by Treva Harte
Arlin moved behind her. He put his hand on her shoulder and let it stay there, the weight and heat of his palm imprinting itself on her skin. She knew what that meant too. He was showing possession.
Why did that make her relax? But with Arlin’s touch to steady her, when Dunne moved toward her, she took a half step toward the older were. He brushed his fingers against her hair, moved his fingers down to where Arlin’s hand was and gripped it. The two hands held her steady while she looked up at Dunne.
“I want to know.”
The tightness in her throat reminded her she was scared. The wetness in her pussy reminded her that she was curious and hungry. She wanted to know what had made the two of them so exciting and if the same magic could happen to her. She wanted to be thoroughly were.
Dunne’s smile was gentle and the fear eased. “I want you to know. So does he.” He nodded toward Arlin.
She couldn’t see Arlin’s face, but his hand was enough for now. She relaxed against his body and cocked her head.
“Then…shouldn’t we start?”
Arlin laughed behind her as he teased one of her nipples.
“How about you let Arlin and I start this?” Dunne asked her, very gently. He took one finger and traced it from her cheekbone to her jawline.
She smiled, even while her knees shook. “As long as I get to finish it with both of you.”
Arlin leaned over to brush his lips against Dunne’s throat, squeezing her tightly between the hardness of the two male bodies. Dunne’s hands gripped her even while his lips turned to meet Arlin’s mouth.
The two men kissed, all heat and teeth and ferocity, stripping each other down as they did. She ground herself against them, wanting to feel their masculine muscle and strength. Her hands reached out and back, touching Arlin’s cock. It jumped under her hand.
“Take it out, honey.”
His voice was eager and sexy and gentle, all at the same time. She turned and cupped the hardness in her hands while she realized what she’d tried not to let herself know ever since they met.
She wanted this cock, this intensity to be hers. Just hers. She wanted to be his.
Could there a worse time to realize she was in love with someone?
His cock jumped under her touch as she gripped it hard, maybe a little too hard. Ruth let out a small sigh of a laugh and bent to kiss it, her tongue brushing the slit that was already spilling drops of precum. She rested her cheek against the shaft for a moment before straightening up just to feel his cock jump yet again.
Arlin. Oh God, Arlin. What was she doing here like this?
HE COULD SEE she was nervous as she stood again, but the nerves were from anticipation more than fear. She turned her head up to look at him, and his heart twisted.
She trusted him.
And hell, he trusted her. What more trust could a man have than letting a woman… Her hand moved over his cock, squeezing him where he wanted her to. She smiled, suddenly wicked.
There wasn’t enough air to suck into his lungs. Not with Dunne’s cock hard against both his leg and Ruth’s. Not with her fist gripping his cock. He was afraid he might come right then, with her hand tight over him. But it was too soon, and he’d miss what happened next.
And he didn’t want to miss anything.
Ruth and Dunne were kissing now, deep and slow, Ruth’s body gliding against his as they did. Dunne and she had gradually taken her clothes off. God, they were both so beautiful. Flicks of want and curiosity and still more want lashed at Arlin.
Dunne looked at him, a love bite showing on his lip. “What do you want, kid?”
Without even trying to second-guess his answer, Arlin put his hand over Ruth’s wet pubic hair. Soft and dripping and female. His fingers twitched, desperate to plunge inside.
“Mine.” His voice deepened.
Possessiveness burst through his body and swelled his cock. Anything else you can try, but not here. Ruth leaned up against him, making it even easier to push two fingers inside the tight, wet heat of her.
“Fine.” Dunne turned her around, so she faced Arlin, body fitting to body. “There’s plenty more besides that.”
Dunne moved, gently, tentatively against her ass cheeks. Beyond a gasp and widened eyes, Ruth didn’t resist.
“Are you all right?” Arlin asked.
“Yes.” She gulped the word out, gripping his shoulders. “Please. Arlin, please.”
He couldn’t resist that word. Not when Ruth hummed it against his neck. Not when he could hear it in his head. Not when he felt it in his cock as he slid inside her or when he felt Dunne’s cock inside her ass. Please. Yes. Please.
Her legs scissored helplessly against him as he pulled her up close. Dunne gave a soft huff of effort and she shivered.
Yes.
She was full of him now, full of him and Dunne together, as they moved in short, harsh bursts, pushing her between them.
Ruth leaned her head against his shoulder and moved with them, her breasts slipping against his chest, her back arching up into Dunne.
Arlin stared into Dunne’s eyes. They were almost blank, as Dunne focused on sensation, his eyelids drooping half-shut with enjoyment.
But Arlin suddenly could see everything, focus on each gasp and shift with a magnified attention that somehow changed the speed of what they were doing into slow motion.
There, Dunne’s mouth tightened as he withdrew. There, Ruth’s hips bumped hard against his. And there, his cock pushed harder into her, brushing against her swollen clit before filling her. And she was with him, squeezing him tighter than he’d ever been held.
His body screamed at him to come, come now, that it would be better than he’d ever had before. He resisted, still staring at the profile of the woman who was clinging to him, wanting to see more of her as she lost herself in the two men servicing her.
“Arlin!” she wailed.
As the demand in his balls began to build, more than ready to fill her, Arlin vaguely realized he was shaking like someone cold—or hot with fever. Too late to think now. Sensation swamped him, sinking him into something too big to understand as he came.
Dunne straightened and touched Ruth’s shoulder. She smiled but then they both looked at Arlin.
“Your turn,” Dunne said to him as Dunne pulled his pants on. “Getting some java now. Thanks, sweetie.”
He squeezed Ruth’s shoulder again and left the two of them alone. She made a low, shaky sound that wasn’t quite a sigh as she sat down but said nothing.
Arlin tried not to scowl. He sat down on the bed next to her. “So?”
“So.” Ruth cleared her throat.
What was she thinking?
“Was it too rough?”
“No. You two were…sweet.”
“Sweet?”
“Hot too. Hot and sweet.” Ruth’s smile looked more amused now. “It was a wonderful experience.”
She sounded like the prim little veterinarian he’d first met, not like his partner in a threesome.
“But?”
“What do you mean, Arlin?”
“I’m hearing a but in there.”
“No.” Ruth shook her head. “I enjoyed it.”
They looked at each other.
“Arlin?”
Here it came. What she was thinking. At last.
“Is this the way you’re supposed to feel about sex when you’re a were? I did like it. I could see it happening again. Dunne is a good man and the two of you are so, so good together. But”—there the word was!—“I don’t think I made the same connection I did with you and me. Did I do it wrong? Maybe it should have been Dunne with you, not me.”
I made it wrong for you.
That was his first thought and he wanted to slap himself for screwing up.
She feels a connection with me. Just me.
That was his second thought and the weird mix of pride and terror stunned him.
The third thought came a few seconds after the first two.
Shi
t. What the hell have I gotten us into?
Arlin tried to answer her question. “Sometimes we just have sex to have some. No connection needed.”
“I know it wasn’t that way with you and Dunne and…and Tala, though. I liked what we did but it wasn’t…” She waved her hand, a little helplessly.
Or even how he’d felt with Hunt, but she didn’t need to know that. She was right. There were no words for sex where the connection clicked. He might spend the rest of his life comparing sex before and after their foursome.
But God…the really frightening thing was that Ruth could stand up to any comparison. Just Ruth and him on their own.
Jesus. He wasn’t ready for this. He’d stepped into Ruth’s life because she smelled sexy and she needed help and he was asshole enough to think he could breeze in and take care of her, to have sex with her, without consequences. Of course that fantasy was too good to be true. She needed more. She deserved more. Dunne had tried to warn him when he said someone would get hurt. Hell, everyone had tried to warn him. They’d been right. His own gut ached.
“I wanted… I thought…I could be like Tala.” Her head went down, like a whipped pup. God. He didn’t want her to feel ashamed. Or lacking.
His own emotions were spinning his brain around. If he reassured her the way he wanted to, he was going to start making her think he wanted more than just sex from her. If he did that, he had to be sure.
“No. It was more…important…than that with them. But it doesn’t have to be. All sex is good. Weres like sex.”
“The rest of your pack is like that? Just having sex with anyone and enjoying it?”
“I don’t know. I’ve heard rumors but that was before I was born. Everyone toned down considerably once they got settled.” Arlin smiled. “Tala and I are still considered the babies. We don’t hear everything. Sometimes we have to make good guesses.”
“I feel stupid for asking but sometimes it’s too new and too overwhelming. I don’t get what I should be doing or feeling.” Ruth was looking up at him, once again keeping everything too controlled, too careful.
“You’re not stupid, Ruth. You don’t need me to explain.” Sudden panic tightened his throat. He’d wanted to protect her, but he’d fucked up. He wasn’t the one she needed to guide her. She was still too fragile, too new to this. He was too young and stupid and goddamn randy to really help. Hell, he’d already made her feel wrong. He knew, down deep, too many people had made her feel wrong already. “I’ll take you to visit my mother or Leila. You can watch them. Talk about it.”
She’d learn about being were with a pack. About mating. He wouldn’t have to be there.
“Without you?” No, Ruth wasn’t stupid.
“I’m only saying you don’t need me to show you everything.”
“Right.”
“Baby…” Arlin had to say it. “I love being with you. But don’t count on me for too much. Please. I know you have high expectations. I don’t think… I’m not… Listen, I’m everyone’s backup boy, the one they’d use in an emergency. Not anyone’s first choice.”
He stopped himself from babbling and kept his mouth shut, something he should have done several minutes back.
“I don’t understand you but I’m tired. Two weres at once can take it out of anyone.” Ruth didn’t sound angry and she should. He was the one who was fucking things up. “Please go away. I’m going to nap a little.”
She sounded alone when she said it.
Damn it. That wasn’t what he wanted either. But what could he offer her? Why hadn’t he thought before he started after her?
“All right, Ruth. Rest.”
* * * *
“Some tough guy you are. Look at you with that fancy espresso.”
Dunne shrugged. They both knew he liked his caffeine.
“Do you know what you’re doing, kid?” Dunne stretched out on the chair outside the hotel, cowboy hat down on his face.
Arlin braced himself for…for something.
“I’ve got a good idea of what I did, yeah. Never heard you complain before.”
“Funny boy. With her. Ruth. The lady inside our hotel room.”
“No complaints there, either.” Arlin ducked the halfhearted swipe and then stopped smirking. “I’d say I don’t know, but I’m not a fool, Dunne. It’s already getting more serious than I’d planned.”
“Does she know?”
“Yes. Maybe.” Arlin frowned now. “She probably knows it’s more than a fling, but I don’t know how much she understands. This is all new to her.”
“She seemed to like what she’s learned so far.”
“She’s were. No doubt about that now. And she’s never had good sex before. Even non-weres appreciate the hell out of that. No wonder she’s getting a little attached to my cock.”
“Arlin. Don’t try that bullshit on me or you.”
Arlin ran his hands through his hair. “All right. Whatever she does or doesn’t know about were mates, I’ve been raised right. I know what it’s supposed to mean when an unattached Alpha-to-be meets a breeding female. Our packs have been lucky and all the Alphas I know have mated, really mated, as soon as they found a woman. Each one of them had as close to a romantic ending as any were can get.”
Dunne snorted.
Arlin kept going. “But I’ll bet there are plenty of Alphas who have grabbed whatever opportunity to breed there was, whether the were liked the partner or not. I don’t want to go that route.”
“So you’re grabbing an opportunity?”
“I grabbed Ruth.”
“For keeps?”
Arlin swallowed. Did he want her for sex or forever? No matter how he wanted her, would she be happy with what he chose?
“Arlin, for keeps?”
What if he chose her and things went wrong?
The two of them looked at each other. Dunne pinched the bridge of his nose while he waited, as if a headache was starting.
“Dunne, it’s not that easy. Either way I go, there are big problems.”
“It’s called life. So which way do you want to go?”
“If I had my pick, I’d be back to being a teenager again, lusting and fooling around with Tala, waiting for the big, golden future that I’m supposed to have.”
I’m still a teenager. I don’t want all this yet.
“That’s not one of the choices.” Dunne hesitated this time. “By the way, are you trying to get Ruth pregnant?”
“What?”
“Didn’t notice any condoms on you.”
“Shit.” Arlin stared at Dunne. Weres can’t breed with non-weres. “It’s never been an issue before.” But that rule didn’t hold here. “I guess I was thinking with the were head and not the smart head.”
Dunne snorted. “Assuming you have a smart head, kid, use it now. You may have already gotten her pregnant. That limits your choices right there.”
“Damn. What a fuckup. I’m an idiot. Why do you put up with me anyhow, Dunne?” Arlin wasn’t even sure how he felt about the possibility besides stunned.
“I put up with you because I like you.”
“Huh. But you stay with Hunt.”
“I love him.” Dunne shrugged. “You trying to lead me astray, Arlin?”
“Naw.” That would be too permanent. Too much like starting his own pack. “You seem to have way too much sense to stick with him.”
“Hunt and I… You wouldn’t understand it because you don’t have that bond yet. Not all Alphas mate just with breeding females, you know.” Dunne smiled at Arlin, but there was sadness in the smile. “Once you do, it doesn’t matter what your partner does. You stick.”
“I know.” That was what scared him. Maybe that answered his question. If he wasn’t sure he wanted to stick, the bond wasn’t there.
Or was he too scared to see there was? Everyone seemed to expect him to make all his big decisions right now.
Suddenly he realized Dunne wasn’t talking to him anymore.
“Son of a damn bi
tch.” Dunne raised his head. “Trouble.”
Arlin shut up and concentrated, head up, the way Dunne was. He could smell it now too. Were scent. Unfamiliar were.
Dunne turned and pulled open the door. The two of them barreled inside, headed for what strange weres would be after.
Ruth.
Arlin pulled the key card out, barking, “Arlin” before he pushed his way in to where she was.
She had her back to the corner and her lips were curled in a snarl. That was his Ruth. She wasn’t fragile and she definitely wasn’t afraid—she was ready to fight. She was all were now when danger threatened.
They all stared at the curtainless window.
Out there. The threat was out there.
“Ruth? You’re all right?”
“Fine. But I’m getting tired of this.” He could see she was trembling but he wasn’t sure if it was fear or anger.
The howl that came near to the window was close—too close—as the threat turned into an attack. Arlin whirled toward the cry when the window shattered. Shards flew at them. He pushed Ruth aside in time. One jagged edge cut his cheek. He readied himself to spring as he wiped a trickle of liquid from his face.
First blood to the outsider.
How the hell had the weres found them?
Arlin glanced at Dunne, his own teeth bared in a snarl. And then he knew exactly how it had happened.
The bastard. As soon as they fought their way out of this, Arlin was going to kill him.
* * * *
“You told them, you fucker. Who she was, where she was.”
Hunt stepped back as Arlin sprang, the Alpha catching Arlin in his arms and immobilizing him.
“Steady, pup. You’re not quite up to my fighting weight yet.”
Arlin growled in his face. “Pup, my ass. I’ll kill you for telling them all that. Don’t try to lie. I told Dunne where we were. Only Dunne. I know him and I know you. You were the one.”
“I knew you’d take care of whatever they sent. Or, if you couldn’t handle it, I would. She wasn’t to be harmed.”
Arlin looked at the bloodstains on his shirt and growled again. Yes, they’d taken care of it. But…
“What if she had been? Or Tala?” Arlin’s fists clenched. “Dunne was hurt. Jesus, you condoned what happened to Dunne when he was left to die?”
