She was aware of Ain letting out a low growl against her shoulder, his tongue licking at her flesh even as he kept his teeth buried in her. He was now completely holding her vertical, her legs no longer able to support her. She also knew until he quit biting her, reinforcing their mating mark on her, she wouldn’t stop coming.
Eyes squeezed closed, she savored every thrust, her cunt muscles clamping down on Cail’s cock the way she had with Brodey’s, squeezing and gripping him, trying to milk his balls dry.
“Just…like…that.” He took one more hard, deep stroke before also falling still inside her.
That left only Ain, whose cock felt like a hot rod of iron pressed against her ass. She wasn’t sure she could take any more pleasure, but it wasn’t like she had a choice. She didn’t know if it was one long, hard orgasm being squeezed out of her body or waves of them, but it didn’t matter.
It had taken away her ability to think, much less move.
When Cail pulled out, Ain turned them, bending her over the bed before he nudged her feet apart. With his teeth still clamped on her flesh, he reached between her legs with one hand to line up his cock and thrust deep and hard into her. Between her own juices, and with plenty of extra lubrication from her pussy being full of both Brodey and Cail’s cum, he bottomed out and drew another pleasured cry from her.
She fisted the sheets in her hands as Ain fucked her, hard and fast, driving her hips into the edge of the bed with every stroke. Just when she thought he was going to finish, he slowed down. His chest heaved with every breath, the effort of holding back, his body slick with sweat and sliding across hers.
And still, she came. All she could do was lie there and enjoy it, pressed into the mattress by the weight of Ain’s body on top of hers.
He reached up and laced his fingers through hers, his low growl reverberating through her body. Then he spoke to her through their mate-bond. “Elain, come one more time, now!”
Her back arched. She muffled her scream into the mattress as he let go with his teeth and raised up enough he could plow her deep and hard. She kept her eyes squeezed tightly closed, positive she was about to explode and willing to die if it meant she could do so experiencing a level of pleasure she’d never dreamed possible. When Ain finally came, he fell still with his cock buried inside her, the only sound in the room his breath in her ear as she panted and tried to figure out if she was still alive or not.
After a moment, he licked at the place he’d bitten on her shoulder. It sent a pleasant shiver through her, a shadow of the climax she’d just had.
“Merry Christmas, baby,” he whispered.
Weakly nodding, she managed to squeeze one of his hands.
Brodey chuckled. “I think we wore her out.”
She thought she nodded again, but she wasn’t sure. Already, sleep was taking hold of her system.
“You think?” Cail asked. “Dude, she’s wiped out.”
She nodded. Well, she thought she nodded.
Ain raised himself off her. She felt someone, Brodey, probably, gently roll her over while Cail caught her legs. Together, the three of them moved her up the bed until her head rested on a pillow.
“Love you all,” she mumbled, crashing into sleep.
Three sets of lips kissed her, on the lips, the shoulder, the hand. “Love you, too,” they echoed.
Chapter Twelve
Elain awoke just before dawn Christmas morning to the sounds of two of her men up and moving around in the darkness, getting dressed. She reached behind her and quickly identified Ain as the one still in bed.
He kissed the back of her neck and slipped an arm around her, snugging her against his body. “Merry Christmas, sweetheart,” he sleepily rumbled.
“She’s awake?” Brodey snapped on a bedside lamp. He wore jeans and a work shirt that hadn’t been buttoned up his firm torso yet. He leaned in and kissed her. “Merry Christmas.”
Cail had pulled a shirt on, also unbuttoned, and had his jeans in his hands. “Good morning, babe.” He leaned in and kissed her as well. “Merry Christmas.”
“Why are you two up so early?” she asked.
“The stock doesn’t know it’s Christmas. They still have to be fed and checked. We gave most of the hands the day off,” Brodey said. “Two of them volunteered to work for double-time this morning to get everyone fed and taken care of.”
“We’ll be back by eightish,” Cail assured her. “Plenty of time for presents.”
Ain’s breath felt warm against the back of her neck. “We don’t need to get up yet,” he rumbled. “Go back to sleep.”
She tipped her head back. “Why aren’t you going out to help them?” She felt a little badly about that.
“Because it’s their turn,” he said. “Me and Brodey did it last year. Next year, it’ll be me and Cail, and Brodey can stay in bed with you.”
“Oh.” She felt better about that. “I didn’t realize you had a system.” She thought, not for the first time, that there was a lot she didn’t know about her men, even this many months later.
“You didn’t ask.” He kissed the nape of her neck. “If you really want to dive headfirst into how we run the ranch, feel free to go out with them. I’d prefer you stay cuddled in bed with me this morning. Either way, I want to go back to sleep for a little while.”
Truth be told, she preferred to stay cuddled in bed with him, too. “See you guys when you get back.” She closed her eyes and settled deeply against Ain’s secure, enveloping warmth.
Brodey snorted. “Yeah, I kind of figured that would be your answer.” They turned off the lamp and she heard them open and then close the bedroom door behind them.
That was the last thing she was aware of for a while. When she next opened her eyes, light was stealing around the edges of the blinds covering the window and sliding glass doors. Ain’s breathing sounded deep and slow, indicating he was still sound asleep. She glanced at the clock and saw it was now after seven thirty.
The delicious aroma of coffee wafted through the house.
No way I’m going back to sleep now.
After carefully extricating herself from Ain without waking him, she went to the bathroom, then pulled on a robe over her pj’s and headed out to the kitchen. Her mom and dad sat at the kitchen table, mugs of coffee in front of them. They’d also plugged in the Christmas tree and it cast a cheerful glow throughout the living room. A virtual mountain of brightly wrapped presents sat beneath it, most of them for the babies, but with at least one for each adult.
Elain had made sure of that before going to bed the night before. The kids might be too young to appreciate all the gifts, but she wanted all her friends and extended family to have at least a little something to unwrap.
“Hey.” Elain paused her sojourn to the coffeemaker just long enough to give them quick hugs. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, sweetie,” her mom said.
“Merry Christmas, love,” her dad echoed.
Elain stopped and pivoted on her heel. He deserved better than that.
Coffee can wait a few more seconds.
She wrapped both arms around him from behind and hugged him again, harder and longer this time, and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for coming back, Dad,” she softly said. “I’m sorry it’s been so crazy and crowded around here.”
He patted her arm and tipped his head back to meet her gaze. “Elain, I don’t care how crowded it is. I’m just blessed the Goddess brought us all together and gave me a second chance with you. I won’t grouse or take it for granted, believe me.”
They heard a door open down the hall. Lina appeared a few moments later, looking exhausted. “Coffeeee,” she moaned as she headed for the coffeemaker.
“Merry Christmas,” Elain said.
Lina nodded. “Yeah. That.”
Carla looked sympathetic. “I take it the Beasts had you up last night?”
“Last night, this morning, it’s all sort of the same fuzzy thing.” She poured herself a mug and
fixed it the way she liked before cupping it in both hands to lift to her lips. “One big, sleep-deprived blur.”
Elain thought back to the package of birth control pills in her bathroom. Maybe this is exactly the cue I needed to stay on them.
Lina glanced at them. “Sorry. Merry Christmas.”
“It’s all right,” Carla assured her. “We’re family.”
Lina leaned against the counter, a wry smile curling her lips. “We are indeed, Mom. In more ways than we ever thought before all this latest stuff started.”
“You realize they’re going to like the boxes more than the presents this year, right?” Carla asked Lina.
The redheaded goddess nodded. “Yeah, but that’s okay.” Her snarky smile transformed to a genuine one. “Best. Christmas. Ever.”
Liam held up his coffee mug. “Here, here.”
Elain fixed her own coffee and sat at the table with Lina and her parents. “I have to admit I’m getting a little gun shy. Anytime I get a few calm, uneventful days in a row, I start wondering what the next shit storm will be.”
“Don’t let it get to you,” Liam counseled. “Life will happen as it happens. You can’t control it like that.”
* * * *
They waited until Cail and Brodey had returned and grabbed showers before opening presents. With nearly everyone else taking turns filming the babies, Mai sat on the floor with BettLynn in her lap while Lina, Jan, and Rick helped the Beasts. The great wrapping paper massacre then began in earnest, the adults more amused than the babies by the process.
Elain didn’t know about Mai or Lina, but at least she was able to shove some of their current troubles out of her mind long enough to enjoy the morning. She and her men had agreed not to go nuts on the presents for each other and to keep it under thirty dollars. She’d ordered them each small enameled stainless tags with a pawprint on the front, and her and each man’s initials on the back. Ain’s was black because they didn’t have grey, Brodey’s was green, and Cail’s was brown. Each one hung from a stainless steel necklace that she hoped was sturdy enough to stand the test of shifting. For herself, she’d gotten one in pink, with all three of her men’s initials on the back.
Callie giggled as she examined them. “Who says you all aren’t kinky?” she said. “Looks like day collars to me.”
Blackie snorted in amusement but refrained from comment.
The men had a slightly different surprise for her. Ain pulled out his phone, swiped through the pictures, then handed it over to her. On the screen, an adorable litter of puppies.
Confused, she looked at him. “Is this a baby joke I’m missing?”
Cail grinned. “No. Mark breeds and shows Labs. One of his Labs had a litter. You get first pick. They turned eight weeks old yesterday.”
She felt torn. “I thought we had a gift limit.”
“We did,” Brodey said. “He owes us a puppy. We traded him a calf for a puppy. Technically, we didn’t spend anything.”
“Actually, he owes us two puppies,” Cail said. “But we told him we’d take him paying the vet bills in trade.”
“And it’s a gift for all of us, so technically it doesn’t count against the limit,” Ain added with a smile.
“They’re just normal dogs?”
Brodey smiled. “They’re Labs. So I’m not sure what you judge as normal. And yes, they’ll live in the house. They’ll be our pets, not working dogs.”
“You can say no if you don’t want it,” Ain said.
She stared at the picture. It had been years since she’d had a dog, since she was a young kid. Sometimes, it was hard to forget the initial longing she felt when Brodey had shifted and went home with her from the Highlands festival the day they met. She’d thought he was a big dog.
She’d missed having a dog.
“No.” She yanked the phone out of range when Ain reached for it. “I meant no I’m not saying no. I want them.” She stared at the picture again for a moment before she hugged Ain first, then Brodey, and finally Cail. “Thank you. They’re adorable. But what if I can’t choose just one? Can we get two?”
The men exchanged a glance. “Then I guess,” Cail said, “Mark will be off the hook for the vet bills.”
* * * *
Elain felt guilty about leaving others to clean up after lunch, but her mom and Lina practically shoved her out the door with Ain, Brodey, and Cail.
They drove over to Mark’s house. He ran a beef cattle operation on a ranch on the other side of Arcadia. Elain hadn’t been there before, although the shifter had been to their place several times. He was also a distant Lyall cousin, as well as a member of their Clan Council.
When they arrived, he stepped out onto his front porch, smiling as they walked up. “I guess she said yes?” he asked Ain.
Elain felt excitement building in her, almost like a kid again. “Can I take two if I can’t settle on one?”
“None of them are spoken for yet. I told the guys you got first pick.”
He led them inside. The house looked neat and tidy, if a little sparse. The tile floor was spotless, but dog toys and half-chewed soup bones lay scattered all over the place. The couches and chairs were covered with denim throws. She noticed he didn’t have a full-sized Christmas tree, but there was a ceramic one sitting on his mantle, turned on so the different colored plastic bulbs were lit from within.
She was happy to see that one whole room, the size of a bedroom, was set up as a dedicated puppy room. Tiled floor, spacious crates, and clean. Even her sensitive wolf nose couldn’t detect an offensive odor. It even contained a raised tub for dog baths, and was separated from the living room by a gated doorway that allowed the dogs to see what was going on in the rest of the house.
A massive bunching of wiggling puppies had congregated at the gate. Their momma, a black Lab, stood by the doorway on the living room side of the gate, her tail wagging in friendly greeting.
Elain knelt in front of her and extended the back of her hand for the dog to smell. After a test sniff, she stepped closer and licked Elain’s face.
Mark laughed. “Sweetie likes you. That’s good.”
“Will she like me once I take a couple of her puppies home?”
“Probably. If I leave her in there with them too long, she starts barking for me to let her out. They’re already weaned and on dry food, but they keep trying to step up to the milk bar. I think she’s ready for them to go.”
“Where are your other dogs?”
“That’s right. You’ve never had the tour.” He motioned for Elain to follow him. He quickly led her through the relatively small house compared to the Lyalls’ setup, and then out a set of sliders that led from the living room onto a screened pool lanai. Then through another door into a massive kennel.
Mark reached for a plastic storage container on a high shelf next to the door. “Cookies!”
What looked and sounded like a herd of buffaloes poured through a doggy door on the far side of the room and surrounded them, nearly all of the Labs drooling, every tail furiously wagging. Once they were all seated, he started handing out cookies to the dogs. “They have an outdoor kennel for during the day. Screened in, but concrete. At night, they all come inside the house.” He turned to Elain. “Yours will be indoor dogs, right?”
“Yes.”
He nodded, smiling. “I don’t mind if someone uses them for hunting or working, but I only allow them to go to homes where they’re treated like family and allowed inside.”
“How many do you have?”
“Not counting Sweetie’s litter, I have fifteen altogether.” He pointed to a large yellow Lab whose muzzle had started going white. “That’s Gandalf. He’s my oldest boy right now, and the father of Sweetie’s litter. He’ll be ten next month.” Mark rubbed his head. “He’s a champion. His great-great-great-grandfather was the first one I owned. Labs are sort of like potato chips, you can’t have just one.”
“No offense, buddy,” Brodey teased, “but we need to find you a mate
.”
“One day, hopefully.” Mark looked up with a smile. “Must love dogs.”
“Or at least one wolf,” Brodey said.
“Last time I brought a woman home,” he said, “they all hated her.” He rubbed Gandalf’s head again. “I didn’t go out on another date with her.”
“What Mark is leaving out,” Cail said, “is that several of his puppies have gone on to become successful search and rescue dogs, and a few others became working service and guide dogs.”
“Wow,” Elain said. “I’m impressed.”
He shrugged. “It’s my hobby and my passion.”
Brodey clapped him on the shoulder. “Like I said, we really need to find you a mate.”
“I’ve been mostly single for over two hundred and twenty-eight years,” Mark said. “I doubt it’ll kill me to be single a few more.”
* * * *
There were eight puppies altogether, three yellow and five black. After playing with them for nearly an hour, Elain settled on a black male and a yellow female. Although yellow wasn’t the best descriptor, because her coat was nearly white. Apparently, Elain’s men had been scheming with Mark even more than they’d let on, because they’d stashed puppy supplies at his house.
Mark offered to loan them more until they could get to the store to duplicate the items. Elain wasn’t sure what she wanted to name the two pups, until she watched them tugging on opposite ends of the same chew toy.
“They’re like bookends,” she said.
“How about Good and Plenty?” Brodey suggested.
She shot him a slightly disgusted look. “Those are purple and white.” Then she hit on the perfect names. “Juju and Bea.”
Mark snickered. “Well, it’ll make calling them at the same time easy.”
She reached out and stroked the male puppy’s black head. And I need all the positive juju I can get in my life right now.
Back at their house, the puppies were a huge hit. Elain was worried at first that they might be a little rough with the Beasts and BettLynn, but the opposite was true. The puppies, after a romping introduction to the adults, carefully walked over to the three babies, noses up, sniffing at them.
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