by Anthology
Logan threw a small drawstring bag in Grif’s direction, which he deftly caught mid-air. He opened it and pulled out a long T-shirt that was big enough to fit like a dress on Lindsey, though it would leave a lot of her thigh bare. He placed it on the slab of stone that looked like an altar and turned back to her.
“See if you can change back by yourself and put that on.”
She waited only a moment to see Grif pull out a pair of sweatpants from the bag and begin putting them on. For modesty’s sake, she went around to the other side of the altar, where the men couldn’t see her unless they stood up, and tried to remember what Grif had taught her about shifting.
Much to her surprise and delight, she changed back quickly, with no missteps. Maybe she was getting the hang of this shifter thing after all.
She slipped the T-shirt on and tugged the hem down as far as she could before walking around the altar to join the guys. She noted the appreciation in both sets of male eyes as they caught sight of her—and the way Logan’s gaze lingered on her bare legs.
“What is this place?” she asked, hoping to ease her discomfort. She was nervous and unsure of herself.
Grif motioned her over to sit next to him and she noticed the small firepit around which the men sat. It was lined with blackened stones and seemed like a more or less permanent fixture in the stone circle. Logan must have prepared wood and he leaned forward now to light the tinder he’d set up with a match pulled from the depths of the small sack he’d brought.
“Places like this exist all over the world, though very few are known by humans. As you see,” Logan explained, pointing to the canopy of tree limbs, “Mother Nature does a good job of camouflaging the stone circle so we can worship Her in peace.”
She’d been curious for a while now about shifter beliefs. She hadn’t raised the question before, not wanting to be rude, but now that she was one of them, she needed to know more.
“My grandfather’s people believe in the Great Spirit. I’ve noticed you all seem to refer to a goddess you call the Lady. Is she Mother Nature, as you put it, or something else?”
“She is all things,” Logan answered with a hint of mysticism in his tone. “Some call Her Mother Nature. Some call Her the Lady. Some call Her by other names, but She is all those things…and probably more.” Logan’s lips lifted in the hint of a smile. “She gives life and magic and Light. She is goodness personified.”
“The Great Spirit of the Native Americans doesn’t contradict our beliefs, kitten, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Grif added. “All shifters serve the Lady—no matter what we might call Her—if we are aligned with the Light.”
“There are some, though,” Logan warned, “that embrace darkness and evil. Just like humans, we have our bad apples too. So don’t assume that just because someone can shapeshift, they’re going to be your friend.”
“That message was perfectly clear when I first arrived here, Alpha,” Lindsey snapped back at him, just the tiniest bit, for the way his people had made her suffer as she tried to fulfill her grandfather’s mission.
Now that her task was done and she was a shifter herself, she found the werewolf Pack’s questionable welcome even harder to stomach. She’d been trying to do the right thing and they’d stood in her way at every opportunity. Not only that—they’d tried to run her off more than once with threats and even physical confrontations.
“Ouch,” Logan laughed, taking her rebuke well. “I’m sorry for that. We had no idea what you were up to and that you’d be forever changed by the magic you called. I think you can understand that the Pack was worried you’d do something as bad as your grandsire had done…or worse. We didn’t know you were trying to make amends. Or what form that would take.”
“The reason I wanted to bring you here…” Grif recaptured her attention and effectively changed the subject. “Is that I think you’re going to have a tough time of the transition from human to were. The things that our young usually have years to adapt to, you’ve only had a few days. I think you’re going to need help—more help than I can give you alone—until things settle down.”
Grif’s expression was pained and almost sheepish. Logan busied himself poking the fire to get it really going into a merry little blaze.
“I thought I was handling it pretty well,” Lindsey protested. Was he disappointed with her in some way? Had she already done something wrong? She began to worry over his words.
“And you are.” Grif was quick to reassure her. He put one big hand on her shoulder, stroking her through the T-shirt, calming her. Even the simplest touch brought both comfort and excitement. Sexual energy zinged back and forth between them whenever he drew near. “You’re doing really well for a newcomer, but kitten…” He seemed to hesitate over his words. “Haven’t you noticed that you’re a bit more…uh… randy than usual? Or were you always so insatiable in bed? Not that I’m complaining.” He softened his words with a sexy grin that made her inner cat curl up and purr.
Now that he mentioned it—and she had to halt the automatic embarrassment discussing such a thing brought—she was like a mink in heat. Or a bunny that couldn’t get enough. Some kind of horny critter that could easily fuck itself to death if stops weren’t put on it.
“Um…” Lindsey knew she was blushing, but couldn’t help it. The heat from the fire rivaled the heat she felt in her cheeks. “I’m sorry?” She didn’t know what to think about him discussing this in front of the other Alpha. Was this some kind of sexual intervention? She didn’t think she could blush any hotter.
Logan laughed out loud, making her feel even more self-conscious. Grif threw the other man a quelling look before turning back to her, taking both hands in his.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for. Young shifters go through a stage during puberty where they’re experimenting with sex for several years. It’s a lot more…um…primal than when humans hit puberty, from what I understand. Our young—cats especially—spend a decade or more burning off the excess sexual energy. We call it the frenzy. Their eyes glow from the excess of power—just like yours have been glowing for the past day or two.” He released her hands and turned toward the small fire.
Oh, no. She remembered his remarks about her eyes, but she hadn’t thought anything of it. She also remembered seeing that golden glow in the mirror when she’d been in the bathroom. He wasn’t kidding around. There was something wrong with her.
“Wolves go through something similar, though not quite as long or as intense as cats, from what I hear,” Logan put in. “It lasts about a decade—even if they’re lucky enough to find their mate early. Sometimes mating early even makes it worse. If not eased properly, the hunger can drive some young wolves mad.”
“Cats too,” Grif added with a grim nod.
“So this is normal?” Lindsey’s inner cat wanted to yowl in relief. Finally, the human part of her was coming to understand what the feline already, instinctively knew.
Grif cringed. “Not exactly.”
“Everything about your new shifter nature has been accelerated, Lindsey,” Logan spoke in a quiet, almost somber voice. “Grif asked me here to help explain this and to see for myself if what he suspected was true. I can tell you right now, I can smell your arousal from over here and it’s way more potent than it should be. You’re mated to Grif. You shouldn’t be having a reaction to me. What’s worse—I shouldn’t be having a reaction to you. For one thing, you’re a cat. For another, you’re mated. That usually means your pheromones are only attractive to your mate, not to others, though we can still scent them.”
“So you think I’m in this…frenzy. And that it’s stronger than it should be because I compressed a whole lifetime of learning to be a cougar into a couple of days?” Her mind was trying to focus—really it was—but the two, handsome males sitting near her were very distracting.
“That about sums it up.” Grif blew out a breath, seeming resigned to the situation. “Which is why we’re going to do our best to help you overco
me this accelerated frenzy.”
His phrasing made her jump.
“We?” She looked from one to the other and found both sets of male eyes smoldering back at her. They were both excited by her scent. Both eager to fuck her.
And she wanted them both.
Wait. What?
Chapter Ten
Lindsey’s rational, human mind balked. She was mated to Grif. She shouldn’t want Logan too. But the cat screeched inside her brain. The she devil wanted them both. She wanted every male in the vicinity to come at her beck and call—and vie for the opportunity to satisfy her sexually.
Where the heck was that kinky thought coming from? Certainly not the Lindsey Tate who had been so circumspect with her past lovers that she could count them on one hand. No, this was the cat talking. And she wanted to claw and bite. To mark her lovers and make every male want her.
Damn. Lindsey hugged herself, not really understanding how she could feel these things. The cat shouldn’t have so much control over her human mind and body, should it?
“Me first,” Grif explained. “I’m your mate and you will not forget it.” His serious expression brooked no argument. “I’ll do my best, but we’re probably going to need some help to satisfy the frenzy. With any luck, it’ll all be over soon. Everything else about your development was rushed beyond all recognition. This should be too—if we can satisfy the cat. Otherwise, I hate to think what could happen.” Grif reached out and stroked her hair. She could feel his hand tremble and read the love in his eyes. He was truly worried for her.
The cat within her responded to his gentle touch, moving into his hand and sliding closer. She wanted him. Again. She would never be satisfied.
And then she realized, in one still-sane corner of her mind, that Grif wasn’t kidding around. This sexual frenzy, as he called it, was real. She’d never felt such strong impulses in her life—not even with Grif.
She’d been attracted to him from the get go, but it was a mature, loving desire complimented by real, deep and true feelings. What she was experiencing now was blind hunger for any man with a cock. Correction—any man with a hard cock, ready to fuck her brains out.
This wasn’t good, but there was no way around it. That little corner of her mind that wasn’t consumed by the incredible hunger was being crowded out by the feline want that would have its way.
Grif pulled her into his arms and she went willingly, the last little bit of her sanity winking out like a light. She was aware of each touch, each caress—of the mountain breeze wafting across her skin as Grif pulled her T-shirt off and draped it across the low slab of the altar. She felt his hands cupping her breasts, pushing the fire within her blood stream to ever higher temperatures.
She went willingly when he bent her over the stone slab and entered her from behind. She ground her pussy against him as he began and slow, deliberate rhythm that sent sparks along each and every nerve ending she possessed.
A sound to her right made her turn her head. And there was the werewolf Alpha, rubbing the long rod of his cock through his sweatpants. Watching her get fucked by her lover. His gaze glued to her body and then meeting hers when he noticed her watching.
Lindsey licked her lips, the feline within her feeling like a sex goddess, satisfied with every male present wanting her. And she would let him have her. She wanted it all. Every male worshiping at her core.
The alien thoughts made that little, horrified corner of Lindsey’s human mind gasp. Had she become a nympho? Why had becoming a shifter done this to her and would the shifter’s deity really want such a thing to happen? Was this the real punishment then? This driving need to have every male pay homage between her thighs?
To fuck herself to death?
Was their Lady really so cruel?
Lindsey hadn’t thought so, but she didn’t understand any of this. She knew the guys had tried to explain, but it had been hard to concentrate with the building need distracting her. Thank goodness Grif had stopped talking and started fucking. If he hadn’t, she’d have had to jump his bones. The need had become almost that desperate while he’d been speaking to her.
And now she had him just where she needed him. Between her thighs, pumping her to glory. Oh, yeah. It was coming. She needed it so bad.
Lindsey wasn’t sure, but she thought maybe she’d spoken those last thoughts aloud. Grif answered with a growl, bending low over her back to get a better grip on her hips as his sharp teeth sought the tender skin of her neck.
Yes! She wanted his teeth there. His love bite. His mating mark. The cat within yowled as his teeth sank into her skin almost delicately. It didn’t hurt. Her body craved it so.
She came hard and so did he, spurting within her tight core, claiming her with cock and teeth. Marking her with scent and blood. Just the way she wanted it.
Grif pressed her into the stone for long moments, holding her still while they both came down from the high he’d just pushed them to. When he withdrew, though, the fever hadn’t left her. She turned to him, desperate, clinging to his strong arms, needing more.
What was this? What was wrong with her? She’d just come. How could she need so desperately again, so soon?
“Grif?” Her voice sounded lost and uncertain, even to her own ears.
“Ssh, kitten. This is what I was afraid of.” He held her, stroking her back as he rocked her against his strong, naked body.
He was such a good man. He was going to be a great mate for the rest of her life…if she lived that long. The way she was feeling now, if she didn’t get more cock in the next few minutes, she was going to die. Either that, or go completely insane.
As they had warned her. Damn. They’d been right. The little corner of Lindsey’s mind accepted her fate. She finally understood Grif’s fear for her and his willingness to do anything to help her be well.
She couldn’t love him anymore than she already did, but her heart swelled with love. She reached up to kiss him, trying to communicate her love for him in her touch.
When he broke the kiss, she looked up into his lovely, golden eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice breaking with need.
He held her gaze for a long, desperate moment while the fire inside her began to burn bright once more, demanding satisfaction.
“I’m here for you, my love. No matter what happens, remember that. I’m here.” He stroked her for a moment more before looking away, over her shoulder. He nodded once and then she felt the touch of the werewolf Alpha on her hip and shoulder as he moved close.
Her inner cat purred, surrounded by two amazingly handsome males, blanketed in their warmth.
And then Grif stepped away. Her heart fluttered. Where was he going? She couldn’t do this without him. She couldn’t live—couldn’t breathe—without him.
Logan turned her in his arms and she didn’t have time to think about where Grif had gone anymore. The werewolf was rougher and a little lankier than Grif, though his body was hard-muscled and sleek. Strong too. He lifted her up and placed her on the low altar, her butt protected from the rock by the soft layer of her discarded T-shirt.
“Turn her,” Grif ordered. There he was. Standing behind the werewolf. He was watching. Directing.
Logan turned her so that she was sitting lengthwise on the stone slab. The T-shirt was under her back as he pushed her downward into a reclining position. Grif moved into her line of sight, off to her left while Logan was on her right side, stroking his hands down her body.
He paused at her nipples, bending over her to lap at them, then take them into his mouth one at a time. His tongue swirled and teased, making her squirm.
Logan’s hands and mouth worshiped at her breasts while Grif moved closer. When Grif’s hands parted her legs, she eagerly complied, spreading wide for him. She looked over Logan’s head to meet Grif’s golden gaze as he slid his fingers into her, pushing deep, using his thumb to circle her clit.
She moaned and Grif smiled. The smile set her off in a small explosion
of pleasure. Just his smile could make her come, it seemed. As if his approval gave her permission to let the riot happening in her body carry her inhibitions away.
Grif’s fingers withdrew and he stepped back. She wanted to go after him, but Logan’s big body kept her exactly where she was.
“Face to face this time, Logan,” Grif coached from the sidelines. “I want her to see and understand. Next time, you can do it your way.”
The words didn’t make a lot of sense, but the cat inside picked up on the idea that there would be a next time. More sex. More pleasure. More satisfaction for the burning need that fired her blood to almost unbearable levels.
Her legs were spread wide so there was no problem when the Alpha wolf pounced. He leapt in one smooth move to crouch, naked, between her legs. She had no idea when or where his pants had gone, but she was grateful they weren’t in her way. Her body was demanding satisfaction. Again. Continuously.
She was beyond caring who fucked her, she just needed relief. But the tiny part of her mind that was still her own noticed how gentle the big Alpha werewolf was with her. He could have just taken what she was so freely offering without a second thought for her comfort, but that wasn’t his way.
No, Logan touched her almost reverently. With respect. A tiny part of her heart went out to him, never to return. He was really a sweet man when push came to shove.
He joined with her slowly, drawing out the moment, holding her gaze as he made them one. It felt so good. And she needed it so bad.
She wrapped her legs around him and dug her heels in to urge him on, but he stayed her motions. He was in control. And beyond him—over his shoulder—she saw Grif, watching over everything, his jaw clenched and worry in his eyes.
The little aware part that was Lindsey wanted to tell him he had nothing to worry about. She was now and always would be his, but the irrational thing that had taken over most of her mind wouldn’t allow speech. The cat yowled and Lindsey’s hands raked down Logan’s back as he finally started moving more resolutely within her.