by Sadie Hart
Tegan trailed a hand down her hip, drawing shivers after his touch and she leaned her head back into the pillow to bite back a groan. “So we stayed around and decided to play a little more. By the end of the week, I didn’t want to go home and Kanon wasn’t really looking forward to moving on. So we clicked and stuck together. Rogues mostly, though the new laws drove us to take over Bayrock. Neither one of us appreciate Hounds dropping in whenever they feel like it.”
She winced at that.
“What about you?” Tegan nipped over her shoulder, just as Kanon’s hand found her breast and tweaked a nipple between his fingers. She gasped, arching into them both. They shifted, their hips pinning her tight between them. Damn. Already so damn hard. Her throat went dry.
“Lennox,” Kanon teased. “Answer his question.”
She heard foil tear and her body started to shake. One hand on her hip, Tegan turned her around so she was facing him, even as Kanon hefted her hips back so her ass cradled his cock perfectly.
“I... I grew up wanting to be a Hound. I liked the structure.”
“You were a good girl weren’t you? Always following the rules.” Kanon eased a finger into her ass, the lube cold at first, but with each slowly, exploring twist of his finger it warmed. She could barely breathe, let alone speak. Lennox jerked her head in a short nod.
“Yes.” The word came out breathy, needy. “Please.”
Tegan found her clit, running two fingers over it in small, quick circles. “Ever see yourself with a pair of lions?”
“No.” Never. Hounds weren’t supposed to date, let alone fuck, what they hunted. A few wolfhounds had gotten caught with werewolves, and they’d been fired from Shifter Town Enforcement for their actions. But she’d never known of any Hound, especially a ridgeback, to get with a lion. Let alone two.
Her legs felt like jelly, even as Tegan slipped one hand between her thighs and lifted her leg, Kanon thrusting a second finger into her ass.
“Not my type,” she managed. “Lions, bad boys...”
“Oh honey, you’ve always wanted a bad boy.” Tegan nipped her pulse, his hand picking up speed against her clit, the other one squeezing lightly across her thigh.
She shook her head. “No. Too much...work. Chaos. Oh.”
The head of Kanon’s cock replaced his fingers and she felt her body go liquid around him, wanting the feel of him buried deep inside her again.
“But you wanted it,” Kanon whispered. “Or you’d have never been attracted to us.”
Kanon eased all the way inside her, his pelvis pressed tight against her ass, her muscles bearing down tight on him inside her, clinging to him.
“Attraction and forever aren’t the same thing.”
“Fair enough,” Tegan murmured, removing his hands from her to roll the condom over his cock. But he didn’t ask if she wanted forever, or even just a little while with them. Instead he crowded close and eased into her.
They were languid in this position, relaxed. Each slow thrust almost dizzying with pleasure. The three of them moved together, a deeper, primal instinct riding between them, building slowly, until Lennox felt their control begin to snap. She rocked between them; one leg over Tegan’s hip as she locked him against her.
Low grunts rose in their throats and she drowned them out with a growl of her own. Feral. Stark possession sank through her, the twin marks on her shoulder still burning from their last onslaught, and this time, as Lennox arched between them, Tegan and Kanon covered each other’s marks, teeth biting down on the same, sensitive flesh they’d already claimed.
A savage howl tore from her throat as her orgasm spiraled through her, fast and hot. She raked nails down the length of Tegan’s chest, her head rocked back to rest in the curve of Kanon’s shoulder. They thrust together, Tegan coming first, his body slamming tight against her and she held him there, her heel at the base of his spine. Hers.
An answering roar tumbled from Kanon’s lips as he wrenched her back against him, his body pulled taut to the breaking point, and then he snapped. His orgasm broke in waves around her, Tegan’s still riding him hard and Lennox gasped, clinging to them both as another bolt of white hot pleasure scorched through her, rocking her straight to her toes.
With deep, shuddering breaths they eased out of her, Kanon leaning over her to toss his condom in the trash behind Tegan before they both slumped down next to her, twin hands finding her hip. A soft touch of lips scorched over the double layered bites on her shoulders, and Tegan followed his partner, claiming them both as softly as they had fiercely.
“Damn,” Tegan said finally into the silence, his eyes drifting shut as he rolled onto his back and shoved his feet under the covers. Kanon gave a rumbled growl of assent.
Together, they surrounded her and in so many ways, they completed her. They were hers. For now, but it couldn’t last. Lennox knew it couldn’t last. Even with one...they were lions and she hunted men like them. She might very well have to hunt one of them someday, for real next time.
And as for both of them...she couldn’t be the one that came between them, and no two men could share a single woman for the rest of their lives. It just didn’t work like that. Especially not two, hot-headed, alpha males. And lions at that. Even males in pride coalitions didn’t share. One higher ranking man always took the majority of the females.
They were equals, but for how long? Sooner or later one of them would want to settle down. With a growing pride of horny lionesses, something would give. Or if it didn’t, even if they were willing to share to their graves... Lennox couldn’t. Male lion-shifters were horribly polyamorous, just like their beastly counterparts, and Lennox, she wasn’t. Dogs were hardly monogamous, but they were more apt to bond to a single mate than a lion. And Lennox, she was too damn possessive herself to share.
No. This couldn’t work, not in the long run. But for now she could curl against them and pretend. Enjoy the benefits as Melody would have told her. There were two gorgeous men in her bed, every woman’s dream, and she should enjoy it while she had it. Except, she didn’t want to let it go. Not now, possibly not ever. Lennox squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head into the pillow, feigning sleep. That way, if they saw the sadness on her face they couldn’t ask for reasons behind it.
Then blessed sleep rose up and whisked her away from the sadness coiling in her gut.
Chapter Thirteen
Lamplight bathed the little blue house in a halo of light; the open lawns of the neighborhood making the whole damn place look quaint. No privacy, he snarled, crouched over the steering wheel across the street. Headlights flashed on the road and he sank lower in his seat, glad the car was already off, and watched as a little white car pulled into the drive.
With his window cracked and the night breeze flitting over the street he snagged the musky scent of dog and he inhaled deeper, sharper. Not a Hound, he decided, his lips curling back into a snarl. Of course, Lennox wouldn’t be able to run to another Hound. His tongue trailed a wet line over his lips in anticipation. Soon. Soon, he’d show her exactly the kind of men she was harboring.
She’d given him options without even realizing it.
Boulder Pride was less than a stone’s throw away, right there and ripe for the taking. A dark chuckle rolled up through his chest as he grinned into the darkness. It would be so easy to tear the lion-shifters wide open, expose them all for the monsters they were. He’d finally have Arianna’s revenge. A sweet taste filled his mouth, delicate, and he savored it on his tongue.
He cast the little blue house one last look, knowing they were in there, her fucking with lions... Oh, he’d watched that little show. Where they’d dragged her out of the backseat of the car whining like a bitch in heat. But she’d learn, so soon, and he’d have her back on his side. She’d come to heel like a good little puppy.
But first, he had things to do.
Things that were bigger than a miscreant Hound.
Turning the engine over, he angled the car back onto the road,
this time for Boulder Pride territory. People would have to die, Hounds would have to die...but when he was done with the Reyes family, no one in this godforsaken land would ever trust lions again. They’d be locked up for the monsters they were...or better... They’d all be killed. Shot silver through the hearts, with their bodies left out for the vultures to feast on their carcasses.
***
Tegan slouched back against the couch; a ham and cheese sandwich in one hand as he flipped through the channels with the other. Mel had a great TV, a 50 inch high def flat screen that Tegan would have loved to smuggle out into the car and take home with him. Her channels on the other hand sucked. He pushed a few more buttons, pausing over the football game before flicking past it.
He’d come back to that most likely, but he had to see what else was on first. Just in case. He punched the buttons, bored. In the past three weeks, they’d developed a comfortable living situation. Melody seemed to like having them around, and he didn’t mind her. And the nights she worked, he and Kanon had Lennox all to themselves. The thought made a smile stretch over his face. The TV flashed as the channel switched again and Tegan froze, sandwich half way to his mouth.
Shit.
“Kanon!”
Stuffing the sandwich onto the paper plate he shoved it to the arm of the couch and leaned forward, tension trickling through him. He blared the volume up over the patter of feet running up the basement stairs. They’d been down there arguing over the Xbox 360, leaving him to grump over the upstairs TV in peace.
Lennox reacted first, a hiss of breath sounding from her as she paused at the arm of the couch. Kanon’s hands found his shoulders and squeezed. Images flashed behind the newscaster on screen, showing four different kids, each different. All on their way home from high school when a rogue lion had split them open and killed them all.
“A tragedy,” the newscaster said. “Shifter Town Enforcement is looking for any and all clues that will lead to this monster’s capture. If you have any tips, please call...” The voice drifted over Tegan’s ears, leaving him chilled.
Lennox swore under her breath and he turned to see her frozen, eyes still on the screen, her hands fisted at her sides. “I need to see that scene.” She spun on Melody. “Do you know where that is?”
“Do you think that’s related to Kanon?” Tegan asked it, even as his stomach knotted.
Oh, he knew. He fucking knew this was the same sick bastard that had run them out of their home and had slaughtered their friends. How this witch had found them, he didn’t know, but oh, he was going to make the son of a bitch pay.
“I’ll know for sure when I see the scene.”
Melody glanced back at the screen, her freckled face paling but she nodded. “I think I know the neighborhood.”
Kanon slapped the back of the couch, already moving for the door. “Then let’s go.”
“No.” Lennox froze them both, Tegan half off the couch and he twisted his gaze back to her. She had to be shitting him. There was no way she was going out there alone. Lennox spun on him, her lips curled back into a yes-there-damn-well-is-a-way stare. “Don’t start. Either of you. Get a lion within a hundred feet of that crime scene and you’ll both be dead. Stuff it. No one is going to question two dog-shifters walking by.”
She was right. She was always right when it came to shit like this, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. Kanon’s hands curled into fists at his hips but he stepped back, bumping the couch, his jaw tight on whatever argument he was holding back. They’d let her go, unhappily, and unwillingly, because once again, Lennox was all that was keeping Kanon from a casket six feet under.
Still didn’t mean either of them liked her walking into danger.
“Whoever this sick bastard is,” Kanon whispered, “He could be watching.”
Lennox softened around the edges, her lips tugging into a smile as she grabbed her boots, stuffing one foot in and then the other. “I know.”
Lennox snatched her holster from the bedroom, checked her gun and headed for the door. Tegan sank back into the couch, even when everything inside him begged him to follow her.
“Be careful, both of you,” he said when Lennox reached for the handle.
“Chill, guys. I’m a big girl, I’ll be okay. Why don’t you guys go plan something sexy? Mel works a double today.”
With that she opened the door and gestured her grinning friend outside. Tegan watched as they walked down the paved path to Mel’s car and slipped inside, laughter flitting in through the window. She was confident, happy, while his stomach was a knot of rusted nails stabbing at his gut.
Kanon raked a shaky hand through his hair, a soft huff of breath coming from him and Tegan gave a low groan in answer. They’d let her walk out that door to save their asses...again. How many times would Lennox have to be the hero?
“Fuck. What happened to the guy getting to do the saving?”
Kanon laughed at that. “No kidding. She’s driving me fucking insane.”
The TV flashed the images of the four dead kids again. The names snatched at Tegan’s memory, burrowing in deep and he knew they wouldn’t go away. He’d remember every last one of them—because they’d all died for Kanon. For him.
For a reasoning he didn’t even fucking know.
“I wish I knew what I’d done.”
Tegan snorted. “I just want to kill the bastard behind this. Forget what you think you might have done, whoever it is, this is past that. He’s just in the category you gut, you kill, and you pack them off to Hell.” He jerked his head around to look Kanon in the eye. “Don’t you dare feel guilty about that. Got it?”
A snort was his answer, but Tegan didn’t care. Knowing the why might help them catch the bastard, but beyond that, all he wanted to do was flay the witch six ways till Sunday and watch him bleed. That was it.
And he wanted to do it before another person had to die.
***
Hounds were all over the scene, more than a few on four paws as dogs, while the rest cataloged the scene as humans. Lennox parked the car half a block down and watched, scanning the group from Shifter Town Enforcement. They looked stunned. Shocked. More than a few kept pausing, heads twisting around as if they couldn’t quite get a grip on the scene.
“Think it’s the same witch?” Melody asked, arms crossed against the dash.
Yeah, she did. It took talent, power, and a lot of training to cover your tracks that well, and to do it in broad daylight, in a residential area... The thought made her go cold. And this person wanted Kanon blamed for it. But why?
Then again, if she knew that, she’d be one step closer to getting ahead of the bastard.
“Yeah, yeah I do.” What she didn’t know, was everything else. Starting with why, and ending with how the witch had found them. “Remind me to check the boys for tracking spells when we get back.”
She hadn’t thought of it before, but most rippled around their targets like a beacon...she’d have felt it a mile away. But everything this witch had done so far was subtle, almost impossible to trace. She should have guessed a tracking spell would be the same.
Out of habit, she placed her hands against the steering wheel, closed her eyes and let the magick rouse up under her skin. It filtered her out through her fingertips and Melody shifted in her seat, suddenly wary, as Lennox let the magick eased through the car. They’d taken Mel’s car, as she drove through the neighborhood regularly and it wouldn’t be out of place, so technically it definitely shouldn’t have a tracker on it. But Lennox wasn’t risking technicalities anymore.
Technically they should have been safe at Mel’s, but that had obviously backfired. The car came back clean and Lennox eased back into the seat, her gaze still locked on the scene in front of her.
“You need to get out and have a look around?”
There were bystanders hovering the scene, but a ridgeback would stick out to another Hound, easily. And she had a face that was easily recognizable. One that might also be on the Hound hit
list. Bree had called her so many times she’d shut off her phone so she didn’t have to face her boss. She didn’t have the slightest clue what to say.
“No. Can’t risk it.”
“Would it help if I went?”
Lennox thought about it for a moment. Mel was a dog-shifter, but she was a saluki and not trained Hound. She wouldn’t hit their radar, and she’d be a familiar face to the neighbors. Except, she’d also been living with Kanon and Tegan for a few weeks now. Lennox shook her head. “No. You smell like lion.”
And with a scene looking like a lion murderer...those Hounds would be all over her in a heartbeat.
“Oh. Damn. Didn’t think of that.” Mel scrunched up her nose and flopped back. “So, reconnaissance bust?”
Lennox shook her head. There was something else she wanted to try. “No.”
She drove them around the block, parked the car on the curb and hopped out. Mel followed, eyebrows raised skeptically, right until she felt the flush of Lennox’s magick spinning out. Then her friend flinched back, wary again. Lennox knew the emotion, for the same reason her dog-half cowered every time she drudged up the Hound magick.
It wasn’t natural and their animal halves knew it.
But it was necessary.
“What are you looking for?”
“Not sure yet.” But she’d know it when she found it.
Lennox kept her probing gentle, just brushes against the world around her, nothing that would advertise to the Hounds a block over that someone was working magick. But there had to be something left behind. No one could be this perfect.
They circled the crime scene, keeping a one block distance from it at all times. The school the kids had been on their way home from was a block south of the attack, a small forest, followed by a baseball field separating the row of houses they’d been slaughtered in front of and the school they’d been leaving. Curious, Lennox padded down towards the woods. Her nostrils flared as she inhaled the sharp scent of pine. There were so many different scents in the forest she couldn’t know for sure which were the kids she was stalking...so could the witch?