“I suppose that makes sense to me, as much as any of this does.”
Ash grinned and kissed the crown of his cock. The traitor weeped a pearl of white precum out the tip as another wave of arousal ascended.
“No, I don’t think so. If we can’t have sex, then I want you to come now, like this.”
She engulfed his cock down to the base in one movement and the pleasure picked him up and crashed him against the shore.
“Oh fuck!”
He made one last attempt to pull away but Ash held on tight as he began to orgasm. White lights flashed in front of his eyes and, as sweat broke out across his forehead, hot cum spilled out of him, making his entire body shudder.
She swallowed him down, continuing to lick and hum, making her throat ripple around him. His orgasmic shivers continued, vibrating along his arms and legs.
“Oh wow. Oh wow.” His brain was stuck on a loop. He couldn’t believe how good he felt.
Ash let his softening flesh slip from her mouth and began kissing a pattern back up to his face. His arms felt like lead but he forced them to rise and wrap around her warm body as she settled against him and kissed his chest.
Bliss descended, making him black in and out several times before his body relaxed and he chuckled softly, unable to keep his happiness inside.
“Thank you, sweetheart.”
He kissed the top of her head, smiling against her strawberry-scented hair.
“Do you want to just hang out tonight? We could get some dinner later, maybe try to pin Scott down?”
Ash nodded and hummed, nestling into his side and relaxing against him.
He glanced over to the clock across the room and saw that it was only three thirty.
“Maybe a nap first?”
He rolled to the side and drew her body flush against his. Her breath was against his chest as she nuzzled into his shoulder and got comfy.
“Yes, please…”
Jack let his body relax and sink down into the darkness. For the first time in his life a soul deep happiness fell over him, wrapping him in its warmth.
****
Scott blinked his eyes open, groaning as the late-morning sun hit his overtired body. His shoulders hurt, his thighs were tight, and his head was so foggy he could barely manage one clunky thought at a time. He’d barely slept a wink last night, which even for him was bad. He usually managed at least a couple of hours of solid sleep, but last night he’d tossed and turned, even reaching down to stroke himself to orgasm around five in the morning, hoping the lethargy would knock him out. No such luck. He’d seen every minute of the clock tick over until seven and must have fallen asleep after that.
He ached everywhere and if he hadn’t been in perfect health last night, he’d think he was coming down with a virus of some sort.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” He couldn’t ignore the pain in his lower abdomen a moment longer. He rolled out of bed and staggered to the toilet, his head pounding and his knees shaking as they struggled to carry his weight.
He growled and stretched in front of the mirror, noticing the black circles beneath his eyes.
“Bloody Jack.”
Something was up with his twin. Scott had only felt this terrible a few times in his life, and it had always been linked to something massive happening to his brother. Stupid damn mystical twin connection. Was something threatening him?
Scott showered and dressed, his lion pushing up at him for a run. It’d been so long since he’d let his animal shifter loose, probably too long to be healthy.
He stripped his clothes back off his tingling body and opened the back door. It was time to embrace his lion. He let go of his humanity and let his shifter take over.
Cinnamon-colored fur sprouted in place of his skin and he dropped to all fours as his body and face transformed into a Rocky Mountain lion.
The animal itself was quite a loner, but his shifter family was closely knitted together, liking the comfort of others above the solitary existence of the real animal.
The wind rustled his fur and he took a deep breath through his nose, smelling the fresh scent of spring. The rich dirt, the crisp leaves, together with the promise of a light rain.
He let a loud growl rumble through his body as he bounded down the back step and ran off into the fragrant woods. It had been so long since he’d run like this, experiencing the world through these eyes. He’d forgotten how beautiful it was.
For safety and space, all of his family lived near the base of the mountain. He and his brother were no exception. On instinct he began running toward his brother’s home, not quite a mile from his own house. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong with Jack.
Scott reached the property quickly, his heart lighter and happier from being in his animal form. He was free and healthy. There was a lot to be thankful for.
He rounded his brother’s small weatherboard home and stopped short, his paws sliding in the dirt.
His heart began to pound hard in his chest. Jack wasn’t home. His truck wasn’t parked in the driveway where it was every morning. Yes it was almost lunch time, but it was a Saturday. Jack didn’t go anywhere on a football day.
Scott supposed Jack could have slept over with one of his lovers, but that was highly unlikely. Jack didn’t really do that. He preferred to sleep in his own bed.
He turned and headed back home, his brain churning over all the possibilities. Could he have been hurt? No. It’d be something simple. Maybe he’d gone somewhere with the kids?
He pranced up onto his back patio and shook his fur to rid himself of the excess dirt. His belly was jumpy and churning, the unease he’d been feeling all morning settling in like a permanent scar.
Scott purred as his mind focused, his humanity returning to help his brain realize the obvious as he returned to human form.
Jack’s with her.
That was the answer. “Ash.”
His stomach clenched at the sound of her name and he ran inside, panting and pacing his sleek kitchen. He hated that he couldn’t do anything at the moment.
Scott quickly dressed and threw himself into his work, doing some online research and reading the latest journals.
He ate lunch and paced some more when the need to get up and move became impossible to ignore. Jack, Jack, fucking Jack! His gut still wasn’t right and it was his bloody brother’s fault!
Scott snatched up his mobile phone and scowled down at the screen. He could not be with Ash, he couldn’t.
“Of course he bloody can. Bloody man whore…”
His heart kicked out with such a sickening thud that his knees weakened and he staggered to his brand new couch, falling onto the soft leather with a groan.
That was unfair. Ash was their mate, and Jack was the one who had the balls to go after her.
No!
“Fuuucckk!” He looked up and screamed at the ceiling, punching in his twin’s number and letting the anger inside him grow.
He went through twenty years of hell with a woman. He wasn’t being stupid enough to trust another one, and his brother was an idiot for thinking it would be better this time.
He blew air out his nose as the call connected, not caring that in the mood he was in, he was going to rip Jack’s head off, no matter where he was.
“Scott?” A groggy sounding Jack answered the phone, his tone filled with both shock and confusion.
“Where are you?”
“Don’t scream at me, Scott. I can hear you just fine at a lower decibel level. I’m with Ash, where else would I be?”
Hot, angry waves flowed over Scott like a never-ending ocean of feeling. It was too much, pulling him under and drowning him in pain. He took a quick, sharp breath and clenched his jaw, responding the only way he could at that moment.
“You fucked her already? God, Jack, you don’t waste any time, do you?”
Silence descended after a distinctively feminine gasp sounded over the line.
“I’ll call you la
ter,” was all his twin said before he promptly hung up on him.
The background noise stopped and Scott began to shake. He pushed up to his feet and rushed toward the kitchen, making it just in time to feel the burn of his stomach acid clearing his throat and spilling into the sink.
He dry retched several times, salty hot tears stinging his eyes while he took deep breaths in through his nose in an attempt to calm the fuck down.
Sweat broke out all over his body as alternating waves of hot and cold flowed over him, making him feel terribly sick.
When his stomach had stopped clenching with painful contractions, he splashed some water onto his face and swirled it around his mouth, then sank to the floor, the cold tiles jolting him as his palms came into contact with them.
He coughed, his lungs seizing for a moment before resuming their wheezing of air.
Scott’s head slumped forward and he concentrated solely on breathing.
So, his twin was with their mate, a woman they both had decided didn’t exist. He wanted to believe it, and a small part of him did. The other, larger part was fucking terrified. The scientist in him was baffled and critical of the alleged bond, despite him feeling the connection between them as though it were a physical thing.
He had to get up.
Scott forced himself to his feet, his legs like lead beneath him. He dragged his feet along the corridor and threw himself into the shower, blasting his sluggish body with cold water.
“Fuck! Shit!” he screamed as he jumped from foot to foot, the freezing water like needles against his skin, knocking any lingering lethargy from his body.
After he’d washed, he stepped out of the cubicle and began toweling himself dry.
Ash and Jack had fucked—mated—whatever the hell their kind did with the woman meant for them. He had to get used to that fact.
Jack had taken the opportunity to pursue her, to bond with her, and if she was as smart as she seemed, she’d jump at the chance to be with his fun, good-looking, kind-hearted brother. But where did that leave him?
“Between a rock and a hard place, that’s where.”
He began to dress, his head swimming from a lack of food and too much stress. Sadly, it wasn’t an unusual event for him with the way his life had gone.
He had to make a choice.
Either watch Jack be with Ash and be happy for them, or get over his fear and join them, and that was if she’d forgive him for what he’d said to Jack while she listened.
He couldn’t lose his brother’s love due to envy. The three of them being together was how it was supposed to be. He’d looked at Brandon and Tyler during their wedding and knew it to be true. But he was too broken to ever be a real part of a relationship, especially one as perfect as a truly mated perfect pair should be. Wasn’t he?
Head heavy and heart aching, Scott loped back to his pristine kitchen. Alone.
Chapter Seven
Jack called himself three types of a fool as anger rolled in his gut. He should never have picked up the phone. What on earth had possessed him?
He rolled onto his side and smiled at his lover as well as he could with the weight of dread on his chest. “I’m sorry about that.”
Ash’s blue eyes glowed with hurt as she turned away from him, her breathing rate increasing with her obvious distress.
He stifled his groan of frustration and snuggled up behind her, feeling the heat of her back against his chest and hissing in pleasure as she huffed out a sigh and wiggled closer.
Thank God for that.
“He sounded angry.” Ash’s voice was small in the room as she began running her fingernails up and down the arm he’d slung over her belly.
He shivered as the hairs on his arm stuck up on end and a wave of pleasure pulsed through him.
“God, I love your touch.”
She didn’t say anything but she seemed to relax more against him. He kissed the whorl of her ear, his cock throbbing against her soft bottom.
“I told you he wouldn’t react well. His heart’s taken a real beating in the past.”
Ash made a hmphing noise and rolled onto her back, staring up at him with wide, clear eyes.
“Is that really all I am to you, Jack? A fuck?”
Jack groaned and tried not to roll his eyes.
“You know that’s not what you are to me. Even Scott does. That’s why he was being such a prick.”
Ash flicked his chest with her thumb and middle finger.
“I’m not stupid, you know. Did you really just make up all that crap about us being together? Spinning me a pretty tale to beat your brother to the punch.”
Her mouth was turned down and her eyes glistened with tears.
Wow, she was hurt, or angry, or both. His gut churned at the idea that he’d upset her in any way. He’d always been a bit clueless with women, and honesty was always the best policy.
“Sweetheart, stop. I promise you I won’t lie to you. It won’t happen. Everything I have said is true, and my idiot brother is so jealous at the moment he can’t see straight.”
Ash stared off into the distance and began digging her nails rhythmically into his forearm.
“Then why would he say such a thing?”
Jack used his hand to gently grab Ash’s chin and tilt her face back up to his.
“Because he’s damaged, beautiful. He wants your love so much he can taste it, but he’s terrified too. He lashed out because he’s being ridden by the green-eyed monster, and that’s not pretty.”
Ash stopped her agitated movements and began to stroke his skin again.
Jack held his breath, watching as emotions he couldn’t name flickered across her face.
Finally, she heaved a sigh and stared up at him.
“So what are we going to do, then?”
Jack laughed and kissed her cute, button nose. This was why Ash was the one for them. She was all heart, but with a fire that they both needed.
“So you want to try to get him to join us, too, huh?”
She looked down, her expression shuttered as her eyebrows lowered. He watched her and waited, counting his heartbeats. She bit her lower lip, worrying the flesh with her teeth.
Please don’t say no, beautiful.
When she finally glanced up, her eyes had darkened and there was a smile flirting with the edge of her full lips.
“I think I do. If you guys come as a set, it would be silly to only collect one.”
Jack burst out laughing and drew her against him for a kiss, tasting the sweetness of her mouth with his tongue.
When he felt the mood shift into something hotter, he reluctantly pulled away and slowly extricated himself from her clinging arms.
“Well, sweetheart, if that’s what you truly want, then I better go home and get dressed for our dinner date. Shall I invite my brother to join us?”
Looking nervous, Ash held on tight to the blanket that covered her naked body and nodded her head.
“Yes.”
Relief pulsed through him like a cold rain. He stood taller, his shoulders relaxed and his spine straight and strong.
“So I’ll call that idiot brother of mine and set up our date?”
Ash laughed and nodded again, pleasure written all over her face.
A soft growl surfaced as Jack surveyed the picture in front of him. She was like the goddess Aphrodite. All luscious curves and womanly beauty hidden by a thin sheet.
“Shit! I want to just climb back into that bed and have my way with you.”
Ash giggled and pushed the blanket down to her waist and came up on her elbows, her bountiful and soft breasts now fully on display.
“Oh you vixen.”
He fell back onto the bed and grabbed both breasts with his hands, suckling on one, then the other, his body hardening in response to the mewling sounds Ash was making.
You know you won’t be able to stop this time.
Fuck!
Breathing hard, his balls aching and his cock hard, Jack slowly crawled ba
ck off the bed and with jerky movements grabbed for his clothes.
“I already want you too bad, Ash. If we’re going to do this right, then we better wait a bit longer. Yeah?”
Ash nodded her understanding, her face flushed with their shared passion.
If Scott didn’t get his act together super fast, he’d take her for himself without hesitation.
“I’ll pick you up about six, okay?”
He pulled his jeans on, being careful not to catch his stiff cock in the zipper before he moved to pull his shirt over his head.
“Yeah, that’d be great. But how are you and I going to act in front of Scott?”
Jack sat in the single chair against the wall and tugged on his shoes. He hadn’t really thought about that.
“Natural, I guess. You’re mine no matter what, so do whatever you like.”
Ash gave him a huge smile, and hot honey swept through his center. God, he already loved her.
He knelt on the bed for another quick kiss, her taste bursting through him and making him purr. “I’ll see you soon.”
When he pulled back, Ash was giggling.
“Why do you make those weird noises sometimes?”
Jack fought the blush down as he felt his cheeks heat.
“I’ll tell you some other time. Let’s get Scott in line first, if that’s okay?”
He’d told her the truth; a lie by omission wasn’t really a lie. Was it?
Ash just shrugged and settled back into the pillows.
“Okay, Jack.”
He winked at her and tore himself away before he could forget his objective. He opened and closed the doors to the motel and bounced out to his car.
He jumped into the cab, feeling happier than he had in decades. He had a future and he was going to be happy.
Now, if he could just get his twin to get with the program.
He dialed Scott’s number and heard the click as his brother picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Scott. You free for dinner?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“The two of us need to spend some time with Ash.”
“I don’t want to, and I certainly don’t need to.”
Jack rolled his eyes and pressed the phone closer to his ear. It was time to push his brother a little outside of his comfort zone. They didn’t have unlimited time with Ash, and he wanted it all sorted out before she had to go home.
Stalking the Pharmacist Page 6