"Argh!" Alex complained as he stood up.

When Uli's pants were back on, he dropped to his knees in front of Alex and stopped him from redoing his pants. "Yeah, I know the feeling."

Uli quickly licked him clean. He restrained his l.u.s.tful groan as his tongue found every last drop Alex had spilled. "Better?" he asked as he zipped temptation away.

"Yes." Alex reached down to help him off his knees. Alex held Uli's hand and started to lean down to him. He closed his eyes and stopped. "We need a plan."

Ulrich compelled his eyes to focus on something other than Alex's full red lips when his talented tongue swiped out to moisten them. "Um, right. How can we tell Cutter and Storm they are zombie mates?" Uli concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other back to the Club Zombie.

Alex joined him. "No clue. How crazy are they going to think we are?"

"Extremely." Uli stopped. He stood on tiptoes to press a kiss on Alex's pursed lips. "But your transition will help."

Chapter Eleven.

"s.h.i.t. I have a bunch of texts," Uli told Alex as he scrolled through them.

"Any from Storm and Cutler?" Alex liked how saying Cutter's full name made him shiver with antic.i.p.ation. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he noticed that he'd gotten a number of messages as well.

Grinning, Uli thumbed a reply as he answered. "All."

"Good. I got a bunch too." He slipped his phone, now off silent, back into his pocket.

Ulrich's eyes sparkled. "Methinks our mates want us."

"I'm counting on it."

"They're already at the club. Where should we take them?"

"I'll get a key for one of the private rooms."

"Get one with chairs so it doesn't seem like...you know." Dominant transition be d.a.m.ned. Alex was still shy about anything relating to s.e.x.

Alex could feel his face heat up, which was confirmed by Ulrich's gleeful laughter. He needed to figure out how to control that automatic response. But the embarra.s.sment of his blush seemed almost worth it to hear the happy sounds emanating from Uli. "Of course."

Corey immediately saw him coming across the bar. He ran over and jumped into Alex's arms. "Pfft." After peeling the little kid off, Alex asked, "Err, can I have a key to a private room?"

"You've finally seen the error of your ways. I love the fiery red hair, it suits you." Corey batted his eyelashes. "I'll call Jackson."

"No. What? No!" He needed to stop Corey now before he took his wrong idea further.

Corey cracked up. "You should have seen your face." He pointed at him as he doubled over laughing. "Did you fear for your virtue? I'll have you know I'd have been very gentle with you." Continuing to laugh, he strutted over to the bar and reached underneath to pull out a key. "So it's true? You went through the secondary transition. d.a.m.n, you're even hotter than before." He handed over the key.

Ulrich stepped up behind Alex to wrap a possessive arm around him. Alex didn't have to see Uli's expression to know it screamed mine.

"And you found your mate?" Corey asked with his hands on his hips as if he were a.s.sessing Uli's worthiness.

Uli stiffened. "He has three, actually. Yes, Alex and I are extremely lucky." An expression of deep pain marred Corey's face. Instantly, Uli's body tensed. "I'm sorry, Corey. I wasn't trying to be mean..." His mate sounded upset at himself so Alex tucked him under his arm and rubbed his back in calming circles.

Corey and Jackson had been searching for their third mate for years, and while they had each other, it wasn't enough. "No, I'm sorry. I guess now I understand why you always hated me flirting with him. I'm sorry." He blew a stream of air upwards that lifted his hair. "You're lucky. You just turned twenty-one and you found all three of your mates all on a silver platter." Disbelief mixed with tears gathered in Corey's eyes, but a careless wipe across his face seemed enough to hold them back. "Good. I'm happy for you. I should never have..." His words ended in a wet sob that was cut off.

Alex cleared his throat and found his deeper range. "It's fine, Corey. Your flirting never bothered me."

Uli stepped to the man bowing his head. "I'm just a jealous a.s.s. I'm sorry, Corey." Uli hugged the man tight before stepping back. "You'll find your third."

"Yeah, right." He inhaled a shaky breath. "I have Jackson and really I love him more than anything in the world, so I'm very lucky." Hastily, Corey changed the subject with a scrunched-up face. "Wow, the transition really bulked you up."

Alex studied himself for the hundredth time and the transformation still didn't feel real. "Yeah, we're hoping it will help lend truth to our explanation."

"Hopefully, our mates will accept us." Uli wrung his hands as he frowned.

Alex swallowed hard at the depth of the pain he'd glimpsed. "You'll find your other mate." He really did believe that.

After clearing his throat, Corey said, "Yeah, sure. Of course we will." The imp kissed him on the cheek and pressed his lips to Uli's. He giggled at Ulrich's uncomfortable reaction of pushing him gently away. "Catch you later. I'd wish you luck but since you've already found three mates I'm going wish you good skill." He made a beeline to Jackson and kissed him before melting into his own mate.

Alex couldn't fix everything in the world now matter how much he wanted to. He needed to concentrate on his mates so they could be taken care of in every way.

Uli broke into his thoughts. "They're over there at the corner table. I'll go collect them."

"Okay." Alex twirled the key on the ring as he waited. He knew as soon as his physical changes registered with them because Cutter and Storm's mouths gaped open.

Storm asked, "Are you on 'roids? Dude, you're huge." A tentative hand reached out to stroke Alex's new biceps and triceps. A sharp intake of the man's breath made Alex glance into Storm's eyes in time to witness the heat and desire there.

"How about we go in the back to talk."

"Why? What can't you tell us right now?" Storm demanded as his fists clenched. "I mean, what's the big secret?" He glanced over at Uli for an answer. "Other than him turning into a G.o.dd.a.m.ned body builder overnight."

"He's right, we should talk, but there's too many people. Come on." Uli led them down the long, winding corridors.

"Isn't this where..." Cutter's question trailed off as Storm growled. "What?" he asked, as if daring Storm to say something more.

Uli turned a little pink in his cheeks. "Yeah, down that hallway." He pointed into the dimness to a place the zombies referred to as "b.l.o.w.j.o.b alley"-a winding dark hall with small alcoves giving a sense of privacy. The placements of handgrips and padded benches allowed no mistake in the intended purpose of these niches. A few muted moans served to indicate it was in use.

They arrived at door number 28; Alex opened it with the key and held the door. As the others entered, the tension grew as if they each understood this conversation would change their lives.

Uli hurried over to sit down at the simple, cherry wood table. Everyone followed, ignoring the platform bed and the evidence this room was for private hookups of the s.e.xual kind.

Once they were all seated, Storm asked once again, "What the f.u.c.k?" He gestured toward Alex's larger frame and muscles. He reached out to touch again but caught himself and pulled back.

Alex cleared his throat and glanced over at Uli, who too appeared clueless on how to proceed. In retrospect, they probably should have planned this part better.

Inhaling to find his center, Alex gave it his best attempt. "You know how movie zombies need brains to survive?"

"Yeah?" Storm squinted his eyes suspiciously as he stared at Alex.

Cutter mimicked the last zombie movie. "Brains, brains brains." He shook his head so his brown hair fell back over his face, nearly covering his eyes.

Uli frowned. "Yeah, well real zombies don't need brains."

Storm barked out a laugh, making Uli jump. "Real zombies?"

Cutter sat back abruptly in his chair to regard Uli and Alex as if he were trying to put together a puzzle but someone stole several key pieces.

"Yeah, real zombies," Uli chimed in. "They don't eat brains. That's just disgusting. I mean, really how sharp would their teeth have to be to gnaw through a skull? The whole freaking concept doesn't even make much sense."

Putting a hand on Ulrich's shoulder did nothing to slow the German man's temper. Uli was close to boiling, but it was Cutter who took that as a piece of the puzzle.

Storm cracked up. "You're killing me."

Cutter stood up, knocking over his chair. "Tell us about real zombies, Uli." He eyed the door and snapped his wrist rubber band.

Grimacing, Storm grabbed Cutter's marked wrist and tenderly traced the angry line before kissing the injury. "Stop that." He turned back to Uli. "Go ahead. I'm listening."

"Zombies search for their mates, and when they find them they need no one else."

"Awwww, how romantic," Storm snarked before he picked up Cutter's chair. He rolled his eyes, but Cutter snapped his band again. This time Storm brought Cutter's wrist and licked moisture over the red line before his slipped the rubber band off his best friend's wrist and used it to hold his hair off his face.

Cutter paced back and forth, never going very far before turning around and heading back to everyone. "Is that what this is?"

"What what is?" Storm asked cautiously, as if he wanted a few more minutes to stay ignorant.

"Yes," Alex replied, grabbing onto Cutter's hand to guide him into the empty chair before he could make another loop with his pacing.

"Okay" was all Cutter said, but his eyes were flashing with a million questions.

"What, what is?" Storm demanded, narrow gaze zeroing in on Cutter.

"This." Cutter gestured between the four of them.

Growling, Storm asked again with his gaze glued to Cutter. "What's this?"

Alex touched him to draw his attention. "We, the four of us, are mates."

"We're zombies." Uli pointed to himself and Alex.

Not giving Storm a chance to speak, Cutter asked, "As your mates would we become zombies too?"

After Uli nodded, Storm hit the table with the palm of his hand. "What does that even mean? Zombies? I mean you two are just two regular guys..." He turned to Cutter for validation. "Right?" Apparently, Cutter's shrug didn't give him the rea.s.surance he looked for. He pinned Alex with a questioning gaze. "So this is why you got all muscular?"

"Yes and no." Putting up a hand to stay Storm's mouth, which was likely gearing up to head off into a different direction, Alex continued, "I went through a relatively rare secondary transition, making me more dominant."

Cutter gripped the table. "So how does this work? How do you know?"

Uli must have decided it was his turn to speak. "Basically, at nineteen, if you're zombie, you need male essence daily to survive. We seek our mates and bond with them. That's the first transition. If we don't find them be the time we are twenty-three, we lose the ability to o.r.g.a.s.m and regain the pleasure only after the exchange with our mate."

"So male essence is..." Storm let it dangle.

"e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.e," Alex provided the answer.

Storm leaned forward. "So to break the zombie mate thing down, you suck c.o.c.k until you find your mate, and if you don't you can't come anymore." Storm articulated each word as if he were weighing it on a truth scale.

"Is that why everyone here drops to their knees on a regular basis?"

Uli smiled a little. "Pretty much."

After a nod from Uli, Storm asked, "What's the exchange?"

"How do you know you've found your mate?" Cutter chimed in.

"Mates," Alex corrected. "When their e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.e is ingested we o.r.g.a.s.m as an unbreakable bond forms." Then he went on to the harder question. "An exchange requires blood. If the mate accepts the bond, a small exchange of blood is necessary. The blood makes the bond permanent."

"What else?" Storm folded his arms and sat back.

"Mates need to ingest each other's come or their bodies cease to function." Reading the question in both their eyes, Alex said, "Yes, zombies live indefinitely."

"How do you know we're yours, Alex? You've never been with either of us," Cutter quietly asked without looking up.

"The doctor said that the intuition is probably part of the secondary transition. I can feel our bonds even though they haven't been twined together."

"d.a.m.n, zombies are more clingy than a lesbian." Storm flinched when Cutter smacked him. "What? We haven't even had s.e.x with the guy, and he's telling us we're bound for life."

"Eternity, actually." Uli slid his chair from the table to stand up and lumber across the room. "Nothing you have to decide right now." His voice cracked ever so slightly as he stared at the light gray wall.

Alex could feel waves of pain rolling off him. He strode the few feet it took to put them toe-to-toe. "Hey, it's okay." He whispered, "It's okay. You have me." But he was sure their conversation with Corey was still fresh in his mind. There would be no escaping the empty existence they faced without all of their mates.

Uli wrapped his arms around Alex and brokenly confessed, "But I want them too."

"I know." From the corner of his eyes he noticed Storm studying them, but not Cutter. "Where's Cutter?"

Storm shrugged. "The bathroom. Do we need your permission, Mr. Dominant Zombie-boy, to take a p.i.s.s?"

Something felt wrong about Cutter's absence. Alex stalked out the door and into the first bathroom he came across. He found Cutter with a straight razor against his arm. Scars both tiny and long decorated his skin like some textured fabric.

"What the h.e.l.l are you doing?" Without waiting for an answer, Alex grabbed Cutter by the hair and marched him out of the bathroom.

"No, don't. I don't want them to know. Storm already knows how stupid I am, but Uli hasn't seen this, please. Please. I don't want to upset them."

Alex couldn't even find words to respond to Cutter's pleading. He continued the journey back to their borrowed room where they interrupted Storm hugging Uli and rubbing his back.

But Storm pulled away when he saw the position Alex had put Cutter in. "Get your f.u.c.king hands off..." Storm's words died as he noticed the straight razor in Cutter's other hand. "No." Pain and betrayal bled into his words. "You said you'd stopped." He slumped against the wall.

"I did." Cutter dropped the razor to the floor. "I tried. I can't." Cutter turned toward Alex, or twisted around as much as the tight grip on his hair allowed, begging. "I'm sorry, don't be mad at me."