by R. E. Butler
Her hands dropped to her stomach and she played her fingers across the soft, flat expanse of flesh underneath the innie belly button that he found wholly erotic. “If we have other things to do, then we should get out of bed, okay? Because I can’t really think straight with you two naked in bed with me.”
Ethan snorted, his finger popping out his mouth with an audible wet sound. “You can’t think straight?”
They sat up, both of them groaning quietly. His body was hard with tension. He’d never had such an erection before, but he didn’t care. Sure, he wanted to bury himself in her pussy for years, but he didn’t want to rush it. Seeing her climax that way had been more powerful than anything he’d ever witnessed in his life. He dare thought he could just pleasure her for the rest of his life and he’d be more satisfied than all of the times he’d ever come combined.
Little vixen, she purred, “Sure I can’t take care of anything for you?”
He gave her an incredulous look and she sat up suddenly. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t stop feeling so needy. I’ve never felt like that before. And now you’re both unsatisfied. I don’t mean to tease. Let me help you.” She kissed his shoulder and then turned her head to look at Ethan who was already drawing pants on from the dresser.
“No, sweetheart, we’re fine. It was our pleasure, I promise. And right now, we have more serious things to discuss.” Ethan assured her.
Her knees drew up under her arms as if remembering the wolf. “Do you think they thought it was me?”
Ethan tossed a pair of jeans at him and he slid them on over his aching skin. “I don’t think so. It was a male wolf, for one, and for another it was very clearly a natural wolf and not a shifter. But I think the message is clear.” He leaned over and kissed her forehead.
Ethan offered to make breakfast and Eryx urged her to take a shower and said he was going to make some phone calls. She nodded, looking a lot less happy than she had several minutes earlier.
Although every fiber of his being revolted at leaving her in bed alone, they had matters to attend.
After a short conversation with their father, in which he cursed a blue streak and said he’d be over within the hour, he called their Uncle Rhett.
After a cursory greeting, he dove into the explanation of things, and Rhett did not disappoint him.
“We’d love to have you come here, Eryx. Lisa would love to have another woman around. The humans shy away from her a little because of me, and she’s lonely. When do you think you can come out? There’s not much to do right now except tend the animals for the winter. The police force could use another cop, although in a town this small it’s mostly youthful indiscretions.”
“We’ll need to come pretty quick. If last night was any indication, then they’re not playing anymore.” He sighed and rubbed at the space between his eyes.
“You know, we’ve got the old apple barn, it’s just got equipment in it right now, but it’s got a big old cast iron stove in the center of it for warmth and has a second floor that could easily be converted into bedrooms. I’ll get to converting it right quick at least with the plumbing and getting it cleaned out, we’ve got plenty of furniture in storage for ya’ll to use.”
“Thanks, Uncle Rhett. I don’t know what we’d do if we didn’t have you to turn to.”
“Nonsense. No lion male would turn down family, or anyone else in distress. You give me a ring in a couple days and let me know when we can expect you. If you’d like, you can have your Callie call Lisa and they can get to know each other.”
He ended the call on a sigh of relief and then he felt hands on his bare shoulders and recognized them. With practiced skill, she smoothed out the taut muscles of his shoulders and he was lulled into a sweet peace. Her hands slid across his chest and she kissed the shell of his ear.
“I feel like I’m falling in love with you, Eryx.” Never had a woman spoken such sweet words to him.
“I’m already there, angel.”
Chapter 10
**Callie**
Ethan opened the door to let in their father and brother. Callie was certain she surprised them by going straight to his father and hugging him. She kissed his cheeks and told him softly that she was sorry she'd fought against the truth and he nodded and took in a long breath, as if he were trying to stop some great emotion from breaking free. Just behind them, their uncles walked in, and she hugged and kissed their cheeks as well, and then went to Ethan and crowded against him in the kitchen. It felt like she'd been away from him for too long. Eryx joined them, sandwiching her in a possessive way she liked while the other men sat at the table and discussed the situation. She listened quietly while they talked about moving to Indiana and selling the house and keeping her safe in the meantime. A storm was moving across the Midwest and if they left now they’d get mired in the middle of it.
So they decided to wait until the first week of February. That was just three weeks from now. They were certain they could keep her safe until then. She hated the idea of them leaving their family for her, but if what had happened last night was any indication of just how off-balance the female lions were, it wasn't smart to stick around.
Ethan excused himself to the garage to get his laptop from the jeep and Callie offered to go with him.
"Are you sure?" She stopped Ethan before he turned to go back into the house.
"About what, love?"
"All of this. This was your grandpa's house, your family is here." She paused, a little lost to the emotion of everything when an unwelcome voice interrupted them.
"Hello, dog." Melania crowed, coming to stand just inside the garage next to Eryx's mustang. Behind her were Tanya and Farrah, mocking smiles on their lips.
Fear washed over her immediately as Ethan tucked her behind him. Eryx was suddenly at her back. She didn't know what had prompted him to come into the garage, but she was very glad he was there.
The women moved a few steps further into the garage as if they owned the place, and the looks on their faces said they hadn’t come to apologize. She was tempted to back up a few paces but she knew if she turned tail now that things would only get worse. She heard Ethan and Eryx's family come to the door for support but they didn't come into the space with them. She knew that they would back them up if things got out of hand, but the three of them had to work this out on their own, period.
Melania peered down her sharp nose at Callie and her eyes narrowed. Whatever her plans were, they weren’t good at all.
“What are you doing here, Melania?” Ethan asked angrily.
She sneered, raking her eyes over Callie like she was a helpless bunny. It made her blood run cold. This was a woman that wouldn't waste an opportunity to take out a rival, by any means necessary. Melania ran her tongue across her top lip and pointedly ignored Callie, turning her head to look at Ethan.
“I can’t believe you wanted to have a cub so badly, Ethan. Really, that you would go to the dogs for that, it just boggles the mind.”
A fine shiver of tension wove through Callie and she stepped slightly away from them and turned her head to look at Ethan who looked completely mortified.
Melania curled her lips in a sinister smile. “Oh, he didn’t tell you? Just a few days ago, Ethan was begging me to have a cub with him, even to marry him. So pathetic, like all the males around here.” She sighed and blinked innocently. “If you want it so badly, Ethan, I’ll give it to you. I’ll even try to be in a relationship with you. No need to pollute the gene pool with this little bitch.”
The two other females with her smirked at Callie, looking down at her as if she were nothing. But she wasn't nothing. She was a rogue werewolf and the mate to two mountain lions. In that moment, Callie had found a cause worth fighting for - her mates - and something snapped in her brain as her wolf snarled inside her and demanded satisfaction.
In the blink of an eye, Callie grabbed Melania’s ponytail and slammed her head into the spoiler with a sharp growl, the sound of her head hitting the metal like a
thunderclap. Melania crumpled to the floor, unconscious, an enormous gash across her face that cut through her eye. Her face was covered with blood that was already seeping into that mane of blonde hair and onto the garage floor. Callie took a menacing step towards the two females and her voice came out edged with a vibrating growl, “You get your friend out of my house, and you tell her when she wakes up that if she so much as has a dream about my mates, that I will climb her like a tree and beat her to death with her own arm.”
The females were frozen in place, their eyes wide with fear, and Callie took another step towards them and slammed her palm down on the trunk of the car. They jumped and then moved fast, grabbing Melania between them and hauling her outside and into a waiting car.
When the car was gone, she spun on Ethan and Eryx. She could feel her wolf simmering under her skin. Her fangs had elongated in her rage and she knew her eyes would be wolf amber. She licked the edge of one of her canines and glared at Ethan.
“You asked her to bear a cub with you?”
Ethan’s voice was riddled with worry, “Before you came into town, love, I swear.”
“You want her?”
“No, no, I promise, Callie. The second I knew we were mates, I didn’t ever want anyone else but you.” His voice was low, begging.
“I feel the same way, Callie,” Eryx added.
She swung her penetrating gaze towards Eryx and in a heartbeat both men were on their knees before her, shame and worry coloring their features.
Blinking in surprise, she let go of her wolf and her eyes bled back to hazel and her fangs receded slowly. “It’s damn strange that I don’t stand up for myself but threaten a cub or you two and I’m all half-shift and ready to take on an army.” She shuddered slightly, went to her knees in front of them, and hugged her arms around both of their necks.
“We can’t help that we’re your mates, Callie,” Ethan’s voice was soft and laced with genuine remorse over the situation.
She heard their family move away from the door to give them privacy and could hear the wonder in their hushed voices. She had not only surprised herself with her actions, but she had clearly surprised everyone.
“I don’t want you to be anything else but mine.” She sighed and leaned back, kissing them gently.
Glancing behind her, she let out a slow breath. “I may have just made things a whole lot worse.”
Eryx tugged a lock of her hair and she turned back to them. “You didn’t, angel. And it doesn’t matter. In a few weeks we’ll be on our way and then you won’t have to look at any other females unless they’re human.”
“When your family leaves, I want us to make love. I don’t want to wait a second longer.” She knew that she should continue her conversation with them, to make sure that they were not going to regret leaving their family behind for her, but all she could think of at that moment was making love to her mates and marking them as her own.
Back in the kitchen, she was feeling damn twitchy. Maybe it was because of the wolf dying last night and it being a direct threat to her, or maybe it was because she’d been completely out of control in the garage over those stupid bitches and their presence, or maybe because she felt like her insides were on fire and the only thing that would put the flames out was Eryx and Ethan. Naked. Oh yeah. She’d never been so horny in all her life.
And all they were doing was standing in the kitchen and talking. Talking. Talking. Talking. She’d been sitting at the table for a while, because standing up to the females in the garage had taken a toll on her and she’d needed to sit down. But now she was pacing and twirling a lock of her hair around her index finger, which was a nervous habit from when she was a kid.
“Angel?” Eryx’s voice broke through the steady hum of thoughts in her head about bare chests and hot mouths and heavenly moans.
“Hmm?” She stopped pacing and looked at them and realized they were all watching her intently.
“You okay?” He asked as he and Ethan moved closer to her. Well, that was good and not good, because they smelled wonderful. All heat and male and sex. Damn it.
“I’m, I’m fine. Were you saying something?”
“We just wanted to know if there was anything from Allen that you need us to have shipped to our uncle’s?”
“Ah, no, I only have the two suitcases and my, well, I don’t have a car anymore, I guess it's more of a mangled twist of metal and upholstery.” She gave him a half smile and he chuckled.
James said, “Ethan said you needed to have a mechanic look it over for the insurance company payout?”
She nodded and Grant said, “One of our cousins runs the shop in town, just have one of the boys give him the information for the insurance company and Brad can handle it for you.”
“Thank you.” She smiled in relief. That little ditty had been hovering over her head.
Ethan kissed her temple. “We’ll get you a new car when we get settled. We’re going to drive both vehicles to Indiana anyway, no sense taking a third along for such a long trip.”
She agreed and then felt her body temperature rise another notch just being between the two of them. Both of them tensed slightly, their arms around her going more solid like their muscles were flexing. She either needed to get away from them or apologize for stripping and mounting them in the kitchen in front of their family, so she said, “I’m going to, um, go in the back and lay down. Thank you all...for everything.”
Eryx kissed her cheek. “We’ll come find you when we’re done here.” The heat in his eyes said he hadn’t forgotten she said she wanted to make love to them after they were alone, and she hoped they wouldn’t wait long. Her wolf was snapping in her brain to get close to them, to touch and taste every inch of their bodies and to mark them.
She shut the bedroom door and sat down on the edge of the bed. Her body was humming like tuning fork. It seemed like an eternity before the front door opened and the sounds of shuffling feet and quiet goodbyes reached her ears. Her wolf whined, finally! And then their feet sounded on the carpeting as they moved through the family room and down the hallway towards her. Every step made her body tighten and her sex flood. She had never been so turned on before in her life.
The door opened and they moved in, stopping at the edge of the bed in front of her and looking down. The looks on their faces were identical: love, desire, lust, heat. She could drown in that heat and never get enough.
She swallowed and her mouth seemed really dry. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
Ethan’s soft smile reassured her. “Neither have we.”
She flushed, partly from heat but partly because she was a little embarrassed, “Can you both be with me? I mean not like at the same time, but just, all of us together?”
They looked at each other and then at her and the silence in the room was palpable. Eryx finally said, “You’d like us to take turns with you, but all three of us be on the bed together?”
“Yes. If you want that, too?” She just knew that at least this first time, she wanted them both with her. She wanted to share everything with them.
“We want whatever makes you happy, sweetheart.” Ethan’s smile was slow and predatory and Eryx’s matched it.
She jerked her top over her head and dropped it to the floor. “I want to not have clothes on anymore.”
Their shirts came off and she made the motion to toe off her shoes when they both dropped to their knees and undid the laces of her tennis shoes. And then her socks came off, and if she said it wasn’t a damn erotic thing to watch, then she’d be lying. They looked at each other for a quiet moment, each with a foot in their hand, and clearly something passed between them, because they stood and took off their own shoes and then Eryx climbed up on the bed and took her in a hard kiss, pulling her up the bed and putting her down on the pillow.
He kissed across her jaw to her ear and lashed the shell of it with his hot tongue. “If we do anything you don’t like, let us know right away. We only ever want you to
know pleasure at our hands, angel.”
She might have answered, but she felt the bed shift and then Ethan’s hands were undoing her jeans and all thought went out the window. He tugged them down slowly, leaving her panties on, and Eryx was kissing her deeply and cradling one breast in his palm. His hand slid around to her back and he fumbled slightly with the catch of her bra but it came undone and he pulled away from her mouth with a triumphant smile and pulled it off with his finger hooked in the middle.
“You are fucking gorgeous, angel.” He said with a deep voice.
He moved slightly off to the side and kissed her again, his thumb running around her nipple in slow circles. She felt Ethan’s hands on her knees and he slid them slowly up her thighs and her legs began to quiver. His hands landed on her hips and he leaned down to press a kiss to her belly button and her stomach twitched and she felt him smile against her heated skin. He tongued her belly button, and then hooked his fingers in her panties and sat up enough to draw them off her before spreading her legs apart and settling between them.
Eryx pulled away from their kiss and she looked at Ethan. “I want to eat your pussy until you come on my tongue, sweetheart.” He stroked a finger up her folds and she let out a shaky breath. “Would you like that?”
What she meant to say was oh hell yes!, but what came out of her mouth was a pleading, “Please, Ethan.”
He dropped his head slowly, parting her before leisurely stroking his tongue up her once. The whole world dropped away and she writhed under him while he explored her core with his fingers and mouth. Eryx kissed her until she couldn’t kiss anymore for the panting and moaning, and then he moved to her breasts, lashing them with his tongue and sucking them deeply into his mouth, grazing her tight nipples with his teeth. Her nails dug into his back as Ethan drew an orgasm from her, his mouth against her and his tongue and fingers deep inside.