by Avery Gale
When he’d finally regained his voice and could actually hear again once the blood stopped pounding in his ears, he leaned down and kissed her ear. “Baby, are you okay? I didn’t hurt you did I?”
Hearing her sniffed, “No, I’m fine” almost stopped his heart. He quickly rolled her so he could see the tears rolling over her perfect cheekbones. He knew she would see the alarm in his eyes, but he didn’t care. If he’d hurt her, he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to forgive himself. She must have sensed how frantic he was because she raised her delicate fingers and ran them gently down the side of his face. “I don’t know why I’m crying, it was just so…intense that it touched a place so deep in my soul…a place I didn’t even know existed. And…well, it was a bit overwhelming.”
Trev pulled her into his arms and just held her against his chest, saying a silent prayer of thanks to the keeper of the stars for sending her into their path. He and Jameson had waited so long for her and now that he held her, he wasn’t sure he’d ever sleep again unless she was nestled safely between him and his brother.
There was no doubt that Jameson had felt the pressure of finding their mate even more than Trevlon had. Mating was expected of every member of the pack, but the mating of the pack Alpha was always highly anticipated. Because of their longer than usual lifespans and the fact that matings were for life combined to mean that these events didn’t happen that often, so theirs was sure to garner a lot of attention.
“Baby, emotion isn’t something we ever want you to hide from us. And what we all just experienced was very powerful so we aren’t surprised or alarmed by your tears. Please don’t try to hold that back from us because holding back feelings of any type is a slippery slope that can only lead to feelings of disconnection.” Looking deeply into her eyes, Trev watched as a spark of realization seemed to ignite. That’s right, sweetheart, you belong to us and that means we want each and every piece that makes you who you are. There can be no secrets.
When she finally nodded in understanding, he stood, scooped her into his arms, and made his way into the bath. Jameson had already added bath salts that would hopefully soothe the muscles he was sure would be aching by morning without some tender aftercare on their part. Lifting her over the edge of the bubbling tub, Trev set her on Jameson’s lap before climbing in himself. Trev leaned back and watched as Kit curled into his twin’s chest just like the kitten Jameson called her.
‘She is so beautiful and so deeply submissive, whether she admits it or not. Did you see the way she was arching into my hand?’ Trev noticed their mind link was growing stronger each time they fucked Kit and wondered again at the deepening of the connection. He had been under the impression their link would strengthen after mating, so now he had to wonder just how much stronger it might get.
Jameson answered, but never took his eyes off the woman sated and now sleeping in his arms. ‘I can’t wait to show her everything—the strength of our bond surprises me since we have only had her in our lives a few hours. And my desire to fuck her again grows by the minute even though I can see she is utterly exhausted. I can hardly wait for her to meet the other women and to find out how strong matings are. I want her to fully understand the depth of the relationships between mates, and how honored and cherished she’ll always be. We have to make this work, I won’t ever be able to let her go.’
The look in Jameson’s eyes when he lifted his gaze to meet his own was something between fierce protector and lovesick romantic. And just for a heartbeat, Trev saw vulnerability in Jameson’s eyes that he hadn’t seen since the night their parents had died. Sighing to himself, Trev just moved his eyes back down in a soft caress over Kit. “Come on, let’s get her dried and into bed. She is so tired and we need to have her sleeping between us if we’re going to follow our own rules and begin as we intend to go.”
After they’d dried their very sleepy mate and settled her between them, Trev pulled her close and kissed her forehead before settling her against his chest. When Jameson crawled in on her other side, he growled, “Keep her between us, brother. I am not sleeping up against your hairy ass. Fuck, I’ll probably have nightmares just thinking about it. And you can hold her for a while, but then send her my way.”
Trev tried to unsuccessfully to hold in his snort of laughter when their very sleepy bed partner spoke up, “I’m not a toy you boys can fight over, you know. But I will admit it feels mighty fine being held by you both. But don’t start thinking I’m just going to roll over and spread my legs for you anytime you demand it…although the idea does hold more appeal than I thought it might. Boy oh boy, sure hope my parents don’t get wind of this…”
Smiling over at Jameson, Trev watched as his brother leaned over and gently bit down on the top of Kit’s shoulder. “Why is that, kitten?” They both knew she had been talking in her sleep and likely hadn’t intended to give away quite so much information.
Kit’s soft sigh against his chest went straight to his cock. Trying to hold his libido in check, Trev held perfectly still waiting for her to answer Jameson’s question. “Oh, you know, they have been pushing for me to find my mates for so long. And Granny Good Witch will probably tell them, hell that crazy geriatric commando knows everything.” She burrowed closer and then took a deep breath in through her nose, “Oh, Trev, you smell so good. I can tell you apart by smell alone. Jameson smells good too, but more like the woods after a spring rain. But you smell like a warm day at the beach. Remember, don’t tell Richard or Carla. I’m so tired…going to sleep a bit now.”
Trev was thrilled to have found out her parent’s names, he smiled as Jameson slipped quietly out of the bed. Knowing her parents would be in favor of their mating would be to their advantage, because despite what the tiny beauty in his arms wanted them to think, it was obvious she valued her parents’ opinion. Rest, my sweet baby, you are safe in my arms forever.
Chapter Ten
Jameson was already dialing before he had even gotten the door of the bedroom closed. He knew Kit hadn’t meant to disclose so much information, but keeping her was much more important at this point than playing fair. Letting her go was just not an option and if it took recruiting the help of her parents, then that was exactly what they’d do. Besides, he was more than a little anxious to speak with Carla Harris anyway. The thought that Kit’s mother was the witch who had fought so bravely trying to defend his and Trev’s parents just wouldn’t leave the back of his mind.
Tristan answered on the first ring and Jameson could tell by the noises he heard in the background he’d caught their Chief of Staff before he’d left his office which meant Angie must be working late at the hospital. After he’d given Tristan all of the information, he asked, “Did Angie get called in?”
“Yes. Sounds like there was a big blow-up downtown—near the club actually—when they called her in they gave her the impression the circumstances of the explosion were suspicious. Hell if you ask me, if you have an explosion in downtown New York City it’s a given that it’s suspicious. Wait, hang on a minute. Let me cross-check something.” Jameson waited several long minutes before hearing Tristan’s soft curses. “Hey, man, we may have a big problem. Seems that explosion was in a rather spacious apartment rented by your woman. And yes I know her name isn’t all that unusual so I ran it through and got everything—it’s your girl alright. There isn’t anything left by the way and the young boy that was injured lived across the hall and happened to be opening the door into the hall when her apartment went up like some kind of Fourth of July spectacular.”
Jameson heard his friend shifting and then his whole demeanor seemed to have changed, “Hey, I’m sorry, that was really insensitive of me. And when you tell Kit, please tell her the boy is going to be okay according to Angie. I just sent her a message asking because I thought Kit might wonder about him. Ang says the parents have been worried about Kit. I hope you don’t mind, but I asked Angie to discreetly tell them that she is safe. It doesn’t sound like they need any additional worries.”
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br /> “No, that’s fine. Fuck, if they are worried about Kit that means she is going to know them and feel awful for the child. Any idea what happened in her apartment? Gas explosion?” The hair on the back of Jameson’s neck was standing up and he was relieved that Libby and Charlie had arrived safely at the estate over an hour ago. He was hoping his sixth sense was off center this time, but somehow he didn’t think that was the case.
“I can’t get anything yet, but we’ve got people on the inside so I’ll work on it. Get some rest, boss, and maybe you can hold off talking to Kit about this until tomorrow since I doubt you’ll have the television on much up there.” Jameson could hear the laughter in his friend’s tone and knew he was trying to lighten his mood.
“I’ll set my phone to silent, so text me if you get anything. And let’s kick up the perimeter security until we get something that tells us this wasn’t directed at Kit specifically. I have to tell you, I don’t have a good feeling about this. If you need me quickly, send up someone discreetly.” After saying their goodbyes, Jameson headed back upstairs. When he opened the bedroom door, he found the two most important people in the world sleeping peacefully wrapped in each other’s arms. Standing alongside the bed he watched as their bodies seemed to have aligned themselves to the same heartbeat and Jameson felt a level of contentment he hadn’t known since long before he’d lost his parents. Climbing in behind Kit, he was surprised when she turned toward him and opened her sleepy eyes. He could see she was having trouble focusing and he leaned forward and placed kisses on both of her eyelids, “Go back to sleep, kitten.”
Her light, airy voice didn’t sound anything like the woman who had, just a short time ago, been filled with frustration and fire. “I was starting to worry about you. Is everything alright?” Jameson tried to relax his body against hers, hoping she would let it go and fall back to sleep. Instead, she seemed to come more fully awake and pulled back until she was able to meet his gaze. “Jameson?”
That one word question let him know he only had two options. He could tell her what he knew she would much rather hear or he could tell her the truth. And as much as he knew he should tell her exactly what he’d learned, there was still a part of him that wanted to protect her from anything that would hurt her. He wasn’t fool enough to fall for the hard-ass attitude she’d tried to pass off a couple of times since they’d met her. No, he knew there was a very fragile woman beneath the “bad-girl persona” and flip attitude. And he hated the fact he was going to send an arrow straight into her heart. Fucking hell, not the way I wanted this night to end.
Jameson sat on the bed and leaned his back against the headboard, “Come here.” He was pleased when she immediately crawled into his lap and let him spend a few moments just finger combing her hair. The move was probably more about soothing his own soul than hers, but so be it. When he looked down he saw Trev’s eyes were on him and his twin knew there was something wrong, but he was waiting patiently for the information.
“First of all, can you tell me what your relationship is with the family that lived across the hall from you?” The minute the words left his mouth, Jameson realized his mistake, but it was too late to correct the error.
“Lived? As in past tense? What does that mean?” And just as expected she hadn’t missed his slip of the tongue and was now fully alert. Gone was the sexy sleepy goddess he’d come back into the room to find resting so beautifully in his brother’s loving embrace. In her place was a wide-eyed, very worried woman who obviously had at least a passing friendship with a child who was lying in a hospital injured because he’d had the misfortune to open his front door at the wrong moment.
“There was an explosion in your building tonight, kitten. Well, more specifically, there was an explosion in your apartment. The young boy that lives across the hall from you was injured when he opened his front door just before the blast.” He saw her eyes go wide in alarm a split second before they filled with heartbreak and tears. “Kitten, he is going to be okay. One of our pack members is a pediatric surgeon and she was called in tonight to treat him. And while I don’t know the specifics of his injuries, I did speak with Tristan a few minutes ago and he had contacted Angie and she assured him that he is going to be fine.” He could tell by her expression she was having trouble figuring out exactly who was who in the zoo and since they hadn’t introduced her to Tristan on the way in, he wasn’t even sure where to start.
“I’m so confused and but all I can think about is little Dusty. Are you sure he is going to be alright? I’m not usually a big hit with kids, but he has stolen my heart because for some reason he seems to really like me. Thinking he’s been hurt because of a problem in my home is almost too much to take in.” Christ, Jameson hadn’t wanted to do this and the sad expression in her eyes was going to haunt him for years.
“The family was concerned about you and I gave Tristan permission to let the family know that you are safe here—none of us felt they needed anything else to worry about—I hope that is alright with you.” He had been sure it would be fine and her quick nod was confirmation.
“Now that you know your pint-sized friend is going to be fine, I want to ask you, do you have any idea who might want to destroy your apartment or hurt you?” He saw the confusion in her expression and watched as it changed to a slow realization.
“Is there anything left in my apartment? Was that where the blast originated? Oh my God, no one thinks I did anything to cause that do they?” The panic in her voice was starting to concern him, but her hyperventilating needed to be addressed first.
Trev got up, sat next to him, and pulled Kit’s legs over his lap. Leaning forward he pulled her chin up, capturing it between his fingers so she was looking into his eyes. “Breathe with me, baby. In nice and slow and out just as calmly. Good girl, again.” Jameson watched as Trev worked to bring Kit’s breathing under control. When she finally seemed to be back on an even keel, Trev leaned forward and kissed her on the end of her nose. “Such a good girl. Now, let’s get the rest of this story, okay?”
She slowly nodded and brought her attention back to Jameson. “No, I really don’t know why anyone would want to hurt me. It’s not as if I’m anyone special or anything. I’ve lived there for quite a while and have never had any problems with anyone. As you can imagine, I try to fly under people’s radar for the most part because I don’t want to draw any unwanted attention. The family across the hall are the only people besides Libby…Oh my God…is Libby alright? Please tell me she and your friend, Charlie, weren’t in my apartment when this happened.”
“They are fine, kitten. They had already left when this happened. I’m sure if they had seen anything unusual, they would have alerted someone. We’ll check with them in the morning. Please continue with what you were saying.” Jameson hadn’t been surprised when she finally remembered he’d sent someone to her apartment to get things she might need.
“Thank heaven. Okay, I just wanted to say the family across the hall and Libby are the only outside visitors I’ve ever had. My parents and grandmother have been there, but that is all. And while my mother and grandmother do leave ‘trace magic’ behind, someone would have to be magical themselves to pick it up or at least to identify it.” Jameson was glad to see Kit seemed to have snapped back to herself and she was obviously giving his questions and concerns a lot of thoughtful consideration. “I don’t remember seeing anyone out of the ordinary around recently and my family hasn’t been to visit in quite some time. I do know the building security finally did notice that each time my mom came around their electronics systems went on the fritz but most of that is her playing with them.”
She must have noticed he and Trev’s confused looks because she added, “My mom is a very…very beautiful woman, but she is also insanely peculiar about having her photograph taken, so…she tends to muck up surveillance equipment purposefully so there are no pictures of her floating about.” Kit seemed to shrug it off, but Jameson went instantly on alert.
‘I a
gree, brother, Kit’s mom doesn’t want her face out in cyber-space for reasons other than simple vanity.’ Trev’s voice had just spoken what Jameson had been thinking himself. But the real question was why. Unless she was a much more powerful force than they were being led to believe, because even though Kit had said her mother and grandmother were a part of a powerful coven she hadn’t referred to them specifically as powerful. And since Jameson hadn’t detected any deception in Kit’s voice when she’d spoken about the two of them, he was fairly certain Carla Harris’s daughter probably didn’t know all that much about her mother’s or her grandmother’s activities or their spheres of influence.
Hugging her tightly against him, he asked, “Do you think maybe you could manage to get a bit of sleep, sweetheart? We want to be able to introduce you to our friends tomorrow, they’ll be dying to meet you and we know you’ve had a really big day.”
At her slow nod, they slid down and positioned her between them. Jameson was surprised to see her eyes slide closed almost immediately and her breathing even out as she fell into a deep sleep. Trev’s words echoed his own concern, “I’m worried about her safety. There is just this niggling feeling in the back of my mind that says she was the target tonight. What I can’t figure out is why would anyone want to hurt her? And the significance of it occurring the first night we meet her has me wondering if someone isn’t trying to keep us apart.”
Jameson had just started considering the same possibility and there wasn’t any way to paint it that was good. “I’ve already asked that our perimeter patrols be stepped up and we’ll need to review our electronics as well. I agree with you, someone knows a lot more about our mate than we know and that just plain pisses me off.”
Chapter Eleven