Chapter Four

Tiffany froze behind her, the tension thick. As omegas, they could scent alphas, the ability a defense. They knew what the men were even if the men didn’t know what they were.

Well, they knew what Claire was.

That got her moving. Tiffany mattered more than anything else. Claire took a random book from the shelf and shoved it in the girl’s grasp. She set a hand on her back and pushed her toward the door. “Here’s your order. I’ll call you later when the other items come in.”

Tiffany moved slowly, eyes on the floor, shoulders hunched. When Kaidan and Joshua moved aside, hardly sparing her a glance, the girl slipped between them, then rushed out.

As soon as Tiffany was gone, as soon as she was safe, Claire took a deep breath. She was left alone with the three men, but as long as Tiffany was safe, it was fine.

Sometimes life as an omega was just making it as long as they could. They kept going, tried to teach the young survival skills and hoped the next generation made it longer.

“How’d you find me?” The weakness in her voice grated her nerves. She wanted to sound sure and powerful, not like some meek mouse.

“It wasn’t hard. You had to realize you were breaking into the office of security experts, didn’t you?” Bryce moved farther into the store, his gaze leaving her to take in the shelves, the displays. “Books? I wouldn’t have expected that.”

Of course not. Alphas thought omegas stupid, and she’d been naked and mindless during their time together. It reminded her she knew nothing about them, either. Nothing about these men who now stood in her store, holding all the power.

“What do you want?”

Joshua walked past Bryce, toward Claire, that same charming smile across his lips. “Did you think we’d let you go so easily?”

Claire took a step backward, putting the counter between them. The scent of alpha flooded her nose and made her want to run.

Joshua held his hands up and stopped. “Easy, Claire. We’re not here to hurt you.”

No, they only want to own me, to control me.

“You don’t trust us? And after we showed you such a nice time?” The joke in the words didn’t relax her. He tried to build a bridge with his humor, a connection between them, but Claire knew better.

She’d suffered beneath an alpha who had lured her in with smiles and sweet words. She refused to make the same mistake twice.

Kaidan pushed Joshua aside, a bag in his hand. “You can’t charm every female,” he whispered before pulling out a white take-out container and setting it on the table. “You must be hungry.”

Claire’s mouth watered when the lid flipped open and the food came into view. Strips of meat laid over rice and beans, all the protein she’d craved, that she hadn’t given to herself. She’d slept the day after her night with them, then opened the shop on time the next morning. She’d hardly had time to think, let alone eat.

Still, she didn’t want a thing from the men. Alphas didn’t give anything without expecting something in return, and Claire couldn’t afford the payment.

“You need it.” Kaidan pushed it farther across the counter, a fork resting along the side. “You’re squinting, the blinds are drawn. The sun is bothering your eyes, isn’t it? A headache? You need protein after a heat to recover. Eat.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Claire snapped, an automatic reaction to an alpha trying to order her around.

She’d worked too hard to let that happen.

Even so, when the words left her mouth, she flinched and brought an arm up as if he’d strike her down for the backtalk.

Silence and a lack of pain had her lowering her arm a moment later to find all three men motionless in the room, all of them staring at her with the same thing in their eyes.

Pity.

She hated pity.

Instead of acknowledging the tension from her reaction, she caught the corner of the food with a finger and pulled it toward the edge of the counter, as far as she could get from them while not leaving.

She sat on the chair, lifted the fork then froze.

“We didn’t drug it,” Kaidan said.

“Why should I believe you?”

Bryce answered the question, voice rough and impatient. “Because we have no reason to. We could carry you out of here over our shoulders and no one would say a word. We could call in your break-in or report you as an unregistered omega. Why would we bother with drugging you?”

Her gaze fell to the food at the truth of his words. She had no power. She had nothing. They could do whatever they wanted, and she had no leverage, nothing to barter with. She was trapped again. A decade of running, and she’d been trapped again by a single night.

Claire took the first bite of food, unwilling to let any of them see how it affected her.

“Why did you run, sweetheart?” Joshua pulled the stool Tiffany had used so he sat across from her, so close their knees could touch beneath the table.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Claire spoke around bites, manners meaning little once the first bit of food hit her tongue, once her stomach grumbled and reminded her how hunger plagued her.

“Because we were careful with you, took care of you.”

“Doesn’t mean I want to hang around and become property.”

Again, none of them spoke, and the weight of their gazes made it difficult to swallow.

“Better question. Why did you break into our office?” Bryce didn’t take a seat, pacing through the area, his steps loud in the small shop.

“I was looking for something.”

“For what?”

Her lips pressed together around a bite. While she didn’t think they’d been involved, alphas stuck together. She’d never trust an alpha, not with something this important.

“I already told you everything we could do to you. Do you really think not answering my questions is a good idea?”

Claire lifted her face to stare at Bryce, leveling her courage. “So turn me over to the registry. Turn me over to the cops. I still won’t say a word.”

Bryce took a step forward, but Kaidan lifted his hand. “Don’t threaten her. We’ve already agreed not to turn her in, so this is pointless.”

“Whatever she’s gotten herself into is going to get her killed. Knowing what it is is the only chance we have of keeping her safe.”

“I didn’t ask you to keep me safe.”

Bryce nailed her with a look so hard she wilted. Well, at least part of her did. The rest? That shameful part of her soaked in instinct? It grew wet beneath that weighted glare.

“No. You asked us to fuck you and knot you. You begged for us, then ran out the next morning. Don’t think you get to take any high road here.” He drew in a deep breath, then lifted an eyebrow. “And judging by the way you smell, you’re a heartbeat from asking us for it again.”

Claire shook her head, denying it even if they both knew it was a lie. “I didn’t invite you here, didn’t ask for you to come. I don’t need you, don’t need a single alpha—let alone three of them.”

“Wasn’t your tune last night.”

“That was biology. The second it wore off, I saw my mistake.”

“Mistake? That’s what you thought it was?” Bryce came forward until he stood across the counter from her. “Didn’t seem like a mistake when I was inside you.”

Heat covered Claire’s cheek at the crude reminder, at the way it took her back and reminded her of what she’d felt in those moments. Such a strange sense of belonging.

Hell, waking up between them might have been perfect if it hadn’t been for her fear.

She pushed that aside to answer, her voice as steady as she could manage. “I didn’t need you, I needed your knot. So, if you’re looking for a thank you, thanks. Now, are we done?”

Bryce lifted a lip and the flash of his teeth had her glad she was sitting. Her shoulder ached in remembrance of how he had bitten into her skin. Still, after the soft snarl, he turned his back and returned to thumbing through her items.

Claire turned her head to look at Kaidan who still stood where he’d been when he’d set down the food. “What do you want with me?”

“We’re not sure, yet. When you were gone, it seemed like to figure that out, we really needed to find you first.”

“I’m sure there are lots of omegas who would be happy to fulfill whatever weird fetish you guys have, but that’s not me. I wasn’t kidding, I don’t want or need an alpha. I’m not worth the frustration.”

He stared at her, eyes still as if reading through her. It had her shifting in her chair beneath the scrutiny.

Finally, he spoke. “Yes, there are lots of omegas who would be happy to belong to three successful alphas. However, no matter how many we’ve bedded, none have stayed with us before. I don’t know what it is about you, but it’s gotten us curious.”

“Lucky me,” she muttered as she put another bite into her mouth.

“We’re not so bad once you get to know us.” Joshua set his elbows on the counter and leaned in.

“I thought alphas were all territorial?”

“Most are. A few, like us, create a sort of unit. Happened because of work, but we’ve found we prefer to share things. A business, dinnerware, delicious omegas.”

Claire dropped her gaze, refusing to acknowledge his joke or the way it made her stomach flutter at the promise there.

His chuckle said she’d failed. “Well, since introductions weren’t on the table last time, why don’t we try now? I’m Joshua, that’s Kaidan and sulking behind me is Bryce. And you are?”

“You already know who I am.”

“Yes, but stalking females you’re interested in is considered rude, so I was hoping you’d let us off the hook by answering.”

Claire tried to ignore him, but the silence made her skin crawl. Finally, she sighed and looked up. “Claire.”

“Claire? What a lovely name! Now, Claire, how are you feeling? No, don’t go silent again, it’s a simple question. A heat is a taxing thing. I just want to know if you’re feeling better.”

Each time one of them mentioned her heat, Claire fought not to picture it, not remember how their bodies had felt against her, how she’d lost herself.

Joshua inhaled, then rumbled out a predatory growl. “You know, we could lock the door and bend you over this counter. You might not be in heat, but I doubt you’ll care for long.”

She could see it in her mind. Joshua would shove her forward so her stomach and chest were trapped against the counter. He’d yank her pants down just enough to plunge into her, leaving her pants around her thighs to keep her still for them. Meanwhile, Bryce would unzip, freeing his full erection in front of her. He would drag the head of his dick against her full lips, coating her with his pre-cum. He’d force his cock into her mouth so deep she’d gag around the thick head. Kaidan? He’d stroke his fingers through her hair and tell her what a good girl she was being as he wrapped a large hand around his length and jerked himself off.

The fantasy hit her so hard she pressed her thighs together and whined.

Damn it. It’s the alpha pheromones doing this to me. It has to be.

They pulled out a side of her she’d ignored. Despite having been around alphas, it had never been so many, never in such close quarters and certainly never any she’d slept with.

“Tell me yes, sweetheart. Tell us yes, and we’ll take good care of you.”

The words shook loose the fantasy. Claire stood so fast she knocked her chair over, then plastered her back to the bookshelf behind her. “Get out,” she whispered through a tight throat.

The three exchanged looks full of something she couldn’t understand, a language she didn’t speak.

Kaidan answered, instead. “We won’t hurt you. That’s not why we’re here.”

“Just go. Whatever you want, I can’t give it to you.”

Kaidan shook his head. “We can’t. We all knotted you during your heat, Claire. You could be carrying the child of any one of us. Add to that the trouble you’re in, and we’ve gotten a bit protective. Until we’re sure you’re safe, I’m afraid you’re going to have to put up with us.”

“I can’t. I can’t have three alphas following me around.”

“It will be one of us as a time. Think of it as free security work. You’ll just have a shadow until we’re sure you’re safe, especially until we know whether you conceived or not.”

Claire pushed away the talk of conception. She couldn’t think about that or she’d run headlong into a panic attack. “I’m not going to have sex with you.”

A similar growl left each of the three’s throats, as if she’d challenged them and they’d found they liked it.

Bryce answered, voice low and rough and certain. “We won’t force you, omega. However, I’m pretty fucking sure you’ll be begging us before you know it.”

She took her bottom lip between her teeth as she tried to convince herself he was wrong, that she could handle it, that the three alphas would not sway her.

Too bad she knew already it was a lie.

The organization of the bookstore said Claire spent plenty of time there. The way her scent clung to each thing further pushed the point home.

Still, Joshua remained seated by the counter as she moved, trying to take up as little space as possible.

The way she’d flinched had burned into his memory, her arm rising to shield herself from a strike she’d felt sure would come. It had rooted each in place, a standoff between what they wanted and what she expected.

What life had she led that would have her so fearful? That would drain away so much of her confidence and sense of security?

An omega shouldn’t fear alphas, especially not him. She should relax in his presence, should feel as if she could let down her guard, that she could curl against him and close her eyes. Instead, only suspicion colored her eyes, made them narrow as they watched him.

She never turned her back to him. Even when she needed items from tall shelves, she’d twist to keep him in her sight.

Still, he wore her down.

“I like beaches,” Joshua said, the words random and offered as if his voice alone could build a bridge between them. “Bryce is a mountain and forest sort of guy, but me? Give me a beach and the sea stretched out before me and I’m happy. Forests are too much work, with the need for a fire, the obligatory hiking. Nope.” He shook her head and knocked his knuckles against the counter. “Beaches for a vacation are the way to go.”

Claire said nothing, giving him the same nothing he’d gotten all day. At times her cheek would twitch, an almost smile she refused to let loose, but he took it as a win. It meant he thinned that ice, chipped it away joke by joke.

It was why they’d decided to have him watch her first. He’d always been the best at winning people over, and they wanted to win her over. Bryce tended to glare and threaten and while Kaidan didn’t scare off females, he let them walk all over him.

It meant Joshua gave the best chance, and for once, he cared that it worked. Normally, he flirted with about any female nearby. The thrill of it stroked his ego and if it ended up with them tangled in bed? Well, that was fine by him.

He avoided omegas, never wanting to risk anything. The few he’d taken with Bryce and Kaidan proved rare exceptions, a glimpse into a future each considered but none wanted, not yet.

Still, this time it mattered. This time, if he couldn’t charm her, he’d care. It wasn’t just an attempt to bed her. He’d done that already.

Well, he’d like to do it again, and in fact he wouldn’t mind trying it right then. He could strip off those pants, set her foot on a book shelf to open her up and—

Her gaze jerked around, landing on him, fear skittering across her features.

Right.

Don’t scare her.

Joshua shrugged, unwilling to lie and say she didn’t smell exactly what she smelled. Of course, he wanted her and the answering scent of her cunt forced him to inhale, then release it and keep talking as if the silent exchange hadn’t happened. “Kaidan, he likes to vacation in the desert. He goes on and on about the sky, but I don’t know. Cactus and brown everywhere and heat? Long story short? Always let me plan the vacations.”

She didn’t turn away, tension holding her shoulders tight. Was she deciding if he’d jump on her? If he’d attack her?

Seemed an aroused alpha was even more dangerous to her than anything else.

Her feet rooted in place, a book in one hand, she trembled there. She looked like a rabbit who had to decide just how much trouble she was in, too frozen too move, too afraid to stay.

Joshua leaned back against the counter, making a show that he wouldn’t go anywhere. “It’s fine,” he promised her, voice low, not wanting to give power to any of the fear she had. “Keep doing what you’re doing, sweetheart.”

Her back pulled straight, that spark of strength, before she twisted, pushing the book into place on the shelf as though her hand didn’t still shake.

Joshua smiled at the show, at the backbone he knew she had even if she didn’t know it. He remained leaning back before continuing his one-person conversation. “You haven’t even heard about the time Bryce made us go ziplining. Spoilers? I threw up on him and now we never have to zipline again.”

Two hours had passed by the time Claire had to acknowledge Joshua. Not that ignoring him had proven easy.

He talked nearly nonstop, a running commentary on each thing he saw, on each memory he had or anything that sprung from either of those. The first few times he’d spoken, she’d jumped. She didn’t have men around and certainly not alphas. Still, as time had passed, as he’d remained seated at the counter in her store, she’d relaxed.

He hadn’t touched her, hadn’t grabbed her, hadn’t forced himself on her.

She even got used to his constant prattling.

It made her smile, though she fought it. He’d say something odd, something random, and she’d have to steel herself against the twitch of her cheek.

The moment between them before, when the scent of his arousal had filled the space, had shaken her. Not just the smell, though. That was life, since it seemed a soft breeze could turn an alpha on. No, it was her reaction. It was the way his smell had her own body heating, had her wishing she could crawl into his head and know what he thought of.

Of some other female? Of her? Of the night they’d fucked until morning? She’d pushed the ideas away, embarrassed by his reassurances, shamed by the way they helped.

He hadn’t dwelled on the issue, instead returning to his jokes, his memories, his conversation like it had never happened.

Still, when the clock struck eight that evening, it seemed his ability to sit still had left. “Okay, that’s it.”

Claire jerked upright from where she’d sat on the floor, alphabetizing a shelf. “What?”

“We’ve been here since ten this morning and neither of us has eaten. Time to go.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Well, I am, and you need to eat anyways.”

Claire pointed to the stockroom. “I have beef sticks back there. Have at them.”

He released a soft, playful growl. “No one can live off that trash. No, come along. I’m taking you for a proper meal.”

Claire scrambled to her feet when Joshua stood, unable to stomach the idea of being on the floor with him so close. She needed to be able to run, to flee.

Tension lined his eyes, but he didn’t lose his smile. “It might be backward, but since I’ve already had sex with you, isn’t a dinner customary?”

“I’m not going on a date with you.”

He huffed. “You know, most girls would be flattered to have me taking them out.”

“So, take one of them out.”

He took a slow step toward her, close enough for his scent to reach her nose. Not the diluted scent she’d bathed in all day, the one that had soaked into the walls of her shop while she’d avoided him. a strong scent from their nearness. Instead, this was a strong scent straight from the source that tempted her to lean closer.

He reached out, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, the move as charming and fake as so much of him. “I like it when you play hard to get, sweetheart. However, I can hear your stomach. You need to eat, to sleep, and I would be a lousy alpha if I didn’t ensure that happened.”

She opened her mouth to tell him something rude. She wanted to tell him that she’d cared for herself for a long time and didn’t need some overbearing alpha to do it. She wanted to tell him that all alphas were lousy, so he’d fit right in. Hell, she wanted to tell him a hundred other things peppered with insults.

Instead, he leaned in and silenced her with a kiss, one so fast and so good she didn’t have a chance to consider why she shouldn’t want it.

When he pulled back and she remained speechless, his smile widened. “I thought I’d keep you from saying something that might hurt my feelings, because once you start to like me, you’d regret it. Now, if you can manage to pay attention and stop distracting me with kisses, we were headed to dinner.”

Claire stood there as he slid her jacket over her shoulders and walked out of the shop. How does he manage to do that to me? She was still wondering that twenty minutes later, sitting across from Joshua in the restaurant.

“Why books?”

Claire lifted her gaze from her plate of food, trying to ignore the candles on the white linen-covered table, trying to put on her best “we are not on a date” face for anyone looking. “What?”

He pointed his fork at her. “Books. You run a bookstore. Why? I don’t know many people who wake up one day and go, ‘hell, I’d like to spend all day with books.’”

Wouldn’t it figure an alpha couldn’t figure out what interest a book would have? “You wouldn’t understand.”

“I sure won’t if you don’t explain. Come on, just try. Believe it or not, beneath these handsome good looks, I do have a brain.”

Claire set her fork down, dropping her gaze to her plate to collect her thoughts. “I liked the fantasy of it. When I was a kid, when I knew what my future was going to be, I liked reading because I could be anyone, do anything.” She took a deep breath, the words spilling from her in the small private booth. “I wasn’t gaining weight when I was young, and when running tests, they found out I was an omega. I grew up knowing I’d be given or sold to someone, that I had no future of my own. Other kids grew up planning a future. They wanted to be soldiers or doctors or teachers. I didn’t have those choices, though. I didn’t have anything to look forward.”

“Is being a mate so terrible?”

“The fact you can ask me that shows you don’t understand. You get to do whatever you want. You got to decide your future. Me? I had to change my name and leave everything to have any sort of life for myself. I mean, I’m here having dinner with you when I said no. Clearly, what I want doesn’t matter.”

His lips pressed together, that line appearing between his eyebrows. He said nothing at first, instead lifting his glass and taking a drink, to fill the silence. “I guess I never thought about it that way.”

“Of course not. You never have to, so why would you? It’s not a part of your life.”

“Was I supposed to let you starve?”

“I wouldn’t have starved. It was one day.”

“But, just as I don’t understand the way you feel, you have to realize you don’t understand how an alpha feels.”

“How hard is it to understand your need to control everything?”

He shook his head, pushing the basket of breadsticks toward her, the same unspoken request for her to eat more that he’d been making all night. “You see control, but an alpha sees care. When I see an omega, something precious, it sparks a need to protect. When you’re in heat, my instinct tells me to satisfy you. When you’re hungry, when your stomach grumbles and you rub your temples, my instinct demands I feed you. Not doing so, allowing you to go on uncomfortable or in pain, it screams in my head. It’s a physical pain, a constant need.”

Was that how they felt? It sounded so nice, like this perfect idea where they were two sides of the same coin, where they needed one another and melded perfectly.

Claire shook her head. “That’s a nice idea, but there are plenty of alphas who don’t take care of omegas.” As she spoke, the memory of James, of the alpha who had claimed her at eighteen, washed through her.

Joshua’s eyes narrowed at her shudder, but he did the thing he did so often and placed a flat smile over his lips as if it hid his first reaction. “You want to tell me who it was that taught you that?”

“Just general knowledge.”

“You don’t flinch the way you did because of general knowledge. You don’t get that haunted look in your eyes, either. No, sweetheart, whatever it is is pretty damn personal.” He shrugged, the tension sliding from him. “However, since you clearly don’t want to talk about that, how about we change the subject?” He tapped his fingers on the table, the action drawing her gaze to them, forcing her to hide the blush when she remembered just how talented he was with those fingers.

How could he draw her back to their time together with such ease? After years of avoiding and not wanting any alpha attention, just the tap of his fingers teased and tempted her.

“Are you listening?”

She snapped her gaze up, her cheeks warm. She hadn’t been listening, of course, totally lost in thought.

His smirk said he knew it. “There are better things we can talk about.”

“I don’t recall wanting to talk to you about anything.”

He leaned in so his words wouldn’t carry, and the action made the table seem small, providing none of the defense she’d expected it to. “Your eyes keep dropping to my fingers. I’m sure you remember how they felt on you, sweetheart. I sure remember the sounds you made when I used them on you.”

She swallowed, the gulp loud even in the noisy restaurant. Or maybe it seemed loud in her own ears, over the pounding of her chest. He made her notice each thing, made each thud of her heart and each inhalation loud and obvious, as if he studied them all, dissecting her piece by piece.

But, he did. The way he watched her had her recognizing the predator beneath the jovial mask he wore.

“Are you wanting a repeat?”

She shook her head.

He tilted his head and reached out to draw a finger over the back of her hand where it rested on the table. “Do you even realize you’re lying? Because you are lying, through and through. Your pupils have dilated, your breathing has sped and you’re leaning toward me. I can smell you, too. Normally, I wouldn’t be able to smell your arousal as clearly, but because I bathed in so much of it during your heat, I’m attuned to it. You want me even if you don’t realize it.”

This time she jerked her head, a single denial. “What happened before—”

“When we fucked you?”

Heat fanned over her cheeks, down her throat and chest. “That was biology. I couldn’t help it. I don’t want anything like that again.”

He huffed a soft sound. “You do want it. You don’t want to, but that doesn’t change that you do. You got a taste of something you’ve been missing and now you’re wondering what more you could have. Let me show you.”

“Show me what?” Claire’s voice came out so husky she didn’t recognize it.

She’d never spoken like that, never dared. Teasing someone, suggesting something she had no interest in was a dangerous game and she’d never had an interest. But, was that the point? That maybe he was right?

Am I actually interested?

He leaned farther until his breath warmed her lips, until the table didn’t seem to exist between them at all. “Everything, sweetheart. I’ll have you moaning and panting until you’ve forgotten all the reasons you didn’t think you wanted this. You have a voice made for moaning, for gasps, for all the sounds I’ve heard you make already. I want to hear them when you’re clear-headed, or as clear-headed as you could be with my tongue shoved deep inside your cunt.”

The vulgar word shocked her more than anything else, like a hot drop of wax on her skin, a sting that only made her burn hotter. He didn’t stumble over it, didn’t show any sign of nerves, like telling her he wanted to—she couldn’t even bring herself to think it—was the most natural thing in the world.

Even if she couldn’t think the words, the image wouldn’t leave her. She recalled flashes of such things from her heat, the press of a tongue against her, the way strong hands would grip her hips to force her to take each stroke.

“I don’t know,” she whispered, her chest tight.

“Well, that’s better than a no. Come on, trust me, just for a few minutes. There’s a backroom here. I know the owner, and I promise if you give me five minutes, you won’t regret it.” He stood, then held his hand out to her.

He didn’t grab her, didn’t yank her back toward wherever he planned to take her. If he’d done that, she’d have resisted. She’d have pulled away, lost herself to nerves. Instead, he waited. He remained still, giving her the choice. If she said no, he’d sit. They’d finish eating. Then what?

It was the waiting, the stillness, the question he asked without asking that got to her.

What did she want?

Claire answered by setting her hand in his.