by Ruby Madden
Emma knew he could be happy with Abigail, after all, the sisters were identical twins. Just like Ryland and Ryker. The fates must have been drinking the day they decided to pair twin bears with twin cats. Damn hi-lari-ous.
She wondered when fate’s plan had gone astray.
The two bears exchanged a quick look that spoke of the twin communication she and Abby had sometimes.
Seeing the aggressive expression on their faces, she thought, oh, no. There was no way she could resist a full frontal attack by both of these gorgeous men. She backed away and held up one hand in a defensive gesture. “Now, look here. We really need to postpone whatever it is you two think we should be doing right now.”
Ryland’s eyes glittered in the dim light and he licked his lips like he wanted to eat her up, right then and there. Thinking of his mouth on any part of her body made her wet. And willing.
A loud knocking sounded at the door. “Emma! Carl wants you back out on the floor. Now.”
She’d never been so glad that her boss was such a first-class asshole. “Well, you heard the man.”
Putting her feline abilities to work, she slipped between the two men and was out the door before they could stop her. She hoped Abigail had the good sense to remain hidden. And quiet.
“Well, what now brother?” Ryker was the first to speak after their mate left the room. For some reason her scurrying away hadn’t brought about the need to chase her down. Another strange contradiction to the mating heat coursing through his veins. A heat that waned the freaking closer he got to his mate. He couldn’t say the same for Ryland. He’d felt the other man wanting to shift and chase down the little cat. For some reason he found it amusing. Probably because Ryland was the more laid-back of the two, always thinking a little charm, a little patience would save the day. Whereas, Ryker tended to go in guns blazing.
“Regroup and start again tomorrow?” Ryland asked. Both men knew winning over this mate would not be an easy task. The woman had to have known they were her mates, yet she’d never come forth to claim them. Despite the cock-hardening kiss she and Ryland had just shared, she didn’t seem in any hurry to claim them now. Was it the reason she’d voiced early? Was she afraid that they somehow thought she was involved with the trouble on the construction site? She should have known, even if she had been involved, they would have done everything to protect her. So why? Why hadn’t she sought them out? Grabbed the chance to have her mate?
Because there were two of them? Was she intimated by the fact that she had two mates? Afraid she couldn’t handle two bear shifters? As confusing as the situation appeared to them, it had to be twice as overwhelming for her.
Ryker was willing to take a page out of Ryland’s playbook. For now. They needed to woo her. He just had to make sure Ryland was on board with his courting method—surround and conquer. Because they had to make damn sure she didn’t disappear in the dead of night. “Sounds like a plan.”
~*~
Abigail sighed in relief when Emma and the two bears left the storage room. It had surprised her that her cat had stayed calm. Cats were very jealous creatures and she should have been spitting mad at Emma for kissing her mate. Instead, the feline wanted to jump out of hiding and join in. Abigail had always found the scent of certain men to be off-putting. But not these two. Especially, the one standing off to the side. They smelled… like hers. Maybe Emma was right. Maybe the best thing to do was accept her fate. She’d never imagined herself with a mate, much less two. But with two, it might be enough to keep both sisters safe. They’d known forever that Emma would never have a mate because of her lack of scent.
That was the main reason the sisters remained on the run and why Abigail could never claim the bears as her own. She’d been protecting Emma since they were cubs. The shifter world, for all their differences from human, was just as prejudice, or fearful, about anything or anyone, that was different. A shifter without a scent was about as different as you could get. An anomaly. Something to fear. So the family had kept that secret hidden for as long as possible, using Abigail’s scent to camouflage Emma’s lack of scent.
Until the Panthera had discovered the secret, they had been hiding and decided he wanted Emma for his own.
Abby knew it was time to leave Atlanta. They’d stayed here far too long. They tried to stay at least two steps ahead of the Panthera and his henchmen. The plan was always the same. Their father would get a job with the first construction business listed in the phone book so the girls could find him easily once they were in town. It usually wasn’t difficult since their father was a skilled carpenter. This time that company had been Blackwood Brothers’ Construction. Who would have thought you could find a mate in the yellow pages?
It really sucked that she wouldn’t be able to keep them.
Her heart ached thinking of their father. They left him broken and bleeding, but he’d ordered them to go. She walked to the door listening intently to make sure the men had left. Opening the door, she slipped out, heading back to the lonely apartment.
~*~
Last week the brothers had left the bar as soon as they had exited the storage room and hadn’t returned. They hadn’t shown up at the diner, either. Emma was worried they had given up. Maybe she had been too off putting. Timing was everything now.
She took off the apron she used to hold her tips and order pad, placing it in a plastic hamper in the employee lounge. Thankfully, the owner of the bar laundered them. It sucked to have to wash out uniforms and aprons in a sink like they had to do with some jobs they’d held in the past.
Taking her tip money, she stuffed the small roll of bills into her front pocket. She didn’t have to help close tonight and waved good-bye to the bartender and the waitress that had gotten stuck with the job. The sisters could have used the money, but frankly, she was dog-tired. Her cat just snarled lazily at the insult. Even her animal was tired.
Oh, so tired.
Sighing, she let herself out the back door. Made of metal, it was big and heavy, but she got it closed back with a thud. The pungent smells in the alley made her gag and the darkness closed around her.
She zipped up her jacket and flipped the hood over her head. She knew they would never head back down south, but why did they continue to head north? Couldn’t they veer west, maybe work their way to California? They were trying to get as far away from the Panthera’s reach as possible. But she knew, same as she knew the sun would rise tomorrow, the Panthera wouldn’t give up until he had her.
Dear heavens, she sounded like a bad Broadway musical.
Right now, she’d just be grateful for the relative warmth of Georgia. It was still considered a southern state, but it wasn’t nearly warm enough for Emma’s way of thinking. She still remembered the days soaking up the hot Florida sun.
If they did stay here much longer, she was going to talk Abigail into buying a warm winter coat. They could share it and heaven knew it wouldn’t be something new. Surely they could afford a coat from a thrift store? The small amount of money that would save them shouldn’t have mattered in the whole scheme of things, but she’d learned months ago that everything mattered.
The apartment wasn’t very far and with a fast pace it usually took her less than a half hour to reach it. Holding her breath until she cleared the alley, she walked briskly down the sidewalk.
Her stomach growled and she remembered the bowl of oatmeal she’d had for supper before her shift had started. Or breakfast. Her day started in the evening and went on into the wee hours of the morning. The hours weren’t horrible. Being a jaguar meant she was nocturnal at heart. Abigail had it harder having to report to the diner before dawn.
She strode down the sidewalk, her sturdy legs eating up the distance. Well, not really. Her legs were not only sturdy, they were short. She was short, standing just under five-foot-five. Sturdy was a nice word to describe herself. That meant tough and courageous. Firm. There went that theory. There wasn’t a firm thing on Emma’s
body. Her breasts were big and bouncy and her butt did more than jiggle when she walked.
Another gust of wind rolled over her making her shiver. It was only early fall in Atlanta. Early, early fall and here she was acting like a big wuss. She could do this. Turning into a side street, she took a shortcut back to the apartment. She knew she shouldn’t. Abigail always warned her about being safe, but sometimes she didn’t listen to her big sis. Or tell her everything. Like her plan.
Immediately her thoughts turned to the Blackwood brothers. Damn, they were fine specimen of… maleness. Their bears oozed power and control. She shivered thinking how it would feel to give herself to them… him. She felt herself blush at the thought of having both of them. Well, a girl could dream, couldn’t she?
And that dream died quickly. Neither of the bears would ever be hers.
Turning the corner, she heard the deep rumble of a truck as it idled up behind her. It wasn’t unusual in this part of town. Emma had learned to keep her head down and her pace fast. Even though she could take out most human males—she was a cat shifter after all—she preferred not to deal with their sometimes disgusting offers. Or it could be something else. That’s what sent the shiver of fear up her spine.
She stole a glance out of the corner of her eye. It was a red Ford 150 with a king cab and tinted windows. Its height was almost as tall as a small building. She breathed easily, not realizing how tense she’d been. It wasn’t the Panthera’s sidekick. He usually appeared in beat-up old wrecks he’d stolen from some down-and-out person.
No, this truck spelled money. Even before the truck stopped and the passenger door opened, she knew who would step out. A Blackwood. She kept walking. Would it be Ryland or Ryker? Ryker she could handle, her cat didn’t go hog-wild around him even though he was a sweet piece of man candy—well, he had to be since he looked just like her mate. No, Emma. Bad Emma. No mate. No mate for you, ever.
Anger and disappointment washed over her and she stopped abruptly, causing the man who had been matching her pace to plow into her back before he could stop. Large hands grabbed the top of her shoulders to keep her on her feet.
“Whoa there, honey. You need to give a stop signal or something when you do that.” He had spread his legs to balance his big body and pulled her between thighs that reminded her of tree trunks. Damn, but the man was big, she thought as she allowed her body to briefly rest against him.
A sigh of disappointment whispered through her. The man was Ryker. She stepped away, shaking off his hands. “What do you want?”
You. The flirtatious word whispered through Ryker’s mind, to be immediately swept away with the swipe of a paw as his bear rejected the idea. The animal shook his head in confusion and the man almost did the same. As they’d watched her walk away from the bar, his bear had growled, knowing how dangerous it was in this part of town for an attractive woman to be walking alone at night. His protective, primitive instincts had been aroused, but without the same sexual kick he’d come to expect when scenting his mate.
“Why don’t you get in the truck and let us take you home?” He gently edged her toward the curb where Ryland had the truck idling. The deep rumble of the engine sounded overly loud in the still of the night.
“No.” Turning swiftly on her heel, Emma started back down the broken sidewalk before she gave into the temptation before her. She wasn’t very tall, so her strides were short. He easily caught up with her. She was grateful that he didn’t try to stop her. She should have known the two males wouldn’t have given up so easily. Another cat would have, especially a lion. There were no protective instincts in male cats as far as Emma knew. The ones in her mother’s pride had been selfish and arrogant. Thank goodness, her mother’s mate had been a human.
Her heart clenched, thinking about her father. It had been too long. He should have caught up with them, if he were able. Emma had no other choice than to believe he wasn’t coming. He wasn’t a shifter and he’d been beaten and bloody when he’d ordered them to leave the last town. There had been nothing they could do. Not even call the authorities. Their father wouldn’t have been able to explain the large claw marks on his back and down his legs where the animals had tortured him, wanting information about Abby and Emma. She and Abby had returned home and fought them off before they killed their father. Had the Panthera’s henchmen returned before he could run? She prayed every day that wasn’t the case. Tears gathered in her eyes. If they had found the bears sooner would their father still be alive?
She was a foolish girl with foolish dreams.
They couldn’t have asked for a better father. She smiled, thinking he was almost as protective as the bears on her tail.
On her tail. Again, images of her and Ryland tangled in satin sheets flooded her mind and made her cat lay down and purr.
Hearing Ryker’s persistent footsteps, she knew it was going to be impossible to keep them from finding out where she and Abigail lived. That put a fork in her plans for sure. It was going to be hard enough to continue to fool them now that they knew about the bar and diner. If they started showing up on their doorstep every night, the cat, so to speak, would be out of the bag. Her sister should be asleep by now and she prayed Abby didn’t get up when she heard Emma’s key in the door. She needed just a few more days before the bears found out there were two Sorenson sisters.
Not paying attention to where she was going, the toe of her sneaker caught in the crack in the broken sidewalk. Without Ryker’s swift reflexes, she would have taken a header onto the hard concrete. Yeah, she was a cat shifter, supposedly just as cat-like in her human form as she was when she shifted—not. More often than not, Emma was klutzy and awkward.
She felt the warm weight of his arm as it settled around her shoulders, pulling her close to the safety of his body. Damn, he sure was warm. It did make her want to curl up against him like a kitten. There was nothing sexual at all about that want. Ryker would have made a damn fine older brother for her.
Ryland’s hand tightened on the steering wheel as he watched Ryker pull their mate against him. He was fighting hard to contain his inner beast. He knew the scent of orange blossoms and honey would fill the air around her. He wanted to touch her, take her. Claim her. He pushed the heel of his hand against the bulge in his jeans. He needed to get inside her. Soon.
But Ryker deserved this time with Emma. No matter how logical that thought, it didn’t stop him wanting to jump from the truck and slam Ryker headfirst into the metal grill.
He was touching his woman. His. Not theirs.
Sweet heavens, what were they going to do?
He put the truck in gear and followed slowly behind the couple. Despite his turbulent emotions, his mouth lifted in a grin. Ryker was making some effort to engage her in conversation, letting loose a little of that Blackwood charm. That had to be painful as a bitch for the other bear. While the two might be identical in looks, their personality couldn’t have been more opposite on the color chart. Ryker usually didn’t say anything that wasn’t a one word sentence or a series of grunts.
He watched as Emma strode ahead, the swing of her hips lip-smacking good in the short denim skirt she’d worn to work. The memory of his mate bent over a table, her underwear almost on show for everyone to see, flashed through his mind again. Ryker had reached her first that night and had almost immediately backed off. It was just one more piece of the mating puzzle that was pushing both bears to the edge. If he had reached her first, he would have tossed her over his shoulder and carried her away. Damn wolf bouncer or not.
When she tripped over a broken piece of sidewalk, his bear growled and he hit the gas. They’d gotten ahead of him as he’d fantasized about her round ass. He caught up quickly and leaned over to open the passenger door. “Get inside. Now,” he added when her face tightened at his command.
Ryker squeezed her shoulders and whispered in her ear, “Come on, honey, we better do what he says. He doesn’t get angry very often, but when he does…” His
voice trailed off.
Emma heard the smile in Ryker’s voice. She didn’t see the same on Ryland’s face. He did look a little miffed. She would have said pissed, but he was too damn pretty to ever have that expression. While the hard-edge in Ryker was obvious, Ryland’s darker side was well hidden. Something told her it was simmering just below the surface and she wondered what it would take to push him over the edge. Her pussy clenched, thinking of doing just that.
A gust of wind swirled down the sidewalk, blowing the cold beneath Emma’s skirt. The apartment was still four blocks away and the warmth she’d feel sitting between the shifters was a luxury she couldn’t resist. She stepped up on the running board and grabbed the oh-shit-bar to pull herself into the high cab. A warm hand palmed her butt giving her a boost up.
“Hey!” Emma moved away quickly, plopping onto the bench seat covered in supple leather. Ryland’s hand encircled her forearm and pulled her to his side and away from Ryker. A shiver rushed through her at the small display of jealousy. She didn’t appreciate being manhandled though, by either of these bears. Two, big, sexy bears. Their scent engulfed her as Ryker climbed in beside her and closed the door, shutting them inside the confined space of the truck.
She closed her eyes as her head started to spin and wondered if a woman could orgasm from smell alone.
“You okay, baby?” Ryland’s slow, heated drawl made her panties steam. He leaned over so he could see her face and it took all of her control not to lick the brown column of his throat. Or bite it.
“Yeah.” That was all she could manage.
He put the truck in gear and took off down the road.