“It wasn’t a prison. We had rooms, and were allowed out in the grounds in our free time. I wasn’t allowed to leave, but I wasn’t in the criminal section.”
He needed to know why she’d left the facility. She’d said she’d escaped four weeks ago. The thought of someone having hurt her, or even frightening her, had a growl erupting from him.
“That sound is really nice. It makes me want to rest my head on your chest to feel it,” she said. Her hand flew to cover her mouth again. “I am just blurting things out today. It must be the drugs they gave me.” With her hand still clamped over mouth, the words were mumbled.
“Now that it’s started, we won’t be able to lie to each other, darlin’,” Michael said.
Samson bent to nibble on her neck. Her moan was muffled behind her hand, but it had his cock hard and throbbing in seconds.
“You are the most delicious-smelling cat I have ever encountered,” Samson said, groaning into her neck. He removed her hand and took her lips in a lingering kiss.
Too soon, her hands were pushing against his chest. When he broke the kiss, he could taste her arousal in the air. His cat ached with the need to mate, but they had to wait for Jason to accept her, too. If the mating started and wasn’t completed by all her mates, Bethany’s arousal would become painful. If the mating was never completed, it would end in all of their deaths.
His mind cleared of the scent of her arousal and he began to scent her anger.
* * * *
“What?” she said. She was so mad at herself that her vision was blurring. He just called me a cat?
He and his brother were seriously gorgeous, but if they were into some weird role-playing scene, then she was leaving right now. She should’ve sensed they were a little strange. She’d been around crazy people long enough to have recognized the signs sooner.
“I don’t want to dress as a cat, or a pony, if that’s the sort of thing the pair of you like.”
“What?” they both said.
She looked at each of them in turn. They looked puzzled.
“I saw some of that in the hospital. It started as a kink, but some people took it too far. They escaped completely into their role-play. I refuse to be anyone but myself.”
“We’re not talking role-play, darlin’. We’re talking literally. Your cat, literally, smells fucking amazing to us,” Michael said.
He looked at her with a broad grin on his handsome face. Her anger turned into confusion and frustration.
“I don’t own a fucking cat. Are you two messing around?”
“You have a terribly foul mouth, darlin’. If you’ve never been spanked, then I see it in your future unless you temper your language,” Michael said. He kissed the back of her neck as though nothing was wrong with his demands.
She was out of here. Role-playing and bondage was not her thing. Not that she’d ever had a thing. But still, she knew it didn’t turn her on at all.
“Just forget it. You two are beautiful men, and I was getting all excited and, well, turned on. But now that I know what turns you on, I’m going to pass. Thanks all the same.”
She moved out from between them and backed out of the kitchen. She kept them in sight the whole time, to be safe. She daren’t turn her back on these two.
* * * *
“We have some wires crossed somewhere, Bethany. Let’s sort this out before you run,” Samson said. He’d been so shocked at the turn of the conversation that he’d let her slide off his lap. Just when he’d had visions of licking her to a screaming orgasm, it had all become very confused.
“We don’t partake in any form of role-play. We were complementing your cat. Ours are really attracted to it,” Samson said.
Her horrified expression, and the way she continued to back out the door, showed he was not making things any clearer for her.
“Fuck it,” Michael shouted, and, tearing off his clothes, he shifted. It took only a second.
Bethany screamed, her expression now one of terror. She turned and ran. Stunned at her reaction, he was a few seconds behind Michael in giving chase.
They were in the yard by the time he reached them. Michael had her pinned to the ground by her legs, rubbing his head gently over her abdomen. She lay completely still. Her eyes wide with fear. The air around them was thick with the scent of it.
“We thought you knew that we were cats, too,” Samson said. He crouched down beside her and reached for her trembling hand. “Once I was close enough to scent you, I knew immediately what you were, and that you’re our mate.” He couldn’t understand why she was so scared.
She didn’t pull her hand away. Instead, she gripped his hand tightly, as though it were a lifeline. Her breathing was shallow and rapid. He could hear her heart bounding furiously.
“Did he just fucking change into a huge mountain lion or am I having a psychotic break?” She was gasping for breath and still hadn’t taken her eyes from Michael.
Michael moved off her legs to lie down next to her. He nuzzled against her abdomen again and began to purr. Samson’s cat was scratching against him. It wanted to feel its mate, too.
“Bethany, are you saying you know nothing of the existence of shape shifters?”
“A shape shifter? Like in the books? Like a werewolf? Oh God, are they real? I knew a guy in the hospital who said he was an alien. Are they real, too?”
Michael chuffed against her face and Samson could do nothing but laugh.
“No, kitten. No aliens that I know of.”
What have we done? Samson was stunned. Had they just told their mate that shifters existed? She is a cat, I’m certain of it.
“You really didn’t know, Bethany?” Samson said, stroking his hand down her face.
She was not gripping his hand quite as tightly, but she was still lying stiffly on the ground, her gaze still fixedly on Michael.
“I’m so sorry for shocking you like this. We thought you knew about us. Otherwise, we would have been more diplomatic in the way we showed you.”
“How the fuck would diplomacy have helped? He just turned into a mountain lion that’s as tall as me.”
“I know, kitten. I can change as well. We’re actually part of a large pride that lives here in Eminence.
“You’re not freaks? There’s more of you?”
“Lots more, and more shifters in the world, too. Shifters that change into other creatures.”
She gaped at him. Her expression was one of shock, but thankfully, she no longer looked terrified. “This is stranger than anything I witnessed at the hospital.”
“But you’re a cat, too. How is it you don’t know about shape shifters? Have you never shifted?” Samson could maybe understand that she hadn’t recognized them if she hadn’t come across another shifter before. But he couldn’t understand her being ignorant of her own cat.
Michael shifted back at that moment, obviously wanting to contribute to the conversation.
“You didn’t know, did you, darlin’? I could clearly scent the fear and confusion on you when I was shifted,” Michael said.
“Um, excuse me, but you’re not wearing any clothes, Michael.”
“I know, darlin’. Do you care? I’m beautiful. Remember?”
She collapsed back on the ground, laughing. “I did say that, didn’t I? I just blurt out the best things around you two. Honestly, I should be committed. Again.” She laughed harder, and had to wipe the tears from her eyes.
Samson watched as she pulled herself together. Once her hysteria had passed, he and Michael helped her to sit up.
“Are you serious that you think I’m a cat, like you?”
“Yes, kitten, I know you are,” Samson said. “I suspected you were a shifter of some sort the minute I saw you move, back in that club in Tijuana. Once I was close enough to scent you, I knew you were mine.” He watched as her expression grew serious.
“Before we address that particular issue, what does it feel like to be a cat? Do you disappear when you shift and become all ani
mal?”
“No, darlin’, we stay as we are. All our thoughts and memories are intact. We just let the cat in us come to the forefront,” Michael said. He was sitting next to Bethany and she let him move her closer until she was tucked under his arm.
“They are instinctual, fast, and free. It’s a wonderful feeling to let those feelings take over for a while,” Michael said. “It’s a kind of duality.”
“Growing up knowing we were shifters meant we always recognized that part of ourselves. We shared in the joy our cats felt, as our enhanced senses discovered new scents and our strength increased. We bonded with that part of ourselves,” Samson said. “So when the cat reached its full strength at puberty, we were ready for the shift. Our cats had been yearning to run for years, and we welcomed it.”
She was quiet for a very long time, chewing so hard on her bottom lip that Samson pulled it free with his finger before she made it bleed.
“I was committed to the hospital at age sixteen. I described to my foster parents that I felt like I had someone else inside me, trying to get out. I told them that it whispered to me. It wanted to be free. It wanted me to let it out.”
“That wasn’t schizophrenia, Bethany, that was your cat emerging. The age is unimportant, but it always happens at puberty,” Samson said.
“As schizophrenia often does,” said Michael, pulling her tighter against his side. “No wonder they never found the right medication.”
His heart ached for the injustice of her suffering, the long years of confinement she’d endured, simply because her shifter nature was unknown to her.
“Do you think that’s really it? I won’t have to ever go back there and have more treatments and drugs?” She shuddered, and Samson rubbed his hands over her arms to warm her.
“I have never changed like Michael just did. Did I need something else? Did I need my parents to help me?”
Jason cleared his throat and they all turned to see him standing on the porch. He flicked on the porch light, illuminating the yard against the darkness of the setting sun.
“You didn’t need anything else. I suspect your shifting abilities are latent. They’ll likely never manifest, preventing you from ever shifting. We could test your other abilities, if you should want to. But I suspect we would find a corresponding decrease in all your inherent shifter skills.”
Jason was so cold and clinical in his assessment that Samson wanted to beat him senseless. He was discussing his mate’s life as though it was of no consequence to him.
“I’ve never heard of latent shifters,” Samson said, trying to calm his anger in front of Bethany.
“It occurs infrequently, but it has been documented. There is no treatment that has ever been found to force the shift.”
“So I’m a broken shifter. Is that what you’re saying?” Bethany’s breath hitched, betraying her emotions. Jason had made it sound very much that way in his cool delivery of her condition.
“You’re not broken, Bethany,” Michael said. “I wouldn’t want anything about you to change. You’re our mate, and were created perfectly for us. If you were human, you would still be our mate,” Michael said. He kissed her cheek and drew her onto his lap.
Samson held her hand and squeezed it gently in reassurance.
“You could not be more perfect in my eyes, kitten.”
Chapter 10
Bethany welcomed the warmth and comfort offered by Michael and Samson. She sunk into Michael’s warm, wide chest, and enjoyed the rumbling she now realized was purring.
Of all the crazy things she’d seen in her years, this really took the prize. But it was real. She’d seen it. Touched it. Big, handsome Michael had turned into a giant cougar, right before her eyes. If she was being honest with herself, she was glad that they hadn’t tried to explain it first.
“I’m glad you showed me, Michael. I wasn’t listening to you,” she said softly.
“No, you weren’t,” he said, licking her behind the ear.
The lick sent shivers racing across her skin. The presence in her mind rose and seemed to want more.
“I have this feeling in my head. I have described it all these years as an entity, or a presence. Right now, it seems to be asking for more,” she said. She looked at Samson and hoped that he could make some sense out of what she was feeling. God knows no one else had in the last six years.
“That’s your cat. It liked what Michael just did to you, and it’s wanting more contact,” Samson said.
“How do you know that?”
“Because I can smell your arousal,” Michael said. “I felt your tremor of excitement. Your cat is aware we’re mates and it’s excited, too.”
“You have been fighting the other half of yourself all your life, Bethany,” Jason said. “You know what is happening now, but it will still take time to learn that other half. It’s a very instinctual bond. Once you stop fearing it, it will soon become a natural part of you.”
Bethany didn’t know about that, but she was feeling hopeful for the first time in years that she wouldn’t be lost to her madness. All of the things she’d just learned finally made her life make sense. She was a shifter. It was her cat who’d been inside her all this time.
She may not know her cat at all, but she knew she ached at the distance Jason was putting between them. It felt wonderful to have Michael and Samson close and touching her, but her heart hurt at the physical and emotional distance of their brother.
“You have a lot to learn, kitten,” Samson said, kissing the palm of her hand. “But we’re here to help you through it. There’s no hurry. You’re our mate and we’ll never leave you.”
That brought up another issue. They had been using the word “mate” an awful lot. It obviously meant something to them that she was unaware of.
“What is meant by ‘mate’ when you say it?” she asked, looking at each of them in turn. Samson noticed her gaze sweep past Jason as well.
“A mate is a gift,” said Samson, “a life partner. The other half to your soul. They are perfect for each other in every possible way.”
“Shifters are granted only one mate in their three hundred years of life,” Michael said.
“Three hundred years of life?”
“As shifters, we age very slowly,” Michael said.
“You look about thirty. How old are you?” She was looking closely at each of them now, her eyes squinting in concentration.
Samson cleared his throat and hesitated in answering.
“What? Are you already two-hundred-and-ninety-nine and about to die? That would suck, to find a mate the year before you die.”
“You’re adorable when you babble,” Samson said, kissing her on the nose.
“No, darlin’,” Michael said. They were both chuckling at her. “We are seventy, though.”
“Oh my God, really? That’s amazing. You really don’t look it.” She paused and reached up to pat her own face. “If I’m a shifter, will I look as good as you two at seventy?”
She saw Samson look to Jason, who sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “As a latent shifter, I’m unsure of how long your life expectancy would be. But humans who mate shifters age at the same slow pace and live as long as their mates.”
“So if Bethany were to choose to mate us,” Michael said, “she would live as long as we do.”
Jason simply nodded.
“I get to choose, though? Whether to mate or not?” she asked the question quietly, but they all heard her.
“Of course you do,” Samson said. “But no one has ever walked away from a mate before. The attraction is too strong. The love grows very quickly.”
“Our mate is also the only one with whom we can bear children,” Michael said. “We’re capable of having sex before we meet our mate. But once we meet them, no other woman will ever appeal to us.”
Bethany felt Michael’s cock thicken under her ass and became acutely aware that she was sitting on his naked lap.
“I think I’m sitting on your…
” she started.
“Yes, you are, darlin’, and I have no complaints whatsoever,” Michael whispered in her ear.
She felt the hard length of him twitch and a small growl erupted from her lips.
“Oh, shit,” she gasped, “what was that?”
“Sexy,” Samson and Michael said together.
They both inhaled deeply and she followed suit. The wonderful smell she associated with them intensified. It made her core clench and her nipples tighten painfully.
“That’s not your cologne I can smell, is it?”
“No, kitten, that’s you recognizing your mates. You smell fantastic to us, too,” Samson said. He kissed her hard on the lips. When he released her lips, she was a little breathless, but she wanted more. His taste was addicting.
“When we meet our mates, we begin the mating bond and our bodies release a pheromone that attracts and draws us to each other,” Michael said. “Those are the feelings we’ve all been experiencing. The need to be near each other.”
“Nature needs us all together so we can make new little shifters,” Samson said. “So she makes it impossible for us to walk away from our chosen mate once we find them.”
“But you are both calling me your mate? Shouldn’t you each have your own?” Bethany was afraid of their answer. She liked the way they both made her feel. If she was going to be honest and go with her instincts, then she would really like to feel all three of the Reed men touching her.
“It has become apparent, recently, that it’s not unusual for brothers to share a mate,” Samson said. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.
“Our pride Alpha and his three brothers share a human mate, as do the three Wilder brothers. They have each found their mates in the last few months and are all extremely happy,” Michael said. He nibbled at the column of her neck, making gooseflesh erupt over her entire body. She hadn’t known that her neck was so sensitive.
She absorbed that information with rising hope. Perhaps she would get to feel Jason’s hands on her, too, perhaps feel his lips on her neck as Michael’s were. That thought coupled with Michael’s teeth gently biting the spot where her neck joined her shoulder caused a gush of cream to drip from her pussy onto her panties.
Bethany [Eminence Shifters 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 5
