by Viola Rivard
Alder caressed her cheek, giving Taylor a knowing look. She felt guilty, until she saw the corners of his mouth lift. He winked at her, before saying, “I love you.”
The statement should have rendered her speechless, but Taylor didn’t miss a beat. “I love you, too.”
“Walk with me?”
Alder was already guiding her away from the onlookers. She put Hale and Tulip out of her mind, telling herself that Alder was all the man she needed.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Alder paused in the doorway of Taylor’s cabin as she shuffled around, desperately trying to make it look more presentable. When he’d been in there yesterday, the cabin had been bare, save for her backpack and the pelts that Hale had brought.
Since then, the fireplace had been cleaned and pots and pans hung from the hooks on the mantle. She’d put curtains up over the four windows, each one a different shade of blue. The pelts had been laid out over a makeshift mattress of blankets, creating a large sleeping pallet near the fireplace.
Her scent was everywhere in the room and it struck him that somehow this felt more like a home to him than his own den. He could easily envision the winter they would share together, Taylor resting in his arms as they lay beside the crackling fire, away from all of the noise and chaos of the pack.
“Sorry, I swear this is all from Lark,” Taylor said, gathering up bits of knotted twine from the floor. “She was trying to make something for the quail coop.”
Alder stepped inside and closed the door. “Don’t worry. It looks great in here.”
“You think so?”
She seemed nervous and Alder didn’t like it. Taking her by the hand, he pulled her over to the furs, bringing her down to sit in his lap.
He asked, “What’s the matter?”
She pressed her lips together before saying, “I didn’t say I love you because Hale was there.”
Her bottom lip was still swollen from his kiss and Alder couldn’t resist running his thumb over its smooth surface.
“I did.”
Her lips parted. “You wanted to make him jealous?”
“Yes.”
She hesitated and then asked, “Did it work?”
Alder thought back, grinning at the memory of his brother’s face. He’d never seen it quite that shade of red before.
“Yes.”
Her lips slanted in an effort to hide her smile. Alder was about to kiss her, but her mood shifted and she seemed nervous again.
“Now that you’re less angry, can we talk about what’s going on here? Between the three of us, I mean.”
He’d almost forgotten about their conversation the night before. The memory of it had been cast aside in favor of the hours that they shared his bed. While he deliberated engaging her in a discussion or distracting her with his tongue, he noticed that she was squinting in an attempt to read his expression.
Realizing it was almost dark in the cabin, he pressed a quick kiss to her head and stood, spying the lamp and matches on the mantle. As he lit the lamp and adjusted the flame, he did his best to explain the circumstances that had led up to their arrangement.
“Hale and I have been very different since we were young. In spite of that, we’ve always been close. There was a time when we knew one another better than we knew ourselves.”
He rejoined Taylor on the furs and pulled her into his lap again, so that her back was against his chest. “Over the past few years, things have changed between us. As we’ve gotten older, it’s become clear that we both want different things and I think it’s been slowly driving a wedge between us.”
“You wanted a family?”
Alder inclined his head. “I knew that I’d want to take a mate and that my days with Hale were numbered.”
“So, then, you’re sharing me so that you don’t have to leave your brother?” she surmised.
His head went to the curve of her neck. There were two innocuous blemishes at the juncture of her shoulder, bite marks left by his overzealous brother. His tongue flicked over them, causing her to shiver.
“Partly.”
He placed his own canines over the tiny grooves, pressing down until he heard her give a sharp intake of breath.
“Partly?” she asked.
Replacing his teeth with his lips, gave her neck a soothing kiss. “When I look at you, I see the woman I’m in love with, the future mother of my pups.” His hand slipped beneath her dress to palm her breast. “I could never bring myself to be rough with you.” He trailed kisses up her neck, his mouth stopping by her ear. “But there’s a part of me that enjoys watching.”
There was a vulnerability to her, Alder knew, and he felt as though he’d only scratched the surface of it. He wanted to protect her from everything. He wanted to be the male who shielded her from hurt and danger, the male she turned to when she was afraid.
But the wolf within him wanted to see his mate on her knees. He wanted to take her harder than any male ever would. He wanted to bite and bruise her, mark her in any way that he could so that she and every male that laid eyes on her would know his claim.
At the river, Alder had seen the way Hale’s nails had dug into the delicate flesh of her hips. He had watched his brother thrust into her with a wild abandon. Alder had growled—a sound that his brother had believed to be a warning. In actuality, it had been the beast within him, growling in satisfaction.
The sight of his brother’s marks on her body didn’t enrage Alder. They aroused him. He enjoyed imagining that they were his marks.
Alder still didn’t fully understand it. All he knew was that in order to be the man his mate needed, Alder needed Hale to be the wolf that he was repressing.
Even with his ears tuned in to the sound of Taylor’s breathing, he became aware of an approaching presence. He suspected that he knew who it was, but his arms tightened around Taylor all the same, primed to protect her from any intruder.
***
Hale shifted just before stepping onto the porch. His hair, much like his mind, was in disarray and he raked his fingers through it twice before impatience had him banging on the door. After two knocks, he pulled open the door and let himself in.
How fucking cozy, he thought bitterly.
The warm glow of the lamp illuminated the fur pallet where his brother sat with Taylor in his lap. His gaze zeroed in on Alder’s hand, which was covering her breast.
Taylor cleared her throat and pushed Alder’s hand away. Some of his irritation waned as he saw her trying to fix her clothes, her cheeks reddened. He would think that after everything they’d done together, she’d have lost at least a modicum of her propriety.
“Most people wait until someone says ‘come in’ before they barge into someone’s home,” she said under her breath.
Hale briefly considered reminding her that it was his territory and he could go where he pleased, but decided that it may make her less agreeable to all the things he wanted to do to her.
Crouching at the edge of the furs, Hale grabbed her hips, giving them a firm jerk. She yelped in surprise as her head fell into Alder’s lap.
“I’m not going to apologize to Silas,” Hale said, leaning over her. “And if we go to war with Whiteriver, so be it. So if you want to leave, you better say so now, because if you”—his eyes flickered up to his brother—“if either of you ever pull that shit on me again…”
Hale had been rehearsing the speech for a while and realized, as he looked back down at Taylor’s big, brown eyes, that he couldn’t even threaten to kill her, let alone follow through with it.
“You’re not allowed to leave,” Hale finally said, hoping to burn the words into her with his glare.
He braced himself for her anger, but instead her eyes misted over with tears.
Hale would much rather be yelled at.
To his immense relief, she blinked them away. Her small arms looped around his neck and she pulled him down for a kiss.
Again, not the reaction he’d anticipated.
; Hale still needed something—a vow, a promise, a reassurance—anything to let him know that the two of them wouldn’t fucking disappear on him. But as soon as his lips touched hers, his cock flared to life and it refused to be ignored in favor of his brain.
Not giving a damn that she was still on Alder’s lap, Hale plunged his tongue into her mouth, needing to taste his female. As her tongue curled around his, she let out a soft, needy whimper. It was the most erotic sound Hale had ever heard.
He pulled back to stare at her, taking in everything from her flushed cheeks to her swollen lips and trying to make sense of the way she was affecting him. It made no sense to Hale, and soon the smell of her arousal was drawing him farther down her body. Alder quickly claimed the position Hale had vacated, bending down to capture her mouth in a kiss.
Hale had never been partial to tasting his females before he fucked them, but this female was quickly becoming the exception. His thick tongue sought out the juices that had pooled at her entrance, eagerly lapping them up. When he had licked up everything he could find, Hale turned his attention to her clit, taking it between his teeth. As he nipped and sucked at the stiff, little bud, her hips began to writhe and he had to hold her down to stop her from inadvertently cutting herself on his canines.
Alder had abandoned her mouth in favor of her breasts, allowing her to utter cries of ecstasy. Hale wanted to turn her over and take her right then, but his ego stopped him. He could still see Alder, craning her head back and kissing her, sticking his tongue in her mouth, and making her moan by the riverside in plain view of the pack.
In that moment, Hale had seen red. He’d felt a type of simmering anger that he only later recognized.
Jealousy.
He wanted to be the one kissing her. He wanted to be the one making her moan. He wanted to be the one marking his claim in front of the pack.
Tomorrow, he thought, through his haze of arousal. Tomorrow he was going to make sure the entire pack knew that she was just as much his as she was Alder’s. Tomorrow, he would kiss her in front of everyone, make her moan far louder than his brother had.
Just as he had the thought, Hale heard her let out a shuddering cry. He felt her soft folds spasm beneath his lips, but felt no triumph at making her climax. There would be no pleasure for him until he was inside of her, no relief until he was coming.
Unable to articulate his need, Hale growled, a warning for his brother to back off. The second Alder moved from her breast, Hale grabbed her by the hips and flipped her over onto her knees. Grabbing his cock, he wasted no time in finding her entrance and pushing into her with a hard thrust.
He thought she made a sound, but he couldn’t hear her over his own deep groan. She was a perfect fit. Every angle and contour of her tight passage seemed as though it were shaped to stimulate his cock in all the right ways.
As Hale drove into her over and over, he was vaguely aware of her pleasuring his brother, stroking his cock with her small hand. He felt jealousy surge again and he thrust harder, wanting her full attention.
The gesture backfired and within seconds Hale felt his sac tighten. His back straightened as he gave one last thrust, heat surging up from within him and pouring into his female, his mate.
Hale fell onto the furs, still gripping her hips as the aftershocks rippled through him. The euphoria of climax helped to dull the insidious jealousy that had taken root in him and he watched Taylor take his brother into her mouth.
With his head back and his eyes clenched shut, Alder seemed to be enthralled by her oral ministrations. Taylor, however, seemed nervous and unsure of herself. She kept looking up to Alder for validation, though he was blissfully unaware.
Amused with her struggle, Hale reached out to stroke her hair. She didn’t look his way, no doubt because she was embarrassed, but she did grow more confident in what she was doing.
Alder gave her no warning before he came and the look on her face was priceless. Hale had to turn away from her stricken face and was unable to stifle his laughter.
They laid together this time, with Taylor wedged between their bodies. Hale refused to let himself slip from inside of her, even after he softened. He knew that in a few moments he would be ready again and he’d be damned if Alder was going to have her.
The more he thought about it though, maybe if he let Alder have her next, she would take Hale’s cock into her mouth. He pulled out of her, the thought of having her lips around him too tantalizing to pass up.
To Hale’s disappointment, her eyes were closed. If she was going to provide for the needs of two alpha males, she really needed to have more stamina, he thought with exasperation.
“Taylor.”
Her eyes fluttered open, but she didn’t turn his way. “Hale?”
“Don’t sleep.”
Now, his brother cast him a look of annoyance. Had Alder planned on allowing her to rest?
“I’m just resting my eyes,” she told him, snuggling her head into Alder’s chest.
Hale knew that trick. His sister used to pull that shit all the time.
“Leave her alone,” Alder said, his voice muffled by Taylor’s hair.
Hale rolled over onto his back, his cock sticking straight up. He didn’t even entertain the thought of satisfying himself with another female. There was only one that he wanted.
EPILOGUE
Hale and his brother laid awake long after Taylor had fallen asleep. There were plenty of things Hale could have and should have been doing, but he was secretly hoping Alder would leave so that he could wake Taylor. He had even planned out the things they would do, starting with him giving her a lesson on how to properly go down on a male.
Then, she had turned and rested her head on his arm. The room was already too warm for Hale’s liking and Taylor, as he was finding out, had the tendency to drool in her sleep.
But all he wanted was to pull her closer, wrap her warm, drooling body up in his arms, and rest his eyes with her.
Clearly, he was losing his mind.
Alder spoke, his voice a low whisper. “Her scent is changing.”
Was it? Hale’s nostrils flared as he took in a long drag of her scent. She smelled as enticing as ever, but he couldn’t perceive any difference. He arched a brow at his brother.
“You’ll notice it once you’re away from her for a few hours,” Alder said. “It’s still faint.”
With the hand that hadn’t been commandeered, Hale scratched his chin. It would explain why he was suddenly feeling so possessive of her. It would also explain the countless other abnormal feelings that seemed to surface when he was in her presence. Yes, he decided. It made perfect sense.
Alder continued, “I’m going to make arrangements for us to leave the area and go somewhere more private. You should organize an extra hunt for tomorrow. The pack is going to need enough meat to last at least five days. I don’t want them going far from the den while we’re gone.”
Hale murmured his acknowledgement, his thoughts already on the days that were to follow. He had never experienced a mating thrall, nor had he ever intended on doing so. It was said to be both the pinnacle of sexual satisfaction and sexual frustration. A fevered lust that pervaded for days on end.
Hale had been looking forward to the thrall. A few days of animalistic fucking and then all of this nonsense would be over. His instinctual need to mate with her would vanish the moment her scent changed again, signaling that she was carrying a pup. His brother’s pup, one which he would have no responsibility for.
And no claim on.
As his brother continued talking, Hale stared past him, his eyes becoming distant as he looked into a stark vision of his own future. Alder, sitting by the fireplace with Taylor on a cool spring evening. She was nursing an infant pup at her breast, a pup with a thatch of blond hair and Hale’s dimpled chin. He could see himself, watching the three of them through the window, the careless agreement he’d made to Alder playing on a loop in his mind.
‘You can have all the affectio
n shit, any pups she has. All I want is her body.’
Hale’s throat became dry. He swallowed hard, reminding himself that his mind was being affected by her scent. Hormones, his sister had called them. Hormones were making him believe that he wanted a mate and a pup of his own, simply to urge him into fulfilling the evolutionary contract to breed.
He would get through this mating thrall, and when it was over, he would realize how foolish he was being. He would lose all interest in overly warm, drooling humans and the pups that they had.
Everything would be like it was before.
SAFETY
Determined not to be pressured into parenthood, Taylor enlists the one person she knows can help her talk to Alder: his brother.
Hale can’t believe the position Taylor is putting him in. How can he convince Alder not to go through with the mating thrall when his own control is hanging by a thread?
COMING OCTOBER 2014
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A human woman must hold a werewolf pack together by becoming the mate of two dominant alphas.
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