Sunlight filtered into the room through the slits in the darkened curtain. As Cass began to stir, Jax quieted himself. He didn’t want to wake her. He stilled his body as hers moved against his, and she whimpered something about pancakes. He smiled and kissed her forehead.

The sun peeking through the curtains was almost to her face, and the brightness from it let him see every color of her coily mane. Her hair was beautiful. A brown so rich and dark it was almost black. Natural highlights of auburn streaked through her tresses, and he leaned in to smell it again. From this day forward coconut and peppermint would make his dick hard. He loved that it wasn’t the harsh fragrance of artificial scents. It was natural and reminded him of the warm and rich currents he used to feel against his face when he was able to take to the skies. When he still had wings. He may never be able to experience the beauties of Heaven as he did when he was an angel, but being here with this woman was pure paradise.

Damon left before sunrise to take their groceries home, and to let the other members of the clan know that it was starting. Their Alpha and Omega had found their mate. Once they bonded it would trickle down through their clan and the rest of them would find peace.

They would be happy. After they’d all bonded and fully changed they would be like any other group of shifters. They’d never be angels again, but they would no longer straddle the line between whatever the fuck they were, human, and shifter. Yeah, he missed being an angel but he grew to love being human. He got to choose what to do with his life. Where to go, how late to sleep. That reason alone was the thing that made him not beg one of his brethren to kill him centuries ago. Take his heart and his head, and be done with it.

Ghost shifters would be no more.

Maybe they could revive him now. Jax still wouldn’t think his name. It was too hard. But if they’d found Cass and she’d helped them before they even had a chance to claim her, then maybe he could be helped, too.

It was too soon to think of that.

This woman lightly snoring next to him was who he’d been waiting for, who he and Damon had wished for. She’d suffered, and that had made her strong. He couldn’t feel her pain like Damon could, but he could see it in her face last night. He could see it in the way her body tried to close in on itself to escape their pity. She was strong and she was theirs. And she owned them completely.

“Do all men suffer from morning wood?” Cass asked, moving her arm across his waist.

Jax huffed a laugh and ran his large hands up and down her back. “I can’t speak for every man but it’s a worry that troubles me daily.”

The heavy, sleep ridden sound of Cass giggle filled the room. She bit his chest and then snuggled in closer. “You get alone time with me now? We get to talk and get to know each other? I hope so.”

To Jax, she sounded different this morning. More self-assured and more comfortable. Maybe letting go of Andrew was exactly what she needed to come alive again. Shit, he didn’t know. He had no idea what she was like before he saw her hand grab the can opener last night. Something told him that she was waking up again after being asleep for the past two years.

“Damon went to check on the clan. To tell them about you.”

She sighed and held the breath in for a long time. She was torn. “Jax, I don’t think I’m your person. You need someone special. You were a freaking angel of the Lord, and you were personally cursed by God for what you did. How many people can say that?”

Jax grinned against her hair. She was trying to be serious but she was just so fucking cute. He wanted to sully that innocence in her and make her do things she’d probably never even imagined doing; wanted to mount her like the animal he held deep inside him and make her scream. He wanted her to curse and beg for him to claim her. He paused and the muscles in his face relaxed. For just a few seconds he felt like grit for even considering taking that sweetness away from her.

No. He didn’t want to do that. He wouldn’t dare think of changing one thing about her, but he couldn’t wait until he and Damon claimed her. Together. They’d shared women before, not all of them, but they weren’t like Cass. Cass was power, humility, kindness, and soul all bundled up in one ball of cute sex-kitten. He knew she had it in her when she did something so small as taking her teeth to his chest just a few moments ago. It was playful, but he could smell her passion expand when she did it.

“Jax, why is your penis trying to get out of your pants?” she asked.

Shit. He should have worn jeans yesterday instead of sweatpants. He looked down and saw his cock jumping at the smell of her want for him.

“My penis?” he said, taking his fingers and pulling her chin up so she could meet his gaze. “You sound pretty technical. Can you say the word ‘dick’?” He tickled her ribs and even more blood rushed to his already rock hard cock as she writhed against his body.

“I don’t say words like that.”

Jax leaned in and kissed her gently on her lips and let it linger. “Say it and I’ll give it to you.”

She wasn’t expecting that. Her eyes widened and her grip tightened on his arm. “You gonna take it off and give it to me so I can take it with me?” She grinned, and licked her bottom lip.

“Hell no, woman. You know what I mean.”

He leaned down and took her lips again, this time using his hand on her back to guide her closer to him.

“I haven’t brushed my teeth yet,” Cass said, pulling away from their kiss.

“Don’t care. Neither have I.” He licked the tip of her nose and she erupted in laughter. “I adore every part of you. Morning breathe and all. Does mine bother you?” He hoped to hell it didn’t.

She shook her head and then bit his chin. “Nope.” Taking a deep breath, she pulled away from him with a look of regret on her face. “I’m not on the pill and I don’t have any condoms.”

With a wicked smile, he reached down and untied the ribbon on her pajama bottoms. “Until Damon and I claim you we are both infertile. Have been since the curse.” He didn’t mind, really. Some of the others in their group did, believing that they’d never find their mate but still wanting a part of them to live on. What would happen with a half angel/half human part shifter offspring running around?

She stared at him, chewing on her bottom lip. Dipping her head once, she shoved her pants and panties down her thighs and pulled her shirt over her head. She laid there next to him, looking as if she was doing everything in her power to keep looking into his eyes.

A low rumble took over Jax’s chest, and his eyes lightened from their morning blue to that of a burning star. He took his hand and brought it to her breast, feeling the weight of it in his palm. He loved her breasts. They were heavy, and her nipples were perfect. They were large and round and hard and he couldn’t wait to have them in his mouth, between his teeth. Jax wouldn’t hurt her, but he was going to make her scream from the pleasure of his teeth.

“You didn’t say it yet,” he said.

She let out a pathetic human growl of frustration and threw one hand in the air. “Why do you want me to?”

He bent forward and pulled her nipple into his mouth. He suckled her and loved the needy cries she made deep in her throat. Quick as a fly he bit down on her aching bud and then soothed it with his tongue.

Cass liked that. She called out his name, arching her back and pushing more of her into his mouth. “Do that again.”

“Say it.”

“Why?”

“I want to hear the way the word rolls around in your mouth.” He kissed up her chest, giving her sucking, biting kisses. “You cuss when you come.”

He’d listened to her last night while Damon tasted her. Jax wanted so badly to be the one to comfort her, but he knew where his strength lie. Being there for her was something that he’d already vowed to do, but last night she needed someone who could tap into her emotions and help her through them. If there was anyone on the face of this planet that could do it, it was his Omega and best friend.

The sound of Cass dragging out the word ‘fuck’ last night was like music to his ears. He imagined what she looked like, how her body tensed, what she tasted like. And now, he was going to get to find out.

“Did you know that?” he asked.

She nodded her head and brought her hand to the back of his neck. “I know. Don’t mean to.” Cass cleared her throat and he knew she reveled in the feel of his lips on her. “Dick,” she whispered.

Jax pulled away and looked at her, a teasing grin playing at his lips. “I don’t think I heard you.”

She swatted at him and laughed. “You heard me.”

With a graceful movement of his arm, he pulled his shirt over his head and settled back down. Looking at her body was like gazing into the heavens above. She was soft, full. Her wide hips and ample ass made his mouth water. He wanted to grip the extra skin at her middle while he rammed his cock into her dripping pussy, or while he took her sweet ass from behind. Listen to her whimper as he nibbled on her clit. Watch as she played with her nipples while he tasted every inch of her body.

“Come here.” He wrapped his arms around her and brought her body over his. “I want to taste you.”

Cass looked confused but then made a high-pitched squeal as he grabbed her by her waist. He moved so fast that he knew her mind hadn’t caught up until her hips were straddling his face. She tried to get off of him, saying that she didn’t want to suffocate him. His strong arms held her in place, and just when she shifted to move he took her sensitive nub into his mouth.

Her body relaxed above him and he took his time as he ate her. His warm tongue stroked up her center. Her body quivered against his mouth. Nuzzling her flesh, he sucked, and tugged, and flicked the apex of her seam, using his entire mouth to give her pleasure. For a quick moment, his teeth were on her clit, and her body jerked against him.

She ground her pussy into his face and said, “Please, do that again.”

Ohh, his mate liked pain with her pleasure.

He dug his fingers into her thighs to keep her to him and gently bit her clit again, three times in a row, and then soothed her boldness with sucking the now throbbing bud. Reaching down, she grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him to her as she found a rhythm with his mouth.

Plunging his tongue into her slick sex he took his finger, first coating it with the sweet juices from her pussy, and then slowly slid it into her ass. She stilled for a moment, but when he nibbled on her nub again she bucked against his face and pulled him closer.

“Oh, God. I’m gonna… Don’t stop. Please…”

He watched as she splayed her hands against the headboard and tried to grab on to something as her body was preparing to orgasm for him. The sound of the beast inside him rippled up his throat and through his mouth, and he could tell that the vibration was doing something to her.

With one hand she let go of the headboard and ran it up her full belly, ending at her breast. She took her nipple and played with it, and the sight alone almost made him come. He slid two fingers inside of her ass this time, bit her sopping flesh hard enough to make her scream, and then sucked on her clit with force.

Cass threw her head back and let out a long groan of satisfaction as her hips bucked into his face. He could taste the sweetness of her in his mouth. Down his throat. He had done this to her. Made her scream. Made her sweet honey flow just for him.

He wasn’t done yet.

Bright lights flashed behind Cass’s eyelids as she came down from the high that was Jax. He was still sucking on her clit, wringing every aftershock of her orgasm through her. When she came back to herself she let out an ‘oh’ of surprise.

She was holding onto his hair for dear life and amazed she hadn’t ripped out a few strands. “Did I hurt you?” She massaged his scalp and then scooted down his body.

“No ma’am,” he said, kissing her ample flesh as she moved down. “Finish me,” he said.

When they were eye level, she placed her lips on his and could taste her own passion. She thought she would kill the poor man when he picked her up and put her on his face. She’d never done anything like that before. No man had ever asked her to sit on his face, let alone picked her up and put her there.

Ohh, and when he growled… The vibrations made their way through her core and zinged right up her spine. She couldn’t wait to do that again.

She began to kiss her way down his body, but Jax grabbed her by her wrists and pulled her back up. “No,” he said with a slow shake of his head. “I would love to see my cock in that lovely mouth of yours, but I want to last.”

Cass pursed her lips in a pout. Well, that was no fun. She wanted to see how much of him she could fit into her mouth. He was big. So big she wondered how much of him she could take during sex before she considered tapping out.

Nope. Cass wasn’t a quitter. Even if she had to take yoga classes and use special breathing techniques she was going to have his thick, hard length buried deep inside her. Was Damon just as big? Could she take both of them at the same time? She couldn’t wait to find out, and the thought of them moving inside of her as one dumped even more liquid heat between her thighs.

She reached out and grabbed his cock, gliding her hand up and down the large shaft. With her thumb she used the drops of his seed and spread it around the swollen head of his cock, teasing him. He surged his hips upward, pushing more of him into her hand.

“Take me, Cass.”

Settling her hips above his, she guided him toward her slick opening and coating the wide head of him with her passion. With such ease he raised his hips toward hers, his sinuous body testing her slit to slowly fill her.

It was now or never. If she went as slow as Jax was trying to take her, he would always be careful with her. She wanted him rough and hard, and sweet and slow. Every way she could get him. With arduous determination, Cass closed her eyes, bit her bottom lip, and sat down hard on his cock, taking every inch of him deep into her body.

“Oh, God,” she screamed as she took him in. “Fuck, fuck,” she said over and over again, a lazy smile tugging at her lips.

A powerful growl made its way past Jax’s lips, and he breathed as if he’d just finished a long race. He bared his teeth and a low hiss sounded from him, and Cass watched in awe as his incisors lengthened to sharp peaks. With eyes the color of the glowing ocean during a full moon, he grabbed hold of her waist as if to hold her there, allowing her body to absorb the shock of his large cock and adjust to his size.

Cass felt deliciously stretched and the walls of her pussy trembled at his invasion. She looked down at him and saw the tripping pulse in his neck. His eyes were so bright now, almost too much to look at. But he was gazing at her. Even with no pupil showing, she could tell that he was watching her, adoring her. She put both of her hands on his chest and slid upward, letting the fruits of her orgasm coat him.

Her head fell to the side as she came down on him again, slowly this time. She licked the skin of her shoulder and moved to a rhythm that was beautiful and so good it should have been sinful. His fingers dug into the soft flesh of her thighs.

“You’re so fucking tight,” Jax said, gliding his hips forward to meet hers. His fangs were gone now as if they’d never been there to begin with. “Feels like your pussy is sucking my dick. Are you going to come for me?”

Hell yes, she was. She could already feel a tightening in her core that heralded her oncoming orgasm. “Mmm-hmm,” she moaned, unable to form words. She dug her fingers into his chest and rode him like a professional. She let out a string of curse words as he reached up and pinched one of her nipples.

When she was teetering on the edge of coming, Jax took his hands and grabbed her ass, spreading her cheeks, and moved her up and down on his cock. As Cass went to play with her nipples he sat up and sucked one of the hard peaks into his mouth and bit down.

The feeling of pleasure and pain took her over and she detonated. As the walls of her tight channel pulsated around Jax’s cock he came, saying her name over and over with her breast still in his mouth.

Cass’s hips still rode him as she came down, still feeling his dick swell inside of her. Warm jets of his seed filled her. Her breath shuddered as she rejoiced in the knowledge that she’d made him come. That she’d made him say her name. She lifted up to stop him from suckling her and then fell down onto his chest.

He kissed her forehead and hugged her tight to him. Cass would remember this moment forever. Last night started the healing in her with the feel of Damon’s full lips on her sex, and this moment showed her that she would no longer accept things as they came. She was in control of her happiness, of her life, and these two men that breezed into her existence last night were the start of something she couldn’t even put into words.

She loved them. Whoa. She loved them? She’d just met them, but admitting those words to herself felt truer than any emotion she’d experienced lately. Except for those orgasms. The emotions attached to the orgasms brought on by both men were pretty dang true. But she loved them. Those words ran through her head and she sighed. She loved them. Jax and Damon. And they loved her.

Yes. Andrew was the love of her life, but Jax and Damon—her healers—were her life. And she was there’s. They’d fixed something in her that just twenty-four hours ago she thought would have been broken forever. And now, she was going to heal them. Cass never thought she would give her heart to anyone else.

“Were the three of us meant for one another?” she asked, the side of her head against his chest. She listened as his heart rate had returned to normal from their lovemaking, and now it sped up again.

“Yes,” he whispered. “Only someone made for us could make us whole again.” He rubbed his lips against her hair and breathed her in.

“What do we have to do?” She started to lift herself from his body and winced as his large length slid out of her core.

Cass didn’t mind. She loved the electric feel of him against her and bit his shoulder when he began to apologize to her.

“You keep taking your teeth to me and you are going to get thoroughly fucked. Again. It won’t be gentle.”

Her breath caught in her throat at the hope of him being rough with her. She bit him again for good measure and then said, “Come on. Tell me what I have to do. What we have to do?”

When her sheath was no longer filled with him and she was tucked beside him he said, “I’ll get to have that sweet ass of yours while Damon is deep inside your pussy. When you orgasm he’ll bite the front of your shoulder and I’ll bite the back. And then we’ll be yours. Hell, we already are.”

“Will it turn me?” Cass wasn’t sure how she felt about being turned into whatever they were. “What are your animals?” She hadn’t bothered to ask earlier.

Jax took a deep breath and shrugged. “I don’t know if it’ll turn you. After we were cursed and given a quick rundown we received no more acknowledgment from Heaven. We’re not like regular shifters.”

“Did you ever try to find out?”

“The first few millennia we were in animal form so we weren’t able to find out anything. When we were made human and we tried to find out, no one had any answers. Hell, most true shifters were scared shitless of us. They’d heard tales of us but didn’t know what to make of us. To them, we smell and feel like shifters but we’re missing the animal. Is that a deal breaker for you? Being changed?”

She thought for a moment and then shook her head. “Well, it depends. I don’t want to be a turtle or a squid,” she said, laughing and snuggling closer to him. “What would I be?”

“What we were don’t exist anymore, so I’m not even sure what we’d look like. Would we be as large and ferocious as we were, or will we be what out beasts have evolved into?”

Losing patience, Cass wound her hand in the ‘hurry-up’ motion. Was he afraid to tell her what he and Damon were? She cringed at the thought of them being some humongous sea creature that looked like a fat, glob-like worm with six nipples. “Come on, man. Give it to me straight. You’re tip-toeing around it like you don’t want to scare me.”

When Cass looked up and her eyes met his, she instantly felt like crap. His eyes were full of sorrow and longing, and a line was there between his eyes that revealed his discomfort.

“Jax, I’m sorry. You feel about your animal the way I do about Andrew.” She reached her hand up and smoothed away the line, and then pulled herself up to kiss his forehead. “We don’t have to talk about it. Ghosts are always hard to talk about.”

He gave her a crooked smile and pulled her back down to rest her head on his chest. “No. You were brave enough to face your ghost. Fuck,” he said. He pulled one hand through his hair and gripped his blond strands at the crown of his head. “None of us talk about it anymore, but you deserve to know what you might become. What Damon and I are.”

“I can wait, Jax.”

“No. We used to be what are now called Megantereons. Saber-toothed cats.” He let out a shuddering breath and rubbed circles on Cass’s back. “We were fearsome. Even when Damon and I were angels we were a pair. And when we turned ourselves into those magnificent creatures we ruled our own pack. Other angel shifters and natural born saber-tooth cats alike.”

Cass looked at her hand and splayed her fingers, imagining long white claws erupting from her nails. “I’m going to be a big, bad-ass saber-tooth tiger.”

His chest heaved with a sudden breath and he laughed. “You said ass. And it's cat. Saber-tooth cat. There’s a difference, Cass.”

“Got it. Cat. Well, when you two start shifting again can I ride on your back? Please.”

Jax’s laugh was so deep and genuine that it made her laugh. Just a few moments ago she could feel him pulling away from her when she asked what he was. It had hurt him. He probably hadn’t talked about what he was in years. Centuries?

But now, he was smiling and pulling her close to him as if she soothed him. She wrapped her arm around his middle and kissed his chest. “How many are in your clan? And what do you do for a living?”

“Other than me and Damon there are six others in the New Rose clan. We’d like you to meet them when you get a chance.” He shrugged and Cass burrowed deeper into his side. “Hell, we’ve been alive long enough to be well off financially, but we need to work. Our animals require it. Some of us are firemen, others are dock workers, and Damon and I do construction. It’s hard work, but it’s what we need.”

She looked at the ceiling and noticed how far the rays of the sun had made it into her room. When she first opened her eyes the light had only made a few peeking slits through the curtains, but now the entire room was set aflame by its brightness. Cass had toyed with the idea of getting black-out curtains, but she knew she’d never get anything done during the day if she did. She was a night person. Had been since she worked a two-year stint as a night shift worker while she was in college.

Now, she was able to work from home. As long as she coded a certain amount of charts a day it didn’t matter what time she started. She didn’t love her job, but it paid the bills. It allowed her the solitude she’d needed.

Jax kissed the top of her head and sat up. “Damon just pulled up. Go on and soak in the tub so you can be ready for me later.” He winked at her and slapped her bottom.

She clicked her teeth together and shook her head. “Aren’t we being cocky? You think you hurt my lady-bits and I need time to recover to take you again?”

Truth was, she did. Even though she reveled in the ache Jax’s large shaft had left between her thighs, she knew she was going to have a hard time getting around today. She had a walk-way to shovel, and she was hungry.

Jax sniffed the air and gently urged her to open her legs. “I could smell the iron of your blood and in your arousal when you sat down on my cock like a crazy woman. Don’t make that face.”

At the mention of him being able to tell she was bleeding from his large freaking cock impaling her, Cass stiffened and put her hands on her cheeks to cool the flames of embarrassment. He wasn’t judging her but it still made her feel put on the spot.

“Cass, you don’t have to be embarrassed around me. You haven’t been with a man in a few years, and then you took me. All of me. I’m not a small man, so hell yes, I’m cocky about my cock.” He leaned down and kissed the inside of her thigh. “Take a few minutes to soothe yourself.”

He got up and grabbed his boxer-briefs and his pants, pulling them both on at the same time. “I’ll take a shower when Damon and I finish.”

“Finish what?”

“A few things we need to take care of this morning but don’t worry. We won’t be far.”

She watched him as he stood up from the bed, his thick arms flexing, that Adonis Belt that sat below his abs showing itself like it craved her attention. His shoulders were wide and well-defined, strong muscles glided beneath his creamy skin as he stretched.

Cass devoured every inch of his body with her gaze, and all the embarrassment that she’d felt was gone.

Jax was so light and Damon was so dark. Damon’s olive skin made him look like he ran butt-naked in the sun every day. And those unnerving hazel eyes were the cherry on the icing on the three-layer cake that was him. And they were hers.

“Keep looking at me like you want my dick and I’ll give it to you,” Jax said, pausing just as he pulled his shirt over his head.

Hell yes, and please. She wanted him so badly, but she knew her body craved that warm bath he’d suggested.

“Sorry. I’ll meet you downstairs after a quick bath.”

He pulled his shirt down the rest of the way and made his way back to her. Taking her chin, he lifted her face to his and kissed her nose. “Take your time.”