by Zoey Marcel
A ding informed her that she had a text. She reached over for her phone and halfheartedly opened her text, not even bothering to read where it came from.
I’ll always come back to you, sunshine.
She blinked and time stood still. Only one person called her that. Her mouth fell open when she saw the text was from Ben. She’d gotten this one before. According to the date on the message today was that fateful day—the day Ben died.
Her fingers shook like creaky shutters flapping in the wind as she called him. He was alive. If she could warn him, he wouldn’t die. Her call went to voice mail.
“Fuck!” She’d break the phone for trying to take her husband away from her if she didn’t need the damned thing so bad.
She scrambled to get dressed, repeatedly trying his number. Then another idea came to mind. She wouldn’t get to him in time, but maybe someone else could.
“Thank you,” Jill breathed, to God or to Isis she didn’t know. The goddess or woman of the same name had given her another chance and allowed Jill to keep her memory so she stood a chance of succeeding this time. Maybe, just maybe this time would be different. If she played her cards right, she just might save Ben this time.
* * * *
Judah knew he had a scowl on his face. He knew only too well. He was tired of waiting. Certainly he’d wait forever for Jill, but damn it, he shouldn’t have to wait forever.
The police station came into view. Almost there. His eyes narrowed, the orbs so ticked at the sight of the sheriff they almost closed completely. A lot of good that would do him. Judah marched up to the uniformed bastard.
“So here’s the shit, pig. I’m done fucking around.”
Ben turned to look at him, glowering at Judah as he walked past him. “A monastery would never take you, but it’s good you want to clean your act up.”
Judah grabbed the cop from behind and jabbed his canines into his shoulder. Ben yelled out…like a man. Damn, the muscular bastard couldn’t at least scream like a little girl to make Judah feel better? Stupid fucker. Oh well. Time to alter his monogamous brain chemistry.
Judah knew he had about five seconds to get out of there before Ben—Ben grabbed him by the arm and yanked him off. Make that one second. Shit, he looked pissed. The cop grabbed him like a nutcracker getting a little too enthusiastic about the walnut it grasped and slammed him down on the hood of a car, reaching for something, maybe his gun. It better not be handcuffs. No son of bitch was handcuffing him.
Time for plan B. Judah kneed Ben in the groin. The sheriff doubled over, but it still didn’t stop the dick. He grabbed Judah again before Judah punched him in the face and took off running.
No more games. Judah smirked to himself as he kept running. Poor stupid bastard. Soon some kind of brotherly bond would set in and erase the hatred the sheriff had for him. Judah was determined that from now on Neil wasn’t the only one Ben would share Jill with.
* * * *
Ben sat on the bus, guarding the prisoners while the driver transported them. Man, he was pissed. That Shaughnessy son of a bitch bit his shoulder, or rather the tendon that joined his neck and shoulder. Damn, that hurt. He pressed the cloth against the open wound, boiling with rage. It wasn’t enough the cowboy home wrecker had fucked his wife. Now he bit him? What the fuck? He was dead. No fucking question about it.
As they neared a hill, Ben got an eerie, uneasy feeling he couldn’t explain. A sudden flashback shot through his mind almost like a memory. He’d lived this before. There had been an explosion or a crash. Someone with a weapon.
His eyes lifted and he saw a mutant-sized bodybuilder standing in front of the bus in the road with what looked like a grenade launcher. He had a fucking grenade launcher.
“Get down!” Ben yelled.
A large, black big cat threw itself onto the armed man and mauled him.
Prisoners swore and screamed as the driver swerved the bus and screeched to a halt. Sirens could be heard as several police cars sped up and parked. What the hell was going on? The driver stopped the bus, and Ben rushed out.
Mark Montego hurried over to him. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. What the hell is all this?” Ben demanded.
“Hang on.” Mark approached the panther or whatever the wild cat was that was mauling the criminal. “I’ve got this.”
Why the fuck was his deputy talking to an animal? The oversized feline got off the bloody man and loped off into the woods. Probably a shifter.
The gashed-up criminal made Ben’s fists clench with loathing. “Allan Sloane.”
Allan glared at him. “Fucking pig, you killed my brother.”
“He shouldn’t have been selling drugs and pointing a gun at a kid’s head.”
Mark handcuffed Allan. “You have the right to—”
“Fuck you!” Allan spat. “I know my rights. You’re gonna send me back to California where I’m most wanted, huh? Won’t work, sheriff. There’s this new pretty little thing I’ve got my sights on. I’m gonna fuck her up good, just like I fucked up your wife.”
Ben came at him, but Logan Weston grabbed his arm. Where the hell did he come from?
“Get him out of my sight,” Ben ordered.
Mark led the criminal away.
“Lock me up all you want to. I’ll bust out and fuck that trim little cunt up good. She won’t know what hit her,” Allan threatened.
Ben didn’t have a clue what woman the fucker was talking about, but he’d let the authorities in California know so they could question the dirtbag on it.
“Ben!”
Ben turned, feeling his heart soften and warm when he saw Jill running to him. He held open his arms and embraced her tight, surprised by how relentlessly she clung to him. She was crying. That almost never happened.
“I missed you so bad,” she sobbed.
“I missed you, too. I told you I was coming back around dinnertime. Why are you so upset?”
She pulled back to look at him, nearly going hysterical when she saw the bite mark on his neck. “Oh god, what happened to you?”
“That Shaughnessy asshole bit me earlier. It feels like it’s starting to close up already.”
She gaped at him. “He bit you?”
“Yeah. He’s dead when I catch him.”
Jill looked confused for a minute before subtle humor made her lips twitch.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. I’m just glad you’re back. I called Mark and Logan so they would be ready to…” She stopped and studied his face. “You don’t remember, do you?”
“Remember what?”
“Slave!”
Ben turned to see Jack Dillinger driving up to Mark. Jack got out of the car and he and Mark’s wife, Morrigan, got out of the passenger’s side.
Mark blushed. “Geez, Jack, I’ve told you before I’m not a slave.”
“You’re my slave. I told you that.” Jack stalked toward him like a hungry predator.
“Jack, subtlety, remember? We talked about keeping a low profile with the bi—” Mark squealed when Jack grabbed him by the face and laid a big wet kiss on him.
The sight made Ben miss Neil. Maybe some good old-fashioned face-mauling was in order when he got home.
Morrigan stood on her tiptoes and took a turn with Mark’s lips and then Jack’s. “I don’t know why I feel like we’ve been apart for ages.”
“Same here, doll,” Jack agreed. “I’m going to fuck your ass when we get home while Mark takes your pussy. Then I’m going to ram my penis up Mark’s ass…” His lips curved up with a wicked smile as he winked at his best friend. “With subtlety.”
Mark flushed with embarrassment, but the way his dick swelled in his jeans was obvious. “Son of a bitch, Jack, where’s your class?”
Jack shrugged, dark eyes twinkling with decadence. “I never had any. Then again, maybe I misplaced it. Should I search for my class tonight, Morrigan?”
Morrigan bit her lower lip with a bashful smile. “Might be a long s
earch.”
Jack glared playfully at her, a slight smile creeping over his face. “Maybe I lost my class somewhere on Mark’s person. Do you think it might be in his—”
“All right, you’re frigging classy as hell!” Mark blurted with pink cheeks, turning his back to Jack. “I’m on the clock, man.”
“See you at home, mate.” Jack put his arm around Morrigan’s shoulder and walked her back to their car.
Ben had a weird sense of déjà vu. He had a memory of a conversation with Mark in a sort of parallel universe where his deputy wasn’t bisexual and Jack and Morrigan weren’t in his life. In reality Mark was apparently bi and happily married to Morrigan and probably to Jack, too. Ben scratched his head, assuming his brain had played tricks on him.
He kissed the top of Jill’s head, holding her close. His eyes flickered over to where Logan stood watching them in silence. The cowboy looked sad and wistful before turning and walking away. Did he want Jill, too?
Ben mentally steadied himself. He was always jealous when men looked at his wife. He really needed to work on that. Besides, Logan was decent. He was probably attracted to Jill, but Ben doubted Logan loved her.
* * * *
Jill’s fingers shook when she rang the doorbell to the sprawling house on Logan’s and Judah’s ranch. Things were back to normal. She’d stopped by the magic shop and saw the witch, Hilary, working there with her boyfriend, Cameron Hunter. Their girlfriend, Callie Spencer, was still alive and working at Sultry Salon & Spa.
She’d seen Claire Lynravn walking with Nex Harper in town. Joaquin Sullivan and Dakarai Hawthorne were probably thrilled to have her back, if they even remembered the alternate realities in which she was gone.
Mark Montego had his wife, Morrigan, and his best friend, Jack Dillinger, back.
More importantly Jill had Ben back. Neil had him back. They were whole again.
Her heart squeezed with a tiny spasm of pain and longing when Logan opened the door. Did he remember like she did, or had his memory of those other dimensions been erased?
“Jill.” He said her name so softly like it was precious in his mouth. “Come in.”
She stepped inside the dream house that had an upscale Western ambiance. “I came to thank Judah.”
Logan’s brow furrowed with curiosity. “At the risk of sounding proud, Judah isn’t the one who attacked the thug that tried to blow your husband to hell.”
“I didn’t realize you remembered.” Her eyes lowered, whether in submission or a desperate grasp for comfort she wasn’t sure.
“I remember everything,” he murmured.
Her focus returned to his moving eyes. Her volume was almost inaudible even to her. “Thank you.”
“I told you I’d take care of you, pet.”
Her eyes spilled with moisture as she quickly turned, pretending to be preoccupied. “Where is Judah?”
“I’m right here, baby.” Judah came from down the hall in only a towel.
Logan sighed. “Judah, is that really how you greet guests?”
Judah wrapped Jill up in his arms, enveloping her in heat, sweat, and sinewy planes of muscle. “It is when it’s my mate.”
She winced. “You remember, too?”
Judah wiggled his eyebrows. “Every explicit detail, darlin’.”
She shivered when the pad of his thumb scraped along her jawline. “Don’t tell Ben. It was another reality and he was gone. I’m not your mate anymore.”
“Like hell you’re not. I still feel a bond with you. Take your top off and show me that beautiful mark I left on you,” Judah teased with a suggestive half smile.
She glanced over at Logan. “I’m still mated to both of you?”
Logan nodded and crossed his arms. “The bond is unbreakable, pet, when it’s done between soul mates anyway.”
Her heart accepted the term, cherished it, even as her conscience urged her to refute it. “But Ben’s my soul mate.”
“He’s one of them,” Logan acknowledged.
Maybe being mated to her had enabled both men to remember the alternate realities just as she did.
Judah gave her shoulder a tug, making her face him. “Christ, woman, don’t ever let me hear those words come out of your mouth again. We’re your soul mates.”
“So are Ben and Neil,” she protested.
“What did I say? The fuck does Neil have to do with anything?” Judah’s face distorted with confusion before he gave a careless shrug. “That’s right, you lived with him. You still like him, huh?”
Jill smiled. “I love him.”
“Fair enough. He can have you, too.”
She threw her arms around Judah and nuzzled his bare chest. His skin was slick with sweat, but the grime birthed a dirtiness of a sexual nature she fought to suppress. “Thank you for what you did.”
“No problem. I pride myself on fucking asses like a porn star,” Judah replied.
She frowned before pulling back with a smile and shaking her head. “I meant thank you for saving Ben.”
Judah stared at her. “How’s that now?”
“It makes sense. You realized that I wanted to keep Ben from dying, so you bit him to turn him into a leopard shifter so he wouldn’t die if the bus exploded again.” She hugged him tight. “You saved his life, Judah.”
“Uh, yeah, that’s why I did it.” Judah kissed the top of her head.
Logan sounded half serious and half in jest. “There’s a special place in the afterlife for you, my friend.”
Judah’s tone betrayed humor. “Oh, I don’t doubt it.”
Jill walked over to Logan and wrapped her arms around his waist, trying not to remember the mesmerizing night she shared with both men. “Thank you for stopping Allan Sloane from killing Ben. He was a horrible man.”
“Still is,” Judah muttered.
“Judah, she was talking about the Sloane person,” Logan specified.
“Yeah, that’s what I meant,” Judah retorted, though Jill knew it wasn’t.
A loud bang pounded on the door from outside. “Police! Open up!”
Judah gasped. “Crap, he followed you here?”
She panicked. “I don’t think so. He should be at work. I only came to thank you and then leave. I didn’t do anything wrong, but I’m not supposed to be here. Damn it, this isn’t a good way to start Training mode tonight.”
“What?” Judah grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the coat closet. “Don’t let that motherfucker train you. You’re our slave, not his.”
Her body heated and her pussy dampened at the possessive way he said “slave.” She trembled with a strange mixture of fear and excitement.
“Nobody owns me, Judah.”
“We own you, and you’d know that if you’d take your fucking top off and show me that pretty bite mark I left on you.” Judah opened the door to the coat closet.
“Nice try, Judah. Ben’s my Dom.”
“Fuck no! What does that asshole know about being a Dom? He probably got his training from some psychotic dummy off the internet.”
Logan snorted as he headed toward the front door. “Much obliged, Judah.”
“Yeah, I didn’t think that one through.” Judah pushed Jill into the closet and closed the door. “I’ll be in the shower. Got to wash this sweat off. Tell him I’m out of town.”
* * * *
Judah stood in the bathroom, listening.
“Where is he?” Ben demanded.
“He’s in the bathroom,” Logan replied nonchalantly.
Judah’s jaw fell. Whose side was the fucker on? He unlocked the door and debated whether or not to climb out the window instead of bolting down the hall.
The door flew open and the pissed-off sheriff barged in. Seeing no other option, Judah stripped off the towel, revealing his package. Ben stopped in his tracks, looking baffled and disgusted.
“See anything you like, cocksucker, or did you just come to compare dick sizes?” Judah sassed. A man pretending to come on to him should send Ben
packing. Judah started to play with himself, certain the cop wouldn’t dare touch a man who had his hands all over his bits and pieces.
He was wrong. Ben grabbed him by the throat and slammed him up against the bathroom wall. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“You mean because I bit you or because I masturbated in front of you? Jill doesn’t like shy men. If you want to please her you—” Judah grunted loudly when Ben punched him in the face. “Oh yeah, there we go.”
“Why are you sweaty?” Ben asked in a calmer but still riled tone.
“It’s called working out. You know that thing your wife does, besides me?” Judah figured another fist was coming, but it was worth it.
Oddly, no flying fists of rage came, though Ben did slam him back against the wall again. Judah stiffened and he noticed the sheriff did, too, when Ben moved into him. What the hell? Ben still looked pissed, but there was a wild fury in his eyes that had nothing to do with wrath.
“You’re absolutely vile,” the cop said in an out-of-place hush.
Judah flinched when he felt stiffness in the crotch pressed against his lower abdomen. Oh surely not. “Yeah well, you’re pretty rank yourself.”
“I should arrest your slimy ass.”
“Why don’t you?”
“Turn around,” Ben murmured with a feral gleam in his eyes, “so I can handcuff you.”
Somehow that didn’t sit well. “Yeah, no thanks. I’m good there. No desire to go to jail, but thanks for the offer.”
Ben grabbed him by the hair and arm, spinning him around and ramming his front up against the wall. “You’re under arrest, you little shit! Did you honestly think there wouldn’t be any consequences for assaulting a police officer?”
“Blah, blah, it was worth it. Do you feel anything brotherly and forgiving toward me yet, sheriff?”
“You bit me and fucked my wife. I’ll never see you as a brother, you lowlife punk.”
Judah jumped when he heard Ben’s breath catch and felt his dick stiffen in his pants. Nope, definitely nothing brotherly there. “Lord Almighty, are you erect?”
