Alpha Doms Box Set: 9 Delicious Stories + 10 Sexy Heroes = 19 Reasons to Indulge (42 page)

Eddie and I started out as rivals growing
up. Attending different schools until high school, we competed
against each other in everything, playing into the rival
neighboring pack story line. Even when the new high school was
built, uniting our pack young under one roof, we competed for
positions on the football team, for P.E. records, stupid
things…until Callie came along.

She was our ultimate competition.

But she refused to be a part of it.

Callie ignored both of our advances
separately, forcing us to come together for the first time; she
forced us to stop competing and work together. By the time we
graduated high school, we were having weekly meetings about the
girl, working as a team to steel her focus from the other guys
checking her out. Callie wasn’t every guy’s cup of tea, but her
curves were sweet like honey, attracting enough attention to ruffle
a few wolf hairs.

The last two years that
Callie was in high school and Eddie and I were working was hell.
Talk about paranoid. We’d sweet-talked our way back onto the high
school campus more times than we cared to admit. We spent more
lunch breaks with Callie at school than we did in or around the
office. Together, Eddie and I bought our condo and had it set up in
time for Callie to move in when she graduated high school. Her
parents weren’t keen on it, but after ten straight weeks of Sunday
night dinners over the entire summer reassuring them, offering
every excuse possible,
i.e.
we live closer to the school’s campus, they agreed
and Callie moved in with us.

But rather than get better, things got
worse. Callie was more distracted than before with her school
studies. Our advances went right over her head because her face was
always buried in a textbook. It got to a point that we stopped
trying. Just because we stopped trying to steal her attention,
didn’t mean we’d given up. Any male she brought home for even a
second, we let know that he was stepping into our territory.
Without fail, they never showed their face again, and eventually
Callie didn’t bother with other men.

Perhaps it was a selfish move on our part,
but our wolf assured us that she was our mate. No other man would
dedicate their life to her the way we would. No other man would
give up everything to make her happy like we would. We knew we were
it for Callie.

I just wished she saw it that way.

Sometimes I wished I could strip away at her
layers. On some level, I was certain she was attracted to us. She
was comfortable openly flirting with us, but to a degree, that was
her Southern personality shining through. She made everyone feel
comfortable, even the stage-five clingers we wanted her to
aggressively kick to the curb for us when we were out together. She
never treated them the way they treated her.

Her kind heart only made me love her more.
She accepted every decision we made, even the bad ones. Her
acceptance was what prompted us to respect her decisions in kind,
regardless of how much we wanted to contest them.

Case in point, a job.

Eddie and I both had held back hiring on
positions in our companies, saving them for Callie.

She didn’t want a leg up though. She wanted
to do this on her own. It was hell watching her day after day try
so hard and continue to be rejected. That alone drew my wolf to the
outward. It was our job to protect her, and that wasn’t exclusive
to physically. When she was hurt, we felt her pain. When she was
upset, we felt her discontent.

Like now.

She was watching the TV, but we knew by her
emotions that her mind was elsewhere. She was all about putting on
a brave face for us, equally trying to protect us. It showed how
much she cared, even if she didn’t want to admit it.

I scented the pizza before I heard the
footsteps getting closer in the corridor.

With a sigh, I patted her thigh before
standing. She turned her big brown eyes on me, giving me a small
smile. She was trying to use the smile to cover up the sadness in
her eyes, but I saw it; I felt it.

Eddie threw his arm around her and pulled
her into his side. “Come here, sweetie.”

Callie slid deeper her Eddie’s embrace. I
forced myself to turn away, biting back my growl of jealousy to get
the food.

—

Chapter Seven

CALLIE

Jay passed Eddie a beer
before setting a glass of
pinot noir
on the coffee table. The guys were anything but
formal CEOs; they ate their pizza with their hands, forgoing any
plates.

I tried to calm myself long enough to reach
for a slice. It smelled like heaven, but I was too angry, too
upset…too disappointed.

My size had never held me back. I wasn’t a
Skinny Minnie, but I wasn’t immobile either. I walked regularly. I
hadn’t tried to run since high school, but…

I reached for my glass of wine. I sipped it
lightly, knowing it would knock me quick since I hadn’t eaten…and
couldn’t bring myself to eat.

I knew it wasn’t healthy, but, well, I
wasn’t going to waste away. Plus, I’d read somewhere that fasting
for a day every once in a while was good for your metabolism.

I just couldn’t get over the asshole’s
insinuation. He’d cut me off mid-sentence, mid-reply to one of his
questions to tell me this wasn’t going to work, that he realized he
needed someone with a military or security background, further
citing that jumpers were fast runners with a knack for eluding the
quickest of bondsmen. He thought my psychology background with my
criminal focus would help in locating the men quicker, but he would
rather it take a little longer and know they’d be caught and their
bail revoked. He then briskly thanked me for my time and all but
shoved me out the door.

I’d never felt used…until today.

He’d wasted my time. He must have learned
from his jumpers because he had me hurdling through hoops and in
the end, he eluded offering me the job.

“
Callie Cat?” Jay’s voice
was smooth as silk, with a hint of concern. He brushed the back of
his hand across my cheek.

I blinked a few times, the silence finally
registering. They’d paused the show; somehow, they’d known I wasn’t
watching, despite my eyes being trained on it. They knew me too
well.

Glancing back and forth between them, a
wistful smile curled my lips slightly. “Sorry, guys. You can watch
whatever you want.”

If I really analyzed my reaction, I knew I’d
made this bondsmen into a bigger jerk than he really was. My mind
had turned all of my hurt and frustration on him because I’d worked
the hardest to obtain the position he was offering, and he’d been
the only one honest enough to turn me down on the spot. I suppose
on some level I ought to appreciate his forward approach. Everyone
else said they would call, but never did.

It was everything though,
all of my wasted efforts until this point. After today, I actually
regret going to college for a degree, rather than a short
certificate or diploma program, a specialized in-demand trade. I’d
followed my heart. As a child, I devoured Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy
mystery books. As a teen, I stayed up late watching
48-hours, Cops, Cold Case
and all the other real crime shows. How did you gracefully
walk away from what you’d dedicated your life to
pursuing?

You didn’t. I couldn’t.

Not wanting to ruin the guy’s night, I
suppressed my emotions and attempted to quiet my mind long enough
to excuse myself. I set my still-full glass of wine on the coffee
table. “Um, I’m just going to go to my room and read for a
while.”

Eddie’s gaze intensified. His lips curled
into a snarl as he assessed me. A flash of gold reflected in his
eyes, ricocheting the tension riding his body. “No, you’re
not.”

Jay angled his head, watching Eddie for a
minute before joining in. “Yeah. You’re not.” His features hardened
in like.

I was taken aback. The guys had never
stopped me from doing what I wanted before.

I blinked a few times, my mind fraught to
process what had just happened.

“
Listen, Callie,” Eddie
started. He angled himself forward on the sofa, a firm hand on my
thigh as he glared back at me. “You’re not okay. You claim we’re
your best friends, but you never let us in. You try to juggle the
world alone, and you just can’t.”

Guilt rammed my chest. I averted my gaze,
staring at his hand on my thigh. I didn’t let them in, but that was
because I didn’t want to be any more of a burden. It’s what I felt
like…a burden.

Jay lifted my chin, forcing me to look at
him. “We love you, Callie Cat. We just want you to be happy, and
you’re anything but lately.”

I bit my bottom lip hard, ashamed of the
tears that suddenly wet my eyes.

Ever intuitive, Eddie pressed. “Why don’t
you open up to us, Callie?”

Jay met Eddie’s hard gaze. Once again, they
silently communicated, they made plans without me, confirmed their
plans without me.

“
Why not?” Jay
clipped.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. My chest
tightened. I felt like I was on ice, frozen in place, and yet I
felt the flames flickering off of them. I’d upset them. “Because I
don’t want to ask anymore of you than I already have. It’s not your
place to feed me, shelter me and listen to me bitch about not
finding a job, especially when it’s my own fault for picking an
unavailable career.”

They seemed to soften as my words set in.
“When are you going to learn that we don’t look at you as a
responsibility, Callie Cat?” Jay slipped my hair behind my ears,
studying me closely; this was the gentler side of him, the
in-control one.

My heart beat a little quicker, my pulse
thumped a little faster as he locked onto my gaze. Over the years,
I’d trained my body not to respond to them, but, being so raw,
feeling so overwhelmed all around, it didn’t take much for them to
affect me right now.

Eddie began to tenderly graze his fingers up
and down my thigh, soothing and heating me up simultaneously.

The air was thick with anxiety; our
breathing became louder, harder. Something had shifted between us
in that moment. I felt dangerously close to crossing a line I’d
vowed I never would. I closed my eyes, trying to regain my
composure. Damn it. I couldn’t ruin ten years of friendship for a
one-night-stand with them. Right now, I felt like they were all I
had left; I couldn’t lose them.

Opening my eyes, I abruptly stood and
clumsily put a bit of space between us. I worked my bottom lip,
crossing my arms over my chest protectively.

Jay appeared agitated while Eddie looked
disappointed. Their chests rose and fell in a heavy rhythm as they
watched me.

“
What part of mate don’t
you understand, Callie?” Jay ground his teeth, his muscles flexing
unnaturally.

Eddie backhanded Jay across the chest. The
smack echoed through the room.

Jay growled at Eddie, his nostrils
flaring.

I mulled over his words, trying to choose my
own wisely before I spoke. I kept my tone soft, appealing to him
sensibly. “I’m not a werewolf, Jay-Jay. I don’t understand your
laws, your words or your rituals. I also don’t assume to know them
either. Fiction is not reality, and being a factual person, I keep
my theories to myself and would never impose them on you. So, if
our definitions of a mate don’t match up, it’s because you’ve never
redefined it for me.”

I loved these men. I loved spending time
with them; I loved them for indulging me, for being there for me,
for making me laugh when I wanted to cry, for offering what so many
others wouldn’t. They were wonderful.

But, like I’d come to learn on my job hunt,
you didn’t have a job until they said “You’re hired.” I would never
assume the guys looked at me as more than a friend, or a
competition, until they said so.

They were always flirty, with every woman
they came across. Jay in an overtly charming sort of way; Eddie
with calculated, sultry seductions.

At times I thought their definition of a
mate was what every romantic fiction story explained, but then they
would cave and go out with one of the money hungry women who’d been
stalking them. Though they tried to be discreet most of the time,
it didn’t escape me. Books romanticized soul mates. In fiction, the
men, werewolves, became obsessed; their worlds revolved around
their mate. While Jay and Eddie’s lives involved me, I wouldn’t say
they lived for me.

In high school, in the beginning, I thought
they were both interested in me in that way, but then I discovered
their history and learned that I was just another piece of
property, another competition for them: I was a prize, a trophy,
not an actual desire. In their pursuit though, I got to know each
guy and came to appreciate him as a friend. I forced myself to keep
the hard line and not cross it with either of them. I didn’t want
to get hurt, and I didn’t want to destroy what I’d come to cherish.
Competitive or not, I could never argue that they weren’t great
friends.

“
A mate. You don’t know
what a mate is?” Jay rose up; his hands fisted at his
sides.

Eddie was right behind him, scrutinizing his
every move; on the prowl in some ways it appeared.

Jay swallowed hard, working his lips. “A
mate is the person nature designed to be my perfect partner, my
perfect other half, the person I’m meant to spend the rest of my
life with. You’re who I plan to spend the rest of my life with.”
His features bunched, and for the first time, I witnessed his pain.
“We love you, dammit. You’re it for us, Callie Cat.”

My mouth opened and closed several times,
but no words came out. Goosebumps coated my flesh; a bubble of
pressure encapsulated my heart.