SEDUCED BY THE ALPHA’S MATE

The Tactics

CHASE TOOK A SWIG OF CRISP, cold beer while scrutinizing the crowded bar. The Back Door was packed on Friday nights, and Julia was behind the bar, serving drinks with a smile. Chase’s brother watched from a seat next to him.

Looking at the pitiable adoration pasted on his brother’s face, Chase wanted to smack him upside the head to bring him back to the land of the non-p***y-whipped. What the hell happened to his strong, no-nonsense beta? The one that always told Chase “not me, I never want a mate.”

He’d turned into an overgrown puppy is what. After River met Julia, he’d given a new definition to the phrase love-struck fool. Chase snorted, gulped down more of the draft, and scanned the entirety of the bar for any idiots who might want to start trouble.

His gaze bypassed the women who stared and struggled to catch his attention. Pack and human females had a tendency to fling themselves, and articles of clothing, at him. He knifed cold fingers through his black hair, unconcerned if he messed up the strands and ended up looking like a wild animal.

He didn’t really care most of the time how his hair hung, but women seemed to love the shaggy, untamed look. It wasn’t done on purpose—his hair just grew so much that it became an annoyance to get it cut every two weeks. There were more important things to do than make a trip to a barber to make him look tame.

Julia smiled at one of her waitstaff as she filled glasses. Her long dark hair was in a ponytail and gave her the appearance of a teenager among adults.

Unlike most shifters, she wasn’t a stick figure. After she’d been turned, she’d lost some weight, her body gaining the rapid ability to metabolize fat. Shifters were slimmer, since each shift made it easier to burn a large number of calories.

Julia was a little rounder and softer than most, which explained his brother’s love for groping her whenever he thought nobody was looking. Julia had a flair for the dramatic, which made it sometimes painful to be around her when she was in one of her tearful moods.

He observed his sibling’s mate and immediately thought of Sophia. Julia’s older sister was petite, remarkably smart, and so hot, the air crackled with fire, the temperature going from warm to blistering whenever she was around.

With a body that wouldn’t quit, she made him want to get on his knees and beg. She resembled a 1950’s pin-up model, all sexy curves. He pictured himself blowing raspberries in the valley of her luscious breasts. Her hips— dear Lord, they were a thing of beauty; all rounded, they showed off her nipped waist to perfection.

Caramel skin, thanks to their Latin heritage, glowed when she smiled, as though the sun recently kissed the silky flesh. Her full lips begged him for a kiss every time he got a glimpse of them. It was hell holding back.

Those sexy, sleepy, gray eyes gave her the just- rolled-out-of-bed look and made his c**k jerk whenever she turned them his way. Chase was not normally a fan of short hair, but her brown curls had him itching to run his fingers through the silky mass.

Her scent drove him to distraction; she always smelled of peaches and cream. Whenever he was around her, he marveled at her fragrance. If he licked her, would the flavor be as sweet as the scent?

Unfortunately, she wasn’t interested.

Her disinterest was like a slap in the face. He struggled against the impulse to get near her, and wrestled his lust for dominance in order to stay away.

When he first tried getting close to her, she’d blush and make a beeline to somewhere else. Anywhere else. His wolf growled at him each time, telling him to follow. But Chase wasn’t about to push himself onto a female who didn’t want him.

Turning toward his brother, he realized River had been saying something while he’d been mentally stripping Sophia and doing all kinds of dirty, probably illegal-in-some-states things to her.

The barrage of s****l thoughts overran his brain like a virus on a hard drive. Whenever her name popped into his head, he got so hard, he felt the denim tighten around his c**k into a painful, unyielding fist.

“So?” River’s brows lifted as he waited for a response.

“So, what?” He winced at his brother’s disgustingly happy smirk. God, just shoot him now. He was going to have to put up with this for how long?

“You weren’t even listening to me, were you? I said Sunday, Julia and I are having a barbecue, and we want you to come over. It’s not a party, so there’s no need to freak out thinking you’re going to be dodging panties. It’s just the four of us.”

River’s strong features resembled his own—dark hair cut to the nape of his neck and brown eyes they got from their mother, and the fierce, angular planes of their faces from their father.

His brother was a little shorter than Chase’s six-foot-three. Both were muscular and got a lot of female attention. Of course, now his brother was oblivious to any woman but his wife.

“The four of us?” Chase put his empty beer bottle down.

Julia came over, put down a napkin, and plunked down a fresh bottle. She leaned over the counter and gave her husband a quick kiss. Great, so he was going to have to watch them play footsie while Sophia pretended he didn’t exist.

“Did you ask him?” She smiled at River, then turned to Chase.

“I just did, sweetheart. He still hasn’t said if he’s coming.” He grabbed her hand and lifted it to his lips. She stared at him, the heat in their eyes clearly visible for anyone to see.

Julia gave Chase a small frown. “Well? Can you come? I really want you there, Chase.” She gave her husband a small, pleasure-filled smile. “We’ve got something we need to tell you guys, but we only want to do it once, so you have to be there.” She grinned and her eyes sparkled when she spoke.

He’d never seen River as happy as he was since meeting his mate. It made Chase feel uncomfortable to be a voyeur to their love-fest.

“Ah, s**t, come on, Julia. Do you honestly think I’d ever say no to you? I’d never hear the end of it from Don Juan over here.” He curled his lip in his trademark smile and winked at his sister-in-law.

Julia was family now, and he’d do anything in his power to make the females in his family happy. Even if that meant torturing himself to be near the woman of his every dirty fantasy.

She laughed, grabbed Chase’s face, and kissed him loudly on the cheek, which shocked a blush out of him. f**k, now she was trying to turn him into a domestic animal.

No way, he was alpha. Hear him roar.

“Great!” she said. “Just make sure you come, or I’ll have to hunt you down and make a wolf rug out of you.” Without waiting for a reply, she went back to serving drinks, her happiness radiating warmth all around.

“So, are you going to be okay with Sophia joining us?”

Chase’s gaze landed on his brother and his shrewd stare. He didn’t want to know what River meant by his probing, but he could only think that his sibling had noticed Sophia’s obvious dislike of him.

For f**k’s sake, the woman acted like he had rabies. Whenever he walked in, she walked out.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”

“Hmm. Her shyness toward you drives you nuts.”

Chase snorted. “Whatever. She’s never around long enough for me to get to that stage.”

His brother sighed. “Don’t take it personally, bro. She’s that way with most people. Shyness is hard to overcome.”

“So you say.” Chase swallowed half his beer. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”

River slapped him on the shoulder. “That sounds more like the brother I know. I’ll call you Sunday. Don’t forget.” River gave him the look that he’d given him before his wedding, the one that said if you try to get out of this, I’ll b***h and moan so much, you’ll visualize killing me multiple times.

Fan-f*****g-tastic.

RATFACE TOSSED his cell phone onto the table. The smack as it hit the wood echoed in the windowless room. It was f*****g cold in there; being underground, it was like being in a freakin’ cave.

He hated the cold. If he wanted to be frozen all the goddamn time, he’d be in f*****g Alaska or some s**t.

The four others at the table snapped awake with his entrance. What a pathetic group of misfits. He was amazed they’d gotten as far in life as they had. Only good thing about it was that it made them dispensable. If one died, then another could easily replace them.

All except him, of course.

“Our person in the field just called,” Ratface said. “Seems our target ate dinner at a restaurant tonight and discussed things they shouldn’t have wanted sensitive ears to hear.”

“All right, boss,” Goon said. “What did they say?” A high-pitched squeal giggled through the hyena.

Ratface sighed and looked at the shifter. “I was gonna tell you until you interrupted, s**t head.” He looked around the table. “We got confirmation. The goods are at her home and the lab in something called cold storage.” He mumbled to himself about more damn cold s**t.

“We gonna go get it now, boss?” Goon asked. The others nodded, giggling and licking their lips.

“No, we are not,” he said. “We have to come up with a plan. Now shut up before I shut you up.” The group around the table fell quiet.

Ratface paced. Without the boss telling him what to do, he’d figure it out himself. He could do this. He was smart, too. He owed this to his boss. Of all the things that happened, this was the least he could do.

If the woman had stuff at her home and lab, then they needed to get to her home and the lab. Yeah, he was smart.

They’d have to watch her and wait for a time when she was gone. From what intel they had so far, she spent a lot of time with her sister when not in the lab.

The woman was so damn boring, working all the time. She didn’t even take breaks to eat. Only a human could do that. And she didn’t talk to anyone. Only when her boss made her leave to meet and eat did she get out.

He wasn’t worried about this first task. Humans were so easy, too predictable. A whiny laugh trickled out of his throat. He couldn’t wait.