by Cara Adams
After he was free to leave the party, he stepped into the hallway and saw Robert was standing beside her at the flower stall. Okay, Robert was ahead of him. Evidently he planned to give her flowers now. That was fair enough.
“And what colors do you like best?” Robert asked.
“Pinks, blues, purples.”
Wow. Likely Mom was correct with the purple sheets.
The flower lady put together a bouquet of flowers for Bethany and he nodded to Robert. His brother had organized that perfectly. Now she’d have them in her room tonight to think about them both.
“What did you plan to do tomorrow, Bethany? Or don’t you like to plan your activities in advance?” Edward asked her.
“I thought if I was awake in time I’d go on the eight-thirty run with the sports supervisor. It’s to be a two-mile run which should be a nice start to the day.”
“May we join you?”
“Of course. Anyone can go.”
“No. I meant may we run beside you, be your running partners,” Edward clarified.
“Of course.”
Edward couldn’t help the grin splitting his face. She was happy to see them again. That was excellent. Now, would she let them kiss her good night? That’d be the final test.
She was in cabin twenty-two. He memorized the number before gently turning her into his arms. He was very cautious, giving her every opportunity to step back from him, but she smiled and let herself be held, even snuggling against him a little bit. He held her around the waist with one arm, and tilted her chin up with his other hand. He forced himself to move slowly and gently as he pressed his lips to hers. He kept his mouth close at first, again terrified of scaring her away, but she was responding to his touch so he licked along the seam of her mouth. Instantly she opened for him and he thrust his tongue inside her mouth, tightening his arm around her waist so she could feel his aching cock against her belly, even through all their clothing.
He kept his desperate urge to fuck her on a tight rein, although he drove his tongue in and out of her mouth several times, before running it over the roof of her mouth and letting his tongue dance with hers. Reluctantly he pulled back from her, once again giving her a gentle kiss on her lips.
He stepped back and Robert came forward. Robert kissed her ear, then her eyebrow, making her giggle. Edward’s cock was aching fiercely and he knew Robert’s would be, too, but he was proud of the way his little brother gently led and teased her, before giving her what appeared to be a tongue kiss.
“Good night,” Bethany said, sounding quite breathless. She swiped her keycard over the lock of her cabin door, stepped inside, gave them a tiny wave, and shut the door. Edward widened his legs, trying to give his cock some room.
“She’s ours. She’s the one,” said Robert very softly.
“You’re damn fucking right she is. All we have to do is convince her of that.”
* * * *
Robert was up at seven the next morning, showered, dressed, and ready long before it was time to meet up for the run. His heart was pounding as hard as if he’d already run the two miles though, because he was so tense and nervous about meeting up with Bethany again. He knew, absolutely knew, she was the woman for him. Them. But what if she decided they weren’t right for her. There were so many men. Likely dozens of them were smarter, richer, and more influential than him and Edward. On a worldly scale his family was middle class. Comfortable, but by no means rich, and certainly not influential. They had a nice family home. Both he and Edward had jobs they enjoyed on acceptable salaries. Certainly he was more than prepared to work his hardest to do and be whatever she needed of him to support and care for her.
But would that be enough? He’d arrived at this event prepared to accept any woman who would agree to mate with his brother and him. But after less than a full day here, he no longer wanted any woman. He wanted Bethany. And he didn’t even know her last name. But he knew she was the right woman for him. The only woman for him.
He checked that the cabin was spotlessly tidy, then he double-checked that his board shorts were on the top of his clothing in his drawer of the cabinet, so he could change into them really quickly if she agreed to sit in the hot tub with them after their run. He was looking forward to seeing her legs in running shorts, but to see her entire body in a bikini would be even better.
It was still too early, but remembering the way people had arrived at the party last night well ahead of time, he and Edward headed to the meeting place for the run. There were actually several runs. Another one would be leaving at nine and another again at ten. Of course, people could run anytime by themselves, but the event organizers preferred people to stay in groups if they were away from the buildings. The women, in particular, had been warned not to go far without a security guard, and preferably in a group of half a dozen, just in case any wolves who hadn’t been invited tried to break in and steal them.
If anyone tried to steal Bethany, he’d kill them, no questions asked, but Robert thought the security at the Konference Kabins was very strict. He had to show photo ID for anything he did, any room he entered, and the stamp on his hand was checked as well. That was actually pretty smart because IDs could be faked. Likely a stamp could be, too, but the stamp would have to match the photo ID of the person to whom the number belonged, adding another level of difficulty to the fraud. Robert thought the women were as safe as they could be on the property. But he was also happy to run in a group, as long as the group included Bethany.
About a dozen people were waiting at the assembly point and were being checked by two security guards, who, it seemed, were planning to run with them in full uniform. He was happy enough to be wearing running shorts, a T-shirt, and athletic shoes. Running in full clothing and boots was okay, he supposed. He guessed that proved how fit they were.
Bethany wasn’t there yet, so as soon as he was passed by the security guards and logged into their machine, he stood back a ways, and watched for her. And there she came, her shoulder-length blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, and her long legs displayed by pale blue shorts and a T-shirt that even he could tell was a matched set meant to be worn together.
Two more men arrived and were logged in before the fitness leader addressed everyone. “Okay people if you can’t maintain the speed that’s not a problem, drop back and Tegan will follow us more slowly.” Tegan was the second security guard and she waved.
“Let’s go.” The leader started out at a moderate pace, heading away from the building and into the gardens. For the next eighteen or so minutes, they ran through the gardens and down toward the back of the property, then back up the middle of the land, arriving where they’d started from after almost exactly twenty minutes. At no time had they been close to the boundaries of the property and no one had come near them. Robert had stayed beside Bethany but she hadn’t wanted to talk. It seemed she was focused on her run. Well, that was fine by him. Edward had followed them, guarding her. Robert liked that Edward let him be beside her. Tomorrow they’d likely swap places. If she planned to run again.
“Would you like to come sit in a hot tub for a while now? Maybe soak out any kinks from your muscles?” he asked her.
She smiled at him and it was as if the sun had come out. Her face was bright and happy and suddenly his heart was beating twice as fast with the beauty of her. “Sure. I’ll just go shower the sweat off me, then I’ll meet you there. Shall we say in half an hour?”
“Can we walk you back to your cabin?” asked Edward.
“I was planning to jog slowly as a cooldown exercise.”
“Can we jog slowly with you back to your cabin then?” Robert teased her.
Bethany grinned at them and nodded, then began her jog. For a slow jog, it was over all too quickly for Robert, but at least she’d promised to meet them at the hot tubs. He just hoped a dozen other people weren’t sitting in them already when they arrived.
Robert and Edward showered super fast, so they could be back at the main building
before Bethany arrived. The two hot tubs were out the side of the building, but quite close to the main front entry. Even here a security guard checked them into the area immediately surrounding the hot tubs. Those scanners would show which person was where almost all day long, he realized. If they weren’t registered on the scanner, the only place left for them to be was in one of the cabins.
She was back before her half hour was up, but to Robert’s great disappointment she wasn’t wearing a bikini, or even a tankini. Her outfit was pretty, but the T-shirt top covered far too much of her skin to his mind, although the swimming shorts showed off her long legs. She stepped out of her flip-flops, dropped her towel on the bench beside the hot tub, and let him help her up the steps and into the tub with only two other people in it. The other hot tub had a noisy group of male wolves talking and laughing. This one had two other women, and Robert made sure to keep his distance from them, not wanting to upset them or Bethany. Edward settled on her other side although Robert noticed he, too, was careful not to actually touch her anywhere other than her hand or arm.
The conversation was general, and Robert was still dredging around in his brain how to make it more personal when a man joined them. He immediately spoke to Bethany. “I loved that silver gown you wore last night, Bethany, but that blue suits you very nicely, too. It brings out the color of your eyes.”
Fuck, why didn’t I compliment her? I know Mom told us to.
“Thank you, Sloan. It’s nice of you to say that.”
Sloan turned to speak to the other two women, and once again Robert tried to think of something to say. Finally he remembered what he was supposed to do in this circumstance. “We were all asked to give a trivia fact about ourselves. What was yours, Bethany?”
Sloan and the other two women stopped talking and looked at Bethany, nodding. Obviously they were all going to join in this conversation.
“Oh, I’m part panther and I grew up in the Rocky Mountains. When I was a teenager I was out running with my brother, Ben, when some hikers mistook us for mountain lions. I’ve never seen a human move so fast. They lit off down the trail at a hundred miles an hour, screaming ‘mountain lion!’ Mountain lions are way bigger than panthers. I hate to think what might have happened had they seen a real mountain lion.”
“What an exciting story. Tell us some more about the Rockies, Bethany,” said Sloan.
“It has a lot of truly spectacular scenery, but I’d rather hear everyone else’s trivia fact. What are yours?” she asked the other women.
The next half hour was entertaining, and he was beside Bethany, but it wasn’t at all what he’d planned. Sloan kept monopolizing all three women’s attention. Robert didn’t get to talk to Bethany by herself at all, and even worse, she arranged to have lunch with the other two women, Angie and Ruth, and her friend Jill, then for all four women to go together and get their nails polished at the beautician.
“Can we walk you over to the party tonight?” asked Edward.
It was just as well Edward still had his wits about him and had thought to ask her. So far this day they’d gotten nowhere in the “Getting to know Bethany” stakes.
“Okay, thank you. Seven o’clock?”
“Perfect,” said Robert.
* * * *
Bethany had a wonderful afternoon with the other women. Both her new friends were human like Jill, but they’d grown up in families with shape-shifter friends and relations. Her dress choice for the evening had been decided by the color she’d had her nails done. She’d chosen the blue nail polish simply because she liked the color, but when she looked at her dresses, one of them was going to be absolutely perfect with her nails, so that was good.
“It’s because you like that color, of course. You chose the dress because of the color, then the nail polish. Have you got sandals to match the dress to show off your painted toenails as well?” asked Jill.
“The silver ones I wore last night will have to do. I guess I’m a failure as a woman because I don’t have a closet full of shoes.”
“The good thing about shoes is that when you put on a few pounds, they still fit,” said Jill.
Then they both laughed.
At seven sharp there was a knock on the door, and Robert and Edward escorted Jill and her to the party. Bethany was surprised the women were taken through security and let in first, but as she watched the door during the evening, she noticed that must have been protocol. Always the women entered first. She had to admit the security here was very good. She felt safe and protected at all times.
The previous night there’d been a live band playing music for the dancing. This night there was a DJ with some high tech equipment. Bethany wasn’t really concerned. Her biggest decision was whether to dance mainly with Robert and Edward, who’d made it plain they wanted to date her, and whose kisses last night had burned her like fire, or whether she wanted to dance with whoever asked her again as she had the previous night.
After kissing the men it seemed she’d sort of made a commitment to them, but she didn’t really know if they were the ones she wanted. She hadn’t really taken the time to think all the issues through. They certainly treated her well, and the fact they’d passed all the registration tests was a good indicator. She’d heard how very strict the controls had been, so only wolves genuinely wanting a mate were allowed to attend. She also knew that the videos that they’d had to watch had removed men whose attitudes toward women were crude and misogynistic. But that didn’t mean any man would be right for her. She was a person in her own right, and wanted to be loved and appreciated for herself. Still, she really did like Robert and Edward, it was just that it seemed way too soon to be confining herself to two men, instead of looking around at the other one hundred ninety-eight. Although she must have danced with another twenty the previous night at a rough guess, and none attracted her as much as Robert and Edward did.
So, what would she do? If a man really attracts me, I’ll say yes, otherwise I’ll stay with Edward and Robert.
Having made the decision, she felt better. She wanted to be both fair to them, but open for herself, too. This event was supposed to be about her future. About her choosing her own future, not just sitting in her existing rut.
Well, it was hardly being stuck in a rut when she’d made her own way from Texas to Ohio then to the DADISP, but still. It was her future and she was the one who had to claim it.
She wanted to ask Jill about her evening. She hadn’t seen Jill in the ballroom when she’d left to go back to the cabin the previous night, but she hadn’t been in the cabin either, although she’d been asleep in her own bed when Bethany had gotten up to go running that morning. Tomorrow she’d make time to talk to her.
Edward led her onto the dance floor and Robert danced with Jill, and the evening had begun. Other men asked her to dance, including Sloan. Him she said no to, although with some of the others she said yes, and neither Robert nor Edward made any complaints, although they were always waiting for her at the end of each dance. But no other man enchanted her as they did. As the evening progressed, Bethany relaxed. Maybe they were the right men for her, in which case she needed to find out a whole lot more about them. Like did they have jobs, did they live in a pack, what would be expected of her if she moved in among them.
It was one thing for her to think they seemed nice. It was totally something else to be prepared to commit herself to mating with them and living with them forever.
Just before midnight Bethany decided to go home. “I’m ready to leave now,” she said, wondering if they’d walk home with her again as they had the previous night. And what would she do if they asked her for more than a kiss?
Chapter Three
Edward was not feeling at all like a Dom, an Alpha male, an older brother, or even like an adult male werewolf. He felt much more like an adolescent boy on his first date. What happened in the next few minutes had the potential to ruin or to make his entire future. And not just his future, but also that of his brother and hi
s mom as well. The weight of responsibility on him was crushing, and it didn’t matter how many times he reminded himself that they still had another four days to get it right if he fucked up this time, he knew no woman would ever be as perfect as Bethany. His heart told him that all he had was this one opportunity to make her understand how much he and Robert wanted her and how they’d promise to love, cherish, and adore her if she’d agree to be theirs.
He moved closer to her as they walked back toward her cabin, then wrapped his arm around her waist, carefully not touching her cute little ass, but keeping his hands on the neutral territory of her lower back and her side. Robert matched him on her other side, so she was tucked between them.
Damn that felt good. She fit them so perfectly, her body between theirs. It made his dick harder than a rock to think how well she’d fit them in bed as well. The bed was ready, made with the purple satin sheets. There were lube and condoms on the nightstand, along with a couple of the lavender tea candles, and more candles on the counter, and the bathroom sink. He’d scrubbed the bathroom clean himself while Robert had tidied the bedroom, then they’d asked for a pile of clean towels for tonight.
But he knew all his mom’s advice, no matter how accurate it was, could only help them so much. It was up to them—to him—to prove to Bethany that they truly would love and care for her forever. He’d come here hoping for a mate, any woman who’d accept them. To have found the woman of his dreams was a miracle. Now he was begging for the other half of the miracle, that she would agree to mate with them.
He was painfully aware his heart and Robert’s were not such a big deal compared to what some of the other men had to offer. He’d seen the son of the Supreme Alpha of North America here. He’d made damn sure not to get in his way, too. But a man like that could lay half the world at the feet of the woman he wanted. He knew two other men had been given their pack’s credit card and told to buy whatever they needed to secure a promise from a woman that she’d keep having babies until there were two girls born into her new pack. He had to give that pack credit for its long-term planning. Of course, there was always the chance her first two babies would both be girls, but that wasn’t the way pack genetics had been running lately, and any woman agreeing to that deal had to be prepared to have a big family. But for unlimited spending money, it wasn’t such a bad life. The care and devotion of an entire pack and the freedom to buy whatever she wanted. For a woman who loved children it might be an extremely appealing option.