by Gigi Moore
Sam nuzzled Desiree’s throat, wanted to be close to her, needed her humanity to keep him grounded and sane…less homicidal. He licked the earlier bite he’d placed there. She didn’t seem to be in any undue pain or stress from it, and Sam was glad. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her in any way, shape, or form.
Which was why he dreaded the heart-to-heart she, he, and Carson would have to have soon, the heart-to-heart about their true identities and why they were on the run.
Would she still want to be with them after she learned the truth about them?
Desiree ran her hands down his ribs before curving her arms around his waist. “Are you still in some pain?”
“No.” That proved true enough. Once he’d shifted, his metabolism had finally kicked in to handle his body’s healing, so no, he wasn’t in any pain. At least he wasn’t in any physical pain. Now emotional pain, that was a horse of another color, and one with which he struggled every minute he kept the truth from Desiree.
She deserved to know what she would be getting into, had gotten into, hitching her wagon to theirs. Carson had told her earlier that it wasn’t too late to change her mind and that they wouldn’t think any less of her. That still held true. He just hoped she chose to move forward with them.
He’d never been very good at lying, didn’t like to, although the last several years, by necessity, he had become adept. However, the more time he spent in Desiree’s company, looking into her sincere, solemn eyes, the urge to confess grew stronger and stronger.
He was sure Carson was on the same page with him on this and figured they’d tell her about themselves together once they finished their shower. That was, unless her curiosity finally got the best of her and Desiree asked him something now, outright.
“Why the frowny face, then?” Desiree squeezed him to her as she tilted her head back to kiss his chin. “Missing that ornery brother of yours?”
At her words, the shower door slid open and Carson stepped into the tub to join them. “Did someone mention my name?”
Sam grinned. His brother always knew how and when to make an entrance.
He was relieved to not have to talk to Desiree all by his lonesome as he didn’t want to muck up the most important discussion he probably would ever have in his life.
“Ears burning?” Desiree teased.
She seemed so much more lighthearted and carefree since they had started their relationship. Sam wanted to take credit for that but knew that he and Carson would have to take the blame when she slipped into sadness after they divulged their past to her.
“As well as some other parts,” Carson teased her back and bent his head to kiss her on the lips as she turned to him.
Sam watched them for several long seconds, saw Carson slide his tongue into Desiree’s mouth, and his little friend reacted, hardening painfully.
Desiree reached for him as if sensing his need, or maybe she had seen him rising from her peripheral vision. Her palm brushed him and he trembled under her caress before she circled his shaft with her fingers and gave it one firm pump.
Sam closed his eyes and groaned. He moved closer, following her pull like a lost puppy. He felt her thumb the pearl of liquid at the crown of his cock, circling it around and around. He opened his eyes when she stopped, saw her end the kiss with Carson as she raised her thumb to her mouth.
Both Sam and Carson watched her, entranced as she sucked her thumb into her mouth and tasted Sam’s spirit.
Sam licked his lips, desperate to be inside her. If it proved the last time they would all be together again, he would make it worth their while.
It’s not going to be the last time. We’re going to make this work.
He knew he wanted it enough, more than he had ever wanted anything, almost more than he wanted to have his father back.
Carson moved behind Desiree, relinquishing the sweet haven of her pussy to Sam.
Sam nodded at him and stepped to Desiree’s front. He caressed her ribs with his thumbs, slowly moving up her smooth torso until he palmed her full breasts.
Desiree closed her eyes and tilted back her head to rest just below Carson’s shoulder.
Carson stared at Sam as he gripped Desiree’s hips and Sam got the message. He needed to keep her distracted while Carson entered her. They hadn’t brought in any lube, and Carson was just a little thicker around than Sam, which meant this could get a little tricky for Desiree.
Sam fondled and squeezed her breasts together, lowering his head to take first one hard nipple then the other into his mouth. He suckled and nipped, circling her aureoles with the tip of his tongue right before Carson pushed past the first ring of muscle.
Desiree gasped and clutched at Sam, digging her nails into his back as she blindly reached for his mouth. Sam complied, taking her lips with his in a frantic kiss before he drove his tongue into her mouth to dance with hers.
Carson slid in a little further, and with each inch, Desiree dug her nails a little deeper into Sam’s back. He welcomed the pain, sank into it as he swallowed Desiree’s moans.
When Carson was almost seated to the hilt, Sam guided his cock to Desiree’s opening, caressing her moist folds with the head of his cock and losing himself in her soft whimpers.
“Please,” she begged. “Oh please, Sam…” She drew him near with one hand on his back and clamped her other down on Carson’s flank.
Sam could imagine her nails doing the same damage to Carson’s thigh as they now did to Sam’s back and shoulder. Only the water mitigated the score of her nails. Nothing mitigated his hunger, however. She could flay him alive and he’d still want her, would gladly bleed for her.
He stepped closer, easing further inside. Her pussy remained so wet, Sam barely had to push before he slid all the way inside.
Desiree sighed and slid her hand down his back until she cupped one ass cheek in her hand. Balanced between them, Carson driving deep from behind, she raised a thigh to settle onto Sam’s hip. He plunged forward and circled his hips with a grunt as he dug his fingers into her supple thigh to ground himself.
Sam bent his head to kiss her, driving his tongue as he drove his cock, pounding into her from the front as Carson pounded into her from the back.
Desiree’s cries grew and grew, reaching a shattering crescendo before she finally came between them with a prolonged shudder.
Carson’s release quickly followed, and Sam wasn’t too far behind him, panting as he rested his forehead against Desiree’s.
Moments later he came around to her soft crooning, her fingers gently burrowing through his damp waves.
It didn’t surprise him that they were alone.
“How long?” he rasped.
“Not that long. Carson just wanted to give us a few more minutes alone.”
Did he want Sam to break the news to her alone? Did he think Sam could handle it more tactfully than him? Or did he not want to see the cold, indifferent look in Desiree’s eyes when she finally rejected them?
He knew his brother wasn’t a coward and wondered at Carson’s logic.
Slowly they washed and rinsed their bodies before stepping out of the tub and wrapping themselves in towels.
When they got back to Sam’s bedroom, they found Carson lounging back against a pillow, hands folded behind his head. He remained naked and half-erect while he intently watched them as if searching for something.
He arched a brow, and they dropped their towels before making their way to the bed.
Desiree hopped into the bed, immediately ensconcing herself in Carson’s embrace. She looked back at Sam, proffering her hand and inviting him in.
Moment of truth, Sam thought.
He stepped forward and took her hand as he got into bed beside Desiree, sandwiching her between himself and his brother. It proved an achingly familiar position that he never wanted to give up.
Sam took just a moment to snuggle beside Desiree before she said, “Tell me about Remy and what happened between you all.”
S
am fidgeted, unsure how to begin or even if he should, when Carson said, “I killed Remy’s son, and we’ve been on the run ever since.”
* * * *
Carson didn’t know about Sam, but he felt a thousand pounds lighter once the words left his mouth.
He waited a beat to gauge Desiree’s reaction, watching her face.
She didn’t move at first, and he’d have given anything to know what went through her head in those first few moments after he confessed.
Despite the fact that Sam lay in the bed with him right beside Desiree, Carson felt all alone, alone and drifting in a sea of misery and uncertainty. If she didn’t say something soon, negative or positive, Carson didn’t know what he would do.
“Tell me,” Desiree whispered, but instead of pulling away from him as he expected her to, she burrowed closer, sliding her arms around his middle and holding him snug.
“He didn’t have a choice, Desi,” Sam spoke up, and Carson smiled at his brother’s attempt to protect him again. He’d almost died protecting Carson before.
“I know he wouldn’t have done so if he didn’t have to.”
“How do you know?” Carson asked, amazed.
“Because I know you. You have a good heart. You wouldn’t hurt anyone intentionally.”
She said almost the same exact thing as her sister had about him and Sam—that they had good hearts and souls.
Carson cleared his throat, not quite trusting himself to speak. “It was a packmate, our alpha, Remy’s, son. We’d butted heads a lot in the past, never really liked each other. He thought his father gave us preferential treatment because he liked our mother.”
“Did Remy give your mother preferential treatment?”
“Only because he wanted to mate with her,” Sam said.
“And once our father died, he thought he had his chance.”
“You may as well know that Remy killed our father.”
“Whoa, whoa, this sounds like a serious blood feud.”
“It is, but not in the way you think. I never had anything against Duane personally,” Carson said. “Except for the fact that he was a bully and liked to hurt people weaker and smaller than him. I usually just kept my distance. But that night I couldn’t stay out of things. He was…he was hurting this girl, a full human, forcing himself on her.”
“Oh no.”
Carson heard the catch in her voice and knew he’d hit her recently exposed nerve without meaning to, knew now the exact sort of pain she hid behind the quiet cautiousness and cool reserve. Jeremy had hurt her the same way Duane had tried to hurt that girl outside the zydeco club.
He nodded, squeezing her close as if to protect her from her past. “I couldn’t stay out of it. We fought, and things got out of hand.”
“You killed him in self-defense,” Sam said.
“It certainly sounds like it,” Desiree agreed.
“It was, but it wasn’t within the bounds of a sanctioned challenge match. We were supposed to take our complaint to the pack elders, the council, and the alpha, and let them decide whether we had a beef legitimate enough to fight over.”
“But what was supposed to happen to the girl in the meantime?”
Carson shrugged. That was pack law, and it probably seemed cold to an outsider, a human like Desiree, but those were the facts. Pack law superseded human law, which was why Carson hadn’t been turned in to the human authorities after killing Duane. Once Duane was dead, the pack removed his remains for internment and took Carson into custody for Remy’s verdict.
Had Carson waited until after Duane had finished doing what he wanted to the girl, Carson had every right to bring his accusations to the pack and let them decide whether he and Duane should fight it out. Since Duane was the alpha’s son, despite the pack’s universal dislike of Duane, Carson’s claims wouldn’t have held as much weight, especially not when he would have been speaking up for a human.
“What about your father? What happened with him?”
“He died in a freak accident at the restaurant my family owned. But I know that Remy caused the fire that killed him. I know it in my bones. I saw him there right before the explosion.”
“And your pack didn’t believe you.”
“Mama wouldn’t let me talk about it, at least wouldn’t let me make an official accusation or challenge Remy. I was sixteen, and she believed that Remy would have killed me in a physical contest.”
“He wouldn’t have gone down without a fight though, that was for sure.”
“Helena was protecting you.”
“I know.” It hadn’t stopped him from planting a veiled allegation to the rank and file before he clammed up altogether in deference to his mama. “I can take care of myself though.”
“She’s your mother, Carson. She’s always going to protect you, whether you need it or not, whether you ask for help or not. And you were her child, still are.”
She sounded like his mother when she said that. It must be a nurturer and a woman thing.
“Is that what the other night was about? Was Remy trying to take you back to Louisiana?”
Carson nodded.
“And Sam got in the middle of things.”
“He refused to let me go with Remy.”
Desiree threw a smile over her shoulder at Sam before turning back to Carson. “I like the way you boys stick together.”
“We protect our own.”
“Am I yours?” she asked, her voice timid and unsure.
“You belong to us. You’re pack.”
“Oui, bebe.”
“I wish I’d known you guys before…before…”
“He hurt you.” Carson put a hand under her chin and lifted her face to look into her eyes.
Desiree nodded.
“We won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.”
“That goes both ways, you know.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I won’t let anyone hurt either of you again.”
“Do you know how much I love you, cher?”
“As much as I love the both of you?”
“Even though our real name isn’t Quarry?” Sam put in.
When Desiree burst out laughing and hooked an arm around each of their necks to hug them, Carson felt freer than he had in years. He hadn’t known until that very moment how much of his hopes for the future he had invested in whether or not Desiree accepted full disclosure.
“Oh, honey, I think your alias is the least of our worries.”
She’d said “our worries,” allying herself with them, throwing her fortune in with theirs.
Her words both inspired and frightened Carson.
What if Remy put his sights on her now that he’d seen them all together, now that he knew she meant something to him and Sam? What if, after dragging her into this, he and Sam couldn’t do what they promised and protect her from Remy Bastien?
Chapter 20
Remy had not been so excited since his hunt began several years ago. Knowing that his prey remained within reach, that he would soon acquire what he had been after for so long, sent the adrenaline pumping through his veins the way anticipation did before a battle.
He listened to the phone ring a couple of times, already hearing her warm voice in his head, expecting her wariness and preparing to make his pitch.
“Hello, Remy.”
He gaped. His number was private. How did she know he called?
“I’ve been expecting your call.”
He continued to underestimate the woman, had been doing so for a while, his mistake.
Remy smiled before speaking, gathering his resources and surprised at his own nervousness. He had not heard her voice so up close and personal, however, in a long time. It was a shock to his system he hadn’t been expecting. “Hello, Helena. Long time, no hear.”
“Not long enough.”
He chuckled, liking her spunk. This was the woman with whom he was meant to spend the rest of his life. Duane’s mother had been a pale imitation of a mate,
a pit stop on the road to mating bliss. He’d taken steps to correct that mistake as soon as feasible.
“Come, cher. You know you’d miss me if I were not around.”
“I haven’t so far.”
“I must find something more useful for you to do with that tongue of yours besides insult your alpha.”
“What is it you want, Remy?”
“You already know. Just as you knew it was me on the phone.”
“I need to know that Carson and Sam will be safe.”
“If you agree to come back to Louisiana with me, then yes. I will leave them out of our affairs. This will just be between you and me, as it was always meant to be.”
“Really? And Carson’s imprisonment—”
“Come now, Helena. You could not really expect me to let his transgression go unaddressed. What kind of alpha would I be?”
“And now? All is forgiven?”
“If I say it is. I believe your boys have adequately gotten the message.” Especially that spitfire younger one, Remy thought. He remained surprised by that one’s attack even now. “How is young Samson, by the way?”
“Well, no thanks to you.”
He had an idea who her son’s wellness was thanks to. “I defended myself. You can expect nothing less of me.”
“I expected nothing less of my sons.”
Neither did he, which was why he knew no matter how much he gave his word to her that they would be safe, there was nothing he could do if they decided to take matters into their own hands and challenge Remy. In fact, he fully expected them to.
Helena sighed on the other end. He thought he would like nothing better than to hear that sound in his ears while he pleasured her with his cock, finally burying himself in her sweet cocotte and feeling her sink her teeth into him when he made her his as he was sure her boys had made Desiree Jensen theirs.
Thinking how the young men had acquired their mate when he had yet to get what belonged to him made him a little peevish. He took a deep breath in order not to take it out on Helena, not when he was this close to having her where he wanted her.
