by Cara Adams
To stop Ryder from overthinking his response she asked, “Who had the green eyes? Your mom or your dad?”
“Mom. They’re both still alive, but they live on the mainland now,” Zac answered.
“It’s good there’s that link between you three. Now when are you going to get undressed? I’m standing here waiting.”
“I don’t think we agreed—”
“Oh yes you did. But you said we needed to come here and check your home was all right first. We came, we checked, and now it’s time to move along with the program.”
Zac laughed, Eliot grinned, and Ryder sighed and shook his head. Piper watched them all carefully, but a little bubble of happiness deep inside her told her categorically they were about to agree. Still, Ryder surprised her by saying, “We’ll prove to you that men are as good at multitasking as women, but you’ll have to carry our boots. We all brought a change of clothing with us to your cottage but not spare boots.”
“Huh?” It took a moment for Piper to understand. “Oh, you mean you’ll transform here and walk back to my roofless cottage as panthers. That’s great. I’ll enjoy that. Have you got a bag or something to put your footwear in to make it easier for me to carry?”
“I’ve got a small backpack that should be big enough. We used all the big ones already,” Zac said, slithering between the narrow aisles of plant boxes and disappearing down the hallway. A hallway that also had narrow plant beds against the walls and was filled with climbing vegetables on lattices almost as high as the ceiling in some places.
Both Eliot and Ryder removed their boots and socks. Ryder folded his socks up neatly and pushed them into the toe of one boot. Eliot had dropped his on the floor, but he rolled his eyes and then copied his older brother. Piper hid her grin. Likely they would have spare socks at her cottage, but sooner or later they’d have to pick them up off the floor anyway, so it might as well be now.
That was her motto at home anyway. She usually undressed standing beside the laundry hamper to save time and effort. It might be a sign of laziness, but it worked for her.
Zac reappeared completely naked and holding a backpack, which he handed to her. Piper licked her lips. Yum, yum, yum. Zac looked mighty tasty, and she’d rather be licking him, but unfortunately now wasn’t playtime. But still, just looking was giving her some great ideas for later on today.
“What are you two standing around for? We have things to do,” Zac said.
Oh yes. Piper had things to do, too, starting with stroking Zac’s muscled chest, licking along those abs and pecs, with possibly a side trip out to his deltoids and biceps. Fuck yes times three. It’d be grossly unfair to lick and touch Zac without spending an equal amount of time on Ryder and Eliot.
Eliot handed his boots to Zac and quickly pulled his sweater and shirt off, unbuckled his belt and dropped his jeans. His briefs were next, and then he was walking away from them toward the front door of the house. Piper noted the easy way he moved between the rows of plants. This was his vision, his work, and she needed to remember that. But he really did move like a cat, smoothly, gracefully almost yet covering the ground relatively quickly and without brushing against any of the foliage. Since the aisles were narrow and the men had broad shoulders, it was quite an interesting way of him moving. Of course, the men were all quite a few inches taller than her, which meant their widest part was much higher up, whereas her hips were at plant-box height.
It’d be fun to see if Eliot still walked through the crops so easily once the second level of plants were added as Zac had suggested. They would be where their shoulders might touch them. Piper spent a moment picturing the men passing through a jungle of plants twice as high as it was now before realizing she wouldn’t be here. She had only a few days left of her vacation, and likely almost all of that time would be taken up with the men planning how to replace the roof on her cottage.
Of course, she’d be happy to work with them and help them, as long as they had some time in the dungeon as well, but she was really disappointed at not ever finding out what would happen next. She’d never know if the roof of her cottage went on okay or if the second level of crops grew as well as the first. Would the underneath layer still get as much light as the plants needed with more plants above them? Fuck! It was like one of those movies that finished in the middle and she had to wait for the next season of the show to start to find out what would happen.
She wanted to be here, to see it with her own eyes. To be involved in it, part of the redevelopment of the garden. It would be so much more worthwhile than her own job. Except that her job paid the bills, and she was addicted to eating and sleeping in a home, not under a bridge.
Ryder handed her his boots, and she pushed them into the backpack. She had to move all the boots around to fit them in, and the backpack was still only half-zipped, but that was good enough. The boots were so big that if they fell out she’d know straight away. She slung it over her shoulder and followed Ryder to the door. Outside Elliot and Zac were waiting. Ryder locked the door and then the three of them transformed. Piper was awed at the sight of them. It was so much better than her dream.
Each of them was very large, standing almost as high as her hips and completely black. She hadn’t even wondered what color they’d be, although in her dream they’d all been black. They shuffled themselves around, weaving between each other like a complicated dance, or one of those conman tricks where someone had to guess which cup hid the penny. But she didn’t need to guess. Nothing could change Ryder’s take-charge attitude or Eliot’s thoughtfulness.
“Zac, Eliot, Ryder,” she said, completely confident she was correct.
Without any more fuss, Ryder turned and began to run down the path. His brothers followed him, and Eliot stopped at the intersection to make sure she turned left, not right. But she’d remembered that much and nodded to him, grateful for his consideration. There was no guarantee she would know which way to go and absolutely no surety she could find her way to her cottage.
She walked along briskly behind them, watching the path that was still as covered with debris as before. Clearly no one had come along yet to clean it up. Likely they had much more high-priority jobs to do than clearing a walking track. She wondered how important fixing the cottage roof would be. If houses families lived in were damaged, they’d need to be repaired first. Families had to have a safe place to stay. And what if their possessions had been destroyed? That would be dreadful. She hoped everyone was safe. People were more important than property, although losing property would still bring grief.
Mostly, though, she watched the panthers. She always knew which was which. Ryder wanted to lead but every now and then Eliot or Zac would push past him and race ahead, jump over fallen tree branches, run through shrubbery and bushes, then wait for her to catch up. Piper noted they always stopped before damaged parts of the trail, as well as before turns. They were looking after her wordlessly, but just as caringly as they did in human form.
Goddammit. I’m going to miss them so much when I leave.
Chapter Five
Ryder knew he should be reporting to the Alpha straight away, but he also had a duty to his client. He almost thought to my woman, but she wasn’t his woman, just a client to whom he owed a duty of care, and who he needed to keep entertained.
Her knowing about their panthers had changed things though. Never in a million years would he have expected her to discover their secret, to see them in a dream, to be told about them by her grandmother’s ghost or whatever. Although, since he was a supernatural being he had no cause for complaining about how she knew the facts. Actually, it made her an even better match for him and his brothers.
The more he thought about it, the closer to perfect she was—friendly, kind, good tempered, easygoing, not demanding, yet smart, and fun, and not to be ignored either. She made her wishes known quite clearly. Then there was her eagerness to learn about BDSM and the fact that she was as hot as hell in bed. Oh yes. He and his brothers had definitel
y won the jackpot by being assigned to Piper. The big question was, Could they learn enough about her to decide if she was a potential mate for them in the few brief days they had left together? Days likely to be consumed by repairing her house and cleaning up the island.
The tracks were positively dangerous. If he hadn’t seen how confidently she’d walked from her cottage to his house, he’d be even more worried about walking her back to her cottage than he already was. But they had no other choice. There was nowhere in his home to entertain her. They needed her dungeon and the makeshift bed if they were to spend time with her.
Besides, he was very much afraid once the Alpha knew the cottage was damaged he’d move her into the big house, and then they’d have absolutely no chance at all of getting to know her better. The Alpha would decide they’d wasted their opportunity with her. But dammit all to fucking hell, it had seemed like the correct thing to do to show her around the island first before taking her to bed. How was he supposed to know a fucking hurricane would ruin all his carefully laid plans?
Ryder pushed all his thoughts of how he ought to be reporting immediately to his Alpha to the back of his mind and concentrated instead on demonstrating to Piper the fun panthers could have on four legs. His panther shape gave him heightened senses of hearing, taste, and vision and better reflexes. He and his brothers had always enjoyed racing through the bushes on the island. Retaining as much as possible of the island flora had been a deliberate policy of the people simply for security purposes. But it also made running on four feet more fun and more of a challenge.
The narrow trails were designed to prevent any potential attacker being able to use wheeled vehicles or heavy equipment to attack the community. First, they’d have to remove a hell of a lot of trees to make a pathway for their vehicles, and that would be more than enough information to alert to community to the attack. But narrow trails meant much more excitement for panthers as well.
He chased Zac, nipped his tail, then bounded away to the left, leaving Zac to chase Eliot. Of course, they all knew he’d circle around to come up behind them again at some stage. The only question was when he’d do it, and Ryder intended to be unpredictable.
By the time they arrived at the client cottage he’d had a good workout, and being in panther form had relaxed him as well. He really ought to go running on four feet more often.
Piper pulled the door key out of the backpack, opened the door, and then led the way downstairs. The floorboards still felt damp under his feet, and he guessed it would take several days for them to dry out properly. Fortunately the damage might have been a hell of a lot worse. He waited until his brothers were walking downstairs, then transformed and closed the door. It locked automatically. That was so clients couldn’t wander around the island unescorted.
Arriving in the dungeon he made no attempt to get dressed, and neither did his brothers. It was obvious they all agreed that now was the best time for another dungeon scene and then sex, assuming that’s what Piper wanted. But he expected she did want it. Her big blue eyes were sparkling, and she kept lowering them to gaze on his brothers’ naked chests and thighs instead of remaining on their faces. Excellent.
“Would you like to play a dungeon game, Piper?” he asked, careful not to call her slave and assume her answer before she gave it. Everything here had to be done of her own free will. It would be a gross abuse of his authority to put words in her mouth and then hold her to a decision she hadn’t made freely.
“Yes, Sir.”
Well that solved that difficulty. He was sure he’d guessed her feelings accurately, but he needed to check, not to just assume.
“In that case, you’d better get undressed and wait for us in the appropriate way,” he ordered.
As soon as he said that, he remembered that last time they hadn’t explained to her how to stand. It was too late now. She’d work it out.
Exactly like the previous time, she stripped out of her clothing very quickly and left it around her feet, stepping out of it and moving into a small area of open space. With all the luggage and the mattress and bedding in here there wasn’t much open space, but she stood in the precise center of it, and he thought that was a clear picture of her neat, analytical mind.
“Do you remember your safe words and the traffic light system, slave?” he asked.
“Yes, Sir.”
“What color are you now?” asked Eliot.
“I’m green, but if nothing happens soon I might become orange with unfulfilled needs,” she replied cheekily.
Aha. She’s pushing the envelope with us. I can work with that.
Ryder stepped behind and untied her blonde ponytail, letting the silky-soft tresses slither between his fingers. When he was certain she was relaxed he grabbed her hair and pulled her head back and down so she was looking up at his face. Astonishment and surprise were written clearly across her features.
“We, your Masters, will decide how and when this scene progresses, not you. Do you understand?” He gripped her hair tightly, putting pressure on the roots.
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good.”
While her attention had been distracted, Zac had collected the whip off the rack of toys, and now he stood behind her and whipped her ass. Ryder approved of his method. His strokes were firm and would hurt, but they weren’t so hard that they’d bruise her. Zac had the amount of pressure exactly right for maximum effect without damage.
Eliot picked up the flogger, and Ryder opened the drawer of BDSM equipment and searched until he found the collar. He hoped it wouldn’t frighten Piper, but he had a strong feeling she’d be drawn to the concept of being a collared slave in the dungeon. Likely nowhere else, although maybe she’d be willing to expand her horizons somewhat. Not that he was going to mention anything permanent. They didn’t know her well enough to decide if she was suitable to be their mate yet. But the more he got to know her, the more time he spent with her, and the more he wanted her.
It was strange. He’d never had a true image in his mind of what their mate would look like. But the more he knew of Piper the more she fit the picture perfectly. She was ideal match for him and his brothers. Nothing could be settled until after he, Zac, and Eliot had spoken seriously to each other, and then Piper herself had to agree.
Ryder had a good feeling about how his brothers would react. They understood each other very well. But he had no idea at all about Piper’s feelings. So far she’d been very easygoing, not having hysterics or even getting all screechy and girlish about shape-shifting panthers or Hurricane Nathan. But giving up her entire life and coming to live with them on the island was a hell of a lot bigger than even the noisiest, most damaging hurricane. Sooner or later a hurricane blew out. But their mate would live with them on the island for the rest of all their lives.
There was no divorce in shape-shifter law. People were expected to think long and hard about making a commitment, and then working together to overcome any problems that might later arise. Of course, every now and then matings did break up, but none of the parties could ever mate anyone else or have children, so it was better to be one hundred percent sure before doing anything that couldn’t be undone easily.
Eliot had been teasing Piper with the flogger while Ryder had been planning his next step. Eliot had been mixing soft, teasing strokes and harder flogging on her thighs and shoulders while adding in occasional hard flicks with the flogger over her cunt and breasts. He and Zac had done a good job. Ryder could smell her arousal from across the room.
He caught Zac’s glance and then Eliot’s, and they stood in a row in front of her. Ryder held up the collar.
“Do you know what this is, slave?”
“A collar, Sir.”
“Do you know what it means?” he asked.
“It might just be used for play in the dungeon, or it might be much more serious—a promise to obey the Master in every aspect of the slave’s life.”
That was a reasonable answer. But then, he’d expected a thou
ghtful answer from Piper. She was an intelligent woman. She might be blonde, but she was no airhead.
“Have you ever thought about collars?” Eliot asked.
“Yes, Master.”
“And what conclusion did you arrive at?” Zac asked, almost taking the words out of Ryder’s mouth.
“Playing in the dungeon is fine. That’s what I came here for, to experience all different kinds of dungeon play. Lifestyle collaring is a much bigger decision, though. Not one to be undertaken without a lot of thought and planning.”
“Good answer. If I place this around your neck now, just for this time together today, what color will you be?” Ryder asked.
Green, Sir,” she answered confidently.
Good.
* * * *
Eliot’s dick was as hard a rock as he watched Ryder buckle the black leather collar around Piper’s neck. Yes, of course, it was much too soon to know if she was their mate or not, but fuck, he wanted her so much he might die if he didn’t get her. However, first they had to make this time in the dungeon good for her. And that was damn difficult when they hadn’t had time to get together and plan it. Still, bringing out the collar was a damn good move by Ryder.
Ryder clipped a leash to the D-ring on the collar, and Eliot took the leash.
“Kneel in front of me and suck my cock,” Eliot ordered.