Big, strong hands stroked her hair. They probed her neck and shoulder. The wound throbbed and she whimpered.
"Shh, Dani. You're going to be okay. You're going to be okay." Killian's calm voice wrapped her up in its embrace.
"Ryan," she whimpered.
"The Leopard doesn't have a chance against him. Just stay still. I don't think that it was a major wound, but I still have to clean you up and stop the bleeding."
Killian gently rolled her over before gathering her in his arms. He headed into the cabin. Nausea swirled everywhere in Danita's body, otherwise, she would have protested. She didn't want to be here, to imagine what might have happened.
But Killian was right. They needed to take care of this. He would protect her.
He set her down on the couch and got to work. Danita didn’t know if she fell unconscious or he was just that quick, but the next thing she knew, her nausea had subsided and the pain had diminished. Killian taped some gauze to her neck and nodded, as though satisfied with his work.
"Take this." He pressed a pill into her hand.
"What is it?"
"Painkiller. It's a superficial wound, but I bet it hurts."
Danita swallowed it down, choking a little as it scraped her throat.
"Stay here." He kissed her forehead. "I'm going to help Ryan. We'll be back shortly."
She didn't want him to leave her, but she also didn't want Ryan to get hurt, so she didn't protest as Killian left. He leaped from the porch, shifting mid-air into his huge gray Bear. Danita listened anxiously, straining her ears, but as soon as the sound of Killian moving through the brush was gone, all was silent.
***
Despite the situation she found herself in, Danita did end up falling asleep. The adrenaline sapping her energy, combined with the painkiller Killian had given her and the lack of sleep she had had the past few nights sent her unconscious quickly. When she woke, her mind was crisp, and she felt much stronger.
The sound of running water and a voice drew her attention. Fear grabbed her, flooding her with adrenaline yet again. She got to her feet and inched towards the bathroom door, which stood ajar. The water was too loud for her to make out the voice. What if McGrath had shaken off the boys and come back? Worse, what if he had hurt them?
She skirted the bathroom door and grabbed a knife before she hurried back to the couch and laid down again.
Right at that moment, the water turned off. A man grunted with pain.
"I can't believe you let him get the drop on you like that." Killian's voice. Danita jumped to her feet. "I told you to be careful."
"Yeah, yeah."
Danita ran to the bathroom, throwing the door open. Ryan was stiffly drying himself off, Killian half-supporting him. Neither had a scratch on them. With a cry of relief, she flung herself at her Bears. She was crying before she even realized what she was doing. They enfolded her in their embrace, holding her gently as she cried.
"How did you find me?" she eventually choked out.
"You left your slippers and Ryan found a torn note in the trash."
Her slippers. Danita actually laughed. She had considered bringing them but decided she didn't want her favorite slippers tainted by memories of what was going to happen here.
It was a good thing she hadn't brought them, or her boys may never have known to look for her. She began shaking as the weight of what might have happened crashed down on her.
"It's okay." Ryan kissed her. "McGrath is dead. And we're fine."
"Other than a couple broken ribs." Killian glared at his partner. "Because this one was an idiot."
"They'll be fine by the end of the day. Don't worry her."
"You're the one who worried—"
Danita laughed and covered their mouths. "None of this, now. No fighting. Take me home. I don't want to be here anymore."
The boys immediately turned to her. Both of them embraced her, Ryan getting her shirt damp. Danita wasn't about to complain. She was safe. She was well and truly safe.
Epilogue – Danita
The feeling of little feet kicking her ribs woke Danita before the alarm had even gone off. She groaned, rubbing her stomach. That only elicited more kicking and made her realize how much she needed to use the bathroom. Trying not to shift her Bears too much, she wiggled her way out from between then, going over the footboard rather than trying to climb over one of them.
They had gotten a king-sized bed to replace the air mattresses some time ago, but it was hardly enough room for her and one of the boys, let alone both right now. Despite it getting into winter and not having a reliable heat source for the house yet, they had to keep the bedroom window open at night, or it got just too hot, mashed between the two of them.
After she was finished in the bathroom, she kicked off her old slippers and dressed, trying to be quiet. Her boys were sound sleepers, but if they heard her moving, they'd be pulling her back into bed before she could wiggle into her overalls.
But she was not going back to bed. The alpacas needed to be fed, and the boys still spooked them from time to time if they smelled too strongly of Bear. Besides, she was still perfectly capable of working, even though the two shifters didn't like her doing it.
Now that she was seven months pregnant, they never let her do anything. It was starting to get annoying. But at the same time, it was sweet, and Danita tried to sneak away and do her own work as much to get them to stop her as to actually get the work done. It had become a bit of a game between them now, seeing how far she could get before they caught her.
The air was crisp outside, with the smell of snow that was always present at this time of year. A heavy frost covered everything, coating naked branches, the long, dead grass, the fences. There were even beautiful, delicate patterns of frost on the windows that looked like fairies had come and danced on them.
Danita loved winter. It was just so romantic.
As was usual at this time of day, the alpacas were all huddled together inside their section of the barn, wooly forms pressed together. They would get a good harvest next year. With McGrath gone, she had gotten that mortgage she wanted, enough to pay Amelia back and to survive the winter, along with buying supplies for the spring shearing.
"Hey, fellas," Danita trilled, patting Maria's head as the alpacas followed her from one end of the fence to the other. "How are you this morning? Hungry for some nice tasty hay and mineral supplements?"
The barn door opened just as she was cutting the twine off a hay bale. Her Bears came in, shaking their heads as they crossed the floor.
"You, Miss Valdez, are going to get yourself hurt." Killian jumped past her, grabbing the pitchfork before she could.
Danita put her hands on her hips. "You heard the doctor. A little work won't hurt me or the baby. It might actually help."
Ryan picked her up, cuddling her to his chest. She loved this, the ease with which they could pick her up and carry her around, even this far into her pregnancy. She wrapped her arms around Ryan’s neck and put her head on his shoulder as he began to pitch the hay to the alpacas.
"The doctor may have said that, but I'm not convinced that you didn't pay him to say that." Ryan's voice vibrated through her. "You need your rest, and you need to save your energy."
"I have plenty of energy. For chores, for other things." She nuzzled into his neck, kissing him.
Ryan groaned. "You're going to kill us, woman. You'd have us going all night every night if you could."
"What, can't handle little ol' me?" Danita laughed.
Killian laughed as he started adding the mineral supplement pellets to the alpaca feed. "We haven't been able to keep up with you since we first joined you here. You have more fire and passion than a thousand women. Give her here, I need some of that. It's freezing!"
"We can go back inside as soon as you're done feeding the animals. The rest of the chores can wait." Danita gladly moved from Ryan to Killian's arms and started kissing him instead. "Or we could stay out here."
&nb
sp; Her boys exchanged exasperated looks. "It's too cold."
"We can make our own heat." Danita gave them both a sultry look. "The blanket's still out here."
The boys glanced at one another, and Danita could see their defenses break down. Ryan hurried to finish feeding the alpacas while Killian set her down and went in search of the blanket. She grinned as she watched them.
Less than a year ago, it was just her on a broken-down farm with dreams of the future but not much else. Now she had her farm–still not pristine, but workable and being improved little by little–she had her herd of alpacas, she had her boys, she had a baby on the way.
"Got the blanket," Killian shouted in glee, waving it over his head.
Ryan grabbed her by the waist and pulled her towards the loose pile of hay. Danita laughed in delight. Yes, this was better than all her dreams come true.
*****
THE END
Paranormal Menage Romance: Heat, Hockey and Two Werewolves
Description
A curvy witch who is also an artist PLUS two sexy Werewolves who want her PLUS a hot hockey game!
The only thing Piper Diamond wants to do with hockey is to stop hearing about it so much.
For this witch, gallery owner and artist, the absolute worst time to be in her hometown of Uphoria, Alberta is when the town hosts the Werewolf League games, resulting in hockey permeating every aspect of her life. Even her normally attentive, sexy Werewolf mate, Baxter, loses his head during the hockey season and eats, sleeps and breathes hockey.
But when the hunky center forward of Uphoria's home team, Patrick Giles, wants Piper and Baxter for his trois amour, a three-way mating group, Piper's interest in hockey suddenly skyrockets. Even though Patrick is sexy and Baxter is more than willing to have him join them, Piper's not certain that she can commit to a relationship with another Werewolf.
Unfortunately she doesn't have much time to think about her love life. Her gallery is in financial trouble and it's all she can do to keep warlock Thor Wragge from buying it and turning her dreams into cheap reproductions. Things don't get any easier when the gallery becomes a target for vandals and burglars, so Piper has to decide what she really wants from life.
Chapter One
Piper Diamond tried to ignore her mate, Baxter, as he sighed, rubbing his thumbs in small circles at the base of her neck. He always knew just the right way to touch her to ease the tension in her spine. His musky Wolf scent so close to her stirred desire like it always did, but right at this moment, he wasn't after sex.
Instead, his eyes were sad and droopy, his mouth downturned, trying to convince her to do something far different. And far less exciting.
"Please come to the game with me."
"Baxter, I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because I have all this work to do," she gestured to the receipts and invoices strewn over her desk. "And because I don't want to. You'll have more fun without me, anyway."
It was the Wolf League playoffs in Uphoria, Alberta. Winter howled outside and the windows rattled as sand-like grains of snow beat against them. And it always led people to bundle up in woolen hats and parkas to brave the frigid temperatures, so that they could sit in a freezing cold hockey arena and watch a bunch of Werewolves skate around on the ice, slapping around a puck with their little sticks.
Hockey season was the worst season in Piper's opinion. Though she could easily summon up a small dragon to keep her hands toasty in the arena, she just didn't see the appeal of the sport. Not a very Canadian attitude, as Baxter repeatedly told her.
When it came to hockey, the only delightful parts of watching a sports game–the rippling muscles of the athletes–were hidden beneath layers of padding and fur. Boring.
What made it even more unbearable was that while the playoffs happened, they were all anybody in Uphoria, especially Baxter, would talk about. Piper couldn't even walk down the street without hearing fights over the finer points of what happened in the last game.
Baxter leaned over her, nibbling at her neck. She tried to ignore the tingle that it created, focusing on her bookkeeping papers.
"You have been pouring over these books for hours," Baxter nipped at her earlobe, his steamy breath in her ear. "If you come with me, I can make it really worth your time…"
Piper swept her blue-and-purple hair out of her eyes and turned to her mate. As a Werewolf, he was able to shift forms at will and either be a man with firm muscles, dark hair, dark eyes, and a Latino complexion, or a humanoid wolf with hairy, clawed feet, hands the size of dinner plates and boundless muscles that rippled under gleaming fur the color of midnight.
"You'll be able to enjoy the game better without me," Piper repeated. "The gallery is in the red again, I'm not sure how I'll make rent. It seems every time I break even, something happens and I'm in debt again."
Baxter caught the arms of her swivel chair, trapping her. "Piper Diamond, you get your delicious ass out of this chair this instant. You need something to distract you, and you know how… desirous I get after we win a game."
"You're insisting, aren't you?"
Baxter nodded, and Piper wrapped her arms around his neck. He rarely insisted on anything, and so she knew that this was very important to him. "Okay. I'll go. On one condition. If we lose, you don't start pouting."
Baxter flicked his tongue across her lips and she opened them readily and moaned.
"I'll get your coat," he whispered, slipping away from her grasp.
Piper smiled at him. She really did not want to go watch hockey, even though she had to admit the sex after Uphoria won a game and Baxter was all hopped up on adrenaline and excitement, was always mind-blowing. But Baxter was right, as he usually was. She needed a distraction and hockey was better than sitting around stressing.
They had been mates since senior prom night. Neither of them had really understood just how permanent Werewolf mating actually was. They had been hormone-fueled teenagers with their heads in the clouds, lost in a night of music and dance.
They hadn't even known each other prior to that night.
Nobody had asked Piper to prom. She was the high school's fat-girl that nobody noticed, except for when she snuck candy into Mr. Breton's oh-so-boring History of Magic in the Americas class. She wasn't the only one eating chocolate while Breton droned on and on, but she was the only one the other students seemed to notice. Back then, Piper hated her body, bouncing from diet to diet, her weight yo-yoed like crazy, making her constantly sick.
She hadn't even wanted to go to prom, but her mother wanted her to go. Her mother had just stopped chemotherapy and so Piper had agreed. During a slow song, Piper was making up an exciting story to tell her mother about how much fun she had when Baxter approached. He complimented one of her art pieces that was displayed in the school hall. Talking lead to kissing, intense and fiery.
Piper was still not entirely certain how or why it happened, but before the end of the night, they were in the backseat of his car, clumsy, awkward, but with no second thoughts.
It had been a mistake.
But it was the best mistake Piper had ever made. Baxter was the sweetest, most attentive mate she could ever hope to find. Even though knowing that she was his mate for life scared the shit out of her at first, it didn't take long for her to truly fall in love with him.
"I love you," she said, leaning against him for warmth as they scampered out to the car.
Baxter kissed the top of her head. "I love you, too."
***
The game, as Piper had predicted, had Baxter jumping from his seat, swearing like a sailor at the referee every few minutes, cheering and stomping his feet every other time. He wasn’t the only one, either.
Piper watched him with a smile, only half paying attention to the game. On the rink, two teams of Werewolves, both in their beast's forms, faced off, snarling and slamming into each other. The Wolf League games were notoriously more violent than the ones humans played and it was common for the ice t
o stain red.
"There he goes, there he goes!" Baxter screamed, pulling Piper to her feet.
The center forward for the Uphoria team had the puck. Skating so quickly that it was hard to keep her eyes on him, he zig-zagged through the opposing team players. Baxter screamed so loud his voice grew hoarse.
In that instant, as though she had called his name, the center forward looked up. His wolfish face was twisted into a snarl, white teeth flashing in the arena lights. Brown eyes burrowed into hers and he winked with a distinctive nod of his head.
There was a flash of movement and a roar of approval from the crowd. Piper strained to see what had happened. A buzzer went off, announcing the end of the game. Or at least, she hoped it was. Her cheeks were flushed all of a sudden, her pulse quickening.
"We won!" Baxter shouted, jumping up and down. "We won!"
Piper applauded half-heartedly. Her gaze continued to follow the center forward, but he didn't look back at her.
***
The next morning Piper yawned as she flipped the sign in the window of her art gallery from closed to open. After the game had finished, she and Baxter had celebrated with a few beers when they got back to the house her father had given to them as a gift after they graduated from college. The bottles were still sitting on the kitchen table, abandoned when Baxter had begun kissing her.
Winning the game had made Baxter more passionate than normal and he had given her a night that made her forget all about that odd wink at the game–unfortunately, it had also given her only a couple hours of sleep.
Piper walked around her little gallery, admiring the pieces of local art on display. As the host for the Wolf League playoffs, Uphoria always experienced an influx of tourists during the hockey season. This usually also brought in a couple extra thousand dollars and helped offset the unpleasantness of the season.
Doctor’s Fake Fiancée Page 105