by Lori King
“You’re lucky to have made it this far. You said you came all the way from Wyoming?” Caroline asked, and when KJ nodded, she continued, “Well, you could probably use some more rest to heal. We’ll all get out of here and you can take a nap. We can talk more later.”
Caroline stood and turned around, pinning each pack member for a moment with a clearly Alpha-Bitch stare, before she addressed the group. “I know we all have questions, but we have to take this slowly and make logical, sound decisions that are the best for the pack as well as KJ and her parents.”
Devin stood, nodding his agreement. “I couldn’t agree more. I’m calling a Beta meeting for this evening, eight o’clock. All of the Betas, even the young guys. We need to form a plan, and make some decisions about how much help we can give.”
Everyone left the room in silence, but the moment they were in the hallway Rafe snapped on Devin, surprising everyone.
“So you believe her? Just like that?” Rafe asked angrily. Ryley stared at his older brother, staggered at the anger and disbelief written all over his face. Couldn’t he see the resemblance? Why was he so afraid to admit that KJ could be exactly who she said she was?
“Rafe, I’m not going to blow smoke up your ass and tell you that I understand what you’re feeling, but yes, I believe her. There is no scent of deceit on her, but there is fear. Something has her running, and whether all of her story’s facts check out or not, we have to follow this to the end,” Devin said calmly. He displayed an amazing amount of control considering the disrespectful tone that Rafe had taken with him.
It was so unusual for Rafe to be anything but perfectly courteous that it knocked Ryley on his heels. Rafe was always the one to rein him in, and now it seemed that Ryley might be forced to step in and protect Rafe from himself.
If KJ was really their younger sister, and their parents were really being threatened, then there was no other choice. Ryley would move heaven and earth to protect his family, even the family that had abandoned him.
The small, feminine hand that squeezed his brought his attention back to Shandi, who met his eyes with a small smile before she turned back to Rafe.
“Rafe, can I speak with you for a minute?” she asked quietly, and when Rafe finally responded with a nod, she brushed a soft kiss on Ryley’s lips and whispered, “Meet us at the cabin in an hour.”
For just a moment Ryley expected to feel jealousy, but there was nothing but calm acceptance in his heart. He knew that Shandi was just sensing his brother’s conflicting emotions and trying to help, so he wasn’t hurt that he was being left out. Instead he was relieved that someone else was willing to step in and handle it.
He watched from the front porch of the Alpha’s cabin as Shandi and Rafe walked down the road towards their own place. Rafe’s arm was wrapped loosely around her curvy waist. Her long red hair draped over his bicep, and her own arm snugged tightly around Rafe’s lean hips. Both of their heads were bent together, as they spoke quietly, and a huge, comfortable smile burst over Ryley’s face. His mate. Shandi had agreed to be their mate, and was even now stepping into the role with ease.
Refusing to let his mind think about what the new female wolf had said, he stripped his clothes off and took off at a run into the woods. What he needed right now was fresh air and a good long run.
Shandi waited until they were out of earshot of most of the other pack members before she whispered to Rafe, “Do you need to be alone?”
He responded by growling softly and tugging her closer to his side. “No, I want you here. I need you here.”
Warmth spread throughout her chest at his honest declaration. She wasn’t sure exactly what the turning point had been for her, but the moment that KJ had asked her if Rafe and Ryley were her mates, there was absolutely no way Shandi could have denied it. She knew it down to the bottom of her soul. Standing with them while they faced this new challenge was going to take a lot of strength, and at some point they would still have to face the fact that they couldn’t have a traditional family. For now, she was content to just enjoy her time with them. To share the love that she was already feeling in her heart, and hope to see it returned.
“Why don’t you believe KJ’s story?” she asked warily. Rafe’s body was tense, and his face was lined with confusion and anger, so the human part of her that had watched way too many werewolf movies as a kid was a little nervous. She didn’t want to alienate him, but he was the only one in the room that had outright accused KJ of lying, so she needed to figure out why.
Sighing heavily, Rafe lifted his head and stared out into the woods as they walked. “It’s all so convenient, but it just doesn’t make sense. Why would our parents abandon us so easily, only to spend day and night protecting her and a passel of other wolves that they had no connection to?”
“She said that they thought they were protecting you.”
“I know what she said, but until I hear it from them, I just don’t know if I can accept that. I’m sorry, angel, if I had known how this day was going to end up, I would have let you stay sleeping in your bed this morning,” he said, nuzzling her temple softly.
Shandi’s heart ached. “So, you would have rather faced this without your mate next to you?”
He froze in his tracks turning her until she was pressed against his chest, and he tilted her head back with his fingers. For several moments he stared into her eyes, and she watched him carefully as turbulent emotions rose and fell like waves crashing on the beach in his gaze. “You meant it? You’re really agreeing to be our mate?”
She snorted a small laugh. “I don’t say things I don’t mean very often. Rafe, I don’t have all of the answers, and we still have some serious things to work out. I know how much Ryley wants a family, and I’m scared that this whole thing with your parents is just going to intensify that, but I find that I’m falling head over heels in love with two huge werewolf Vikings—”
“Vikings, huh?” he said with a smirk, and she rolled her eyes. His cerulean stare was now filled with banked desire, and her stomach twisted.
“Oh yeah, you guys would totally kick Thor’s ass. I’ve always had a thing for blonds—” She was cut off by Rafe’s kiss.
He mated his mouth with hers while still holding her jaw in his large hands. He held her in place so that he could sink into her, and she allowed it, even relished it. His tongue slid over hers, teasing and tormenting her until she would swear that she could hear static in her own ears.
When he finally broke their connection, she was panting and clinging to his large body like a lifeline. “Come on, we’re only a little ways from the cabin. I want to show you something before we have to go back and face that tonight.”
Without giving her a chance to respond, he tugged at her arm and began walking at a brisk pace toward the small cabin she could see through the trees. Instead of leading her inside, he took her around the side of the house and into the small garage.
The first thing she noticed was the intense smell of turpentine and paint. It was overpowering, and for a second her eyes watered. Rafe flipped the lights on, and Shandi’s mouth dropped open in a surprised O.
Lining the walls of the small room were dozens of canvases, each one depicting a different scene of nature. From wolves and woods, to mountains and lakes, there wasn’t a season or storm unaccounted for.
When she turned her eyes back to Rafe, he stood awkwardly waiting for her response. “You did all of these?”
He tipped his head in acknowledgement, and she smiled at him. His relief was clear as his body relaxed, and he brought her knuckles up to his lips for a kiss.
“Rafe, these are amazing! I had no idea you were this talented!” she exclaimed, pulling her hand free so that she could reach out to move some of the paintings in order to see more. They were stacked several deep around the room, and she wondered how many years’ worth of art he had stored here.
“This is what I do for me. I paint. It’s how I empty my head. I actually brought you here to show
you one in particular. I started painting it about four weeks ago,” he said as he moved across the room to a cabinet. He opened the door and pulled out a smaller eight-by-ten canvas. Holding it close to his chest so that she couldn’t see it, he came back to her side and whispered, “I didn’t even know you yet, but my soul did.”
Shandi’s eyes dropped to the painting he held in his hands, and she gasped in shock. Her hands were trembling as she reached out to touch the dried paint and run her fingers over the brush strokes.
Depicted on the canvas was a nearly nude curvy woman, with laughing purple eyes and long red hair that was draped strategically over her bared breasts. She reclined against the body of an oversized gold-colored wolf, and resting between her bent legs with its chin on her thigh sat a matching wolf just a shade lighter in color.
It was the most beautiful painting she had ever seen, but what really surprised her was the date in the bottom corner. Rafe wasn’t making it up. He really had painted a picture of her before he even met her. Shandi nearly laughed out loud, but her mind was spinning. Destiny. That’s what they called it. Fate, kismet, whatever its name, there was no way to doubt its existence.
Rafe and Ryley were her destiny.
Chapter 16
It was tangible, the love, as well as the lust. They were both physically heavy in the air, and Rafe’s heart skipped a beat as he watched Shandi take in his artwork. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief as a weight lifted off of his shoulders. Maybe now she would understand why he was already in love with her.
She tipped her head to look at him, and a slow, sexy smile slid over her lips. “Well, you’re just full of surprises aren’t you?”
The seductive lilt in her voice went straight to his cock, and he was instantly rock hard. He didn’t hold himself back. Instead he pulled the painting from her grip, setting it down on the art bench nearby, and wrapped his arms around her. Her soft moan of pleasure rippled across his skin, and he nearly came in his jeans like a teenager.
Nibbling at her bottom lip, he groaned when one of her small hands caressed across the insistent bulge under his zipper. “Can we…” she pleaded sweetly, sending his blood pressure sky rocketing.
Not willing to give her a chance to change her mind, his hands went to the hem of her shirt, and hauled it off over her head, tossing it to the floor. Her bra quickly followed, as well as her jeans and panties. When she was deliciously naked and flushed with excitement, he took a deep breath to steady himself, running his gaze over her soft curves.
“You’re fucking gorgeous, angel,” he said tightly, trying to keep his libido reined in for just a few more minutes. He lifted her bodily up onto the stool that he kept in the studio and shoved her knees apart with one hand, while supporting her hips with the other.
Seeing her open wide for him without argument was mind-boggling. She let her head fall back, opening her throat up submissively and clenching her eyes shut, as he fell to his knees between her spread thighs. He ran his finger up and down her dripping slit, teasing her until her hips were jerking on the seat, and then, using his thumb and forefinger, he spread her labia to his view.
Her pretty pink clit was swollen and waving at him, but he resisted going for the gold too fast. Instead he licked and nibbled at her pussy, carefully avoiding that sensitive nub, until she was crying out for him to let her come.
“Rafe! Oh my God, please!” she cried out as she dug her fingers into his hair, clawing at his scalp in her desperate need to climax.
Giving in to her demands, he sucked her clit into his mouth and growled low in his throat, knowing that the vibrations would go straight through her body and send her over the edge.
Her scream touched him to the core, as he brought her to orgasm with just his mouth and hands. His cock ached behind his zipper, and he wanted to be buried deep inside of her more than he had ever believed possible.
Rising from the floor, he stared down at the beautiful woman sprawled naked in his private space. She was more beautiful in this moment than he could have ever imagined her, and he whispered compliments to her as he lifted her into his arms.
Carrying her naked from the studio and directly into his bedroom, he didn’t even bother turning around to shut the front door. All that mattered was sinking his dick as deep into his woman as he could physically go.
The scent of his brother tickled his nose before he could even see him, and Rafe smiled against Shandi’s hair.
“Couldn’t stay away huh, Ry?” Shandi mumbled, and Rafe jerked back to stare down at her in shock.
“How did you know I was here, baby girl?” Ryley asked, sounding just as surprised. He stepped into Rafe’s bedroom already naked and covered in sweat from his run in the woods. Rafe shared a smile with him as they both turned to the beautiful woman on the bed.
“I feel you. I don’t know why, but I do. When you’re close to me, I know it, and I can even tell which one of you it is,” she responded as Rafe released his grip on her to rip away his own clothes. The need to press his nudity against her made his skin tingle. He wanted nothing between them.
“You’re amazing, baby girl,” Ryley said as he bent over the bed and took Shandi’s mouth in a hot kiss.
Rafe stood watching the two of them voyeuristically as long as he could stand before he climbed up between Shandi’s outstretched thighs. His hands stroked her from ankle to hip and back, as he eased the thick head of his dick into her tight passage. For a moment he thought he could see heaven behind his eyelids as her heat enveloped him.
Once he was as deep as he could be, he just held still, allowing her clenching pussy muscles to grip him furiously as she stretched around him. Her hips rocked, begging him to move, but he held fast, afraid he would come if he moved too quickly. He wanted to enjoy every second that he was embedded inside of his mate, without rushing through it.
Opening his eyes, he groaned loudly at the erotic tableau in front of him. Shandi was spread eagle on her back, with her lush, heavy breasts peaked with sharp nipples, and his own thick cock shoved balls deep inside of her, while Ryley had arched his body over her head with his cock pushing into her mouth and one hand cupping her chin to keep her head tilted back for his access. Rafe could see the muscles of her throat working as she swallowed Ryley’s dick an inch at a time until she was deep throating him. Her small white hand cupped Ryley’s balls, massaging and caressing him as she let him fuck her mouth.
A bead of sweat slid down her breast bone as Rafe bent forward and took her berry-colored nipple into his mouth. Sucking it hard between his lips, as she bucked her hips up to meet his groin, he began a slow steady thrusting rhythm. She moaned and panted every time Ryley pulled out of the recesses of her throat, and a pink blush spread over her neck and chest as she inched closer to orgasm.
Her other hand clenched reflexively in the blanket underneath her, and Rafe focused on bringing her to her climax. He wanted nothing more than to see and feel her explode around him.
Just when Rafe had reached his limit and could feel his balls tightening up, she surprised him by releasing Ryley’s cock so that she could meet his eyes. Something in her deep purple gaze drew him closer to her, and he moved to take her mouth in a kiss. Instead of kissing him, she quickly bent her neck and leaned forward. She shocked the hell out of him by driving her sharp little teeth through the skin of his neck.
A howl broke free from his throat, as his mate claimed him in the most primal way possible. Astonishment rode through his system, but instinct took over, and he bent to reciprocate with his own mating mark on the tendon between her neck and shoulder.
She shattered beneath him as she climaxed on his cock. A hot gush of moisture flowed around his throbbing dick, and he shot cum deep into her womb, while he tasted her blood on his tongue. They both stayed that way, gasping for breath, with their faces buried in each other’s necks, until Ryley cleared his throat next to them.
“Uh, not to interrupt, but my balls are turning a slightly odd shade of blue while I’m
waiting on you two to finish up…” he said, and Shandi’s laughter burst out from underneath Rafe, who quickly joined her.
“Asshat. Only you would try to ruin the best moment of my entire life by talking about your own hairy balls,” Rafe grumbled playfully as he released Shandi and lifted off of her.
“Nothing could ruin this moment, Rafe,” Shandi said, and Rafe returned her loving smile, feeling his own masculine satisfaction oozing from his body.
Kissing her forehead, he whispered, “Thank you, angel.”
The glow of pleasure in her eyes was like gasoline on a fire for him, and he could feel his cock twitching again already. When she responded it stopped his heart. “I love you, Rafe.”
Unable to speak, he took her mouth in a passionate kiss that was more about showing her how he felt than telling her. He could feel Ryley moving to take his place between her thighs, as the two of them kissed, but he couldn’t make himself let go. It wasn’t until he felt Shandi’s hands seeking out his brother’s body that Rafe finally released her mouth to sit back and watch the next fireworks show.
Ryley kissed the skin of Shandi’s soft belly, and she tangled her hands in his long hair. The color juxtaposition of his gold-blond locks, her pale white skin, and the red curls of her mound were inspirational for the artist in Rafe. He immediately began planning a painting of the two of them. Not that he would ever allow anyone else to see her like this, but he wanted something to remind himself of how amazingly beautiful she was at this exact moment.
Rafe watched as his brother made love to his mate, and he could feel the connection forming between their three hearts and bodies. Every few seconds he would catch a drift of thought from one or the other of them, and his body would break out in goose bumps. Shandi had no idea that she was throwing her thoughts out there at him, and he didn’t want to freak her out by telling her just yet.
