Claiming Kristen

by Jenny Penn

  Kristen didn’t have any doubt who’d beaten the crap out of him. Nor did she wonder who he intended to pay for that fact. The blanket aggression glaring down on her had her stomach beginning to tighten with anticipation of just what he intended. Like a beast on a leash, he watched her with barely restrained hunger that had the wolf inside Kristen whimpering with want.

  Fear blended into the lust just being near her mates had awakened in her, and she instantly went from being annoyed to feeling all itchy. Conflicting needs tore at her soul. Desire surged forth, undeterred by doubt and fears, but it only fed them with its intensity. She’d never felt a pull this strong, and it made age-old instincts fire off demands to flee and hide.

  Kristen looked quickly away, avoiding her second mate altogether. Silently reminding herself that she had to resist them until Lilly found her a cure, she focused on her hands and tried to take deep, calming breaths.

  This could work. She had some protection in the McBane home. Now all she had to do was avoid looking directly at her mates for the next several weeks. No, that would never work. She had to come up with a better plan, some way of looking at them without ending up feeling all hot and lusty.

  “Where the hell is my mate?” JD’s bark shattered the sudden heavy silence in the room. He arrived in no better mood than when she’d last seen him. Wearing the exact same scowl, he stormed into the room to scan a look over everybody before landing on Claire with a growl.

  “And what the hell are you doing here?”

  That sharp tone had Claire’s chin going up. “I brought over some of Kristen’s things, and Samantha was a little upset, so she retired to her room.”

  “Great,” JD grunted, as if burdened by Claire’s answer. Kristen had a feeling his bad temper came from the argument they all knew he was sulking off to have. Hopefully, he wouldn’t win, and she wouldn’t end up being evicted anytime soon.

  “Get out of my way. You two jackasses might be staying in my house, but don’t ever, ever get in my way,” JD roared, shoving her mates in opposite directions. For a man in a rush, he paused long enough to assure his sour mood was felt.

  “And I don’t want to hear shit out of you while you’re here. You’re ghosts, you got that?” JD pointed at both men before nodding at Claire. “And you. I believe your mate is looking for you, and he isn’t in the best condition.”

  “Worse or better?” Claire asked, casting a critical eye over Kristen’s mate.

  “Better.” JD paused to glare at his commander and snorted. “Much better. It’s actually quite embarrassing.”

  With that insult delivered, JD stalked out of the room. Claire was almost right on his heels. She paused long enough to give Kristen’s stiff frame a tight, quick hug, whispering as she did. “It’ll work out. Just give them a chance to do right.”

  Then she was alone with them. Casting a quick glance at their boots to make sure they were still on the other side of the room, Kristen risked pointedly turning her back on them. There could be no clearer sign of rejection for a male werewolf than that. It would be too much, though, to hope that would change their minds.

  Chapter 11“Kristen.” She felt the rush of movement behind her as the warm, spicy scent of a man enveloped her. “I’m…will you please look at me?”

  She didn’t want to, didn’t trust herself to behave in a rational, sane manner with those brilliant eyes mesmerizing her. Appearing weak didn’t sit right with her, either. They certainly wouldn’t take her denials seriously if she didn’t have the balls to deliver them face-toface.

  Squaring her chin, she turned and pointed her narrowed gaze right at his nose, the least attractive part on anybody’s face. “What?”

  “I’m…” He sighed, and suddenly a callused fingertip pushed up her chin until he’d forced her to meet his gaze. Instantly she got lost in the whirling kaleidoscope of vibrant blues and greens. “I’m Jakob Nickel, and I’m sorry for how I handled our previous introduction.”

  “Huh?” Kristen blinked after a moment, trying to throw off the light-headed sensation that had her starting to feel lost. “What?”

  “I’m Jakob Nickel,” he repeated slowly, pausing like he didn’t want to go on. “And I’m very sorry for how we handled our previous introduction.”

  Kristen waited for a moment, expecting more and getting nothing else. “That’s it? That’s all? You’re sorry? That’s the best you can do?”

  From the way he stared blankly back at her, Kristen knew the answer was yes. “We’re very sorry?”

  “But only for our previous introduction?” Kristen snorted and shook her head at that bit of insanity. Like she didn’t understand what he wasn’t saying. “And not for breaking into my house and molesting me on my kitchen floor while you let that,” her hand waved off toward the open door, “pencil-dicked ogre watch—”

  “I can hear you,” Tex shouted out from the other bedroom.

  “I don’t care,” Kristen roared back.

  “I told you it wouldn’t work,” her as-yet-unnamed mate grunted, drawing Kristen’s enraged attention in his direction.

  “What?” Kristen snapped. “What wouldn’t work?”

  “Apologizing,” the man answered succinctly, if with a touch of smugness. Apparently he thought himself the smart one, but he’d forgotten one little thing.

  “And you are?”

  That question didn’t embarrass him, but he puckered up a little with pride. “Kort.”

  “That’s where I’d like to see you all,” Kristen muttered.

  “That’s because you want revenge,” Kort retorted without even trying to pretend like he hadn’t heard her. “And why apologizing doesn’t work, because you know we aren’t that sorry.”

  “Kort,” Jakob snapped, clearly peeved and ready to take it out on his brother. “Will you shut up and let me handle this?”

  Kristen, though, appreciated Kort’s honesty, even if she still didn’t like the man. Actually, she hated him because even focusing on his mouth left her too flushed with memories of everything he’d done with those hard lips last night.

  “Yes, Kort, shut up and let your brother handle lying to me,” Kristen growled right at the wall over Jakob’s shoulder. “After all, I’m supposed to be too dumb to recognize that apologizing for the introduction isn’t the same as apologizing for molesting me all night long.”

  “I didn’t—”

  “Why would we owe you an apology for something you enjoyed so much?” Kort shot back, cutting off Jakob’s denial and keeping the argument between just him and Kristen.

  “I did not enjoy it!” It was stupid to lie, but the words popped right out of her, born out of a need to defend herself and protect her shattered dignity. Not that Kort would let her get away with it.

  “Please,” Kort snorted. “You were on all fours begging for cock any way you could get it.”

  Never in her life had any man spoken to her in such a way. It left Kristen momentarily stunned as she gaped over his audacity. “How dare you?”

  “Hell, you going to act like that, we might as well settle the argument the old way.” Kort sauntered forward, his hands dropping to his belt buckle. “I’ll prove it to you, just give me five minutes and then I’ll bring you a mirror.”

  That did it. Kristen snapped under the wash of rage at his very suggestion. A part of her had known they’d never adhere to Samantha’s rules, but this time she wouldn’t call defeat with nothing more than a whimper. This time she roared back at him and charged.

  The second her body slammed into the hard wall of muscle known as Mt. Kort, Kristen realized her mistake. He felt warm and smelled even better. Her head spun with the rich, drugging scent of man and musk while the world whipped around her.

  Even as Kort went crashing toward the ground, he snaked his arms around her waist, pinning her to his heated length and dragging her down with him. Her head cracked against his shoulder as they landed, leaving her stunned for the whole second it took him to roll. Before Kristen could react,
she found herself pinned to the floor with her wrist trapped in his hands.

  It was a position she remembered too clearly from the night before. Kort like to play captor, liked to systematically break down every one of her defenses until her own wanton lusts overpowered her good sense and she became a desperate thing of need that gloried in his ruthless drive to make her beg.

  A whimper lingered at the edge of her lips as her body melted in anticipation of repeating that performance, but fear held it back. Kristen clung to that thin sliver of panic, feeding it with her desperation to escape as the air thickened with that intoxicating musk.

  “Damnit!” Kristen hollered, throwing all her strength into trying to buck Kort off. “You son of a bitch, let me go!”

  “If that’s what you really want, then stop fucking tempting me.” He grunted out the words as his hips flexed, grinding down with each roll of her own.

  “It’s called struggling,” Kristen snarled, throwing all her weight into twisting loose.

  “It’s called tempting.”

  “Let her go, Kort.” Jakob matched that order with a boot planted into his twin’s side. Suddenly, Kristen was free. She didn’t hesitate to see if Jakob had saved her or was intent on capturing her for himself. Scrambling in the opposite direction of both Covenanters, she crawled to her knees and onto her feet, all the while moving as far away from them as possible.

  Only once she had the full length of the room between them did Kristen bother to look back to find them engrossed with each other. Struggling to his feet, Kort gripped his side as he shot Jakob a murderous look.

  “Damn, Jakob. Did you have to kick me?” Kort straightened slowly, wincing with every inch. “If I’d wanted to be kicked, I would have gotten in on your fight with that idiot earlier.”

  “Great, I’m mated to a wuss,” Kristen spat, bringing Kort’s frozen gaze back to her like a laser. “And it’s not ‘that idiot,’ his name is Derek, my brother.”

  “You happy he beat the crap out of Jakob?” Kort asked, like he really needed clarification.

  “Yes.” Kristen smiled. “He deserved it, and so do you.”

  “Yeah? Well if you’re so pleased, why you still all pissed off?” That wiped away Kristen’s grin and brought Kort’s own tugging at his lips. “You don’t want apologies, and you’re not satisfied with your brother beating Jakob near death. That’s because you want your own revenge.”

  He wasn’t wrong. Seeing the damage Derek had done to Jakob didn’t give her any kind of joy. Actually, it kind of irritated her. Yet again her brother felt the need to handle Kristen’s life, trying to solve her problems and doing everything his way. Kristen didn’t hold hope that he’d ever realize she could fight her own battles.

  “You have a right to it.” Kort’s voice softened, becoming persuasive.

  “After what you did?” Kristen didn’t need his affirmations. “You’re damn right about that.”

  “And we’re going to give it to you.”

  That took her a minute to process, and even then it left her suddenly quite confused. Eyeing the big brutes towering over the edge of her bed, Kristen didn’t trust either one of them in the slightest. “You are?”

  “It’s got to be good, though,” Kort warned her. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life with you lording how we met over us. So you got to have enough revenge now to get it out of your system completely.”

  “Kort,” Jakob groaned, looking more pained than his brother. “Don’t tempt the woman.”

  “I’m not,” Kort snapped, turning to shoot Jakob a dirty look. “We tried it your way, but it’s like I told you on the way over here. This ain’t going to be fixed with a few flowers and some humble words. She’s our mate. She’s like us. We’d want revenge, and that’s what she wants. Right, Kristen?”

  As much as she wanted to, Kristen hesitated to agree, unsure of what was being negotiated. “I guess it depends on what kind of revenge.”

  “Well,” Kort shrugged, “I guess that’s up to you. It’s your revenge.”

  “I don’t like the way she is smiling, Kort.”

  Apparently, Kort didn’t either, because it felt it necessary to add on some qualifiers himself. “Just don’t make it bloody or fatal.”

  “No blood or death.” She could live with that as long as she didn’t have to live with them.

  “It’s probably going to take you some time to come up with something.” Jakob sounded almost desperate now.

  “Hmm.” Actually, Kristen already had a plan going.

  Lilly needed time to find the cure. Given the powerful pull even now by her wolf to accept Jakob and Kort, Kristen knew the one thing she didn’t have a lot of was time. It would be hard to resist the attraction, impossible if she let them get even one hand on her body. Now she had a means of assuring they kept their hands to themselves.

  “At least you want some time before you spring it on us.” The uncertainty in Jakob’s tone turned his statement into a suggestion. The man was beyond nervous now. “After all, the surprise lends something to the act.”

  “Oh, you’re going to be surprised.” Once they realized that she’d broken the mating bond, Kristen imagined surprised wouldn’t begin to describe their reaction.

  Jakob sighed in clear resignation and sent her one last hopeful look. “That’s going to make you happy?”

  “Very happy.”

  “Well, while you’re planning all that out, could we maybe focus on something positive? You know, like try to work on settling into being mates?”

  His negotiation technique needed work because Kristen could already guess where Jakob was heading. Years of experience in the courtroom kept her from giving him a flat-out “no.” Best to let him say what he wanted outright and not let him play any games.

  “Settle into being mates?” Kristen repeated, cocking a confused brow at that. “What’s that supposed to mean? You want me to move into your house and play happy Mary housekeeper?”

  Jakob flushed, revealing that some part of him had dared to hope he could get her to agree to that much. Kristen, though, had put enough of a sneer into her words to keep the big man from brazenly agreeing. Instead he went for an insulted scowl that probably had as much to do with the embarrassment of her calling him out as it did that he wouldn’t be getting what he wanted.

  “No, of course not,” Jakob shot back, before pausing as if unsure of what to say next. The man needed to learn to have a contingency plan because the way he stumbled over the rest of his answer really was pathetic. “I know you’re not ready to move in yet, but can we at least proceed on a course that would lend itself to one day moving into our own house?”

  The man was still fishing. Kristen had to give him one for tenacity. “And what course is that?”

  “Doing what mates do?”

  “And what do mates do?” Kristen had really started to enjoy watching Jakob squirm, but apparently Kort had reached the end of his patience. He answered bold, blunt, and true to his nature.

  “Fuck.” Kort paused before feeling the need to expand his answer. “Mates fuck.”

  Kristen met his glare with a smirk before giving Kort back her own tart answer. “I’m not having sex with you.”

  “I wasn’t talking about sex,” Jakob snapped.

  “Excuse me.” Kort held a hand up, blocking Jakob’s complaint. “I want to talk about sex.”

  Too bad nobody wanted to talk to him. Kristen kept her focus on Jakob, who continued on with a certain amount of indignant air. “I’m talking about the normal things, like eating dinner together, talking about our day, vegging out in front of the TV together. You know, normal, everyday things.”

  “Like getting naked at the end of the night and having some fun,” Kort retorted over Kristen.

  “Shut up, Kort!” Jakob snapped.

  “At least I agree to that.” Kristen snorted.

  “To what?” Jakob rolled his head slightly as he emphasized his point. “To Kort shutting up or to what I was sa
ying?”

  “To both, actually.”

  There wouldn’t be any point in trying to keep them at arm’s distance. In fact it could be very dangerous not to keep an eye on her two mates. On the other hand, it might be beneficial to have them thinking things were progressing.

  “I mean what you’re talking about is going to happen regardless,” Kristen reasoned. “After all, we are living together.”

  “Yes, but it could happen without a constant, tense bickering.” The way Jakob pointed that out made it quite clear he blamed her for all the tension. “We could actually try to be nice to each other.”

  “I’m sorry. I can’t do nice with this boner bothering me.” Kort interrupted again, this time drawing Kristen’s complete attention as he continued to complain about his hard cock. “I mean I can try, but I’m not going to be able to truly relax and be a pleasant fellow until my dick gets a little loving.”

  “Then try making a fist,” Kristen snapped, unable to ignore Kort any longer. “Because your hand is all the attention you’re going to be getting.”

  “A little loving from my mate,” Kort shot back. “Unless it’s your hand, it isn’t near the same thing.”

  “Then suffer.”

  “Misery loves company, honey.”

  “Kort,” Jakob intervened again, solidifying Kristen’s opinion that he probably spent a lot of time fixing his brother’s mistakes. Kristen imagined last night fell into that category. “Will you just shut up about how hard your damn dick is?”

  “It’s kind of hard to when I’m in pain,” Kort retorted angrily. “And it’s her fault. Seriously, man, how can you look at her and not ache? Now you’re asking me to be nice on top of it? I’m just saying it would be easier to get along if we were screwing.”

  “Gee, I’m not having any problems staring at you,” Kristen sang out sweetly simply because she knew it would bug Kort. From the way he tensed and growled, she hadn’t been wrong, but she had underestimated his intelligence.