by Tamsin Baker
How dare she! Who did that little bitch think she was to flaunt not one but two men in front of him like that? Rodney slammed his car door in a vain attempt to vent some of his fury. She was his. Only his. She did not belong with those two pretty boys who’d been hanging around her skirts for the past week.
He’d had to put some serious time into getting into Lacey’s knickers. She’d played hard to get and made him work for her, something which she was not demanding of her new guys.
Of course, he’d made the most of it when he finally did get the goods. She’d been so fucking hot, and he wanted her again. It didn’t make sense that when they’d finally got to the good stuff she’d started backing away from him. But those pretty boys had been at her for less than a week and already they had her horizontal.
Slut.
He’d had to leave. He couldn’t stand watching their silhouettes through her curtains a minute longer. The plan had been to approach her tonight. She must have changed her phone number again as she wasn’t answering his texts or his calls anymore. If he could just speak with her, make her see how well they suited each other, it would all work out. He could ease up on the rough stuff between the sheets … for a while at least.
After taking a deep breath, he slid his key home and opened his front door. Before he stepped inside, a car drove past slowly, and he turned to see it was a cop car. What the fuck? That was the third patrol car he’d seen in the last twenty-four hours. He frowned. Had Lacey reported him? Or was it her new toy boys? As the vehicle left his line of sight, he turned back toward his house. He was going to have to really watch himself when he left to go to her place from now on.
His place was dark. He hated coming home to an empty house. Another reason he needed Lacey back. He needed her here, waiting for him with dinner cooking and her soft body ready to ease his needs.
He strode down the hallway without turning on any lights. He had to see her. He flipped the switch as he crossed into their bedroom. He had it all set up for her return, including every photo he had of them together and several of her on her own. Social media was a handy thing when you wanted to get pictures of people without them knowing. Until he had her back in person, these images of her enjoying her life would have to take her place. He flopped down on the bed and looked at the largest image he had of her. It was a photo her trigger happy housemate had taken of her. She was outside with the wind blowing her blonde hair around her happy smiling face. He’d had the photo enlarged as big as he could get the photo place to do it … nearly life-size.
“Why’d you have to invite them over tonight, babe?”
He was on late shifts for the rest of the week. With her working days at the paper, he wouldn’t get a chance to see her again until Friday night. He would have to make sure that he got to speak with her then. He frowned as he stared at her lush mouth. Yes, he would make certain he got some face to face time with his girl Friday night. Still focused on those lips that had felt so fucking good wrapped around his dick, he loosened the fly on his pants. As he slipped his palm around his hard aching cock, he closed his eyes and imagined it was her hand on him. Pleasuring him.
****
Dylan rolled his shoulder as he got out his car and headed toward his house. The restaurant at the zoo had been flat out all day. Add that to how he’d spent the previous night, and he was so fucking tired he could pass out where he stood. Not that he was complaining, of course. Well okay, so maybe he was complaining just a little. As much as he’d loved lying beside Lacey watching her sleep all night, he had the worst case of blue balls he’d ever experienced.
He trudged inside to find Ryan with his head in the fridge, wearing nothing but a towel.
“Grab me a beer, too, would you?”
Ryan turned and handed one off to him. “Here you go. Figured you’d be looking for one.”
“Is that why you’re out here in a towel? To get me a beer?” Dylan didn’t believe it for a second.
“We need to talk, and I wanted to catch you before you had your shower.”
Yeah, because he intended to have a long one in an attempt to ease some of the ache in his cock. His twin knew him well enough to know that, and Dylan didn’t doubt Ryan had just finished a similar kind of shower.
“So talk.”
He took a swig of his beer as he waited.
“Do you think you can refrain from claiming her if we let her touch us? Damn, but I’ve been hard and aching all bloody day. The shower I just took barely helped. And honestly, I don’t think Lacey is going to let us get away with keeping our pants on for long.”
Dylan shrugged. “Well, if she doesn’t like it, she can always agree to mate with us and then she’ll get us both in all our naked horny glory all the time.”
The solution was simple. Although his dick didn’t agree. His dick was totally on board with Ryan’s plan of getting some loving as soon as possible.
His twin rolled his eyes. “Seriously? You can’t wait at all? She’s allowed to take a few days to think about it. She wasn’t raised in shifter culture, so she doesn’t trust the strong connection she feels for us yet.”
Dylan downed the last of his beer, the cold hops barely taking the edge off the raging inferno in his belly. “Let’s just see how things go. If she wants to play with us, Ry, I doubt I’ll be able to say no. But I’m not offering. I’ll be able to hold myself back from biting her, but it won’t be easy and I refuse to volunteer for that kind of hell.”
Ryan smirked, raised an eyebrow, and glanced at Dylan’s groin. “As opposed to the kind of hell you’re currently in?”
“Shut up.”
With that, Dylan spun and left the kitchen. Ryan knew him too damn well to argue with him and win. So he headed straight for his bathroom, stripping as he went. He couldn’t wait to get under the warm spray and let his thoughts wander with memories of Lacey writhing under their touch.
He flipped the tap on and waited for the water to warm, his mind already pondering what he could do to Lacey once he got his hands on her hot body again. With his mind filled with images of her writhing body, he stepped beneath the spray and slid his palm over his water slickened erection, groaning at the friction and the erotic images of Lacey that were flicking through his mind.
Half an hour, and a couple of orgasms, later, he ran a comb through his rapidly drying hair and headed back to the kitchen where he found Ryan dressed and ready to go.
Dylan asked his brother. “So, any ideas on where we’re taking our little mate tonight?”
“Well, if your gourmet tastes can handle it, I wondered about heading down to St. Kilda with her, grabbing some fish and chips and eating it down at the beach.”
Dylan shook his head. “Yeah, that would have been a great idea and all, but Monday is the day all those places are shut. Try again, little brother.”
Ryan snatched up the keys with a growl. “You think of something then.”
“How about we drop into the pub for a counter meal, then head back to our place?”
That way none of them would have to cook or do dishes, and they could get her back to the privacy of their house where they could enjoy their dessert. Their sweet little mate’s body.
****
Wiping his mouth on a napkin before he tossed it on his plate, Ryan turned toward Lacey. She was putting her fork down after taking her final bite.
“I picked the right booth, yeah?”
Lacey giggled and shook her head at him. “I’d wondered if you’d chosen it on purpose.”
Dylan snorted. “Back to where it all began.”
An adorable pink blush spread over Lacey’s cheeks as she squirmed in her seat. “I’m a little ashamed at how I hid here spying on you both over the seat.”
“I thought you were cute. Well, once we worked out where you were sitting I did.”
Dylan nodded at him. “Damn air-conditioning spread your scent all over the place, so we had no fucking idea where you were sitting.”
Lacey’s hands
went up in the air, and her eyes widened. “Wait a second. You knew I was your mate from smelling me?”
Ryan winced, remembering that full humans didn’t have the sense of smell shifters did.
Pushing his empty plate aside, Ryan held Lacey’s gaze as he picked up one of her hands, savoring the feel of her soft skin on his fingers. He brought her hand up and ran the tip of his nose up her inner wrist, then pressed a kiss over her pulse point.
Was it his imagination or was her heart beating a little harder than it had a moment ago?
“Sweetheart, we both knew the moment this delicious scent of yours entered our noses that you were our mate.”
“Well, well. Look who’s crawled out from under their rock once again. Should have guessed you’d deal with the reporter by getting into her knickers. I suppose you’ll both expect me to thank you or some shit for killing that story. Even if it was your skins on the line, not mine.”
A frisson of rage tingled down his spine, and Ryan slowly turned to glare at Luke. Typically, Dylan got in first.
“That’s our mate you’re insulting, you asshole.”
Ryan braced his feet to rise so he could follow up Dylan’s first move.
“Leave it, Dylan. He’s not worth causing trouble over.”
Lacey’s hand was on Dylan’s shoulder holding him in place. If his twin wasn’t going to set the stupid lion straight, Ryan would have to step up. Ryan was known to everyone as the level headed one, the one that calmed everyone down … but that was before he had a mate to protect. Which included her honor.
He was done with being the reasonable one.
A vicious growl rolled through his chest and exploded from his throat. Ryan jumped up and pounced from his seat. He launched forward and plowed straight into a rather shocked looking Luke. The second they hit the floor, Ryan pulled back and landed his fist right in the bastard’s face. He heard the crunch as pain flared up his arm, but he ignored both and bared his teeth.
“No one disrespects what’s ours, especially not a cowardly fucking lion.”
Luke held his palms up, eyes wide and blood pouring from his no doubt broken nose. Yeah, even a lion as stupid as Luke knew you never got between a cheetah and his mate.
“Calm the fuck down, dude. I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t know she was your mate.”
He continued to babble, and Ryan curled his lip in disgust. Bastard wasn’t even man enough to attempt to get out from under Ryan. He just lay there and begged. What a wuss. No cheetah shifter would ever take a beating lying down, no matter what started it.
“Ryan! Ryan! Get off him right now. Oh my gosh! He’s bleeding! What did you do to him?”
Dylan’s firm grip on his shoulders pulled him up to face a near hysterical Lacey. Shit. He’d forgotten how most humans responded to violence.
Holding his breath for a moment, he silently begged. Please let me not have just ruined our chance for a life with our mate.
A quick glance around showed that, fortunately, they hadn’t drawn too much attention. Monday evenings were quiet as a rule, and tonight was no exception. And because the fight hadn’t lasted more than a few minutes, they’d only gained a few raised eyebrows now that it was all over.
He looked back down at the lion and growled when he saw Lacey kneeling beside him holding a wad of napkins to Luke’s nose while she held the back of his head.
“Ryan, deep breath. I know she’s touching him, but it’s only for medical reasons okay? I really don’t want to be kicked out of here for good. Trent said if me and Luke keep going at it, that’s what’ll happen. C’mon, bro. Deep breath.”
His heart was pounding like a drum, and he couldn’t seem to get his fists to uncurl. He still couldn’t believe what Luke had said about Lacey. And he definitely couldn’t believe Dylan was talking him down! It had always been the other way around.
The shock of Dylan talking sense had him calm down enough to think clearly, finally. He took a deep breath and reached out his hand to his mate.
“Leave him, Lacey. He’ll be fine. I think it’s time we headed out.”
****
Lacey’s belly twisted and churned, her blood, heated with her fury, flooding her cheeks. She opened her mouth to bite something out at Ryan but instead her eyes were drawn to a waving Dylan behind his brother. He gave her a theatrical breathing sign and waved his hands towards the door, which had her frowning. Since when was Dylan the sensible one? While she hadn’t know the twins long, she’d picked up quickly that Ryan was the cool calm one while Dylan ran hot and fiery.
She let out her breath in a big rush, putting her hand in Ryan’s. “Okay.”
He pulled her up, and she glanced back at the guy on the ground. He was now being helped up by another guy who looked like he knew the downed man. Where had he been when Luke had needed him before? She couldn’t imagine Dylan leaving Ryan lying on the ground while another man punched him in the face.
She snorted out a laugh.
Not bloody likely.
Their loyalty for each other, their kinship and close friendship were some things she loved about them.
“Sorry about that, beautiful. But I wasn’t letting him get away with talking about you like that.” Ryan led her to the car, and they all climbed in, her in the back with Ryan and Dylan driving.
Ryan rested his hand on her thigh, and she flinched a little at the sight of his bloodied knuckles.
Ryan pulled his hand back. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She said the words but her arms crossed over her chest, and she knew she’d lied. She didn’t like violence, even petty stuff like that.
“I didn’t like what he said about you, Lacey.”
That wasn’t a very good excuse. “Clearly. But, Ryan, here’s the thing. He doesn’t even know me. So his words don’t mean a damn thing. It’s nothing but hot air. And like hot air, it’s easily ignored.”
He leaned back in his seat, a grimace rippling over his handsome face. “But Luke does know us, sweetheart. Actually, he knows us both rather well. He was deliberately trying to hurt us by saying shit about you, and I wasn’t standing for it.”
Her hands fell into her lap, and she took a slow, deep breath. He was right. What the Luke guy had said was pretty nasty. And Ryan had only punched him the one time. Compared to what could have happened, it was pretty mild really. If she was going to give this thing with the twins a serious shot, she needed to loosen her stance on violence. They were hot headed men, with—literally—inner animals. Fights were bound to happen every now and then.
“I don’t like violence, even basic brawls like that.”
Dylan laughed from the front seat. “Sweetheart, I’ve never seen my brother throw a punch in my whole life. Be proud that he cares about you more than his pristine reputation for loving peace.”
She gasped and looked back at Ryan, who was looking out the window.
“Is that true?”
He shrugged and looked back at her with a smile. “I’m sorry you were upset, Lacey, but out here, and in my family, we fight for our own. I’ve never felt the need to defend anyone before, but you’re very different. I’ll lay my life on the line for you any day, especially against a stupid cowardly lion.”
A pleasurable blush stole up her face in a hot wave. That was heavy. Her own mother barely wanted to see her at Christmas, and here was a man willing to do anything for her? That was a bit beyond her comprehension.
She pulled her mind away from the implications of his words, latching onto the new piece of information.
“Lions? You’ve called him that twice now. What are they? Don’t tell me there’s more breeds of shifters out here beside cheetahs?”
Dylan huffed from the front seat. “Don’t put them in the same box as us. Please!”
She rolled her eyes and looked back at Ryan. He’d explain things properly to her, without the sarcasm Dylan would lace the conversation with.
“Ryan?” She slid her hand onto Ryan’s, careful to avoid the bloo
d, and he turned his hand over, palm up, and their fingers intertwined. Pleasure shot through her veins, and she shivered.
“The lions are another family of shifters that live in this area, but my family has been fighting with them for generations.”
“How come?” There had to be a reason for that.
“No one really knows, and to be honest, a few of them aren’t too bad. But lions are very different from us. They’re solitary creatures, unlike cheetahs, who are pack animals. The lions were the ones who tried to stop us finding Cameron and helping him. They like to plan, and very slowly check every risk before taking one step forward. Naturally, we ignored them and helped young Cameron out. We knew that storm wasn’t going to allow for all their rules to be followed if he was going to be rescued in time.”
She laughed, the heat in the car now starting to work its way into her lower abdomen. “And don’t forget, the added bonus of risking exposing all of your family by doing so.”
Ryan had the decency to look a little bashful. “Yeah, well. So we have more heart than brains. So sue us.”
She leaned forward and kissed his lips gently. They were one block from her house, and she couldn’t wait to take her men inside.
“I’ll take heart over anything, any day.”
****
Ryan and Dylan had telepathically discussed a change in plans after leaving the pub. Lacey was fired up about the fight, and Ryan hoped with the longer drive back to her place, she’d calm down and give him a chance to make amends.
His plan worked. By the time they’d pulled up out of the front of her house, she was holding his hand and poking fun at them, the fight all but forgotten. Now Ryan sat with his mate between him and his twin, as it should be. It always felt so right when Lacey was between them. What he really wanted was to have her naked between them.
“You’re certain your roommate isn’t going to come home any time soon?”
Lacey shook her head as she focused on undoing Ryan’s shirt buttons. Seemed like she wanted him naked, too. He was so on board with that plan. Not wanting to stop her from what she was doing, he traced his fingers lightly over her thigh. A tease with no demand. Yet.
