For the first time since she’d arrive, her optimism peaked. With the expose she’d written about them in hand, she left her apartment.
Both bodyguards jumped out of the car. When she told them she wanted them to drive her to Panther Cove, they seemed relieved. Did the whole place know about Hunter’s shifter reveal?
“Have either Derek or Hunter asked about me?” she asked as she slipped into their backseat.
Casius looked in the rearview mirror. “We are not at liberty to say.”
That was a cop-out. “Fine. Be that way. What kind of reception do you think I’ll get?”
He shrugged. Okay, so he wasn’t talking. The two-page article was in her hands, getting more crumpled by the minute. She hoped that when she tore it up in front of them and promised never to divulge their secret, that they would still want her. Once they believed she wasn’t a threat to them, they could let down their defenses and really love her.
But didn’t one of them say they lived to be four hundred years old? Uh-oh. In thirty or forty years, she’d be old and gray, and they’d still be youthful. They wouldn’t want a mere mortal. Her stomach cramped.
She tapped Hercules on the shoulder. “How old are you?”
He glanced to Casius. “Ninety-four, ma’am.”
She slumped back in her seat, knowing she’d be back in this car in an hour more depressed than she’d been before.
It didn’t take long before Hercules pulled up to the front of the house. He got out and opened her door. “You can go on in. The men are expecting you.”
She hadn’t recalled them calling Panther Cove, but perhaps Casius had texted them. As she walked up the front pathway, her hands shook, and each step took more and more courage. She didn’t get a chance to ring the bell or knock as both men opened the door as she approached. From the way they were leaning forward and not breathing, they were waiting to see her reaction before showing theirs.
“Come in.” Derek hugged her. “You came back!”
“Can we talk?” She didn’t want to get too excited until after they’d purged the air.
“Sure.” They showed her into the den.
She sat on the sofa, and Derek slid next to her while Hunter sat across from her. She inhaled. “I’m sorry about freaking out when I saw you shift.”
Hunter’s brows furrowed. “Are you kidding? You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t. I knew it would be a shock, but Derek and I don’t want to hide anything from you.”
As long he was in a confessing mode, one thing had been bothering her. “How did you know where to find me when Gastron and his men took me?”
He held her gaze for a moment. “I hid a tracking device in your purse.”
The invasion of her privacy kind of pissed her off. “You never told me.”
His shoulders straightened as sadness seeped out of his eyes. “I didn’t want to worry you.”
One of the men had told her she might be a target. “I wished you would have at least warned me.”
“I only suspected they might try something. It could have been weeks from then and you would have worried too much.”
He was right. She would have been a nervous wreck. “Knowing me, I would have demanded to know why you thought I might be harmed and you would have felt obliged to lie.”
“Yeah.”
“Is there anything else I should know?” She hadn’t meant to sound defensive, but her coping abilities had taken a hit lately.
“As shifters, we mate once in a lifetime.”
The fact they wanted her implied she was the one. “And you knew I was the one right away?” Derek had claimed from the start that she was their mate.
“Yes. As soon as we saw you, our bodies changed. Every cell exploded with need. That’s why I had to keep my hands under the table when you sat with us at the bar. My claws had extended against my will and the back of my hands had sprouted hair.”
“I hadn’t even noticed.” And here she considered herself a journalist.
Derek put a hand on her lap. “Remember when you noticed there was blood on my lip?”
“Yes.”
“Being so close to you for the first time made my fangs come out. They bled.”
“Ouch.”
He smiled. “They don’t hurt. There’s a purpose to them bleeding. Remember when I bit you on the neck?”
Her hand went to her neck, and she had to smile at the fairly pleasurable experience. “Yes.”
“I was marking you as ours. Both of us injected our blood serum into you, hoping you’d eventually accept us. Our blood mixed with yours, and with continued injections, you’ll live almost as long as we do. ”
“Whoa.” That concept blew her mind. Her pulse soared at the ramification. “So I won’t look really old in say fifty years?” That was too good to be true. She thought her aging would have been an obstacle.
“Nope. You’ll have to claim you have the best plastic surgeon in the world when people you’ve know for forty years question your youthful appearance.”
“Wow.”
The paper in her hand was almost drenched in sweat. She unfolded it. “As long as we’re confessing, I have one of my own. I wrote the story about Panther Cove.” The men stilled. “But I couldn’t turn it in. I love both of you too much. You do wonderful work here, and I won’t jeopardize that.”
She ceremoniously tore up the paper and placed the scraps on the table.
Hunter leaned back in his chair, pulled out a set of keys, and extracted one. “I have learned one thing about getting to know you.”
“What’s that?”
“That love isn’t easy. I was wrong not to trust you with the truth.”
“No. If you’d have told me about being a shifter or about The Shield or the evil Sword, I might have turned in the story. You were right to wait.”
“I don’t think so. Once I sunk my cock into you, I knew you’d accepted us. I’m sorry for putting you through all this stress.” He handed her a key.
“What’s this for? Or rather what’s it to?”
“Every single room in the compound. It’s the master key. I don’t want any secrets between us ever again.”
Her heart nearly burst with joy. This key represented trust and love and a wonderful future. “You know I have suffered terribly since the kidnapping.” She gave both of them her best pout.
Derek pulled her close. “I’d give anything if we could go back in time.”
She tapped her chin. “Perhaps we could go back into that dungeon room and you two could show me more of your toys? It would go a long way to me forgiving you.”
The grins that greeted her lit her up.
“Then let’s go.” Derek slid his hands under her legs. When he stood, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “You once mentioned you liked a little bit of pain.”
“I do. It turns me on.”
“I know Gastron tied you up and that had to be so frightening, but do you think we could use a little restraint on you?”
“If you two are with me, I can handle anything.”
Derek nuzzled her neck as they entered the playroom, and Hunter rushed to turn on some soft music. There were small clerestory windows at the top of the room she hadn’t noticed the first time. Since the sun had yet to set, the evening light bathed the room in a soft glow.
Derek set her down, turned her around, and clasped her face. He kissed her so tenderly her body almost ached.
“I have truly missed you. The depression overwhelmed me to a point where once I almost couldn’t shift. I never want to lose you again.” Derek hugged her.
Hunter moved closer. “I say we put this terrible week behind us and show you how much we’ve missed you.” His kiss spoke of possession, passion, and permanence.
She wrapped her arms around Hunter’s neck and pressed her breasts against his chest. All the frustration and indecision spilled out of her and was replaced with optimism and joy. Their tongues danced and played, and his spicy scent trickled through he
r nose and headed straight to her pussy.
Derek clearly felt left out because he reached around her from behind and undid the button on her pants. The zipper lowered and his hands skimmed across her belly and over her panties. He probably hadn’t intentionally tickled her, but she had to wiggle and pull away from Hunter’s kiss to get out of Derek’s grasp.
“Someone’s ticklish.”
“Yes.” She stepped to the side and kicked off her shoes. “As much as I’d like to slowly seduce you two by dragging off your clothes, how about if we each get naked and then begin the seduction?”
“You don’t have to ask me twice, darlin’.”
Both men managed to get out of their attire before she’d even slipped off her jeans.
Hunter stepped behind her. “I can help with your shirt. Raise your arms.”
She obeyed, loving how she felt so cared for. The shirt disappeared. Now all that was left were her bra and panties. Hunter slid her bra straps down her arms and followed his palms with kisses. His tender touch made her knees go weak and her pussy drip.
Derek dropped to his knees and thumbed the sides of her panties. With excruciating slowness, he dragged down the elastic until her panties were thigh height. He looked up. “This may not be the time or the place, but have you given thought to children?”
Her heart lodged in her throat for a moment. “Children? I want a ton!”
That brought a grin to his face. “In our world, we already are mates, but I imagine you’d want a big wedding ceremony someday, right?”
He was on his knees, so she guessed this counted as an official marriage proposal. As if he could read her mind, Hunter slid next to his brother and elbowed him. “We’d planned something more romantic, but I guess the youngster here got carried away.”
She giggled. “That’s okay.”
“So? Will you marry us?” Hunter looked up with hope and love in his eyes.
They were already mates, but she liked the idea of a formal wedding. “Absolutely.” They could discuss her staying at her job later. Right now she had sex on her mind.
Hunter stood and kissed her. “Do you mind starting the baby-making process sooner rather than later? I hate wearing a condom.”
“I’m still on the pill, so I’m good.”
Derek swiped a tongue across her pussy, and all thoughts of white dresses and picket fences disappeared. “Whoa.”
He drew her panties lower and she stepped out of them. Hunter popped her bra and slid his hands over her breasts. His rough palms helped soothe the ache in her distended nipples, and her whole body vibrated with need.
“I thought someone wanted to give me a little pain.”
Derek stood. “Oh, we can help you out.” He trotted over to a table, opened a drawer, and pulled out two wooden clothespins.
“We doing laundry?” Her mind whirred about what he was going to do with them.
He laughed. “After a few minutes of these on your nipples, even one lick will drive you wild with desire.” He waved one above her tit. Hunter held down her arms acting as if the pressure would drive her to rip them off.
“I’d like to feel that.”
“Trust me. You will.” He clamped the first one on. As soon as he let go, streaks of pain radiated over her whole body. Her breath caught. She grit her teeth and would have told him to take it off had not the pain turned into unbelievable pleasure. Her shoulders relaxed and her pussy contracted with waves of ecstasy. “I want the other one.”
Derek fitted the other clothespin over the nipple and the pain morphed into incredible desire a moment later. Never had she imagined she’d like something this tight so much.
The sound of descending chains lowered from the ceiling and she glanced up. Derek walked to one side of the room and pulled a cuff attached to a long rope from the wall. He dragged it across the floor and clamped the padded strap to one leg.
“This gives us total access to your pussy. You’ll be totally vulnerable. Are you ready for that?”
Just his words made her gush, and her scent filled the room. “Oh, yeah.” Here she thought the spanking bench was the height of sexual arousal.
After he tied the other leg, Hunter attached a cuff that dangled from the ceiling to each wrist. He must have pressed a button, because the chains retracted and stretched her arms overhead, but not so tight that they pulled.
“Comfy?” Hunter asked.
“Yes.”
Derek pulled up a stool and sat down. “I like to eat my dinner sitting.”
She hoped that meant his tongue would dine on her needy cunt.
Hunter moved behind her and ran his hands down her ass. When he cupped her cheeks, he slid his cock between her legs and sawed it back and forth, hitting her clit with each pass. “I love getting pussy juice on me.” His sharp teeth pricked her skin.
For a second she tensed until she remembered how the pressure enhanced the pleasure. She dropped back her head as he continued to knead her ass.
He ran a tongue down the shell of her ear. “You want me to spank your sweet bottom?”
“Please.”
“Would you like something a bit thinner and perhaps more painful than my hand?”
Her pussy clenched thinking about it. “Will my ass get nice and red?”
“I’ll make you so hot so that when Derek fucks your ass, you won’t be able to tighten even one muscle.”
She wanted him to do her hard. “Will you fuck my pussy at the same time?”
“Oh, kitten, you have no idea what I have in mind.”
“Then yes.”
She might have said more, but Derek slipped a long tongue into her cunt and bursts of electric pulses shot everywhere. The glory was so intense that she stood on her toes then sank down again to get more.
Derek clasped her hips. “Don’t move. That’s an order.”
She loved when he acted so alpha. Hunter dragged what looked like a whip with at least ten pieces of leather attached over the tops of her breasts.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the strips disappear. The chains ratcheted down allowing her arms to lower. “Bend over.” Hunter pressed on her back.
Her lips came within inches of Derek’s shoulder, and she licked his skin that tasted of salt mixed with sweetness.
He sat back. “No touching and certainly no licking. I need to concentrate, and your touch is like getting my wick too close to a flame. Okay?”
She almost giggled. Damn. “For now.”
“We got a sassy one, bro. You need to show her who’s boss.”
Chapter Sixteen
The first swish of the whip was a light caress that barely excited her. “That won’t get my ass red.” The next blow came out harder, and it stimulated rather than pained. “Getting warmer.”
Derek reached up and removed the clips from her nipples. The blood rushing back to the tips was like a strong current piercing them. Her mouth opened to suck in more air.
He grinned. “I see you understand the nature of the clothespins.”
“Uh-huh.”
He abandoned her pussy and drew one nipple into his mouth. She jerked, and the raw need thrummed through her. Derek held on to the other breast and lifted her shoulders so that she was almost standing straight. That caused her ass to tuck inward. Perhaps it was the sudden movement, but the next whipping sent a wave of pain across her rear.
“Ow.”
Hunter immediately rubbed her rear. “Was that too much?”
It had been, but as soon as he rubbed away the hurt, she wanted more. What was wrong with her? “Maybe a few more times. I want my ass ready for Derek.”
Derek kissed her. “Oh, darlin’, did I tell you I love you?”
The tender words washed over her, and she reached out to pull him close, but the chains stopped her. “I want the use of my hands. I need to feel your skin under my fingertips.” She gave him her best sad look.
In a flash, he freed her, and then rubbed her wrists. “Touch all you want, but m
y cock is off-limits, you hear?”
“You’re no fun.”
The switch slid across her ass, and Derek went back to tugging on her highly sensitive nipples. Her pussy creamed so hard she was on the brink of coming. When Derek slipped a finger into her opening, she clamped down on him hard.
“None of that, darlin’. You have to wait until we fuck your pussy before you climax. The experience will be heightened if you don’t come too soon.” He drew his brows and pinched his lips in a mock scowl. “You got that, slave?”
“Yes, master.” She might have laughed had her breaths not been coming out so fast. “Then you better hurry.” Hunter abandoned the crop and gave her ass a few good wallops, and a wave of heat lit her up. “Thank you.” She wiggled her butt.
Derek nodded to Hunter. “Let’s switch places.”
Before Hunter came to her front, he unhooked the ankle restraints. “We both need access to your wonderful body.” He swooped her into his arms and placed her on a cushy mattress on the floor in the corner.
Both men descended next to her and guided her to her hands and knees. Derek slid behind while Hunter took up the front position and slipped his hands over her breasts. The second his callused palms rubbed her nipples, a deep fire seared her. The intense ache spread over her body and shot down to her pussy. A quick pinch took her breath her away, but the erotic lust built in every cell.
“That feels so good.” She squeezed shut her eyes for a moment and let the ripples lick their way down her body.
Derek’s tongue traced a winding path on her ass while his other hand massaged the soreness out of her rear. Never had her butt been this relaxed. Derek must have brought a tube of lube with him because the scent of strawberry goo filled the air.
“Are you ready for the experience of your lifetime, darlin’?” He slid his cock across both cheeks as he dipped a finger into her pussy. She jumped at the unexpected delight.
“Yes.”
“I’m going to impale your sweet ass first before Hunter fucks your pussy.”
Protecting Their Mate [Panther Cove 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 13
