Davies, Corrine - Embraced by Fur [3xtasy Lake 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Corinne Davies

  She could almost make out the other side of the lake where she had gone skinny-dipping with the brothers. In the short time she had been here, it already felt like home. She had so many memories she’d created in such a short time.

  The bugs were a nuisance, but they weren’t that bad as long as she remembered to spray her ankles with bug spray. It was cold in the winter, but the pristine snow up here would be prettier than the gray grimy slush that covered the streets in the city.

  She could almost imagine curling up on the sofa to watch movies with the boys. They would build a fire, and she would get the liquor store to bring in some of their favourite wines. There wasn’t any reason why she couldn’t drive to the city for some retail therapy when she needed it. She could take care of the clinic when Brenna was needed elsewhere, and she could get a job or take some online university courses.

  A deep voice startled Carol out of her thoughts. “It makes you think of forever. Sorry, didn’t mean to frighten you.” His voice was coloured with a slightly Nordic accent when he spoke. She could almost physically feel it wash over her.

  She looked up and then kept tilting her head. Damn, he’s tall. A big man with broad shoulders and a strong jawline. Blond hair hung past his shoulders and softened his features slightly. Not enough to make him look feminine, if anything he looked more masculine.

  “How the hell did you sneak up on me like that?”

  The man tilted back his head and laughed. The booming sound echoed over the water and reinforced the Viking image that first crossed her mind when she looked at him. “I’m afraid that you were caught up in your own thoughts. I tend to stomp when I walk. Here. I brought you a coffee. Double-double right?”

  A large takeout cup was placed in front of her. She recognized The Shack’s logo on the side of it. “How did you know what I took in my coffee?”

  “Catherine told me. She asked me to bring this to you.”

  “That was very thoughtful of her.” I’ve only picked up a coffee once or twice, and she remembered what I like in it? She’d been going to the same coffee shop in the city every day for five years, and she had to tell them every day how she took her caffeine. Not for the first time this morning, she questioned if she was doing the right thing to even consider going back.

  “I saw the look on your face as I got closer. The lake has that effect on people.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Sure you do.” He leaned a hip against the rail next to her and sipped from the cup in his large hand. “I was simply passing though when I first spotted that big black puddle. I sat on a rock and thought of things I hadn’t wondered in years. Next thing I realize, five years had passed. I had a home I didn’t know I wanted, and a family I wasn’t born to. You look too close and it will make you question everything you think you know.”

  “What if you don’t know the truth or have any answers to the question?”

  “Then keep looking.”

  A hawk screeched and dove toward the lake, plucking a fish from its surface. “Oh my god. Did you see that?” She turned to the big man, but he was gone. She looked back and forth, scanning the length of the boardwalk and up the stairs behind her. He was gone. Curiouser and curiouser. But then this was Ecstasy Lake, and she was fast learning that things were much different here than anywhere else in the world.

  The words she overheard last night repeated in her thoughts all night long, and every time her heart broke again. Standing here watching the rising sun, she forced herself to consider the possibility that she’d misheard. Part of her rebelled at the idea of justifying what was said, but she had to think objectively. She should have confronted them right away instead of allowing what Kaden had said to poison her thoughts. If she did misunderstand, how did they feel when they’d discovered her gone? Worried or indifferent? Deep down she knew the answer and that she owed them an apology for running like that. She wasn’t a coward, and it was that thought that had her turning the car around at four in the morning to drive back up here. Balancing her coffee on the railing in front her, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Jaxon’s number.

  * * * *

  Jaxon couldn’t believe it when Catherine mentioned that the big man had gotten a coffee for Carol this morning.

  “You Henderson boys might have a wee bit of competition brewing,” she said with a grin. Fuck that. This wasn’t a competition. This was their mate she was talking about.

  He hurried across the street, trying not to look like he was rushing. Fucking Viking asshole—sneaking around on those silent feet of his. If Lars thought he was going to get one paw on Carol, then he was going to pull back a stump. Jaxon and his brothers had spent the night looking for her. Kaden had nearly lost his mind, convinced she’d been kidnapped and killed. When they’d found Sloan’s truck at the clinic and her car gone, it was obvious that she’d left, but why? She hadn’t returned their calls or messages, and they didn’t know what had gone wrong. When they got home, Sloan pointed out the open window. It was then that he and Kaden remembered their conversation. He couldn’t recall it verbatim but knew that enough was said that could have been taken the wrong way.

  He breathed a sigh of relief and watched Carol as she leaned against the railing. She was safe. The first thing he did was text his brothers the news. Then he took the moment to watch Carol as she leaned against the railing, sipping her coffee. She looked to be fascinated by the lake, as if beneath its watery surface lay the answers to everything. Not likely. She could easily be daydreaming of her future in the city. That was more likely. There wasn’t anything to keep her up here.

  Lars might have sniffed at her ankles but obviously scented him and his brothers all over her. He wanted to be a part of her, wanted to be in her pores as she was in theirs. Over time, their scents would fade, and she would find some safe human to warm her toes at night, but there wouldn’t be anyone else for them. The thought of taking another woman to bed made him physically ill.

  She was their True Mate, and they were going to have to let her walk away from them. They could make her stay if they tried hard enough. Keep her in a perpetual state of orgasmic bliss, fill her belly with their puppies, or kittens as the case might be, but it would only be a matter of time before resentment settled in and she hated them for it.

  Turning on his heel, Jaxon walked away from her. It felt like there was a lump the size of his fist lodged in his throat. His coffee cup landed in a nearby garbage can. His wolf howled, and he fought the urge to release the agonized call out to echo in the trees around them. Doing the right thing hurt like a motherfucker sometimes. His phone rang, and he glanced down, expecting to see his brother’s number. It took him a moment to recognize Carol’s.

  Turning around, he saw the surprise reflected in her face. Her coffee cup lay on the ground next to her, her phone still held to her ear, but it was the mix of fear and sadness on her face that got him moving. Before she could stop him, he gathered her up in his arms and held her close to him. The tightness in his shoulders from hours of fear and confusion dissipated, knowing she was safe in his arms again.

  She hadn’t said a word, but a soul-deep despair he could relate to tainted her scent. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry for leaving and not saying anything, but I can’t live like that.”

  Pain lanced through Jaxon’s chest at the idea that she didn’t want to be part of their family, but there’d been enough assumptions for one day. As much as hearing the words fall from her lips would hurt, he had to know what scared her. “Can’t live as a mate to the three of us? Can’t share our bed? What did we do wrong?”

  “It’s not the three of you. It’s the two of you. You have to accept that Kaden doesn’t want me, and I won’t be in a relationship where I’m not loved…by everyone involved.”

  Cupping her damp cheeks, he felt the tears that silently escaped. He forced her to look at him even though he knew she didn’t want to. The pain he saw reflected there echoed painfully in his chest. “Carol,
I don’t know why you ran, but if you may have heard Kaden and I talking, I promise you there’s been a misunderstanding. I love you more with every breath I take. You heard the worst part of a conversation, but it was out of context. Kaden and Sloan love you, too. I promise you that.”

  She snuffled and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her body shook as more tears soaked the front of his shirt. His phone rang incessantly, and he almost threw it into the lake.

  “You’d better answer it.”

  He pressed a kiss against her cheek, catching a salty tear that ran down it. Holding her in his arms, he spoke to each of his brothers, reassuring them that she was safe and secure. He tucked his cell into his back pocket and scooped her up into his arms.

  “Jaxon, I can walk.”

  “I know.” He carried her down the street, nodding at the grins some of the town’s early risers gave him. Funny, he never remembered Queen Street being this busy at this time of the morning, but it seemed as though a great number of the locals decided to get to town early to do their shopping today.

  Carol laid her head on his shoulder, and he felt her start to drift off. “Did you sleep at all last night?”

  “No, I drove through the night. I made it about halfway home when I decided to come back.”

  Jaxon tried very hard to ignore the impulse to give her shit for driving without sleep. She could have dozed off behind the wheel, and I might have lost her for good. “Carol, I’m going to put you to bed, and then I’m going to call River to come in and watch the clinic for you. I want you to sleep for most of the day, and then we are going to take you out tonight. The four of us will have a nice long conversation over dinner and discuss our future.”

  “Uhhmm,” she sighed in agreement and then drifted off into sleep.

  As he approached the clinic, Lars appeared from around the corner and opened the door that led to the stairway to the apartment upstairs.

  Jaxon appreciated the help but wanted to make one thing very clear. He bared his teeth at the other man in warning. “Stay away from our mate, Viking.”

  Lars gave him one of his half smiles and nodded. “Too bad you got to her first. I think I would have enjoyed claiming her.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  The moment Carol woke up in her bed, she’d received numerous texts from each brother making certain she was all right.

  What were a few mosquitoes when she had the three of them to take care of her? There wasn’t any reason she couldn’t open an animal shelter up here. In fact, she might be able to have a bigger one because there was so much more room and be able to assist a wider variety of animals. Whatever her decision, she knew that she would have the support of Jaxon, Kaden, and Sloan.

  Sloan had texted her and asked her to meet them at the clinic, using the excuse that he wanted to make certain that they talked and not simply fell into bed. They needed to discuss things before this went any further, and she agreed.

  Carol heard the door chime and pressed a hand to her throat, hoping to calm her heart, which felt like it had jumped there. Now or never. She wanted to make this night perfect and assure her guys that she would never run from them again.

  She took a deep breath and straightened the neckline to her dress before striding confidently out into the lobby. A moment of indecision crossed her mind. I hope they like how I look. She’d tried to take into consideration each of their tastes. From the plunging neckline and tight fit of the dress over her ass, down to the black patent peep-toe stilettos.

  Her hand trembled as she unlocked the office door. She looked up, and her jaw dropped. Her jerk-off ex stood in the doorway.

  “David! What are you doing here?”

  “I’m here to beg for forgiveness.” David Beuk stepped into the waiting room brandishing a stack of paperwork in front of him. “I fixed it all for you. Everything. What I did was underhanded and atrocious. Please, please take this.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” He pushed the folders into her hands and she didn’t have any choice but to accept them, or they would have landed on the floor. Flipping open the first one revealed a mass of legal gobbledygook. She saw her name mentioned a number of times as well as her shelter. Surprise washed over her. “Am I reading this right? David, what is this?”

  “Funding for everything you need. I fixed what I did, and I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I want you to come home, Carol. The townhouse is yours for as long as you want. I want to win back your love. Let me take you away from this backwoods town. The bugs are disgusting. Can you imagine the snow in the winter? You would freeze. You always complain about your feet being cold.”

  The astonishment rushing through her veins froze in that instant. She could have everything she wanted back. Her life as it had been, but what would she be giving up? She couldn’t deny the fact that she missed her shelter and the conveniences of living in a large city. But what caused her to ice over was the fact that she would have to leave the boys behind. Jaxon and Kaden wouldn’t leave their jobs. Sloan might come, but he would lose his mind being cooped up and not being able to hunt poachers in the forests. The idea of going anywhere without them made her heart ache in her chest. “I don’t want to get back together with you.”

  David dropped to his knees in front of her and grabbed her hand. “Please don’t make that decision so quickly. Give me a chance to win your love back. I can do it. I know you better than anyone in this hick town.”

  His hand felt cold wrapped around hers, and she fought the urge to pull it out of his grasp and wipe it on her hip. She was used to men who warmed her with a look and made her feel sexy as hell. David didn’t have that ability and never had. If he was serious about all this, it wasn’t fair for her to lead him on.

  In the years she’d known him, David always had a secondary motive to everything he did. There had to be something else going on here, and immediately unease tingled along her senses. “David, how did you find me?” Nobody knew she was coming up here, and the couple of friends she still had in the city never would have told him.

  “Listen, Carol, I know I did wrong, and I’m begging you for forgiveness here. I’m asking…no, begging…for another chance.”

  A sick feeling came over her at his obvious avoidance of her question. “I asked you how you found me.”

  “It wasn’t that hard. You use your debit card for everything, and I checked your account online. All your recent transactions were here in town. All I had to do was lie to the trio of old bags sitting out in the sun, and they told me exactly where you were. Come on, I know you are about to lose your mind up in this backwoods hovel.”

  Carol bristled at his nasty description of the McGuigan sisters. They were great little old ladies, and she liked their eccentric ways. “I don’t think you know me at all, David. I’m happy here. How about I give you some suggestions for where you can divert that funding to. There are lots of shelters that could do with some more help.”

  His grip tightened on her hand as he got to his feet and towered over her. “Listen, Carol, I’m being patient and understanding here. Stop with the games already. I know I hurt you by nagging at you about your weight, but I can live with that part of you. I care about your health, that’s all. I never meant to make you feel inferior, and I’m not perfect either.”

  “No, neither of us are, but I deserve better.” Carol shoved the stack of paperwork at him, and the folders slapped against his chest. “Take all your papers and leave me alone.”

  “Fine. We’ll do this the hard way.” The papers spilled from the manila folders when he grabbed her other wrist and pulled her up against his chest. A spike of fear shot through her chest when the realization of her predicament washed through her. David’s expression filled with revulsion, and he moved back to ensure some space between them. Old insecurities scratched at her newly found self-esteem. This is what her life would have turned into if she hadn’t left.

  “David, I’m warning you. Get your hands off me.”

 
; “You are going to sign something for me, and then you can sit on your fat ass in this hole-in-the-wall for eternity. I couldn’t care less.” The air around them vibrated with a low violent growl. “What the fuck!”

  David yanked her in front of him, pulling her off balance. Carol staggered, trying to retain her equilibrium, but David shoved her hard in the back. Pain radiated up her knees and hands when she hit the floor.

  A set of white paws stepped in front of her. The animal growled low in his throat and bared his teeth, but she knew it wasn’t directed at her. “A little warning would have been nice, you know.”

  The wolf snapped his jaws and growled again before jerking toward her terrified ex. Kaden stepped past her, closer to David.

  “You know this thing, Carol? Call him off.”

  “What makes you think that I have any control over a wild animal, David? I’m a stupid, fat bitch who thinks she can talk to animals. That is what you said the night you left, right?”

  “That was taken out of context. I can repeat a lot of nasty things you have said in anger.”

  David never took responsibility for his own actions and always shifted blame. Why had she ever accepted that kind of behaviour?

  “No, you couldn’t because I am not that vicious.” She brushed off her hands after getting back to her feet. Her knees were sore, but she wasn’t going to let him see that. “You’ve never told me the truth, ever. I don’t even know why I’m still here speaking to you. Good-bye, David.”

  “All right! All right!” His voice gained an octave as Kaden stalked closer to him. “So, I defrauded you out of your financial support, but there’s an investigation. I’m sorry. I’m going to jail if you don’t help me! Please, Carol. You’re an incredible, generous person. Much better than I could ever be. I know that you don’t want to see me in jail for a simple error in judgment. Please, Carol. Sign the papers and I’ll get you all your money back. I swear. You can have the townhouse. You can leave this hick town and come back to where you’re happy.”