Peata [Eminence Shifters 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Ashley Malkin

  “What is it, Peata?” he asked her, softly cupping her cheek with his hand. She just shook her head and kissed the palm of his hand.

  Melanie was easy to talk to and so excited to be helping her shop for clothes that Peata got excited too. She forgot about the danger and relaxed in her company. After they finished their coffee—hot chocolate for Melanie as Cooper had deemed coffee bad for the baby—they made their way to a clothes store Melanie recommended. She was so tiny, Peata wondered if she had to get her clothes in the children’s department.

  The men stayed at the store entrance and talked, leaving her and Melanie to wander the store together. Every time Peata glanced their way, the men were staring right at them.

  “They will keep us safe, don’t worry,” Melanie said happily. “I need new bras. My boobs seem to be growing bigger already.”

  “I need new everything. I feel like a hobo in these clothes,” Peata lamented.

  A tall, slim sales assistant approached them. She sniffed the air and her eyes glowed amber as she glared down at the two of them.

  “Another fucking human. You won’t be able to keep them you know?” She spoke the words very softly, but her anger was radiating from her like gamma rays.

  “I beg your pardon?” Melanie gasped, looking appalled.

  “As if you weren’t bad enough, little Alpha bitch, taking the Frederick men. Now this fat, ugly human has the balls to try to claim Axel and Max. They were mine.” The woman continued. “I’ve fucked them all, all your men, did you know that? They’ll come back to me. You have nothing that could possibly hold them to you.”

  The woman’s fangs had dropped and that, coupled with her anger, made her frightening to look at. Peata and Melanie were both backing away, when Peata bumped into something hard. She let out a small scream and spun around in a panic.

  “I got you, sugar,” Calder crooned softly in her ear. She felt herself relax instantly. “Perhaps you want to tell Cooper and me the rest of this outside, Bronwyn?”

  Peata looked over and saw that Cooper was standing behind Melanie, glaring down at the woman with such malevolence that it made her start to like the man.

  “Alpha bitch, that’s a good one. Take you long to think up that insult did it?” Melanie said coldly, anger making her pale green eyes sparkle.

  “That’s one, angel. I keep score for Finn you know?” Cooper said, kissing the top of Melanie’s head. Peata noted that his gaze, however, didn’t leave Bronwyn, nor did it soften in its anger. “You ladies keep shopping. Bronwyn, accompany us outside.”

  “What a total whore,” Melanie said, after they led Bronwyn from the shop.

  “She’s right though.” Peata sighed, feeling dejected. “I am human and I am fat. How can I expect to keep three total hunks?” She felt as though she should leave right now. If she stayed and fell even more in love with her men, it would kill her if they left her for someone else.

  “Goose,” Melanie said, poking her in the side, “it doesn’t work like that, and she knows it. She’s just pissed that she wasn’t their mate and that they were all just using her for sex. She must really feel like a slut now that our men have found us.”

  “You’re really not upset, are you?” Peata asked, looking at her new friend.

  “No, as Shana said the other night, some shifters never find their mates. Bronwyn is probably scared that will happen to her, too, and that she’ll be miserable and alone her whole life.”

  Melanie laughed. “Although, she is such a fucking bitch, she probably deserves to be.” Melanie glanced nervously at the doorway outside, where Cooper and Calder were talking to that nasty woman. Cooper held up a hand displaying three fingers and waved them at Melanie.

  “Shit, he heard me.” Melanie giggled as Cooper added another finger. “I’m going to be well loved tonight.”

  “They really have great hearing don’t they,” Peata said, amazed again at the thought of this small woman with her four giant husbands.

  “They do, and don’t listen to a thing that catty female said. Mating has an unalterable effect on shifters. They will never be attracted to anyone else as long as they live. If we leave them, or if we die, they will die too.” Melanie grasped Peata’s hand and dragged her to the change rooms. “Enough of her sour grapes. Let’s get you a new wardrobe. You have in-laws to meet tonight.”

  Peata wasn’t so sure the term “in-laws” was correct, but as mating was for life, then it fitted the purpose. She picked out some clothes, but she declined the suggestion of pink cowgirl boots to match Melanie’s. She wanted to learn to ride very much, but would ask one of her men for advice on what boots to buy. She chose some sneakers and hoped that her men would now let her walk around.

  Calder and Cooper were waiting for them as they approached the registers, their arms filled with Peata’s clothes. Bronwyn was conspicuous by her absence.

  “I’ll get these, sugar. Have you got all you need?” Calder asked her.

  “I have a little money left, I can get it.” But Calder just bent his head and kissed her long and hard.

  “Why don’t you take what you want to wear now, to the change rooms, then we can go have lunch. I’m starving,” Melanie suggested.

  Calder broke their kiss and grinned at her. “You want a hand getting changed, sugar?”

  “I’ll manage, thanks though,” Peata said, giggling at him.

  She pulled the curtain closed and had just stripped out of Max’s borrowed clothes when Calder stepped in.

  “Melanie and Cooper are meeting us at the diner in ten minutes. They had some errands to run.” Calder’s gaze heated as he stared at her naked body. “I need to know how you’re feeling, sugar.”

  “I didn’t like what she said, but Melanie helped. I still can’t believe you all want me, and will want me forever,” Peata replied honestly. She smiled as she looked up at Calder’s handsome face. He was so damn sexy.

  Calder suddenly picked Peata up. She had to wrap her arms and legs around him for support. His mouth crashed down onto hers and his tongue plunged into her mouth. The mere taste of him made her pussy clench. As he growled, the vibrations made her nipples harden and ache. She rubbed them against his chest, seeking relief.

  “I love the way you respond to me,” Calder gasped out, breaking their kiss momentarily. He took her mouth again and walked forward until Peata felt the cold mirror against her naked back. With one hand gripping her ass, he pushed the other hand between them and opened his jeans, freeing his erection. He stroked through her sensitized folds with just the head of his cock. It wasn’t enough and Peata tried to grind herself down onto him.

  “I can feel how wet you are for me. You’re so fucking sexy,” Calder said, his voice deep and rough.

  “Please, Calder,” Peata begged, trying again to push more of herself down onto his hard length. “I need you inside me.”

  He took her lips again and thrust his tongue between her lips at the same time as he rocked his hips forward and plunged his cock deep into her aching pussy.

  She would have screamed out in pleasure if it weren’t for his mouth on hers. Calder set up a fast pace, fucking her with his tongue as well as his cock. Peata felt herself racing toward an orgasm. He swiveled his pelvis and used his pubic bone to rub against her clit. Peata knew she would explode, he felt so good. Calder broke their kiss and licked down her neck to his mating mark. As he bit down on her neck she came, her scream of pleasure mixing with his roar as he reached his peak with her.

  Chapter 20

  Calder was feeling a little smug as he escorted Peata from the clothes store. Bronwyn would scent their lovemaking for days, and it served her right. She was a witch. He’d always known it and had never accepted her offers of sex. Max and Axel were going to regret that they’d accepted, when he informed them what she’d done.

  Peata kept her head down and her cheeks looked pink, but he didn’t regret taking her as he had. His cat had felt challenged and he’d needed to mark her again, to make it perfect
ly clear that she was his chosen mate.

  They walked hand in hand to the diner, even though he had offered to carry her. Maybe I could destroy her new shoes.

  Everyone was there and Peata ran forward into Max’s arms as he stood to greet her. Max’s face lit with joy at her response, he picked her up and settled her onto his lap.

  “I can scent that you have Calder’s cum on you, lover. Where, pray tell, did you two engage in your tryst?” Max murmured, almost inaudibly, in Peata’s ear. Calder heard it though, as he slid into the booth next to them. Peata’s cheeks flamed brighter as she picked up a menu and held it in front of her face.

  “I can guess,” Axel said, moving the menu aside and kissing Peata’s already kiss-swollen lips.

  “Guess what?” Melanie asked, the only one at the table oblivious to what they were talking about.

  “What she wants for lunch,” Calder supplied helpfully, and all the men at the table suppressed their grins. None of them would intentionally embarrass Peata further.

  Through the course of the lunch, Calder was pleased to see Peata relax and enjoy the company around her. She was quiet whenever the Frederick men spoke, but Calder no longer scented fear from her. Melanie had arranged for Peata to come over the next morning for her first cooking lesson. Peata and Melanie hugged each other good-bye warmly.

  Peata snuggled into Calder’s arms for the ride home, and she was soon asleep. Calder took the opportunity to tell his brothers what had happened in the store.

  “I can’t believe she would say that,” Max said. “She always knew we weren’t mates.”

  “Bitch, you don’t leave a mate, ever. She was just trying to hurt Peata and Melanie,” Axel added, clearly furious.

  “I don’t know what Finn will do when he’s told. She was very disrespectful to Melanie,” Calder said.

  As they pulled up to the house Peata stirred from her doze and looked around, obviously surprised they were home already.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to go to sleep,” she said, yawning behind her hand.

  “Calder’s fault for wearing you out in the change room, I imagine,” Axel said teasingly.

  “Seriously, though, thank you all for the clothes, and for being there today while I had to talk to the police. I couldn’t have done it without all of you.”

  “Our pleasure, sugar, we wouldn’t have had it any other way,” Calder said, as they all exited the truck.

  Max’s cell phone rang. He mouthed “Hunter” and stepped onto the porch to take the call.

  “Why don’t we go see some of the horses, sugar? Maybe have a ride around the yard if you feel brave enough,” Calder said. Peata’s face lit up, and he felt a little guilty that he had only suggested it as a distraction. She was obviously really excited at the prospect of riding.

  “Great idea. Let’s show her how to saddle Molly, and then she can ride her. She’s a perfect starter horse,” Axel added.

  They approached the barn, all three of them holding hands. As they passed two of their ranch hands, they all nodded their greetings but Calder could feel Peata go tense.

  “You never have to come out here without us, honey,” Axel soothed.

  Once in the barn they were alone and Peata relaxed again. They led her to the stall that held their old mare, Molly. She was a lovely piebald that they had brought as a foal fifteen years ago and she had given them lots of great foals in return. She was a gentle horse and loved their mother. He hoped she would love Peata, too.

  Peata’s face was a picture of wonder and awe. He had been around horses all his life, but was now enjoying seeing their beauty through Peata’s eyes.

  “She is so beautiful. Look at her big brown eyes, and those eyelashes, gorgeous,” Peata gushed. Molly came right up to the stall gate and waited to be stroked. Calder took Peata’s hand and held it, palm up, for Molly to smell. That seemed to be all the encouragement Peata needed. She was stroking Molly’s head, and whispering endearments in the horse’s ear in just a few minutes.

  They spent the next hour acquainting Peata with the equipment, care of the horse and how to place the saddle. Once finished, Peata was bouncing up and down in eagerness for her ride. Axel lifted her easily onto the horse and led her from the barn, Calder following behind in case she slid off. Calder was worried about what was keeping Max away so long, he had a gut feeling that it was not going to be good news.

  * * * *

  As soon as Max hung up from talking to Hunter, he placed a call to Doc Reed’s house. He needed to talk to Doc’s brothers, as a matter of urgency. Hunter had informed him that they had retrieved Peata’s phone. The video was intact, and as damning as promised to the officers involved. The FBI had moved against the whole Montrose department and were working at eliminating those not involved. The three officers on the video, however, had not been seen since the night Peata went missing.

  The FBI had run all their financials and one of the men, Sam York, had used his credit card to buy gas in Grand Springs, an hour ago. That was just twenty minutes from Eminence. They must not think themselves under any suspicion, as they had left a clear credit trail, on gas, food and motels. They had been to each town Peata had changed buses in, flashing their badges and telling security personnel at each depot that they were looking for a murder suspect. That had gotten them access to any surveillance footage, and they had used it to follow her.

  Finally the phone was answered by Doc’s oldest brother, Samson, and Max told him quickly and succinctly what was happening.

  “You want Michael and I to run patrols of your property or the town?” he offered immediately.

  “Thanks, Samson. I think the town, that’s where the trail will go cold for them. She didn’t catch a bus out of Eminence.”

  “Done, let me know if you need us out there,” Samson said, ending the call.

  Max looked out the window to see Peata riding a horse that was being led by Axel. She looked so happy and relaxed, he hated to scare her again.

  As he watched, his parents pulled up in their truck. Trying for a relaxed expression, he went to join them.

  * * * *

  Axel could see the strain on Max’s face when he joined them in the yard, and he was sure his twin could too. Max obviously didn’t want Peata to know, so he would wait until Max was ready to share, even if it drove him mad to do so.

  Lifting Peata off the horse he introduced her to their fathers Tagan and Noah, and their mother Neva. Peata stayed glued to his side, but his fathers didn’t embrace her as he knew they wanted to. He had asked them to wait until Peata was ready. His mother, however, came over and wrapped her arms around her.

  “Welcome to the family, Peata. You have no idea how overjoyed we all are that you are here with our sons at last,” Neva said.

  “Thank you. I’m a little overwhelmed by all of this, but I’m very happy to be here. You have three amazing sons.”

  “They have one amazing son, and two mediocre ones, actually,” Axel said, kissing his mother’s cheek in greeting.

  “Why thank you, Axel, I hadn’t realized you were aware of my awesomeness,” Calder said. He greeted each of his parents with a warm embrace and returned to stand behind Peata, wrapping her in his arms.

  Axel just watched, as his parents tried to school their shocked expressions. He was sure that Calder hadn’t hugged his parents in over fifty years. Max was smiling broadly now, all signs of his earlier tension gone. His parents still hadn’t spoken. They just continued looking at Calder with their eyes wide and jaws slack.

  “What?” Calder said. “Come on, sugar, I’ll show you how to brush down Molly. She will be your friend for life. She loves to be brushed.” He put his arm around Peata and taking the reins from Axel, led Molly back to the barn.

  “It’s a big change, but he’s still Calder,” Axel said, trying to break them out of their shock.

  “Of course he is. They have just forgotten what he looks like without a scowl on his face,” Max said, smiling as he hugged his parents
in greeting.

  “I’ll go and help Peata with Molly. I suspect Max has things he needs to talk to you about,” Neva said. “I’ll send Calder right on out.”

  “She’s a spooky one. How does she know?” Axel asked, wondering again at his mother’s intuitiveness.

  Calder approached, his usual scowl back in place. “Spill it, Max. What’s happened?”

  Max told them all about Hunter’s call. The corrupt policemen being so close didn’t upset Calder as Axel thought it would. His reaction had actually been worse. Their fathers had had to physically restrain him while Max finished telling him what he knew. Once a little calmer, Calder had shifted and gone for a run. Axel suspected that the Fredericks were going to have a visitor.

  * * * *

  Neva was a beautiful woman, tall and slim with long, straight black hair. Max and Calder looked a lot like her. Both of her husbands were tall, around six feet two or so, but slim like Axel, not as solid as either Calder or Max. They were also dark haired with olive skin. She couldn’t imagine where Axel got his fair hair from.

  “He’s a throwback to a grandmother of mine,” Neva said, brushing Molly with sure but gentle stokes.

  “I beg your pardon,” Peata asked. She was confused. She was sure she hadn’t spoken her thoughts out loud.

  “My Axel, he’s just like my maternal grandmother. Although Tagan likes to say he resembles the postman.” Neva laughed. “Molly likes you, I can tell. You seem to have a similar effect on people too. I have heard that our Melanie has decided you are now her best friend.”

  They stood on opposite sides of Molly and brushed the horse in companionable silence. Peata found herself relaxing into the task. The big horse shuddered sometimes when Peata brushed her. Neva explained that it meant she was happy. This made Peata happy too. A kind of peace settled over her, and she found herself talking easily to Molly, and to Neva.

  When the horse’s coat was shining, Neva suggested they go up to the house and start preparing supper. Peata tried to look happy at the prospect, but her heart sunk. What sort of mate would she make for Neva’s sons, when she couldn’t cook a meal for them?