Dungeon Research [The Dom's Dungeon 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Cara Adams

  That wasn’t one hundred percent accurate since shape-shifters tended to breed two boys for each girl, which was why they needed to look around for human wives. But it was close enough for a broad first explanation. He never took his gaze from Nerida, and she simply nodded at him, neither showing any emotion nor replying.

  “Shape-shifters hide their identity from the rest of the world. From time to time throughout history, they have been persecuted and blamed for all kinds of evil deeds. I’m not saying no shape-shifter has ever done wrong, but they’re just people like anyone else. Mostly good, but with the occasional less-good one in the pack.”

  Again he stopped and looked at her, wanting her to respond.

  “What kind of shape-shifters are you referring to in particular here?” she asked.

  “Werewolves.”

  “And you what? Belong to an organization that offers them help and support? Is The Dom’s Dungeon a place they can hide out? Does Bailey and Bond help them when someone persecutes them?”

  “So many questions,” he said. And she hadn’t made the leap he was hoping for. She hadn’t asked if he was a werewolf.

  She didn’t say anything to justify her questions. He supposed they rather stood for themselves. “It’s not my place to make comments about the dungeon or the attorneys. I can only answer for myself. I’m rather more involved than just offering support to werewolves. I am a werewolf shape-shifter. And now that I’ve told you that, you hold my life in your hand. You need to share some information about yourself in response.”

  “I will, but not yet. First, we need to unpack this story about you. It wasn’t exactly what I expected to hear.”

  Chapter Seven

  Nerida was in a state of shock. She wasn’t sure what kind of thing she’d expected Gavan to say, but it sure as hell wasn’t that he was a fucking wolf. It was lucky that she was sitting in a hot tub because, if she’d been dressed and sitting on a chair, she might have fled the room right then. Although running away wasn’t a solution. He was correct in that she did need to know this and to deal with it. After all she’d fucked the man and come to like him very much.

  Suddenly she had a thought and turned to Taj. “You’re very quiet. What about you?”

  He shook his head. “I’m human through and through, but Gavan is my best friend. I trust him with my life. And yours.”

  “Start again from the beginning, Gavan. Are both your parents wolves?” She needed to be logical to get a grip on this.

  “They’re both wolves, and I was born into a pack. I moved here to study and work, and I’m very much at home here at the BDSM club. Interspecies matings and ménages are approved by the head of the werewolves here in America. The moment I saw you cross the dance floor with Adelaide I knew you were the woman I wanted. Taj felt exactly the same thing, and we agreed to share.”

  That was significant. “You’ve shared a woman before.” It wasn’t a question. She was certain they had.

  “Yes, but not recently, and neither of us was in a relationship when we saw you. We both want you.” It was Taj who answered this time.

  Nerida sat up straighter in the water. “I need to see you as a wolf. I need to know whether or not you frighten me. Can you transform whenever you want to or only under a full moon or something?”

  “I can change as often as I want to. There’s no special preparation required.”

  “Will you change for me right now? I’m sorry if it’s painful for you, but I must know.”

  “It doesn’t hurt. It’s completely natural, and I understand your need to know. Just be aware that Taj and I will be questioning you next.”

  She grinned. Her pathetic little story wasn’t going to make any impact at all after Gavan’s huge revelation.

  Gavan climbed out of the hot tub and moved into the center of the bathroom. It wasn’t a huge room. Obviously it was bigger than the average hotel bathroom because it had a shower and a hot tub. But there was really only space for a single person to walk between the tub, the shower, and the sink, at any one time.

  He stood facing her for a long moment, and then his body sort of shimmered, and he was gone. In his place was a very large shaggy black dog. No, not a dog, of course. He’d told her he was a wolf. Not that she knew the differences between dogs and wolves without doing some research. She stared at him some more. He was big. His coat was shaggy. His body looked sturdy and muscular. She’d seen all that at first glance.

  On second glance, he didn’t look so much like a dog. There was an element of wildness about him. Even fierceness. But he didn’t look vicious. And most important of all, he didn’t frighten her in the least. She moved to the side of the tub and sat on the rim, so she could touch his fur. Like his beard, it wasn’t prickly. In fact it was softer than his beard, more like head hair. She held his muzzle in her hand and looked into his eyes. Oh yes, those were Gavan’s dark eyes. She’d know him anywhere, as long as she was close enough to recognize his eyes.

  “I’m not afraid of you, but I do have some questions now and likely will have lots more questions later. But first, what are the differences between you and a human man, apart from the whole fur, four legs, and tail thing you have going on there?”

  Taj laughed and gave her a hug. “I knew you’d be fine with it,” he said into her hair as he nuzzled her neck.

  She leaned back against Taj. Fine with it? Was she okay with Gavan being a werewolf shape-shifter? She supposed she was. He was still Gavan. But there would be some adjusting to do.

  Gavan transformed back into human form and climbed into the tub again. “I don’t see any differences in myself from other males at all. I guess wolves are more likely to be possessive of their woman, and a number of them do like BDSM. I suppose that’s the need to be in charge coming out. But other than that, no, nothing.”

  “You don’t have to change on a regular basis to exercise?”

  “Going to the gym and working out there, running on a treadmill for example, is all I need to do to exercise. I live alone, so I can change inside my apartment whenever I want to. Many wolves find human exercise is adequate for their needs, although some wolves have an urge to transform regularly. I suppose if I was somewhere that I couldn’t change I might have a different answer, but I’m fine right now.”

  Nerida nodded. Learning he was a shape-shifter had been a huge surprise, but already she was adjusting to it. Who he was and what he meant to her hadn’t altered at all. She guessed it was like learning someone’s relative was a major celebrity. It might impinge on her future activities somewhat, but it didn’t change anything about the person she knew.

  “Now, Nerida, what are you hiding from us?” asked Taj, pulling her more tightly back against his chest.

  She sighed and wiggled away from him, shifting back to her original position surrounded by bubbles and leaning against the wall. Yeah. She ought to tell them. “After your revelation, it’s going to seem really silly and unimportant. But it’s important to me. And as Gavan said before, my story involves other people, and their lives might be endangered if you don’t remain silent.”

  * * * *

  Taj wished he could have continued to hold Nerida, but looking at her face as she told her story would be good as well. It wasn’t half an hour since they’d been in bed together, and already he wanted her again. He suspected she was like a drug and he’d never get enough of her.

  He widened his legs to give his cock more space to move and spread his arms out along the top of the hot tub. Then he watched Nerida, waiting for her to begin speaking.

  She sighed and gave her body a little shake then sat up straighter against the side of the tub. He’d seen her do that before. It must be her way of preparing herself for a discussion. That was something new he’d just learned about her.

  “When you first asked about my job, I told you I’d worked for quite some time for a multinational petroleum company. They actually terminated me almost a year ago when I refused to spin some really bad news as a positive
for them. I looked for other jobs, but really, no one needs someone with a degree in English, and all my work experience was in research. So I began to freelance. Maybe half the work I was offered was to check up on suspected cheating partners. I suppose I should have expected that. It’s the one thing everyone wants to know.”

  Taj hadn’t ever thought about the availability of work for graduates, but now that it was laid out for him, he had to guess that someone like him, with a trade certificate, had a more obviously direct line to employment. His paperwork listed all the things he could do, and if that’s what an employer needed, it was crystal clear he could do the job. Writing a report was a lot less black and white. Especially if the company wanted the facts twisted in their own way.

  “I’m sorry you were terminated. I agree that you shouldn’t be forced to tell lies though.”

  She gave him the tiniest of smiles. “I set up a new identity on Facebook to friend people. It’s amazing how much people tell about themselves on Facebook. A picture of a married man with a longneck in one hand and a half-naked woman, who is not his wife in the other, is somewhat incriminating. At the very least he owes his wife an explanation. All I do is sit at my computer and research. But I do take rather elaborate precautions to hide my real name and my physical address in case a discovered cheating partner comes looking for me.”

  “It’s too dangerous. I appreciate that you need to earn a living, but surely there are easier and safer ways of doing it,” said Gavan, his Dom look firmly in place.

  Uh-oh. Taj thought Gavan should have moderated himself a little. He was going to upset Nerida if he spoke to her like that.

  “How would you suggest I do that? By working as a waitress in a titty bar for two bucks an hour and flaunting my physical assets in the hope of earning enough tips to live on?”

  “No, of course not,” said Gavan.

  “That was the only choice I had. At least, my way, no one is touching my body without my consent. Anyway, it’s irrelevant. My sister lost her job when her manager framed her for the theft of some company funds. At the moment all my spare time is spent trying to prove her innocent.”

  “That’s why you spoke to Allegra. You asked Allegra to help your sister,” said Taj, understanding at last.

  “Not quite. I offered to work for Allegra to research a mutual troublemaker.”

  “Your sister’s former manager?” asked Gavan.

  Nerida shook her head. “The attorney he hired to coerce her into accepting the blame for something she didn’t do.”

  Taj had the name of just such an attorney on the tip of his tongue but couldn’t recall it. “The man who tried to harm Allegra. He had an unusual name. I know it, I just can’t think of it right now. Hall something? Something Hall?”

  Nerida didn’t answer, but he had the feeling it was her refusal to breach confidence that held her back, not the inability to remember the man’s name. What the fuck is it? I know it?

  “Lillington-Hall. The man who threatened to smash her feet or something like that at a cocktail party. Half of Richmond heard him make the threat,” said Gavan.

  “That’s it.” Taj smiled at his best friend.

  “And Allegra is helping to clear your sister’s good name?” asked Taj, wanting to be sure he understood everything.

  “She’s agreed to represent Lacey if the matter comes to court, but I really hope to prove Lacey had nothing to do with it. They were crazy to try to put the blame on her. She was an admin assistant, not a bookkeeper. She didn’t even have the passwords to those accounts to access them.”

  “Are they trying to say she hacked the accounts?” Taj asked.

  He moved closer to Nerida as she went back to the beginning and explained everything to him and Gavan. He was touched that she trusted them enough to give them all the details. It meant their relationship had progressed a long way in just a few hours. They really were in a proper relationship now, telling each other deep things and trying to help each other. This is what he wanted for the rest of this life. Nerida, him, and Gavan, working together to make all their lives better and happier places.

  * * * *

  Gavan had managed to shut up after Taj gave him a fierce look, but every one of his protective instincts was standing up and demanding he listen to it. No wonder Nerida hadn’t told them her last name or let them pick her up from her home. What if some raving psycho got hold of her address, or followed her home? She’d be helpless and defenseless against whatever happened to her. She and her sister both.

  Plus, it sounded like her work barely covered her own expenses. How was she able to look after her sister as well? At the very least her sister deserved some kind of a payout for illegal dismissal and harassment or whatever the correct term was. Every fiber in his body demanded that he protect and care for Nerida. He just wasn’t sure how to go about doing it. Clearly she wasn’t looking for his help or support, and likely she’d brush him off if he tried to guard her. But the very least he could do was offer for her and her sister to move into his apartment with him.

  Gavan was by no means wealthy, but he didn’t depend on his paycheck at the BDSM club for his living. It was time to tell Nerida and Taj a little bit about his background.

  “My father was born into a very small and declining pack of werewolf shape-shifters in Texas. At the time when he was born, the pack was in the midst of major discussions about leaving their traditional land and joining with another pack elsewhere. Then oil was found nearby, so they decided to have their land checked for oil as well.”

  “You’ve never told me this story before. So was any oil found?” asked Taj.

  Gavan was watching Nerida. She looked thoughtful, and he wondered if she’d already guessed where his conversation was going.

  “One fairly small oil well was dug on their land, and the pack sold the land to the oil company. Every family received enough money to move and settle somewhere else comfortably. No one was rich, but none of them would ever need to work again as long as they didn’t waste their inheritance. My grandmother handled the money and made sensible choices, so by the time I was born, I inherited a small share portfolio. We aren’t talking megabucks here, but it means we could get a condo in a building in a nice neighborhood with excellent security. Then you would be safe, Nerida.”

  “Are you saying you want me to move in with you both? Into a condominium you’ll choose?” asked Nerida.

  “Since we’ll all be living together, all three of us will have to like our new home. My only concern would be the safety aspect. I don’t mind what else you choose as long as I can go to work knowing you’re safe. I’d like it better if you didn’t have to do risky work, but I accept your statement that there’s nothing else you want to do at the moment.”

  “If—when I solve this case for Allegra, I’ll be asking her for a reference as a researcher. Likely that might open a few doors for me, but it’s all in the future right now. Moving in with you is a very big step, though, and my sister’s safety is far more important than mine. I have to stay with her.”

  “If we’re leasing a condo, surely we can get one with enough rooms that there’s one for her to stay in as well. You’ll need a workspace, too, but there must be places with several rooms, or even a nook, for you to put your desk,” said Taj.

  Gavan encouraged Taj and Nerida to talk some more. They needed to adjust to the idea and accept it. It was a rather big leap to go from their first dungeon scene, via their first double penetration sex, to him coming out as a wolf to moving in together. Actually when he said it all in one sentence like that, it just about blew his own mind away, and it was absolutely what he wanted.

  But really, he was certain it was what both of them wanted as well. Maybe Nerida would still need to come to terms with him being a wolf, but all the rest of it was pretty straightforward. He knew she’d wanted the dungeon and the sex, and she wasn’t averse to living together either. She was just worried about her sister. Damn, he needed to worry about Lacey as well. Why th
e fuck had some manager framed her? To cover his own guilt or what?

  * * * *

  Nerida’s mind was racing. So much had happened so fast she felt almost breathless just thinking about it all. Of course she’d arrived knowing she’d experience her first dungeon scene and anticipating double penetration sex. They were foregone conclusions. It wasn’t totally unexpected that the men would ramp up their claims to spend more time with her either. That was a natural progression of a relationship, although moving in together after just a few weeks was rather fast.

  The whole werewolf thing she hadn’t expected. She wasn’t even sure she’d believed in paranormal beings until she’d seen Gavan change shape. She had researched several instances in the past where there was no logical explanation for various outcomes, so she supposed shape-shifters weren’t totally outrageous though.

  She sank down under the water until only her head was out of it, curved her hand, and drew the foamy bubbles on the top of the water closer to her until they hid her shape completely. Do I want to live with them? What about Lacey? She didn’t seem to mind when I told her two men were interested in me.

  Living in a nice neighborhood would help Lacey as well. Poor Lacey had been pretty much hiding in the apartment, only leaving occasionally to go to the store, and even then, she wore baggy sweats and sunglasses to disguise herself. Fortunately, with her new short blonde hair, Lacey looked very different from before.

  What about the future? Nerida refused to consider not being able to clear Lacey’s name. She was certain she had enough information on Lillington-Hall to demonstrate he was shady, crooked, and not good, but he was an attorney, so likely he could weasel out of most of the accusations. Hell, likely he’d wiggled out of most of them already.