Jade [Eminence Shifters 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Ashley Malkin

  “Wait until you hear about Jordanna’s life,” Bethany said. “We’ll be crying right along with you. She was attacked by a shifter and it’s left her blind.”

  Jade gasped, making her ribs ache horribly, but she would heal and be left with only a few scars, physical and emotional. Her whole life wouldn’t be so monumentally altered.

  “That’s terrible. How does someone deal with that?”

  “With the unconditional love of her four devoted mates. They have a two-month-old baby boy now, Elijah. He’s adorable. He and my son Stephen are only two months apart in age, they’ll be best friends. I just know they will.”

  “Congratulations,” Jade said, as Bethany helped her out of the bath. Jade let her mind absorb everything Bethany had said, everything she continued to say, as she helped her dry off and then get dressed.

  Considering the short time Bethany and all the mates had been in Eminence, they’d assimilated quickly to their new lives. Their new realities. The reality that shape shifters, vampires, and even demons, apparently, existed alongside an oblivious human population.

  By the time Bethany helped Jade to the kitchen she had a whole new take on her out-of-control emotions where the four Pollock men were concerned. She was no longer scared of the way she felt about them.

  As she entered the kitchen she instantly searched for the four brothers and when she found them the rest of the people in the room seemed to disappear. The intense looks of both joy and hunger on each of their faces reassured her that she was right to no longer be afraid of her feelings.

  She hadn’t imagined the connection she’d felt last night as she drifted to sleep in Barrett’s strong arms. Melanie and Bethany had helped her to accept what was right in front of her. What was burning brightly inside of her. They loved her, and despite knowing them for only a day, she seemed to love them, too. The feeling was insane, crazy, and impossibly true.

  No more roaming the country. She’d found her place in the world. She was the mate of four gorgeous men who turned into cougars. She was a lucky girl.

  Chapter 8

  Asher stopped pacing the instant he heard the door down the corridor open. The room fell silent as all the shifters currently gathered in the kitchen listened to the soft footfalls growing closer. Even though Asher knew it was Bethany and Jade who’d be walking through the doorway he was unprepared for what he saw.

  Jade’s gaze found him, and then quickly darted to each of his brothers. Asher’s knees threatened to buckle. He didn’t know what Bethany and Jade had talked about, but he was naming Bethany the godmother to their first born for helping Jade to look at him the way she just did. The way she continued to look at all of them.

  Jade had accepted them. She had said yes to being their mate. She hadn’t said it in words, but he’d heard her answer loud and clear. Her smile, the love shining in her eyes, the scent of her happiness. She knew that she was theirs and more importantly, seeing as she was human, that they were hers.

  Four soft growls broke the silence and a rosy blush swept up Jade’s neck to color her pale skin. Asher moved first. His preternatural speed eliciting a soft gasp of surprise as he abruptly appeared at Jade’s side. She was even shorter than he’d imagined, the top of her head barely reaching his shoulder.

  “Did you enjoy your bath, little one?” He offered her his arm and she smiled warmly as she nodded and accepted his offer of support and wrapped her arm around his.

  The feel of her skin against his, even through the warm jumper Bethany had loaned her, was a jolt to his senses and sensual pleasure like nothing he’d ever experienced. He realized all previous sexual liaisons had been simply satisfying a carnal urge. They were destined to be but a pale imitation of the tantalizing gratification Jade’s body promised.

  As they walked the few steps to the kitchen table, he scented the sweet perfume of her arousal and his cat purred at their mate’s response to him. His brothers moved to stand in front of him, blocking the rest of the room from view.

  Jade reached up and stroked her hand down each of their cheeks in turn. She smiled at their soft growls and Barrett pulled out a chair. Asher sat on the chair and gently arranged Jade on his lap. Her sigh as she relaxed against him made his hardening cock stiffen to painful fullness. Jade’s buttocks clenched as her scent of arousal grew thicker.

  Hunter broke the spell by clearing his throat loudly, snapping Asher out of his trance and making Jade start.

  “We have forever, Jade. We’ll be alone soon.” As he breathed the words into her ear she tilted her head closer, her skin pebbling. “I’ve found a sweet spot to explore.”

  “Would you like a cup of coffee?” Bethany asked, her voice a little tremulous.

  Asher looked up to see that Bethany’s mates, Jason, Michael and Samson, were all gazing at Bethany with heated stares. The sexual tension in the room was affecting all the shifters. Asher needed to control himself so this interview with Hunter and Dane could be completed as soon as possible and they could take their mate to their new home. So they could be alone at last. His chest rumbled as his cat approved of the plan.

  “Are you purring?” Jade asked.

  “I know I’d be purring if you were on my lap,” Barrett said. He sat in the chair next to them and took Jade’s hand in his.

  “Jade should start with some broth, I have some warming on the stove for her,” Jason said. He crossed quickly to the stove and returned to place a mug of the steaming broth on the table in front of Jade.

  Bethany introduced Jade to Samson and Michael as Samson pulled Bethany onto his lap and nuzzled her neck.

  “Get the coffee, Michael,” Samson said, “Bethany’s tired.”

  Bethany laughed as she snuggled back against her huge mate. “Jade is a lovely name. Did your parents choose it because of your green eyes, or is it a family name?”

  “My grandfather is Chinese. He came to America in the sixties and married a New Yorker. They still live there, as does my mother and sister. My mom was a bit of a hippie in the day. She named me, and my sister, Amber, after the gemstones.”

  Hunter again cleared his throat. This time it had the desired effect. The room seemed to cool several degrees as the mood became somber. Jade was in danger and they needed to find out everything they could about the wolf that was certain to come for her.

  “I have some sad news, Jade,” Hunter said. “I’m afraid the owner of the diner you worked at, Walter MacIntosh, was murdered yesterday.”

  “Mac is dead?” Jade stiffened, her surprise genuine. “Why would someone hurt him?”

  “The tribal police know who killed him, and I suspect I now know why.” Hunter looked to his brother Dane, who nodded. “Had you ever met the special agent in charge of Duckwater, Elan Tsosie?”

  When Jade shook her head Dane continued. “The case has officially been handed over to the local police, who will deem the death to be the result of an animal attack. However, Elan is a coyote shifter. He and his pack enforcer, Mason, scented wolves on the body and at the crime scene. The same wolves they scented at your apartment when I asked them to investigate your abuse.”

  “No.” Jade started to shake as she absorbed the news and Asher held her a little firmer, careful not to hurt her damaged ribs and back. “Mac helped me.”

  “Yes, honey,” Troy said. He squatted down next to them and gently cupped her face. “We think this wolf, Beau Rennie, killed him to find out where you went.”

  “We understand you didn’t know the man very well,” Hunter said. “But we need to know everything we can about him. Elan wants to apprehend him for the murder, and we want to keep you safe.”

  “I don’t know anything,” Jade said. Her heart rate had doubled, but she was taking deep breaths as she tried to stay calm.

  “I heard everything you said to Melanie yesterday,” Hunter said, smiling warmly at Jade. “You don’t need to repeat what he did to you. Maybe when he first took you out, when you were getting to know him, he told you something we could use
.”

  Jade took a calming breath and Troy nodded to her before releasing her and standing, his hand resting supportively on her shoulder.

  “He said he’d moved to town a few months ago. I think the fact we were both new to town was why I went out with him that first time. I felt like we had something in common.” Jade paused as Wes and Troy both growled.

  “He said he’d bought a ranch outside of town and that his friends Justin and Harry were helping him to renovate the old house on the property. I never went there, so I don’t know where it is.”

  Jade wriggled off Asher’s lap, and he reluctantly let her stand. She turned around and looked at each of them before taking Wes’s hand and then Troy’s. Their growling stopped as Jade’s grip on their hands grew tight, her knuckles blanching.

  “He said some things when he was screaming at me. I’d forgotten about it until now.”

  “You’re safe here with us, Jade,” Asher said. “We won’t let him near you.” Asher stood and held her gaze.

  “He said that they all did this and they all learned to regret it before they died. He was so angry that I thought he was about to kill me.”

  “You did great, darlin’,” Barrett said. “Anything else?” Jade shook her head.

  “Thank you, Jade,” Hunter said.

  Barrett wrapped her in his arms and picked her up. “We’re taking Jade home.”

  Asher had already told Samson they were moving out of the bunkhouse to live in their grandparents’ old home, but he hadn’t yet told Hunter. Jade and his brothers said their farewells and thanked Jason before heading out to their truck.

  Asher stayed behind to tell Hunter and Dane where they’d be living now and to ask that Cooper call them when he’d drawn up the new patrol schedule. The home was situated on the Pollock’s property, some fifteen miles east of the airfield Wes and Troy had built for their jet.

  It was between the Alpha’s house and the Wilder’s, so was not too remote and would be easy to incorporate in the pride’s existing patrols. Asher would not have risked Jade’s life by taking her somewhere too far from the safety of their pride, no matter how desperate he was to be alone with her.

  * * * *

  Jade sat in the back of Troy’s massive SUV. It was black and shiny, with the softest leather seats Jade had ever sat on. Troy drove and she sat between Asher and Barrett, their huge bodies unnecessarily close to her, considering the size of the truck’s interior. Not that she minded.

  In fact she tingled all over from the sizzling sensation of having them touching her. She wondered if she’d always get such pleasure just from sitting beside them. The heady scent they all carried was magnified in the enclosed space. She licked her lips and could swear she tasted the smell. It was delicious.

  As she looked up at Barrett, his eyes blazed amber. “You better stop staring at me like that, darlin’,” Barrett said, his voice husky. “You’re still too fragile for me to satisfy our mutual need in the back of a moving truck.”

  Jade slammed her eyes shut. Not to obey his request, but to try and get her mind and body under control. She could easily imagine herself climbing onto his lap and peeling off Barrett’s shirt to expose…

  “Jade.” Asher growled her name and she added him to her fantasy, making her clitoris throb and her pussy clench.

  “Sorry,” she murmured, wiping her mind of all things Pollock. “This is a lovely truck, Troy.” Cars. Think about cars. Cars weren’t sexy. Think about boring old cars.

  “Thank you. Last year Wes and I bought one each for our mom and dad, and for Barrett and Asher, too. They were named the safest SUV on the market and we love our family.” Troy smiled at her in the rearview mirror.

  “You’re joking?”

  Troy just frowned and glanced over at Wes. Wes just shook his head and shrugged. They were talking to each other.

  “That’s very generous of you,” Jade said slowly, her mind trying to calculate the zeros involved in buying six SUVs. “All new ones?”

  “I think I mentioned the twins were computer geeks,” Barrett said, his chuckle vibrating through her body and threatening to make her thoughts head straight back to forbidden territory. “I didn’t explain they owned a billion-dollar company.”

  “Multi-billion,” Asher added.

  “That airfield we just passed,” Barrett said. Jade just nodded. “That’s theirs. They built it so their jet has somewhere to land.”

  “Jets,” Asher again added.

  “That’s…” Jade started, but was afraid of insulting them.

  “We were just lucky that Mom and Dad believed in us and loaned us our start-up money when we were fifteen,” Wes said. He shrugged, his blue eyes bright in his handsome face.

  He and Wes both had tanned skin and dark hair, like Asher, but that was where the similarity stopped. They had classically handsome faces, full lips, strong jaws, and solid builds, like Barrett.

  Asher was slim, the tallest of the brothers, with his hair swept off a face that looked severe, with high cheekbones and a cleft chin. His eyes were deep blue and added intensity to his shrewd, intelligent gaze. Jade imagined that as a lawyer, he would have been fierce in the courtroom.

  “You started your business at fifteen?” Jade asked, tearing her eyes away from Asher’s searing gaze.

  “They’d finished college the year before,” Barrett said. “They had to do something with their free time.”

  Jade saw the pride on Barrett’s face as he leaned forward and ruffled Troy’s hair. The twins may never have mentioned their achievements, but it seemed their big brothers were proud of them and liked an opportunity to laud their amazing accomplishments.

  “It doesn’t hurt to have such long lives,” Wes said.

  “What do you consider a long life, Wes? You must be all of thirty.” Jade watched as Wes and Troy did their talking thing again. “I can see that you’re talking about something. It’s rude to do that, you know?”

  The expression of shock on Wes’s face as he turned in the seat was genuine. “Why is it rude?”

  “You honestly don’t know?” Barrett and Asher both chuckled.

  “They’ve been doing it since they were in the cradle,” Asher said.

  “It shocked the hell out of them when they were old enough to realize not everyone could do it.” Barrett ruffled Troy’s hair indulgently again.

  Jade relaxed a little. Put like that she could see that it was just a part of them she’d grow to accept.

  “And we’re forty-five,” Wes said. “We’d been working for thirty years before we came home to train with Samson.”

  “I wasn’t joking when I told you I was seventy years old,” Asher said. He brought their joined hands to his lips and kissed the back of her hand gently. “We live to be over three hundred.”

  She was shocked speechless and stared at the clear winter sky out the front window of the truck as she tried to imagine living three centuries. The changes they’d see. The wives they’d have. She remembered the loneliness she’d sensed in Asher the day they met. Shit. That was yesterday!

  “Will you find another mate when I die, Asher? I don’t want you to be lonely…” Her words were silenced by the eruption of snarls from all four of the men. “What?”

  “Once we’re mated you will live as long as a shifter, Jade,” Wes said. His face was set in hard lines, his jaw tense. He looked a lot more like Asher now. “We only ever want one mate and that’s you. When you die, we all die.”

  “Be nice, Wes,” Barrett said. “A human mate is changed when we mate, Jade. You don’t turn into a shifter, but you will age more slowly, heal more rapidly if you’re injured, and be immune to most illnesses.” Barrett smiled at her and took her hand in his.

  “I didn’t mean to insult you,” Jade said softly. Unsure how she’d managed to make a faux pas that had seemed to insult the very core of their shifter nature.

  Wes closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I wasn’t insulted, honey. I’m sorry. I went a little c
razy at the thought of you dying.”

  “Look,” Troy said. His excited tone snapped the tension from the air. “Here’s our new home, Jade. I hope you like it. If you don’t just say so.”

  “We can easily change anything you don’t like,” Wes said. Troy’s excitement was mirrored in his voice.

  “We have an all-shifter building crew that does work for us,” Troy continued. “They finish the work so fast you wouldn’t believe it.”

  Forgotten or forgiven? Jade wasn’t certain which. Maybe both. She made a mental note to find out all the finer details of shifter etiquette from the other human mates. As a beautiful two-story farmhouse came into view at the top of a long, winding drive, Jade marveled at how natural it was to anticipate seeking advice from Melanie and Bethany.

  She smiled. The two women were so loving and open, and from the way they’d spoken of the other mates, Jordanna, Peata, and Morgan, she easily envisaged they’d be equally approachable.

  “It’s beautiful. You’re all beautiful. I can’t believe all this is real. I was so scared. I’m black and blue from the torture of a maniac that’s likely still coming for me. But…” Jade’s voice broke as her eyes filled with tears. The emotions suddenly too much.

  “But what, little one,” Asher said, lifting her to his lap and kissing her tear-streaked cheeks.

  “But I’m so happy.”

  Troy opened the back door to his truck and lifted her from Asher’s lap to hold her in his arms.

  “It was torture seeing you cry and not being able to hold you.” Troy’s eyes were a soft blue, but now had little sparks of amber flickering on and off in them. His cat.

  “I want to find out about every second of your life that I’ve missed. Then I’ll understand why being happy makes you sad.”

  “You’re an idiot,” Barrett said. He kissed Jade on the nose as he stroked his fingers through her hair. “She’s crying because she’s happy. They haven’t spent a lot of time around women.” Barrett winked at her as Troy growled.