Free Her Alphas by Gabrielle Holly

friendly.”
    He winked at her. “No problem. I suppose I had it coming.”
    Tommy slid his fingers from Gwen’s grip and brought his
fists up near his chin, then hopped around in a playful shadow-boxing dance. Just
when Gwen thought it couldn’t get stranger, Tommy struck out with his right
arm. Instead of landing a punch, he stopped his hand—which was now hooked into
a claw shape—a few inches from her neck and hissed.
    He laughed. “Your pup’s scars don’t look too bad though—healed
up nicely. I must’ve been distracted or I probably would’ve knocked her furry
head off.”
     
    “So were cougars ,” Gwen muttered as she flopped down
on the padded armchair near the front window.
    Alex handed her a glass of water and leveled a glare at
their guest.
    Fucking Longtree. Everything was a joke to him and
his kind.
    “Technically they’re not ‘weres’—they’re born, not made.
They aren’t influenced by the lunar cycle or stress. They can shift at will,”
Alex explained.
    Tommy jumped in front of Gwen, long legs spread apart, and
gyrated his hips like a stripper at a bachelorette party. He started unbuckling
his belt. “Yeah. Wanna see?”
    “Go play with a ball of yarn, kitten,” Sergei said and
pushed Tommy Longtree toward the couch.
    Still chuckling, Tommy sat down and held out his hands, palm
up. “Settle down, pooch. I’m just kidding around.”
    Gwen took a sip of water, set her glass on the end table, then
slowly rose and crossed the room. When she was directly in front of the Cat
King, she nudged open his knees with her own and loomed over him.
    “Ooo, human kitty wants to play,” Tommy scoffed, then draped
his arms over the back of the couch.
    When Alex moved to break up the scene, Sergei laid a big
hand on his shoulder. Let her deal with it, pack master, he telepathed.
    Alex stood down but remained on alert. He felt the human
hairs on the back of his neck stand at attention as if he were already shifted.
    “No, human kitty does not want to play. She wants to
rip off your tail and stuff it up your ass!” Gwen shouted. “You tried to kill
us, you sick son of a bitch!”
    Tommy shook his head and laughed, but Alex could hear the
nerves in his voice. “No, no, no. I wasn’t trying to kill you. I was protecting
you. I was trying to kill your dog.”
    Gwen lunged forward, her hands outstretched toward Tommy’s
throat. He caught her wrists and pulled her down to him until their noses were
almost touching. Alex sprang into action but was stopped by Sergei’s huge hand
on his shoulder.
    The scent of Gwen’s fear—and her arousal—were a stronger
restraint than the big Russian’s grasp. Her quickening heartbeat and panting
breath threatened to drown out all other noise. Alex wondered if Tommy could
hear it too, and judging by the self-satisfied smirk on his face, he could.
    As if Gwen’s mate weren’t even in the room, Tommy tilted
that ridiculously handsome head of his, let go of one of Gwen’s wrists, then
stroked her cheek. “Miss Chaney, I’m afraid we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot.
Why don’t you sit that pretty round ass of yours down and let me fry up a snack
for you? Do you have any flour?”

Chapter Six
     
    Gwen sat at the kitchen table and watched Tommy Longtree
work his culinary magic. Alex and Sergei had pulled chairs up to the hearth
across the room and were deep in conversation. She didn’t care what they were
talking about; she was mesmerized by Tommy’s grace as he filleted the little
fish. He seemed as though he’d been cooking in her kitchen for years and
located his supplies with an uncanny ease. Tommy lit a flame under a pot of
oil, set out a platter with several layers of paper towel, then prepared the
coating.
    Taking a sip from her third glass of wine, Gwen watched as
Tommy whisked eggs and milk in a large bowl. He twisted the top from a bottle
of beer, then added a splash to the egg mixture. In a second bowl, he combined
flour, salt and