Blake, Abby - Suddenly Wolf, Too (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Abby Blake

  Louise nodded, obviously eager to sort out the problems they may face before risking hurting Cal again. It was obvious that she loved the man very much. It was in her eyes, in her sad smile, and very clear in her emotions. The surprising, yet most welcome, part was that she was quickly developing the same affection for him and Zeb. It wasn’t love yet, but it was a start.

  Louise moved off his lap and grabbed her cell phone. She frowned when she got Cal’s voice mail, hung up, and then tried a different number. She dialed a third number, her worry starting to show on her face.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart,” Aiden said, pulling her back into his embrace. “Close your eyes and concentrate on him. If he truly is one of your mates, you’ll be able to sense roughly where he is and most of what he’s feeling.”

  “Even when I’m awake?”

  Aiden nodded and smiled at the startled expression on her face. “Close your eyes and picture him in your head.” She did as he instructed, but a moment later growled in frustration. At first Aiden thought she hadn’t been successful, but then she blew out an exasperated breath and said, “He’s ignoring my phone call. The rotten jerk knows it’s me and won’t answer. I am so going to kick his ass.”

  Aiden grinned at his woman’s vehemence. It was likely that Cal thought he was doing the right thing by refusing her calls, but Aiden had no doubt she fully intended to kick one very stubborn mate when she finally managed to pin him down.

  Yet right now they needed to get going. Zeb was still at the Hampton farm protecting the family as they gathered their possessions. Thankfully, with Xavier and his pack willing to help, they had a place to go.

  “We’ll visit Cal when we get back.”

  Louise nodded, but it was clear that she was worried. “Will I still be able to sense him from Andrea’s place?”

  “Probably not,” Aiden said, not wishing to upset his mate but not willing to lie either. “We’ll be over a hundred miles away. Even the strongest mating links struggle with that distance. But we’ll call him when we get there. Maybe he’ll answer Andrea’s calls.”

  Louise gave him a sad smile, nodded, and diverted the phone to the fill-in sheriff’s number. She’d managed to track down the retired sheriff, Henry Simpson, and he’d agreed to cover Louise’s duties for the two nights they expected to be away. It wasn’t a perfect solution—the guy had been retired for ten years now—but it was the best they could manage. Henry had Louise’s cell phone number, but hopefully he wouldn’t need to use it. It was supposed to be a quiet, sleepy little town, after all.

  * * * *

  Becky Stiles had squealed in delight when she was shown her new bedroom. The home Andrea and her husbands organized for the family was beautiful, and in the last twenty-four hours, many of the neighbors had already come to say hello. Josh Hampton had been offered and had quickly accepted a position in pack security almost the moment they arrived, and several teenagers had dropped by to welcome Becky to her new school. Apparently, being part of a pack meant more than just moving into a new neighborhood.

  The only down side to the visit was Cal’s continued refusal to answer any phone calls. Annoyed, worried, and moving toward freaking pissed off, Louise had finally called one of his neighbors and they’d confirmed he was fine but simply wanted some time alone. Zeb and Aiden had convinced her to leave the man be, at least until they got home.

  Except that technically home was no longer home. As Aiden and Zeb’s mate, she was supposed to join their pack and move thousands of miles from everything she’d ever known. But her men had been more and more appalled as details of what Josh Hampton had lived through came to light. It only confirmed her growing trust in them, and when they’d explained their unwillingness to follow a werewolf such as Doug Grayson, Xavier had invited them to join his pack. Despite the possible danger Grayson presented, the entire pack had been unanimous in their support of their alpha.

  So now Louise sat on the wide veranda of a rustic-looking log cabin that camouflaged the modern interior very nicely, and marveled at how much her life had changed in recent days.

  She closed her eyes in an effort to sense Cal even though she knew it was pretty useless to try.

  “You okay?” Zeb asked as he came onto the veranda with a cup of coffee each hand. He sat beside her, handed her one cup, and then turned to look over the scenic vista.

  “I don’t know. I feel nervous, but I’m not really sure why. It’s like I’m ready to leap out of my skin,” she answered honestly. She glanced at the position of the sun and heard a soft chuckle from the man beside her.

  “There’s always a feeling in the air on the night of a full moon. Even born werewolves feel the urge to change.”

  “But you can fight it, can’t you?”

  “We can, but why would we? Running on a full moon is truly exhilarating.” He settled an arm over the back of the chair, and she slid a little closer as Zeb caressed the back of her neck with his callused fingers. She melted into his touch, but there was still a part of her that felt awkward accepting affection from Zeb and Aiden. Yet, it also felt kind of natural, like it was where she belonged.

  “But I don’t get a choice. I’m going to change against my will.”

  “True,” Zeb said, “but I think you’ll enjoy it nevertheless.”

  “Maybe,” she hedged, even knowing he was probably right. “I already feel…something. Kind of like a kid the night before Christmas.”

  Aiden laughed as he stepped onto the veranda. “That’s a pretty accurate description.” He took the seat facing her and suddenly became very serious. “There’s something we need to ask you.”

  “Oh,” she said, moving away from Zeb a little. She couldn’t think straight when they were touching her.

  “Now, you need to remember that this is a first for us, too.” She crooked an eyebrow, wondering why Aiden was dancing around the point. “Moonlight runs are usually…um…” Aiden’s words trailed off as he seemed to search for a word that eluded him. Both men seemed uncomfortable, and she had the strangest urge to laugh nervously.

  “They’re usually very stimulating,” Zeb finally managed to say.

  “Stimulating how?” If they were talking about what she thought they were talking about, it brought a whole new meaning to the words “doggy style.”

  “Afterward you’ll probably want to jump our bones.” He smiled and winked at her, but it was obvious that they were trying to warn her about something important.

  “But only afterward? When I’m human again?”

  “Well, you’ll probably feel the need to hunt your first time in wolf form. You’ll run and explore and maybe play, and we’ll stay with you. We’ll protect you and make certain that you don’t hurt anyone.” She nodded, quite relieved to hear that. Too many things had happened in too short a time for her to be thinking about the problems she could cause in furry form.

  “The thing is, after we revert to human form,” Aiden said, reaching over to pull one of her hands into both of his, “we need to know whether it’s okay to make love to you.”

  “You think I won’t be able to control myself? That I won’t be thinking clearly?” Aiden must’ve sensed the fear in her emotions because he tried to pull her into his embrace. She resisted, ripping her hand from his grip.

  “We don’t really know what’s going to happen,” Aiden said quietly. “It’s a first for us, too, but from everything we understand, running the full moon with one’s mate is a very…inspiring experience.”

  “Baby girl,” Zeb said quietly, leaning over to cup her face with his hand. “We won’t do anything you don’t want us to do. If you say no now, we’ll make certain to keep you safe tomorrow, no matter what you say or do.”

  Her heart did that silly little stop-start that she was beginning to associate with these two men. As much as she loved Cal and wanted him to be a part of her life, she couldn’t imagine giving up these men either. She really hoped the four of them could come to some sort of workable arrangement.

>   “We can wait until Cal can join us,” Aiden said, obviously picking up on her hesitation. The mating link was getting stronger, and she could easily sense the nervous energy behind their calm demeanors. They’d waited a long time to find their mate, yet they were willing to let her make the decisions on when and how their relationship moved forward. Cal had already let her go. He’d told her he wanted her to be happy with Aiden and Zeb, so she wouldn’t be doing anything wrong.

  But it still felt like cheating.

  Tears filled her eyes at the thought of disappointing Aiden and Zeb, but they understood immediately. This time, when Aiden pulled her into his embrace, she went willingly. “It’s okay, sweetheart,” he said, running his hand through her hair over and over in a slow, hypnotic movement. “We have plenty of time.”

  They stayed that way for a while, simply holding each other and enjoying the quiet. But the peace was broken when a car pulled up in the driveway and Andrea called them over to help. Curious as to what Andrea would need help with, Louise headed down the driveway. She could smell the casserole even before she got close to the vehicle.

  “What’s this?”

  “Dinner,” Andrea said with a huge smile.

  “For how many?” The car had so many covered bowls, dishes, and baskets it looked like Andrea was catering for a party of twenty.

  “I have found,” Andrea said, handing another casserole dish to Aiden, “that having a full stomach before shifting helps protect the local wildlife.”

  “Huh?” What did changing into a wolf have to do with endangering the animals? Louise’s stomach rolled as she finally understood what Andrea was trying to tell her. “So in wolf form I’m liable to go snacking on little furry critters?”

  “Yup,” Andrea said with a huge smile on her face. But then she wrinkled her nose and added, “There’s nothing quite like the memory of swallowing a mouse whole.”

  “What’s a mouse or two between friends,” Andrea’s husband, Daegan, teased as he slung an arm over her shoulders and turned her toward the house. Andrea rolled her eyes, but it was very clear that she adored the man. “Xavier and Isaac shouldn’t be too far behind us, but we can start without them if they take too long.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Louise sat at a table with her best friend, all three of her best friend’s husbands, and two of her own mates. The only person missing was Cal.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart. He’ll be one of us soon,” Aiden said as he noticed the expression. “Xavier has given us permission to make him one of the pack. We just have to convince him.”

  “That’s great,” she said as she tried to tamp down the excitement rising within her. Making the offer and having him accept it were two very different things. “But do you think he’ll go for it?”

  “Of course he will,” Andrea answered brightly.

  “How can you be so sure?” Louise asked, not feeling nearly as confident as her best friend.

  Andrea rolled her eyes and gave her an incredulous look. “The man has been in love with you forever. He’s not going to turn down a chance to be part of your life.”

  Louise tried to smile at her friend’s reassurance but didn’t feel quite so confident. Asking any man, no matter how much he loved her, to share her with two other men seemed an awfully big thing to ask.

  She grabbed her cell phone and dialed his number again. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t answer. Stubborn jackass.

  * * * *

  Zeb exhaled a deep breath and told his cock to behave as he watched his mate undress. Aiden was busy giving her last-minute advice on what to expect when she changed into a wolf for the first time, but all Zeb could think about was the arousal he could smell coming from her. Even with the moon still half an hour from rising, Louise’s body was preparing for the heady experience of a mating run.

  But they’d already decided against sex afterward, so he took another deep breath and let it out slowly. He had a feeling his patience was about to be tested like no other time in his entire life.

  “Shifting doesn’t hurt,” Aiden advised, “as long as you relax and let it happen. Zeb and I will stay with you the whole time. We’ll keep you out of trouble.” She smiled, but both her demeanor and her emotions gave away her nervousness. “Next moon, when you shift we should be able to communicate telepathically, but for now we’ll just stick by you.”

  “Whoa, telepathically? Are you kidding me?” Aiden looked slightly annoyed by her disbelief, but Zeb could understand her reaction. They’d thrown a lot at her in the past few days. Normally, when a human was changed to a werewolf, it was done a few days after the full moon so that they had a whole month to develop the mating link and practice telepathic communication. It was even quite common for the born-werewolf partner to claim their mate before the full moon.

  In Louise’s case they’d almost done everything backwards. Theirs was obviously going to be a very unusual mating. And even though Zeb didn’t want to voice the feeling out loud, he suspected that their lives wouldn’t be complete until Cal could join them.

  But as the moon rose and his wolf began to stir restlessly, he decided to set aside his worries and try and enjoy his first run with his mate by his side.

  Even if it wasn’t exactly what he had hoped.

  * * * *

  Louise couldn’t believe the prickling excitement running through her. She’d had quite a few strange experiences in recent days, but this was proving to be the strangest. It was like every cell in her body was vibrating, dancing to a tune only the moon could provide. Her heart rate was accelerated, butterflies flittered in her stomach, and her skin tingled all over.

  She opened her mouth to say something, but her tongue felt funny, almost like it wasn’t her own. Her jaws ached momentarily, her vision growing fuzzy as she fell to all fours, her paws landing on the ground with a soft thud. She looked down, a hysterical giggle bubbling through her head, but only a small whine reaching her ears. She swung her gaze to the left, looking up at Aiden curiously as a warm hand scratched behind her ear. She tilted her head to give him more access even as her inner voice demanded that she bite him for treating her like a dog.

  “You’re very beautiful, Louise.”

  She forgave him instantly, chuffing happily as he stepped back to remove his clothes. A warm, furry body pressed up against her side, distracting her from the nearly naked man. She pressed her face against the wolf’s muzzle, rubbing against him in an instinctive move that her human brain decided could wait until later for analyzing.

  She lifted her nose, sniffing the air, the wilderness calling to her in a way she never thought possible. She turned to the front door, whining pathetically when she realized it was locked. She lifted her paw, scratching at the wood, needing to get outside and run. Aiden, still in human form, laughed as she growled at the wood. Inside her head it seemed perfectly reasonable to be annoyed at the door, even though she knew it probably shouldn’t.

  “Okay, sweetheart,” Aiden said as he moved to the front door and undid the locks. “We’ll be right behind you.”

  She weaved around the door, desperate to feel the earth under her paws, the wind in her face, the scents of the night surrounding her. And then she ran.

  Chapter Six

  Aiden could smell Louise’s arousal. They hadn’t lied when they’d said she would likely prefer to hunt on her first run in wolf form. But now that the frantic need to explore was loosening its grip, Louise’s wolfy thoughts seemed to be turning to a more carnal nature. He breathed deeply, his own wolf wanting more than his human brain would allow. He whined his discomfort, his brother echoing the sound a moment later.

  Louise turned to them, her tail wagging happily, her tongue lolling out as she moved toward where they stood. She nuzzled first against Aiden and then moved to Zeb’s side before yipping loudly and almost dancing around them. Then she took off, her legs pumping hard as she ran across the open meadow and disappeared into the night.

  Aiden was right on her heels, the primitive urge to s
ubdue his mate, to claim her, riding him hard, urging him to faster speeds. He heard the howls of other wolves, scented them on the air, but only one she-wolf interested him, and he was fast gaining on her. She miscalculated, stumbling over a log that was wider than it seemed. He caught her easily, landing on her, using his larger weight to push her to the ground.

  His mind and body were filled with the urge to take her, to fuck her, to claim her as a werewolf mate should. But then Zeb was there, growling, his wolf voice low and deep and so damned annoyed that sense finally broke through Aiden’s lust-filled brain.

  He moved off her, pressing against her side as his brother did the same, trapping her between them. She wriggled, her tail still wagging madly for a moment before she understood their intention was only to hold her safe, not to mate with her.

  She whined her annoyance but settled down as weariness began to overtake her. Satisfied for the moment that his mate would sleep for a while, Aiden closed his eyes, simply enjoying being with the woman who would one day, hopefully soon, truly be his mate.

  * * * *

  Cal damn near fell out of his bed.

  The feeling of exhilaration, of being one with nature, of belonging to the wild in ways he could barely fathom, wound through him. It whispered tantalizing promises of a different life. He would swear he could feel the dirt beneath his paws, taste the myriad of scents on the wind, and hear the noise of the night.

  But it had been just a dream. Just a dream.

  He sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the mattress as he scrubbed his hand down his unshaven face. He scratched at the long stubble, trying to ignore the reminder that he hadn’t been bothered with his appearance since he’d learned about werewolves. Annoyance gripped him even as he relived the breathless moments of his dream.