Eminence Shifters

Melanie

After a childhood tragedy, Melanie Cook had shut out all people from her life, preferring to be alone over getting hurt again. On duty one night, she is attacked by a mountain lion shifter and thrust into a world she never knew existed.

She is put into protective custody by four enormous and handsome men, men she just can't seem to stop desiring. She is feeling things she never imagined she would. These men threaten to break her years of disciplined solitude.

Finn, Cooper, Hunter, and Dane Frederick have lived a long time waiting to find their mate. They find her on a night of blood and death. Determined to keep her safe and to make her theirs, they take her home. But explaining the existence of shifters to their human mate, and having her accept them for who they are, is not easy with the continued threat on her life.

Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Paranormal, Shape-shifter

Length: 36,072 words

MELANIE

Eminence Shifters

Ashley Malkin

MENAGE AMOUR

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

IMPRINT: Ménage Amour

MELANIE

Copyright © 2014 by Ashley Malkin

E-book ISBN: 978-1-62741-999-4

First E-book Publication: July 2014

Cover design by Harris Channing

All art and logo copyright © 2014 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

PUBLISHER

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

Letter to Readers

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DEDICATION

Dedicated to everyone in this jaded world who still believes in true love.

MELANIE

Eminence Shifters

ASHLEY MALKIN

Copyright © 2014

Chapter 1

It had been a long week for Melanie. As a nurse in the local hospital, a seven-night stretch was a real drag on her energy levels. The silver lining was that this was her last night. She had seven whole nights off after this shift. Her last night in the ER was shaping up to be the worst, however. Being a Saturday, it was never going to be an easy night for the staff, but this night was just insane.

“Full moons bring out all the crazies,” said the ER registrar, Dr. Jelowitz. “We just got the call that an ambulance is five minutes out with a man who seems to have been wrestling a mountain lion.”

Melanie sighed but slipped easily into her practiced routine and began to get sponges and IV supplies organized. Melanie’s friend Penny ran up to her and took the bags of IV solution out of Melanie’s arms.

“I’ll do that, Mel. Can you go with Dr. Jelowitz to meet the patient? He hates trainees when things are bloody.”

Five minutes later Melanie found herself outside in the hospital’s ambulance bay, shivering in the icy-cold winter air, wondering how anyone came to be attacked by a mountain lion in downtown Buena Vista, Colorado. The siren snapped her out of her musings and she got ready for the incoming frenzy, adrenaline spiking in her freezing veins.

As the ambulance pulled to a stop, Dr. Jelowitz and Melanie moved forward as a team to open the back doors. Melanie was suddenly thrown to the ground when the back doors of the ambulance were seemingly blasted off their hinges.

The force of the fall slammed Melanie’s head onto the concrete and the air whooshed from her lungs. She struggled against the blackness and pain, to try to remain conscious.

Everything was moving so slowly and it seemed to be happening at the end of a long, dim tunnel.

She was watching a man, or was it a man dressed as a horror-film mummy, throwing an ambulance officer at Dr. Jelowitz?

She shook her head, blinking rapidly to try to clear her vision. Melanie couldn’t believe what was unfolding in front of her. People didn’t get thrown around like that. She concluded she must be unconscious and dreaming.

Swiping at her watery eyes, she looked up to see a huge mountain lion with its jaws around Dr. Jelowitz’s throat.

“What the fuck is that?” Melanie said with a gasp. The blood-soaked head swiveled toward those words, its golden eyes glowing and feral.

One leap and it was on Melanie before she could even attempt to try to escape. It grabbed her leg in its massive bloody jaws and shook its head with a deafening snarl. Melanie was thrown across the emergency bay, her flight ending with a sickening thump as she collided with the bricks of the hospital. Melanie sunk instantly into darkness.

Chapter 2

As a sheriff of the small Colorado mountain town of Eminence, Hunter Frederick had little to no desire to ever venture anywhere else. He had done his travelling in the Marines and that had exhausted his wanderlust. For him, Eminence had it all. Luckily for Hunter, his twin Dane, and his elder twin brothers, Finn and Cooper, all felt the same, so he was surrounded by his family.

Finn was Hunter’s eldest brother and he had recently taken over from their father, Theo, as Alpha of their pride of mountain lion shifters. Finn’s twin, Cooper, was Beta. Hunter and Dane were the pride enforcers. They also went into local law enforcement for jobs, to help them keep the local human population in the dark as to the existence of shifters in their town.

Tonight, however, Hunter was in Buena Vista, three hours from home, trying to clean up a mammoth “cluster fuck” as his brother, and deputy sheriff, Dane had called it. All caused by a rogue shifter from their pride in Eminence. As Hunter raced through the night toward the local hospital, he had time to kick himself for letting Curtis get away.

The shifter in question, Curtis Adams, had wandered into their pride lands about ten years ago. Hunter’s father, as Alpha, had accepted the man’s appeal to stay and he had lived in a small cabin on the very edge of their pride territory. Curtis was rarely seen around town, never socialized, and so was left in peace.

A week ago, a young girl from town had run into the sheriff’s station a bloody mess. The poor thing was walking home from her job at the local ice-cream parlor, when Curtis had pulled up in his pickup and insisted, with his fists, on taking her for a ride. She had escaped him by making a break for it at the only stoplight in town, and running straight into the sheriff’s station directly opposite. Hunter was on duty that night and had taken her to the local clinic and taken her statement. She had given a good description of Curtis and his pickup. Curtis’s truck was found abandoned on the outskirts of Eminence, the girl’s blood in the cab making it fairly certain that he was indeed guilty.

Kidnapping was against the law, but risking the exposure of shifters to humans was a crime against the pride, and Curtis knew that the Alpha’s punishment was not going to be as easy as just going to jail. So Curtis was on the run, and it was Hunter’s job to track him and bring him back to Finn for punishment.

Hunter had caught up to him just twenty minutes ago. Buena Vista was a very populated area and that had worked in Curtis’s favor. Hunter had finally got his claws into him in a wooded area on the outskirts of town. Unfortunately, it was well used in the evenings by locals walking their dogs. A mountain lion attacking a man had attracted the attention of one of those dog walkers and they had called 9-1-1. Curtis had deliberately not shifted, and the ambulance had provided him a means of escape. Hunter had had to run back into the cover of the woods, find his truck, and do some ambulance chasing.

He arrived at the hospital’s ambulance bay and raced to the only ambulance there. He had hoped at best to find Curtis still there, or, failing that, a fresh scent to follow. Instead he walked into the aftermath of Curtis’s bloody escape. Two paramedics and a local doctor were dead, and an ER nurse was injured.

Hunter had put on his sheriff’s uniform and was able to mingle with the local law enforcement to see if he could find out if Curtis had compromised the shifter’s race. The fatalities were appalling. The only living witness was the ER nurse.

Hunter pulled out his cell phone and pushed Dane’s number. He had to fill him in, and ask him to come down and continue the track on Curtis, while he waited here for the nurse to wake up so he could interview her. He stepped over to the wall of the ER, out of the way of all the police.

“Oh my God!” Hunter cried out, forgetting he had dialed Dane.

“Hunter, what’s wrong?” came Dane’s worried voice over the phone line.

“Shit,” was all he could say to Dane, trying to keep standing as his knees threatened to collapse under him.

“Hunter, man, are you okay? What’s happened? Are you hurt? Talk to me,” Dane persisted.

Hunter looked at the ground. There was blood under his feet. Still fresh. The scent in his nostrils was overpowering. His chest tightened. His fangs threatened to erupt from his gums. His nail beds itched as his claws moved to the surface, ready to emerge. He knew from the glow around him that his eyes were a glowing, bright amber color.

Dane’s voice penetrated Hunter’s brain at last.

“Her blood, it’s everywhere. God, Dane, he hurt her,” Hunter finally said, gasping into the phone still pressed to his ear.

“Hurt who? Her who? Hunter, are you hurt?”

Trying to breathe through his mouth didn’t help. There was so much of her blood he could scent it even stronger when it breezed over his tongue with his deep, labored breathing. “My mate” was screaming through all of his body’s cells.

He would have been able to easily scent her if she were standing here. But with her spilled blood pooled at his feet it was like he was drowning in her scent. Arousal and rage warred within him. Rage at Curtis for hurting his mate, and arousal, wild and untethered, at finally finding her.

“It’s her, Dane. I have found our mate. Curtis found her first and he has hurt her. I am standing in her blood as we speak.”

“Fuck,” was all he heard from Dane.

“I don’t know how bad she is hurt, I am going to find out right now. I will call you as soon as I know. I can’t keep tracking Curtis. I have to stay with her. Shit, Dane, send help now.”

With that, Hunter hung up, and using the power of pure rage, got his wobbly legs to work as he stalked into the hospital in search of his mate. After sixty years on this earth he had found her, he was going to see her, and she was fucking hurt by that lowlife. Hunter was incensed. If he wasn’t going to be killed before, well, Curtis would certainly be dead when Hunter caught him.

Hunter knew that Dane would be letting the twins know that he had found his mate, and he expected calls from them very shortly to find out how badly she had been hurt. Hunter’s mother had three mates, brothers, Theo, Chris, and Paul. All the Alphas in their family had shared a mate with their brothers, so the odds were more than good that this woman would be mate to all four Fredrick brothers. Hunter had enjoyed sharing sexual partners in the past with one, or all, of his brothers, so if it was fated that they were all to share this mate, he knew it would work very well for them.

“Let her not be hurt too badly,” he muttered under his breath, striding through the doors to the ER like a man on fire. After his time in the Marines, Hunter had become jaded and didn’t think anyone seemed to be listening when people prayed, but even without laying eyes on her, he was praying hard for his mate.

Chapter 3

The normal sounds of the ER began to filter into Melanie’s mind. She wondered if she had fallen asleep on shift. She struggled to sit up, beginning to panic. She had never fallen asleep on duty before. That was when the pain hit her, her head feeling as though it was going to split right open. Her chest felt as though she had a car on top of it, squeezing the bones and making breathing very, very hard.

A hand on her shoulder stopped her mental rundown of which pain was worse and made her efforts to sit up more frantic.

“Lie still, princess,” said a deep, gravelly voice, the hand gently but firmly pushing her down into a reclining position and keeping the pressure there.

Who was princess? Melanie wondered, confusion seeping into her pain-filled head.

“Can you open those eyes, Melanie?” the voice said again.

Was it a doctor? Had she crashed out on the desk? Why was she in so much pain? That was when she remembered. It all came back in a rush, forcing a huge rush of air into her lungs and a gasp from her lips as the pain in her chest intensified. Her eyes flew open and the light from the bright room shot pain into her already throbbing head. The ambulance, the man, the blood, the mountain lion. Groaning, Melanie remembered it all.

“Where am I?” Melanie asked, squinting to cut out some of the light piercing her brain, and turning her head toward the voice.

Sitting in a chair next to her was a huge man in a sheriff’s uniform. Melanie took in her surroundings. She was lying on an ER bed, an IV in her hand. The same hand that the huge man was holding. It was a nice warm hand. She was cold but he was so very warm and sending tingles up her arm.

The nice warm man began to speak again. “You are in the hospital where you work, princess. You were hurt. How are you feeling?”

* * * *

Hunter was so relieved to see Melanie awake. She had only been unconscious for about an hour, and that was a good thing according to the doctors. An MRI had shown no cerebral bleeding. There was, however, a deep laceration to her scalp and a concussion, as well as the lacerations to her left calf.

An hour ago Hunter had stridden into the ER and found Melanie in the middle of a mass of activity. He had not yet known her name. He had just followed his nose until he got to her. If he had thought the scent of her blood in the emergency bay had nearly brought him to his knees, it was nothing to what the sight of her small unconscious body on the examination table had done to him.

He had stumbled back against a glass window, feeling all of his blood fall to his feet in seconds. There lay his mate. This should not have been how he first laid eyes upon the woman who would now be his entire world for the rest of his days. She had lain unmoving, while doctors and nurses moved about her, doing God knows what. She had tubes and leads everywhere it seemed. The noise of beeping had been his only reassurance that she was still alive.

She had looked impossibly pale, blood covering every piece of exposed skin. The bandage around her head hadn’t fully covered her long, pale, strawberry blonde hair. Even in this condition he had found her to be enchantingly lovely. Hunter’s shock had begun to fade and was replaced with burning rage. He vowed he would find out in minute detail what the condition of his mate was, then he would hunt that bastard Curtis down and eviscerate him.

Hunter had jerked out of his immobilized shock as they began to wheel his mate away. He had sought out the tall female doctor that he had observed issuing all the orders. He had decided he would get his answers, then he would not leave his mate’s side until reinforcements arrived.

The staff had been a little confused as to why Hunter had not left Melanie’s side, but the uniform had gone a long way to deterring questions.

As relieved as he was that Melanie was now awake, Hunter was also concerned that he had not heard from any of his brothers. He had tried to call Dane as soon as he had all the details of Melanie’s condition from Dr. Smythe, but Dane had not answered. He had then tried all of his brothers and their phones had gone straight to voice mail. What was going on in Eminence? Surely nothing was more important than him finding his mate and their potential mate. Hunter had to focus on Melanie right now, so that worry could wait for now.

* * * *

Trying to talk past her pounding headache, Melanie managed to answer the nice warm man. “I’m sorry, but who are you?”

Melanie saw a lot of the local police while working in the ER. This one was not familiar to her. She mused that she would not have forgotten this huge drop-dead gorgeous officer.

“My name is Hunter Fredrick. I am the Sheriff of a town called Eminence. It’s about three hours northeast of here. I have been waiting on those eyes of yours to open. I’ll ask you again, how are you feeling, Melanie?”

“Please let her rest, officer. She is in no condition for an interrogation right now.” A young nurse walked into the room and began to take Melanie’s vital signs.

Melanie felt so tired. She thought she should answer the sheriff’s question, but she just had to close her eyes for a minute to gather her thoughts.

* * * *

Hunter was sitting by his mate’s bed. Holding her hand firmly, he did not want to ever let her go again. Logically he knew how that was not going to happen, but with her injured, it was the only thought keeping him from howling. She was such a tiny thing, but she had great boobs and killer hips. Curvy and lush, just the way they liked their women. The most amazing thing, however, had been her eyes. They were the palest sea-foam green, not a speck of any other color in them, startlingly different, but so beautiful. Hunter couldn’t help but wish that all their cubs would have her eyes.

The sound of raised voices reached through Hunter’s musings. They were not the sounds of happy voices.

So that is why none of his brothers had answered his calls. They must really have hauled ass to get here so quickly. Nothing like the thought of your potential mate being injured to give you a reason to break the land speed record. He imagined Dane had had the sirens on all the way from home.

With that thought, the three men in question barreled through the door to the room and came to a halt next to the bed. All were tense, jaws locked and with their eyes just showing the amber of a shifter’s changing irises instead of their usual hazel color.

Yep, Hunter knew that look. They had scented Melanie in the emergency bay, and her blood, that sweet, buttery-scented blood of their mate. It looked as though she was indeed mate to all the Frederick brothers. Rising, he tried to allay their fears immediately. It was the state he had been in himself just over an hour ago, and he knew exactly how they were feeling.

“She is going to be fine, guys. Notch it back, your eyes are glowing. I’ll tell you everything I know, but if she wakes and sees you all like this she is going to be freaked. You don’t want to scare her any more than she already has been tonight.”

Hunter was greeted with three looks that would have killed a lesser beast. But really, he couldn’t imagine what she would think if she woke up and saw four huge men in the room with their eyes glowing like flashlights.

“Okay, I will tell you all I know, then you can calm down. She has a deep laceration to her scalp and a concussion.” Finn started to growl, low and deep in his massive chest. Hunter put his hand on his shoulder and continued. Finn was the Alpha for reasons other than being firstborn. He was the biggest and most aggressive male of them all, too.

Hunter continued. “She has had an MRI, no bleeds, no permanent damage. She has some nasty laceration from fangs on her left calf. They are going to be sutured very shortly. X-rays showed no fractures. She woke up a few minutes ago and was lucid, but she drifted off to sleep again before I got any answers to my questions.”

Finn continued to growl, low and constant, looking down at the small injured female who was his mate.

“Thank you, Hunter, for allaying our fears, and for protecting our mate until we could all be here with her. But you forgot a thing or two.”

“No, Finn, I covered it all, honestly.”

“Hunter, would you mind telling us our mate’s name?”

Hunter laughed,

“Asshole,” spat Finn, “our mate is lying injured and you laugh.”

“Cool it, Finn, stop with the daggers. It’s just the tension. Sorry, nothing is remotely funny about this entire night. Her name is Melanie Cook, she is a registered nurse, she is twenty-two years old, single, and she has the most amazing eyes I have ever seen.” There, that was everything.

Dane and Cooper were making their way to the far side of the bed. Dane reached out and covered Melanie’s small hand with his. Hunter watched him smile and heard his sigh of relief.

“I thought I was going to shift, down in that emergency bay when we pulled up and I got my first scent of this little one’s blood. I have never felt anything like that, Hunter. I haven’t been that out of control since we were thirteen and the first shift took us.”

Hunter nodded his understanding, rubbing circles on Melanie’s arm with his thumb. Being twins, Hunter had been certain that he would share a mate with Dane, even if the mating bond hadn’t extended to Finn and Cooper.

“As soon as you called I went and got Finn and Coop and we headed straight here. I knew you would need us here if she was seriously injured.”

Hunter looked at his brother and nodded tightly, keeping his emotions in check. “I am so happy you’re all here. I don’t know what I would have done if she had been killed.”

They all shuddered at that. Curtis had come so close to ending the life of their one and only fated mate, before they had even met her.

“What have you done about tracking Curtis? I couldn’t leave Melanie alone to go track him,” Hunter stated as he looked down at Melanie.

“Of course not,” Cooper spat out. “I would have kicked your ass if you had.”

Hunter saw he was softly stoking Melanie’s leg, having snuck his hand under the cotton-weave blanket covering her sleeping form. He knew what they were feeling. He was still holding her hand, too.

Finn stepped close to the bed and reverently stroked some hair off Melanie’s pale face. “Dane has called in the Wilders. They are on the way. They will track the rogue from here and continue the hunt. You will return with us when we take Melanie home. She will need us all together. We have some things to share with her about our family and we should all be there to hear her decision.”

Finn was speaking in generalities, as they were in a public setting, but they all knew exactly what he was talking about.

“Thank you. Dane, Calder, and Axel Wilder are great trackers and will not stop until they catch that lowlife bastard.”

“No worries, Hunter, you were doing all you could here.”

At that moment an orderly and a nurse came to collect Melanie to take her to the OR for the debridement and suturing of her left calf. They had needed to wait for her head injury to stabilize prior to the surgery. The staff had tolerated Hunter’s constant presence, but they were not happy about four huge men following the gurney around the hospital.

“Tough,” Cooper stated. “We are not here to make them happy. None of us are ready to let her out of our sights yet.”

“Well said, Coop,” said Dane, as they all stood around the OR doors, awaiting the end of the surgery.

The surgery took an hour. All the Frederick men waited and glared at anyone approaching Melanie’s operating room. They knew no one here was a threat, but the men felt like they were at least doing something to keep their mate safe.

Hunter was so happy that his brothers were all here now.

Dane had heard from the Wilders. They were tracking the rogue.

Once Melanie was situated back in her room, they all moved back in. When the nurse had announced that they couldn’t all stay, Finn had stopped her midsentence. “My brothers and I are all involved in the investigation of tonight’s incident. Miss Cook, being the only witness, is of the utmost importance to us. We will not be in your way.”

Chapter 4

Melanie started to wake up, feeling very woozy, too. She opened her eyes slowly, remembering the headache last time her eyes were open. Her leg was a little sore, but her head had hurt so much before she had hardly noticed her leg. Her ribs were still causing her problems with breathing though. Melanie remembered being thrown against a wall by a huge mountain lion. Damn, she wished for some memory loss. That was too scary by far. The room lights were dimmer than before, but she could see she was back in a hospital room.

Looking over at the IV line, she noticed a big bronzed hand covering its entry into her hand. She remembered that nice warm man, too. He was tingly and yummy looking. She followed his arm up to his face and let out a small gasp.

“Who are you?” she asked in a small startled voice. This was not the same man from before, she was sure of it. He looked similar, but he was even bigger and with no uniform.

“It’s all okay, princess, I’m still here with you. Do you remember me?” asked a voice from the end of the bed.

Melanie looked toward the foot of the bed, and sitting by her feet was the nice warm man. He was huge, probably six and a half feet, with a wide chest and massive shoulders. She remembered his soft amber-tinged hazel eyes in his very handsome face, topped with cropped golden-blond hair.

“Yes, I remember you. You are the nice warm man.” Melanie felt her checks heat. “No, I mean, did you tell me your name? I am so sorry if you did, I have forgotten it, but I recognize you from before. The sheriff with the questions, right?”

“Adorable,” stated the man holding Melanie’s left hand, and, lifting their joined hands, he placed a gentle kiss on her palm, causing more tingles to run up the skin of her arm.

“Oh, you are warm, too,” Melanie blurted. “Sorry, even when I haven’t hit my head I have no brain-to-mouth barrier.” Her cheeks were getting hotter now. The man leaned close to Melanie’s face in the dim light.

“I am Hunter’s brother, Finn. Hunter is the nice warm sheriff. It is nice to meet you Melanie, and Hunter is correct, you do in fact have the most beautiful eyes.”

“Yours aren’t so bad either, Mr. Finn, really pretty amber bits in them. Oops, sorry.” He was a huge man, even bigger than the sheriff, with a strong masculine face, not classically handsome, but good-looking all the same. His hair was a dirty blond, cut stylishly short.

“Just Finn, sweetness. Our surname is Fredrick. These are our other brothers, Cooper and Dane.”

Turning her head toward the other side of the bed, Melanie found there were indeed two more men there.

There was another huge policeman holding her other hand, and a huge man wearing jeans and a black T-shirt standing by her knees. The one in the uniform had exactly the same color hair as the sheriff, and their features were almost the same. His hair was also cut short. The man in the jeans was sporting shoulders as wide and muscled as a weight lifter. His black T-shirt stretched tight across them. They tapered down to a flat stomach and slim hips. His golden hair was longer though, with a fringe that almost reached his amber-speckled hazel eyes.

Their gene pool was amazingly gifted in good looks. Wow.

Melanie decided to bite her lip to stop herself from saying something embarrassing about how massive they all were. But wow, seriously, were they descended from giants?

Finn chuckled, drawing her attention to him. He kissed her fingertips and said in a deep, soft voice, “No, just good country cooking made us grow this big and strong.”

“Oh my God, I am so sorry, did I say that out loud? It must be the drugs. Please, I didn’t mean to be rude.” Melanie could feel her eyes start to tear up. She didn’t mean to insult people who were being nothing but kind to her.

The policeman holding her other hand brought it up to his lips and kissed it softly. “I’m Dane, and you weren’t rude, just honest. We are huge. We should interview her now, Hunter. Doesn’t look like she would be capable of a false statement with whatever they have given her in the OR.”

Hunter smiled, nodded, and started to rub Melanie’s feet very softly through the blanket. Cooper smiled at Melanie, lifted the blanket, and placed his palm softly on her bare thigh.

Melanie knew she should have felt appalled that four strangers were all touching her, but puzzlingly she found she just didn’t. She had always hated to be touched, so this situation was very strange. She just felt warmed by their touch on a bone-deep level, and the tingly feeling was coming from all of their touches. It was nice. She decided it must be a symptom of her head injury.

“Melanie,” stated Hunter, “I’ll ask for a third time now, how are you feeling? Try not to pass out on me this time. The doctors can only tell us so much. I really need to hear from you, exactly how you are.”

“I was wondering why you’re all here. It’s nice, as you are all so warm, and I feel so cold. But why are all of you here?” Melanie asked.

Hunter looked at Finn, Melanie looked at Finn, and Finn just shook his head, placing Melanie’s small hand flat against his warm but rock-hard chest.

“Can you please answer Hunter’s question, sweetness? We are all quite anxious for your reply. Then we will answer all of your questions.” Finn looked at her in a way that brooked no argument.

Cooper gently squeezed Melanie’s thigh, smiling at her in encouragement. Melanie thought that it did wonders to soften his features.

“You look so different when you aren’t scowling, Cooper. You should always smile. If you weren’t about seven feet tall you would look positively pretty. Shit, I just said that out loud didn’t I?” Melanie now wished she could be unconscious again, right now.

Dane and Hunter let out a startled, choking laugh, looking at Cooper and mouthing “pretty.”

Cooper just opened his mouth, but no words emerged.

Finn gently tapped Melanie’s arm, drawing her attention to his now scowling face. “Answer the question, sweetness, and I think that at a later date we need to discuss your use of profanities.”

If she had had the use of her hands Melanie would have covered her face in embarrassment. “What in the hell kind of drugs have they given me?”

With her head clearing a little she tried to form some sentences that would not make her blush with mortification. But these men were making that very difficult. They were H-O-T. So she looked at Hunter, and tried to minimize any further embarrassment.

“I am feeling a bit sore to be honest. Thank you for your concern, Hunter. You must have been here a while and you have been very patient with me.”

“No need for any thanks, sweetness. The responsibility is mine. I would also like a more detailed description of your injuries than ‘a bit sore.’ You have been through a lot tonight. Unconscious for several hours, into theatre for surgery on your injured leg. So if you please, answer my question honestly.”

“Of course. You must need that for your report of the incident. How stupid of me. Well, I have a killer headache, but it is not as bad as it was earlier. My vision is not very clear yet either. My ribs on the left side are very sore when I breathe. My left leg is stinging at the moment, but I think that it will really hurt when whatever they gave me for the pain starts to wear off.”

Melanie felt quite proud of herself. A top to bottom summary of her pains, and no mention of their good looks had emerged from her mouth.

* * * *

Hunter looked at his brothers. They were all clenching their teeth. No one had looked at her ribs. What if they were broken? If they had moved her she could have punctured a lung.

Dane must have been thinking exactly the same thing as he gently placed Melanie’s hand in Cooper’s outstretched palm and walked off, stating he was going to get the attending doctor.

“Thank you, Melanie. We’re all sorry for your injuries, and that you are in pain. We’ll do everything we can to keep you comfortable. Are you feeling up to answering some more questions?”

“Of course, Hunter, whatever you need for your case. Have the paramedics and Dr. Jelowitz been able to help you at all with any of the details? My account may seem a little hazy, as I hit my head as soon as the ambulance doors were thrust open.”

Hunter looked kindly at Melanie. Cooper sat on the side of the bed and put Melanie’s hand on his thigh. Finn started stroking up her arm soothingly. Hunter knew she was about to need all their support.

“What is it? Did they not see anything? Please, what is it?”

Hunter continued the interview.

“I am sorry if Dr. Jelowitz was a good friend of yours, but I’m afraid he suffered injuries that caused his death tonight. As did the two paramedics. You were the only survivor, and the only witness, to what actually happened down there. I am very sorry to have to put you through this, Melanie. But you can see now why it is very important that you tell us what you can.”

Chapter 5

“Can I please profane now, Finn?” Melanie asked.

“No, sweetness, you may not. Though I do understand your need.”

Hunter glared at Finn. “You can be such a prick, Finn. Give it a fucking rest for now, will you?”

Cooper, however, was not on board. “Can it, Hunter. Just let her give her statement and then she can rest. Are you guys blind? She’s exhausted.”

Melanie looked at Cooper. He had that hard look on again.

“Thank you, Cooper. I’m sorry for the ‘pretty’ slip before.”

“No problem, angel. Just never heard myself described in those terms before.”

She couldn’t believe it. Three people had died, actually died, doing their jobs. How unfair was that? She started to cry, just quiet sobs as Dane came back in with Dr. Smythe, the ER attending. She was a tall no-nonsense woman who glared at the three large men when she saw Melanie sobbing.

“Can I please ask you all to leave now?” she asked in a harsh tone.

Finn stood up, releasing Melanie’s hand, leaving her feeling strangely adrift. Dane stepped closer and took hold of it before it had even hit the bed. That was so strange. Why did having these men all touching her feel so normal, and the loss of contact feel so wrong?

Shit, head injury I guess.

Melanie noticed that Finn towered over Dr. Smythe. Working alongside Dr. Smythe always made Melanie feel like a dwarf. My God, how the hell tall was the man?

“Doctor, thank you for coming to see Melanie. As I am sure Dane has informed you, since awakening she has been able to describe her pain. It is my understanding that no investigations have been undertaken to eliminate rib injuries.”

Dr. Smythe was not going to be swayed. “Thank you. If you will all leave now, I will be able to assess Mel myself, and order any more tests, if I deem them necessary. Are you connected to the sheriff’s department Mr.…?”

Thanks, Tania. That was on my list of questions. Why were Cooper and Finn here with Hunter and Dane?

“Fredrick, ma’am. We are the sheriff and deputy’s brothers. We are intimately involved in the ongoing search for the perpetrator of tonight’s crime. We will also be involved in security for the only living witness to said crime, Miss Cook. In light of that we will not be leaving her unprotected. Please continue your examination. I am quite certain Miss Cook has no objections to our continued presence.” He then turned to look Melanie right in the eyes and just crooked an eyebrow.

Like hell she didn’t have objections to the four of them being in the room while Tania checked her over. She didn’t know them and they certainly weren’t healthcare professionals.

Melanie opened her mouth to contradict Finn’s very cocky assumption, only to feel said contradiction flow out of her like water down a drain. What the fuck? She wasn’t a damn flasher. But the thought of even one of them not being with her right now was just like a physical pain. Damn this head injury. So she opened her stupid mouth and said things that several hours ago she would never have even imagined possible.

“Please, Tania, it’s all good. I really do want them here. I am so scared about what I saw. The sheriff has just told me about the deaths. It was such a shock. Can they please stay with me?”

Tania looked at Melanie as though she were insane. But Melanie knew that, being the patient, she had the right to choose who stayed and who went. Having given her patient the opportunity to clear them all out, Tania just shrugged. As an ER attending, Melanie guessed she had surely seen stranger things.

“Please close the door, Mr. Fredrick, and I will look at our Mel.”

She proceeded to ask where the pain was and then checked again that Melanie was happy with her audience, before she started the physical examination. When she lifted the hospital gown to examine Melanie’s chest and abdomen, Melanie was certain she heard growling.

* * * *

Hunter looked at each of his brothers and they all growled low in their chests. The left side of Melanie’s rib cage was a vivid purple bruise. They had all had similar injuries over the years from fights and he knew firsthand that it must have hurt like a bitch to even breathe. When they had sustained similar injuries, they had been able to shift and hasten the speeding process. That was not going to happen for their tiny mate. Aside from the bruising he also got his first glimpse at their mate’s breasts.

They had all moved closer to the bed. They were all crowding Melanie and Dr. Smythe now, and Hunter didn’t care. Hunter was floored to see the bruising, but he also felt like a total asshole for getting an instant hard-on at the sight of their mate’s breasts. They were large for her size, maybe a D cup, with the palest pink nipples he had ever seen. They looked like little pale pink marshmallows atop creamy beautiful breasts. His mouth started to water, wanting to taste them. His cock was pulsing in his uniform pants, leaking pre-cum already. He looked at Finn, Cooper, and then Dane. All wore similar pained expressions. Yep, they were all total assholes. But fuck it all, their mate was just delicious.

Finn managed to make words come out of his mouth. Go Finn! Hunter knew he couldn’t have managed it.

“Well, Dr. Smythe? How is Miss Cook?”

Hunter could have told him, and by the looks Cooper and Dane were giving him, and the bulges noticeable in their pants, too, it would all have been words of appreciation for the beauty of their mate.

Dr. Smythe turned to address Finn, having completed her examination. With Melanie covered, Hunter tried to rein in his inappropriate physical reaction. Melanie was hurt, fuck. Hurt hurt hurt. He found that helped, a bit.

“Mel is going to need those ribs X-rayed. That will determine how long they need to be bandaged to support her breathing. No abdominal tenderness, which is good news. If you will excuse me, Mel, I will go and arrange the X-ray now.”

“Thanks so much, Tania. Sorry to be a bother,” Melanie quietly murmured.

That got more growls from the surrounding Frederick brothers. Tania just looked at them all sternly and left the room.

“You are not a bother, angel. It is very important that we know what we are dealing with. You have some significant injuries that could be life threatening if missed,” Cooper stated as he arranged the blanket back over their mate.

“Will one of you please come to radiology with me? I know you are probably very busy, but, well, I’d like you there,” Melanie said hesitantly.

“Of course. I’ll come and keep you company. I have the prettiest face, so that will cheer you up a little.” Cooper smiled at Melanie and her tears started again.

“Thank you, Cooper. You are all being very patient with me.”

The orderly came to collect Melanie, and Cooper went to stand guard outside the X-ray suite and look threateningly at anyone who walked too close.

“We can’t leave her here, Finn,” stated Dane, cutting to the heart of the problem. “She has to be with us now. Plus, with Curtis out there, as an ‘Alpha mate’ it’s just too much of a risk to leave Melanie unprotected.”

“Have either of you considered the consequences of Curtis getting a taste of our mate?” Finn looked at their faces and continued. “I see you haven’t. I have had no trouble in our pride since I took over as Alpha, so I have no firsthand experience. I am going to have to speak to our fathers, and our oldest pride female, Shana, on our return. Hopefully they will be able to tell us if this rogue would have scented her ‘Alpha mate’ blood, and also if it would be something he would be particularly attracted to. We need to know if Melanie is in any added danger from him apart from being a witness to his crimes.”

“Well that just adds more reason to why she has to come home with us,” spat out Dane. “Hunter, we can call it protective custody and get her away from here.”

“It wouldn’t be a lie, Dane,” Hunter said.

“As enforcers of my pride, as well as her being our mate, make it happen, guys. As soon as Dr. Smythe gives us the go-ahead, we are heading home to our pride lands, where we have more support and we know the terrain.” With that, Finn strode out in search of said doctor.

“I know what you are thinking, Hunter. But this is not an abuse of office, nor is it tricking our mate. She does need protection until we know all the facts. Plus, being ours, she will always be in protective custody.”

“I know you are right, Dane. She has also started the bonding process. She is drawn to us, she just doesn’t know what it is. She feels better when we all touch her. She was dying to tell us to get out when the doc told us to. Her face was priceless when she realized she couldn’t ask us to go. She is just fucking gorgeous, Dane. Am I a total freak for getting wood when I first saw her luscious body?”

“Yes, you are, brother of mine. But you come from a family of freaks as we were all sporting hard-ons over that sight. We have to wait until she is healed, though, Hunter. How are we going to wait? I want her so badly. You weren’t the only one wiping drool off your chin.”

Finn strode in, and with his shifter’s sensitive hearing he had obviously heard a good chunk of the conversation on his approach to the room. “We will pay a visit to Shana,” he said, “or get her to come to us. I believe she may be able to help us in that particular dilemma. On a happier note, Melanie is nearly back. They are at the end of the corridor. Dr. Smythe has reviewed the X-rays and she has bandaged her three broken ribs.”

“Shit, Finn, she must have been in so much pain,” Hunter stated.

“Indeed. We are able to complete her interview with local law enforcement presently, and Dr. Smythe is allowing us to transfer her care to Doc Jason in Eminence. They are liaising as we speak. Doc has assured her of our ability to transfer her safely into his care. So we should be on the road within the hour.”

“Damn, Finn, you really can go all Alpha when necessary, can’t you?” Hunter was never so glad of Finn’s ability to be such a dominant force.

Once Melanie was back in the room, they all arranged themselves so they could touch her. Finn allowed the local Officers to finish the interview. Hunter would have liked a heads-up on what exactly Melanie had seen, but for the sake of expediency he knew this would work better. Now they would be home by midmorning, with their mate.

Chapter 6

She was not looking forward to reliving the ordeal of the night, but with the Fredrick brothers present, she felt as though she could do it. Cooper had seemed reluctant to leave her side in the X-ray room. The technician stating he would risk infertility if he stayed had gotten him to wait outside though. Melanie had had to smile at that.

He had then held her gently while Tania bandaged her ribs. He was incredibly wide across his chest. She had felt contented with his rock-hard pecs under her hands, inhaling his vanilla-musk scent. She had thought that he wore great cologne. Remembering how he had made the painful bandaging bearable, she knew that with all of them here now this interview would be bearable, too.

She also knew that with this last thing done, they would be gone, and somehow that thought made her feel more devastated than the news of the night’s deaths. She was aware of what a terrible person that must make her. But she was determined to enjoy this small piece of comfort while she had it.

She hadn’t had a lot of comfort since she was eighteen years old, so after the night she’d just had, she’d be a terrible person for a while longer and cling to the feelings these men had awoken in her.

Two detectives from the Buena Vista PD were escorted into the room by Dr. Smythe. They were both looking tired, but were obviously very eager to finally get her statement. They introduced themselves as Detectives Hanson and Wilmont.

“I will be staying to assure myself that this causes no distress to Nurse Cook and I will not hesitate to terminate proceedings if I feel at any time that she can no longer continue. Proceed carefully, gentlemen,” Tania warned.

“I am sorry to say that I really saw very little, detectives. But I will tell you what I saw as thoroughly as I can recall.”

Detective Hanson motioned for Melanie to continue. She looked at the Frederick men. Hunter and Dane were at the foot of the bed, their arms crossed over their chests, looking very business-like. Cooper stood up by the head of the bed, Finn on the opposite side. Both had their hands on the bed next to her, just their fingertips touching her skin. She didn’t feel it was as comforting as when they were all touching and stroking her, but their warmth was still there, and she felt their support somehow, even through that small contact.

“I was waiting for the ambulance in emergency bay one with Dr. Jelowitz. The paramedics had called ten minutes out with reports that the victim was suffering blood loss and multiple lacerations from a witnessed attack by a mountain lion. As the ambulance pulled to a stop, Dr. Jelowitz and I approached the back to open the doors.”

Melanie closed her eyes and tried to get the events she witnessed to coalesce into something that made sense.

“Just before we got to the doors they burst right off the hinges. It seemed as though they had exploded outward. I was thrown to the ground, and hit my head quite hard on the cement driveway. I was dazed, but I don’t think I experienced any loss of consciousness at this point. When I managed to look back, a heavily bandaged and blood-soaked man was holding aloft the paramedic. He then threw him at Dr. Jelowitz.” Melanie opened her eyes and looked at Hunter. He nodded at her and she took that as encouragement to continue.

“At this point the pain in my head was such that I really was struggling to remain awake. When I next could focus through the pain, it was to see a mountain lion attached to Dr. Jelowitz’s throat. I don’t know where the injured man had gone, or where the mountain lion came from. That was just what I saw. The mountain lion then leapt at me and grabbed my left leg in its jaws. I remember flying across the emergency bay, then waking up in this room. That’s everything, detectives.”

Hunter squeezed her leg gently. “That was very good, sweetness, very thorough. Are you feeling all right?”

“My head is really hurting, and my leg. Can I get some more pain relief please? I can’t believe how hard that was. I really don’t want to talk about it again.”

Dr. Smythe stepped forward. “We can give you some paracetamol, Mel, but nothing stronger for the next twenty four hours due to your head injury I’m afraid.”

“Can’t I have some of what I had before?” Even though it had made her blurt out crazy things to sexy men, Melanie really wanted to stop feeling pain, physically anyway. The men would be gone soon, and that thought was hurting her in a way she knew painkillers would not help.

“We haven’t given you anything, Mel. We couldn’t because of your concussion. The local in your leg must be wearing off is all. Sorry,” Tania explained as she removed the IV from Melanie’s hand and left the room.

Well shit. Why did she seem unable to lie to these men then? Narcotics obviously weren’t to blame. So she was going to miss the Frederick brothers, and be in pain.

Finn walked over to the detectives and shook their hands. He gave them a business card from his pocket and led them out of the room.

“You ready to roll, little one? We have to get you out of here and back to Eminence as soon as we can.” She stared at Dane in confusion, as Finn came back into the room with a clean pair of pink scrubs.

“Dane, what are you talking about? Hunter?”

“We are placing you in protective custody, princess. The best place for you right now is with us. Being away from here will aid in that protection. The local PD knows where you will be. Dr. Smythe has transferred your care to our local MD, Dr. Reed. Let’s go.”

Cooper was undoing her gown and Finn was handing him the scrubs. Part of her was objecting to this, but it was a small, no, a tiny part. For the last four years she had been so lonely. Then she had met the Fredrick brothers and she found she really wanted to spend a little while longer with these nice warm men—men that, if she wasn’t careful, would worm their way into her lonely heart and leave it full of holes when eventually they all got back to their lives. So she decided to blame it all on her head injury and to go along with their plans.

Chapter 7

Melanie was quiet, giving no outbursts or questions. They had to be coming. Hunter knew that they were all bracing themselves for some form of protest.

Cooper had taken over the job of stripping their mate out of her hospital gown. He had helped with her bandaging, and had already held her close, so they went with the familiar brother. No need to add any further stress to her now. Once the scrubs were on, Finn bent to pick their tiny mate up off the bed.

“If we are going on a road trip, guys, I need to use the bathroom first. Please,” Melanie said quietly.

Cooper helped her stand by the bedside. “Oh my God, Melanie, how short are you?”

Cooper blurted it out, but they were all thinking the same thing. Lying in bed she had looked small, but seeing her vertical, and next to six-foot-six-inch Cooper, was a real shock. He was the shortest of the four of them, too.

“No wonder you thought we were giants,” added Dane.

Melanie looked up, and up, at Cooper, and stated, with a scowl, “The question is usually, ‘How tall are you?’ Cooper. And I will have you know I am four foot eleven and a half inches tall.”

There was nothing remotely funny about this whole night, but all of a sudden they were all laughing quietly. There was no denying it. Their mate was a tiny thing.

“Come on, Melanie.” Finn led her across the room to the en suite. “Cooper may be big on height, but he is short on tact.”

“It’s really fine. I can’t pretend I’m tall like a model. I have gotten over my dreams of ever reaching five feet tall. I need steps to reach most things. I just learned to deal with it.”

Finn closed the door and turned to Cooper. “You better make it up to her for making her think less of herself just then. I wouldn’t care if she was three feet tall. She is ours, and she is perfect.”

“Sorry, Finn, it just fucking flew out my mouth. I hadn’t realized just how incredibly tiny she was. Maybe that mouth-to-brain thing Melanie has is catching?”

“No, Cooper, you’re just an asshole,” mumbled Dane.

* * * *

Melanie quickly used the facilities and washed her hands and face, thinking seriously about what she was doing. She was going into protective custody, with two law enforcement officers. Finn had said that he and Cooper were involved in the case, too. So she had no choice. She had to do this.

Right. She should keep telling herself that. The fact that even now she wanted to be back in there holding on to them all had nothing to do with why she was doing this. Nothing at all.

Stupid was what she was. After all these years of shutting herself off, she was stupidly allowing all of these feeling to take her over. The only explanation she could come up with for the compulsion to stay with these men was that the head injury must have destroyed quite a few thousand neurons.

She knew there was going to be pain when she had to come home again. Pain like she had lived through four years ago. She had carefully avoided more pain since then, never getting close to another soul. But these men had made her feel again. Feel warm. She hadn’t even realized just how bone-deep the cold had gone until she had experienced their warmth. She decided that even if it was just for a few days, she would enjoy this feeling and hold on to the memory of their warm touch when the cold and loneliness returned.

* * * *

Finn carried his small mate in his arms through the hospital and to his waiting RV. His brothers formed a vanguard as they made their way to the vehicle. He could not believe he had finally found her. After nearly eighty years he was finally going to feel complete. She was shivering slightly in his arms, so he just hugged her closer to his heart.

“Are you cold, sweetness? Would you like a blanket for the journey?”

“No thank you, Finn, I feel cozy. I was just remembering is all.”

“It’s all going to be fine now. We will not let anything further happen to you. Is there someone we need to contact for you, so they won’t worry about where you are?” He knew she was unattached, thanks to Hunter’s questioning her coworkers, but her parents or a roommate may be worried if she just disappeared.

“No, there is no one. I live alone.” Melanie said that in such a small quiet voice that it made Finn’s heart hurt for her. He could feel her loneliness pouring over him, even without having yet finalized their mating. He vowed to himself that she would never feel that sort of loneliness again.

“I hope that the four of us do not overwhelm you then. We intend to never leave you alone until this investigation is concluded.”

“I think I will manage somehow, Finn. I don’t want to intrude on your lives, though. Aren’t I going to be a bother?”

“You could never be a bother, sweetness. Only a pleasure.” This last sentence he whispered into her ear, enjoying the small shiver that ran down her spine. He knew that this was not caused by her being cold. He could scent the warm musky aroma of her arousal. He growled low in his chest, his mating musk starting to erupt from his skin.

“You and Cooper must use the same cologne. You smell really good. Oh crap. Sorry, I can’t seem to stop my thoughts just spewing out of my mouth with you guys.” Melanie buried her face into Finn’s chest, breathing his smell in deeply despite her embarrassment.

“Here we are, sweetness.” Finn strode up to the door of the RV that Cooper was holding open. He placed her gently on the backseat, buckling the seatbelt across her lap, avoiding her broken ribs and placing her injured leg across the seat to keep it elevated.

He gently kissed the end of her nose. “You have been warned about swearing, Melanie. I will have to think of a suitable punishment for when you are healed.”

“Punishment? You wouldn’t.”

Cooper got into the door behind Melanie and snuggled her up against his frame, wrapping her in his big arms. “He would and he will, angel, so if I were you, I would try not to rack up any more punishments. He will be counting them.”

She snuggled into Cooper’s arms away from Finn, her lips tightly closed. The last thing he wanted was her to be afraid of him.

“I would never cause you pain, sweetness. My punishments will be all about your pleasure.” He enjoyed the small rosy tinge to her cheeks, and the scent of her arousal. Cooper’s sharp intake of breath told Finn that he had caught her scent, too, and he smiled sweetly at Melanie.

“Rest now. Hunter and Dane are following in Hunter’s truck. We will all be home in a couple of hours.”

He closed the door and got behind the wheel, feeling contented and happy to be taking his mate home at last.

Chapter 8

Melanie slept the trip away, falling asleep in Cooper’s warm, firm embrace, the chill sweeping away from her very soul as the miles took her away from her old life. She knew this was only temporary, but for as long as she had this feeling, she determined she was going to enjoy it.

Finn gently lifting her from the back of the RV was what woke her. “We’re here, sweetness. Let’s get you bathed and tucked up into bed. Doc will be here shortly to check you over.”

Melanie eased her aching ribs by curling up in Finn’s arms, trying not to breathe too deeply. She looked up at the house as Finn walked briskly up a snowy, fenced walk and up to some steps leading up to a wide verandah. The house was timber and looked more like a mansion to Melanie.

“Do you live here alone, Finn?” She suddenly wondered if he had a wife and children about to run out of this beautiful home to greet him. Could she have taken his words as flirting, when he was just being friendly? Easily, she was an idiot.

“No, sweetness, not alone. All my brothers live here with me. We designed this home ourselves, so it would be perfect for when we met our wife.”

Melanie let out her breath in a loud sigh. Finn looked down into her pale green eyes and smirked. “You aren’t concerned about being all alone out here with us are you, Melanie? We wouldn’t want you to be worried for your virtue.”

Cooper was walking up behind them. “I never even knew he had a sense of humor, angel. You are sure having an impact on the big guy.” Cooper opened the door and they all went inside.

Melanie saw only briefly a huge lounge room with a log fire and a custom kitchen gleaming with stainless steel appliances. She loved to cook, and hoped she would get a chance to play in that wonderful space. She might need a ladder, though, to reach those top cupboards, what with the kitchen being custom-made for giants. She was then whisked upstairs and down a long corridor. Cooper striding ahead opened the last door of the corridor. Stepping inside, Finn paused. “Straight to the bath with you, okay, sweetness? Doc Jason should be here soon and I am sure you want to freshen up first.”

“I would love a bath, Finn. I feel positively rank. But, well…” Melanie hesitated, not sure how to broach this subject. She felt very safe, and strangely at ease with all the Fredrick men. But how could she tell them she was not sure she was capable of undressing and bathing without help, and not come across as a hussy? “Never mind, it’s fine. Thank you, Finn.” Cooper had gone through to the adjoining bathroom and she could hear water running.

“Melanie, you have been entrusted into my care by Dr. Smythe. If you have a concern, I hope that you will tell me.”

“I’m embarrassed about the logistics of bathing. There, I said it. I am so sore I won’t even be able to undress myself. Plus I may pass out in the bath. You shouldn’t have to care for me like this. I am so sorry. I was wrong to come here in this condition. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Melanie began to cry, big sobs wracking her body.

Finn rubbed her back gently, sitting on the end of the room’s enormous bed. Cooper knelt down in front of her.

“We knew what we were offering, angel. You don’t need to be embarrassed. We would be honored if you would trust us enough to care for you. If you are too worried we can forget the bath for now and our mother can come and help you with it later. She only lives about an hour away. I’m sure she would be glad to help you.”

“No, Cooper. I want you and Finn to help me. I really do feel safe with you. I can’t imagine what you must think of me for feeling like that, though.”

“We think you are just doing the sensible thing, and accepting our help,” Cooper replied. Then he continued without waiting for a reply from her. “Good, glad that’s settled. Come on, angel. I’ll help you tonight. Finn can go see how long until Doc arrives.” Cooper winked at Finn as he lifted her from his lap. She was placed gently on the carpet and he walked with her to the bathroom.

“You use the facilities and I’ll be in in a minute to help you in the bath. Just call out if you need me. I’ll be right here.”

Melanie closed the door behind her, glad for a minute or two to prepare herself. This was just a babysitting job for them. It was only embarrassing for her because she was becoming more and more infatuated with all of them. Four men. How could she be having feelings for four men? What was wrong with her?

* * * *

“You might have thought me without humor, Cooper, and I might have considered you without any sensitivity. But we were both wrong.”

Finn stood and clasped Cooper on the shoulder. “Well done. She is feeling the mating bond toward us very strongly now, but being human she must be very confused about that draw to us all.”

“We are going to have to tell her about us before we mate with her, Finn. I need her to know it all before she is bonded to us for life. I would never want her to feel trapped in any way.”

“I have never heard of anyone denying the mating bond, Cooper. She will be fine. She is a strong woman despite her size. I am going to ask Shana to come over today. I need to ask her about us mating with Melanie tonight.”

“She can’t cope with the mating now, Finn. She can barely walk.” Cooper was horrified at Finn even thinking it. He knew that their mating bites would alter her physiology, speeding up her healing processes. It would let her age at the same rate as them and be resistant to illnesses. But the mating would be grueling on Melanie with four mates. She was in no condition right now to undertake that sort of activity.

Finn’s cat began to bleed into his eyes, turning them a glowing amber. The snarl ripped from him as he grabbed Cooper around the throat and lifted him a foot off the ground.

“Do you think me capable of endangering our mate in any capacity? Especially for the purpose of my own sexual gratification? I would die for her.”

Cooper lowered his eyes. “No, Alpha.”

“I expected more trust than this from you.” Finn threw Cooper onto the bed and stalked from the room.

Cooper got up and knocked lightly on the bathroom door, knowing he had been wrong not to trust Finn with Melanie’s best interests. He had just never felt like this before about a woman. She had somehow become his everything in the space of twelve hours, and Finn’s, too, apparently. He really would have to work on not being such an asshole.

“I’m ready,” Melanie spoke softly from inside the bathroom.

Cooper went inside and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. She was trembling slightly, but relaxed visibly when he touched her.

“We will take this as slowly as you need, angel. The object is just to get you clean and warm. I will help you as much or as little as you need. Ready?”

“Thanks, Cooper, you are being great. This is an amazing bathroom. I have never seen such a big shower or bath before.”

“You wouldn’t have. We had this one custom made. We are all big men and we have always expected to share a partner, so we will all be in here together, a lot.” He let the statement sit as he turned his back to turn off the bath taps. “Perfect. Let’s get you in here.”

She was staring at him a little loose-jawed. He just smiled at her.

“I am going to slip this top over your head now, angel. Just lift up your arms and I will do all the work.” She complied almost in a trance. Bandages covered most of her torso. He knew this as he had been there to help her get them on. Just the top of her pale pink nipples could be seen above them. He tried in vain to tell his cock to stop filling. Lost cause, with the thought that he was about to see her naked butt.

He pulled the drawstring on the pants, they fell to the ground, and he squatted down to her eye level. “Off with these panties.” He whisked them down her thighs and lifted her up and into the bath, giving her no time to be embarrassed before she was under the fragrant bubbles he had put in the bath.

* * * *

Cooper had Melanie undressed and in the water before she had even processed the word “share.” Damn, that was a perfect time to drop that bombshell. She may have been young, but she did read, and she was a nurse. She knew about some of the myriad ways people chose to live their lives. In fact, her one and only hobby was reading, and her choice of material was ménage romance.

“Cooper, did you say that about sharing to shock me, or were you serious?”

“Deadly serious, angel. Are you shocked and disapproving, or shocked and interested?”

“I have never met anyone who chooses that lifestyle, but I am not a prude, Cooper. I think people of legal age, in a loving relationship, should be able to live their lives in whatever manner makes them happy. If you are lucky enough to find love in any form, I think you should grab it and never let it go.”

Melanie then began to blush.

“Have you any idea how amazing you are, Melanie? We can talk more later. Can I wash your back?”

Cooper grabbed a washcloth off the side of the tub and began to gently wash her back. He then washed her face and down her arms and legs. He reached for a towel off the shelf above the sink and pulled the plug.

“I feel much better. Thank you so much for your help, Cooper.”

He reached in and lifted her out of the tub, wrapping the towel around her. He patted her dry and led her into the bedroom.

“We don’t have any clothes for you angel, but Finn has left one of his T-shirts for you.”

Cooper slipped it over her head. “It’s perfect. Thanks, Cooper.” Melanie turned and climbed up onto the huge bed.

“I guess your lifestyle choice explains the size of this bed. Oh, I’m sorry, Cooper, I didn’t mean to blurt that out.”

“You are correct, though. Don’t stop blurting. I want you to be honest with us, always.”

“Honest works. I don’t seem capable of anything else around you, well, all of you really. Thank you so much for everything, Cooper. You have been amazing. The hospital, and now this. But it’s so incredibly strange. I just feel so relaxed when you and your brothers are around me. If you knew me, you’d know that I really don’t like to be touched at all, not ever.” She closed her eyes as Cooper sat on the bed and pulled her gently onto his lap.

“You seem to like this, though, Melanie.”

“I do. What is happening to me, Cooper? You told me to be honest, so I will be, and damn the consequences. Right now in your arms I feel more content than I have in the last four years. I am happy, and I am hoping that Finn, Hunter, and Dane are going to be here soon, as when you all touch me it’s like I am finally home.” Melanie rested he head back on Cooper’s chest, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. “Maybe it’s the head injury.”

She felt in her awakening heart that it had nothing at all to do with any damn head injury, but she could save face this way, in case they all thought her a gigantic fool.

* * * *

“Doc and the guys are on the way up,” Cooper said. “We have a lot to discuss later, angel, and we will all be here together to discuss it with you. But know this, Melanie Cook, I believe that sometimes things are just fated to be, and you being here, in this house, in this particular bed, and in my arms is what fate wanted for me. I think you are finally home, too.”

Cooper didn’t move as Finn opened the door and gestured Doc Jason in, followed by Hunter and Dane. They all stood in the master bedroom, the one they had designed especially for when they finally found their mate. And until this day, it had never been used.

Chapter 9

Hunter watched his little mate try to hide her tears, his heart aching at seeing the sadness in her eyes.

“Hello, little one, you miss me? Is that why I see tears?” Dane came up to Melanie, who had curled into Cooper’s arm, and kissed her lightly on the end of her nose. Melanie sighed and smiled at him.

“You wish, Dane. I am sure she missed us all, didn’t you, sweetness?” Hunter came over, nudging Dane aside and kissed Melanie lightly on the lips. He licked his lips. She tasted even better than she smelt. Shit, his fucking cock had turned into an iron pole in his pants. God, she was just too irresistible. He wanted to throw himself on her and take her right now.

“Excuse me, Hunter, may I see my patient?”

Hunter felt like an animal. He had forgotten about both Melanie’s injuries and Doc being behind him, all from one little taste. Doc knew it, too, by the smirk he was giving Hunter.

Wait until he finds his mate.

But he couldn’t be mad. Seeing Melanie here in their future bed had made it all real for him. They had found their mate!

“I am Doctor Jason Reed, but folks around here just call me Doc. How are you feeling after your journey, Miss Cook?”

“Hi, Doc. Call me Melanie, please. I’m still suffering from a killer headache, and my ribs are sore, but the Frederick men have taken very good care of me since leaving the hospital.”

“As they should. You are theirs to protect.” Doc proceeded to look in Melanie’s eyes with a light, have her follow his finger, turn her head every which way, and examine her ribs. Hunter found himself growling low in his chest at the sight of another man looking at his woman, but this was for Melanie, so he didn’t tear Doc’s heart out. His brothers were scowling similarly at Doc, and none of them relaxed until he pulled down Finn’s T-shirt to cover her chest, and stepped away.

“All seems much the same as the reports I was faxed by Dr. Smythe. Keep her in bed for the next twenty-four hours and wake her every two hours through the night to check on her mental state. If she develops any signs that the concussion is worsening, call me straight away. Absolute rest, okay?” Doc looked at them all and they knew exactly what he meant—no sex. Hunter would have thought he was insulting them, but Doc had just borne witness to him nearly jumping on Melanie.

“Of course, Doc.” Hunter ushered Doc out, with Melanie calling out her thanks for him coming. “We are all up for this, don’t you worry.”

“So I noticed,” Doc stated pointedly.

Hunter ignored the comment and, after thanking Doc, returned to their room. Finn had told Dane and him when they had returned that he was going to tell Melanie about them if Doc cleared her. He wouldn’t question Finn’s judgment on this, but he was nervous about how she would react. He just couldn’t stand to lose her, not ever.

* * * *

Finn waited for Hunter to return to the room before he began the explanation to their mate about the existence of shape-shifters. He could feel the mating bond strongly between them all and had more confidence after seeing her reaction to Hunter’s kiss that, even though this was going to be a huge shock, she would not reject them.

“Do you feel better after your bath, sweetness?” he asked Melanie. She was still snuggled in Cooper’s arms and Dane was sitting up on the bed stroking her leg.

“Much better, thank you, Finn.” Hunter sat up on the bed at Melanie’s feet and held onto them. Finn sat on the side and took hold of one of her hands. “Is something wrong? You suddenly all look very serious, and it’s scaring me a bit. I have to leave, don’t I? You changed you minds about me staying?”

“Shh, angel, that will never happen. We just have something to explain to you and we are really nervous.” Cooper kissed the top of Melanie’s head and she sighed and relaxed into his embrace again.

“We don’t want this to go any further until you have all the facts, little one. It just wouldn’t be fair on you,” Dane soothed.

Finn brought her hand to his cheek and held it there while he looked into her pale eyes. “We would like to explain to you why we all feel so drawn to you, Melanie, and why you also feel that way toward all of us. It must be confusing for you to feel the way you do, so quickly, toward comparative strangers.”

“It does, Finn. I have talked to Cooper about being honest, so I will extend that courtesy to all of you.”

“Thank you, sweetness. We will, in turn, be nothing but honest with you. Have you ever considered that many myths and legends may be based on truth?”

“I don’t think I have ever even considered myths and legends, really. Why?” Melanie asked, clearly even more confused with the direction the conversation was now taking.

“Our family is steeped in myths and legends. Our line has lived up here in Eminence for over two hundred years. Cooper and I have lived up here for the last eighty. Hunter and Dane were in the military for a few years, but they have been here for most of their sixty years.” Finn watched her brows furrow in confusion.

“Your grandparents for eighty years, surely.”

“No, sweetness, I told you the truth. Cooper and I are over eighty years old.” Melanie looked from Cooper to Hunter and Dane. Finn continued.

“Our kind is very long-lived, and we age extremely slow. Yes, our kind.” Finn answered the question that was in Melanie’s eyes. “We are not only human, we are ‘were.’”

“Were what?” Melanie spoke the question this time.

“We were born with the ability to transform into our alternate forms, which, in our family’s case, is a mountain lion. The most common in myths, of course, are werewolves, but they are not the only form of shape-shifters out there, as we are testament to.” Finn studied Melanie’s face awaiting a reaction. She seemed to be shutting down. She pulled away from Cooper and her face took on an expression of anger.

“I read books. I know what is said about the paranormal in fiction novels. But that is fiction,” Melanie explained to Finn, and shared the glare at all of the brothers.

“Obviously not all fiction, angel.” Cooper soothingly rubbed her back.

Hunter tried to stop Melanie as she wiggled away from them and got down off the bed.

“Please, just leave me, Hunter.” Melanie pulled away from him and he let her. She paced slowly toward the bathroom.

“You need to stay and hear this, Melanie. It will help you to understand your feelings toward us. You are our mate, the one and only person that fate has chosen to be with us, always.” Finn spoke demandingly at her as she closed the door, surprisingly, quietly behind her.

“Well, that went about as we expected,” said Dane angrily.

“I know,” Finn said, rubbing his hand over his face, “it was never going to be easy for her to believe, but we had to start somewhere. We will have to have one of us shift to show her. Otherwise she will just think we are full of shit.”

“I’ll do it. I hate her being upset like this. Are you sure she is ready for this?” Dane asked readily.

“It’s too late to even wonder at that now, Dane. The cat is already out of the proverbial bag, I am afraid.” Finn sat down on the bed looking at the door Melanie had just gone through.

“Let’s go downstairs and make some dinner. Give her some space. She will come to us when she is ready to ask her questions. She must have hundreds.” Hunter rose, went to the en suite door, and knocked quietly. “We are going to give you a few minutes to organize your thoughts, princess. We will be downstairs getting dinner if you need us. We’ll be back soon.”

“You sure we should leave her, Hunter? She looked pretty upset,” Dane said.

“I think he is right,” Finn stated.” Let’s give her some time to process what we have just told her. We have just turned her belief system on its head after all.”

They all filed out of the room. Finn wasn’t sure now what he had expected her to do, but he knew that this wasn’t it. Tears, yelling, throwing things maybe, but this silence and distance were killing him. He needed to touch her, hold her, and make her see the truth of what he had said. But he left her to think, and hoped that he could hold her soon.

Chapter 10

Melanie sat on the end of the tub, her head in her hands. What had she done? Oh. My. God. She felt like such a fool. After closing herself off to pain for the last four years, she had opened her heart to these men, thinking it would be safe. Good move. What an excellent judge of character she had become.

Then she started to become angry. She would have slept with them. She was going to finally let someone, four someones, touch her heart and her body. She would have given them her virginity for fuck’s sake. Well, just as well she found out first what they were. What was this game for? She couldn’t fathom it. Well, she had seen enough in her job to know that all men are assholes. She had just forgotten it, with all the feelings they had awoken in her.

“I remember now,” she said aloud to herself. “I won’t forget again. All men are assholes.” A mantra to live by. Now she just needed to get the fuck away from them. That was going to be tricky, and painful, but her simmering rage would get her out of here, she just knew it.

Melanie had heard them leave and Hunter’s pathetic words. She had fallen for him, for them all. Her chest hurt, not just her ribs either, at the thought of leaving them, but she was so pissed now, she could ignore the pain. She had to run, had to get away, as fast as she could.

She left the bathroom and walked to the corridor. All clear. She slowly limped down the corridor to the stairs she was carried up earlier. In Finn’s arms. No, she would not think of him. Going as slowly and quietly as she was able, she made it to the bottom of the stairs. She could hear their voices, in the kitchen she assumed, but not what they were saying. Laughing at her, probably, at what an easy lay she was going to be. Throw in a bit of paranormal talk, spice up the atmosphere, make them seem sexy and dangerous, then she’d be putty in their hands. Is that what their game was? She wondered how many times it had worked for them in the past.

The sad thing was, Melanie had thought them sexy and dangerous before all the bullshit. She felt like such a fool.

That thought in mind, she headed away from the voices, down a dark passageway, hoping for a back door.

She found her goal at the other side of a huge laundry room. She quietly opened the door, went down a couple of steps off the back verandah, and she was in the yard. It was cold, and she was barefoot and wearing nothing but Finn’s huge T-shirt.

Shit, too late to go back now, plus she didn’t think she had the strength to climb the stairs. She steeled herself and kept walking as fast as she could, which she knew was slow, through the yard and into the trees. She didn’t want them to see her from the road if they even bothered to come after her, so she decided her best bet was going to be following the road from the cover of the forest.

Melanie thought this a great idea at first, but as she got into the forest she found she couldn’t climb over fallen trees, or big rocks, as she was too sore, so going around them was her only option. This meant she lost sight of the road, and when she headed back in the direction she thought the road was in, it wasn’t there.

Melanie sat down on a small rock after what seemed like an hour of slow walking. She was sweating despite her lack of clothing and the cold temperature. There was snow on the ground. What had she been thinking? It was hard work walking through this forest, and she was so sore now. Her leg was throbbing and her chest was on fire, making breathing very difficult. She was starting to feel that this was foolish, but she couldn’t be around the Frederick brothers. When she thought of them she just felt angry and humiliated. She would not go back. She would find the road or a town soon. She just needed a little rest. With that thought she slid off the rock and lay facedown in the leaf matter of the forest floor. Too sore to even turn over, she turned her face to the side and tried to breathe. Just a short rest, she decided. Then she’d be good to go. Then the darkness took her under.

* * * *

Finn was sitting at the table talking to Cooper about pride business, and Hunter and Dane were finishing the dinner. A stew was in the oven and they had a salad in the refrigerator. They were all about to go back and check on Melanie. It had been about an hour ago that they had left her. They decided that she had probably fallen asleep as she hadn’t sought them out and they had not heard her moving around upstairs.

“Should we all go up, or just Dane?” Hunter asked Finn.

“All of us, I think. She will be shocked when Dane shifts. All of us there will help soothe her.” Finn had just finished speaking when there was a knock at the kitchen door.

“Shana,” stated Cooper as he scented her on the way to open the door. They all stood in reverence of the elder and shaman of their pride.

“Alpha.” Shana bowed her head to Finn. “With deepest respect I must ask if you have brought a human onto our pride lands.”

“She is our mate, Shana, and she was hurt by Curtis. That is how Hunter found her. Please sit. We have some questions about the mating, and its healing properties for human mates. Would you care for some tea?”

Shana looked at Finn with amber filling her eyes. “What have you done to your mate, Finn Frederick?”

Finn was shocked to be spoken to like that, but out of reverence for her age, he did not shift and rip her throat out. He looked down at the grey-haired old woman, who was reputed to be over three hundred years old, and growled softly.

“I have done nothing to her, Shana. She is upstairs resting. We just have some questions for you. That is why you were asked here today.” Finn was hanging on to his temper by a thread. As Alpha, he was not accustomed to being spoken to like a cub.

“I can scent she has been in this house, but it is the same scent that I picked up in your yard, the one I followed to the forest’s edge before I came in here. So I ask again, boys, what have you done to your injured mate that has made her run?”

They all roared, deep and low, making the walls vibrate. Finn motioned his head to Cooper, who flew from the room to go upstairs and check if Melanie was there. Cooper was back in seconds.

“She’s gone. Scent leads down the hall and out the laundry room,” Cooper stated, looking at Finn for his command.

“We find her. Now. She is in no condition to be out there in this cold. Please, Shana, stay. We may need you when we bring her back.”

Shana nodded, and they all ran outside, stripped off their clothes, and let the shift take them.

Finn couldn’t believe she had gone. How did she get past them? Was she hurt? He was bigger and faster than his brothers, and he shot ahead of them, following Melanie’s distinctive scent, deep into the forest. His worry and anger drove him to run faster than he thought he had ever run before.

Her scent was easy to track and got stronger by the second. She may have been gone up to an hour, but being injured and so small, she seemed to have not gotten very far.

Finn found her lying facedown in the loamy earth after just three minutes. His heart stopped. She looked so pale and seemed to be hardly breathing. He shifted and squatted down next to her. He stroked down her pale, cool cheek with the back of his fingers. “Melanie, angel, can you open your eyes?”

Her eyes opened slowly, then she blinked up at him. “Finn, is that you? Are you naked?” She tried to sit up, but winced, and flopped back down.

“Can I help you, sweetness? Please.” Finn wanted to sweep her up in his arms, but didn’t want to hurt her.

She nodded weakly and he gave in and gently picked her up and sat down on the ground, cradling her in his lap. “We were frantic, Melanie. I am so happy to be holding you again.”

Just then three large mountain lions bounded into the clearing, running straight to Finn and Melanie. They each nudged her arms and legs. Finn felt Melanie go rigid in his arms. She stopped breathing. She just looked at the three sets of amber eyes staring at her.

Melanie turned her head up and looked at Finn. “That’s them isn’t it? That’s Hunter, Cooper, and Dane. I can feel it when they touch me. It’s the same as when you are all touching me as you, as people, I mean, like before.” She started to leak tears from the corners of her eyes. “You didn’t lie to me?”

“Yes, sweetness, it’s them. We told you we would never lie to you. We were so worried. Please can we take you home and get you warm? We can explain it all to you.”

“You did explain it all, Finn. I just didn’t listen, did I? I thought you just wanted to have sex with me.”

Hunter, Dane, and Cooper all growled and licked Melanie’s face. Finn stood, taking Melanie with him in his arms. “Oh, we want that, sweet Melanie, make no mistake. But you have to want it, too. We would never try to trick or seduce you into bed. We want you forever. There is no going back once we mate. It is not like a marriage. It is forever. We will discuss this all once we are back home. I know the others want to talk to you, too.” Hunter, Dane, and Cooper all growled.

“I’m so sorry. I just got so angry and thought you were all asshole men, trying to get me into bed.” Melanie snuggled into Finn’s naked chest. “You smell great, you know? Why are you naked, Finn?”

“Thank you, sweetness, you smell wonderful to us, too. I am naked as I shifted to get to you faster, and our clothes don’t shift with us, so if we don’t remove them first, they just rip. I am adding up the profanities, too, so please temper your language, or you will have a sore behind once you are well enough for me to punish you.” Finn smiled down at his little mate, very happy to have her back and to see her happy again. She just smiled up at him and relaxed into his chest as he walked up the steps to their home.

Chapter 11

Finn waited on the verandah with Melanie in his arms while the others shifted. She knew it had been them when they had rubbed against her in the forest but seeing them change made it impossible to deny. The air shimmered around them, bones lengthened and popped, and in an instant there stood three deliciously naked men. Hers. She wanted them. She couldn’t and wouldn’t fight it anymore. She did want them. If she could trust what they had been telling her, they wanted her, too, and not just for the length of this protective custody, not just for a quick roll in the hay, but forever. Wow, was she ever one lucky girl. These men were glorious. She was used to naked people, she was a nurse, but she had never seen such fine examples of manhood before. They were all tall, and wide-shouldered, with slim hips and six-packs. As Hunter, Dane, and Cooper dressed, she got a look at their beautiful butts, too. She squirmed a little in Finn’s hold, feeling her belly begin to tingle and her nipples harden. Was she getting wet? She had never, in her life, felt like this.

“I think I should warn you, sweetness, that shifters have very good senses, even in our unshifted form. We can smell your arousal,” Finn whispered in her ear.

She looked up to see all of the others staring at her, with the amber color still glowing in their eyes. “Sorry, I was just looking at you all, and it just happened. I didn’t mean to. It has never happened to me before. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Cooper had finished dressing and he came and took Melanie from Finn, who then put on his own clothes. “Angel, we are not upset with you, why would you think that?”

“Your eyes, they’re all glowing. I’m sorry, Cooper, for everything. I should have talked to you instead of running.”

“Yes, angel, you should have, but we have you now. Our eyes glow with any heightened emotion. The emotion that has us heightened right now is not anger.” Melanie looked up at him, obviously still not understanding.

Cooper kissed her on the lips. She gasped in surprise as his tongue drove into her mouth. She had never been kissed before, but she knew that this must be a great one, as her belly fluttered, and the tingly feelings went straight to her core, causing more juices to leak onto her thighs. Oh my God, they all feel like this. That was why the glowing eye thing was happening. Her arousal grew even more.

Finn had finished dressing and he gently took Melanie back from Cooper, their lips parting with an audible smacking noise. “Later, Cooper. We have company awaiting us, remember.”

With that he strode through the door Dane was holding open for them. Dane gave Melanie a quick kiss on the lips as she passed.

Hunter was waiting inside the doorway and he also leaned in for a kiss.” You scared us all, princess.”

“Sorry, Hunter, it’s been a long, confusing, and scary day.”

Finn continued into the kitchen and sat at the big wooden table, arranging Melanie comfortably on his lap.

“Melanie, I would like to introduce you to one of our pride elders, Shana. She is also our pride shaman.” Finn gestured at a tall grey-haired old woman, who was at the stove stirring a pot.

Shana turned. “Come stir this please, Dane. It is a tonic for your mate.” She came over and sat in the chair next to Finn and Melanie.

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” Melanie stated, holding out her hand.

“The pleasure is mine also, young lady. You have caused quite a stir, I understand.” Shana gently held Melanie’s hand instead of shaking it.

“I’m sorry for all that. I just didn’t understand what was going on.”

“Of course you didn’t. How could you? I am sure these boys tried as best they could to explain things to you, but they are men. They have no idea how a woman thinks. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help you.” Shana shot Finn a look of censure and he growled low in his chest.

“Sorry, Alpha, but you are still a boy to me, and the poor girl should have had a woman here to explain certain things to her. I’m sure you just went at it like a caveman, ‘Me mountain lion, you my woman.’”

Melanie giggled, and Hunter, Dane, and Cooper all snorted, trying hard not to laugh.

“We didn’t quite phrase it like that, Shana, but I think we were perhaps a little blunt,” Finn said thoughtfully. “If any of the other pride males find their mates are human, I think that Melanie or yourself should perhaps be on hand for the explanations.”

Shana released Melanie’s hand and bowed her head to Finn. “You are a good Alpha, Finn, and you will be a good mate to this little human. I have made a tonic that will help her to regain her strength. Now I can answer those questions you have for me.” She went to the stove and took the spoon from Dane. She poured some of the hot liquid into a mug and returned to the seat next to Finn, handing the steaming mug to Melanie with a smile.

Hunter, Dane, and Cooper all came and sat around the table. Melanie smiled at them, and wondered how she could have run from them. She felt in her heart that she was home. She was a complete person here with them. It was a feeling she would not ignore again, no matter how angry she might get at them.

“As I mentioned briefly, Shana, Melanie was injured in Curtis’s escape from the ambulance in Buena Vista last night. She has a concussion, three broken ribs, and some deep lacerations to her leg.” Finn stroked down Melanie’s arm as he related her injuries to Shana. Melanie wasn’t sure if it was to soothe her or himself.

“You should not have gone out in the cold, Melanie. You could have injured yourself further, especially dressed as you are,” Shana scolded.

Melanie blushed and turned her head to look up at Finn. “She is back now, and seems none the worse for her trip outside.”

Melanie was grateful to Finn for his not being too mad at her for her stupidity. She did know better. As a registered nurse she should not have risked a punctured lung by falling on her broken ribs, let alone hypothermia.

“The questions that I have for you, Shana, are about Curtis and about the mating. Curtis has tasted Melanie’s blood. Is there any risk to her from this?”

“You are right to worry. As mate to the Alpha, he would have scented her blood as such. If he wanted to challenge you, or hurt you, she would be a great prize for him,” Shana explained.

“I was afraid of that. We will keep her protected until he is captured. On the question about the mating, we would never put Melanie’s health at risk and we are quite willing to withstand the urge to mate until she is well. However, I seem to recall hearing once that the mating can actually accelerate the healing in a mate if they are injured. Is that true?”

“Yes, Finn.” Shana nodded her head thoughtfully. “The mating ritual can indeed heal an injured human. I have seen it done where there were three mates involved. The human mate was healed a little with each partner, and completely healed by the last bite. I believe you would still have to be very gentle with the mating, which may be hard for all of you.”

“We wouldn’t want to hurt Melanie.” Dane leaned in and kissed Melanie on the lips.

“We can wait as long as it takes, Finn. Cold showers are very effective, I’ve heard,” Cooper said, smirking as he shouldered Dane aside and nipped lightly at Melanie’s lower lip.

Melanie was starting to feel very warm with Finn hard against her back and all the great kissing and nibbling. She turned to Hunter for his input. Hunter leaned across and continued his devastating kiss from earlier. Melanie felt her nipples harden to points under the soft material of Finn’s T-shirt.

“I think if it means Melanie is no longer in any pain then we should do it for that reason alone,” Hunter stated, softly nibbling down Melanie’s neck and making her squirm in Finn’s lap.

“That was my thinking also, Hunter. It will speed up her recovery to hours instead of weeks for those broken ribs. Please, sweetness, stop with the fidgeting, you are making things very hard for me.” Finn smiled softly down at her, and she gave a little wiggle of her hips to see if she understood correctly what he meant. Oh yeah, he was hard, and huge. He had looked large outside while he had gotten dressed, but Melanie had only gotten a glimpse. He now felt massive against her buttocks. Maybe they could never be mated. She was just too small for them.

She felt her budding arousal wash away from her. She knew she should never have started to imagine a life where she was no longer alone. This was just going to hurt so badly when it ended, and she knew it would end soon now, once they discovered they could not mate with her.

* * * *

Shana rose and gripped Melanie’s hand softly in both of hers. “Don’t run, Melanie, talk to your mates. They are good men. The mating bond makes lying to one another impossible, so you can always trust what they say, as they can trust you.”

So that explained why she was always blurting out whatever she felt. Melanie had thought it was the head injury, or the drugs they had given her.

“Thank you, Shana. We are grateful for your help.” Finn escorted Shana to the door.

Shana bowed her head to Finn and then to Cooper, smiled at Hunter and Dane, and left.

“Why are you looking like you want to run again, little one?” Dane asked, moving to the chair Shana had vacated next to Finn and Melanie.

“We promised honesty, angel, remember? Don’t give up on us so soon.” Cooper sat on the chair on Finn’s other side, and Hunter perched on the table next to them.

“I don’t want to run from you, I want to stay. But you won’t be able to mate me, and then you will have me leave. I will be alone again.” Melanie looked down at her hands, not making eye contact with any of them.

“I am glad to hear you are not running, but why were you alone, Melanie? Are you not close to your family?” Finn asked her and gently lifted her chin so he was looking into her beautiful eyes.

“I don’t have any family now. My parents died four years ago and I was an only child.” Her eyes shimmered with tears. Finn wanted to take all of her pain away, but he knew this was an old hurt. He couldn’t change it, but he was now determined to make her future full of nothing but happiness. He nodded his head, urging her to continue.

“They were coming to collect me from my High School graduation party. They were really late, I was the only one left at the school hall, and I was mad at them for forgetting me, and embarrassed when the cleaners started to come in. One of the teachers offered to drive me home. I refused, and started to walk home. I was only a few minutes from home when I saw all of the emergency vehicles. I recognized the car. It was wrapped around a telephone pole. A drunk driver had run them off the road. They died instantly, so did the other driver.”

She told the story with very little emotion in her voice, but the pain was pouring out of her. It was making Finn’s heart hurt.

“I had always wanted to be a nurse, so I worked three jobs, putting myself through college. I wanted to make them proud. I was working so hard all the time, I had no time for my friends, and eventually they stopped calling. I then found if I never let anyone close, I never felt any more pain. I didn’t want to ever again feel as bad as when my parents had died.”

“So you have no other family, princess?” Hunter asked her, stroking down her cheek softly.

“No, my parents were both only children, too, and my grandparents had all passed away when I was little.”

Finn began to growl low in his chest. She had not mentioned any old boyfriends, and it made him crazy to think of her with anyone else, but he had to know just how alone had his poor little mate been all these years.

“What about boyfriends over the years, Melanie? You must have let them close?” She looked up at him and couldn’t seem to find the words.

“You haven’t had any boyfriends?” She shook her head. “But you must have dated.”

“Never let anyone close—that was my mantra. That’s why you won’t be able to mate with me, don’t you see?”

Hunter and Dane just shook their heads. Finn looked at Cooper. He had a huge shit-eating grin on his face now. If Finn was not so controlled, he was sure he would be wearing the exact same expression. But he would never make Melanie feel the least bit ashamed, so he smoothed his voice and looked deeply into her eyes.

“Our mate is trying to tell us that she thinks are huge cocks are not going to fit in her tight virgin pussy.” Maybe he was feeling just a little smug after all. Melanie gasped and smacked him lightly on the chest before burying her head there.

Hunter and Dane looked at each other, then at Finn and Cooper. They looked as though they had just won the lottery, and the amber was glowing brightly in their eyes.

Cooper was softly laughing. He nuzzled Melanie’s ear and softly growled. ”We will fit just fine, angel. We were made for each other, remember?”

Chapter 12

As glad that she was that it was all out in the open, Melanie was supremely embarrassed. The men, though, looked as happy as kids on Christmas morning, and she was the parcel they were getting to unwrap. That thought had Melanie getting all wet again.

Finn growled in her ear. “You smell happy again, sweetness. Does that mean we have allayed your fears?”

“I feel better, but I am still scared. I can’t see how it is going to be possible. I would hate to disappoint you all. I might be terrible at sex. You all must have much more experience than me. What if I suck?” All that got her was four men laughing, but the way their eyes were on fire, she knew they were happy with her, not laughing at her.

“See, you are so sexy, you can’t possible disappoint us, little one,” Dane said this as he leaned in and started to kiss her. He kissed differently than Hunter, just as hot, but his tongue thrust in firmly, stroking everywhere in her mouth. She found herself thrusting her tongue into his mouth, too, and loving his musky, spicy flavor. It was making her want to get closer to him, so she leaned forward and started to unbutton his uniform shirt, desperate now to feel his skin.

Dane let her undo his shirt and he shrugged it off his broad shoulders. Melanie’s hands roamed over his hard muscled chest and down over his six-pack. He groaned under her gentle touch, deepening their kiss even more.

Melanie broke the kiss and continued to explore Dane’s naked chest with her hands. She leaned forward and kissed his neck and pecs. His skin broke out in goose bumps, and he groaned loudly. Taking that as encouragement, she circled his nipple with her tongue and lightly sucked it into her mouth.

“Oh fuck, little one, you have to stop, I am seriously about to come in my pants.” Dane pulled back slightly. “You are amazing, my mate.” He kissed her on the lips then stood up awkwardly, adjusting his crotch.

“I think you have just shown us all that you are not ‘terrible at sex,’ sweetness. Let’s get you up into a warm bath. Then we will see if you are up to the mating ritual.” Finn stood with Melanie in his arms and started to head upstairs.

Hunter and Cooper raced ahead, stating they were going to run the bath.

“I’m nervous again now, Finn, but I was ready to climb all over Dane a minute ago.”

“People get turned on and their inhibitions disappear and they just go with their hormones. It is amplified about a hundredfold with the mating bond between shifters. It is almost painful not to be touching your mate when you are aroused.”

“That’s how it was, Finn. I want you all, very badly.” She started to nibble his neck, then lick the redness, moving her hands under his T-shirt to feel his ridged abdomen. “You feel so amazing, and taste so sweet and musky.”

Finn stumbled on the steps, and Dane slapped him on the back. “It’s a sweet sort of hell, isn’t it?”

“Bath first, Melanie.” Finn gently placed Melanie on the bed and stripped off his shirt and pants. He had no briefs on and Melanie found that very sexy. His erection popped free. It almost looked like it was reaching for her. It was red and moist at the end. Melanie didn’t even think, she just leaned forward and licked the moisture off the end. The taste exploded on her tongue. She licked some more, loving the sweet yet salty flavor.

* * * *

Finn let out a groan. He was so surprised by his mate’s action. She was an innocent when it came to sex, but, my God, she was a fucking natural. How did he get so lucky? His mate was beautiful, kind, caring, and a fucking sex goddess.

“Fuck, stop Melanie. I want to come inside you this first time, not all over your face.” He reluctantly pulled away from her.

“You taste good everywhere, Finn.” Melanie was licking her lips. Shit he had to get out of here before he came all over her. He had never been so hard before in his life.

“I’ll check on the bath.” He raced to the bathroom.

Dane was by the door, naked already. “That was hot, little one, watching you suck on Finn’s cock. Can I see if you think I taste sweet, too?”

“Bath first, Dane. Bring her.” Finn knew he was sounding like a caveman, but he was in so much pain. His balls were tight against his body, pre-cum dripping off the end of his cock, which was aching and tight.

Dane laughed, but went and picked Melanie up and brought her into the bathroom. Finn lowered himself into the warm bath, knowing a cold shower would have helped more. Cooper and Hunter were already in there. It was a huge square tub with a molded seat in each corner. He reached up his arms and Dane lowered the lovely Melanie into them.

* * * *

“Ahh, that’s nice and warm. Thanks, Hunter. Thanks, Cooper.” She smiled at them. “Why am I the only one dressed?”

“I wouldn’t call that dressed, princess.” Hunter stared at her chest.

The T-shirt was clinging to her now that it was wet. Finn peeled it off her, palming her breasts and rolling her hardened nipples between his fingers. She pushed her breasts into his hands, gasping at the pleasure and at the catch in her ribs that the movement caused.

Cooper came over and lowered his head to her breast, suckling one of her nipples. It felt so good, like he was sucking on her clitoris at the same time. She wiggled against Finn’s hard cock, pressing it tighter against her buttocks and ran her fingers into Cooper’s locks, anchoring his magical lips to her breast.

Dane sloshed over and took her lips in a ferocious kiss, gently cradling her head in his hands. Pulling back from her lips, he breathed heavily. “I want you so badly, little one. I have never wanted anything more. Are you ready to bond with us?”

“I’m on fire, Dane. I need something, I need you all. Hunter, I have to touch you, too.” She freed one of her hands from Cooper’s hair and reached for Hunter. He stood and came to her, his straining erection bobbing in front of him.

She didn’t know this person she had become in the last few minutes. She was open to emotions and freely giving herself to these men, and it felt so right. It felt as though the years of loneliness were being erased from her very soul. She knew she would never feel alone or cold again.

She acted on instinct and drew Hunter’s erection to her lips. His cock was not as thick or long as Finn’s, but it was still huge, her fingers not meeting around the solid girth of him. She licked at the end, and when he inhaled sharply and groaned, she lowered her mouth onto it fully, gently sucking as much as she could into her mouth.

Hunter growled and gently rocked his pelvis toward her mouth. Finn was kissing down her neck and she ground her ass against his straining erection. She had never done anything like this before, but somehow, here with these men, it felt nothing but natural.

“Are you ready for this, sweetness? We would never pressure you into this bond, but we could not want you more.” Finn licked her neck. “This is where I will mark you as my mate. It will always be there, showing every shifter that you are mine.”

“I am going to come, princess, stop.” Hunter growled and gently removed his cock from her mouth.

Melanie reached for him again. She wanted more of his taste in her mouth. They all tasted so good, all slightly different, but overridingly sweet and slightly tart as well.

“No more just yet, Melanie. I have to come in this sweet pussy the first time, then I will add my mating bite to Finn’s and mark you as mine. But believe me, after that I will be happy to let you suck on me whenever you like. You have by far the sweetest mouth I have ever felt.”

Melanie knew she probably should have been jealous of anyone they had ever slept with before, but knowing their ages, she would be naive in the extreme to think they were virgins. But she had to ask one final question before she gave herself fully to them.

“I know I will never want anyone but you four to ever touch me, but will you all be satisfied with just me?”

“We will never want another female to ever touch us either, angel. The mating bond is such that no other woman will ever again appeal to us sexually. If you had denied the bond and left us, we would have led a celibate life until our deaths,” Cooper said as he lifted Melanie up off Finn’s lap and kissed her softly on the lips. “Let’s get you dry.”

Melanie wrapped her legs around his hips as he stepped from the bath and walked with her toward the bed. Hunter was there with a big soft towel and he dried her back while Cooper continued to kiss her.

Dane drew the curtains, dimming the late afternoon light. Cooper placed her on the big bed and dried her front. He then dried himself and crawled up onto the bed with her. He pushed her down onto her back as he resumed their gentle kissing, being careful to keep his weight off her injured ribs.

“I need to taste you, angel. It will help ease the way for Finn as well.” With that he started to kiss down her neck, down her sternum and abdomen, to her pussy.

“Oh God,” she moaned, not able to say anything else as Dane lay down next to her and turned her head to his and captured her mouth with his lips and tongue. Melanie needed more. She needed them all touching her. She reached out with her hands, searching for Finn and Hunter. They had to be close.

Cooper spread her legs and gently licked along the lips of her vagina, moving up to suck lightly on her clitoris.

“Cooper!” She groaned, breaking away from Dane’s kiss, needing air desperately. Hunter lay down on the other side of her and started kissing down her neck and palming her breast.

She was tightening like a wound spring inside. Cooper inserted a finger inside her and sucked harder on her clit. “I’m coming!” she screamed, the feelings all too much. She exploded into the biggest orgasm of her life.

She was gasping and shaking, as Cooper slowly removed his finger and stroked her clit as she came down from her orgasm.

“You taste like heaven, angel, fucking heaven.” Cooper licked his lips, rose over her, and kissed her full on the lips. He then moved to the side and she saw Finn kneel between her spread legs.

“You look so beautiful when you come, sweetness. I want to see it again. I want you to come all over my cock as I drive into you and seal us together, forever.” Finn’s voice was husky and low, his eyes glowing amber.

“I want you, Finn, please make love to me.”

“I will take this slowly. Let me know if I hurt you. I will slow down, even if it kills me.”

She couldn’t wait for him to go slow. She reached between them and grasped his leaking cock. With a shuffle of her hips she placed him at her core, rubbing him over her clit.

Finn lowered himself onto his forearms, keeping himself off her injured ribs. He kissed her deeply and began a slow thrust into the tight sheath of her sex.

He was going too slowly for Melanie. She would go mad if he didn’t fill her. She wrapped her legs around his buttocks, grabbed his shoulders, and tried to pull him deeper. She gasped at the feeling of fullness. Finn’s cock continued its entry. He then pulled back a little and she mewled her protest. But he pushed straight back in again, a little deeper, setting up a gentle rhythm. The feel of his hard shaft stroking her pussy was driving her rapidly toward another climax.

Breaking the kiss, he nuzzled and licked her neck. “Come for me, sweetness. I will take you fully when you come, then you will feel no pain.”

With those words, he bit into her neck and pushed to the hilt inside of her. She screamed her release, tightening around Finn’s cock, feeling every spurt from his cock as it bathed her womb in jet after jet of hot semen. She had never thought she would feel such pleasure.

Chapter 13

Finn released his canines from Melanie’s soft neck, licking closed the small punctures and getting the final taste of her buttery-flavored blood. Creamy and salty. He knew it was the taste of home. His cock continued to spurt his cum into her, his pleasure pulsing through him. He had never come so hard. It was a revelation. It was like he had never really had a climax before. This was so much better. He would never get enough of his mate.

“I’m sorry, sweetness, am I crushing you?” He tried to rise off her. He had collapsed onto her with his mammoth orgasm.

“Don’t you dare move, Finn. I’m still coming.”

He focused again on his cock and he noticed her pussy was still contracting around him. He thrust his semisoft cock, eliciting a deep moan from his little mate.

When the pulsing in her channel stopped, he rose and pulled from her warm body. Stroking over her ribs, he asked again how she was.

“I’m in no pain, Finn. They feel a little tingly, but not painful at all. I feel tingly all over. It’s a yummy feeling.”

“Yummy, sweetness? Is that a feeling.”

“It is if I say it is.” Melanie giggled. “That was wonderful, Finn. I’m glad you were my first, no one could ever have been that amazing.”

* * * *

“I could have been that amazing, little one,” drawled Dane, wiping her down with a warm cloth and taking Finn’s place between Melanie’s thighs.

“I just meant that I was glad I have come to you all, a virgin. No one, but you four, could have made this so amazing. Is that better, Dane?”

“Much better. Are you ready for me, little one? Watching you with Finn has me about to explode.” Dane leaned down and suckled a hard nipple into his mouth, biting down on the end and making Melanie push her breast deeper into his mouth.

He wanted to make this good for her, not just get an orgasm and marking of her. They would never have a first time together again. He wanted her to always remember this first time with him.

He released her breast and rolled her over onto her stomach, lifting her easily onto her hands and knees.

He stroked down her back and massaged the globes of her ass. Leaning down to cover her with his body, he nibbled down her neck.

“Your ass is so smooth and perfect, Melanie, I can’t wait to fuck it.” He smiled at her gasp. She was so new to this she hadn’t had time to consider the logistics of a ménage relationship. They would teach her to crave having all of her holes full of cock. He knew she would love it. She didn’t even realize how naturally sexual she was.

“Not this time, little one.” he purred in her ear, “but soon. Someone would like some attention, Melanie.” He reached forward and lifted her chin so she was looking at Cooper’s straining erection.

She didn’t hesitate. She licked the pre-cum from the bulbous head of his cock and started to suck him into her mouth. Dane spread the cheeks of her ass and licked her from ass to clit. Her taste just about made him come, and the moans coming from her mouth around Cooper’s cock were driving him crazy with lust.

He lined his cock up with her pussy and rocked slowly into her. She felt so tight, so fucking perfect. He continued his slow but determined entry until he was buried balls-deep in her tight hot cunt.

He was not going to last, she felt too good, but he would not come until she went with him. Her moans were louder, her juices coating his cock. He reached around and pushed firmly on her clit.

She screamed her release, losing Cooper’s cock. Dane surged into her and bit down on the back of her neck, drinking her warm blood down and shooting his cum deep into her body. He continued to come as her cunt spasmed around him, milking the seed from him.

“Are you all right, little one?” Dane asked, licking the last drops of her blood from the back of her neck where it met her shoulder. Her pussy clenched as he did. “It will always stimulate you when we bite or lick our mating marks.”

“I just have to look at you to be stimulated, you are all so hot.” Melanie reached for Cooper’s cock, licking some of the stream of pre-cum from the end.

“That’s good to know. God you look sexy sucking on my brother’s cock.” Dane ground his cock into her pussy, getting hard again.

* * * *

Hunter not too gently put his hand on Dane’s shoulder.

“Sorry, man, got carried away, can you blame me, though? She is so fucking beautiful.” Dane gently took his semihard cock from Melanie’s pussy.

Hunter didn’t want to hurt Melanie, but his balls were about to explode. “Are you feeling well enough to take me, too, princess?” Hunter dreaded her turning him down, but he would back off if she needed a break.

“I don’t know why, Hunter, but I need you and Cooper, too. I feel like I am going to die if I can’t have you inside me soon. Please take me.”

“It’s the mating bond. Now that we’ve started it, your body needs it to be finished.” Hunter thanked the fates for that.

He reached under her and tweaked her nipples. They were hard peaks. She cried out, placing Cooper’s cock back between her lips. Hunter thrust his pelvis forward, and his cock plunged to the hilt into her tight pussy.

Hers was without a doubt the tightest pussy he had ever been in, and the only one he would ever want to be in again. He felt like the luckiest man alive. He thrust harder, her pussy coating his cock with a fresh gush of her juices. She began to bob her head on Cooper’s cock in time with his rapid thrusts.

He pinched her nipples hard and she came apart beneath him. He bit down on the other side of her neck to Dane’s bite, sinking his canines deep and drinking her warm fragrant blood. His orgasm roared down his spine, drew up his balls, his cum shooting from the end of his cock. It felt like he was shooting gallons into her sheath. It was mind-blowing. He knew he would never be the same. This woman was his world now.

She shivered as he licked the blood from his bite and withdrew unwillingly from her body.

* * * *

Dane wiped Melanie down with a warm washer, as Hunter and Finn laid her down on the bed. Her arms and legs were shaking. So were Cooper’s. He just knew he was going to go mad if he didn’t get inside his mate. The pull was so strong that he didn’t think he could stop if she asked him to. His brothers would have to restrain him.

“Cooper, please, I need you inside me. I’m on fire, please.” Melanie was writhing on the bed. Hunter and Dane sat on either side of her and tried to calm her movements. Finn sat at her head and stroked her hair from her face.

“The need to finish the mating has her extremely aroused plus the healing is racing through her now. Your bite will finish it and give her some peace. She is strong, Cooper.” Finn knew him well and knew he needed the reassurance that he was not going to hurt their mate.

With that reassurance, though, his restraint snapped, and he drove his cock into his mate at last. He growled low and loud and started a punishing rhythm. Melanie bucked her hips to meet him stroke for stroke, giving him the confidence to love his mate the way they both needed.

He lowered his head and suckled alternately on her breasts, biting the turgid nipples at their peak. Melanie responded by digging her heels into his ass and pushing him deeper inside her.

“Your pussy feels like nirvana to me, angel. How did I ever live without you?” Cooper nuzzled her neck on the opposite side of Finn’s bite. His balls were tight and the tingling in his spine told him he was only seconds away from coming. He would not go without her. Moving his hands under her ass, he tilted her pelvis and ground her clitoris against his pubic bone. Her pussy was starting to quiver. He scooped some of her juices onto his finger and used it to rim her tight anus. He inserted the tip and began to fuck her with it, in time with his pounding cock.

That pushed her over the edge, and she screamed his name as her pussy clenched him tighter still. He bit into her flesh and drank her blood, the taste sweeter and richer than the finest of wines. He came with the first splash of her blood down his throat and he roared in his passionate release. Pumping his hips, and his finger, until her spasming pussy stilled and his seed finally stopped pumping into her, he prolonged their pleasure as much as he could.

She finally relaxed under him and wrapped her arms around his neck, both their bodies sweaty but satiated. He licked the last of the blood from his bite, causing little shivers to run over her body.

“You are mine forever now, sweet angel, and I am the luckiest man alive.” Cooper rolled to the side, taking her with him so she was sprawled on top of him.

Finn got up and started the shower. Hunter and Dane had laid their heads on Melanie’s lower back and were massaging her tight buttocks.

“How are you feeling, princess?” Hunter asked, drawing circles on her skin with his finger.

“I feel wonderful. Never in my wildest fantasies could I have imagined sex to be like that. Just, wow.” She snuggled into Cooper’s chest, depositing little kisses on him.

“It isn’t always like that, little one. That level of ‘wow’ is reserved for mates alone.” Dane lifted her off Cooper and stood her next to the bed.

“How are your injuries feeling, angel?” Cooper was anxious that his rough lovemaking had not harmed her.

“I feel good actually, no headache, and no pain when I breathe now, and the stitches in my leg are getting really itchy.”

Cooper undid the bandages gently from her torso. No bruising was there. He bent and took the waterproof dressings off her leg. The stitches were still there, but there was only faint pink scars under them.

Melanie was looking down at her leg, too. “It’s healed completely. Shana was right. How cool is that? I got the best sex on the planet and all my injuries healed in minutes as well.”

“Don’t tell them that, sweetness. They won’t get their swelled heads through any doorways.” Finn walked up and spun Melanie around. He was still damp from his shower. “I am glad that you are no longer in pain.”

“Thanks, me, too. Can I have a shower please? I feel very sticky and sweaty.” She blushed prettily. Cooper took her from Finn’s arms and carried her into the shower.

“You’re most welcome, angel. We had the best sex ever, too. But don’t you get a big head either.” Cooper stood her under the warm water and began to wash her with the fragrant body wash they had brought especially for this en suite, especially for when they met their mate. Hunter and Dane joined them in the custom-made shower. It was big enough for all of them.

“This shower is huge. Is that for the same reason as the bed?”

Hunter poured shampoo onto his hands and began to wash Melanie’s long strawberry-blonde hair. “Yes, princess, and this is the first time we have used it. We have waited a long time for you.”

Melanie blushed and gave each of the brothers a hug. Cooper could not believe how lovely and sweet their mate was.

“I am feeling better now, guys. Can I walk around now instead of being carried?”

Cooper leaned her back, rinsing off the shampoo and body wash, picked her up, and carried her out of the shower. “No.”

“We have waited the equivalent of a human lifetime for you, sweetness, let us enjoy you for a while,” Finn explained as he gently dried her. “Life will soon be back to normal. When we are not all here, then you will have to manage to walk by yourself.”

“See, you have helped him to find his sense of humor, angel. I would have thought it was not possible.” Cooper pulled the covers back on the bed that Hunter and Dane had just remade with fresh linens and slid to the center of the bed. “Come and have a nap with me, angel, you must be exhausted.”

Finn set her on the bed and she crawled over and snuggled into Cooper’s side, using his wide chest as a pillow. “I have pride business to see to before dinner, and Hunter and Dane have to check in with work. Rest, sweetness.” Finn leaned in and kissed the top of her head.

Hunter and Dane did the same, but her eyes were already closed, her breathing slowing. Cooper wrapped her tightly in his arms, feeling content and happier than he could ever remember being.

Chapter 14

Melanie woke feeling refreshed. She didn’t know how long she had slept. The room was dark and the heavy drapes were drawn. Cooper was a warm pillow under her head, the slow rise and fall of his chest indicating he was still asleep. It couldn’t be too late. They would have been woken for dinner.

Cooper was hers to explore. He was lying next to her naked, like a treat. She started slowly running her hands slowly over the defined musculature of his chest and abdomen. He had no hair on his chest, none of them did, which she found strange considering they went all furry when they shifted.

She soon found some hair, a little happy trail that led to a bush of blond curls around his huge hard cock. She moved down over his groin and took him in both of her hands. His shaft was heavy, and it lengthened further under her exploring fingers, reaching almost to his navel. She had never thought of a penis as a thing of beauty, but these men’s packages were changing her opinion on that. She took his shaft into her mouth and moved her hands to gently feel his balls. They were sparsely haired, but heavy, the sac as soft as a satin bag. She decided to lick them, too.

“You are killing me, angel. Keep going, that feels so good,” Cooper whispered low into the darkness.

“Sorry to wake you, but you are so pretty, I had to explore you.” She giggled at his laugh. “Can I suck on you until you come, Cooper, my first blow job?”

“I am yours, always, Melanie.”

Melanie sucked him into her mouth, his pre-cum oozing onto her tongue, stoking her desire. She held him with both of her hands and moved her hands in sync with her mouth. His shaft was silky on the surface, but rock hard and pulsing in her grasp. Cooper was gently thrusting his hips, pushing progressively deeper into her mouth. His cock was bumping against the back of her throat. She swallowed against the invasion.

“Fuck, angel, that feels so good, swallow me again, I’m coming.”

Cooper stilled beneath her, his shaft pumping spurt after spurt of his cum down her throat and onto her tongue. She felt so powerful, giving this huge man so much pleasure. Feeling the result of his passion for her running down her throat. It was a revelation to her. She loved it.

Cooper slowed his breathing and reached to pull her into his arms. “If that was how good you are with your first blow job then heaven help us if you improve any. We will never let you alone, angel. Your mouth is simply astounding. Thank you, mate.”

He kissed her deeply and she felt her confidence grow with his praise. She grew restless in his arms, his kiss driving her arousal out of control. He reached down with one hand, circling her clit, using her own juices to lubricate his movements.

He slid her up his body, sucking hard on her nipple and plunging two fingers into her aching pussy. She cried out and started to ride his fingers, too aroused to feel inhibited by this new act of carnality. When his thumb pushed down on her clit she came, hard, pushing herself against his fingers and pulling his head tight to her breast. She mewled and moaned until the spasms subsided.

“Cooper.” She had no more words. She let her head fall to the pillows and hugged Cooper close.

Their breathing had just returned to normal when Hunter sauntered into the room. He grinned at them and leaned down to pick her up and sat her astride his lap.

“It smells of great sex in here, princess.”

“How do you know it was great?” asked Cooper as he drew on cargo pants and a black T-shirt.

“Melanie was involved, how could it be anything else? Plus the walls were shaking from your cries when you came, Coop.”

The old Melanie would have blushed, but this newly mated woman just reached up and, clasping Hunter’s face between her hands, kissed him with all the passion she felt for him.

His tongue thrust between her lips and they dueled for dominance of the kiss. Hunter won easily, reaching to grasp her buttocks and grind himself against her naked sex. He was hard and the friction against her clit had her soaring toward another orgasm.

Hunter somehow deepened the kiss further and she moaned her approval. He ground his erection against her and thrust his thumb deeply into her ass. She came instantly, soaking his pants with her juices and screaming into his mouth.

Hunter groaned with her, keeping up the pressure in her ass until she stilled. “What are you doing to me? I feel like I can’t get enough of you all,” she told him as she rested her head against his chest. He had given her a shattering climax, and he still had his clothes on.

“What am I doing to you?” Hunter groaned. “Do you realize you just made me come in my pants, little mate. I have never done that before, not even when I was a randy teenager.”

Cooper took her from Hunter and placed her on wobbly legs on the floor. “I don’t care what we are doing to you, just as long as we keep doing it. That was one sexy sight watching the two of you grope like those aforementioned randy teenagers. I could fuck you right now, angel, but I know we are wanted downstairs for dinner. Dane will be pissed if we don’t head down there now.”

He patted her on the butt. “Let’s find you something to wear, or no one will be eating anything but you.”

Chapter 15

Finn walked into the kitchen and the room was filled with a truly delicious smell, and it was not from Dane’s cooking. His mate was sitting on Cooper’s lap at their kitchen table, wearing one of Cooper’s black T-shirts. The smell of her arousal was flooding the entire room. It was mouthwatering. Her cheeks were flushed and she was looking at Dane with love in her eyes. She may not admit it to herself yet, but he could feel it in their bond, she loved them. He had always known that there would be attraction between him and his mate, when he found her, but he was totally unprepared for the overwhelming love that he was feeling for her. His mother and fathers were blessed with deep love in their relationship. He just never dreamed that fate would give them that, too.

“You look and smell delicious. How was your nap?” He bent and gave Melanie a deep lingering kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, moaning into his mouth.

“It was great, thank you, I feel wonderful.”

“That is probably due to the orgasms, not the nap,” Cooper stated, nibbling on his mating mark on the side of her neck.

Finn could smell a fresh gush of her cream. “Why was I not invited to witness these orgasms?” He lightly tweaked one of her hardening nipples and she started to fidget in Cooper’s lap.

“Stop it, you two, or I will be unmanned by this delectable creature, as Hunter just was.” Cooper tightened his grip around Melanie to still her.

“Really, in his pants?” Dane laughed as Hunter came into the room.

“What can I say, she is just so fucking sexy.” Hunter didn’t look upset at all as he walked over and kissed Melanie hard on the lips. “We both had a great time, didn’t we, princess?”

“Yes, we did, Hunter.”

“Let’s get you fed, little one. You are going to need to build up your strength to keep up with us.” Dane brought the steaks, salad, and rolls he had prepared to the table and they all sat down to eat.

Finn looked around the table and knew that they were really a family now. Melanie had made that huge a difference in just a few hours. The house now felt like a home. He had a lump in his throat that had nothing to do with the food. This feeling of love for his mate was so unexpectedly overwhelming.

“We have a lot to learn about each other, sweetness. Prepare to tell your whole life story over the next few days.” Finn was sitting next to Melanie, who was still sitting on Cooper’s lap. He reached across and stroked her naked thigh under the table.

“There really isn’t much more to tell. I have done nothing but work in the last four years, before that was just normal school stuff.” Melanie stroked his hand on her thigh. “You have all been around a lot longer than me. I am the one who has a lot to learn.”

“We will have to make arrangements to get your belongings brought here as soon as possible. You should have your things here. I want you to feel this is your home, too, now.” Hunter looked deeply at Melanie when he said this and Finn wondered if they were going to have a fight to get her to move here with them straight away.

“Okay, I can go and pack up whenever you can arrange for me to get back there.” She took another forkful of salad from Cooper. He had been feeding her, despite her protests that she could do it herself.

Finn looked at his brothers and they all exchanged puzzled looks. They had all expected a fight it seemed. Cooper just shrugged, so did Dane.

“No problem, princess. Now you are healed we can go as soon as Curtis is captured. I don’t want you off pride lands until he is dealt with.” It seemed Hunter was also happy with her easy acquiescence. Finn, however, was more curious.

“Is there anything you will miss from your old life, sweetness?”

“No, Finn, I only had work and my small apartment. I never went out. I will miss my work colleagues, but after what I saw, I don’t think I would have been able to work there again.” She shivered lightly and Finn squeezed her thigh.

“I started living when I woke up and saw all of you.” She started to cry and Finn felt his heart breaking at the feel of her sadness.

He lifted her off Cooper’s lap and placed her straddling his lap, facing him. He kissed her deeply, trying to eradicate her pain and sadness.

“We feel the same, Melanie, as though we had no life at all until Hunter found you. We have you forever now, and we couldn’t be happier,” Finn told her reverently.

She put her hands on Finn’s shoulders and pulled him down to her lips. Her taste made his cock fill and throb. She rubbed her naked pussy over it while moaning into his mouth. He swept the dinner plates away from the table in front of him and lifted her onto the table. Not breaking their kiss, he unsnapped his jeans, freed his cock, and pushed her back down to the wooden surface. She gasped as he plunged to the hilt into her warm wet pussy in one thrust. He broke their kiss, stood straight, and pulled her legs up to his shoulders to get a deeper penetration.

Cooper slid her T-shirt over her breasts and bit down on one of her erect nipples. Finn started to rock into her faster and harder, the sight of his brother at their mate’s breast, driving her pleasure higher, made his balls draw up tight. Melanie was moaning and rocking her head from side to side. “I’m not going to last, Cooper.” Finn gasped between his own moans of pleasure.

Cooper started to massage her clit and suck hard on her nipple. She exploded around his cock, the pulsing of her tight pussy pushing Finn over the edge, and he came hard, shooting his cum deep into his mate. He knew he would never get sick of fucking his little mate, she was so sexy.

“I am sorry if that was too rough, sweetness, but you were about to unman me like Hunter, and I am far too old for that to happen.” He stroked the hair from her beautiful face so he could see her pale green eyes shining with excitement.

“Don’t ever be sorry for that, Finn, I loved seeing you come undone like that. You are too uptight sometimes.” She was smiling up at him, looking a little smug.

“Well, next time I feel uptight I will seek you out to relax me.” Her look turned heated and she clenched her pussy around his softening cock. “Sweetness, I can do this all night, but the table is not the most comfortable place for you to lie for hours.” He reluctantly pulled from her warm body and tucked himself in.

* * * *

“I did all the cooking. I think Melanie can be my dessert.” With that, Dane swept in and took Melanie into his arms, kissing her deeply. He was starving for the taste and feel of Melanie. He strode with her to the lounge room and placed her gently on the lounge suite.

“I missed you this afternoon, Dane.” Melanie gasped out as Dane smoothed his hands down her body. Finn and his brothers followed them and arranged themselves so they were all able to stroke some part of their mate.

“I missed you, too, little one. Can I have some of your sweet cream for dessert?” he asked, as he lifted her T-shirt and placed kisses up the inside of her thighs. The smell of her leaking juices was making his eyes glow and his cock was so hard he had had trouble walking. The sight of Melanie beneath his brothers had him so aroused he couldn’t even make it to the bedroom with her.

Cooper knelt by the side of the lounge, and pulling Melanie’s T-shirt off, sucked one of her hardening nipples into his mouth while pinching the other nipple firmly. “I love feasting on your tits, angel.”

Hunter lifted one of Melanie’s legs over the back of the lounge, giving Dane full access to her glistening pussy. “I think she is ready to give you whatever you want.” Hunter encouraged Dane.

Melanie reached up and started rubbing Hunter’s erection through his jeans. Hunter pulled his jeans off and placed his erection in Melanie’s outstretched palm. He growled softly as she started to stroke him.

Dane proceeded to open her glistening folds with his tongue and dip lightly into her entrance. He rubbed her clitoris in circles. Increasing the pressure as she started to moan, and buck under his mouth.

“Please, Dane, I want to come with you inside me.” She moaned. Dane gave her clit a long hard suck and came away. He lifted her onto her knees on the couch, her arms across the back. He pushed down his jeans and pushed into her in one smooth thrust. Melanie moaned deeply and he withdrew slowly, not wanting to come. “God, you feel so good, little one. Open those pretty lips for Hunter.”

Melanie did as he asked and Hunter pushed between her lips. Dane began to slowly fuck his mate, savoring the tight heat of her pussy. He knew he was in heaven, knew she was heaven. She began to push back against him, her moans muffled by Hunter’s cock in her mouth. Moistened by her juices his finger slid easily into her tight ass, causing her to cry out.

“Easy, little one, just getting you ready. This ass is so tight, Cooper is gonna need me to loosen it up for him.”

Cooper growled at her breast, his eyes glowing brighter.

Dane reached under Melanie and started to softly rub around her clit. She began to push back against him, harder and faster. He stilled her hips and kept to his slow steady pace.

“You are killing me, Dane, please, faster, harder.”

“Come on, little one, suck on Hunter. Once he comes you and I can go at your pace.” He was having trouble with the pace, too, but he wanted this to go on, it felt so good.

Melanie gently cupped Hunter’s balls and licked the pre-cum from Hunter’s engorged cock. He moaned his pleasure and taking her face in his hands, gently rocked into her mouth again.

“Swallow around that cock, Melanie. It feels so tight when you do that.” Hunter gasped as she complied, thrusting a little harder and faster. “I’m coming, princess,” he cried as he stilled and Melanie swallowed convulsively as he shot deep in her throat.

As soon as she released Hunter’s cock, Dane lost all control. He started to fuck his mate fast and hard, pinching rhythmically on her clit and adding another finger to thrust into her ass.

“Come with me,” Dane cried out as he felt the orgasm shoot down his spine. Melanie clamped down on his cock and his fingers and rode him as they fell over the edge together. Dane slumped over her back and gently kissed his mating mark, causing delicate little shivers to rock Melanie’s body.

Hunter was stroking her face, a look of wonder on his face, a look that Dane knew must be mirrored on his own face. They loved her. How it had happened so fast he didn’t know. The bond spurred protection and the need to possess. But he knew it was more than that now, for him, and for Hunter. They loved their mate, too.

Cooper approached with a warm towel and cleaned Melanie, despite her protests and Dane snuggled her down in his lap, his arms wrapping her tight. She relaxed into him.

“I liked my dessert, too, Hunter. Like salted caramel, you all taste so nice.” Melanie looked up at Dane and stroked his cheek. “Thank you for a lovely dinner, too. I love to cook. Can I make something for you all tomorrow?”

“This is your home now, Melanie. We want you to do whatever makes you happy. We would love to eat anything you make, but our mamma taught us well. We are all good cooks,” Finn said as he sat next to Dane and reached over to grasp Melanie’s hand.

“You are our mate, not our housekeeper. We will all continue to do our share of the chores around here.”

“But I like to cook and clean, so I can if I want to, right?”

“As long as you understand it is not expected of you, ever. We would never disrespect you or take you for granted. If you decide to continue working as a nurse, we would encourage you to do that, too. You have worked so hard to get that qualification. If it is something you want to do, we want you to do it.” Finn kissed Melanie’s hand and placed it over his heart. Dane suspected that his big brother was also falling in love with Melanie, from the look in his eyes.

“I can’t go back to Buena Vista, I just couldn’t.” Melanie closed her eyes on a shudder.

“Of course not. There is a clinic in Eminence, and a local hospital thirty minutes away, in Grand Springs. We can sort this out once Curtis is out the way,” Hunter said, as he came and sat on the other side of Dane, and took her other hand.

“How about we watch a movie before bed? What’s your sort of movie, angel?” asked Cooper as he went to the bookshelf which held all the DVDs.

“Do you have any of the Die Hards? I love stuff with lots of explosions, no chick flicks please, not that I expect you have those on hand.” Dale held her tight as she giggled and relaxed into his lap. Explosions and gunfight movies, their mate was perfect.

Chapter 16

Melanie awoke in the dark. She was warm, and she was also surrounded by hard flesh. She had an arm across her waist and she was spooned between Finn’s front and Cooper’s back. She reached out and stroked down Cooper’s side, loving the feel of him. He pushed his firm butt back against her. She could feel an arm over one of her legs, either Hunter or Dane were sleeping across the bed, hugging her leg. She didn’t feel smothered, which was strange considering she had always slept alone until now. No, she felt content and whole, and, even if she would only admit it to herself, loved.

She shifted up looking for her other mate. Her eyes had adjusted to the light and she saw Dane lying on his back in front of Cooper, a good two feet between them. This was one huge bed.

She wiggled out of Finn’s embrace and down past Hunter, heading for the bathroom. As she used the facilities she tried to remember going to bed. She couldn’t. She must have fallen asleep through the movie.

Melanie was thirsty and headed down to the kitchen in search of juice. The clock on the stove showed it was five a.m. Feeling well rested she determined to repay them all their kindness, and make use of this wonderful kitchen by making breakfast for her men. Her men. Never in her wildest imaginings did she think she would ever have a boyfriend, let alone four, and be living with them in a relative mansion. She felt like the happiest woman alive and she hoped she was enough to make the four of them happy, too.

After hunting and gathering through the pantry and the refrigerator, she set to work making a banquet for her mates’ breakfast.

Melanie was so caught up in her cooking that she yelped her surprise when big arms wrapped around her.

“Only me, princess.” Hunter kissed his mating mark on the back of her neck, making her shiver and her pussy clench.

“Good morning, Hunter, I hope I didn’t wake you.” She turned in his arms and enjoyed wrapping her arms around his waist and inhaling his musky smell.

“No, you didn’t, but you are spoiling us. This smells great. The others are on the way down, too.”

“I’m nearly done, have some coffee.” She pushed away from him reluctantly. “This kitchen is a dream, I love it. Maybe I can do something like baking muffins and cakes and selling them. I always wanted to do that, but—” She stopped suddenly and felt the pain of how disappointed her parents would be if she didn’t follow their dream.

“As long as we get to test all the products,” Dane said, as he headed for the coffeepot.

He poured a coffee then came over to Melanie and kissed the back of her neck, over his mark. “Good morning, little one, you’ve been busy I see.”

“Good morning, Dane.” Melanie could only get the words out in a small voice. She couldn’t believe she would abandon her parents’ dream so quickly. What had come over her?

Cooper and Finn filed into the kitchen and made straight for Melanie. She had turned her back on them and was trying to pull herself together.

“Good morning,” they both said as they leaned down and kissed their marks on the sides of her neck.

“Good morning. Please get a drink and sit down. I am ready to dish up.” She had found her voice again and was determined to not ruin their first breakfast together.

Melanie watched them all fix their coffee, four blacks no sugar, which was easy for her to remember. She placed the platters on the table—scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausages, and blueberry muffins. She so hoped that they liked it.

All was quiet as they ate, just nods of approval and smiles at her. They ate like they had never eaten before.

“You guys eat so much, how come you aren’t fat?” Melanie blurted out, true to form on her lack of verbal filtering.

They all laughed. Cooper swept her onto his lap as she walked by with the coffeepot.

“It’s the shifter genes, angel. We need massive energy reserves to shift, then we run for miles once shifted, so we burn up any excess we may have consumed. Plus all the sex we had yesterday has left us seriously depleted.”

Melanie blushed, but enjoyed their light banter about all the sex. She was hoping they didn’t think she was a sex maniac.

“I will feed you if it means more sex. I can’t seem to get enough of you all.” She smiled up at him happily.

“The mating bond is driving us at the moment, but if our parents are anything to go by, it won’t wane in the next eighty years at least,” Finn said as he kissed her head and got up to clear the table.

“Really, your mom and dad still, well, they are still very active… sexually?” Melanie was just too curious to be polite and not ask.

Cooper answered her question as he nibbled on her ear. “Our dads and mom spend a lot of time reinforcing their mating bond.”

“Your dads?” Melanie asked. “Your mom has more than one mate, too?” This was great news. She would have someone to talk to who lived a ménage lifestyle.

“We have three dads, all brothers. It is common for Alphas of our race to share a mate. We would like to have them meet you. Is tonight too soon for you?” Finn asked with such a hopeful look on his face that Melanie would not have been able to turn him down.

“Of course, I would love to meet them, but I don’t really think one of your T-shirts is going to be appropriate attire.”

“To the business of the day it is.” Finn picked her up and kissed her soundly, making her tingle all the way to her toes. He sat her gently on the table.

“Cooper is about to go on patrol, Hunter has to go to work, and I have pride business in town. I will pick up the food for tonight’s meal and bring you in some clothes to last until we can get yours here. Dane will be here with you and he will guard you as well as show you around the house and property. Don’t go too far, Dane, not until we are sure it is safe.”

“Done,” stated Dane, coming and sitting next to Melanie and enfolding her in a one-armed embrace.

They said their good-byes and Melanie was feeling very lost as she got up and began to stack the dishwasher. She gave herself a mental shake. She was used to being alone. The thought of being here without three of her mates should not be making her sad.

Chapter 17

Dane didn’t miss the look of sadness on Melanie’s face as his brothers left for the day. He knew they must have felt awful for putting that look there, but they really had to get things done. Fucking Melanie could not be their full-time jobs, as much as he knew they all wanted it to be. So he decided to keep her busy all day. The mating heat was making it hard for her, but he would help her, starting now.

He slid quietly up behind her at the sink and wrapped her in his arms. “Ahh, you feel so good here in my arms, in our home. I never imagined it would feel like this. If I’d known, I would have been out scouring the county looking for you, my little one.”

“Thank you, Dane. I never knew either that I could feel like this. I was resigned to being alone until I died, or becoming a ‘crazy cat lady’ at best.” She melted back against him, feeling so right.

“I just watched Cooper walk onto the porch, naked, I might add, and poof, he leapt off as a huge mountain lion and was gone in a blur. Does it hurt?”

“No, it just feels like letting the other part of you free. It’s a release, and it feels wonderful to run as a cat. We call it shifting, too, by the way, not ‘poofing.’” He kissed her head.

“Sorry, but it was magical to me. I’m glad it doesn’t hurt you. I have a lot to learn don’t I?”

“Yes, and a very long time to learn it. Don’t fret, my darling, we will all be here to help you.” She stiffened in his arms and turned to face him.

“That sounded nice, Dane, can I call you ‘darling,’ too?”

“You can call me anything but pretty.” He laughed and kissed her soundly. “Now, we have some of my mother’s clothes here. They will be a little big, but you can’t explore the property in that T-shirt. Let’s get you dressed and we can go riding.”

“Horse riding? You have horses? I haven’t ridden in years, but I love it,” Melanie gushed.

Dane led her to a laundry room off the kitchen and they found some of his mother’s clothes that would do. He had thought his mother was small, but they still needed to fold up legs of trousers and sleeves of shirts and coats many times so Melanie could function in them. The boots were hopeless. She just walked out of them. So several pairs of thick socks were used, and he would have to carry her everywhere—not a bad thing at all.

“What size shoe are you, little one? No way will Finn guess your shoe size correctly.”

“I’m a four and a half, it’s embarrassing. I have to get them in the kids department. But I get to have cute sneakers.” She looked sad again. He would fix that.

“Pink cowboy boots it is. You will look sexy.” He was so pleased to see her face light up again. He called Finn and relayed her size and the idea of the pink boots.

He lifted Melanie up to stand on the table and presented his back to her. “Come on, hop up. Let’s show you around your new home and then we can go for that ride.”

* * * *

Dane was being very sweet and she would not let him see how sad she was to see his brothers leave for the day. She didn’t want him to feel he wasn’t enough. She was being ridiculous anyway. She was used to being totally alone. Having one person with her was a bonus. So Melanie decided to suck it up. It wasn’t hard. Dane was really a great guy, and easy on the eyes, too.

It had been a revelation to see Cooper shift, even though she knew they all did it. This really was a strange new world she had entered. She was loving it, and them, but she wouldn’t say it out loud. They would run a mile.

The house was huge, with the big open kitchen and living area that she had seen last night. The laundry room, and a storeroom were downstairs, too. The house had a wide wraparound deck, giving 360-degree views of the property. The area close to the house was neatly trimmed grass, leading to an inground pool that was covered for the winter, but would be amazing in the summer, being Olympic-sized. There were fenced paddocks with a few horses to be seen in the snowy fields, and a huge barn.

“Am I getting heavy yet, Dane?” Melanie asked. Dane had shown her around the yard and was on the way to the huge barn.

“I can barely feel you, little one,” scoffed Dane.

Dane took her into the huge neat barn and sat her on a railing of an empty stall. She watched fascinated as he saddled two horses in competent and rapid movements.

“You have done that a time or two in the last sixty years then?” Melanie teased, the smell of hay and horses making her feel so happy and relaxed after all the stress. “This is so nice. Thank you, Dane.”

Dane walked the horses over and, with a swift hard kiss to Melanie’s lips, proceeded to swing her into the saddle of a small palomino. He adjusted the reins and stirrups then mounted his own large roan.

“We aren’t going far, so you will have a chance to get your horse-riding mojo back.” Dane gave her a devastating smile and nudged his horse on.

They rode around the property close to the house and after an hour Melanie’s butt was starting to go numb and she was fidgeting in the saddle.

“You are going to slide off that horse if you don’t sit still, little one.” Dane rode up next to her and lifted her off her horse effortlessly and placed her onto his hard thighs.

“I think that I need to break my ass in with short rides.” Melanie laughed. “It is so beautiful, thanks again for taking me riding.”

“It was worth it to see you this happy, my darling. We can go out each day and build up the time slowly. We have better ways to give you a sore ass than from horse riding.” With that, Dane cupped her breasts and squeezed firmly.

Melanie moaned and leaned back into his hard chest. She couldn’t believe how quickly these men, her men, could get her aroused. A word and a touch and she was creaming her panties. Their mom’s panties actually. Eww. That was like a cold shower to her libido. She couldn’t wait to go shopping for some sexy lingerie. Now that she had a reason to dress sexily she couldn’t wait to give it a try.

“You all say that, but I am just too good a girl to need a spanking,” Melanie teased. Dane kept one hand on the reins of his horse and with the other he pushed down the top of her jeans and into her panties. He rubbed around her clitoris in rhythm with the horses gentle rocking.

“You are so hot and wet for me, little one. Come for me,” Dane spoke in her ear and sucked on her neck, over his mark.

Melanie screamed her release, collapsing even further against his broad chest.

“You just proved you are a good girl, Melanie. You follow commands so nicely.” He rested his chin on the top of her head.

Melanie felt so relaxed after her orgasm, with the warmth of Dane surrounding her and the motion of the horse, she soon felt herself drifting off to sleep.

Chapter 18

Dane was in a very happy state of mind as he approached the barn. His woman was warm and sexually satiated in his arms. In fact, he couldn’t even remember feeling this happy and at peace ever before. Then he caught a scent that shattered it all.

His cat scratched under his skin to get out and hunt the threat to their mate. A snarl rumbled deep in his chest, waking Melanie from her doze in his arms.

“What is it, Dane? I’m so sorry for falling asleep,” Melanie said, sleepy and confused.

“It’s not you, little one. I just caught a scent of that asshole, Curtis. He’s been in the yard. I’m heading out to the pasture we just left until Hunter can come and see if that bastard is still here.” Dane hugged her tight to his chest. He let Melanie’s horse loose to find its own way to the barn, and he ran the horse back to the far pasture. As he rode he pulled his cell phone from his jacket pocket and called Hunter.

“I don’t know how, Hunter, but Curtis has slipped into our territory and was at the house.”

“Fuck me, I’m leaving now and I’ll call in Finn. Are you and Melanie some place safe for now?” Hunter asked frantically. Dane could understand the panic. If it had been him in town, he would be going nuts not knowing if Melanie was safe.

“We’re in the top pasture now, no trace of his scent here. I was at the barn when I first caught it. I didn’t stick around to see if he was still there, or where he had been. I couldn’t protect our mate and fight as well.” Dane tried to reassure Hunter that they were safe.

“I’m on the way.” Hunter hung up.

“Are we going to be okay now, Dane?” Melanie asked in a small voice.

Dane was about to reassure her when the sound of a snarl ripped through the air. They were both knocked from the horse by a huge mountain lion.

Dane tried to soften Melanie’s fall but lost her in the speed of the attack. He shifted and turned to see Curtis dragging Melanie into the trees. Fuck, that lunatic is fast. He raced toward the pair. He leapt onto Curtis’s back, trying to slow him down.

Curtis let go of Melanie and turned with fury to fight Dane.

Dane was slashing at Curtis’s flank when Curtis flung himself back against Dane, smashing Dane into an old pine tree.

Dane shook his head to clear it, seeing blood on the snowy ground. He scented some of it was from Curtis and with a roar, he scented Melanie’s blood.

He got shakily to his feet. Hunter was sprinting up the paddock in his lion form. Dane couldn’t understand where they had gone. His head was throbbing and his vision blurred. He must have been knocked out. He snarled his rage. How long had she been gone?

Hunter was at his side. “Are you all right, Dane? Where is she?” They spoke through their link. When shifted they were able to communicate with all pride mates. It had never come in as handy as it did now.

“I must have been knocked out, I don’t know how long. They’re both bleeding, let’s go.” Dane staggered on his legs. He was not going to let Curtis take his mate.

“Cooper and Finn are on the way, so are the dads. They were nearly here anyway, for our family get-together.” Hunter reassured him as they started after their mate, following her blood and scent trail.

* * * *

Finn couldn’t believe that Curtis had come back to pride land. What was he thinking? Finn couldn’t work it out. He was just putting the last of his parcels in the car when he had gotten Hunter’s call. Dane was alone with Melanie. Finn felt his cat trying to shift to get to her side. He pushed it down. He had to keep himself together, for Melanie’s sake.

He knew he would get there faster driving, plus he could coordinate other pride mates to join in the search for Curtis while he drove. Max Wilder, the local fire chief and older brother to Axel and Calder, was on the way. Axel and Calder had lost Curtis’s trail that morning, but were still too far away to help. Their fathers and mother were only about ten minutes away from the ranch. He could not contact Cooper as he had already been in his shifted form for his routine patrol when Hunter had called. Hopefully he would have crossed Curtis’s scent trail and be following it now.

None of this was making Finn any calmer as he drove as fast as he could home. He couldn’t understand why Curtis would have come back. He was just hoping that it had nothing to do with Melanie, but he suspected it did.

He pulled up in front of the house to find his dads waiting for him. Theo, Chris, and Paul were all big men, all over six foot four and still heavily muscled. Due to the shifter gene they looked to be in their midforties instead of men in their second century of life. Trina, his mother, was a tall woman at five foot ten, but slim, and looked dwarfed by her husbands. She was wringing her hands and rushed to Finn and embraced him.

“We have bad news, Finn. Curtis has managed to take Melanie from Dane,” Trina stated, with tears running down her cheeks.

“Hunter and Dane are in pursuit and Cooper and Max are coming in from the north,” Theo stated as he and his brothers began taking off their clothes.

Finn didn’t wait to strip. He shifted, and with a roar that shook snow from the trees, he raced up the paddock following Melanie and Dane’s scent. He knew that Curtis was in the area, but to find he had actually taken his Melanie was putting Finn on the edge of insanity.

He was able to communicate with Dane now that he had shifted, and he got the rundown on what had occurred. He could feel Dane’s anguish at not keeping Melanie safe, but there was no time to reassure him. He called out commands to all of his pride and made sure that the net they were forming had no holes for Curtis to slip through.

His cat was glad to be free and racing to Melanie, but the man was in anguish at not knowing how or where she was. He held himself together with white-hot rage and determination. Curtis would pay for hurting his mate.

His fathers were close on his heels and he could feel he was drawing closer to his brothers. Then he felt a stirring in his mind, a new voice in the pride awareness. He didn’t stop running. He felt the warmth of that voice wrap around his cock. Melanie was calling him and his brothers, it was a faint call, but it was there. How she was doing this he didn’t know, but he was so relieved to hear her.

“Fuck me, I can hear Melanie,” came Cooper’s gasp.

“We heard her, too,” Hunter added.

“We can’t hear her, boys. It is just you four talking through the mating bond. It is rare, but it does happen to humans sometimes when the bond is exceptionally strong. You will have to tell us what she is saying,” Theo told Finn.

“Quiet,” Finn rasped. “She is getting stronger, but we have to listen to her.”

“We can hear you, sweetness. Can you hear me?” Finn tried to contact her.

“I’m so scared, Finn, where are you?” came Melanie’s weak reply.

“We’re all out looking for you, Melanie. Is Curtis with you?” Cooper screamed down their link.

“Cooper, I need you. I seem to be underground somewhere. It is earthy smelling and cold and dark. I can’t see very much, it is so dark. Curtis isn’t here right now, but I can hear him growling.” Melanie spoke quickly, but she was sounding stronger and louder to them.

“Are you hurt, angel?” Cooper asked the question they were all most afraid to ask. The thought of his Melanie being hurt and alone in the dark was just pushing Finn further into an abyss of insanity.

“He’s coming back, what should I do?” Melanie whispered to their minds. She wasn’t used to this type of communication and didn’t realize she could yell in her mind at them, and Curtis wouldn’t hear her.

“Just lay still, Melanie, and feign unconsciousness. I think I know where you are, sweetness. We are about five minutes away,” Finn advised her. “She’s at the mine up on Peats Ridge,” Finn sent to his brother and pride.

Cooper roared down the link. “I’m at the mine, Finn. You were right, their trail led me right here. I’ll stop the bastard from harming her any further.”

“Stop him, Cooper, we are all nearly with you. Don’t kill him. That is my right and I will have it,” Finn commanded, with all the power that made him an Alpha. There was no question that Curtis would be left alive to face Finn, no matter who got to him first.

Chapter 19

Melanie had woken in darkness and pain. She remembered a huge mountain lion knocking her from Dane’s embrace and that was all she could remember. She assumed the lion was Curtis, the one they had been hunting. She was cold, wet from melting snow, and deprived of any visual input due to the total darkness.

Shivering, she had reached out with her heart for the comfort of her mates. She told them of her love for them, her fear of never seeing them again, and her wish to be in their arms again. She could hear growling and snarling off in the darkness, but was alone where she was, in this dark cold place.

Suddenly, she heard Finn’s voice. It was soft but insistent. She was confused, she called out softly into the darkness, but only a soft echo of her own voice returned. She must be going crazy. She could feel that she was alone down here.

Then she heard all of their voices. She heard Hunter and Dane saying they were close. She heard Cooper telling her to be still, that he was nearly with her. Then she heard Finn call for quiet, and the other voices went silent. She was not alone, though. Finn was there, a palpable presence in her mind.

This was how they talked to each other when they were shifted. She told Finn what she knew of where she was, and then she stilled. She could hear the growling coming closer. Curtis was coming for her.

Melanie lay still as Finn suggested. Curtis took hold of her foot in his mouth and began to drag her through the darkness. She didn’t want to get any farther away from her mates. It felt wrong not to fight to get to them. So she decided she wouldn’t go easily.

Melanie kicked out into the darkness with her other foot, aiming for and hitting the beast in the face. She felt his grip release. She scrambled away and stood up on her shaking legs. She felt a rush of air, and then hands were around her throat.

“Feisty little bitch, I’ll tame you soon enough. You are gonna pay for that kick to my face, though.” Curtis snarled low at her and squeezed her throat tighter in his massive hands.

Melanie clawed at his hands, trying desperately to breathe.

“Not going to kill you, little Alpha bitch, I’m just going to show you how to behave is all. Once we are mated, I will be Alpha, then this pride will show me my due respect.” Curtis let go of her throat and punched her in the face.

Blood spurted from her nose and mouth. She was thrown onto the ground from the power of the strike. Pain made her scream out for Finn. She heard his answering growl in her head. He was telling her to hang on, telling her that help was there.

But Curtis was the only one there. She heard his snarl just before he stomped on her leg. She screamed, the sounds of the bones breaking a hard snap in the cold darkness.

“Can’t have you running away, now can we? Not before I make you mine.” Curtis picked her up, causing the bones in her leg to punch through her skin. She screamed in pain. No longer able to bear it, she let the rising darkness sweep the pain away.

* * * *

Cooper raced straight down the cave entrance. The blood trail had thinned as Curtis and Melanie had begun to heal from their wounds and the blood flow was lessening. But even one drop of Melanie’s sweet, buttery-scented blood would have called loudly enough for Cooper to follow.

He heard her screams, both through his ears and through their link. As did his brothers. They were roaring in his head.

“I’m here. I will try not to kill him, Finn. Our mate is screaming in pain and fear, my cat is not going to allow me to be merciful,” Cooper told his Alpha, knowing that if Finn didn’t arrive soon, there would not be much of Curtis left for Finn to chew on.

Cooper ran faster than he ever had before, Melanie’s screams spurring him on. He raced into the dim mine shaft, not dark to his cat eyes.

The smell of Melanie’s blood exploded in his nostrils. Fuck it, he was hurting her badly. He skidded around a bend in the tunnel and saw them ahead.

Melanie was still on the dirt floor. Curtis in his human form was lying naked on top of her naked body, pushing her lifeless legs apart with his knees.

“He’s going to rape her,” Cooper shouted to his brothers in his horror.

He took a running leap and dug his claws into Curtis’s back, dragging him off Melanie with his momentum. The man was momentarily stunned and Cooper took advantage of that shock to move over Curtis and wrap his jaws around his throat.

He pushed his fangs deep, but did not rip, the command from his Alpha still strong enough to halt the killing move. Curtis stilled under his jaws, well aware that the slightest move from Cooper and his throat would be torn open.

Cooper was too enraged to talk to his brothers or pride mates. They were all shouting at him, but it was all just white noise to him. He was caught in a rage he had never known before, a killing rage. He could smell the blood of his mate all around him, he could picture her imminent violation burned into his retinas. He wanted nothing more than to end the life that he held in his jaws. Only the love and deep respect he held for his brother, Finn, stilled the killing move, but one twitch from the vermin beneath him, and that control would snap.

* * * *

Finn arrived at the mine first. His fathers, not able to keep pace with him, had fallen behind. Max Wilder was just running into the mine when Finn arrived, Hunter and Dane were coming in behind him as he barreled through the entrance and jumped over Max in his haste to reach his mate.

They all ran through the mine, following both Melanie’s and Cooper’s scents now. They heard Cooper’s roar, and then just the rasping of his breath as they drew closer.

Rounding a bend in the main shaft Finn saw Melanie’s still form first. He ran to her and leaned his head to her chest, listening for a heartbeat. He could hear the faint beat of her heart, and he could feel the flutter of her breath across the fur of his face.

“She is alive. Thank God, she is alive,” Finn told his brothers, as they had filled the shaft behind him.

He looked over at Cooper and saw that he had Curtis by the throat. Max had gone over and had his front paws on Curtis’s chest, restraining him further.

“Hunter and Dane, I need you to shift and tend to Melanie’s injuries as best you can. I will get transport here as soon as possible,” Finn commanded his brothers, turning to stalk to Curtis.

Curtis began to struggle as Finn approached. “Let him go before you kill him, Cooper,” Finn commanded. “Max, get Axel and Calder to bring transport to the mine for Melanie, they are nearly at the ranch now. Have them call Doc to the ranch.”

Cooper was reluctantly drawing his fangs from Curtis’s throat. At the first sign of freedom, Curtis leapt to his feet. He looked around for a way to flee.

Finn felt a deep calm, despite the circumstances. He had never killed a pride mate, and had dreaded the time that that responsibility would fall to him. But not now. This man had hurt his mate, twice now, as well as trying to rape her. Finn’s fangs elongated even further, saliva dripping from the ends. His cat was taking over, and Finn had no desire to rein him in. As a cat shifter, he was twice the size of a normal mountain lion, easily reaching over five feet tall at his shoulder, with a bulk of over four hundred pounds. As Alpha, he was also the biggest of his pride.

He stalked toward Curtis, his hackles rising and a growl erupting from his throat that brought dirt falling from the roof of the mine. He willed Curtis to run. His cat wanted to hunt this prey to ground.

Stupidly Curtis ran at Finn. Finn slashed at his abdomen, eviscerating him in one swipe. Curtis fell to his knees, his intestines in his arms, trying in vain to try to hold them in his body.

“No…I will be Alpha. This bitch will make it so,” Curtis bellowed.

Finn grasped his head in his jaws and shaking his head, ripped Curtis’s head clean off and spit it out in the dirt.

Finn shifted and ran to Melanie’s side, not sparing a thought for the life he just ended. He would never regret stopping Curtis from forever damaging his precious mate. He only regretted that Curtis got to her at all. He had left her vulnerable, leaving her and Dane open to that ambush. He knew that Dane was blaming himself, but he was ultimately the one to blame. He would beg the forgiveness of his mate and his brothers, as soon as Melanie was well again.

Hunter was cradling Melanie’s head in his lap. Cooper was examining her injuries.

“How is she?” Finn asked, his voice hoarse with emotion.

“Her left leg has compound fractures to the tibia and fibula, and the right leg is torn up badly from where he dragged her here. She has a black eye, broken nose, and split lip. Most worrying though is the spreading bruise and tension to her abdomen. I suspect she is bleeding internally,” Cooper replied succinctly. Their time in the military had given them a good background in a triage of injuries.

“Will she make it to, Doc?” Dane asked the question they were all thinking.

“She is fully mated now, she is strong. She will survive this.” Finn spoke it as a command, not an opinion.

“Thank God she is not conscious. She would be in so much pain.” Hunter gently stroked the hair of her face.

“Let’s get her out of here.” Dane held her legs firmly together, using her unbroken one as a makeshift splint.

Together Hunter and Dane carried their tiny mate out of the mine.

Finn and Cooper ushered Max ahead of them, not wanting the other man to see their mate naked. He would understand and take no offence.

As they got to the mouth of the mine, Axel and Calder, Max’s brothers, were just arriving with Cooper’s RV. They got out and stood away to the side with Max when they saw Melanie’s prostrate form being carried out. He would tell them what was happening. Finn watched his brothers arrange Melanie safely on the big backseat. Hunter stayed in the back with her. His brother’s climbed in the front and with Cooper driving they made their way quickly back to the ranch.

Finn hoped his command for her to live would be obeyed by their little mate. He would not accept any other fate. They had just found her. She was not leaving them so soon.

Chapter 20

Melanie started to feel like she was burning up. She came awake, feeling like flames were erupting inside of her. She tried to open her eyes, but only managed to open them a sliver.

“It’s all fine, princess, you’re safe now. We got you away from him. We have you at home. We are all here with you. Try to rest some more.” Hunter’s voice was a soothing balm to her flaming body. She felt herself relax. She was safe, her mates had found her.

When she next awoke, she still felt warm, but not the same intense burning that she had felt before. She also felt the strong arms around her, the warm body at her back. She knew without opening her eyes that it was Cooper holding her. She just felt it.

“Cooper? Are you all right?” she asked in a dry raspy voice that sounded nothing like her usual voice.

“Me, angel? I’m not the one who went and had a little adventure, now am I?” Cooper teased. Melanie knew, with that statement, that everything must be fine. All her men must be safe, or Cooper would not be so cheeky to her.

“How horrible do I look, Cooper? I remember getting a fist to my face that hurt very badly. What else did he do?” Melanie wanted to know what to expect when she looked in a mirror. She knew it would be bad. Curtis had choked and punched her before she passed out.

Cooper’s growl at her back was echoed around her. All of her men were there with her.

“You could never look horrible to us, sweetness. You are a vision of loveliness,” Finn said with total sincerity. Well, she was not going to get a straight answer from her men was she? She loved them for it, though.

“Thank you, Finn. Thank you all, for finding me and bringing me home. I was so scared. Are you hurt?” Melanie struggled to sit up and she managed to open her eyes. The room was dim. The curtains were open, letting moonlight light the room. Cooper helped her to sit up against his chest. She looked at her mates. All seemed perfect, no blood, no bruises. She breathed a big sigh, reaching out her hands for Hunter and Dane, who sat on either side of her.

“We are fine, little one. You are the one we are worried about. How are you feeling?” Dane asked as he kissed her palm and held her hand in both of his.

“I feel a little warm, and my stomach and leg are burning a little.” Melanie looked at Finn, sitting near her feet. It was then she noticed her leg was in a strap-on brace. “Did I break my leg?” she asked, confusion swamping her mind. She couldn’t really remember much of what happened. She remembered waking cold and in the dark. Then she heard her men in her head. She looked at Finn again.

“I heard you, I heard you all talking to me. I was wishing you were there, with all my heart, and then you were, in my heart and in my head.”

“Yes, Melanie, it seems we are truly blessed in our mating. When we are shifted we are able to share a link with you. It didn’t extend to everyone in the pride. It was a special link that included just the five of us.” Finn started to stroke her thigh. “I must apologize to you, Melanie, and to my brothers. I should not have left you vulnerable to this attack.”

“I didn’t know he would be back here so quickly, he was crazy fast,” Hunter reassured Finn.

“I didn’t protect her,” Dane said in a hoarse whisper.

“I can’t dance,” said Cooper, straight-faced.

They all looked at him. Melanie turned a little in his big arms and kissed him hard on the lips.

She couldn’t help it. She started to giggle, and tears started to leak down her face. “Don’t make me laugh. It hurts a little when I do.”

“None of this shit was our fault. Curtis was a cruel maniac. We are all here together now, though. So we move on and get our little mate better so we can ravish her sweet body again.” Cooper nuzzled against the mating mark on Melanie’s neck, making her break out in goose bumps.

“I like the sound of a good ravishing. How did I break my leg? Did one of you big guys drop me?” Melanie giggled again and snuggled against Cooper’s warm naked chest. She may not remember all of what had happened, but she was here with her men, and she couldn’t have been happier.

* * * *

“We certainly didn’t drop you, angel. I think you fell off the horse. You need a few lessons before we let you out of the yard again.” Cooper looked at his brothers as he said this. If Melanie didn’t remember all of the attack, then it should stay that way. Better for her to forget the senseless brutality of it and the attempted sexual assault that would only haunt her.

“Okay, I admit I was pretty bad in the saddle after so many years of not riding. Did I get pink cowboy boots, Finn?” Melanie seemed to be getting better by the minute.

When they had made it to the ranch house, Doc was waiting for them, so were their parents. They had brought Melanie into the kitchen and laid her on the kitchen table, and their mother had covered it with a blanket so they could examine her on it. After a thorough examination Doc had told them to each bite Melanie again over their respective mating marks, adding more of their shifter DNA to her body. Then, once he had set the bones in her leg, they were told they had to take turns in holding her against them, letting her know she was safe in her mates’ arms, until she woke up. It hadn’t seemed enough, but Doc said he knew what he was doing and left as soon as the brace was on her leg.

They took comfort in his confidence, but were not convinced until they had seen the bruising subside on her face and abdomen as the hours passed.

“Yes, sweetness, you have a pair of pink boots to break in.” Finn picked her up out of Cooper’s arms and held her in his arms. He kissed her long and hard on the mouth. “I am so glad you are safe, I will never lose you, Melanie. Will you marry us?”

Cooper felt relieved that Finn had asked her. As the oldest of them, and their Alpha, Finn had to do the asking, but he wanted to marry her so badly he might have slipped and asked her himself.

Cooper stood and stoked her face. “Marry us, angel.”

Hunter took Melanie’s hand. “Please marry us, princess.”

“My darling, marry us,” Dane said from beside Hunter.

“I would love to marry you all, but I can’t, it’s not legal,” Melanie spoke softly and sadly. “I would never choose one over the others, either.”

“You marry me on paper, Melanie, and we have a ceremony that marries you to all of us in the eyes of our pride afterwards. But we know we are already bonded as mates in our hearts,” Finn told her and kissed her again.

“Well then, in that case yes, I will marry you all, and be honored to be Mrs. Frederick.” She went willingly into Cooper’s arms for another deep kiss.

Cooper felt that he had never been happier. Their mate was safe, and she was binding herself to them legally as well. She would stay forever, he knew that now.

He handed Melanie off to Hunter for another kiss.

“I will run you a bath, little one. You must want one badly after falling off that horse into the dirt.” He winked at her as she went into Dane’s arms for his kiss.

Chapter 21

After her warm bath, surrounded by all her men, she was dried in a soft towel and put into a clean bed. She snuggled into Finn’s chest, using his big arm as a pillow. Dane spooned against her back. Hunter was using her thigh as a pillow and was curled around her feet somehow. Instead of feeling claustrophobic she just felt safe. Cooper was out on patrol, but he had said he would be in their bed as soon as he was through.

Melanie didn’t remember drifting off to sleep, but she knew she was being woken up. She was being stroked and rubbed in every erogenous zone she had ever discovered.

Cooper was between her legs, gently licking circles around her clitoris while stroking her pussy with two of his large fingers.

Hunter and Dane were lying on either side of her, sucking and nipping on her nipples, making them peak painfully.

She was leaning against Finn’s chest. He was nuzzling on her neck, nipping on his mating mark, pushing her rapidly toward a climax.

“Come for us, sweetness,” Finn mumbled in her ear. He bit down hard on her neck and she exploded, her whole body tightening then releasing in a warm glow.

Finn slid down underneath her so she was lying over him. She was still shivering with climactic aftershocks, when she felt Cooper massage cool liquid into her anus.

“Relax and breathe out, sweetness. Cooper is getting you ready for me to love you,” Finn whispered in her ear.

Cooper added another finger, and sucked gently on her clitoris. She breathed deeply and surrendered to the pleasurable experience. Dane and Hunter continued to tease her nipples with their mouths and plump her breasts with their hands.

She reached with her hands and found Hunter and Dane’s hard cocks. She rubbed the sticky secretion coming from their slits gently around the heads of their cocks, eliciting groans from them. She used the lubrication to gently stroke their cocks, from head to base, teasing them by hardly using any pressure. They pushed their erections into her fists.

Cooper withdrew his fingers from her ass. Finn was there, pushing the head of his cock through the tight ring of her anus.

“You feel so damn good, Melanie. Relax for me.” Finn groaned as he pushed in inch by inch, rocking in and out, getting deeper and deeper.

“Shit, you feel so big, Finn.” Melanie gasped. “Ow,” she gasped when Finn slapped her sharply on the cheek of her ass.

“Watch the language, sweetness.” Finn spoke roughly as he gave a final deep thrust of his hips, burying himself fully in her straining ass.

He stilled, allowing her to adjust to his size. She felt so full, his cock throbbing in time with his heart deep in her ass. She continued to very gently stroke Hunter and Dane, more pre-cum lubricating their shafts.

Cooper crawled up her body, kissing every inch of her skin that he encountered. “You are so beautiful, angel, all flushed from your orgasm, and all full of cock up that tight ass.”

Melanie knew she must be blushing, but before she could say anything Cooper plunged into her, stealing her thoughts along with her breath. She loved being surrounded by her men like this, having them in her, and around her.

Cooper and Finn began to move, one always deep inside her while the other withdrew. They were causing a delicious friction that was giving her little explosions of pleasure every time they moved. She opened her mouth on a groan and Dane moved up to kneel beside her head. He turned her face gently and pushed his weeping cock into her open mouth.

She continued to stroke Hunter with her hand, adding a little more pressure, making him groan and bite down hard on her nipple.

The pleasure was building quickly. Her pussy and ass began to clench down on the huge cocks embedded there. Finn and Cooper increased their pace, losing their rhythm and just slamming into her with abandon. She loved it. She loved her big strong men losing themselves in the pleasure of her body. With that thought she hollowed her checks, relaxed her throat and Dane’s cock began to hit the back of her throat.

That was it for Dane. He pulled gently on her hair, and he roared as he came down her throat. She swallowed convulsively around his cock, drinking all of his cum.

The taste of him on her tongue set her own orgasm off. She firmly stroked Hunter as he exploded in her hand. She screamed her release, her pussy and ass pulsing and clenching with her pleasure.

Finn gave one final thrust and stilled, biting down on his mark on her neck. That pushed Melanie into another huge climax, his hot semen pulsing into her ass. Cooper roared his release and crushed her mouth with his in a hard demanding kiss as he shot stream after stream of his cum into her clenching vagina.

They all lay sprawled on the bed as their heartbeats slowed to normal. “I love you all so much,” Melanie softly mumbled, knowing they would all hear her.

They all showered together once they were able to move again. Melanie was cradled in one of the men’s arms the whole time. They had put the brace back on her leg, but they finally let her stand on her own so they could go and get dressed.

“My leg feels fine. Why do I have to keep this on?” Melanie asked, trying for it not to sound like she was whining.

“It stays on until this afternoon when Doc comes over and checks you over,” Hunter informed her, handing her a pretty pink jumper that Finn had brought in town for her the day before. He was dressed in just a towel around his hips and his muscled torso was gleaming with water droplets. She felt her pussy pulse as she imagined licking those droplets off him.

“Thank you for the clothes, Finn, they are all really lovely.” She smiled at him, trying to keep her thoughts off all the masculine perfection in the room. Finn came over and kissed her hard on the lips. She had chosen a black lacy bra and thong combo from the lingerie he had also brought her, and as that was all she had on, she was getting hungry looks from all her mates.

Finn ripped the thong at the side and dropped his towel from his hips in one sweep of his hand. He picked her up and impaled her on his erection before she could even gasp.

“I can smell your arousal, Melanie. It calls to both my cat and me. We can’t leave you hungry, sweetness.” Finn started to rock his hips, pushing into her in smooth steady strokes. He continued to kiss her, barely letting her breathe, and she loved it. She hungered for them just as much as they seemed to all hunger for her.

The position they were in had Melanie’s clitoris rubbing deliciously against Finn’s dark blond patch of springy pubic hair. It had her rapidly approaching her orgasm.

She felt a cool liquid run down her ass crack and then Hunter was there, biting her neck and whispering in her ear.

“This pretty ass is mine, princess. You look so fucking hot wrapped around Finn like this, I have to have you.”

“Yes. Please,” was all she got out between Finns demanding kisses. It was enough, though. Hunter began to push his cock slowly but insistently into her exposed anus. The burn was strong enough for her to gasp, he had not stretched her first, but it soon spread to her clitoris in an electric tingle that then spread to her whole body.

“Shall I stop?” Hunter panted in her ear.

“So good,” Melanie whispered into Finn’s mouth. She knew she was heard when Hunter slammed into her balls deep. A deep growl rumbled, spread along her back where they were touching, and ignited her orgasm. She screamed his name.

“Fuck, you are so tight.” Hunter nibbled along her neck and lost himself in the rhythm of their lovemaking.

Finn and Hunter continued to rock into her until she felt the next orgasm start to make her vagina pulse. Finn broke the kiss to lick his mating mark. “Come for us,” he commanded and nipped the mark gently.

That was all it took and she exploded on their thrusting cocks. They must have been waiting for her, as they both roared as they came, their hot cum bathing her passages at the same time.

When Melanie had come back to reality, she found she was still in Finn’s arms and they were standing under the shower again.

“I love you so much, Finn. Thank you for coming for me in the mine.” Melanie kissed his chest and started to cry.

“I love you, too, Melanie Cook. Thank you for agreeing to be our mate.” Finn kissed the top of her head and handed the now clean Melanie to Cooper, who was waiting in the bathroom with a dry towel.

“I love you, too, angel.” Cooper dried her off and carried her into the bedroom. “Our parents are coming for dinner tonight. They are dying to meet you while you’re awake. I’ve told them you are a lot more interesting that way,” Cooper teased.

Melanie poked him in the ribs, and he set her on the bed, re-applied the leg brace, and helped her to dress again.

Chapter 22

Hunter could tell that Melanie had been nervous about meeting their parents. She had wanted to cook something, but they insisted she rest until Doc had cleared her leg. It turned into a busy afternoon. Doc had come over with the Wilder brothers. They wanted to officially welcome Melanie to the pride, having only seen her unconscious the day before.

Melanie laughed at all their jokes, and seemed to be over her traumatic abduction by Curtis. Hunter suspected she would be a lot more psychologically damaged had she remembered most of what had occurred. She hadn’t asked and everyone who knew the details had been told not to volunteer the information.

The afternoon rolled into evening and when their parents arrived they insisted everyone stay for a meal. Melanie had been given permission by Doc to walk around on her leg, but to leave the brace on for another day. She was getting on well with their mother Trina. They were creating salads from the available food, and Melanie had even made a cake for dessert.

Hunter snuck up behind her when she was washing some dishes. She jumped when he wrapped his big arms around her and nuzzled her neck.

“You scared me.” Melanie giggled.

“That’s a beautiful sound, princess. Are you having a good time?”

“I am, Hunter. Your parents are so nice, and the Wilder brothers are hilarious. I know I am going to love it here with you.” She leaned her head back into his broad chest and sighed her contentment.

“I know our mother loves you, and the dads are already wrapped around your tiny little finger. You are going to be spoiled like the daughter they never had. We better never make you unhappy or they will get the strap out again.” Hunter turned her in his arms and she wrapped her soapy hands into the back of his shirt.

“They are wonderful, Hunter. I am so happy.” She rose up on her toes and Hunter leaned down to join her in a kiss.

Epilogue

As Melanie lay in bed contemplating getting up, she mused about the busy month she had had at the ranch in her new life. She had thrown herself into cooking for her men and she found she loved it. The kitchen was a dream to work in and she had discovered she was truly happy when she was baking. They began to complain about getting fat with all the cakes, muffins, cookies, and pastries that she made, so she had gone into town two weeks ago in the little car Finn had brought for her. She took samples of her baking into the cafe and diner and asked if they would be interested in selling them. She offered a good price and they were delighted to support a local business.

She had decided to give this passion for baking a try and let go of the guilt over not returning to nursing at the moment. Her men had made her see that her parents would only want her to be happy at whatever she did, not working in a job she felt obligated to do.

Melanie had had a late night of lovemaking with her men and an early morning of more lovemaking. They were all off doing their thing and Melanie really had to get up and deliver her baked goods to the cafe and diner in Eminence. She was just so tired though. The thought of rolling over and going back to sleep was so tempting, she nearly did it. Deciding that would be no way to promote her budding business, she dragged herself out of bed and got dressed.

When she made it to the kitchen, she was feeling even more exhausted. She wanted to have a coffee to wake herself up, but the smell of the coffee was making her a little queasy. She began to wonder if she was coming down with something. Maybe being mated to shifters didn’t prevent her getting a cold.

Deciding on a cup of tea instead, she made it and had just sat at the table to drink it when Finn came in from his home office.

“Hello, sweetness, how are you today?” Finn scooped her up and sat down on the chair, placing her on his lap.

“A little tired today. I may not moan about you all carrying me round today.” Melanie giggled and leaned into his chest. She wondered when they would tire of carrying her around. She rarely had to sit on a hard chair either. She was always on someone’s lap, and she loved her life.

Finn nuzzled her neck and licked her mating mark, making her shudder in arousal as it always did. Finn stilled under her and breathed deeply. He licked her neck again and more cream started to leak from her pussy onto her dampening panties.

“Finn, what are you doing to me? If you keep this up I will never get my delivery done.” Melanie wiggled in his lap, rubbing her buttocks against his straining erection.

“You are going nowhere, sweetness.” With that said he pulled his cell phone from his shirt pocket. He held a finger up to silence her protest. “Cooper, get back to the house, call Hunter and Dane back, too. It’s Melanie.”

Melanie could hear Cooper began to talk, but Finn ended the call. Apparently he wanted them here, and when the Alpha called like that, they came.

“I can feel you about to ask what is going on, Melanie. Please indulge me a moment longer. It is important that we are all together for this.” Finn kissed the top of her head and hugged her close.

They sat like that for only a few minutes before the door burst open and Cooper, Hunter, and Dane rushed into the kitchen. They skidded to a stop in front of Melanie and Finn, looking a little puzzled now they could see Melanie was apparently not in any danger.

Cooper broke first, stepping forward and snatching Melanie off Finn’s lap and hugging her fiercely. She wrapped her arms and legs around him.

“I don’t know what his deal is, Cooper. I’m fine,” Melanie reassured him.

“Yes, you are, Melanie, you are more than fine.” Finn was grinning broadly.

Hunter and Dane crowded around Melanie and began to lick her neck.

“Fuck me.” Cooper growled and squeezed Melanie to him.

Hunter and Dane stared down at Melanie, and Hunter took her mouth in a searing kiss.

“Thank you, little one,” Dane said as he took over kissing her.

When Dane let her up for air, Cooper handed her back to Finn, who also kissed her soundly.

“I think we will have to move the wedding forward a few more weeks, Melanie. Do you think you could be ready for next weekend?” Finn asked her seriously.

“Is that what this is about, you want the wedding sooner? Have I done something to make you think I’m changing my mind?” Melanie was confused, and getting a little annoyed.

Cooper came over and started to rub soothing circles on her back. “No, angel, we know you are as keen as we are. We just want you to fit into the wedding dress you took so much care choosing.”

Hunter and Dane came up and held her hands.

“What we are trying to tell you, sweetness, is that you are making the four of us very proud daddies.” Finn kissed the end of her nose, chuckling at what he saw on her face.

“You are shitting me,” Melanie whispered.

“I will still punish you for profanities, sweetness. Having cubs in your beautiful belly will not protect you.” Finn rubbed softly on her stomach, snapping her out of her daze.

“How can you know this?” Melanie looked at them all, starting to panic.

“We can tell by your scent, princess. It has changed significantly.” Hunter rubbed her arm, trying to calm her.

“You are all happy about this? I haven’t disappointed you all by getting pregnant so soon?” Melanie looked down at her stomach, which was churning so badly she knew she was about to be sick.

She leapt from Finn’s lap and ran for the sink, losing the meagre contents of her stomach. Cooper was there holding her hair and rinsing out the sink. Hunter handed her a towel and she wiped her mouth.

“If that’s a sign of what’s to come, I’m sorry.” Melanie suddenly wondered if she had let them down, become a burden.

“We are so proud that you are pregnant with our cubs, Melanie. We can’t tell you how happy you have made us.” Finn tilted her chin up so she was looking in his eyes. She couldn’t doubt the sincerity and love she saw in their depths.

“Oh my God, am I ready for this?” Melanie hugged Finn close.

“Too late now, angel.” Cooper smirked.

“One of the benefits of having four mates, little one, is that you have eight extra hands to help you with the baby.” Dane grinned broadly at her.

Melanie began to relax. He was right. With five of them, they could totally do this. They all looked happy. Actually, they all looked ecstatic.

“I love you all so much,” Melanie got out, right before she threw up in the sink again, with an audience of four grinning fathers-to-be, who seemed delighted that she was apparently having morning sickness.

She really did love her new life.

THE END

MALKIN.ASHLEY@YAHOO.COM.AU

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I live in a bushy suburb of Sydney, Australia. My love of reading started at thirteen and continues today. I read all genres, but love suspense and romance together.

Books and cats have been the constant in my life and I get immense joy from them both.

For all titles by Ashley Malkin, please visit

www.bookstrand.com/ashley-malkin

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com