by R. A. Boyd
“It’s a protection ward,” Damon said, smiling at her. “We don’t want to be bothered. The other shifter communities know we’re here, but we like to be left alone. That right there is where we live.”
Damon pointed to a three-story brick house with a long porch that took up the entire front. Two brick columns seemed to hold up the porch roof. A Christmas wreath adorned the large, dark wood door, and big red bows sat in each window.
Cass’s insides bubbled with joy. She was happy to see where her two men lived and wondered how she’d fit in. Did she want to give up her home and live here with them? Damon had mentioned it earlier, but they hadn’t discussed it. Working from home had its perks so she didn’t have to worry about the commute to get back and forth to town. It really wasn’t that far of a drive, but she’d had the luxury of being able to walk to where ever she needed if she had to.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.
By the time they’d pulled to a stop in front of the house, Cass was already taking off her seatbelt. She wanted to see how Damon and Jax lived. She wanted to be in their space. She couldn’t take her eyes off of their house.
Jax parked the truck in the driveway and she pushed at him to let her out of the vehicle. When he finally got out and helped her get down, she looked in wonder at their community. Her boots crunched on the salted driveway as she walked ahead of them to the door.
A loud whistle sounded off. She turned around to see Jax with his fingers to his mouth. “Meeting in two hours,” he said, not really yelling but loud enough she bet all the shifters here could hear him.
As she went to look back at their house goosebumps sprang up and down her neck and her arms. She rubbed herself, thinking that she should zip her coat back up to her neck, but when she turned to face the house two doors down she saw a man looking at her through the window. It wasn’t a friendly look, and Cass had to stop herself from taking a step back.
The man in the window was tanned, and from what she could see had red hair that could have been shaved on the sides but was longer on the top. It fell in one of his eyes. She couldn’t make out the color.
Cass shivered again and stared at him, wondering why he was looking at her like he freaking hated her guts. Maybe he does, she thought. She, a human, was coming here and shaking everything up for them. From what Damon and Jax said some were happy for them. Apparently, this man in the window was the one who was not.
Her breaths were starting to come in pants now, and she could feel her heart banging against her chest. Where most of her body was cold, her ears and cheeks were singed with heat, blood rushing to those spots in worry and concern. She wasn’t afraid. No. She knew her men would protect her at all costs, but she didn’t think that the shifters would hate her on sight. They were angels. Weren’t angels supposed to be loving and nice?
“You must never be intimidated by any of them,” Jax said, whispering in her ear and not even looking at the man. “You are part of the Triad and will be like their Alpha and Omega all rolled into one.”
Did he not want anyone to know she was scared? They would smell it on her as soon as they got close enough to shake her hand.
Cass mustered up all her strength and steeled her face. She fixed her stance, smiled at the man, and gave him the finger. Then she turned on her heels and walked up the five steps that lead to the front door of Damon and Jax’s house like she owned it.
“Good girl,” Damon said. His laugh cracked through the silence, and then he followed her into the house.
Jax walked toward the guy’s house who had been giving Cass the stank-eye. She’d love to hear that conversation. Instead, she reached for the doorknob and let herself in. For a moment, she wondered why they would leave their door unlocked but then she remembered that this was a community full of ghost shifters. God help the person who even managed to make their way into the community, who decided to break into one of these houses. The residents may not be able to shift but Cass knew they could cause some real damage.
Cass walked through the door and took a deep breath. The scent of pine, cinnamon, Jax, and Damon took over her senses.
“Wow,” she said in a hushed tone, looking around their gray and white living room. “It’s so…neat.”
The walls of the foyer and living room were gray with white wainscot paneling in the middle. She looked to her left and wanted to jump inside of the huge silver, L-shaped couch with gold and white pillows littering it. It looked soft and inviting. The huge television mounted on the wall in front of it made her think of evenings sitting with Jax and Damon watching all of their favorite shows and eating popcorn.
Vases and paintings decorated the room. If you looked close enough it was almost as if the pieces gave their history. A vase that looked as if it should have sat in a room in ancient Greece decorated with two warriors standing next to the face of a pale man with a high, pointed nose and sharp chin. What looked like an old scroll, papyrus maybe, was housed inside of a glass frame. Beasts turning into naked, winged men surrounded by other beasts that bowed before them was the main focus of the picture. Looks like someone knew what ghost shifters were back then.
Damon reached around to the front of her and unzipped her coat. He opened a closet door next to her and hung her coat, as well as his, inside. “Take a look around. You can go anywhere you want in here. Last two rooms on the left on the second floor are a surprise. Save those for last. I’ll be in the kitchen making a few calls.” He kissed the back of her neck and whispered in her ear, “Yes. That is from ancient Kemet, and they knew exactly what we were.”
He walked off toward the kitchen, and she followed him. Cass had about a million questions she wanted to ask. Did he know how the pyramids were built? How long did it take? Was there another group of Ghost shifters just like them somewhere else? As she walked through the swinging door behind Damon into the kitchen, all of her questions seemed to fly away.
“Wow,” she said, walking quickly toward the refrigerator. “It’s a glass refrigerator! I’ve always wanted one.” She splayed her hands toward it, and then turned to Damon. “Look at it!” She snatched it open and pulled out a bottle of water.
He shrugged, pulled his phone from his pocket, and started dialing. “You’ve always wanted one. Now you’ve got one. Teague,” he said, his attention now to his phone. “Your shift ends in the morning, yeah?”
Cass left the kitchen and took off her boots. She wanted to feel the plush carpet and hardwood floors beneath her socked feet. She walked around the downstairs area, touching cushions and pieces of art or furniture as she went. She felt like a kid in a grown-up candy store.
The dining room had a table that could seat at least ten people, and there was a half bathroom near the front door that she hadn’t noticed when she first came in. Cass made her way up the stairs, and like a child, she counted as she went. Twelve. Twelve steps until she reached a platform. Damon said that she should check out the last two rooms on this floor last, so she made a sharp turn and went up to the third floor.
When she reached the top of the stairs she was faced with a stained glass window. Yellows, and reds, and blues danced together to make a picture of clouds and a setting sun, and it cast a beautifully colorful shadow in the space around it. She had two options: go right or go left. She went left and the scent of Damon intensified.
“This must be Damon’s space,” she said to herself. Most of the hallway was gray and white, just like downstairs, but as she reached the far end of the corridor the colors began to change. Soft blue and cream.
It reminded her of Damon’s cool demeanor. He was calming and made her feel comforted.
The bedroom door was open. A large, dark, oak bed seemed to erupt from the wall. It was peaceful in here. Cass ran and jumped onto his bed, and once she stopped giggling she grabbed one of the pillows and pulled it to her face. It smelled just like Damon. Warm, comforting, spicy. A bookshelf sat across from the bed, every shelf filled with books. Old books, new books, audiobooks. A d
esk was in the corner, but she didn’t want to go look at it. He probably kept his personal business there, and no matter how open to her they were she didn’t want to go snooping.
After going through his bathroom to find out his favorite soap, deodorant, and lotions, she made her way to the opposite side of the third floor. It changed from Damon’s blue and cream, to the neutral gray and white, and then shifted to a maroon and gold pattern. This was Jax’s space.
Where Damon had books, Jax had albums and CDs. His bed was just as big, and the room was almost a mirror image of Damon’s, but Jax’s felt more wild, just like him. It wasn’t messy, but it wasn’t as neat as Damon’s room and the rest of the house. She fingered through his music and made a mental note to ask him to make a playlist for her. After rummaging through his bed and bathroom, she headed back down to the second floor to see the other rooms.
She could hear Damon on the phone downstairs telling the other clan members that they were having a meeting later that evening. Cass walked from room to room, trying her best to save the two rooms that Damon spoke of for last. She found a gym room with weights and other gym-type things, an extra bedroom, a small kitchenette area, and another bathroom.
Cass paused in front of the first door at the end of the hallway on the left and smiled. This room, and the one a little ways down from it, had a folded note on the door. As if she were being let in on a big secret, Cass plucked the note and opened it. It simply said, For Cass. She opened the door and her breath hitched in her throat. Save for piece of paper on the floor with writing on it, the room was empty. It was large and white and empty. A bay window took up most of the wall across from her, and through it she could see a line of trees covered in snow. Behind the trees, she could make out rolling hills.
She walked over to the paper on the floor and read it. Design me any way you want. Cass looked up again at the room and squealed. This was her space. Hers alone. She jumped up and ran to the other room, grabbing the note from the door as she went. It also had her name on it. This room was a bit smaller, but still large compared to the rooms in her house. A desk with a computer sat in the corner. She walked over to it and shook her head. They’d set this up for her. If she chose to live here she could make these rooms whatever she wanted. One was her place to do whatever she wanted, and the other was for work.
Did she want to move in with them? Hell yeah, she did. Part of her wanted to revolt and say that she was independent and didn’t need their help, but deep inside she knew the truth. They weren’t trying to take her independence away from her. They wanted her to be part of them. Part of their clan. She would be the third in their Triad. She wouldn’t be some kept woman. She would be their equal.
As Cass walked back down to the first floor, she saw Damon standing next to the couch massaging the bridge of his nose. His large arm flexed through is beige long-sleeved, thermal shirt and his eyes were closed. He was tense.
She walked behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
He took a deep breath and covered her hands with his. “Surrounding packs know we’ve found you and are getting worried. They’ve always been antsy about us, not knowing exactly what to make of us. But they’ve been okay as long as we’ve been incomplete.”
“But you finally finding your mate makes them worry that you’re what? Going to take over? I can understand the ghost shifters being worried, but them? It doesn’t make sense to me.”
Damon pulled her around until he was looking down into her face. He ran his hands up her shoulders and rested his palms on her neck, his thumbs massaging the soft skin along her jaw. “People, shifters or not, are always scared of what they don’t know and can’t control. They’ve known that we’ve been stuck in this form since anyone can remember, but if we can change… They’re worried we’ll be some type of angel-shifter hybrid. We already know that’s not going to happen.”
Cass smiled up into his hazel eyes and hugged him tighter. “And they don’t either. But they can’t stop it. What do they think is going to happen? I’m going to run away from you?”
He gritted his teeth and swallowed hard, and she saw something in his eyes that he wasn’t sharing with her. He was afraid. For her? For their clan? The tension in his body seemed to intensify by three-hundred-thousand, but Cass did all she could to calm herself. Maybe she could calm him down, too? For so long he’d been the one to carry the burden of their group. Maybe part of Cass’s job here was to make things easier for him.
“I’m here,” she said, looking up at him, trying to be the one he could lean on. “You can talk to me. I’ll listen. Or we can be quiet. It’s up to you. I’m not going anywhere.”
Balancing herself against his hard, warm chest she stood on her tiptoes and kissed his chin.
He watched her for a moment as if trying to figure her out, and Cass did everything she could to let him know she was there. If he could sense her emotions she was going to make sure he felt nothing but happiness and peace.
Damon leaned down and rubbed his nose against hers, and then he ghosted his lips across hers. He used his thumbs to angle her head higher and licked at the seam of her mouth. “Open.”
She smiled and opened for him, and basked in the feel of his tongue exploring every inch of her mouth, taking over her will. Cass pressed back into his kiss, moving her body against his in slow undulations. He didn’t need to say the words to let Cass know that he needed her right now. She could feel the thickness and length of him through his pants. He’d been there for her last night to make her forget for a brief moment all the pain and confusion she was feeling, and right now she was going to return the favor.
Cass ran her hands up his strong thighs and up under his shirt. She let her nails scrape across the flesh of his stomach and laughed as a low purr emanated from his chest and vibrated against her lips. She kept moving her hands up until both of his arms were over his head and she was pulling his shirt off.
“I would do anything for you,” he said. He hooked his fingers under her sweater and undershirt and pulled them off.
She nodded as she unbuttoned her jeans and pulled them off along with her panties and socks. With as much grace as she could muster, Cass dropped down to her knees and unbuttoned his pants. Butterflies fluttered around her stomach as she pulled his pants down just enough to free his cock.
This’ll be like trying to choke down four hot dogs at once, she thought to herself, and then giggled like a lunatic at the visual. She licked her lips and then looked up at him, and then back to his cock. The head was swollen and shaped like a mushroom. A drop of moisture sat on the head. She took her thumb and rubbed the silken bead into the tip, tracing the veins with her eyes. He wasn’t as big as Jax, but he was still big. Bigger than the other men that she’d been with. She grinned at the thought of taking his heavy, corded cock into her mouth, and licked her lips again to make them ready to receive his wide girth. Cass looked up at Damon and smiled.
Damon furrowed his brow and ran his thumb along her chin. “I hope that’s a happy giggle. Fuck,” he drawled as she sucked his length into her mouth.
She moaned and took as much of him into her mouth as she could, the feel of him hitting the back of her throat sending electric pulses to her core. When she pulled away from him, she suctioned her mouth and let go of him with a loud pop.
Slowly, Damon thrust in and out of her mouth. He seemed as if he didn’t want to go too deep and make her uncomfortable. Cass took one hand and grabbed him by his ass, pulling him closer to her, bringing his cock deeper into her throat. When she felt his large tip go as far as it possibly could, she tried to swallow his length but gagged instead. He was big.
He reached down and massaged her cheeks and around the perimeter of her lips. His butterfly touches sent warmth through her and she fought the urge to reach down and touch herself. Right now was for Damon. She relaxed her throat and was able to take him deeper into her mouth.
“Fuck, Baby,” he said, his voice a
low, guttural growl. “Do that again.”
As he grabbed a handful of her hair and guided his hard length deeper into her mouth, she swallowed again and was able to get more of him down her throat. He pulled back and made shallow thrusts into her mouth.
“If you keep doing that I’m going to come in that beautiful mouth of yours.” Damon looked down at her with adoration.
She hummed and thought that making him come from her mouth alone wouldn’t be such a bad thing. She rubbed the base of the head of his cock with her tongue and began to jerk his hard length with one hand and gently rub his balls with the other. Her jaw began to burn from how wide he was, but she didn’t care. Cass wanted to make him forget that he was worried about anything.
As his movements became erratic, he pulled himself completely out of her mouth, reached down, and pulled her up by her underarms. “I going to come in that pretty pussy of yours,” he said. He leaned down and thrust his tongue into her mouth, moving it in an in and out motion as if were fucking her mouth with his.
She watched as he took his hand and stroked himself, coating the length of his cock with her saliva. It was one of the hottest things she’d ever seen. Yeah, she’d watched porn before but it was nothing compared to this beautiful man in front of her, cock long and proud and ready to take her.
“Turn around and bend over,” he said, still working himself.
Cass climbed forward on to the couch. She turned around so that her back was to him. She put her elbows on the back of the couch and pushed her ass toward him. She was so wet she could feel the moisture from her core saturating her sensitive folds.
With gentle care, Damon ran his fingers from the top of her neck to the base of her spine, and goosebumps erupted along the heated path of his touch. He bent down to bite first her left ass cheek and then her right. She squealed and shook her ass at him as if begging him to take her.
“You want my cock in that beautiful pussy of yours?” he asked, leaving a trail of kisses up her back. He used his dick to tease the entrance of her wet heat.