SEVEN
“Are you really okay with what happened?” Dylan glanced at Matthew as they walked along the sidewalk, each of them taking in as much information on their environment as possible.
In the aftermath of Nadine, and after the confrontation over coffee only a half hour earlier, Dylan still wasn’t sure what his best friend thought of his plan.
“I’m not interested in charity, man,” Matthew said, shaking his head.
Dylan sniffed at the air, trying to catch even the faintest scent of something that didn’t belong in the neighborhood. He knew Matthew was doing the same. With any luck, if one of the lions had tracked them down, they would figure it out long before they organized enough to launch an attack.
“It’s not charity if she’s actually interested in you,” Dylan pointed out.
After he and Nadine had had sex three, or possibly four, times the night before, as they were preparing to fall asleep, Dylan had broached the topic of his best friend with the woman once more. Nadine had still been uncertain, but he had managed to get her to admit that she was, in fact, attracted to Matthew.
In Dylan’s mind, it only made sense that he and Matthew would share Nadine—provided they were both attracted to her. If Matthew hadn’t been interested in the one-natured human at all, the point would have been completely moot, and Dylan wouldn’t have had any qualms about having sex with her as much as possible. But knowing that Matthew wanted Nadine as much as he did, Dylan thought sharing the woman—convincing her to become their joint mate—was the best possible solution to a number of problems.
They'd both be getting laid regularly, without having to go out. They’d have a mate without having to deal with all the bullshit that comes along with trying to convince an unaffiliated shifter female to commit. What’s not to like about it? Sharing a mate would make it harder to find a sleuth or clan to join but Dylan had almost decided that there was no point in joining another clan or sleuth after the way their previous clan leader had treated him and Matthew. Objectively, he knew there had to be better leaders in the world—but he didn’t want to bounce from one group to another until he found one.
“You’re sure it wouldn’t get weird between us? I mean it’s one thing to share treats or the spoils of a raid,” Matthew said, shrugging and turning to sniff at something. Dylan waited for his friend to make his evaluation and continued onward. “It’s another thing to share a woman. Bears aren’t known for keeping harems or anything like that.”
Dylan snorted. “Were-lions don’t usually have multiple mates either,” he pointed out. “But think about it, okay? It’s a good idea, I think.” Dylan glanced around, his gaze taking in the same houses they’d seen several times since moving in.
What he wanted—and what he knew Matthew wanted, in spite of the fact that neither of them had talked about it—was to find a good place to transform into his bear form, and run around unfettered for a while. During the full moon, in particular. Dylan tilted his head back and sampled the air, frowning at an unfamiliar scent until his instincts identified it as a dog. One of their neighbors must have gotten a new pet, Dylan decided, continuing on the path with Matthew at his side.
Dylan thought for a moment about how good it would feel to fully shift into his animal form, to give in to the impulses that he had to keep a tight rein on day-to-day. He would have to wait until after he and Matthew had settled the issue of the lions threatening them, because Dylan knew it would be too much for Nadine to deal with, and they couldn’t leave her alone overnight, but once they could… he sighed, glancing at Matthew to see if his friend had noticed the inopportune noise.
“Hold on,” Matthew said, stopping mid-step.
Dylan stopped, too, turning his head one way and then the other, sniffling at the air to try and catch whatever it was that had alerted Matthew. He sorted through the scents on the air carefully, identifying flowers, a few of their neighbors, two dogs, a feral cat, and some rodents, his mind going through each of the scents that painted the air around them.
Matthew turned around, facing the direction they had come from, and frowned. Dylan raised an eyebrow in query, turning as well and peering into the distance, trying to see or smell or hear whatever had piqued his partner’s interest.
“What have you got?” Dylan asked quietly.
“Something,” Matthew said, frowning in faint confusion.
He shook his head, stepping in the direction they had come in, and Dylan heard the sniffling, snuffling noises of Matthew sampling the air. If anyone in the neighborhood was watching them, Dylan knew they’d look strange; but to the best of his knowledge, few of the people living in the houses on the block were ever home during the day. Dylan joined his partner in scenting the air, trying to figure out what had taken Matthew’s notice. He decided after a moment that Matthew was right; there was definitely something in the air that called his attention, that seemed out of place and almost alarming. Dylan just couldn’t identify quite what it was, and the sensation began to bother him as much as it was apparently irritating Matthew. His heart beat a little faster, and Dylan’s instincts—animal-keen—told him to prepare for some kind of fight, though he wasn’t sure what kind it would be.
Dylan felt the hackles beginning to raise on the back of his neck; the next moment, the sound of movement made him turn his head in the direction it had come from.
“That’s them,” someone said—the voice was feminine.
Dylan’s heart began to pound and he took a step away from Matthew, settling his weight on the balls of his feet and preparing for the fight that he was now certain was imminent.
“Grab ‘em fast—we don’t want any witnesses.”
Out of the bushes surrounding one of the houses, Dylan saw a handful of men and women emerge. He glanced for just a moment at Matthew and nodded quickly. From another cluster of overgrown bushes on the other side of the street, another group of men and women emerged. Dylan counted mentally: altogether there were maybe twelve. Did they all come out for this ambush? Or is this just part of that little group? For the moment the question didn’t matter, but Dylan told himself that if he and Matthew managed to hold their own and drive the lions off, he’d make sure to verify it once they got home. We’re going to have to move to a hotel if this isn’t all of them.
The dozen were-lions surrounded him and Matthew quickly, keeping their distance for a moment. Dylan took each one of the members of the group in turn: there were maybe three more men than women in the group, and all of them were dressed for a brawl, wearing leathers and denim, a few of them in jumpsuits or Dockers.
“If you’ve got a problem with Alex being dead, you should talk to the guy who ordered his death,” Matthew said.
“Just because someone ordered it doesn’t mean it has to get done,” one of the women in the group said. “Filthy mercs like the two of you have a choice to take or leave a job.”
“Are you going to jump us or not?” Dylan glanced around the group, mentally evaluating which of the members might be the most dangerous—those were the ones he’d want to take out as quickly as possible. “If we stand around here like this much longer, someone’s apt to see—and if anyone changes, shit’s going to go down.”
“Now!”
Movement erupted all around the circle, and Dylan sprung into action. He launched himself at the most dangerous-seeming of the members of the group, knocking the man down to the ground, ducking under the swing of a knife angled at his shoulder. Dylan let his animal instincts take over, listening only to make sure that Matthew wasn’t signaling any kind of mayday as he growled, punched, and clawed at the man he had taken down. The lion underneath him roared out, kicking and scratching, but Dylan managed to avoid the worst of the attacks, tumbling with the man to dodge the others coming after him while his back was turned.
Everything became a blur as Dylan fought with two or three members of the almost-pride at a time, catching sight of a blur in the corner of his eye and swatting at it. He saw knives; he caught the glint of brass knuckles on fists. Most shifters didn’t like to use guns—the animal nature gave them all a preference for close-quarters fighting—but Dylan kept alert to the possibility that someone in the group, or possibly several people, might have decided to pack heat in light of how dangerous he and Matthew had proved to be.
One after one, Dylan fought the attackers that came into his range, throwing himself into his assault with animal abandon. He didn’t spare even a moment to think about Nadine back at the house—it was more important for him to get out of the current situation and to make sure Matthew did the same than to worry about whatever might be happening to Nadine while they were occupied. Dylan felt the change rippling along his bones and nearly gave in to it in spite of the risk of being seen transforming in broad daylight; if any of their neighbors were home and watching, Dylan knew that someone would call the cops at any moment.
He lost track of time and count of the attackers he threw himself at, barely even noticing the few slices of a knife that connected with his body, painting stripes of liquid, stinging fire along his arms and legs. Dylan heard the change in the sounds coming from the were-lions that had ambushed them: growls and roars changing into yelps and groans of pain as he attacked mindlessly, reacting from pure instinct.
In a matter of what felt—somehow—as if it had been both hours and mere seconds, Dylan realized that the lions were beginning to retreat. He had killed at least three of them, and from what he had heard, in the back of his mind, Dylan thought Matthew might have taken out three more. The more able-bodied of the group started carrying their dead away, the others limping, and the circle that had surrounded them began to evaporate.
“This isn’t over,” one of the lions said, slinking down the sidewalk and looking over his shoulder at Dylan and Matthew balefully. “You assholes are going down.”
Dylan sagged on the sidewalk, the adrenaline in his system beginning to ebb. He could feel the cuts and scratches and bruises that had come along with the fight; but fortunately, he thought, he didn’t seem to have any truly bad stab wounds. He looked over at Matthew, sprawled on the grass of someone else’s lawn. His best friend had blood—his own and several were-lions’—covering his clothes, making it hard to tell how badly Matthew might have been hurt.
“You able to walk, man?”
“In a minute,” Matthew replied, taking a deep breath and exhaling sharply. “Good fight.”
“Yeah,” Dylan agreed, pulling himself up onto his knees. “Think that was all of them?”
“I don’t think so,” Matthew said. “If it was, they’d have kept fighting until they either all died or they killed us.”
“You’re right about that,” Dylan agreed. “We’re going to have to get to a hotel.”
“We need to make sure they didn’t send a second team to grab Nadine,” Matthew pointed out.
“Yeah,” Dylan said, nodding. It was the same thought that had started to filter through his mind even as he’d fought off his share of the attackers. He wasn’t sure whether to feel guilty that he hadn’t considered it as much as Matthew had, or if he should be worried that his friend—who didn’t seem to want to share the woman that Dylan had already taken—might actually be a sounder investment of her feelings. You’re in the downspin, he told himself, gathering up the last of his energy and rising to his feet. Make sure Matt’s okay, and then both of you haul ass to the house and check on Nadine. Obviously you know that the lions have already found your place. “Let’s get back to her. Are you sure you’re okay to walk?”
“Yeah,” Matthew said, rising more slowly than usual—but with only a little pained cringe to show the extent of his injuries. “Let’s make sure they haven’t snatched your girlfriend and then we can both get cleaned up and see if either of us needs stitches.”
Dylan took a deep breath and looked at Matthew intently for a moment longer as he stood up straight, starting to walk back in the direction they’d come. Hopefully, Dylan thought, none of the neighbors had been in; or if they had, they’d decided to mind their own business and not call the cops.
“We need to move fast,” Dylan said, starting after Matthew and catching up to the other man in a few steps. “If anyone saw what just happened, they’re liable to call some pigs.”
“Shit, you’re right,” Matthew said. Dylan smiled weakly as his best friend cussed under his breath for a full minute. “Okay. We check on Nadine, get cleaned up, and get the hell out of dodge. The cops will take at least twenty minutes to get here, assuming anyone called them.”
“Not a very long or a very good shower,” Dylan said, shrugging as they walked up the sidewalk slowly. “But hopefully, we find us a hotel with a fucking whirlpool.”
“You’re thinking of fucking your girl at a time like this?” Matthew shot a sardonic look at Dylan, shaking his head.
“Hey, it’s natural pain relief,” Dylan countered. “Why, starting to rethink your position on sharing?”
“Fuck,” Matthew muttered, groaning as they made their way further along the sidewalk. “Right about now I could use a hand in the shower. A pair of hands. And maybe a mouth.”
“See if you can convince her,” Dylan suggested. “I’m not going to begrudge you a few nights a week with her.”
“If we share her,” Matthew said, his voice losing some of the tightness of the pain that came with his injuries, “we’re going to have to work out a schedule. And give her a couple of nights a week where she’s not having her brains fucked out.”
“Two nights a week—seems fair,” Dylan agreed. “And then coin toss for day five out of the week?”
“Fair,” Matthew said, nodding. “That’s assuming she agrees to it.”
Dylan patted his longtime friend on the shoulder and picked up his pace, becoming more and more apprehensive about the fact that Nadine might not even be at the house when they returned. None of their agreements about how they would share her would amount to much of anything if the lions had already gotten to her—particularly if the lions decided to kill her in retaliation. He told himself he had no reason to think the ragtag group had done it; but he knew it was only too possible that the not quite pride had split up into two groups in order to divide and conquer.
“They were thinking they’d be able to take us,” Dylan pointed out to Matthew. “Did you notice how none of them had guns? If they’d just wanted to kill us, they could have taken us out that way.”
“Wouldn’t have taken that many of them either,” Matthew agreed.
Dylan looked over at his friend and for a moment they both paused, coming to the same conclusion. There was something more to whatever the rogue group of were-lions was after; they didn’t just want revenge on the two men responsible for killing their friend. They wanted something more. Dylan took a deep breath and exhaled.
“We are definitely getting the hell out of dodge ASAP,” he said after thinking about the situation for a moment longer. “We need to figure out what we can about this group of assholes and take them out completely.”
Dylan had no idea why they would have wanted to take Dylan and Matthew alive, but he was not convinced that anyone in the group had good intentions towards either of them. Whether it was that their de facto leaders wanted to torture them, or they were working for someone else with more money and power, Dylan wanted to find out before another gambit by the group succeeded. He picked up the pace of his steps and Matthew fell in next to him. Though neither of them had the energy to run, they managed to move quickly enough to catch sight of the house within five minutes.
Dylan just hoped that the emptiness around the house was because Nadine was in there undisturbed, and not because the lions had grabbed her and fled already, taking her with them to take the punishment they wanted to mete out to Dylan and Matthew for their wounded and lost friends. Dylan pushed down his worries and found his keys in his pocket.
*
Nadine pushed her laptop away from her on the bed, slumping onto her side with a sigh. She closed her eyes, wondering why—at a time when she was on the run from a group of supernatural creatures—she was even bothering with her work. It’s not like it’s going to make any difference whether I just drop off the face of the planet or not, she thought bitterly. She was sure her boss, Darren, probably wouldn’t see it that way for at least a couple of weeks, not until he’d found and trained her replacement, at least.
But from the moment Matthew and Dylan had stepped into their house, covered in blood and already beginning to tell her that they would all have to leave, Nadine had known the situation had changed. It was no longer a matter of the two men keeping her safe in their house until the situation blew over. It wasn’t even a matter of the two men finding whatever den the were-lions had taken and just taking them out all in one fell swoop. It had become much more complicated than that.
They’d traveled up from Broward to Palm Beach County; Nadine had insisted on checking on her apartment before they’d left. She shuddered, remembering the sight that had greeted her when they’d arrived there; her entire apartment had been trashed, furniture clawed. Someone had scrawled on the wall in red paint: You’re next!
There had been almost nothing left to salvage. Nadine had counted herself lucky that at least she had managed to get the most important things when they’d stopped at the apartment before. In the end, she had simply decided to call the cops anonymously and report that one of the units had been broken into. She, Dylan, and Matthew had had just enough time to gather what little of her possessions she wanted to hold onto and leave before the police arrived. I wonder if they put any of those trained dogs on the job, she thought, staring through the hotel window as waves of nausea and cold washed through her. Nadine almost laughed at the thought of how trained police dogs would have reacted to the scent of lions and bears in an apartment. The handlers wouldn’t know what to make of the situation at all.
Nadine knew she would eventually have to answer a lot of questions about what had happened at her apartment and what she might know about it, as well as several more about where she had been when the vandalism and theft had taken place. The police didn’t seem to be in any hurry to investigate it—she hadn’t gotten any calls, and whichever cops had arrived on the scene after she, Dylan, and Matthew had left would have been able to get her number from the front office of her complex. Eventually, they would almost certainly get to it, especially if and when people started missing some of the lions that Dylan and Matthew had taken out that same day.
“Really, I might as well just quit my job and try to convince Dylan and Matthew to train me to become some kind of mercenary like them,” Nadine said quietly.
Her eyes prickled and she felt a hot tear rolling down her cheek, thinking of everything she had already lost in her life. It didn’t seem like she would be able to hold onto her job for much longer; she didn’t have her apartment, she didn’t have her routine, and she didn’t have about ninety percent of the things she had owned before everything had happened.
“It wouldn’t take long to train you.”
Nadine started and turned her head at the sound of Matthew’s voice.
“Where’s Dylan?” Nadine frowned, fear rising up in her at the thought that Dylan might be injured or abducted.
“He’s in the lobby,” Matthew said. He came further into the room, limping slightly as he crossed in front of the bed and sat down in a chair next to the window. “He’s fine.”
“You do realize that the two of you were beaten up in broad daylight in the middle of a neighborhood street, right?” Nadine raised an eyebrow at Matthew.
He was healing quickly, but certain kinds of injuries—even for shifters—apparently just took longer to heal than others.
“Yeah, but this is a much more public place,” Matthew said, smiling slightly. “Way less likely for them to try to attack us here. At least—in the lobby.”
“Are you saying that we’re in more danger in the rooms than in the lobby? That doesn’t make sense.”
“We’re not in much danger anywhere on the property,” Matthew said, raising his hands to indicate for her to calm herself. “But the lobby’s a particularly good place for Dyl to get his phone calls done.”
“Who in the world could he be calling?” Nadine frowned, confused.
She and Dylan hadn’t had much to do with each other since they’d fled from one county to another—although they had taken a two-bedroom suite at a Hilton on the outskirts of West Palm Beach, Nadine had felt inhibited by the proximity of the two bedrooms to each other, and she thought that Dylan probably felt the same way.
“Couple of contacts we’ve made,” Matthew said, shrugging slightly. “People who might be able to help us get to the bottom of what’s going on with those lions.”
Nadine pressed her lips together. “Are you sure you’re okay? Most of your injuries are healed but you’re still limping.”
“I’m okay,” Matthew said, dismissing the concern with a wave. “Just tore something in my leg is all. That takes longer to heal, even for us. I’ll probably need to work it out at the gym once things get back to normal.” Matthew paused for a moment. “So you want to become a mercenary?” Nadine sighed, smiling wryly. “Well it’s getting harder and harder to keep my job up,” she pointed out. “And if things get much more extreme, I’ll have to quit just to keep those assholes from attacking one of my coworkers in an attempt to get to me, to try to get to you two.”
“That’s a fair point,” Matthew said, nodding. “But do you actually want to be a mercenary? I mean—I think you’d be pretty decent at it.”
“Why do you think that?” Nadine pulled her knees up towards her chest. She started to rotate her ankle slowly, testing the stiffness, weakness and soreness of the joint; she got halfway through the rotation and a spasm of pain shot through her leg, warning her not to make it worse.
“You’re tougher than you let on,” Matthew said thoughtfully. “I haven’t seen you take more than three half-pills of the pain meds since we picked you up, and your ankle’s probably hurting pretty badly. You didn’t freak out when you saw how badly your apartment got tossed. Also, the whole bit with you fighting off a were-lion was impressive.”
“What is it with you and Dylan and that particular moment?” Nadine shook her head.
Matthew smiled slowly. “Well, we respect strength wherever we see it,” he said, shrugging. “It was pretty hot, too. Like Angelina Jolie or something.”
Nadine snorted. “I do not look the least bit like Angelina Jolie,” she said, shaking her head.
Matthew grinned again. “Maybe not, but you’re hot all the same,” he told her. “When would you want to start learning?”
“Are you offering to give me mercenary lessons or something?”
Matthew shrugged. “I could teach you a few things to start with. Of course, you’ll want to learn how to use a few weapons, too—you can’t handle everything with grappling and hand-to-hand combat.” Matthew’s dark eyes glinted with amusement.
“How are you going to teach me?” Nadine felt her heart beating faster at the thought. There was something thrilling about the idea of abandoning all the old routines of her life—and the drudgery of her old job—in favor of a much more romantic, if unpredictable, life as a mercenary.
“Stand up,” Matthew said, gesturing.
Nadine raised an eyebrow and climbed off of the bed, settling her weight carefully on her good leg.
“Your ankle’s still pretty bad, right?”
Nadine nodded.
Matthew rose from his chair, stretching slightly and shifting around until he’d gotten into a comfortable position.
“I’m going to come at you,” he said. “I’m not going to put any pressure on your bad ankle. You trust me, right?”
Nadine hesitated for only a moment, thinking of how insane it was to trust someone she’d only known for a handful of days—at most a week—and then nodded.
Matthew moved more quickly than Nadine would have thought possible; all at once he came to a stop only inches away from her.
“Okay, so you’re going to learn how to throw someone who’s coming at you from the front.”
Matthew put his hands on her arms and Nadine’s heart started beating faster still, excitement, doubt, and the first stirrings of desire warring for prominence.
“Put your weight on your good leg.”
Nadine did as she was told, and Matthew coached her through each of the steps. It was oddly like a choreographed dance; Nadine moved the way that Matthew told her, and in a matter of a minute, she had broken his grab, and she was swinging him onto the bed, where he landed with a muted thump.
“But a real attacker isn’t going to come at me that slowly,” Nadine pointed out, looking into Matthew’s beaming face doubtfully.
“No, but the first thing is to learn the steps,” Matthew said, sitting up. “I can show you how it’s done, if you want?”
Nadine licked her lips. She tested her ankle slightly; it ached in a dull, throbbing way, but she thought she could tolerate moving around a little bit as long as she didn’t actually try to run.
“Okay,” Nadine said.
She took a few steps back from the bed, and Matthew jumped up, landing nimbly on his feet. He winced at the pull of the injured muscles in his leg and then his face went back to its normal, slightly smiling expression.
“Come at me,” Matthew said.
Nadine took a few steps and got into Matthew’s space, grabbing at his shoulders the same way he had hers. She felt his hip collide with hers, throwing her balance off the way she had done. Her hold on his shoulders broke, and Nadine let out a delighted, shocked yelp as she went from standing on her own to feet to swinging through the air. She landed on the bed, the resilient surface bouncing underneath her, and Nadine giggled, turning herself around and over to look up at Matthew.
“You make it seem like the easiest thing in the world,” she said, shaking her head. “But if I was ever in a situation where I should actually do that I’m sure I’d forget.”
Matthew shook his head, wagging a finger at her.
“Not if you practiced it until it became instinct,” he pointed out. “Then you would see someone rushing you and you’d move into position before they even grabbed at your arms. You’d have them on the ground, your knee on their chest, and they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.”
Nadine snickered at that image. She propped her chin on her hands in front of her, shaking her head with amusement at the future that Matthew had forecast for her.
They practiced a few more times, and Nadine felt her body beginning to heat up—not because of the exercise, but because every brush of her skin against Matthew’s sent tingles coursing through her nerves, making her heart beat faster. She tried to suppress the arousal she started to feel, thinking to herself that since they had never specifically come to a conclusion about whether or not she would be with both Matthew and Dylan, it wasn’t right for her to feel so powerfully attracted to the other bear shifter.
Nadine sprawled on the bed, panting from the exertion of their acrobatics.
“Wait—wait,” she said, holding up her hands. “Let me catch my breath.”
Matthew chuckled, throwing himself down on the bed a few feet away from her. Nadine’s pulse quickened and she tried to suppress it. I am not getting all turned on by the fact that he’s in a bed with me, she told herself firmly. That reminded her of the fact that Dylan was elsewhere.
“Is it just me or has Dylan been in the lobby for a while?”
A fleeting expression crossed Matthew’s face and he looked away for a moment before meeting her gaze.
“I think he might be giving us some alone time,” Matthew said, licking his lips with a look somewhat like nervousness.
“Seriously?” Nadine pulled herself up onto her elbows and looked at Matthew intently.
He nodded slowly. “I think he’s been waiting for me to make a move on you,” Matthew said quietly.
Nadine sighed, letting herself fall backwards onto the bed once more.
“Do I even get a say in this at all?” She turned her head to look at Matthew.
He smiled. “Of course you do,” he said, inclining his head towards her slightly. “If you don’t want me, I’m not going to push myself on you.” Matthew’s dark eyes warmed, holding Nadine’s gaze. “But unless my brain is wrong, you want me. At least a little bit. You’ve been fighting it for a while.”
“It’s wrong,” Nadine said, pulling her arms out from under her body to cross them over her chest. She was suddenly keenly aware of the fact that she was in little more than a tee shirt and a pair of jeans—she hadn’t put a bra on earlier in the day, and the panties she’d put on were next to nothing under her jeans. “Would you even want to share a—a girlfriend with Dylan?”
Matthew shrugged. “You wouldn’t exactly be just a girlfriend,” he said. Nadine’s eyes widened. “There are some things you don’t understand about our kind, I think.”
“There are a lot of things I don’t understand about your kind,” Nadine said sharply. “And even more things I don’t even know about. Explain this one though—it seems pretty important.”
“Bear shifters like us…” Matthew pressed his lips together and considered. “We have girlfriends, obviously—or boyfriends, in the case of female shifters. But the big goal is to find a mate. Someone to be with permanently.”
Nadine’s eyes widened and she stared at Matthew in undisguised shock as the import of his words filtered through her brain.
“Mate? Permanently?” She opened her mouth to say more and realized that her brain seemed to have gone numb.
Matthew smiled more broadly. “You’re not, like, going to marry us or anything—not at first, at least,” he said, waving that idea aside. “But were-bears mate pretty steadily through life.”
“Mating is…” Nadine swallowed against the dry sensation in her mouth and throat, closing her eyes for a moment to try and steady her nerves. “Mating implies having babies.”
“It can be about that,” Matthew agreed. “At least, when people belong to clans—sleuths, in the case of bears, or prides in the case of lions, packs for wolves.” He shrugged. “But I’m not suggesting that Dylan or I would be pressuring you to get knocked up as soon as possible. It’d mostly be a sex thing.”
Nadine closed her eyes again, shaking her head slowly. “Wow,” she said, taking a quick, deep breath. She licked her lips and shook her head again. “And you—you would be okay with…with sharing me with Dylan?” She opened her eyes and met Matthew’s intent gaze.
“We share a lot,” Matthew explained. “I’m not saying you have to do this. If you don’t want to be shared between two men, you don’t have to do it. Neither Dylan nor I would ever want you to feel like you’re—owned, or something like that.”
Matthew moved slightly closer to Nadine on the bed, and she felt her heart beating faster with a mixture of apprehension and desire. There was something pleasant about the way that Matthew smelled—something she hadn’t been able to put her finger on. It was subtly different from the scent that clung to Dylan’s skin and clothes, but oddly similar at the same time. There was something comforting about it.
“So if I’m not okay with—with being shared,” Nadine said slowly, exhaling sharply and shaking her head to herself at the idea the words implied in her mind. “Then you and Dylan will just…”
“Dylan seduced you first,” Matthew said. “If you want to stay with him, if you want to be with him, I’ll step aside and find someone else for myself.” Matthew held her gaze, and Nadine wondered if there was some kind of supernatural hypnotic ability that came with being a shifter. “I think you like me more than a little, though.”
“That’s—I don’t want to say that’s not the point,” Nadine said. “I just don’t understand how this would work.”
“We’d take turns with you, for the most part,” Matthew explained. “We already agreed that you should probably have a couple of days a week to yourself. But we’d agree on a schedule, with your input, and you’d spend time with both of us, separately and together.”
Nadine stared at Matthew in faint disbelief.
“And that would really work? Neither one of you would…like…start getting jealous?”
Matthew shrugged. “That I can’t exactly promise, since we’ve never tried this before,” he admitted. “But while I envy Dylan for having you in his bed, I’m not exactly jealous about it, if you get the distinction.”
Nadine considered that. She took a slow, deep breath, trying to work through her mind the implications of how such an arrangement would work.
“I really don’t know how to feel about this,” she said, once more meeting Matthew’s gaze. “I mean I guess I should feel flattered that two guys like me enough to agree to share me as their lover.”
Matthew grinned broadly. “That would be my interpretation,” he said approvingly.
“But it’s also more than a little weird.”
Matthew shrugged. “There are some clans where it’s the norm, and some where it’s punishable by exile.”
“But you and Dylan don’t belong to a—a clan,” Nadine said.
“Since we were exiled, no.”
Nadine took another slow breath, looking down at the wrinkled, rumpled sheets. She licked her lips, coming gradually to a decision.
“Can—would you hold it against me if I wanted to…to try and see if I…” Her cheeks burned. “If I want to be with you, as well as Dylan?” She braved a glance at Matthew’s face and saw that she hadn’t offended him; on the contrary, he was almost smirking.
“You want to take me for a test drive before you decide whether or not you’ll be a shared mate?”
Nadine hesitated, not certain she liked the flippant phrasing, but then nodded; even if she didn’t like the way he’d said it, Matthew had gotten to the root of what she wanted.
A moment later, Matthew rolled over on the bed, closing the distance between them. Nadine barely had time to react as his arms coiled around her, holding her tightly. She looked up at Matthew’s face and saw the darkening of his eyes as he leaned in to kiss her. Nadine melted against him as Matthew’s lips covered hers. Kissing him was nothing like kissing Dylan; Nadine tried to push any comparison out of her mind, pulling her arms free and draping them around Matthew’s shoulders, beginning to explore his body slowly through the fabric of his clothes. Matthew deepened the kiss, moving more slowly than Dylan had, nipping her bottom lip playfully and sliding his tongue against the sensitive skin there until she opened her mouth to let him in.
They stayed like that, kissing and touching each other lightly, for what felt like hours to Nadine. Her arousal built up, her whole body tingling with hot and cold flashes of sensation as she became more and more turned on. She could feel the heat forming between her legs, the slickness of her fluids beginning to flow along her labia, making her quickly soaking wet. Nadine moaned against Matthew’s lips, twisting and writhing underneath him as his hands began to touch and caress her with more and more erotic intent, slipping up underneath her tee shirt, tickling along her ribs on their way to her breasts. She moaned again as his fingertips wrapped around her nipples, rolling and twisting them slowly, sending electric jolts of sensation shooting through her body, seemingly directly to her already wet pussy.
Matthew broke away from her lips, tugging Nadine’s tee shirt up. She threw her arms over her head and lifted her back up, helping Matthew to undress her. Any thought of whether what she was doing was right or wrong—or whether it was a betrayal of Dylan—was a million miles away. She pawed at Matthew’s tee shirt, struggling to get it up along his back, wanting nothing more than to feel the press of Matthew’s skin against hers, the heat of his body sinking into her.
Their clothes fell away one by one, and in a matter of moments, Nadine realized she was all but naked underneath Matthew, wearing nothing but the pair of thin, almost see-through lace panties she had put on that morning. Matthew pulled back, looking down at her, panting slightly with desire as he took in every inch of her body with a desiring, hungry gaze.
“I can definitely see why Dylan had to have you four or five times that first night,” Matthew told her, his voice hoarse with need.
Nadine chuckled breathlessly, shaking her head. “Can we not talk about him right now? It’s going to make me feel weird.”
Matthew raised an eyebrow but nodded, kissing her once more. He slid one hand up between her legs and began to stroke her through the fabric of her panties. Nadine moaned out, her hands tightening on Matthew’s shoulders, her fingernails digging into his skin. Her hips began to move as if with a mind of their own, twisting and bucking under the impetus of Matthew’s touches. Matthew worked her slowly and steadily, rubbing his fingers up between her labia, somehow managing to find her pleasure center by touch.
Matthew’s fingers retreated and Nadine let out a disappointed, frustrated groan, twisting her hips to keep the contact even when it was obvious that Matthew wasn’t going to give her satisfaction.
“Greedy little thing, aren’t you?” Matthew’s soft, reedy voice was full of amusement, and Nadine shrugged shamelessly, meeting his gaze without any sense of embarrassment. Matthew hooked his fingers in the waistband of her panties and tugged down in one sharp, quick, fluid movement, dragging them over her hips—nearly tearing them in the process.
Nadine gasped in shock, lifting her hips and wriggling to get the whisper-thin fabric off of her body more quickly. She could feel the heat and hardness of Matthew’s cock pressing against her, digging into her thigh—and in spite of any misgivings she’d had before, she knew that she wanted to feel it inside of her. Matthew didn’t move to strip off his boxers, however; instead he kissed her on the lips briefly and then began to work his way down her body inch by inch, lavishing attention on every patch of skin his mouth met on his way to his objective.
Nadine squirmed and writhed, threading her fingers in his thick, surprisingly soft hair as Matthew lingered at her breasts, worshiping her with lips and tongue, barely grazing her with his teeth. He continued onward just when Nadine thought she couldn’t possibly take any more teasing, his hot breath tickling her ribs, making the muscles in her abdomen twitch, even as she became almost unbearably turned on in a matter of moments.
Matthew paused at her hips, and Nadine—against her will—found herself remembering Dylan, the way he’d devoured her their first time together, the way he’d told her that she tasted exactly like honey to him and how much he wanted to eat her again and again and again.
“Fuck, sweetie,” Matthew murmured, pressing an idle kiss to her inner thigh. “You are just bear-bait, aren’t you?”
He looked up at her face with his dark eyes glimmering. Nadine shrugged in confusion, unsure of how to take the comment, and Matthew chuckled, spreading her legs wider, his fingertips parting her outer labia. He cast one last, lustful look at her face and then slipped between her legs, and in an instant, Matthew buried his face against her soaking wet pussy, licking and sucking, teasingly sliding his tongue up and down along her inner labia.
Nadine moaned out, reaching blindly as her body reacted to the pleasure that Matthew’s attentions sent coursing through her. She threaded her fingers in his hair, her hips bucking, twisting, moving as if they had a mind of their own. Matthew held her down easily, nuzzling against her soaking wet folds, working his tongue deeper, teasing her relentlessly. Nadine thought—fleetingly and guiltily—that it was one thing the two men had in common and then immediately dismissed the thought, focusing instead on the way that Matthew teased her with lips and tongue and even, to her astonishment, with careful grazes of his teeth. Nadine threw her head back against the pillows, writhing as she felt the tension growing stronger and stronger inside of her.
She felt Matthew slide one finger inside of her slowly, pushing past the resistance of her body, and Nadine moaned out, grabbing at his shoulder and head. Matthew added another finger, sliding both in gradually deeper and deeper, rubbing along her inner walls. Nadine cried out in pleasure as Matthew’s lips closed on her clitoris, his tongue flicking against the cluster of nerves as his fingers worked her. She grabbed at the sheets underneath her, at Matthew’s burning-hot body, at anything within reach as her body twisted and arched under the impetus of his attentions. Nadine lost all track of time, wrapped in the haze of pleasure that burned through every nerve in her body, caressing and tingling.
All at once, Nadine felt the tension that had been mounting somewhere deep down between her hips give way, and wave after wave of pleasure washed through her as she came. Nadine cried out, her hips bucking, twisting down to get better contact between her pleasure centers and Matthew’s mouth and fingers. Her orgasm intensified as Matthew continued his attentions, sucking and licking, his tongue flicking against her clitoris so fast that Nadine couldn’t even keep track of its movements. His fingers rubbed and stroked her g-spot, and Nadine felt a brief flicker of fear as her climax continued to rack her, pleasure so intense that it might have actually been pain, but she couldn’t tear herself out of it.
Matthew’s attentions slowed as Nadine’s body sagged, the spasms of pleasure beginning to abate. She panted, breathless and still tingling everywhere in the aftershocks of her orgasm, and Matthew lapped at her fluids slowly, as if he wanted to swallow down every last bit of her climax. Nadine trembled, her softening moans turning into whimpers, and Matthew’s fingers withdrew slowly. He gradually pulled back, his breath hot against her skin, and Nadine exhaled sharply as everything went strangely calm throughout her body.
She felt Matthew’s weight against her bones as he slithered up along her body, kissing his way from between her legs up to her mouth. She could taste herself on his lips, but for the moment she didn’t care—it was almost pleasant, the mingling of her own fluids with his lips and tongue. Nadine opened her eyes and looked up to see Matthew watching her intently, his dark eyes almost black with desire.
“Let me know when you’re ready for more,” he told her, his voice tight with need.
“I—I’m going to need a few minutes,” Nadine said, smiling up at him mindlessly. She was sure she looked utterly gone—maybe even drugged in her haze of pleasure—but she didn’t care. She felt too good. Whatever flaws these two guys might have they definitely know how to get a girl off, Nadine thought. She began to giggle, curling in on herself slightly.
“What’s so funny?” Matthew kissed her forehead, her cheek, and then her lips lightly, cradling her body in his arms, looking into her eyes.
“Just thought of something,” Nadine said, panting to catch her breath after the laughter exhausted it. “You—and Dylan—sure know how to get a girl off.”
Matthew chuckled, and Nadine began giggling irresistibly once more, unable to help herself.
After a few moments, the urge passed, and she sighed, pressing up against Matthew’s body for the comfort of his heat. She could feel the hardness of his erection pressing against her—and that reminded her of another similarity between the two men.
“If I do let you and Dylan share me,” she said, reaching down tentatively to wrap her fingers around Matthew’s cock, “I think I’m definitely going to need a couple of days off a week. You—both of you—you’re kind of…” She shook her head, chuckling breathlessly. “You’re both pretty outside of my experience, size-wise.”
Matthew grinned, his hips rocking as she stroked him slowly. “That’s good to know,” he said, his voice a low growl. After a few moments of her stroking hand on his cock, he groaned, shuddering against her. “Are you ready for me yet? I don’t want to rush you—but this is pretty fucking hot.”
“I’m ready,” Nadine said, taking a quick, deep breath.
She was still soaking wet, and as she’d stroked and caressed Matthew, her arousal had started up once more, her whole body tingling. Matthew shifted against her and Nadine let her hand fall away from his erection, moving up to his back. She trembled with anticipation as Matthew guided the tip of his cock against her slick folds, holding back for a torturous moment; then, as he slowly—achingly slowly—began to slide into her, filling her up by inches, Nadine moaned out, pulling Matthew’s body close. She thought he might be slightly thicker than Dylan, but not quite as long, not that it mattered, since both men felt enormous filling her up.
Matthew rocked his hips against hers, slowly and steadily pushing deeper and deeper inside of her body. Nadine fell into his rhythm, kissing him everywhere her lips could reach, caressing him and exploring the planes and lines and ridges of his body against hers with her hands. She felt the tension building up inside of her once more as they moved together, and Nadine knew that she wasn’t going to be able to last long—even with the orgasm she’d already had. She pushed her hips down to meet Matthew’s thrusts, twisting and writhing underneath him as they picked up the speed of their movements, as she fell into counterpoint with his thrusts. Matthew kissed her lips again and again, and then trailed his mouth along her throat carefully, down to her breasts and then to her lips once more. Nadine felt herself becoming wetter and wetter, felt the tension between her hips growing tighter by the moment.
Matthew slowed and sped up, teasing Nadine; he brought her to the edge of orgasm and then backed off, settling into a steady rhythm that felt utterly amazing but kept her from actually hitting her climax. Nadine groaned with frustration as the torture continued, wrapping her legs around his waist and trying to manipulate his pace, pushing her hips down faster, twisting to give him the most pleasure. Eventually, even Matthew couldn’t bring himself to hold back any longer, and he began to thrust into her with abandon, pushing hard, fast, and deep inside of her body as Nadine moaned over and over again.
She hit her second orgasm all at once, the tension increasing between her hips until it was nearly unbearable and then breaking, and more waves of sensation washed through her body. Words tumbled out of her mouth without Nadine even knowing what they were, and she barely heard Matthew’s low growls of pleasure, or his roar as he reached his own climax. She felt the hot, sticky-slick gush of his orgasm flooding into her, but all Nadine cared about was how good she felt, the pleasure caressing every nerve in her body, driving out even the idea of worry or stress or guilt. They both continued moving together until neither one could move for another moment, and Nadine collapsed against the bed, Matthew on top of her, his weight strangely comforting as she shivered in the aftermath of her orgasm.