“Okay,” she breathed and as the lust deepened in Max’s eyes, sending chills of excited terror through her, she blurted, “on one condition.”
He frowned. Angela took his hand and one of Tyler’s and put them on her belly. Max tensed but didn’t pull away. She stared in his eyes, not even knowing what she was looking for, while Tyler caressed her lovingly, kissing her shoulders and neck. He brushed her red hair from her face and smiled at her.
“It’s okay to say no, you know.”
Angela turned to him, the warmth of both their hands still on her. She smiled at Tyler, leaning to kiss him. “I don’t want to say no.”
It wasn’t long before she was naked before them. Angela expected that they’d tie her up right away, but Tyler insisted on eating her out first. His mouth was a work of genius, his tongue knowing exactly what to do with her clit. It wasn’t long before Max was holding her down to keep her from squirming while Tyler buried his face into her. Her first orgasm came on her hard and fast, tightening her core.
They tied her as she came down, exactly as Max had said. The ropes were softer than she’d expected, almost velvet, and remained fairly loose on her. She was certain she’d be able to wriggle her way free if she tried hard enough—not that she wanted to. Excitement coursed through her as Tyler sat at the head of the bed, stripped of his boxers now. He palmed himself while Max spanked Angela.
The sting worked its way to a steady throb before he picked up the whip. Angela cried out at the first strike across her ass. It was like a dozen stings, deeper and more intense than the spanking was. She jerked away from it and Tyler caught her.
“Did you like that?” Max growled above her, rubbing her sore ass in his big hands.
Angela moaned. The sting had woken a pool of moisture inside her core and her muscles tensing from it had made her tighten. But best of all was the feeling of his hands on her, how good it was for him to take care of her like this.
“Did you like it?” Max repeated.
“Yes,” Angela whimpered.
Another strike. Angela jerked forward again. Tyler’s hot body kept her close and he chuckled in her ear as Max continued to whip her ass. Tears stung her eyes before Tyler called for a stop. He rubbed her back soothingly, such a wonderful feeling she was tempted to tell Max to whip her again just to keep Tyler touching her like that.
“That’s enough for the first time,” Tyler said. “Don’t want to give her welts.”
Max grunted in reply. He tossed the whip away. Angela held her breath in anticipation, her heart hammering as he climbed onto the bed behind her. He took her ass in his hands, spreading her cheeks wide. Was he going to fuck her there? She opened her mouth, about to tell him not to, but stopped herself. Wasn’t that something she wanted to try as well?
But it wasn’t her ass that he entered. His length filled her up, making her jerk against the ropes that held her bound. It was all so overwhelming, all so pleasurable, that her brain short-circuited. When he started thrusting, bringing all the blood flowing to that one spot, making her clit quiver and throb like a living thing, she couldn’t stop herself.
“MOTHER FUCK!” She screamed, her fingers digging into the blankets. Tyler jumped. He started laughing, but as her muscles pulsed and everything in her body tightened and loosened like a million explosions going off all at once, she didn’t care. She continued to scream as Max pounded into her so hard it hurt, but she loved every second of it.
His hand wound into her hair, pulling her head back. “Say my name,” he hissed.
“Max,” she sobbed back.
“Again.”
“Max!”
“Again!”
“Max!”
She felt him climax, shooting into her with such ferocity that it had her legs trembling. She quivered on the brink of orgasm, crying out when he withdrew—only to scream, exploding all at once, when Tyler thrust in. He was no gentler than Max had been, riding her hard like an animal. Angela didn’t know how she could handle it, but she didn’t dare tell him to stop—what if he actually did?
By the time he was done, she was a sobbing mess. Tyler unbound her and gently rubbed her back and bottom, soothing the sting there, while Max dug around in a bag that she hadn’t noticed was there.
“There we go,” Tyler murmured as Max applied a cool gel to her ass. “This aloe vera will take the sting out. You did excellently for your first time. How do you feel?”
Angela lifted her tear-stained face. How was she supposed to answer that? She had never experienced such an intense series of orgasms before. And she’d never had anybody take care of her so tenderly afterward, with Max applying the gel to her ass, her thighs, her wrists, and ankles. With Tyler stroking her hair, cuddling her, telling her how beautiful she was and how amazing she had made them feel.
“I’m exhausted,” she finally said because that was the truth. “And… I feel amazing.”
“Good,” Tyler chuckled in her ear. “I’m glad.”
Max climbed onto the bed, cuddling her on the other side. He kissed her gently and she leaned into him as well. A smile crossed her face as the relaxation overtook her, finally allowing her to fall asleep. Surely if they could take the time to do this, things couldn’t be that bad, right? And Max had promised not to hurt the babies… that had to mean he was coming around… right?
Chapter Eleven
A warning howl from outside the cabin woke Tyler abruptly. His wolf snarled as his body tensed. On Angela’s other side, Max was already throwing back the blankets. Angela jerked, crying out. She reached blindly for both of them, but Tyler was already out of reach, halfway to the door. Another howl from the outside had his heart slamming against his ribs. If this was a setup like the house in the city had been…
He met Max’s eye and Max let out a low growl. He spun to the window and slammed it shut, then drew the blinds.
“Do not open that up,” Max told Angela. “Get under the bed.”
Angela grabbed his wrist. “Don’t leave me.”
“Angela—”
“Stay with her,” Tyler snapped because they didn’t have time to argue and because they couldn’t leave her alone.
Max called out a protest, but Tyler was already gone. He kept low, out of the view of the windows. The sounds of fighting reached a frenzy outside as he slid under the coffee table. He pushed it aside and opened the safe that lay under it, pulling out various guns. An inhuman scream sent shivers down his spine. It had been a long time since he’d heard that sound—vampires.
A curse broke through his lips as he found the weapon he was looking for. They shoulda known—but hadn’t they decided that it wasn’t vampires?
Tyler forced all thought from his mind as he crept to the window. Lucas and Kristoff had been put on guard duty again and they faced off, fighting a bunch of vampires in the moonlight. It was impossible to tell how many there were, they kept darting into the darkness of the trees and then flinging themselves back out.
Tyler smashed the panel of glass, slipping the barrel of the shotgun out as he braced himself. The wolves snarled, dodging and attacking while the vampires swarmed around them like ants on a lollipop. Tyler picked one out, inhaled, lined up his sights and fired. The vampire toppled backward, landing in the dirt and lying motionless.
Three more shots, three more vampires down. But they caught on where he was shooting from. Rather than climbing all over Kristoff and Lucas, they kept to the far side, where Tyler couldn’t shoot them without hitting his teammates.
He tossed the gun back and crawled to the door. Flinging it open, he leapt out, shifting as he did so. The vampires swarmed to greet him. Kristoff seized one in his jaws, flinging it back toward the trees.
Then Tyler was among them. A vampire came at him from the left and he bodychecked it into Lucas, who grabbed its head in his jaws. Several jumped on Tyler’s back, biting at his fur. If they cut through to flesh, their venom would force his wolf to retreat, he’d be helpless before them. He rolled, crush
ing one beneath his bulk while he caught another in his jaws and kicked across the faces of two others.
They came back at him and he flung the one into them. He, Kristoff and Lucas worked themselves into a circle, protecting each other’s backs as the rotting stink of vampire blood filled the air. Tyler growled as his jaws cut through flesh, broke through bone. These vampires tasted worse than any he’d encountered before.
A shrill call from the trees had the vampires breaking from the fight. They retreated, racing back to the cover of the foliage. Lucas snarled as he chased after them despite the warning bark from Kristoff.
Something flashed in the trees and Tyler threw himself forward, letting out a howl of warning. Five gunshots rang out in quick succession. Lucas was thrown back, letting out a keening howl. Bullets impacted all around Tyler, shooting up bits of dirt and dust all around him. He threw himself to the side, heart slamming into his ribs as he was certain the next bullet would hit right between the eyes.
Silence fell. Tyler scrambled to where Lucas had shifted back to human form, with Kristoff dragging him back to the house, also in human form. Tyler bumped Kristoff out of the way and gingerly picked up Lucas, bounding back to the house. He dropped him onto the porch and then bounded for the woods. Kristoff called after him, but he ignored the call.
Within seconds, he was in the safe cover of the forest. He circled to where the shots had come from, his mind churning over what had happened. Four shots, all in a neat circle around him. Lucas hit clean through the shoulder.
If the shooter had wanted to kill them, they’d be dead.
Huffing out a breath, he came to the tree where he’d seen the flash. There were only the lightest traces of vampire scent around it. Up in the branches was a board nailed across the trunk. Used to keep the sniper up while he took his shots. And hanging from it was a talisman, the type that the Pack used to wear.
So, they wanted him to find it.
Tyler growled under his breath as he lifted himself to his back legs, grabbed the talisman and then made a few more rounds of the property. The vampires were all gone, leaving the night peaceful and still. There wasn’t even any sound of creatures in the darkness, the only scent lingering on the breeze coming from the bodies in the yard.
He bared his fangs as he made his way back around the house and leapt in two bounds the distance from the forest to the porch. There were no more shots. No signs of anybody watching.
Inside the cabin, Lucas lay on the floor while Kristoff packed a towel into the gunshot wound in his shoulder. Tyler grabbed a blanket off the couch, spreading it over Lucas to keep him warm as blood seeped out from beneath him. He crouched beside them, asking Kristoff wordlessly if he needed help.
“I can take care of him,” Kristoff replied. “But get a fucking first aid kit. I need to stitch him up.”
“Ugh, no,” Lucas complained weakly. “He’ll fucking embroider my arm.”
“Shut up, asshole. You were the idiot who went chasing after them after they were retreating.”
Lucas glared at Kristoff. “Wasn’t finished killing them yet.”
Tyler patted Kristoff’s shoulder and left them to growl at each other as he retrieved the first aid kit, sewing kit included. Once he was done that, he moved about the cabin, making sure windows were shut tight and all blinds drawn. The blackout curtains were a double blessing this time since it meant they could turn on lights without setting themselves up to be shot from the outside.
“Damn, you don’t have pink?” Kristoff joked as he sterilized a needle.
Tyler returned to them and helped keep Lucas in place as Kristoff pulled the bullet out and stitched him up. It wasn’t pretty, but it would keep him from bleeding too much. Both he and Kristoff had swollen, red bite areas from the vampires. It was an effective block against their shifting abilities, which also suppressed their ability to heal as well as they were used to.
Shortly after Kristoff was finished sewing up Lucas, Max came trotting down the hall. He gave them each a pair of pants to pull on, then jerked his head to one side. As Lucas bitched at Kristoff for trying to help him put on his pants, Max folded his arms and leaned against the doorway to the kitchen.
“Well, this was unpleasant,” he muttered.
“Could have been worse,” Tyler shrugged. “We’ll have to send Angela to live with Ian, Theron, and Sandra.”
“Sly’s on the way over with the rest of the wolves. He might want to regroup and all start living together so we have more eyes on what’s around us.” Max scowled and Tyler grimaced.
None of the wolf shifters of Devil Mountain particularly enjoyed spending time with people, no matter who those people were. They were also all very stubborn and hard-headed. If they tried to all live together like that they might just end up killing each other before whoever was after him and Max—or was it just Max? —could get the job done.
“Well, this attack tonight was about scaring us, not killing us,” Tyler murmured to him. “The way those shots hit… no way would he miss his target. So, either this is someone who is reluctant to kill or has a plan of how he wants to kill us.”
“And who is he?” Max murmured.
The sound of Angela’s cry made Tyler whirl. His wolf howled as he shoved Max aside and ran to the bedroom. She was huddled at the end of the bed, her arms wrapped around her stomach. Sweat beaded her forehead.
“What’s wrong?” Tyler asked, dropping to his knees beside her.
“It hurts. Like it did that night.” She let out a moan, hunching over. Terror shone from her eyes. “What’s happening, Tyler? What is going on?”
Max knelt on her other side. “Hold on. Breathe, Angela.”
Tyler nodded. “Breathe.”
She clung to them both, tears spilling from her eyes. Tyler’s heart wrenched. He made to pick her up, but Max stopped him.
“We need to take her to the hospital,” Tyler spat.
“We go out there before we can verify it’s safe and all three of us end up with a bullet in our brains.” Max stroked Angela’s hair and moved in close, supporting her. “We just have to hold on, Angela. You can do that for us, can’t you? Hold on and breathe. Everything is going to be fine.”
Tyler started to echo those reassurances. He rubbed Angela’s shoulders, focusing on trying to calm her above all else. Even though everything in his body yearned to take her for help, Max was right—they couldn’t risk it. So all he could do right now was try to help her stay calm and hope that nothing terrible was happening.
Chapter Twelve
Max noted the thin trickle of blood on Angela’s leg but did not mention it. The attack of pain only lasted for a few minutes but left her pale, weak and half-asleep from exhaustion. He sent Tyler out to get some peppermint tea in order to get him away and calmed and then lifted Angela into the bed again. He tucked her in before she could notice the blood. There was nothing they could do about it. It would only cause her more worry and that was the last thing she needed.
“Max?” her voice was small, her big, beautiful eyes locked on him.
His wolf whimpered, wanting to comfort and protect her, but he didn’t even know what to do. How was he supposed to take care of her in this situation?
He couldn’t—it was impossible. The best he could do was try to make her comfortable and keep her calm. Others in the pack would be here shortly and then they’d be able to safely escort her to the hospital. Then… well, whatever happened would happen.
Briefly, the thought crossed his mind that he might as well tell Angela about the blood since he didn’t want her to have the babies anyway. It’d make it easier to put a towel beneath her, so she didn’t stain the sheets or, worse, the mattress.
But that wasn’t what he wanted. It would be needlessly cruel to point out something that nobody could stop at the moment. It would just cause her more panic and who would be the victor in that? Nobody.
Besides, his wolf was about ready to tear out his throat just for thinking of doing something
like that.
“Max?” Angela repeated, a little louder.
He knelt by the side of the bed and reached for her hands. “I’m here.”
She grasped his hand tightly, her lip quivering. “Is this my fault?”
Surprise rippled through him. “Is what your fault?”
“I don’t know… all of it.” Her gaze moved to the ceiling. “Is it because my body is just too damaged to carry a baby?”
“Damaged?” Max’s brows rose. “Damaged how?”
“Because I’m so fat.”
Surprise rippled through Max. She was curvy, deliciously so, but nobody would have called her fat unless they were on something. His frown deepened as he considered her. He knew that Ian hadn’t even known he had a half-sister for most of his life and then one day just suddenly showed up with Angela, saying she was living with him now. Max hadn’t questioned it. It wasn’t any of his business.
“You’re not fat,” Max said slowly, “and even if you were, hundreds of fat women have normal, uncomplicated pregnancies throughout their lives. This isn’t your fault. Just try to relax, Angela. We’ll get you to the hospital as soon as we can. Right now, I just want you to rest.”
Angela nodded, her gaze not leaving his face. It was unnerving in a way, to have that much trust directed at him. He smiled to reassure her, then patted her hand.
“I’m going to see what’s taking Tyler so long to get that tea. We’ll be back soon.”
He kissed her forehead before he could stop himself. Surprised at his own actions, he worked to keep the emotion off his face as he headed out of the bedroom. Lucas was resting on the couch now, talking with Kristoff in a low voice. Tyler was in the kitchen, staring at the boiling water on the stove, a shell-shocked expression on his face.
Max stepped up and turned off the water, his heart clenching. It had been a long time since he’d last seen that expression. He put a hand on Tyler’s shoulder. Tyler tensed and shrugged him off—not that Max had been expecting anything different.
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