Claimed by Her Panthers

by Hazel Gower

  Angelica let out a very unladylike snort. “When did any of this really start making sense?”

  Stephan needed to feel Angelica against him. He loved the feel of her warm body against his. Putting her down in front of the sofa Stephan yanked the shirt up over her head and let it fall to the ground. He then hooked his fingers into the waist of her tights and pushed them down and off.

  He groaned, and Owen moaned beside him. Angelica had a pink lacy bra and undies set with a black bow in the middle of the bra.

  “You like?” Her eyes shone with lust, and she had a wicked grin on her face. “I put them on earlier thinking you would be home, but the later it got, I changed and called Jenika.” She stretched and yawned. “It’s a pity you two came home so late. I’m tired now from all the unpacking and moving of furniture.”

  “Oh really.” Stephan grabbed her by the waist and threw her over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold. Angelica’s giggle turned into a squeal as he whacked her butt. “Come on, Owen. Let’s go wake our girl up.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice. Lead the way,” Owen purred out.

  Angelica laughed and smacked at his arse.

  Chapter Five

  The next few days flew by, filled with sex and lounging around talking and more sex. Angelica thought she should feel more worn out, but she felt fantastic. Her alarm had gone off ten minutes ago, and Angelica still lay in bed not wanting to move, not because she was tired, but because she was sandwiched between two muscular warm bodies.

  “Chuck a sickie,” Owen grumbled against her neck.

  “I can’t. Tomorrow is teddy bear picnic day, and I will have twenty super-excited kindergarteners. Plus this is my first year teaching. I was lucky to get a job straight out of university this close to home.”

  Angelica sighed, because thinking of lucky, she hadn’t brought up the protection talk with them. They’d been having sex with no condoms. She’d mentioned it once before, but they hadn’t really answered.

  Sitting up, not caring about her nudity, she climbed over Stephan who held her to him and got off the bed. He walked with her in his arms to the bathroom.

  “What time do you two leave for work tonight? I need to have a talk to you two when I get home.”

  Owen moaned from the bed, and Stephan grumbled, “Fuck, when a woman says that it usually doesn’t end well for the men.”

  She whacked Stephan’s chest, and he put her down. “I just want to talk about protection. We haven’t used any, and I’m not on the pill. I have an appointment for vaccinations next week. I can ask for the pill then, but what if I’m already pregnant? How does it work? Will one of you know who the father is? ‘Cos I sure as hell won’t. What will people think? Oh God, how could I have been so irresponsible? Why didn’t you two have a condom? What is wrong with me that every time you two touch me I forget to ask about protection? It doesn’t even cross my mind.”

  Angelica could feel herself starting to get worked up. What was she going to do if she was pregnant? She didn’t want one of them to get jealous. Angelica didn’t even know if she was ready for children. Last year she’d finished her university degree and gotten her dream job. She didn’t want to put that in jeopardy.

  Stephan’s arms circled around her. “Calm down, cupcake. Any child you have will be ours, no matter which of us is the father.” His hands ran soothingly over her body before resting on her stomach. “There is no need to worry. We will work this out. I for one would love to see you round with life.”

  Owen came up behind her. “Sweetheart, don’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet. We would support you and do whatever you wanted.”

  “Do you mean it? You’re not just telling me what I want to hear now so we don’t have to talk about it later?”

  Stephan let her go, and Owen held her. Stephan turned the shower taps on.

  “Even when we weren’t together like this, when did we ever avoid talking to you about anything? We sat through way too many girlie movies to keep you company and happy for you to suggest that we would avoid talking to you.” Owen leaned down and kissed her.

  She reluctantly pulled away and got in the shower, grabbed her sponge and shower gel, put some on her sponge then put it back. She lathered herself up wishing she could stay with her two men, but she had to get to work.

  Angelica paused in her lathering as what she said registered. She’d called Stephan and Owen her men. Wow. That had happened fast. Panic set in, and her mind began to spin. She needed to get away. Distance. From them, from the whole mate thing. Time to think while she could clear her head. Going to work would give her that.

  Getting out of the shower she wrapped a towel around herself and went back into the room surprised to see Stephan and Owen hadn’t gone back to bed. Drying herself she got dressed thinking when she didn’t see the boys that they must have gone to different beds to sleep. Dressed in black fitted pants and a plain blue top she went to the kitchen hoping she could find some coffee. They hadn’t been food shopping, and over the weekend they’d ordered takeout. Stephan had given her breakfast in bed yesterday, and Owen had done it the day before.

  The closer she got to the kitchen the more the smell of fresh coffee surrounded her. In the kitchen Stephan stood with his back to her, with only grey tracksuit pants on. Over the stove and across from him Owen stood in black ones watching her enter the room and filling her coffee cup.

  “I think I just walked into my fantasy. Thanks. You two didn’t have to get up for me.”

  Owen came and placed the steaming cup on the table in front of her. He then pulled her to him and brushed his lips over hers lingering for a moment or two. “We wanted to. I can only sleep in that bed if you’re with me.”

  Owen stepped away, and Stephan placed a plate with French toast in front of her. Angelica was so lucky. French toast was her favorite.

  “Eat up or you’ll be late for work. Owen and I are going to head into work. Hopefully we can get away early if we go soon.

  “Thank you so much for everything.”

  “No problem, cupcake. We want to spend time with you.”

  They both smiled and sat on either side of her. In that moment she wondered what she’d done to deserve the two of them. If they kept this up she would fall hard for them if she hadn’t already.

  ****

  Owen and Stephan had come home early this week, but not as early as they liked. The discussion on Monday had gone well. They were going to hold off on any contraception until after Angelica went to the doctor. He and Stephan had explained that they were disease free and couldn’t catch anything thanks to their Shifter genes.

  Owen had told Angelica that he was ready to start a family whenever she was. He was ready now. Stephan had agreed that he was ready and children would be nice. Angelica told them she loved children. It was one of the reasons she had chosen to be a teacher, and she couldn’t wait to start a family of her own. She didn’t want to start a family late in life like her mother did and be too old to play and do what needed to be done. Angelica was worried about losing her position though. He and Stephan had reassured her that they would support her in whatever they wanted to do.

  Tuesday Angelica had come home late and exhausted. It had been her teddy bear picnic. Parents were invited, and all sorts of food and games were offered. Angelica got home later than they had after she’d finished talking with parents and helped cleaned up.

  They’d ordered out again because they hadn’t gone and gotten food. Angelica phoned him in her lunch break today to say she was coming home to shower and change and she would go get groceries, and did he or Stephan want anything? Owen had told her he would join her.

  So Owen picked Angelica up from home, and they were now pulling up into the car park of the shops.

  “It’s good you came because I have a feeling we are going to need two trolleys.” Angelica smiled at him as he parked, and she got out.

  Owen held her hand as they walked through the entry. He let it go only to
get a trolley. “We can start off with one. Stephan said he’d meet us here in fifteen or so. He has a thing where he will only use certain brands.” Owen rolled his eyes. He’d been unfortunate enough to get a wrong item once and had his head chewed out for it. After that he’d vowed never to go shopping for Stephan again.

  “I understand. There are just some things that taste better from certain brands.”

  Owen shrugged. He really didn’t care as long as the food tasted good.

  Angelica didn’t let them start down the closest aisle. She said she had a routine, that the cold stuff and fresh fruit and salads were done last. Angelica knew what she wanted, and by the third aisle the trolley was slowly filling.

  “I don’t shop at this shop. It’s too close to my work. I love my job as a kindergarten teacher, but I don’t like my work and outside of life to mix. Your house is a lot closer to my work. I have a feeling I won’t be able to avoid it.”

  “Our house.” He corrected her. Owen wanted her know it was her house now, too.

  Angelica rolled her eyes. “Our house.” She turned from him and looked at the shelves. Angelica got vegemite, honey, strawberry jam, and cheese spread. “I can’t believe you didn’t have any vegemite. You know how much I love the stuff.”

  Owen gagged. He hated vegemite, and so did Stephan. “Yuck. I had hoped you’d grown out of the horrid stuff.”

  “Hey, the stuff is my favorite spread.” Her hip bumped his, and she waggled her eyebrows. A wicked grin spread over her face. “You know I could eat the stuff off anything. Maybe if you’d had it I could have shown you how much I liked it by licking it off…” Angelica trailed off, but her eyes focused on his the crotch of his jeans.

  The little witch, she knew what she did to him because her grin got bigger, and she winked at him turned and went to walk farther down the aisle. Owen stalked towards her as she walked away, pulled her to him, and kissed her. Angelica gasped, and he took the opportunity to slip in his tongue in. She wrapped her arms around his neck for a moment before moving her lips from his. He could feel eyes on them but ignored them.

  “Come on, we haven’t even gotten down two aisles yet, Owen. I can’t believe you kissed me like that at the supermarket. I can’t believe I let you. Come on, let’s get what we have to and go before we get kicked out for inappropriate behavior.”

  He nodded and moved her to the front of the trolley and stood behind her to hide the effect she had on him. Angelica giggled and wiggled her bum against his erection then took a step, only to freeze as a cute little boy smiled at her then came running to them.

  “Miss Deven, I’ve never seen you shop here before. My mummy and I shopped here every week because she says it has the best eyes candy. I think it has the same candy as the one my dad takes me to. I’ve never seen you in here before. Who’s the dark man holding you? I just saw him kiss you. Is he your boyfriend or husband? That’s what my mum calls my dad. She saw you come in with him and said something about you having great taste in men and she wished she got to have chocolate, too. I told her it’s in the next aisle.”

  Owen could barely hold in his laughter. His body shook trying to contain it.

  Angelica’s back straightened against him. “Hayden, what a nice surprise.” Angelica’s head turned from side to side. “Where is your mother?”

  Hayden shrugged. “She ran into her friend, and she told her about you and the man that’s behind you. I left them to come find you when they found a man they are pretending not to follow that they call a cool drink of dark chocolate.”

  Owen couldn’t hold in his chuckle. Angelica elbowed him. “Hayden, your mum will be worried. You shouldn’t run off on her.”

  Hayden bowed his head, and Angelica held out her hand and he took it. “Come on, we better find your mum.”

  The three of them walked down the aisle and along the bottom until Angelica groaned, and Owen couldn’t hold his laughter in any longer as it burst out. Before them stood Stephan reaching up to the top shelf to a jar of food, and two women stood behind him pretending not to stare at him.

  “Yeah, that’s the one,” one of the ladies said.

  Stephan got the jar and handed it to the lady. The other lady smiled, and a sigh escaped her lips.

  “I want the one three down from the one you just gave Linda, please.”

  Stephan turned and did the woman’s bidding, reaching up to get a different jar.

  “Mummy, I found Miss Deven.” Hayden ran to the woman called Linda, who turned pink as Stephan gave the other lady his jar.

  Stephan walked straight to Angelica. “Hey, cupcake, I finished earlier than I thought.”

  Owen watched as Angelica was pulled to Stephan, and she shook her head too late as his mouth came down on hers.

  “Mummy, I thought you said only boyfriends and girlfriends or daddies and mummies did that. Miss Deven kissed the other man, too. I saw it.”

  Owen groaned as the two woman gasped. Angelica pushed at Stephan, but all he did was let her mouth go and turn her around and wrapped his arms around her waist. Owen debated if he should say something or let Angelica and the boy’s mother handle this. He watched as Angelica rolled her shoulders and stood straight against Stephan.

  “Hayden, you’re right. Owen and Stephan are my boyfriends.”

  Owen wanted to say they were more than her boyfriends, but he knew now wasn’t the time.

  “It was nice to see you, Hayden, Mrs. Henderson. Have a good shop. We’d better get back to it.” Angelica moved to the trolley pushing him out of the way. Stephan followed behind her. She pushed the trolley past the gawking women. “See you at school tomorrow, Hayden.”

  When they were back to the aisle they were up to Angelica deflated. “Oh God. What am I going to do now? What if she says something to my school? What if what I’ve just stated gets me fired?”

  “Sweetheart, you can’t worry about what ifs.” Owen could smell her anxiety. He leaned over to her and brushed his lips against hers as he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “We will be here for you no matter what.”

  Angelica sighed, walking down the aisle, grabbing food quicker than before. She paused as they turned to go down a new food section. “This is all happening so fast. I wish I’d had more time.”

  Owen glanced to see Stephan’s happiness diminish a little. “I thought after how we’ve been getting along so far this week she’d know we were meant to be,” Stephan mumbled.

  Owen followed Angelica. “Me, too, Stephan.” He reached Angelica and held her to him. “This isn’t fast. We have known you all your life and have waited for you to be ready.”

  Angelica relaxed against him. “I’m sorry. Knee-jerk reaction. I know I have to stop panicking and worrying about what everybody else thinks. But I might also remind you that you have had time to deal with this, and my very career could now be on the line. One I have worked hard for. Plus, you may have known me all my life, but don’t say you’ve waited for me to be ready all that time, because you only knew I was your mate when I turned twenty-one. Now, let’s just get this shopping done, okay?” She pushed away and straightened her back, turning from them and walking away with the trolley.

  Stephan came up beside him. “I hate to say it, but she’s right.”

  “I know. We should have figured it out long before she turned twenty-one and our panthers shouted it at us.” Owen ran his fingers through his hair and watched as Angelica turned to go down another aisle. He followed and hoped that things worked out.

  Chapter Six

  Stephan had worried all day Thursday for Angelica. She’d had been so upset at the shop and thought her being with them and it being known to her students would cause trouble. She had brooded at home and had gone to bed before them. Stephan woke to find the bed already empty. Owen was in a foul mood and snapped at everyone all day. He nagged Stephan to call his parents and help smooth things over that could arise over with Angelica being with them. Stephan gave in and phoned his parents. They were friends
with the principal at the school, and she was a tiger Shifter. Stephan’s parents had put in a good word with the school board on Angelica’s behalf when she’d applied for the job. He and Owen had wanted Angelica close.

  They both left work early in the hopes to find out how Angelica’s day had gone. Stephan was eager to see if his parents had helped or made it worse. However, by the time she arrived home, it seemed all of his fears were for nothing as Angelica had come home smiling and apologized for her cranky reaction. They’d ordered takeout and watched a bunch of movies as though it were any other night, and Stephan found himself, not for the first time, wondering if anything in a mating were simple. At least things had calmed down.

  It wasn’t more than a few hours later that Stephan was cursing himself though. He just had to go and jinx them.

  The phone rang, and he got up to answer it. Seeing it was his father, he grinned. “Hey Dad, what’s up?”

  “We have a situation here, son.” Stephan groaned at the serious tone his father spoke with. “I’m afraid I need you and Owen to come to the Elders immediately.”

  “What? Why?” Even as he asked, he motioned Owen over.

  “I’ll explain when you get here. Whatever you do, though, don’t bring Angelica.”

  He knew Owen had heard his father’s words because they growled at the same time. “Is she in danger?”

  “No, son. Just get here now,” his father growled before hanging up.

  Whatever it was, Stephan knew it couldn’t be good. His father had seemed furious about something, and it had something to do with their mate. He cast a quick glance over at Angelica to see her still absorbed in the movie. A shared look with Owen, and they both moved towards the lounge trying to maintain an air of calm.

  “Hey, cupcake. There has been an emergency at work, and we have to head in. Are you going to be all right until we get back?”