by Maia Dylan
“Stop it,” she had ordered, and Rhys couldn’t help but smile at the memory of her frowning at them and wagging her finger in their direction like a school teacher reprimanding her class. “Life is too damn short to waste it on living with regrets. Everything happens for a reason. Everything! And I know that what happened to me was very much for a reason. Wheeler was an unknown threat. I had no idea the crazy idiot believed that Drake was still alive and hunting for him and that he wanted me beyond anything else. How was I supposed to know that? Without what happened to Pepper, and then Wheeler following her here and inadvertently to me, that threat would still be there. Lying in wait for a chance to take me from you for good. So don’t you dare view it with regret.”
“That’s the trouble with you, Parris.” Rhys had sighed as he nodded, leaned in to press a kiss to her cheek, and then stepped back to make room for Jase. “You are just too damn intelligent for us. We will let go of the regret and can only say that our actions that day were quixotry in nature.”
Parris threw her head and back laughed, the sound filling all the small dark places in his heart left behind from the day they almost lost her. What made the moment even better was the look on Jase’s face. Parris laughed through the typical sibling arguing and name-calling that ensued.
Parris sighed as Rhys turned up the drive that led to their house. “Oh, it is so good to be home.” Hearing her refer to the house as their home certainly had his heart swelling again. As he pulled to a stop in front of the porch steps, Jase tore out of the house and practically ripped the car door off in his haste to get to Parris.
Jase lifted her out of the car, swallowing her cute giggle with his mouth as he swooped in to kiss her soundly on the mouth. “Welcome home, sweetness,” Jase murmured and then turned to carry her up the stairs and into the house.
Rhys shook his head as he collected her bag from the back of the car and followed them into the house. When he crossed the threshold, he closed and locked the door. Rhys decided Jase and Parris deserved a few minutes alone so strode through to the master bedroom to drop off her bag. He glanced around at the room and saw that Jase had been preparing it for the proper homecoming they wanted to give their mate. Grinning, he left the room and followed the sound of their voices coming from the kitchen.
“It so good to finally have you home, Parris,” Jase said as he held their mate on his lap at the dining table. There were platters of sandwiches and cut-up fruit in front of him, and he was feeding a succulent piece of strawberry to their mate.
“It’s good to be home,” Parris said with a grin. “Am I going to be spoiled like this for a long time? Because I have to tell you, a girl could easily get used to this.”
Rhys snatched his own kiss from their mate before sitting down across from them and helping himself to a thick ham sandwich. “Too fucking right you’re going to be spoiled. Not just for a long time, but for the rest of your life.”
“So feel free to get used to it, my love,” Jase added as he reached for his own sandwich.
After a few quiet moments of simply enjoying being together, Rhys felt a hesitation coming down the mating bond that connected them to their mate.
“Have you heard anything about Melaina? Or the Snow brothers?” Parris asked, her tone tinged with sadness.
Melaina had now been missing for almost three months and Rhys knew not knowing what had become of them was hurting Parris. Pepper had been in Grey River for almost two weeks, and she had been a source of comfort to Parris while she was in the hospital. They had even shared the same room. Pepper was due to come out of the hospital on the weekend, and she would be moving in with them until she decided what was going to be next for her.
Jase grimaced and shook his head. “Nothing solid yet, just more loose ends to chase. After an intensive search, they turned up a whole new pile of properties that Aristos or his holding company had access, too. Hunter and his team are checking each property thoroughly for any sign of the Snow brothers and Melaina. We’ll find out what happened to them, baby. Ty has promised not to call the search off until all questions have been answered.”
Parris nodded sadly, and from the slight frown on her beautiful face, Rhys knew that she was reflecting on all the bad that had happened in the past few months, and that just wouldn’t do. He and Jase were all about looking forward and embracing their future, and the best and most important aspect of that was Parris. They had claimed her out of necessity and were never able to claim her the way they had planned to.
Rhys knew just the right way to bring her out of her melancholy memories. “Parris, we asked you five days ago if you would allow us the honor of claiming you as our mate.” Parris’s frown turned into the sweetest damn smile he had ever seen in his life. “You said yes, and there is no backsies on that one.”
Jase nodded in agreement. “Too right there is no backsies on that one. You are ours, Parris Church-who’s-last-name-will-hopefully-one-day-be-Wilson. You are as essential to us as breathing.”
Parris reached out a hand to grip Rhys’s and place a hand against Jase’s cheek. “You are damn right I’m yours. Just as you are mine and I will definitely take your name one day. Any day. All you have to do is ask.”
Rhys’s heart stuttered a little, and he took a breath to calm himself. “That works out just perfectly, and we will ask you the way men should ask their woman to be theirs. But for now, we have only one thing we need you to know. I am going to count to five—”
Parris’s quick laugh had him and Jase grinning.
“At the end of that time, I am going to lift you from my brother’s lap, carry you through to our bedroom, and we are going to claim you the way we planned, too, a love you until you can’t move without feeling us within you loving you with everything that we are. O—”
“Five!” Parris screamed, laughed, and threw herself into his arms.
* * * *
Parris couldn’t stop giggling as Rhys caught her to him, lifted her against his chest and buried his face against her neck with a growl. The world tilted slightly as he stood, and in moments he was striding off down the hallway with her wrapped around him like a koala. With each step, Parris felt her arousal build slightly as the feel of his dick lengthening and thickening behind his jeans, pressed against her in the most delicious way.
Tilting her head to give him greater access to her neck, she opened eyes she had no recollection of closing and met Jase’s stare as he followed them down the hallway. His eyes locked with hers and Parris’s pulse jumped. She was a little shocked at the emotion she saw swirling there. She could identify the need and desire. That was expected, given where they were going and what they were all going to indulge in, but she hadn’t expected to see pain. Her wolf was hurting, and that just wasn’t going to do.
As soon as Rhys entered the bedroom, she unwrapped her legs from his waist, and he helped her find her feet. Never having taken her gaze from Jase, she held out a hand, waiting for a moment as he stared at it for a moment, before reaching out and twining his fingers with hers. With a slight tug, she pulled him closer to her, until the three of them stood close to each other.
“Talk to me,” was all she said as she stared directly at Jase. He shook his head and moved in to kiss her, but Parris knew there was something not right with him, so she leaned back. Jase stopped immediately.
“I can see something is bothering you. I can read it in your eyes. And more than that, I can feel it down our bond. Jase, talk to me.” Parris whispered the last four words, begging him with her eyes.
He exhaled deeply. “I didn’t want to scare you with what I’ve been feeling lately because it is pretty fucked up. But it’s something I wasn’t expecting, and I am not sure how to deal with it. I am pissed off that you had to kill that bastard and that we never got the chance to make him bleed.”
Parris closed her eyes briefly and nodded. Of course, her alpha men would have wanted to protect her and mete justice on the douchebag who had dared terrorize her. Hell, every t
ime in the past that they convinced her to talk about the scars on her body and who had caused them, they had voiced their desire to hurt Wheeler.
“He hurt you, Parris. He made you feel fear. That was something I promised that you would never have to feel again, and I failed you.”
Parris completely understood that, and from the slight swell of relief that came to her along their bond, Jase felt better for having told her. She would have responded to that immediately if she hadn’t caught the echo of hesitation sweeping along their bond behind the relief from Jase. Her other wolf was holding something in as well. Turning in Rhys’s direction, she simply looked up into his eyes and waited.
Rhys looked away sheepishly for a moment and then sighed. “I’m struggling a little with the fact that we almost lost you. I haven’t been sleeping well at night. Every time I close my eyes, I see you covered in blood, convulsing on that bed. I didn’t want to bring this up now that you are safe and in our arms, and hell, I know that I’m being a little ridiculous and that I’ll get the fuck over it. But for right now, it’s a little too raw.”
Parris smiled at her two men. Gently tugging them farther into the room, she encouraged them to stand at the foot of the bed with their backs to the bed. She looked around her briefly and saw that the room had been set up for seduction. There was a bottle of wine cooling in an ice bucket, glasses on the night stand, candles lit and the curtains pulled to create a soft and romantic scene. But Parris knew what this moment called for and it was them seducing her. It was her taking care of her mates and giving them the comfort they needed.
Since she had arrived in Grey River and met her mates, they had been the ones giving her exactly what she needed. They gave her time when she needed it, understanding when she asked for it, and comfort when she hadn’t even known that’s what she longed for. It was a great feeling to know that she was able to provide for them as they did for her.
Parris reached forward and tugged their shirts from their jeans at the same time. “You know, there was this story that Melaina used to tell Pepper and me.”
Jase and Rhys caught on that she wanted them to undress and stripped their shirts up and over their heads.
“It was about this young orphan who often dreamed about her parents coming for her and taking her away from the terrible life she was living.” Parris dropped gently to her knees and reached forward to untie their shoes as she spoke.
“She would tell all the other orphans that lived with her that her parents would come for her one day, and she would go and live happily ever after with them.”
Once they had stepped out of their shoes and she slid their socks from their feet, she had to take a slow breath at the sight her men made standing before her shirtless and with bare feet. There was just something about a barefooted man that made him seem more vulnerable, and that appealed to her in ways she couldn’t explain.
She pushed gently to her feet and stood before them once more. “Pepper and I would talk about that story and what our happily-ever-after would be. It always came back to the same thing for both of us. Freedom from Aristos and no more treatments. I would never have thought that I could have a chance at the life I do now.”
Parris swallowed the lump in her throat and reached out to unbuckle first Jase’s belt and then Rhys’s as she talked softly to them. She noticed that the more she talked, the more they relaxed, the tension in their bodies and the pain in their eyes disappeared.
“The short time I have been with you has been worth everything I have been through in my life and more. Knowing that you both feel for me what I feel for you is priceless beyond measure.”
Rhys and Jase kicked off their jeans and were standing naked in front of her, their powerful erections pushing out toward her, making her entire body melt.
“Our lives together start from this moment. We live with no regrets, and we certainly do not let what happened that day tarnish the night my mates claim me in truth.”
Jase reached out a hand and gently swept away the tears she hadn’t realized had fallen from her cheek. “You own me, heart and soul, sweetness.” He gently tugged her shirt from her own jeans. “Rhys and I have been talking about you all our lives,” Jase said as he gently slipped each button from her shirt.
With every button undone, and every word he spoke, her arousal built slowly within her, and the nervous tension that she hadn’t felt rolling within her abated.
“But our imagination could never do you justice.”
Rhys knelt at her feet and gently began to remove her sneakers. “We often wished that our mate would be beautiful, but everything we could have hoped for or wished for pales in comparison to the perfection that is you.” Rhys reached up unbuttoned the top of her jeans as Jase slid her shirt from her. “And you are absolute perfection, darlin’. My only hope is that one day, we can prove to you that we are worthy of your love.”
Parris would have liked to have voiced that it was she who would work to prove herself worthy of them, but Rhys slid her jeans from her and helped her step from them in the same moment that Jase removed her bra. She stood before them completely naked, and her mouth suddenly went dry.
“Damn, I can smell your arousal, darlin’,” Rhys whispered roughly.
Parris took a deep breath, trying to draw some much-needed oxygen into her brain when Rhy suddenly leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the top on her mound, and he gently nudged her feet wider.
Jase plastered himself against her back, reached around under her arms, and gently cupped her breasts with her hands. “Your skin is so damn soft,” he rasped into her ear. He leaned down to run the tip of his tongue from her shoulder up to her earlobe, and Parris tilted her head to the side to give him better access.
“I’ve gotta have a taste, Parris, my love,” Rhys murmured as he lifted her left leg and gently tucked it over his shoulder. Parris shivered when she felt the warmth of his breath over her most sensitive parts. Jase rolled her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers, and Parris groaned at the stimulation. She leaned her head back against his shoulder and moaned at the sensation.
She wasn’t expecting the extreme pulse of pleasure that shot right through her when Rhys placed his mouth on her pussy and slid his tongue up to her clit. “Oh God!”
She reached for the top of Rhys’s head, and she thread her fingers into the thick strands of his hair. Rhys growled against her as she tugged gently and then he moved so fast and drove her so crazy with skilled flicks of his tongue and gentle suction that she lost the ability to form comprehensive words and simply shuddered against him and sobbed.
“Damn, you are so fucking hot when you’re on the edge of coming, sweetness,” Jase rasped against her skin as he gently pressed his teeth and sucked against the claiming bite he had left on her neck.
“Sweet is exactly what she is,” Rhys murmured before diving back into her again.
Parris was helpless against the need to move, and she began to roll her hips against Rhys’s talented mouth. She balanced on the knife’s edge of bliss, quivering with the need to come, but for some reason, simply hanging there.
“Go over my love, we’ll catch you,” Jase whispered right in her ear before pinching both her nipples. And that was all it took for her to tip over, and she screamed with the power of her orgasm, quivering between her men as she came.
Parris closed her eyes as she drifted in a sea of sensation. When she opened her eyes, she blinked a couple of times, surprised to find herself lying on top of Jase who lay on his back on their bed, gently stroking his hand up and down her spine.
“Hmmmm,” she moaned as she stretched over him, grinning when she felt him shudder when her pussy gently rubbed against his swollen cock. “That was a great welcome home.”
“You ain’t been welcomed yet, darlin’.”
Rhys’s voice came from the foot of the bed, and Paris looked at him over her shoulder. He stood there rubbing lube over his hard cock, and despite that she just came, Parris’s arousal hit critica
l levels. “The real party starts now.”
Parris winked at him, pushed up, and knelt over Jase. She lifted onto her knees and looked down into Jase’s handsome face. His eyes blazed with desire as he swept his gaze down over her. Parris felt herself soften at the heated look on his face, and she felt her pussy clench. Holding his gaze with hers, she reached down and gripped his cock firmly in her right hand, making sure to drive him a little crazy with a couple of swift hard strokes and then pressed herself down on him. She didn’t stop until she had him all the way.
“Fuuuck,” Jase groaned, and he arched his back, all the muscles in his chest and neck stood out in stark relief. “Damn, baby, your cunt feels so fucking hot and silky wrapped around me. I’m not going to last long.”
Parris paused for a moment, enjoying the feeling of having his cock buried deep within her. She was just about to start moving on him when she felt Rhys press a hand to her shoulder, guiding her forward.
“Lean down, sweets. I can’t wait either.”
Parris placed her hands on the mattress beside Jase’s head, moaning as the move pressed her swollen clit against him in a way that had sparks of pleasure shooting through her. She felt the mattress move as Rhys got into position. There was a click of a tube being closed, and she gasped at the feel of him rubbing lube around her back entrance. When he placed the blunt head of his cock against her and gently pulsed his hips forward to push past the ring of muscles there, she pushed out, breathing deeply as he pushed into her.
Once he was seated within her, Parris concentrated on remaining relaxed and giving her body time to grow accustomed to the full feeling. She could feel how tense Jase and Rhys were, fighting their own reactions to ensure she had the time she needed, and she loved them all the more for it.
“Move, my loves, please.”
Her harsh whisper was loud in the room. Jase and Rhys both growled as they began to move with her in controlled rhythmic unison, driving into her, and withdrawing at the same time. Within a few moves, she was panting her approval to them, trying desperately to form the words to describe what she was feeling, before giving up when realizing that what she was experiencing defied definition.