“How do you know?” Hannah felt the trepidation inside her. She had spent her 289
life believing she knew who to trust. She knew why to trust. Protecting her baby had been the only thing in her heart.
“Only since….since you were gone…..the shields you had around me faded. I could feel someone but I never knew who,” Brea sighed. “I don’t think he’s a monster, mom. I don’t. I don’t think he’s responsible for the North Carolina thing, either. Did none of you ever speak to him about it?”
“Brea…..when we went to him to tell him we were getting married….” Hannah could see the day as clearly as she could the sunshine around them now. “He was adamantly against it. Swore he’d never accept it and ordered your father to break off all contact immediately. We left that day and haven’t seen or spoke with him since.”
“And neither of you tried to mend things,” Brea sighed. “He’s probably not easy to get along with…..but he doesn’t deserve to be blamed for things he didn’t do, either.
He was very angry when I told him someone was using him as an excuse to hunt me.”
“You…..you told him that?”
“Of course,” she paused. “Maybe he’s changed. Maybe he’s not so against us now.”
“Maybe, baby-girl…..maybe,” Hannah leaned down, her arms around her daughter and hugging tightly.
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Chapter 32
Jase and Nick made their own notes about their final applicant, both looking up when the footsteps sounded in the outer office.
“Rey,” Jase said his name slowly, his eyes immediately sharp. “Brea?”
“With Hannah,” he answered quietly. “I’ve been doing a little checking around town and a few places less popular to humans. Trying to find the source of the who is hunting my daughter.”
“We know it’s demons,” Nick said carefully, leaning back in his chair.
“I saw her take on two of them and a third caught her in the woods one day. I know they were demons by their scent,” Jase confirmed quietly.
“She went to see my father,” Rey saw the immediate tension in both of them.
“Yeah, that’s my reaction, but she swears he’s not involved,” he saw Nick open his mouth and then close it. “She asked him. Told him of the attempts.” Jase closed his eyes, his head back and sigh long.
“And it dawned on me there is probably the reason she needs two mates,” he met the half smile from Nick and the groan from Jase. “There are demons using his name to…..” he exhaled deeply and paced their office. “They want her blood. The more people looking for her, the better their chance, obviously. I think they’re using his name as some kind of focal point,” he shook his head. “As if to say, the head man wants her, do this and you’ll be in good with him. Only I just let a whole lot of them know that it’s 291
a lie and his pleasure is not what they’ll get if they harm his grand-daughter. That information should rush like fire through the community.”
“He wasn’t acting friendly when we met him,” Jase said slowly.
“My father likes to bluster. He likes to intimidate and control.”
“Oh, then he’s just having a grand time with Brea,” Nick burst out laughing, ignoring the scowls from the other two. “Oh, come on…..do either of you really believe there’s any way to curtail her enthusiasm? Her zest or her righteous effort to correct a wrong? And I bet right now she’s seeing her grandfather as seriously wronged and in need of an avenging angel. Our avenging angel.”
“A woman with a mission,” Jase groaned.
“Do you think it’ll help?” Nick asked. “Warning them off?”
“I don’t know. But I do know if my father is now actively involved, you don’t want to be on his bad side.”
“What do they want her blood for?” Jase asked cautiously.
“Brea has a unique formulation of Fae and demon,” Rey said with a sigh. “To be honest, I don’t know why I didn’t realize it before now. I suppose because I don’t see her as a composite of items, I see her as my child. It would be quite powerful, more so than normal blood in rituals that could extend life and other less positive spells,” he pushed a long breath between his lips. “They never wanted her dead, though. They want her alive as a constant source. Whoever it is behind it wanted her isolated, so they tried removing us, first.”
“And your father?”
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“I don’t disbelieve what Brea said about his reactions when she told him what had been happening to her. I also don’t envy the demons responsible when he finds them, and he will find them. His network was always top notch and I’ve been mostly….I’ve been away from that side of things for a long time, trying to shield Brea from that world.”
“We can’t stop her from visiting him,” Nick said carefully.
“I’m…we didn’t part on good terms,” Rey said slowly. “And I’m working very hard not to lose my daughter because I don’t….understand….her choice.”
“You mean because of us,” Nick said quietly.
Dark eyes looked from one man to the other. Not for the first time since meeting them. Not for the first time laying the blame at their feet for what he saw.
“Breanna made a choice,” he began slowly. “If she’s like me, then I’m like my own father and both of us locked the other out after his orders to end my relationship with Hannah. I won’t allow that to happen with my child. I won’t lose her because of something I fear or something I don’t comprehend as…..conventional. She’s happy and I won’t do anything to take that from her.”
“Then it might be time to mend that rift,” Nick said. “I think we all know that if it’s something Brea wants, it will happen. And you can go peacefully, or kicking and screaming. But you will go.”
Jeffrey Cooper laughed, his head shaking.
“You know my daughter well, young man. Now multiply that by two,” he said with a sigh.
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“As long as he doesn’t show up with the horns and hoof thing,” Jase shook his head. “And you really gotta use our names, Rey. Seriously……looking like you do….calling us ‘young man’ it’s just……off.”
“Yeah, well we all have things we must adjust to….boy,” Rey turned and left their office without looking back over his shoulder. But he heard Nick groan and Jase growl.
He chuckled. Keeping his sons-in-laws in line would be one of his more enjoyable tasks through the years.
“So the players have shifted,” Nick commented as they gathered papers and closed things down.
“I put in a call to Seth at the institute. If anyone has hints of what’s going on, he should,” Jase shoved his noted into the soft leather case and snapped it shut. “Let’s go home.”
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Chapter 33
Brea had her kitchen in order after a nice family dinner. Her parents talked about the new classes they were scheduled to begin teaching in the fall; Jase and Nick answered questions about the new office and the applicants they would be interviewing the next day and Brea watched them all with a contented sigh.
She wasn’t alone anymore. Those words echoed through her as she went to the laptop on the kitchen table and worked on her order list.
She’d been with Jase and Nick for over two weeks now. Her shop would open again in another two weeks. She was placing orders for supplies from the various places she used. She was recreating her personal cookbook for the shop when Jase came up behind her.
They hadn’t really spoken since they dragged her back from her grandfather’s villa. She honestly wasn’t sure how to make them understand how much it meant to her. Both their concern and her grandfather.
“Nick sent me to see if you’re speaking to us,” he leaned against the table at her side. The corner of her mouth twitched and he knew he was on level ground. For now.
“And why would Nick sacrifice you like that?”
“He figures it’s my fault for lifting you off the floor.”
“It’s par
t of your nature,” she said casually, trying to keep focused on her list. But she knew she’d be losing that focus. She could smell his hunger and it only served to 295
make her own body aroused. She fidgeted in the seat, forcing herself to concentrate.
“You think so?”
“Hmm…..that’s not a bad thing.” Brea almost groaned. Nick came around the corner. She figured he was checking to see if Jase was making progress. “You guys never told me what was bothering you the other morning.” She made a few more taps and closed the file and then the laptop. They were too close and too sexy. Her brain wouldn’t co-operate. Especially when other parts of her were over-riding the thinks bits.
When the silence stretched out, she looked up at Nick and then at Jase.
“It’s not like you both to be so quiet.”
“Are you happy, Brea?” Nick spoke quietly, his smile soft at the puzzled look on her face.
Brea really was puzzled and stood up, crossing the room and standing against the arch that separated the room from the main open area where their office and the living room was.
“Do you believe I’d be with you if I weren’t?”
“I just want to be certain I didn’t…” Jase ran a hand through his hair before rubbing his neck. She was beautiful. Sweetly curious, loving and sexy as hell. “That I didn’t make…”
“I don’t understand. You think you made a mistake?” She felt her heart plummet along with the strength in her voice. “Have you changed your minds?” Brea straightened. She wouldn’t show weakness, she shouted inside her head. She saw their 296
eyes immediately darken, immediately fill with denial of her question.
“Changed…..fuck no, Brea….that isn’t….”
“I’m going to bed. I’m not in the mood to be confused. You can either join me, or not. Your choice,” she said firmly, turning a shoulder to them and going to her room.
Brea knew she slammed doors. And drawers. And threw her shoes into the closet. She didn’t care as her parents had moved into the apartment the day their bed had been delivered. She knew how sensual she was because of her mixed natures. So it only stood to reason, that they were still hot for one another. Not something a daughter liked to think about, but…..
Idiots. Men were pure idiots in human form or wolf.
She’d give them five minutes before she started seriously throwing things.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to wait that long before they cautiously opened the bedroom door, both watching her warily.
“Do I really come across as so weak willed that you…either of you….or both of you….could force me into something I didn’t want?” Flashing amber eyes demanded an answer at the same time her palm was flung up, one finger raised in warning when their mouths opened to speak. “Just don’t even answer that.” Nick laughed and Jase scowled.
“How the hell are we supposed to straighten this out without talking?” Brea decided showing them was the best, safest answer. She wasn’t about to let them shove her aside. Never taking her eyes from his, she stormed to stand before Nick, her hands up and pulling his shirt open, ignoring the buttons flying around. While 297
he was still gaping, her hands opened his belt and then the buttons down his cargo pants.
“Brea…” Laughter edged his voice even as she pressed against him, guiding him and turning him until she was walking him back to the bed. His pants pooled at his feet when she gave a shove and straddled him, her hands spearing the dark hair at the back of his head and her mouth hungrily over his.
Losing herself in a hard, deep kiss meant she only jumped a little when another pair of hands came from behind and began opening her jeans and shoving them down her legs.
Brea groaned into Nick’s kiss, his hands tugging her shirt up and their eyes locking when he pulled it over her head and tossed it aside. Thick lashes fluttered when his palms cupped her face, fingers teasing down her throat when his mouth covered hers, once, softly, before settling and spearing his tongue into her mouth, taking what she wanted to hungrily give them.
Nick sat on the edge of the bed, his hands sliding down her sides and his mouth leaving the sweet kiss to capture the puckered pebble of one nipple thrusting against his chest. Her fingers tightened against his head, her teeth bit her lower lip and her body arched demandingly for more.
“Oh, god….you two make me nuts…..”
Jase bit down on the hollow of her throat, his lips moving to her ear while his hands pulled her hips back against the hard length of his cock pressing between the cheeks of her ass.
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“And it only takes one of you to make both of us insane,” He whispered hotly before nipping her ear and turning her chin for his mouth to capture hers.
Brea shivered, his free hand moving between them and sliding through the damp gathering for them. She moaned softly into his kiss as his fingers slid into her, stretching her before sliding lower, further back and opening her for him. So many sensations!
Nick lifted his head, urging her closer as he lay back on the bed, her long legs sliding over his thighs and his fingers taking over where Jase had begun. His thumb stroked her clit as his fingers parted the swollen petals. He could smell her crème, taste her in the air of their room.
Their room, he shouted inside his head. They’d never be able to give her up!
Nick groaned, her insides clutching at his fingers while her hands moved to his shoulders, thick pale lashes half open as she let the waves of pleasure build around them. She moved over him, his growl low when her fingers curled around his cock and guided him to the crème slicked opening.
They were hungry. All of them. Play time another day, Brea thought, that crystal edge she wanted just out of her reach.
Her voice pierced the silence. Surprise and more as Nick’s thickness spread her, spearing deep and holding her still while her breathing returned. She always thought she was prepared. Always thought she was ready when the pulsing heat took control.
Satiny tissue surrounded him, stroked him with a pleasure he’d never known before Brea. His mate. His mouth moved over the mark he’d placed on her, licking, 299
biting and sending her body shuddering against him. He laid back slowly, letting Jase continue to stroke and stretch before he joined them.
“Easy, baby…” Jase whispered, shifting and pressing the head of his cock at the puckered opening, feeling the crème of her heat; the wild pleasures to come for them.
A groan was torn from inside him, his balls tightening as Brea arched, pushing herself against him. Making her silent demand for the pleasures they’d discovered together. A wild pleasure that rippled from one to the other without pausing or warning.
Slowly the entrance parted, those taut muscles gripping him, rippling around him as he continued easing forward, impaling himself. The erotic sight laid out before him, beneath him, her small heart shaped ass opening to him was almost enough to take his control from him. The visual of seeing himself sink into her heat sent fire coursing from nerve ending to nerve ending and igniting it in the others.
Heat surged within them, ripped and torn through their systems as if they’d always been one being.
Nothing but pleasure, Brea whined, wanting it all and more. Always more.
Jase listened to the sexy mewls from the woman between them, his hands on her hips, making a weak attempt to slow her as they began moving, her own muscles flexing and tempting them past the edge.
Nick began to move, a slow easy rhythm that wouldn’t last long, not with Brea demanding more.
Jase gripped her hips, their movements caught between rocking, plunging; a deep hammer felt thrust inside her that she shouted for. Quick, blinding strokes when 300
Nick lay still and let Jase give Brea what she screamed for. Pure hunger and pleasure ripped through his brain and body.
Brea felt herself carried along the heights; her skin tingling, her body craving them, needing them. Hungry for them. Every part of her was alive, sen
sations washing over her and through her. She felt Jase thrusting, the nerve endings sending ripples to the swollen clit rubbing against Nick.
She couldn’t last. She never lasted. But there was always the next time, her brain shouted as they cascading powers burst from inside, sending all those muscles clenching them into wild, uncontrolled convulsions.
“Fuck!” Jase shouted loudly when her body erupted.
The woman had muscles that grabbed them both, suckling and pulling them, forcing them to move. Her body tightened on their surging cocks, gripped them hotly and then further tightened her hold, squeezing, rippling along them and sending them following her over that deep, deep edge.
Thick, scalding hot jets bursts within her, triggering another orgasm. Her teeth bit into Nick’s throat, trying to stop the shrill scream she knew her parents would hear!
She heard her men. That feminine core in her relishing their pleasure, knew she was the cause of it. The center that made them all whole, all one. Each giving to the other and more.
Brea slowly let her mind free-fall, her body warm and caressed, even when she felt Jase slip from her and lie at their side. His palm stroked over her back, onto her behind, his sigh as thick and contented as Nick’s.
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“That’s the very best communication ever,” she breathed when Nick turned, letting her curl on her side before pulling blankets up over them.
“I think she might be mellow enough to listen without storming around the house,” Nick held her snuggled back against him, his hand around her waist. Jase had moved slightly forward, his mouth caressing over hers ever so lightly before leaning up on one elbow.
“And she thinks we’ve changed our minds…..”
“You’re our mate, Brea. We could no more change our mind than we could change our hearts,” Nick told her, the intensity in his tone making her open her eyes in the dim light of the room. “I love you.”
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