by Abby Blake
“No, changing you doesn’t make you our mate. You were our mate even before you became a werewolf. If you hadn’t been dying we would have taken time to get to know you before making you a wolf.”
“Oh, so I would have gotten a choice?” She didn’t mean the words to sound so snarky—they’d saved her life after all—but she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that the future she’d planned had been stolen before she’d truly begun to enjoy it. Of course, that was probably more the shooter’s fault than Isaac and Daegan’s. She shook her head sharply, trying to think rationally. “So then what? Last night you said claiming me was the werewolf equivalent of a marriage.”
“That’s right. When we all agree the time is right,” Isaac said with a kind smile, “Xavier, Daegan, and I will give you a mating mark—it’s a special kind of bite that will leave a silvery sort of scar on your skin—and when you have control of your wolf side, you’ll do the same for us.” Isaac looked so hopeful she wondered if she should remind him again that she wasn’t going to marry, or mate, three strangers.
“Come on. We’ll help you lock up and take you to dinner. We can do the whole dating thing if you like,” Daegan said with a happy grin.
“Ah, sure, I guess.” She glanced around the room, wondering if perhaps this was the hallucination. They both seemed so nice and not the least bit annoyed even though she’d spent a good deal of time yelling at them last night. “I need a shower though.”
Daegan’s chuckle was pure sin. “We could help.”
Hell, the way her insides damn near liquefied, her body thought that was a really good idea. But the sex had been imaginary, right? She was sure she’d dreamed that part after they’d left. She was still shaking inside from the alarm clock’s poorly timed interruption. Her body wanted them. There was no doubt about that, but thankfully her brain was still in charge—for the moment at least. “I think I can manage by myself this time.”
Daegan stepped away, pulled her gently from his brother’s arms, and turned her toward the stairs to her apartment. “Go get ready. We’ll wait here.”
“Oh, you can wait upstairs if you like.”
Daegan’s eyes seemed to flare brighter for a moment, but he grinned and shook his head. “Not with you naked we can’t.” He winked and sent her on her way.
All through her shower, images of Daegan, Isaac, and Xavier and everything the four of them could do together in the tiny bathroom wound though her brain. She tried to concentrate on washing herself down, but a shudder ran through her as she imagined the soapy hands touching her skin belonged to someone else.
Her hands drifted lower, pressing over the soft flesh of her mound, her fingers finding her clit as her imagination ran riot. She’d seen Isaac naked last night, and her memory combined with fantasy, and she suddenly found herself gasping for air. Shit, what was wrong with her? Was this part of being a werewolf? She’d never been this turned on this fast before.
“Behave yourself, beautiful, or that shower is going to get awfully crowded.”
She spun around, sure that Daegan must be behind her, but she was in the bathroom alone. “What the hell?” she asked the shower tiles. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t respond. Distracted for the moment, she finished her shower and threw on jeans and a T-shirt. Determined to keep the date casual, she pulled her hair back into a functional ponytail, but then went and ruined all her good intentions by adding makeup and a touch of perfume.
Several minutes later she rushed down the stairs. She couldn’t quite explain her eagerness to spend time with the men—she was dead set against getting married again—but something nagged at her to get to know them better.
“Ready, sweetheart?” Isaac asked with a smile as he claimed her hand. He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles as she stared up at him and remembered what it had been like to be kissed by this man. Almost as if he’d heard her thoughts, he leaned forward and pressed his lips gently against her own. Just like last night the kiss was slow and sensual, the gentle assault on her senses wrapping her in pleasant emotion. She sighed into his mouth, and his tongue slid into hers, exploring and caressing the warm recess.
He groaned and pulled away, his hands shaking slightly as he set her away from him. She tried to hide her emotions behind a careless smirk, but he cupped the side of her face with his warm hand and whispered, “If we keep doing that, we will definitely miss our reservation. And as much as I want to explore every inch of your delectable body we did promise to try the whole dating thing first.”
“True,” she said, licking her lips and wondering if sex on the first date was such a bad idea. After all, she’d never actually tried it, so who was she to judge?
Good grief. She shook her head sharply and tried to find the woman she knew was inside. Somewhere.
“Wait. Reservations?” There wasn’t a restaurant in this town busy enough to need a table booked on a Tuesday night. “Where are we going?”
“There’s a good Italian restaurant about halfway between here and home. Xavier is going to meet us there.”
She glanced at their expressions and again questioned her sanity. They were strangers—despite the horny dreams. Did she really want to leave town with them?
“So the whole dinner-date thing was planned before you stepped inside my door.”
“Yup,” Daegan said with a sexy grin. “Although, Isaac and I are more than willing to carry you up the stairs and love every inch of you until you come, screaming our names over and over and over.”
Oh, wow. What happened to all the oxygen?
Daegan gave her a lecherous grin, and the wicked, horny woman inside her wanted nothing more than to tear his clothes off and get started right here. But Isaac rescued them both from their baser desires and grabbed her hand to lead her out the door.
Making a decision she hoped she wouldn’t regret, Andrea followed them out of the store. If they’d been planning to hurt her, they’d had ample time last night. Something in her brain urged her to stay close to these men, and besides, she really should find out more about this werewolf thing.
Sheesh. Werewolf thing? Who would ever have thought she’d need to think about something like that?
The men waited as she locked up and set the alarm. She’d always felt a little silly having an alarm for what was essentially an empty shop—all the jewelry was stored in the safe at night—but since last night’s events, it seemed rather prudent. It helped, of course, that it gave her an excuse to stay pressed between the two men for a little longer. She wasn’t looking forward to sitting in the backseat while they drove miles out of town.
But when they led her to their vehicle, she was relieved and maybe a little dismayed to realize they drove a huge monster truck with three seats in the front. Not sitting in the back alone and trying to make conversation was a good thing, but being pressed between both men for the whole trip might just do her in.
She was already horny as hell. By the time they reached the restaurant, she might burst into flames.
“I can smell your arousal,” Daegan said as he climbed into the driver’s seat. Isaac leaned over and cuffed the back of his brother’s head, but Daegan just grinned unrepentantly. “So big trucks turn you on, huh?”
Andrea giggled, surprised that she was even capable of laughing when she felt so off balance. Weirder still was the fact that she felt like she belonged here, despite having spent all day denying the men’s existence.
“So what’s life like as a werewolf?”
“Pretty much the same as a human, I suppose,” Isaac said with a shrug.
“You suppose? What, you don’t remember? How long have you been a werewolf?”
“We’ve always been werewolves. We were born this way.”
“Seriously? I thought the only way a person could become a werewolf was to be bitten by one.”
“Two actually,” Daegan said with a broad grin. “It takes two werewolf bites to turn a human. Usually it’s the alpha and the human’s werewolf mate that do the changing, but
we were in a bit of a hurry. You know, with you bleeding to death and all.”
“The alpha? What’s an alpha? Is he like the top dog or something?” Both men laughed but nodded in answer. “So who’s your alpha?” She giggled slightly as lyrics to a song bounced into her head. “Who’s the leader of your pack?”
“Actually,” Isaac said as he pulled her hand into his own. “The leader of our pack is Xavier.”
“Xavier? As in your brother, Xavier? The Xavier who kissed me last night like the world was ending? That Xavier?”
Both men frowned at her choice of words, but she couldn’t help remembering how Xavier’s good-night kiss had curled her toes and set her heart beating triple time. The fact that Isaac and Daegan had followed up with equally devastating kisses just made the memory that much hotter.
Both men took a deep breath, and she finally realized they really could smell her arousal. This werewolf stuff was going to take some getting used to. But, damn, a man who could tell when she was horny. Now, that had to be good news.
“Whatever you’re thinking about, beautiful,” Daegan said, gripping the steering wheel tighter, “I suggest you stop, or our first time together is going to be on the side of the highway in a cramped truck.”
She nodded, doing her damnedest to think of something else. But the words were out before she could call them back. “So last night really was just a dream?”
“The hot ménage à quatre? Yup that was just a dream.”
“So how do you know about it then?”
“Because we dreamed it, too. Your alarm clock going off was damned annoying.”
“You what?” Shit, lucky she wasn’t driving because that little piece of news would probably have run them off the road. She could feel embarrassment coloring her cheeks and tried very hard to ignore the fact that both men had raging erections now pressed against their jeans. Of course she also tried very hard to ignore the fact that she’d noticed their hard cocks in the first place.
“It’s okay, Andrea. That sort of dream is common when a mating link first forms.”
“Or so we’ve been told,” Isaac added quickly. “This is a first for us, too. We never expected to find a mate who would suit us both.”
“Of course, we never expected to have to share with the alpha, either.”
“So you’re all okay with this? With the sharing me part?”
“We are. We’re not so sure about Xavier,” Isaac said quietly. Her heart did that little uncomfortable twist in her chest, and she tried to swallow the apprehension. “Xavier never expected to share a mate, so he might take a little convincing.”
“At the moment he’s working on the theory that there is some type of glitch, and you’re not really his mate.”
“Is that possible?”
“Maybe. I suppose anything’s possible, but I think it’s more likely that Xavier is mistaken,” Daegan said with a quick wink.
Why was she even discussing this? Yes, she was physically attracted to the three men, but physical attraction was not love. Far from it in fact. And since she had no intention of ever getting married again, why was she even contemplating life with three bossy, overprotective, gorgeously handsome, incredibly sexy…Um, what was her point again? Oh, yeah, never getting tied down to a man again.
Hmm, tied down? Tied up, maybe? And spanked? She could do spanked.
She shook her head trying to dislodge the crazy thoughts. Where the hell they were coming from was a complete mystery. She’d never even contemplated bondage or kinky sex play before.
They traveled the rest of the way in silence, each of the men seeming lost in their own inner reflection as well. She was very grateful for the chance to get her own thought processes under control.
She was almost relaxed by the time they stepped into the neat, tidy, and elegantly decorated restaurant.
But the first thing Andrea saw was a she-bitch hanging off her man.
* * * *
Xavier saw Andrea’s eyes flare brightly with her anger. His first instinct was to extricate himself from Sheila’s annoying claws and move to placate his mate.
But she wasn’t his mate.
How could she be? He’d heard of rare occurrences where a werewolf had two mates, but never in his long life had he heard of someone having three. It simply wasn’t possible.
Yet, something inside warned him to move away from Sheila before Andrea got any closer. He plastered on a smile and stepped toward his woman—no, their woman, his brothers’ mate, not his.
But the woman did exactly the opposite of what he’d been expecting. Despite being in the middle of the crowded restaurant, Andrea marched over to him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and lifted her lips to his own. His wolf yipped happily inside his mind as the rest of him went into sensual meltdown. Hell, he couldn’t wait to mark her, and if he didn’t step away right now, he was liable to bend her over the table and fuck her like his animal demanded.
Andrea’s needy sigh was almost his downfall, but thankfully she had sense enough to pull away. He held her in front of him, hiding his erection from the humans in the vicinity. Werewolves were used to carnal displays of affection, but he doubted the restaurant owners would be impressed.
He shuffled her toward the table to introduce Andrea to his beta and the man’s wife, careful to avoid getting too close to Sheila. The woman may be his beta’s sister, but her ambition to be mated to an alpha was becoming annoying. Ironically, he wouldn’t have said that as recently as yesterday. Yesterday he’d considered the attentions of unattached females of the pack his due as alpha. Now he wasn’t so sure.
Judging by the tension running through Andrea, he knew for certain letting Sheila stay after she’d “accidently” run into them at the restaurant had been a very, very bad idea.
“Andrea, I’d like you to meet Dave Kinsky and his wife, Jessie, and his sister, Sheila. Jess, Dave, Sheila, this is Andrea, my mate.”
He nearly winced at the fierce expression on Sheila’s face. He should have told her as soon as she’d waylaid him at the restaurant, but he hadn’t meant to introduce Andrea as his mate. He’d spent all damn day convincing himself that he’d been mistaken, but one look at Andrea’s beautiful face and he’d known he’d been lying. She was his mate, as pure and as simple as that, and now that he’d found her he had no intention of letting her go.
Unfortunately, Andrea looked at him with such anger in her eyes he had the very real urge to cup his manhood protectively. But Isaac, ever the peacekeeper, wrapped his arm around her waist and helped her into the seat beside Xavier and then took the seat on her other side. Daegan made certain to move his chair closer to Isaac’s so that there was a wide gap between himself and Sheila on the circular table.
Andrea was already acting territorial over her men. The last thing he needed was the newly made werewolf ripping someone’s arms off—and at this stage he couldn’t be certain they would be Sheila’s arms Andrea went for.
Xavier placed his elbow on the back of her chair and softly caressed her shoulder with his fingers. He noticed that Isaac had his hand on her thigh, his touch just as gentle, just as soothing. With one more sharp look at Sheila, Andrea finally took a deep breath and relaxed.
Potential disaster averted…for now.
* * * *
Andrea leaned into Isaac as the two men caressed her. She couldn’t understand where the anger had come from. She’d never been the jealous type, yet the moment she’d seen that over groomed, perfectly polished bottle blonde near her man she’d been ready to attack. Hell, she’d seen the blood-red talons wrapped around Xavier’s bicep, the sycophantic look on the woman’s face, and smelled her obvious arousal and had wanted to rip the bitch’s face off.
The fact that she felt capable of actually doing it scared the living shit out of her. She’d seen Isaac wince when she’d squeezed his hand tight, and his unexpected reaction had been just about the only thing that had made her think twice. Well, that, and Xavier’s enthusiastic response to wh
at probably amounted to her publicly stamping her ownership on him.
The woman obviously didn’t know the score because she glared daggers at all three men, but when she went to say something, the other man, Dave, shook his head, and she shut up. Good thing, too, because Andrea wasn’t the least bit interested in what the woman had to say.
Andrea took a deep breath, trying to find the calm that she usually possessed. It wasn’t like her to make snap judgments. She’d learned as a police officer that a situation was often more complex than it first seemed.
She leaned over to Xavier and whispered, “Why did you invite her?”
“I didn’t,” he said with a shake of his head. “We ran into her as we arrived at the restaurant.”
“I’ll bet,” she said sarcastically. “Rather convenient for her, don’t you think?”
“What I think is that my mate needs to claim me so that the others know I’m taken.”
“Claim?” What was he, baggage on an airport carousel? She was still riding a green haze of jealousy, so she couldn’t have heard that correctly. “What does that mean?”
“It means, sugar, that until you are able to control your wolf well enough to be able to bite me and claim me officially, then you better make sure I’m covered in your scent.”
“What?” Did it say something about her that she had a vision of a dog marking its territory? Eeew. But Xavier must have interpreted her expression correctly because he leaned closer and licked her ear.
“It means,” he whispered, his warm breath caressing her earlobe as he laughed softly, “that you need to fuck me hard and long.”
* * * *
Daegan glanced at his watch. It was still quite early, but he was so impatient to get their mate somewhere private that the meal seemed to take forever. It didn’t help that Sheila had stayed, despite it being clear to everyone else that she hadn’t been invited and was not really welcome. It was almost as if she expected Xavier to choose her even though his mate sat at the table.