Twin Alphas: Claimed (A BBW Werewolf Romance) (5 page)

             
Please, please let her say she liked farms. Please don’t let her be a city girl who hates getting dirty.

              “My family has a farm.  I love them,” she said. “We have a herd of Guernseys, and apple orchards.”

              He felt as if the heavens had just opened and a chorus of angels had descended, to sing the Hosanna choir. “We do too,” he said happily. “Sweetest milk ever.”

              “We’ll have to come visit your farm,” he added, and her eyes widened in surprise. Was he moving too fast? Or was she one of those girls who came here just to have a good time, not looking to be Claimed?

              Well, he was pretty sure that even if she was, he’d be able to change her mind.

              “So you work on your family’s farm?” he asked her.

              “No, actually, I live on the farm, but I’m a college professor. I worked at the local community college until the Big One knocked it down and-” she stopped, and took a big swig of her drink again, avoiding his eyes.

              “Yeah, I can imagine,” he said sympathetically. “It played havoc with our farm, half our herds ran off and it took forever to find them, our main house was knocked down and we’ve just finished rebuilding. Lost some good friends, including some of them who accidentally wandered over to the other side and died when they came back.   Is your town back to normal now? Where did you say it was again?”

              “I see what you did there,” she said, laughing, and taking another big gulp. “We’re talking about you, remember? Tell me about your brother.”

              “Oh, you’ll like him. He’s a good guy,” Holt said enthusiastically. Would she like him more? The thought sent a brief twinge of jealousy twisting through him, an emotion that he’d never felt before.

              She’d finished her drink already, and so had he. He quickly ordered them two more.

              “Where did you go to college?” she asked.

              “California College of Agriculture. My brother and I always knew we’d be carrying on the family business.  You?” he asked.

              “You’re doing it again.”

              “I see. You’re a woman of mystery. OK, I’m going to lay my cards on the table. What did you expect would happen at your first Alpha Claiming Festival? Were you hoping to meet someone?”

              “Uh…wow. Interesting question. Let me think a minute.”

              “Take your time. I’ve got forever.” He grinned down at her, watching her blush.

              She looked down at her drink, seeming to consider what she wanted to say.  “Well, I…I didn’t really know what to expect. I thought I’d hang back and observe, actually. It’s pretty overwhelming, and…I don’t know…with so many beautiful girls here, how do you decide on the right one?”

              “I’m only looking at one girl right now,” he said, staring down at her, and her faint blush turned into full on flames. 

              Oh, God. She was incredibly hot and had no idea how hot she was. He was going to have the best time showing her…

              “It’s just a feeling that hits you,” he said. “There’s plenty of pretty women here, sure, but since the idea of the festival is for an Alpha pair to find their Forever Mate, you’re always looking for that one who makes you feel something that you’ve never felt before.”

              “Of course,” she murmured. He wanted to tell her that it was her, but she was obviously shy and spooked. He didn’t want to freak her out and send her running.

              “So why do you think that some human females don’t want to do the Forever Mate thing?” she asked.

              “Well, it’s a pretty political position, it’s very public, it’s actually a lot of work. Not everyone wants that responsibility. Or the woman may technically not be claimed, but she may be interested in someone back home, or she may not even want to be a member of a pack. Plenty of human women don’t. Which is fine, of course. Humans need us, we need humans. It’s all good.”

              “Of course. That all makes sense.” She had to raise her voice to be heard above the din of conversation and the music blaring from the speakers.  Her eyes were wide and she was scanning the crowd, looking almost fearful.  His protective side swelled up.

              “You want to get out of here?” he asked. “I’d like to invite you to meet my brother Clayton, and come back to our cabin for a drink.” Yep, he was that sure she was The One. All the stories were true – when you saw the right one you just knew, right away.

              “Oh! Well, I…”

              “There he is! Stay right here. Don’t move. Seriously. I’ll be right back.”  He dashed through the crowd. Clayton was standing outside the bar, with his arm around the waist of the blonde woman who’d accosted Holt earlier. She was already half drunk.

              “There you are! Now we can all have a really good time. I can’t wait to show you two some new tricks.” She winked at Holt.

              “Wait a minute. Not the both of us.” Clayton disentangled himself from her and backed away. “I already told you, I’m just looking for a good time, and I’m going to be meeting up with a lot of women this week. I could not have made that more clear, Lianne. If you want more, you’ll have to look elsewhere.”

              Lianne pouted. “But you already said you wanted me! You can’t just walk away and leave!” She threw her arms around Clayton’s waist and began kissing his neck. He grimaced, and tried to shrug her off of him.

              “Holt?” Amelia’s questioning voice sent him spinning around, alarm jolting through him.

              She glanced over at Clayton, whose eyes widened with surprise.  Holt grinned to himself. He was in tune enough with his twin to know that Clayton was feeling the exact same thing that he did. It had hit him like a thunderbolt.

              Clayton pulled the girl’s arms off him, none too gently, and stepped away from her. “I said no, Lianne. Goodbye,” he said roughly, and then quickly turned back to Amelia and pasted on his most charming smile.

              “Hello,” he said, in that rough, sexy voice that always knocked girls over like bowling pins. “I’m Clayton. So glad to meet you.”

              Apparently, Amelia was not your typical bowling pin. She was not going to be knocked over.

              She took a step back. “I really need to get going, but it was great to meet both of you,” she said, and then she turned and ran into the crowd.

              Holt turned to Clayton. “Well, well. Looks like Hell finally froze over.  A hot little number knocked you down a peg or two. Now we need to go get her and convince her to come back, because she is the one, and I swear to God if another wolf gets his paws on her-”

              Clayton’s eyes widened in alarm at that, he let out a growl of anger, and he quickly began pushing his way through the crowd in the direction that she’d gone, with Holt following right on his heels.

              As Amelia ran, she bit back a stream of curses. Those two wolves were the sexiest thing she’d ever seen, and she absolutely hated having to leave. She’d never had a threesome before, never thought of herself as particularly adventurous, but oh dear God, for those two she’d make an exception – if she were back in her world.

              But it would be completely wrong for her to be involved with these two here – wouldn’t it? Then again, Holt and Mackenzie had both talked about women who came to the festival just looking for fun. She could be one of those women – couldn’t she?

              No! she chastised herself firmly. She was here to observe and report back. She was here to write a research paper.

              Then again, she’d sure learn about the werewolf way of life if she were to spend a night with those two in their cabin…

              “Hey! What’s the hurry?” Mackenzie waved at her. She was standing by a vendor’s booth with a big, burly man with a crew cut, who had his arm slung around her waist. They were both holding drinks.

              “Hey, Mackenzie.” She walked over to them.

              Mackenzie had a necklace around her neck that hadn’t been there before. It dangled on a gold chain, and there was a little bouquet of flowers dangling from it – but the bouquet changed into different kinds of flowers. A bunch of daisies, the roses, then tulips…

              “Does it do that forever?” Amelia asked, fascinated.

              “Nah, probably a few days, unless I go to a Mage’s station and get it recharged,” Mackenzie shrugged. “You’ve never seen one of these before?”

              “No, but they’re lovely.”

              Damn. Every time Amelia opened her mouth she risked giving herself away.  Also, Clayton and Holt might find her, and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to resist them a second time.  She really should leave, should go hide out in the woods and observe from afar, but she found herself wanting to stay. Everyone was having so much fun, and she really liked Mackenzie, and the thought of leaving Clayton and Holt behind made her oddly anxious and upset.

              Fortunately, Mackenzie was too tipsy to be suspicious. “Try this. It’s a Howl At The Moon. They are so tasty.” Mackenzie held out her drink, a multi-layered concoction that tasted deliciously sweet. It was some mixture of coffee and liqueur and cream.

              “Oh, dear God.Liquid orgasm. Oops, excuse me,” she said to the crew-cut guy. “I don’t usually discuss my orgasms in front of total strangers. Too much alcohol. I’m a total lightweight.”

              “Ajax,” he said, sticking his hand out to introduce himself. “Please, discuss away. I’m delighted to be surrounded by two beautiful ladies talking about their orgasms.”

              “Was that a fat joke?” she laughed. “There’s two of us and you’re surrounded?” She took another sip of Mackenzie’s drink.

              “Hey!” Mackenzie grabbed her drink back. “Leave some for me, drunken wench. Get your boyfriends to buy you one. Where are they?”

              “Oh, I, ah…” she flushed.

              Mackenzie fixed her with a narrow eyed stare. “You what?”

              “I might have panicked and run away, a little bit.”

              “Are you a crazy woman? Aside from Mr. Hot Stuff here, they’re the two hottest werewolves I ever laid eyes on.” Ajax let out a low growl, and Mackenzie smacked his arm. “I said, aside from you! Jeez, you big cry-baby.”

He smirked at her.

“I intend to make you eat those words. Among other things.” The two were staring at each other with pure lust in their eyes. Amelia could practically see sparks sizzling in the air between them.

“Dang, guys, get a room,” she said.

              “That is, in fact, where we were headed.” Mackenzie tore her gaze from Ajax for a minute to grin at her. “Don’t worry if you don’t see me too much for the next few days.”

              “I won’t. I’ll just assume you’re being eaten by a big bad wolf,” Amelia said, then clapped her hands over her mouth. “Oh my GOD! Why did you let me drink so much?”

Then she looked longingly at Mackenzie’s drink. “Maybe I should just have one more sip, so I can remember what it tastes like.”

Mackenzie clutched the drink protectively to her ample chest.

“You’re cut off! Go back and find your hot boyfriends and make them buy you one!” she said.

“They’re not my boyfriends,” Amelia said gloomily. Wouldn’t it be heavenly if they were? What a wonderful thing to go home to every evening. And to wake up next to in the morning.

              “Here, follow me.” Ajax led the two of them towards another outdoors bar with a sign that identified it as the Love Connection. Subtle. “Never let it be said that I let a lovely lady go thirsty.”

              He pushed his way through the crowd to the bar, never losing his grip on Mackenzie, and called out “One Howl At The Moon for my friend here!” He glanced a Mackenzie, who’d almost finished her drink. “And another one for this beautiful lady.”

              “He’s got excellent taste,” Amelia observed.

              Mackenzie nodded in agreement. “And good eyesight. And he’s about to get very, very lucky.”

              The bartender began mixing their drinks, carefully pouring in the layers. Music blared from the speakers, men and women danced under a pavilion by the bar, and Amelia was starting to get used to the sight of wolves wandering casually through the crowd and then standing up to turn into stark naked men.

              “Where did you guys meet?” Amelia asked. She had to raise her voice to be heard. “Here at the festival, or out in the real world?”

              “Oh, we met here last year, but not until the last day, so we never got a chance to hang out,” Mackenzie said. “We don’t live close to each other.  Actually, Ajax and Barron live so far away, they’re almost in another district, I’d never have met them outside the festival.”

              “My parents met outside the festival,” Ajax mused. “It happens sometimes. My mom was in an aisle at the grocery store, one of my dads saw her, and after that, it was all over. She moved in with them two weeks later.”