by C. R. Jane
Thinking of the past only had me growling under my breath, and I hated how a single memory could destroy you. I marched across the lawn along the river’s edge, needing to get outside, and yet I found myself heading over to the inn to check in on Rune. I hadn’t seen her since the town hall incident, having spent the past few days repairing the damage caused. The whole time, Rune consumed my thoughts, her kisses, her soft, curvy body under mine, her moans demanding more. Fuck, I still had her scent in my nostrils, and my cock twitched, succumbing to desire. She reminded me of something deeper and darker in my soul, and I wanted more, so much more than a single moment of pleasure.
I had every intention of claiming her as mine, keeping her by my side.
Mate, my wolf snarled in my chest, like he had been doing each time I thought of her.
She was going to devastate me, I knew this, but I was going into this with my eyes and heart wide open regardless.
My wolf echoed my sentiments with growls, and I strolled quicker. When I lifted my head, my gaze landed on Rune being held up by Mr. Jones as they seemed to almost stumble around to reach the main entrance to the inn. Even from twenty feet away, her soft giggles reached me.
Fire erupted in my chest to see that old man’s arm around her arm, and jealousy rose through me. Logic told me he wouldn’t make a move, seeing he had his own mate and was about five hundred years older than her. But I’d seen the way other men stared at Rune, like they might sacrifice their own life for a moment with her.
Fuck it.
Before I knew it, I stormed after them, my heart slamming into my rib cage.
But Rune turned her head to me as if sensing my approach before I reached them, and her smile melted my very soul.
“Wilder’s here!” she cooed, and she smiled a bit too much, laughed a bit too hard. I loved seeing her less anxious, but something was different about her.
Mr. Jones paused and twisted around to also greet me with a grin as Rune slipped from his grasp and ran to me. To have said I wasn’t ecstatic about her excitement would make me a liar because to have a goddess like her running to me like nothing else mattered, to see the glint of happiness in her eyes, to watch her gorgeous breasts bouncing beneath the blue summer dress she wore, strangled my heart at how much I needed her. The fabric hugged her tiny frame, the buttons running down pulled taut across her chest, and the skirt fell down to her gorgeous thighs loosely. Her short sleeves had slipped down slightly over her shoulders, revealing sun-kissed skin I craved to taste.
To be wanted by such a beauty could undo a man, and as she leapt into my arms, I lost myself. I embraced her, memorizing how she fit against me, her body so soft and all fucking mine.
“I missed you,” she whispered with rushed breaths. “Did you miss me too? I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the way your tongue licked every inch of me. But if you want me, you’ll have to catch me first.”
Her words were exquisite and came at me so fast, so unexpected, that it took me a bit to work out where they came from. Plus, if we were anywhere but in open view, I’d have already ripped off her underwear. My hunger for her rose through me, as did my wolf, reminding me she was ours and that we had to fucking mark her already, to stop wasting time or it’d be too late.
“It seems I’ve already caught you, but flattery will get you everywhere,” I whispered, grinning a bit too wide.
Her giggles covered me in goosebumps, the kind that set me on the edge of arousal. Did she have any idea what she did to me? A single word had me captivated, a touch made me mad, her body made me hers to command.
She pressed her mouth to mine, and the world around me vanished. I should have lowered her back to her feet until I got her indoors, but temptation is a wicked thing. I leaned in and sucked her lower lip between my teeth, then inhaled her sweet, honeyed scent.
Fuck, I had to have her again.
Everything about her swallowed me and left my mind fogged.
Mr. Jones cleared his throat. “Well, I will let you two be.”
Having completely forgotten about him, I broke from Rune and let my gorgeous girl slide down my body, adoring the sensation of her breasts rubbing against me, trying not to think about how much I desperately wanted to rip her dress off.
Sure, I’d initially thought we should talk about her ex and the way she’d reacted the other night. But no one said we couldn’t fuck first.
Rune frowned at me, then slung her arms around my middle, her sullen expression the opposite of how she was seconds earlier.
“What’s going on, gorgeous?”
She pursed her lips, and I raised my attention to Mr. Jones. “What happened to her?”
He gave me a sheepish look. “There was a slight altercation outside my café with Daniel trying to attack Rune for Eve’s death. So I gave her some of my calming tea as she was worked up.”
“What the hell, you made her high with your happy tea herbs?” My voice rose more than I expected, but that explained everything about the way Rune was acting.
“I’m not high,” Rune chirped, just as someone emerged from around the corner of the inn in front of us. Before I lifted my gaze to see who it was, Rune squealed with excitement and suddenly darted from my side.
She threw herself into Daxon’s arms as she had done to me earlier, and I hissed under my breath, fire erupting from my chest at her reaction. My hands curled into fists, and while I didn’t finish him the other night at the town hall meeting, I might very well just drown the fucker in the river to get him out of my face for good. And most importantly, to drag Rune out of his arms.
“Well then,” Mr. Jones murmured, his voice suddenly shuddering. “Look at the time, I do believe the lunch time rush is about to start. I better get back.”
He was gone in seconds, and I didn’t even care that he lied about the lunch rush. I marched over to Daxon, who held my girl. I wanted to burn the whole fucking town down at the sight.
“For fuck’s sake,” I spat.
But it was Rune who responded and swung around to stand between us. “No! No one is fighting. Can’t you two just get along?” Her voice quivered like she might either lose her voice at any second or pass out.
“What did you do to her?” Daxon snapped, his gaze darkening toward me, one hand gripping Rune’s arm to keep her close to him, while I held the other arm, refusing to let her go.
“Do you feel dizzy?” she asked, teetering on her feet. “Why is the sun so bright today?”
“Old man Jones thought it would be nice to calm her down with one of his concoctions after Daniel blamed Rune for Eve’s death.”
“Fuck me! Why would he give her that? And why did she drink it? It tastes like ass.” He shook his head as she practically purred against him. “Daniel is going to regret ever talking to Rune,” he said, cracking his neck as a shadow slid over his expression.
“Like fuck you will. Leave him to me,” I barked.
“Hey,” Rune said, getting us both to look down at her. “If you two are just going to fight, let me go. Screw the both of you.” Then she broke into hysterical laughter. “I guess I’ve already done that with you both already,” she said, rather amused at herself.
I huffed, ready to explode, sucking every ragged breath. “You slept with her?” I demanded.
Daxon studied me intently, the curl on the corner of his mouth giving me his answer, and I shredded on the inside, unsure how to feel aside from the fury lashing me. I’d been down this path before with him, promised myself I’d have nothing to do with him, let alone be involved with the same woman.
My head spun, and my hands twitched with an urgency to rip his heart right out of his chest. I snarled out of rage.
“You’ve lost control of your pack,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “If Daniel hurts her, I’ll kill him myself.”
Fury crackled down my spine. “Is that so?” A thunderous growl ripped my past my throat as I only saw red.
He laughed, the sound cold and venomous. For a second, s
omething flickered in his gaze, something unrecognizable. Like there was a monster lurking inside the Alpha. It was the only way to explain who looked at me behind those deepening eyes.
Suddenly, a slight weight pulled at my hand, and I flicked my gaze to Rune, who’d passed out between us, her head slouched backward, her eyes shut. Us holding her arms were the only reason she hadn’t collapsed to the ground.
“Sonofabitch, Daxon, look what you did.” I snatched Rune and swept her into my arms. Her soft body curled in against my chest, and I growled that I’d let myself get distracted instead of focusing on her. My heart hammered at seeing the little thing so high on tea leaves, she’d fallen unconscious.
“You think this is my fault?” he snarled.
“Well, you bitch endlessly about everything.”
“Fuck you!”
I used my foot to pry open the door and marched into the inn. Jim stood behind the bar, serving a drink, his head jerking up at my entrance. Unlike the last time I marched in there after breaking his door, there was no shock on his face, but rather a resignation that while Rune lived here, I wouldn’t keep away.
I ignored the other patrons and headed upstairs, Daxon on my heels, grunting like a damn boar. I paused and twisted my head. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“If you think I’m leaving her, you’re fucking delusional.”
My muscles bunched up across my shoulder blades, and I jerked back around, convinced that if there was ever a day I’d end up murdering Daxon…this might be it.
Rune
I woke abruptly, ripped out of sleep with the words, Please don’t stop, on my lips. The sad part was that I couldn’t remember my dream, but my mind flew back to when I had begged Daxon to spank me. I was definitely not the same person who stumbled into this town, but someone who discovered I loved sex more than I ever imagined, and that included having my ass slapped apparently.
Breathing heavily, it took moments for my eyes to focus and take full stock of the fact that I sat upright in my bed with Wilder and Daxon in my room, staring at me.
I blinked at them, unsure if I was still asleep or some weird time shift thing had happened. These two could barely stand each other, yet neither looked dead or beaten up from being in such close proximity to one another.
“Why are you both in my room?” I pushed the hair off my face, noting my brow felt moist from perspiration. “You know it’s creepy to break into someone’s room and watch them sleep.” Looking down, I checked that I was indeed wearing clothes, since for the life of me, I couldn’t remember how I got back to my room or even what day it was. I scratched my head, unsure what happened.
“I’m more curious about your dream,” Daxon murmured, the corners of his eyes wrinkling from his smile. “Tell us more.” He grinned mischievously, and when I met his gaze, I recognized the look from when he’d claimed me in this very bed. Heat filled my chest at the thought.
Wilder sighed, giving him a wry look, then returned his attention back to me. “What’s the last thing you remember?” he asked, sitting at the end of the bed, a bent leg folded in front of him, while Daxon slouched in the chair he’d placed near my bed, like each was vying to be as close to me as possible.
I might take that as a compliment if I wasn’t terrified these two would erupt into a war that might destroy the whole inn…as they had done with the town hall. Though that was a strange night on so many levels.
They stared at me, expectedly… Right, they wanted a response. My brain felt like mush though. I licked my dry lips and looked around for my bottle of water, finally tracking it down on my table across the room.
Daxon got the hint and collected it for me. “Thanks,” I croaked out and quickly chased away the dryness in my throat with several mouthfuls. Setting the bottle on the nightstand, I shuffled my legs off the bed, so I sat on the edge.
“Okay, so the last thing I recall was being in the coffee shop with Mr. Jones and eating something filled with Nutella. Oh, and he made me a special green tea that tasted bad.” I thought hard about what came next, but all I got were patches of memories. Bright sunlight and the encounter with Daniel beforehand…something I preferred not to think about too much. “So you tell me, how did I get here, as you must know, otherwise why would you both be in my room? And please don’t tell me I did something super embarrassing like I fell over and hit my head.” I was rambling at this point, but my head felt like it was spinning, so I really couldn’t be blamed.
Wilder didn’t so much as blink. “You drank a hallucinogenic tea to relax you to the point that you can’t seem to remember anything you did.” The way he said that made it sound like I’d done this on purpose.
I stiffened in bed and drew the pillow next to me against my chest. “He said it was just a calming tea. Fuck. Did I do something crazy after I drank it?” Maybe I should have asked Mr. Jones more questions, like how relaxed would I feel? Or simply not drink random homemade remedies going forward. Hadn’t Miyu warned me of something like that?
Daxon snorted, and that sound alone was enough to make me panic and fumble with the loose strands of hair hanging over my shoulder. “You were very forthcoming with demanding I spank you,” he said.
My stomach flip-flopped at his words. Please tell me he was joking.
Wilder shot to his feet, groaning under his breath. “No one wants to hear that shit,” he blurted.
“You’re just jealous,” Daxon shot back.
“Well, I guess it depends,” I began, interrupting them. “I mean, if I divulged secrets, then yes I want to know.” I half giggled, hoping that I hadn’t just divulged every embarrassing thing about my past. “And as long as I didn’t hurt anyone, then it couldn’t have been that bad.”
“You did nothing wrong, sweetheart,” Daxon continued while Wilder moved to stand in front of the window, staring outside, his shoulders pulling up, clear he wasn’t happy. “But now we all know where you stand with us.”
I swung my attention over to him. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Apprehension climbed through me at his words, the back of my mouth tasting sour. I almost choked on the taste of trepidation that he was about to brag about our time together, and well, with Wilder already stewing, we were on our way to another massive fight between them.
Daxon reclined in his seat, studying me deeply like he was fishing for me to say the words first.
I frowned and hopped out of bed, not particularly in the mood to play games, seeing as I’d woken up to find the two males watching me. “If you have something to say, then do it, otherwise maybe you two should both leave my room.”
Wilder turned to look our way, his pupils darkening in a way that reminded me he was a dangerous Alpha and might leap at Daxon in a heartbeat. They were like a live wire about to strike at any given moment.
“You’re such a prick, Daxon,” he snapped. Then he glanced over to me. “We both found you outside the inn after Mr. Jones brought you from the coffee shop. You were very spaced out, then you proceeded to tell both of us, quite gleefully, that you wanted to fuck us again.”
“I did?” I licked my lips again as nerves danced up my spine, an unsettling feeling twisting in my stomach. I half expected them to jump into a rant, except they both stared at me like somehow they’d been waiting for me to wake up to talk to me about this exact thing.
Despite my heartbeat thumping in my ears, I reminded myself that I was no longer going to be the person who let others push me around and would try to stand up for myself. I stood between them and threw my arms up in frustration.
“What do you want me to say? I’m not sorry for it.” I splayed my hands out across my stomach, holding them still to conceal their quiver. “I have nothing to hide, and I’m nothing like your ex, if that’s what you’re both worried about. Maybe it’s better this is out in the open now so we can all talk and be civil.”
The looks on both their faces were the opposite of civil, and now my heartbeat echoed in my ears. Instead, they glared at
each other.
“Tell me more about your encounter with Daniel?” Wilder asked, breaking the stalemate between the two of them, and his question told me two things. One, he had no plans on leaving my room. And two, Daxon would keep his stubborn ass here too because they were nowhere near finished with me finding myself attracted to them both.
“Mr. Jones told you, I guess?”
Daxon nodded. “Did Daniel hurt you?”
I shook my head. “Mr. Jones stopped him before he got the chance.”
The shock on his face was almost humorous. “Appears the old man has some tricks up his sleeves after all.”
Daxon said nothing but reclined farther in his chair, his legs wide, his hands tucked into the pockets of his pants, studying me with a strange look in his eyes, completely ignoring Wilder. Daxon made me feel like a deer spotted in the woods by a wolf. He sat back, unfazed by Wilder, even if they seemed to be mortal enemies, like nothing in the world scared him. Was it strange that I found that both ridiculously alluring and scary at the same time?
“It’s good Mr. Jones protected you,” Daxon finally answered. “He is good for something at least, but maybe you shouldn’t be alone when going out?”
My muscles went stiff, and flames blazed across my mind instantly. “No,” I answered. “I am not a helpless woman, and I did a decent job of standing up to Daniel too. I won’t become a prisoner in my bedroom.” The unspoken words of how they’d already made me a prisoner in the town stretched between us.
Both men watched me with curiosity.
“I don’t want you hurt,” Daxon told me, his chin jerking upward, while Wilder watched without a word. He stood still as a soldier, expressionless, and I struggled to make sense of either man. They were broody, and their presence alone twisted my gut, sending my emotions and arousal all over the place. Part of me wondered if they finally clashed and destroyed one another, would that be easier for me to just find peace in this town without drama? Or would it in turn ruin me?
“Maybe it’s not a bad idea,” Wilder said, finally breaking his silence, holding my gaze. Apparently, having them both close to me at the same time did nothing to cool me down, especially when they said shit that got me riled up.