by Cara Adams
“That’s not fair. I wasn’t arguing,” said Stefan.
“You are now. You can all go somewhere else and have your pissing contest there. I’m no longer interested. I don’t need the aggravation. Good night.”
She turned and walked into the priests’ house. There was no way she was getting involved in their family squabbles. Everyone knew the mountain wolves were wild. Well she didn’t need the stress. No matter how yummy they all looked.
Chapter Two
“For fuck’s sake. Thanks for ruining my life, brothers,” said Uwe. He stood with his hands on his hips and anger burning inside him. If he hadn’t had twenty years of experience telling him he couldn’t fight both his older brothers and win, plus the fact they were still in the inner courtyard of the castle, surrounded by the cleaning crew, he’d have been very tempted to throw the first punch. Getting in a good, hard first punch always made him feel better about the inevitable defeat he faced in a fight against two older brothers.
“Hey, don’t blame me. None of this was my fault. I didn’t say a word,” complained Stefan.
“Get a grip, both of you. We can’t discuss this here.” Dominik turned and started walking toward the exit. Uwe sighed and followed him. Unfortunately the man was correct. Also, they didn’t want to end up having a childish battle, and needed a bit of silence so they could all start acting their age instead of their shoe size, as their mother frequently complained of them.
He grinned. Some things never changed. They did revert to type when thwarted. Like Stefan insisting it wasn’t his fault. All through their childhood nothing was ever Stefan’s fault according to him. But yes. This was not the place for their discussion. Privacy was needed.
They all jumped into Dominik’s car and he drove up the mountain to the town lookout. It wasn’t nearly as good a view as many others they’d found for themselves over the years, but there was a hiking trail they all liked and another twenty minutes took them to a grassy area where they were likely to be alone at this hour of day. At midday, sometimes picnickers came here, but not at this hour when tourists were eager to get back to their night’s accommodation before dusk.
Uwe stretched out on the soft green grass, loving the scent of summer in the mountains. But he wasn’t relaxed. Kady was far more important to him than trying to avoid getting into trouble for kicking the soccer ball through the living room window. Something his brothers had tried to make him take the blame for, when they’d all been fighting over the ball and the person who’d actually kicked it—himself—was very nearly irrelevant.
But this was Kady. Lovely Kady. Sweet, smart, funny Kady. The woman he was beginning to think was the one he’d been waiting for.
“Arguing in front of Kady was a strategic error. We need to decide what we’re going to say and do now, then just carry her along with the flow,” said Dominik.
“I thought we’d already decided. We currently have a dinner booking for three for seven o’clock at the Dragon Palace, remember?” said Stefan.
Uwe grinned. He quite liked Asian food and it was fast becoming obvious that it’d be the three of them using that booking. As long as they didn’t revert to childhood and start fighting. It was strange really. When there was a job to do they worked like a machine, all understanding each other and moving smoothly through the set task. But something like this, where their emotions were involved, it was hard to remember they were all adults and should be cool, calm, and collected. Calm just didn’t mesh with his feelings for Kady. She was bright and light and fun. And right now he should be getting showered and ready to go out with her.
Apart from her medieval costume, which was an ankle-length, thin woolen dress with a linen apron over it, he’d never seen her in a dress. He’d kind of hoped she’d wear one out to dinner with him. He’d planned to wear dress pants and business shoes, instead of jeans and boots. And now, the picture of her in a sundress had been stolen away from him because Dominik had stuck his nose into the action.
“When did you decide you wanted to get to know Kady? I’m the one who works with her.”
“Yesterday,” said Dominik dismissively.
“But she wasn’t out front in the kitchen at all yesterday. She stayed in back then had her afternoon off. Wait? Did she spend time with you on her afternoon off?” Suddenly Uwe was jealous. Had Dominik already had a date with Kady? She hadn’t hinted at that to him. She just said she’d gone walking in the mountains. Had she walked with his brother? Or with his two brothers?
“Oh the story is better than that. Dominik was naked with Kady yesterday,” said Stefan.
Uwe jumped to his feet ready to fight, but then registered the teasing note in Stefan’s voice. Slowly he sat down again. “Naked, were you, Dom? But from what Stefan said it doesn’t sound like she was naked as well. Did she catch you jacking off?”
“Quit trying to cause trouble, Stefan. Of course I wasn’t jacking off. Stefan and I were taking a turn at patrolling the orchards, checking the fence line for break-ins. Kady was at the top of the mountain resting. She’d broken in but without damaging anything fortunately. Although how a girl climbed that high fence I don’t understand.”
“I bet you Anastasia would climb it, too, if you gave her the opportunity. Kady’s pretty fit,” said Stefan.
Uwe nodded. She was. She worked as hard as anyone else in that kitchen and she was neither male nor werewolf to have extra stamina. But Dom had avoided saying why he was naked. “If you were patrolling the fence line why were you naked?”
Dom frowned at him. “We were in wolf form, but to speak to her I had to transform.”
“Why did you have to speak to her? You said the fence wasn’t damaged.”
“Ah but our older brother had to make it plain to Kady that she’d broken the rules, gone where she had no right to be, then we escorted her off the mountain,” said Stefan.
“Naked?” asked Uwe.
“Of course not. I was only naked for a very brief time.”
That sounded like Dom. He couldn’t help himself. He had to boss her around. Well, if she hadn’t called the police on them when Dom had transformed and turned up naked, that was a good sign. It meant she accepted them as wolves and wasn’t easily frightened. Both things he would have guessed about her, but it was good to have his guesses confirmed.
“Okay, let’s get this issue sorted. Since we all want Kady we three will mate her and share her. Agreed?” demanded Dominik.
Uwe sighed. He’d wanted her all to himself and for a few brief hours had dared to think it might happen. But with the shortage of females so prevalent he supposed he’d always known in his heart that he’d end up sharing a woman. At least he could trust his brothers. Despite their squabbles they were all honorable men. He nodded, making the action firm and definite.
“Where are we going to take her out, and how can we ensure she agrees to come?” asked Stefan.
Fucking good questions. It was just a damn shame he had no clue about the answers to them.
* * * *
It seemed to Stefan that once he’d decided he wanted to get to know Kady, he saw her everywhere he went. Although his allegiance was to the Alpha of the Mountains, in fact his Alpha and the Alpha of Werewolf Castle, Yerik Vulf, worked quite closely together. Even more so lately, as neither of them was a member of the Werewolf Association and both were being sought after by various contenders to the role of Supreme Alpha of Europe. They wanted the support of everyone in their endeavors to be Supreme, and seemed to think enrolling new packs in the association was the way to go. But Stefan knew his Alpha deliberately chose to stay out of politics, and so did Yerik. The spies in the castle that he and his brothers had helped remove had been working for the Alpha of Turkey. As far as his Alpha was concerned, that meant there was no way he’d be supporting Turkey’s application for the position if he ever did join the association.
The mountain wolves had a reputation for being wild. Stefan had to admit it was true. But they were honest and free and the
y valued both those characteristics highly. Honesty and freedom were like lodestones for them, and anyone who slunk around another Alpha’s home spying on that Alpha’s pack was automatically a dishonest, lying bastard according to their Alpha. Stefan agreed with him. Which was partly why he, Dominik, and Uwe had been working for Yerik Vulf lately. It showed that their Alpha was supporting Yerik in an active way and ensured he’d be kept updated on what was going on, especially if there was the danger of having spies turn up on his mountain.
Technology wasn’t as good in the mountains as it was in the castle. There were black spots where no Internet or cell phone reception was available. But Yerik usually informed the mountain Alpha of anything he needed to know.
Not that the mountain wolves would be easy to find. Both humans and werewolves lived on the mountain and some of those werewolves actually belonged to the Castle pack. There were also quite a few households where some members were wolf and others human, like his own family. His mother was human, but his father was a wolf. One of Anastasia’s good friends at the castle, Damask, had a human mother and werewolf father just like them.
But the main reason the wolves on the mountain were hard to find was the sheer rugged impenetrability of the landscape. Tourists drove up the highway, stopped at a few towns, admired the view, took photographs, and thought they’d seen the mountain. Well, no, they hadn’t. Only on foot was its true grandeur to be appreciated. Waterfalls, steep cliffs, deep gullies, trees that were one hundred years old and one hundred feet tall were hidden away on the mountain.
Some werewolf families who valued their privacy above all else still lived in the log cabins their ancestors had built centuries before, getting their water from rivers and using electricity they generated themselves. It’s just that these days the water came via pipes, instead of buckets, and the electricity from solar panels on the roofs of the cabins instead of from hand-cranked generators.
Stefan even knew one family who sold their excess solar electricity back to the electricity provider and made a nice little income from it.
But none of that distracted him from the fact that he wanted to get to know Kady better. It was like a nagging toothache in his head all the time. An annoying pain that wouldn’t let him forget about her for more than a few minutes at a stretch. Not that he’d be stupid enough to say that out loud. One of his idiot brothers would be sure to tell her he’d likened her to a toothache. But it wasn’t her that hurt him. It was the lack of having her near him. Especially when he saw her crossing the courtyard, or working in the front of the Castle Kitchen helping the tourists in her medieval costume.
He was just so glad he didn’t need to wear a uniform because although he was working for the Alpha it wasn’t among the tourists. He’d been told the leather sandals, linen pants, and shirt were very comfortable, but he was a jeans man through and through. And sandals were for girls. He didn’t care how historically accurate they were, the only thing he wanted on his feet were boots.
He and his brothers had decided to meet up with Kady on Saturday after she finished work and invite her out to hike to a waterfall they really liked up the mountain on her afternoon off. That gave her several days’ warning, so it wasn’t rushing her, and they knew she loved the mountains, so hopefully she’d like the waterfall. It was possible she’d been there, although it was not on any tourist-type map and was quite difficult to find. Although perhaps she’d stumbled on it as a young adult when out walking with her friends. Anyway, it was beautiful and well worth a second or third or twentieth look.
But waiting for the agreed time to speak to her was so hard. He wanted to take her hands and apologize and beg her to consider dating all three of them. Because that was what they’d agreed. That all three of them would date her. It was strange, almost as if they’d all had the same revelation at once. Just because the Werewolf Castle wolves mated as two wolves and a human that didn’t mean it was a law or anything. And just because most human men usually only married one woman didn’t mean they had to follow that pattern either. Really, the solution was written in the stars. All three of them had individually come to the same conclusion. They wanted Kady. So instead of fighting over her, it made much more sense to join together to woo and win her as a united team. Three brothers with a single object. There was no way she could fail to agree against their united approach. Team Golubev for the win.
* * * *
On Saturday Kady noticed Uwe glancing at her often. This was new. Usually they were both totally absorbed in their work and today there was a banquet to deal with and another one tomorrow. Plus weekends were always busier at the castle than weekdays, with more tourists visiting, so it wasn’t like they had any spare time. But he didn’t say anything to her, so she got the idea that he and his brothers planned to talk to her soon. Maybe even after work today.
An entire busload of tourists appeared in the kitchen just as she was getting ready to finish work for the day, and Anastasia dived into Evan’s office to change into her costume to help serve them, so Kady moved over to Anastasia’s workstation and continued rolling pieces of fish in seasoned breadcrumbs. Evan had invented the recipe using spices from the medieval period and their own bread and it had been such a popular addition to the banquet meals they now added it as a choice on the regular kitchen menu, whenever there was a banquet and time to prepare enough extra portions.
Kady loved working in the kitchen. She’d chosen to study hospitality because she didn’t want to leave the mountains to go to a university somewhere in Europe. Besides, she wasn’t really career oriented. Her ideal life was to work at something she enjoyed, but where she could live close to the mountains. Right now, she’d achieved the dream. Unfortunately, once the tourist season ended, she’d probably be working in the fast-food industry, but at least she’d still be in the mountains.
Here, in the Castle Kitchen, she was in her element. She breathed the various spices deep into her lungs, identifying each one and its characteristics, before focusing on the next one. Meanwhile her hands were busy rolling the fish in the seasoning, making sure the coating covered it evenly before laying it in the tray and picking up the next piece.
About an hour later, all the fish was prepared, and the trays covered in foil and stored in the walk-in refrigerator ready to be baked tomorrow in time for the banquet. She put her hands on her hips and stretched her back, looking around the kitchen. Anastasia was sitting at the table sipping coffee. Kady smiled, seeing a second cup already waiting for her. “Thanks.”
“That was a hectic time. That particular tour company has decided to book a banquet each week when they come, and their customers were so interested in the food they all demanded to-go boxes. We sold out of apple pies and strawberry pies and Evan had to race over to the east wing and raid the wolves’ own dinners to bring back the last few pies. No dessert for the wolves tonight,” said Anastasia.
“Oh, no. That’s terrible,” Kady teased.
“Evan’s taken a ten-pound bag of apples up to the east wing. They’ll just have to eat healthy.” Anastasia giggled.
“And I’m guessing we’ll be baking pies first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Precisely.”
“But it’s good news really. Those people will tell their friends about us, and hopefully more tourists will come next year.”
“I think that’s a done deal. The castle is a success as a tourist venue now. I can’t see that changing.”
Kady nodded. “I’m so glad. I want to work here again next year. Actually I’d like to work here all year-around like you, but I don’t think that’ll happen. It’s not likely the castle will open more than weekends and holidays outside summer, is it?”
Evan arrived back in the kitchen just as Kady spoke. “Some of us have been talking about that. We’re actually thinking of staying open on Fridays as well as Saturday and Sunday for a month or so and seeing how it goes. Schools and colleges will be back in, but there’s still a large number of people who prefer to vacation out
side peak holiday time. Retired people for example, who can pick any day they please and often choose to travel during the cheaper alternatives to the high season.”
“That’s exciting.” Kady wondered if it would mean she could continue to work Fridays and weekends but she supposed it’d depend very much on how many people came. Still, if she worked three days a week at the castle, that’d be better than flipping burgers even if she had to flip burgers as well a couple of days a week to pay her rent.
She rinsed her coffee cup, collected her cell phone from Evan’s office, and said good-bye. And there, sitting waiting at one of the picnic tables in the inner courtyard, facing the pathway to the kitchen staff door, were the three Golubev brothers. She looked at them all assessingly. All tall and muscular with broad shoulders and solid bodies. All with dark hair and gray eyes. And all staring at her as if she was a bone as she’d criticized them for doing a few days before.
She stopped and stared right back at them, crossing her arms and putting her weight evenly on both feet.
“We didn’t mean to offend you the other day,” said Stefan.
“We all like you a lot and want to get to know you better,” added Uwe.
“Will you please come with us for a walk in the mountains next Wednesday afternoon? We’d like to show you our favorite waterfall,” asked Dominik.
As a tag team they were quite compelling. Kady already knew she was attracted to them all, but three of them could be rather overwhelming. Three of them. Three! As a human she’d more or less been prepared for one human man or two wolves. But three? That was a little harder to get her head around. Not either one human or two wolves but both. Hmm. She gave them back stare for stare. They were all serious. Dominik was frowning, Stefan had a hopeful look on his face, and Uwe was more “pleading puppy dog.” But she did like them all. She was attracted to them all. And this was just a walk. She adored the mountains and wondered which waterfall they had in mind. Should she agree? Three of them? The number kept dancing in her brain, blocking out logical thought processes. Oh, well fuck it.