Grabbing what few blankets she had, she covered her guests, unable to turn away from the sight of them shivering. Their fur was sodden from melted snow. Tucking a blanket around each of them, she smiled comfortingly as the two males on the floor opened exhaustion-glazed eyes to stare at her as she pulled the blanket around them. They seemed confused and uncertain at the gesture, but neither had the energy to fight his way out of a sack if given the opportunity. They were utterly reliant on her.
Alis’s face crumbled. “Momma, that’s my pink blanket.”
She brushed a hand over her daughter’s head.
“Don’t worry, baby. He’s just borrowing it so that he doesn’t get sick. You will get it back.”
“Like when I was sick?”
Alis had come down with hyperthermia when she was three from the faulty heating in their apartment that the landlord had never bothered to fix. The cold drafts had been such a constant that Betani hadn’t been surprised.
“Yes, like you were.”
Alis’s tiny brow pulled with concern.
“Oh, I don’t want that to happen. He can use it.”
“That’s my big girl,” Betani praised as she dropped a kiss on her daughter’s brow. “Don’t worry, you and Nik will sleep with me tonight. We will be plenty warm.”
“Okay, Momma.”
Nik wrinkled his nose at her from where he leaned over the edge of the couch where he’d been inspecting their unexpected visitors with fascinated glee.
“No, Moooom. I am too big to sleep with you,” he complained with a shudder of disgust. He’d started doing that after he and his sister began attending school. He’d even been pulling away lately if she tried to kiss or hug him. It hurt at times, but it reminded her that she couldn’t stop her children from growing up. “Can’t I just sleep here with them? They are so weird.”
“Absolutely not. They need rest, not you hovering over them like a buzzard. Now come along, go wash up. It’s time for bed.”
With a token protest, her children filed off toward the bedrooms at the rear of the small apartment. She stood sentry as they washed in the water she’d warmed over the stove after dinner. It was mostly for Nik’s benefit since he was too often tempted to skip washing in favor of something else that grabbed his attention. He scowled at the water as if he resented it for being forced to endure cleanliness. Betani rolled her eyes and massaged her neck, trying to alleviate some of her tension.
She could hear the wind howling outside and was thankful that the food delivery came before the snow hit. While the storm would be over by morning, the roads would remain impassible for at least a day or two until they were cleared. As long as they had full, comfortable bellies, they would be okay. She didn’t expect her clients to bring her any additional mending or alterations until after the holiday passed, so she hadn’t anticipated being disturbed for a few days. She hadn’t been thrilled about having so little work that week, but now it brought a sense of relief. Although Grandma Rose had seemed quite accepting of the Ragoru, she knew not all of her neighbors felt the same.
She frowned to herself. She had been foolish to invite them inside. People liked to talk, and she wasn’t in the habit of giving them something to talk about it, not when words could cut deep, especially if used against her children. Alis had a tender heart and was deeply affected by idle tongues. Nik was no different, though he tried to pretend otherwise, but Betani wasn’t fooled. She’d seen the defeat in his eyes when his peers mocked him with their cruel jokes. Still, despite it at all, she wasn’t so monstrous as that she could allow the Ragoru to die outside her steps to spare her family from gossip.
Hustling her children from the washroom into her bedroom, Betani gave the males one last look before she closed her door between them. She didn’t have a lot of hope for the larger white male, but she could only hope that the gods would see fit to remove them from her life as soon as possible before tender hearts became attached. Nik was already fascinated by them. How long would it take before that turned into something else?
She couldn’t stand to see their hearts broken when their guests finally left, even if their very presence seemed to whisper insidiously to some deep want in all of them. A hollow need that had gone unfulfilled. Betani would never voice her loneliness but, somehow, having them there made her feel better, and she’d barely spoken more than a few sentences to them.
Betani shook her head and joined her children in bed as she pulled the blanket up around all of them. She smiled as she felt their small bodies snuggle into hers. She thought of the bag of corn seed she had in the cupboard. Tomorrow, she would show the kids how to pop corn to string and eat it with melted butter from the pantry. Stroking a hand over their heads, Betani settled deeper into her bedding with a content smile on her face.
The next morning brought a whirlwind of noise, making Betani jerk out of bed in alarm. Someone was bellowing like a wild beast in her living room. Her heart thumped with fear as she edged out of bed and made her way to her bedroom door. Cracking it open, her eyes widened when she saw the large white male stomping around the living room, his head hanging as he raged through the room in confusion. He seemed to not recognize the two silver males who were attempting to grab ahold of him but instead beat them back viciously. Betani winced as a lamp fell to the floor with a loud crack. At this rate, he was going to destroy everything she owned.
In nothing but her bare feet and her nightgown, Betani threw open her door and marched over to the raging Ragoru. His fever-glazed eyes swung to her without comprehension, his lips along his short muzzle pulling back to reveal wicked fangs. One of the males shouted a warning to her, but it went unheeded as she glared up at him.
For too many years, she’d allowed everyone to push her around. People who thought they were better than her because they had nice things that she didn’t. Those who thought she ought to just curl up and die because she had nothing but the streets. By the gods, now that she had something worth a damn, she wasn’t going to lose anything that was hers to another’s foul temper.
Planting a fist on her hip, she steeled her spine and pointed with the other hand at the couch.
“I will thank you not to terrorize my house. Now lie your ass down and let me take care of you!” she snapped up at him.
The large male paused, awareness flickering deep in his eyes beneath his confusion and pain. A large hand covered her throat with an almost warning pressure behind his grip as his nostrils expanded and he dropped his muzzle closer to her. She tried not to flinch as his fangs drew closer. His lips covering his terrifying teeth, he snuffled deep against her skin as he dragged his nose along her neck and chest. A small shudder shook him, and she pulled back, looking him in the eye.
“Please, rest. You are very sick.”
His head swung to the couch and his ears flattened as he hesitated.
“You are safe here, but we need to concentrate on getting you better. You are not helping yourself any tearing around my house. Please.”
The male dropped slowly onto the couch, a low sigh releasing from his chest as he looked at the rumpled blanket. She didn’t know how she had the courage to do it but before she knew it, she was pressing her hands gently against the warm fur of his chest, encouraging him to lie down. To her surprise, he did so without a sound of protest, his glazed eyes never once leaving her face as he continuously sniffed the air. With the practiced ease of a mother, she brought the blanket back around him before backing away. He watched her for several long moments before they slid shut and he began to breathe evenly as he drifted off to sleep.
The silver male with the dark facial markings looked at her with narrowed sapphire eyes. He cocked his head curiously at her, the massive muscles in his four arms twitching as if he were holding himself back. Even the other male, whose eyes were a golden brown, watched her with rapt fascination, but it was the blue-eyed one who spoke.
“Human, what power do you have to compel him so? I’ve never in my days seen Yeril yield to anyo
ne’s will, especially not when his mind is clouded. He attacks us but did not even threaten you with so much as a snarl. Why is that?”
“I have no power over anything or anyone. Perhaps some sense broke through the fevered fog of his mind, but I guarantee it had nothing to do with me. My only wish is for my home to remain intact.” She crossed her arms over her chest and regarded the Ragoru with a steely eye. Her belly was a mess of nerves, but she refused to show it in her expression. Predators looked for and preyed off of weakness. She couldn’t show any sign of it in front of these strangers. She couldn’t afford to trust.
“If you are done resting, you can set your blankets on the couch. I will tend to them later. First, I must get breakfast started. I suppose you’re hungry?”
The dark-masked male smiled gratefully, his ears set at an almost friendly angle.
“We would be grateful for any food you can spare.”
Betani nodded. “I’m afraid it isn’t anything fancy, but you are welcome to join us in what we do have.” She turned toward the kitchen when a warm furred hand caught around her arm. She jerked to a halt in surprise. She hadn’t even heard him move.
“What do we call you?”
“I am Betani.” Her eyes turned to her children as they came into the room, rubbing sleep out of their eyes as they circled around the Ragoru with the sort of eager, unapologetic curiosity that seemed to belong only to the very young. With one hand, she gestured to them to precede her into the kitchen. “And these are my children: my daughter Alis and my son Nik.”
He looked down at them with a kindly expression before drawing his attention back to her.
“And your mate? Has he returned to your den?”
Betani’s brow furrowed. “My mate?”
“He means Dad,” Nik said, swiping the back of his hand across his nose to rub at an itch. “Jeb says that the Ragoru don’t marry—they mate. Our dad is dead,” he informed the male. Regarding the alien with open fascination, he asked, “What’s your name?”
Betani winced at her son’s blunt words but she didn’t reprimand him. Nik and Alis had barely turned three when their father died. Neither of them remembered him and treated his absence in their lives as nothing more than a simple fact. They didn’t grieve for the father they lost, but more than once she heard them pray for a father they could love and who would love them in turn.
The males exchanged a shocked look. They took a step closer, their bodies seeming larger as they approached. Their ears were pointed attentively toward her. It was almost as if they were stalking her, yet she felt no hostility from them. Instead, there was an entirely different intensity to their regard. A thrill ran up her spine as she backed away, her belly clenching as heat shot through her.
They drew to a halt within feet of her, their nostrils expanding, sniffing the air much as the white male had done. She nearly jumped when the blue-eyed male placed a fist against his chest and inclined his head toward her and her children.
“I am Furis and this is my brother Bero. The sleeping male is our triad lead, Yeril. We are forever in your debt for your assistance.”
Betani stared at them, her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth at the almost formal sounding oath. How did one respond to such a thing? She flushed uncomfortably.
“Breakfast will be ready in an hour. Alis, Nik, come help me.”
Without a backward glance, she fled into the safety of her kitchen, away from the piercing attention of the Ragoru that made her feel things she had never felt.
4
Bero leaned in toward Furis. They had found an unmated female who’d not only gotten through to Yeril at his worst but seemed like a caring and diligent mother. She would make a fine mate for their triad. Not to mention the fact that the sweet scent of her desire had sent such a jolt of lust through him that it bordered on painful as he fought to keep his cocks from extruding. He could tell by the pained look on Furis’s face that he struggled similarly.
“I want this female,” he whispered in Ragii.
His triad brother shot him a startled look. In all the revolutions they had been together, never had Bero expressed a preference in any female they’d attempted to attract. Now he just needed to get his brothers to agree. He didn’t think Furis would be difficult to convince, but encouraging Yeril to abandon his apathy would be a harder task. Human females didn’t seem to behave like Ragoru females; a male couldn’t just complacently wait for a female to choose them as if any female was just as worthy of a mate as another.
Excitement stirred in his breast. Perhaps that was what drew him so strongly. He’d never cared, never put himself in a vulnerable position, because he never would have had any choice among their own kind. He’d only grown more frustrated with the process as females passed on their triad time and time again, doubtlessly due to Yeril’s refusal to compete with other males. Seeking a human had almost seemed like a reasonable recourse for their triad. They were no longer young males, each of them in their fortieth winter. Yeril, at forty-three, was the oldest among them. It weighed on all of them that their time was running out to attract a mate.
Furis rubbed a hand through the long fur along his nape.
“I am in full agreement. This pull to her is… beyond my ability to describe. I’ve been preparing myself to embrace a human as a mate, regardless of their odd appearance, but never had I suspected such a strong attraction. Every instinct demands that she is ours. Logically, it would be an ideal situation for all of us. We can offer her and her young our protection, and a far more comfortable den in our territories. But how do we convince her? We know nothing about courting humans. That much was made clear yesterday. This mating thing is not so simple among their kind.”
“We aren’t going to get far without Yeril’s cooperation,” Bero mused.
Furis growled low in his throat but did not dispute the matter. They turned and looked at their triad lead, his chest barely moving with every shallow breath. Although he’d survived the night, neither of them had any idea how long it would take him to recover—or how long Betani would permit their intrusion. Would she insist they leave before Yeril was fully recovered? There was a chance they’d never get the opportunity to court the attention of the human.
“Maybe,” Bero said slowly, “we should try courting the female ourselves.”
Furis’s brows climbed and his ears tilted toward him with disbelief.
“It is the privilege of the lead…” his brother argued.
“He’s not capable to act at this time.”
Furis frowned but reluctantly nodded in agreement.
“It would be unprecedented, but it may work.”
“What are you guys talking about?”
Bero’s head whipped around, his ears turning toward the sound. Betani’s male offspring, Nik, watched them with curious eyes from where he stood in the kitchen doorway. Slowly, as not to startle him, Bero crouched low until he was eyes-level with the offspring. Intelligence shone behind those large brown eyes.
“We were speaking to each other of the kindness of your mother and our concerns over our brother.”
“Yeah?” the male’s face wrinkled with doubt as he glanced over at Yeril. “You are all brothers? I always wanted a brother, but I have Alis. She’s the best, but I still want a brother. It must be great having two brothers.”
Bero smiled at the enthused chatter. “We are triad brothers; we are brothers by bonds made by choice. Each of us has litter brothers as well.”
Nik frowned in confusion. “Why would you want other brothers then if you already have brothers?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Bero observed Betani stepping closer to the door. This was an opportunity to attempt to entice their chosen female that he couldn’t pass up. Keeping his primary eyes on Nik, he explained, “Ragoru form triads to create a strong family unit when we find a female that we wish to take for our mate.”
Nik’s face twisted in youthful disgust. “Yuck, and you enjoy it?”
Furi
s chuckled at his side. “We do not yet have a mate, but I suspect we would enjoy it very much. The love and devotion between a triad and their female is a powerful thing that many yearn for.”
Nik continued to look doubtful but Bero didn’t miss the curiosity in Betani’s eyes as she crept further forward, unaware that she was being observed by his secondary eyes.
“I don’t know if I’d like sharing my wife with other guys. My wife would be the best, just like Mom. I wouldn’t want to know anyone else was kissing her.”
Bero inclined his head in understanding. He hadn’t thought that there would perhaps be other cultural norms that would have to be conquered. If it was normal for humans to mate with only one male per female, the attentions of three males could potentially scare off their female. He wished again that Yeril was awake and could take the fore.
His eyes turned and took in the female he desired. Ever so slowly his gaze climbed until he met Betani’s brilliant green eyes. Heat flared in their depths and he watched as her cheeks reddened and her pink lips parted as she drew in a shaky breath of desire. He inhaled, his cocks twitching inside his sheath. Her arousal flooded the room, undetected by any save himself and his brother.
Fastening his eyes to hers meaningfully, so she could not doubt his intentions, he spoke to her and Nik at once.
“It is natural for Ragoru. We do not feel jealousy among our triad brothers. We seek only to share in the love of our mate.”
“That’s so romantic,” a soft voice lisped at his side. He turned his head, startled to stare into another pair of brown eyes. The small female, Alis, had caught him unaware. His ears twitched with amusement. She looked at him so fearlessly that he could well imagine her searching out a triad of her own when she came of age. Instantly, a protective urge welled up within him at the thought, and he wanted to clutch the tiny female to himself and hide her in his den.
“It is quite different,” Betani said to her daughter and waved her back toward the kitchen. She smiled at Bero and Furis, a flush still in her cheeks, as she included them in the gesture. “Come on, then. Breakfast is ready. I’m afraid it is not much, but I hope it will suffice.”
Stars, Snow and Mistletoe: A Holiday Naughty List Collection Page 8