Eminence Shifters 3

Bethany

Samson Reed is a cougar shifter in no hurry to ever mate. When he rescues a young woman while on a mission, he's stunned that she turns out to be his mate.

Bethany Granger has spent six years in an institution fighting for her sanity. She is forced to flee to save her own life, but running to Tijuana only brings her in contact with greater danger.

Taking Bethany home to his brothers, Michael and Jason, confirms they are also her mates. Instead of the safety that Samson imagined they'd all provide for their mate, Jason's rejection of his mate hurts her so deeply that it could cost all of them their lives.

Bethany's journey to Eminence changes her life, bringing her both joy and sadness as her eyes are opened to a world she never knew existed.

The only way they can all find happiness is by fighting for their love.

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

Length: 51,596 words

BETHANY

Eminence Shifters 3

Ashley Malkin

MENAGE AMOUR

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at

legal@sirenbookstrand.com

A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

IMPRINT: Ménage Amour

BETHANY

Copyright © 2015 by Ashley Malkin

E-book ISBN: 978-1-63258-808-1

First E-book Publication: January 2015

Cover design by Harris Channing

All art and logo copyright © 2015 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

Dear Readers,

If you have purchased this copy of Bethany by Ashley Malkin from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

Regarding E-book Piracy

This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

This is Ashley Malkin’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ashley Malkin’s right to earn a living from her work.

Amanda Hilton, Publisher

www.SirenPublishing.com

www.BookStrand.com

DEDICATION

I would like to thank my wonderful husband, for all his love and support.

I dedicate this book to my wonderful step-daughter, Lexie. Without her great ideas and encouragement, this book would not have been finished.

Thank you to all my readers, you have humbled me with all your kind words.

Ashley.

BETHANY

Eminence Shifters 3

ASHLEY MALKIN

Copyright © 2015

Chapter 1

“This place is amazing. Best job ever,” Bethany shouted, trying to be heard over the pounding music.

“If you say so, sweet thing,” replied Dave unenthusiastically.

Dave was tending bar tonight, a forty-something man with sallow skin and a paunch who, in Bethany’s opinion, had become too jaded to recognize fun anymore. With the life Bethany had led, this place was like working at a party. Bethany gladly put up with the pats and pinches to her ass, just to be a part of the lively scene.

She’d been working as a waitress at the Sunshine Club in Tijuana for the last three weeks, and she just loved it. The bar hadn’t been redecorated since the eighties, and the timber floor still smelt of beer and tequila no matter how much they mopped it down after closing each night. But she didn’t care.

She wondered if her life experiences were what made this all seem so exciting. She’d been placed in a mental institution at age sixteen by her foster parents. She’d been diagnosed as schizophrenic, but they’d been unable to stabilize her on any combination of medication and therapy in the ensuing six years.

She banged her head in time to the music as she took a heavy tray of drinks to the group of American college boys at one of her tables. Bethany had always been really strong, despite her small stature, so the weight of the tray was no problem to her.

The octopuses at the table, however, were a test to her defensive maneuvers. She used her five-foot-one-inch height to duck under their groping arms, and her very slight frame to dodge their groping hands.

“Come and sit on this, cutie,” slurred one of the boys as he gestured crudely toward his crotch. This earned him slaps on the back from his drunken friends.

Obviously they’ve left their brains back in San Diego.

“I wouldn’t be tempted, even if I could see it, stud,” Bethany muttered under her breath, dodging him as he attempted to pull her onto his lap.

She danced back to the bar, her spirits not in the least dampened by the crude comments and wolf whistles sounding in her wake.

“I don’t know how you stay so happy,” said Paula, her fellow waitress for the night. “I’m so sick of it.”

“They’re harmless, and it’s a good workout running away from them all night.” They both laughed as they handed Dave their next drink orders.

* * * *

Samson Reed stared, transfixed, through the scope of his camera as the tiny waitress dodged the groping men. The grace and speed with which she moved had drawn his attention to her immediately. He was a mountain lion shifter, and he suspected that this woman was not entirely human, either. Her short, white-blonde hair shone like a beacon in the dark club. She is a cute little thing.

He’d been lying on the roof of the old building opposite the Sunshine Club for the last two hours. His contacts had proved reliable, and the local drug lord, who was his target, had arrived some twenty minutes ago.

Forcing himself to focus on his assignment, Samson trained his camera lens back on Cristian Renta. Samson watched with growing concern as Renta paid particular attention to the little waitress. He gestured to her, and as she approached, Samson found himself tensing.

Shaking himself to regain his usual detached composure, he focused his full attention back on Cristian Renta. As a covert operative for the US military, Samson was currently seconded to the CIA. His sole purpose for being in Tijuana was to document Renta’s movements.

The sweet little woman danced happily back to the bar with Renta’s order, her whole demeanor so different from the other staff. They all appeared bored. Perhaps that’s why I can’t take my eyes off you, pixie.

Fuck, I did it again. Moving the lens back to Renta, he saw he was now on his cell, but his gaze followed the movements of the small waitress. Samson was disturbed by the lascivious stare on the man’s face. His instincts warned him that the young woman was in danger from this piece-of-shit with his delusions of grandeur.

As a covert operative for the American military, he was not in a position to involve himself in local crimes, even if he wanted to. But he was still a man, and the abuse of women didn’t sit well with him.

He may have been happily single, but he respected women. In his line of work, one-night stands had always worked best for him. He didn’t ‘do’ relationships. If he happened to be on leave at the same time as his twin, Michael, they would often share a willing partner. That was the way they both liked it. No strings attached.

Neither of them were in any hurry to find a mate, as some of their pack recently had. A mate would end his military career, and he was perfectly happy with his life just the way it was.

His thoughts had drifted again. Fuck. I’m never distracted. Hell, my nickname is ‘The Machine’ because I’m always totally focused on the job.

He spent the next two hours watching his target, with only minor lapses to his concentration. Those lapses he blamed on the tiny blonde waitress who insisted on dancing as she waited on her tables.

Samson photographed and logged all the men Renta met with, and watched as he left the club. Renta slid into the backseat of his limousine as his driver held the door open for him. Samson remained motionless. Once Renta left, he planned on following him.

Samson’s truck was parked behind the building whose roof he was currently lying on. He knew it took twenty seconds to slide down the fire escape to his truck. He’d done a thorough reconnaissance, as was his practice.

But Renta wasn’t leaving. The limousine was idling outside the club with it’s the backdoor still open. What the fuck are you doing?

Samson realized that Renta’s bodyguards had not yet exited the club and swung the camera lens back to the club’s interior, looking for them.

Chapter 2

Bethany cleared one of her tables of empty glasses. The man who’d been sitting at this table had had a really creepy smile. She was glad when he’d left. The looks he’d been giving her had raised the small hairs on the back of her neck.

He hadn’t said anything out of the ordinary. In fact, he’d been obsequious whenever he’d been alone with her, which had upped his creep-factor considerably. His demeanor was completely different with the men he’d met with. He’d been businesslike and almost rude.

As she carried the tray of empty glasses toward the bar, she saw someone gesturing to her from a table at the very rear of the club. It was one of Paula’s tables, but she didn’t mind helping her.

Once beside the table, she smiled politely at the two men seated there. The man who’d gestured her over crooked his finger for her to come closer. The music was quite loud, so she leaned down.

He swept his arm around her head and had his hand clasped over her mouth in a movement so fast she didn’t even see it. She tensed her muscles to pull away and felt a sharp sting in her neck. Without her consent, all her muscles relaxed and she sagged against the man as he pulled her onto his lap. The last thought she had was that he smelled revolting. His breath was fetid and his body odor nauseating as she succumbed to the fog of darkness sweeping into her mind.

* * * *

Samson found Cristian’s goons in seconds. They were at a table in the rear of the club, in a very dark corner. Samson’s instincts tingled. They were up to something. He saw them call the little blonde waitress over, and for the first time in his career, he broke his cover, a low growl erupting from his throat. He was moving before he’d had a chance to think his decision through.

Going off assignment like this was unheard of for him, but he wouldn’t sit idle while this young woman was assaulted. He knew of Renta’s reputation. It was rumored he had ties to prostitution and human trafficking, as well as his drug operations.

He was down from the roof and standing, unseen, inside the back door of the club in under sixty seconds. With the advantage of his shifter genes, he could move quickly and silently when necessary. But it was still too late. He watched as the woman collapsed, unconscious, into scumbag number one’s lap.

Just as he began to advance toward the table, he staggered on his feet. He felt as though he’d been hit with a concussion grenade. Her scent, it was rich and delicious in the air. It was sweet like honey, and it was most definitely feline. It was also his.

His eyes burned, and he knew they’d be glowing. His canines erupted, unbidden, from his gums and his claws broke through the skin of his fingertips. The growl that erupted from deep in his chest was low and feral.

Someone has their hands on my mate.

Without questioning his sudden loss of control, he slid behind scumbag number two’s chair, and slammed his head onto the tabletop. He then plucked his mate from scumbag one’s lap with one hand, before similarly slamming the man’s head onto the table with the other. It was over in seconds. Turning, he then ran, with preternatural speed, out the back door of the club to his truck.

At the speed with which he was able to move, and with no lights in the alley behind the club, he was confident he would have been all but invisible. Not that he cared. All he cared about now was getting his mate away from this town. He had to get her somewhere safe.

Placing her gently on the back seat of the truck, he quickly got behind the wheel. He pulled out slowly and left the area at a sedate pace. He wasn’t quite so crazed that he’d further endanger his mate by getting pulled over for a traffic violation. How would I explain having an unconscious female in my truck to the local Federales?

As he drove calmly away, belying his actual state of mind, he grew increasingly enraged. He imagined what may have happened to his mate, had he not intervened tonight. It was enough that they’d drugged her. That they’d touched her. But the thought of what that deviant, Cristian Renta, may have been planning for her had his vision turning red with rage. His cat was clawing at him to be set free. It wanted to kill the threat to its mate.

In the confined space of the truck, his mate’s scent was like ambrosia. He could taste the sweet honey and subtle vanilla scent on his tongue as it filled the cabin. He decided, there and then, that he could live on her scent alone. If the mere smell of her was this good, then her taste would be exquisite. His mouth began water as he imagined tasting her.

He wanted to hold her. Feel her skin as it touched his naked body. He wanted to lick her. To mark her. His cat howled to be let free, to be allowed to indulge in her. It needed her, she was a cat, and she was his mate. His cock filled and hardened until it was a pounding length in his fatigues.

He smelled the mating musk he was releasing as a consequence of finding his mate. He had no control over it. It was nature’s way of drawing mates to each other and ensuring the perpetuation of their species. But it made him feel content to know that when she woke, she would immediately recognize that she was with her mate.

He tried to concentrate on driving, but found his eyes often drifting to the rearview mirror to watch her sleep. She was even more captivating this close than she’d been through his camera lens. Her skin was pale and perfect, her hair almost white.

The fact that his mate was a shifter was bonus for him and his twin. Two families in their pride had recently found their mates, and they were human. Having to explain the existence of shifters was a complication that he wouldn’t have.

Not that it still hadn’t worked out well for them. Their pride Alpha, Finn Frederick, and his three brothers were all very happily mated to their human, Melanie. The three Wilder brothers were equally happy in their mating to Peata.

As they approached the border, he covered his mate with a blanket, denying his cat an opportunity to stroke and caress her. His cat paced and snarling in his mind with its frustration. But he was determined to get her home before he finally indulged in his need to hold her.

Once safely back in the United States, he put his foot down. He didn’t question his decision to drive straight home. His cat instinctually wanted her there, and he agreed. He wanted her safely between him and his brothers, where they could all protect her. He also needed his elder brother, Jason, to ensure that whatever drug they’d dosed her with had not harmed her. As the pride doctor, he could do all the necessary tests himself.

His rage slowly receded with each mile they put between her and the threat in Tijuana. With his anger lessened, he regained his power for rational thinking. He needed to inform Michael that he’d found his mate. As twins, it was almost certain that his tiny passenger was also his mate. Michael was home on leave at present, so he would be there when Samson arrived. He couldn’t begin to guess if she was Jason’s mate, but with recent pride history, it was a strong possibility.

He’d called his superior first, and informed him that his cover had been compromised, and that he’d forward all the intelligence he’d gathered when he arrived home. He’d also requested to take leave, starting immediately. Getting his mate to safety was his mission now.

Chapter 3

Michael Reed finished clearing the table and began to stack the dishwasher. He looked over at his elder brother, Jason, and wondered why he even came to eat with him. He was sitting at the table, poring over medical journals, and had been doing so the whole way through their meal.

He used to be a happy guy, open and excited about life. But since his last tour in Afghanistan, five years ago, he’d become a different person altogether. He was still a great doctor, even though his bedside manner now left something to be desired. He refused to tell them exactly what had happened, but one of the men from Jason’s unit had told them that a nurse he’d been seeing had been killed. Jason had left the service after that and come home.

Whatever had happened, Jason had returned a changed man. He and Samson were mostly away, and it had left Jason alone too much, never having to deal with the event.

Michael had decided he was leaving the service. After seeing members of his pride happily mated, he felt as though he was wasting time. He wanted a long and happy life with his mate.

The missions Samson was sent on would eventually lead him to an early grave. He was going to ask Samson to leave, too. At only seventy years old, they could look forward to a couple of centuries of mated bliss. There was just the issue of actually finding her.

“Anything interesting there, Jase?” Michael said, trying to engage his brother in conversation. In the three days Samson had been away, he had yet to get more than a few words out of Jason.

“Not really.”

His cell phone rang, stopping him from his attempt to pry the stick out of Jason’s ass. He was surprised to see that the call was from Samson.

“Samson, aren’t you supposed to be in deep cover watching some Mexican shit-head?”

“I’ve just crossed the border and am heading home. I ditched the assignment.”

Michael looked across at Jason. With shifter hearing, he would’ve heard Samson clearly, even from across the room. He looked as concerned as Michael felt.

“Are you hurt? Do you need me to come and get you?” Michael asked.

“No, to both. But I’m coming in fast. I expect to be with you in ten hours. I need Jase to be there when I arrive.”

“What aren’t you telling us?” Michael said, growling to punctuate his rising anger. Samson was never one for melodrama, so this was beginning to piss him off.

“I’ll give you all the details when I get there. Michael…I found my mate. She’s been drugged. She’s still unconscious one hour after they dosed her. Her breathing is regular, but shallow.”

Michael froze, he had no words. Samson had found their mate. In Mexico. She was hurt. His cat wanted to shift, and run to them, but the human part of him knew that would be counterproductive.

Jason appeared beside him and took the phone from his unresisting hand. He had yet to regain his power of speech.

“Keep her warm. If she wakes, give her something to drink. We’ll be here when you arrive.” Jason ended the call. “Go for a run, Michael, just be back inside ten hours. Perhaps you should go to the Alpha and inform him that the mate epidemic is apparently spreading.”

The bitterness in Jason’s tone snapped him out of his stupor. “She may be your mate, too, you know?”

“She’s not,” Jason said, his tone certain.

* * * *

The trip to Eminence was uneventful. Samson had stopped for gas, but nothing else, single-minded in his desire to get his mate home. His cat had not calmed any in the long drive. It became increasingly anxious as the hours went by and she still hadn’t woken.

Michael had checked in every two hours, exactly every two hours. He’d asked for her status and their current location. Samson knew the ten hours must have been torture for Michael. He hadn’t spoken to Jason, but knew his brother would be prepared for their arrival.

As he pulled into their property, he could see Michael pacing the yard in front of the house. Finn’s truck parked out the front showed him that one of his brothers had thought to inform their Alpha. This mating shit is scrambling my brain. I should’ve informed the Alpha of what had occurred.

As he pulled to a stop, the back door was opened instantly. Michael peeled the blanket off their mate and gazed down at her.

“She is so tiny, and she smells so fucking good,” Michael said, taking a deep breath. “She’s also beautiful. You neglected to tell me that.”

“She’s all those things, Michael. But after breathing her scent for the last ten hours in this truck, my cat is going crazy.” He groaned as he got out of the truck and adjusted his painful erection in his fatigues. His body’s instinctual reaction to its mate had made it an uncomfortable journey.

“No change?” Jason asked, holding open the front door to the house.

“No, nothing. I don’t know what the fuck they gave her, but I suspect it was too much for her.”

Samson stood back and let Michael carry their mate into the house. He knew his brother would be desperate to touch her. It would also help to calm his brother’s cat.

As he entered the house behind Michael, he saw Finn standing in the living room. His lip curled in the beginnings of a snarl. His cat’s hackles rose in response to a possible challenge for its mate.

Finn raised his eyebrow. “Samson, you know I am no threat to your mate.”

“Sorry, Alpha,” he mumbled, lowering his gaze. His feelings remained very territorial, however. He followed Finn into Jason’s home surgery, where Michael had placed their mate on the examination table.

“I don’t suppose you want to give me some room, Michael?” Jason said, trying to get close enough to examine the woman.

“Not really, can’t you manage?” Michael said, but he moved to stand by her legs.

Finn waited outside as Jason performed his examination, took some blood samples and inserted an intravenous line.

“She’s extremely dehydrated. Hopefully, with some fluids we can flush out whatever they gave her. I’ll get working on these samples,” Jason said, as he turned and abruptly left the room.

“You seem remarkably calm, considering what has been done to your mate,” Samson called after him.

“She is not my mate.” Jason shouted as his footsteps continued down the hallway outside.

Samson stared after his brother. He’d seen Jason’s body react to the woman. He’d quickly fought to suppress the amber glow in his eyes, but Samson had seen it. The arousal brought on by the mating bond had caused mating musk to leak from every pore in Jason’s body.

“Michael, I can scent his lust like it has a life of its own. What the fuck is Jase playing at? Of course she’s his mate.”

Chapter 4

Jason left the exam room as calmly as he could and informed Finn of the woman’s condition. Their Alpha left, asking to be informed of any change in her condition.

He then went straight to his home laboratory. As shifter blood couldn’t be sent to any regular testing facilities, Finn had supplied the funds for the installation of state-of-the-art equipment in his home.

The instant the laboratory door was closed behind him, his knees finally gave way. He knelt where he’d fallen and brought his hands to his face. He breathed in deeply, savoring his mate’s deliciously sweet scent as he’d been unable to do before. His hands still tingled from where he’d briefly touched the luxurious softness of her skin during his examination.

I am so fucking screwed.

He hadn’t wanted a mate. Not ever. He’d always found the whole idea abhorrent. It would take away his right to choose his own life partner, and he’d chosen that woman five years ago. He’d chosen Judith.

Fuck. What the hell is happening in this town?

He knew he should be happy for his little brothers. He should be happy for himself. But when Judith had died, he’d vowed to stay true to her. That was before today. Before he’d come in contact with his mate.

He fumbled with the blood samples and somehow got the tests running. Stripping his clothes as he went, he stepped out the back door and shifted.

As he ran through the forest surrounding their home, his cat was fighting him to turn back. It wanted to be with its mate. But Jason would not be ruled by his beast. He was a man. He was more than just pheromones and animal instincts. He would not take a mate. He’d made that vow on Judith’s grave and he’d honor it now. His cat would just have to shut the fuck up.

He ran hard, determined to exhaust his cat into submission. When he returned home, he would be in control of his cat once more.

* * * *

Michael was sitting opposite Samson, each of them holding one of their mate’s hands. She was tiny for a shifter, but her lean frame was toned with muscle. She looked strong, and Michael hoped she hadn’t been harmed by the drugs she’d been given.

His cat snarled again as he thought about the attack on his mate. When Samson had described her attempted abduction, Michael had been furious. He’d been involved in gathering the background intelligence for Samson’s assignment. He knew exactly what Cristian Renta had planned to do with this young woman. With his mate.

“If you don’t calm down, Michael, you’ll destroy that chair, too.”

He looked down at his empty hand and found Samson was right. His claws had erupted again and were embedded in the leg of his chair. He’d already shredded one chair when Samson had described their mate’s attack. He took a deep breath and retracted his claws.

Jason had left to test their mate’s blood, but they’d heard him leave the house thirty minutes ago, and he still hadn’t returned. Michael wanted the results of those tests. He needed to know their mate was going to be all right.

Michael had no clue as to why Jason had denied she was his mate, but he hoped he came to his senses soon. No shifter would ever be so cruel as to deny its mate.

Michael was suffering no such delusion. He’d known the instant he opened the truck door that she was his. Her scent had ignited a fire in his veins that he’d never felt before. He knew, in that moment, that he was finally alive. He may have existed for the last seventy years, but until that instant, he had not been living.

“I need to know what to call her. This is killing me,” Michael said. “You really know nothing about her?”

“I told you everything. I didn’t even know she was our mate until I’d broken cover and gone to save her.”

“That was very out-of-character for you, Samson. Do you think that maybe you knew, on some level, that she was yours?”

Michael had been wondering about that since Samson had told him what he’d done. His brother had never broken cover or blown an assignment before.

“I only know that the sight of this little pixie had me distracted from the instant I saw her. I had to fight not watch her the whole fucking time. It was very unsettling.”

“I bet,” Michael said, trying to suppress a laugh. “Especially for you.”

“She is mesmerizing. The way she moves. The way she dances. Her smile lit up the entire club.”

“I never thought to hear you wax poetic, brother. Mating is going to suit you,” Michael said, stroking his hand down his mate’s face.

Samson flipped him the bird.

“I want to see that smile,” Michael said softly, running his fingers through her silky hair.

“She’s still so cold,” Samson said, rubbing her hand between both of his. “I wish I’d positioned myself closer. If I’d scented her earlier, I would’ve gotten her out before they attacked her.”

* * * *

After two hours had passed and their mate had still not stirred. Samson decided that they’d been idle long enough. Michael went to his office to initiate a search for information on their mate.

Michael was the brains to Samson’s brawn, and his computer skills were unrivalled. That, coupled with his extensive network of contacts, made him an invaluable intelligence asset. Whatever information was available on the small blonde waitress working at The Sunshine Club, Michael would soon have it.

Unable to simply sit and hold her hand any longer, Samson stripped off his fatigues and shirt and cuddled under the blanket with her. He shuddered when his naked flesh finally made contact with her. The sensation alone was almost enough to make him come.

He justified his actions by telling himself that her cat needed to feel its mate. It would be soothed, as his was, by the contact. She felt so good in his arms that he wanted to purr. But Samson Reed didn’t purr. He was a machine.

As he positioned her head on his chest, he stroked his hand through her short blonde hair. It was so white it was almost colorless. He caressed his fingers over the pale skin of her face. She was a beautiful young woman. Very young. There were no age lines on her delicate face. Her features were fine, her small ears slightly pointed at the top. He chuckled. No wonder he’d thought she looked like a pixie.

He wondered what color her eyes were. She had large eyes, the lashes thick and a few shades darker than her hair. It was her lips that held him captive, though. They were a dusky pale pink. Full and lush.

His cock twitched in his boxer briefs. He was as hard as stone, and fixating on all the things he wanted to do with those lips was not helping.

* * * *

Michael was both pleased and disturbed by the information he’d uncovered on their mate. He wanted to give himself some time to decide how he’d inform Samson of what he’d discovered, but he was unwilling to be parted from Bethany a minute longer.

Bethany. It suited her. So he rushed back to the clinic to share the good, the bad, and the ugly news with Samson.

When he entered the clinic, he was stunned to see his unemotional and hard-as-stone brother tenderly holding and caressing their mate.

“She looks like an angel,” Michael said.

“Yes, she does. Now tell me what have you’ve found.”

That was the brother he knew. “The name she gave The Sunshine Club was Bethany Granger.”

“Bethany,” Samson said, running the tips of his fingers across her lips. “It suits her. What else? You’re stalling.”

“She’s been in Tijuana for about three weeks. Kept to herself and worked hard. According to the other waitresses, she’s a little crazy.”

“Did they elaborate?”

“Oh, yes. They said she loved working at the club, which was enough to make them think she was nuts. However, she told one of the girls that she’d run away from a mental institution, so that cemented their opinion. Having said that, she was well-liked. They were all quite protective of her.”

“Just more puzzles for us to work through, Michael. Anything else?”

“You’re not going to like this next part. I think we should step out into the hall.”

Samson just scowled at him, but Michael remained unaffected. Samson’s notorious temper didn’t faze him.

“Your target was Cristian Renta. Correct?” At Samson’s nod, he continued. “Apparently he spent most of his time in the club last night, putting our mate up for sale to the highest bidder.”

Chapter 5

Samson carefully extracted himself from Bethany’s side and pulled on his fatigues. He would not have her being collateral damage to his rage. By the time he’d pulled on his T-shirt, Michael was waiting for him in the hallway.

“Explain,” Samson said, a low growl rumbling from his throat and chest.

“Explain what?” Jason said, joining them outside the clinic.

Samson had been so enraged he’d failed to hear Jason return.

“Our mate is still unconscious, so I used my contacts to find out what I could about her,” Michael said.

“Michael, please.” Samson emphasized his plea with another growl.

“Sorry, Samson. This idiot may be in denial, but we both know he needs to hear about Bethany,” Michael said soothingly.

“Bethany?” Jason asked.

Samson endeavored to be patient as Michael re-capped, bringing Jason up to speed. “Now that we’re all caught up, tell me everything you know about this sale.”

“Renta posted a picture of Bethany at the club last night and started the auction. It was all happening live while he conducted his usual business out of the club.” Michael ran his hands through his short-cropped hair.

“I managed to get hold of the pictures he uploaded to his website, but the bidding was all done directly to Renta’s phone. The auction was closed last night at 0100 hours, local time.”

“That’s when the fucker left the Club,” Samson said. He was furious with himself. He’d known from the way Renta had been looking at Bethany that there’d be trouble.

“He posted the winning bid on his website,” Michael said softly. “It was for ten million dollars. He has her listed as a virgin. I have no way of knowing if that’s true, and I suspect neither does he. He was probably just trying to jack up the price.”

“Fuck it,” Samson said. He was way beyond angry with himself. “I was right there while this was all happening.”

“The money has already been paid. He’s going to search for her,” Michael said.

Samson couldn’t believe this. He knew Renta was suspected of human trafficking, but they’d never found proof before. By taking Bethany as he had, they finally had that proof. Michael had found it. But he didn’t care about prosecuting the man now. He wanted to kill him.

“He’ll use the same information that you uncovered to try and locate her,” Jason said, his tone cold. “The fact that she’s a stranger to us will work to our advantage. I need to inform Finn.”

Samson watched Jason walk calmly back to his office. He wasn’t fooled by Jason’s charade. He may have attempted to appear unaffected by the danger to their mate, but Samson had scented his brother’s fury.

“He’s continuing with his denial, it seems,” Michael said as he walked back to Bethany’s side.

“We have bigger things to concern ourselves with than our brother’s stupidity,” Samson said. “We can pound some sense into him later.”

* * * *

Volunteering to call their Alpha had given him an excuse to walk away from Bethany, when all he’d wanted to do was to hold her in his arms. His run, it seemed, had not dulled his desire for her in the slightest.

The news that she’d almost been sold had ignited a possessiveness in him that he’d never experienced before. I am not controlled by my cat. I have free will and I will not take a mate.

He’d never told his brothers what had happened with Judith. The pain had been too fresh when he’d first returned home. Then, as the years passed, he’d never found the right time to bring it up, so it remained as a raw wound on his heart.

He called Finn and assured him they’d keep him updated, and that at present, there seemed little chance that Bethany had been followed to Eminence by Renta or his criminal associates.

Bethany’s tests were now complete and he needed to share his findings with his brothers. Her mates.

He had to consider the reality of his situation. When Bethany woke, she would become a mate to his brothers. Not to him.

His cat nearly forced a shift on him at his refusal to join in their mating. That hadn’t happened to him since his first shift.

He had to face the fact that once she was safe, he’d have to leave Eminence.

He staggered under the force of his cat’s rage. But he was stronger, and he’d exercise his free will. Instincts be damned, he would not take a mate.

* * * *

Michael was spending a few more minutes with Bethany before going to check with his contacts. He was hoping they’d uncovered something more about her. He wanted to know everything about her life before three weeks ago.

He was perched on the exam table, holding Bethany’s small hand, while Samson slept in the chair next to her bed. His brother was making an attentive and caring mate, which he found surprising, considering how vocal Samson had always been about never wanting one. Now all they needed was for Jason to realize how futile it was to fight against nature.

As if conjured by his thoughts, Jason entered the clinic.

“Do you have the test results?” Samson asked. He’d obviously not been as deeply asleep as he’d appeared.

“She was given a mix of Ketamine and Haloperidol. The drugs have effectively placed her in a medically-induced coma.”

“Can you reverse it, now you know what they dosed her with?” Michael said anxiously.

“If necessary. I’d rather she come out of it on her own. With no knowledge of her medical history, I’m reluctant to administer even more drugs.”

“Will she have been harmed by what they’ve done to her?” Samson said. Michael could hear Samson’s cat in the rough snarl his voice had become.

“Barring any unforeseen drug reactions, she should make a full recovery within the next forty-eight hours.”

“Don’t you give a fuck at all about her, Jase?” Samson said. He growled loudly at Jason now, his eyes shining with amber lights. “You sound as though you’re discussing a stranger, not your fucking mate.”

“I care because she is your mate, Samson. I will say it again, she is not my mate.” Jason casually flicked some lint off his sleeve before walking from the room.

“I’m not leaving Bethany’s side to chase him down and beat some fucking sense into him.” The amber had filled Samson’s eyes completely, his canines grazing his bottom lip and slurring his voice further.

“He won’t be able to deny it once she starts responding to our scent. He’s throwing off as much mating musk as we are. His cat knows the truth.”

“I wish we’d found out why he left the Marines. I think something from that time has him completely screwed up,” Samson said, his growl still a low rumble in his chest.

“This mating has you very in-touch with your feminine side, Samson.”

“Fuck you. I can still kill you with my bare hands.” But a smile had spread across his face.

Chapter 6

Bethany felt the layers of drug-induced sleep slip slowly away. She struggled to recall what she’d done this time to make the doctors knock her out.

The more she tried to remember, though, the worse her headache became. But she continued to fight hard to try and clear the fog as quickly as possible. It wasn’t safe for her to be helpless.

Stuart would get to her the first chance he got. She was in an untenable situation, her word against his, and who was going to believe a long-term patient like her?

She tried not to cry out with the pain in her head, but a small moan slipped out as she tried to force her heavy eyelids to open.

“Bethany, can you hear me?”

She froze. She didn’t recognize that voice, but thankfully, it wasn’t the nasal tones of the dick-less Stuart. She grasped either side of her head with her hands in an attempt to prevent it from splitting open.

“We’ve waited a long time for you to wake up, Bethany. How are you feeling?”

This voice was different, but it also wasn’t Stuart. This place didn’t smell the same as the hospital, either.

Holding her head firmly, she squeezed her eyes tightly closed and took a deep breath. The smell was actually quite wonderful. It was woodsy and clean, with a hint of musk mixed in. As she breathed it into her lungs, she felt a warmth spread through her body in a chain reaction. As the warmth moved on, it left a simmering tingle in its wake, like she’d been standing too close to a lightning strike.

She’d always had a really good sense of smell, and she’d found most people smelled pretty bad. But not the people in the room right now. Whoever they were they were, they smelled positively edible.

Bringing her mind back to the problem at hand was difficult, but she knew she had to get out of this bed and away from the hospital before Stuart came on duty.

“I have a bad case of cotton mouth and a rotten headache. What the fuck did you give me this time?” Bethany said, finally answering their questions. The words proved difficult to articulate with her mouth so dry.

Growls sounded around her, and the delicious smell grew stronger.

“I think you need to open your eyes, Bethany. We would never harm you. I was the one who saved you from that asshole in Tijuana.”

Tijuana? She pushed the drug haze away and tried really hard to think. She remembered limping away from the hospital. She remembered music and beer. That’s right, I already escaped from Claremont. Thank God for that. I’m working in a club in Tijuana now.

“Why did you need to escape from Claremont, kitten? Are you in some sort of trouble?”

She must have said that out loud. She had no clue what was going on, or where she was. Gritting her teeth at the pain in her head, she opened her eyes.

As she blinked rapidly to clear her blurred vision, two men came into focus. When she tried to pull herself into a sitting position, they both gently helped her and propped pillows behind her back.

She looked around the room first. She was sitting on some sort of hospital bed, in a room filled with medical equipment. She could see green fields and grazing horses through the large window opposite the bed. In the distance, she could see tree-covered hills.

“You’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy,” she whispered.

The deep chuckles that erupted from the two men drew her attention back to them.

“Actually, you’re in a town called Eminence, in the mountains of Colorado. Do you prefer to be called Dorothy, instead of Bethany?”

The man who’d spoken was huge. “You have to be the biggest person I’ve ever seen.”

He smiled widely at her and his pale golden eyes sparkled. He was big and gorgeous. He had honey-blond hair, cut high and tight. Coupled with his fatigues and tight black T-shirt, he screamed “military.”

She shook her head in an attempt to focus her thoughts and think clearly. Moaning, she wished she hadn’t. Her head was killing her.

“Did you say Colorado? How do you know my name? Who the hell are you?” As her thinking cleared, she grew scared. It appeared as though she’d been abducted.

Another huge man with the brown hair and green eyes handed her a bottle of water. She eyed it suspiciously. She knew she’d been drugged. The effects were too familiar for her not to recognize them. It was possible they were trying to put her back to sleep. She put the bottle of water on the bed beside her.

“Why don’t we start from the beginning? My name is Samson Reed. This is my brother Michael. I work for the military and was on assignment in Tijuana when we crossed paths. Do you remember serving a slimy bastard in a black suit at the club last night?”

“The drug lord?” She definitely remembered him. “He really creeped me out. I don’t remember you, though.” She wouldn’t have forgotten someone that huge.

“You knew what he was?” Michael appeared surprised.

“Sure, he reeked of drugs and money. So did all the people he met that night. I stayed away from them as much as I could.”

“You have good instincts, Bethany. But unfortunately, he noticed you. His two bodyguards drugged you and were getting ready to take you from the bar when I intervened.”

“God, that’s right, I remember now. He smelt so disgusting I nearly threw up.” It all came back in a rush. The trip to Tijuana, finding a job and working at the club. That man grabbing her was the last thing she remembered.

“Why did they drug me?”

“At the time, I didn’t know why they tried to abduct you, but we’ve since learned that the man you served, Cristian Renta, is involved in human trafficking as well as drugs.” Samson paused, his eyes got brighter, and his expression became stark with anger. “Last night at the club, he put you up for auction to the highest bidder.”

As detestable as the practice of human trafficking was, she was surprised she would’ve been of any appeal. She was skinny, with no boobs or curves. Her hair was cut short, as she’d had no access to any sort of hair product, even a hair dryer for years. She was incredibly plain.

“It’s completely heinous that someone would do that to another human being, but why on earth would he want me? Did he think I was a man?”

That earned her another deep chuckle from both men. The air seemed to fill with that delicious smell again. She leaned forward a little and took a breath in. It was these men. Their cologne was incredible. It made her think of sex, and she never thought of sex.

“They most definitely advertised you as a female.” She watched as Michael’s face grew tight with anger. “I saw what he posted online.”

“Oh God, what about the other girls at the club?” Even though she’d only been working there three weeks, the people were really nice and she cared about them. They’d given her a chance, even though she’d admitted to having zero work experience.

“From what I uncovered, you were the only one for sale,” Michael said.

“I’m so glad.” She clutched a hand to her chest to try and calm her racing heart. “They were all really kind to me when I needed a helping hand.”

The pieces all fell together, at last, in her sluggish brain. Samson had rescued her from that man after she’d been drugged. She could have been…God, she didn’t know where she’d be right now if he hadn’t intervened.

“I’m sorry I’ve caused you both so much trouble, but I’d like to thank you for saving me from that horrible situation. My name is Bethany Granger.” She held out her hand.

Samson looked at her hand for so long that she thought she should withdraw it. Awkward.

But he grasped it in his hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of her hand very gently. She felt as though her hand was singed by the gentle caress of his lips. She gasped slightly at the heat spreading through her from the contact.

“It was an unexpected happenstance that has brought you into my life Bethany, but I’m almost grateful that the bastard tried to take you,” Samson said. As he looked into her eyes, his seemed to almost glow with the sincerity of his words.

“As am I,” Michael said, taking her other hand in his and brushing his lips lightly to her palm.

This time, the heat spread through her veins like an inferno. Her eyes felt as though they were on fire. She blinked to try and ease the feeling that they were actually burning. She also felt the stirrings of arousal. She’d thought she was incapable of feeling sexually excited. She’d been unsure of whether it was due to her psychological problems or the drugs they had her on. But it seemed as though she was over that now, because these two had barely touched her and she ached for them to never stop.

She had to get a grip. She was in Colorado, back in the USA. She had run for a reason and she had to get going again. She withdrew her hands from theirs, reluctantly. Samson had explained why he had taken her from the club, but not why she was here. “Why have you brought me to a hospital all the way up here?”

“This is our home, not a hospital.”

Turning toward the voice, she saw a hugely muscled man leaning against the door frame. He wore khaki-colored fatigues with a tight black T-shirt. His white-blond hair fell to his shoulders. He was just as gorgeous as Samson and Michael, but unlike their kind expressions, he looked angry. His eyes were a cobalt blue. The hint of ice in his beautiful eyes showed her he didn’t like her being in his home at all.

Then his cologne drifted into the room. It added a deeper, musky note to Michael and Samson’s cologne. Combined like this, it was simply the best smell in the world. The feeling she’d experienced before, of being too close to a lightning strike, amplified as his cologne continued to drift into the room. Within a second, she felt as though the lightening had actually hit her. Every cell in her body felt alive and excited. She felt heat in her core as the unfamiliar sensation of desire coursed through her again.

As he continued to stare at her, his expression grew fierce. He was really mad, and it made her feel like crying. “I’m sorry. Please, don’t be angry. I didn’t mean to insult your home.” She lowered her eyes, fearing she’d cry. There was a painful scratching sensation in her chest and she was overwhelmingly sad that she’d somehow displeased the icy stranger.

She’d never felt like this before. She wanted him to be warm and kind like the other two men. His distant demeanor seemed to be physically hurting her.

“There’s no insult, Bethany,” Samson said as he reached over and took her hand between both of his. “This particular room is actually more of a clinic. This is our brother, Jason Reed. He’s a doctor, and he uses this room to see patients.”

She felt a little better with Samson holding her hand. The pain in her chest subsided a little. But when Michael cupped her cheek in his hand and placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head, the pain seemed to flow out of her.

“How are you feeling?” Jason asked her, the words clipped and devoid of emotion.

“I’m great. I’ll leave soon,” she said softly. The man was giving off hostile vibes that were almost pushing her through the wall.

“You should drink that water. It will help to flush the drugs out of your system. If you keep it down, I’ll allow Samson to remove your IV.” He turned and walked quickly away.

Tears pricked her eyes as she listened to his retreating footsteps. She wasn’t usually a weepy person, but Jason leaving so abruptly made her want to bawl her eyes out. The smell of his cologne receded with him and she found it was leaving an emptiness behind. Oh no, I’m losing it.

“I think I should go,” she muttered. Opening the water and drinking it all, she didn’t care if she got sick.

She had the distinct impression that her company was not welcomed by Doctor Jason Reed, and it was making her “crazy” come out again. She’d fought too hard and too long to control her schizophrenia to be pushed into an episode by a total stranger. Especially when that stranger was a total prick.

Chapter 7

“I need to use the bathroom, please,” she said. She kept her head down and didn’t make eye contact with the two remaining brothers. She had to get out of here. The presence in her mind was coming back. It had been quiet for a few weeks now, but as soon as Jason had walked away, she’d felt it returning, it would fill her mind with its demands and try to take control.

“Of course,” Samson said. They both helped her off the bed and walked her to the adjoining bathroom. Her head was spinning from the drugs, and her legs were like jelly, but she stayed on her feet.

“I’ll hang your IV bag on the hook behind the door,” Michael said helpfully. “You look very pale, darlin’. Do you want one of us to stay with you?”

“No, thank you. I’ll manage.” She needed them to leave so she could get the fuck out of there. She didn’t know what was happening to her. She was attracted to all three of the gorgeous, but complete, strangers. They smelled so good, and they’d set her body on fire. She felt as though she was living in a romance novel. I think my bosom actually heaved when Michael kissed my head.

She didn’t know if it was her burgeoning sexual attraction for them that was causing her mind to fracture again, but she didn’t want to stay to find out.

As soon as the bathroom door closed behind her, she pulled out the IV and looked around for a window.

* * * *

Samson was furious with Jason. He’d seen the shine of tears fill his mate’s lovely blue eyes at Jason’s cruel treatment of her. She was understandably hurt and confused by Jason’s actions. Samson had never seen him so cold with a patient before, let alone one who was his mate. Her cat would be devastated by its mate’s obvious rejection.

“It felt like he’d actually slapped her,” Michael exclaimed. “I’m going to find Jason and tear him a new one.”

“Make that two,” Samson growled. “The scent of her pain is fucking burning me alive right now.”

“He has to stop this. I won’t have her hurting because of him.”

“Good luck with that. He’s a stubborn fucking bastard.” Samson walked toward the back door.

“Where are you going?” Michael said, “Jason went this way.” He gestured down the hallway with his thumb.

“I’m going outside to catch Bethany as she climbs out the window. It’s far too big a drop for such a tiny thing.”

Michael raised his eyebrows in surprise, but didn’t argue with him.

When Samson arrived at the patch of lawn outside the bathroom, it was to see Bethany exiting the window backward. Her legs and torso were already free of the frame. She gasped in surprise as he wrapped an arm around her slim hips and lowered her to the ground.

“What the fuck?” she said, turning on him. “You scared me half to death.”

She didn’t look scared, she looked furious. Her eyes turned from a beautiful dusky blue to a glowing lavender with her anger. She was stunning. Her eyes had turned that color earlier, when he’d kissed her hand. Her cat was going to be stunning, he was certain of it.

“I thought you might like to join us for dinner. I’m starving. I haven’t eaten in over twenty-four hours and I know you haven’t either.” He smiled as he reluctantly released her and gestured toward the back porch.

* * * *

Michael found Jason in the kitchen preparing dinner. “You better explain to me why you just hurt our mate like that.” He gripped the table tightly with his hands to stop himself from using them on Jason’s throat.

“Your mate, Michael, and I didn’t do a thing to her.”

Michael wanted to strangle him so badly as he stood there and calmly chopped vegetables.

“You need to tell us what happened back in Afghanistan. We can help you. You need to deal with it, so you can move forward with your life. With Bethany.” He saw steely resolve wash over his brother’s face.

“I’m happy that you and Samson have found your mate. But I must insist you stop trying to force something on me that simply doesn’t exist.”

Samson entered the kitchen and held the door open, as Bethany entered after him.

“Bethany is joining us for dinner. She’s decided against a walk,” Samson said. He smiled down at an obviously furious Bethany.

She walked stiffly to the table and sat down on one of the chairs. Her voice shook when she spoke. “You just told me that you rescued me from a kidnapper. Have you now replaced him? Am I now a prisoner here?”

“You shouldn’t be out of bed. Why did you remove the IV, Samson?” Michael watched as Jason finally showed his true feelings toward Bethany. His face was tight with anger and his hands were now clenched into tight fists at his side.

“I didn’t remove it, Bethany did, right before she decided to take a dive out the window and be on her way.” Her eyes sparked and glowed as she glared up at Samson. “I’ve convinced her to have a meal with us first.”

“Why would you do that, Bethany?” Jason said.

“I may be nuts, but I know when I’m not welcome.” She turned her glare on Jason. “You haven’t answered my question. Am I a prisoner here?”

Samson sat on one side of Bethany and reached for her hand. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again on a sigh. He ran his free hand through his cropped hair and looked pleadingly at Michael.

Michael walked over and sat on Bethany’s other side. He reached for her other hand and was pleased that she didn’t pull it away. “Of course you’re not a prisoner, darlin’. We just think you should stay with us until we’ve determined if you’re safe from Cristian Renta.”

“That’s right,” Samson said, his shoulders relaxing a little. “We haven’t told you everything yet, but we believe he’s still a threat to you.”

Michael watched the emotions flow across her expressive face. He could scent her anger receding as she relaxed. Sitting this close to her, he had a driving need to place his lips on her delicate neck.

“I’ve discovered that a large sum of money has already been paid for you. Renta won’t want to return that money. He’ll come looking for you.”

“We can protect you here, Bethany,” Samson added.

“I see,” she said. “Is that why you’ve brought me here? Because it’s so far away from him?”

Michael couldn’t lie to his mate. It was an impossibility for their kind, but he didn’t want to overwhelm her by telling her how much he cared for her already. He wondered if the drugs still in her system were preventing her from feeling the pull of the mating bond. She shouldn’t want to leave them.

“Why did you want to leave, darlin’? Did we scare you?” he asked instead. Her eyes had changed back to their usual pale blue, but when she’d been angry, they were a glowing lavender. Quite a tell. He wondered if they were that color when she shifted. He was certain she’d be a beautiful cat.

“I don’t think Jason likes me very much and it was making me…uncomfortable.” She looked up to where Jason had been standing and sighed.

Michael followed her gaze. He was gone.

“We like you, kitten,” Samson said. “I couldn’t take my eyes off you back in Tijuana. If I hadn’t needed to rescue you, I would have asked you out.” Samson pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.

Her cheeks blushed scarlet and Michael could hear her pulse rate double.

“But you don’t know anything about me. Why would you do that?” She looked at Samson with genuine surprise.

“That’s what dates are for. To get to know people you’re attracted to. You must’ve had really bad dates in the past, if you didn’t know that.” Samson said.

“I’ve never had any dates in the past. That’s what I’ve been saying. You know nothing about me. If you did, I’m certain you wouldn’t want a date with me.” She looked down at her lap, her shoulders slumping. She drew her hands from theirs and began to wring then together.

Michael knew he’d want her regardless of anything she told them. A mate was a one-time gift. There was only one for any shifter, and for them, she was it. He wondered what she’d been told about mates, as she didn’t seem to understand everything she meant to them.

“What did your parents tell you about meeting your soul mate, Bethany?” Michael said. “Didn’t they tell you that you’d know them instantly?”

He wanted to race her to the nearest bedroom, strip her naked and lick her all over. Then she would be in no doubt of his feelings toward her. He and his cat wanted to taste every inch of their delicious mate. He felt his eyes heat, and knew the amber would be showing. His cock was so hard now that it was feeling tortured in the confines of his pants.

He wondered if Jason’s denial of Bethany as his mate was the reason she seemed to be unaware of their mating bond.

“I think we should feed Bethany before we have any deep and meaningful discussions. She’s going to waste away otherwise,” Samson said. He rose and began chopping the vegetables Jason had left unattended.

Michael made her some sweet tea and observed Bethany as she sipped it in contemplative silence. As he helped Samson with the meal, he noticed she kept looking from them to the door. The fact that she was still wanted to run was obvious and distressing. Neither he, nor his distressed cat, could understand why she would consider leaving her mates.

Chapter 8

Jason had left the kitchen and gone for another run. He was stunned that the woman had tried to run. Samson and Michael were her mates. She would be feeling the pull as strongly as they were. Was Michael right? Did I hurt her?

He had honestly not paid any attention to shifter lore as he was growing up. He’d always intended to live his own life, not some pre-ordained life thrust upon him by his genetics.

He’d studied medicine, and then joined the Marines as a surgeon. He’d gotten to see the world. Not always the nice parts of it—war zones weren’t generally located in common tourist destinations. But he’d been determined to not waste his three hundred years of life in Eminence.

His parents were happy here, as were their parents before them. It just wasn’t what he’d wanted. So he’d made a different life for himself than the one his family had expected of him.

That had all changed with Judith’s sudden death. Then he’d wanted nothing more than to come home and simply exist, until the day he could join her in death.

Then Samson had appeared with a five-foot-nothing bundle of blonde feline, and suddenly, his world was falling apart again. Damn it. I will not be controlled by something as unscientific as fate. I chose to never take a mate and I will stand by my decision.

* * * *

Bethany watched as Samson and Michael cleared the table after their meal. They were large men, easily six-and-a-half feet tall, but they moved with a fluid grace that had her blood heating. They glided around silently, their muscles rippling under their shirts. Their army training seemed to have honed them into…predators.

They had insisted she remain seated and had even made her a hot chocolate for dessert. Dinner had been a quiet affair, with them talking about the ranch and the sale of some of their horses. As she sipped her sweet beverage, she considered how to tell them of her past. She should do it now, because she was beginning to enjoy being around them. Once they knew about her, they would ask her to leave. All thoughts of dating her would be dismissed. She was not dating material.

Soul mates? Ha.

She’d never felt attracted to a man before, and she found the feelings unsettling. She’d scanned the doorway for Jason about a hundred times since he’d quietly disappeared. She wasn’t sure if it was because he scared her, or because she wanted him to join them. She just knew that she’d felt an emptiness when he had left. The emptiness was still there, despite being in the company of Samson and Michael.

She had fought and controlled the splintering of her mind, which had threatened in the clinic. The presence that had tried to overwhelm her was still there, but it seemed quiet now.

She’d used some relaxation techniques that had been effective in the past. If she didn’t get upset or angry, she should be able to avoid an “episode” in front of these men.

“Why don’t we start by telling you a little about ourselves?” Michael said, sitting next to her and taking one of her hands in his. She hated to admit it to herself, but she loved it when they touched her. Her skin tingled, and it made her pussy throb and tingle, too. Very unsettling.

“That would be great. You said you were working in Tijuana, Samson?” Bethany said, pleased to delay having to tell her story a little longer. He walked over and sat down on her other side.

“Yes, I was on assignment for the government. Michael and I joined the Marines right out of school. We’re twins and entered together. Once we were finished with basic training, they quickly recognized our differing talents and we were directed into different fields.”

“I went into cyber-intelligence,” Michael said, “with very little field work. Whereas Samson became a super spy. I think they may have actually modelled James Bond on him.”

“Terminator would be more likely,” Bethany said, choking a little on her hot chocolate. You’re too massive to be James Bond.”

She’d said it without thinking and found herself laughing at the mental image she’d conjured. Samson was certainly built like the huge cyborg.

“Would a machine do this?” She quickly found herself plucked from her chair and sitting on his lap, with her legs straddling his hips. Her mouth popped open in surprise. He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her, his tongue rubbing along hers briefly, before he broke the kiss. “You taste even sweeter than you smell, Bethany.”

Her lips tingled and pulsed from his gentle kiss.

“I have this incredible urge to roll all over you,” Bethany said. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth. She could feel her face heating in a blush.

“That’s not surprising, darlin’. We want to do the same to you,” Michael said. He gently removed her hand and kissed her. His tongue stroking lightly along her already-tingling lips.

Her body was tingling with excitement. She’d gone from never being attracted to anyone, to being attracted to two men in the space of a day. Her pussy throbbed when she thought of Jason kissing her. Or was that three men?

“You’re going to kill me, kitten.” Samson moaned into her neck. “You smell so fucking good.”

“Why don’t you tell us about yourself?” Michael said.

His voice was deep and husky now. It made her pussy throb again. She screwed her eyes shut and willed the feeling to go away. It didn’t.

She decided to delay again. “Have you always lived here together?”

“We have,” Michael said. “Jason moved away when he was in medical school. Samson and I have built this house over the years when we’ve had leave. Our parents have a home on the other side of the hill. We own and work the property with them.”

“Must be good to have family, and to be so close to them.” She suppressed the urge to sigh. She didn’t want their pity at her life’s circumstances.

Samson nipped her bottom lip, surprising her. “You don’t have any family, kitten?”

“No. I was put into the foster care system in San Diego when I was an infant. I remained in the system until I was sixteen. The longest I stayed with any family was two years.”

“That’s a difficult upbringing, never having a stable family. Were they good to you, darlin’?” Michael said.

When Bethany looked at him, his green eyes were a deep, shining jade. They seemed to glow, as if lit from within. It sent a shiver up her spine.

“Yes, they were all kind. I know foster care can be hard for some kids, but I did okay. Being moved around was the only difficult part. Getting attached to other children, then being separated.”

“What happened after you were sixteen?” Samson said.

When she looked at him, his eyes were also cold, like the amber they resembled. She wondered if he suspected she had something unpleasant to tell them. She was sure they’d want nothing to do with her as soon as she answered him.

“You may as well tell us, darlin’,” Michael said, lifting her chin so she was looking at him.

She hadn’t realized she’d lowered her head in her attempt to hide.

“Samson is an expert in interrogation. He will get it out of you eventually.”

She gasped, her gaze flying to Samson, but he was smiling warmly at her.

“Funny. But I will get it over with.” She didn’t manage to suppress her sigh this time.

“When I was sixteen, I was placed in a psychiatric facility. They diagnosed me as schizophrenic. I was still in that same facility until four weeks ago. They’ve never been able to find any drugs that would stabilize my condition.”

She went to slide off Samson’s lap, but he held her firmly in place with his hands around her hips. Michael rose quickly and pressed against her back, trapping her there.

“Going somewhere, kitten?” Samson said. He leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips. “There must be more to your story.”

“I better go now,” she said. She knew they must be regretting their offer to get to know her, so she kept her eyes lowered. Seeing that regret in their eyes would hurt. She really liked them, and the way they made her feel.

“Do you think what you just told us matters?” Michael whispered in her ear. It startled a squeak from her as she tensed in response. “Mental illness is just that, an illness. If you had diabetes, would you expect us to think any differently about you?”

Samson lifted her chin so she was looking directly into his pale golden eyes. She sucked in a breath at what she saw there. There was heat and desire, but no regret at all. “In our eyes, you’re perfect as you are, Bethany, and we want very much to know everything about you. I hate that we didn’t know you sooner. Maybe we could have helped you in some way.”

* * * *

Jason stood outside the kitchen window, listening to the discussion occurring inside.

He knew of no shifter ever having being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Their shifter genes healed too rapidly for a physical illness to affect them long-term, and that seemed to extend to mental illnesses as well. Some shifters were simply horrible people, or they suffered from delusions of grandeur due to their long lives and increased strength. But no psychological illness should have affected her.

He wondered at the real cause of her suffering six years of drugging and confinement in an institution. It would’ve been torture to her cat. His own was bristling with anger at her mistreatment, and as a physician, he was outraged.

Chapter 9

Samson was horrified that she’d been, effectively, caged for six years. Not being free to run must have caused great distress to her cat. His own cat had needed to endure long periods of confinement while in the military, but he had not had to keep it confined for six years.

“That’s a long time to be caged, kitten. How have you managed?” he asked her. He ran his hands up and down her sides, unsure if he was trying to comfort her or himself.

“It wasn’t a prison. We had rooms, and were allowed out in the grounds in our free time. I wasn’t allowed to leave, but I wasn’t in the criminal section.”

He needed to know why she’d left the facility. She’d said she’d escaped four weeks ago. The thought of someone having hurt her, or even frightening her, had a growl erupting from him.

“That sound is really nice. It makes me want to rest my head on your chest to feel it,” she said. Her hand flew to cover her mouth again. “I am just blurting things out today. It must be the drugs they gave me.” With her hand still clamped over mouth, the words were mumbled.

“Now that it’s started, we won’t be able to lie to each other, darlin’,” Michael said.

Samson bent to nibble on her neck. Her moan was muffled behind her hand, but it had his cock hard and throbbing in seconds.

“You are the most delicious-smelling cat I have ever encountered,” Samson said, groaning into her neck. He removed her hand and took her lips in a lingering kiss.

Too soon, her hands were pushing against his chest. When he broke the kiss, he could taste her arousal in the air. His cat ached with the need to mate, but they had to wait for Jason to accept her, too. If the mating started and wasn’t completed by all her mates, Bethany’s arousal would become painful. If the mating was never completed, it would end in all of their deaths.

His mind cleared of the scent of her arousal and he began to scent her anger.

* * * *

“What?” she said. She was so mad at herself that her vision was blurring. He just called me a cat?

He and his brother were seriously gorgeous, but if they were into some weird role-playing scene, then she was leaving right now. She should’ve sensed they were a little strange. She’d been around crazy people long enough to have recognized the signs sooner.

“I don’t want to dress as a cat, or a pony, if that’s the sort of thing the pair of you like.”

“What?” they both said.

She looked at each of them in turn. They looked puzzled.

“I saw some of that in the hospital. It started as a kink, but some people took it too far. They escaped completely into their role-play. I refuse to be anyone but myself.”

“We’re not talking role-play, darlin’. We’re talking literally. Your cat, literally, smells fucking amazing to us,” Michael said.

He looked at her with a broad grin on his handsome face. Her anger turned into confusion and frustration.

“I don’t own a fucking cat. Are you two messing around?”

“You have a terribly foul mouth, darlin’. If you’ve never been spanked, then I see it in your future unless you temper your language,” Michael said. He kissed the back of her neck as though nothing was wrong with his demands.

She was out of here. Role-playing and bondage was not her thing. Not that she’d ever had a thing. But still, she knew it didn’t turn her on at all.

“Just forget it. You two are beautiful men, and I was getting all excited and, well, turned on. But now that I know what turns you on, I’m going to pass. Thanks all the same.”

She moved out from between them and backed out of the kitchen. She kept them in sight the whole time, to be safe. She daren’t turn her back on these two.

* * * *

“We have some wires crossed somewhere, Bethany. Let’s sort this out before you run,” Samson said. He’d been so shocked at the turn of the conversation that he’d let her slide off his lap. Just when he’d had visions of licking her to a screaming orgasm, it had all become very confused.

“We don’t partake in any form of role-play. We were complementing your cat. Ours are really attracted to it,” Samson said.

Her horrified expression, and the way she continued to back out the door, showed he was not making things any clearer for her.

“Fuck it,” Michael shouted, and, tearing off his clothes, he shifted. It took only a second.

Bethany screamed, her expression now one of terror. She turned and ran. Stunned at her reaction, he was a few seconds behind Michael in giving chase.

They were in the yard by the time he reached them. Michael had her pinned to the ground by her legs, rubbing his head gently over her abdomen. She lay completely still. Her eyes wide with fear. The air around them was thick with the scent of it.

“We thought you knew that we were cats, too,” Samson said. He crouched down beside her and reached for her trembling hand. “Once I was close enough to scent you, I knew immediately what you were, and that you’re our mate.” He couldn’t understand why she was so scared.

She didn’t pull her hand away. Instead, she gripped his hand tightly, as though it were a lifeline. Her breathing was shallow and rapid. He could hear her heart bounding furiously.

“Did he just fucking change into a huge mountain lion or am I having a psychotic break?” She was gasping for breath and still hadn’t taken her eyes from Michael.

Michael moved off her legs to lie down next to her. He nuzzled against her abdomen again and began to purr. Samson’s cat was scratching against him. It wanted to feel its mate, too.

“Bethany, are you saying you know nothing of the existence of shape shifters?”

“A shape shifter? Like in the books? Like a werewolf? Oh God, are they real? I knew a guy in the hospital who said he was an alien. Are they real, too?”

Michael chuffed against her face and Samson could do nothing but laugh.

“No, kitten. No aliens that I know of.”

What have we done? Samson was stunned. Had they just told their mate that shifters existed? She is a cat, I’m certain of it.

“You really didn’t know, Bethany?” Samson said, stroking his hand down her face.

She was not gripping his hand quite as tightly, but she was still lying stiffly on the ground, her gaze still fixedly on Michael.

“I’m so sorry for shocking you like this. We thought you knew about us. Otherwise, we would have been more diplomatic in the way we showed you.”

“How the fuck would diplomacy have helped? He just turned into a mountain lion that’s as tall as me.”

“I know, kitten. I can change as well. We’re actually part of a large pride that lives here in Eminence.

“You’re not freaks? There’s more of you?”

“Lots more, and more shifters in the world, too. Shifters that change into other creatures.”

She gaped at him. Her expression was one of shock, but thankfully, she no longer looked terrified. “This is stranger than anything I witnessed at the hospital.”

“But you’re a cat, too. How is it you don’t know about shape shifters? Have you never shifted?” Samson could maybe understand that she hadn’t recognized them if she hadn’t come across another shifter before. But he couldn’t understand her being ignorant of her own cat.

Michael shifted back at that moment, obviously wanting to contribute to the conversation.

“You didn’t know, did you, darlin’? I could clearly scent the fear and confusion on you when I was shifted,” Michael said.

“Um, excuse me, but you’re not wearing any clothes, Michael.”

“I know, darlin’. Do you care? I’m beautiful. Remember?”

She collapsed back on the ground, laughing. “I did say that, didn’t I? I just blurt out the best things around you two. Honestly, I should be committed. Again.” She laughed harder, and had to wipe the tears from her eyes.

Samson watched as she pulled herself together. Once her hysteria had passed, he and Michael helped her to sit up.

“Are you serious that you think I’m a cat, like you?”

“Yes, kitten, I know you are,” Samson said. “I suspected you were a shifter of some sort the minute I saw you move, back in that club in Tijuana. Once I was close enough to scent you, I knew you were mine.” He watched as her expression grew serious.

“Before we address that particular issue, what does it feel like to be a cat? Do you disappear when you shift and become all animal?”

“No, darlin’, we stay as we are. All our thoughts and memories are intact. We just let the cat in us come to the forefront,” Michael said. He was sitting next to Bethany and she let him move her closer until she was tucked under his arm.

“They are instinctual, fast, and free. It’s a wonderful feeling to let those feelings take over for a while,” Michael said. “It’s a kind of duality.”

“Growing up knowing we were shifters meant we always recognized that part of ourselves. We shared in the joy our cats felt, as our enhanced senses discovered new scents and our strength increased. We bonded with that part of ourselves,” Samson said. “So when the cat reached its full strength at puberty, we were ready for the shift. Our cats had been yearning to run for years, and we welcomed it.”

She was quiet for a very long time, chewing so hard on her bottom lip that Samson pulled it free with his finger before she made it bleed.

“I was committed to the hospital at age sixteen. I described to my foster parents that I felt like I had someone else inside me, trying to get out. I told them that it whispered to me. It wanted to be free. It wanted me to let it out.”

“That wasn’t schizophrenia, Bethany, that was your cat emerging. The age is unimportant, but it always happens at puberty,” Samson said.

“As schizophrenia often does,” said Michael, pulling her tighter against his side. “No wonder they never found the right medication.”

His heart ached for the injustice of her suffering, the long years of confinement she’d endured, simply because her shifter nature was unknown to her.

“Do you think that’s really it? I won’t have to ever go back there and have more treatments and drugs?” She shuddered, and Samson rubbed his hands over her arms to warm her.

“I have never changed like Michael just did. Did I need something else? Did I need my parents to help me?”

Jason cleared his throat and they all turned to see him standing on the porch. He flicked on the porch light, illuminating the yard against the darkness of the setting sun.

“You didn’t need anything else. I suspect your shifting abilities are latent. They’ll likely never manifest, preventing you from ever shifting. We could test your other abilities, if you should want to. But I suspect we would find a corresponding decrease in all your inherent shifter skills.”

Jason was so cold and clinical in his assessment that Samson wanted to beat him senseless. He was discussing his mate’s life as though it was of no consequence to him.

“I’ve never heard of latent shifters,” Samson said, trying to calm his anger in front of Bethany.

“It occurs infrequently, but it has been documented. There is no treatment that has ever been found to force the shift.”

“So I’m a broken shifter. Is that what you’re saying?” Bethany’s breath hitched, betraying her emotions. Jason had made it sound very much that way in his cool delivery of her condition.

“You’re not broken, Bethany,” Michael said. “I wouldn’t want anything about you to change. You’re our mate, and were created perfectly for us. If you were human, you would still be our mate,” Michael said. He kissed her cheek and drew her onto his lap.

Samson held her hand and squeezed it gently in reassurance.

“You could not be more perfect in my eyes, kitten.”

Chapter 10

Bethany welcomed the warmth and comfort offered by Michael and Samson. She sunk into Michael’s warm, wide chest, and enjoyed the rumbling she now realized was purring.

Of all the crazy things she’d seen in her years, this really took the prize. But it was real. She’d seen it. Touched it. Big, handsome Michael had turned into a giant cougar, right before her eyes. If she was being honest with herself, she was glad that they hadn’t tried to explain it first.

“I’m glad you showed me, Michael. I wasn’t listening to you,” she said softly.

“No, you weren’t,” he said, licking her behind the ear.

The lick sent shivers racing across her skin. The presence in her mind rose and seemed to want more.

“I have this feeling in my head. I have described it all these years as an entity, or a presence. Right now, it seems to be asking for more,” she said. She looked at Samson and hoped that he could make some sense out of what she was feeling. God knows no one else had in the last six years.

“That’s your cat. It liked what Michael just did to you, and it’s wanting more contact,” Samson said.

“How do you know that?”

“Because I can smell your arousal,” Michael said. “I felt your tremor of excitement. Your cat is aware we’re mates and it’s excited, too.”

“You have been fighting the other half of yourself all your life, Bethany,” Jason said. “You know what is happening now, but it will still take time to learn that other half. It’s a very instinctual bond. Once you stop fearing it, it will soon become a natural part of you.”

Bethany didn’t know about that, but she was feeling hopeful for the first time in years that she wouldn’t be lost to her madness. All of the things she’d just learned finally made her life make sense. She was a shifter. It was her cat who’d been inside her all this time.

She may not know her cat at all, but she knew she ached at the distance Jason was putting between them. It felt wonderful to have Michael and Samson close and touching her, but her heart hurt at the physical and emotional distance of their brother.

“You have a lot to learn, kitten,” Samson said, kissing the palm of her hand. “But we’re here to help you through it. There’s no hurry. You’re our mate and we’ll never leave you.”

That brought up another issue. They had been using the word “mate” an awful lot. It obviously meant something to them that she was unaware of.

“What is meant by ‘mate’ when you say it?” she asked, looking at each of them in turn. Samson noticed her gaze sweep past Jason as well.

“A mate is a gift,” said Samson, “a life partner. The other half to your soul. They are perfect for each other in every possible way.”

“Shifters are granted only one mate in their three hundred years of life,” Michael said.

“Three hundred years of life?”

“As shifters, we age very slowly,” Michael said.

“You look about thirty. How old are you?” She was looking closely at each of them now, her eyes squinting in concentration.

Samson cleared his throat and hesitated in answering.

“What? Are you already two-hundred-and-ninety-nine and about to die? That would suck, to find a mate the year before you die.”

“You’re adorable when you babble,” Samson said, kissing her on the nose.

“No, darlin’,” Michael said. They were both chuckling at her. “We are seventy, though.”

“Oh my God, really? That’s amazing. You really don’t look it.” She paused and reached up to pat her own face. “If I’m a shifter, will I look as good as you two at seventy?”

She saw Samson look to Jason, who sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “As a latent shifter, I’m unsure of how long your life expectancy would be. But humans who mate shifters age at the same slow pace and live as long as their mates.”

“So if Bethany were to choose to mate us,” Michael said, “she would live as long as we do.”

Jason simply nodded.

“I get to choose, though? Whether to mate or not?” she asked the question quietly, but they all heard her.

“Of course you do,” Samson said. “But no one has ever walked away from a mate before. The attraction is too strong. The love grows very quickly.”

“Our mate is also the only one with whom we can bear children,” Michael said. “We’re capable of having sex before we meet our mate. But once we meet them, no other woman will ever appeal to us.”

Bethany felt Michael’s cock thicken under her ass and became acutely aware that she was sitting on his naked lap.

“I think I’m sitting on your…” she started.

“Yes, you are, darlin’, and I have no complaints whatsoever,” Michael whispered in her ear.

She felt the hard length of him twitch and a small growl erupted from her lips.

“Oh, shit,” she gasped, “what was that?”

“Sexy,” Samson and Michael said together.

They both inhaled deeply and she followed suit. The wonderful smell she associated with them intensified. It made her core clench and her nipples tighten painfully.

“That’s not your cologne I can smell, is it?”

“No, kitten, that’s you recognizing your mates. You smell fantastic to us, too,” Samson said. He kissed her hard on the lips. When he released her lips, she was a little breathless, but she wanted more. His taste was addicting.

“When we meet our mates, we begin the mating bond and our bodies release a pheromone that attracts and draws us to each other,” Michael said. “Those are the feelings we’ve all been experiencing. The need to be near each other.”

“Nature needs us all together so we can make new little shifters,” Samson said. “So she makes it impossible for us to walk away from our chosen mate once we find them.”

“But you are both calling me your mate? Shouldn’t you each have your own?” Bethany was afraid of their answer. She liked the way they both made her feel. If she was going to be honest and go with her instincts, then she would really like to feel all three of the Reed men touching her.

“It has become apparent, recently, that it’s not unusual for brothers to share a mate,” Samson said. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.

“Our pride Alpha and his three brothers share a human mate, as do the three Wilder brothers. They have each found their mates in the last few months and are all extremely happy,” Michael said. He nibbled at the column of her neck, making gooseflesh erupt over her entire body. She hadn’t known that her neck was so sensitive.

She absorbed that information with rising hope. Perhaps she would get to feel Jason’s hands on her, too, perhaps feel his lips on her neck as Michael’s were. That thought coupled with Michael’s teeth gently biting the spot where her neck joined her shoulder caused a gush of cream to drip from her pussy onto her panties.

The air around her filled with the sounds of growling. The vibrations made her already-hard nipples burn as they rubbed against her bra.

Her eyes flew to Jason and saw that his eyes were a glowing amber. She was sure that he’d growled as loudly as Samson and Michael.

Looking at Samson, she saw his eyes were similarly bright with amber fire. She cupped his face in her palms. “Are you all angry at me? Have I done something wrong?”

Michael pulled her even tighter against him, his cock pulsing under her buttocks. “No, darlin’.” His breath was gusting into her hair in small gasps. “The smell of your arousal is driving us wild. You smell so damn good.”

“Our eyes glow with all heightened emotions,” Samson said. “Lust for our mate is what’s heightening them at this minute, kitten. All your mates want to fuck you very badly right now.”

Her eyes flew to Jason. His eyes were no longer shining. His face rigid with his anger, his teeth clenched.

“She is not my mate,” he said. He turned abruptly and strode back into the house.

The door slamming behind him seemed appropriate to Bethany. It slammed shut her hope that he was her mate. Apparently I’m a broken shifter, and a tramp.

She had gone from having no sexual desire to desiring three men. Only two of which, it seemed, were appropriate for her to desire.

Her initial impression of Jason had been right. He hated her. Who could blame him? She was a mate to his brothers. He should be appalled that she was lusting after him as well. She was cheating on them already. Plus, it appeared as though she repulsed him. He must be glad she was not his mate.

* * * *

Jason felt as though he was going to lose control of his cat. It wanted to go to its mate. To touch her, lick her, mark her. But Jason was a man. He’d always sublimated his cat and maintained control.

That was before he’d encountered his true mate. Even the man wanted Bethany. He could no longer deny his desire for her. The smell of her arousal had him wanting her badly.

He walked to the back door before stripping and giving in to the shift. He had to work off his arousal with a run before that woman eroded all his resolve. He needed to control himself and remember his vow.

Judith had been a good woman. She was deserving of a mate’s rights even if she hadn’t been the mate that nature had chosen for him. She deserved him to remain celibate until his death. If she’d been his mate, his death would have followed hers swiftly, as mates cannot survive without each other. He would’ve managed his remaining two hundred years alone easily, if Samson hadn’t brought that implement of torture to their home.

So he would run all night, again, in an attempt to subdue the cat, and exhaust the man.

Chapter 11

Samson excused himself and left Michael to bring Bethany back into the house and make her comfortable for the night. He went in search of his brainless and soon-to-be-broken brother.

The hurt and shame had been clear on Bethany’s face, even though she’d attempted to hide it. He was not going to let this continue. Jason was going to have to get the fuck over whatever had happened in Afghanistan and accept that Bethany was his mate.

As a latent shifter, she may not have been sensitive enough to have scented Jason’s need for his mate, but Samson had. He was as desperate to be with her as both Samson and Michael were. His constant denial was fooling no one, and hurting them all, most of all Bethany, the person he should be moving mountains to protect.

He followed Jason’s scent through the house to the back porch, only to see him disappear into the trees at the edge of the yard. You can run, brother, but you won’t be able to hide from this.

Bethany was not going anywhere. Samson loved her already. Mating bond aside, he’d already fallen for the sweet woman that she was. He’d never expected that, even having seen it happen to his pride mates so recently. He’d assumed attraction would be there, but the depth of his feelings for her was a surprise. Not an unwelcome one, either. He was happily in love with his beautiful mate.

He would call his colonel tomorrow and resign his commission. The thought of being away from Bethany for weeks at a time was impossible to bear. She needed him, and as her mate, it was going to be his honor and his pleasure to always be there for her.

He found Michael sitting on his bed. The shower in the adjoining bathroom was running.

“She’s showering,” Michael said. “She was very hurt by Jason. Did you talk to him?”

“He’d already gone and I’m not leaving Bethany to go chase his furry ass all over the mountain.”

“He’ll be back,” Michael said. “He won’t be able to stay away from her.”

“I don’t know if I want him here. He’s hurting her.”

“We can’t mate her without him,” Michael said. His gaze lingered on the bathroom door.

Samson felt it, too. The pull to be with her was strong. “Doesn’t he realize that he’s fucking this up for all of us?” Samson said. He sat next to Michael and put his head in his hands. He had never thought his brother capable of such cruelty.

“I don’t know what the hell he’s thinking anymore. He’s not the man I thought he was,” Michael said. “I’m going to check if I have any further news on the threat to our Bethany.”

Samson waited as the shower turned off and Bethany busied herself in the bathroom.

He tapped lightly on the closed door. “Do you have something to wear for the night?”

“Michael gave me something.”

He gasped as the door swung open and her rich, warm scent wafted out with the steam from her shower. Her eyes were huge, deep lavender orbs in her pale, elfin face. She was so beautiful. She was also upset, her eye color betraying her emotions clearly.

“You are so gorgeous you take my breath away, mate,” he said.

Her cheeks colored rapidly to a deep rose-red. Her eyes faded to a pale blue.

“No one has ever said that to me.”

She lowered her gaze and stepped around him. She was swamped by the plain black T-shirt she wore. But she looked as sexy to him as she would have wearing French lace lingerie.

“You’ve had an eventful day. Are you ready for bed?” He admired the shape of her legs and the sway of her hips as she crossed to the bed.

“My brain is still buzzing with the implications of all I’ve learned. I’m exhausted, but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to sleep.”

“Why don’t we lie down and see if you can drift off?”

Her eyes flew to him, her face flushing a brighter pink.

“You’re safe with me, Bethany. I only want to hold you in my arms.”

“Is it wrong that I’d like that, too?” She didn’t lower her gaze/ and he loved the spark of desire he saw in her eyes. What he didn’t like was the sadness.

“Nothing you feel is wrong, Bethany. I’m your mate. Everything we feel for each other will only ever be right.”

He pulled down the covers and lay in the center of the bed, opening his arms to her. She climbed into the oversized bed and lay next to him, her head pillowed on his shoulder. It reminded him of how he’d positioned her when she was unconscious. This felt much better.

“This bed is huge, even for a man your size,” she said, snuggling deeper into his embrace as he wrapped his arms around her.

“Michael and I always knew we’d share a mate, because we’re twins, so it made sense to have a big bed.”

“Must have been nice growing up with siblings. The same ones there all the time.” She didn’t sound sad, just a little wistful. He may be fuming mad with Jason right now, but he and his brothers had always been close and he’d loved growing up with them.

“Maybe you have siblings you don’t know about. Have you ever petitioned to find out about your birth parents?”

She stiffened a little at his question. “I haven’t been in a position to do that since I became old enough to apply.” She yawned widely and closed her eyes.

He didn’t want to upset her further after Jason’s treatment of her, so he let the subject drop for now. He caressed her back through her T-shirt and luxuriated in the feel of her.

She was so small for a shifter, and too skinny, but her muscles were firm and defined. He listened to her breathing deepen and felt it when she relaxed into sleep. He lay with her until he heard Jason return.

Slipping out from under the covers, he tucked her in tightly. He was going to have this out with his brother. Personally, he could delay the mating for as long as Bethany needed, but he wouldn’t have Jason hurting her with his continued denial.

Chapter 12

Michael heard when Jason returned and listened as he began to rummage around in the kitchen. He’d heard back from some of his contacts in local law enforcement and had information on Bethany that he needed his brothers to hear. He also needed to talk some sense into Jason.

As he shut down his computer and rose from his chair, he was startled to find Samson standing in the room. He moved so silently that even a shifter never heard him coming. He was lethal.

“Where’s Bethany?”

“She’s sleeping. I need to find Jason and discuss his being an asshole,” Samson said. His eyes began to burn with amber. “His denial is just ludicrous.”

“I know. I can see his cat fighting him. It has more damn sense than him, apparently. This has to be because of the nurse he was seeing.”

“He would have known she wasn’t his mate.” Samson ran his hands through his hair in frustration again. “We need him to talk to us. If we don’t mate soon, my cock is going to explode.”

Michael slapped Samson on the back and pushed him into the hallway. “No time like the present.”

* * * *

Jason had just finished eating a sandwich when he felt his brothers staring at him. He hadn’t heard either of them approach. He was used to never hearing Samson, but Michael was about as covert as a rampaging bull. His frustration over Bethany was making him sloppy.

Whilst on his run, he’d come to the conclusion that he had only two choices. Stay until Bethany was safe from the threat in South America and then leave, or leave immediately.

His cat raked at his insides. Even without the use of its claws, it was a painful sensation. It was not happy. But frankly, neither was he, and he hadn’t been for a long time now.

“You’re a total asshole, Jason, and you’re hurting Bethany with your bullshit,” Samson said. His eyes were a glowing glare that would signal impending death to most people.

“Ever the diplomat, Samson,” Michael said. Sitting down at the table opposite him, his look of disappointment was more frightening that Samson’s death stare.

“You need to tell us why, Jase,” Michael said. “Even if you refuse to let us help, we deserve to know why you’re doing this to us all.”

He was right. They would all be mated by now if he’d been accepting. He loved his brothers enough to tell them why he wouldn’t take a mate. It would also help them understand his decision to leave.

“Her name was Judith,” Jason said. He lowered his head and closed his eyes. Telling the whole story, at last, was going to open the old wounds and hurt like hell. “She was a nurse in my unit in Afghanistan. Even though I knew she wasn’t my mate, I grew to love her very much. I asked her to marry me.”

“What the fuck? You would have watched her grow old and die, Jase,” Michael said. “How would you have explained the fact that you never got any older?”

“Plus you would never have been able to have children with her. Did you tell her that?” Samson added.

“I honestly hadn’t thought of those things. It didn’t matter in the end. The day after I proposed, she went to a village in the mountains with a team of doctors and was killed en-route by an IED.”

“I’m sorry you lost someone you loved, Jase,” Samson said. He looked at him sadly. “I wish you could have told us sooner. We would’ve been there for you.”

“What were you thinking, Jase?” Michael said. “I don’t understand.”

“I just knew I loved her. I never held any stock in all that pre-ordained mate bullshit. I wanted a normal human life, so I made one for myself. I refused to be dictated to by a legend.”

Michael and Samson just stared at him, their expressions stunned.

“What?” Jason said. “You believed all that superstitious rhetoric we were told as children?” Resting his head in his hands, he sighed.

“Yes,” they said together.

“But it makes no sense. It’s just legend and myth. Mates and instant love, it was as whimsical to me as fairies and unicorns.”

“I’ll admit I was in no hurry to be tied to one woman,” Michael said. “I enjoyed sowing as many wild oats as I could. But I always believed I would find my mate. I could feel it.”

“Well, I didn’t feel it. I never thought it was even a possibility. I fell in love, and then I lost her. I made a vow on Judith’s grave to remain celibate and true to her. Plus…I never want to feel that kind loss again.”

“You’re a selfish prick,” Samson said. “You’re denying all of us the mating bond by your actions.”

“I’ll go away. Then you can mate with Bethany. I’d already decided to, but I wanted to wait until she was safe.”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Michael said. “Don’t you understand? She needs us all.” He slammed his hand down on the table and rose to start pacing the room.

Are they telling the truth? Do they need me, too? Shaking his head, he stood and blocked Michael’s path across the kitchen.

“I’ll say it for the last fucking time. She. Is. Not. My. Goddamn. Mate.”

“Clear enough, Jason. Thank you.” Bethany turned and walked away.

Jason’s cat screeched in his mind. The look of pain on Bethany’s face, coupled with the scent of that pain, was almost more than he could bear.

“You’re a total asshole Jason,” Samson said. The scent of Samson’s fury hung thick in the air as he ran from the room after Bethany.

Michael glared at him before leaving, his eyes burning with his recrimination of him. They were serious. They really believed he was hurting Bethany.

Now, he wished he’d paid attention to his parents and Shana, the pride shaman, when they’d talked about mates and mating. It had all seemed so far-fetched to his analytical mind that he’d completely ignored them.

Chapter 13

Samson followed the scent of Bethany’s pain back to his bedroom. He found her lying on his bed in a tight ball. She wasn’t crying, but she was rigid with tension.

Lying down behind her, he wrapped her in his arms. “I’m sorry, kitten, he’s a fool.”

“No, Samson. Please don’t be angry with him. It’s not his fault if he doesn’t have any feelings for me.”

Michael lay down on Bethany’s other side. She relaxed a little as he pulled her head onto his chest.

“We can feel that he wants you, darlin’,” Michael said. He kissed the top of her head and she sighed, relaxing further. “You heard what he said about losing his fiancé?”

“I heard. I’m sad that he lost someone he loved so much. He’s clearly still in a lot of pain. But if he says he’s not my mate, I must believe him. Especially as he knows more about being a shifter than I do.”

“He’s being a blind idiot,” Samson said, “It sounds to me as though he knows nothing about being a fucking shifter.” He pulled her tighter against him. She sounded outwardly calm, but he could feel her pain, and sense her cat withdrawing somehow.

“He has the right to his own feelings. However, I can’t stay here any longer. I feel drawn to him. I’m sorry for what that makes me.”

“That’s the mating bond,” Michael said. “It’s natural to desire your mates.”

“But he’s not my mate. So I feel like I’m cheating on you both. I’m so confused.”

The scent of her pain increased sharply, and it felt like acid on his skin. She started to cry and the tears flowed down her pale cheeks. Her sobs were quiet, but they wracked her small body.

Samson couldn’t take her pain a second longer. He lifted her from Michael’s chest and lay her on the bed. He pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss.

Blinking up at him in surprise, she stopped crying. He kissed her again, harder. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck as he parted her lips with his tongue and thrust it into her warm mouth. He slowly stroked her tongue with his and she moaned into his mouth.

Releasing her lips reluctantly, he looked into her eyes. They were bright and clear, no tears.

“You taste so fucking good, kitten. I will never get enough of you.”

“You taste good, too. Really good,” she said, a blush coloring her cheeks.

“He only tastes good because you haven’t kissed me yet,” Michael said, his voice more a growl now. He proceeded to kiss Bethany long and hard.

Samson’s cock was hard and leaking after kissing Bethany. He knew they couldn’t complete the mating, but he wanted to give her pleasure. She needed to know that she belonged with him. He would not have her running from him.

The sounds of her moans as she enjoyed Michael’s kiss were driving him crazy. He would have to beat some sense into Jason the minute Bethany was asleep.

“I know you’re confused, but you have to trust us,” Michael said, breaking their kiss. “We can’t make love to you until Jason is ready, no matter how much we want to right now.” His breath came out in gasps. “We want you to feel good. Can we give you pleasure and make you come, darlin’?”

Samson held his breath as he watched the play of emotions on her face. Her blush deepened and she lowered her arms from his shoulders.

“I don’t know if I can,” she said softly. “I never have before.”

“Your lovers have never bothered about your pleasure?” Samson said, his anger making him growl. As horrible as it was to imagine her making love to another man, the thought of her being used was worse.

“I’ve never had a lover,” she said, her voice even softer. “I was in the hospital…”

Samson was struck dumb, his cock nearly exploding at the thought of her being totally untouched. She was theirs alone. No one had ever touched their mate, and no one but them ever would. It made him a hypocrite and a pig, but he shared in his cat’s possessive joy.

“I can scent your arousal, kitten. Will you let us pleasure you?” Samson said, finding his voice at last.

When she nodded her head, Michael opened her shirt and swiftly unhooked the front clasp of her bra. He growled low in his chest as he molded her small breasts in his hands. The nipples peaked hard, and Michael moaned before lowering his head to take one in his mouth.

Samson swallowed Bethany’s gasp of surprise with his kiss. He let his hunger for her free, needing her to know how much he desired her.

He released her lips to look at the rising arousal on her face. Her pupils were dilated, her cheeks pink and flushed.

“You look so fucking sexy,” he said, his voice a deep rumble. Almost a purr.

She arched her back, pressing her breast further against Michael’s lips.

“That’s so good, it’s making me feel…God, what’s happening?” she gasped.

Samson caressed down her smooth abdomen and slid his hand into her jeans, straight to her engorged clit. She pushed against his finger as he circled the moist, swollen flesh.

The smell of her arousal filled the room, as did the sounds of her pleasure.

“Oh god, please,” she begged.

* * * *

Bethany knew that something amazing was about to happen. Her nipple was aching and tight under Michael’s tongue. Her vagina was pulsing and leaking juices. Samson’s finger was circling her clitoris, winding her tighter and tighter. She knew when she snapped her mind would fracture, but she didn’t care. She’d never felt such pleasure before, and it was getting better. She sobbed at the near-pain of all the sensations.

A movement at the doorway drew her attention, and she moaned as the sight came into focus through the haze of her pleasure.

Jason was standing in the doorway. His massive six-foot-four-inch body completely naked. He was all muscle.

He was standing motionless, except for his hand, which was stroking his straining cock. His hooded gaze was directed at her, his eyes glowing brightly.

The sight of him pleasuring himself triggered her climax, and she screamed as wave after wave of ecstasy tore through her. Michael and Samson gentled their caressing and suckling and her orgasm dragged on, the pleasure exquisite.

When she finally stopped coming, she snapped her eyes open in search of Jason. He was gone.

She swept the entire room with her gaze, but he wasn’t there. Her heart broke. She wanted him to be touching her, too. She ached for him, and she’d thought he was going to ease her pain and finally touch her.

Trying to drag her emotions under control, she smiled at the two men who had just gifted her with her first orgasm. Probably her last, too.

“That was so amazing, thank you. I’ve never felt anything like that before.”

“That was just the beginning, darlin’,” Michael said. “You are so fucking sexy when you come that I can see us making you feel like that about twenty-four times a day.” Michael’s smile was wicked, his eyes glowing.

She didn’t want them to feel as though she didn’t appreciate them, but she was fighting her tears at Jason’s absence. Her head began to pound. She fought to hide the pain from Michael and Samson.

It felt so good having these men touch her. Why wasn’t it enough? What is wrong with me?

“Next time you come, it’s going to be with my mouth on you,” Samson said. “My tongue will be licking up all that sweet cream.” He kissed her deeply and her sensitized clitoris throbbed in response.

Michael and Samson stripped off their T-shirts and fatigues and climbed into bed on either side of her. Having already divested her of her top and bra, they stripped off her jeans.

Samson lay on his back and pulled her into his side, her head resting on his solid shoulder. Michael spooned against her back, wrapping his arm tightly around her waist.

She felt warm and protected as they drew up the covers. She felt the two men relax and drift into sleep, but she was in too much pain to do the same.

She now understood that it was her cat she was feeling. As she focused on it, she could sense it scratching at her. She could feel its distress. Her head was pounding and it felt as though her skull was too small.

Her pain kept building until she could no longer stand it. It was Jason. She had to stop thinking about Jason. He wasn’t meant for her. But the attempt to halt all thoughts of him just increased the pain.

She clasped her hands to her head, trying to stop her head from exploding. Her mind was tearing apart.

She screamed. She had to get free of the pain.

Chapter 14

Jason ran back to Samson’s room as soon as he heard Bethany’s agonized scream, the high-pitched noise shredding his heart.

What the fuck have they done to her? He’d kill them if they’d hurt her.

Arriving at Samson’s room seconds later, he found his brothers anxiously stroking Bethany’s face. Her screaming had stopped and she lay motionless in their arms.

Throwing Michael aside, he examined her for injuries.

“What the fuck did you do to her?” He couldn’t stop the growl that ripped from his throat as his canines descended and he prepared to hurt them.

“Nothing,” Michael said. “We had just…then we fell asleep. Her scream woke us.”

Jason examined her open eyes. They were empty of any life. His cat bristled along his skin in fear. It could no longer sense her. It felt as though both Bethany and her cat were gone, despite the fact he was holding her in his arms.

“Bethany, are you all right? Are you in pain?”

He received no answer. She remained still and unmoving as they all talked to her and tried to illicit a response.

Leaving her for a matter of seconds, he returned to her side with his medical bag.

“What’s happening?” Samson said. He spoke softly as he caressed Bethany’s lifeless face. “Did we hurt her? She was so sad. We wanted to make her feel better. Feel loved.”

“We did make her feel loved,” Michael said. “It can’t be because of anything we did. Do you have any idea what’s wrong with her, Jase?”

“Nothing is physically wrong with her, as far as I can tell. I think we need help. We need Shana. Finn may also be able to help her.”

The last time Jason had seen Bethany, she’d been in the throes of her orgasm. The scent of her arousal had drawn him to that room. His growing desire for her had kept him there. He’d come at the same time she had. He’d come so hard he’d nearly collapsed.

The need to go to her, to touch her and taste her, had nearly gotten the better of him. But he’d managed to pull himself away somehow. He’d been worried that if he claimed her in a rush of pheromone-induced passion, he’d regret it and then grow to resent her. He’d been reconsidering his decision to leave Eminence when Bethany’s scream had split the silence of the house.

Jason left his brothers to care for Bethany while he called for help. Shana was reputed to be over three hundred years old and had more knowledge of shifters than anyone in their pride.

He waited anxiously for them for what seemed like hours. Having already explained Bethany’s condition, he ushered them directly to her when they finally arrived.

“Thank you both for coming so quickly,” Michael said. “She’s still unresponsive.”

“Leave us,” Shana said, her tone as cold as the expression on her face. She slammed the door behind them once they’d all filed from the room.

Jason stared at the closed door, willing it to open, as Samson and Michael silently paced the hall.

Shana and Finn were with Bethany for thirty-three minutes before they emerged from the room. Jason shuddered at the scent of their anger, their expressions stony and cold.

“What have you done to that girl?” Shana said, her eyes boring into each of them, in turn, with fiery rage.

“Do you know what’s wrong with her?” Samson asked.

“Which one of you was it?” Finn said, “or was it all of you?”

Jason felt cold sweat trickle down his back. This was because of him. He’d been a fool not to listen to what Samson and Michael had been trying to tell him.

“This is because I denied she was my mate, isn’t it?”

“Her cat has been broken by its mate’s denial,” Shana said, “Her tortured mind has shut down and she is now trapped in there with her pain.”

She strode to stand in front of him and looked him in the eye. “I never thought to see such cruelty from one of my pride.”

Jason gave them a brief explanation of his actions and it sounded weak and cowardly, even to his own ears.

“You may think you were protecting yourself from pain, Jason,” Finn said, “but you were, in fact, torturing the very soul of your mate. Choose to be her mate, or choose death, as your death is the only thing that will free this innocent woman from the agony of your continued denial.”

His brothers didn’t step forward to defend him from their Alpha’s threat. That, more than Finn’s words, made him see how deeply he’d hurt Bethany.

“I’ve been a fucking idiot, haven’t I?”

“If it was just your intelligence that was in question, I may find a way to forgive you,” said Samson. “But you knew she was hurting, that she needed you, and yet you continued in your self-centered resolve. I don’t know if you will ever be a good enough mate for her. She deserves better than you.”

He knew that Samson was right, she did deserve better. She was an innocent in this, the unfortunate woman who fate had chosen to be his mate.

“I will fix this. I didn’t want to hurt her. How can I get her, and her cat, to forgive me?”

“I don’t know if it can be done now,” Shana said. “She has retreated too far. Even Finn was unable to summon her cat, and he is the strongest Alpha I have ever known to exist.”

“We tried to help you, Jason,” Michael said, pushing an accusatory finger hard into his chest. “Your arrogance has done this to her.” Finn restrained Michael as he reached for Jason’s throat.

“I have tried to soothe her cat’s pain. As an Alpha it should have responded to me, but her latency as a shifter has made her cat vulnerable, and now it is dying from your rejection. They are both dying,” Finn said sadly.

Shana looked to Samson and then Michael, her expression softening to one of deep sorrow. “I fear that even though the mating was not formally completed, your bond to her is strong enough that you will all follow her into death when she dies.”

Looking back at Jason, she bared her fangs. “This act of cruelty, Jason Reed, makes me feel that I have lived too long. I would rather have gone to my grave having never seen such a thing as this.”

Jason went to Bethany.

He heard Michael and Samson voice their thanks to Shana and Finn for their help, but he had to be with her.

He had denied himself, and his cat, in the hope of sparing himself pain. But the pain he now felt was worse than anything he’d previously experienced.

Jason knew that people in catatonic states were still conscious on some level. He had to reach her, the alternative being that not only would he have killed his mate, but his brothers as well. They would all lose their lives because of his fear. Four lives, and the lives of their future young, thrown away because of his stubborn refusal to open his heart again.

Michael and Samson came into the room and stood by Bethany’s side, each taking one of her hands in theirs. Their eyes were shining with unshed tears.

“I have advised the other men to hold their mates when they’ve been injured. This may be a psychological injury, but the principal is the same,” Jason asserted.

“They had already mated,” Samson said. He bared his fangs and a snarl rumbled from him.

“I’m sorry, Samson, for everything, and I’ll gladly let you kill me later. We have to help Bethany now. The other mates weren’t shifters, they were human. Bethany needs our touch, our scents. Her cat will respond.”

Jason hoped his assertion was not just wishful thinking. “We need to give her skin-to-skin contact,” he said, with a confidence he really didn’t feel, and stripped off his clothes. “We need to keep talking to her.”

He watched Michael and Samson undress and surround Bethany with their bodies. They talked to her. Told her of their love for her, of their hopes for the future. Their dreams of a family together.

Now that he’d opened his heart again, he could see that Judith would never have wanted him to be alone forever. She had been a kind and loving person who would’ve been horrified by his actions. He’d been using her memory as an excuse to escape any further heartache.

Even though he knew she deserved better, he opened his heart fully to Bethany.

* * * *

Michael watched Jason climb between Bethany’s legs. He didn’t think Jason deserved to be in the same room with her, and his cat bristled with his close proximity. Michael fought the urge to throw him out.

Michael’s anger diminished, slightly, when he saw the rapture on Jason’s face when he finally touched his mate.

“It’s better than I dreamed it would be, sweet Bethany,” Jason said softly. “Touching you feels so good that it’s taking my breath away.”

Leaning down, he licked across her stomach in a long, slow stroke.

A growl ripped from Jason’s throat. “My cat is furious with me for waiting so long to taste you, my mate. God, you are delicious. My mouth is watering to taste your blood as I mark you as mine.”

“If she dies, Jason…” Samson growled, kissing the top of Bethany’s head.

Jason ignored Samson and concentrated on Bethany. He moved up her body and licked the side of her neck.

“Here, Bethany. Here is the spot you will carry my mark. All shifters will know who you belong to.”

Michael felt a fine tremor run through Bethany’s body. Looking closely at the pale skin that covered her arms, he saw the fine dimpling emerge. “Fuck me,” Michael said, “she’s covered in goose bumps. I think it’s working?”

“This is where I will mark you, kitten,” Samson growled, nibbling on the other side of her neck.

Michael did the same, and he felt her body release a small shudder. “Perhaps we won’t have to kill you,” he murmured, glaring at Jason. Jason ignored him and continued to pet and caress Bethany.

Michael felt a small stirring of hope that perhaps it wasn’t too late for them.

“You’re perfect, Bethany. Please forgive me for being such a fool. I want you very badly. I have from the moment Samson carried you into our home.” Jason settled back on his knees. “I’m going to shift now. Your cat will feel my total commitment to you. Please listen to her, Bethany. Please come back to us. I will never let you down again.”

Jason looked directly at him, and then at Samson. “I will never let any of you down again.”

He shifted in a storm of light and curled between Bethany’s thighs, resting his head lightly on her abdomen.

“I still want to kill you, Jason,” Samson said, “for causing her so much pain. Hasn’t she been through enough in her short life?”

Michael didn’t disagree with Samson, so he kept silent. Jason merely chuffed, and nuzzled Bethany.

Chapter 15

As the night sky lightened into day, Michael decided he’d waited long enough. He wasn’t a sniper like Samson. Patience was not his forte.

They had each talked to her at various points in the night and were now simply observing her for any signs of a response. Jason had shifted back periodically to talk to her, but had remained in his cat form the majority of the night.

“I’m sure I can sense her cat again,” Samson said, licking the shell of Bethany’s ear.

“I think that it’s time to wake up now, Bethany. It’s a new day and we’re all waiting to start our life together.” Michael turned her face toward him and kissed her, pouring all the desperation he felt into his kiss.

He swallowed her small sigh when it whispered into his mouth. He stilled, uncertain whether to continue the kiss or break it. He decided on continuing, his cock hardening as his beautiful mate stroked her hand down his back.

The need for air finally had him pulling away from her lips. He found her eyes open, the pupils massively dilated.

“How are you feeling, darlin’?” he asked softly.

Before she could answer, her face was cupped by one of Samson’s hands as he turned her toward him and kissed her passionately.

“We were so worried, kitten,” Samson said, finally lifting his mouth from hers.

“What happened? My head, it hurts so badly.” A tear trickled down her cheek as her eyes overflowed with tears.

“Don’t cry, darlin’, it’s going to be perfect. We’ll make it perfect for you, forever,” Michael said, kissing her tear-streaked cheeks.

“I can’t stay. I don’t want to leave you, but I …Jason needs me to leave.” She lowered her eyes and gasped. “I have no clothes on,” she said softly.

“That’s all right, darlin’, none of us do,” Michael said. He kissed her again, because she looked so adorable when she was flustered.

“We can’t have our mate leaving,” Samson growled. “You need to know something. We’ll die if you leave. Our hearts will not beat without you, not now we’ve found you. Plus, I love you, Bethany. Very much.”

Michael would have bet big money that Samson would be the last of them to say “I love you” to their mate. Apparently he’d have lost the bet. But no one could doubt the sincerity shining in his eyes.

“It’s too soon, Samson,” she said, stroking a hand down his face.

“Are you trying to tell me how I feel, kitten?”

“Of course not.” Michael watched her throat work as she swallowed a few times. Her eyes never left Samson’s, though. “If I’m honest, I think I love you, too.” As she lowered her gaze again, she let out a squeal.

“Oh my God, there’s a cat on me.” She tried to wriggle free of Jason’s bulk, but his big head remained firmly on her. “If you two are here, as people, then who is that? Shit, I’m naked in front of them. Oh God.”

* * * *

Jason decided then and there that Samson had been correct. Bethany was indeed adorable when she babbled. He’d been in his cat form most of the night, and about an hour ago had felt Bethany’s cat finally being coaxed out of hiding. His own cat was still happily rejoicing in its return.

He’d wanted to shift and inform his brothers that she was now simply sleeping, but feared her cat may perceive his shift as a rejection. So he’d remained immobile and allowed his own cat to enjoy what it had been craving since her arrival—the touch of its mate.

He chuffed his response to her comment, as Michael and Samson both laughed.

“No, kitten, that’s Jason,” Samson said.

Jason watched her pupils dilate in distress. She struggled harder to get out from under him. He scented her fear and hated himself even more for what he’d done to her, the depth of the hurt he’d inflicted.

He allowed his cat one more taste of its mate and licked firmly along the skin of her abdomen before shifting.

“I’m sorry, Jason. I meant to leave. I will leave.” Bethany would have leapt from the bed if he hadn’t quickly put his hands on her hips to restrain her.

“Bethany, please let me apologize to you,” Jason said. “I’m so sorry that my ignorance and fear has caused you so much pain and distress.”

Samson made a scoffing noise in his throat, the scent of his anger easily recognizable in the air around them.

“Samson and Michael are both justifiably furious with me. If you’ll let me, I’ll prove I’m a worthy mate for you.”

“What the hell? You don’t even like me.” She pushed against his hands and he acquiesced, releasing her hips.

“That was the impression I was striving for,” he said, “but it was lie.”

“I don’t know what’s going on,” she said, looking to Samson and Michael, “but I know I need coffee.” Her cheeks colored as she looked down at herself. “And clothes.”

“I like you as you are, darlin’,” Michael said. He kissed her, and her reply turned to a moan as the kiss lingered.

Jason didn’t feel jealous of the trust and affection Bethany showed for his brothers. He felt like an idiot. His lifelong refusal to believe in his cat had led to his hurting his mate very badly. If he hadn’t been such an arrogant prick his whole life he would be mated to this wonderful woman already.

“I would like to inform Finn and Shana that Bethany is well,” he said. “Can I meet you all in kitchen for that coffee?” Jason needed them to know that he wasn’t running from them. Again.

Samson looked at him with open hostility. “We’ll be there in two minutes. You have three, or don’t bother showing.”

He left to dress, and contact his Alpha, determined to be in the kitchen before them. All things considered, Samson must really love him, or he would have killed him already for the pain he’d inflicted on their mate.

* * * *

Samson ran his hands down Bethany’s back, her shiver of arousal filling his cock instantly.

“Kitten, you’re killing me. But I gave Jason a deadline and if we don’t leave now we’ll all be late.”

“Let’s be late,” Michael said, reaching for Bethany.

Samson lifted her out of Michael’s reach just in time, and carried her to the bathroom.

She giggled, and to him, it sounded like a chorus of angels singing.

Setting her down, he checked she was steady on her feet before kissing her and closing the door to allow her some privacy to freshen up.

He and Michael dressed swiftly and found a shirt and socks for Bethany to wear. He intended to hold her close, so she wouldn’t be cold in the chill morning air.

When they all entered the kitchen, exactly two minutes later, they found Jason seated at the table, a pot of coffee brewing on the counter behind him.

“It will be another few minutes,” Jason said.

Samson had carried Bethany to the kitchen and he didn’t release her as he sat down and settled her comfortably on his lap.

“You’ll need to get used to being carried, I’m afraid,” Jason said. “Peata and Melanie have both complained to me about it, but it seems to be an incurable affliction.” Jason smiled at Bethany when she laughed, and Samson saw his eyes sparking with his desire. A desire he no longer seemed to be fighting.

“They’re the two new mates you were telling me about?”

“I imagine that, now you’re awake, they’ll soon be here to meet you,” Michael said, sitting next to Samson and pulling Bethany’s legs across his lap.

“I’ve asked them to join us for lunch in town,” Jason said. “That way, we have all morning to talk. Does that suit everyone?”

Samson had to admit it was a good idea. Otherwise, Melanie and Peata were likely to have been here before they’d finished their coffee.

“It’s a good plan, Jason. Thank you,” Samson said, his anger lessening slightly toward Jason. “Is that coffee done?” Samson was enjoying the feel of his mate in his arms. Jason could get the damn coffee.

“They want to meet me?” Bethany’s confusion was evident.

“We’re a very close pack,” Michael said. “They’ll want to make sure we’re looking after you properly. Mates are to be cherished, Bethany. Always.” He turned his gaze to Jason and Samson could see the anger lighting Michael’s eyes. His growl grew louder in the stillness of the kitchen. A growl rumbled unbidden from his own chest, too. Jason was in no way forgiven.

Jason paused only momentarily in pouring the coffee, then placed the steaming mugs on the table and collected the cream and sugar.

“We have a lot to learn about you, Bethany. How do you like your coffee?” Jason said. He smiled at her and Samson noted the scent of her fear lessening.

“Cream and two sugars, please,” Bethany said, her voice barely above a whisper.

They sipped their drinks in an uncomfortable silence until Jason spoke. “You asked when you woke what had happened to you. It was my fault. Can I try and explain what happened?”

She nodded her head and took a deep breath. Samson squeezed her tighter against his chest.

“I’ll forever be tortured by the sound of your pain.” Jason reached across the table and took Bethany’s hand. Samson had to fight the urge to break this outstretched hand by slamming his fist onto it.

“I remember the pain.” Looking down, she stared at her hand resting in Jason’s. “It was like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”

Tilting her head to look up at him, Samson saw her eyes were a burning violet in color. “Nor do I ever want to feel like that again.”

“We won’t let anything hurt you like that again, kitten,” Samson said, kissing her lightly on the lips.

“My rejection of our bond hurt your cat so much, it retreated deep inside of you to die,” Jason said. “Your mind escaped the pain of that the only way it could. It shut down completely.”

“If you hadn’t been such a prick,” Michael said, “none of our lives would have been in danger.” His eyes were still glowing with his anger at their brother.

Bethany gasped, and Samson now wanted to punch Michael, too. She didn’t need anything more to worry about.

“Please, I don’t understand,” she said. “What aren’t you telling me, Jason?”

“Samson told you earlier that we can’t survive without our mates.” At her nod, Jason continued. “Because we love you so much, had you died, we would have died along with you.” Bethany pulled her legs from Michael’s lap and turned to wrap her arms around him. He soothed her distress with gentle strokes of his hands down her back.

“I feel like I’ve come into your lives and wreaked nothing but havoc and mayhem.”

“No,” Jason stated firmly. “Those should be my middle names. My hubris caused me to ignore my cat, my better half, as it turns out.”

The silence stretched out for a long minute.

“Jason Havoc Mayhem Reed,” Bethany whispered, a small little giggle erupting, “that’s quite a mouthful.” She covered her mouth with her hand, her cheeks coloring with embarrassment.

After another moment of silence, Michael added, “You’ll need to get new business cards printed.” Then he started laughing.

“A new sign for the surgery door, too,” Samson said, joining Michael in his laughter.

Chapter 16

As she got her laughter and emotions under control, she was able to see that Jason was sincere in his apologies. He wasn’t laughing with them. He was staring at her with concern, his brows furrowed.

“I understand that you’re sorry for hurting me, but I don’t feel the same way about you now.”

She may as well have punched him on the nose, he looked so shocked.

“I still feel drawn to you,” she said quickly, “but I feel scared, too.”

His features relaxed a little and he appeared sad. “I did that to you. Your cat is trying to protect itself from further pain.”

“I don’t know about any of this shifter stuff. How do I tell what’s me and what’s my cat?” She didn’t want to hurt Jason. She was just telling him how she felt.

“It’s all you, kitten,” Samson said.

“You’ve been understandably scared of your cat,” Jason said. “You’ve pushed it away for years. Now that you aren’t afraid, and understand what it is, it will just become another part of who you are.”

“We’ve had all our lives, darlin’,” Michael said. “You’ve had one day. Give it time.”

She sighed and nodded her understanding of what they were telling her. It was going to take time.

* * * *

They were on their second cup of coffee when Michael nervously cleared his throat. “I need to ask you why you ran away from the hospital in Claremont, Bethany. So much happened that we haven’t had a chance to ask you for the details.”

Bethany was about to tell them when Samson spoke first.

“What have you found out?” His tone was glacial.

“The events of last night prevented me from telling you some disturbing information that’s come to light on Bethany’s escape from East Hills rehab.”

Bethany was surprised to see Jason was the angriest at this news. “What have you found out? Nothing should’ve stopped you from sharing information about Bethany’s safety.”

“We were worried she’d die, Jase,” Michael said, “so shut the fuck up.” He ran a hand through his hair and sighed deeply. “Bethany, I think it’s important to hear your side of things first. Please.”

She had been in fear of her life when she’d run away from the institution that had been her enforced home for the last six years. It had been stupid of her to think she could escape so easily.

“He’ll kill me if he finds me.” She felt a ripple run across her skin. She looked down at her arm. “Was that…? Was that my cat?” Her arm was covered in gooseflesh, but otherwise looked normal.

Samson growled and pulled her closer into his embrace.

“I can feel your fear, kitten. I will kill anyone who comes here to harm you.” He kissed the top of her head and she melted against him.

“We’ll protect you with our lives, sweetheart. You aren’t ever going back there,” Jason said. His voice was gravelly in his anger. “Our pride has a sheriff and deputy in Eminence. They’ll help us protect our mate, unconditionally, as we have protected theirs.”

“Thank you. I don’t want anyone to die, though.” She didn’t want the monster dead, but perhaps they could stop him from hurting anyone else.

That thought had her feeling like a coward. She should have done something sooner. “God, I should have…” A sob bubbled up and she had to stop talking as it closed her throat.

“It’s going to be fine, darlin’,” Michael said, rubbing his hands soothingly up and down her thighs. “Just tell us what happened and we’ll help you deal with it.”

She swallowed against the painful lump in her throat and held onto the strong arms wrapped firmly around her middle. “I was unable to sleep one night, a month ago, and went to the kitchen on our floor to make some warm milk. I had to pass the observation room. That’s where they put the high-risk patients, because it’s right next to the nurse’s station.”

She closed her eyes, trying not to recall so vividly the memory of what she’d witnessed that night. “The nurse on duty that night was Stuart Gibson. He’s cruel. We all avoided him as much as we could. He would use unnecessary force to subdue patients, and taunt us when no other staff were around.”

When she paused to catch her breath, a hand gently cupped her cheek. Her eyes opened and she was surprised to see the gesture had come from Jason.

“I have seen that before in my rotations to psychiatric facilities,” Jason said, his voice soft. “They seem to attract a high number of staff who have borderline personality disorders themselves.”

“What happened, Bethany?” Michael asked.

“I heard sobbing coming from the closed observation room. The nurse’s station was unattended, so I opened the door to see if someone needed help.” She found it hard to put into words the scene that had emerged once she’d opened that door. Samson kissed her head again and Michael squeezed her thighs with his hands.

“The nurse, Stuart, was raping a restrained patient.” Tears flowed from her eyes as she saw the young man’s face in her memory. It had been a picture of agony and helplessness.

“His underwear was in his mouth, so his cries had been muffled. There was blood, too.” She looked to each of them, and saw they understood exactly what she’d witnessed.

Jason growled again, his eyes glowing. “What did the nurse do to you, Bethany?”

“He was fast, or I was slow. He had me pinned face-down on the ground before I knew it.” They all began growling loudly. The vibrations making her bones shake.

“A few minutes into the beating, he was paged by the nurse on the other wing. She needed assistance with an emergency. He told me he’d be back, and that I would be his dessert for the shift.” Jason took one of her hands and stroked his thumb soothingly around her palm.

“I was bleeding from a deep cut on my head. I don’t think he expected I’d be able to walk away, but I did.” She took a deep breath and told them the last of it. “I freed the boy from his restraints and we used each other for support as we hobbled away from that horrible room.”

“Did you report him?” Samson said.

“I wanted to, but the boy, Patrick, said that he’d reported it once before and no one had believed him. It had been his word against the nurse’s and Patrick was heavily medicated.”

“So they dismissed him,” Jason stated angrily.

“Stuart threatened to kill him in his sleep and make it look like a suicide if he said another word. Patrick said the next time had been much worse, because Stuart was angry at him for reporting it. He refused my help. He simply went back to his room.” They were all quiet for a long time.

“So you ran?” Michael said. His eyes were still blazing brightly, but he gazed at her with sympathy. She found she had no strength left, and merely nodded.

Chapter 17

Michael had to take a few calming breaths and gain control of his cat before he spoke. “Then the news I have is far worse than I imagined. It’s also my fault.”

“Just fucking tell us,” Samson said, his cat very evident in his voice.

“When you were drugged,” Michael said, “we were desperate to find out all we could about you.” He paused and shook his head, the last of the amber sparks leaving his eyes. He felt guilty for the pain he was about to cause his mate and his brothers.

“I used all of the sources at my disposal to gather information on you, Bethany. I’m very good at my job, even without the motivation of my mate’s life being at stake.”

“When did you become such a drama queen?” Samson said. “Just tell us, for God’s sake.”

“I found out where you’d escaped from and made enquiries about you. As your new treating physician.”

“I don’t mind, Michael. I’ve told you everything, anyway.”

“I take exception to your lack of a medical degree,” Jason said, his tone clipped.

“Sorry Jase, it was expedient. But my enquiry, and your name, Jase, have apparently found their way through the hospital’s lax security to a member of their nursing staff.”

“Fuck,” Samson and Jason said together.

Jason rose from his crouch in front of Bethany and strode to the coffee pot. Returning with it, he poured them all more coffee.

“The doctor faxed Bethany’s records to me. If they trace the number I used, it will lead them straight to Hunter’s office, in the Sheriff’s department.”

“That’s too fucking close,” Samson said. His eyes were sparking amber. “He’s going to try and find her. He won’t want a witness around that’s not under his control.”

“Where’s the nurse now?” Jason asked. Michael could see Jason was trying to remain calm, but his eyes betrayed his heightened emotions.

“He was caught snooping in the doctor’s office by another nurse and he hasn’t been seen since. Subsequent to his departure, a number of patients have come forward to report his abuse of them.”

“At least he’s no longer there.” Bethany shuddered, and Michael took her from Samson’s hold and pulled her onto his lap.

“I’m sorry, darlin’,” he said. “I was so desperate to find out everything I could about you that I acted rashly.”

“No, he’s gone from Claremont,” Bethany said, wiping the tears from her face and sitting up straighter. “Now they’re safe from him. If he comes here, then you can catch him and stop him for good.”

“You’ve got a lot of faith in us, kitten,” Samson said, “but you’re right, we will stop him.”

“Of course you will,” she said, gesturing up and down Samson’s body with her hand. “You’re the damn Terminator.”

* * * *

Jason had spent all of breakfast marveling at his mate. Bethany had only just discovered she was a shifter, and she was trusting her instincts more than he had his whole life. She remained wary of him, and he couldn’t blame her, but he could feel the warmth that flowed through the bond between her and his brothers.

He could still feel the simmering anger his brothers felt for him, but it was nothing compared to what he felt for himself. He was an arrogant fucking idiot, and the realization that he’d been that way his whole life was hitting him hard. It had nearly cost them all their lives.

He would prove to them all that he was worthy of being Bethany’s mate, and he’d become the shifter he was always supposed to be. He and his cat were finally working together, and it felt amazing. Samson better watch his back next time they got into a fight, because Jason knew that, now he was working with his cat instead of against it, he could take him.

He’d found an old pair of scrubs for Bethany to wear while her clothes were in the wash, and they were now heading into town to meet the Wilders and the Fredericks for lunch. Bethany was sitting quietly next to Samson in the back of his truck while Jason drove.

“‘The Oasis’ is the best diner in Eminence, Bethany. You’ll love it,” Jason said. He could see in his rearview mirror that she was biting her lower lip nervously.

“It’s the only one in Eminence, idiot,” Michael said, slapping him lightly upside the head.

“I’m not really hungry. Maybe we should just skip lunch.” Bethany looked pleadingly at him in the mirror.

“You haven’t had a lot of experience meeting people socially, have you?” Jason said. He’d guessed at the cause of her discomfort, but when she lowered her eyes and sighed, he knew he’d guessed correctly.

“None,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“There will be a lot of new people, but Melanie and Peata have both come to Eminence recently,” Samson said. “They’ll understand exactly how you feel.”

Jason watched as Samson gently brushed Bethany’s lips with a kiss. Blood flooded to his groin, his cock becoming hard in a second. He hoped that Bethany would soon trust him enough to allow their mating. The scent of Bethany’s arousal joined that of his in the confines of the truck.

Michael groaned and shot him a glare. It was his fault they weren’t already mated to their sexy mate.

Having parked the truck, he smiled at the scowls on his brothers’ faces as they each held one of Bethany’s hands and walked into the diner. She’d fought hard not to be carried into the diner, and won. Jason found he liked her strength a great deal.

The large group of people they were meeting was already sitting at two of the tables. Bethany slid in opposite Melanie and sat quietly between Samson and himself as Michael walked around the tables to make the introductions. Jason was glad of the opportunity to slide his arm behind Bethany and move her close to his side.

“It is nice to meet you again, Bethany,” Finn said. “Are you now feeling well?”

Even after clearing her throat, Bethany’s voice was still tremulous when she spoke. “I’d like to thank you for your help. I’m sorry for any inconvenience I caused you.” Jason rubbed circles on her arm with his thumb and hoped she took it for the encouragement it was.

“It comes with him being the big, bad Alpha,” Melanie said, reaching across the table and grabbing one of Bethany’s hands. “Peata and I are so pleased you’re feeling better.”

“Melanie and I would have been over to see you first thing,” Peata said, “but your idiot mate put us off.”

The men all laughed, but Jason just inclined his head in agreement at Peata’s mock glare.

“We’d planned to come over anyway, if they didn’t show for lunch,” Melanie said. “We wanted to make sure you were really all right.”

Over lunch, the men mostly talked amongst themselves, allowing the three women to get acquainted. Jason watched, as Bethany’s naturally effervescent personality emerged and she became increasingly more comfortable within the group.

When Melanie announced that they should all go shopping for clothes, Bethany’s face fell.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have more than a few dollars to my name, and that is back at my…” Bethany stopped speaking. Her cheeks colored and she looked up at Samson.

“We’re your mates, kitten,” he said, “but you can just call us your men when non-shifters are around.”

“Naming them all individually becomes a total pain in the ass, too,” Melanie said. “Easier to just lump them all together.” She laughed when Finn held up his index finger.

Peata covered her laugh behind her hand, but Jason failed to see what was funny.

“Samson hauled you all the way up here without consulting you,” Michael said. “The least he can do is pry open his wallet to pay for a few clothes.”

“I’ll come along and foot the bill,” Samson said, tugging her into his arms and carrying her out the door. She began to protest being carried, but Samson’s kiss seemed to distract her.

* * * *

By the time her heart rate had returned to normal after Samson’s scorching kiss, he was setting her on her feet inside a small department store.

“That’s playing dirty, Samson, I’d prefer to walk next time, please.”

“Ha,” Peata said. “If you manage to win that argument, you’ll need to let us know how you did it.” Melanie and Peata each took one of her hands and led her to the women’s clothing.

Samson waited by the door with two of Melanie’s mates, Hunter and Cooper, and one of Peata’s mates, Calder. They were talking to each other, but Bethany could see they were also watching the store and the street outside, as well as them.

“I can’t believe I’m still the shortest around here,” Melanie said.

“Not by much,” Bethany said. Melanie was even shorter than her own five foot one inches, but unlike Bethany, she had breasts and hips. Her hair was long, falling halfway down her back in strawberry-blonde waves.

“You two make me feel like a giant,” Peata said, nudging Melanie with her shoulder as they all laughed. Peata was taller than her by a few inches, with pale skin and really long black hair. They were very beautiful women.

“You both seem really happy,” Bethany said. “Samson said you were new to Eminence as well.”

“I met my men nearly five months ago,” Melanie said. “We’ve been married for four of those now. I’m really happy here.”

“That’s really fast,” Bethany said. She felt her cheeks heat at her rude statement.

“We know,” Peata said. “I’ve only known my men three months and been married the last two months.” She suddenly turned and ran toward the back of the store.

Bethany tensed, looking around for signs of danger. Calder sped past, right on Peata’s heels.

“What’s happening?”

Melanie just looked after them with a smile on her face. “She still has a couple of weeks to go until her morning sickness eases,” Melanie said. She placed her hand on her own abdomen and Bethany noticed the small bump for the first time.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. Congratulations.”

She was a little surprised that they were both pregnant so soon. Melanie smiled and rubbed her bump, gazing over at her husbands with a look of unadulterated joy and love on her face. Bethany then felt nothing but happiness for her.

Looking across to the two men, she saw that love mirrored on their faces, too. She realized that time didn’t matter. Their love was all that mattered.

She looked at Samson. He was staring intently at her, the love he felt for her clear on his handsome face. Her blood began to warm under his gaze, and when he smiled at her, it nearly set her pants on fire.

“Just a word of warning,” Melanie said, touching her hand to get her attention, “any shifter in the vicinity can scent when you’re aroused.”

They looked at each other and burst out laughing. “God. That sucks,” Bethany said when their laughter subsided.

“I need new clothes,” Melanie said, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I’m going to be as wide as I am tall by the time this baby is born.” That started them laughing again.

When Peata rejoined them, Bethany found her just as easy to talk to as Melanie. As they shopped, they told her how they’d each met their mates. She was horrified at the events that had led them to Eminence.

“Shit. At least I only have a drug lord and a rapist after me.” Even though she had meant it sincerely, it led to another bout of laughter.

“This town must be cursed,” Peata said, “or have a magnet for criminals buried under the town hall.”

“I think now that Bethany’s here, our luck will change,” Melanie said. She wrapped her arms around Bethany and gave her a hug. “We’re thrilled to have you join our pride, Bethany.”

Bethany was a little stunned. She hadn’t even thought about staying in Eminence. The four weeks she’d been in Tijuana had been the first time in her life she’d experienced freedom. Am I trapped here now?

“I heard your men made a complete mess out of telling you about shifters,” Peata said. “My men laughed for an hour over that debacle.”

Shelving her worrying thoughts for later, she enjoyed shopping with her new friends. Melanie decided they all needed to go dancing the following night, at a club called Rory’s in Grand Springs.

“If we don’t go now, I’ll be too big to get my groove on,” she said.

“You’re perfect, angel,” Cooper said, joining them at the registers. “You grow more perfect every single day.” He unashamedly picked her up and kissed her long and hard on the lips. “Let’s get our woman home to bed, Hunter.”

Melanie blushed a startlingly bright crimson. “He means, so I can have a nap.”

“No I don’t.”

Chapter 18

When Samson returned to the truck with Bethany, Michael had immediately sensed that something was troubling her. She sat in the circle of his arm, but was stiff and uncommunicative.

She’d answered them politely when they’d enquired about her shopping trip with the other mates, but her monosyllabic answers had lacked her usual buoyancy.

As they drove through the gates to their property, he leaned down to whisper in her ear. “We will find out what’s troubling you, darlin’. It’s up to you whether we do it the easy way or the hard way.”

When she turned her gaze on him, her eyes were a glowing lavender. “You should know that you look magnificent in your fury,” he said.

She still refused to speak and exited the truck immediately when it came to a stop.

“What happened in the store?” Jason asked, once Bethany had entered the kitchen.

“No fucking idea. She seemed fine until the other mates left.”

“She won’t hold out for much longer,” Michael said, following her into the house. “The mating bond will be pulling at her too strongly. She’s hurting. I can feel it.” He rubbed at the pain in his chest, certain that it was her pain he was sensing there.

He found her sitting at the kitchen table, chewing anxiously on an already-gnawed fingernail. The scent of her blood was thick in the room. That scent had both concern and lust coursing through his veins.

“Stop, darlin’. You’ve hurt yourself.” Picking her up, he sat down with her on his lap and gently took her hands in his.

“They said I’m part of the pride,” she said. Jason and Samson leaned against the table on either side of them, their expressions puzzled.

“You are, love,” Jason said, taking one of her hands and kissing it.

“I thought I was free. Back in Tijuana, I was able to do whatever I wanted for the first time in my life.”

Samson’s eyes began to spark with a heated amber. “You are free.”

“But I have to live here. I have to, or we all die.”

Michael could see it now. Trapped for six years in a virtual prison, then to think she was now confined to Eminence. No wonder she was upset.

“We would never want to imprison you, Bethany,” he said. “We have lived a long time already, followed our dreams. We want you to do the same.”

“We just ask,” Samson said, “that you let us share in your life from now on. We’d like to go with you, wherever you choose to go.”

“Be with you,” Jason said, “whatever you choose to do. I understand your feelings, Bethany. I fought against my shifter nature for three of your lifetimes, thinking it would control and confine me. I was wrong. Embracing all of me has set me free. Free to love you to my very core.”

“We want you to grow as a person and achieve all your dreams and desires,” Samson said.

“We’d be honored to help you in any of your life’s goals,” Michael said. He held her tight, her body now shaking with little sobs. Jason wiped away the tears leaking from her eyes.

“I don’t have any dreams right now. I just didn’t want to be locked away again.”

“Never,” they all said at once.

“But we do need to protect you until your asshole fan club are neutralized,” Samson said, he was smiling widely now.

“We have a state-of-the-art computer system here. You can look around and see what interests you,” Michael said. “Even do some classes remotely, if you like.”

“He must love you to let you near his computers,” Samson said. Bethany’s small laugh had them all grinning like fools.

“Thank you. I misunderstood. For now, I’d really love to learn how to cook, like Peata has. Do you think Melanie would take on another hopeless case?”

* * * *

Bethany couldn’t understand how she had gotten so lucky. These men were not just gorgeous, they were also wonderfully caring people. They were also hers.

As she embraced that thought and stared into their smiling faces, she felt her cat’s need for them surge. It was no longer tentative in its demand for her to stake a claim. It was clawing at her mind. It wanted to taste their blood. To mark them all as theirs with its teeth and claws.

They all began to growl, their stares turning heated, their eyes changing to bright amber. Those looks might have frightened her two days ago. Now they sent her pulse racing. Her nipples tightened painfully and her pussy swelled and throbbed.

“Whatever you’re thinking, kitten,” Samson said, his voice deep and rough, “don’t stop.”

Plucking her from Michael’s arms, he crashed his mouth into hers in a kiss so heated, she nearly came. Rubbing her nipples against the steel of his chest gave her the sensation she needed to push her over the edge. She sucked his tongue further into her mouth, the taste of him making her burn for more than the small release he’d just given her.

“Jesus, Bethany,” Michael said, pushing tight against her back. She could feel the hard length of his cock, hot against her ass, as he nipped at her neck teasingly.

“Please,” she found herself begging. The ache in her pussy was growing. It was nearly painful now. “My skin feels as though it’s on fire.” She panted out the words, her lungs on fire with the thick and delicious scent of her men.

“Be sure, Bethany,” Jason said, and took her face in his hands before kissing her. He licked along her lips, but she was starving for him. She sucked his tongue into her mouth. She still needed more, and delved into his mouth with her tongue, licking along his elongating fangs. His rumbling growl sent the burn in her body raging out of control.

Breaking the kiss, Jason tilted her face until she tore her gaze from his sexy mouth and was focused on his eyes, his blazing eyes that told her he was as starving for her as she was for him.

“I’m sure, Jason,” she said, the words hard to say with her heart a lump in her throat. “I can feel you all in my heart already. I can feel you.”

Chapter 19

“I can feel you, too,” Jason said. “It will be stronger once we’ve completed the mating.”

Jason knew he was the luckiest man alive. He had been the cause of so much pain to Bethany, but she had not only forgiven him, she was gifting him with her life as his mate. It was a gift he’d nearly thrown away in his arrogance and stupidity.

Her pupils dilated and the lavender color bled away, leaving them their natural blue. “I don’t know what to do,” she said.

Samson lifted her higher in his grasp until they were eye-to-eye. “Shit, we’re animals. I’m so sorry. We can wait as long as it takes until you’re ready.”

She stroked her fingers across his lips. “No, I want you all so much I’m going to explode.” She looked at Jason, then turned to look at Michael. “I don’t know how to…mate with you all.”

“You just came when Samson kissed you, darlin’,” Michael said, caressing her ass in his palms. “You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen. Perfect.”

Samson strode out of the kitchen to the master bedroom, with Jason and Michael close behind.

“I haven’t seen this room before,” Bethany said, swiveling her head to take in the entirety of the massive space. “It’s beautiful.”

“We each have our own rooms, but this one I made to share with our mate,” Michael said.

Jason had never been in the room before, either. He’d never envisaged taking a mate, so he had taken no interest in whatever Michael had been doing in the room.

Its focal point was an enormous, custom-made bed that easily could have slept ten people. The windows were floor to ceiling, with French doors that opened onto the verandah. A huge hot tub sat on the veranda, just outside the French doors. The uninterrupted views to the mountains beyond were stunning in the late afternoon light.

The room also had an adjoining bathroom and a fireplace. The color scheme was muted blues to match the sky.

The most startling feature, however, was the custom-made bedding. It was the exact lavender of Bethany’s eyes when they changed.

“How is that possible?” Jason said, walking to the bed to touch the soft comforter. He needed to touch it to ensure it was real.

“I told you, Jason. I believed,” Michael said. He took Bethany from Samson’s arms and laid her down on the huge bed. “I’ve been dreaming of your eyes for the last fifty-five years, darlin’. I knew we’d find you one day.”

* * * *

The bedding was perfect and Michael had never been happier. He’d had to scour the Internet for weeks to find the fabric, but it had given him hope. Hope that one day their mate would be just where she was now.

“When I envisioned you on this bed, you had a lot less clothing on.”

Her smile was beautiful, and he didn’t resist his cat’s demand to taste her. To feel her.

He stripped his shirt off, sending buttons bouncing across the polished hardwood floor. He needed to have his skin against her again. He felt as though he’d never been touched before, and he was starving for the sensation. It was a hunger that only she could assuage.

Lying down next to her on the bed, he shuddered as she wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through the strands of his hair.

“The room is so lovely. You are lovely,” she said.

He would have countered that comment, but she pulled his head down and kissed him with a hunger that rivalled his own, and his thoughts shattered. All he could do was feel.

She pressed her small body tight against him. He could feel the tight peaks of her nipples against his chest, and he wanted to taste them. He needed to taste them. But he lingered in their kiss, the taste of her a delight he wouldn’t rush.

When she lifted her lips from his to breathe, he trailed kisses down her neck on the way to his goal.

“You’re so beautiful, Bethany,” he said between kisses. “I need you so badly.”

Her whispered “yes” was all the permission he needed. Pulling the borrowed scrubs off over her head, he lowered his mouth to her breast and kissed around her nipple.

“Please, I’m on fire.” The words almost a growl. Her exposed skin was pink and covered in gooseflesh.

“We’re here, kitten,” Samson said. “We’ll make the burning stop.” He and Jason had already stripped as they climbed onto the bed with them.

Samson laid down on her other side and took her mouth in a heated kiss.

Jason pulled the scrub pants from Bethany, the scent of her arousal thickening further in the air as her pussy was exposed.

“So sweet,” Jason said, parting her thighs to lie between them. He began kissing his way to their apex.

Michael tore himself from her side for the seconds it took to shuck his boots and jeans, then resumed his quest to taste her nipples. His cock was so hard it was painful, but his desire to please his mate overrode all thoughts of his own pleasure. Her first time would be special. It would be perfect, like her.

Her back bowed off the bed as he sucked the small pink peak into his mouth at last. He laved it with his tongue and bit lightly at the base.

She gasped and pushed his head tighter to her chest with one of her hands. Using his other hand to pinch her other nipple, he was rewarded by another gasp. Their mate was incredible.

* * * *

Bethany was sure she’d shatter into a million pieces any second. Samson’s kiss was wonderful, his taste so arousing that she’d already had an orgasm from that alone. But now all her mates were touching her and she felt as though she was about to shatter.

Michael’s hot mouth on her nipple was sending pleasure straight to her clit, which was aching and tight. Jason was placing featherlike kisses on the inside of her thighs, getting ever closer to the center of her need.

She was desperate for him to kiss her there, but knew it would break her. She was on the verge of crying out for them to stop, that it was too much pleasure, when Jason licked lightly along the seam of her pussy and sucked her clitoris into his mouth.

Her heart stopped and her body ignited. The pleasure spread from her core to ignite every inch of her body. She could hear her scream in the distance, but the pulsing waves of ecstasy were all she could concentrate on.

They all gentled their touch as the pleasure ebbed and her pussy stopped clenching, but the burn in her skin had just grown hotter. She felt empty, and she ached to be filled.

She looked desperately at each of them. She didn’t know what was happening, but she’d die if they didn’t help her.

“We’ll help you, my love,” Jason said. “It’s the need to mate you’re feeling. We feel it, too.”

She hadn’t even realized she’d asked them for help.

“Once the mating is completed, the ache goes, I promise,” Samson said. His hand moved to her breast. The heat and weight of his palm as he molded and teased was just driving the need higher.

Samson rolled to his back and pulled her on top of him. She let her cat take control as she positioned herself over his groin. It wanted to feel its mates as much as she did, and she welcomed its instinctual knowledge of what to do.

She sat back on Samson’s thighs and looked at his penis for the first time. She’d felt it against her when he and Michael had pleasured her, but she hadn’t seen it.

It was long, thick and hard, and the stream of moisture coming from its tip enticed her like the cherry on an ice cream sundae.

“Can I touch you?” she said, licking her lips.

He groaned and nodded, his jaw flexing as his teeth ground together.

Michael and Jason were touching her everywhere, running their hands down her back to her ass, caressing her breasts and teasing her nipples. Her body was overloaded with sensations, but she needed one more. She needed to taste Samson.

Trying not to lose herself to the pleasure of Michael and Jason’s touch, she wrapped both hands around Samson’s length and swiped her tongue through the liquid oozing from the crown.

The delicious taste of the salty sweetness electrified her senses further, heightening them to a level she’d never experienced before.

A rumbling purr filled the room and it filled her with wonder. I’m truly embracing my cat.

Chapter 20

Samson was sure he had a foot in both heaven and hell. His mate was so fucking sexy, and her touch was like nothing he’d ever felt. Just her hands on his naked chest had made his cock pulse and release a fresh stream of pre-cum. Heaven.

Then she’d wrapped those small, soft hands around him and pressed her mouth to the aching head of his cock. Her purr of appreciation had vibrated straight to his prostate. He’d had to clamp down his muscles like a vice to stop his cum from shooting straight into her mouth. Hell.

“Jesus, kitten. You can play later, I need to be inside you before I come right now.” He was panting the words out as he held his muscles tight.

She released him and moved her hands to either side of his face. “Thank you for saving me, Samson.”

“I needed rescuing, too. I was an empty machine before you came into my life. I love you, Bethany.”

Kissing her, he poured all his love into their bond while lifting her slim hips and positioning her over his aching cock.

He let her set the pace, impaling herself as slowly as she needed, even though it felt like torture. She bit into his lip with her little teeth and moaned loudly as her hot, wet pussy slowly enveloped him to the hilt.

They were both panting. “You’re an angel, your pussy my heaven.” Unable to contain his orgasm for much longer, he began to gently thrust into her. The rippling and clenching of her inner muscles signaled she was close, too.

Extricating his lip from between her teeth, he growled, and kissed his way to the nape of her neck. His canines elongated with the need to taste his mate. She lay above him like a vision, rocking in rhythm with his thrusts and gasping for breath. His orgasm burst through the dam of his control.

Biting down, his canines sunk easily into her soft skin, and the burst of her blood in his mouth was sweet and delicious. It sent his seed shooting even harder into her pussy.

She screamed his name as she came with him, the walls of her pussy milking every last drop of his cum from his balls and extending his orgasm for what felt like an hour.

If he hadn’t been horizontal already, he’d have collapsed. His legs were shaking with the force of his orgasm, his heart pounding out of his chest.

Caressing the skin of her back, he found it damp with sweat.

“Are you okay, kitten? Did I hurt you?”

“Yes, I’m amazing. Samson?” she said, kissing his neck.

“Kitten?”

“I love you,” she said, and bit into his neck with her blunt teeth.

* * * *

She didn’t understand what had come over her, but she decided to follow her cat’s demands, and she wanted to mark her man.

The taste of his warm, musky blood was better than the best chocolate she’d ever tasted. Swallowing, she felt the diaphanous mating bond inside her coalesce into a steel band, binding them together. Forever. Her cat instantly became easier to discern, as though it had had its existence strengthened by the consummation of the mating.

Samson’s cock spurted even more cum, and it was so hot she could feel it deep inside her.

“You own me, kitten,” he said as he licked the place he’d marked her, and it sent tingles of electricity shooting through her.

“I’m yours, my big soldier,” she said, and copied his action, licking the bite she’d put on his neck. His shiver of pleasure caused a small growl to pop from her throat. She was overjoyed that she appeared to affect him, as much as he affected her. They were mated.

“We are, my little kitten.”

She realized she must have spoken her thoughts out loud, again. “I’ll never have any secrets, will I?” she said, but she really didn’t care. She’d told them about the worst of herself already, and they were all here, binding themselves to her.

As she relaxed onto Samson’s chest, enjoying the strength and warmth of him, her skin began to burn again, stretching tight over her bones.

She moaned, her eyes burning and unfocused as she rubbed at them and looked around for help.

* * * *

Michael lifted Bethany gently out of Samson’s embrace and laid her on the bed. “It’s the mating bond, darlin’. The pains will ease once we mate, then be gone altogether when you bond with Jason.”

Jason handed him a warm cloth and her gently wiped her pussy clean. “I’m on fire for you, darlin’, but I’ll wait if you need more time.” His cock pulsed, the skin stretched to the breaking point.

“Michael, I need you, too. I’m burning up.” She reached for him and pulled him tight on top of her, her hands kneading his shoulders.

“Jesus, you’re not kidding.” She was covered in a sheen of sweat, but her skin felt as though she was suffering with a high fever. “Is she all right, Jason?” His cock began to soften as he worried for her well-being.

“Bethany is in no way ‘all right,’” Jason said, moving to kneel next to her head. “She is magnificent.” He smiled down at their mate and held his rigid cock to her lips. “I can’t wait any longer, sweetheart.”

Bethany released one of his shoulders from her gasp and reached for Jason’s cock. She moaned as she brought it to her lips, licking the pre-cum from the end.

That sight broke Michael’s restraint and he nudged her thighs apart with his knees and caressed her clit with the head of his cock.

She writhed against him, their combined juices making his cock glide silkily around her engorged flesh.

Desperate for her to feel as much pleasure as possible, he lowered his head and took one of her hard nipples between his lips.

She moaned loudly around Jason’s cock. “Fuck, keep her moaning, Michael. That feels so good, Bethany.”

Michael sucked hard on her nipple and tilted his pelvis, aligning his cock with her entrance. She dug in her heels and pushed him into her, eliciting moans from all three of them.

He released her nipple and kissed his way to her neck, slowly thrusting deeper into her heat. When he reached the perfect spot for his mark, he teased her flesh between his teeth, sucking and licking as he thrust harder and fully seated himself inside her.

“More, Michael,” she said, releasing Jason’s cock from between her lips.

He didn’t make her wait. As his canines extended behind his lips, he began to move, pumping into her in sure, firm strokes, her breasts bouncing with each thrust of his hips.

His balls drew up tight as the fluttering along her inner walls signaled her imminent orgasm.

“Mine,” he said, and roared before sinking his teeth into the flesh of his beloved’s neck.

She cried out his name as she came, and moaned with each of his deep sucks at her neck. The blood was the catalyst that ignited his senses and sealed their bond in his heart. He poured his cum into her, in wave after wave of pleasure, until he was sure he’d turned inside out.

“Mine,” she said on a moan, and bit him, hard, in the corresponding spot on his neck. His cock gave a final jerk and his cat roared in his mind. It was very pleased to finally be mated to his lavender-eyed cat.

* * * *

Bethany’s mouth had been the best thing his cock had ever felt, but Jason wanted to bond fully with his mate. His cat, as well as hers, needed that commitment from him, and he was eager to give it.

As Samson helped to clean Bethany, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her with all the love he felt for her.

Her moan of pleasure had his cat going wild. It hungered to bond with her. For her body to be his. To taste her blood.

Jason was in no way opposed to his cat’s desires. After the tragedy that they narrowly averted due to his denial of his beast’s needs, he would never again disregard the core of who he was. A mountain lion shifter.

“Ready for me, my dainty little feline?” he asked his radiant mate. Have I told you how beautiful you are?”

“No, you haven’t,” she said, and pouted at him. She was unable to hold the pout for more than a second before she smiled, and twined her fingers into his hair. “Have I told you that you look like an avenging angel? You’re a beautiful man.”

He laughed. It erupted rusty and harsh from his throat. It had been years since he’d laughed. “I was a little jealous when you told Michael and Samson they were beautiful. I thought perhaps I was the ugly brother.”

Samson hit him on the side of his head. “The stupid brother.”

“You’re neither, Jason,” she said, as she smiled at him. “You were like me. We didn’t know our cats, that’s all.”

She was right. Her unfamiliarity was due to her ignorance of the existence of shifters, and his due to his own arrogance.

“You’re the youngest and the smartest of us all, it seems.”

He kissed her again, reaching down to cup her buttocks in his hands. His cock was hard and throbbing between their bodies. She rubbed against him, the friction making him hiss. “You have a really sexy ass, sweetheart.”

Turning her in his arms, he positioned her on all fours between his knees. As he massaged the globes of her ass, he covered her back with kisses.

“We’re going to take you together next time, Samson in your pretty mouth,” he said, kissing all the way to her ear and laving his tongue around the shell. She pushed her ass back against his hands with a groan. He moved a hand underneath her and stroked his fingers through the light covering of hair to tease her pussy. Samson growled and lay under Bethany, sucking one of her nipples and pinching the other.

“Michael will be stretching this tight, hot pussy.” Using two fingers to enter her, he gently glided them in and out through her juices. Michael kneeled by Bethany’s head to kiss her ravenously. They were all aroused at the thought of taking their mate together.

“I’ll be fucking your ass,” Jason said, breathing the words quietly into her ear. Scooping up some of her abundant juices with his thumb, he rubbed it lightly over her anus. It twitched and tightened under his caress. He nearly came imagining how it would feel around his cock. She moaned as he pushed his thumb through the tight muscle.

“I’m coming, Jason.”

He stopped moving, but left his fingers and thumb inside her. He felt her pussy and ass throb and then relax as she drew back from her release.

“Not yet,” he said. “I’ll be inside you, remember.”

Her breathing was ragged and shallow as her excitement waned.

He chose the spot right below her right ear for his mark and gripped it in his teeth. His canines had already descended and he tasted the slightest hint of her sweet blood as they scored her skin.

“Please, Jason. My heart is going to burst.” She was panting rapidly and he could feel her skin heat as her heart rate increased.

“I have you, baby.” He withdrew his fingers from her dripping pussy and quickly replaced them with the head of his cock.

He’d planned to go slowly, to feel and savor every second of their mating. But she had other ideas and pushed back with her hips, pulling him deep inside her.

“God, you feel so good, Bethany,” he said. He pushed his thumb deeper into her ass as he pushed his cock to the root inside her clenching pussy.

She broke from Michael’s kiss to scream his name as she came around him. He lost himself in the feel of her clenching heat and his own orgasm came rushing down his cock, sending his seed deep into his mate’s womb.

“Your mine forever, my love.” Lowering tight against her back, he sunk his canines into the sweet spot he’d chosen beneath her ear.

She growled, and then purred, as her orgasm peaked again, the tight muscles of her cunt drawing even more of his cum from his balls.

When she slumped on the bed against Samson’s chest, her eyes were closed and her skin clammy with drying sweat. He withdrew from her body reluctantly, missing her tight heat immediately.

“I could stay buried inside you forever,” he said, caressing her limbs and positioning her more comfortably against Samson.

“We’d look peculiar in the supermarket if you did that,” she mumbled. She was smiling, but her eyes remained closed.

“Are you well, sweetheart? Did I hurt you?”

Her eyes snapped open and they were still a shining lavender color. “I feel wonderful, Jason. Sex is a wonderful thing.”

“It will only get better, kitten,” Samson said, caressing her damp hair.

“I think better would kill me,” Michael said with a groan. “You’re incredible, darlin’. We’re the luckiest men alive.” He kissed Bethany lightly, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.

Jason went to start the shower, but found the adjoining bathroom had an enormous corner bath. He decided that Bethany would probably benefit more from a warm bath, so he ran that instead.

He waited anxiously in the bathroom until the tub had filled. It hadn’t escaped his notice that Bethany hadn’t claimed him, as she had his brothers. He knew it was due to how badly he’d hurt her. Perhaps her cat would never trust him enough to want a claim on him.

He would just have to show her how committed he was to her. With that in mind, he went to get his mate.

* * * *

When Bethany finally released Michael from their kiss, they were both breathless.

“Are you sore, little kitten?” Samson said, massaging her back and shoulders with strong, sure strokes.

“A little,” she said. “I’m not used to”—Shit, this is embarrassing—“well, having sex.” Or talking about how sore my pussy and ass are. She could feel her face heating in a blush.

“Jason is running a bath for you. That will help,” Michael said.

At the mention of Jason’s name, her cat snarled loudly. It was the clearest she’d ever felt her cat, and she could easily feel that it was not happy. She screwed her eyes shut tight and concentrated, trying to discern what was wrong. She sensed frustration, but nothing else.

“Bath’s ready, sweetheart,” Jason said. Her eyes snapped open and she saw him standing at the end of the bed, his arms reaching for her.

“Mine.” She threw herself into his arms, wrapping herself tightly around him. He grasped her ass and moaned loudly as she sunk her teeth into the side of his neck. She got a large mouthful of his blood, and swallowed it all, the salty musk of him entering her body and infusing him into her every cell, and into her heart. Now her cat felt happy.

Jason held her tight against him and nipped at his own mark under her ear. It sent shivers across her skin, and made her tender pussy throb and ache.

“I love you so much, Bethany. Thank you.”

His smile was radiant, and he looked so fucking handsome. How did I get so lucky?

“What for?” She didn’t know what he was thanking her for. For having sex with him?

“I’m just really happy that you claimed me, too.”

“I claimed you?” Now she was confused.

“That’s what the biting was, darlin’,” Michael said, standing behind her and pushing his tall, muscled, and very naked body against her back.

God, these men felt so good. The swollen tissues of her sex clenched again, and she felt the evidence of her continued arousal slip from her in a gush.

Samson growled and stepped close to them. “It’s too soon for us to take you again, kitten. You’re testing us sorely.” He kissed her tenderly and led the way into the bathroom.

As she sat straddling Jason’s thighs in the warm bath, she sighed and rested her head against his solid chest. It felt like heaven to be in his arms, to feel his love for her pulsing through their bond like a living thing.

Samson and Michael sat close to her, stroking their hands over her body, their touch soothing and reassuring. She reached up to each of them and ran her fingers over the small marks she’d made on their necks.

They each shuddered under her touch and her pussy clenched in response. She was still a little tender, but the bath was helping. “Will they heal?” she said.

Jason squeezed her tight, his massive arms wrapped tight around her. “I don’t know, sweetheart.” He licked over his mark, making her tingle all over. “Our shifter DNA makes the marks we gave you permanent. While your ability to shift is latent, your DNA may still make ours permanent.”

“I don’t mind if you have to mark me every fucking day,” Michael said, kissing her deeply and making her toes curl. “It felt fantastic having your teeth in me.”

“Even though they’re small and puny,” Samson said, kissing her neck, “I felt well and truly claimed by my mate.”

She’d felt that way, too. When they’d bitten into her neck, she’d felt their claim on her, deep in her soul. She felt loved for the first time in her life and she felt as though she finally had a home. Her home was these three men. She closed her eyes as their soothing touches relaxed her, pushing her into sleep.

Chapter 21

Michael was startled awake by the blaring of a smoke alarm. Momentarily disorientated he looked around the room for Bethany. Finding both her and Samson gone, he raced toward the sound of the alarm and the thickening scent of smoke in the air.

In full military mode by the time he reached the kitchen seconds later, he saw Samson pull Bethany into his arms and run out the back door with her. He thanked God that she was safe.

Jason had been called out to see a patient in town some hours earlier. The fact that he wasn’t already in the kitchen indicated he hadn’t yet returned.

With Bethany safe, he surveyed the kitchen for the source of the smoke still filling the room. He chuckled to himself as he discovered the cause. She hadn’t been joking when she’d said she couldn’t cook.

On the stove was a ruined fry pan containing a blackened substance that he assumed used to be food. Coughing, he put the lid on the pan and used a cloth to carry the smoking pan outside.

“Oh God, are you all right?” Bethany said, throwing herself against his side.

“Easy, darlin’, this is still very hot.” He threw the pan onto the lawn where Samson now stood with the garden hose. The pan sizzled and smoked even more as the water cooled it.

“I wanted to cook you all breakfast. The toast caught fire and I didn’t know what to do.” She hugged Michael around the waist, burying her face in his chest. The acrid smell of smoke was thick in her hair, and his cat was less than pleased with it covering her delicious scent.

Samson bounded up the stairs and hugged her from behind. “Did you burn yourself?” he said, prying her hands from around Michael.

“Just a little. I’m so sorry.”

“Let me see,” Samson said, turning her around to face him. He sounded as anxious as Michael felt. “Where the fuck is Jason? We need him here to care for Bethany.”

“He’s on a call,” Michael said, he clasped Samson’s shoulder and gave him a little shake. “She’s fine, Samson. We can cope with a little burn.”

Samson didn’t look up from examining Bethany, but he sighed, his shoulders relaxing under Michael’s hand. “I was scared for you, kitten. When I smelt the smoke…”

She leaned against Samson’s chest and hugged him with her right arm. Michael noticed she’d put her left hand behind her back.

Gently turning her palm upwards, a snarl erupted from his lips. “Fuck, we need to run this under some water.” Her palm was red and blistered. He reached down to get his cell from his pocket, only then realizing he was still naked.

Samson took her hand from his and swore colorfully. While Samson carried Bethany to the sink and ran water over her hand, Michael opened all the windows and used the phone in the kitchen to call Jason.

“Jase says to put her hand in a basin of ice water. He’s on the way home now.”

* * * *

Bethany felt so lucky as she sat watching her men clear up the mess she’d accidentally made. I’ve met the nicest men in the world. After the morning she’d put them through, they were already laughing over her calamity.

She’d woken early, snuggled between Samson and Michael, with no memory of getting into bed. She didn’t recall anything after being in the warm bath. Noticing Jason’s absence, she’d felt a small prickle of anxiety and insecurity.

Samson had stirred as she’d wriggled from his arms and she’d whispered that she was going to the bathroom. After she’d freshened up, she’d pulled on Michael’s shirt and gone in search of Jason.

She’d found a note from him on the kitchen counter, right next to a pot of delicious-smelling coffee.

My Bethany, I hate not being there when you wake, but I had an emergency call in town. I love you, Jason xxx

Feeling extremely happy and reassured by this note, she’d wanted to make her men breakfast. Who knew making a toasted cheese sandwich would be so hard?

“I think we should ban you from cooking until Melanie has given you a few tips on the basics,” Jason said. He sat down next to her and pulled her onto his lap, his smile broad.

Samson and Michael both chuckled. They’d made a breakfast fit for a queen in the five minutes it had taken Jason to dress her hand.

“The army could use you as a weapon of mass destruction,” Michael said, placing the platter of bacon, eggs and toast on the table.

“We could plant you in the enemy’s kitchens,” Samson said, kissing her on the lips as he sat next to her.

A small giggle escaped her lips. “I could destroy a whole enemy camp just by making toast.”

“I’m sorry you were hurt, sweetheart.” Jason kissed her neck.

“It was a lovely gesture, kitten,” Samson said, “but your naked body next to us in bed is the only breakfast we need.”

The grin he gave her, and his glowing irises, left no room for misinterpretation. She felt her cheeks color as she imagined them having her for breakfast. She squirmed as her pussy clenched.

Her men all growled.

“What?” she said with feigned innocence. She remembered what Melanie had said about them being able to scent her arousal.

* * * *

Once they’d all eaten their fill, Samson swiftly cleared the dishes. His cock was hard and painful in his fatigues. The scent of their mate’s arousal was strong enough to drown out the lingering aroma of smoke, and it was driving him wild.

“I think we need to wash the scent of smoke off our delicious mate,” Samson said. “Can she have a bath if we keep her hand dry?”

Jason nuzzled into Bethany’s neck and growled, carrying her swiftly to their bedroom. Bethany’s laughter rang in the air behind them as Samson and Michael followed behind.

While Michael ran a bath and Jason wrapped Bethany’s hand in a plastic bag, Samson had the pleasure of stripping her, sampling her lips and breasts as he did.

“You taste good, kitten, even smoked!” Her laughter was a joy to the soul he hadn’t realized was so cold and empty.

“So do you,” she said, and gave a little growl as she climbed up his body and wrapped herself around him. “Your kisses make feel alive, Samson.”

Releasing his hold on her naked ass, he undid the button of his fatigues, pulled down the zip and stepped out of them as they fell to the floor.

Kissing her hard, he pushed his tongue deep into her mouth as he walked to the bath and lowered them both into the warm water.

His cock was positioned perfectly, and with one thrust of his pelvis, he drove deep into her pussy. She was so wet, his cock sliding smoothly to the hilt in one stroke.

“Yes,” she breathed into their kiss.

She rocked against him, grinding her clit against his pubic bone. He took up her rhythm and ground against her on every upstroke. She gripped his shoulders and kissed him harder, her tongue stroking along his.

“You like my cock deep inside you, Bethany?”

“Yes,” she said, the walls of her pussy fluttering against him. He wouldn’t last, she felt too good.

The water rose as Michael joined them in the bath. Samson grasped her ass cheeks and pulled her tighter against him, exposing her tight asshole for Michael.

Samson felt her grow tense. “I’m just stretching you, darlin,” Michael said. “You have the sexiest ass. I can’t wait to take you here.”

She screamed, her pussy tight and pulsing around him. He let go of his control and pounded into her, once, twice, and then he came, his orgasm dimming his vision and making his head pound.

“Jesus,” he said, kissing her reverently and caressing her back as she shuddered with the last pulses of her release.

* * * *

Jason was in pain. Watching Samson make love to Bethany had his cock hard and throbbing in his fatigues.

“Let’s get you washed, darlin’,” Michael said. “I can’t wait much longer to be inside you.”

“You read my mind,” Jason said, handing Michael the shampoo. They washed her hair and body thoroughly, but quickly, before Jason plucked her from the bath and dried her.

Jason carried her small, towel-wrapped body to the bed. “Now I can unwrap you like the gift you are, Bethany.”

“I was a little scared when you weren’t there this morning.” She reached for him, but he pulled back, removing his clothes.

“I told you, love, no more running.” Pulling her ass to the edge of the bed, he knelt between her thighs. “It will take time, but you will trust me.”

“I found your note. It was lovely.”

Caressing up the inside of her thighs, he parted them slowly. “I meant it, Bethany. I love you.”

Lowering his head, he gently nipped her inner thighs, causing her to wriggle and laugh.

“Our mate is ticklish,” Michael said, lying on the bed beside Bethany. He used a hand to still her hips and kissed a path from her navel upwards.

Jason’s cock twitched and throbbed as the room filled with the scent of Bethany’s leaking juices. He licked those juices gently off the lips of her pussy.

“Ambrosia,” he said, humming at the taste of her.

Circling her clitoris with his tongue, he hummed again, eliciting a fresh gush of cream as she moaned and bucked her hips.

Samson joined them, and laid on her other side, adding his hand to her bucking pelvis. He lowered his head to lick and suck Bethany’s nipple.

“I’d never shared a lover with my brothers before you,” Jason said. “I’m finding it’s very arousing watching them tease your sweet pink nipples with their mouths. Listening to your cries of pleasure.”

He sucked gently on her clitoris, before thrusting his tongue deep into her. She tightened and swelled around his tongue as he fucked her with it, lapping up her juices.

Needing to watch her orgasm, he replaced his tongue with his fingers and stroked them into her as he watched her peak.

While she was still in the throes of her orgasm, Michael rolled her on top of him and pumped into her, prolonging her orgasm with slow thrusts of his cock.

Samson reached for the lube in the bedside draw and threw it to him. He may be new to ménage sex, but he didn’t need to be told what to do next.

As Samson knelt next to Bethany’s mouth, she reached for his straining cock and placed in between her lips with a purr. That purr had his cat howling with need to join them.

He squirted some lube onto his hand and stroked his painfully engorged cock.

“I’m getting my cock ready for your tight ass, Bethany. I’ll stretch you first, my love, but I’m going to take this sexy ass.” Michael shifted his grip from her hips to her buttocks, spreading her wide for him.

“Yes.” Her husky plea was muffled by Samson’s cock.

“A little cold, sweetheart,” he said, rubbing his slicked fingers over the tight opening of her virgin ass.

Moaning, she pushed up to meet him, his fingers slipping through the tight muscles.

“Hurry, Jason, I need you with us,” she said, stroking Samson’s cock with her hand.

“I won’t hurt you, Bethany,” Jason said, his cock pulsing with the need for release. “Jesus, I could come just imagining being inside you.”

Michael stilled his thrusts as Jason massaged her tight ass, feeling the muscles soften and relax around his fingers. “Hurry, Jase. Our sexy minx has got me right on the edge.”

Jason removed his fingers and kissed his way up Bethany’s spine, his cock positioned at her anus.

“You’re mine,” he said, and flexed his hips. A loud growl tore from his throat as his lubed shaft slid deep into her ass on one smooth stroke.

Bethany moaned around Samson’s cock, and pushed up to impale him deeper still. The tight walls of her ass were a sweet torture. Michael began to move and Jason could feel the walls of her pussy vibrate with her building orgasm.

“Push in when I pull out,” Michael said with a strained groan. His instruction shook Jason out of his haze, and he joined with Michael and Bethany in their carnal dance.

“This is how it was meant to be,” Samson said, his hands supporting Bethany’s head as stroked into her mouth. “You’re ours, kitten. Forever.”

This joining felt natural. He felt complete. Never had anything in his life made him feel so centered and whole.

Samson roared as he came and then withdrew from Bethany’s mouth. Michael’s thrusting increased in pace and strength, and Jason followed his tempo, his own orgasm building swiftly.

“Our turn, love,” Michael said, biting into his mark on Bethany’s neck. It immediately ignited her release. Her tight walls clamped down on him, gripping him like a fist and sending him straight over the edge with her. He and Michael roared in unison, the windows rattling. Bethany’s climax milked his cock as he shot wave after wave of his seed deep into her ass.

Chapter 22

“I like being a Bethany sandwich,” she said, standing between Jason and Samson under the warm spray of the shower. She had her plastic wrapped hand resting on Samson’s shoulder, away from the water’s reach. Her other arm was around Samson’s waist, her hand resting on one of his firm ass cheeks.

“Do you mean now,” Jason said, pushing tighter against her back, “or before, when you had Michael’s and my cocks buried deep inside you?” She could feel his cock hardening against her spine and her pussy throbbed in response.

“Both,” she said, not even feeling embarrassed at the admission. She didn’t even know this person she was becoming. But I like her. “God. How do mated couples ever get out of the house?” Samson said, groaning into her hair. “I want you again, kitten.” He took her mouth in a hard, lingering kiss, and her body responded. Her nipples peaked and pushed painfully into his rock-hard chest. Her clitoris began to pound.

“If you three don’t get out of the shower, now,” Michael called from the bedroom, “we’ll be late.”

“Shit,” Samson said, releasing Bethany’s lips with another groan.

“I have a whole new respect for our friends,” Jason said, continuing to kiss along Bethany’s shoulder. “I love the taste of you. The feel of your skin.”

Bethany was shaking a little with the force of her emotions. She’d never craved anything the way she craved these men and their touch. The craving wasn’t painful, as it had been through the mating ritual, but it was powerful.

She squealed as Michael plucked her from the shower. He sat her on the bathroom vanity and wrapped a towel around her. When she opened her mouth to beg for him to put her back between her two naked mates, he held his index finger to her lips.

“Do you want to be late the first time you meet our parents?”

“No,” she said, mumbling curses against his finger.

He gave her a devastating smile, and she melted inside, all frustration forgotten.

“You’re looking forward to me meeting them. Aren’t you?”

“We all are, darlin’. But yes, I’m excited for them to meet my wonderful mate.”

“Will they be disappointed because…” She couldn’t finish the sentence, her good mood evaporating, her throat suddenly dry. What parent would want their child, or in this case children, stuck with someone defective? Someone like her.

“You don’t know our parents, Bethany,” Jason said, stepping from the shower and reaching for a towel. “So I won’t take offense at what you’re implying.”

God, he had a great body. He may not have been as tall as Samson, but his shoulders were just as wide, his arms huge with his muscles, all of them rippling as he dried himself.

“You’re distracting our mate,” Samson said, turning off the shower and reaching for a towel.

“So are you,” she said, licking her lips. Then her sex-soaked brain finally grasped what Jason had meant. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

“We know what you meant, kitten,” Samson said. “Our parents are thrilled we’ve found our mate and will finally give them some cubs to dote on.”

. Did she want children? She’d had a very difficult childhood in foster care, and an adolescence spent in an institution. What sort of a mother would she make?

“Babies, not cubs, Bethany,” Jason said. “You look a little shocked.”

“I don’t know anything about being a parent. I never had one.”

“You won’t be alone when it happens, darlin’,” Michael said. “We’ll be there, too, the three of us to help you, plus our parents will probably come over so much we’ll have to build them their own room.”

It didn’t seem so frightening the way he described it. She looked at each of their faces and saw their love for her, a love she could also feel in her heart through their mating bond.

“It’s a lot to get my head around,” she said. “A few days ago I was in Tijuana, with no prospects or direction. Now, I finally know who I am. What I am.”

Michael wiped away tears she didn’t know she’d shed. His expression was sober, his smile gone. “Are you sad, darlin’?”

“No, I’m happy. It’s all happened so fast, but I know in my heart, that this is where I belong.”

* * * *

Samson sat in the back seat of the truck with Bethany on his lap. They were nearly at the end of the ten-minute journey to his parents’ home, and he was excited for them to meet his mate. He and Michael had remained close to their parents, always finding the time to visit whenever they were home on leave. Jason, however, had avoided them, despite his living in Eminence for the last five years.

Jason was driving the truck and looked pensive. “They’ll be glad to see you, Jase,” Samson said. “They love you.”

“I’ve been a prick,” he said baldly.

Michael cuffed him on the side of the head. “And yet, they still love you.”

“We’ll face them together, Jason,” Bethany said. “I’m nervous, too.” She smiled and reached forward to rub Jason’s shoulder.

His mate had a loving heart. Samson squeezed her around the middle and teased the ticklish spot they’d discovered beside her hip bone. “They’ll love you, too.”

Their parents were waiting on the porch when they arrived—on time, thanks to Michael dragging them from the shower. His mother looked radiant in jeans and a bright green blouse. It complemented her shoulder-length, white-blonde hair and fair complexion.

Their father was still a bull of a man, standing six foot three inches tall and leanly muscled. His thick head of hair was still worn long, the red strands devoid of any grey, despite his age.

They met them on the lawn as they all exited the truck.

“You’re here, you’re here,” their mother said, clapping her hands together. “You owe me a week of laundry duty, Connell,” she said, elbowing her husband lightly in the stomach.

“Do we even want to know what the bet was?” Jason asked, stepping up to their mother and lifting her in an embrace.

She gave a surprised little gasp, but wrapped her arms around her eldest son, and hugged him back. “Welcome home, Jason.” Her voice hitched a little as she spoke his name.

“It’s been too long, Mom. But I’m back now,” Jason said, his voice cracking a little, too.

Michael cleared his throat and, with an arm around Bethany’s waist, ushered her forwards. “Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet Bethany Granger, our mate.”

“It’s good to meet you, Bethany. I’m Connell. This is my wife, Rose.” He shook Bethany’s hand, and when Jason set their mother down, she came over and embraced Bethany warmly.

“Welcome, Bethany. You’re a tiny thing. I hope my enormous sons are being careful with you.” She took Bethany’s arm and led them up to the porch, where morning tea was neatly laid out for them.

As their mother regaled Bethany with exploits from their childhood, Samson watched as Bethany relaxed and became increasingly animated. His parents had really taken to her, but the happiness she’d brought to Jason would have been enough for them to adore her.

“So you met in Scotland, one hundred and fifty years ago? That’s incredible. You both look about fifty years old,” Bethany said, peering closely at their mother’s lightly lined face.

“Shifter genetics would be a boon to the beauty industry if they ever found a way to bottle the effect,” Rose said.

Michael’s cell rang, and he stepped over to the truck to answer it.

“What was the bet you lost, Pop?” Jason asked. Samson watched Michael stiffen and walk further away as he spoke on his phone.

“I bet your Mom that you’d be least two hours late today,” Connell said, his eyes gleaming with humor as he looked at his wife. “She bet you’d never keep your Mom waiting.”

“You have Michael to blame for the week of laundry duty, then,” Jason said, lifting Bethany from her seat next to him and placing her on his lap.

Samson chuckled at Bethany’s blush. Shifters were all very open and tactile with their affection. He’d noticed how quickly Peata and Melanie had adjusted to this, and hoped Bethany would soon be comfortable with this side of their nature, too.

“Do you like to ride, Bethany?” Connell asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve never even been close to a horse before.”

“Why don’t you and I go and meet some of our horses, then?” Rose said. “We’ll let the men get the steaks and salad ready for lunch.”

Bethany looked excited at the prospect, and leapt off Jason’s lap to take their mother’s outstretched hand. She’d reached the top step of the porch when she ran back and gave both him and Jason a long, hard kiss on the lips. Then, with a radiant smile, she ran back to link arms with their mother, before walking to the barn.

“She’s a lovely young woman, boys,” Connell said, gazing at them until they entered the barn. “Have you got any more information on the trouble following her?”

“I think that’s what Michael is dealing with now,” Samson said.

They all turned to look at Michael. He stuffed his phone back in his fatigues, swore loudly, and walked over to join them.

Chapter 23

Michael was dressed in jeans and a button-down dress shirt as he anxiously paced the living room and waited for the others to finish dressing for their night out.

They’d arrived home from their parents’ house with only thirty minutes to shower and change before they had to leave. Bethany was using the master bedroom, as all of her new clothes were there. His parents already adored Bethany and she seemed to really like them, too. She’d groomed and ridden a horse for the first time, and was looking forward to taking riding lessons.

It was the phone call he’d received that had killed his enthusiasm for tonight’s outing. Bethany, however, was so excited to be going on a date with them that they couldn’t disappoint her by cancelling their plans. Having never had any long-term friendships before, she was also excited about spending the evening with Melanie and Peata.

Jason had also pointed out, that there would be ten members of the pride there to protect her. So, despite the news that Cristian Renta was likely on his way to Eminence, they were all going dancing.

He’d heard from a contact in Claremont’s local law enforcement that Doctor Jenkins, Bethany’s treating psychiatrist, had been murdered in his home earlier that day. He’d been brutally tortured before finally having his throat slit. Michael was certain it had been Renta.

He’d had been concerned that Renta would follow the same trail he had to Claremont, but he hadn’t fully estimated his ruthlessness. They had to assume the doctor had told Renta everything he’d wanted to know.

Finn had been contacted, and Cooper, the pride enforcer, had put the entire pride on notice as well as increasing patrols around Eminence.

“She’ll be safe tonight, Michael,” Samson said, joining him in the living area. “I won’t let her out of my sight. She isn’t even going to the bathroom without me checking it first.”

“We’re a strong pride,” Jason said as he joined them.

Michael ran his hands through his hair and sighed, trying hard to accept their reassurances. “Any idea what this surprise is?” Bethany had told them she had a surprise for them, refusing to tell them what it was, even when Samson threatened to tickle her.

“No, but I found out that Melanie was involved. Dane called to warn me to stay calm,” Samson said. “Whatever the fuck that means.”

The sound of their bedroom door closing had them all wheeling around to look in that direction.

Samson swore loudly as Bethany came into view.

“Calm, Samson. Remember? You were warned,” Michael said under his breath.

Shit, Michael was having trouble remaining calm himself. Bethany finished walking into the room and did a little pirouette. She was a vision. Beyond beautiful.

“Don’t you like my dress?” she said, her contrite tone transparently disingenuous.

She was dressed in a fire-engine-red dress that hugged her lithe frame so tightly he wondered how she’d gotten into it. The hem reached to just under her firm ass, the color complementing her pale complexion and hair. Her lean legs were bare and she was wearing matching red shoes with long stiletto heels. So that’s what fuck-me shoes look like?

Jason’s voice came out as a rough growl, his cat very apparent. “Fucking hell.”

“I’ll have to kill everyone who looks at you, Bethany,” Samson said.

“You really are a minx, darlin’,” Michael said, slowly walking up to stand in front of her. “You better be wearing panties.”

Her mouth popped open in surprise. “Of course I am. I don’t want to flash my bits to the whole club.”

Laughing at her shocked expression, he wound his hands around to her ass and pulled her tight against his throbbing erection. “I think what we’re trying to say…is that you look amazing.”

* * * *

Bethany was surprised at how big the bar was. Rory’s was massive, with three separate bar areas, a huge stage and a dance floor. The lighting was dim, but not so dark that you couldn’t see who you were talking to.

Michael and Jason each had an arm around her, with Samson walking close behind, as they walked down to meet their friends. They weren’t hard to spot, as they were the tallest and biggest men in the place. Melanie’s husband, Finn looked to be nearly seven feet tall.

Bethany didn’t see the women until they drew closer, and Finn stepped to one side.

“You’re here,” Melanie screamed, throwing herself into Bethany’s arms. “How did they like the surprise?”

“You were right, they hate it,” she said, smiling at her men.

Samson cupped one of her buttocks in his hand and kissed her on the cheek. “We don’t hate it. We just wanted to stay home and take it off you.” The smile he gave her was so heated that she felt her panties grow damp. She glared at Samson when he inhaled sharply. He’d negated all her hard work at keeping Michael’s hand out of her panties on the trip to the bar. “Payback’s a bitch, kitten,” he added, squeezing her ass for good measure.

“The band’s about to start,” Peata said, giving her a warm hug. “You made it just in time.” Peata quickly stepped back between Max and Axel, who embraced her warmly.

By the time everyone had exchanged greetings, the band had started to play a cover of “Hey Soul Sister” by Train.

“We have to dance,” Melanie said, taking her and Peata’s hands and dragging them toward the dance floor. Being early, there were only a few other people in the bar, and no one was on the dance floor.

Bethany relaxed and enjoyed dancing with her two new friends. Melanie wore a green empire-line dress that fell to her mid-thigh and flattered her pregnant belly. Peata was wearing a black wraparound dress and killer heels.

“You both look so beautiful,” she said. “Thank you for inviting me.”

“We all look gorgeous,” Peata said happily.

Bethany didn’t recognize the next few songs, but they were good to dance to, and the dance floor began to fill. Peata stopped dancing and looked around anxiously at the encroaching dancers. Calder appeared moments later and tucked Peata under his arm before leading her back to their table.

“Is she feeling sick?” Bethany asked, concerned for her.

“She just isn’t comfortable with crowds yet,” Melanie said. “It’s great that she came tonight.”

Melanie smiled warmly over at Peata, who was now sitting on Max’s lap, with Calder and Axel holding her hands. She still looked a little pale. Bethany wouldn’t ask Melanie what was wrong. If Peata wanted her to know, she’d tell her herself.

The band started to play a slow song, and just as she was about to suggest they join Peata, Jason appeared and wrapped her in his arms. Turning her head, she saw Hunter and Melanie already swaying to the music.

“This is my song, sweetheart,” Jason said, pulling her tight against him and bending to kiss the column of her neck. It sent shivers through her and she purred against his chest.

Each of Bethany’s men took turns dancing with her, and each of them drove her crazy with their drugging kisses and intoxicating caresses.

When the band finished up their set with a rousing rendition of “Boot Scootin’ Baby,” they all danced together. They spun and twirled her between them with an ease that showed what great dancers they were.

“Their shifter genes come in handy on the dance floor,” Melanie said. They were both splashing water on their faces in the ladies’ room.

“They sure do move like cats, so graceful.” She laughed and dried her face with a paper towel. “Why did Samson have to check the bathroom? Is it because you’re the queen kitty?”

Melanie stopped smiling and took her hand. “No, it’s because of your doctor in Claremont getting murdered.”

Bethany couldn’t speak. She felt sick. Her vision dimmed. Dr Jenkins had been a kindly man. She felt no animosity toward him, despite the six years of useless treatments and drugs he’d subjected her to.

* * * *

Samson caught Melanie as she ran out of the ladies’. He’d been standing right outside, preventing anyone else from entering.

“What’s wrong, Melanie?” he asked, taking in her pink cheeks and tear-streaked face.

“I didn’t know.” She gave a little hiccup. “I’m sorry, Samson.”

Finn appeared out of nowhere beside him. He must have moved with preternatural speed through the club. “It’s all right, sweetness,” he said, lifting her into his arms.

Samson barely noticed the exchange. As soon as the Alpha’s mate was safe, he barged right into the restroom, looking for Bethany.

He found her in the first cubicle, her head bent over the toilet as she vomited.

“Kitten, what can I do?” She didn’t answer, just continued to empty the contents of her stomach. He wanted his brothers here, but wouldn’t leave Bethany, so he rubbed her back in what he hoped was a soothing manner.

The door to the restroom banged open loudly. He rose, instantly taking a defensive stance. He relaxed as his brothers appeared in the doorway.

“Melanie told us to come,” Jason said, shouldering past him to kneel by Bethany. “It’s all right, sweetheart. Take some deep breaths and try to relax.”

“We should have told her,” Michael said. “I just didn’t want to ruin her night out.”

“Hindsight is twenty-twenty,” Samson said. “We meant well. Let’s see if we can salvage the evening.”

Michael left to get some bottled water, and by the time he’d returned, Jason had Bethany at the sink washing her face. She looked very pale, but she’d stopped being ill.

Samson sat on one of the courtesy chairs in the corner of the restroom, and Jason guided Bethany over to sit on his lap.

“Talk to us, kitten. What can we do?”

She sagged into his embrace. She felt chilled and was shivering. He held her close, tucking her head under his chin.

“Was it the drug lord? Did he kill that doctor?”

Michael squatted down in front of her, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. “It’s not your fault, darlin’. This man is after you for his own sick purpose.”

“You didn’t ask for any of this,” Jason added, putting the bottled water in Bethany’s hands and encouraging her to drink some.

“I understand that, but I still feel responsible,” she said. “He was a nice man.”

Samson held her tighter as the shock wore off. “Are you feeling well enough to leave? I imagine there’s a queue by now.”

“We better, before Hunter and Dane have to arrest you guys for lewd behavior.” Samson was pleased she sounded a little better, and held her as he stood to leave the restroom.

“I can walk now, Samson.”

He kissed her flushed cheek and didn’t break stride as they left to join their friends once more.

* * * *

Jason kissed his mark on Bethany’s neck as they drove back home after their night out. She squirmed deliciously in his lap, making his cock hard in an instant.

Their night had been subdued after Bethany had discovered the full extent of Cristian Renta’s determination to find her, but she’d recovered from the shock. She understood that she’d done nothing to initiate the chain of events that had led to the doctor’s death. She was just sad that he’d been killed so needlessly. They’d decided not to add to her distress by telling her the details of his death.

Bethany had made plans to commence her cooking lessons with Melanie and Peata the next day. This meant an early-morning trip to their Alpha’s, so they’d left the bar relatively early.

“If you don’t stop rubbing that fine ass over my cock, I won’t be held responsible for my actions,” Jason said, nibbling lower to the curve of her shoulder.

She turned in his arms and straddled his lap. “I need you to be irresponsible.” She bit down hard on his lower lip, drawing blood. She lapped gently at the small drop of blood and purred.

The vibration resonated in his bones and heated his blood. His cock jerked in his jeans and his heart hammered against his ribs.

Moving his hand between her legs, he cupped her pussy and found it wet with her cream. The scent of her arousal thickened in the cab of the truck, causing him and his brothers to moan.

Lowering his head, he kissed her. It was a passionate joining of mouths, their tongues twining around each other’s, their teeth clashing.

He moved his hand further under her tiny dress to her hip, and tore apart her panties before moving back to the moist cleft of her sex. Parting her folds, he thrust two of his fingers deep into her pussy.

She moaned into his mouth, sucking on his tongue. She ground her hips onto his pumping fingers as he followed the tempo of her need.

When he broke away at last from her lips, his breath was sawing out of him. “Do you want me to make you come like this, or do you want my cock inside you?”

“I want your cock, Jason,” she said on a sigh.

“Jesus,” Samson said, his voice strained. “You are so sexy, Bethany. I’m going to make you pay for this torture, though.”

“You better be ready for both of us when we get home, darlin’,” Michael said. “We’re going to make you pay, and it will feel so good.”

Jason’s growl was feral as his cat joined him in its desperate need for his mate. He couldn’t believe the frenzied desire he felt. He needed this woman more than he needed air. How could he have ever pushed her away?

Sliding her off his lap and along the seat of the truck, he undid his jeans and pushed them down to free his aching cock.

Lying over her, he nudged the entrance to her sex with the head of his cock. She thrust her hips up to meet him, seating the head of his cock in her pussy.

“Jason.” The word sounded like both a plea and a demand as it fell from her lips.

He thrust deep, his balls slapping her ass and his groin grinding against her clit. Leaning down, he found his mark and sucked it into his mouth. He pounded into her and she thrust up to meet him on every stroke, their movements wild and frantic.

She was clinging to him, her nails digging into his flesh through his shirt, her breathing rapid and shallow. He could feel her core begin to quiver around his thrusting cock. He sucked harder on her neck and let his sharp canines sink into the delicate flesh.

Her release rocked through her and triggered his own. Tensing above her, he roared as his hot seed bathed her clenching sheath. He continued to thrust gently until her orgasm ended.

They clung to each other, their breathing ragged and their skin damp. “Mmmm, you taste good,” he said, licking the last of the blood from her neck and sealing the wound. He’d never imagined he could ever feel this happy and in love.

He would have to talk to his brothers first, but they were going to marry this wonderful woman.

Chapter 24

As Bethany stood under the shower, her body still hummed from the pleasure her men had given her. Even in her wildest dreams, she’d never imagined sex would be this good.

Her tender pussy gave a throb as she remembered how Michael and Samson had taken her together last night. They’d only made it as far as the porch before they’d had her between them.

This morning had been a slower loving, but the pleasure had been just as immense. She could see herself come to crave them all filling her at once, connecting them all both physically and emotionally.

She swallowed and centered her thoughts on her upcoming cooking lesson. If she continued her carnal reminiscences, her men would be in the shower with her, and she’d be late.

Dressing in jeans and a T-shirt, she followed the aroma of coffee and pancakes to the kitchen.

She sat down on Samson’s lap and took his mug of coffee from his hand. “What?” she said when he raised an eyebrow at her. “You would have only picked me up and put me here anyway.”

“True, kitten,” he said, taking his coffee back from her. A wide smile spread over his ruggedly handsome face. “I love you very much, but not enough to give you my coffee.”

Michael gave her a fresh mug of coffee and a smoldering kiss. “I think he loves me the most,” she teased.

She felt so happy with her life right now, despite the threats hanging over her. In the span of just a few days, she’d found not only the loves of her life, but her place in the world. She had a home, a family and friends, things she never dreamed she’d ever have.

She tried not to dwell on the sadness she felt for Doctor Jenkins’s family. She just hoped that when her men caught the man responsible, they’d find a small measure of comfort.

Michael drove her to Melanie’s. Jason was attending his clinic in town and Samson was scheduled to patrol. She worried for his safety, but wanted the men chasing her to be caught.

“Samson is a soldier, darlin’,” Michael said. “I can feel your fear.” He reached across the cab of the truck to take her hand.

“I’m sorry I’ve brought this trouble to Eminence.”

“I’m not. I hate to think what would have happened to you if Samson hadn’t found you when he did.” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it.

She shuddered. He was right. Where would she have been now, if Samson hadn’t rescued her that night?

When they arrived at Melanie’s, they found her and Peata setting up for the day’s baking. Michael kissed her cheek and left the kitchen with Dane. “If we stay, she’ll put us to work,” she heard Dane murmur.

The morning went quickly, and soon it was past lunchtime. She had assumed she’d just be watching them, but they’d put her straight to work. She admired the triple-chocolate muffins she’d made as she put them in a box for transport to town.

“They’re perfect, Bethany,” Peata said. “You’re such a quick learner.”

“You’re both good teachers,” she said, giving them both a hug. “Thank you for letting me help.”

“No thanks needed,” Melanie said, packing the last of the pies she’d made into boxes. “We got all this done much quicker with your help. How about we have lunch in town when we drop these off?”

The word “lunch” worked some sort of magic, with Dane and Michael appearing from thin air. With their help, they were on the road in just a few minutes.

Bethany rode with Melanie and Dane. She wanted to carry the boxes into the diner and cafe. Melanie was looking tired after cooking all morning. Michael was driving Peata home, as she had begun to suffer from the effects of her morning sickness again. He was going to meet them in town for a late lunch.

Bethany carried the last of the boxes into the cafe, and chatted to the owners as she helped them put the boxes away. Everyone she’d met had been really nice.

Exiting the cafe, she scanned the street for Dane’s truck. It had been parked right outside, but she couldn’t see it anywhere on the street now. She felt unease creep up her spine. Dane and Melanie would not leave her alone.

She heard the sound of swearing, right before a bloody hand wrapped around her.

* * * *

Samson had picked up the unfamiliar scent of bear on the outskirts of town while he was doing his patrol. It was not unheard of for bears to venture this close to town, but this was not a native bear. It was a shifter.

He was running back to his truck so he could shift before following the trail into town, when he heard Cooper’s furious voice in his mind. Members of a pride could communicate with each other telepathically when shifted. It enhanced their defensive and offensive capabilities immensely.

“Someone has taken Melanie. She’s in the truck with him now. She is unharmed, but he has a gun. He wants Bethany and believes Melanie is taking him to her. They will be leaving the north end of town any moment.”

“I’ll be there in under a minute,” Samson said. “Tell her to slow down as she passes the church.” He channeled his fear for his mate into speed and rage.

The church was on a quiet stretch of road, nestled amongst the surrounding forest. They were unlikely to be observed there, so he could shift back when it became necessary.

“You are the closest, Samson,” Finn said. “Do whatever you deem necessary to free Melanie. Dane says he is a bear shifter. He therefore falls under the auspices of my law.”

The stupid fuck was a shifter, and he’d taken the Alpha’s pregnant mate hostage. Killing him would be a kindness compared to what Finn would do, if he happened to still be breathing when the Alpha arrived.

“I have Bethany,” Dane said. “She’s unharmed. Stinking coward just walked up and cold-cocked me.”

Even with the confirmation that Bethany was safe with Dane, Samson was no less enraged. The man had planned on harming his mate, and had taken Melanie hostage for that purpose. He would see him dead for that.

Samson reached the trees by the church grounds in time to see Dane’s truck approach. As Melanie slowed, he ran straight in front of the truck.

She swerved to miss him and slammed on the brakes. The truck skidded through a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn before stopping on the other side of the road.

Samson leapt to the passenger door and shifted without pausing. He ripped the door off its hinges with one hand and reached in with his other to grasp the man inside by the throat and haul him from the truck.

Dropping the door, Samson plucked the gun from the man’s unresisting hand. Samson estimated it had taken him less than two seconds to disarm him.

Ignoring the gurgling sounds coming from the man hanging by the throat in his fist, he looked over at Melanie. “Are you unharmed?” he said, searching her small frame for any signs of injury.

“I’m fine, Samson. Thank you,” she said, her voice a little tremulous. “He said he could scent Bethany in the truck. Who is he?”

“A dead man,” Samson said, turning his gaze once more on the man dangling from his fist. He wanted answers before the man died. Now that Melanie was safe, he felt his boiling anger slow to a simmer. His cat, however, was howling for blood.

He was small for a bear shifter. “Runt of the litter, were we?” he asked, his voice sounding more like a garbled growl. His canines were long, extending past his upper lip as he smiled at the sniveling bear.

The man was blue in the face. His claws were extended and had ripped deep tracks in Samson’s forearm that dripped a steady stream of blood onto the road. The adrenaline coursing through Samson’s veins had made the pain negligible.

“This isn’t going to get me my answers, now, is it?” The man stopped tearing at Samson’s arm and opened his mouth in a useless attempt to speak. Samson loosened his grip a little, allowing the man to suck in a rasping breath of air. He didn’t want him to die too soon.

“Being a stranger hereabouts, you were probably unaware that the young woman you just held at gunpoint was the Alpha’s mate.” He enjoyed the look of terror sweeping over the man’s face. “His pregnant mate.”

His look of terror turned to abject horror. “I”—he gasped out of his constricted throat—“didn’t know,” he managed at last.

“Well then, I’m sure that will make all the difference when he arrives in a few minutes. Won’t it?”

Samson threw the man down onto the blacktop, crushing his foot down on his chest to prevent him from moving or shifting.

“I didn’t hurt her,” he gasped. “I wouldn’t have hurt her.” His damaged throat was making his voice hoarse, but as a shifter, he would be healing already. Samson would have his answers before then.

“He said he was going to ‘do’ me,” Melanie said, “after he had finished playing with, and I quote, ‘the little broken pussy.’ He thought his pun was hilarious. I nearly threw up on him.” Melanie’s cheeks were flushed and her pale green eyes were bright with unshed tears. “Bastard.”

“You did well, Melanie. Your quick thinking led him away from Bethany. Thank you.” Samson looked at the woman who held the hearts of their Alpha and his brothers and saw the strength and courage in her tiny frame.

The man under his foot began to struggle. Samson increased the pressure on the man’s rib cage, hearing a few snaps over his screams of pain.

“The Alpha will be most interested to hear that bit of information,” Samson said calmly, oblivious to the screaming.

“I may be kind and kill you before the Alpha arrives. But that depends on how forthcoming you are with your answers.” He released some weight from the man’s chest, and the screams quieted to moans.

“We don’t have long now. So tell me who you are?”

“Stuart Gibson. I’m a nurse.” His voice was whisper-soft, his teeth gritted, his breathing shallow in his broken ribcage.

Samson now had all the information he needed. So this was the abusive nurse who’d terrorized the patients at the East Hills Center. He remembered how enraged he’d felt when Bethany had told him of the man’s abuse of patients, and of her personally. He’d wanted nothing more than to tear the man’s throat out. And here he was.

“Finn and Hunter are here,” Melanie said. “I can see the truck now.”

Finn was out of the truck and pulling Melanie into his arms before Hunter had pulled to a complete stop. “Are you well, sweetness?” he said, pressing his face into her neck. Samson looked away and gave them all privacy as Finn and Hunter assured themselves of Melanie’s well-being.

“Did you find out who he is?” Hunter asked a few minutes later.

Samson simply looked at him.

“Okay, stupid question. Who is he?” Hunter said.

“The nurse from Claremont, and it turns out he’s a shifter.”

Hunter looked down at the man who was now gasping softly as he struggled to free himself from Samson’s foot. His eyes filled with amber light. “A coward who preys on people unable to defend themselves.”

“Hunter, would you please take Melanie to Jason? He is with Dane and Bethany at his clinic in town,” Finn said. He walked over with Melanie still clinging to him.

“Thank you, Samson. The fact that you have rescued my mate makes me a little more accepting of the fact you are naked in her presence.” Melanie stifled a giggle as Finn transferred her to Hunter’s waiting arms.

Samson had been in such a deadly mood that it hadn’t even occurred to him. Not that he’d had an opportunity to dress.

Hunter carried her to their truck, kissing her deeply the whole way there. He threw Samson some sweatpants from the back. Shifters always kept a supply of clothes on hand in case of emergencies. Shifting while clothed shredded everything they happened to still be wearing.

Seeing Hunter’s happiness at being reunited with his mate had Samson yearning to see Bethany again. “May I go to my mate?” Samson said coldly.

Looking into the brightly glowing eyes of his enraged Alpha, he knew he’d made the right decision. Finn lifted his chin in acknowledgement.

Samson removed his foot from the bear’s shattered chest, unmoved by the man’s rasping pleas for Samson to kill him.

Finn reached down with one hand to lift the whimpering man into the air. Finn’s claws had erupted from the ends of his fingers and they dug deeply into Stuart’s throat and neck. The blood flowed in rivulets down his throat, coloring his shirt scarlet.

Samson knew the punishment meted out by Finn would still be less than the disgusting excuse for a human deserved for his years of cruelty. However, the bear had chosen his own death today when he’d thought to harm not only Samson’s mate, but the Alpha’s. He deserved a very slow and painful death.

That was ultimately why Samson had chosen to leave him with the Alpha.

Chapter 25

Bethany sat quietly in Samson’s arms as they drove back to their home later that evening. The afternoon had been horrifying. It had all gone wrong in the space of five minutes, and it had all been her fault.

Her unease at not finding Melanie and Dane outside the diner had turned to fear when she’d been hauled off her feet by a blood-soaked Dane and bundled into Jason’s truck as it skidded to a halt outside the diner.

As if that hadn’t been enough of a shock, she’d then learned that sweet, innocent Melanie had been abducted, by Stuart Gibson. The man was a nightmare, and having experienced the depths of his depravity and cruelty first hand, she’d been sick with dread and guilt.

The abundance of ex-military in the pride, coupled with Melanie’s ability to communicate telepathically with her husbands, had proved invaluable in the coordination of her rescue. Samson had intercepted them within minutes of her being taken.

Once Melanie had been reunited with Dane and they’d been assured that their baby was unharmed, Bethany had begun to withdraw.

It was quiet in the truck now, and it afforded her time to think. She could only think of one solution. She knew what she had to do. She had to leave before anyone else was hurt.

Stuart had been the lesser of the two evils stalking her. He was alone and unaided and had still been able to abduct Melanie. She and the baby were lucky to have come out of the experience unharmed.

What will happen when Cristian Renta arrives for me?

He had unlimited funds, and likely a small army of killers at his disposal. Eminence would drown in blood if he came here looking for her. She couldn’t let these wonderful people be put in any further danger. She had to lead the monster away. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she caused any further harm.

Her shudder of fear and apprehension had Samson squeezing her tighter against him. His arms were warm and solid around her, his scent musky and arousing. It was a place where she knew she was safe, a place she knew she belonged. A place she never wanted to leave.

“Are you cold, kitten?” he said, kissing the top of her head.

“Is your arm sore?” she asked, running her fingers lightly over the scabbed scratches that ran the length of his right forearm.

“It will be fine by morning. We heal fast,” he said, smiling reassuringly at her.

“I’m so sorry,” she said softly, hating that he’d been hurt, hating that Dane had been hurt, hating everything that had happened, but mostly hating that she was going to hurt them even more.

“You must know that none of this is your fault, Bethany,” Michael said from the front seat. She huffed in reply.

Samson growled, and it rumbled through her body. When she looked up at him, she found he was staring at her, his jaw tense and his mouth set in a rigid line.

She would have to stay away from Samson. She got the eeriest sensation that he knew exactly what she was planning. He was scary-good at being a spy.

She would miss him. She would miss them all.

* * * *

It was nearly dark by the time Jason pulled to a stop outside their home. The promise of a wonderful day had been denied to them by the actions of the deviant nurse.

The fact that he’d turned out to be a shifter had meant that his fate was in the hands of their Alpha. Finn may have shown him mercy and relinquished him to human law enforcement, had he not also planned on killing the Alpha’s mate and unborn child.

Jason would not spare any sympathy for the man. His actions warranted no such emotion. But he was concerned for Bethany. She’d been quiet the whole afternoon. She seemed unwilling to accept that none of them blamed her in any way, that she was not responsible for anything that had occurred.

Samson carried Bethany into the kitchen and sat with her on his lap.

“What would you like for supper, kitten?” Samson said. “It’s Jason’s turn to cook tonight. Just tell him what you feel like.”

She sighed deeply before answering, and slid from Samson’s lap. “I’m just so tired. I’d really just like to take a shower and go to sleep.” She looked around at each of them, unshed tears shining in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize, sweetheart,” Jason said. He hated seeing her look so defeated. He walked to her and wrapped her in his arms. She felt smaller, and somehow more fragile. “We’re here if you need us, Bethany. I hope you feel better when you wake.”

“We’ll leave you a plate of whatever Jason cooks,” Michael said. He embraced Bethany from behind, kissing her lightly on the lips.

“Thank you, Michael,” she said, slipping out from between them and walking swiftly to the bedroom. They heard the door close softly behind her.

“I don’t like this,” Samson said flatly.

“She just wants to be alone for a while,” Jason said. “She has a lot to process after today.”

Samson grumbled to himself and stalked to the door. “I’m taking patrol again tonight. Watch her. I’ve got a bad feeling.”

“You’ve always got a bad feeling,” Michael said, slapping Samson on the back. “Go. Keep the bad guys away from our girl.”

“I intend to,” Samson said, as he stomped from the room.

“Seriously though,” Michael said, “do you think she’s okay?” Michael turned to Jason, his expression now serious.

“I think I’d be more concerned if she wasn’t upset by the day’s events. She’s a deeply caring person, and she’s very fond of Melanie already. It’s normal that she’s feeling traumatized over what happened.”

He fixed a simple meal of chili and rice, leaving bowls in the fridge for both Bethany and Samson, should they want them later. Michael wanted to spend some time contacting his sources for any word on the hunt for Cristian Renta. He’d been captured on the hospitals CCTV and was now wanted for questioning in the US for the death of Doctor Jenkins.

So far, no leads had turned up on his current whereabouts. Jason was certain that Michael would be up all night in his search, so he decided to get some sleep.

He pushed the bedroom door open a fraction to check on Bethany. The room was dark. The slow, rhythmic sound of her breathing was all he could hear. Her sweet scent filled the room, making his heart race as he breathed the scent deep into his lungs. His blood began heating and his cock filled in response.

Reigning in his rampant desire to go her, he closed the door. She needed rest. He needed a cold shower. His cat bristled along his skin, angry at being denied its mate again.

Just for tonight, he assured them both.

* * * *

She’d dressed in jeans, her warmest sweatshirt and sneakers as soon as she’d come to the bedroom. Then she’d opened the door to the porch and pulled the curtains closed, before climbing under the covers of the big bed.

She hadn’t had to worry about falling asleep. Her mind was swirling with anxiety over what she planned to do. She knew, realistically, that she only had a slim chance of slipping away. She had no feasible excuse for sleeping fully clothed, so her escape would be thwarted before it began if they decided to join her in bed.

When she heard the bedroom door creak open, she pretended to be sleeping. She’d become quite adept at feigning sleep in the six years she’d spent in the institution. She just hoped she was a good enough actress to fool shifters.

The door closed without anyone entering. She’d made it through the first challenge. She’d been certain they’d check on her at some stage. Now that they had, it was time to go.

Carefully creeping to the porch door, she slipped behind the curtain and looked outside. It was dark out, only a slim moon illuminating the night. Luckily, her poor shifter genetics had still gifted her with great night vision and she could see no one in sight.

Steeling her resolve, she left the only place in the world that she really wanted to be, and ran into the night.

She ran for what felt like hours, running north, away from Eminence, into the dense forest that bordered the Reeds’ property.

The massive trunk of a fallen tree loomed up on her in the darkness, blocking her path. She stopped to consider how to get around it. Her breath was sawing out of her lungs. She was hot and she was thirsty. Bending over, she braced her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. The air was cold on her sweat-damp skin and her breath was misting in front of her as she panted.

As her breathing slowed, she took stock of her situation. She may have gotten this far, but she really needed to find a road. She couldn’t run all the way to the next town. She needed to hitch a ride. Plus, she may have been running in circles for all she knew. If she found a road, then she’d be sure she was going in one direction.

Trying to quiet her breathing, she looked closer at the massive tree trunk. It may have been a trick of the moonlight as it filtered through the canopy of trees, but she thought she saw something moving. The air was still and cold. Nothing but the scent of the trees and the undergrowth in the air.

She watched as it moved closer to her along the top of the fallen tree. It moved with the silent grace of a large cat. As it grew closer, she could see the faint glint of light reflecting from its eyes. It was a cat, and it was huge.

If it had been one of her men, they would have approached her immediately. They wouldn’t just watch her or frighten her like this. Unless they were mad at me.

She shook her head in denial of that thought. They wouldn’t do that to her. They might yell at her, but not this, which led to the only logical conclusion. This was a real cougar.

Unsure of what to do, she ran.

* * * *

Samson had spent a fruitless evening patrolling the town. There had been no sign of any strangers wandering around and no word that any of the other patrols had spotted any either. He’d have preferred to be at home with Bethany. Something in her demeanor when he’d left had made him wary. Her feelings of guilt and anxiety were to be expected, but there had been another emotion playing across her expressive face that he hadn’t been able to identify, and it was annoying the fuck out of him.

Jason had called him two hours ago, to say that Bethany was sleeping and that he was going to sleep in his old room so as not to disturb her. Samson’s unease had only increased since Jason’s call. If I was home, I’d be sleeping with her in my arms.

“Fuck. That’s it,” he said out loud. His vague feelings of unease suddenly brought into sharp focus by that thought. She was planning to run. She’d been apologizing all afternoon, not just for Melanie being put in danger, but for leaving them.

As he pulled his cell from his pocket, it started to ring. I’m too fucking late. He felt it to his very marrow. She’d already run.

Glancing at the caller ID, he saw it was Cooper. Cooper started talking as soon as Samson picked up.

“Caine has reported in from his patrol north of your property. He came across a small woman with short blond hair running through the forest,” Cooper said.

“Thank God he found her,” Samson said. He was feeling angry that he’d realized her plan too late, but relieved she’d already been found.

“Don’t thank anyone yet. It’s not good news, my friend,” Cooper said, his tone severe. “She spotted Caine and ran. He said she was terrified.”

“Where is she?” Samson said, his voice a garbled growl as his canines descended.

“Caine followed her, but unfortunately, she reached the highway and had managed to hitch a ride with a passing truck before he could shift and talk to her.”

“Which way is she heading?”

“She’s headed for Brooklyn. Drake has already picked up Caine and they’re only a few minutes behind her.”

Caine and Drake Prentiss were paramedics in Eminence, and good men. Samson was glad they were so close behind Bethany.

“Max is on the way to take over your patrol. Jason and Michael have been notified. Call if you need us, Samson. We’ll come.”

“Thank you, Cooper.” He hung up and called Michael as he ran for his truck.

“We’re leaving now, Samson,” Michael said as the call connected. “What the fuck is she thinking?”

“She thinks she’s keeping the town safe,” Samson heard Jason say. Michael had him on speaker phone.

“He’s too close for her to be alone, Samson,” Michael said. “My contacts at the state department have confirmed he hired a private jet in San Diego.”

“Fuck,” Samson said, “the only airfield around here is in Brooklyn.”

“I know. She’s running straight to him,” Michael said, his voice strained. “I’ve told Caine. He knows what to do.”

“They’ll find her and keep her safe,” Jason said, trying to reassure them all.

Samson climbed in his truck and drove out of Eminence. She was at least forty minutes ahead of them, even if he drove at full speed.

He should have realized sooner what Bethany was planning. His mate was kind-hearted, but misguided. He just hoped he had the chance to spank her cute butt for not talking to him about her fears. She wasn’t alone anymore, as she had been all her life. She had to learn what it meant to be a part of a family. He prayed she got the chance to learn.

Chapter 26

Bethany sat at an all-night diner, sipping a scalding-hot coffee and counting her blessings.

When she’d run from the cougar in the forest, she’d been in a blind panic. She’d run as fast as she could in the opposite direction of the huge cat, and run straight into the highway.

She’d only been on the road for a minute or so when a truck passed. She couldn’t believe her continued good luck when the truck had stopped for her as she’d waved it down.

When she explained she’d had a fight with her boyfriend and walked off, the kind trucker had given her a lift to the next town. Her hands were still shaking from the overload of adrenaline coursing through her veins, but she blew on her coffee and tried to calm down.

She’d had her tip money from The Sunshine Club in her jeans pocket still, so she had enough money for bus fare tomorrow and for coffee all night at the diner. She just had to sit tight until morning. No more going into the forest, though. She shuddered as she remembered her lucky escape from the cougar.

A tall man with short red hair approached her table. He was wearing camouflage-patterned fatigues and a khaki T-shirt. He looked imposing. He walked like a soldier. Like Samson.

“Excuse me, I don’t mean to startle you,” he said, a smile on his face, “but your men would like me to sit with you until they can get here, Bethany.”

Her cup crashed to the table, hot coffee spilling into her lap. She stood on reflex, and backed away from the table. She was considering running when he handed her some serviettes to dry her jeans.

“I’m sorry I startled you in the forest earlier. I didn’t mean for you to see me. You have very good eyesight.” He smiled at her again, and mopped her spilled coffee up with more serviettes.

If it was him in the forest, and he knew her men, she just didn’t know what to think. Could she trust him? If he was one of Cristian Renta’s men, he wouldn’t know about shape shifters, or her men. Her head was spinning. Run, or stay?

As if sensing her turmoil, he pulled out a cell phone from his pants pocket and held his hand up, palm out, motioning for her to wait.

“Samson, Bethany needs to talk to you,” he said, handing her the phone.

Taking the phone from his hand, she took a step back before putting the phone to her ear and speaking. “Hello.”

“Bethany, I was so fucking scared,” came Samson’s angry voice.

She took a deep breath, relaxing a little, but still watching the man in front of her closely.

“Bethany, are you still there?”

“Samson, I’m sorry. I can’t come back yet. People will get hurt,” she said, unshed tears starting to clog her throat. This was much harder now she was talking to him. “I miss you already.”

“You don’t understand, Bethany. We think Renta’s already in Brooklyn,” Samson said. “The man there is one of our pride. His name is Caine. He and his brother will keep you safe until we arrive.”

Bethany didn’t hear anything else. She swiveled her head to look around at the diner she’d thought was a safe haven not a minute ago. There were only a few other patrons scattered amongst the mostly empty tables. None seemed to be paying any attention to her. She took that as a good sign.

Caine took the phone from her hand and spoke briefly to Samson before ending the call. “Why don’t we get you cleaned up, then we can go and wait with my brother, Drake, in our truck.”

He ushered her toward the back of the diner where the restrooms were. The spilled coffee had cooled now, but she would welcome washing her hands and face. She was feeling clammy with the shock that Cristian Renta may already be here.

As she reached for the door to the ladies’ room, it was pushed violently open, slamming into her. The whole right side of her face exploded in pain as she was went flying back against Caine’s chest.

She heard the sound of raised voices, but the throbbing pain from her face was all-consuming, it prevented her from discerning what was being said, or who was speaking.

She was wobbling on her feet when she was picked up and thrown over someone’s shoulder. She tried to focus past the tears of pain leaking from her eyes. She could only see a man’s jacketed back, but she could smell him. He smelt revolting, his body door nauseating, but familiar.

He was the man who’d drugged her in Tijuana. Cristian Renta had found her.

She hadn’t left soon enough, or run far enough away.

* * * *

Jason and Michael arrived in Clear Springs and parked next to Drake and Caine Prentiss’s truck. Drake was standing by the truck, waiting for them. Samson was only five minutes away, although how he’d got this far in one piece, driving so fast, was a miracle in Jason’s opinion.

“It took a while to find her, but we did,” Drake said as they approached him. “Caine went in a while ago to sit with her.”

They entered the diner together. Jason was anxious to have Bethany back in his arms. When he’d received the call from Cooper to say that Bethany was gone, he’d been incredulous. He’d even checked her room on the way to notify Michael, just in case there’d been some sort of mistake.

Discovering her gone was a shock, but then finding out from Michael that she’d inadvertently put herself even closer to her pursuer had been horrifying.

As relieved as they’d been to have heard from Drake that they’d found her safe, Jason and his cat would both be satisfied with nothing less than holding her.

He was surprised to find Bethany and Caine both absent from the diner. Swiveling his head to search the room, he caught the scent of her blood. Michael’s low growl sounded as he ran. He’d also found the honey-sweet scent of their mate’s blood.

Following the scent took them to the back door of the diner. There was blood smeared on the door to the ladies’ restroom, and a trail of blood leading out the back door. Bethany’s blood. Jason had never felt such rage. He knew his eyes had to be changed, as they burned, and his vision was as acute as that of his cat.

When they ran to the alley outside, it was to find it empty, the blood trail ending abruptly.

“They took them both,” Drake stated. “I can scent Caine’s blood.” Jason watched the big man pull his cell phone from his pocket and activate an application. “Caine has GPS in his cell. I’m tracking him now.”

He and Michael leaned in to watch the movement of the red dot on the phone’s displayed map. “They’re heading for the airfield,” Michael said, his voice hoarse with emotion. “I’ll tell Samson to meet us there.”

He called Samson as they ran around the diner and got into their respective trucks. They followed Drake as he drove at high speed toward the airfield outside of town.

“What if he gets off the ground?” Jason said softly, voicing his greatest fear. “He could take her anywhere.” His cat was furious, and for once, he had no intention of reigning in that feral part of himself.

“If you imagine that Samson is going to let that scum take his mate away, then you don’t know our brother at all,” Michael said, “and then there’s me.”

Jason looked at his brother in the light of the dashboard. He wondered if he looked equally transformed in his anger as Michael now was. Fierce, glowing eyes, long, pointed canines and extended claws on his hands.

Looking down at his own hands, he saw blood dripping onto his fatigues where his claws had emerged from his fingertips. He hadn’t even felt it when the hands that had been trained to save lives had turned into lethal weapons. For you, Bethany, I’ll do anything.

Samson’s truck roared past them. “Fuck, he’ll kill himself. How fast are we driving?”

“We’re doing about ninety,” Michael said. “If we don’t get to her in time, we’re dead anyway.”

Jason knew he was right. If Bethany died, they would follow soon, and it would be a blessing. None of them would want to live without her now. She was their hearts, their very souls. Their future. Their everything.

* * * *

Bethany sat handcuffed in the backseat of the van and watched as the town disappeared. Her face was a throbbing torment, her right eye already swollen shut, her face sticky with her drying blood.

There were three of Cristian’s men in the van. The one with the aversion to bathing and deodorant, who’d carried her, was seated in the back with them. He had a large gun pointed at her. The other two men were in the front, one driving and the other turned toward them, his gun against the back of Caine’s head.

Caine was silent, the blood from his broken nose dripping onto his shirt. She guessed he’d be trying to think of a way to escape, certain he didn’t just look like a soldier. The moment he made his move, she’d be ready.

When the lights of a runway came into view, her heart sank. It’s too late.

Driving into the gates of the airfield, the van drove across the runway to the stairs of a small aircraft. There were two men wearing black suits and carrying machine guns at the foot of the stairs.

One of them opened the back door to the van and reached inside to jerk Caine roughly from the vehicle. As he sprawled onto the tarmac, one of the suited men brought the barrel of his machine gun down sharply onto the back of Caine’s head. The sound of the gun hitting his skull sounded like a gunshot in the still night air.

Bethany just gaped at his unmoving body, the attack so unexpected and so violent that it rendered her immobile.

“Get out,” the malodorous man in the back with her said.

She didn’t want to get on that plane. If she did, she’d never see her men again. One of the suited men on the tarmac reached in and grabbed her by the arm. He pulled her roughly from the van and she fell to the ground on her knees next to Caine. With her hands cuffed in front of her, she couldn’t fight him off. The engines to the airplane started, the noise increasing until it was painful.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered to Caine, before she was hauled roughly to her feet.

She turned away from the plane and tried to run. She was caught around the waist before she’d taken two steps. She threw her head back and kicked her legs, but the man was too big. Her head hit his chest, not his face, and her kicks to his shins didn’t even cause him to break stride. He chuckled as he carried her up the steps to the plane.

“I like it when they put up a fight,” he said in her ear, and licked the undamaged side of her face. “Makes it more exciting.”

By the time he had her in the cabin of the plane, she could clearly feel that he’d meant it. His erection was pushing into the small of her back. She shuddered involuntarily in revulsion.

“Leave us,” said a smooth, familiar voice. “Make the arrangements to leave as soon as possible.”

She had to turn her head to see, as her right eye was useless. She was dropped onto her shaking legs to stand in front of Cristian Renta.

“You have made me chase you for quite long enough, ratoncito. You are in my trap now.”

The man who had carried her into the plane left and closed a screen partition behind him.

“We have much to do on our short flight, Miss Granger. Come.” He gestured for her to walk in front of him. Was he insane?

She turned and ran for the exit. Cristian grabbed her hair and dragged her backward.

“Now, now. We’re good friends, you and I.”

She reached up with her cuffed hands and scratched at his hands. He let her go and she fell backward onto the cabin floor, the breath leaving her lungs on a gasp.

Taking hold of the handcuffs, he dragged her down the plane. She tried catch her feet on something, but he was dragging her too rapidly, and with only her left eye working, her aim was off. Her wrists felt as though they were breaking as he pulled her into a room at the rear of the plane.

She refused to beg, or plead, but she would fight. She’d continue to fight until she was dead.

He dropped her hands and bent to pick her up by her waist. She brought her head forward sharply in an effort to strike him in the face. He moved his head back, smoothly avoiding her blow and succeeded in lifting her. He then tossed her onto a bed.

“I am from the streets, ratoncito,” he said, laughing. “No one fights dirtier than me.”

As she bounced once on the bed, she attempted to sit up. His backhand to her face was sudden and painful. He’d struck her on the damaged side of her face, and the renewed pain had her limited vision blurring as she screamed in pain. She felt her mind and body begin to shut down. If I pass out, I can’t fight.

By the time she had fought back to full consciousness, he was standing by the bed, fully naked. He had his erection in one hand and a knife in the other.

She struggled to roll away from him, but found she was secured to the bed by her hands and feet.

I will keep fighting.

Chapter 27

Samson was driving at breakneck speed, he would not lose Bethany. He just thanked God that, at three a.m., the roads were deserted and that he hadn’t had to slow down.

When he’d driven past Michael and Drake in their trucks, they’d picked up the pace and were now following right behind him. He knew the airfield well. He’d used it countless times when leaving on missions.

He also knew that the tower was notoriously slow in its flight clearance. That gave them a precious few extra minutes to reach Bethany before the plane took off.

I’m coming for you, Bethany. He didn’t know if she could hear him, or feel him through their bond, but he told her anyway. She would be terrified, and he needed her to keep fighting.

Finn had contacted them by phone while they’d been en route and forbidden them from shifting in their attempt to rescue Bethany. Hunter had contacted all the government agencies interested in Cristian Renta, and reinforcements were on the way. There was too much human involvement to risk their exposure as shifters. Samson understood and accepted this. He personally didn’t need to shift in order to be deadly.

However, what he didn’t so readily accept was Finn’s edict, as Alpha, that forbade them from using lethal force. Despite Renta being human and falling under their laws, Samson wanted him dead.

Michael had told him that her blood had already been spilled. That was a capital offense, as far as he was concerned. But he was also incapable of disobeying his Alpha. I’ll make you safe, Bethany. Trust me.

As they drove alongside the airfield, Samson saw that there was a van on the tarmac and the stairs to the plane were still down. “Thank fuck for that,” he murmured.

They’d already decided on a full-frontal assault, so they barreled down the runway at full speed.

Samson threw his truck into a spin and it pulled to a stop, sideways, directly under the nose of the plane. Drake drove past and blocked the rear of the plane with his truck. The engines were running, but they couldn’t take off now.

Samson leaped from the truck and scented blood immediately, not all of it Bethany’s. A suited man was running toward him with a machine gun. Using his preternatural speed, Samson disarmed him and knocked him unconscious before the man had even squeezed the trigger.

Another man was firing on Drake as he exited his truck at the rear of the plane. Samson could see Caine lying prostrate on the tarmac, blood pooled under his face.

Michael pulled to a stop directly by the plane’s door. He and Jason ran up the stairs and straight into the plane.

Samson ran unseen and silent to stand behind the man firing at Drake. With economy of movement, he wrenched the gun from the man’s grasp and slammed the butt of the weapon into his face. Samson was running up the stairs after his brothers before the man had even hit the ground.

* * * *

Michael ran up the stairs to the plane and straight into the cabin with Jason on his heels. The plan had been for Samson and Drake to stop the plane from taking off, and deal with any threat on the ground, while he and Jason went directly inside to prevent Renta from harming Bethany.

He knew his brother, and Drake was a highly decorated army ranger, so he hadn’t hesitated to leave them to deal with Renta’s men outside. No one would be coming up behind them.

On entering the plane, Jason was to secure the cockpit, and he was to head aft. They moved at full speed and Jason disappeared into the cockpit.

Michael saw the screen to the main cabin was closed. He stopped to listen. He’d be no help to Bethany if he ran straight into the barrel of a gun.

“You will have time to heal before you are shipped to your buyer. He will be glad I have broken you in like this.” Renta’s words had his blood boiling in his veins.

By the time he moved, he was no longer fully human, and he didn’t care if a gun was waiting for him. The screen tore apart as he ran straight through it.

He found the cabin empty, but a door at the rear of the cabin was opening, and he ran straight for it.

Michael had seen surveillance images of Cristian Renta, so he recognized the naked man for who he was as he strode through the doorway. He was covered in fine drops of blood and holding a bloodstained knife.

The air was rich with the honey-sweet scent of Bethany’s blood. Michael could not shift, as his cat demanded, and rip this man’s throat out. He wanted to wear Renta’s blood on his skin as Renta wore the blood of his mate. But he couldn’t. His Alpha had forbidden it.

Renta’s face showed surprise at seeing Michael there, but his expression quickly turned deadly as he waved the knife in front of him with a practiced ease.

“More practice for me,” Renta said with a sneer. “It has been too long since I have had the chance to do my own killing.”

This man was stopping Michael from getting to his mate. The most expedient way to get to Bethany was to simply kill him, but that thought had Michael frozen. Finn’s edict was making him useless, paralyzing him. He could think of nothing else except killing the man to get to Bethany.

A movement at his back and the scent of Samson told him his brother was here, and Michael found he could move again. Samson was trained in dealing with humans using non-lethal methods. He would deal with Renta, and Michael could see to Bethany.

“You have made a grave mistake in taking what belongs to us,” Samson said. He didn’t sound like himself. His voice was calm and arctic. Renta had the good sense to look a little less confident.

Samson moved with a speed and grace that surprised even Michael. One instant, they seemed to be at a standoff. The next, Renta was screaming in pain as he stood impaled to the wall of the plane. He was impaled through the palm of one hand with his own knife, the handle still red with Bethany’s blood. The other hand was impaled with a hunting knife. One of Samson’s.

Michael didn’t wait to see what Samson did next. He didn’t care. He had to find Bethany.

He nearly fell to his knees when he entered the back room of the plane. If the thick scent of so much of his mates spilled blood wasn’t enough of a blow, the sight of her was.

She lay still on the bed, but he could hear her breathing, and see the flutter of a pulse at the crook of her neck. “We need Jason,” he said softly. Samson would hear him, and send his brother in, as soon as the cockpit was secured.

Moving to the bed, he spoke softly to Bethany, as he had the night she’d nearly died. He was glad she was unconscious this time. This close, the scent of her fear was also strong in the air.

He freed her hands and feet from the restraints Renta had bound her with. He caressed her skin with just his fingertips, not knowing where was safe to touch her.

“You have to come back, darlin’. There’s nothing to fear anymore. We have you.” The words were rough, the need for vengeance burning his throat.

* * * *

Jason took only a few minutes to secure the cockpit and stop at the door to the plane to make sure Drake had the area outside secure. Drake was helping Caine to his feet, the man’s head wound making him unsteady on his feet.

Jason could hear the sound of approaching sirens as he ran through the plane in search of Bethany and his brothers.

Samson was standing in front of an incapacitated Renta. “Michael says he needs you,” Samson said, nodding to the back room, but not taking his eyes off his captive.

Jason could scent Bethany’s blood in the air and it was driving his cat crazy with the need to go to her. Jason knew Samson would be suffering, too, but he wouldn’t leave Renta unguarded.

Running into the room Samson had indicated, he staggered, the scent of Bethany’s blood and fear so strong it was an insult to his senses.

The sight of her was a waking nightmare.

“Fucking hell. What the fuck did he do to her?”

“I think it looks worse than it is,” Michael said on a growl.

If Jason didn’t know his brother adored Bethany, he would have punched him. But he really was trying to be reassuring, not flippant.

His cat was going crazy inside his head. The man who had perpetrated this horror was just outside the door. He desperately wanted to give his cat free reign. But that was not possible. Not only was it against pride law, it would not be useful to Bethany.

So, drawing on more than fifty years of medical experience, he went to her and began the triage of Bethany’s injuries. He spoke aloud so that Michael would know exactly what he found. It would ease his mind, and stop him interrupting.

“The blows to the right side of her face have caused probable fractures to both the orbit of her eye and her temporal bone.” He was unable to open her eyelid to examine her eye, as it was too swollen and caked with blood.

“The laceration to her temple will heal without stitches.”

He ran his hands over her skull and found no swellings or abrasions.

He moved lower to her neck and chest. She was naked from the waist up, her skin covered in blood, but there were no free-flowing wounds.

“He appears to have made a series of lacerations down her throat and across both breasts. This seems to account for the bulk of the blood we can see, but her accelerated healing from our mating has already stopped the bleeding.”

He heard a low growl emanate from the cabin of the airplane. Samson was also listening to his cataloging of Bethany’s injuries.

“The bruising and deformities to her wrists indicate displaced fractures. I’ll need to perform a closed reduction when we get her home, so they can heal in the correct alignment.”

“I removed handcuffs from her wrists,” Michael said angrily.

Jason simply nodded. “Her abdomen shows similar lacerations to her throat and breasts, but these ones are deeper. I believe he meant the word ‘SLAVE’ to be a disfiguring and permanent scar.” It certainly spoke of Renta’s ultimate plan for their mate.

The growling grew louder as Samson’s growling was joined by Michael’s.

“Her jeans and undergarments are soaked in blood, but appear to be undisturbed.” Jason undid the button and zipper of Bethany’s jeans, finding the skin beneath unmarked. He couldn’t say for certain, but he was reassured, for now, that she hadn’t been sexually assaulted.

“Apart from some abrasions around her ankles, her lower limbs are otherwise unharmed. We’re safe to move her. Caine and Drake have medical supplies in their truck,” Jason said, releasing some of his tension with a deep sigh. He was glad that was over, and relieved he now knew the exact nature of her injuries.

Michael didn’t hesitate. Bending to take Bethany gently in his arms, he strode quickly from the room. Jason couldn’t blame him. He wanted Bethany out of the room that smelled so strongly of her terror and her blood, too.

As they walked through the main cabin, Jason relieved Samson from his post in front of Renta. Renta glared at Jason, but remained otherwise silent. He looked pale and in pain. Good._

Blood ran from his impaled hands in crimson streams, dripping off his elbows and staining the cream plush carpet of the plane’s interior. Jason felt no sympathy at all, not after just cataloguing each and every piece of torture the man had inflicted on his helpless mate.

Jason could hear Samson murmuring quietly behind him to Bethany. After a few moments, Samson tapped him on the shoulder, and Jason left to follow Michael from the plane.

Just as Michael placed Bethany in the back of Drake’s truck, the airport was inundated with law enforcement vehicles. Luckily, Hunter was amongst the variety of officials that spilled from the cars and trucks. He cleared the way for Jason, as a doctor, to immediately take Bethany and Caine to Eminence for medical treatment.

They left Samson to follow when he could, and took Bethany home.

Chapter 28

Michael helped as Jason set Bethany’s wrists, ready to place them in splints. They’d proved to be the most severe of her injuries. Jason had given her intravenous fluids on their journey home and her vital signs were now stable.

She’d not regained consciousness by the time Drake dropped them home, and Jason now had her lightly sedated to align and set her fractured wrists.

“I’ll run a bath with some Avagard. That will disinfect the lacerations and minimize the risk of any scarring from the shallower ones,” Jason said.

“Will the cuts to her abdomen leave a permanent scar?” Michael said, gripping Bethany’s hand. He hadn’t wanted to face that horrific possibility when her survival was in question. But now…

“I’m uncertain, Michael,” Jason said, bending to kiss Bethany’s pale lips. “When Samson returns, we need to mark her again. That, coupled with her own shifter DNA, will afford her the best chance of not scarring.”

Jason left to run the bath and Michael caressed Bethany’s face with his fingertips. The swelling and bruising to the right side of her face had already improved considerably. Her rapid healing was reassuring, but even shifters bore scars from severe wounds. He had a few himself from his time in the military.

Lifting her gently, he carried her to their bathroom. Michael handed Bethany to Jason while he stripped and got into the big bath. The antiseptic smell was softened by the aroma of lavender. Jason must have had added some to the warm water.

Taking Bethany back into his arms, he lowered them both into the water. She moaned softly, causing his gut to clench. She’d had enough pain today.

“She’s just waking from the sedation,” Jason said, stopping him from standing up with a hand on his shoulder. Jason stripped and got in the bath with them.

The water turned pink as they gently washed the dried blood from her skin. As soon as she was clean, they got out of the bath and dried her, before placing her in the center of their bed.

Silent as ever, Samson appeared beside the bed. “How is she?” His expression was severe, his clothes covered in blood and dirt.

“Healing quickly. We need to mark her, Samson,” Jason said.

Samson nodded and stalked rapidly to the bathroom, the shower starting seconds later.

Michael lay next to Bethany, sliding his arm beneath her until her head rested on his shoulder. He dropped light kisses on her healing face, enjoying the fact that her natural honeyed scent was no longer overlaid with the scent of her blood and fear.

Samson returned to the bedroom cleansed of blood, his blond hair wet. He slid into the bed on Bethany’s other side and gently lifted her until she was against him, her head on his chest.

Michael knew he needed this time with their mate. He’d had to stay and deal with Renta, when his cat would’ve been desperate to be with Bethany.

“I’m sorry, kitten. I should have gotten there sooner,” he whispered in her ear.

“She’s here now, and she’s safe,” Michael said. “Renta is in custody?”

“He’s no longer a threat,” Samson said.

The finality with which he’d spoken the words had Michael worried. “What did you do?”

“Nothing against our Alpha’s command. I just assured Renta that, by morning, his business partners would receive proof of the millions of dollars he’s been embezzling for the last few years.”

“Good.” Michael was glad the man would never get the chance to hurt anyone again. He leaned over and licked his mark on Bethany’s neck in preparation for his bite, thrilled by the gooseflesh that pebbled her skin in response.

“Forever,” he said, the word becoming a vow as he sank his extended canines into her neck.

* * * *

Bethany felt hot, too hot. She tried to move, but her limbs were too heavy. Then she remembered. Renta. She also wasn’t dead. I will fight until I die.

She forced her eyes open, prepared to do whatever she could to escape him. “I won’t go with you,” she screamed.

“You’re safe, kitten,” Samson’s voice whispered in her ear.

She was confused. The last thing she remembered was…blood.

She brought her hands to her breasts to cover them, attempting to stop him cutting her. Then she realized her hands weren’t bound. She also felt no pain. She held her hands in front of her face. There was no blood on her hands.

She turned her hands around. Both of her hands were encased in some sort of wrist guard.

Jason’s face appeared in her line of vision. He took her hands in his and kissed the tip of each finger. His cobalt-blue eyes bored into her, amber sparks growing brighter by the second. “You’re home, Bethany. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

“I need to see,” she said, desperate to confirm that she was no longer in that horrible place.

Jason slid his hands to her elbows and lifted her to a sitting position. Her head swam a little and she had to blink several times to clear her vision.

She looked around at the pale-blue walls and the huge windows that looked out to the now-familiar mountains beyond. Taking a deep breath, she breathed in the smell of the clean mountain air and the musky pine smell that was her men.

She swung her head around to look at the bed. Samson and Michael were sitting on the bed, too. They were naked, their muscles bulging and defined.

She pulled her legs up and knelt on the bed. Then she threw herself into their arms. It was real. They were real. She didn’t know how, but she was home.

“Easy darlin, we don’t know if your wrists are healed yet,” Michael said, wrapping an arm around her.

Samson didn’t seem to care about her wrist. He took her lips in a kiss that ignited her senses. His tongue delved deep into her mouth as he smoothed his hand down her back to cup her ass. He molded it in his hand and her core clenched.

I’m really home.

Samson ended the kiss and pulled back to look into her eyes. His golden eyes were shining brightly, but his expression was serious. “We nearly lost you.”

Her joy at being safe rapidly evaporated. She recalled everything that’d happened. What she’d done. She needed to face the consequences of her actions.

Her throat grew thick and the words were hard to say. “Your friend, Caine, is he dead?” She closed her eyes, not able to look at them and see their disappointment in her.

Jason pulled her back onto his lap and wrapped his big arms around her. “We need to talk,” he said quietly.

* * * *

Samson sat at their kitchen table with Bethany safe on his lap. They’d spent the previous hour in their bedroom, talking. She’d felt a lot better once they’d assured her that Caine was alive and well, and that Renta was behind bars.

They’d listened as Bethany explained why she’d left, and she’d listened to the reasons she should have stayed. She’d never been part of a family before, never had anyone she could trust and rely on. They’d never had a mate before. They all had a lot to learn, and they had a lifetime together in which to do it.

Her recounting of her torture at Renta’s hands had been difficult to hear, but she needed to talk about it. Luckily, she’d passed out before he’d inflicted the worst of the wounds on her abdomen.

Jason was making breakfast as they all drank coffee.

Bethany put her coffee on the table and pulled at the braces on each wrist. “My wrists don’t hurt. Can I take off these splints?”

“I’ll check them tonight.” Jason placed the pancakes and syrup on the table and came over to kiss Bethany. Bethany wrapped her hand behind Jason’s head and deepened their kiss.

The air grew thick with the scent of her arousal and Samson’s cock thickened in response. He knew Bethany was aware of his erection, because she moved her hips, rubbing her ass over him. With a growl of pure need, he lifted Bethany, tearing her lips from Jason’s as he turned her around and sat her on the table.

She was dressed in nothing but one of his T-shirts, and he pulled it quickly over her head to gaze at her naked body. She’d been self-conscious about the scars when she’d first seen them an hour ago, but he could see that they’d continued to fade.

Regardless, he wanted her in no doubt as to how intoxicatingly beautiful he found her. His breath sawed out of him, his voice husky when he spoke. “Christ, your amazing, Bethany.”

Her cheeks colored in a blush, but her answering smile was radiant. “I love you so much, Samson.”

He stepped forward between her thighs and ran his hands to the apex. He could feel her heat, even before he brushed his fingers along her labia. He found her sticky with her arousal.

“Do you want us all kissing you, touching you? Making you come?” he asked. “Do you want us loving you with everything we’ve got? Right now?” The scent of her arousal grew thick in the room.

She licked her lips as she nodded, her tongue moistening her lips and making them glossy. He groaned, his cock leaking in response to the thought of her parting those glossy lips and swallowing his cock.

Michael and Jason moved to stand on either side of him. Michael took her face in his hands and kissed her, her moans mingling with his. Jason kissed down the side of Bethany’s neck to her breast. He teased one nipple with his fingers and took the other in his mouth.

Samson watched as they lowered her to the table. He parted her moist labia with his fingers and stroked them into her tight sheath. He used his thumb to circle her clit and her hips rocked in helpless response.

He needed to taste her. He lowered to his knees and removed his fingers from her molten pussy. She moaned loudly, and he quickly replaced his fingers with his tongue.

He could feel the walls of her sex quivering under the onslaught of pleasure. His cock ached in his pants, the zipper digging in painfully.

“You’re so sweet and juicy, kitten,” he said, dipping his tongue back inside her to lick up more of her delicious juices.

“Oh, god. Samson, please,” she said on a moan, her back bowing of the table, pushing more of her breast into Jason’s mouth.

He enjoyed the erotic beauty of the scene as he rose and undid his pants, letting them drop to the ground at his ankles. As his cock sprung free it nudged at her heated core and he pushed into her with a swift, deep thrust.

“Fuck,” he moaned, his voice strained as he pumped into her. His orgasm was roaring up on him already, the coil of heat at the base of his spine threatening to ignite his release.

He moistened his fingers with her leaking juices and moved his hand under her to thrust one into her tight ass. She clenched around him as she gasped his name. As her orgasm rocked through her, the walls of her pussy milked his straining cock. He let go of his restraint and let the orgasm race through him, the pleasure intense as his cum pulsed into her.

* * * *

As Samson pulled from Bethany’s body, Jason eased her into a sitting position and kissed her. His body was humming with desire for his mate.

“I want you so bad, I can’t see straight, Bethany,” he said. The raspy growl of his voice showed how close his beast was to the surface.

“We need you, darlin’,” Michael said. “Are you ready for more loving?”

“I want you both, too,” she said, reaching for Jason’s shirt and tugging it up. He pulled it the rest of the way and tossed it on the floor.

Michael quickly stripped and sat down on the chair in front of Bethany. As he pulled her down onto his lap, she moaned loudly and closed her eyes as his cock disappeared inside her.

Jason came to stand by her head, stroking his aching cock in his hand. He touched the glistening head to her lips, and her eyes flew open. She stared almost greedily at his engorged cock.

He closed his eyes and moaned when she replaced his hand with her own, her fingers gripping him at the base. Her tongue licked up the underside, following the throbbing, engorged vein all the way to the purple head. She sipped up the drops of pre-cum that leaked from the tip. He shuddered, fighting the urge to thrust his cock between her lips.

“That’s amazing, sweetness,” he said, groaning with pleasure.

Opening her lips, she slowly took his throbbing length into her mouth.

“Oh, for the love of …” he muttered. His eyes fixed on the erotic sight of his cock disappearing between her stretched lips. Her tongue twirled around the crown, her teeth scraping against him in the tight confines of her mouth.

“That’s it, Bethany. Harder.”

He pumped his hips involuntarily, pushing forward as she sucked deeper. His balls tightening as his release grew nearer. “I’m going to come.”

She sucked him deeper still and his roar shook the walls as he came, sending his cum deep into her throat. His orgasm was drawn out as she licked the head and softly stroked his shaft.

“You are fucking, incredible, Bethany,” he said, cupping her cheek in his hand. “Just incredible.”

* * * *

Michael had held himself still, buried so deep inside Bethany he could feel her womb, as she gave Jason the best blow job he’d ever witnessed. He was tempted to pull out of her tight pussy and beg her to do the same for him. But not tempted enough.

He wanted the walls of her pussy to make him come as she screamed his name in her own pleasure. He rocked gently into her until her breathing steadied.

Her hands wrapped over her shoulders as her own need drove her to push down against him. He bent his head and sucked a nipple into his mouth, gently biting at the stalk before licking the small hurt away with his tongue.

“Michael,” she moaned, “harder.” She rose up and thrust herself down onto his cock.

He responded to her climbing passion and started to thrust harder and faster into her.

She claimed his mouth, and as he sealed his lips over hers, his cock stretched even more painfully, his orgasm climbing with renewed speed through his body.

“Yes,” she screamed, breaking their kiss and shattering around him. Her orgasm made her pussy tight and slick, the sensation making his orgasm crash through him. His cock pulsed as he came deep inside her, bathing her womb with his seed.

She collapsed against him, caressing her hands down his back as they recovered from their lovemaking. As his cock shot one final load of his seed into his mate, the image of Bethany pregnant with their cub popped unbidden to his mind. His cat was enormously happy with that image, and so was he.

Epilogue

Bethany stood at the sink in Melanie’s kitchen and washed all of the day’s muffins pans. She had suds all over her, and the floor was slippery where she’d spilled water all over it.

She stopped scrubbing and spun around, dragging more dishwater onto herself and the floor.

“If you keep doing that,” Peata said, “we’ll be able to wash the pans on the floor.”

“I’m sorry,” Bethany said, turning back to the sink. “I thought I heard a baby cry.”

“You’ll know when the baby is born,” Peata said, walking to stand beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Those four mates of Melanie’s will probably break the windows with their roars.”

Bethany knew she was right. She kissed Peata on the cheek and got back to washing the pans. It had been an amazing few months, and Bethany felt as though she was a different person altogether now. So much had happened in such a short time.

She was now a fully-fledged partner in Melanie and Peata’s home baking operation. Not only had she found she loved to cook, but she was actually quite good at it. She’d experimented at home with a range of savory muffins that had been such a hit with her men that they’d insisted she show them to her partners. Melanie and Peata had loved them, and so did most of the town now.

Jason and Shana had determined that her shifting abilities would remain latent. They felt certain that if it had been possible for her to shift, her cat would have done it to free her from the torture she’d endured. It didn’t bother her men that she couldn’t shift, and she didn’t miss what she’d never had.

Her men had asked her to marry them, and she’d been so excited that she’d jumped on them and capsized the dinghy they were in at the time.

Serves then right for asking me on a dinghy in the middle of the lake. Seriously, who does that?

“I think I’ve got time for one more coffee,” Jason said, “and a kiss.” He walked to the sink and wrapped Bethany in his arms. “You’re supposed to put the water in the sink when you wash the dishes, sweetheart.” He kissed the tart reply from her lips before going to the coffee pot and pouring himself a coffee.

Bethany noted that Peata had moved to the other side of the kitchen, the large dining table now between her and Jason.

“How is Melanie?” Bethany said. “Is the baby born yet?”

Jason came over and kissed her. “She’s fine. Her men are being a great support to her. And no, the baby is not born yet. It will be a couple more hours yet.” He nuzzled his head into the crook of her neck and took a deep breath. He growled softly, the vibrations going straight to her pussy.

She didn’t want to be aroused in a house full of shifters, so she took a step away from him. “We made chocolate muffins. Did I get some on me?” she asked, wondering at his curious behavior.

When she looked up at his face, his eyes were a bright amber, the bones on his face stark and protruding. He stepped up to her again and pulled her tight against his rigid frame.

“Jason,” Finn bellowed from the upstairs bedroom. Jason shook his head and his eyes faded back to their bright cobalt blue.

“We’ll talk soon, Bethany.” He growled and stalked from the room.

Bethany took a few deep breaths and tried to ignore the throbbing of her now-swollen clitoris. “Apparently he likes chocolate muffins,” she said sheepishly.

Peata came back to the sink and hugged her again. “I don’t think that’s it, Bethany,” she said, and laughed as she hugged her tighter. “Have you decided where you want to go for your honeymoon yet? The wedding is only two weeks away.”

Peata released her, and Bethany washed the pans as Peata dried them. “I actually don’t want to go anywhere. I’m scared.”

“Scared of what, Bethany? Those three big men of yours will keep you safe.”

“There just seems to be so many bad people in the world outside of Eminence.” Bethany felt a tear roll down her cheek. She hated being afraid, but she was. Even though Cristian Renta had hung himself the night he’d been arrested, she was still scared.

“I understand. More than you know,” Peata said with a shudder. She took Bethany’s hand and led her to the table, motioning for her to sit, before sitting down next to her.

Peata then told her the reason she was so fearful of men, and Bethany cried for the abuse her friend had suffered.

“Were they ever caught?” Bethany asked.

“Hunter had a friend in the police force where I used to live look into it. He’s a wolf shifter, and has so far caught three of the men responsible.”

Bethany gripped Peata’s hand and wished that there weren’t so many awful people in the world. “So you understand why I don’t want to go on a honeymoon.”

“You need to take your life back, Bethany. I let my fear rule me for so long that I’m still not living the life I deserve. Don’t let fear stop you from living life to its fullest.”

The sound of a truck screeching to a stop outside made both of them jump. Then they laughed. They were in the Alpha’s house. There would be so many cats on patrol outside that nowhere in the world would be safer.

Samson and Michael caused a bottleneck at the kitchen door as they both tried to enter at the same time. Peata and Bethany laughed harder.

Samson pushed Michael aside and stalked over to Bethany, picking her up and swinging her around in a circle. He nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck and began to purr. He licked over her mark, making her clit throb again in renewed arousal.

“What are you doing, Samson? We’re in the Alpha’s house,” Bethany said, her voice high and breathy. How embarrassing.

Michael came and squeezed tight against her back. He licked and nuzzled at the other side of her neck, growling low and long. Bethany nearly came. She had to squeeze her legs together and breathe deep to stop the orgasm from peaking.

“How much chocolate muffin did I get on me?” she moaned.

Peata burst out laughing, but her comment was cut off by the sound of a baby crying, followed swiftly by the thunderous sound of four shifter males roaring.

* * * *

Bethany was sitting on Samson’s lap at the kitchen table, her legs draped over Michael’s legs, as they waited anxiously for news about Melanie and the baby. Samson had called Peata’s mates, and they were on their way to meet the little bundle of joy.

Samson had never been happier in his life. The phone call from Jason telling him that Bethany was pregnant had been the best news he’d ever received.

His mate was perfect. Now she was pregnant with their cub, and perfect. He knew he was probably sporting the same ridiculous grin that Michael was, but he didn’t care.

Jason finally came into the kitchen and they all leapt from their chairs, Samson keeping Bethany in his arms as he stood.

“How is Melanie?” Peata asked. Samson noticed she subconsciously rested her hand on her own swollen belly. She only had a couple more months until she had to go through labor herself.

“How is the baby?” Bethany said.

Jason held up his hand and gestured for them to stop. “Melanie is doing well. She has safely given birth to a healthy baby boy that weighs eight pounds and one ounce. His fathers are all doing well, too.”

They all took a collective breath in and all asked for the baby’s name at the same time.

“The latest addition to our pride is called Matthew. He’s feeding at the moment, but as soon as he’s finished, Finn has promised you can all meet him.”

Jason came and held his arms out to Bethany. “Does that news warrant a hug?”

Samson relinquished her reluctantly to Jason, who nuzzled her neck again before giving him and Michael a wide smile.

“The baby is born now, darlin’,” Michael said. “There’s no reason we can’t go on a honeymoon now.”

“Where have you decided you’d like to go, kitten?” Samson said. “You name it and we’ll go.”

“The world is your oyster,” Jason added.

Bethany looked at Peata and the two women held each other’s gazes for a long moment. “I know it’s where both Melanie and Peata went, but I’d really like to see Niagara Falls. It sounds so beautiful.”

“Niagara Falls it is, kitten. Michael, you can make all the arrangements?” Samson said, kissing Bethany until they were both breathless.

“At least my wedding will be completely different,” Bethany said, looking at Peata with a smile.

“What is different with your wedding?” Peata said, her head cocked to one side in confusion.

“I’m the only one of us who isn’t walking down the aisle pregnant.” Bethany giggled as she looked at Peata’s shocked expression.

Samson shook his head at Jason, who snapped his mouth shut.

They’d tell her the news later.

Or after the honeymoon.

THE END

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I live in Australia, in an area surrounded by the bush. I wake early and walk for an hour. It gives me time to think about the characters I’m writing about and their interactions. I have on occasion been interrupted in my walks by a kangaroo—sounds like a joke, but they are abundant in the bush around my home.

I’ve been an avid reader since I was twelve years old. My first series of books were Nancy Drew, and they have left me with an enduring love for mystery and suspense novels. I do love romance, though, so I write what I would love to read, which will always have strong heroes and a happily ever after. What girl doesn't want that? My love of fantasy has let me explore the paranormal genre, and I love the way it lets me escape reality for a little while.

My hope is that people will enjoy reading my books as much as I have enjoyed writing them.

Email me at: malkin.ashley@yahoo.com.au.

For all titles by Ashley Malkin, please visit

www.bookstrand.com/ashley-malkin

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com