by Cara Adams
Taige and Cornelian remained at Jasper’s side as Morgan and Jett made their way across the grass. Eve joined them, and the three of them kneeled before Jasper, then moved to the side of the field again. Then it was Ginnie’s turn. She guessed everyone would know their place in the pack order, and since these men were Jasper’s managers it was logical they’d go first. She did as the others had done, kneeling then moving to the side with Eve.
Some older men with their wives and adult children came next, followed by small groups of people, usually two or three, or perhaps four men, with wives and adult children. Ginnie just now noticed there were no younger children here. Just as well. It was way too scary for children to see.
Finally the group of men who’d stood at Titan’s end of the field crossed the grass and kneeled at Jasper’s feet. “Do you agree to obey my rule in all things?” asked Jasper.
“Yes, Alpha,” came the replies.
“Know this. I have already forgiven you once before. This is the second time. There will be no third chance, no more warnings, for any of you.”
That was fair. Either they’d learned their lesson or they were unrepentant troublemakers. Ginnie remembered the man who’d led the attack on Taige had been sent away from the pack, yet these people had still disobeyed Jasper a second time. They hadn’t accepted the clear warning they’d been given. Ginnie didn’t think any warning could be stronger than the battle they’d just seen. If this group didn’t behave now, they had only themselves to blame if they were removed from the pack, or even killed, like Titan.
Ginnie stared at Jasper, standing naked and unashamed in the center of the grass, his body streaked with dirt and blood, the wound on his right leg looking especially gory. She was almost surprised he could stand so straight on that leg, but guessed pride would keep him there no matter how much it hurt.
“I am not unaware of the anguish of those for whom there is no mate. The solution is in your own hands. Find a trustworthy human to mate and consider sharing a woman with a fellow wolf. To make this easier this pack will host a mating party in mid-fall. I’ll work together with the Alphas of several other packs and we’ll hold the week-long event in town for unmated male wolves and potential partners. To attend, a wolf must have a reference from his Alpha. We’ll invite any unmated female wolves we can find. There are still a few who have not found a mate in their own pack. The rest of the women will be humans and other species vouched for by the pack Alphas as people who understand and respect werewolf culture and are willing to become pack members. There is still no guarantee you will find your true mate, but if you use the opportunity sensibly you increase your chances of success and some partners will be found.”
Ginnie thought that sounded like a great idea, a lot of work, but with excellent hope of people finding their mates. But humans and other species? Oh wow!
* * * *
Jasper announcing a party to bring together potential partners with men wanting a mate was about the smartest idea Malachi had ever heard. It would kill once and for all the idea that “somewhere out there” were endless hordes of werewolf females with no husbands. The more the wolves talked to people from other packs and learned everyone had the same problem, the more they would be forced to accept reality.
It also solved the other problem of trying to learn if a woman was a suitable mate while hiding their wolf side from her. Malachi had hated doing that. At the time, there was no other way. It had to happen, but it wasn’t good. It was almost deceitful trying to see if a woman could love them without knowing all the facts. By bringing together women who did know about shape-shifters, and accepted them, with unpartnered males, that meant the couples—or triads, or even foursomes—were starting off from the same place, making building a relationship easier.
Malachi was glad when Jasper dismissed them from the common area. People needed to get back to their normal day, away from all the drama, and with time and space to process the changes. Also Jasper’s leg looked really ripped up, but Malachi guessed Jasper didn’t want to appear weak by having it attended to with people watching. The sooner everyone dispersed, the sooner Kyan could patch him up. Although Malachi wondered if Kyan would be able to do a good enough job. Jasper might need to go to the hospital for stitches and X-rays. Well, it was up to Kyan to convince him to the do the right thing. Taige and Cornelian would make him see that getting it infected was not a helpful result of the fight, and with the dirt everywhere from the ripped up grass and soil, infection was a real possibility.
But now they were free to relax and with the three of them here, and Zircon’s house nearby, complete with a well-filled toy box, some BDSM sex would be the perfect way for them all to release their tensions and relax. Malachi looked over to Zircon and raised his eyebrow as Zircon had done to him in the past. Zircon grinned and nodded. They were in agreement. Good.
They walked away from the square, down the road and along the track. Zircon’s house was quite a distance from the town. That was one of the things they’d need to talk about when they organized their mating. Whose house they would live in. Malachi didn’t mind. He’d even considered living in the schoolhouse when the pack had been trying to think of a reason to buy it. Where he lived didn’t really matter to him, although he supposed Ginnie would want to stay close to the schoolhouse. Zircon just needed his laptop and wifi to keep the scheduling up to date. His actual address wasn’t so much key to his work as his spreadsheets and internet connection were.
“Ginnie, once we mate, have you thought about where we’ll live?” he asked her.
“I was just assuming it’d be here. The three of us won’t really fit in the old schoolhouse, although it’d be fine to sleep there overnight now and then, especially once Taige and Eve have moved out. Well, I suppose they’ll be moving out before the end of summer.”
“My house it much quieter and more private, but it can be a nuisance in winter because the only way in is by skiing or snowshoeing. Likely we do need to think about that. It could be a real nuisance dragging supplies for all three of us through the snow. Perhaps we could consider sharing, moving between the houses,” said Zircon.
“I don’t think I’d want to be constantly packing a suitcase though,” objected Ginnie.
“We could stay in your house until it started to get very cold, and we knew snow was on the way, then move to mine for winter. After winter we could decide when and how we wanted to move some more. That way our winter clothing and supplies would stay in one place, and our summer clothes in the other. It’d save packing and unpacking at least to some extent,” Malachi said. He didn’t want to rush either of them and there was no real reason why they had to make a lot of decisions just yet. Besides, technically Ginnie hadn’t even agreed to mate with them. They all knew she would, but until she actually said the words, they couldn’t plan a full commitment and mating.
Then Malachi had a terrifying thought. What if seeing the battle today had made her not want to commit? What if the raw, feral primeval actions of Titan and Jasper had offended her, made her think they were just animals, not civilized people. Oh Fates, they hadn’t just won the battle for Jasper, and lost the victory over finding Ginnie had they?
He stopped and put a hand on her arm, turning her to face both him and Zircon. “You are still going to mate with us, aren’t you? I know you haven’t formally agreed, but you will? Won’t you?”
“Yes. Watching Jasper today made me understand how totally invested I am in you two and your people. But there are still a lot of things to talk through. I won’t be an appendage. I’ll remain myself with my painting and drawing and the craft market. I won’t be signing any paperwork until I completely understand all the ramifications of my decision. And even then, if I don’t agree I still won’t sign. We’ll rewrite a contract that I can sign. But if you’re asking do I love you both, I think you both know the answer is yes.”
Malachi relaxed. She did love them and would mate with them. He’d just given himself the worst minute of his
life, worrying about what watching the battle might have done to Ginnie’s feelings.
“The contract we all sign is very much like any contract a person signs with a corporation. Proprietary information remains inside the company as does personal information I don’t think you’ll have any problem with signing. It’s just that instead of working for the company, you’re marrying—well mating—Malachi and me,” said Zircon.
The walk through the trees was restful and peaceful, but when they approached the front of Zircon’s house and saw his living room window covered by a big sheet of wood, Malachi was reminded once again of how the morning had begun. Not with a leisurely breakfast, as they’d planned, but with Titan and his friends smashing the window and trying to prevent him and Zircon from mating Ginnie. It seemed like weeks ago, not the same day, and now Titan was dead. Jasper had been acknowledged as Alpha once again, and Malachi had to believe that the pack would now settle down to become the happy, peaceful community it had always been.
Zircon unlocked the door and Malachi stood back to let Ginnie enter. Would she be happy here? Or would this house always have memories of the attack? Would she be too unsettled to be content here, knowing the fight in this house led directly to the much more graphic and terrifying battle between Titan and Jasper? Would that fight to the death always be a dark shadow over their lives, preventing them from ever being truly happy together?
Chapter Six
Zircon knew the only way for them to move forward was with a testing, demanding, but ultimately freeing BDSM scene. The harsher the punishment, the more he restrained them and made them wait, the harder their release would be. But whatever they did would need to happen fast. He didn’t want either of them having long periods to wait and think. Today wasn’t a good day for thinking and remembering. They needed to make some fresh memories. Memories of exquisite release and overwhelming passion, not of battles, fights and death.
Therefore balancing the wait-don’t wait dichotomy was going to be quite a challenge. There was something else he needed to know. “Malachi? Dom or sub?”
“Sub. It’ll be wonderful to hand all the responsibility over to someone else and just rest.”
Zircon led them into the living room, but it was dark and gloomy with the window boarded over. This wasn’t the kind of atmosphere he wanted. “Undress here and walk into the hallway when you’re ready to begin the scene.”
He hurried into the bedroom, stripped his shirt off, then collected a whip, a cane, a paddle, and his favorite flogger, laying them out in a row on the bed. Then he stood in the doorway of the bedroom, waiting for his subs. Ginnie arrived first, standing in the center of the hall, hands behind her back and head bowed. Malachi appeared behind her quite soon afterward.
“Face the wall, with your palms flat against the wall level with your head. Feet spread.”
He arranged them about four feet apart from each other. Close enough that the emotions and experiences of one would affect the other, but just out of reach in case they wanted to touch their fellow submissive. That should give them maximum emotional intensity, which was what he was aiming for now. After the shocking experiences of the morning, what they needed from this scene was support, fulfillment, passion, and connection.
When they were ready Zircon took his paddle, a heavy one, from the bed, and laid four beats on Malachi’s ass, then four on Ginnie, then two more on Malachi.
Quickly he replaced it and picked up the cane. The paddle gave a heavy broad punishment. The cane was very different, delivering a sharp thin line of pain. Deliberately he caned Ginnie across the shoulders before hitting her ass twice. He caned Malachi’s shoulders, his ass, then his thighs, before he laid one stroke on each of Ginnie’s thighs.
He was pleased to see bright red lines on their skin, but no cuts. It took skill to get the strokes just right so he needed to be accurate. It was his job to bring his subs to a perfect climax by balancing their needs against their desires.
Now the flogger. This time he began with teasing, trailing the strands down their backs, across their shoulders, letting one or two strands slide across their skin and tickle Ginnie’s breasts and Malachi’s pecs. Then, without warning, he whipped their shoulders—Malachi, Ginnie, Ginnie, Malachi and back again. Zircon bent and flicked the flogger between Malachi’s legs, watching him shiver in response. It was a shiver of lust and Malachi’s cock was fully engorged, which proved he was very aroused. Instead of copying the actions on Ginnie, he stroked across her upper thighs, knowing she would have been braced for the touch of the strands on her pussy, and that being flogged on her thighs would disconcert her.
Again he trailed the flogger up and down her spine, flicking it once onto Malachi’s thighs as he passed by, before returning to teasing again. Finally he flogged them both on their calves, before walking into the bedroom. Zircon knew they would be expecting him to come back out with a different toy, and would be wondering which one. He knew he couldn’t make them wait too long or their thoughts might turn to the events of earlier this day, but he did want to build some extra anticipation into the scene. It was a hard decision, knowing just how long to wait. Normally he could time such things perfectly, but today had not been an average day, and now was all about building them into a united triad, creating a relationship between just the three of them free from the stresses of daily life.
He marched back into the hallway, his whip in his right hand and his flogger in his left. Quickly he slashed four strokes across Malachi’s ass with the whip, then two on his shoulders and another two on his thighs. For Ginnie it was half the number, and with just a fraction less force. Zircon swapped the flogger into his right hand and flicked the strands between Ginnie’s legs, hitting her pussy lips lightly, then her belly a little harder, careful not to catch the strands of the flogger in her bellybutton jewelry. Finally he flogged Malachi’s inner thighs once each.
“Come into the kitchen, subs.”
Zircon went ahead of them and pulled the blind closed, then said, “Lie on your front on the counter, Malachi. Close your eyes.”
Malachi climbed up onto the counter and Zircon opened the freezer. He took a couple of bags of frozen peas from the freezer and laid them on Malachi’s spine, then two more packets of frozen vegetables, and placed one on each of Malachi’s feet. It should very quickly feel uncomfortable on the arches and inner parts of Malachi’s feet. That area of skin was surprisingly sensitive.
He left the freezer door open and said, “Ginnie, come over here. I want you to press your breasts as far inside the freezer as you can reach.”
When she was balanced with her upper body leaning inside the freezer, he half shut the door so it pressed against her back holding her in place and keeping the cold focused on her.
Zircon watched the clock carefully. His aim was to heighten their reactions, to arouse them using different experiences, not to give them frostbite. He was confident that five minutes would seem much longer than that to both of them, especially since neither of them could see the clock for themselves.
“All right, Ginnie. You can come out now. Take the frozen food off Malachi and put it back in the freezer.”
While Ginnie was doing that Zircon said, “Sit up, Malachi, and suck Ginnie’s breasts until they’re nice and warm again.”
Her nipples were very erect from the cold and Malachi’s cock was still standing up, so Zircon was pleased they hadn’t lost their arousal. So far his impromptu scene was doing what he wanted it to do.
Malachi enthusiastically sucked one breast then the other. Zircon monitored the time carefully, not wanting the scene to get out of hand. “Okay, Ginnie. Now suck my cock.”
He unzipped his jeans and released his cock. Obediently she kneeled before him and took his aching dick into her mouth. This was going to be difficult. He wanted this so much but had to keep it very brief. He didn’t want anyone orgasming for a long time yet, particularly not himself. The whole point of this scene was to unite them and fill them with a communal des
ire, so when they finally came it would be together, and explosive.
“Enough. Come into the bedroom.”
First he stood them in front of the big, heavy full-length mirror. “Stand sideways and look at your own asses.”
He watched their faces, seeing lust as they saw their own pink asses and the fine lines from the cane on their skin.
“Ginnie, get down on your hands and knees, still sideways to the mirror. Malachi crawl behind her and lick her pussy from behind.”
That was quite difficult to do. It would offer them both a challenge as Ginnie would naturally try to help him achieve his task, but they’d also both want to see everything in the mirror. Zircon stepped back a bit giving them more space as they arranged and rearranged their bodies until at last Malachi was licking and sucking her pussy lips.
“Enough. Both of you stand up. Close your eyes. Bow your heads. Wait.”
* * * *
Urgency clawed at Ginnie’s nerves. They seemed to have been playing games for hours, days, weeks, when all she wanted was to lie on that bed and be fucked into oblivion. Being so close to Malachi’s naked body and scarcely allowed to touch him was driving her crazy. And even when she’d sucked on Zircon’s cock it was only for a few minutes and he wasn’t even naked. He’d just opened his jeans for her instead of getting undressed. Maybe he was getting naked now. Maybe at last they were going to bed. At least they were in the bedroom now. That was a start.
Ginnie strained her ears. She could hear fabric rustling. Hopefully that was Zircon undressing. Oh hell, she wanted to come. She needed both men inside her, filling her, completing her, driving her higher and higher until she was blasted into release.
“Come and lie face down on the bed, Ginnie.”
About fucking time. At last someone is going to prepare my ass so we can fuck. Ginnie opened her eyes and scrambled onto the bed, lying on her front as she’d been told, widening her legs so they could lube her ass. She relaxed onto the soft sheets wondering which one of them would take her ass, and which one her cunt. She was so ready for this. She needed them both so much.