by Ann Gimpel
Scenes of her making love to all three of them flashed before her eyes. Alice got hold of herself. The thought was so absurd as to be laughable, no matter how aroused she was.
She rounded on Jed. “What the hell happened to no secrets?” she screamed. Bron and Terin could probably hear her, especially with their lupine senses, but she didn’t bother to modulate her voice. “What kind of depraved assholes are you? It doesn’t take a genius IQ to figure out you’ve signed me up for some sort of plural-marriage hell.”
“It’s not like that.” Anguish underscored his quiet words. “I was going to tell you right after we got out of the creek. Truly I was. In fact, I’d begun to tell you just before they showed up. If you focus your mind to look into mine, you’ll see I’m telling you the truth. It’s part of the magic that—”
“I don’t care about your fucking magic. I don’t want any part of it.” Alice stormed out of the water, wringing water from her hair as she went. She grabbed her robe and shrugged into it.
“But we’re mated—” He followed her out of the water, hands held before him in supplication. “The mate bond is a family bond. Terin and Bron and I are—”
“Can you undo it?” She glared through narrowed eyes. “I thought you cared about me. Now it seems like you were hunting for a trollop to pass between all of you. Is it just you three, or is it any old wolf shifter who happens along? I heard they do that in Alaska with the Eskimos—the whole wife-swapping deal.” Alice pounded a fist into her thigh. What she wanted to do was shove it through Jed’s face—right after she fucked him again. Tears threatened to spill down her face. “I’m not interested. Not today. Not tomorrow. Never. You should have told me.”
“Yes, I should have. And I was going to—”
“When?” She turned away. “Christ, I can’t believe I’m still even talking with you. I need to get my clothes and get out of here. Do whatever you were going to do to wipe all of this out of my memory.” To her horror, a sob followed her words, and then one more. Her throat thickened until it was hard to breathe.
Jed’s hands landed on her shoulders. She spun away. “No! Don’t touch me. Not anymore.” Alice took off running. Stones and branches cut into her feet, but she was beyond caring. Jed’s footsteps crashed behind her. She ran faster. A shadow crossed the forest floor in front of her. Blinded by tears, it took her a moment to realize it was a mountain lion.
The creature sprang. Its weight drove her to the ground. Alice screamed. A rank smell made her gag. The cat’s teeth bit into her shoulder. Pain lanced through her. Alice grappled with the cat, trying to pry it off, but it raked sharp claws down her hands. A deep, throaty growl filled the air. Blood spilled down her arm; its hot, coppery odor mingled with the putrid smell of cat. Something else heavy landed atop her. “You’re free. Roll. Run for the cabin.” Jed’s voice sounded in her mind.
She rolled away from the wolf engaged in mortal combat with the mountain lion. Alice screamed for Bron and Terin. If Jed got himself killed defending her, she’d never be able to live with herself.
“Run, goddammit. I’ve got things under control.”
“Like hell you do.” Alice stared at the enraged cat. It had traded her body for Jed’s. Its teeth were buried in his neck. Blood darkened the wolf’s fur. She picked up a good-sized rock, intent on bashing the cat in the head. Branches crackled. Two more wolves, one nearly black, the other reddish, sprang on the cat. She stepped back so their rolling bodies wouldn’t knock her to the ground. She gripped her rock. If things went to hell, she’d jump into the fray.
She swallowed, but her throat was so dry the tissue just grated against itself. Jed. Oh, Jed. In that moment, she knew the mate bond had worked its magic. In spite of her harsh words and bravado about leaving, she loved Jed. Adored him beyond hope and reason. Fondness for Bron and Terin had taken root inside her as well.
“No,” she murmured. “I can’t lose you—none of you. Not so soon.” Not ever, an inner voice corrected.
Terin and Bron had drawn the cat a little distance away. Jed’s wolf form sprawled on the ground. He wasn’t moving. She threw herself over his body. A high, keening cry filled the air. Alice barely recognized the agonized sound as hers. She moved her hands carefully over the wolf’s body. Where the hell did you find an animal’s heartbeat?
Just when she was certain he was dead, faint movement beat beneath her fingertips. Relief so intense it was hard to bear flooded her. She shoved the pain from her own injuries aside and pulled his body into her arms. “You can’t die,” she whispered in his ear. “You’re my mate. I—I’m sorry for the things I said. I was upset. Angry. Not thinking straight—”
Arms lifted her from Jed’s body. She tried to pull free. “Nooooo.” Alice moaned. “He needs me. He has to know I’m sorry, that we’ll work things out—”
Jed’s two lieutenants held her firmly between them. “Sssh. I’m Terin,” the redhead said. “The cat’s dead. We’ve got to get Jed back to the cabin. We can work on healing him there.”
“You are injured also. Follow us,” Bron commanded. “We’ve got to do something about the cat. It will attract every predator within five miles, but that will have to wait.”
The two naked men suspended Jed’s wolf form between them. They carried him almost reverently. Alice scrambled to her feet. Her shoulder burned and throbbed. Her robe was wet with blood. Momentarily dizzy, she clung to a tree trunk until her head cleared.
When she pushed through the cabin door, Jed lay on the floor, still in wolf form. Dark head bent, Bron chanted over him. Alice started forward. Terin grabbed her arm. He placed a finger over his lips then drew her toward the back of the cabin. “Bron must concentrate,” he whispered low in her ear. “Jed’s barely clinging to life.”
“There’s a telephone in the lodge,” she whispered back. “Maybe you could run down there, break in, and call for—” She caught herself and shook her head. Of course they couldn’t get a doctor to come. Not to treat a shifter.
“Don’t give up hope,” Terin murmured. “Jed is strong, and Bron is one of our most gifted healers. While he works, let me treat your wound.” He pushed the robe off her shoulders. Alice made a grab for it. She was naked beneath its fabric. Terin batted her hand away. “Don’t be foolish. Do you want an infection to set in?”
Alice gritted her teeth. No one had clothes on. She let her robe slide to the floor. Her gaze swept over Terin, His cock was flaccid. The red-haired shifter was leaner than Jed; his hair reached the middle of his back. The planes of his face were set in severe lines, but he was classically handsome with clean, even features. Her body yearned for the comfort of his arms. She chided herself for being a whore. Jed lay near death. It wasn’t a time to think about sex.
“Are you strong enough to walk to the creek?” Terin was still whispering. “I’d like to scrub this. Once it’s clean, I’ll draw earth magic to see it heals. Lucky you haven’t lost too much blood.” He made a faint clucking sound. “The worst thing about puncture wounds is infection.”
“There’s a pump in here,” she whispered back.
“Too noisy. Bron’s still chanting. Best for Jed if we don’t disturb him.”
Though she didn’t want to leave Jed, Alice followed Terin back to the pool. At his direction, she sank her body into the water. He didn’t offer to warm it. Goose bumps rose. She stayed submerged until her body ached from the cold and scrubbed the wound with sand like Terin instructed.
“All right. It is enough. You can come out.”
Grateful there wasn’t a breeze to chill her further, Alice made her way to where Terin stood on the bank. He inspected her shoulder, with its semicircle of puncture wounds, and then laid a hand over it. Energy flowed from his body into hers. It was palpable, like an electric shock. He placed his other hand on her other shoulder and murmured in an incomprehensible language.
The sharp, throbbing pain receded. Terin removed his hands. He nodded, looking pleased. “It is healed.”
Alice cou
ldn’t see the wound, but she touched where it had been. “My skin is whole.” She took a step back and locked gazes with him. “How did you do that?”
“I already told you. Earth magic. You are bonded to us, which is why it worked so well. You are of the earth, just as we are.” He dropped his gaze. “I owe you an apology. Bron and I shouldn’t have mobbed you like we did. We talked about it before the cat attacked and realized Jed hadn’t really had enough time to do much more than mate with you.”
“It’s all right. I was a royal bitch.” She bit her lip. “Jed. If he dies because he was defending me—”
“He can’t.” Terin’s amber eyes were fierce. “We need him. No one can take his place as clan leader.”
“Yes, we all need him.” Alice turned her energies inward. “I feel … something. It’s like a slender, glowing thread that links me to him.” Her eyes narrowed. “And to you and Bron as well. But those threads aren’t as thick.”
Terin nodded. “It’s the mate bond. We are pack. You are part of us now. You will come to understand the symbols better as you live with them.” He shut his eyes; his forehead creased. “Damn it.” He spun and raced for the house.
“What? What’s happened?” Fear turned her guts to water. Alice sprinted after him. By the time she rushed through the open cabin door, Terin had joined Bron on the floor next to Jed’s wolf form. Both shifters had their hands buried in Jed’s lush pelt. They chanted frantically in the language Terin had used to patch her shoulder.
The wolf’s labored breathing caught and slowed. Her eyes widened. “No!” She raced to Jed’s side and fell to her knees, then to her belly. She took his head between her hands and spoke softly into his ear. “I don’t know if you can hear me, beloved, but don’t leave me. Please, please don’t leave me. I’m so sorry about the things I said. I love you. I want us to have a life together.”
Her words ran into one another. Time passed. Tears dripped off her nose and fell into Jed’s fur. She prayed to any deity who would listen to save her love. The wolf’s body shimmered and took on an unearthly glow. For one horrible moment, she was certain Jed had died, but then her fingers touched warm, living flesh.
Terin’s hands settled over hers. He blew out a relieved-sounding breath. “Jed is a bit stronger. At least he was able to shift. Bron will be exhausted once this is done. Come off to the side and let him finish.”
Alice staggered to her feet and fell into a nearby chair. Terin eyed her. “Thank you. I think you reached Jed, and it helped call him back. We are a family. That means we do whatever it takes to ensure our survival.”
“I don’t know if you can explain it to me, but what’s Bron doing to save Jed?”
Terin’s auburn brows knit together. “He’s pouring his own life essence into him, mixing it with earth magic, and mending the broken places in Jed’s body. The first task was to stabilize him enough to get him back to human form.”
“Jed said the mate bond would give me some magic.” She hesitated. “Is what you’re doing, where you manipulate earth magic, something I could learn?”
“Yes. It will take time, though.”
Terin pulled a chair next to hers and took her hands. “First, I need to explain a little to you. Some of it you’ve guessed, but hearing it may help. Your primary mate bond is with Jed. He will be your mated one—er, husband—in the eyes of the world.” Terin took a measured breath. “We three are a pack. As Jed’s mate, we welcome you.” A crooked grin lit the sharp planes of his face and made his amber eyes glow. “Part of that welcome is physical. We, that is Bron and I, want to be a part of your lovemaking with Jed. It’s what packs do. The alpha picks a mate and we all share.” Terin hesitated. His gaze bored into hers. “We would always care for you and respect you, just as he does.”
“I—”
“Uh-uh.” Terin let go of her hands. “Just think about it. No need to give any of us an answer right now. We live for a long time. We can wait for you while the mate bond takes root and grows.”
She smiled crookedly. “You may not have to wait very long. This mate-bond thing, it tugs at me like—”
Jed coughed. Alice leaped from her chair and bounded to his side. His coppery skin was pale. Bron helped him sit with his back propped against the sofa and his legs splayed on the hooked rag rug in front of the fireplace. Looking nearly as pallid, he staggered to his feet and clumped to the kitchen. When he returned, he had a bottle of whiskey in his hand. He took a swig and handed it to Jed, who drank and passed it to Terin, who’d also huddled close.
“Thank Christ.” Alice sank to the floor next to Jed. “I was so frightened I’d lost you.” She reached a tentative hand and laid it on his thigh.
“You don’t have to treat me as if I were made of glass.” He draped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “I’m healed. When it works, earth magic is quick. Bron did a good job. In an hour or so, I’ll have my full strength back.” He pried the whiskey bottle out of his lieutenant’s hand, took a nip, and then passed it to her.
Alice looked at it, shrugged, and slugged some back. “I don’t usually drink before five. Hell, I don’t usually drink at all.”
“This is a special occasion,” Terin said. “You lost a fair amount of blood from the cat bite. Nothing like good Irish whiskey to spur your body to make more.”
With a resurgence of his understated humor, Jed chuckled. “None of us needs an excuse to drink. What a hell of a morning. I was scared out of my wits when that wretched cat came out of nowhere and attacked. They’re supposed to sleep during the day—”
“It was a mother with early season kits,” Terin broke in. “She was hungry. Game’s not all that plentiful yet.”
Bron dragged a hand down his face, distorting his features. “We tried to give her a chance to live, but she was beyond reasoning with. One of her litter had already died. To her, we were a hedge to ensure the rest survived.”
“You, uh, spoke with her.” Alice ran up hard against the way things were supposed to be in the world.
“Of course.” Bron sounded offended. “We never take life without giving our victim a choice.”
Alice got to her feet. “Keep talking. I’m going to collect my clothes from where I left them on the bed. It’s too cold in here to be naked.”
“Well, almost never.” Terin grunted. “With Hunters, all bets are off.”
Jed exchanged glances with his lieutenants. “If the two of you could clear out of here, it would give me a chance to talk with Alice about—”
“I already did,” Terin said.
Alice came back into the front room and sat next to Jed. Her clothes were so dirty, she’d hated to put them back on. He looked at her appraisingly and blew out a considered breath. Something that might have been hope flitted across his face. “Terin spoke to you about the mate bond, eh? I’d have thought you’d run screaming down the mountainside, but I’m really glad you didn’t. Would you like some privacy so we could talk?”
Her lips parted. She bit the lower one. “I don’t think so. The way Terin explained it, we’re all part of a family. If there’s talking to be done, doesn’t that mean we do it together?”
Jed smiled. It was a pale ghost of his previous grins, but happiness glowed in the depths of his blue eyes. “What happened to being ‘so angry you wanted to scratch my eyes out’?”
She shrugged. “We don’t really know one another all that well yet. I have a temper. I suppose it comes from the McNeil side of the family. Like all Irish, my anger flares, burns hot, and goes out. Usually pretty damned fast. Dad was the same way. His bark was always worse than his bite.” A familiar sadness tugged at her. “He would have liked you.”
Jed inclined his head. “Really. He would have approved of you marrying a shifter?”
Alice laughed. “I don’t see why not. He held conversations with spirits and Sidhe and all manner of Irish ghosts.”
Bron nodded tiredly. “It’s probably one of the reasons you were open to the bond. You alrea
dy had a touch of magic from your Irish ancestors.”
“I’m glad there’s a reason,” Alice said. “We engineers like reasons. Beyond that, though, how will this work back in the real world? People will think it’s odd—” She shook her head. “Worse than odd, there are laws against polyandry.”
“It’s like I told you,” Terin met her gaze. “You’ll be married to Jed. So long as we’re reasonably discreet, no one will suspect Bron and I are more than close family friends.”
“We can work all this out once we’ve had a spot of rest.” Bron covered a huge yawn with one hand. “I’m going to curl up in a corner and fall on my face for an hour or so.”
“Thank God you’re in better shape than I thought you’d be,” Terin muttered.
“What a good idea,” Jed concurred. “Could you use a nap, sweetheart?”
“Sure. Then I probably need to head out after Brent. It’s possible he’ll tell the authorities to send someone to look for me.”
“Hmph,” Jed muttered. “Hadn’t thought of that.”
“I think we’re safe till tomorrow,” Terin said. “The Hunter was still out cold when we dropped him at the hospital. After the doctor thanked us, he said something about a coma.”
Jed’s eyes narrowed and zeroed in on Bron. “What did you do?”
Bron’s angular face softened as he smiled. “You know me too well. I simply made certain it would be a while before he woke up. Wanted to have plenty of time to get back here and clear out in case he made shifter noises and people came sniffing after us.”
“I’m going outside to see to the cat’s carcass,” Terin said. “Then I’ll get some rest, too.” He turned and strode out the door, latching it behind him.