“I need you, Jade,” Troy said.
Jade knew where he’d be and reached out for him, unerringly finding his cock. She moaned as Asher stroked another finger inside her, Wes frustratingly slowing his thrusts. She stroked the silky smooth skin of Troy’s cock, letting her fascination for the organ ease her desperate need to reach her climax.
“It’s so soft, like your cat’s ears,” Jade said, licking along the tip to taste the sweetness of his arousal.
Troy stroked her face. “You’re a revelation, Jade, and so damned perfect.”
His words garbled into a moan as she opened her mouth wide and took him into her mouth. Asher rubbed his cock through the tight rings of her ass and she sighed with pleasure even as her heart ached for Barrett to be with them. Then it would’ve been perfect.
Asher and Wes began a steady rhythm, each filling her in turn. Troy was moaning as she stroked and sucked his cock with gentle, smooth motions. She learned his sweet spots as more elixir dripped from his cock and he held her head gently as his cock jerked.
She discovered she loved pleasing him. She wanted to learn where each of her men was most sensitive and give them the same sort of pleasure they freely gave to her. This was making love, and she finally understood why her men were pleased Corey had been a terrible lover. They were the only ones she’d ever made love to.
“I’m coming, Jade,” Troy said, his words more a growl with his jaw tense and his teeth clamped together.
She watched his orgasm sweep over him as she probed the opening of his cock with her tongue. He held her face tenderly as his cum shot down her throat. She swallowed the musky liquid, committing to memory what her Troy had liked.
Troy kissed her reverently on the forehead and continued to hold her face as his brothers made love to her. They were a family now. Sharing everything. Sharing their hearts, their pleasure, their lives.
Without the distraction of Troy’s cock in her mouth Jade felt everything more keenly. Wes’s and Asher’s cocks were all she felt as her simmering delight exploded into ecstasy. She screamed Barrett’s name as she came. She needed him with her. Needed him to know she wanted him as her body shook with the strength of her orgasm.
She felt the small bite of Asher’s teeth as he marked her again. Her orgasm drew out and she collapsed onto Wes, biting down on him to stop herself from flying apart under the onslaught of sensations.
“You’re so perfect,” Wes murmured in her ear. “I’m so proud to wear your mark, my lovely Jade.”
Jade wasn’t sure what he meant, but she smiled as Asher released her skin and licked over his mark. She gave a small gasp as his cock slipped from her body. She liked him there. She liked being surrounded by her men.
“I hope you mark me one day, little one,” Asher said softly.
Wes was warm and solid beneath her and she licked and nuzzled him as she was gently cleaned and covered with a quilt. She drifted to sleep with her men muttering in the background, too exhausted and satiated to feel anything but cherished.
Chapter 14
“Really? She screamed my name? That’s amazing. Fuck, Asher, I love her so damned much it hurts.” Barrett ached to be near Jade. The mating was too new for them to be apart this long and not have him going crazy.
Barrett was running along their ranch’s lower boundary where it met the Wilder’s. Axel was on the opposite boundary where it met the Reed’s property. Cooper had made sure no one could slip through unnoticed.
“I want this fucker caught so I can spend the next year buried inside our mate,” Barrett said.
“Thanks for the visual, Barrett. Now I need to soak my head in bleach to try and rid myself of the image of your hairy ass,” Fergus said.
“Fuck you,” Barrett said, his happiness at knowing Jade had missed him not in the least diminished.
“Fergus!” Cooper snapped. “I trust you conveyed the message. The safety of one of our mates is a priority.”
“No, Cooper. I have no excuse,” Fergus said contritely.
“What message?” Asher asked, his mental tone sharp enough to cut steel.
“I’m behind the hardware store and it stinks of wolf. I did a sweep forty minutes ago and it was clean then. Whoever they are they’ve only just got here.”
“We can’t know if it’s the same wolves without Barrett, Mason, or Axel confirming the scent,” Asher said.
“Thank you, Asher,” Cooper said. Barrett heard no censure in their enforcer’s tone. Cooper had a mate too and he’d do anything to keep Melanie safe. He understood how they were feeling. “Barrett, get to town as fast as you can. Asher, run his patrol until we hear what’s happening in town. Axel is picking up Mason as we speak.”
“Jordanna is already in the safe room,” Gabriel Prentiss said. “Until we hear otherwise I’m making sure Rowan keeps her and Elijah in there.”
Barrett had already started to run. He shuddered as he thought of beautiful, blind Jordanna and how helpless she’d be without her mates if the wolf went looking for Jade there. Eminence was full of precious mates and cubs. It was the reason Barrett had returned to become a soldier for the pride.
Thank fuck I did because I’m going to be using everything Samson and Evan have taught me to keep my own mate safe.
“I’m with you on that, brother,” Asher said. “We’re a strong pride. All the mates and our cubs are safe.”
Asher had heard his private thoughts again. He decided he really needed to discuss this with him once the danger to Jade was over.
“If you girls have finished,” Cooper said. “Gabe, there is no one but you, Drake, and Caine south of town. I’m sending Dane to you in case these are the wolves we’ve been waiting for.”
“Do you want the other mates in the safe rooms?” Barrett asked. He knew that Morgan, Peata, and Jade were protected by their mates, but they weren’t within easy reach of a safe room.
“Do you think we can’t handle three wolves?” Finn said smoothly. The Alpha was not reprimanding Barrett. The question was a gentle reassurance.
“No, Alpha.”
There was no further chatter. The Alpha’s faith in their strength as a pride was a galvanizing force in their minds. They weren’t facing an army of drugged hyenas or tigers this time. There wasn’t a pack of wolves descending on the town with annihilation of the pride their only goal.
This was just a crazed wolf who wanted to possess, torture, and then kill Barrett’s mate. “We have this, Alpha,” Barrett said through the pride link. “The wolves will not get my mate.”
* * * *
Wes was warm and happy, his mate safe in his arms. Naked and safe. He inhaled her scent again, the thrill no less potent than the very first time he’d smelled it. He’d never tire of it. Of her. She was amazing.
“Fuck. Asher just told me that Fergus has found the scent of a wolf in town,” Troy said.
Wes tried not to leap out of bed, but Troy’s emotions were bleeding into him through their bond, and Troy was twitching with unreleased tension.
“Who’s gone to confirm it’s not simply a random shifter?” Wes asked, swallowing the lump of fear he felt building in his throat.
“Barrett, Axel, and Mason are all going,” Troy said. “Axel will find them. His tracking skills are incredible.”
“He won’t get within a hundred miles of her,” Wes said, slowing his breathing and easing Jade off him to place her on the warm sheet. She didn’t stir as he tucked the quilt around her and quickly dressed.
“He may well already be within a hundred miles, Wes. We should have a safe room constructed in our new home. Make the entire house a safe room. I could easily design something totally impenetrable to even a vampire. Maybe not a demon, but a vampire definitely.”
“Troy, stop,” Wes snapped. Troy had found a release valve for his nervous tension, and if Wes didn’t keep him focused Troy would begin drawing up the blueprints for a safe house.
“It’s too late for that now. But you may be on to something for the
future,” Asher said.
Troy shared an exasperated look with Wes as he joined him in the bedroom.
“What do you want us to do?” Wes asked, feeling grateful Asher somehow shared their mental link.
“Prepare to take Jade to Finn’s if it’s confirmed these are in fact the same wolves.”
Troy gently picked Jade up and held her in his arms. “I can’t lose her. She’s a part of me now.”
“It would be as though my heart was ripped from my chest,” Wes finished.
Jade opened her eyes as Troy bent and kissed her lips. She smiled at Troy, then at Wes, before she stiffened, fear clouding her beautiful eyes. Troy stood with Jade in his arms and Wes moved closer, so they both enfolded her in their arms.
“We won’t leave you alone for even a second,” Wes said.
“I remember how crazy Beau was when he was angry,” Jade whispered. “I remember the red eyes, the claws, the pain.”
She shuddered and he and Wes both squeezed her a little tighter.
“I’m not just scared for me,” Jade whispered. “Melanie, Bethany, everyone here is so nice. What if Beau hurts them, or he hurts one of…”
“Your men,” Wes supplied, and Jade nodded, breaking his gaze to lean her head on his chest. Right above his heart. The heart that beat just for her now.
“You’re a good person, Jade Liang,” Troy said. “We’ll keep you safe.”
Wes could feel that Troy was now totally back in the moment. They would keep Jade safe or die trying.
They shared a cold smile. They had too much to live for now that Jade was theirs to protect and treasure. The wolf was going to die.
“Painfully,” Troy added.
* * * *
Barrett didn’t flinch at walking through the middle of town stark naked. Not just because it was after midnight and probably deserted, bar the members of his pride, but because he smelled wolf and he was out for blood.
“Definitely the same wolves,” Barrett said, catching a pair of sweats Fergus threw at him.
“I was afraid of that,” Fergus mumbled. “We don’t get many wolves dropping by for a chat.”
The sound of an approaching vehicle drew their attention. They moved to the entrance of the darkened alley, pressing themselves against the cold cement wall.
“It’s Axel and Mason,” Barrett said, running at full speed to meet the vehicle as it stopped outside the hardware store.
“It’s them,” Barrett said.
“Only two of them,” Axel said. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. “I’d say it was Beau’s friends. I can’t scent enough of Beau to make me think he was ever here.”
“How the fuck?” Mason said. He’d exited the truck while Barrett had been focused on Axel and he was shaking his head. “You’re a hundred percent correct. Beau hasn’t been here, but his friends were.”
Barrett inhaled deeply as Mason paused. Barrett could only smell the familiar stench of the wolves who’d hurt Jade. Their individual scent trails weren’t discernible to him.
“Good work, Fergus,” Axel said. “The trail is less than thirty minutes old.”
Barrett nodded his thanks to Fergus as he waited for Axel’s command. Axel was the better tracker and he’d trust Jade’s safety to him rather than risk blindly running off in the wrong direction. He wanted these wolves found and Mason and Axel were his best chance of making that happen.
“They actually stayed together,” Axel said. “Not a very efficient way to search, but convenient for us.”
Mason and Axel both headed north, jogging not running. Heading toward Jade.
“Fuck, Cooper drove Jade straight from this alley to Jason’s. She was in a car. Could the wolves be following her scent?” Barrett asked.
“I can’t scent her now, but I could in the alley,” Mason said.
“I thought only vampires were capable of following such a weak scent,” Barrett said.
They were exiting the town now, but they were still a few miles from the exit that led directly to Jason’s home.
“If they turn off to Jason’s instead of following the road to your place, then we’ll have our answer,” Axel said. They all remained silent as they followed the ever-stronger stench of wolf.
When they reached the turnoff to the Reed’s ranch they paused briefly as Mason ran down the main road heading north.
He returned under a minute later, his expression unreadable. “No trace of wolf in that direction. Both definitely went this way.”
Axel pulled out his cell and spoke to Samson as they ran. They moved at full speed now, their prey almost in their grasp.
Barrett was flying through the air and colliding with a tree before he’d processed what had happened. His vision blurred and he snarled in pain as his back was torn open as he collided with the branches of the snow-covered birch tree.
Snarls and growls filled the air and Barrett freed his cat to join the fight. Axel had shifted, his cat now lying unconscious in the snow at the feet of an enormous wolf. The wolf’s muzzle was stained red with blood. Fergus’s blood. Fergus clutched desperately at the snow-packed earth with his fingers as the wolf lifted him into the air by his leg.
Barrett heard Mason’s coyote snarl, but didn’t take his eyes off the huge wolf as it crunched through flesh and bone to drop a screaming Fergus on top of Axel. Barrett’s pain was forgotten as he watched the wolf lick Fergus’s blood from its muzzle before curling them back in a snarl.
“This is one huge fucking wolf,” Barrett said through the pride link. He didn’t know who was close, but he knew that if this wolf got past both him and Mason, then he’d be heading directly toward Bethany and her baby. Barrett couldn’t bear that thought. He’d die protecting any of the pride’s mates and cubs.
The wolf’s eyes burned a bright red as he tensed his muscles slightly, stupidly alerting Barrett of his intentions. Size didn’t mean strength. Samson had continually told them this in training, which was why Asher’s smaller cat always managed to beat Barrett’s in a fight.
As the wolf charged, Barrett used everything he’d learned and twisted to the side before they collided, raking his claws down the entire length of the wolf’s side. It snarled as it swung around, its jaws snapping closed on the exact location where Barrett’s head had just been.
Barrett had lowered himself to the ground, waiting for that retaliating bite. The wolf had left himself wide open and Barrett surged up, sinking his teeth into the wolf’s exposed throat. As his canines sunk deep, the metallic wash of his prey’s blood into his mouth had Barrett’s cat snarling in triumph. He swung his head sharply, his claws fully extended for purchase on the frozen dirt, and cleaved a huge chunk of the tough hide free.
Barrett heard the hiss of escaping air as the wolf’s front paws collapsed. He’d torn into the wolf’s airways but wouldn’t assume it a mortal wound. Barrett twisted as he leaped and landed on the wolf’s back. He dug his claws into its back, his weight forcing the wolf to the ground. Barrett bit through fur and skin, his long, sharp canines soon hitting bone. Biting through the vertebrae made a satisfying crunch, the wolf collapsing completely, its life ceasing instantly.
“Mason has the other one by the throat,” Samson said. “I want answers before we end its useless life.”
Barrett’s back stung as he leaped from the wolf’s corpse, his cat very pleased the huge bastard would never be getting his hands on Jade.
* * * *
As soon as Troy had taken the phone call from Cooper, he and Wes had become completely different people. They had still held her gently and kissed her in reassurance while helping her to quickly dress, but their eyes were cold, their words clipped. They were soldiers on a mission, no longer her tender, playful lovers. And dammit but I find them hotter than hell right now.
Wes inhaled deeply as he carried her downstairs, no doubt detecting her growing arousal. She couldn’t help it. They were, tall, lean, and muscled, their jaws set in hard angles that accentuated their masculine beauty. The
blue of their eyes was almost lost to the black of their dilated pupils and it added to their dangerous vibe, making them almost irresistible.
“Is Asher meeting us here, or at Melanie’s?” Jade asked, shaking her head slightly, ashamed that her thoughts were focused on licking Wes and Troy all over instead of the imminent danger to herself and her new friends.
“He’s remaining on patrol of the property. We have enough help at the Alpha’s,” Troy said.
“Your scent is strongest here. Cooper is directing Barrett and…some others to come here, too.”
She noticed Wes’s glance at Troy as he paused. Her head began to pound as fear made her blood seem to freeze in her veins. Something had already happened. She was certain of it.
“Stand,” Troy said, placing her on her feet in the dark kitchen. The only light came from the moon shining in through the big kitchen window.
“Arms,” Wes said. She could just make out the shape of a coat as he held it out ready for her to slip her arms through. She moved on autopilot as she tried to get the words out. She wanted to know what had happened, who’d been hurt, but was terrified of the answer.
Wes hauled her against his body, one arm wrapped around her middle, a gun magically appearing in his free hand.
“Give me five seconds. Then follow,” Troy said, slipping silently through the kitchen door into the darkness outside.
“Who?” Jade whispered.
“Shh, honey.” Wes breathed the words into her ear. “We’re all alive.”
He knew what she was panicking about and she had to accept his words as reassurance. He couldn’t lie to her. Someone was hurt, maybe more than one person, but no one was dead. Melanie and Bethany had not lost a mate and neither had the women she would soon be meeting, Morgan, Jordanna, and Peata.
The air was frigid as Wes moved her at a staggering speed to the open door of their truck. She was shaking uncontrollably by the time Troy had started the engine and turned on the heater.
Jade [Eminence Shifters 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 13