by Abby Blake
She was anxious to reach Cal, so she lifted her shoulders in a “do whatever you want” shrug and headed for the door. Both men followed. The way Zeb was moving certainly suggested that his injuries weren’t as bad as they’d first seemed, but that relief didn’t quite override the annoyance when both men climbed into her police cruiser as if they had some sort of right to.
Swallowing her annoyance—she had a feeling arguing with them would just waste time—she started the engine and headed to the outskirts of town where Cal was currently babysitting an unconscious wolf.
If nothing else, at least she’d be able to close the file on mysterious silver-wolf sightings in the area.
Cal looked a little confused when the two men stepped out of the car. Louise wasn’t even sure what their names were, so she let the men introduce themselves.
“Aiden Leckie. This is my brother, Zeb Leckie. We work for Parks and Wildlife and thought you might need some help. We can organize transport if you like.”
“That’d be great,” Cal said, looking somewhat bemused. As a small town, they were pretty used to handling problems without the help of the larger organizations, but it would save Cal time if he didn’t have to leave the area—he did have a farm of his own to run after all. But then he surprised Louise by adding, “As soon as you show me some ID.”
* * * *
Cal was usually a pretty trusting guy, but he’d worked with enough representatives of the Parks and Wildlife department to know the type, and these two sure didn’t fit the bill. There was just something off about them. Aiden and Zeb—if those were even their real names—seemed more like soldiers than nature lovers. They actually reminded Cal of a couple of bounty hunters who’d passed through town a few years ago.
“Sorry,” Aiden said with a nonchalant shrug. “We’re on vacation and didn’t think to bring our department ID. We can wait while you make a couple phone calls.”
“Vacation?” Louise asked, crossing her arms in an obvious sign of her irritation. “You said you were in my town because of this wolf.” Cal knew that look. She wore it when she suspected someone was lying. He was glad to know they seemed to be on the same page.
“Don’t go getting huffy, beautiful,” Zeb said with a friendly smile on his face. Louise showed no response to his derogatory statement or offhanded use of the endearment, but if Cal knew his woman at all, she was currently calculating how best to castrate the guy—figuratively speaking, of course.
“We are on vacation,” his brother said, sounding quite earnest. “We swung by your town because we’d heard the reports of a silver wolf hanging around. Sorry to mess up your plans by trying to help.”
Cal carefully hid the smile that kept threatening to break free. Louise had a long-fused temper, but when she’d been pushed far enough, it was good advice to get out of the woman’s way.
“I’d like to see some ID, gentlemen,” Louise said, holding her hand out. “Now.”
Both men looked surprised by the demand, and this time Cal didn’t bother to try and hide his smile. Technically speaking, she had no legal right to demand their identification, but he knew that simply refusing would give Louise more reason to be suspicious.
“Um…sure,” Aiden said as he reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a slim black wallet. He extracted his photo license and handed it to Louise. She took it, looking it over carefully, making it quite obvious to the men that she was checking it wasn’t a fake. “You’re a long way from home, Mr. Leckie. Why would you bother to interrupt your vacation to help little ole me?”
“Look,” Zeb said, clearly annoyed at the strange turn the conversation had taken. “Just let me take a look at the wolf, and then we’ll get out of your town.”
Cal smiled as Louise looked the man up and down a moment before nodding just once. “Fine, sooner I can get you out of my jurisdiction the better.” She turned to Cal and raised an eyebrow.
Cal quickly took the hint. “It took four tranqs to knock the damn thing out even though it was already injured. It looks like someone shot it with a low-caliber rifle. I packed and bandaged the wound, but it’s going to need veterinary attention. I managed to drag it into one of the cages, but I could use a hand getting it onto the truck. That is the biggest damn wolf I’ve ever seen.”
As he spoke, he led their little group over to where the wolf had finally succumbed to the effects of the tranquilizer, but what they found was an empty cage.
“How the hell?” he asked as he looked the cage over. It wasn’t damaged. The only way the wolf could have gotten out was if a human had opened up the sliding lock and let it out. But even if the wolf had somehow managed the impossible and popped the lock from the inside, it didn’t explain how it had woken from what should have been a very long period of unconsciousness.
Until that moment, Cal had been absolutely certain that he was the only person in the immediate vicinity. Confused, he searched the dirt surrounding the cage, trying to find some evidence of human involvement, but all he could see were paw prints. Everything suggested that the wolf had freed itself. Cal had been using these cages for years, and it was the first time any critter had gotten out.
How the fuck had that happened?
* * * *
Aiden wandered around the area, surreptitiously sniffing the air, trying to find a scent trail that would lead them to the wolf, but after several minutes of trying it was pretty clear that their quarry was gone.
“What now?” Zeb asked quietly.
“No clue,” he answered honestly. “All the accounts we read suggested that the wolf has been hanging around this area for quite some time now. Maybe it’s got a reason for staying.”
Zeb nodded. “I suppose it’s as solid a theory as any. If we take a room in town, we might get lucky.”
“Unlikely,” Aiden said, turning his gaze on the pretty deputy sheriff.
“Not what I meant,” Zeb said irritably. “But you know she’s my mate, right?”
“Your mate?” Aiden asked as shock belted through him. “She’s mine, also.”
“Great. What are the chances of finding a woman who belongs to us both but is already involved with someone else?” Zeb asked with a nod toward Cal Sanders.
“I noticed.” It had taken all of Aiden’s control to be civil to the man currently speaking to his mate. As soon as they’d stepped from the vehicle, Aiden had been able to identify the man by his scent. He was the one sleeping with Louise.
But humans didn’t feel the same mating instinct that Aiden and Zeb felt, so it wasn’t really fair to be upset. She was a beautiful woman and, despite the ornery attitude she’d showed them so far, deserved to be happy.
“So we take a room in town, hope the wolf comes back quickly, and then get the hell out of here.”
Aiden nodded in agreement. He’d often heard stories of failed matings. He’d just never thought his would be one of them.
Chapter Two
Louise finally stepped into the shower to wash away the accumulated dirt. They’d spent most of the afternoon trying to track the escaped wolf but to no avail. Cal had been completely stunned that the wolf had managed to get out, and a quick look at the locking mechanism explained why. Put very simply, only a hand as dexterous as a human’s would have been able to open a latch like that. The idea that a wolf’s paw could have opened it was actually laughable.
Except that it wasn’t a laughing matter. It would seem that some unknown human was willing to risk their own life and others’ simply by letting the beast run free. She couldn’t think of one person in town who would do something like that, which meant she was likely dealing with a stranger. If Aiden and Zeb hadn’t been in the car with her when the wolf had been set free, they would have been top of her suspect list.
Yet, thinking about the brothers created all sorts of nasty warmth low in her belly. They were both very handsome, well-muscled, fit-looking specimens of male hunkiness, and as recently as a few weeks ago she might even have gotten around to doi
ng a little flirting. Of course, with the shift in her relationship with Cal, that wasn’t going to happen now, but she couldn’t seem to convince her libido of that fact. Annoyed at herself for the uncharacteristic thoughts, Louise lifted her face into the shower spray, hoping to let the water wash away the tension of the day.
“Room for one more?” Cal asked, accidentally echoing her own thoughts. Of course, she’d actually been thinking two more. She ground her teeth together and let the water run over her hair. She’d wash away these silly thoughts the way she washed the dust from her hair—with lots of froth and bubbles…and lube…and heat, lots and lots of heat.
Fuck! What the hell was wrong with her? Before Cal, it had literally been years between sexual encounters. Had falling into bed with one of her best friends unleashed some sort of latent horniness gene or something?
“Babe? You okay?”
Cal had the shower door open a crack, his worried face clear even with all the steam. She swallowed, trying to calm the rapid beating of her heart even as she tried to thrust away lust-filled thoughts. “I’m fine. It’s just been a long day. You coming in?”
He grinned, moved back to strip off his clothes, and then stepped into the shower stall.
* * * *
Cal stifled the groan as he ran his hands all over the beautiful woman he’d finally taken as his own. They’d known each other all their lives, and he’d loved her for most of that, but their friendship had been so comfortable that neither of them had wanted to mess it up.
Now that he had her naked in his arms, he couldn’t quite remember why he’d been so worried that sex would create a problem. Sex with Louise was incredible. But right now, as much as his cock ached, and as much as he wanted to take her hard and fast, Cal forced himself to slow down. Now that he had her, he never intended to let her go, so they had the rest of their lives to make up for lost time.
Of course every gentlemanly thought flew out of his head when she leaned out of the shower a moment, then grabbed his cock and rolled on a condom. He could barely breathe when she bent over in front of him. He didn’t need any further coaxing. He put a hand on her spine, pushing her upper body forward at the same time that he probed her pussy with the head of his cock.
“Put your hands on the tiles.” She nodded, doing exactly that, holding herself up as he pulled her gorgeous ass toward him. He pushed into her pussy, relieved to realize she was wet and ready for him, and then groaned as he went balls-deep in one long thrust. He ground his teeth together as he pulled out, but his need to take her, to make her his, overwhelmed his better judgment, and he slammed back in. He gripped her hips, holding her steady as he thrust into her harder and harder. She gasped, her body shaking as he wrapped a hand underneath, found her clit, and rubbed the swollen nub.
She trembled all over, panting hard, squirming in his hold as he fucked her more urgently. Just as he was about to come, he leaned over, pressed a kiss to her neck, and then sucked hard against her skin. She exploded into orgasm, her frantic cries bouncing off the tiles, the pulsing walls of her pussy dragging the cum from his cock. He sucked harder, dragging her soft skin into his mouth, deliberately marking her sun-blessed skin.
As they finally came down from the euphoric high, he had a moment to regret his actions. His need to take her hard and fast had nothing to do with the Leckie brothers, but even as he thought the words, he knew he was lying to himself. His primitive need to mark his woman had everything to do with jealousy. The way the two men had looked at Louise when they thought no one was watching had pushed just about every Neanderthal button Cal owned.
“Wow,” Louise said as he finally eased his cock from her still-spasming pussy. She turned in his arms, her fingers running lightly over his mark on her neck as she smiled at him shyly. “I haven’t been given a hickey since junior high.”
He tried to apologize, but she cut him off by pressing her lips against his and kissing him until his world tilted on its axis. By the time they came up for air, the shower water was running nearly cold, his beautiful woman was writhing in his arms, and his cock was just as hard as when they’d started.
Amazing. Would he ever get enough of this incredible woman?
* * * *
Zeb lay on the bed and tried not to think of the beautiful woman who should have been his mate. Deputy Louise Jackson would have made the perfect partner for both him and Aiden, and surprisingly Zeb wasn’t the least bit disturbed that fate had chosen that they share a mate. Of all their siblings, Aiden was the one he’d always been closest to. Sharing a mate and the responsibilities of fatherhood with his brother and best friend really just seemed like a natural progression.
It would have been perfect if the woman wasn’t already involved with one of the locals. A nasty, self-serving idea slipped into his mind, but he dismissed it almost immediately. He wasn’t going to do anything to break up Louise and Cal’s relationship. He wanted his mate to be happy, even if that meant being happy without him.
“In some ways,” Aiden said as he lay down on one of the single beds in the strangely over-decorated hotel room, “knowing that our mate is unavailable is kind of freeing.”
“How do you figure that?” Seriously, his brother might be the glass-half-full kind, but announcing their mate being taken was in some way a good thing just managed to piss Zeb off.
“At least now, when we find someone to love, we won’t have to worry that our mate might someday come along and mess things up.”
Okay, that did make a twisted kind of sense. Even though they’d shared a few women in the past, neither of them had been completely comfortable with the idea. At least by knowing they’d been fated to share one woman, they could get over the whole confused-emotions part and simply enjoy their choice of lifestyle.
And all of that would have been perfectly reasonable if he couldn’t already sense his mate’s nearness, and her emotions, and the goddamned orgasm that had just vibrated through her—an orgasm neither he nor his brother had been responsible for. He rolled over, buried his head under the pillow, and hoped for the sweet oblivion of unconsciousness.
* * * *
Louise wriggled, the tickly, featherlight touch making her laugh quietly. The fingers skimmed higher, tracing over her breasts, circling the nipples but not quite touching the aching nubs. She arched her back, chasing that elusive caress, whimpering softly as her dream lover denied her demand.
She lowered back down, her spine on the mattress once more as the soft touch began again. But this time a callused hand skimmed over her soft flesh, the touch firmer, more attentive, more loving.
“Open your eyes,” a rough voice commanded. She did as she was told, sucking in a surprised breath when she saw the two men standing naked at the end of her bed. They moved closer, the two very different caresses starting once more—the soft, feathery touch and the firm, loving caress of callused hands. She moaned at the delicious contrast, opening her legs, inviting them to touch her more intimately.
Something niggled at her brain, something important, something she needed to remember, but the gentle assault continued, and she sighed and closed her eyes once more. Thick fingers caressed her inner thighs, her legs opening wider as a hot tongue touched her dripping pussy. She bucked against the intense sensation, surprised to find her hands held tight in someone’s grip.
She glanced down, smiling as Aiden lifted up long enough to wink at her before lowering his head once more and laving his tongue over her swollen clit. Zeb sat beside her, caressing her breasts, pinching her nipples as he watched her with an intensity that was nearly unnerving.
But then Aiden pushed his tongue deep into her pussy, then licked and suckled the swollen folds, before plunging back into her moist heat.
“Come for us,” Zeb demanded in a passion-thick voice. Every nerve ending was on fire. She shook all over as Aiden sucked her clit into his mouth and thrust rough fingers deep into her slit. She squealed, the rough intrusion more arousing than painful, the sensation taking her by s
urprise.
She gasped for air, her chest heaving as heat burst from her womb and spread over her entire body. Tears leaked from her eyes, the orgasm more intense, more overwhelming than anything she’d ever experienced before in her life.
“Open your eyes.” She tried, her dream lover fucking her harder with his fingers as someone twisted her nipples to the point of pain and someone else held her hands pinned to the mattress.
“Open your eyes,” the voice said again, this time more forcefully, more frantically. She struggled to comply, her body still quivering even as exhaustion dragged her toward sleep once more. “Louise.” The voice sounded worried now, really worried, so she tried to comply. “Babe, please open your eyes for me.”
That concerned plea finally broke through her lethargy, and she opened her eyes to find Cal leaning over her. He breathed a sigh of relief as he caressed her face softly.
“Welcome back.”
“Oh, God,” she said as embarrassment washed over her.
“Oh,” Cal said with a quiet laugh. “It was one of those dreams.”
She pulled the blanket over her head, wishing a vortex would open up and swallow her into some alternate reality. She did not just dream about having sex with three men. She did not just experience the most amazing orgasm by fantasizing about two strangers that she didn’t even really like—well, not much anyway. And she sure as hell did not imagine her current lover holding her down, caressing her wrists as he watched two incredibly appealing men finger-fuck her to orgasm.
But she moaned as Cal donned a condom in record time, grabbed her, dragged her underneath him, and thrust into her so hard and fast that she exploded into orgasm once more. He quickly followed, his loving kisses and gentle caresses soothing her as she drifted back into a—thankfully—dreamless sleep.
* * * *
