Raine nodded, then slowly stepped back. Her gaze flicked to her brother and at his knowing smile, another blush spread across her cheeks. Raine fled as though the hounds of hell were nipping at her heals.
Knowing that a kiss—albeit a seriously hot one—could make her flee had Jakob wondering at just how much experience his mate had with other men. Even the thought that she may have taken others to her bed has his lion roaring with rage. Knowing this was as good as a chance as any to get to know his mate’s family, he held out his hand in greeting. “My name’s Jakob Murphy. I’m the oldest of your sister’s mates. Ryker and Drayven Murphy are detectives with your sheriff’s department.” When he gripped his hand, then pulled him into a backslapping hug before sitting back down and reaching for the oxygen mask, Jakob knew that he’d received her family’s blessing. At least Taylor’s, anyway. He waited while his new brother went through another bout of hacking coughs, knowing in his gut that Taylor had something important to say.
A couple of minutes passed before Taylor appeared to catch his breath. While he waited, Jakob kept his gaze glued on his mate.
“My brothers and I did our best to take care of Raine after our mother and then our father passed. I’m afraid we might have been overzealous at times.”
“What are you trying to say, Taylor?”
Taylor’ dropped his head, his gaze fixated on the ambulance floor before he looked up, meeting Jakob’s stare, man to man. “She didn’t date. Ever. I think there is only one man in her past, someone she met in college, but she swore they’d never made love before he called it quits and moved onto the next girl, one who’d put out.”
Jakob fisted his hands at his side, forced himself to stand right where he was and not chase after his mate. “You mean she’s a virgin? Still?”
Taylor shrugged. “Possibly. I know I haven’t seen her tooling around town with anyone since she returned from college and that was several years ago.” Taylor winced then ran a hand through his mussed, short-cropped hair. “We made it a practice before she went away to discourage suitors. I’m afraid people have long memories and eligible men tended to leave a wide berth around her, even after she returned from college.”
With a satisfied smile, Jakob turned away from Taylor and settled his gaze on Raine who’d started to snap pictures of the crowd still watching the blaze. He wanted to rub his hands together in glee. He and his brothers would be her first, her only. He couldn’t wait to get her home, to the house he and his brothers had built for her and consummate their mating. Soon. Very, very soon.
Chapter
As Raine struggled with accepting her decision to go home with Jakob, Ryker and Drayven, she lifted the camera to her eyes and focused the camera lens on the faces of all the Serenity citizens watching the fire, zooming in to make sure she’d be able to identify everyone when the time came. Once she made sure she got shots of everyone watching, she turned toward the burning building, taking pictures of the blaze from every angle. Tomorrow, once the fire burned down and the store cooled, she’d go inside the remains of the building and take photos of the inside. But for now, while her crew fought the fire, she continued to take pictures, using up roll after roll. She’d find the person responsible for burning her brother’s place down, the person, be it human, shifter, vamp, fae or something else, even demon if Leonard pulled it off himself rather than having his minions do it.
Even thinking about the Demon Lord obsessed with her made her stomach churn with dread. Bile tried to force its way up her throat, but she swallowed past it. The fire had burned down to smoldering embers and her original crew were replaced with fresh Serenity firefighters. She could go now—with her new mates.
Just thinking about the hours ahead made her palms sweat. Behind her, she sensed the three Murphy brothers making their way toward her. It was time. She knew that. She may not have planned to meet her mates yet, to start her family now, but fate had other ideas. She could either embrace it or turn away and wait until it was a better time. She snorted. No way in hell could she wait. It might not be the best time, but she had three prime Leos anyone would be proud to call their own. Straightening her spine, she lowered her camera and turned to face her mates. Three strong, primal males. Each strong, dominant, but apparently strong enough in their own confidence in their ability to protect her, not to keep her sheltered in a bubble, forcing her to hide while they sought out the danger and took care of it for her. How could she turn her back on men who would let her be who she was, not forcing her to safety when she knew that in their guts they must be frantic to keep her safe? She couldn’t.
After placing her camera into the trunk of her car along with her gear, she turned around, met each of the men’s gaze. She’d known they were standing behind her even as she lifted open the lid of her trunk. No one said a word. And when Jakob held out his hand and pulled her toward his truck, she didn’t argue. “Toss Ryker your keys. He’ll follow in your car, while Drayven drives his SUV. We’ll have you home soon.”
Raine reached into her pocket and pulled out the keys, handing them to Ryker who had his hand out, palm open. Leaning down, Ryker brushed his lips over hers as he reached for the car keys. “I’ll meet you at home,” he whispered, his voice thick, oozing with a husky sensuality that sent goose bumps pebbling across her flesh.
Raine licked her lips, trying to capture and memorize his taste. But before she could, Drayven slid into Ryker’s place, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against his body. She could feel his cock, thick and hard pulsing against her stomach. He, too, leaned down, giving her plenty of time to pull away if that’s what she wished. When his lips met hers, she expected a gentle exploration. What she got was a hard, ravishing kiss that sucked her down, deep down until she didn’t know which end was up. Her breath came in hard, quick pants once Drayven set her aside. Arousal and need slammed into her. Her arousal soaked through her panties, slid down her thighs and she knew that her heat was upon her. Soon, she’d be so desperate to be taken, she’d make love to her mates in the streets in full view of any witnesses. She wouldn’t care about anything but being taken. Her eyes met Jakob’s and knew he could see her desperation and fear. She’d not only never made love before, this was her first heat. Her brothers hadn’t really prepared her for this moment. They’d barely stumbled through the speech about sex and abstinence. “Please. Help me,” she begged, aware that she’d just given him permission to mate with her, him and his brothers.
Without missing a beat, Jakob swept her into his arms and carried her to his SUV, setting her down only long enough to unlock and open her door before picking her up again and placing her safely inside. After buckling her seatbelt, he walked around to the driver’s side, sent her a sizzling smile that had her heartbeat pounding as fast as a jackrabbit hopped up on speed. Sliding his keys into the ignition, he started the car, pulled out into traffic and headed out of town.
As they drove to Jakob’s home, everything outside the window passed in a blur. She felt jittery, her body aching for Jakob and his brothers, something she’d not thought to have to face yet. Although she’d always dreamed of having a family to call her own, a mate and children, learning that she’d have three men, that she’d gone into heat, made her head spin, as though this couldn’t really be happening to her, not to staid, plain-Jane, tomboy Raine Nolan.
The drive to their house seemed to take only seconds, though she knew realistically it must have been minutes. When they pulled into the long driveway, her anxiety amped up a notch, until she felt like she’d jump out of her skin.
Jakob reached for her hand, rubbed her knuckles in soothing strokes with his thumb. “Relax, baby. Nothing will happen that you don’t want. You have my word.”
Even though he was practically a stranger, she knew that she could trust him, could trust that they wouldn’t push her into doing anything she didn’t want. Nodding, Raine allowed some of the tension to fade away, suddenly anxious to see just where she’d be living once she mated
the three brothers. When the Mediterranean villa came into view, she gasped in astonishment. She’d never seen anything so gorgeous, especially up here in the Adirondacks when two-story brick homes and large Victorians with wrap-around porches were the norm more often than not.
A soft yellow stucco, the home, though large and sprawling and dominating the land around it, soothed something inside her. She knew she’d be happy here, that she could raise her family in comfort here. She didn’t know how she knew that after just looking at the outside of her new home, she just did. Undoing her seatbelt, Raine scrambled out of the SUV and walked around to the front of the vehicle, her gaze locked onto the three-car garage to the right and the pool house to the left of the main building. Nodding toward the pool house, she asked, “Does that mean there’s a pool?”
Jakob shook his head. “No, that was original to the property. We renovated the interior and kept it, though the main house had to be torn down because it was too heavily damaged after a lightning strike started a fire at the rear of the house just over fifteen years ago.”
Her gaze met his, curiosity taking the place of the anxiety she’d felt during the drive from town.
She didn’t think his gaze could burn any hotter, but she could see the hunger in his eyes intensify with her question. “It’s a playroom. An adult playroom.”
That certainly wasn’t the answer she expected. She swallowed past the lump that lodged in her throat. Would they expect her to go in there with them tonight? Her hands shook and anxiety once again roared through her.
Jakob stepped in front of her, took her hands in his just as she heard the other two vehicles pull in behind her. “We’ll not pressure you to enter that room. You’ll tell us when you’re ready for that. Only when you trust us enough for you to submit will we take you in there.”
She sensed more than heard Ryker and Drayven approach and when Ryker’s arm wrapped around her waist as he pulled her back to his front, she didn’t even jump in alarm although being sandwiched between two men was a completely new sensation. As though they knew what was going through her mind, Jakob stepped closer until she really was pressed between the two of them, Jakob against her front, his cock hard and ready pressed against her belly while Ryker’s cock wedged against her back, it, too, thick and filled with blood. Turning her head, she looked into Drayven’s eyes, saw the hunger and need there before letting her gaze drift down his body. His jeans did nothing to hide his erection. She was no expert in men, far from it, but she had no idea how they would ever fit. Even clothed, their cocks looked huge and intimidating.
“Don’t worry,” Drayven said, his eyes twinkling with laughter, “they’ll fit.”
She wasn’t so sure of that, not by a long shot. Raine nibbled on her bottom lip, looked from one brother to another as they all stood outside her new home. Inside, her lioness prowled the edges of her mind, ready to demand they take her, here, now. Turning toward Jakob she cleared her throat, then voiced the question uppermost in her mind. “Now what?”
Chapter
A small smile flitted across Jakob’s lips before he took her hand and placed it in Drayven’s. “Now, while I lock up and secure the house, Drayven and Ryker will escort you to the master bedroom.”
Before she could say anything, Ryker swept her up into his arms and carried her over the threshold as Drayven held the door open. “Welcome home, sweetheart,” he whispered against her ear, sending a puff of warm air sliding against neck. A shiver worked its way down her spine, sending pulses of erotic heat through her body. Craning her neck, she tried to see her new home, but it all passed by too quickly for her to notice many details other than the place was huge. She’d probably get lost in it the first time they left her alone. Before she knew it, Drayven was shouldering open another door, this one obviously to the master bedroom because a huge, cherry, four-poster bed dominated the room.
Ryker set her down on her feet and turned to drag the coverlet to the end of the bed. While he messed with the pillows, Drayven pulled her into his arms, hunger and desire evident in the abruptness of his hold. Melding his lips to hers, he took the kiss deep just as he had in the parking lot back at the ruins of Taylor’s hardware store. She clutched at his shirt, desperate to get closer to him, wanting to touch him skin to skin. Goddess, he felt so damned good pressed against her, even with all the clothes separating them. She wrapped her arms around his neck. Despite the fact she’d never been with anyone and she’d more than likely have all three in her bed at the same time, she relished the moment that his hands slid underneath her shirt, his palms skimming her tummy, her waist, the underside of her breasts. She wanted to rip the clothes off his back so nothing separated them.
In the back of her mind, she knew that Jakob and Ryker were somewhere nearby, but right now, all of her senses were focused on this mate, on Drayven. She moaned low in her throat and it sounded more like a low roar than an enticing purr, but her lioness was hungry, desperate to be mounted now that she’d found her mates, found the father of her children.
After giving her bottom lip an erotic little nip, Drayven eased it with a stroke of his tongue, then sucked it between his teeth. He wasn’t gentle, but right now, she didn’t want gentle. She wanted to be ravished, wanted to be taken, her mates as desperate for her as she was for them.
His hands continued their journey beneath her shirt until his hands cupped her breasts, his thumbs raked over her nipples. She arched closer, wanting more, needing more. As his mouth left hers, she took in gasping pants of desperately needed air. Even as she struggled for breath, she arched closer to him, desperate for more, so much more. His lips burned a trail of fire down her neck, to the spot where neck and shoulder met. Before she could ask for what she needed, Drayven gave it to her, biting down with his teeth until he drew blood, marking her as his mate. Something eased inside her, letting her embrace the desire surging throughout her body.
Her legs trembled, could barely hold her up as she quivered with pent-up need. When she found herself once again pressed between two large bodies, one in front and the other in back, she cried out, desperate for something more. She ached, hurt more than she ever had, the nagging sense of emptiness growing worse the longer she stood between them.
Turning her in their embrace, Ryker’s teeth seared the skin of her neck, opposite where Drayven had already marked her. Without preamble, Ryker bit down, drawing blood as he marked her as his mate. His tongue soothed the ache as he swirled it over his bite mark. Before she could return the favor and mark him as hers, mark either of them, Ryker shoved her shirt upward and over her head. Behind her, Drayven unhooked her bra and slid the straps down her arms. They were making quick work of her clothes, tossing them to the floor in a jumbled heap.
Bending down, Ryker suckled one nipple while Drayven’s fingers pulled and pinched at the other until both were hard nubs, begging for attention.
“Do you want me—want us?” Ryker asked as his lips and tongue continued to tease her nipple, making her burn for more.
Was he serious? She needed so damn much, she didn’t know how to express just how much and if one of them didn’t take her soon, she just might kill them all.
“If you don’t want this, now’s the time to tell us so,” Drayven warned, his voice filled with determination. She could hear his hunger, his arousal, feel it, and it was just as much if not more powerful than her own. As he continued to pinch and pull at her nipple with his right hand, his left gripped her hip while he rocked against her ass, pressing his rock-hard cock against her back.
She shuddered in their hold. “Please. Please don’t leave me like this. I need you. Both of you—all of you. Please,” she begged. She didn’t care if she sounded desperate, if she was making herself vulnerable. She knew they were just as hungry, just as desperate as she was and that made her their equal in this. She had just as much power if not more than they did right now, but she couldn’t think of that. Not now, not when she was so close to finally easing the ache that had been stea
dily building for hours.
Slipping his fingers in the belt loops of her jeans, Ryker slowly pulled her toward him, like he was reeling in a fish. His mouth met hers, and he devoured her as his fingers fumbled with her zipper. Seconds later, Drayven knelt behind her, pulling her jeans down her thighs until they pooled around her ankles. “Step out,” he ordered, his voice thick with passion, a husky sound that sent shivers down her spine.
“You’ve got too many clothes on,” she protested. “Both of you do,” she said, turning her head toward Drayven who still knelt at her feet. Drayven’s green eyes flashed with surprise before a smile spread across his face. It was nice to know that she could surprise them. She didn’t think that happened all too often.
Standing on shaking legs, she looked from Ryker to Drayven as they both wrestled with their own clothes. Ryker gave her a slow, sensual smile, and shrugged out of his suit jacket, tossing it at the foot of the bed where a hope chest sat. While he slowly unbuttoned his shirt, Drayven yanked his t-shirt over his head and tossed it to the floor. Then both were undoing their pants, Drayven ripping at his zipper and impatiently shoving his jeans down his legs, while Ryker slowly unzipped his slacks, his every movement a tease meant to drive her insane.
Her gaze dropped, locked on Ryker’s erection as he slid the zipper of his slacks lower and lower. When his pants dropped to the floor and pooled around his ankles, Raine swallowed. Slowly, he reached into the fly of his boxers and stroked his cock, up down, up down, so she could only imagine what lie beneath the material. He definitely knew how to grab a woman’s attention. Jealousy flared as she thought about all the other women he’d taken to his bed, but she calmed herself knowing that she’d be the last. He’d never take another woman to his bed after today and a sense of satisfaction filled her at the thought.
Ravishing Raine Page 5
