Moonlight Lovers: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (The Witch and the Wolf Pack Book 7)

by K. R. Alexander

  I smiled, making me feel better. “Of course they did. What’d you tell them?”

  “Whatever I could think of at the time.”

  While we talked, Kage nibbled down my chest to kiss and fondle my breasts.

  “What about Andrew?” I asked, half-remembered conversations drifting into my thinking space as my feeling space immersed into Kage.

  “I didn’t have to tell him anything,” Jason said. “He never asked.”

  “What about Andrew and humans?” I asked patiently, shifting more to face Kage, hands in his hair and across his shoulder. “He’s implied he’s had romantic relationships with women before.”

  Jason’s smile was too much. I couldn’t get the real expression of his eyes in the gloom, yet it seemed a bit of a leer. “He’s good, isn’t he?”

  “What?”

  “In bed? You slept with him in Portland, right?”

  “What the hell? What do you know about how he is in bed?” I was breathless both from Kage’s touch, his mouth around my nipple, and this conversation. “You’re his brother—adopted or not. You’re freaking me out again.”

  Jason laughed. “I just know all about the worms he was involved with. Did he tell you about Annette? He used to call her Marie Antoinette.”

  “No…” I moved, turning Kage’s head to my other nipple as he found the use of his teeth again. “Was this before Sarah?”

  “Long before he dug a den with her, anyway. We knew Sarah since we were pups. Annette was the woman he lived with in Brighton.”

  “He lived with a human?”

  “Not for long, but tried it out. She’s the one he says taught him everything.”

  Kage pulled back for breath, making a derisive noise. “A proper orataj and all, wasn’t she?”

  I was struggling to follow this intriguing story and the contact with Kage, both battling to override the other for my attention. Then there was the fatigue, still messing with me.

  “What’s the joke?” I stroked Kage’s hair, turning his face up as I leaned in to kiss him. “Did you know her?”

  “Jay did.” He kissed Jason in passing as he moved back up again.

  “She mentored him? In the human world?”

  “Switch was already spot on for that,” Jason said. “Worked in restaurants and hotels, always liked being around humans. She trained him in more personal matters. He says Annette taught him more important life skills than any other single person ever did.”

  “I see…”

  “Old,” Kage said. He had returned to my neck.

  Jason remained close against both of us. “Thirty years older than him.”

  “Oh.” A blinding flash. Mentoring indeed. “He was involved with a cougar in Brighton?”

  Kage came up for air. “No, a woman. She wasn’t a shifter.”

  “Yeah… It’s a … slang expression. An older woman and … someone like Andrew at that time. So he actually lived with her?”

  “Not for long,” Jason said. “He needed a distraction, though. He wanted Sarah and she was running with someone else. He was settling for ‘just friends’ with her while chasing after worms to drown his sorrows. By the time Sarah changed her mind, Andrew was through with the worm phase. Until you. But he says he learned a hell of a lot—”

  “So was he good?” Kage was suddenly nose-to-nose with me, eyes narrowed. “Or is he all boast?”

  “Why are you asking me about Andrew?”

  “You brought him up,” Kage said.

  “I did not.”

  “Uh…” Jason said.

  “Did I?”

  “Sort of,” Jason said as if he felt bad for me.

  “Asked about him and humans,” Kage said. “Like you were fishing to know how he knew them so well.”

  “I already knew: his work and growing up helping Tabitha around—”

  “And the extra education?” Kage asked. “He hasn’t mentioned Marie Antoinette to you?”

  “Never came up. Stop—” I pressed a finger over his lips. “I’m sorry I brought up Andrew. My mistake, okay? Can you drop it?”

  Jason remained amused. “Bet he was good—”

  “Jason.”

  His expression sobered.

  “Bloody conceited lout—thinks he’s past silver,” Kage muttered, but let the matter rest without more comment.

  Chapter 27

  Kage, who, in fairness, did not seem much troubled by any thought of what I may or may not have done with Andrew—only annoyed with the subject in general—quickly built back up to familiar force and urgency. I talked him through the force—what was good and what wasn’t—feeling bad about stifling him, and about myself being a delicate snowflake.

  He wouldn’t let me lie back down—dazed with fatigue as I was—but worked his way around me with kisses and both hands drawing me up on my knees.

  In turn, I suggested with my own movements that he should follow me back to pillows. Preferably on our sides, low-impact, rolling waves, where one could fall asleep after an orgasm without stirring from the spot. This scrumptious mental picture was derailed by concern for Jason. He should be included.

  Jason was kissing and touching Kage as Kage was all over me and, unlike Kage, he got the hint about me trying to settle back in the bed.

  Kage licked down the back of my neck, making me shiver deliciously, loving his touches even as I longed to melt through them. One arm was wrapped around my ribs, cupping my right breast and holding me up against him, while the other hand reached between my legs.

  “Kage? Can’t we lie down?”

  He didn’t seem to hear.

  I attempted to melt away from him like a cat but Kage wouldn’t have it. More eager for contact than rest, I couldn’t help my own responses, reaching to touch him in return as I felt his arousal in the form of his erection rubbing my thigh.

  Jason cut in, moving from Kage’s neck to kissing my lips. “Ever go down on him? He hates it.”

  “He what?”

  “Since he’s always in a rush. Not because he doesn’t fancy a blow job as much as the next bloke. You can always use your mouth on him if you want him to slow down or pay attention.”

  “He’s paying plenty of attention,” I gasped from Kage’s touches.

  “Not to you.” Jason chuckled. “Listening to his own balls, isn’t he? Getting him to slow down and enjoy is easy—but you’ll never talk him into it. Otherwise it’s all hurry and rush with him.”

  “Yes, I’ve noticed.”

  Jason “talked Kage into” letting me lie down by redirecting his attention—while Kage swore at him and tried to pull back from Jason.

  I gratefully followed Jason to the embrace of the mattress, understanding at once what he’d meant. Kage cursed, squirmed, but couldn’t actually bring himself to disengage from the contact. Exactly like Kage in the mornings when Jason kept all attention on himself, making Kage late.

  “Why don’t you lie down with us?” I tried to soothe Kage into thinking this was all a good idea.

  He paid no attention, telling Jason to fuck off, turning sideways while Jason followed him.

  I heartlessly joined in. Jason shifted aside and I followed to take Kage’s penis in my mouth. Wet with Jason’s saliva, his hot skin was taut, feeling ready to burst with pressure. Veins stood out against my tongue along smooth skin, while the gradual flow of pre-cum kept drawing me back for more.

  So this was manipulating and “tormenting” Kage? Sign me up.

  The excitement of it, touching him like this, drew me back from simmering drowsiness. Something about the shared experience, the whole group thing, also left me churned, weightlessly aroused like that feeling before an orgasm. This sensation, however, stayed while I worked over him—drawing my mouth up and down his shaft, massaging the head of his penis with my tongue, fondling the base and his balls with one hand.

  “Cassia—don’t—” Kage was pulling away, him being the one to ask for mercy this time. “Wait, you’ll—fuck…” Hissing out a breat
h, rocking his hips even as he wanted to be rid of me—fighting not to lose himself in my mouth and miss what he wanted more.

  Jason was again up beside him, silencing Kage by covering his lips with his own. He twisted, coming to rest against Kage and facing the same way so I could reach him as well.

  The angle was tricky, their hipbones inconveniently in the way of closeness, but I grasped the two together as well as I could, sharing time between them as Kage had done with my breasts. I tried to fit my mouth around the glans of both at once, not able to take more than that—between the angle and combined size. While Jason groaned and slid his fingers into my hair, pulling me in tighter, Kage cursed me freely. I didn’t mind. I felt a bit sorry for him—knowing how upsetting it could be to have one’s plans disrupted. Not sorry enough to help, though.

  I’d never been with two people at once like this. The threesome with Zar and Jed had been a struggle, both hating that the other was there but keeping their focus—almost successfully—on me in an effort to ignore the other. Three active participants, all wanting the others, all sharing kisses—not punches—was far more pleasant. Remove the guilt and shame attached this time. Sort of. Unless I screwed Kage over at Jason’s suggestion just because I was having a good time and Kage was too trapped by his own physical response to muscle his way into a position of authority.

  I pulled away from the intoxicating hot feel and musky taste of him to right myself on my knees. I kept a firm hold on Jason’s balls, kneading them none too gently in one hand to make sure he didn’t get any more ideas about torture or anything else.

  I pressed my wet mouth to Kage’s. “Fuck me.”

  I never saw a wolf move so fast.

  Jason was the one who melted to the bed below us while I leaned over him and Kage was already at my back. With Kage’s hands busy pulling me in, holding my hips, my breasts, biting the back of my neck, Jason reached between my legs to find Kage’s erection and guide him.

  Kage was only seconds away, coming after his first thrusts. He lasted just long enough to stimulate me over that final edge as well. Jason initially kept his hand on him, then both of us, feeling every thrust in and out of me. He moaned with this vicarious experience, lifting his hips against my hand, needing more contact to follow us.

  With Kage still moving in me—slow, drawing out lingering threads of pleasure—I was able to bend in enough, with Jason shifting to meet me, to take Jason in my mouth again. He came at the back of my throat, almost making me gag as he pushed and I held onto him. While I controlled my throat, enjoyed my own high, felt Kage’s touches become gentle, and tasted Jason’s salty, earthy semen running over my tongue, I hardly registered Jason saying my name—not Kage’s.

  We took a minute before separating. Then I found my body somehow missing the two of them—like those perfectly fitting puzzle pieces. I spat in my empty tea mug on the shelf and wondered about tissues.

  “Towel,” Jason said thickly.

  I felt for the towel he’d tossed on the foot of the bed from the bathroom. I wiped my mouth on a corner before holding it between my legs. Kage followed me, kissing, working his tongue into my mouth. I opened up for him and Kage licked over my tongue and inside my lips, tasting Jason and me together. He went for Jason then, kissing him for a long time, lying on top of him while I wiped my thighs, then passed them the towel.

  In a few minutes we lay together again, breaths returning to normal, skin still hot but sweat drying in the cooling room.

  Jason remained by me, though I told him I was too hot to sleep in the middle, encouraging him to return beside Kage. He did not. He only moved back so he wasn’t crowding me, hand light on my side, kissing the top of my shoulder.

  “Neä amaus Vinua,” Jason said, leaving me needing a moment to catch up.

  Vinu—you. Vinua—you; formal or plural. “You” became plural with a single letter in Lucannis. I love you both did not even need an extra word. They knew what they were doing after all. Even their language was already prepared for polyamorous relationships. I was the only one who hadn’t studied for my exam.

  Kage gave no such space. He pressed against me from feet to nose, kissing, running a hand down my body, gliding over arm and waist and hip.

  “Neä amaus Vinua,” he echoed.

  “I love you,” I said to each with a kiss.

  Then finally sleep, real sleep after all those miles, before the next trek would begin. Down and away, full of dreams of Brighton at night, city lights reflecting off the sea, the amusement park rides on Brighton Pier, where I’d walked with Isaac and gulls had screamed and he’d asked me to stay: help for as long as I could. I’d said yes. And meant it more than I’d known.

  Now the scene was dark, hushed, somehow creepy: an eerie silence like the moment in a horror movie when the music stops and the audience holds their breaths.

  I woke to darkness and close, safe contact of my lovers on each side.

  Brighton…? An odd dream all of a sudden…

  I thought of another lover, and those who’d gone before. Andrew in Brighton, whiling away his time with a human cougar while he pined after a young wolf at home? Did I dare ask him about Marie Antoinette sometime?

  Yes … I suspected so. Sarah might still be too raw for him, and his feelings for me as painful as they were healing. But he would probably talk more readily about what I hoped were more merciful parts of his past if I asked the right questions: let him tell what he wanted, approach on his terms, keep things comfortable between us.

  Like this bed, this night, cradled by these two. Comfortable. Safe. Other than those dreams… And being awake at all…

  Plus, there was something … unsettled in the pit of my stomach. Had I heard something? No, Kage and Jason would also have woken.

  Just me feeling vaguely creeped out.

  The silence of the pier by night stretched around me like a hall of mirrors, everywhere … yet leading nowhere.

  I shivered, even warm in my cocoon.

  Something…

  Should I get up? To do what?

  Maybe just the bathroom. Could use that anyway and I could put out feelers, open my third eye a bit. I knew better than to ignore this. Nana would have been churning her own ashes to think she’d done such a poor job of training me that I could wake with a feeling like this and not respond.

  Or was it just jet lag?

  I carefully reached over Jason for my phone. 2:00 a.m. Some sleep anyway.

  Yet, that wasn’t all that was displayed on the screen. It was in Do Not Disturb mode since 9:00 p.m. But looking at it now revealed at a glance a whole slew of texts, missed calls, and voicemails.

  Frowning, I sat up a little, having to ease out from under Kage’s arm and lean over Jason to really pick up the phone, causing both to stir.

  I pulled the phone over, popping lose the cord and lighting the screen again to see who they were from: my sister.

  Chapter 28

  The best laid plans.

  Melanie disrupted mine with the mere sight of her name on my phone. Of course, she thought she was calling me in Portland. I still hadn’t sent the email with my fractured explanation of events to explain to her that I was in England.

  So she thought it was 6:00 p.m. the previous evening for me, a perfectly normal time for me to answer my phone and learn about the crisis.

  A crisis there had to be or I wouldn’t have two voicemails and several texts from her at any time—much less this hour.

  “Jay? Sorry—bathroom.” I kissed his brow and crawled over the top of him to get out of bed while Jason, eyes still shut, rolled onto his back, lifting the duvet for me.

  By the time I reached the bathroom, I felt nauseated. Dammit. Back out to grab ginger from my bag, then bathroom and light on in there while I chewed fast to coat my mouth.

  It helped. I leaned against the counter to listen.

  “Cassia? Are you home? There’s nothing you can do but I’m freaking out. I already called the cops but they were total assholes.
I called his only work people and friends and family who I have numbers for. I don’t know what else to do. Henry didn’t come home from work. The police say he’s an adult and only been missing for a few hours so there’s nothing they can do. They practically laughed at me. Like they think he’s out drinking with his buddies or with a mistress or something. But there’s something wrong. Cass, I know there’s something wrong. You understand. Please call me back. I’m so scared. What else can I do? Is there anyone else to call who I’m not thinking about?”

  Yes, I understood. All of the women in my family had legendary “instincts.” Melanie hadn’t inherited the magical gift from our mother but she knew all right.

  I started the next message, heart hammering, ginger flavor strong in my mouth.

  “It’s me again. I keep thinking how wrong this is. He walked to the office today, it was so nice out, and he was supposed to be back at six for dinner and a planning session for that trip to Spain. Remember? I told you about it. Once kids were back in school and the travel season started to quiet down? We’re both so excited about it. There’s no way something didn’t happen to him. And you know how he is. Invincible man. Not like we’re in Birmingham, but crime happens. It’s still a big city. He’ll just walk into a dark alley with his eyes closed—such an oblivious guy. If he was mugged, if he was hurt… Of course I’ve tried his phone over and over. Please call. I hope you’re okay. I hope you’re ready to start work. I’m sorry … I’m… Please, Cass, if you have any ideas…”

  The texts were in the same vein. More about what the cops said, more places she’d called. How Henry had never done anything like this before. How frightened she was. So was I.

  I kept seeing that chill, hushed waterfront by night. The eerie calm. The feeling of dread. As if waiting for a body to wash up on shore, I now thought.

  My own fear clutched at my throat, dried my mouth, left my knees trembling. Right now, of all times, why? On top of everything else, something like this…

  There was one positive about this very bad timing. I was here. I could do so much more than simply call Melanie back. I could go right now to be with her. I could scry for Henry and find him myself. I could skip the email to her and explain to her in person that my life had changed in the past several weeks—not that it mattered right this minute.