by R. E. Butler
Eryx rubbed her back while Ethan cuddled her close on his lap on the small couch in the bathroom. There was a knock at the door and it opened slowly, and Lisa stepped inside. “We’re packing up, we’ll get everything to go and eat at the farmhouse. Whenever you’re ready.”
“Thanks, Lisa.” Ethan sighed.
When they were alone again, Eryx tilted her face up and wiped her cheeks gently with a cool, damp paper towel. “She’s just jealous, love.”
She gave him a disbelieving look. Ethan added, “No, he’s right. Not just jealous but selfish, too. She wanted you to be so miserable that you’d be begging to go back to Allen. She clearly misses you, baby, and can’t stand that you’re content.”
She took a few deep, calming breaths. She hated crying. It made their already compassionate natures go haywire trying to soothe and protect her. It was a bad night to have a meltdown. In just three more hours, they were going to leave her alone in their home until tomorrow afternoon at 3:30. She’d felt their tension when Cades had insulted her on the patio. They’d wanted to protect her from Cades. It had warred with them to walk away from Cades without saying something to stand up for her. In the end, taking care of her had won over their instincts to tell Cades off and that was probably for the best. Then Jason would get involved, and well, no one wanted a showdown between the wolf pack and the mountain lion pride.
“Let’s go home.” She said with a voice as calm as she could muster.
Outside, Eryx tossed the keys to the jeep at his father. “Will you drive us, dad? We’d like to sit in the back with her, together.”
“You bet.”
Sandwiched between them, she rested her head on Eryx’s strong shoulder and held Ethan’s hand tightly. There was no safer or more comforting place for her than with her mates.
“You know the old saying,” James met her eyes in the rearview for a moment, “that you can’t go home again? I think your friend was counting on you to still rely on her for support, to need a place to call home because you weren’t happy where you put your roots down.”
“I don’t know why she would rather me be miserable, though.”
“I think she really misses you.” Ethan said, stroking the top of her hand with his thumb.
“She can’t miss me and still be happy for me?” She snorted.
Eryx tipped her chin until she was looking into his eyes. “You know, I think more than missing you, I think she was jealous. Of your life now and how well you've done without the pack and what you've found with us.”
“She’s using the fact that we’re cats as something to pick at, but I think it’s more likely that she’s upset that you found what she didn’t by leaving the only thing she ever wanted to be part of.” Ethan offered, bringing her hand to his mouth. Even in the darkness of the jeep, she saw the flicker of heat in his eyes and then felt his tongue dart out for a heartbeat to lick the top of her hand and her stomach flipped and twisted pleasantly and her pulse started to race.
“Are you trying to distract me?”
He hummed noncommittally in his throat and turned her hand and pressed his mouth to her wrist, swirling his tongue along her pulse point.
Eryx smoothed her hair over her shoulder to expose her neck and kissed the space behind her ear. She shivered and then jerked in awareness of their surroundings. She growled. “Okay, a) that’s not fair because we’re not home and b) we’re definitely not alone.”
James chuckled from the front seat, but said nothing else and her face went hot with blush. She felt Eryx’s hand cup her ultra sensitive breast and squeeze gently. He whispered in her ear, “When we get home, love, you’re going to be so well distracted you’ll forget your name.”
Ah, now that was something to look forward to. She did her best to resist their gentle kisses and caresses, as Ethan kissed up the inside of her arm and back down, nibbling on each finger as if her skin tasted like candy, and Eryx kissed her neck and simply held his hot hand against her breast through her dress. It was enough to make her come completely undone, except that their father was driving them so it was just through sheer willpower that she wasn’t lifting the skirt of her dress up over her hips and asking them to take her hard.
When they stopped in front of their home, she shoved Ethan’s shoulder to get him to move out of the truck faster. They now only had two hours until midnight. Not nearly long enough in her book. They laughed at her eagerness and James handed them her boxes of food and said he’d see them at his home after midnight.
She wasn't sure she said goodbye to him, she wasn't sure she did anything except tow them through the house to the stairs and snarl every time they tried to drag their feet. They were teasing her and she wasn’t in the mood, damn it!
Their new favorite way to wring pleasure out of her was to each take a side and work her together as a team. She could barely handle it, it worked her up so fast, but she loved it. When they were naked, they went on their sides, looping one of her arms behind each of their necks while she lay on her back. They hooked her knees and spread her apart, draping her legs over their hips so she was spread wide and totally at their mercy.
The first kisses were gentle and teasing as they alternated between her, a taste of things to come, and then slowly they abandoned her mouth and began to work her breasts, first pinching and tugging on her nipples until they were even more sensitive than usual and then dragging them slowly into their mouth with torturous pressure. The first time she’d ever come with their mouths on her breasts was under similar circumstances. The orgasm that flowed through her as they relentlessly tugged on her tight buds locked her body in a spiral of pleasure that made her dig her nails into their backs and scream.
They hiked her legs higher on their hips and Ethan began to flick her clit fast and hard as Eryx slid two fingers quickly inside her. He timed his thrusts to Ethan's flicks, and her body quivered and twitched between them. She couldn’t do anything except blink through the stars in her eyes and listen to the sound of their hands working her. With her body spread wide and hooked over their hips, she couldn’t move at all, helpless to their increasing rhythm until they drove her to a hard climax that made her breath catch in her throat. She cried out and dug her nails into their skin as Eryx added another finger and Ethan increased the pressure of his finger on her clit. Her body wept for them and she clawed their backs as she arched off the bed, thrashing and desperate.
She begged, “Please, please!”
Ethan and Eryx looked at each other over her writhing body and reached a silent decision. Although she was still unable to find her voice, when Ethan rose to his knees she whimpered for the loss of his warmth.
He smiled, gently but wickedly, and lifted her from the bed against his chest. Eryx slid over where she had lain in the middle of the bed and stretched out on his back and Ethan set her down on her knees between Eryx's legs. Pillows went airborne between the two men and Eryx beckoned her forward with a lust filled smile and she prowled up his body and he met her in a hard, demanding kiss. She felt Ethan pushing the pillows underneath her body, one at the top and bottom of her growing belly as he tugged on her hips gently and she moved back towards him. She knew that they were planning to take her together, because time was so short.
She would have protested that they could be fast, that she could take them one after the other so she could have them both, but they never did much care for the quickies, and they both wanted her. And damn it, she would give them anything they wished because they gave everything to her. Ethan, on his knees behind her, helped position the pillows a final time so she was comfortable, massaging his hands into her hips gently. Eryx's hot cock, wet with pre-come, beckoned her and all rational thought, all thought at all, went spiraling out of her mind with dizzying speed as she sucked his cock into her mouth and Ethan drove himself into her.
Eryx squeezed her shoulders gently and ran his fingers through her hair, voicing his pleasure because he knew how much she loved to hear him lose control. Ethan thrust hard
and fast into her, gliding inside her tight, wet heat, swiveling his hips with each pass until he found her sweet spot and brought her to a fast orgasm. She moaned around Eryx's cock as pleasure raced through her veins. Ethan's hand slid around to her mound and he began to rub her sensitive clit in time to his rhythmic pounding. Eryx's body tensed under hers as she scored her pleasure into his thighs and swallowed his cock, reveling in the throaty growls that poured from his mouth.
Her climax hit her like lightning in a clear sky, catching her by surprise so she dug her nails into Eryx's flesh and screamed around his length. He howled as he came, his hips pumping wildly under her as she swallowed each delicious drop of his come. Ethan gripped her hips hard and shuddered as he came, pounding into her wildly and shouting her name until his voice cracked and it became a reverent whisper.
Ethan, panting hard, dropped to the bed next to them as Eryx pulled her up his body and hugged her. Shifting her between them, Eryx kissed her ear, smoothing his hand down her sweat slicked side, “What’s your name again, love?”
“I’m not sure about anything; I’m still floating in the clouds.”
A beep broke through their quiet laughter and they both stiffened. “That’s ten minutes to midnight, we almost didn’t make it.” Ethan sat up, kissing her gently on her lightly bruised lips.
Eryx lightly massaged her jaw as Ethan inspected her hips. A glance down showed fingertip shaped bruises from where he had held her tightly and she batted his hand away. "You know I love it when you hold me tight," she murmured, nipping at Eryx's bicep lazily and yawning.
When her eyes opened, she peeked down Eryx's body and saw that she had indeed drawn blood on his legs. Before she could apologize for losing control and scratching the hell out of him, he tickled the space behind her ear and parroted back, "You know I love it when you scratch me, angel."
She knew they both did, in fact. Bites, bruises, and scratch marks were part and par of making love to a were-animal, and although they were incredibly careful and gentle with her especially now with her babies, none of them ever escaped without a little love bite at least.
Eryx sat up and kissed her as Ethan got up and dressed, whispering, “We need to go, sweetheart."
“I’ll miss you.” She was tempted to say that she didn’t care about traditions, that she thought it was stupid to spend a night apart when they’d been living together for three months and she was having their babies. She kept the thought to herself, because she knew that the boys really did want to do all of the wedding traditions, because theirs was the first mountain lion wedding.
“I love you, sweetheart. Tomorrow afternoon we’ll be married and then we never have to spend another night apart.” Ethan promised, kissing her.
Eryx dressed and took his place, leaning over and kissing her gently. “I love you, too, baby. I can’t wait for you to be mine forever.”
She told them both she loved them and watched them leave the bedroom after reminding her that dinner was in the fridge and they loved her and missed her already. Truly happy and blissed out, she lay in bed for almost an hour and thought back over the last few months of her life and the surprising twists that brought her to this place. A rumbling tummy drove her from bed and she donned Ethan’s robe and headed downstairs. She never gave his robe back, and he wore it every now and then for her so that his scent stayed within the fabric. She loved how he smelled, both of them, male and heat and sex and just hers. And in about 14 hours, she was going to marry both of them.
On the table in the kitchen, she almost cried at the sweet scene they’d set up for her before they left. They set a place for her, and a tented card on the plate had her name in Eryx’s scrawled handwriting, overtop of two roses, one tipped with pink and one tipped with peach. She opened the card as she went to the fridge.
“Our sweet kitten, we can’t wait for the wedding. This night will be torture for us, but we promise that we will make it up to you for the rest of our lives. We love you. We miss you. We’re so glad you’re in our lives. Your soon-to-be-husbands, Ethan & Eryx.”
She misted at the sweet words on the card. They only called her their kitten if they were talking about her together, as in she was their kitten. Otherwise, she was Eryx’s angel and Ethan’s sweetheart.
Three boxes and one plastic covered bowl were waiting for her and she heated them all up carefully. Along with a bacon wrapped fillet and baked potato with all the fixings in separate little containers, there was lobster bisque, a tightly wrapped loaf of sourdough bread, and a selection of spring veggies. They knew exactly what she would have been in the mood for if she hadn’t been so upset by Cades’ behavior.
She was certain they were already on their way back to Allen, and she didn’t expect to ever hear from her or any of them again. Karly had always been sweet to her, it was just in her nature to be kind and considerate. While she was fiercely protective of Linus, she didn’t have a malicious bone in her body.
She was both surprised and not surprised by Cades’ behavior. She could guess that some of what she was feeling was hormone driven and maybe amplified what she was feeling, but she and Callie had always been each other’s only support growing up. She wasn't sure how she would feel if the positions were reversed. If Cades was the one that had left the pack and joined up with a different were-group, wouldn’t Callie be happy that she was happy and loved and protected? She’d like to think so. Cades spent her whole life wishing she was part of the pack, which is what Callie had been born into. It probably rubbed at her that she’d not only gone rogue, but had picked an entirely different were-group to be with. Cades could probably handle another wolf pack or even a human husband, but not cats. For someone who wasn’t really accepted in the place she grew up, she sure had an elitist attitude about wolves.
Finally stuffed and tired of thinking about Cades and the past when she’d worked so hard to make her life here with the boys, she patted the slight swell of her three and a half month old twins and decided to just go to bed. She would take a bath in the morning anyway since Lisa was taking her to the spa and then they’d head to the church to get ready. And plus, if she didn’t take a bath tonight, then she wouldn’t wash off the scent of her men, and she truly couldn’t sleep right without that scent in her nose.
She curled their pillows around her and drifted off into a deep sleep, anxious for the day to flow quickly and without problems. She was more than ready to start the next part of her life.
By the time she’d spent a good bit of time soaking in the four person sized whirlpool tub in the master bathroom, Lisa was tapping her foot impatiently in the kitchen, ready to get to the spa. The boys had splurged on this for her, and she didn’t want to go alone, so Rhett had kicked in the extra cash to send Lisa along and both women were tickled pink.
“I brought bagels and a note from your boys.” She grinned up at Callie as she wrapped the robe tighter around herself and padded down the winding staircase to the first floor. After a cheek kiss, she took the note and a cup of decaf hot tea from her, and sat down at the table. The envelope had Ethan’s writing on it, and something weighed in the corner. She opened it and pulled out the folded piece of paper and a ring.
It looked very old, delicate, and lovely. The card said:
“Night without you was hell. We can’t wait to have our kitten in our arms tonight. We found this ring in our grandfather’s things when he passed. This is your 'something old', and a piece of our history that we are so thankful we don’t have to repeat because you are in our lives. We love you and are counting the minutes. Eryx & Ethan.”
She sniffed at the emotions that swelled through her and fingered the ring. They were grateful that they had found a mate, a woman to share their lives and to help them raise their children. They’d dreamed about it, hoped for it, but until they met her, they had never expected it to come true. And now, thanks in part to being forced to take her away from their hometown, their father, brother and uncles, not to mention their adorable nephews, all had a
chance to change their own destiny. She was proud to take some credit for that.
She ate four bagels heavy with cream cheese and drank two cups of tea while Lisa told her about her wedding to Rhett. She had been so sweet these last few weeks handling all the wedding stuff for her. She had a flair for it. Every few days she’d come to Callie with questions about what she wanted and she’d make her choices and leave her to it. The only thing she cared about was that at the end of day she’d be Mrs. Calliope Fallon. Awesome.
Lisa drove them to Kenneth’s Day Spa Salon in Ketrick two towns over for their appointment at 9. All her things were waiting for her in the chapel’s bridal chambers. The only thing she had to take with her was the ring they had just given her, which she was now wearing on her right middle finger. She looked at the ring in the sunlight.
It was a slim white gold band, in the center of which was a heart shaped setting made up of cut diamonds and rimmed with tiny round rubies. Down either side of the ring were four round diamonds. It was a lovely ring, and she was proud to wear it, even though she could guess that when their grandfather bought it for the lioness that he bred children with, that she had rejected it. They never spoke of their grandmother, but their hurt at their own mother's behavior suggested that it was an inborn trait for the females, and that she never gave any indication that she recognized them.
"Did your friend ever call to apologize?" Lisa cut the quiet with a soft voice, drawing Callie's inner thoughts about the demons her mates battled. Even though they trusted in her and her love for them, she knew that at the back of their minds, they couldn't help but think she was too good to be true. Even with all her faults.
"No. I would guess they're back in Allen by now."
"I'm sorry."
Callie cast a glance at her. She was half watching the road and half giving her a very genuine look. Lisa's own family had turned their backs on her because she married Rhett. They thought he was a beast and would kill her. "I think that they're right, that she was jealous of what I have with the boys. When I think about what I would have ended up with if I'd stayed with the pack, I doubt I would have ever found a mate. Not a true one, anyway."
