Her Lone Wolves

by Diana Castle

“We'd get better,” he said.

  Jane frowned. What were they? Survivalists? Terrorists? Wanted criminals? That scary feeling came over her again. But what could she do? Run out into that blizzard and wind up freezing to death? As much as it troubled her to have to do so, she had to trust them. She had no other choice.

  The living room contained a wide-screen television, just as Avery had said. He stood next to a cabinet. Inside were shelves of DVDs. Caleb sat in a large, leather-upholstered chair polishing a pair of boots, while Everett, who sat in a chair just as big and leathery as Caleb's, hunched over a chess set on a table in front of him.

  Everett looked over at her. “You play?”

  “I used to, but I haven’t since high school.”

  “Couldn't have been that long ago,” Caleb said. “You don't look any older than a cheerleader.”

  Then he gave her that long, slow, once-over look again. It was all Jane could do not to slap him, but she had an unsettling feeling that, instead of being insulted, he'd take it as an invitation for intimacy between them.

  “I wasn’t a cheerleader,” she said. “I was in the chess club.”

  Caleb snorted. “A nerd. Figures.”

  She didn’t like his tone. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He tilted his head, his eyes moving slowly up and down her body again.

  “Don’t mean nothing,” he finally said.

  She looked back at Everett. He was staring at her. Then he looked over at Caleb. “Guess that leaves you.”

  Caleb sighed heavily as if the last thing he wanted to do was play chess. “Just let me finish up these boots.”

  Everett started setting out the chess pieces. “Don't take all night.”

  “Hold your damn horses,” Caleb snapped. “It ain't like we got anything else better to do.”

  He looked over at Jane, his green eyes smoldering, his burning gaze licking across her body like flames, and there was no doubt in her mind as to what Caleb would rather be doing.

  She went over to Avery, who was still looking over the DVDs in the cabinet. “That’s quite a collection.”

  “Thanks. They’re mine. I love movies. Do you?”

  “Yes, very much so.”

  He smiled, his hazel eyes warm. “Those two don't much care for movies.”

  “Hey, I like movies,” Caleb said.

  “Yeah, but all the movies you like have titles like Sorority Sluts.” Avery looked apologetically over at Jane. “Sorry.”

  “It's okay.” She studied the rows of movies. “You've got a lot of my favorites here.”

  Avery’s smile widened. “Really?”

  Jane nodded. “I love classic movies.”

  “You wanna watch one?”

  “I'd love to.” She pointed to a movie on the shelf she’d seen before but had always loved. “How about that one?”

  “Excellent choice. That’s my all-time favorite.”

  Jane couldn’t help but smile at Avery’s enthusiasm. Then she heard Caleb snorting behind them. “They’re all his all-time favorites. Man’s got no standards so don’t let it go to your head.”

  Avery’s smile dimmed. Jane had no idea what the deal was between the twins, but she didn’t like how Caleb seemed to go out of his way to take digs at his brother. She’d been an only child, so she had no idea how brothers were supposed to act. Maybe Caleb’s behavior was normal.

  Avery took the DVD off the shelf and loaded it into the player. Caleb finished polishing his boots. He then dragged his chair over until he was sitting directly across from Everett, the chess set between them. Avery sat on the couch in front of the TV. Jane followed and sat next to him. She noted both Caleb and Everett staring at them.

  Everett finally looked away and moved one of his pieces. When Caleb continued to stare at Jane and Avery, Everett snapped. “Your move.”

  The movie started and, for a while, Jane lost herself in it. But she was aware of Avery's presence next to her on the couch and that, as Everett and Caleb's chess game went on, the two were once again arguing. It started when Everett accused Caleb of playing recklessly and not taking the game seriously.

  Jane glanced at Avery, but if he seem troubled by what was going on he gave no sign. She remembered he’d said that his brother and Everett were always butting heads. But she wondered if that was true and if, in fact, something else was going on.

  Caleb suddenly shot up from his chair and knocked the chess set over.

  Jane, who had been engrossed in a particularly dramatic scene in the movie, jumped, her heart beating fast. She hadn’t been paying attention to what was going on with the chess game so she had no idea what had made Caleb so mad.

  “I'm sick and tired of you telling me how to play this goddamned game,” Caleb growled. “Especially since I always manage to beat you when I play it my way.”

  “Not all the time,” Everett replied, his voice strangely calm despite the fact all the chess pieces were now scattered across the floor. “I beat you nine times out of ten if you remember.”

  “How can I help but remember,” Caleb said. “You remind me of it all the fucking time.”

  Everett looked up at him from where he sat in his chair. “Pick up the pieces.”

  “You pick ‘em up. They’re yours. Not mine.”

  Everett slowly rose from his chair. “Do it. Now.”

  Caleb thrust his face at Everett. “Fuck you. I’m tired of you telling me what to do. You hear? And I’m starting to think that maybe it's time we had a new leader of the—

  Everett hit Caleb square in the face. Jane gasped and jumped up from the couch.

  The blow was hard enough it should have knocked Caleb down, but he remained upright, his hands bunching into fists.

  Avery rose from the couch, but he remained near Jane.

  Caleb looked as if he were about to throw himself at Everett. Blood trickled from the side of his mouth. He slowly wiped it away. He glanced at Jane. His upper lip curled, showing his teeth. Then he turned and left the room.

  “You didn't have to do that,” Avery said.

  Everett glared at him. “You challenging me too?”

  Avery quickly lowered his eyes. “No. I’m not challenging.”

  Everett then looked over at Jane, his eyes burning. “Go upstairs to your room.”

  Jane was about to protest. Everett was sending her away like a child who’d misbehaved, but she hadn’t done a thing. If anything, she’d done her best to keep out of the middle of whatever was going on among the three men.

  “You’d best do as he says,” Avery said in a low voice. His hazel eyes were pleading. She looked over at Everett, who was still staring darkly at her.

  “Good night, Avery.” she said, pointedly ignoring Everett.

  “Night, Jane,” Avery said.

  She went upstairs. There was no sign of Caleb. She entered her room and closed the door behind her. Although it appeared on the surface Caleb and Everett had come to blows over a chess game, she knew, though she could not have said how she knew, that it had really been about her.

  And that thought both scared her and excited her.

  Chapter Six

  Everett shoved a forkful of eggs into his mouth as he stared at the empty chairs at the kitchen table. Avery, who sat to his right, focused on his breakfast. Caleb and Jane had yet to come down.

  He frowned. Despite the fact Caleb seemed to be jerking his chain of late, Everett doubted he’d go so far as to fuck a woman before Everett had. He was Clan leader. Any woman was his by right and then, after he’d mated with her, the others could have her.

  If he let them of course.

  Everett grimaced when he felt his cock stirring. Damn it all to hell, he wanted Jane. As much as he wanted her out of his life, he also wanted her beneath him, her nails raking down his bare back and digging into his ass as he fucked her.

  And it wasn’t just because it’d been some time since he’d had a woman. It was Jane too. Even now, he could see her in his mind’s eye
. The way she had looked that first time. Asleep, naked and altogether vulnerable in his bed. His bed. All that long, bright hair tousled about her heart-shaped face and those big, mouth-watering tits.

  He shook his head as he ate more of his eggs. Those breasts had to be fake. No woman with a body that slim could genuinely have breasts that big. But, then again, she didn't strike him as the kind of person who'd go in for plastic surgery neither. If anything, she seemed to go out of her way to play down her looks. Of course, since she didn’t have her bag with her, she might be the kind of woman who liked to cover her face with cosmetics. He hoped not. He preferred the natural look. He didn’t like women who were all made up.

  He cut into a thick piece of ham then looked over at Avery. “Maybe you should go upstairs and wake those two. Before their breakfast gets cold.”

  Avery shrugged and picked up a glass of orange juice. “Don’t see any reason to. I'm sure they'll be down shortly.”

  Everett grunted. As he finished the last of his ham, he was of a mind to go up and get them himself. Maybe catch them in the act. He didn't know why he was so suspicious. Caleb wouldn’t dare touch her. Not if he wanted to keep living, he wouldn’t.

  “Morning, Caleb,” Everett heard Avery say.

  He looked up from where he'd been glowering at his plate as Caleb came into the dining room.

  “You slept late,” Everett said, his eyes tracking Caleb as he sat down at the table.

  He wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for. Hickeys? Or some sign that Caleb and Jane had been together? But, except for his disheveled hair and his customary surly, early-morning expression, Caleb didn’t appear any different than any other morning.

  Caleb yawned hugely, spooned some eggs onto his plate and stabbed a thick slice of ham from the platter with his fork. “Can't a man sleep in if he's tired?”

  “What you got to be so tired about?” Everett asked.

  Caleb shrugged. “Nothing. Just tired that's all. It’s winter. Might be I need to hibernate.”

  Everett snorted. “We’re not bears.”

  Caleb shrugged again. “And this morning I ain’t no wolf. Just a man who’s hungry and in need of some grub.”

  “Well, when you’re done filling your belly,” Everett said, “I want you to bring in more firewood. I checked the bin this morning. There’s nowhere near as much in it as we’re going to need.” He gestured with his head towards the window. “Snow’s stopped but it’ll start up again. And it’s going to get colder.”

  Caleb shot him a dark, sullen look. “Yes, sir boss. Whatever you say, boss.”

  Everett heard the blatant insolence in Caleb's voice. He ignored it. This time. His thoughts were still on Jane. The squabble between him and Caleb last night may have started with the chess game, and it may have been evidence of the growing tension between the two of them. But Jane had been at the center of it. There was no way in hell there’d be peace in this house as long as a young, beautiful and desirable woman was in it.

  And then, as if his thoughts had summoned her, Jane came into the dining room.

  Avery quickly rose from his chair. Caleb and Everett both remained in theirs.

  Everett snorted to himself. If Avery wanted to treat her like she was the darned Queen of England that was his business. She was just a woman to him. Albeit a very sexy, attractive one.

  “Morning, Jane,” Avery said, smiling. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Yes, I did. Thank you for asking.” She turned to Everett and Caleb. “Good morning.”

  Caleb only nodded but didn’t look at her. Everett didn’t know what to make of that. Since she still had yet to sit down and was now staring at him, he assumed she was waiting for him to acknowledge her greeting.

  “Morning,” he said. He didn’t try to keep the crabbiness out of his voice. Her alluring presence was making him hornier than hell.

  As if satisfied by that, she finally took a seat. Avery passed her the eggs and ham.

  “Thank you,” she said, smiling warmly at him.

  “There's coffee too if you want it,” he offered.

  “I'll have some later. But that orange juice sure looks good.”

  Everett couldn’t help watching her as she ate. She did so heartily but also daintily, which he wouldn’t have thought possible. Avery was falling all over himself offering her more food and coffee. As for Caleb, Everett caught him stealing covetous looks at her every now and then, which caused the hackles to rise on his neck.

  She finished then set her fork down next to her plate. “The snow’s stopped.”

  Everett nodded as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “For now. It’ll start again soon enough.”

  “Before it does, is there time enough to take me into town?”

  He lowered his coffee cup then wiped his mouth with his napkin. “You have any idea how much it’s snowed?”

  She shook her head.

  “Twenty inches or more. Like I told you the other day, the pass isn’t clear. And with the additional snow we’re going to get, it won’t be clear for a few days. Maybe even a week or more.”

  Avery exchanged a worried glance with him. Everett knew what he was thinking. The moon would be full before then.

  “Have you seen it?” Jane asked, interrupting his thoughts. “Do you know for sure it’s not clear?”

  “I don’t need to see it,” Everett replied.

  “I want to leave,” she said firmly. “I have a life and I want to get back to it.”

  “It’s only a few days,” Avery said. “Once the storm’s let up, the county will start clearing out the roads.”

  “But they won’t get up this way for some time,” Everett added.

  Jane looked over at him. “Why’s that?”

  “Cause we’re the only ones who live this far up the mountain. We’re not high priority, that’s why.”

  “You’re telling me that pass is the only way in and out of here?”

  “Pretty much,” Everett said.

  “How do I know you’re not lying?”

  Everett leaned across the table and fixed her with a dark glare. “And why would I lie? I want you gone from here as much as you want to be gone.”

  Her eyes widened. “Am I that much of a bother?”

  “I didn’t say that. You did.” He sat back in his chair. “Now you sound like you want to stay. Do you?”

  “I most certainly do not.” She glanced at Avery. “No offense.”

  He smiled. “None taken.”

  It didn’t pass Everett’s notice that she hadn’t apologized to Caleb, who was now looking at her as if he wanted nothing more than to throttle her.

  She looked back at Everett. “But I also don’t like being treated as if I were something disgusting.”

  Everett stared at her then shook his head. He didn’t get her at all. One minute she was all fired up about getting away from him and the twins as if they were the ones who were disgusting. Now she was peeved that the tables were turned and he’d let her know he wanted her gone as much as she wanted to go.

  But he did want her gone. Or at least he needed her gone. If she was still around when he and the twins went through the Change...

  “I just want to go home,” she said.

  “I get that,” Everett replied. “But you shouldn’t have come up into the mountains in the first place. At least not this time of year. What were you doing up here anyway?”

  “I told you. Taking pictures.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m a photographer.”

  “But why here?”

  She stared at him and he thought he saw something move behind her eyes. But he wasn’t sure what. He just got the feeling she was holding something back.

  “I freelance,” she finally said. “I was taking pictures for a magazine.”

  “What kind of a magazine?”

  She frowned. “The kind that wants pictures of mountains.”

  Everett eyed her from across the table. “You got no cau
se to get tetchy about it.”

  “I’m not being tetchy. I just don’t see what it has to do with anything or why you’re questioning me about it. I’m here now, aren’t I?”

  “Can’t deny that.” He tilted his head. “But since you’re in my house, I figure I got a right to know something about you and what you’re about.”

  Caleb suddenly pushed himself up from his chair. “Damn it, Everett. She doesn’t have to answer you if she doesn’t want to. She doesn’t belong to you.”

  Everett slowly rose from his chair. “Is that so? Then who does she belong to? You?”

  Jane glanced angrily between the two of them. “For your information, I don’t belong to anyone.”

  Everett ignored her. From where he stood he could smell her cunt. Even as men, his and the twins’ sense of smell was heightened. And if he could smell her, then so could Caleb. Even if she wasn’t aware of it or even wanted it, she was a woman ripe for fucking.

  The muscles along Caleb’s shoulders bunched, his hands balling into fists. Everett knew he wanted nothing more than to challenge him. Especially since Jane was there to witness it. If Everett accepted Caleb's challenge, and Caleb won, then he'd be alpha and he’d have first dibs on Jane.

  The blood pounded in Everett’s veins. Over his dead body. He took a menacing step towards Caleb.

  Avery rose from his chair and stepped between them.

  “Get out of my way, little brother,” Caleb snarled.

  “No. This isn't the time or place for this.” He pointedly looked over at Jane, who was staring wide-eyed at them.

  But Everett thought he saw something else in her eyes. Was it excitement? Her breath was coming fast, but that could just as well be the result of fear as of lust.

  He forced himself to relax. What the hell was he thinking? Losing control like that?

  He looked over at her. At her lush, full lips and equally lush body. She was the cause of it all. Her presence was spinning them around, making them lose control and forget who and what they were.

  But how could they help losing control? She was a woman. And it had been awhile since they‘d had one.

  Even now, Everett’s cock thickened as he imagined fucking her. And he wanted so much to fuck her. The wolf in him was howling for it. He wanted to fuck her until she screamed. Make her his. Only his. Though, with circumstances being the way they were, he knew he’d eventually have to share her with the other two.