Puppet Strings Read online

  

  Alpha Province: Puppet Strings

  After being beaten, stabbed and almost raped by a man she’d been dating, Sage Garland lives in fear when he got off on a technicality. With the trial over and her life threatened, Sage applies for a job at the new Louis Bed and Breakfast in Ambrose, North Dakota.

  Tiger shifters, Bladen, Daxon and Cason Fox, know that Sage is their mate as soon as they meet her, but she makes it loud and clear for them to keep their distance. Nevertheless, the three brothers aren’t about to give up.

  Sage can’t ignore the sparks flying between them or how much she comes to like them. She eventually agrees to be their mate.

  Then Sage is abducted and becomes almost catatonic with grief and fear when she thinks her mates have been killed. What has she got left to live for?

  Genres: Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Paranormal, Shape-shifter, Vampires/Werewolves

  Length: 72,256

  Alpha Province:

  Puppet Strings

  Becca Van

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  Alpha Province: Puppet Strings

  Copyright © 2018 by Becca Van

  ISBN: 978-1-64243-233-6

  First Publication: May 2018

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2018 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

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  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  My name is Becca Van. I live in Australia with my wonderful hubby of many years, as well as my two children.

  I read my first romance, which I found in the school library, at the age of thirteen and haven’t stopped reading them since. It is so wonderful to know that love is still alive and strong when there seems to be so much conflict in the world.

  I dreamed of writing my own book one day but, unfortunately, didn’t follow my dream for many years. But once I started I knew writing was what I wanted to continue doing.

  I love to escape from the world and curl up with a good romance, to see how the characters unfold and conflict is dealt with. I have read many books and love all facets of the romance genre, from historical to erotic romance. I am a sucker for a happy ending.

  For all titles by Becca-Van, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/becca-van

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Alpha Province: Puppet Strings

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Epilogue

  Alpha Province: Puppet Strings

  BECCA VAN

  Copyright © 2018

  Prologue

  Sage Garland stared at the man she’d been dating for three months as he raged at her.

  “What the fuck were you thinking?” Stewart McGill shouted as he took a step closer.

  Sage was scared but amused at the same time. His face was as red as beetroot, and the veins and tendons were standing out on his forehead and his neck. She wondered if he’d have a stroke before he’d finished his diatribe. He’d spent the last twelve weeks wining and dining her. He’d also started pressuring her to have sex with him, but she’d held off. Now she was thankful she had. The asshole was losing his shit because she’d stopped to talk to a work colleague in the restaurant Stewart had taken her to.

  “Are you fucking smirking at me?” Stewart moved until the toes of his shoes were almost touching hers. “You fucking cock-teasing slut.”

  Sage cried out as pain exploded in her face. She’d been so intent on staring into his angry brown eyes she hadn’t even seen him raise his hand. She staggered, nearly stumbling to the floor, and was able to steady herself by placing a hand on the wall. She turned to glare at the self-righteous dictatorial bastard. “Get. Out.”

  “No, I won’t get out. You owe me, you bitch. I’ve spent hundreds of dollars trying to win you. You don’t fucking talk to other people, other men, when you’re out with me, you dumb cunt. You’re going to fucking pay up if it’s the last thing I do. You fucking owe me, slut.”

  Sage glanced about, hoping to find a weapon. If only he hadn’t hit her and backed her into the wall. Now he was between her and the living room furniture. There was a lamp on one of the side tables. She’d have to get past him to get her hands on it, but by the determined angry expression on his face and his aggressive stance, she wouldn’t be going anywhere.

  Her only hope was to scream as loudly as she could and hope someone in one of the other apartments heard her and called the police.

  When he started moving toward her again, Sage tensed every muscle in her body. If he tried to hit her again, she wasn’t going to just stand there and take it. She would fight that bastard until she had no breath left in her body.

  He halted and sneered at her when he was only about a yard or so from her. Sage balled her fists, ready to punch him in the face, but he was a lot bigger and faster than she was. Again, she didn’t see him move, but she certainly felt the pain as his fist punched her in the gut. The pain was incredibly bad, but what was worse was the fact he’d knocked all the air from her lungs and she couldn’t inhale. Agony centered in her chest as tears rolled down her face.

  He grasped her tresses in a brutally cruel grip, pulling the strands of hair and making her scalp hurt. Sage punched out toward him with one hand as she raked the nails of her other hand down the back of his wrist, but since she was a chef working with food all day long, she kept her nails short, and they didn’t seem to have any effect on him. Finally able to breathe, she opened her mouth to shout for help but ended up whimpering in pain instead.

  When he tugged her away from the wall using her hair as a leash, she had no option but to follow. He kicked her small coffee table out of the way, throwing her down to the floor. Even though she tried to fight back, it was difficult when he was straddling her, with her arms pinned to the floor above her head. Just as she opened her mouth to scream, he gathered both of her wrists in one hand and began to rain blows down on her. No part of her body was off limits. He punched her in the ribs, the chest, the face and even pinched her.

  Her ears were ringing, every part of her body was hurting, but he kept right on hitting her. When she realized he wasn’t going to stop, she opened her mouth, sucked in a breath, and screamed for all she was worth.

  A blow to the side of her head dazed her, her vision darkening until she thought she was about to pass out. While she was aware of her dress being ripped apart, she was too out of it to care. Searing pain stabbed into her lower belly just above her right hip. The agony was so bad it was all she could do to breathe. Inside she was screaming her head off, and if she did scream out loud, the noise didn’t reach her ears. Something warm and sticky wet her skin, but she couldn’t work out what it was. Her brain had shut down, her head hurting too much to take anything in, to understand what was going on.

  Everything took on a hazy quality after that. Bits and pieces registered, but everything was so disjointed.

  Gentle hands lifted her, and while she wanted to plead for help, she couldn’t speak. Faces wavered above her and bright lights flashed by, and while she tried to remain conscious, Sage lost the battle as she drifted into dark oblivion.

  Chapter One

  “Hurry the fuck up,” Daxon shouted. “If we don’t leave in the next sixty seconds, we’re going to be late.”

  “We’re already late,” Cason mumbled as he stroked his beard.

  “Since when have you two ever wanted to socialize?” Bladen Fox asked his brothers.

  “Since we were invited.” Daxon sighed.

  Bladen rubbed at the back of his neck. The last thing he wanted to do was make nice with other people. He and his brothers were reclusive, but ever since they’d started working on the bed-and-breakfast Elsa Jackman and her mates owned and wanted to run, they’d been interacting more and more with the residents of Ambrose. He and his brothers had moved from a nonexistent town not far from where they were now living in Ambrose in North Dakota, and he was wondering if maybe they should have stayed put. However, it had been more convenient to move closer to where he, his brothers, and his cousins were working. He was proud
of the nearly complete rebuild and was glad that Elsa seemed to be excited over what they’d done.

  There were only a few things to finish off, and then he and his brothers could go back to being alone, just the way they liked it. While he hated being around other people after serving in the Marines, he’d spent more time recently with others around him other than when they were serving their country. Bladen was finding it very difficult to keep a civil tongue in his head. His inner beast, his tiger was driving him insane with fits of aggression and despondency.

  If it hadn’t been for his job, he would have bitten someone’s head off a long time ago. Working with the plumbers had been hard enough, but there’d also been electricians. Normally he could cope being around other people for short periods, but his tiger was acting up. He’d almost let his inner animal out about a week ago. He had no patience for idiots, and one of the apprentice electricians hadn’t been able to keep his mouth shut. Bladen had heard the little fucker dissing Elsa, calling her a piece of ass and how he’d wanted to tap her.

  He’d stormed over to the prick, gripped his neck, and lifted his feet from the floor. If his brothers hadn’t talked him down, he might have killed the fucker. He was just glad that no one had seen the sharp claws which had been protruding from the tips of his fingers. Luckily, he’d had some control and hadn’t punctured the pricks’ skin leaving any telltale marks behind.

  “Well, are you coming?” Cason asked with exasperation.

  Bladen nodded when inside his head he was screaming no. Why they had to be there to meet the chef was beyond him. He’d rather stay where he was and try to get a handle on his recalcitrant tiger, but Elsa had a way about her. When she’d asked him and his cousins, Beckett, Crispin, and Daire to come over early this morning for breakfast, his immediate response had been “hell no,” but when he’d seen the hurt and disappointment in Elsa’s sad eyes, he’d quickly changed his mind.

  Now here he was walking out the door to his new home and on his way to somewhere he didn’t want to be. In between building the bed-and-breakfast from the ground up, since the place had been burnt to the foundations, he and his brothers had been fixing up their own place. There was no need for them to work, but he’d go out of his mind if he sat around on his ass all day long.

  Bladen mentally snorted. He was already going out of his mind because his tiger was having intermittent conniptions. He had no idea what was up with his inner beast, and though he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what the problem was, if he didn’t find out soon, he might just out the shifter community. If he lost all semblance of control and shifted to his animal form in front of a human, the shit would hit the fan.

  “What time were Beckett, Crispin, and Daire getting there?” Cason asked.

  Bladen shrugged, glancing at his brother. He rolled his eyes when he saw Cason was stroking his beard. He had no idea how his younger brother could stand having all that hair on his face. Bladen liked to be clean-shaven. He hated getting itchy and irritated from regrowth so he shaved every day. He even shaved the sides of his head so his hair didn’t get a chance to get into his eyes. Daxon, his youngest brother, was like him with short sandy-colored hair, although it wasn’t as short as his was. His brother was into ink, and while Bladen understood it, he wasn’t the type of guy who could sit still for hours on end while some human colored in his skin. He had no idea how much money Dax had spent on his body artwork but guessed it had been a lot. Yet that didn’t bother Bladen at all. They had more than enough money to retire on and live a very comfortable life as they so chose, but again, none of them could stand being idle.

  Pushing his thoughts aside, Bladen gazed toward the bed-and-breakfast, stopping in his tracks. There were vehicles everywhere. He almost turned around to walk back toward their own home. There was still so much to do to finish renovating their own house, and he really didn’t want to be wasting time by chatting.

  “Come on, Bladen.” Cason slapped him on the shoulder. “The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave.”

  He nodded in agreement but didn’t think they’d be leaving anytime soon. Nevertheless, he and his brothers could disappear so they didn’t have to stand around talking. They could finish what they needed to do so they didn’t have to ever step foot in the building again. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the other shifters and their mates. The opposite was, in fact, true. He couldn’t believe how happy the other men were with their women, and while he’d always been skeptical of the stories of mates being real, there was no way he could deny those legends now. Though he was happy for the other men, he didn’t want anything to do with women. Well, that wasn’t quite true. He had needs just like any other male. He had no qualms about slaking his lust with a member of the opposite sex as long as she knew the score upfront and agreed to be with him. He and his brothers had shared a few women over the years, and while the experience had been exciting and orgasmic all around, it was getting old.

  Neither he nor his brothers had been with a woman for almost two years now, and he couldn’t see that changing anytime soon. The last thing he wanted or needed was a woman trying to tell him what to do, or god forbid, talk about his feelings. He wasn’t talkative in any way, shape, or form, and yet he’d found himself talking to the other women regularly of late. There was no way he wanted to upset those women by being his usual gruff, silent self, nor piss any of the other shifters off. He didn’t want to shed any blood in front of the females. They were all so sweet and delicate.

  “Bladen, snap the fuck out of it.” Daxon punched him in the arm.

  He hissed and scowled at his brother before blinking. “Fuck off,” he growled, shoving Daxon as he started walking again. He stopped a few steps later, inhaling deeply as the scent of food and something mysterious wafted to his nose on the breeze. He closed his eyes, sniffing again and again as he tried to work out what he was smelling.

  His inner tiger stopped pacing and started purring before trying to get him to hurry forward. Bladen frowned over his feline’s reaction. His animal was excited and eager. He hadn’t felt that sort of emotion from his cat since before they’d retired from the Marines. When he heard first Cason and then Daxon groan, he opened his eyes and glanced at them. They were both sniffing and frowning, too. Bladen figured they were trying to work out what the tantalizing aroma was, as well.

  “What the fuck is that?” Daxon asked before stumbling forward a couple of steps.

  Bladen hurried over to him, gripped him on the shoulder to steady him, but when he breathed in through his nose, his tiger lunged forward impatiently. He began to salivate as the fragrance grew stronger on the cool morning breeze. It was a tantalizing mix of warm freshly baked bread, strawberries, and cream. He’d never been a food connoisseur, but in that moment all he wanted to do was stuff himself until his belly was full.

  He didn’t even think about taking a step, but each time his feet landed on the ground, his pace increased. His brothers were right by his side, and in the next moment all three of them were jogging toward the bed-and-breakfast.

  It was time to find out just where that smell was coming from.

  * * * *

  Sage couldn’t believe how many people had shown up for breakfast. Thankfully, she’d prepared enough food to feed an army, or she might have ended up embarrassed. As soon as she placed a platter of bacon, eggs, sausages, toast, hash browns, and pancakes on the table, it was passed around until there was nothing left. She was working on the ninth, or was that the tenth platter, when all conversation ceased.

  She turned to see what was going on, but when she saw that everyone was staring at the doorway, she spun around and ended up staring, as well. The three biggest, handsomest men she’d ever seen stood just inside the doorway to the massive kitchen/dining room, and they were gazing at her.

  Sage swallowed audibly, nervously, quickly turning back to the stove in time to save the bacon from being burnt to a crisp. She cursed under her breath as she reached for the tongs and another empty platter. What the hell is in the water in this town? All the men she’d met were extremely muscular and handsome. She’d never seen so many good-looking men in one small area and wondered what the draw was. Why are there so many handsome men living in and around the surrounding county of Ambrose, North Dakota? Is there something wrong with them that they have to hide away? Why aren’t they all living in big cities like other males? And why the hell are they sharing a woman between them?