Manuscript Monday Akito (Alpha's Reign Book Two): First chapter sneak peek!

Akito (Alpha's Reign Book Two) comes out next Monday. It's on pre-order on Amazon right now, if you're interested. More Trent, Cole and Akito for everyone to enjoy!

I'm catching up with the work I missed on my trip. That means, I'm writing the next Lost Wolves book. Abel might be the craziest assassin yet, and that's saying something. Plus, he's the first alpha assassin in the series, and he has a complicated past with Lucien. Not sexy complicated, because they're cousins, but still complicated. And Dagz, his omega, is unique too. Because he's very omega-like, but he has one sort of not so omega quality. He gets angry. And you won't like him when he's angry.

Now, are you ready for a menage? I might need to write more menages. They're fun. Good old kinky fun.

Like this:

And this: 

Here's a look at the first chapter of Akito. If you want to read the second chapter, join my mailing list!

Enjoy!

1

The blindfold wrapped around Akito Izumi’s eyes, cutting out most of the light that filtered through the trees around them. He could still smell the rain that hung in the air and felt the humidity that clung to his skin like wet clothes.

Though, in reality, Akito was totally nude.

He stumbled over the uneven ground – the gravel rough and wet under his bare feet. Sweat dripped down his back, over the muscles and scars that decorated his slick skin.

“Is this what you want?” Trent snarled and his grip on Akito’s bicep tightened.

Bruised.

That was to be expected since Trent Yagami was an alpha wolf – stronger and better in all regards than the humans and lesser wolves of his pack. Only, Akito wasn’t a wolf yet. While he was a Level L, someone with the potential to be changed into a wolf if an alpha bit him, he was still a pathetic human, at the moment.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t play with the big boys.

“Trent he’s—” Cole, the pack’s beta, started, but Trent cut him off with a growl.

Akito felt it rumble through Trent’s body and vibrate into his own. He smiled at the sound.

Around them, Akito heard the other wolves trying to hold still, but there were too many of them for that to be possible. They had to breathe, and their clothing rustled as they stepped from foot to foot, the gravel grinding under their shoes. None of them spoke, however, and that was probably wise.

He smelled the distinct scent of Trent’s cigarette in the air.

Nearly Trent’s whole pack turned up for this war meeting, decked out in their best suits just so they could shed them later when they crossed into Minato for another skirmish. Another battle that would decide if Trent added more of Neo-Tokyo to his ever-expanding territory.

And, like usual, Trent told Akito to stay in the house on the former temple’s grounds, the one Akito, Trent and Cole lived in. The rest of the pack resided throughout Shinjuku, Shibuya and even as far as Toshima (or what was left of it). Each section was protected by Trent’s growing pack.

However, that pack still didn’t have a real wolf as an omega. Because Akito was that omega, and Trent had yet to change him.

Bite him.

Allow him the honor of joining his lovers in his rightful place beside them.

Akito turned his face to the sky. Bits of gray-white light leaked under the blindfold and beads of sweat dripped down his cheeks. One thing beat being a wolf right now – he didn’t have to wear a fucking suit.

Hell, he didn’t have to wear anything. And considering the humidity, it felt better not to wear anything. Especially with the sensation burning through his body at the moment. The fire in his belly mixed with the sharp pinch of Trent’s hands and the idea that all those wolves were watching – shit – his cock obviously responded.

“Answer me,” Trent said, his lips so close to Akito’s ear he felt the breath against them. “Is this what you want?”

“You know what I want, but this is the next best thing. Now, are you going to help me with this, or shall I do it myself, Master?” Akito asked sweetly and tilted his head in Trent’s direction.

“Akito. Don’t. Not here,” Cole said under his breath, though the other pack members could hear him. Wolf senses were superior to his own or so he’d heard. Not that he’d experienced it personally considering.

“Why not here? Let your pack see what you’re made of,” Akito said and pressed his hip into Trent’s side. The material brushed his flushed skin, and Trent’s body beneath it felt hot enough to scorch. “Or, you can bite me. Right now. Finally complete your pack.”

He imagined the look on Trent’s handsome face. His lips twisted into a frown, and his silver eyes burning. Akito half expected a blow to his head. Possibly to his face. A black eye would be worth it.

Instead, Trent released his grip on Akito’s arm and shoved him to the ground.

Akito hit the gravel hard, the tiny rocks scraping his flesh and biting into his skin.

He laughed and waited for the pain that would never come.

That’s not how Trent treated him, and he damn well knew it. But that little rebellious child in the back of his mind told him it was just a trick. Trent would turn on him someday. No matter what he did, how deeply he loved or how compliant he was with his alpha’s demands, one day, that would all dissolve into pain and misery and loneliness.

Even though he told Cole that Trent was different. That Trent wasn’t like all the other alphas in the world who only cared about their own power (and how he believed it most of the time) there was a shadow of doubt that clung to him no matter what he did.

However, today was not the day that his fears came to pass.

“I’ll deal with you later, Aki. Take him inside,” Trent said, his voice as cold and distant as the stars in the night sky. “And don’t offer him a release. I want him bound and waiting for me when I finish here.”

Cool hands wrapped around Akito’s body and lifted him up. He knew those hands from the way they touched him and the callouses on the palms.

Cole.

Their beta.

Trent didn’t trust many with his omega.

Akito stumbled into the house, but Cole stopped him in the entryway and dusted the gravel from Akito’s skin. His hands moved carefully, gently, and Akito felt the tension in that touch. He’d probably have his jaw tight, and his perfect blowjob lips turned into a frown. But Cole didn’t say a damn word until the door shut behind them.

The windows were closed and a single ancient fan puttered in the corner of the room. The hum blocked out Trent’s voice outside, at least to Akito’s ears. The inside of the house was hardly cooler than the outside, but at least there was a breeze here.

He frowned and yanked at the blindfold.

This place had been his home for years. It hunched in the middle of Yoyogi Park, an overgrown forest in Neo-Tokyo that was surrounded by the crumbling city around them. The house in particular stood on the grounds of an ancient temple, which crouched next to it, though it fell into disrepair years before. They only used it for storage and to sleep extra wolves, if needed.

Unlike the temple, this house was a modern addition. Or, at least it had been before the alphas took control of the world. Before humanity was brought to the brink of extinction. The furniture was all clean and simple, white with wooden floors, and it wasn’t rotting or molded like the crumbling concrete apartments humans lived in throughout the city.

However, at the moment, the walls felt like they were closing in on him. This place used to be a sanctuary. Now it was a fucking cage.  

“He didn’t say you could take that off,” Cole said and took the black cloth from Akito’s fingers. He didn’t put it back over Akito’s eyes.

Akito shrugged and rubbed his hip. The skin was reddened from the fall and little bits of black dirt clung to him. “I don’t care. Aren’t you going to chain me up like a good dog?”

Cole sighed and rubbed the back of his head. His pale blond hair was cut short all around except for the couple inches of length on top. His coloring was more than strange in a mostly homogenous city like Neo-Tokyo with those striking blue eyes and his pale skin. He’d been brought over by the traders when he was a boy. Like so many other children, Cole’s family sold him for food when they found out he was a Level L. A potential monster.

Akito hadn’t been so lucky.

He still remembered the first time he saw Cole when the traders shoved him into the pens, filthy and shaking. Even caked in dirt and dried blood, he stood out from anyone else Akito had ever seen with those pale eyes and the shock of icy colored hair. Cole didn’t speak Japanese, but Akito knew enough English to communicate with him.

Slowly, Cole picked up the language, and Akito got more than a friend. He got a protector. Another human who didn’t see him as a piece of meat to be given away. At the time, Akito claimed he didn’t need Cole to stick up for him. He could handle the traders and the fellow Level Ls on his own.

To this day, he’d never told Cole the truth. That he didn’t want Cole’s protection because if something happened to him, Akito wouldn’t know how to live with himself.

They’d been twelve at the time. That was ten years ago.

Now they had the same alpha as their leader—their lover—and the one who wanted to be a wolf most of all was stuck as a useless human.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Cole said and poured a glass a water. He handed it to Akito.

The ‘that’ in question started in the morning when Trent ordered Akito to stay in the house during the pack meeting even though it took place on the temple grounds. Akito had to sit inside and watch the pack he was supposed to be part of gather without his presence. They were there to discuss the latest attack on another alpha wolf—Shan. Ever since Trent slayed Sari for Shinjuku last spring, he’d gathered even more territory and wolves to his cause.

Word on the street had it Boss Yagami (Trent’s estranged father and the supreme alpha of all Neo-Tokyo) wasn’t happy with this development. Of course, that was all hearsay since Boss Yagami had yet to make any kind of move. That alpha’s territory spanned from Chiyoda all the way out into Chiba and included the only train lines that still ran.

Trent hadn’t reached it yet, but every month he inched closer.

Soon, Boss Yagami wouldn’t be able to avoid the truth any longer.

Akito found himself in an unimportant position more and more lately. He used to be a key part of Trent’s decision making. Now he was the princess locked in the castle while his king went to battle.

In a grand fit of annoyance, Akito ignored Trent’s orders and sauntered out of the house while the pack gathered. Of course, he waltzed outside naked to give the moment more impact. And he might have called out Trent to screw him in front of everyone. But that was just for fun. And because the idea of getting fucked in front of all those other wolves might prove something to them – to him.

Akito might only be human, but he was still one of the most important members of the pack to their alpha.

It didn’t go down as he’d planned.

Instead of giving in, Trent blindfolded him and ordered Cole to drag him inside.

What a waste.

Akito drank the whole glass of water and set it down with a loud clink on the slick wooden counter. “I had to do something. He doesn’t listen to me anymore. Ha! He never really listened to me in the first place.”

“Alphas don’t have to listen to anyone,” Cole said, and his bright blue eyes wandered down Akito’s chest toward the erection throbbing between Akito’s thighs.

Akito snorted. He knew that well enough, but Trent was different. He was supposed to be different. “He used to listen to me from time to time. But ever since—”

“What? You kidnapped me, and he forced me to be his beta. Then he stopped listening to you?” Cole growled and moved in close.

“You’re not still mad about that. We saved your life,” Akito said and took the challenge presented to him. Well, Cole was never a challenge. He was more like putty in Akito’s fingers with how easily he gave in to any demand.

He practically begged for it.

Cole took a sharp breath. “Not mad, but you – this – it’s bullshit. You’re better than this. Remember the lecture you gave me when I was pissed at Trent for forcing me here?”

“That’s different,” Akito said and pressed his body into Cole’s. It was too hot to touch like that, but he didn’t care. He needed something to get rid of the raging need in his rock hard cock, and Cole was perfect for the job, regardless of Trent’s orders.

“It’s not, you’re just too stubborn to see it properly. And pulling shit like this pisses him off. It’s not going to magically get him to—”

Akito pushed Cole into the kitchen counter. “What? Do the thing he’s been promising for years? You have no idea what it’s like. I’ve been with him for so long, and there’s always a new excuse. He couldn’t risk it before he found a beta. Then he had to change you first. Now he has a whole motherfucking pack, and it’s still not the right time? Fuck that!”

Cole grasped Akito’s shoulders. The strength in those hands was close to the surface, but he handled Akito carefully when he could just as easily break him into pieces. “You have no idea what the change is like. He’s worried about you – terrified that you won’t survive. Then what? What are we supposed to do without you?”

Akito yanked out of his grip. “You discussed this with him?”

Cole rolled his eyes. “You discussed plenty of shit with him – like kidnapping me – without my consent.”

He didn’t have a rebuttal because it was completely true. He had discussed Cole’s worthiness as a beta with Trent, and Akito hadn’t been in favor of it at the time. Now, that memory stung. “That’s different. You weren’t here yet. Once you joined the pack – once he bit you – that all changed.”

Akito bit his lip before he went on and uttered the last thing he wanted to tell anyone. The real fear that choked him at night. Not that he’d lose Cole or Trent, but that they never really intended to change him in the first place. His first alpha had been like that. Using him. Playing with him. It was all just a game to an alpha, and Cole, of all people, should understand what it felt like to be constantly rejected by the alpha who was supposed to need you.

Voices rumbled outside, and Cole frowned. He grabbed Akito’s arm and pulled him carefully down the hall.

Akito didn’t bother fighting. He was no match for a wolf, and he knew it.

They didn’t go to the bedroom since that would be too damn easy. Instead, Cole opened the door to the med room and pointed at the metal table with the cuffs at the head and the foot of it. Cole himself had been strapped to it when Trent changed him.

A rush filled Akito as he stared at it and remembered Cole trashing as the IV pumped Alpha blood into his veins. The bite was only the first part of the change. The second part came with the transfusion and then the days of waiting to see if the Level L survived.

Beside the table there was a chair and an IV stand, plus a few other medical instruments like scalpels and gauze. Enough to keep a Level L alive if they were bitten, and that was it. A single light glowed dimly from the ceiling.

“Are you going to climb on or do I have to force you?” Cole asked.

Akito crossed his arms. “What do you think?”

The sudden movement snatched his breath away. Cole moved inhumanly fast. One moment, Akito stood and the next he was pressed into the cold metal, the chill drying the sweat to his flesh.

Cole hovered over him and stared with his lips parted just so.

Akito’s chest heaved, and he slipped a hand down his front and lazily stroked his own cock. “Are you going to follow all of Trent’s orders?”

Color flushed Cole’s cheeks as he fit the cuffs over Akito’s ankles.

They were snug and didn’t chaff. Like the table, they were metal and strong enough to withstand a wolf’s power. Cole’s powerful hands glided up Akito’s thighs, upsetting the hair on his legs. “I’m going to cuff your hands.”

Akito thumbed the tip of his cock before Cole gripped his wrists and pressed them above his head. The cuffs clinked into place slowly.

Deliberately.

Then Cole leaned down and pressed his mouth to Akito’s lips.

They were softer than Trent’s, and his taste was distinct as well. It was a far cry from their first kiss all those years ago while they waited in the pens for an alpha to buy them. It was tinged with sweetness and regret, but it held the same rush of joy Akito remembered. His gut tightened, and his cock throbbed.

Cole’s tongue brushed his, all velvet heat, before he pulled back.

“Cole,” Akito said and wiggled his hips.

“I need to tend to your scrapes,” Cole breathed and moved to the metal cabinet in the corner. He pulled out a bottle of rubbing alcohol and gauze.

After Cole prepared the gauze, his strong hand splayed over Akito’s stomach.

Akito’s muscles tensed at the touch. It was so close, but not near enough.

The beta kept his eyes downcast as he swiped the alcohol over each cut on Akito’s skin. They stung, and the fumes made Cole wrinkle his nose. He smelled things more strongly than humans now, and Akito tried to ignore the knot in his gut that told him he should be able to do that too.

He should’ve been first not last.

But that wasn’t Cole’s fault.

“You said I was a good dog, so maybe I should follow our alpha’s orders. What do you think?” Cole asked, his voice rich and husky.

“This is one of those moments when it’s more fun to break rules than follow them,” Akito said.

Cole’s lips quirked, and he moved between Akito’s thighs, stomach pressed into the metal table. Akito opened his legs to admit the beta and whatever it was Cole had in mind.

“You know I can’t resist you,” Cole said and fisted the base of Akito’s cock. His grip was tight and sure, and Akito fought the urge to buck into that touch.

The heat of Cole’s mouth brushed the tip – his tongue darted out for a taste. He licked Akito’s sensitive head before he engulfed it.

The meeting outside would probably be over soon, and no doubt Trent expected Cole to join it, but here the beta was, lips slipping up and down Akito’s shaft while his tongue danced and lapped with each slick movement.

And – fuck! 

Akito groaned and thrust into the pleasure, but Cole held him steady. His weight was too much, and this was his game.

“You.”

Suck.

“Taste.”

Lick.

“Like.”

Hum.

“Heaven,” Cole moaned.

Akito yanked at the binds holding his wrists. Pinned by the hips, he couldn’t do much but relish in the sensation of that mouth around him.

“My ass,” Akito said and writhed.

Cole shook his head and sucked harder. His cheeks hollowed as his throat opened to admit the tip of Akito’s cock. It squeezed him – yanked at the built up need in his balls. He was so close. He tasted the desire in the air – smelt it – felt it like a physical weight on his chest.

Then Cole released him with a wet pop. His lips glistened with saliva and his palm still gripped Akito’s cock.

“I almost—” Akito started, and Cole cut him off.

“I know. Trent said I couldn’t give you release. He didn’t say I couldn’t taste you,” Cole said and kissed the tip gently before he pulled away, released his grip and licked his perfectly pouty lips.

Akito’s cock stood at painful attention, slick and wet and there was no fucking way to do anything about it with his hands and feet bound. “You fuck.”

Cole didn’t smile or apologize. He pressed his lips into Akito’s forehead for a long moment and inhaled his scent. “I love you, Aki.”

Akito scowled at him and wriggled in his binds. “If you love me so much, finish fucking me!”

“You know he’s not going to do that,” Trent grumbled from the doorway.

Cole glanced at him, unsurprised, and Akito’s frown deepened. Maybe Cole heard Trent enter the house and that’s why he stopped. Akito didn’t ask.

“You can’t help yourself, can you?” Trent said. It could’ve been aimed at either of them, but his narrowed eyes locked on Akito.

“Not when you have me chained to a fucking table, I can’t. Do you want a formal apology? I can’t give it like this,” Akito said.

Trent crossed his powerful arms over his chest. The material tightened on his biceps and a furrow deepened between his brows. Unlike Cole, Trent’s hair was a deep brown, and it brushed his shoulders when it was down. Now he had it tied into a low ponytail at the base of his neck. His skin was a golden tan, darker since summer started, and his V-neck shirt showed off the hint of strength in that chest and the touch of dark hair that covered it.

Unlike the rags most humans wore, Trent’s clothes were clean.

“I don’t have time to deal with this and you know it. Shan is on the brink of defeat and you pull this kind of selfish bullshit? What did you think I was going to do? Bite you in front of them all? Fuck you?” Trent growled and leaned in close. His voice was deadly calm, and the words snaked over Akito’s skin and burrowed into his mind.

“Better than keeping me locked up like some useless doll,” Akito spit, chest heaving. The words spilled out before he could stop them. “Why don’t you just admit that you never wanted to bite me in the first place? I’m not really your omega. This is all just a game for you. Fuck me until you get tired of it, right? Well, if you don’t bite me – if you don’t change me – someone else will!”

Trent’s eyes widened, and his nostrils flared. One of his long fingers slipped down Akito’s chest, and he flinched at the touch. It stopped at Akito’s cock, still achingly erect, and flicked it. “I’ll keep you locked in here as long as I see fit, omega. Being a spoiled brat is unbecoming. Cole. We’re leaving.”

Trent stalked out of the room without looking back, and Cole stood for a moment, eyes fixed on the floor.

“This is stupid. Just bite him. He’ll live as long as we—”

Trent rounded, teeth bared and silver eyes shining with their own internal light. “That’s not up for discussion. We have work to do, and I need my loyal beta. Don’t worry, Aki. I’ll leave plenty of our female pack mates to look over you. I wouldn’t want you to get tempted.”

Akito glared, though his eyes stung and nearly blinded him.

Cole stopped in the doorway as Trent’s footsteps faded down the hall. “I’ll talk to him about this. I promise.”

Akito let out a bitter snort of laughter in response. He couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t get him in worse shit. He wasn’t some spoiled brat. He just wanted what he was owed – what Trent promised him when he found Akito on the street and took him in.

Was that so much to ask?

True to his word, Trent left several of his female wolves at the house. Akito only saw one because she peeked into the room after what felt like an hour and raised a dark brow at his condition. At least the erection had deflated.

She looked local, with her eyes shaped like Akito’s own and black hair.

He didn’t recognize her, but that didn’t mean much. So many new wolves had joined Trent’s pack in the last few months it was impossible to keep track. Plus, it wasn’t as if Akito got to move amongst them often since Trent liked to keep them segregated from each other for reasons only the alpha knew.

“Hey. What’s your name? Are you from Sari’s pack?” Akito asked, his throat rough.

“I’m Makiko, and no. Not Sari,” she said and stood in the doorway with her arms crossed. She didn’t wear a man’s suit. Instead she was dressed like most humans with a worn sundress that had been patched so many times the original fabric was impossible to spot. Maybe she’d only been changed recently.

At least she had been changed, he thought and frowned at the ceiling.

“Who was your old alpha?” He needed to do something to get his mind off Trent’s last words. Who knew how long that battle would take? And he couldn’t pick the lock on the cuffs without his tools. Maybe he could coax this woman to give him a pick – though that was unlikely.

Her gaze fell to the floor. “Rin.”

Akito took a deep breath. He’d never heard of that alpha before, and he’d lived in Neo-Tokyo his entire life. What kind of shit was Trent keeping from him? “Where was her territory?”

She shook her head. “Rin didn’t have territory. Not in Neo-Tokyo. She didn’t have a large pack either.”

“What happened to her?” Akito asked and licked his lips.

Makiko rubbed her wrists. An old scar wound around them—cuffs that dug into flesh for too long and festered. She was lucky to live from such a thing. Most humans succumbed to disease. “Boss Yagami took her. I escaped before he got me and heard of your alpha—our alpha, so I came to find him.”

That was different. Trent never said a damn thing about wolves seeking him out. Akito blinked. Frowned. Just another way their alpha kept him in the dark. “As long as you don’t want to kill Trent, welcome to the pack,” he muttered.

“I’d never hurt him. He helped—” Makiko’s eyes widened, and she stopped talking.

That lump in Akito’s chest hardened into a stone, and he turned to look out the door as much as the binds allowed. “What?”

“Enemy wolves. I can smell them. They’re close. Don’t worry. I’ll protect you,” she said and unlocked his cuffs before she shed her dress and shifted into a medium sized wolf.

Akito hoped she was right.