She couldn’t deny the desire rising from her insides, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Hunter. When she opened her eyes, she saw Hunter instead of the man in front of her. She’d been with both of them so long, she couldn’t separate one from the other, and she didn’t want to be with Jordan and thinking about Hunter.
He must have thought the same thing. He let their kiss slacken, and his hand came back up to her waist. He stroked her back, but he didn’t push for more.
She studied him. He wasn’t the man she thought he was, not by a million miles. She knew him all her life, but she only met him this minute.
He squeezed her neck from behind. “You better go inside.”
She rose on tiptoe to kiss him one last time. “Are you gonna be all right?”
“Yeah. I’ll be all right. I’ll be just fine.”
She glanced toward her house and back up at him. “Will I see you again?”
“Only if you want to.”
Her teeth shone in the dark when she smiled. “I want to.”
He laced his fingers through hers. “Then yes, you will see me again. You’ll see me whenever you want to.”
She murmured into his face. “I want to, Jordan. I want to.”
Quick as lightning, she was gone. She raced up the street to her house and dashed inside before he could stop her, but his presence haunted her all the way. She could never get rid of that presence now.
Chapter 7
Jordan hung around his own front gate. Grey dawn spread over the sky, and the birds started their daily business in the forest all around. Ebony’s kiss still clung to his face. He smelled her intoxicating scent on his hands. His whole chest ached where she rubbed up against him.
How could a man fall so hard for a woman? How could he need her so bad and not have her? He couldn’t survive this way. He didn’t want to face Hunter. He wanted nothing more than to crawl under his blankets and go to sleep. He wanted to bask in the delicious memory of Ebony’s heavenly smell.
He waited as long as he could, but when he saw his father and uncle head out to their workshop behind the cabin, he knew he couldn’t put it off any longer. The sun would rise over the Moraine in a few minutes, and he’d be mooning around the front gate like a…Anyway, he had to go in.
He took a shaky breath and pushed the front door open. Hunter looked up from the couch. Two dozen other men crowded the living room. Hunter jerked his chin at Jordan. “Late night, slow coach? There’s bacon and scrambled eggs in the fridge.
Jordan swept the living room with his hand. “What’s going on here?”
Hunter pointed to Cole Archer in the seat next to him. “We’re planning our incursion to Bruins’ Peak. These are all the guys who want to support Cole, and I’m supporting him, too.”
Jordan stared at his brother. “Bruins’ Peak? Are you nuts? You can’t go to Bruins’ Peak.”
“We can and we are.” Hunter pointed to a sheet of paper on the coffee table in front of him. “We’re taking an inventory of guns and ammo and stores all over the Moraine. We’re dividing up our crew into three teams. We’ll surround the Peak and hit ‘em hard from all angles at once.”
“You’ll get yourself killed if you keep on this way.’
Hunter leaned back in his chair. “Actually, it was you who finally convinced me, Jordan.”
Jordan gasped out loud. “Me?”
“You attacked me in the woods just now. You said I was moving in on your mate when you don’t even have one. You convinced me we have to put a stop to all this foolishness right here and now.”
“You can’t do that by attacking Bruins’ Peak,” Jordan countered. “Whatever is happening to the Midnight, it’s already too far advanced to stop it. We’re changing. That’s all there is to it.”
Hunter shook his head and leaned over his papers. “We’re going. You stay here and mate for life. We’ll settle this once and for all.”
Jordan turned to Cole. Some of the others listened. “You guys don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t have any idea what’s waiting for you on Bruin’s Peak. We could make these Bruins our allies. Imagine how much stronger we would be if we did that.”
A couple of guys turned toward him, but Cole shook his head. “Save it, man. We’ve heard it all before. If you don’t want to join, then leave us alone.”
“These Bruins pose a serious threat to all Midnight,” Hunter added. “We’ve got to attack them hard and fast to knock them out of the water. We’ve got to stamp out the source of this mating disease before it goes any further.”
Jordan stared at his brother. He looked at Cole, and he swept the ring of faces in a heartbeat. Up until today, he considered these men his friends. He always thought he could talk to them about anything, that he could call on them for support whenever he needed it.
Now, half of them glared at him in outright hostility while the other half wouldn’t look at him at all. He didn’t belong in his own living room anymore. He had no choice but to look down at the floor to avoid their eyes.
Just then, a large figure moved out of the corner of the room. Jordan’s father Wyatt strolled out to stand right in front of him. “You’ve been talking big all over the Moraine, boy, and I’ve heard about enough of it. You’ll come in line now. That’s my last word.”
Jordan’s head shot up. “Pop? Not you, too.”
Wyatt set his jaw in a hard line. “You’ll fall in line, boy. If you don’t drop all this mating for life stuff, you’ll be out on your ear before you can scratch you ass.”
Jordan couldn’t believe his ears. “You wouldn’t.”
Wyatt nodded. “If you expect to live under my roof, you’ll behave yourself from now on. I don’t want to hear another word about it, and don’t let anyone else hear another word about it, either. Understand?
Jordan blinked. How could this be happening? How could wanting to mate for life destroy his life like this? How could loving and cherishing one woman turn his whole people against him?
There was his father fixing his glittering eyes on Jordan’s face. There was his brother and his friends planning to attack the people who started this change in the first place.
What could Jordan say to these people? He didn’t even recognize them anymore. He couldn’t understand them and they couldn’t understand him. He might as well be an alien from town. He sure didn’t belong here anymore.
He stumbled out of the house. He couldn’t appreciate the sun shining through the canopy. He couldn’t enjoy his life ever again. Where could he go? Who could he call on for help?
Every hand and claw turned against him. Every door shut in his face. None of the old certainties offered him any consolation. Nothing remained of the conventions that used to hold up all Midnight society.
His mind scanned the Moraine. He knew half a dozen couples mated for life, but he couldn’t turn to them. Some of them thought the Midnight should attack Bruins’ Peak, too.
He could think of only one place on God’s green earth he could unload on a sympathetic ear. He raced through the trees, past houses and trucks lining the street, and plunged into the woods. He ran until his lungs burst. He ran until he caught sight in the distance of Riley and Melody’s cabin.
He didn’t slow down. He had to see them and talk to them. He had to tell them everything. The front door blew back and hit the wall. Riley and Melody looked up from their breakfast. Riley’s eyes widened, but Jordan only blurted out, “I gotta talk to you.”
Riley wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Sure. Sit down and eat something. There’s plenty.”
Jordan paced around the room. “They’re down there right now. They’re arming to march on Bruins’ Peak.”
Riley frowned. “Who is?
“Hunter and Cole and all the others. They’re drawing up supply lists and organizing in teams to attack. They won’t listen to reason.”
Melody jumped up so fast her chair hit the floor. “We have to warm them! We have to send word so the Bruins know they’re comi
ng.”
Riley help up his hand. “Hold your horses, baby. Not so fast.”
Melody spun around to rage at him. “Those men are arming to attack my people and wipe out every man woman and child on Bruins’ Peak, and you want me to hold my horses? Are you insane? We have to warm them. I have to go home. I have to do something.”
Riley rose from his chair. “Think about it. Cole only started drumming to attack Bruins’ Peak yesterday. Unless he’s a bigger fool than I take him for, they’ll have a lot more organizing to do before they get out the door. They might never get out the door. They might just be talking big. Who knows?”
Jordan shook his head. “You should hear them. Hunter at least sounds pretty serious.”
“I’m sure he is, but do me a favor and just stop and think about this for a sec. You heard one conversation. They’re meeting for the first time. Let it sink in and don’t blow a gasket, either of you. Them organizing into teams or whatever they’re doing doesn’t mean they stand a chance on Bruins’ Peak. They must know that, and if they don’t, they’ll get their noses bloodied the first time they stick their toes off this Moraine.”
Jordan stopped pacing. “I didn’t think of that.”
Riley motioned toward their sitting room. “Have a seat and tell me everything.”
Melody stood rooted to the spot. She blinked at the two men settling down on the couch. Riley got Jordan sitting down and took the seat next to him. Jordan let out a long breath and rested his forehead on his hands. “I don’t know what’s going on with me. I’m living on a knife edge.”
Riley leaned back on the cushions. “I appreciate you coming to tell us. You did the right thing.”
Jordan glanced at Melody’s startled face. “I’m sorry I interrupted your meal.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Riley replied.
Melody sank into a chair. “I’m sorry, Jordan. I flew off the handle. I should have trusted you.”
“I should go,” Jordan muttered. “I shouldn’t be here.”
Riley stopped him from getting up. “You came here to tell us something important. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Actually, I didn’t come to tell you that.”
“Oh?” Riley put his head on one side. “Then why did you come?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I came because I thought you might be the only people in the world would could understand what I’m going through.”
“What are you going through?”
“It’s all this mating for life stuff. It’s really done a number on my head.”
Riley scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, it’s a doozy, that one. At least you’ve got your friends. You’re not the only one going through it like I was.”
“How did you do it?” Jordan asked. “How did you survive not knowing?”
“Not knowing what?”
“Not knowing if she would mate with you. How could you survive the uncertainty?”
“I never went through that,” Riley replied. “We both knew, and once we left Bruins’ Peak, neither of us ever questioned again.”
Jordan’s chin sank on his chest. “Oh. You’re lucky.”
Riley and Melody exchanged a glance over his head. “So what’s the problem? Why are you so glum?”
“It’s Ebony Archer. I mean, what am I going to do? One minute she says she wants to stay fluid. The next minute she’s sticking her tongue down my throat and rubbing herself all over me. I’m going out of my mind. You can’t imagine what it’s like to want a woman so bad and not have her. I never thought I’d get my heart broken by a woman. You guys understand. You have to help me. Maybe I should forget all about her. Maybe I should go back to being fluid, too.”
Riley froze. He stared at Jordan. “Ebony Archer?”
Jordan nodded, but he couldn’t look up.
He looked up in a hurry, though, when Riley let out a whoop to raise the rafters. He slapped Jordan on the back and burst out laughing. Melody jumped up and threw her arms around Jordan’s neck. She kissed him on the cheek. “This is wonderful! Congratulations! I’m so happy for you guys.”
Jordan frowned from one face to the other. “What are you doing? This isn’t funny. I’m in agony over here, and you two are having a party.”
Riley wiped tears of laughter off his cheeks. “Sorry, man. This is just so wonderful. It couldn’t happen to a better pair. You guys are gonna be so happy together. I can’t tell you.”
Jordan glared at him. “You better not be messing with me.”
Riley stopped laughing, but he couldn’t wipe the happy grin of his face. “Listen to me, man. I’ve been through this, and it almost cost me my sorry-ass life. You’re gonna be just fine, and once you and Ebony get together, you’re gonna be ten times happier than you ever were before. Take my word for it.”
“But she doesn’t want to get together. She wants to stay fluid. She keeps telling me over and over again she’s Midnight and she won’t mate for life.”
Melody spoke up from his other side. “That doesn’t happen. Life mates belong together, and they always come together in the end. If you feel that way about Ebony, she’ll eventually come around to feeling that way about you, too.”
“How do you explain her resisting so much? She even keeps making out with my brother right in front of me.”
“She’s experiencing growing pains,” Melody told him. “She’s got one foot in the past and one in the future, but you two are mated for life. If she’s passionate enough about you to kiss you like that, it will happen. You just have to get there.”
Jordan growled low. “It better, or I’ll…”
Riley reclined on the couch. “It will happen to you, and it will happen to everyone else, too. The way this thing is moving, not one Midnight will be left to attack Bruins’ Peak. One Midnight after another will mate for life, and their aggressions will die away to nothing.”
Jordan looked up. “Are you sure?”
Riley clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m certain of it.”
Jordan dared to raise his head. “Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”
Riley studied him. “When was the last time you had a decent night’s sleep? You look like crap.”
Jordan snorted. “Thanks a lot.”
“I mean it. You should go home and go to bed.”
Jordan cast his gaze down at his hands in his lap. “You’re right. It’s been a while. I’ve been so wrapped up with the Archer girls I sort of let it slip.”
Riley led him to the door. “Go home. Let me know if there’s anything we can do for you.”
Jordan found himself standing on the porch with the door shut in his face. Well, he should have expected this. Those two had better things to do than wipe his nose for him.
He strode home in the broad daylight. Maybe, just maybe, there was hope for him and Ebony after all. Riley and Melody made it sound like a done deal, so why couldn’t Jordan convince Ebony of that?
They seemed to think he didn’t need to convince her, that she would come around on her own. Maybe he could play it that way for a while and see what happened. What’s the worst that could happen? He’d already loved and lost her. He had nothing to lose by trying.
Jordan slouched home, and this time, he didn’t hang around the gate. He couldn’t wonder what would happen inside, or he would lose his nerve. Until his father threw him out on his tail, he might as well relax. He walked right in, but he saw not one soul in the house. At least he wouldn’t have another confrontation with his father. Jordan couldn’t stand that right now.
He walked down the hall to his room. Now that Riley pointed it out to him, the weight of sheer exhaustion drove him into the ground. Three weeks of nonstop sex with the Archer girls, followed by all this fracas about the Bruins—he hadn’t slept since long before Raven disappeared. He wanted nothing more in the world than to crawl into bed and drift away on dreams of Ebony snuggled in his arms. If only he could hold her, he could sleep.
He eased the bedroom door open a
nd collapsed into his easy chair. He started to unlace his shoes when a peeping sound drew his attention to Hunter’s bed across the room. That’s when he noticed the quilt move. He wasn’t alone after all.
Hunter’s head squirreled out from underneath. He turned his head and regarded Jordan. Then another dark head emerged from under the quilt. Jordan recognized Onyx Archer, but she didn’t see him. She had her eyes closed. She kissed Hunter up his chest. She licked his nipples until his nostrils flared with the breath catching in his throat. She bit his neck and pushed his chin up with her face.
Hunter never took his eyes off Jordan’s face, not even when Jordan saw Onyx’s arm moving back and forth under the quilt in a stroking motion. She moved up to Hunter’s face and kissed him in languid sweeps of her tongue.
Hunter answered her kiss, but he didn’t turn away. He confronted Jordan with his eyes. Onyx rose above him, and her body rippled all down his front. Her mouth gaped in one howling moan. Her eyes drifted open. She froze when she saw Hunter looking sideways at something other than her.
Onyx’s deep black eyes locked on Jordan. For a fraction of an instant, her anger flared. Then she let out a wicked cackle. She rolled off Hunter and lay on the bed between him and Jordan. She pushed the quilt back so Jordan could see everything she was doing.
Her hand stroked Hunter’s erect cock, and she backed her ass against his hips. Hunter grasped his arms around her bare breasts and crushed her against him. He buried his face in her neck and growled.
Onyx bared her teeth at Jordan in a vicious snarl. “Come on and join us, Jordan. You know you love it. You can take me from the front while Hunter gets me from behind. Would you like that, baby? Huh? Come on. I need your big fat cock right now.” She panted out loud at Hunter jabbing into her from behind. “Oh, Jesus! Yes!”
Hunter raised his face from her neck to grin at Jordan. One finger snaked between Onyx’s legs to tickle her tender flesh while he pumped her from behind.
Jordan regarded them from his easy chair, but their antics only made him tired. He couldn’t be angry at them anymore. They made him lonely for Ebony. “Thanks, baby. I’m too tired now.”
Bruins Peak Bears Box Set (Volume II) Page 41