The men all took seats around the table. Bubba had had the table built before she was born. He told everyone that he had it made big because he expected his sons to give him at least a dozen grandkids. She was just grateful that no woman ever gave birth to a child of one of her brothers. They would have been raised just like their dad, and that was a scary thing to think about.
Kianna set the coffee mugs and carafe in the middle of the table along with a huge plate of chocolate-chip cookies.
“Help yourselves, boys. I’m not going to serve you.” She laughed, and took the empty seat in between Teaghen and Duncan. She sat and listened awhile as the men caught up with each other. It seemed to her that they’d seen each other a whole lot more than she thought. Jeff and Sammy acted like they’d known the Featherstone brothers for years. She knew that they were friends of her parents, she just wasn’t aware of how close a friendship they seemed to have. They had never visited them over the years like most friends would. Maybe it was a shifter thing.
“I have to say that this is the first time I can recall that our Kia has been this quiet.” Jeff laughed. “Must be something in the water up here. What ya think, Sammy?”
“Oh no, brother mine, I am not getting Kia pissed off at me.” He laughed, holding up his hands in surrender.
“Ha–ha…aren’t you just all a barrel of fricking laughs.” Kianna smiled back at them. “I’m just sitting here listening, wondering when the five of you are going to start telling me the truth about what the hell’s going on.”
They all had the decency to look somewhat chagrined by her comment.
“Kianna, your dads have only done what has been asked of them. They loved you and your mom as only our kind can, soul-deep. When they saw your mom again just after her divorce, they already knew each other, but because of the abuse your mother had suffered at the hands of Bubba, it took a little while for them to win her over.” Teaghen smiled remembering how frustrated Jeff and Sammy had been that they had found their mate and she was finally free, but they still couldn’t claim her.
Kianna was getting angrier by the second as she listened to Teaghen. If what he was saying was true…
Suddenly, it hit her, and she stood up so fast her chair fell over behind her. Leaning forward on her hands, she stared straight at both her dads.
“By ‘our kind,’ he means wolf, right? As in shape-shifter, like changing from human to wolf in minutes!” She knew her voice was getting louder and louder with each word spoken, but dammit, they should have told her.
“You’re shape-shifters, too, aren’t you, Dads? And don’t you dare try to lie to me again. Did Mom know? Holy crap! Why the hell didn’t she tell me?” A dozen other questions entered her mind, but she was too angry to voice them. She paced back and forth behind her dads’ chairs trying to digest what she had just found out.
“Kia, we were going to tell you, but when your mom got sick, it just wasn’t the time. You were too young at first. When you started competing seriously in karate, we didn’t want to distract you from your training. Then you went away to school and…oh shit, there just never seemed to be the right time.” Sammy sighed.
“And you three,” she said, looking at Teaghen, Duncan, and Alex, “how long have you known that I was aware of your shifting, huh? Why not just let me in on this little secret?” she yelled at them.
“I wasn’t sure until you came home if you really did know about us. It must have been on one of the nights you snuck out of Bubba’s to get away from him. I scented you, or what I thought was you, and then it was gone, so I thought it was my imagination.” Teaghen stood and walked toward her, but with every step closer he took, she took a step back.
Duncan and Alex rose and came around her from the opposite side blocking any exit she had.
“Ah yeah, Teaghen? Jeff and I are going to head back into town for the night. You have our cell numbers if you need us for anything.”
Her dads stood and, turning to her, each gave her a big hug and kiss. Sammy whispered in her ear, “You have been our daughter from the moment you came into our lives. We love you more than anything, but it’s time for you to know your mates.”
* * * *
Mates? What the fuck? Kianna stared after her dads as they left the house.
“What does he mean by mates?” Kianna was really nervous now.
For over a decade, she had loved these three men. They had been her knights in shining armor, and when she had found out about their shifting, for some odd reason, it just all seemed to make sense. One of the reasons for coming home was to stake her claim on them. Only now, she wasn’t so sure that she would be up to the task. She had learned to be self-confident and to take care of herself and to be an independent woman. The only problem now was that, around these three very large, very sexy men, she didn’t want to be all that independent, and she wanted them to take care of her. But her self-confidence was something that she’d worked hard for, and now it seemed, around these men, it just flew out the window. Through all her years away, she had never taken a lover.
A virgin at 30, how fucking sad is that? She just never seemed to have the time, and most of the men she was around at the dojo didn’t want to have anything to do with her outside of it. Usually, it was because she’d beaten them in one of the many tournaments she had entered. She guessed their egos couldn’t handle dating a woman who could break their arms if they got too fresh. Now here she was, cornered by three very large alpha-male shape-shifters, and her dad tells her they’re her mates.
“Teaghen? Duncan? Alex? What did my dad mean by you’re my mates?” She swallowed and tried to move past Duncan. She’d learned to watch her surroundings, but one couldn’t be blamed for being distracted with all this gorgeous man-flesh around her. All three men were built like sun gods. Their dark-auburn hair was thick and just begged for her to run her fingers through it. Each one stood well over six feet tall, with Alex being the tallest of the three. Teaghen’s eyes were a dark chocolate brown, but when he laughed, they seemed to lighten somewhat. Duncan’s almond-shaped, dark-gray eyes showed his native heritage, and Alex’s were dark green with golden flecks. Duncan and Alex’s bodies showed just how much they worked outside. None of them needed to go to a gym when they worked so hard on their ranch. Teaghen looked to be a little more muscular than his brothers. His chest was wide and completely devoid of hair, which was odd considering. His rock-hard six-pack abs made a girl want to dribble honey over them and just lick it all off. Shit, where the hell did that come from.
“No need for you to look so nervous, baby,” Duncan said smiling down at her as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him.
“Please, Duncan, I need to know what it means. I’ve been here less than twenty-four hours, and in that time, I’ve learned my dads are shifters and that you all have been watching over me since I left here, and I don’t understand any of it.” She’d always considered herself to be a strong woman, but she was at the end of her rope and finally broke down.
Coming home wasn’t supposed to be so confusing, so terrifying. It was supposed to be her chance to finally enjoy some time with her favorite men again. To show them how strong she’d become and how much of a woman she was now. But instead, it turned into nothing but confusion and now tears.
She felt Teaghen’s heat even before she felt his arms cradle her from behind as he gently kissed the back and down the side of her neck. Kianna let her head fall back against his shoulder and let herself just feel. She always felt so safe in their arms.
“Ah, my sweet Kianna, this is what being our mate is. This instant connection on a level beyond just the sexual. I can feel your distress, and it breaks my heart, little one. Being our mate means that you were made for us. You are the only woman we could ever love, ever commit to. We’ve known this since we first saw you when you were a child. It was an immediate connection to you. Your smell, your touch was the only thing that could bring such joy to our hearts. That’s why we never contacted you once you left w
ith your mom. We wanted you to have a chance to grow up in a peaceful environment. Safe and away from your father and brothers. If you would have stayed closer to us, we wouldn’t have been able to help ourselves, and we would have claimed you much sooner.” Teaghen nuzzled into the side of her neck.
“Would that have been such a bad thing, Teaghen?” Kianna asked him in a quiet voice.
“Oh, sweet Kia, you needed to be able to grow up before we could claim you,” Duncan answered for him. “You were way too young then. That’s why, when you left with your mom, we made sure you were always safe, always cared for. Jeff and Sammy knew your mom was their mate, but she was already married to Bubba, and it is strictly against our laws to interfere. Even knowing they would live out their days without a mate. It just about killed them not to rip Bubba’s throat out when they found out what he had done to you and your mom.”
Alex came and stood beside her as well. “Jeff and Sammy are our seconds or, as some call them, our betas. After they made sure that you and your mom were settled, they started to court her, but because of her past, it took a while for her to allow them to get close. She was not only very protective of you but wanted to make sure that she never made another mistake with a man again.” Alex took her hand and led her out of the kitchen and into the living room. He sat in one of the recliners and pulled her onto his lap. Kianna laid her head on his shoulder and curled up as close as she could to him. His scent overwhelmed her. She needed to be as close as possible, almost as if she wanted to crawl under his skin.
“Once Marion had agreed to marry Jeff and Sammy, it was only then they could tell her of our existence.” Alex spoke softly now.
Both Duncan and Teaghen had seated themselves on the long leather couch and they seemed to be waiting to see if she was still upset.
* * * *
Duncan started laughing, and saw that Teaghen knew right away what he had been thinking about.
“When Jeff and Sammy brought Marion to our compound to tell us that she had accepted them as her mates and they would be having a bonding ceremony, she was such a brave and giving woman. Jeff was so terrified that, when she saw all of us in our wolf form, she’d run screaming into the night, but after we all had shifted, she just walked over to Jeff and whispered in his ear that, no matter what form he took, she loved him and that she was proud to be his woman. Jeff couldn’t hold his wolf form anymore and shifted, picked her up, and carried her into the big house, with Sammy laughing right behind him, of course. They could be heard for miles…”
“Okay that’s enough about my parents’ sex life, thank you very much.” Kianna laughed also. “So what happens now? I’ve just arrived here, and I don’t want to leave. I want to make a go of the ranch, and I know I’m going to have a lot of difficulty with Ray and his cronies over the next little while.”
* * * *
Teaghen smiled, knowing that their mate was an intelligent and independent woman. He was looking forward to all the skirmishes that he and his brothers would have over her protection.
“Sweet one, we know you now have the ranch to run, but you will also be part of our pack. Once we claim you, officially, you will have duties as the alpha female as well.” Teaghen waited for her reaction. And he waited. When there was none, he continued, “As alpha female, you will be in charge of all other females in the pack. You will be their ‘leader’ per say.” Again, he waited for any reaction. Kianna just cuddled like a kitten on Alex’s lap, her eyes closed with a serene look on her face.
“She’s asleep, Teag.” Alex snickered quietly to him, not wanting to awaken her.
“Well, damn, and here I thought she was agreeing with everything I was saying.” Teaghen smiled and brushed an errant strand of hair away from her cheek.
Duncan chuckled, quietly, but it was hard to keep it that way.
“Do you really think that she is going to be easily swayed by our manly charms?” He smirked. “That little kitten curled up on your lap, Alex, will give us all one hell of a ride.”
Alex looked down at the sleeping woman in his arms and kissed the top of her head and grinned at the two men in front of him. “Yeah, but what a ride it will be, brothers.”
Chapter 3
Ray had driven Rusty into town, given him the keys to his apartment, and then driven off again, leaving Rusty to move all his shit inside himself.
What a fucking asshole, Rusty grouched to himself as he grabbed two of the suitcases and headed into the building. He had to leave the rest on the stairwell, hoping it would still be there when he came back for it. Even though the neighborhood was a pretty good one, you never could be too sure of things these days. After three more trips outside to get the rest of his gear, Rusty decided that he needed to figure out a way to contact the Featherstones without Ray finding out about it. He wanted no part in any deal where Ray’s sister was going to be hurt. Hell, he had never hurt a woman in his life and cringed every time Bubba’s little wife, Marion, would come out to the barn with a black eye or other bruises on her face. He knew what Bubba had done to her, but he had been owned by Bubba Deacon and couldn’t do a damn thing about helping her without getting himself into a whole heap of trouble. Not just with Bubba, but also with the law. When Bubba had died, Rusty had breathed a sigh of relief hoping that now he could live a good life and do what was right. Just take proper care of the ranch for the Deacon boys. But good old Ray wasn’t going to let him do that. Rusty had allowed Ray to suck him into this idiotic plan of his to get the ranch back. How the hell was he going to get himself out of this without Ray finding out it was him? Sighing, he started to slowly unpack some of the trophies that he’d won as a younger man on the rodeo circuit and decided that he probably wouldn’t be able to stop Ray without him knowing, so he’d have to make sure that the Featherstones had all the information they needed to put Ray away for a long, long, time.
* * * *
Driving back to the ranch after dropping Rusty off, Ray smiled as he drove onto his daddy’s land. Well, technically it was Featherstone land, but they didn’t have to know anything about that little mix up now did they. If those boys were too stupid to double check their property lines then he wasn’t going to do it for them. It wasn’t his fault that his daddy had bribed the clerk in the county assessor’s office to “rewrite” the property assessors report when he first wanted to purchase the land some forty years ago. He didn’t know how he did it, but somehow, he was able to purchase a hundred acres of prime ranching land right out from under the Featherstone tribe’s noses. There were only three people in the world that knew that little secret. One was him, one was the sniveling little Mr. Baker, who was the property clerk at the time, and the other was locked up, up state, doing a life sentence for murder. Baker wouldn’t talk because he knew Ray would kill him if he did. And it wouldn’t matter if Sean was standing right here with him. He hated the Featherstones as much as anyone, so he wouldn’t tell them a thing. All he had to do was to get one of those fool cowhands that worked for his daddy to do his dirty work and get rid of his sister, and then he’d have the land for himself, and he and his partners could continue with the lucrative smuggling business.
* * * *
Kianna stretched as she turned over in her bed. The heavy curtains were drawn, so she wasn’t able to tell what time of day it was. With everything that had happened and that she had learned over the last twenty-four hours, she wasn’t surprised that she had crashed so hard.
Sitting up, Kianna looked around for her clothes, still groggy. She wasn’t surprised that she was naked. It actually gave her a kind of thrill to know that one of the men had undressed her and put her to bed. It’s just too bad they didn’t join her. The bed seemed to be big enough to fit all of them. Realization hit her at just that moment. She wasn’t in the master bedroom at the ranch, and the bed was fucking huge. Where the hell was she, and where the hell were Teaghen, Duncan, and Alex? Just as panic was setting in, the door opened, and the men in question strolled in. One carrying a tray o
f food that smelled absolutely fabulous, one carried a coffee carafe, and the last one was carrying clothes for her.
“Good morning, little one. You had a really good sleep last night.” Teaghen smiled as he set the coffee down on the nightstand beside her. Leaning forward, he gently kissed her forehead.
Grabbing the quilt tighter to her, Kianna sputtered, “Where in the Sam Hell am I, and what gave you the fucking right to bring me here?”
Alex set the clothes he’d been carrying on the end of the bed and walked around to the other side of the bed. He, too, leaned forward and kissed her forehead then plumped her pillows and moved her to sit back against the headboard of the bed.
“You’re at our compound, baby. We brought you here to stay with us for at least a few days, give us all a chance to get to know one another better again.” He smiled and sat down beside her.
Duncan placed the food tray across her lap and gently kissed her cheek. “There are still a few things we need to talk with you about, and we wanted you near to us. We don’t like the idea of Ray being so close to you.”
Sighing, Kianna leaned back against the pillows and picked up a fork from the tray on her lap. She absently played with the scrambled eggs as she processed her predicament. Maybe being away from Ray for a couple of days would be for the best. It would give him time to cool down a little, she hoped. But there was so much to do at the ranch. She heaped some of the eggs onto her fork and brought it to her mouth. The moment it entered her mouth, her taste buds went to Nirvana.
“Oh my god, these are the best scrambled eggs ever,” she moaned. “Tell your cook they have my greatest thanks, and if they’re looking for work to head over to my ranch.” She smiled and swallowed the next mouthful, her eyes closing in ecstasy.
Kianna and Her Three Alpha Wolves [Featherstone Pack] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Page 4
