Keeper of the Alphas - Complete (25 page)

Marcus and Jayce walked through the woods in silence. Jayce looked ahead, attempting to ignore the fact that he was walking side by side with a fully naked werebear.
Nothing strange about that
. This whole thing left a twisted,
wrong
feeling in his stomach.

“So who’s Onya?” Jayce pried, breaking the silence.

“Quiet,” Marcus growled, putting the silence back together.

But it only lasted a couple of minutes before Jayce tried again. “It just seems weird. Running into the woods to spend time with a bear-woman when you’ve got Cami waiting at home—”

Marcus’s feet stopped abruptly, and he turned to face Jayce. “If you want to talk about Cami, say that.”

Jayce dug his heels in too. “Alright. So let’s talk. You two are…mates?”

“Yes,” Marcus said, his sharp blue eyes on Jayce’s. “I’ve given her the Mark. She’s mine.”

Jayce scoffed at that. “Trust me, pal, Cami is her own woman. You can’t piss on her and call her yours.”

Marcus looked genuinely confused by that. “I haven’t. She isn’t territory.”

“She’s not
property
either,” Jayce snapped, and then lifted his palms. “And for the record, that territory comment makes me suddenly uncomfortable sleeping on your couch.”

Marcus expression shifted, though he never averted his gaze. He had the confidence of an Alpha; that was for sure. “I know she needs more than I can offer her. Especially after I challenge Aldric and claim the position of Alpha of Tyburn.”

“About that—”

“Nothing you can say will change my mind, so don’t waste your breath.”

“So you kill him or he kills you. That’s the idea?”

“Yes.”

“Are you ready for that?”

Marcus’s jaw set. “I’d die for Cami.”

“I’m not questioning that. I mean, are you ready to
kill
? One of your…bear brothers, no less.”

Marcus turned away, his long hair falling over his shoulders. “I’ll do what has to be done.”

But even as he spoke, Jayce heard the hesitation in his voice. Jayce was nothing if not good at
reading
people, shifters or not. He exhaled and then said, “Still. It’s got to be rough.”

Marcus quieted, then said, “I know the consequences. The legend goes that a bear that kills his own kind becomes infected with bloodlust. Our aggressive nature makes us more vulnerable to it than the other shifters.”

Jayce glanced over at Marcus. “You think that’s what happened to Aldric?”

Marcus shook his head. “It’s old world lore. That’s all. No more relevant than throwing salt over your shoulder.”

Jayce frowned at that and upended a small stone with the toe of his boot. “I’m guessing you don’t want me to tell Cami about this little plan of yours.”

“No. I’m not going to let her put herself in that kind of danger.”

You don’t
let
Cami do anything; she does what she wants
, Jayce wanted to say. Instead, he buttoned his lips. Even if he didn’t like the plan, he had to admit, it kept Cami out of the line of fire…

“I’m coming with you,” Jayce said.

Genuine surprise filtered over Marcus face. “What?”

“With Aldric? I’m coming with you.” Jayce’s fingers tapped over the revolver strapped to his belt. “If he kills you, the next place he’s blowing down is the cabin. If you’re going to finish this, you might as well do it right.”

Marcus seemed to think about that for a moment and then gave a nod. “You love her,” he said. It was a statement, not a question.

Jayce nodded, slowly. Trying to figure out if this was a trick question. Was he going to get mauled if he agreed? “You’ve met her. It’s impossible not to fall in love with her.”

Marcus gave a single nod then stood back. Arms open. “Then fight me for her.”

Jayce blinked. “What? I’m not going to—”

Before he could react, Marcus grabbed the handgun from his belt and tossed it deep into the woods. “No guns,” Marcus said.

Jayce longingly eyed the mass of bush where his gun had fallen. But Marcus looked determined, so he turned to the older man and rolled up his sleeves. Lean, tight muscles were carved into his arms. “Fine. Let’s get this over with. Ground rules?”

But Marcus just looked amused by that. “No humans.” Marcus hunched over, his back curving out, and fur sprouted from his skin. A hulking grizzly bear roared.

Crap
. Jayce’s eyes flew to the bush where his gun had landed and he made a quick dive for it. But Marcus leapt on it, swiping his claws through the air. Jayce ducked, narrowly missing losing his head.

This isn’t fair
. He ran then, weaving though trees, and flattened himself against a thick trunk.

He didn’t want to do this. Didn’t want to shift. It was so much easier to
pretend
that that side of him didn’t exist. Sure, the noises were deafening and his appetite was insatiable, but at least he was
human
.

He could feel his wolf clawing at him from the inside out. His blood was pumping fast, adrenaline spiking, and it made the animal run circles inside of him. He tightened his jaw, trying to keep it at bay, but just felt sharp dogtooth fangs filling his mouth.

Jayce couldn’t hold out anymore. He doubled over and felt the pain of his bones twisting. He groaned as his pants loosened and his shirt ripped off his back. On all fours, his senses realigned, he could smell every living thing in the woods. The wolf didn’t run. Instead, he turned around and doubled back. Paws hit dirt; felt freeing, like he could run for miles.

A sharp turn and he came face to face with the grizzly. The wolf flattened, belly to the ground, and gave a low bark before launching himself at the bear. His jaws found the bear’s neck and he clung on to a mouthful of fur. The bear roared and shook, throwing the wolf off of him.

The wolf skidded across the dirt and stumbled up to his feet, shaking his head. But not before the bear swiped at him. The wolf’s instincts were fast; he ducked, swerved, lunged. The bear had brute, heavy force, but the wolf had quickness and agility. The two nipped and growled and rolled around, a mess of brown and grey fur, snapping jaws, and sharp claws.

It wasn’t long before they were bruised, cut, and worn down. They circled each other, panting heavily. White mist puffed from the bear’s snout as he eyed the wolf warily. The wolf bared his teeth, locked his muscles, and then gave one final jump—

And he felt a human hand wrap around his throat, pinning him against a tree. The wolf struggled, growling, legs flailing, then finally simmered down. Bones cracked; Jayce tried to catch his breath under Marcus’s tight grip, his hands grasping the other man’s wrist.

“Feel better?” Marcus asked, his eyes locked on the other man’s. Jayce could see claw marks on Marcus’s neck and chest.
He’d done that
. The wake of the fight left a strange feeling in his bones. Adrenaline still ran hot and pumped thickly through his veins, but for the first time in a long time, he felt spent. He didn’t feel that coiled-up anxiety in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t feel like the world was too overwhelming or that he was inches away from losing it. He felt
comfortable
in this shifter skin. Maybe he hadn’t tamed his Beast, but he’d exhausted it, and that was enough for now.

“This wasn’t about Cami, was it?” he said, panting.

Marcus lifted his eyebrows. “If we were fighting over Cami, you’d be dead.” He released Jayce, who put his hands on his knees and caught his breath. Seconds later, Marcus returned with Jayce’s gun in his hand and held it out.

“Thanks,” Jayce said, taking the gun.
Meaning
it.

Marcus shot him a look. “Don’t mention it.” Meaning that, too.

Marcus turned to continue towards the cabin. He stopped, glanced over his shoulder, and added, “And quit tinkering with your car. It’s dead. Move on.” With that, he pushed forward.

“Stop!” Jayce said suddenly. Marcus halted, and just in time. Jayce lifted a rock and tossed it past Marcus, onto the ground in front of him. Instantly, leaves fluttered up as a net snapped around the rock and went sailing upwards. The empty net hung loosely from the tree and Marcus gave Jayce a questioning look.

“Hunter’s trap,” Jayce said and shrugged. “May or may not have put it there myself a couple weeks ago.”

“Charming,” Marcus grunted.

“Hey, you help me out, I help you.” Jayce gave Marcus a pat on the back (much to the older man’s surprise) and then reached out for the net. “Help me cut this down,” Jayce said. “I’ve got an idea.”

When Cami got home she saw something she never thought she’d see: Marcus and Jayce sitting by the fire. Quietly drinking beers. Together.

“Did hell freeze over while I was gone?” she asked, plopping her purse down on the foyer table.

Marcus looked up from his spot on the couch. “We were walking the perimeter. Got in a fight with a cougar.”

“
Real Housewives
cougar or kitty cat cougar?” Cami shrugged out of her coat, tugged her boots off by the heel, and then perched on the couch beside Marcus. Jayce sat on the floor by her feet—enjoying the proximity to the fire, no doubt—and Cami caught his chin, tilting his head up. He was black and blue on the left side of his jaw. “Ouch. She really got you good, huh?”

“I’m fine,” Jayce said and, oddly enough, actually seemed to mean it. A look passed between the wolf-man and the bear-man before they both turned back to the fire, sipping their beers.

Wow.
So this was weird. The two that had once been at each other’s throats were suddenly
bro-ing out
. And sharing secret looks. Cami buttoned her lip with her teeth and then said, “You
sure
about that?” Maybe they were both concussed. Suffering from blood loss.

Jayce knit his eyebrows at her, nodded. “Yeah,” he said stubbornly. “How was training?”

“Do you mean
how was Jenny
?” Holding grudges. Old habits. She was working on it. Baby steps.

“I mean how was training?”

“It was good,” Cami said. “Great, actually.”

“Good.”

The fire crackled and burned. Cami felt the warmth on the bits of her legs that her thigh-highs bared. She parted them instinctually. Her mistrust of the situation was fading fast. She was suddenly too warm, too comfortable to care. Her boys were at peace. She was at peace.

“Kiss and make up,” Marcus said. Cami assumed he was learning life lessons from her constant rewatching of
Clueless
, which she blared on her laptop loud enough to leak through the walls.

Cami decided to take him up on the demand. She folded over her knees and took Jayce’s chin back in her fingers. “Come to mama, grump-pup,” she cooed, pursing her lips dramatically. She gave him a chaste, playful kiss. But even as small as it was, the brush of his lips had a dangerous effect on her. She felt like she’d been lulled into a spell by the easy, lazy mood set up in front of the fireplace. His deep, soulful eyes snagged on hers and she felt herself drawn to those familiar eyes like a moth to a neon sign. She wet her lips and tightened her thighs, her panties feeling honey-thick.

Marcus’s grip attached to her braid and he yanked her back up. “Now me,” he said deeply. He moved in and kissed her, hard. Parting her lips with his tongue. She yielded to him easily, her mind swimming. The contrast between Jayce’s loving softness and Marcus’s firm, possessive demand made her floaty and pliable. Her blood thrummed in her veins, her heart hummingbirding in her chest.

As Marcus kissed her, his hand still tight on her hair, she felt Jayce’s fingers, featherlight, run up her legs. And then a kiss, soft, peppering up her thigh.

Cami felt her hands grip the bottom of her dress, balling it up as she moaned. This was too good to be true. Her boys—wild animals—hungrily devouring her. This was a dream she would wake up from, dry-humping her pillow.

Marcus’s lips dropped to her throat, his thumb cupping her jaw. She opened her eyes. Nope. She was still awake, with one nibbling her legs, the other nibbling her neck. She felt vulnerable, but also
safe,
very safe between these two, powerful men. Knowing that they could easily rip her apart and enjoy their halves, but that they chose to cherish her instead, savor her with their lips. They were completely different—one a hard, rough-palmed thunderstorm, the other a fluid and smooth crashing wave—but they worked her body with the same single-minded intention to make her writhe and gasp as much as they could.

It was working. Her thighs rubbed together, pussy puffy and aching, panties soaking, and she knew they could smell it.

She felt Marcus’s fingers unwrap her cardigan and then tug her dress up over her head. His fingers were bold and he dropped her clothes carelessly to the floor. Never seemed to like them much on her anyway. Now, clad in only her panties and thigh-high socks, she itched to have bare skin pressed against her own. She ripped the buttons from Marcus’s shirt and shoved it back, flattening her chest against his hairy one. His skin felt hot on hers and she dug her needle-sharp nails into his back.

“I need more,” she heard herself whisper.

“Yes,” Marcus said plainly.

She felt a hand—Marcus’s?—grab her thigh in his hand, parting her legs. Permission? It worked. Jayce’s fingers—unmistakably Jayce, nimble and practiced—peeled her panties down her legs.

“Is this okay?” Jayce asked, eyes on hers. Sweet, sweet Jayce.

Cami nodded. “I need you.” It was said in nearly a whimper and she was surprised by how much she meant it. She
needed
Jayce. His care, his concern. His love. That was more important than water under the bridge.

She heard Marcus growl in her ear and then lick her throat. A reminder. And a reward. She’d made the right choice. Meanwhile, Jayce spread her legs wide, and then filled in the gap.

“Oh God…” Cami gasped, squirming as Jayce’s fingers parted her slit and his tongue found its way immediately to her clit.
How did he always land the perfect spot right away?
Didn’t matter, she was rolling her hips against his lips, dancing to his beat as his tongue fluttered against her little nub.

Her instinct was to grab Jayce’s hair and hold him closer, but Marcus wrapped his long fingers around both of her wrists and pinned them back, over her head. His head dipped down then and he caught her plump breast in his mouth, sucking. Her nipples tightened and her thighs along with them, squeezing Jayce’s ears. Marcus tugged her nipple between his teeth and she cried out sharply, her back arching into his mouth.

It was almost not fair. They had her wound up in a tight ball of lust while they tinkered with her like a piano.
Two—three—could play this game.
Deftly, she snaked one of her feet down and flexed it between Jayce’s legs. She felt his hard cock straining against his pants and heard him moan, the vibrations resounding against her sensitive clit. That sound just made her throb harder, and his tongue worked faster to lick her clean as her foot rubbed over the caged length of his dick.

There were hands all over her. Hands on her legs, her sides, her breasts—she was losing track of
who
was touching her
where
. All she knew was that it felt good—incredibly good—and she didn’t want it to stop.

But then it did. Jayce’s head pulled back—the emptiness felt cold and she half-begged, half-laughed, “no, no, no,” as she squirmed against it—and then she felt herself lifted up off the couch. Cradled in Marcus’s arms. He never did well on the sidelines for long. He carried her a couple steps and then spread her out on the rug in front of the fireplace. “On your hands and knees,” Marcus demanded.

Cami obliged and hung her head low, her heart beating quick in her chest. The fire beside her warmed her already burning skin and she felt herself begin to sweat. Her sock-covered thighs kicked once against the rug impatiently.

She had no idea how they decided who went where—animal instincts, a look and a nod, rock, paper, scissors—but she felt fingertips trail down her spine. Another hand, rough, in her hair, pulled her forward. The second she saw Marcus’s cock—standing at attention in front of her—her mouth watered. Marcus folded his knees underneath him and murmured, “Good girl,” as her mouth fell open to take him in.

Jayce’s hands ran down her skin from behind, his fingertips painted over her curves like he was tracing the lines of a masterpiece. His animal was showing, though, and she felt sharp teeth nip her shoulder, hungry, ready to devour her. She felt like a lamb surrounded by predators, but the thought scattered as soon as Jayce pushed his cock inside of her.

She whined, her head bowing again, hips pushing up against him to take him in—
oh God
—all the way in, so deep she felt her legs start to tremble. But then Marcus yanked her up by her hair, a sharp, stinging reminder, and said, “Look at me.”

She did. His expression was firm, blue eyes dancing with hunger, but there was something else there, too. He was
enjoying
this, watching Cami lose all inhibitions under her two favorite men. His thumb pressed into her mouth like a bit, keeping it open, and he guided her over his cock again. “Lick.”

Her tongue went out immediately, giving him rapid little kitten licks up the way up his cock. For all his brute and Alpha-command, his resolve melted under her tongue and he shuddered, his cock swelling noticeably. She was greedy for him suddenly and swirled her tongue around his tip once (tasted that salty precum) and then swallowed him as deeply as she could. He growled loudly as she began to bob her head in rhythm with Jayce’s thrusts, who was hitting all the right spots inside of her.

She must have gone mad. Crazy. Crazy for these two men who cherished her and dominated her. Who made her feel both confident and weak in the knees. She loved them, loved them, loved them, and felt that warm, fluttery feeling coil up in her stomach, building, swelling, until—

Her orgasm swept over her like a crashing wave. She whined, mouth full, and her hand reached out, grabbing Marcus to steady herself, nails scraping his chest. She felt Jayce spill over inside of her and heard him moan, “Ah—
Cami.
” Her name sounded incredibly good on his lips and she used her grip on Marcus to push again against him as he rolled his hips in tantalizing circles until her tight throbs dissolved into a low pulse.

“Enough,” Marcus said, pulling Cami’s mouth off of his cock. She gasped for air, panting. He was red and stiff, veins protruding,
wanting
. But not yet. He was waiting for…what?

Jayce twisted her over then suddenly, and Cami’s back hit the rug. He settled in on top of her and kissed her, hard. Peeling her away from the other man. Her heart hammered in her chest—
fighting
over her? It was going to make her crazy. She didn’t know how much she needed his kiss until she felt his lips on hers, and she whined in his mouth, her fingers curling against the side of his head, holding him to her. Her mouth felt dry but his kiss cured her. She tasted herself on his tongue and that sent a new jolt of pleasure straight between her legs.

And then another pair of lips ghosted her neck.
Marcus
. The two men shared space over her, covering her body in kisses, licks, and nibbles. She felt herself burning from the inside out again and she could barely catch her breath, beads of sweat catching in her curves, rolling between her breasts.

She reached up and caught a handful of Marcus’s hair in one hand, Jayce’s in the other. “God, I love you,” she murmured to both of them.

“I love you too.” A growl and a whisper simultaneously echoed back; really, it couldn’t have gone better if she’d
planned
it. She wondered briefly how she’d gotten so lucky to be so loved by not one, but
two
men. Two self-righteous,
pain-in-the-ass
animals sometimes, but also two very generous, very loving, very supportive men.
Women’s best friend, all right
.

Marcus reclaimed his spot, tugging Cami underneath him before he shoved his cock deep inside her. Cami choked, pleasure ricocheting through her. Suddenly glad that Jayce had gone first because Marcus pounded his hips into hers in a way that made her see stars. Sharp pain at first, quickly dovetailed by a blossoming of warmth inside of her, dripping between her legs. Jayce wasn’t helping; he covered her throat with his lips and nibbled her earlobe, making her shudder. But it was his hands on her breasts that really made her crazy—his thumbs flicked her peaked, sensitive nipples again and again, quickly.

Cami cried out. “Please don’t stop…oh God…” It was good,
too good
, and before she knew it, she hit a wall of pleasure. She came crashing down on her orgasm, whimpering and writhing through it, her body throbbing tightly around Marcus’s huge cock. He gave her a couple more hard fucks before he growled and came as well, filling her.

“Holy fuck,” Cami finally said when she caught her breath, laughing. Marcus’s weight was nice and solid on her and Jayce was snuggled warm beside her, arm around her middle. “You two need to get along more often.”

“You’re telling me,” Jayce grinned. He kissed the side of her face. She giggled.

Marcus tried to shift off of her but Cami wound her arms around him. “Stay,” she said. “Just a second longer.”

He settled back down on top of her, staying inside of her.

“I need both of you,” she said. “If I’m going to take on Aldric—”

Marcus took her hand in his and pressed a soft kiss to the back of her fingers. “Don’t think about that now,” he said.

She nodded, suddenly exhausted. “Come here,” she said. Marcus did, his body flush against hers. She tucked herself against him and wrapped his arm around her, wearing him like a coat. Facing Jayce, she pulled him into her arms and gripped tightly. Snuggled up between them, for the first time in a long time, she felt safe. Like all the anxiety and stress balled up inside of her had unraveled and she could finally relax. “I love you both so much,” she said, the words barely leaving her lips before she felt her eyes fall closed.