by Unknown
He slid his mouth over Donovan’s cock, feeling his lips stretch just a little to accommodate the width. On the first stroke, he got barely an inch into his mouth, but with each stroke he took more and more as Donovan’s cock became slick with Eli’s spit.
“So good.” Donovan slid his hand down the side of Eli’s head until it rested on his shoulder.
“Beautiful,” Maddy said, the hint of laughter in her voice.
He’d kind of forgotten she was there, she’d been so quiet. At the same time, he’d had an awareness of her presence. He’d have known if she left. He reached out and snagged her foot, rubbing the soft skin on top with his thumb while he continued to suck Donovan’s cock. That now-familiar feeling of the three of them touching came over him and his cock jerked.
Donovan’s fingers dug into his shoulder. “Soon. Come up here.”
So he should stop when Donovan told him to, even though Donovan wouldn’t stop when he asked? Hell with that.
“Now.” Donovan’s voice sounded more like a growl.
When Eli didn’t move quickly enough, Donovan jerked on his upper arm and Eli flew upward onto the bed. Donovan rolled against him, grabbing his cock and stroking it.
“What the hell? I could have bitten you by accident.” Eli didn’t have a chance to say anything more because Donovan covered his mouth with his own.
In seconds, Eli forgot that he’d been pissed. He felt his way down Donovan’s body to rub his cock as frantically as Donovan was rubbing his. Eli’s heart beat faster and faster until he could hear nothing but the beat of his heart in his ears. His vision blurred. There was just Donovan, Donovan and the need whipping through his body. His teeth sharpened and without a thought he leaned toward Donovan’s neck.
Donovan clamped down on Eli’s shoulder, breaking skin and sending an avalanche of sensation ricocheting through him as he experienced another orgasm as powerful as the one with Maddy. Eli held on a few seconds longer, just long enough to bite Donovan. Then he let himself go, body tight, hard, fixed, cock pulsing until he nearly went blind.
It seemed a long time before Donovan pulled his teeth from Eli’s shoulder. He licked the wound gently then kissed it. Eli released him just as carefully then Donovan flopped back on the bed. He pulled Eli into him. A few seconds later, Maddy crawled over Donovan to snuggle in between them.
Home. Home at last.
#
The man prowled the neighborhood. Even though he knew he couldn’t take Madison Blake, he’d followed her and her mates to a house on the edge of the forest. There he watched outside. He couldn’t see a thing, not even shadows behind the shades, but that didn’t stop him from imagining.
Her mates would do everything to her that he would have done. That he should have done. If he’d only taken her a day or two ago, that would be him joining with her now, and not those two other wolves.
He felt a pain in his heart as sharp as if she’d rejected his advances outright. It shouldn’t have gone this way. Next time, he’d make sure it didn’t. He’d move faster.
But did he know she’d reject him if he took her now? The other woman hadn’t been able to handle his touch. He knew it but he didn’t want to believe it. He could try anyway, couldn’t he? He loved Madison so much.
#
When Maddy woke, she knew everything had changed. Her body felt well-used and the almost-healed marks on her shoulders pulled just a little. For a moment, she basked in the afterglow of their mating.
She opened her eyes slowly, the light from the window momentarily blinding her. Then she blinked, and saw Eli.
Her stomach clenched. Last night, it had all seemed so easy. So clear. He had apologized. And in the moment, overwhelmed by desire, she’d foolishly thought everything would be okay from now on. Instead, she looked at his sleeping face and saw not her beloved mate, but the boy who’d bullied her for so many years.
For a moment, Maddy didn’t breathe, afraid to wake him. Which was ridiculous. He’d apologized. Even if she needed time to forgive him, she still didn’t need to be afraid any more. He wouldn’t hurt her. Still, she slowly pushed away from him, preparing to get out of bed.
She ran into a brick wall.
With a moan, Donovan curled his body around hers from behind and buried his face in her neck. “Morning.”
“Morning,” she whispered. Then Eli opened his eyes and she held her breath.
He gazed at her for a moment, then cupped her face. His thumb rubbed over her lips. “I can’t believe it was all real.” He kissed her gently.
Something inside her released. He wouldn’t hurt her. See?
Donovan’s hand slid down her body to rest between her legs. “This is the perfect way to wake up.”
Eli grinned and slid in closer. “I agree.”
She was forgetting something. “Wait.” She pushed up on her elbow to look at the alarm clock. “What time is it?”
The clock showed eight thirty. The library opened at nine.
Donovan pulled her back down onto the mattress. “You don’t think you’re going anywhere.”
“I have to work.”
Eli brushed his hand down her cheek and throat. “Call in sick.”
Struggling out from between them, she said, “You don’t understand. I’m the only one working today. If I don’t go in, the library won’t open.” She crawled over Donovan’s legs and tumbled out of bed. “Where are my clothes? Oh, God. I can’t wear the same clothes two days in a row. And I need a shower.”
Donovan clambered out of bed and hugged her from behind. “Hey. Calm down. We’ve got this. I’ll throw on some clean clothes. The two of you will drop me at the library and I’ll get it opened up while Eli takes you back to your place in my car. After you get showered and dressed, you can come relieve me at the library.”
“You’re not a librarian.” Maddy turned around in his arms. “We can’t—”
”No one will have a problem with it, I promise. I’ll just tell everyone who walks through the door that we’re new mates and you didn’t get out of bed early enough.”
She gasped. “You wouldn’t!”
Donovan smacked her on the lips. “We’d better get going.”
She could think of a dozen things wrong with his plan, but couldn’t come up with anything better. Even if she showered here, she couldn’t show up in the same rumpled clothes. And while she might have enough time to run home and get clean clothes, there wasn’t time to do that and shower too.
And with her mates’ scents all over her…all over her…she couldn’t possibly work all day without showering first.
“Fine. Let’s go.” Maddy quickly pulled on her clothes.
Donovan took a few extra seconds, putting on nice khakis and running a razor over his cheeks. While she appreciated the effort, they were burning daylight. She fought the urge to bounce on her toes while she waited.
Eli hugged her. “Antsy, aren’t you? Relax. Everyone knows how it is with new mates.”
His touch soothed her. “I’m still new. I just want to do a good job.”
“I’m sure you’re doing a great job.”
She waited for the end of the sentence…’Miss High-and-Mighty’…but it didn’t come. Her muscles relaxed just a little, and she let her head rest on Eli’s chest.
Donovan swept out of the bathroom and toward the door. “Stop dawdling you two. We’ve gotta get a move on.”
“We were waiting for you,” Eli grumbled at him as they followed him down the stairs.
An hour later, showered and appropriately dressed, Maddy preceded Eli into the library. Donovan sat behind the desk, grinning like a Cheshire and talking with the five elderly ladies arrayed around him.
The flirt.
When his eyes found Maddy, all five women turned to look. As one mass, they detached from the desk and descended on Maddy, cooing about mates and love and making comments that turned Maddy’s ears red.
Eli ducked around her and hid behind a rack of books.
M
rs. Perkins gripped her arm. “How was it? Oh, to be young again!”
“Did they rock your world?” Another woman said.
“I’m surprised you can even walk today.”
“Why didn’t you call in sick? We all would have understood.”
Maddy looked at Donovan; Eli was no longer in sight. “Help?”
“You’re the one who wanted to come to work today.” His face could barely contain his smile.
“I didn’t really think you’d stand by the door telling everyone we’re mates,” she said.
“I didn’t. They knew already.” He jumped over the desk in an acrobatic leap and walked toward her. “Remember your display at the restaurant last night? The whole town knows.”
She flashed hot and then cold with the memory of Eli’s kiss, his hands, the way he held her against the car…and then the thought of everyone in town hearing about it.
“So romantic,” Mrs. Perkins said. “He couldn’t keep his hands off you.”
Donovan cupped her face with both hands. “I know the feeling.”
“I should get back to work,” Maddy said faintly. This was her nightmare scenario come to life.
#
The man had spent the entire day watching the she-wolf who’d slipped through his fingers. The need, the rage, grew within him until he couldn’t stand it. He knew that he should go find someone else. He knew that if he took her, she wouldn’t accept him. He knew he couldn’t do what he wanted so badly to do. But he was going to do it anyway.
Madison Blake would be his.
#
Eli couldn’t wait to see Maddy again. An entire day without her seemed like far too much. So even though she wasn’t due to get off work for another half hour, he showed up at the library and hung out in his car. He wanted to surprise her. Maybe get a few minutes alone with her before Donovan joined them.
The sun slowly set, the Harvest Moon rising in the east. It’d been a warm September but soon they’d be donning coats and hunkering down for winter.
With ten minutes still to wait, Eli became aware of something. A bad feeling. His senses didn’t tell him anything outright, but something was off.
He wanted to get out of the car so he could prowl, but was afraid of making a sound. If he hadn’t been detected already, he didn’t want to be. Instead, he watched, listened, sniffed.
In the corner, Eli saw a shadow where there shouldn’t have been one. He focused all his senses on that one spot, but couldn’t detect anything other than the shadow itself–no person, no movement, no scent.
He might be imagining things. But it didn’t hurt to be alert.
Ten minutes later, Maddy came out of the library. Her demur dress revealed shapely calves; a strand of hair had fallen from her up-do to rest against her cheek. Eli felt a surge of lust that tightened his stomach and made him forget his surroundings. He opened the car door and stepped out.
At first he didn’t even realize what was happening. Some motion near the door, a moving shadow, a scream. Then everything came into focus. Maddy, kicking and yelling, as a man in a black trench coat pulled her away from the building.
Eli was running before a coherent thought went through his head, all his power pushing him to wolf speed.
Chapter 7
As Eli sprinted, Maddy landed a blow against her assailant, jamming her elbow into his stomach. Eli hadn’t expected that. His mate had never seemed like a fighter. Right now, he couldn’t be happier to be wrong.
He had almost reached them when Maddy dropped to the ground, pulling the man in black along with her. The man scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could. Grabbing Maddy’s arm, he tried to yank her away.
Eli jumped the last few feet, his fist poised to hit the man square in the face. Instead, the man twisted away, releasing Maddy and running for the shadows. Eli stumbled then caught himself before he fell. He didn’t know whether he should follow the man or make sure that Maddy was okay. The two seconds he spent hesitating were two seconds too long. The man disappeared.
“Eli,” Maddy said. She reached for him.
He knelt beside her, running his hands all over her body looking for wounds or any other injuries. She seemed to be okay but he checked her over one more time just to be sure.
“I’m fine.” She pushed at his chest. “Go after him.”
“It’s too late. He’s gone. Who was he? Did you see his face?”
“No, I couldn’t see him. He was wearing a mask.”
Eli caught a whiff of something out of place. Something not Maddy. Something not pack. It had to be the assailant. It couldn’t be anyone else.
He needed a better sniff. He moved in the direction the man had run in, his nose close to the ground. There it was. The odd smell—but stronger here, not mixed in with Maddy and all the people who had walked in and out of the library all day.
Scrambling to his feet and yanking his cell phone out of his pocket, Eli made his way back to Maddy and called 911 at the same time. With any luck, the smell would still be there when his brother the Sheriff arrived.
#
The man hunkered in the shadows, shaking. He’d been so close. If her mate hadn’t been there, he’d easily have overpowered her. By now, she’d be in the trunk of his car as they headed into the mountains toward his home. He had but one wife now, all his other wives taken from him. He needed more. He needed Maddy.
But he couldn’t have her. The man fought the urge to growl, to howl. Her mate had saved her, and would be vigilant now. He’d never get close enough to take her again.
He had to let her go. But he didn’t know how.
#
Donovan pulled into the library parking lot right behind a police car. When Eli called him, he’d dropped everything and run. Luckily, he’d already been home from work, and not far from the library. He wouldn’t feel calm until he saw that Maddy was safe.
Catapulting out of his car, he raced past the police milling around, ducking under the arm of Eli’s brother Caleb so he could crouch at Maddy’s side where she sat on the sidewalk. “Are you okay?” He touched her face, his eyes scanning her body but finding no wounds, no blood, no rips or tears.
“I’m fine,” she said. “Still a little shaken up, but otherwise fine.”
He pulled her into his arms as he gazed at Eli. “Who was he?”
“I didn’t get a good look,” Eli said.
“He was wearing a mask.” Maddy put her hand on Donovan’s chest, making a little space between them. “And a long black coat.”
“Was it him?” Donovan asked Caleb, who loomed over them.
“I’m not sure. But it would be strange for there to be two kidnappers at work at the same time, in a town this size.”
Donovan pulled Maddy closer. He could have lost her. Just like that other woman, Maddy could have disappeared and he wouldn’t have been able to find her. His wolf surged up inside him, unsure whether to hide her away and keep her safe or go after the man who’d dared to touch his mate. “Did you get a scent?”
“Yeah.” Caleb pointed toward the corner of the building. “He went that way, around the back of the library to a parking lot over on Summit. Must have gotten in a car, because the scent trail ends there. But we could tell a few things. He’s not pack, that’s for sure.”
“And he’s not familiar,” Eli picked up his brother’s thought. “None of us recognized the scent. But we will now.”
Knowing there was no way he could find the man, Donovan’s wolf settled into the only option left–take Maddy someplace safe and fortify the place so no one could get to her. “Let’s go home.”
“I have a few more questions first,” Caleb said.
“Can’t it wait?” Donovan stood and helped Maddy to her feet, his arm around her.
“It would be better to talk to Maddy while the memory’s fresh. You’d be surprised how quickly details fade.” Caleb motioned toward the parking lot. “We can sit in my car, if you like. It’d be warmer than out here.”
The four of them moved to the Sheriff’s car. Maddy sat sideways on the front seat while the men stood around the open door.
“We already talked about the assailant,” Caleb said. “Now let’s talk about the setting. You said you work here?” When Maddy nodded, he continued, “Is this the usual time you get off work?”
“It varies,” she said. “But today I was the only one working. So I had to stay until closing.”
“So anyone who knew that and the library’s hours would be able to guess about when you’d be coming out that door,” Caleb said.
Donovan felt a chill go down his spine. So easy. It’d been so easy for a mad man to track her. Not a mad man…a mad wolf.
“Did anyone know Eli was going to be here?” Caleb said.
“No.” Eli rested his hand along the edge of the car’s roof. “I decided to surprise her. And I didn’t tell anyone.”
“It’s a lucky thing you did,” Caleb said.
“And I will from now on,” Eli said.
“Or me,” Donovan said. What he really wanted was for Maddy to quit her job and stay in the house from now on, but even his over-protective wolf knew his mate would never stand for that.
“We’ll stay by her twenty-four seven,” Eli said.
Maddy put her hand out. “Now, wait. I don’t need bodyguards. There’s got to be some way we can do this so I don’t have to give up my life.”
“Are you saying having us with you is the same as giving up your life?” Eli said.
It didn’t take a genius to hear the hurt in his voice. Great. Eli and Maddy were finally getting along and now they’d backtracked.
“That’s not what I mean.” Maddy put her hand on Eli’s chest. “I just mean…I want to have choices. I don’t want to be hemmed in because of some crazy guy.”
Time to put his foot down. “We’re keeping you safe,” Donovan said. He hadn’t realized how close his wolf was to the surface until he heard the growl in his voice. “Right now, that might mean giving up some of your freedom. So be it. We’re not going to lose you.”
Eli nodded decisively.
Maddy’s jaw tightened. Damn, Donovan loved seeing her get strong and fierce like this, but this wasn’t the time. Nevertheless, he couldn’t squelch the shot of pride that ran through him as she squared her shoulders.