by K. L. Donn
Gripping her hips in a tight hold so she couldn’t move, he warned her, “Hang on, baby,” before his hips began pistoning in and out of her in rapid succession. Her tiny hands flew out to clutch his thighs, scraping her nails down his skin, leaving track marks he knew he would show off with pride given half the chance.
“Oh God,” she moaned on a scream just as Nick felt liquid heat pool between them.
“Oh fuck,” he countered her moan.
He couldn’t hold back anymore as a ball of passion combusted from his body. Planting himself as deeply inside of her as he could, he went off like a rocket, blowing stream after stream of his seed into the condom. His eyes crossed as his orgasm rolled through his body. His limbs shook as she called his name in her own mindless serenity.
“Motherfucking Christ.” His voice was harsh, the high intense. He’d never felt anything like it. His entire body collapsed to the side as she pulled Ace to her, not wanting to leave the other man out.
“It hurts, Ace,” she murmured, drunk on her own desires.
“What does, baby?” He had no fucking clue.
Rolling to his side, Nick decided to enlighten his cousin into what their woman needed, knowing full-well he wouldn’t do anything if he thought she was in pain. “She wants you to stick your monster cock inside of that perfect fucking pussy and take her, Ace. She hurts because she needs to come again.”
Amazement lit Ace’s eyes as he said to Nick, “What happened to your language, dude?” His laughter turned into a deep moan of delight as he pushed his condom-covered cock into her haven.
It wasn’t supposed to feel so good, was it? Ace couldn’t remember the last time a woman took him with such ease, fit his cock like a glove. Pepper did. She took all of him and demanded twice as much. She was it, he knew it then. He also knew he would fight tooth and fucking nail to have her stay with them, to complete their family. Nothing would stop him from keeping her, aside from death.
As her back arched from pleasure, his dick rooted a fraction further inside of her fevered core. The sheer volume of heat emanating from her rendered him stupid. Just being inside her body was the greatest gift he’d ever received, and all he wanted to do was savor it.
“Ace,” she moaned, pleasure and pain coating his name.
Dropping his body on top of hers, he covered her from head to pelvis. One hand slipped underneath her back to press her hips up, and the other was embedded in her hair with a fierce grip. When her legs wrapped tightly around his hips, he began to move. Slowly, sensually, at first. Languorous strokes to stoke the fire in them both. As her nails scratched down his back, he picked up speed, pumping deeply into her pussy—harder—making sure to take a second to savor, then plunging back inside her and holding still. On one down stroke, she swivelled her hips, tightening on his cock, and he was done. Like someone had jabbed him with a cattle prod, he shot off. Stars danced behind his eyes as she screamed his name, their groans of pleasure in sync.
Completely spent, Ace couldn’t move. Laying on Pepper was as close to heaven as he’d ever been, so he wanted to relish the moment for as long as possible. Her rubbing against him wasn’t any incentive to get up anytime soon, either.
“That was so damn perfect,” he whispered in her ear before trailing his mouth to hers and consuming her with a kiss filled with passion, promise, and hope.
The clap of a hand on his back jolted him back as Nick said to them, “It’s getting cold in here, guys.” He watched Pepper as she watched Nick stand stark naked and put more wood in the fire.
Fascinated when her eyes glazed over, Ace asked her, “Like what you see?” She averted her eyes just as the ever-present blush worked its way up her body.
Ducking her head when Nick turned back around, she hid in his chest. He loved seeing this shy side to her. A smile tugging at the corner of her lips, her eyes light and happy, and no sadness anywhere in sight. It suited her so much better. When she shivered, he finally got a clue. Standing, he walked to the kitchen to dispose of the condom. Darting back to their makeshift bed, he was pleased to see Nick curled up beside her, her head resting on his chest as he slipped in behind her.
“How you feeling?” Ace asked her, hoping she didn’t regret what they’d done.
“Wonderful,” she sighed happily, not bothering to open her eyes.
Kissing her shoulder, he told her, “Rest, we’ll keep you warm.”
Her light snoring indicated she might have fallen asleep before he’d even said a word. He watched as she slept, knowing she needed it. They hadn’t spoken about what it all meant yet. He hadn’t apologized for his careless words the night before, but for some reason, everything felt like it was finally falling into place. As if their stars were aligning in perfect harmony.
“We didn’t tell her,” Nick said, confusing him.
“Tell her what?”
“About last night. The phone call. Finding out who she is.” Guilt and pain were written in every word.
“Things have been kind of hectic this morning,” he explained.
“It’s all I could think about while Roxie and I were out there. That once she knew, she’d want to leave.” Nick wouldn’t meet Ace’s eyes as he spoke. “I had to have her at least once before she left.” They both looked down at her sleeping form, and for once, she appeared peaceful. “She’s gonna hate me.”
Ace had no idea how to comfort his cousin when it was now all he would worry about as well. What if she did hate them for knowing and not letting her know before they were intimate?
“We’ll just have to tell her when she wakes up,” he suggested lamely.
“Whore!” Alex screamed into the mountains. He couldn’t believe she’d fucked them! They were nothing. He was everything!
She was supposed to be his!
Two fucking men at once. He never would have guessed her to be such a slut. Unable to see what was going on because they’d closed the curtains and there was no other place to look in, he’d heard her screams of rapture.
He’d listened at the door as they said filthy, vile words to his woman. He couldn’t believe her. Taking them into her body so easily when after nearly a month of dating, she cringed when he kissed her.
It was pure luck on his part that the window had opened from a huge gust of wind the previous night. He should have taken those men out then, but he hadn’t known they had a dog, and it was huge. As he’d been about to climb through the window, it had stretched and caught his attention. He wasn’t prepared to deal with so much at once.
He’d be back, though. He’d show them who Pepper belonged, too.
Right before he made her watch as he slaughtered them.
Chapter Nine
Stretching as the warm glow from the sun kissed her body, Pepper felt more relaxed now than she had in all the time she could remember. Those two men sure knew how to please a woman. She had no idea sex could be so cathartic, so relaxing.
Never before had she been so involved when Paul was in her life. He was always more worried about his own pleasure than hers. Sadly, seeking gratification after disappointing sex had become routine for her.
“Holy shit,” she whispered into the quiet room. Paul. Her dickhead of an ex-boyfriend.
She remembered!
“God damn!” She practically squealed in excitement, making Roxie howl. Who, in turn, had Ace and Nick jumping up nude from their bed on the floor, looking around for danger.
“What? What’s happening?” Ace asked frantically.
She was too busy admiring their bodies to form a coherent thought.
“Pepper!” They called in unison when she failed to answer either of their questions.
Shaking her head, she gave a sheepish look. “Sorry, but umm, could you maybe cover up? It’s distracting.”
Matching cocky smiles graced their faces, and she fell a little bit in love with them both in that moment. The emotion stole her breath as they slowly began to dress.
“What was so damn important that you s
tarted screaming and howling?” Ace repeated.
She’d nearly forgotten. “I remembered an ex-boyfriend!”
Their matching scowls made her smile. The shared look made her nervous. It spoke volumes. Simply put, she knew a secret was lurking there.
“What?” she asked them both. “This is good, isn’t it?”
Another shared expression.
“What’s with the looks?” she snapped impatiently, knowing it must be about her. Unless they were hiding another woman in the small cabin with her catastrophe of a life.
“Fuck!” She knew by now that if Nick was cursing, it must be bad.
“Just tell me,” she pleaded.
“I’ll make coffee.” Ace avoided her eyes as he walked away. It wasn’t until the beep from the coffee maker being turned on that she even realized the power was back on.
Before Nick spoke, his eyes pleaded with her, for what she wasn’t sure, but what he said next wasn’t what she was expecting.
“I got a call last night,” he began, running a hand down the side of his neck. “It was the Kicking Horse.” The way he said it made her think she should understand what he was getting at. Almost as if he didn’t want to say the words.
“What did they say?” She knew the lodge was where she had been staying before they found her but that was all.
“I have an email waiting for me with all of your information,” Nick responded. Pepper swore her brain misfired.
“Last night?” she asked to clarify.
“Yes.” He hung his head. When she looked to Ace, he wouldn’t meet her eyes either.
“So, you knew last night what my name was? What his name was?” She was fighting between shock and anger.
“We did,” Ace confirmed.
Her anger was winning.
“And you didn’t tell me.” It obviously wasn’t a question. She just needed for them to clarify so she had her own facts straight.
“You were sleeping,” Nick tried to defend.
“I’d already upset you,” Ace added helpfully.
“Yeah, thanks, I’d forgotten that tidbit. Good to know you didn’t actually want me, just the idea of a willing body to fill an empty space.” Regret, anger, confusion, hurt, they all warred inside of her for dominance, and she was striking out at them.
“I’m sorry,” Nick quietly said.
And she could hear it in his voice. “I believe you. But why didn’t you wake me up? Don’t you think that’s something I would have wanted to know immediately?”
The memory of her ex was forgotten with the wealth of new information she was now armed with. “So?” she asked, “What’s my name? What’s his name?”
“I don’t think that’s such a good–” before Nick could finish, she lashed out.
“You don’t think what now? I shouldn’t know my name? Tell me, Nick, how would you feel in my shoes? I’m imagining about a hundred different things right now, none of them good, and all of them include you guys using me, and I have to admit, I don’t like it one bit.”
When Ace attempted to interrupt her, she shot him a scathing look. “I mean, you said we’d lose power for a couple days, yet here we are. What? Only twelve hours later? And hey, all of the sudden, it goes out when I’m upset then comes back on after you guys fuck my brains out? Tell me how that looks to you!” She was getting hysterical.
Nick finally stood before her, his size overwhelming. She’d never paid attention before, now she was forced to.
“First off, Pepper, don’t ever reduce what we shared to fucking. We owned every inch of your delectable body this morning, and you owned ours. Don’t think for one fucking second that we don’t feel for you just as deeply as you fucking feel for us. The only difference is, we were always sure about what we wanted for you. You had shit to work through, so we took into consideration what was best for you. And yeah, this morning, when I realized someone had been on my fucking property—somewhere you should have been safe—I fucking freaked.” His hands had an unrelenting grip on her hips. She shouldn’t be turned on by his anger-fueled dominance, right? “Not waking you up last night was a mistake, but frankly, we wouldn’t have been able to do shit at that point. The power was out, and it was again this morning. I don’t even know when it turned back on.”
He took a breath, and Pepper knew she needed to lighten the mood. She felt horrible for jumping the gun on them when she knew they had her best interest at heart. So, when she helpfully pointed out that he kept swearing, she didn’t expect Nick’s mouth to come crashing down on her own.
Holy hell.
The heat. The need. The sheer force with which he consumed her was staggering.
There was no slow slide to taste each other, to savor any sweet sighs or moans. He took and took and kept on taking until her entire being melted against him in merciful surrender.
“Don’t,” he growled against her lips, “doubt me, baby. You are the only thing that matters, and if I do something, it’s because I want you safe.”
She could only nod her head.
“I need you safe. I need to know that when I give you new information, you aren’t already in a fragile state of mind. I would never intentionally hurt you, sweetheart.”
“I know,” she whispered. And she did, too. The shock made her crazy. She felt so lost not knowing who she was at all, and then only finding out a snippet of a name. She was afraid of never knowing the whole story but equally scared of knowing and hating the truth.
“What if I don’t like who I am?”
Ace walked up behind her, his heat at her back reassuring. “You’re not who you were anymore. You’re a completely different person, and you need to hold onto her. She’s going to be your strength when you think you have nothing.” He placed a finger to her temple, her eyes closing on instinct. “She’s going to remind you of everything you are now.”
How the hell was she supposed to argue with that logic? The simple answer was she wasn’t. The more complicated and logical side of her said it wasn’t going to be so easy.
“What’s my name?” she asked on a faint whisper.
“Pepper Wallace,” Nick answered with a regretful sigh. As if knowing her name was going to make her leave.
It occurred to her that they were all invested in being together; however, none of them had expressed a thought about what they truly wanted.
“I want to stay.” She couldn’t open her eyes for fear of seeing that they didn’t want her to. Even though all signs pointed to them needing that from her.
“Thank fuck.” Ace breathed a sigh of relief behind her.
“Don’t feel like you have to say that out of some sense of loyalty, Pepper.” Nick’s answer pissed her off. Her eyes popped open, and she glared at him before stomping away.
Stupid man.
Not realizing where she was going until she slammed the door to his office and turned around, she froze. What was she doing? She was running hot and cold, and it was driving her insane.
Talk about mixed signals, Pepper.
Sitting behind the desk, she turned the computer on, her rational mind in control. She had to find out who she was and where she had come from. She so wanted to stay with Nick and Ace, but first, she had to find out what was going on with her life. How she ended up left for dead at the bottom of a cliff.
“I can’t win,” Nick grumbled watching Pepper slam into his office. She was trying to bare her heart to them, and he practically stomped on it after pretty much begging her to stay himself.
“If you would keep your mouth shut, you could,” Ace supplied not so helpfully.
“Shut up,” he snapped back.
Before the other man could respond, Roxie began whining from the door, clearly needing out. Walking over, he patted her head and opened the door. She took off before it was fully open. “Roxie!” Nick yelled when she ran for the treeline. Something she never did unless someone was with her.
“I gotta go after her,” he told Ace as he pulled his boots and coat on. Sh
e might be a pain in his ass, but she was a good dog—smart, loyal.
“We’ll be here,” he heard Ace yell from the house as he moved across the yard.
By the look of her tracks, Roxie wasn’t just out for fun, she was chasing something. After nearly twenty minutes of running and calling for her, he finally found the dog just before a meadow where deer frequented. He didn’t visit there too often because he didn’t want to disturb the usually timid animals.
When Nick saw her sitting behind a tree, he was about to call her name when he heard the all too familiar growl of a cougar.
“It can’t be,” he mumbled as he approached Roxie.
Sure enough, right in the middle of the field, like royalty, were four Cougars cool as could be. He watched as they growled back and forth, the largest of them prowling around the three lazing in the snow. It was such an anomaly, he didn’t know what to do. The active one finally stopped, raising its head in the air as if sniffing. When it twisted its gaze to face where he and Roxie stood watching, he froze.
Those eyes.
He could swear it was the same group of cougars from years ago. But that couldn’t be, could it?
“Shit,” he grumbled. “Come on, Rox, nice and slow,” he told the dog, backing away gently and deliberately, not wanting to scare the beasts and make themselves targets.
For most of the trip back to the cabin, he walked backwards, not wanting to be attacked, as the dog watched the front of them. He was so shocked by what he’d seen that he hadn’t realized he was back home again until he heard the dog’s feet padding up the porch.
Cougars weren’t much for pack mentality in his neck of the woods, so to see one all those years ago, and then another one just now, he was completely dumb-founded.
Unless…
No, it wasn’t possible. And yet, those eyes.
His mind kept going back to the eyes. They spoke volumes. Just like the big cat from that night. They’d shown up when his town needed a savior. And now, when they were on the cusp of finding out what was happening to Pepper, they’re back? He had no logical reasoning for it.