by Becca Van
“Try it,” Rhys goaded as he took a couple of steps closer until he was standing over him with his chest shoved into Weldon’s.
“Knock it off,” Justice growled out. “If you two keep posturing and yelling at each other, Sierra will hear, and then she won’t want to have anything to do with us.”
Rhys shoved Weldon’s shoulders, and if Justice hadn’t stepped in between them, Weldon would have gone at his brother without a thought. He’d never felt so wildly animalistic and hostile in his life. Not even when he was serving in the Marines.
“Weldon, fucking stop growling,” Justice commanded in a hard voice. “Do you want Sierra coming to investigate because she heard you? Go out and go for a fucking run before you ruin all our chances.”
Weldon sucked in a deep breath, released the air from his lungs slowly, and nodded his head. Justice was right. He needed to expend some of the pent-up energy coursing through his body and making him feel so antagonistic.
Without saying another word, he spun on his heels and headed toward the sliding glass door leading outside to the wraparound verandah. He took a few deep breaths of the cool night air, then sniffed to make sure there was no one about before he started stripping off his clothes.
After a quick look around to make sure the coast was clear, Weldon sank down to his knees, dropped forward onto his hands, and let his wolf surge forward. He muscles rippled and contorted, his bones broke, lengthening and shortening as his body reshaped. Fur sprouted from his pores, rippling over his body, and when he’d transformed he shook from the top of his head to the tip of his tail. He lifted his muzzle toward the sky, but before he let his wolf howl out his joy at being free, he swallowed and leapt to the ground.
The strong muscles in his hind legs contracted and expanded as he raced over the ground away from the house. He ran through grass as high as his shoulders, swerved around trees and small lakes and natural formed ponds until his legs began to tire.
Once more, he shoved his nose into the air, sniffing, and this time when his wolf had the urge to howl he let his animal have his way. It wasn’t a full moon but wasn’t far off it, and he’d had no trouble seeing as he’d sped across the open pastures away from his home. Now that he’d had a good long run, he felt much better, less aggressive, and hoped that he’d have more control when he saw Sierra next.
He turned back toward home, and an hour later he trotted into the backyard toward the porch steps. Since the kitchen and other lights in the house were off, he figured his brothers had gone back to bed. Sierra was probably once more tucked up in that big bed all alone, sound asleep again.
He stopped just below the porch steps and forced his wolf back to let his human side take over. Weldon embraced the way his body contorted and changed and the power surging through him as he shifted back to his manly form.
Just as he put his foot on the bottom step of the stairs, he caught movement from the corner of his eye and froze. Sierra was standing at the bedroom window with a hand on her chest and the other over her mouth. He didn’t need a light on for him to see that her eyes were wide with shock or that she was scared shitless.
“I fucked up,” Weldon said to his brothers through their private mind link.
“What the fuck did you do?” Justice asked angrily.
“I thought everyone was asleep.” Weldon didn’t know if he should remain still or continue walking up the steps toward the porch where he’d left his clothes.
“She fucking saw you, didn’t she?” Rhys asked.
“Yes, and she’s still looking at me? I don’t know if I should move or stay still.”
“Stay still,” Justice said.
Weldon didn’t take his eyes from Sierra’s as they continued to stare at each other. He saw light gleaming into her bedroom, and then Justice was walking up behind her. His brother must have spoken softly to her since he was probably trying not to frighten her further, because while he saw Justice’s lips moving, he couldn’t hear him speaking like he usually would have.
Rhys came into view seconds later. His bigger, younger brother clasped Sierra’s shoulder and turned her toward him and Justice.
Weldon raced up the steps, pausing briefly to tug his jeans on, and hurried inside while he pulled his T-shirt back on. Although he hated that he’d fucked up and scared their mate, he was also kind of glad that he’d shifted in front of her without being aware of her presence. Now, he and his brothers would be able to tell her that they were wolf shifters and she was their mate.
There was no use trying to close the barn doors after the horse had already bolted.
* * * *
Ever since she’d woken from her nightmare, Sierra hadn’t been able to settle enough to crawl back into bed. She’d pulled on a pair of track pants under her sleep shirt and pulled on a light sweater. She’d paced back and forth for a while, trying to get the image of the three nearly naked, sexy men out of her mind, but her mind kept wandering back to their amazingly big, muscular bodies.
However, it wasn’t just their bodies that affected her. They were all very handsome men, and they’d been so kind to her, but there was something not quite right about them. She kept thinking about Weldon’s glowing eyes and tried to tell herself she’d been imagining things, but she’d never had an overactive imagination before. At least not until she’d been attacked and stabbed. Now her mind always seemed to be filled with fear when she found a man looking at her so she would run away and hide.
She’d been running for months and was tired of it, but she had no other choice since she and the police had no idea who it was who’d hurt her. Detective Adam Dayton had told her that even witness protection wasn’t going to be offered since no one knew who her attacker was. All her clothes, as well as the knife, had been dusted for prints, but Sierra had known the forensics team were wasting their time. The bastard who’d stabbed her had been wearing black leather gloves.
When she’d realized her mind was just going around and around in circles with no end in sight, she’d drained the glass of water Justice had left on the bedside table and then used the bathroom. Then, she’d gone back to staring out the window for a good long while, trying to keep her mind clear from her problems and the fear she now lived with.
At first when she’d seen the massive dog-like creature running toward the house, she’d been sure she was dreaming, but she had quickly negated that when she’d pinched the back of her hand. She’d watched in stunned awe as the huge animal trotted closer and closer to the house.
She’d gaped when she realized that it wasn’t a dog at all but a wolf, and she had blinked a few times, unable to believe her eyes. Sierra had never seen a wolf as big as this one. It was so large, it reminded her of the dire wolves she’d seen on the TV while watching the Game of Thrones series.
The beast lifted his nose into the air and sniffed, and then she’d noticed that the coat of fur was diminishing and the muscles and bones on the wolf were moving and re-shaping. She’d covered her thundering heart with her hand on her chest and placed her hand over her mouth to stop herself from crying out with fear.
In the next moment, she was staring at Weldon, and he was completely naked. She was so stunned at what she had seen and was seeing she couldn’t move and could barely breathe. Her heart was thundering so hard it hurt, and she felt dizzy.
Sierra had no idea how long she stood there in her stupor-like trance of astonishment. She hadn’t even been aware that someone had entered her bedroom until they grasped her shoulder. She was too alarmed to scream and ended up making a squeaking noise as she was turned around.
She gaped up at Rhys and Justice as if she’d never seen them before and wondered if they could turn into wolves, too.
She didn’t even have the thought process of fighting or escaping them when they clasped her elbows and led her toward the bed, nor when they eased her down until she was sitting on the edge of the mattress. When she looked down at her legs, she was glad that she was seated, because she was shaking so m
uch she probably would have fallen to her ass onto the floor.
“Sierra look at me, baby,” Justice demanded. She obeyed his directive without thought. He was down on his knees in front of her, and he slowly reached out to entwine his fingers with her cold, trembling ones. “Don’t be scared of us, Sierra. My brothers and I would never hurt you.”
Rhys drew her gaze when he laced his fingers with her free hand. “You’re safe with us, honey.”
When she caught movement near the doorway and saw Weldon, she couldn’t stop the whimper of fear from escaping from between her parted lips. He stopped just inside the bedroom and held his hands up with his palms toward her. “I’m so fucking sorry, darlin’,” Weldon said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Her fear receded slightly with Weldon’s apology, and her numb brain came back online. Sierra jerked her hands from Justice’s and Rhys’s, and she scrambled up the mattress away from the three men. “What the hell are you people?”
Justice combed his fingers through his hair. “We’re shape-shifters, baby. We’re half animal and half human. We can shift into wolves.”
“How is that even possible?” she asked hoarsely.
Rhys shrugged. “Our fathers were wolf shifters, too. Only males get the shifter gene passed down from their dads.”
“Does anyone else know that you can…that you’re…” She waved her hand toward them, once more lost for words.
“Nearly every single man living in Ambrose knows, honey,” Rhys said. “They’re all shifters, too.”
“B-but…h-how… is…”
“Take a deep breath, Sierra. You’re breathing too fast and are in danger of hyperventilating,” Justice stated calmly.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on slowing her panting breaths and racing heart. When she was no longer gasping, she opened her eyes to find that all three of them had moved closer to her. Although she was still flabbergasted over what she’d seen, the fear she’d felt was dissipating more and more the longer she remained seated and they didn’t do anything to hurt her.
“We don’t know how it is that shifters came about, honey,” Rhys said, drawing her attention. “All we can tell you is that our kind has been around for hundreds if not thousands of years.”
“Our fathers were able to shift into wolves,” Weldon said. “And their fathers before them, and so on.”
“We’ve tried to trace back but gave up after going back about five generations.” Rhys cautiously shuffled closer to her, and when she didn’t try to move away from him, he sat on the edge of the bed.
She hadn’t even noticed that she was up near the pillows and the headboard until now. She also had her knees bent up close to her body and her arms wrapped around them. When she started getting a cramp in her upper thigh, she removed her arms from around her legs and slowly straightened them out.
“Are you hurting, baby?” Justice frowned.
She shook her head. “Not really. I just have a bit of a cramp.”
“Do you want me to massage the tight muscles?” Rhys asked as he scooted closer to her.
“I’m good,” Sierra lied. The thought of him or his brothers with their hands on her caused a shiver to race up her spine. Trying to ignore the way her breasts swelled and got heavier and her nipples hardened was nearly impossible Add to that that her pussy was growing wet and her clit was throbbing, and it almost made her moan. She bit the inside of her cheek instead. Pushing the unusual way her body was responding to their proximity aside, she brought her mind back on track. “Are wolves the only animal men can shift into?”
Weldon shook his head. “No, there are quite a few other shifter species.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“Tatum, the man who was serving at the diner, and his brothers are lion shifters,” Justice explained.
“He is?” She blinked as she pictured the man in her mind. He had russet-colored hair, and now that she thought about it, his eyes had definitely had a feline slant to them.
“Yeah,” Rhys squeezed her hand. “There are also Kodiak bears, polar bears, panthers, and of course, wolves.”
“Th-that’s a l-lot of different animals,” she stuttered.
“I suppose so.” Justice caressed a finger down her cheek, causing her blood to heat even more, but she tried to discount her arousal even though that seemed to get more and more difficult the longer she was with them. “Just remember that none of the men, in human or shifter form, would ever hurt you, baby. We’re all very protective of those weaker and smaller than we are.”
Sierra nodded and swallowed around the lump in her throat. Each time she breathed the three men in, her body’s response grew stronger and stronger. While she was no virgin since she’d had a serious boyfriend for a while in college, she’d never, ever felt so turned on in her life. The intensity of the desire she’d felt with Tony paled in comparison to what she was currently experiencing. Although she wasn’t really scared, per se, she was rather shocked and intimidated by the power of those feelings.
“Are you feeling better, darlin’?” Weldon asked.
Sierra nodded even though she wasn’t sure about anything right now.
“I’m so sorry you saw me shift and I scared you. If I’d been a little more vigilant I would have seen you and moved away from view.”
“It’s okay, Weldon. I know you weren’t trying to frighten me. Now that I’m over the shock of learning that shifters exist, it’s all kind of exciting.” She frowned as she thought that over. The three men had explained quite a bit to her already and even told her about their friends. Did that mean that they trusted her to keep their secret or were they planning to do away with her when she least expected it? She shook her head. They just told her that they wouldn’t hurt her or anyone weaker than they were, and for some reason, she believed that they were being truthful.
“Do you think you can go back to sleep now, baby?” Justice asked.
Sierra had no idea what time it was but knew after her nightmare and all the other excitement, the likelihood of her relaxing enough to fall asleep again was zip. “What time is it?” she asked.
“Nearly five-thirty,” Rhys said after glancing toward the bedside table.
Sierra looked that way and for the first time noticed the small digital clock on the hardwood. “I think it’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to sleep anymore.”
“Why don’t you go and take a shower then, darlin’,” Weldon suggested. “We’ll go clean up and get breakfast started. It should be ready by the time you come out.”
“You all don’t have to cook or wait on me. If you’d like, I could make breakfast as a thank you for letting me stay in your home.”
“We don’t expect you to work for your room, baby,” Justice said as he shoved to his feet. She couldn’t help staring at his muscular, sexy ass as he walked toward the bedroom door. When he paused in the doorway, she lifted her eyes and found him watching her as he gazed over his shoulder. Heat suffused her cheeks, and she mentally cursed her red hair and pale coloring. Her face was probably a match to the hue of her tresses. Justice smiled and winked at her. “We really like having you in our home, Sierra.” She gaped as he moved away from her sight.
“Justice is right, honey,” Rhys said, garnering her attention. Sierra hadn’t heard or felt him getting up off the bed. “We love having you here.”
She eyed his body over as he casually sauntered away from her. Weldon cupped her cheek, turning her gaze to his. He leaned forward and inhaled deeply through his nose. “I love the way you smell, darlin’.” He pressed his forehead to hers, sniffed her again and then, to her surprise, lightly pressed his lips to hers. Heated shivers shuddered over her body as her blood warmed more. After pecking her on the forehead, he stood and walked out.
Sierra gusted out a noisy breath as she tried to get her heart and breathing to slow down. The three Channing brothers affected her way more than any man ever had and suspected ever would. She was deeply in lust, but it wasn’t just their
handsome faces and big, muscular bodies that drew her like a moth to a flame. They were moralistic, caring men, and she had a feeling the more time she spent with them, the stronger her feelings for them would become.
Nevertheless, she couldn’t let her emotions or her desire for them rule over her.
Sierra needed to keep her distance, because she might have to pack up and move on if the bastard who’d stabbed her found where she was.
Chapter Five
“We need to tell her,” Rhys said as he and his brothers got breakfast ready.
“I agree,” Weldon said.
Justice scowled at Weldon. He was still pissed at his brother for revealing their animal sides. They’d all gotten sloppy after moving to Ambrose and socializing with other shifters. While they’d been in the Marines, they’d all been hyper alert about keeping their inner wolves and their enhanced abilities hidden. Even though he was sort of glad that Sierra knew they were shifters, he was still angry at Weldon for scaring her. Their poor mate had been frightened twice in one night. He was worried that another surprise would be enough to tip her over the edge into hysteria or insanity.
She’d taken their explanations so well, thank fuck. In fact, Justice had been amazed by how well she processed the information they shared with her.
What he hated was that she hadn’t opened up with them. He and his brothers had seen the scars from knife wounds on her arm and shoulder. If he wouldn’t come across as giving her the third degree, he would have pumped her for information, but again, he didn’t want to push her too hard and send her running in the opposite direction.
His wolf was giving him fits, trying to get out to claim their woman, but he wasn’t about to do anything without Sierra’s consent. Maybe his brothers were right. Maybe it would be best to tell her that she was their mate and let her decide what to do with that information.
Right now, he wished he had one of the other shifter’s mates here to explain how difficult it was for him and his brothers to be around her and not to act on their instinctive animalistic urges to claim her. Yet, if they told her that she was likely to think they were more beast than man.
