by Cara Adams
Monty staggered out of bed and into the hallway just in time to see Diego pounding on Vallen’s bedroom door. “We’re late for a meeting with the Stewarts and Willards. Get dressed and let’s go.”
Monty struggled to remember whether he’d showered last night. Yes, yes he had, after they’d had the most amazing sex ever with Zoe. He hurried into the bathroom, cleaned his teeth, shaved, and threw aftershave on his face, then sprayed deodorant everywhere to cover any problems caused by not showering this morning. Then he raced back to his bedroom to pull on jeans and a T-shirt and gym shoes. He snatched up a notepad and pen and bustled out the door and down the stairs to the second floor. As he’d slammed the apartment door, he could hear the shower running, so one of his brothers had decided to take the time to start the day right.
When he walked into the small conference room, his tummy rumbled at the smell of fresh bread. He went straight to the table and snatched up a cinnamon roll before pouring coffee and sitting next to Favian.
Diego was already there, munching a roll, and most of the others were deep in conversation. Monty pulled out his cell phone and swiped it open, finding three missed messages about the meeting. Oh dear. Also, it was almost ten. That was an even bigger surprise, although likely it was getting toward three when he’d gotten to bed, so it shouldn’t have been as much of a shock as it was.
“About fucking time,” growled Saxon Stewart as Vallen walked in, his hair still wet from the shower.
“Hey, don’t complain. I was the only one who showered this morning.”
“Phew!” teased Favian, wiggling away from Monty.
“Did you really want to wait another half hour to get this meeting started?” said Diego, grabbing a second roll.
Monty took a second one as well and passed the plate to Vallen, who snatched up the last one.
“Okay, let’s get this meeting moving. Has everyone read the list of missing items and looked at the pictures of them?” asked Saxon.
Hastily, Monty thumbed back to the missed messages and looked at the stolen items. Vallen had used the word collectibles, and it described a lot of these things perfectly. They were small and portable yet unique. He supposed they’d be worth a bit of money, but surely not enough to risk a long jail sentence over.
“I don’t understand why he’s stealing these things. He’s incredibly rich already yet is bothering with items worth only a thousand or two. Surely such petty theft is beneath him. Or is he a kleptomaniac?” asked Monty.
“I don’t know that he’s got unlimited liquid assets. He propositioned the wife of someone quite important in society, and that’s gotten him blackballed from a lot of social events he’s been used to attending,” said Saxon.
“But wouldn’t that save him money?” asked Bram Stewart.
“Not necessarily. Most of these really rich people do a lot of business at social events. If he can’t attend the parties, he’s not going to get the business,” said Hardy.
“Not only that, but he might have taken advantage of a few too many people. Although likely no one would say anything out loud, there could be other people who’ve noticed precious items go missing when he was around. I think that might be why he’s getting the teenagers to do the pilfering now. He’s trying to keep his own nose clean. Except he has to sell the stuff to make money, and he doesn’t seem to have gotten that side of the business completely organized yet,” said Brayden.
“Which bring us back to why we’re pulling this job tonight. Let’s plan,” said Vallen firmly.
* * * *
Even though the stores donating fruit and vegetables to feed the homeless people had long since stopped asking for pictures of the meals, Zoe was so used to snapping photographs of the boxes of fresh food, the foodstuff as it was sorted on the kitchen table, and the finished meals that she still did it every time. Her mother had printed out several series of the pictures right down to showing the people enjoying their meals.
Today’s boxes were filled with a lot of items that needed to be cooked immediately so every burner on the cooktop had a double saucepan on it filled with vegetables. They were going to make a vegetable lasagna. It was a useful recipe requiring very little meat and a lot of vegetables, as well as cheese and pasta. The cheese was expensive, but since everything else was free or very cheap, it was a tasty change for everyone.
The volunteers in the hall were busy grating blocks of cheese and boiling the pasta, as well as setting the tables and getting the room ready. Two of Maia’s mates, Theron and Draven, were helping clean the parking lot with the new leaf blower and setting up the hall while her third mate, Chase, was helping John-Paul with the men’s showers.
Meanwhile Zoe, her two sisters, and her mom were almost finished chopping, peeling, and dicing vegetables.
“There’s going to be quite a lot of leftovers. Zoe, go and get some lentils, and we’ll make the rest into soup and freeze it for another day.”
Zoe nodded and headed into the pantry, moving bags of flour, rice, potatoes, and onions around until she found the lentils. Soup was one of their standbys. Since they were given day-old bread every day, bread and soup was the meal they served when the money and gifts ran out. But, fortunately, since they’d gotten a few more sponsors, the food hadn’t run out. Soon they’d be able to have a soup day with a nice dessert for everyone as a treat, made completely from leftovers they’d saved.
After the meal, Maia’s men insisted on washing all the dishes so the women could get ready for their visit to the women’s shelter. No men were allowed on the property of the shelter, much to annoyance of both Leah’s and Maia’s mates, but they were very good about helping at the homeless lunches.
Chase loaded a bag of bread and two coolers packed with food into the car, and then the men watched them head off to the shelter. Zoe giggled to Maia.
“They’re so cute the way they don’t want you out of their sight.”
“That’s why I’m going to have this baby at the Shape-Shifter Clinic. I don’t think the nursing staff at the hospital would cope with three husbands fussing over me while this child is born.”
“Have you been for an ultrasound yet? What if it’s triplets?” asked Leah.
“At least that would mean an instant family. It’d be all over and done with in one hit. Once and done. And since there are three fathers, I’ll have plenty of volunteers to change the diapers.”
Zoe snorted. She was beginning to think there were other hidden benefits to having more than one man, and not just in the bedroom, either.
Zoe loved her time at the women’s shelter. Some of the women just needed to sit and relax with no pressure or stress on them, to make up for the drama that had been their home life before they came here. Others had never had the opportunity to draw or paint, or quilt or sew, and doing craft was a whole new experience for them. Several of the women were genuinely talented. The things they made sold in the local craft store as fast as they could make them. Each woman had her own distinct story, and Zoe loved talking to them all.
But it was a very full-on day.
Coming home in the car, Leah took some messages on her cell phone and said, “Zoe, are you going with the men tonight? I don’t trust them with Lutterworth.”
Zoe had no idea what she was talking about, but Maia poked Leah and pointed to their mom, who was driving. Zoe couldn’t remember how much their mom had been told about Lutterworth’s theft of their father’s stamp albums and didn’t want to dig Leah into a conversational hole so she just shrugged and said, “I haven’t decided.”
As soon as they arrived at the church parking lot, she pulled Leah aside. “What’s going on with Lutterworth? What are they doing?”
Maia folded her arms over her chest and said, “I’d like to know that, too.”
“Lutterworth has set up a new business as the boss of a gang of teenage boys. They steal stuff and give it to him. There’s a mission happening tonight to take back all the stolen goods. I’m the one who went inside Lutte
rworth’s house, and I’m not going to sit at home in our apartment while they head off to be the macho men.”
“Huh. I didn’t even know about it. I’ll come, too. I want to know what’s going on,” said Zoe.
“When are you going to mate them, Zoe? It’s clear they love you and want you. Isn’t it about time you made it legal?” asked Leah.
“I’m not a lemming. I’m not getting married to triplets just because you both did.”
“Well, how about marrying them because you’re crazy in love with them then?” suggested Maia.
Zoe found herself metaphorically backed into a corner. She would like to marry them but… “There have been too many weddings in our family already. I told them to wait a year.”
“A year? Are you crazy? You can’t expect a passel of Alpha males to wait a year to mate you. Their panthers will be uncontrollable in the presence of their mate by then,” said Maia.
“What do you mean?” Zoe asked.
“The panther’s urge to bite during sex gets stronger and stronger once they know you’re their mate. It’ll get so they can’t even be in the same room with you without wanting to claim you. I think you’re pretty selfish putting some arbitrary date on the wedding,” explained Leah.
“Besides, so what if we all got married one after the other. It’s not like we’re sixteen anymore. When older women find the right man, they don’t tend to wait as long as young kids do before making it permanent. It’s not like we’re still growing up and maturing, or need to finish school or anything. Seriously, why wait?” Maia challenged her.
Zoe couldn’t think of a response. She wanted to marry the men and knew they wanted her. “You don’t think everyone will think I’m a lemming?”
“Honey, everyone has eyes in their head. They’ll all be thinking how lucky we three are and wondering where they can find some drop-dead handsome triplets for themselves,” said Maia.
* * * *
Diego looked at the packed minivan. “Shit, are you sure we haven’t forgotten someone? Your second cousin twice removed for example?” he asked the group.
Monty punched his arm, Vallen frowned, and Zoe giggled.
“Stop acting the clown, Diego. The women shouldn’t be here. Zoe, Leah, go back inside and wait with Maia.”
“I’m not your sub, Vallen. I was the one who first burgled Lutterworth, and I have more practical experience about this job than you do,” said Leah firmly.
“If you don’t want her to crush your balls with her knee, I’d suggest you moderate your tone, Vallen,” warned Saxon.
Diego had to work to wipe the smile off his face. Leah had indeed done her best to crush Saxon’s balls when he’d captured her. Diego was very glad indeed that Zoe did her fighting with her mouth, not her knees.
“The Special Forces team is in position. We need to get moving now,” ordered Monty.
Bram was driving and drove slowly to the exit from the basement parking lot. Favian was sitting by the minivan’s sliding door and jumped out to open the roller door to the basement. He locked it behind them and then jogged across the parking lot to open the security gate and then lock it. Once Favian was back in the minivan, Saxon and Vallen ran though everyone’s instructions one more time. Not that it was necessary. They all knew their positions.
“All you women are to do is look at the photographs we send you and compare them with the stolen items reports, okay?” warned Vallen.
Saxon glared at Leah. Both women nodded. Diego thought likely they’d be fine. He didn’t think either of them was looking for trouble. They just wanted to be included.
Favian and Hardy were dropped off a couple of blocks away from Lutterworth’s brownstone. They were to walk the perimeter constantly, looking for any sign of trouble.
Diego and Brayden were next, dropped a block on the other side of the house, to approach from that direction. The others would come from behind the property, except for Bram, who was driving the minivan and would stay with it and the two women.
Diego and Brayden wrapped their arms over each other’s shoulders. Brayden waved an empty beer bottle around as they walked unsteadily toward the house There were no lights on inside that he could see and no sign of movement in the yards of the houses either side of Lutterworth’s or in his place. They made their way into the alley behind the brownstone and leaned against a fence there. Favian was gesticulating with his bottle, but Diego couldn’t see any people around to notice them or their act.
Once the others approached the alley from the other end, Diego looked even harder for any bystanders, but no one was to be seen. He supposed it was something about the nice neighborhood. People here obviously only left in their cars. They didn’t even seem to walk dogs or go running along the sidewalks here.
The longneck disappeared inside Brayden’s clothing before he ran forward and leaped over the fence. Taking one long, last look around, Diego copied him. Already the second floor bathroom window was wide open, and Saxon was boosting Monty inside. Brayden followed him and then Diego, who leaned down to help Saxon climb the wall and enter. Each had been allocated a room to check. Diego had the study. Not that he expected to find anything there. Apparently that was where Zoe’s father’s stamp albums had been, but he couldn’t imagine jewelry or china being there.
He’d done his very best to memorize all the items on the list and expected the jade carvings to be the easiest ones to find. There were a dozen of them, and even hidden inside a bag, they’d be a big enough parcel to find more easily. The jeweled dagger, on the other hand, could be slipped inside any one of the hundreds of books on Lutterworth’s bookshelf, and he’d never find it. Although he’d try, but not until after he’d checked all the obvious places.
He examined his latex gloves to ensure that they hadn’t been torn during his climb over the fence and through the window, but they were still in perfect condition, so he sat in the desk chair and opened the top drawer. It was filled with pens and pencils, half-used pads of Post-it notes, and other junk.
Ten minutes later, Diego was scratching his head. He’d looked everywhere logical, including underneath the desk. He’d even picked up the rug under the desk and looked for a hidden cavity there.
Fuck. I’m going to have to look at the bookshelf after all.
He grabbed a chair to stand on. One of the things the Stewarts had suggested was looking above eye level, as it was a place most people didn’t think to search.
Diego pulled out half a dozen books, looked at them, put his arm along the shelf behind them, and then put them back. He got down, moved the chair, and repeated his actions. And again and again. By the time he’d done it the fourth time, he’d decided he was wasting his time. His only hope was that someone else had been luckier than him.
He’d just taken the next lot of books off the shelf when his cell phone beeped three times.
Ah fuck. Trouble.
He shoved his arm along the back of the shelf behind the books—and felt something. Diego snatched the bag without looking at it, dropped it down inside his shirt, put the books back on the shelf, returned the chair to its original position, and ran for the bathroom window.
“Hurry up,” whispered Vallen, almost pushing him through it.
Diego jumped out and then waited while Vallen inched his way out, resting his feet on Diego’s shoulders while he pulled the window shut.
Police sirens! They were distant, but he could hear them getting steadily louder. And louder. Vallen jumped off his shoulders, and they both ran for the back fence, scrambling over it side by side and jumping into the alley as the sirens became very loud.
Everything in Diego wanted to run like hell, but he forced himself to put his hands in his pockets and walk at a normal pace beside his brother. He rubbed his hands on the insides of his pockets, trying to remove the gloves as he walked. He supposed they should be talking, but he couldn’t think of anything to say, so they walked in silence, turning away from the brownstone and down the block to where they’d
left the minivan.
The sliding door was open a mere inch, and he and Vallen climbed in. Bram drove off without waiting for them to settle into seats or buckle up their seatbelts.
There was complete silence inside the van until Saxon’s cell phone beeped. “All clear. Our people said the police raided a house a block over from Lutterworth’s.”
“Shit.”
“Hell, I think I lost a year off my life.”
“Me, too.”
“Well that was a total fucking waste of a night. Likely we’ll have to do it again in a day or two.”
Diego turned to Zoe. “You have to mate us. We have to be together. I couldn’t live if anything happened to keep us apart.”
Monty jumped out of his seat and pushed past everyone to pull Zoe into a hug. “I love you, woman. Mate us, please.”
Vallen leaned over from the back row. “It’s unanimous. We all want you, Zoe. Don’t make us wait a year. That’s too cruel.”
“I agree. After tonight, I don’t think I could wait any longer either,” said Zoe softly, blushing red.
Diego pulled Zoe to him for a kiss and pressed her to his chest, only to have the bag inside his shirt dig deep into his skin.
“What the fuck? What’s that?” she asked, rubbing her chest.
“I don’t know. I found it just as we were told to leave.”
Everyone in the van was clapping and cheering. Diego didn’t know whether it was because Zoe had finally agreed to mate them or because he’d actually found something. But he didn’t care. All he cared about was Zoe.
Monty lifted her out of her seat, and he and his brothers surrounded her.
“We love you so much.”
“I love you, too.”
* * * *
A week later Zoe was wrapped in the arms of her three wonderful men in the bed in the panther dungeon. Right now her breasts were thrust up into Diego and Vallen’s mouths as they removed her nipple clips and sucked her nipples back to their regular shape. She rested one hand on Monty’s head as he did the same for the clamp on her clit.