“Yes,” raspy voice answered immediately. “I need to touch our baby.”
“You know what else we’re going to love, baby?” gray eyes asked her.
“What?” Meeka whispered.
“When you’re nursing our children, we’ll be right there with you,” gray eyes said, reaching up and tenderly caressing the swell of her left breast.
Raspy voice leaned forward and opened his mouth to envelope her right nipple, pulling on it carefully to suckle with strong pulls that made her channel clench. She couldn’t prevent the moan that escaped her as he scraped his teeth across her distended nipple before kissing it sweetly.
“I’m looking forward to tasting your milk, little one,” he told her, smiling at the blush that covered her cheeks. “We’ll be able to taste the miracle of your body as you nurse our babies.”
“You want to do that?” Meeka asked in a hushed voice.
“Yes,” he answered without hesitation. “You belong to us, Meeka Martin. You’re ours to love. You’re ours to have a beautiful family with.”
Meeka sat up in bed, her chest heaving as she fought to control her breathing. Covering her belly with her right hand, she felt a moment of joy as she thought about the two men who loved her.
“What’s wrong with you, Mikayla Martin?” she chastised herself angrily. “It was just a dream. No men are waiting for you to be your men. And they certainly aren’t going to be wanting a family with you.”
She lay back down on the bed and settled on her side, punching her pillow as she tried to get comfortable. No matter how determined she was to push the beautiful dream from her mind, the soothing remnants of it ghosted through her memories.
She closed her eyes with determination. There was no way she was going to give in to the wish that those two men, raspy voice and gray eyes, were out there waiting for her. Their faces had been obscured in her dream, but she would never forget the beautiful light blue eyes of the man with the raspy voice or the gentle gray eyes of the man with the light brown hair. What she remembered most was the incredible sense of love and protectiveness that the men surrounded her with. It was something that she secretly craved.
“You are seriously messed up,” she whispered as she scrunched her eyes tighter and tried to go back to sleep.
Looking at the clock, she saw that it was nearly three o’clock in the morning. She was going to be exhausted when she went to work in less than four hours. Doing her best to calm herself and push aside her erotic dream, she focused instead on the sound of the rain that was falling lightly outside. Rain usually soothed her, but it wasn’t helping her tonight.
All she could think about was the two men who made love to her—together. How could she have dreamt something so erotic and so forbidden? Two men. How was that even a possibility?
She closed her eyes and concentrated on her ridiculous question. There was only one answer. It wasn’t possible, even though she had to admit to herself that she wanted just that with the two men who made her feel like she was meant to be theirs.
Chapter 3
“We’ll be meeting with Randall in his home,” Ethan explained as he turned into the long driveway that led to the large house where Randall lived. “He’s going to be giving me the contracts for the land acquisition.”
“When will I be able to look at the company accounts?” Meeka asked as she looked out the window to take in the isolated home. It was already dusk and she couldn’t help but be a little creeped out by the heavily wooded area.
“Randall will have the information for you to look at,” Ethan told her. “When we meet with him, I need you to stay beside me and don’t speak unless I tell you to.”
Meeka looked at him, her forehead furrowed in confusion. “What?” she asked, unsure why he was saying such a ridiculous thing.
“Randall will probably ignore you completely. Just don’t be tempted to say anything,” Ethan warned her, never taking his eyes off the road ahead of him. “Randall is a guy who expects women to be silent, look pretty, and bear children.”
Meeka’s heart raced at Ethan’s words. “Sounds like a real charmer,” Meeka said, sarcasm evident in her voice.
Ethan looked at her briefly, his eyes flashing brightly as anger filled him. “Do not be disrespectful, Mikayla,” he warned her. “Randall will not be as forgiving as I am.”
“Excuse me?”
“There’s no time for this discussion,” Ethan warned her as he pulled up in front of the large house.
He stopped the car and turned off the engine. Taking his cell phone out of his jacket pocket, he placed it in the tray between the seats.
“Randall won’t allow cell phones or computers inside his home,” Ethan explained. “You’ll need to leave your phone in the car.”
Meeka opened her purse and took out her phone, holding it in her hand tightly as she looked at Ethan. “Why won’t he allow cell phones?” she asked, not liking the fact that she would be somewhere with someone foreign to her without the safety of having her phone with her.
“I don’t question his reasons, Mikayla,” Ethan told her, his voice clipped with impatience. “I just follow his rules and you will, too. You will not jeopardize this acquisition of land by bringing your phone into this meeting.”
Meeka hesitated just a moment then set her cell phone next to Ethan’s in the tray between the seats. She was determined to get through this meeting, fly back home, and make plans with her sister to disappear from Ethan’s life.
Ethan watched as she placed her cell phone in the tray and nodded with satisfaction. Without another word, he opened the car door and stepped out, slamming the door behind him.
“What an asshole,” Meeka muttered as she unbuckled her seatbelt and opened her door, stepping out and closing the door behind her. She clutched her purse beneath her right arm and steeled herself to remain strong. She wasn’t about to allow Ethan or the men attending the meeting to intimidate her.
She walked toward the front porch of the huge house, taking in the three large men who stood waiting in front of the ornate front door. Ethan was already greeting the men, shaking their hands and speaking in low tones that she couldn’t hear. When the front door was opened and the three men stepped inside, Meeka waited until Ethan turned to face her.
“Let’s go, Mikayla,” he called to her quietly. “Remember what I said. Do not speak unless I ask you a direct question. Do not show any of the men inside of this home disrespect. I know it will be hard for you to contain yourself, but you’d better. I will not have you embarrass me further than you already have.”
“I’ve embarrassed you?” Meeka asked, stunned by his words. “How have I embarrassed you?”
“We will discuss this later. Stay quiet.”
The look he gave her was one of impatience and hardness. It made Meeka sick to her stomach. How could she have ever thought herself in love with this man? Man? No, this guy was a Neanderthal.
Meeka bit the inside of her cheek to keep her words contained. As she stepped up onto the front porch and followed behind Ethan as he entered through the front door, she had only one thought that raced through her mind. There was no way in hell she was going to tell Ethan about her baby.
Walking into the large office, Meeka remained silent as Ethan stepped toward the man who sat behind the large desk. She watched as Ethan lowered his head and cocked it to the side.
Well, that’s weird.
Looking around, she took in the many men who stood on either side of the man she assumed was Randall. They were incredibly tall men with muscular builds. She might say that they were handsome men except for the coldness of their eyes as they looked at her and the menacing scowls that were displayed on their faces.
She had to stop herself from asking them what their problem was. Instead, she met their stares with one of quiet defiance. Kaley would have been proud of her. No man was going to make her cower or feel inadequate ever again.
“Why have you brought a human woman?” Randall asked E
than, a deep scowl on his face as he looked at the woman who stood in the doorway of his office.
Human? What the hell is up with this guy? Meeka asked herself. She wasn’t liking the situation she was in at all.
“My apologies, Alpha Randall,” Ethan spoke up immediately, bowing slightly before the man. “I have a favor to ask.”
“Get her out of here, Boyd,” Randall demanded, ignoring Ethan Webber completely.
The man directly beside Randall nodded and walked around the large desk. He was directly in front of Meeka within seconds, dwarfing her with his size. Looking up at him, Meeka was intimidated completely. Boyd was a big guy with a bunch of muscles who had a very annoyed expression on his face.
“Let’s go,” Boyd said, indicating the doorway with his index finger. “You heard our alpha.”
“Ethan?” Meeka asked, trying to look around Boyd’s massive body to find him.
“Just go, Mikayla,” Ethan demanded, not even turning around to face her as he spoke.
Shock and anger warred within her. Turning, she walked out of the office without a word, very aware that Boyd followed her. She turned to face him and stood her ground, anger flashing in her eyes as she looked up at him.
“Okay, I’m out of the office,” she told him angrily. “You don’t need to babysit me.”
Boyd’s eyes flashed a weird golden color and a low growl rumbled from him. Meeka took a step back as fear filled her. This man was scary as hell, and he looked like he was about to display a good amount of impatience with her. She had a niggling of a feeling that he would not be averse to using his strength against her. She knew he could physically hurt her pretty severely, and she wasn’t going to allow him to have that chance.
“Sit,” he growled, pointing to the small wooden chair that sat right outside Randall’s office door.
Meeka sat, never taking her eyes off of him. She wasn’t cowering, but she wasn’t stupid either. Whatever he wanted her to do, she would do until the meeting was over. Once Ethan came out and drove them back to the hotel, she was done. She would go to the airport and fly home. It wouldn’t bother Ethan that she wouldn’t be staying. She knew that without a doubt in her mind. It was a good thing they had come straight from the airport to the meeting. She wouldn’t have to cancel a hotel reservation for herself since one hadn’t been made. Ethan had told her that he would take care of it when they landed and had finished their meeting with Randall.
Since she wasn’t about to stay, she was determined to go directly back to the airport. She was going to charge her flight home to the company, though. She wasn’t about to spend one penny of her own money to get home.
Straightening in the chair, she crossed her legs and settled her purse on her lap. She watched Boyd as he walked back into the office, breathing a sigh of relief when she was no longer subjected to his disrespect, his constant snarling, or his cold, dark eyes.
A feeling of dread settled like a lead weight in the pit of her stomach. He had serial killer eyes. They were cold and cruel.
Geez, what a creep.
“You’ve been away from pack land for too long, Ethan,” Randall told him, his voice filled with anger. “After all this time, you come back here with a human woman. Why?”
“Alpha, I need a favor,” Ethan said without hesitation. He turned when Boyd walked back into the room and stood beside their alpha. “Boyd, maybe you can help me if Alpha Randall agrees.”
“My big brother needs my help,” Boyd said smugly, crossing his muscular arms across his barrel chest. “I never thought I’d live to see the day when you would admit it.”
“Boyd,” Ethan began, warning his brother angrily.
“Enough,” Randall bellowed. “I’ve got enough problems dealing with the neighboring packs. Beckett’s pack is influencing the rest of the packs in the area. I don’t like the way those freaks are encouraging the two packs to the north.”
“In what way?” Ethan asked, knowing that Jace Beckett’s pack had been a sore spot in Randall’s life for a very long time.
“Beckett is interfering with my control over the packs,” Randal said, standing and walking over to the window to stand with his hands folded behind his back. “I’ll take care of him. I have no doubt. That bastard is going to pay for his arrogance.” He turned to face Ethan and growled, his face contorting with the anger that filled him. “That whole pack is filled with men who aren’t even men enough to fuck a woman alone. It takes two of them to breed one bitch.”
Ethan nodded, remembering how Beckett’s pack and two of the neighboring packs were made up of triad partners who worked together to get their woman pregnant. He remembered how Randall hated Jace Beckett. Randall definitely thought there was something wrong with the men whose physiology had adapted to triad matings over the years.
When Randall had allowed men from other packs to join his, he had shown clear prejudice against them for that very reason. Randall’s pack members didn’t have triad matings or triad partners. And he had no respect for the men or the families he had brought into his pack who were fated to be members of triads. To Randall, they were men who were lacking, and Ethan agreed.
He never liked the triad partners who had joined Randall’s pack when he had been a teenager. He especially hated the Barrett, Hutchinson, Garner, and Robinson families that had been allowed into the pack fifteen years before. Each of those family members was part of triad partnerships and matings. Ethan was glad when their alpha had taken care of them and had banished all of them from his pack land.
When Susannah Robinson’s brother Mitchell had been found to be without a triad partner as was custom within his family, Randall had been pleased. But his pleasure had soon turned to hatred when he truly believed that Mitchell was bringing bad luck to their pack.
“Looks like my big brother didn’t have that problem,” Boyd spoke up, grinning at Ethan.
“What’re you talking about?” Randall snapped, facing his beta.
“The human outside your office is breeding,” Boyd explained. “I can smell it. I can also smell Ethan on her.”
Randall turned and faced Ethan, his complexion red with anger. “Is that true?” he demanded. “You bred a human woman?”
Ethan nodded. “That’s the problem I need your help with,” he explained. “I will need Boyd’s help as well. He’s perfectly suited for the job.”
“And just how do you want me to help you, pup?” Randall asked, stepping closer to him. “What is it that you want Boyd to do for you?” He stood directly in front of Ethan, his dark eyes flashing golden as his wolf demanded to be released. He growled loudly, lashing out his alpha power against Ethan as he demanded an answer.
“I am not going to be the father of a half-breed,” Ethan said angrily. “I need help getting rid of Mikayla and the abomination that she’s carrying.”
Meeka stood and faced the open door to the office in horror. Did the men not realize that she could hear their discussion? Or did they just not care? Did they assume she would just allow them to kill her and her baby? Well, they didn’t know her. She had to fight for everything her entire life. She and Kaley had learned to stand up for themselves and be strong enough to take care of themselves and each other, and she wasn’t going to allow these men to hurt her. She sure as hell wasn’t going to allow them to hurt the baby she was carrying.
Without another moment’s pause, she turned and walked over to the front door, pulling it open quickly and stepping outside. She closed the door behind her and walked down the porch steps, hurrying to the car. Reaching out to pull open the door to retrieve her cell phone, she was frustrated when the car door remained firmly locked.
She nearly cried out in fear when she realized that it wouldn’t be long before the men came to find her. She couldn’t allow them to get to her. She had no choice but to do the only thing she could do at this point.
Turning, she took off running, grateful that she was wearing low shoes. When she had dressed that morning in her black pants and navy
, silk blouse, the last thing she thought would be happening was that she would be running for her life and her clothes to play a key role in her ability to escape.
She slung the long strap of her purse over her head to have it hang down her back. Running as fast as she could, she followed the driveway to the road. It occurred to her that the men would be following her through the obvious path of escape. Turning into the woods that bordered the road, she went as deep into it as she could and still be able to see. The moon was a three quarter moon, helping her to see even though a lot of the wooded area was dark with shadows.
She heard the howling of wolves off in the distance and knew real fear as she ran, trying desperately to catch her breath. Twigs and branches scattered on the ground made her stumble, and she had to fight to keep her balance.
Hearing the sounds of approaching runners behind her, she swerved further into the wooded area, determined to keep herself hidden. There was no way she could allow the men to find her. They were going to kill her and her baby.
Running as quickly as she was able to, she made her way deeper into the woods, almost in a panic to find a safe haven to hide. Her foot hooked on a protruding root, sending her sprawling to her knees, causing her to scrape her hands as she fought to protect herself from falling hard onto her chest and stomach. The thought of hurting her baby as it was growing inside of her made bile rise up in her throat.
Pushing herself up, she stood on shaky legs, holding onto the large tree that was beside her. Her long black hair hung across her forehead, plastered to her face with perspiration. Reaching up with a shaky hand, she pushed aside her hair and took a calming breath, gasping when she saw the faint outline of a small cabin in the distance.
A burst of renewed energy raced through her. She pushed onward, slowly closing the distance between herself and the cabin. If she could just get to it, she might be able to find a phone to call the police. The fear she had in being caught gave her the boost of determination she needed to race through the woods for the last five hundred feet to the cabin.
Meeka's Reluctant Mates [Beckett's Wolf Pack, Triad Mates 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Page 3