by Cara Adams
Jett turned the ignition key and slowly rode his bike the rest of the way into the school yard, stopping well away from where the plumber had dug a short trench from the shipping room to connect with the pipes to the external bathrooms.
“First we’ll talk to Eve and invite her to dinner. Then you watch Sard and I’ll speak to the plumber,” said Morgan.
“Don’t you think it might be better to speak to the plumber first, before Eve knows we’re here and wants to stand around listening?”
“Good point. We’ll do it your way.”
Watching Sard was going to be difficult. Did he stand where the man could see him and know they were watching him, or did he pretend not to notice him? And he had to be sure not to block Malachi’s view from up in the tree. So he needed to stay on the far side of Sard from the tree. It was starting to get more complicated the more he thought about it. However, it was very suspicious that Sard just happened to be here working on the schoolhouse. That couldn’t possibly be coincidence. He wasn’t a plumber. He worked in horticulture with seeds and plant propagation.
Just as they rounded the corner to talk to the men, Jett noticed the plumber speaking into his cell phone.
“Everything’s looking good here, now. Flush the toilet for me and run the water in the shower so I can check there’s no leaks.”
Jett saw a huge grin split Sard’s face. In that moment he looked one hundred percent evil. “Don’t do it. There’s a bomb,” he screamed at the top of his voice, jumping the trench and tackling Sard, so the man fell flat on his back in the dirt.
“What the fuck?” The plumber looked up at him, but Jett was too busy twisting Sard’s arm up behind his back to pay attention.
Morgan was already running toward the back door of the building. Jett heard pounding feet and guessed the plumber was following him.
Jett got on top of Sard, rolling him over and pushing his face into the dirt. He held both of Sard’s wrists in the middle of the man’s back.
“What have you done?” he asked.
“Likely nothing. You arrived ten minutes too soon.”
“Well thank all the fates for that. Now tell me, what have you done?”
Sard remained silent. Jett pulled his arms higher and tighter but Sard didn’t even flinch. Jett thought if he was a real Dom now he’d pull handcuffs out of his pocket, but he didn’t have any such thing on him, so he leaned his knee heavily in the middle of Sard’s back to ensure the man couldn’t pull free, and waited for the plumber and Morgan to get back.
At least there was no water rushing through the pipe and no explosions either.
Taige appeared first with a handful of plastic zip ties. They zipped Sard’s wrists together behind his back and then his ankles together, while Taige said, “He put a bottle of some chemical in the toilet cistern. The plumber’s called for the police and Eve’s taken photographs.”
“Why did you want to blow up the school? How will that help you? You aren’t going to find a wife in jail you know.”
“Find a wife? Who did he want to marry? Eve?” asked Taige.
“I’ll be out of jail in a year or two, then I’ll go overseas, find my perfect wolf bride, and start my own pack,” Sard spat.
Jett was grateful it was Taige beside him, and not Eve, who still didn’t know about the shape-shifters.
At last he heard the sounds of the police sirens. Jett wondered if it’d be the same officer again. What was his name? Stokes?
* * * *
Eve did not consider herself to be bad tempered or have the artistic flashpoint temperament that cartoons and movies loved to display. But right now, if one more person said “yes ma’am” to her without actually answering any of her questions, she might just hit them upside the head with her shuttle. Her big, heavy, polished hardwood shuttle.
She folded her arms across her chest and fixed her gaze on the police officer’s face. “What was the liquid in the bottle that man put in my toilet cistern?”
“It’s being taken for forensic testing, ma’am.”
“I know that. I also know you didn’t answer my question. What was the liquid?”
“I couldn’t be sure, ma’am.”
“Guess.” Eve tapped her right food on the stone floor of the schoolhouse foyer.
The officer sighed and gave in. “We won’t know for sure until after the tests are complete, but it’s probably just a noxious smelling compound designed to drive you out of the building.”
“But it would permeate all my hangings and make them unsalable.”
“Yes, ma’am, that might happen.”
“Or the women might have been attacked in the parking lot as they fled the building at night,” said Jett, his voice sounding harder and colder than she could ever have imagined.
“That is also possible, sir.”
Eve sighed. So not a bomb or anything dramatic, just another stupid, childish prank. Except she would have had to spend a big percentage of her potential profit having her hangings professionally dry-cleaned to get any odor out of the wool.
The man named Malachi, who seemed to be another associate of Morgan and Jett’s, came back to the open double doors, his jeans now very dirty. “The trench is all filled in and the bathroom doors are locked.” He handed her the key she’d given the plumber that morning.
“Thank you, Malachi.”
“No problem. Jasper said I’m to escort Taige back to his home for the night.”
She glanced over at Taige. Yeah, they’d both expected that. Jett and Morgan would likely want to stay here with her tonight. That’d be the next thing she supposed. She’d done almost no work today, but she was stressed and tired. What she’d really like was a long, hot soak in a tub. Problem was, this building only had showers, no tub. Well, she’d just have to manage anyway.
“Eve?”
She turned to Morgan. He looked so hesitant she wondered if she’d been scowling at him. “We don’t want you to stay here alone tonight. Please come with us?”
“Yeah, sure. Can we go somewhere there’s a tub I can soak in?”
“I have a tub at my place. I mean, a regular tub, not a hot tub. But you can soak in it as long as you want to,” said Jett.
“That sounds like a deal then. I’ll just go pack a few things.”
“Wait for me. I’ll come with you,” said Taige.
They both filled small bags with a change of clothes and then Taige gripped her arm. “Eve, they’re good men, Morgan and Jett. You might want to reconsider your answer to them.”
“I do love them. But I just feel there’s something really important that I don’t understand.” Eve wondered if now she was going to sound crazy. Oh, well, Taige knew all about her. They’d been friends since kindergarten after all.
“If there’s anything they need to tell you, give them the time and space to do it in their own way, okay?”
Eve stared at Taige. Either she was brain-dead from exhaustion or there was a secret and Taige knew it. “Fair enough.”
By the time they left the building and locked the double front doors, there was just a pickup truck sitting in the parking lot, with a motorcycle beside it.
“Everyone’s gone?” asked Taige.
“The plumber left a while ago, followed by the police. Malachi took one of the bikes back to the farm and brought the truck back here. Now he’ll ride the other bike home and we four will go back in the pickup,” said Morgan.
“Wow. We’ve put you all to a lot of trouble. I’m sorry.” Eve felt guilty that these men were being forced to babysit her. Then she realized they’d never actually said why they were here today. Any of them. Malachi or Morgan or Jett. “Why were you all here today in the first place?”
“Jasper sent Malachi on an errand. Jett and I came to ask you to have dinner with us. I’m going to cook you a potato gratin that’s absolutely to die for, and my own special honeyed carrots.” Morgan finished his sentence with a grandiose flourish of one arm like a caricature of a chef.
Eve smiled and her heart suddenly felt so much lighter. She really did love these men. Surely their secret couldn’t be anything serious.
* * * *
Jett left Eve in the bathroom with her change of clothes and a drawerful of bath products. There had to be something there she’d like. “Morgan said it’d take him just under an hour to cook, so you can take as long as you like.”
“An hour sounds delightful. If I’m not out in fifty-five minutes you can come and bang on the door in case I’ve fallen asleep,” she said.
He’d have much preferred to sit on the side of the tub and stare at her lovely pale skin and long slender legs, but tonight had to go just right. If they failed to win her over a second time, he didn’t see them having any hope of success on a third occasion. Basically it was tonight or never. Since he couldn’t bear the thought of never, that meant he had to get everything exactly right now.
Resolutely he shut the door on the sound of water running into the tub, and went to arrange the bedroom. He couldn’t light the candles this early or they’d be burned out before the time came for them all to go to bed. But he could set everything up. He’d already chosen some peaceful background music and now he set up a playlist. He laid out candles on the nightstand and the window ledge and across the top of the books on his bookshelf.
He’d already put fresh sheets on the bed and a vase of flowers on the nightstand. What else could he do? Jett experimented with opening and closing the drapes, deciding on closed. He really didn’t want any of Sard’s friends looking in his windows. So he went from room to room, closing all the drapes. That way, wherever they went, whatever they did, they’d have privacy.
He set the dining table for the three of them and put another vase of flowers on the end of it, where a fourth person would have sat if there’d been more than three of them. He understood women liked flowers. In fact, he liked them himself. But he didn’t want to be craning his neck around the vase all night, so this way was the perfect solution.
Already the food was starting to smell really delicious. He and Morgan had spent so much time and effort planning everything, he’d neglected to consider the pure enjoyment a nice meal could be. Especially a delicious meal with good company.
When Eve appeared he forgot about everything except her. She was barefoot, wearing a plain red T-shirt and pale blue jeans. The clothes could not have been any simpler, but she could never look any more lovely than she did right now. “You’re beautiful,” he said, kissing her cheek.
“And hungry. That smells really good, Morgan.”
“Your timing is impeccable. Both of you sit down and I’ll serve the meal now.”
The food was delicious, and Jett enjoyed it. But mostly he enjoyed having his best friend and his woman, together in his house, what he hoped would be a symbol of the future. A future stretching out for years and years with them just like this, together, at home, forever. Except that the next step was to shape-shift. And that alone might scare her away permanently.
“Do you like animals, Eve? Jett and I were planning to take you to the zoo. Apparently they run a night program with romantic evenings under the stars among the animals.”
“I do like animals and I’d enjoy the zoo program. I loved seeing all the animals in the nature park in Tanzania. I like that they’re free to be wild and do their own thing.”
“What about pets? Did you have a dog when you were a child?”
“The apartment building where we lived didn’t allow animals, so I never had a pet. At elementary school they had a rabbit, Mr. Floppy Ears. Taige got to take him home one weekend and I was insanely jealous of her for that.”
Jett heaved a sigh of relief. He and Morgan had almost finished planning the zoo trip, but circumstances had spiraled out of control and they’d had to bring forward showing her their wolves. Ignoring the Alpha, or even procrastinating on his instructions, was not a viable option. Still, at least she liked animals. That had to be a good sign. Of course, whether she liked her lovers as animals was a whole other question.
After dinner Jett took Eve into the living room and sat her on the couch as if they were going to watch television. Morgan stayed behind in the kitchen. Almost immediately they were sitting comfortably, a large gray wolf walked into the room and rested his head on Eve’s knee. She didn’t flinch or pull back at all, but gently stroked his head saying, “Well now, aren’t you handsome. Is he your dog, Jett?”
“No, he’s a friend.”
After a few minutes the gray wolf left the room and Morgan arrived with their coffee. He set the cups on the end table and Jett hopped up and disappeared. He went into the main bedroom, which he was still using as his personal bedroom while saving the second bedroom for the three of them, and stripped out of his clothes, then changed. He wasn’t as pretty a wolf as Morgan, which is why Morgan had changed first. He didn’t think he looked particularly fearsome, but he was dark brown, a much more ordinary color than gray.
He stalked into the living room, and did exactly what Morgan had done, resting his chin on Eve’s knee.
“Another one. Is this one yours, Jett?” she asked, twisting her head around, presumably looking for him.
“Yes,” Morgan answered for him. “Do you like him?”
“They’re both big and beautiful. I expect they need a lot of walks and eat a ton of food. But they have lovely coats and look very healthy and content.”
Eve petted his head some more and chills raced up and down his spine at her touch on him. Her hands were light yet firm, absolutely right in her stroking of him. Then she took his muzzle between both her hands and looked into his eyes. Jett stared straight back at her, wondering if she’d made the connection, almost holding his breath with the fear of potential rejection.
“The gray dog had blue eyes didn’t it? Just like you do, Morgan. Whereas this one has brown eyes. You were out of the room when the gray one was here and now Jett, who has brown eyes, is gone while this dog is here. That’s why you’ve all stayed out here in this community instead of various families leaving and going into town to live like so many other old farming communities,” she said, speaking slowly as if she was thinking while she was talking.
“Yes.”
“And Taige knows this and didn’t tell me.”
“She was not allowed to tell. That’s the only way we can stay safe, by almost all humans not knowing we exist.”
“Is everyone here in this community a wolf?”
Jett decided she was calm enough for them to put her to the ultimate test. He nodded at Morgan who shimmered and transformed in front of her. She blinked, but said nothing, waiting for someone to answer her question.
“Everyone here is a werewolf shape-shifter except Taige, and now you,” Jett answered after he changed back to human form.
“Will I become one? Or perhaps I should ask, do I have the option of becoming one?”
“No.” Jett and Morgan answered together. Morgan, too, had transformed again. Jett let Morgan finish the sentence for them both. “The shape-shifter gene is carried from parent to child, just the same as hair- and eye-color genes. You will always be human, but should we ever have a child, it may or may not be a shape-shifter.”
“Now, what’s the story with Sard? Why the stupid childish pranks?”
Jett sighed, his shoulders tensing with the stress of the unknown. “Far fewer female wolves are born than males. Sard has not found his mate yet and isn’t happy. Some wolves are mating with humans, some are sharing a woman. Sard wants a female wolf all to himself and has convinced some of the other unmated wolves that if they get rid of you three women they’ll be able to go find some female wolves. It doesn’t make any kind of sense, except perhaps playing on the fear that humans will destroy wolves once they know they exist.”
“And the judge will shake his finger at Sard, tell him he’s a naughty boy, and he’ll be back out of jail causing trouble again in five minutes,” said Eve.
“Another wolf tried to scare Taige.
His name was Cinnabar. Jasper forced him to leave the community. Excommunicated him, I guess you’d say,” said Morgan.
“Are you saying Jasper might force Sard to leave your community as well?” asked Eve.
“It’s a definite possibility.”
“But that won’t solve the problem, will it? If there aren’t enough women, the problem is insoluble.”
“No. It’s easy to solve if you find a human to partner with. Especially if two of you find a human you want to share. Eve, we both love you so much. Please say you’ll commit to us. Please tell us that at least there’s hope you’ll come to love us, and obey us, and wear our collar.” Jett hoped he didn’t sound too much like he was begging. He was a Dom after all. But if he had to beg to make this woman understand how much he wanted her, well then he’d beg.
Eve smiled at both of them, gently touching their heads as she’d done when they were in their wolf form. “I do love you both, very much. I do want to belong to you and wear your collar. But this werewolf thing is a big step for me to get my head around. My answer is yes, but you’ll need to give me some time to work through all the issues involved. There is no doubt about my love for you both. That’s sincere. But I need to think about a whole community of werewolves. An overwhelmingly male community. And people who are going to hate me because I’m human.”
“We’ll be right beside you to help you through the challenges. You’re not doing this alone. We love you and will always be with you. Now can we go to bed, please?” asked Morgan.
Eve laughed. “Of course.”
* * * *
They undressed there in the living room, and Jett raced ahead of them, turning lights off and opening the door at the end of the hallway. He went inside for a few minutes, then came out and nodded to Morgan who led her down the corridor. She loved the way the two men worked so cooperatively together. They truly were a team, understanding each other and supporting each other, which amazed her since both were Doms. Being shared by two Doms could have been an unmitigated disaster, but somehow it seemed to work just fine.