by Becca Van
What the fuck is wrong with you, Tessa? Do you even know what you want?
She took a few deep, calming breaths and her pounding heart began to slow, as did her panicked breathing. Now that she had calmed down somewhat she remembered that the three Woolf brothers had explained to her about mating with her but she had been so damn horny and her brain had felt like it was on a vacation with the pheromones they put out when they were near her. Yet she had agreed to everything they had done to her. She wondered if their musk was some type of drugging agent to make their mate comply with their will. She gave a mental snort.
You’re lying to yourself, girl. You knew what they meant and what they were asking of you.
Tessa was feeling more than a little overwhelmed and was glad for the time alone to think. She thought about what she said to Rafe and began to feel guilty. She’d seen the hurt look in his eyes before she stormed away and even though she wanted to apologize for her childish behavior she wanted time alone first.
She opened and closed drawers until she found her underwear and then went to the closet and flung it open. After grabbing her favorite pair of jeans and pulling them on, she hesitated over choosing one of her own T-shirts. For some reason she needed and wanted to feel as if one of her mates was holding her. She closed the drawer and opened another one. When she found one of her mate’s T-shirts inside she pulled one out and brought it to her nose. It was Lucien’s. How she knew that she didn’t know or really care, but she pulled the T-shirt over her head and pushed her arms through the arm holes. After she was dressed she decided she needed some fresh air. She needed to get her head together before she faced them and so she looked for alternative escape routes. She felt a bit foolish but she didn’t want anyone stopping her from having a few moments alone. If she encountered one of her men she didn’t want to end up arguing with them just so she could go outside.
She walked over to the bay window in the bedroom and was glad to see they could be opened. It was so big, she struggled with the weight of the window, but it eventually slid open when she applied more strength. There was a very sturdy fly screen attached to the window but when she tried to push it out it wouldn’t budge. Hurrying back to the bathroom, she rummaged through cabinet to find something to pry the screen off with. The only thing she could find was a pair of nail scissors. Hopefully they would be strong enough to pry the screen off. She set to work on the window screen.
* * * *
Gabe answered the phone in his office on the first ring. “Gabe.”
“Gabe, Josh. Are you sitting down?”
“Tell me,” Gabe demanded.
Taking a deep audible breath, Josh began to explain. “Darren Smythe has only been living in Cleveland for two years. He is originally from San Francisco and has moved about ten times in the last five years. He has had at least five restraining orders out on him from women he had been dating, for obsessive and possessive and stalking behavior. He has never been charged with anything, but I don’t like it, Gabe. I’ve tried to talk to all the women who have placed the restraining orders, except for one, but none of them will talk to me. I think they’re too scared to talk.”
“Fuck, he sounds like a nasty piece of work. Keep trying to get hold of the last woman and let me know if you find out anything else. Thanks, Josh.” Gabe was worried. They had to keep Tessa safe. He went in search of Lucien to apprise him of the situation.
* * * *
Tessa used the nail scissor and slipped a blade under the corner edge of the screen, prying it up until she could get a finger underneath. Using all her strength she pushed the corner of the screen up and out until her finger started aching. Her efforts were rewarded as the screen lifted to the lip of the window frame. Taking a breath and using all her body weight, she pushed out the corner of the window frame and then gasped in horror as it went sailing down into the bush below the window. Tessa sat on the window sill and swung her legs over the edge. Pushing herself outward, she just narrowly missed the bush beneath the window as she landed on the balls of her feet. Glancing around to make sure no one was watching her or around, she ran toward the line of trees ten meters from the house.
She was too afraid to slow down, even when she felt the bottoms of her feet being scratched, stabbed and cut from small branches and prickles strewn on the forest floor. She ran until she couldn’t get enough breath into her heaving lungs and then slowed down to a walk when she felt her side cramp up in a stitch. She pushed on for what seemed like hours but in actual fact had probably only been an hour. Sighing with exhaustion she sat on a large log to regain her breath and strength.
Tessa was so confused. She didn’t know what to think. Was she only attracted to the Woolf brothers because of their mating musk or was it more than that? Were they only attracted to her because of her scent? Would they have even looked at her twice if they hadn’t been werewolves?
She wasn’t fat but she wasn’t thin either. A couple of the bitches she’d worked with at the restaurant in her hometown had always made snide remarks about her weight and even though she’d let those comments slide off of her, they had hurt. Even her elderly deceased mother had harped on her size every day.
Tessa was a size fourteen and average in looks. She’d only ever attracted the attention of bastards, yet the Woolf brothers had been nothing but kind to her. Could they really be attracted to her because of who she was, for herself, and not because of their wolves? That was another thing. They were werewolves and she was human, she couldn’t understand why they would want her when she was so much weaker than they were.
Just as she was about to begin walking again when the back of her neck prickled in warning. She felt eyes on her. Looking all around she couldn’t see anyone watching her and put the feeling down to paranoia.
Rising from the log, she went to continue walking and found herself face to face with a large gray wolf. The wolf sniffed the air and then pushed its ears nearly flat against its head and growled low in its throat. As Tessa backed away from the animal, she gasped when she felt the log against the back of her knees and knew she was trapped. The wolf stalked forward slowly and then just as Tess thought it would come at her, she saw it start to change.
Tessa found herself looking at a tall woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was voluptuous and curvy and so damn beautiful, Tessa began to feel dowdy. Realizing she was staring at the naked woman she met the woman’s gaze and tried not to flinch when she looked into the coldest eyes she had ever seen.
“Who are you and what do you want?” Tess asked, trying to keep the fear from her voice.
“My name is Stephanie and what I want is for you to leave. They are supposed to be mine and you can’t have them.”
“I presume you’re talking about Lucien, Rafe, and Gabe?” Tessa glared at the cold-hearted bitch.
Stephanie nodded. “They were mine until you showed up, you little slut. Everyone knows they’re mine. If you don’t leave, I will kill you. You can’t have them.”
“I don’t want them,” Tessa yelled. Pain pierced her heart at the lie. The thought of never seeing her mates again nearly brought her to her knees, but there was no way she could fight a werewolf for them. She wasn’t even in Stephanie’s league. Judging by the muscles she could see flexing in the bitch’s arms as she crossed them over her chest, one swat from her could very well kill her.
Those three Alpha males affected her in a way that no other man ever had before. If she didn’t know better she thought she may already be on her way to being half in love with them. If she’d been a werewolf she wouldn’t have hesitated in fighting for her men, but she was no match for this bitch. Taking a fortifying breath she faced Stephanie again. “Let me go back for my car and I’ll leave. That will leave you free to pursue them to your heart’s desire.”
Stephanie’s eyes heated with malevolence as she pointed behind Tessa. “You can’t go back for your car or things. They will sense your anxiety and come looking for you. And don’t even think about telling th
em about me trying to help you leave, they wouldn’t believe you. I have known those three men since I was born. They won’t believe a human over one of their own kind.”
The bitch looked so confident and sounded so sincere, Tessa couldn’t help but think what she said was true. The pain which centered in her chest was so bad, she had to concentrate on not doubling over and throwing up, but she wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing how much her words affected her.
“Keep going the way you were headed. You’ll reach the road in about another half an hour. Hopefully a car will come along and you can hitch a ride back to town.”
“I don’t have any money on me. My purse is still back at the house.” Tessa blinked rapidly. It was taking everything she had not to break down and cry. She’d only just met Luc, Rafe, and Gabe but already cared for them deeply. Not being able to be with them was going to kill her. Maybe she should just challenge the bitch after all. At least the pain would be over with quickly and wouldn’t fester until she turned into a bitter, worn out shell like her mother had.
No! I am not going to give that slut the satisfaction of killing me.
“Get into town and I’ll meet you there in two hours. I’ll get you some money.” Stephanie began to change back into her wolf form. Once she was in her were form, she growled once at Tess, then took off, disappearing amongst the trees.
Tessa turned the way she had been heading and started a slow jog. She was hoping to reach the road Stephanie had indicated was up ahead before Lucien, Rafe, or Gabriel realized she was missing.
* * * *
Rafe walked back into the bedroom after discussing the problem of Darren Smythe with Gabe, and when he saw the open window, missing screen, and his missing mate, he let out a howl to alert his brothers.
Rafe met his siblings in the entry hall and told them what he’d found and that Tessa was missing. He also told them how their mate had reacted when he’d told her that being mated to them would mean they couldn’t and wouldn’t want to be away from each other for too long.
Lucien immediately called all the members of the pack—using his Alpha power and telepathic link—in the house together and advised them of the situation.
“Tessa is missing. I want you all to change and search her out. She is not safe with her ex roaming the country side. We have to find her as fast as we can. I appreciate all of you helping. Let me know if you find her.”
The pack members took off in different directions, searching for their Alpha’s missing mate. Lucien, Rafe and Gabe ripped their clothes off and all changed into their were form, and converged under the window Tessa had escaped through, gaining their mate’s scent and following the path she had taken. Putting on a burst of speed, Gabe and his brothers ran flat out until the scent of their mate was at its strongest. Slowing the pace, Gabe crept forward until they had their mate within sight.
* * * *
Tessa was limping as she cautiously made her way over the forest floor. Her feet were torn to shreds from rocks, twigs, and bramble she stumbled over. She cried out as she stubbed her toe on another rock and fell to her knees. Thinking she couldn’t be far from the road now, she pushed to her feet again, determination giving her strength. Just as she had the road within her sight and had taken another step forward, she heard low rumbling growls surrounding her.
Tessa stopped, not moving a muscle as three large wolves began moving toward her from different directions. One wolf was pure black with large green eyes, another was brown with blue eyes, and the last one had a coat of black and brown with hazel eyes. As the wolves came closer and closer, Tessa began shaking in fear and she let out a frightened whimper.
The air around the wolves began to shimmer and Tess was suddenly looking into Lucien’s eyes. She tried to keep her nervousness from showing as she looked into the eyes of one furious Alpha male. She starting backing away again, but came to an abrupt halt as her back bumped into a hard, male naked chest. Strong arms banded around her shoulders, holding her but not tight enough to hurt. Tessa knew it was Gabe behind her from his wonderful spicy scent.
“Why, Tessa? Why did you run?” Lucien asked in a growly voice and shuddered at the rage in his eyes.
“I can’t do this, Lucien. When you said I was the mate to all three of you, I thought I would be enough, but I don’t think I am woman enough to satisfy all three of you all the time. I’ve spent most of my life alone and even though I crave and want companionship, I don’t know if I can handle being with you three all the time. I need to have my own space, too. ’
“I don’t have a great track record with dominant men. There will come a time when I will piss one of you off. What happens then? Will you beat me like Darren did? I am not going to hang around until I anger you. I have a temper and when I lose it, you guys are not going to know what hit you. You won’t like me. I am not really a submissive person. I am only just starting to get back on my feet after Darren. I want some time alone. I need to be independent for a while. I can’t and won’t deal with you three. You have to let me go.”
Pain ripped through her chest and she barely managed to hold in a moan. She didn’t want to walk away from them and never see them again, but she didn’t know how to handle all of them, and now that bitch wanted her gone. She was a werewolf, part of Lucien’s pack. If that bitch didn’t want her around maybe the rest of the pack wanted her gone, too. Tessa was a human and not a wolf. She wasn’t good enough to hold onto three men.
Lucien stepped forward until he was no more than a foot away from her. She tilted her head back so she could look him in the eye. “Sorry, pajarito, we cannot and will not let you go!” Lucien held up his hand to stop the protest forming on Tessa’s lips. “Hear me out.
“We already know it is illegal to marry more than one person in the human world. In pack life the rules are different. When you are bitten by your mate or mates in this case, you are bound to them until death. So in the eyes of werewolf law we are all already married. Just because we are dominant men in and out of bed does not mean you have to be submissive all the time.
“Sure, in bed we will want you to be compliant, but that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to have your own opinions and ideas. We don’t expect you to agree with everything we do or say and that works both ways. We will all eventually piss each other off. We’ll all lose our tempers at some time. However, that doesn’t mean you or we should run from our problems. If we have a problem with you, or you with us, we will tell you and we will all sit down and discuss things. We expect the same from you. It’s going to take a lot of communication as well as trial and error, little bird, on all our behalves, not just yours.”
“Well, I can tell you right now, the fact that you did not explain everything to me regarding this connection we have pisses me off. If I’d known that we had to be around each other nearly all the time I may not have agreed to mate with you at all.” Tessa was lying to them and herself now. She scowled and wondered if she could be any more screwed up. Maybe learning that werewolves were real had really fried her brain. Or maybe Darren had hit her so hard he had knocked her out and she was dreaming it all and none of it was actually happening. She couldn’t understand why she was being so contrary, so contradictory with her thoughts. Usually she made a decision and stuck to it. These three handsome werewolves had her tied up in knots and now she had a she bitch to contend with on top of everything else.
What the hell was she supposed to do now?
* * * *
Lucien felt as if his heart was being torn from his chest. He’d thought Tessa understood what mating her had meant. He and his brothers had tried to explain everything to her and she had accepted them.
“How can you not have been aware of what we were telling you? I thought we explained everything clearly, Tessa.”
Tessa sighed and slumped against Gabe as if all her anger had drained away. “You did. I’m sorry. I…It’s just that when I’m near you all I can’t seem to think straight. It’s that damn mating musk. Eve
ry word you said went in one ear and out the other.”
Lucien knew then that she wasn’t really fighting him and his brothers, she was fighting herself. He knew damn well that the mating musk was there to entice their mate to want them, an aphrodisiac to attract, but not enough to drug their mate so that she was incapable of thinking clearly.
Lucien relaxed a little, some of his tension draining away. She was the only mate they’d ever have. Werewolves only ever had one true mate and to find the woman meant to be theirs was a miracle. A lot of wolves went through life alone, not ever meeting up with their one true love.
Only a true mate was able to procreate, and now that they had found Tessa, Lucien wanted to have pups with her as did his brothers, but first they had to give her some room and help get her head around all of this. He and his brothers were doomed if she didn’t accept them and wanted to leave. They would never want to touch another woman. They had had sex whenever they needed to relieve an urge before Tessa. Of course he and his brothers made sure the women they had sex with knew the score, but since they had already made love to their mate, claimed her, no one else would do. He and his brothers would not able to feel arousal for any other woman now they were mated.
Lucien spoke to his brothers using their mind link. “We have to get her to understand we will not survive without her. She doesn’t realize we have no choice in the matter of our mate either.”
“Gabe I think you should talk to her,” Rafe said. “You seem to be able to communicate with her better than Lucien and I can. See if you can get her to give us a month of her time. If by then she’s not happy and has not accepted us as her mates, then I think the only thing we can do is to let her go.”
“You know we can’t let her go, Rafe. She is our mate and she won’t survive without us by her side,” Gabe replied.
“We all know she would not survive without us. She’d have every single werewolf around chasing her and if they got hold of her, you know what would happen. They would rape her and eventually kill her. You know how attractive mated women are to single weres, especially if the mate is all alone.” Rafe snarled. “But she doesn’t know that. If we can get her to agree to a month of her time, we may be able to persuade her to stay.”
