by Tara West
Tor shrugged. “Leave her, like Roy said, but set trackers to watch from a safe distance and follow the feds when they take her.”
Cesar arched a brow. “Don’t you trust Roy?”
Tor patted Cesar on the back. “At this point, I don’t trust any damn human, and neither should you.”
Annie’s breath hitched when he gave her a look as he brushed past her. Was Tor insinuating that Roy was mixed up with demons? Impossible. He would never betray the Amaroki.
Unless he was under a demon’s spell. Her heartbeat faltered at the thought.
ANNIE LAY IN BED, BLINKING up at the stars painted on the ceiling. This bedroom belonged to the Coyotechasers’ little girl. A pack of howling little cartoon wolves were painted along one wall, overlooking a canyon with a full moon overhead. The scene reminded her of the night her fathers had taken her to run the canyon, a night she’d always cherish. If only they could come back tonight. She had so many questions and concerns about these demons, and she needed reassurance.
She jumped at a tap on the window. “Fathers!” she squealed, throwing open the curtain.
Her heart plummeted and then soared with a mixture of sorrow and apprehension when she saw her mates. Well, all of them save for Magnus. And they were all naked, which meant they’d traveled to her as wolves.
She opened the window, scowling at Raine before looking away, embarrassment flushing her cheeks. She’d only gotten a brief glance of his nude body, but she liked what she’d seen. Very much. Especially that tanned, corded muscle working its way down to his navel.
Brushing her hair back, she feigned disinterest. “What do you want?”
He gave her a crooked smile. “To talk to you. There’s a nearly full moon tonight. Will you run with us?”
A thrill zinged through her. Maybe they would visit the canyon with the beautiful waterfall? She sure hoped so. Warning sirens sounded in her head when she remembered another demon was still out there. But he hadn’t been the one who wanted her, at least not like the redhead wanted her. Besides, she’d be with her mates. They wouldn’t let anything happen to her. But she’d feel safer if there were two alphas with them.
She shot Raine a look. “Where’s Magnus?” Didn’t he want to be with her?
Raine cupped his dangly bits, looking out of sorts as he shifted from foot to foot. “We didn’t bring him.”
“Why?”
Raine grinned ruefully. “We didn’t think you’d want him here.”
She jerked back. “I-I never said that.”
Granted, Magnus had pissed her off on more than one occasion with either his indifference toward Vidar’s treatment of her or his obvious lack of manners. But did she never want to see him? She knew if she had any chance of bringing him out of his shell, she’d have to spend time with him, something she was both anticipating and dreading.
“Well,” Raine said, looking far too adorable and sweet for an alpha. “You coming?”
When he waggled his brows, she wondered if he’d intended a double meaning. No way would she have sex with Raine and his brothers before their bonding ceremony, and she wasn’t bonding with them until the climate in their community changed. But a little run with them wouldn’t hurt.
Against her better judgment, she threw off her pajamas and crawled out the window, landing smack in Raine’s lap. She gasped when her bare breasts brushed against his hard chest, the sparse hairs tickling her nipples. Her pussy swelled and then dripped like a leaky faucet. He growled his approval, his eyes shifting to brilliant gold, his fingers searing her skin while he stroked her back, then cupped her bare bottom.
She traced the scar across his cheek. “How did you get this?”
“How do you think?” He chuckled. “A fight with our father.”
“Oh,” she breathed, worried. “Do you fight often?”
He shrugged. “Sometimes, when he’s in a mood.”
She bit her tongue. As far as she could tell, Vidar was always in a mood. She realized their household would always be filled with violence and drama as long as they had Vidar in their lives. She couldn’t risk subjecting children to that.
“But enough about me,” he purred, tracing her lip with his thumb. He reached down with his other hand and boldly squeezed her butt. “I’ve been wanting to do that ever since I first saw your sweet round ass in those jeans.”
She scooted away from the fleshy rod poking her side. Great Ancients, she was naked and entwined in the arms of a dangerous shifter. What the hell had she been thinking?
Though she didn’t want to break free of his touch, she knew no good would come from it. She couldn’t mate with them. Not now, maybe not ever. She shuddered when he stroked her inner thigh, turning her insides to jelly, and all the while keeping her transfixed with his molten eyes. Great goddess, he was wicked, and hot damn, she wanted nothing more than to spread her legs for him.
His younger brothers whimpered. Too shy to come up to her, they gawked from a distance. That was fine. All she wanted at the moment was Raine and his magic fingers. When his fingertips came dangerously close to her wet, puckered button, she tensed, then pulled away. Despite wanting him badly, he was trouble.
He smiled. “Didn’t you like what I was doing?”
She pulled her hair over her breasts, then covered her mound with both hands. “You know I did.” She looked away as heat flamed her face.
He reached for her. “Then why stop?”
She heaved a groan as she asked herself that same question. She wanted him to finish what he’d started. “You know why. Are we going to run or not?”
Before he could answer, she shifted into wolf form and sprinted away, laughing when she heard their pounding paws behind her.
They ran until Annie’s throat was parched and her paws ached, but they made it to the canyon, which was all that mattered. They jumped from rock to rock until they reached the bottom, then ran some more until they ended up where the water splashed into the lagoon. She dipped her paws in the water. Three furry creatures flew over her head into the lagoon, landing with large splashes. When they came up, they’d transformed into three handsome, laughing brothers.
“Come in, Annie,” Raine said. “The water’s refreshing.”
She shifted and leaped in, shocked by the cold. She sank like a stone, a little panicked by the inky water that surrounded her like the black of night while she fought her way up to the surface.
Raine was beside her, his hand snaking around her waist. “You okay?”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, a shiver coursing through her. She looked into his luminous golden eyes. “It’s dark down there.”
He laughed, shaking water from his shoulder-length hair. “It’s spooky, but you get used to it.”
She clung to him, the feel of his bare skin searing her flesh like bands of liquid fire. She knew she should let go, but her traitorous body refused to release him. The cradle of his arms was perfect, like their bodies were meant to be entwined. She searched his eyes as a thought occurred to her. “Isn’t it forbidden to run the canyon?”
He laughed again, his throaty chuckle as sensual as a touch. “It is, which is what makes it so fun.”
She locked eyes with him, trying, and failing miserably, to block out all sexual thoughts of Raine and how easy it would be to straddle that hard thing between them. He wanted her as badly as she wanted him. She could tell by the way his fingers branded her flesh when he dug them into her skin.
Shaking her head, she tried again to clear all sexual thoughts and focus on the conversation at hand. “You’d defy your father’s orders?” He was more of a rebel than she’d realized, which made her reluctantly want him even more, dammit. She didn’t want another reason to mate with him or his brothers.
“We do it all the time,” someone said at her back. Still clinging to Raine, she turned and looked into Jax’s eyes. Because of his feral look, it was easy to tell he was the beta.
“Magnus, too?” she asked.
�
��No, not him.” Jax said and glanced at Raine.
She turned back to him and could tell they were speaking telepathically. How she wanted to pop into their heads. Though she’d used her mind-reading powers on countless others, she didn’t feel right invading her mates’ privacy.
“Do you know how Magnus lost his hand?” Raine asked her.
As difficult as it was to release him, she let go of him and kicked back, a little disappointed when he let her go. Treading water, she faced the three brothers, their yellow eyes glowing in the moonlight. “I heard about it.”
“But you didn’t hear the whole story,” Frey, the gamma, said.
Even in the dark, she saw his cheeks flush. Gammas were usually the shyest in any pack, and Frey was no exception. She couldn’t deny she was attracted to his baby face and big, sad eyes. Gammas were the shifters who stayed home and helped with the kids and housework. They also had crazy libidos. Even though he was floating several feet away from her, she could feel his desire for her rippling the currents between them, as if his lust had electrified the water.
She licked her lips, trying hard to focus on the conversation. Damn, these guys made her horny.
“What’s the whole story?” she asked, desperately needing a distraction.
Raine leveled her with a look that made her insides churn. “Our family stumbled on a caravan of drugs and sex slaves crossing the border. Wrong place, wrong time”
“Sex slaves?” Annie gasped. “I was told it was a drug deal.”
Raine’s expression was grim. “There were women, too. Some were just little girls.”
Annie felt sick.
“Our fathers wanted to turn back,” Raine continued, “but our mother insisted they follow, so they could report back to the trackers.” Raine paused, his face screwed up tight.
“They were caught,” Jax whispered. “And the cartel began firing.” Jax choked up.
Raine continued the story. “Magnus tried to shield our mother from the barrage of bullets, but there were too many. Instead of celebrating his ability to shift, Magnus returned home with our mother’s body in his arms, his mangled hand hanging from his wrist like a limp sock.”
“Great Ancients,” Annie cried, her heart breaking.
“He refused medical attention and returned to the canyon with our fathers, but the smugglers were gone,” Raine said. “They could’ve tracked them and enacted their revenge, but they found our youngest father, Sami, missing an eye and still clinging to life despite being shot seven times.”
Annie wiped away tears. “So they returned home with Sami?”
Raine nodded. “Vidar wanted to leave Sami and go after the drug smugglers, but our beta father, Tyr, convinced him to take Sami and Magnus to the hospital instead.”
“I’m so sorry,” Annie said, too choked up to say more.
Raine ducked under the water. She watched, waiting for him to resurface.
“Physical recovery for Magnus and Sami took months,” Jax said, his eyes simmering with cold rage, “but the damage to their souls has never been repaired, and now the rest of our family is paying for it.”
She was at a loss for words. She’d known the story was tragic, but she hadn’t expected the heart-wrenchingly painful details. Raine resurfaced with a roar, shaking water droplets from his hair.
“She barely managed to speak through a constricted throat. “Guys, I’m so sorry about your family.”
Raine swam to her, reaching her in a few strokes. “You don’t need to be sorry.” He cupped her cheek, his eyes glossy in the moonlight. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“I know.” Her skin lit on fire at his touch. “I just feel so bad.”
The hard angles of Raine’s face softened. “We don’t want pity, Annie. We just want you to understand why Magnus is the way he is.”
“What can I do to help him?” she asked, suddenly feeling an overwhelming urge to leave them and run to Magnus.
“We’ve been fighting for him the past twelve years.” Jax swam over, treading water while his eyes seared holes through her skin. “You can join the fight. Make him believe he’s worthy of love.”
She swallowed a knot in her throat. “I will try, but I don’t know if I’ll be good at it.” What if she couldn’t bring Magnus out of his funk? Would they be able to make their pack whole without Magnus?
“Of course you will.” Raine snaked an arm around her waist again, pulling her against his hard chest. “Your smile lights up our world.”
His wicked, fanged grin seared her insides, making her want to go limp in his arms and wantonly spread her legs. What the hell was happening to her? She’d never felt the urge to surrender to any man, but just one look from Raine, and she was melting like a scoop of ice cream on hot pavement.
She placed a palm on his chest, her vision tunneling on his perfectly sculpted face, made even sexier by the scar that cut across his cheek. When he bent his head to hers, she didn’t stop him, and she loathed herself for it. Wasn’t she supposed to put up a fight?
When he brushed his lips across hers ever so softly, she threaded her fingers through his hair and opened her mouth to his. Cupping her chin, he claimed her more intimately, their tongues melding as he deepened the kiss.
She gasped when the tip of his thick cock slid across her slippery barrier. How easily it would be for him to slide into her, taking Magnus’s place as head alpha by claiming her virginity. Her ribbon pulsed while he probed her swollen button.
Even though the more sensible part of her was yelling at her to swim away, she surrendered to her mounting passion and sank against him, needing him to enter her.
“Enough, you two,” Jax warned behind them.
Raine pulled away, releasing her like she was a hot potato.
She reached for him in a lustful stupor. “Come back.”
He put more distance between them. “I have to stop.”
As the reality of what they had almost done settled in the pit of her stomach, she was overcome with a wave of shame. What the hell was the matter with her? She wasn’t ready to mate with them, not until Magnus put their father in his place and helped heal the rift in the tribe. Why had she caved so readily?
Humiliation burning her cheeks, she swam back to the rock, wishing that sensitive spot between her thighs would quit throbbing.
“Where are you going?” Jax swam up behind her, his voice a heated whisper, his mouth dangerously close to that sensitive spot beneath her ear.
She turned halfway toward him, avoiding eye contact, knowing the possessive look in his eyes would be her undoing. “We should go back.”
“Why?” He caressed her shoulder.
She shivered and grabbed hold of the rock. “You know why. I can’t control my stupid lust.”
He shoved a firm erection into her buttocks. “You have nothing to be ashamed of. It’s natural to want us.”
“Jax,” she said with a gasp, “you shouldn’t.” But her body betrayed her words as she pressed into his erection.
“I just want to touch you.” He boldly slid a hand between her legs, cupping her crotch and resting one fidgety finger on her nub.
Her eyelids involuntarily shut as he stroked her. Falling back against him, she spread her legs, giving him easier access. He had one hand on her breast, squeezing and pinching her nipple while he fucked her with the other hand, banging against her tender button until she thought she’d expire. As his tempo increased, the sound of water splashing around them and her labored breaths were drowned out by his ominous growls as he clamped down on her neck with his teeth. She spread her legs wider, a prisoner to her lust as he continued his assault on her weeping pussy. Her euphoria rose to a feverish pitch as he stroked her harder, faster, stopping only to dip his fingers into her well and spread creamy moisture across her swollen bud. She climaxed without warning, her button rebelling against his fingers with angry thuds. She groaned his name when he shoved his fingers inside her, holding her while she convulsed around him. This intimate t
ouch was the best feeling in the world, more beautiful than a dozen sunsets and more euphoric than a thousand tender kisses.
He cradled her in his arms, kissing her forehead. Wow. She could definitely get used to this. Sex with Jax almost made up for the asshole father-in-law. He carried her to the shallow end of the pond and laid her on a bed of grass. With a giggle she laid back and stretched out while his brothers swarmed her, their cocks jutting toward their chins. She heaved a satisfactory sigh when Jax and Frey trailed hot kisses down her neck and breasts, stopping to suckle her nipples like newborn babes. She felt like a goddess as they worshipped her nude body with their hands and tongues.
When Raine trailed kisses from the crook of her knee to her thigh, she willingly spread her legs for him without giving her virginity another thought. She was doomed, but at the moment, she didn’t care. Her giggles turned to gasps when Raine swirled his tongue across her tender bud. Her dripping pussy bloomed like a flower, opening to him. Circling her swollen nub with his thumb, he gently fucked her pussy with his long tongue, probing and thrusting until another orgasm claimed her, this one rolling through her like a wave. By the time Raine released her, they were both breathless.
His face was smeared with her juices. “You taste delicious.”
Too exhausted and spent to speak, she stretched her arms over her head while her mates continued to shower her with kisses, rubbing their swollen cocks against her. She languidly sat up and cupped Raine’s heavy balls. His eyes rolled back while she circled the base of his thick cock. She moved her hand up and down, pumping him, fascinated at the way his balls tightened and his cockhead swelled before he let out a roar, spurting creamy liquid all over her breasts and neck.
Raine’s eyes lit like twin suns as he rubbed his essence into her breasts, then smeared it across her tender pussy. “You’re ours,” he growled in her ear.
She nodded, then took Frey and Jax in hand and stroked them. Frey came quickly, spurting a prodigious amount of fluid across her chest. Jax jutted his cock at her mouth. She took the hint and kissed up and down the shaft, gasping when he spurted down her neck. Jax nudged her onto her back and rubbed sperm into her pussy until she swelled and burst like a balloon.