by R. E. Butler
Chapter 1 2
Az fixed Whisper’s plate at breakfast and poured a glass of orange juice for her before settling next to her and fixing his own plate. Her family was eating with them, taking a last chance to talk before they left to head to Philadelphia to catch their flight home.
“When are you coming to Beyton?” Bliss asked as she spread jelly on a triangle of toast.
“I haven’t even been to Kentucky yet, and you want to know when I’m going to leave already?” Whisper said it with a light laugh, but Az heard the slight strain in her voice.
“Well, you have to come to my birthday party! You promised you’d play, and there’s no way that Kross and Kayne will do any of the songs I really like without you there to sing lead.” Bliss was pouting in an over-exaggerated way, but Az guessed that the act was pretty close to the truth. Her best friend was leaving, not just moving across town but going several states away to start a new life. Her mates’ hands were suddenly on her, as if they recognized that Bliss was truly upset and wanted to help her calm down.
Nyte jumped in. “We’ll bring her back to Beyton for your birthday, Bliss.”
She gave them a watery smile. “Really?”
Whisper looked at Nyte, and Az saw her relieved smile. “Really, babe. Do you think I’d miss my bestie turning twenty-five?”
The conversation around the table eased into unimportant things, like cake and party decorations, which left Az time to consider once more that perhaps their mate wasn’t as happy about living in Dalton as they had hoped she would be.
After breakfast, they finished packing and watched as Whisper said goodbye to her biological family. The entire baro had come out to see them off; it took a lot longer for them to get on the road, but it was worth it to see Whisper have a chance to talk to everyone once more.
Nyte pulled out of the driveway, and they all waved to her family. Whisper sat in the back seat between Az and Fade, and as they turned down the street and Nyte set the GPS to the airport, she yawned and wiggled in the seat until her head rested in Az’s lap.
He brushed his fingers through her hair as Fade lifted her feet and dropped her shoes to the floor of the SUV, settling her feet on his lap. “Do you want a shirt or something to lay your head on so you’re more comfortable?” he asked.
She turned her head and smiled up at him. “Your lap is very comfy. And there isn’t anything hard poking me in the back, like last night.”
“Sue me for thinking our mate is hot,” Nyte grumbled from the front seat.
“You are,” Az said.
“I think you guys are hot, too,” she said, punctuating her words with a yawn.
“Rest, baby, we’ve got you.”
She smiled sleepily and settled back on his lap, quickly falling asleep.
Many hours and a plane ride later, Nyte carried Whisper through the front door of their apartment in Dalton as Fade and Az followed behind, carrying as many of her bags as they could manage. They’d encouraged her to pack as much as she could into suitcases and had paid the extra fees for the bags. The only thing that hadn’t been practical to bring along was her full-sized electronic keyboard, so Az had arranged for Alyssa and Sydney to buy one for her and leave it at the apartment as a surprise.
“How about the grand tour?” Nyte asked as he put her on her feet.
“Sounds good.” She smiled at them.
The three-bedroom apartment had two stories, with the eat-in kitchen, family room, and a half bath on the first floor, and three bedrooms and two bathrooms on the second floor. It wasn’t that big, but it had been fine for him and his brothers up until they’d brought Whisper through the door. Now all Az could see were the faults. The dull white walls. The worn carpeting. The rental furniture. As Nyte showed her around the house acting like a docent in a museum, Fade squeezed his shoulder.
“We’ll get a house built ASAP. It’ll be designed by our mate and perfect for all of us. Then we’ll feel at home.”
“Will we?” Az asked, bitterness rising in his gut once more. He just wished he knew for sure that Whisper would feel at home in Dalton. Suddenly, he wasn’t positive that was the case. They didn’t know Whisper well enough to know when she was hiding her feelings. The nurturer in him didn’t much care for that thought.
Fade arched a brow and said nothing, but Az felt as though his brother might be thinking the same thing. Nyte whistled at them and nodded his head towards the stairs. Whisper was already climbing them to the second floor, and he and Fade followed close behind.
“So all this is rental, the furniture and everything?” Whisper asked as she stood near the window of the master bedroom that Nyte had claimed, but which would now belong to all of them.
Nyte said, “Yes.”
“Your baro is nearby and has land you can build on, though, right?”
“Our baro,” Nyte reminded her, before confirming that they could build anywhere they cared to on the wooded property.
She smiled over her shoulder at them. “Is there an induction like in the pack, where my dad officially joins new members?”
“No; when we mate you, you become part of the baro,” Az said. He moved to her and looked down at her as she turned her attention out the window. It overlooked the parking lot, and beyond that a small grassy area with benches and a stone fountain.
She seemed to be focusing on something outside. Az asked, “Are you all right?”
She shook her head suddenly, like she was trying to clear her thoughts, and dropped the blinds, effectively shutting out the view. “There was a car out there that I swear I’ve seen before. It drove off, so I must be imagining things.”
“What sort of car?” Fade asked, his voice dropping to a growl.
She waved her hand absently. “It’s a dark sedan, like probably a million others around. I thought I saw one at the rest stop between Atlantic City and Ocean City, and at the block party last night, I swear I saw one near where the street had been blockaded. But it has to be a coincidence.”
Az looked at his brothers, and they both looked concerned. “Maybe.” Nyte said after a long moment. “But just to be safe, don’t go anywhere alone.”
She snorted lightly. “I don’t have a car. Where would I go?”
“Would you go somewhere if you could?” Az asked and immediately regretted it. What if she said she wanted to go to New Jersey or Maryland?
“All I want to do is take a shower and go to bed. It’s been a long day.” The corner of her mouth curled up in a teasing smile, and Az kissed her forehead.
“How about a bath?”
“If you promise not to let me fall asleep and drown.”
“I promise.”
He left her with his brothers and went into the bathroom, turning on the taps in the garden tub and adjusting the water. It wasn’t as nice a bathroom as he would have liked for her. He pictured her in a big Jacuzzi tub, with bubbles covering the surface of the water and teasing him with occasional peeks of her silky flesh.
She joined him in the bathroom, and his brothers stayed in the bedroom. There wasn’t really enough room in the bathroom for four people anyway, especially not when three of them were fairly big and muscular.
Whisper stripped slowly and then stepped into the tub. The water swirled around her calves; she reached her hand out, and he grasped it. “Join me?”
In a heartbeat, everything in his body heated and tightened. He had a lot of regrets in that moment, the least of which was that they weren’t officially mated so he couldn’t join her in the tub. It would be too tempting to make love to her. Keeping at least their shorts on had prevented them from having easy access to her sweet pussy, especially at night when she seemed to enjoy wiggling against them.
His voice came out raspy when he said, “Can’t, baby. You’re too tempting.”
She sighed and sat down in the water. “I never thought it would be a hassle to be tempting.”
He chuckled and knelt next to her, resting his elbow on the edge of the tub as
he checked the water temperature. “I’ll wash your back for you; that seems safe.”
Grinning, she wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her cheek on her knee. “Is there anything that’s safe when it comes to us touching each other?”
“Probably not,” he agreed. He turned off the water and grabbed the wash cloth he had set on the edge of the tub, lathering it quickly with a bar of soap. Rubbing the cloth along her back seemed like a simple thing, but his cock didn’t think it was all that simple and neither did his brain, which wanted to make him drop the cloth, pull her out of the tub, and then make love to her. Or his beast, which wanted to mark her while they loved her.
Whisper reached over and laid her palm on his cheek. She moved in the water until she was on her knees facing him. “You smell good when you’re turned on, Az. What are you thinking about?”
He raised the soaked, sudsy cloth up to her shoulder and squeezed, watching as the soapy water slicked down her chest. “Touching you,” he said roughly. “Tasting you. Feeling you come on my cock again and again.”
She moaned softly as he soaked the cloth again and squeezed it out over her. “I want that. I don’t want to wait,” she said.
Looking into her caramel eyes, bright with arousal and need, he fell in love with her a little bit more than he already had. He didn’t want to wait, either, but he knew they needed to. This situation right here was exactly why they weren’t supposed to mess around alone. It was difficult for Az to turn her down when she was practically begging to make love to him. He didn’t have a whole lot of willpower, and his beast roared at him to do anything to make her happy, even if it meant going against their way of doing things.
Shaking his head slightly, he dropped the cloth into the water with a splash and brought her hand to his lips, kissing the top. “We can’t, Whisper.”
Her cheeks pinked in blush. “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry? I’m the one that rubbed you all over until you could smell my arousal. I should apologize.”
“For wanting me?” She arched a brow. “I like that part. I’m just sorry that I pushed you. I wish that we could make love now. Whenever we wanted. Because I want you. I want all of you.” She cast her eyes over his head, and he knew his brothers were looking in through the doorway.
Nyte cleared his throat. “Give us two days, Whisper, and we’ll do the mating ceremony and join together.”
Her eyes widened. “Really? I thought we needed more time?”
Nyte said, “We told you that you would dictate the physical part of the relationship, baby. It’s not easy to have three mates, and we didn’t want you to feel overwhelmed when we were strangers. Now, I feel like I’ve known you my whole life. I feel the same way as Az, and so does Fade. We’re ready for you whenever you’re ready for us.”
“Tonight?” she asked, chewing on her bottom lip.
Fade groaned softly. Az chuckled and tilted her face to look at him. “We have to get the supplies ready for our mating. You can wait two more days, right?”
He slipped his hand down the front of her body, stopping to gently thumb her nipples before cupping her wet, hot sex. “Two?” Her voice came out on a breathy sigh.
“Just two,” he answered.
The slick heat of her body called to him. He glanced over his shoulder to his brothers, and Nyte nodded and then said, “Come on his fingers, baby, and then it’s my turn to make you scream.”
* * * * *
The following afternoon, Nyte found himself driving his clan to Dante’s home for a welcoming party. Alyssa and Sydney were excited to meet Whisper, and although she seemed a bit nervous, she was looking forward to the party.
Whisper sat in the second row of his F-150 between his brothers, which seemed to be a newly established habit - him driving and his brothers cuddling with their mate. He wasn’t jealous. Much. And maybe he’d make Az drive home so he could get some cuddle time with Whisper. Not that they hadn’t cuddled plenty the night before. If by cuddling one meant making her scream in ecstasy as she came over and over again. Their mate was addictive. He knew that when they mated, he’d never want to leave the bed.
“What are you thinking about so seriously?” Whisper asked.
“I’m trying to figure out what job I can do from bed so that, once we’re mated, I never have a reason to leave.”
Her musical laughter filled the cab of the truck. “I’m surprised I could even get out of bed today.”
Fade growled lightly. “You should never leave.”
Nyte rolled his eyes as he heard the sound of kissing. One more reason he wished he wasn’t driving.
“Wow, this is a nice house,” Whisper said as Fade helped her out of the truck after Nyte stopped in front of Dante’s clan’s home.
“They built it before they met Alyssa. They’ve lived in Dalton for a few years,” Nyte said.
Az and Nyte joined them and waited while she looked around. “It’s so quiet here.”
“It wasn’t quiet in Beyton?” Nyte asked, skimming his fingers down her arm and catching her hand with his.
“I guess so, but not like this. This is more like…country quiet. I’m used to hearing sounds from the bar, people coming and going, and seagulls in the morning.”
“Seagulls?” Az asked.
“Sure, they’re like the roosters of the ocean. Always squawking at dawn.”
They walked up the front steps and opened the front door, and Nyte called out, “We’re here!”
“We’re in the kitchen,” Mason called back.
Az took their coats and hung them in the hall closet, and they escorted Whisper down the long hallway to an enormous kitchen where the other eight members of their baro were gathered around the island.
“Guys, this is our mate, Whisper Callahan. Whisper, these are the members of our baro.” Nyte introduced each member from the two clans. The males came up and shook her hand, keeping a respectful distance from their cousins’ not-technically-mated mate, but the females hugged her and welcomed her with broad smiles.
“It’s so nice to meet you, Whisper,” Alyssa said. “Welcome to the baro.”
“Thanks,” Whisper said. Alyssa pulled her gently away from her mates and led her towards Sydney. It made Nyte happy that she was so quickly accepted. She glanced over her shoulder at them and smiled tentatively.
Dante motioned to Nyte, and he and his brothers followed the males out of the kitchen and into the large dining room, which had been set for dinner. Their baro whooped and cheered, clapping Nyte and his brothers on their backs and wishing them well with Whisper.
“We’re happy for you,” Mason, the youngest of Dante’s clan said. “Lys couldn’t wait to meet her.”
“Syd, either,” Orion, the eldest of his clan, said. “I think our mates will become fast friends.”
“I’m sure they will,” Nyte said.
Dante cleared his throat, and everyone quieted quickly. “Of course congrats are due to Nyte and his brothers for finding their mate at a gathering, of all places. Who would have guessed?”
Nyte snorted. He’d certainly not expected to actually meet his mate, and he was glad they hadn’t decided to skip out of it this year.
“On to business. Now, is there anything you guys need for the mating tomorrow?”
Because they were on a tight schedule in order to move up their mating to the following night, all three males were pitching in, along with the males from the baro. “I think we’re good. We’ll take turns making the master into a den tomorrow, we have appointments in the morning for our tattoos, and Mason’s got the supplies for the ceremony all ready, right?”
“You bet,” Mason said.
Nyte said, “Do you think the girls could keep Whisper busy tomorrow? We want the den to be a surprise, and it’ll be hard to keep it under wraps if she sees everything that’s going on.”
“Sure. Bring her over for breakfast tomorrow, and Lys and Syd can take her around town. I’ll go, of course, and I’m sure that
Crux will go along, too,” Mason said.
Crux, the youngest of Orion’s clan, nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
Nyte looked at Az, who was frowning in thought. He was probably thinking about the car that Whisper said looked familiar. Nyte explained about the car to the clans and all of them tensed, glancing towards the kitchen.
“You think it’s a coincidence?” Orion asked.
“Yeah,” Nyte nodded. “She’s stressed out from her whole life being turned upside down within a matter of a week. That’s enough to make anyone think they’re seeing things.”
Az’s frown deepened. “Still, to be on the safe side, you should keep an eye out for a dark sedan.”
Mason clapped Az on the shoulder. “We will, okay? Your mate is as safe with us as our own are.”
“Good luck tomorrow with your mating night,” Dante said, shaking Nyte’s hand and those of his brothers. “And if you need anything at all, let us know.”
Nyte appreciated the support from the clans. He and his brothers were cousins to Dante and Orion’s clans, and they’d grown up together in the baro in Tennessee. In many ways, the baro was like a small wolf pack, where they often lived and worked together in the same area, but unlike the pack which had a single leader in the alpha, the baros handled decisions with a majority vote. Sometimes that worked and sometimes it didn’t, but he didn’t suppose the baros would change their way of life anytime soon. When he was a child, he remembered sitting at the back of a big living room with his brothers while a clan brought up the reasons why the baro needed to move away from Gorge. The clan, who had been cousins of Nyte’s parents, wanted the baro to move out of Gorge, which was a farming community, and into one of the more mountainous areas, to escape the growing human population. The clans had voted down the move, saying they had lived in Gorge for two generations and had no desire to leave, and the dissenting clan left anyway and went out on their own. He had no idea what became of them, but he was glad that he had the support of his baro when it came to important matters.