeting omegas who are under the radar. Just by statistics, there’s no way he’d happen upon omegas at this rate, and the rage in the killings? It’s punishment. He’s punishing them for running,” Kaidan said.

  “Seems that way to me, too. I’ve gone over and over this, but this asshole? He’s good. He picked omegas who had no one, ones who wouldn’t tell anyone about him. He picked ones no one would miss, either.”

  No one but Claire.

  Bryce asked the question nagging him. “How is he finding them? These omegas, they’ve been in hiding. There is no easy or reliable way to spot an omega on the street. Some of us can get a sense, sure, if you spend a bit of time in a room with one, but unless one goes into heat or they run blood work, it’s impossible to tell.”

  Even if it was Kieran, he had to have some other way of finding them. None of Bryce’s contacts included any of the victims, meaning they weren’t part of the work Bryce and the others handled.

  “He could work at a hospital? Some other job where he has access to medical records? Maybe running unauthorized blood tests?” Kaidan offered the possible suggestions rapid-fire.

  Sam grabbed another file and held it up. “This is confidential, we clear? Getting this and keeping it took a lot of favors, so if you don’t keep your mouth shut, it’s my ass.” He handed that file off as well. “We found abnormal hormones in each of the omegas. A forced heat. It took me a hell of a lot of work to track down what could do that.”

  Bryce looked over the file, but most of it he couldn’t understand. He wasn’t a fucking scientist. Give him security specs, building layouts, mission plans or weapons and he was good. Talk about hormones and biology? He was lost. “Just explain it to me already.”

  “Best as I can understand, there’s a pheromone a corporation has been developing. In close contact, it causes slight changes in an omega’s scent. The idea is that with this, an alpha can identify omegas. They can put the chemical on themselves, and they’d detect those changes, be able to find omegas. However, in larger amounts, it can cause the omega to go into heat. I talked to the lab that created it, and the heat is not a natural one. It comes on fast, no warning. The longer it’s been since the omega had a heat, the smaller the dose to send them into it. From the amounts on the dead omegas, I would guess the alpha used the pheromones to identify his victims, then used a much heavier dose when he killed them, as each appeared to have been going through heat when they died.”

  Bryce’s hands drew into fists, wrinkling the corners of the paper at the thought of a frightened
omega forced into a heat under those circumstances, that her last moments would be like that.

  The thought had him stilling. “The first time we met Claire, she went into a heat. It surprised her, I think, and I know she was on suppressants.”

  Sam’s lips tightened before offering a quick not. “Sounds about right. We found a lot of it in the last victim’s apartment, soaked into a rag. He probably covered her mouth with it.”

  Kaidan caught Bryce’s gaze. “Claire was in Jackie’s apartment to get the card. She must have been exposed there.”

  Bryce’s temper prowled at the thought of his omega being drugged, at their first time having been forced, a result of that fucker’s influence. He focused back on the main topic. “That’s all you have?”

  “I wish I had more for you, but that’s it.”

  Kaidan took the page, skimming it. His hand froze halfway down, and Bryce knew him well enough to read him.

  “What?”

  “Did you see the name of the lab?”

  “No. Why?”

  Kaidan turned the file around and pointed to a name. F.G.I. Innovation.

  “That sounds familiar.”

  Kaidan nodded, setting the file on the desk. “It’s a lab we know. We handle their security, and Graystone Enterprises handles their networks.”

  Bryce swore, slamming the file shut.

  That mean Kieran had access to the pheromone used to kill the omegas.

  They couldn’t keep pretending the man was innocent. It was looking more and more like their friend was the killer they were searching for.

  * * * *

  Joshua twisted the dial on the stove as the red sauce boiled over the top, the scent of burnt tomato filling the kitchen and spilling into the rest of the house.

  “Are we going for a blackened theme for dinner?” Kaidan chuckled as leaned against the kitchen island while Joshua also yanked the burnt bread sticks from the oven, dropping the pan in the sink.

  “Seems so. I guess Claire forgot she was cooking.”