I wasn’t terribly pissed at her for striking back. I’d denied her orgasms on the premise I was bigger and stronger than her, and there wasn’t a damned thing she could do about it. Turns out, I needed to be more careful around her when I went all he-man on her in the future. She faked me out because I didn’t expect her to physically fight me. I really should’ve known better, and now that I did, I’d be ready for it next time. I looked forward to denying her tomorrow, and showing her I was man enough to follow through with it.
Whatever she’d read had helped her wind down enough to get sleepy, so now it didn’t take her long to drop off to sleep.
When we’re both human, I’m behind her, but tonight she was behind me, her arm over my body, her fingers buried in my fur. Her hand had become slower and slower petting me, until she’d dropped off, and I listened to the rhythm of her breathing until I, too, dropped off.
I awaken easily when in human form, but I’ve grown used to having Angelica in the room, so the things she does aren’t as likely to wake me. However, as a wolf, the slightest change registers in my head, and I sleepily decide whether it needs attention or not before waking.
When her scent changed I knew it immediately, and changed to human as I woke — she needed my hands and arms now, and my voice.
“Princess, we’re in your bedroom and you’re safe,” I told her as I rubbed her arms and kissed her cheek. “I need you to wake up and look around. C’mon, Angelica, you’re safe, we’re good.”
She came awake with a start, her pulse racing, her eyes wild, and once again I smelled the stench of terror — sweet when it came from someone I was torturing, but I never, ever wanted to smell it coming from my Princess.
“Tell me,” I ordered, hoping to get the contents of the nightmare from her before she forgot it.
“I was back in the van, hogtied while the driver drove erratically and threw me around the back, so there wasn’t anything I could do.”
“You killed them. They’re dead. They can’t hurt you again.”
She nodded and took several deep breaths, forcing her body to calm down with sheer willpower.
“That’s why you slept with me in wolf form — so you’d know I was having a nightmare.”
“Yeah.”
“How am I supposed to be pissed at you when you go and do something nice?”
I chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
She put her face in her hands. “How do I stop having the nightmares? Like you said, they’re dead, and I can’t kill them again!”
“Did you see their faces in the dream?”
“No, it’s a replay of what really happened, but the erratic driving just goes on and on and on, without stopping.”
“Okay, so we figure out a way for you to take control in that situation. We’ll get you some training, and then throw you in a van with some tough guys, and keep doing it until you can take control.”
“Who the hell can train me for that sort of thing? Could you gain control?”
No one was going to kidnap me, because no one wanted me pissed at them when my fist was within striking distance of their face. That wasn’t what she needed to hear, though, so I told her, “I’d get it eventually, just as you did, because in the end you killed them. But, the point is, you need to know how to survive those first minutes, and I know someone who might be able to teach you. I worked with him on a project last year — his name’s Ranger, and I don’t know if he was an Army Ranger, or something else, but he works for Drake Security now and he has lots of interesting skills. I’ll give him a call in the morning, see if he’ll help.”
“Bethany’s Ranger?”
I kissed her nose with a smile. “Sometimes I forget how tight our little community is. Yeah, Bethany’s Ranger, which reminds me that Mac might be able to help, too.”
She looked at the clock, and my eyes followed to see it was a little after four in the morning. “I’m awake,” she said. “How about an early morning run?”
“I’ve changed twice since the last time I ate. I need food.”
“I have some steaks in the freezer, but it’ll be faster to go somewhere. Waffle House is the only thing close that’s open this time of the morning, though.”
* * * *
We arrived at Bethany, Mac, Ranger, and Jonathan’s house at two o’clock. I’d gotten my Princess horny and on the edge of an orgasm seven times so far today, and then worked it each time so there was no happy ending. The last time was just before we left to come here, and I knew the ride on the back of my motorcycle had kept her revved up, so we’d stopped for ice cream on the way. I didn’t want her putting out arousal pheromones to the two wolves and the leopard about to have their hands on her while they taught her self-defense skills.
The men had built onto the back of the original house, and I was impressed with their workout room and sparring space. I was also a little surprised Jonathan was the one doing the actual teaching, but I sat with Bethany and drank the lemonade she offered, and watched.
I heard Mac telling Angelica that Bethany knew what the three of them shifted into, but she’d have to tell Bethany what she was before they could teach her. Angelica rolled her eyes at him and turned to us to say, “Hey, Bethany, you’ve figured out I’m a wolf, right?”
“Yeah. Your dad probably is, since he’s RTMC President in Atlanta, which means you probably are. Good to have it confirmed, though.”
Angelica turned back to Mac, who stepped away as Jonathan said, “Okay, Bash says you’ve already had training in how to avoid being thrown into a van in the first place, but you had temporary brain damage from the fumes in the nail place and weren’t paying attention. So, most importantly, try not to get captured, so you don’t have to deal with the trouble of escaping. However, if they do manage, and the driver takes off so you lose your equilibrium, the first step is to anchor onto something. Grab a seatbelt, or an oh-shit handle, or anything attached to the van. From there, use your legs to kick, or your spare arm to hit. So, first off, I’m going to toss you towards the weights on the mat, and you’re going to anchor yourself to whatever is closest and then kick at the heavy bag we’ve brought to the edge of the mat.”
They worked with her for thirty minutes in the room, and then we took off in a van. I drove, Bethany rode shotgun, and the rest of them were in the back. An hour later, everyone back there was bruised and beat to hell, but Angelica could fight them off two at a time with fists and feet while I was driving like a bat out of hell on curvy damned roads. Three at a time and they could easily subdue her, but when only two of them engaged, she might not be able to subdue them, but they couldn’t easily subdue her either. And, if they’d been human she’d have easily killed them.
She had her belly band on, and we put a practice gun in it and let her get the muscle memory to hold on with her left hand and draw with her right when the van was all over the place. She quickly decided the guys were right, and aiming was next to impossible. If they were on a crowded street then she ran the risk of a stray bullet hitting someone else when she missed her target. But if they were in the sticks, a crazy woman firing a gun is a good reason to abandon ship.
The four of them changed to heal as I drove us all to a restaurant, and I paid for dinner as thanks to them for helping us out.
“I know there has to be an interesting story behind the four of you getting together,” Angelica said as the waiter brought us our appetizer. “Three guys and one girl? I have a pretty good idea how the fun parts work, but how does the rest of the relationship work?”
The guys looked at Bethany, and she grinned as she said, “Gen’s brother has two boyfriends and a girlfriend, and the four of them live together.”
Angelica nodded. “Yeah, I’ve met Frisco and his… people. The guys are all bisexual, though, so they do each other as well as Cassie, but your guys don’t act like they’re…. together, like that.” Somehow, she managed to ask it so it wasn’t rude or inappropriate, and I have to admit I’d kind of w
ondered how it worked in a relationship, too. I mean, I’d handled multiple guys on one girl plenty in bed, as well as more than one girl with just me… but a relationship? No way could I share Angelica full-time. Not even with Dawg. He was our friend with benefits, and my best friend, but that was it.
“No, my guys are all straight,” Bethany answered, “but the point is, I’d been saying I wanted my own harem for a while, kind of teasing, but not really — because the idea really did turn me on. So, I’m out with Gen and Cassie one night, when these three walk in, and I say something about how if I was building my harem, I’d start with them… and I had no idea they could hear me.” She shrugged. “They all asked me to dance, one at a time, and they started telling me they wanted to see me kissing the others as I went back to the dance floor with a different one. It just kind of snowballed from there, I guess.”
“Well,” Angelica said, lifting her glass to them. “More power to all of you, for making it work. You seem happy.”
So, I didn’t get my answer as to how it worked, but I didn’t really need to know. Angelica leaned into me, enough I knew she wanted a connection, and I put my arm around her as Mac put his around Bethany, sitting across from us, and said, “I’m happier than I ever thought I’d be with someone.”
Jonathan was on Bethany’s other side, and they held hands a few seconds before letting go so they could either get a bite or a drink. Ranger was sitting on the other side of Angelica, and I noted enough movement I figured they were touching feet below the table.
All of this happened in a matter of seconds, and Bethany practically glowed with joy. I didn’t have to understand how it worked to see how happy they were.
“Thanks for letting me borrow them for a little while today,” Angelica told Bethany. “I can’t tell you how much better I feel, knowing I can defend myself in that particular situation if it happens again.”
“I’m glad they could help. They make me practice with my gun, and I carry the heavy-duty pepper spray they gave me, but otherwise, I’d be pretty much helpless until they rescued me, if anyone grabbed me like that.”
Ranger chuckled beside us. “Don’t let her fool you — for a human, she can kick ass when she needs to. We work with her on her reflexes, teach her how to be aware of her surroundings, and now that we know nail salon fumes make you stupid, we’ll make sure one of us escorts her to get her nails done.”
“It wasn’t the fumes!” Angelica said with a laugh. “I was just in girly mode and not paying attention. The one time I focus on walking in the stupid flip-flops instead of my surroundings, the bad guys grab me. It was just great timing on their part, shitty timing on mine.”
I ignored my phone the first few short vibrations, letting me know I was getting texts, but finally looked to see what was going on, and discovered the MC had decided to throw an impromptu party. I read through everything as quick as I could, and told the table, “The MC’s apparently decided to throw a last-minute party this evening, if ya’ll want to come you’re more than welcome. Duke’s there with his Duchess, and Gonzo’s stopping to pick Harmony up to bring her, since Brain’s already there.”
Bethany looked at Ranger with a smile, clearly wanting to go, and he glanced at Mac and Jonathan before looking back to her and saying, “Sure. We’ll drop everyone off at the compound, and then Bash and I can run by the house for his bike, and I’ll get our car. We can take the van back to Drake Security tomorrow.”
When Ranger and I returned to the compound, most of the ol’ladies were doing shots, with their men sitting off to the side, drinking beer and watching them with huge smiles. Brain watched Harmony, Tiny watched Sheila, Duke watched Gen, and Mac and Jonathan were watching Bethany… and all of the men had almost goofy looks on their faces.
Last year, I’d have made fun of them. Now? I knew I had the same goofy look as I watched Angelica pouring shots and lining them up for the other women.
Chapter Twenty-One
Angelica
We didn’t leave the party until around three in the morning. I’d have been fine with staying at the compound, but Bash insisted we go back to my apartment.
“I’m fine now, Bash. There won’t be any more nightmares!”
“Good, so there’s no reason we can’t stay at your apartment.”
Hard to argue with his logic, so I put the helmet on and climbed on the back of his bike.
He watched as I unlocked my door and then disarmed and rearmed the alarm system, and then he talked to me about the various zones again. “I got it, Bash. The alarm we had on my house growing up was similar — more complicated and nowhere near as user friendly, but it used zones and crap, too.” I wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know. He’d walked in with me plenty and watched me disarm it.
The next thing I knew, my back was plastered to the wall, Bash’s mouth was on mine, and all thoughts of alarms and vans with bad guys flew from my head. He made me forget how cold and hard the world could be, reminded me of the heat and depth of his love, and how safe I’ll always be in his arms. I wrapped my arms around his neck, hanging on for dear life as he overwhelmed my senses. This man who’d slept as a wolf so he could pull me out of a nightmare, who’d arranged for me to get the kind of training I wanted, to try to keep the bad dreams away… the man who’d do anything for me, except let me have an orgasm any time before tomorrow night.
I pushed him away, and he actually let me. I hadn’t even realized I’d wrapped a leg around his waist and pressed myself against his hard length, but I pulled my leg down and said, “We’ve been awake around twenty-three hours, and I’m just out-of-sorts enough to pull my gun and shoot your dick off if you get me all hot and bothered and decide you aren’t letting me have an orgasm tonight.”
He looked at me a few seconds, as if making a decision, and finally said, “I’ll make a deal with you — I’ll get myself off now and leave you alone until morning, but then you’ll let me tease and torment you all day tomorrow, with the understanding you won’t have an orgasm until ten o’clock tomorrow night.”
I was about to tell him I’d just get myself off if he wouldn’t, and he said, “This means you’re agreeing to it, which means you don’t get yourself off, and you don’t fight me for not letting you. I’m not mad at you for fighting me last night, because you were right — you hadn’t agreed to it and I was imposing my will on yours, which is fine if I have the muscle to back it up, but it also meant you had the right to fight me to make me prove I did.”
“And you didn’t,” I pointed out, “so what makes you think I’ll just lay down and take it next time?”
“Because you caught me off guard, and because I wasn’t prepared to strike you back. You won’t catch me off guard again.”
I’d already figured as much, but I still wasn’t agreeing to it.
His fingers caressed my face, just in front of my ear, and then his entire hand cupped my cheek. “Give me this, Princess. We’ll sleep in tomorrow, and if we wake at noon, it’ll be ten hours. Let me play with you tomorrow, have fun with it?”
“Fun for you, maybe. What makes you think it’ll be fun for me?”
“Because when you finally get an orgasm tomorrow night, it’ll take the top of your head off.”
I sighed, wishing he’d just let it go. “Why is this so important?”
He looked at me a good thirty seconds, and I didn’t ask again. My heart fell into my stomach as I realized he hadn’t thought about why it was important until I’d asked, and now… whatever the reason, I wasn’t going to like the answer.
“You know how you wanted a threesome?” he asked. “Well, this is different, because it’s a fantasy I’ve played out many times, but still — it’s my kink, it’s what I enjoy. Maybe it’s a control thing, maybe it’s just fun, I don’t know, but it’s part of who I am.” He looked away, then back to me, his eyes dark with emotion. “I’m sorry, but if we’re going to be exclusive, there are things I’m going to need from you.”
“You
know that makes you an asshole, right?” I asked. I couldn’t believe he’d given me this as a fucking ultimatum.
“You’ve known I was an asshole since you first met me, Princess. I’m being honest, because I might be okay without it a year or two, or maybe even four or five years, but eventually, I’d need it. I’m not the type to cheat, so you’ll know if I go to someone else for my needs because I’ll tell you before I do, but this will be so much easier if I can get them all met with you.”
He had a point. He had several points, actually — I knew it’d been hard for his wolf to share me with Dawg, and yet he’d made it work because it was my fantasy. I walked to my chair and sat, staring at him as I considered all of the options and ramifications, and I finally told him, “Okay, I won’t get myself off on purpose tonight, and you can torment me from noon until ten o’clock tomorrow.”
“Thanks.”
I shrugged. “We’re either compatible sexually, or we’re not. I guess tomorrow will tell us if we are or aren’t.”
“Fuck, Princess, that’s not what this is! And you can’t put that much emphasis on a single day of playing around! It’s supposed to be fun, not deep, and if you turn it into a big test that we either pass or fail? We’re gonna fail.”
I stood and walked towards the bedroom as I told him, “Yeah, well, I’m not the one who pushed and pushed for it, so don’t put this on me. I’m tired, and I’m going to sleep. If we need to fight about it, we’ll have to do it tomorrow.”
I stripped out of my clothes, aimed them in the general direction of my clothes basket, put my gun and belly band on the night table, and crawled into bed butt-assed naked.
Bash followed me in, stripped, and then changed. He jumped on the bed as a wolf, sniffed my hair, nuzzled my face and then circled three times before lying down.
“I love you,” I told him as I draped an arm over him.
He lifted his head, looked over his shoulder at me, licked my face, and put his head back down — wolf-speak for, “I love you, too.”
Bash, Volume III Page 12