Claimed by the Mate, Volume 1 Page 8

  They weren’t talking two guys taking turns, either. Both of them wanted her in their lives, in their bed, the two of them and Cherry. Brad had no idea how to approach the subject.

  He sat down on the bed and ran his fingers through Cain’s thick fur. “I’m going downstairs to get the coffee going,” he said. “Trak will be here before long, even if the women come in later.”

  Cain yipped and, while they couldn’t actually communicate all that clearly telepathically, they’d been together long enough for Brad to know what his guy was thinking. “Good point,” Brad said. “I forgot Trak left with Suni and Fred … we may not see him until noon.”

  Cain leapt off the bed and waited by the door. They shared a suite of rooms on the second floor of the lodge, just above the kitchen area. The other men had cabins, some of them shared, others lived alone, but Brad and Cain had been together for years, a young man’s friendship that had grown into so much more. Brad liked to think they each made the other stronger, better men, but for whatever reason, when they’d gone into Feral Passions as investors it had been with the idea that if they found a mate it would have to be a woman willing to love both of them.

  If they’d had a checklist of their ideal woman, Cherry would fill every slot. He already felt a powerful connection to her, and while he couldn’t yet call it love, it was damned close. Everything about her was appealing—the sound of her laughter, the joy in her smile. Her vulnerability. He wanted to be the man to protect her from the bastards who hurt her, because he knew she’d somehow been badly hurt along the way. He wanted to make love to that sexy body, lose himself in her soft breasts, bury himself between her perfect thighs, and he wanted to share all that was Cherry with the man he loved.

  He wondered if Cain’s hesitancy was because he’d fallen for Cherry. Cain had always been the one who pondered every nuance of every event, every person. Brad was one of the few who realized how deep Cain’s emotions went, how powerfully he loved.

  Was he afraid of loving Cherry and having to watch her leave?

  Brad knelt beside the big wolf. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll make this work, Cain. I promise.” Cain whined, a low, sad sound. “I know. It’s a risk, but we have to believe.”

  Brad opened the door and let Cain out, but he followed Cain down the stairs, his mind on Cherry, on what the three of them had done last night. Brad hadn’t been certain how well she’d handle the two of them, but she’d seemed to love every minute. She’d been amazing so far. It was already Tuesday. They had less than five days to convince her she really wanted to spend her life mated to a couple of werewolves.

  At the rate they were going, it shouldn’t be all that hard, should it?

  * * *

  It was growing brighter, but the sun still wasn’t showing above the mountains when Cherry reached the lodge. The wolves were gone, probably back to their dens or wherever wild wolves went during the day. Or, if her growing suspicions were true, back to their human selves.

  She stopped in the middle of the trail. “I don’t believe I just thought that.” Her imagination was definitely running away with her logic. They were just hidden away for the day, that was all. Brad had told her they weren’t as active during daylight, but she’d still managed to see quite a few of them.

  Waking up with two in her bed wasn’t anything she’d counted on, that’s for sure. Thinking about that, about last night, about what an amazing time she was having in spite of all her misgivings about this trip, had her looking for Christa and Steph. She really wanted to find out how their night had gone.

  She wasn’t sure if she was ready to spill the beans about hers. Smiling, remembering, she walked up the steps and pushed open the door into the dining room. The place was empty except for Brad standing behind the bar with a cup of coffee and a newspaper spread out on the counter.

  “Good morning.” She sat on one of the tall stools while he gave her a very serious once-over. Make that twice-over. She’d had some amazing orgasms, and the only one he’d had was an accident. He probably wouldn’t appreciate a reminder.

  He leaned close and kissed her, and she tasted coffee. “Hmmm … is this the only way I’m going to get my caffeine this morning?”

  “Works for me.” He laughed and turned around to pour a cup for her. “How’d you sleep?”

  “Like the dead. You and Cain are better than any drug I’ve ever heard of. I didn’t wake up once during the night, though I certainly might have if I’d known I had visitors.”

  At least he had the grace to look a little sheepish. “I hope you don’t mind. You were out like a light when we put you to bed, and Cain and I were both worried that you might be disoriented if you woke during the night. The guys were outside when we got ready to leave, so we decided to let them in.” He shrugged. “It was sort of a spur-of-the-moment decision.”

  She laughed. “I didn’t mind at all. They were excellent bedmates, and they’re definitely toasty to sleep with. Ya know, I never imagined sleeping with a wolf on my bed, much less two. It was actually pretty cool.” She glanced around the empty dining area. “Where is everyone?”

  “Well, Cain’s checking on mama wolf and the babies, and none of the others have shown up yet this morning. Considering how everyone paired up last night, I have a feeling they’ll come straggling in a bit later than usual.”

  “Does this happen every week? New women show up and the guys all find someone to sleep with?” She hadn’t thought about it that way, that she might be one of a revolving carousal of women here for the men’s pleasure. If that was the case … Damn. She didn’t want it to be.

  “Not usually.” Brad took a sip of his coffee. “Granted, it’s hard to meet women living so far out in the woods, but we’ve only been open a month, so that’s four sets of guests, six each week, and this is the most interesting group we’ve had. You’re certainly the most interesting one I’ve met.”

  She shook her head. “Why, Brad? I don’t get it. Are you and Cain for real? Because believe me, I am not usually the focus of any man’s desire. I’m more apt to be the best friend that guys come to when they’re having trouble with their girlfriends or, even worse, the butt of their stupid jokes.”

  Crap. She hadn’t meant to sound like such a bitch, but … She needed to take her coffee and go back to her cabin. Brad didn’t deserve her anger.

  “Cherry.”

  She closed her eyes and looked away. She really couldn’t look at him, but then he tipped her chin up with his fingers and gently turned her toward him. “I think you’re beautiful. Plus, you’re funny and smart, and I personally don’t find anything attractive about a girl who’s so thin she looks half-starved. Do you have any idea how much I want to take you to bed? Last night it about killed me when you fell asleep, because I wanted to be inside of you.”

  She smiled at him. What a line this guy had. “That would have been difficult. Cain was there.”

  “Cain wants you, too.”

  “What?” She slapped her hand over her mouth. She hadn’t meant to squeak.

  Brad peeled her hand away and kissed her. He took his time getting it right, and Cherry was breathing hard when he finally pulled away, but before she could catch her breath and respond she heard voices outside. Steph and Christa coming up the steps and she was sitting here, most likely beet red, totally incapable of a coherent thought.

  “Relax. We can talk later when Cain gets back.” He raised his head and smiled. “Good morning ladies. Coffee?”

  Suni and Fred arrived just behind them, and then Darnell wandered in. Cherry really wanted to talk to her sister and absolutely had to talk to Brad and Cain, but that would have to wait. Everyone was standing around, chattering about what a good time they were having, and yet she noticed that there was no mention made of the men they’d all gone home with last night.

  That was good. It let her off the hook, at least for now. How could she possibly describe the night she’d had with Cain and Brad? It was a lot safer to talk about the wolves. Wo
lves were fine. They were so much simpler to deal with than two men who, for whatever reason, appeared to think she was sexy.

  Which gave her an utterly superb opening. “Ladies, I need to tell you who spent the night in my bed last night.”

  The room went stone quiet.

  Brad laughed. “That’s definitely the way to get a crowd’s attention.” He leaned over and kissed her soundly before heading into the kitchen. “I need to get breakfast started. Behave, ladies.”

  “Behave? Are you kidding?” Christa snagged the barstool next to Cherry. “Okay, girl. Dish.”

  Chapter 10

  Cherry sipped her coffee and took her time, at least until Cissy growled at her. “Okay,” she said. “Well, first of all, I got a massage last night. Cain’s the masseur and he’s wickedly awesome, but Brad was there, too. He helped Cain carry the table and his tote bags of massage stuff, and it was just what I needed after that hike.” And that was all they were going to hear about the massage. “I was so sleepy and relaxed when Cain was done that the guys dumped me into bed and left. Brad said he was worried about leaving me so zonked out, but the two wolves I’ve gotten to know were outside as they were leaving, so he sent them in.”

  “Two wolves? You had two wolves in your room?” Suni’s shoulders slumped. “Damn. I’ve hardly seen any wolves at all.”

  “You’ll see them. I’m sure of it.” Cherry hadn’t realized how unique her situation was—she appeared to have two wolves really interested in her. “If you’re lucky, you might wake up the way I did, trapped under your covers by wolves lying on top of the bedspread.”

  “You’re kidding! They were on the bed?” Christa laughed out loud. “And to think you didn’t want to come on this trip.”

  “I planned to tell you this morning that I’d changed my mind. I’m having a blast.”

  Christa winked. “So am I, darlin’. So am I.”

  Cain walked into the lodge before Cherry could ask Christa to expand on that comment. He had three big wolves with him, and they drew everyone’s attention. All the chatter in the dining room fell silent as the beautiful beasts paused beside the equally striking man. Then he smiled, and the moment was broken.

  “I was coming up the steps when I heard Suni saying she hadn’t seen hardly any wolves, and these guys were just lying around being bums. Suni, they know you mean them no harm, so feel free to come over and tell them just how rude they’ve been, avoiding you.”

  “Really?” She crept around Cherry, paused, and then walked up to the closest wolf. He planted his butt on the floor and waited until she came close enough and then he sniffed her hand. She rubbed his head and he leaned against her leg, but there was something about him, about the way he moved, that caught Cherry’s attention.

  He reminded her of Trak. It was hard to say why, but there was something about him that made her think of the man. That made her look more closely at the other two. The biggest one, silver with some light brown coloring, had gray-blue eyes, and there was something about the way he watched all of them that reminded her of Ronan, the man who’d gone with Christa last night. A man who also had beautiful gray-blue eyes.

  The third wolf, a big gray and black animal, had brilliant blue eyes. Eyes just like Wils’s.

  She shivered and rubbed her arms to warm herself, even though it was warm enough in here. When she raised her head, she caught Cain staring at her, and those forest green eyes matched the eyes of the wolf she’d slept with last night. Just the way the brown-eyed wolf had made her think of Brad.

  Cain was watching her, almost as if he knew what she was thinking. She shivered again, turned her head away to break eye contact, and took a sip of her lukewarm coffee.

  * * *

  Cain walked across the room, directly toward Cherry. He had a horrible feeling she’d figured them out, no matter what Brad said. The way she was watching him right now, like she was putting two and two together and coming up with anything but four.

  He had no idea what he was going to say if she asked him. No idea at all. So he’d just act like there wasn’t anything to worry about and see what happened. He smiled as he approached her, threw his arm over her shoulders when he got close. “How are you feeling this morning? Did the massage help?”

  She blushed. Damn, but he loved the way her skin flushed that deep red. She’d had the same reaction when she was aroused, even more when she climaxed, and he’d better stop thinking about that or he was going to have a hard time hiding what he was thinking.

  “You know it did. I can’t believe I fell asleep on you guys.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” He tightened his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. Any more and he wouldn’t be able to stop. Choosing to stay over with her as wolves had been its own sweet torture—it had also meant he and Brad couldn’t take care of the problem at hand, so to speak, and just being this close to her already had Cain on edge. “You have to realize that’s about the best compliment a masseur can get. It means you were totally relaxed.”

  “Any more relaxed and I would have melted right off the table.”

  “You didn’t mind that we let the guys in to sleep with you last night?”

  “Are you kidding?” She shook her head, and there was nothing about her that felt at all suspicious. Damn, he hoped he was right. They’d taken such a huge risk, opening up Feral Passions the way they had. Opening up the chance of their secret getting out.

  “I told Brad they were great bed partners. Warm and quiet. Where are they? I thought when you walked in that you might have them with you, but these are all different wolves. They’re so beautiful, each so unique. I never realized before how different wolves looked from each other.”

  He shrugged. Tried to look as nonchalant as he could, considering one of her wolves was pouring coffee behind the bar and the other one was standing here with his arm around her. “We don’t keep tabs on any of them. They come and go; sometimes they’re gone for weeks at a time. Other times they hang out here at the lodge, now that it’s done. When we were building, they stayed away, but once the equipment and construction crews were gone, they’ve started coming back. I’ve never seen wild wolves as sociable as these guys.”

  “They’re all males, the ones that hang around the lodge, aren’t they? Isn’t that unusual?”

  She really was too damned observant. He shrugged as if it wasn’t any big deal. “Not really. The females, at least the ones close by, all have pups now, and they’re not going to bring them around so many people. If you come back later in the summer, you’d be able to see the females with their pups, but they’re a lot shyer than the guys.”

  Brad stepped out of the kitchen. Cain had forgotten he was cooking this morning. “Hey, Cain, can you help me with the trays? I’ve got breakfast ready to put out.”

  “Duty calls,” Cain said, and gave Cherry a quick kiss.

  She followed him into the kitchen. “I can help. I don’t see any of your regular crew out there.”

  Brad just shook his head. “Too much fun last night, I imagine. Thanks, Cherry. Be careful—the handles are cool, but the pan’s hot.” He gave her a stainless pain filled with bacon and sausage. Cain had two with fried potatoes and scrambled eggs, and Brad followed them out with a big bowl of fruit and another with a large quiche. They had everything set up on hot plates or under heat lamps within a couple of minutes, and the line quickly formed.

  Cain put the wolves outside, and Cherry got in line with Steph and Christa. They filled their plates and then found places at the long table in the center of the room. By the time they were seated, Trak arrived. Wils, Ronan, and Evan showed up a few minutes later.

  Cain took a seat with Brad and Trak at one of the smaller tables, ostensibly to go over plans for the day’s activities. He kept his fears to himself, but he’d watch Cherry closely.

  Of course, he had no idea what he’d do if she asked him point-blank if he was a wolf. Why did he feel as if they maybe hadn’t thought this plan through as well as th
ey should have?

  * * *

  “I thought we’d never get a chance to talk.” Cherry led Christa and Steph along a shaded trail, following a map Cain had sketched on a napkin that was supposed to take them to a large meadow filled with wildflowers and a small pond. “I am dying to know what happened with you and Ronan, Cissy, and you and Wils, Steph. I mean, those guys are just so hot!”

  Christa snorted. Steph blushed.

  “Steph! You’re blushing. You never blush!” Cherry planted her feet and laughed. “Must have been one wild night.”

  Steph giggled and turned even redder. “Wils is amazing, and ‘wild’ doesn’t even come close.” She glanced at Christa and they both burst out laughing. “C’mon. I want to get a little bit farther from the lodge. I really, really don’t want them to hear us talking about them.”

  “Them?”

  “Uh, yeah. Them.” Christa was blushing now.

  “Okay, but then you guys are going to tell me everything.”

  Cherry led off at a good clip with her sister and Steph trailing along behind. They only went about a quarter of a mile before the trail dumped them out into a beautiful meadow. Deer grazed belly deep in thick grass on the far side near a line of trees, and a shallow pond stretched across the northern end.

  Masses of wildflowers in shades of blue and gold, with patches of white and red scattered about, went so far beyond the “pretty flowers” Cain had described that the three of them just stood there at the edge of the meadow, staring.

  There might not be any cell phone service, but Cherry was glad she’d kept her phone in her pocket. She pulled it out and snapped some pictures. This was just too beautiful not to. She glanced up when Christa called her.

  “Over here.” Steph had found a weathered log in the shade and parked her butt on one end of it. Christa sat next to her. Cherry sat on a smooth boulder facing them. She felt like the grown-up in the room with a couple of misbehaving kids. Christa looked at Steph and they both looked at Cherry—and both of them blushed.