by Tara West
Boris returned Drasko’s glare. “And yet you’re here.”
Drasko shrugged. “The goddess told Amara we’re protected because we’ve already had demon burn, plus Amara’s human blood gives her extra protection.”
Her tracker father, Geri, thumbed his chest. “I’ve been burned, too.”
“Then you can guard Eilea,” Boris said to his brother, “should we fall ill.”
Geri nodded, giving Boris a look so severe, Amara knew they were telepathically speaking.
Boris clutched Drasko’s shoulder. “You just worry about protecting our daughter.”
Drasko stiffened. “You already know I’ll guard her with my life.”
Her heart warmed at the thought. Drasko had already sacrificed his life for her once. She knew he’d do anything to protect her again.
Her world suddenly spun, and she cried out, stumbling toward the wall. A pair of strong arms caught her, but she no longer saw the clinic. She was inside a steaming shower with Eilea, who writhed on the floor with a hose wrapped around her neck. She screamed, then the steam evaporated, and she was looking up into Drasko’s concerned eyes.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded, clutching her throat when she was assailed by the memory of Eilea being choked.
She gaped up at Drasko, then at Boris, who hovered beside him, and told them what she’d seen.
“What?” Boris hollered, eyes shifting from blue to blinding white. With a roar, he dashed out of the clinic, shifting into his protector form and bursting through the front door, shattering glass in his wake. He sprinted out of view, his brothers following closely. She hoped they reached Eilea in time.
JUST AS EILEA’S WORLD dimmed, she heard a crash, followed by a thunderous rumble. An unholy shriek rattled her eardrums, then the cord around her neck loosened and she rolled onto her side, painfully trying to suck in air.
She was lifted by warm, furry hands and placed on the bed. Strong hands were on her chest, pumping. She coughed up water, gasping, though she felt only fire in her lungs. Cracked lips pressed into hers, breathing warm air into her mouth. She gasped, and her lungs filled with air.
“Fix the salt circle,” a deep voice bellowed. “Get that bitch out of here.”
The room spun and shadows blurred before things slowly came into view.
She was seized with panic when she saw two white, furry faces with blinding eyes leaning over her. Then she noticed the only human face, the gamma, Marius Lupescu, Amara’s birth father. She recognized his sexy dimples and the shallow smile lines around his mouth and eyes. She ran her tongue over her teeth when she saw his wet, cracked lips. He’d been the one to give her mouth-to-mouth, which meant he and his brothers had scared away Katarina’s ghost. Well, shit. Now she was obligated to the Lupescus for saving her life.
“Are you okay, lubirea mea?” Marius asked, stroking her cheek with calloused knuckles.
“I think so,” she ground out, then winced at her scratchy voice. She sounded like a ninety-year-old chain-smoker. And what the hell was a lubirea mea? She sure as hell hoped it wasn’t a term of endearment.
“You’re safe now.” Marius unscrewed the cap off a bottle of water. “Geri is fixing the circle and adding more sage.”
After furry hands propped pillows behind her, and Marius wrapped a bandage around her head, she reluctantly let Marius tip the cool water into her mouth. At some point she blinked, and the two furry beasts turned into two naked men. She couldn’t help but take in the sight of their virile bodies. Though she’d never seen them naked before, they were thinner than she last remembered, and holy fuck, they were well-endowed.
She swore under her breath and tore her gaze away from their genitals. They smirked at her, a feral look in their eyes that made her shiver. That’s when she realized she was naked, too. Oh, this wasn’t good. She covered herself with the comforter.
Boris smiled. “You don’t need to cover yourself.”
“Yes, I do,” she snapped, “and so do you.”
Boris’s smirk widened as he crossed his arms, his heavy appendage swinging with the movement. “We don’t need to be ashamed of our bodies.”
“Especially not you,” Marius said, the blush in his already pink cheeks deepening. “You’re beautiful, Eilea.”
She wanted to tell Marius to call her Dr. Johnson but didn’t, heat flaming her face. She swung her legs over the bed. Dizziness returned, and she thought it had to be from her sudden movements and not due to the fog of lust that had spread through her body like a virus.
“Thanks, but that’s not the point.” Clutching the comforter, she rubbed her aching temple. “What are you doing here?”
“Amara told us you were in trouble.” Boris sat beside her without invitation. Still naked, still hung like a horse, his knee grazing hers like it was the most natural thing in the world.
She had a hard time thinking with the Romanian alpha so near.
“How did she know?” she rasped, then regretted using her vocal cords at the pain speaking caused.
Marius handed her the water, and she took several slow sips. The liquid was cool and refreshing, but she figured her throat would be sore for a long time.
“She’s having visions of the future,” second alpha Jovan said as he sat on her other side. “Her unborn child is a seer.”
The last thing she needed was to be stuck in the middle of this naked stud sandwich. Or maybe she did need it. Maybe she wanted to straddle each of these shifters, slowly fucking them until they begged for release. That would show them who was in charge.
She shook her head at the thought. She had to get in control of her hormones. What were they talking about? Amara’s unborn baby somehow enabling her to have visions. She would’ve asked the Lupescus what they’d been smoking, but she remembered Amara once had her last unborn child’s power to create earthquakes.
“I don’t understand.” She stood, shaking off Geri when he tried to help her. She fell into a nearby chair, facing the shifters and trying not to be perturbed by their hairy, bare balls on her Egyptian cotton sheets. “Why didn’t she warn me?”
“She just had the vision,” Boris said matter-of-factly.
She brushed a wet strand of hair behind her ear, shivering when water droplets dripped down her back. When Marius draped another blanked across her shoulders, she thanked the thoughtful gamma with a smile and was rewarded with a shit-eating grin. As she got momentarily lost in Marius’s eyes, an uncomfortable throb pulsed between her thighs when she recalled she hadn’t finished masturbating. How easy it would be to let the Lupescus finish her off. She was sure they’d be more than willing. Fuck. She had to get the hell away from these temptations.
Wrapping the blankets tightly around her shoulders, she quickly stood. Boris and Jovan were at her side in a heartbeat.
“Sit down, Eilea.” Jovan latched onto her elbow. “You need rest.”
She bristled at his commanding tone and jerked free. “First off, I don’t take orders.” She glared at all three men, refusing to cower when the alphas glared back. “Second, it’s Dr. Johnson, not Eilea. Third, since I’m a doctor, I know when I need rest.” She spun on her heel, intending to march majestically out the door, but stumbled over her own feet as a wave of dizziness washed over her. She fell against a hard chest and was once again lowered onto the bed.
Damn them!
Jovan was closest, eyes shifting from blue to white as he lowered himself on top of her until the fine hairs on his chest grazed her bare breasts. Holy hairy balls! She’d lost her blanket. She placed her palm against his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart. “Stop,” she cried, though deep down what she really wanted was to spread her legs and let him finish what she’d started in the shower.
His nostrils flared, a wicked grin splitting his face in two, revealing two sharp canines. Holy fuck! That smile made her so damn wet.
His smooth, hard shaft pressed against her thigh. “Were you thinking of us when you were in the
shower?”
She wanted to say yes, and let him sate her desire, but instinct told her once she surrendered to these brutes, they would think she belonged to them. She belonged to no man, certainly no wolf-man.
She pushed him hard until he backed away with a grunt. “You need to leave so I can get dressed,” she said evenly, proud of herself for remaining calm when her pussy wept with need.
He let out a string of expletives she assumed were Romanian swear words. “You don’t expect us to leave you alone after you were almost killed.”
“Please go.” Once again she sat up, this time covering herself with a body pillow. “I’m fine.” She couldn’t help gawking at the two naked shifters, whose impressive erections jutted toward her like heat-seeking missiles. Heat flamed her cheeks. “And for the love of all that is holy, find some goddamn pants!”
Boris scowled at her as if she was a wayward child. “You’re not fine, Eilea.”
Rage threatened to split her skull in two. Forget that they refused to show her medical degree any respect. They treated her like a baby. She pointed at the door. “Out!” she screamed, then instantly regretted it because it made her throat hurt.
The dimwits just stood there blinking at her.
She grabbed a medical journal off the side of the bed and rolled it up like a newspaper. If they wanted to treat her like a helpless child, she’d treat them like dumb mutts. “Shoo!” Jumping up, she clutched the pillow to her and waved the journal in their faces, relieved when she only felt slightly dizzy.
“Very well,” Boris said and backed up, “but we will be right outside the door, and I will not hesitate to break it down if I suspect you’re in trouble.”
She dug her nails into the pillow. “Or you can just leave the door unlocked.”
Marius frowned, his bottom lip turning down in the most adorable pout. “If that is what you want?”
No. That wasn’t what she wanted. What she wanted was for one of them, or all of them, to relieve the throbbing between her legs with their fingers, tongues, or heaven help her, those glorious cocks. But her wants did not align with her needs. What she needed was for these virile and tempting wolves to return to Romania and never come back, but she didn’t think that was going to happen anytime soon.
AFTER EXAMINING THE bloody bump on her head, she changed into a clean pair of jeans and a T-shirt, wincing when the fabric slid past her neck. She checked it in the mirror, not surprised to see a purple ring forming. The reality of her situation hit her. She’d almost died, murdered by a vindictive ghost. She was lucky the Lupescus showed up when they had, but what if they hadn’t? What if they weren’t around next time? She pushed the dark thoughts into the recesses of her mind, locking them away with all the other depressing thoughts she’d so carefully learned to bottle up and ignore. She’d survived a horrific car accident and the death of her family when she was just a child. She could survive this, too. She had to. Now was not the time to go soft. She had patients who needed her.
She quickly laced up her boots and strode out of her bedroom, marching straight for the front door.
No surprise, Jovan, the big, brooding second alpha, was guarding the door, arms crossed, brows raised, the hum of his low growl reverberating in her bones, reminding her of a sentinel at the gates of hell. She inwardly laughed at the thought. She was living her own personal hell. At least he’d wrapped a towel around his waist.
“Where are you going?” he demanded.
“To the clinic.” Jutting a hand on her hip, she impatiently tapped her foot. “Where else?”
His frown deepened, creasing his brow in deep, dark lines. “Next time alert us. You cannot go anywhere without an escort.”
She snorted. Was he her keeper now? She jabbed his chest, wincing at the pain in her finger. Damn. Was the guy made from granite? “Now you listen to me. You are not my boss, and you’re certainly not my mate. I do what I want when I want.” She turned at a familiar heat on her back, like a dragon was breathing fire down her neck. She glared at Boris. “The only person I answer to is myself.”
If it was at all possible, his scowl was even darker than Jovan’s. “So what you’re saying is you want to be choked again, maybe even killed next time?” His pissed off look made him even sexier, especially with a flimsy towel wrapped low around his hips.
“Believe us,” Jovan rumbled, “Katarina’s tornaq will attack again.”
“My patients need me. I’m leaving.” Her patients did need her, but more importantly, she needed to get the hell away from these mountains of testosterone before she salivated all over them.
Jovan held the door for her. “This time, jump over the salt circle.”
“I did,” she spat, angry with him for making her speak when her throat was still sore.
He jerked her back before she could jump. “Wait.”
Enraged, she shook off his hand. Boris jumped over the circle and held out his hand. “You will stay between us.”
With an exaggerated eye roll, she reluctantly took his hand and hopped over the circle, Jovan following close at her heels.
They’d just begun to walk up the grassy knoll that led to the clinic when Eilea froze at the distinct sound of a bone-jarring snap.
She screamed when she heard deafening roars and a loud crack. Jovan pushed her to the ground, shifting into a furry beast and crouching over her. Dear Lord, if she’d thought his genitals were big before, they were gigantic from this viewpoint, slapping her thigh like swollen water balloons.
She blinked up into blinding white eyes, noting for the first time that two elongated fangs hung over his lower lip and his mouth was so wide, he probably could have swallowed her head whole. Holy shit, he was frightening. Her heart raced, her limbs iced over, and her bladder responded in an embarrassing way. Good thing she’d worn a panty-liner, mostly because being near these studs made her cream her undies, though she didn’t think that thin liner had been enough. They’d made her piss her pants.
Jovan straightened, holding down a meaty paw to her. She prayed she hadn’t soaked through her jeans. Somehow, she found the courage to slip her small hand in his. He hoisted her to her feet so fast, he nearly pulled her arm out of its socket.
A tree branch had fallen at Boris’s feet. It had to be at least sixteen feet long and four feet wide at the base, and it probably hadn’t dropped by accident.
“We need to get her inside,” Boris grumbled.
Before she could stop him, Jovan swept her into his arms, racing for the clinic in long strides. He hopped over the salt circle and ducked through the entrance, setting her down. Not until she fell into a chair did she breathe a sigh of relief. Holy shit. First, she’d been strangled by her shower, then she’d been nearly crushed by a tree limb.
Jovan hovered over her, grasping her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” she mumbled, thoughts jumbled.
Jovan stomped back out the door before Eilea could thank him for saving her. After ducking through the frame of shattered glass that was once the front door, he pounded his chest like an ape and let out an enraged war cry. “Katarina!” He shook his fist at the sky. “I will not let you hurt her!”
Eilea watched with horror as wind swirled around Jovan’s body, tossing up leaves while ominous feminine laughter filled the air. He swatted the wind to no avail, getting so angry he finally punched a hole through the wall.
“She will die,” the wind hissed.
Eilea struggled to quell her shaking limbs. This ghost was seriously intent on killing her, and she wouldn’t stop until she succeeded.
Chapter Eight
AFTER THE WIND HAD died down and Eilea’s heart had stopped threatening pound its way out of her chest, she hopped over jagged glass and right into Amara’s outstretched arms.
“Eilea!” she squealed. “You’re okay.”
She clutched Amara’s elbows, searching her friend’s eyes. “I am because of you. I can’t thank you enough for sending your fathers to save me.”
>
She shrugged, blushing. “Anyone blessed with the gift of sight would’ve done the same thing. I was so worried about you.”
“I’m fine, thanks,” she croaked, throat still aching.
Still in protector form, Jovan ducked his head inside the door. “Heal her throat,” he said to Amara in a rich, deep baritone. He ducked back out, his long arms swinging as he tromped across the parking lot.
Eilea strained to see any signs of his brothers, but she didn’t see anyone else. Where had they gone? Though she tried swatting Amara away, the shifter latched onto her throat with a firm yet tender grip, and within seconds the burning was gone. She pulled the bandage off Eilea’s head and pressed her hand against the bump. Eilea felt a mild tingling and then the tenderness on her scalp disappeared. She checked her reflection in a mirror hanging on the wall. The bruise circling her neck was gone. Though she’d witnessed the shifter’s healing powers before, she’d never experienced them firsthand.
“Th-thank you,” she stammered.
Amara shrugged. “No problem. I only wish it worked for....” She wiped watery eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m just worried.”
She clutched her shoulder. “As am I, but I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to help your people heal.”
Drasko Thunderfoot climbed through the shattered door, a tool belt around his waist and several boards under his arm. At least someone was working on fixing the door. Wooden planks would darken the room, but at least they’d keep out the frigid night air.
He laid the boards against a wall. “Dr. Johnson, I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks.” She acted as if being strangled by a possessed shower hose was no big deal. Then she wondered if Amara had only seen the strangling or if she’d seen her masturbating, too. She hoped not. She flushed at the thought.
When Drasko wrapped his arms around Amara’s waist from behind, she felt a twinge of jealousy. Amara leaned into her second alpha with a sigh while Drasko kissed the top of her head. This wasn’t the first time she’d been envious of Amara. It wasn’t so much that the she-wolf had four big, buff, beautiful mates as that she had men who loved her. Growing up, Eilea had just wanted one man, her uncle, to give her the fatherly love she’d longed for after losing her dad in the car accident.