by Jane Jamison
Wolf Packs of Fate 6
Biting Their Mate
Arizona Rich works with her hands. As the owner of a fledgling construction company, she needs men to work for her, but the men of Fate aren’t having it. What werewolf wants to have a human female as their boss?
Werewolves Devin, Collin, and Will Brannigan want to bite Arizona in all the right places. She’s stubborn and independent, but they’re certain they can bring out her softer, sexy, nature. If only she wouldn’t butt into other people’s business.
Arizona’s determination to keep a drunken man from getting behind the wheel makes her the target of a crazy werecat. She becomes the object of his obsession, putting her safety and her life in jeopardy. It’s werecat versus werewolf, with Arizona as the prize. To save her, the Brannigan brothers may have to risk not only their lives, but hers, too.
Genre: Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Paranormal, Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 26,548 words
BITING THEIR MATE
Wolf Packs of Fate 6
Jane Jamison
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
BITING THEIR MATE
Copyright © 2016 by Jane Jamison
E-book ISBN: 978-1-68295-425-6
First E-book Publication: August 2016
Cover design by Harris Channing
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DEDICATION
Dear Reader,
Welcome back to Fate, Georgia, where men are more than just men. They’re animals.
Thank you for purchasing my book,
Jane Jamison
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Epilogue
About the Author
BITING THEIR MATE
Wolf Packs of Fate 6
JANE JAMISON
Copyright © 2016
Chapter One
“Should we go over and introduce ourselves?” asked Stella Connor.
Arizona Rich silently cringed at her friend’s suggestion. The last thing she wanted to do was talk to women she didn’t know. Not that she wasn’t a friendly person but walking up to strangers and sticking out her hand wasn’t her style. She’d rather meet people in a more natural way like discussing the ripeness of fruit at the market or accidentally bumping into them on the street. “Aren’t they supposed to make the first move? You know. Like doing a welcome wagon or something?”
Krystal Riker, part of their trio of newbies to the small town of Fate, Georgia, tried not to be obvious, but her glance at the women in question was anything but subtle. In fact, it was more like a blatant full-on stare. “Arizona’s right. It’s up to them to make us welcome. We’re the new girls in town. At least, that’s how I’ve always heard it should work.”
“It seems kind of silly, though. I mean all we have to do is walk over and say hi. How hard can that be?”
Arizona tried not to smirk, but when Stella didn’t act on her own suggestion, it was difficult not to. “Apparently too hard since our butts are still glued to these stools.”
Stella shot her a look but didn’t try to contradict her. Or move.
“If you want to say hi, then go right ahead,” urged Arizona.
Thankfully, Arizona had her back to the women. When she’d walked into the Wolf’s Den bar, she’d seen Raven Reynolds, Heather Dill, Emeline Newsom, and Betsy Cramer right off the bat and had made a wide arc around their table. She wasn’t afraid of the women, despite the rumors she’d heard about them, but why risk getting sidelined? She’d come to the bar to drink a few beers with her new friends. She was happy with Krystal and Stella being her sole friends for now, especially since Krystal worked as a bartender and often gave them drinks for free.
So far, the three of them hadn’t shared much personal information. It was almost as though they’d silently agreed to take their budding friendships at a slow pace.
As far as Arizona was concerned, their pasts were just that. Their pasts. And none of her business. She certainly wasn’t in any hurry to tell them why she’d moved from Atlanta to Fate. After finding Atlanta too busy and crowded for her taste, she’d headed north and had somehow wound up in the small town. At least, that was the reason she’d given those who’d asked. The real reason was too hard to talk about.
Because she’d lived in Atlanta most of her life, she’d done her best to put the past behind her, spending the next seven years trying to piece her life back together. Yet as hard as she’d tried, driving up and down I-85 that ran through the middle of the city had taken its emotional toll on her. Every time she drove the busy highway, she was reminded of that awful night that had cost her not only her best friend but her freedom for two years. If she hadn’t been tried as a minor
and if the judge hadn’t taken pity on her, she might still be stuck in the criminal justice system, moving from juvenile detention to prison.
Fate had seemed like the perfect place to start her life over. After spending an afternoon looking around the area, she’d also decided it was the perfect place to start her own construction business. As a young girl, she’d followed her father around, learning the business and how to use power tools as well as any man. While incarcerated, she’d studied hard, passed her GED, and vowed to do what her father had never been able to do. She’d be her own boss, one way or another.
Could she make it happen in Fate? Sure, small towns tended to be conservative. That meant the locals might view a woman running a construction business as strange, but the people of Fate had hit her as being different. Not only in how they looked at the world but different in ways she couldn’t always put a finger on.
“They’re probably just regular girls like us,” offered Stella. Stella Connor worked at the Lazy Day Bed & Breakfast, but Arizona couldn’t shake the impression that Stella had the kind of training that should’ve put her in a different kind of job. There was just something about Stella that made her appear confident and ready to take on the world. That is, except whenever Arizona caught Stella looking at a child. Then her friend would lose some of her confident nature and sadness would fill her eyes. Arizona would’ve liked to have known what brought that sadness, but she wouldn’t pry. Not when she had a secret of her own.
“Oh, sure. Just regular girls. Except for having three husbands. Or should I say mates like everyone else around here does?”
The expression Krystal made was funny, causing Arizona to chuckle. She’d heard the term mate often enough since coming to Fate but had never really given it much thought. Didn’t all regions of the country have their own colloquialisms? Why should Fate be any different?
“The town sure seems to be into the ménage lifestyle.” Stella took a sip.
“Yeah. They’re into the multiple thing big time. In fact, it seems like it’s the norm more than the exception.” Was Stella into the idea, too? Arizona had thought about having multiple lovers more than once, but she wasn’t about to admit it. “So what do you girls think? Would you like having more than one man in your bed?”
Neither of her friends responded right away. Finally, Stella answered. “I think I’d like it. I mean, sure, having more than one man could get complicated, but think of the perks.”
“Are there other perks besides the sex?” Krystal’s blue eyes twinkled with excitement. “I wouldn’t mind the sexual perks at all.”
“More than one man. Hmm.” Arizona pretended as though she was considering the idea for the first time. In reality, she’d thought about it often. Yet those were only dreams, nothing she thought could ever turn into a reality. “I wonder if they use a schedule to see who gets to sleep with the woman each night.”
“Are you kidding? Why would you want them separately? If I had that kind of arrangement, they’d all sleep with me in one big bed. If you wanted to have them one at a time, you could fool around with them individually during the day.”
“Wow. Listen to you.” Krystal tucked her shoulder-length brown hair behind her ear. “Two or three—”
“Or more.” Four or five wouldn’t be bad.
Krystal nodded. “Ooh, yes. More men in bed with you at the same time. Now that’s what I call a perk.”
“I sure wouldn’t turn it down.” Stella seemed to be getting into the whole idea as she leaned forward, her face alight. “And think of all the things on your honey-do list that would get completed. One man to mow the lawn, one man to give the house a fresh coat of paint, and—”
“One man to help look after the rug rats.” Arizona shrugged at their surprised looks. “Although it might be hard to tell which man was the real father to which kid.”
“Who cares which one is the biological father?”
Really, Stella? I guess you’re less conservative than I thought you were.
“Each of the kids would be every man’s child. All the men would be their dads. How else could it work?” asked Stella.
“It wouldn’t matter to me. There’s nothing sexier than a man holding a baby.”
Arizona took another sip, silently agreeing with Krystal. A man could look sexy doing a lot of things, but holding a baby had to be in the top ten.
Babies.
She’d long ago given up that particular dream. Finding a man who would love her despite her past would be a small miracle, but no man would want to have a child with a convicted murderer. As it usually did whenever she thought about what had happened, sadness threatened to take her. And as she usually tried to do, she shook it off, putting it out of her mind. At least, for now. The sadness would come back later, waking her in the middle of the night. She’d spent more than one night crying in bed, her knees hugged to her chest.
“Okay, that’s enough talk about multiple men. The whole thing is depressing considering my lack of male companionship lately.” Talking about men and babies only made her situation worse. “Let’s talk about something else. Have you noticed how their eyes change?”
Krystal stabbed a finger at her. “Yeah, you’re right. I’ve sure noticed it. I’ve even asked a few people, but they all kind of shrug and say they haven’t noticed. Either that or they blow me off in another way. It’s all very strange, right?”
“Yeah, it’s all very strange.” Arizona checked around her, trying to see the eye color of those people closest to them. “Maybe it’s something in the water. If so, we should start drinking only bottled water.”
“Nowadays, it’s safer to be drinking bottled water wherever you live,” added Stella.
“Talk about depressing.” Krystal eyed the glass of water she’d ordered along with her beer. “We’re probably just being silly. Besides, if it is in the water, then it’s too late for me. I’ve already had a lot of the water straight from the tap. Shoot, my eyes should be changing soon. Let me know if I grow a second nose.”
Arizona laughed. The one thing she could count on with Krystal was a good laugh. “The eye color thing is just one of the many mysteries of Fate. We’ll probably never know why any of it happens. Small towns are different than big cities. Hell, that’s probably why no one will give us any answers. They don’t know why, either.”
“I guess there are stranger things in this world than odd eye color.” Stella glanced around just like Arizona had.
“There are a lot of stranger things in this world.” And a lot worse things, too. No, don’t think about it.
“Yeah, it’s kind of like having a toe fetish.”
Arizona choked on her drink. She certainly hadn’t expected to hear that.
But Krystal wasn’t finished. “Ooh. Or eating a blanket. I saw this woman on a reality show last night who had an addiction to eating blankets. Can you imagine doing something so strange? She had to keep buying new blankets because she kept eating the one she had. She even ate her mother’s.”
“I’d rather not think about that kind of thing.” Where does she come up with this stuff? “People eat all kinds of weird things and still survive. It’s almost like they’re not human.” She shuddered. “Let’s change the subject.”
Arizona followed Stella’s look back to the women at the other table. What was so damn fascinating about them, anyway? True, the rumors were kind of wild, but she doubted they were true. She’d even heard a rumor about men changing into wolves.
Yeah, right. And the women turn into bloodsuckers. Small towns and their gossip. Wow.
“Their husbands, mates, or whatever you want to call them are hot, too. Some women are just plain lucky, I guess.”
Arizona heard Krystal sigh. Just as she’d thought. The conversation had gone full circle. Krystal’s gaze swept over the women then shifted toward the bar.
Dane and Eric Hill, two of the three men Krystal had crushes on, were drinking with friends. They were great-looking men, as a lot of the men in
Fate were, but they weren’t as hot as the Brannigan brothers. She barely managed to hold back a sigh of her own.
“Have you ever waited on those girls?” asked Stella.
Sometimes Arizona envied Krystal’s job as a bartender at the Wolf’s Den. If nothing else, Krystal’s job put her in a position to meet more people in a not-so-in-your-face way. She’d love any excuse to talk to Devin, Collin, and Will Brannigan. Yet, so far, their conversations had been anything but stimulating. At least not stimulating to her mind. Maybe that was because her body was too busy concentrating on their muscles, their steel-cut jaws, and their penetrating eyes.
“Not yet. But I’ve poured a few drinks for their guys. You should hear how the Hardwick men go on about Raven. You’d think the woman was made of gold,” answered Krystal.
Arizona shifted her attention back to the Brannigan men.
Devin Brannigan had more than his fair share of confidence, probably due to the fact that he was the oldest at thirty-five. With his short brown hair and piercing blue eyes, he was the epitome of the kind of man she would’ve imagined working as a firefighter or policeman. Instead, he, along with his brothers, owned the Rising Moon Ranch a few miles outside Fate. She could easily picture him on back on of a chestnut horse, white cowboy hat on his head and worn boots in the stirrups.
Collin Brannigan, the middle brother, looked a lot like Devin. He had the same hard jawline with short brown hair. His eyes, however, were the soulful chocolate color she’d always found enticing. Whenever she looked into his eyes, she felt as though she was drowning in a pool of primal sexual awareness. He wasn’t as tall as Devin, perhaps even four inches shorter, but considering that Devin was six feet four inches, Collin could hardly be called short.
