by Maren Smith
“Tan.” I held up a lock of my honey-colored hair to show him what my wolf looked like. “Similar to this.”
“Show me.”
I didn’t even know if he put command in the words, but my body literally transformed before the thought made it to my brain. One minute, I was naked between them in human form, the next, my she-wolf was on her back, showing her belly to her new alpha.
“Oh fuck, she’s gorgeous,” Ben rumbled, rubbing my belly as Gibson stroked my ears and face.
“The most beautiful wolf I’ve ever seen,” Gibson agreed. “Shift, babygirl.”
In seconds, I was back, Gibson’s body on top of mine, his lips crashing down. He kissed me with the ferocity of a claiming male until I was breathless. Kissing me until his canines descended, and he had to throw himself off me to keep from biting.
“Yeah,” I panted, dizzy with lust. “Marking my face would definitely be a mating foul.”
Ben chuckled. “Kitten, you don’t understand how hard it is to hold back.”
I put my hand between my legs to alleviate the ache there and felt how wet and swollen I was. “When is my reward?” I heard the pout in my words.
“A few more questions,” Ben pressed. “When can we meet your family?”
That one took me by surprise although I guessed I should have expected it. They weren’t from around here and wanted to claim me. We’d essentially be merging families.
“It’s just me and my mom,” I admitted.
Gibson came close again, his wolf under control. He ran the backs of his knuckles down my arm. “Your dad’s dead?”
“My dad left,” I snapped, a little of my teenage bitterness leaking through in the words.
Both males drew back slightly. It was unusual for a male to abandon his mate and pup, which had made it all the more humiliating for my mom and me. We hadn’t been shunned, but it had been embarrassing, nonetheless. It still was.
“That’s why you won’t let us claim you yet,” Ben said softly, stroking a finger over my bare leg.
Something flip-flopped in my chest like a pancake. Was it because of my dad leaving and not because they were practically strangers? If my dad hadn’t been an abandoning dick, would I already be halfway to Wyoming with them by now?
Maybe so.
“You don’t trust us to take care of you,” Gibson added.
I looked up at him. “Why should I? We just met.”
He settled back beside me. “Because we’re your mates. We know it. You know it. Your she-wolf knows it. It’s that simple.”
“But not for you,” Ben added.
I didn’t expect the rush of emotion that came with their words. I was a strong woman. I’d basically taken care of my mom since I was sixteen. I didn’t see myself as a victim or mope around—I stayed cheerful and positive. But suddenly, tears filled my eyes. All the tears I’d kept in when my dad abandoned us.
“I don’t need you to take care of me.”
Gibson stroked his fingers through his beard. “You’re a brave girl. Need? Maybe not. Want? Definitely. You just need to let go, and we’ll help you carry all your burdens. Your daddies will take care of everything.”
Males handed over burdens. They didn’t take them away. Here were Gibson and Ben telling me the opposite. “Yeah, just like my dad? As if.” I pressed my lips together, realizing what I’d said aloud. “Oh, fate,” I choked, pressing the heels of my hands to my eyes to hide the tears.
Gibson peeled them away as Ben molded his body against mine, his arm circling my waist where we all sat propped against the wall behind my futon. “Don’t ever hide your tears from us, Shelby,” Gibson said. “Your pain is ours.”
I’d heard a she-wolf’s tears sobered her mate. It was one of nature’s ways of balancing the power differential. It prevented or reduced domestic abuse in partnerships that lasted a lifetime. Ben and Gibson crowded close, enfolded me between their bodies. Sheltered me. Protected me.
Gibson licked one of my tears then leaned his forehead against my temple. Ben massaged the back of my neck.
“We’re not your father. We won’t ever leave you,” Ben promised.
“Never,” Gibson swore.
Shivers of recognition ran through me. I felt certain they spoke the truth.
Why, then, was it still so hard to trust?
Chapter Seven
GIBSON
I opened Shelby’s front door as I carried bags of carry-out from the local diner. There was an assortment of pastries, over-easy eggs, sausage and potato hash, pancakes, bacon, omelettes and three coffees.
“Thank fate!” Shelby raced forward in nothing but a cute pair of panties, her gorgeous body and colorful tattoos on display. Ben mock-chased her and smacked her ass with a predatory growl.
My dick turned to marble again at the sight of her. So open, so fucking hot. I wasn’t going to get any sustenance if her tits kept bouncing like that.
We’d made our mate come four more times during the night, and I was still horny for her. Of course, we hadn’t marked her yet.
I wouldn’t last long if I waited too much longer. At my age as an alpha, being around my mate without marking her was a recipe for moon madness, for sure.
Ben knew I was in trouble. The last time I’d come last night, he’d had to tackle me off her. I’d been centimeters away from sinking my teeth into that sweet flesh of hers as she screamed my name and her pussy pulsed all around my dick.
We needed to convince her to trust us quickly. She-wolves usually picked up her mate’s scent and were immediately eager for his bite. It was in their nature. She knew bite and claim came first, trust and connection followed later.
Shelby’s father had done a fucking number on her. I’d find out his name from her alpha, and Ben and I would hunt him down and finish him for what he’d done. Not just to Shelby but her mother, too.
Despite the daddy-dom thing we had going, we weren’t going to be a replacement father to her. We’d be her mates, treat her as an equal. We wanted her to be the mother of our pups, the female alpha of our pack. And we’d be the best damn fathers we could be for our pups.
In the bedroom, though? We’ll be her dirty daddies because that’s what turns her on. And it will work because we’re the kind of males who love to protect and take care of and pamper the hell out of our female in and out of the bedroom.
Shelby grabbed the bags from me and ripped into the food. I smiled. I’d been responsible for my pack ever since my father was killed trying to subdue his best friend who’d succumbed to moon madness, but I’d never had this kind of pleasure at providing. It was a fucking priviledge. One I’d longed for since the first time I beat off as a pre-teen.
This was different than the responsibility that weighed on my shoulders. This was only satisfaction. Watching her shovel the food I’d brought into her hungry little mouth made me feel as tall as a mountain.
And watching her do it in just skimpy panties—we’d have to make a no-clothes rule for our mate when in the house—made me hard as nails. I took a seat at the tiny dining table.
“Tell us about the tattoos.” I ran the back of my fingers over the colorful artwork.
She took a drink then looked down at them. Shrugged. “I got my first one at sixteen.” She pointed to a dragonfly that was on the inside of her right wrist. “I know, too young by human standards, but it was a shifter tattoo artist, obviously, so they don’t follow the human laws.”
Due to our healing abilities, tattooing a shifter would be an impossibility if we didn’t mix a hint of silver or salt into the ink to make the wound stay around long enough to absorb the color.
“You obviously didn’t stop at the one.” Ben took a sip of his coffee.
She shrugged again. “I like them. They are a reminder of how I felt in that moment.”
The combination of all her moments was a wild mix, just like she was. A dichotomy of feelings, moods. Hot and cold, vibrant and… based on her history, dim.
“They’ll
always be with me.”
Ah, the crux of it. Ben stood and went over to look out the window over the kitchen sink. He felt as I did. Anger. Fury. Rage at the depth of her hurt feelings. Her abandonment issues affected everything she did.
I took her hand, and she stood, came over to stand between my spread knees. “Babygirl, got room on there for our names? We’re permanent, too.”
She looked down at herself but didn’t say anything.
“I’m thinking my name here.” I circled my finger around her right nipple. “Ben’s name could go here.” I moved to the same spot above her other one.
She gasped then wiggled out of my hold. “That would mean letting another male see my nipples again. I thought that was off the table now.” She tossed me a saucy grin.
“Ah, she’s more obedient than she pretends,” I said to Ben as I caught her and pulled her to my lap. “Good.” I nuzzled behind her ear. “We only want to give you good-girl spankings.”
She writhed over my cock, the scent of her sweet nectar telling us she loved that idea.
“Speaking of spankings,” Ben rumbled, “We need to get that ass ready for claiming. So we can both be inside you when we mark you with our teeth.”
Shelby’s muscles lifted over my cock and a shiver ran through her.
“Oh fuck.” I shoved her panties to the side and sank two fingers inside her dripping cunt. She tossed her head back on my shoulder. “Did you just come, kitten?”
Her muscles squeezed again, this time around my fingers, that tight little pussy milking my digits. My vision sharpened, and the serum for marking her flesh coated my teeth, but I shoved the urge back down as I pumped my fingers into her roughly.
“Oh fates!” She pushed her taut nipples toward the ceiling as she finished coming.
Ben and I watched her, fascinated, as she recovered. Her lids fluttered back open, and she lifted her lolling head from my shoulder. “It’s like the full moon times fifty,” she said with awe. “I can’t seem to get enough.”
“You have no fucking idea what you’re doing to us, kitten. How you’ve gotten under our skin.” My control was starting to snap. “I have an idea.” I lifted her from my lap. “Where’s that tattoo artist of yours?”
“Alan? He lives in town.” She cupped her own breasts like she was thinking about my suggested location for our names. “Why?”
“Call him. We’re going to tattoo your name on our bodies.”
“Fuck yes,” Ben agreed.
“Prove to you we’re yours,” I said. “Forever.”
Chapter Eight
SHELBY
Ben pulled his shirt off and sat down backwards in one of Alan’s kitchen chairs. “I want Shelby’s name in big letters across my back,” he said.
Alan, a fifty-something wiry half-breed who never shifted but was still part of the pack, tipped his head to the side to consider. “Colors?” His regular profession was as a clay artist, but his ink skills had prompted him to become one of the most sought-after shifter tattoo artists in the West.
Ben looked at me. “What do you think, kitten?”
Alan snorted. “Never heard anyone call a she-wolf kitten before.”
“I like it,” I told him. Funny how I was already defending my mates. Claiming them. I did like the pet name. It made me feel innocent and cared for. “I think blue.”
“Blue it is.” Alan sketched out the letters on a large piece of paper first for scale and spacing then prepared his pen with the ink and a little silver dust.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked. Their decision felt as impulsive as all my decisions to get tattoos had been. I didn’t regret any of mine, but I’d also never tattooed someone’s name on my skin.
“You’re our mate. I want everyone to know,” Ben growled.
Alan looked from Gibson to Ben. “Our mate? You guys from that pack in Wyoming?”
Gibson gave a silent nod.
Alan looked impressed. “Whoa.” He glanced at me. “Finding your mate and realizing it’s two males… how are you taking this?”
Gibson sat in a chair beside Ben and pulled me onto his lap. It seemed to be my new home. Not that I was complaining. His body was sturdy and solid beneath me, his hold gentle.
“Um…”
“She’s still adjusting,” Gibson supplied. He brought his nose to my nape and inhaled deeply, tickling my skin with his beard.
I wasn’t sure if Alan had the ability to scent that they hadn’t marked me yet. The truth was that my resistance was futile. I couldn’t fight fate. Well, I could, but it would mean sending Gibson to his death because of moon madness, and I obviously would never let that happen.
Besides, I didn’t want to resist my mates. The more time I spent with them, the happier I felt. A deep happiness I hadn’t believed was possible. It had me believing that maybe biology was enough. Maybe I would get my happily ever after, despite my instinct to duck and run from it when it was looking me in the face.
“Where should I have your name tattooed?” Gibson asked, holding out his arms and hands for inspection. “I want somewhere more visible. Where everyone will see it, every day.”
“Right here,” I squeezed his right biceps, which were rock hard and beautiful.
As Alan finalized the sketch for Ben’s artwork, I settled into Gibson’s lap and just… savored. Their scent was heady and powerful swirling around me. I had no idea it could be so potent. That they could be so… virile. Powerful, yet gentle with me. Caring. Concerned. Not just that but a whole lot naughty. God, what they’d done to me. With me. My pussy clenched in eagerness for more. The idea of their kind of claiming, when they fucked me at the same time.
I mentally fanned myself. They’d done some ass play with me, getting me ready for having more than just a finger or two inside me. Their dicks were big, and it was going to be—
“What has you squirming and sighing like that?” Gibson whispered.
I blushed and didn’t say anything. Alan, with his shifter ears, would hear anything we said, even over the buzz of the needle.
I just shook my head, and he nipped my ear lobe. I’d never fooled around with a guy who had a beard, and it was soft and ticklish. Everywhere.
“Later, kitten. Whatever you’re thinking, we’ll do it to you later. Promise.”
Gibson inhaled, and I felt his chest rumble against my side. Yeah, he’d just figured out how wet I was.
My phone rang, and I looked down at the screen. “It’s my mom.” I slid off Gibson’s lap. “I’ll be right back.”
“Tell her we look forward to meeting her,” he rumbled in his deep baritone.
Butterflies’ wings flapped in my stomach. This was really happening. I was going to bring these two shifters home to meet my mom. To introduce my new mates.
“Hi, Mom.” I stepped outside for some privacy.
“Hey, sweetie, how’s it going?” My mom sounded tired. Working two jobs had aged her before her time. But she was strong in spirit and always had a smile, even in the toughest of times.
I never really questioned why she never took another mate. I loved her with all my heart. She was open and generous, caring and giving. There had to be a shifter out there who she’d be interested in. Lots of shifters never found their one true mate and settled down with someone compatible. It was more common than finding your true mate, honestly.
Thinking my mom should do so seriously hadn’t crossed my mind before now because I hadn’t had mates of my own. Now, though, I could see that my father was one kind of shifter, and Gibson and Ben were another.
She deserved someone to take care of her. Besides me.
“Mmm, good. Really good.” I stretched in the sunlight. My body felt worked over. The soreness disappeared immediately, since I was a shifter, but I still felt traces of their touch. I’d been fucked hard and very, very thoroughly. Not with one guy, but two. My heart skipped a beat thinking about my mates about how they wanted to claim me. Yes, I was wary of them still, but I knew deep
down they were mine. And I was theirs.
I couldn’t wait to tell her. While she hadn’t said it outright, I’d seen her look longingly at little Lizzie and Lily, the new babies in the pack. She wanted grandpups, and I was the only one who was going to give them to her. It had been a far-off dream, until now.
If I hadn’t made the guys use condoms the night before, it might actually be a reality. I set my hand on my stomach at the possibility. It wasn’t as daunting a thought as it had been not even twelve hours earlier. A pup. Man, I had it bad.
“I’ve got news,” I began.
“They want you to lead the children’s program at ski school next season, don’t they?”
I’d mentioned the possibility to her a few weeks ago when the nearby resort closed for the spring. The job would be good, and there’d be an increase in pay, but it didn’t start until next winter.
“I haven’t heard yet.” I walked out to Ben’s truck and leaned against it. “What’s up? Tell me what’s going on with you first.”
“Ugh. My news isn’t good. I lost the job at the motel.”
Oh shit. I froze in place, waiting to hear the rest.
“The boss’s niece is graduating college, and she’s returning to Cooper Valley. She’s taking over for me.”
“Taking over?” I asked, steaming. “That means you’re going to be doing something else. They gave your spot away.”
“I have two weeks left, so that’s good. I’ll have that time to find something else. Maybe in Meade.”
I frowned. “Mom, you work at the grocery store the rest of the time. When are you going to look? And Meade?” I began to pace the cracked sidewalk. “That’s thirty miles from here. Your car can’t take that kind of mileage round trip every day.”
I’d paid for new tires over the winter because they’d been bald and unsafe. But that didn’t make the engine reliable, and there wasn’t money for a replacement.
“Something will come up. It always does.”
I plopped down to sit on the curb and rested my forehead in my hand. “This sucks.”
