“I don’t want to lose you either,” she said.
“If anything happens, you run like hell for the clinic and stay there. Okay?”
Her eyes widened and she nodded.
“Good. You’ll be safe there.” He looked around. “Do your brothers have cell phones?”
She shook her head. “Father wouldn’t allow the expense. I learned by watching friends.”
“Sweet dark moon, I don’t know if they were assigned numbers,” he said and yanked out his iPhone. He hit a number and let it ring.
“Guardian Center, this is Gage.”
“Hey, Gage, it’s Etienne. Why aren’t you out in this mess?”
“Hey, E. Hard to roll my wheels through the crowd,” Gage said. “What can I do for you?”
“I need to locate the Brankovich twins. I believe we found Naira’s scent. We need the twins, Alex, Xavier, Collin, and Luca back at the Center so we can correlate data to narrow the search.”
“Where did you locate the scent?”
“On the second hill before the valley of rogues is where we lost it. We caught a faint marker scent about five klicks northwest from the shack thing. Isaac tracked it another four before he lost it.”
“I’ll find it on the map and contact the others. Head straight here.”
“Thanks, Gage,” Etienne said and closed the phone. “He made it easy on us. Gage is calling everyone.” He hit another number for Isaac.
“What’s up?”
“Stop your dancing,” Etienne said.
“Who said I’m dancing?”
“You’re breathless.”
“Cranky pants. What’s going on? I haven’t found the others.”
“Turn your ass around and head to the Center. Gage is contacting everyone.”
“Way to go, Gage. He does make life easier. I’ll see you there.”
After Isaac hung up, Etienne returned it to his pocket. “There are times where I swear he has a loose screw.”
“You wouldn’t have him any other way.”
“Life would be boring. My life was empty without him.”
“Now you have both of us in your life.”
“It’s starting to look wonderful.” He held out his hand, and she slid her fingers through his. He managed to turn them around and wove back through the crowd.
Within moments of entering, Etienne noticed it was filled with everyone they needed. He first went to Gage and bumped knuckles. “Good work, my man, damn good work.”
“It’s why I’m sitting here,” Gage said.
Etienne lifted his head to track Kate’s movements to find her brothers. He watched the brothers enclose her in a tender embrace, hope apparent. He hoped they weren’t too late.
Moving toward the table, Etienne braced his hands on the edge and stared at the territory map Gage had spread out and tacked down. Gage tossed him a box of colored thumbtacks to use as placement markers.
“Isaac, get over here, you know more of the location,” Etienne called out and saw Isaac break away from Cullen and Luca. “Where’s the shack?”
Drumming his fingers on the edge, Isaac moved his finger to a point and dragged it along a route. “Follow this road to the path and there. Sweet moon, we need to have these shacks marked for everyone to find them in need.”
“Another time, we have a more urgent need to follow another path,” Gage called to him.
“Yeah. Yeah. Noting down a fact.”
Etienne reached out and shoved a tack into the spot. “Do you remember where we followed Kate? I thought it was about five klicks in this direction.” He moved his finger along the map. “I remembered something about seeing a second set of hills we crossed before we hit the outer boundary.”
“More like eight in jaguar strides,” Isaac said and used a ruler to mark out the distance. “Here. This is the first scent marker.”
Etienne added another tack.
“I stopped here with the tracking, another four klicks beyond. Around a total of ten miles give or take with jaguar strides.”
There was another tack added.
Isaac added three more to show his path. Taking a piece of red string, he wound it around them to reveal the movements through the forest.
“How old was the first marker?” Alex listened in while walking over to the table.
“A week, maybe a bit more. It wasn’t a deliberate scent marking, but one that happened in an emergency,” Etienne said.
“Like she was running and captured by her followers and she released a scent.”
“I’m thinking the same since it was a light spray, nothing down deep. There were claw markings as she fought back, but there were larger paw prints. I don’t recognize the scents due to my time away.” Etienne glanced to his partner. “Did you recognize anyone?”
“No, but I can recognize again if I return and find different tracks. Could be new rogues Robert recruited,” Isaac said.
“We’ll have to send someone to track and follow the scents, see if they recognize any of them,” Cullen said.
Alex placed his hands on the table and stared at the map. “Who’s our best tracker?”
“Zach is the first one I can think of, but he wasn’t at the garden,” Cullen said. “Other than Zach, I would say Gideon has the next best nose.”
“He wouldn’t leave River unprotected.”
“I believe I could be of assistance, or offer the help from some sentinels of my nest,” Xavier said as he appeared out of a shadowy corner behind Isaac.
“Shit, sweet Goddess, dude!” Isaac jumped and put a hand to his heart.
Another vampire shimmered into existence next to him. Unlike the elegant Xavier, this male had contemporary short deep-blond hair, a scruffy chin, and wore ankle boots, dark-washed jeans, a light-blue shirt which picked up his eye color, and a black suit jacket. “What about me?”
“Holy sweet Goddess! What the hell? Where did you come from?” Isaac banged a hand against his chest as he leaned hard against the table. “You knocked a life out of my cat. I’m down to eight.”
“Same place he did,” the vampire said with a fangy smile.
“Aww, poor kitty, now you have seven,” Xavier said.
Isaac grumbled, glancing at the golden-haired vampire with a cautious look, but moved away from the creepy ebony-haired vampire. He hissed at the man.
“You don’t want to go there with me,” Xavier said before he moved around the table and looked at the area in question.
“Who is this?” Etienne yanked Isaac to the side and gestured to the other vampire.
“I’m Christophe Ashworth, second in charge of the nest and the sentinels,” the golden vampire said, his accent a unique lyrical mixture of French and English. “I’ve come to see what’s been happening on this side of the perimeter and assist my lord.”
Xavier glanced at his second and back to the main group. “To return to the problem at hand, I was at the gardens and collected multiple scents. Thanks to several sentinels who followed me, I have a bit of an aerial perspective.”
“I didn’t know you called others,” Alex said.
“You didn’t call me. These rogues are endangering cats within my territory and I want them dead. I don’t tolerate insolence and unnecessary endangerment of innocents,” Xavier said.
“We wouldn’t let our lord venture into danger alone,” Christophe added.
Xavier grumbled.
Alex rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Can those sentinels do another search and see what they can locate?”
Xavier tilted his head and focused off in the distance. “Done. Two sentinels are heading there now.”
“Cool. Vulcan mind meld,” Isaac said, rubbed his hands together. “My mind to your—”
“Don’t even think about it,” Xavier said, raising a hand to stop Isaac.
“Crap! I wanna know all the dark secrets of the world.”
“Knock it off, you goofball,” Etienne said. “Sorry, my lord, he didn’t come with an off switch.”
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“He has no idea what it means to mesh with a vampire’s mind, does he?” Christophe asked, tilting his head.
Etienne shook his head.
“Do I need to roll you under so you can see the dangerous appeal of a vampire’s kiss?” Xavier inquired in a mild tone. His eyes darkened in a seductive fashion to thrall the cat.
Isaac swallowed hard.
“Mine!” Kate snarled as she stepped between them. She pressed her back against Isaac’s front and growled at the vampire. Her eyes shifted to a greenish-yellow color.
Xavier straightened and raised an eyebrow. “Interesting.”
Kate hissed, flashing kitty fangs.
Isaac wrapped his arms around her to prevent her from leaping at the vampire.
Etienne embraced them from behind Isaac. “Please excuse her behavior, my esteemed night lords. She doesn’t know everything about you except for your meeting at my home.”
“A night lord on cat territory and trying to tempt or threaten my mate,” she said with another low growl.
Xavier held out a hand to stop Christophe. He moved his hands behind his back and clasped them. He gave them a respectful half bow. “Please accept my apologies for stepping into your personal territory, my desert rose. You’re a fine example of the spirit of a sand cat.”
In front of everyone, Kate lifted her mates’ hands and bit down on the previous scars to reclaim her territory. Both her males hissed when she applied the special secretion. She licked them with care to seal the marks.
Chapter 26
At the guardians’ urging to go home and let them handle the search, Etienne was in agreement. He sensed Kate was in a delicate emotional state after finding her sister’s scent. He didn’t want anything else to throw her off on a tangent of unknown purpose. Though he knew she didn’t want to leave until there was confirmation, Etienne managed to coax her to leave along with Isaac’s gentle urging.
When they walked into the house, Etienne helped her kick off her shoes. He led his quiet mates to the kitchen and got them to sit down next to one another.
“I’m hungry. What about you two? Are you hungry?” He opened the fridge to survey the interior.
Pulling her legs up, Kate leaned against Isaac’s shoulder. Isaac moved his fingers through her hair, free from the long braid and tangled from the shift.
“I could use something simple,” Isaac said. “How about you, sweetie?”
“Lost my appetite.” She turned to give Isaac access to the entire length of her hair.
“You need to eat.” Isaac lifted a handful of locks and worked his fingers through the section.
“How about I make some sandwiches? I think we have some chips to go with them. It's a light and simple meal.” Etienne pulled out the various fixings. “We have a variety of breads, meats, and cheeses. What kind of sandwich would you like, Isaac?”
“Ham, turkey, provolone, mustard and something green on the multigrain bread,” Isaac said.
“You have a choice between baby spinach or romaine leaves,” Etienne said after another look in the crisper.
“Spinach, please.”
Etienne located plates and a knife. He made quick process of creating the sandwich, cutting it in half, and serving it to his partner with a kiss. In the pantry, he discovered several bags of chips. He brought out a pitcher of fresh sweet tea and glasses. At the last stop, he drew his fingers down Kate’s arm. “Katie, what would you like?”
“Turkey, provolone, and spinach,” she said in the same soft voice.
“White, whole wheat, or multigrain bread?”
“Whole wheat.”
“Mayo or mustard?”
“Neither. Not thick like Isaac’s.”
Etienne made her a thinner sandwich than the tower he’d created for Isaac. After he sliced it in half, he served her the plate. He kissed her cheek, brushing his fingers across the hair Isaac smoothed.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
He noticed Isaac hadn’t touched his sandwich. “Eat, both of you, eat.”
“I’ll wait for you,” Isaac said as he poured chips out for Kate and himself.
“Give me another minute.” Etienne put together a sandwich and cleaned everything before he carried his plate and sat on the other side of Kate. He poured a glass of tea and drank half before cooling his thirst.
Kate picked and worried the sandwich, smooshing a chip under a finger. When she took multiple bites, the males went to town on their sandwiches. When they finished, Isaac collected everything and added them to the dishwasher. He swished a cleaning wipe across the counters to scoop up any specks or crumbs. Tossing the wipe in the garbage, he returned to the table.
“How about we go upstairs, prepare for bed, and curl up together? Would you like to snuggle between us?” Etienne asked.
“We can be a big old pile of cuddly kittens,” Isaac said.
She leaned against Isaac. “Will you finish brushing and braiding my hair?”
“Do you like having someone brush your hair?”
“It helps to relax me. I need the help tonight.”
“I can make some chamomile and nip tea,” Etienne said.
“Maybe, but I don’t know.”
“Let’s go upstairs and try to relax. We’ll see how it goes.” Etienne stood and held out his hand. “If you don’t fall asleep, I’ll set up some tea.”
Taking his hand, she stood and leaned against his side as they moved through the house. Isaac followed, turned off lights, and checked all the locks and security system before he jogged up the stairs.
“Everything is locked tight,” he informed Etienne.
“Good.” Etienne opened the door to her suite.
“I want to stay with you again, please,” she said.
“Don’t you want a nightgown to sleep in?”
“I’ll use your T-shirt. I need your scents around me, to ground me against the darkness.”
Etienne closed the door and led her to the other one.
Isaac pushed the door wider so they could enter the master suite. He flicked on the light and disappeared into the bathroom. He returned with a brush and T-shirt. Etienne turned down the covers on the bed.
Kate undid the button on her pants and let them slide down to the floor. She lifted her shirt over her head. A warm pair of hands on her wrists stopped her movements as a lean body moved to stand behind her. One sniff told her it was Isaac.
A second pair of hands joined the first set, and together the men helped her out of the shirt. With her vision freed, she blinked and met Etienne’s warm gaze. Left in the peach lingerie, her body was exposed to their gazes.
“We love your body,” Isaac said, touching her hands.
“I can’t tonight.”
“Ssh, we’re here to take care of you.”
A sigh escaped when Isaac kissed her temple. She placed her hands flat on Etienne’s bared chest. He smiled as he bent, scooped her in his arms, and deposited her on the bed. They stretched out along either side of her.
Tonight was time to explore the bond between them. They could touch one another for comfort, for relaxation, and for dissolving the stress. The full moon, a special harvest moon for the clan, was in two weeks. They would dance for the clan and for the Goddess and finish their bond with one another.
“Thank you.” She closed her eyes as she leaned against Isaac’s chest.
“Whatever you wish, we’ll make it come true. We won’t overstep whatever bounds you set tonight or beyond.”
“Why aren’t you pushing for more?”
“This is our courtship time, Katie, where we can understand one another, build our friendship, cement our bonds, and learn to communicate with each other as a true triad. We can do all of this without the act of sex.” Etienne leaned in and kissed her forehead.
“Please, but oh, don't leave me alone.” She moaned when Isaac drew his fingers down her spine. “Please hold me.”
Etienne pressed his lips around her face, nipped a little, and c
aptured her lips. He tilted her on her back as Isaac drifted down the bed.
Isaac caressed her all over with his fingers. He massaged, squeezed, and aroused the sensitive skin. They listened to her moans, gasps, and sighs as she explored the sensations. When Isaac tucked his fingers under the panties and moved to pull them down, she gasped and pulled in her lower lip. Her eyes opened wide and stared. Her legs tensed.
“Ssh. Ssh. Relax and feel, sweet kitty,” Etienne whispered as he caressed his fingers down her neck and slipped them under the edges of the peach bra. When he touched the edges of her nipples, she shivered but relaxed her legs.
Isaac slid down the silky thong and held it to his nose. He pulled in the headiness of her natural arousal. He purred in appreciation. He held them toward Etienne, who sniffed the damp silk which pressed against her most intimate folds.
“Delicious. Be gentle this time, lover,” Etienne said in a soft warning as Kate shivered. He lifted her until he sat against the headboard, placed Kate between his legs, and supported her against his clothed one. His hands undid the bra, tossed it to the floor, and caressed her full breasts, his fingers tracing around them with care and light strokes. He pressed his lips to her neck.
When Etienne cupped her breasts, Isaac tongued one breast, circling around the full weight, the sensitive nipple, and the valley. He suckled around one nipple. Moving to the other breast while she moaned, her hands clenching around the sheets, he nuzzled her other nipple.
Giving the beautiful mounds a final kiss, Isaac licked his lips while he settled between their legs. He lifted her legs on the outside of Etienne’s jean-clad ones. He took Etienne’s hands and placed them on either side of her inner knees.
“Keep her here?”
“Oh yes. Open her up for me,” Isaac said, his voice deep and smoky. “Reveal our mate-to-be to me.”
“With pleasure,” Etienne said as he nipped her earlobe. “I can smell your arousal from here, darling lady.”
“Please.” Kate fisted the sheet. Her knees moved, but Etienne dug his fingers into the tender skin.
Dark Moon Dance [Fire Jaguars 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 18
