Undercover Alpha: BBW Paranormal Werewolf Romance Read online

  “Ah, yes,” he said. “I’d offered Ms. Johnson a ride, and she’s having such a good time…” He shrugged. “I don’t mind waiting.”

  “And if I go over to her—”

  She was, actually, glancing in their direction. He gave a little wave, which felt incredibly dorky, but at least got him a smile back. “I don’t think she’s forgotten me,” he said.

  “All right,” he said. “You understand—”

  “No, it’s good,” Jason said. “I’m glad you ask.”

  “Wouldn’t be doing much of a job if we didn’t,” he said. “Marcus Cho. My wife’s the CEO, and I help out some.”

  “Jason Murphy. I’m visiting from California, and they let me tag along. It was a nice event. Seems like they do good work.”

  “Definitely,” Marcus agreed. “Nice to meet you. Lucy’s a great young woman.”

  “I’m glad to have met her, for sure.”

  “What do you do?”

  “I work in private security, actually. I’ve worked some jobs…let’s just say I really appreciate organizations like this.”

  Marcus nodded.

  Sophia and Lucy walked toward Jason and Marcus together. “Oh, Jason,” Sophia said. “It’s nice to see you again!”

  “A pleasure to see you too,” he said. “Did you need a ride home, too? I’m happy to—”

  “I’m fine,” she said, reaching out and touching his arm. “How sweet of you to offer!”

  Well, at least he’d gotten in better with Lucy. “Are you ready to go?” he asked her.

  “Yeah,” she said. “Thanks for waiting.” They both knew he had no choice, but it was nice of her to say. Now he just had to survive an elevator and the long car ride back to the house. It hadn’t seemed that long when the night was young and there were three women. Now he was going to be alone with Lucy and her scent. It was a good thing Ian had shoved more food at him. The full moon was getting closer. It was going to start getting under his skin. The wolf had a lot more power now. He had to be careful.

  The dress she was wearing was the perfect color—it was a deep blue that made him think of the sky just before it faded to midnight. It took his breath away. The style wasn’t what he would have picked for her—he would’ve had something that showed off more of those delicious curves—but she was still beautiful in it. She would have been beautiful in anything. Her scent was amazing, and it wrapped around her, around them both as the elevator descended. Just get to fresh air, he reminded himself. It’ll be all right then.

  She would still be astonishingly beautiful. She would still smell like something out of his fantasies. But it would be easier.

  “You don’t have to do all that,” she said.

  “Do what?” he asked, as the elevator descended.

  “Get the door, push the button.”

  He hadn’t even thought about that. “Oh,” he said. “I guess it’s just a habit.” Usually women expected him to take the lead. But of course, she was more independent. She hadn’t been the one to hire him, and she was still reluctant to be protected. “You can hold the door on the way out.”

  She didn’t look impressed by his concession. He couldn’t blame her. Get it together, Anderson. He wished he’d suggested the stairs, even though he wasn’t sure where they were. Anything to spare himself the agony of not looking at her, not thinking of the things he wanted to do to her—of the things they could do right there in the elevator—

  The door opened and he didn’t bother letting her go first. It wasn’t what she wanted, right? And he was desperate to get away from her scent. How was he going to stand the drive back to the house?

  “Sophia seems like a nice woman.”

  “Yes,” she said. “She’s very sweet. Did you see? The family room was dedicated to someone with her name. I think maybe a daughter…I hadn’t realized.”

  “That’s…I can’t imagine,” he said. “Poor woman.”

  “I don’t know for sure,” she said. “But I wonder.” She shook her head. “It’s not fair.”

  “No, it’s not.” He dug his keys out of his pocket. “Do you want me to bring the car around?”

  She shook her head. “I can walk. These heels aren’t too bad.” He caught a little irritation in her scent. Great. He was just screwing this up top to bottom, and he didn’t even know what had done it this time. He’d be lucky if she was still speaking to him by the end of the night.

  The walk to the car was short, but it helped. The evening air was crisp and cool, and the moonlight wasn’t exerting too much power. It cast a beautiful light, too. Lucy certainly looked like a Queen now, the dark blue disappearing into the night, her skin rich and dark. The wolf was telling him to forget about winning her over; instinct should be enough, shouldn’t it? He told it to shut up and bide its time.

  Somewhere in his mind, as he unlocked the car and got into the driver’s seat, the wolf started pacing.

  He started the car. “Do you want any music on?”

  “Nah, that’s all right,” she said. She looked back out at the Opera House. “It’s weird. I didn’t think….” She buckled her seat belt. “No one treated me any differently,” she said. “I’m glad.”

  “I’m glad you had a good time,” he said. “Even with us tagging along.”

  “You were all right.” She adjusted her purse. “After the little stunt you pulled chasing after me, you were pretty quiet. And I never saw your partner at all until he left with my sisters.”

  “He’s better behaved than I am.”

  “I noticed,” she said wryly.

  “Is anyone in your family allergic to dogs? We might bring one in, try to get a lead on where the animals are coming from.”

  “No,” she said. “Never any trouble with dogs.”

  “Good.” More importantly, it would give both he and Ian a chance to be themselves during the full moon. “I’ll call the breeder tomorrow morning. I really don’t think it’s going to take long to take care of all this. And you can all get back to living your own lives.”

  “That would be a huge relief,” she said.

  There was a flash of something in the road. Fur. A wolf. Jason slammed on the brakes.

  “What was that?” Lucy asked.

  “Some kind of animal. A wolf, maybe?”

  She shook her head. “There’s no wolves around here. Maybe one of those hybrid dogs, but I haven’t seen one of those in years.” She squinted into the darkness. “What the hell was it doing out in the road like that?”

  “Hard to say,” he said. Most werewolves had enough sense to stay out of sight. Jason hoped something weird wasn’t going on. Maybe he and Ian would have more work on their hands than they’d suspected.

  “There a lot of animals around here? Dogs, that sort of thing?”

  “Couple of neighbors with dogs,” she said. “Don’t recognize that one, but I haven’t been back here all that long, either.”

  “You hear howling at night or anything?”

  “No,” she said. “First thing we thought of, when the animals…you know.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense,” he said. No howling. That could go either way: no wolves, or wolves smart enough to stay quiet. He wasn’t sure which he’d prefer. He wondered what Ian had found at the house. He’d had enough time for a decent recon. Wolf form would help them with scents, but human eyes and ears were enough to get a good idea.

  “So,” she said. “How’d you end up in security?”

  “Uh, well, I was kind of drifting after college,” he said. “Ian and I’ve been friends since we were kids. He’s been head of Okami for, I think five years now? His stepdad owns the company, and he was the only one of the kids who wanted in.” Also the only werewolf, but he could tell her that later. “I’d done a lot of odd jobs, but nothing really caught my interest.”

  Her heartbeat was steady now. She didn’t smell like she trusted him yet, but she was less wary. That was a relief. “What’d you major in, back in college?”

  “B
usiness Administration,” he said. “By my senior year I was bored with it, though. I wanted to do something, not help other people do things. Does that make sense?”

  “I always knew I wanted to work with people,” she said. “I couldn’t stand being alone in an office all day.”

  “I get that,” he said. “This is good. I get to help people, move around—Okami’s been expanding, and I’ve helped set up a couple offices—and still use the degree I actually earned.”

  “How’s your student loan situation?”

  “I never had much for loans, was lucky that way.”

  “You are,” she said. “Once this inheritance comes through, I should be out of it too. Load off my mind, I won’t lie to you. O’s gone part time just to save money. Wasn’t easy for Dad with three kids and only his income.”

  “Your mom died when you were kids?”

  She just nodded. “He dated some, but he never remarried. Just never worked out, I guess.”

  “If your mom was anything like you girls, she was a tough act to follow.”

  “I don’t really remember her,” she said quietly.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Nothing to be sorry for.” She fished in her purse. “It’s hardest on Frieda, I think.” She pulled out something. A mirror? No, lip gloss. Lip balm? Something she started putting on her lips, anyway. It smelled waxy. “What about your family?”

  “My parents are back in Colorado,” he said. “A brother. He’s a lawyer.”

  “What kind of lawyer?”

  “Mostly property stuff, not very exciting.” He put on the signal and headed into the driveway. “He seems to like it.”

  “That’s good,” she said. “I kind of wonder if my sisters are ever going to find the right thing.”

  “Really? I figured Frieda was—I don’t know. She seems like the kind of woman who knows what she wants.”

  “Sometimes,” she said, putting the lip balm back in her bag. “Not always.”

  He’d parked the car next to Ian’s rental. Half of him was eager to leave, to escape the maddening attraction he was feeling. The other half wanted to transform and roll around in her scent for hours. “We’d better get in. I should touch base with Ian.”

  “Of course,” she said. As she got out, he could see the curves of her body; breasts, hips, ass, a little bit of tummy. He wanted to put his hands over every inch of them. He wanted to make her heart beat faster. He— “You coming out?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “Just…thinking.”

  “Okay,” she said. The door slammed, and he took a second to collect himself. To drink in her scent. At least he was old enough that his dick stayed under control. He couldn’t imagine what would’ve happened if he’d met Lucy when he was sixteen. He never would’ve been able to stand up. He hoped Ian had had an easier drive home than he’d had.

  ***

  James didn’t seem quite so bad on the drive home. He was friendly but not pushy, and his reasons for going into the ‘protection’ business made sense. Lucy had worried he’d be on some kind of power trip, but…he’d seemed all right. She actually felt better about him being around. And he was—

  Okay. He was hot. He was very handsome, very tall, and she had noticed how beautiful his blue eyes were. Very, very blue eyes. She could imagine him stopping people just by staring at them hard enough. She could imagine him staring at her.

  She pressed her legs together. No. That was not happening. Even if he was interested, who could say he’d be interested in her? He might just be looking at her and seeing that inheritance. Sure, he didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would do that. None of them did. Then they murdered you in your sleep.

  Not that she’d mind him sneaking into her room—

  Ophelia had been bad enough. Damned if she’d have two sisters drooling over this guy, no matter how handsome he was.

  When she got back, O and Frieda were sitting at the table with Dad and…what was his name? Ian. She was pretty sure it was Ian. You taught school, you got good at names fast. He was pretty good-looking too. Nordic? Ophelia didn’t seem to have changed her focus from Jason, though.

  “You guys okay?” she asked. They had what looked like a plan of the house spread out in front of them.

  “We’re just going over the plan,” Ian said. “I don’t want anyone to feel like we’re spying on them, so I want to show you where the motion detectors are, where we’re going to be tonight and tomorrow. I figure this won’t take more than a couple of days, from what Thomas said. A week at most.”

  The animals had been showing up every couple of days. Lucy hadn’t realized how often it had been, but…okay. Maybe Dad had been right, though she wasn’t sure what two guys could do that they couldn’t manage with their own motion detectors. She supposed at least Dad could have some peace of mind this way. If he hadn’t hired Okami, he’d be going crazy setting up booby traps and who knew what else.

  She leaned over and looked. They had motion detectors at every corner, and an infrared camera on the back door. “No sneaking out after curfew, I guess,” Frieda said.

  “Unless we get a hookup with the security guys,” Ophelia said, with a sly little grin on her face.

  Shameless.

  “You’re free to leave if you need to,” Ian said, “but we will know about it. And we’d prefer you not go out alone late at night. I don’t want you guys to feel like prisoners here, but our first priority is keeping you safe. The better we work together, the sooner we can get answers, and you can get on with your lives.”

  “Should you give us your cell phone numbers?” Ophelia asked. “Or do you need ours?”

  “Your father’s given us your numbers,” Ian said. “But that’s a last resort. Most of the time, you won’t even know we’re here. Nothing unusual’s happened during the day, so we’re just going to keep an eye on the house while you go about your business. Make sure no one’s coming in while you’re out, that kind of thing.”

  “But you’re not going to give us yours?”

  “You shouldn’t need them,” Ian said. “One of us will always be here at the house.”

  Ian was pretty good at this. Lucy was impressed.

  “Sometimes I go running,” Ophelia said. “Early. Is that okay?”

  “Yeah, of course,” Ian said. “I might go out with you, if that’s all right.”

  She looked at Jason. “You don’t run?”

  Jason shrugged. “Sometimes.”

  Lucy couldn’t remember the last time O had gone running. Probably high school. Oh well. She kept saying she wanted to be more active, maybe this time she’d finally do it. Something good had to come out of all of this crap.

  “Well,” she said. “I’m tired, and I want to get out of these shoes. Are you gonna leave this on the table?”

  “Sure, if you want us to,” Ian said. “We’ll get it in the morning.” He stood up. “You ready, Jason?”

  Jason nodded. “Have a good night,” he said. “We’ll be working tonight, mostly in the SUV. You have Ian’s number if anything comes up. Anything looks or feels out of the ordinary…give a call.”

  “We’ll do that,” Ophelia said.

  “I’ll do that,” Dad corrected. “You girls come get me first.”

  “We are grown women,” Lucy said.

  “And you’re still my daughters.”

  Lucy sighed. “Good night, everyone,” she said, and headed up the stairs. She’d had it with being social. She wanted her own room and some peace and quiet. And her shoes off. They’d felt pretty comfortable when she got started, but now they were starting to ache, and she knew they’d swell the second she took them off. At least she still had a room to herself. Dad always said he’d bought too much house, but it was a huge relief to close the door behind her and be free of everyone else.

  She closed the door, took off her shoes, and rubbed her feet. That was better. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to change into the t-shirt and shorts she slept in, or just into some jeans. It was only
about eight. She wanted to be awake for a while longer.

  She pulled her dress over her head and put it back on the hanger. It’d need to be washed but the fabric was delicate enough she didn’t want it on the floor or in the hamper. She shimmied out of the bodysuit she’d put on underneath, and pulled off her hose. That was better. She wiggled her newly freed toes.

  Maybe she was more tired than she’d realized.

  She scratched her knee. Funny how everything itched once the layers came off. She decided to throw a t-shirt on over her bra, in case she wanted to walk down to the kitchen again, and pull on her pajama pants.

  She sat at her desk—the one she’d had in her office since she was a kid—and opened her laptop. She really needed to get the rest of her art supplies from her apartment, but there had been so much to do since they’d found out about the will, she’d hardly have time to even sketch. Mostly she checked email and worked on one of the digital paintings she’d been working on at the end of the school year.

  She opened up one of the files now, a 3-D model she wanted to use in next year’s classes. It was a detailed reproduction of the Colosseum in Rome, and she’d been working to modify the model so students could design their own murals to decorate the walls of the building, the way they’d been back in Rome. The webmaster had already agreed to put it on the school website when she was done, so students and parents could take a ‘virtual tour’ of the whole building. But scaling the model up and down was going to be a challenge, and she was afraid she might have to call in tech support to help her allow each student to only have a section of the piece. Still, it was a lot easier than it would have been back when she was in high school. Moore’s Law was her best friend.

  She worked on the model until her eyes threatened to start crossing, and when she got up it was close to ten. She figured she’d go downstairs and get a glass of milk—she didn’t really need to eat anything with all the food there had been at the party, but she was thirsty, and her doctor had given her a long, dull lecture about calcium the last time she’d had an annual.

  Jason was there in the kitchen, looking over the floor plan. His jacket was on the back of the chair and his shirtsleeves were rolled up. He couldn’t have been there all that time. What was he doing? “Everything all right?”