Moonlight Betrayal: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (The Witch and the Wolf Pack Book 5)

by K. R. Alexander

  “What about me?” I asked.

  “What’s good for you? What do you want? This isn’t just for me.”

  Thank you, Jason.

  “Oh … face-to-face is my favorite. For me that’s usually the most … stimulating.”

  Jason pulled away from my back, leaving me cold, longing for him as he withdrew.

  “I didn’t mean you had to—”

  “Turn over.” He kissed the back of my jaw below my ear. “Or … however you like? Show me.”

  I rolled over, kissing his lips, leaning in this time, touching with my tongue, which he met.

  “You didn’t have to do that.” But I pulled my right leg up across his and reached to find his shaft, hot and slick, drawing him back to me.

  It was exactly the same position I’d nearly had with Kage on Saturday morning, right down to me holding him, guiding him. Yet the partner felt oh so different. Not that Jason was unwilling—his fence post erection bore witness. Only that he was looking to me for everything, almost tentative.

  It was indeed good this way, at least for me. I caught my breath as he entered me once more, kissed him, and pulled him forward. Jason, on one elbow, leaned over me slightly, able to thrust with some leverage then.

  “Better?” he asked against my lips.

  “Better.” I shifted for the most contact I could get from him, shuddering and rather breathless for a chat, though he still talked to me.

  At first more about how good it felt, then he changed to saying he wished Kage were here.

  “I wish all three of us could be together like this,” he said, pulling me into him while he thrust.

  “So do I.” I twisted my fingers into his hair, holding his face against my neck and shoulder. “Maybe we can.”

  “We can.” Jason’s voice was muffled. “He’ll know we’re all right now. Would you take both of us? I want to feel you when he’s come in you.”

  “Yes—”

  “His seed on my dick while I’m in you, mixing mine with his; the three of us. I know he wants that. If you do?”

  “Yes—”

  “Will you take me as a middle? Kage fucking me when I’m on you?”

  “Yes—”

  “We would all come at the same time if he’d slow down. I want us to be together, Cassia. And he does—”

  “So do I, Jason. Jay, I’m—”

  “Me too—”

  I’d never experienced a synchronized orgasm with a guy on our first time. Rarely ever at all, for that matter. But I’d never before tried with a gay shifter. Maybe I’d always been looking in the wrong places.

  Chapter 7

  On my second waking I was overjoyed to find an email back from Gavin, apologizing for the delay and inviting us to dinner Tuesday night with the Blood Tome for translating. Not tonight after all. Still, we had an address and time now, and we could spend another night looking for faie.

  I took a quick shower, not washing my hair, Jason returned to his own room to get dressed, and we presented ourselves downstairs for breakfast at 9:20 a.m.

  Before I could see or apologize to our hostess, Gillian, I had to fend off Zar, who I heard talking as we approached. On sight of me in the breakfast room doorway, Zar bounded up.

  “Cass, you’re here.” Beaming, grabbing my hands. You’d have thought he was saying, “You’re alive!”

  “Of course I’m here.” I had to laugh a little. “What do you mean?”

  “I wanted to take you a tray. Breakfast in bed.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t, Zar. I just woke up, then was in the shower, so there was no good time. Sorry to be down so late, though.”

  We moved aside to let a breakfasting couple exit the room, nearly leaving the place empty. Only Isaac sat at the window table for four, smiling his good morning.

  The cold buffet was still set with cereal, fruit, milk, juice, and a kettle and teabags with glasses, bowls, mugs, and so on.

  Jason followed us in as Zar escorted me to the table, pulling out a chair on the end, diagonally opposite Isaac, as if he didn’t want me nearer to Isaac than he could help. I was a bit surprised he didn’t lead me to a whole other table.

  “Thank you, Zar. Has he been saying he’s going to take breakfast up to me for the last hour?”

  “Of course not.” Isaac smiled more, mostly in his eyes. I loved his smiles so much I wished I had a framed picture of one. “Only about half an hour.”

  “What can I get you?” Zar ignored this, as well as Jason, who came over to the chair across from me, beside Isaac, but didn’t sit.

  Jason drummed his fingers on the chair back, looking out the window. We hadn’t seen Kage, Andrew, or Jed inside.

  “I’ll get something, Zar. It’s okay. I need to look at what they have. And no hot breakfast for me. We’re down too late.”

  “No, no, Gillian doesn’t mind. She said so when I was wanting a plate to take up. Full English, I already told her. That’s what everyone here wanted.”

  “They did?” I squinted up at him in morning sunlight streaming through the picture windows. “Have you been sitting down here to eavesdrop on worms?”

  “They have muesli. No banana, though.”

  “Okay. A very, very small cup of muesli.” I held up my cupped palm to demonstrate. “Thank you. And I would love coffee, but I guess I have to ask Gillian for that?”

  “She already knows.” He hurried to the bar to get my cereal.

  I was glad he did since I was feeling rather crowded, seized with the uncomfortable realization that I’d never before sat down to breakfast with three guys I’d had sex with. This dawning situation was starting to weird me out.

  Jason, however, didn’t sit either.

  “He’s gone for a walk,” Isaac said. “He’ll be around.”

  Jason nodded and turned away to the bar as well.

  “Where’s Andrew?” I asked. “And have you seen Jed?”

  “Andrew just stepped out to ring his boss.”

  I winced and also looked to the window.

  Oh, dammit, yes. Andrew had already been fired because of skipping work with a day’s notice. This was supposed to have been his last week. And now he was in Yorkshire. He’d already called yesterday but it had been Sunday and he had to leave word—not actually talked to the guy.

  “Jed was in earlier, showered, shaved, left his bag inside, and went back out.”

  “He did?”

  Isaac’s smile returned. “It’s Monday.”

  “Right, this is your Sunday, isn’t it?”

  “Only the very devout make much of a fuss on Mondays, but yes. It’s a bit of a family day and time to say our prayers.”

  And shave. Jed shaved about once or twice a week—whether he needed it or not. So that every time he did it was a shock after the black stubble that was often just turning into a beard.

  I said no more because our hostess came in as Zar was pouring my milk. She didn’t seem at all troubled and assured me it was no problem, glancing from Jason, at the bar, and myself as she asked what we wanted, and yes, delighted to bring coffee.

  “Full English breakfast would be great, thank you so much. Could we have a couple extra sausages in place of the beans on both of those?”

  “Of course, and how do you like your eggs?”

  “Fried. For both.”

  “Toast or fried bread?”

  “Fried bread.”

  “Orange, plum, or strawberry jam?”

  “Strawberry.”

  By the time she finally left, having asked more about the coffee, I felt I’d been subjected to fifty questions.

  Zar brought my cereal and sat beside me. Jason poured himself a glass of milk, emptying the jug, then apologized to me.

  “No, it’s okay, Jason. Of course. Go on and find him. We all need a walk today.”

  “Any word?” Isaac asked as Jason left with his milk.

  “I’m afraid so. We’re not invited until tomorrow night. I hate waiting around, but we’ll take the time
to keep up the kindred search. Would you two care for a day hiking in the Dales? I’d love to see the area, scry, any attempt we can make to reach out to elementals. There’s no reason they wouldn’t come out in the daylight if they wished. It would just take a quiet, secluded enough spot. And we can’t have a wolf in fur with us. But it’s still worth it as long as we have the day here.”

  “Have you seen anything new?” Isaac asked while Zar was nodding along to my plan.

  “Dreams last night. That’s it. I started keeping better track with notes and sketches a few days ago and I’d like to keep that going also. Some of what I get in scries and dreams lately doesn’t make sense to me, but it might to someone else. I never would have guessed, for example, that Jed had seen kindred. But there you go. After we’ve met with Gavin and can figure out our next move, we should all sit down and compare notes—make sure we’re all contributing what we can. Today…” I let out a breath.

  “Decompress,” Isaac said quietly.

  “How was Kage?” I asked, glancing between them. “Did you see him at all? Did he eat anything?”

  They shook their heads.

  “Breakfast isn’t usual at home,” Isaac said. “So it’s nothing to worry about. I’m sure a place like this will do him good.”

  “I hope so. He didn’t eat yesterday either. Maybe we can walk into the village and get lunch together. Was Jed all right?”

  Zar looked away out the window, frowning slightly.

  “As far as I know.” Isaac glanced at Zar, then to Gillian as she returned with coffee and fried bread with a dish of strawberry jam.

  After a minute of thanks and finishing my cereal, I said, “Zar? I’m sorry you’re upset about Jed being out. What would you have done differently?”

  “It’s fine,” Zar mumbled, looking at the white tablecloth. “Not my choice.”

  “No, really. Diana doesn’t rule with an iron fist, even if she has final say. A pack is a family. I hope I can be a guide and help us keeping moving in the right directions. Not make everyone miserable with my choices. I appreciate your abiding by my wishes in matters like this, but I also value your input and feelings. Even when we don’t agree.”

  Zar sat there for a minute, staring at the table. I don’t know if he didn’t want to argue by saying what he was upset about with Jed, or he was stumped by what I’d said.

  I passed one triangle of bread to Zar with the strawberry, then another to Isaac.

  Zar blinked at the bright red, glossy spread and crisp bread in his fingers. “This is for you.”

  “Do you remember what I’ve said about breakfast before? Including today? Maybe four or five times?”

  He looked at me. “You’re not a breakfast eater. You just want coffee and maybe something small.”

  “That’s right. Thank you. So I’m not into breakfast and you’re not into Jed having been out last night in fur. Those are different views. Why’s it upset you so much about him? I know there’s a unified pack in here, in the six of you. I know that the seven of us together are strong and smart and resourceful and, between all of us, have amazing skills, knowledge, and power as individuals and as a whole. So when I see something come up like all of you being opposed to my choice about Jed last night, I’d like to know why and what’s going on.”

  While I talked, Zar nibbled his fried bread like a picky child who wanted to throw away the whole thing. Isaac had already gulped his.

  “Thank you.” I touched Zar’s arm. “But I’m only concerned about your eating in a room of mundanes. It’s okay to be yourself, Zar. I’m sorry I’ve made you feel otherwise.”

  He crunched and swallowed the bread. “No, you haven’t. I want to make you happy, Cass.”

  “It would make me happy if you would tell me why you’re upset about Jed.”

  His gaze dropped again to the table. “He was on lockdown. Just for the kindred … even … but … out all night and a strange place like this… No silver—I mean, no other silver—would have let him do that.”

  “Because he has a rap sheet? That’s not this Moon. If we can’t trust each other, we don’t have a pack at all. What else is it?”

  Zar shook his head.

  I watched him. Isaac watched his own interlaced fingers.

  Gillian brought the breakfast plates and I let the matter go. There was some combination here of breaking their customs, the rest being scared for me making friends with Jed because of his lousy reputation, and, I suspected for Zar, a personal rivalry or jealousy that he wasn’t about to fess up in front of Isaac.

  Gillian looked around and I told her Jason would be back, or we’d take some out to him, thanked her, and we set to.

  “Zar, would you please grab another drinking glass from the bar for us?”

  I rolled three sausage links in the middle of the fried egg and slipped them into the cup, covering this with a paper napkin. Then divided the second plate between Isaac and Zar, myself eating the tomatoes with my fried bread and one with jam for dessert. That fried bread was a delight. I could have munched that stuff all day.

  Zar tried only a couple of times to offer me sausage before politely backing down. I polished off two cups of coffee and we were just about to clear out, listening to Gillian checking out a couple of guests in the hall, when Zar looked around, uneasy, then Isaac.

  “What’s wrong?” Then I heard it too.

  Someone was yelling outside, loud and growing louder until the conversation in the hall died away as well. In another moment, as I stood up, Isaac following, Zar squinting out the window, I recognized the speaker, but not the words. He was shouting in Lucannis and the only bits I could catch were cursing. And my name.

  Chapter 8

  I shoved the glass at Zar before running out with Isaac. “That’s for Jed, please.” Andrew would have already had breakfast if he wanted it, while Kage and Jason clearly did not.

  We dashed passed the startled guests and hostess. I grabbed the door, Isaac caught it from me, and we ran out the front steps and around for the side lot, Zar following. Kage wasn’t there, but his livid voice reached us clearly—and probably the neighbors half a mile away.

  We ran to the back. The gardens were rambling with untidy arbors, flower beds, vegetable patches of all kinds, a hundred honey bees, then fruit trees, the dry stone wall, a gate, and a couple of stone benches.

  “Ni! Vinu et Neä—”

  Kage’s voice cut Jason off: a long tirade, vicious.

  They were below a lush plum tree with dark foliage, Jason on the ground, back against the trunk and arm over his head as if to shield his eyes from the light. Kage loomed over him, shouting, gesturing wildly at the old house and at Jason.

  Goddess, why hadn’t I listened to that warning instinct? But everything about them was so strange to me, it had kind of made sense. Yet, no, in the light of day, it didn’t. It obviously didn’t make sense to Kage.

  I slowed, horrified, afraid of him. I’d never heard him sound like that, act like that. But I understood with a greater wash of fear that Jason wasn’t cowering, arm raised, to keep the sun from his eyes.

  “Kage?” I ran on.

  “Cassia—” Isaac grabbed my elbow.

  I twisted free against his thumb. “Kage, leave him alone! He wasn’t the only one involved.”

  Kage whipped around.

  “Ni, Kage!” Jason scrambled to his feet.

  Kage switched to English for me. “What the hell is wrong with you? What in a million bloody Moons is your fucking problem?”

  “Kage, we never—” I stopped.

  “What more did you want from me?” He was stalking toward me, shouting. “What did I do?”

  Isaac moved in front of me, holding his hands out to Kage, palms down. “Turn around. You can talk about it later.”

  But Kage kept shouting over him. “What the fucking hell did I do to deserve you’re contempt? Huh? He’s fine.” Jabbing his hand out at Isaac. “He’s great.” Another violent gesture at what must have been Zar coming
up behind me. “Andrew’s just smashing. Jed, why not? No one can resist his charms. But him—?” Whipping around and throwing his arm out to Jason as if offering him a platter. “My mate, who won’t even sleep with females? You would try so fucking hard and dig so deep and hate me so sodding much that you could take it out on me like this?”

  “Kage—” Jason grabbed his arm.

  In a flash, Kage whipped around and punched him so hard Jason was thrown sideways into the stone bench.

  Isaac ran forward. “Go! Bite the river, Kage.”

  I’d never heard that expression before, yet it didn’t take much to decipher: take your anger out on something you can’t hurt.

  I thought Kage was going to punch him too. Instead, Kage looked past him to me, hatred and pain in his eyes like open wounds. “Should have expected as much from a bloody worm.”

  Then he ran for the dry stone wall, vaulted over the five feet with his hands on the top, and raced off across the field.

  Isaac started forward to Jason but Andrew had just materialized through fruit trees, slipping his phone into a pocket of his cargo pants.

  Jason was on his knees, hissing breaths through his teeth, clutching his elbow, which had smashed into the bench.

  Andrew knelt with him. “Touched a nerve, mate? Or is it broken?”

  Isaac instead turned back to me.

  “Cassia?” He reached a gentle hand for my shoulder as he stepped up.

  I blinked, startled by the sensation of hot tears dropping off my lashes since I couldn’t feel much of my body, including my numb face.

  “Gillian,” I breathed.

  Isaac nodded and hurried past me to find our hostess and allay concerns before the good woman might come back here.

  Zar’s arm slid across my shoulders as he stepped against me. “Cass? It’s all right. I’m sorry.” He tried to embrace me but I pulled away.

  I didn’t deserve them being kind to me. I was the one who should be running. The bloodthirsty wolf. Kage was right. This wasn’t a game on a playground—suitable for seven people on one team. These were intimate relationships and situations where people could get hurt.