by Becca Van
“Are you okay, honey? You look a little flushed,” Mikhail asked, leaning toward her over the corner of the table.
“Yes, I’m fine. Just a little…overwhelmed,” Michelle answered with a smile.
“Have a seat, baby,” Brock said from behind her, pulled her chair back, and saw her seated, then took his own seat beside her. Jonah sat on her other side, and then Angela and her daughter began to bring platters laden with food to the table.
Michelle watched in awe as the men loaded their plates high with food and wondered where they put it all. Sure, they were all big, brawny, handsome men, but not one of them had an ounce of fat on their toned bodies. How the hell they could pack away so much food was beyond her.
Michelle saw Jonah whisk her plate up, and he began to fill it with food. He piled it with steak, salad, and vegetables. He’d given her enough food to feed her all week long. He placed the now-loaded plate before her, and she lowered her eyes and stared at it. There was no way she’d be able to eat all that.
“Eat up, darlin’,” Jonah said as he began to eat.
Michelle ate some of the salad and a quarter of the large steak. She’d been thankful to find the housekeeper liked to cook her meat medium rare, just the way she liked it. She’d eaten way more than she usually did for lunch and sat back with a satisfied sigh after placing her utensils on her plate.
“You can’t possibly have had enough, baby,” Brock whispered, leaning toward her.
“I assure you I have. I usually only have a sandwich for lunch.”
“Do you mind if I finish what you’ve left?” Brock asked, giving her a smirk, the sexy bastard.
“Sure, have at it,” Michelle replied, pushing her plate toward him.
Chapter Four
A sound from across the room caught Michelle’s attention. She raised her head to see the blonde woman who had visited her at the library that very morning. The beautiful woman was decked out in designer-label clothes, her makeup applied to perfection. It made Michelle feel like something the cat had dragged in from the yard in her dowdy schoolmarm clothes. But ever since she’d finished her degree in Mullen and been harassed by the middle-aged head librarian, she’d downplayed her looks, and it had become a comfortable façade. Not that she thought there was anything special about the way she looked. As far as she was concerned she was just Miss Average. She didn’t really care what others thought of the way she dressed or how she kept her hair up out of her face, but when faced with the denigrating look she’d received from the blonde, she felt totally out of place.
“Alphas,” the woman said in a judgmental tone. “Oh goody, a new mate to play with.”
“Be very careful, Kirsten. You don’t want to bite off more than you can chew.” Jonah growled, making Michelle feel sorry for the young woman he was berating. Not that she understood what was going on, but she still felt compassion for the woman. As she stared at Michelle she could see anger and pain in her eyes.
Michelle had no idea what she’d done to get on the woman’s bad side. She hadn’t even met the woman until she’d come into the library. She watched Kirsten grab a plate of food then storm out of the room without a backward glance. There was a lot more going on here than was on the surface, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what it was.
“Have you had enough to eat, darlin’?” Jonah’s voice broke Michelle from her contemplation.
“Yes. Thank you, Angela. Lunch was lovely,” Michelle said as Jonah helped her from her seat and began to lead her from the room. She was surprised when Jonah’s brothers, Brock and Mikhail, followed.
“Would you like a tour?” Jonah asked Michelle, sweeping his hand out to encompass the house.
“Yes, thank you. That would be nice. You have a beautiful home,” Michelle stated as Jonah led her off the hall to a huge living room.
“Does everyone in the dining room live here?” she asked.
“Yeah, they do. We have a lot of business ventures and most of the people here are family, so it just made sense that we all live together. Besides the house is large enough and we all have our privacy as we all live in different wings of the house,” Jonah replied.
“Well, that certainly makes sense.”
“How long have you lived in Aztec, baby?” Brock asked from behind her.
Michelle looked over her shoulder to answer Brock and caught him checking out her ass. When he raised his eyes to hers, he gave her a wink and a wicked smile.
“I moved here three weeks ago. I inherited a small cottage from an uncle I didn’t even know I had. How those lawyers tracked me down is a mystery. So anyway, I decided to transfer from the library in Mullen to here, so I wouldn’t have to pay rent.”
“Where does the rest of your family live?” Mikhail asked from her other side.
Michelle turned to him and looked him in the eye. “I don’t have any family. I was raised in a convent and in foster homes.”
“That explains the uptight façade,” Brock muttered behind her.
“Sorry?”
“Don’t worry about it, baby, just talking to myself,” he replied.
Michelle turned back to Jonah as he took her hand in his and led her through the large living room and to a games room. The room was full of handsome men and a couple of women, including the intrepid Kirsten. The woman shot daggers at her with her eyes. Michelle wondered how she was still standing. She should have keeled over from that glare. Mikhail moved up to her side and placed himself between Kirsten and herself. His back was to her. She had no idea what Mikhail did or said. Even if he had spoken she hadn’t heard him, but the next moment Kirsten stormed from the room slamming the door behind her.
“Would you like to see the gardens, Michelle?” Jonah asked, pulling her gaze around to him.
Michelle gave a nod of her head and followed behind as Jonah led her out the side glass sliding doors. Her head was really beginning to pound now and she wanted nothing more than to get in her car and go home, but she sighed and followed the man who, for some reason beyond her comprehension, fascinated her. She wondered why Jonah had asked her out to his house for lunch. To be honest she didn’t know what he wanted from her, but was too intrigued by him and his brothers to care.
Michelle was sick and tired of being a good girl. She wanted to let loose and go wild for a while, just to see what the attraction was and how the other half lived. She knew deep down she was different from how she portrayed herself to the world, but she was too scared to let go. She’d never had anyone in her life to really worry about, but she wanted to keep her polite, cool façade in place in case she met someone and they didn’t like her true personality. She knew that beneath the front she hid behind, she was a real wild woman, but she kept herself on a tight rein. Deep down Michelle was a closet romantic, believing in the happy endings she knew she would never have the chance to experience.
Michelle knew she was in trouble as soon as the pinpricks of light began to form before her eyes. She’d left her sunglasses in her car, and the sunlight was hurting her eyes, making her head pound even more. She knew what came next. She had to leave now before she disgraced herself by vomiting. She turned away from Jonah and slammed into a hard, warm male body. She squinted as she tried to see whom she’d run into but had to slam her eyes shut when the sunlight penetrated her eyeballs and pierced her skull. Pain knifed through her brain, making her reach up and clutch her head and whimper.
“Are you all right, honey?” Michelle heard Mikhail ask from above her. She couldn’t answer. The pain piercing her skull was too bad.
Michelle felt as if every hair follicle on her head was on fire along with her brain, and the numbness began to spread from her forehead down over her nose to her lips. She knew what came next.
“Bathroom quick, now,” Michelle managed to say and stumbled. She couldn’t help moaning as she was swept up into large, muscular arms, and she felt every step Mikhail took in her head. She knew Jonah and Brock were following behind as their brother rushed her
“Do you have any pain medication, honey?”
“Purse, car,” Michelle managed to whisper, still clutching at her head.
“I’m on it,” she heard Brock say.
Mikhail lifted Michelle into his arms again. He held her against his chest and carried her from the bathroom. She felt a soft mattress beneath her back and the sound of curtains being drawn. More footsteps, then hands were on her, helping her to half sit and half recline. She felt fingers at her lips and opened her mouth for her medication. Two pills were placed on her tongue and a glass of water held to her lips. She took a sip and swallowed them down. The hands helped lower her to the mattress again, and then they were on the buttons of her blouse and skirt. She knew she should protest, but she couldn’t remember why. The pain was just too bad, and when she was like this she wouldn’t have cared if anyone saw her butt naked.
Her outer clothes were removed, and she could have sworn she heard growls, but couldn’t concentrate. She was lucky. The migraine medication worked quickly on her, and she could already feel herself being pulled down to sleep. She didn’t fight it. She didn’t want to. Even though she was going to feel like she had a hangover when she woke up, she’d rather cope with that than the horrible, excruciating pain. She let go and drifted down into slumber.
* * * *
“Holy mother of…She is hot. It would seem our mate is a closet sex goddess. Would you look at that underwear? She’s not as prim and proper as she makes out,” Brock said in a voice so low only a werewolf would be able to hear. He stared at their mate’s petite, curvy body and the purple lace G-string, matching demi bra, and garter belt.
“Don’t just stand their gawking, Brock, help me get the rest of her things off,” Mikhail whispered.
“Leave her panties and bra on but remove the garter belt and stockings. We don’t want out mate to feel like she’s been violated.” Jonah growled as he picked up the medicine bottle and read the contents and the prescription.
“Shit, I hate this. She was in so much pain. When we claim her she won’t have to put up with migraines anymore,” Jonah stated. “I want to begin trying to seduce our mate sooner than we planned. I can’t stand to see her suffer needlessly. Brock, stop staring at her and cover her with a quilt.”
Brock did as his brother commanded and reluctantly covered their mate’s hot, sexy body. He wanted to crawl on the bed and suckle on her lush breasts. Who knew she would be hiding such a hot little body beneath her conservative, shapeless clothes? He moved to the other side of the bed and shifted Michelle to lie on her side. Then he began to remove the pins from her hair. He gently unwound and untangled her strands until they were flowing down her back, stopping just above her waist. With his better-than-twenty-twenty vision he was able to see the bright red dye streaks of auburn in her brown hair and knew without a doubt there was more to his mate than she showed on the surface. He wanted to keep her here with him and his brothers, to have her by their side and in their beds, to see what the real Michelle was like, but knew she would put up a fight. He looked at his brothers.
“So, what do we do now?”
“We wait until our mate wakes up, and if she wants to go home, we let her go. But we will try and get her to stay here for the rest of the weekend first,” Jonah explained.
“How the hell are we going to do that?” Mikhail asked.
“I haven’t figured that one out myself yet. If you have any suggestions I’m open to hearing them,” Jonah replied.
“The only way I can think of is seducing her,” Brock said then held up his hand to placate his brothers’ scowls. “I know. We have to wait and make sure she’s not in any pain. I’m not that heartless.”
“We can’t, Brock. As much as I want to agree with you, it’s too soon for her. She’d run,” Jonah stated.
“I know,” Brock said with a sigh. “You can’t blame a man for trying though. My wolf is pushing at me to claim her and I know you two are having the same problem, so don’t read me the riot act. I just hope we don’t have to wait too long. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hold him off.”
“Come on. Let’s leave her to rest. We’ll hear when she wakes,” Jonah said, moving to the bedroom door, and left without a backward glance.
Brock heard Mikhail follow Jonah. He stood staring down at the pale face of his mate and bit his knuckle. He gave her one last glance and left.
Chapter Five
Oh God. Why did I have to get a migraine here of all places? Michelle came awake slowly. Her mind was foggy and her stomach a little queasy, but she sighed in relief when she felt no pain in her head. She rolled onto her back and slowly opened her eyes. She stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, gasping out loud as memory slammed into her mind.
She struggled to sit up and flopped back on the pillows for a moment, then bolted upright in bed, clutching at the quilt covering her. She slowly drew a portion of the quilt away from her chest and looked down. Yep, she was practically naked. Fuck it. Whoever had undressed her would have gotten an eyeful of her sexy lingerie. She tried to remember who had removed her clothes. She’d had numerous large hands helping her when she was sick. It could only have been the three Friess brothers.
Michelle threw the quilt aside and searched for her clothes. She found them neatly draped over a chair in the corner. She dressed quickly, and peered out the bedroom door. She sighed in relief when there was no one about and stepped out into the hallway. She wanted to get to her car and leave, hopefully without encountering anybody. She walked along the carpeted hallway, trying to be as quiet as a mouse, and hesitated at the top of the stairs.
She was halfway down the second level of stairs when she felt hands push her hard from behind. She flew the rest of the way down. She tried to grab a hold of the banister, but her hand slipped off. She had too much momentum to stop herself. Her chest bounced against a step, and then she was sliding. She reached out with an arm to cushion her fall as she hurtled to the bottom of the stairs, and when her hand connected with the unforgiving tile floor, her arm bent into an unnatural position. She heard the crack, and agonizing pain radiated up her wrist into her shoulder. She knew she just broken her arm or wrist. She was in too much pain to make a sound. Her breath halted in her lungs and tears tracked down her cheeks as she lay sprawled out on the cold tiled floor.
Gentle hands turned her over, and she couldn’t contain the low moan as pain escalated to a new level. She pulled her injured arm slowly into her body and cradled it with the other. She looked up to see Mikhail and Brock standing over her as Jonah picked her up into his arms. She turned her head into his chest, trying to hide her tears as he carried her into the large living room off to the right. She felt sick to her stomach again and prayed like hell she wouldn’t throw up all over the man trying to help her.
“Brock, go and get Blayk. I want Michelle checked over. I think she broke her arm. Are you all right, darlin’?” Jonah asked as he sat down on a sofa, taking her with him.
Michelle wanted to get up off his lap, but she was in too much pain to even want to try and move. She nodded her head, her forehead rubbing against his T-shirt-clad chest, too afraid if she opened her mouth she would start screaming and not be able to stop.
She heard the rustle of clothes and knew Blayk was near her. She wanted to be brave and look at him, but she hurt too much.
“I need to get your shirt off, Michelle, so I can give you a shot for the pain. Can you sit up for me?” an unfamiliar male voice asked.
Michelle lifted her head and then her upper body from her slumped position on Jonah’s chest. She looked up and saw Blayk looking down at her, a worried frown on his face. She lifted her good arm and began to slowly undo the buttons on her blouse. When she fumbled a few times, Jonah brushed her hand away and took over the task. Once done, he helped ease her good arm out of her sleeve and carefully pulled her back against his chest.
She felt and smelled as Blayk swabbed her arm with disinfectant then felt a slight prick as he gave her the pain medication. She reacted quickly to meds and felt her limbs become heavy and as if she were floating as the medication began to work. She couldn’t prevent the giggle bubbling up in her chest from escaping her mouth as Jonah lifted her up and turned her around on his lap. She flinched with pain as Blayk began to examine her arm as he talked to Jonah. She could hear what he was saying but had a little trouble comprehending his words.
“You could have this fixed by tomorrow if you and your brothers claimed her, Alpha. If you don’t she’ll be wearing a cast for at least six weeks. She’ll need help for the first few days. She’s going to be in too much pain to cope on her own.”
“Wh–Whatsh an alpha?” Michelle slurred then giggled.
“It seems our mate can’t handle pain meds. I wonder what she’s like when she’s had alcohol,” Michelle heard Brock say.
“Brock!” Michelle heard Jonah and Mikhail say at the same time and giggled again.
“I’m not deaf, you know,” Michelle slurred.
“We know you aren’t, baby,” Brock replied.
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