by R. A. Boyd
The feeling of pleasure and pain took her over and she detonated. As the walls of her tight channel pulsated around Jax’s cock he came, saying her name over and over with her breast still in his mouth.
Cass’s hips still rode him as she came down, still feeling his dick swell inside of her. Warm jets of his seed filled her. Her breath shuddered as she rejoiced in the knowledge that she’d made him come. That she’d made him say her name. She lifted up to stop him from suckling her and then fell down onto his chest.
He kissed her forehead and hugged her tight to him. Cass would remember this moment forever. Last night started the healing in her with the feel of Damon’s full lips on her sex, and this moment showed her that she would no longer accept things as they came. She was in control of her happiness, of her life, and these two men that breezed into her existence last night were the start of something she couldn’t even put into words.
She loved them. Whoa. She loved them? She’d just met them, but admitting those words to herself felt truer than any emotion she’d experienced lately. Except for those orgasms. The emotions attached to the orgasms brought on by both men were pretty dang true. But she loved them. Those words ran through her head and she sighed. She loved them. Jax and Damon. And they loved her.
Yes. Andrew was the love of her life, but Jax and Damon—her healers—were her life. And she was there’s. They’d fixed something in her that just twenty-four hours ago she thought would have been broken forever. And now, she was going to heal them. Cass never thought she would give her heart to anyone else.
“Were the three of us meant for one another?” she asked, the side of her head against his chest. She listened as his heart rate had returned to normal from their lovemaking, and now it sped up again.
“Yes,” he whispered. “Only someone made for us could make us whole again.” He rubbed his lips against her hair and breathed her in.
“What do we have to do?” She started to lift herself from his body and winced as his large length slid out of her core.
Cass didn’t mind. She loved the electric feel of him against her and bit his shoulder when he began to apologize to her.
“You keep taking your teeth to me and you are going to get thoroughly fucked. Again. It won’t be gentle.”
Her breath caught in her throat at the hope of him being rough with her. She bit him again for good measure and then said, “Come on. Tell me what I have to do. What we have to do?”
When her sheath was no longer filled with him and she was tucked beside him he said, “I’ll get to have that sweet ass of yours while Damon is deep inside your pussy. When you orgasm he’ll bite the front of your shoulder and I’ll bite the back. And then we’ll be yours. Hell, we already are.”
“Will it turn me?” Cass wasn’t sure how she felt about being turned into whatever they were. “What are your animals?” She hadn’t bothered to ask earlier.
Jax took a deep breath and shrugged. “I don’t know if it’ll turn you. After we were cursed and given a quick rundown we received no more acknowledgment from Heaven. We’re not like regular shifters.”
“Did you ever try to find out?”
“The first few millennia we were in animal form so we weren’t able to find out anything. When we were made human and we tried to find out, no one had any answers. Hell, most true shifters were scared shitless of us. They’d heard tales of us but didn’t know what to make of us. To them, we smell and feel like shifters but we’re missing the animal. Is that a deal breaker for you? Being changed?”
She thought for a moment and then shook her head. “Well, it depends. I don’t want to be a turtle or a squid,” she said, laughing and snuggling closer to him. “What would I be?”
“What we were don’t exist anymore, so I’m not even sure what we’d look like. Would we be as large and ferocious as we were, or will we be what out beasts have evolved into?”
Losing patience, Cass wound her hand in the ‘hurry-up’ motion. Was he afraid to tell her what he and Damon were? She cringed at the thought of them being some humongous sea creature that looked like a fat, glob-like worm with six nipples. “Come on, man. Give it to me straight. You’re tip-toeing around it like you don’t want to scare me.”
When Cass looked up and her eyes met his, she instantly felt like crap. His eyes were full of sorrow and longing, and a line was there between his eyes that revealed his discomfort.
“Jax, I’m sorry. You feel about your animal the way I do about Andrew.” She reached her hand up and smoothed away the line, and then pulled herself up to kiss his forehead. “We don’t have to talk about it. Ghosts are always hard to talk about.”
He gave her a crooked smile and pulled her back down to rest her head on his chest. “No. You were brave enough to face your ghost. Fuck,” he said. He pulled one hand through his hair and gripped his blond strands at the crown of his head. “None of us talk about it anymore, but you deserve to know what you might become. What Damon and I are.”
“I can wait, Jax.”
“No. We used to be what are now called Megantereons. Saber-toothed cats.” He let out a shuddering breath and rubbed circles on Cass’s back. “We were fearsome. Even when Damon and I were angels we were a pair. And when we turned ourselves into those magnificent creatures we ruled our own pack. Other angel shifters and natural born saber-tooth cats alike.”
Cass looked at her hand and splayed her fingers, imagining long white claws erupting from her nails. “I’m going to be a big, bad-ass saber-tooth tiger.”
His chest heaved with a sudden breath and he laughed. “You said ass. And it's cat. Saber-tooth cat. There’s a difference, Cass.”
“Got it. Cat. Well, when you two start shifting again can I ride on your back? Please.”
Jax’s laugh was so deep and genuine that it made her laugh. Just a few moments ago she could feel him pulling away from her when she asked what he was. It had hurt him. He probably hadn’t talked about what he was in years. Centuries?
But now, he was smiling and pulling her close to him as if she soothed him. She wrapped her arm around his middle and kissed his chest. “How many are in your clan? And what do you do for a living?”
“Other than me and Damon there are six others in the New Rose clan. We’d like you to meet them when you get a chance.” He shrugged and Cass burrowed deeper into his side. “Hell, we’ve been alive long enough to be well off financially, but we need to work. Our animals require it. Some of us are firemen, others are dock workers, and Damon and I do construction. It’s hard work, but it’s what we need.”
She looked at the ceiling and noticed how far the rays of the sun had made it into her room. When she first opened her eyes the light had only made a few peeking slits through the curtains, but now the entire room was set aflame by its brightness. Cass had toyed with the idea of getting black-out curtains, but she knew she’d never get anything done during the day if she did. She was a night person. Had been since she worked a two-year stint as a night shift worker while she was in college.
Now, she was able to work from home. As long as she coded a certain amount of charts a day it didn’t matter what time she started. She didn’t love her job, but it paid the bills. It allowed her the solitude she’d needed.
Jax kissed the top of her head and sat up. “Damon just pulled up. Go on and soak in the tub so you can be ready for me later.” He winked at her and slapped her bottom.
She clicked her teeth together and shook her head. “Aren’t we being cocky? You think you hurt my lady-bits and I need time to recover to take you again?”
Truth was, she did. Even though she reveled in the ache Jax’s large shaft had left between her thighs, she knew she was going to have a hard time getting around today. She had a walk-way to shovel, and she was hungry.
Jax sniffed the air and gently urged her to open her legs. “I could smell the iron of your blood and in your arousal when you sat down on my cock like a crazy woman. Don’t make that face.”
At the
mention of him being able to tell she was bleeding from his large freaking cock impaling her, Cass stiffened and put her hands on her cheeks to cool the flames of embarrassment. He wasn’t judging her but it still made her feel put on the spot.
“Cass, you don’t have to be embarrassed around me. You haven’t been with a man in a few years, and then you took me. All of me. I’m not a small man, so hell yes, I’m cocky about my cock.” He leaned down and kissed the inside of her thigh. “Take a few minutes to soothe yourself.”
He got up and grabbed his boxer-briefs and his pants, pulling them both on at the same time. “I’ll take a shower when Damon and I finish.”
“Finish what?”
“A few things we need to take care of this morning but don’t worry. We won’t be far.”
She watched him as he stood up from the bed, his thick arms flexing, that Adonis Belt that sat below his abs showing itself like it craved her attention. His shoulders were wide and well-defined, strong muscles glided beneath his creamy skin as he stretched.
Cass devoured every inch of his body with her gaze, and all the embarrassment that she’d felt was gone.
Jax was so light and Damon was so dark. Damon’s olive skin made him look like he ran butt-naked in the sun every day. And those unnerving hazel eyes were the cherry on the icing on the three-layer cake that was him. And they were hers.
“Keep looking at me like you want my dick and I’ll give it to you,” Jax said, pausing just as he pulled his shirt over his head.
Hell yes, and please. She wanted him so badly, but she knew her body craved that warm bath he’d suggested.
“Sorry. I’ll meet you downstairs after a quick bath.”
He pulled his shirt down the rest of the way and made his way back to her. Taking her chin, he lifted her face to his and kissed her nose. “Take your time.”
Chapter 6
By the time Cass made her way out of her bathroom after soaking for over half an hour and rewarming the water twice, she could smell the aroma of bacon and coffee beckoning her closer. She smiled at the thought of those two sexy sasquatches cooking in her kitchen.
They were angels. Literally. Well, fallen angels who’d been cursed, but still angels. And they’d been waiting for her. She hurried to her bedroom to get dressed and smiled the whole way. She usually spent all day in her pajama pants and a tee-shirt while she worked, but today she wanted to look pretty. For them. And for herself.
This is was the first time in a long time she’d felt this good inside. It hurt her heart to know Andrew had unknowingly caused her to grieve for so long, but she forgave him. He didn’t mean to. She was fueling him with her heartache every time she thought of him, and he just wanted to make sure she was okay.
Yes, Damon and Jax had helped heal her but she knew if she’d let go of Andrew a long time ago he would have moved on and she would have gotten better. Her inner strength would have pushed her along. And now, she was ready to look pretty again.
Even though she rarely wore makeup and had no skill at putting it on, she applied a little eye-liner and mascara to play up her eyes. She walked into her closet and when she emerged she had on her skinniest skinny jeans— they were more like denim leggings than anything else— with a yellow sweater that fell just above her butt. Her men seemed to appreciate her curves, and she loved them even more for it, so she’d show it to them. They’d already seen all of her important parts but there was nothing wrong with dressing it up for the two men who looked at her like she was the center of their world.
To complement her wardrobe she put on her fuzzy yellow and orange socks with the grips on the bottom. She didn’t like to wear slippers and didn’t plan on leaving out for a while, so they were in for a treat with her most comfortable favorite house-socks.
“Put that thing away,” a familiar voice said as she was about to walk into the kitchen.
Cass startled and almost slammed into the wall. “Oh, my God. Andi! What the heck!” she whisper-yelled at her sister. “How did you get in? And what thing?”
“Your ass. And I have a key, smart ass. And who the heck are Jax and Damon? I was going to use my key to open the door but then the one with the yellow eyes—”
“Damon.”
Her sister flitted her hand as if dismissing his name. “— whatever, opened the door. Cass. Are you letting drifters stay in your house for extra money so you won’t be lonely?”
Cass felt as if she’d been punched right in the chest by her sister’s words. Was Andi implying that she couldn’t get two sexy men to want her for her? Of course she was. Andromeda, Andi for short, had always thought negatively about Cass’s shape and wasn’t afraid to let her know. She thought Cass should strive to be more like her when it came to body shape. Skinny. Andi was naturally thin and had perky breasts that came with the territory.
Well, Cass was finally sick of her shit. “No. They are not drifters. They’re my… my… I don’t know what to call them. They’re mine!”
Andi scoffed and turned away from Cass, her dark, chin-length bob moving side to side as she shook her head. “Oh, please. Those are freaking gym rats and you’re out of shape. Maybe it’s a fetish,” she said, more to herself than to Cass.
“Really, Sis? That’s what you think of me? Am I so freaking fat that no one who looks like them would want me? They love all of this,” Cass said, waving her hand in front of her body. “And you know what. From now on you can keep your mean thoughts about me and my body to yourself. If you can’t, well then you don’t need to come around me anymore. You’re just mean. Maybe that’s why Scott left. You’re so freaking critical.”
As soon as the words fell out of Cass’s mouth she gasped and slapped her hand over her lips.
Andi’s ex-husband had left her for an older, more voluptuous woman, almost a year ago. Once her daughter decided to switch colleges and moved three states away, Andi had been on a war path. She had never really been the nicest person, but after Scott left it was as if a rattlesnake had taken hold of her tongue. Her filter had completely disappeared, not that it was ever that great in the first place, and the only reason that Cass hadn’t put her in her place was because she felt sorry for her.
Cass knew what it was like to lose a husband but she didn’t know what was worse: having him die on you or having him leave voluntarily. But to Cass, that was no excuse.
“Crap,” Cass said, resting her hands on her hips. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. No matter what you say to me, I shouldn’t be so mean.” She lifted her chin and looked her sister in the eyes. “At least now you know how it feels.”
“Umm, your car is fixed.”
Cass and Andi snapped their gazes to the front door. They hadn’t even heard it open.
A broad-shouldered beast of a man with tattoos up and down his arms and neck and a silver bar in his right ear stood there, looking uncomfortable to be intruding on their argument. His skin was the color of porcelain, and he had muscles that bulged from everywhere.
As Cass said, “Who are you?” Andi said, “Is he yours too? Please say no.”
Clearly uncomfortable for barging in on their spat, he clicked his teeth together and started backing toward the front entrance. “I’m Cole. I’m with Jax and Damon.” His wide eyes switched from Cass to Andi and then back again.
“Oh,” Cass crooned with happiness. “They had you fix my car? That is so sweet.”
Damon opened the kitchen door, careful not to hit Cass as he walked through. “Thanks, Cole. Think you can change the oil in my pick up? I haven’t driven it in a while but I want Cass to hold on to it until we get her something bigger. Snow’s too thick for her to be driving around in her car.”
Cole nodded, wiping his hands on his black workman’s jumper. “Will do.” He looked at Cass and smiled. “Pleasure to meet you, Cass. Those two are great guys.” His eyes cut to Andi and he gave her a nod and a tight-lipped smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Cass would bet her morning coffee that he wasn’t too pleased by
the way Andi had spoken to her. “Cass’s sister.”
He turned and walked out the door, closing it behind him with a gentle click.
Cass walked over to her sister who now looked uncomfortable and touched her shoulder. “No, Andi, he’s not mine.”
“But I am,” Damon said. He winked at Cass and she blushed right down to her fuzzy socks. “Hey, Beautiful. Hungry?” he said, eyes roaming over her body.
“Yes. I am.” She looked at Andi and took a deep breath. “Want to stay for breakfast.”
Andi shrugged and sucked her top lip into her mouth. When she finally let it go she said, “It’s more like lunch time but, yes.”
Damon ran his tongue along the inside of his jaw and Cass was pretty sure he was trying to measure his words. “Here’s the thing, Cass’s sister. I don’t like the way you talk to her. It hurts her. If you can’t learn to be nicer to your sister then you won’t be welcomed in our home when she moves in with us.” He took a deep breath and held it. “Not that we’d ever try to convince her not to talk to you. She’s a grown woman and does what she wants. We just want her happy. Play nice.”
They wanted her to move in with them? She didn’t even know where they lived. He leaned down and kissed Cass’s forehead, and then went back into the kitchen.
Cass and Andi stood there for a few moments looking at each other.
Andi broke the silence first. “I see Laurel helped you put up the tree.”
Cass nodded and leaned against the table in the corner. “Yep. She did. She knew I wouldn’t have done it by myself.” She looked over at the tree. “Did Scott pay for her flight to New Orleans or did you have to?”
“No,” she said, and then cleared her throat. “He did. We did it together for her twenty-first birthday. She wanted you to take her since you’re the one who put the love of that place in her heart, but she knew you were still grieving.”
“Look, Andi. I know it’s going to be a big adjustment with me seeing two men, but it’s fine. I’m okay with it. That’s what is important, right?”
