“I love you, too.” As soon as she said it, she knew that they were leaving Caleb out. They would come to love him, but right now all they had between them was the overwhelming mating lust.
When Caleb pulled his hand away from her shoulder, she reached out and grabbed it, pulling it close enough that she could give it a kiss.
Grady slid in and out of her, kissing her mouth, her cheek, her jaw. She wound her legs around his waist and thrust back on every stroke. His hands touched her head and shoulder and his breathing became ever heavier. “Close.”
Her eyes focused on his shoulder, the spot where she would bite him as soon as he came. She felt her teeth growing sharper.
Then his whole body tensed. His teeth elongated and he sunk them into her shoulder.
With a howl, an orgasm crashed through her body. Instinct more than thought led her to bite him. Her mind flooded with the waves of pleasure turning her body to mush.
Grady’s body tightened all over again. The groan that emerged from his throat sounded like a combination of a howl and a moan, all muffled by her shoulder still in his mouth.
Their orgasms went on and on but finally she opened her eyes to see him staring into them from an inch away. The smile on his face couldn’t have been bigger if he’d tried.
He brushed his fingers over her cheek. “I love you.” His voice had a tone of wonder in it.
She smiled back at him. “Now we can be together forever.” Looking over at Caleb, she touched his face. “All of us.”
Grady buried his face in her throat. She rubbed his back for a few seconds until she realized he wasn’t moving.
“Do you two want to mark each other now?” she said.
Grady lifted his head and the two men looked at each other. “Not just yet,” Grady said.
“Then I’m going to mark Caleb.” Fiona pushed Grady’s shoulder and he moved off of her with a scowl.
As soon as Grady had flopped onto his back, Caleb pulled her toward him. He kissed her, holding her tight while his hands roamed up and down her back. “I can’t hold on for much longer,” he said.
“Then don’t. I’ve been wanting to bite you since I first saw you,” Fiona said.
A light sparked in his eyes, the first time she’d seen that. She wanted more.
He rolled her onto her back and slid into her in one quick move. They both sucked in their breath.
“Oh, God, it’s good,” Caleb said. “I never imagined.”
“It’s not like sex. It’s so much more.” Not just more emotion. More sensation.
He slid in and out of her in a quick rhythm, pushing harder with every thrust. Fiona pulled his head down so she could kiss him, putting everything she felt into the kiss—hope, desire, excitement and joy.
When they pulled apart, Caleb pressed his forehead to hers. “Ready?”
“Ready.”
His teeth sharpened before her eyes. His thrusts got faster and harder. Then his body stiffened.
She clamped her teeth on his shoulder and his body jerked. Caleb growled then bit her, hard.
Another orgasm, harder than the others, slammed into her making her lose track of where she was and what she was doing. All she knew was the sensations pulsing through her body and the deep, deep blue behind her eyelids. It seemed ages passed while her body shook and trembled, out of her control.
When she finally opened her eyes, Caleb and Grady were staring at each other. Caleb shifted his arm and rolled off of her onto the bed.
She lay there trying to catch her breath, the marks from her two mates still burning on her shoulders. Caleb and Grady lay on either side of her. Why weren’t they moving toward each other? Didn’t they want to mark each other too?
From everything she’d heard about mating, that’s how it went—all three of them would mark each other as soon as possible. Surely the mating urge was pushing them to mark one another. So why didn’t they do it?
She was about to say something when Caleb rolled to his side and pulled her into him in a spoon position. As soon as Grady saw that, he moved, too. But not far. Not far enough.
***
Caleb lay in bed, holding Fiona tight against him from behind. Grady lay on her other side. He held her and kissed her and gazed into her eyes, all the while making sure no part of him touched Caleb.
After Caleb had marked Fiona, he’d reached out to Grady, hoping to pull him into their threesome. He’d wanted to mark Grady. But Grady just stared at him and didn’t move a muscle.
What the hell?
This was supposed to be one of the most exciting, fulfilling things that could ever happen to a wolf. But Caleb felt like he was on the outside looking in. Now more than ever.
He got out of bed.
“Where are you going?” Fiona said.
“Bathroom.” He closed the door a little too hard. He didn’t know what to do. His first instinct was to fight, to push and dominate and make things happen the way he wanted them to. But he couldn’t do that with feelings. He couldn’t make Fiona love him the way she loved Grady. He couldn’t make Grady see Caleb didn’t want to step on his toes. He couldn’t do anything at all.
Caleb splashed water on his face then stared at himself in the mirror. His mind spun, churning through ideas and discarding them one by one. There had to be a way to fix this. But damned if he knew what it was.
Someone knocked at the door.
“Yeah?” Caleb said.
“You’ve been in there a while,” Fiona said. “Everything okay?”
Chapter 4
“Everything’s fine.” He tried not to snap. That would just make things worse. Fiona seemed to like him, at least a little. The last thing he wanted was to alienate her, too.
After several seconds, Fiona said, “Will you come out? I think we need to talk.”
Talking wouldn’t help. But he couldn’t act like a spoiled child. He opened the door and emerged into the darkened bedroom.
Fiona stood nearby, naked, her curled hand resting loosely against her stomach. She took his arm and pulled him toward the little table and chairs. Once they’d sat down, she said, “Grady, you too.”
Grady didn’t say a word, just joined them, sitting on the edge of the radiator since there were only two seats.
“Why didn’t you mark each other?” Fiona said.
She sure didn’t mince words. “I tried,” Caleb said. “Grady pulled away.”
“Grady?” she said.
He wouldn’t look at either of them. “I wasn’t ready.”
“You marked me,” she said.
“That’s different. I love you.”
“You’re going to fall in love with Caleb, too. So why not mark him now?”
Caleb doubted that. “He doesn’t like me.” The words sounded petulant, and he wished them back.
“Sure he does.” Fiona’s tone of voice made the sentence a command more than a comfort.
“No, I don’t,” Grady said. “I can’t stand it when he touches you. I know I shouldn’t feel that way, but I can’t help it.”
Fiona leaned toward Grady, putting her hand on his knee. The light coming through the thick drapes highlighted her nude body, painting the most beautiful picture Caleb had ever seen. If only the rest of the day were so beautiful.
“Why do you feel like that?” she said. “You finally have what you want—we’re together.”
“Except we’re not together. We’re with him.” Grady tipped his head toward her. “I’ve loved you for so long. I just want you for myself.”
“That’s not how it works,” she said.
“Don’t you think I know that?” he said.
Fiona rested her forehead on Grady’s knee.
“I don’t want to feel like this.” Grady shot a glance at Caleb. “I don’t. But I don’t know how to stop.”
“I think you and Caleb need to get to know each other better.” Fiona sat back in her chair and pushed her hair away from her face. Gazing at Caleb, she said, “Are you up for tha
t?”
“Yeah.” Caleb wasn’t sure what good it would do, but he couldn’t think of anything better.
“Grady?” Fiona said.
“Fine.” Grady pushed off the radiator to yank his clothes off the floor.
“Don’t be like that,” Fiona said.
“I’m not. I’m just cold.”
Liar. It was a warm spring day, which was the only reason Grady’s naked tuchus hadn’t burned up on the radiator…it wasn’t on. “We never had lunch,” Caleb said. “Not to leave you out, Fiona, but Grady and I should go get something together.”
“Not a problem,” Fiona said. “I want to spend some more time with my sisters. I’ll call and see if they’re free.” She sauntered into the bathroom. Both Caleb and Grady watched her go.
“You’re going to have to get used to me,” Caleb said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You don’t really think eating lunch together is going to make a difference.” Grady pulled on his shirt.
“No. But Fiona does, and that’s good enough for me.”
Grady sat down on the bed to tug on his socks. “So you’re whipped.”
“You’re one to talk. She’s more alpha than you.”
Grady’s head flipped up. “No, she’s not. She’s just used to ordering me around because she outranks me.”
Caleb pulled his tired body out of the chair so he could put his own clothes back on. “You keep on thinking that if it makes you happy.”
After Grady yanked so hard on his shoestrings Caleb thought he’d snap them off, Grady said, “Where do you want to eat? I don’t know any restaurants here.”
“I don’t either. Let’s just go back to the place where we were earlier.” Caleb hoped this plan of Fiona’s worked. Just talking to Grady tired him out. The man hated him.
Caleb had almost finished dressing when Fiona emerged from the bathroom, still naked. Her muscled yet curvy body made his cock twitch. “I’m not that hungry,” he said. “We could go back to bed.” He knew she’d refuse, but he couldn’t help but try.
With a smirk, Fiona said, “We will. Later.”
The three of them finished getting dressed in silence. Minutes later, Caleb and Grady got into Grady’s car. They drove all the way to the restaurant and were seated at a table before either of them spoke to the other.
“So, you like sports?” Caleb said.
***
Grady winced. Sports? Then again, it was better than talking about feelings. “Yeah, I like sports.”
They spent the next several minutes discovering that they didn’t like the same sports and didn’t agree on a single sports team. Cowboy Caleb liked rodeo, for God’s sake. Rodeo. And when Grady broached the subject of baseball, Caleb said it was “okay.”
“This isn’t a good beginning.” Caleb’s mouth turned up at one end. “We can’t even enjoy sports together.”
Grady jiggled his leg, tapping his heel against the floor. “Sports isn’t everything. Do you like video games?”
Caleb’s face screwed up. “Who has time for video games?”
What kind of man didn’t like video games? “Movies, then. You like movies?”
“Of course.” Caleb leaned forward a little. “I like action flicks. And sci fi. Especially sci fi action flicks.”
“Alien.”
“Hell, yeah. All four of them.”
“Aliens is the best one.”
Caleb chuckled. “Hands-down the best. And what about Predator?”
“Predator’s awesome. Did you see AVP?”
“Of course!”
They continued talking movies until the check came. Caleb grabbed it. “I’ve got this.”
“I can pay my own way,” Grady said.
“You can get the next one,” Caleb said. “Listen, sooner or later, we’re going to combine our money anyway. So who pays doesn’t really matter.”
The reminder that they were mates, not buddies, and that he’d be with this guy for the rest of his life, made his stomach clench. “If that’s true, then why not let me pay?”
Their eyes held as they each tried to exert dominance. Grady looked away first, cursing. Caleb pulled out his credit card.
So Caleb was more dominant than he was. And if Caleb was right, Fiona was, too. What the hell was Grady supposed to do with that?
At the thought of Fiona, Grady remembered why he disliked Caleb so much. But the worst part was that Fiona had been right about the whole spending time alone thing. Grady didn’t dislike Caleb as much as he did before their lunch. And in a backward way, he felt resentful that he liked him better.
At the same time, he hated the jealousy he felt. He was normally laid-back, the most laid-back of the three of them—Fiona, Liam and him. The only thing that ever got him tied in knots was Fiona.
Caleb signed the bill and they stood. “Where to now?”
“I guess we find Fiona.” Grady pulled out his cell just as Caleb’s rang.
Caleb answered as they wound through the restaurant toward the door. With all the extraneous noise, Grady couldn’t hear who had called. By the time they reached the street, Caleb had hung up. “Jake wants to meet with me. He’s going to stop by here and pick me up. You okay finding Fiona on your own?”
Seriously? “Of course.” Grady hesitated. “Thanks for lunch.” What now? He wasn’t going to kiss the guy goodbye. Maybe shaking hands would be enough. After a second, he stuck out his hand.
Caleb grabbed it. A tingling sensation washed over Grady, sweeping straight to his groin. His cock hardened.
Caleb’s eyelids lowered and he squeezed Grady’s hand tighter.
Nothing mattered in that instant except Caleb. Grady wanted to pull him close, kiss him, hold him, touch him. The desire searing him from the inside out could only be satisfied when Grady’s teeth were in Caleb’s flesh.
A car horn honked and Grady jerked his hand back. What the hell was he thinking?
Caleb shook his hand as though he’d been burned, laughter in his eyes. “So you’re not immune.”
“Never said I was.”
“You did a good impression.”
Grady shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked on his toes. “Yeah, well. This is a lot to take in.”
“Yeah. Yeah, it is. But if we keep working at it, we’ll get through it. Just like Ripley.”
Grady chuckled. “Ripley. Yeah, that’s us. Two ripped tough-ass women.”
Caleb laughed. “No, that’s Fiona. Which makes us…cannon fodder.”
“Alien fodder.”
“Same ending.”
They smiled at each other. For the first time that day, Grady thought maybe this could all work out. The tough stuff wasn’t over, but they might actually have a chance.
Jake pulled up. Caleb clapped Grady on the shoulder then got into the car. Grady pulled out his phone as he watched Caleb go.
***
Caleb didn’t have to be a genius to see that Jake was pissed. His mouth was drawn tight, his fingers wrapped around the steering wheel in a death grip as they drove down the road a mile or two and pulled into a parking lot.
“I talked to Keene. He said it’s up to you.”
Exactly what Caleb had expected Keene to say. That’s how he ran his town. That’s why Caleb never wanted to leave, as long as Keene was in charge.
“Let’s go inside.” Jake got out of the car.
Caleb followed him around the corner to a place called Mary’s Tavern. Inside, the place was nearly empty, but smelled overwhelmingly of wolf. Shaped like an “L,” a bar sat on one side with a small dance floor in the back while the section along the windows looked more like a restaurant. Jake led him to the far corner of the bar side, away from windows and patrons and prying eyes.
As soon as they sat down, Jake said, “What will it take for you to hand him over?”
“A trial. Same as I told you this morning.”
“Why is a trial so damned important?”
They fell silent as a waitress approache
d. “Hey, Jake. What’ll you boys have?” After they ordered beers, the waitress left.
The few minutes had given Caleb a chance to think about the best way to get Jake to understand. “Let me tell you a story. A few years back, this guy named John found his mates. When he took them back to his pack, his Alpha decided he liked the female. Liked her so much he took her—locked her up and raped her.”
Caleb tried to tell the story dispassionately but it always pissed him off. “John and his mate, Dan, rescued their female mate and the three of them escaped to Lunaville. Their Alpha showed up a few days later claiming that John and Dan had killed someone and that all three needed to be handed over to him. If we’d followed normal pack law, you can guess what would have happened. The female would still be locked up in the Alpha’s house and her two mates would be a ditch somewhere.”
Caleb took a breath. “That’s why we can’t just hand someone over. That’s why we have a policy to never hand anyone over at all. Ted is a special case. I want him out of my town. That’s why I’m willing to work with you. But I can’t let wolves think Lunaville has changed their policy. They have to still see us as a place they can find sanctuary. That’s why we need a trial.”
Jake waited while the waitress delivered their beers. “How did you know John and Dan were telling the truth and not their Alpha?”
“I investigated. Which is what I’m doing here. I verified that their Alpha was full of shit and kicked him out of Lunaville.”
Jake gazed at him steadily. “There’s nothing I can do to change your mind.”
“No. Do you see why?”
“Yeah. If Maeve had found her way to Lunaville and Ted had come after her, I would have wanted you to protect her, not hand her over just because her Alpha said so. So yeah, I understand. But I want Ted dead.”
About time he got the picture. “At this point, so do I.”
They spent the next hour planning out the specifics of how the trial would take place, who would need to stand witness, who else might need to go, plus when, where, and how long. They each put together a to-do list.
Finally, they stood. “Can I drop you someplace?” Jake said.
“Maybe back at the hotel?”
“Sure thing.”
***
The Alpha's Legacy, An MMF Erotic Romance (The Stonewall Pack Alpha Series) Page 3