Her Winter Wolves

by Milly Taiden

  Zach swung out a hand. “Like Violet said, Grace knows your voice better, so tell her to get her tail moving.”

  “Don’t get pissy, Zach. I can’t help that she knows my voice more than yours. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were jealous.”

  “We’re a triad, Adam. Besides, alphas don’t do jealousy. Just call to her already.”

  Adam squinted into the mists trying to see through the miasma. “Grace, honey…it’s Adam!” His voice feathered across the fog in a soft echo. “Hear me, love. Please!”

  Zach shook his head. “She needs to be aroused, Adam. Something has to jar her or she’s not going to hear us. Either make her angry or make her wet. Pick one.”

  “What do you suggest we do? Have mind melting sex with her while she’s unconscious?” Adam shook his head. “Now I know why this rite is usually left to the females. Men suck at it.”

  Zach chuckled. “True, but I’m not wrong about how to stir her. Something’s got to agitate her into seeking us out, otherwise we’re going to lose her, and if that happens I am going to make that bitch Margot suffer for weeks instead of killing her quickly.”

  “Then agitate away, master shadow,” Adam replied.

  Zach walked into the center of the mist, his jaw set. “Gracie…I know you feel me, girl. I know you know I’m here. Remember our give and take in the snow this afternoon? You took everything I gave and still wanted more. You were so wet and tight, my cock is like a rock just thinking about it. So hot and hard, we melted that snow drift good. I know you loved it and I know you want more. So come and get me.”

  “This afternoon?” Mouth open, Adam turned incredulous. “Seriously, dude? Did you at least wait for me to pull out of the driveway before you played hide the sausage in the snow?”

  “I didn’t pull out at all. In fact, our girl took every inch and more.”

  Adam exhaled. “You suck, you know that?”

  “No, but Grace does, and boy, she does it so well.”

  Adam cocked his fist, ready to fly. “She’s our mate, you self-centered alpha asshole!”

  “Stop it right now! Both of you!” Grace’s figure hurried through the mist. Her voice was lower, raspy, with a distinct growly edge and when she emerged from the miasma, her eyes flashed red. “Our triad is about share and share alike. I thought we were linked in every way, but the minute I’m not the in between, you two go for the throat.”

  Stunned at the telltale wolf in her eyes, Adam spared a narrowed glance for Zach. “You know, for an irritating son-of-a bitch, you’re pretty smart.”

  The alpha smirked. “Glad you finally realize that.”

  With a sideways grin, Adam hauled off, punching Zach straight in the face. The alpha staggered back, blood trickling from his nose. The omega held his wrist, flexing and un-flexing his knuckles. “That was for the snow drift, you cocky son-of-a-bitch.”

  “Fair enough,” Zach said, rubbing his nose. “But it worked, right?”

  Grace stared at them, eyes still flashing. “Would one of you mind telling me where we are?”

  The two sobered immediately, each meeting her eyes as she spared a look for them.

  “Margot poisoned you, honey…it’s bad.”

  Grace’s eyes fired redder than flame and an angry lupine snarl ripped from her throat, but Violet’s scream pierced through their merge, jerking all eyes toward the sound.

  Adam inhaled, his jaw tightening against a sense of menace so strong, it pierced their mind melt. “It’s Margot. She must have tracked Violet here from the city.”

  “Bitch!” Grace lifted her face and inhaled as well, another low growl tearing loose.

  Zach turned, ready to jump and sever the merge. “Violet—”

  “No! We’ll lose Grace to the in between or worse, she’ll die!” Adam grabbed his arm. “Look at her! She’s so close to shifting.”

  Anguish shadowed Zach’s eyes, but he was resolute. “I’m the alpha, Adam. Pack first. Personal desires second.” He pulled from the Adam’s grip and turned toward the swirling vortex still behind them and took a step...

  12

  Margot walked from the cover of the trees, her Ermine coat blending with the snow and the winter gray trees. She hated this particular fur ever since a former assistant said the coat made her look like a muddy polar bear. Of course, she ruined the woman’s career for that, but the coat suited her stealth needs tonight, even if everyone was too preoccupied to hear her soft footfalls.

  Lifting the barrel, she pointed the gun at Violet’s head. “I never expected to find an entire pack of freaks. Still, I suppose I should thank you for providing such good directions, Violet. You saved me a bundle in private investigator fees.”

  “Be careful, Margot. This isn’t what it seems,” Violet replied, her voice shaking.

  Wes growled, taking a step from the circle, but the older woman shook her head. “Take another step, Fido, and I’ll put a neat little hole through Violet’s head.”

  The wolf’s lips pulled back and he snarled, baring his teeth. Legs splayed, he lowered his head, barking and growling as the others joined him.

  “Control your dogs, Violet! This is not a drill!” She pressed the nose of the barrel to Violet’s temple. The wolves quieted, but stayed coiled and ready to strike.

  “Much better.” Her eyes fell on Grace’s silent body. “As to what this seems, I think it’s perfectly clear. You and your freak friends are holding a memorial for Grace.” She snorted a cold laugh. “How touching. This makes my iPhone surprise an ingenious success. Almost poetic. A poisoned apple for a snow-white beauty.”

  Sliding her eyes back, she angled her head. “Why do you look so shocked, Violet? I’ve wanted Grace out of the way for years. I thought you understood that. With Grace dead, that means Snow Industries is mine.” She eyed the girl. “The only problem now is what to do with you and your mutts.” She exhaled and then tucked a stray hair behind Violet’s ear, making the girl flinch. “I’m sorry, honey. I suppose you were competent enough an assistant, but now you’re in my way.”

  Margot pulled back on the hammer, and its telltale click made Violet squeeze her eyes shut. A loud crash jerked both their heads around. From nowhere, a sleek gray wolf leapt from the candlelit ring, sailing over the others. Heavy paws knocked Margot away from Violet. The older woman fell backward, and the gun exploded in her hand, but the shot was lost.

  “Gracie!” Mind link shattered, Adam rushed toward the fray, but Zach held his arm, yanking him back.

  “This is her fight, Adam. Let her do what she needs to do.”

  Adam tried wrenching his arm from the alpha, but Zach squeezed harder, trying to make him see sense. “She needs to end this herself. Not us.” Jaw tight, the muscle in Adam’s cheek twitched, but he nodded and the two stood naked in the wind watching Grace take her vengeance.

  With a snarl, the gray wolf sank her teeth into Margot’s forearm. Jerking her arm up and back, the bones cracked at the elbow and the gun went flying. Margot screamed, but the sound died on the wind as the wolf tore at her throat.

  Margot slumped back, her body convulsing as blood poured from her open jugular. The woman’s eyes widened as Grace’s wolf stood on her chest, its muzzle coated red. The light faded from Margot’s eyes as steam rose from the snow where the blood pooled beneath her head, the last thing she saw were Grace’s dark eyes staring at her as she exhaled her last breath.

  An anguished howl so full of rage and sadness ripped from the gray wolf, and Grace bounded from the grisly scene into the woods.

  Both Adam and Zach raced after her, countering her speed with their own. They found her hunched in human form at the edge of the pond, holding her middle as everything hit her.

  “Grace, I know it’s hard. None of us ever likes taking a life. It’s not what being dual-natured is about, love, but sometimes it’s kill or be killed,” Zach said, resting a hand on her shoulder.

  Adam knelt in the snow beside her and slipped his arm around her waist. With his
other hand, he tipped her chin up. “You just gave the American Werewolf in London a run for his money, you know that?”

  “I’m a murderer, just like him,” she replied, but when she looked up, her eyes were dry. Serious, but dry. “I committed matricide.”

  Zach knelt on her opposite side and shook his head. “First of all, Margot wasn’t your mother. Not even close. I’m glad you’re not shedding a single tear for that bitch. She was more stepmonster than stepmother. Whether you knew it then or not, she arranged your mother’s death to wheedle her way into your father’s bed, and then tried to have you killed because she couldn’t make you her minion. The only thing that saved you was the fact you were out of the country. Out of sight, out of mind. You weren’t around so she still ruled the roost. But the moment you came back...” He nodded, letting his point trail off.

  “Zach’s right and you know it,” Adam replied. “I was there, little bird. I saw what she did and how she treated you. Besides, tonight you saved Violet and most likely Wes, too. Margot wasn’t going to be satisfied until everyone attached to you was neutralized.” Her eyes found his and he nodded. “Did you really think Arthur would be safe from her? Especially if you were dead? He and half of Snow’s board members would be in danger.”

  Grace frowned. “Do you really think she was crazy enough to murder Arthur and half the board?”

  “She threatened a shifter wolf pack with a gun and nothing but attitude,” Zach argued. “If that’s not crazy, then I don’t know what is, and to add to her stupidity, she actually thought she’d walk away from this alive. Even if she shot Violet, we’d have ripped her limb from limb if you didn’t get to her first.”

  Grace lifted a bloody hand, scooping up snow in the other to clean them. “You’re right,” she said, rubbing both palms together. “She would have killed Violet and probably a dozen more, including our wolves.”

  Zach looked at Adam. Their triad was truly bonded.

  Getting to her feet, Grace’s eyes fell to the gorgeous men who straightened along with her. Naked men. Very naked men. As naked as she. Flashing a teasing smile, she skipped ahead a few feet and then turned, lifting her chin. “I think I deserve a nice, hot bath, don’tcha think?”

  “Sure,” Zach said, matching her smirk. “We’ve got a tub big enough for three back at the lodge. Unless, of course, you’d rather go it alone.”

  She shook her head. “Well, maybe I’ll go it alone at first, only if you two watch. Then you can help me with my hard to reach places.”

  Adam slipped his arm around her waist. “Does that mean you’ll require a tongue bath, wolf-girl?”

  She shivered, and not from the cold. “Absolutely.”

  Epilogue

  “Grace! Zach!” Adam pushed aside the low branches from the weeping willow, its curved cascade dangling over the pond. He saw her lounging by the edge of the water, her feet submerged for a cool dip. “What are you two doing way out here?”

  “I was sweating to death at the lodge, so Zach drove me out on the ATV. I have to head into Manhattan in the morning to meet with Arthur, and I wanted to soak up as much peace as I could before the drive back to the asphalt jungle.” She lifted her face to the blue sky and inhaled.

  Adam’s eyebrow hiked into his hairline and he shot Zach a look. “The ATV? Do you want her to go into pre-term labor?”

  “She’s fine, mother hen. Besides, Grace’s doctor appointment is in an hour or so. Ask him to check her out if you don’t believe me.” Zach chucked a rock in the pond and then wiped his hands on his jeans. “We’d better get going, though. It’s still a hike to the hospital.”

  Grace ran a hand over her burgeoning belly and smiled to herself. “No need, boys. I already went.”

  “What?” they asked in stereo.

  “When?” Adam questioned.

  She tilted her head and blew him a kiss. “You’re so cute when you worry. I went this morning. Violet drove me. The ultrasound tech had a cancellation, so rather than waste the day waiting, I asked her to take me.”

  A secret smile played on her lips and both men moved to flank her as she swirled her feet in the pond.

  “Okay, wolf-girl, you don’t smile like that unless you’ve got a secret. What gives?” Zach asked.

  She patted either side of the grass, motioning for them to sit. “Well, it just so happens I have news.”

  Adam angled his head, wary. “Is everything okay with the baby? With you?”

  “I’m fine and so is our bundle.” She patted her stomach. “Come on, both of you. Sit. I want to ask you something.”

  The two hulking shifters sat beside her and waited. “Well,” Zach said, covering her hand with his on her belly. “As long as you’re both okay, then I’m okay.”

  Adam nodded. “Ditto.”

  “I know that.” She looked at them both. “When I first told you we were going to have a baby, remember when I asked if you were both secure enough in our triad to accept the baby, regardless of which of you turned out to be the biological father?”

  Adam nodded again. “How could we forget? You were a nervous wreck.”

  “We told you then, Grace. It’s our baby. The three of us. If a gay couple can have two dads, then why not us?” Zach added.

  She struggled to reach her back pocket and after wiggling her fingers into the snug denim, she pulled out a small black and white picture and held it against her chest.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Adam asked.

  Grace smiled. “It’s today’s ultrasound shot. Plus, I got the results from the amniocentesis. There’s nothing wrong with the baby. It’s not some mutant growing at three times the speed of a normal fetus, then again, normal babies don’t have huge wolf shifter sires, but I’m getting away from what I wanted to tell you.”

  “Ugh, Grace. For God’s sake, land your plane already,” Zach grumbled. “What do you have to tell us?”

  She lowered the ultrasound picture. “It’s twins. We’re having twins.”

  Adam laughed out loud and slipped the picture from her fingers, staring at it like the miracle it was. Zach leaned over and kissed her and then kissed her belly.

  “This is amazing!” Adam said, handing the pic to Zach. “And the test results said both babies are fine?”

  Grace nodded. “More than fine. We’re having a boy and a girl. One of each…and one from each.” She waited for her words to hit home.

  Both men stopped what they were doing and looked at her.

  “Wait,” Adam said, angling his head. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  A huge smile spread across her lips. “The babies are fraternal twins, and while I’m their mother, they don’t have the same biological father.”

  Zach blinked. “You mean—”

  “Yes. One is from a black wolf and one is from a white wolf. Maybe they’ll both be gray like me, but I’m carrying your children. Literally. Both of you fathered children in my womb.”

  They both grinned ear to ear and leaned in, kissing her cheek.

  “Whose baby is whose, then?” Zach asked, but Gracie shook her head. “My lips are sealed, and don’t get any bright ideas. I had the doctor deep six my test results.”

  “Why?” Adam asked. “Don’t you trust us?”

  She nodded. “With my life and the life of our children, but if memory serves, you punched Zach in the face over a romp in a snow drift. You two love me, no question…but you are the most competitive wolves I know. Truly an alpha and an omega—but in this, I hold the first and the last.

  Zach laughed and leaned back, dangling his own bare feet in the water with Grace. Adam did the same, and their feet swirled and circled and intertwined, the ripples merging and growing before spreading out into the larger pond.

  He looked at Adam and knew then and there they both had the same thought. It didn’t matter who fathered whom. They were a family. Tilting his head, Adam looked from Zach to Grace and winked. “How’d you get so tough, Ms. Snow?”

  She sh
rugged. “From my Winter Wolves.”

  About the Author

  Award Winning Author

  Hi everyone! I’m Marianne Morea. I was born and raised in New York, and there’s nothing like the ‘the city that never sleeps’ to inspire sexy stories and romantic suspense. I began my career after college as a budding journalist and later earned a Masters in Fine Art, from The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, but it’s my lifelong love affair with words and books, and the fantasies and ‘what ifs’ they stir, that finally led me to do what I love most. Write. I live in New York with my hubby and our three children, two dogs, one cat and a lizard named fingers. I’m always interested in chatting with readers, so sign up for my newsletter and check out my Facebook page and Instagram!

  Email: mariannea@mariannemorea.com

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  If you enjoyed the story, please feel free to email me. Reviews are always welcome on Amazon and Goodreads!

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