Reynolds Pack (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Becca Van

  “Already said. You me and me you.”

  Mel’s hands flopped to her sides, and she stared at the wolf. When she blinked, the animal began backing away until all she could see were the two glowing eyes. The eyes eventually moved far enough away that they coalesced into one shiny spot, and then they disappeared from sight.

  And then she felt as if she were floating again. She could hear voices from far away calling her, and no matter how hard she tried to get to them, she was just too tired. Exhaustion weighed her down, and she finally gave in to the struggle of consciousness and slept.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Johnny, Kris, and Jules kept vigil by Melanie’s bedside for five long days. They had moved her from the main house back to their own when they knew it was safe to move her and wouldn't cause her to bleed out anymore. Pack members dropped in regularly, including their Alphas and Beta, but Mel still hadn’t awakened.

  Johnny slept at the foot of the bed in wolf form, still not able to face his brothers or look upon his sleeping mate’s face as a man. Even though Jay was a doctor and had checked Mel over saying she was healing and would be fine, Johnny had still had reservations and Blue had called in a favour from one to the smaller packs south of Broken Hill, and his mate had been checked over by another doctor who was also a wolf.

  The doc's had tested everything he could from Melanie’s voluntary and involuntary reflexes, as well as her brain waves, under his and his brothers’ watchful eyes and had advised them that she was resting. However, Johnny wouldn’t believe that until he was looking into Mel’s beautiful, alluring hazel eyes.

  When he heard a rustle, he lifted his muzzle from his paws, and his breath caught in his throat when he saw that Melanie’s hand was resting on her stomach. Hadn’t it been down by her side? He looked up over her body to her face and jumped to his feet when he saw her licking her lips.

  “Kris, Jules, I think our mate is waking,” Johnny all but shouted to his brothers.

  “Do you have to be so loud, Johnny? Everyone at the main house probably heard you.”

  Kris and Jules slammed into the doorjamb as they tried to get through the opening at the same time. Kris shoved Jules back and stumbled through as he hurried toward the large bed.

  Johnny padded up the mattress, plopped down to his stomach, and rested his muzzle on Melanie’s shoulder. His heart beat so fast in his chest, and his stomach was knotted with emotions. Would his mate look at him with hatred in her eyes when she found out what he’d done? As much as he wanted to run, he didn’t want to leave her side either.

  When her hand lifted and landed on his back, he sighed with elation, but when she started petting him, trepidation raced down his spine. Would she turn away from him? Would she leave him and his brothers? He didn’t know if he could go on if she left.

  And then he realised that he wouldn’t get the chance to explain to her why he had done what he had if he hid away like a yellow-bellied coward by remaining in his wolf form.

  After five days of being in his wolf body, it was difficult to push his animal back down and bring the man forth, so he decided he needed to explain why he needed out.

  If you don’t let me out, we’ll never be able to hold our mate again.

  Might not anyway, his wolf snapped.

  That’s a possibility, but if we don’t talk to her, we’ll never know. Do you want to go the rest of your life without being able to touch her or make love to her? To never feel the softness of her skin against ours again?

  This time his wolf didn’t answer but made a grumbling sound instead. Johnny felt his essence float further toward the surface.

  I can love. She likes me now. His wolf tried to push Johnny back, but he wasn’t about to let his beast have complete control like he had the past five days.

  That maybe, but she’s part human. Do you think a human woman is going to want to make love in wolf form? His wolf grumbled again, and this time, he was the one wresting for dominance. His conscience was almost to the surface. Just a little more assertion and he would be able to change back.

  She not going to like.

  We don’t know that. Johnny sighed and would have run his hand through his hair or over his face if he’d been able to. How are we ever going to know what she thinks, what she feels, if you won’t let me out? We can’t hide away from what we’ve done forever. If we want the chance of having a long, happy life with our mate, to have pups with her, then we need to face the consequences of our actions.

  His wolf chuffed, but then the tight hold his animal had had on him loosened and disappeared. Johnny wanted to shout with elation, but he remained quiet, pushed his beast down, and called to the man.

  The moment he was back he wrapped his arm around his mate and pulled her up tight against his body, buried his face in her neck, and breathed her in. When she moved, he didn’t want to let her go or look her in the eye but decided it was better to get it over with. So he loosened his hold and held his breath as she turned over toward him. He kept his expression blank and hoped she didn’t see or feel the fear that had taken up residence in his gut.

  Kris and Jules were now sitting on the bed. Kris on the other side of her and Jules perched on his knees near her knees. They both looked as trepidatious as he felt, and although they both opened their mouths as if to speak, he shook his head to keep them quiet. This was his problem to fix. If his brothers still had a chance to be with Melanie, he needed to give it to them. If she was going to blame or hate anyone, it needed to be him.

  “Hi,” Mel whispered as her eyelids fluttered open, and she gave him a sleepy smile.

  “Hi, sweetheart. How are you feeling?”

  “Uh…good?” She frowned and then blinked. “In fact I feel pretty damned amazing.”

  She shifted and then pushed herself up to sit against the headboard, dragging the covers up to cover her chest. When she noticed that Kris and Jules were watching her, she gave them a tentative smile.

  “You all look so serious. What’s wrong?”

  “Do you remember what happened?” Jules asked, causing Johnny to scowl at his youngest brother.

  “What happened?” She shook her head and frowned again. “No. What…” She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh. My. God.” Her hand dropped to her side. “There were men with guns. Where’s Jenny? Are she and the baby all right?”

  Kris reached over and clasped her hand. “They’re fine, honey.”

  “Thank God.” She slumped back against the pillows and sighed with relief, but then her body grew taut with tension and her head tilted to the side. “What happened to those men?”

  “They were arrested and taken away by the cops.”

  “Will we have to speak at the trial?”

  “Blue doesn’t think so, but he said he would do it if he was asked.”

  She nodded and then licked her dry lips. “Why can I hear so much?”

  Johnny swallowed nervously, the sound audible in the room, but he’d never been a coward, and it was time to face the music.

  * * * *

  Mel was astounded by how much she could hear. She knew her men had told her that her senses would be way more than normal after they mated, but she could hear Jenny laughing in the main house, and that was over two hundred metres away. She looked around the room and noted that the colourful cushions seemed much more vibrant and she could see every little stitch in the quilt.

  She thought back over what she last remembered. All her mind could recollect was swinging the shotgun she’d been holding at one of those horse thieves, knocking him out and after that…excruciating pain and then nothing.

  She’d been shot, and she remembered being so cold and wishing she had more time to tell her mates she loved them. Tears burned the back of her eyes, and a big knot formed in her chest until she couldn’t breathe. Her mouth opened to gasp in air, and although she was breathing rapidly, she couldn’t feel her lungs. Her heart was pounding so hard it hurt.

  And then she was being lifted
and wrapped up in strong, safe arms. Johnny held her close, running his hand up and down her back, offering the love and comfort she needed. Then waves of warmth and reassurance washed over her, filling her with contentment and peace. Her breathing slowed, as did her heart, and when she inhaled, she was able to fill her lungs once more. As the pounding in her ears diminished, she heard Johnny talking to her and latched onto his voice. But when she could comprehend what he was saying and heard the contrition and guilt in his tone, her breath hitched once more.

  And then she felt as if she’d been hit over the head by a two-by-four. The epiphany struck like a light bulb illuminating her mind like it would a room. The weird dreams she’d had flashed across her mind, along with the wolf she’d met in her supposed delusions.

  She hadn’t been hallucinating at all.

  She remembered the bone-deep cold, the weakness invading her body as her spirit had left it, and knew, without a doubt, that she had been dying.

  But the amazing part was that the wolf she’d spoken to was a part of her. Her mates had somehow changed her and saved her life.

  As her mind settled and accepted, she tuned in to the three men sitting so quietly next to and under her butt. She met Kris’s, and then Jules’s, stoic expression, saw and felt the trepidation in their bodies and hearts. But when she met Johnny’s eyes, she saw a fearful resignation.

  Where they scared that she would be upset with them because they had saved her life? How could they believe that when they had everything to live for?

  “You changed me,” she stated in a quiet, calm voice.

  “Yes,” Johnny whispered in a hoarse voice and then clenched his teeth together before closing his eyes.

  It was as though he was waiting for something. Rejection? Hate? She’d thought they knew her better than that, and it hurt that they could even think that of her.

  “Do you think so little of me?” As soon as she asked that question, she knew she’d fucked up.

  Johnny’s eyes closed again, and he released her before he lifted her to the mattress, stood, and turned his back before tugging clothes out of the drawers and closet.

  She admired his muscular arse for a moment and drew in a ragged breath when the blood in her veins began to heat. All she could think about was making love to her mates. The compulsion was so strong that her mind went blank for a second or two before she could rein in her desire and get her brain back into gear.

  Kris and Jules stood, looked at her face as if trying to memorise it, and turned away. While her attention had been on them, Johnny had finished dressing and walked to the door. He was halfway through it, and her heart flipped because she knew if she let him, any of them, walk away from her, she would never see them again.

  She felt their intention of leaving the Reynolds Pack and her.

  “Stop!”

  They all halted and then turned to face her. Mel scrambled down the bed, and careless of her nakedness, stood to face her mates. Anger surged through her but not because of what they’d done to save her life. The ire was because they had been about to leave her.

  “Do you think so little of me?” she asked again, glaring at each of them. Her ire dissipated when they lowered their gazes as if afraid to look her in the eyes.

  She grabbed Kris’s hand since he was the closest. “Can you feel the connection we have? Don’t you know what I’m feeling?”

  Kris shook his head, and the sadness in his eyes when he finally met hers nearly brought her to her knees. “I don’t have the right.”

  “Who says?” Melanie yelled her question. “Have you suddenly decided you don’t want to be mated to me?” Her breath hitched, and pain sluiced over her heart.

  “No,” Kris mumbled. “But maybe you don’t want to be mated to us?”

  He’d posed that statement into a question, and although she could feel them through their link, she knew they still had themselves closed off from her.

  “Open up to me,” she demanded.

  Jules stepped closer. “Honey, you don’t know—ˮ

  She slapped her hand over his mouth so he stopped talking.

  Johnny finally lifted his head, and when she saw the banked hunger blazing in his eyes, she knew she was getting through to him. Her heart filled so much it brought tears to her eyes, and warmth flowed like heated honey through her body.

  He rushed over and went to cup her face between his hands but, at the last minute, dropped them down to his sides, and then he knelt before her, wrapped his arms around her hips, and pressed his cheek to her stomach.

  “Did you think I would condemn you?” she asked, the anger no longer coursing through her. Johnny's touched had calmed her ire and, she was able to breathe better. “Did you think I would yell and scream and become hysterical?”

  “I thought you would hate me.” Johnny’s voice was a hoarse whisper. “I was worried you would walk away.”

  Melanie tugged on his arms, and when he released her, she knelt down, but for a moment she wished she’d stayed standing because she was so much shorter than he was. She cupped his face between her hands, stared into the depth of his eyes, and let him see everything that was in her heart. “I never even considered it. How could I when I love you all so much?”

  “You love me? Us?” Kris asked as he and Jules kneeled down next to Johnny. Their masculine, spicy scents assailed her nostrils, and the heat that had been simmering below the surface of her skin began to boil.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  Johnny’s eyes lightened, and his body straightened. She hadn’t realized how tense he was, but as she watched him, the weight he’d been carrying on his shoulders dissipated.

  He snagged an arm around her waist and stood up, taking her with him. She sighed with wonder and lust at his strength, and a shiver raced up her spine. Her nipples hardened, pressing into his bare chest, and her pussy moistened and clenched.

  “I love you so much, sweetheart. I don’t want to ever be without you.”

  Tears formed and spilled down her face, the joy inside of her too great to contain.

  Kris wiped beneath one eye with his thumb. “You are my shining light, honey. I never knew how dark and lonely the world was until I met you. I love you, Melanie.”

  A sob of happiness escaped. She grabbed hold of Kris’s shirt, tugged him down, and smashed her lips against his. Their shared kiss was passionate, but it was full of emotion, too.

  Kris released her lips, and she gave him a wobbly smile when she saw moisture in his eyes.

  Jules shoved Johnny aside, clasped her by the waist, and lifted her into his lap as he plonked his arse on the floor. “You are the very air I breathe, babe. I love you so very much.”

  “I love you, too.” She sobbed and hugged him tight. “I love you all more than anything in the world.”

  Melanie would have gone on hugging her men forever if she’d been able to, but Jules eased his arms from around her and slowly released her.

  “Our mate’s hungry.” Jules’s raspy voice sent another shudder up her spine, and goose bumps raced over her skin.

  “Then we’d better feed her,” Kris said from her side and stroked a hand over her hair.

  Melanie was famished for food and her mates. If her stomach hadn’t taken that moment to noisily protest its emptiness, she would have demanded that her three men make love to her. But first she needed to shower. She wanted to be fresh and clean when she and her men joined physically.

  “I am hungry.” Mel let her desire for her mates show in her gaze.

  “So are we, babe, but you need food first,” Kris said before kissing her on the forehead.

  “No, I need a shower first.”

  “That I can help you with.” Johnny swept her up into his arms and turned toward the bathroom, taking her with him. “You two find something for breakfast and, if you cook, try not to burn it.”

  “I can cook,” Mel said as Johnny lowered her feet to the tiled floor in the bathroom before he turned the shower on.

  “
No.” He tested the water and guided her in.

  “But I—”

  “No, sweetheart. You aren’t doing anything for the next couple of days.” Johnny tipped her head back and, after making sure her hair was wet, started to wash it.

  “I feel fine, Johnny.”

  He rinsed the shampoo from her tresses and then started to wash her body. “You feel way better than fine, Mel, but you nearly died. You stopped breathing, and your heart ceased beating. There is no way in hell you are doing anything until I’m sure you’ve recovered. You were out for five days.”

  “Five days?”

  Johnny nodded, and from the way his jaw clenched, she realised she'd scared the crap out of her mates. She also wanted to protest, but when she met his implacable gaze, she knew she would be fighting a losing battle, so she gave in.

  Besides, if she had the next few days free, she might be able to talk her mates into taking time off from their duties and spending it with her. In bed.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mel sat back with a satisfied sigh and sipped her coffee. Now that one hunger was satiated, she needed the other one to be gratified, too. Her men had surprised her by making bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast and not one thing had been burnt. She wondered if they’d been practicing or maybe the couple of lessons she had given them had stuck.

  She scratched her arms when her skin began to crawl and wondered if she had an allergy to something, but when the rest of her skin began to get irritated and she felt movement deep inside of her, she knew it was her wolf. Her animal pushed farther to the surface, and she nearly fell off of her chair when a low, rumbling growl emerged from her mouth.

  “Oh god. What’s happening to me?” She shoved to her feet and began to pace, too restless to sit still.

  “Your wolf wants out, babe.” Jules rose and walked toward her.

  “I don’t know what to do.” She swallowed nervously, and when she felt and saw claws erupt from her fingertips, she yelped.