Jaryn cried out. He fell back against the shower wall, his hands splaying flat against the cool tile. He was burning up from the inside out. Jaryn started to panic until the burning sensation lessoned suddenly and turned to one even more frightening…arousal.
He panted. Jaryn felt like a hundred tongues licked at his body, a million fingertips caressing his skin. There wasn’t a part of his body left untouched. It was unlike anything Jaryn ever felt. He didn’t know whether to be afraid of the sensations flowing through his body or give into them.
Then, just as suddenly as they started, they stopped. Jaryn’s eyes shot open. He stared at the blue tiled wall across from him. His heart thudded in his chest. He tried to figure out what in the hell had just happened, but he was at a complete loss.
Except for the fact that he’d been very much alone, the sensations that flooded his body were much like the ones from when he’d been in bed with Daniel and Brom. Jaryn just couldn’t figure out how that was possible.
His mind was overwhelmed by a whirl of tumultuous thoughts. He washed himself up and then rinsed off. Jaryn turned off the shower and climbed out, reaching for some towels. He wrapped one around his waist and used the other to dry his hair and the rest of his body.
Jaryn leaned his hands against the bathroom countertop and looked at himself in the mirror. He didn’t think he was a bad-looking man. His brown hair had some highlights, all of it curling slightly around his square jaw.
While he didn’t have hair on his chest, there was enough muscle definition to make him pleasing to look at. At least, he thought so. Maybe that was his problem. His hair was brown, not light brown or dark brown, just brown. He wasn’t too tall or too short. He wasn’t too fat or too skinny. He was in the middle. He was average.
His golden copper eyes were his selling point, even Jaryn knew that. They changed hue depending on his mood. Sometimes they were golden, sometime copper, and sometimes they were actually brown as if the sparkle had drained out of them. But that usually only happened when he felt sad, like now.
Jaryn took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. He needed to go back into the other room and face Daniel and Brom. He knew they waited for him. He could feel it. As much as he didn’t want to face them, he knew it would happen at some point. He might as well get it over with, and then he could leave.
Jaryn opened the bathroom door and stepped out, coming to a screeching halt when he saw Daniel and Brom sitting on the end of the now made bed staring at him. Both men were dressed as if they had never been naked. And both had their arms crossed over their chest, glaring at Jaryn.
“What?” Jaryn asked.
“Did you really think you were going to get away that easily?” Brom asked.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Jaryn hedged, flushing when he realized that it was the lamest thing he could have ever said.
“Did you enjoy yourself in the shower, Jaryn?” Daniel asked as he stood to his feet and walked towards Jaryn. He leaned down close to Jaryn’s ear and whispered. “Or did things get a little hot for you?”
Jaryn’s eyes bugged as he leaned back to stare at the man. He knew about that? Jaryn cast a glance at Brom. He had the same knowing look on his face. It made Jaryn feel very nervous and suddenly very afraid that they could read his mind. He started to step away.
“No, Jaryn, we can’t read your mind,” Brom said.
Jaryn took another step back. “If you can’t read my mind how did you know what I was thinking?” Jaryn countered.
Brom waved a hand towards him. “It’s written all over your face, Jaryn.”
“Besides,” Daniel added, grinning, “we are mates. We can feel your emotions.”
“We were able to read the emotions you felt before you went into the bathroom,” Brom said. “And the emotions you felt while in there.”
“All of them, Jaryn,” Daniel added and then chuckled. “We also sent you a few, as I’m sure you noticed.”
Jaryn reached out his hand, searching for the nearest flat surface that would hold his weight. His knees were going to buckle any moment. Jaryn knew very little about being a tri-omega, even if he knew he was born one. It just wasn’t something widely discussed in his pack.
He knew when he mated he was supposed to have some sort of bond with his mate. He didn’t understand how that worked between a tri-omega and his mates, but he was beginning to suspect a few things.
“I don’t understand,” Jaryn said because he wasn’t sure if he did, no matter what he suspected. He wanted it explained in simple, plain language so there could be no mistakes. He sank down into a chair and stared up at Daniel and Brom.
“We’re your mates, Jaryn,” Daniel said.
“Yeah,” Jaryn said, rubbing the mating marks on his neck, “I kind of got that.”
Brom stepped over to him and dropped down onto his knees. He grabbed Jaryn’s hands in his. “I told you that we would all be together one day, remember?”
Jaryn nodded.
“Well, now we are, just like I promised.” Brom squeezed Jaryn’s hands. “And it’s even better than I thought it would be. I never have to be separated from Daniel again.” He shook Jaryn’s hands a little. “And I never have to be separated from you. I don’t have to hide how I feel about you anymore either.”
“Ho—how do you feel?” Jaryn whispered.
Brom smiled. “You tell me. The mating bond goes both ways, you know. You tell me how I feel, how Daniel feels. I guarantee you’ll be surprised.”
“Go on, Jaryn,” Daniel said. “Close your eyes and follow the link back to us.”
Jaryn stared hesitantly at both Daniel and Brom for a moment before closing his eyes. He searched around in his head for the thread that would lead him back to each of them. At first, everything seemed dark, almost frightening, and then Jaryn saw two lights that started to shine brighter the closer he got to them.
Jaryn imagined he walked through a great grey fog towards the light. As he did, he noticed that they weren’t really bright shining lights but rather strings like the links that Daniel mentioned.
Jaryn reached for one, noticing that it was attached to two smaller strings that seemed to be filled with light and giggles. The moment his hand wrapped around the larger light, Brom swelled into him.
It felt so overwhelming that Jaryn’s eyes popped open, and he pulled his hand free from Brom to clutch at his chest. He stared at the man, stunned beyond belief at the love and longing coming at him, surrounding him.
“Brom,” he murmured.
Brom nodded.
Jaryn turned to Daniel. He watched the man’s green eyes sparkle as he reached for the link attached to him. There wasn’t as much love coming from him, but Jaryn didn’t expect it. They barely knew each other.
The emotions that did come from Daniel still overwhelmed Jaryn. The beginnings of love shined through. There was also a wonder and curiosity, and a kind of astonished possessiveness of who Jaryn was and what that meant to Daniel.
Jaryn reached for Daniel’s hand. The moment their skin touched, Jaryn sent back to both of his mates all that he felt for them, his own love and wonder that these two wonderful men could care about him. Small gasps filled the room, making Jaryn smile.
“Guess there’s more to this mating thing than any of us thought,” he said.
Brom’s eyes were wide, the deep blue in them seeming almost to glow. He nodded. “Yeah, I think that’s a fair estimation.”
Jaryn closed his eyes again. He pictured the grey fog and the shining threads in his head. He grabbed the end of each link and tied them all together, wrapping them around his body. He never wanted them to be separated.
He opened his eyes when he heard Daniel and Brom gasp. They both looked dazed, astonished looks on their faces. Their mouths hung open, their eyes wide.
“What?” Jaryn asked.
“You—I can feel you,” Daniel whispered. “I can feel Brom. I knew the mating bond would be strong, but I never felt anything like this. It f
eels like we’re entwined together.”
“We are,” Jaryn said. He shrugged. “I tied the threads together, and then wrapped them around me so we’ll always be connected.”
“You can do that?” Daniel asked, clearly astonished.
“Apparently,” Brom said.
“It was easy. I could see the threads. They glowed. I just grabbed them and tied them together like you would with a rope, and then I wrapped them around my waist.” He glanced over at Brom. “Do you know you have two smaller threads on you?”
Brom’s eyebrows drew together. “Two smaller threads?”
“I had a picture in my mind of walking through a thick grey fog, looking for threads like ropes that led back to each of you. They were lit up, shining. On your thread there were too smaller threads.”
“Cailan and Iain,” Daniel added. “I didn’t see things quite like Jaryn did, but I felt them.”
“How do you know it was them?” Brom asked, looking intrigued.
“They giggled.”
Chapter 11
Brom grinned as he watched Daniel try to juggle both Cailan and Iain in his arms at the same time. Iain had taken great interest in Daniel’s ears, pulling on them. Cailan was doing everything in his power to get Iain’s attention away from Daniel while not losing his hold on Daniel.
Poor Daniel looked totally out of his element. He also looked adorable. The image of Daniel holding his children was one Brom had seen many times in his mind. He just never thought he’d actually be able to see it in real life.
He glanced down when he felt a hand wrap around his arm. “Hey,” he said softly to Jaryn. “How are you doing with all of this?” He gestured to Daniel and the cubs.
Jaryn’s face seemed to waver between a grimace and a grin. “I don’t know. I think it’s all a little surreal to me at this point.”
“How so?”
“You always said we’d be together with Daniel some day,” Jaryn replied. “I guess I just never thought it would happen. Between the cubs and your position as beta, I didn’t really think you’d leave the pack.”
“I hated being there, Jaryn,” Brom said. “I never really wanted to be the pack beta. As the alpha’s son, it was just expected of me.”
Jaryn stared up at Brom, astonished. “You didn’t want to be beta? Why had you never said anything?”
“There didn’t seem to be any point. It was what it was.”
“If you didn’t want to be beta, what did you want to do?”
Brom shrugged, feeling his shoulders move under the fabric of his white cotton shirt. “I don’t know exactly. Mostly I just wanted to live a quiet life with you and Daniel, raising the cubs. That seems like heaven to me.”
Jaryn smiled and leaned his head down against Brom’s arm. “Yeah, that sounds pretty good to me, too. Maybe we can go home with Daniel and live with him.”
Brom patted Jaryn’s hand. “Where ever we go, we’ll be together, you, Daniel, me, and the cubs. You just remember that.”
“I’ll admit I felt a little worried that you wouldn’t want me once you found Daniel again. You two have such a long history together and—”
“And nothing,” Brom said. Brom wrapped his arms around Jaryn and pulled the smaller man up against his body. “I have a long history with you, too, Jaryn. Don’t forget that.”
“Yeah, but—”
“But nothing, Jaryn. I claimed you the same day I claimed Daniel. Just because I wasn’t intimate with you over the last five years doesn’t make our relationship any less than mine and Daniel’s.”
“Are you sure?” Jaryn whispered.
Brom smiled. He cupped the side of Jaryn’s face and leaned down to gently kiss him, his lips moving across Jaryn’s briefly. “I’m sure, baby.” Brom nodded over to where Daniel sat playing with the cubs. “So is he. Daniel understands that gifts we’ve been given. Once you really get to know him, you’ll see that I’m right.”
Jaryn nodded, but Brom wasn’t sure he understood what Brom wanted to get through to him. He kissed the top of Jaryn’s head. With a smile, he walked past the man to sit on the floor next to Daniel. Cailan instantly pushed away from Daniel and toddled into his arms.
Brom kissed him and then sat the boy down on the floor and reached for Iain. A moment later, Daniel stood up and walked towards Jaryn. Brom smiled, happiness filling him as Daniel took Jaryn into his arms and began talking to him.
Brom had no doubt that given a chance, Daniel would come to love Jaryn as much as he did. There was just something about Jaryn that made those around him love him. It was one of the first things Brom noticed about the man.
Jaryn was a keeper, and Brom had every intention of keeping him. He felt pretty sure that Daniel would be doing the same if the grip he had around Jaryn’s waist was anything to go by. Daniel had obviously fallen for the lure of Jaryn as much as Brom had.
Brom glanced over at Jaryn in concern when he inhaled suddenly. “Jaryn?”
“I think your father and Marla just arrived,” Jaryn whispered. His face paled as a horrified look came over him. “And they’re very angry.”
“How do you know?” Brom asked as he grabbed Cailan and Iain in his arms and stood to his feet.
“I can feel them,” Jaryn said. “Can’t you? Those threads, the ones that belong to Cailan and Iain? There’s a tinge of grey on them now. And there’s another link to you, Brom. It’s very grey, and it hurts. It burns. It has to be your father.”
“Fuck!” Brom exclaimed. “This isn’t good.”
Jaryn gasped. He reached over to cover Cailan’s ears. The child giggled and struggled to get away. “No swearing, Brom.”
Brom felt his face flush especially when he glanced at Daniel and saw the smirk on his face. He’d given Daniel just the same admonishment about cursing in front of the cubs. He’d forgotten.
“Okay, what are we going to do about my father?” Brom asked.
“I don’t think we should tip our hand and let him know we’re here,” Daniel said. “Or that we have the cubs. I mean he obviously knows you’re here, or he wouldn’t be coming. But he doesn’t know I’m here at the alpha compound.”
“As far as the pack members in the lobby know, and I’m sure have told your father, you helped me get the cubs to a cocktail party at Marla’s request,” Jaryn said. “What’s to say you didn’t drop us off and go about your business? How do you know what I did with the cubs after that?”
“Jaryn,” Brom said as he shook his head, “I can’t leave you alone in this.”
“He won’t be alone,” Daniel said as he placed his arm around Jaryn’s shoulders. “I’ll be with him.”
“I don’t know,” Brom said. He didn’t like the idea of leaving Daniel and Jaryn on their own. He’d spent too many years watching his father get anything he wanted, in any manner he needed to.
“Brom, stop thinking about it so hard,” Jaryn said. “Just go downstairs, and find out what your father knows. You know that sooner or later you’re going to have to face him and tell him, and Marla, that we’ve mated. If we know what he knows, the better chance we’ll have of fighting him.”
“If it comes down to it,” Daniel added, “I’ll take Jaryn and the cubs back to the ranch. Jake and Lucas will make sure we stay safe. Besides, we have a lot of friends on our side. There’s no way your father will get to Jaryn or the cubs.”
Brom had kept Jaryn safe for years. He was used to it. Giving that over to someone else, even Daniel, was hard. Still, Daniel had a right to protect Jaryn as much as Brom did. They were all mates.
“Okay, look,” Brom began, “You all stay up here. I’ll ask someone to come sit with you and help while I—”
“Send Cary.” Jaryn laughed. “He can shift into a seven and a half foot werewolf. He could stop a truck.”
Brom chuckled. “All right, I’ll do that. In the meantime, you two stay safe and hidden until I figure out how much my father knows. I’d be very upset if anything happened to either of you. I just claimed you
both. I don’t plan on giving you up.”
Brom kissed each of his children on the head and then handed them over to Jaryn and Daniel. He kissed his two men and walked to the door. He glanced over his shoulder to look at his family one last time. At least, he hoped it wasn’t his last.
“I love you,” he said. “Lock the door after I leave and stay safe.”
Before he could give in to his desire to stay and protect his mates, Brom turned and walked out, shutting the door quietly behind him. He waited until he heard the door lock and then walked away.
Brom could feel his chest start to tighten as he descended the stairs. His apprehension about seeing his father was shooting through the roof. It wasn’t going to be a cordial meeting. It could even turn out to be life threatening.
As for Marla, if he knew anything about her he knew she’d be doing everything to make herself the center of attention. Marla didn’t like the attention in any room being anywhere except on her. Brom had seen it a zillion times since they married. If the room wasn’t centered on her, she’d do something to make it.
Brom could hear yelling coming from the formal living room before he even reached it. He veered off and headed for the kitchen before anyone saw him. He needed to arrange for Cary and his mates to go upstairs and guard Daniel, Jaryn, and the cubs, and he needed to do it without anyone seeing him.
“Mary,” Brom said as he walked into the kitchen, “could you do me a favor and ask Cary and his mates to come to the kitchen? I need them here without anyone knowing that I need them here, if you get my drift.”
Mary nodded and reached for the phone. “I met your father when he came in,” she said as she began to dial the phone. “I understand completely.”
Brom tapped his fingers nervously against the countertop while he waited for Mary to make her phone call. Once he knew Cary and his mates were on their way, he drew in a deep breath of relief. He felt better just knowing that they were coming, and he hadn’t even asked them to help protect his mates or cubs yet.
Brom wondered what that said about people he barely knew. He’d met Saul and Ryce earlier, but he’d yet to meet Cary. He barely knew of them or the others that seemed to have congregated at the alpha compound.
Unspoken Desires Page 12
