A Mating Dance (Ashwood Falls)

by Davis, Lia;

  The Betas, Alec and Dane, sat on barstools at the bar-style countertop that separated the kitchen from the living room. Dane had his computer open. Alec faced Blaine with his elbows resting on the counter behind him.

  Travis, Blaine’s new brother-in-law and Pack Tracker, stood against the wall to Blaine’s right, arms crossed and an expression that seemed to mirror Blaine’s mood. Travis had stopped the fire from spreading to the forest around Isaac’s house in Black Mountain, but it had taken a lot of the male’s energy to do so, as well as a lot of attention so that they weren’t seen by the humans. However, he didn’t let it show, even though Blaine could feel it through the bond that tied him to the enforcers.

  Blaine had told him to go home and rest, but the stubborn-ass alpha male refused, saying he needed to be at the meeting. Blaine had to respect him for that. Travis had once been the Alpha of Hunter Ridge until his Marshal turned the Pack over to the rogues two years before. Travis lost everyone in his Pack, except his daughter and mother.

  In the La-Z-Boy, between where Travis stood and the couch, Keegan lounged, looking relaxed and content with Blaine taking the reins of today’s meeting. However, Blaine knew all too well the Alpha was nowhere near ready to pass his Alpha title down.

  The wolf Alpha, Luna, sat on the couch next to Cameron, who seemed a little too distracted.

  Deciding he would deal with Cameron later, he cleared his throat and briefed everyone on what had gone down in Black Mountain.

  “Bastard-ass rogues,” Hayden snarled. “Hopefully Graham can find something useful in the journal you found.”

  Blaine nodded. “I’m hoping that too. If not, and as much as I don’t want to, I’ll have to see if Sammie can find her way back to where she was held.”

  Feeling Cameron’s gaze on him, he turned to her. “It’s the absolute last option.”

  She held his gaze until he looked away first. The damn female had an itch that he so wanted to scratch. Something had her fired up, and he wondered if it was the fact that he’d marked Graham last night. Yeah, he knew she’d seen it and had deliberately avoided discussing it with her.

  Now wasn’t the time. They had bigger shit to deal with.

  But, later, he and Graham would coax her into the triad. In order for her to be comfortable with it, she had to be teased and seduced by the mountain lion first. Then Blaine could step in. The man didn’t think he’d be able to sit back and watch another male get close to his mate. But, to his surprise, his leopard calmed at the idea.

  Luna stood, drawing everyone’s attention to her. “There’s not much we can do right now but research. I think Addyson should look at the journal.”

  Blaine swore he saw his father tense for a brief moment before he said, “Tell Graham to drop the journal off, and I’ll take it to Addyson.”

  Addyson Lewis was the Pack Scribe. She kept records of the Pack history and possessed a rare ability to tell the history of an item through touch. Her ability also worked on people, so she kept to herself. In fact, Blaine hadn’t remembered a time she’d ever left her large three-story house in the far northeast corner of town.

  Blaine gave a short nod then dismissed the meeting. Well, it had actually been more like a briefing. Dammit. What the hell was the Onyx Pack up to? “What is the benefit in burning down that house?”

  Cameron sighed. “To keep you from finding something.”

  He snapped his gaze to her. “No shit.”

  She smiled and shrugged. “You asked.” She stood and moved toward the door.

  Blaine flashed to stand in front of her. “Something is troubling you.”

  “It’s nothing. I’m just in a mood and still a little hung over.”

  He felt his lips twitch at her confession. It was great she’d gotten some down time with the two females who were like sisters to her. “You need the time to relax.”

  She snorted. “Oh, I was relaxed all right.”

  Blaine laughed and drew her in for a kiss. She moaned and wrapped her arms around his waist. He slid his tongue along the seam of her lips, and when she opened, he thrust his tongue inside, deepening the kiss.

  A knock on the door drew a growl from Blaine. Cameron pulled back on a laugh. “Be nice, my feral cat.”

  Keegan growled back at Blaine as he passed by to answer the door. That made Cam laugh harder.

  Blaine bent down and nipped her on the ear lobe and gave her a quick slap on the ass. Not hard, but enough to startle her.

  She twisted around and said, “Behave. What has gotten into you?”

  He stared into her gold-brown eyes. He didn’t know. Cam was the playful one. Usually he didn’t show this much affection in front of others. Especially the wolves. He turned to peer at Dane and Alec at the counter. Both were pretending they hadn’t noticed, but Blaine could smell their amusement.

  The scent of sage and earth slammed into him as his father opened the door and greeted Graham. Blaine gave Cam a quick kiss and stepped back.

  Graham entered the Alpha’s home with Max on his hip and Sammie trailing behind him with a book opened in her hands. As soon as Max spotted Cameron, the toddler wiggled and said, “Cam. Cam.”

  Graham smiled and set his son on his feet. Cameron met the little boy halfway and scooped him up. Max giggled as Cameron tickled him.

  Smiling, Blaine turned his gaze to Graham. The male was watching Cam with interest. Blaine grew hard as thoughts of the three of them in bed, limbs tangled together, bodies sweaty, and…

  Fuck. He really needed to get his mates alone. And soon.

  Blaine took a step back and peered down at Sammie, who was heavily involved in the story she was reading. “Hey, kid. Whacha reading?”

  Sammie looked up at him, her big blue eyes brighter than the night he and Cameron had found her and Max. Relief flowed through him, easing some of his tension. When she smiled at him, he felt an overpowering urge to protect her from ever falling victim to the damn rogues again.

  She turned the book to show him the cover. “Peter Pan. It’s one of my favorites. Josie let me borrow it.”

  Blaine drew his eyebrows together. “Josie can read?”

  “Blaine!”

  He turned to Cameron, trying his best to keep his expression emotionless. “What? She’s four.”

  Cameron rolled her eyes as she lowered Max to his feet then sat on the couch behind him. “Shay said Josie started reading at three. Now that her wolf is wake, the girl reads everything she can get her hands on.”

  “Well, I hope not everything. Shay has some racy books in her collection.”

  Cam pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. Blaine wanted nothing but to claim those lips and other parts of her. “She does not. And how would you know?”

  He lifted a brow, calling her bluff. “You borrowed some of them.”

  “Pft. Whatever.” She pulled out her Smartphone and opened an app then handed it to Max. “They’re not racy. They are bedtime stories for adults.”

  “Exactly.”

  When he turned back to Sammie, her forehead creased as she stared at them. “How are adult bedtime stories different from kids’? What does racy mean?”

  Graham cleared his throat and nudged Sammie farther into the living room. “They are teasing one another. Pay them no attention.” He gave Blaine a pointed stare that was similar to the one Cam had given him on more than one occasion.

  Blaine shrugged. “So what’s up, Graham?”

  The male shook his head and pointed at Max. “He’s been babbling Cam’s name since you two left earlier. Dani said you’d be here.”

  Blaine felt a smile lift the corner of his mouth. “The little man sure is attached to Cam.”

  Graham nodded and tore his gaze from Cameron. Blaine had to force himself not to laugh. “Come to Cam’s with us. I’ll cook us all dinner.”

  Cam lifted her head, and for a moment, Blaine thought she would protest. Instead, she said, “Why don’t you get a change of clothes for you and the kids and just stay ov
er?”

  Graham stilled, glanced at Blaine and then looked back at Cameron. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive.” She stood, picking up Max at the same time. “I live in a huge two-bedroom apartment. Besides it’ll give us some time to talk.”

  Blaine stared at her for a long moment. When Graham finally nodded and left, Cam stepped up beside Blaine. He narrowed his eyes at her. “What are you up to?”

  “Funny. That’s exactly the question I had for you.”

  ***

  That afternoon at Dani and Nevan’s, Cameron paced the living room. Keegan’s words from earlier that day still whirled in her mind. “Grab what you want.” How the hell was she supposed to do that when she didn’t know what she wanted? But she did know that Blaine and Graham were up to something.

  They most likely had plotted against her while they stayed at Isaac’s house.

  Her skin tingled as Graham approached and sat on the couch in front of her. She fought the urge to walk away, although her jaguar wanted to rub against him in a sensual caress. His natural earthy-sage scent wrapped around her, drawing her to him.

  “Papa. Look.” Max’s soft voice stole her attention, and she smiled at the toddler as he held up a crayon.

  Graham nodded. “I see. What color is that?”

  Max drew his eyebrows together but took only a few moments to respond. “Green.”

  “Very good,” Graham said, pride heavy in his tone. He ran a hand over Max’s head then leaned down to place a kiss on his temple. Max leaned in to Graham like a child would with his parent.

  Cameron guessed that was exactly what Graham was to him, a parent and the only one the little boy had now. That saddened her. Max and Sammie would never see their father again. Now they had to make a new life in a strange new place. Shaking out of the depressing thoughts, she said, “I think that’s the most I’ve heard him speak.”

  Graham turned his gaze to her. Silver sparked through the blue, making her long to touch him, to feel his hard muscles under her palm. She broke the eye contact and focused back on the kids. Max was still coloring on the sheets of printer paper she’d given him, and Sammie sat on the other side of Cameron reading.

  When Graham finally spoke, she wasn’t excepting the sudden shot of desire that raced through her at the sound of his voice. What the fuck was wrong with her?

  “Max can talk very well when he wants to. He’s always been a quiet baby.”

  Cam nodded. “Keegan said he is an empath and healer. After he goes through his first shift, he’ll become very powerful.”

  “It fits him,” Graham with a smile in his voice.

  Cameron didn’t dare look over at him. She couldn’t. Her emotions were complicated, and she wasn’t entirely sure how she was supposed to act around him. The jaguar within wanted him and made no efforts to keep that tidbit from the human.

  Why on earth had she asked him to stay the night?

  Right. According to Dani and Shay, she should seduce Graham into staying in Ashwood with the kids. At first she hadn’t thought she could do it just for the kids.

  Now?

  Sitting next him, breathing in his intoxicating scent, she wanted him to stay for selfish reasons.

  Reasons that would be a risk not only to her heart, but the heart of both the males in her apartment.

  She stood, met Graham’s stare, and nodded toward the bar countertop that separated the kitchen from the living room. Graham got up from the sofa and followed her to where Blaine stood watching them approach. She didn’t meet Blaine’s gaze because she was nervous enough without looking into those grey eyes that saw right into her soul.

  When they reached the counter Blaine handed her a glass of wine and she dropped her shoulders and took a sip. “I’ve been thinking. A lot. The whole mating thing scares the shit out of me. I’m not sure why really. Maybe it’s the fact that our souls will be connected and we’ll share every hurt, happiness, and sadness. It could be a distraction in the field, especially for Blaine and I.” Damn she was rambling and making up all kinds of excuses. She sighed and met Blaine’s grey stare and held it. “I’ve been unfair to you for too long.”

  Blaine came around the counter and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “You never left my side and that gave me hope that someday you’d come to me.”

  She laughed weakly and peered at Graham and held out her hand. He took it and smiled. Closing her eyes, she drew in a deep breath and confessed, “I can’t fight the attraction to you either. I thought Blaine was out of his mind when he first suggested a triad, but now I think I’m ready. I want to try and see if it works, because when the three of us are together it just feels right.” Graham stepped into her and brought her fingers to his lips. “I’m a very patient male.”

  Max barreled into them, wrapping his arms around Cameron’s and Graham’s legs. She looked down and he held a DVD in his hand. She bent down and picked him up and peered at the movie. It was Disney’s Aladdin that Josie left over the last time she and Shay were over.

  “Max, give the movie to Blaine so he can put it in the player.”

  Max glanced from her to Blaine, then after a hesitant moment, he handed it to Blaine. Instead of taking the movie, Blaine took Max from her. Her heart skipped a beat as Max let out a whimper. The toddler quieted after Blaine whispered in his ear. After another moment, Max giggled.

  Cameron smiled. This could work.

  God, she hoped so.

  An hour later, Cameron held a sleeping Max as a dozing Sammie sat in Graham’s lap with her feet under Max’s bottom. It was a very cute and comforting way to watch movies. Blaine was more relaxed than she’d seen him in a very long time. He sat next to her with his hand wrapped in her hair.

  Graham’s lowered voice reached her ears as he spoke to Sammie softly. “You ready for bed?”

  The ten-year-old nodded and clumsily got out of Graham’s lap. She stood in front of Cameron and held her arms out for Max. His sister and his forever protector. Cameron squeezed one of Sammie’s hands. “I’ll take him.”

  To Cameron’s surprise, the little girl kissed her on the cheek. “Night.”

  Graham smiled before he turned to guide Sammie to the hall and down to the room Cameron had set up for the kids. Her apartment was a spacious two-bedroom and one of the largest units in the building. She loved her space, especially when Blaine practically lived there. She had always teased him that the spare bedroom was for him when she got sick of looking at him. Of course, whenever they fought, they ended up in bed, panting, sweaty, and sated. She had her suspicions the male picked fights with her for the makeup sex.

  Standing, Cameron followed Graham to put Max to bed. She felt Blaine move to the kitchen, most likely to clean up.

  She entered the room behind Graham and waited for him to turn down the blanket and sheet. When he stepped back, she laid Max down on the far side and kissed his head. Sammie climbed in next to him and pulled the covers up over both of them. She mumbled a “night” then fell into sleep.

  Cameron smiled. “She was tired.”

  Graham lightly traced his fingers up her arms, making her freeze. “She’s had a busy day.”

  “Yes.” Cameron hated that her voice came out with a tiny crack. Heat arched from his fingers to her skin, sending electrifying kisses of desire over her.

  As if sensing her arousal, Graham linked his fingers with hers and tugged her out of the bedroom. Once in the hall, he pulled the door partially closed, leaving it open a crack. She tried to pull her hand from his grasp, only to have him tighten his grip.

  Meeting his desire-filled blue gaze, she allowed him to lead her to the bedroom. She knew what was coming even before Blaine came up behind her and followed them inside. The males were truly ganging up on her. And she had no clue what she should do.

  Running wasn’t an option. She wasn’t a runner.

  Never had been.

  No, Cameron faced her fears and challenges like she did with anything. She faced them head-on.
>
  Before she could turn around, Blaine settled his hands on her shoulders, holding her in place. Her heart hammered in her chest, but it wasn’t out of fear. It was in anticipation of what these two men were about to do. She knew by their intensifying scents. Plus Graham’s blue eyes now glowed with need, and she bet Blaine’s did too.

  Graham stepped closer and caressed her cheek with his fingers. She jumped slightly. Damn, she hated the reaction he stirred in her. She’d never been touched by any male other than Blaine, and this contact, even with Blaine’s encouragement, sent a kaleidoscope of emotions twirling inside her.

  Graham flicked his gaze to Blaine’s then back to hers. In the next instant, Graham claimed her lips in a demanding, yet gentle kiss. She moaned and pressed her hands to his chest. His muscles flexed under her palms as he moved in to deepen the kiss.

  She slid her hands up his chest to wrap one arm around his neck and the other fisted in his hair. When his tongue licked the seam of her lips, she opened, tangling hers with his in a sensual dance that made her sex ache with need.

  She felt Blaine’s hand circle her waist while his other trailed over her hip until it found her core. When Blaine cupped her, she broke the kiss on a gasp.

  There were too many sensations. Her body felt as though it was on fire. Tiny pricks skated over her flesh, making the need intensify. With a growl, she drew Graham’s head back down for another kiss. Blaine’s erection pressed into her back through his jeans.

  She broke the kiss with Graham and twisted so she could nip playfully at Blaine’s lower lip. He kissed her hard then released her. She sagged into Graham, not trusting her legs to hold her up.

  A soft moan escaped her as Graham’s lips touched her neck. Then she was moving until the mattress touched the backs of her legs. He gave a gentle push, and she fell onto the bed. She saw Blaine walk around to the other side and then felt the mattress dip as he climbed on the bed behind her. Graham knelt in front of her, took off her shoes, and then removed her jeans and panties.