Escaping Monsters: A Reverse Harem Wolf Shifter Romance (Grayhaven Book 1)

by Rita Stradling

  He lifted a dark brow. “Do you want to hear what I think, or do you want me to tell you what I think you want to hear?”

  I nibbled on my bottom lip. “Both.”

  “I think you want me to tell you that there’s some solution where everyone is safe, and that predator Oliver will never bother you again.” Jasper looked to the other side of the room, and the muscles of his jaw tensed. “But the truth is that I will eventually kill Oliver Hunt. It’s just a decision on whether I let him attack us before I kill him.”

  Declan ran a hand down my side. “You’re okay with us planning to kill Kane. Why is Oliver Hunt different?”

  “Because Jasper has a private reason to kill Kane, outside of me. Also, Kane is the Head Alpha of all of North America and a mass-murderer. With him, it’s political and personal to you. With Oliver, it’s only personal to me. I can’t go along with a plan to kill him. After the con-man I married, Michael Card, sold me to Kane…” I trailed off as the words dried in my throat.

  My mind tried to pull me back. I brought you a present. Stab him until he’s dead. The taste of metal flooded my mouth, and I could feel the blood-soaked knife handle in my fingers. Panic surged in my heart. I shook my head. I wouldn’t go back, not there, not ever.

  “I just can’t.” I shook my head. “There has to be another way. But I don’t think leaving right now is the right choice either.”

  “All right.” Jasper sat up, and he reached out and brushed my hair back behind my ear. “Are you ready for dinner? Declan, that invite is for you too. Chad won’t be cooking for a while, so you’ll have to—”

  “Chad,” I said, as an idea lit up my mind like the giant proverbial lightbulb blinking on over my head. I sat up and looked between the men who both appeared bewildered. “One of the succubuses—succubi—or whatever you call the plural form of a succubus. One of them told me that they knew someone who could consume my memories. She showed me a card that said: The Memory Eater. Supposedly, if I want to find him, I will. What if this demon can eat Oliver’s memories of Grayhaven and me, and then we can run him out of town, like you suggested, Declan?”

  “This demon is called The Memory Eater?” Jasper asked.

  “You’ve never heard of him?” I looked between the two men whose brows were still furrowed.

  “No.” Declan rubbed a hand over his hair.

  “If anyone knows about it, Ace does,” Declan said, and for some reason, this made Jasper clench his jaw.

  “Ace is unavailable at the moment.”

  “Well, the succubus showed me a card and said that if I wanted to call The Memory Eater, I could.”

  “A calling card.” Jasper worked his jaw back and forth. “It’s one-time-use magic. You’ll be able to call the demon to you once.”

  “She said this demon would eat my memories, on the house, whatever that meant,” I said.

  “It means you don’t need to trade something to this demon for their help,” Declan said.

  “What if we trapped Oliver and called this memory eater to us and asked them to take Oliver’s memories instead of mine?”

  Declan looked between Jasper and me. “It might be a good plan… if we knew more about the memory eater. Too bad Ace can’t tell us the dangers we’d be walking into.”

  Jasper growled long and low in the back of his throat. “Fine.” Jasper sighed and rubbed his neck. “I guess I’ll let him be human while we need him, but Chad is staying a wolf until he fucking redeems himself.” Jasper lifted our joined hands to his mouth and kissed my fingers before releasing them. “This will just take a minute.”

  “Hey Jasper,” I said as he started to move away.

  He leaned back into the bed. “Yeah?”

  “I know this is going to sound weird, but I appreciate that not only are you guys protecting me, you’re also listening to how I want to be protected. I just want you to know that I noticed.”

  Jasper’s rough hands came up and cupped my cheeks, and he pressed a kiss to my mouth. It was only for a second, but I felt it down to my toes. When he pulled away, his blue gaze drilled into mine, and I could hear a word shouting through my head: mate.

  “I’m glad you’re okay,” Jasper said before he climbed off the bed.

  The moment Jasper closed the bedroom door, Declan leaned into my hair and whispered, “Alone at last, Cherry. Can we play that game where we pretend Jasper never walked in on us?”

  I bit my lip, as a tingling awareness coalesced in my core. I turned back to face the big guy, who was still sprawled across the bed.

  Turning, I threw a knee over him and straddled his hips. “I’m game.” I tugged open the button of his fly. “Where were we? Oh yes, you promised to take off your pants so I could lick your tattoos.”

  Declan sucked in a breath. “Oh, Cherry, this is the first and only time I ever wished I tattooed my cock.”

  Declan shimmied his pants down, exposing his boxers. The moment he did, a laugh burst out of me.

  “You’re not supposed to laugh when a man takes his pants down, Cherry. You’re going to give me inadequacy issues.”

  I laughed again. “If you don’t want women to laugh when they pull down your pants, Declan, you shouldn’t wear underwear with a giant rubber ducky over the crotch.”

  “Gah, they’re boxer briefs, Cherry,” he said with a full wattage grin. “And, I wore them for you. I wanted my duck to make you smile.”

  “And, I’m definitely smiling at your duck.” I crawled down his body and so I could get a better view of his tight rubber duck briefs. The bulge growing under them screamed that Declan had no reason for inadequacy issues. I pulled open the band to his briefs and peeked inside. He was without a doubt evenly proportioned to his massive frame.

  “I’m a little intimidated, Declan,” I admitted.

  He went up on his elbows. “You definitely don’t have to…” He cut off in a gasp as I wrapped my mouth around the head of his cock. “Mercy.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Blow jobs had always felt like a chore with my con-artist husband, but something about taking Declan deeply into my mouth had pleasure and excitement flowing through me.

  I tugged down Declan’s rubber duck boxers the rest of the way, freeing his massive length. Relaxing my throat, I took him deeper as I rolled my tongue over his soft flesh.

  “Holy fuck,” Declan whispered. “Ah, Cherry. Bring your sweet ass up here so I can bury my head between your legs.”

  I chuckled around his cock, which made Declan suck in another breath. The big guy somehow made me feel both incredibly aroused while at the same time, my whole heart felt lighter. Even though I knew that everyone needed us to focus on the darkness that was descending on us, these few stolen moments felt lighthearted and carefree, and I fucking craved that.

  I wrapped a hand around his shaft and pumped it up and down as I crawled around until I was crouched over his face on all fours.

  Declan’s hands wrapped around my thighs and spread me open further. “Damn, that’s a beautiful sight, Cherry.”

  “Ditto,” I whispered as my mouth closed over his cock once more.

  Experimentally, I stopped halfway down his shaft and sucked gently on his soft flesh.

  Declan moaned, and true to his word, his face burrowed between my thighs. He kissed me and rubbed his face into my pussy as if he was reveling in my taste and scent. One of his hands caressed up my stomach and cupped my breast. His calloused thumb circled my sensitive nipple before he kneaded into my other breast. A warm sweet pleasure blossomed at the juncture between my thighs that sparked into a fire when Declan’s mouth closed over my clit.

  I gasped around his cock as his tongue circled my bud. Wrapping my hand around the stem of his shaft, I sucked him deeper, making Declan hum in pleasure, and his lips vibrated on my center. An intense surge of sensation shot through my core as Declan sucked and licked between moans of pleasure.

  His cock grew rigid and taut. “Holy fuck, Cherry.” He gasped. “I am dangerously
close to coming.”

  I knew he was giving me a fair warning, but I only had the urge to take him deeper. His moans and gasps were making my pleasure spike all the higher, and I felt myself close to the edge once more.

  As if on cue, the door opened, yet again, on the other side of the room, and Ace walked in. “Jasper says you wanted to know about the memory eater.”

  Declan didn’t even miss a beat as he sucked on my clit, and I couldn’t tell Ace that we needed a moment because I was too far gone to stop.

  Instead of leaving, Ace walked over and sat back on the bed next to us. “I’ll just wait then.”

  I didn’t even fucking care anymore, because pleasure was crashing over me, and Declan’s dick was convulsing in my mouth. Sweet, salty cum spurted onto my tongue, and I swallowed it down as I moaned out my orgasm.

  When the pleasure finally released me, I looked over at Ace, who was sitting against the headboard with a pair of glasses perched on his nose. He held a notebook in front of his face, and his eyes were moving over the page.

  “Ace.” I rolled my eyes. “You guys really don’t do privacy, do you?”

  Ace startled and his eyes fixed on me and then moved down to my ass, which was still very much up in the air.

  “Privacy is something we're all going to have to get used to,” Declan said as he pulled the flannel down over me.

  A deep redness flushed up Ace’s face, and his mouth made an “oh” shape. “Yeah.” He scooted toward the edge of the bed. “Sorry. I just found a mention of the memory eater in my notes, but I should have waited until you came out of the bedroom.”

  He was so embarrassed that I almost felt guilty. Obviously, it had never occurred to Jasper or Ace that Declan and I might want some privacy while we fooled around. It wasn’t that much of a surprise, honestly.

  The werewolves of my old pack only gave privacy to Kane and me, and they only gave me privacy on Kane’s strict orders. Nakedness and sex were things usually done out in communal areas especially if the men were sharing partners or sleeping with each other.

  And, it had shocked me both times, but it didn’t bother me that much. The heady pleasure coursing through me wasn’t tinged with an ounce of shame.

  “It’s fine, Ace,” I said on a laugh as I tugged up Declan’s rubber ducky boxers and climbed down to curl up on top of the big guy.

  Declan’s arms immediately wrapped around me, and he nuzzled into my hair. “Cherry, Cherry, Cherry… I swear I was at the Pearly Gates there for a minute. I think I will get a tattoo on my dick of a giant cherry.”

  Heat flushed up my face, and I pulled up the collar of my shirt over my burning cheeks. Damn it. I didn’t want my break from reality with Declan to end, but the world seemed determined to rain reality down on us.

  Ace looked between us and climbed off the bed as his cheeks darkened even more. “I fucked this up. I’m so sorry, Teagan.”

  “Don’t be, Ace. Stay.” I bit my lip. “It’s just the last time I had sex, I was human, and everything was done privately, but I know that’s not how werewolves usually are. Declan and I were just being irresponsible because we were distracting ourselves from all the super important stuff.”

  “I resent that,” Declan whispered into my ear. “Eating your pussy was very essential to the plan.”

  My cheeks were definitely not going to stop burning with Declan around. Declan had a way of bringing out the irresponsible and silly in me. “Sorry, Ace. You’re fine here.”

  Ace pointed to the bed. “Be honest now, should I sit, or should I go?”

  “Please sit,” I said.

  Ace sat down at the edge of the bed and opened his notebook, which I could see was filled with handwritten notes. “Okay… I need to find my place again,” Ace said as he flipped through pages. “The memory eater…”

  The door to the room opened again, and Jasper walked in. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “Chad froze some sort of casserole thing,” he said. “It’s in the oven. Ace, you learn anything yet?”

  “Here… the memory eater arrived here in April of last year. He came in through the woods. He was caught in some sort of trap and injured a leg. There were very few mentions of him… demons asking each other how he was settling in back when he arrived, that sort of thing. The demons sounded impressed and excited when I heard them talking about him—which isn’t typical. Usually, they treat each other with a level of gruffness and contempt—each demon needs to prove their worth type of thing.”

  Ace continued to scan the pages. “That’s all I have here about him. I guess demons stopped mentioning him about a month and a half after his arrival.” Ace grabbed another notebook and flipped through the pages. “I do think I jotted something else in another volume…”

  The door pushed open and Chad walked in as a wolf with his head hanging down and tail tucked. He trudged over to the side of the bed and hopped up beside Declan. His eyes met mine, and he laid his muzzle on my arm.

  “I don’t blame you for what happened, Chad.” I scratched behind his ears. “As far as I’m concerned, you and Ace saved my ass back there.”

  Jasper harrumphed but turned toward the door as a soft knock rattled the wood.

  “Come in, Lucas,” Jasper said.

  Lucas stepped into the room and gave me a small smile before sitting on the bed next to my feet. For some strange reason, I followed a sudden urge to poke Lucas’ back with my toes.

  He pivoted toward me. “Hey. You doing okay?”

  “Better now.”

  “Yeah, it sounds like you went through hell today.” Lucas pulled his mother’s ring off, and he tucked it in his pocket before his soft hands came down and encircled my ankle. Lucas pulled my foot into his lap, and his thumb kneaded into my arch.

  “Not that I’m complaining, because I’m definitely not, but I was poking you with my toes to pester you, not to guilt you into a foot massage.” I felt the need to say it, but the last thing on earth I wanted Lucas to do was to stop. He kneaded into my tense muscles, working his thumb up the arch and to the pad. Sensation thrummed up through my foot, and my toes tingled.

  “This isn’t a foot massage,” Lucas said with a smile, “It’s a serious medical procedure to reduce stress.”

  “Oh, okay, Dr. Wolf,” I said through a chuckle. “I’ll take whatever you prescribe.”

  “Get a room,” Declan muttered, but he only squeezed me tighter to his chest.

  The position I found myself in was all a little surreal. I had one hand scratching Chad’s wolf ears while Declan held me, and Lucas massaged my feet. And yet, it was the kind of surreal I could get used to.

  “The only other note I have about the memory eater is that a demon said that she thought it was best if he never came out of the fairgrounds—or the demon district where most of them live,” Ace said. He closed his notebook and sighed. Taking off his glasses, he rubbed over his eyes before putting them back on. “Well, we don’t have much to go on if we’re going to convince him to take a man’s memories.”

  I slumped back against Declan, and even the magic Lucas was working on my foot couldn’t lessen the stress that was spiking through me. It had seemed like such a good solution, but even I wasn’t desperate enough to summon an unknown demon and hope for the best.

  Declan leaned into my ear and whispered, “Wait for it…”

  Almost as if they rehearsed this bit, Ace said, “Well, maybe there is something to go on. First fact, I’ve never heard of a demon species that is associated with manipulating memories of the past—most mind manipulation is to do with the present or future. The major powers are some variation of deceiving, tempting, merrymaking, and mischief-making type of thing. The second peculiarity is that different classifications of demons feed on different human emotions— the major food groups for them are what you’d expect, lust, pride, envy, wrath, idleness...”

  “Greed and gluttony,” I suggested when he paused.

  Ace glanced back at me, and he rub
bed his brow. “Exactly. It’s unheard of that a demon would never leave the fairgrounds, and that’s why I noted it.”

  “Where are the fairgrounds?” I asked.

  “On the edge of town,” Lucas said as he worked his magic into my toes. “If you look out behind the Sanguine Inn, you’ll see the remains of a broken Ferris Wheel. Only demons go in there.”

  “Which brings me to point of peculiarity three, demons can’t feed on each other, so they go out of their compound to eat. They feed on customers at their hotel chain, they come to the bars, or the sex demons throw orgies in our living room type of thing.”

  Chad grunted.

  “Which brings us to our most important question, how is the memory eater eating…? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “He’s eating memories?” Declan asked, sounding unsure.

  Ace shook his head. “No. Demons can only eat emotions.”

  “Is it possible that he’s not a demon?” I asked.

  Ace pointed at me and his eyes lit up with more excitement than I’d ever seen in him. “You’re a fucking genius.”

  “I am?” I asked, taken a little aback.

  “The memory eater isn’t a demon.”

  All around the room, the men glanced at each other.

  “Please explain your thinking to me,” Jasper said. “I was under the impression that they only let demons into the fairgrounds.”

  Ace rubbed his temples. “Could everyone just give me a moment to think. I’m right there.”

  “I know of one other living thing that’s in the demon compound,” Lucas said as he worked his fingers between my toes. “They have pets—I’ve treated a couple.”

  “I’ve caught some strange creatures in the woods—foxes with three tails, this miniature fire breathing lion with a goat head coming from its back and a head that tried to bite me. I always just release them back into the woods around the town.”

  “That is a chimera,” Lucas said. “I pulled rotten teeth from a chimera’s goat mouth for a demon about two years ago, if I recall correctly.”

  Declan nodded. “And, that’s about the time I caught it.”