“You can’t take my girls from me!” Vera cried out.
“Your behavior toward your girls will determine that,” Michael said angrily.
Those girls will be ours, William. Clarice will love them and help them to grow knowing the kindness and love of a giving mother. She was meant to be the mother of many children.
William turned toward Michael and nodded once.
“I love my girls,” Vera said angrily, interrupting their thoughts. “They belong with me. I will raise them.”
“You will raise them if you treat them with respect and show them love,” William told her, taking a step toward her. “You will learn from Clarice how to be a good mother.”
Vera clenched her jaw as she fought back the words that she wanted to hurl at him. She hated Clarice Beckett with a passion. She hated that Clarice had mated with the alpha and beta and had become queen. She hated the nauseating sweetness of the woman, as well as the kindness and caring that Clarice showed to the members of the pack. It sickened her that Clarice had been placed in such a role of power.
In that moment, Vera made one very important decision. Hayward wanted her to give him information in order to destroy this pack. She now knew the best way to destroy the pack from within.
Clarice Beckett had to die.
Chapter 3
Clarice Beckett smiled as she turned over in bed and snuggled against William’s side. Michael moved immediately to press tightly against her back. She couldn’t help but laugh softly. When she had first met her mates, she had been only fifteen years old. William Matheson and his triad partner Michael Staven had been sixteen. Both of them were already strong men and were regarded as powerful within the pack.
She had been swimming in the lake with her best friend Cara Scott, who had also been fifteen. When William and Michael had come upon the girls, their best friends Walter Bennings and Thomas Clarke had been with them. She and Cara had been thrilled to see them. They had known for a while that the kind and handsome men were destined to be their mates. They had both been shy about being around the men, but it seemed that the men had decided that it was time for all of them to make their intentions known.
Clarice was forever thankful that the men had finally approached them. It had led to a happy life with the wolf shifters who had fast become their best friends. Cara loved teasing her men, and Walter and Thomas had enjoyed every minute of it. Clarice had been a quiet girl with a gentle heart. She had felt the loneliness and the deep caring in William and Michael. She loved being able to comfort them and show them the gentler side of life.
If you had asked Michael if he would have ever thought himself to be a cuddler, he would have emphatically denied it, but he was. So was William. Clarice always felt surrounded by their warmth and their love. She adored both of them.
“You’re thinking very hard, Clarice,” William whispered as he pressed a gentle kiss to her temple.
“I’m just remembering the day you both came to the lake to tell me that we were triad mates,” Clarice whispered back.
“That was a good day,” Michael said, growling against the back of Clarice’s neck. “It took me a while to convince William to make the move.”
“Really?” Clarice asked, angling her head back to look at William. “Didn’t you want me, William?”
“Clarice, I’ve wanted you from the time you brushed the hair from my forehead and kissed it when Michael smacked me in the head with the log he had tossed at me to add to the campfire.”
“Hey, you’re the one who didn’t catch it,” Michael said, snorting as he remembered clocking his best friend in the head. “You know I didn’t mean to hit you, William.”
William’s deep laughter filled the bedroom. “I know,” he admitted, reaching out and touching his triad partner’s shoulder and squeezing it lightly. “I’m glad you did, though.”
“William! Why in the world would you be glad that Michael hit you in the head with a log?” Clarice asked, her shock obvious.
“Because it gave you the opportunity to touch and kiss me, Mate,” William whispered. “Your gentleness and caring made me love you in that instant.” He leaned in and took her lips in a slow, deep kiss.
Michael nuzzled against Clarice’s neck and hummed lightly. “It was the longest six years of our lives to wait for you to turn twenty-one so we could claim you as ours, sweetheart,” he told her, slipping his hand beneath her pink nightgown and caressing her breasts lightly.
Clarice couldn’t help but moan softly at Michael’s touch. Between William’s kiss and Michael’s touch, she was alight with fire. She loved her men fiercely. Her desire for them had only increased over the years. Their kindness, caring, and strength had made her love them deeply.
The way they were with her when she had been pregnant had been the most beautiful time of her life. They loved spoiling her and touching her pregnant belly. They were there with her when she gave birth to their son Jace, and they were there with her to raise their boy to be the outstanding young man that he had become.
The way they loved Jace from the moment he had been conceived was precious. Their love for him had intensified the moment he had been born and they had held him within their arms. The way that they had taken the role of fatherhood so seriously made Clarice love them even more—if that was even possible. They were loving, understanding, and supportive fathers to Jace. They took an active part in the raising of him. Clarice had been amazed by their natural inclination to hold, cuddle, and love their little boy.
They were wonderful role models, not only to their son, but also to the members of their pack. Clarice knew that every man within the pack held the same values and beliefs as her men. There was nothing more important to any of them than to be a loving mate and a loving father. Their pack family was one that they were all proud of.
“I think I need my men to make love to me,” Clarice whispered as William released his claim on her lips.
“Do you think so, honey?” he asked her, looking at Michael and laughing softly. “What do you think, Michael? Do you think our woman needs some loving?”
“I do,” Michael answered, slowly easing Clarice’s nightgown over her head and throwing it toward the foot of the bed.
Clarice reached out and took her mates’ hands within her own and brought them to her lips to kiss the back of their knuckles lightly. Her blue eyes sparkled in the soft lighting of the moonlit room.
“William, Michael, always remember how much I love you,” she whispered. “You both have filled my life with happiness. I thank the Fates for giving you to me.”
“Clarice,” William whispered, a soft smile playing across his lips as he looked down at the woman that he and Michael loved. “I love you, honey.”
“Sweetheart, I love you,” Michael said softly as he touched her cheek with the tip of his index finger. “William and I would never survive without you.”
Clarice closed her eyes and centered herself as she felt the ribbons of their mating bond wrapping around her and shielding her with the warmth of their love. She had to show them how much they meant to her so that they would never forget the shy girl who loved them with all of her heart.
Cara Scott laughed, pushing away from her mates as they swam in the lake in front of the log home that she shared with her men. Her best friend Clarice lived in the cabin not far from hers with her mates. Cara was thankful that their homes were close. She was even more grateful that she had a life so filled with love and friendship. Swimming quickly away from her men, she felt the thrill of excitement that always filled her when her mates chased her.
Walter and Thomas quickly swam after her, enveloping her within their arms and hugging her to them. She loved these nights when they stole away from everyone else to share a swim in the middle of the night. The weather was perfect for the escape. It was a beautiful August night. It was warm enough that the air was comfortable and the water was the perfect temperature for their midnight swim. She loved the freedom of swimming naked with
her mates.
“Cara Scott, are you trying to get away from us?” Walter asked, his brown eyes twinkling in the soft light of the moon as it shown down upon them.
Cara couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her as she splashed at Walter, drenching him and making his blond hair fall over his eyes as it was plastered to his forehead. She quickly ducked beneath the water, holding her breath and trying to kick free of the hands that grasped at her ankles. Pushing up from the bottom of the lake, she burst free from both of her mates.
She looked back at her men and laughed joyously as she saw that both men were completely drenched from her enthusiastic escape. Thomas was sputtering as he fought to catch his breath. When he looked at her, Cara felt her heart pounding at the desire she saw reflected in his brown eyes.
“You can’t catch me, Thomas,” she said quickly as she turned and executed a perfect shallow dive to escape them.
Before she could even swim three feet away, both men were beside her, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her toward their hard bodies. She loved feeling their strength. She also loved seeing the happiness in their eyes as they looked down at her.
“Do you really want to escape us, baby?” Thomas asked her quietly.
“Never,” Cara whispered.
“Didn’t think so,” he said, laughing.
“Oh, you are just too full of yourself, Thomas!” Cara said, laughing as she fell back against Walter and allowed him to wrap his arms beneath her breasts and hold her so that she floated in the tepid water.
“No, baby, I’m filled with my love for you,” Thomas said softly, leaning forward and kissing her neck before opening his mouth and biting down on it lightly.
“Thomas,” Cara whispered, reaching up and holding onto his shoulders. “I love you so much.” She turned her head and saw the smile on Walter’s face as he looked down at her. “I love you, Walter.”
“Cara Scott, you’re the joy in our world,” Walter said quietly. “I don’t know what Thomas and I ever did in our lives to have been given you as our mate, but I’m glad as hell that we did something right to have received such a jewel.”
Cara’s eyes filled with tears at Walter’s words. She looked at Thomas and saw the concern in his face when he noticed her crying.
“Walter, you made her cry!” Thomas said angrily.
Cara couldn’t help but laugh through her tears. “Calm down, Thomas,” she said gently, wiping away her tears. “I can’t help it. I guess I’m just emotional.”
“Why, honey?” Walter asked softly.
“I think your baby is making my hormones fly.”
“Sweetheart,” Walter whispered.
“We’re having a baby?” Thomas asked, shocked.
“Yes. I realized it after you left our home this morning,” Cara said softly. “I couldn’t wait to tell you both. I’m glad. Please don’t be worried about it.”
“How did we not scent her pregnancy?” Thomas asked Walter.
“I didn’t give you the chance,” Cara told them quickly. “When I realized that I was pregnant, I knew I had to keep myself from you for the day.”
“And you weren’t home for dinner,” Walter said firmly. “I didn’t like that you were gone all day, Cara.”
“I didn’t like it, either,” Cara admitted.
“Then why did you keep yourself away from us?” Thomas asked gently.
“I wanted to see the pack doctor before I told you,” Cara admitted.
“Are you and the baby okay?” Thomas asked worriedly. “Is that why you didn’t come home?”
“No,” Cara said, laughing joyously. “I’m fine. The baby is fine. Doctor Spence said everything is normal. I just needed the time to think things through. I wanted to surprise you tonight.” She hesitated a moment then looked at her men sadly. “I’m afraid that I’m too happy.”
They pressed their faces against Cara’s neck and breathed in deeply. They could scent their baby. They could also scent the health of their mate. They were hopeful that Cara would be able to carry their cub to term and deliver her safely.
“You’re not going to get out of bed for the entire pregnancy,” Walter finally spoke up with determination. “We’re not going to take a chance that you’ll lose our little girl.”
“What makes you think it’s a girl?” Cara asked, smiling at the thought of having a daughter to spoil.
“I just have a feeling.”
“What about you, Thomas? Do you think your little girl is growing inside of me?”
Thomas lifted Cara’s hips so that her belly was exposed above the water line. He leaned forward and kissed it tenderly, rubbing his cheek along the warmth of her skin.
“I don’t know, Cara,” he said after a moment. “All I know is—this baby is a miracle. I love her already.”
“I do, too,” Cara whispered.
Cara loved that she had been able to mask her scent in the water so her men wouldn’t realize that she was pregnant until she wanted them to know. It had been difficult. She had left them a note to meet her at the lake for their evening swim. She had kept herself apart from them all day. If they had been anywhere near her, they would have been able to scent her pregnancy.
She had spent most of her day with Martha Gregg and Clarice. The two women were her constant companions. Cara counted herself a lucky woman to have both kind and caring women in her life. Martha’s sons Adrian and Alexander, Clarice’s son Jace, and Cara’s own son Jackson were also good friends. Cara could tell they would form a strong pack leadership when it was their time to take over running the pack.
All three of the women loved being moms. All three of them had also hoped for more children. So far, only Cara had been lucky enough to find herself pregnant again after all these years.
She thought about the babies that she and her mates had hoped to have together and was sad that it had never really happened for them. They had always wanted to have more children. Jackson had been a gift. They loved him to death. He was a good son who had a heart of gold. He was kind and caring, supportive and loving. Jackson would have been a wonderful big brother. Cara was thrilled that he was finally going to have that chance.
Both men hugged her gently between them. They understood their woman’s fears. She had gone through a lot over the years. They knew she felt sadness and guilt that she hadn’t become pregnant again. It just made them value what they had even more. There was nothing more important to them than their mate and their son Jackson.
“I think we need to get home so we can tuck you into bed,” Walter said, slowly wading toward the shore and helping Cara to stand between them on the soft sand.
“Then can we make love?” Cara asked, her brown eyes filled with need as she stood between her two wonderful mates and allowed them to wrap her in the large towel that she had brought with her to the lake.
“Oh, honey, that’s a certainty,” Thomas promised.
Cara stood on her tiptoes to kiss each of her men, laughing as she found herself scooped up into Walter’s arms and carried the short distance to their own log home not far from Clarice’s. She said a silent prayer of thanks to the Fates for giving her such wonderful men to create such a happy life with.
“I hope you two aren’t too tired,” she teased them as they made their way up the front porch stairs. “I plan on loving you all night.”
“We plan on loving you for the rest of our lives,” Walter said gently as he carried her inside, pausing to give Thomas a chance to kiss her as he held the door open for him.
“Forever and always, Cara,” Thomas whispered against her cheek.
“Forever and always,” Cara repeated, love filling her heart as she looked at her men.
Chapter 4
“Martha, I need to give you something,” Clarice said softly as she and Cara sat at the kitchen table in their friend’s home.
Martha set aside the dish towel she was holding and waited, seeing Clarice’s eyes filling with tears. She reached out and took hold of her
friend’s hand and squeezed it gently. When Cara did the same to Clarice’s other hand, Martha felt the strength of their friendship rushing through her. It was always the same when the three of them were together.
“What’s wrong, Clarice?” Martha asked quietly, her gentle, gray eyes flashing golden as her wolf came forward to help their friend.
“I had a dream the other night,” Clarice began. “I saw that Jace and Jackson were alpha and beta of our pack. I also saw that they had found their mate.”
“Well, that’s wonderful!” Cara said, a bright smile lighting her face. “I always worry that our boys will be alone. I’m glad that they’ll find the woman who will complete their triad.”
Martha smiled. She knew of the prophecy that her mother Deana had told her of a human woman who was a teacher who would bring goodness and caring to the pack when she was mated to the alpha and beta. The prophecy also said that the alpha would be the son of Clarice and the beta would be the son of Cara. It was something that her mother had made her promise to keep to herself until Jace and Jackson had found their mate. Martha never really understood why, but she respected her mother’s request and had kept the information to herself.
Thinking about the two young men, Martha knew that Jace and Jackson would be good and caring leaders of their pack family. How could they not be? They had wonderful role models in their fathers. They also had loving and kind women in their mothers, who were the epitome of goodness and caring. Every pack member loved them dearly.
“I’m happy about that, too. Our boys need a loving mate to stand with them as they watch over our pack family,” Clarice said softly as she reached into the front pocket of her jeans and pulled out a small bundle that was wrapped in white tissue paper. She handed it to Martha and sighed softly. “I need you to keep this safe.”
“Okay. What is it?” Martha asked as she took the offered tiny bundle.
“It’s the leather ties with the omega charms that Kurt and Neil had given Shelly and Synthia. The girls gave them to me shortly after that horrible night that their fathers had been murdered to keep these for them. Their fathers had given them instructions to have me keep them safe for them.”
Shelly's Forbidden Mates [Beckett's Wolf Pack, Triad Mates 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Page 4