by Tara Rose
She shifted back to her human form before she lost her nerve. She’d come this far. She could handle whatever happened in the future. She had to. The other choice was to give up, and Nadine wasn’t about to do that. She would not lose hope.
The men shifted back as well, and then wordlessly she went to them and kissed them each. Soon, they were a tangle of limbs, and Nadine was transported to the special place only these two could take her when they kissed her, touched her, and made love to her.
She was so in love with each of them that at times she thought she’d said the words. But it was only in her dreams that she dared to voice them out loud. It would be the worst kind of cruelty to tell them. They’d never lied to her about a future with them and they’d never led her on. She respected them both too much to throw that kind of a curveball at them. Her time with them would end soon. She knew that. But she wouldn’t regret one second of it. And she’d take the secret of loving them with all her heart and soul to her grave.
“Be right back.” Austin headed for the back stairs. “There’s something I want to try and we need stuff for it.”
“What’s he going to get?”
Galatyn didn’t answer her. Instead he pushed her into a supine position on the sofa and spread her legs. He licked her pussy lips, the insides of her thighs, and her clit in slow, torturous circles until Nadine bucked her hips into his face and grasped fistfuls of his thick hair. She was out of her mind with need. She would never grow tired of these two. Never.
By the time Austin returned, she was in the middle of an intense orgasm and could barely breathe. He teased her nipples with the head of his dick until Galatyn finished fucking her with his mouth and fingers, and when she looked up into Austin’s eyes he was grinning. The look on his face forced a moan from her. Had she committed some transgression of which she’d been unaware?
“Are you game for something new?”
That voice…how did he do it? She’d just had one of the most intense orgasms of her life and yet with a few words, he’d managed to arouse her. She was wet again, just that quickly. “Yes, Sir. Anything.”
Galatyn chuckled. “Be careful with those words. You already know how sadistic we can be.”
She smiled and stretched. She knew how sadistic they could be, and she loved it. Austin sheathed his dick in a condom and then handed one to Galatyn. “Lie on top of me.” She moved aside to allow him room to lie on his back, and then she crawled on top of him. “Wrap that wet pussy around my cock, you beautiful jaguar.”
“Oh…” Nadine felt like she was melting when they spoke to her with words like that. She could easily listen to them for the rest of her life. She lifted her hips and sheathed his cock with her pussy, and as he started to fuck her, Galatyn put on his condom and picked up the bottle of lube that Austin had placed on the coffee table.
“Lie prone against me,” said Austin. “And don’t be afraid. You can always safeword out of this.”
“Yes, Sir,” she whispered. She knew what they were going to do, and she could barely contain her excitement. She’d wanted this from the first time they’d made love to her. Galatyn stroked her hair and back as Austin fucked her, and then he gave each ass cheek a half-hearted smack. He filled her asshole with lube, and then he moved onto the sofa behind her and spread her ass cheeks with one hand, while holding onto her left hip with the other.
Austin held still for a moment while Galatyn slid his dick into her ass, one centimeter at a time. It didn’t hurt at all. It was over-the-top amazing, and Nadine had never felt anything like it. The fullness wasn’t uncomfortable. Rather, it gave her with a sense of peace that even floating away during the impact play hadn’t done. She let go and just surrendered to it.
“That feels so fucking good,” whispered Galatyn. “Oh stars…this is fucking incredible.”’
“I agree.” Austin’s voice gave the impression he was barely hanging on. He began to fuck her again as Galatyn did the same. Nadine couldn’t even process the sensations. She whimpered and moaned, but soon her cries became louder as wave after wave of a crazy orgasm rocked her body.
She could barely hang onto Austin’s chest because her palms were damp from sweat. It stung her eyes and dripped in between her breasts. And still they both fucked her. When they stopped and changed places, after Galatyn first put on a fresh condom, Austin reached underneath and teased her nipples with his thumbs and forefingers while Galatyn fucked her pussy.
“We have to do this every single time,” said Galatyn.
“Best sex position ever,” said Austin, giving her nipples another couple of twists. Each touch against them sent electric shocks to her already throbbing clit. Nadine shook her head back and forth and muttered words that no one would understand. She couldn’t think. She could only feel, and she hoped this would never, ever end.
They changed places one more time, with Austin putting on a fresh condom first, and she didn’t think she could take any more, but she wasn’t about to stop them. Everything was sore, but it was also exquisite, and she brushed tears from her eyes as they continued.
When they each finally came, their cries filled the room along with her own until all three were finally silent. The only sound in the room was heavy breathing. Each of the men spent long, tender moments holding her and caressing her. They wrapped blankets around themselves, and she heard them both snoring softly just before she drifted off to sleep.
* * * *
A knock on the door woke Nadine up. She glanced around, fear gripping her heart like icy tendrils as she realized the pounding on the door hadn’t been a dream. Austin and Galatyn glanced at each other, and then they both looked at her with sadness in their eyes.
Nadine swallowed hard and blinked back tears. It was her grandfather at the door. She knew it. She moved away from them and wrapped herself in one of the blankets, then ran up the back stairs and to her room. She tried not to cry as she cleaned up in a hurry and put on clothes, but it was impossible to hold back the tears.
She heard the men answer the door, and then she heard them across the hall in their rooms, probably throwing on clothes as well. By the time she’d dried and washed her face, and composed her emotions to the best of her ability, voices floated up the stairs. She descended them, trying not to listen, remembering an early morning only ten days prior when she’d found out they were going back to the field and would leave her one day.
Ten days. It wasn’t nearly enough time. And yet, it seemed like she’d been with them ten years. But she wanted more. She wanted the rest of her life with them. At the bottom of the stairs, she sucked in huge gulps of air to hold back the tears which threatened again. When she walked into the dining room, her grandfather and Drake Jargonian were there, as well as two of the jaguars who worked for her grandfather.
They had maps and diagrams spread out on the table, and Galatyn and Austin were so engrossed in them that she wasn’t sure they knew she’d come into the room. Nadine leaned against one wall and tried to keep breathing as she listened to names and places she had either never heard before, or only had a vague idea of who or where they were. It hardly mattered. They were leaving, and her time here with them in this house was over.
She’d return to working in The Lair, watching Kirsten play slut and listening to her wild stories about what she did and with whom. Her uncle would continue to pretend he heard none of it, and she’d continue to pick up shifts when his daughter didn’t feel like coming into work.
And she’d try to forget the look in Austin’s eyes when he made love to her, and the way Galatyn smelled when he held her in his arms all night. She’d try to forget the sound of their voices, commanding, humorous, and filled with admiration for her. She’d try to forget what it felt like to be held by them after they played, when they’d stroke her hair and tell her over and over how proud they were of her. And she’d try to pretend that she hadn’t fallen head-over-heels in love with both of them.
But she knew none of that would happen. She knew th
at in reality, she’d spend the rest of her life wishing they were at her side once again.
She had to ask. Listening to them talk battle strategies was killing her. She couldn’t do it one more second without knowing the inevitable. “When are you leaving?”
The men all turned to look at her, and it was then clear that none of them had realized she was there. To her grandfather’s credit, the look in his eyes was full of sympathy. At least he’d stopped judging her for her choices and now understood the pain she must be in. She was grateful for that.
“At first light,” said Austin. She was also grateful for Austin’s honesty right now, and for the look of profound sadness in his eyes.
Galatyn crossed the room and led her into the hallway. The conversation in the room continued, but in hushed tones this time. What did it matter if she heard their plans? Nadine couldn’t even cry.
Everything was numb as she half-listened to a complicated strategy that involved a level of coordination only her grandfather and his jaguars could pull off. They had it timed down to the minute, and had taken into account the different time zones, the weather, and the fact that they might only have limited cell or Internet service in some places. They were using walkie-talkies as back-ups, as well as short-wave radios. They’d thought of everything, and Nadine wasn’t surprised by any of that. She’d been listening to her grandfather talk battle strategy all her life.
She gazed into Galatyn’s eyes, wishing at that moment that she had even a fraction of Kirsten’s boldness. If she had, she’d tell him that she loved him. But it wouldn’t be fair to say that to either of them. Neither one had ever given her a smidgen of hope that they loved her. At least they hadn’t filled her head with false promises. She had that certainty to hang on to. They’d proven to be the gentlemen she’d first believed them to be.
He pulled her close and held her, but his body might as well have been made of wood. She felt nothing. How could she do this? How could she say goodbye to them after everything they’d done together? “Nadine…if there was any other way…”
“Don’t. Don’t say it. I totally understand. You have to do this. It’s the right thing. It’s the honorable thing. You couldn't hold your head up or look anyone in your village in the eyes ever again if you didn’t do this.”
He placed a finger under her chin and tilted her face up toward his. She swore she saw love in his eyes, along with admiration, but surely that was only wishful thinking. If he’d felt that way he would have said something. Both of them would have. They’d asked for this time together and nothing more, and that’s what she’d given them. There had been no promises or assumptions made. And now their time was up. It was over.
“You are the bravest woman I have ever met.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
He gazed at her with so much intensity that she thought he was going to say something else, but then the moment passed and he kissed her gently on the forehead. That did it. The tears came. Nadine didn’t want to keep him from his mission, so she walked up the stairs without glancing back.
Chapter Fifteen
Austin was back in a familiar place. His home looked the same as when he’d left it just over three weeks earlier. Sallie, a teen leopard who was the oldest daughter of his police chief, Dawson, had looked after the house. She’d also looked after Galatyn’s, two streets over. They’d paid her well for this task, in advance, and she hadn’t let them down. Everything was in its place. She’d even picked up his mail in Phoenix and organized it on his desk in the tiny office where he worked when he wasn’t at the office downtown.
He walked through the modest home, touching everything, wondering why none of it felt right. Instead, he pictured the cozy home next to Drake and Emme’s house that he and Galatyn had shared with Nadine for the past ten days. He’d never been unhappy in this house, but right now he was. Right now, he wanted to breathe in Nadine’s scent and listen to her hum softly as she did her chores or read a book.
How the hell was he going to do this? He’d never get her face or the feel of her arms around him out of his mind. Never. She was imprinted there, just as Katarina had been. No. That wasn’t right, either. Katarina had never crawled under his skin and into his soul the way Nadine had done. He’d loved Katarina, and he had enjoyed her, but Nadine touched a deep part of him that he’d never given away to anyone else.
He didn’t know how or when she’d done it. He only knew she had, and there was no way to reverse it, or wish it away, or pretend it wasn’t real. He was so in love with her. He had no idea when that had happened, either, but it had. It was as true as the fact that he was now back in Arizona, about to return to field work for the first time in over five years.
Austin sat at his kitchen table and let the memories of Katarina’s death wash over him. He had to. He’d never tried to bury them, and he wasn’t about to start now. They still hurt, but they’d lost their incapacitating sting some time ago. He would always treasure the time he’d had with her. Nadine understood that. She’d told him that it was important to remember those we loved who had passed. She would never insist that he forget Katarina.
But Nadine wasn’t here. She was in Utah. Austin refused to chide himself for letting this happen. He didn't regret one second of his time with her and he never would. He loved her. No woman would take her place. It wasn’t possible. He never thought he’d find someone who would captivate him the way that Katarina had, but he’d been wrong. Nadine had done that and more. She’d crawled into his soul and set up camp, all without making it obvious that she had any idea the effect she had on him. How could he not love a woman like that?
“I am so fucked,” he whispered. When the spice jars in his rack didn’t answer him, he drew circles on the table with one finger. Tomorrow morning, he and Galatyn would join other leopards in the hills northwest of this village, and when it was all said and done, assuming no one got killed, they’d have over two dozen League members in custody for Gary’s jaguars to take care of. Within the next three days, similar raids would take place around the country, from Alabama to Oregon.
Austin shook his head as he traced ever-widening circles on the table top. Gary’s organizational skills were legendary. Only he could have pulled this off from a crudely-drawn map that, up until a week ago, he hadn’t even known for certain was accurate. Austin wondered what Gary would do with his time once this was over and the power of the League was finally broken. For the first time since anyone in the shape-shifting community had encountered them, centuries ago, the possibility of their existence ending was within reach.
It almost didn’t seem possible that they could accomplish this, and yet Austin believed with his whole heart and soul that they would. But then what? This village would still need its police force, so he and Galatyn would still have jobs, but Austin had no clue what they’d do in between the half dozen or so actual crimes that happened every month.
He rested his hand in his chin and sighed. Could he do that? Gary wouldn’t need behind-the-scenes help any longer unless new rumors of League members, or a new threat, started popping up. What the hell was he supposed to do with his time here? Direct foot traffic? Make sure no one shoplifted?
He no longer belonged here. He shouldn’t be here now. He should be in Utah, with Nadine.
* * * *
Galatyn went into the village square and bought groceries. He knew everyone, and they asked how he and Austin were and whether they were joining the coming fight. He talked to them, and he told them of Gary’s plans, which were no secret by now in the village, so it’s not like he said anything he shouldn’t have.
But as he started toward home with enough food to last several weeks, if anyone had asked him who he’d spoken to and exactly what he’d said to them, he wouldn’t have been able to recall either one. The only person on his mind was Nadine.
He couldn’t get her pretty, heart-shaped face out of his head. Her big green eyes floated in and out of his thoughts. Everything in this village where he’d
lived his entire life reminded him of her. How was that possible? He’d only known her for two weeks, and he’d lived here his entire life. This was home, and everything was familiar and yet, today, it all seemed out of place as though while he’d been away someone had moved everything slightly to the left or right, and he didn’t know which way to move it back.
He stopped in front of a boarded-up building that used to be Sammy’s Bar. Sammy had been killed by suspected League members six months ago and no one had the heart to re-open his place. Not yet. Someone would, eventually, since the village had no other bar. Galatyn stared at it, but he wasn’t seeing the brick and stucco building with the ornate, curved windows. Instead he saw a cedar and brick building with faded forest green trim, and a sign with rusted chains that hung over the front door at slightly crooked angles.
From the moment the idea had been presented, Galatyn hadn’t been able to get buying The Lair from Joaquin out of his mind. It’s not that he hated being a cop. But his family business had been so much a part of his life that he felt as though it was in his blood. It was part of his DNA. He could do so much with The Lair, and make it something very special. And he’d keep Joaquin on in some capacity if he still wanted a job. Hell, he’d even keep Kristen around, as long as she worked regular hours and stopped having quickies in the store room during her shifts.
But not Nadine. Nadine wouldn’t work anymore. Nadine would be his sub and his mate. His and Austin’s. She didn’t belong in a dirty kitchen washing glasses, or waiting tables while her life slipped away. Sure, it was honest work, but she was no more suited to it than her cousin was. He wanted to pamper her, and give her every luxury she’d ever been denied.
Galatyn shook his head as he tried to imagine Nadine in that life. Even if he could offer it to her, she wouldn’t take it. And that was part of her charm. Not once had he or Austin ever heard her complain about the way her life had turned out. She simply accepted it, and had tried to make the best of it. He’d met plenty of women who liked him for his money or his job, but not Nadine. She’d seen him and Austin both for the men they were inside, not for the image they presented to the outside world.
