THE ALPHAS Box Set (3 page)

X.

He didn’t return until after dark. There were a few fires burning and some tents set up around them, but she had set her tent up on the outskirts. She sat chewing on an apple watching the silhouettes of the others moving around camp.

He dropped down beside her and held out a water bottle. Her smile was forced but she accepted it.

“Were we right to come out here? Wouldn’t we have been safer on the outskirts of Bismark?”

“Those kids would have ended up slave labour in one industry or another, or soldiers in a territory war.”

“And out here they’re bait for coyotes and bandits. There will be bandits soon too.”

“Road gangs, but yes, same difference. They’ll start popping up sooner or later. They’ll probably hole up at the gas stations and hoard the fuel but they’ll lose that edge pretty quickly.”

“On foot or in a vehicle, they’ll be just as dangerous, won’t they?”

He nodded and accepted the water bottle back. “Where do you want to go next?”

“It’s going to be the same story everywhere, isn’t it?”

“Most likely.”

“The town people wanted mechanical and electronic stuff. We should see if we can find abandoned cars or houses. We need to scavenge things to trade. And we should keep moving. We don’t need to set such a gruelling pace now, since there is nowhere for us to go.”

“You’re starting to think like a survivalist.”

She looked up and their eyes met in the darkness and she realized just how close he was sitting. He smelled male, which was arousing, and there was no denying that he was tall, strong, and handsome.

He’s arrogant,
she reminded herself but her heart was already starting to pound.

“I didn’t expect that from you,” he added.

She bristled. “Why? Because I’m female?”

“Yes. And blonde. And from the city. In my experience …”

“You know nothing about me!”

“I know you can’t lead without me.”

“If I had told Ryan the truth he might have shot you for being a danger to the rest of us. You’re a fucking ticking time bomb.”

“Better than being a dumb blonde bombshell.”

He’d had women of weaker temperament than her slap him for lesser insults so he braced himself to be slapped. When her fist connected with his jaw he sprawled back in the dust.

“Of all the ex-military alpha males in the country I had to get stuck with the misogynistic bastard with …”

He sat up, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into a rough kiss. This time, when he released her, she did slap him.

“You know …” he started but she grabbed his shirt and cut him off with a kiss. He wrapped his arm around her waist and lay back, pulling her on top of him.

Passion flared as the heat in their kisses lost their anger and turned to desire. Her body was warm with soft curves in all the right places and it had been too long since he’d held a woman this close. She kissed him with an intensity that shocked him and when he tried to roll her over she threw her weight against him, keeping him on his back.

She grabbed the hem of his shirt and shoved it upwards. She had wanted to touch his muscled chest since she’d caught him with his shirt off. She didn’t break off the kisses as her hands wandered over chest and stomach and she made soft noises of appreciation against his mouth. Curious about the insistent bulge pressing against her she grabbed the front of his jeans.

He managed to push her back enough to speak. “Whoah, slow down a little.”

She shook her head, her light hair reflecting the last of the firelight. She scooted down his body, out of his grasp, even though it meant she wouldn’t have the leverage to stay on top.

‘Who needs physical leverage?’
she thought as she yanked at his jeans. His underwear came down at the same time and his thick, rigid cock sprang free. He nearly purred and she said, “Isn’t that more comfortable?”

“Hell yes.”

She licked her lips and took two full inches of his cock into her mouth. She sucked hard and then began working up and down with her mouth.

“Shit,” he muttered and reached down to grab a handful of hair. If it had been a long time since he’d held a woman it had been twice as long since one had willingly sucked his cock. Shortly after returning from duty he’d had a bad experience and hadn’t gone in search of female companionship, trusting his hand and a ready supply of porn to keep him satisfied. He’d resigned himself to his hand and imagination after things went nuclear and he’d forgotten just how good a hot little mouth could feel.

It helped that she was moaning like crazy sending intense vibration through his cock and into the rest of him. As his pleasure levels steadily rose he started lifting his hips in rhythm with her movements, trying to coax his cock deeper down her throat. As soon as he started thrusting she pulled away.

He groaned.

“You want more?”

“Are you some kind of sadistic bitch?”

“Don’t move. I’m going to enjoy your cock at my own pace or not at all. You want more? Lie still.”

And then she was slurping away at his cock again. He gritted his teeth and forced his body to be still as she sucked and licked. She started a slow slide down the length of his cock, taking him deeper and deeper. He grabbed her hair but didn’t push. Deeper and deeper until her lips hurt at the corners and she gagged. She held him there for a long moment and then pulled slowly back.

She sat up and gave him a smug grin that disappeared when he sat up and grabbed her wrist. With a quick yank he had her off balance and he flipped her underneath him.

“My turn,” he growled.

She was wearing a flannel button-down and the only reason he was careful with the buttons was because there was nowhere to buy her a new one. And he didn’t feel like getting punched. He pushed the first layer back, shoved her shirt up to her shoulders, and helped himself to two handfuls of her perfect real tits. Her back arched in response, exposing a long graceful neck.

The switch flipped.

He reached for the terrorist’s throat with one hand, pressing hard. His other hand reached for his gun and touched naked thigh instead.

He yanked his hand away as Roxanne came into focus. She was coughing and struggling to sit up. He scrambled back, his legs tangling in his jeans.

“I’m sorry. I … we shouldn’t be doing this. We can’t. I can’t.”

“Normally I don’t mind a little of the rough stuff but shit, you’re strong.” She rubbed her throat.

“This isn’t a joke,” he said. “This is the first time this has happened. I should have known better.”

She let her shirt drop off her arms and crawled over to him. “Grab the blanket before you get dirt up your ass.”

He felt his cheeks flush but did as he was told.

She cozied up beside him and rested her head on his shoulder. “Tell me about the last time this happened to you.”

“What is there to tell?” The words came out sounding bitter. “There was a girl. She waited for me. We celebrated my return with wine and steak and candlelight. And then I choked her just like I choked you. Psyche eval said PTSD and they discharged me. She said that we could figure it out. Second time she blacked out before I snapped back. I don’t blame her for leaving.”

“You were okay when we started. You liked what I did for you.”

“Yeah, I did. But that’s as far as this goes and it’s not going there again.”

“You mean I don’t get to suck your cock anymore?”

He shivered. “Dammit, you’re not listening to me.”

“I’m tired of listening to you. I have to listen to you all day every day because somehow you ended up in charge of this little group. I’m not very good at taking orders at the best of times. Now take your shirt off, I want to try something.”

“No. Roxanne, no. I don’t want to hurt you again.”

“I don’t think you will. Shirt off, now, and lie back.” She pushed against his shoulder.

He nodded. The night air was pleasantly cool against his sweaty skin. He settled back, looking up at the stars. She took his softening cock in her mouth again and played with him until his cock was stiff and hard and he was groaning.

Quickly she kicked off her jeans and tossed her shirt aside. She straddled his hips and he caught her wrist.

“No,” he said.

“I’m going to fuck you and you’re just going to lie there.” She wrapped a firm hand around his cock and guided it between her legs. She didn’t hesitate at all. She rode his cock with as much enthusiasm as she had sucked it. He watched her face and body with wide-eyed amazement.

There was no trace of anger here, the stress melted away leaving her free and beautiful and wild. He gripped her legs but she grabbed his wrists and moved his hands up to her breasts. She arched her back and tossed her head back with reckless abandon.

Out in the open, under a starry sky, she shed all pretenses, forgot her rigid upbringing and dark past and gave her body and mind over to the passion of the moment. Consequences could wait for the morning, tonight there was room for nothing but sexual fulfillment, her sexual fulfillment.

She didn’t let go of his wrists until the pressure inside of her unbalanced her. She dropped her hands to his shoulders and for the first time since that first kiss their eyes locked.

Knowing passed between them like a circuit connecting and neither could look away. It was deeper than words and far more honest: pain, grief, regret, longing, loneliness. And then her eyes widened and all he saw in them was mind-blowing, intense, pleasure. Her mouth dropped into a silent ‘o’ and she inhaled sharply.

“Roxanne,” he whispered. “Oh, Roxanne.”

She shuddered and collapsed against him. Her body pulsed as she fought to keep her orgasm silent and private, something for just the two of them to marvel in. When she stilled he gripped her hips and thrust up into her until his own release tore through him, filling her and leaving him breathless.

“Damian,” she whispered in his ear.

“Shh. Let me just hold you.”

“Can we at least crawl into the tent?”

“Right. Tent. Privacy. Okay."

XI.

She had fallen asleep in his arms but she woke up alone. She wandered through camp and stopped beside Ryan who was on sentry duty. “Quiet night?” she asked.

“Quiet enough. You two might want to keep your foreplay down next time, I think you woke a few of the kiddos.”

She blushed. “It was just …”

“You don’t have to explain it to me. We just survived something horrific, we’re all under a lot of stress, and hell, I’d be hitting the sack with someone but there’s no one in the camp who gets my rocks off. You just don’t want everyone else hearing the fearless leaders fighting.”

“Thanks.”

“What’s next?”

“We’re going scavenging. The village here said they need parts and they said a lot of homes nearby were abandoned.”

“Is everyone going to be okay with stealing? I mean, how long could this really last?”

“I don’t know, they were okay with it when we were nearly out of water. This may be the only way to survive.”

They rejoined the group as everyone was gathering in front of Damian. “As soon as we’ve eaten and packed we’re moving on,” he said.

The grumbling started immediately and Matt stepped out of the crowd. “Why are we leaving? There’s a village right here. Isn’t this why we walked for three days?”

Roxanne saw Damian’s eyes narrow and stepped up beside him; her attention and smile were focused solely on Matt. “We can’t stay here. They won’t let us in and with good reason.” She turned to the crowd at large. “Life is very different now; large cities cannot successfully exist or sustain themselves. This village has already reached its maximum sustainable population so we must move on. We’re not going very fast, and hopefully we won’t have to go very far each day, but we can’t stay here, there is nothing for us here.”

“If we’re lucky,” Damian said, “We should find some abandoned houses near here. We can take shelter there, maybe even find some running water.” People perked up at that idea but Matt bristled.

“We should never have left Bismark.”

“Then go back,” Roxanne snapped. “Let’s find some food and get packed so we can keep moving.”

XII.

They camped that night in the shelter of a thick bank of trees lining a field. In a month or two the field would be thick with corn but for now it was all just green shoots that were almost useless to the travellers. Their only use, it seemed, was to lure in animals.

The shot just after dinner startled everyone to their feet. Roxanne started bringing everyone in towards the center of camp while Damian, Ryan, and Sean went to look. They came back with Evan, a middle-aged man who had volunteered to take first watch, and a fresh deer.

“We have no way to smoke the meat,” Damian said. “So we’ll have to cook it all. We probably won’t be able to leave now until midday, it’ll take all morning to prepare the meat for travelling.”

“I think there’s a house nearby,” Anne said. “It was already getting dark when we got here but if there is I could take people in shifts to wash up and bring back supplies. Maybe we’ll luck out and find a cooler and another wagon.”

“Sounds like a plan. I have to clean this deer tonight or it will start to stink. Now would be the perfect time for a cooler.”

She followed him to the carcass and hunkered down nearby. “We’ll all be sick of deer meat in a day or two.”

“Better than living off of peanut butter,” he replied. “Look, about last night, I’m sorry about the … episode.”

“Were you ever pinned down by an enemy during active combat?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No. I got lucky. I did get into a hand to hand situation once but …” He swallowed hard and let the memory go again.

“I can guess,” she said.

“What about you? I’ve never been with a woman who acted like that. You weren’t going to let anything stop you from getting what you wanted.”

“Oh, that. Yeah, well, that was a long time coming I guess. I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“If you’re going to keep picking at my memories expect me to return the favour. What dark and stormy past are you running from?”

She shrugged. “I’m from the bible belt. My parents were strict, zealous, conservative, religious nuts. Not that EVERYONE down there was like that, just them and their little group of fellow ‘believers’. It’s the same everywhere, isn’t it? There’s always a group that has to believe so hard they end up hurting people.”

“You’re more right than you know. So what? You grew up restricted and turned into a sex fiend? Usually that upbringing has the opposite effect on women.”

“I know. I was repressed, broken, and basically useless in bed. Ask my first husband, though I’d rather you didn’t. He left me for a whore because I couldn’t satisfy him.”

“How long ago was that?”

“About a week before the world went to hell.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. So it’s been a while since I’ve had sex and I wanted it to be good for me for once. I didn’t want to be used again.”

“Actually I’m feeling a little used.”

He’d made so few jokes since their meeting less than a week earlier that she almost missed this one. She caught herself before ripping into him and smiled. “You seemed to like it.”

“I liked not choking you.”

She grabbed a stone off the ground beside her and tossed it in his general direction.

“Okay, okay. Honestly, you were like some kind of … of … you were amazing and you looked like the most beautiful, sexy woman on the planet, the way you just rode me and directed me.” He shook his head and focused harder on the deer.

“So what does this mean? I mean, where do we go from here?”

“We being me and you and not this circus we’re hauling around with us?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you want to try again?”

“Not tonight!”

She laughed. “Blood and guts don’t turn me on, don’t worry. I’m turning in.” As she walked past him she paused. “I’ll be thinking of you tonight,” she said, running her fingers over his shoulder.

As she walked away he called, “That’s cruel!”

Her laughter trailed back to him and made him smile.