Taken as Theirs

by Kryssie Fortune

  Alpha Simon waited until she’d finished then rose to his feet. “Did Sable say why she attacked you?”

  Cassie’s confidence fled. Her shoulders drooped, and her gaze dropped to her feet. “She told me how Eli loved Nyssa from the Black Cardinal pack. Since he couldn’t have his soulmate, she said he’d take any woman he could get. He’d wanted her until he met me, and she thought if I was out of the way, he’d turn to her again.” She shrugged, unwittingly showing her hurt. “She’s probably right.”

  Eli leaped to his feet. “The bitch. Cassie, it isn’t... It wasn’t... Okay, I said Nyssa was my soulmate, but that was only to avoid trouble with the Black Cardinal pack. It wasn’t like I meant it. And I took Sable out for one lousy meal. That’s all. I swear it. Damn it, I didn’t know what love was until I met you.”

  Dane squeezed her hand. “Eli’s played the field in the past, but he’s ready to settle down now. You belong to us, little human, and if you choose us, we belong to you. As soon as we get back, we’ll arrange the claiming ceremony.”

  Cassie hated that Eli might already have a soulmate. That would make her as useless as yesterday’s news—her functioning womb excepted. They’d used her as a temporary substitute for this Nyssa woman, and she hated that.

  Even as she sat on the dais, she heard the murmurs running around the room.

  “That Eli’s a real hound dog.”

  “It’s not his fault women throw themselves at him.”

  “He’s always checking some female out.”

  Everything she heard confirmed her worst fears. Sable’s smirk widened into a grin as she listened. Confused, not taking in anything except Eli had claimed Nyssa as his soulmate, Cassie felt sick. Her Lycans used her as sexual distraction. She felt like they triggered a nuclear explosion inside her chest.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The hearing had turned into a nightmare. Cassie had winced when Eli admitted claiming some woman called Nyssa as his soulmate. He insisted he hadn’t meant it, so, why had he said it in the first place? And did that mean Dane craved this Nyssa female too? Thinking about the pair of them with anyone else made Cassie’s heart hurt.

  Alpha Simon gave Sable a chance to rebut Cassie’s testimony. Instead, she taunted his sons. “Eli’s nothing but a man whore. How many women have you convinced that they were your one and only? And as for Dane, who the hell wants a Lycan with scars? Dane knows he’s second-rate so he’s willing to take a human into his bed. Me, I’m a free spirit, and if I can’t be the next alpha female, I want nothing to do with this pathetic pack.”

  Cassie’s head ached so much she couldn’t think straight. All she knew was that Dane and Eli were leaving her to save their pack mates. Surely someone else could take the mission. Call her selfish but their actions felt like a slap in the face.

  The crowd surged forward, calling her a heroine and wanting to hug her or shake her hand. She responded on automatic pilot, but inside she wept.

  Elena shouldered her way through the crowd. “Some of this is my fault, and I’m sorry. I swear I didn’t know what Sable intended. Why don’t I cook something special and we’ll have a girl’s night in later?”

  Cassie shook her head. “The only reason I’m coming back to your place is to pack. I’m moving out even if I have to sleep on the beach.”

  Elena blushed and backed off, too ashamed to argue.

  Dane still clung to her left hand. “There’s no need for that. Move into the rooms over the infirmary while we’re away. When we get back, choose us and you can move into our place for good.”

  Numb but too weary to argue, Cassie agreed. If they’d loved her, they’d have asked her to move in immediately. That they didn’t told her where their relationship was headed.

  Eli had stood back while the crowd mobbed Cassie.

  Gideon approached him. “I’m surprised you’re leaving before you’ve claimed her. Thanks for letting me move into your spare room, though. It’s easier to watch the brew house from there.”

  Eli wanted to growl and slap Gideon down, but the man was doing them a favor. Going anywhere without Cassie felt wrong, but their pack mates needed them. Talk about a dilemma.

  Once the pack had done praising Cassie, Eli moved to her side. “Princess, there was never anything between me and Nyssa. I stole a quick kiss, but I’d never have gone near the damn girl if I’d known there was someone special like you out there. Don’t let Sable’s malice spoil something beautiful between us.”

  Alpha Simon joined them. “I know the hearing was hard for you, but at least it’s over and done before my boys go off adventuring.”

  Eli glared at his father. “Send someone else.”

  “And look like I’m playing favorites?” Alpha Simon raised an eyebrow. “Besides, you’re the best men for the job. You leave tonight as planned. No arguments. No changes of plan. Meanwhile, you should help your human move into her new rooms.”

  “Cassie? Talk to us,” Dane demanded.

  She shook her head. “I’m exhausted, what with fighting a fully turned she-wolf and testifying at that hearing. If you help me move my stuff, you can set off on your adventure without worrying about me.”

  They looked ready to argue, but they knew the fight and hearing had left her weary. Dane purloined Elena’s suitcase, and Cassie crammed her few possessions inside it. She felt like she was living under a raincloud. Worse, everything she’d dreamed of was slowly getting washed away.

  Dane carried her suitcase while Eli tried to hold her hand. She shook her head and wrapped her arms around her chest. “You need to prepare for your trip. Leave me to unpack, and I’ll see you both when you get back.”

  Rather than leave her, they carried her off to their home outside the ancient castle walls. It must have belonged to a local millionaire or something before the world order changed. The oversized furniture looked custom-made and the artwork took her breath away.

  Dane cooked, but the food settled like lead in her stomach. Eli never left her side, alternately begging her to listen and blustering apologies. Neither man said they loved her, but she’d already given up on that. Confused by the day’s events, she decided they only wanted her for her functioning womb.

  Finally, Dane sat beside her. “You know we’d refuse this mission if we could, don’t you?”

  “When we get back,” Eli added, “we’ll tell the pack they need some new troubleshooters. We’re done with adventures now we’ve found you.”

  When Dane reached for her, she moved away rather step into his embrace. His face fell at her rebuff. “Don’t be angry, little human.”

  Shoulders drooping, Eli gave her his best smile. “I swear I haven’t looked at another woman since I found you.”

  Deep down, she was spitting mad and hurting, but there was no point admitting the turmoil she felt inside. “It’s okay. I get it. Why don’t I head home and you two get ready for your travels? Those wounded men need you.”

  Eli tugged her close and pressed his lips against hers. As always, electricity sizzled between them. It sparked into passion and need, but she knew it was a one-way street. Tears welled in her eyes, but she refused to cry until after they’d left.

  Dane growled at her distress. “Sod this, little human. To echo your words from earlier, let us make love to you, right here, right now.”

  God, she wanted them to, but she felt obliged to protest. “Pack protocols...”

  “Don’t cover us leaving you before we’ve made you ours,” Eli interrupted.

  “Besides,” Dane added, “they’re more guidelines than laws.”

  Eli swallowed hard, clearly blaming himself for her distress. “We follow them more closely than most with Dad being the alpha. The full claiming needs to take place on the night of the full moon before all the mated members of the pack. Meanwhile, please let us love you completely before we go anywhere.”

  Confused and weary, but willing, she decided one night in their arms was better than nothing. Only, they planned to make their sexual li
aisons a spectator sport. No way would she ever agree to that. For now, she’d let the future take care of itself and enjoy a special night with her Lycans.

  As Eli kissed her again, he unfastened her dungarees. Dane tugged off her t-shirt, tossed it into the corner, and kissed the back of her neck. His warm breath on her skin sent delighted shivers down her spine.

  Eli deepened his kiss, reached around her and unfastened her bra. Her breasts welcomed the release. Dane palmed them, rubbing and stroking them until she gave a delighted moan. Her need to please them trumped her doubts and fears, and she slipped into submissive mode.

  Her body thrummed with pleasure and need. Dropping to his knees, Eli tugged her dungarees and panties down her thighs. They joined the rest of her discarded clothes on the floor.

  Naked, sandwiched between her wolves, she leaned into Dane’s embrace. She could feel his dick rubbing against her bare cunny. Even through his clothes, it felt thick and pulsing, eager to be inside her.

  Eli swiped his tongue through her pussy, making her tingle deep inside. Gasping, she widened her legs and let Dane support her while Eli tasted her cunny. Dane growled, lifted her into his arms, and marched into the master bedroom. When he laid her on the bed, he took his turn at licking her cunny. She moaned and buried her fingers in his hair, holding his head in place.

  Somewhere between the front room and the bedroom, Eli had shed his clothes. Dane stood back, letting his brother straddle Cassie’s waist. Eli took his weight on his knees as he shuffled forward, his cock pointing at her lips like a sword.

  When she opened for him, Dane fell on her cunny like a starving man. His tongue was demanding and thorough as he lapped at her cream. She sucked Eli’s cock between her lips, letting her tongue swirl around its mushroom-shaped head.

  She loved how the pair of them concentrated solely on her. Lycan intensity. She craved it. Couldn’t live without it, maybe. Spurred on by Dane’s lips tormenting her clit, she sucked Eli’s dick harder.

  Dane sank his little finger in her bottom hole while sucking on her clit. When Dane touched her there it shattered her deepest taboos. She swallowed hard, almost choking on Eli’s cock.

  “Eyes on me, princess.” Eli thrust again. She relaxed her throat, letting him push deeper. Dane sank a second finger inside her, stretching her bottom hole. Simultaneously, he pumped two fingers in and out of her pussy. She wriggled but couldn’t protest since she had Eli’s cock deep in her throat. Didn’t want to, really.

  “You’re so tight, little human.” Dane sucked hard on her clit, making her lift her hips and suck harder at his brother’s dick. “It’s going to be a challenge to fuck your darkest hole, but I’m the man for the job. Eli, it’s time we took our loving up a gear.”

  Eli thrust deeper into her throat and Dane speared her pussy with his tongue. She came in an instant, her body shuddering with delight. While she drifted back from her sensual high, Eli rolled off her, careful not to kick his brother.

  Dane pulled back and moved up the bed, feet on the pillow, knees bent. “Crawl up the bed and suck me off.”

  Blushing, she realized Dane would be laid beneath her, but she obeyed instantly. On her hands and knees, straddling his body, she crawled over his face and chest. She stared at his engorged dick. His dark blond pubic hair curled around its root. Thick and pink, a purple vein ran down its side, and when she ran one finger down it, his cock pulsed and twitched.

  Eager to taste it, she opened wide and slid her lips down it, drawing him into the damp heat of her mouth. It swelled and grew, filling her mouth and demanding she take him into her throat. As he lay beneath her, he teased her nipples with his fingers.

  Standing behind her, Eli rubbed her bare bottom then reached around and pinched her clit. She gasped and tried to sit up, but Dane released her left nipple and stroked her back. “Soon I’m going to fill your mouth with my cum, and you’ll swallow every drop.”

  Yes, please. Bringing him off like this felt kinky and wild. Hollowing her cheeks, she sucked harder. As she did, Eli’s cock teased her virgin pussy. Once he was partway in, he waited for her to adjust to his girth.

  Dane reclaimed her breasts, gently pinching her nipples as Eli surged inside her. She cried out, part in surprise, part in pain, but mostly in pleasure. Holding her breath, she trembled beneath him, eager for more.

  With Dane below her and Eli behind her doggy style, she gave herself to them completely. Nothing mattered except pleasing her werewolves. Dane thrust his cock between her eager lips and she swallowed him so deep she could hardly breathe.

  The way their cocks filled her pussy and her mouth robbed her of thought. Lost in a world of pleasure, she moaned softly. When Eli pinched her sensitive clit, it added a delicious tinge of pain to her pleasure. He stretched and filled her pussy as Dane fucked the tight muscles in her throat.

  Bellowing, Dane came hard. His cum shot into her mouth, filling it and spilling out. She swallowed energetically, taking everything he gave her. Eli gave one final thrust, burying himself balls-deep inside her. Much as she never wanted their loving to end, she came in a rush. Her juices mingled with Eli’s, spilling out of her to make a sticky mess on her thighs.

  Dane withdrew, his eyes shining in wolf-y delight. “You okay, little human?”

  She smiled, touched by his tenderness and concern. “More than okay. That was wonderful.”

  For all her brave words, her thoughts spiraled into dark despair. Nothing had really changed. They still planned to abandon her while they accomplished their mission. Worse, Eli might already have a soulmate, which left Cassie with no future and no hope.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Eli’s stomach churned as he and Dane left Cassie in her new apartment. Their job was to watch over her and protect her but going on a mission felt like letting her down. For all he and Dane called themselves brewers, they were the pack’s Special Forces-trained troubleshooters. Going anywhere without her felt wrong, but they had no choice.

  The scavenger team needed their help, but as he made his way to the old London Road he thought only of Cassie. Nothing mattered except her. Unusually impatient, Dane had raced ahead. He looked as miserable as Eli felt.

  Amelia reclined atop a pile of blankets in the first cart. The second overflowed with food and medical supplies. Eli raised an eyebrow at the pile of food. “I don’t think I’ll be hungry again. At least not until after we’ve claimed Cassie beneath the full moon’s light.”

  Dane kept his head down and grunted, clearly hiding his emotions. A group of men rushed up the road. Eli stared at the sailing barge’s captain and crew. “We need to get underway, so whatever you want, make it quick.”

  The weathered captain leaped up next to Amelia. “We can’t let you boys have all the fun. If we come as backup you can retrieve our casualties and hightail it back to your lady. Once we’re out of the danger zone, we can take our time coming home. It will be a smoother journey if anyone’s badly injured.”

  With a brief jerk of his chin, Dane acknowledged them. “Welcome to the team.”

  “I didn’t expect this but thank you.” Eli jumped into the driving seat. The crew stripped and tossed their clothes in the carts. Freeing their monstrous wolves, they loped alongside the bullock carts. Thanks to their friends’ support, they’d complete their mission faster than they expected. Then they had some bridges to build with Cassie.

  * * *

  Cassie slept for almost an hour but a banging on the door woke her. Blinking, she forced her eyes open, pushed her hair off her face, and checked the chain was on the door. Opening it a scant couple of inches, she stared out. “Yes?”

  “I need to talk to you,” Elena begged. “It’s important or I wouldn’t have bothered you.”

  “Come back in the morning,” Cassie snapped and slammed the door in Elena’s face.

  She climbed back into bed, all cried out but too miserable to move. She’d never needed Dane and Eli more, but they abandoned her when she was hurting and scared. They�
�d had no choice but to obey their alpha, especially since he was their father, but that didn’t make her pain any less.

  Before she made any choices or commitments, she needed to work out where she stood with them. Her stomach roiled every time she thought they might find their soulmate. And if they already had, where did that leave her?

  She didn’t understand why they hadn’t brought Nyssa home with them. Pack politics, she supposed, though that didn’t make her feel any better. Since Dane and Eli had already told her they planned to share their mate, that meant this Nyssa was Dane’s too. Damn it, her Lycans had played her from the start.

  The more she tried to think things through, the angrier she became. If they hadn’t abandoned her for trouble-shooting duties, she’d have told them her true feelings. Instead, doubts crept into her heart.

  Kaboom.

  An explosion rang out with all the fury of a drummer at a rock concert. The brew house. Something happened at the brew house. After pulling on a t-shirt and dungarees, she ran to investigate.

  Monstrous wolves gathered outside the brew house. Others sprinted up in human form. Gideon, the temporary manager, rubbed sleep from his eyes as he staggered out from Dane and Eli’s home. “What the hell just happened?”

  “It exploded,” someone yelled.

  “I bet it was that valve the human fixed,” another called.

  Gideon pulled open the door and peered into the smoke billowing through the building. “There’s someone in there.”

  Alpha Simon arrived, tied his shirt over his nose and mouth, and vanished inside. He emerged with Elena unconscious in his arms. The glare he gave Cassie didn’t bode well. “This is your fault and there will be a reckoning. Gideon, the roof is in tatters. Unless there’s any immediate danger, let the fires burn out and we’ll help my boys rebuild when they return.”