by Faye Avalon
To embrace the future, they must defy the past.
Beasts of Bodmin Moor, Book 2
Naomi Flynn never intends to mate or marry. Either one would leave her open to the manipulation she’s sworn never to endure again. Besides, no panther male will want her once they know the truth behind what happened a decade ago.
She’s happy to burn up the sheets in a buddy-with-benefits arrangement, until a craving for a three-way sexual adventure thrusts her right back into the arms of the man she can’t afford to remember.
Tynan Galloway doesn’t intend to stand by and watch the woman he wants throw herself at every male with a pulse except him. Ten years ago, a brutal assault robbed him of his destiny as a protector of the pack, but damned if Naomi is going to be another casualty of his fate.
In the heat of a fantasy come true, Naomi’s resolve to keep her emotional distance weakens. But when Tynan discovers she’s in potential danger, he dares her to deny he’s the only man who can protect her. Never expecting she’ll go to extremes to prove him wrong...
Warning: A hot panther shifter with something to prove, a heroine with a secret to keep, and a threesome arrangement which brings out the teeth and claws.
Beast Denied
Faye Avalon
Dedication
For my dearest man. As always.
Chapter One
From the safety of the hotel bathroom, Naomi Flynn could hear the two men talking, discussing who would have the pleasure of fucking her first.
Leaning back against the locked door, her blood running cold in her veins, Naomi wondered what the hell she had gotten herself into. They’d seemed regular enough guys, at least while she’d been sharing a drink with them. They’d flirted, flattered and teased her. So much so that they’d appeared perfect for what she had in mind.
Until they’d locked the door to the hotel room, and with the gleam in their eyes came her first flicker of unease.
A couple of hours ago, Naomi had strolled into the hotel’s bar, intent on having herself one doozy of a party. She’d thought about it long and hard. Wasn’t having sex with two men every woman’s fantasy?
It had worked for her friend. Talia McLeod might now be all loved up with her new husband, their pack’s leader, but before she and Caleb became a couple, they had a triple deal going with Joshua, Caleb’s half brother, now working overseas.
Unlike Talia, Naomi had no intention of finding her true mate in this deal, but she admitted to being more than a little curious about indulging in a ménage à trois and hadn’t been able to shake the desire to try it for herself.
Living vicariously through her new friend had given Naomi a taste for adventure, and had fed her growing hunger to push through her comfort zone and see how it felt to live without constraint. Even if just for one night. The more she’d thought about it, the more she’d wanted it.
Of course, she’d chosen human men to assuage her curiosity. They would keep the whole thing from becoming too intense, too personal. With humans, there would be no complications. No possessive pack males insisting she become their mate or wanting to mark her as theirs.
Because that would never happen. It couldn’t. Not for her.
So indulging her fantasy with the aid of human men had been her only real option. But now, standing in the bathroom of a Truro hotel as the clock struck midnight, it seemed like her only option had gone belly up.
In fact, listening to the men planning what they would do to her when she hotfooted it back to the bedroom had the opposite effect from making her hot and adventurous. It made her question her sanity.
With a hard swallow, Naomi hurried over to the window. She peered out and down. Two floors up, with a drop down onto concrete. Shit.
Had things been different, she would have shifted. In her panther state, she could make short work of those two floors, leap to safety before the men even realized she was gone. But that would never happen either. Not again. Over the years, she’d barely mourned her lost ability, and it had seemed the least of her troubles. Tonight she longed for it.
Running a hand over her stomach, she pushed back the maudlin thoughts that nudged for attention. She needed all her wits about her to deal with her current predicament.
Perhaps if she simply went out there and told them she had made a huge mistake, that she really wasn’t ready for this and had changed her mind. She’d apologize for leading them on, for getting them all worked up. Well, to be honest she’d gotten herself all worked up. This was what she’d wanted, what she’d planned for.
She stepped back to the mirror, smoothed down her hair. Nerves, she decided. She was simply suffering from nerves. She had never done anything like this before, which made it perfectly natural to have last-minute doubts.
“Hey, babe.”
At the thump on the door, Naomi dropped the sandals hooked over her index finger.
“You planning on joining us anytime soon?”
Naomi turned to face the door. “Just a minute.”
With trembling hands, she reached around and unzipped the short black dress she’d bought only yesterday. She let it slip down her body and pool at her feet. Turning, she glanced at herself in the mirror and saw skimpy black bra and panties, designed to send a man, or in her case, men, wild.
She stepped aside, picked up the dress and threw it over the bathroom stool. Inhaling a long slow breath, she opened the door.
The two men lay naked on the bed like mirrored bookends, the space between them waiting to be filled…by her. Two sets of eyes, hooded with desire, raked over her.
One of them—Derek?—tapped the vacant sheet. While the other—Malcolm?—stretched languorously. His erection bobbed, pushing fresh nerves through her.
“Too many clothes, baby,” Malcolm said. “Why don’t you give us a striptease? Slow and sexy. The bra first.”
Pushing through the jittery discomfort, Naomi moved until her back was to the men. She reached around to unhook her bra, then held the unfastened cups close to her chest. Turning back, with the men’s gazes focused on her still-covered breasts, she let the straps fall away. There was a sense of power, Naomi thought, in holding a man enthralled, or in this case, men. While it might have been better easing herself into this particular game more gradually, there was sometimes a lot to be said for simply plunging in at the deep end.
Reminding herself this was her choice, her fantasy, she let her hand fall away, and the bra fell to the floor.
Malcolm groaned, his prick bobbing again. Derek had barely moved, but his throat contracted as he swallowed.
Twisting around again, Naomi hooked her fingers into the sides of the wispy black panties and began to lower them down over her hips, the cool brush of air on her bared backside sending shivers along her sensitive flesh.
“Fuck. Get over here before I come just by looking at you.”
Malcolm, Naomi thought. The more gregarious of the two. Derek was far more intense, quietly watching her as the three of them had chatted in the bar, and now while she performed her striptease.
When she turned back, Derek was on his knees at the end of the bed. His eyes gleamed dangerously, and he grabbed her wrist, yanking her onto the mattress. She tumbled facedown, the breath knocked out of her.
Hands trailed over her naked flesh, sliding up her thighs, cupping her rear, stroking her back. Roughly, she was tossed onto her back, and she looked up into Derek’s menacing gaze. His cock pressed against her leg, while Malcolm cupped her pussy.
Oh shit. What was she doing? She didn’t know these men. Had no idea what sort of people they were apart from the fact they were down from London on business and, like
her, were looking for a good time.
She was such an idiot. She needed her damned head examined.
Her strength was greater than that of human women, but when she tried to scramble up, Derek pressed her back with ease. “You’re not going anywhere until we get what you’ve been promising all evening.”
Malcolm laughed and pressed his finger inside her. “She’s up for it,” he said on another laugh. “Just likes to make it more exciting, don’t you, babe?”
He pushed deeper, making her flinch. “Like that, don’t you?”
“No. This was a mistake. I—”
Derek shoved Malcolm aside, then scrambled between Naomi’s legs, pushing them apart with his knees. She tried again to get up, but he pressed a hand to her shoulder, weighing her down. “Give me a damn condom.”
Malcolm tossed him the foil packet, and, keeping his gaze on hers, Derek ripped it open. His feral look pushed fresh fear into her stomach, and with every ounce of strength she possessed, she tried to scramble up. She couldn’t budge him.
Derek released his hold on her shoulder to slide on the rubber, but before she could take the chance to escape, Malcolm pinned down her arms.
Panic clutched at her throat, nausea churning her stomach. Oh God. This was so not how she’d thought it would be.
With his face a snarling mask of determination and sickening lust, Derek yanked up her hips.
“I… I’ve changed my mind.”
Her throat was so tight, she could barely enunciate, and it was evident he hadn’t heard her when he grabbed his cock and leaned over her.
“I said, no!” With sheer will, she directed every fiber of strength into her arms. Energy pulsed along her muscles, firing the nerve endings, and she sucked air into her tight lungs. Releasing her breath, she shoved upward, and Malcolm toppled back. Naomi had a glimpse of the shock lighting his face before she pushed at Derek’s shoulders. When he recoiled, she took advantage of the surprise factor and scrambled off the bed.
She almost made it to the bathroom, intent on getting her dress and hightailing it out of there, but Derek caught her around the waist.
Naomi lashed out, shoving her foot against his chest with such force that Derek went hurling into the air and across the room. He landed awkwardly against the walnut bureau, blood oozing from his cheek.
While Malcolm stood motionless by the bed, watching openmouthed, Derek wiped a hand across his face. He stared at the blood-smeared hand and staggered dazedly to his feet. Naomi didn’t hang around. She grabbed her dress from the bathroom and hurried into it. Snatching up her bag, she beat a hasty retreat.
She dashed out into the empty hallway and, with her dress half-zipped, fled down the hotel stairs. The lights in the reception area were dimmed for the night, but she focused on the revolving door ahead of her. When she pushed at it, nothing happened. She gave it another shove before realizing they were probably locked for security reasons. Glancing in the direction of the reception desk, she saw a young man hurrying toward her.
“Is everything okay?” His pale eyes were full of concern. “Can I help you with something?”
“Just let me out of here,” she said. “Please.”
He hesitated, and Naomi considered summoning that superhuman strength she’d found upstairs to get the doors open.
“What the hell’s going on?”
Her mind buzzed, her body still trembled, but through the mayhem of it all, she recognized the voice from behind her. She took a moment to center herself, to find a degree of balance, which bordered on impossible as memories slammed into her.
Tynan Galloway.
Naomi had spent the past decade well over a hundred miles away from him, and during the months she’d been back in Bodmin had managed to largely avoid him. Now he decided to show up at the lowest point in her existence. Well, not the lowest, but she wasn’t going there right then, and certainly not with him looming beside her.
She turned, her hands trembling around the strap of her bag, and met his piercing emerald gaze. It had haunted her for so long, the devastating hue of it. But now, facing it again, her heart trembled.
“I just need to leave.” She swallowed before addressing the young porter. “Can you please open the door?”
His concerned gaze slid over her short black dress as, she imagined, did Tynan’s. “Are you sure everything’s all right, miss?”
“Everything’s fine. I just—”
“Brandy,” Tynan said to the porter. “Double, I think.”
Before Naomi could object, the young man nodded and slipped away. Tynan took her arm and headed for a nearby chair. She tried to shake him off. She’d had quite enough of being manhandled for one bloody evening.
“I don’t want brandy. I just want to leave. I’ve had a crappy night.”
Still with his hand on her arm, he swung her half around so her back was to him. “Is that why your dress is unzipped?”
She took the inference. “It’s none of your business.”
“If you’re sleeping with a sleazebag who throws you out in the middle of the night before letting you get dressed, I’m making it my business.”
He zipped her dress, then plunked her down on the chair and pulled another one close so he could sit facing her. His knees bumped hers.
The contact shot a wave of longing through her. “All I want is to get out of here. And what are you doing skulking around hotel lobbies in the middle of the night? Doesn’t high-tech hacking keep you busy enough?”
“Yeah.” He frowned, effectively ignoring her barbed comment. “But there’s always room for more excitement.”
Seeing as she’d had more than enough excitement for one night, Naomi found it hard to agree.
The porter came back with brandy, hovering over her like a mother hen while she dutifully sipped at it. At Tynan’s nod, he moved away back to the reception desk and left them alone in the dimly lit hall.
“Want to tell me about it?”
She peered at him through narrowed eyes. “No.”
Tynan kept a steady focus on her, almost as if he could see right down to her very soul. She remembered that look. She hated it.
“Did he hurt you?”
He asked the question so quietly, so gently, her eyes filled and she turned away. She was coming down, all that adrenaline leveling out and leaving her raw, exposed. She’d felt that way once before with Tynan, a long time ago. She hated that too.
“I can handle myself.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“No. He didn’t hurt me. He was too busy picking himself up off the floor after I’d landed him one.” She slugged down the remaining brandy, feeling a little more together as the warmth hit her stomach. “If you want to be helpful, get those doors open for me.”
After another long thoughtful look, Tynan stood and strode over to the reception desk. The porter came around the desk and headed to the revolving doors. Seconds later, the lock clicked. Naomi mumbled a thank you and pushed through the doors.
Perhaps she should have said good-bye to Tynan, but all she wanted to do was get in her car and head home. It was the better part of an hour’s drive to Bodmin, but at this time of night—morning—she’d likely make it in half that, especially if she put her foot down. Which she fully intended to do.
She hurried around to the parking lot, digging deep in her bag for her keys. The sooner she could get home and put an end to this night the better. Her days of wanting to try a threesome were well and truly behind her. From now on, she’d stick to work. That was her rock, her mainstay. There, she had plenty of people who needed her, depended on her.
Sex would take a back seat. Again.
A hand shot past her, grabbing for her keys.
“Hey.” She swung around, the initial fear subsiding when she came face-to-face with Tynan. “Give those back.”
/> A fierce look darkened his face. “You’ve been drinking.”
Shit. She hadn’t even given that a thought. For want of a suitable denial, she simply stared at him. Without a word, he wrapped his fingers around her arm and started leading her back toward the hotel.
“I’m not going back in there.” She shook off his hold. “And if you touch me again, I swear I’ll knee you where it hurts.”
He simply raised his eyebrows, placed her keys in his pocket and headed for an SUV parked illegally near the entrance. “You want to go home, fine. But you’re not getting behind a wheel with alcohol in your system.”
He aimed his remote, and the vehicle’s lights blinked. “Get in.”
Unable to argue, because he was right about the alcohol and driving mix, she moved to the passenger door he’d opened. “What about my car?”
“I’ll have it collected. Tomorrow.”
When she didn’t move, he grabbed her arm again. She angled away from him. She’d really had her fill of men touching her for one night. And she’d had her fill of men controlling her for a whole lifetime.
But if she planned on getting home anytime soon, there really wasn’t much choice but to let Tynan drive her.
“I’ll need my car first thing,” she said, voicing her concerns aloud. “For rounds.”
“I’ll arrange it,” he said simply. “Now get in before you freeze your butt off.”
For the first time, she realized it had started to rain. The soft sleety kind that stung gently when it touched bare skin. Damn it, she’d left her coat back in that hotel room. A combination of the cold and the memory of what had happened in the room made her shiver. She wrapped her arms around herself, the skimpy black shift dress providing nothing in the way of protection against the elements.
His leather jacket landed around her shoulders, and with it, the scent that was so uniquely his wafted into her system. It was true what they said about smell evoking memory more than the other senses, because, for an instant, she was back on the moor, snuggled against Tynan while he kissed her, held her.
