by Cara Adams
Asher liked that she was clever. She’d make the scenes in the dungeon far more interesting if she was able to outthink Colter. He also liked that she was modest and not big-noting herself. Likely she was a much nicer person than those kids she’d gone to school with. And he was glad she’d stuck it out and graduated to please her father. That showed her love and respect for him. The more he thought about it, the more Asher was convinced she was a good person through and through, the right kind of woman to be their mate and an asset to the community.
Of course, that did kind of mean that she had to like them and want to be with them as well.
Simple. They’d just have to convince her. How hard could that be? After all, there were three of them and only one of her.
Chapter Two
Kenz had enjoyed her second day out with the men, but she was starting to question their plans. This was the second night she’d been returned to her room in time for a shower before dinner, yet the meal had been brought to her room and she’d eaten alone. Last night she’d spent the night alone, and seen no one and done nothing until her breakfast had been brought to her room at seven, and then the men had come for her at eight.
She’d loved seeing the island. It was a truly beautiful place. It’d even been fun to learn to paddle a kayak, not that she expected to ever need that skill again in her life. But it was something new and something she could tell people about when she returned to work.
However, she’d come here for the BDSM. She wanted to learn all about bondage and submission. She thought she might be a true submissive—that once a Dom wrestled the control away from her, she’d relax and be truly content at last. Kenz was sure that a real Dom would inspire her trust and that she’d be perfectly happy to leave him to plan their bedroom lives forever more. She longed to feel the punishment that would excite her into release. A dildo did the job, but it wasn’t anything special, and it wasn’t as though handsome men were lining up at her bedroom door. Hell, they didn’t even appear at her office door.
People in call centers tended to be kids fresh out of school, immigrants who might be very smart but whose skills weren’t recognized yet and who were doing the job until they could break into their chosen field, or older people who were no longer interested in hard physical labor and who liked a job where they were sitting down all day. Not to mention that 80 percent of the staff were women.
Colter, Declan, and Asher were damn fine-looking men, made her pulses pound and her body sit up and take notice. Not that the feeling seemed to be mutual. It was almost as if they couldn’t wait to dump her in her cottage and go off and enjoy their real lives, whatever that might be.
Kenz stared at the door. It locked behind them when they left and couldn’t be opened from her side without a key. She moved right up close to it, checking the hinges and the lock, and then she opened the closet and took out her purse. She located a couple of long hairpins and a credit card and then said, “I hope I can remember how to do this.”
Very gently she inserted the hairpins in the lock, noticing where they caught against the notches and bending them slightly to move more freely. The credit card she inserted between the door and the wall, trying to push the catch open.
She closed her eyes, and in her head, her father’s voice was as clear as if he were standing beside her. “Feel it, Mac. Don’t force it. Feel it. Work with it. The lock will tell you what to do. All you need to do is listen.”
Her dad had been the only person to call her Mac. Everyone else had called her Kenzie when she was little and Kenz as she grew older. But her dad had called her Mac until the day he’d died.
When the lock clicked open she could imagine his smile. As well as how to pick locks, he’d taught her how to fight dirty and how to defeat an attacker much bigger and stronger than she was. The very first time she’d thrown him over her shoulder she’d been terrified she’d hurt him, but as soon as he’d stopped coughing and gasping, he’d been as pleased as the day she’d been accepted into the school she’d hated.
Kenz kicked off her shoe and put it between the door and the door jamb to keep the door ajar, and then grabbed her purse again, riffling through it until she found her duct tape. Carefully she taped the lock open, making sure the duct tape didn’t show from the outside, and checked it twice. Even so, she tucked the hairpins into her hair and slid the credit card into her jeans pocket in case she needed to pick the lock to get back in again, before she put her shoe back on, stepped outside, and carefully closed the door behind her.
It was dark and a little bit windy. She wondered if it was often windy at night or maybe only at this time of year. She hadn’t really talked about the weather to the men. Each time when they’d left her cottage the men had led her to the right where the tiny track from her cottage joined another track, so she turned left to see where the trail led.
It was annoying that it was almost dark. She couldn’t see a whole lot and she hadn’t thought to bring a flashlight with her. She, Piper, Maddy, and Aria had been brought to the island by helicopter, which had been an awesome experience, but it’d meant that they were only allowed a single small piece of luggage. Therefore, Kenz hadn’t packed a whole passel of stuff she usually took on vacation with her, like a flashlight, for example.
Oh well, she’d just take a small walk now, maybe have an early night, and get up and go exploring tomorrow morning before the woman arrived with her breakfast. At least the food here was nice. Really, really nice. The staff on the island could sure cook.
The narrow track meandered around, and Kenz had to watch her feet. The track was dirt, but there were rocks on it as well, and she absolutely didn’t plan to trip and land facedown on the ground. For a start, her glasses would likely fall off, and a lifetime of wearing lenses had taught her that the most usual way to find them was by standing on them rather than seeing them first. Also, her current lenses had a tendency to pop out of the frame when dropped, and no way in hell would she be able to find a single lens on the ground in the half-dark.
She shook her thoughts off and stopped walking so she could look around. The track was leading though some high shrubs, almost like hedges, but she could see flowers in among them, although it was too dark to be sure of the colors. She’d definitely come back in daylight to look at them properly. Ahead the track diverged again, so Kenz walked faster, hurrying to the intersection.
She stumbled a little on the uneven ground, immediately slowed, and slapped her hand over her nose and eyes to stop her glasses from bouncing off her face. From the track on the right, there came the flash of an animal—a large black animal—racing away from her.
Heedless of danger, Mackenzie ran to the pathway and stared. The animal’s black tail was just disappearing between the trees ahead. It was soundless and moving fast, but it was much too big to be a cat, even a rather large feral cat, and she was sure it wasn’t a dog or any house pet. A panther. Fucking hell. No wonder they locked me in my cottage. They didn’t mention wild animals roaming around the island in the advertising.
Thoughtfully she turned around and walked back to her cottage. She wasn’t afraid, and she’d certainly go walking tomorrow morning, but right now didn’t seem to be a good time to be out alone in the dark. Kenz had a vague idea that wild animals hunted at night. As long as she didn’t leave the cottage until after dawn, she’d be perfectly safe, and it needed to be dawn so she could look at those flowers anyway.
* * * *
Colter had always intended the second night—well, the third if he added in the day the women had arrived, but that didn’t count because they hadn’t done anything—to be the optimum time for the first BDSM scene. It gave him time to get to know her a little, and work out some of her likes and dislikes, before planning the scene. But now he had a problem.
“Hey, Colter. Earth to Colter. What did the Alpha want?”
Declan flapping his hand in front of Colter’s face made him look up and remember his brothers had as much invested in this situation as he
did. If this worked out they would be sharing Mackenzie. She would belong to all of them, not just him. That meant he needed to ask their advice and listen to their thoughts right now, as well as figure things out himself.
“Not good news, unfortunately. You know I told you there was a hurricane in the area. Well it’s headed this way.”
“That can’t be right. I checked the meteorology reports last time I was over at the office and Hurricane Nathan had turned away,” Asher argued.
“It did turn away. It’s wobbled over half the Atlantic Ocean. But it’s back and set to travel over us in the next twenty-four hours.”
“Well fuck. That’s just plain rude of it.” Declan dropped into a chair beside him and rubbed his head.
Colter’s head was aching as well, but rubbing it wasn’t going to help. He needed to man up and start planning. “I think we could likely still have a short scene with Kenz tonight, and then make sure the hurricane shelter is prepared before we go get her and bring her here. I would have rather kept her in her own dungeon, but all the food and supplies are here, so we’ll have to bring her here.”
“Dammit. Her cottage is all shiny and new. I suppose I’d better clean the damn cave before she arrives,” Declan said.
“You can clean and I’ll check the supplies in case we need to bring more things down there from up here. I’ll take bread and fruit for a start. We don’t want to have to eat canned food until we get tired of fresh food, and if the power goes the fresh food will be ruined anyway.
“That’s a pain. The freezer has a shitload of meat in it,” Asher groaned.
“If no one opens the freezer the meat will last a while, although if it defrosts we’ll have to either put it in the trash or cook it, but that’s the least of our worries. If the roof is blown off the house that’ll really be a problem,” Colter said.
“Ah, fuck. I hadn’t thought of that. Our house was okay last time, though,” Declan said.
“Yes but that was what, fifteen years ago? I’ll get up on the roof and check it, while you two are starting the other jobs. But we need to pick up Kenz inside an hour, or there won’t be time for even a short scene before we need to bring her here.”
“Half an hour then before we leave? I’d better get a move on.”
Asher ran down the stairs, and Declan groaned and followed him.
Colter sighed, took the stepladder out of the pantry, and went outside. Already the wind had picked up. Shit. Maybe they wouldn’t even have time for a short scene with Kenz if the hurricane was moving this fast.
He set the ladder outside the front door, and climbed it. He’d done this many times before, and it was as easy as breathing. From the top step of the ladder he pulled himself up onto the lintel of the door and, from there, onto the roof.
Their house was designed to blend into the foliage of the island, as were all the homes here. They’d been meant to provide an escape for panther shape-shifters, and nothing had changed that need, although spy satellites had made achieving anonymity harder than before. The roof was made of solid shingles, but they’d been painted a mottled greenish brown, and the rear of the house was almost completely covered over by three very large trees.
Colter checked that the roof was sound underneath the tree branches, but there was no sign of loose shingles. He hurried inside, collected a long length of metal-reinforced rope, used for anchoring boats, and tied one end securely to a tree level with the house roof. He ran the rope the length of the building and anchored it to a thick metal bolt driven into rock at the front of the house and then fed the rope back again, over the roof all the way to the back, and tied it to the next tree.
By the time he was done, he was hot and sweaty, but the rope provided some extra support for the roof. Well, that was the theory, anyway. He hurried inside and put the ladder away. Both his brothers were already waiting for him.
Declan was smiling, and even Asher looked pleased. Yeah, he had been waiting for this moment for a long time, too. Their woman, their mate—well, maybe. Everything he’d seen of Mackenzie Weymouth so far he’d liked. He just had to hope she felt the same about him—them.
“Let’s go.”
* * * *
Declan already knew he’d be happy with Kenz as their mate. He loved the way she answered questions thoughtfully as if her answers mattered, as if the person asking the question mattered to her. The things she’d told them about her life, while not a whole lot, were enough for him to know she was a person with a gentle spirit and kind heart. Apart from that, she had the kind of body he liked, and the sight of her as sure as hell made his dick happy.
The shortage of shape-shifter women had forced Declan to be realistic about his future prospects. Whereas once upon a time he’d pictured himself with a mate of his own, a stunningly beautiful woman all to himself, and one who would make him the envy of every red-blooded panther on the island, logic had overruled that image. For a start, he’d learned that stunning beauty didn’t necessarily mean a kind heart, and these days a nice personality mattered more to him than the envy of his friends did.
Besides, Mackenzie was beautiful and good company—a double bonus. He was almost certain that combination was pretty damn rare. All that mattered now was for her to decide she liked them. From there they could lavish her with their love and affection and teach her all about the extreme pleasures of BDSM. Hopefully, that would be enough for her to open herself to them and consider accepting their offer. Declan was ready and willing to fall in love with her. With luck, she’d fall in love with them as well.
So now was his opportunity to teach her about pleasure. If he did it right, that should be the first step on the pathway to winning her as their mate.
Declan hoped he didn’t sound cold and emotionless. He was actually damn hot and very emotional. But he had to be realistic. Loving her from afar wasn’t going to give any of them what they needed. But loving her up close and in her face just might work.
She was still dressed exactly as she had been all day when they opened her cottage door. He’d been half hoping she’d be soaking in the tub naked or at least lying on her bed wearing lingerie. But no. There was no sign she’d done either of those things.
“Gentlemen, this is an unexpected pleasure,” she said.
“We hope the pleasure will soon be all yours. Come down into the dungeon with us,” he said, waving her to the door downstairs.
She turned on the light so confidently he knew she’d been down there already and looked around. That was good. At least the sight of the toys wouldn’t freak her out.
Asher stood in the middle of the room, crossed his arms, spread his legs, and said in a harsh voice, “What is your safe word, slave?”
Declan was watching Kenz, but she didn’t flinch.
“It’s written on the contract.”
“For answering your Master cheekily, you will be punished. Answer properly,” Colter ordered.
She straightened and said quietly, “My safe word is paycheck.”
Yes, that had surprised them all. Declan would have thought a paycheck would make her work faster or try harder, not stop the game. He’d have to ask her the meaning behind that choice of word one day.
“Undress, slave,” Declan ordered. He was so looking forward to this. He could imagine how lovely she’d be, wearing nothing but her creamy, silky skin. His dick was lengthening and throbbing almost painfully, tucked tightly inside his jeans, but sadly this scene didn’t involve sex for any of them. It was simply an introductory BDSM scene to test her boundaries and initiate her into the wonderful pleasures of handing her mind and body over to three devoted Doms.
Besides, they needed to do it, and then check everything was safe in their house, all the food and everything properly prepared for the hurricane, before collecting her and her possessions and taking her to their dungeon. All they’d had time to do so far was a very brief runaround. The hard work still needed to happen. He’d vacuumed the floor and moved existing stocks to the walls, but a
ll the fresh fruit and food, plus more water, and everything they might need for a day or more had to be taken down to the hurricane shelter yet.
Once she was there in safety with them they could take as long as they liked to teach her everything she wanted to know. This was just a small preliminary scene to help them prepare a much bigger, fuller scene, testing her limits, teaching her about the pleasures of BDSM, and, hopefully, ending with extremely fulfilling sex for them all. But that was for later. Now was time to get this little appetizer underway.
Declan watched Kenz undress. He tended to throw his clothing everywhere and sort it out later. Colter, on the other hand, was the only one of them who put his clothing straight into the laundry hamper. Not that he or his brothers would be undressing this time around. Kenz folded her things neatly, looked around the room, and finally set them on the floor against the wall and her shoes beside them. He liked that she was tidy. Of course, it might mean that he had to shape up and stop being so messy, but if it also meant that they got a mate of their own, he could learn to be tidy.
Trying to hide his haste, he lined up, feet apart, arms crossed over his chest, beside Colter, with Asher on his other side, all of them facing Mackenzie. All of them deliberately had exactly the same body posture. This was the first move in the game.
“Get down on your hands and knees, ass up in the air, forehead on the tiles,” Colter barked, military style.
Declan kept his face expressionless, but his gaze was focused on Kenz. How would she relate to the instructions? Would she move happily, willingly? Or would she find such a demeaning posture too much to ask of her the very first time she was in the dungeon?
She flashed them a critical look, but she knelt and gracefully rested her brow on the cold tiles. Declan silently took a whip off the rack on the wall and then stomped loudly across the room to stand behind her.