“Wait,” Josh interrupted. “Cailin is the baby at twenty-three?”
“I told you I’m almost a century—ninety-eight actually. Cailin’s still our baby sister. And with six older brothers she doesn’t forget it.” Reed gave a smile only a big brother bent on terrorizing his younger sister could give.
Or at least that’s what Josh thought a look of terrorizing one’s little sister would look like. He didn’t have any siblings to really know.
“Wow, I’m only twenty-five. You must think I’m a toddler.” Hannah looked troubled at this thought, but didn’t bite her lip.
Reed reached out and held her hand. “It’s not the same thing at all. Cailin and you are both adults. It’s just Cailin’s my sister, while you are definitely not.” Reed smiled, and Josh felt as though he was intruding.
“And you’re pretty close to my age—twenty-nine.” Josh pointed to himself with a ladle.
“Well thank the goddess for that.” Hannah said. “I guess we’ll just have to be careful with the old man over here.”
Reed looked on in mock-outrage. “Hey, you two whipper-snappers. When I was young we respected our elders. And I can always get us the senior discounts.” Reed wiggled his eyebrows and Josh threw a dish towel at him.
It was nice to laugh and play around about something, and just for a moment, forget the dangers lurking outside.
Reed smiled. “So tell me about you, Josh. Any family?”
Hannah and Josh sobered. “No. I have no one.”
“Since I lost my mom, I’m alone now too.”
The kitchen fell silent except for the sound of the boiling stew on the stove.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up. But you aren’t alone if you don’t want to be.” Reed spoke softly. “You can always go home with me to the Redwood Pack.”
As good as that sounded to Josh, he didn’t think he could think about the future. Not one that didn’t include the two people in the kitchen with him.
Josh looked around the cabin, trying to break the sudden tension in the room. “I don’t think we should use the bedroom tonight and waste the wood. It’s gonna get real cold, real quick. So I think it’d be best if we all pile up in the living room in front of the fire and close to the nearest exits in case we are attacked. We may have to cuddle.”
The tip of Reed’s ears reddened and Hannah blushed. Damn these two were cute as all hell.
“Okay, but we’ll take turns keeping watch,” Reed agreed.
Josh and Hannah nodded, and he went back to the stove to check their meal. “Stew’s ready. It won’t be too bad, though it didn’t have all day to simmer and we don’t have bread, but it’ll do.”
“I don’t care how it tastes. It smells divine.” Hannah closed her eyes and inhaled. The look of pure ecstasy on her face made Josh want to bend her over the dining room table and fuck her until they both dropped to the floor in a sweaty pile.
He looked over to Reed and knew the man’s thoughts were on the same page.
Fuck.
Reed checked the fire and Hannah set the table while Josh ladled stew in to the bowls. They sat down together, talking and eating a surprisingly decent meal. It almost felt like they were a family. It was nice. A little too nice. Because Josh couldn’t allow himself to get used to this.
They’d leave him like everyone else always did.
A crimson hue flashed across his eyes. Blood and dark evil attacked his thoughts, and Josh held his forehead. Weariness spread over him.
What the hell was going on? He’d never had an attack like this before. This wasn’t part of his Finding. No, this was something different. Was it because of the bite? It felt like something else was trying to take over his body and cloud his emotions.
Irrational anger seeped through his pores, anger at those that had left him. Anger at the two strangers sitting across from him who would fuck tonight and leave him alone and needing. He didn’t want to feel needy. He wanted to be alone.
“Josh?” Hannah’s soft voice intruded his increasingly violent thoughts.
“I’m getting a bit tired. You mind if I just crash on the couch? You can wake me when you’re ready to go to sleep and I’ll take the floor. Okay?”
Both of his dinner mates looked at him with worried expressions.
“Okay, try and get some rest. We’ll do the dishes and try to be quiet,” Reed answered.
Josh nodded, too afraid of what would come out of his mouth if he spoke. He left the two lovebirds at the table to talk about him behind his back. Yeah, fuck them.
He slung himself onto the couch, head aching. His arm pulsated to a staccato tempo, pissing him off. He glanced down and paled. His wound looked even redder than before but for some reason he didn’t want to tell the others. What was going on with him? He needed to leave here soon, before he did something he might regret.
Chapter 9
Hannah watched Josh walk out of the room, a painful expression on his face. She hated to see him in pain. The feeling was much like what she’d felt when Reed was hurt.
“He looks tired.” Too tired for someone who’d just slept eight hours.
“I know,” Reed agreed. “I don’t like it. But when we get to the Pack, we’ll try and figure it out. I think it may be the bite, but I don’t want to say anything just yet.”
“I know. I’m scared. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“It’s okay, Hannah. We will figure it out.” Reed reached out and held her hand.
He was always doing things like that. Touching her hand, arms, kissing her forehead or cheeks. She loved it every time he did so and didn’t want him to stop. She felt as though she’d known him for so much longer than just a handful of stolen days. How would she say goodbye? Did she have to?
Reed stood and cleared the table. Hannah grabbed what she could and followed him into the kitchen that stood off the living room. They started doing the dishes, and the cold water bit into her hands, stinging.
“Hey, why don’t you do the drying? I don’t want you to freeze your hands off since we don’t have heated water at the moment. Should make showering interesting.” Reed quirked a lip, and Hannah blushed.
Goddess, the image of him in the shower, water sliding down his naked skin.
Hannah gulped, knowing she was blushing like a school girl.
She dried the bowls using a towel she found in one of the drawers. That reminded her.
“How are we going to replace anything we use?”
Reed kept rinsing the bowls and gave her a smile. “I’ve thought about that. We’ll leave a note.”
Hannah exhaled in relief. “A note? That’ll be enough?”
Reed nodded and bumped her with his hip. “We’ll leave our information and pay them back. Don’t worry; I’ll take care of it. And you.”
“I’d like that. But don’t think I won’t reciprocate.” She smiled then froze. Had she really just said that aloud?
From the pleased look on his face, she thought she had.
What did that mean?
They finished the dishes, their arms and legs brushing and bumping together as they worked as a unit. She didn’t know quite what was going on, but parts of her liked it. Parts of her really liked it. But then those same parts reacted whenever Josh touched her or looked into her eyes.
Her heart hurt at the choices she might have to make if what she saw in their eyes was true. She wanted both men. And if she was honest with herself—she was falling for them, too.
Did that make her a slut?
Because the fantasies rolling through her mind made her think of even sluttier thoughts. Really dirty, slutty thoughts.
They both went into the living room and sat on the love seat across the room from where Josh lay sleeping. He had his arm over his eyes, blocking out soft glow of the candles, so she couldn’t see the bite. But she knew it was there. To her dismay, even though it was cold in the cabin and he needed the warmth, he’d kept his shirt on this time.
&
nbsp; She remembered what it had felt like to strip that off and look at his lean muscles as he slept. She’d only done it to make him more comfortable. At least that’s what she told herself. Sure.
Reed wrapped a blanket around them both as they snuggled to keep warm in the dropping temperatures. But she still felt on edge, because even though they felt safe in their forest oasis, werewolves lurked and hunted them.
Hannah shivered at the memory of that basement, and Reed held her closer then took her hand in his.
Tingles raced up her arms as he rubbed small circles in her palm with his thumb.
Dear goddess, the man is smooth.
And apparently none of them were going to talk about what was going on. Fine with her for now, but once they left the cabin, they would have to break the barrier. She didn’t know what would come of their talk and it scared her.
“You two look comfy.” Josh’s voice sounded rough with sleep.
“Hey, do you feel better?” She refused to take her hand away from Reed’s. Had she just make a choice?
“A little. I just can’t sleep with those fuckers out there, ya know?”
“I know what you mean. But as soon as this storm lets up, we’ll get out of here. We’ll get somewhere safe.” Reed smiled, but a cold gleam entered his eyes. “Then we’ll make sure the Centrals know not to fuck with us.”
The men looked at each other and seemed to come to an understanding.
They were so strong, just in different ways sometimes. But in this one case, she knew they would be on the same page.
Josh sat up and patted the seat next to him. “Come sit by me. The fire helps, but it’s getting cold in here.”
Reed shuffled to the couch, pulling her with him, and they sat down. Josh pulled the blankets around the three of them, cuddling close into her side. Her womb clenched at the feel of both men on either side of her, warming her from the inside out.
Dammit. Things couldn’t go on like this.
Finding the shred of courage she possessed, she blurted, “What’s going on? With us?”
Both men stopped the subtle stroking on her arms and froze. Their faces looked guilty, but slightly intrigued. That was a good sign. Right?
They removed their hands, and she immediately felt cold at the loss of contact.
Josh furrowed his brows and tilted his head. Reed took a deep breath.
What was going on? Hannah feared their answers.
“You are my mate,” Reed finally answered, a look of pure joy and anticipation on his face. He smiled and looked into her eyes.
Happiness, unprecedented happiness, filled her. She knew about werewolves’ mates. She was his fated destiny. His other half. Together they would live in love and faith because it was fate. She’d known there was a connection, but she’d never thought to even hope for this outcome.
A link. Between the two of them.
“Oh.” She uttered that single word with a mix of joy and pain.
What about Josh? There would be no Josh. She was Reed’s, as he was hers.
And Josh would be alone, without them.
Josh grunted, a hollow sound full of pain. Then his expression blanked and he stood. “I’m happy for the two of you, though I’d suspected it since we met in the basement. I’m going to leave the two of you alone for a bit to talk. I’m going to go back to the bedroom for a bit.”
Reed’s hand shot out, catching Josh by his uninjured forearm before he could leave the room.
“Don’t go.”
“Yes,” Hannah added, “stay. Please don’t go.”
She looked into his ocean blue eyes full of pain.
Wait. Why did she feel such desire, desire that matched what she felt for Reed, if she was Reed’s mate? Wasn’t there like a wolf law against that or something?
“No, I need to go. You two are mates. I can’t be here right now. Don’t you understand?” Josh’s eyes were hard. What could he be feeling?
Hannah’s chest hurt. Oh goddess. Apparently her heart wanted two men, but why? Why did this have to happen now? Why did Reed have to say anything and make Josh go away? Why did Josh have to feel anything for her anyway? Even though she felt the same way. Damn it. He must hurt. It wasn’t fair.
But life wasn’t fair. Her mother’s short life and her own captivity were proof positive of that.
Reed’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Josh, you’re my mate too. Our mate.”
Wait. What did he say?
“Oh.” What else could she say? What did this mean?
Josh’s eyes widened and his face paled. “No way.”
“Yes, way,” Reed replied. “I feel it here.” Reed put his hand over his heart. “My wolf also knows it. I know it’s not what you expected, but it’s true. You’re both my mates.” He looked between them, pleading in his eyes but strength in his features, as if preparing for rejection.
Josh shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong. I find you both attractive, which by itself is odd. Not that you aren’t hot, but the fact that I’m looking at a man that way…” Josh blushed. “But I’m straight, Reed. I’ve never wanted another man. I just don’t know.”
Reed gave a hollow laugh. “I’ve always been happy with men or women.”
Hannah didn’t like the sound of that. Why was he bringing up past relationships at a time like this? She didn’t want to feel jealous, but seriously.
“Don’t look like that, either of you,” Reed interjected. “You two are the first two I’ve ever felt the mating heat with. Ever.” Reed looked at them through smoldering eyes. “You’re both my mates. Believe me.”
Hannah took a deep breath. Two mates? Was that possible? She knew that wolves had potential mates, others out there that could be their other half. But some never found even one, let alone two in a long life time. Did this mean Reed would have to choose? Did he want Josh and not her? This was just too confusing and made her heart hurt.
Reed cleared his throat and rubbed his hands on his thighs. “I’ve never heard of this happening before. I mean, one of my brothers has had two potential mates. Kade met Tracy first, but that didn’t work out.” He let out a hollow laugh. “Thankfully, he met Melanie soon after and now they are mated. But it wasn’t at the same time, and once he met Melanie, he wanted nothing to do with Tracy.”
She didn’t know exactly who these people were, but she needed to discuss the three of them in this room, not others.
“But,” Reed continued, “this is about us. Not them. I don’t want to make a callous decision. I don’t think I can make a decision. I don’t want to choose.” Reed looked at them both, his heart in his eyes.
“This is a lot to take in, Reed,” Hannah whispered.
“Don’t worry. I don’t want in.” Josh’s voice was cold, emotionless.
A part of her heart broke off, shattering into a thousand pieces.
She’d been wrong. She never had a choice. She never did. Josh didn’t want her…them.
Her arms tingled as a hollow feeling spread through her. He’d walk away. Alone.
Hannah looked away from Josh. She couldn’t bear to see the man she’d almost fallen for anymore if he didn’t reciprocate those feelings. Her gaze landed on Reed. She saw a mirror of her emotions on his face before they faded away into resignation.
“I didn’t mention all of this to let you walk away, Josh. Don’t go. Let’s just sit on this for a bit and talk it out. See where things go.” Reed took a deep breath. “Please.”
Hannah jumped in. “That sounds very reasonable. Please, Josh. Let’s just wait a bit.” Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them away and forced a smile on her face. “I mean, we just escaped from a lunatic’s prison and everything. Let’s take a day or two to settle.”
Josh clenched his jaw. “So let me get this straight. We just parade around here like Goldilocks in a fucking cabin we don’t own, waiting for Reed to get off his ass and choose between us? That’s rich. And how about the fact that I want you, Hannah? That I keep dreaming about y
ou and me and forever? Reed is dreaming those same dreams. I already know whom he’d choose. Why should I just sit here and watch him choose you and not me?”
Embarrassment covered his features and he quickly shut his mouth.
Hannah was speechless.
Josh wanted Reed and her. All three of them wanted each other? And to think, the week before she’d had no one. Now she had two of the sexiest men on Earth wanting her. Nice.
Reed stood and paced through the room.
Trinity Bound Page 8
