by Lauren Dane
“Are you sure you can handle being in the room? Because I want to remind you that I didn’t bring this up. This isn’t sex with someone else for recreation. I don’t want to be punished for it later.”
He took a deep breath. “I’d rather be in the room than not. And I know. But I don’t want this to be like a medical exam for you either. I’ve been thinking and I want you to enjoy it. As it’ll be the only time you’ll be with anyone but me, let’s just make the most of it. You’ll be bonded with Cade, not in the same way as we’re bonded but still, I think it’s best if an emotional bond can form, too. Since we’ll all live in the same house, even after he mates, we should make the best of this thing.”
She raised a brow dubiously but nodded. They both jumped when there was a tap on the door.
Cade came in and the tension rose in the room. “Ready?” Lex and Nina nodded and Cade held out his hand. “What shall we do?”
Lex explained quickly that he’d be staying in the room. He and Nina hade decided to let the experience play itself out naturally instead of being something clinical.
After a bit of negotiation that had Nina giggling in parts, the two brothers turned to her. She sucked in a breath at the sexual intent in their gaze.
Suddenly her giggles were gone and she wanted to fall back on the bed and spread her arms wide while she called out, “Take me now!” No way could she be nonchalant about this.
Lex stalked over to her and pulled her body against his own. She could feel the heat of his skin, the pounding of his heart under the palm she had flat against his chest. She looked up into his eyes and felt their connection soul deep. He was her heart, the coursing of blood through her veins, the muscles, the bones. He was part of her in a way that was beyond her ability to even articulate to herself.
He bent down and captured her lips with his own, pulling her into a kiss that devastated her. His lips were firm and strong, warm and full of life. He poured everything he felt about her into that kiss and she took it. Soaked it in, received every bit of emotion, let it fill her up. In turn she fed it back with her own kiss, her hands nearly reverent on his chest.
Cade watched them both, feeling the intensity of what they had together, feeling love for his brother and this mate of his and no small amount of envy. He wanted this for himself, wanted a mate bond that would hold him, fill him. Complete him. He was forty years old and it was high time.
Lex broke the kiss and met Cade’s eyes over Nina’s shoulder. He turned her slowly to face Cade.
Nina nearly gasped as she caught the look of raw hunger on Cade’s face. He looked like Lex but the lips were a bit more full, his eyes were hazel instead of green and his hair was more blond than brown. An aura of power emanated from him, she could feel it rising like heat from the pavement.
Lex pulled the shirt she was wearing over her head and then slid her bra off. Her nipples pebbled against Cade’s greedy gaze and in response to Lex’s large hands cupping her breasts, the thumbs brushing over the dark pink tips.
Her head fell back against the wall of Lex’s chest and Cade moved forward. He fell to his knees, his hands at her waist, opening her jeans and sliding them down with her tiny panties. She reached out to hold his shoulder for balance when she stepped out of her clothes, and the spark of connection traveled up her arm.
Turning his head, he brushed his lips across the pulse point of her wrist and she gasped softly.
Lex moved so that his lips were at her ear. “Come back to the bed, beautiful.”
She allowed herself to be pulled back and laid on the bed. She looked up at them both and watched as they pulled their clothes off. Cade was taller than Lex but his muscle wasn’t as dense. He had a thicker pelt of hair on his chest and down the line of his abdomen than Lex did and his legs were longer. And his cock, well, she had to try and not stare but it was thick, meaty and had a swing to the left. And it was happy to see her.
Ah, the bounty that greeted her eyes! She’d gone from no sex in years to this? Damn! Yes indeed, the bitter with the sweet. The ache of her recent loss played up against the exhilaration of this joining of lives she had with Lex.
Lex looked down at her, at her smile, the way her hair spread out about her head, her high, full breasts, the curve of her thighs and stomach. Her deep olive complexion. She was so beautiful, so sexy and desirable. At that moment he felt proud of her, this exceptional woman who was his, as he shared her with his Alpha, his brother.
Cade crawled on the bed, between her legs, and kissed his way from the back of her knee up the ultra-sensitive skin of her inner thighs, coming to a stop at her pussy.
Lex leaned down and kissed her lips and down her neck. She arched and gasped as Cade used his thumbs to part her labia and took a lick and then another.
“So sweet,” he murmured against her flesh. Lex chuckled around her nipple and then bit down just on the edge of gentle.
Where Lex ate her pussy with long slow licks, Cade flicked her clit relentlessly with the tip of his tongue while he fucked her with his fingers. The first time he hit her G-spot she nearly came off the bed.
“Ah, I see I found something. Let’s try that again,” he said briefly and began to stroke her sweet spot every few times he thrust into her with a “come here” motion of his fingers.
Her legs began to tremble and she whipped her head back and forth. She was moaning and gasping and her hands gripped Lex’s head to her as he moved from one nipple to the other.
“Let it go, beautiful. Show him how gorgeous you are when you come,” Lex said softly to her, urging her on.
One of Cade’s fingers, wet with her honey, slipped down and tickled around her rear passage at the same time as he scraped over her clit with his teeth. She arched with a cry as climax rushed into her, drowning her in pleasure. The shock of it lit her nerves and tingled through her body.
Lex held her tight and kissed her, pulling her gasping cries into his mouth.
Cade looked up and watched her come, watched the flush of desire bloom over her body. He saw Lex’s face as he took her in, soaked in her pleasure and the beauty of the moment. He envied it.
“You ready for me?” he asked softly and she looked down at him, her eyes coming back into focus.
She looked back up at Lex, wanting to be sure that they were on the same page. “Are you okay with this?” she whispered.
“It’s okay, baby. Just enjoy it.” He kissed her forehead and looked at his brother, who had waited and then moved up her body when he saw it was all right.
Nina locked eyes with him and he moved her thighs up over his forearms and pressed his cock against her slick pussy, feeling the wet heat envelop him in a tight grip.
“Jesus, you’re so tight,” he said through clenched teeth. It was so good that the pleasure gripped his guts and spine. She was so luscious, so beautiful, that he was in sensory overload. He wanted to make it last but he knew that it wasn’t his place. He knew that this was for the tri-bond and that this woman was not his, nor would she ever be.
He closed his eyes against her appeal and stroked into her. Her body received his with a rhythm older than time. Lex was behind her, his body curled around hers. Nina tipped her head back to see his face and then looked to Cade again.
It was beautiful and yet surreal. Lex was giving his most prized possession to his brother, even if on a temporary basis. He watched another man fuck his woman, he should have felt jealous, but he didn’t. It was something as old as their culture and it was going to anchor her to this life, keep her safe and sane and with him. He knew that should anything ever happen to him that Cade’s bond would see her through. That made him feel relieved and intensely emotional about it. His wolf was protecting his mate, it was primal and feral and right.
He knew, even as he watched Cade love his woman, she was his and that would not change. That enabled him to get past any jealousy and to embrace her pleasure and his brother’s sacrifice. He could see the envy in Cade’s face and he wanted very much for his brother to have this
with a woman of his own.
“Oh god, yes. Harder,” Nina said hoarsely and Lex’s cock hardened at the sound. Cade groaned and began to thrust deeper and harder.
The slap, slap, slap of his strokes rang through the room, buffeted by her moans and sighs and Cade’s heavy breathing.
Cade’s cock felt so good. The cant to the left stroked over the walls of her cunt, firing those nerves that didn’t get sparked with Lex. It was a different pleasure. The thickness of him made up for him not being as long as Lex was. It was intense and more so because he was doing it for a higher purpose. This wasn’t just a fuck—not that it wasn’t an excellent one—it was a brother doing something for a brother, an Alpha protecting one of his own. That touched Nina deeply.
He was kneeling, the wiry hair of his forearms tickled the backs of her calves, the tender flesh at the back of her knees. She reached up and touched his face. This couldn’t just be some clinical thing for her. He’d given her so much pleasure with his mouth. He was going to bind her to him in a way and she wanted an emotional connection, even if it was just collegial.
He turned his face into her hand and kissed her palm and she could feel another orgasm hovering at the base of her spine, building there.
“Touch yourself, Nina. Make yourself come. I want to feel you come around my cock,” he growled. She slid her fingers into his mouth for a moment to wet them and he watched as she moved her hand to her pussy, jumped as she gasped when her fingers found her clit.
She licked her suddenly dry lips and then began to slowly stroke herself. With her other hand she grabbed Lex’s cock and he pumped into her fist. The three of them moved together, seeking pleasure.
Cade nearly blacked out when he felt the first ripples of her pussy around him. She was like a scalding fist gripping his cock. Her breasts moved enticingly as he thrust into her. Her dark nipples were puckered and he leaned down and licked over one and then the other and delighted in her mewl of pleasure.
He pulled back and watched her hand on herself, catching glimpses of the glistening pink of her cunt. He could tell she was close. Her breathing became short, he saw the muscles in her forearm cord as she increased the pressure and speed of her fingers on her clit.
With a long gasp she began to come. The muscles deep inside of her clutched at him, rippled and milked him, and it was more than he could take. Head back, he groaned as he unloaded his seed inside of her.
Lex followed them both and Nina felt the satin heat of his cum land on her side and hand.
She also felt the same thing she’d felt when Lex came in her the first time. Utter contentment and restfulness. And then the trembling and sweating began. Her gut clenched, waves of nausea hit her as her muscles twitched.
She vaguely felt Cade withdraw, but the cool cloth that wiped her face and forehead, and Lex cleaning her hand and side, brought her back. She opened her eyes and stared into Cade’s and felt it. Yes, love for him. Not the same depth or intensity that she had for Lex, but love nonetheless. At the same time she felt, for want of a better word, anchored. As if the bond did indeed stabilize the out-of-balance feelings she’d had since bonding with Lex the day before.
“Are you all right, Nina?” Lex asked gently, pushing a curl out of her face.
She sat up slowly and leaned against the headboard. “Yes.” She didn’t want to say much more because she had no way to express the depth of what she felt for Cade without hurting Lex, even if she’d had the words, which she didn’t.
“We should get planning, you know,” Cade said, grabbing his pants.
“Yes.” Nina felt oh-so articulate. “Cade?”
He looked at her and she knew he felt it too, and there was no need for words. He pulled his shirt back on.
“Thank you.” It was simple but genuinely felt.
He nodded at her and then looked to Lex to be sure everything was all right between them, and was satisfied that it was. “Not like it was a chore.” He laughed, breaking the tension.
She got up and went into the bathroom to shower again and Lex followed her after he’d hugged his brother and thanked him.
They didn’t make love but he lavished her with attentive care, gently washing her as he laid kisses over her clean skin. In turn, she did the same for him. They needed the gentle moments to reestablish their connection after the tri-bond.
They came downstairs half an hour later, dressed and ready to face whatever lay ahead.
Chapter Five
“Okay, I think we should go to the Pack house tonight. It’s been a few days since we’ve been there and now that you’re bonded it’s your responsibility as a ranking member of the Pack to bring Nina around for everyone to see.” Cade bustled through the kitchen as he talked.
Nina moved past him and grabbed some juice out of the fridge. She tossed one to Lex and handed another to Cade before hopping up onto a barstool to listen. A rhythm had been established and no one questioned it, it simply was.
“So, what then?” Nina asked.
“Well, I think all we have to do is say who you are, you know, what a coincidence, Rey’s sister is Lex’s mate! And then we can talk about how you met, how despite losing Rey we have this laptop and we’re trying to figure out how to get in,” Cade said.
“In fact, I think we should keep the computer whiz part to ourselves. Unless you have a record. If I were the killer, I’d have run a background check on you.” Lex watched her as he fished for information about her past.
“My record was all juvenile stuff. I got smart enough not to get caught after I’d turned eighteen. My juvenile stuff was petty, no computer related anything. I don’t even have internet access at home. There’s no reason to believe I could crack it,” she hedged.
“Have you been clean since you turned eighteen, then?” Lex asked.
She yawned. “I hope you’re better at this when you’re on the job. If not, you wolves must be pretty stupid.”
“I have a right to know, Nina!”
“You don’t have a right to everything of me when it concerns my past, Lex. It’s my business. I told you I’ve been clean for seven years and that’s the truth. That’s all you need to know.”
“What are you hiding, Nina?”
“Nothing, Lex! Nothing that means anything to anyone but me. Now drop it, studly, or we’ll have to have our first fight. In the last hour.”
Cade laughed and then quickly coughed to cover it as Lex threw a glare his way.
“Fine,” he said through clenched teeth and she rolled her eyes.
“So back to planning. We’ll go to the Pack house—what’s that anyway, like a frat house for werewolves? A flophouse? Where you keep your chippies?”
“Chippies?” Lex grumbled. “I had no need to keep a chippy! And I’d hardly call a Victorian mansion with twelve rooms a flophouse. It’s a communal house where we often meet. Many of our single wolves live there. We have offices there so that we can work. It’s a way of establishing a familial atmosphere.”
“Without getting werewolf hair on the two-thousand-dollar couch here?” she said dryly.
“Precisely. My father nearly died because he had no filters between running the Pack and his home life. He had a heart attack ten years ago, it’s why Cade took over the Pack. He and my mother were barely speaking, which as you might imagine, is a serious thing for a bonded couple. Anyway, we have big gates out front for a reason.” Lex wanted her to know he was planning to put their relationship high on his list of priorities.
“Okay so we go to the Pack house tonight and what? Hang out? Have some beers and I get to get dirty looks from all of your old girlfriends? Will the suspects even be there?”
He wasn’t going near that girlfriend comment with a ten-foot pole. He knew enough about women to know that was a trap and he wouldn’t go willingly.
“Yes, Melissa lives there and Carter and Eric will be there because Wednesday nights are gathering nights. There’s a big dinner there, a sort of social. All of the single females will
be around and Eric is always on the prowl,” Cade said with a wry grin. Eric would be eminently pleased that Lex wasn’t competition anymore.
“And these are your three suspects? You know it has to be one of them?”
“Well, the money that has gone missing came from accounts that only the Inner Circle of the Pack had access to. In other words, Cade, me, Melissa, Carter and Eric. No one else had that level of control or the ability to get into accounts. Tommie seemed very sure it was one of those three.”
“Okay then. Let’s go and see what we see, shall we?” She stood up and tossed the glass container into the recycling. “Nice. Eco-friendly wolves.”
“You think she’ll be accepted by the Pack?” Lex murmured to his brother when she got on the phone with the manager of her shop.
“I’d like to see the first wolf who tries to give her any shit,” Cade said with a laugh. “Rey was easygoing and took a lot. I don’t think this apple is from that tree.”
Lex laughed at that. Yes, he thought she’d handle herself just fine, but if any wolf in Cascadia Pack even thought they could treat her as anything less than his mate he’d grind them into a greasy spot.
She came back into the room and looked them both over. Hands on her hips, she cocked her head. “A few things—first, I hope you had fun talking about me, punks. Second, I need to go to my shop starting tomorrow. Third, I want to plan a memorial service for Gabriel. Lastly, I need to get changed before we go to Kappa Kappa Werewolf. I’ll be right back.”
Before she could get out of the room Lex had stopped her. “You can’t go back to work! Jesus, Nina! People are out to try and hurt you. You think some fucking daisies are more important than your life?”
Her eyebrows went so high at that comment that he knew immediately what a stupid thing he’d said. Cade got very quiet behind him.
“Let go,” she said in a quiet, flat voice.
“I’m sorry, that didn’t come out right.”
“No, I think it came out just exactly right. Oh no, I’m not an architect, I don’t own multiple businesses and wear watches worth more than my late-model sedan. Clearly my life’s work—my shop—can’t possibly be as important as what you do. Isn’t that right, Lex?”