“Like it or not, we’re in the public eye, and living largely among humans. A wedding ring on your finger will show everyone that you’re here to stay, and it gives you legal and financial protection, should anything ever happen to either one of us. I will not be persuaded from this, girl.”
Kate hadn’t put up much of a fight. Besides he was right, and it had stemmed the fawning fan-girls slightly, or at least it had in Zeb’s case. Arran was still mercilessly hounded—tonight being no exception, as Kate observed.
A woman grasped Arran’s backside and tried to sneak a kiss, and Kate inwardly rolled her eyes at the blonde’s clumsy attempt to get his attention. With his inherent politeness, Arran extricated himself out of her clutches, and Zeb looked up to where Kate was standing, and grinned. Oh yes, he was no doubt going to make Arran pay for that.
Just like it always did, that smile full of sensual promise and wicked intent sent her heart aflutter and stopped the nasty poker of jealousy from taking hold. There simply was no room for any of that, not when she felt her men with her at all times. Kate had accepted the fact that she would never shift herself, but her shifter genes, hopelessly diluted as they were, did give her an edge over the ordinary mated human. For starters she had been able to keep her precious secret to herself—able to cloak that part of her from her men—until she was absolutely sure, and her grin deepened when she imagined her men’s reactions at her news.
Their combined scents warned her of their approach, and in seconds she was in their arms, and the curtain fell for the last time.
“Finally, as much as I love our fans, some of them are just too hands on.” Arran’s growl in her ear sent delicious shivers down her spine, and she giggled when Zeb made a big show of rolling his eyes, and then taking her out of Arran’s arms.
“Hey, it’s my turn to carry her offstage.” Arran’s voice held a decided sulk, and Zeb’s deep laugh rumbled through her and settled straight in her clit. Her attraction to her men had not dimmed one little bit. If anything the bond between them had grown stronger, and Kate closed her eyes and let their combined love wash over her
“You know you lose that right to carry her when you let one of the women grab your ass like that.”
Arran’s panther growled low in his throat, and Kate burst out laughing at the exasperated way he ran a hand through his hair.
“Like I could avoid her. It’s all right for you. You’re officially off the market. I shouldn’t have agreed so readily that it’s you who married our girl.”
Zeb shrugged his big shoulders, and Kate’s amusement increased tenfold, when she felt the mental finger in the air that Zeb threw at Arran. Naturally, Arran responded in kind, and Kate shook her head in mock despair.
“Stop it, you two. It’s enough to give a woman a headache, and besides, I reckon before too long it will need both of you to carry me as I’ll be no doubt as big as a house.”
Their bickering in her head stopped instantly, and Zeb’s forward movement ground to an abrupt halt, as he stared down at her. Shock and pride chased each other across his harsh features, and Arran grasped her chin to make her look at him, as he inhaled sharply.
Kate opened herself fully to her mates, and she knew the instant they heard the faint but rapid heartbeats she had been shielding from them for the last few days, ever since she had first heard them.
“Well fuck me.” Arran’s whisper joined Zeb’s much more forceful response.
“Hot fucking damn, we’re going to be fathers?”
Kate nodded and, putting her arms round each one of her men’s shoulders, had never felt happier. Their obvious joy at the news made her fall in love with them a little bit more. They hadn’t planned on having babies yet, but it seemed Mother Nature had had other ideas. Not entirely surprising, considering their more than active sex lives.
“So it would seem. I wanted to make sure everything was all right with them, before I told you and—”
The rest of her well-rehearsed little speech was lost, as first Zeb and then Arran claimed her mouth in a kiss so all-consuming that Kate could only hold on for dear life. Sandwiched between her men, cocooned by their combined heat, she allowed herself to not think and just feel. By the time they finally let her come up for air all three of them were breathing heavily and grinning like fools.
Arran was the first to recover, and with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, he glanced at Zeb.
“Guess we’ll be introducing cubs to our act before too long, eh, bro?”
“Saves us having to go look for them, that’s for sure.”
For once Kate couldn’t read them at all, and she looked between her men, fully aware that her mouth had fallen open.
“Cubs?” She finally managed to squeak her question. “But I thought they were born babies, no?” Her men’s smiles did nothing to reassure her.
“Yep, cubs, my sweet. But don’t worry. I’m told they don’t bite too much, when they’re nursing,” Zeb said.
Kate made a strangled sound in the back of her throat, and after what seemed like a lifetime, Arran burst into laughter, closely followed by Zeb.
Kate crossed her arms over her chest, and tried her best to glare at the two of them, but failed miserably. Their laughter was just too infectious, and her lips, too, quirked in merriment.
“You Sirs,” she said, once they finally stopped laughing at her, “are impossible. I actually believed you there for a minute. That’s not fair.”
Zeb’s amusement dissipated, and Kate squirmed inside when he grasped her chin and pinned her in place with the intensity of his gaze.
“Neither is keeping this from us, wildcat. I should put you over my knee and spank your ass for that alone.”
A moan of pure need escaped Kate at those words, and heat flared in his eyes.
“Sounds an excellent plan to me.” Arran lifted her hair off her neck and murmured the words into her ear. His hot breath ghosted across her skin and left tingles of awareness in its place. “While we can still use spanking as a punishment, anyway. We’ll have to think of something else once our girl gets big enough to need both of us to carry her.”
The solid evidence of his erection dug into her side, and Kate groaned when he tugged her head back by her hair and studied her.
“What does our naughty subbie have to say about that?” he asked, and Kate smiled.
“I say, yes, please, Sirs.”
The End
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Other Books by Doris O'Connor:
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Panther Magic Page 14
