Michael stared down at his fists. “I know the feeling.”
“You and me both,” Tyler concurred.
“You’re communicating telepathically already, aren’t you?” Ryan nodded at them both.
“Yeah, and it’s strange as hell.” Tyler ran his hands through his strawberry-blond waves.
“We’ll let me advise you not to take swings at each other. The women frown on us mates fighting. I don’t think it’ll get you any brownie points.”
“So, pardon my ignorance, but how does this work?” Tyler waved his hand back and forth between himself and Michael, his eyes on Ryan. “I mean, in my own fucked-up pack, it’s the women who are mated to one man. I don’t get the logistics of two men sharing a woman quite frankly. And the idea makes me cringe.” He visibly shook.
Michael realized the guy thought they were somehow going to have to do each other. “Oh, fuck no, man.” Michael shook his head a bit violently back and forth. “We are not touching each other, dude. Just Alyssa.”
Ryan nodded and grinned at Tyler. “Don’t worry. Your masculinity is not in question here. Alejandro and I don’t do each other. Sure, our cocks rub against each other when we’re both inside Lindsey, but other than that… Just, no. The relationship, for us anyway, is two on one. We’ve never had a problem.”
“What would we do? Take turns?”
Jesus, Tyler really was naïve. Michael felt a twinge of regret for how he’d been treating the guy.
“Is that how they do it in your pack?” Ryan asked the question. He was probably more curious that anything else. Frankly, Michael was too.
“I … I’m not completely sure. My pack isn’t very open about what happens behind closed doors, but I do know the gossip amongst teenage boys. Especially those whose parents are in such relationships. It seems in most homes the women each have a room, and the man switches off each night. I know some of the men like the women to … perform for them … together, but … I don’t think the women like the idea too much.” Tyler ducked his head as though ashamed. Hell, it wasn’t his fault his pack was so fucked up.
“And your women agree to this?” Michael asked.
Tyler shook his head, making Michael swallow around his suddenly dry throat. “I don’t think so, no. Not in most cases. The marriages are arranged. The women have no choice.”
“I knew that was why Alyssa fled, but I’d hoped that was the exception, not the rule,” Michael mumbled.
“’Fraid not.”
Ryan cleared his throat. “Well, we don’t operate that way here. No mate is taken against their will. When we meet our mate, it’s obvious, and nature kind of takes over.”
Tyler looked pointedly at Ryan, and Michael could just imagine what he was going to ask next. “Can she turn us down?”
“Oh, she can. No doubt about that. It wouldn’t be pleasant, for any of you, for a long time, but if she decides she won’t mate with you two, that’s her right. Believe me, Lindsey threatened the same thing, and as my dick grew harder and harder with each passing hour, Alejandro and I learned to get along fast.”
“We’re from such different backgrounds. I can’t see how we’ll choose a middle ground.” Tyler’s carefully selected choice of words did not go unnoticed by Michael. He hadn’t said “if.” “I don’t suppose we can just share her? Two separate rooms?” Tyler’s eyebrows rose hopefully.
Ryan shook his head again. “Nope. You can’t even complete the claiming without the two of you taking her at once, and I mean that quite literally.” He narrowed his gaze, clearly hoping he wouldn’t have to elaborate. “I’m sure you’ve realized your thoughts aren’t sacred anymore. One of you would burn up in the next room while the other two mated. Trust me, you won’t want that.
“Nature will ensure you have the desire to take her together. It’s a wonderful experience, being able to give your woman so much pleasure she can’t even think straight. I can’t imagine anymore how one man satisfies his woman all alone. Contrary to belief, those female creatures are insatiable.” He chuckled deep in his throat. “Sometimes just two of us have sex without the other, but it isn’t as good … as fulfilling. It would be strange not experiencing the image of having Lindsey come completely undone beneath us. It’s second nature now.”
Michael’s dick grew stiff just visualizing Alyssa beneath him, her head thrown back in pleasure, her mouth hanging open. In fact, he actually included Tyler in the image, Tyler’s cock bobbing up and down aiming for those perfect lips while Michael lined himself up with her pussy.
Could he do it? Share his woman … their woman? Was the idea really as foreign to him as he insisted? Suddenly he wanted to experience the bliss of having her so filled with him and Tyler that she didn’t have time to think.
When Michael came out of his head and looked around, he found Tyler staring at him quizzically. “You’re coming around, aren’t you?” Tyler asked.
“Are you?”
Tyler looked away. “I don’t know. It’s crazy.”
Michael turned his attention back to Ryan. “Even if we did claim her together, and somehow got around our inhibitions and shared her, that still doesn’t solve the problem of our different backgrounds. Hell, Tyler has a job lined up in Denver.”
“Denver?” Ryan looked surprised.
Ah, so some small piece of information hadn’t reached across the acres between the houses yet.
Ryan looked at Michael pointedly. “I hear Denver’s nice.”
“What?” Michael jumped up. “Now you’re on his side?” He stomped to the edge of the porch and stared out at the land spread before him. A breeze blew through, and he took a deep breath of the fine, clean air.
Ryan lowered his voice. “I’m not on anyone’s ‘side,’ Michael. I’m just suggesting you open your mind … and your heart … before you get hurt. It wouldn’t kill you to consider leaving the farm. Hell, we’ve done all right without you for two years. You’ve only been back a week. You think you’re indispensable?” Ryan chuckled, and Michael turned to glare at him.
“It’s not that, and you know it. Why do I have to be the one to give everything up? Huh?” He turned to face Tyler. “You don’t even have any ties to Denver. Why not let that job go and stay here?”
“And do what?” Tyler threw his arms out to his side. “I don’t know jack about farming, and I don’t have any desire to.” His voice rose.
“Guys…” Ryan got between them. “Let me make a suggestion. Why don’t you go for a run, leave this issue for a while, ignore it? When you’ve blown off some steam, come back and give a shot at spending some quality time with Alyssa … the three of you together.
“Believe me, you can’t keep taking turns making out with her without the other guy getting miffed at being left out. I’m willing to bet once you’ve shared her, even just rounding second base, you’ll see things differently, maybe even feel a tiny bit more flexible, both of you.” Ryan laughed. “Literally and figuratively.”
Michael closed his eyes. What choice did he have?
Chapter 10
Alyssa sat at her desk in the room she’d occupied for over two years in the home she considered her own. She’d watched her mates take off between the trees in wolf form. Good. Maybe they could blow off some steam racing through the woods. Maybe they could even make nice with each other, bonding over … whatever wolves did together.
Part of her couldn’t wait to be able to shift and run with them. Part of her was scared to death of the idea.
Women didn’t shift, couldn’t until they were mated. That likelihood seemed imminently possible and equally frightening.
She leaned her head between her legs to avoid fainting. The multitude of thoughts racing through her mind kept making her lightheaded. Too many prospects thrown at her all at once. Starting a new life with not one but two men, shifting for the first time, and the biggest one of all—having sex.
She was more innocent than she’d planned to be when she met her mate. It was her fault for hov
ering around the house like a scaredy-cat for the last two years, the entirety of her adult life.
She’d only marginally adjusted to the idea of mating with one wolf—the mystery man as she’d come to think of him. Although her sexual side had come alive in the last week, and she’d squirmed numerous times in an attempt to relieve the constant need making her nearly ache, at no point had she pondered having two men on her, in her, surrounding her at once.
Alyssa let her head fall lower. This line of thinking wasn’t helping.
The door to her room squeaked open, and she didn’t lift her head. A girlfriend. That’s what she needed right now. She smiled. She was actually surprised all five of the women in this family weren’t there.
“Hey. That bad?” Lindsey’s voice wafted across the room and soothed Alyssa even before the woman was all the way in the room.
When Lindsey laid a hand on Alyssa’s back and rubbed, Alyssa’s tension eased.
“What are you more worried about? Mating? Your men getting along? Shifting?”
“Do I have to put them in an order?” Alyssa lifted her head to look at her friend, a half smile forming on her lips, although forced.
Lindsey giggled. “It’s going to be okay, you know.”
“Riiight. When will that be?”
“When your mates get their heads out of their asses and focus on you instead of themselves.”
“I’m not sure that doesn’t scare me even more than having them bickering.”
“It can be overwhelming at first, but you’ll love it. I promise.”
Alyssa swallowed the lump in her throat. How could she tell the woman who’d become like a sister to her how frightened she was about even having sex with one man, forget all the other problems?
“I know I’ve been here with your family long enough to understand how this all works, and it should seem second nature to me, but it’s not that simple. I wasn’t raised this way. I never met anyone who found their true mate and claimed them. I only know arranged matings.”
“Well, consider yourself lucky then. You get to spend your life doted on by not only one man who thinks you hang the sun, but two. Trust me, when I first met Alejandro and Ryan, I was beyond confused, but it all worked out. Splendidly.” Lindsey winked at her.
“When I’m with them, either of them, I lose my head. I can’t think. All my blood rushes to my…” Heat crawled up Alyssa’s cheeks. She couldn’t finish her statement. “Hell, I can’t even believe the things I’ve done in the last two days with each of them.” Remembering lying beneath Michael while he spread her legs, and then climbing on top of Tyler to rub her sex against him, made her gasp anew.
She closed her eyes at the onslaught of images, and the new visions that crept into her thoughts to mingle with her actual experiences.
Lindsey just let her talk. Bless her. She rubbed Alyssa’s back and shoulders and remained quiet.
“Are they both going to … you know … at the same time?” She kept her head tipped low enough that she didn’t have to look her friend in the eye.
“Yes.”
Alyssa flinched. You knew that was the case, girl.
“I feel like a virgin bride.”
Lindsey laughed. “You are, Alyssa. You should feel like that. It’s perfectly normal. I’d be worried if you didn’t.”
“Well, regular human brides only have to worry about one man. And they get more time. And God, are there even still virgin brides among humans these days?” She glanced up.
“Yes, and Jessica was a virgin too, by the way.”
Alyssa’s eyes widened. “Really?” She’d not realized that.
“And even so, none of the three of us were prepared to take on two mates, virgin or otherwise. It’s a hard concept to wrap your mind around, but trust me, you won’t be disappointed. Far from it. You’re going to want it night and day as soon as you start.”
“I’m not sure I don’t feel that way already, and I haven’t even mated with them yet.”
“That’s normal. We all felt that craving. It won’t lesson. It will only get stronger.”
Alyssa squeezed her knees together and leaned forward once again. If she didn’t get her breathing under control, she wouldn’t even be alive to worry about all this.
She was torn. Part of her wanted to vomit. The other part wanted to strip her clothes off and let these two men have their way with her to ease the desire building inside her.
* * * *
Tyler followed Michael to the tree line where they both silently dropped their clothes and shifted.
“Ryan might be right. Maybe if we go for a run, things will seem clearer.” Michael didn’t glance at Tyler, but he did nod his head toward the woods and took off.
Tyler followed. He didn’t know the area, of course. He had a good sense of direction from just being a wolf shifter, but he’d rely on Michael to set the pace and show him the land.
“It is beautiful here. I haven’t run like this in ages. Well, never actually.”
“Now you see one of the benefits of living out in the open, away from the city.” Michael turned his gaze toward Tyler. “There’s hope for you yet.” Through their mental connection, Tyler could hear the smirk in Michael’s tone. The man was teasing.
“They have trees outside Denver too, ya know.” Tyler didn’t want to piss Michael off again, just make sure the man didn’t think he’d given up.
“I’ve heard. But do they have cows?” Michael chuckled into Tyler’s head outright this time.
Thank God the mood had lightened between them. The stress was wearing on Tyler. “I’m sure there’re cows, but I doubt any of them live in the city.”
A silence ensued. Neither of them communicated. Tyler simply enjoyed the freedom of the forest. They dashed through the trees for several miles, using up energy Tyler hadn’t even known he had. His heart rate elevated. It was invigorating. For the first time in a week, his muscles relaxed. They would work this out. They had to.
Suddenly, the ground disappeared beneath Tyler’s paws. With a gasp, he found himself falling, surrounded by debris—branches, leaves, dirt. His vision was a blur of earth and near darkness as he thumped hard into the pit.
What the hell had just happened? Where was he? Fuck. A whimper was the only noise that escaped his mouth as he ascertained the damage. He sucked in a lungful of air and twisted his neck, craning to see where he’d come from. How far had he fallen?
Fear squeezed Tyler’s chest. Had Michael led him out here to kill him? Had this all been a great plan to dispose of the competition? He held his breath and narrowed his gaze, but no matter how hard he strained, he couldn’t get a good view of the top of the hole.
“Tyler?” The word rang out in his head, but he couldn’t respond. He couldn’t even catch his breath yet.
“Tyler?” The voice was louder this time, human. Michael had shifted back. “Can you hear me?”
“I can hear you.” Through the pile of leaves and twigs, Tyler strained to pull his body upright. He buckled under his own weight when he stood. One rear paw was twisted, sprained he hoped. “Fuck.” Tyler sat on his haunches and brushed the dirt from his eyes with his front paws. Finally he was able to get a clear view toward the sky.
Michael’s human head was leaning over the side of the hole. The light from behind left Michael’s expression in shadow. “Are you hurt?”
Should he answer Michael? What if he said yes? Would Michael leave him here to die? He opted to say nothing just yet and glanced around. The hole was deep, intentionally placed here. It was a trap. Meant for him? Or just meant for any animal in the forest?
It worked. Tyler had not seen it coming. A perfect blend of limbs and brush had been placed over the hole, and the two shifters had been running too fast to notice such a thing. Unless one of them knew it was there all along. Was Michael Masters scheming enough to have come out here into the woods yesterday and dig a hole to trap his competition on the off chance they went for a run? It was ludicrous, but Tyler w
asn’t in any position to discount the possibility.
“Tyler?”
“I’m here.” Where else would I be? Could it be the worry he heard in Michael’s voice was all make-believe? Was Michael only pretending to be concerned in case Tyler hadn’t died in the fall?
“It must be a trap. Can you shift?”
“No shit. Ya think?” Should he tell the man he couldn’t shift? Tyler knew he needed to remain in wolf form with his ankle twisted the way it was. If it was broken, he could suffer untold damage shifting. It wasn’t wise. Besides, he’d heal faster in wolf form.
“Tyler? Dude, you’re scaring me. Are you injured?”
“Does it matter?”
“Does it matter? Of course it matters. What’s wrong with you? You’re acting all weird. Did you hit your head or something?”
Tyler stared at the shadowed head above him. Michael was lying on the ground next to the hole.
“Christ.” Michael shouted that one word, making Tyler flinch. “You think I did this?”
Tyler held his breath. Obviously he’d done a shabby job of keeping his thoughts to himself.
“Oh my God, Ty… I may have been a bit miffed that I had to share Alyssa but not that mad. I would never harm a flea. I…” Michael disappeared for a minute, and Tyler remained still. Had he misjudged Michael?
His ankle throbbed, and he twisted his head to try and assess the damage. It was too dark. He could smell blood and licked his ankle to ascertain how bad it was. Not bad. Just a small cut. The bleeding had stopped.
A shadow reappeared above. “Can you climb out? I can’t find anything to reach you with.”
“Nope.” Tyler glanced at the solid dirt walls around him. Even if he could climb, he’d get nowhere with his ankle in this condition.
Michael sat on the edge of the hole and leaned over. “I swear I didn’t do this to you. Please talk to me.”
If Michael had done this intentionally, would he still be hanging around?
Alyssa's Wolves (Wolf Masters, Book 4) Page 11