Unbroken (Dark Moon Shifters #3)

by Bella Jacobs

  That means “if you’re dead,” but she’s too kind to lay the cold truth out between us. Not in this cozy room with the pre-travel bustle lending an almost festive air to the preparations and hope is still alive.

  “I appreciate that. Thank you,” I say, and I do.

  And when I press my swiftly written but heartfelt note to Scarlett into her hands on the way up to the parking garage in the vampire’s sleek, silent elevator twenty minutes later, I appreciate the way she squeezes my hand—tight and encouraging—almost as much.

  There is still goodness left in the world. There are good people, good shifters, even good vampires. Their top brass and mob boss are both on my shit list, but Dr. Cahill, who discreetly slips a care package containing gourmet chocolates, tiny bottles of smoky whiskey, and a honeysuckle-scented bath bomb into my pack as a good luck present, is on my list of everyday heroes.

  Wendy steps out of the elevator at the top of the parking garage first, followed by the attendant pushing the cart, and then the rest of us. I squint as I emerge into the cool of early morning, surprised to find light gleaming on the horizon. It seemed like this night would never end.

  But there it is, the sun, pale yellow and beautiful, throwing kisses to the Rockies. A few of the taller mountains still wear jaunty little summer snow caps, but the rest are cloaked in rich greens of every shade imaginable, cut through by the silvery blue of waterfalls and rivers winding their way down to the valleys below.

  “Beautiful day.” Leda, who’s waiting for us by the white van we’ve been given for the journey, sighs as I come to stand beside her. “I wish I was going with you.”

  “Well, of course you do,” I say, lifting my face to soak in the early morning warmth. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

  Leda grunts. “Sense of humor still intact. That’s good.”

  “But just barely,” I confess as I slit my eyes, peeking her way. “You heard about Scarlett?”

  “I did,” she says, adding beneath her breath, “And if they hurt her, they’ll pay for it. I don’t know many people around here, but I have connections with the CSIS and the RCMP. There are shifters at the highest levels of all the Canadian intelligence and security services. All it would take is one call to bring everything they’ve built here crashing down.”

  I nod and glance back at the pinkish light. “But only if I’m dead. Otherwise, I’d prefer to take revenge my own way.” I part my lips, allowing a puff of dragon smoke to escape from between them.

  Leda rests a hand lightly on my shoulder. “Just don’t forget who you are, okay? You’ve got a good heart. Keep it that way. Mercy can be every bit as powerful as vengeance. I’d hate to see you become a jaded bitch like me.”

  “I like jaded bitches.” I take her hand, giving it a squeeze. “I also like knowing the people I love are safe. As long as all of you stay that way, I’m not going to pick a fight. I want peace as much as I ever did. I guess I just realize now that some people won’t let you choose mercy, no matter how much you want to.”

  Leda’s brows wrinkle sympathetically. “Yeah. I call ’em rabid dog problems. Sometimes you just have to put the damned thing down. Sometimes it’s too late for anything else.”

  “It’s definitely too late for Atlas.” I sigh out another ribbon of smoke, sending it drifting west on the breeze. “See you on the other side. I’ll fight like hell to keep Kite safe. I promise.”

  “I know you will, little sister.” Leda pulls me in for a fierce hug.

  She’s not Scarlett, but she’s part of my new family, too. As I return the embrace, I send a wish winging out into the world—for a chance to get to know Leda and the rest of Kite’s sisters as well as I know Kite. To see Scarlett and Leda busting a move on the dance floor at the raging mate-claiming party we’re going to throw when this is all over.

  And then I pull away, say goodbye with only the slightest tremble in my voice, and circle around to the left side of the van.

  This time, I’m taking the driver’s seat.

  Chapter 28

  Kite

  We take a winding route to the south—nearly brushing up against the border before heading west, then north, then east again. It takes three times as long to reach our destination, but we’re pretty damned certain we aren’t followed and that none of Atlas’s people will be expecting us to come from this direction.

  For the first half of the journey, we chat over coffee and a mid-morning burger that tastes better than anything I can remember eating in ages, but by the time we take our final turn, heading for the cabin Dust booked for the night, we’ve been quiet for a long time.

  Even Creedence seems to have lost the gift of gab. There are no jokes or witty observations as Wren guides the van down a long, dusty ribbon of a country road, bound for an aging hunting resort where we hope we’ll be far enough away from Atlas to stay off his radar, but close enough to reach his fortress in a few hours when we make our move tomorrow night.

  Tomorrow.

  One more night.

  One more chance to be with Wren, to show her how much I love her, how much being her mate has meant to me, even if we’ve only been together for a few months.

  Even if it all ends sooner than either of us would like.

  The old me would have resented having to share her with the others, but after the nightmare of the past few days, I’m so damned grateful for our connection. Without it, Wren and Creedence would be dead. The reality of how close I came to never seeing her sweet face again is all the motivation I need to get even closer, tighter, until we’re a unit so unbreakable not even the biggest monster of them all can tear us apart.

  We pull into a parking space in front of a darkened cabin, where a battered wooden sign reads Check-in Parking. Wren takes my hand as Dust hops out to leave cash in a drop box nailed to the side of the building and collect the keys to our cabin from another. The place is so short staffed, they don’t bother keeping someone around for check-in after seven p.m., which is good.

  The fewer people who see us, the less we have to worry about one of them being Atlas in disguise.

  I squeeze Wren’s fingers. “I’ve missed you, too. I can’t wait to be almost alone with you.”

  Her lips curve. “Yeah? Almost alone is okay?”

  “It’s more than okay. It’s all I want, to know you’re as safe as we can possibly make you.” I lean in, capturing her mouth for a long, sultry kiss, summoning a soft sigh from her lips and a growl from the back seat.

  “Not cool, Poohbie,” Creedence says. “You’re taking unfair advantage of your front-seat privileges.”

  “We’ll be out of the van soon enough.” Wren smiles at him over her shoulder. “But if you can’t wait…”

  Accepting the invitation, Creedence slips out of his seat and into the space between Wren and me, threading his fingers into her hair and fisting his hand in a show of possession that also would have pissed me off a few weeks ago. But now, as he claims her lips, kissing her like he’s never going to get enough of her sweet mouth, I don’t want to shove between them.

  I want to kneel on the ground by Wren’s seat, push up her shirt and tease my tongue across her nipples. I want to make her gasp into Creedence’s mouth and know that we’re both making her hot, wet, ready for the pleasure we’re going to give her.

  “Yes,” Wren murmurs between kisses and, clearly sensing how much I’m dying to touch her, extends an arm my way as Creedence kisses a trail down her throat.

  I don’t have to be asked twice. Shifting to the right, I reach for the bottom of her sweatshirt, tugging it up until I reach the simple cotton bra she’s wearing underneath. Curling my fingers, I tug the soft fabric down, baring her breast and already-tight nipple. I roll it between my fingers and thumb, making Wren cry out, a hungry sound that Creedence devours as his lips find hers again.

  I’m dimly aware of Luke cursing softly in the back seat, but I’m too lost in Wren to turn around. I love the sounds she makes, the way her forehead knits between he
r brows as I increase my pressure, dragging my thumb across her tight tip until she’s squirming in her seat. I’m half a second away from ripping her shirt over her head—the better to get to both of her breasts, to take her nipples in my mouth—when cool air rushes into the van and Dust climbs in through the side door.

  “Number Five,” he says in a tight voice as Cree pulls reluctantly away from Wren’s lips. “Hurry. I need my mouth between your legs ten minutes ago, Snow.”

  With a shudder, Wren pulls her shirt down, biting her lip as she catches my eye, the look in hers promising that we’re going to pick up where we left off ASAP.

  Thank God. I’m already hard, aching, dying to be inside her, moving with her, feeling her come for me, sealing us closer to each other and to the rest of the men who belong to her. I can feel that, too, the energy surging inside all of us. We’re ready to choose each other, to crash into Wren, through Wren, and spill out the other side, into the lines connecting her to the rest of her mates, until we’re as merged with each other as we are with our girl.

  Growing up, I never dreamed I’d be making this kind of commitment to three other men, but now that we’re standing at the edge together, ready to jump, nothing has ever felt more right.

  And I know we’re not going to fall, crash, or burn.

  We’re going to fly.

  Chapter 29

  Luke

  Sharing has never been high on the list of shit I enjoy.

  Growing up in a family like mine, with too many kids and not enough of anything—not food, toys, time, or love—makes a person protective of the things he considers his own.

  Territorial. Possessive.

  But as I strip off my shirt just inside the door of the cabin, following the rest of them toward the king-sized bed on the other side of the one room, I’m not feeling any of those things. I’m not worried about what it’s going to be like to be naked with three other men, or how this is going to work.

  I’m just turned on. So fucking turned on that my cock is rock hard and leaking pre-cum before I can even get my boxer briefs off and tossed to the floor.

  But that’s what being this close to a naked Wren does to me.

  Fuck, she’s beautiful. I watch Dust and Kite guide her back onto the bed, all three of them already wearing skin and nothing else, and my heart slams faster in my chest. And then Dust and Kite each run a hand up one of her thighs, drawing them far enough apart for me to see where she’s so wet, every glistening pink fold of her gorgeous pussy begging for me to drive inside her, and something comes over me.

  Something animal. Raw. Wild and undeniable.

  Before I can second-guess the impulse, I shift around Cree, who’s busy shucking his pants at the foot of the bed. A beat later, I’m kneeling between Wren’s legs, guiding the swollen head of my cock to her pussy, teasing her clit in circles as Kite and Dust each claim a nipple, licking and sucking as Wren threads her fingers into their hair.

  But it’s my gaze she’s holding as she sighs and begs, “Oh yes, oh please.”

  With a cry of surrender I sink into her, balls deep, until I’m completely enveloped in her tight heat. Until I’m home, safe, soaring as I grip her thighs, guiding them around my waist as I ride her slow, making each thrust last as she writhes beneath me, her breath coming faster.

  Beneath us, all of us…

  I never would have imagined watching other men lick my mate’s nipples, their hands skim up and down her ribs, their fingers cup her face and tilt her head back so one of them can fuck her mouth with his tongue while I fuck her pussy would be a turn on.

  But God, it is. So hot I know I’m not going to last long.

  So hot and so…right.

  As I near the edge, thumbing Wren’s clit faster, harder, waiting until I feel her begin to pulse around me before I let go, I’m filled with a wave of warmth that erases any lingering doubt that this is what I’m on earth to do. She’s home, but so are the other men who love her, and together we’re going to make the world, and each other’s lives, a better place.

  And we’re going to make our girl the happiest woman in the world while we’re at it.

  Wren comes, crying out against Cree’s lips, clinging tight to Kite and Dust, but she’s 100 percent with me as I tumble over the edge. I can feel it in the way her pussy grips me so tight, so sweet, her orgasm lasting so long that there’s no way I’ll be able to get it up again fast enough to satisfy her.

  But I don’t have to.

  Naturally, easily, as if we’ve done this same thing hundreds of times before, I pull out and help guide Wren onto her side, lifting her leg to make it easier for Kite to push into her from behind.

  And then I’m kneeling at the foot of the bed, stroking her calves, reaching up to squeeze her hand as Kite makes her come again, not giving a shit that I’m close enough to smell the scent of Kite’s release mixing with mine as he loses himself inside her.

  It’s all good. All sexy. All unexpectedly…beautiful.

  I release Wren’s hand as Creedence scoops her into his arms, drawing her up to straddle him as he leans back against the headboard. I watch him lift her high before guiding her down on his cock, and I know I could get hard again now if I let myself.

  “You’re so beautiful, Snow,” Dust says, his voice thick as he kneels on the bed not far from where Creedence and Wren are moving, rocking together with an urgency that makes it clear they feel it, too, how close we are to something bigger than sex, bigger than a normal mate bond, bigger than all of us.

  Dust takes his cock in his hand, stroking himself as Kite slides onto the mattress beside Wren and Cree, fisting a hand in her hair and pulling her head back as he licks her neck. My balls drag heavy between my legs as I get thicker, and the need to be close to her again becomes overwhelming.

  I watch as Creedence comes, his balls pulsing as he spirals out and then Dust has Wren in his arms, guiding her onto all fours, bringing her mouth within kissing distance of mine as he drives into her from behind.

  “I choose all of you,” Dust says, gripping Wren’s hips as he pushes even deeper inside her, summoning a sexy cry from her lips that goes straight to my dick as I murmur my agreement along with the rest of them.

  I choose this, too. All of them. All of her. All of the chaos and beauty and whatever waits around the corner. Whatever it is, together, we can own that shit.

  “Oh yes,” Wren murmurs, tongue sparring with mine as Dust takes her, takes us all to the next level, until I feel like one point in a blazing star, one powerful enough to light up the world and burn down anyone who tries to stop us.

  Wren comes, and then somehow her nipples are in my mouth and she’s on top of me, riding me again as someone else pushes into her ass. I glance up, seeing Kite drag his teeth over Wren’s bare shoulder, and realize my balls and Poohbie’s balls are having an intimate fucking moment—literally.

  But I don’t care. I’m inside Wren and he’s inside Wren, and she’s clearly loving every minute of what we’re doing to her. And that’s all that matters to me. Her pleasure. And feeling her come.

  Fuck, she’s coming again, her pussy so tight around me that I can’t hold on another second.

  I cede stewardship of her breasts to Creedence as I overflow my skin—coming like a comet, burning up the night—and then I lose time again.

  Boundaries weaken and dissolve until there is nothing but pleasure and more pleasure and love, filling up my heart, the bed, the room, the world.

  But when it’s finally over and I settle back into my own body, regain my sense of Luke as separate from other things, I’m not sad or ashamed. I’m utterly content. Because I’m even more hers now. And because, as long as we can all stay alive, we get to do that for the rest of our lives.

  Chapter 30

  Wren

  Afterward, we lay quiet for a long time, as naked and shameless as the days we were born, each of my loves staying close, keeping this powerful new connection between us humming, warm and strong.

&
nbsp; I lean back, resting against Kite’s chest, one hand curled around Cree’s while the other plays through Dust’s too-long hair and Luke lies heavily between my legs, taking a nap with his cheek on my hip.

  I’m tired and a little sore, but I also—

  Can’t.

  Stop.

  Smiling.

  Danger is everywhere, our enemies are closing in, and we’re here on borrowed time, but I’m not afraid. I’m too full-up with love and bliss and hope to have any room for fear. This isn’t the kind of relationship I was raised to imagine I would have—to even think was possible, let alone healthy or reasonable—but it is the rightest thing I’ve ever known.

  And I know the boys feel the same way. There wasn’t a moment of awkwardness. Not from the first kiss to the last sigh as we collapsed in mutual exhaustion.

  It still blows my mind a little, even as I lie here, completely at ease in our puppy pile of tangled sheets and sweat-slick skin.

  For Kite and Creedence, this probably isn’t all that different from their lives before. They were raised in shifter families, by shifter parents, who never taught them that nudity or making love was scandalous or wrong.

  Even Dust had a head start on getting comfortable letting it all hang out. We both spent our childhoods in the Church of Humanity, being urged to dress modestly and keep nudity behind closed doors, but he spent his teen years in a royal shifter court. Meadwood sounds like a more formal environment than Kite’s group of free-loving, hard-partying bears, but according to Dust, no one in the royal court hesitates to strip down and shift when the occasion calls for it.

  And from my glimpses of his memories when we life fasted, I know Dust spent most of his early years running naked through the halls without anyone batting an eye.