Blake, Abby - Suddenly Wolf (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Abby Blake

  It seemed that nothing short of an order from her alpha would make her leave the restaurant, and Daegan knew his brother well enough to know Xavier wouldn’t do that. Xavier would feel guilty for what he considered leading Sheila on for the last few years. But Daegan could see the woman for what she was—an ambitious, power-hungry, young bitch who’d set her eyes on Xavier and wouldn’t back down without a fight. But, of course, she kept that side of her personality carefully hidden from the alpha.

  “Do you make the jewelry yourself?” Jessie asked with a gleam in her eye. Daegan knew Jessie and Dave’s first anniversary was coming up and wondered what the woman had in mind.

  “Some of it,” Andrea replied. Daegan noticed she was caressing the top of Isaac’s hand as Isaac caressed her thigh. It was obvious by her squirming that her mind was elsewhere, but she was trying valiantly to be polite. He was grateful for her attempt. Being the alpha’s mate came with responsibilities that she probably had no way of understanding just yet. Her life would have been far simpler if she’d only been his and Isaac’s mate.

  Although, simple didn’t quite describe the dynamics of such a complex relationship. Even without Xavier involved, a triad relationship would have been hard to maintain—although he had no doubt he and Isaac were capable of it—but with Xavier involved, the situation had the potential to spiral out of control.

  Just because destiny had chosen Andrea as their mate, it didn’t guarantee that they’d all get along. Hell, he’d seen mated pairs who’d made each other miserable.

  “Relax, Daegan, you’re making Andrea nervous.”

  “Sorry,” he sent back to Isaac in a strained telepathic voice. “I just don’t know how much more polite conversation I can take. I need to mark Andrea as our mate. I need her to mark me.” He glanced to his right and added, “And I need to get as far away from Sheila as possible.”

  The fawning expression Sheila wore every time Xavier spoke was absolutely sickening, especially since Daegan knew that it was completely fake. Sheila had been careful to hide her real personality in front of Xavier, but both Isaac and Daegan had seen what the woman was really like.

  She had no time for anyone she considered beneath her, and since she considered herself superior in every way, that meant she treated just about everybody with contempt. If her brother wasn’t the beta, and a genuinely nice guy, many in the pack would not have tolerated her this long.

  “Do you want to order some dessert?” their waiter asked in a friendly voice.

  “No,” Daegan replied sharply. He cast an apologetic glance at Andrea, but didn’t miss the grin plastered on Dave’s face. “I mean, no thanks. The meal was delicious. Could we have the check please?”

  “I think that’s our cue to get going,” Dave said with a laugh. He helped his wife from her seat and then cast a pointed look at his sister. Sheila seemed not to notice until Xavier cleared his throat and wished her good night. She looked momentarily stunned by the dismissal, but hid her reaction quickly and hurried to catch up to her brother.

  Daegan was pretty sure he could hear Sheila grinding her teeth as she wished them all good night in a pleasant voice, but it was Andrea’s blatantly false, almost mocking demeanor that took him by surprise.

  Chapter Four

  Andrea was livid. Not only did the woman have her eyes on Xavier, she’d actually spent the night deliberately ignoring Isaac and Daegan. And it wasn’t just the actions of a woman smitten by a man and distracted by his charm. It was the deliberate calculation of an elitist snob who considered herself more important than everyone else.

  A growl rose up in her throat as the woman walked away, her hips swinging in an obvious attempt to attract Xavier’s attention.

  “Who is she?” Andrea asked the moment the three were gone from the restaurant.

  “Dave’s sister,” Xavier answered, looking a little startled. Stupid man.

  “I know that,” she said, trying to contain her temper. “Who is she to you?”

  Xavier looked very uncomfortable, and judging by the way Isaac’s hand had once again started caressing her leg, Andrea knew she wasn’t going to like the answer.

  “We’ve dated a few times,” Xavier said dismissively. “But there was never anything serious.”

  “Have you fucked her?” She deliberately made the question offensive.

  “Andrea, calm down.” Oh, that was the absolute worst thing he could have said at that very moment. Talk about a flashback to her disastrous marriage. She dragged in a breath.

  “I need some air.” She shook off Isaac’s hand, anxious to be alone. “Stay,” she growled when Daegan tried to get out of his chair.

  Angrier than she could ever remember, Andrea stomped out the front door of the restaurant and around the corner. She tried to steady her breathing as a cool breeze hit her face. Unfortunately, it also carried words to her ears.

  “I don’t care if he has a mate. She’s not worthy of him. He’s an alpha, and she’s some pathetic little human his brothers probably dragged out of the gutter.”

  “Sheila,” her brother warned angrily, “Andrea is the alpha’s mate whether you like it or not. You can’t change that, so don’t even try.”

  “Of course I can change it. I haven’t worked this hard or this long to see my rightful position handed to some human whore,” she said smugly as she slid into the driver’s seat of her car. She slammed the door closed, and the vehicle started a moment later.

  Andrea watched, her mind racing with thoughts, as Dave and Jessie exchanged a few quiet words and then headed to their own car. Andrea continued to gaze at the road long after both cars turned onto the highway and headed up the mountain.

  “I expected Isaac would be the one to follow me,” she said as Xavier slid his arms around her from behind.

  “I know,” he said with a sigh. “But I just got a rushed, truncated version of what has been happening behind my back for the last couple of years and thought I better be the one to deal with it.”

  “You didn’t know?” she asked incredulously. How could he not know the woman’s true personality? Was it obvious to everyone but him?

  “No, I didn’t know,” he answered in an irritated tone. “It seems that my brothers spend a lot of time trying to protect me. I suppose none of it really mattered until you came along anyway. You’re my mate, Andrea, and I will always be faithful to you.”

  “You don’t even know me,” she whispered, feeling wretched. Less than twenty-four hours ago she’d been screaming blue murder at the idea of getting married to anyone, yet now she couldn’t imagine not tying her future to these men. Was it the nearly dying or the changing into a werewolf that had fucked up her thinking?

  “I know you,” he said with a confident laugh. “I know that when I do this”—he licked her earlobe and then sucked it into his mouth for a moment—“it makes your knees wobble and your breath catch.” He pressed a line of kisses down her throat. “I know that the idea of having sex with the three of us makes your panties damp and your pussy swell with need.” He turned her in his arms and pressed her head against his heart. “And I know that you don’t like having your feelings dismissed. I’m sorry, sugar. I spoke before I gave any thought to how the words might affect you. I’m the leader of our pack and used to giving orders. I just hope you believe me when I say it won’t happen again.”

  “Bullshit,” she said with a quiet laugh. “I know it will happen again. As you say, you’re the top dog, used to pushing others around.”

  “I…” He seemed lost for words.

  “But don’t worry, puppy,” she said with a smile as she tapped his cheek with her palm. “I’ll make sure to point it out to you each time.”

  “Puppy?” he asked, sounding rather affronted. Obviously he was used to the fawning type of respect Sheila had been projecting.

  “What? You prefer ‘pooch’ perhaps?” She couldn’t stifle the giggle, and he moved her away from him to look into her eyes.

  “You’re teasing me?
” he asked with a relieved smile.

  “Of course,” she said as she tried to comprehend his reaction. “Hasn’t anyone teased you before?”

  “Actually, no,” he said as he pulled her back into his embrace.

  “Have you always been the alpha?”

  “In a way the answer is yes. My father was the alpha, and when I was born, everybody knew when I grew up I’d take over the pack.”

  “So you were what, born to be king?”

  He nodded. “You could say that.”

  “Holy shit. You’re the werewolf equivalent of royalty?” He laughed, setting her mind at ease even though he didn’t actually deny it. “What about Isaac and Daegan?”

  He let out a deep sigh and pulled her closer. “Twins, even triplets are quite common in werewolf families, but identical twins are rare. So rare in fact that for generations identical twins have been considered bad luck, a curse on a pack or a dire warning of things to come. If they’d been born to someone other than the alpha and his mate, they may not have survived their childhood.”

  “What? You can’t be serious. The pack would have killed them?”

  “No,” he was quick to deny. “More like…they wouldn’t have been protected.” He took a deep breath and hesitated for a moment, as if he were trying to find the words to explain. “Just like humans, werewolves raise their children in a family environment. But like wolves in the wild, werewolf families create a pack environment for protection. In a way, every adult provides for and protects the offspring of everyone in the pack.” She nodded her understanding and waited for him to continue. “But accidents still happen, children still find ways to make mischief, and of course teenagers simply think they’re indestructible. If the adults in charge somehow turned a blind eye to the child’s dangerous behavior, the outcome could be devastating.”

  “Putting them at risk like that still sounds barbaric,” she said quietly, but she’d been called to enough domestic disputes in her time as a police officer to know that the human way wasn’t necessarily any better.

  “It is,” he conceded with a sigh, “but fortunately, in our pack at least, most can see past the old superstitions and see Isaac and Daegan for what they are—decent men who contribute greatly to the pack’s well-being.”

  “What about Sheila?”

  “Until about ten minutes ago, I would have said Sheila was one of the many. But after some of the things Isaac and Daegan just told me, I’m no longer sure of Sheila’s concern for our pack or the werewolves in it.”

  “Would you have married her?” It hurt to ask, but she needed to know. She felt a connection to these men whether she wanted to deny it or not.

  “Extremely unlikely,” Xavier said with a relaxed laugh. “Apart from the fact that the woman drives me crazy, do you think Isaac or Daegan would have let her get that close to me? They know what she’s like. She has apparently never even tried to hide her contempt for them unless I was around.”

  “So why didn’t they tell you earlier?”

  Xavier shook his head slightly and shrugged.

  “Because it wasn’t necessary,” Daegan said as he stepped around the corner. “Ready to go home, beautiful?”

  “I…don’t know.” It wasn’t like her to be so uncertain, but she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that she already was home.

  “Come home with us,” Xavier said as he hugged her tighter.

  “I want to,” she admitted, “but I need to open the shop at nine in the morning.”

  “How about we promise to have you home in plenty of time. Isaac and I will even help you in the shop.”

  “Uh-huh,” she said skeptically even though she was very tempted. “And how much do you know about jewelry?”

  “Not a thing,” Daegan admitted cheerfully. “But we’re quite prepared to do whatever our mate needs done. What do you say, beautiful? Come home with us. Let us make last night’s dream into reality.”

  She must be crazy. Something they did to her last night must have knocked a screw loose, because she nodded and let Xavier lift her in his arms and carry her to his car. Even knowing none of the feelings she had for these men could be real—that sort of connection took years, not hours—she was willing to follow what her heart wanted.

  * * * *

  “We’ll meet you there,” Xavier said over his shoulder as he closed the passenger door of his car. Neither Daegan nor Isaac looked happy about traveling the winding mountain roads without their mate, but they probably realized arguing would just waste time.

  He slid into the driver’s seat, leaned over to press a quick kiss to Andrea’s mouth, and then started the engine.

  “Are you cold?” he asked as he adjusted the temperature. He knew from experience that newly made werewolves tended to feel the cold more keenly than their older counterparts. He wasn’t sure why, but he suspected it had something to do with the extra strength the change gave them temporarily.

  “A little,” she said, rubbing her arms as if she’d just noticed.

  He turned the heat up a few more degrees, put the car in gear, and headed to the highway. They drove in companionable silence for several miles, each seemingly lost in thought, but a quick glance at Andrea suggested that the woman wasn’t as relaxed as she first seemed.

  He placed a hand on her thigh, gently caressing her through the denim.

  “Everything all right, sugar?”

  She looked startled at first, but then huffed out an embarrassed laugh, and her leg relaxed slightly.

  “I’m just wondering what your home is like.”

  “Our home,” he growled before he could hold back the words.

  She seemed ready to argue the point, but then took a deep breath and ignored his comment for the moment. He had a feeling she was going to bite his ass on that one later. By changing her the way they had, she really had no other choice than to live at the compound. At least until she learned to control her wolf. He took a deep breath, trying to think clearly enough to answer her question.

  “Have you ever seen a ‘gated community?’” She nodded. “It’s very similar. Each family has their own home. Most of the adults work for our community business or for the community in some way. We have a few who commute into town, but most are happy to stay within the compound.”

  “They commute?” she asked with a hopeful lilt in her voice. He knew what she was thinking, and he needed to squash the impulse.

  “They do, but none of them are newly made werewolves. In fact, all except one were born werewolves.”

  “And the one?” It was obvious she wasn’t going to let it go. He didn’t like the idea of her not wanting to live at the compound with them, but he’d do what he could to make her happy.

  “Her mate died a long time ago. She’s been a werewolf for longer than you were human and has shown a level of control previously not considered possible for created werewolves.”

  “Oh.”

  They fell silent again as he maneuvered the car up the mountain road. It wasn’t very far in a distance sense, but the winding roads made it quite a long drive. As they crested the final rise and turned onto the private road that led to their community, Xavier sensed Andrea’s curiosity rise. She sat up straighter as they approached the gate.

  Xavier stopped the car, rolled down his window, and nodded at the security guard who waved them through. Isaac and Daegan were right behind them.

  “How many people live here?” Andrea asked in a voice filled with wonder. He glanced around, trying to see the community that had always been his home through the eyes of a newcomer.

  “At the moment we have one hundred and forty-two families.” It truly was a spectacular place to live. In a lot of ways it was similar to most suburban developments, but instead of destroying nature to build their homes, his pack had made an effort to blend into the land. Most of the structures resembled sturdy log cabins with one major exception—they were all huge. Well, that and the myriad of modern conveniences on the inside.

  “No
streetlights?”

  He laughed quietly. “We’re all wolves. We prefer the light of the moon.”

  She smiled softly, nodded her head, and went back to gazing out the window.

  “So…um…which place is yours?”

  “At the end of this street.” The alpha’s home was by necessity the largest in the community, but not because of his position. It had more to do with the need to have a meeting place big enough to hold the entire pack. It was also the headquarters for the pack’s business. Andrea seemed a little intimidated as he stopped the car in the driveway.

  “This is your home?”

  * * * *

  Holy shit.

  Andrea glanced around at what amounted to a damn parking lot. The front yard alone would park two dozen cars. What the hell had she stumbled into? She’d been joking about the royalty part, but maybe she hadn’t been so far from the truth.

  “It’s not as big as it looks.”

  “Uh-huh.” She found that hard to believe. It looked like a freaking mansion.

  “Trust me, sugar,” Xavier said as the door beside her opened. Daegan stood there with his hand out, waiting for her to take it.

  She hesitated a moment. This was it. This was the point where she either stepped into their arms or backed away forever. Okay, maybe not forever. They seemed a little more determined than to just let her leave, but was she willing to stay and explore this new life?

  “Trust us, sweetheart,” a voice whispered into her mind. Her gaze flew to Isaac’s grinning face.

  “How the hell?”

  “We call it the mating link,” Daegan said as he pulled her closer. “Only true mates can build a telepathic link—well, with the odd exception.” He glanced at his twin, and some sort of meaningful look passed between them. “We can already feel your emotions, hear the occasional thought. Soon you’ll be able to contact us no matter where we are.”

  “Seriously?” Okay, probably a stupid question, but… “Seriously?”

  Isaac stepped up behind her, his warm breath teasing her ear as he whispered, “Seriously.”