by Zara Chase
“Shit!” Vadim bit Zayd’s shoulder hard as he shot his load. “That was so fucking good.”
Zayd’s sperm gushed over Vadim’s gut in a perfect arc. “Ain’t that the truth.”
Vadim glanced down at the sticky mess slipping down his stomach and grinned. “If we had the time, I’d make you lick that off.”
“Perhaps that’s something we could get our mate to do for us. I love what she does with that wicked tongue of hers.”
Vadim’s grin widened as he headed for the shower. “Now there’s a thought.”
A short time later the two jaguars maneuvered their boat onto the dock outside the Cat’s Whiskers. As soon as they walked through the door, Vadim was treated like some sort of conquering hero. He was slapped on the back and congratulated by every colony member he met. He also had to field endless questions about his injuries. Vadim knew that any doubts about his loyalty had well and truly been eradicated. It wasn’t every day that an alpha wolf was killed in protection of the colony as a whole. Now that he’d gotten the acceptance he’d always craved, Vadim was a bit embarrassed by all the fuss and tried to act cool. Zayd merely grinned at him, letting him know he wasn’t fooled.
Rafe lost no time in calling the meeting to order.
“Thanks to Vadim,” he said, “we don’t have to worry about more attacks from wolves for a while. It’ll take them a while to regroup and even when they do, they’ll think twice about attacking us inside Impulse.”
“Agreed,” said several voices.
“Vilas was in charge of interrogating the two wolves we captured,” he said, turning to his fellow alpha panther. “Wanna give us an update, Vilas?”
“Sure. As it happens they were most anxious to tell us everything.”
Zayd chuckled. “I’ll just bet they were.”
“Paw screws at dawn,” quipped someone else.
“Not quite,” Vilas said. “They knew they had no choice, and that we’d let them go if they told the truth. And the truth is that everyone in the pack warned Wilson against attacking us in Impulse. Word of how well we defend the place from within had reached all of them.”
“It ought to reach a few more shifters after last night,” Tyrone said with satisfaction.
“Right, anyway, it seemed Wilson wouldn’t listen to reason. He was confident that he could win both Impulse and Talia.” Vilas fixed Vadim and Zayd with a steady gaze. “But Talia was his main objective.”
“Bastard!” muttered Zayd.
“He didn’t think it would come down to a fight. He figured we’d give up Impulse in exchange for our lives because we were so heavily outnumbered.”
“How did he get all those people past our guards?” Vadim asked.
“Well, it seems Wilson was a bit of a nerd and experimented with higher pheromoning frequencies than we’ve ever tried before.”
“Ah, that would do it,” Zayd said.
Vilas nodded. “Exactly, he found a frequency that worked long range, and which we weren’t attuned to because we didn’t know it existed.”
“We soon will be,” Kane said with conviction. “With what those guys…er, volunteered, I reckon we’ll crack it before the end of the day.”
Vadim did, too. Kane and Tyrone were no rookies themselves when it came to all forms of communication. It would be a matter of pride for them to get up to speed with Wilson’s discovery.
Rafe ran through the rest of the colony’s business and the meeting was about to break up.
“There’ll be a party here tonight, of course,” he said.
Vadim and Zayd nodded. They’d forgotten that there was always a celebration when they’d successfully defended the colony. The felines in Impulse knew how to let the claws out and it would be a great opportunity to show Talia the social side of the colony.
“We ought to buy her something pretty to wear tonight,” Zayd said as they made their way home in the boat. “She doesn’t have anything with her.”
“True,” Vadim agreed. “Perhaps Chantal or Layla could take her to Feline Fashions and help her pick something appropriate out. Women like dressing up. It’ll make her feel good about herself.”
Zayd threw the lines over the bollards on the dock as Vadim brought the boat in. “Let’s go and tell her.”
The bed in their room was neatly made, and Talia wasn’t in it. She wasn’t in the sitting room, either.
“Perhaps she’s in her own room,” Zayd said, dashing to see.
An Arctic blast passed through Vadim, settling in where his heart used to be. Talia wasn’t in her room. He knew it before Zayd even went to look and came back shaking his head. She wasn’t anywhere inside the house.
“So, she’s gone out,” Zayd said, shrugging. “Perhaps she needed some things, or Chantal and some of the mates came to entertain her while we were in the meeting. It’s not as if she’s a prisoner and has to ask our permission to go out, especially since she can now breathe the air.”
“Let’s go and find her,” Vadim said grimly.
Half an hour later Vadim’s worst fears were realized. Talia was nowhere to be found and everyone they asked hadn’t seen her. Vadim then did what he should have done the moment he found her missing and sent out a general pheromone asking for information. It was answered in person by one of the beta jaguars.
“She asked Giron about the best way to get back to Venice,” he said. “So Giron drove her there himself.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Why would she do that?” Zayd asked, slumping to the floor and shaking his head in bemusement.
“I’d say the answer’s pretty obvious,” Vadim replied. “She’s never hidden the way she felt about shifters. And after what she saw last night it would be enough to put anyone off for life.”
“But she was so worried about you when she thought you were going to die.”
“She’s had time to reconsider.”
“I just don’t get it, Vadim. Why did she let us fuck her if she hates shifters so much?”
“Hell if I know. Perhaps she just felt horny.”
“We had unprotected sex, too. She could be carrying our cub.”
“Yeah, and we’ll never know.” Vadim clenched his fist and thumped the arm of his chair with considerable force. His claws emerged, as did his whiskers, a sure sign that he was fired up. “Fuck giving her space. We should have gone back in there this morning, fucked her until she was boneless, and tied her to the bed. She’s ours, or would have been if we’d played it right.”
“Well,” Zayd said, sighing, “at least we had her once. We know how good it feels to fuck the woman who’s right for you.”
“You realize what this means,” Vadim said tersely. “Our powers will decrease quite rapidly. We’ll have to give up being alphas. Giron and Jud will have to take over security and we’ll fade into obscurity. By this time next year we won’t be able to win a fight in the Cat’s Cradle nursery.”
“Yeah, but do you know what, buddy?”
“What?” Vadim barked morosely.
“Given my time over, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“Yeah, me, too. She’s something else.”
Zayd’s own whiskers emerged. “I just wish I knew why she took off in such a hurry. She might have at least said good-bye.”
“Perhaps she thought we’d try to persuade her to stay if she did that.”
“Well, she got that part right. We would have.”
“Should we go after her?” Vadim asked. “Try and make her see…see what? Nah, she needs to be here because she wants to be, not because she feels sorry for us.”
“Right.”
The two men fell into a moody silence.
“Some party it’ll be tonight,” Vadim said.
“Yeah, but…shit, did you hear something?”
Both men sat up straight, their heightened sense of hearing on high alert. Footsteps…light footsteps…ran up the stairs and Talia burst into the room like a ray of sunshine. Vadim and Zayd jumped to their feet and sta
red at her like they couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing. Giron appeared behind her, clutching two bulging suitcases. He dropped them on the floor, grinned at Vadim and Zayd, and made himself scarce.
“Thanks, Giron,” Talia called out after him.
“My pleasure.”
“What’s going on?” Vadim asked, nodding toward the cases. “Where have you been?”
“Giron took me back to Venice so I could clear out my things,” she said breezily. “I figured I’d be back before your meeting ended.”
“How did you even know we had a meeting?”
“When I woke up and you weren’t here, I went out to look for you. I saw Giron and he told me. He also said there’d be a party tonight and I wanted to get something to wear. Thought I might as well get all my stuff while I was there. I got caught up with my mom, otherwise I’d have been back ages ago.”
“What’s going on, babe?” Vadim asked. “Are you really here to stay?”
She smiled at each of them in turn. “If you’ll have me.”
“If we’ll have you!” echoed Zayd, recovering first. “Are you kidding me?”
“But you hate shifters,” Vadim said slowly, his eyes locking with hers.
She shrugged. “Not anymore, it seems.”
“You haven’t had enough time to make that decision.”
She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. “You saying you don’t want me?”
“No, but—”
Her musical laughter stopped Vadim in his tracks. “You guys kill me. You can face up to rampant wolves, but when it comes to more delicate matters you’re complete wusses.” Her laughter turned into a deep sigh. “Okay, I’ll make it easy for you. You guys need a mate and I’m volunteering for the position.”
“But you don’t—”
“I heard what Mikael said to you earlier, or rather what he didn’t say. We both know, thanks to the late, unlamented Wilson, that I helped to restore your powers.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to stick around here,” Vadim told her, his gaze fixed on her features, allowing himself to hope. “You’ve already done more than enough.”
“But you’ve both fucked me, so you can’t have anyone else.” She offered them a sultry smile. “That would be too cruel, so I guess you’re stuck with me, like it or not.”
“We like,” Zayd said. “But how did you know that we couldn’t mate elsewhere? We never said.”
“My grandmother. She claims that’s why she didn’t leave my grandfather. She said it wouldn’t be fair, but I’m guessing she felt the same way about him that I feel about you guys.”
“And how would that be?” Vadim asked, his gaze still locked on her face.
“That I’ve come home. That I’ve been searching for the two of you since I left high school. That we could—”
“You don’t know what it’s like living in Impulse,” Zayd said. “It’s not all fun and games.”
“I’m part shifter. Of course I know. That’s why I went back, cleared out my rented apartment.” She glanced down at the two bulging cases. “Not much to show for twenty-six years, but I believe in traveling light. I told the owners of the gym that I won’t be giving any more karate lessons there and then made a detour and told Mom of my decision.”
“She knows you’ve chosen to live with shifters.”
“Sure.” She shrugged. “I’m not ashamed of it, and she didn’t seem to care. She’s too taken up with herself to worry about me. Always has been.”
“Even so, babe. We want you to be sure,” Zayd said gently.
She glowered at each of them in turn. “Are you trying to talk me out of this? Have you any idea how insulting that is?”
Vadim and Zayd shared a speaking look. Then, as one, they fell upon her, kissing her face, her arms, her neck, every part of her that wasn’t covered by her clothing. Deciding that wasn’t sufficient, they stripped her naked and kissed all the newly exposed bits with renewed vigor.
“Does that answer your question?” Vadim asked, coming up for air. “We just didn’t think it would be fair to push you, especially after what happened to your grandmother.”
“I think she was trying to tell me on that one occasion she spoke to me about my grandfather that living with a shifter had a lot going for it.” She waggled her brows. “So far, I have to agree with her.”
“Even so,” Vadim said, running a hand softly down her arm. “It’s a huge step to take. Don’t you need more time?”
“I guess I’m in a hurry to have a proper home, which is something I’ve never really known. I felt at home the moment I woke up in Impulse. It has such a sense of community, and everyone seems to care about everyone else.”
“That’s certainly true,” Zayd said.
She smiled at each of them. “So, what happens now?”
“There’s a small ceremony,” Vadim said. “Let’s go back to the bedroom and get it done.”
They did so and Vadim reached into a drawer where a velvet box had long sat, waiting for an owner. He opened it and showed Talia the collar sitting inside, studded with pink sapphires.
“Wow, that’s so beautiful!”
“This is our mating collar,” he explained, fixing it round her neck. “It tells the world that you belong to us and you’ll never take it off, understood?”
Talia lowered her eyes. “Yes, master.”
“Now kneel before us. Let’s get the ceremony out the way.”
“Do you swear by all that you hold most sacred to be our mate, true only to us, for the rest of your days?”
“I do,” she said in a decisive tone.
“We love you, Talia Regan, and pledge our lives to keeping you safe and happy.”
They each placed a hand on top of her head and a bolt like a mild electric current passed through them to consume her entire body. She trembled, which implied that the charge had taken hold.
“What just happened?” she asked, blinking up at them.
“What did you feel?” Vadim extended a hand, pulling her easily to her feet and into his arms.
“It was strange. Like a missing part of me just fell back into place.” She shook her head, looking dazed. “I feel all warm deep inside.”
“That’s good.” Vadim smiled into her eyes. “We just made you ours, entered into a binding commitment, and shared our love with you.”
“So much for words,” Zayd said with an irrepressible grin. “Now for the deeds. God, you look pretty wearing that collar, sweetheart. It makes my heart sing just to see you in it. And that ring at the front of it has a purpose. Kneel down and submit to us, Talia, so we can show you how it works.”
She tumbled to her knees in front of them, trembling with anticipation.
“Turn and face the wall, darlin’,” Vadim said, “until I say you can look around.”
She walked on her knees right into the corner, like she’d done it a thousand times before, even though they knew she hadn’t. She adored being dominated, and Vadim knew without asking that it came naturally to her. The little witch sat on her knees, legs apart, and leaned forward, giving them a good view of her butt and pussy. Damn it, she’d be the death of them, but, shit, what a way to go!
“Are you trying to say that you want your cute backside spanked?” Vadim asked.
“I wouldn’t dare tell you what to do, master.”
Zayd chuckled. “Like hell she wouldn’t.”
“Well, just for that I’m gonna play with Zayd first, and you get to watch. Turn around.” She did so, eyes wide with expectation. “Play with your tits, darlin’. Make those nipples nice and hard for us.”
They watched her, kneeling to face one another as they did so and rubbing cocks again just as they had earlier, making them huge for her. Zayd fell back on his elbows, his rigid shaft pointing toward the ceiling, inviting Vadim to suck him off.
“She can do it while I get her ready.”
Vadim beckoned to Talia. She scampered across to the bed, juices running freely d
own her thighs, and positioned herself in front of Zayd. Leaning forward, she sucked him into her mouth, giving Vadim free access to her ass. He squirted lube over her buttocks and rimmed her anus with a slick finger before sliding it inside. She mumbled something around Zayd’s cock as she pushed back against Vadim’s hand.
“Who’s going first?” Zayd asked.
“Why not together?”
“You think she can take it?”
Vadim clocked the anticipatory light in her eyes as she glanced up at him. “Never in doubt,” he said.
“Those tits need to be clamped and her ass needs to be spanked first. There’s work to do before we get to fuck her.”
“Then what are we waiting for.”
Zayd pulled out of her mouth, but Vadim’s hand on the small of her back ensured she remained where she was, leaning forward, bare ass right in his face. Vadim threw the tube of lube to Zayd, who slid beneath her and applied it to her areolas with meticulous attention to detail. Vadim brought his hand down over her buttocks as Zayd carefully attached clover clamps to her nipples and attached the adjoining chain to the loop on her collar. As soon as it was in place he signaled to Vadim, who grabbed her hair and pulled her head back, tightening the clamps. She cried out with obvious pleasure.
“Like that, do you, darlin’?” Zayd asked.
“Yes, it’s awesome,” she replied breathlessly. “I had no idea stupid nipples could be so damned sensitive.”
“There’s nothing stupid about your nipples, sweetheart.”
Zayd positioned himself beneath her and fisted his cock, rubbing it against her clit but not entering her. Vadim rubbed his own cock against the crack in her ass, preparing her for its invasion. If she was nervous about taking them both together, it didn’t show.
“I know I’m not supposed to make suggestions,” she said breathlessly, “but anytime you feel like doing this mating business, I’m up for it.”
Vadim and Zayd roared with laughter.
“Looks like we’ve gotten ourselves a right handful in our mate,” Vadim said, sliding the tip of his slick cock into her anus, eliciting a squeal of indignation when he immediately withdrew it again. He took pity on her and slid it back in, but she closed against him. “Don’t fight me, sweet thing. Let me ease it into you real slow.”
