Mated for Keeps Boxed Set: a BBW Werewolf Shifter Romance (The Lost River Pack)

by Alexis Wilde

  As she drifted into a warm doze, Alek settled on the floor beside her.

  “Sasha?” Damien’s voice rumbled against her ear, a soft murmur echoed in his chest.

  “Mm?”

  “Can we keep her?”

  Natalie held her breath.

  “Maybe,” Alek murmured. “If she stays.”

  Her heart squeezed in her chest. Cradled between both brothers, her eyes opened to stare into the shadows of the room. Dawn crept in around the curtains, drawing pale lines over the floorboards.

  Jackson, Ben, Alek and Damien. The only wolf here she hadn’t tested yet was Nico, but what were the odds he’d be the one for her?

  If she stayed and couldn’t mate any of them, she’d put them all in danger.

  Damien’s breath stirred the hair over her cheek. At her back, Alek draped an arm loosely around her waist and held her against his chest.

  Somewhere out there, Jackson, Ben and Nico were all working to build this cabin into a home.

  What right did she have to ruin it for them?

  Chapter Seven

  Tearing himself from the study took everything Jackson had. It wasn’t just the fact that Damien danced on a knife’s edge of control. It wasn’t even the fact he’d been ordered.

  It was that he didn’t want to leave her. Didn’t want to let the others touch her.

  Natalie was under his skin in a big way, and Nico knew it.

  A problem. Six shades of a problem.

  Which was why Ben took one look at Jackson’s face as they strode into the big country kitchen and wordlessly passed him the cup of black coffee he’d just poured for himself.

  Jackson took it with a grunt. The bitter taste didn’t do much for his attitude, but at least the fragrance flooded his nose, battered at the lingering scent of sex and Natalie and male wolf.

  “Grab your brew,” Nico said, bypassing them both and propping open the kitchen door. “We’ll do this outside.”

  Ben’s dark eyebrows lifted, but he didn’t argue. He didn’t have to. Like Jackson, there was no way he’d miss the sounds, the damn smell, that filtered through the cabin. It was enough to put Jackson on edge.

  Probably enough to fray the fringes of Ben’s legendary calm, too, though he didn’t show it.

  Jackson took his cup and forged out into the cool air, taking a deep breath. The ground was dusted with frost, brittle beneath his boots. Winter would roll in hard, laying down feet of snow in just a few months. The woods stretched out as far as he could see, shadowed in the growing dawn light and peppered with birdsong and animal paths.

  It was good hunting.

  But as much as his wolf prickled at the thought, he couldn’t help the fact that his senses kept straining in the other direction. If he had wolf ears on his head right now, they’d be backwards, eager to hear Natalie’s voice. Her sounds of pleasure, her throaty moans.

  Ben stepped out onto the cold ground beside him. “Funny,” he said over the rim of his steaming mug. “Never took you for a masochist.”

  Jackson’s lip curled. “Fuck you.”

  “Still pretty sure it’s not me you’re hoping to fuck.”

  Same words he’d thrown at Jackson in the ride up, but this time, there was an undercurrent to it that said the second-in-command wouldn’t put up with Jackson’s shit for long. Ben didn’t have to resort to growling to get his point across.

  Jackson wasn’t stupid. Just…

  What? Horny? Hungry?

  Rattled?

  He dropped his gaze to the mug he held and scowled into the dark liquid. “Yeah.”

  “We get it,” Nico said, shutting the door behind him. Unlike the others, he didn’t bother with shoes. If the cold bothered him, he never showed it. The frost melted under his bare feet as he joined Ben and Jackson at the fringes of the clearing. His pale eyes studied the horizon, where trees jutted up against the pink streaks flooding the sky. “You don’t need us to tell you what needs doing.”

  “I know.”

  “And because you do,” Nico continued mildly, “you know that you need to give her space.”

  “I know,” Jackson said, rough and impatient. He wrapped both hands around the sturdy ceramic mug, rolling his shoulders in a vain attempt to ease the strain from them. It didn’t help. The breeze carrying with it the sharp smell of winter didn’t help.

  He was itchy. Restless.

  Not quite looking for a fight, but he wouldn’t turn one down.

  He hated to admit it, but Nico was right to yank him out.

  “Trust the twins,” Ben said, dark eyes flicking to him.

  “I do.”

  “More,” he added dryly, again repeating the conversation they’d already had.

  Jackson grunted.

  “I wouldn’t have pulled you if I didn’t think they could take care of her,” Nico said, easing into a crouch. Unlike Ben, he kept his gaze on the woods. The breeze stirred at the wavy tendrils that escaped the knot he’d pulled his hair into. He scraped a few from his forehead with an absent finger. “While they’re busy, we have bigger problems I wanted to talk to you about before we worry the girl.”

  That pulled the self-pity rug right out from under him. Jackson looked sharply at their leader. “Worry her?”

  “I made contact with the Yellow Canyon Pack,” Ben answered. He tucked his free hand into the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt, steadying his mug against his chest with the other. “They’ve outlined their position.”

  Jackson’s guts clenched. “What are they claiming?”

  “Breach of contract,” Ben replied, his deep voice as calm as if they discussed the colors streaking the sky and not potential war. “They called us on opening the package and making off with one of their own.”

  “The hell—”

  Nico cut him off. “She’s theirs, Jackson. She wasn’t kidnapped from somewhere else, she’s not a stray.”

  His jaw twitched. “And you believe them?’

  “You don’t?”

  He opened his mouth to say he didn’t, but something in Nico’s expression stopped him. Something too sharp for the mild way he spoke. Too alert.

  A test. How far would Jackson hoist himself on his own erection?

  He fought back a surge of frustration.

  Jackson really wasn’t stupid. He just really, really wanted the Yellow Canyon Pack to fuck off. He sighed. “Do they have any other reason except her to lie to us?”

  Their leader’s eyes crinkled a bit with his smile. “The million dollar question.”

  “We’ll have to ask her directly,” Ben added.

  “She won’t lie to us.” Jackson believed it. Even as he realized how absurd he sounded, he believed in her.

  Nico studied him thoughtfully. “You think?”

  “I know,” he countered.

  Ben shrugged slowly. “Maybe not. But even if the Yellow Canyon Pack is lying, we’re still in a shit position. They’re a full pack. We’re a bunch of strays. They have every right to try to dismantle us to get her.”

  Damn. Damn. Jackson drained his mug because it was better than throwing it. Pack politics weren’t complicated. The strongest wolf lead, the strongest pack took the territory, and a wolf without a legitimate pack was anyone’s meat. Strays played it cool until they could form a pack, and new packs didn’t start by taking another pack’s women.

  His fingers clamped on the mug. It didn’t crack—Ben had been smart, acquiring handmade mugs for them that were thick and heavy. Harder to break by accident, even with werewolf strength.

  Breaking one might make him feel a little better, though. Maybe.

  Jackson shook it out, instead. The dregs of his coffee splattered the frosted ground. “So they’re coming for us.”

  “Probably,” Ben acknowledged. “But they won’t come swinging yet. Sources tell me their alpha’s a dick, but a cunning one. He won’t risk his pack members on unknown odds.”

  “They’ll meet with us first?”

  “I think so.” Be
n raised an eyebrow at Nico. “But I wouldn’t accept anything at face value. They don’t owe us anything.”

  Nico clasped his long fingers, balanced easily on the balls of his feet. He rested his chin on his hands, silent for a moment. Birds twittered in the shadow of the woods, welcoming the brightening sky. Off in the distance, a lone wolf howled. The Lost River Valley was home to at least one pack—a pack the werewolves kept from encroaching with their own strength, but otherwise protected.

  Hunters didn’t come into the valley much. When they did, they didn’t usually leave again.

  Nico had wanted a place to protect. A sanctuary for his mercenaries.

  An eventual home.

  They’d all signed on for the ride. Even so, Jackson wondered how many of them had expected events to lead to this. To her. Natalie Baker, full-blooded female. Curvy, sweet, fucking incredible.

  And the so-called property of another pack.

  God, it infuriated him.

  Nico reached out to bump his fist against Jackson’s leg. “We’ll get the facts, and then lay down a contingency. I need you to work with Ben and get this prepped.”

  “What, exactly?” Jackson asked.

  The cool gray of Nico’s animal eyes tipped up to meet Jackson’s. They gleamed. “If it’s war the Yellow Canyon Pack have their heart set on,” he said, his tenor pleasant, “then we’ll deliver.”

  Ben sighed—a long, slow exhale. One part frustration. One part acknowledgement. There wasn’t much choice.

  “And in the meantime,” Nico added, unfolding to his full height with fluid ease, “we hope Natalie finds among us the mate she needs.” He tipped his head, held Jackson’s gaze with his. They didn’t flare, didn’t fill with anything close to the power Jackson knew he could unleash.

  Nico didn’t have to. Not here. Jackson understood.

  All too clearly.

  He lowered his gaze. “I’ll help Ben. Just…”

  Ben’s fingers wrapped around his upper arm. “Trust.”

  Yeah. Jackson set his jaw and forced himself to nod.

  “Good.” Nico grinned, heading back to the kitchen door. “Maybe some of Ben’s charm will rub off.”

  “Har har,” Jackson snarled to Nico’s back. The other man laughed.

  But he wasn’t exactly wrong. Maybe Jackson was too rough around the edges for Natalie. Maybe Ben wasn’t rough enough.

  Maybe the twins would win out where Jackson had failed.

  Or Nico’s wolf.

  Either way, it wouldn’t be a bad thing. Everything about him wanted to claim her, but Jackson understood what Nico wanted. What the pack needed.

  Nico was absolutely right. If it came down to it, if Natalie didn’t choose one of them, there’d be blood. Maybe even hers. He didn’t know how the Yellow Canyon Pack operated, but given they’d shoved her into a box, he didn’t think she’d come out unscathed.

  He’d do anything to keep her safe. Even if it meant watching her choose another man.

  “Trust,” Jackson growled under his breath, following the second into the woods.

  Ben probably heard him—werewolf senses were too sharp not to. But at least he had the courtesy to shut the fuck up.

  * * *

  Warmth permeated her skin. Not the hungry, savage roll of her body in heat, but the soothing, radiating warmth of skin against skin—of breath on the back of Natalie’s neck and the soft touch of fur under her arm. She opened her eyes, sleep pulling back from her senses slowly, gently. Much softer than she was used to.

  Her body thrummed, but not in pain. Not in hunger. Satisfaction filled her skin, made her lips pull into a smile as she stretched between the heavy weight of the man at her back and the wolf cuddled up against her front. Damien had reverted back to his animal form, and even wrapped in tawny fur, he was no small stuffed animal to be gathered against her chest. He was big enough, powerful enough to lay her flat if he wanted to.

  The notion tucked a little thrill in her chest.

  Only to be swallowed by the loud, aggressive rumble of her stomach.

  A chuckle from the door had her pushing up on one elbow, awkwardly shoving the heavy mass of her hair away from her face. Blinking the vestiges of sleep from her eyes, it took her a moment to realize that Alex’s hand had locked over her naked hip. Damien’s hind paw braced against her bare thigh. She couldn’t tell if the former had woken up, but Damien’s ears flicked as she muffled a yawn. “Good morning,” she rasped, throaty from sleep.

  She wasn’t sure it was morning, but the light pooling over the study floor looked right. Mid-morning, maybe.

  Not that it mattered. “Morning,” Nico said softly, his grin wide and alert. His wolfish eyes slipped across the three of them, loosely tangled in the knot they’d made after soothing her body, and stopped on her face with searching affection. “I hate to interrupt your Twister session, but you’re probably hungry.”

  Natalie took a long breath, only just realizing that the air tasted faintly of bacon. Coffee. Syrup.

  And waffles?

  “I’m starving.” She eased out from under Alek’s grasp. He murmured something that sounded like a protest, but Damien huffed and hoisted himself to all four paws.

  He shook his fur out, ears flicking back as Nico stepped aside for Natalie. “Breakfast is served,” he assured her. “Don’t be shy, you’ll need to replenish everything these guys worked out of you.”

  Her cheeks heated. And yet, for all Natalie felt like she should be embarrassed, she didn’t give in. Not here. Not after what she’d done with the twins. The bruises she’d expected had all but vanished during her sleep, courtesy of the blood she carried. All that remained was the vaguest lingering ache between her legs, and a new kind of confidence—the kind that said she understood her role in this cabin. With these werewolves.

  Understood, and if she didn’t let her self think about the consequences, liked it.

  A lot.

  Her mouth tipped up into a smile that had his eyes sharpening on her. He sucked in a breath, a shallow little sound she didn’t miss as she padded past him in bare feet and her rumpled T-shirt.

  Following in her wake, Damien’s low growl nipped at her heels.

  A sidelong glance up at Nico’s face confirmed what she suspected. His pale eyes had dilated to a narrow silver ring around enormous pupils. If she stopped, if she eased her hand under his loose shirt, slipped it under the waistband of his jeans, she’d find his cock already hard.

  Part of her wanted nothing else. The wolf in her bristled, ears tipped high and teeth bared in soundless challenge, but the lure of food was too much to ignore. “I don’t,” she warned, “have a small appetite.”

  She wasn’t talking just food. Entirely.

  “Good,” Nico replied without missing a beat. “I didn’t make a small breakfast.” He crouched, but instead of reaching for her—instead of skimming his fingers down the back of her bare knee like she wanted him to, even expected him to—he eased a long-fingered hand into Damien’s ruff. The wolf’s tail flicked a few times before his ears settled.

  A whiff of that thing Nico kept buried briefly underscored the mouth-watering aroma of bacon and waffles. That slow, unfurling tide of power that could whip as well as, she realized, soothe. She hesitated in the doorway, watching Nico’s strong hands glide over Damien’s shoulders, his back. Yet his exotic eyes remained fixed on her. Watching.

  Waiting.

  For what? Natalie wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do, except maybe just…understand. And she did. As Damien leaned into Nico’s touch the way she hadn’t thought him capable, Natalie’s understanding changed subtly.

  Victor brutalized with his strength.

  Nico really was different. Smaller than Victor, wiry where Victor was muscle, but…

  But maybe she wasn’t giving Nico Flores enough credit.

  Natalie’s smile tipped into something crooked. A little apologetic. It was all the acknowledgement she could offer.

  Across the study, A
lek stirred on the floor, sitting up with a loud groan and a ripple of muscle at his taut abs. He stretched the way she had, long arms straining for the ceiling. But unlike her, there wasn’t an ounce of softness on his lean, whipcord frame. As his sky blue eyes cleared, they searched first for Damien—and when he found his brother in Nico’s care, flicked to her. The diamond intensity of his gaze softened. “Tell me I smell breakfast.”

  “You smell breakfast,” Nico confirmed. “Meet us there?”

  “Mm,” came Alek’s acknowledgement, muffled on a yawn.

  “Come on, you two,” the alpha added, amusement tinging his tenor. He was barefoot again, the hem of his jeans folded over his feet. It rustled as he rose and led the way through the hall and into the open country kitchen.

  As promised, the sturdy wooden table had been laid out with a feast for her starving senses. Waffles steamed in the bright morning light, syrup warmed in a pitcher filled the kitchen with its sugary sweet fragrance. Bacon piled high on a plate, and slices of ham. It was meat-heavy, as expected for a hungry werewolf pack, but beside it all were fruits, a pitcher of orange juice, and fresh coffee. Her stomach twisted to so hard, she reflexively flattened a hand over it. It didn’t help muffle the sound of its hungry growl.

  “We don’t stand on ceremony around here,” Nico warned, eyes crinkled in amusement as he waved her forward. “Eat before the others steal it out from under you.”

  Damien’s long tongue lapped at his chops as he loped past them both. She expected him to shift back into human, but to her surprise, he stopped by a chair and sat.

  And stared.

  At her.

  Natalie swallowed a laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Damien’s yellow eyes flared. His body language said it all.

  He wasn’t, and he was every bit as hungry as she was.

  Nico’s chuckle filled the kitchen with warmth, with a tolerance that she wasn’t used to. As she claimed the chair beside Damien, the other man easily hooked the back of another and sank into a seat across the laden table. “He’s spoiled.”

  “Apparently,” she snorted. Even so, she snagged a piece of bacon and held it out to the wolf.