Claimed by Love

by Skye Jones

  With that to look forward to, Kayley couldn’t wipe the smile off her face the whole time she took to get dressed.

  When they entered the kitchen, the three other shifters stopped what they were doing and turned to stare as one. Julie came over first, sniffing at Kayley and making an odd little sound in the back of her throat. She rubbed her face against Kayley’s neck and smiled against her skin.

  “Welcome to the pack,” she said when she finally pulled away.

  Will ambled over, his expression cautious, but he gave her a big hug. He sighed into her hair, and she understood just how much of an ordeal everything must have been for him when first turned, with no one to lean on. He didn’t say anything, just glanced nervously at Luke before backing into the corner and dropping his head. She wanted to follow him, but Taylor sauntered over and blocked her path.

  He stood in front of her, before dropping fluidly to his knees, surprising her so much she gave a little hiccup. He threw his arms around her legs and rested his huge head on her thighs for a brief moment, before standing and hauling her into his arms. He spun her around and kissed her full on the mouth, ignoring the low growls emanating from both Luke and Sean. As he dropped her to the floor he grinned wide. “Well, I see you’re thoroughly one of us now and even more thoroughly claimed. You reek of these two.”

  “Yeah, well keep your lips to yourself in the future,” Sean muttered.

  “I only wanted to give Kayley here a welcome kiss.” Taylor blinked, all wide-eyed innocence.

  “Once.” Luke held a finger up at him as he walked past to the dining table.

  “Come again, boss?” Taylor whipped his head around and began to follow Luke.

  The table was set for breakfast and the smell of fresh coffee wafted through the open plan living space.

  Luke threw a casual glance over his shoulder. “You get one pass to do what you just did. Next time I’ll rip your balls off and you’ll never need to worry about finding a mate of your own.”

  “Ouch!” Taylor winced and covered his groin with both massive hands. “Understood.”

  When Luke looked away Taylor rolled his eyes at Kayley and mouthed, “alpha males.”

  Luke’s head shot up and he held one finger up at Taylor again, before winking at Kayley, lips twitching.

  Kayley got the impression that while most of what Luke said was in jest, he really wouldn’t be happy if Taylor ever did such a thing again, and the big man knew it, too. Their joking covered a basic truth, even amongst the pack there were boundaries regarding how the team touched one another, and Taylor had just crossed one.

  She joined Luke at the table and Taylor brought them both steaming cups of fresh coffee, the smell even more divine close up.

  “Will?” Luke looked over to her cousin, still stood alone in the corner of the kitchen.

  “Y…yes.”

  “Come, sit. Eat with us.”

  “Okay.” Will sat down at the table, next to Kayley.

  The silence strained Kayley’s every last nerve, when it almost got too much to bear, Luke spoke up.

  “Will. You’re not in trouble here, okay? What happened, it’s my fault. I take the blame. You weren’t ready to come here. The way you were turned meant it was far too soon to expect you to cope in a big city like Miami. Not with all the feelings you were dealing with. Never mind the physical need to turn.

  “It’s my fault not yours, I should have said no when you wanted to come down here for Kayley and worked out another way. I don’t want you worried about your place in this pack. You’re still part of our family…if you want to be? No one here blames you for what occurred, and you shouldn’t blame yourself. If things go wrong in this pack, the buck stops with me.”

  Sean put down his coffee cup and cleared his throat. “I love you Luke, so I’m biased, but you’re the best alpha. You need to know that. So many leaders look to others when things go wrong, pass blame onto the pack. I lived with such a man for the longest time. What happened here, some of it might have been your fault, but some of it was mine.”

  He glanced at Kayley and she smiled, urging him to go on.

  “However some of it was Will’s fault, too. The buck might stop with you, but we all messed up one way or another. The thing is, we all need one another, so let’s move on from it.”

  Sean reached for Will, placed his hand on Will’s arm, the gesture touching Kayley. “Please, don’t worry about it anymore. I want for you to find the joy in becoming a shifter, not feel crippling guilt and anxiety. When we get home I’ll take you running out in the snow, far up north, and you won’t believe how freeing it is. I’ll teach you how to control when you turn, and you’ll realize you’ve been given such a chance. Instead of it seeming like a burden you can’t control it will become the incredible gift it is. I promise you, we’ll get there.”

  Will wiped at his eyes as tears spilled over. “I’ve made such a mess of things. I’m so sorry. That sounds wonderful, Sean.”

  Kayley couldn’t bear to see her cousin so down. Will never cried. Even as a child, he used to stand there stoically, biting his lip if he’d hurt himself. Now the tears tracking his cheeks made her heart ache. She reached over to him and hugged him tight. “You’ve not messed up. I know what you’re going through, now. This is huge. Everything is so incredibly different. I feel reborn into a new body. But for me…I’ve got my connection to Luke and Sean, and it allows me to sense their energy, which calms me. It’s as if…this is going to sound trite, but it really is as if their souls are connected to mine. I can’t read their minds or anything, but I carry them deep within me. If I didn’t have that, if I woke from getting shot to find my whole world so unfamiliar, then I’d struggle like hell with this.”

  “You know what?” Luke kicked his chair back and stood as he drained the last of his coffee. “Let’s all get packed, so we can get the fuck out of here and back home.”

  “God, yes.” Will looked like might start crying all over again.

  “I’ve kind of had enough of this place, sun or no. I can’t wait to get home.” Sean shuddered as he spoke and looked down at the table for a moment, recent events clearly weighing heavy upon him.

  “Me too.” Julie broke the heavy silence. “The humidity is playing havoc with my hair.” Laughter followed her statement and Kayley wanted to kiss her for lightening the tone.

  “Kayley?” Luke walked over and stood behind her chair as he placed his hands on her shoulders, massaging the muscle with his thumbs. “You said you’d come with us. If we come and help you pack, can you leave today? We can return for the remainder of your things when Will is more settled, and we’ve taken some time to regroup. How does that sound?”

  “I don’t have much really. All the furniture came with the apartment. If someone can help me pack my clothes and artwork, I’ll be good to go. As far as work goes, Adam’s my friend and he’ll understand. I cleared my books for a couple of weeks, so I don’t have any clients due in. I’m self-employed and as long as I’m not messing customers around and giving his shop a bad rep he’ll be cool. My half of the rent is paid up for the next three months, so he won’t be in the lurch financially. He always has people desperate to work with him, so he won’t have trouble finding a new artist to take my place. I’ll miss him, though.” Her voice cracked. ‘But I think…” She paused, collecting herself as emotions threatened to overwhelm her. “I think I’d like to go home.”

  * * * *

  Sean laughed as he rounded the corner. “How long is it going to take you to get used to this place?”

  Kayley stood glancing around the second-floor corridor, brow furrowed, looking lost for the third time in a week. She speared her fingers through her hair and sighed.

  They’d been back three weeks, and Sean still couldn’t believe how wonderful it felt to be home with his two mates. He loved Kayley as deeply as he loved Luke, which he wouldn’t have thought possible. It might be a different kind of love, but it wasn’t any lesser for it. In fact, Kayley s
eemed to touch a place within him he’d not been aware of until she came along.

  Luke protected Sean. Took care of him. Kayley provided Sean with the chance to protect and care for someone for a change, and he relished the role.

  What really amused Sean, though, was the dynamic between Kayley and Luke. She somehow managed to boss Luke around in a way no one else dared. He’d even let her send him for a nap the other day, when he’d been working for ten hours straight. He allowed her to remind him to eat, and most astonishing of all, Luke let her manage the team’s workload so they weren’t taking on too much at once.

  He pulled her close to him, smiling at her.

  “This place is like a maze.” She nuzzled into his neck even as she grumbled.

  “It’s designed that way on purpose. Luke likes to know that if our compound ever became compromised, those breaking in would quickly find themselves confused and lost.”

  “Makes sense, I suppose. But it sucks when you’re lost for the millionth time,” she sighed, but Sean could hear the love in her voice.

  “Have I told you how happy you make me?” he asked.

  “Not today. I think you told me yesterday, and you definitely told me the day before. But today? Nope.”

  “Well, you do. You make me so happy. And you make Luke happy. I’ve never seen him this chilled out before. It’s like…” Sean searched for the words. “I know he loved me from the get-go, but he was still searching…you know, for you. Now he’s got both of us, he seems able to truly relax.”

  Kayley kissed his neck as he held her. “Shall we go wake him up together? I sent him for a nap.”

  “Another one!” Sean’s voice cracked as he laughed. “You’re one bossy lady.”

  “Well.” Her voice dropped an octave as she looked up at him through heavy-lidded eyes, the deep blue of her irises as mesmerizing as the depths of the ocean. “You know how I like my men to keep me entertained of an evening and he looked tired. I want you both fresh and raring to go when we hit the sack.”

  “You’re insatiable,” he growled at her.

  “You made me this way. Literally. It’s a she-wolf thing.”

  “Come on then. Let’s go get our big, bad alpha.”

  Luke didn’t seem too pleased to be woken at first. He grouched and grumbled as they tickled him and cajoled him. But when Kayley whipped off her T-shirt to reveal she wore no bra underneath his eyes snapped wide open and his mouth tugged into a smile.

  His smile turned to a frown as she slapped his hand away when he reached out for her. “Ah, ah.” She shook her head. “Come on. You need to get up. Your mother’s coming over in a while with two of her pack enforcers. We need to make a good impression.”

  “She loves you already.” Luke yawned and stretched long arms above his shoulders. “She’s also fallen for Will in a big way. If he ever gets bored of our little group, he’ll have a home in my parents pack.”

  “Do you ever miss it? A bigger pack I mean.”

  Luke lifted his eyebrows at her, but Sean knew where it came from.

  On first meeting Luke’s birth pack, Kayley had confessed to him she worried Luke missed being part of such a big community.

  “Honestly? No.” Luke stood and walked over to the dresser, gloriously naked and unselfconscious. Sean let his gaze trail over all the sun-kissed skin on show, and his dick took a decided interest in the view as Luke carried on talking.

  “I’m not very patient with politics. You run a large pack and you’re forever sorting out minor disputes, petty rivalries, and the rest. I’ve not the time, or the patience, for it.

  “Our work means we need to be a very small, mobile group, but even if I didn’t do this sort of work, I wouldn’t want a larger pack. I’m more than happy with what I’ve got. And my parents’ family is always there for us. For any of us. We can visit anytime; go run on their land, eat with them, sleep there. It’s an open invitation to any of my pack from theirs.”

  “Plus there’s always loads of pups over at Luke’s parents’ place,” Sean said with a shudder. He found them so annoying it limited his visits. And for him, the large pack reminded him too much of the one he’d lived in for so long with James as his alpha. He needed the security of his small group. Often when Luke went to visit his parents, Sean would stay behind for the day and catch up on paperwork. He loved them but could only take them in small doses.

  “You might want pups of your own one day.” Luke pulled a dark blue T-shirt on, covering the skin Sean so lusted after.

  Sean opened his mouth to reply when he saw Kayley’s face. Her eyes darted around the room as if trapped, her pulse pounding in her throat. He sniffed the air, and her fear hit him head on.

  “Sweetheart? What is it?” Sean watched her carefully, picking up on the distress roiling inside of his mate, but having no clue as to the cause.

  “Nothing.” She smiled, but her lips trembled as they widened, and her hands shook.

  “Honey, don’t do that.” Luke’s calm voice hid a core of steel. “Something’s been troubling you on and off. I keep picking up on it. You need to tell us. No secrets, remember?”

  “Oh, God.” She covered her face with her hands and began to sob softly.

  “Kayley?” Luke’s strained voice held real fear, the same fear that wrapped icy tendrils around Sean’s heart as he witnessed her tears. “What is it? Aren’t you happy? Do you want to leave?”

  She looked at them both through wet lashes for a brief second, her deep blue eyes glittering, before she broke the contact and stared back down at the floor. “No! It’s not you guys, not as such. I’m afraid you might want me to leave when you find out, though.” More sobs wracked her body.

  “You can tell us.” Sean took hold of her hand and pulled it into his chest, holding on tight.

  “I meant to tell you…before. Before you turned me and claimed me, I mean. But you got taken by McFarlane.” She looked at Sean. “And it all hit me so hard, and when you came back to us I forgot all about it in my happiness and relief. I wanted Luke to turn me so bad everything else went out the window. But when we got back here, it hit me. I’d hid something from you, not on purpose, but I’ve been lying to you by omission ever since. I’ve been so damn scared.”

  “Whatever it is, sweetheart, we can work it out.” Luke took hold of her other hand, held it tight as he stood by her.

  With Sean next to her on the bed and Luke standing beside her, Kayley appeared small and fragile, sandwiched between their larger bodies. He wanted to wrap her in cotton wool and never let anything hurt her.

  He looked down at where Luke held onto her. Sean loved seeing Luke’s big, rough hand holding Kayley’s smaller one. It hit him right in the gut.

  Kayley still didn’t make eye contact with either of them. She stared down at the floor, sobbing quietly.

  “You’re really scaring us, honey.” Sean let go of her hand and tipped her chin up.

  She closed her eyes but finally began to speak. “When I was attacked, there was a lot of damage to my internal organs. One of th…the things that got damaged were my reproductive organs. The surgical team did their best, but it’s a long shot I’ll ever have kids.” Fresh tears squeezed out of her eyes to pour down her face.

  “I’m so sorry.” Luke’s face tightened.

  “Why sorry?” Kayley’s voice was a bare whisper. “Sorry, because it changes things?”

  Sean didn’t care whether or not Kayley could have kids, he wanted her for who she was, not as some broodmare, but he didn’t know how Luke would feel about it. He realized with a jolt that he didn’t know everything about the man. This was one thing they’d never really discussed.

  “Honey.” Luke sat on the bed on Kayley’s other side and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sorry that on top of everything that piece of shit did, you’ve had to deal with this too. I’m sorry you’ve been scared all these weeks we’ve been back, and didn’t feel able to tell us. I’m sorry it’s something that hurts you. But no, it doesn’t c
hange things.”

  Luke looked at Sean over Kayley’s shoulder, his stormy gray eyes full of pain. “I don’t know how you could think it would,” he murmured into Kayley’s hair.

  “What about you?” She finally looked up and focused on Sean, her face a blank, belied only by the rapid pulse fluttering high in her throat.

  “I feel exactly the same way Luke does. It doesn’t change my love for you one bit.”

  “How can it not?” She pulled her hands free. Spoke without looking at either of them. “I most likely can’t provide you with children. What’s the point of taking a female mate who can’t provide heirs? Since I’ve been living in your world, I’ve seen how family oriented shifters are. How important the pack is. Part of that is ensuring the pack survives, through the next generation, which I can’t do. I’m…faulty goods.”

  Luke shot off the bed. In three long strides he stood by the window, glaring out, face thunderous. After taking a few deep breaths, he turned back to the bed and, taking hold of Kayley’s arms, pulled her up.

  “Don’t. You. Ever. Say such a thing about yourself again.” Luke ground out the words as he held onto her; his harsh tone in striking contrast with the tender way his hands stroked up and down her arms. The fact he touched her so gently, while obviously struggling with his emotions, made Sean melt a little inside. “You are not faulty goods. You are the most incredible woman I’ve ever met and I don’t care if you can’t have kids. I care if it hurts you, but it honestly makes no difference to me. I haven’t thought seriously about kids. They certainly wouldn’t mix well with the work we do…and if we ever did decide it’s for us, there are others ways to have them.”

  “Oh, yeah. I can see it now. Social services would be ecstatic to let a threesome adopt a kid.” Kayley’s eyes were still full of tears, but she smiled a little as she looked at Luke.

  “It might not surprise you to know we don’t use social services.” Sean stroked a finger down her arm. “Sadly, lots of shifter young need homes. Their parents get killed in territory wars in the old countries far too frequently. But like Luke said, it’s not even something we’ve thought about. Our work isn’t easy and it’s dangerous. But if it’s something you want, there’s always a way.”