by Kiera West
Ethan didn’t laugh. He wouldn’t find humor, Noah knew. The incidents were growing, and now they seemed to be getting closer to their homes. “Can you show Eve where the lab is? I didn’t want to leave him for very long.”
Noah nodded and watched him leave. “He was the one who found the other two,” Max said quietly. “He refused to let us see how bad it was.”
Noah nodded. “Understandable.”
Eve was already walking down the stairs. “Where’d Ethan go?”
“He went to the lab. He sedated the wolf, but he didn’t want to leave the guy alone,” Shane said.
She nodded in that absentminded manner he had gotten used to. She was already thinking, her head whirling with the problems of helping the wolf.
“Where are my boots?”
“Right over here,” Noah said. He led her to the mudroom.
“I forgot I left them here...was that last night?” She shook her head as she sat on the bench. “I’ve lost track of time.”
He smiled. “Yeah, easy to do this time of year. It’s about eight at night.”
She looked up at him, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Oh, crap. I had things to do. I had to check on that pack up on the ridge.”
“Ethan did it. He’s been keeping track of what you’ve been working on, so he did the checking.”
She sighed with relief. “I still don’t like shirking my duties. You’ll just have to control yourself from now on.”
For a moment, he didn’t understand what she was talking about. Then it hit him. She had tied her second boot then stood. He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her to him for a hot, wet kiss. He was the one who ended it.
“I think you need to worry about yourself.”
She closed her eyes and shoved her hands through her hair. “I never had to before. You all are turning me into some sex-crazed maniac.” When she opened her eyes, she was smiling. “I never would have thought anyone could do it.”
He wanted to tell her why. Wanted her to understand that she was theirs, forever. She was their mate and would remain theirs until their demise. But, he knew that talk was for later. Much later.
She shook herself, the duty she had on her mind. “Show me the way. We have a wolf to help.”
With a feeling of contentment, he took her hand and led the way.
* * * *
Ethan tried his best to keep his temper under control, but it was hard. His gloved hands were covered in the warm blood of a wolf. It wasn’t one of their kind, but everything on their land was theirs. And someone had done this on purpose. He knew this was something more than they thought. This wasn’t someone just trying to get some land from them. He pulled out a needle, wanting to have another sedative ready just in case the old boy woke.
Someone did this to hurt, to threaten. He hadn’t let the others see what he did. They had smelled it, knew it wasn’t something normal. It looked like the wolf had been clawed by something, maybe a bear. But the smell had been wrong. What he had smelled had a toxic scent, part human, part something else. That something else was bothering him. He didn’t want to think it was one of the other totem shifters in the area. They had always lived together peacefully. But there was always a chance someone had decided they wanted to run the preserve.
“Oh, no,” Eve said as she rushed in. “He looks like a bear got him.”
Ethan made eye contact with Noah and shook his head. It was best he knew something else was going on. They would discuss it later, but he would have to contact the other packs in the area to let them know.
“I’ll leave you all to take care of it.”
Eve’s focus was on the wolf, so Noah kissed the top of her head and left them alone.
Having her in the room was a bit of a distraction. Even now, even after having her just hours earlier, his body started to respond to having her near. It was one of the reasons he had kept his distance. Ethan didn’t like losing control to anything. Everything could be sorted out with scientific reasoning. Except his response to the little woman beside him. It had been since his teens that he had his palms sweating.
“You have gloves?” she asked, her attention on their patient.
He shook himself from his thoughts and grabbed a pair for her. She put them on, looked up at him, worry darkening her green eyes. “Let’s get the guy sewed up.”
An hour later, they were finally done. It had taken a lot of work, but it looked good for the wolf. In fact, the attack had been close to fatal, but whatever had attacked him had missed some vital organs, by a hair.
“He lost a lot of blood,” Eve said as she pulled off her gloves. She looked tired, and her worry weighed on her shoulders.
“I think he has a great chance, thanks to you.”
She smiled at him as she tossed her gloves into the trash. “Thanks to both of us. It was nice to work with someone. I rarely do that.”
“Even when you were in the lower forty-eight?”
She shook her head. “No.”
He frowned. “What about school?”
She shook her head again. “No. I was homeschooled until I entered college. I did that at age thirteen.”
“Thirteen?”
He knew she had a PhD and was a veterinarian, but he had no idea she had started school so early. He understood that she had a clever mind, one that would thrive in that environment. And with her parents’ careers, he could understand why they schooled her themselves. Although, he thought, if they really had wanted a daughter, they should have put some of that on hold instead of dragging her all over the world.
“Yeah, so you can imagine that I had little to no social life.”
He could not even imagine entering college then, especially after spending most of his life on the move from one country to the next. “Your parents approved?”
She gave him a strange look. “Of course. They had taught me. Plus, with me in college, it allowed them to have more free time for their own careers.”
Eve sounded as if she didn’t care, on the surface. Beneath, he heard the loneliness that she must have felt. No matter what she said, it sounded selfish to him. No wonder she seemed so untouched.
She yawned gustily then apologized.
“You need some rest.”
She smiled at him. “So do you.”
“Naw, I can go days without sleep. I’ll take first watch then come get you.”
She nodded as she brushed the head of the wolf. “It wasn’t a bear, was it?”
He knew she would figure it out. She was too smart not to. “No.”
“The marks were too precise. It was the person who has been killing them. I will never understand a person who hurts a defenseless animal.”
Since he felt the same way, he had nothing to add. He didn’t want her to know that the person who had done this would pay and probably with his life. Noah didn’t take any attack on their land lightly. Especially not something this thick.
“It was really great working with you, Ethan.”
“Right back at ya.”
She walked up the stairs, and he watched her until the door closed behind her. His body still hummed from that little smile, telling him if he didn’t have her again soon, he would likely become a blabbering idiot. But there was definitely something else there, something that scared him more than their faceless enemy killing wolves.
He just hoped it didn’t ruin him.
* * * *
Eve walked into the kitchen and drew in the wonderful smell of bacon. “Oh, God, tell me that is real bacon.”
Max glanced over his shoulder at her and shot her a smile that had body warming. “Nothing but real meat here.”
“I made some coffee,” Shane said. He was pouring said coffee into a big, blue mug. “How do you take it?”
“Black.”
He brought it to her and waited for her to take a sip. She hummed. “Oh, that tastes good.”
He smiled as if she had given him a gift. “Why don’t you have a seat?”
S
he nodded and sat at the kitchen bar. She had always liked their kitchen. She wasn’t that great of a cook, but she loved the functionality of theirs. Blues and grays dominated the decoration. The bar area had seven seats, and the table itself was massive. The six-burner stove was older but well taken care of. She could imagine it got a lot of use with six men in the house.
“How do you like your eggs?” Max asked.
“Scrambled.”
“Cheese?”
She shook her head.
He turned back to work, and she watched both men move around the kitchen. She could tell the brothers were as comfortable here as they were in one of their trucks or out hiking. Her father would never be in the kitchen working. For that matter, neither would her mother. They didn’t bother themselves with such mundane tasks. But these men were different. It was odd to find such masculine men content with this kind of task. But, she thought, maybe that is what made them so masculine. It wasn’t the task but how a man went about the task.
“I can squeeze some oranges if you want some juice,” Shane offered.
She realized then they were waiting on her as if she were some kind of prize. There was a part of her that knew she shouldn’t fall for it. She was an independent woman who didn’t need a man to wait on her. Still, it was nice since she had never had it happen before. She shook her head. “No, this is just fine. I love a good cup of coffee.”
He nodded, poured himself a cup, and then sat beside her. “How is the wolf doing?”
She sighed. “Okay. He did lose a lot of blood, but the attack could have been worse. Several of his organs were very close to being sliced.”
He nodded as Max approached. It was easy to see that they were brothers. They both had dark brown hair. She knew from seeing them at the end of summer, the tips would turn golden from exposure to the sun. They both possessed the most amazing eyes. Shane’s were dark blue like his cousins. But Max’s green eyes were just as mesmerizing.
Max set the plate of food in front of her, and she laughed. He had piled it high with food, more than she thought she could ever eat.
“I thought you might be hungry,” he said with a wink.
Oh, lord, she could feel her face burning again. She had almost forgotten what Noah had said, which meant that both Max and Shane wanted to take her to bed, too.
“Don’t get embarrassed,” Max said.
“Is that why you’re being nice to me?”
Max cocked his head to one side. “I thought we were always nice to you.”
She sighed. “You are. But if feels like you’re both waiting on me.”
“You don’t know how long,” Shane said.
She choked on her food. Grabbing her coffee, she took a long drink. “I didn’t mean it that way. I meant, well, like you were...oh, I don’t know what the hell I was talking about.”
“She means being doted on. Hasn’t anyone ever treated you that way?” Max asked, his eyes concerned.
She shrugged. With her one relationship, she hadn’t had much romance or doting. She had always envied women who had this kind of attention from men. She hadn’t rated a phone call the morning after, let alone have breakfast made for her.
Shane smiled. “Well, get used to it. We all like doing it in our own way. I mean, Ethan let you in his lab.”
She laughed and took another bite of her eggs. They were light, fluffy, and amazingly good. “These are wonderful.”
Max offered her a smile much like his brother had. “Thank you.”
“What do you mean Ethan let me in his lab?”
The brothers shared a look. “He doesn’t let anyone but family in there usually,” Max said.
She paused in shoveling another forkful of eggs and looked from Max to Shane, who nodded.
“I’m the only one?” She set her fork down. “You have to be kidding me.”
“Nope,” Shane said. “He is pretty secretive.”
“It was an emergency.”
“He could have handled it himself. It would have been hard, but, well, you’re different. He wanted you there, so he allowed you in.”
She tried to comprehend what they were trying to tell her as she polished off her eggs. Which she did in short order, much to her surprise.
“That’s the most I’ve eaten in a long time.”
Max said nothing, just smiled and took the plate.
“Did you have enough?” Shane asked.
She turned to face him and found him closer than the last time. Immediately, her blood started to heat, her body warming. She could see he wanted her, there in his eyes, the way he watched her. And, beyond her comprehension, her body responded. It was if she had turned into a nympho. Shane smiled at her. “You’re wondering about us, your reaction to us?”
She nodded. “I’ve...” She trailed off, embarrassed to talk about it.
“What?” Max asked, his gentle voice calming her.
She sighed. “It’s hard to talk about because it was never discussed in my house, and I was in college very young. I didn’t date much. I just, well, I have never been this sexual before.” Max nodded, and she felt a bit of understanding seeping through. Apparently, they felt the same way. “Noah said you had shared before.”
He shook his head. “Not really. I mean, Shane and I have. And we all do it, but never all of us.”
She looked from one brother to the other. “But you want to now?”
Shane brushed his mouth over her neck. She shivered in response. Hunger she couldn’t control rose.
“It’s hard to explain, but we all want you. Need you.” His usual light voice was threaded with something darker, something deeper.
She turned and faced him. And from his expression, that was all the explaining he would do. And at the moment, her body was telling her to ignore it, to just go with the flow and not worry about the consequences. She felt Max’s teeth against her earlobe. She closed her eyes, and Shane kissed her then as Max moved down her neck, his hands moving up to cup her breasts through her shirt. The contact had her heart racing and her panties wet. Lust pounded through her blood, molten lava moving through her veins.
Shane pulled away. “We better take this to the bedroom.”
Max sighed, the sound of it filled with such need it almost undid her. They stood, and Shane took her hand and led her out of the kitchen. Instead of going to Noah’s room, they headed in the opposite direction. When they stepped into the room, there was another massive bed, this one covered with a dark blue comforter. It wasn’t as big as Noah’s room, but it had a fireplace and, from the looks of it, a bathroom.
They didn’t even bother with the door. Max pulled her back against him, his cock hard against her rear. Oh, damn, she wanted that. She had never thought she would be into something so...naughty. But even now, she could imagine what it would be like to have Max take her there, feel his hard cock pounding into her ass.
Shane pulled her toward the bed as Max’s hands pulled her shirt up and over her head.
“Fuck, those are pretty,” Shane said.
He dropped to his knees and started to claw at her pants. Max slipped his hands up her torso to cup her breasts. Now with the fabric in the way, he pinched and teased her nipples, groaning when they hardened.
Shane had gotten her pants off, tossing them on the floor behind him. As Max continued to kiss her neck and fondle her breasts, Shane set his mouth on her pussy. His tongue slipped inside as he devoured her. He licked at her clit, groaning against her flesh. The vibration from that feathered through her body. Her blood rushed to her groin, her stomach muscles tightening. In the next instant, he added two fingers, and she felt her orgasm hit her. She was unprepared for it, and she gasped from the force of it. She convulsed between the two men.
“Fuck, yes,” Max said against her neck. “Make her come again.”
Shane said nothing but set about to push her over again. She hadn’t truly recovered from the first orgasm as he started to use his hands and his mouth to send her over the edge ag
ain. He slipped his tongue into her pussy, sliding it over her clit, tugging it into his teeth. She screamed this time, partially from fear and partially from pleasure. She was limp when they moved her to the bed. She barely knew what they were doing, but they were soon on the bed with her, naked, their hands wrapped around their cocks.
“Up on your knees, baby,” Max said. For a moment, she couldn’t move. Her mind was blank to everything but watching Max’s hand move over his impressive length.
Then in the next instant, big hands grabbed her and moved her into position. She realized Shane had moved her, and she looked up at him. He came up to his knees, his cock aligned with her mouth. He cupped her face with both of his hands.
“You want Max in that sweet pussy or your tight ass?”
She swallowed, unable to answer. She knew what she wanted, knew it wasn’t something she should want. But apparently, Shane read her answer in her eyes. He looked behind her when she felt the bed dip as Max positioned himself.
“Take her ass.”
“I plan to,” Max said, his voice dark, dangerous. It struck her to the core, had another gush of liquid filling her cunt. Oh, God.
She felt the cool glide of gel in her anus first as he prepared her. Shane slid a hand around to the back of her head as he took his cock with the other.
She opened her mouth willingly, needing to taste him, to feel his penis glide over tongue. As he started to move between her lips, she felt Max slip another finger inside her. Shane moved in slow, easy strokes, allowing her to grow accustomed to having him in her mouth. She wanted more, needed more. She pulled away from him and nibbled down the length of him to his sac. She sucked them into her mouth, and he pulled in a quick, surprised gasp.
Max chuckled behind her and slapped her rear. The sting of it sent vibrations through her body, especially to her clit.
“I knew she would be naughty,” he said as he pulled his fingers from her rear and replaced them with the broad head of his shaft.
She shivered, anticipating the initial sting. Shane took her face in his hands again. “Relax, baby. It will be easier if you relax.”
She drew in a deep breath and did just that. Max slid past the ring of muscles and groaned. “Fuck, she’s tight.”
