by Abby Blake
* * * *
Home. That’s what it felt like to be naked and surrounded by her men. It didn’t matter where they were. It only mattered that they were together.
She gasped as Xavier pressed cold lube against her ass. He let Isaac’s movements push her back onto his fingers, stretching and caressing the tight muscles as he kissed and licked at her neck. The skin tingled, her mind already imagining the ecstasy to come.
Finally, Xavier pressed the head of his cock against her anus and slowly worked inside. Isaac held still, kissing her passionately, her senses reeling as sensation exploded over her entire body. As Xavier pushed all the way into her ass, Isaac pulled out of her pussy.
“That’s it, beautiful,” Daegan said as he caressed a hand through her hair. She tilted her head, exposing her neck, realizing even as she did it that it was what her men wanted, what they needed from her. None of them would force her to claim, or be claimed by, them. This was her choice, her decision. After a few moments of frenzied fucking, winding every muscle, every nerve ending, every emotion tighter, with Xavier plunging into ass, then retreating as Isaac pushed back into her pussy, over and over, all three men suddenly stilled.
She whimpered her need, and Daegan caressed her face, his lips pressing against hers a moment before he moved his mouth to her neck and bit down.
She moaned, the urge to howl so overwhelmingly strong she wasn’t sure if she held it back or not. Orgasm exploded through her, Daegan’s teeth sinking deep into her skin, the sting overwhelmed by the liquid heat coursing through her. Her pussy and ass pulsed around Isaac and Xavier’s cocks, pulling grunts from them as they both tried to hold still. Daegan carefully pulled his teeth away, licking at the tiny puncture wounds, the slight sting just adding to every other sensation rioting through her body.
Just as her orgasm started to wane, Xavier bit in nearly the exact same place. Holy shit. Climax burst through her once more, her entire being consumed by the fire, her heart racing, her breathing harsh and uncontrolled, her lower body throbbing around both men.
She cried out as Isaac’s cock pulsed, pumping his seed deep into her body before he pulled out of her pussy. Daegan thrust quickly into her as they changed places. Xavier licked at her neck, holding her still as Daegan fucked her. And then Isaac’s incisors broke the skin once more. She screamed, unable to believe the sensations coursing through her. Everything tingled, every muscle shook, every nerve ending danced electricity through her body. She closed her eyes, the pinpricks of light still exploding on her eyelids, as orgasm continued spinning wildly through her.
She felt Xavier come in her ass, his cock pulsing in time with her frantic heartbeat. She moaned as Daegan pulled away, slamming his cock into her pussy over and over again. He kissed her briefly, releasing her mouth to drag in his own ragged breath, crying out as orgasm took him as well.
The four of them leaned against each other. Thank fuck they were holding her up. She wasn’t sure her arms or legs were even still attached to her body, let alone working. Xavier lifted her slightly, making certain that Isaac held her securely before he pulled his cock from her ass. He pressed a kiss to the place where they’d made their mating mark and whispered, “Shower time.”
Chapter Eight
Andrea looked around the empty shop. It was a bit sad to pack away the life she’d once thought she wanted, but all she had to do was think of her future with the Cloveck brothers, and warm happiness suffused every part of her.
“Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?” Louise asked quietly. “It seems awfully fast.”
“It is,” Andrea agreed. If the situation were reversed, she would certainly be trying to talk Louise out of such a drastic step. But there were things Andrea couldn’t explain, much of which a deputy sheriff was probably better off not knowing anyway.
Louise gave her a worried look but didn’t say anything more. One of the things that had made their friendship so strong was the fact that they both respected each other’s independence.
“We promise to take good care of her, Louise,” Daegan assured the deputy as he and Isaac came back in the front door. “And we promise to bring her back regularly for visits. I have no doubt Mrs. Thomson and her good friend Mavis will track us to the ends of the Earth if we don’t.”
Louise laughed, her tension easing slightly. “True.” But when she turned to Andrea, her eyes were glassy with tears. “I’m going to miss you. Who else is going to listen while I complain about the sheriff’s latest idiotic decision?”
“I’ll be only a webcam away,” Andrea answered with a smile. Not only had her computer geek mates made certain she understood how to use a webcam, they’d also upgraded Louise’s computer system and made sure she knew how to use it, too. It was kind of like taking the best part of home with her.
“Well,” Louise said, looking around the room and blinking rapidly in an obvious attempt to hold her emotions in check. “I guess this is good-bye.”
“Nah, more like see you later,” Andrea said as she gave her friend a quick hug. She noticed her men leave the store so the two women could have a moment alone. Andrea felt their whisper-soft assurance in her mind urging her to take her time, and letting her know that they were happy to wait as long as she needed.
The mating link was stronger since they’d claimed her. Even with Xavier back at the compound, she could feel his mild loneliness, his sense of frustration as he dealt with problem after problem with the pack, and his relief that she and his brothers would be home soon.
“Go on,” Louise said with a watery smile. “I’ll lock up and get the keys back to your landlord.” Andrea hugged her friend once more, then turned toward the front door and headed to her new life.
* * * *
Xavier growled loud enough to make his secretary jump back three feet. He smiled apologetically at the woman, but if he had to deal with one more “well-meaning” pack member giving him advice on how he shouldn’t mate a human, somebody was going to get hurt.
“Get my father in here.” His nervous secretary nodded all the way out the door, closing it behind her.
Even when Xavier had explained to his last visitor that he’d already claimed Andrea, he’d been given a barrage of advice on how, with the mating link not completed until she could claim him in return, he could easily ignore the mild connection they shared.
Mild? He’d felt Andrea’s emotions as she climbed into the truck eighty miles away. He could feel her excitement growing the closer she got to the compound. Whether she realized it or not, she loved him, and he loved her. There was no way he would even consider not completing the claiming.
His phone rang, and he seriously considered throwing the damn thing across the room. Only the thought that it could be Andrea calling to tell him they were on their way home stopped him from following through.
He snatched up the receiver and pressed it to his ear.
“Your father is on his way,” his secretary informed him. Finally a touch of good news. “And Dave is on line two.”
“Thanks.” He’d meant the word to be genuine, but the idea of speaking to anyone related to Sheila at the moment set his teeth on edge. His secretary squeaked a good-bye and disconnected quickly. Xavier sighed and rubbed his forehead. He really should have hired someone a little less easy to scare. He’d gone along with his mother’s recommendations when he’d hired the woman, but he still couldn’t figure out what his mom had been thinking when she’d recommended such a frightened mouse for an alpha’s secretary.
He glared at the flashing light on line two. Dave had been his best friend since grade school. He knew the man almost as well as he knew his brothers. It was just unfortunate that Dave’s younger sister was such a manipulative, ambitious, scheming bitch. Xavier really should take this call.
Annoyed at his own uncharacteristic behavior—he usually faced trouble head-on, not hiding in his office—Xavier snatched up the receiver.
“What?” Okay, not his most friendly greeting, but it
was the best he could muster.
“Rough day?” Dave asked casually.
“You could say that.”
“Sorry, but I think I’m about to make it worse. I just saw your mother and my sister heading toward the main gate with nearly half the pack in their wake. I think they plan to challenge Andrea’s status in the pack.”
“Great, fucking great.” He’d half been expecting a challenge for leadership of the pack, but it seemed that his mother had a scheme to somehow keep him in the alpha position but deny him the mating he wanted. “Where’s my dad?”
“Not sure,” Dave answered. “Last I saw him he was headed to your office.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you at the gate. Hopefully I’ll run into Dad on the way there.”
“No worries,” Dave said. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry my sister is one of the instigators. But I promise you have my support, no matter what.”
“Thanks.”
Xavier hung up the phone slowly. Considering that as alpha he had the power to ostracize Sheila if he believed it best for the pack, it might prove a difficult promise for Dave to keep.
* * * *
Isaac couldn’t help the silly grin that covered his face. Finally he had everything he wanted in life. A good job, a great family, and a mate perfectly suited to them all. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about getting their woman pregnant ever since she’d made the suggestion.
The vibration of his cell phone was an unwelcome intrusion.
He glanced at the caller ID and really wanted to press the ignore button, but knew she was unlikely to give up, so he answered the damn call.
He tried to sound casual. “Hi, Mom. What’s up?”
Isaac could feel the tension level increase in the two people beside him and deliberately opened his mind to Daegan so that his brother could listen into whatever their mother had to say. Isaac felt relieved in a guilty sort of way that their link to Andrea wasn’t yet strong enough to allow this type of communication.
“Something awful has happened.” The woman sounded genuinely distressed, and for a suspended moment, Isaac’s heart damn near climbed into his throat.
She sounded like she was crying, but when she didn’t say anything more, Isaac growled, “Explain.”
There was a moment of silence—perhaps shock that he’d spoken to her in such a disrespectful tone—but then she dragged in a deep breath and continued. “The pack has decided they don’t want a human mated to the alpha. Several of the men are considering challenging Xavier for leadership.” She took a few gasping breaths, and suspicion wormed into Isaac’s brain. His mother wasn’t the type to cry. She’d always held great pride in being able to endure, with grace and poise, any hardships that came her way. For her to be blubbering over what amounted to a rumor seemed very much out of character.
“Where’s Xavier?”
“I don’t know. But it’s too dangerous to bring the human here,” she said, confirming Isaac’s suspicion.
“Why?” It probably made him an awful son, but he didn’t like the feeling of being manipulated and was finding it hard to believe anything coming out of his own mother’s mouth. Considering some of the comments she’d made over the past few weeks—and her refusal to meet Andrea—he suspected she might even be behind part of the unrest within the pack.
“It’s dangerous. Emotions are running high, and she could get hurt. You wouldn’t want your mate to get hurt, would you?” Great, now she was laying the guilt on a little thick. She had a point, though.
“I’ll discuss it with Daegan and get back to you.” He disconnected the call, wishing he still had his flip phone so he could have slammed the damn thing shut. Pressing a tiny little off button just didn’t satisfy the anger grinding through him.
“Is Xavier all right?”
“Relax, sweetheart,” Isaac said as he pulled Andrea’s hand into his own. “Close your eyes and concentrate on him. You should be able to sense his mood. The mating link should be strong enough even from here.”
She did as he asked, and Isaac tried to hide his own fear from her. They were still at least fifteen minutes from the compound, and the winding switchback roads had never annoyed him more than they did today. Trying to go faster would likely lead to tragedy, so he ground his teeth and hoped Xavier was safe.
“Oh, wow,” Andrea said with a small giggle. “That is one pissed-off wolf.”
Isaac smiled, relieved to know that Xavier seemed okay. His cell phone rang a moment later.
* * * *
Andrea could sense Xavier’s urgency and knew without seeing the caller ID that it was him on the phone. She snatched it from Isaac’s hands before he could let her hear only one side of the call.
“Hello, sexy,” she said by way of greeting. “You mother tells us there’s been a bit of trouble at the compound.”
“My mo—” He cut himself off and got straight to the point. “I’m sorry, Andrea, but I’ve got Sheila and some soon-to-be ex-pack members stirring up trouble. Tell Isaac and Daegan I want you to head back down the mountain and find a hotel for the night. I’ll join you as soon as I can.”
“No.”
She didn’t elaborate. Just said the one word and waited for Xavier’s reaction. If she wanted to be accepted by the pack, she needed to show she wasn’t intimidated by any of them—especially her new mother-in-law. Andrea took a deep breath, holding it as she waited for Xavier to say something. She’d thought her last mother-in-law had been a bitch, but compared to her new one, her ex’s mother had been a sweet old lady.
Xavier seemed to be weighing up everything he knew, all the pros and cons, the good, the bad, and the ugly truth about some of the members in his pack, but in the end he uttered a single word in reply. “Okay.”
Andrea couldn’t hide the relief running through her. She could feel Isaac and Daegan’s fear for her very clearly, but she could also sense their confidence in her and drew strength from it.
“Xavier,” she said into the phone, “we’ll be there soon.”
“I love you,” he said at the same moment that she felt his emotions wash over her. Just like Isaac and Daegan, he was worried about what might come her way, but he had faith that she could handle it.
“I love you, too.”
* * * *
Xavier tensed when he saw the truck turn onto the driveway. Sheila, with the help of his mother, had the pack so riled up that they actually jeered at the approaching vehicle. He’d managed to get everyone settled down enough to listen to calm reasoning, but Sheila had riled them back up with a few shouted words.
It was kind of ironic that Sheila had the leadership skills an alpha’s mate needed to deal with a pack. Too bad she was selfishly focused on her own agenda and didn’t give a shit how her ambition affected her pack.
Xavier growled, physically thrusting his pack mates aside so that he could get to the gate and try to calm the situation once more. He had to smile when, bold as brass, his mate stepped from the truck’s cabin and called Sheila out.
“Come on, Sheila. Get your skinny ass out here so we can discuss this problem you seem to be having.”
Xavier caught his mother’s expression and almost burst out laughing. Judging by her openmouthed shock, she’d expected Andrea to cry and flee like a frightened human. He smirked and raised an eyebrow when his mother glanced his way. She should have made time to get to know her new daughter-in-law before deciding she wasn’t good enough for him, so she deserved every shock she would get.
He also noticed that Isaac and Daegan had taken up positions either side, but slightly behind Andrea, showing to the rest of the pack that even though they supported her, the lady was the one in charge. The crowd grew quiet, waiting for Sheila to step up and defend her honor.
Xavier leaned against the gate, crossing his arms and ankles in a show of nonchalance that he was sure nobody missed. He knew that the pack was liable to follow his lead, and if they thought he had no doubt of his mate’s ability, then they were less
likely to doubt her as well.
Sheila looked startled by the challenge, but short of turning away and revealing herself as a coward, she had no choice but to brazen it out.
“You’re not welcome here,” she said at the top of her voice. She turned to the people behind her, perhaps expecting a vocal show of support. She got none.
“Says who?” Andrea asked with a relaxed grin. Even her body language was nonthreatening. She seemed calm and composed, and her smile invited others to relax also.
“Says everybody,” Sheila yelled with no small amount of frustration. It was kind of like watching a bratty four-year-old throw a tantrum. “Nobody wants a human leading our pack.”
“Lucky then, that I’m no longer human.”
Sheila growled and stamped her foot. Even some of the people gathered around started to laugh quietly. But it was when Shelia started to change into her wolf that Xavier felt fear burst through him.
Faster than the eye could see, Andrea pulled a handgun from the back of her jeans and aimed it at the half woman, half wolf before her.
“Change back, little girl,” Andrea said with steely determination, “or we are going to have a serious problem.”
Sheila giggled, the noise sounding strange coming from her current half-changed form. “Stupid human. Bullets don’t hurt us. Not even silver can hurt us.”
“True,” Andrea said with a relaxed smile even though her aim didn’t waver in the slightest. “But I hear quicksilver will leave you with a nasty case of dead. You know that’s another name for mercury, right? Amazing how easy it is to add a drop to hollow point bullets.”
Sheila looked terrified and quickly changed back to her human form.
