Free Alpha by Mandy Rosko Page B

a reading chair, picking at his nails with a blade. Jax stood beside the bear shifter, watching Garret with barely contained amusement. "It's not like she left the house. You don't have to be so edgy about it."
    Garret growled.
    "She's with your sister," Dane said, not looking up at him. "What do you think's going to happen? Christ."
    It wasn't about that at all. It was the fact that Garret had his mate, awake and walking around the house, even running out in the trees with him, for almost six hours now, and he still hadn't claimed her yet.
    His body was starting to itch. The only thing that kept him from embarrassing himself and walking around with a perpetual hard-on was his superior self-control.
    Not that he would ever say that out loud to either of these two chuckleheads.
    The omegas were preparing dinner now, and Garret would prefer to have his dessert before he had his supper.
    Anna, suddenly and without warning, rushed through the open doorway leading into the sitting room, a wide smile on her face as she dragged Miranda behind her like she was a new toy.
    "Hey, guys! Hi, Jax."
    Jax nodded to her, though he barely looked at her.
    Anna cleared her throat. "Anyway, we finally picked an outfit, what do you think?" She hauled Miranda forward.
    Miranda, who was not yet used to using her own strength when others were too rough, nearly tripped. She caught herself quickly, however, so Garret had no reason to yell at his younger sister.
    He was too drawn in by the sight of the vision in front of him.
    She was in a white top with a V-neck that dipped low into Miranda's ample cleavage, and sleeves that flared out with lace, making her look almost medieval. The bottom of the top also skirted out, ending in more lace, highlighting and complementing Miranda's figure.
    Her jeans hugged her thighs, which Garret especially enjoyed, and the heart earrings and locket Miranda wore gave off the impression of a beauty who hardly had to try to look beautiful at all. It looked as if her hair had been curled and styled into loose waves as well.
    Anna had been a fine choice to send shopping for his mate. Of course she would care for Miranda properly. Garret should not have worried or let himself become impatient.
    Miranda pulled at the wide lace sleeves of her shirt. "Do I look okay?"
    She hardly sounded as if she was happy with the choice. Knowing Anna, she had likely lost her patience, forced Miranda to make a choice, and then dragged her down here before she could change her mind.
    "You look great!" Anna said. "I told you there was nothing wrong with the outfit."
    Ah, confirmation to what he already knew was always good.
    "You look lovely," Garret said.
    Anna's eyes flew wide. She stared at him as if he'd spat at her feet. "Just lovely? Are you kidding? She's sexy as hell!"
    He didn't understand the younger generation, he really didn't.
    "Jax, you see it, right?" Anna asked.
    Jax lifted his hands and stepped back. "I'm not getting into that."
    "Wise of you," Garret replied with a low growl.
    Miranda's cheeks were turning an attractive shade of pink.
    Anna was right. She was sexy. She was better than sexy. And now that Miranda was dressed in her new clothes, Garret wanted to get her out of them and let his mouth suck on every inch of her.
    Especially the fun bits.
    He walked over to his mate, smiling down at her as he took her by the hand. "Come with me," he said.
    Anna stepped between them. "Whoa, where are you going?"
    Garret growled at her. Of course, she ignored him. "Out of my way, little sister."
    Her eyes popped wider; then she grinned and turned back to Miranda. "See? Watch, this is perfect, now you can see that you can disobey an order."
    Dane snickered. "Jesus."
    "Anna—"
    "No way!" she snapped. "Miranda just woke up today and is still getting used to everything, and you want drag her away for the mating ." Her voice lowered as she made air quotes with her fingers. She was mocking him. "At least give her another day or two to get