A New Beginning

  “I’m going to kill him when he gets back,” Brooks overheard Josiah tell Briar. “I can’t believe he’s worrying me like this.” Josiah’s voice cracked. “You think something happened to him?”

  “No,” Briar said with certainty. “River could tear a human apart with his bare hands.”

  “Humans have guns. I’d feel it if something happened to him, wouldn’t I?”

  “I’m sure you would.” Briar tugged on Josiah’s hand. “Come on. It’s late. I’ll lie down with you until you can get to sleep. I’m sure River will be back by morning, and you can tear him a new one. Hey, maybe he’ll get lucky and run into X while he’s out.”

  Josiah sniffled as he followed Briar down the hall. “I just want him home and safe.”

  Their voices faded, and Brooks heard the bedroom door click shut.

  “Come to bed,” David’s voice called from the living room.

  Brooks walked in and pulled his shirt over his head. David lay in the middle of the sofa bed, bare chest gleaming in the moonlight from the window, which was cracked to let air into the warm apartment.

  “Was it bad?” Brooks whispered when he’d divested himself of pants and crawled under the thin blanket. He rested his head on the pillow next to David’s.

  “Yeah, pretty bad.” David turned and rested his hand on Brooks’ arm. “But only because a fight between two alphas is bound to be. Kane was frustrated, like we all are, and after my argument with River, he was touchy. Kane pushed too hard. River snapped.”

  Brooks trailed his fingers down David’s stomach and ran his thumb along the sharp bone of the alpha’s hip. “I’m glad I missed it.”

  “But you and Foster found jobs. Tell me about it.”

  After Brooks relayed the details, David let out a breath. “I don’t know how I feel about that.”

  “We need the money.”

  “Yeah. I wish it wasn’t necessary. The woman sounds a little shady. We’ll have to ask Jax what he thinks.”

  Brooks traced the ridges of David’s abdominal muscles. “She seemed okay, and it should be good money. She said we’ll make tips. I hope Foster and I can work together.”

  David tilted Brooks’ face upward, and as always when his alpha touched him, Brooks’ heartrate picked up. When the alpha’s lips met his, Brooks came alive with sensation, opening his mouth to touch tongues and sink into the heated kiss. His cock throbbed. David rolled on top of him, spreading Brooks’ legs wide.

  The sound of a key in the lock brought their heads up, and a moment later, Jax appeared in the room. The human looked sexy as hell in jeans and a white pullover shirt that showed a hint of the muscular frame underneath and contrasted nicely with Jax’s caramel-colored skin. Brown dreadlocks hung over Jax’s broad shoulders as he looked down at the two werewolves with amusement.

  “Starting without me?” he asked, a smile on his full lips.

  Before, when Brooks was new to their bed, he would have been worried about Jax’s reaction to finding him and David in a clench, even though Jax was the one who’d inserted the beta into his relationship with David. These days, Brooks knew how much it turned on Jax to see his two men together.

  “About time you got back,” David said, then rolled Brooks over so the beta lay on top of his strong, muscular body. Brooks barely had the time to register how good it felt to be skin-to-skin with the alpha before David took his mouth again.

  Two strong hands that could only belong to Jax, since David had his clasped in the beta’s hair, clamped onto Brooks’ bare ass, and he gasped into David’s mouth. David’s fingers slid down Brooks’ neck to twist and pull the beta’s nipples, and Jax spread Brook’s ass cheeks so air hit the sensitive pucker between them.

  Moaning, David continued kissing Brooks. When Brooks felt a delicious, wet touch on his hole, he jerked his head up with a squeak, body opening to Jax’s fluttering tongue. As he looked over his shoulder at the dark head moving between the cheeks of his ass, Brooks’ breathing quickly grew uneven and ragged.

  Jax leaned back and grinned before beginning to undress. Planting his knees on each side of David, Brooks turned to kiss his alpha again, never able to get enough. When a thick finger breeched Brooks’ hole, he moaned into David’s mouth, pushing back on the digit.

  David broke their kiss. “That’s right,” he murmured. “Let’s give them something to hear after all those nights of listening to them doing it.”

  Jax’s low chuckle from behind him sent shivers down the beta’s back, but he forgot everything when a fingertip pressed his prostate. With a gasp, Brooks closed his eyes, tilting his head as David began kissing and licking the beta’s mating bite. The bed dipped with Jax’s weight, and the finger withdrew and returned, wet this time, fluttering over the sensitive nub. Brooks whimpered and squirmed, rubbing his cock over David’s and drawing a groan from the alpha’s lips. When Jax finally replaced his finger with his big cock, stretching Brooks open, the beta couldn’t hold back his cry of pleasure.

  Enflamed, David latched onto Brooks’ neck, gnawing at their mating bite as he slid his hands down to hold the beta’s cheeks open for Jax to slide all the way in. Brooks panted and pulled away to stare into David’s eyes as Jax began a slow sawing motion, dragging his big cock over the beta’s prostate with each swipe. The alpha grabbed Brooks by the back of the neck and brought their mouths together, open and wet. The sensation of David’s tongue fucking Brooks’ mouth to the rhythm of Jax’s cock fucking his ass sent the beta soaring into that place where he knew nothing but the pleasure of being used simultaneously by two men.

  Brooks was aware only of their bodies moving together, the sweet pain in his ass, the incredible slide of two silky cocks against one another, and the warmth of David’s tongue in his mouth. He clutched the sheets covering the mattress next to David’s head as, overcome, his body throbbed with a climax that stole his breath, his vision whiting out and nerves fizzing before gradually fading into numbness. David frantically rocked his hips, the slick of Brooks’ release sending him over the edge. Brooks sank onto David, and Jax kept thrusting, his grunts growing louder in the otherwise quiet room.

  “Show off,” David murmured, voice raspy and body lax beneath Brooks’. Brooks smiled into the alpha’s neck, breathing in his scent, sweat-slick body rocking against the alpha’s as Jax continued to pump, thrusts growing short and uncoordinated. Brooks’ cock stirred again as his prostate took a hard pummeling. He groaned. He didn’t know if his body could take another round.

  Knowing Jax was close, Brooks tilted up his ass to better take the onslaught, and David gasped at the movement against his sensitive cock. Brooks simultaneously felt Jax’s fingers dig into his hips and the human’s thick cock pulse inside him before Jax collapsed on top of the two men.

  “Gods, you’re squishing me!” David’s voice was strained. He swatted at Jax and tried to push the man off from around Brooks’ dead weight.

  Jax’s chuckle was a rumble against the beta’s back. He eased his cock out and moved away, and Brooks followed suit until the three men lay pressed together side-by-side on the small bed. The room had cooled after sunset, and a breeze blew softly through the window, drying sweaty skin.

  Jax sighed contentedly. “That was fucking great.”

  “And to think you used to wonder what the draw of a polygamous relationship was,” David said, laughter in his voice.

  Brooks couldn’t help smiling, but hid it in David’s chest.

  David combed his fingers through Brooks’ hair. “How’s your family?” he asked Jax.

  Jax’s relaxed mouth tensed into a frown. “Okay.”

  “Something happen?”

  Jax moved to get more comfortable on the bed. “I don’t know. Mom and Dad are suddenly in a tizzy about things.”

  Brooks raised his head. “What’s a tizzy?” Humans had certain words that were so weird. Brooks read a lot and usually knew what they meant, but he liked to be certain.

  “Just all riled up.”

&nb
sp; “I thought they were understanding.”

  “They try to understand my sexuality, but the werewolf thing is more difficult for them. And lately all they can talk about is some guy in their church who thinks he knows everything about werewolves, all bad. My sister’s a little better, but she’s got her own life to live. I barely saw her this visit.”

  “Sorry,” David said, running his palm over the inside of Jax’s arm. “That can’t be easy.”

  “I made my decision,” Jax said. “And I’m not sorry about it.” He let go of Brooks’ hand to run his fingers down David’s shoulder and arm.

  Brooks could sense the two communicating with their eyes over his head, which rested on David’s chest. Slowly, he drifted to sleep, the murmur of voices around him fading into the darkness.

  * * * *

  Donny, a thin African-American man, demonstrated how to serve drinks, wrap his body around a pole while dancing, and slowly remove clothing because evidently humans enjoyed that. Tricks were never mentioned.

  When Brooks and Foster began walking home, it was pitch dark.

  “David wouldn’t like us walking home so late,” Brooks said. “He got work chopping and loading wood all this week, or he would have met us here.”

  “We’ll be okay,” Foster said.

  Brooks wondered how the coyote shifter could be so confident. The city scared him. He’d only been there once before, but that had been with David, and Brooks trusted David to keep him safe. Since the pack had come to Cascade City, Brooks rarely ventured out and then only when it was light outside. Jax’s place was an hour’s walk, and as they left the street lights behind and ventured into a darker, more seedy area, Brooks stepped closer to Foster.

  Loud, raucous shouts came from a bar across the street, and Brooks pulled Foster so they were walking in the shadows.

  “I hope River’s there when we get home,” Foster said. The pack alpha hadn’t returned the night before, and everyone was walking on egg shells around Josiah.

  “I can’t imagine why he’s stayed gone,” Brooks said. “It worries me. I keep telling Josiah River’s just taking some time to himself, but it’s unlike him to leave the pack alone.”

  “I know.” Foster sounded just as unsure.

  As they drew within a block of the apartment building, Foster’s steps faltered.

  “What’s wrong?” Brooks asked.

  Foster looked around, and Brooks suppressed a shudder.

  “Did you hear something?” he hissed. “Is someone following us?”

  Foster sniffed the air. “He’s close.”

  “Who?” Brooks looked around. All shadows cast by the moon suddenly looked sinister.

  “My mate.”

  Brooks relaxed. “Damn, Foster, I thought some humans followed us home.” He gave the coyote shifter a playful shove.

  Foster leaned his head back and let out a howl.

  Brooks slapped a hand over his friend’s mouth. “Shh! For the sake of the father wolf, don’t do that! Do you want everyone to know what we are?” Grabbing Foster by the arm, Brooks dragged him the rest of the way home and into the apartment building.

  “He’s out there,” Foster said. “He’s just unsure about the werewolves and the humans.”

  Foster looked so lost, Brooks got over his annoyance at what the boy had done. “He’ll come around. Soon he’ll see how much you trust us, and he’ll trust us, too.” He didn’t add that Brooks slapping his hand over Foster’s mouth and dragging him away probably hadn’t helped matters.

  In the apartment, the wonderful smell of cooking meat came from the kitchen, and while Foster sat down on the couch to brood, Brooks went to investigate.

  “What is that?” he asked Sam, who stood stirring something over the stove.

  “Leo and I went to the forest today and hunted. We caught a few rabbits.”

  Brooks tensed. “Did you see any hunters?”

  “No. I know it was dangerous, but the groceries we bought are almost all gone, and we needed meat. With River gone and David working, Leo made the decision.”

  “I just hope it doesn’t cause another fight,” Brooks said. “We’ve had enough of those.”

  “Agreed, but a belly full of stew will lighten moods.” Sam grinned.

  Brooks ruffled the omega’s hair. “It will mine, I know that much.”

  Later, when everyone was home except River, Brooks tried taking some food to Josiah in the bedroom, but the first omega wouldn’t eat.

  “I’m worried about him,” he said, cutting up some meat for Sophie while Sid did the same for Sadie.

  “He’ll be fine when River comes back,” David said. The alpha hadn’t liked that Leo and Sam had gone to the woods, but he couldn’t deny it had been necessary.

  “When do you think that’ll be?”

  David glanced at the girls. “Soon. He’s got to have something in mind. He wouldn’t stay away just because he’s angry.”

  “That’s what I’m worried about,” Brooks said quietly.

  The rest of the group exchanged uneasy glances.

  Chapter 4: Josiah

  Josiah wanted to throttle his mate, but he was too relieved to have River home again. The pack alpha had crawled in next to him sometime during the fourth night after River had left the apartment after fighting with Kane.

  “What the fuck, River,” Josiah hissed, careful not to wake the sleeping girls on the other side of the room. “I’ve been scared to death.” He wished they were alone so he could yell like he wanted to. As it was, he attempted to put all the venom he could into his subdued voice.

  “I’m sorry,” River said. “Truly.” He reached for Josiah, but the omega pulled back.

  “Are you kidding me?”

  River looked properly ashamed. “I really am sorry. I just had to get away for a while, and then I—”

  “I thought you were dead!” Josiah’s nose stung, and his eyes filled.

  River took his omega’s hand and kissed the palm, eyes meeting Josiah’s with a look that made Josiah’s heart hurt. “I think you’ll be happy with my news.”

  “What news? Where have you been?” Josiah jerked his hand away and crossed his arms over his bare chest. Damn River and his sexy eyes. The weather had turned, heatwave breaking, and the cool breeze blowing through the open window brushed over Josiah’s bare skin.

  “At first I just walked the streets,” River said, ignoring Josiah’s wooden pose and pulling the omega closer.

  Josiah had no choice but to comply if he wasn’t going to wake the twins, but he remained stiff in his mate’s arms.

  “Then I came to a decision.” River burrowed his nose in his mate’s curls before sniffing the nape of Josiah’s neck. “I went to the Cascade River.”

  Josiah turned to stare at River. “You what? Why would you go…do you mean to werewolf territory?”

  River nodded. “No one saw me. I rubbed myself down with eucalyptus leaves to bury my scent and walked upstream through the water. I never even got close to the compound.” He reached below his pillow and drew out a chunky bag he must have slipped under there when he got into bed.

  Josiah immediately knew what it was. His eyes met his mate’s. “When we left you said you didn’t want to take much.”

  “That was my pride talking. I got to thinking; the gold is as much mine as the rest of the pack’s, and we need it.” River pulled Josiah close again, kissing him. “I bought the house, Josiah.” River’s words were a warm tickle against Josiah’s lips. “The one I wanted. As angry as Kane made me, and David before him, what he said held some merit. I shouldn’t let pride keep me from doing my best for my pack. I couldn’t bring myself to accept help from the humans, but I could go and take what’s rightfully mine.”

  Josiah struggled to process what River was saying. He’d bought the house—the one on the outskirts of the city. “The plantation house?” He needed confirmation. Surely their salvation hadn’t been as simple as this, although Josiah disliked the idea of River going back
to werewolf territory alone.

  River nodded, and excitement stirred in Josiah’s belly. The place was an old mansion built before the civil war, with many spacious rooms and a carriage house at the end of a breezeway. There were also stables and what had once been slave quarters on the property.

  “Holy shit,” he whispered, and River’s laugh reverberated against him.

  River brushed a thumb over Josiah’s nipple, and the nub instantly peaked, spreading tingles throughout Josiah’s body. River’s other hand pressed lightly on Josiah’s back, urging him to lean closer into his alpha’s strong body. With the brush of his hand against River’s groin, Josiah found his mate was past the point of interested, knot bulging at the base of River’s stiff cock.

  Josiah swallowed, mouth dry. Slick began to ooze from his hole and his own cock hardened. River took Josiah’s mouth again, wet and hungry, and Josiah moaned into the kiss, unable to resist. He sincerely hoped they didn’t wake the girls, because he didn’t know if he could stop once they got started. As he straddled River, the realization they had a place that was truly theirs settled Josiah into the first real peace he’d known since they’d left the compound. He smiled as he lowered himself, channel easily opening to accept River’s girth. He squirmed and panted as River’s cock slid against his prostate.

  This wasn’t going to be a slow coupling; it had been too long, and Josiah was too glad to have River home. Immediately, River thrust in, swollen knot making its way past the tight rim to rest its weight against Josiah’s sensitive gland, launching the omega into a strong climax that had him biting his lip to keep quiet. The knot burst in record time, and Josiah fell forward onto River’s chest as the last ripples of pleasure ran through him, the alpha’s heartbeat against Josiah’s chest.

  “This doesn’t mean I’m not still mad at you,” Josiah murmured into River’s neck.

  River chuckled. “I know.”

  “And I don’t want you going back there. Promise me.”

  “All right, my love. Get some sleep. The next few weeks are going to be busy.”