by Terri Lane
Lara froze as Russ nuzzled the damp crotch of her black panties, then took them between his teeth and tore them off of her as if they were made of tissue.
Those were expensive, she vaguely thought and then all conscious thought left her as Russ’ eager tongue lapped at her entrance. A new rush of warmth flooded her and Russ worked inside her with, tongue probing and exploring the inviting softness of her pussy.
Lara settled back on her elbows, head back and mouth panting, as Russ worked one thick finger inside of her. His tongue abandoned her entrance, letting his finger do the work there, and instead it concentrated on her clit, sucking and licking and driving her toward madness.
“Russ!” Lara heard herself cry again. She was on fire, she was shaking, she needed something, needed release.
Russ didn’t reply, just redoubling the pace of his tongue, lapping at her with such speed and force that Lara knew she wouldn’t last long. He added a finger, stretching her open with two of his strong digits now, and Lara barely had a moment to wonder what his cock would feel like inside of her before she started to shake with tremors of her climax.
“Russ!” she screamed, his name falling from her lips in a litany of want. “Russ, Russ, Russ…” she moaned, and then she was gone, lost in a haze of pleasure and release.
When she finally stopped shaking, Lara fell forward, teetering on the edge of the bar before Russ stopped her descent with his strong embrace.
“Russ,” she murmured against the soft plaid of his shirt.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered, strangely caring and kind. “I’ve got you, Lara.”
They stayed like this, holding each other on the edge of the bar for several long, tender moments. Suddenly, Lara’s brain snapped back into itself.
“I need to go,” she practically yelped, pushing herself off the edge of the bar and staggering toward the door, her black panties forgotten on the floor of Dusty’s. “Thanks, Russ, that was… that was really amazing, but I need to—”
Russ grabbed her before she could reach the door and vanish into the night. Through one window, the moonrise was visible over the dense trees of the forest.
“You can’t go, Lara,” he said, blue eyes wide.
She pulled her arm away, but he held firm. “What did we just say about you making choices for me, Russell?”
“This isn’t for fun, Lara,” Russ said.
“Then what—?”
He threw her over his shoulder and headed into the back of the bar. “This isn’t about choice, Lara, this is about your safety.”
“Russ!” she pounded his broad shoulders with her tiny fists. “Russ, put me down!”
He didn’t put her down, instead dragging her through the kitchen and down a steep set of wooden stairs to the basement. At the bottom of the stairs, at the far end of the cellar, was a metal cage. It was clearly designed to hold the bar’s stock of alcohol—the space was full of cases of beer and bottles of booze—but there was definitely room for person in there. A small person. A Lara-sized person.
“Russ!” she shouted again, but knew it was futile.
Russ tossed her in the metal cage and closed the chain-link door with a rueful smile. “I’m sorry about this, Lara, I really am, but it’s for your own good.”
He clicked a padlock onto the door and stepped back.
“Russ, let me out of here right now,” Lara commanded, but her plea fell on deaf ears.
“I’ll let you out,” Russ said. “Tomorrow morning. For now, you stay put, little Lara.” He disappeared up the stairs, heavy work boots clanking on the rickety wooden steps. Lara could hear him tramp across the bar upstairs, then a door slammed, then silence.
“Russ!” she screamed once more.
There was no more sound.
After pacing the small space, Lara agreed that an escape attempt was futile. The metal cage that was designed to keep boozehounds out was effectively keeping her in.
She sank to the floor and pulled her knees into her chest, finding a position that was comfortable enough to sleep in. As she drifted off, she could hear a cacophony of howls echoing through the forest around the bar.
* * *
‘Shocked’ was not an adequate enough word to describe the expression on the bar manager’s face when the little, middle-aged woman discovered Lara locked in her liquor cage the next morning.
“Thanks!” Lara shouted over her shoulder to the manager as she sprinted up the stairs toward her car. Hopefully, it was still in the parking lot of Dusty’s, that Russ hadn’t hotwired it or, more likely, just picked it up with his freakish strength.
The little Honda Civic was exactly where Lara had left it the night before. Thank god for small miracles.
She gunned the engine and sped off in the direction of her cabin. Lara had big plans that day to find Russ and make him explain just what the hell he thought he was doing last night, giving her the best orgasm of her life and then unceremoniously locking her in the basement of a bar. But first she needed to get back to her cabin and wash the smell of Russ (and the stench of stale liquor from the basement) off of her body.
She whipped the car along the dirt highway and sped down her driveway, screeching to a halt in a cloud of dust. Lara didn’t even lock the car behind her, just wrenched the key from the ignition and sprinted up the steps to the front porch.
Lara froze.
There, right in front of her door where a welcome mat would be, was Killian, curled up in a tight ball and completely, totally naked.
For a moment, Lara thought he might be dead. That Russ had completely lost his mind and killed his rival, dumping Killian’s body on her doorstep in a show of primal dominance.
But no. Killian’s sides rose and fell as he slumbered deeply on the rough, old wood of the porch.
“Killian?” Lara barely whispered, and he jerked awake, eyes wide and panicked.
“Lara!” Killian breathed, but it was a strange mixture of fear and relief. “Lara, I didn’t get in last night, did I?”
Lara shook her head. What a bizarre question.
“Were you drunk last night, Killian?” she asked, searching for a suitable explanation for Killian’s naked vigil at her front door.
“No, I wasn’t drunk, I was—” Killian began, then paused. “I guess you could say I was intoxicated last night, out of my mind. I’m so sorry, Lara, did I hurt you?”
“Did you hurt me? No, Killian, you didn’t hurt me.”
“Oh, thank god,” he said.
“I wasn’t even here,” she admitted.
Killian’s brown eyes narrowed. “You weren’t here? Where were you?”
“I was…” Lara didn’t really know how to explain the previous night. How to explain to Killian that she’d spent the evening sprawled out on the bar at Dusty’s while his rival brought her to climax with his tongue and hand, that she’d then been held prisoner in the dank basement of the only bar in town.”
Killian’s nostrils flared. “You were with Russ,” he said flatly. “I should have known.” He stood up to leave, unfolding his lithe, naked body in full view of Lara. He was exquisitely sculpted, perfect in every detail. Lara tried her best to keep her eyes on his face, but they couldn’t help but wander south, down his washboard abs and resting on the soft patch of blond hair between his legs.
Killian was beautiful.
Her stomach dropped. What had she done? Why had she succumbed to Russ’ primal charms when someone like Killian—someone sweet and charming and gorgeous—was waiting for her? What was she even thinking?
“Killian, I’m sorry,” Lara said, but he cut her off with one sharp flick of his hand.
“It’s fine, Lara, it’s fine,” he told her. “We agreed that you’re Russ’. It’s only right that you went to him.”
Killians eyes widened. “Oh, no, Lara. He didn’t bite you, did he? Are you bleeding anywhere?” Killian rushed to her and dropped to his knees, hands rapidly exploring Lara’s flesh for sign of injury. If he was surprised to find h
er panty-less, his manners were too good to allow him to mention it.
“I’m okay, Killian,” she assured him and he sank back onto his heels, relief flooding over his handsome face.
“Thank god, Lara,” Killian breathed. “If he’d bitten you—”
“You know I’d never be that foolish, Killian.” Russ’ commanding voice rang out across the yard.
Lara and Killian both whipped around to stare at him as he strode toward them. The flannel shirt he’d been wearing the night before was ripped to shreds over his solid torso and his jeans were a soggy mess. There were no shoes on his feet.
“Russ, you need to leave,” Lara said, but the tremor in her voice was too strong to be ignored.
“That’s not what you said last night, Lara,” he retorted, his tone mocking.
Lara turned to explain to Killian, tell him everything and beg him for forgiveness, but Killian was looking at the ground, head bowed in shame.
“Killian?”
He just shook his head.
Russ joined them on the porch and leaned against the railing, arms folded. “Ask Killian what he did last night, Lara.”
“Russ, don’t—” Killian begged.
“Okay, if you don’t want to tell her, I’ll show her,” Russ said, and gestured to the front door of Lara’s cabin. Ugly, deep scores marred the wood, as if some massive animal had tried to claw its way into the house.
“What… what happened?” Lara asked.
“Killian happened,” Russ explained.
Lara turned to Killian and he finally looked at her, his face full of regret and sadness. “Killian?”
“It was me,” he admitted, dropping his head again. “I stayed here all night, I think. I have a hard time remembering on full moon nights, but I’m pretty sure I stayed here all night, trying to get in to you. Russ came and tried to stop me, but I kept coming back.”
Lara stared. “I don’t understand,” she finally managed. “How did you do something like that, Killian? You’re just a man.”
A low chuckle sounded behind Lara and then faded into a menacing growl. She turned slowly around and, in the place where Russ had stood only moments before, was a large black timber wolf.
Lara was about to run, about to open her mouth and scream but, in an instant, the wolf was gone and Russ was back in his place against the railing.
She stood froze, trembling. “I… I don’t understand,” she said.
Killian put one hand on her arm. “Let me explain.”
* * *
Once they were back in the house and Killian had draped himself in a blanket, he and Russ told Lara the whole truth.
They were brothers, kind of, but not the kind of brothers that Lara was used to.
Killian and Russ ran in a pack together, a small pack now, just the two of them. Winter’s Lake had a long tradition of magic and mysticism and was a draw for supernatural creatures of all kinds. Fairies flitted through the woods, vampires were known to drop by and a pack of werewolves had guarded the town before there even was a town.
“My father passed his dark gift along to me,” Killian told her. “He allowed himself to be bitten when he was a boy, so he could help protect Winter’s Lake, and so I allowed the same thing.”
The founding families of Winter’s Lake had passed the duty down from father to son for generations, ensuring that the town of humans had its own form of supernatural protection from whatever might emerge from the vast woods surrounding the city limits.
“So… you’re werewolves?” Lara asked, stunned.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Russ smirked.
“It’s more complicated than that, Lara,” Killian explained.
The wolves of Winter’s Lake weren’t mindless werewolves, enslaved to the full moon. These wolves, these shifters, could take their form whenever it suited them, but during the full moon—the night before, the night of, and the night after—they lost control of their transformation and became true werewolves, mindless and vicious.
“It’s a small price to pay, really, for the gift of shifting,” Killian said. “Normally, we lock ourselves up on those nights, but last night…”
“Last night, Killian was having an emotional breakdown and forgot to secure himself,” Russ said.
“Can you just stop, Russ?” Lara snapped. “I’m so sick and tired of you bullying him and—”
Lara stopped. Something was beginning to click.
“You’re a pack, right? The two of you?”
Both men nodded.
“And wolf packs have a leader, don’t they? An… what do you call it?”
“An Alpha,” Russ replied, and Lara needed only to look at the smirk on his face to know which one of the boys was the Alpha in this pack. Of course.
“So when Russ told you to leave me alone, Killian…”
“I had to obey him,” Killian looked deeply ashamed, humiliated. “I’m sorry, Lara. I like you, I have… feelings for you. But you understand that I can’t act on them if my Alpha says I can’t.”
“Russ, you absolute bastard,” Lara snapped.
“Hey! It’s not all my fault, Lara,” Russ replied. “My emotions, my human feelings, get tamped down by my wolf instincts. It’s an Alpha’s job to improve the pack, claim females. I don’t want to do that, don’t want to crush Killian, but sometimes I just can’t help it.”
“So just because you have higher status in your pack, that means you can just take whatever, or whoever, you want?” Lara asked.
Both men nodded.
“And I don’t get any say in this, do I?”
They shook their heads.
Lara bit her lip, thinking for a moment. “Russ, as long as you can claim me, then your wolfish instincts are sated?”
“Yes,” Russ replied.
“And Killian, you could only have me if Russ says you can,” she continued.
“Pretty much,” Killian sounded mortified.
“What if…” Lara paused for a moment, trying to plan her next words very, very carefully. “What if you both shared me?”
Two pairs of eyes, soft brown and ice blue, peered at her warily.
“What do you mean?” Killian asked finally.
“If Russ has me, claims me, then is Killian free to have me next?”
“Lara, what are you saying?” Russ’ face was stony.
“I’m saying that, ever since I’ve gotten here, I’ve found myself attracted to you both. Yes, Russ, you’re a dick, but there was something about you that… I don’t know. I can’t explain it, but there was something there.”
Russ nodded.
“And Killian…” Lara trailed off. She didn’t know how to put her feelings towards Killian into words. The attraction, the warmth and safety, the… love.
Russ didn’t wait for her to answer, for her to explain herself to Killian. Instead, he crossed to her and dropped to his knees in front her.
“Are you saying that you would endure me in order to have Killian?” he asked.
“No, Russ, no,” Lara argued. “That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m saying that I want you. I want you to take me, hard and fast, with the same ferocity that you showed last night. But I also want Killian. When you’re done with me, when you’ve had your fill, I want to be with Killian. Please.”
Russ glanced toward Killian, still wrapped in a blanket on the couch, and then back at Lara. “I think that is acceptable,” he announced.
“Thank you—” Lara began, but Russ was on her then, lifting her up from the couch and cradling her in his strong arms.
He carried her down the short hall to her bedroom, shouting back over his shoulder. “Killian, come on. That’s an order from your Alpha.”
Killian couldn’t get there fast enough.
Russ threw Lara down on her bed, ripping the remainder of her clothing off of her and stripping off his own tattered clothing. Killian had no such encumbrances, his clothes were probably in pieces somewhere on the forest floor, but he let the blanket fall fr
om his shoulders, exposing the full glory of his naked body.
“Get her ready for me,” Russ ordered and Killian didn’t hesitate.
He fell onto the bed and buried his head between Lara’s knees, lapping at her with his eager, willing tongue.
Lara moaned once, then lost herself in the pleasure of being serviced by the man that she’d wanted for so long. She was excited, hungry, and it didn’t take Killian’s tongue long to soak her waiting entrance.
“Killian,” she breathed, then, “Russ!”
Obediently, Killian moved aside to allow his Alpha to claim her. Russ flipped her over onto all fours, then entered her with a single, determined thrust. Lara threw her head back and shrieked with pleasure at the intensity of the thrust.
Russ pushed into her deeper, swirled his hips to give all of her a taste of the hard base of his cock, then set a steady rhythm, swift and unyielding, claiming what was, by pack rights, his.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lara caught a glace of Killian kneeling on the bed next them, bright brown eyes watching intensely as his Alpha fucked into Lara with frightening intensity. His hands idly stroked his cock, keeping himself hard and interested for his turn which, judging by Russ’ harsh breathing and piston-like thrusts, wouldn’t be long.
With a howl of desire, Russ thrust into Lara one last night, his climax spilling deep inside of her. He held her hips to him as he spent himself and then shuddered, the intensity of his surrender shaking Lara to her very core.
She dropped her head and collapsed face down onto the bed as Russ slid out of her.
“Are you okay?” Killian’s soft voice whispered in the shell of her ear.
She hummed with contentment. “Mmmm, hmmmm,” Lara managed. “You now, Killian. Please?”
Killian looked at Russ for permission and the Alpha’s blue eyes were bright with anticipation.
“You may have her, Killian,” Russ allowed.
Killian was gentle as he turned Lara over on her back.
“I want to see you,” he explained, rough hands running down her body, tracing soft circles around each supple breast. “You are so beautiful, Lara.”
