by Jayce Carter
“I thought our meeting wasn’t for another few days.” He leaned back in his seat, no worry across his features. “What is so important you had to show up with a gun?”
“You thought you could get away with it.”
“With what?”
“You alphas think you can do whatever you want. You think you can kill, can hurt people, and there aren’t any consequences.”
“Are you having a breakdown? Where’s Bryce?”
Just the name had her fingers tightening around the pistol, the pain carving chunks from her chest. Her hand trembled from the weight of the gun, but she kept it pointed at Kieran. “This is about Jackie, not me.”
“Jackie? I don’t know any Jackie.”
Claire slammed the palm of her free hand on the desk between them. “Don’t you lie to me! And don’t you dare say her name, you don’t deserve to! Bryce might have been willing to ignore what you did, but I’m not.” She picked the card from her pocket and flicked it at him. “I found this in her things. You’re the only alpha who works out of this office, you broke into the lab, you killed Jackie.”
He picked up the card, his lips pressing together. “This isn’t my card.”
“Bullshit. It’s your card. It’s you, and it doesn’t matter who wants to try and let you get out of it, I’m going to hold you responsible.”
He set the card down. “So you think I killed your friend, and you’re here to kill me?”
“No one else cares about omegas, no one else holds alphas responsible, but I will. You can’t do whatever you want anymore, can’t hurt anyone you want and not have anything happen. I’m going to make you pay for what you did.”
He sighed. “You’re not listening, but I didn’t do it. This card? I gave it to one of my people who sets up networks for me.”
“You said you had no other alphas at this office.”
“Because he doesn’t set up locally. He travels for me, sets up networks out of town. I didn’t tell you about him because he wouldn’t ever set up, ever go into your business, so he didn’t matter.”
“You’d say anything to save yourself.”
“Are you willing to risk that? Are you willing to kill someone who might be innocent?”
“Maybe. Being innocent hasn’t mattered to anyone else, why should it matter to me? Jackie was innocent, and she’s dead. Being innocent doesn’t save omegas, why should it save you? Besides, you’d say anything you could to get out of this, but you lie. Alphas lie. It’s all you do.”
“We’ll figure this out, Claire. Call Bryce, call the police.”
“Why? The police do nothing.”
“Maybe not, but Bryce does, Kaidan and Joshua do, and believe it or not, I do something as well. I understand you are angry, that you are hurting, that you want justice for your friend, but if you pull that trigger, if you make this mistake, you’ll never forgive yourself for it.”
“I’ll never forgive myself for a lot of things. If this is another? Fine.”
She pulled the trigger. Fuck him. Fuck him, and Joshua, and Kaidan, and Bryce, and fuck her, too. They’d all failed, over and over again. Them by lying, her by believing it, by playing house and pretending this fantasy could ever happen while ignoring the promise she’d made to her friend.
Just as she squeezed the trigger, a body struck her side. It knocked her to the left, causing the bullet to strike the wall instead of Kieran. Hands closed around her wrists, pulling the gun away and sending it flying across the floor, a snarl in her ear, a scent she recognized.
Once again, Bryce had stolen from her. Not her life this time, but her vengeance. He captured her hands between his, lip lifted in a snarl, face a mixture of fear and fury.
Maybe she should have been afraid. Maybe she should have taken a look at that face and tried to run, but she couldn’t. She didn’t care. His threats over the phone didn’t matter, his strength and size didn’t matter, none of it mattered.
Claire met his gaze head on and said the only words that ran through her head, the ones that sprang from her lips because she couldn’t stop them.
I hate you.
Chapter Seventeen
Bryce couldn’t shake Claire’s words.
I hate you.
She’d said it with conviction, then said nothing. Bryce had pulled in his temper enough to get Sam over there.
Kieran gave himself over, submitting to a DNA test, willing to sit in jail until the results came back. It seemed he wasn’t the killer, that the other employee could be, but that didn’t matter right then.
Instead, only the omega seated on the couch, staring at the far wall mattered. She hadn’t said another thing, hadn’t paid attention to questions asked. She hadn’t fought them when they’d gotten her into the car, hadn’t listened when Bryce had tried to apologize for his threats over the phone.
She wasn’t afraid. She wasn’t angry. Everything had just bled out of her.
It was as though she’d broken, as if she’d just stopped.
Not that it had eased the tension they each carried from yet another brush with death. There wasn’t a way for any of them to pretend they hadn’t bonded, and that bond demanded action in response to this, to her actions, to the risk.
He’d felt it after she’d been hurt, but this time? This time it clawed deeper. They’d each been with her, had solidified their bond, and now she’d put herself in danger and defied them.
He could see the same tension inside Joshua, who paced, steps heavy, hands stretching and drawing into fists. Even Kaidan wasn’t immune, though he leaned against the wall, gaze hard and locked on Claire.
Still, none of them approached her. One wrong move and it could all go bad. How the hell were they supposed to get past that?
Bryce spoke first. “I told you to come back.”
She didn’t respond.
He walked up, pulling her to her feet by an arm. He leaned in until their noses brushed. “I told you to come back here, Claire. You could have gotten yourself killed!”
“So?”
The answer only drove higher the tension of the room, the way she didn’t care. They could have lost her and she didn’t care. She didn’t throw the word back as a smart ass. She really didn’t give a fuck they could have lost her. What were they to do with that?
Bryce’s lips peeled off his teeth. “So, that doesn’t work for me. Losing you to your own bad choices isn’t okay with me.” He curled his fingers into her hair as if the touch could elicit something from her. He needed something from her beyond this shell, needed to get her to react. He’d take fear if it broke through whatever this was.
She stared back at him as though it didn’t matter, as though nothing mattered.
“You have people who worry about you, who care about you. Does that mean nothing to you?”
Blank eyes met his, empty. That was worse than anything. They held none of the spark he’d known, no fear, no joy, no anger. Nothing at all, as if it had all drained away, as if they had emptied her. Hell, she was like the corpse they’d been afraid she’d become.
He took a step closer until he was near enough she could smell him. “You need us. You’ve bonded to us whether you want to admit it or not. You need us, Claire.”
Still no response, but her nostrils flared. She could smell him, and a moment later, he could smell her, too. That delicious scent that said she grew wet for him, that her body prepared for him.
The idea of fucking her while she felt like that didn’t sit right, but what choices did he have? He ran his fingers down her front, then flicked open the button on her pants.
“What are you doing?” Kaidan asked the question from his spot, always the protector, the worrier.
“Nothing else is working. She’s not getting anything else I’m saying or doing.”
“You can’t do this, not when things are like this. It’ll only make it worse.”
Bryce turned toward Kaidan. “I don’t know what else to do! We’re liable to tear one another apart with
this tension, and this is the only way she’s reacting at all. It’s something, and maybe something is better than nothing, and maybe it will make her wake the fuck up and deal with us.”
Kaidan didn’t look convinced, at least not until he inhaled, her scent clouding his eyes. Ah, he could smell it too, that want that called to each of them. Kaidan’s footsteps said he’d given in.
Kaidan walked up behind Claire and worked the zipper of her jeans down, his lips at her ear. “Tell us no and we’ll stop, love. It’s always up to you, even now.”
She didn’t say no, though. She shut her eyes and let her head fall back on his shoulder. A surrender of some sort, but was it to biology or them?
Her jeans hit the floor when Kaidan pushed them off and slipped his hand into the front of her underwear.
Joshua came up beside Bryce and flicked the buttons of her shirt to strip her of that. Soon they’d have her naked, naked and pinned between all three of them. That was something, wasn’t it? She could try to hide, try to pretend she didn’t want this, but she’d see reason.
How could she keep distance when they were inside her? When she was locked on their knots, when she didn’t have an inch of space between them and her? It was part of what had broken down those walls in the first place, so it had to work again.
It had to, because Bryce didn’t know what else to do.
Her breathing sped as Kaidan worked her cunt, a flush on her cheeks.
There, something. Not that dead face she’d had before, that flat voice, but honest moans.
Bryce pulled his shirt free, then kicked his shoes off. He stripped to nothing in a hurry, dropping to his knees in front of her as she came around Kaidan’s fingers, her first orgasm of the night, but it sure as fuck wouldn’t be her only.
No, they’d leave her a sweaty mess, panting and begging and shaking. They’d wring every orgasm from her they could, spend hours worshiping at the altar of her body until she remembered how much she needed them, how much she wanted them and how much she was wanted in return.
She wanted to put a wall up, to pretend they didn’t affect her anymore, that they had nothing between them. Her body betrayed her, though. It had bonded to them whether she wanted that or not, and he was determined to make her realize it.
Bryce looked up her body, now bare from Joshua’s work. He stared from her stomach, to between her heavy breasts, to meet her eyes. Those eyes had turned hard. It sat deeper than the distrust she’d had at first. That had been speculative, but she now stared at him like she no longer questioned if he’d hurt her.
She knew he would.
If only she understood…
Bryce grasped her underwear and slipped them down her hips, down her legs. She didn’t lift her feet when they reached the floor, but neither did she fight him when he lifted each foot to remove them.
Passive. That was what this was, that was what she did. She’d give them anything, but only if they took. She refused to return the affection, the moment.
Fine. Let her try to stay removed.
Kaidan kept his fingers buried deep inside her. He pumped them into her once more before withdrawing them, making room.
Bryce filled the space, bracketing his hands on her hips, so he pulled the hood of her clit out of the way and displayed the hardened nub to him. He wasn’t playing, wasn’t teasing. Instead, he delivered a punishing lick to her exposed clit, which had already swelled from Kaidan’s attention.
A gasp broke through her feigned disinterest, and her hands twitched by her sides as if she wanted to grasp his head and force him farther against her sopping cunt. Well, she didn’t need to, because he wouldn’t give her an inch of space.
Bryce drove her hard, devouring her with hungry licks. He latched his lips around to clit and sucked hard, anything he could do get a reaction. If she thought to refuse him that, he’d ensure it.
A growl left his chest, possessive and angry. It came from her denying him, from her putting herself in danger, from the future she’d almost thrown away. The more he thought about it, the more he thought about how he could have lost her, the harder he pushed her as he ate her out.
I might be on my knees, but I’ll damn well show her who’s in charge.
Joshua leaned in, wanting a kiss, wanting to ground Claire and himself. He needed her lips, needed to reassure himself she was fine, safe, alive. Her breath, warm and quick, tempting him, drew him in. No one could lie with a kiss. It was too deep, too personal. There was nothing to hide in a kiss.
Or when a kiss was withheld.
Claire turned her face away, his lips landing on her cheek.
“Come on, sweetheart.” He cupped her breast and brushed his thumb over her hardened nipple. “Give me those lips. I’ll make it worth it.”
Still, she kept her face turned away. The rejection reached into him like a parasite, attacking something he’d thought was solid. When Claire had fit into his life, when she’d become important to him, when she’d made him want something he hadn’t wanted in a decade, he’d thought it solid. Now? Now when she turned her face away, when she denied him her eyes and her lips and her sweet touches?
The loss ached in his chest.
Still, her scent was enough for him to keep going. She wasn’t afraid. Pissed? Confused? Damn near feral? Sure, but not afraid. As long as she wasn’t afraid, he’d keep going. He’d satisfy her, even if her denials hurt. That didn’t matter. He didn’t matter.
It was the thing about being an alpha, even if it hurt him, he’d give everything to her. Anything she needed, he’d provide.
So Joshua returned his lips to her neck, over her pulse, letting her keep the kiss. She moved, shifting, hips rolling despite refusing to reach out, to touch any of them.
After she came for Bryce, Joshua knew what she really needed. The omega needed to be fucked, needed to have her cunt stretched around a knot. They all needed the completion and some sense of normalcy, a connection. So, when Bryce rose after another lick, Joshua pulled her toward the couch.
They situated without words. Bryce and Joshua sat on the couch beside each other, both naked. The space between them took her knee as she straddled Joshua’s lap, Kaidan helping her to balance.
She grasped his broad shoulders for balance, the touch instinctual but still welcome. She dug her nails into his skin when she slid down onto his waiting dick, taking him in like her pussy knew he belonged, like her body got something her mind refused.
Her cunt squeezed around his shaft, the tightness pulling a growl from him, causing him to drop his head back like some sacrifice to her. She’s here. She’s safe. She’s ours. We can work everything else out later.
She shifted, Kaidan’s guiding hand on her neck pushing her toward Bryce. His shaft disappeared past her parted lips.
From behind her, Kaidan helped her lift up then sink back down on Joshua’s cock, riding him with short and slow thrusts.
Bryce slid her hair from the side of her face nearest them, allowing them to watch her take them both, watching their dicks slide into her. Damn, it was the best sight, even if her eyes had closed and she refused to look at any of them. Even so, she breathed hard through her nose and her scent, slick with want, filled every inch of the room.
The roll of her hips said she craved the closeness, the touch. She wanted to fight it, wanted to make a point.
Let her.
They’d move past it.
They had to.
The image of Claire stretched out between Joshua and Bryce burned itself into Kaidan’s memory—her back bowed slightly, her hand on Bryce’s thigh, the line of her spine angled.
She was a beautiful creature. When he’d walked into that office to see her facing off against Kieran, he’d again remembered she was no fragile thing. She’d held his gun, back straight, lips pulled into a snarl worthy of any alpha.
They’d gotten themselves a mate not just worthy, but one none of them could ever be worthy of, not really.
And what had they done? They’d b
etrayed her. Hurt her. Made her question not just them but herself. That was the real pain she wore, and Kaidan understood it, understood her enough to see it. She wasn’t this hurt just about them, but with the fact she’d trusted them.
She’d never loved James, never trusted him. His actions had chipped away her self-worth, perhaps, but it had never been her choice. She’d chosen them, though, to basically live with them, to be with them—she’d made the decision after so much hesitation. When they’d lied to her, when they’d betrayed her, she couldn’t trust herself either.
And that hurt Kaidan more than anything else. The person he was supposed to protect, he’d hurt. Even if he hadn’t wanted to do things the way Bryce had suggested, he’d gone along with it. He was as guilty as the others, and those actions had fractured her.
They’d broken her, and while Bryce and Joshua believed they could fix it, Kaidan didn’t.
Some things couldn’t be fixed. Claire had so many cracks running through her from her past, injuries that had never really healed, and they’d rebroken them all in that moment. He didn’t know if they could put it back together.
The bond meant she craved them, meant she’d likely not leave them, but it didn’t mean she had to ever forgive them, ever get back what had started to grow between them.
The idea of living in that halfway-there position terrified him. To think about not hearing that laugh of hers, to not see that spark of mischief, to not have her constantly reaching for them—all of it replaced by this silence.
Still, Kaidan could do nothing but satisfy her in the only way she would allow, take care of her in the only way he could.
He ran his hand up her back as he helped her ride Joshua, Bryce having grasped her hair to take control of her head while he fucked her mouth in careful motions.
While they took her roughness, they had to use caution with her feeling as she did, to pay attention. Angry as they were, they couldn’t take it out on her.
Still, Kaidan lifted his gaze to Bryce then gestured toward the side table beside him. Bryce nodded, reaching over with the hand not in her hair, and pulled out the small bottle stored there.