by Bonnie Vanak
I was his.
He was mine.
All three of them were.
I only wished this could last more than one night.
13
Back in the suite with Dante, Alex and Gabriel, I lounged in my satin robe, exhausted, yet feeling like a pampered princess. Alex gave me a foot massage with luxurious cream, while Dante ensured my champagne glass stayed filled. Gabriel rubbed my shoulders.
Three sexy, handsome shifters there to fulfill every sexual fantasy, and then spoil me.
I opened one eye. “Any chance you boys do laundry and dishes?”
Gabriel chuckled. “You hungry, Peyton? There’s great food in the kitchen.”
Dinner hadn’t been the plan tonight, because I’d been so late in getting to the club.
“Oh, I don’t eat.” I gave a casual wave, dismissing my rudely growling stomach.
Gabriel shook his head. “Peyton, don’t lie to us. Never lie to us. We know you’re hungry. Tell Dante what you want for dinner.”
All three of you at once? The joke would have annoyed him further.
Thing was, I couldn’t tell myself if it was even a joke, or the truth.
Well, the club did have excellent food. “Steak, medium rare, with some fresh fruit and dinner rolls.”
At least the fruit would be fairly fresh, and the steak could be slapped on the grill. Norm kept them in the fridge on weekends for the clients.
The suite had a small dining table set near the French doors. Dante inclined his head and Alex and Gabriel rushed off. The alpha took my hand and led me outside to a private balcony. Red candles flickered on the cocktail table and plush chaise lounges were set on the balcony, with a canopy of glittering stars winking from above.
I sat on a lounge, pulling the robe around me. I wasn’t chilled, but warm. Quite warm as Dante joined me and began massaging my neck.
I relaxed into his capable hands.
He nuzzled my neck. “You’re unique, my pretty little one. So unique.”
A healthy blue and red glow pulsed from him, the gold for the ruling alpha, the red for sexual arousal. Yet more blue than red indicated he wasn’t crazed with lust, but ready if I was.
His fingers kneaded my tired muscles. Dante planted a gentle kiss on my cheek. “Peyton, why did you sell yourself at auction?”
I stared straight ahead. “I needed to pay off the loan I made with the Browns or I’d lose my house. That house is everything to me.”
Dante swore softly. Then a low growl rumbled from his chest. “Had I known that bastard had you in his claws, I would have paid your debt off. Why didn’t you ask me for the money?”
I stared at my hands. “It’s against club policy to get financial loans from members. I would have been fired.”
He swore quietly. “I forgot about that rule. I should have changed it.”
Craning my neck, I looked up into his solemn face. “You have that much influence with Norm?”
“More than you know.” Dante stopped massaging my shoulders, picked up my hand and kissed it. “You will find out, in time.”
Alex and Gabriel returned. Plates of food on their outstretched hands, they walked onto the balcony. The smells were incredible, and my stomach rumbled again.
They set the plates down on the table.
Dante fed me a strawberry dipped in chocolate. I bit into it, taking it from his hand. In the candlelight I saw a satisfied gleam in his dark eyes.
Next Alexander cut a small piece of prime beef and speared it with the fork, guiding it into my opened mouth.
Gabriel popped a piece of dinner roll into my mouth.
After I’d swallowed, I held up my hands. “Please, guys, I can feed myself. I’m not helpless.”
All three exchanged glances, and it seemed, satisfied smiles. I read their auras. Contented blue flickering with red and an odd orange laced with fierce green that I’d never seen before.
What was going on?
They settled back and watched me, helping themselves to some of the fresh fruit. Dante bit into an apple, lying back against the lounge, staring at the sky.
I ate more steak and fruit, my suspicions growing. After wiping my mouth with a linen napkin, I aimed a scowl at all three.
“What gives with feeding me? Is it some shifter ritual?”
Dante didn’t answer, only licked his apple. His tongue traced a long line around the fruit, and I shivered. Alex gave me a mysterious smile.
“I sometimes feed my lovers while they’re tied up,” Gabriel offered.
Alex fetched me more champagne. I shook my head and sipped the water instead they’d brought with the food.
I’d had enough spirits for the night and it was growing late.
Too late.
“I guess there are shifter secrets you can’t share like you can your lovers?”
My tone was casual, but the words bitter. Their little secrets was yet another reminder that I wasn’t like them.
These wolves.
Dante exchanged glances with the others. Then he set down the apple, craned his neck to study the sky.
“Dawn will be here in two hours. Our night is drawing to an end.”
Well, the fantasy had to end at some point. And even though the money was much-needed, part of me wondered if I would have done it anyway.
Did that make me a sex-starved slut? I didn’t want to examine my conscience, see that winking back at me like the glowing neon sign outside the club. Always I had distanced myself from the club with the knowledge I was there to work and serve drinks and food.
Not service the patrons.
Alex leaned forward. “Peyton, what’s wrong? You’re upset.”
I gave a light shrug. “It’s been real, guys, and thanks for the night and thanks for bailing me out with the money. But everything has to end.”
“Not everything,” Gabriel said lightly. “Not if you don’t want it to end.”
“Peyton, will you come with us to the ranch for the weekend? I assume you don’t have to return to your job until Tuesday, since it is a holiday weekend. I will take you back to Cheyenne Monday.”
If Dante asked me to go jogging stark nude on the freeway, I couldn’t have been more surprised. “I have to work here.”
“I talked with Norm, and you’re free for the weekend. I’ll make up the difference in your lost revenue.”
Dante had planned this, I realized. I set down my glass of water. “What’s at your ranch and why do you want me there?”
Alex warmed, his expression soft in the flickering candlelight. “The Bar B Q is a wonderful place, Peyton. More than three thousand acres, with rolling hills and trees, it’s a perfect place to run wild and free.”
“Except during round-ups,” Dante offered. “But my family purchased the ranch years ago when they saw the advantages it offered an alpha with a pack. Plenty of space to roam, room to host a few head of cattle, and land for growing families.”
The ranch, Dante explained, was about sixty miles northwest of Cheyenne, near Laramie. The closest friendly neighbors were a pack of shifters who sometimes helped out with branding and roundups. And the annual barbecue.
It was one thing to sell my body to shifters, albeit cute, sexy shifters who had made my first time having sex more than memorable and passionate.
It was totally another to risk going with them to their home. They would have the advantage. Have me at their mercy, although considering what Gabriel had done when I was tied up, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.
Yet I’d be nearly a hundred miles from my house, and what if something went haywire? I scanned the three of them, seeing the hope in their auras, the guarded anticipation, and the hunger.
They were wolves, the heart of them, and no matter how gentle and considerate, wolves were wild creatures. They ran wild, played wild and mated wild.
“Why do you want me at the ranch? This isn’t about a big picnic you’re inviting me to. It’s something more.” I wasn’t about to commit to anyt
hing unless I had more information.
A satisfied smile touched Dante’s mouth. He turned to the others. “I told you she was smart, our Peyton.”
“Hey, big alpha wolf.” I snapped my fingers in his face, irritated. “I’m right here. Answer my question.”
A low growl sounded deep in Dante’s throat. Whoa. If that was his response to my question… alpha or not… it wasn’t good. I didn’t know if I had crossed some invisible line to shifters and challenged his authority.
Right now I didn’t care.
But Dante sprang to his feet, his hands gripping the balcony railing. He peered down and growled fiercer.
The kind of growl a wolf gives before it attacks you.
“Get her inside,” he ordered.
Gabriel and Alex hustled me inside, shut the door. They found the panties and bra left out for me on the chair, and handed me a clean, fresh dress since my uniform was left downstairs. Alex herded me into the bathroom.
“Get dressed and stay there until we tell you to come out.”
I’d seen this side of Alex only once before – when he fought with that shifter who’d grabbed my ass. My mouth opened.
The door closed in my face.
Oh damn, this wasn’t good. Something, or someone, was out there they didn’t want me to see.
Or didn’t want that thing to see me.
Whatever was out there it wasn’t friendly.
In minutes I had relieved myself, freshened up and dressed. I opened the door, mindless of Alex’s warning.
The room was empty.
Huh. Maybe they were waiting for me downstairs. Was it possible for shifters to overreact? What if they staged this for dramatic effect, to get me to accompany them back to their ranch?
Dante still hadn’t answered all my questions. Too many unknowns existed for me to risk traveling with them for the whole weekend.
Not to mention the money I needed to arrange to get to the Brown brothers.
I’d left my purse and clothing in the dressing room. As I went downstairs, I heard noises from the lounge. Loud, raised voices.
Instead of cutting through the lounge, I went through the employee hallway into the kitchen, then grabbed my things from the dressing room. I stuffed the jeans and shirt into my bag, studying the Doc Martens with regret. Oh hell. I’d collect them later.
In the kitchen, I peered out through the window in the swinging door.
Stepped back as Dante, Gabriel, Alex and Guy the bouncer strode inside.
“I told you to wait upstairs,” Alex scolded.
“Why? What’s going on? Talk to me, Alex.”
Guy glanced at Dante, who nodded.
Guy looked grim. “Earl Brown’s waiting in his truck down the road. Sam texted me that he passed him by on the way back to their den.”
“Not anymore. He’s here. I scented him.” Dante growled. “I could pinpoint that son of a bitch one hundred miles away, he smells so bad.”
True. But this had nothing to do with me. “I have to get home. This isn’t about me.”
All four shifters narrowed their eyes. Claws erupted from their hands, and I gulped down a breath.
“Really, it’s not. Soon as the Browns get the wire transfer of the money I owe, all will be fine.” Maybe reassuring them would help.
The claws retracted, but I had the sense that the aggression wasn’t aimed at me, but for me. A protective gesture.
“They want you, Peyton. They don’t give a damn about the money. They’ve been wanting you. The money was only to force you into their bed and when that didn’t work out, they decided to come after you.” Dante scowled.
“We can get the car pulled out back, if they’re waiting out front.” Alex turned to me. “It’s the safest way to smuggle you out.”
Smuggle me out? Fear snaked through me. Deep inside, I wondered why Earl Brown cared so much about me when he could afford to buy human women for all the sex he wanted.
“Guess it’s time to arm myself. I don’t have claws, but a knife will suit me.” I went to the counter, selected one of the largest sous chef knives.
As I waved the knife, all four shifters snorted.
“With that bitty thing?” Guy shook his head. “Girl, you’ll be in their truck and headed to their territory before you can even get close with that. And once you’re on their land, there’s little we can do without having an all-out pack war.”
“Even if you got close enough to hurt them, it wouldn’t do much damage. Not when a shifter is cranked up and ready to fight. Not with those knives. They’re special.”
As he spoke, Gabriel took the knife from my hand and sliced his skin. I cried out.
And stared in shock and growing dismay. Nothing had happened. It was as if Gabriel had tried to cut himself with cotton.
“I know you are a tough guy, but…” my voice trailed off.
“They’re special blades, designed only to cut animal flesh, warded with magick to prevent a shifter from using them against another shifter. A special precaution I took with the kitchen,” Dante said grimly.
One he took? Why was Dante the one ordering kitchen knives for the Crossroads Club?
But I had no time to puzzle over that revelation because Gabriel tossed the blade aside and wrapped his fingers around my wrist.
“Come on, Peyton. Let’s get you out of here. You’re too vulnerable inside.”
The part of me that hated feeling vulnerable wanted to protest, but the logical part of me that knew that shifters with fangs and claws could easily overpower human flesh agreed.
I wasn’t stupid. Prideful, yes. But not stupid.
“My truck is out front. If you give me a ride to it, I can get in and be gone before they notice me,” I told Gabriel as he flanked one side of me and Alex the other.
“We’ll see about that,” Dante said behind me.
Alex opened the back door. Blood drained from Gabriel’s face. Fisting his hands, he growled low.
Suddenly he shifted into wolf. I barely had time to breathe, or even react, and a muscled gray timber wolf snarled into the night. Damn it was so fast. I’d seen werewolves before, but never witnessed an actual shift.
The human part of me quivered inside.
“Alex!” Dante’s voice carried command. “Watch Peyton. Guy, come with me.”
Still in wolf form, Gabriel raced off as Alex guarded my left side. A sleek black stretch limo pulled up around the side. But the Dumpster and several barrels prevented it from getting too close. The containers formed a sort of alleyway, leading to the parking lot.
“We’re going to run for it,” Alex muttered.
“Where’s Gabriel and Dante?”
“Clearing the way. Never mind them. Pay attention to me and when I tell you, run.”
As the limo glided to a halt, something growled in the shadows to our right. Hair stood up on my nape and what surfaced was the ancient, instinctive fear of a woman faced with a ferocious carnivore.
Alex pulled at my arm. “Come on, Peyton.”
Earl Brown stepped out of the shadows into the light in front of me, preventing us from moving forward. “Peyton. You owe us. You insulted me and my brother for refusing to sleep with us.”
His aura didn’t glow, only had that thin line of green, turned dark green. The absence of any light meant an aura of a shifter who had nothing inside him but hatred and violence.
Alex’s aura went from calm blue to black, flickering with red. He tensed for a fight.
“Peyton, turn around and go back inside. Lock yourself in the office next to the kitchen and do not emerge until we call out for you,” Alex told me in a low voice.
Alex stepped to my right, blocking Earl from my view. I called out.
“Earl, I have the money. It’s all yours and will be transferred first thing Tuesday morning.”
Earl’s nostril’s flared. “I can smell the stink of Dante and his betas all over you. You slept with them and you refused me. That’s a plain insult, bitch. You come
with me, nice and slow now, so we can fuck you and I’ll forgive you.”
I bristled. Werewolf or not, no one had the right to tell me what to do with my body. Especially not a bully like Earl Brown.
Alex tried to tug me backward. “Peyton, go back into the club,” he warned.
I started to back away as Alex ordered.
Earl laughed, and it was an ugly, low sound. His beady eyes suddenly glowed golden, and I had a bad feeling.
Brown snarled. “I won’t mark you much. Not enough to disrupt that psi talent of yours that everyone keeps mentioning.”
I barely had time to puzzle over his cryptic words when Earl Brown ran forward, shifting in mid-air. Frozen, I tried to get my feet to move, move, move!
It was if I remained glued to the ground. My heart raced and panic raced through me, but I could not move, just stare as the wolf ran forward, ready to rip me apart.
Alex leapt in front of me to take the blow, not shifting, not defending himself with anything more than raised fists. He growled, blocking my view.
A wolf I recognized as Gabriel and another muscled gray wolf with black banding his snout appeared in the alleyway.
Snarls sounded as the Gabriel and the other wolf tackled Earl Brown just before Earl the wolf reached Alex.
Alex was at my side, hustling me past the fighting wolves into the limo.Where was Dante?
Four small gray wolves raced into the alleyway. Alex swore. “Damnit, there’s Calvin and the rest of Earl’s cousins. Now Guy and Gabriel are outnumbered.”
The six Brown wolves emerged from the alleyway, fighting with the alpha, whom I guessed was Guy the bouncer. From the shadows, a large black wolf emerged.
Dante. He weighed easily two hundred pounds and had the proud bearing of an alpha.
As he ran forward, another wolf emerged from behind him, ready to attack.
I pulled back, whimpering. Nothing must happen to Dante. The thought of that sexy, powerful alpha being torn apart…
“Dante! Behind you!” I screamed.
The black wolf whirled, tore at his attacker, who howled and ran away. Then Dante joined the fight with the Browns.
Howling, tails tucked between their legs, the six Browns raced off, vanishing into the night.
