by Jane Jamison
Raven entered her rental home carefully, checking first to see if anything had been disturbed. She was still unnerved by Robert’s appearance outside the bar. He’d frightened her, and yet as soon as the Hardwick men had shown up, her fear had changed into a wonderful sense of safety.
A sense of safety that soon morphed into a wild lust.
She’d never had anything take hold of her like that. Every time she saw them, the flurry of need, of primal craving they stirred inside her grew stronger. She wanted them more than she could put into words. Her fingertips burned to skim over their washboard abs. Her mouth watered, thinking about how luscious their cocks would taste in her mouth. Even now, her pussy wept for them, needing them to make love to her. Hard, fast, raw and rough, she wanted them to seize her and command that she obey them. Once she finally did, she would’ve won the battle when they gave her not only their bodies, but their hearts.
“You’re really losing it.” She had to stop fantasizing about them. So far, all she knew was that they wanted her in a carnal way, and although she had no qualms about giving herself to them, deep down, she wanted more than fulfilling a primal need.
Could she find love, from all three men? Or would one or two of them eventually back away, letting one man win? Could she remain with only one of them if that was how they wanted it?
At least she had the answer to her last question. She’d have them all or none of them. Somehow, she knew it would hurt too much to live with one and not the others.
Tossing her keys on top of the kitchen counter, Raven opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water. She needed to cool herself down, but chilled water wasn’t the answer. After checking around to make sure all the windows and doors were still locked, she went into the bedroom and stripped off her clothes.
By the time she’d turned on the water, she was naked and knowing what she had to do. A girl had to find relief somehow. She stepped into the shower, adjusting the temperature to suit her.
“Come to Mama, you hunk of hard metal.” Taking hold of the shower head, she pulled it out of its holder and stretched out the tube. She placed one foot on the built-in seat, then positioned the shower head between her legs.
Ahhhhh.
The water beat against her already raging pussy. Flattening her hand against the tiles for stability, she moved the water closer.
Oh, man.
Pounding relentlessly, the spray struck her in just the right spot. A rush of excitement coursed through her as the water shot upward and surged into her. She moaned, wished she had three hands so she could play with herself without falling down, then carefully spread her legs farther apart.
She pretended the men were there and the memory of Drake’s mouth on her nipple came rushing back. She could still feel Drake’s tongue as it slid over her taut bud and the sting of his bite. Once he’d exposed one of her breasts, she’d ached to have him expose the other.
The way Dugan’s hands had felt against her butt had been amazing. She’d enjoyed the hell out of his fingers slipping under her panties and had tried to convince him to add his tongue to her ass hole by thrusting her butt toward him.
If only Harrin had joined them. She’d thought he would when she’d looked at him, putting all her desire into drawing him closer. Was he the one who wouldn’t want her?
No.
She shoved the heartbreaking idea away.
Even if everyone at the club had gathered around them and watched, she wouldn’t have stopped them. Hell, she hadn’t even heard the group that had come outside until the men had moved away.
She twisted the dial on the shower head, changing from a steady stream to a pulsating one. The burn in her abdomen burst into a higher heat. It was almost painful, but it was a pain she loved.
She brought the stream of pounding water closer still.
Her legs shook as her pussy throbbed. Her juices mixed with the water, sliding along the inside of her legs.
Pulse. Pulse. Pulse.
The feeling of the water beating against her for a second, then leaving only to return with another lashing, echoed as a chant inside her. If she didn’t sit down soon, she’d collapse. She’d been on the edge of a climax since coming home. It wouldn’t take much longer.
Hoping the shower seat would hold her weight, she pushed the bottle of shampoo off and lowered her ass to the platform. Again, she spread her legs, pointing the hard spray back to her pussy.
The water pressure was good, but if she could’ve made it even stronger, she would have. Instead, she put a finger to her clit, adding her own kind of pressure.
Her orgasm exploded, the force of it driving outward like the plume of an atom bomb racing across the innocent land. Her body shook and she tightened her grip on the hose. Her mind swam, going along on the torrent of the climax’s wave. She cried out, closing her eyes as her body went through spasm after spasm, her legs shaking as her release took control. Try as she might, she could no longer hold onto the spray. It dropped to the shower floor, twisting like a freed snake and shooting blasts of water around the shower stall.
By the time her body stopped convulsing, the painted wall above the shower was wet. Grabbing hold of the tubing, she pushed herself off the stool and placed it back in its holder. She studied the water-soaked wall and smiled. Even if the landlord made her pay for any damage, it would be well worth it.
She stepped out of the shower, realizing only then that the towel was on the other side of the room. The chilly air swept over her still-wet body as she passed by the window.
She would’ve sworn the hair on her arms stood on end. Slowly, she turned and stared through the thinly curtained window at the woods beyond.
Oh, shit.
Three large wolves stood at the edge of the line of trees. She didn’t know for certain, but she had the feeling one of them was the wolf from the other night. Relief took her as she realized that she hadn’t seriously hurt him. Had she wounded him at all?
She stayed immobile as their yellow gazes locked on to her. How long had they been there? Were they really watching her, or just the house?
Yet, she knew without a doubt. They were watching her, but why? Why would three amazing, large wolves watch a human?
Their eyes brightened, suddenly making her all too aware of her nakedness. It was as though they weren’t looking at her like the animals they were, but as more. More as though they were each a combination of animal and—
She frowned, surprised at where her thoughts had taken her.
More as though they were each a combination of animal and…man.
Stunned, she spun around, grabbed the towel from the holder and wrapped it around her. By the time she looked outside again, the wolves were gone.
A shiver ran down her spine as she pushed the curtain aside and pressed a hand to the window. Her breaths rose and fell as a flurry of emotions came. Heat sprang alive and renewed inside her, surprising her.
Did I just get turned on by wolves?
* * * *
“Get in there, damn it.” Dugan smacked the cow on its rear end with the end of his lasso, finally getting the stubborn heifer into the corral. Unlike most days, he’d awakened in a lousy mood, but it wasn’t hard to understand why. After getting revved up and ready to claim their mate in the bar’s parking lot, he’d had to turn her loose and watch her drive away.
Fuck. How much was a man supposed to take?
He and his brothers had driven home in complete silence, each of them dealing with hard-ons that wouldn’t be going down anytime soon. As soon as they’d pulled in front of their house, the three of them had jumped out of the truck and started stripping. In only a minute, they’d transformed, their wolves still angry and growling at not having taken their mate.
They still hadn’t spoken as they raced toward her home. Sure, they’d check on her and they had, catching her as she’d walked in front of the bathroom window. The flimsy curtains hadn’t hidden her delectable naked body.
He’d stoo
d side-by-side with Drake and Harrin and just stared. His wolf moaned even as the man inside wanted to howl as much as his animal did. When she’d turned toward them, her wet hair streaming behind her, her nipples peaked, her mons smooth, and her body still glistening with water droplets, it had taken every ounce of strength to keep from shifting right there and then and going to her.
Harrin’s low warning snarl had helped hold him back, but when Drake’s wolf had spun around, whipping his tail in front of Dugan’s face, he’d had no choice but to follow his brothers into the darkness.
She was safe and that was all that should’ve mattered, but it wasn’t. His wolf ran as hard as it could, trying to free itself of the churning in its gut, the craving for his mate burning a hole through him.
“Take it easy, bro.” Harrin pulled his horse up beside Dugan’s mount.
“Fuck taking it easy. In fact, that’s what we should’ve done last night.” If they had, his gut wouldn’t be torn up right now. After they’d returned from the ranch, he’d taken a long, cold shower with his cock in his hand instead of inside their mate where it should’ve been.
“We explained why.”
“Yeah.” Dugan’s animal flared to life again. It was gearing up, ready to fight more and more. How could anyone blame him when he was so damn frustrated? “When did you become the alpha of our pack?”
Harrin leaned back in the saddle. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask such a damn fool question. Otherwise, I might have to take your head off.”
It didn’t matter that Harrin was right. Their pack, the Shadow Ridge Pack, had a hierarchy like most werewolf packs did. There were the primary alphas like Drake, then the secondary alphas like Harrin, who other packs sometimes called betas, followed by the omega wolves like him. From there, the rankings broke down into smaller subsets including pup watchers, sentinels, and others, depending on their specific function within the pack.
Someday he’d rise to the rank of a secondary alpha by age alone or even earlier by proving his worthiness to his pack, but he’d never really cared to take on the responsibility of leadership. He’d rather let his brothers deal with problems just as they’d always done since they were children. He acted like an alpha most of the time, so who cared what they labeled him?
Still, he couldn’t help complaining. He was too torn up inside not to want to take his anger out on someone. “Go ahead and try it, Harrin.” It wasn’t the first time and it wouldn’t be the last time he challenged one or both of his brothers.
“Back off, Dugan.” Drake cantered his horse over to theirs. “I didn’t like it any more than you did, but Harrin was right to pull us back last night. It wasn’t the right time or the right place.”
“It was to me. What are we planning on doing? Are we going to have some romantic setting with flowers and candles?”
“That’s what she deserves, isn’t it?” Harrin’s voice was low, but there was no mistaking the authority in his tone.
Sometimes he hated how right Harrin always was. “Yeah. I guess.”
“Besides, we need to find out what’s going on with her before we make our move,” added Drake. “I called my friend at the state FBI and asked him to run a simple background check. It shouldn’t take long to get the information, especially if she’s clean.”
Anger flared again as it had more and more lately. “Of course she’s clean. You can tell, can’t you? She’s got a great heart and a good soul. One whiff told me that.”
“One whiff had you thinking with your cock and not your head.”
Dugan met Drake’s glare with one of his own, but he couldn’t disagree. “Still, judging by how she’d been since coming here, I’d say she’s a good person. You’re not going to find out anything bad about her.”
“I don’t expect to, but you never know. A check on her might clue us in on who the man is.”
“Yeah. I guess.” He didn’t care what the damn report said. She was their mate. Done deal. “Besides, we’re not about to turn her away no matter what your friend finds out.”
“Of course not,” agreed Drake. “She’s our mate.”
“But we need to know.” Harrin wasn’t about to back down. “We need to be able to protect her until she opens up to us.”
“I don’t give a fuck if you find out she robbed a bank. Fate’s all about second chances, right? Or is that only for other people?”
Drake chuckled and repositioned himself in his saddle. “Let’s not jump the gun here. We don’t know that she’s some kind of Bonnie to that man’s Clyde. And yeah, even if she has a shady past, I’ll bet she came to Fate to start over.”
“All we’re doing is getting to know her better, faster than if we wait for her to tell us.” Harrin, his mood lifted, clapped Dugan on the shoulder. “Hang in there. We’re getting closer to claiming her every day.”
“Not close enough.” He hated that a whine came into his tone.
* * * *
Raven strolled down Main Street, but her mind was still on last night’s events at the Wolf’s Den. Everyone she’d spoken to, aside from the other girls, had acted like a fight breaking out was a normal Friday night activity. As far as she’d heard, no one had been hurt seriously enough to cause any concern. And yet, she’d seen men, and even a few women, with blood all over their clothes. One man she’d seen as she’d driven away had his arm hanging at a funny angle. She was sure it was broken, but since he was laughing and joking around with his friends, she’d driven past, letting him deal with it on his own.
She stopped and studied the front of the new store. Instead of paper covering the big display window, mannequins painted different colors sported a dress and a slacks outfit. The third one boasted a bikini that Raven couldn’t imagine wearing anywhere near the small town. Weren’t small towns into the conservative style of dress?
A beautiful sign hung above the store. Below that was a temporary banner shouting “Grand Opening” to all who passed by.
Classy Cat. I like it. I just hope other people do.
She’d overheard a few comments from other people around town. For some unknown reason, they weren’t fond of the name. Most didn’t like the word Cat in the name. In fact, one older woman had almost been almost livid with anger when a girl had stood up to say there was nothing wrong with cats no matter what the “silly dogs” thought. The young girl’s mother had hurried her away from the older woman and her two equally incensed friends.
What the hell did a dress boutique have to do with cats and dogs? It was just a cute name.
As far as Raven was concerned, the dress boutique would be a nice addition to the small town’s short list of businesses. From what Raven had seen, Fate needed a nice women’s store. Most women around town dressed in either jeans and T-shirts or easygoing dresses, but surely they’d like to pick up a few different outfits every once in a while. She hoped so. If not, Betsy was going to have a tough time supporting her new life.
It was funny how the four of them had shown up around the same time. Luckily for them, they’d run into each one day while shopping for groceries. Somehow they’d known they were outsiders. Maybe it was the way they were dressed or simply the way they seemed unsure of themselves, but they’d ended up gathered in the produce section and had started talking. They’d each decided to forgo getting groceries and, instead, ending up having lunch together at Lick Your Plate Diner located right across the street from Gobbel Grocery, called Gobble Grocery by everyone in town except Henry Gobbel and his wife Shirley.
Raven pushed the door open and stepped inside. Bells rang above her head, signaling her arrival. She swept her gaze over the small store.
A major transformation had occurred. Where boxes and piles of clothing had been before, now there were tidy displays and permanent wracks lining the walls. Everything looked nice and new. She liked the idea that Betsy catered to all sizes of women, including the big and beautiful woman.
“Betsy?”
Her friend popped up from behind the counter
. “Hey, there. You’re the first person to show up.”
“I am? Great.” She’d wanted to come in early before the store officially opened. In fact, she’d been surprised when the door hadn’t been locked. There was another thirty minutes until ten o’clock when the store was supposed to be open.
“How are you doing, Raven?”
“How am I doing? I should be asking you how you’re doing.”
“Me?” Betsy blinked. “I’m fine. I had a terrific time last night.”
She’d asked, wanting to know if her friend was worn out from getting the store ready, not from what had gone on the night before. Still, now that Betsy had brought it up, why not find out? “Judging from the way you handled yourself, I guess you did. Dang, girl, you were hitting men over the head with bottles. I have to admit, I was pretty impressed. You’re one bad-ass bitch.”
Betsy shrugged and started punching buttons on the cash register. “A girl has to do what a girl has to do. Plus, I have three brothers. I learned how to handle myself early on.”
Betsy didn’t look intimidating, but Raven would be happy to have her on her side any day of the week. She’d seen some pretty tough women during the six months she’d spent in county jail, but she figured Betsy could hold her own with most of them. Luckily, she’d managed to stay by herself most of the time after telling the others how Robert had screwed her over, setting her up to take the blame for the theft. It was a common story about the inmates.
“Still, that was something. I was cowering in the corner while you were bashing heads.”
Betsy laughed, but never stopped moving as she went around the store, putting clothing on shelves or rearranging accessories. “I wonder how often it happens.”
Raven began doing whatever she thought might help, from making displays more attractive to grabbing a dust cloth and wiping down one of the counters. “From what I hear, it’s not unusual. Weird, though. The fight looked pretty nasty to me, but there don’t seem to be any injuries requiring medical attention. Besides, where would they get medical attention, anyway? The town doesn’t have a doctor.”
