by Milly Taiden
Her breath heaved in short pants as she struggled to sit up. “Why did you stop? You know you want this. Or is this another triad rule?”
Zach took her hand and moved it to his crotch. His cock strained behind the rough denim and he pressed her palm against the hard length. “I’m the alpha, Grace. Rules don’t apply to me, but in this case, I choose to wait for Adam.”
“So everyone gets a choice, right?” she asked, scrambling to get up. “Then you know what? I choose the city, the same as my mother. The hell with all these games.” She threw a hand in the air. “You know, I can’t remember when I didn’t want Adam, and yeah, I want you, too. I’d have to be blind, deaf, and completely devoid of a sex drive not to, but I don’t like cocky dogs, and you, my friend, are way too sure of your cock.”
She sniffed, lifting her chin as she left him there in the snow. “At least Adam seduced my brain as well as my body. He brought me to climax with just his words—or damn close to it! So you can wipe the smirk off your face, Mr. Strong, Silent type, that’s the last time—”
“Grace, stop!” Zach scrambled to his feet, smirk gone.
“No, you stop!” Ranting, she stalked through snow-covered weeds onto a part of the pond camouflaged by loose brush. A cracking sound echoed in the quiet and she froze, her gaze dropping to her feet.
She looked up, panic settling in her throat. “Zach!” In a whoosh, her hands flew up and she fell through the ice into the frigid water.
He stripped out of his pants and dove through the cracked ice, eyes frantic as he searched the icy water for Grace. He caught a glimpse of her nightgown in the murk and dove toward the hint of white, her long dark hair making it hard to spot her in the gloom.
Clasping hold of Grace’s arm, Zach swam with her to the surface, pulling her behind him with every stroke. From below, he used all his strength to shove her onto thicker ice. He climbed up and knelt beside her, rolling her onto one side.
“Grace!” he yelled, shaking her. Her skin and lips were blue and he knew he only had minutes. Shifter blood or not, she wouldn’t survive the hypothermia.
He lifted his head and let out a howl, but in human form, it only traveled so far, its meaning lost to the wind. Hooking his arms under hers, he dragged her to the shore. Laying her flat, he pressed his ear to her mouth. Nothing.
“Fuck!” Lacing his fingers hand over hand, he thumped the center of her chest once and started compressions. He counted thirty and then tilted her head back. “C’mon, Gracie!” Pinching her nose, he blew two breaths into her mouth twice. “Breathe, damn it!”
She coughed, and Zach scrambled to roll her onto her side again. Water trickled from the corner of her mouth. “Thank God!” He sat back on his heels for a second and then dug in his pants pocket for his cell phone. Scrolling, he pressed call.
“Hello?”
“Adam! Grace fell through the ice on Eagle Pond.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “We need the ATV, pronto!”
“Jesus, Zach! Run her back to the house! It’s faster.”
“Can’t. She’s hypothermic. I need to shift to keep her warm. Now, Adam!” Zach didn’t waste another word. He hung up and tossed the cell phone onto his pants and dug a shallow trench in the snow, filling it with dead leaves and whatever else soft he could find. He laid Grace in the soft pile and then lifted his face to the sky.
In a snap of bone and sinew, his body reformed. Muscles ripping and reshaping as his human form transformed to a beautiful wolf. With a whine, he laid in the trench, careful not to crush Grace, but giving her every ounce of body heat he could muster.
She lay motionless, and this time he raised his head and howled again, sure the call would be heard and answered. The wind rustled and he caught a trace of something in the air. Nothing overt. Just off. His guard went up along with his senses.
Gracie moaned and he whined. He should never have let her storm off. Her breathing was shallow at best. Where the hell was Adam?
The roar of an ATV crunching through leaves and branches reverberated through the trees and Zach barked. Finally, the all-terrain vehicle crashed through to the bank, but Adam parked away from the edge, not sure what was ground and what was ice.
He threw the ATV into park and rushed forward with blankets. Zach half barked, half growled, and Adam shot him a dirty look. “Don’t give me that. You try arguing with Grace when she gets something into her head.”
Zach’s bark-growl was a wolfy, tell me something I don’t know, and Adam shook his head, taking Zach’s pants and cell phone with him as he gathered Grace to his arms. “Meet me back at the house. This is going to take both of us.”
Heavy paws hit the earth and the sound was menacing as the other wolves showed. They followed Zach to the house, but waited outside in wolf form as he transformed to human. The ATV engine was still warm, so the others knew they were just minutes behind Adam.
“Run the perimeter,” Zach instructed. “I sensed something earlier that doesn’t belong in the woods. It might be hikers or someone trapping or a car that went off the road in the snow, but it might be something else. Find out. Keep yourself on the down low. If it’s trappers, I don’t want anyone caught.”
8
“Adam!” Zach shouted looking from the kitchen toward the fireplace. “Where are you?”
“Up here! Gracie’s room,” he answered.
Taking the stairs two at a time, Zach raced into the room. Adam had Grace in a pile of blankets and had the fireplace in the room stoked.
“What about a hot bath?” Zach said, already moving toward the en suite bathroom.
Adam shook his head. “No. Rewarming too quickly might cause Grace’s heart to go into arrhythmia. Warm blankets and a hot fire is best. Slow and steady. We need to watch her closely. That kind of cold can slow respiration. If she starts shivering, it’s a good thing. Shuddering like that means the heat is reaching her core.”
Zach watched her. Grace’s lips were still purple, but at least her skin was no longer gray-blue. “What do we do now?”
“We wait,” Adam replied and then looked at Zach. “Shifting to wolf form may have saved her life, Zach. That was quick thinking.” He dragged a hand through his sandy hair. “What the hell was she doing on the ice, anyway?”
He snorted. “Yelling at me.”
A close-lipped grin pushed at Adam’s lips. “Wow. We’re hitting on all cylinders, aren’t we?”
“Look, it’s hard enough for any triad to find a mate to complete their threesome, but even harder when their designated mate wants only one third.” Zach looked at his omega. “Grace is in love with you, Adam. Or did that escape your notice for ten years?”
Adam’s fingers curled into his hand. “I haven’t touched her, Zach. I upheld our tenets.” He paused. “Even last night when all I wanted was to take her every way she’d let me, I didn’t. The rest, well, it sort of just happened. Grace is—”
“I know.” Zach nodded, cutting him off. “She’s irresistible. Especially when she’s angry.” He whistled low. “Those flashing dark eyes and sexy curves.”
Adam laughed. “You, too? Is that how she ended up on the ice?”
“You two need to stop talking about me as if I’m not here.” Grace’s voice was hoarse and barely audible.
“Gracie!” Adam rushed to the side of the bed. “So much for figuring out the woods, wolf-girl.”
She tried to smile, but winced. “Wolf-girl is right. I found Zach, so shut it.”
“Uhm, more like I found you,” Zach replied, moving to join her on the opposite side.
Grace turned her head and blinked. Zach was naked. Utterly and amazingly naked. His bottom half was just as good as the top with strong muscled thighs and that gorgeous vee she saw shirtless earlier, only now she followed it straight down to—oh my God!
She closed her eyes and swallowed. “Adam, did you know we have a choice in this threesome thing? At least, that’s what Zach says.”
Adam squeezed her hand through the pile of
blankets. “No, Grace. You have a choice. Zach and I don’t.” Before either could say another word, Grace’s eyes flew open before rolling back in her head.
Violent shudders took her body. Her muscles contracting in spasms, her entire being shivering to the point her teeth chattered, threatening to crack.
“Quick! Another blanket. There’s one hanging by the fire.” Adam pointed to a towel rack he moved from the bathroom.
“And this is normal?” Zach grabbed the blanket and spread it over Grace. “For Christ’s sake, Adam, she’s going to break every tooth in her mouth if not her jaw!”
Adam looked at him, nonplussed. “The only other thing I know to do is skin-to-skin contact.”
“Skin-to-skin?” Zach repeated. “Yes, heat donors, giving Grace our body heat while keeping her calm.”
The two men scrambled. Adam added more logs to the fire and then banked the edge before stripping out of his clothes. Zach turned up the thermostat and they both crawled in beside Grace’s naked, shivering form. They huddled close, her body still like ice.
“This would be so much easier on her if she could shift,” Zach said, wrapping his arm around her waist, spooning close to her side.
“One step at a time, bro. She’s been here less than twenty-four hours and the three of us are naked in the same bed.” Adam smirked. “Of course, you had to nearly kill her to get her here, but, hey.”
“Fuck you, omega-man.”
“Can we concentrate on our lady, please? Every spasm is killing me to watch.”
Zach exhaled. “Hold her tight. I’m going to rub her down, try and get her blood moving.”
Tightening his grip, Adam cuddled closer. “Rub away, dude, just as long as you don’t give yourself a rub and tug while you’re at it.”
“Again, fuck you.”
Adam grinned. “No problem.”
Zach massaged Grace’s back, arm and thigh, hoping the friction would help their combined heat to penetrate. “She’s going to be exhausted.”
Grace sucked in a breath and her body arched. The two men tensed, Zach’s hand frozen on her chilled arm. “What now, brainiac?” he asked.
She exhaled hard, the breath rough and weedy. Grace’s back relaxed into the mattress and her entire body went limp. She was still cold, but no longer shivering. Small beads of sweat dotted her forehead and she opened her eyes.
“Hey, there, polar bear,” Zach said, running a finger down the bridge of her nose. “The next time you want to go swimming, let’s make sure the temperature is above frigid. I know you’re part shifter but, girl, you scared us.”
She turned her head, moving it slowly from one man to the other. “Adam?” she croaked. “How did I get here?”
“Zach called my cell. You fell through the ice. He dove in and pulled you out.”
She turned again, this time to face Zach. “Were you a wolf?”
He grinned. “The better to save you with, my dear.”
Inhaling another breath, she held it for a moment, frowning. “Did you say cell phone?” She turned her head on the pillow again only to meet Adam’s sheepish grin. “I thought you said there was no coverage up here.”
He shrugged. “I guess they put in a new tower.” Zach raised a questioning brow, and Adam met his gaze. “I had to ditch her cell because I knew her bitch of a stepmother was tracking the device. Every cell phone issued by Snow Industries has a standard tracking app, mine included. It’s why I left them behind in the car.” He shrugged. “The car’s GPS system is tracked as well.”
“Why? Is Grace in danger?” Zach asked.
Adam nodded and filled the alpha in on the details.
Zach leaned up on his elbow and Grace shivered, making him slump back to her side. “Why didn’t you tell me all this when you called to say you were heading north? Boy, you are one lucky pup we’re stuck in this bed right now, or I’d kick your ass for letting Grace chase me around in the woods.”
Grace coughed. “Let me? You two need to know something right now. If I decide to give this threesome a go, it will be on my terms. The words let me or allow me will never be part of the deal. Got it? Equal partners.”
Adam and Zach exchanged looks. “So, you’re considering us?” Adam asked.
Her eyes met his, before moving to Zach. “Yes. For some reason, I can’t get the two of you out of my mind. Both separately and together.” She turned, trying to speak to both of them. “Every time I close my eyes, even while I shivered my bones to powder, I had you both in my head. I felt you beside me. Every inch of you. Both.” Their eyes were on her. “So we’re agreed about treating me like an equal and not a fragile possession, right?”
Adam leaned in and kissed her. “Agreed.”
His lips lingered a moment and then when he pulled back, she turned to the alpha. “Zach?”
With a quick exhale he nodded, laying his hand on her cheek and pressing a kiss to her lips as well. “Agreed. But with one condition. After I pulled you from the water and Adam rushed you back to the house, I sensed something or someone in the woods. It’s probably nothing, but now that Adam let me in on what happened at Snow, it might be not be so innocent. I would rather you stay put and not wander past the perimeter of the house until we’re sure.”
She looked at them both. “I may be stubborn, but I’m not stupid. Okay. No wandering from the path. I promise.” She crossed her chest like kids do.
“Good.” Adam nodded. “Because the big bad wolves you have to worry about are right here.”
She met his eyes and a mischievous grin played on her lips. “Really? And just how big and bad are you?”
“Care to find out, Ms. Snow?” Zach growled, placing her hand on his thickening cock.
“Pond water and sweat, boys.” Grace shook her head. “I’m too nasty to even think about letting either of you near my nether regions.”
“I think I have a solution for that.” Adam took her free hand and lifted her fingers to his lips. “How about a nice, hot shower?”
Zach nodded as well, sliding his hand from her waist to cup her breast. “Very hot.”
The feel of their lips and hands sent electric heat skittering across her skin and she closed her eyes. This was insane. Yeah, insanely delicious.
Never in a million years did she think this was possible outside her fantasies, yet here she was between two hot shifters. And they were into her…her. Not some bony-assed supermodel that had to layer clothes just to look like she had a shape.
Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake featured in the back of her head, the lyrics to It’s okay to put us in a 3-way, loud and clear in her mind. The Saturday Night Live skit was never so on the money. Hey, boys, I want you both…I hope you think that’s cool…
If the guys were okay with dueling swords together with her, then who was she to argue? Triad rules…rules of convention. Who cared? Not with both men and their amazing bodies close enough to taste. Zach said she had a choice, and right now, she wanted them both. Hot. Naked. And share and share alike.
“Okay. You win.”
The two exchanged glances. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Adam asked, propping himself up on one elbow.
“Look at it this way. I can’t have you separately until I’ve had you both, so why not?” She gave them a crooked smile. “Three is for me…for now.”
“When we’re done with you, one man will never be enough.” Zach kissed her shoulder and then swung his legs over the edge of the mattress.
“Unless it’s one of us,” Adam added with a grin. “C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up so we can make you really diiirrrrty.” He threw the covers back, leaving Grace under a mountain of blankets.
“Hey, aren’t you forgetting something?” She giggled as they both turned. “You are going to dig me out from this pile, right?”
Adam looked at Zach and laughed. “You’re in charge of search and rescue today. I’ll get the shower steaming.”
“Make it nice and hot,” Grace called after.
/> Adam turned “Oh, honey, the only heat I’m interested in is between your legs.”
In seconds, Zach scooped her up, tossing her over his shoulder, leaving a trail of blankets and bounded toward the bathroom with Grace in squeals.
9
The bathroom swirled with steamy ribbons as Zach stepped down into the sunken shower. Grace’s body slid down his frame, skin on skin, against every hard plane and rippled muscle. Before she could say a word, his mouth took hers as he walked her back into the warm jets beside that weird marble chaise she saw when she first arrived.
Naked, Adam circled them, sliding in behind Grace. He slipped one arm around her waist as he kissed the back of her neck, his free hand roaming the full curve of her ass and between her legs.
She moaned, breaking her kiss with Zach to watch him grip his long, corded cock. Zach took her mouth again, his fingers kneading the fleshy mounds of both breasts. Dipping his mouth to her throat, his thumbs teased her nipples until they crested hard and stiff beneath his rough pads.
Grace reached around and covered Adam’s hand as he jerked his thick shaft. He sucked in a breath as her long fingers took over, working the ridged mass. Sliding his hand to her waist, Zach sunk to his knees and pushed her thighs wide. He buried his face in her pussy, the soft, wet down dripping from the shower spray.
“Christ,” he groaned. “You’re fucking wet. I can’t wait to lick your pussy.” Spreading her pretty, slick pussy lips, he tongued her clit, slipping his fingers into her smooth cleft.
Zach’s fingers curled into her spot and circled deep as he sucked her clit. Her legs shook as her body crested toward climax. His mouth sent shivers down her thighs and she prayed her legs wouldn’t give out.
Adam moved to her side from behind and slid his hand under her chin, lifting her face. “Fuck her pussy with your tongue,” he told Zach. “You work those lips, while I watch her wrap her mouth around my cock.”
He held her hand, helping her straddle that weird marble chaise before lowering her sweet ass to the seat. With a grin, she watched Zach climb between her legs again while Adam fisted his cock, pressing it to her lips. This seat was fucking ingenious.