Talia’s last thoughts as she drifted off to sleep was that all they needed to make their nap perfect was Tiny curled up in bed with them.
Chapter 5
Ryan stared at Talia’s parted lips as her breathing evened out. He wanted nothing more than to sink his tongue between the small opening and taste his mate’s mouth. “This is going to be harder that I thought.” Ken’s grunt confirmed his suspicion. Obviously, the man had been thinking the same way.
“With her fighting against us the entire way, we have a battle on our hands, but it’s nothing we can’t handle. We’ve fought worse battles before.”
Ryan wished he shared Ken’s confidence.
“Let me out. She seems to like that beast she brought with her so if she sees me, then there is no way she could resist us.”
Ryan snorted. Even his lion was confident. Ryan on the other hand had a feeling things were going to get a lot worse before they got better. Talia had allowed the depression of losing her mate to control her for far too long. It was going to be hard to break her of the habit of wallowing in her grief and despair when life got too hard or complicated for her. Ryan had no intention of giving up on his mate and knew he would wait for her for as long as it took, but lying next to her and not being able to strip her bare and have his way with her was pure torture.
“She craves touch.” Ken paused as if to gather his thoughts. “Even if she doesn’t know it, her body does. She’s been without touch and comfort for so long that her body reacts to us being near without her even realizing it. That’s how we’ll get to her.”
Ryan knew what Ken was saying made sense. Shifters were tactile creatures, especially when it came to their mates. Once mated, a shifter couldn’t go far from their mate or they suffered withdrawals. Their skin began to crawl and the longer the separation, the shifter’s mind began playing tricks on them about all the horrible things that could have happened to their mate. All of that led to panic attacks. Ryan finally realized where Ken was going with his thoughts. It seemed Talia was suffering all the classic symptoms of being separated from her mate and had been suffering for the past three years.
He found new respect for their mate at that moment. The longest Ryan had ever been separated from Ken was a few days. By the end of the three days, Ryan thought he was going crazy. When he and Ken were finally together again, they didn’t come out of the bedroom for nearly a week. Talia didn’t have that option. Her mate had died. There was no reunion for them and so she had suffered.
“One of us is going to have to stay with her constantly.”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” Ken answered. “If not both of us, one of us needs to be with her at all times. We need to give her body what it craves and let it know that she has two new mates now. I think her biggest problem is the withdrawals. If we can stop those, then the rest will be a piece of cake.”
Ryan agreed with Ken, but he didn’t share his enthusiasm. He didn’t think things would be that simple because he had a feeling Talia was going to fight them every step of the way. He was still going to follow Ken’s plan, though. Being around his new mate constantly was something he would have done anyway. He wanted to be near her, needed it like he needed his next breath. They had waited a long time to find Talia and he planned on doing everything possible to keep her.
“It’s hard to believe we have our mate in our arms. She’s beautiful.” Ryan couldn’t resist placing a light kiss on Talia’s lips.
“Yeah, we’re very lucky to have her. I knew in my heart that we were supposed to have a third, but triads are so rare, I’d just hoped it wasn’t wishful thinking.”
Ryan agreed. Ken was his mate and he loved the man to death, but he always knew there was someone else out there meant to complete the both of them. Now that they had her in their arms, Ryan wasn’t letting her go. Even if that meant they had to save her from herself. The intense look in Ken’s eyes as he stared down at their mate proved he was thinking the same thing. Talia was theirs. She could fight them and resist all she wanted, but it wasn’t going to work.
Ryan grimaced as he moved to adjust himself. Just the fact that he had both of his mates in his bed was making him rock hard. Both of their scents were combining and it was like the ultimate aphrodisiac to him. “I’m so hard right now I could cry.”
Ken laughed quietly. “I know exactly how you feel. I feel like I could come with one touch. I’m trying not to think about it, though.”
Grinning, Ryan rose up and rested his head in his palm so he could get a better look at Ken. Sure enough Ryan could see his mate’s erection straining the front of his jeans. “That does look painful.” He reached across Talia until he got to the button on Ken’s jeans. “Maybe I should take care of this. I wouldn’t want my mate suffering permanent damage.”
Ken sucked in a breath when Ryan slowly lowered his zipper. “Are you sure about this? What if Talia wakes up?”
“Well, we already know she likes to watch,” Ryan said as he finally freed Ken’s cock. He swiped a finger across the tip collecting the dribble of pre-cum already collecting there and used the moisture to allow his hand to move smoothly as he wrapped it around the shaft. Ken’s shuddered breath was music to his ears and he gripped the man’s cock and rubbed from the base to the tip.
“I’m not going to last long.” Ken sat up and mirrored Ryan’s position. “I want you to come with me.”
Ryan wasn’t about to argue and even shifted his hips to give Ken more room when he reached for his zipper and freed his cock. “Oh, God,” he muttered when Ken wrapped his large hand around his cock. He had thought having Talia watch them earlier that morning was the ultimate turn on, but having her in their bed between them, even if she was asleep at the moment, was beyond anything he had ever experienced.
Ryan held Ken in a tight grip and moved his hand up and down while Ken mimicked his every move. It was hard to keep from thrusting his hips in time with his hand, but he forced himself to stay still. He didn’t want to move too much and disturb Talia from her nap. As much as he wished she was in between them participating, he knew it was too soon. They already had a lot working against them and he didn’t want to ruin their chances before they even got started.
“I’m close,” Ryan hissed through gritted teeth. When Ken gripped his shaft tight and rubbed his calloused thumb across the tip at the same time, Ryan was unable to hold back and barely kept from throwing his head back and shouting as he came in Ken’s hand. Not wanting to neglect his mate, he tightened his hand on Ken’s cock and flicked his thumbnail in the slit on the tip. Ken wasn’t able to hold back his groan and his cock pulsed, shooting spurt after spurt of hot cum into Ryan’s hand.
Groaning, Ryan rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom. Once he washed his hands, he wet a cloth and carried it back to bed for Ken. Ryan eyed the bed as he handed the cloth over, thinking a nap curled up around his mates sounded liked a good idea. Before he could even make a move to climb back in bed, the perimeter alarms started blaring.
“Move,” Ken shouted as he jumped out of bed and moved toward the door.
Ryan followed closely behind but took one last look back at Talia still curled up on the bed. With her enhanced hearing, the noise should have woken her instantly, but she had slept right through the alarm without stirring. As he pulled the door closed behind him, Ryan decided he would find time later to worry, but at the moment, they had bigger problems. Someone was in Mitch’s territory and they weren’t invited. With everything that had happened with Percival, they weren’t taking any chances. Any uninvited guests were considered a threat and would be taken care of swiftly.
Ryan made his way to the hatch that led to the roof and began to climb. He knew Ben would be securing the house along with Nico, Tessa, Jacqueline, and now Talia. Ken and Mitch both preferred to shift and take on their enemies so they would both head outside. Ryan was different. He preferred the human method of fighting with his rifle rather than the shifter way of tooth and claw.
Why wait for the enemy to get to you when you can take them out long before that?
The fact that his lion agreed with him is what got them outcast from their pride in the first place. At twenty, Ryan was kicked out of his pride because he didn’t share the same beliefs. His pride believed as Percival did, that shifters were far superior to humans and it was beneath them to even associate together. Ryan felt differently.
When a human hiker accidentally got lost in their territory, instead of outright killing the man, Ryan had guided him safely back to the trail. To the pride, that made him a traitor, and he was kicked out of the pack that day with nothing but the clothes on his back.
That didn’t stop Ryan, though. He had always wanted to see the world so he joined the army, and with his advanced senses becoming a sniper was a breeze. After he was discharged, Ryan joined the council and became an enforcer. Now at sixty-seven years old, Ryan could say that he left his pride that day and never looked back.
Finally making it to the roof, Ryan quickly opened the case that held his rifle and assembled it. Once he was done, he lay on his stomach at the edge of the roof and scanned the area through the scope. Ryan was able to catch a glimpse of Mitch’s golden fur as he streaked through the trees. Ken’s dark brown fur blended in a little better, so it took him a moment to spot his bear lumbering through the woods. What Ryan didn’t see was anything or anyone out of the ordinary. He continued to scan as he used his hearing to listen for intruders, but he heard nothing that shouldn’t have been there.
After about twenty tense minutes, Ryan watched as Mitch and Ken entered the clearing in front of the house and shifted back. When Mitch signaled the all clear, Ryan packed up his rifle and headed directly to Mitch’s office. Ken and Mitch were both dressed when he got there and Ben was already seated in one of the chairs. Ryan made his way over to the couch and sat next to his mate.
“I know you guys don’t believe that was a false alarm.”
Mitch snorted at Ryan’s statement. “Please. I designed that security system and installed it myself so I know it’s flawless.”
If the situation wasn’t so serious, Ryan would have been amused at Mitch’s arrogance, but the man was telling the truth. Not only was Mitch an expert, but he was a perfectionist. The system wouldn’t have been installed unless Mitch had tested it over and over again.
“Something set the perimeter alarm off and it wasn’t an animal,” Mitch said. “They wouldn’t be dumb enough to cross into my territory.”
“Someone is trying to throw us off guard. If we thought it was a false alarm, then the next time it went off, maybe we wouldn’t be as on guard as we normally would.”
Ryan nodded. “I agree with Ken. Not only that, but now whoever it was knows exactly what our response to the alarm going off is.”
Ben laughed. “Then we throw them off guard and change it up. No matter how many times the alarm goes off, we treat each one as a serious threat, but we respond differently each time. We all know it’s that little weasel Percival. We knew he wouldn’t stay quiet for long. It was only a matter of time before he came crawling out of the woodwork, so I say we keep him on his toes.”
Everyone silently agreed with Ben. They had been searching for Percival since he kidnapped Jacqueline with no luck. Now, it seemed he was coming to them. Ryan sat back as he listened to the others come up with a plan. His mind strayed to their sleeping mate upstairs and what he and Ken were going to do with her. Ryan knew exactly what he wanted to do, but Talia wasn’t up for him stripping her bare and having his way with her. She was too fragile, but that wasn’t going to stop Ryan and Ken from doing everything possible to get her well. Once that happened, Ryan had all intentions of sinking his fangs in Talia’s neck and making her his mate.
* * * *
“Ouch.” Talia put her hand up, without even opening her eyes, to stop the next head butt she knew was coming and to prevent a black eye. “I’m up,” she mumbled and used the hand she had up to scratch Tiny’s fur when his head butted up against it. All Talia wanted to do was curl up and go back to sleep, but the combined scents of Ryan and Ken were enough to force her fully awake. She couldn’t deny that their scents were wonderful. Separate, each man smelled great, but when combined, they became mouthwatering.
Talia shook herself out of her thoughts when she felt her body heating up from their scents. Her skin prickled and she had to clench her thighs together to stop the ache growing there. Sitting up, Talia moved to get out of the bed and out of their room. It had felt good to fall asleep in both men’s arms, but now that she was awake and “sane” again, she needed to get away before they came back. She didn’t want to give the two men any ideas, and them coming into the room smelling her lust would definitely give them the wrong impression.
“Come on, Tiny.” She hefted the cat into her arms with a grunt and nuzzled his head with her nose. “As long as I have you, I don’t need anyone else. You’re the only man I need.” If you keep telling yourself that then maybe you will eventually believe it. Talia thought of Ken’s massive body and Ryan’s leaner one. Both men were complete opposites of each other, but if she were honest with herself, they both turned her on and made her feel things she hadn’t felt in a long time. Not since Xander.
I’m so not going there. Shaking her head, Talia hugged Tiny tighter to her chest to push away the guilt. She needed a distraction. “Let’s go find Tessa and see if she’s ready for that ultrasound.”
Before she could stand, the bedroom door opened and Ken walked through. She sat frozen at the sight of the man only dressed in sweats and knew she probably looked like a deer frozen in headlights. Ken’s massive chest was covered in muscles, each separated by deep groves that made Talia’s mouth water to follow each one with her tongue. No matter how much Talia tried to look away, it was as if her body had a mind of its own and refused to. Her traitorous eyes rebelled even further by moving down Ken’s chest to his stomach. Her fingers twitched as if they had intentions of running through the trail of hair on his stomach leading to his waistband, and Talia had to clench her hands into fists to keep that from happening. She gulped when she got to the large bulge tenting the front of Ken’s sweats.
Talia could tell from Ken’s chuckle that he knew she was checking him out, and from the way the man stood still, she had a feeling he was allowing her to get a good look at him. Tiny flexing his razor sharp claws against her chest snapped Talia out of the trance she was in and kept her from doing something stupid, like tackling the man to the ground and having her way with him. Thank you, Tiny! Closing her eyes to block out the tempting view, Talia silently promised to give Tiny extra helpings at dinner for the save.
“Are you okay?”
It took Talia several tries to clear her throat before she could speak. “I’m fine,” she croaked and stood. “Do you know where Tessa is?” She needed to get out of the room as soon as possible.
“Mitch is probably getting her and Nico out of the safe room right now.”
“Safe room? What happened?” Talia was confused. Ken walked over to where she was standing and she had to resist the urge to back up. She wanted to get away from the man, not tempt him to chase her down.
“The perimeter alarm went off. You slept right through it.”
Talia hadn’t heard a thing. It was probably because she was having the first peaceful sleep she’d had in a long time. She didn’t even want to think it was because of Ken and Ryan, because if she did, then she would be tempted to sleep in between them from now on. “Is everything okay? What happened?”
“It was nothing, just a false alarm.”
The look on Ken’s face said there was more to the situation, but Talia didn’t push. She had learned that lesson with Xander a long time ago. Shifter men were stubborn and protective. If Ken was withholding information to protect her, then nothing she said would make him talk.
Talia gasped when Ken’s warm hand cupped her jaw. She was so lost in thought that she hadn’t even seen him move. She hel
d her breath as Ken rubbed his thumb across her cheek as he stared at her with those intense dark eyes. She knew he was tracing the black circles there.
“You’re gorgeous.” Ken didn’t give Talia time to respond before leaning down and pressing his lips against hers.
Talia froze at the first contact of Ken’s lips. She wanted to push the man away, but her evil body refused to budge. When Ken ran his tongue across her bottom lip before using it to pry her mouth apart, Talia couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped. Time seemed to stand still as she gave in to her body’s need and opened for the kiss. Talia stopped thinking. She knew there would be time later to analyze why she was allowing Ken to kiss her, but right then, she didn’t care.
Talia distantly heard a thud as Tiny jumped to the floor to keep from being squished when she pressed her body against Ken’s. Moaning when Ken pulled her tongue into his mouth and began to suck on it, Talia closed her eyes and soaked in the man’s heat and scent. She savored the sweet taste of his mouth as he circled his arm around her back and lifted Talia. She had no choice but to wrap her legs around his waist, but Talia couldn’t bring herself to complain when he ground his steel erection against her cunt, causing her to throw her head back and moan.
The feel of Ken’s mouth on her neck caused Talia to freeze. Oh, god, what have I done? Panicking, she pushed against Ken’s shoulders and was grateful when the man lowered her to the floor without hesitation. Talia slapped a hand over her neck and moved away from him as soon as she could, putting several steps between them. They were both breathing harshly, but she had a feeling his reason was completely different from hers.
Even though Xander’s mark had faded a long time ago, Talia still knew exactly where it had been and somehow Ken had managed to find that same spot. She rubbed the spot as guilt swamped her at what she had just done. She had offered her neck to another man and her mate was dead.
Until the End of Time [Council Enforcers 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 5
