Twice Shy
( Spellbound Moon - 2 )
Loribelle Hunt
Spellbound Moon 2: Twice Shy
Copyright © June 2010 by Loribelle Hunt
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eISBN 978-1-60737-585-2
Editor: Georgia A. Woods
Cover Artist: April Martinez
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This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Chapter One
Jonas wasn't sure if being put in charge of their sanctuary-seeking witch was a vote of confidence in his abilities or a new form of torture cooked up by Zach, Redhawke's beta. Or maybe it was Liza. She'd handed him the assignment after all.
On further thought, as paladin, Liza was third in the pack hierarchy, but she rarely let that stand in her way. She probably thought this assignment was “good” for him.
She thought he was too solitary. That he stood too far apart. What the hell did she know?
The night was gathering. Harper, the witch slowly driving him out of his fucking mind, stood next to him in the trees watching Liza put on her magic show while she told the werewolf version of Little Red Riding Hood. Colored lights, shaped as characters, acted the tale out in the air as Liza entertained a gaggle of transfixed youngsters. It was a telling nothing like the witch version. A fact that had been hammered into his head over the last few days by the witch at his side.
“Incredible,” she whispered, not hiding the awe in her voice.
He glanced down. She stared forward, as mesmerized as the pups at Liza's show. Her face soft, lips turned up in an easy smile. It was the first time he'd seen her relaxed, and the change stunned him. She was at times meek. Others fractious.
But there was always an undercurrent of fear in her. He'd had no idea she could morph into this lovely, beguiling creature. His gaze slid down her body, taking in full breasts, full hips. An ass that made his mouth water. His lips parted in surprise. How the hell had he missed this?
“You'll catch flies,” Harper said. She was prickly. Acerbic.
Oh yeah, now he remembered. She said the right things, sounded in control, but her scent sharpened with fear. Her eyes were round with it. Her body trembled.
He liked his women with teeth and claws, able to tangle with him, and she was more unarmed than most.
“Don't worry, honey. You're not my type.”
He turned his attention back to Liza and kept the rest of his thoughts to himself. The paladin was definitely more his speed. Caleb, their alpha, walked up behind her to circle her belly with his arms. He rested his hands on the swollen mound. Twins. Liza smiled and leaned into him but didn't pause in her story. Jonas sighed. She might be more his type, but she was categorically not his.
She was coming to the end of the story. Little Red Riding Hood, promised to the woodsman, her grandmother's favorite in a village full of admirers, chose to rebel and run away with the boy she loved. Because of her sin, her own grandmother cursed her and her young man to live their lives out half human and half the wolf that had aided in their escape. It was a curse they passed to their children, a feud passed to their descendants and the descendants of the witch who had created them.
The witch version was different, of course. In it, the boy was a jealous, spurned suitor cursed to his half life for accidentally causing Red's death.
“Which do you suppose is true?” Harper mused softly.
He shrugged, but before he could frame a response, Mick approached. Just what he needed. The lover who currently wasn't speaking to him and the witch who brought out a protective streak that was not only alien but made him feel uncomfortably vulnerable.
“Mick,” he greeted casually when he really wanted to yank the other man to him and kiss the irritation out of him. “Have you met Harper yet?”
“At lunch yesterday.” When she'd been with Liza, not Jonas. He should have been happy with the brief separation. Instead not having her in sight had left him surly and antsy.
Mick smiled, all charm and smooth confidence, and lifted Harper's hand, then pressed a kiss on her palm. Jonas turned to hide his surge of jealousy, though he wasn't sure if it was because Mick was showing someone else so much attention or because of the scent of Harper's arousal, sweet and intoxicating, which filled his senses. Arousal that was for Mick, not him.
Mick gave him a knowing look and a wink when Jonas turned back to face them. He struggled to bury his feelings, the jealousy and confusion, and knew he was successful by the disappointed look that came over Mick's face. He covered it quickly enough, turning back to charm Harper.
Jonas followed them to the buffet, then to an unoccupied table, and stayed silent as Mick slowly drew her out. There was something, an air about her that called to him. Sweet. Fragile. Breakable. She was not the kind of woman he was normally drawn to, but he couldn't deny that he was.
He just listened as they spoke, his wolf scratching against his skin to escape.
His wolf side was nothing but pure instinct, and its instinct was to protect. This woman. He was a dominant male, Liza's number one lieutenant, but the urge went far beyond the protective streak he normally felt for members of the pack. There could only be one reason for that. She was his mate. He sucked in a deep, shocked breath.
She wasn't what he expected, wasn't what he wanted. He needed a warrior, not a frail witch who couldn't fight him, who couldn't meet him on equal terms. He didn't want a mate he had to hold back with.
Harper, pretty and alluring as she was, was not for him.
Chapter Two
Harper shouldn't have followed him.
She knew it. It was several days after the celebration where Jonas had first looked at her with heat in his eyes instead of only contempt and Liza had warned her to stay inside tonight, on the full moon, but it was also her brother's birthday.
She hadn't dared contact him to let him know she'd arrived in Redhawke, that for the moment at least she was safe. But even if she couldn't risk the communication, couldn't risk her father discovering her whereabouts, she wanted to do a blessing ceremony for him. She'd discovered a tiny glade on a previous walk, the ideal serene place for her protection prayer, and had returned to it late in the afternoon. She'd finished before the sun began to set.
/> On her return she passed Jonas's house. He was on his back deck, slowly removing his clothes, folding them methodically to place on a table. She couldn't move, stayed hidden and frozen as each magnificent, hard inch of his body was revealed. If he hadn't made his disdain so damned clear at the celebration a few days ago, and so many times since, she might have sashayed forward and propositioned him.
She couldn't believe he didn't hear her sigh of appreciation when he strolled forward, all those big, tight muscles gleaming and contracting. And his cock… Wow.
They really came in that size? Her fumbling college days suddenly seemed much less the education than she'd thought.
So no one could blame her for spying, could they, when he stopped in the clearing behind his home and transformed into a wolf? Because, really, who could walk away from that wonder? Certainly not me. She cast a quick simple tracking spell so she could follow when he loped off into the woods. But she didn't in any way count on the scene she came upon following that spell.
His large black wolf fought with another, just as big but almost solid white.
Well, more blond than white, and that's when she realized it must be Mick, the pack's healer. They snarled and circled. They drew blood, and once she thought she heard a bone crack. Finally, sides heaving, they fell apart, on their bellies, and shifted.
Mick naked was just as beautiful as Jonas. She wasn't surprised when Jonas growled and pinned the other man. Shouldn't have been surprised that they were both hard, that Jonas's cock pressed against Mick's ass, declaring his dominance over the healer. What surprised her was how much it turned her on.
And it just got better.
Mick twisted in his hold and flipped Jonas over. They were face-to-face. Chest to chest. Cock to cock. Oh gawd. Harper groaned, not sure if she wanted to watch or be in the middle. Jonas's hand was on the back of Mick's head, and he pulled the other man down for a kiss that seared her toes.
She wanted to leave, to ease her way out of view. That was real emotion, real desire she saw, and it made her want. It made her hurt. She'd never seen so much raw feeling openly displayed. What would it be like to be on the receiving end?
What would it be like to be free to express it?
She hadn't been living with the werewolves long, but it was already long enough to know her former cold, insular world of magic was sadly lacking. This was just further proof of it. And she wasn't a part of it. Not a part of the open affection and love she witnessed so often lately.
She had to get away before they discovered her. Maybe get out the vibrator she'd bought on her last trip to town. But when she took a cautious step backward, eyes still soaking in the scene before her, her breath caught, and she sank to her knees to watch.
Mick broke away from Jonas's grip and started to kiss his way down the other man's body. He used his tongue. His teeth scraped over Jonas's nipple, and he cried out, harsh and guttural. Jonas's back bowed, and when she looked down his body, he was grinding his cock against Mick's erection.
Mick moved lower, until his lips brushed against the head of Jonas's cock. He gripped the werewolf's hips, holding him still while he looked up at Jonas. She wished she could see his eyes, his face. All she saw was his profile, both their profiles, all hard angles and skin drawn tight and flushed.
She held her breath, silently urging him on as he oh so slowly lowered his mouth. She almost came when the wide head disappeared into Mick's mouth. He took Jonas deeper, working up and down on his length. Fast, then slow, then fast again. Just when she thought there was no way Jonas could last, Mick reared up, head thrown back. That's when she noticed that Jonas's hand was wrapped around Mick's cock, and it was now shooting jets of cum.
Mick couldn't believe he'd come so damned fast, but it was such a turn-on knowing Harper watched while hiding in the bushes. He could smell her. A sweet mix of woman and an invitation to sin. He and Jonas should have invited her over.
Hell, they should have done it days ago. She was theirs, and Jonas's antagonism, his reluctance, didn't make much sense to Mick. He'd held off seducing her, claiming her, until his partner was on board. Maybe that time would come tonight.
Before he could bring it up, point her out, Jonas flipped him over and pulled him to his knees. Jonas stroked Mick's cock, his belly, gathered the cum clinging to his skin, and then rimmed his asshole. He groaned and pushed back when first one finger, then two worked in, spread a bit before working back and forth. Then they were gone, the head of Jonas's cock was pushing into the tight channel. One slow inch at a time. Jonas leaned over him, chest tight against his back, and nipped his ear. Mick reared back, forcing Jonas to shove the rest of his cock in his ass.
Jonas chuckled. “Enjoying our audience, are you?”
He withdrew almost the entire length of his shaft and then slammed back in.
Mick gasped, pushed back for more.
“Should we invite her over?” Mick was almost panting; pain and pleasure mixed. It was so, so good.
“Not yet.” The pace of Jonas's thrusts sped up. “Let her see what she's getting into.”
Under other circumstances, Mick would have breathed a sigh of relief. He was tired of not claiming what was his, of not having her in their bed. Then having her every way they could think of.
Jonas fucked him in earnest now. Hard and fast. He bit Mick's shoulder and let one hip free so he could fist Mick's cock. He was already hard again, and Jonas pumped his cock in a rhythm that matched the fucking in his ass.
“Look at her,” he whispered against Mick's neck. “Watch her while I fuck you.” He inhaled deeply. “Smell how much it turns her on.” Mick turned his head and caught her gaze.
“She's flushed,” he told Jonas. “Dazed.” His gaze slid down her face to her torso, and his eyes narrowed. She didn't seem to notice. “And she's touching herself.”
Jonas shuddered against him. Mick felt and shared his irritation. That was against the rules unless they gave her permission. What kind of punishment would be appropriate? She was fragile, emotionally and physically. It would have to be something light to begin with. Maybe with time, more would be possible. Of course, they hadn't claimed her yet, so she didn't know any better. Didn't know what to expect from two werewolf mates, the demands they would make of her. The pleasure they'd give her.
He lifted his gaze to meet hers again, and this time she noticed. She startled and pulled her hand out of her shirt. Her nipples were hard points against the thin fabric, and he couldn't wait to suck them into his mouth. Roll his tongue over them.
Bite.
Just imagining it was enough to push his mind and body into another orgasm.
Jonas's hand tightened on him, probably trying to hold him back, to draw it out, but it was too late. When he shook with his release, his muscles clamped around Jonas's cock. The pressure was too much to fight, and with one last slam, Mick felt the orgasm roll through his lover's body too.
They collapsed to the ground and reluctantly rolled apart. Mick's sides heaved with exertion, and his body felt heavy and satiated. A few minutes later he glanced back at the bushes. She was gone.
Next to him, Jonas sighed. “Let's run a bit. Then we'll go after her.” That suited Mick fine. In a cruel twist of fate and genetics, Mick only had one night a month to run as a wolf. He was unable to change the rest of the time, unlike Jonas, who could shift whenever he liked.
He rolled to his knees and embraced the change, let the wildness of his wolf side take over. His bones popped and muscles contorted until he stood on four paws.
He threw his head back and howled his joy to the moon peeking through the clouds.
Then he ran.
Jonas stayed close on his heels, never letting him get far ahead. Sometimes he bumped into him. Sometimes he just leaped at Mick's back so they rolled through the dirt and brush in a mock fight.
Mick was fast. Tough and agile. But when it came down to it, he was no match for Jonas in a real fight. There were only three people in the pack stron
g enough to beat Jonas—Caleb, Zach, and Liza—the alpha, beta, and paladin. Liza was the problem, Mick thought, although Jonas didn't seem as hung up on her in the last year, especially since Harper's arrival.
Liza'd been the main cause of dissension between them in their long on-again, off-again relationship. Jonas loved her, but she wasn't his mate. She wasn't Mick's mate. Mick had pushed to leave the pack, at least for a little while, and see if they could find their true mate. Jonas, bitter and angry and heartsick, always refused.
Mick had suffered knowing he would never be enough, but he also knew Jonas would never be enough for him either. He had always known that they were supposed to be three.
And here she was. Harper. Another witch. Yet Jonas hesitated. It was slowly driving Mick insane, this delay in claiming what was his. He looked at Jonas as they slid to a stop in his backyard and shifted. Jonas went straight for his jeans while Mick drank him in. He wanted to officially claim all that was his.
“Are you going to move back in? Or are you still torturing yourself?” Mick sighed. This was another point of contention. They hadn't lived together for months. He never knew where Jonas's mercurial moods would take them, so it was easier to have his own place to retreat to. Not a good way to have a healthy relationship, but Mick had learned the value of self-preservation.
“Not yet,” he answered softly.
Jonas's cell phone rang before Mick could continue, and as he watched the color rise on Jonas's face, Mick knew they wouldn't be coming back to it anytime soon. After a few seconds he answered with a curt “on my way” and snapped the phone shut. “Grab some jeans from inside. Harper has a visitor at the gate.” He didn't need any more invitation. Jonas had made it a point to not find out why Harper had come to them. Mick was not so reserved. He hurried inside, found a pair of jeans he'd left behind, and then had to race to catch up with Jonas.
Harper's people had come for her, and there was no way in hell Mick was letting her go.
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