Chapter Three

The short walk back to the others didn’t allow enough time for Emily’s burning cheeks to cool. Had she really been ready to fuck Maddox with the other alphas so close? I must be more hard-up than I realized.

That or biology was one hell of a bitch.

A moment of unease pricked at her. She couldn’t be in heat, right? It would explain how badly she wanted the alphas, the reason for her body’s sudden reaction to them. She thought back to her last heat, to when her doctor had injected her with sedatives to let her sleep through the ordeal.

There had been Christmas decorations, meaning it had only been four or five months before. Heats usually struck once a year, and she’d had no other signs. No desire to nest, no lack of appetite, no sweating or nervous energy. Her heats had started at seventeen, so she’d had enough to know the symptoms, the signs, and, despite having never experienced one with an alpha, one where she knew she’d writhe and beg for a knot, where she’d spend half a day or more twisted with an alpha’s body trying to satisfy the demands of her body to be bred, this wasn’t it.

Her reaction to the alphas might have been biological, but at least they weren’t related to her heat. Omegas could conceive only during that time, and she didn’t need that sort of trouble. If resisting the pull between alphas and omegas was hard normally, it was nearly impossible when an omega went into heat.

She might yearn to experience it but she didn’t need it happening out there, and not around these alphas.

Small blessings, I guess.

“You can’t do that.” Levi’s voice was low, as if trying to keep the conversation private.

“Come on, like you aren’t thinking the same thing.”

“Think this through, Grant. If she knew everything, do you really think she’d be interested? No. She would run the moment this job is over, and our reputation would take a hit.”

Know everything? What does that mean? Unease crept in as she considered the possibilities. When she and Maddox passed the last line of trees, when they came into the small clearing where they’d all sat, Levi and Grant turned their gazes on her. It left a lump in her throat and that same, low-level sizzle that ran through her grew.

Still, they ended their conversation after one more hard glare from Levi to Grant. Not that Grant looked put in his place at all. In fact, he offered Emily a smirk so full of carnal promise that her stomach did that annoying fluttering thing.

He seemed the sort of man who could deliver on such a promise. His smile held a wealth of knowledge, as if he not only understood exactly what she needed but had every intention of giving it to her.

What does he know? Men are one-trick ponies, and I’ve been with enough to know it.

She bit her bottom lip as she stared at Grant, locked in that look that passed between them as if nothing else existed. His deep brown eyes drew her in, and the white of his perfect teeth against his dark lips. I’ve never been with an alpha, though… Maybe biology had something up its sleeve.

A touch at her back broke Grant’s spell.

Maddox’s large hand rested between her shoulders, pressing her forward to get her moving. Right. How the hell did these men do this to her? They managed to shut off her brain until she couldn’t think, until all she could do was want and feel.

Emily wrapped men around her finger, not the other way around. She manipulated them. So how could a single look from one of them send her tumbling into filthy thoughts? How did one heated gaze make her turn into some girl looking for attention from any of them?

The alphas picked the gear back up, hefting the bags over their shoulders. Levi handed her a bottle of water, his strong, warm fingers brushing hers as he did.

He didn’t mention the innocent touch, but his eyebrow lifted as though he knew just how much it affected her.

With his sense of smell, he probably did.

Emily kept up for the next leg of the walk, even as the night grew dim. She wrapped her arms around herself when the chill got to her. Her feet ached, but the massage Grant had given her had helped. She managed to not trip anymore, even when the darkness made it hard to see.

She locked her gaze on the alpha in front of her, Grant. Levi was farther up and Maddox behind her.

Exhaustion tugged at her, made obvious by the fact that even the sight of Grant’s broad back couldn’t shake her from her foul mood.

Levi looked from the front, his body like a monster, a dark silhouette she couldn’t fully make out. The weight of his gaze told her where he was looking, though.

He lifted his wrist to peer at the watch, then nodded. “We’ll stop here.”

The excitement at being able to take a break didn’t make it far before Emily realized the reality.

She was going to spend the night in the darkness with three very male, very attractive, very virile alphas when her body was already in chaos, when it was already making some less-than-subtle demands on her, demands they knew about and could more than satisfy.

She took her lip between her teeth as Levi approached her, as Maddox walked past her, and she got a look at all three of them together.

There was no way she’d make it through a night beside them without giving in to one of them.

And that thought excited her all the more.

* * * *

Maddox had given her his jacket, which helped take the chill off as the temperature dropped. It was dirty and wrinkled from being shoved into his pack, but it was better than nothing.

Another granola bar for dinner wasn’t her idea of gourmet, but options seemed limited unless she planned to try to catch some critter to eat.

Which wasn’t likely to happen.

“Why can’t we start a fire?”

Levi worked to clear a larger space, sweat coming up on his forehead as he hefted a huge fallen log out of the way. “This isn’t a camping trip, Miss Pitch,” he rumbled after moving it. “With people after you, we should be cautious. A fire, and the smoke from it, could alert someone to where we are. Right now, we are lucky no one knows our plan. They have no idea where we might have gone.”

“It’s cold,” she pouted, hunkering down into herself and Maddox’s huge coat. “And I want to go home.”

Levi wiped his arm over his face. “I know you do. It’s our job to get you home, safely.”

The words, which were the nicest possible way to say ‘no,’ chafed. Emily didn’t like to hear no. She didn’t like to be told what to do.

This wasn’t the life she was supposed to have.

A sting to her ear had her flinching. Did Grant just flick my ear?

He cut off any remark she was going to make. “No pity parties, brat. One night in the woods isn’t going to break you.”

But he might. She sucked in a sharp breath at the thought, and worse? The next thought. I think I’d enjoy it if he did.

Grant’s lips pulled into a full smirk, as though he could read her mind, knew exactly what she’d thought and was on board with it.

Then Maddox’s words came back to her, and what Levi had said. It was complicated? What is complicated?

Levi frowned as he stared at the spot he’d created as though not thrilled with the result. After dragging his fingers through his hair, Levi dropped his shoulders. “All right, Miss Pitch. You should lie down and get as much sleep as possible. We’ll wake early, and we can make it to town in a few hours’ travel.”

The hard ground, clear as it was, didn’t look particularly inviting.

Grant set his pack down, then patted the top. “Come on. Might not be what you’re used to, but it’s a better pillow than nothing. Plus, you’ll need the sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be long enough after everything that happened today.”

Emily sighed softly, suddenly tired in a way that had little to do with her aching, overworked body.

She made sure to grumble—loudly—before lowering herself to the spot. Her knees pressed into the dirt first, and she was surprised to find not even a twig there to stick into her leg. Levi is thorough.

She turned a glare up toward Grant before she realized something else, something that made her pulse rate jump. She was on her knees right in front of him, and judging from the way his slacks pressed forward, he’d noticed it, too.

Emily didn’t move. She didn’t lower herself to the ground and neither did she rise. She met Grant’s dark, heated gaze. Tension lined his face, an unspoken question posed between the two of them. What now?

If he undid those slacks, she wouldn’t refuse him. Her pussy clenched at the thought, at the way he’d play, because it didn’t take more than a few moments with Grant to know he played. The fabric of his slacks, tented out like the best welcome, made her want to reach up, to undo the button that kept him hidden. She wanted to trace his smooth skin with her lips, to tease and taste and torment him with her curious tongue.

A soft growl left him, his right hand twitching. Did he want to reach out, to grasp her hair, to pull her closer?

The sound cut off, and he drew his hand into a fist. “Lie down, brat.”

Emily blinked, the words surprising. Well, that’s a first. I’ve never had a man reject me when I’m actually on my knees.

Embarrassment burned inside her. Turned down again. What the hell was wrong with these men? Clearly, the whole thing about alphas being drawn to omegas was bullshit.

She shuffled backward and settled on the ground, ignoring the way the dirt dug into her shoulder. The pack wasn’t great, but Grant was probably right—it was better than nothing. She wrapped an arm around it, trying to ease where her body pressed into the hard ground. She drew her knees up, ignoring the dampness of her panties that hadn’t really gone away. The scent of the alphas, masculine and wild, had spoken to her body in a language it seemed to understand.

But she closed her eyes, unsated and horny and shamed in a way she was unused to. Emily Pitch got whatever she wanted. People didn’t say no to her. She sure as hell didn’t get turned down by men.

And yet there she was, brought low. Emily Pitch, the haughty heiress of a massive fortune, sleeping in the dirt after being rejected by three alphas.

Just great.

* * * *

“Stop worrying about your hair,” Levi lectured as Emily tried to finger-comb the rats’ nest her blonde hair had become.

Sleep had been fitful at best. She’d shivered, and another coat had been added to her sometime during the night. Maddox had woken her with a gentle shake to her shoulder, the sun barely rising in the east. According to him, she’d slept for about four hours, but damn, it didn’t feel like it.

Emily ignored Levi’s first attempt to speak to her that morning and lifted her other hand to wrangle her hair into some sort of submission. As her arm lifted above shoulder level, a shot of pain seared through her shoulder. She pulled in a hiss through gritted teeth at the way the muscles there had knotted.

Levi grasped her so fast it startled her. He eased her arm down, the fingers of his other hand pressed to her shoulder blade, then skirting over the muscles there. “This is going to hurt for a few days.”

“See, this is why I never go camping. It’s too dangerous.”

Levi dug his strong fingers into the hard spots of her muscles, the ones that had seemed to rebel from a night of sleeping on the dirt. It wasn’t moans that left Emily’s mouth, but pained whimpers.

“I know,” he said, voice coaxing. “It hurts, but it will feel better in a few minutes.”

Emily shifted, as if to avoid the touch, but Levi gave her no space to do so. He finished the job, taking another few minutes to dig into the knots and ease them.

She gave into the deep pain of it, closing her eyes as he worked on her. His body pressed closer, the warmth of him near her back, his hot breath blowing against her still-disastrous hair.

His lightened his touch, then slid his hands forward, moving to the tops of her shoulders. He brushed his long fingers over her collarbone through her shirt.

She leaned against him, the solid mass of his chest soothing. When he traced the open V of her button-up shirt, to stroke against the bared skin there, she let out the softest, most wanton moan.

And as quickly as she made the sound, the touch stilled, then his hands left her. The steady presence behind her disappeared, too.

Emily didn’t turn to face him. I won’t give him the satisfaction.

“Miss Pitch,” he said, voice having resumed its professional detachment.

Fuck him. She pulled away, ignoring the way her shoulder did feel better. She wouldn’t give him the credit, even if he had helped.

His sigh followed her, but she ignored it, ignored him.

She just needed to get through the damn walk and onto the plane and as far away as she could manage from the three alphas who seemed determined to wind her up and turn her down. After this, she could write off alphas forever. She’d had a taste, and she was done.

The walk sucked. Another two hours and Emily would scream at the next alpha who tried to make her swallow another bite of god-awful granola. She hated it at the best of times, and having eaten nothing else since the crash, and having missed eating at the start of that day, she was beyond sick of them.

Even so, it seemed they couldn’t go more than fifteen minutes without an alpha trying to push food or drink on her. Even the quiet one, Maddox, had tried when she’d ignored Grant and Levi. He’d come up beside her, a water bottle in his hand, and bumped her shoulder with his.

Emily had pretended he wasn’t there, too.

They had to keep her alive, but that didn’t mean she needed to buddy up to any of them. Not that her body listened. The sight of Levi’s ass through those slacks was sinful, and much harder to ignore than his scowls.

“We’ll take a break here.” Levi nodded toward a gathering of rocks near a stream.

The idea of stopping made Emily want to roll her eyes. Sure, her feet hurt. She would love to rest and get the weight off her sore legs. However, right then? With the rejection still fresh in her mind and their scent clouding her head, she wanted nothing more than to get the hell done with this little trip.

She wanted to be on that plane with them miles behind her. She wanted to take a deep breath on her own, without her hormones going crazy, without their eyes on her.

So Emily didn’t stop moving, stepping past Levi. “I don’t need to stop.”

“Too bad. Push yourself too hard, and we won’t make it far. I can see you limping.”

And there it was, his frustrating arrogance. Again, she had to remind herself exactly who she was.

Instead of responding—because what was the point?—she kept walking.

Twigs snapped beneath Levi’s feet as he dodged around her, putting himself in her path. “What are you doing?”

“If you want to take a break, take a break. I’m going to keep going.”

He remained in her way, even as she tried to move around him. “That isn’t how this works, Miss Pitch.”

“Don’t you Miss Pitch me.” Emily set her hands on her hips, trying for her best “do as I say” tone she’d learned from her father. “You work for me.”

“I work for your father.” Levi narrowed his eyes, a rare show of temper.

“You are the help,” Emily spat. “And so far, you’ve done a fairly terrible job at it, so why don’t you stop arguing and keep moving, because I don’t plan on spending a single second more with any of you than I have to.”

Levi stepped forward, his looming frame larger and more intimidating than she had realized as he closed the distance. It had her taking steps backward, only to end up running into another hard body.

Maddox. Not like she could avoid a body as large as his.

Levi didn’t stop until he was right up against her, then caught her chin to lift her gaze to his dark, intense eyes. “If you are so tired of our company, why do you smell as tempting as you do? Because make no mistake, Miss Pitch, you smell like a three-course meal right now.”

“What does that matter? It’s not like you’ve done anything about it.”

His head tilted. “Is that what has your mood this foul? You don’t understand—”

“I understand what I need to.” She tried to move away, away from Maddox’s warmth, from Levi’s stern gaze, from Grant who stood to her left, arms crossed over his chest.

They were too much, and she struggled to think with them so close.

“You’re a client, brat.” Grant danced his fingers up her arm, his heated touch so at odds with his vocal rejection. “It’s not smart to go getting involved with a client. Looks bad on us. Not to mention, you’d be distracting, and distracting the people keeping you alive is a bad idea.”

“Right. So, all three of you are just being polite? I’ve happened to find the three alphas who are so controlled, each one can turn down an omega because it’s inconvenient?” Emily rolled her eyes so hard, she was reminded of when her father would say they might get stuck.

“That isn’t the only reason,” Levi pressed.

“And what other reason could there be why not one of you went for it?”

Levi pressed his thumb against her bottom lip, a firm stroke that had her tongue darting out to touch him, to taste him even as she fought it. “Because, Miss Pitch, I highly doubt you’re ready for sex with any of us.”

“And why not? I’m not a child. I’m not a virgin, as you felt the need to point out before.”

Levi shook his head, a few strands of his dark hair falling over his forehead. “You fail to understand me. We do not pursue omegas individually.”

Emily’s brows furrowed as she tried to decipher what that meant.

Grant, forever the blunt one, filled in the blanks. “It means we’d fuck you together, brat, and I’m not sold that you’re ready to take three alpha cocks, no matter how good you’d look doing it.”

* * * *

Ignoring the alphas was more difficult than ever after Grant’s words. All three of them? The idea should have repulsed Emily.

She came from a good family, a good name, and omegas like that didn’t settle down with three alphas.

It wasn’t that some people didn’t do it. It happened, but it was kept quiet. No one talked about it in polite company. Maybe someone’s weird aunt happened to live with three or four alphas, but everyone chose to ignore it.

That wasn’t the life Emily was supposed to have. Sleeping with betas—that was as risqué as she got. That was pushing the lines for herself.

And yet, she couldn’t stop herself from picturing it.

No. You’ve never even taken one knot. Let’s not get in over our head, here.

But that was exactly what she wanted. The more she thought about it, after that initial shock of oh hell no ended, she found herself drawn into the fantasy.

She’d taken a short break at their request, probably only because Grant’s words had shocked her into behaving. It seemed they could render her speechless, a feat no one else had managed in her life.

All three alphas had remained quiet. No one had brought up their admission, and they even seemed to try not to look directly at her. Fine by her. She couldn’t think when they stared at her. The heat in those gazes had substance now, had meaning.

They want me.

Not just on their own, not the way she was used to men lusting after women. She remembered how her bodyguards had looked at her before, the way she had played those feelings against them. A sway of her hips, an “accidental” drop of a needed item followed by a not-at-all-subtle bending over. It was all fun for her, to taste their lust, to enjoy how they tripped over themselves to have her.

This was different.

The alphas wouldn’t bend, not for her. Instead, if she gave in to the attraction, in to them, they would bend her however they wanted.

The rest of the walk went without much conversation. If Emily ventured too far back, a soft press of Maddox’s large palm to her back would get her to speed up. Levi would point out potential issues, like branches that might catch her. Grant tried, a time or two, to draw her into conversation but when he’d gotten nothing back, he’d let it drop.

Even he wasn’t sure how to proceed.

The plan was simple, and it seemed they neared the end. The temperature had risen after the sun came up, and Maddox had removed his shirt, tucking it along with the jackets into the backpack slung over his shoulder.

And, really, it wasn’t fair how good he looked like that. If she’d thought his body seemed large in the clothing, it was nothing compared to bare. The muscles roped over his frame glistened—which she’d thought only happened in cheesy romance books—because of the sweat that caught the light.

They were an hour out from the airport, if Levi was right, and she tended to think he was always right.

That mean in one hour, they’d go their own ways. In one hour, she’d get onto the plane with her new security detail and leave the alphas behind.

The thought upset her more than she’d expected it to, more than it should have. How many times had she lost people in her life? Anyone but her father and a few key members of his team were transient, always changing, always coming and going. Why should it matter this time?

Emily slowed her steps. She wasn’t a coward. She was difficult and childish and spoiled, but she’d never let fear rule her before.

Could she really get onto that plane knowing she’d never see them again? That she’d left without even giving this insanity a shot? Without at least having a taste of what they’d hinted at?

Would another three alphas ever give her an offer like that again?

Maddox’s hand pressed against her lower back, but instead of going forward, she stopped.

Grant turned around first, confusion across his handsome face. Levi stopped as well, probably at the lack of footsteps.

Both alphas crossed the few feet to come back until all three surrounded her with their large bodies.

“You okay?” Grant asked.

Emily took her bottom lip between her teeth and let her gaze roam. She took in the way Levi had undone the top two buttons of his shirt and rolled up the sleeves to his forearms. His skin was tan, with dark hair over the tops of his arms and the area of his chest showing. It was like a tease, something to tempt her to undo a few more buttons.

Grant’s lips tipped into that lopsided grin, the dark facial hair pulling along with it, giving him that mischievous look that said whatever was in his head would make even her blush. He’d remained more clothed than the other two, his shirt still in place, and it made her yearn for him to strip down, so show her everything.

Levi shook his head. “This isn’t a good idea. We’re almost there.”

“I don’t want to walk away not knowing.”

“Knowing what?”

Emily threw caution aside. She slid her hands around Levi’s shoulders and silenced him with her kiss. She took without care, willing to taste him now that he was silent. Not ordering her, not looking at her as if she were some silly rich girl, but regarding her as a woman, finally.

His strong hand wrapped in her hair to tilt her head and deepen the kiss. What had started as her moment of taking quickly turned to his.

However, as fast as it happened, he used his grasp of her hair to pull back. “I already explained to you how this has to work,” he whispered against her lips, his breath a tease to her senses. “Maybe you should think about it—”

“I want all of you,” Emily blurted out. “I need all of you.”

Levi’s growl was deep, as though the grasp he had on his control had slipped free. “Then you’ll have all of us, Miss Pitch.”