by Cara Adams
On the top floor of the building was the manager’s apartment and two guest suites for out-of-town workers needing to stay a day or two for meetings. Serena knew that not only were they both vacant right now but also no special meetings were scheduled this week. Which meant the apartments would both remain vacant. Perfect. The building was secure, she’d be among people she trusted, and no rogue panthers or disappointed lovers could get to her there.
Unfortunately calling her boss this late at night and asking to sleep over wasn’t a good idea. Not to worry, there was a bed in the first-aid room she could use tonight. Unless Ted had argued with his wife again. Serena giggled then realized she was in pretty much the same situation as Ted seemed to land himself in every month or so. Oh well, there was always the floor of her office if all else failed.
Luke was on duty manning the gate at Carnal Connections and he waved her in. She parked the truck in Pete’s usual parking space then ran across the parking lot to the door to the main building. Bloody hell, it’s cold. Even through the two pairs of socks her toes were frozen as soon as they touched the icy ground.
The moment she entered her room, she snatched her suitcase from under her bed and tossed a pile of lingerie into it, followed by sweaters, jeans, thick socks, long-sleeved shirts, and her favorite business skirts. Only then did she change out of the black dress and clothe herself in things more suited to the weather, finishing by sitting on the bed to lace up her boots. Her fuck-me shoes went back into her closet, her underwear and dress into the dirty-clothing hamper, and Pete’s and Josh’s socks, coat, and car keys she piled neatly on the chair by her door for them to find.
Her cosmetics bag, two pairs of business shoes, and her work folder she dumped into the suitcase before locking it, then she was off again, this time to her own car, her suitcase rolling along beside her, two purses and a laptop slung over the other shoulder, her own car keys in her teeth.
Once again she waved at Luke as he let her out. She wondered if he’d say something to Omar or Larry. He was human, so likely he’d leave a message for Larry. But all he’d know was that she’d come from town and turned toward town again.
“And I dare anyone to get into the DNK building to see me without my permission!” she shouted as she planted her warm, booted foot firmly on the gas pedal.
* * * *
After years of sleeping in shared accommodation with his panther brothers, nothing much woke Josh from a sound sleep. But gradually he became aware of a cool draft, then of something not quite right. Something missing. His brain gradually started to work even though he told himself he wasn’t on duty, had no responsibilities he needed to attend to. But finally he was awake, so he rolled over to cuddle into his mate, his woman, Serena.
But she wasn’t there. He opened one eye to confirm the fact and assumed she’d be in the bathroom. But time passed and there were no noises from the bathroom. Now he really was awake. He sat up and looked around. Pete was sound asleep on the other side of the bed, but there was no sign of Serena anywhere.
Josh rolled off his side of the bed and padded into the bathroom. Nope, no Serena there either. His heart began to pound and fear raced through him. Had someone kidnapped her from right under their noses? No, of course not. His feisty kitten would have screamed the building down, and fought her attacker, and likely trashed the room as well. Even as worried as he was growing, Josh couldn’t help but smile. She was all woman but a true fighter, his Serena.
So, where the fuck was she? Had she slipped out to buy a snack or something? But why not call room service?
His brain fully alert now, Josh looked around the room. Her dress and shoes were gone, and so was his coat he’d loaned her. She’d gone outside then. She wouldn’t have put on the coat to go down to the bar or restaurant.
Well, fuck.
Josh walked over to Pete and shook him. “Serena’s gone.”
Pete sat up rubbing his eyes. “Gone? What do you mean gone?”
“Left, departed, removed herself from the room, exited, vamoosed.”
Pete staggered out of bed and did exactly what Josh had already done, checking the bathroom, the clothing, and even opening the closet door before dropping back onto the bed with a fierce frown on his face. “But she had an excellent orgasm. We both know that.”
“Yeah, well, it wasn’t good enough to make her hang around for another one when we woke up.”
“Oh shit. I hope she gets home safely. We’d better check. Surely she wouldn’t be stupid enough to hitchhike.”
“Serena? She’s more likely to steal a car. Wait—where are your truck keys?” asked Josh.
Pete checked every pocket in both their pants, as well as almost ripping the room apart. Long before he’d come to the inevitable conclusion that Serena had taken his truck, Josh was lying flat on his back on the bed, laughing so hard his sides hurt. “What a woman. How I love her energy and vitality, her feistiness and spirit. Oh, hell, I haven’t laughed this much in years.”
“You won’t be laughing when we have to walk home,” said Pete.
“I’m not walking home. It’s called ‘phone a friend.’”
“And have them laugh at us?”
“You think they won’t work it out when your truck is back at Carnal Connections and we aren’t?” asked Josh, trying hard not to start laughing again.
But the look on Pete’s face was too much for him. Josh wrapped his arms around his stomach and began laughing again. “Oh my God. The look on your face.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. So who do we call? And don’t say ‘Ghostbusters.’ You may find all this hysterically funny, but I don’t.”
Josh swiped a hand across his face and managed to speak coherently. “By noon tomorrow every person in the place will know she stood us up. What they won’t know is why, because I haven’t got a clue why she left us, and I’m guessing asking her for a few days will just get more china thrown at us.”
“And to answer the question?” Pete reminded him.
“Omar. He’s our Alpha and we really should get him to check she’s safe. And also because Ramona gave him some tense moments herself before they were mated, so likely he’ll understand,” said Josh.
“You’re right. But first we’ll check out of the hotel, and then we’ll look at where we parked the truck just to be sure. I don’t need to make myself look twice as stupid by assuming she’s taken the truck if she just left the keys at the reception desk or something,” said Pete.
Once again Josh stood and watched as Pete walked up and down the rows of cars parked in the basement. “She didn’t move your truck into another parking space, Pete. She moved it all the way home.”
“You’re right.” Pete turned worried eyes to him. “What did we do wrong? I know she enjoyed herself tonight.”
Josh understood that Pete felt his Dominance was being questioned by Serena’s actions. “This is nothing about you being her Dom. It’s something to do with the two of us. Yes, we know she was happy about having sex. And yes, we know she came. Oh, how she came and came. The next step is to find out what we didn’t do that she must have expected us to do.”
“Surely she didn’t think we’d be biting her tonight? That we’d be formally mating? She must know I’d plan a ceremony for that, not do it in a rush?” asked Pete.
Josh pictured her face buried against his shoulder. “No, she had her face against my chest and shoulder, not near my neck, where she would have bitten me. Fuck if I know what we did wrong.”
“We’ll talk about it later. It’s too fucking cold to stand around here.” Pete pulled out his cell phone and hit the buttons for Omar’s cell then hit speaker so Josh could hear what was said.
“Omar.”
“It’s Pete. We picked Serena up from the BDSM club and went to a hotel for the night. She’s run off with my truck and left us here. Likely we can get a taxi back if we have to, but can you just check she arrives home safely please?”
“If I wasn’t so softhearted I’d make you
walk home, but I want to know what you did to terrorize that sweet little girl, so I’ll pick you up myself. I’ll send Ramona over to care for her.”
Sweet? Well, yes, Serena was sweet. But she was no little girl. She was a grown woman with a mind of her own. A mind Josh simply couldn’t understand. But he would. He wanted to know everything about her so he wouldn’t upset her in the future. There must be some key point he was missing here. Perhaps he should talk to one of the other panther women like Leticia, or Autumn, or even Ramona and find out where he was missing something vital. He wasn’t going to talk to Verity. They were twins after all, and if Serena didn’t rip his head off, Verity just might.
* * * *
By the time Omar came Pete was chilled to the bone. He couldn’t believe what a difference not wearing socks made. He was glad Serena had taken them to keep her feet warm, but his toes inside his shoes were aching with cold even though he kept stamping his feet and pacing.
He knew Josh would be just as cold as him because he’d had a coat but had given it to Serena. She’d really needed it over that thin dress. Together they’d stomped their feet and marched up and down until Omar had finally arrived.
“She’s gone. Get in the car,” said Omar with no hello or anything first, pulling smoothly away from the hotel.
Pete’s heart sank all the way down to his freezing-cold toes. “Gone where?”
“I have no idea. Luke said she arrived in your truck, raced inside, and ten minutes later came out with a suitcase, some hand luggage, and drove off in her car.”
“To the airport then, but where would she go?”
“Not to her father. She would need a travel visa to visit him,” said Josh.
Pete’s heart was pounding with fear for her. Then he relaxed. “She’ll have told Verity. Verity will know.”
“And you really think Verity will tell you after her sister has run away because of what you did? And by the way, what exactly did you do?” asked Omar, suddenly sounding like the Alpha he was.
Oh shit! Pete bowed his head. “We fucked her. Both of us. But she consented and enjoyed it, I swear.”
“Tell me everything. Every tiny detail. Don’t hold back,” ordered Omar.
Pete nodded, dragged a breath deep into his lungs, and began outside the BDSM club and ended when Josh had woken him up.
Omar shook his head. “I don’t get it either. There’re only two possibilities. Either you haven’t told me the full and complete truth, or else Serena wanted or expected something that didn’t happen.”
“Every word Pete said is true and he didn’t leave anything out,” said Josh.
Omar waved at Luke and pulled into the parking lot at Carnal Connections. “Be in my office at nine tomorrow morning. That is, this morning. Fuck, look at the time. It’s almost three now.”
Pete stood and watched Omar march off to his home, where he lived with his mates, Ramona and JB. Pete’d been dreaming of being mated to Serena and Josh for a long time. He and Josh had been best friends for most of their lives. They complemented each other completely and often worked together because they understood each other almost without words at times. But it was Serena they both wanted. Serena they needed to make them a family, to bind them together. And it was Serena they seemed to constantly upset even when they thought they understood her. He loved her. He wanted to mate her. He wanted to be with her forever. So what the fuck was he doing wrong? Why did he keep driving her away?
* * * *
By the time Serena had talked her way past the security guard and made her way up to the first-aid room, had a shower, and dressed in clean underwear, a T-shirt, and sleep shorts, it was after two in the morning. So she’d texted her sister and said I’ll explain at work then fallen into the bed to sleep. But her sleep was marred by endless crazy dreams which she couldn’t explain and couldn’t remember when she woke up. She had the strangest idea someone had been watching her walk into the office. But how could that be? There was no one around except her and the security guard, and he’d instantly matched her photo ID with the pictures of her on his computer. The holdup had been because she was bringing her suitcase with her. Finally she’d told him she had a plane to catch straight from a meeting and then he’d let her in. She hated lying to him, but saying she was hiding from her two boyfriends because they hadn’t said they loved her when they fucked sounded too hard to believe even to her own ears.
She was almost glad when the sounds of people moving around and coffee cups clinking and printers and other machines beeping woke her up properly.
She got dressed, tidied the room, then wheeled her luggage out and up another level to her own office.
“What time’s your plane leave?” called one of her colleagues.
“Afternoon, why?” He just shook his head, so she didn’t know if he was serious or teasing her, but she was glad she’d answered as she did. How sad was it to have to say, “I want them to say they love me”? All her credibility would disappear in a puff of smoke as soon as she opened her mouth.
Much better to lie.
Well, except to her boss. If she wanted to stay in the guest apartment for a week she’d need to tell him the truth. But Donald Thomas was a man she trusted. Really trusted. He was fair and honest and she wouldn’t mind telling him the truth. Well, part of the truth. Maybe not that there were two boyfriends instead of the more standard one.
She pushed her suitcase into the corner of her office and forced both her purses into the bottom drawer of her filing cabinet. Her laptop and the file of work papers she placed on her desk out of her way. Then she booted up her computer, went and got a cup of ice water from the cooler, and wished she’d thought to buy some food. She’d only had a few snacks instead of a meal last night at the BDSM club, and now she’d missed breakfast as well. Oh well, too bad.
She had two things she needed to get sorted in her head straightaway. The first one was how to ask her boss to borrow the apartment upstairs for a week or so. The second was exactly what to tell her sister. Verity had likely had an exciting night similar to hers only with Noah and Ezra. But she bet the two human men had told Verity they loved her. Hell, her sister might even now be out shopping for a wedding dress.
No, she wouldn’t be. Verity would want her to accompany her shopping, to help her choose. But all the rest of her thoughts may be true. They were twins and had grown up close together, understanding each other, mostly liking the same things, and happy to share their activities with each other. But now she was in love with two panthers and her sister was in love with two humans. Even so, Serena thought Verity may still opt for a mating rather than a marriage. Unless the men wanted to go the human way. Anyway, whatever, she truly wanted her sister to be happy. As for herself…She shook her head. I don’t know what the fuck to do with them. Bang their heads against the wall perhaps?
She’d left her office door open as she always did, but her door shut with a snap just then and she looked up into her sister’s stormy eyes and…“Ramona? I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Why not? Didn’t you think I’d want to hear the story of why you snuck out of a hotel room, taking the men’s socks and car keys, then coming here to hide instead of going home and asking your Alpha to sort out whatever problem had arisen? Carnal Connections is well equipped with dungeons if there are people needing to be incarcerated, you know.”
Serena stared at Ramona. She didn’t seem to be joking, but she wasn’t angry either. Everyone knew the story of how Ramona had escaped from some rogue panthers who’d tried to kidnap her. So she wasn’t just a meek and mild little mate for the Alpha. But still, Serena really wished she knew exactly what to say here.
“How about the truth?” suggested Ramona. Shit! Now she’s reading my mind!
“And why steal their socks?” added Verity.
Serena nodded. Ramona seemed to understand what she was thinking. “Because my feet were cold. Verity told you about the BDSM club?”
Ramona nodded.
&n
bsp; “And how we separated and she went home with Noah and Ezra and I went with Pete and Josh?”
Ramona nodded again and rested her shoulder against the door as if to say she’d be standing there listening as long as the story took.
“First we went to an adult store and Pete bought some things and it was fun and we were happy. Then we went to the hotel and the sex was really great. But not once did either of them say they loved me or wanted to mate with me. We’d been together like that, so intimately, and I thought they loved me because I love them. Or used to love them.”
“They certainly have acted as if they care for you,” said Ramona slowly.
“Men have been doing that from time immemorial, and once they get in your pants they’re gone,” said Verity.
“Yes, but Josh and Pete never seemed to me to be that kind of man. However, if they are, I agree you’re better off without them.” Ramona took out her cell phone and started tapping the keys.
“When we had that…um…trouble…um…earlier, it was because they said they always fucked without a condom. Later they explained they only ever slept with women who knew it was just for fun. I can’t help thinking they were trying to tell me it was just fun for them when I really thought they loved me.” Serena heard her voice catch, then Verity was holding her while Ramona kept tapping away on her phone.
The pain inside her was so sharp, she thought it might be her heart cracking in two. She loved them both so much and she’d thought her love was returned. But now they were right back to where they were after the night when she’d thrown them out of her room, except now that she’d slept with them she knew how wonderful fucking them could be.
“Omar will speak to Pete and Josh. Consider the matter dealt with. Now what about you? What do you want?”
Serena hugged her sister than gestured to her suitcase. “There are a couple guest apartments on the top floor. I was going to ask my boss if I could stay there for a week or so until I’m ready to come home.”