by Milly Taiden
“Hey, bro. Good to see you around. You feeling all right?” Theo asked.
“As good as can be expected. I need to shift to get rid of the lingering aches, but other than that, I’m fine,” he replied. “Police have much to say about the scene?”
“Not a lot by the time I left. They just started to interview people,” Theo said. “What do you recall?”
“I was getting ready to tell Francesca. I’m driving sixty-five in the four lanes of interstate traffic heading back into town, minding my own business, and a guy pulled up in the lane beside me. He looked at me and smiled. I didn’t pay much attention to him, not wanting to get into a road rage incident with a hothead.
“He speeds ahead and when he passed a car in front of a bus, he slammed on his breaks, turning almost sideways in the road. The car and bus swerved, but the semi behind them couldn’t do much.
“Before I joined the pile up, I saw the guy speed away. Not stopping to even lend a hand.”
When he finished, neither Theo nor Francesca said anything. Both were as speechless as he was.
“You need to give the police a description of this guy. He sounds too dangerous.”
The door opened again, and a nurse walked in. She smiled when seeing Marcus awake. “Ah, good. I’ll tell the doc you’re awake.” She took his vitals and wrote on the clipboard. “Everything seems normal. You can probably go home tonight if you want.”
Marcus nodded. “I want.”
“I’m off the rest of the night to take you home and make sure everything is okay,” Theo said. The nurse left the room. Theo looked at an exhausted Francesca. “You’re staying with us. After what you did tonight, we’re not ever letting you out of our sight again.”
Marcus frowned at her. “What did you do? Wait, you didn’t streak across the soccer field with numb nuts, here, did you?”
Theo busted out a laugh. Francesca was surprised. “How did you know he did that?” she asked.
Marcus rolled his eyes. “I heard it on the radio on my way home.”
Marcus walked into the living room, yawning. He stretched, wincing.
“You okay?” Theo asked, putting the top on the blender at the adjacent kitchen counter.
“Yeah. I’m still a little sore from the accident, but it’s nothing to worry about. Like second day soreness after skipping the gym.”
TV remote in hand, Francesca glanced at him from her place on the couch. “Shifters don’t get second day soreness, Marcus. We speed heal. It’s why you and I are here instead of on side-by-side slabs in the county morgue.”
“Jesus, Francesca...”
She shrugged. “Just saying. We’re luckier than most.”
Theo winked at her, sparing a glance for Marcus. “That we are.”
“What are you watching?” Marcus plopped down on the couch, grabbing the remote from her hand.
“TV Land Classics. Three’s Company.”
“Hey now! That’s a thought.” Theo winked, handing each of them a fresh smoothie the color of grass. “Bottoms up. It’s what I drink after a hard night at the firehouse.”
Marcus wrinkled his nose. “What is this?”
“What do you think, Boo Boo? Veggies and herbs. It’ll help heal whatever your quick shifts missed after the accident.”
“Smells like catnip and bears don’t do cat crack.” Marcus put his glass on the coffee table. He glanced at the television and shook his head. “Why are we watching this?”
Francesca sipped her smoothie. “There’s nothing else on. What? Not in the mood for classic sitcom TV, Marcus?”
He laughed. “Classic sitcoms sure, but this one’s got it all wrong. First off, they’ve got two girls and one guy. Statistically that never works. Trust me, I’m an accountant and I know statistics.”
“So what would work, then? Statistically, I mean.” She knew full well where the clever bear was steering the conversation.
It was only a matter of time before the two hunky shifters asked her to make a choice. Problem was she was equally and as deeply in love with both men.
“I think you know the answer to that, Francesca.” Marcus took her free hand and lifted her fingers to his lips.
Theo nodded, slipping onto the sofa as well. “One word. A simple yes is all it will take to get us off this merry-go-round.” He took the glass from her hand and put it on the table before lifting her wrist to kiss the tender underflesh.
The feel of their lips sent heat skittering across her skin and she closed her eyes. This was crazy.
Yeah, crazy delicious.
The chorus to “Torn between Two Lovers” played in the back of her head and she sighed. Feeling like a fool… yup, the lyrics to the old seventies classic couldn’t be more right. Loving both men was breaking all the rules. Except rules were the last things on her mind right now. Not with both men and their amazing bodies close enough to taste.
Theo and Marcus were everything to her, and she to them. She knew what they wanted. Both had made it clear they wanted her for their mate. Theirs. As in share and share alike.
Somehow the two men had come to terms with the possessive nature inherent in all male shifters and were willing to play outside shifter custom, each forsaking individual claim.
She was dual-natured as well, so she knew the kind of sacrifice this meant, and the strength of their conviction and love boggled her mind.
Now the choice was up to her.
The enormity of the decision hit her square in the chest and she pulled her hands free of theirs and pushed herself from the couch.
“I need a moment.”
31
“Francesca—” Marcus called after her, but the bathroom door shut without a response.
Theo got up and stalked to the closed door. “Francesca! Open the door, baby.”
Marcus flanked his side and knocked as well. “Yeah, open up, love. Whatever hot head said or did, he didn’t mean it.”
“Hot head? I’m a fireman, pencil boy. The only fires I start are between Francesca’s legs. Maybe she didn’t like the spit bath you were trying to give her. Maybe you should leave the tongue action to the big cats, brother bear.”
“Spit bath! At least I don’t need my fingers to count, you feline Neanderthal! Having a long fire hose does not a good mate make.”
“What the hell does that mean? I got news for you, Yogi. You’re not smarter than the average bear, so shut up if you have nothing of value to say. Francesca is stressed enough.”
She leaned on the granite counter and bit the inside of her cheek at the big lugs and their bickering. They were like the male equivalent of sister wives. Leave it to shifter men to get in each other’s faces instead of asking what was wrong. Neither had a clue she was willing to give this threesome a chance.
The last twenty-four hours proved not only how much they cared about her, but each other as well. How well they worked together as a loving unit. She needed a moment, not because she was unsure, but because she didn’t know how to tell them.
Francesca exhaled a quick breath. Theo was right about one thing. Not telling them was stressing her out, so she walked across the expansive bathroom and stepped down into the sunken shower and turned on the spray.
A hot soak and warm jets were just the ticket. She looked at the long bench that followed the sides and back wall of the large tiled shower. Her sex throbbed thinking about the guys and what they would look like straddling her there. She smiled to herself.
It was time.
“Francesca, please! The last thing we want is for you to feel pushed.”
With a smirk on her face she stripped, kicking her clothes behind the door. She flipped the latch and the bathroom door snicked open, and she waited for their mutually stunned expressions as the door creaked wide.
“Francesca, we—” Theo began, but his words fell to a dead stop.
Marcus stood silent, licking his lips.
Moving one hand to the back of her neck, she rolled her head. “I thought a hot showe
r would help loosen these knots in my shoulders, but now I think a massage while in the hot spray would be a better idea. What do you think?”
The two guys exchanged glances. “Who did you mean?”
She slid her hand down from her neck and over her breast. “Both. I choose both of you.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Marcus asked.
She nodded with a grin. “Yes. Three is for me.”
In seconds, Theo scooped her up in a fireman carry and stepped down into the shower, clothes and all. Marcus stripped, leaving a trail of clothes as he followed on their heels.
Theo’s mouth took hers, letting her down in the warm jets as he tore his shirt from his shoulders. Naked, Marcus circled behind, slipping one arm around her waist as he kissed the back of her neck, his free hand roaming the full curve of her ass and between her legs.
She moaned, breaking her kiss with Theo to watch him strip from his jeans. His long corded cock jerked free as he pushed the wet denim to the shower floor, kicking the sopping pants to the corner.
He took her mouth again, his fingers working her breasts, kneading the fleshy mounds, his thumbs grazing her nipples until they crested hard and stiff.
Francesca reached around and wrapped her hand around Marcus’s thick shaft and he sucked in a breath as she slid her long fingers over the corded mass. She worked Marcus as Theo sunk to his knees, pushing her legs wide. He buried his face in the soft wet down, spreading her pretty pink pussy lips apart to tongue her clit.
Theo slipped three fingers deep, curling them to work her spot as he sucked her hard nub. Quick and delicious, her inner walls spasmed as she came, the flood unexpected, making her head drop back between her shoulders.
Marcus claimed her mouth, his soapy fingers circling her tight hole while his other hand stroked her breasts as her climax crashed. He rode the wave, buttering her ass, circling her rim before sliding his fingers slowly inside. She groaned, but then tensed at the feel of Marcus’s bulging head replacing his fingers against her snug entrance.
“Relax, love. Close your eyes and come with us,” Marcus whispered as he walked her backwards toward the bench.
“…and come you will. Again and again,” Theo added, kissing her as he helped guide her steps.
“Do you trust us?” Theo asked.
She nodded with a sigh.
“Good, then let us lead you where you’ve never gone before.”
The fear of the unknown sent adrenaline coursing through her blood and Theo inhaled, cupping her pussy. “Welcome to the border of pleasure and pain. The place where we serve you…only you.”
Marcus sat on the bench, and Theo spun Francesca around to straddle him. “Ride’em, cowgirl,” he said, slapping her ass.
She hissed at the sting against her wet skin, but lowered her slick sex onto his full, jutting cock. He filled her, stretching her wide as she took him deep.
“Milk him, honey. Let me see you ride him, grind him. Let Marcus make you come so you’re ready for me.” Theo stood at her back, his thick member pressed into her spine as he whispered into her wet hair.
Marcus sucked her tits, laving and nipping the stiff peaks as she rolled her hips, drawing him in and out. A feral growl formed in her throat and she threw her head back in a tiger’s cry, her body rigid as she came hard.
Holding her waist with one hand, Theo jerked his cock until the moment was right. Marcus pulled Francesca forward, the motion lifting her ass prone and Theo spread her cheeks, double stuffing her from behind.
The sensation of both men riding her stole her breath and Francesca squeaked, her body stretched and vibrating with pleasure, her legs boneless as Theo and Marcus filled her.
She cried out, her final orgasm ripping through her, robbing her of coherent thought.
“You’re ours, Francesca. You belong to us and we belong to you,” both men growled, their voices rough and gravely as they jockeyed the line between feral and human. In that moment, pain scored her flesh, the sharp sting of claws and fangs digging into her shoulder and the back of her neck as both emptied themselves deep within her.
She slumped forward, too weak and too happy to move, and they cradled her body, holding her as though they would never let her go.
“Forever, love,” Marcus whispered and Theo nipped her earlobe in agreement. “With us, three will never be a crowd.”
32
Francesca and Theo sat at the kitchen table in the apartment while Marcus made pancakes for breakfast. He said they were his specialty. She’d see. If these guys could cook, she’d keep them both. Who was she kidding? She was keeping them anyway.
“So, Marcus,” she asked, “what was so important at your meeting yesterday that they made you miss the game?”
“The current case I’ve been telling you about, they had news. One thing was it turns out it’s a female who’s been doing all the stealing and fraud. First case for me with that. It’s usually a guy.”
Francesca sighed. “Unfortunately, women can do just as bad as men.”
“Women can be downright vicious,” Theo said. “I do my best never to cross one of you.” He smiled at her. “Of course, I’ll cross you, preacher-style you, doggy you—”
“Jesus, Theo,” Marcus complained, “can you be any more lewd?”
Theo’s smile widened. “Sure, I can—”
“Here.” Marcus flung a pancake at him. “Fill your pie hole with this.” And Theo leaned to the side and caught it in his mouth. Coffee almost went out her nose, she laughed so hard. “As I was saying, there was a large withdraw from the company’s bank account the other day and the IRS was planning yesterday to move in today and take her down.”
“Damn, that sounds serious,” she said.
“Big time. They’ll spend the day tracking her by her phone in case she meets someone to exchange something with the money or whatever. Then they’ll do their thing.”
“Are you ever involved in that part?” she asked.
“Nah, too much excitement for me,” Marcus replied. “I stick with the numbers.”
Theo finished up the dry pancake and asked, “Do you know who the woman or the company is? Are they local?”
“No, and I don’t ask either. I only know the code name for each project. This one is called the Virgin Case.”
Theo snorted and pulled butter and syrup from the fridge. “Nice name. I’m guessing it’s not the dude who owns the record company or the airline.”
“That would be a little obvious, Theo,” Francesca mentioned as she got up to set the table. Theo’s phone rang and he pulled it from his back pocket.
“Hey, Chief,” he said, then paused. “Yeah, we’ll stop by the police department this morning…he’s as good as you can expect from a bean counting bear.” He laughed. “See you tonight.” Theo set his phone next to his plate. “Cops want your statement of what you saw happen. They have some photos for you to look at while we’re down there.”
“You guys can do that while I go home,” Francesca said.
“I don’t think so,” both guys said at the same time.
“What? I don’t need to go with you. I don’t have anything to add. Besides, I need to talk with my dad.” The things Shane said to her the other day bothered her a lot. The females of the pride were not going to do what the men told them to when it came to sex, mating, or anything. Something needed to be done.
After several minutes of arguing who was going where and when, Francesca was on her way home to pack clothes to stay several nights with the guys. Though nothing official had been arranged, plans for their future together had begun. She’d never been so happy in her life. Who would’ve thought she’d find two men who loved her with their entire heart and soul.
She pulled into the drive to her cottage home and got out to get the mail. Pulling her phone from her back pocket, she texted the guys that she made it home fine and not to worry about her. She’d see them in a few hours. She slid the phone back into her pocket and fished out a
couple days of junk mail from her box.
After getting inside and locking the door behind her, she tossed the mail and bills on the table and headed for her room. She’d have to sell this place, but that was fine. There was no emotional attachment.
A scent that shouldn’t have been in her house stopped her. Nielson. She turned in the hall to see him come out of her guest room, leveling a punch to her face. Her cat fought to keep her conscious and aware of her surroundings. She couldn’t escape if she didn’t know where she was.
“Joke’s finally on you, bitch. No woman shows me up and tells me what I can do.” Her vision swirled, but her hearing was solid. Nielson was not happy; in fact, he sounded a bit psychotic. “Fuck little Luci. I got the alpha bitch, and you, bitch,” a sharp pain ripped through her ribs as his boot smashed into her, “are never going to shut your legs.
“When I’m done with you, everyone else can have their turn. You’ll breed the next generation of pussy power for your brother and he’ll be so damn happy the pride is growing that he won’t give a shit that you’re locked in the alpha house instead of prison.” He lifted her over his shoulder, furthering her painful breathing.
“Your brother is so pathetic. Too worried about what others think of him. He’s a follower, which is fine to me. I will lead this pack as soon as the old man dies.”
Even if her brother was a pansy, no one messed with her family. Yet even dizzy from the hit, she fisted her hand and kidney punched his back, sending them both to the floor. He rolled onto his side, writhing in pain; Francesca dragged herself toward the door. If she could get away—a sharp pain cracked her skull and darkness took over.
33
Francesca jarred awake. She was in a vehicle by the sound of it. Her cat helped her remember what happened. Nielson had abducted her. And the man was bat-shit crazy. Who the hell did he think he was?