Juneau Heat

by Tressie Lockwood

  “Oh, baby, your pussy drives me insane.” He put a wet hand to her hair and gave a gentle tug that made her put her head back. He claimed her throat, kissing and licking along its length. “I’m going to have to fuck you all day and all night.”

  “Do whatever you have to,” she managed to say between shallow breaths.

  “Give me some of that,” Kotori demanded, and he turned her head to ravage her mouth with his. She parted her lips and took his tongue between them. Shiya moaned, tasting him. Her heart swelled because she now knew how much she loved both of these men. Kotori didn’t allow her to think too much on her emotions when his growls became desperate. He tore his mouth from hers. “Not enough!”

  Birk eased back and raised her up. As soon as he had room, Kotori aimed his cock to her ass and pushed in. Birk lowered her onto Kotori and shoved his cock back inside her. Taking it from both ends, Shiya cried out in bliss. Her mind shut down as they pumped deep into her pussy and her ass. They thrust hard, withdrew, and thundered forward again. She collapsed on Kotori’s chest, but an orgasm began to build, shaking her to her core.

  She clutched Birk’s shoulders, at first pushing him away and then pulling him closer. “Too much, too much! No, don’t stop. I need it. I’m going to come.”

  The words had no sooner left her mouth before she fell apart, her climax taking full control. Watching her come seemed to take the guys’ lust to a whole new level because their roars of pleasure turned animalistic. They pumped harder and faster. Darkness clouded in around Shiya, and for the first time in her life, she fainted from being oversexed.

  * * * *

  When Shiya opened her eyes, she lay in bed, warm blankets thrown over her naked body. She rolled over and moaned. Every muscle resisted movement, and she whimpered.

  “I’m so sorry, baby.” Birk’s hand came down on her head, and he stroked her cheek. “I hate myself for being too rough with you. I should have known it couldn’t work with a human.”

  She gasped and sprang up. Her body screamed for mercy, but she ignored it.

  “How can you say that? It was good, wasn’t it?”

  Kotori walked into the room holding a glass of juice and something in his hand. She realized both men were dressed. Worry niggled at her gut. Pain choked her at the words Birk spoke, which were obviously a rejection.

  “Here, baby, take these.” Kotori handed her two pills. She recognized the pain meds and wished it were three. Two had never worked on a regular headache. Grateful anyway, she took them and swallowed the meds with the juice.

  Kotori sat down on the side of the bed. Birk had drawn up a chair to watch her sleep. He leaned forward now and made her lie back. She didn’t fight him because her arms shook with the weight of holding herself upright. They’d worn her out, that was for sure, but it was only because she needed time to get used to their lovemaking.

  “I just need time. I’ll adjust.” Neither man responded, and she bit her lip. She would not beg to be with them. No one had claimed this would be long term. “Hey, don’t worry about it. It was fun, and we had a great time, didn’t we? If nothing else, I will walk away from this with a greater respect for your kind. I can’t, in good conscience, hand you over to my family. I’ll . . . I’ll find some excuse, and that will be all there is to it.”

  She thought of how angry Kasen had gotten when she’d called it quits before. Well, he could get the hell over it. She would not be bullied to betray Birk and Kotori. Whether it was right to love them or not, she did, and she would not stand by while someone killed them. Maybe going back was the best way to protect them. She could control what information her family gained about the shifters and know that they weren’t targeting Alaska anymore.

  Grogginess settled over her, and she yawned. “Just let me get a little more rest, and I’ll be ready to head back down to Juneau with you. Like I said, it was amazing. I hope you two enjoyed yourselves even though I wasn’t able to keep up.” She peered through her lashes at them, and the misery clouding their handsome faces shocked her.

  “There is no pleasure outside of you, Shiya,” Birk said.

  “Ditto.” Kotori’s answer was more a snap, filled with anger and impatience.

  She reached her hand out to him, and he took it, brought it to his nose, and breathed deep. Birk slipped from the chair to the bed and drew her onto his lap. He buried his nose in her neck.

  They act like they love me. Why don’t they say it? Why don’t they let me stay?

  Her heart shattered, and she didn’t mean to do it, but she started to cry. Birk crushed her in his arms, and Kotori drew the covers around her. For a long time, they stayed in that position, until she drifted off to sleep.

  * * * *

  Once again Shiya woke from a long sleep. This time, a noise jarred her awake. Her mouth felt like cotton, and her muscles hurt no less. She rubbed her eyes to try to get the sleep out of them, and the pounding came again. She sat up and scanned the room to find she was back in her suite, in bed. Her heart plummeted.

  “I know you’re in there, Shiya. Open this damn door!”

  Kasen. She slid from the bed and looked around for clothes. An outfit lay neatly folded on the chair with her cell phone on top. The guys. She noticed they’d powered off her phone, probably to allow her to get some rest. She smiled, her eyes growing wet. She would not cry, no matter what. Her decision had been made, and now was as good a time as any to let Kasen know that.

  She pulled on panties, jeans, a bra, and a long-sleeved shirt. “Hold on, Kasen,” she shouted and darted into the bathroom to brush her teeth. When she thought she looked presentable enough, including boots on her feet, she went to answer the door. Making the man wait this long, he’d probably be in a sour mood, but that couldn’t be helped.

  Shiya swung the door open and gasped. “Shae!”

  Her sister darted into the room and scooped Shiya into a tight hug. “Hey, girl.”

  Shiya grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the couch to sit down. “I thought you were in Maine. What in the world are you doing all the way out here?”

  Shae rolled her eyes. “Drama queen over here made me come. He said you needed my help.”

  Kasen stalked around the room, checking closets as if he thought she hid shifters in them. His black mood radiated off of him until Shiya wanted to scream at him to get out. She turned back to her sister, who traveled so much, she didn’t get to see her as often as she liked. They talked on the phone daily, though, and when Shae had time in the evenings, they Skyped.

  “Sweetie, where were you the last few days?” Shae asked her.

  Shiya looked at Kasen, who’d gone still, and then back at her sister. “I . . . I was doing my job.”

  “Yeah, fucking those things,” Kasen snapped.

  Shae glared at him. “Get out.”

  “Excuse me?” Kasen stood over the two of them, his brows dropping low and his lips tightening. A nerve jumped in his jaw. “Maybe I need to remind you, Shae, that you—”

  “Maybe I need to remind you that I don’t answer to you, and that bullying shit you do with Shiya won’t fly with me. I’ll beat you down and send you home to your wife. Don’t play with me, Kasen, because I’m not the one. Now let me talk to my sister alone!”

  He stabbed a finger toward Shae. “You’re pushing it, girl, pushing it hard. You better watch the way you talk to me.”

  She stared him down, and Kasen spun on his heel and left the suite, slamming the door behind him.

  Shiya let out the breath she didn’t realize she’d held. “Damn, you’re good. Can you really beat him?”

  Shae laughed. “Girl, no, he’s vicious in a fight, but you can’t let him bully you. Kasen won’t go but so far. He knows Dad would cut his balls off if he hurt one of us. So aside from that, what’s going on, Shiya? Kasen told me something I didn’t like to hear. I especially didn’t like getting it from him and not you.”

  Shiya couldn’t meet her sister’s eyes. “Kasen should get his mouth off my busi
ness.”

  “It’s not just your business, is it? I mean, you’re out here on a job. You begged Dad to let you do it. I knew it would be hard, but I was confident you could pull it off.”

  “And now you’re not?” Shiya rose, getting her back up.

  Shae grabbed her wrist and tugged her down. “Don’t get your panties in a wad, Miss Missy. Just tell me straight. Did you have sex with those monsters?”

  “They’re not monsters!”

  “Shiya.”

  She sighed and dropped her head into her hands. “Shae, they’re not. They’re men who happen to be able to shape-shift into polar bears.”

  “Do you hear yourself?”

  Shiya looked up. “Haven’t you ever been tempted?”

  Shae laughed. “Of course! Are you kidding me? They’re all sexy as hell. It’s like the gene guarantees they will have bodies a woman wants to lick day and night. My job has me kissing one of them every now and then, and let me tell you, not one does it wrong. But at the end of the day, I know what they are. I know their kind tortured and killed our mother.”

  “So all humankind should be punished—no killed—because of the murderers.”

  “Not the same.”

  “How?” Shiya faced her sister down and waited for Shae to give evidence that would change her mind or destroy the love she felt for Birk and Kotori. “Did you know Dad and Kasen agreed to kill their entire families, even people who are not shifters?”

  Shae gasped. “You’re lying.”

  “No, I’m not. Kasen told me himself. I thought he was just saying that to get to me, but he said Dad thought it was a great idea so we don’t have to revisit places after a couple generations when a new shifter is born. What about the innocents? What about the children? We will be no better than what we’re trying to eradicate from the earth.”

  “We’d be murderers ourselves,” Shae agreed. “This is the first I’m hearing about this, but you bet your ass I’m going to bring it up in the family meeting next week. I’ll put a stop to it, and I’ll get Sakura to help.”

  Shiya blew out a breath, relieved. “Good.”

  Her sister laid a hand on Shiya’s knee. “Sweetie, that doesn’t change the fact that those two guys . . . What were their names?”

  “Birk and Kotori.”

  Her sister gaped, and Shiya frowned.

  “What?”

  “You love them. I heard it in your voice. You actually love them—both!”

  Shiya stood and rushed to the balcony door as if she had some urgent business there. When she swung open the door, cold air swept in, clearing her mind and calming her down. She closed it after several minutes and faced her sister. If she could convince Shae of her seriousness, then the rest of the family would come easier. Not because Shae was hard, but because she loved her the most.

  “I’m not turning them over,” she said. “Yes, I love them. Whether you think it’s wrong or not, I do. I won’t let Dad and Kasen kill Birk and Kotori.”

  “Do they love you?”

  Shiya gritted her teeth. “This isn’t about whether they love me.”

  “So they used your body and then threw you away.”

  “That’s not how it is, Shae. You don’t know them like I do.”

  “You said that about Joe in the beginning.”

  Her sister might as well have stabbed her in the heart. Shiya balled her hands into fists at her sides. “I’m not giving them up. In fact . . .” She heaved a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “I’m leaving the family.”

  The front door crashed against the wall, and both Shiya and Shae jumped. Shiya’s mouth went dry seeing her brother standing there, and something told her he’d heard her declaration. His nostrils flared, eyes slitted, and lips drawn back from his teeth. He didn’t know it, but he looked just like one of the animals he hated so much.

  “Is that you how feel, Shiya?” He advanced a step into the room, and it took all of her willpower not to retreat. She stood her ground and nodded. He moved closer. “You’re going to throw away the family who raised you, loved you, put food on your table, and made sure you never once had to go out into the world and get some menial job as some idiot’s secretary? No, you had everything you needed from the day you were born. Now you get a taste of a creature, and you want to throw it away. That’s what you’re saying to me?”

  She put her hands on her hips. “I think I was talking to my sister, and don’t act like I was laying around all that time. I went to school and got my degree in computer science. I was an integral part of building the network that feeds the family information from all over the world regarding shifters, so don’t even try to belittle me like I’m just some dumb woman waiting for the menfolk to take care of me.”

  He held up his hands. “Oh no, don’t let me insult the computer princess. She might run and tell Daddy.” Kasen snapped his fingers, and five men shuffled into the suite and surrounded Shiya.

  “What is this, Kasen?” Shae demanded, standing.

  Kasen glared at her, but flicked his gaze back to Shiya. “This is me handling things my way.”

  Shae stepped forward, but one of the men grabbed her arm. She had his thumb in a pinch that would render a regular man useless and have him on his knees at her mercy in seconds. Kasen’s guy countered the move and had Shae by the back of the neck. She elbowed him in the solar plexus, but he took the hit and blocked more. Over and over, they fought until another of the men joined the first, and they restrained Shae. Shiya saw the fury in her sister’s face. There would be hell to pay making her look like a fool.

  “Stay out of this, Shae,” Kasen told her. “Shiya’s going to lure those two guys to me, and then I will deal with them and their families.”

  Shiya crossed her arms. “I’m not helping you do a damn thing.”

  She didn’t see the slap coming. One minute she stood on her feet, and the next she landed on her ass with her cheek stinging. She leaped up to go after Kasen, but two men held her back by her arms. Kasen stood over her.

  “You’re going to learn your place, girl.”

  “And you’re going to learn what it means to put your hands on me.”

  His brows rose, and he laughed along with his boys. “Look at the little princess. She thinks she can beat me.”

  Shiya took them all in, especially her brother. Her anger, bitterness, and hurt stood above what she felt for him at that moment. “Not me.”

  Kasen’s smile froze when he realized whom she meant, but then he forced a smile. “Yeah, okay. Get her out of here. The sooner I’m back home, the better. I’m missing my baby.”

  Shiya shuffled ahead of the men holding her with Shae in the back shouting for Kasen to leave her alone. Shiya went along for now. She didn’t know if what Kasen had planned would work, but she would not be the cause of Birk and Kotori falling into his trap. She needed to escape, and then she would leave Juneau. If she was gone, maybe they would be okay, and so would their people. She had no idea where she would go, and like Kasen said, she’d never had a reason to get a regular job. Well, she wasn’t lazy, and she knew her stuff. Someone would hire her. Never seeing Shae again would hurt, but this was the best choice.

  Outside, Kasen shoved her into an SUV, and two of his men climbed in behind her. They secured her hands behind her, and Kasen snapped on plasticuffs.

  Shiya winced. “Ouch, you dumbass. That’s too tight.”

  Her brother grinned at her, unrepentant.

  “Quiet, you traitor,” one of his men snapped.

  She didn’t know his name, not interacting much with Kasen’s men, but she saw the disgust in his eyes. She tried wiggling her wrists to gain a bit more comfort, but it was impossible. Even she knew a person needed to be trained to avoid cutting off blood flow with this type of cuffs. Kasen made sure to train his men in every area of their jobs. She wondered if the cuff would hold a shifter and if they’d been obtained just for her.

  Her brother walked around to the driver seat, but he didn’t get in.
He held the door for one of his men, and when the guy was settled, Kasen thumped the doorframe. “Get her to the location we set up. I’ll meet you there. I’m expecting this to be wrapped up in time for dinner.”

  “You got it, boss.”

  Not long after, Shiya watched Juneau fade into the distance through the rearview mirror.

  Chapter Eleven

  Birk slammed a fist on his desk, and the wood splintered in every direction. The sides collapsed. The top snapped in half and caved to the floor. Papers, pens, and other paraphernalia he’d had on top sank into a pile. None of it mattered. Not the fact that he’d just bought this particular piece of furniture, or the explosive noise he’d made with its destruction.

  He and Kotori had gone against everything they’d planned from the moment they met Shiya in person. They intended to win her heart and draw her family in. They were the ones ensnared, falling in love with her and claiming her as their mate. Kotori declared she would never come before family, but he’d left his people’s side to be with Shiya at their cabin while hers had the run of Juneau. When the time came for them to follow through and hold Shiya to lead the other Keiths into a trap, they’d returned her to her suite and backed off. Now this!

  A banging started on his office door, and his receptionist called out, “Dr. Rider, are you okay? What was that noise? Birk?”