by Lauren Dane
“Please don’t leave things like this, Dad. Try to see this from my perspective. I just found out my entire life has been built on misinformation. She was my mother, I loved her. Out of nowhere people come to my house and tell me I have an aunt, and a sister, but you’ve never told me I had a sister. You told me Mom’s family didn’t want to see me. You changed our name. You changed her name. And I don’t remember half of it. I’m asking you to help me.” She took his hand, but Susan appeared, slapping it away.
Susan practically sneered. “Get off our porch. You’re not welcome here anymore.”
Renee had no intention of speaking to Susan ever again if she could avoid it. “Dad, I’m begging you for your help.”
“I can’t help you, Renee. Leave it alone or you’re dead to me.”
She didn’t want it to, she wanted to be tough and beyond hurt. But she wasn’t. It did hurt, it hurt so bad she had to hold back tears at the verbal slap.
“You can’t be serious! You’re telling me I’m dead to you if I don’t stop asking about my life? My history?”
“We’ve said all there is to say. If you can’t respect that, yes. If you have anything to do with those people, if you persist in asking about the past, don’t bother coming around here or the shop anymore.”
“This is insane.” She tossed her hands up in the air. “Dad, if you’re in trouble, I can help you. If you lied because you were afraid of them taking me no one is going to hate you or try to sue you or anything.”
“Just go. After all these years your father deserves some time when he’s not doting on you. You made your bed.” Susan began to close the door.
“What are you talking about? Honestly, this is the most bizarre conversation I’ve ever had.” Renee was upset, but also just completely confused.
“Come on, babe.” Galen pulled her away gently as she stared at the door. “Let’s go home.”
“This is fucking batshit crazy. Something is going on. Maybe he’s in danger. Maybe he did it because they threatened me or something.” Even as she said it, she knew that wasn’t it.
Jack sighed. “I don’t know. I scented lies, but not fear.”
They walked back to the T stop without saying much. What was there to say?
Galen guided her to a seat, fitting himself beside her, with Jack on the other. “Don’t lose heart. You’re not out of line, you deserve answers.” Galen stroked a hand up and down her arm. “We’ll get them for you. Just know they may not be what you expect or even want to hear.”
“Welcome to my life. I’m supposed to see Rosemary and Kendra this afternoon. What do I say? Should I worry about them? Do you think they’d harm me?”
“I don’t think so.” Jack paused. “Part of why I’m so good at my job is instinct. I’m not bragging.” He favored her with an arrogant grin and she found herself totally charmed, yet again, by this man who fell into her life without warning. Galen laughed at her reaction, leaning in to kiss her.
“You’re a handful, aren’t you?” She shook her head, looking up at all that blond handsomeness.
Jack laughed, not a blush in sight. “Well, I’d hope I’m a bit more than a handful. But my point is sometimes your gut tells you things for a reason. You know how your gut tells you your aunt and sister are safe and you can trust them?”
She nodded, reaching out to take his hand, needing the contact. He smiled, squeezing and kissing her knuckles.
“Yes. But apparently I’m not cut out to be a werewolf cop because I thought I could trust my father too.”
“Step one is for you to stop taking on shit that’s not yours to own. Do you know what I’m talking about?” Jack cocked his head.
“Well I’m sorry! It stuns me. How could I have never known?” This is what really bothered her the most. What had she missed? How could this all have happened without her ever noticing? Did she notice and not remember now? Everything about her father, about her life as a kid was based on lies. How could she know what was true or not?
A sense of violation began to flavor her confusion. What had been done to her and why?
Jack’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Because you never had any reason to doubt it. Why would you? You didn’t know any different until recently. But now, think about it. Do you trust him? Be honest with yourself.”
She took a deep breath, thinking. “No. But I don’t know if it’s even real. I don’t know anything. I know it sounds whiny, but it’s like the ground is gone and I’m stumbling and falling. My foundations are gone.”
“I know. I’m sorry. But listen here, curly, your foundations are right here on either side of you. Galen and I are your foundations and we will always be here to hold you up when you need it. As for everyday stuff, one of us will be with you at all times until we get this all figured out. Galen’s jamboree and my wolves are investigating. We will solve this puzzle.”
“Jack’s right, babe. Beyond this stuff with your family, what is real is us.” Galen indicated the three of them. “I know this has been a crazy week and things seem confusing—they are confusing. But I want to tell you how much I love you, and how much I know this hurts you. It makes me want to hurt someone in return. Jack and I will keep you safe.”
“All of you. Your heart and your body,” Jack added.
* * *
Renee woke up from her nap feeling better. Though it couldn’t have been too difficult to feel better than the humiliated, confused mess she was just a few hours before. Thanks to a sleeping draught, her rest had been deep and gloriously dreamless. Her brain appreciated that respite, she thought, as she sat up and stretched.
“There you are.” Galen peeked in, looking delicious. Just looking at him made her feel better, alive and very much in need of some TLC. Lucky for her, Galen excelled at TLC.
“Here I am. Woefully clothed. I think that’s a crime or something.” She batted her lashes at him.
“I definitely need to correct that, hmm?” He leaned there in the doorway, looking indolent and arrogant—and ridiculously hot.
“I feel very neglected, you know. All alone here.” She tossed her shirt to the side and lay back on the bed again. The panties she wore were his favorites, boyshort style, hot pink.
He grinned as he pulled his clothes off, moving to her quickly. “We really can’t have that. How can I make it better?” His words were smooth, as smooth as the way he got onto the bed. But just beneath he was something else and it drove her hormones into a frenzy.
When he got to his knees over her this way, it sucked all the oxygen from her lungs. He was smooth and human but she never forgot the predator within, and the way he moved when she was the center of his sensual attention blew her away.
He was warm and smelled so good she had to lick up his side, over each rib.
His groan echoed against her mouth and she fell into him, opening up to accept whatever he wanted to give, however he wanted to provide it.
He looked down at her, cocky smile softening to something else.
“Jeez, I run out to be sure that cart is safely residing at Dave’s and I miss the sex?” Jack came into the bedroom, looking windblown and sexy.
She laughed. “Hurry up then! We’re just getting started. Get naked and over here. You have work to do.”
Within moments, he’d joined them in bed and she gave herself a moment to just appreciate the incredible hotness of being sandwiched between two men who looked like hers.
They snuggled, kissing, caressing, simply enjoying each other as the heat built. She knew shifters liked touch. She’d learned when she first began to spend the night at Galen’s that he liked to touch her, even when they were sleeping. At first she’d resisted, trying to tell herself she felt suffocated. In truth, she’d been so rocked by how deeply it had touched her, the comfort and connection she found in his touch, that she ran from it.
Galen had patiently won her over.
Even in those early days he’d let her be who she was, flaws and all. How rare and wonderful he was.
“Thank you.” She looked up at him.
Galen paused, her breasts still mounded in his hands. “For what, babe? Sexual services come with the package and I quite enjoy them.”
“Well, that obviously. But you know, for being so good to me.”
“I love you,” he said like it was totally obvious, which she supposed it was.
“Yeah. And I’m blessed for that.” She let that sink in, watching his expression soften. She looked to Jack. “You too. You both are good to me and I am thankful.”
She needed this reconnection more than she’d admitted to herself. It was stupid to resist it, she knew. The way she was drawn to Galen scared her no longer. Still, it overwhelmed sometimes. But he always comforted with a touch, a caress, a kiss, even as he excited.
And now with Jack, it was twice what she felt before. More than twice really, because her bond to Jack and his bond to both her and Galen had created a level of openness between the three that left her completely exposed.
There was no escaping what she felt for these men. What’s more? She had spent years and years running from big feelings except when it was unavoidable. She supposed she understood it better after the last several days, but she was done running. She planned to be thankful every damned day for her blessings.
“Despite all the craziness over the last days, I want you both to know how much I love you and how lucky I am to have you both in my life.” She kissed Jack’s shoulder and stretched to get Galen, but he sprang into movement, covering her mouth with his own instead.
She arched, letting him course through their link. He mumbled a curse into her mouth. “I can’t hold it together when you’re like this.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, sliding her hands all over his skin, rubbing her ass against Jack.
“Inside you’re so beautiful I can’t put it into words.” He slid two fingers between her legs, quickly finding her clit and then her gate, slowly circling. “Here, yes. But here—” Galen pressed a kiss to her forehead, “—you’re all light and magic, warm, and there’s nothing like it. Every time you let me in it feels so good I want to roll around in it. It’s big and I know that. I understand you’re choosing to let us in and I want you to know I understand it’s a gift, especially how things have been with your family.”
“You’re going to make me cry.” She reached back and grabbed Jack’s cock while kissing her way along Galen’s neck.
“Why? Renee, we have something wonderful and special and you are the reason. There’s nothing to cry over.” Jack got to his knees, bracketing Galen. “No crying. Well, not tears of pain.”
“I’d cry because what we have is so special. It’s a woman thing. Anyway, you’re better than a trip to the beach.”
He paused a moment, cocking his head. “I already forbade tears.” He swooped down to kiss her and then leaned up again. “Beach? How so?” His hands hadn’t paused, though. Nimble fingers rolled and tugged on her nipples as he waited for her to be able to form words and put them in order to make sense. Like she could!
“You’re sand and sun, you’re the smell of coconut, of white teeth, of blue skies as far as the eye can see. It’s sexy and it makes me tingly.”
He said nothing. Instead, he took her hand, placing it on his chest, over his heart and she understood.
Not one to let opportunity just pass her by, she grabbed the base of Jack’s cock, so close to her face, angling him to take a taste. Better than a bag of chips. She took her time and learned him. Learned what spots he liked best and how he liked it.
Galen watched as she sucked Jack’s cock. He stroked his own, content to just look on for the moment. Right then it was like watching the best pornographic movie ever made. The pale, creamy skin Renee had against the golden limbs Jack possessed. From his vantage, he could see the curve of Renee’s ass leading down to her pussy, dark from desire, glistening. He scented her and something within responded, knowing that scent, knowing she needed.
Pre-come beaded on the head of his cock and he slid a thumb through it, the pleasure making him shiver just a bit.
Jack opened his eyes and looked down at her, looked down at their woman as she sucked him off. Galen knew that, knew the feeling of it, knew the pride that this woman with all her power and allure would be on her knees before him.
Echoes of that pinged through their link, set Galen on fire, a fire he couldn’t contain when Jack’s gaze met his. He needed her, needed Jack, needed to be in them and against them.
He got to his knees behind her, kissing the small of her back and then the tattoo. “I can smell your pussy, babe. Sticky sweet.”
She whimpered, arching to get more contact with him, which only made him crazier for her. He hadn’t fucked her since the day before. Had come that morning as the three of them had been together, but he needed to be in her.
Her moan, low and laced with need, curled around his gut, pulling him deeper as he brushed the head of his cock through her pussy, teasing around her gate.
“Think you can handle this every day?” Galen asked as he began to press inside. Since he was the one close to coming about thirty seconds after he thrust the first time, he didn’t have any high ground to stand on. Still, twenty minutes after he came, he’d want her again.
She braced herself better, widening her thighs, one hand holding Jack’s balls, the other on his thigh to keep her balance as Galen seated himself fully and pulled nearly all the way out only to plunge back into that welcoming heat.
He kept his pace slow and deep, content to just be with her, content to climb slowly toward climax.
As Renee became softer, warmer and more relaxed, Jack’s body tensed. His chest gleamed with sweat, his muscles tightening as he approached orgasm. Christ he was sexy. Galen felt the edges of what Jack did, wrapped in Renee’s responses. Seen through Renee, Jack was even sexier.
“Yes, so good. That’s, ahhh, yes, more,” Jack said through a clenched jaw.
Galen knew Renee had taken him as deeply as she could. Knew the way it felt with his cock in her mouth, his balls in her palm and the soft stroke over his asshole. She threw her entire self into sex, especially oral sex.
Something in the way the three of them had bonded together had freed her magic in a way it hadn’t been before. She gave off the warm rush of power and it built the longer they all touched.
Jack groaned her name like a benediction, his hand in her hair tightening. Her moan in response reverberated through Galen as he knew Jack filled her.
Renee’s head lifted and she looked up at Jack, who bent to kiss her and whisper how much he loved her.
Her body called to Galen, her curves, each dip in her flesh, every rise. She was not unknown territory, but he delighted in exploring her over and over. Needing to see her face, he leaned down. “Flip over so I can look into your eyes as I fuck you.”
She reluctantly moved forward, his cock slipping from her body. The look on her face made him want to laugh. Like a toddler who’d had a doll taken away.
“Greedy,” he murmured, caressing every bit of her he could touch.
“I am. Put your cock in me!”
Jack laughed, kissing her neck. “If he doesn’t want to oblige, give me a few minutes and I’ll take care of it.” He winked at Galen, who put his cock right back where he intended to be.
“I think not. Try to step on my action? Pfft. You just had your cock in her mouth. I have her pussy.” Galen arched his back, getting in deeper, moaning at how good it felt.
She laughed, one arm curled up and around Jack, her gaze locked with Galen. The edges of their uneven number smoothed then as they all fit together seemingly effortlessly. Though in fact, it was difficult somet
imes to see her react to Jack, difficult to see Jack react to her. It passed as he realized they all connected, she still loved him, still trusted and depended on him. The way she leaned on him during all this family drama meant a lot to him—as a man and as a cat. He needed to keep her safe, to protect her. That she sought that out, trusted he’d do so, made him want to roar up to the heavens.
Instead, he leaned down and kissed her.
“I love you.”
The breath of that against his lips caught him.
“So much,” he added, speeding his pace when she lifted her feet, changing the angle of her hips, gripping his sides with her knees.
“I can see his cock sliding in and out of your pussy,” Jack said, watching avidly.
She nodded. “Yes.”
Jack’s breath sped, along with Galen’s. He slid a hand down her belly. “Here, let me help you, sweetheart.”
Her breath snagged, her cunt gripping around Galen’s cock as Jack began to finger her clit.
“Ohmigod, like...that, oh yes!” She arched, her nails against Galen’s thigh, her hips rocking to grind herself against Jack’s hand, onto Galen’s cock. The result obviously worked for her, as her pussy superheated to nearly scalding. All of which worked for him as he fucked into her hard and deep, heading into orgasm without brakes once she began to come all around him.
Galen moved to the side, one arm pillowing her head as he caught his breath. Jack settled in but not before leaning over Renee to kiss Galen. Her softness made room for Jack’s edge, the coarse nature of male against male, shifter against shifter.
The kiss was a wrestle, a struggle to titillate, to taste, to mark, to possess. It did all those things in a gnash of teeth and tongue, of lips, and when they finally broke apart, Galen struggled for breath as he flopped on his back.
“Wow. That was.” She fanned herself. “Beyond hot. If I could have that image put on every surface I’d encounter in my life, I’d be such a happy girl. Not that I’m not happy now. Despite all this crazy, I’m so happy.”
