A Mating Dance (Ashwood Falls)

by Davis, Lia;

  Graham met his gaze, and Cameron swore she saw a flicker of anger mixed with hurt pass across his face before it disappeared. Nodding, Graham answered Blaine’s unasked question. “I talked to Sammie briefly last night. She said the rogues came and took them. They stayed in a cell. It was the same thing she told Dani. Sammie said Isaac found them yesterday and freed them, telling her to come to Ashwood to find Nevan.”

  Cameron stiffened. “Do you think he was keeping tabs on you?”

  “Yes, and the kids.” Graham looked at Keegan. “I want to be a part of finding out what happened to Isaac and why they wanted the kids.”

  Keegan gave a sharp nod. “You can work with Blaine and Cameron. We’ve been monitoring an area not far from where the kids were found.”

  Cameron felt Blaine stiffen beside her as he stood. With a cool tone, he addressed Graham. “Come by Russell’s Bar this afternoon. I’ll have Hayden and Dane meet us there.”

  After he’d left, Shay blew out a breath. “What the hell is his problem?”

  Chapter 3

  Graham watched Cameron as she helped Max stack some blocks a couple of Den mothers had dropped off shortly after Keegan left. Cam stayed to entertain the kids while Nevan went to the community center to play basketball with an enforcer named Alec and several youth males. As the Pack Empath, Nevan had to spend time with everyone, getting to know them and their emotional layers.

  Taking his eyes from the sensual female, he tried to focus back on the plans of the new nursery he’d started. Yet, his mind wouldn’t focus on work. Instead, thoughts of Cameron and Blaine stirred. The couple captivated him and were in his every thought.

  Damn. What was it about those two that drew him?

  He had an idea, but he couldn’t let it grow. No, he couldn’t think about the possibility that Blaine and Cameron could both be his mates. There was no way they’d welcome him into their lives.

  “Papa?”

  He glanced over at Sammie and smiled. She looked better than she had last night. Her blond hair shined and hung past her shoulders, and her blue eyes were clear. They no longer held the wildness they had at the medical center. “What is it, baby?” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him, placing a kiss to her forehead.

  “I missed you,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist.

  Chest tightening, he gently squeezed her closer. “I missed you too.” He just held her for several moments before asking the one question that, deep in his soul, he feared to ask, no matter what the answer would be. “Sam, did the bad men…hurt you or Max in any way?”

  She lifted her head to hold his stare with her intelligent blue gaze. “No. They gave us food, and a woman came by to care for us. But I sent her away.”

  He smiled at her protective tone. “Why?”

  She shrugged. “She didn’t help us, didn’t offer any comfort. Max needed to be held, loved. We needed our parents.”

  He hugged her again and spoke against her hair. “The Alphas here have offered to let us stay. Would you like to live here in the den?”

  Her head bobbed up and down against his chest. “Can I have my own room?”

  “Of course. I’ll design it any way you want.”

  “That would be great.”

  The scent of jasmine grew stronger as Cameron drifted into the dining room. He lifted his gaze to her and sagged in relief. Max was peacefully sleeping with his head on Cameron’s shoulder as she held his small body to her, his arms and legs hanging limp.

  Sammie stepped to the side, allowing Graham to stand. He brushed Max’s white-blond hair from his round baby face and smiled. “He needs a haircut.”

  Cameron let out a soft laugh. “Maybe a little around his face.”

  Graham lifted his gaze to hers and offered a shy smile. It was weird how the Fates worked. He’d never truly looked into a female’s eyes before now and wonder how soft her lips were. Would Cameron welcome his kiss? Most likely not, but he’d take the chance. For her and the sexy male he smelled all over her. Their mingled scents drove Graham insane and made him want to risk embarrassing himself just to see if they’d welcome a third into their lives.

  He averted his gaze to watch Max sleep and asked, “Don’t you have to work?”

  She shrugged. “I’m off rotation for a couple of days. With about two dozen total enforcers and sentries, Keegan and Luna think it’s good that each of us rest and have ‘playtime’.”

  He nodded. It made sense. A Pack needed strong, clear-headed soldiers to protect its members. Graham went to take Max, but Cameron twisted to put the toddler out of his reach. “Let me,” she said quietly.

  He studied her for a moment. There was a longing in her golden-brown eyes that made his heart ache. He wasn’t empathic like his stepbrother, but his shifter senses told him she’d suffered a loss. Had she lost a child?

  Pushing the thought aside, he motioned her to follow him to the room where he stayed. Inside the bedroom, he felt closed in with Cameron’s scent dominating the space. Damn, how the hell was he going to sleep tonight? She would haunt his dreams for sure. Not to mention Max had her scent all over him.

  She doesn’t belong to you.

  Yet, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her as she turned down the covers, laid Max on the bed, and tucked him in. “He’s so precious.”

  “Yes. He’s always been a happy baby.”

  “Do you think they hurt him?” Her gaze met his as she straightened.

  “Sammie said no, but as you said he’s touch-starved.”

  Cameron nodded. “Yes. It’s like he craves touch now and fears it at the same time.”

  Graham fisted his hands by his side. He truly didn’t understand how anyone would lock up children, especially shifter children, with no one to hold them, shower them with kisses, and just be with them. Sure Max had his sister, but toddlers needed touch from a loving adult. Without it they could withdraw from everyone and even become desensitized by it.

  Nevan had said that even human children, if they didn’t get the proper love and parental touches from their guardians, would go into a state of withdrawal so bad that touch could become painful. They would even develop a fear of being touched.

  He took a step forward, closing the space between them, unable to fight the growing curiosity any longer. Lifting his hand, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She blinked at the sudden movement but didn’t move. When his fingers touched her cheek, she sucked in a breath. He shouldn’t touch her. He had no right to, yet he found it nearly impossible to stop himself. Drunk on her scent and the raging need building inside him, he cupped the back of her head and drew her in for a kiss.

  When his lips touched hers, he was lost. She tasted as divine as she looked and smelled. Moaning, he pressed her body to his, all reasons why this was so wrong on a multitude of levels gone.

  A sharp, stabbing pain on his lower lip forced him to release her and step back. He pressed his fingers to his lip and pulled them back to see blood. Meeting her angry gaze, he studied her. Before he could respond, she jammed an index finger into his chest. “Do that again, and you’ll meet my blade instead of my fangs.”

  She turned and stormed out of the room.

  His lips lifted in smile. She was as turned on as he was. He’d felt it in the brief moment she allowed herself to enjoy the kiss before reality slammed into her.

  Cameron was not a bonded female… yet, and her fierceness only made him want her all the more.

  Was he playing with fire by pursuing her when she was openly in a mating dance with another male? Yes, but he didn’t care. The pull to mate with her was too strong to ignore. So, if he couldn’t convince her, he would have to convince Blaine.

  ***

  Blaine walked through the first set of wards that surrounded the central part of the den, letting the heavy wave of magick cover his skin and disappear as he emerged on the other side. He needed air. He needed to think. Swirls of emotion rode him hard from the time he walked into that medic
room last night and came face-to-face with Graham Griffin.

  Hell, he’d avoid the male for last couple of weeks, not wanting to face the cascade of emotions the mountain lion brought to the surface. Confusion, desire, and jealousy only to name a few. The jealousy he felt was muted, but there all the same and sparked by the hint of arousal he sensed from Cameron when he walked into the medic room behind Sammie.

  His leopard was no help. The damn cat lay silent, not offering any hint of what he wanted.

  The man, however, wanted Graham and Cameron.

  Then this morning’s meeting at Nevan and Dani’s house only fueled the need more, after he got over the spike of jealousy when he first got there. The sight of them standing so close together as they tried to untangle Max’s sticky fingers from Cameron’s hair.

  When he reached Cam in the kitchen, he noticed the pull toward Graham. His and Cam’s mingled scents hit him like a smack. It turned him on and pissed him off. His need to protect his mate was hard to tone down.

  Still Blaine’s cat said nothing. The traitor actually acted intrigued at the idea of Graham and Cameron together.

  The man wasn’t sure. He’d never been unsure about anything in his life.

  The sound of footsteps reached his ears just as his brother-in-law, Travis, stepped up behind him. Blaine didn’t turn toward him and Travis didn’t try to make small talk.

  That’s what he liked about Shay’s mate. He was straightforward, and he spoke his mind whether Blaine wanted to hear it or not. So he waited, knowing the male would tell him about his ass soon enough.

  “We had a triad in Hunter Ridge. Their bond was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Stronger than any I’ve ever seen.”

  Blaine peered over at Travis, who stood next to him watching the woods around them. “Why are you telling me this?”

  Travis’s lips twitched. “You know why. It’s not as uncommon as you think to find two mates at once. It’s what you decide to do with them that could change your life. Now you have to decide if you will choose both or just one.”

  Blaine stared at him for several moments. Travis was so laid back and comfortable in his role of Tracker that Blaine sometimes forgot that the male was the Alpha of Hunter Ridge before he lost his Pack to the rogues. It was times like this, when Travis offered advice or helped an adolescent in need that his alpha nature surfaced.

  A flash of soft white light indicated Travis had shifted into a large brown wolf. With a yip, he ran off leaving Blaine with his thoughts.

  A triad.

  There was no way he’d ever give up Cam. She was his.

  Period.

  As for Graham, Blaine wasn’t sure, but he did know he had to find out more about the male and his intentions.

  Turning on his heels, he marched in the direction of Cameron’s apartment.

  ***

  Cameron stood in the shower, letting the hot sprays of water cascade over her body. The body that still tingled from Graham’s touch and that uninvited kiss.

  What the hell was wrong with her? She was Blaine’s mate. Yet, she felt a pull toward Graham. It was similar to the mating tug toward Blaine, but it was different. It was a little more electric and sparked a fascination with the male, and a desire that made her body hum. Her senses lit up when she was near him. Her jaguar, however, remained quiet as though she waited for something. Or maybe she was as uncertain as the human half. All she did know was that she wanted to know more about the mountain lion shifter, spend time with him and be the mother of his kids…

  No. She wouldn’t go there. She couldn’t. She belonged to Blaine. Besides, kids weren’t in her future. She didn’t really know if they ever would be. Old pain resurfaced, and a hot tear slid down her cheek. All her friends had told her that the miscarriage wasn’t her fault and there wasn’t anything she could have done differently, but it still cut way too deep.

  Although she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing, but what?

  Graham? She didn’t think so. Blaine would never share her.

  That kiss offered false hope and confused the hell out of her.

  Why the hell did he have to kiss her?

  She heard the shower curtain open before Blaine’s large arms snaked around her waist, and she closed her eyes.

  “You still smell like him. He is in your skin. Why is that?”

  Shit. She so sucked at lying to him. It wasn’t an option when they’d known each other as long as they had. Twisting to face him, she held his gray gaze and traced a finger down his jaw to his neck. His strong, masculine face softened a little, and he raised one corner of his lips in a disbelieving one-sided grin. Where the hell was the possessive alpha male she’d known since coming to Ashwood at fifteen? “I put Max down for a nap. Dani said he didn’t sleep well last night because of night terrors.”

  Silver swirled in his eyes, indicating the leopard was close to the surface. She wasn’t in the mood to fight him, not over Graham. And definitely not over mating.

  She gasped as her back touched the cool tile wall. Blaine thrust his hard thigh between her legs, drawing a half-moan, half-growl from her. His mouth came down on hers hard and greedy. She relished the roughness of his touch, loving it. He always knew what she needed and when she needed it.

  Right now, she needed to be dominated and taken in the way only Blaine could.

  Fisting her hand into his wet hair, she tugged him closer as she thrust her tongue inside his mouth to dance with his. He growled and lifted her legs and thrust inside her at the same time he bit her neck.

  Pleasurable pain assailed her, making her cry out as he thrust in and out of her. He cupped her breast, pitching and rolling her taut nipple between his forefinger and thumb. Sparks of desire skidded over her skin and rushed through her blood, making her scream out in release.

  When Blaine shuddered out his release, she took his face in her hands and kissed him. He was hers. How could she ever think about straying from him for another?

  The water started to cool down, and he pulled out of her, shut the water off, and then stepped out of the shower. He peered at her as though he was trying to read her thoughts when he helped her step out. Pulling her into him, he kissed the tip of her nose and smiled that crooked smile of his, the one that showed he was up to something.

  “What?” she asked, returning his smile with a frown.

  “I like his scent on you.”

  She froze and studied him. He had to be joking, right? “What are you saying?”

  He shrugged. “I’m not going to let you go, ever. And if Graham is the missing link, then I think we should pursue him.”

  Shock froze her in place. Studying him a little more, she realized he was dead serious. She shook her head, stepped out of his arms, and wrapped a towel around herself. “Oh, no. You are not pushing this off on me. I won’t let you settle for something you don’t want because another male turns me on.” She slapped a hand over her mouth, not believing she had just said that out loud.

  Blaine raised an eyebrow. “See? You do want it.”

  “But you don’t. Besides, it would never work. Someone would always feel like the third. And someone, maybe all of us, will get hurt.” She pushed past him to go dress. She was not doing this. End of story.

  He followed her out into the bathroom and grabbed her from behind, drawing her back against his chest. He leaned in until his lips touched her ear, drawing a shudder from her. “Maybe I do want it.”

  ***

  Blaine followed Cam into Russell’s Bar about an hour later. His leopard pranced with pride under his skin. They both were happy that Cam had worn the royal blue V-neck tee he loved. Not only did it look great against her creamy skin and dark brown hair, it exposed her neck and would show off his bite for everyone to see… if she hadn’t worn her hair down.

  She was trying to irritate him on purpose, he mused. That was fine. Let her tease his leopard with her peek-a-boo display of his bite. His cat knew she belonged to him, and to his surprise, the
animal also knew Graham did as well. Although the male might not know it yet, Blaine was serious about pursuing him. That shocked him about as much as it had seemed to shock Cam when he mentioned it. He hoped it wouldn’t all blow up in his face and push her further away from him.

  There was something about the male. He was intriguing, smart, and a strong beta, which would complement both Blaine’s and Cameron’s dominant sides and, hopefully, give them the balance they needed to complete the mating bond. At least that’s what he told himself. That, and he would do anything to keep Cam.

  They reached the private table in the back of the bar and saw Dane and Graham sitting across from each other with beers in front of them. Blaine hid his smile as Cam took the seat next to Dane. She pressed her shoulder into the wolf’s and took his beer. It was a playful gesture of greeting she did with her closet friends.

  Dane reached over to take his beer back and noticed the bite. Blaine knew the moment he did because the wolf looked directly at him, and then with a slow smile, Dane draped an arm around Cam’s shoulders. Graham tensed beside Blaine, and he almost broke his emotionless gaze on Dane as the wolf taunted him. “Cam, I don’t know why you mess around with a kitty cat when you can have a real male.”

  Cam rolled her eyes and pushed Dane’s arm off her shoulder. She took another draw from his beer and handed it to him.

  The male was lucky Blaine liked him and knew that he secretly mooned over Jasmine Russell, the owner of the bar they sat in. Jas was also the guardian of her hellion brothers. The eight-year-old identical twins were always getting into trouble of some kind.

  Smiling, Dane bumped her in the shoulder with his and turned to Blaine. “So, what’s with the PDA billboard?”

  Cameron snorted, and Blaine growled to keep the amusement out of his tone. “Cam needed a reminder of who she belongs to.”

  Cameron jerked, and then a sharp pain shot up his leg. He bent to rub his shin under the table. Meeting Cam’s pissed-off glare, he laughed. He wasn’t sure why, but he couldn’t stop the outburst. At Cam’s growl, he stopped laughing but didn’t wipe the amusement from his face as he glanced back at Dane. “Where’s Hayden?”