by Michelle Fox
“I want you…like crazy. You know that…” I was panting, arousal making me hot, hotter than I’d ever been in my life. I wanted Jericho inside me, Colt right after him.
“I do know that.” Jericho flexed his hips, the head of his cock grazing my swollen folds. That brief, teasing contact had me crying out as if he’d thrust himself into me to the hilt. If being a wolf-in-training made every part of me this sensitive, this attuned to even the slightest contact, then being with these guys might just challenge my sanity.
“I want you too, Red.” Jericho rolled his hips, sliding into me, inch by inch. I rolled my hips up to meet him, lifting my ass, claiming as much of him as I could, as much as he would give me.
“But I want you on my terms. My wolf wants control.”
I snarled up at him, showing him my teeth. A rush of adrenaline shot through me, and for a moment I felt like I could easily overpower Jericho, rise up and take him. The thought amazed me, even scared me for a second.
But Jericho’s mind reading must have been fully operational. Before I had a chance to draw a breath, he thrust into me, burying himself to the hilt. I arched up beneath him, my body humming with energy. I was so ready, so close that it took all my willpower not to come right then and there.
Colt was beside me, his lips against my neck. When he spoke, his breath tickled my ear.
“Let it go, Red. If that’s what you want to do. Your power is endless…” He reached up, caressing my breast, rolling my hard nipple between his fingers. An earthshattering wave of ecstasy flashed through me. And my mind was suitably blown.
I screamed, or howled, or both. The sound was otherworldly, but I didn’t care. I let loose, head back, body arching up beneath Jericho. The strength boiling inside of me was incredible, and Jericho wrapped one arm beneath me, hanging on like I was a bucking bronco. I was pressed against him, crushed against his chest, his hips grinding against me. The wolf in my body took over, howling for all she was worth as I let go, like Colt said.
The world around me was spinning like mad. I closed my eyes. My mind was filled with sounds, music, wordless poems, and colored lights. It was crazy beautiful, and I think I laughed out loud.
From above me came the unmistakable sounds of Jericho joining me in this wild dance. I opened my eyes, watching Jericho’s face, each and every nuance of what was going on with him clear on his face.
And then I felt what he was feeling, heard what he was thinking. It meshed with the waves crashing through me, dovetailed perfectly with everything I thought, I felt.
There was no choice but to give in and let it wash me away. I lost touch with everything except Jericho and I. If Colt was there, I wasn’t aware of him at all.
After a long, long time I washed up on some shore, calm, still. I was almost afraid to move, to break the perfect moment. I opened one eye, looking up at Jericho. Only he wasn’t up, he was beside. I turned my head.
“Hey, my sweet wolf.”
“That was pretty amazing.”
“Beyond amazing.” He brushed a strand of hair away from my face. “For me too. Truly. Not just saying that so you’ll sleep with me again…that was…”
“Yeah.” I touched his face. “It was.”
Something warm touched my hip. I turned my head to the other side. Colt had his head propped up on one elbow.
“You got anything left for me?”
“Always.” I rolled onto my side.
“Are you sure about…” I put a finger to his lips. “You’re so beautiful, Colt. Let’s find a better use for that mouth besides asking questions.”
He grinned. I slipped my finger between his lips, and let him suck gently on it. He swirled his tongue over my finger, teasing me, pulling me deeper. I reached between us, finding his cock, wrapping my fingers around him. He moaned softly, hips flexing, sliding himself into my hand.
“Is that what you wanted?”
He bit my finger, not all that gently. I pulled it out slowly, very slowly, never looking away from Colt’s eyes, stroking him forcefully as I did.
“You aren’t going to be satisfied with just this, are you?” I gave him a little tug at the end of that stroke. “I know I’m not. I want more…much more of you. Mate of mine.”
Never letting go of him, I sat up, swung one leg over Colt’s body as he rolled onto his back. I straddled his hips, holding him, squeezing him. He bit his lip as I brought my body close to him.
“You want this?” I moved again, until the head of his cock touched me, touched my wet pussy. Just the soft brush of his hot silkiness sent a wave of desire through me, almost brought me to the edge again. It also brought my wolf howling to the surface. It was all I could do to fight her back, to keep fangs and claws from tearing through my flesh, tearing into Colt.
“She’s powerful, isn’t she? Hard to control…” He reached for me, hands resting on my hips, moving higher. I leaned into his hands, letting him cup my breasts. “I love the wolf in you, Red. But it’s you I want. And I want you now.”
He thrust up as I pulled my hand away. I gasped, throwing my head back, as he filled me. It was all new, all pristine; as if this was the first time I’d been with any man. My mate, the wolf who’d bitten me, was claiming me. I was over the moon.
I rode Colt hard, forcing him deeper, beyond any place any man had ever been. I took him, and I loved every second of it. In that minute everything else faded away, including Jericho. There was nothing in my world except Colt and me, coming together as one. Coming together forever.
My body arched and shook, my hips moving to some ancient rhythm that I seemed to know without even trying. Colt matched every move, every twist, grind, shake and thrust. We moved in perfect harmony.
We came together, the peak we reached higher than any I’d ever climbed. I closed my eyes, threw my arms wide, and howled my climax for the world to hear. Then it was all too much, and my mind gave in, gave up trying to hold onto reality. I cried out names, Colt’s…Jericho’s…and then everything went black.
Someone was holding me, easing me onto the bed. I opened my eyes to find my guys looking down at me. I was relieved to find I was in one piece, more or less. At least my body felt like it was still intact. My mind though was another matter.
I sat up, a little too quickly. Colt put an arm behind me, and we rearranged arms and legs until the three of us were sitting against the head of the bed. I looked at the tangle of sheets—some torn—and blankets, most of which were on the floor with the pillows.
“Guess we’re sleeping in Jericho’s room tonight?”
“Yeah. We might have to rethink the bedroom arrangements.” Colt looked around at the devastation that was his bed. “If we keep this up, we’re going to run out of sheets.”
I glanced at Jericho. He looked…fine. But I wasn’t. Other than a major case of afterglow, which made me feel sublimely relaxed, I was slightly upset with myself. I took his hand.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”
He looked down at me. “Didn’t mean to what? Have a hell of a good fuck with Colt?”
I blinked at his choice of words, and at the smile on his face. “Well, yeah. I mean…it was…different. Not necessarily better than with you…but…”
“Different. And it will be. He’s the wolf you’re mated to. Can’t change that.”
“And that’s okay with you?” I was having a hard time wrapping my head around this. The sharing thing was still hard enough to grasp, but this was something else.
He shrugged, lacing his fingers through mine. “It’s going to be different with you and him. It has to be. I’m okay with that. If I’d been the one to mark you, the tables would be turned.”
Colt had been silent. I reached out and took his hand. “So you two really are okay with how all of this is working out? Really truly?”
“Cross my heart and pinky swear, if that’s what will make you happy. But yeah, it is what it is. You have something different with Jericho that I’ll never have. And what we have�
��it’s colored by the mark.”
“It’s not going to change how I feel about you, Red.” Jericho leaned close, kissing my cheek. “I love you no matter what.”
“I love you, too.” Colt kissed the other cheek. “You need to stop worrying about us. We appreciate it, but we’re a lot tougher than you think.”
For the first time in a long time I was speechless. Two men, men who’d fought for me, had told me they loved me.
“I love you both so much.” I looked between my wolves.
We hung out in Colt’s room for a little while longer, talking about everything and nothing, the way people talk who’ve just told each other they love them. A little shy maybe, a little tentative. Testing the waters. Which seemed a little odd, since we’d just destroyed a bed with our lovemaking. I felt like I was already in the deep end of the hot springs, loving every minute of it.
Chapter Eleven
The sun was just coming up over the top of Black Wolf on the other side of the river, setting the trees on the other ridge alight. The leaves had changed almost overnight; fall was here. There was a tang in the air, crispness, like biting into an apple. I’d never been a fan of autumn; it had always seemed to me things ended in the fall. The garden my father had loved to putter around in on weekends was giving up its last tomatoes, the flowers fading, setting seed. And when I was a kid, it also meant back to school, the end of the summer. Fall always made me sad.
But this year was different. It was a beginning. My heart did that thing I’d only read about in overwritten romance novels: it swelled with emotion. I’d never felt it before, and it took me a minute to realize what it was, that I liked how it felt, that I was comfortable with so many new emotions. And I realized something else. For the first time in a long, long time, I was truly happy. I wasn’t really thrilled about being awake this early though. I was more accustomed to going to bed at this time. But my schedule, and the rest of the world’s had rarely meshed, and now it was even more obvious, living here with my wolves.
Jericho and Colt were sound asleep. I’d wanted to leave early, get done what I needed to do, and be back before dark. Some of my errands were purely chores; getting the last of my things out of my apartment. Maggie had called, and the couple subletting my apartment wanted to move in a week early, willing to pay extra for most of the furniture that I no longer needed. What was left wasn’t much, but it was all personal, books and journals. Photos of my dad. The bare essentials, sentimental and otherwise. My clothes I’d brought up over a couple weekends; everything else remaining with the sublet. And that included the artwork Harrison never liked.
Colt and Jericho had made the transition into my new life with them a little easier. For one, they'd cleared the path down the mountain so I wasn’t continually being hit in the face with branches and underbrush. They'd hacked out a parking space for my car too, so I could pull off the logging road that led back to the main road.
I headed down the path. It felt really strange to be awake in the daylight. It seemed far brighter than I remembered for this time of the year. The shifter in me dug through my purse, fishing out sunglasses. The guys had told me there were things that took some getting used to, and I suppose this was one of them.
The car was covered in leaves and pine needles, pretty well camouflaged against the undergrowth behind it. I brushed off the windshield, unlocked the car, and got in. This was the first time I’d started it up in weeks. I crossed my fingers. It seemed to me that my dad had told me cars needed to run on a regular basis, or they stopped working.
I turned the key and the engine purred. Smiling, I managed to turn the car around on the narrow road, heading back toward the city.
It was a very surreal experience speeding down the Interstate. The fastest I’d moved lately had been at a sprint through the forest as a wolf. Piloting a car at the limit, even though I’d done it thousands of times before. Before my new life.
I took the exit to my street, slowing down as my apartment came into view. Maggie’s car was at the curb. My heart did a little jump at the thought of seeing her. I missed her more than I thought possible. We’d blithely assumed phone calls, and text message would be enough. But the service in the mountains was a fickle mistress, and even though I could get a bar or two if I walked out to the edge of the clearing below the cabin, it wasn’t reliable. Colt had been amazed there was any signal at all. Not that either he or Jericho had cell phones, or computers.
The light was out in the hallway, like it always was. That was something I wouldn’t miss; conversations—more like arguments—with the super, trying to get him to replace the bulb. No longer my problem.
I took the stairs two at a time. Since I’d started shifting on a regular basis, and gotten over the whole being exhausted every time, I’d had more energy than ever. Back in my old life these stairs had seemed insurmountable. Now, they were a piece of cake.
“Risha!”
The door to my apartment was open, Maggie leaning out into the hall. “You made good time.”
“I did.”
She pulled me into a big hug and I squeezed her back. She squeaked out a little sound, and I backed off, forgetting for a minute she wasn’t a wolf like me.
“You go away and turn into some muscle woman. You’ve lost weight. Don’t those guys feed you?”
She dragged me into the apartment before I could pick a question to answer. There was food on the counter, bagels and cream cheese, fruit, juice and coffee.
“Are you expecting company?” I poured a cup of coffee and took a sip. Maggie stood, hands on hips, watching.
“Only you. All your favorites. And since when do you drink your coffee black?” She nodded at the cream and sugar sitting on the counter. “You’re a sugar maven. Have been from the first cup you ever had.”
“Guess my tastes have changed.” How much else had changed? And how much of those changes could I talk to Maggie about?
“Well, even if you’ve given up cream and sugar, it’s still great to see you.” Maggie perched on one the kitchen counter stools. I’d had them in storage; Harrison thought they were great. I tended to fall off of them during dinner. Maggie had brought them back out in her attempt to “stage” the apartment when she’d helped me find a sublet.
“Thanks for finding…what’s their names?” I took another sip of coffee. “I really appreciate all your help.”
“They’re the Spaulding’s. Deena and David. Sounds like high school sweethearts, our age, married for ages. Fell in love with the apartment as is, down to the art on the walls.”
Maggie slid an envelope across the counter “Here’s all their contact information, the signed agreement, and a copy of the lease. You’re lucky there are only a couple months left on the lease. The Spaulding’s are looking to stay after the sublet is up, so hopefully that works out, and they don’t stiff you on the rent for the next couple months.”
“I trust your judgment. You’re pretty good at reading people.” I spread a generous layer of cream cheese on a bagel. My stomach had been growling for the last half hour. I took a bite. But something was wrong. I love cream cheese and onion bagels. It tasted…off. Wrong. I set the bagel aside.
“Not hungry?”
“I ate before I left.” I hated lying to Maggie. But there was no way I could tell her what I suspected, that the wolf in me wasn’t a big fan of dairy.
“You okay?”
I glanced up at Maggie. She could read me like a book, knew me better than anyone. Well, except for Jericho and Colt.
“Yeah. Just…tired. From the ride.” But I could read her too, and I knew she wasn’t buying it.
“Risha…come clean. What is it? Is it the guys?” That little line appeared between her brows, the one that told me she was worried. I hated seeing it.
“No…yes. Sort of. But it’s not what you think. It’s nothing bad.” I wasn’t sure what to call it…how to tell her I wasn’t the same person she thought I was.
“I’ve made some changes in m
y life, Maggie. Some really major changes.”
“That’s pretty obvious. You went away to clear your head, and you ended up moving in with two guys. That’s a pretty major change, especially for unconventional you.” She gave me a smile, but the worry was still there in her eyes. “Are you telling me there’s more?”
“It’s a different kind of life, Maggie. Radically different.” I pushed up the sleeves of my sweater, propping my chin up in my hands. “I’m not sure I can explain it.”
Maggie reached out, touching my arm. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
Yeah, there is. “No…”
“You’re scratched…and bruised.” Her eyes were locked on my arms. I looked down, then pulled down my sleeves.
“Risha, are they doing that?”
“Oh, no. God, no. Jericho and Colt would never hurt me. We do live in the wilderness, you know. Lots of hiking, bushwhacking, lots of me falling down. These are just…sort of a daily occurrence.”
She still wasn’t buying it. I reached out and squeezed her hand. “Listen. Come up to the cabin. I want you to meet them, and them to meet you. You’re the most important person in my life. I want you to see that I’m okay up there. Really okay.”
After a minute she squeezed my hand. “Okay. Deal. Before it snows, I’ll come up and meet your guys.” She giggled. “I still can’t believe you ended up living with two guys…it’s just…so…”
“Crazy?” I winked. “It is. But it’s right for me.”
“I was going to say sexy. But if you want to stick with crazy, that works too.”
Chapter Twelve
My last stop was the gym. There was nothing there for me to get, but I wanted to say good-bye to Jack. I felt like I owed him something, an explanation, or a thank-you. He’d been in my life for only a short time, but it was his voice I heard most often. Could be that he reminded me of an older version of my dad. Or it could be he didn’t take any of my shit, and I appreciated that.
“Hey, Red. About time you show up. You missed some sessions.”
