"If you found a different woman, a whole woman, you would knot with her, you could make a family with her." She couldn't stop her voice from breaking.
Lightning flashed in Kai's eyes. "Please don't ever refer to yourself as not whole because you can't have children. That doesn't make you complete. And we don't want another woman, we want you. I don't care if you can only play a kazoo, we want you."
He kissed her again but this time she didn't have any arguments.
When he pulled back, her lower body clenched. Apparently, the few minutes of a break they had taken were enough for her wanton body. She tried to bite her lower lip to hide her body's reaction, but the effort was futile. Kai's eyes darkened with desire. "Jesus, I can smell the fresh need on you," he growled.
Brock's rumbling tone growled his approval as well. "It's time for your second dose," he said as he lifted her up.
Chapter Twenty-one
Brock
Brock reached for the mug that Francesca instructed him to grab. In her words it was, "medium-sized, gray like your gorgeous eyes, and has some wizard-level magic that keeps coffee warm for longer than a normal mug." It was also constructed out of a type of aluminum. Lucky for him, because as he reached for it, he accidentally knocked it over, along with two of the other mugs sitting beside it. Those were ceramic, though, and shattered when they hit the ground.
He wasn't usually this clumsy. Though he was used to where the things were in his apartment and when he was out on patrol, he was very in tuned with his surroundings. Francesca's house, though, was a field of land mines waiting for him to brush by and explode.
Oh, and there was the hours-long sex marathon from which he was still rehabilitating. Brock leaned against the counter, watching the coffee drip from the basket into the carafe and smiled. His Francesca had been near insatiable, but he and Kai were up for the challenge. He'd never admit to being just a little bit shaky right now from sex exhaustion. Nothing a good breakfast and his mate's arms couldn't fix.
Brock shifted the front of his pants. He was still up for the cause. He'd gone through something similar when he first met Kai, so he understood what she was going through. But Francesca's body's response to the mating was stronger than any he'd heard of. When they had rushed to her aid the night before, her need was so intense, he could smell her before even stepping inside of the house. He'd been unable to keep from shifting when they'd been confronted and he would have done violent things to anyway who stayed between him and his mate. Luckily, it hadn't come to that. Barely.
He poured in half-and-half and a little bit of caramel sauce, as per Francesca's instructions, and grimaced, thinking back to how afraid she must have been the night before. He stood by his first assertion, they should have never let her get into the car with her brother. She could have really hurt herself if Farley hadn't of taken her home.
She was safe and sound now and if she was where he had left her, she was on the bed, leaning back against Kai like he was a pillow, with her laptop on her lap. The girl had woken up chirping like a bird and went straight for her laptop saying it had been too long since she'd checked her social media accounts.
"You look well-rested," Luke said from behind him.
Brock turned slowly, wondering which Luke he was going to face this morning. Up until last night, Luke had been a friend. When he and Kai had barreled over here after talking to Francesca on the phone, he had been Luke the angry alpha.
Brock noticed that while the corners of his eyes were tight with something that looked like annoyance, he was smirking. He relaxed.
"I was just getting Francesca's coffee," Brock replied.
Luke nodded. "Smartest thing to do in the morning for that girl."
Just then, Felix strolled in trying to make his appearance look casual and failing horribly. It was clear that he and Luke were in cahoots, probably waiting across the street with binoculars for the moment they spotted one of them in the kitchen.
"Felix," Brock said with a head nod.
Felix didn't smile but he also didn't order him to stay away from his sister, which was an improvement.
"How is Frannie?" Felix asked.
"Happy, with Kai." Brock wanted to say, satisfied, but thought he should take it easy on the guy. "She is expecting her coffee, though," he said, motioning to the aluminum cup he held.
Felix's eyes lit up. "Oh, is there more?" he leaned forward to look around him.
Luke rolled his eyes. "Fellers and their coffee."
"She said she wanted to get some writing done so I should probably—"
"Are you two just going to hang out around here now?" Luke asked bluntly. "Because if you are, it would be respectful to inform the pack master here. Me."
Here it was. While Brock bristled at the implication that Francesca was one of Luke's pack and thus under his command, he understood Luke's question. "That isn't a question I can answer. It will be up to Francesca."
"Look, Frannie is as much a sister to me as she is to Felix and Finn. I don't like seeing her how I saw her last night—confused and in pain," Luke said, some of his anger returning.
"I agree, but there was no way of knowing the mating heat would affect her so much—"
"And there is my problem," Felix interrupted, sounding like a disapproving authority figure. "You understand what she is going through. I assume you had some sense of what would happen to her the moment you two set your sights on her and you didn't ask her, didn't let her know what she was getting into. I wasn't okay with it last night and I am still not. I'll be honest with you. I'm researching ways to cease her body's heat reactions or at least make them not so strong. The way she was last night, it was like she didn't have a choice." Felix stood straighter, puffing his chest out a little, though he was already pretty big for a human. "I will make sure my little sister always has a choice."
Brock's lion roared. All it heard was that Felix wanted to take his mate from him and his lion demanded he get rid of the threat. His shoulders tensed as his inner beast threatened to break free. Not only would shifting in Francesca's kitchen and attacking her brother break many more things, it would also make his mate mad and sad, two things he never wanted her to be. He inhaled slowly through his nose for seven counts, held it and then released. From the corner of his eye he saw Luke tensing, preparing to shift if necessary.
"You're mated, aren't you?" he asked when he knew he could make a noise that wasn't a snarl.
"Yes."
"And what would you do if someone said he was going to try and take your mate away?"
"That isn't what I said."
"Just about."
"No. I said my sister will have choices. She will be in charge of her body. I swore to her that she would never be helpless again and I will make sure I keep my promise."
"I don't want her to be helpless."
"You just want your pheromones to bind her to you."
Brock set the coffee down afraid he might crush the cup. Sometimes, when he was on patrol he would come across a situation that was tense, nearing violence, but often it was because two people were not communicating clearly. Both might be speaking English but what one was saying and what the other was hearing ended up worlds apart. He hoped that was what was going on here. "You are both mated alphas and yet you are trying to tell me I should be denied what was intended for me by fate, nature, God, call it what you want. Neither one of you strikes me as a huge hypocrite so I can only guess something else is going on here. Care to let me know? What is it that has you so concerned when you think about Francesca being mated?"
"She's my little sister," Felix muttered, looking away.
Luke's jaw was firm; whatever memory Brock's question brought up wasn't a good one.
"My pack," Felix began, "used to be led by an asshole, Isaac. That is part of the reason why they asked me, a human, to lead them, because they hadn't had much luck with shifter alphas. My mate, Sorell, used to date Isaac and he threatened the safety of Sorell's pack family if he didn't st
ay with him. Sorell didn't stay and so Isaac had Frannie kidnapped and held against her will in a storage room at The Den."
Brock's entire body tensed. He remembered a throw-away comment he'd said to Francesca once. "He saves you a lot," he had said and she had agreed. "And you found her?" he asked Felix.
"I did."
"Was she...?" He couldn't finish the sentence, didn't even want to ask the question and if the answer was yes, he was going to hunt this Isaac down and rip his body in half.
"No, she wasn't. She was checked out at the hospital and was in perfect physical health."
"And mentally?" He didn't even need to ask that question. He had seen himself how spooked she would get when she thought she was alone.
"Frannie doesn't like asking for help," Luke said. "She's the first one to offer to help and will often give you help even when you don't ask, but she has this fear of being a bother to anyone. It is an annoying trait that runs strong through this pack. But it is obvious that she doesn't enjoy being alone. She never did, but especially not now."
Brock sighed. His sweet, kind mate. She hated being alone and yet had no clue why people would want to be around her. He was overcome with a need to draw his mate close, not sexually—though that would be nice—but just to hold her. "This Isaac, he's been dealt with?"
"Yes, he had a lot of enemies."
"Good." He turned so that he was facing both of the men in the kitchen. "I cannot tell you that I will leave Francesca alone because neither Kai nor myself have any plans to ever be without her again, but I can tell you she will never hurt because of us, not like last night."
They didn't smile or even look relieved, but Brock never expected them to. She was too important to them and this was all too soon. They didn't attack him though and that was progress.
"Bring her a doughnut, if you really want her to love you," Luke said as he left the kitchen. He stopped, his face a little red. "Will it be safe for us to return soon?"
"Should be, like I said, she wants to write and I have a shift later. I'll remind Kai he needs to keep it down." He was having a little bit of fun with his last comment, but Brock thought he deserved the moment. He grabbed his mate's coffee, hoping it hadn't cooled too much, and grabbed the box of doughnuts on the counter before going back down the hallway.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Brock
He found his mates where he left them, on the bed, Francesca snuggled up against Kai trying to pay attention to whatever was on her screen as Kai's mischievous hands tried just as hard to distract her. "I have sustenance," he announced.
Francesca pushed her laptop off her lap and leapt off the bed. "You are a good shifter." She reached up like she was going to pat him on the head, but she was too short to reach. "You only got one coffee?" she looked between the two of them then like they were circling sharks. "I don't share my coffee," she announced to the room.
"I'm a green tea guy," Kai said on a laugh.
Brock preferred water, but Francesca looked too cute guarding her cup like either of them were moments from snatching it out of her hand. "Just one sip, baby. Come on," he teased, advancing on her and loving the way her eyes rounded.
"No! Stay back!" She hopped back. "Kai, save me!"
"I don't know," Kai said slowly, getting to his feet. "Your coffee does smell really good."
Francesca screeched, jumping to the side with a nimbleness that surprised him. "I know self-defense!" she said, holding the cup of coffee over her head.
"I give up," Brock announced, more because he didn't want any of the coffee to spill out of the top and burn her hand. He yanked open the lid on the doughnuts and grabbed one. "I'll just take this sad doughnut." He sat down on the edge of the bed with his head down, defeated.
Francesca was by his side in a second. "You can have one sip if you really need to," she whispered, bumping into him.
Brock lifted his head and grinned. She was so kind-hearted. He brushed her cheek with his palm and she turned her head and bit him softly.
Kai reached across them to get his own doughnut. "I heard Luke's voice earlier; everything is okay?"
Francesca gave him a why-didn't-you-tell-me expression.
"You were busy and so cutely snuggled, I didn't want to bother you. Don't worry, I was listening in. It didn't get dangerous," Kai assured her. "But it was informative."
Francesca leapt up. "What did they tell you? I only woke up with pizza stuck to my butt the one time. They always like to say it happens so often, but it doesn't! Just the once." She hmphed. "The second time was only a pepperoni slice."
"They didn't mention any pizza accidents," Brock said, smiling, "But they did let me know about that one time you were kidnapped."
Kai's face was a mirror of what Brock was feeling. Not mad per se, but anxious and a little disappointed that Francesca hadn't told them herself.
"Oh, that," she whispered.
"Do you need to talk about it? If not with us, then with a therapist?" Kai asked.
"No. I was really scared at first, after it happened. But I feel better every day. And I have a mantra—"
"Safe and sound," Kai interrupted her. They had both seen her mumble those words before.
"Yep. Safe and sound. I say it when I'm scared. It helps."
"While it is good to have coping skills, you also have us now and you will be safe and sound." Brock leaned in to kiss her softly on the lips.
"Now that we are on the topic of information Brock and I would benefit from knowing," Kai began and Brock thought he had an idea of where he was going. "How about you tell us who this Gallway guy is and why he has been calling you?"
Francesca took a long gulp of coffee. Brock recognized it as a common stall tactic that she employed. Francesca often took long sips of things when talking about something that made her nervous. He didn't think she would lie to them, but that she might try to word her answer a certain way.
"I don't like talking about that part of my life," she said finally. "I was young and stupid and it wasn't my finest hour."
"Nothing you say could change how we feel about you," Brock said.
"It was my freshman year of college. I was so excited to be out on my own, free to reinvent myself. Professor Gallway was my creative writing instructor. He was sensitive while also being decisive. It was as if the man I'd spent my teen-age years fantasizing about had stepped out of the stories I wrote about him and into my life."
Both Kai and Brock made similar noises of displeasure. So far, Brock didn't like this story.
"And he was into me, really into me. Which was kind of a first for me." Francesca looked down at herself with eyes that Brock was sure didn't see how beautiful she was. "I think by the second week of school, we had plans to get coffee off campus. From there, things happened quickly. He was my—my first and I was deliriously happy. And then one night we were at dinner and this woman shows up screaming at the two of us. I learned pretty quickly that she was his wife. I dropped his class after that and ignored the calls and texts." Francesca stopped then, a bitter smile on her lips.
"Then I found out I was pregnant." When she looked up at them, her eyes were lined with tears. "It was a sick cosmic joke, you know? We were always safe and more than that we were over by the time I found out. I couldn't get rid of the baby. It's a personal choice and I knew the type of person I was, it wasn't an option. I sent Professor Gallway one message explaining that I was pregnant, that I was having the child, and that I would expect nothing from him. After that, the calls came more frequently. He would show up in random places demanding I talk to him and give him another chance. It was on a night where I had gone out with some friends to a show that he found me and cornered me in the bathroom. He told me that he was leaving his wife and that he only wanted me and the baby. I didn't believe him, kneed him in the balls, and ran out of there to my car. I was crying so hard as I drove home and took a corner a little too fast, I guess. The next thing I know a doctor is asking me my name and if I remember what
day it is. Then he tells me I lost my baby and that the trauma from the accident had a high probability of making it so I couldn't get pregnant again. I hid away from the world after that. Dropped out of school, changed my phone number, and pretty much drifted while getting lost in my stories. Finally, a friend said I should start publishing them and I did." She sighed loudly. "And here we are."
Brock had to force his hands to relax, they were balled up so tightly he knew there would be marks in his palms. "Francesca," he said, his throat clogged with emotion.
"Baby," Kai said, the same emotion in his tone. "If he calls you again you give the phone to me or Brock."
"I'm not a kid," Francesca said, sitting straight. "I can handle my own problems."
"Luke warned me about that. You need to get used to us protecting you, sugar. I'm honored that I get to be the one who keeps you safe, just as I get to keep Kai safe when he goes out for drinks with his lawyer buddies after work and can't hold his liquor."
"Hey! I can hold my liquor! You are clearly referring to that one time I got drunk after leg day at the gym and you had to carry me home and if I remember correctly, you got a pretty great blow job in the alley that night as payment."
"Is that how it works? I repay you with sexual favors?" There was a playful glint in her eyes and she bit her bottom lip as she smiled. "I think I can handle that."
"If that is what makes you feel better."
"Well, in that case, you both saved me last night from sure sexual deprivation." Francesca set her coffee down and slid off the bed and to her knees as she spoke. "I guess I owe you both a favor for that."
Brock watched her sultry movements as she pulled his pants down with her left hand and pulled Kai's pants down with her right. Their cocks sprung out to greet her and she licked her lips.
Wolf's Mate Mpreg Romance Box Set Page 77
