Survivor

by Sam Hall

  The guys in Rick’s friendship group had a weird relationship with their partners. They sat around constantly deriding them over beers. From domestic chores to work to sexual performance, they used to talk at length about their shortcomings, mine included. It seemed almost a currency within the group, to share a ‘fucking missus’ story, something guaranteed to get the guys laughing at our pathetic foibles. The sound of Peter’s voice, the almost reverent tone, was so alien that I struggled to get my head around it.

  “Well, congrats, you big lunk!” Nerida said. “Now, let’s get our girls something to eat. They’ve been on their feet all morning.”

  Nerida was being nice, I knew that, but I felt curiously naked when they all got to their feet and went. I could feel the ghost of Aidan’s hand against mine, even after they were gone.

  “So, Flick, tell us about how you met our Pete,” Mick said.

  Obviously, he hadn’t gotten the message, if the pained looks Sheila and Sen gave him were any indication. Shaun kept his eyes on his plate, methodically mowing through the food, as if we weren’t here. But I straightened. I could talk about this, I already had countless times with Ophelia.

  “My husband beat me and my son,” I said, proud of the way my voice cut through the background chatter. “I was on the run in his car, when Aidan and Peter found us. I thought…” I paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. “I thought my Tirian was some kind of delusion, but when I got out of the car, I walked up to Peter and I bit him. Somehow, I just knew that’s what I—we needed.”

  Silence fell across the table. Mick regretted asking, I could see that, his eyes stark against his now paling skin, but he was not the most stricken. Shaun had given up all pretence of eating, his fork landing on the table with a clatter. He looked like I had slapped him, his face as white as a sheet. He swallowed, dragging his staring eyes away, and then blinked as if to bring himself back to the here and now. He drew out his phone with a shaking hand, unlocking it and scrolling through the screen before getting to his feet.

  “Sorry, I need to get going,” he said, putting his cutlery neatly across the plate and picking it up. “A thing’s… It’s been nice meeting you, Flick.”

  And with that, he strode off.

  “Fuck,” Mick said, “I’m sorry, Flick—”

  “Just go and grab us some sandwiches,” Sen said, shoving the other man gently with his elbow. Mick nodded and then got to his feet.

  “Flick, I’m—” Sheila started to say.

  “It’s fine. Not everyone will have gotten the memo yet,” I said, and as the words came out, I realised they were true. I saw myself approaching Rick with the ashtray in hand, almost as if it was happening to someone else. Why wouldn’t she strike back? I thought. He just kept on going and going. Calling the police would have done little. He was friends with one.

  Sen nodded, as if he could see my mental dialogue and he agreed with it.

  “Shaun, he’s a little touchy about the whole mating thing,” Sheila said. “We thought… It looked like Jules was going to take him as hers but…that didn’t end up happening. It’s one of the risks. Sometimes, our Tirians doesn’t accept some of the potentials. Mine loves Nerida,” she said, giving herself a little hug. “I never thought I’d pair up with another woman but…”

  Sen smiled and shook his head at her expression, but that faded away when he met my eyes.

  “So, my beast might reject Aidan?” I said.

  That would not happen. He is good for the cub and for you. You should mark him before someone else sees his mate potential, she replied.

  “We have a thing we call heat fever,” Sen said. He reached across the table, slowly, taking my hand when I didn’t flinch away. That same tidal wave of warmth went up my arm, rushing through my body. Perhaps he’d be offended, but it wasn’t him I thought of as it washed through me. I felt my nipples pebble under my clothes, my body softening and swelling at his touch. No, it was the boys, on either side of me, kissing every inch of me, right up until…

  I gasped, something that had him smiling slowly.

  “You can feel attraction, have great sex, like Jules did with Shaun, but becoming someone’s mate takes a whole lot more.”

  The raspy tone of his voice sent shivers up my spine. Well that, and he was still holding my hand. Sheila’s eyes went to the size of saucers as she glanced from one to the other of us.

  “You’re…” she said, waving her finger back and forth.

  “No, but I’m hoping Flick’ll let me take her out to see if we’re…”

  There was something of a lazy predator about Sen, like he’d lie in wait with endless patience, waiting for me to stick up my head out so he could gobble me up. But his end goal was for something that both of us would enjoy.

  I could see it, clear as a bell in my mind, what it’d be like with the three of them. They’d stretch me out tight, the boys holding me down as Sen prowled over me, taking tiny little bites from me, until I spread my legs and begged for a whole lot more.

  Goddamn… I swore to myself. Is this because I’m enjoying sex for the first time in years? Because I’m dripping…

  The Great Wolf provides, my Tirian replied obliquely. You have suffered more than most of her children, so she gifts you this.

  What? Sen?

  No. Stroke your finger along the man’s palm.

  I frowned as I did just that.

  It felt insanely intimate, his eyes staying on mine the whole time I did as she asked. I caught the moment it registered, his pupils expanding, his breathing becoming ragged, and a low moan escaping those full lips, as if against his will. He glanced down at his hand and mine, but when he looked back at me, his eyes shone green.

  “Come out with me, Flick, please. I’ll…” He shook his head. “I dunno what I’ll do, but I’ll look after you and make sure you have a good time, I promise.”

  Sheila looked at the two of us as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

  “Flick?”

  The urge to say yes, to any and all that he offered beat down on me like actual blows. I wanted it, him, all of them, and a flush of heat washed through my whole body, leaving me feeling limp and delicious. I looked at him through heavily lidded eyelids, taking my time, noticing the way the fabric of his t-shirt stretched tight over his taut muscles, the clawing of his other hand as he dug his nails into the table to stop himself from launching at me. He felt it too, I guessed, from the tense set of his shoulders.

  “Yes,” I said. Just one little word, but it felt like I was agreeing to so much more. A life of pleasure and fun, of desire and need, of support and love and caring for people with my whole heart, while they held it like the precious thing it was. Not necessarily with Sen. That was yet to be seen, but to this life, of having mates, of surrounding my child with an array of people who would love and care for him as I did.

  “Everything OK, Flick?” Peter asked.

  “Oh, it's all OK, isn’t it?” Aidan said, brushing his nose against my neck before pulling away. He put a laden plate before me. “You smell…creamy.”

  “And you’re gonna enjoy that when she gets home,” Sen said, not entirely friendly. Then he smiled, breaking that brief moment of tension and turning to me. “Tell me I can come and get you tonight.”

  “Kade will be in bed and asleep by seven-thirty,” I replied.

  “Eight o’clock too early for you?”

  “Will you guys be alright?” I said, shooting both of my mates a look.

  “You wanna see how things go? I’m fine with it. Sen’s a good guy,” Peter said. “I’ll pound his head into the ground if he hurts you.”

  “And I’ll kick him when he’s down,” Aidan said. “But this is a good idea. We need to trial you spending time away from Kade, get him used to it before the heat hits. I say we tell him what we’re doing.”

  I nodded. “If he reacts… He’s been doing so well but…”

  “I’ll understand,” Sen said. “Hell, I’d be happy just h
anging around and watching a movie if it comes to it. That be OK with you fellas?”

  “You promised Kade those MCU cartoons. He hasn’t forgotten,” Aidan said.

  “Right, right. Well, I can be around at five-thirty. Bring some dinner and the DVDs. I’ll meet Kade and get to know him better, then if you feel like it, I’ll take Flick out.”

  The words were like a cold face washer on my forehead, taking away some of the ever-present heat. Nerida and Mick had filed back to the table, glancing around, no doubt trying to determine what had just happened.

  But the moment was over. I was left feeling flushed and slightly embarrassed, like I’d been caught doing something horribly intimate.

  “Eat,” Peter prompted, shooting me a sidelong smile when he saw how scattered I was. I jumped when his hand landed on my thigh, nearly choking on a mouthful of food when it slid upwards.

  “Well, until then,” Sen said. “I’ve gotta go…deal with something before going back to work.”

  The guys all laughed in a way that made it sound like they knew exactly what that meant, but Sen’s smile was full of heat and good humour when he got to his feet. He grabbed the roll Mick had brought him and nodded to us before filing out.

  20

  “You did well today, girl,” Maisie said when I returned to the kitchen. “But you’re off for the rest of the day. Ophelia asked if you would check in with her on your way home.”

  “But the dinner prep?”

  “Will be done by the horde of other kitchen hands. She said you’d protest and to remind you to take small steps.”

  There was something motherly about Maisie, even though she looked like she was only a few years older.

  “Half your luck!” Sheila said with a grin. “I’d love to be heading home to—”

  “Those carrots aren’t peeling themselves.”

  “Righto, boss.”

  I felt a little deflated when I walked out, but when I did, I saw my mates were waiting for me.

  “You knew?” I asked.

  “Ophelia asked us to pass the message on when she came by,” Aidan said.

  “She came by?” I asked as his arm went around my shoulders and Peter took my hand. They steered me out the door of the mess.

  “She did. Like all the matriarchs, she keeps an eye on what’s happening,” he replied.

  “They want to know we’re OK,” Peter said when we pulled up at the truck. He dug around in his pockets and drew out a coin. “You calling it?”

  “Heads,” Aidan said.

  Peter flicked the coin up into the air and then slapped it down onto the back of his hand. He smirked when he saw the results, showing it to Aidan.

  “Fuck…” the other man groaned. “Of course I have to drive.”

  “What’re you doing?” I said, glancing at the two of them.

  “Seeing who gets to sit in the back with you,” Peter said. He opened the door and then pulled me close, his lips slamming down on mine, forcing me to lean against the car. It was either that or collapse into a big pile of goo.

  I shouldn’t like this, I thought for the seconds I was capable of conscious thought. But I did. With anyone else, being essentially manhandled would have pushed a bunch of buttons, triggered a screaming cascade of fears, but this was Peter, my mate—mine. I knew it as sure as the blood that surged through my veins that I was safe with him. Which allowed me another luxury.

  I could just let go, be little more than putty in his hands, let him unleash all the throbbing, pulsing need inside him on me and allow an answering one to rise. I didn’t care if I was in a car park or outside the mess hall, my hands scored his close-cropped skull and drew him down hard, so his lips bruised mine, so I could feel the imprint of his teeth.

  “Well, come on then,” Aidan said crisply, breaking through all this heat. “If we’re gonna do this…”

  I blinked, pulling back, reality flooding back unbidden.

  “Do what?”

  Aidan grinned at that, letting his eyes slide slowly down my body.

  “We’re gonna work out a little of that tension before we get to the alpha residence, even if we have to take the scenic route.”

  I didn’t get to ask any more questions, as Peter’s hands went around my waist and hoisted me into the backseat like I was a doll, then he slid in beside me.

  “No,” he said when I went to sit by the window.

  He tugged me close so I sat in the middle, right up against him. One arm went around my shoulders, the other picked up my thigh and placed my foot on the centre console. My hands went to the dress I’d been given to wear in the kitchens, the loose skirt instantly slipping up, something Aidan watched with great interest from the front. Peter grabbed my hand away so it slid unhindered.

  “That’s it,” Aidan said, and then started the car.

  I was barely conscious of where we went or what we passed, my focus entirely on that big broad hand as it moved up my thigh. I found my breath becoming shallower the higher it went until…

  “Fuck, yes,” Aidan rasped as Peter’s fingers reached the leg elastic of my underwear, running the blunt tip over it, as if to draw my attention and Aidan’s.

  And it worked.

  “What are we…?” I gasped as it teased under the fabric. “We shouldn’t—”

  “Yes, we should,” Aidan said. He glanced at the windshield. “We’re on one of the back roads now. No kids, nobody out here.”

  “But Ophelia—”

  “Who do you think encouraged us? If what’s happening with Sen is what we think it is, your heat is coming on earlier than expected, and slower. It’s like your Tirian is letting it seep in, getting you ready for it.”

  You have suffered more than most of her children, so she gifts you this.

  “So it’s time to push things a bit, see what you’re up for. If you don’t want Peter to run his fingers through the slick seeping between your legs, say so. Not because you shouldn’t or because it’s bad, but because it makes you feel uncomfortable.”

  I glanced up at Peter, our proximity putting our lips so close, I couldn’t help but broach the gap. He met me more than halfway, his mouth opening instantly for his tongue to thrust into mine. His fingers edged closer.

  “Say yes, Flick,” he begged. “Let me make you feel good.”

  “You always make me feel good,” I said, my eyes going wider as his hand crept under the leg band. But I nodded, because I could feel the ache deep inside me that only he could fill.

  “Put your leg back up on the console,” Aidan said, a note of urgency in his voice. “Give me a show.”

  My leg was shaking when I did so. I felt hot, too damn hot.

  “It’s OK, love,” Aidan said. “It’s just the heat flooding you.” But he flicked the aircon up higher. “You can feel it? All through your body?” I nodded, his words drawing my attention to the sweat prickling on my skin, my nipples pulled so tight, every jolt of the car over the bumps in the road made the cotton bra abrade so nicely. “Get her underwear off. I wanna see her.”

  Aidan’s growl shot through me, making me squirm. Peter gripped the now sodden fabric, giving it a sharp jerk, then tossed the now torn garment to one side. Cool air streamed over my most intimate of skin, the feeling unbearably intense.

  “Fuck, yes,” Aidan swore, the car jerking as he quickly righted it.

  “Pull over, fuckhead,” Peter growled. “You’re gonna crash us.”

  “You would too in my position,” he shot back, but he flicked on the indicator and pulled us over to the side of the road.

  I saw fields around us, cows grazing contentedly, and that was it. True to their word, no one was going to see our antics apart from the animals. And Aidan. He unclipped his seat belt and turned around, grabbing my ankles and resting them on the tops of each front seat, splitting me wide open. Something he watched with a frantic focus.

  “Fuck, look at her,” Aidan said.

  “What, this?”

  My back arched as Peter slid
his fingers back and forth so damn slowly through my folds. The hood of my clit was drawn along with it, sending shivers down my spine.

  “You look drenched,” Aidan said. “Did the boys in the shed get you all hot and bothered? Or just one in particular?”

  “Three,” I groaned, closing my eyes as Peter’s fingers dug in, sliding inside me in shallow little pushes.

  “Did you think about us when you were doing your work? Open your eyes for me, sweetheart.”

  I frowned but forced them open, rewarded by Aidan’s hungry smile. He watched me shift and writhe like he was storing the details away from later.

  “What did you think about?”

  “Doing my job. Getting faster,” I snapped.

  He chuckled at that. “No, that’s not what got you all hot for us. What happened when we went and got food?”

  “Sen…” My words died away as Peter’s palm began to move, pushing his fingers deeper into me while the flat dragged across my clit.

  “Sen did what, love?”

  I growled at Aidan, making his grin widen, but I was pleased to see him pull back a little.

  “I just stroked his bloody palm, and I felt hot all over, turned on. It was like going straight from just being at work to…now.”

  “He made you ache deep inside?”

  “Yes.”

  “Made you want him to slide his hand up your thigh?”

  “Yes.”

  “Had you—”

  “I could see you two holding me down and him having his way with me, clear as the hand in front of my face. I could hear it, see it, feel it. It got me really hot, and I tried to sit there, like a good little girl, until the end of my shift.”

  “Mm…I could work with that,” Peter said.

  I cried out when he pulled his hand away, sucking his fingers clean before unbuttoning his jeans. He gripped his cock with one hand and my wrists with his other, holding them firmly but not painfully behind my back.

  “Man, that does beautiful things to your body,” Aidan said, sliding his hands up and down my thighs. I flexed against Peter’s grip, surprised to feel his grip loosening a little.