Owned by the Alphas Page 10

  Claire didn’t give herself time to breathe before she grabbed her bag and left through the front door. She couldn’t have them take notice of Tiffany, which meant she needed to ensure they focused on her.

  She walked quickly down the sidewalk. Who knew, maybe she could get on a bus before the men spotted her, before they could reach her. They’d catch her, of course, but maybe she could take them on a chase for a while anyway.

  Hope never panned out, though, and when she turned the corner of the block, she came face to face with Joshua.

  “Well, hey there, sweetheart.”

  She stepped backward. Joshua was too large, too close, frustration sharpening the edges of his smile.

  Only, when she backed up, she ran into another hard body. She twisted her head to find Kaidan staring down from behind her, no less happy.

  Great, she’d managed to piss off a few alphas.

  Chapter Nine

  Kaidan handed off the glass of water to Claire as he checked for damage. She appeared unharmed, though weariness in her eyes showed that she’d missed sleep again, and the way she drank said she hadn’t stayed hydrated.

  The woman has no idea how to take care of herself, does she?

  Joshua sat in the armchair, laptop on his thighs. They’d had a friend look into their system, to try and find whatever Claire had been searching for. In addition, the friend had offered to pull all personal data he could find on her. It would take a few days to locate anything, so they’d sent what they knew.

  They needed more information, and she didn’t seem willing to offer anything.

  Claire took the water, their fingers brushing. She’d said nothing to any of them, sitting in the back between Kaidan and Joshua in case she’d decided to jump from the car.

  They’d taken her not to the office, but to the house they shared. A private place seemed a good idea, especially for some level of control since she’d proven more wily than they’d given her credit for.

  “Why did you run?” Kaidan sat beside her on the couch.

  “I told you, I had things to do.”

  Bryce dropped one of the bags they’d found in her purse on the table. “So it seems. You want to explain why you have so many suppressants?”

  Claire wouldn’t meet Bryce’s gaze. “I didn’t want to risk going into heat again, not after what happened last time.” The lie was easy to spot, but no one called her on it directly.

  No need to. The harder someone pushed an omega like Claire, the more she’d dig her heels in.

  “You have enough here for months of treatment for at least four omegas, all separated out into individual bags. They aren’t for you.” Bryce remained on the outskirts of the conversation leaning against the kitchen counter as if he knew how nervous he made her. “Add to that the young omega we spotted you with twice, now, and I’m going to venture a guess you’re helping other omegas.”

  Ah, there went her shoulders. It hadn’t been hard to guess, but confirmation sat in the tension running through her. She didn’t need to admit it because her actions gave her away.

  Kaidan set a hand on her knee. “Don’t worry. We aren’t trying to harm them, only keep you safe. You wouldn’t be dropping off so much medication if you weren’t planning on running.”

  Claire took another drink, then set the glass on the table. Her gaze locked on Kaidan’s hand. “I can’t stay.”

  “Why not? What is after you?”

  “Besides you three?”

  Joshua lifted his gaze. “You were planning to run because of us? Why? We haven’t hurt you, haven’t done anything but help you.”

  Claire sighed, looking over at him. “You want to own me. I won’t be owned.”

  “You’d own us too,” Bryce said. “If you’d just give it a try, you might be surprised at how you’d fit, if you’d just stop running long enough to try it.”

  “Try what? How exactly would you see this working? You’d lock me away here? I’d give everything up? Turn into your own fuck toy?”

  A growl from Bryce cut off her tirade. Seemed he didn’t care for her to use such names about herself.

  Kaidan offered her answer. “No. We would work out the details, the specifics, but none of us want a slave. We want a partner, Claire. You would continue to work at your shop, but we’d want to upgrade security. You’d live in your own home, though I’d hope eventually you might consider living here, should things go well. You would have your own life. We just want to be a part of it.”

  “Right, because you’ve shown me how much freedom you like to give.”

  “You’ve been lying to us from the start,” Bryce snapped. “If we’d met under other circumstances, it would have been different. The way this has gone has been because you’re in trouble and refuse to tell us how.”

  “How would it have been different?”

  Kaidan turned more to face her. “You really don’t think you could be seduced?”

  “I’m pretty sure I’m immune.” Even as she spoke, her voice had turned breathless.

  She isn’t as unaffected as she likes to pretend.

  Kaidan thought back to her soft lips wrapped around his dick, to how beautiful she’d been when she’d given into her wants. She was afraid, but that wasn’t the same as having no reaction. He reached up to slide his thumb over her bottom lip, a reminder of their night. “I doubt that. Come on, love, you can’t pretend you aren’t interested. Nervous? Sure, but still interested.”

  Her lips parted, her tongue touching his thumb as if lured to it.

  He pressed the thumb forward, past her lips, rewarded by her closing around it and sucking softly. A rumble from Joshua said he’d watched the exchange.

  “Trust us,” Kaidan whispered, wishing he could find some way to make Claire believe, make her understand.

  In all the years he’d spent beside Joshua and Bryce, they had never felt this way, never found a person they connected with, one they’d wanted like this before. That had to mean something, didn’t it?

  Claire met his gaze, a question there. The question was obvious. Could she trust him? Could she trust any of them? If only she’d believe any answer he gave her.

  Finally, Claire gave herself over to the lack of answers and slid into Kaidan’s lap, knees braced wide on the couch beside his hips, body against his. She sucked harder on his thumb, hands going to his shoulders.

  Her scent filled his nostrils, arousal taking hold. He knew she was drenched, knew he could slide into her with no effort if only not for the layers of clothes they wore.

  Instead, another hand slid into her hair, turning her face to Joshua. “Mind if I join, sweetheart?”

  She reached out, fingers clutching his shirt in what was an obvious yes.

  Joshua smiled, using the grip in her hair to dislodge Kaidan’s thumb and steal a kiss.

  As Joshua distracted Claire with that passionate kiss, Kaidan worked the buttons on her shirt, freeing them one at a time. He caressed the newly exposed skin with the tips of his fingers. She felt warm, almost feverish, and he wished again there was room to really spread her out.

  He hoped he could before long, that they’d reach a place of comfort where there was time and space for that. For now, however, things had to progress with care. She could pull back at any moment, allow old fears and worries to infect her. So, Kaidan busied himself with what was available, which was the soft skin of the omega in his lap, and the sight of her passionate kiss with Joshua.

  It wasn’t going too badly.

  * * * *

  Bryce curled his fingers with the need to touch Claire. He could smell her from his spot a few feet away, the heady scent clouding his mind and making it hard to think straight.

  Her shirt slipped off beneath Kaidan’s hands, revealing her flawless skin and the strap of her bra cutting across her back. Her lips met Joshua’s, a noisy kiss where neither paid attention to anything beyond the other’s touch.

  Kaidan worked free her bra, his deft fingers quick. She arched her back to m
ake it easier then bowed as he pulled the cloth down her arms. He cupped her pert breasts, his fingers gentle and coaxing.

  But, both Joshua and Kaidan were gentle men—Kaidan in his desire to always care for his partner and Joshua in his need for coaxed submission. They were alphas through and through, a rough edge impossible to hide, yet they rarely used that side on a female. Though, it was that missing softness that left Bryce across the room by himself, wasn’t it? Because he lacked that civilizing feature, because his rough edges hid beneath nothing.

  Joshua broke the kiss to move to her neck, then over her collarbone. When Kaidan used his palm to lift the weight of her breast, Joshua captured the offered nipple between his lips. His teeth tugged, and Claire leaned into the touch, her own lips parted on sweet moans.

  “You see, love? It’s not such a bad offer.” Kaidan left her breasts to Joshua, and dipped his fingers between their bodies. “Can I?”

  A quick nod and the waist of her pants loosened. Kaidan’s hand on her hip lifted her, sliding her pants and underwear down. Joshua helped balance her as Kaidan worked her pants off her. It left her naked in his lap, goosebumps over her bared skin.

  A growl from Bryce caught her attention and surprised him. But, fuck, could he really be expected to keep such a sound in? He’d stayed back since she hadn’t welcomed him, since she’d made it clear she wasn’t ready for him, might never be, but the sight reached inside him and woke something primal and powerful. That thing inside him ruled by instinct released its sound of need.

  “Do you want him to join in?” Joshua asked the question while he offered sweet attention to her breasts with his lips, worshiping each place he found.

  The sting was hardly a surprise when Claire shook her head, and Bryce locked any reaction beneath his hard exterior.

  Kaidan’s mouth tightened, his mind moving for a solution as it always did. The poor man worried too much, especially about Bryce. Always trying to fix things, trying to find a way to make it all work out for everyone.

  “It’s fine.” Bryce pushed off the desk to give them privacy. Walking out hurt, but damn it, he’d already decided. He’d never take this chance from the other men, no matter what it meant for him.

  “Wait,” Claire said so quickly, everyone stopped. Even she went still, more so when Bryce turned back toward her. “Don’t go,” she whispered.

  “You don’t have to—”

  “Please? Just…” She shivered when Joshua dragged his tongue over her peaked nipple, her eyes clouding over. “Just stay?”

  Bryce met the other men’s gazes, tried to figure out between them what that might mean. In the end, they all wandered the same unfamiliar territory, and only a fool would walk out when Claire had begged so sweetly. “Okay.” He lowered himself into the chair across from the couch, movements slow. “I’ll stay. I won’t touch you. I’ll sit here in the chair, but I’ll stay. Is that what you want?”

  She caught her plump lip between her teeth, her gaze blatant as she moved it over his body. The look removed any doubt about whether or not she wanted him. The only question was if she’d allow herself to take the risk.

  And since he wouldn’t lose the moment, not when he had no idea if he’d get another, he released the worries. When she nodded, Bryce flicked open the button to his jeans, shifted them down and wrapped a hand around his hard dick.

  The widening of her gaze and the way she ran her pink tongue across her bottom lip made him glad he’d stayed.

  Claire couldn’t think, and she didn’t want to. She didn’t want to think about her past, her future, her promises. She wanted to lose herself in the touch of Kaidan’s hands, in the stroke of Joshua’s tongue, in the lust that Bryce watched with.

  She might have felt bad about turning him down, but she knew why she had to. He was too much, too strong, too dominant. Worse? She responded to it. Each growl he offered, when he’d wrapped his fingers in her hair and fucked her against the wall that first night, it had been easy to blame it on her heat, but she’d grown wet each time she’d remembered it.

  If he got his hands on her, she’d give herself over to those feelings, and that terrified her. She could pretend she had a measure of control with the others, but Bryce? He needed to stay at a distance.

  So, instead, he had his cock out and stroked over it in slow and long motions, eyes catching on each place the others touched her.

  Kaidan had placed his large hand between her thighs, touching her with sure strokes across her drenched folds. It was the certainty that allowed her to relax. At least someone knew what they were doing, and she trusted him in that at least. He pressed into her with a single finger, her body stretching around it, welcoming it.

  Joshua chuckled against the under curve of her breast, his body bent to reach each inch of her he could. “Normally, he’d have to lick that finger, but you’re wet enough on your own, aren’t you?”

  Heat spread over Claire’s cheeks at the filthy words, at the truth in them. She was drenched, ready, wanting. Kaidan could have slid his cock into her, and he’d have found no resistance or struggle. His finger was nothing compared to what she wanted, either.

  Or…did she? Her eyebrows drew together, uncertainty there. She shouldn’t want that, shouldn’t want them-

  A nip to her breast pulled her from the spiral before it could take hold. Joshua’s smile grounded her. “I like that, like that you want us. Don’t you dare be embarrassed about it. Hell, the fact you want us even when you don’t want to, I love that. You being wet? That’s the best thing, sweetheart.”

  Claire might have said something else, but all thoughts fled when Kaidan thrust his strong finger deep into her, curling it forward. It had her pulling in a rough breath, her fingers still wrapped in Joshua’s shirt, her other hand on Kaidan’s shoulder. Between the two of them, she knew she wouldn’t fall, and that sort of certainty shook her.

  Nothing in her life had ever been certain.

  Kaidan fucked her slowly with that finger, deep but teasing. He kept up the methodical thrusting until her hips rolled, a plea for more. His masculine chuckle said he’d felt it, that he knew exactly what she wanted even if she didn’t. “All right, love, let’s try this.”

  Before Claire could ask what “this” was, Kaidan shifted. He stood, keeping her with him, the strength in when he moved her frightening. Even so, he gave her no reason to think he’d drop her. He turned them, so she rested on her knees between them, Joshua in front of her, Kaidan behind.

  Joshua undid the button of his pants, moving the zipper down quickly. “You needing, sweetheart? Just a taste?” The lopsided smirk stole any real sting from the words, and damn him, he was right.

  She wanted to taste him, craved it like an addict. She wanted to worship his cock with her tongue until he spilled and she could swallow every drop he gave her.

  Kaidan grasped her hair in his, tightening until the strands tugged against her scalp in a gentle reminder. “Go on, love, take what you need.” His voice poured over her like heavy smoke.

  Joshua worked his pants down low on his hips until he freed his erection, and when Kaidan pushed her forward, she ended up face to face with his length.

  Claire might have been embarrassed if she’d thought about it. She’d known them how long? A few days? That first time she’d been in heat and out of her mind. What the hell was wrong with her since then that she’d do this? That she’d want this? She’d spent most of her life avoiding anything like this, but there she rested, naked and inches from one alpha’s cock, another alpha behind her and a third watching as he stroked himself off.

  Her mouth opened on a breathless moan when Kaidan pressed two thick fingers into her cunt, quickly as though trying to distract her, or even in punishment.

  How does he always know what I’m thinking so fast?

  Still, the reminder of what was to come, of what she wanted, it made her give in. She licked up the bottom of Joshua’s cock, then swirled her tongue around the tip.

  A raspy gr
unt drew her gaze to the side, to Bryce who worked his hand over his shaft in harder strokes. He had his lips pulled back to show teeth in a half-snarl, the muscles on his biceps standing out as he jerked off.

  And Claire enjoyed the sight, a soft growl of her own before she kept eye contact with Bryce and enveloped Joshua’s hard cock with her lips.

  “Oh fuck.” Joshua cupped her chin, using the grip to urge her to take more by tiny increments. He didn’t force her, but made clear his desire, and right then, his desire was Claire’s. Or, maybe it always had been—she didn’t know anymore.

  Kaidan guided her with his firm grip in her hair, pushing her forward then drawing her back, the consistent pressure of his fist helping to center her even as he fucked her with two thick fingers, even as Joshua’s heavy dick inched closer to her gag reflex.

  “I can’t wait until we can fuck her at once.” Joshua’s voice sounded far away, and Claire felt no need to pay attention. The words between the men passed by her, as pointless as rain outside or music from a party down the street.

  “That’s going to be a while. I doubt she’s had much training.”

  Training?

  “You never know,” Joshua said, hips rising as he wrapped his hand around the base of his cock so she never went too far down his length.

  Kaidan pulled his fingers from her, earning a threatening growl from her that sounded as dangerous as one of Bryce’s. “Easy.” He ran his fingers up her drenched cunt, then circled one finger, wet from her own desire, against her ass.

  She froze, the words finally sinking in. She went to pull back, but neither men relented their hold.

  “Okay, love, okay. I won’t do that again.” Kaidan pulled the fingers away, having not even tried to enter her, and pressed back into her cunt, setting a harder pace than the last time, a pace that mollified her. “So, it’ll take a while, Joshua.”

  Joshua’s breathless laugh seemed as familiar as her own right then. “That’s okay. Anything worth having is worth working for, huh? Look at me, sweetheart, I want to see those pretty eyes on me when I come, when I give you what you need.”