by Lori King
Tears burned the backs of her eyelids. It was possible that they were from sadness over his choice, but as she thought it through, she realized that they stemmed more from her pride in his choice. This was a man to be proud of. He carried himself as a leader already, and she admired his determination. She would imagine that many would change their plans when faced with a similar situation, but it earned Cadence more respect in her eyes that he wouldn’t back down.
When Henley turned his eyes on Mateo, the big man stepped forward and wrapped his hand around the nape of Whitney’s neck, “Before you even ask the question in your eyes, sir, I will answer it. There is no way I would walk away from my duty to my cousin and rightful Alpha. Even in the short time that I have known your daughter, I would hope that she respects me enough not to ask it of me.”
It was obviously the right answer for her father, because he nodded. “In that case, I wish you the best of luck, and I welcome you both to the family.”
Relief flooded through Whitney’s system as everyone relaxed and Tina returned with the half-empty bottle of wine. When she went to get her glass, Mateo’s hand on her neck stopped her. “No more for you tonight, mi reina.” If anyone else had issued the command, she might have argued, but something about the plea in his eyes had her nodding and wrapping her arms around his waist.
“Where is Liam, T?” Whitney asked her sister-in-law.
Tina frowned. “Apparently after you three left the Alpha cabin, he had a minor meltdown, so Devin sent him on patrol with Justin and Tate down by the lake.”
“A meltdown? Why?” Whitney asked in confusion.
“You’re his only sister, princess. I happen to understand and relate to his upset at seeing you whisked away by not one but two strangers,” Henley said.
Whitney flushed and groaned. “I didn’t realize how upset he was. I guess we should have stuck around.”
“Hindsight is twenty-twenty, little flower. Your brother needed some time to adjust to the idea,” Cadence said, taking a seat on the sofa and tugging her down beside him. She fell into the cove of his big body and soaked up the comfort available there.
The easy affection that her two men showed her made her more comfortable with the idea herself, so she let them touch her and kiss her without complaint.
“Tell me, Henley, what is the hierarchy in the Gray pack? I know that Devin is the Alpha, but it seems everyone treats Damon as an Alpha, too?” Cadence asked.
Henley nodded. “Devin has always been the clear Alpha, but Damon is so much like his right arm that the Beta title never fit him right. It made more sense to call them both Alphas. We rarely refer to Damon as anything but our second Alpha now. We have quite a few Betas that back them both up, and the pack is just getting stronger every day.”
Cadence nodded. “We had heard that a few of the Diego members who renounced the pack travelled to you guys.”
Instead of becoming awkward at the statement, Henley smiled and nodded easily. “Yes, Devin is a very smart man, and he has an innate way of picking up on trouble before anyone else does. He has known since he was a kid that Barton would be an issue for him.”
“Why do you say that, Daddy?” Whitney asked, wondering if all of the terrible events that were caused by Barton could have been avoided.
“When they were both young, they attended pack school together. Barton was five years older than Devin, but Dev was always big for his age and wise beyond his years. He beat Barton at every challenge, and it created a vicious rivalry. To my knowledge, Dev never played into Barton’s hatred for him, and it was actually Barton’s father who sealed the deal by giving him a whooping after one particular contest loss.”
“I wish I could shed more light on it,” Cadence said. “My father spent most of my life assuring me that the Gray pack was made up of arrogant pricks that wouldn’t lift a finger to help anyone. I have to admit I’m glad he was proven wrong.”
The subject was dropped from there, and they all chatted for a little while longer. Her family shared tales from her youth and warmed up quickly to her new mates. But after a while, Whitney began to wonder why neither of her men wanted to share about their own history. They were both unusually tight-lipped about their childhood, and it struck her as odd. Forcing herself to stay in the moment, she resolved to pull it out of them as soon as possible. If there was baggage back home in Chicago, she needed to know about it so that she was prepared. She wasn’t about to go in blind.
“Would you guys mind much if I steal these two away? I think we need some time to talk.” Her request was met with a variety of expressions. Mateo looked surprised, but pleased, while Cadence wore a satisfied smirk. It was her parents’ look of confusion that made her frown. “What?”
“Aren’t you going to the party tonight?” Tina asked.
Cadence’s dark eyes narrowed. “I forgot about that.” He moved closer to Whitney and pressed a kiss to her temple. “I’m sorry, love, but Devin has asked all of the Diego wolves to attend a welcome celebration tonight. It will give everyone an opportunity to meet everyone else, as well as give us time to solidify plans for the upcoming battle.”
“Do we have to go? Can’t we claim newly mated rights or something,” she grumbled.
Mateo nodded. “Sure, we could miss it if it’s that important to you, but we have the rest of our lives to get to know each other, mi reina, and I would like you to meet the men that travelled with us.”
Whitney wanted to argue, but she couldn’t. If it was important to her men, then she would be there. “Okay, but can we go back to my place first? I’d really like to change into something better than sweats and a T-shirt if we’re going to a party.”
“You look beautiful, little flower,” Cadence murmured softly, running his hand down her spine to rest on the curve of her ass. “You could wear a burlap sack and you would still outshine everyone else, but I won’t argue with a little alone time before the celebration.”
“Henley and Victoria, it was lovely to meet you both, and I know I speak for my cousin when I say we are relieved to have such a perfect mate with such an accepting family,” Mateo said gallantly.
Tawny sighed wistfully. “Yeah, she’s a lucky bitch all right.”
Everyone laughed as they said their good-byes. Tawny walked down the road with them until she reached her own cabin and then waved good-bye after being reassured they would make it to the party. The moment she was gone and Whitney was alone with her two mates again, her body flared to life, and she stepped up her speed.
Just as the little cabin was visible through the trees, Cadence leaned in close. “How long will it take you to change clothes?”
“Not long, ten minutes maybe, why?”
He growled low in his throat and scooped her up in his arms. “Because by my calculations we have about forty-five minutes before someone comes looking for us. Just long enough.”
She wiggled on his shoulder, laughing at his antics. “Long enough for what, wolf-man?”
“Long enough to strip you naked and wear you out, mi amor,” Mateo responded, slipping the keys from her hand and opening the door. Her world spun when Cadence dropped her to her feet, and she just had time to blink away the chaos before his mouth descended on hers.
Chapter 6
Cadence was barely keeping himself under control as he kissed Whitney. Her soft lips and even softer body had him hard enough to hurt. It hadn’t taken him long this afternoon after she ran out the door to see the error of his ways, but when they began searching the den for her and came up empty handed, fear made him imagine crazy things.
What if the mating lust was all in his head? It was possible that the attraction was only one-sided, but after the way she had responded to them so quickly, he held on to hope. Then she came into view at her parents’ house. He felt like someone had pushed a truck off of his chest. Never before had he cared so much about someone. It was unsettling and comforting all at once.
When he realized that she wasn’t still angry with
him, his body caught up to his brain and he had to fight back an erection while they made nice with her parents. It seemed all he had to do was think about the Alpha battle and his hard-on went limp.
With a groan, he tore his lips away from hers and tugged her T-shirt off. She gasped in surprise, but she didn’t fight him. Instead she arched her back, leaning against Mateo behind her and exposing her naked breasts to him. Not wasting a moment, Cadence gripped both of the caramel-colored globes in his hands and squeezed. Her hips rocked and her rosy nipples tightened under his palms.
“Mmm…do that again,” she murmured, nipping at Mateo’s bottom lip and pushing her tits into Cadence’s hands.
Obliging her, he squeezed even harder, pinching her nipples between his thumb and the side of his hand. Expecting to hear her scold him for being too rough, he dropped his hands to her hips. Her jerk of surprise and the following frown caught him off guard.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, placing both of her hands on his chest.
“Nothing, flower. I just don’t want to hurt you.” The look of irritation on her face shifted slowly and her eyes flashed as bright as her smile.
“Oh no, lover. You weren’t hurting me at all. In fact, you could be a little rougher.”
His wolf slammed into his chest with a snarl that matched Mateo’s. Their eyes met over her shoulder, and when Mateo nodded, Cadence grabbed her by the wrists and jerked them over her head. “Be careful what you wish for, little flower. Your petals might get bruised.”
She moaned with pleasure, encouraging them to continue, and while Cadence held her bound in his grip, Mateo tugged her pants down until she was deliciously bare for them. The scent of her desire was so strong it made him slightly dizzy, but it was the heat in her eyes that really reached into his gut.
There was no way the mating lust was one-sided. This woman was clearly linked to them in a very real way. Her body responded to every touch, and she begged for more. On top of that, she wasn’t a meek and mild girl. She had a woman’s fire in her veins, and the fact that she liked an edge to her sex didn’t hurt either.
Mateo moved around next to him and together they backed her up until she was pressed against the wall. As Cadence ravished her mouth and breasts, Mateo dropped to his knees in front of her. Lifting one of her legs up over his shoulder, he set to work ravishing her sweet pussy with his mouth. The gasps and moans escaping her lips were music to his ears.
Taking a chance, he slapped her right tit just enough to sting and whispered into her ear. “Rougher, huh? Just how rough do you want us to be, love?”
“More,” she begged huskily, and he smirked and pinched her nipple, pulling it away from her body hard and then releasing it just to hear her gasp.
“She likes whatever you’re doing, cousin,” Mateo groaned as he lapped up her flowing pussy juices. “She’s going to drown me.”
“Oh we can’t have that, now can we, flower?” Cadence dropped her arms and nudged Mateo to stand up, and then spun her so that she was pressed face-first against the wall with her back arched and her legs spread.
This time it was Mateo who took her wrists in his hand, while Cadence ran his palms over the lush cheeks of her ass. He let go with a sharp slap, and she yelped. “Too hard, flower?”
“Do your worst, wolf-man,” she snapped, and Cadence could see the glow of her eyes in the shadow between her face and the wall.
Appreciating the image she presented of a badass chick with a high pain tolerance, he took the time to caress her more than spank her. But every time the crack of his palm sounded, it was followed by her whimper of need.
“Now, Cadence. Take her,” Mateo murmured, still holding her in place but rubbing his fingertip gently down the cleft of her ass while he watched his cousin turn her butt pink.
With a nod, Cadence released his hard cock from his jeans, and still fully dressed, he began to press into her dripping slit. His brain grew foggy when her forehead dropped to rest against the wall, and her hips lifted in offering. The perfect submission to his desires, she was elegant and powerful, but sweet and vulnerable at the same time. He’d be lucky if he didn’t come before he got inside of her.
“Yes!” she hissed, and her panting increased as his thick cock stretched her pussy muscles.
“Fuck,” Cadence groaned when her ass finally pressed against his groin. He had to concentrate to keep from shooting off an orgasm too quickly. Jerking her up so that she was in an awkward standing position with him still fully penetrating her, he growled in her ear. “Do you see him? He wants you as much as I do, flower. Do you want to suck Mateo’s cock?”
She nodded, and her lips parted as Mateo dropped his own pants to his knees and braced his back on the wall in front of her. After a moment of awkward shuffling, they were in the perfect position for her to suck Mateo’s cock while Cadence thrust in and out of her tight cunt.
Every motion he made, she responded to, arching into him and bobbing on Mateo as though she needed their cum to breathe. When her pussy tightened around him in a vise grip, he met Mateo’s eyes and nodded. “Now. Come for us, love.”
She trembled so violently that they had to hold her up, and Cadence had to lock his knees to keep from toppling over. Cum jettisoned from his ball sack into her womb, and pure male satisfaction warmed him from the inside out. Not only had he pleased himself, but his woman was limp with her own wanton satisfaction. He laughed when he saw her licking cum off of her lips as she lifted her eyes to Mateo.
“That was incredible,” she said softly, and his cousin gathered her into his arms, pressing tiny kisses all over her lips and face. “Even better than ice cream.”
“Ice cream?” Mateo asked.
She nodded. “Yup. Ice cream makes everything better. There has never been a situation where ice cream didn’t improve the circumstances.”
Cadence huffed and rolled his eyes at her as if he couldn’t believe what she was saying. Mateo knew better than to argue, so he just squeeze her once more and didn’t respond to her statement.
“I’ll get a cloth to clean up. How much time do we have, amor?” Mateo said, passing her to Cadence, who gladly took the warm bundle of naked woman. He kind of liked that she wanted to cuddle after sex. She was all cozy and relaxed, completely comfortable with both herself and them. It was particularly reassuring for his wolf after the way they had ended things earlier.
“Mmm, like fifteen minutes probably. Don’t bother with the cloth. I’ll just jump in the shower,” she said sleepily, and Cadence snickered when she nuzzled closer to his throat.
“Maybe we should help you, love. You seem a little limp to be standing in there on your own.”
Her eyes sparkled with rekindled desire. “Sounds great to me, but we might be late to the party.”
“I’m okay with that,” Mateo called from the bathroom as he turned the shower on.
Cadence winked at her. “We’ll just explain that we had to wait on our mate to select her outfit for the evening. Everyone knows how women are about their clothes.”
Her elbow nailed his kidney and she spun around and bounded toward the bathroom. “Just for that, you can stand at the end of the tub without the showerhead, wolf-man.”
* * * *
By Whitney’s watch they were twenty-four minutes late to the party, but other than a few knowing smirks and sly jokes from her closest friends and family, no one seemed to notice.
Her first stop was at a table where Devin, Damon, and Caroline sat chatting with the former Alpha of the pack, Jim Gray. Introducing her men, she half listened while Cadence exchanged pack strategy with Jim. After forty years as the Gray pack Alpha, everyone had been surprised when Jim turned over the reins to his twin sons. He was still young enough and fit enough that it seemed odd, and yet watching him now, Whitney had to admit the man was significantly more relaxed than he had been a year ago when he was the Alpha. He held his beautiful wife, Sienna, close to his side, and when he turned his eyes on his sons and their pregnant wife,
he looked blissful. Someday she and her men would be the retired Alpha leaders, and perhaps they, too, would be able to watch their family grow and enjoy their retirement. Her heart skipped a beat imagining the family that might come from their mating. An adorable olive-skinned girl with straight black hair and laughing chocolate-colored eyes like Mateo, or a strong Alpha son with snapping gray eyes and Cadence’s rich bronzed coloring. She could picture it easily enough, but the problem was that she could only have that if she moved to Chicago with them.
Forcing herself to continue pleasantly making the introductory rounds through her group of intimates, she kept a smile plastered on her face. She even made a point of introducing Liam to her two men specifically and was pleased when he didn’t attack them on sight.
“Tell me why I should let her move to Chicago, Diego?” Liam asked.
Mateo’s eyebrows shot up, and Cadence narrowed his eyes in a frown. “I have the distinct impression that nobody lets Whitney do anything, Gray. She seems to be a strong enough woman to make her own decisions.”
Whitney reached for Cadence’s hand, smiling up at him in appreciation. “You’re exactly right, and Li knows it.”
Liam turned his eyes on her, and she could see the genuine concern in their blue depths. “If this is what you want, Whit, then I’ll try to support it. I just know firsthand what happens when people move too fast.” He turned and walked away from them without another word, leaving the three of them alone.
Her guys looked confused so she filled them in. “When Liam was younger, he married a human woman, and they had a child together. My niece Daphne.”
“The tattoo?” Mateo asked, and she nodded.
“Roxy—his wife—wasn’t his mate, and she didn’t love him. In fact, she cheated on him and tore his heart to shreds. He was in the process of getting a divorce when Roxy and Daphne were both killed in a car accident. I wish you could have met Daphne. She was a perfect little girl,” Whitney said, emotions choking her as she remembered the smiling face of her lost niece. Mateo hugged her tightly, and Cadence kissed her temple.
