by T. S. Ryder
Instead, he stomped his way up his porch and into the kitchen. Diana glanced up from where she was frying chicken.
She gave him a small smile. “Are you done for tonight or just—”
He interrupted. “What were you doing with Noel?”
Diana rose a brow.
“Do you have the others over here often? This is my home. I’d like to know what’s going on in it.”
Diana rolled her eyes. She lowered the temperature on the chicken and turned to him. She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t start getting jealous and possessive, Ricky. For the past week that I’ve been here, I’ve been sitting around here alone, watching TV while you’re out working.”
“We’re getting into the harvest. It’s not something that can be put off. I have—”
“You’re not the only bear on the island. Are you saying that everything will go to hell if you’re not there to watch it personally?” Diana’s eyes brightened and her nostrils flared. “Listen, I get it. You’re busy, but I’ve also watched you. You’re trying to do everything by yourself and that’s not healthy.”
Ricky shook his head. “I’m the alpha and—”
“Delegate. And if you can’t do that, then don’t get mad when the other guys come around and I accept their attention. If this is going to work, then there is no room for jealousy.” Diana’s expression softened as she moved forward. “Look, I want to get to know you better. And I love that you’re so concerned with making sure that the work is done, but the way things are right now . . . they’re not working. Not for you and not for me.”
Ricky was silent for a moment. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “You’re right. It’s not working. I’ll take tomorrow off. We can do something. There’s this great swimming hole that we can go to. Get some relief from the heat.”
Diana smiled. “I’d love that. Now go get cleaned up. Supper’s almost ready.”
He nodded. The tension in his shoulders eased a little. She was right. He needed to delegate more. Tyrell was more than capable of handling things in the fields. If he was going to win his mate, he needed to spend more time with her. And he would. Starting tomorrow.
Chapter Four – Kurtis
Were these butterflies in his stomach?
Kurtis straightened his tie as he looked in the mirror. It was the first day that Diana was coming to his house and he wanted everything to be just right. As he combed his fingers through his hair, he couldn’t help but wonder when he’d last felt so nervous. Probably when he and Ricky . . .
“Sir, did you want goose or duck for supper?”
Kurtis turned to his chef, a bit irritated. “Which will pair best with the strawberry cheesecake dessert?”
The chef considered for a moment. “Well, the duck doesn’t have as much fat in it, but it can be dry—”
“I know a man of your skills would never serve dry duck.” Kurtis clapped him on the shoulder. “Duck it is. And bring up a bottle of wine from the cellar. Nothing is too fine for our queen.”
Kurtis rubbed his hands together, thinking about Diana’s generous curves and her thick, lush hair. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander over her breasts, her thighs, up to her eyes. He focused in on her scent – her delicious honey scent. Would she taste as sweet as honey? Well, he’d know soon enough.
There was no way that it was going to work out for the three — four — of them to share a mate. Diana was going to end up being closer to one of them than the others, and he intended that person to be him. If he had a mate and heir before the others, it would strengthen his position on the island. He had been worried that one of the others would get to her before he had a chance, but he made sure to see her every day and he didn’t smell the others on her as strongly as would be needed to indicate that there had been any sexual intimacy.
That was going to change today.
He moved around the house, making sure everything was just right. He’d had his housekeepers work double-time to clean every nook and crevice and it had paid off. The house smelled like a lemon cleaner, so he lit a couple of candles for a sexier smell.
Ricky pulled up in his old pickup truck around noon. Diana got out. Kurtis bounded out to greet her and Ricky drove away without a word. Diana stared after him, disappointment on her face.
“Hey there, sexy lady.” Kurtis wrapped an arm around Diana’s waist and pressed a deep kiss to her mouth. She melted against him and grinned when he broke the kiss. “You and I are going to have a lot of fun today,” he said.
She arched a delicate brow, her eyes sparkling. “Really? You don’t have anything to do?”
Of course, Ricky had spent the whole time they were together working. Typical. For a brief moment, Kurtis felt the urge to defend his former friend, but the urge passed. Ricky was the one who said that he didn’t want to be friends. He was the one who had been jealous for the past five years every time Kurtis started to get close to someone.
“Come on. Our boat is waiting.”
“Boat?”
Ricky tugged her over to the Mustang convertible he’d brought over from the mainland and opened the door for her. She climbed in. He jumped into the other side and took off. The wind whipped Diana’s hair around. She held it down with both hands as she lifted her face to the sky. She was beautiful. So, so beautiful. He couldn’t wait until he saw her naked. Just the thought of her bounteous curves laid bare to him made him harden. He stepped on the gas.
They made it to the dock quickly. A frown crossed Kurtis’ face as he got out of the car, though. A couple of Noel’s brutes loitered around. When they saw that he was with Diana, they straightened and stood shoulder-to-shoulder. Kurtis narrowed his eyes briefly but grinned at Diana to let her know that this wasn’t going to spoil their fun.
Kurtis strode forward, keeping his head up and his footsteps firm. When he got to the two bears, he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Out of my way.”
“We have orders. The human doesn’t leave the island until we find whoever’s after her,” one of them rumbled.
Kurtis slipped his hand into Diana’s. “Orders from whom?”
The bear didn’t reply.
“Kurtis, maybe it’s not a good idea,” Diana said.
“Please. I can protect you from anything out there,” Kurtis replied. He gave her the smile he’d used on many human women on the mainland. It always guaranteed him what he wanted. She automatically smiled in return and relaxed again.
Kurtis turned back to the two bears. “Out of my way.”
“We have orders—”
Kurtis drew himself up. These bears had no right to tell him where he could or could not go with his mate. “Out of my way. Now.”
His bear grumbled with him. The others both flinched. One of them opened his mouth, but his companion quickly elbowed him in the ribs. They shuffled out of the way, and Kurtis led Diana to his private speedboat.
Soon enough, they were out on the rolling waves. The ocean sparkled in the sunlight as Kurtis pulled a couple of beers from the cooler. He handed one to Diana and brushed her windblown hair from her neck.
“Nothing better than sitting on the ocean, listening to the water and the wind. Except doing it naked.”
“N-naked?”
Kurtis hummed in confirmation. He moved in to nibble at her neck. To his surprise, she leaned away from him. He sat back and arched a brow. “You want me to undress first? I can do that.” He reached for the first button on his shirt.
“No!” Diana’s pale tones flushed pink and she waved the bottle of beer around while shaking her head. “Keep your clothes on!”
Well, that was unexpected. Kurtis frowned at her. “You didn’t seem to be bothered by nakedness after we fished you out of the sea. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that you liked it. A lot. Or are you thinking that it’s not fair since I haven’t seen you naked yet? I can help you with that.”
The glare she gave him froze him to the spot. “Excuse me? What pa
rt of me frantically telling you to keep your clothes on makes you think that I want you to paw at me? No. This whole situation is crazy already. I’m not going to just jump off the deep end without knowing where this is going.”
“It’s going to sex. And I promise that it’s going to be explosive.”
Diana put the beer in one of the cup holders. She shook her head and let out an annoyed harrumphing sound. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
Kurtis leaned back. Was it that he was coming on too strong?
“This experience is new for me. I didn’t even know that shifters existed until I saw you guys. Honestly, if I didn’t keep seeing you shift, I’d wonder if it was real at all . . . Hell, I still get confused, thinking that I must be making it all up. And then to have not one but four guys wanting me? I think you can understand how it’s a bit much to think about.”
Kurtis hesitated for a moment. This called for a gentle touch, for him to reassure her. Emotional interaction. Not his area of strength. His body demanded physical intimacy and sex only. He surely wasn’t going to put his happiness in the hands of another person. If this was going to work, though, he had to be vulnerable with her.
He swallowed hard. “Maybe . . . maybe thinking about it isn’t the right way? Maybe it is just jumping in headfirst and trusting that we will catch you.”
“Honestly? At this point, I’d be afraid that you’ve been too busy fighting each other to catch me.” She rubbed her temples and shook her head. “Look, you and I haven’t spent much time together. And every time we have, you’ve been . . . very forward. Not that it’s a bad thing,” she quickly added. “I love that you let me know that you’re sexually attracted to me. But if this is going to work, I need to know you as a person. You understand, right?”
“Yeah,” Kurtis muttered. He looked away. “I get it. So, is that the reason why you haven’t slept with any of the others? Because you’re getting to know them as people?”
Diana was silent for so long he thought she was going to tell him that she had slept with one of the others. His heart leaped into his throat. Who? Ricky?
“Yes, I’m getting to know them. That’s why I haven’t slept with them.” Diana’s shoulders hunched. “Can we go back to the island now? Those bears were right. It’s not a good idea for us to be out here by ourselves. We don’t know who is hunting me.”
Kurtis didn’t respond and started the engine again. His plans for the excursion had completely unraveled and he wasn’t certain what to do next. The wind whipped Diana’s hair again and she pushed it away with a huff of annoyance. Kurtis opened his mouth to tell her his deepest secret but closed it again.
No. She was right. They had to get to know each other. He wasn’t just going to blurt that out without knowing if he could trust her with it . . .
When they got back to the island, he found Ricky on the docks, shouting at the two bears who had let them out onto the ocean. As soon as Kurtis pulled up, Ricky dashed across the dock and pulled Diana out of the boat.
“Hey, not so rough,” she protested.
“I can’t believe you!” Ricky’s brown eyes flashed and his muscles bunched under his tight shirt as he put his arms protectively around Diana. “You know it’s dangerous out there, but you still decide to take her away from all the protections that I made sure to set up so she’d be safe? What if something had happened?”
Kurtis yawned as he got out of the boat. “I can protect her from anything that would come after her.”
“Did it occur to you that they might have a sniper rifle? How are you going to protect her from that?”
“Sniper rifle? Are you kidding me?”
“We don’t know who is after her. We have to be ready for any—”
Diana pushed between them. Kurtis hadn’t even realized how close he and Ricky were getting until she was there, a hand on each of their chests, keeping them apart. His heart pounded in his chest and he swallowed dryly.
“Stop fighting.” She didn’t raise her voice, but that didn’t make her tone any less firm. “I’m fine. We went out and we came back. There were no sniper rifles.”
“But the Alphabet Killer—”
“The Alphabet Killer wouldn’t come after me with a gun.” She shuddered. She always changed the channel when news about the killer came onto the TV, but that didn’t mean she didn’t hear details as she went about her life. She tried to shove those thoughts from her mind. How would he find her out here anyway? “Let’s not turn this into something more than it is. What did you want, Ricky?”
Ricky glared at Kurtis. When his eyes caught the sunlight, they were almost an amber color. His broad chest flexed as he crossed his arms and finally tore his gaze away from Kurtis. His eyes softened when they landed on Diana, and a sudden surge of jealousy made Kurtis scowl.
“You forgot some things at my place,” Ricky said. “And I decided that it isn’t fair on you to be moving you around like this. We should build a house . . . for all five of us. It’ll work best if we’re going to work together and integrate the clans.”
Kurtis blinked, surprised. That actually sounded like a good idea. He nodded as he stepped closer to them again. “That’s an excellent idea. We should talk to Noel about it—”
“And Bobby,” Diana broke in.
“And Bobby. I can have one of my architects draw up plans for it. Right in the center where all three of our clans’ territory converges.”
“Four.”
Kurtis sighed. “Four. It’s a good idea . . . Come on.” He put an arm around Diana’s waist. “Let’s go talk with the others. If we all work together, we can get it done in a couple of weeks.”
He brushed past Ricky, not looking at him. His heart still thrummed, though, and he fought to stay calm.
This communal house was a good idea . . . It would make them all see that sharing leadership of the clans wasn’t going to work and they’d all back off. Then he could have Diana all to himself. He and her, raising a family together. Just the two of them.
And that was what he wanted, wasn’t it?
Chapter Five – Bobby
The look on Diana’s face as they approached the newly-constructed house was worth all the work Bobby had put into it. Since his clan didn’t have a lot to offer, he had worked on it himself as much as he could. After the construction was finished, he helped Kurtis decorate the interior. Or rather, he decorated while Kurtis supplied the money he needed to get what he wanted.
Diana clapped her hands and squealed when she saw it. “It’s beautiful!”
Bobby opened his mouth. “Not as—”
“Not half as beautiful as you,” Noel broke in. He gave her a grin, as though he had been the one to think up that line. As if Bobby hadn’t said it when the four of them were inspecting the house earlier.
Bobby clenched his hands and released a slow breath, calming himself. That was one thing about being an alpha: everybody expected him to have a short fuse and to be constantly proving himself worthy of the job. In his opinion, if you had to prove yourself, you weren’t qualified for the job. He preferred a calmer approach. Gentleness rather than bossiness. Trust rather than possessiveness. Being macho, in his views, was a form of weakness.
And he didn’t care what the others were going to do or what they wanted with Diana. They could fight all they wanted and have their own secret plots. He had never thought he’d end up sharing his mate, but from the moment he first saw Diana, he knew there was nobody else for him. His bear had been content to just look at her. He wasn’t going to lose her.
Now, as he was shunted to the back of the group, his bear snarled with anger at being kept from his mate. He took another deep breath. He didn’t have to compete with them. His focus was solely on Diana and what she wanted. The other three alphas didn’t matter; only Diana did.
A sleek red car pulled into the driveway. Two figures got out: Tyrell and Ruby Jarvis. Bobby grinned as he started over to greet them. They looked a little uncertain, but Ruby flas
hed Bobby a wide smile as he approached.
Ricky jogged over, a frown creasing his brow. “What’s going on here?”
Bobby turned to him. “I asked them to come.”
Ricky narrowed his eyes.
“I figured that Diana would probably like another woman around here. Someone to help counter the massive amounts of testosterone. And—”
“You do not order around my clan members, Frazier,” Ricky snarled.
“I didn’t order anybody,” Bobby replied coolly. “All I did was ask them to come.”
“He’s right,” Ruby put in. She pulled a backpack onto her broad shoulders. “And I, for one, think it’s a great idea. Goodness knows I’d hate to be stuck here with four men constantly trying to get into my pants. I’m here to keep the rest of you in line.”
Ricky opened his mouth, expression angry, but at that moment, Diana and the other alphas joined them. Diana’s expression was bemused as she glanced at the newcomers. Bobby stepped over to her and took her hand. Before he could introduce her, though, Noel broke in. His voice was tight and harsh, as though having Tyrell and Ruby there was a personal insult.
“What is going on over here?”
“Ruby will be staying here for a while,” Bobby replied smoothly. “We have extra rooms, and I thought it’d be nice for Diana to have a friend she could talk with as well as help her out when we’re all busy. I’m sure there are questions that you’d like to ask that you might not feel comfortable asking us,” he added, looking toward Diana. “And I thought that it might be helpful to have Tyrell here, too. He can help Ricky out so that he has more time to spend with you.”
Ricky made a strangled noise in his throat. Noel looked shocked and Kurtis frowned.
Diana, however, broke into a beaming smile and threw her arms around him. Her lips were on his before he knew what was happening. Her body pressed against his and it was like every inch of him had suddenly burst into flame. Every inch of him yearned for her. His hands clamped over her hips and he pulled her in closer. He tightened as he thrust his tongue into her mouth. She responded with a little gasp.