Shadow Lovers

by Jenny Penn

  “Hit me with one.” Ryder nodded, opening his mouth and waiting for Khal to toss a chocolate in.

  Khal didn’t hesitate. Something had changed in him. He kind of thought it had something to do with Cookie or maybe the amazing climax she’d treated him to. Even if he wanted to get annoyed, he just didn’t have it in him.

  “That is good.” Ryder nodded. “You want to try some of this?”

  He shoved the key lime pie in front of him over toward Khal, who dipped a fork into the gooey sweetness. A second later, he was moaning and nodding.

  “Sweet and tart. I like it,” he declared, diving in for a second helping.

  “Well, you certainly are growing more agreeable,” Ryder noted with a curious look.

  Khal swallowed and accepted his fate. Of course, Ryder was going to have to accept him as well.

  “Yeah?” Khal lifted a brow, growing serious for a moment. “Wait until my men come around. They’re going to pound your men into the ground.”

  “They’ll have a hell of a time trying,” Ryder smirked, his confidence unshaken. “My men can hold their own.”

  “I guess we’ll see.” Khal paused before pointing out the obvious. “You do realize that the likelihood is that they’ll all have to share mates. It’s the only way to truly integrate the packs.”

  “There’s going to be blood.”

  “Maybe.” Khal shrugged, not the least bit concerned by that comment. “But I suggest we let them sort it out.”

  “You suggest?” Ryder smirked at that choice of words, not doubting for a moment it had been intentional. “You better watch it or next you’ll be telling me please and thank you.”

  “How about screw you?”

  Ryder shot him a mischievously amused look that Khal knew to be wary of. “I’d rather take Cookie for another ride, if it’s all the same to you.”

  Khal rolled his eyes at that, refusing to give into the bait. “I’m just saying, your men, my men, life will be easier if they’re our men.”

  That was probably true. Life of an alpha didn’t pass without its challenges. By that, Khal meant real, straight-up challenges that had required him, on more than one occasion, to hurt and even kill any rival that dared to question his authority. Those men would probably be a hell of a lot less likely to try if they knew they were facing both Ryder and him.

  That meant, though, they’d have to be equal.

  “Yes.” Ryder nodded, seeming to read Khal’s very thoughts. “That means we’re the boss.”

  “The boss of Cookie.” He agreed to that. She didn’t apparently.

  * * * *

  Cookie came out of the bed at that. Nobody was the boss of her, and she made that clear despite the fact that she was naked.

  “What did you say?” Cookie demanded to know, unabashed by her nudity thanks to the outrage pumping through her. She even wagged her finger at them as she charged forward. “Boss of me? I don’t think so⎯hey!”

  Cookie shrieked as she came too close to the men and Khal snaked a hand out to latch onto her waist and drag her down into his lap.

  “Just what do you think you are doing?” Cookie panted, the excitement twisting through her again as he used the thick, strong bulge of his thighs to force her legs wide open, leaving her exposed to Ryder, who was staring at her pussy with a hungry gleam in his eyes.

  “Reminding you that there are two of us and one of you…guess who gives the orders.”

  “Me,” Cookie answered without hesitation, refusing to be intimidated by the moment.

  Why should she be? Whatever they did, she knew they wouldn’t really hurt her. Just the opposite. Already she could feel the lips of her pussy swelling and slickening with the proof of her arousal as Ryder slowly rose to his feet and lifted his hand. He hesitated for a second to lift a brow in her direction, but Cookie wasn’t changing her answer.

  “Me.”

  His hand came down instantly, his palm cracking over her cunt and making her sensitive flesh swell with a sudden rush of searing heat. Cookie fell back against Khal’s chest, all but moaning as the glorious sensation bloomed through her.

  “Again,” she panted, and he obeyed, proving that she was actually the one in charge.

  At least for the moment, but that moment came to a rapid end as Ryder continued on paddling her pussy and making her weep with the pleasure. Her cunt was on fire, aching and desperate for something more, something hard and thick. All Ryder appeared concerned with in that moment was punishing her, which was just what he did as the rapture built within her to a painfully jagged peak that had her crying out with the need clawing through her.

  “This is only a taste of what the last three hundred years were like. There was no satisfaction, no end to the need, no consolation that would ever heal the pain we felt at the loss of you. This is what you did to us.”

  Through the whirl of delight twisting tightly through her, Cookie heard Khal’s rough and ragged whisper floating through her head. The sound was filled with an ache that made her heart clench. She hadn’t meant to hurt them, never would mean to, but something had gone wrong. Right then Cookie didn’t have the reason or logic left to figure out what.

  All that mattered in that moment was the wickedly wanton feel of being held by one man as another punished her. The sense of vulnerability was hammered in with every crack of Ryder’s hand across her pussy and the feel of the rough fabric of Khal’s clothes. They faded away until she felt the hot, silken length of his cock pressing back between the cheeks of her ass.

  Then he was filling her, stretching her wide and making every spank across her pussy all that much more intense. More was what she had to endure as Khal’s big, rough hands came up to cup her breasts and tease her nipples. He twisted and pulled, driving Cookie to complete distraction as she writhed and moaned in his lap, enjoying the feel of all that they were doing.

  She wasn’t alone in her lust.

  That became clear a second later as Ryder’s spanking came to a halt and he reached for her arms. Then she was jerked out of Khal’s lap and shoved roughly onto the floor. Before Cookie could catch her breath, Ryder was kneeling behind her and forcing her thighs wide as the flared head of his cock brushed against the wet folds of her pussy. Then he was sliding in and setting Cookie’s world back on fire. Ryder taunted her with a slow invasion that had Cookie twisting beneath him in wanton invitation.

  Not about to be left out, Khal slid from his seat to come to kneel before her. He disappeared for a moment, merging into shadow and then reemerging from them cleaned and hard. The flared and flushed head of his cock bobbed before her lips. Cookie couldn’t help but take a taste. Allowing her tongue to lap out over his thick head, she drew a muttered curse from him before Khal snapped at Ryder.

  “The princess still has some sass left in her. I thought you were supposed to be fucking it out of her.”

  Ryder snorted at that and responded with a quick roll and thrust of his hips that left Cookie moaning as Khal began to pump into her mouth. His fingers tangled in her hair, forcing her to match the pace he and Ryder set as they began to fuck her with a merciless frenzy.

  It was a wild, frantic ride that had all three of them coming in an explosive climax that left Cookie shuddering as she panted for breath. When she caught it, she had only one thing to say.

  “That was amazing. Now get the fuck off me, Ryder. You weigh a ton.”

  Chapter 9

  Ryder was still chuckling a half hour later as he listened to Cookie showering once again, alone just as she’d requested. Khal was right. The woman was sassy, but he liked a little bite in his lovers. Then again, maybe that was why it had been so damn hot to paddle her pussy while Khal held her.

  What was really shocking was that Khal had seemed to enjoy himself, too. So maybe the bastard was finally learning to share. Ryder snickered at that thought as he glanced over at Khal, who was plowing his way through an entire chocolate cake.

  Neither he nor Khal needed the shower, the shadows havin
g cleaned them better than any water could. Those days would soon be over, or so he hoped. Ryder figured he had reason to hope.

  Cookie seemed honestly invested in, if nothing else, the sex. Even Khal appeared to have accepted that there was no fighting the passion that simmered between them without fail. That need was eternal, just like the flame Cookie was destined to reignite. Little did she know that she was the salvation of them all.

  The salvation or the damnation.

  “This shit is good.” Khal broke into Ryder’s meandering thoughts with that exclamation. He gestured to the cake before shoving it toward Ryder. “Wanna taste?”

  “Always.” Ryder met Khal’s gaze as he made that vow, that lone word holding a deeper meaning between them.

  “Oh God. Why do you have to make everything sound so dirty?” Khal groaned, but there was a twinkle in his eyes, assuring Ryder he was only acting. “You ever consider that you might be morally corrupt?”

  “Nope.” Ryder shook his head. “And I’ve got to wonder what you know about morality.”

  “I know how to break it.” Khal’s lips twitched as his gaze darkened with a look Ryder was coming to know well.

  The man was remembering just how good it was to play with their Cookie. Ryder couldn’t argue that.

  “I think we might have found the solution to our problems,” Ryder suggested with a wicked smile. “We’ll just take them out on Cookie. She seems to love being punished.”

  There was no end to their need for it. Just the memory of how good it had felt to screw himself into Cookie’s tight, wet cunt had Ryder shifting in his seat. That had been fun, and he’d be damned if he wasn’t doing that on a daily basis for the rest of his life.

  Two dozen babies, here they come.

  Smirking over that thought, Ryder scooped up a massive forkful of cake and took a taste. His pleasure in the moment was only heightened by the sweet, rich chocolate flooding his senses.

  “Hmm.” Ryder breathed in deep and closed his eyes as he savored the sweetness. “Almost as good as Cookie.”

  “No!”

  Both men started at that shrill command coming from Cookie as she came charging into the room wrapped in nothing but glistening droplets of water and an old, ratty towel that left little to the imagination.

  “No. No. No!” she repeated as she wagged a finger at them. “I will not be compared to cake! I am a woman. Not a dessert!”

  Ryder begged to disagree. From the smirk Khal shot him, he suspected the other man was thinking the same thing he was⎯Cookie looked good in nothing but a towel.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” Cookie’s gaze narrowed on them as she began to back up. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you can keep your hands, mouths, and everything else to yourselves while I get dressed,” Cookie ordered as she snatched up her bag before retreating back into the bathroom and slamming the door.

  Ryder shook his head and glanced over at Khal. “I don’t think we fucked the sass out of her yet.”

  “It might take a long time,” Khal agreed, sounding pleased by that fact. “Until then, I’m going to eat cake.”

  He made that bold declaration as he pulled the chocolate cake back toward him, leaving Ryder eyeing the dozen cream-filled chocolate cupcakes nestled in their fancy stand.

  Chocolate really was his favorite flavor.

  * * * *

  Thankfully, this time when Cookie rejoined Khal and Ryder, they stayed seated at the table, watching her with curious gazes instead of overheated ones. Unfortunately, they’d damn near eaten everything on it. By the time she made it to the table, all that was left were some scraps and a box full of donuts both men were eyeing with interest. The only thing that saved them from being devoured was Cookie’s entrance.

  She was still dressed to impress, but this time she hadn’t wasted energy on makeup or even blow-drying her hair. Why waste the effort when they didn’t seem to care what she looked like? They wanted her that bad, and that was a powerful aphrodisiac.

  Cookie controlled her hormones, though, and snatched up the box of donuts. Khal stilled while Ryder watched her with speculation glinting in his eyes while she pulled out a chair before bothering to address either man.

  “I am Jean Cooke, known by family and friends as Cookie, and you are?” Cookie directed that pointed question at Khal, but it was Ryder who leapt to his feet with an answer and a dramatic bow.

  “Ryder Chea, at your service.”

  That drew a heavy sigh from Khal, who rolled his eyes and shot Ryder a disgusted look. “She was asking me, you idiot. You already told her who the hell you are, and I’ll tell you who the hell I am, princess.” Khal’s gaze cut back to her and pinned Cookie with a pointed look. “I’m the man who is going to keep you naked, spread, and stuffed full of cock. Now can we get to the fucking?”

  “No.” Cookie snorted, certain he was teasing despite the seriousness of Khal’s expression. She’d already figured out that he went around scowling, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t laughing on the inside. Cookie kind of suspected he was, especially when he followed up his first question was a second one almost instantly.

  “Then can I have a donut?”

  “No!” Cookie couldn’t even believe he had the audacity to ask. “This was supposed to be my flaunting, and you ate it all.”

  “Well, we’ve been flaunting other things,” Ryder shot back with a grin that told her he was more than amused. He was downright tickled by her bossiness, tickled and trying to embarrass her, but Cookie felt no shame over what had happened or what would.

  “Yes.” Cookie smiled warmly at both men. “And you’re quite good at that…but explaining things, we need to work on that attribute.”

  “How about we make a deal,” Ryder suggested as he settled back down into his seat. “One donut for one honestly answered question, hmm? You’ve got eighteen donuts there. Surely, you’re not going to eat them all.”

  “I might,” Cookie insisted, but she did like the sound of his suggestion. It just needed to be tweaked. “I could consider giving up a donut or two for both answers and assurances.”

  “Assurances?” Khal frowned at that. “What kind of assurances?”

  “Well, for one, we’re not making babies until I say so.” That wasn’t even in question. Unfortunately, it led to one that even had Ryder scowling.

  “Shouldn’t you have worried about that a few days ago? I mean it’s kind of late to close those barn doors.”

  “I’m on birth control, but that doesn’t protect against diseases.”

  “What?” Ryder gaped as if appalled at her comment, but Cookie wasn’t backing down.

  “Diseases,” she repeated, “which is just why condoms—”

  “Why are you on birth control?” Khal demanded to know, cutting in without appearing to have heard the rest of what she’d said. “Do you have a lover?”

  If she did, Cookie suspected he’d have been a dead man, given the looks that Khal and Ryder were shooting her. So, Cookie chose her words carefully.

  “No, not lover, but…I mean I wasn’t a virgin. I hook up.” That was not the right answer from the way the two men continued to glare at her, but Cookie refused to cower. “Oh, come on. Neither of you were virgins. Hell, you’re both hot and rich. You must have women hanging all over you.”

  Ryder reared back at that accusation as if she’d smacked him. “I beg your pardon. I’m not rich…please don’t rob me.”

  “That’s not funny,” Cookie informed him with a dirty look.

  “I thought it was,” Khal chipped in. “Just a little.”

  “Like you’re any better,” Cookie turned on him. “I read all about you, too, Mr. Million Dollar Antique Dealer.”

  “I’m not apologizing for being rich,” Khal shot back as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Somebody has to make money in this family. How the hell do you think we’re going to afford those two dozen children?”

  “It was one dozen.” Cookie sighed
with exasperation, knowing a losing argument when she met one. “And I’m being serious here. I don’t want to be rich.”

  “That’s absurd.” Ryder snorted. “You want to help the less fortunate and give away some of our money, then fine, but we’re keeping enough to assure that you and our kids are always provided for.”

  That sounded like as good of a deal as she was going to get, and Cookie knew it. “Fine. What about the women?”

  Because she knew there were other women. There was no way there wasn’t.

  “I belong to you now,” Ryder pledged sweetly, but there was steel in his tone as he continued on. “And you belong to us. Understand?”

  “I think so.” But this wasn’t something left to vague threats. “You’re saying there is no cheating, but you’re not saying what happens if one of us does.”

  “Then the rival is killed,” Khal stated simply while Ryder nodded his agreement, as if suggesting they no qualms with killing somebody.

  Cookie didn’t know how she felt about that. She wasn’t nearly as comfortable with violence as these two. Who was to say that it wouldn’t be her they turned against? Her fears must have shown on her face because Khal’s scowl darkened as he appeared to read her thoughts.

  “You needn’t worry,” he grumbled. “We’d never hurt you.”

  “Of course not,” Ryder echoed, sounding instantly insulted by the very suggestion. “That’s as absurd as suggesting we carry diseases.”

  Cookie didn’t know which comment to focus on, so she picked the one that she might actually get an answer for that she finally liked. “And why can’t you carry disease?”

  “We don’t get sick.” Khal straightened up with that declaration, meeting her gaze with his before shocking her with his next revelation. “We don’t die.”

  Cookie blinked that in, unable to conceive of such a thing. Everything died. People, animals, the planet, the universe, everything had a beginning and an ending. Or so she’d been taught, but then she’d also been taught that werewolves weren’t real. What did she really know?