"Fuck yes, Kai. It is my greatest sadness that you cannot see how glorious you look as I fill you up," Brock said in a voice so low it rumbled through Kai's body.
"Then film it next time," Kai mumbled, alternating between biting and sucking on his bottom lip. He tried to wedge his hand down his front and stroke himself but Brock brushed his hand away.
"Not yet," he admonished, sliding his length out and all the way back in again.
Kai loved being bent over for his mate. The sense of being owned, used. He was about to come from the friction of the back of the couch against his body. "You better hurry then, Brock," he managed to say between whimpers. Having Francesca in the other room was making him even more sensitive. Her scent lingered in the room and if he listened over the sounds of his own breathing, he could hear her softly snoring in the bed they would all share. His balls tightened and his vision dimmed. Brock thrusted at a brutal, frantic pace. With each impalement, their muscled bodies slammed together. "Brock, please," Kai begged. "I have to, I need—"
Brock grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled back, slamming inside him as he climaxed. The force of it was enough to push Kai over that edge. He felt the dampness of his release against his front.
"I hope we weren't too loud," Brock whispered as he helped Kai get to his feet. He cocked his head to the side and listened, grinning after a few seconds. "Still sleeping peacefully. I wonder if she knows she snores."
"Somehow, I don't think she would like being told that," Kai said wistfully. There was so much they didn't know about their mate. In fact, the only think they really knew for sure was that she was theirs. He could see the barbarism in that situation. Kai followed Brock wordlessly into the bathroom where they both showered away the proof of their lovemaking. When they came back into the living room Brock went to the kitchen, grabbed a banana for himself and an orange for Kai. They sat on the couch side by side in their boxers.
"They say that if you truly want to know an artist, you need only study their art," Kai said. He'd spent the whole shower thinking of ways to get to know his mate.
"Are you saying we should...now?"
Kai shrugged. "Unless you think you can fall asleep without knowing more." If he was anything like Kai, he didn't want to go to sleep until he knew everything.
That was how the both of them found themselves, minutes later, a tablet in Kai's lap and Brock's e-reader in his, both loaded with every book ever published by Pat Bennitz.
Every once in a while, Kai would mention something to Brock about a scene or a plot point. It was clear to Kai that Francesca had a talent for writing. She was able to paint a beautiful picture and Kai found himself actually caring about the people in her pages, rooting for them to get their happily-ever-afters.
After a particularly long silent period Brock growled and set his e-reader down. "I don't like how much she knows about shifters and sex," he said grumpily. "Makes me feel like there is a group of shifters that I am going to have to beat up."
"You can't be mad at her for having a life before you," Kai objected.
"I'm not! I'm mad at them for not knowing she was ours!"
Kai laughed. "That is asking a lot. Besides, the only thing that matters now is that she's here, with us."
"Now I just want to hold her," Brock said, mirroring Kai's feelings. Kai took a moment to wonder if their future would always be this perfect? Would they always be in perfect unison? He wanted to think yes.
They returned to their super-sized bed. Larger than a California king, it would be just big enough for the three of them to sleep snuggled against each other. As the two of them slipped under the covers, Francesca mumbled in her sleep. Kai couldn't make her words out and snuggled up behind her. She settled her ass back against his body and Kai sighed into her. Brock lay down on his side at her front and she threw one arm across his chest all while remaining deep in a sex-sated sleep. Kai fell asleep quickly with his mates' scents surrounding him.
Chapter Sixteen
Brock
When Brock opened his eyes he became aware of one very important thing. Francesca was not snuggled between them as she had been when they went to bed. Usually, he was so light of a sleeper that Kai rolling over would wake him. His sneaky mate was at the end of the bed, hunched over on the mattress, nearly successful in her attempt to escape. He watched her slow, soft movements for a moment, enjoying the contrast of her dark hair against pale skin and the curve of her ass as she put one foot down on the floor. Brock looked over to Kai and found him also awake, staring down at Francesca with a sly smile
"Morning," Brock said finally and Francesca jumped.
"Oh! Sorry! I didn't mean to wake you two," she said sounding authentically apologetic. "We had a, er, busy night and I thought you both might need more sleep. You know, the bigger they are and all that."
"Where were you going ma—Francesca?" Kai asked a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
Francesca turned her face and worried the edge of the blanket with her fingers. "You know, I don't do morning-afters." She laughed, a short burst of noise that sounded more like a cough. "I don't usually do night-befores but..."
"You don't do morning-afters?" Brock tried the sentence out, he didn't like the sound of it any more than when she said it.
"Yeah, I'm sorry I overslept. I'll just find my things and—"
They worked simultaneously leaning down to snag Francesca and pull her back, wrapping her in the sheet and settling her in the spot in the middle of the mattress. They settled her on her back and did not touch her, but both propped their elbows on the bed and balanced their heads in their hands. Francesca looked up at the ceiling with her arms crossed.
"Do you have a lot of plans today?" Kai asked first.
"No," Francesca shook her head. "Just writing, which is a safe bet as my plan any given day."
"What are you writing right now?" Brock asked.
Francesca smiled. "That is like, the best question to ever ask a writer if you want to lose hours of your life. Quick version? I'm trying to switch genres to follow the trends. Having a hard time with this historical romance, I have to stop every other word to do research, but I need to follow that money."
"Are you in some sort of debt?" Kai asked. If she was, she wouldn't be for long.
"No, not really. But I have a lot of mouths to feed at my house."
Kai straightened, his brow furrowing. "Don't they help you with expenses?"
"Of course, but I just don't want to lose my worth in the pack, ya know? I don't have a lot of other skills to offer."
"No. I don't know," Brock said, terser than he'd meant to.
"He means to say, you have plenty of skills," Kai said before Francesca could get too angry. "You also don't have to leave right away if you don't have pressing plans? We could take a shower, have some breakfast?"
That all sounded perfect to Brock, but Francesca was nibbling on her lip like they'd just asked her to go skydiving.
"Um, I thought this was just for the night," she said quietly, her voice higher in pitch.
Brock contained his growl, riled that his mate would try to leave them so quickly. Didn't she feel the same pull toward him as he did? It was always stronger at first, during the first few weeks of mating. With Kai, he hadn't been able to let him out of his sight for months, and Kai had felt the same. "Francesca, you can't tell me that last night didn't change you."
She sighed and finally looked up at them. "It was really great. But, I don't think this is a great idea. You two have each other, and while it was fun to share that experience, I wouldn't do well always being the third wheel."
What had her pack family told her about mating? "Francesca, you would never be a 'third wheel,'" Brock said, handing her her underthings and dress from the night before.
She hopped off the bed and slipped the dress on over her head. Brock thought it was cute how she kept the sheet wrapped around her as long as possible, pulling it out from under her dress at the end. She folded the sheet a
nd set it on the bed. "Are you saying you would want..." She gestured to her, them, and the space around them. "All of this on a long-term basis?"
Brock looked over to Kai who was the only one of them still seated. He didn't have the relieved expression that Brock had thought he might have now that Francesca was finally understanding them. "That is absolutely what we are saying," Brock replied.
So many emotions passed through her face. Brock saw desire and excitement, but also fear and worry. She settled on a smile that wasn't one-hundred-percent authentic, but neither was it all the way false. She slunk up to Brock and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Let's have breakfast," she said, pecking him on the lips before going into the kitchen, leaving Brock and Kai in the bedroom alone.
"What is with you, Kai? You don't look very happy about this. I'm sure she would have kissed you, too, if you had bothered to stand up."
Kai stood finally, pulling a pair of sweats over his hips; they sat low, flashing the start of his happy trail. "I'm not sure we are all on the same page."
"What do you mean? She said long-term, I think she gets it."
"So you're saying she knows we want her swollen with our child?"
"What?" Francesca shrieked from the doorway.
Brock took a step toward her, but she skittered back quickly. "He meant that you're our mate, baby, nothing weird."
"I'm your..." The color drained from her face. "You're already mated."
"We are mates, Brock and I, yes, but you are the person we need to complete us," Kai said, his hands out in front of him as if he was approaching a frightened animal. "We won't fight our beast's draw to your soul."
"That doesn't make any sense. I don't have anything to offer either of you that you don't already have," Francesca said, her nostrils flared. She kept looking at the two of them as if worried that they would suddenly pounce on her.
"Well, that isn't exactly true, neither Kai nor I can get pregnant, not with us both being alphas."
Francesca stopped looking scared. In fact, the emotion seemed to slide completely away from her eyes making her look dead inside. "I get it," she whispered. "You think I'm your third, your mate, because I can have the babies, right?" Her tone was cold, almost mocking, and it put Brock's inner lion on high alert. Something wasn't right. Francesca darted to the couch, grabbed her purse and went back to the door with a quickness that put her human genetics into question.
"Francesca, where are you going?" Brock asked calmly.
"From my point of view, it doesn't look like you want a mate. You want a surrogate."
"No."
"I'm not that person," Francesca said, emotion thick in her throat. "I can't be that person. I can't have kids. Never, not again. You're going to have to look for your third somewhere else." She opened the door. "Thanks for the lovely night," she said, sarcasm dripping from every word. She slammed the door behind her.
Both Brock and Kai could have easily gone out into the hallway and blocked her exit but Brock was stunned into stillness. Her pain had been so clear, Brock felt like he could feel it. Like it was his pain.
It wasn't until he heard her footsteps echo away into nothing did he feel able to follow her. He leapt to the door. Kai was there, stopping him.
"No," Kai said quietly, the pain that had been in Francesca's voice was mirrored in his, but to a lesser extent. He had definitely felt the same thing Brock had felt. "I think we just stepped in it. Big time."
Brock looked at his apartment door, imagining that he could see cracks from how hard Francesca had slammed it closed. "I think you're right."
Chapter Seventeen
Frannie
Frannie got onto the street before she realized one very important thing. She'd walked to the bar last night and her car was still safely in her driveway at home.
Where you should have returned to last night instead of listening to the traitor between your legs.
And, oh, how that traitor still screamed. She'd woken up with a burning desire to leap on top of whichever of the sexy sleeping men was closest and then had plans to leap on the other. It was good that she was on the street in the early morning hours, at least that was what she was going to tell herself. She shouldn't want those two men as much as she had.
Hearing what they had thought of her had helped clear some of her desire. Except, it was really just her head and maybe half her heart that was not only offended but hurt. Oh and her pride. But, the other half of her heart wanted what that traitor wanted.
Frannie's skin prickled as she ignored that shameless half of her heart and walked away from Brock and Kai's apartment building. She'd catch a bus. As soon as she found the bus stop. She'd find her way home, eventually.
She could call Finn or Felix or any number of her friends, but that meant explaining where she was coming from and why. That was something she wasn't quite ready to do. If she spoke about it now, it would come out too honest, without that layer of humor she covered over everything to lessen her pain.
Trotting down the street with wild, just-fucked hair, yesterday's makeup, and a wrinkled dress that was much too flashy for that time of morning, Frannie finally felt like that young partier that people assumed she was. The classic walk of shame. She'd written about this a few times in her books.
Now she could write about it with more clarity. There wasn't much shame. She couldn't muster any embarrassment for what she'd done with Brock and Kai physically. As angry as she was with the two of them and their half-brained ideas, everything that had occurred between them felt right, natural.
But she was sad. Talking about her inability to get pregnant reminded her of her horrible choices as a young adult and the repercussions of those actions. Frannie shook her head. Not every woman had to have kids, that wasn't what made someone a woman. If asked, Frannie would say she didn't mind not being able to get pregnant. She loved each and every one of her nieces and nephews. But with each pregnancy, there was another thin slice into her heart. She wanted a child with her crazy curls. She imagined the child that would never be, nestled in her arms with a bow in her wild hair, steel grey eyes and naturally tan skin.
Frannie shook her head and snorted, disgusted with how quickly she'd pulled Brock and Kai's features into her make-believe baby. That wasn't how procreating even worked.
There was an empty bench up ahead and Frannie sat on it. She searched through her purse for enough change to buy a bus ticket.
When her phone rang, she answered it without looking, "Hello?" she said brightly.
"Fran," a muffled voice said her name and the hairs on her arms rose as her stomach twisted.
"Wrong number," she said quickly, pressing end. She stared at the phone in her hand fighting the urge to throw it in the middle of the street. She shoved it down to the bottom of her purse instead.
She looked over her shoulder, suddenly paranoid. He wouldn't be here, he couldn't be here. She looked down the street hoping to see the huge square face of a public bus coming toward her. At this point, she would take whatever bus came, but there was nothing.
Her breath quickened as her heart began to pound. Sweat formed at her hairline. Safe and sound. Safe and sound.
She pulled out her phone again and dialed the number of the one person who would ask the least amount of questions.
"Huh?" the male voice grunted his form of hello. Frannie was sure she woke him. The last time Farley was up this early was probably back in high school, and that was more years ago for him than it was for Frannie.
"Can you steal mom's car and come get me, Farley?" Frannie said, bypassing the niceties.
"Fran? Are you okay?" he asked, a little more alert than before.
"Yeah, just I'm in an unfamiliar part of town and I don't know when the buses run, or even if they run in this area. I haven't seen one."
"Okay, okay, I'm coming. Where are you?"
Frannie looked up at the bus stop sign and read off the address. "I'm on the bench. I'll buy you breakfast, I swear."
Fa
rley hung up the phone after a grumbled, "Mmhm."
Frannie leaned against the cool plastic siding of the bench and hoped that Farley had not just lain back down and fell asleep. She had nothing to do but look around so she started making mental notes of the things that caught her eye that she could use in a future book. There was a single shoe in the gutter a few feet down the street. It looked brand new. Behind her, a door slammed, followed by silence.
Brock and Kai could afford to live wherever they wanted. She'd been inside their apartment. It lacked no necessary comfort. That they chose to live right in the thick of things spoke to their character. Frannie could appreciate that while also being a little nervous about being alone in an unfamiliar place. This neighborhood was much more urban than the one in which she lived. She'd grown used to food trucks and college kids and on this side of town it was more pawnshops and police sirens.
The hair on the back of her neck rose and goosebumps prickled all over her body. She looked over her shoulder positive now that she was being watched but saw no one, like before.
Just as she was beginning to think she should just move to a more public area and call Farley back, she saw her Mom's Oldsmobile down the street. She waved and Farley pulled up against the curb in front of her.
She opened the door quickly and locked it.
"Where are we going for breakfast?" Farley said without preamble.
Frannie smiled. He was wearing what she guessed was the exact same thing he'd worn to bed, a wrinkled T-shirt with a video game graphic on the front and basketball shorts. She peeked down to his feet and yep, white socks and sandals. At least he was predictable and not currently asking her a million questions like Finn would do, or even worse, threatening to go take care of Brock and Kai like Felix.
She reached over and scratched his messy Feller family hair. Though Farley went one step further and paired it with a beard that would look more appropriate on a lumberjack than a slightly overweight man in his thirties.
Wolf's Mate Mpreg Romance Box Set Page 74