Caught in the Middle

by Desiree Holt

  He lay down closer to them than he had the previous night. Hayden caught the other man’s wrist and pulled him closer still.

  “Bond,” he said.

  Stafford looked incredibly sceptical.

  “With Jas,” Hayden specified. “Rest with your pack and bond with your mate.”

  The vampire moved a little closer and Hayden arranged them with all the ease of a man used to sleeping in a tangled mess of limbs.

  Stafford met her eyes. “Rest now,” he told her. “We will all talk later.”

  Jasmine nodded.

  Stafford pressed a kiss to her lips. “Everything will be fine. You belong to us now—we will look after you—regardless of what that bastard thinks about us.”

  She smiled back at him, thinking Mr. Washington would be quietly pleased by the title.

  “You are safe now, love.”

  “Yes, master.”

  Hayden nuzzled at her neck until she turned her head to offer his lips to him too. “Ours,” he whispered.

  “Yes, alpha,” she replied.

  “And the bat means to say he’s pretty damn sure we are both falling in love with you—he’s just too embarrassed to say so in front of me.”

  Stafford glared at him, but he didn’t go so far as to deny any of it.

  “I think I’m falling in love with both of you, too,” she whispered back.

  They both smiled down at her and pressed a last sleepy kiss to her lips.

  Minutes later, they were both sound asleep. Jasmine tried to turn over to find a more comfortable position. Two strong pairs of arms wrapped tightly around her holding her in place.

  Jasmine smiled to herself and closed her eyes, caught firmly between her master and her alpha.

  About the Author

  Kim is 25 years old, from a small town in South Wales.

  After writing for years, Kim is finally editing some of the stories to share with the rest of the world. Kim writes both male/male and male/female stories that range from the dark and paranormal right through to the lighter, funnier side of life.

  The only thing every story contains is a happy ever after for the two (or more!) characters that deserve it most. Oh, and kinky sex — there’s always plenty of that too — but Kim takes no responsibility for any of that. It’s all the characters’ fault. Honest…

  Email: kim@kimdare.com

  Kim loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at http://www.total-e-bound.com/.

  Also by Kim Dare

  Christmas Spirits: The Gift

  My Secret Valentine: Secret Service

  Night of the Senses: Whispers

  Collared: Turquoise and Leather

  Perfect Timing: You First

  MATING SEASON

  Nadia Aidan

  Dedication

  To Rosie, Roxy and April

  Chapter One

  “I need you and Roarke to mate with me.”

  Detective Gabriel Alekseev had just taken a sip of his morning coffee only to have it come spewing back up to stain the papers across his desk.

  He stared at his partner and friend of almost two years, as if he was seeing her for the first time.

  “What the hell did you just say?”

  “You heard me, Gabriel. I need you and Roarke to mate with me,” Collette Talbot repeated as she folded her arms across her chest.

  He stared at her in shock, unable to believe how calm she appeared, as if what she was suggesting wasn’t the least bit bizarre.

  He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long breath. Where did he even begin?

  “Okay, putting your statement aside for just a moment, can I ask you why you require the services of me and my best friend?”

  For the first time since she’d barged into his office, she actually looked distressed. Well good, because that made two of them. She flopped down in the leather chair on the other side of his desk and released a sigh, her lovely cinnamon face glowing red as if she could barely contain a fury that simmered just beneath the surface.

  “I’m in heat, or at least I will be in a week.”

  Seconds ticked by in silence before he realised she wasn’t going to elaborate. “Okay, and?” He hedged.

  “And, this will be my tenth cycle in heat.”

  Gabriel felt all the blood he’d consumed that morning drain from his face. He wasn’t privy to all of the rituals that went with each supranatural species, but he knew enough about lycans to know mating season only came around once a decade, and it was a time of intense physical and sexual urges for lycan females, so intense that one man wasn’t always enough to satisfy her.

  “You want Roarke and me to mate with you, during your mating season?” He frowned at the high pitch of his voice, shocked that he sounded like a teenage boy, but still more shocked by what she’d said.

  “Yep, pretty much.” She shrugged, seemingly unfazed by any of this, and that made him all the more nervous.

  “Pretty much? Damn it Collette, are you insane?”

  Detective Collette Talbot cringed as her partner let loose a string of curses, his rising temper infusing his cheeks with crimson heat.

  “You march in here, with this half-baked plan, and you haven’t even worked out all the details in your head, especially the part about how we’re partners and something like this could pose a problem. I can tell by how flippant you’re being that you haven’t even thought this through. When did you come up with this idea? Last night?”

  This morning. “I don’t see why you’re so upset. And being partners really has nothing to do with this.” She wisely chose not to address the half-baked plan part. He was already mad enough.

  He shot her a quelling look, as if to say being partners had everything to do with it.

  “Why can’t you just do it with another supra?”

  Do it? She frowned at his offhand comment. He made it sound as if she could just go roam the streets and pick up any guy who happened to walk by, but they both knew she couldn’t. Her mating season was far too intimate. She wanted to spend it with someone she knew, someone she trusted.

  “If you were me, would you want some random supra during a time like this?” She guessed not, given the dark frown that shadowed his face.

  “But you go through mating season every ten years. Why do you need Roarke and me now? What have you done in the past?”

  She shrugged. “I’ve always slept with humans, but with that new law about supras preying on humans—or doing anything that even looks like preying—well, that means humans are no longer an option. When I’m in mating heat, things can get a little wild. No one has ever been hurt before—” She shrugged again. “But let’s just say things get a bit wild.”

  She almost burst out laughing at the strained expression on Gabe’s face. He looked like he’d rather be having this conversation with anyone else but her.

  “I don’t understand what is so wrong with you just bonding with another lycan. You’re almost a century old now. How long do you plan to put off starting a family?”

  Her brows knitted together as she frowned at him, her blood simmering with anger at his audacity. The purpose of mating season was for lycan females to do just that and mate—but with a lycan male, which meant during that time females were more susceptible to bonding urges and highly fertile. But over the centuries, many lycan females had shunned the notion of mating simply for the sake of making pups, choosing instead to mate with humans and other supra, who they were less likely to form a bond with, and more importantly, less likely to wind up pregnant by. As long as she stayed away from a lycan male, she would be fine—for the most part.

  “You seem so certain of what I should do with my life, but what about yours? How long do you plan on putting off having a family?”

  His face reddened some more, if that was even possible, and he seemed visibly flustered by her question. “This isn’t about me.”

  “Exactly. This isn’t about you, it’s about me
, and you know I’ve said many times before that I’m not ready to mate and have pups. So, let’s just leave it at that,” she said, wincing slightly at her brusque tone. It wasn’t Gabe’s fault that he’d hit a sensitive nerve, but she couldn’t help but bristle at his comment. Her entire family had an opinion about when she was going to start a family. She didn’t need Gabe to add his two cents to the list.

  “You’re right. It’s not my life, but if I found someone to mate with, I don’t think I would run from that person.”

  She bit back the snappish reply on the tip of her tongue, at his self righteous tone. He couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t want a mate, just because he did. He hid it well, but she knew him better than most, and she knew his life was a lonely one. Deep down, Gabe yearned for the solace a mate would provide, the warmth of her touch, the reassurance that his existence was now meaningful. She understood Gabe’s longing, because at times, she felt it, too, and just like him, she did her best to keep her yearnings buried deep.

  He accused her of running from her mate, but she wanted to remind him that she wasn’t running from her intended mate. Hell, if such a mate existed, she wouldn’t run at all, but he didn’t exist, and she refused to be tied to a mate and have his pups when she wasn’t in love with him.

  But even if that wasn’t an issue, there was simply no room in her life for a family with her job as a detective for the Las Vegas Supernatural Crime Unit. Her duties kept her so swamped with crazy hours and a mountain of cases that a heart mate and a pup were the last things she needed right now, which was why she’d turned to Gabriel.

  Her handsome partner and his equally gorgeous best friend were a temptation she wasn’t sure she should entice herself with, but they were her only option. When she went into heat, every lycan in the nearby vicinity would pick up her scent, and the first one to get to her would win the prize. She was far too independent and in control of her life to leave her future to chance.

  “Look Gabe, I know there are some details that I still need to work out, but I wouldn’t have come to you if I hadn’t thought this through—” Okay, that wasn’t entirely true. She’d spent the thirty-minute drive into work mulling it over, but really there wasn’t too much to consider. She could either mate with another lycan and kiss her life, as she knew it, good-bye or take her chances with Gabriel and Roarke. When it came to the men in her life, there were no others she trusted more, which was why they were her first, last and only option.

  “You and Roarke are really my only option.”

  “Your only option for what?”

  Collette spun around in her chair as Detective Roarke Dimitru strolled into Gabe’s office with all the confidence and swagger of the city’s second oldest vampire.

  She furled her lips into a small smile as her gaze raked over the ruggedly handsome man with his stubbled jaw and chestnut brown locks that curled lazily around his broad shoulders. His green eyes danced with flirtatious laughter. In a word, Roarke was the consummate playboy, and he knew it.

  “Collette wants us to fuck her.”

  She shot Gabriel a hard look as her lips thinned into a tight frown. He didn’t have to put it that way exactly, no matter that was exactly how she’d posed it to him.

  “Hell yeah. I’m all in.”

  “Of course, you are,” Gabriel said dryly to the man who’d been his best friend for over two centuries.

  She ignored Gabriel as she flashed Roarke a warm smile.

  “Thanks, Roarke. I knew I could count on you.”

  “Oh please, Collette. The only reason why you can count on Roarke is because he thinks with the head in his pants—”

  “Hey! I resent that.” Everyone might have actually believed that had Roarke not been standing there, wearing a smug grin, as if he was proud of his scandalous reputation. She shook her head as a smile spread across her face. Knowing Roarke, he probably was.

  “Well it’s true, and you know it. Besides, while you’re all gung ho, did you even think to ask Collette for all the details, especially the one about how she could wind up pregnant after we’re all done?”

  She glared at Gabriel, pissed that he’d brought something up that really wasn’t an issue. Sometimes, he could really be a self righteous pain in the ass.

  “Whoa! You’re hot Collette, and I’m sure any offspring of ours would be drop dead gorgeous, but I don’t do vamp kittens or were pups,” Roarke protested, as he held up his hands like an invisible shield. She rolled her eyes at his antics. No doubt Roarke thought having offspring was akin to death. It probably was given his active lifestyle.

  Shooting to her feet, she moved to intercede before Gabriel could ruin her entire plan.

  “Relax Roarke. You know lycans and vamps can only reproduce when the pairing involves true heart mates.” She slid her gaze over both men. “And I think it’s safe to say, none of us in here are heart mates, but,” she added when both men opened their mouths, ready to unleash a barrage of questions and protests. “If it eases your mind, I can come up with a spell to deal with that. Just give me until the end of the day, and I’m sure I can conjure up something.”

  Roarke visibly relaxed, but Gabriel was a different story. One didn’t become a master of an entire city, because he was rash or impulsive. No, Gabriel was extremely thorough and meticulous. Those qualities were what made him such a good detective. She appreciated them when they worked together, but at the moment she cursed him and his damn steady judgment, especially when he still looked at her with that sceptical expression of his.

  “I still don’t know—”

  “Why don’t we give Collette a chance to come up with a spell before we just shut her down? She’s one of her kind’s most powerful witches. I’m sure she can come up with some—”

  “Why are you so eager to jump into bed with her? You weren’t even here to hear her whole convoluted and half-baked story, and yet you’re ready to go.” Gabe said with a dark glower.

  She glared at him. He was exaggerating. Her plan hadn’t been that half-baked.

  Roarke shrugged his large shoulders, his lips curling into a lopsided grin. “I didn’t need to be here, I already know what’s going on. How old are you, Collette? Seventy? Eighty?” He didn’t wait for her to answer as he bulldozed ahead. “She’s obviously about to go through her tenth cycle, and it’s mating season—”

  “I should have known you would know,” Gabe grumbled as he shook his head.

  Roarke’s grin grew wider. “Who doesn’t? Besides, I’ve helped out a couple of lycan hotties a time or two before. You wouldn’t be so uptight about this stuff if you relaxed a little and got laid. You spend—”

  “Thanks, Roarke. Was there something you needed?”

  “Not really. I just heard my name when I was passing by, so I decided to drop on in.”

  She chuckled when he winked at her. She had no doubt he’d been eavesdropping and decided to pop in to help her make her case.

  “I need to get to work,” she said as she moved towards the door. “But will you at least consider my proposition?”

  “Honey, you know I’m all in—”

  “I’ll consider it,” Gabe finished, shooting Roarke a pointed glare.

  “Well, that’s all I ask,” she said softly, her eyes fixed solely on Gabe before she turned on her heels and slipped out.

  “What the hell is wrong with you, man?” Gabe said, shoving a hand through his midnight black mane that brushed against his shoulders.

  “I should ask you the same thing. Miss Hot Fineness wants to make you her sex slave for eight hours, at least, and you’re all prepared to say no. Have you ever slept with a lycan chick during mating season? Man, I can tell you the sex is hot. I don’t know what’s wrong with you, or why you’re being so uptight about this?”

  He shot his best friend a hard look as he leaned back in his chair, letting out a long ragged breath in the process.

  Roarke was only a century younger than him, but in this case, that century made all the diff
erence. His friend was a top notch detective, and was the best at what he did, but when he ended his shift, he was free to go on the hunt for pussy or blood or both.

  The same wasn’t true for him. When his shift was over, he had to return to his home and hear the complaints of the five vampire clan elders, who were constantly involved in power struggles—and that was on a slow day. Most nights, he was outside, hovering beneath the silver moon, tuning into the pulse of the night, listening for sounds in the darkness for any indication that something was amiss in his city.

  No, Roarke didn’t understand why his life wasn’t just an endless orgy, because he didn’t have the weight of an entire city on his shoulders. It wasn’t just the vampire clans either. Humans, lycans, witches, and dark fey all came to his door to voice their concerns if a rogue vampire was on the loose, or if one of his kind messed up and harmed another species.

  His life had not been carefree for almost fifty years, since he’d assumed control of Sin City from a rogue vamp.

  At the time, he’d been fresh and eager to control his own city, to wield such power over several clans. As the youngest of five siblings, he’d been the last to inherit such an honoured responsibility, but now he understood why two of his brothers had turned their cities over to other elder vampires after finding their mates. It was an all consuming job, which left little time for anything else, and in his case, that also included meaningless sex and frivolous dating.

  “I don’t think I’m being uptight about any of this. I’m just considering what could happen if we don’t think about this before we enter into an eight-hour fuck fest, as you seem to be so eager to do. Besides, I would think with your carefree life, the thought of getting any woman pregnant would scare the shit out of you.”

  A lazy grin spread across Roarke’s face as he lowered his large frame into the same chair Collette had just deserted. “You forget, I’ve done this before, and there are no kittens and puppies walking around here. Actually, the last lycan I slept with was in her mating season, and it was no big deal. I shared her with another vamp, and it was all good.”