Beau turned and left Justin as he further befouled the restroom, following Harry out to his truck.
“Tell me we can kill him soon,” Harry said, his jaw clenched tight.
“As soon as he’s outlived his usefulness,” Beau said. “He’s a fucking huge wolf and we might need him if any of the cats decide to get in my way.”
“True. But he’s an animal.”
“I won’t let him live long enough to desecrate our Jade. I’ll kill him as soon as she’s ours again.”
With that thought warming his cold heart, and the thought of finally having Jade underneath him, Beau slid behind the wheel of his truck and honked the horn to hurry Justin along. The sun was disappearing behind the thick snow clouds rolling over the mountain.
“By morning Jade will be hog-tied in the back as we head off to find our new home. I hope she’s stronger than the last one.” Harry smiled as they both watched Justin stagger to the truck while pulling up his jeans. “And Justin will be sorry he ever met me.”
* * * *
Asher had given her his mobile phone so she could call Amber and then her mother. Even though it was only Amber who’d been worried about her, she wanted to tell her mother where she was living now, and give them both a number where they could contact her.
The call to her mother had been short and sweet, the call to Amber much more difficult. They’d been inseparable as children and had remained each other’s confidant despite how many miles separated them. Amber had managed to get more out of her than she’d intended to tell her.
“Nosy cow,” Jade said wryly.
“You love me anyway,” Amber said, ending the call.
Jade paused and listened to the conversation in the kitchen before entering. The four men were part of a very loving family. Having just spoken with her own mother, the differences were starkly apparent.
“No point hiding, darlin’. The roomful of shifters can smell and hear you standing there,” Barrett said, stepping into the hallway with a wide smile on his handsome face.
“Not hiding,” Jade said softly. “I’m just enjoying listening to everyone.”
Barrett frowned at her words but picked her up and carried her to the table. Jade felt self-conscious at first with the open displays of affection her men lavished on her. They kissed her and caressed her at every opportunity. But as the meal progressed Jade saw how happy their parents were, and with Brett being equally demonstrative to Margie, Jade relaxed and let herself enjoy their attention. Surrounded by this loving family, Jade found herself feeling happier than she’d been in a long, long time.
“Barrett could always charm the birds out the trees with his calm, soothing nature,” Margie said, smiling warmly at her second eldest son. “We thought he might become a vet, but he preferred to risk his life throwing himself out of speeding cars and such, when he wasn’t home working the ranch with his dad.”
Margie cleared the dishes with Asher’s help, frowning when she picked up Jade’s barely touched bowl of spaghetti. Jade wasn’t used to such enormous servings.
“I was hardly risking my life,” Barrett said, pulling Jade tighter against his body. “Not considering how hardy shifters are.”
“Shifters die,” Brett said succinctly. “Being a shifter doesn’t save you from death.”
Jade saw Margie shudder as she looked at all her sons. She saw how proud Margie was of all her sons and was pleased that Asher and Barrett hadn’t ever suffered by comparison to their genius brothers. Theirs was a well-adjusted, loving family who just happened to turn into cougars and live to be hundreds of years old.
“What about your family, Jade?” Brett asked. “We’ve talked nonstop about our boys again. My apologies for being rude.”
“Not rude,” Jade said. “I’ve loved learning about their childhood. I can’t wait to hear more.” She looked at Margie and laughed. “I’m sure there are a lot more stories to tell.”
“We’ll tell you everything you want to know,” Troy said.
“We want to know about you, though,” Wes said. “Everything before yesterday.”
“We want to know why Amber is worried about your weight. Why you don’t speak to your mother very often, and why your friend Paige never wants to speak to you again,” Troy continued.
“How?” Jade tried to stand, but Barrett held her closer.
“Subtlety was never one of their gifts,” Asher said with an exaggerated groan.
“Amber thinks Paige is a bitch, and that you’re better off without her in your life,” Wes said, nodding at Troy.
“Paige? I haven’t heard from her in over a year. How do you even…”
Jade stopped talking when Troy pulled her broken cell phone out of one of his fatigue pockets. He held it out to her with a tentative smile.
“You were unconscious and we didn’t know your name.”
“We’re your mates, yet knew nothing about you,” Wes said. “It was torture. You might have had a serious medical condition…”
Jade took pity on the sweet men who looked to be suffering greatly with their feelings of guilt. “You were helping me. I understand. The police would’ve investigated me if they’d been the ones to find me.”
“That’s true,” Troy said. His smile was genuine and his eyes sparkling. “I just did it a hell of a lot quicker.”
“Your father, Chao, has passed away,” Margie said, her expression sympathetic. It wasn’t a question, so Troy and Wes had somehow discovered that detail as well.
“He died ten years ago from a burst aneurysm in his brain. His death was sudden and instant, sparing him any pain.” Jade paused as her voice hitched slightly, betraying the pain she still felt at losing her dad. She’d loved him very much. “But it left us all struggling with the abruptness of his loss.”
Barrett pulled her closer, and moved her so he could kiss her cheek. “I’m sorry, Jade. It’s obvious you still miss him.”
“Your mother remarried,” Troy said. Again it wasn’t a question. “Do you not like your stepfather?”
Jade laughed, trying to put the old pain of her father’s death back in its box. “No, he’s nice enough. Just different.” She looked around in the silence, feeling the weight of all their gazes.
That answer apparently wasn’t satisfying them. “Thomas Boyd is a banker, he loves my mother, and she loves spending his money. It’s hard seeing her with Thomas. It’s like Mom is another person now. She and my dad were so…in love, I guess.”
Margie nodded and came over to squeeze her hand. “She was lonely after Chao died.” Jade felt her heart soften a little toward her mother. She hadn’t been able to understand why her mother had ever decided to marry Thomas. Now she was beginning to.
However, as Jade looked at her mates, she knew she’d willingly choose death over ever being without them. The love shining in their eyes was something she already couldn’t live without.
Asher and Troy exploded into action. Jade had seen the term written but had never fully appreciated what it meant until this moment. Asher disappeared, the door to the kitchen banging loudly to announce which direction he’d gone.
“Take her to the basement.” Troy’s words hung in the air a second before he followed Asher’s lead and disappeared.
Barrett was moving so fast her head swam. He held her tight to his chest, as she found herself suddenly in the darkness of the basement.
“Who is it?” Barrett asked.
“Asher made it to the trees and Troy is waiting on the porch.”
“What’s happening?” Jade whispered into the pitch-darkness.
“Why are you whispering?” Wes whispered back, kissing her on the tip of her nose.
“I thought we were hiding.”
“No, honey. Just putting a few shifters between you and the stranger,” Wes said. “Wait, Hunter and Finn are also in the stranger’s truck.”
“The Alpha is here.” Brett’s deep voice floated down from above.
Barrett put Jade on her feet, and she s
taggered a little, the darkness disorienting her.
“Whoa there, Jade. I’m still here with you,” Wes said. He wrapped her in his arms and she melted against his solid chest, breathing deeply and letting his scent fill her lungs.
“There’s a stranger?”
“Troy is waiting on the porch for the Alpha. As soon as he tells me it’s safe, we’ll join them. None of us will risk your safety. You’re too important to us.”
“Wes?” Jade whispered.
The tension in his frame had made each and every one of his muscles bulge. She couldn’t resist the urge to stroke him. Jade felt caged by the darkness and the dusty, stale smell, but was soothed by Wes’s hard body beneath her hands. His strong arms around her made her feel safe. His warm breath on her neck was making her body come alive.
“You feel amazing in my arms, Jade. I never imagined a mate would feel like this.”
She laughed quietly, straining to hear what was going on in the kitchen above them. “Come on. You had some idea what a woman felt like, Wes.”
”You have no idea how different you feel to me. How much pleasure the touch of your skin brings me. How my heart beats faster just by looking at you. You’re not just stunningly beautiful, Jade. You’re a gift from heaven. You’re sweet, kind, sexy as fuck, and you can carry my babies, our babies. No one else on earth can do that, could ever do that. But more than that, no one else on earth is mine as completely as you are. I feel you in here.” He brought her hand to his chest, the strong beat of his heart a rapid thud beneath her palm.
”I can feel you in my heart, too, Wes,” Jade said, her voice barely even a whisper now.
”Fuck,” Wes swore, moving until she had her back pressed to the cool bricks of a wall. “Am I hurting your back?”
Jade felt no pain as he nipped down her neck to his mark, laving the healing wound with his tongue.
“Wes, please, that feels…”
She was lost for words as her body shook with pleasure. He’d made her come just from kissing her neck.
She clung to his shoulders and pulled herself up his body, wrapping her legs around his hips and pressing her throbbing clit against the bulge in his fatigues.
“Are you in pain, honey? I don’t want to hurt you.”
“More,” Jade said, her mouth dry as her core clenched. She needed Wes inside her. “I want you.”
Jade was never going to regret being mated to a shifter. Not ever. Wes revealed his strength and dexterity by holding her easily under her ass with one arm as he undid the tie on her borrowed sweats and peeled them off her legs. Having had no clean panties she’d gone commando, and was now seeing the benefits of choosing that option again in the future.
The metallic hiss of a fly preceded Wes’s groan as he pressed Jade back against the wall. “Mine,” he hissed, crashing his lips to hers as his cock slid deeply inside her.
He was hot and hard as he pumped into her, his pace as frantic as his kiss. He gripped her bare ass in his hands, stroking a finger through her leaking juices and then sliding it into her anus. He was everywhere. Inside her, around her. He was pleasure itself as he quickly transported her to the very brink of another orgasm. The promise of rapture just out of her reach.
Releasing her lips he kissed down her neck, his breath as labored as her own. “So perfect, Jade. You’re ours, all ours.”
Jade wanted to scream as Wes thrust deeply and then stilled, his cock pulsing as he came. He pierced her skin with his teeth and she flew, her whole body shaking as wave after wave of ecstasy washed through her. Unable to shed decorum completely she’d gripped Wes’s shirt between her teeth to stifle her screams.
Jade had no idea how long she was lost in her bliss, but Wes’s breathing was still ragged as she reached up blindly to pull his mouth to hers. She licked the sweet, male taste of him into her mouth. Drank his moans as he held her easily in his hands and rocked his still-hard cock inside her.
”I’d be more than happy to do this all day, Jade. But Troy is already furious with me. I think we should make ourselves decent and go meet our guest.”
The world slammed back into place for Jade. They were down here hiding from danger and they’d just had sex instead.
”Is Troy hurt? God, did we just have sex when your parents and your brothers are in danger?”
”Everyone is fine. The stranger is an official guest of the pride. Troy is the only one hurting, Jade. But not from any injury.”
Wes thrust into her again, so deeply she gasped as his cock bumped her womb.
”He’s hurting because he’s here with me.” Wes tapped her forehead. “But not here.” He tipped his hips again, his cock sliding deliciously into her sensitized pussy.
”I could do this all day,” Jade whispered, afraid to admit that she really wanted to make love to him again.
“Once the threat to you has been eliminated we’ll definitely be making that wish come true, sweet Jade.”
Wes was unfortunately just as dexterous in putting her pants back on, and was carrying her up the stairs a minute later. Jade wanted to forget all about Beau Rennie. That monster had no part in her new life here in Eminence.
He was also a threat to her men and her new friends, but she couldn’t regret coming here. She’d never regret that.
* * * *
Asher smiled as Wes carried Jade from the dark basement to the brightness of the kitchen. Jade blinked to clear her eyes. She appeared rumpled and well loved. The heady aroma of her arousal made his cock even harder and he knew he was walking awkwardly as he joined his brothers at Jade’s side.
“That was incredible, honey,” Troy said, kissing Jade deeply as Wes passed her to him.
“Stop, Troy,” Asher said softly. “We have company.”
“Damn,” Troy said, releasing Jade’s lips and resting his forehead on hers. “Soon we will make love to you all day, Jade. Soon.”
Jade wrapped her arms around Troy’s neck and sighed deeply. “Why do I want you all again? I feel like I’m going crazy.”
“It’s all the mating musk,” Margie said. “It will be years before it wanes even slightly. But it’s a hell of a few years.” Their mom gave their dad a wicked smile, a tremor running through her.
Asher laughed, briefly hugging his mother for easing the confusion he’d scented in his mate. Jade was smiling at Marguerite, and he felt his heart skip a beat at her sheer beauty.
“I thought you were a vision when I first laid eyes on you, Jade,” Asher said, his cat’s need making his voice husky. “But with the bruising and swelling nearly gone you’re beauty is dazzling.”
Jade’s blush and increasing arousal had Asher stepping closer, his audience forgotten until the Alpha cleared his throat.
“I would like to introduce Jade to our guest,” Finn said. The command in his Alpha’s voice froze Asher with his hand outstretched, only the barest space separating him from Jade.
Jade wasn’t affected by the Alpha’s unspoken command. She pressed her face to his hand with a sigh. “Is it ridiculous that I missed you?”
“Soon, little one,” Asher said. “As soon as you’re safe we’ll have the time to enjoy being mated. To enjoy everything about being mated.”
Jade pulled back to stare at him with a shocked expression.
“Jade, did you meet Mason Reeder while you were living in Duckwater?” Finn asked.
As soon as Finn spoke Asher was free to move. He stepped aside so Jade could be introduced to the enforcer from the Duckwater pack.
“No, I don’t think we’ve met,” Jade said, her brows furrowing.
Asher was glad Troy didn’t step any closer or release Jade from his hold on her. Having an unmated male in the room was causing havoc with his cat. Asher was still in full control, but his cat’s possessive snarls inside his head were distracting as hell.
“No, we didn’t meet,” Mason said. He looked at Asher and his brothers and correctly read the threat. He remained standing at Finn’s side. “But I saw you in the de
sert often while you painted. You’re very talented.”
“Mason was sent by his Alpha to aid in our protection of Jade,” Finn said.
“They think we can’t protect our mate?” Wes said, his anger infecting all their cats and making the kitchen pulse with aggression.
“I imagine they are suffering under the common misconception that all canine shifters seem to share of our nature,” Asher said.
Hunter stepped beside Mason and slapped him on the back. “They think we have inferior olfactory glands compared to dogs.”
“You cats are all very pretty,” Mason said, his familiarity with Hunter obvious. “But none of you can track for shit.”
Barrett’s booming laugh released the tension and he took Jade from Troy and sat at the table with her. She was satisfyingly engulfed by Barrett’s massive bulk and Asher’s cat relaxed a little.
“She’s safe now,” Asher said, as much to reassure the twins as himself.
“Do they even realize they can’t scent vampires, while we can?” Barrett asked.
Finn’s eyes closed for a second and he sighed before opening them. The heat of their glowing amber threatened to boil Barrett like twin lasers. “They do now. Thank you, Barrett.”
Mason stilled, his large body coiled in predatory readiness. “Vampires? They exist?”
“Sorry,” Barrett mumbled, letting his head fall back with a groan.
“We have business here,” Finn said. “Hunter can brief you on the relevant details pertaining to other species at a later date.”
“Species? As in plural?” Mason asked.
“Mason would like to base himself at your parents’ home,” Hunter said, ignoring Mason’s obvious anger. No one liked being the dumbest person in the room, especially an enforcer. “Unless you would be comfortable with him staying here, close to Jade?”
Hunter held up his hands to silence the snarls that greeted that suggestion.
“That’s what I thought you’d say,” Mason said. “If I may impose upon you, Mr. and Mrs. Pollock, I would be in your debt.”
“Of course, Mr. Reeder, but please, call me Margie. I’ll set up a room for you as soon as I get home.”
Jade [Eminence Shifters 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 11
