by Bec Adams
* * * *
Wendy woke in a strange bed, in a strange room, surrounded by strange men.
Her first thought was fear, but a quick perusal of the deliciously tasty, muscular, naked-as-the-day-they-were-born men settled something inside her. As dreams went, this was a pretty good one, although she couldn’t quite fathom why her imagination painted them both a strange purple hue. It kind of worked for them though, and it was her favorite color, so she decided to skip the confusion and go straight for the good stuff.
She glanced down at her clothes and wondered why she was still dressed—coffee stain and all. Perhaps she had a new fantasy that involved having her lovers pull her clothes off with their teeth. She waited, expecting someone to say something, but apparently her imagination was struggling. Perhaps she was concentrating so hard on world building that the characters were starting to seem wooden. It occasionally happened in her stories. It was almost understandable that it might happen in her dreams as well. Perhaps a little prompt would help to get them going.
She bit her lip, imagining that it looked as good as those models on television, and then whispered, “Aren’t you going to undress me?”
One of the men smiled brightly but rolled his eyes when the other laughed and stepped closer.
“So…um…tell me who you are,” she said, nearly rolling her eyes the same way smiley guy did. This was definitely the kookiest sex dream she’d ever had.
“I’m Sogarn. This is Donovan,” he said, pointing to the man beside him. Smiley guy—Donovan—gave her a wink but didn’t step any closer.
“Okay,” she said, wondering why on Earth they were going through pleasantries when they could be having a whole lot more fun. Knowing her luck, the alarm would go off before she had a chance to finish what they hadn’t even started.
Except that…now that she was a full-time writer she no longer set the alarm. Woo-hoo!
But she also didn’t quite recall going to sleep. The last thing she remembered was drinking coffee on the back veranda, telling one of her wolves about her latest book. Perhaps she’d fallen asleep on the chair. It would certainly explain the cold coffee stain on her chest. But she distinctly remembered spilling her coffee when Polly had warned her about the car coming up the mountain.
She’d hidden behind the door as men claiming to be special agents had surrounded her house and then turned into massive snakes and tried to eat her wolves.
Um…surely none of that happened. Special agents at her door? Guys wearing suits who turned into giant black-and-white snakes? And wolves that turned into…
Okay, proof positive that she was delusional stood in front of her.
“Where are we?” she asked even though she really didn’t want to know.
“In a safe house,” Sogarn said as he stepped closer to the bed. “We’re sorry you’re learning of our existence this way, but we were bound by orders not to disclose our presence.”
“Why?”
“Why are we here?” Sogarn asked, looking and sounding confused.
“Why did you kidnap me?” she asked as her gaze bounced between the two of them. “And why are you purple? And what did you do with my wolves? They were protecting me, keeping me company. Hell, they were the closest I’ve come to being loved since my grandmother died.”
Yes, she knew she was rambling, and it was quite possible she wasn’t making a whole lot of sense, but well, if she was dreaming, it wouldn’t matter, and if she wasn’t dreaming, then nothing mattered. She’d been abducted by guys who painted themselves purple.
She wasn’t the only one on this boat needing psychiatric evaluation. Purple people? It didn’t get more ridiculous than that.
“Wendy,” Sogarn said as Donovan also stepped closer, “we are your wolves. Less than an hour ago you sat on your back veranda, rubbed my belly with your foot, and told me about the way you stayed up late to finish your latest book.”
“Uh-huh,” she said sarcastically. “Where were you hiding when I was talking to Silver?”
The man cringed the same way the wolf had done when she used the name she’d tried to give him, but that didn’t prove anything other than they’d been watching her for a long time. He shook his head and glanced at the other man in the room.
“Goddess, I hate that name,” Sogarn said with a shake of his head.
“You think it’s any better than Blondie?” Donovan asked with a wide grin.
“Show her,” Sogarn said with a shake of his head. He gave her a grim expression but didn’t explain what he wanted the other man to do.
“Show me what?” Wendy asked as the man named Donovan turned into the wolf she’d called Blondie right in front of her eyes. The damn thing even jumped onto the bed and licked her face. She closed her eyes, counted to ten, and tried to ignore the warm weight of the wolf as it settled on the bed, pressed against her legs.
Holy heavens, could this day get any weirder?
Apparently the answer to that question was yes.
The cockatoo that flew into the room to sit on the bench beside her was very familiar. The words that came out of its mouth, however, were not.
“Idiotic, moronic mutt-shifters. Obviously you have no more sense than the stupid dogs you turn into.”
“Huh?” Wendy asked as the cockatoo paced back and forth almost like it was mimicking the affectations of a military leader.
“You’re supposed to be protecting me, not picking up strays.”
“Hey,” Wendy said, completely exasperated, “be nice, Polly.”
The bird shook its feathers, a birdy version of annoyance very clear is its demeanor, and turned toward her.
“My name is Gop-tru-alcarn. I am royalty, and you will treat me as such.”
Well, if that didn’t beat all…
Tired of feeling off balance and annoyed as hell at being spoken to that way when nothing else made sense, Wendy focused her anger on the one thing she could control.
“Well, Polly,” she said very deliberately as she climbed to her feet and moved to stand in front of the annoying cockatoo, “I spent the past year cleaning up your poop. Unless you can prove what you claim, I suggest you shut the fuck up.”
She felt the surprised reactions from every…ah…life-form in the room. She hadn’t said words like that out loud since she’d moved in with her grandmother. It actually felt quite freeing to be able to unleash a little of what she was feeling. When she’d thought Polly was a demanding cockatoo, she’d put up with what she’d assumed was its instinctual behavior, but if it was claiming to be royalty, then she didn’t plan to take shit from a supposedly intelligent being any more.
“You can’t talk to m—” Polly began, still sounding and acting like a screeching cockatoo.
“I can talk to you any way I fucking want, you rotten, demanding, feathered asshole.”
“Whoa, no need to get personal.” Polly took a step back, perhaps surprised by his reaction to her anger. “I mean…” The bird let out an ear-piercing screech. “I don’t have to stand here and take this.”
He screeched again, launched himself into the air, and left the room the same way he’d come.
Wendy turned her attention back to the purple man and blond wolf and wondered what the hell to do now. “Why am I here?” she finally asked, planting her hands on her hips as she waited for a response.
The purple man who’d been introduced as Sogarn moved closer and touched her face with the back of his fingers. “You had three snake-shifters lying unconscious in your home. Did you want to stay?”
A cold shudder worked its way down her spine. “They were real, too?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Sogarn said as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his embrace. It seemed strange to be cuddling up to the warm body of a naked, purple man she didn’t really know, but somehow it also felt like she belonged here. If these men were the wolves she’d been talking to for the past three months, then they knew her better than just about every person she’d ever met
. In fact, they were probably the closest friends she’d ever had.
That thought was a depressing one. She’d spent three months talking to wolves, exposing her innermost thoughts to beings who had never been given a chance to respond. That was assuming of course that she wasn’t just having a breakdown caused by her loneliness and was imagining that her wolves were purple men and her cockatoo was claiming to be royalty.
“It’s going to be okay, Wendy,” Sogarn said, moving to hold her closer, his hand threading through the strands of her hair. “We’ll explain everything. Try and get some rest. Dinner won’t be long.”
“Where are we exactly?”
“The safe house?” he asked, almost as if he was trying to avoid the question.
She nodded and took a step out of his embrace so that she could see his face clearly.
“We headed deeper into the mountain ranges so that we’re closer to our pack.”
“Your pack? As in wolf pack?”
“That’s right. Snake-shifters won’t dare slither into Shy River pack territory.” He tilted his head slightly, perhaps trying to assess how much to tell her. “Well, not usually,” Sogarn corrected, “but they do seem rather motivated. Anyone who can still hold a grudge nearly fifty years later is mighty pissed. Whatever Polly did to the people who hired them, they don’t seem inclined to forget.”
She opened her mouth but had absolutely no idea what to say next.
She was in a safe house with two purple-hued men who could turn into wolves and a cockatoo-shaped royal that was throwing a tantrum. Only this morning she’d lamented her boring life and wished for a little excitement.
This wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind.
* * * *
Sogarn wanted to pull her back into his embrace. Somehow just holding Wendy had felt perfect, like she belonged in his arms. After nearly a year of being close enough to touch but being restricted in his reactions by his wolf-shaped body, it actually felt like he’d finally come home.
Holding her had been the highlight of this entire forty-four year assignment.
But that thought did have the unwelcome effect of reminding him that he had a job to do. Despite the fact that they were well hidden, this was no time to let their guard down. Until they could get Polly set up in another safe situation, they were on high alert.
“Donovan, keep Wendy company,” Sogarn said quietly, hoping not to frighten Wendy any further but also wanting her to know she was in capable hands. “I’ll check on dinner and then do a quick perimeter run.”
Donovan yipped his agreement in wolfy exuberance.
“You know, I think that conversation might have gone more smoothly if we’d put clothes on first,” Donovan said telepathically as Wendy sat back on the bed and he settled down next to her again.
He and Sogarn had both grown so comfortable in their own skin they hadn’t even given clothes a thought. Sogarn laughed softly as he left the room. “I suspect you’re right.” Even though she lived alone, Wendy had always been dressed when they’d seen her. “I hope we didn’t make her too uncomfortable.”
“I believe we were the ones left feeling uncomfortable,” Donovan said with a pained sigh.
Sogarn laughed. “She is one gorgeous lady, even if she is a human.”
Donovan didn’t bother denying the attraction. With their mental link there was very little that they could keep from each other. They’d fallen for the human even when she’d thought they were just wolves. This wasn’t exactly how Sogarn had hoped to draw Wendy into their lives, but he couldn’t help but be a little grateful for the arrival of snake-shifters that made it necessary to reveal their human forms.
Now they just needed to explain the breach of protocol to the alpha. That was one conversation Sogarn definitely was not looking forward to.
* * * *
Wendy dropped her hand to the wolf beside her, caressing behind his ears as had become her habit when she was thinking. Except that now that she knew the wolf lying on the bed beside her wasn’t actually a wolf, it was probably something she shouldn’t be doing. Her thought was reinforced when the furry liar groaned in wolfy pleasure. She snatched her hand back.
“Change,” she said frantically. Perhaps a little too frantically considering the way the wolf’s ears swiveled toward her a moment before it sort of melted back into the shape of a purple man. Purple…“Why the hell are you purple?”
Donovan laughed softly and reached over to touch her face with the backs of his knuckles. “Just genetics,” he answered with a smile. “Some packs can integrate into human society quite easily. We aren’t one of them.” He laughed softly. “Well, except on Halloween.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, sitting up in bed so that she could see him more clearly. It probably wasn’t the best of ideas. Sitting up made her realize that the huge man lying beside her on the bed was actually naked. She tried not to look, but well, it had been a really long time since she’d seen an actual cock. Her thoughts trailed away when she realized Donovan had followed her line of sight and was apparently pleased by it. Wow, that was one impressive erection.
“We didn’t tell you,” he said calmly, as if he wasn’t lying beside her naked and aroused, “because we weren’t authorized to do so. Technically, we’re still not, but under the circumstances it became necessary. Fighting off snake-shifters is near impossible in wolf form. It’s much easier with a shotgun.”
“Did I kill them?” she asked worriedly.
“No, they’ll recover from the rifle shots and maybe come after us again, but well, you’ve met Polly. We’re not even sure what he did, but it doesn’t seem like something worth killing for. The snakes were probably just doing their jobs the same way we are.”
“But I saw them try to kill you and Sogarn.”
“Yeah, but it was only a halfhearted attempt.” Halfhearted? Was this guy serious? “It’s okay,” Donovan said, apparently misreading her reaction. He reached for her and pulled her down the bed and into his embrace. “We’ll protect you if they return.”
“But who will protect you?”
Donovan laughed softly, his warmth enveloping her, infusing her with a sense of calm that she hadn’t really felt in many years. “We’ve been doing this a long time. You’re in good hands.”
Yes, she was. In fact, a wicked part of her wished those hands would move just a little. The soft touch against her abdomen was very appealing, but she was quickly coming to hope he would caress a little higher or perhaps even a little lower.
She shivered slightly, trying to hide her arousal, and once again Donovan seemed to mistake her reaction as fear. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Get some rest.” He moved them both to a more comfortable position, sighing softly as he pressed his hard cock against the crease of her ass. She was fully clothed with a blanket over her, but she couldn’t help sighing in return. How was it that she felt so comfortable in the arms of a man who was essentially a stranger?
* * * *
Donovan tried not to breathe too deeply. At first he’d worried that she was frightened, but then the sweet smell of her arousal had reached his nose and it had taken all of his strength not to do something inappropriate—like strip her clothes off and bury his cock deep inside her body. He ground his teeth together, trying to will away his poorly timed physical reaction.
“D–Donovan?” she asked in a timid voice as if she wasn’t quite sure how to pronounce his name.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Do you remember everything I said to you in wolf form?”
Of course he did. When he shifted into a wolf he was still conscious of his actions—he figured that was pretty obvious by the way they’d reacted to both her ex’s attack and the snake-shifters’ attempt to abduct Polly—so her question was a little confusing. He moved away slightly so that he could roll her onto her back and see her face.
“What’s this about, Wendy?”
She blushed prettily, and he couldn’t help pressing his lips to hers
for a quick kiss. He trailed his fingers over her stomach, absently wishing she wasn’t wearing clothes and hidden under a blanket, and waited for her to answer.
“I just…I’m sorry for, you know, complaining to you all the time. I mean, if I’d known you were men instead of wolves…” Her words trailed off, and she looked at him worriedly. “You are men who turn into wolves, aren’t you? Not wolves who turn into men?”
He smiled at her worried question. “Yes, Wendy. Both forms are natural for us, but we think and behave like men most of the time, even in our wolf shape.”
“Oh, that is such a relief,” she said on a deep exhale. “I was worried that—”
She cut her words off and colored with embarrassment even more.
“You were worried that you were attracted to me?” he asked with a grin, trying to keep the conversation light even as his erection grew heavier.
She nodded warily.
“And Sogarn?” he asked, wanting to get that part out of the way quickly. It wasn’t unusual for werewolves to share a mate, but he knew it wasn’t the norm for humans.
She nodded, her eyes wide as saucers as she waited for his reaction. “Are you mad?”
“Hell no,” he said before leaning in to kiss her, this time lingering much longer as he explored her pretty mouth with his tongue. He gave her another grin as he finally came up for air. “I’m actually relieved. It would have been very awkward if you were only attracted to one of us.”
“Oh,” she said, clearly trying to work through the confusion of the past few hours. It was a lot to take in, and if he’d been in her shoes, chances were he wouldn’t have been nearly as calm. He couldn’t imagine how annoyed he would be at being deceived the way Wendy had been.
“Thank you for not being angry.”
“Oh, I’m plenty angry,” she said with a tone of voice that sounded more like her usual confident self. “I’m just trying to assign blame to whom it belongs. Who gives you your orders?”