by Tara West
Even though her mates insisted it wasn’t her fault, she secretly suspected they blamed her. She felt less connected to Hakon and Luc with each passing day, as they spent more time outside than inside with her. Her mates and Tatiana had gone fishing on the frozen lake, something they did daily. Fishing was Drasko’s favorite sport, and when they went without him, it was like they were chipping away at her heart each time they dug that hole in the ice.
Her little dogs, Gremlin and Scrooge, barked when they heard Rone’s steps on the stairs. Her thoughtful gamma kept checking on her to make sure there were enough logs on the fire and her cocoa was still warm. He was the only one of her mates who she still felt a strong connection to, her beacon of light in the depressing darkness.
Her heart clenched when his head popped above the stairwell’s metal railing, his mouth turned down in a familiar frown. Ever since they’d returned from Romania, her mates would sometimes get in moods, and the only thing that would pull them out was Amara’s healing touch, which was getting stronger every day.
“I need you,” he said as he fell down beside her.
When the dogs yipped at him, she ushered them off the sofa. With grumbles and heavy sighs, they curled up on a bearskin rug by the fire.
After Rone set her drink on the coffee table, she ran her fingers through his thick hair when he rested his cheek on her belly. “Better?” she asked, as she felt the tingling healing energy of her magic seep into his skull. She loved the liquid heat that her magic created, making it feel like warm butter was dripping out of her fingers.
“Much,” he said with a satisfied groan.
She rubbed his scalp, feeling him melt beneath her touch. “I wish I could chase away the demons for good.”
If only. Her touch might have sealed cuts and healed wounds, but it didn’t erase memories. And to think, her fathers had had to guard the veil for half a year. She’d been so relieved when her bunica called yesterday to tell her the Romanian chieftain had declared his nephews dead and called off the watch. The Devoras had been inside the heart of the Haunted Forest for six months. There was no way they were coming out.
Her fathers would finally get a chance to rest, and hopefully heal, though they were forced to return to a cold home with an unloving mate.
It simply wasn’t fair. Though she called them a few times a week, there was no way their souls had escaped their ordeal unscathed. She wished she could go see them and cheer them up, but Hakon didn’t want her traveling in her condition, especially not now that the Stormwatchers lived in Romania. Maybe Hakon would let her fathers visit her in Alaska. Amara would even put up with Katarina for the chance to see them.
Rone shifted in her lap, kissing her belly and then nibbling her fingers. She bit her lip, repressing her desire. “Be good,” she chided, wishing so badly they could make love.
His smile was mischievous. “I won’t be good in a few more weeks.”
Heat flamed her chest and face. “I’m holding you to it.” She tenderly stroked his baby face, trying to lean over for a kiss, then laughing when her belly got in the way.
He sat up and feathered a soft kiss across her lips, eliciting a groan of pleasure. She was reluctant to stop, but she needed to before they got hot and bothered, really bothered.
“We need to stop,” she breathed against his mouth, her chest heaving with unfulfilled desire. Oh, how she couldn’t wait to make love to him. She secretly hoped that would drive away his demons for good.
“I know.” He nibbled her lip before pulling away with a pout. “I want to be inside you so badly.”
“Me, too. Soon,” she promised. She rubbed his scalp again, smiling when he sighed and snuggled against her. How she loved her sweet gamma.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Amara,” he murmured, kissing her belly. “You don’t know how much you’ve healed my soul.”
She ran her fingers through his thick, silky hair. “I wish I could complete your healing.”
He gave her a gentle squeeze. “Just keep holding me.”
They spent a long while wrapped in each other’s arms, watching snow fall with the setting sun. Rone’s soothing presence helped to heal Amara, too. If it wasn’t for him, she didn’t know how she could’ve survived four long months without Drasko while also dealing with Hakon and Luc’s dark moods.
Amara inwardly cringed when she heard the door shut downstairs. Hakon and Luc had returned with Tatiana, which meant their private time was about to be disrupted.
She sighed when Rone pulled away and sat up, planting a tender kiss on her forehead. “I’m going to start on dinner.”
“Do you need my help?” she asked, knowing she’d get a no. After her belly had popped out like an exploding can of biscuits, her mates started treating her like a porcelain egg, refusing to let her do anything around the house.
After he left, she laid back on the sofa Her mates came up the stairs. Buster was the first to appear on the landing, rushing up to her with icicles dripping from his chin and snow clinging to his backside.
“Hey, buddy.” She scratched his frozen chin while he sniffed her belly. He then ran over to the other dogs, joining them by the fire.
She jerked upright when she saw Luc covering his ear with a bloody hand, his brows drawn together in pain. “Luc, what happened?” She tried to heave herself off the sofa, feeling like a tortoise who’d been flipped on its back.
Luc nodded to Tatiana, trailing behind him, her eyes brimming with tears. “She hooked me in the ear.”
“I’m so sorry, Luc,” Tatiana wailed.
“It’s okay.” He waved away her concern, blood trickling down his neck. “It was an accident.”
Rone took Tatiana into the kitchen, sitting her on a stool and forcing her to sip a cup of hot tea.
When Luc sat beside Amara, she covered his ear with her hand, willing the trickle of blood to stop as she put all her focus into sealing his wound. She was amazed at how quickly the hole closed, leaving nothing but a faint scar and a smattering of dried blood.
“Wow, that was fast.” He kissed her on the cheek.
She leaned into it, regretful when he pulled back too soon. As the days got shorter, so did his kisses.
He patted her knee in a brotherly gesture. “Pretty soon you’ll go from healing cuts to curing cancer.”
“I doubt I’ll ever get that good.” She patted her big belly. “I fear this is only temporary, like the baby’s magic is blending with mine.”
“We’ll know in a few weeks,” Rone said, handing her a wet towel.
She absently cleaned the blood off Luc’s ear and then her fingers. A few more weeks and the baby would be here. Maybe she’d be so busy being a mom that she wouldn’t miss Drasko so much. Or maybe she’d miss him even more, regretting that he wouldn’t get to be a part of their growing family.
“What’s the matter?” Luc asked as he leaned over her, rubbing her back.
She shrugged. She knew it made him uncomfortable when she talked about Drasko, but she hated being forced to keep her feelings for her second alpha bottled up. “It’s not fair that Drasko doesn’t get to see the baby.” “Amara,” Luc warned on a low growl. “Hakon said not to talk about him.”
She shot him a heated glare. “I don’t give a damn what Hakon said!”
“Everything okay in here?”
She gasped and looked over Luc’s shoulder at her big alpha. She hadn’t even heard him enter the room.
“Everything’s fine.” She didn’t have the nerve to look him in the eye and tell him the truth, and she hated herself for it.
“Amara healed Luc right up.” Tatiana followed Hakon into the living room, a stiff smile on her face. “Your magic is really amazing, Amara.”
“Thanks,” she said, waving Tatiana over so her sister-in-law, not Hakon, would sit beside her.
Tatiana held her hand and gave her a sympathetic look.
“You look tired.” Hakon’s tone was way too condescending as he stared at her lik
e she was a preschooler who needed help wiping her own ass. “Maybe you should lie down before dinner.” No doubt he’d heard her tirade and was trying to get rid of her to avoid a confrontation.
“I am tired.” She flashed an exaggerated eye-roll, knowing how much he hated it when she pouted. “I’m tired of pretending everything is fine when my heart is shattered. I’m tired of watching you carry this grudge against your brother over an accident.”
“That’s enough,” Hakon boomed, his nose and face lengthening as his protector struggled to break free.
She clung to Tatiana’s hand. Her tracker’s silence told her all she needed to know. He was just like Hakon, unsupportive and stubborn. She wiped away hot tears. “He’s alone and miserable.”
“A just punishment for almost killing my mate and child!”
Hakon’s thundering voice made her jump. Did he think to make her cower with his mantrum?
“It was an accident. How many times does this need to be said? Should we banish Tatiana for hooking Luc’s ear?” Sorry she mouthed to Tatiana, who trembled while her brother stomped around.
Hakon shot a fist in the air. “Do not try to compare the two!”
Tatiana crawled off the sofa, slinking back into the kitchen like a dog who’d been caught chewing up her master’s slippers. Amara’s dogs ran up the stairs and into her bedroom. The little doggies would cower under her bed while Buster hid in the closet. She hated when Hakon raised his voice.
“He’s suffered long enough,” she blurted. “He eats packaged noodles every night and doesn’t do anything but work and stay in his room.”
That got their attention. She regretted the words the moment they slipped out, wishing she could take them back. She hadn’t told anyone about her visits yet.
Amara shifted under the heavy weight of Hakon’s glare. The air in the room was suddenly heavy and stifling.
“You make my unborn son take you to see Drasko every night?” Hakon said, his volume rising with each word.
“I don’t make him do anything.” She pulled a blanket up to her shoulders, wishing she had a thicker barrier between them. “He knows I miss Drasko, so he takes me.”
“Tell him to stop doing that.” His words were like searing arrows shooting straight into her heart.
She sat up, squaring her shoulders. “No.” Though her heart raced and her gut churned, she would not let this man-beast intimidate her into submission.
He stormed over until they were touching shin-to-knee. “Amara, I am your alpha and you will listen to me.”
His deep tenor rattled her insides. Something in his protective tone almost made her bend to his will. Almost.
She turned up her chin in a powerful act of defiance. “And I’m your mate, the mother of your child. If you want me to listen to you, then you need to start listening to me.”
“Damn you, woman!” he yelled, eyes gleaming like bursting suns.
She pushed the blanket off and got up, ignoring the rattle of her knees as her breath mingled with Hakon’s. “What Drasko did is nothing compared to the way you’ve hurt me by ignoring my broken heart and dismissing my feelings. My soul is shattered, and you don’t even care.” She was so enraged, she was hardly aware if she’d made any sense.
“None of this fighting is good for the baby.” Luc took Amara’s elbow in a tight grip, pulling her away from Hakon and toward the stairs. “Hakon is right. You should lie down before dinner.”
She didn’t need rest. She needed mates who weren’t stubborn jerks. “That’s right, treat me like a wayward child and put me to bed instead of listening to me.” She ignored Hakon’s swearing and grumbling while Luc pulled her up the stairs.
As soon as they reached the landing, she jerked out of his hold and walked past him into her private bedroom. No way was she going into their shared room. She’d had enough testosterone for one day. She tried to shut the door on Luc, but he squeezed through, ignoring her protests and helping her into bed.
“Some days, Luc,” she said, turning her back to him, “I wish you’d never found me.”
He caressed her back. “You don’t mean that.”
“I’m miserable,” she blurted, choking back a sob. “Drasko is gone, and you and Hakon ignore me.”
“We don’t mean to ignore you,” he said soothingly, rubbing her shoulder. “It’s just hard talking about him.”
What a load of bullshit. “It’s hard not talking about him.” Sorrow wrapped around her heart like a string of barbed wire.
“Come here, sweetheart. Don’t cry.” He pulled her to him, kissing the top of her head.
She clung to him, clutching his collar. “We’re all broken, and I don’t know how to put us back together.”
He wiped away her tears. “Finding you was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I love you.”
She desperately searched his eyes, relieved to see the love she felt for him reflecting back at her. After four long months, Luc was no longer shutting her out. She hoped it lasted. “Then help me get Drasko back,” she pleaded.
“I can’t.” He stroked her cheek.
Luc rocked her in his arms, kissing her and murmuring words of love. She didn’t fight him when he pulled her down, lying beside her and stroking her back. His deft fingers traced lazy circles across her ass and inside her thigh. How she wished they would travel to that sweet spot, though she knew it was wrong with the baby between them.
She was surprised when he pulled down her sweatpants. “What are you doing?”
He trailed hot kisses down her neck. “You need this.”
She tried pushing him away, but he was right, damn him. She needed an orgasm so badly, she was ready to explode with so much as the slightest breeze. “The baby,” she protested, though she sounded weak and unsure.
He pushed her onto her back and slid his long fingers under the edge of her underwear. “He doesn’t know what we’re doing.”
But what if he did? She couldn’t let Luc do this. When he found her slick ribbon, she heaved a groan.
“Oh, Luc!” She squealed as he dipped a finger into her pussy, drawing out the moisture and circling her tender and swollen nub.
She sank into the mattress, surrendering to him, captive to his touch. Her legs involuntarily fell open as he stroked once, twice, three times, before she shot off like a rocket. She held his hand in place, her pussy throbbing against him. Ripples of pleasure shot through her. And then he started rubbing again.
“No, Luc,” she protested before another orgasm shot through her like a bolt of lightning.
She groaned his name when he captured her lips in a searing kiss. She panted against his cheek when he pulled back, her head spinning as she floated above the clouds.
Wow. Those orgasms had been intense, which was not surprising after four months of pent-up sexual frustration. The baby hadn’t kicked or showed any signs he was listening. Amara hoped he was sleeping.
“Feel better?” Luc asked with a chuckle. The wolf sure sounded proud of himself.
“Your plan worked.” She stretched, stifling a yawn. “Now I’m sleepy.”
He sat up on one elbow, smiling down at her. “I only wanted to ease your stress.”
The baby took that moment to kick and roll over, as if he was doing somersaults in her tummy. She ran her hands down Luc’s soft, flannel shirt. “I can’t return the favor.” She felt terrible about it, for she could feel his unfulfilled desire pressing against her hip.
“I don’t expect you to.” He traced the curve of her jaw before brushing his lips across hers. “I love you, Amara.”
Her heart felt near to bursting. How she’d been longing for this kind of tenderness from him. “I love you. Will you stay with me?”
“Of course.”
When she pressed her palm to his heart, she felt the aching in his soul and knew he’d been pining for her as much as she’d been longing for him. She let her healing magic sink in, infusing him with love.
LUC WAITED UNTIL AMARA had f
allen into a deep sleep before moving to the edge of the bed, where he freed his massive hard-on from the restrictive jeans. He took himself in hand, imagining her lips wrapped around his cock, sucking him to the root while batting her pretty eyes at him. He relieved himself in a few strokes, the climax almost painful after several weeks of buildup. He cleaned up the mess with a sock, his shoulders slumping with relief. All these months of living a platonic life under the same roof with the most beautiful woman he’d ever known had finally driven him over the edge. Not that he hadn’t relieved himself before, but this time he had the smell of her on his fingers, driving his lust.
He slipped quietly out of the room and went downstairs, where he found his brothers alone in the kitchen. Rone was cooking, and Hakon sat at the counter, sulking into a beer. After scenting traces of Tor, he knew his Alpha father had been by to pick up Tatiana.
Rone’s nostrils flared. “Why do I smell Amara’s heat?”
Luc pulled a beer out of the fridge. “I rubbed a few off for her.”
Hakon slammed his bottle on the counter. “You did what?”
Luc popped the top and leaned against the counter. “Gave her some orgasms.”
Hakon stood, planting his knuckles on the counter. “And she let you?”
“She was already coming by the time she tried to stop me.” He guzzled his beer, inwardly smiling while his brothers swore.
“Fuck!” Rone dropped his spatula on the floor. “Did you get to—?”
“No.” He laughed. “Just her. She needed it more than I did.”
Hakon sat back down, the crimson flush draining from his face. “Is she sleeping?”
“Yeah,” Luc said, grateful he was able to help her get some rest after diffusing the tension radiating off her in waves. Her angst wasn’t good for the baby.
“Hope she wakes in a better mood,” Hakon said, once again sulking into his beer.
Luc tensed, mentally steeling himself for what he was about to say, knowing Hakon wasn’t going to like it. “She misses her mate.”
Hakon shot him a look of disgust. “Don’t you start, too.”
He threw up his hands with an exasperated snort. “He’s my fucking brother. He’s your brother, too.” He pointed his longneck at Hakon. “And you know he didn’t mean to hurt her.” Holding Amara in his arms, listening to the rise and fall of her chest, he’d had time to reflect on his attitude toward Drasko, and he’d come to the conclusion that he and Hakon had been acting like first-rate assholes.