Disowned Cowboys

Lone Wolves of Shay Falls

Disowned Cowboys When Aimee gets lost during a hike, she finds more than refuge in a dark cave—she finds a chained and naked cowboy who claims to know who she is. Dillon and his partner, Kyle, are werewolves determined to become her mates. Just one problem—she shows up for her appointment with fate while wearing another man’s engagement ring. The wolves will shamelessly pursue her, using every seductive trick in a cowboy’s book to rope their mate. But even the combined desire of two insatiably virile werewolves may not be enough when Aimee’s boss-slash-fiancé and Kyle’s pack mates show up to challenge Dillon and Kyle’s right to claim the woman they have dreamed of. Genre: Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Vampires/Werewolves, Western/Cowboys Length: 70,791 words

DISOWNED COWBOYS Lone Wolves of Shay Falls

J. Rose Allister

MENAGE AMOUR

Siren Publishing, Inc. www.SirenPublishing.com

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK IMPRINT: Ménage Amour

DISOWNED COWBOYS Copyright © 2011 by J. Rose Allister E-book ISBN: 1-61034-794-3 First E-book Publication: September 2011 Cover design by Jinger Heaston All cover art and logo copyright © 2011 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

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DISOWNED COWBOYS Lone Wolves of Shay Falls J. ROSE ALLISTER Copyright © 2011

Chapter One An engagement ring was the absolute last thing Aimee expected to see pulled from a backpack in the middle of a hike. Yet there it was, held between David’s long, tapered fingers while he sat beside her on a boulder at the pinnacle of the hiking trail. The princess diamond glittered as a final moment of sunlight fell, then dark clouds swept across the horizon and blocked the rays. The roar of Shay Falls in the distance paled in comparison to the heartbeat thundering in Aimee’s ears. She knew her mouth was hanging open, but attempts to hinge her jaw closed were useless. Blinking rapidly failed to erase the bauble that surely must only be in her imagination, and when the pounding in her ears finally softened enough to hear again, she realized David was speaking to her. “I know this seems unexpected,” he was saying, “but I want you to know I’ve given a lot of thought to this. I really believe this is the best solution for both of us.” Tearing her gaze from the generous rock in his hand, she lifted her eyes to find his pale browns regarding her from under a fringe of auburn bangs. “You want me to marry you?” “Marriage seems like the smartest way to ensure we both get what we want from our relationship.”

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“But you’re my boss.” “And I’ve been helping you with your family needs. That goes a bit beyond boss territory, wouldn’t you say?” A twinge of guilt jabbed her stomach. “I have appreciated all the help you’ve given me, David. More than you know.” “The money for your mother’s care wasn’t offered just to keep you working for me. I want to see that you’re happy and taken care of.” He lifted her chin with his free hand. “I’ve grown very fond of you, Aimee. I’ve been thinking more and more that I should share my life with someone. We make a good team, and we need each other to make our lives function smoothly. If we take the next step, I’ll be in a better position to help with what you need—and you’ll be able to help me.” Marry David Anders? Aimee stared at him, trying to picture him as more than just her employer. He was fit and toned in his snug red T-shirt and tan hiking shorts, and his narrow face was decent looking enough. She just never thought of him that way. She never thought of anyone that way. “Working well together at the office doesn’t mean we’d be good together in other areas,” she said. “Don’t you want to be more than fond of the woman you take for a wife?” He glanced down at the ring, shifting it this way and that as if trying to catch a ray of nonexistent light. “You and I have talked about the whole ‘love at first sight’ thing, and neither of us believes in it. I’m thirty-five and you’re twenty-five, but we’ve never glanced across a crowded room and spotted that perfect someone. That sort of thing happens in movies, not real life.” Caution thudded in her stomach. “I suppose.” He fixed her with a weighted stare. “I’m a practical man. I know better than to wait around for a fairy tale. I know you, trust you, and care for you. I know the way you think and the things that you like. That’s why I brought you here to do this.” He gestured around them. “I know how much you love hiking, and the falls was the most

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romantic place I could think of to ask you to take our relationship to the next level.” She glanced at their surroundings. Shay Falls was a picturesque setting, tucked away in the mountains with crisp air, towering pine trees, and one of the tallest waterfalls in the state. The overlook spot he’d chosen was a perfect vantage point for the waterfall’s three-story drop, which was a breathtaking sight even at this distance. Still, she had to bite back the urge to ask how he figured she loved hiking. She’d only been a couple of times in her life. Not to mention how marriage was the obvious next level to working in the same office. Before she could reply, he picked up her hand and tenderly slid the diamond on her ring finger. The fit was perfect. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping for an answer right now,” he said. “But again, I’m a practical man. Think about it, Aimee. Think about us. Other marriages have started off with less. If you let me be part of your life, I can help you even better financially.” “And what am I supposed to help you with? What do you get out of this?” He lifted a hand to stroke her cheek. “I told you, I want someone in my life. Just wear my ring while you think about it.” He bent close to her, and she stiffened. “Try on the idea of being my wife. Here’s something to help you consider what we could mean to one another.” His lips fastened onto hers, and she couldn’t help but wonder how he could go out and buy her an engagement ring without even having kissed her before. He did raise a couple good points, including the fact that she’d never find a fairy tale. Love at first sight happened to other people. For that reason alone, she gave in to his kiss to see what it might stir inside of her. His mouth felt foreign rubbing against hers, but the sensation wasn’t unpleasant. She didn’t have much experience with kissing, despite her age. Opportunities had presented themselves, sure. Many potential suitors had offered to show her what a kiss could be like, but

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she always held back. Stupid though it may sound, she often felt like the belle at a ball, waiting for Prince Charming to declare her the one true love he’d searched for. She would know him, and he would know her, and that would be that. His lips pressed tighter, more insistent. Yes, a no-nonsense office assistant had a Cinderella fantasy. And yes, she was aware that the notion was ridiculous. Now, more than ever, the way David had just framed that for her proved how utterly insane it would be to hold out for that magical feeling of rightness. She’d barely been kissed and never done more. How would she even know what love was? He drew back from the kiss, and she felt a stab of guilt for having let her mind wander during their big moment. His eyes seemed a bit glazed. “Wow,” he breathed. “I figured we’d be compatible, but I sure wasn’t expecting that.” She blinked, wondering what he meant. “Tell me you felt it, too.” Part of her wished she could. She really, honestly did. David was nice looking, with soft eyes and neatly trimmed hair the same shade as hers. He wasn’t overly muscular but had the lean build of a man who spent time hiking and bicycling. She already depended on him for a job and the extra help for her mother’s care. Why not make it official and settle down? She offered a smile. “It was nice.” His slight frown made it evident that he was hoping for a better adjective. Aimee got up on slightly shaking knees and brushed dirt from the back of her snug cargo pants. “I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m racing out on the moment, but could I excuse myself for a minute? I need to use the little hiker’s room.” Open-air urination didn’t thrill her in the slightest, but at least it would give her a chance to get some distance. “Sure.” He rose and stood beside her, eyeing her carefully. “Look, I’m sorry if I threw you for a loop with this. It wasn’t my intention.”

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Her eyes fell to the foreign object on her hand. “It’s not that, really. I’m fine. I just need to, uh, commune with nature. Sorry for the crummy timing.” He smiled. “No need to apologize. I’ll be right here. Watch out for the poison oak we passed around the bend.” She gave a nod. “I won’t be long.” Aimee turned and started back down the path, wondering just how far she would need to travel to find a private spot where he couldn’t hear her pee—or her screaming thoughts. “Wait,” he called after her. She paused, and David caught up to her in a few long strides. “Here.” He held out her brown backpack. “I won’t be gone that long.” “Never go anywhere without your pack. Hiking 101.” She took it from him and hefted it onto her back. “You’re right.” Especially since she’d packed toilet paper. “Back in a jiffy.” The most she thought she’d have to worry about today would be blisters on her feet from the hiking boots that weren’t yet broken in. Now, as she headed down the path with her thumbs looped through the front straps of her pack, she was entertaining thoughts about marrying a man who thought he knew her better than he did. A man who probably had more flaws than he showed her at the office, though she figured she knew him fairly well. What she did know would have many women squealing in delight to wear his ring. He owned a successful business, drove a nice car, and didn’t mess around, or at least hadn’t dated much from what she’d seen. He wasn’t the neatest housekeeper, but he knew his way around a kitchen and did his own laundry. His laugh came easy and turned up crow’s feet around his kind eyes, the way her father’s used to. He was a sharp dresser—not one for designer labels, but he knew a thing or two about quality clothing and how to accessorize. Still, what did she know about being a wife? She’d never even been to bed with a man. What did David expect from her? He wanted someone in his life, but she was already there, and quite a lot. She

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kept him organized and on time and occasionally put in a penny or two’s worth of thought on how to improve his business. Sex couldn’t be all that he wanted because no one in their right mind married a woman just to get her in bed. This she knew because she’d been told by men who’d been frustrated by her outdated values. Maybe her virginity was a throwback to ancient times, but it wasn’t like she’d ever asked a guy to marry her because of it. She wasn’t holding out for a ring on her finger. Why the hell was she holding out? Was it really the thought that Prince Charming should come sweep her off her feet, or the fact that she was just too busy for a relationship? Her mother had gotten sick while Aimee was still in high school. While other girls worried about dates and prom dresses, she worried about finishing school while holding down two jobs. Guys asked her out, but few inspired her to tear herself away from the grind. A sad commentary, perhaps. But there was more to life than putting an end to virginity. That was why God invented the vibrator. Aimee came to the bottom of the path, where it split off between the advanced trail and the way she’d come. Had she really come that far? Her thoughts had carried her for longer than she’d thought. She looked both directions. There were plenty of thick bushes up on the advanced trail that looked promising, so she made the turn and headed up to a thicket of brush. Stepping off the narrow path a short ways ahead, she shrugged off her backpack to root for the Ziploc baggie of toilet tissue. A glance around didn’t reveal any poison oak or stinging nettle—the two undesirable forms of plant life she recognized on sight—though the clumps of scrub scattered among the bushes and pine could have been just about anything. With her luck, she’d wind up squatting over a butt-rash Betty or some such thing that she’d never heard of. Peeing outdoors ranked right up there on her list of least favorite things, but it was forgotten when a roaring pop exploded through the serene space. She spun around with a gasp, her eyes scanning the

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forest for the source of what could only have been a gunshot. Hunting wasn’t allowed in Shay Falls, so far as she knew. Or was it? Another little fact that might have made her better equipped to wander around the mountains alone. David’s reassuring knowledge of the area would have been a big help right about then. Why hadn’t she just gotten over herself and squatted in the bushes right behind him to do her business? Instead, she’d wandered off in half a daze and was now God knew how far away. “David?” she called out. “David!” No reply. Her bladder no longer in any hurry for relief, she stepped out from the bushes while clutching her backpack by a single strap. The wind picked up as she emerged onto the packed dirt path, tossing strands of her short curls over her face as she peered around what was fast becoming a dark, gray afternoon. Storm clouds were gathering overhead, which provided yet another reason not to have taken this little stroll. Should she try to backtrack until David could hear her? Or lay low in case more bullets were about to hit the skies? A faint rustle sounded from a dense grouping of trees a ways off, and she froze. The sound was too insistent to be wind blowing the branches and too rhythmic to be pinecones hitting the thick layer of pine needles on the ground. Footsteps were approaching, and fast. “David?” Too late, she realized the footsteps were running too quickly to be human, coming at more of a gallop as she heard something crashing through tree branches and shrubs. Then came another pop, and before she could drop to her knees to take cover, bushes nearby parted as a large, furry animal emerged. She spun on her heel to set off at a dead run away from whatever it was. A scream tore from her as she tried to identify the animal from the blurry piece of fur she’d caught sight of before turning away. Coyote? Bear? Her legs burned with the effort of sprinting after the miles’ worth of hiking that her body wasn’t used to. The backpack flailed

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wildly around the hand that was still clutching it. The racing steps behind her grew closer, no matter how fast she tried to flee. She plunged into a thicket of trees, dodging right and left in hopes that the cover would make her less of a target. It was no use, however. She could hear the thing bearing down on her. Belatedly, she realized it would have been smarter to hide when it first approached, let it continue on past as it ran away from the gunshots that were no doubt scaring it off. Instead, she had become something to chase. A heavy weight slammed into her back, sending her skittering off balance belly-down onto the ground several feet from the edge of the cliff. She screamed and rolled instinctively, bringing the backpack up in front of her as a shield while she tried to scoot herself upright. Her wild eyes turned on the creature and widened in panic. The wolf stood over her, glowering down with a brilliant yellow stare. Its brownishgray fur bristled around its neck and back. Slowly, it lowered its snout and began sniffing at her. “Go away,” Aimee said, wishing she sounded more terrifying than terrified. “I’ll hit you.” The wolf bared its fangs as she hefted her backpack to swing it around in hopes of nailing the animal in the head. When the pack came around to bear, the creature actually clamped down on the padded strap with its sharp teeth, yanked the bulk from her hand, and sent the bag hurling away with one powerful motion of its head. She watched in horror as the brown pack skidded right to the cliff and disappeared over the ledge. “No!” she said. “My gear.” The wolf stepped forward while she scooted away on her ass and hands, grabbing at handfuls of pine needles and leaves while wishing for a tree branch or rock she could use as a weapon. Jesus, she was going to be attacked. Why hadn’t the thought of wild animals occurred to her when she’d wandered off? She and the beast stared at one another for a long moment, Aimee still inching her way back. Then the wolf jerked his head upward,

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sniffed the air, and took off running like she hadn’t ever been there. When more rustling came from the woods, she was shaking so hard with adrenaline that she couldn’t even get back on her feet. Moments later, a woman burst through the tree line, gun in hand. She was dressed in olive drab from head to toe, save for black hiking boots and a small shock of red hair visible from beneath a duckbill cap. Jogging at full tilt, the woman barely glanced at Aimee before rushing past. “Help!” Aimee shouted. The woman paused, heaving out sharp breaths as she looked down at her. “Which way did it go?” she snapped. “The wolf?” Amy jerked her head to indicate the direction. “Up that way. Wait!” she added when the woman started off again without a word. “I’m lost, and the wolf tossed my survival gear over the cliff.” The look that was flashed down on Aimee made her realize just how pathetic that story sounded. “Were you bitten?” the redhead asked. Aimee hesitated, and the woman’s tone grew sharp. “I said, were you bitten?” “No. It just knocked me down and scared me.” The woman jogged up the trail. “That’s it?” Aimee called after her, finally getting to her feet. “Can’t you help me? Please.” The redhead whirled on Aimee. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m busy at the moment.” “Can you show me the way back to the waterfall overlook spot?” “I don’t have time to play babysitter. You want help, here’s some advice. Don’t hike in the woods alone if you don’t know what the hell you’re doing. Unless you want to be on the dinner menu, that is.” “What am I supposed to do, then? Sit here with an apple stuck in my mouth?” The woman gave her a derisive glance. “Head for the ranger station six miles east. You won’t beat the storm, but you can make it

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before nightfall. Which I highly recommend, by the way. It’s a full moon tonight.” With that, she took off at a full clip, leaving Aimee alone. “Which way is east?” she shouted after the woman. “My compass went over the damn cliff.” The woman was gone before she’d even finished the tirade, and she sighed. “Great.” Aimee carefully stole over to the cliff’s edge to peer over the side. The pack was within eyesight, lying on top of a branch sticking out from the cliff a good fifteen feet down. “No way I’m getting that back,” she said, rubbing her arms against the falling temperature and turning back to survey her surroundings. Which way would take her back to the trail? Was she really better off trying to find the ranger station, or should she try and retrace her steps? The station was east. She raised her eyes to the skyline. The sun set in the west, meaning if she headed the opposite direction, she’d theoretically find a ranger to help. Trouble was, the sun was nowhere in sight thanks to the black clouds roiling overhead. No way to tell which way was which. The wind whistled through the trees now, loud enough to dampen the sound of the falls. The falls! Maybe she could follow the noise back to where David must by now be wondering what the hell had happened to her. If she could get close enough for him to hear her pathetic shouting, he could guide her the rest of the way. A shiver shook her when she turned to try and find her tracks to follow back the way she’d come. The windbreaker she’d stuffed in her backpack would come in handy about now. Along with several other items she’d never see again, like her cell phone. Aimee looked around, wishing the trees and rocks didn’t all look so much alike. Which way had the wolf chased her? Adrenaline might have made her run a little bit faster, but it sure hadn’t made her thoughts any clearer. She spotted the area where pine needles had been disturbed when she’d shuffled her ass over the ground to escape

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the wolf. All she had to do was follow the most likely set of tracks away from that spot and she’d be fine. She might not be a wilderness expert, but she could find her way back to a lousy trail. After she finally answered nature’s call. **** Thirty minutes later and several degrees colder, Aimee acquiesced to the fact that she was going the wrong way. Pausing in a clearing, she gazed up at the dark sky and felt the first patter of raindrops land on her face. “That’s just perfect,” she said to no one. She sniffled, both from the cold and to ward off the other moisture threatening to run down her face. She was good and lost now, and the afternoon was growing dark with more than just bad weather. Night was falling. She cupped her hands around her mouth. “Help!” she cried out for the fiftieth time. “Please, someone. David?” The call of a distant hawk was the only reply as she trudged along, every step growing harder as the blisters she figured would show up arrived to rub against the boots she wished she could take off. Her fingers were numb from cold and from being clenched into fists as she folded her arms across her chest. As rain fell from the skies above, she stopped holding back the tears that had been threatening for the past half hour, and both mixed together to stream down her face. Her path among the trees grew blurry in the already dim light, and she stumbled on a rock. She managed to break her fall, though her knees and palms throbbed in protest as she picked herself up and wondered whether David would find her. Had he come looking on his own, or called for help? Were rangers out searching the mountain for her now? A rumble from her empty stomach was answered by a roll of thunder above. Thunderstorms normally soothed her, but now the sky

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sounded angry. Hell, she was angry, too. Who was stupid enough to wander off in the woods with little in the way of survival knowledge and have her gear tossed over a ledge by a wolf, of all things? It really had been a wolf, and the more she thought about it as she walked along, the stranger the entire encounter seemed. Wolves were night animals, for one thing. And they were supposedly afraid of humans. Ha! This one hadn’t gotten that memo. He was smart enough to snatch her pack and toss it away without a thought. Bizarre. Another rumble shook the mountain, vibrating through her chest. Then the sky opened up, buckets of water pouring down to soak through her thin shirt and drip streams of water from her hair and down her face. She shook her head to clear the view and rubbed the rain from her eyes. If she hadn’t turned her head to the left at exactly that moment, she would never have seen it. A cave loomed nearby, too dark to see inside, but large enough to offer her shelter from the deluge. She wandered over with caution, squinting as though that could help her peer inside the pitch-black mouth. The opening was wider than her car and several inches taller than she was, but she couldn’t see more than a couple of feet in. No telling how far deep it was, or what, if anything, was lurking in its depths. She paused just outside, listening through the persistent drone of rainfall for any sign of carbon-based life forms inside. Mama bear rumblings, maybe. Or wolf growls. Maybe it would be better not to chance it. Another crack of thunder split the sky directly overhead, and she lunged the last couple of feet until she stood just inside the mouth of the cave. This blocked the main downpour, but gusts of wind brought in enough sprays of water to prod her into creeping back farther. She stopped just out of range, wishing she could flatten herself against the wall of the cave rather than stand dead in the middle in full view of creatures with better night vision. Images of genetically mutated spiders and critters with pincers kept her from venturing close to

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either wall, so she just stood there hoping nothing was preparing to drop down on her from the ceiling—or pounce on her from within. Her chest heaved with the exertion of her long trek, and she forced herself to take long, deep inhalations to silence her breaths and hopefully make her presence undetected. After what seemed to be several minutes of quiet, she began to relax. The cave was empty, hopefully not because the current occupant happened to be out for a stroll. She inhaled and was treated to a musty dirt smell. No pungent animal odor. That was reassuring, at least. She pulled her soaked shirt away from her skin and squeezed water from it. Her teeth began to chatter from the draft blowing in, but at least she had shelter now. If need be, she could stay overnight and hope to God she could un-lose herself in the morning. Aimee crept deeper into the dark cave, wishing her shirt wasn’t sticking so miserably to her skin. And that she had some food, a blanket, and the flashlight from her backpack so she could actually see where the hell she was going. Oh, well. First thing would be to lose the wet shirt. She could wring it out as best as she could, if nothing else. She inched forward another few feet and peeled the shirt up over her head. Just as the wet fabric cleared her eyes, she spotted a warm, orange-yellow flicker a few yards off. There was light in the cave. She blinked at the anomaly and looked closer. More likely the cave had front and back openings, and she had found the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. She turned around and frowned at the mouth of the cave behind her. It was barely outlined in a paler shade of charcoal gray. Why was the light warmer on the other side? Even if the clouds were parting outside—which seemed unlikely considering the persistent sounds of the storm—the sun would be down by now. The cave was lit from the inside. When she turned back around, she barely inched toward the golden bloom of light. Several feet ahead, she saw that the cave

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widened out where the glow grew brighter. The improvement in her vision emboldened her pace, and she was about to enter the wider area when an odd clanking changed her mind. She froze, listening to a rattle that certainly wasn’t a wolf or a mama bear. The noise was decidedly metallic. The wash of light painting the cave walls now was sufficient for her to see there were no creepy crawlers waiting to skitter along her bare torso, and so she pressed herself against the damp, cold dirt wall in order to risk a peek. She almost lost her nerve when the rattle sounded again, louder this time. Still, she felt driven to look. She had to know what it was that was clinking around in a near-dark cave. She sucked in a silent breath and held it while she poked her head slowly around the corner. Her eyes shot wide at the sight on the ground just a dozen or so feet away. She’d thought maybe she would find an animal, or some kind of tree or national forest signpost blowing in a draft brought in by the storm. The last thing she’d imagined to find was a man chained up, naked, and crouching on the cave floor.

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Chapter Two Aimee gaped in shock at the man, whose muscled, dirt-smeared back was to her. His neck was secured by a chain that was attached to a wide, metal collar. The other end of the rugged chain was tethered to a giant ring on the cave wall. More chains crisscrossed his torso. The second thought in her head was most likely the wiser, but unfortunately it came moments after she’d already acted on the first. She rushed into the wider area of the cave, thinking maybe he’d been taken hostage and needed rescuing. Halfway to his aid, it occurred to her that perhaps he was restrained there for a reason. That theory seemed to have more bearing when he whipped around and fixed her with a wild stare that brought her up short. His eyes were pale blue but held a strange golden aura, almost as if they were responsible for the light that had drawn her in. This wasn’t the case, of course—the flickering light came from several brass lanterns scattered along the edges of the perhaps twenty-foot space. Those eyes seemed to pick up the golden hue of the flames until they danced like demons in his gaze. His body gleamed in the damp cave as though coated with sweat. Dirt streaked his skin in several areas, and at first glance she thought that included his face. Then she realized the darker area above his lip was the bare hint of a stubbly mustache. Dark hair slicked back from his narrow face, save for a narrow strand that fell forward across the bridge of his nose. Dirty or not, the guy was drop-dead gorgeous. What she could see of his body as he squatted on the ground was flexed and toned and bulging with muscle, and when he swiveled on the soles of his bare feet to face her, she averted her gaze to avoid staring at the naked

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organ hanging between his thighs. It wasn’t until his fiery stare blazed a dangerous trail along her body that she remembered her shirt was in her hand. She yanked it up in front of her and took a step back. “Jesus, it’s you,” the man said, staring in shock, as if she was the one who had been discovered chained up and naked. “It’s really you.” She glanced around. “You must have me mistaken for someone else. I don’t know you.” “Oh, yes you do, darlin’. That’s what brought you in here.” There was a sexy hitch in his voice, a velvet twang that grabbed onto her middle and threatened never to let go. “The rain brought me in here. And I’m positive that we’ve never met before.” Of that she was certain. She’d definitely have remembered a man with those intense eyes and sculpted features, whether or not he’d been in naked bondage at the time. He flexed his arm to push back his hair, rattling the chain as he did so. She noticed a tattoo of a scaly dragon along his upper arm, the head cresting the cap of his shoulder and the tail curving around his bicep like a wicked tribal band. “You’re right, we haven’t formally met. And I have to say you picked one hell of a time for official introductions.” “Can’t argue with you there.” She cocked her head, clutching the shirt to her tighter as she regarded his bizarre words. Perhaps there was a reason the man was chained up, after all. He was plumb crazy. “But how can I know you if we’ve never met?” “You tell me.” “I can’t. And I think I should leave, since I’m obviously interrupting something.” She turned away, her eyes falling on a neatly arranged pile of garments against the cave wall several feet away from him. A dark brown Stetson lay on top of a stack of folded clothes and a tan jacket, and beside them stood a pair of worn, yet tall and proud tan cowboy boots. Was he one of the many cowboys working the ranches in Shay Falls?

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When she made a move to leave, he jerked up and forward, straining in her direction with the chain tugging mercilessly at his neck. “No, wait a minute,” he said. “Please.” Facing her up on his knees now, she couldn’t help but glance at the one part of him she’d desperately been trying to avoid. Lord, did all men look like that below the waist? He inhaled deeply with his eyes closed. Then they snapped open. “You were with another wolf.” She snorted. “‘Another’ wolf? No, there was just the one. I make it a point not to hang around with wolves.” Something flashed in his gaze. “The rain nearly washed off the scent, but I can just barely make it out. Who was he? It was Caleb, wasn’t it?” She backed away another step. “You know, I didn’t think to shake its paw and trade names while it was chasing me down, tossing my survival gear over a cliff, and nearly eating me.” The man’s stare hardened. “Did he hurt you? I felt somethin’ was goin’ on earlier.” “No.” “Did he lay a hand on you?” He began to pull on his chains.”Jesus, tell me he didn’t bite you.” “No!” She eyed him warily. “Why is everyone so worried about me getting bitten around here? And—wait. Lay a hand?” That did it. Why was she talking to a clearly disturbed man who was chained up in a cave? She would be better off outside in the storm. “I’m not crazy,” he said. “You gotta be careful in these parts. Things can get a little wild up here.” “So I found out. If getting lost and chased by a wolf wasn’t bad enough, there’s some chick with a gun running around out there. She wouldn’t even point me to the ranger station.” His eyes flared wide. “What woman? Did she have red hair?” “How do you know that?”

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“She didn’t shoot him, did she?” “Shoot who?” “Caleb.” “That wolf, you mean? No, it got away.” The man sighed in relief. “The woman chasing him wasn’t very happy with me for that, either. Like how dare I have some petty need for help because I’m lost in the woods.” “Thank God for that.” She raised an eyebrow. “Thank God that I’m lost in the woods?” “I meant Caleb not gettin’ shot.” His eyes began another slide along her body that prickled at the goose bumps pebbling her arms. “But I can’t say as I’m not glad you’re lost. Course, I could also argue that you’ve just been found.” A wry smile split his handsomely chiseled face in a slow, steady burn that thawed her chilled insides. She swallowed and cocked her head. “Do I even want to ask why you are chained up in a cave?” She paused. “Naked?” His smile spread wider. “You noticed that, huh?” That sent her glance straight back down to the long, thick shaft between his thighs. The answer came from behind her. “Noticed what?” Aimee spun around toward the voice and the man attached to it just a few feet away. Had he been utterly silent in sneaking up, or had she been so entranced by the other man that she simply hadn’t noticed his arrival? “I don’t recall you mentionin’ company was comin’,” the new man said, regarding her with undisguised curiosity. His twang was a fitting match for the dripping-wet gray Stetson and snakeskin boots he wore. His Wranglers fit like a second skin and were dark with rain spatter. A wet brown leather jacket completed his cowboy attire. Not that she should be surprised, exactly. There were several ranches in the greater Shay Falls area, and where there were ranches, there were hot studs in hats and tight jeans that tugged many a female heartstring.

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Her teeth chattered harder. “I was just leaving,” she said to the newcomer, and she headed toward the tunnel. “I’m sorry I intruded on whatever this is.” “Don’t let her go,” the chained man said to the other. “Don’t you realize who she is?” That spun her on her heel with a frown. “I know who she is,” the cowboy replied. He took off his hat and shook water from it while she eyed him up and down. The two men, while both almost criminally attractive, had features that were vastly different. This one’s hair was dark blond, and his face was clean-shaven and squarer. Still, both shared the same incredible blue-gold eyes. Brothers, perhaps? Overall, this cowboy looked like an athlete whose picture should be plastered in magazines or on cereal boxes. At least, he did until he turned his head and she caught a glimpse of his profile. Half-hidden beneath the straight, damp hair that had fallen across his right cheek was a deep, pale scar. “Then you know why you can’t let her leave,” the chained man said. The blond shook his head. “It ain’t like she’s our prisoner.” “What are the two of you talking about?” she asked. “How is it that you claim to know me?” “What is she doin’ here?” the blond asked, his eyes trained on her as he spoke to the other man. She interrupted the sputtering attempt at an answer. “She is standing right here, thanks. No need to talk like I’m invisible. Who are you two, anyway? What’s going on in here?” He thrust a hand out at her. “Kyle West. That there’s Dillon McCain. We’re locals.” He gave her a heavy glance when she failed to take the offered hand. “And you’re soakin’ wet and freezin’.” She glanced down at the cold, wet shirt still pressed to her front. “Aimee Jo Stevens. I’m from Philips, just down the mountain. And yeah, it’s a bit chilly.” “You sure picked a hell of a time to show up.”

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“Dillon and I already covered that, thanks. That still doesn’t answer the question of how you claim to know me.” The smile that curved up at her had the same dangerous, heartpounding edge to it that Dillon’s had. Apparently the dangerous tingle she was feeling stretched beyond the shock of stumbling across a naked man in a cave. The danger was just plain them. “I pictured your hair longer,” he said. She raised a hand self-consciously to the still-dripping curls that hung just above the shoulder. “I cut it recently. I don’t have time to fuss.” The men both stared at her, and she felt her cheeks warm. How long had it been since she’d had the old late-night cowboy fantasies? She was so exhausted these days when she fell into bed that she barely ever remembered dreaming. Hadn’t her dream cowboy had brilliant highlights in his eyes, too? Kyle shrugged off his leather jacket and dropped it along with his hat on the ground behind him. He wore a maroon sweater that he stripped right off as well. Beneath was a white, ribbed tank that displayed an admirable amount of broad, bare chest. That chest was adorned only by a scant dusting of hair and a silver medallion worn on a leather cord around his neck. Was he ever a looker, even with the lethal-looking scar running along his cheek. Damn if the mark didn’t make him look even hotter. “Don’t tell me you’re planning on getting chained up and naked, too?” she asked, her voice breathless. Kyle’s laugh bounced playfully in her stomach. “No, ma’am. Figured you could use somethin’ dry to put on.” He held the sweater out to her. “Unless you’d rather try the more effective method of warming up.” “What’s that? A fire?” “Not in here,” he said with a tiny glimmer in those blue-gold eyes. “Too smoky. I meant sharin’ body heat while huddled together naked.”

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She threw him a scowl while she leaned close enough to snatch the sweater from him. “This will be fine, thanks.” Her eyes flicked back and forth between the two men, wishing her bra wasn’t quite so see-through when wet. Did she dare turn her back on them? She sure wasn’t about to pull the sweater over her head face-on. With a sigh she spun around, dropping the wet blouse at her feet and hurriedly tugging on Kyle’s sweater. It was still warm from his body, and as she dragged it over her head she inhaled a woodsy, male scent that shot a funny little jolt down her spine. She could feel their eyes on her even with her back turned while she dressed, and she honestly wasn’t sure which was heating her body more. His sweater was huge on her, hanging below her wrists and almost to mid-thigh. The V-neck also plunged deeper on her, exposing cleavage. She pushed the sleeves up until her hands poked through the cuffs and turned around. “Better?” Kyle asked. She nodded. “Much. Thank you.” “If you need my jacket, just let me know. I figure it could use some dryin’ off first, though.” He picked it up and brushed at the water running off of it. “The rain’s comin’ down fierce out there.” She eyed both men. “Aren’t you two cold?” “We don’t get cold easy,” Dillon said. She lifted a brow. “Apparently not, since you’re naked and all. Which you never did explain.” “Because you weren’t sure you wanted to ask.” Dillon’s smile heated her blood, and she swallowed. “Maybe you’re right.” Kyle grunted. “If you’re plannin’ on stayin’ here the night, you’re gonna find out whether you want to or not.” She raised her chin. “Who says I’m planning to stay the night?” “Don’t see as you have much choice.” “You said I’m not your prisoner. You can’t keep me here.”

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He shrugged. “I don’t have to. It’s nightfall durin’ a full moon. The storm will drop temperatures near to freezin’, and you’re miles from the nearest tourist parkin’ area.” He stepped closer to her, picking up her hand and rubbing it. His was warm and dry, while hers no doubt felt like a wet cod. “So unless you’re hidin’ a vehicle or some hefty survival equipment in those tight pants, I’d say you’re stuck livin’ through a night you won’t ever forget.” She swallowed, wondering whether to lie her way out of this. Before she could answer, Kyle turned her hand over and stared at the back of it. “What’s this?” he asked, thumbing the diamond so it slid back and forth. Aimee pulled her hand away and glanced at the gem. “It’s an engagement ring.” “A what?” Dillon spoke this time, his voice echoing loudly through the space. She turned to him to find his eyes wide. “You ain’t engaged.” She could swear there was an edge of jealousy in the remark, and a tiny spark of pleasure ignited at the thought of his possessiveness. She couldn’t help but poke at the theory a little. “Why else would I be wearing a half-carat diamond on my wedding finger?” She waggled it at him for effect, then took a breath and decided to dive in with the rest. “In fact, he’s here with me. No doubt he’s searching for me right now. I should probably go.” “Kyle,” Dillon said. “Are you hearin’ this?” The other man shrugged. “I guarantee ain’t nobody out searchin’ for you tonight. It’s too dark and too wet.” He nodded at her ring. “If your Prince Charmin’ fiancé is here with you, how is it you got separated and wound up with us?” She frowned at the term. “I didn’t say he was Prince Charming. Or my fiancé, to be honest. I got lost when I left him to use the bathroom and found a wolf intent on chasing me instead.” Dillon chuckled. “If you were lookin’ for a bathroom out here, it’s no wonder you got lost.”

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She snorted. “Not an actual bathroom. You know what I mean.” “A wolf chased you?” Kyle’s hands were on his hips now. “It was Caleb,” Dillon said. He winced and bent over a moment, as though he were in pain. “I smelled him on her. But he didn’t hurt her.” Aimee frowned. “What is it with naming the wolves around here? Are you guys part of some wolf protection society or something?” When she shot a look at Kyle, she saw that he, too, wore a pained grimace. “You ain’t completely wrong,” he said with some difficulty. “But I’m afraid we got bigger problems right now.” “It’s comin’,” Dillon said. He was kneeling on all fours now. “I can feel it.” Aimee blinked in confusion. “What’s coming?” “Fight it,” Kyle said. “You don’t want to change now.” The other man rolled his eyes. “Yeah, like that’ll help. Why didn’t I think of that?” Dillon was shivering now, and Aimee stared down at him with a curious frown. “What’s wrong? Thought you said you don’t get cold.” Kyle took her by the upper arms, and a tickle flickered in her stomach. “There ain’t time for proper explanations,” he said. “You’re just gonna have to believe that you were meant to be here, and we’re not gonna let anythin’ happen to you.” “Shit.” Dillon was on the ground now, heaving in and out. “Why are you telling me this?” Aimee pulled away from Kyle’s grasp and stepped back with a wary glance at Dillon. “What’s wrong with him?” “She’s fuckin’ engaged, Kyle.” The gaze Dillon leveled on her glowed with yellow fire, and she gasped aloud. “Easy, now,” Kyle said, dropping beside Dillon to sit cross-legged on the cave floor. “Breathe with me, partner. You can do this. It’s just the low moon.”

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Dillon sat up but shook his head. “The waxin’ low moon. I can’t help it, Kyle. I keep thinkin’ about her marryin’ some jackass, and, damn it.” She scowled at him. “Hey! David’s not a jackass.” The mention of his name brought a throaty growl in response. Kyle launched into some weird New Age-style deep breathing with his palms facing up on his knees. “Just try,” he said. Dillon shut his eyes and whooshed out some forceful breaths while he continued to quiver. Aimee gripped her elbows in her hands while she watched the bizarre display. What was the big deal about her engagement ring? Maybe he’d recently had a bad breakup and it brought back memories. She stepped forward. “I didn’t agree to marry the guy yet.” The words surprised her as soon as they were out. Why should she feel a need to explain? She didn’t owe them anything. “But you’re wearin’ his ring.” The hint of accusation in the tone was clear. “You let another man put his ring on your finger.” A stab of anger shot through her. “So what?” Her volume dialed up enough for the words to bounce off the cave walls. “It’s my life, and I can do what I want with it. Just who the hell are you to comment on whether I get married or not?” “Who am I?” Dillon rose up on his knees, his eyes gleaming with something feral that set her teeth on edge. “I am your mate.” Her jaw fell open, but her shock at the bold claim was quickly overridden by the odd ripples forming along the surface of his skin. Kyle began humming in a fast, chanting rhythm. “Om Mani Padme Hum. Do it, Dillon. Come on. Focus. Om Mani Padme Hum.” Instead, Dillon tilted his head back and let out a growl that sounded nothing like a Buddhist chant. In fact, it sounded less than human. Aimee shrank back and hugged her arms around herself. Kyle stopped chanting and got to his feet. “Shit, it’s too late,” he said. He strode quickly over to her. “I’m sorry, darlin’, but don’t be afraid. I’m here with you.”

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Dillon grabbed the chain secured to his neck and cried out. His body rippled as though aliens were crawling under his skin, and as she looked on in horror, he began to shrink closer to the ground while black needles shot right out through his pores. “Jesus!” she said, jumping back. “What’s happening to him?” Kyle folded her in his strong arms and gazed down at her. “He’s not in as much pain as it looks to be. He’s just tryin’ to fight it.” “Fight what?” He nodded toward Dillon. “That.” She glanced over again and slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a shriek. Dillon was gone. In his place sat a brown-and-gray wolf with blazing yellow eyes. It was chained around the neck and torso just as Dillon had been. “My God,” she whispered. “Where’s Dillon?” “That is Dillon. He’s a shifter, Aimee.” She glanced at Kyle. “What do you mean, ‘a shifter’? What the hell is a shifter?” “Don’t you know? Where’ve you been during the big werewolf pop culture phenomenon?” “Werewolf?” She gaped at the animal in shock. It stared right back, its tongue hanging out while its sides heaved in panting breaths. A dizzy sensation passed over her as she shook her head. “That’s not possible,” she went on. “This isn’t happening.” “You just watched it happen,” Kyle said. “We do exist.” “They can’t. And what do you mean, ‘we’ exist?” She glanced up at him and flinched back. The golden flecks in his eyes glittered in the lantern light. “Not you, too?” “I won’t change, I swear it. Not now.” She continued backing away. “Why is he chained up and you’re not?” “He doesn’t have my control yet.” “Yet?”

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“He’s a younger wolf, only six years turned. Plus the pack he came from was pretty wild before they disbanded a few months back. They were used to givin’ over completely to the power of the moon. It takes time to master not lettin’ nature take you whole.” The wolf behind her let out a low, soft wail that stood her hair on end. “So the wolf that chased me earlier was really a man?” Kyle nodded. “He’s from Dillon’s old pack.” “A woman was trying to shoot it.” The wolf’s wail sharpened into a bark. Kyle’s gaze narrowed. “Red hair, about your height?” he asked. She nodded. “She was so intent on chasing the wolf that I could barely get her to stop when I needed help. She probably wouldn’t have slowed down at all if she hadn’t thought that the wolf might have bitten me.” Aimee sucked in a gasp as understanding dawned. “Is that why she and Dillon were afraid that it—I mean him—had bitten me? Is that how you become a werewolf?” Kyle nodded. “If she thought you’d have been bitten by a member of the old pack, she likely as not would have shot you where you stood.” He stepped toward her with a sigh, his glittering eyes searching her face. “And we’d have had ourselves a whole other issue when you found us.” “You’d have had to chain me up like him?” “You could no longer be Dillon’s true mate.” She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not Dillon’s mate.” The wolf behind her growled, and she whirled on him. “That’s right, you heard me. Regardless of both of your wild claims that you somehow know me, I’ve never seen you before. And I’m not looking for any mate.” “Not just any mate, no.” Kyle picked up her hand. “Do you want to tell me about this, then?” She yanked the hand back. “No, I don’t want to tell you about this. I don’t even know what this is yet, myself.”

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He pushed a lock of his straight hair back, giving her a better view of the scar. The deep slash ran all the way from his square jaw up to the temple, where it disappeared into his hairline. “Seems to me you’re wantin’ a mate more than you’re sayin’ if you accepted this ring.” She folded her arms. “Not that it’s any of your business, but a proposal was the last thing I was expecting when David brought me up here today. We were supposed to be going for a hike.” “But you are seein’ him.” She shook her head. “Not like that. He’s my boss.” “Wouldn’t that be considered sexual harassment?” “Look, I owe him. He’s done a lot for me financially that I can’t ever repay.” Kyle regarded her. “‘Marry me or lose your job’ sounds like harassment to me.” “It wasn’t like that!” The wolf Dillon began yanking on his bonds, snarling and circling on all fours. He stretched his head back to try and nip at the chains around his chest. “This ain’t the most soothin’ conversation right now,” Kyle said. “Hang on while I try and tame the savage beast.” He strode over and snatched up a brown, furry bundle Aimee hadn’t noticed when she’d come in. Perhaps he’d dropped it when he’d snuck up behind her. “What is that?” she asked. “Raccoon. Might not want to watch this part,” he said, tossing the bulk toward Dillon. The raccoon body landed in the dirt with a dull thud. “Here you go, partner. Dinner’s served.” The wolf snarled loudly, curling its lip back to show fangs. Saliva dripped off the long, pointed teeth as it leapt on the dead animal and began tearing into the carcass. She buried her head against Kyle’s bare chest and tried to ignore the ripping, growling, and gurgling sounds of the wolf feasting.

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“You’re right,” she said, muffled against his skin. “I can’t watch. Wish I couldn’t hear, either.” Kyle folded her into his arms, his body infusing hers with a warmth that sank down deep inside of her. One thing was for sure, Dillon hadn’t lied when he’d said they didn’t get cold easily. She pressed herself closer to his chest, letting that heat seep into her. God, it felt good to be warm again. “Your nose is frozen,” he said, his voice taut. “Sorry.” She made to pull back, but he tightened his arms to hold her against him. “Stay there. You’ll be warm in no time.” “No kidding. It’s like you’ve been standing in front of a hot oven.” She closed her eyes, letting the feel of him invade her senses and drown out the wolf sounds behind her. What flowed through her when she opened herself to him was far more than just a necessary temperature rise. A surge of emotion swelled in her chest, one that rose so high and fast that it threatened to overtake her. David had never sent chills along her spine or lit a fire inside of her wherever he touched. Not that he’d ever held her like this before. Kyle let out a slow breath, and she felt him begin to quiver. “Oh, man.” “I’m making you cold,” she said. He shook his head. “I didn’t think it would be this hard to control.” “What would?” She pulled back and gasped when she looked up at him. The golden speckles were spreading outward to engulf his pale blue irises. “You said you wouldn’t change.” “I won’t.” He closed his eyes, and she saw his Adam’s apple bob. “This is just more intense than a normal full moon.” “Why?” she whispered. “Kiss me,” he said, his eyes still shut. She yanked back several steps. “What? No!”

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The eyes reopened into a golden flame that frightened and mesmerized her at the same time. “Yes.” She shook her head, watching gold and blue wage a battle for dominance in his eyes, creating a kaleidoscope effect she feared might hypnotize her if she stared at it too long. “I’m not kissing you, and not only because you’ll probably sprout fur and fangs if I do.” His move forward was slow and subtle, but she jerked back. “It’ll help ground me, actually. I know why you probably find the idea revoltin’. I’ve seen myself in a mirror.” Her eyes traced the line of his scar. “It’s not that at all.” “Just close your eyes and trust me.” “Trust you? I don’t even know you, Wolf Boy.” The slight dig actually brought a tiny smile to the corner of his full, sensual lips. “Well enough to know I’m tellin’ the truth.” She traced the contour of those lips with her gaze, unconsciously licking her own. “Actually, ‘Kiss me or I’ll turn into a hairy beast’ sounds like the worst pickup line I’ve ever heard.” Despite the protest, her feet were inching closer to him. Her eyes were still fastened to the seductive call of his mouth and the sexy smile turning up one corner. The hair on her arms rose when she leaned close to him, and since Kyle was about a head taller, she had to lift her chin to reach his lips. The first graze of her mouth on his caught her breath in her throat, and she understood there and then that she’d made a fatal mistake. Not because of what Kyle might become, but what she might become. His lips unhinged a primal need in her stomach, like an animal clawing to get loose and run wild with the men-wolves who were completely focused on her. Kyle let out a tiny groan and deepened the kiss, opening his mouth to sweep his tongue just barely across her lower lip. An electric thrill coursed through her, and she raised a hand to his face. Unable to stop herself, she brushed her fingertips along the valley dug into his skin by the scar. He broke off the kiss all too soon, grabbing her by the

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wrist to pull her hand away. Her breath had gone ragged, and as he moved back she saw his breathing was rough, too. His eyes still glimmered with gold highlights, but they no longer ran into one another to blot out the blue. “That might have been a mistake,” he said. “How’d you know that was what I was thinking?” He shivered again. “I’m bettin’ it don’t feel like that when you kiss David.” His voice had gone husky. David’s kiss. She barely remembered it now. Then again, it had barely registered with her at the time. “I was just doing what you asked.” Why did she have to sound so out of breath? “Then maybe I should have asked more of you.” His mouth collided with hers again, this time sending a tiny gasp free from her throat. His hands slid into her damp hair, pulling her against him. Something pressed against her pelvis when he pushed his hips forward—a long, hard ridge that sent her pulse racing. A voice behind them pushed her back from the edge of losing control. “You do not have my permission to breach her.” Breach her? She whipped around to find Dillon’s human form had returned, though his eyes were a good deal harder. Smears of blood from his feed covered parts of his jaw and upper chest. More shocking was the bulk between his legs. His cock was now longer, thicker, and sticking almost straight out from his body. Her eyes flew wide. Kyle stepped around her and faced the other man. “I see that kiss brought you back around, too. Looks like there’s hope for you yet, cowboy.” Dillon’s jaw tensed. “Did you hear what I said?” “Who submits to whom here?” Kyle’s voice boomed in the space loud enough for Aimee to flinch. “Which of us here is alpha?” A flurry of motion beside her prompted her to glance at Kyle, and she jumped. A black wolf stood beside her, staring Dillon down with its hackles raised and tail lifted in the air.

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“Shit,” she said, moving back, but the animal took no interest in her. It stalked toward Dillon and stopped a foot away, leaning in to stick its bared teeth close to the man’s face. Aimee backed up until she hit the dirt wall near the tunnel, gaping at the exchange. Dillon’s flesh seemed to vibrate again, and in moments his face began to distort and elongate. Fur shot out along his body, and he shrank into the gray wolf again. “My God,” she whispered, clutching at her chest. Run, she thought. Get out before it’s too late. Kyle’s snarl froze her in place. Dillon lowered his head and flattened back his ears, dropping to the ground and rolling over to expose his pale belly. Kyle moved around to straddle the other wolf, and she gasped when he bent down to grasp Dillon’s furry throat in his jaws. “Don’t!” she cried out. Jesus, would he kill Dillon for having spoken out? What would he do to her then? The thought prompted her to slide her body along the cave wall, seeking the mouth to the short tunnel that would let her escape this bizarre nightmare. Then her eyes fell to the two wolves’ pricks, which were very close together as Kyle stood over Dillon. Their shafts were bright red and shiny, popping well out of fur-covered sheaths. Whatever was going on here, both of them were quite aroused about it. Aimee paused as ripples of fur crested along both animals’ bodies. Hair shortened and disappeared until the men were back, leaving Kyle also naked and straddling Dillon with his arms planted on either side of the man’s head. “As alpha I have every right to request first matin’ if I so choose,” he told Dillon, leaning close to his face. “But it ain’t gonna be now.” “I want her,” Dillon said, and when his eyes unexpectedly connected with hers, a jolt shot through her at their intensity. The gold was still there, yes, undulating in a rhythm not dissimilar from the

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pounding of her pulse. “I’ve waited so long for her to be mine, and now she’s so close I can taste her.” “She can’t be part of this,” Kyle said. The words fell on her with a strange pang of disappointment. “Not tonight.” “Why?” At first, she thought the question had left Dillon’s throat but realized it hadn’t only sounded out in her mind. “We can’t properly claim her under a full moon with you still out of control,” he went on, as though it was indeed Dillon who had asked. “And you can’t take her virginity without us marking her, or every male she encounters will amp into sexual high gear.” “‛Marking her’?” Aimee took a step forward. “What the hell does that mean?” Kyle raked a smoldering glance over Dillon before glancing up at her. “Ain’t nothin’ you have to worry about tonight, darlin’.” She let out an indignant snort. “Oh, I don’t plan on worrying about it any night. There will be no marking or claiming of any kind, got it?” The rest of his words flashed through her mind, and she frowned. “And why are you making the assumption that I’m still a virgin? I do have an engagement ring on, you know.” She flashed the diamond at the men for effect. “That your boss gave you,” Kyle said. “Or is spreadin’ those shapely legs part of your job description?” She curled her lip. “Don’t be disgusting.” “Don’t you play games,” Dillon said, shifting his weight so he could look at her. “Kyle and I know damn good and well you ain’t never been with a man. Or are you just tryin’ to piss me off?” “How can you know something like that?” Dillon inhaled deeply, his eyes fluttering closed for a moment. “That’s how.” “Your scent is damn intoxicatin’, it’s true,” Kyle added. “Our kind can tell a lot of things about a woman by her scent.”

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She lifted her chin. “Then maybe it should tell you there’s zero chance of getting this virgin all hot and sweaty in a cave.” If only the words could sound convincing and she wasn’t already feeling damn steamy. “You think I’m going to fall over the two of you when I’ve gone twenty-five years without needing a man? Please.” “Because you’ve been waitin’ for the right man.” Dillon’s gaze penetrated the thin veneer of composure she was desperately trying to keep in place. “That’s the truth, ain’t it? You’ve always known deep down that someone was waitin’ for you. Someone who could make you feel like no other man could. Someone like me.” She shook her head, even as the words resonated to stoke a flame of desire. “And you’re supposed to be my Prince Charming? Shouldn’t you be at a royal ball, not chained up in a damp cave?” He ran his hands along the chains across his torso. “Excitin’, ain’t it? The danger. The lack of control. Don’t deny it, darlin’. I’ve seen the way you’ve been starin’ at our cocks.” One of his hands slid down to stroke his shaft, and she felt an answering twinge between her thighs. “I see your eyes darkenin’ with need, and those pretty hands are balled into fists because you’re fightin’ the need to come over here and touch me like this.” His fingers slid up over the wide head, then back down to the base. She unclenched the hands she hadn’t realized were tensed up at her sides and shook her head, not trusting herself to answer. “Dillon,” Kyle said, eyeing her. “No point in teasin’ the lady when we can’t allow her to take pleasure from it.” “Who says? She’s mine.” “And you’re mine.” Aimee didn’t even have time to process the words. Kyle grabbed Dillon’s neck chain and tugged upward, pulling the man to his face. Their mouths crushed together with a ferocity that sent a shiver through her, and their wet tongues flicked out to entwine with one another. Never in her life had she witnessed two men pleasuring each other, and the sight should have been the final push to send her feet

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running toward the mouth of the cave. Instead, she stood there like a gawking statue, panting in shallow breaths and blinking rapidly at the passion unfolding in front of her. Kyle lowered himself just enough for his thick rod to brush along Dillon’s, prompting a moan from each and a little whimper from her own throat as well. Dillon grabbed the back of Kyle’s hair hard, thrusting his tongue deeper into the man’s mouth. When he tried to shove Kyle over onto his back, however, Kyle growled and yanked away. A sharp slap followed as his palm delivered a blow to Dillon’s thigh. “You will submit to me,” Kyle said in a low, dangerous tone. Dillon’s cock jumped at the command, as did Aimee’s pulse. “If I can’t have her tonight,” Dillon said, “I want her to see what we will mean to her soon enough.” Kyle favored her with a slow smolder while he replied. “You want her to see what your submission to me includes? Then get on your knees.” A palpable shiver coursed through her veins. Dillon’s biceps flexed as he rolled over and pushed himself up on all fours, facing Aimee. “Not like that,” Kyle said. “Turn around.” Kyle turned and sat on his haunches in front of Kyle, who was upright on his knees. “Get me ready for you,” he told Dillon. In shock, Aimee watched while Dillon bent down to slide his mouth over the erect cock in front of him. Kyle gripped Dillon’s neck chain and pulled him deeper onto his organ, tipping his head back with a moan. She held her breath while she watched Dillon’s head slip back and forth expertly over Kyle’s penis. A naked man chained in a cave while commanded to perform fellatio on another man was a perversion Aimee had never even considered. As thunder rocked the skies overhead, a quake of longing shook her to the core, and warm wetness gathered between her rubberized legs. When Dillon pulled

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back and she saw Kyle’s thickly veined rod, throbbing and slick, her nipples tightened beneath the damp bra that clung to her skin. Without a word, Dillon twisted around and dropped onto all fours again so that his ass was right in front of Kyle’s stiff dick. Aimee’s lips parted as Kyle gripped Dillon’s hip with one hand and positioned his cock against Dillon’s tight, smooth ass with the other. The chain shifted as Dillon looked up, catching Aimee’s gaze. Then Kyle shoved his hips forward in one long, solid motion. His eyes shut tight, and she gasped in sympathy at the heavy grunt Dillon let out. God, how painful would something like that be? Kyle certainly hadn’t been gentle about it. Why was he so callous? A fantasy flashed through her mind of lying beneath Kyle, letting him be the one to relieve her of virginity. Not that she would allow anything of the sort, and certainly not with his rod penetrating her ass the way he was doing to Dillon. In moments, however, Dillon’s grunt turned into something erotic, something that began a slow throb in her clit. The muscles in his arms strained as he rocked forward, then slid back on Kyle’s cock. Aimee realized that he hadn’t been wincing in pain at all. The expression on his face had taken on a smooth air of the sublime as he rode Kyle’s shaft with his eyes closed. He appeared possessed of a want and a hunger that only the stoic-faced man behind him could quench. With a start, Aimee realized that their lust was infecting her, spreading low in her pelvis. Kyle pushed his hips against Dillon’s ass, chains rattling with every stroke. As they bucked together, the potent muscles in both of their bodies stood out in magnificent form, highlighted by sweat breaking out across their skin. Even with Dillon streaked with dirt and bound by partly rusted chains, the men were beautiful, like a sculpture by Michelangelo. Like a fine piece of artwork that she could not tear her eyes away from. Dillon’s blazing gold eyes opened, kissed by the gloss of lantern light as they locked onto hers. “Come here to me, darlin’,” he crooned.

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The seductive lilt of his whisper touched off a war inside of her. Go to him, a voice prodded. Don’t. It’s dangerous. You want to know if his touch will make you feel the way Kyle does. That’s the real danger, isn’t it? One touch and you could stay lost forever. Just one touch. Kyle cut off her mental committee meeting. “Stop, Dillon,” he said, slowing his strokes. “You can’t.” “I just want to kiss her,” he said, sizing her up like she was a tasty morsel at a dessert buffet. “You’ve already sampled those luscious, pink lips. I have to know what she tastes like.” Now Kyle’s gaze bored into her. “One kiss. If she’s willin’.” One foot shifted forward while common sense made one last desperate attempt to inject reason into her wildly racing thoughts. What about David? She paused and fiddled with the diamond ring. In truth, she owed David a great deal, yet owed him nothing all the same. She had given him no answer, and while this experience shouldn’t color her decision, it might offer her better clarity on her feelings for the man who wanted to be her husband. Just one kiss. Dillon’s smoky gaze tugged on her reserve, calling to her like a siren song. Still, she remained in place, her body swaying almost imperceptibly to his internal music until he raised a hand from the ground and beckoned her with a single crooked finger. Then her feet began to move again. Kyle stopped thrusting when she stopped in front of them, peering down at the two naked men she still couldn’t quite believe were real. A boom of thunder roared through the cave, vibrating the walls and all through her body. She just stood there, feeling like a fool while she listened to her heart and thoughts race. Then, as surely as if she were

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the one with a collar and chain that he could tug, Dillon pulled her downward with the lure of a low, sexy growl that came from deep in his throat. She sank down, and the scent of the men’s heated musk was evident as soon as she knelt in front of them. The heady aroma penetrated her rapidly fogging thoughts and erased the final traces of panic that giving into this folly could be her complete and utter undoing. She no longer gave a damn. Let it be. Let the girl who had long shunned selfish needs in order to do the right, responsible thing have one moment to do the irresponsible, wrong, and completely selfish thing. She took hold of the sides of his head and pressed her lips to his, stifling the small gasp at the immediate explosion of desire crashing through her. The stubble of his mustache prickled her upper lip, sending stabs of pleasure downward and stiffening her nipples until they tingled with heavy want. His hot mouth opened with a moan, and his tongue practically demanded entry to hers. With a bare hesitation, she parted her lips. A spike of primal, dark lust ignited with the first touch of their tongues. Her pussy throbbed for him, and she could feel a new pool of juices seeping into her already-damp panties. Every thrust of his wet tongue brought images of his thick, straining cock pushing its way into her virgin heat. Her pulse began a frenzied dance, and the real world fell away. The storm and damp cave and thoughts of being lost in the mountains all drowned in the new reality quickly taking shape in her mind. Kyle’s kiss had awakened her to new possibilities. Dillon’s took her by supernatural force. Who am I? I am your mate. The words played over and over in her mind, and she knew that if any man on earth could make such an outrageous claim, it was the one who was sliding his free hand through her short curls and pulling her down to the ground beneath him. She went without restraint, without hesitation. The instinctive fear that just one touch from him

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would bring her to her knees had been completely warranted. But it no longer scared her. It enslaved her. She eased herself onto the cave floor, lying flat on her back. Dillon lowered, too, following her down so as not to break the spell of their kiss. He twisted around so the length of his body faced hers. His lips skimmed along her jaw while his hand traced a line of sultry desire along her throat. Wave after wave of passion washed over her. When his hand crested the cap of her shoulder, her eyes reopened to find him staring at her with an intensity that took her breath away. Kyle, she saw, hadn’t missed a beat when Dillon had relocated, and was spooning Dillon from behind. She could feel the chains tensing against Dillon’s body, and his thick cock pressed harder against the side of her hip with each forward thrust from Kyle. He brought her hand to his lips, holding her within his stare while his tongue circled the tip of her index finger before plunging the length into his hot, wet mouth. She sucked in a breath, her eyes fluttering at the pangs of lust his tongue fired. He slid her finger out of his mouth and repeated the maddening process on her middle finger, his sucking motions stirring memories of the way he’d pleasured Kyle’s cock. By the time he got to her ring finger, she was panting and sliding her free hand down between her thighs to rub the clit that was throbbing in desperation. His tongue flirted with the diamond, flicking over it until his saliva let it spin freely around her finger. She felt the erotic graze of his teeth, but it wasn’t until he’d already pulled back that she understood he’d pulled off the ring and now held it inside his mouth. “Very funny,” she said. “Give it back, Dillon.” His smug grin dissolved when he puckered his lips and blew out forcefully. The ring shot out, arcing through the air to land on the ground near the tunnel entrance. A look of triumph crossed his features as he stared down at her. “No.”

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Strong, slightly calloused fingers rode up the inside of Aimee’s sweater, finding the hard nub of her nipple begging for his attention. A sweep of his thumb over it while he cupped the small, pert fullness of her breast sent a cry from her, silencing further protest about the ring. One thing and one thing only possessed her every whim, her every thought. She wanted Dillon, craved him with every inch of her being. She needed him to take command of her while Kyle took command of him. She thrust her hips upward, desperate for him to show her what it meant to give her purity to the one man who was allegedly fated to claim it. His hand responded, sliding down to cup the mound between her legs. “Jesus, I can feel how hot and wet you are right through your pants,” he whispered, nuzzling her ear with the enticing fuzz of his mustache. “Just wanted one kiss, eh?” Kyle said, his voice strained. “Her clothes are still on,” Dillon purred into her ear while she pressed herself upward, tighter in his hand. Kyle rocked his pelvis hard against Dillon’s ass. “Make sure they stay that way.” “Touch me, Aimee,” Dillon said. “Let me feel those soft hands on my skin.” She slid a hand to his chest, curious to feel the sensation of skin and metal against her palm. The links were warm from his incredible body heat, and she found his nipple between lengths of wrapped chain and tugged it while she gently bit his lower lip. He let out a moan. “Shit, I always knew it would be like this,” he said. “But I never dreamed it would be now.” Her palm slid down along the taut, lean muscles of his abdomen, snaking down to find the hard flesh her hand ached to hold. His cock jumped at her touch, the velvety, veined surface impossibly hard under the satiny feel of his skin. Her fingers teased along its length, dipping beneath to where his balls were tensed up close to his body.

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“I’m going to explode if you keep teasin’ me like that, darlin’,” he said. “Grab my cock. Hard.” His bold words moved her to action, and she gripped his shaft in her fist. “Yeah, that’s it. Feel how bad I want you.” The harder she squeezed, the more it throbbed and pulsed in her hand. “Roll over to me,” he said. “Push that hot cunt against it like you want to get fucked.” Her pulse raced at his raw, vile language. God, if he only knew how bad she wanted him to fuck her. Before she could make a move, Kyle reached between them and grabbed the hand she still had wrapped around Dillon’s dick. “Don’t lose yourself too deep in the moment,” he said. “Stay calm enough to be ready to back off when I tell you to. Understand?” She nodded, and he released his grip at the same time she did. Dillon rolled her toward him, and she took hold of his hip to steady herself while she pressed the front of her jeans to his hardness. The pressure of his stiff rod on her clit shot her pleasure skyward, and with a shameless moan, she wriggled her hips closer. “That’s right,” Dillon said through clenched teeth. “Don’t hold back, love. Work yourself against me.” She desperately wanted to lose control but wondered how she could obey that wish and Kyle’s instruction at the same time. Every motion of Kyle’s hips pressed Dillon into her harder, so that she was joined to the rhythm of their fucking. Her nails dug into Dillon’s hip, and Kyle’s hand slid over hers while the two of them bucked against the man in their center. Sweat broke out over her forehead as her eyes found Kyle’s, and she knew hers must look as glazed as his did while her motions coaxed an urgent need from her clit. Dillon yanked up the sweater she wore, then pushed aside a flimsy bra cup to expose her breast. She shuddered at the first flick of his tongue over her nipple, her entire body tightening with a sudden and unyielding need to explode.

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“Come for me,” he said against her breast. “Fuck your clit against my cock until you make yourself come.” “Damn, with you two goin’ on like that I can’t last any longer,” Kyle ground out. Dillon sucked her nipple into his mouth as another crack of thunder split the sky. Her mind blanked as she stiffened up, rubbing her pussy against him frantically as climax finally, unbelievably overtook her. She knew the shouts of animal pleasure rebounding along the cave walls were her own, and the growls growing more insistent and less human were the men’s. But little other conscious thought could penetrate her waves of ecstasy. Finally, Kyle’s hand shoving at her shoulder brought her back enough for her vision to clear—and see the telltale ripple of flesh and his jaw elongating. “Back off, Aimee,” he said, his voice distorting as rapidly as his features. “Now.” She rolled away from the pair, pushing up on all fours when she was several feet away. Dillon was still human, but his eyes were blazing with erotic fire as Kyle gripped his purpled cock and jerked the shaft up and down hard in his fist. Both men cried out together, and white fluid pumped out of the head of Dillon’s cock. Aimee watched, unable to move, as Kyle’s dropped jaw sprouted jagged, white teeth. He bent over Dillon, and she tried to warn him just before those fangs sank into the other man’s shoulder. With a gasp, she stared as the bite unraveled the last bit of the men’s control. Dillon’s face contorted in a blend of pain and ecstasy she couldn’t quite distinguish, then began to unhinge and morph just as Kyle’s had. Both were still gripped in climax while their bodies flickered, then dropped away into wolf form with Kyle’s teeth still embedded in Dillon’s furry shoulder. Aimee stayed on hands and knees while she scrambled farther away. The fading pulses of orgasm continued to throb through her clit as she kept her gaze focused on the animals. Their flanks heaved in sync with exertion, and soft, long growls rumbled from their throats.

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Both pairs of yellow eyes were trained on Aimee as the planet righted itself again. A hush gradually fell between them. The black wolf pulled away and got to its feet, and Aimee stiffened. Kyle was the first to shift back, rising to his feet like a god to offer her the first full-on, unhindered view of a splendidly naked man she’d ever seen. Her eyes took in every inch, starting with the mussed locks of blond hair hanging over his forehead, partly obscuring his pale, blue-gold eyes and the scar he hadn’t seemed eager for her to touch. The exquisite sculpt of his chest and abdominal muscles was next, moving in and out with the hypnotic rhythm of his breaths. His cock still stood partially erect and pulsing in aftermath, much the way her clit was. His balls were large and hung down smoothly against the hairy, muscular legs that spanned an appreciable distance to the ground. His arms flexed as he moved around the gray wolf and came toward her. Her eyes kept shifting to the dick that swayed and bobbed with his every step. “You okay?” he asked, leaning down to push a lock of her hair back from her face. “I didn’t think you’d get out of the way there for a moment.” She nodded. “I’m sorry. Guess I didn’t hear you there for a moment.” “You were a little busy.” A flush of heat spread through her cheeks. “That’s puttin’ it mild,” came a voice behind them. Aimee leaned around Kyle to see that Dillon was once again back. She smiled at his smoldering, cocky expression, but it wavered when their eyes met. “I’m sorry I couldn’t control the shift, darlin’. Hope I didn’t scare you.” She shook her head, but a dark cloud of realization settled over her. She pushed up to her feet. “So you guys turn into wolves any time you, well, do that?”

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Dillon, still chained, sat up with a sexy laugh. “Don’t sound so disappointed. Kyle only shifted because I did. We don’t indulge in sex across species. As for me, well, it’s only the full moon shifts that I can’t control.” “But he’s learnin’ how,” Kyle added, wandering close to the tunnel where he had first shifted. “Thanks to Kyle,” Dillon said. “He’s been helpin’ me.” “Hasn’t taken too long, which surprised me in light of how fully his former pack gave over to its power. In just three cycles, Dillon was able to shift back tonight. He’s already got a fair control over the wanin’ full moon, too.” “Waning moon?” Aimee brushed dirt off the back of her pants. Kyle grabbed his jeans off the ground and stepped into them. “There are three nights in a full moon phase—the night before, the night of, and the night after. Our kind refers to these as the waxin’ low moon, the high full moon, and the wanin’ low moon.” “The high full moon has the greatest pull,” Dillon added. “It’s the hardest to resist. So tomorrow night will be the hardest of the three. The final night is easiest.” “Because the moon is already waning by then?” she asked. Kyle nodded. “Exactly.” He zipped up his fly and turned to Dillon. “Guess I’m with you tonight, all things considered.” “You can’t stay,” Dillon replied. “You’d be missed.” The other man shrugged. “It’s not like I can take either of you along, and I don’t think leavin’ you two alone here tonight would be a smart thing.” Dillon tugged on his neck collar. “I am chained up. I got no choice but to behave.” “Bein’ chained up and behavin’ are two very different things.” Kyle glanced up at Aimee, whose gaze was bouncing between them while she wondered what was going on. “As we just saw demonstrated.”

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“You’re leaving?” she asked, wishing she didn’t sound quite so desperate. “Weren’t you planning to stay here with him?” She saw Kyle’s hesitation, and he flicked a glance to Dillon. “Kyle helps me when he can,” Dillon said. “On full moons, he chains me up in here and helps me work on my control for a spell. He brings me food to sate my huntin’ needs and does what he can to sate other needs.” The glimmer in his eyes made it clear to what needs he was referring, and she swallowed. “That helps keep me calmer. Hopefully I will have total control in a few months and won’t need to be restrained durin’ full moons at all.” “Won’t be that long, based on how fast he’s catchin’ on,” Kyle said. She blinked. “So you’re only with him three nights a month to get him chained up, fed, and, uh, calm?” The men glanced at one another. “Not exactly,” Kyle said. “Life for us is a bit complicated.” Aimee laughed. “You guys turn into wolves and live in caves. I already figured things are complicated.” “I don’t live here all the time,” Dillon said. “This is recent. Kyle doesn’t live here at all.” He shot the other man a weighted glance. “And he should get goin’ before his complications complicate themselves even more.” “I don’t get it,” Aimee said. “Where’s Kyle supposed to be?” An ugly thought crossed her mind, and she turned to him. “Don’t tell me you’re married and sneaking around?” Dillon snorted. “Oh, it’s worse than that.” She shot Dillon a harsh look. “What could be worse than that?” He held her stare under narrowed brows. “Besides your mate gettin’ engaged to someone else, you mean?” “I’m not engaged,” she shot back. “Yet.” The words reminded her of the item abandoned on the cave floor, and her eyes shot wide. She spun around to search the ground. “Damn right, you’re not.”

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She bent over and scanned the dirt near the tunnel. “And I’m not your mate, either.” He smiled at her. “We’ll see about that.” “That still doesn’t answer my question. Why isn’t Kyle supposed to be here?” Kyle sighed. “I’m in another pack, Aimee. They don’t know about Dillon.” “And they’d be pissed as a hellcat in Sunday school if they found out he’s my alpha,” Dillon said. She paused and turned back to the men. “Alpha? You mean the head of a pack?” “That’s right,” Kyle said. “Dillon has acknowledged me as his alpha. Trouble is I’m still under the rule of another alpha myself.” “How does that work, exactly?” she asked. “It doesn’t. Dillon’s keepin’ a low profile until we can figure things out.” “Among other reasons,” Dillon added. “Can’t you just become part of the other pack?” He glanced at the ground. “That’s a long story.” She shrugged and resumed looking for her ring, which turned up a few feet away. “I’m not going anywhere tonight,” she said, rubbing dirt off the gem that Dillon’s saliva had caked onto the surface. She slipped it back onto her finger, ignoring the twinge of irony that struck her at seeing the pristine diamond’s sullied appearance. “Which one of you wants to tell the tale?” The men looked at one another. “It’s okay for you to leave,” Dillon said to Kyle. “You need to get back.” Kyle looked warily between the other two. “I don’t think leavin’ is a good idea.” “Neither is you gettin’ caught.” More thunder shook the cave. Dillon raised his head to stare at the ceiling. “Damn, that storm ain’t showin’ no sign of lettin’ up, is it?”

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Kyle flashed an unexpected smile. “Exactly. That gives me an idea.” He unzipped the jeans he’d barely put back on, then pushed them over his hips and let them drop back to the ground. Aimee’s eyes went straight to his manhood. “I like the way you think,” Dillon said with a sardonic grin, “but I doubt another ride’s gonna help you get back any faster.” Kyle grunted. “It’s exactly that no-other-track mind of yours that proves my doubts about leavin’ you here with an innocent virgin are well founded.” “I may be inexperienced,” Aimee cut in, “but after tonight I don’t think ‘innocent’ is quite the word for me.” “You were under his spell. A spell that won’t exactly break if I get up on out of here.” She stared at him. “What spell? Don’t tell me you guys do magic, too?” “Not that kind of magic. It’s more like your mate holds you under a certain thrall that’s hard to resist.” “I won’t do nothin’ of the sort,” Dillon said. “She can sleep on one side of the cave, and me on the other.” “Don’t kid yourself. You are just as much under her spell as she is yours.” “I can’t blame Dillon for my actions,” Aimee said. “I wanted to be part of what you two were doing.” Kyle shook his head. “You were standing there hypnotized, darlin’. Swayin’ back and forth, lost in his pretty eyes like a snake and its charmer.” He walked up to her and grabbed her chin. “Why else did you kiss him without any qualms about the blood on him?” He licked a thumb and brushed it over the corner of her mouth, coming back with a small smear of brown that he held up to her. Aimee’s eyes widened and shot over to Dillon. Most of the smears from his meal were still present, save around his lips. “Oh, God,” she murmured in disbelief. “I didn’t even notice.” She dragged a forearm

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across her mouth, her stomach twisting with the repulsive idea that she had blood on her. Jesus, Kyle had to be right. Dillon must hold some sort of enchantment over her for her not even to think about something like that. “I’m sorry,” Dillon said. “I wasn’t thinkin’, neither.” He turned a gaze on Kyle. “But what happens when you go back and get questioned about your disappearance? You know it’s impossible to lie to an alpha.” Kyle shook his head. “I’ll take care of it right now. Be right back.” He shifted without another word, and his black wolf trotted out the tunnel to the entrance of the cave. Aimee glanced at Dillon, who just shrugged. Moments later, an eerie wolf howl sounded outside that was answered from a distance. Barks and growls between locations went on for a short time, and then she saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes lighting the dark tunnel from wolf height. Kyle barely missed a beat in transforming back as he walked into the rear room of the cave, water streaming down his body from the still-pouring rain. “Damn wet out there,” he said, wiping his arms and chest down with his hands. He nodded to Dillon. “Catch any of that?” “Not all of it,” Dillon said. He pulled up one knee and draped an arm over it. “I told the pack that I got caught in the storm and am gonna weather it out in a shelter.” “Giving you an alibi for tonight,” Aimee said. “And it ain’t no lie,” Kyle went on. “Ain’t fit for man nor beast out there.” Dillon raised a dark eyebrow. “And if you are specifically asked if you were with anyone?” “Don’t see why it would come up.” Dillon tilted his head. “Our woman over there has your sweater on. Plannin’ to march up to the pack with her beguilin’ scent all over you?”

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Aimee shot a glance down at the red sweater, feeling a twinge of guilt. “She can hang onto the sweater. I’ll wash both your scents off in the stream on the way back, same as always. It’ll work, trust me.” Dillon sighed. “You’re the boss. I just hope to God you’re right.” Kyle turned to Aimee. “Let’s get some water in you, feed you the jerky and trail mix I have stuffed in my jacket, and settle in for the evenin’.” Her stomach growled at the mere mention of food, and Dillon laughed. “Guess that’s a yes.” “Definitely,” she said. “And maybe while we’re settling, you guys can explain to me about wolf politics and why you’re sneaking around with Dillon.”

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Chapter Three Aimee awoke to gray light barely spilling into the dimly lit cave, her head tucked against Kyle’s chest and her arm circling his slender waist. His jacket was draped over her so that her nose was pressed to the heady scent of male and leather. The thunderstorm had eased during the night. Even while it still raged overhead, it had sounded comforting with her safely in the back of the cave, tucked under the crook of Kyle’s arm. Her short curls were barely damp now as she lifted her arm from his waist to push strands from her face. She lifted her face to see that he was still asleep, with his back propped against the cave wall and his chin on his chest. His head had lolled to one side, offering her a close view of the scar. Her fingers itched to stroke it, to trace over the mark his past had left behind. Had he gotten the scar while caught in the thrall of the full moon? Or had it happened before he’d been turned? “My God,” a voice said from across the cave. “Are you always this beautiful in the mornin’?” She glanced over to find Dillon awake, sitting cross-legged on the ground. His jaw was stubbled with the same dark scruff that clung to his upper lip, and his dark hair was tousled from sleep. Dirt still streaked much of his body, but both Dillon and Aimee had washed off the blood with rainwater brought in by Kyle the night before. Her stomach churned at the thought of kissing a man smeared in animal blood. How could she have gotten so carried away that she hadn’t even realized it?

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“Good morning,” she said, pulling herself upright. “You had something of a busy night.” He nodded. “But better than any I’ve had since the pack broke up.” Dillon had been restless, phasing in and out of wolf form several times. Kyle had removed the animal carcass from the cave after the wolf had taken its fill, but the animal paced back and forth on the short leash of the neck chain, occasionally barking or growling in Aimee’s direction or staring into the tunnel. Then he would shudder and morph back, lie down on the ground and curl up to sleep. And this had been one of the “low” moons? Several times she’d wanted to go to him, feeling the odd pull that might have been mere sympathy or might have been more along the lines of the draw Kyle had warned them about. He had kept Aimee on the far side of the cave, though, where they stayed awake for some time. “Looks like you wore Kyle out.” Dillon grinned, and a mischievous twinkle lit his eyes. “Kyle ain’t all that wore, thank you,” the other man said from beside her. She turned to see his head still slumped to one side, but then his eyes popped open. “You’re awake.” She smiled. “I’m a light sleeper.” He shifted his body, cracking several joints in his neck and arms. “Ready to find your way back to the real world?” Dillon growled. “We gotta feed her breakfast, at least, before we go shovin’ her on her way.” Kyle glanced at him. “We’re out of food, unless you’re plannin’ on huntin’ her up somethin’ we would eat.” “We can cook it first.” “That’s okay, really,” Aimee said, getting to her feet and trying to ignore the queasy feeling that stirred from the image of Dillon tearing

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into a raccoon carcass. “I suppose it would be best if I got on my way.” “That eager to get rid of us?” Dillon said, that dangerous gleam still in his eye. “You need us as guides, you know.” He tugged on his neck chain. “Can I get the hell out of this thing now?” “Patience, cowboy.” Kyle chuckled as he dug around in his jeans pocket. “You usually ain’t in such a hurry to get out of bondage.” He turned his head to Aimee. “In fact, he kind of likes it. Gets him hot.” A little tickle licked at her stomach, but Dillon just scowled. “Yeah, well, it ain’t gettin’ me hot right now. I gotta take a piss.” Aimee smiled. “Is he always this grouchy in the morning?” She wandered over to where her shirt had been spread out to dry. It was still damp, but not soaked anymore. Kyle knelt behind Dillon’s back and used the key he’d pulled from his pocket to unlatch locks on his collar and torso chains. “Nope,” Kyle said. “Guess somethin’s got him riled.” He opened the collar hinge and slipped it off. Dillon rubbed at his neck, which bore reddened marks. “Aside from spendin’ the night forcin’ my way back to human form a dozen times?” Kyle went to work on the chains. “Maybe you were hopin’ Aimee would forget she was lost and stay here in the cave.” The chains fell to the ground with a loud clatter, leaving Dillon with embedded marks crossing over his chest. He rose, completely naked, and stalked across the cave floor toward her while holding her in his unsettling gaze. This was the first time she’d seen him loose, not to mention upright and fully bare. Her mouth went dry at the sight. He was taller than Kyle, only by an inch or two but enough for her to feel engulfed when he drew up in front of her. His soft but long cock was close enough for her to reach out and touch. She curled her hands at her sides to ward off the impulse. “I might have been thinkin’ somethin’ like that,” Dillon said, still staring at her.

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Everything about him—his heavy scent, his glittering eyes, the sensuous rhythm of his breaths—pulled her senses into overdrive. Her heart jumped into a frantic rhythm. Kyle was right about Dillon. While Kyle commanded undeniably heightened attraction, Dillon’s very nearness was enough to all but obliterate anything else in her surroundings. She swallowed. “I have to go, Dillon. People will be looking for me.” “People?” He reached for her hand, and a tingle shot up her arm when he took it. He raised her hand between them and tapped at the back of her ring finger. “David, you mean. Your fiancé.” “I told you, I haven’t given him an answer yet.” “Might as well have, keepin’ his ring on your finger. You know, that could give him the wrong idea, the way you’re wearin’ it and flashin’ it around.” She pulled her hand away. “I’m not flashing it around. And you don’t have the right to dictate what jewelry I wear.” “No, but I have the right to do this.” He pulled her to him and crushed her mouth against his. Her automatic reflex to struggle faded in an instant as the feel of his tongue sliding between her lips unleashed the first shockwave of desire in her. When he yanked back, the gold in his eyes was flickering like candle flames and her pussy was already dampening with need. Damn it. She sucked in a deep breath to steady her shaky voice. “And I have the right to leave.” “Come on, Dillon.” Kyle came up behind him. “Let’s clean up and get her back safe.” ****

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The three of them were underway within the hour, striking out from the cave in the opposite direction from the way Aimee vaguely remembered coming. Their feet squished through the wet forest floor, and their breaths puffed out in front of them with every step. Aimee wore Kyle’s jacket and sweater to ward off the chill in the air, her own shirt slung over her shoulder. Though the rain had stopped, the sun was nowhere to be found behind a thick veil of gray and white clouds. The morning air was crisp enough to burn her nostrils with each intake of breath, though Kyle seemed to have no trouble striding along in a tank top and jeans. “You’re quiet,” Dillon said to her as they navigated a small incline through a maze of trees and boulders. “I was just thinking about last night,” she said. “About the things you and Kyle told me.” “Hope it didn’t confuse you too much,” he said. A fiery blue gaze shot through her from under the brim of his hat. She placed her hand on a flat, damp rock to help her maneuver through a tight crevice. “I was just wondering why, if there are several wolf packs in the area, nobody has figured out what you are and done something about it.” “Everyone who works a ranch in these parts knows about the wolf problem,” Kyle said. “But only a rare few know the truth about the wolf problem. It ain’t that Shay Falls has an overpopulation of wolves. It’s that the wolves people think they kill get up and come back.” She nodded. “You said that your pack doesn’t know about Dillon because they held animosity toward his old pack. But you never said why.” Dillon cleared his throat. “My pack was wild, as you might have guessed.” She shrugged, stuffing her clammy, chilled hands into Kyle’s jacket pockets. “Yes, but having a harder time with full moons than Kyle doesn’t tell me much about life in your pack.”

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He pushed aside a pine branch in his path while she regarded his changed appearance. Dillon was altogether different now after washing up in a nearby stream and putting on the clothes that had been carefully folded in the corner. His dark brown Stetson shielded a good part of his face, but she could see his pensive expression while he considered her words. His tan suede jacket hung with fringe along the sleeves that swung back and forth with every self-assured step, and brown denims fit to every inch of his lower half like a glove. “With Blaise as our alpha,” he said, “the rules we lived by were more typical of the old country than out here, where the few packs in existence try to blend with nature—and humans.” She frowned. “The old country?” “Our kind originated in Europe,” Kyle said. “The highest concentration of shifters live in Romania, Russia, and parts east.” She nodded. “So Blaise didn’t want to live here peacefully.” Kyle snorted. “He wanted to dominate the territory. He all but waged war on the mountainside, poachin’ human cattle ranches and battlin’ other packs for huntin’ and matin’ rights. Deaths did happen. He even took the occasional human slave.” Her eyes widened and shifted back to Dillon. “What?” “It’s true,” he said. “Though our history ain’t quite as colorful as other packs like to make it sound.” “Colorful enough to give us reason to talk,” Kyle added. “It wasn’t a life I wanted. Most of us didn’t.” She blinked. “Were you ever, you know, with a slave?” He shook his head. “Wasn’t never my style. I helped one of the others free a slave once. Blaise didn’t like that at all. Lucky for me, he never found out I took part in it.” She sighed in relief. “So the pack broke up because you didn’t approve of Blaise’s actions?” Dillon shook his head. “Weres have to submit to their alpha for as long as they remain alpha.” She frowned. “So what happened?”

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Dillon paused, propping a booted foot on a low boulder. “An outsider named Kade Winchester challenged Blaise for alpha rights. He killed Blaise and won the right to take over. His first official command as our new leader was to punish us for Blaise’s crimes. Our crimes.” “How?” she asked in barely more than a whisper. “He disbursed the pack, prohibitin’ us to be together anymore. Doomed us to wander alone unless we could find other packs willin’ to take us in.” He let out a bitter snort. “But not only ain’t there enough packs in these parts to take in our strays one at a shot, there sure ain’t a one that would help one of Blaise’s weres. Not a snowball’s chance in the Sahara.” “They hated you that much?” Dillon looked to Kyle with a raised brow. “Our orders are to kill on sight,” Kyle said, and her eyes widened. “The first time I saw Dillon, that was an order I planned to carry out.” He pursed his lips. “Then I saw what he was tryin’ to do.” Dillon stopped short and growled. “Kyle, don’t.” Aimee turned to him. “Don’t what? I’d think you wouldn’t want us to have secrets. I’m supposed to be your mate and all.” His eyes flashed with a golden glimmer. “You’re supposed to be.” He flicked a glance down at her ring finger, then struck off up the hill again. She set her jaw and followed. The conversation halted abruptly as the incline grew steeper and more cragged with outcroppings of rock. Aimee used taller rocks to steady herself during the climb. She sniffed repeatedly to conquer her numb, runny nose, and her hands felt stiff and cramped from the cold. No doubt she looked a mess. An attempt to gain a foothold in what turned out to be a loose pile of leaves sent her off balance, and she slid backward with a shriek until Kyle’s hand shot out and grabbed her.

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“Thanks,” she said as he pulled her forward. He kept her hand in his as they continued on, even when the incline leveled off again. His grasp was so warm and familiar. So strong and secure. “Your hands are like ice,” he said gruffly, stopping to face her. “That’s early morning in the mountains for you,” she said, offering him a guilty smile. “I had gloves in the backpack that went over the cliff.” “Fuckin’ Caleb,” Dillon muttered. Watching her closely, Kyle clasped both her hands in his and raised them to his mouth. He breathed out forcefully and rubbed circulation back into her skin. It felt like heaven, but it wasn’t only her fingers that warmed to his touch. Her stomach began a slow, steady churn that kept a close pace to the golden magic shifting inside his blue eyes. “One other question,” she said to distract herself from the emotions spinning like a pinwheel in her chest. “If Dillon had an alpha that he had to obey—still has to, if he is forbidden to get his old gang back together—then how can you be his alpha, too? Can there be more than one?” “There can only be one,” Kyle said, still rubbing her hands. “But a wolf can be claimed by another alpha. Stolen away, if you will. Any command given prior to that time remains in effect for so long as the original alpha lives. But unless Kade challenged me to a fight and won Dillon back, he stays mine from now on.” “And you can be an alpha while you have one yourself?” she went on, still not understanding the whole wolf society thing. Kyle dropped her hands and sighed, a puff of steam roiling out from between his lips. “That’s a sort of gray area,” Dillon said from much closer behind her than she realized. She spun around to find him almost as close as Kyle, sandwiching her. She could feel the heat from both of their bodies, and it set loose a shiver inside of her.

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“How so?” she asked, breathless from more than the brisk climb. “There can only be one alpha,” Kyle said. “But because Dillon is kept outside my pack, I’ve been able to straddle a thin line.” “For now,” Dillon added, and a heavy look passed between them. “The penalty if Kyle is found out would be harsh.” The semantics spun around in her head, unable to resolve into any sort of logic. Still, one question stood out among the rest. She raised her face to Kyle’s. “Why did you do it, then? Why did you risk yourself to help Dillon?” He swallowed and glanced at the other man. “He sensed our destined bond the minute he saw me,” Dillon said. “The same way I felt it with you.” The air grew thick as silence fell between them, and her breaths came heavy and with more difficulty. The urge to kiss Kyle for coming to Dillon’s aid, and to kiss Dillon just for looking so damn hot while he stared at her from under the tilted angle of his hat, slammed into her fast and hard. She flicked out her tongue to moisten lips blasted dry by the cold air. Dillon saw her motion and moved toward her, but she stiffened. “I should really get going.” “You’re already here,” Kyle said, pointing ahead of them. “I am?” She followed his motion with her gaze and saw a sloped roof a short distance down the hill. She shook her head in amazement. “So if I had just kept going and hadn’t happened to glance over at the cave at that precise moment, I’d have stumbled right over the ranger station within a half hour.” “Fate,” Kyle said. She pushed between the men and started toward the structure, spotting the figures standing out front. Four men were hunched over the hood of a car she recognized, and her steps picked up in pace. Three wore green uniforms and ranger hats. David, who had his back

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to her, wore a black nylon ski jacket and a red knit cap. He was busy gesturing to something on his car. The station was still a good many yards off when one of the men glanced up and noticed her. He said something she couldn’t hear from the distance. David’s head whipped around, and he set off at a dead run toward her. “Aimee!” She stopped when he called out to her, but he kept running until he skidded to a stop and yanked her into his embrace. “Jesus, Aimee,” he said, burying his head in her hair. She stiffened in his arms while he squeezed her hard enough to almost cut off her oxygen. “Thank God you’re all right. I’ve been frantic.” He pulled back, his eyes trying to examine every inch of her at once. David did look worse for wear, with dark circles ringing heavy, red-rimmed eyes and a shadow of beard marring his always painstakingly clean-shaven face. “What happened to you? I searched everywhere until it got too dark and stormy. We were just studying a map of the area where I last saw you so we could start a manhunt.” “I’m sorry I worried you.” She heard the footsteps behind her right before David glanced up over her shoulder. He looked back at her, seeming to notice the borrowed leather jacket for the first time. “Where were you?” he said, eyeing the two males that came up behind her. “I got chased by a wolf and got lost,” she said. He blinked. “A wolf? It wasn’t even nighttime. Wolves aren’t active during the day.” She shrugged. “I know what I saw. After it chased me up the mountain, it ran off. I lost my bearings trying to find my way back and wound up deeper in the forest instead. I sheltered overnight in a cave when the storm came.” She twisted around to gesture to Kyle and Dillon, whose gazes were both locked on David. “These two men offered to guide me to the ranger station for help.”

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“Did they?” David asked, his eyes wary. Nevertheless, he thrust out his hand, which was covered by a thick, nylon glove. “Then I owe you both a debt for bringing back my fiancée.” The word twisted sideways in her stomach, and she saw Dillon go rigid. His eyes narrowed a fraction. Kyle’s face was stoic as ever, and combined with the slash of scar along his face, it gave him an even more dangerous appearance than the man who’d had to be chained up in a cave the night before. She could feel Dillon’s eyes on her, challenging her to refute David’s assumption. For a moment, she wondered whether she’d been better off lost in the woods with a strange wolf and a wild redhead with a gun. David seemed to notice that the other men were a rather intimidating sight, too, because he looked back and forth between them and then turned to Aimee with a frown. “So, is everything all right?” Aimee nodded, adding a smile for good measure. “You’re a mess, poor thing,” he went on, reaching into her hair and pulling a leaf from the short curls. He lifted her hand with a tiny smile. “I see you still have your ring. All crusted with dirt now, though.” She felt, more than saw, Dillon’s smart-ass grin. “I’m sorry. A little too much communing with nature, I guess.” David shook his head. “Don’t be sorry. I’m much happier having you back with me where you belong. I just meant that you must have had such a rough time of it.” She flinched when Dillon opened his mouth to reply, but two rangers walked up and interrupted the conversation. They took Aimee aside to ask all sorts of questions about her night lost on the mountain and urged her to let them call medics to check her vitals and take her to a hospital if need be. Hypothermia was nothing to mess with, they warned.

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Aimee tried to nod and appear as though she was listening when she was busy keeping a close watch on the men staring each other down nearby. There were things on this mountain that were even less wise to mess with than frostbite. “You’re probably dehydrated, too,” a narrow-faced ranger, whose hat appeared just a little too large, said to her. “Doesn’t take long, especially with the exertion of hiking in the mountains.” “I drank rainwater,” she said, wishing they’d be quiet so she could hear what Dillon was saying to David. “There wasn’t exactly a shortage of it during the storm.” His reply was drowned out by the question David, who stood with his arms folded, was posing to the two cowboys. “So, exactly where and when did you meet up with my Aimee?” She bolted forward with a nervous laugh. “Okay, I think we’re good here now.” Her eyes met David’s. “I don’t need a hospital. I promise to take a hot bath and drink plenty of fluids and never get lost again. Can we go?” He gave her a curious look. “I suppose so. Been a long night for us both.” “That it was,” Dillon said, and she did her best to smite him with a warning look. His own fired right back as he put his hands on his hips. “So that’s it, then?” What she wouldn’t have given to avoid the accusation in that fiery stare, but it would have looked dubious to keep her eyes averted from her supposed rescuer. Instead, she offered him a smile. “Of course that’s not it. I’m so very grateful to you both for helping me.” She stuck out the hand that felt oddly heavy with the diamond sitting on it. “Thank you for everything.” Kyle watched, silent, as Dillon searched her expression with narrowed eyes. The longer the silence held, the harder her heart pounded. Her extended hand quivered slightly. Right when she knew his behavior would trigger David’s suspicion, he broke out in a wide

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grin that doubled her pulse. He stepped forward, blocking David’s line of sight to her. He took her hand, but instead of shaking it, brought it to his lips. “The honor and pleasure”—his sultry delivery of the latter word speared through her stomach—“was all mine.” He barely brushed his mustache over the back of her hand, but it was enough to awaken every nerve ending along her arm. She yanked away with a glare, but he merely chuckled as he backed off. She shrugged out of Kyle’s jacket and held it out to him. “Here. Thank you so much for lending it to me.” David was staring at what she had on beneath. “Is that your sweater?” “It’s mine,” Kyle said. “She was drenched and cold, so I let her wear it.” His eyes shifted to her. “You can keep it. And the jacket. You need ’em more than I do.” David tensed beside her. “That’s generous. You must be frozen yourself, out here in nothing but a thin tank top.” A bare hint of smile slid up the unscarred side of Kyle’s face as he flexed strong arms across his chest. “I’m used to the mountain air. And I run hotter than most.” She saw David’s nostrils flare briefly as he and Kyle shared a silent moment, but then David gave a curt nod. “Then we’d better get going. Darling.” Her head whipped around to his. He’d never used any term of endearment with her before, not even in private. She turned to the two cowboys that she was suddenly reluctant to leave. This parting seemed so abrupt, so final. Words would come only after she cleared her throat. “Thank you both again.” Dillon folded his arms in a pose that mirrored Kyle’s, but he remained silent. So many other things hung between them unsaid. She realized that they had no way of contacting one another again and no way of offering that information without David wondering what the hell she was doing.

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“Good-bye,” she whispered after a moment, and she let David usher her to his car and tuck her inside. Kyle and Dillon stood without moving for as long as she could glimpse them through the side view mirror. Then they were gone.

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Chapter Four Late afternoon blossomed with sunshine, and Aimee basked in the warmth pouring down through whispering pine trees even as she panted with exertion. The heat prickled sweat under her white wool trench coat, but she left it in place as she looked around. The hillside around the cave looked so different bathed in dappled rays of light, and she took in the beauty of vibrant greens and sharp browns in the forest with a heavy sigh on her lips. Even more ridiculous than finding herself in this same place again was the attire she wore while trudging over the hilly terrain. A flared, knee-length dress and the rubber galoshes she kept in her car for emergencies were hardly fitting for hiking wear. In her defense, Shay Falls was the last place she’d planned to head after finishing her weekly Sunday visit to her mother and extracting herself from the male nursing assistant who’d been unusually chatty. But there she was. Her Sunday habit never wavered from routine. There was laundry, sprucing up in a Sunday dress to spend two hours at the nursing home, then a trip to the supermarket to pick up groceries for her weekly bulk cooking spree. But today had veered from the norm right from the offset. After the drive back down the mountain, David had dropped her at her place just in time to shower and dress before going to see her mother. He had offered to stay and look after her, but Aimee wanted time alone. So much had happened since they’d hiked up to the Shay Falls overlook, so much that she needed to process before she could get a grip on her life again. She had whispered some of it—the less unbelievable parts, at least—to her mother. Even

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though she knew the woman could no longer understand what she said to her, it gave her a small bit of comfort to say the words while she held her mother’s frail hand. Now she stood at the mouth of the cave where things had taken a wild turn the night before, wondering why she’d come back. Her car had pointed itself toward the mountain almost of its own accord, and she’d ascended more than a thousand feet up before realizing she hadn’t gone to the market as planned. The image of Kyle and Dillon staring after her as David drove off flashed again, and she sighed. She owed them better than the awkward, vague farewell she’d offered at the ranger station. They had taken care of her during the storm, Kyle especially. He might not have been as warm and personable as Dillon, but he had given her clothing, food and water. He had held her while she slept. Both men had provided companionship at a time when she might otherwise have felt very lost and alone and afraid. It was the more electric aspects of that companionship that she tried to banish thoughts of while she ducked inside the mouth of the cave. She tucked her water bottle under her arm and pulled out the flashlight she’d taken from her car upon parking near the ranger station. Flicking it on, she plunged into the dark and waved the beam in front of her to light the way back to where she’d spent the night with two of the most seductively virile men she’d ever met. “Hello?” she said when she’d gone maybe halfway in, not wishing to startle anyone. “Kyle? Dillon?” No answer or sound came from the back of the cave, which she came across soon after. The room was dark without the warm firelight of lanterns, and a sweep of her flashlight beam illuminated nothing more than the pile of chains lying in vacant space. She frowned as she stood there, wondering what the hell to do now. Why she had assumed the men would be sitting around a damp cave awaiting her return was beyond her. Dillon had said that he didn’t live in the cave all the time, and that Kyle didn’t at all.

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“Damn,” she said to nobody, and she headed out. What a waste of gas and time, making the drive up from the base of the mountains for nothing. The song of jaybirds and a gentle breeze kept her company while she clomped back along the woods, but she was focused on neither. Instead, she pondered the heavy, disheartening sensation in her chest. Was she truly so disappointed over not getting to deliver another round of thanks to men she’d known for all of a few hours? As her palm found the same flat rock to steady herself that she’d used that very morning, she had to admit that her reasons for driving straight back up the mountain were more complicated than obligation to express proper appreciation. She’d very much wanted to see them again. She’d hoped to glimpse Dillon’s you-know-you’re-mine smile, as irritating as it was, and Kyle’s rugged, yet somehow trust-invoking stare. There was so much she’d learned about the cowboys but so much more that she wanted to know. How had Kyle gotten that scar? How long had they been werewolves, and how had it happened? Did they have jobs? Families? Hopes and dreams? The steep incline rose before her, and she paused for a long drink from her sports bottle. A ray of light pierced the tree canopy, catching the facets of the diamond on her hand. Tiny, refractive rainbows scattered onto the rocks around her. She had no business here, satisfying her curiosity about men who had not put that ring onto her finger. She had no business satisfying anything right now, not while the question of whether she was truly intending to marry her employer was still a serious one. And it had to be. David had raised some solid, if not particularly romantic, points as to why a union between them was a sound proposition. Could life with an out-of-control shifter cowboy, seductive though he may be, offer her the security she had worked for since high school? Sure, plenty of people had tried to explain to her that there was more to life than money, and it wasn’t that she didn’t believe it. But nights spent indulging the erotic

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demands of a pair of smoking-hot males would hardly pay for her mother’s care unless she became the world’s first virgin hooker. She snorted and swallowed another swig of water, wiping a drip from her chin before recapping the bottle. It was better that she hadn’t found them. She wasn’t thinking clearly. She was tired, and her legs and feet ached from yet another unscheduled mountain hike. There was no need to do anything except leave this place behind. Perhaps she could pull out memories of her cowboy wolves on particularly long, lonely nights when she sought the diversion of “what if” fantasies. But that would be it. The climb up the slope was harder this time, with no strong men on hand to offer a hand. Her leg muscles burned from the effort, but at least she made it without falling and spoiling her dress, which was all white with big splashes of pink orchids. The coat didn’t fare quite as well, however. The white wool bore two distinct dirt smudges by the time she crested the hill and looked down over the ranger station once again. She returned to her tiny gray coupe and gratefully kicked off her rubber boots in favor of low-heeled pumps before gripping the steering wheel to begin the drive back down to her apartment in Philips, the town nestled at the base of the mountain. Her body shook with fatigue, and her palms pulsed with the raw sting of pulling herself along dozens of rocks. The cell phone in her coat pocket buzzed with an incoming call, but she ignored it to focus on the winding, narrow turns. At the bottom of Shay Falls Outlook Drive, she turned onto the main highway road and passed by a tiny handful of shops, motels, and a gas station that comprised the mecca of downtown living in the falls. A blue neon sign flashed unsuccessfully against the brilliant flare of afternoon sunlight, but it caught her attention nonetheless. The bar sign promised food and drink inside, and her stomach growled loudly the moment she spotted it. Lunch was long overdue, and getting some kind of fuel in her belly might help her make the drive back.

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With a sigh, she pulled into the parking lot. Twisting her rearview mirror for a peek showed a reflection that could have been worse after her trek. Still, despite carefully applied makeup and the bounce of freshly washed curls, her pale, heavy-lidded expression made it clear that the past twenty-four hours had taken a toll. She got out of the car and frowned down at her stained coat, then shrugged it off to toss it on the passenger’s seat. Her dress had no sleeves, just wide straps that melded into a deep sweetheart neckline. Still, the air was warm enough that losing the soiled coat wasn’t unduly cold, and the bar would be warmer still. The burger special advertised in the window would heat her up even more. A hot meal sounded divine right then. When she leaned down to smooth wrinkles from her brushed cotton skirt, she noticed a wide hole that had torn through the lower leg of her nylons. “Great,” she muttered. Glancing around, she ducked back into her car and closed herself inside long enough to wriggle off the ruined pantyhose and drop them on the floorboards. Too bad she had no panties beneath, but it wasn’t like anyone would notice. The skirt was plenty long enough to hide it. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but feel decidedly wicked and naughty as the folds of her skirt swished around her, bringing occasional breezes against her naked pussy. Some virgin she was. She pushed aside her ridiculously oversexed thoughts as she entered the Wild West Bar, which appeared more small town than cowboy on the inside. There was no sawdust on the floor, no mechanical bulls or other gimmicky western decor in the dim interior. There were heavily lacquered wood tables and chairs, a pair of giant elk antlers mounted behind the bar, and a series of black-and-white photos dotting the walls that appeared to have been snapped at local ranches. A jukebox in the corner played an old fifties tune instead of standard cowboy fare. An antique-style sign on a wrought iron stand greeted her just inside the door, and after coming in from the bright sun she had to

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squint to make it out. Seat yourself, it read, so she glanced around the dining area that was dark enough so that one could not see clearly from one end to the other. She found a table for two nestled in the corner farthest from the long bar and headed toward it. There came a familiar knowledge that several pairs of eyes were following her, but she ignored them as she made her way over. Aimee had received a fair share of male attention since she was old enough to understand what it was, not that she responded to it. This time, however, it was more likely that she was drawing stares because of her out-of-place attire. Who dressed up in Sunday clothes to have a burger in a mountain dive bar? If they only knew about the little secret she was hiding beneath her skirts. A private smile flicked across her lips while she sat down and grabbed a plastic-coated menu from a metal holder on the table. As hungry as she was, even the basic grease-joint fare sounded delectable. Deciding on her order took more doing than she’d thought, but she picked out the fish and chips basket and then glanced around the bar while she waited for someone to come take her order. Late lunch for her meant dinner for a lot of other folks, and early-bird diners took up several tables. A number of male eyes slid over her, and she knew from experience it was best not to engage them. It gave the wrong impression. She let her gaze shift to the decor on the wall next to her and focused on a photo of two cowboys staring out at her while standing on opposite sides of a black horse. One held a black hat in his hand and had his head turned at enough of an angle to see a shaved strip of scalp with some sort of markings beneath—a tattoo, perhaps. The other wore his light-colored Stetson at a jaunty angle that reminded her of someone else. An odd sense of recognition flickered in her pulse, but as she peered harder, it was clear that the men were not Kyle and Dillon. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a commonality beyond cowboy spirit. She leaned closer to the photograph, staring into the men’s serious, frozen expressions and

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half wondering whether their eyes would glitter with pale flecks of gold if the photo had been rendered in full color. The scribbled inscription beneath bore last year’s date and the words Taken at the Winchester-Saratoga Ranch. She frowned. Winchester. She’d heard that name before. “Hi.” The voice jerked her around on her hard, wooden seat. A thin, freckle-faced man with pale brown eyes and a crooked grin stood over her, smiling down as though they were the best of friends. She doubted he was the waiter, as he held no pad or pencil and was wearing street clothes. His Jack Daniel’s T-shirt hung loose on his lanky frame, and his eyes were a bit too clear to believe he was truly a frequent friend of the brand. “Um, hi,” she said. He nodded toward the picture. “Saw you lookin’ real intent-like at that photo,” he said. “Just so happens that’s the ranch where I work. My name’s Hank, by the way. Hank Junior to those who know my daddy.” She nodded, wondering how to get rid of him nicely. “I see.” “That there’s Kade.” He reached out with a skinny arm to point at the cowboy with the tattooed scalp. “The other one’s Chaz. They own the ranch together.” Kade. Her breath caught as the name clicked. An outsider named Kade Winchester challenged Blaise for alpha rights. He won the right to take over. She blinked at the image. The man in that photo had been Dillon’s alpha. He’d been the one to break up the pack and doom Dillon to roam the mountain, alone and hated. And she’d just happened to sit right down in front of that image. An eerie prickle shot up along the back of her neck. “I ain’t just a hand there, neither,” the man went on. “Been the WS’s cow boss for goin’ on five years now.” His neck jutted up from

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the top of his shirt, his Adam’s apple bobbing strangely with every word. “Mind if I join you?” “Oh.” She glanced around. “I really wasn’t looking for any company. I just wanted a quick bite to eat.” “Then you shouldn’t have outta worn that dress.” He hooked his thumbs through the loops in his worn blue jeans. “You look mighty more prettied up than someone who came in here to be alone.” The appearance of an apron-wearing waitress filled Aimee with gratitude. “Will there be one of you, or two?” the woman asked. “It’s only me,” Aimee said before Hank could intervene, and his face fell. “Sorry, but I’m just passing through. Nothing more.” He retreated to the bar and hunched over a pint of beer. She ordered her meal and a root beer at a half shout over the din of Elvis crooning “Heartbreak Hotel” from the jukebox, then willed herself to blend into the background as she watched the waitress saunter off. Aimee glanced down at her noticeable cleavage and had to concede that Hank was right. A sleeveless, low-cut dress didn’t exactly scream leave me the hell alone. She would have drawn less attention if she’d kept on her dirty white coat and galoshes. “I don’t blame you one bit, darlin’,” came a voice from the table beside hers. She turned to find an older man with rheumy eyes and greasy saltand-pepper hair leering at her. “Excuse me?” His gaze slid without apology to her breasts. “If I had a set of titties like that, I’d spend all my time starin’ at ’em, too. And grabbin’ ’em.” Her mouth fell open as her arms shot up to fold across her breasts. She shoved her seat back loudly and stood up with a pointed glare. Then she stalked off to take a seat several tables away. As she stormed off, she heard him cackle and call after her. “Aw, come on, sugar. Don’t leave.” She plopped down in the new seat with a scowl. Coming here had been a bad idea.

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Her waitress scurried by, and Aimee waved her down to apologize for moving. “And could I change my root beer to an actual beer?” A smile quirked the corner of the waitress’s mouth. “Bottle or tap?” “Tap, please.” The mug plunked down in front of her a couple of minutes later, and she sipped the brew through a stout head of foam while wondering why she’d ordered it. Beer had never been her favorite beverage, nor was she much of a drinker. Plus she had the long drive back on a twisting mountain road. One wouldn’t hurt, though, especially one she had no intention of finishing. Foam clung stubbornly to her lips as she continued to drink, and as she swiped at it with her tongue, she wished her food would hurry up so she could get the hell out. She had barely relaxed enough to sigh in relief before someone grabbed her arm. Beer from the mug she held sloshed down her cleavage. “Hey!” she shouted. “Dance with me, honey.” She jerked back with a gasp at the unshaven, beer-bellied lout that leaned over her. His mop of black curls appeared not to have seen a comb that day, perhaps not for quite some time before that. His dingy white T-shirt appeared to have been similarly denied a tumble in the laundry. “No, thank you,” she said, her voice shaken. “I’m not here to dance.” “Me, neither,” he said, crow’s feet wrinkling around the corners of his dark eyes as he grinned at her. “But a gal like you can’t just sit here drinkin’ alone. That’d be a double damn shame, and a criminal act to boot.” Irritation snapped like a hungry crocodile inside of her. “What the hell’s wrong with everyone in here?” Her voice barely crested over the music. “I just want to eat my damn food and go home. You got a problem with that?”

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“Not if you take me with you.” He reached down and pulled her up out of her chair by the upper arm. “Come on. Just one dance. Elvis is the King, you know.” The song ended on precisely that note, and she yanked away. “Stop that.” Why was this bar full of horny morons? She’d never been harassed this much by the male persuasion before, not even when her best friend had shoved her inside the boys’ locker room as a senior prank when she’d heard Aimee was still a virgin. To further screw with her day, a crooning love song struck up on the jukebox. The jerk took that as an invitation to grab her waist and swing her around. “Don’t be like that. It’s just a friendly dance.” She took hold of his upper arms and tried to wriggle away as his hand slid down to cup her bottom. “Jesus, would you feel that sweet ass?” She lashed out to slap him full in the face, and as he staggered backward, an anomaly caught her attention over his shoulder. She blinked at the odd, pale-yellow dots looming in the blackness in the dim, far corner of the room. The pair of golden orbs rose higher, brightening to a gleam as they moved forward until a familiar face emerged from the shadows. “Dillon,” she whispered. He looked just the way he had when she’d left him that morning, except his hat and coat were gone. He’d paired a red corduroy shirt with his brown jeans and wore a savage expression that had her suddenly afraid for the man who’d regained his balance and was again coming toward her. The man never made it. Dillon gripped his shoulder and reeled him around. “Back the fuck off, dicktard. The lady don’t want your company.” “What are you doing here?” Aimee asked, breathless with gratitude. He turned to her. “I could ask you the same, but I guess I can see what you’re doin’ here. Look at you, darlin’.” His eyes roamed over

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her. “All dressed up and ready to attract these drunk, leerin’ assholes.” She folded her arms and sneered back at him. “Don’t suppose you could have stepped in two drunk, leering assholes ago?” “This one got out of line with my last nerve.” “Fuck you, cowpoke,” the man spat, quite literally, considering spittle flew out from between his crusty lips. “This is between me and her.” Dillon took hold of the man’s faded T-shirt and raised a fist. “The only thing between you and her is me.” Aimee stepped around. “Dillon, don’t. Stop it.” He lowered his fist but whirled on her with a wild look of undulating golden eyes. “No. You stop it.” “Stop what?” He grabbed her upper arm and strode off toward a hallway in the back, dragging her along beside him. Aimee tried to pull away, but he held her fast. “Dillon, cut it out. Where are you taking me? Stop!” Dillon yanked open a red door marked Ladies and pushed her inside. She was still protesting when he followed her in, pausing only long enough to shove the door lock into place. He turned and stalked toward her, and she retreated backwards until he had her pressed against the chipped black-and-white tile wall. “You stop, Aimee.” He was close enough for her to smell the tang of hard liquor on his breath. Combined with his male musk and proximity, the effect wound him tightly through her senses. “Stop intoxicatin’ men with your scent.” Her eyes shot wide. “What, you think I led those idiots on?” “I think Kyle and I were wrong about you.” “Meaning what?” “We assumed that as long as we kept your clothes on and didn’t sink inside that hot pussy of yours, we wouldn’t trigger the matin’ frenzy.”

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She wrinkled her nose. “The what?” “Women destined to become the mates of weres are highly attractive to males, somethin’ I’m sure you’ve noticed about yourself for some time now.” She swallowed but shook her head. “I don’t have time to pay attention to things like that. And where’s Kyle, by the way?” “But if a bond mate is awakened sexually before she has been properly claimed,”—he paused and sucked in a breath through his pearly-white teeth—“then, hoo-ee. She becomes downright irresistible.” He bent closer, inhaling deeply with his nostrils pressed to her hair. “Oh, Lord have a bucket of mercy. We really did a number on you last night, didn’t we? Turned on a faucet of pheromones so thick any man in your target zone will go stark crazy with lust.” Her voice shook when she tried to answer. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He lifted his head to fix her with a stare that shot fire through her belly. “Those brown doe eyes of yours are so innocent but so deep that they can lose a man in their depths. And your body? Pure madness when you sashayed into the bar wearin’ that sexy-sweet dress. You are so ripe, untouched by men you are not destined for. Men who pray that they’ll be the one to take that innocence and burn it like wildfire.” He pressed his body closer until she could feel his heat rush through her. His stiff cock pressed desperately against the mound of her pussy. “But none of ’em are the one, Aimee. You know that. You know who this body is meant for.” His hands ran along her arms, his thumbs brushing the sides of her breasts along the way. Shocks of electricity followed his touch, sparking a carnal throb between her legs that she ached for him to hone and sharpen and spike into a grinding climax. A gasp escaped from her parted lips, and he quickly leaned down to capture it with his mouth. His moan vibrated against her lips as he plundered her mouth with his tongue.

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“Fuck, this is just the way I’ve always pictured it,” he whispered, then pulled back and stared at her skirt. “Bet you ain’t even wearin’ any panties.” Her eyes widened. “How the hell can you tell that? My dress isn’t see-through.” Or was it? God, was that why every man in the place figured he had a shot with her? “Jesus, it’s true?” Dillon pulled her away from the wall, holding her against him with one arm while he ran a hand up the back of her thigh, beneath her skirt. His fingers set off tingles of fierce pleasure wherever they touched. When he grazed her bare ass, he hissed. “Shit. You’re killin’ me, Aimee, comin’ here to me like this because you know you’re mine.” She pushed his hand away, even though her body was screaming for him to plunge those fingers deep inside the pussy she could feel growing slippery and wet. “I didn’t come here like this on purpose. My nylons got ripped when I was tromping around the woods trying to find you two.” He raised an eyebrow. “You dressed like this to visit me at the cave?” “No, I dressed like this to go visit my mother. I just started driving when I left her and found myself up here before I realized what I was doing. So don’t get any wild ideas.” “Oh, I’ve got ideas. My fantasy in the flesh,” he murmured, raking his fingers through her hair. “The one I’ve had of my mate for years.” He turned her around to face the large mirror over the sink while he looked on from just over her shoulder. She found him staring at her in the glass and watched him stroke the bare spot on her neck just below the ends of her curly hair. Her nipples tightened enough to see them straining through the fabric of her dress. “Did you know that weres and mates dream or fantasize about each other?” he asked. “That mates will play out their male’s fantasy without even realizin’ they’re doin’ it?” “Don’t be silly.”

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“You’ve dreamed of me before, haven’t you?” She shook her head but sighed when he shot her a skeptical look. “I used to daydream about cowboys with glittering eyes. I’ve just been so focused on work that it’s been a while since I had one.” Her stomach tightened in memory. Men in hats and boots with snug jeans and sexy laughter had populated many a masturbatory fantasy, but she couldn’t recall a specific face. He smiled. “Do you want to hear my fantasy?” She nodded, unable to speak. “I always assumed it’s of the day I first see my mate. I’m sittin’ alone in a bar when she walks in. She’s completely different from the other women there. They’re all wearin’ slut jeans and tank tops or tight denim shorts. This woman has on a proper white dress, sweet as can be. My heart begins pumpin’ faster because I recognize her. She will be mine.” His hands slid over her shoulders, stroking along her collarbone. Aimee leaned against the sink to steady her knees. “She orders a beer, completely unaware that I’m watchin’ her every move. When her tongue flicks out to lick thick, foamy beer suds from her luscious pink lips, the blood in my veins begins to boil.” “You’re making this up,” she said in a faint quiver. A seductive smile lit up the side of his face. “No, darlin’. Every word is true.” The fingers tracing her collarbones joined in front of her throat to slide slowly, maddeningly down her sternum. Now her nipples throbbed with need, aching to have him cup a breast in each hand and squeeze. “Every man’s eyes are fastened to her creamy skin, but she don’t seem to notice. When I walk up to her, however, my gaze is the one she cannot ignore. The one that lights her soul on fire.” A gasp escaped her lips when his hands circled around her breasts. “I sit down beside her, and she tries to make conversation. I can’t listen to a word, though. My body is screamin’ at me to claim her for

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my own. Finally, I can’t take it anymore and slide my hand along a silky thigh, up inside that pretty little skirt.” He paused to demonstrate, lightly grazing the sides of her thighs as her skirt rose higher. She stared at him in the mirror, watching his eyes bloom with a golden flame that ignited her need. His voice sounded strained when he continued. “My fingers brush the soft curls of her bare cunt, and that’s when I realize she’s got no panties on.” Her head fell back against his chest while his hands slid around her front and stroked down between her thighs, which shook at his skilled, practiced touch. She gripped the front of the sink harder as his fingers toyed with the hood of her clit. “Dillon,” she whispered. “The second I feel that wet, soft heat,” he whispered in her ear, “I know I can’t wait another moment to possess her. I take her to the bathroom, lock the door, and lift that skirt to sink inside her with the cock that’s been rock hard in my pants since the minute she walked in.” Still holding her eyes in the mirror with a glazed expression, Dillon ground himself against her ass so she could feel the truth of his words. “She’s a virgin,” he went on hoarsely, “but she don’t refuse me. She knows her purity belongs to me, and she aches for me to take it. I fuck her while she’s hangin’ on to the sink, her hot, velvet cunt drivin’ me to the brink of madness. Right before I shoot her full of my hot cum, I make her slip off the sleeves of her dress and peel it down to the waist. I don’t want to muss that innocent white fabric when I sink my fangs into her sweet, soft shoulder.” Her eyes flared wide, and she stiffened against him. “What, you mean you want to bite me?” “I want to mark you as mine.” Aimee swallowed. “I don’t want you hurting me.” His fingers slid lower along her wet lips, then he pushed one up inside of her slippery pussy. “Oh, it don’t hurt, darlin’. Not like that.

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After the first stab of pain, your body blossoms with fierce pleasure enough to bring you off and make your cunt spasm around my cock.” Another question about being bitten niggled at the back of her mind, but it fell away as his finger slid in and out, her pussy walls contracting around him as waves of pleasure began building in her pelvis. Dillon’s other hand worked on her clit, tracing tiny circles around the hard nub until she wanted to scream. Her body was rapidly climbing to a peak as she leaned against him. Then he suddenly withdrew, sending a whimper of frustration out of her. “But none of that can happen now,” he said. “Why not?” “Tonight is the high moon.” Her breath came in shallow gasps. “So you’d lose control now, even though it isn’t night?” He gave a sexy little laugh. “It’s still the phase. Daylight or not, I’d definitely shift if I were to try and fuck you full-on.” He leaned down to her ear and moved her hair aside to whisper, “But that don’t mean you ain’t gonna come standin’ right here at this sink.” She shivered at the feel of his breath on her ear. “Take down the straps of your dress.” “You’re not going to bite me, are you?” “No. Let me see those full breasts.” She quivered at the thought of exposing herself to him here in a public restroom, and how she’d unwittingly fulfilled his fantasy. With shaking hands, she slipped her dress off her shoulders and bared her breasts for him. “Fuckin’ beautiful,” he said. “Jesus, look at those hard, pink nipples. Touch ’em for me.” She hesitated, but the unfulfilled need still pulsing through her clit prompted her to do as instructed. Pinching her nipples sent flickers of heightened pleasure to her cunt, and her breathing grew ragged again. Dillon sank down on his knees behind her, pushing her dress up over the back of her ass. “Open your legs wide for me, darlin’. That’s

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right.” He flicked a glance around her, up into the mirror. “Don’t stop pleasurin’ those perfect tits. And don’t look away. Watch yourself, Aimee. I want you to watch yourself in the mirror while you help me make you come.” With that, his head disappeared behind her again, out of view of the mirror. She faced herself there, watching her lips part in a silent O of surprise as she felt a flick of wet warmth between her legs. His tongue went to work on her slit, rubbing back and forth over the entrance to her pussy while his hands spread her ass cheeks wide. Without his wide chest to lean back on, her legs began to shake until she thought they might buckle. She used one hand to grip the sink while the other rubbed each nipple in turn. “You taste so fuckin’ sweet, baby,” Dillon said. “I could eat this hot pussy for a week.” Then his tongue found her hard, throbbing clit, and she was too lost in the erotic rhythm of her body to make out his murmured endearments anymore. Her face flushed pink in the mirror, dappled with glistening perspiration. She licked her lips, moaning louder while he brought her higher and closer to a state of uncontrolled madness. He spread her cheeks wider and made long strokes with his tongue, all the way from her clit to the pucker of her tight asshole. Juices ran down the insides of her thighs as he worked while she pinched her nipples harder, and their reflection in the glass reddened just like her cheeks. When Dillon’s tongue jabbed inside her pussy at last, Aimee felt her entire body stiffen. She tried to obey his wish to watch herself come, but her eyes squeezed shut as she cried out at the tumultuous waves cresting over her. She grabbed hold of the sink with both hands to ride out the orgasm, hearing nothing but the pounding beat of her heart while Dillon slid his tongue in and out and then around her clit. She was still climaxing when he pulled away, and as far gone as she was, she wasn’t aware of the full reason for the thundering sound at first. It wasn’t until an indeterminable number of moments later that

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she realized the pounding noise wasn’t solely from her wildly hammering heart. “Come on already,” someone was shouting while they beat on the other side of the door. “It’s a damn piss pot, not a motel room.” “Oh, God,” Aimee whispered, her face flaming hotter and redder than her orgasm had fanned it. Someone knew what she’d just been doing. “Come on, Dillon. We have to go.” He didn’t respond. She wriggled back into her dress and spun around to find him seated on the floor, holding his head in his hands. “Dillon? What’s wrong?” He lifted his face to hers, and she gasped aloud. His eyes were aflame in red-rimmed gold, but it was the long, unhinged lower jaw and needle-sharp fangs protruding from it that sent her into full alarm. “Oh, no.” “Sorry.” His voice had a distorted, odd rasp to it. “Guess any excitement where you’re concerned is more than I can control.” The pounding on the door grew more frantic. “Open the hell up already, or I’m gettin’ the manager.” She crouched down in front of him. “Can you change back? Someone’s about to break the door in. They’ll see you like this.” “I’m tryin’.” He gave her a pointed look. “You might want to step off a bit. Your scent ain’t makin’ it easier.” Aimee jerked backward. “I’m so sorry.” The edges of his skin began to ripple, and she swore under her breath. Would he shift right in the bathroom? What would he do to her if he did? How could she explain it to the patrons in the bar? She whipped around to the sink and turned the water on full blast, then pumped the hand soap trigger repeatedly to get several squirts in her palms. She scrubbed her hands, then her arms, sticking both under the faucet to rinse off the suds. Next, she moved to her face, neck, and chest. “What are you doin’?” Dillon asked weakly. “If my scent is the problem, I’m going to try and get rid of it.”

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He chuckled softly. “That ain’t gonna help you.” He pushed up to his feet. “Then again, it might help me.” She moved out of his way, clutching her hands together in front of herself while she watched him splash cold water on his face. He closed his eyes, his lips moving with rhythmic, indecipherable words that he whispered under his breath. Mercifully, his jaw began to retract. “Dillon, you did it,” she said, her pulse fluttering with gratitude. “For now. Let’s get out of here.” She nodded, and he yanked the door open to find a pair of goggleeyed women, one of whom had her fist raised for another round of door beating. “My humblest apologies, ladies,” he said, layering thick charm into his tenor. “I am terrible sorry for intrudin’ where I don’t belong.” They just stared as Aimee tailed Dillon out of the back. She refused to meet any of the eyes she could feel burning through her while he grabbed his coat and hat, and she her purse. Her food sat cold and untouched, and Dillon dropped some bills onto the table. “I can give you a ride to the ranger station,” she said when he pushed open the door. Outside, the waning light and first strains of cricket song announced the day’s descent into early evening. The temperature had cooled down, too, and she grabbed her keys from her white handbag to open the car and pull out her coat. “It’ll make the trip to the cave a lot quicker.” He tugged on his hat before laying his jacket on her car hood to help her slip on her coat. “Appreciate the offer, but I don’t think that’s such a great idea.” “It’s a long walk from here.” “I think you’ll find that I’m in pretty good shape.” He took a couple long steps backward, away from her. “Where’s Kyle, by the way? You never told me. He should be here helping you.”

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“Ain’t seen him since you left. He’s off with his real pack.” The twinge of bitterness was evident. “But you shouldn’t be alone tonight.” “Alone is pretty much what I am, thanks to my old alpha.” He offered her a sad smile. “He made us a bunch of lone wolves.” “I saw a picture of him in the bar,” she said. “Kade.” Dillon nodded. “Oh, yeah. Kade’s considered a real upstandin’ rancher in these parts. Course, normal folk don’t know the truth about him and his pup, Chaz. That they grow their own livestock so they can ravage ’em to bloody bits. And the rest of us don’t know exactly how the hell he managed to keep his ranch runnin’, since livestock don’t take to weres. That’s why most of us can’t find ranch work no more. I ain’t been able to do it since Blaise turned me.” “Can’t you ask Kade how? He is, was, your alpha.” “Kade ain’t interested in the pack he took over. Only reason he done it was to keep us from claimin’ a share of the herd and to deny us rights to his woman.” The latter twisted hard in her stomach, and she tried to keep her voice even. “A woman?” He shook his head. “It’s ancient history.” “A few months ago isn’t entirely ancient. Who is she?” “She’s nobody. Don’t be jealous, Aimee. I’ve had bigger problems than feelin’ a draw to another pack mate’s female for some time. It don’t bother me anymore. Especially now that I’ve found the one who is truly meant for me.” She sighed. “I should get back. It’ll be dark soon.” He cocked his head. “Why did you come back, Aimee? Really.” She looked up at him from under her lashes. “Everything felt so rushed at the ranger station that I didn’t get a chance to thank you two properly for helping me. I wanted to be sure you knew how much I appreciated it.” The knowing grin returned. “Well, now, I suppose our visit together has shown me your heartfelt appreciation.”

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“That wasn’t what I came up here for.” “Sure it was.” He glanced at her hand. “When are you gonna stop pretendin’ you’re still thinkin’ of marryin’ another man?” She lifted her chin. “I’m not pretending. I am still thinking about it.” His eyes narrowed. “After what you just let me do to you?” “I didn’t ask for it.” Dillon’s eyes slid over her. “I might be inclined to argue that, what with you wearin’ that dress. Either way, you didn’t exactly fight me off.” He stepped closer, every inch of him enveloping her senses. “You want me. Admit it.” She retreated until her back was pressed against her car door. “I’ll admit there’s a certain chemistry between us. But chemistry doesn’t pay my bills.” A sour expression crossed Dillon’s face. “My fantasy didn’t include the fact that my mate turns out to be a gold digger.” She fisted her hips. “Don’t you dare make this sound like it’s about me living a fast-lane lifestyle. It’s about responsibilities I’ve had to shoulder since I was still in high school.” “What responsibilities?” “My mother’s medical bills, for one.” That seemed to soften his expression. “What’s wrong with your mama?” She leaned back against the car with a sigh. “I started noticing her forgetfulness in my freshman year. By the time I was a senior and they’d diagnosed her with early Alzheimer’s, she couldn’t work anymore. I had to get two jobs to pick up the load. She progressed to where I couldn’t leave her home alone and had to hire caregivers on top of paying for her medication and handling our regular bills. Now she’s in Applewood Hills, a special care facility for Alzheimer’s patients. They keep her safe and give her therapy to help extend the time she’s got left.” Her eyes burned with threatened tears. “I visit

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every Wednesday night and Sunday afternoon. She doesn’t remember me most of the time.” A tear dripped down onto the front of her coat, and Dillon swore under his breath and pulled her into a warm embrace. “I am sorry, Aimee,” he said, tucking her head under his chin. “I had no idea. I didn’t mean to judge you like that.” The urge to break down in his arms and sob out the frustrations pent up over the past eight years was almost overpowering. She swallowed down her fast-rising emotion. “Yes, you did mean to judge me. But that’s not the point.” She pulled away from him and searched his pale blue eyes. “I wasn’t making ends meet until David came along. He has been there for me, helping pay her bills. He told me it was because my performance as his assistant would suffer if I had to keep working multiple jobs. But I know it was really because he’s a giant softie.” She paused, watching a muscle quirk in Dillon’s jaw. “How can I turn my back on that to pursue chemistry with you in the hope it leads to love? That doesn’t make any sense.” “Love don’t make sense. It overwhelms our senses. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.” “Love doesn’t fix my problems. What kind of life would I be offered if I wanted you to overwhelm me?” He folded his arms. “All I have to give you right now is everythin’ that I am.” “Exactly. And it’s not enough.” A bitter tang accompanied the words, but they were out. That didn’t stop her from flinching at the pained shadow crossing his features. Maybe she did sound like a gold digger, but what else could she do? Throw her entire life to the wind and live in a cave with a man with a dark secret he could barely control? She would have to be five kinds of insane to want an existence like that, regardless of how he made her feel.

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“I’m not good enough for you,” he said, and the bitterness she expected in his tone was absent. The echo of haunting regret she heard in the words was far worse. “I didn’t say that,” she whispered, trying to ignore the gnawing in her gut that was only in part because she hadn’t gotten around to eating. He gazed down at her with pain evident in his eyes. “I’m sayin’ it. I told you when you first stumbled into that cave that you picked a hell of a time for us to meet. You are destined for me, Aimee. That’s the way of it with my kind. You just showed up for your appointment with fate at the wrong time.” Her heart thudded heavily, like it had been shot full of lead. “With the hand life has dealt me, I don’t honestly see how any time could be right.” Words stuck in her throat. “I’m sorry.” She climbed into her car and fumbled to get the key into the ignition. Dillon just stood there, staring at her. When she put the stick in reverse, he spoke one last time. “Make sure the money’s worth givin’ up on love,” he shouted through her closed car window. “Because I sure as hell don’t want to give up on you.”

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Chapter Five Night had fallen by the time Aimee carried a bag of groceries up to her ground-floor apartment. Between the dimly lit walkway and her jumbled thoughts, she almost didn’t see the tall figure step out from the shadows near her front door. The movement startled her into nearly dropping the paper sack in her arms. “Jesus, David!” she said, gripping the sack tighter. “You scared the hell out of me.” Dressed in a black jacket and jeans, David’s attire helped him disappear into the backdrop even with her staring right at him. “I suppose we’re even, then.” She frowned as she moved past him. He took the bag from her while she slid her door key into the lock. “Again, I’m sorry for getting lost yesterday. I know it must have been awful for you.” “I’m not talking about yesterday.” David followed her inside, down the entry hall and into the comfortable living room, where she paused to flip on a table lamp before heading to the kitchen to set her groceries on the butcher block counter. “I’m talking about right now.” Aimee grabbed a bunch of bananas from the sack and deposited them in a crystal fruit bowl that had been a wedding gift to her mother and father. “I don’t understand.” David leaned on the far counter in the U-shaped, wood veneer kitchen. “Where have you been? I’ve been calling your cell since two.” She yanked open the freezer door, effectively blocking his accusing stare. “You know Sunday is when I go visit my mother.”

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“You haven’t been with your mother,” he spat while she stuffed a flat of chicken in the freezer box and shut the door. “I called Applewood Hills. You left there hours ago.” Her mouth fell open. “You’re checking up on me now? You’ve never acted that way before.” “You never got lost in the mountains before,” he said, then hesitated. “And you weren’t my fiancée before.” “I’m still not, officially. I never gave you an answer.” He folded his arms. “Which is one of the reasons I came by tonight. I realized that with everything that went on, we never got a chance to discuss it further.” Aimee’s heart picked up its pace while she put away the rest of her groceries. “I thought we agreed to give me time to think about it.” “You had all night.” Her eyes flew to his. “Yeah, all night being lost and cold in the mountains with no idea how to find my way back. I sort of had other things on my mind. Like survival.” Not to mention the two cowboys who introduced her to a part of her womanhood she had long ignored, but she banished that thought. A shadow flickered across his face, narrowing his sharp features even more. She hadn’t ever realized just how tapered his face appeared, how slender his nose was. “It was my fault,” he said. “I’m sorry.” “How is it your fault that I was too stupid to find my way back?” “I never should have let you out of my sight in the first place.” She snorted. “I doubt I’d have been able to relieve myself with you staring at me.” Her smile faded. “This isn’t like you, David, calling on the weekends and showing up at my place. You’ve only been here a couple of times.” She folded up her paper sack and tucked it along with others beside her fridge. “Is everything okay? Did something go wrong with the Jackson account? Is the breakfast meeting still on for tomorrow?”

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“Everything’s on target with that. This had nothing to do with the office.” “What, then?” “I can’t explain, exactly.” He shrugged off his jacket while they walked back to the living room. Aimee turned on the other table lamp and the ceiling fan light in the adjacent dining area, casting light on the solid earth tones in her living room. He gripped the back of her brown-and-yellow striped couch, and the way his eyes were following her stirred a sudden reluctance to shed her coat. She’d had enough bizarre male attention for one day. When his eyes traveled downward, his brow furrowed. “There’s dirt all over your coat.” She glanced down and fought the warmth rising in her face. “It’ll dry clean.” She slipped the coat off and hung it over the back of a maple dining chair. His eyes widened a fraction. “You look very fancy for a trip to the store.” She heard the skepticism, veiled though it was. “I always put on a dress to visit Mom on Sunday. I don’t bother changing for the errands and such that need doing afterward.” “Let me take you to dinner.” He swept up to her and took her hands in his. She felt him toying with the ring. “I won’t bring up your answer or anything. I just want to be with you.” She blinked. “I don’t know, David. I’m pretty wiped out.” “Great. Dinner out will save you from having to cook.” He pulled her forward, and she was in his arms before she could reply. “God, you smell incredible.” She froze as his hands slid along her back. He nuzzled her hair. “I confess what I really want to do is take you to bed. But I’ll settle for showing you off in a nice restaurant.” “What?” She whipped her head up to look up at him. “That really isn’t like you.”

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“I know. I should apologize, but I can’t. I guess almost losing you made me realize what my feelings really are.” He stroked back a lock of her hair. “I felt it in the car on the way back, and I knew. There was this protectiveness that came over me, but that wasn’t all.” Although she wasn’t sure she wanted an answer, she posed the question anyway. “What wasn’t all?” “When I proposed to you, I told you that I was a practical man who didn’t believe in love. Now I know that was a lie. I must love you, Aimee. The feelings I’ve had over the past twenty-four hours has proven that to me.” He took her face in his hands and bent close. This time, his lips didn’t merely attempt to introduce her to the concept of kissing him. He mashed his mouth against hers, moaning when he slipped his tongue into her mouth. “You feel so damn good,” he said, pulling her closer. His hands slid all along her back. “And you taste even better than when I kissed you by the falls.” With the length of him molded against her, she could feel his erection pressing almost painfully against her pelvis. No doubt thanks to her recent “awakening,” she had to admit David’s attentions caused a twinge of desire. Panic quickly overrode the pleasant warmth spreading in her stomach, however, and she put her hands on his chest to push him back. “Stop. I think this is all moving forward just a little too fast, don’t you?” His eyes were dark with desire, and she could see the ridge of his hard cock straining behind the fly of his pants. “I feel like I’ve wasted years denying what we have together. And I don’t want to lose one more minute.” The almost fierce look in his eye shot up her pulse, but a knock on the door stopped her from having to reply. Why had her apartment become Grand Central Station all of a sudden? No one ever dropped by.

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Not sure whether to be annoyed or grateful for the interruption, she pushed around David and went to the front door. There, her mouth fell agape. “Kyle?” she said. “What on earth are you doing here?” A serious expression was visible beneath the brim of Kyle’s hat, as was the bare hint of stubble along an unshaven jaw. He wore no coat, just a denim button-down shirt paired with blue jeans and the same snakeskin boots from before. No real hint of gold was evident in his gaze, though the absence of seeing the animal within made his hard stare no less unsettling. “I need to talk to you.” “How did you find me?” She lowered her voice. “Is that something your kind can do?” “I looked you up in the phone book. You’re the only Aimee Jo Stevens listed in Philips.” “Oh.” She gripped the edge of the door. “Sorry, but now’s not entirely a great time.” “Dillon’s gone missin’, Aimee. And I think you know that.” Her eyes widened. “He what? No. I had no idea.” She whispered the rest. “I just saw him a few hours ago.” Kyle stiffened. “Where?” “The Wild West Bar.” He pushed up the brim of his hat. “You went back up the mountain? Why?” She pressed a finger to her lips. “Keep your voice down.” He peered over her shoulder, trying to see inside her apartment. “Who’s in there with you? It is him? Dillon?” he called out. Without awaiting an answer, Kyle pushed the door open and brushed her aside as though she wasn’t even there. Long strides took him into her living room, where he stopped abruptly. “David.” The men faced each other alongside the back of her couch, and it struck her just how well-suited they were to her modern brown, yellow and green decor. She never had been the lace doily and ruffled pillows type, and the angular lines and minimalist impression of the

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room might just as easily have belonged to a cowboy or a businessman. “You?” David said, setting his hands on his hips. “Aimee didn’t tell me she gave you her address.” “She didn’t.” Kyle pulled off his Stetson and ran a hand through his blond hair that had been pressed flat by the band. “I looked her up because I thought my partner might be here.” “Why would he be here?” David asked. “What’s this about, Aimee? I thought these were just some guys you ran across in the woods.” “They are,” she said, still eying Kyle. “Were. I never met them before I got lost up there.” “Yeah?” David’s dark eyes flashed. “Just what all went on up there that would make him come down here assuming the other man would be with you?” “Nothing went on,” she shot back, tamping down the flash of guilt that accompanied the lie. “And as you can both clearly see, Dillon isn’t here.” “It wasn’t exactly nothin’,” Kyle said, his eyes boring through her with a pale intensity that set off showers of sparks deep inside of her. He laid his hat on the back of her couch and turned to David. “She ain’t fated to be with you. I’m sorry to say it like that, but it’s hard, cold truth. Best you know it right now.” “Kyle!” She stomped between him and David, whose face now wore a thinly restrained mask of rage. “Who I will or will not be with is not for you to decide. I barely even know you. Now you march into my house uninvited, making proclamations like a posturing alpha male.” The grin he cracked crinkled up his scar and held about as much humor. “I am an alpha.” David stepped forward until Aimee felt his body heat just behind her. “And I’m her fiancé.”

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She whirled on him. “Will you stop saying that?” She twisted the ring on her finger until it slid off and held it up to him. “You can take this now if you can’t wait on an answer. Meanwhile, both of you can just back off.” David glanced down at the diamond but made no move to take it. “We’ve known each other for four years. Yet a few minutes ago, when we were kissing,” he said, glancing up at the other man as he hissed out the word, “you told me you thought we were moving too fast. Now you’re already involved with a man you supposedly met today?” His eyes narrowed. “Or was it last night? Just how long did you spend with him?” She stomped past him and slapped the ring on the round dining table with a loud clink. “I don’t see how any of that matters.” He frowned. “Are you saying no to my proposal, then?” Aimee averted her eyes from both men’s rabid stares and sighed. “No, I’m not.” “So you’re saying yes.” She shook her head. “I’m not saying anything yet.” “Then your relationship with this Dillon guy does, in fact, matter.” “Not just with him,” Kyle said, ignoring her rabid warning look. “With me, too.” David recoiled as though he’d been slapped. “What the hell? You’ve been with both of these men?” His stare darkened. “So let me get this straight. While I was busy searching the mountain in a panic while praying you weren’t dead, you were spreading your legs and letting two men stick their dicks inside you?” Her lip curled as anger boiled inside her. “That is not what happened. I won’t have you stand here in my house shouting vulgar accusations. I’ll have you know that I am a virgin, not that it should be any of my boss’s business. I didn’t ask for you to propose, and I didn’t ask Kyle to come down here. I didn’t even tell him how to find me.” David’s expression wavered as she moved closer to him and raised her chin. “You need to leave now.” Kyle’s face lit with a self-

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satisfied expression until she fixed him with a hard stare. “Both of you.” Silence fell while Aimee listened to the roar of blood rushing through her ears. David broke the stillness first by turning toward Kyle. “Fine. You just stay the hell away from her, cowboy, or you will be sorry.” Kyle stepped right into the man’s face, and though David was a forehead taller, Kyle’s wild expression and scar gave him the more intimidating edge. “By all means, please make me do somethin’ I’ll be sorry for later.” His voice rumbled with a growl that wasn’t convincingly human. “Stop acting like a couple of playground bullies,” Aimee spat. “Leave. And don’t you dare start up again in the parking lot.” “What about the reason I came here in the first place?” Kyle asked. “Right. You said you thought your partner might be here.” She folded her arms tight across the low-cut front of her dress, then thought better of it when both men’s eyes dropped to the cleavage her action had unwittingly pushed up. “‘Partner’ is an interesting choice of words, considering that last I heard, you were busy running off with your other friends.” A flicker of guilt crossed his face. “That couldn’t be helped. And now he’s not where he outta be tonight.” He paused with a glance upward, as though he could see the high full moon rising through the pebbled texture of her ceiling. “I’m worried somethin’ might have happened.” “Maybe he’s tired of being treated like an outcast lone wolf.” Her eyes shifted to David, who was staring at her with a curious scowl. “Or he’s wanderin’ the mountain,” Kyle said. “Where hunters are waggin’ pistols at wild animals every which way.” A pang of fear shot through her at the image, but she pressed her lips together tight. There was nothing she could say, let alone do, with David standing over her like a looming tower of testosterone.

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“Pistols?” David said with a sarcastic air. “Hunters use shotguns. And there isn’t any hunting in Shay Falls.” “Oh, yes there is,” Aimee said. “I saw a woman with a gun in her hand, chasing down the wolf that almost attacked me.” “They issue hunting permits now to deal with the wolf issue?” Her brows shot up. “What do you know about a wolf issue?” He shrugged. “Everyone who hangs around Shay Falls enough knows there’s a higher wolf population than normal the past several years.” “Huntin’s still not permitted legally,” Kyle said, turning to Aimee. “But property owners shoot wolves caught tryin’ to poach on their property. The huntress chases wolves from the wild pack we mentioned to you, though others occasionally get caught in the crossfire.” They exchanged a weighted glance. The redhead was hunting Dillon’s old pack. Could werewolves even be killed with a bullet? “And all cowboys chase are pretty skirts,” David said. “Too bad this one’s taken.” She rolled her eyes. “This one has had enough male posturing today to last me a lifetime,” she fired back. “I won’t tell you two again to get out of here.” The air thickened with awkward tension as David jerked on his jacket. Kyle snatched up his hat and used both hands to tug it onto his head. She followed the men to the door and watched them file out, David lingering behind. Kyle’s boot steps clicked along the main walkway to the visitor parking area. Her eyes flicked to the full moon hanging low and bright in the sky, and she called out to him before she could stop herself. “Kyle?” Both men turned, and somehow David’s expression managed to be more perilous. She paused at Kyle’s furtive glance, then said, “I hope you find him.” He gave a curt nod.

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“We will talk about this tomorrow,” David said, jabbing a finger her way. “You may not be ready to give me an answer, but I want it clear that the question will no longer be on the table if you see either of these hicks again.” Her stomach knotted into a ball. “Is that a threat involving your proposal, or my job?” His expression tightened. “Be fair, Aimee. Your job will never be in question for as long as you need it. But ask yourself just how much extra help I should be expected to continue if this is the way you choose to treat me.” He spun on his heel and stalked off, all but pushing Kyle aside. Kyle stood there, wearing an expression that read more I told you so than she would have liked. She was already shutting the door when he, too, turned and disappeared into the moonlit night that somewhere held Dillon tight in a solitary, primal grip.

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Chapter Six Sleep would not come for Aimee that night, even though exhaustion from the weekend’s events seeped into her very marrow. Unrelenting rays of the full moon shone through her bedroom curtains, transforming their muted green color into a pale jade. She flipped over, turning away from the light, but still felt the moon’s energy on her back as keenly as though she were lying under the tanning rays of summer. How did the cowboys experience the power of that moon? Did the odd vibration she felt tingle beneath their skin, stimulating the change? Did it burn inside of them like mystical fire? Had Kyle given into that power in order use his wolf senses to track down Dillon? A stab of guilt accompanied the thought of Dillon, and an image of his maddeningly sexy smile and reach-into-her-soul eyes flashed in front of her. That seductive grin had been replaced by a look of hard finality when she’d rejected him in the bar parking lot. He said he wasn’t good enough for her, that he had nothing to offer but himself. Is that why he never returned to the cave? Had he not wanted to be someplace where she might find him again? With Aimee refusing him and Kyle forced to spend the bulk of his existence with another pack, maybe Dillon decided it wasn’t worth bothering to chain up his nature. Maybe he’d decided to embrace it again instead. Her eyes found the bedside clock, which read almost 1:00 a.m. Aimee pushed herself upright and rubbed her bleary eyes while she slid out of bed, pushing into a pair of blue slippers on the way. The silken fabric of her sleep chemise brushed against her thighs while she wandered over to the window. She parted the curtains with her upper

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body and peered at the huge ball of glowing white moon that was framed perfectly in the sky. The moon held such beauty and brilliance, overwhelming the planet with its power. What other secrets did the moon hold in its grip? Movement caught her eye near the ground. Her window looked out over the street, and standing on the far side was a sight that caught her breath. “Dillon,” she whispered. The wolf stood between a pair of compact bushes, watching her. Even in the dark and mostly hidden by the hedge, she could tell that it wasn’t Kyle’s pure-black wolf. There was something in that wild, pensive stare that told her otherwise. How had he found her? Surely even a clever wolf didn’t have the manual dexterity necessary to look her up in a phone book. His majestic head turned this way and that, as if scanning the road for anyone who would be even more alarmed than Aimee at the appearance of a wolf in the small city. Then he started forward, moving with slow caution and his tongue hanging out. She froze, wondering what he expected from her. He had no control over his wolf nature under this moon, and she couldn’t converse with him like this. Nor did she have any intention of letting him inside her apartment, and not only because of the no pets rule. He might appear to be calm and resolute right now, but who knew how wild his nature might become? The wolf paused, seeming to pick up on her hesitation. He sat down on his haunches right in the middle of the deserted street, curling his tail around him while he looked straight at her. She swallowed and gazed back, unsure what to do. Dillon raised his head, exposing the creamy fur along his throat, and let out a piercing howl that prickled the hair on Aimee’s bare arms. “Like that will keep you low profile in the city,” she muttered under her breath, but the howl was forgotten moments later when she saw a startling sight.

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A truck was coming. “Dillon, look out!” Aimee called through the window, pointing. His head turned slowly toward the oncoming vehicle, then back around to her again. “Jesus, what is he doing?” Her fingernails dug into the flesh of her upper arms as he just sat there. The truck bore down on him, but Dillon just sat there. She banged on the window and shouted to him. “Hurry up, Dillon. Move!” A flash of motion followed as another furry canine body leapt out of nowhere and tackled Dillon. The push shoved Dillon out of the way in time to avoid the truck, but the same could not be said for his animal rescuer. The other wolf got clipped by the front fender just as the truck whizzed by. The driver kept right on going, either unaware or uncaring. The body hit the ground rolling as a black wolf, then stopped at the far curb as a naked blond man. “Kyle!” Aimee shouted. She was running out the front door even before she’d fully realized she’d turned away from the horrifying scene at the window. Her heart beat frantically while her slippers scuffed along the ground at a full run. Once she raced around to the front walk, she saw that Dillon had phased back and knelt over an unconscious Kyle, who was sprawled on his back in the gutter. “Oh, my God,” she said when she saw the bloody scrapes all over his body. A cut over his eyebrow flowed more blood into his fine, blond hair. Dillon’s head snapped up to her. “Let’s get him inside before anyone sees.” “Shouldn’t he go to a hospital?” “Weres don’t go to hospitals.” With that he rose and scooped the man into his arms. She blinked at Dillon’s raw power but simply nodded and followed him as he strode off the way she’d come.

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“What were you thinkin’, Kyle?” he said as they rounded the bend to her apartment. “What was he thinking?” she spat back. “What were you thinking? Were you trying to get yourself killed?” He flicked a glance at her. “I’m an immortal, darlin’. We’re a tough bunch to kill.” Her eyes fell pointedly to the man in his arms. “But not tough to injure, apparently.” She opened the door and let him pass. “You can take him straight back to the bedroom and lay him on my bed. I have a first aid kit in the bathroom. It’s not going to be enough, though. That cut on his head needs stitches. And what if there are internal injuries?” “Cowboys are tough, and werewolves are tougher. He’ll heal fast.” His breath came in forceful puffs while he made his way up the hall to her room. “There are only three things he’ll need to fix him up right.” Once inside the bedroom, Dillon laid Kyle on the bed and sat down beside him. While her eyes made another tour of Kyle’s injuries, she couldn’t avoid noticing the cocks hanging between their thighs. The last thing she should be thinking about was having two naked men on her bed, let alone a far different scenario that involved stripping off her nightgown and climbing in between them. What a time for her libido to chip in two inappropriate cents. Dillon slapped at his alpha’s cheek. “Come on, partner. Wake up. I don’t want to have to hold your entire weight up in the shower.” “Shower?” She came up behind him, wringing her clammy hands together. “Isn’t hygiene the last thing he should be worried about?” Dillon shot a look over his shoulder. “Darlin’, if you’re gonna be around wolves, then you’ll find that we have three pressin’ needs that help us when we’re sick, hurt, or under the sway of the full moon.” “And those are?” “A hot shower, a raw feed, and good, rough sex. Not always in that order, and sometimes combined.”

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The third option rung loudly through her head, and she shook it off. “He’s hardly in any kind of shape for even one of those things to help.” “You’d be surprised.” A groan left Kyle’s throat, and Dillon turned to sit on the bed beside him. “That’s it, Kyle. Come on back.” The man’s eyes fluttered open, though they appeared a bit unfocused. “You’re human,” he muttered weakly. Dillon snorted. “Human? You must have hit your head harder than I thought.” “Kyle?” Aimee rushed to the opposite side of the bed and leaned over him. “How do you feel?” His head rolled slowly toward her. “Like I tried to shove some idiot out of the way of a truck.” “Why the hell did you do it?” Dillon asked. “I wasn’t in danger.” “Looked like you were up to your old tricks,” Kyle said. Aimee frowned. “What old tricks?” Dillon ignored the question. “Gettin’ hit by a truck wouldn’t exactly have served that purpose. It wasn’t even painted silver.” “I know. I just reacted.” Kyle lifted his hand to the cut on his head, eyeing the blood that came away on his palm. He pressed this other hand flat against the side of his chest. “I think I cracked a damn rib.” Dillon moved Kyle’s hand and replaced it with his own. “A couple, probably. You’re flarin’ a good amount of heat over this spot.” He sighed and lowered his hand. “That was quite a blow you took. Think we’ll be expectin’ a visit any time soon?” Aimee frowned in confusion, but Kyle shook his head. “I shut it off as soon as it happened. Still blocking the pain as best as I can. The pack won’t realize I’m hurt.” Kyle eyed Dillon warily. “But next time, could you not sit in the middle of the damn street?” “Why were you sitting in the middle of the street?” Aimee asked.

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He shrugged. “Just a bit of wolf fun. I’d have moved before the truck got to me.” Aimee gaped at him. “That’s your idea of fun? You’re a damn fool.” His eyes flashed when he returned her glare. “Believe me, darlin’, my idea of full moon fun was a lot less tame when I was first made.” “You’re still a damn fool,” Kyle said. “Why weren’t you up at the cave tonight?” Dillon glanced at Aimee, then looked away. “What’s it matter anymore? I’m never gonna get better. I’m never gonna be enough.” Aimee’s stomach fell at the way he said the last. Kyle tried to scoot himself up in bed but stopped with a wince. “You obviously are gettin’ better if we’re havin’ this heartfelt little chat in the middle of your pity party. Or didn’t you notice that you shifted back human under a high full moon?” Aimee’s eyes widened. The significance of his shift hadn’t even occurred to her. Dillon blinked and glanced down at himself. “I didn’t have to think about it. It was just the only way I could help you.” “He did it earlier today, too,” Aimee said. “When he was starting to change at the bar.” “It wasn’t quite nightfall then,” he said, but she could hear the surprise in his voice. “So stop feelin’ sorry for yourself,” Kyle said, “and get over this death wish.” “Death wish?” Aimee asked. Kyle glanced at her. “I told you when I first saw Dillon that I intended to kill him,” he said. She nodded. “This conversation is pointless,” Dillon said. “She don’t even want us. No need to bare our souls if we don’t got the coin to pay her to listen.”

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Her chest flared with hot anger. “I happen to care about both of you, however badly you want to think of me, or how idiotic you can be sometimes.” She nodded to Kyle. “Go on.” “I spotted Dillon trackin’ the huntress you came across in the woods. I assumed he was huntin’ her down to kill her, and I planned to take him out before he had a chance.” She grunted. “So guns can kill you.” Kyle shook his head. “Not just any gun. Silver is our weakness. A silver bullet, knife, or other weapon can kill our kind. It’s the only thing that can take down a werewolf, save for beheading.” She shivered at the thought and cleared her throat. “So what happened?” Kyle grunted. “I was crouched in a bush, gettin’ ready to spring. Then I realized Dillon wasn’t settin’ her up for a kill. He was trackin’ her to put himself right in her path. He jumped out in front of her and was gonna let her shoot him.” Aimee’s heart stuttered. “Why?” “I’ll admit I was in a bad place,” Dillon said, shifting his body on the bed to face her. “I’d lost my pack, and yet we were still bound to one another. We could feel each other’s despair, and it fed our own.” He glanced at her. “Plus Kade had claimed a mate that instinctively drew us all to her, but none of us could have her.” She swallowed. “The woman you told me about in the parking lot.” He nodded. “Lily was never mine. But in a were pack, when a mate is claimed by another, there is an automatic attraction for the others. Blaise’s obsession with her because of that was in part what got him killed.” Her heart pounded in jealousy. The thought of him feeling the call of a different mate struck a distinctly unpleasant chord. How selfish was that, begrudging him when she herself was in possession of another man’s ring?

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“I hated this curse and roamin’ the mountains alone,” he went on, “with no control over who I was and no place to go. I couldn’t go back to cowhand work because ranch animals don’t take to havin’ a predator around. I couldn’t hold down another kind of job for fear my nature might come out at the wrong moment. And I was sick of the memories of what Blaise had done, what the rest of us did under his orders. Other packs hated us for it, and the huntress haunts us for it. I thought maybe she was right, that the evil in our pack hadn’t died out with Blaise. It infected every one of us down to our gut, and the only way to purge it would be to destroy us all.” Her heart twisted in sympathy. “You’re not evil,” she said, her throat thick with emotion. “Or you wouldn’t have cared enough about who you were to let her end you.” “That’s what I told him,” Kyle said. “Later.” She looked at him. “If you were planning on killing him anyway, why didn’t you just let her finish him off?” Kyle sighed. “Sheer impulse. I saw her raise the gun at him, and before I knew what I’d done, I jumped out from the bush and knocked the woman off her feet. I grabbed the pistol in my teeth and flung it over the edge of the cliff. Then she ran off.” She smiled. “You wolves really have a thing about tossing women’s stuff off the mountain.” “I was damn pissed, watching that gun plunge into the night,” Dillon said. “I saw that as my only way out. I faced off with Kyle and was prepared to give him his fight to the death, only with me on the victorious side.” She eyed Kyle, who shrugged. “Dillon and I stood there, baring fangs and snarling at one another. When I looked him in the eye, though, I couldn’t deny why I had really saved him. I felt the bond forming, molecule by molecule. I shifted human right under the full moon, and Dillon froze in shock. Anyone who thinks wolves aren’t capable of facial expressions didn’t see the look on his muzzle that night.”

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Dillon snorted. “Caught me off guard. I wasn’t too familiar with weres who shifted at will on a high full moon night. I’d only encountered one pack before that could do it, and that was Kade and his partner, back before Kade became our alpha. I knew right then and there that it was a power I wanted. I knew that Kyle was the alpha I wanted.” Kyle pushed himself upright, his jaw clenched right. The growl that came out of him had a distinct feral tone to it, and Aimee saw that his eyes were beginning to glow. “Let’s throw you in a hot shower,” Dillon said to Kyle. He turned to her. “His body’s tryin’ to shift back, but his bones and all reshapin’ for a phase won’t exactly be a big party in his condition.” She nodded. “Okay, but how will a shower help?” “The hot water relaxes the joints and muscles, and also helps accelerate healin’ by bringin’ on more blood flow. Got any fresh, raw meat?” Her brow shot up. “For the shower?” “For him to eat. I’d rather not have to leave him and go out huntin’ just now.” “Oh. I brought home some hamburger meat from the store earlier tonight.” Dillon shook his head. “No good. Ground meat is handled and processed too much.” She thought for a moment. “I picked up a New York steak, too.” He smiled. “Now you’re talkin’.” “Shall I cook it while you get him showered?” “No. Just bring it to the shower raw.” She tried not to make a face at the idea while Dillon gingerly helped Kyle to his feet. Well, at least the woman who wound up with these men would have no worries about cooking for them. When she realized she was staring at the tight, perfectly round asses before her, she jumped up. “Bathroom’s through there.” She

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nodded to a door next to her closet. “I’ll just go get the meat.” And try to forget the exquisitely packaged meat she’d just been ogling. Although she had seen both men naked on numerous occasions during their brief acquaintance, she paused when she came back with the Styrofoam tray of marbled steak. Somehow it seemed more intrusive to bust in on them in the shower, even though she’d watched the two of them do far more personal things to one another. Steam rose from the tub shower, flushing her cheeks with damp heat when she entered the white tile bathroom. Kyle’s moan echoed through the small space, and she couldn’t quite decide whether he was in pain or feeling something else. Her feet scuffed along the tile floor as she approached the men whose forms were distorted but visible through the sliding glass doors. With a brief hesitation, she yanked open the door farthest from the shower head and stuck the tray of meat inside. “Dinner’s served,” she said. “Perfect, darlin’,” Dillon said. “Can you toss that tray and come hold the steak for him? My hands are a mite busy at the moment.” That piqued her interest, and she couldn’t help but poke her head inside to see what was going on. Nothing as untoward as what she’d pictured, though. Dillon held Kyle against his chest, almost the way Aimee had leaned back on him in the bar bathroom earlier that day. He was helping rinse blood from the man’s hair. “He’s still a little woozy,” Dillon said. “Bring that meat on in here and we’ll get him fixed up.” “In there? With you?” He gave her an amused glance. “Unless you’re plannin’ to stick the meat on the end of a long pole and hold it over his face.” She sighed and kicked off her slippers. Her short gown would get wet, but there was no way she would be stripping down to get in that shower naked with them. When she climbed in and slid the door closed, she sucked in a deep breath and held it. Kyle’s eyes lit up—literally—as soon as he

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saw the cold steak she raised in front of him. What she hadn’t been expecting was for his jaw to lengthen and sharp teeth to promptly emerge. “Oh, God, you’re changing,” she said. She jerked away, but he took hold of her hand and kept it in place, then tore off a chunk of meat with his fangs. She continued to hold her breath while she watched him chew, surprised to note that his face returned to normal proportions and the glow in his eyes subsided once he’d bitten off the steak. So he wasn’t losing control, after all. He just needed his sharper teeth to rip off hunks of the thick, raw meat. “Thanks,” he said to her after swallowing the mouthful. She finally whooshed out her held breath. “You’re welcome. Is it helping?” A faint but dangerous smile breached his stone-cold expression. “It’s all helpin’.” He leaned in slower this time, and she watched in utter fascination as his eyes and face underwent enough of a change for his fangs to reappear. Her hand shook slightly as he ripped off another bite of steak. His tongue flicked out to lick his lips when he finished chewing. Raw, bloody juices mingled with droplets of water to slide down the front of his magnificent chest. Feeding him this way felt so primal, so decadent. Her heartbeat began a steady, heavy drumming. Her eyes followed the trickles of reddish fluid dripping from his chin to land on the medallion he wore around his neck. She squinted at the image of a man’s profile embossed on the front and lifted the pendant with her free hand. “Who is this?” “Saint Francis of Assisi,” Kyle said. “Patron saint of animals and lost causes. Of which I am both.” “Got that right,” Dillon said from behind him. “A Catholic symbol?” she asked. “I thought you were Buddhist from the way you were chanting in the cave last night.”

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His stare bored deeper into her until her stomach began to quiver. “I draw from a wide range of sources to keep what’s inside of me under control.” She smoothed a shaky finger over the metal disk. “Is this silver?” “Pewter. Silver wouldn’t be the best jewelry choice for a werewolf.” “I suppose not. Still, it’s beautiful.” She laid it back on his chest, her fingertips grazing his skin lightly. Tingles surged up her arm at the feel of his skin before she pulled away. “You’re beautiful.” He raised her other arm again to get at the meat she gripped tightly in her hand. He closed his eyes and wrapped his mouth around the next bite as though taking in the cock of a lover, and she felt her eyes practically glaze over at the sexuality inherent in his actions. The muscles in his arms flexed as he held her hand in front of him, enticing her. Just as he turned sideways to put his hand under the shower stream, Dillon bent down to grab a bar of soap. A spray of hot water struck Aimee full-on, drenching the front of her gown. “Oh! Damn.” She blinked and rubbed water from her face. “Okay, look. Do you really need me in here to hold this steak for you? Because you seem strong enough to hold it by yourself.” The knowing look he gave her sent tingles along her spine. “Dillon just wanted an excuse to get you in here with him,” Kyle said, and his eyes skimmed along the front of her. “Seems the boy knows what he’s doin’ after all, on rare occasion.” A glance down at herself showed that the shower spray had turned her pale blue gown translucent and glued it to her body so that her dark nipples and the darker thatch of hair between her legs were outlined perfectly. His cock was thickening rapidly, rising toward her. She pulled the vacuum-sealed fabric away from her skin and stepped back. “I better dry off and let you finish your shower.” Her voice shook as though she was chilled, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

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When he grabbed her arm this time, it was with a tighter grip and a gleam in his eye that wasn’t related to an imminent shift. He pressed closer to her, pushing her back against the shower wall. “Stay. I still need some help healin’.” “You mean you need help releasin’ some tension,” Dillon said, moving up behind him. His hands moved around the other man’s back. Her nipples puckered with tingling need as she watched those soapy hands slide around the front of Kyle’s chest, leaving trails of white foam wherever he touched. Kyle’s head tipped back, his eyes shutting and jaw clenching while Dillon’s hands worked magic on his flesh. Dillon rubbed lower, smoothing suds over the rigid muscles of Kyle’s stomach. Aimee’s clit throbbed with an insistent demand to join in when his fingers slid down through Kyle’s black triangle of curls and over the cock that now stood straight out. The growl Kyle let out pierced Aimee to the base of raw, animal want, and when he reached out to slide his hands along the wet silk clinging to her breasts, the steak slipped from her hand and fell to the shower floor. Pinching her nipples sent a shudder through her clit that peaked so sharply that she thought she would either die or scream, possibly both. She gripped his shoulders for support and leaned her head back on the shower wall, closing her eyes to allow passion to flood over her the way the water streams pounded the men in front of her. Shutting out her sight heightened other senses, electrifying his touch and turning the very sounds of their breaths and moans into instruments of erotic delight. His hand roamed down to the front of her pussy, pushing the fabric between her thighs and dragging it along her aching clit. She cried out and arched her hips toward him, ready to claw the walls and his flesh in order to get more of him. His desire called to her, and a wild animal answered. Passion clawed its way to the surface until she believed that her eyes would glow with the same golden lust as Kyle’s if she could open them to meet his glittering stare.

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Without warning, Kyle spun her around until she was sandwiched between the two cowboys. She still faced Kyle, but Dillon’s hands went to work on her right away, sliding over her shoulders from behind while his hard cock rubbed along her ass. Kyle took hold of the front of her scoop-neck chemise, and with a wild growl, tore the fabric to expose her breasts. “This is my favorite gown,” she said in a hoarse tone, though it was a false protest. She’d read enough bodice-ripper novels in her day to feel the excitement in her rise for what it was—a daydream made manifest. Seems Dillon wasn’t the only one whose fantasies came to life when they were together. “It was stickin’ to you too much to pull off easy,” he said. Then he ducked his head down and took a nipple in his mouth, and her protest halted. Despite Dillon’s claims that the western hotties she had fantasized about were really him, never in her life had she imagined that she would be with two of the sexiest cowboys on the planet simultaneously. The feel of both their hands and dicks rubbing against her brought her to a new level of consciousness, a state of being where nothing mattered or even existed outside the world of their shared eroticism. She felt drunk on the sexual power these men held over her, just as surely as the full moon held power over them. A hand urged her thighs apart, and two of Kyle’s fingers plunged inside her pussy to find and massage a spot inside the walls that drove her mad with need. Her moan was answered by partly human male growls, and her body lit up with gooseflesh. The three of them could have been standing naked out on that street curb right then, and she wouldn’t have cared. She would still be arched against him, pushing her hips shamelessly against his fingers to drive them in deeper. “Bet you’d love to feel how wet she is,” Kyle said over her shoulder. “Taste her,” Dillon growled back. “Like wild clover honey.”

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Kyle’s fingers slipped from her slit, and he raised them to his lips. Her stomach jumped, and his eyes rolled back when his tongue ventured out to slide along his glistening fingers. She didn’t have a chance to respond because Dillon yanked her around to face him. His eyes churned in a compelling maelstrom of blue-gold. “You want me inside you.” “I do,” she said, her heart pounding enough for her to hear over the running water. Then a panicked thought hit, and she gave herself a mental kick for almost getting too caught up to think of it. “But, well, shouldn’t we be, you know, safe?” He smiled. “We are safe, honey. Weres don’t carry disease, except the curse.” He ran a hand along her belly. “And we’re only fertile one certain time of the year.” She sighed in relief. “Good.” “Hold her up,” he said to Kyle, who responded by taking hold of her by the waist and leaning back. “No! He’s hurt,” she said with a gasp. “It’s all right,” Kyle rasped into her ear from behind her. “Everythin’s more intense durin’ a full moon. Healin’ power. Feedin’. Sex.” The last word he whispered, sending shivers along her spine. She watched Dillon advance, grasping the base of his prick and positioning it between her thighs. “Open for me, darlin’. Take me. Take all of me.” His burning gaze and purposeful motions speared her with pure longing, but also with alarm. She’d heard that a woman’s first time hurt. Bad. And Dillon wasn’t looking like a particularly patient man at the moment. “I’m a virgin,” she managed to stammer out just as she felt the thick head of his cock press against her tight pussy hole. “Not anymore,” he said through gritted teeth. “You’re mine.” “Wait!” she exclaimed, but it was too late. She barely had time to suck in a breath and tense up as his shaft thrust deep inside of her.

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She cried out in fear, waiting for a sharp, splitting pain to wipe away all traces of the pleasure these men had been honing. Instead, an incredible sensation of being filled welled up inside her, and her pussy began to throb around his warm, hard dick. “It didn’t hurt,” she said in shock, staring at him. “The first time’s supposed to hurt.” His smug grin returned. “Not with me.” He nuzzled her hair and kissed the top of her head. “If your virginity is stolen by other than your intended mate, it’ll hurt like the dickens,” Kyle said. “But you’re with the ones you were meant to bond with.” Aimee found her attention to his words dissolving in the wake of the potent yearning raging inside her. She shifted her pelvis back and forth in an attempt to get Dillon’s cock moving, reveling in the sharp pangs of erotic bliss that even the tiniest motion provoked. She laid her head back on Kyle’s shoulder and moaned softly. “It feels so good.” His growl in response was palpable to her through his chest. “It’s gonna get even better.” Dillon’s hips pulled back, stealing away his long rod and her breath as well before plunging forward again. Her breasts jiggled harder, and her body climbed to a higher awareness with each thrust. She gripped his biceps, her nails digging into the scaly dragon tattoo on his right arm. Kyle’s hands slid down over her hips to knead her ass cheeks while Dillon fucked her. “Jesus, I could lose myself inside you forever,” Dillon ground out as he shoved his hips into her. “I ain’t never wanted anythin’ this bad, Aimee. And I have wanted many things.” He leaned closer and kissed her gently, sending tickles of surprised delight through her belly. How could he thrust so forcefully and yet join their lips with the tenderness of a chaste first kiss? When she closed her eyes, desire and imagination caught her up in a whirlwind. For the first time in her life, she pictured herself in a

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romantic future. She saw Dillon kissing her like this up in the mountains, overlooking the falls while Kyle stood behind her, stroking her hair and whispering a lover’s secrets. She saw the three of them laughing together over a shared meal—cooked, of course, not a full moon emergency feed—while the men’s eyes flickered with erotic pleasure in the light of a crackling campfire. She saw them making love together in the cave, by the roaring waterfall, and in her bed. Dillon’s strokes in and out united with her stream of consciousness, eroticizing her thoughts into increasingly exotic scenarios between the three of them—that is, until Kyle’s probing finger brought reality rushing back. “What are you doing?” she said in alarm as the tip of his digit slipped inside her asshole. Kyle chuckled softly. “Don’t fret, honey. You’re about to find out what it really means to belong to two men.” “Not quite men,” Dillon said in a low, hoarse voice. “Just relax,” Kyle said. Aimee did the exact opposite. She tensed as his finger sank deeper, even though it didn’t hurt any more than Dillon’s rigorous claiming of her virginity had. In fact, it felt rather pleasant. “I don’t belong to anyone,” she said. “That a fact?” Dillon thrust himself deeper inside and leveled her with a challenging stare. “Because you sure as hell feel like the most perfect fit imaginable. So slick and wet and hot.” The pressure from Kyle’s finger disappeared, and she relaxed again until she felt his cock against her puckered hole instead. The memory of Kyle taking Dillon forcefully from behind shot her eyes wide. “Jesus,” she whispered over her shoulder. “You’re not possibly thinking of that?” “Give into me,” Kyle said, and his voice teased around her longing, tantalizing her. “Give yourself permission to let go.” Despite the urging, his tone was as restrained and tense as she felt.

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Before she could reply, he bent her forward slightly and pushed himself right into her impossibly tight hole. All three of them stiffened with a gasp-hiss, Aimee again out of a preemptive cry of pain that never happened. Emotions and lust coiled themselves around one another in her spirit while she tried to process the sensation of being utterly, wildly stuffed full of cock. After a moment where everyone stood frozen, Dillon began to gyrate his hips. Aimee’s insides promptly melted into churning, hot lava. “Shit, that’s unbelievable,” Dillon said, mirroring her thoughts. “I can feel Kyle’s cock right through your walls.” “Yeah,” Kyle said. “I feel you, too.” Both men began to move, and Aimee gripped Dillon’s shoulders while indulging the feel of being the soft filling in a double meat sandwich. Climactic pressure began an arduous, heady climb, each grind of Dillon’s pelvis against her clit sending her another rung higher. “Damn, your ass feels so fuckin’ good,” Kyle said. “Do you like havin’ my cock in there, darlin’?” He shoved harder, and every nerve ending in her pelvis screamed with pleasure. “Yes.” Which wet, pulsing cock felt better was a debate she would have loved to consider for hours, although the way they were moving made it feel like she was being plundered by one gigantic, throbbing organ. When the rhythmic thrusting and grunting sounds threatened to drive her to sexual blackout, Dillon took hold of her face and brought her attention back to him. “You’re mine,” he said. “Admit you belong with us.” “I’ll admit nothing has ever felt this good in my life,” she said between ragged breaths. “It feels so right, being here with you both.” “You were meant to be here,” Kyle said, his voice far calmer than she felt. “I acknowledge you as Dillon’s bond mate. Accept us as

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yours. Agree to take my mark right now and make your place in our pack official.” Climax toyed with Aimee, looming just on the brink, but his words pushed that release just out of reach. “I can’t,” she breathed. “Yes, you can,” Dillon said, stroking her face. “Feel me inside you. Feel us both.” He pushed himself deeper, and her eyes fluttered closed as the powerful need threatened to whisk her away from reality again. He took hold of her chin. “No, look at me while I make love to you. Look deep in my eyes.” She obeyed, finding a churning gold kaleidoscope that threatened to unhinge her. He pulled back and slid his shaft deep again. “See? It’s not just part of my body thrustin’ into you. I’m givin’ you all that I am, Aimee. My body, my soul, everythin’ I have is now a part of you. A were’s bond to his mate is fierce and forever. The love I feel for you burns so hot inside me that I can’t barely breathe.” Words could not form themselves in her mind. Both men driving themselves to her core in tandem made it almost impossible to even register his declaration, but instinctive warmth spread through her chest at the last. Dillon not only lusted after her but claimed to love her. And if the look in his eyes and the heat in her soul were any indication, he was telling the utter truth. “The bond is so close,” Kyle said in an awestruck whisper unlike his normally reserved tone. “I feel it washin’ over me. Let me mark you, Aimee.” “No,” she said, though the word came through a thick layer of emotion in her throat. “He won’t hurt you,” Dillon said. “Just for a quick second, then it’ll feel so good you’ll come in a heartbeat.” “That’s not why,” she said. “I just can’t offer you that right now.” “I can’t wait any longer,” Kyle said through gritted teeth. “I’m past ready to shoot my load deep in her ass.”

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“Kiss me,” Aimee whispered close to Dillon’s obviously disappointed face. “Let me have your love for just one night. Just for this moment.” “No,” he said, but he pumped his hips against her harder. “You’ll have it forever.” He nodded to Kyle before thrusting harder, pinching her nipples with both hands. Kyle pulled her face up toward him and leaned in to kiss her deep. She gasped at Dillon’s rough attentions to her sensitive buds and Kyle’s fingers lightly stroking her throat while he kissed her. Their combined touch violently breached the final gateway of resistance separating her from climax. Orgasm roared to life like a starving lioness awakened from a long winter’s sleep. Her body clenched and exploded in passion until she knew the only thing holding her upright was the rocking motion of the two men’s powerful, thrusting bodies. Kyle shuddered and came just as the first waves took her. “I’m comin’,” he said against his lips with a loud groan. “Take every last drop.” Their cries of pleasure finally unhinged Dillon. He leaned his head back into the shower spray as his climax hit him. An anguished growl came out of him while water streamed down his magnificent body, and when his warm fluid gushed into her pussy, it sent her soaring over another peak. Her body shook with fatigue in the aftermath, but the smile plastered to her face dissolved even faster when her eyes reopened to see Dillon’s face morphing. The change was beginning. “Kyle,” she said in alarm. “Oh, no.” Both the men’s still-hard cocks pulled out of her as Kyle yanked her backward, pressing against him as far back along the shower as they could get. “Shit,” he said over her shoulder. “I was too distracted by my own needs to realize this would happen. Take it easy, Dillon. You got this. Stay with us. Focus on your humanity.”

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But it was too late. Dillon literally fell away, dropping to the wet floor of the shower into his brown-gray wolf form. Water poured down over the animal’s back, and he looked up into what Aimee knew must be a startled expression, with yellow eyes and an open mouth that displayed pointed, white teeth. She tucked herself tightly inside Kyle’s embrace. “Now what?” she whispered. “Shouldn’t we run?” “He won’t hurt you,” Kyle said. “Will you, boy? Remembering our humanity while we are wolves comes before total control over shifts. He knows who we are and who he is.” Dillon stared up at him with his head cocked as if listening intently, then bent down to sniff at the shower floor. He found the remaining chunk of meat that had been washed pale by the steady stream of water, and then proceeded to gulp it down in two big bites. He licked his chops and gazed back up at them. “Fine beast you are,” Kyle said. “Go ahead and eat my steak after I saved you a whoopin’ from a truck.” Dillon actually appeared to shoot the man a wide wolf grin in response. “Can I touch him?” Aimee asked. “Of course. Just watch yourself.” She was already reaching out but froze at his cautionary statement. “Why? Will he bite me?” Kyle snorted. “No, but he might start humpin’ on your leg.” She made a face. “Ew.” “Just kiddin’,” Kyle said. “Go ahead.” His fur was thick and wet with warm water as she ran her hands over his head and down along the scruff of his neck. Dillon just stood there, his eyes squinted shut while she stroked him. “He feels nice.” “Smells like wet dog, though,” Kyle said, and laughed in response to Dillon’s growl.

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“I think he smells good,” Aimee said. “Like the wild woods in springtime.” Dillon sat on his haunches, but when the posture sent streams of water onto his head, he promptly shook it and snorted out water in apparent disgust. He got up and raised a paw to begin clawing at the door. Kyle leaned over to shut off the water. Dillon lifted his head and stuck his nose under Kyle’s outstretched armpit, then sneezed and shot him a look. “Guess he thinks my shower shouldn’t be over yet, either. Smart-ass.” He gave Dillon a firm but playful slap on the rump and slid open the door. The wolf jumped out first, followed by Kyle. He held out a hand to help Aimee out, wrapping her in one of the thick, green towels hanging on the rack over the toilet. “Sorry about your nightie,” he said. “I’ll buy you another.” She stopped herself short of asking how he could afford silk lingerie when Dillon, in highly inconvenient canine fashion, shook his entire body to fling off water. Droplets shot every which way, and Aimee ducked for cover with a giggle as the excess sprayed her face and arms. “Jesus, dog,” Kyle said with a mock scowl. “Where are your damn manners? You’re in a lady’s apartment, not the great outdoors. You don’t see me sprayin’ her walls.” Dillon trotted off into the bedroom with his tail held high, and Aimee laughed. “Maybe he doesn’t remember as much of his humanity as you thought.” “Oh, he remembers. In case you hadn’t noticed, his assometer goes up quite a bit when he’s shifted.” She smirked at him. “‘Assometer’?” “Technical term for the smart-ass attitude a lot of weres take on. Dillon practically invented it.” “At least he keeps his humor,” she said, following Kyle into the bedroom. “Do you? When you’re a wolf, I mean. Do you act the same as Dillon?”

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“No. We stay mostly like we are when we’re phased, just more intense.” “So in Dillon’s case, smart-ass is as smart-ass does?” His scar crinkled with a faint smile. “Somethin’ like that.” Dillon had stopped at the foot of the bed and turned around to face them. His ears were perked up and tongue hanging out. Aimee pulled off her towel and stooped over him. “Here, let me dry you off, you beast.” She rubbed him with her towel, and Dillon began licking the side of her throat with his long, rough tongue. Kyle came up behind her and rubbed her hair and back with the towel while she dried Dillon. Then she dropped her towel and took Kyle’s to return the favor on him. His muscles were taut and tempting as the terry cloth glided along the hard lines of his body, and she had to swallow down the urge to initiate round two by fondling the cock that had maintained a barely erect status. When she stood up, he took her by the cheeks and gave her a soft, lingering kiss that took the chill right off her damp skin. “Will you stay the night?” she asked, glancing at her bed. There was barely enough room on the queen-size for two buff cowboys and herself, but she’d happily squeeze between their hot bodies in exchange for one night to lie blissfully quiet and safe in their arms. Who knew when she’d have a chance again? Dillon turned toward the bed, but Kyle clucked at him. “Uh-uh. You’re still wet, and I ain’t sleepin’ in a bed mussed up by damp dog.” “I have a blow dryer,” Aimee offered. Minutes later, she laughed at Dillon’s peaceful, closed-eye expression while warm air fluffed his beautiful brown-and-gray fur. “You remind me of a dog with his head stuck out the car window,” she said. “Yet another thing I never dreamed I’d be doing this weekend—giving a wolf the gift of a beauty salon treatment.”

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“Don’t pamper him too much,” Kyle said. “He might get used to it.” “Better than lying in a damp old cave,” she said, turning to him. “Besides, you’re next.” He arched a brow. “In that case, pamper away.” His blond hair was mostly dry by the time she ran a comb through it with blasts of air, but she enjoyed the way the pale, silken strands felt while she stroked through them. He took the dryer from her hand. “When’s the last time anyone pampered you, darlin’?” She blinked, unable to think of a time while he blew the tingly, heated air over her hair and shoulders. With her curls, a comb would not be sliding through her wet head any time soon, but his fingers sliding through her scalp felt like heaven. Relaxed and calm, exhaustion weighed her down again by the time the dryer fell silent at last. The three of them crawled into bed together—two naked, one furry and curled up on the far edge—and Aimee listened to the rhythm of their breaths and to the sound of her spirit ringing with two distinctly different tones. One bell chimed with the joy, fullness and security in the aftermath of two cowboys peeling away her innocence to reveal the woman inside. The other bell rang with loneliness, with the knowledge that she was lying between two men she was not truly a part of and never could be. Regret that she had given into base needs and rejected that logic swirled inside of her. Had she just kept up her guard, she could have prevented the empty hole from opening in her spirit. She shoved aside the desolate thought and instead determined to lie awake all night and focus on every nuance of the happiness ringing out from the other internal bells. She wanted to bask in the sensual safety of Kyle’s long, hot muscles pressed to her backside, and to stare in admiration at the wolf’s majestic, shining fur. Her plan was not to be, however, and sleep stole her away from post-sex awe long before she was ready to yield to unconsciousness.

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Chapter Seven When Aimee shot straight up in bed several hours later, it was for three reasons. Each of them proved more alarming than the one before. First, she’d been having a bizarre dream. She was walking along the Shay Falls overlook with Dillon, who had transformed into a shining white wolf. When they stopped to admire the view, she took out her engagement ring, whose diamond had morphed into a long, glittering blade, and began stabbing the wolf with it. Second, when she jerked awake from that nightmare with sweat dotting her forehead, she realized that she was alone in her bed. A panicked moment followed in which she wondered whether she had dreamed all the events of the previous night. Telltale soreness between her legs and the scent of pure, intoxicating male that clung to her sheets told a different story. Last night had been no dream. She’d really gone and given her purity to two men at the same time. She’d given herself to men she desperately wanted but knew she could have no future with. Third and most important at the moment, the cheery sunshine pouring through the curtains made it clear that morning was well under way. As if all the rest wasn’t bad enough, she was late for work for the first time since David had hired her. Very late. “Shit,” she muttered, tossing off her blanket and snatching up the handset to the cordless phone on her nightstand. There was no intermittent beeping in the dial tone to indicate a waiting voice mail message. The caller ID didn’t show any missed calls from the office or his cell. Didn’t David care that she hadn’t shown up? Did he assume she was punishing him for the unpleasant confrontation the

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night before? Or had he decided not to bother calling because he was planning to fire her when she finally resurfaced? She punched in the office number but hung up when it clicked over to the answering machine. David wouldn’t be in the office. In her rush, she’d forgotten the breakfast meeting he had scheduled, one she was supposed to have been part of. All sorts of wild memories of the shower tried to assert themselves while she scrubbed herself, but she ignored them and hopped out to get dressed while still damp. After trying to tug nylons over damp shins ruined her second pair in as many days, she gave up on hosiery and slipped into tailored navy slacks and a matching knit shell. Her hair got little more than a quick shot with the hair dryer. Thank heavens she’d gone ahead with the radical haircut the week before. She skipped makeup, aside from a faint blush to cover her pale expression, and raced to the living room after brushing her teeth. She almost forgot to grab David’s engagement ring off the dining room table on her way out and turned to retrieve it. She halted when she glanced at the table top. “What the hell?” Frowning, she got down on her hands and knees and searched the beige carpeting under and around the table. It was no use. The ring was gone. “Dillon,” she muttered through gritted teeth while a wash of hot irritation rushed over her. Damn that cowboy and his little tricks with her ring. She still might not be prepared to give a final verdict about marrying David—if, in fact, that offer was still on the table, as he’d warned—but showing up to work beyond late and without the ring would not exactly send the message that all was well. Oh, well. There was nothing she could do at the moment. She could deal with Dillon and his smart-ass pranks after work, assuming she still had a job. Typically when Aimee arrived at Anders Investments, she found David already plugging away in his office. Today when she burst in, he was sitting in a chair beside Aimee’s desk, flipping a pencil end

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over end on the desktop. He had on the navy pinstripe shirt and gray suit slacks that she preferred on him. His tie had been loosened, however, and his shirtsleeves were rolled carelessly to the elbow. A bud vase sat on the middle of her desk that held a single red rose and a spray of baby’s breath. “Ted Jackson missed you at breakfast,” he said, not looking up from the pencil when she bustled over and dropped her purse into her own chair. “I am so sorry,” she blurted, shrugging off the blazer that matched her slacks and hanging it over the back of her chair. “I must have been exhausted after everything that happened this weekend. I passed out and never even heard the alarm.” He nodded, still focused on the pencil. “I suppose being out in the woods all night with a couple of strapping cowboys and two trips to the mountains would be rather taxing.” She froze, and he finally looked up at her. “I know you went back. I heard you talking to the blond one at the front door last night.” Averting his gaze, her eyes fell back to the bud vase on the desk. “The rose is beautiful.” “I wanted to apologize for my behavior last night. I shouldn’t have acted so territorial where you’re concerned. I don’t know what’s come over me lately.” She offered a tiny smile. “It’s okay. And I really am sorry about being late.” Her gaze shifted to a familiar envelope on the desk, and her smile faded at the sight of yet another thing she had to rectify from her long, bizarre weekend. “Oh, no. I forgot to pay Mom’s bill when I was there yesterday.” David shot her an odd smile as he stood up and faced her. “Seems like you had your mind on other things. Why did you go back up the mountain? You never did tell that guy.” She picked up her purse and deposited it in the chair he’d just vacated at the side of her desk. “I honestly don’t know. After I visited

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Mom, I drove away from Applewood and didn’t even realize I’d started driving back up the mountain until I was halfway there.” “Back to them.” She shook her head. “I wouldn’t have even seen Dillon if I hadn’t stopped off for a bite to eat. He happened to be there.” “Convenient.” “I had no idea he was there. He probably wouldn’t have said a word to me, either, if he hadn’t had to step in and stop some drunk who pulled me out of my chair and dragged me to the dance floor.” David stared at her for a moment. “You certainly do have your share of admirers, don’t you? Not that I blame them. I swear, I should start recommending that all my clients invest heavily in whatever perfume you’ve been wearing lately. Drives men irrevocably insane.” As he spoke, David moved around the desk, holding her gaze. The hunger that flared in his dark eyes shot a spark of panic through her, and she instinctively began moving away until they were engaged in a slow, unspoken chase around the desk. “David, what are you doing?” she asked in a wary tone. His glance fell toward the hands she was using to grip the desk and pull herself around. “You aren’t wearing your ring.” She swallowed. “I didn’t think it would be right to wear it, what with everything that went on last night.” Which perhaps wasn’t far from the truth, all things considered. “I thought it might send the wrong message.” Brown eyes darkened further. “What message? That you might actually consider marrying the man who loves you?” One of them, anyway. He picked up his pace, cracking an uncharacteristic grin that would have churned her breakfast in her stomach had she bothered to eat any. “Do you have any idea how fantastic you smell? How sexy you look in that sweater and those fitted pants? I don’t know how I’ve managed to keep my hands off you all this time.”

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“Stop this,” she said, knocking papers askew from her desk as the chase continued. He feinted right, then left, then lunged across the desk and nearly caught her. She jumped back and set her hands on her hips. “You’re not seriously going to act like a smarmy boss who chases the secretary around the office to get her to sit on his lap?” “I want more from you than a bounce on my knee.” With her still backing away from the desk, David came around and caught her in a few quick strides. He took her by the upper arms, trapping her between his lean body and the wall behind her. “We’re both adult enough to stop playing coy and admit it.” The hunger in his eyes boiled up to a dangerous level. What the hell was wrong with him? He had never behaved like anything less than a gentleman before, and certainly not like an outright lecher. He was no better than the drunken sods who’d been hitting on her in the bar. An answer came in the form of Dillon’s voice echoing through her mind. If a bond mate is awakened sexually before she has been properly claimed… She stiffened in David’s arms, trying to still her racing heart and keep her voice from shaking. “I’m not playing coy. I’m asking you to be professional. As of right now, you are still my boss. And you’ve just crossed the line into harassment.” He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Tell me you don’t want this. That you don’t feel how right it is.” “I don’t.” She lifted her chin a second before she realized that was a mistake. David took the gesture as an invitation. “Then maybe you need a little inspiration.” His lips came down on her yelp of protest, muffling it. Several thoughts flew through her mind—shoving him away, kicking him between the legs, or just giving in and letting him try and inspire her. It was only fair, considering how much inspiration she’d let two cowboys who were not her proposed fiancé offer her.

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A decision was forestalled by the sound of the outer office door opening. David yanked back with a slightly dazed expression, clearing his throat. “Your ten o’clock with Stan Mathers,” Aimee said, slightly breathless and grateful beyond belief. With a curt nod, David ran a hand through his hair to straighten the locks mussed during his game of ring-around-the-desk and went to greet the tall, graying man whose Italian suit alone was likely worth more than a month’s worth of Aimee’s salary. While the men made business small talk and headed into David’s office, she picked up papers that had hit the floor and slapped them back on the desk before collapsing onto her chair. Her pulse fluttered from shock and the brief chase while she pondered what to do next. The appointment would likely last a while, but then what would David do? Apologize for behaving like such a cad or pick up where he’d left off? She glanced down at the Applewood Hills envelope again, and her thoughts shifted track. How stupid could she be, forgetting something like that? She hadn’t missed a payment in her life—not ever. Well, perhaps she’d had to skimp a bit from time to time, meting out partial payments to all her creditors. She’d never just ducked out entirely, especially not where her mother’s medical care was concerned. Aimee blew a loose strand of hair away from her face while she picked up the phone and dialed the nursing home. She requested the business office and was making her apologies a few moments later. “I am terribly sorry for forgetting to make my payment yesterday,” she said. “I realize this weekend was the deadline, but I can come in on my lunch hour today and pay the balance. Will I have a late fee?” “Let me look up your mother’s account,” the clerk said. She heard the woman tap some keys, pause, and then tap some more. “If it’s only one day late, can I still pay the usual balance due?” Aimee asked.

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“There is no balance due,” the woman replied. “The account shows a credit of, huh. Wait. That’s weird.” “What’s wrong?” “Let me double-check something.” More clicking followed. “I’m going to put you on hold for a minute.” Music came on the line, and Aimee frowned. Ask about what? Just how much extra would she have to pay? Surely they wouldn’t toss her mother out over being one day late. The woman’s cheery voice came back on the line. “Okay, the figures checked out. You have a credit to the account for one hundred thousand dollars.” Aimee’s jaw fell. “That’s not possible. There must be some sort of accounting error.” “I thought so at first, too. But the account was paid in person this morning.” She sat up straighter in her chair. “By whom?” “I don’t know, ma’am. The other clerk took the payment. She said he was tall and handsome, though. Figured he was Mrs. Stevens’s son, or your husband?” “I’m not married.” Yet. Tall and handsome. Her eyes fell to the door across the hall that was marked D. Anders in gold lettering. “Well, someone took care of the bill.” “And the clerk was certain the man was paying for the right Mrs. Stevens? It’s a common last name.” “He specifically mentioned you as the durable power of attorney.” So it was David, then. She suppressed a hiccup of emotion. “Thank you.” She hung up and stared down at the envelope. Why had he done this? And could he really afford to give that much help when she hadn’t even answered his proposal? His investment company was successful but small and a literal his-and-hers operation. David was the investment consulting genius, and she little more than a glorified

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secretary. Did he truly have one hundred thousand dollars to toss away on a whim? He’d made the ultimate gamble to ensure her answer would be yes, and what else could she say now? No wonder he’d given her that tight little smile when she’d mentioned the overdue payment. And why he’d chased her around the desk like a randy high-school boy and kissed her right in her office. He already knew he’d won. Laughter came from behind his closed door, and she sighed and tucked the envelope away in a drawer. David Anders’s investments always paid off, his clients said, and here was another example where that claim was about to be proven right. Just one thing remained— getting his ring back. She knew where she had to go to get it and who she had to say a firm and final farewell to before closing that door in her heart forever. Aimee’s stomach lurched with a lopsided flip at the thought of never seeing Dillon and Kyle again. Climbing into David’s bed and doing the things she’d done with her cowboys felt wrong, somehow. How twisted was that? David was the one who had given her a ring. He had been the one to promise her help and then deliver on it. David was stability and calm routine. Kyle and Dillon were danger and secrets and supernatural intrigue. Maybe those things actually drew her to them on some level. Women always went for the bad boys, right? Still, attraction to an element of risk wasn’t love. What she was feeling for them wasn’t real, as much as her heart tried to whisper otherwise. Even though her emotions for the two men had dug themselves deep in the brief time she’d known them, she couldn’t act on them. Maybe she couldn’t imagine ever feeling this way about David, no matter how much he tried to romance her or how much money he generously applied to her mother’s care. But the bottom line was she’d gone for years without being impressed by the notion of romance. Suddenly, she was ready to throw responsibility to the wind—and for what? Hot nights riding a couple wild, dirty cave dwellers. Something had gone very wrong in her head.

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The office door opened, and Stan Mathers slapped David hard on the back as they shared a private laugh. Both men were grinning ear to ear as David’s happy gaze landed on Aimee. Her heart gave a little skip, though she realized it wasn’t because he turned her emotions upside down. She merely didn’t know if he was about to start things up where they’d left off—or what she’d do about it now that she knew what he’d done. “See you at noon,” Stan was saying, and he left. David paused at the office door before turning toward her. “He asked me to lunch to celebrate his biggest dividend payout to date. And to introduce me to a couple of his golf buddies who have some money to invest. It’s up at the cigar club, unfortunately. I know you’d hate it.” “That’s okay,” she said with a half smile. “I wanted to ask a favor, anyway. I hate to ask after coming in late, but can I take off early today? I have some errands to run.” She hesitated. “Later on, I’ll have that answer for you. Say, over dinner?” His eyes searched hers for a span of beats. “Dinner sounds great. I suppose there’s not much else going on here today. I could probably spare you for a few hours after lunch.” She nodded and hustled over to the file cabinet. If there was any truth to Dillon’s claim that her recent sexual escapades made her somehow more attractive to men, keeping distance between them seemed like a good idea. “You have three other meetings, one with the broker from Marlowe and Fitch at three, and two with new clients after that. They’re in the appointment book.” “I’ll be fine. I know you need to go take care of your Mom’s payment.” She pulled out a couple files and cocked her head at him. “Do I?” He folded his arms. “Don’t you?” “It’s okay, David. I already know.” His eyes crinkled into an amused expression. “Know what?”

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“I called Applewood while you were in the meeting. They gave me her account balance.” “So, you’ll go handle your part today. My payment will mail out on the first, as usual. I hope that will be okay?” She laughed. “David, don’t you think you’ve done enough already?” “I know I acted like an ass last night, but I do intend to keep helping you with your mother. I wasn’t trying to hijack your answer to my proposal by making you think otherwise.” No, just trying to hijack her heart away from the men who currently held it in a two-fisted grip. “I’d say you more than proved that by your gesture this morning.” He glanced at her desk. “You like the rose that much? I should have started bringing you flowers a long time ago.” “Not the rose. I’m talking about Mom’s account.” His brows furrowed. “I don’t understand.” “You went down there today, didn’t you? To Applewood.” He shook his head. “I had the breakfast meeting and then came here hoping you’d just forgotten and had showed up to the office instead of the restaurant.” “But you stopped off for flowers. Did you go anywhere else?” “I got the rose from the flower shop down on the corner.” He eyed her strangely. “What’s this all about?” She blinked. Why was he playing innocent? Maybe he was trying to be discreet because he didn’t want her answer to hinge solely on knowing what he’d done. Maybe he was right. Her answer shouldn’t hinge on knowing about it. “Nothing.” She closed the metal file cabinet and walked as far from David as she could to deposit the files on her desk. “I just need to take care of a few errands.” “That’s fine. You head out at lunch, and I’ll pick you up around seven for dinner. Okay?”

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She nodded, not sure whether things were okay or not. Either David was playing games with her or there really had been a mistake on her mother’s account. She would go down there in person to straighten it out and render the proper payment if need be. Then she needed to straighten out her head, once and for all.

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Chapter Eight Instead of marching straight into the business office as she’d intended, Aimee wound up at the nurse’s station by her mother’s room. “She’s out in the gardens getting some air,” the nurse told her, directing Aimee to the rear door. The gardens were sunny and warm, and her mother’s soft, brown hair shone under the bright light as she sat in a wheelchair staring at a peaceful fountain. A lump formed in Aimee’s throat to see her mother outside again. Jackie Stevens had dearly loved her own garden and spent so much time outdoors that Aimee’s main memories of seeing her mother inside involved cooking up the harvest from her garden. “Hi, Mom,” Aimee said. She smiled at the attendant seated nearby. The woman rose from the bench beside the wheelchair and smoothed down her white uniform smock. “I’ll leave you two to visit awhile. Just let someone know before you leave.” Aimee nodded and took in her mother’s face. At just fifty years old, she looked twenty years older. The carefree, smiling woman Aimee remembered was gone, replaced by the slack-faced, often vacant expression she wore these days. Her pale pink bathrobe and scuff slippers did little to enhance the faded pallor that was a far cry from the suntan she’d sported most of Aimee’s life and probably a lot longer. “I know I was just here yesterday,” Aimee said, knowing full well her mother wouldn’t remember any such thing. “I came by to talk to the business office and thought I’d say hello.”

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Her mother’s gray eyes continued to stare at the three-tiered cement fountain. “Peaches for lunch,” she said. “That’s nice. You love peaches.” “Can’t count to twenty.” The lump thickened. “That’s okay. The nurses or I will count with you whenever you need twenty.” “No!” She slapped a hand on the arm of her wheelchair, and her gray eyes swiveled to Aimee. “No, no, no. It has to be twenty.” It was one of those days. Aimee sighed. There were times when her mother sounded like a petulant child. Really, she knew it was random portions of her mother’s brain that were firing in a desperate attempt to retain a grip that was continually slipping away. Aimee took her mother’s hand. “I’m here, Mom. It’s okay. You’re okay. Isn’t the garden lovely?” That drew the woman’s attention back to the surroundings. “I keep the best garden in the neighborhood. I go out every morning and tend it until lunch.” “I remember.” Aimee sighed. “It was really beautiful.” They sat in silence for a moment. “I wish you could tell me what to do, Mom. I think I’ve really made a mess of things.” “Clean up after yourself.” She studied the lines etched in her mother’s face, around the eyes that used to be so caring, so present. “I wish I could.” Aimee used her thumb to trace the veins on the back of her mother’s hand. “Do you think it’s wrong to marry someone just because they can take better care of you financially than someone else? Am I a shallow gold digger? Shouldn’t I want to make sure you get everything you need?” Her mother frowned, still gazing off into the garden. “Roses don’t bloom in January.” “This is May, Mom.” “No. I just threw that big New Year’s party.”

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The last party she ever gave was during Aimee’s freshman year in high school. Her mother’s hazel eyes found hers. “You know your problem? Your head rules your heart. Always has.” The woman shook her head. “So sad.” Aimee gawked at her. “But, it’s good that I use my head. I can’t let love take control. Love won’t help me take care of my life.” “Love takes care of everything.” Jackie reached over and patted Aimee’s hand. “Love makes you find a way, Susan.” Her heart sank. “It’s Aimee, Mom. Your daughter.” Her mother screwed up her face into a squint, deepening her wrinkles as she studied Aimee’s features. “I have a daughter?” Tears came as Aimee nodded, even though she had made a firm decision long ago to never let her mother see her cry over her condition. She wiped a hand over her eyes to clear her blurry vision, only to see her mother’s were glazed over, too. “Oh, Mom. Don’t cry. Everything’s just fine.” Aimee sniffed and turned to the bright rose bushes nearby. “Isn’t the garden lovely?” A smile touched her mother’s face again as her gaze drifted off. “I have the best garden in the neighborhood. I’ll be putting up preserves this weekend, if you want to stop by for a jar.” Aimee nodded and stood up, pressing a kiss to her mother’s shiny hair. “I love you, Mom. I’ll be back in a couple of days.” She wandered back inside on shaking legs. Her mother didn’t even know who she was. Aimee certainly shouldn’t read too much into her relationship advice. Once at the business office, she stood at the counter and asked the clerk to pull up her mother’s account. The woman confirmed the credit of one hundred thousand dollars. “But can you tell me who made the payment?” Aimee asked. “As delighted as I am to accept such a credit, it wouldn’t be honest if this is some kind of mistake.”

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The skinny brunette behind the counter shook her head and scratched at what appeared to be an itchy knit sweater. The grassy shade reflected nicely into her eyes, making them appear an even more vibrant green. Still, the eyes regarded Aimee as though she were the one in need of medical treatment. “There was no mistake, ma’am. I can’t recall his name off the top of my head, but he wanted to make absolutely certain that he had the right Mrs. Stevens. He mentioned you specifically—Aimee Jo. I went over everything myself and processed the bank transfer.” “You were the clerk who took the payment? So you saw him, then. What did he look like?” The green eyes turned wistful. “Tall, blond, gorgeous beyond reason. Hot accent, too.” Aimee’s breath caught. “Accent?” “Yeah. You know, slang. Lots of cowboys in these parts, what with the ranches over in Hillerton and up the mountain.” The woman sighed. “I’d love to land me a rich, handsome ranch man.” Every limb in Aimee’s body froze up. “He was a cowboy?” “Yes, ma’am.” The woman giggled as she affected a western drawl on the last word. “Hat and manners and all.” “Are you sure you can’t remember his name?” Although, Aimee was getting a fair idea who it might be. “Surely you had to get that information to make a bank transfer.” “The payment came through a business account.” She went to her computer and punched some keys. “Here it is. West Ways Ranch.” A ranch paid? An uneasy feeling fluttered in her stomach. “But what was the man’s name?” The brunette scrunched up her face like she was deep in thought. “Darn. You’d think I’d remember, gorgeous as he was. Cain, maybe? Clark? He just said his ranch wanted to make a donation to your mother’s care and gave your name. Did you buy some horses recently or something?”

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Aimee shook her head, dumbstruck. Tall, blond, cowboy twang. Only one man fit that description. But he didn’t own a ranch. She hesitated. “The name wasn’t Kyle, was it?” The woman’s face brightened. “Yes, that’s it! Kyle West.” Aimee just stood there, staring. “Ma’am?” She blinked and cleared her throat. “Sorry. I understand now. Thank you for looking up the information.” She rushed out of the office and climbed into her car, numb and reeling from this latest development. How could this be true? How could Kyle afford something like that? More important, why would he do something like that? Despite their night together, he was very reserved where she was concerned—almost the polar opposite of Dillon. He knew she was still thinking of marrying David. He had abandoned her without a word after climbing into her bed. To make such a monumental contribution in light of the whole picture made no sense. Was he trying to make a point about her assumption that he was destitute? That must be it. Okay, so she’d presumed that neither of the cowboys had any means of support. What else was she supposed to deduce? They hadn’t given her reason to think otherwise. They made assumptions, too. They thought she should toss her life aside for men she didn’t even know. Then they accused her of being a money-grubber who only cared about getting a rich man, which wasn’t true at all. Was it? She revved her motor and glanced into the rearview mirror. Accusing eyes stared back. Honestly, what was the reason she’d clung to for refusing Kyle and Dillon? That reason hadn’t been enough to keep her out of their arms, but out of the running for a relationship. Okay, fine. Maybe she did place money above love where romance was concerned. Maybe if Kyle and Dillon had been forced to take over running a household while still in high school, they’d be worried about financial stability, too. They hadn’t wanted to accept that she

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couldn’t hand her life over to men she just met, regardless of the way they made her feel. Because of that, they’d left her bed without so much as a fare-thee-well. Loved and left. Her mouth drew into a tight slash, and she looked away from the mirror. She’d been in such a mad panic since discovering she was late for work that she hadn’t let herself stop long enough to allow that ugly bit of reality sink in. Too bad it couldn’t have stayed that way. Instead, rejection crashed over her like thunder while she drove away from Applewood. How stupid she’d been. She had been truly frightened when she’d thought Kyle had been seriously injured by the truck. Terrified, really. She thought she would lose him and had taken both men into her home without a thought. Kyle and Dillon had made love to her and made her feel things she never dreamed existed. They had offered to “claim” her, though she wasn’t clear on what sort of commitment that entailed. They had tried to get her to admit that what she felt for them couldn’t be denied, and as she turned onto the highway into the mountains, she realized that they were right. But sometime during the night, the men had disappeared without a word. No note and no explanation, except the one reason that played through her mind now. They were tired of her rejection, of her giving into passion from arm’s length while making it clear that they weren’t good for her high-maintenance life. Had Kyle’s payment been a parting shot to punish her for being wrong about him? A this-is-what-you-gave-up statement to think about during long, desolate nights? Dillon stealing her engagement ring was no doubt his way of getting in a last blow on the way out the door. And maybe she deserved it. A woman seriously contemplating marriage to someone else wouldn’t be so brazen as to let two other men fuck her simultaneously in the shower. Not a woman who deserved to have her “I do” taken seriously. She had to get real honest, real fast, and when she did, she knew she’d already made her decision back in the cave. That was why Kyle and Dillon could drive her to do things she had no right to do while

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wearing another man’s ring. Her finger might have worn that symbol of commitment, but her heart didn’t. Her heart belonged to them. “Mom was right,” she whispered to her reflection in the rearview. “Love makes you find a way.” Just like Aimee had found a way to see to it her mother was cared for, no matter what. She’d been a highschool girl and had made it through out of sheer love for the woman who had raised her. She didn’t deserve David, and she didn’t deserve Kyle or Dillon, either. She’d betrayed all three of them in different ways. Now she had to pay the consequences. She had to admit the truth, even if it was too late to get what she wanted. It would likely mean a broken heart and losing her job, but she couldn’t go on lying to herself or any of the others. It was time to set things right.

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Chapter Nine Aimee had felt quite pleased with herself for having the foresight to stop on the way up to purchase a sturdy battery-operated lantern and bottled water. Now, as every pebble poked at her feet through her low-heeled pumps while she walked through the cave tunnel, she cursed herself for lacking the brains to change into decent footwear as well. Maybe one of these days she’d get these trips to the mountains right. Assuming there would ever be one again. She was already standing in the vacant cave room when she realized she hadn’t really expected either of the men to be there. Dillon hadn’t bothered to chain himself up during the previous night’s full moon, and tonight’s moon would be the weakest of the three. Besides, it wasn’t even nightfall yet. Nevertheless, she wondered whether he might have stashed the ring in the cave. She used the lantern and a flashlight from her car to search the dirt floor for it. “Damn it,” she said when she came up empty handed. She set the lantern and flashlight down near the pile of chains against the far wall. A thought hit, and she carefully uncoiled the pile to check underneath. Nothing. She dropped the chains with a rattle but held onto Dillon’s heavy metal collar while she sat down on the cave floor. She turned the collar over in her hands, trying to picture what it was like to be restrained that way. How did he feel, chained up all alone while waiting for Kyle and for the full moon to rise and trigger the curse? Sitting the flashlight in her lap, she opened the hinge on the collar and slid it around her neck without clicking the lock in place. She hadn’t seen a key, so tethering herself to the wall didn’t seem like the

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greatest idea. The collar was big and hung over her collarbone colder and heavier than she expected. Still, she couldn’t pretend she didn’t feel the tiny trickle of pleasure at the sense of being so naughty and wanton. Chained like an animal, to restrain the wild thing she became whenever the two men who taught her the ways of lust put their hands on her. “You know, I had that same idea myself.” She jerked her head up to see Dillon standing just inside the tunnel, staring at her with an amused expression. A western-yoked tan shirt had been paired with today’s jeans, and his hat was in his hand. “What idea?” she asked. He walked toward her, his boot steps echoing in the cave. “To chain you up right there so you couldn’t run away from me again.” She shrugged and ran a finger along the rugged chain. “Instead, you decided to run away yourself. I suppose I deserved it.” He stopped and squatted down in front of her. “I didn’t run away.” Her eyes refused to meet his. “When I woke up this morning, you were gone.” She was surprised and a little annoyed at how small and girlish her voice sounded. A warm finger slid under her chin and lifted her face to his. “I didn’t run away.” He said each word slower this time. “We left in the middle of the night. Kyle had to get back before the pack got suspicious.” “You could have said something.” A pang of guilt crossed his features. “Kyle wouldn’t let me wake you to say good-bye.” Her heart skipped in frustration. “Why not?” “He said we shouldn’t play with your emotions, what with you not wantin’ us and all. Said we needed to give you time and space to think on things, and then you’d be back.” His eyes searched hers. “I didn’t agree, but here I find you a few hours later. Guess he was right.” “Where is Kyle? With the other pack?”

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He nodded. “We split up at the foot of the mountain. Haven’t seen him since.” “Are you expecting him later since it’s still a full moon?” “He wasn’t plannin’ to come here tonight. He’s tryin’ to lie low with the pack since he’s been takin’ off so much lately.” Dillon arched a brow. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were more interested in seein’ Kyle than you are me.” She offered him a smile. “I confess that I came up here hoping to see you both. That doesn’t bother you, does it?” He reached out and fingered her collar. “No. It’s expected.” “Expected?” She laughed. “Why, because you’re both so handsome and charming, even though one of you is intimidating as hell and the other annoyingly devious?” His grin in return quickened her pulse. “Because the mate of a werewolf will be naturally attracted to the rest of his pack.” Her smile faded. “But I’m not your mate. Not officially.” His fingers slid from the collar along her shoulder, sending chills down her arm. “You’ll still feel the draw. But if you were to take Kyle’s mark as our mate, the need you feel for us already would grow much more intense.” His eyes threatened to consume her. “Much more difficult to resist.” She wondered how her desire for them could possibly get any harder to resist while his words and touch wove a spell around her. “Kyle’s mark? You told me in the bar that you wanted to mark me.” Gold flared in his eyes in perfect tune to the heat spreading low in her pelvis. “Oh, I aim to mark you in ways that’ll drive you crazy, darlin’.” His eyes flickered, then dimmed to their normal bluish color. “Male weres have an urge to mark their mates, and we do, at times. But the only way for you to be officially recognized as a bond mate is for the alpha to make the mark while your mate is inside you.” Prickles shot along her skin at the thought. “So in effect it’s like giving their blessing?”

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“More than that. The alpha’s mark warns off other males and claims you for the pack, bonding you to all the weres in it—and them to you.” “‘All’ meaning just you and Kyle, right?” She frowned. “I wouldn’t be bonded to your old pack or to his current one?” He shook his head. “You’d be drawn only to those under Kyle’s control. He is alpha only to me.” “I see,” she said, wishing she truly did. “But would Kyle’s bite make me a wolf?” “Not the way we intend to do it. Once you’re claimed, a mark by pack mates durin’ sex won’t change you. Before you’re claimed, however, any bite would infect you—even mine. That’s why I’ve had to hold off on some of my urges.” She glanced at him. “That’s how you both became wolves?” He nodded. “Six years ago for me. Longer for Kyle. Solomon turned him to save his life after a mountain lion attacked him in the woods.” “Is that how he got the scar?” “No. He got thrown by a horse the year before. Landed face first on a barbed wire fence. He doesn’t like to talk about it much, as you’ve probably figured. Apparently he got quite the cold shoulder from the ladies after that.” She clutched at her chest. “Jesus. And you? Was Blaise trying to save you from something?” Dillon snorted. “Hardly. He wasn’t tryin’ to turn me. He wanted to kill me.” Her eyes widened. “Why?” “I was workin’ a ranch down the mountain and tried to chase off his pack when they came sniffin’ around the cattle. He attacked me and left me for dead. When I came to, I was alone out by the perimeter fence. I began the first shift right away because of the full moon. Not a good night, all around. Instinct led me straight to Blaise,

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and he had a fang hold on me ever since until Kade Winchester challenged and killed him.” Her heart pounded as images flashed through her mind. “And Kyle? What happened to him?” He sighed. “Kyle, Kyle, Kyle. You have quite the one-track mind.” “And you have quite the devious one.” She cocked her head. “Speaking of which, you stole something of mine, I believe.” “Did I?” He laid a finger on his lips and glanced upward. “Hm. Let me think. Your virginity? Sorry, darlin’, but that’s long gone.” She crossed her arms. “Funny, but not what I meant.” “You must be talkin’ about your heart, then.” She attempted a glare but couldn’t pull it off. “It’s smaller than that. Round, has a shiny rock in the middle?” “Ah, so your love for me is bigger than a diamond.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring, peering at the stone shimmering in the lantern light. “I suspected as much.” “Also not what I meant.” She held out her hand. “Let me have my ring back, Dillon.” His eyes shifted to her, the hint of golden glimmers sending a shiver through her. “Is it, Aimee? Is it truly yours?” Her legs weakened from the intensity of his stare. “No. But it isn’t yours, either. I have to return it to the man it does belong to.” “So, you decided not to marry for money, after all.” “I decided I can’t pretend to do the right thing if it isn’t the right thing.” He lifted her left hand and slid the ring onto her finger. Her heart skipped like crazy with every millimeter the band advanced. The symbolism in his gesture screamed in her mind, even though she knew it was neither his ring nor a proposal. “And what is the right thing?” he whispered. She had to swallow to try and catch her breath. “To follow my heart, not trail after my fear.”

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“And your heart keeps leadin’ you here.” “Yes,” she whispered. “I do want you. Kyle, too. If it’s not too late to admit that.” His fingers stroked upwards along her arm. “You admitted that the day you first wandered in here, lost and cold and so innocent that I ached to hold you.” Her answer was drowned in the bottomless desire in his kiss. That brush of his lips erased everything else—her money woes, David’s engagement plans, fear and doubt. There was no denying that what Kyle said her first time there was true. Dillon possessed a magic that enthralled her. His need for her became the only force that held her feet to the earth, yet catapulted her emotions sky-high. She felt so complete in his arms, and yet something was missing. Kyle. “I’m not sure whether to be happy to have you all to myself or to wish Kyle were here with us,” she said when he finally broke away from her lips. His laugh smoldered with eroticism. “I know the feelin’. But I expect he’ll be along any time now.” “But you said he wasn’t coming tonight.” “That was before he felt what’s happenin’ between us.” “What do you mean?” “Pack mates sense strong emotions in each other, no matter where we are. Danger, despair.” He moved close enough to feel his breath on her cheek. “Passion.” Strong emotion. The thought penetrated the sexual fog blowing around her. “Is that why Kyle always looks so stiff? Is he holding back so the other pack won’t sense what he’s doing?” Dillon nodded. “That meditation mumbo jumbo he uses ain’t only to control his shifts. Not anymore. He’s takin’ quite a risk, bein’ with me. The worst was when he got hit by the truck. I thought for sure that would bring his pack runnin’. Even then, he managed to rein up hard enough to keep them from sensin’ his pain. But I don’t hide what

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I’m feelin’, Aimee. And I’m bettin’ he got the jolt loud and clear the second I walked in here and saw you sittin’ in those chains.” His cock was stiff in his jeans as he pulled her up against him, both of them on their knees as they clutched at one another. His tongue circled hers until her pussy flooded with wet heat. Damn, how she wanted him. She inhaled his warm scent and reached a hand into his hair, knocking his hat to the ground. “Do you feel that energy risin’ up under your skin?” he whispered against her lips. “The sense that your body will explode if you don’t let that wave of electricity take you over?” “Yes.” Her heart pounded like crazy, and she rubbed her torso against him to revel in the pleasure tingling through the delectable hardness of her nipples. “That’s what a shift feels like when you give in to it,” he said. “Until I met you, I never knew it’s also how it would feel to give in to the mate you were destined for.” “I am giving in to you, Dillon. I can’t fight this shift anymore. I have to be yours.” His eyes were no longer blue, nor were they fiery gold. They had gone nearly black. “You’ve always been mine.” With that he pulled off her collar, and when she opened her mouth to protest, he silenced her by brushing his upper lip over hers. Then he yanked her knit sweater up over her head. With a growl, he slid her bra straps off her shoulders and freed her breasts. He slipped the collar around her neck again before capturing a nipple in his mouth, grazing it lightly with his teeth. She let out a desperate moan as her head fell back, though it was soon halted by the wide metal restraint around her neck. “Thought that was her I was feelin’.” Dillon and Aimee’s attention snapped back to see Kyle stride into the cave, looking a shade irritated but delectably cowboy in his blue plaid shirt and faded jeans. He took his hat off and scrubbed a hand through his hair before replacing it.

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“That was me you were feelin’,” Dillon said. “You just guessed why I was feelin’ it.” “The bigger why is why is she here?” Kyle’s face appeared taut in the lantern light, and the joy bubbling up inside her at seeing him again slid lower in her throat. “This ain’t a good time.” “What’s stuck in your paw?” Dillon asked. “I thought you’d be glad to see her back.” Kyle’s blue stare turned on her, ice cold. “You thought wrong.” Her stomach churned. So, his generous donation had been just a parting shot. Dillon still wanted her, but Kyle didn’t. A week ago, she couldn’t have cared less whether one man was interested in her, let alone two. Now, her heart thudded like a dull lump of lead because she didn’t have them both. “What the hell’s wrong with you?” Dillon asked. “This time.” “Did you ask her?” Kyle’s eyes held the same accusing glare she’d faced in her own reflection on the way up. “Ask her what?” “Why she’s here.” “She changed her mind,” Dillon said. “She ain’t gonna marry David. She wants us.” “Really. And you didn’t stop to wonder about the sudden change of heart?” Kyle stalked closer, and the smile that breached the scarred side of his face held a dangerous edge to it. When he stood over her, he folded his arms and stared down like a judge on a high bench. “I dangled the carrot, darlin’, and you done failed the test.” “Test?” Aimee asked. “Would you stop talkin’ in riddles?” Dillon added, rising from his knees to stand close in Kyle’s face. “What the hot fuck is goin’ on?” “She’s only here for the money, partner,” Kyle spat out. “That’s why she’d let you chain her up and ride her like a well-groomed pony. Ain’t that right, sugar?” She shook her head. “That’s not true.” Dillon’s expression bore outright confusion. “What money?”

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“I’ll admit you got here faster than I expected.” Kyle brushed off Dillon’s hat and settled it on the man’s head before staring back down at her. “Figured it’d take at least a few days before you found out about it. Guess I didn’t give your dollar radar enough credit.” Dillon bent down and took her by the arm. “What the devil is he talkin’ about, Aimee?” She kept her eyes on Kyle as she answered. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s dead wrong about me.” “Am I?” Kyle knelt down the way Dillon had earlier, only his encroachment into her personal space prodded her into pulling back. “Funny, because it seems like you and I both know exactly what I’m talkin’ about.” Dillon stuck his face down in front of Kyle’s, breaking his staring contest with Aimee. “And I’d like to know exactly what you’re talkin’ about—and why the hell you’re actin’ like she’s our enemy.” “I wanted to test our hot little vixen’s sincerity,” Kyle said, straightening up again. “I suspected that if she knew the truth about me, she’d come runnin’ back with a fire on her tail. So I set up a little experiment.” “Just what the hell did you do after we parted ways this mornin’?” Dillon asked. Kyle folded his arms. “I paid a call on the nursin’ home Aimee told you her mother was at and made a little contribution to her care.” “A little contribution?” Aimee laughed, turning to Dillon. “He paid Applewood one hundred thousand dollars.” Dillon let go of her and rose as well, narrowing his eyes at her. Kyle flashed a greasy smile. “Didn’t guess just how well that little trick would work to bring her runnin’ back.” He shook his head with a sigh. “I had hoped to God I was wrong about her.” “You are wrong about me.” She pushed at Dillon’s legs, which were barring her view of Kyle. Her chain rattled as she scooted on her knees as close to Kyle as she could get. “I didn’t come up here to sell

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out to the highest bidder. I came here to admit I was wrong to let money be a factor in my decision in the first place.” “Coincidentally the very day you found out Kyle ain’t the scruffy stray dog that I am,” Dillon said. “How philanthropic of you.” Her eyes widened, and he laughed. “Yeah, darlin’, I know big words and everythin’. Kyle ain’t the only one who came from a life of comfort once upon a time. He, fortunately, still has access to some of that comfort.” He eyed her up and down as though she’d been dragged in by the family cat. “I, on the other hand, seem to keep losin’ every damn last thing I try and take comfort in.” “Not every last thing,” Kyle said. Dillon turned to him with a snort. “What, you? I don’t have you most of the time, and when you are with me, you hold yourself back because you don’t want to get too close.” The other man’s eyes flashed. “You know why I have to.” “There ain’t no real comfort in it, regardless.” Angry tears threatened Aimee’s vision, and she blinked them back hard while she jammed a hand into her blazer pocket. “Here,” she snapped off, pulling her cell phone from her pocket and holding it out to Kyle. He scowled at her. “What’s that for?” “Call the damn clinic. Tell them to reverse the payment.” His jaw tightened. “No.” “Fine.” She flipped it open. “I’ll do it myself.” “Forget your phony games,” Dillon said with a note of disgust. “You know good and well you won’t get a signal in here.” Staring at the empty bars on her phone display, she heaved a sigh. “So I’ll go outside and do it myself.” She glared back and forth between the men. “I told you, I didn’t come racing up here all fluttery eyed because Kyle has money. I came here to undo the mistakes I’ve made these past few days. I came to apologize, even knowing it could mean losing Kyle’s help and my job.”

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“Makes a pretty speech, anyway,” Kyle said, reaching over to grab her shirt and blazer and drop them in front of her. “Don’t bother. Just leave.” He gave a disgusted growl. “Take this damn thing off.” He took hold of the collar hanging loose around her neck, but she flinched away from him and backed up on hands and knees until she was pressed to the wall. “No.” In desperation, she reached up and squeezed the collar latch together until it locked with a metallic click. Kyle sighed. “I have the key, you know.” He fished in his pockets, but she held up a hand. “Don’t. Just hear me out.” She took a deep breath to steel herself against the dual pair of distrusting gazes that were trained on her. “I’ve obviously screwed things up. I’m not exactly an expert on relationships, you know. I’ve only been on a few dates in my life, most in high school.” She tossed her phone lightly on top of the blazer lying in a heap a few feet away. “My mother has been sick since I was seventeen, but I can’t honestly blame her illness for robbing me of a love life. I just never cared about romance before.” She rubbed at the knees that were throbbing in protest of having knelt on the packed dirt. “Mom is my responsibility—not yours, and not David’s. She will be until the day she passes, and that fact is completely separate from my involvement with any man.” Kyle grunted. “Yet you were plannin’ to marry the man payin’ for her care.” “Helping to pay,” she said with a biting edge. “That’s because I spent years thinking love was just a fantasy. David said he felt the same way when he proposed. I started thinking maybe there was one reason to let a man into my life, and it had nothing to do with desire. When I stumbled into this cave, however, I discovered that there are actually two reasons, and both of them are standing right here.” Kyle’s expression was still guarded, but Dillon’s eyes had warmed with a bare hint of golden glow. “I’m sorry if I acted like you weren’t good enough,” she went on, meeting that warm gaze. “That wasn’t my intention. I wasn’t judging

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your right to be in my life. I was judging myself for feeling so out of control around you. I was afraid if I truly gave into you that I’d go off the deep end and throw my duty to Mom right out the door. It wouldn’t be right to turn my back on her for the sake of selfish desires. I’ve never looked for anyone to lift her burden off my shoulders. I don’t need a sugar daddy. But I have been terrified to realize just how badly I seem to need you both.” She stopped and looked up at them both with pleading eyes. They eyed her, then each other, and then her again. Without a word, Kyle reached into his snug jeans, sliding one hand and then the other into his pockets in an obvious search for the key. Her heart sank, pulsing in her gut while he patted himself down. After pulling his hands from his back pockets, he sighed. “Well, it seems fate has decided.” “What’s that mean?” Dillon asked. Kyle was still eyeing her. “It means she’s stuck here. I was in such a hot rush when I sensed you goin’ wild on her that I forgot the damn key in my other pants.” Her mouth fell open, and her hands flew up to the collar. Great. Well, at least now he couldn’t throw her out. Dillon broke into a wide grin. “Yep, fate decided, all right. And so have I.” He was on his knees in front of her in a flash, pulling her into his arms and grinding her lips against his with near fury. “I believe you, Aimee. I know you want me. I could feel it from the first moment you entered this cave. I can’t wait anymore to have you as my own.” His fevered lips boldly roamed along her jaw, pressing kisses right to the metal collar and down to her breasts. She arched her back and reached between his legs, rubbing the thick ridge behind the fly of his jeans. He ground his hips against her hand and moaned against the nipple he pulled into his mouth, sending a shudder through her. Her pussy released hot juices she could feel dampening her panties. “I want your clothes off,” she whispered. “Now.”

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“You first.” He reached around her to unhook the bra he’d pushed out of the way in his earlier haste, and she moved her hands out of the way so he could undo her slacks and shove them down over her hips. When she was naked at last, his tongue laved her breasts while his hands groped and kneaded the flesh of her buttocks. “Your ass is so perfect,” he growled. “Every inch of you makes my cock ache.” Her hands got busy tugging on the zipper of his jeans while he pulled his shirt off. She pressed her nose to his broad chest, inhaling the potent male aroma that drove her wild. He hastily pushed down his jeans to let them fall to the knees he rested on, but he didn’t bother to take them the rest of the way off. He grasped his pulsing cock and slid it between her thighs, flaring the heat and need inside of her. She spread her legs as best she could and arched herself until she felt the delicious, unbearably sensual feel of his cock spearing her wet heat. “I’ve thought of little else but doin’ this to you again,” he said, pushing himself deeper and shutting his eyes. “You feel like thick, warm honey coatin’ my dick.” She didn’t get a chance to reply because Kyle strode up, already naked and with his cock jutting out temptingly near her lips. She glanced up at him. “Fate decided?” “I decided.” Dillon arched back out of the way a little, grabbing her ass cheeks to steady himself while Kyle took hold of the back of her head and pressed himself closer. He guided her to his musky, purpled erection, and she licked her lips nervously while remembering the way Dillon had eagerly sucked Kyle’s long cock. She hesitantly flicked out with her tongue to taste the shiny tip. A drip of salty-sweet musk greeted her, and the taste infused her with need, as though the clear fluid held a potent aphrodisiac. She opened her mouth and slid the head in just a few inches at first, but then she greedily slurped in as much of Kyle’s shaft as would fit. She felt him stiffen as he moaned, still holding her hair. Instinct replaced uncertainty, and she worked her mouth back and

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forth to fuck his cock with her mouth in a rhythm that matched each thrust of Dillon’s hips against hers. Her tongue swirled along the length as she sucked, sampling the ridge of every vein, the velvet texture of the shaft, and circling the tight, satiny feel of the mushroom head she was fast coming to favor. The sensation of being fucked in two orifices this way was decidedly different than in the shower the previous night, but no less erotic. Her clit practically screamed in excitement, each thrust tightening her need into a coil she knew would unleash with volcanic force. Her hand ran up along Kyle’s taut, corded thigh to brush against his ball sac, and the smooth skin reacted by wrinkling and pulling close to his body. Fascinated, she let her fingertips explore the ridges while she sucked his rod with enough fervor to send saliva dribbling down her chin. Kyle’s growl deepened, and his grip in her hair tightened. He began pressing his hips forward, meeting her with each stroke to push his cock almost to the back of her throat. “Jesus, look how much you’re lovin’ his cock in your mouth,” Dillon said, ramming himself into her until his pubic bone bounced off hers. “You hot bitch, you’ve got my animal risin’ right up under my skin.” Hot tingles ran through her at hearing him talk to her that way. It made her feel so sexy. Erotic. Still, she pulled away from Kyle to throw Dillon a mocking look. “Don’t call me a bitch.” “Didn’t mean no offense, darlin’. What do you want me to call you, then?” She bent close to him, hovering just over his lips. “Just call me yours.” He growled and captured her mouth with his while he started to move inside her again. Kyle came around to kneel behind her, and she felt him spread her ass cheeks. His cock was still slick with her saliva while he pressed the tip against her anus, and with a gentler nudge

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than he’d given her in the shower, his hard shaft began to fill her to the brink of madness. “Oh, God,” she cried out. “When you both fill me like this I can barely move.” Her head fell back against his hot shoulder. “That’s right,” Kyle said. “Give me your submission. Tip your head to the side to show me that delicious neck.” He thrust his cock deep in her ass, and she cried out in pleasure. “Make the mark,” Dillon said, pushing himself in and out. “Now, before she changes her mind.” “I won’t,” she breathed, feeling the swirling near ache of orgasm already climbing. “I accept that you are Dillon’s true mate,” Kyle growled in her ear. “And mine. I accept you into my pack. Do you take both of us as part of you? Are you sure that you want this?” “More than anything.” “Then take my mark and be bound to us for life.” She bent her head aside to give him access and steeled herself for his bite. “Well, lookie what the fuck we’ve got here.” Aimee gasped at the intrusive new voice, and her head whipped around to see four—no, five—men filing in through the cave tunnel. The black-haired man in front, who she assumed was the speaker, was the tallest of the group and also the most imposing. Tall but decidedly not skinny, every inch of the man’s body was solid, and the tight, gray sweater and jeans he wore did little to hide it. While the men grouped around him came in different sizes and hair colors, they all had two things in common—an intimidating amount of muscle and familiar gold flecks in their eyes that glittered with varying intensity. “Solomon James,” Dillon muttered. “Shit.” “Got that right, boy,” the leader said, spitting on the ground. The narrow, brown-gold eyes glaring out from his square face turned first on Kyle, then on Aimee, who Dillon was doing his best to shield with his body. She willed herself to shrink into the dirt and disappear as

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Solomon’s eyes slid along her curves as if she weren’t tightly sandwiched between two men. Then he spotted the collar and chain around her neck. “I hadn’t figured out exactly what the hell you’ve been up to lately,” he said to Kyle, “but this is the God damn last thing I expected.” He lacked a cowboy’s drawl, instead snapping off each word like a drill sergeant. Combined with his closely shaved haircut, the man carried a distinct military air. “Buddying up to one of Blaise’s bastards and banging a human slave,” he went on, shaking his head. “You trying to channel that ruthless cocksucker’s cold, rotting corpse?” “It’s not like that,” Aimee said. “I’m not a slave.” “Aimee,” Dillon growled in warning. “You two outcasts shut the hell up,” the man shot back. “This doesn’t concern you. Yet.” His gaze, which was firing hotter by the moment, flicked back to Kyle. “Get the fuck out of that disgusting tangle and show me your submission. Now.” Kyle’s hot flesh, pressed to her back, gave way instantly to sleek, satiny fur, and his black wolf approached the man with his head lowered and tail held between his legs. After lowering himself to the ground, he flipped over on his back, exposing his paler underbelly. Aimee swallowed. It didn’t take much deduction to figure that Solomon was Kyle’s alpha. His pack had found them out. “Now get up on your knees as a man,” he snapped at the wolf. Kyle complied and sat on his heels, facing away from her. Dillon, whose cock had gone flaccid and slipped out of her, was slowly trying to make a grab for Aimee’s clothes. “Don’t you make a move,” the alpha boomed out, pointing at Dillon. “Jack. Adam.” Without another word, the two men on the farthest ends of the group shrugged out of jackets and shirts and dropped to the ground as gray wolves. Two others followed suit, and within seconds clothing lay in piles while the pack stood at four-legged attention, with wild, gold eyes and lethal-looking fangs focused on Dillon. He tensed and

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pushed Aimee more fully behind him, but their stares flicked her way more and more often. She crossed one arm over her chest and the other over her pubic hair, but it did little to keep the leering hunger from their feral eyes. “Care to tell me just why the hell you not only defied my orders regarding Blaise’s omega a-holes,” Solomon was saying, “but spun it around on its ass and perverted it to epic proportions?” “The bond,” Kyle said. “I was settin’ up to make my move on him when I felt it.” “You made a move, all right. Moved right onto hell’s path. I can’t believe that you, of all my wolves, would drag yourself down to the lowest of the low. Fuckin’ a lone wolf and his slave bitch.” “She ain’t a slave,” Kyle said. “She’s his bond mate.” “Bullshit.” Solomon strutted over to Aimee, along with two of his wolves. She scrambled away from behind Dillon and tried to press herself to the wall. Dillon slid back as well to shield her, but the wolves bared fangs and growled in his face. The pack alpha leaned down over Aimee, his dark eyes squinting as she tried to cover herself. He grabbed hold of her blazer and gave a firm tug to bare her shoulders “You’re lying, boy. She has no breeder mark on her.” Her mouth fell open as she scrambled to shrug the blazer back on. “A what mark?” He ignored the comment and sniffed at her. His mouth contorted into a vile approximation of a grin. “She smells like the devil’s dessert, though. I’ll give you that. Makes my dick twitch.” “We were about to finish the claim,” Kyle said. Solomon’s eyes narrowed. “‘We’ were? And just how the hell do you figure in to the claiming?” Kyle raised his chin. “I aim to make the pack mark on her. Dillon has acknowledged me as his alpha.” The laugh that Solomon bellowed contained zero humor but a good deal of incredulity. “Alpha? You’re in a pack that already has an

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alpha. I think the two of you are a bit confused on the subject of how the whole alpha thing works.” “No, sir,” Kyle said. “I just believed it to be the only choice at the time.” Her chest thumped in frustration, and she couldn’t help but ask Dillon, “Which is it, a pack mark, or a breeder mark?” “Not now,” Dillon said to her under his breath. “And when were you planning on telling me you want to breed me?” she whispered. “It ain’t what it sounds like,” he whispered back over his shoulder. “It’s just the old term for a mate.” “You cannot be in two packs at the same time,” Solomon was saying to Kyle, enunciating every word as though he was speaking to a child. “It’s impossible.” “Apparently, it ain’t,” Dillon interjected. “His alpha bond took on me immediately. But his bond to you still holds true.” Solomon’s fists flexed. “When I want your input, it’ll be for only one reason—to decide whether you want to die on all fours or as the pitiful excuse for a man that you are.” He turned and walked back over to Kyle. The wolves followed him, and while their backs were turned, Dillon used the opportunity to snatch up Aimee’s blazer. She tugged it on while he sat on the ground beside her, wishing it was had buttons down the front and was long enough to cover her genitals. “And just what the fuck is your goal?” Solomon went on. “Did you figure you’d play alpha with this reject loser until you grew big enough cojones to take me on?” Kyle shook his head. “I have no desire to challenge you for pack rights.” “Well, what a relief to hear you aren’t one hundred percent moron. Then what is this about? Why did you take up with this disowned cowboy?”

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He sighed and exchanged a glance with Dillon. “I was preparin’ to carry out your orders to kill Blaise’s old pack members on sight. But the minute I looked Dillon in the eye, I sensed the bond. I knew I couldn’t bring him into the pack because you would never accept him.” He glanced at the ground. “And I knew he was too wild to trust as an alpha.” Aimee felt Dillon shift uncomfortably beside her. “Got one thing right, anyway,” Solomon said. “Go on.” Kyle looked up at him. “So, rather than renounce my pack and come in under his leadership, I offered to help him learn to control his nature, and he accepted me as his alpha.” Solomon sneered at them. “And the two of you lived happily ever after. Oh, wait, that’s not it. You turned thousands of years of tradition inside out, lied to your alpha, and snuck around behind your pack’s behinds in hopes that you’d get away with it. Not smart, Kyle. Not smart at all.” A thick cloud of added tension descended when talk ceased, and Aimee’s heart began pounding against her sternum as she watched the man stare down at Kyle. At least while the man was jawing on about alpha rights and such, nobody was getting hurt. With silence, however, came the sharp edge of threat that Solomon or his pack of fanged dogs would strike at any moment. She felt Dillon tense beside her and knew he was thinking the same thing. Kyle, for his part, met the other man’s eyes in the same calm, poised regard he wore like a mantle. After what seemed an unbearable span of quiet in which nothing echoed through the cave except the sound of Aimee’s pulse in her ears, Solomon whooshed out a sigh. “Normally, when a wolf tries to jump packs and the alpha disputes the claim, he would challenge the new alpha to either retake his wolf or to a winner-takes-all pack rights fight. But now you present me with the little problem of you being the alpha. If I kill you and win the challenge, I still lose you. But if you think I’m going to stand by while one of my wolves runs off to tie on

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an apron and set up housekeeping up with one of Blaise’s protégés, you’ve got another fucking thing coming.” Kyle rose, brushing off his knees, standing naked and silent while facing his alpha. Aimee watched the men’s profiles shift into grim resolve as they stood a few feet away. The other man growled in obvious disapproval. “Yeah, I see just how well that bond to me has held. I don’t recall giving you permission to get up.” “I’m not risin’ as your beta.” Kyle set his hands on his bare hips. “I’m standin’ in defense of the pack you are threatenin’.” Solomon’s dark brows rose to comical heights. “Well, now, look who’s talking like someone looking to take the old man on, after all.” “I ain’t lookin’ for that. I never wanted to renounce you or leave my pack. But I don’t see as how you’re leavin’ me much choice.” “Choice is the one weapon a man always has.” Solomon’s measuring stare slid along Kyle’s tense, firm body. “Even if he’s broke, starved, and naked as the day his mama squirted him out.” “Then you can make that same choice.” Kyle glanced at Dillon and Aimee, and she felt the small current run through her when his eyes found hers. “Let this go. Don’t turn this into somethin’ it doesn’t have to be.” “Well, that’s just the thing, boy. This does have to be something because I don’t think you’re playing this hand with a full deck.” He turned and gestured to Dillon. “You know the shit he comes from. Disowned by his own alpha. You saw firsthand how they treated your pack. How can you turn around and wet your dick with one of Blaise’s vicious dogs after what they did?” “It was never my choice to be part of Blaise’s pack,” Dillon snapped off with a bitter tone. “And I never agreed with what he did.” “But you still obeyed, didn’t you, you son of a bitch?” Solomon said. “You went out and did unto others at Blaise’s command. You did unto mine.”

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“There are ways of showin’ submission without strictly obeyin’,” Dillon said. Solomon laughed. “A strategy I see you’ve rubbed off on Kyle.” His gaze flicked to Kyle. “I suppose you figure you can control one of Blaise’s betas when he’ll flat out make a claim like that right in front of his alpha?” “This was never about control,” Kyle said. “It was about honorin’ the bond I knew was inevitable between us and helpin’ Dillon find his way back from his experiences in Blaise’s pack.” “I just don’t understand how you can look at the man who killed your pack mates and want to bond with him.” Aimee’s eyes widened. Dillon had told her his past had made him despondent enough to choose death. But she hadn’t ever thought of him as a killer. “I don’t pretend to understand it,” Kyle said. “The bond chooses us. We don’t choose it. And Dillon wasn’t involved in the campground battle.” “Don’t lie!” Solomon’s control cracked as he shouted the accusation. “I recognize the little bastard’s scent.” “I was there that night,” Dillon said, and Aimee’s head whipped around to him. “But I didn’t kill anyone. I’ve never killed anyone. Blaise and his betas did the killin’. I refused to play any part and retreated into the woods until it was over.” Solomon snorted. “So, you’re a pussy omega, then. You are still one of his, groomed by the bastard who ripped apart three of my wolves that night. And for what? The right to walk within the boundaries of a public campground.” He stalked forward and spat in the dirt. “So you see why there’s no way I can allow you to live.” Aimee’s heart seized. Jesus, what would happen to Dillon? To her? Kyle stepped in front of Solomon. “And as alpha, you can see why I cannot allow you to harm one of my own.” “Your own are the ones standing behind me.”

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“You’re no murderer. Don’t let what Blaise did four years ago change you into a creature no better than he was.” The man pointed a finger at Kyle’s face. “You may fancy yourself the alpha of that no-account little prick over there, but you do not give me orders.” “You’ve never been opposed to hearin’ counsel from members of your pack.” “That was before one of my pack lost his fool head and ran off to join the enemy.” He pushed up his sleeves, eyes glowing with golden menace. “So let’s call this what it is and declare the stakes.” “No,” Dillon said, jumping to his feet. Four wolves immediately planted themselves in a line in front of their alpha, snarling at Dillon. Aimee pressed herself tighter to the wall and silently prayed for the nightmare to end without bloodshed, even knowing she wanted the impossible. “Dillon,” Kyle growled. “Back off.” “He doesn’t want to fight you,” Dillon said, taking a step forward. Crumbles of cave dirt fell off his back and taut ass as he moved. “The whole reason he’s challengin’ you at all is because of me. I’m the hated outcast of Blaise Forrester. I’m the one Solomon wants to tear apart. So let me stand in your place.” “Out of the question,” Kyle said. “You know I can’t let you do that.” “Yes, you can.” Dillon took another step forward, their eyes locked. “You’ve been throwin’ yourself in front of harm’s way since the moment we met. But you can’t protect me from my own past. Your alpha hates me because my blood was tainted by a vicious murderer who laughed while his crimes were bein’ committed. He won’t rest until he knows he took his best shot at me, and you know it.” Solomon was staring at Dillon with what seemed a mixture of spite and curious regard. Then he gave a curt nod. “Can’t say it speaks well of a beta’s faith in his alpha if he has to jump up to take his

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leader’s place in a challenge. But it does speak well of his loyalty.” He glanced at his wolves, then at Kyle, whose nostrils were flared in apparent frustration. “The boy’s right. Maybe you can’t control who the mating bond chooses. And I can find a much sweeter revenge by settling the matter on his hide rather than yours.” Kyle gritted his teeth. “Sounds like I’ve been outvoted.” Solomon chuckled. “It’s decided.” His narrow eyes shifted to Aimee. “And the woman?” Her stomach lurched. Dillon walked straight up to the man, who stood a good head taller than both he and Kyle. “If I agree to fight you in Kyle’s stead, I want your guarantee that she will go free regardless of the outcome.” “No deal,” Solomon said. “Kyle was about to set his mark on her. She’s as good as ours already.” “She ain’t part of this.” Solomon leaned closer. “I say she is. If I win, Kyle will return to the pack without further repercussion—and with his female.” Aimee’s eyes flew wide. Lose Dillon and have to be part of Solomon’s pack? She couldn’t deny that Kyle had a piece of her heart. But Dillon was fast becoming her soul. And no part of her wanted to even think that she would be marked for another pack. Solomon and his snarling beasts would be her mates too? God, would that mean she’d suddenly be drawn to them if her mate came under the rule of another alpha? Or would they just take what they wanted, the way they assumed Kyle had been doing when they’d arrived to see him banging a chained-up “slave”? She glanced up to see Kyle watching her. Guilt flashed through her at the revulsion she knew must be showing on her face, but it wasn’t Kyle she was rejecting. Still, she could see otherwise in his expression. No doubt he assumed she was disgusted at the idea of being with him.

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He turned back to Solomon. “No,” Kyle said. “Dillon is her primary bond mate. If he dies, the bond will be severed. She has to go free.” Her jaw dropped. Was this truly going to be a fight to the death? “Dillon,” she murmured, but no one heard. “You want her, that much is obvious.” Solomon’s beady eyes took in Kyle’s scrutiny of her. “You should be happy with these terms. If I win, you’ll be my prize and she’ll be your consolation. That’s the deal.” “No!” Aimee felt tears burning her eyes. “Kyle, don’t let him fight Dillon.” She jerked at the venom in Kyle’s expression when he whirled on her. “I’m sure you’d rather I be the one to die. Believe me, this ain’t the way I want it, either.” His words punched like a fist into her solar plexus. “That’s not what I meant, Kyle. Not at all.” He raised a hand to his scar and turned to the other man. “She goes free, if that is her wish. Or have you decided that Blaise’s habit of keepin’ human slaves is within your tastes, after all?” Somehow, the man’s steel gaze hardened further still. “You best take your tone down three notches to me, boy.” His sharp stare lanced Aimee. “Fine. She walks when this is over.” His tone and eyes lacked sincerity. “And you walk if Dillon pins you.” “Just because I have a soft spot for females doesn’t mean I’m going to make this a friendly game of arm wrestling. An alpha challenge only ends two ways. Dead or left for dead.” Kyle shook his head. “This ain’t an alpha challenge, strictly speakin’.” Solomon leaned closer. “You’ve pushed me as far as you’re going to. Besides, the one makin’ the challenge is the one who must accept the terms.” He cocked his head at Dillon. “Though I suppose a little

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cunt who hid in the woods durin’ his alpha’s battles is going to try and talk me out of going rough on him.” Dillon straightened and squared his shoulders. “I agree to your terms. Dead or left for dead.” “No!” Aimee shouted again. “You can’t.” “She’s right about that, you know,” Solomon said. “You can’t win. Even she knows you’re too pussy to survive your big talk.” Dillon’s eyes flashed. “First you’re murderously pissed on account of you thinkin’ I killed your wolves, and now you’re tauntin’ me because I refused to commit that atrocity.” That seemed to take Solomon aback, and his wolves growled under their breaths. Still, the alpha recovered quickly. “I’m just saying you aren’t likely up for the stakes, considering your past approach.” “I didn’t have nothin’ to fight for back then,” Dillon said. “I think you’ll find me a much different opponent now that I have three things.” Solomon glanced between them. “What’s that, the three of you?” “Life, love, and honor. What else is there?” Solomon regarded him for a moment and then tugged his sweater over his head. “Then let’s stop the chitchat and get this done.” Aimee took in the man’s bulging upper body. He was obviously a good deal older than Dillon, but that made him no less frightening. His chest was thickly sculpted beneath a heavy layer of curly, black hair. His stomach was rock solid, and his shoulders and arms had muscles on top of muscles. Scars were evident in several spots. This man had been no stranger to battle. How could Dillon win a fight against someone like that? Solomon kicked off his boots and loosened his gold belt buckle while he addressed the others. “The terms are set. You know the rules. No one interferes, or that side loses by default. We go until one is dead or left for dead.” He dropped his gray jeans, and Aimee’s eyes flew where they didn’t belong without a thought. He was no less intimidating from the

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waist down. His wink to her when she raised her eyes forced a hot flood of angry embarrassment into her cheeks. She set her jaw and turned her attention to Dillon and Kyle, who stood there, impassive. “Back off,” Solomon said to Kyle, who appeared reluctant to move. “Back off now, or this whole thing will be over before it starts.” Kyle put a hand on Dillon’s bare, muscled shoulder. “You don’t have to do this,” he said. “Yes, I do. And I will.” Kyle squeezed his shoulder before letting his hand fall away. With a look of resignation, he turned and walked over to Aimee until his cock was in her eye line. She tried to stand, but the collar chain kept her from straightening all the way. Instead, she sat there while he turned and stood next to her with his arms folded across his chest. “In flesh or fur?” Solomon asked Dillon. “As men would be the bigger challenge,” Dillon said. “But this is a wolf matter.” With a single nod, Solomon’s skin rippled in an odd shiver and disappeared. His body dropped forward into a large, pale gray wolf. Dillon shifted and faced off with the other wolf, and the four others spread into a half circle behind them. Their howls threatened to shatter the very cave walls, and Aimee slapped her hands over her ears as goose bumps stabbed at her. Dillon and Solomon snarled, gnashing their teeth as they circled one another with tails high and ears flattened. Aimee circled Kyle’s leg with an arm, hugging herself close to him. His muscles had gone rigid, but he stepped closer to her and laid a hand on her head. She pressed it against his warm thigh. “Please let him be all right,” she said, as much to the universe as to Kyle. “He can’t die.” “He won’t,” Kyle said through a tight jaw. “Keep strong and positive. It will help him.”

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She could no more frame this in a positive light than understand how doing so could help. She’d finally given in to the love she’d been battling, only to lose it in a battle of an entirely different sort. The animals kept sidestepping and circling, but Dillon flashed out with his jaws and got a brief grip on Solomon’s nose. The other wolf pulled out and bark-snarled angrily, then got hold of the scruff of Dillon’s neck. The other wolves planted their front feet wide apart and lowered their heads to bark what seemed encouragement to their alpha. Fur began to fly, literally, along with puffs of dirt that triggered a coughing fit. Waves of anxiety crested over Aimee, and the tears that filled her eyes weren’t only from the dust. Solomon yanked his teeth away with a tearing motion that set loose a stream of blood through Dillon’s thick fur. She could practically feel the searing pain as Dillon yelped and staggered back. Solomon was lunging at him again when the scene erupted in an explosion that threatened to split Aimee’s skull and deafened the wolves’ piteous cries to a faint, dull muffle. All motion stopped as the wolves stood dazed and frozen with confusion. Her hold on Kyle tightened, and she blinked through the dust floating to the ground. When smoke and dirt had cleared, she saw what had caused the explosion and gasped in shock. David stood just inside the tunnel, a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other.

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Chapter Ten David’s gun was pointed at the ceiling, but slowly lowered. His eyes flicked wildly around the scene at Aimee, the restraint around her neck, Kyle standing naked beside her, and the assortment of wolves blocking his way to her. He still had on the shirt and slacks from the office, but the tie was gone and his collar was unbuttoned. The unzipped, heavy hiking jacket she’d last seen tossed in the backseat of his car made for an odd coupling with his business attire. “Jesus Christ,” David said. Two of the wolves broke off and advanced toward him, stopping when he raised the gun. “Ha!” he shouted, waving his arms. “Get back!” He glanced at Kyle. “I knew there was something very wrong about you.” The gun changed its angle to level at the naked man. “But kidnapping a woman and chaining her up in a den of wolves? What kind of sick fuck are you?” Kyle raised his hands in response to the gun pointed at his chest. “There is somethin’ wrong with me, you’re right about that. But kidnappin’ ain’t even close.” “He didn’t kidnap me,” Aimee said, clutching the edges of her blazer tighter over her breasts. “I came here on my own.” “I know you drove up here.” His eyes held layers of regret, pain, and accusation. “I followed you.” “Why did you do that?” she asked, her insides hardening. He was still spying on her? A muscle worked in his jaw. “I had a feeling that your so-called errands would lead you back to the cowboys. I had to see for myself. I’m just sorry I didn’t track you through the woods fast enough to stop him from doing this to you.”

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“If you followed me, what kept you?” She tried to keep the sarcastic bitterness out of her voice. “Rangers stopped me at the station and made me move my car. They’re getting tired of hikers parking in their lot, apparently. They’re planning to tow your car if we aren’t back within the hour. Though that seems to be the least of your problems at the moment.” His eyes were still racing back and forth between Kyle and the wolves, obviously trying to make some sort of sense out of the bizarre scene. Then he focused on Kyle while he cocked the trigger with an ominous click. “Now, you are going to release Aimee from those chains and give her back the rest of her clothes. Then you stand in front of her to shield her from these animals while making your way over to me nice and slow.” The wolves began growling, positioning themselves with feet planted and ears pricked toward David. The gray wolf Solomon advanced on David with a snarling bark that pierced the space, and the gun whirled on him. He stopped, his yellow eyes glaring murderously at the man. “Don’t fucking move, wolf,” David said, waving his gun slightly. “Yeah, you know what this is, don’t you? You know I can shoot you and your buddies dead.” Except that a normal gun wouldn’t work, and Aimee wondered why the wolves weren’t taking advantage of that fact. Did they think David knew about werewolves? Maybe they assumed he had silver bullets in his gun, like the red-haired huntress. Otherwise, they could easily have overpowered him by now. Aimee swallowed. He addressed Kyle while still staring Solomon down. “I don’t see any movement over there. Hurry the fuck up and get her out of that collar.” Kyle cleared his throat. “I suppose this is a bad time to admit I left the key in my other pants.” “Fuck you,” David spat out. “Get her out of that sick restraint now.”

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“I’m the one who put the collar on,” Aimee said. “So don’t stand there with the wrong idea about Kyle. He tried to get me to leave. I refused and locked myself into this thing.” David’s lip curled. “Why the hell would you do that?” The gray wolf barked again, then shivered violently. His body expanded while fur retracted, and Solomon rose naked with every bulging muscle tensed. “Who gives a fuck?” “Holy shit!” David threw himself backwards at the sight of the wolf morphing into human form. His back hit the cave wall, and his eyes were bugged half out of his skull. “What the hell are you?” “Thought so,” Solomon said, his ass twitching as he strode closer to David. “He’s packing a normal weapon, boys. It’s all right.” One by one, the wolves transformed around David until all Aimee could see was muscled backs, tight, pale buttocks, and toned legs. Dillon phased as well, but stayed crouched between the pack and Aimee. Blood streamed down his back from the ragged tooth holes Solomon had torn into him, and she felt an answering pang of sympathy twist in her gut. David spotted Dillon, and his mouth fell open. He glanced at Aimee through the ranks of naked males. “That cowboy’s one of them?” He eyed her up and down. “And you?” She shook her head. “I’m human.” “And a waste of my time,” Solomon said, whipping his head toward her for a moment before turning his still-golden stare back on David. “Both of you. You just interrupted some important pack business, and you made me tip my hand. Afraid that leaves us with a bit of a quandary.” David stared at him. “What are you?” “Something you shouldn’t have tangled with, son. The question now is what to do about it.” “You don’t need to do nothin’,” Dillon said, rising to his feet. “He’s nobody. Just a businessman.” He wandered over and stood by Kyle, with Aimee on the ground between them.

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“I’m Aimee’s fiancé,” David retorted. “I only care about seeing her back to safety.” Solomon laughed. “Fiancé? Well, this really isn’t your day, is it? Might interest you to know just what your little bondage slave was doing with those cowboys when my pack and I came in.” David’s face reddened, and his eyes narrowed as he glowered at the three of them together along the back wall, but he shook his head. “No, I don’t want to know.” He looked at Aimee’s hand, then back up at her. “All I know is that you’re wearing my ring again. That has to mean something.” Sorrow flooded her chest. “I came up here to get the ring so that I could give it back to you. I’m just wearing it for safekeeping.” A hiccup of emotion broke over the last word. “I’m sorry, David. I’ve made my decision.” “No. I don’t believe that.” He started toward her, but Solomon’s pack tightened their formation and glared him down. “She’s a load and a half of trouble, I see,” Solomon said. “Good thing we interrupted Kyle before he finished his claim on her. We’d have had our hands full of feminine wiles.” David glared at Kyle with his nostrils flared, but said nothing. “Let him go, Solomon,” Kyle said, moving forward. “His business here is done.” “You know I can’t. He’s aware of our kind now.” “Thanks to you,” Dillon spat. “I don’t know a damn thing,” David said. “I have no idea what the hell you are, and I don’t care. The only thing I did care about apparently doesn’t exist anymore. The rest of whatever is going on here doesn’t concern me.” Solomon snorted. “And I’m supposed to believe you’ll just leave here and never think about what you saw again? That you’ll never mention it to anyone?” He leaned closer to David, and he raised his gun. “That you won’t get it in your head to come back in a jealous rage to get revenge?”

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“Why?” The gun quivered slightly. “You aren’t the one who stole my girl.” “I can’t say that’s entirely true. But one of my pack members did. And I can’t leave a threat like that hanging loose.” Solomon glanced down the barrel of the gun. “Might as well put that away before you hurt yourself. It’ll do you no good on us.” Instead, David lifted the gun higher so that it was pointed between Solomon’s flickering eyes. “Maybe, maybe not. But I bet it’d hurt like fucking hell.” Solomon laughed. “You know, I kind of like your gumption. Shame this isn’t going to end well for you.” David let out an indignant snort. “I just found the woman I love chained up half-naked in a cave with a bunch of naked men—by her own choice, apparently. I’d say things have already ended on a rather sour note.” Aimee’s stomach twisted into a knot of remorse. “Solomon, please,” Kyle said. “You’re no murderer, especially of innocent humans.” “You’re right.” Solomon turned away from the still-quivering gun and wandered back to Kyle. “This entire shit pile is your fault. You’re the one who’s going to have to shovel it.” Kyle stiffened, as did Aimee and Dillon. “I’m not going to kill him,” Kyle said. “I didn’t say anything about killing,” Solomon retorted. “You’re going to turn him.” “Turn me?” David asked. “What the hell’s that?” No one paid any attention. Aimee tried to struggle to her feet. “You can’t do that! This wasn’t his fault.” “It’s the perfect answer.” Solomon’s grin held a mocking edge. “Don’t you see? Kyle wants to be an alpha, and I’ll release him on the condition that he takes this man into his pack. That way, our secret stays safe, Blaise’s outcast loser won’t have to fight me, and David

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gets to have you after all. Everyone walks away happy, and no one gets hurt.” Solomon’s pack nodded and muttered assent, but her heart pounded and tears sprang to her eyes. It was her doing that brought David up here. “David will get hurt.” Solomon bent over her. “David will get a gift unlike anything he’s ever known.” “What if David doesn’t want a gift?” David asked. Kyle shook his head. “I can’t do it. I won’t do it.” His alpha stood up. Aimee turned away from Solomon’s cock, which was dangling too near her face and pulsing with interest. “Oh, come now, don’t tell me you don’t want your romantic rival in your pack. You know this is the best way, Kyle. You caused all this. You’re going to have to suck up some consequences for it. Lord knows I’ve sucked up consequences for you.” One of the men grunted assent. Kyle gritted his teeth and fell silent. “Listen, assholes,” David said from across the cave, and Solomon finally turned to him. “I don’t know what the hell all was going on when I came in here, but I have no intention of being someone else’s consequence.” Solomon sighed. “I know it’s a shitstorm of bad luck that you staggered into this steaming pile, but I’m afraid there’s only one way out. I’m sorry, David. I truly am.” He nodded to his men, who began moving toward David. The two on opposite ends of the group shifted and gnashed their sharp fangs at him in warning. “Stay back or I will shoot you,” David said to them, his gun moving back and forth between the pack members as he backed into the tunnel. One of the wolves sprang at him. With another deafening roar, the gun went off. The wolf went down with a sickening yelp, but the

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second one was on David with a vicious snarl before he could get another shot off. David began screaming as the creature tore into him. Aimee shrieked. “God, no! Leave him alone!” She was writhing in her restraints now, furiously tugging at the collar and chain in a futile attempt to yank the latter out of the cave wall. “Kyle, Dillon, help him! Damn it.” Both of them stood frozen with horrified expressions as Solomon issued a stern command. “Jack! Stop.” “David!” Tears streamed down her face while she shouted over the muffled ringing in her ears from the latest gunshot. “Oh, David, please.” Her arms and neck ached from trying to force her way out of the collar. “Jesus, someone get me out of this thing.” “Relax,” Solomon said. “You’ll break your pretty little neck.” He eyed her up and down. “And the way you’re jiggling and writhing has my wolves thinking maybe it’s a mistake to let another pack claim you.” He inhaled and let out a growl of need. “I’ve been around a long time and have damn good control over my nature. But with your bitch-in-heat scent, even I’d love to sink my nine-incher deep in that hot, dripping cunt until you scream my name.” She froze in wide-eyed shock as she realized that in her struggle to get free, she was no longer covering herself. Instead she was upright on her knees, which were parted wide in the dirt. The blazer had fallen completely open, exposing her breasts and pussy to the men who were now staring at her with a look she recognized far too well. Dillon knelt down in front of her while she yanked the blazer closed. “Like hell, you’ve got nine inches,” he said. “Go stick it up your own ass, Solomon. Consider her claimed.” She was relieved to see that the blood had dried on his back and the wounds were no longer visible. The man laughed and reached down to toy with the dick twitching between his legs. “We’ll see about that.”

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Rage rose in her chest. “You stay the hell away from me. You killed David, and he did nothing to you.” “Nothing? He threatened me with a gun and shot one of my wolves. And nobody’s dead.” He sighed. “Although it seems my plan for Kyle to turn him has been unfortunately waylaid.” Two of Solomon’s men carried David by arms and legs, dropping him on his back in the middle of the cave floor. The jacket was gone, and his striped business shirt was ripped and bloody near the shoulder David clutched when they dumped him on the ground. He moaned in obvious pain as Aimee tried to crawl over to him, but the chain was too short. “David!” she began to sob. “How bad is he hurt? Bring him closer. Let me help him.” “Oh, that wouldn’t be a smart idea, hot thing,” Solomon said, standing over David with his hands fisted on his hips. “It’s a full moon tonight. The change is going to come on him almost immediately.” “Shit,” she heard Dillon mutter. He circled her shoulders with his arm. “He’s right. I’m so sorry, Aimee. If only I hadn’t been such a smart-ass and taken that ring, this wouldn’t have happened.” She shook her head and sniffed. “No, it’s my fault. I’d have come up here anyway. That seems to be all I want to do anymore.” Another tear dripped onto the dirt. Kyle knelt at David’s side and unbuttoned his shirt to check the gaping wounds that were pouring red blood. “We have to get him out of here.” “Where are you taking him?” Aimee asked, panicked. “Nowhere,” Solomon said. “He’s in no shape to leave right now.” Kyle folded his arms. “If you let him transform right where the woman he wants is chained up, you know the first thing he’s gonna want to do is get at her.”

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“And that’s my problem why?” Solomon bellowed. “This shit is your fault, you disobedient son of a bitch. If you didn’t want him to have her, you should have claimed her.” Kyle’s tone rose to a similar volume. “I would have claimed her if you hadn’t come in and stopped me.” Aimee glanced back at David. The wound on his shoulder had not only stopped bleeding, but the holes were somehow closing. He didn’t appear to be in any less pain, however. He continued to moan, his head rolling back and forth in the dirt. He glistened with sweat and shivered as though a fever had come on him hard and fast. “David?” she said. “David, please talk to me. Tell me you’ll be okay.” “He’ll be more than okay,” Solomon told her. “Just not until the infection completes the mutation cycle.” Kyle looked up at her. “This isn’t safe, lettin’ him make the change here.” “You got no choice,” Solomon said. “It’s already started.” “It’s okay,” Aimee said to Kyle, wishing as she smiled at him that she felt the least bit of the reassurance she was trying to offer. “You’ll protect me.” His return gaze was even less reassuring. “He won’t have our control. He won’t even understand what’s happenin’. He’ll tap into somethin’ deep and primal, and he’ll react without thinkin’. It could get ugly.” “It already is ugly!” she shouted, spittle flying from her lips. She sniffed back tears. “You can’t throw him out into the wild alone just because I’m in here. Haven’t I done enough to him?” She broke down at this point, sobbing so that her ribs heaved and tears dripped down into the dirt. “He won’t be alone,” Solomon said. “He’s one of mine now, and we take care of our own.” He folded his arms. “Get his clothes off.” “Don’t,” Aimee said. “You all might not mind prancing around naked, but give him his dignity, at least.” “It’ll be easier for him,” Dillon said. “Trust me.”

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Kyle pulled David’s shirt off and tossed it aside. When he began tugging on the zipper of David’s slacks, however, Aimee averted her gaze and watched Solomon turn to the man who knelt over the wolf David had shot. That wolf had morphed back into human form and was groaning in pain. His dark-haired pack mate dug a finger into the bullet hole, and the injured one tensed up and shrieked. The bullet came out between bloody fingers and was thrown in the dirt. “Jack,” Solomon said. The dark-haired man turned. His eyes were flaming in gold, and his pointed jaw clenched tight. “Do you dispute my claim that David now falls under the rule of your alpha?” Solomon went on. “Or are you going to pull a Kyle and decide to go rogue, too?” Jack shook his head. “I would never turn on my own pack.” He glared at Kyle, who flinched visibly while he tossed aside David’s remaining clothes. Jack wiped his brow with the back of his hand, despite the blood covering his fingers. “David is yours now. I’m sorry for interferin’ with your orders, sir. I know you meant for Kyle to take him as his.” Another look of animosity shot Kyle’s direction, and if Aimee wasn’t mistaken, a glimmer of jealousy as well. “You were looking out for the pack’s best interest,” Solomon said. “It’s Kyle’s mess you had to clean up. There will be no punishment for your actions.” Before Aimee could lash out with a reminder that there had been plenty of punishment for Jack’s actions already, David stopped moaning. Her eyes shifted to find him rolling onto his side, facing her. He was completely naked now. Although he was leaner than the others in the cave, he still had obvious muscle tone in every place that counted. She couldn’t help but look between his legs and then wonder whether girls in high school who joked about poor endowment were lying. None of the male anatomy she’d seen in the past few days seemed to confirm the possibility that small cocks even existed.

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David tried to push himself up, but his arms faltered. He only made it as far as kneeling on all fours. His head was lowered toward the ground with his sweat-dampened bangs hanging in his face. His eyes were squeezed shut tight while his chest heaved with exertion. Aimee let go of the blazer clutched around her and shifted her body to get as close to him as possible. Her neck throbbed from straining against the collar. “David?” she whispered. He didn’t answer. His heavy panting grew thicker and more graveled until it almost resembled a growl. “Best you don’t provoke him,” Dillon said, but she ignored him and yanked away when he tried to pull her back. “Can you hear me?” she asked. The odd panting ceased, and his eyes snapped open with glowing, yellow fire. She gasped at the intensity of that golden stare. It held less humanity than she’d ever seen when Kyle’s or Dillon’s eyes changed. Those eyes held no glimmer of the man she knew as they quickly raked over her exposed flesh. Her heart faltered. “David?” The growl returned, feral and terrible, and he lunged for her. Kyle was on him in a second, along with one of the others from the pack. David snarled, saliva dripping down the corner of his lips as he struggled against the other men and fought to get at her. Kyle had been right. Her heart hammered desperately inside her chest as Dillon drew her behind him, and she looked over his shoulder in shock at the man she’d never seen lose his cool until earlier that day. The chase around her desk had been her fault, too. He’d been reacting to her scent because she hadn’t been claimed. And still hadn’t. David’s struggle sent more dust flying into the air, but she could see every twist, tug, and contortion of his body while he tried to fight his way over to her. His penis was no longer hanging against his thigh, either. It stood straight out, purpled with veins and straining as though as desperate to get near Aimee as David was.

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She gripped Dillon’s tense biceps while he crouched in front of her in a defensive posture. “Drag him back, Kyle,” Dillon shouted. “The closer he gets to her scent, the harder he’s gonna fight.” “He’s strong as shit,” Jack said, who was on Kyle’s opposite side, trying to restrain David. “Would have helped to be able to chain him up instead of your woman. Hot as she looks with that collar on.” Regret pounded through her veins. Locking herself into the restraint had been stupid, and the reasons for it kept multiplying. David gave a powerful tug and loosened Jack’s grip long enough to lunge closer to Aimee, and he caught hold of the edge of her blazer. Dillon’s fist came down and knocked David’s hand away, and another beta in Solomon’s pack joined the struggle to finally pull him back and pin him face down on the ground. Dillon had barely relaxed his guard and pulled Aimee in under his arm when David let out an inhuman shriek. Her stomach recoiled into a hard knot. “Stop it!” she shouted at the three men holding David to the ground. “You’re hurting him!” “They’re not doin’ it,” Dillon said in a somber tone. “It’s the change.” Another ear-splitting scream came out of him, and her tears returned. The three men released David and backed away. He got up on all fours again but made no move toward her nor even seemed to register that anyone else was there. Small twitches resembling nervous tics sprang up along the skin on his arms and face, which was contorted in obvious distress. She whipped her head toward Dillon, who still had his arm around her. “What’s happening? Why is he in so much pain? You didn’t look that bad when you were fighting the change.” Dillon embraced her tighter. “The first transformation is by far the most difficult. And painful.” “It’s a damn bitch, is what it is,” Solomon said, watching David alternately lower his upper half to the ground, then come up on all fours and toss his head back. “Every cell in your body is trying to

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fight off the infection and reject the change. Ligaments and bone that have never morphed before are being altered, preparing to contort in wholly unnatural ways. It’s akin to childbirth, I’m told, only every inch of your body is being stretched, torn, and reshaped.” His explanation was drowned out by David’s next scream. Aimee gaped in horrified despair as the small twitches grew into lumps of muscle churning beneath his flesh. She heard a sickening crunch when his mouth opened for the next cry of anguish, and this time his jaw didn’t close. It lengthened, one side at a time, while thousands of white dots began to sprout along the rippling muscles. Tears blurred her vision when his body began a violent shaking, and she hastily wiped at them with hands that were quivering as well. For a strange moment, everything stopped all at once. No more crackling sounds, no more screams, no more rippling, crawling flesh. David’s eyes flew open and met hers. While they blazed with an animal orange-gold fury, she saw a flicker of recognition in their depths. “Aimee,” he breathed in a half sob, half plea. Her heart seized in her throat. “David.” Then he was gone. The animal took over, fur shooting out of the white dots everywhere at once, and his final shriek of agony tossed his head back as a man but then became the howl of an animal. The human part of David simply melted away to leave behind a white wolf. Every male present shifted around her, including Kyle and Dillon. They raised their heads, calling out to the moon in a unified chorus that left her shivering. Kyle and Dillon flanked her, sitting on their haunches while they stared at the new wolf whose gleaming white fur was marred only by a black diamond between his eyes. The golden eyes blinked as if dazed for several moments. Then David staggered to get to his feet. He got all four beneath him but stumbled and fell on the third step. No one intervened. He tried again and again, and on the fourth attempt, he was able to walk toward her on shaky legs.

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Kyle and Dillon issued low, rumbled growls with their ears forward and fur ruffled. David approached slowly but did not waver at their warning. Aimee tensed when he got within a foot of her but just held her breath. He blinked again, slowly, staring at her with a powerful gaze that was at once beautiful and frightening. His nostrils flared and he began to sniff the air in front of her. Kyle’s growl sharpened. Then the white wolf’s head dipped down to find her hand, which was gripping her knee. His nose pressed lightly to the ring on her finger, and he gave the diamond a gentle lick. His rough tongue left a wet streak along the back of her hand. “He knows who he is,” she said, breathless. “He remembers.” He moved closer, raising his head to her face. He sniffed at her ear, his cold nose sending a slight chill through her as he nuzzled down from her ear to her neck, pushing open her blazer with his snout. His front paws were nearly in her lap now, and his nuzzling became more intense. He rubbed his silken neck and chest fur along her body. Dillon and Kyle snapped and shot forward, snarling and barking at David. He backed away from Aimee but held his ground, barking and baring fangs at the wolves on either side of her. She shrank back and pulled the garment tight over her breasts. Then a roaring bark silenced all three wolves, especially David. He retreated immediately and stood with tail between his legs. Solomon strutted up, his head and tail held high and proud, and his teeth bared in a murderous wolf smile. He took hold of David’s muzzle with his fangs and pushed him down until his body lowered to the ground. Aimee sucked in a breath. “Please don’t hurt him,” she whispered. Solomon held David in this pose for a moment, growling all the while. When he let go, he barked a command, and David stayed in place. Solomon’s other wolves gathered around with short barks of excitement while Solomon moved around behind David and snarled another command. David lifted his tail and stood. Solomon promptly

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planted his front legs on David’s furry shoulders, effectively mounting him. Aimee clapped a hand to her mouth. “God, what is he doing?” “Solomon will assert his dominance now,” Kyle said, and her head shot around to see that he had shifted back and was squatting on his heels beside her. “And make the pack mark that will officially make David his.” “Not the same way you were going to do it to me?” she asked, staring as Solomon’s fur-covered prick emerged red and wet from its sheath as he straddled David. “Very much so.” “But Solomon and David are both male,” she said, eyes wide. Kyle raised a brow at her, and she quickly added, “Not that I have a problem with that. It’s damn erotic when you and Dillon, you know. But David’s not gay.” “It’s not about human preference.” Dillon was speaking now, and he smiled at her when she turned to see him back to his normal self, too. “It’s just a natural part of werewolf pack life.” “Sex between pack members is part of our dominance structure,” Kyle added. “It also helps us tame down our urges We usually have to wait a fair span of time before findin’ our true mates. Sex helps us fight blood lust and the need to shift on a full moon.” Her eyes wandered back to the two wolves, and her face heated with embarrassment at the sight of the animal on David’s back thrusting that cock beneath the other wolf’s tail. David didn’t seem upset by it, though. On the contrary, he was grunting and growling in obvious pleasure, and she could see that his dick was unsheathed and pointing out from beneath him. “Don’t worry about David,” Kyle said. “He’ll be fine now. We got a much bigger problem about to rear up and kick us in the head.” She stared at the writhing creatures and noticed that the other wolves were doing more than watching the show—they were fully aroused and moving in on the action. The dark wolf she knew was

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Jack walked up to David and nuzzled his neck, licking his ears and muzzle. “What bigger problem?” she asked. “They’re caught up in a pack thing right now,” Kyle said, dropping his voice low. “They have to officially induct him into the group. Sexual tension is burnin’ through every wolf here. I feel it strong.” He turned to her and took her by the chin. “It’s about to get a lot fuckin’ hotter between them, and the second they finish markin’ David, he won’t be the only one tryin’ to bring the party to the sole unclaimed female in this cave. The entire pack will make a challenge for you.” Her eyes shot open. “For me?” He nodded. “You have to let me finish the claim, Aimee. Right now.” Her eyes shifted to the wolves who were grouping together in very provocative poses. “But they’re all in here, watching.” Dillon shook his head. “No one’s watchin’. They’re too focused on their own ritual right now. But it ain’t gonna last. And I’m not sure Kyle and I can fight them all off when they decide to challenge us for you.” Her pulse shot into overdrive as she tried to picture what would happen if a pack of sex-crazed wolves were to come after her. She was chained up, and it would be six wolves against two. Still, how could she let her cowboys have sex with her in a cave full of wild animals? No, a cave full of wild men? Especially since David was one of them. It was just too bizarre. She shook her head. “I can’t do this. It wouldn’t be right, giving myself over after what just happened to David because of me.” Dillon moved into her line of sight, barring her vision of the other wolves. Her eyes met his, and they were churning with hot, golden need. Her stomach began to churn as well. “You can do this,” he said to her in a smoldering tone that curled her toes. “You know you were meant to be mine, and you know why it has to be now.” He reached out and let his fingers lightly graze her

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throat, and the shiver that coursed through her stiffened her nipples until they tingled with desire. “Forget the rest, Aimee. Block out everythin’ that ain’t your need for me and your desire for Kyle. I’m goin’ to make love to you right here, right now. And this time, we ain’t gonna stop until you’re completely, inescapably mine.” “Just keep it quiet,” Kyle whispered in her ear, close enough for Dillon to hear also. “I’d better sit it out, too.” “Why?” Aimee asked, looking up at him over her shoulder and wondering if she was actually getting turned on enough to allow what they were proposing. “I want you, too.” He gave her a smile, but a tight one. “They can still sense my emotions, and with everythin’ goin’ on, I don’t trust myself to keep a tight enough lid on ’em. Best if they can’t read my intentions and catch on.” “But you have to be the one to make the mark.” He stroked her hair. “Oh, I’ll be right here, darlin’. Don’t you worry.” Then he pulled back, and Dillon’s hands were on her, sliding open her blazer to roam beneath the fabric over her bare shoulders while his lips took greedy little nibbles along her jaw. Worry vanished. Selfconsciousness disappeared. The sounds of the wolves snarling and grunting in mating pleasure faded into no more than an erotic soundtrack, heightened by the electric sizzle of Dillon’s touch. Kyle’s presence was palpable behind her, even though he did not lay a finger on either of them. All other life and drama fell away as her blazer dropped to the ground behind her. Dillon stirred a yearning inside of her that shaped their need into the center of its own universe, and she knew that she had to belong to him before another night passed, with or without the threat of other challengers. His mouth moved down to suck her aching nipples, and she no longer cared who watched while she gave into him. Keeping quiet while tingles of pleasure ran along her body seemed a monumental task, and she bit down on her lip to manage it. To reward herself, she

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reached down to take hold of the cock rubbing against her pubic mound, teasing her until wet juices warmed the insides of her thighs. His erection was pulsing with need, and she milked him in her fist while pressing the tip of his thick head against her clit. “I’ve got no time or patience for proper foreplay, darlin’,” he said in a low growl. “I aim to take you right this fuckin’ minute.” “Hurry up already,” she said, leaning in closer to bite his ear. “Fuck me and make me yours.” She parted her thighs and tried to slide him into place, but she was too frantic with need and her motions were awkward. She whimpered in frustration, and with a sexy laugh, Dillon pushed her hand away and positioned himself. She felt Kyle close in behind her, and she shut her eyes on the wish that he had changed his mind and decided to join in after all. Instead, he settled his hands on her waist and lifted her up enough for Dillon’s cock to drive deep inside of her. She stiffened in bliss while Dillon wrapped his arms around her back and thrust that hot, stiff shaft down to the hilt. To stifle the cry that desperately wanted escape, she let out a low hiss of pleasure, but apparently it was louder than was prudent because Kyle reached around and clamped a hand over her mouth. Her cunt contracted and throbbed, and climax rushed up to an impossibly fast, breath-stealing peak. Dillon kept her right on the edge of that bliss, stopping his motions so his dick was still and buried inside her for long seconds on each stroke. Never had a divine heaven been such a hellish torment. Kyle’s erection brushed against her ass as his hot breath caressed her ear. “No official speech this time. You’ve heard it before, and we all know damn well what we want.” She pulled his hand off her mouth. “Third time’s the charm,” she whispered in jerky breaths as Dillon drove himself deep again and again. “Dillon,” Kyle said, “fight it.” “I know.”

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“I love you,” Kyle said in a monotone voice. She tensed in surprise at the sudden declaration, which shocked her no less than if he’d said it with the emotion one might expect from somebody making it for the first time. “Hurry, Kyle,” she said, grinding her hips against Dillon’s pelvis to try and bring her orgasm over the edge. “Do it. Make the claim.” She tensed, waiting for the bite that had been thwarted twice before, and heard in his growl the animal flaring to the surface. She knew his jaw was lengthening as she’d seen before, that his fangs were erupting into place. Her eyes closed in anticipation of that sharp bite. A rough hand closed around her arm. “Stop.” Her eyes flew back open to see Solomon, who was no longer buried inside David. He had shifted back human and was staring down at her with undisguised lust. His cock was jutting straight toward her mouth, and she jerked her head away while trying to pull her arm from his grip. Kyle and Dillon growled in a warning that wasn’t remotely human. In her struggle, her eyes fell to David. He hadn’t moved, but had also transformed back at some point and was staring straight at her with wild, golden eyes. “I’m sorry, but I’ve had a change of heart about the woman,” Solomon said with a smoldering leer. “She’s too hot a firebrand to let slip away. Do not mark her until I think on it, Kyle. That’s an order. You will wait until my claim on David is finished.” Frustration poured through her while her eyes and David’s held, both panting silently while they regarded each other’s flushed, desperate expressions. “No.” Kyle shoved Solomon back and let out a low growl that stood her arm hairs on end. White-hot needles sank into her shoulder, and she gasped at the pain that flared. Solomon glowered at Kyle, but made no move toward them. David watched with a flat, unreadable expression while

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Aimee gave into the bite. Then Solomon growled in disgust and marched over to David, bent him forward, and jammed his red, straining cock deep in the man’s ass. David barely had time to react before Solomon leaned over to sink his jaws into David’s neck. She watched his body stiffen, wincing while his eyes fluttered. Her pain almost immediately gave way to an unbelievable flood of completion and erotic power that she saw reflected in David’s eyes as well. Their gazes unlocked when their heads tossed back, each of them lost in a private universe as they were called into rival packs. The tidal wave that washed over her raged with far more than mere orgasm. Her body lit aflame with emotion—love and joy and beauty shooting out of her until she imagined that white light must be visible escaping her pores. The sense of belonging was almost enough to crumble her to the ground, were Dillon and Kyle not bearing her up on her knees. “Oh, Jesus, baby,” Dillon said, gripping her tighter as they knelt together with him still inside her. He buried his head against the unoccupied side of her neck. “Yes, Aimee. I feel you in me. You’re mine now. Really mine.” “I feel it,” she somehow managed to whisper while Kyle pulled his fangs from her sensitive flesh. She pulled Dillon’s face to hers, and when their eyes met, she could barely breathe from the electric waves of emotion arcing between them. He kissed her with desperation that she matched readily, her tongue bold as it plunged into his mouth to sample his tangy-sweet taste. When she broke off the kiss, she also wriggled her hips back until his wet, partially erect cock slipped out. She held up a hand in a “wait” gesture and gave him a weighted look. He nodded with a smile, and she knew that they were in tune enough for him to know what she had planned. Her body wasn’t done after that tumultuous climax. She had to have more. And she had to have it from one man alone. Her knees ached from their position, but she didn’t care. She maneuvered herself around to face Kyle. His face was handsome and

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undistorted, but a trickle of blood ran down the corner of his mouth to drip from his hard jaw. He flinched when she reached for him, but she persisted and gently wiped the smear away so she could survey his lip. He wasn’t injured, and it dawned on her whose blood he was wearing. She glanced down at her left shoulder and saw fiery red punctures trailing thin ribbons of blood down over her breast. “It shouldn’t hurt,” Kyle said, but he eyed the marks with a questioning look. She shook her head. “It feels warm there, is all.” She scooted closer, letting her fingers trace the square, taut angle of his jaw. “I feel warm. Hot, even.” Threads of the bond connecting their gazes sparked but lacked the unrestrained flow of energy she shared with Dillon. Was it because Dillon was the true mate and Kyle the alpha, or was Kyle still holding back? She ran a hand along his smooth, muscled chest. “Do you sense it, Kyle? Do you feel that warmth between us?” His cock was still hard and she felt it jump when she stroked his torso, and the gold in his pale blue eyes pulsed like a second heartbeat as he watched her. But his body was tense, and she saw a muscle twitching near his eye. “I feel it,” he said through gritted teeth, almost as if it pained him to say the words. “Really?” She cocked her head at him. “I’m not so sure that you do.” Her hand smoothed lower down his body, over the abdomen that quivered beneath her touch. When her fingers grazed the velvet hardness of his dick, however, he captured her hand in his and pulled it away. “You defied Solomon in order to have me,” she said, wondering why he was resisting. “How was it possible to disobey when he is your alpha?”

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Kyle’s mouth twitched. “He’s not ‘mine.’ Not anymore. You are.” His eyes glimmered with a need that sent a rush of new wetness along the walls of her still-pulsating cunt. “No, I’m not. I still feel the wall around you.” She was vaguely aware of the sounds of David, Solomon, and others culminating their union in what seemed mind-bending orgasms, but she was focused on Kyle. “The pack knows now that you’ve chosen Dillon and me. There’s no reason to fight off your emotions anymore. Is there?” She saw the inner turmoil in his expression, the battle waging inside of him that she didn’t quite understand. “Roll over on your back,” she said in a sultry, commanding tone. He narrowed his eyes, but his growl lacked serious threat. “Few get to say that to an alpha, especially humans.” She lifted her chin and enunciated every word while holding his gaze. “Lay down on your back. Alpha.” “Why?” With a smile, she twisted the hand he still held out of his grip. “Because while you have apparently claimed me, I have yet to claim you.” The apprehension in his gaze began to crack, heat seeping through to flare his eyes bright yellow. “Bold words for a chained up slave.” An undertone of amusement colored the words as he flicked her collar lightly. She gave him a coy smile and gripped the chain, sliding her hand over it the way she would stroke his cock. “Yeah, well I’m finding the whole bondage thing a lot hotter than I thought I would. Better you not waste it.” That brought a seductive curve to his lips, and his eyes never left hers while he slowly lowered onto his back beside her. She wasted no time straddling his waist, and they both moaned when her damp pussy dragged along the rigid erection lying along his belly. She lifted up enough to fiddle beneath her and stick his cock along her soaking wet

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channel. After two tries she sank down, giving a gasp of shock when he bottomed out and took the wind right from her. “Oh,” she said in a languid tone. “You’re almost buried to my throat.” As much as part of her wanted to let the feeling of him being so deep wash over her, her body revolted when he groaned and rotated his hips beneath her. Her hips took control, grinding on his cock. Her thighs tensed as she rose up and settled down over and over, riding his pole until she had a momentary absurd image of taking a turn on a carousel. “Are you sure that being a were’s mate won’t turn me into one too?” she asked, not missing a beat with her hip thrusts. Kyle’s eyes rolled back while he appeared to struggle to retain composure. “My mark won’t affect you that way. Why?” She wriggled herself to slam her hips on his pelvis harder, her breasts bouncing with each motion. “Because ever since I met you, I feel like there’s a wild animal inside me that’s desperate to claw its way out.” “That so? I’m not sure I believe you. Yet.” He grabbed her hips tight while his wide hands helped grind her pelvis on his. She shook her head, reveling in the feel of him working her hips to make her clit rub against his pubic bone. “It’s undeniably, irrevocably true. Why else would a woman who was a virgin twentyfour hours ago chain herself up in your cave and ride your cock in front of a pack of leering wolves?” His eyes flashed, setting off little beacons of pleasure in her stomach. “You’re just sayin’ that because you’re tryin’ to get me to lose control.” “No. But just for the record, is it working?” With a feral growl, Kyle flipped their bodies over, and in a flash she was pinned beneath him. His rod still pulsed deep inside her. “Yeah. It might be workin’.”

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He flexed his buttocks slowly and maddeningly to push himself down to her core. Every nerve ending in her body erupted in erotic tingles, and she tensed as pressure built in her pelvis. She wasn’t ready to come just yet. Not nearly. Yet the feel of being beneath her lover this way was exquisite. Every new position she had tried during her brief tenure as a sexual being unleashed a whole new dimension of eroticism, and while she thoroughly enjoyed dominating Kyle on top, she could definitely see the appeal of having him looming over her to take command of every stroke. Desire was etched along every line and tense muscle on his rugged, masculine face, and her heart began skipping erratically as he stared down at her and swiveled his hips. She reached up to caress his face. “You are so damn sexy that I can’t stand it,” she said. He jerked his head away from her hand. “Stop that,” he growled. “Stop what?” She moved her hand along his face again, over the scar. His gaze darkened and he pinned her arms over her head, no longer thrusting inside her. “Pretendin’ I’m not scarred, damaged goods don’t make it true, and it don’t turn me on.” She scowled up at him. “The only thing that’s damaged is your common sense. I happen to find that scar damn sexy.” She lifted her head and ran her tongue seductively along the puckered groove. “Everything about you turns me on.” Kyle twisted away so she could no longer see that side of his face. “Give it a rest.” Aimee yanked her arms out from under his. “Is that what this is about? You’ll fuck me, but not make love to me because you think a mark on your skin turns me off?” He glared at her but didn’t reply. “Get off that pity train. When I say your scar looks hot, that isn’t just some hollow, patronizing claim. It’s a hard fact of sexual chemistry. So deal with my attraction to you already. Because it just got a whole lot more intense.”

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With an angry little grunt, Aimee pulled his head down to hers and dragged his lower lip between her teeth while she began rotating her hips beneath him. “I love you, Kyle,” she whispered against his mouth. “And I want you to make love to me in a way that will let you know it.” He stopped thrusting, his breathing ragged and hot against her lips as he studied her face. Her pussy throbbed for attention, but she lay still beneath him and fought the urge to gyrate her pelvis. Then he rose up so that he stared down from well above her, supporting his weight on his hands. “So you chained yourself up naked in a cave, ordered me onto my back so you could ride me wild durin’ a werewolf orgy, and now you expect me to make sweet love to you?” She shrugged and fluttered her eyelids. “Is that a problem?” He froze for a long moment, then let his head fall back while he pulled his thick, hard cock backward a torturous centimeter at a time until the wide head was stretching her entrance. There he hesitated until her heart hammered and her clit pulsed with vicious need. When his gaze returned to hers, his pupils were wide and rimmed in the orange-gold of an island sunset. That stare pulled her straight into its depths, where she could finally see him. Where she could see a longing that pierced her to the marrow. He pushed his hips forward, and every inch grew more intense, more personal, until finally he let out a long, low groan. “Yeah, I think I can manage that.” “Oh, God,” she whispered, spinning so high within his gaze that she knew she had to break contact, yet found herself unable to look away. Her body ignited with a blaze of yearning that made her wonder for a brief moment whether she’d opened a Pandora’s box she hadn’t been prepared for. Aimee averted her eyes first, shutting hers when his next thrust threatened to unhinge her from reality completely. She’d wanted to experience his feelings for her, and now the intensity was almost too incredible to bear.

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Her eyes fluttered back open when she felt him press a tender, feather-light kiss on her forehead. His expression when he pulled away melted her insides. “You have been one surprise after the other since I saw you standin’ in this cave at the exact wrong moment,” he said. “You ain’t nothin’ like I expected, Aimee Jo Stevens. But damn if you ain’t everythin’ that I want.” She swallowed a thick lump that sprang to her throat. “Then show me.” He seemed to unhinge at that. His eyes squeezed shut as he pumped himself inside her pussy, deep and long strokes that were far from the pistoning action of a man merely taking selfish pleasure inside a woman. Each time his cock bottomed out inside her, he touched a brimming pool of emotion in her and sent it rippling outward, wider and higher each time until she felt as dizzy as if she were on a roller coaster plummeting down a steep track. There was no denying that what she felt for the men she’d only known a few days was bigger than her entire body or spirit could hold. It flared and pushed out of her every time he moved, leaving her fighting to catch her breath. The cave had gone completely silent now, save for her and Kyle’s ragged gasps with every stroke. As her impending climax suddenly sharpened toward the apex, Kyle bent down and whispered in her ear. “I do love you, Aimee. I feel so damn lucky that you agreed to be mine. I thought you never would.” She felt a hot tear roll back along her temple into her hair, and his eyes bore a suspicious sheen when he rose up to look at her. “Oh, Kyle,” was all she could say. She threaded her hands through the back of his hair and pulled him down to her breast as he rocked against her. He stiffened and sucked in a breath, and together they shouted out an orgasm that took her completely out of the cave, Shay Falls, and her senses. She was still clutching him tightly to her bosom, both of them panting heavily and slick with sweat, when she came floating back to

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reality some while later. When her eyes opened, Dillon was sitting above her head, stroking a hand through her hair. Every pair of eyes in the cave, human and canine alike, was riveted to her and Kyle. Kyle raised his head from her chest and glanced at Dillon. “I’m sorry that I’ve been such a tight-ass,” Kyle said. Dillon leaned over to grab one of Kyle’s round globes. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I kinda like your tight ass.” She was entranced by the moment passing between the men when Solomon cleared his throat and shattered the reverie. “I hate to admit it,” the man said, “but I’d say what I just witnessed settles things rather completely.” Kyle glanced down at her, then back up at the alpha. “Because you felt my love for her when we cemented the bond.” Solomon shook his head. “No. Because I didn’t.” He stood up and tugged on his jeans. “And judging from the way you were looking at her while you two were making love, I know I should have.” Without answering, Kyle pulled out of Aimee and rolled beside her. Dillon was there right away with her blazer to hide the curves she was no longer quite as eager to have on public display. “The bond between us was severed the moment you marked your woman,” Solomon went on while Kyle and Dillon grabbed their own jeans. “I felt it clear enough. I’m just sorry I wasn’t thinking clear enough to realize it was inevitable before anyone got hurt.” He glanced her way, and Aimee knew he was apologizing as much to her as he was to Kyle. “And I’ve been a shifter long enough that I am not normally swayed by the scent of a female. That might have gotten in the way some as well.” She nodded and glanced at David, who had shifted into wolf form again. He sat on his haunches beside two of the others. He wasn’t looking at her anymore. His attention was focused on Solomon. “This is where we part ways,” Solomon said to Kyle. “I’m sorry to lose you.”

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Kyle, who was tugging on his boots, stopped and faced the man. They stared at each other for a weighted span, their eyes flaring gold. Aimee wondered what passed between them in that moment. The contact broke and Solomon turned away. His wolves fell into line and followed, except for Jack, who picked up the pack’s scattered garments and carried them along. David rose on all fours and brought up the rear, but stopped to gaze at Aimee with his new yellow eyes. The moment lasted as long as Solomon’s had with Kyle, and she had the odd feeling he was saying goodbye. Then he turned and trotted off behind the pack. “David,” she whispered. But he was already gone. “I’m sorry,” Dillon said, coming over to put an arm around her. He was shirtless and barefoot, and his pants were zipped but still unsnapped. Her heart thudded as she stared into the empty tunnel. “What about his job? His life?” “He’ll be okay,” Kyle said, buckling his belt. She scowled at him. “Will he? Neither of you seemed particularly happy with your situation.” Kyle strode over and knelt in front of her. “Not always. But humans aren’t immune to hard times, either. Just because you get a raw deal don’t mean you can’t turn it around for good.” He tenderly brushed back a strand of her hair. “I did.” “One of us should go move her car before the rangers have it hauled off,” Dillon said. Her car. Aimee had totally forgotten that such mundane matters even existed. “I’ll check on it,” Kyle said. “I’m gonna have to go grab my things and bring back the key to that collar, anyway.” He sighed. “You realize they most likely towed the car by now.” Dillon nodded. “Probably.” She crossed her arms. “Guess I’m stuck up here, unless I can ride a wolf home piggyback.”

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Kyle shot her a wry grin. “I was thinkin’ more along the lines of drivin’ you back in my truck.” Dillon arched a brow. “You have a truck? You never mentioned that.” He shrugged. “I have a lot of things.” “But you never mentioned it.” “That’s because what matters most to me is right here.” He turned on his heel and snugged on his hat. She rubbed at her neck, which was chafing from the heavy collar. “You two can stay the night at my place, unless you’re in a rush to get back to this dusty old cave.” “Oh, you and I ain’t quite finished with this dusty old cave yet,” Dillon said, grabbing a hold of the chain. “Or this collar. We’ll discuss it while he’s gone.” Kyle chuckled as he loped off with a sexy cowboy walk. “In that case, I’ll make it quick.”

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Chapter Eleven The next morning, Aimee’s hand paused on the doorknob of Anders Investments. She found herself reluctant to twist the knob and find the door locked. David’s car wasn’t in the tiny parking lot, which was an ominous sign. Not that she’d really expected him to be there. His life had just been turned completely upside down. Dillon said he not only had to leave ranch work, but he hadn’t been able to hold down any job because of battling his nature—and he had been turned six years before. Still, she hadn’t been able to stop herself from getting up at the usual time to shower, dress, and come to work. Hesitation turned to fear, and she was about to release the knob without turning it when the door yanked open, almost pulling her off balance. “David!” she said, her hand flying up to her throat. “You scared me to death.” Although his expression bore no hostility, he seemed more imposing somehow while staring down at her with his new eyes. The same pale, glossy browns she’d known sparkled with gold highlights in the early morning sun. “How come you’re out here?” he asked. She shot him a guilty grin. “I wasn’t sure you had showed up for work. Your car isn’t outside.” “I got a lift from Adam this morning. He was heading down the mountain anyway.” Her brow rose. “Wasn’t he the one you shot?” “He’s right as rain now. And over it. Jack’s still busting my nuts over it, though.”

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She cocked her head. “How’d you even know I was standing out here?” “I picked up your scent.” Her eyes widened. “You can smell me through a closed door?” A stab of alarm hit, and she took a step back. “Wait, I don’t still smell like…?” she trailed off, afraid to say the rest. The smile he gave her was warm, genuine, and pure David. “Like every aphrodisiac on the planet mated together and made a love child? No. You smell like Aimee.” Relief flooded her. “I didn’t realize wolves could smell things through closed doors,” she said. “My senses are heightened unbelievably. But in all honesty, that also includes my ears. I heard the truck pull up.” He nodded to the four-wheel monster Kyle loaned her for the morning. “Car got towed after all, huh?” She nodded. “We’re swinging by the impound lot later to spring it.” “I’m surprised Kyle and Dillon let you come here.” He stepped aside and gestured her in. “You look dressed for work, if I’m not mistaken.” Her eyes wandered over him as she followed him inside. He wore a mocha-colored dress shirt she didn’t recognize and his dark brown trousers. “So do you, if I’m not mistaken.” She frowned when her gaze dropped to his shiny Italian loafers. His slacks, which were always meticulously tailored to hit just across the tops of his shoes, now hung above them. Her eyes rose up as she trailed him into his office, past his shoulders and higher than she remembered having to look to find the top of his head. “Are you taller?” He turned when he got to the front of his desk and leaned against it. “A side effect of last night. My bones and ligaments stretched a little. My muscles were augmented during the transformation, too. I had to dig out an old shirt that was too big, but none of my slacks are

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long enough. I’ll have to conduct all my meetings from behind the desk until I can get out to go shopping.” She stayed just inside his doorway and crossed her arms tightly. “You seem to be taking this quite well, all things considered.” David shrugged, and she noticed that his shoulders did seem broader. “I can’t say yesterday ranked as my favorite day ever, but it’s done now.” She hesitated. “I wasn’t sure you’d want me here after what I did.” “You weren’t the one who bit me.” “It’s my fault that you got bitten. You went there after me.” “You didn’t make me follow you. One of the reasons yesterday is not my best day is because of my animal behavior toward you—and not all of it happened after I was bitten.” She threw her arms up and stalked forward. “You couldn’t help it. It was my ridiculous scent. I’m the sole reason you went up there.” She averted her eyes to stare at the gray carpet. “And I betrayed you.” He ran a hand through his brown hair, which hung loose over his forehead rather than tamed back like usual. “You were never mine to betray. I know that now. You couldn’t stop that bond any more than I could. Any more than Solomon could.” She shook her head sadly. “That doesn’t change the fact that I strung you along. If I’d have just admitted the truth to myself and given that ring back sooner, you wouldn’t have wound up in that cave. I’m so very, very sorry, David.” He pushed himself away from the desk and moved forward. He seemed to tower over her now, even though the difference in his height was only perhaps an inch or two. “Is that why you came here? So I’ll help you beat yourself up about how guilty you feel?” She blinked, taken aback. “If you would have handed me back that ring and told me it was over, it wouldn’t have changed a damn thing. I’d still have followed you up there and tried to change your mind.” “But…”

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“Aimee,” he said, silencing her protest by taking her hands in his. His skin was hotter than Kyle or Dillon’s, and she wondered if he would always be warmer or whether it was a residual effect of the change that would wear off with time. “We could stand here and chicken-or-egg this all day, but it doesn’t matter anymore. Weres believe that those who are turned, by accident or design, become shifters by fate. Fate holds a lot of things in balance for were society, because otherwise the superior advantages we have could upset the natural order of things. I was meant for this. You were just the instrument that drew me to my appointment with fate.” Her eyes searched his. “That sure doesn’t sound like the ‘I’m a practical guy’ boss who took me hiking a few days ago. You sound like one of them.” He gave her a tiny smile. “I am one of them.” They stared at each other for a moment. “What’s it like?” she whispered. His smile held secret depths she’d never seen there before. “The first shift was a hellish nightmare I won’t even try to describe to you. But being claimed by the pack…” He trailed off for a moment, his eyes staring into space. “Well, you experienced what that was like yourself last night.” “Yes, but I’m not supernatural now.” “You are, in your own way,” he said. “Were mates are human, but more than just human.” She wondered how he knew something like that when she didn’t. Her eyes took another tour of his larger physique. “Do you feel different? When you’re not shifted, I mean.” “‘Different’ doesn’t quite begin to cover it. I’m bigger and stronger. My senses and reflexes are sharper, and the wheels in my head whir a bit faster. And there’s the whole nigh-invulnerable thing, with rare exceptions. Don’t feel sorry for me, Aimee. I sure as hell wouldn’t have chosen this, but it definitely has advantages.”

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“You’re stuck living in a pack now, though. Solomon’s pack.” She made a face as the name slipped out. “You have to do what he says.” The corner of his mouth twisted upward. “Solomon’s not so bad, really. He’s just very territorial about protecting his own—and has a chip on his shoulder the size of Manhattan where Blaise is concerned.” “You mean his bark’s worse than his bite?” He shot her a mock glare, and she grinned. “Sorry. Bad canine humor.” Her smile faded. “Are you sorry that you wound up in a different pack from mine?” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Yes. But in the long run, I know it was—” “Fate?” she interrupted. He nodded. “From the story I understand on Kyle, he’s a good man and was a loyal wolf until fate put him between a rock and a hard place. But I’m not sure I was meant to be under the command of a renegade cowpoke. You know I served in the military before college. Solomon’s more my speed.” “How’d you get so knowledgeable about all these werewolf semantics after just one night? Dillon and Kyle explained things to me all weekend, and I still feel like I have no idea what’s what in that world.” He chuckled. “Another werewolf advantage. A certain amount of genetic memory gets transferred from the one who bites you. Jack isn’t that old a werewolf himself, but he knows all the basics.” He tapped his forehead. “Now, I do, too.” “That’s handy.” Conversation lapsed, and awkward tension seemed to thicken the air around her. She reached into her skirt pocket and held the contents up to him. “I believe this belongs to you.” His mouth settled into a straight line as he glanced down at the ring glittering between them. With a brief hesitation, he took it from her and dropped it into his palm. “Thank you.”

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Her pulse jumped a bit as she gave him a wan smile. “Maybe someday it will go to the real mate who’s fated for you.” He curled his fist around the ring for a moment and then dropped it into his shirt pocket. “I think it will go back to the jeweler, and a new one will replace it when the time comes. The commitment this one symbolized wasn’t nearly what a mate bond truly represents. Not by a mile.” She nodded. Her tongue held on to so many different forms of apology, so many things she wanted to say to convey her regret that his proposal hadn’t been meant to be. But she could see in his expression that there was no need. Now that he was a werewolf, he understood more than she could have ever explained to a human. “I was hoping you would show up today,” he said, pulling her back from her thoughts. “And not because I expected that ring back. I wouldn’t have asked for it.” “I know. But it wouldn’t have been right to keep it.” He snorted. “You mean Kyle and Dillon would have pitched a fit if you had.” “That, too.” She eyed him. “So why were you hoping I’d show up?” He circled his desk and sat down. “I figured you might not want to work for me anymore.” “There’s no reason why I shouldn’t, is there? And Kyle and Dillon don’t mind me being employed by a werewolf, in case you were wondering.” He straightened a stack of papers on his desk. “Not only that. From what I learned about Kyle, he’s fairly well off. I thought you might not need this job anymore.” She shook her head. “Whatever money he has isn’t my concern. I have no plans for him to support me, even if he offers. So yes, I am very much in need of this job. Assuming your pack doesn’t insist you replace the trouble-making rival pack mate with one of your own?”

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He laughed. “I could just see Jack or Hunter trying to make sense of my filing system. That, my dear Aimee, is a supernatural skill only you possess.” She beamed at him. “Great. I’m glad that’s settled.” A warm glow spread through her chest. “And I’m glad that you’re happy with the way things turned out.” “Funny, I was going to say the same to you.” “I thought maybe you’d have to give up your business. Some shifters have trouble holding down a job, I hear.” “Well, I will be taking a few extra days off around full moons for awhile.” He leaned back in his chair and hooked his hands behind his head. “Some of us in Solomon’s pack are gainfully employed. Quite a few of the shifters up in the falls were cowboys at one time or another, what with all the ranches in the area. I’m darn lucky that I own my own business, and it’s neither animal-related nor overly aggressive.” “Will you move up there?” “I’ll keep my condo but will be with the pack much of the time. They divide their time between a cabin and out in the wild. I spend a lot of time up there, anyway, so it won’t be that big a change. Except Adam and Solomon both snore like banshees.” She giggled. “Just one other thing. Kyle asked whether I could take Wednesday off. He’s got something planned. If not, it’s no big deal. We can reschedule to the weekend.” “Wednesday’s fine.” He shot her a knowing glance. “I know how persuasive alphas can be when it comes to getting their way.” “Thank you. I swear he won’t interfere with my job, though. After Wednesday, I’m all yours.” She paused, her face flushing hot. “From nine to five, that is.” He laughed and sat upright. “Good. Because with my improved mental clarity, I intend to bring our game up. Now, let’s figure out the next break in my schedule so I can go buy some new pants.”

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**** Aimee felt around in front of her while she took slow, shuffling steps in the darkness. She breathed in the fresh scent of forest pine, and the sound of roaring water in the near distance brought a smile to her lips. “I hate to ruin your surprise, Kyle,” she said, louder than was possibly required but unable to help herself. “But I think this blindfold is kind of a waste of time. I can tell we’re over by the falls.” She reached a hand up to the bandana tied snugly around her eyes to block her view, but a warm, firm grip on her wrist stopped her. “No peeking,” Kyle said. He took her by the hand and gently pulled her forward for a disorienting stretch. Then abruptly, he stopped and dropped her hand. “Right here’ll do. Stay here, and do not cheat by slippin’ off that blindfold.” “Yes, sir,” she said, cracking a sarcastic grin. Then she heard his boots scuff away, and after a few moments of listening to the waterfall and bird chatter, she began to wonder if the men were playing a prank on her. “Guys?” She reached out again, feeling around to find only empty space. “You better not be ditching me and running off. I have a thing about being lost in these woods, you know.” “You definitely ain’t lost in the woods,” she heard Kyle call out from some distance away. “Just be patient a minute. It’ll be worth the wait, I promise.” She opened her mouth to reply when a familiar sound snapped her jaw shut—and widened her unseeing eyes behind the bandana. The rattling noises came closer, then dropped to the ground in piles on either side of her. “Is that what I think it is?” she asked. Dillon’s knowing chuckle seemed to confirm it. “Wait and see.” A moment later, she heard the loud clink of a hammer pounding something metal. She listened to the echoing sound, pursing her lips

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in thought. “Are you driving in tent pegs? I know—we’re going to camp here.” “Nope.” Kyle this time. The pounding continued, first off to her left, then the right. “Are you sure you aren’t putting up a tent?” she said. “This is driving me crazy!” “The driving-you-crazy part hasn’t even started yet, darlin’,” Dillon said in a butter-melting croon that set off a low tickle in her pelvis. “It could start now, if you want to get her ready,” Kyle added. Aimee froze. “Get me ready for what?” She heard the crunch of approaching boots in the dirt, and Dillon’s familiar heat and scent caressed her. She felt his fingers brushing against her sternum, and the cool mountain air wafted to her bare chest as he opened the buttons on her blouse. The graze of his fingers across her skin sent a chill through her, despite the sunny, warm afternoon. “What are you doing?” she asked, her voice dropping near a whisper. He pushed the blouse back over her shoulders to let it fall away, and she felt his hands circle around her back to work on the snap of her bra. “What’s it feel like I’m doin’?” She heard him groan appreciatively when her torso was bare. “Those perky breasts are the most beautiful thing out here,” he said. “You definitely improve the setting, and that’s sayin’ quite a lot at the moment.” “Don’t give it away,” Kyle said, still pounding metal. “Give what away?” Dillon asked. Aimee felt his fingers fumble with the button of her hiking shorts. “I don’t even know what all’s goin’ on.” She heard her zipper give way, and the shorts slipped down to her ankles. “We’d better not be in the middle of a campground.” “Hold onto my shoulders,” Dillon said. “Steady yourself so I can get your shoes off.”

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She did as instructed, noting that his shirt was already off. His torso was warm and damp with sweat while he finished undressing her. “Come help me,” Kyle said, and she felt Dillon wander away to leave her naked and blindfolded in the middle of God knew where. Prickles of nervous anticipation tingled all along her skin. The rattle of chains returned just before she felt a man on either side of her, taking hold of her arms. “Remember our chat yesterday about safety words?” Kyle whispered in her ear. She nodded. “The word ‘red’ stops the game.” “Right. Do you trust us to begin?” A shiver ran along her spine. “Yes, but I’m afraid someone will see us.” “No one can see us here,” he said. “We’re completely alone.” Cold metal slid around her wrists, clicking into place. She tried to raise her arms when Kyle and Dillon released her, but she couldn’t lift them higher than shoulder level. She sucked in a breath. “This is what I thought it was. You’re chaining me up.” “You said the bondage thing turned you on,” Kyle said. “So is it?” Wet warmth gathering between her thighs answered her before her mouth even opened. “Definitely.” “Spread your legs,” Dillon said. “Just a couple feet apart.” More metal clamped around her ankles, stopping her from moving forward more than a few inches. Having all her bare limbs shackled into place like this set a cloud of butterflies loose in her stomach. “How does that feel?” Dillon said, sliding a hand along the back of her calf. Heat rushed through her as she tugged the chains to test their strength. “Like I want to fight against them.” “Because you want them off?” Kyle’s voice held a note of tender concern.

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She smiled. “No, because it triggers that whole animal thing I warned you about.” His growl in reply sent a shock of pleasure through her clit. “You definitely ain’t alone there.” Then both men were against her, and she felt bare flesh rubbing hers. The demanding mouth claiming hers was Kyle’s. She could tell because of the lack of stubble along his upper lip. Another tongue was teasing her nipple into a stiff, throbbing peak, and her hand went to the top of Dillon’s head to thread through his hair and pull him closer. Her knees weakened as desire and adrenaline surged through her veins, sending moans of lust from her throat. Though she knew only her two cowboys were present, the blindfold played tricks on her mind until all she could feel were hands and mouths everywhere on her flesh—groping her breasts, her ass cheeks, parting her pussy lips. The sheer, animal decadence of being bound naked in the middle of the wild, engaging in nature’s most primal act while surrounded by the scents and sounds of male lust and the great outdoors, sent thrills of longing through her. She couldn’t imagine anything more erotic than making love with her wolves right out in the forest. Seductive lips pressed against her clit, and a rough tongue flicked out to run along her slit until her legs wobbled. Fingers pinched both nipples, twisting them while cupping handfuls of her breasts. She cried out and parted her thighs as best she could, groping male flesh to hold herself upright when the tremulous peak of climax crashed over her with force. Aimee arched her back and let out a piercing cry, only vaguely aware of the possibility that she could be anywhere and that anyone might be in earshot. She didn’t care in that moment. The only entities that existed in her world were the two men whose hands and mouths expertly brought her off until juices ran down her legs. Her climax seemed to impress no one else, however, for her two cowboys were far from done with her yet. Dillon took her left hand while Kyle took hold of her right hand, the latter pushing her hand down to his stiff, throbbing cock. “See what the hell you do to me?”

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he said in a barely restrained growl. “Feel how fuckin’ hard you make me, screamin’ out that way when you come?” She greedily squeezed his shaft and milked it up and down in her fist, feeling the slick drops of fluid on the wide head. Meanwhile, Dillon’s mouth went to work on her other hand, sucking in her index finger in a seductive gesture she remembered all too well. He rolled his tongue around the tip of her finger, and the resulting flare of excitement shot all the way through to her pelvis. “God, Dillon,” she breathed. “It makes me so crazy when you do that.” By the time he got to her third finger, she could neither speak nor think straight anymore. The feel of his hot mouth over her fingers, paying them the same erotic attention she’d seen him give to Kyle’s cock and her pussy, coaxed her climbing orgasm higher with each movement he made. The familiar graze of his teeth over her finger sent a hiss from between her lips, but when he pulled away she was mystified to note that he’d left something behind. “What is that?” Her thumb prodded at the anomaly, and she blinked behind the darkness of her blindfold. “Did you just put a ring on me?” “It’s only fair for you to wear a ring of ours, since you came to us wearin’ one from another guy.” “Consider the ring a token to go along with that mark,” Kyle said, grinding his hips against her hand. “Weres consider the matin’ bond as a fair equivalent to marriage. If we decide to do somethin’ more legally bindin’ later, you’ll already have the ring.” Her heart pounded as she twirled the band around experimentally. “Can I see it?” She held her left hand up in front of her as high as her arm would go. He pulled his erection out of her hand. The blindfold was tugged down over her nose and mouth, and there in front of her was a crisscrossed double band of gleaming gold. One had a brushed finish, while the other shone like her cowboys’ eyes.

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“We wanted two joined bands so one could represent each of us,” Dillon said. “I don’t know what to say,” she whispered, emotion choking her throat. Then the backdrop around her hand came into focus, and her eyes widened as she took in the view. She was all of maybe three feet from a tree-studded cliff, and the falls were visible in the stunning vista from much closer than at the overlook she’d visited with David. The green, lush mountainside and the spray of the majestic Shay Falls drop-off were crisp, breathtaking, and completely unhindered from this vantage point. “Oh, my God, it’s so beautiful,” she said. “Just stunning.” “The ring, or the view?” Kyle asked, nuzzling her shoulder as he stood beside her. “Both. Where are we?” She twisted around to survey the open flat expanse of landscape behind her. “Is this near the advanced trail?” “We’re on private land,” Kyle said, pausing to meet Dillon’s gaze from her other side. “My land.” “This is part of the old West Ways Ranch?” Dillon asked in a tone of slight awe. “Wasn’t sure I’d ever see this place.” “Figured it was high time to bring you both here. And break it in again with some new memories.” He took hold of Aimee’s chin to turn her face to his, then placed a kiss on her lips so tender that she felt her insides turn to mush. When he pulled back, however, his eyes were glittering with a wicked heat. “Get down on your hands and knees,” he commanded. The gleaming desire evident in his eyes had her scrambling and rattling in her shackles to comply. He came around in front of her, careful not to get too close to the edge of their unfettered view of the mountainside. When he knelt in front of her, she assumed he meant for her to suck his straining cock, but when she opened her mouth and tried to take him in, he pushed her away. Instead, he slid down under her, scooting his naked back along the dirt until his head was right

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beneath hers as she knelt above him. “Straddle my cock. Sink it all the way inside that hot, sweet cunt.” Aimee’s heart pounded with delicious anticipation as she groped the head of his dick and lowered herself onto it. Both of them hissed as his impossibly stiff erection filled her dripping pussy inch by glorious inch. He closed his eyes for a moment. “Ah, yeah. That’s right, baby. All the way down. Then stop.” She sat herself upright until she felt him hit bottom. His gaze returned to her filled with fire. “I’ve brought you to nature’s most spectacular view, chained you up, and given you my ring. I suppose you’ll want to make slow, sweet love to me now?” She shook her head. “Hell, no. I’m so hot to fuck you that my heart is trying to beat its way out of my chest. Please.” His eyes darkened with need. “Good answer. Dillon?” The other man came around to the side of them so she could see he was stroking his hard, reddened shaft. “I need that thick meat of yours in my mouth,” Kyle said, and Aimee’s heart skipped a beat at the wicked gleam in his eye when it met Dillon’s. “I’d never seen your cock get as big and hard as it’s done since Aimee wandered into the cave. Must ache like hell.” “It will if it don’t get some attention soon,” Dillon said, his voice hoarse. “Both of you are makin’ me fuckin’ insane.” He knelt beside Kyle’s head and leaned over him. The moment Kyle’s mouth slid onto his shaft, Dillon let out an almost agonized moan that sent Aimee’s hips into a wild gyration. She sat back, shifting her chained hands until they rested behind her on Kyle’s tense thighs. She ground her cunt lips on his pelvis and watched his tongue and lips turn Dillon’s cock into a glistening, purple blade. Dillon’s jaw clenched as he shoved himself deep in Kyle’s mouth, prompting her to pivot her hips faster. She worked herself back and forth, then around in circles, fucking Kyle until her

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bangs stuck to her forehead and rivulets of sweat ran down her bouncing breasts. “You know what you want,” Kyle said to Dillon in a tight voice when he pulled away from his dick. “Take it now.” Excitement tickled her senses at his commanding tone. Aimee wondered what he meant for Dillon to do to him and almost voiced the question before Dillon’s head whipped around to her. His eyes were churning with feral gold, and his jaw lengthened just enough to see the tips of fangs protrude. Whatever he had planned, it involved her. Her lust churned faster at the thought. As fast as the facial distortion had come, it disappeared again. But his eyes still bore the erotic flame that made her clit throb. She rubbed it harder against Kyle to ease the ache. “Bend over,” Dillon said to her in a near growl. “Lay yourself down on Kyle.” He got up and moved behind her, pushing her down by the shoulders even though she was already moving to obey. She felt Kyle wriggle his legs apart and Dillon kneel between them. Lying belly-tobelly on Kyle spread her ass cheeks wide, and Dillon slid his wet cock head up against her anus. Realizing what he had in mind, she began to wriggle impatiently on Kyle’s cock. He groaned and pulled her lips down to his. “You feel so fuckin’ good,” he said, thrusting his hips upward and his tongue deep inside her mouth. His arms wrapped around her narrow waist, drawing her tight against his slick, muscled body while he ground himself against her pussy until breath left her. Then Dillon thrust his shaft in her ass with an animal grunt, and she cried out with a desperate moan of desire she was sure others on the mountain would hear whether she was on private land or not. He leaned over her back until she felt his hot breath against her neck. “You do feel fuckin’ good. Your ass is so tight I already want to fill it full of my cum.” He pushed himself into her again, sending a groan

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out of Kyle this time. “You want to fuck Kyle hard, do you? How do you want to fuck me, darlin’? How do you want me to give it to you?” Another climax was dangerously near, and while she knew she’d explode faster than she wanted if she gave in to the overpowering urge to fuck these men like a wild thing, she also knew primal need would win out. She shoved her hips back against him with a grunt. Her nipples tightened as they slid back along Kyle’s chest. “Oh, yeah,” he crooned, sliding a hand under her belly and pulling her torso up a bit. “Get up on your hands and fuck me, then. Fuck both our cocks together like a bitch in heat, if that’s what you want.” It took a couple shifts in angle to figure out what he meant, but she soon realized that with her hands steadied on the ground above Kyle’s shoulders, she could rock herself up and down on two cocks simultaneously. Once that rhythm took her over, pleasure flooded every inch of her until it crowded out most of her rational thought. Dillon gripped her hips while she pounded herself against them. Kyle reached between their bodies to tweak and pinch her sensitive, tight nipples as her breasts jiggled beneath her. The tangy scent of sex and sweat mingled with fresh mountain air. She whimpered and moaned louder each time she thrust back to fill her lower half with two lovers at once, and every nerve ending in her body soon began screaming for release from the intense pressure building in her clit and pussy. Dillon grabbed hold of her hair and pulled her head back. “I can’t wait anymore,” he growled, mimicking her thoughts. “I’m gonna mark you, Aimee. Finally.” “Finally?” she breathed. “I haven’t even known you a week.” “Yeah. But I’ve been waitin’ for you for years.” “Do it, Dillon,” Kyle ground out. “Make your own claim on her flesh.” With a snarl that aroused rather than alarmed, she felt his fangs bury themselves in the shoulder opposite from Kyle’s mark. Sexual energy shot through her like cannon fire as she stared ahead, watching

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the surreal power of the waterfall pouring down to the depths below. She stiffened and cried out as one more thrust took her beyond ecstasy. Dillon reared back, relinquishing his hold on her shoulder as he shouted out her name. The three of them shuddered in ecstatic convulsions that lasted for a seemingly endless stretch, hot cum filling her until it leaked out and wet all their thighs. Climax receded at long last, leaving them panting and collapsed in a fevered, sweaty heap. They each remained in their own alternate state of reality for some time as they uncoupled, and Aimee’s breaths and heartbeat slowed only after several silent minutes had passed. A short while later, the three of them looked out at the majestic scenery with Aimee reclining against Dillon’s bare chest and Kyle stretched out alongside them. Dillon stroked her hair while she ran a hand absently along Kyle’s rock hard thigh until he captured it to play with the new ring on her finger. “I can’t imagine any place more beautiful,” she said while she gawked at the landscape, feeling happy little tingles from his contact with her hand. “And to think you own this view.” “This was always my favorite spot,” he said, nodding to a copse of pines nearby. “I used to tie Monty up to that tree over there and just stand here, starin’ out over the cliff.” She shot him a look. “Oh, really? I thought I was the first person you bound up on this spot.” He grinned. “Monty wasn’t a person. He was my horse.” “A horse named Monty?” Dillon asked with a teasing lilt. “It was short for Montezuma. Stubborn as all go-get, but a real beauty.” Kyle glanced at Aimee. “A lot like someone else I know.” “What happened to him?” she asked. She regretted the words when Kyle’s expression immediately went grim. He let go of her hand and sat up, staring out over the falls. “He’s dead.” She laid a hand on his thigh. “I’m sorry.” “Damn hard, losin’ a good animal,” Dillon added.

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Kyle’s jaw set. “Especially when you’re the one who murdered it.” Her eyes widened, but she tried to maintain a neutral expression when he turned to them. “I killed him the night I changed my brandnew ranch boss into a werewolf.” She felt Dillon stiffen slightly behind her. “You never told me you turned someone,” he said. “It was an accident.” Kyle scowled and added, “Well, that’s not exactly true. It was my own stupidity that done it. If I’d have just listened to Solomon, it never would have happened.” He fell silent, staring at the landscape. “If you don’t want to talk about it…” Aimee said. He sat cross-legged, facing them. “It was the first full moon after I was turned. Solomon had saved my life but couldn’t save me from my own denial. I wanted nothin’ to do with bein’ a werewolf, and even less to do with his pack of cowboy and societal rejects. All I wanted was to go back to ranch life. So despite Solomon’s warnin’, I tried to carry on like I hadn’t been turned into somethin’ unnatural. It became obvious straight off that things would never be the same.” “Your animals got skittish as hell, no doubt,” Dillon said. Kyle grunted. “To put it mildly. That bite effectively ended my career. Although since I was dyin’ when Solomon marked me, I suppose my ranch days were over either way.” “You must have had hands on board who could have picked up the slack for you,” Dillon said. “Far as I could tell, that’s how Kade Winchester managed to keep his ranch runnin’ even though both he and his partner are weres.” The other man nodded. “Sure, I had cow hands. Fired the lot of ’em after what happened that first full moon.” “What did happen?” Aimee asked. He picked at a bit of dirt beneath his fingernail. “Didn’t take long for me to figure out I couldn’t be in charge of range work anymore. I couldn’t get near any of my animals—not even Monty. Went out to curry him the next day, and that son of a bitch bucked and whinnied

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like I was about to rip his throat out. I promoted one of the hands to ranch boss within the week, makin’ up some cock-and-bullshit story about needin’ more time to manage the books. Thought I had my situation nailed down and sealed tight.” He shook his head. “Then the full moon hit.” “And no one to help you through it,” Dillon said. “Not an experience I wish on anyone.” Kyle glanced at Aimee. “You saw what David went through with his first shift.” She nodded, her spine crawling with the uneasy feeling that she knew where his story was headed. “I was alone in my study when my body started rippin’ itself apart. When I changed, instinct took over. I busted right out the window and headed for Solomon—I could sense him out in the woods. I could sense trouble. When I caught the animal scent from the barn, however, a whole other instinct took over. Went straight for Monty and took him down right in his stall. Poor bastard.” He paused, and Aimee swallowed down a greasy churn of nausea. “It wasn’t until I was tearin’ up the carcass that I picked up a whiff of human scent. My new ranch boss had stayed behind to finish up some work. He wanted to impress me.” His eyes gleamed with dark fire. “He heard the commotion and pulled a pistol on the wolf tearin’ up the barn, but I turned on Jack before he could get a shot off. Not that it would have done him a lick of good, anyway.” Aimee sat straight up, away from Dillon. “Jesus.” “That’s when the pack showed up. Solomon had meant to come for me before the change hit, but he got waylaid by one of Blaise’s frequent pissin’ contests.” Dillon muttered something unintelligible under his breath. “Solomon got there in time to keep me from killin’ Jack, but I’d already had my teeth in his flesh. With the moon in full swing, the change came on him in minutes. The barn was full of nothin’ but howls and agonized screams.”

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“Wait. Jack?” Aimee asked. “You don’t mean Jack from the cave the other night?” He nodded. “The one who turned David. Ironic, ain’t it?” She swallowed. “Solomon took over as his alpha when you turned him, same as he did for David.” “He marked Jack as his own and took him into the pack, after all but beatin’ the bloodlust out of me, that is.” He turned to Dillon. “Bet you didn’t realize my past was quite so colorful.” Dillon got to his feet. “Can’t say I’d have guessed it. But what happened was an accident. Believe me, I saw much worse livin’ under Blaise’s snout.” While the three of them dressed in silence, Aimee contemplated what he must have gone through. “What happened once you shifted back?” she asked. “How did you deal with it?” Kyle pulled on his hat and bent over to pry up the metal stakes they’d driven in the ground. “Once I came back to myself, I didn’t even want to live. I couldn’t face what I’d done. I knew then and there that I couldn’t risk hurtin’ anyone else. I fired the rest of the hands and sold off my livestock, along with most of the equipment. Since then, I’ve spent most of my time with Solomon and learnin’ ways to tame my nature.” He stood up, brushing dirt off his bare backside as he gazed around. “I rarely come out here anymore. Bad memories.” “Why not just sell the land, too?” Dillon asked. “Get rid of the memories altogether.” His biceps bulged beneath the short sleeves of his tight, black T-shirt as he buttoned his jeans, and despite the somber direction the afternoon had just taken, Aimee couldn’t help but feel a small current of desire watching the muscles flex. Kyle’s gaze hardened. “There are some memories we can’t afford to forget. I come back here every year on the anniversary of that night and sleep in that barn. I have to remember what I am and what I am capable of.” He dropped the chains in a pile and rose. His blue eyes reflected not only the sky overhead but the blue checked pattern of his shirt. She wandered over to him and wrapped

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her arms around his taut waist. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all that. I’m surprised that you’d bring me here at all, if this place stirs up such difficult memories.” His arms circled her as well, and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “It was long ago, and high past time to start buildin’ some new memories at the former West Ways Ranch. Memories I want to make with the two of you.” Dillon strode up, setting his hat high on his head. “I’d say you’re off to a good start after the rather exhilaratin’ time we just spent with our lady.” She loosened her grip on Kyle to catch hold of Dillon’s hand. “I’ll say. I won’t be forgetting that anytime soon.” “Thought I might swing us by the house next,” Kyle said. “Let you two have a look-see. I figure it’s time to move back into the old homestead.” Dillon raised his head to eye Kyle from under his Stetson. “Is that an offer to be bunkmates?” “Unless you prefer sleepin’ under the stars when you ain’t chained up in a cave.” Kyle nudged Dillon’s arm with his elbow. “But if you do, one of the spare bedrooms has a hole in the roof that almost qualifies.” “Beats freezin’ my ass off in winter when I’m shiverin’ too hard to manage a shift and pop out some warm fur.” Kyle nodded. “Better than bein’ out in the woods where other packs and crazy redheads are lookin’ to take out hostility on the lone wolves.” He sighed. “I will warn you, though, the place has been neglected. Definitely needs some work.” “Work is my middle name,” Dillon said with a sexy grin that quickened Aimee’s pulse. “I thought devious mind was your middle name,” she teased. “I think Kyle will find I made a fair use of my hands back in my ranchin’ days.”

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Kyle grunted. “Oh, I’ve experienced fair use of your hands, among other things.” The men exchanged a heated glance that had Aimee licking her lips. “The offer applies to you as well, Aimee,” Kyle said, picking up her hand and kissing the back of her ring. “Whenever you’re ready to leave the city grind and move up here with a couple disowned cowboys, you can call dibs on the side of the bed you prefer.” She cocked her head and pretended to ponder. “Hm, that depends. Do you steal the covers?” “No.” Kyle grabbed her around the waist and swung her around. “But I might just steal you out from under Dillon’s stiff cock every now and then. Alpha’s rights, you know.” “That sounds fair. And definitely enticing enough for me to consider commuting to work. I call dibs on the middle of the bed, then. Right between the two of you.” “Good.” He lowered her to the ground, letting her slide down his body to feel that his cock was getting hard again. “That’s where you belong.” “Maybe I can catch rides from David,” she said, suddenly feeling breathless. “He plans to spend a lot of time up here as well. How do you feel about me carpooling with a fellow werewolf?” “Just so long as the fellow werewolves you come home to are the ones standin’ right here,” Dillon said, pulling her to him and slipping a hand inside her blouse. Her nipple tightened, cutting loose a new swarm of butterflies in her stomach. Kyle leaned over to flick his tongue over her lower lip. “Let’s hop in the truck so I can take you over to check out our new digs,” he breathed against her. She nodded as a surge of contentment and anticipation bubbled up inside her. After years of struggle to take care of responsibilities and keep a roof over her head, she’d finally come home.

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Dillon grunted as he grabbed a bigger handful of her breast. “First thing is to test out each and every mattress in the place,” he said gruffly. “We need to decide which one is most fittin’ to ravage you on all night long.”

THE END WWW.JROSEALLISTER.COM

ABOUT THE AUTHOR When she’s not conjuring tales of hot cowboys under a full moon, J. Rose Allister enjoys her garden, cooking, movies, and hanging out with her author husband and family in their Southern California home.

Also by J. Rose Allister

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