He took a steadying breath, concentrating on the treasure he’d uncovered. Her breasts were small but full and firm with cherry colored tips. He lifted a finger and flicked it against one. It tightened. Fascinating. He wondered what they tasted like, what they would feel like against his tongue and lowered his head to the opposite breast. Closing his mouth over her nipple, he sucked, rolling his tongue over the peak until it hardened. Then he switched to teeth, biting her nipple, keeping the scrape light.
Moaning, she bowed her back to arch against him and he did it again, pulling her pelvis up tight against his while he did so. She was wet and the front of his boxers where he ground his erection into her dampened. He wanted to feel that on his cock and ripped them down, let them fall to the floor at his feet where he could easily step out of them.
Then she tipped her hips forward so he brushed her entrance. It was a clear invitation to him, and he slid inside her. He moved experimentally, getting to know her body and testing his control. She was tight and hot, a perfect fit that gripped his cock on each thrust in and out. Her soft moans filled the air between them, turning him on even more. He could get lost her for hours, days, and he struggled for control.
Thankfully a throat cleared behind him and he was able to rein himself in. He looked over his shoulder and frowned at Aaron, who was dressed and pulling on a coat as if he was going somewhere. Cooper wasn’t sure if he should be alone with Delilah yet, and his brother was obviously leaving. Before he could question him though, he noticed Delilah’s fingernails digging into his shoulders, and she pressed her face against his chest. Aaron came over, his booted footsteps loud on the tile floor. He stopped beside them and reached over for her chin, getting her to meet his gaze. She was beet red. Embarrassed, Cooper realized.
“I can’t believe you started without me,” Aaron joked, trying to tease Delilah out of her awkwardness. “That’s not fair, baby.”
“I didn’t mean for this to happen. I’m not quite sure how it got this far,” she whispered, obviously uncomfortable at the sudden change in the situation. Cooper wasn’t about to let her think there was anything wrong with being with him. With being with both of them. He met Aaron’s gaze for the silent communication.
He pulled out of her until only the head of his cock was still gripped by her pussy. Aaron smiled at her gasp of pleasure, and Cooper thrust back in while his brother reached over, putting a hand between them to tug the tip one breast. He leaned closer as he worried the nipple, placed his lips against the smooth column of her throat, and nibbled. Cooper watched her eyes change, watched them go smoky with renewed desire, and he felt it on his cock as she got slicker. Tiny convulsions squeezed him until he couldn’t help but thrust harder, rougher.
Cooper wrapped his hands under her thighs and lifted her again, turning so her back was pressed to Aaron’s chest. Aaron’s hands came up to caress her breasts, fingers pinching both nipples, tugging. Cooper couldn’t believe what the sight did to him. His balls hardened until they hurt, and he knew he wasn’t going to last long at all. He met Aaron’s gaze.
“I’m not going to last.”
Aaron’s eyes glowed. “She has that effect on you.”
The words barely registered, the orgasm already taking him over even as he tried to fight it off. He might have lasted a few strokes more if she hadn’t starting shaking, if her pussy hadn’t tightened impossibly hard around him. If she hadn’t screamed his name. It was the most amazing thing he’d ever heard, and he threw his head back and came with a snarl.
She slumped against him, and he circled her waist with his arms, holding her up, enjoying the sated little sighs she exhaled. He lifted his gaze to meet his brother’s and scowled. It wasn’t even six yet, Saturday morning to boot, and he was dressed to leave.
“Where are you going?”
“Up to the house. Jackson called.”
Now why the hell did Jackson need his enforcer at the ass crack of dawn on the weekend? He’d heard that Summer and Chloe had both demanded work be done at a bare minimum on weekends and then emergencies only. He was going to ask what was going on but was stalled by Aaron’s significant look at Delilah. Whatever it was, he wasn’t ready to share it with their mate, who pulled out of his embrace and faced Aaron. She seemed to have forgotten she was naked and he saw no reason to remind her. He was enjoying the view too much.
“I should go with you. I haven’t talked to Chloe yet, and I have no idea when Jackson wants me to start work.”
A growl welled in his throat before he could repress it, and she shot him a look he couldn’t decipher. Not alarmed, more like irritated. He was still pissed about her working in the big house, as the pack referred to the alpha’s home. Logically, he knew there was no threat to her. She was the pack enforcer’s and his twin brother’s mate. No one would dare harm her or hurt her in any way, but there were too many people, males specifically, in and out of there for his peace of mind. He didn’t like it one damn bit. He wanted her here in their house where she could be properly guarded, properly cared for. And fucked at his whim wouldn’t hurt either.
“Why don’t you go get cleaned up, baby? After breakfast, Cooper can bring you up.”
He’d been watching her through hooded eyes, wondering how long he’d have to wait to order her to quit working for Jackson when Aaron spoke. It was the same measured tone as usual, but something menacing lurked in it. Cooper jerked his gaze from Delilah and looked at his brother. She stepped between them and put her hands on her hips, glaring back and forth from him to Aaron.
“If you’re trying to get rid of me so you can talk about what happened, forget it. Believe me, it won’t happen again. This morning or last night.”
This time he didn’t even think of tempering his growl as he stepped toward her. “The hell it won’t.”
“I’m not in a big hurry to sign on for two mates,” she said reasonably.
“Get over it,” he snapped.
She blinked, took a deep breath that raised her tantalizing breasts, and tried to look nonchalant. It didn’t work. He could smell her fear. Before he could decide what to do about that, Aaron interfered, his voice light and cajoling.
“This doesn’t have anything to do with you, baby. I just need to talk to Cooper a minute before I go to work.”
She was standing close enough for him to lift a hand, brush it down her cheek, and she turned her face into it slightly, sighing a little and closing her eyes. She welcomed Aaron’s touch and responded it to it instantly. Cooper felt a pang of jealousy as he wondered how to get her to react to him like that.
“Go on,” Aaron whispered.
With one last, lingering gaze at them, she turned and left the room.
“You have to teach me how to do that,” Cooper muttered. He watched her sashay out of the room, admiring the swing of her perfect ass. He was hard again, half tempted to follow her and take her in the shower. The woman was going to kill him. “Damn.”
Aaron chuckled. “Yeah. Something like that.”
Cooper grinned. Aaron knew exactly what he was thinking, because he was thinking it, too. He bent to retrieve his boxers and pulled them on before going to the teakettle. He poured two mugs of the hot water and got bags out of the cabinet, then handed one to his brother. He pulled out a chair and sat at the table, cocking an eyebrow when Aaron didn’t follow suit.
“Talk.”
Aaron’s expression shut down and his eyes glowed with a feral intensity that Cooper recognized. He was in hunting mode, as if a switch had been flipped. Most people believed Cooper was the more dangerous of the twins. They were dead wrong.
“Greg Thompson was attacked last night.”
Cooper stood, the slowness of the movement at odds with the need to act rushing through his body. Greg was one half of the only other identical twin set of their age in the pack, and they’d recently mated.
“Is he okay? Where was Jeff? And their mate?”
He should remember the woman’s name but didn’t feel too
bad about it. She was so new few people had met her, yet. The Thompson brothers had just brought her home.
“He’ll live, and she’s fine. Her name is Michelle, by the way.”
“And Jeff?”
Aaron pressed his lips together. “No sign of him. He went into Knoxville for supplies and never made it back. Greg thinks he holed up somewhere to wait the storm out. Greg and Michelle are up at the big house. They’ll stay there until he heals.”
The storm had been bad enough to keep most people off the mountain roads for a few hours, which meant whoever had attacked Greg had probably already been in place.
“Who was it?”
Aaron shook his head. “Greg didn’t recognize him.”
He heard a hair dryer start upstairs and smiled. Delilah had rushed through a shower. He’d heard the water turn on and off while he and Aaron talked. She must be worried about what was going on downstairs.
“You better get going. We’ll be up in a little while.”
Aaron hesitated, looking like he might argue with the plan. Cooper knew he wanted to, but finally he nodded. “Until we know what’s going on, I’ll feel better if we’re both with her. And there’s enough people at the house she’ll be safe, even if we can’t both be there for some reason.”
Cooper didn’t respond to that, but they both knew she wouldn’t be alone. He’d retired from the hunters and had come home intending to finally write that book he’d always promised himself he would. With a laptop he could do that just as easily at the big house as in his own office. He and Aaron shared an almost psychic bond. There were no words on that mental path, but they knew the other’s feelings, the other’s thoughts.
Aaron knew that he could perform his duty to the pack, and Cooper would watch over their mate. It was the nature of such bonds. They exchanged a look that spoke their mutual understanding. Words weren’t necessary. When they heard Delilah’s hair dryer switch off, Aaron spun around and left the house through the kitchen door.
Seven
Delilah had no idea what to expect when she returned to the kitchen, but it was not Cooper leaning casually back in a chair smiling at her with a cat-ate-the-canary grin on his lips. There was no sign of Aaron and she half expected Cooper to leap up and grab her. Half wanted him to and wasn’t sure if she was ready for that again so looked around instead.
A platter of scrambled eggs sat warming on the stove, and bacon sizzled in a pan. She walked over to check it, but that was only a few seconds of diversion and, swamped by awkwardness and confusion, she had to turn around and face him. By this point, that seemed par for the course. She desperately needed space from both brothers, just long enough to sort out her emotions, and blushed as she remembered in vivid detail how little space she’d had minutes ago.
She’d never done anything like that, had never slept with two men in less than twenty-four hours’ time. She wasn’t freaked out about it and that worried her more than a little. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to resist further advances and for her own peace of mind, she’d have to. The walls around her heart weakened whenever either one looked at her, and she was afraid it would be a disaster to fall in love with one or both of them. She wouldn’t be able to keep her secrets from two mates. If she stayed exposure was practically inevitable.
“All that thinking.”
She blinked, realized she’d been lost in her thoughts for several minutes. Cooper beckoned with a crook of his finger and a gleam in his eyes that made her panties melt.
“Come sit down, Delilah. Do some of that thinking out loud.”
She opened the refrigerator first and pulled out one of the Diet Cokes she’d seen earlier then went to the table and sat across from him. He took the can and opened it, handing it back after he took a sip and made a face. She frowned. It seemed an odd thing to find in the fridge of two single men.
“Chloe said you drink that stuff,” he answered before she could ask. “I don’t see how.”
“So, you and Aaron… Last night you said…”
She couldn’t bring herself to say it. If he confirmed they were her mates in the light of day she’d have to act fast and there was no way to get off this mountain right now. But maybe she was overacting, maybe she’d imagined the mate thing. And maybe she was delusional. Cooper cocked an eyebrow and waited her out. She rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers. How the hell had she got into this mess? Oh yeah, Gage being helpful.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. You can say it. I won’t bite. Much,” he added with a sexy grin.
She put her hands on her hips. They were going to have a real conversation. Even if it killed her. And judging by the way his pupils dilated with heat, and the bulge rising in his boxers, it just might.
“The mate thing. Tell me I was hallucinating last night.”
Why she insisted when she knew damn well she hadn’t done any such thing was beyond her. He frowned and slowly got to his feet, as if he was calling her bluff.
“You know about werewolves and you know about mates. Is it that there’s two of us? Is that what bothers you?”
It was a hell of a lot more than that but she’d have to know them much better before she’d share it. Still, it was surprisingly hard to lie to him and damn it, he knew she was lying. Or at least mixing the truth with evasion.
“I never wanted a mate much less two. I never expected to be part of a pack. I’m used to being on my own, Cooper.”
He crossed his arms and glared down at her. “You never expected to join a pack and the being alone thing rings true, but you’re lying about wanting a mate. So what aren’t you telling me, sweetheart?”
She arched her eyebrows and tried to bluff. “Nothing.”
He cracked a smile. “Yeah, that much is definitely true. Last night you were concerned about being safe in the pack, and amused Aaron didn’t find you in the database. Care to explain?”
She shrugged one shoulder trying to nonchalant. “I know the Society is targeting vulnerable women. For all you know, they’ve got a copy of the council’s database. I’m one of those women, remember? No family. No pack.”
“I’m not buying, babe. There’s another database, did you know? Of daughters and mates and sisters—whatever—who aren’t affiliated with a pack.”
She nodded. The ground was suddenly very shaky. “I’ve heard,” she said cautiously.
“Very few people are being given access to it. You aren’t on it,” he said. “But there’s another list, much smaller and a hell of a lot more secret.”
She looked everywhere but at him. Lie, damn it. Why was it so hard? She had to deny knowledge of that list, of being on it, but she couldn’t force the freaking words out and her silence spoke for her. She didn’t mind moving around a lot. She didn’t mind having so few friends. But since Pop had died she hadn’t belonged to anyone.
She didn’t need to see Cooper. His scent surrounded her, frustrated and worried, as he reached the right conclusion.
“Atlanta,” he muttered. “You’re from the old Atlanta pack? The Regis’s pack?”
She didn’t bother to respond. This mate stuff was going to be a pain in the ass.
“I’ve seen that list, Delilah. So has Aaron. You aren’t on it.”
She finally looked at him and locked her emotions down. He narrowed his eyes.
“Don’t,” he warned her. “You’re my mate. No secrets.”
Could she trust him? Her secrets could get her killed and her life wouldn’t be the only one at risk. She took several deep breaths then paced until he growled. Her reaction was instinctive and she snarled back. It felt pretty damned good actually. She would have smirked at his expression if she hadn’t just given herself away. Fuck. He just stared for several endless seconds, but his voice was surprisingly steady when he spoke.
“There are rumors, Lilah,” he said softly.
Her heart kicked. The only person who’d ever called her that was Pop, and one of his lessons came back to her. On mating, he’d said, go with yo
ur gut. If it says run, do it. If it doesn’t, the risk might be worth it. What the hell? She was busted now. Hell, she’d practically sabotaged herself, hadn’t she? And god, when was the last time she’d been able to be honest about who and what she was? When was the last time she’d been able to shift? She lifted her hand and forced her claws out. First he was unbelieving, then furious but his hand was gentle when he took hers.
“Gage should have told us. Jackson, Billy, and Aaron at least.”
“He doesn’t know. No one does. It’s better that way. That’s not why he sent me here.”
He stared into her eyes and she swore he picked answers out of her head. “Someone already tried to get you. That’s why you left Orlando so suddenly.”
She didn’t deny it. All things considered, he was taking it pretty well so far.
“Why you, if no one knows you can…shift.” It wasn’t surprising that he stumbled over the word.
“My name is on that list, Cooper,” she said softly. “You weren’t looking for the right one. The Society would pay a fortune for me and then…”
She couldn’t think about the and then without wanting to puke.
“Why?”
“My grandfather was Sean Danvers.”
She registered the panic in his eyes a split second before it changed to fury. “Delilah Danvers. Delilah Anderson. You’re listed as missing, presumed dead. We should have seen that. He shouldn’t have raised you like he did. You should never have been without the protection of a pack.”
She wasn’t about to put up with criticism of her Pop. “No. I made too big a target when I was young. Still do.”
Her grandfather was the last ruling king’s beta, a position traditionally held by someone in his family. And Sean’s mate? She’d been a cousin of the Regis. Except for her and Gage and a couple others, they’d been hunted almost to extinction. It was a well known story and Cooper got very pale.
Lunar Mates Volume Two: Books 4-6 Page 12