by Tortuga, BA
“That’s it, baby.” He could feel Mesa in his mind again, too. Thank God.
“I’m sorry, Mate. I’m sorry.” He’d fucked up again, so bad.
“Shh. Hush, now.” He felt Mesa’s fingers against his hands, then his wrists. The ties were not as tight as he’d feared. He relaxed as Mesa worked at them, the panic easing a little. “Good. Almost there.”
“Mesa. I’m sorry. You aren’t hurt?”
Mesa didn’t feel hurt. He felt solid and capable, even tied up.
“No. No, I was just sound asleep.”
“Yeah. Yeah, me too. Sleeping so hard.” There had to be a reason they had both slept through her leaving. He just didn’t know what it was. He shivered, hands tugging at the ties again. Off. Off. He wanted them off.
The sudden image of Mesa, turning Sammy over his knee and reddening her ass filled his mind and Kody relaxed, chuffed softly.
“I will, too, you know.” The ties finally gave way.
“Oh. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Mate.” He turned, needing to get his Alpha free. “You’re her Alpha.”
“She’s going to fight me every step, baby.” Once Mesa’s hands came free, his Mate turned him and kissed his mouth. He groaned, pressed himself against Mesa. Hurt. He hurt. His head pounded.
“We’ll get her back.” He saw them both in Mesa’s mind, looking like bloodhounds and chasing Sammy down.
“Yeah. I bet she took your truck.”
“Shit.” Mesa sat up with him, holding him close. When Mesa took him to the tent flap to look out, Mesa cursed again.
Sure enough, the truck was gone, all of Mesa’s supplies left for them. Blankets, coolers, packs, all there.
“Well, at least she didn’t want us to starve.” Mesa sighed. “We can call someone or we can go wolf.”
“I’m sorry.” He pulled away, trying to think, to breathe.
“Stop. This is just not a normal bonding, is all.”
“Nothing about me has ever been normal, huh?”
“No.” Mesa reached over to cup his cheek with one hand. “Thank God.”
Kody’s eyes closed, his Alpha’s strength like a beacon. Better. Better.
“We’ll find her.” Mesa hummed low, making him vibrate. “I promise.”
“We will. We have to.” He couldn’t not.
“We do.” He could hear a bit of growl. “I am so kicking her ass.”
He nodded. They needed her. She needed them, just as badly. She just didn’t know it yet. God, what if she changed when they weren’t there to help her? What if she hurt herself? Hurt somebody else? And her poor head had to be pounding. His sure was.
Mesa touched his hair, petting him. “I know, baby. We need to get moving. We should eat.”
“We’ll leave the things here and track her as wolves. Or do you want me to hike out and get someone to help us?”
“We’ll go together. You know the area well enough for us to avoid anyone inconvenient.”
“Together.” He nodded. Yes. Together. Okay. Together to find her.
They would find her, make her understand, and take her home. Mesa didn’t doubt that, not at all. Kody could feel it, bone deep.
Chapter Seven
“Don’t fucking yell at me, Becky! I’m leaving!”
“Leaving?” Had Becky’s voice always been so shrill, so awful, so fucking tinny over the phone line? “You can’t just leave! You have a job, a house, email!”
“Watch me.” Sammy hated it here, she always had. She was heading north, she thought. To the mountains. She kept dreaming about mountains. She would be able to breathe there, without the smog, with the wide open around her.
“You’re crazy. Come here. We’ll have a bottle of wine, make a plan.”
She shook her head, the pressure at her temples almost unbearable. “I have to go. I’ll call a realtor, get the house on the market. I’ve already emailed my resignation. I have to get away from here.”
“Did…did he threaten you, sweetie?”
“Kody? My Kody? Are you stupid?” Mesa, on the other hand, Mesa could threaten. It could be hot, growly, shivery good.
No.
Stop it.
Just stop.
“I’m not the one who’s leaving everything she’s worked for because some circus freak seduced her!”
“No, you’re not. But I am.” And Kody wasn’t a circus freak, damn it. Weird, sure. Psychic, if you believed him. “I’m leaving, Becky. I’m serious. I’ll have my phone, but I’m fucking out of here.”
Sammy hung up with Becky, turned off her phone, then got busy. She threw food away, pictures. Hired a moving service to come and store everything she owned in one of those weird pod deals. Then she packed her clothes and her toiletries, her hands shaking with the pain that rocked her head.
It was amazing how a girl could completely disassemble her life in two and a half hours.
Of course, it was two and a half hours she wasn’t sure she had. She’d wasted enough time; now she had to get out of here. Get her shit, her car, her laptop, and go. Far away. To San Jose. Or Reno. Somewhere.
Maybe the Rockies.
God, her head hurt.
She grabbed her panties, dropping half of them. She would just go. She didn’t have to feel bad. Kody was the one who’d let her down. Kody had cheated. Kidnapped her. She grabbed her keys, took her passport and cash out of the safe. She had to move. It would be maybe a day before they could catch up. She’d left the big guy’s satellite phone.
She left the truck in the garage; she’d take her car. She slipped on a pair of sneakers, stumbled into the bathroom to take a handful of Tylenol. She took them dry, listening to the sound of her own swallow. Her head was going to explode.
“Why did you do this to me, Kody? Why did you have to use me?” The words tore out of her, followed by harsh sobs. She sank to the floor, her knees on the cold tile, her head against the base of the sink.
Okay. Okay. Stand up. Get moving.
The sound of the back door opening made her hiccup, her sobs ending as if they’d never been.
Oh, God. Oh, God. She locked the bedroom door, as quietly as she could. She’d go out the window. The sound of something clicking on the floors made her shiver. It sounded like Jurassic Park, with the raptors.
Out the window.
She could do this.
She opened the one by her dresser, grabbed her backpack, her bag. Something heavy hit the bedroom door, heavy enough that it popped open. Fuck! Fuck.
She scrambled, pulling herself up and almost out. The biggest wolf she’d ever seen was outside her window. Oh, God. A wolf.
Her eyes rolled, her feet kicking.
No.
No way.
Something touched her foot from inside, cold and wet. She squealed, the headache leaving her so fast that she went boneless. In fact, every bit of tension fled, replaced by a flood of love and pride.
“Oh…Kody.” She shivered, moaned low.
Yes. Yes, love. She heard it in her head, just as she had every day for the last two years.
The tears came again, and she slumped, half in and half out the window.
The wolf who had broken in her door came and sat next to her legs, leaning on them. Fuzzy.
She’d lost her mind.
Lost it.
Completely.
There was no way Kody was the wolf. No way.
“I have to go. I don’t know what to do. Maybe I have a brain tumor. My Kody wouldn’t have cheated on me. Maybe it’s a brain tumor.”
Kody nuzzled her. The big wolf jumped up against the side of the house and woofed.
“Hush. Shoo. I’m crazy, don’t you get it? Eventually they’re going to send the men in the white coats.” It actually felt better, to just be crazy.
Kody whined behind her, and she could swear the big wolf laughed, tongue lolling.
She pushed herself back into the room, pushed away from the window, because she was getting light-headed. “I’m going to check myse
lf into the hospital. If you’re Kody, and I’m hallucinating, make sure you bring my medical history. If you’re a wolf and not Kody, please don’t poop on the floor. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
There.
That worked.
She was doing really well, going to get her bag and all, when a naked man appeared inside her bedroom.
“I’m choosing to believe that you’re another figment of my imagination. I’m taking myself to the hospital.”
“No, honey.” Mesa, because it was Kody’s lover, smiled. “You’re not crazy.”
“It could be a brain tumor.” That would be okay, she guessed.
“It could, I guess. Thing is, I’m not a figment.”
She shook her head, her fingers moving through the soft, soft fur of her dear Kody. “You have to be.” God, he was built like an Adonis, and Sammy sort of wanted to rub all over him.
“I’m not.” He moved closer, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“Are…” Her eyes crossed, a wave of pure lust hitting her.
“Not.” He rubbed her shoulder, his thumb massaging.
“Uh…God, what’s happening to me?”
“We told you. You just didn’t listen.” Mesa leaned down, kissing her lightly.
Heat built inside her, and she moaned. Oh, God. Oh, God, she needed. Crazy. She was crazy.
“Please, just listen to your body, honey.” She heard Kody’s voice, echoing inside her, encouraging her to step closer, touch.
Feel.
“The Tylenols are working. I had such a headache.” Her fingers slid up Mesa’s belly.
“Mmm. Because you left us.” He touched her cheek, her mouth.
“You kidnapped me. I’m going to take myself to the doctor.” Her tongue flicked out, tasted Mesa’s fingers.
“Uh-huh. And say what? When he tries to take blood and you wolf out?” He licked his lips.
“That’s a hallucination I have. I’ve always said Kody was like a beast in bed.”
Kody was real again, even though he was naked, pressing against her hip.
“He is. So are you.” Mesa grinned a little, his eyes sparkling.
She shook her head, and Kody pushed her closer to Mesa, their bodies meeting full on. “This isn’t real.”
“What’s real, then?” Mesa nuzzled under her ear, and her thighs tensed.
“I…” Her chin lifted, and Kody tugged her scrunchie out of her hair.
“Shh.” Kody kissed her neck. “Feel.”
“I…” Maybe one more time.
Just once. Even if it was a hallucination.
“Yes. Just feel.” Mesa kissed her again, lips on hers warm and firm.
All her pain, all her worries—they all disappeared. Her lips parted, tongue sliding in to taste Mesa. He was hot. Almost peppery. Not like Kody, who tasted like cinnamon and cloves.
Kody tugged at her tank top, pulled it up over her breasts so that she touched Mesa’s chest. She shivered, her nipples so hard. Mesa bent to lick at the top of one breast. A weird sound bubbled up out of her, a deep growling noise.
He bit down a tiny bit, testing her skin.
The sting made her shake, her fingers in Mesa’s heavy hair. “Please.”
More.
Harder.
Now.
He rubbed his cheek against her breast, his heavy beard stinging. He moaned for her, his lips sliding down to her nipple. She could feel Kody behind her, stripping away her shorts, but her focus was on Mesa, on the promise of that mouth. He licked her nipple, pushing it back and forth, before sucking it between his lips.
“Yes.” She went up on tiptoe, her hips rocking as if they were fucking her.
“Sweet lady.” His lips moved on her skin when he talked, which was…wow.
“Please.”
Kody chuffed softly and knelt, hands warm on her ankles as he pulled her shoes off.
“We got you. Right, baby?” Mesa was talking to Kody with the baby. It was weirdly hot.
“We do. Our lady. We’ll love you.”
“You…” This didn’t make sense. “How did you get here so fast?”
“We ran.” Mesa chuckled, which vibrated against her. “We didn’t have to use the road.”
That didn’t make sense. It didn’t.
Kody pushed between them, head pushing between her legs. “Hush, Sammy. It doesn’t have to make sense.” Then his tongue touched her folds, hot and slick, and she arched, pushing her nipple back into Mesa’s mouth.
They were going to make her crazy, licking and sucking with perfect timing.
She pulled the top off, the fabric offensive to her skin.
Her pulled-down underwear went next, the strings snapping under Kody’s fingers. Mesa murmured something that sounded like approval.
Her head fell back, these weird sounds pouring out of her. She needed them.
They took her to the bed, moving her between them, never letting her think too much. Kody slid behind her, cock hot on her thigh. It was Mesa who pushed against her, though, hands dragging over her skin. Mesa took her, his prick pushing inside her.
Yes!
It felt like she screamed it, but she didn’t, couldn’t, because she didn’t have any breath.
Kody answered for her, though. “Yes. Yes. Mesa. Yes.” Kody rubbed against her from behind, his cock so hot against her, as hot as the one inside her. Mesa pushed, his hands on her ass, pulling.
Kody’s fingers found her nipples, pinched them hard, and she howled.
Mesa kissed her, then, his mouth taking hers. His tongue pushed inside, tasting her.
That was when things sort of got…odd. They all started slamming together, biting and scratching, fucking. Rutting. Like animals. Kody was growling. Her Kody.
She could feel his teeth on her shoulder, close to her neck, and then it was Mesa that growled, the sound vibrating through her. Mesa pulled her up, slamming into her, and his teeth found her skin, sinking in. He made her see stars. Sammy came hard, her entire body shaking with it, desperate for it.
“That’s it.” The low, raspy words shivered through her, Mesa pushing deep for two, three more thrusts before he came. She felt Kody thrusting behind her, the motions of his hips restless as heat sprayed up her back.
“Good, baby. So good.” She wasn’t sure if Mesa was talking to her or Kody.
She was so tired, and she had to move. To get up. But they were warm. She could lay her head down and let Kody pet her, let Mesa kiss the sweat off her brow.
Kody was whispering to her, telling her secrets that she couldn’t quite understand.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to.
Chapter Eight
Mesa rolled his head on his neck. It had been a long day of driving. They’d gotten his truck back, and Kody had packed some random stuff—although, damn, that girl had gotten shit done in a couple of hours—and they’d hit the road. He’d called his brother, Canyon, when they stopped at their former campsite to pick up the gear. He’d had to charge the satellite phone, but it worked.
“You on your way home?” Canyon had asked.
“Yeah. Yeah, I got Kody.” Among other things. “You got anything new about the shit going down with the North Peak Clan?”
Canyon was his second, his security advisor, and the biggest wolf in the pack who wasn’t Mesa. He was keeping an eye on a situation in a sister pack in Wyoming. There was something hinky there, something to do with Ben and Susan, how they’d been murdered. He knew it, like he knew his own name, but he’d be damned if he could prove a thing. Canyon had spent a shit-load of time training with fellow Guardian, Granite, over there, had introduced the man to his fiancée, even, and Granite was getting worried about Markus, his Alpha.
Just what he needed, a problem with an established Alpha just one territory over. The universe had a vicious sense of humor and having a war in his first year of being Alpha would surely amuse someone.
“Heating up, maybe. Talked to Granite, there’s…shit, man. He’s saying th
ey’re caging wolves over there, keeping them in cages. White wolves.”
“Shit.” White wolves? Really? He’d heard the rumors of the Pair his whole life, they all had, but they were just stories for children, right? With his luck, they were a pair of albino wolves that Markus was trying to keep safe from predators. “I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
He’d hung up with Canyon, growly as all fuck, and he’d been driving forever. Sammy had slept, mostly. She’d been snuggled up in the back with Kody, who was drowsy and a little grumpy. They needed to get home, but he had to stop, so he started looking for a place, a campsite or a cabin.
He wasn’t sure exactly what Kody was doing to her, how he kept her calm, but Mesa was incredibly grateful it was working.
Hell, maybe Kody was telling her they were taking her to the hospital.
Kody’s laughter chuffed softly in his mind. Butthead. Fuck, Kody was getting better at that.
“Gonna have to stop, baby.” He said it softly, not wanting to wake Sammy.
Kody nodded. “We need to eat. Sleep. Touch.”
“Yeah.” Maybe pee in there somewhere.
“I can keep her calm.”
“Good.” He grinned in the rear view. “How are you holding up?”
“Good.” Kody offered him a smile, a wink.
“That’s what I want to hear, baby.” There. A sign advertised off-highway cabins. They had supplies—lots of them. Kody had had a well-stocked kitchen, and they’d stopped for the packs and tent as well.
They could rest. Eat. Sleep.
All Kody had to do was keep Sammy calm.
Sammy had fallen deeply asleep after their little bout of mating frenzy and had been that way for hours. The quiet helped ease Mesa’s headache.
He pulled into the campgrounds and went to pay, leaving Kody to hold Sammy.
Then he got the supplies and filled the kitchen. “Okay, baby.”
Kody scooped Sammy up, carrying her into the cabin, then standing there. “If you want me to cook, you’ll have to take her.”
“I can do that.” He could, right? God, he was tired.
“Sit, then.” Kody pushed him toward the sofa, put Sammy in his arms. Mesa sat, feeling useless as tits on a boar hog. He just didn’t know what else to do. His fingers moved over her body, loving on her. Her skin was so soft, so smooth. Fascinating.
