Sexual Healing [Impulse 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Zara Chase

  Their lips parted abruptly when Marvin let out a loud mew. They turned in his direction and saw that he was fixated on a tiny bird hopping about on the balcony beyond the window.

  “He’s never been the least bit interested in hunting his own supper before,” Caitlyn said, extracting herself from Jared’s embrace and sitting up.

  “He’s learning to be a cat,” Jared said, remaining right where he was, hands folded behind his head as he watched her closely. “Caitlyn, I—”

  “Excuse me for a moment.”

  She hurried to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She needed to get away from him and think. Thinking was impossible when he looked at her with so much passion invested in his gaze. When he kissed her. When his hands roamed…Shit, she was in trouble!

  She washed her hands and splashed water over her flushed face. Her eyes were still cloudy with passion and her lips looked swollen—like a woman who’d just been thoroughly kissed. What to do? She couldn’t hide in here indefinitely, but what was she supposed to make of what just almost happened between them? Had he undergone a change of heart and decided to fuck her, thus restoring his powers? Surely he’d have said something instead of just assuming she’d go along with what would be a lifetime’s commitment. It wasn’t like they could have casual sex. It would be so much easier if they could.

  After what had happened in the massage room that morning, and then again just now, she wasn’t exactly playing hard to get. Even so, he really shouldn’t just assume, even if his assumptions were right on the money.

  What the fuck? She wanted him. He was obviously conflicted but willing. She’d go right back out there and let matters take their course. If it came to fighting bears, he might then just stand a chance of winning if they’d had full-on sex beforehand, so she’d be doing him a favor, right?

  Resolved, Caitlyn left the bathroom and returned to Jared with a smile of her face. It faded when she found him sound asleep, snoring gently, Marvin once again wrapped around his neck.

  “So much for my seductive powers,” she said, grinning against her disappointment.

  Perhaps this was for the best. It would certainly make things less complicated, but she couldn’t help feeling ever so slightly let down.

  Make that devastated.

  The pad Bryce had given her earlier to draw the picture of Salter was still on the table. Caitlyn grabbed it and sat on a stool in front of Jared and Marvin, trying to capture the image of the two of them, both sleeping peacefully.

  She chewed her lip as she concentrated, trying to get the planes and angles of Jared’s beautiful face exactly right. The striped hair falling across one eye, the deep vertical lines in his forehead, apparent even in sleep, the cleft chin and aura of tough resourcefulness—another aspect of his character that remained on show even when he wasn’t conscious. It was a challenge that she relished and which helped to take her mind off sex.

  She made several attempts, not getting them quite right. Totally absorbed with the fourth, which was finally going right, she didn’t hear Bryce coming in. He looked over her shoulder and almost made her jump out of her skin.

  “That’s really good,” he said softly, smiling at her and then scowling when he looked at Jared. “How long’s he been out?”

  “Over an hour.” She glanced up at him. “What’s wrong?”

  “Let’s leave him to sleep and go next door.”

  Chapter Eight

  Bryce took Caitlyn into the den and closed the door.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked for a second time. “You look pensive.”

  Bryce wasn’t sure how to answer her, even though he knew precisely what was wrong. Jared shouldn’t be so tired that he fell asleep in the middle of the day, especially not when their mate-to-be was with him. Jared hadn’t stopped talking about Caitlyn after meeting her at that damned seminar, fretting about not being able to find out who she actually was. The moment she showed up here they both knew it was for a reason, and the Jared of old would never have fallen asleep on her.

  Which said it all. Jared had tried to hide how tired he’d become, but Bryce knew him too well to be deceived. The stubborn cat refused to slow down, shifting almost every night and joining the others on the prowl. He wasn’t needed, and his lack of energy was evident in his reduced speed. Cheetahs prided themselves on being the fastest of the fast. Some of the others now deliberately slowed down, Bryce suspected, so as not to embarrass Jared. Shifting drained his bones of the high levels of calcium essential to all shifters, leaving him more weak and debilitated each time he made the transition. Bryce could only imagine how much it had cost him to admit that he couldn’t leap through the window last night, resulting in their discovering Caitlyn.

  Jared had been finding excuses to hand over more and more of his workload to his assistants recently, too. Everyone went along with the pretense that it was to give his underlings more experience, but no one really believed it. It was a living hell to watch the man he loved and respected above anyone dwindling so fast, especially when Caitlyn was here and could restore him to his former self in a heartbeat.

  Make that a fuck-beat.

  He glanced at her, sorely tempted to tell her what it was within her power to do for Jared. She’d been freaked out by what they’d told her about themselves, but she was still here. She also knew that she owed her life to them. So what if she cut and ran after doing the dirty deed with Jared? At least she’d restore his powers temporarily and they could worry about the consequences later. Bryce was almost desperate enough to try anything.

  Almost.

  But he couldn’t do it. It wouldn’t be fair to Caitlyn even to suggest it. She might offer to stay permanently and be their mate, but it would be for all the wrong reasons. In his professional life Jared wasn’t prepared to tolerate anything other than total commitment before approving would-be human mates for other colony members.

  As alphas they had an even greater responsibility to get it right. Jared still harbored grand notions about getting Caitlyn to stay because it was what she really wanted to do, and life-altering decisions like that took time to reach. She needed to get to know the pair of them, and much more about life in Impulse, before she was qualified to make that decision. Hell, they weren’t even sure if she was prepared to take on the pair of them as a package deal, and nothing else would work for Jared and Bryce. They needed to share their mate, just as they shared their bodies with one another. Besides, if Jared found out that Bryce had used emotional blackmail to force Caitlyn’s hand it would drive an unbridgeable wedge between them.

  “Nothing’s wrong,” he said. “I just didn’t want to wake him, that’s all.”

  Caitlyn frowned, like she wasn’t buying it, but said nothing, compelling Bryce to fill the loaded silence that ensued.

  “Have a seat. I’ll grab us some coffee.”

  He returned with coffee and cookies, which they shared in virtual silence.

  “Tell me about your relationship with Jared,” she said when she’d drained her cup. “I’ve never seen such a close bond between two men before. It makes me feel like an intruder.”

  He touched her hand. “You’ll never be that, darlin’. But yes, we’re pretty close. I owe him everything, you see, including my life.”

  “You too?” She quirked a brow. “Then we have something in common. Except I owe you for my life, as well.”

  He grasped her chin in his hand and smiled into her eyes. “Anytime,” he said.

  “So how did Jared come to save your life?”

  He shrugged. “I was young, being a jackass.”

  “You didn’t want to stay in Impulse, I’m guessing. Jared told me just now that a lot of young shifters are conflicted about that.”

  “Oh no, I planned to stay, there was never any question in my mind about that. But as part of my training as a masseur I had to make house calls in and around the area outside of Impulse. I wasn’t supposed to go alone because of the danger of being captured by our enemies. That
’s something we always have to be aware of. They’ll try anything to deplete our numbers. Anyway, on this particular occasion my buddy let me down, but I didn’t want to lose the client so I risked going alone.”

  “And walked right into a trap?”

  “Yep. It seems so obvious now, but like I said, I was young and felt invincible. Thought I knew it all.” He grinned. “Perhaps the client being a beautiful woman influenced my thinking, but I’d been to her several times and was pretty sure there was nothing suspicious about her. We enjoyed a flirtation, nothing more, but on the day I went alone she tried to entice me into having sex with her.”

  “Ah!”

  “Ah is right.” Bryce half-laughed, half-groaned. “She damned near succeeded, too, because she knew exactly which buttons to push to get my attention. When you’re as young as I was and you have all that testosterone floating around in your body, you don’t always stop to think with the appropriate part of your anatomy.”

  “Can they get to you that way?”

  “Sure, if I’d mated with her, I wouldn’t have been able to take her back to Impulse, so—”

  “So there would be one less cheetah here to procreate.”

  “Right. That’s how they chip away at our numbers.” Bryce stretched his arms above his head. “They don’t play nice.”

  “So how did Jared save the day?”

  “I’d been seeing him in his professional capacity. Even though I was determined to remain in Impulse I was still conflicted over finding the right human mate. I guess he saw the danger signs when I displayed such a reckless attitude and realized I’d be ripe for turning, as we call it.” Bryce sighed. “He got wind of the fact that I’d left the colony alone to do a massage and knocked on the door—”

  “Let me guess. At the vital moment.”

  Bryce laughed. “Right, although I didn’t find it amusing at the time. I called him every name under the sun, and then some. It took me a long time to accept that I really had been on the brink of being turned.”

  “It must be tough, always having to second guess invitations and stuff.”

  “You have no idea.” He brought his arms back down and one fell naturally across her shoulders. She didn’t seem to mind so he left it right where it was. “But the benefits more than outweigh the disadvantages.”

  “In what way?”

  “Well, for a start, we’re one big, mostly happy family here. We all look out for each other. I think of it as being like it must have been for the English during the Second World War. They never knew when they woke up in the morning if it was going to be their last day—especially those Spitfire pilots—so they lived it as though it was.”

  She nodded. “Live for the moment, you mean.”

  “Absolutely. We don’t have time to get bored or dissatisfied, well not for long, because we have to worry about surviving and trying to do good things. It kinda concentrates the mind.”

  She glanced up, and the somnolent smile she sent his way went straight to his groin. “Are you saying that the rest of us have it too easy?”

  “Well, don’t you? Everything’s immediate nowadays. I want, I want! No one’s prepared to wait or make long-term plans. Consumerism rules. Where’s the satisfaction in that?”

  “I guess you have a point.” She moistened her lips and offered up a decidedly wicked smile that caused her eyes to smolder. “And talking of satisfaction, what you did to me this morning was…well, indescribable. I’ve never known anything like it. You’re very good at what you do. Jared didn’t exaggerate about that. You made me forget everything that had happened—Mia, Tony’s murder, everything—and I’d have bet good money against that being possible.”

  “Well, we do things a little differently around these parts.”

  She laughed. “Tell me something I don’t know!”

  “For instance, have you ever had two men looking at you naked before?” That was a safe enough question and might lend a clue as to her thoughts of ménage relationships. After all, she brought the subject up.

  “No, I was embarrassed at first, but then I relaxed and it was a massive turn-on.”

  Bryce suppressed a smug smile and gently massaged her shoulder, tracing intricate patterns on it with the palm of his hand. “That’s good to know.”

  “You and Jared were aroused, too.”

  Bryce grinned. “I guess it was kinda hard for you not to notice that.”

  “But you didn’t do—”

  “It was for you.”

  “Well, now it’s payback time. Why don’t you let me do something for you?”

  Bryce was momentarily speechless. Her blush told him that she didn’t come on to guys as a matter of course. So was she really attracted to them, knowing what that meant, or did she just feel indebted? Before Bryce could decide, she moved with the speed of light and straddled his lap, bringing her ass down hard across his groin.

  There were two layers of denim between them, but his reaction was so strong and instantaneous that they might just as well have been buck naked. His already engorged prick, trapped inside his jeans, throbbed painfully. She rubbed back and forth against it, eyes closed, head tossed back to reveal the full length of her creamy neck. It was beyond Bryce’s willpower—would have been beyond any man’s in that situation—to resist kissing his way down the slender column. His tongue swirled in the hollow at its base where a strong pulse beat too fast.

  Shit, he was in trouble! If they took this any further, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop himself going all the way.

  “Caitlyn, I’m not sure this is such a good idea.”

  She chuckled, a full, rich, throaty sound that enchanted him, robbing him of the ability to think straight. “Your head and your cock seem to be in disagreement.”

  “You don’t owe me anything, babe, if that’s what this is about. I was happy to help you out. It’s what I do.”

  A cloud passed across her eyes, as though he’d said something to upset her. Before he could be sure, it was gone again, replaced with a smile so soft, sultry, and sinfully tempting that he was completely lost.

  Yeah, like you were in complete control before that!

  His hands slid beneath her top and worked their way up to her tits.

  “You realize,” he said in a velvety smooth tone, “that this is no longer work. Still, the good news is that when I play I’m equally dedicated.”

  She laughed. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  She lifted her butt and leaned over him, her hair cascading all over his face and tickling his nose. Her breath peppered his cheek as her lush lips captured his in a carnal kiss of deep intensity, as though she had something to prove. Bryce quit his half-hearted resistance and gave himself over to pleasure. Caitlyn was about to discover that her passion had found an equal and very willing partner.

  His tongue tickled the corners of her mouth, and he savored the sweet taste of her as his hands abandoned her tits and came to rest on her ass. He manipulated the small globes through her layers of clothing until a sob escaped from between their fused lips. He wasn’t sure which of them let it out and was beyond caring. His hand slipped between her legs from behind, brushing fleetingly against her clit time and again until another groan rent the air. This time it was definitely her who was responsible.

  She pulled her lips from his and wagged a finger at him.

  “Nice try,” she said breathlessly, “but this is for you.”

  Before he could stop her—and of course he’d fully intended to stop her—Caitlyn yanked down his zipper, unsnapped his jeans and reached inside. His cock sprang out of the opening, long and impressively thick. It pulsated wildly the moment her fingers closed around it. Bryce groaned as a tiny drop of pre-cum escaped and she bent her head to delicately lick it away.

  “You taste good,” she said, lifting her head again and running the tip of her tongue across her moist lips.

  Bryce swore, grabbed the hem of her top and pulled it over her head. He then unsnapped her bra
and threw it on the floor. Her perfect breasts fell into his eager hands, the aureoles pebbled, the nipples already rock hard. He sucked one into his mouth, nipping at it and tugging it away from her body until her flesh was stretched to its maximum.

  “You have very sensitive breasts.”

  “You have very skilled teeth.”

  He chuckled. “Did I hurt you just then?”

  “A bit, but I liked it.”

  Christ, she enjoyed pain and hadn’t freaked when he touched upon the subject of ménages. Any tiny doubts about her suitability as a mate evaporated. She was the one for them—no question.

  “Let me make you come,” she said in a hoarse voice, “like you did me.”

  Bryce lightly slapped her ass and grinned. “Finish what you started, wench!”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “That’s what I like. A bit of respect.”

  Caitlyn slithered gracefully to her knees, landing between Bryce’s splayed legs. He groaned as she took a firm hold of the base of his cock and lathed his balls with her tongue, sucking and nipping playfully, seeming to know just what he liked most without even asking. His thick heat expanded and throbbed as she increased the pressure of her fingers and slowly moved her hand, pumping upwards until his foreskin puckered over his slit, and then reversing the action.

  “Ohmygod!” She stopped what she was doing and clapped a hand over her mouth. “You’re pierced.”

  “Didn’t you notice earlier?”

  “Er, no. I guess I was preoccupied.”

  He chuckled. “Well, now you know.”

  “Doesn’t it hurt?”

  “Not in the least.” Bryce knew he shouldn’t say this but couldn’t help himself. “Just imagine how it would feel inside you.” He lowered his voice to a seductive purr. “Rubbing against the sensitive walls of your pussy.”