Third Time Lucky sm-3

by Loribelle Hunt

  She didn’t look happy about it, but she let the subject drop, and her anger faded with it.

  Thank the gods.

  “Now about the dominance thing, darlin’.” He needed her to submit to him here, at home, and he knew deep down she wanted to. Ethan never would fully submit to Harris, and that was okay because he didn’t want to. But Harris hated seeing Gabby deny herself something she needed. Something he could give her.

  Her eyes turned guarded.

  “You lied to me about liking it,” he said. She scrambled to get off his lap, and he let her go. For now. She got a stubborn look he recognized. “Don’t lie to me, Gabby,” he said softly, not bothering to hide the dom from her.

  She heaved a sigh, wrung her fingers, and looked down, refusing to meet his gaze. The actions of a submissive. “Okay. Fine. I liked it.”

  Progress, finally.

  He didn’t show his sense of triumph, though it was damned hard to conceal it. She felt it through the bond. Her head snapped up. When she looked at him defiantly, he allowed a mean little smile, knowing it would excite her as much as alarm her. Knowing she needed the combination, that it was hardwired into her just as much as her need to submit.

  He arched an eyebrow. “I don’t think I like your tone.” He watched her struggle with conflicting emotions. Her desire to fight for dominance warred with her impulse to please him. Interesting. He let his senses expand, opened the bond as he tried to figure her out. She was one of the highest-ranking females in the pack. There was only one way to achieve her position: fight.

  But her mind didn’t feel like a warrior’s. She was willing to fight. She wouldn’t hesitate.

  She got no joy from it, and she’d somehow managed to learn to contain that part of her, separate from the rest. Almost as if she was ensuring she wasn’t contaminated. He’d never felt a mind like hers, divided like hers.

  “You were not born to be a dominant member of the pack,” he said, the realization stunning. “Not as dominant as you are, at least.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest, defensive. Cagey. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course, I was.”

  “No, darlin’.” He shook his head. “You weren’t. Don’t worry. I don’t have any interest in taking it from you, but haven’t you ever felt divided? Torn between that public life you lead and what you want personally? Privately?”

  He saw right away that he’d hit a nerve.

  “Tell me,” he demanded, keeping his voice soft and gentle, every instinct he had urging him to go to her, to shelter her as she told her secret desires, but it was too soon. She didn’t trust him enough yet.

  “I wouldn’t know where to start,” she murmured, sounding so confused and dejected it hurt his chest.

  He glanced at Ethan and registered his stunned expression—he hadn’t had a clue about these revelations. Harris decided to push her a bit.

  “You start by letting us help you. Do you want to be held, Gabby? Do you need it? Ethan is right next to you, and I’m only a few feet away.”

  She bit her bottom lip and looked over at Ethan from below lowered lashes. Harris was instantly throbbing hard. He wanted her to look at him like that. Ethan met his gaze, a question gleaming in his eyes. He wasn’t sure how to proceed here. Harris shook his head when Ethan started to move toward her, and with a huff of breath, he stilled. Gabby needed to come to them.

  To know she could come to them. There was a lot he wanted to demand of her, but she had a right to demand a few things in return.

  “Gabby? Look at me, baby,” Ethan said. He waited until she did before going on with an uncharacteristically serious expression. “I’m right here.” Harris held his breath when she moved. She let Ethan pull her into his arms, burying her face in his chest with a heaved, almost sobbed breath that was easy to read as relief. Ethan held her tightly, close, one hand lazily stroking her back until finally she calmed and broke away.

  Harris knew better than to smile. “That wasn’t so bad, was it? Come back to the couch. I need you to tell me about this.”

  Reluctance was in her every step. When she was close enough, he grabbed her hand and pulled her into her previous position on his lap. She was stiff, but she didn’t try to escape, and Ethan came over to sit next to them. She relaxed as he drew closer, but Harris was pretty sure she wasn’t aware of it. The mating bonds at work? He wanted it to be so much more. Wanted it to be an emotional response that had nothing to do with the bonds they’d forced on her.

  Ethan lowered himself next to them, watching. Curious. Cautious. “Talk to us, baby.”

  “And tell you what? I…have desires that don’t fit what I am. That frankly freak me out. A few years ago, I thought maybe it would be possible to be…these two different people.”

  “Why did you stop believing that?” Ethan asked.

  She chuckled. “Too bad you can’t see how you treat your woman of the week in front of the pack. They’re all submissive females. Ever notice that?” Her bitterness was sharp and hurt and angry in his mind. A shock. But nothing compared to what Ethan was feeling if his face was anything to judge by. He was stunned. A little angry. It frustrated Harris. He didn’t know how deeply this animosity ran between them or how to fix it.

  Ethan lurched to his feet and stalked away. When he whirled back to face the couch, Harris considered throwing a telekinetic punch at him, the fury etched on his face was so easy to read.

  “Don’t go there, Gabby. Just…don’t. You have spent your whole life keeping me at arm’s length. When did you realize I was your mate? How long have you known? Because sometimes I think I was born knowing.”

  He couldn’t disguise the hurt in his voice, and though Harris was tempted, so tempted, to call a halt to this conversation, to all the painful revelations, he knew he couldn’t. They all needed to get this out. But damn, it was hard to watch Ethan hurting like that. To feel Gabby’s pain and confusion and panic. The three of them were supposed to be one unit. It didn’t matter who’d been together first, which of them had accepted the other first. But they couldn’t get on with the future until they dealt with the past.

  “Damn it, Gabby, how long?”

  She shrank away from Ethan’s fury, molding herself to Harris’s chest, and he shot Ethan a warning look. Ethan turned his back for a moment, shoving his hands through his hair. He was calmer, on the surface at least, when he turned back around.

  “Gabby?”

  “I don’t know.” She sighed. “I had a suspicion when I was sixteen, maybe a little younger.”

  Gods. Harris felt for Ethan, understood why he’d armored himself as he had. What was that? Ten years? Eleven? Ethan stood across from them, hands clenched at his sides, body strumming with tension.

  “Did you even care what that did to me, baby? Even a little bit?” he asked so softly Harris almost missed it.

  But Gabby didn’t. Her head snapped up, eyes flashing yellow. Regret and annoyance shimmered through their bond.

  “You’re three years older than me. Do you know what I remember most about you from when we were teenagers? All the females in the pack panting after you. And you were pretty damned happy to accommodate them. I didn’t want to add my name to that list. Of course, as I got older, the list grew. You think my not acknowledging you hurt you? What do you think your behavior did to me?”

  She shuddered, and Harris was sure she was repressing a cry. Then she lurched up and stalked over to Ethan. “Do you have any idea how long I waited for you to come to your senses?” she asked.

  Harris watched as Ethan’s eyes turned yellow. “All you had to do was say something and you know it. Don’t throw that in my face, Gabby.”

  “You’re so sure of that?” she asked. So angry. So hurt. Then she shrugged it off, or pretended to, but Harris saw right through her. He was pretty sure Ethan did too. “Anyway, you were my friend. I started to think maybe I was getting the best part of you.” Oh gods, that had to cut. Harris watched silently, wanting to intervene, but knowing all this old ran
cor needed to be aired. Ethan paled and looked like she’d plunged a knife right into his heart. He actually swayed with the imagined blow, and for a moment, Harris was sure he’d spin around and leave the house. He didn’t. He just watched her with wounded eyes for several long minutes.

  “You worked damned hard to make me believe you’d never accept a mate, much less me,” he said calmly.

  Much too calmly. He moved so fast Harris didn’t see it, but he had Gabby pinned under him on the floor, one hand resting on her throat, when Harris blinked again.

  Ethan was livid. He hadn’t known for sure. Not until she admitted it. But gods damn it!

  Ten years of fucking misery. For what? So she could prove she was strong? Because she wanted to be something she wasn’t?

  “Why, Gabby? Why?” He didn’t even care that he was giving away everything in his voice, in his eyes.

  “I…” She trailed off, staring into his gaze. A scent tantalized his senses, and he took a deep breath. Shock rocked through him. The hand he’d pressed to her collarbone, so close to her throat, spasmed. Tensed when that seductive scent intensified. She was under his control, they both knew it, and she liked it. Her body came alive with it. Harris was right. She was submissive.

  She brought her knee up, and he barely managed to save the family jewels by rolling away.

  She was also no pushover. She was a fighter. He’d seen her in action. It was an undeniable part of her nature.

  They stood several feet apart now, aggression a heady scent in the air and mingled so nicely with lust. With her desire. She wanted to be taken, but she wouldn’t make it easy. Why had he never seen this before? He relaxed, smiled, forced his wolf side to back down.

  “Oh, you have a lot of ’splaining to do, Lucy,” he murmured.

  She backed away warily, but he wasn’t fooled. She was ready, even eager for him to strike.

  She wanted him to be strong enough to subdue her. Why couldn’t he have discovered this years ago? He had her in his arms before she could react. He left the blanket wrapped around her, allowing her that last bit of security. The sound of her heart suddenly pounding, the echoing sweetness in her scent, told him everything he needed to know. She wanted him. And she wanted him to be strong enough to take her. But she needed the truth. He owed her the truth.

  “My reputation was unearned, baby. I have not slept with half the women in the pack. Not even close. No one could ever compare to you. No one else could touch me the way you do. No chance in hell.”

  She stopped fidgeting in his arms. The breath seemed to rush out of her, there was a short burst of tenseness, and then she was all pliant female. All his. For the first time, he thought he understood why Harris liked sex with women like this. It wasn’t just about being in control. It was the trust it took, a woman giving herself over so totally. Trusted completely, with everything. Past, future, pleasure, pain.

  He was hooked.

  He looked over her head to meet Harris’s gaze and saw all his desire reflected there. Ethan picked Gabby up and carried her down the hall, Harris at his heels. He lowered her to the bed, and though she didn’t rise, she did protest.

  “We don’t have time. Kade’s party—”

  “It can wait, baby,” he said gruffly. “He’ll understand.” He unwrapped the blanket, revealing her like a present. He didn’t lift his gaze, but he knew Harris watched from the other side of the bed. Gabby writhed on top of the thick comforter. Her eyes were feverish, her skin flushed. If Ethan didn’t know better, he’d think she was in heat again, but it was much too soon. He responded to her like she was, though. So damned beautiful, reacting as she could only to her mates. It made him hungry for the taste of her, the feel of her.

  He stripped quickly and made room for his shoulders between her thighs. Harris hadn’t come prepared for this, but he made do. Ethan watched as he slid the belts from both their jeans, and felt sharp canines poking through his gums. Not good. He’d already marked her. That craving should be under control. Still it pounded at him, and he turned his head to the inside of her thigh, up high and so close to her pussy all he had to do was turn his head. She moaned, bucking her hips against him, her scent washing over him like fucking ambrosia, and he was back in control again. Of his canines, at least.

  He scooted closer, blew a breath over her sex, and inhaled deeply. Gods. Her scent. It would make him crazy. He had to have a taste. His tongue flashed out, over her hole, up to her clit. She mewled like a hungry kitten, and he would have given her whatever she wanted, except he sensed movement and glanced up.

  Harris held her hand in his, stretched high above her head, face bent to leave nibbling kisses on his way to her wrist. She trembled every time his teeth scraped her skin, so he did it often. Finally Harris reached her pulse point, and he paused for a long suck before wrapping the belt around it and securing it to the bedpost. He started to walk around the bed, to handle the other wrist, but caught Ethan watching him. He paused with a wicked smile, braced his fists on the bed to lean down, and kissed him. It was all heat and teeth and brawn, but addicting as that taste was, they were both focused on her. Harris straightened and moved to her other side. She didn’t protest when he secured that wrist the same way as the other.

  Ethan sat back on his heels and gazed down. Spread out like a feast just for him. So fucking beautiful, he ached to look at her. She met his gaze and held it when he expected her to look away. When he expected fear to make her back off. Which taught him the futility of trying to predict Gabby, didn’t it? She was back to her usual fearless self.

  “What do you think, darlin’?” Harris drawled. “Being submissive isn’t so bad.” Harris lay down on the bed next to her, his hand moving to cup her breast while his teeth grazed the skin on her neck. Ethan smiled at the display. She shivered, tiny goose bumps rising all over her body.

  “Gabby,” Harris said in a voice that was way too calm, grabbed a fistful of her hair, and forced her to turn to face him. “You didn’t answer me.”

  “You’re asking me to think at a time like this?”

  “No. I’m asking what you’re feel, darlin’.”

  Ethan wanted to know the answer to that himself. She took a long time to respond—so long he was sure she wouldn’t.

  “Don’t…stop. Please.”

  Harris leaned forward and rolled his tongue over her nipple until it was a sharp, wet point.

  Then he bit her. Ethan’s eyes widened, jealous, as those teeth closed over her soft, creamy skin.

  He wanted to do the same, wanted to take his time and leave evidence of his desire, his love over every inch of her body. Harris looked at him with a grin as if he knew exactly what Ethan was thinking. Next he bit her stomach, right above her belly button, sucking the skin in hard and leaving it wet and red when he sat back.

  “‘Don’t stop’ isn’t an answer,” he said sharply.

  She groaned and opened her eyes, pleading silently. Begging to keep some of herself private. Ethan could read it so well he was amazed.

  “What do you want from me?” she whispered.

  “Everything,” Harris answered, and Ethan sucked in an excruciating breath. Fuck. He’d ruin everything. She wasn’t ready to go that far yet. She may never be ready to go that far.

  She shook her head. “Too much.”

  Harris looked brooding and thoughtful, but eventually nodded his head. “Now it is. But I’ll keep pushing, Gabby. Right now I’ll settle for you trusting me with your body. Hopefully you’ll give me your heart later.”

  She tugged her arms but was too secure to get free. Her face went pale with alarm, and her gaze shifted between the two of them. No. A soundless response, easy to read on her lips. Ethan had never realized before that she was afraid of falling in love. He didn’t like that. He was crazy about her. Had been since she was sixteen. It seemed only fair that she return the favor.

  “Later is not good enough,” he snarled, at her or Harris, he wasn’t sure.

  He crawled up her body
. Resting his elbows on either side of her head, his torso pressing against hers as a cold fire raged through him. He’d marked her, claimed her, loved her for years, and just when he thought she was coming around, she’d made it clear that was light years from the truth. She would make him mad. Crazed and insane.

  “What will it take to make you open your eyes, Gabby?” he asked, desperate for some sign of affection. He stared into lust-filled eyes, and while he loved seeing that look on her face, he wanted to see clear reason right now. The Gabby he could always count on for sound advice and a level head. The one who always gave him the complete, unvarnished, ugly truth.

  “To what, Ethan? What do you want me to see?”

  “How I feel about you. How I’ve always felt. What you deny.” She focused on his face just a moment before her eyes once again glazed with desire. He looked over to see Harris leaning on her other side, his fingers pushing in and out of her cunt in a slow, rhythmic pace.

  “I’m trying to have a conversation here,” he snapped.

  Harris grinned. Shrugged. “Go for it.”

  Right. Because she was so receptive now with Harris playing with her body. Flushed and sweaty, eyes closed, head tossing back and forth on the pillow while she moaned. Gods, that was hot. He stretched out next to her and skimmed his hand over her torso. When he brushed by her nipples, she froze, and he went back for a second go-round. Again and again.

  When she was panting and begging, he stopped so he could lean down and claim her lips.

  But he whispered in her ear first. “I’ve loved you for years, Gabby. Don’t you love me just a little?”

  And he poured everything he felt into the kiss. Years of watching her, admiring her, wanting her. Loving her. He’d run a gauntlet of emotions with this woman. Love, fear, anger, jealousy, amusement, possessiveness, and protectiveness. The amazing thing was, as he deepened the kiss, as his tongue swept into her mouth, he felt that emotion reciprocated. His heart kicked hard in his chest. She did feel something. She returned all those complicated, messy feelings, even if she hated it and hated to admit it. He broke away and stared into her eyes, deep whiskey-colored pools of frustration.