by Kiera West
“Yeah, but this was different. I think our cuz is taking the plunge when it comes to Eve.”
Ethan snorted. “You think that Shane, the randiest of the group, is going to fall for her?”
“We are all going to fall for her in our own way. Hell, we’re all in love with her, just different degrees. I just think that Shane’s ready to take the chance now to get closer to her.”
Ethan shook his head, and he knew his scientific brother was trying to sort it all out.
“What are you talking about?”
“As I said, we all love her, but each of us will be tested in that. Just as you were, as I was. Now, it’s Shane’s turn.”
“You think there will be problems?”
Noah chuckled. “Of course. There always is when trying to court a mate. And we have all done it in our own way. But, Shane, he doesn’t feel as if he has as much of a right to her as the rest of us. Because of his biological mother.”
Ethan nodded.
“So, he’s decided she needs some romance,” Noah said with a shrug. “It’s just his way of starting to court her, and I have a feeling he’s right. We really haven’t done enough romancing with Eve.”
“Just as long as there aren’t any problems tonight,” Ethan said.
“There won’t be,” Noah promised. He would make damned sure of it.
Chapter Four
Eve smiled at Shane as he finished off the biggest steak she’d ever seen a person eat. That was saying a lot after she had spent the last several months getting to know the Dillons. They all had huge appetites for everything, food and sex mainly.
“Damn, that was good. We need to build some kind of indoor grill so we can have regularly grilled steak. I miss it with our long winters.”
“Are you sure you don’t need more,” she said with a laugh.
He answered her with a smile. “I think we should celebrate, so we need some chocolate cake. Unfortunately, they don’t have any homemade ice cream.”
She felt her face flush again. How was he getting her to blush like a schoolgirl so much today? He was always naughty, always flirty, but there was a different tone in his voice. And, all the Dillons knew about her love of ice cream. They always had a fresh batch whenever she needed it.
He scooted closer as she shook her head. “I’m not sure I can eat another bite. Or if I should.”
“No, you have to eat the chocolate cake here. It’s chocolate sheet cake, the kind with the dark chocolate icing, and they put these pecans in it…it’s a religious experience.”
“I don’t know how all of you keep your weight down with the way you eat.”
“Metabolism. It’s one of the great things in our species. We don’t eat as much during the summer—we don’t need the energy—but in the winter, we have to keep ourselves up and going.” He wiggled his eyebrows, and she laughed. She couldn’t help it. All of them were incorrigible, but Shane was the worst in the lot.
“I like that sound,” he said, his voice warming even more. His gaze was taking in everything about her.
“What?” she asked.
“Your laugh. It’s lighter than it used to be when you first got here.”
She sighed and looked out over the room, but he slipped his finger under her chin and turned her back to face him.
“Don’t do that. Don’t look so sad. I just can’t take it.”
“I’m sorry. I just think about the person I was when I got here, and she’s so different. I…”
“What?” he asked when she didn’t continue.
“I don’t want to go back to her. She was so unhappy with herself, her life…I worry that when I leave, I’ll lose what I’ve become.”
He brushed his mouth over hers, lightly. The gesture was so sweet that she felt tears burning the backs of her eyes.
“You weren’t made here, Eve.”
She shook her head, knowing he didn’t understand. None of them would seriously. But, she didn’t have the words to explain it even if they would.
“Yes, I’m right. You would not have become the woman you are with us if she hadn’t been lurking inside.”
“I don’t think so.”
He nodded. “Yes, she was. You’re brave, smart, and sexy as hell.”
“I might be smart, but I am not what anyone would call brave.”
“I’ll let it go that you didn’t agree with my assessment of your sexiness, but what makes you think you’re not brave?”
“I’ve never done anything out of the ordinary. Other than my relationship with you and your brothers and cousins, I have led a very boring and mundane life. I did what I was always told by my parents, what was expected of me.”
And it hurt to think that although she had done that, she would never gain their love. It hurt her deep inside.
“You took this grant. I have a feeling your parents didn’t want you taking it, am I right?”
She nodded.
“So you went against their wishes.”
And they had barely noticed. It was if they would never accept that she was an individual. They had been mad, but in the end, it had been more a disappointment to them than anything else.
“You are brave, Eve. Accept it.”
He looked so earnest, she didn’t have the heart to tell him no. And the idea that he, along with his brothers and two cousins, believed in her made her insides melt.
“Okay, I am.”
He gave her a quick hard kiss.
“Busy tonight, Dillon?”
She looked up and found both the Redfoots standing at their table. God, they were gorgeous. If women knew the amount of beautiful men running around the Passion reserve, they would definitely invest in some long underwear and make a run for the Alaskan border.
“Didn’t it look like I was busy? Go away.”
He tried to kiss her again, but she could tell from Vic’s expression that they needed to talk. “I need a second.”
He tightened his hold on her, but she shook her head and leaned closer. “I need to go to the bathroom, Shane.”
He relaxed his hold and kissed her forehead. “Be careful.”
She rolled her eyes and slipped out of the booth. “Play nice, boys.”
Both of the Redfoots nodded as she hurried to the bathroom. She just hoped whatever they needed with Shane wasn’t bad enough to end the night.
* * * *
“Please tell me you weren’t doing that to fuck with me, because then I would have to kick your asses.”
Vic smiled as he pulled up a chair and sat down. His brother slipped into the booth.
“No, we wanted you to know that Michael has done some searching around our grounds. He detected something, some kind of scent that was wrong.”
“Let me guess. It smells like bear but has an underlying scent of wolf?”
He nodded. “I thought Ethan had said that. Do you think it could be one of your pack?”
Shane shook his head. “I don’t think so, but Noah would be better to ask about things like that. He knows the pack’s leaders better than I do. I try to keep away from that shit as much as possible. You shouldn’t have stopped by there tonight.”
Vic shook his head. “We wanted to get out. It’s the first night we haven’t had some kind of bad weather in a week and both of us were ready to crawl the walls. Gabe is also talking to a shifter at the FBI who says that our guy might be a psycho.”
“He went outside of the preserve? I don’t know if Noah will like that.”
Vic shook his head. “No. She’s a leopard. Well, a mutt. As they call them,” he said with disgust. Of all the shifters, the leopards were the worst about pedigree. They did not like anyone muddying their waters. He understood it to a point. They had the least amount of power, mainly because of their size. So, they liked to make it up in numbers. Someone who went outside their pride for a mate was considered lower on the totem pole.
“She’s in DC?”
“No, she works out of the Seattle office. She sent Gabe a goo
d rundown of the psychosis.”
“Are you all going to join us in some dessert?” Eve asked. His heart turned over at the sound of her voice. “No. We’re here because the band could make it in. Although, I would appreciate it if you would save a dance for me,” Vic said with a smile. Shane was trying hard not to smack the damned bear upside the head, but Eve shook her head.
“I don’t dance.”
He wanted to tell her she would tonight, but he wanted to get rid of the Redfoots first. “Don’t you two have something to do?”
Vic gave him a grin, but he took the hint. They both stood, and Vic said to Eve, “You ever want a gentleman, you give us a call, Eve.”
She was smiling when she slipped back into the booth. “You all are too easy. The Redfoots really like messing with you. Especially Vic.”
It was true. Up until now though, he hadn’t felt the need to tear his old friend limb from limb. He shook himself out of his stupor and smiled at Eve. “I know you’re wrong about dancing. We are going to dance. Just like we’re going to eat this cake,” he said as the waitress set a huge cut of the sheet cake in front of them. There was only one fork and Eve frowned at him.
“Aren’t you going to have any?”
He smiled. “Yeah, we’ll share.”
He cut off a piece and lifted it to her mouth. Her eyes widened. “Shane.” Her voice was embarrassed, but he ignored her. She needed this. He needed this. He needed to be the one to give it to her.
“Open up, babe.”
She did and hummed a little when she took the cake in her mouth. From the look of delight on her face, he hoped that they made it until the band started to play in twenty minutes.
“You said you were going to have a piece.”
He nodded and took a small piece for himself. But soon, he had another piece up to her mouth. She took it, closing her eyes as she hummed again. He drew in a deep breath and calmed his out of control libido. It was really his fault, because he knew that in the early days of mating that they would have issues with their control.
She licked her mouth, rubbing her tongue over her plump lower lip. He groaned, and her lips curved. She looked like a cat that had just stolen the best cream.
“You’re going to kill me, Eve.”
“Hey, this was your idea. If I have to worry about the extra pounds, you’re just going to have to suffer a little bit.”
He laughed and scooped up another bite for himself. “I never argue with a beautiful woman.”
* * * *
He watched Shane with the Dillon whore. He had to fight the urge to attack, to hurt. Everything in his told him to take her, take her and hurt her. That would do more than what he had been doing. Mother disagreed.
He sipped his drink as he watched Shane pull her out onto the dance floor. The song was sweet and slow. The wolf pulled her into his arms and started swaying. He could scent their arousal all the way across the room. He was sure he wasn’t the only one, either. He glanced around and saw that several of the pack had noticed.
He watched, mesmerized by the way their bodies seemed to melt into each other.
Why couldn’t he have that?
The stray thought caught him unawares. He didn’t want that. He didn’t know what he wanted. He had never had the ability to think for himself. As if on cue, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and wanted to scream when he saw his mother’s number.
“Yes, mother.”
“Are they there?”
“Only Shane.”
There was a pause. He knew she had a soft spot for Shane, although he didn’t understand why. Yes, she had a soft spot for Shane, but the truth of the matter was she hated all the rest of the Dillons.
“He’s there with their mate?”
Why did she insist on treating the woman as if she mattered? Why could his mother not see what a whore she was?
“Yes.”
“That sounds like his father. I assume they’re there on a date.”
He nodded even as he knew that his mother could not see it. His gaze moved out to the dance floor to the couple again. It was easy to see that they were in lust with each other. Their bodies were melded together. He had watched them during dinner, the way they interacted, the way they behaved. She had been delighted by every little thing Dillon had done for her. What the hell was the matter with a woman who fell for such a dumb act? She was a slut, that’s what, he thought.
“You follow them, but don’t do anything to the woman. Did you do that other thing?”
He sighed, his body already hungering for another kill, another taste of blood and death. He could barely keep it under control when he was in public now. His mother had done this to him, turned him into such a creature.
“I will.”
“Good. You know just how to please your mother.”
The seductive purr in her voice made him shudder with lust and disgust.
He hung up the phone and thought again, she had made him what he was…and it disgusted him.
Chapter Five
Eve thought there was a good chance she would die from pleasure. Shane slid his hands up her naked body. It was just the two of them at the moment. Candles and the firelight were the only illumination in the room. The scent of the rose petals he’d thrown on the bed filled the air. His mouth moved over the sensitive flesh on her inner thigh.
She sucked in a short, fast breath when she felt his teeth scrape against her skin. He chuckled. She could hear the utter delight in it. Frustrating her was something that he, along with all the Dillons, seemed to know exactly how to do. He kissed his way to her pussy. She felt his breath before he settled his mouth on her.
He didn’t even hesitate. He slipped his hands under her rear and lifted her as he slid his tongue into her cunt. Heat speared through her blood as he pulled her clit between his teeth. She shivered, trying to reach the pinnacle. The need to find her release was more important than anything else in the world at the moment. Just as she felt herself shift closer to the edge, Shane pulled away. She growled in irritation, and he laughed.
“I like that. You’re really starting to sound like one of us now,” he said, kissing his way up her belly, dipping his tongue into her belly button.
Then, he moved on to her breasts, taking one hardened nipple into his mouth. A lick of his tongue, then the scrape of his teeth had her body shaking. He moved to her other breast as he teased and pinched the one he had just tasted. Soon, he was kissing his way up to her and devoured her mouth. She could taste herself on his lips as he plunged his tongue into her mouth. Her head was spinning and her heart beating so hard.
He pulled himself up and rested his weight on his elbows. They were both breathing heavily. She felt his heart beating hard against her chest. She was at least happy he was as affected by the lovemaking as she was.
He was smiling, but then it faded as he continued to look down at her. He was as affected as she was, that she knew. He leaned his head down slowly and kissed her then. Slow, easy, and wet. The sweetness of it had her heart just about stopping. Then, in that next instant, it fell. She had always been a little in love with every one of them, but this action, the whole night, had been something special.
Shane rose to his knees, took her hips into his hands and entered her in one, hard thrust. She was prepared, but the force of the entry took her by surprise. She gasped.
“Sorry,” he said.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and slipped her hands around his neck. “Don’t be.”
He laughed and started to move. Not deep or hard enough to satisfy. Each thrust of his cock pushed her just a little closer, but not enough to get her to come. She tried her best to urge him to push harder, but he chuckled.
“I know what you’re doing, naughty Eve. You will lie there and wait. I want to take my time with you tonight. I want you begging.”
The dark promise of his voice had her clenching her pussy muscles against him. He groaned but he didn’t allow her any passage.
She wrapped her fingers around the slats in the headboard and arched against Shane. He leaned down and took one of her nipples into his mouth. Then, as he continued to thrust into her, he kissed her breast. Little pecks with a bit of tongue. It added to her aggravation but heightened her arousal. He continued, teasing her, pushing her just so close, but not allowing her to come.
By the time he started to increase his thrusts, she was definitely begging. She didn’t even know what for, but he was there to give it to her. He thrust once, twice…then he pushed her over the edge. She exploded into a million pieces. Shane followed her a moment later, shouting her name as he came.
He collapsed on top of her with a groan.
“Shane.”
“Shhh, I might be dead.”
A laugh bubbled out of her, and he raised his head to look down at her. He brushed her hair away from her face then gave her another sweet kiss on her nose.
“I love listening to you laugh. It is one of the best sounds in the world.”
He rolled to his side and pulled her with him. “I think we should get to sleep in.”
“And why is that?”
“Just cuz.”
She laughed again. “That sounds good to me.”
She felt the brush of his lips against her temple as she drifted off to sleep.
* * * *
Hands were scratching at his skin and grabbing him, digging into his flesh. Pain soared through his body, and he fought. He fought so hard, but did no good. He might have cried, he might have screamed, or tried to. He felt the need crawl up his throat, but when he opened his mouth, nothing came out. Not one word. Again and again, the nails dug into his flesh, and he couldn’t make it stop. Blood dripped down his arms as he tried to fight. Panic slid through his body, fear had his heart slamming so hard against his chest he thought he would die.
* * * *
“Shane,” Eve said, her voice was filled with fear. Her hands were clutching him as she tried to shake him awake. He came up off the mattress, panting, his heart thundering against his chest. Sweat dripped down his back, his body still vibrating with the fear he’d felt in the nightmare.
She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him close.
“You were thrashing about. I was worried that you were having a seizure.”
