by Jenny Penn
That thought jolted her out of her shock and sent Kristen rushing to the edge. Almost fearful of what she’d find, she peered over and spied Jakob lying sprawled out, eyes closed and looking like the dead.
“Jakob!” That shriek had his eyes cracking open. At the small sign of life, Kristen’s heart started beating again. “Are you all right?”
“No, woman, and all your screaming ain’t helping,” Jakob snapped back, proving that his mood hadn’t been improved by doing a backflip off the balcony.
He rolled over to his side, shoving up to a sit. He grimaced over the motion, making Kristen wince and feel the need to start taking control of the situation.
“Don’t move.” Her order came out sounding more like a plea as she rushed toward the stairs. “You could have broken bones or internal damage. We need to get you to a—”
“What the hell is going on out here?”
Chapter 21JD charged past Kristen, barely sparing her a glance as he confronted Kort, who did not appear the least bit concerned. Too busy glaring at her, Kort didn’t even seem to realize that his Alpha had stormed up to him and waited, not at all patiently, for an answer.
Kristen bit her lip and went tense when JD felt the need to take a step to his left and block Kort’s view of her. He sounded about ready to rip her mate limb from limb when he repeated himself.
“Well? What happened?”
“Jakob broke the railing.”
Kristen almost gasped at the sound of Kort’s nonchalant answer,but the air froze in her throat when JD’s fist whipped out to clamp around Kort’s neck. For the second time that night, her heart stopped beating as fear for her mate held her paralyzed. All Kristen could do was watch as the Covenanter Alpha wrenched Kort clear off his feet by the throat.
Kort’s eyes bulged, his face going beet red as his hands came to clutch at JD’s arms. Dangling from his Alpha’s hand, he didn’t challenge JD by trying to rip free of his Alpha’s hold, but clung to him as he garbled and tried to speak.
“Listen, you smug little bastard,” JD snarled with enough menace to have Kristen praying he didn’t intend to snap Kort’s neck. “I’ve had enough of the drama and the chaos. This is my house, and for one goddamn night it’s going to be quiet.”
Matching each word with a step, JD didn’t even flex as he carried Kort over to the broken railing. Straightening out his arm with a smile, JD held Kort over the edge.
“If I hear any more yelling, screaming, cussing, breaking of anything…”
* * * *
JD didn’t finish his threat, but delivered on it by simply releasing Kort. Kristen cringed, not even daring to make a squeak as the house rumbled with another heavy impact. Silently, she prayed that Kort survived his fall as well as his brother had. If not, then she’d shove JD over the edge and see how he liked it.
“And you will be fixing my railing.”
JD laid down that decree, without a single hint of concern for the two men he lorded over. He turned, obviously dismissing her mates. Kristen could only hope that meant they were fine. As rough and tough as JD acted, surely he wouldn’t callously abandon his injured men, no matter how much they’d pissed him off.
Not that JD would ever be elected Mr. Congeniality. Passing her this time, the Alpha finally took notice of Kristen and drew to a stop. He didn’t leave her wondering what he thought. As if his disgusted look didn’t say enough, JD felt compelled to be brutally blunt.
“This is all your fault. I wish you’d get the hell out of my house, and you can take those two idiots with you.”
That bracing bit of rudeness had Kristen’s spine stiffening with indignation as she tilted her nose up at him. “Just for that, I might stay here indefinitely.”
Kristen could be that brash because she knew JD wouldn’t pitch her over the banister. He might like to, but the big brute couldn’t lay a finger on her. Forget what Derek would do to him if he did, Kristen knew that Kort and Jakob would be the first to try and whip JD’s ass.
They might not protect themselves from their Alpha, but they’d protect her. Males would die for their females, their loyalty that absolute. JD knew it, too, but then again he didn’t have to touch her.
“Jakob?” JD hollered down toward her mate, beginning to smile in a way that only made Kristen more nervous.
“Yeah?” Jakob sounded grouchy, but not in any kind of real pain.
“Give her one for me.”
Kristen’s jaw fell open in shock. She had no doubt what the pig meant by that. He’d just ordered her mate to discipline her, and that wasn’t his right. Before she could light into him for that base command, Jakob drew her ire with his snorted response.
“It’ll make her scream, and I thought you wanted things quiet.”
“Then gag the damn woman.” There went JD’s smug smirk as his features hardened into his typically pissed off expression. “Really, do I have to explain everything to you?”
“Don’t worry, JD,” Kort shouted up, making sure everybody present could hear him clearly. “She’ll pay for the banister and for disturbing you.”
All the sympathy and concern that had flooded Kristen moments ago whiplashed into fiery outrage at that outlandish vow. She managed to get a squeak out that time before JD cut her off with another stinging insult.
“She’s been disturbing me since she brought this circus into my home. It’s about damn time one of you manned up and took control of the damn situation.”
Kristen growled, a reflex of the anger boiling inside her. JD could have taken his own offense at the disrespectful sound, but the man just grunted. Without another word to anybody, he sulked off, muttering to himself about the inconveniences of women.
That was fine by her. Kristen didn’t want to waste her temper on him anyway. She had two better targets in mind, the two idiots that set this entire humiliating episode into motion. Of course, in the great pride of idiocy, neither of her mates looked the least bit ashamed or concerned when Kristen turned to find them glaring up at her.
Both had gained their feet, and neither looked more reasonable for the wear. In fact the brilliant shine of unbridled aggression continued to glint in Jakob’s gaze, matching the dark intent in Kort’s scowl. Well, Kristen wouldn’t be so easily intimidated. She had her own angry reserves left to fuel her temper.
Cocking her hip out and planting her fist on her waist, she met their fierce expressions with her own intolerant one. “Listen up, you two egotistical juveniles. You can both stop trying to tear the house down because I didn’t let either of your asses come!”
She probably should have panicked at the way Jakob stilled at her newest confession, but Kristen didn’t have that much sense left. Kort, Jakob, Peter, JD, they’d all goaded the calm reason out of her. If nobody else felt compelled to act like a sane person, there was no reason for her to bother with the effort.
“You’re yelling, Kristen.” Low and deep, Kort’s voice held more than a warning, but also a hint of anticipation. “I do think JD just made his opinion on that subject known, which makes you, by my count, up to six. So why don’t you go on and get in bed before you end up earning an even dozen.”
A shudder coursed through her body at his words, an internal ripple of heat that flooded her cunt with enough blood to make her pussy start to tingle. Swallowing down the excitement trying to take control, Kristen accepted that it wouldn’t be beat. The arousal budding inside her could only be delayed and not for long.
She wouldn’t be escaping her fate. Not tonight, not ever. The only thing Kristen could hope to do was control it. Jakob and Kort would fight her, but Kristen knew how to hold her own.
“I went to see Lilly Masterson.” That statement wiped away Kort’s smug look and tensed Jakob’s stiff one. “To see if she knew a way to undo a mating.”
“So help me God, Kristen.” Jakob breathed out, his fingers flexing again with obvious violent impulses. She didn’t let that test her own determination, but met Jakob’s murderous gaze and cut him
off.
“She didn’t.” Kristen made that assurance sound like anything but. “So, does that make it an even dozen?”
Offering them a smug smile to go with that smart-ass comment, Kristen dared to turn her back on them and walked away. Pointedly ignoring Tex and Cal, who’d appeared around the time JD had, Kristen flounced back into her bedroom and slammed the door shut hard enough to make the wall shake.
That should goad their tempers, like they needed any more fuel. Kristen’s grin warmed into giggles. They’d be coming after her. Any second now, Jakob and Kort would be banging into her room. Kristen didn’t think they’d have enough patience or interest left in getting to even six of her punishments. She was thinking the first one would wipe them all out.Kristen’s door hadn’t even slammed shut before Jakob took off to chase after their mate. Kort held back, having a score to settle first. Besides, if he didn’t get to it now, he might actually hurt Kristen later. For as hard as his cock was, an overriding need to smash something infused his arousal. He needed a release and figured Jakob owed him.
“Hey.” His brother glanced in Kort’s direction at his call and cocked his head right into the fist Kort cracked across his jaw. The blow sent Jakob fumbling sideways before he went crashing toward the floor.
“That’s for sucker punching me earlier,” Kort stated. “Because that was low.”
* * * *
“Yeah?” Jakob tested his jaw, looking for a break. “We even then?”
“For now,” Kort agreed sullenly.
“You know we used to be on the shit end of that stick,” Tex commented, drawing Kort’s sour gaze toward him. The grinning fool came sauntering down the steps with his more dour-faced twin on his heels. “Our lives have gotten much easier since you two moved in and started pissing JD off.”
“I’m so glad we could be of service,” Jakob snarled, scrambling off the floor so he could confront Tex face-to-face.
“Watch yourself now.” Tex smirked, pointedly glancing back up the stairs. “Don’t want to make Daddy come back out here, do you?”
“Come on, Tex.” Cal clapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I’m hungry.”
“Oh, yeah, dinner.” Tex nodded at Jakob and Kort before turning to follow his brother toward the front door. “Can’t wait to meet up with the gang, got so much to tell them.”
With that, the cocky son of a bitch sauntered out of the front door. Kort growled, jerking forward. He’d known Tex had run his mouth all over town, making Jakob and Kort the laughingstock of the pack. The patience he’d shown in tolerating Tex didn’t exist tonight. Kort was fresh out of restraint.
The anguish he’d felt at finding out Kristen had feelings, true feelings, a friendship, a business, a fucking life with another man howled through him again. Every time he thought about Peter, Kort felt the need to kill something. Pushing him to the edge of his limits hadn’t been enough for his mate. No, Kristen had to goad him even further.
The pain of being strangled and dumped on the floor didn’t even compare to the devastating blow Kristen had delivered when she’d revealed that she’d gone to Lilly. Kristen wanted to break the mating, and Kort could guess why. She’d explained it more than once. Narins chose their mates. They didn’t get stuck with them like Covenanters.
Well, Kristen was more than stuck with Kort. She was going to be stuck on him by the end of the night because Kort intended to bury his cock deep inside her and never, ever let her go. Or at least not until he’d broken that rebellious spirit of hers and had her dutifully minding her role as his mate.
It might take a very long time and every position he knew, but eventually Kristen would come to accept him. First, though, Kort intended to pound all his aggression out on Tex’s smug face. Once he’d exhausted the hard surge of violence boiling in his blood, then he’d get to Kristen.
Not waiting to see if Jakob followed, Kort stormed out the door and into the night, where he didn’t have to worry about being loud or breaking anything.Kristen sighed as she stared out of her window, watching the four wolves below tear into each other. Just as in their human form, Covenanters tended to be bigger than Narins in their beast form. Bigger and more vicious. Not that Kristen worried over her mates. The frown furrowing her brow had everything to do with annoyance and nothing to do with concern.
“Stupid bastards,” she muttered to herself. They were supposed to have come chasing after her in a frenzy to mate and dominate. Then they all could have had a mind-blowing round of sex before passing peacefully out and forgetting all about punishments. Of course, in the morning, if they brought the subject up, she’d remind them she had to get to work. Then she’d flee to her brother’s.
Kristen was not above hiding until Jakob and Kort remembered they’d promised her revenge without consequences. Well, that promise had gone to hell along with Kristen’s attempt to rile them up enough to lose control. Technically, her theory had worked given the ferocious battle going on in the yard, but she still looked at it as a backfire.
Instead of wearing out all that urgency on her, they were wasting it on Tex and Cal. Not that she was fooled into thinking they’d work through all their energy. The fight would only fuel their carnal needs. With their more violent urges curbed, the rest of their aggression would only infuse their arousal, focusing their desires instead of unleashing them as Kristen had wanted.
And she’d taunted them into taking a dozen punishments out on her ass? Kristen’s hand slid down and under her nightshirt, touching the proof of her own desire. They should have been here, tending to the need heating her pussy with so much cream it slickened the inside of her thighs.
Knowing that she hadn’t managed to avoid her punishments didn’t diminish her want, but only made her wish harder that they’d stop playing down below and come up here and show her how much better it would feel to have their thick fingers playing with her swollen flesh. They were both so good with their hands and mouths and tongues…Kristen gasped as a small, sparkly climax fizzled through her.
It wasn’t enough, but Kristen feared it was far more than her mates planned to give her. She’d denied them both release for two weeks and felt certain she’d be denied tonight if they had any sense about them when they showed up.
Jakob, with his bossy nature and need to control, would no doubt see holding back her climaxes as a lesson and punishment well deserved. Kort wouldn’t dress his reasoning up so much. He’d do it just because he had an eye-for-an-eye view of the world. Between the two of them, she had reason to worry that twelve might actually be the number of hours or even days they tended to deny her.
What Kristen needed was a new plan. One that assured her pleasure and robbed Kort and Jakob of the ability to think. Most importantly, one that wouldn’t backfire on her.
* * * * Kort morphed back into his human form as the other three wolves around him did the same. He went from towering over Tex on four feet to standing on two as the wolf beneath shifted into a naked, bloodied man still grinning up at him. Tex would be truly cowed maybe a second after he died and had to meet his maker.
Until then, his spirit remained undented, and Kort didn’t have the interest in trying to beat the smile off his face anymore. Damn fool actually appeared to enjoy getting beaten. Grunting at his own observation, Kort stepped back, allowing Tex to roll to his feet.
“That make you feel better?” Tex asked, sauntering over to where they’d left their clothes. He probably had some other smart-ass thing to say, but the words died on his lips just like his smile. His famous grin slipped into a rare scowl as he shot a hard look at Kort.
“Man,” Tex snapped finally, clearly pissed, “did you piss on my pants?”
Kort smirked, wishing he’d thought of it and not the least bit concerned with having to take the blame. The culprit, though, couldn’t keep his mouth closed. Stepping into his own jeans, Cal looked completely unrepentant as he confessed.
“That would be me. Next time maybe you’ll think about picking a fight when I’
m hungry.”
“Yeah?” Tex tossed the jeans at Cal, who swatted them aside. “Well, now your stomach is going to have to wait even longer, ‘cause I’m going to get a shower, along with a fresh pair of pants.”
With that Tex stormed off toward the house, as naked as the day he was born. Kort watched him go as he tugged on his own jeans, not liking the idea of Kristen bumping into a naked Tex. Not that he expected that would actually happen. Glancing up at her window, Kort could see the light seeping around the curtain.
“You think she’s barricaded the door yet?” Kort asked Jakob, sensing his brother stepping up to his side.
“No.” Jakob’s voice sounded rough, but firm in his conviction.
“Pity.”
The fight had blunted the hard edges of his anger, but the hurt still simmered deep inside. Merging with the arousal pumping through his veins, the mixture made an intoxicating combination that fed a very primitive urge to claim his mate. Not in the “honey, please, may I” kind of way, but more in a “rip the door off its hinges and with a howl of victory pounce on his mate” kind of way. Kort really could have gone for a little resistance on her part.
“I doubt she even locked it.” Jakob sighed, sounding almost sorry about ruining Kort’s wicked musings. “I think our cunning little mate is probably stretched out naked in her bed, waiting with a surprise for us.”
That, along with Jakob’s depressed tone, drew Kort’s glance.
“Huh? You think she’s waiting naked with a gun?” Because nothing else made sense out of Jakob’s comment or his demeanor. Obviously, though, Kort had it wrong, given the disgusted look Jakob shot him.
“No,” Jakob retorted, pinning Kort with his stare. “Don’t you see what’s going on here, Kort?”
No, and he wasn’t capable of seeing much right then. Kort was strung too damn high. All the energy he’d thrown into the fight hadn’t been expended, but recycled and concentrated into a seething pool of lust that left him incapable of complicated thoughts.