Spearing his fingers through his hair, Braxton answered the one question he’d hoped to avoid for a little while at least. “An elitist is an ex-Taos warrior who is not in favor of our searching other worlds and using other species to continue our race. They are the ones who think it’s tantamount to bestiality. They would rather see our species extinct than see our blood mixed with that of humans.”
“I don’t understand.” Hope tilted her head. “They would rather you all died than try to keep your species going by having half-human children?”
“I would say yes to that, but it wouldn’t be true.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Biting her bottom lip, she frowned up at him.
Braxton helped her up onto his horse before he answered. He wanted her in his arms before he dropped the bomb. When she’d situated herself and covered her legs to the best of her ability, he climbed up behind her.
“Well? I’m waiting.”
Fighting a grin at that vision that, had she still been on her feet, she would have tapped her toes with irritation, Braxton cleared his throat. “Well…any child born to any female mates after we bond with her, are born wolven—even those that are conceived prior to the mating.” He waited for the information to sink in, certain that it would upset her.
“Does that news upset you?”
“Not really.” Hope shrugged. “It might upset a woman who can have children, but I can’t.” She looked at Joran then turned to look back at Braxton. “So, you see, you have not chosen a prize, fellas. I can’t help you perpetuate your race. I’m barren. I have always been barren. That’s one of the reasons my husband left me for another woman.”
Chapter Nine
Pain shafted through Hope’s chest at the confession. She knew she couldn’t have any kind of relationship with these two, but did telling them she was barren have to hurt so stinking bad?
Braxton leaned forward, wrapped his arms around her, and hugged her close. It didn’t matter that her back was to him. All that mattered was that she had physical contact with another human being—at least he was human at the moment.
Not once since she’d found out it was her shortcomings that caused her childless state, had anyone held her and told her things would be okay. Not until today.
This man, this—if he was to be believed—three-hundred year-old werewolf, or whatever he was, pressed his lips to her ear and told her everything would be okay.
“Don’t worry yourself, Hope. It doesn’t matter if we have no children or a dozen. We didn’t go in search of you to be a breeder for our people. We want you, need you, because you are the one woman that the fates have decreed will make us complete.”
“That’s what you say now.” Reaching up, Hope swiped the tears from her eyes. “It won’t take long for you to want children of your own, and then you’ll leave, just like Bob left.”
Joran moved Satan to pace next to them, reached out and cupped her chin, forcing her to meet his angry gaze. “Do not insist on painting me with another’s brush, Hope. You are our mate. I have no idea what that word means to human men, but to us it means forever. We mate for life. No other woman will ever do for us once we bond with you.” He shook his head, his hands tightening on the reins until his knuckles turned white. “Hell, Hope, it’s too late for me already. I haven’t even bonded with you and I know no other woman will ever do.”
“And I feel the same way,” Braxton added.
“No. You can’t do this. You can’t throw your lives away on a woman who is too old to have children even if she ever could have in the past.” She held her face in her hands and she sobbed. “Don’t you see? Even if I was able to have children, I can’t now. I’m almost fifty and I have high blood pressure. I couldn’t have a child now if I wanted to.”
Hope tried to tell herself that she didn’t want to have a child at this late date, but she didn’t need their keen sense of smell to know she would be lying to herself as much as she lied to them.
“One day you’ll resent the fact that I can’t have children and you’ll hate me. Believe me,” she sobbed, “I know.” She did know. It had only taken one fertile Myrtle to bring out that emotion in Bob. She had almost had a nervous breakdown when Bob left her. She couldn’t allow herself to fall for either of these two. She didn’t know if she could survive them doing the same.
Hope gasped when Braxton tied the reins into a loose knot, dropped them against Diablo’s neck, and lifted her and turned her to face him. She couldn’t conceive of anyone having that kind of strength. Yet, here she sat, facing this man after he picked her up like a child and forced her to face him.
“I won’t have you berating yourself, Hope.” He looked at Joran. “Neither of us will listen to you abuse yourself. No one abuses the woman we are growing to care about.”
Reaching out, he placed his fingers under her chin, lifted her head, and stared deep into her eyes. “Do you hear me? No one is allowed to abuse you this way. Not even yourself.”
He pulled her into his arms, his chin resting on the top of her head. “Unless you make an informed decision and reject us, you belong to us now.” He kissed her temple as she continued to sob on his shoulder. All the hurt, all the heartache that she’d suffered over the last year poured out of her as he held her in his arms. The gentle sway of the horse ambling along beneath them lulled her to relax like some sort of spell.
The sobs faded to little hiccups. She moved her head, wanting to wipe her face somewhere other than his shoulder. Braxton cupped the back of her head.
“Shh…baby. Everything’s going to be all right. You’ll see.”
With a sigh, Hope settled against him, content to let him hold her, even if it was for just a little while. It was nice to have a shoulder to lean on, no matter how short a time she would have it.
Sooner or later, they would come across someone who would give their game away, and until they did, Hope decided she would play along. This was the chance of a lifetime. No matter how much it hurt her when it finally came to an end, she was determined to have fun while it lasted. After all, it wasn’t every day that a frumpy forty-eight-year-old got a chance to make it with two hot men.
She just needed to keep telling herself that they were men. If they wanted to pretend they were older than her, who was she to end their fantasy? Hell, if they were going to keep up this charade, there was no reason she couldn’t get a fantasy or two of her own fulfilled, was there?
After another hour of sharing a horse with Braxton, Hope was almost ready to scream. Every sway of the horse set her on edge. Every time he stumbled or hopped over a gully had her groin pressed tighter against Braxton’s hard length.
She wanted to turn around, to watch where they were going, but Braxton didn’t seem inclined to let her go and she was tired of arguing. If he wanted to hold her like this and torture them both, she would help him.
With a secret smile she hid against his chest, Hope snuggled closer, lifted her legs and wrapped them around him. If they insisted on playing this game, Hope was determined to play it to the max.
Braxton groaned when the heat of her nether parts rested against his cock. She almost giggled when it throbbed beneath her until he leaned forward to whisper in her ear.
“You’re playing with fire, baby.”
His words sent shivers through her. When was the last time anyone had called her baby in such a sexy tone of voice? Hope wasn’t sure anyone ever had. Bob certainly hadn’t. Her ex’s voice had been more whiney than sexy at any given time. The thought made her frown. Why hadn’t she noticed that before?
Deciding to take a giant leap, Hope leaned forward and pulled his earlobe into her mouth. “I’m counting on it,” she whispered in his ear. If they really wanted to share her, they could start right now as far as she was concerned. It wasn’t as though she could get pregnant. However, the thought of disease scared her, and she didn’t think they would own up to the fact that they were human and agree to use a condom.
With the decidedly strange direct
ion her life had gone over the last few hours, Hope resolved herself to the fact that, for whatever reason, these two hot men had kidnapped her. They could make things pleasant for her or unpleasant. Since she couldn’t stop herself from imagining them all in bed together, she hoped they meant to make things pleasant. Who knows? She might just enjoy herself. How many times had she lain in bed, alone, wishing for some handsome man to sweep her off her feet since Bob left? Here she was with two. She was living the fantasy. What was wrong with grabbing onto the proverbial brass ring for once?
She closed her eyes with a sigh, finally giving in to the impulse to be spontaneous for once in her life. Just this once she wouldn’t be Hopeful Ackerman, prude. Just this once, she would step up and do the wild thing. Literally.
Braxton groaned when she stuck her tongue in his ear. She smiled, thinking of all the ways she could drive him wild before they reached town and before he could find a place where they could be alone.
Her eyes widened then closed when he reached beneath her skirt to press his thumb against her clit. Arrows of delight shot straight to her womb. Her nipples drew tighter as they rubbed against his hard chest and she bit her lip, reaching for her second orgasm on horseback today.
One thing was certain, if they weren’t as old as they claimed, they had the patience of men who were ancient when it came to self-gratification. As far as she knew, neither of them had a release yet today and now, she thought as she screamed against Braxton’s muscular chest, she’d had two in the last couple of hours. On horseback no less!
After her second release of the day, Hope reached between them and freed Braxton from the confines of his jeans. She didn’t know what she planned. She only knew she had the most urgent need to give as good as she got.
Wrapping her fist around his hard shaft, she moved her hand up and down its smooth length. This was what had been missing in her life. This spontaneity. Bob never would have made her come outside. Hell, she could barely get him to do it in the bedroom.
“I shouldn’t do this.” Braxton closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. “Hell, two of my friends have just been murdered and all I can think of is how long will it be before I can sheathe myself within your tight cunt.”
Hope moaned as he breathed the words in her ear. She loved it when a man talked dirty to her as they made love. Something about it turned her on more than she’d thought possible. It was another first. A small giggle escaped when she thought of that.
“What’s so funny, love?”
“I just realized something.” She moaned when Braxton stuck his tongue in her ear. “I have had more sexual firsts in the last few hours than I had in my entire marriage.” She shivered when his expert lips trailed from her ear to move down over her throat. “I suppose that should have told me something, but how can you miss what you have never had?”
“There are going to be a lot of firsts with us, baby.” Braxton grasped her by the waist, picked her up, and brought her breast to his greedy mouth.
Hope gasped. She wrapped her arms around his neck, cupped the back of his head and held him to her. It wasn’t until he reached between them, broke the scrap of material between her legs, and lowered her down over his massive hard-on, that she realized what he’d had in mind.
“We can’t do this here!” She hissed the words in his ear. This wasn’t what she had planned. She’d wanted to tease him for a bit, get to know him a little better before they did this.
“Why not?” Braxton looked at her, gave her one of those wolfish grins, and urged his horse into a canter.
“Good God, Braxton! You’re going to kill me.”
Chapter Ten
“No, baby. Killing you isn’t what I had in mind, though I hope you experience something that takes you to heaven, for at least a little while.”
Braxton smiled down into Hope’s face. She looked so beautiful as they cantered, his cock buried deep within her flesh, the horse unknowingly doing most of the work as they moved along.
Not once in the time that they lived here on this world had this idea crossed his mind, but then he hadn’t had sex for several years before they arrived here on Earth. It had stopped appealing to him about seventy years ago. After two hundred years or so, sex just held no appeal. Some wolves lost the urge faster than others, but the result always remained the same.
He didn’t want their first time to be like this. He’d wanted to take his time, love her, make her his slowly so she would know how much they cherished her. He hadn’t wanted to take her like this, so fast and furious that he would burn out in a matter of minutes.
He had wanted to take his time undressing her, peeling each layer of clothing from her succulent body like the paper wrapping from a gift. He’d wanted to taste her pert nipples and feel them grow harder in his mouth.
Mostly, though, he’d wanted to bury his head deep between her thighs and lap at her thick cream. His mouth practically watered as he wondered if she would taste as sweet as she smelled.
Already he could feel her walls clamping tight around his cock, his balls drawing tight against his body as he continued his wild ride toward his first orgasm in a long, long time. He hadn’t wanted it like this, but he was old enough to realize that one didn’t always get what one wanted.
This intense desire for Hope was something he hadn’t counted on. This wonderful, all-consuming need to feel his cock balls-deep inside a woman, his woman, had come as a complete surprise. The realization hit him like a locomotive when she’d released his engorged shaft from the confines of his pants. All bets were off when Hope wrapped her tight fist around his erection and slid her fingers up and down its hard length.
Braxton watched the emotions chase across her face at each deep stroke as they cantered over the countryside. Every time the horse landed, each time she slammed down onto his thighs, her tight channel gripping his flesh felt like a little slice of heaven.
Using his wolven strength, Braxton leaned her back in his arms, all the while helping her move over him. He watched as her face flushed with desire, her beautiful blue eyes glazed over, and her mouth opened and closed a few times as though unable to form words.
Wine-red hair flew around them as her wet, silken walls clamped around his cock, pulling against his flesh every time he lifted her up, only to slam her back down over him, driving him deeper and deeper into her waiting flesh.
When Hope closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip, Braxton knew it was time. Still supporting her with one arm, he reached between them and thrummed her clit.
Hope screamed as he fucked her, his cock jerking inside her. His balls drew tight against him, and he howled. With his cock buried deep inside Hope, his world drew down to this one moment in time, this one woman, and he came. His wolf had finally found its mate, and buried deep in its mate’s tight cunt, he’d found his home.
Braxton drew her forward, letting her rest against his chest as he slowed Diablo to a walk. He held her to him as her breath returned to normal and he’d regained control of his wolf that was ready to go and wanted another round. Somehow, he knew Hope wasn’t ready. This had been too much for her too soon. He could never regret taking her the way he did because it felt too right. However, he knew that some part of Hope still believed they were barely men, young enough to be her children.
The scent of her exhaustion and guilt rolled off her in waves along with the sweet smell of her arousal and the orgasms he’d given her. She’d come like a woman unused to the act. What a useless man she had married that he had never seen to her pleasure first.
He sighed when he spotted the town in the distance, knowing he must disturb his mate so she could straighten her clothing and turn around in front of him before they had witnesses. He knew that she would never forgive herself, or him, if anyone besides Joran saw them in their compromising position.
Pressing his lips against her ear, he whispered, “Wake up, baby.” He smiled when she shivered and shook her head.
“I can’t. I think I’m dying
.”
“Well, sweetheart, I don’t mind the way you’re sitting, but you might scandalize the townsfolk when we get to town.”
Hope sat upright, her spine ramrod straight. “Oh, no! She reached up, trying to smooth her wild hair. “I can’t let anyone see me like this!”
Struggling, she attempted to turn herself around and growled with frustration when her dress tangled around her. “Damn dresses! I hate dresses. If I never see another dress as long as I live it will be too soon.”
With a chuckle, Braxton lifted her and helped her turn around in the saddle.
“I don’t know how you do that.” She glanced back at him. “You’re much stronger than you look.”
“It’s the wolven in me.”
“Yeah, right,” she said with a snort.
“Why can you not believe what you have seen with your very eyes, Hope?” He didn’t understand how she could continue to deny what they were when she had seen the evidence of it for herself.
“Because you gave me something that knocked me unconscious, and I refuse to believe that I wasn’t hallucinating on some drug when you kidnapped me.” She reached up and tried to put her hair in order again. The long red mass fought her attempts, falling around her face in long spiral curls.
“Just because I decided to have a fling with you two while I’m here doesn’t mean that I believe everything you’ve told me.”
“You’ve decided to have a fling with us, huh?” Joran asked with a grin as he reined in his horse to fall into step beside Diablo.
“Crap.” She gave Joran a sideways glance. “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”
“I heard everything, baby.” He waggled his brows. “I love the way you make those little noises just before you come.”
“Shut up.” Her face turned red as she glared at Joran. “Just shut up.”
Chapter Eleven
Hope sat in front of Braxton, her face burning with mortification. What had come over her in the last few hours? Had she gone insane, or was she just dreaming all of this was happening to her?
Where There is Hope [Taos Wolven Mates 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 5
