by Brynn Paulin
“This is Myan’s bed…well, I guess, the bed you’ll share with Kaz and Myan—”
“They told you what happened?” Hanna gasped. Red-hot heat crept into her face. How could they tell people—her sister—the personal things that went on between the three of them?
“Hanna…” Mel sighed. She smoothed a hand along her sister’s forearm. “It was…I mean…” She bit her lip. “I’ll have them explain it to you. It’s not my place. They’ll be really happy to know you’re awake. They’ve been worried.”
“No doubt,” Hanna muttered, unswayed from her anger. She would have thought they’d be more discreet. She shook her head. Were they loose-lipped because they’d been afraid when she’d slept for two days after sex—who the hell slept for two days after sex?
Mel stood and bowed her head in the weird deferential way Alexi and those close to the guys on the tour had. “I’ll go let them know you’re awake.”
Hanna caught her hand. “No. Wait. What’s up with the head bobbing thing?”
Her sister bit the side of her mouth. “I…they need to explain that too.”
“No. Please tell me.”
“I can’t.” Mel pulled her hand away and started for the door.
“Melanie!” Hanna called. The other woman stopped and looked back at her. Hanna smiled. “I’m really glad you’re okay, and…I wish this wasn’t so weird. I just want to talk to you and hug you to death!”
“I love you too,” Mel laughed. Before Hanna could say anything else or demand anymore answers, her sister disappeared through the doorway to what Hanna assumed must be the hallway. Alone, Hanna surveyed the bedroom. Though it was quaint in its décor, the furniture was obviously solid and expensive. The white painted wood kept the space bright and clean looking, while dark linens and pillows added a masculine flair.
Restless—and who wouldn’t be after sleeping two days—she climbed from the bed. Her bare feet landed on the cool, polished wood floor and she noticed for the first time that she was wearing a white cotton chemise-like nightgown trimmed in lace. Her arms were bare, but the gown’s hem fell to mid-calf where it ended in a ruffled flounce.
Hmm… She didn’t own anything like this and the last she remembered, she’d been naked. Odd. Every moment in the Harvest men’s world seemed more and more as if she were slipping into an alternate dimension.
Shaking her head, she grasped for reality. Cleaning up and getting dressed in her own clothes would be a good thing. It would allow her to feel as if she were on better footing when she faced her lovers once more.
Her hand shoved through her hair. God, what had she been thinking falling into bed with them the way she had? Well, technically, Mate, it wasn’t bed. It was a table.
Her eyes went wide. And now, Kaz’s voice was in her head. She pressed a palm to her temple. She was just losing it.
Turning to her luggage, she found her hairbrush in the smaller bag then went to the cheval mirror to fix her hair. Lord almighty, she looked like the picture of mental illness. Her brown tresses were ratted and tangled in the back and side of her head looked like a wild thing, and she wasn’t so sure she’d be able to comb it out. Pride and female vanity told her to at least try and quickly. She wanted to look decent when she saw Kaz and Myan.
She teared up as she tugged at the strands, but within a few minutes, her hair was back to its lustrous order with only a few hunks of hair in the bristles of her brush. Blinking away the moisture in her eyes, she tossed the hairbrush on the dresser then rubbed her head. A shower would go a long way to making her feel better. Off hand, she wondered if perhaps she’d gotten a virus of some sort. A Rip Van Winkle disease or something. She still ached all over. Though it was mostly in her mid-region, it felt like the result of more than just sex. In fact, her female parts felt completely fine…aside from wanting to be filled with two hot men once more.
Hanna rolled her eyes. She’d gone from abstinence to nympho in one smooth transition. Perhaps that virus had affected her common sense as well.
She whipped off the nightgown to head for the shower she saw through a doorway beside the dresser then froze beside the mirror and did a double take.
Her scream pierced the air as she looked at her body. Four long marks ran on either side of her navel, down to her hips then across her upper thigh to the inside midway down. The marks didn’t look new. Slightly raised, they were silvery as if she’d had them for years.
She hadn’t!
The door banged open and the scream that had dwindled to a whimper bloomed again as two giant lions leapt through the opening. The lions from her dreams! They prowled toward her as she scrabbled for anything to use as defense while she tried to escape. She wasn’t dumb. There was no way a human could outrun two grown lions. Not in a space this small and probably not even in the open.
Desperately, she scooped up the hairbrush and whipped it at the head of the closest one. The instrument struck the beast in the muzzle while she dashed to the far side of the bed. Maybe if she could get under it—
In her peripheral vision, she saw a blur of movement. “Damn it, Hanna!” Myan bitched, standing naked where one of the lions had been. He rubbed his nose. “That hurt. Don’t throw things.”
“Where…” She shook her head. There were more important things. “Get away from that thing! There’s another around here—”
The second lion shimmered then, before her eyes, shrunk, the fur peeling away to flesh. Limbs and face morphed until Kaz crouched before her. Slowly, he stood.
Hanna weaved on her feet as the world dimmed. She reached blindly for the rocker nearby, but she couldn’t find it. She fell, the room growing darker, her last recollection of powerful arms closing around her.
* * * *
Myan held Hanna close as he leaned against his pillows and his brother sat beside them. He felt when she started to rouse. Like a mouse in the clutches of a cat, she tensed, shaking slightly as she tried to pretend unconsciousness.
“We’re really not much different from other people,” he murmured while he stroked her hair. It was as soft as the finest silk where it slid between his fingers. It brushed against his bare chest as it fell from his fingers like a waterfall, and his cock stirred. He willed away the reaction. The last thing Hanna probably wanted right now was sex. She needed explanations…and convincing.
“Humans are attracted to pheromones.” Kaz leaned over and nuzzled her shoulder, and Myan knew he was releasing facial pheromones that would attract and calm her.
Myan ran his face along the other side of her head. “We are not so different. It is by scent that we know our mate. We knew you the first time you sent a letter to Melanie. And Melanie’s mates knew her the day they met her.”
Another shudder of tension ran through Hanna, and he knew she was battling her instinct to burst out with questions. He smiled. She was such a little fighter. It would serve her well as the most powerful woman in their pride.
He nipped her ear playfully. “Stop playing opossum, and ask your questions. We’re not leaving you alone so you might as well face this.”
“Besides,” Kaz growled, “we like to eat opossum.”
Hanna jerked, and Kaz laughed. “Knew you weren’t unconscious, sweetheart.”
“You scarred me,” she rasped. She turned her head to glare at him while Myan lightly stroked his fingers over the marks he’d made on her two days ago. The scratches contained his and Kaz’s DNA, forever linking her to them. It would protect her from other shifters—at least any who had a sane thought in their head. They would detect her lion-mates’ permanent scent on her. No shifter would ever infringe on another’s woman. To do so meant certain death.
The DNA also increased her healing abilities—something she’d need as she raised their litters. Baby lion-shifters weren’t the most docile. Scrapes and nips were the lot of anyone who mothered them, but the unconditional, uncompromising love of her offspring would override that. Of course, he and Kaz would always see to her safety.
She’d soon realize that to bear the marks of the group’s leaders was a privilege that placed her above all others. He and Kaz were kings of this pride. She was the queen.
“We marked you,” Myan countered. “It is the way of our pride. It’s the way of many shifters.”
“How dare you?” she exclaimed. “How could you do this without my permission?”
“You gave it,” Kaz said evenly. “We explained there was no going back.”
“From sleeping with you! From sleeping with rock stars! Not becoming part of your pack!”
“Pride,” Kaz corrected.
“Pride, pack, school, flock, what the hell ever!” She squirmed away, and Myan glanced at Kaz.
The pheromones aren’t working, Myan observed.
Yes, they are. Can’t you smell her arousal?
Hanna stopped a few feet from the bed and stared at them. “Oh my God! You guys are jackasses! You did this to me and all you can do is think about sex? Stay out of my head, and get out of this room!”
She jabbed her finger at the door.
“I mean it. Get out! I can’t believe you did this. And if you think I’m just gonna lie down and spread my legs and mate with you, then get the fuck out. Because you’re wrong!”
“Precious,” Myan pleaded. “Just listen.”
“No. Get out.”
“We had to do it,” he continued. “We had to claim you during the full Harvest Moon or we would have had to wait until next September. Once we’d been with you, waiting could have been disastrous.”
“Right,” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest and obviously not realizing that her pert, pink nipples were peeking over the top of her tanned arms.
“You know what you were feeling before we slept with you?” Kaz offered. “You could have ended up with that permanently with no man able to relieve you—not even us.”
“Get out,” she said, flatly.
Myan regarded the smooth lines of her body, from the swell of her breasts to her flat belly to her sweetly curved hips and thighs. “It’s my room.”
“Fine. I’ll find somewhere else to be—somewhere away from you two.”
Kaz shook his head, letting out a frustrated breath through his nose. “No, we’ll stay in my room across the hall.” Do you really want her traipsing the house naked? He projected to Myan.
And Hanna heard. She scowled at him. “It’s not as if I don’t have clothing to put on. I’m not planning to walk to town in the nude.”
“You’re not planning to walk to town at all,” Kaz growled.
She stared at him, her eyebrow raised as if to say, “try me.” Myan didn’t call her on it. He’d see to upping the compound’s security as soon as he and Kaz left the room.
Deciding there was no progress to be made here, he headed for the door. Kaz followed on his heels. Stooping, Myan scooped up the hairbrush and tossed it on the bed then turned to Hanna.
“We’ll never hurt you, just so you know. The marking is required, but nothing like that will happen again. In human form or not.”
Hanna’s jaw tightened, her lips pressing together. She didn’t believe him, but she’d see.
Chapter Five
Hanna paced the bedroom, wondering how long would be long enough for Myan and Kaz to vacate the hallway and give her an opening to escape. But could she? She sank onto the bed and dropped her head into her hands. Her first instinct was to run…to get as far from here as she could. But what about Mel? Could she just leave her behind? After searching for her for a year?
No.
And where did that leave Hanna? Her sister seemed content and happy, and the guys had mentioned that Mel had mates. It was unlikely she’d willingly go anywhere with Hanna.
Hanna pressed her lips together as she fought with her emotions. She’d have to leave Mel. Hanna sniffled, but at least, she’d know her sister was alive and well and happy.
Rising, she went to her luggage. Inside, she found her jeans and a black T-shirt. After snagging underwear to go beneath, she took her clothing into the bathroom and locked the door. Not that she honestly believed the thin wood would keep out two full-grown lions, but it gave her a slim bit of security.
Her shower was quick, and in minutes, she was back in the bedroom, plotting her escape. She wasn’t surprised to find her cell phone had somehow disappeared. They’d left her wallet, obviously thinking she’d capitulate to their “you are our mate” plan and not attempt running. That just proved how much they didn’t know her.
She shoved the meager amount of cash she carried, her debit card and her credit card into her front pocket. There was nothing else to take—they’d notice the bulk of extra stuff anyway. Satisfied that she was as prepared as she would get, she put on her socks and tennis shoes.
A tremor ran up her back as she left the room, but the hallway was empty. Following it to the end, she found herself in a huge country kitchen. Mel stood at the island in the center of the room, cooking bacon and eggs. Toast popped from the toaster, startling Hanna.
“Jumpy today, aren’t you?” Mel laughed as if everything was normal here. How could she act as if nothing unusual had occurred? Hanna had been kidnapped and mauled—or perhaps, mauled then kidnapped. She couldn’t be sure. All she knew was that she was pissed.
She forced a smile. “As jumpy as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”
“Mmm…you might want to curtail cat jokes around here,” Mel warned.
“Why?” Hanna asked bitterly as she helped herself to coffee. “What are they going to do? Scratch out my eyes this time? Drug me into submission with some variant of catnip?”
“You might want to retract those claws. They’re actually good guys.”
Sadly, obvious exceptions aside, Hanna had to agree. They seemed somewhat decent. But there were just some things she couldn’t overlook. Kidnapping top on the list.
“They told me you have mates?” Hanna said, redirecting the conversation. She needed to find out just how happy Mel was before she decided to take off without her.
Mel grinned as she scooped food onto two plates and brought them to the table. “I do,” she said. “Costin and Petre. They’re Kaz and Myan’s cousins. They also play bass and drums for the band. I’ve been missing them the past few months while they’ve been back on tour. Thankfully, now that you’re here, I can go back on the road with them.”
“And why exactly were you hiding? I’ve been out of my mind, you know?”
She had the good grace to look slightly abashed then she shrugged. “We needed to get you here. Kaz and Myan knew you were their one.”
Hanna wasn’t buying that, but if that was Mel’s story…whatever. “Are Costin and Petre—what are they called? Shape-shifters? Were-lions?”
“Shifters. And yes, they are.”
“And you’re cool with that?”
“Why not? I love them.”
It was good that one of them had gotten that benefit before her world was turned on end. “Why not?” Hanna repeated. “It’s not as simple as having a strange birthmark on your back! They turn into animals.”
“And?”
Hanna gritted her teeth. She hated it when Mel did that to her. And she always did when she thought she was right and Hanna was being unreasonable.
“And you can’t honestly tell me this never, at any point, freaked you out.”
Mel sighed. “Maybe a little. But, Hanna, this is a much bigger world than either of us ever imagined. There are lots of beings out there who aren’t what we think they are.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.”
She picked up the fork that was beside Hanna’s plate and handed it to her. “You need to eat. You never think clearly before coffee and food.”
Hanna scowled, but didn’t argue since she knew her sister was right. But somehow, she didn’t think food would make this any better.
“Forget about the shifter part,” Mel advised. “Focus on the men. Everything will fall in place from there. The t
hree of you are true mates or they wouldn’t have recognized you and you wouldn’t have reacted to them as quickly as you did. Because of that, it’s impossible for you to hate them. You’ll fall for them quickly, because that’s what’s destined to happen.”
“Destined?” Hanna argued after a few forkfuls of egg. “What if I’d never met them? What if after meeting them, I’d ended up far, far away? Would the reaction to them have gone on forever?”
“No, it would have faded. You might even be attracted to another man. Eventually. That’s good. For you. But Kaz and Myan would be stricken with constant restlessness, a sense that something is missing. It’s something you can live with and work around, but it hampers true quality of life.”
Fantastic. So now, Mel was playing the guilt card. The way she stared at her plate after that bomb spoke the truth. Hanna crunched into a piece of bacon, pondering her sister’s words. Mel was subtly telling Hanna that she’d be selfish to leave and make the guys suffer the disquiet—that was if Mel’s words were to be believed.
Hanna pushed her plate away. “I need to take a walk and think.”
“Don’t go too far. The compound stretches a couple miles in all directions from here, but Kaz and Myan will get jittery if you go beyond that—especially while they’re feeling unsure of you.”
“Unsure? They’re determined I’m their mate, and they’ve marked me. That’s pretty sure.”
“But you haven’t made up your mind. That’s the catch.”
* * * *
But you haven’t made up your mind…
The words stuck with Hanna as she plodded along the dirt road that curved through the Ruslan land. The lush trees and fields of flowers that dominated the landscape were lost on her, as were the puffy cloud formations overhead. She gave it all little more than a passing glance, though the warm fall breeze whispering through the leaves and blades of grass calmed her, reminding her of days long past when she and Mel used to camp with their parents. She’d listen to the wind, feeling completely safe between her mom and dad. There were no bogeymen who’d get past them. Her parents had been invincible. She’d thought so until a plane crash had left her and Mel alone.
