by Becca Van
Jordan dropped the bags he was holding onto the floor and cautiously walked toward the other side of the bed. “Kenzie, come over here, baby.”
She stared at Jordan’s proffered hand, but the big man wasn’t even looking at her. He was watching Jayson with so much wariness, her heart flipped. “What’s wrong?”
“Jayson,” Jenson murmured.
Jayson’s panther turned to gaze at his brother. When Jenson took another step toward him and he started to reach for Kenzie, it yowled a warning.
“There’s no need to be scared,” Kenzie said. “He isn’t hurting me.”
“But he could,” Jordan said. “His animal got away from his control, baby. He’s dangerous.”
Kenzie huffed out a breath. “No, he’s not. He’d never hurt me.”
“It’s not you we’re worried about, honey,” Jenson said.
Kenzie cupped Jay’s panther’s face between her hands and turned his gaze toward hers. “You wouldn’t hurt your brothers would you, Jay?” She voiced the question more like a statement, but deep down she knew his lack of control had nothing to do with Jordan and Jenson. She wondered if she’d been calling out in her sleep as she relived her stepfather beating her. Had that been enough for the panther to slip the leash on his man?
Jay rumbled out another purr as his tongue swiped over the sensitive flesh on her inner wrist. It tickled and rasped at the same time. “Jay, change back,” Kenzie commanded.
The purring stopped, and she released his face when she felt the muscles and bones in his face contorting. She inched back toward the head of the bed on her hands and knees as the lines of his body shimmered and the soft, black coat of fur began to recede. She held her breath as she watched what looked like a painful process with mesmerized awe, until she was staring at the top of Jay’s head. He lifted his gaze up to hers and licked his lips.
Her body went haywire as she eyed his broad, muscular shoulders and strong back, down to his narrow waist and hips near his sexy, brawny ass. She sank back on her bent legs and stared at his amazingly sexy, defined body. His legs were so long they were hanging off the end of the bed, his feet nearly touching the large dresser along the wall. The muscles in his back and shoulders flexed and bunched as he placed his hands on the mattress and levered the upper half of his body up from the mattress. His pectorals and biceps bulged, and the air backed up in her lungs exploded from between her parted lips when he shoved up onto his knees.
There was no way she could miss his thick, hard cock protruding from his between his legs, nor the way her body reacted to his sexy nakedness. Her clit throbbed, and her pussy moistened. Her breasts swelled, and her nipples hardened. She wrapped her arms over her breasts trying to hide her body’s response and nearly cried out when he arms brushed over her ultrasensitive nipples.
“Are you okay, honey?” Jay asked in a hoarse voice.
She licked her dry lips, opened her mouth, and tried to speak, but all that came out was a croaking sound. She quickly snapped her mouth closed and nodded.
“Are you sure? You were having some pretty nasty dreams.”
When Jayson lifted a hand toward her, she wanted to shift away, because she wasn’t sure she’d be able to restrain herself if he touched her, but she couldn’t make herself move. Her body was on fire with need. The craving to have all three brothers touching her was almost paramount.
The moment his large, warm, calloused palm gently cupped the side of her face, she closed her eyes and inhaled. A whimper of desire escaped before she could stop it and when she felt the mattress dip close to her knees, she realized that Jay had moved closer to her.
“I love how sweet your honey smells, mate. I can relieve that ache if you want me to.” Jayson’s warm, moist breath puffed over her ear, causing her to shiver.
“We all can,” Jordan said as he climbed up onto the bed.
“I’d love to be able to kiss that sexy mouth,” Jenson rasped out as he sat on the mattress on her other side.
“You don’t have to agree to mate with us, honey,” Jayson said.
Kenzie forced her passion-heavy eyes open and stared into his hot, blue-eyed gaze.
“We’ll give you all the time you need to make up your mind, baby.” Jordan laced his fingers with hers.
“You don’t need to do a thing, mate.” Jenson caressed a hand down her arm. “In fact, we wouldn’t want you moving around. All you’d have to do is lie back and let us pleasure you, sweetie.”
She wanted, needed what they were offering more than anything, but she didn’t just want them touching and kissing her. She wanted to have them making love with her. Claiming her.
Kenzie wanted the whole nine yards.
Jay nudged her chin up to meet his eyes. She hadn’t even noticed that she’d lowered her gaze and had been staring at his erection. He was so long and thick and while she was nervous, she couldn’t stand the internal fiery ache much longer.
Kenzie had never felt such a deep-seated lustful pain. She’d never felt desire until she’d met Jenson, Jordan, and Jayson. She’d never seen a man’s cock other than pictures. She’d never had sex before.
She was a virgin and even though she wanted what they were offering her more than her next breath, she was nervous. If she agreed, this would be her first time and she didn’t want to embarrass herself by crying out or weeping if she experienced pain. Plus, her ribs were still hurting and if she moved the wrong way, she could end up injuring herself further.
She didn’t want to refuse them. She wanted to rip the hospital gown from her body, lie down on her back and spread herself open.
Jayson leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. A spark of heat streaked up her spine and back down again, centering in her womb and pussy. Her muscles clenched, and juices dripped out onto her soaked panties.
She moaned when Jay traced the tip of his tongue over her upper and then lower lip before he dipped in between her teeth. She groaned in frustration when he retreated, grabbed the back of his neck, and pulled him closer.
He slanted his mouth over hers, his tongue delving in to swirl and twirl around before rubbing along the length of her own. His arm came around her back and as he lowered her down to the mattress, two other hands carefully lifted her hips and eased her legs out from under her.
Jay blanketed her body, but kept his weight off of her by leaning on his elbows. He slowed the kiss and lifted his mouth from hers. She had trouble focusing when he rested his forehead against hers and stared into her eyes.
“Say yes, mate. Say yes and let us love you. Touch you.”
“I haven’t…I don’t…”
Jay lifted his forehead from hers when she turned her head to the side. When she met Jordan’s heated blue eyes, she closed them. She couldn’t think straight when they were watching her with so much hunger, so much need. Or when they were surrounding her in their wonderful fragrances.
In fact, she couldn’t think at all when they were near her. They were so handsome and sexy, she was overwhelmed. But not because they were dominant or possessive. Those personal characteristics were sexy on them. That was something she’d never thought would enter her mind regarding the opposite sex, but they weren’t just men.
They were human, and animal and their wild untamed side drew her to them like a bee to honey. Like a moth to a flame.
They made her burn and she wanted, needed them to put the fire raging inside her out.
“Yes,” she finally managed to answer even if it was only a whisper.
“Yes what, sweetie?” Jenson asked.
“I want what you’re offering.”
Jay slowly bent toward her as he stared at her lips, but he stilled when Jordan shoved at his shoulder and glared at his brother.
“Wait!” Jordan clasped her wrist. “What were you trying to tell us before, baby?”
“What?” she frowned with confusion.
“You started to tell us something. ‘I haven’t…I don’t…’ You don’t need to be shy with us mate
. You can say anything you want.” Jenson stared at her expectantly.
She glanced away from him, sucked in a deep breath, and hoped like hell the wouldn’t be turned off by her statement. “I’m a virgin.”
Chapter Seven
Jordan bit his tongue to keep the roar of possessiveness building in his chest from forming. He glanced at Jay and Jenson and saw stunned covetous looks on their faces and wondered if he looked like they did. He mentally shrugged and turned his eyes back to Kenzie. She had her gaze lowered, her eyelids shielding her gorgeous blue-green orbs, and her face was red.
“Baby, look at me,” he demanded hoarsely.
She shook her head and sucked in a tremulous breath. He cursed when he saw a tear seep from the corner of her eye causing his heart to clench with pain. Jordan shoved Jay aside, scooped Kenzie up into his arms and held her in his lap. “You have no reason to be embarrassed or ashamed, mate. I knew you were special the second I saw you and you’ve just confirmed how special you are.”
“You don’t think I’m strange?” she asked hesitantly, softly.
“You aren’t strange, Kenzie,” Jay said. “You’re a fucking angel.”
“Our angel,” Jenson said.
“I’m not a—”
Jordan placed a finger over her lips. “You are to us, baby. We never expected to find a mate, that one special woman made just for us, but here you are. And you’ve never been touched by another man. I wish I could say I’ve, we’ve, never been with another woman but we can’t. However, no woman could ever compare to you.”
“Jordan’s right, sweetie,” Jenson said as he frowned at Jordan. “Not that we’d ever compare you to any other woman, but you’re special. Amazing. You’re our own sweet little angel.”
“We were just going through the motions of living, honey,” Jayson said. “There was no happiness, no joy or light in our lives. There was just mundane, dark numbness. You’ve given us back our hope, emotions we’d locked away after fighting wars and getting blown up. We never expected to find our mate. Why would we when no other woman would look at us for more than a few seconds, would turn away because they were repulsed by our injuries, our scars?”
Jordan captured Kenzie’s tear on the tip of his finger and brought it to his mouth. He wanted to take any part of her he could into his body, his heart and soul. He and his brothers needed her way more than she needed them. She was everything that was innocent, good and kind. They’d been so filled with emptiness he wasn’t sure how he kept rising each morning to face another day. Kenzie had given them everything to live for and if she agreed to be their mate, he would do everything he could to make her happy and feel loved. There was no way he was ever going to take his woman for granted.
She raised her gaze to his and cupped his face. “They don’t know what they’ve lost. You are all wonderful, caring men.” She met each of their gazes before she continued. “They were shallow bitches not worthy to breathe the same air as you, let alone look upon your handsome faces.”
“I’m not handsome,” Jayson said as he covered the patch over his eye with his hand.
Kenzie caressed Jordan’s face before she eased from his lap and held her hand out toward Jay. “Help me over,” she ordered. Jay lifted her into his arms and held her against his chest. She palmed his cheek and slipped a finger under the elastic strap of his eye patch. “You are one of the most handsome men I’ve ever seen.” Kenzie slowly inched the elastic up giving Jay time to stop her if he wanted.
Jordan stared with intent wonder as Jay remained still and let Kenzie do whatever she wanted. If she’d been a man he would have laid her out flat with one punch. If she’d been another woman, not their mate, he would have clasped her wrist and turned his back on her.
Jay closed his eyes when Kenzie tugged the patch off and flung it aside. She shifted on his lap until she was straddling him, her hands grasping his shoulders, and rose higher on her knees. She held Jayson’s face between her small, delicate hands, leaned forward, and kissed the intricate web of scars over and around his right eye. “You are handsome, Jay. You are more worthy and deserving of happiness than any person I’ve met before coming to Ambrose. I would be proud to be your mate.”
When Jay opened his eyes, and stared deeply into Kenzie’s, Jordan had to blink back tears and swallow around the constriction in his throat. No one had ever, ever made him, Jayson, or Jenson feel valuable. Kenzie was the perfect woman for them in every way. Not just because she was beautiful and had a sexy body, but because she had such a big, loving heart.
She made them feel self-respect, treasured, and loved, and they weren’t even mated yet.
The fates had sent them a precious angel with a heart of gold.
“You don’t need to wear the patch, Jay. I understand if you feel more comfortable with it on when you’re out and about, but there is nothing hideous about you and you have nothing to hide. You’re so handsome you take my breath away.”
Jay went to wrap his arms around her waist but must have remembered her cracked ribs when he hesitated. Instead, he gently held her bruised, swollen face between his hands and kissed her softly, reverently on the lips before drawing back. “You’re my world, honey. Please, stay here with us?”
Kenzie nodded and after kissing him on the cheek she turned toward Jenson, slowly crawling toward him. “Take off your shirt, Jenson.”
* * * *
Jenson swallowed audibly and after the briefest of hesitations, grabbed the back of his shirt and tugged it off with one move. Kenzie knelt when their knees were touching, gazed over the burned puckered skin on his forearms and followed the marks up to his shoulders.
He had no idea how he and his brothers had survived when other humans on their team had been blown to pieces, but right now he was glad they had. He kept his breathing deep and even as he watched their mate caress over the burns on his skin. He kept his gaze from hers, feeling vulnerable and self-conscious about all the marks. Did she find him ugly because he was damaged? How could she bear to touch his flesh when other women couldn’t even stand to look at it? The strong instinct in his gut was telling him to jerk away from her, but she was his mate and he loved having her hands on him. His heart, mind, and body were in a tumultuous tug of war and he had no idea which part of him was going to win.
“Your skin is so much hotter than mine. I love the different textures of your flesh under my fingers and hands.” Kenzie caressed her way up his arms, over his shoulders, toward his neck. He held his breath when she palmed his face between her small, smooth, perfect hands and met her gaze. “Thank you for fighting for our country to keep it safe. Thank you for taking me into your home to protect me, but most of all, thank you for caring about me. No one has cared for my wellbeing, physical or mental, since I was thirteen years old.
“You are so big, muscular and handsome, whenever I look at you I find it hard to breathe. You deserve to have love and happiness, Jenson. You’re warranted in wanting to have a woman in your life, and I would be honored if that woman was me. You have my respect and appreciation. You’ve already managed to touch my heart. I don’t know if what I feel for you is love yet, but I don’t think it would take much to send me tumbling head over heels. I would be honored to be your mate.”
Jenson struggled with the tears stinging his eyes and didn’t know how he won the battle, but was glad he did. He didn’t want to look weak in front of his mate, although he didn’t think she would see his emotion that way. However, he hadn’t cried since he was a kid and wasn’t about to start now. Nonetheless, he needed to show how much her words meant to him. Their mate was like a breath of fresh air. He felt as if her pure, light, loving spirit had just blown through his body washing all the darkness inside of him away. He’d been ecstatic and saddened when he’d first seen her. Ecstatic with hope and sadness for what had been done to her, the pain she was in, but what he hadn’t realized was that a small cynical part of him had been expecting to be rejected, again. There was no rejection or revulsion in h
is mate’s eyes. There was acceptance and love, even if she wasn’t ready to admit it. His heart surged with joy and elation.
Jenson clasped her wrists in his big hands, leaned down and kissed her. It wasn’t a passionate kiss, although the desire was still simmering deep in his gut. The kiss they shared was tender, compassionate, and romantic. She turned her head to gulp air into her lungs, caressed his cheek and then turned toward Jordan.
* * * *
Kenzie’s heart was so full of emotion, admiration, and reverence for these three men, she was barely containing the tears that kept threatening to get free. Her ribs were hurting as was her bruised face, bruised body, and while she was glad she could see out of both eyes, there was no way she was going to voice how much she was aching. What she was dealing and had dealt with was nothing compared to what they’d been through.
Her men had been hurt so badly they had permanent scars, and from what she’d been told, shifters healed quickly. Their wounds had to have been life-threatening and if they’d been human, she had no doubt they’d be dead. She was glad they had panthers inside of them who’d helped them to heal, to keep them breathing. If they hadn’t had their inner beasts, she would never have met such special men.
She crawled back up into Jordan’s lap and traced a finger over the long scar starting under his left eye, down over his cheek, chin and down his neck. The line ended at his clavicle. “This mark shows how brave and selfless you are, Jordan. There is nothing about you that is ugly or would make me ever turn away from you. Any of you. You make me ache and burn with need. You’ve made me dream of my own happy ever after. I would be honored, proud to be mated to you. To all of you.” Kenzie leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. She was still throbbing with lust, but it had tempered while she’d tried to convince her men they were worthy of her love and respect. When she released his lips, she shifted on his lap until she could see all of them.