The phone rang, but when Millie reached for it, the table was in the wrong place and there was a large body draped across hers, holding her down.
She’d forgotten. This wasn’t her bed and that wasn’t Ric.
Matt raised his head, stretched across her and answered the phone. He frowned and then blushed a dark red. Silently, he handed the phone to Millie as she struggled to come fully awake.
Anton Cheval?
By the time she ended the call, Millie was blushing more furiously than Matt.
“How’d he know to find you here?”
She snorted and flopped back on the pillow. “Anton knows everything. Haven’t you figured that out?”
Matt shook his head. “I’ve never met him.”
“You will. By the way, he approves most heartily of what we’ve been up to.” Stretching, she sat up and rubbed her eyes. “I need a shower, but I think I’ll head back to my own cabin and take one there.” She leaned over and kissed him. “Come over in a bit and I’ll make you breakfast.”
“Isn’t Ulrich due home today?” Matt threw the covers back, exposing the fact he had more on his mind than bacon and eggs.
Millie had to bite back the giggles. He was beautiful, and any shyness she might have felt just a day ago over waking up in bed with a man who was not her mate seemed to have totally disappeared. Ric had been right, as usual. She leaned over and kissed the silky tip of Matt’s penis. “He is,” she said, licking her way around the crown and testing the narrow slit in the end with the tip of her tongue.
Matt closed his eyes and tilted his head back as she tasted him. “Don’t you think he’d mind finding me in his house, eating breakfast?”
She liked the fact his voice sounded strained. “Well, by the time he gets home, you’ll probably be having lunch. No, I doubt he’ll mind.” She raised her head, looked into Matt’s questioning eyes, and sighed. “Actually, he’s going to have more on his mind than whether or not there’s an extra man at the table. Anton called to tell me your friend Deacon and his girlfriend Daci are coming in a couple days. Daci wants to know how her father died. Ric was the last one to see him.”
“Why do you look so upset?”
She looked away, out the window at the tall trees beyond. “Because even Anton doesn’t know exactly how Milton Bosworth died.”
“And?”
“Ric killed him.”
“Matt? They’re here.” It was almost dark. Millie had been out on the porch, waiting impatiently for the past couple hours. Matt was inside, glued to a football game on TV, but he wandered out as the car pulled into the drive.
Beth was riding shotgun while Ric drove the rental. Nick crawled out of the back, looking like he wasn’t quite awake, but he grinned and waved at Matt as his buddy bounded down the steps to help with their bags.
Ric slipped into Millie’s embrace as if he’d been gone for weeks, but it was obvious he sensed a problem almost immediately.
“Millie?”
“We need to talk.”
Ric nodded and then, with his arm still around her waist, turned to the kids. “Go ahead and get a shower. Be back here in half an hour. The food’ll taste better if I can’t smell your rotten hides.”
“You too, old man.” Nick saluted and they grabbed their bags and headed down the trail to their cabin.
Millie raised one eyebrow and grinned at Ric. “Looks like the young are no longer intimidated by the old alpha.”
He laughed, threw his bag over his shoulder and followed Millie into the cabin. “That happens after you’ve shared one too many bodily fluids.”
“You and Nick?” Millie stopped him. She wanted to see his face when he answered. The idea of two men together had always turned her on. The image of Ric with one of their young guests…
But he was shaking his head. “No. Beth and Tala. They just about killed me last night. How’d things go with Matt?”
Millie giggled. “There are no words to describe…”
“But I imagine you’ll think of some.” Ric stepped through the open door and tossed his bag on the floor. “So what’s up? Why do we need to talk?”
Millie handed him a glass of good whiskey, neat, and shoved his bag to one side. “Anton called. There’s a young lady coming to visit. She wants to know how her father died.”
Ulrich nodded. “Bosworth’s daughter. Anton told me that’s who was spying on them. Turns out she’s Chanku.”
“She thinks you were only with her father when he died. She doesn’t know the truth.”
“That is the truth, Millie. I was with him. Of course, I also helped rush the process.”
“What are you going to tell Daciana? That you killed him?”
Ric wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “I’ll do what’s right, Millie m’love. I’ll tell her the truth. She’ll either hate me or she’ll understand. She’s Chanku, sweetheart. She’d learn the truth eventually, just as you did. It’s there in my memories, for any one of us who wants to see.”
“That was delicious, Millie.” Beth leaned back in her chair and patted her tummy. “I’ve never learned to cook, but I love homemade stuff.”
Nick grinned at her. “You don’t have to cook. All you need to do is shift, go find a nice rabbit and voilà! Dinner.”
Laughing, Beth leaned over and punched his shoulder. “I still want to learn, and I doubt the rabbits will be that easy to find when there’s six feet of snow on the ground.”
Millie shook her head and sighed. They’d laughed and argued all through dinner, teasing each other like little kids. “Behave, you two. I’ll teach Beth to cook any time she wants.”
Millie stood up, but Ric put a hand on her wrist and stopped her. “I think Nick and Matt would absolutely love to clear the table and do the dishes tonight, don’t you agree, boys?”
“What about Beth? Or you?” Sputtering with fake indignation, Nick stood up and grabbed a couple of plates. Matt did the same.
“I drove, and Beth was the star of the search team.” Ric snaked an arm around Millie’s waist and she settled on his knee. “Millie cooked. You two haven’t done a thing to earn your keep today.”
Matt slanted a knowing glance at Millie. She broke into giggles. “I’m not so sure I can say that about Matt.”
Ric covered his ears. “I so do not want details. Nada. Nichts. Non…how many ways do I need to say it?”
“Well, I do.” Beth glanced from Millie to Matt. “Although, to be honest, the real details I want are the ones from Nick, Mik, and AJ. Now that’s where I’d like to have been a fly on the wall.”
Millie scooted off of Ric’s lap and back into her own chair. “You and me both. The idea of three sexy men together…just watching them. Not being a part of it so much as sitting back and watching.”
Beth sighed. “I agree. I haven’t been Chanku all that long…I’m still so new to all of this, but it’s like my sexual options have opened up and expanded in a lot of directions I never even knew existed. And one thing I’ve learned is that there’s a lot more of the voyeur in me than I realized.”
Millie shot a glance at Ric and realized he was staring intently at her. When she tried to see what he was thinking, his mind was blocked. She grinned at him but directed her words to Beth. “Do you think we could talk the guys into it?”
Beth leaned forward, as if whispering a secret. “The three of them, all hot and naked, and the two of us in the bleachers?”
Millie nodded.
Ric turned around and glared at Matt, who was loading the dishwasher while Nick finished clearing the table and scraping the dishes. “Matthew? What have you done with my mate? I already figured out Beth wasn’t nearly as shy as I first thought, but this woman isn’t the Millie I remember.”
Matt sauntered over to the table. “I didn’t do anything she didn’t suggest first. I am, and always will be, respectful…And I always follow orders.”
“He did. He was,” Millie said, biting back a laugh. “Very respectful. Over and over again.”
“And again,” Matt said. He snapped the towel at Ric’s thigh and jumped out of the way.
Ric leaned over and held his head in his hands, muttering, “I don’t get no respect.”
Millie leaned close and patted him on top of the head while the kids laughed.
When the young ones all left a short time later to return to their cabin, Millie put the remnants of their dinner in the refrigerator and turned out the light.
“Why do I keep thinking of them as kids, Ric?”
He laughed. “Because they are?”
Millie shook her head. “Not really. Matt’s twenty-five, Nick’s twenty-four. Beth’s the youngest, but I think she said she’s twenty-one, or close to it. They’ve all lived on the streets, been exposed to more life than I’ll ever experience. They’re not as old as we are, but they’re definitely not kids.”
“From my perspective, sweetheart, they’re still babies.” Ric kissed the back of her neck as he walked past her. “Mere babies.”
“Well, Matt, for one, does not make love like a mere baby. He’s not built like one, either, if you catch my drift.”
Ric slipped his arms around Millie’s waist from behind and nuzzled her ear. “Oh, I get it well enough. Whatever you did with that boy made a world of difference in his self-confidence.”
She leaned back and kissed the line of his jaw. “Mine too, if you want the truth. Growing up with so many rules, so many negatives about sex, I had no idea how inhibited I was. Trying to help Matt lose some of his hang-ups got rid of a lot of mine as well.”
She turned in Ric’s embrace and looped her arms over his shoulders. “We had fun, Ric. We laughed and tried stuff I would have been too embarrassed to even suggest to you, and it was all fun.”
“Ah, Millie…Why would it ever embarrass you to do anything with me?”
“Because you matter so much, you fool! I love you, Ric. More than you can possibly imagine. I don’t want you to ever think I’m not worthy of your love, and somehow that all got tangled up in my head with sex and things we do together. I don’t really care what Matt thinks of me. Oh, I want him to like me—that’s no big deal—but I didn’t worry he’d think I was stupid for not knowing things, or that it was weird when I asked him to do things to me.”
Ric nuzzled the tender skin between her neck and shoulder. “Hmmmm…What kind of things?”
Millie laughed. “I’m not sayin’…but if you come with me, I just might show you.”
Ric looped an arm around her waist and guided her down the hall to their bedroom. “Good, because I’m so tired I’m ready to drop, and if I do fall over, I want it to be in a bed with you beside me.”
“There’s no place I’d rather be.” She hugged him close.
“Unless it’s watching me, Nick, and Matthew getting it on.” He stopped in the doorway to their bedroom and looked directly at her.
Millie didn’t even blush. She smiled up at him and grinned. “You’re right.”
“You really are serious, aren’t you?”
Ric was smiling that smile of his that meant his mind was spinning circles about something. Millie was certain she knew where those circles were leading.
“When are Daci and Deacon coming?”
“Day after tomorrow,” she said. She took his hand and led him toward their big bed. “Which leaves us tomorrow night.”
Ric wrapped his arms around her and tumbled her to the mattress. “Tomorrow night it is,” he said. “We’ll do our best not to disappoint either of you young ladies.”
Millie disentangled herself from his grasp and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. By the time she’d removed her clothes and brushed her teeth, Ric was already asleep. So much for his promises of hot and wild sex. She crawled in beside his big, warm body and leaned over to kiss him good night.
He didn’t even stir. She loved him so much it made her ache. Unexpected tears welled up in her eyes. “You’ve never once disappointed me, my love,” she whispered. “I don’t expect you ever will.”
The caged wolves were settled in their pens for the night. Millie and Ric had run hard and fast with the three young Chanku. They’d cornered an elk, an old bull with one broken antler, that still managed to take a dangerously close swipe at Nick.
He’d rolled out of the way of striking feet and jabbing antlers while Beth and Millie brought the beast down for a clean kill. They’d eaten well and run hard, and had a wonderful time teasing Nick about his near miss. Now, showered and dressed in loose, comfortable clothes, Ric and Millie walked down the path to Lisa Quinn’s old cabin where the three youngsters were living.
Millie hadn’t felt so mellow in ages. Her thoughts wandered back to those days before she’d known of her Chanku birthright. Before Tinker McClintock had come to the sanctuary and claimed Lisa as his mate.
Lisa had been Millie’s link to life as a wolf. She and her sister Tala and brother Baylor were now part of Millie’s new extended family, the family of Chanku. Lisa lived in San Francisco with her mate, Tinker. Tala was there as well with both her guys, Mik and AJ, and their brother Baylor was living in Maine, mated to Millie’s daughter Manda.
All of them happy, each with someone they loved. Just as Millie had finally found love. She squeezed Ric’s arm. “I hope Nick didn’t get upset with the teasing tonight. When he yipped and tumbled head over heels, I thought for sure he’d been gored. It was such a relief to see he was okay, but we were all a little tough on him.”
“It’s not the teasing that concerns me.” Ric paused beneath a large pine. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he’s challenged me. He did it during the search and a couple times since we’ve gotten back. Small things…an insult here, a snarl there. A definite lack of respect that’s gotten worse since we returned from South Dakota. Matt teases, but Nick challenges. There’s a difference to the way the two of them behave. It doesn’t fit, as he’s not an aggressive man by nature. I don’t know if it’s his idea, or if maybe Beth’s behind it. She’s a very assertive young woman.”
Millie shrugged. “She’s definitely an alpha, but I haven’t noticed her acting out of line around me.”
“You’re not a threat.”
“And you are?” Millie laughed. “To whom?”
Ric shook his head. “I’m not sure, but I’m not letting down my guard.”
Millie stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll protect you.”
He patted her hand. “I may hold you to that.”
Matt opened the door for them when Ulrich knocked. Millie glanced through the open door and burst into laughter. The entire floor of the small front room was one big bed.
They’d moved the furniture aside and placed a king-size mattress from one of the bedrooms right in the middle of the floor. All was in darkness, except for a snake-armed lamp perfectly focused on the middle of the mattress like a spotlight. Extra tables and chairs were stacked against one wall, but the long, low leather couch was now a front-row seat for the impromptu stage.
Celtic music flowed over them, coming from speakers hidden around the room. A chilled bottle of wine sat in an ice bucket on a low table in front of the couch, with five wineglasses already filled from another bottle standing in a line beside it.
“I love it.” Millie flopped down next to Beth and took the glass of wine the younger girl handed to her. “When Lisa Quinn lived here, she said she did the same thing one night when Tia, Luc, and Tinker were here. As I recall, it was Luc and Tinker putting on the show.”
“Now that’s going to be a hard act to follow.” Beth sighed dramatically. “Tinker and Luc…” She fanned her chest with one hand. “Oh, my. Wouldn’t I love those two to myself.” Then she took a swallow of wine and sat back to watch.
Ric stood off to one side and studied the women. Millie was such an open, loving spirit. There was no subterfuge in her at all—he honestly didn’t think her capable of lying or dissembling. Beth was still an unknown. He didn’t have her full measure, yet. He’d thought she was shy at first, but she’d opened up more each day as she got to know them.
What had really surprised him, though, was when she’d wrenched sexual control from him right at the height of her climax two nights before. He thought he’d had her pegged better, and hadn’t expected it. In fact, he thought she’d been a little afraid of him at one point, but he wasn’t really sure.
He didn’t like that…not being able to read a person. Usually he was an excellent judge of people, but Beth was one big question mark. Obviously, she liked being in control, but what was her motivation? So much of the time, she seemed tense and on guard, even here in this relaxed setting with her closest friends.
He’d have to watch her, but at least he’d warned Millie.
Nick seemed uneasy, which made Ric even more cautious. The younger man refused to meet Ric’s eyes. His focus was definitely on his mate, and he, like Beth, was far from relaxed. Matt wasn’t the least bit tense, though he kept glancing from Millie to Ric and back at Millie. Oddly, his thoughts were completely blocked.
The undercurrents in the room, especially between the two younger men, flowed fast and furious. Tensions were always high after a run and successful hunt, but generally it was all due to their highly charged libidos and an overabundance of testosterone. That was part of what made him uneasy. Ric could practically taste the tension in the air, but that wasn’t the only reason for his unusual sense of anxiety.
There was something else behind it, something he couldn’t identify because of the heavy sexual undertones. Trying to find the source of his foreboding was next to impossible, though, and he couldn’t blame all of it on the younger Chanku. He’d been hard since their return—even his shower hadn’t helped abate his arousal.
Which made him wonder exactly what he was waiting for. Maybe, once they got things going, everyone would settle down and he could quit worrying. He slowly began to unbutton his shirt. Nick and Matt immediately realized he’d taken the first step, and they undressed as well. When Matt turned, Ric noted the long red gashes on his shoulders and buttocks and had to look away to keep from laughing.
Unfortunately, he looked directly at Millie. He’d recognize Millie’s marks anywhere. Of course, he had Beth’s and Tala’s on his ass, but nothing like the scars of battle Matt was wearing. Grinning, he winked at Millie. She was difficult to see in the shadows, but he knew when she smiled at him and licked her lips. He felt his cock rise, aroused merely by knowing Millie watched him.
Fingers brushed his shoulder. When Ric turned, Matt stood behind him. Nick waited off to one side, watching. The music poured through Ric’s senses—piano, the high pitch of flutes and the lower tone of an oboe. Drums in the background kept pace with his pulse.
He signaled to Nick to join them. After a moment’s hesitation, Nick stepped into the circle of light. The glow played over his olive skin and accented his high cheekbones, the dark slash of his brows. Ric didn’t hesitate—he wrapped his fingers around Nick’s erect cock and squeezed. At the same time, he grabbed Matt’s shaft in his left hand.
While he stroked both young men with his hands, Ric took a moment to study Nick. He was a mix of races, most predominantly Middle Eastern and Native American. Shorter than Matt with a sinewy build, he possessed a wiry strength about him any man would be a fool to underestimate.
He was larger as a wolf. He’d make a dangerous adversary, in spite of his youth and inexperience.
Ric knew Nick had been on the streets for at least five or six years, long enough to learn survival in a tough environment. He and Beth had bonded from the first, but then Nick had been the first of the youngsters to shift, before any of them even knew what their Chanku birthright was.
He’d shifted and killed a gangbanger who’d assaulted Tala, acting immediately, without any thought toward his own safety, which obviously made points in his favor.
Matt moved closer to Ric and wrapped his arms around him from the back. He leaned close and kissed his neck, and Ric caught the thoughts in the young man’s mind—thoughts meant only for him.
I’m not sure what Nick’s up to. Watch him carefully. Beth’s on him to do something, but I don’t know what it is.
Well, it was nice to know his suspicions weren’t totally off the mark. Even nicer to know where Matt’s loyalties lay. Silently thanking him, Ric turned Nick loose and slowly went down on his knees in front of Matt. He studied the width and length of his huge erection with undisguised fascination.
Then he opened his thoughts to Matt and Nick, showing both young men what he was thinking. He stroked the silky surface of Matt’s shaft, and thought of what it had meant to Millie.
This beautiful cock had pleasured his wife. She’d taken Matt in her mouth, in her warm, wet pussy, even in her ass. For almost a full twenty-four hours, Millie had touched and tasted everything Matt had to share—his genitals, his mouth, his entire body had been her playground. She’d taken pleasure and given pleasure, and she’d learned and changed from the experience.
He sensed Matt’s appreciation of his praise, as well as Nick’s surprise that he would look so favorably on another male who had given his mate pleasure.
Obviously, there was much Nick needed to learn about the culture of the Chanku. Jealousy was not a part of their society, not among packmates. It appeared Matt had a better understanding of his own sexuality than Nick. Was that the basis of Matt’s warning, of Ric’s uneasiness?
Jealousy?
Ric cupped Matt’s balls in his palm and wrapped his lips around his glans. It had been a long time since he’d taken another man in his mouth, and he’d almost forgotten how much he loved the unique flavor, the texture, the sense of strength.
Even so, while he ran his tongue along the hard length, he couldn’t help but think of Nick and Beth, couldn’t help but wonder what was going on. The thoughts worked in the back of his mind, all the while he licked and sucked until Matt’s hips were dancing in a steady thrust and retreat to the beat of the music and the rhythm of his tongue.
A new cut, with bagpipes this time, came on and the rhythm changed. Ulrich backed away from Matt and turned his attention to Nick. First he looked up and made eye contact. Nick held his gaze for only a moment before looking away.
His behavior was more beta than alpha. Ulrich thought about Matt’s quiet confidence and Beth’s need for control. Had he totally misinterpreted both young males?
Interesting.
He sat back on his heels and studied Nick, taking stock of his slender build, the lean strength in his long arms and legs. Then he focused on the wiry coarseness of his pubic hair. Nick hadn’t been Chanku long enough for his body hair to soften.
Just as his body hadn’t had enough time to completely adjust, Nick’s mind still didn’t accept his changing reality. He didn’t fully understand he was as much wolf as human, didn’t really appreciate the unique combination of all the things that made him Chanku. Things like the power of the pack, the strength of his newly awakened libido, the respect due the pack’s alpha…all this would come with time.
And, with lessons.
Nick obviously wasn’t immune to Ric’s close scrutiny. Even though he kept his eyes averted, his cock had begun to stretch and grow. It filled with blood as his body reacted, whether to Ric’s closeness or the personal fantasies filling his mind.
Ric tried to read him, but Nick’s mental walls were high and tight. No matter. Ric cupped Nick’s sac in his palm and ran one finger behind his balls, tracing the sensitive skin of his perineum.
He totally ignored the erection growing before his eyes. Instead he pressed softly at the puckered ring of muscle between Nick’s cheeks, then retreated to once again cup his balls. Nick spread his legs wider. His eyes were closed, his breath coming faster, and Ric felt his mental shields relaxing along with the tightness of his ass.
Ric glanced at Matt. Lie down on your back with your knees bent.
Matt complied without question.
Ric cupped Nick’s right cheek and turned him, had him kneel over Matt so that his long cock hung directly over Matt’s mouth. Beth made a little humming sound deep in her throat. It was ripe with passion, the sound of a woman giving in to lust. The noise startled Ric. He’d been so intent on the two guys he’d totally forgotten their audience.
Carefully he adjusted both Nick and Matt, positioning them in a perfect sixty-nine. There was no hesitation. They had accepted his lead, his role as the pack’s alpha. Each of them immediately drew the other’s cock between his lips.
At Ric’s direction, they kept their hands away, working on one another with nothing more than lips and tongues and teeth. Nick used his hands to hold himself over Matt, but Matt’s arms stretched over his head, as if he imagined himself restrained.
Ric sat beside them for a few minutes, stroking and gently squeezing a set of testicles in each hand. He watched Nick and Matt’s faces, the way their cheeks sucked in and then expanded. Their eyes were closed, their concentration evident as they used their mouths to pleasure one another.
The Celtic music drifted in and out of Ric’s consciousness. The bagpipes were through now and a soft flute played, a sensual counterpoint to the visual of two young men sucking each other’s cocks, the physical texture and weight of solid testes in their wrinkled sacs, the way they felt resting in his palms.
Nick’s shields had come down almost completely. Ric sensed his elation, that he’d been given the top position as if that somehow meant he dominated Matt. With that came the relief that Beth would approve, confirming for Ric that Nick’s position within the pack was much more important to Beth than to him.
No wonder Ric had sensed a challenge from Nick. His mate was the one behind it, and what man among them wouldn’t do whatever he could to make his mate happy?
Unfortunately, there was more here at stake than Beth’s pleasure. Disturbing an established hierarchy wasn’t an act lightly taken, though the youngsters didn’t seem to realize the risk of their actions or desires. One more sign of immaturity that he’d need to put a stop to. Ric slowly moved around so that he knelt behind Nick, but he continued to stroke his ball sac and run his fingers along the crease between Nick’s cheeks.
Then, moving aside a few inches, out of the spotlight and into the shadows, he grabbed the lube and a condom, sheathed himself as inconspicuously as possible and coated himself with the lube. Then, once again, he took his position behind Nick.
He stroked Nick with both palms, reaching between his legs to cup his sack, trailing one thick finger up the crease between his cheeks, catching the rhythm of the music, the rhythm of Matt’s mouth, of Nick’s mouth. He opened his mind to the sense of everyone in the room, found the sensual images in Matt’s corresponding to the same visuals in Nick’s.
He found both women’s thoughts—Millie’s open and loving, charged with her growing arousal and curiosity—and Beth’s. More calculating, more focused on her mate and his actions, on Ric and what his intentions were. She didn’t realize he’d sheathed himself, had no idea, at this point, what he planned.
Which meant he needed to act now, before she could warn her mate. Nick was lost for the moment, entirely trapped in Matt’s touch and taste. Ric’s arousal grew as he eavesdropped on both men, on the flavors and textures of two young cocks, each massively aroused, on the mental games both Nick and Matt played to keep from coming.
Neither wanted to be the one who shot first, but working to bring off the other was raising the level of excitement for both of them.
A level that wasn’t lost on Ric.
His fingers gliding up and down the tight crease between Nick’s cheeks wasn’t helping, but he knew it felt so good that Nick wasn’t going to ask him to stop. He let his fingers pause at the puckered ring of his ass. Pressing gently at first, then with more pressure, he finally breached the tight opening.
Nick grunted, but he pushed back against Ric’s fingers. Lost in a haze of arousal, it was obvious he no longer paid attention to his mate. He reached instead for more sensation, more gratification. Beth was beginning to worry about Nick’s lost focus, concern leaching from her mind and touching Ric as well as her mate.
Matt seemed oblivious. He worked Nick with his hands and his mouth, as lost in giving pleasure as he was in receiving.
Ric inserted one finger inside Nick and slowly pumped in and out. Nick moved with the gentle intrusion, obviously enjoying the penetration. When Ulrich withdrew his finger, Nick sighed and adjusted his legs, obviously hoping for more. He was still fairly tight, his sphincter not quite relaxed—exactly the way Ric wanted.
This was not so much about pleasure as it was about power.
Aligning the broad head of his sheathed cock against the taut ring of muscle, Ric grasped Nick’s hips in both hands and slammed his hips forward, breaching Nick’s anus in one powerful, pain-giving thrust. Cursing, Nick jerked his mouth away from Matt’s cock and tried to pull away from Ric, but it was too late. Ric held on to his hips and drove into the younger man again, and then again.
“What the fuck are you doing, old man?” Nick whipped his head around and glared at Ric.
“Exactly what you asked for.” Staring him down, Ric found a rhythm he knew Nick wouldn’t be able to ignore. Matt was still sucking Nick’s cock, Ric’s thrusts had gentled and finally Nick groaned as sensation and pleasure obviously overwhelmed any sense of outrage.
Slowly, Ric pressed deeper until his balls rested against Nick’s. Nick took Matt’s erect cock back into his mouth and pressed his buttocks against Ric’s groin.
Beth’s silent anger exploded as a palpable force in the room. Ric sensed the precise moment when Nick shuttered his thoughts and effectively blocked his mate along with everyone else.
It appeared he’d decided to just go ahead and enjoy the experience, which was exactly what Ric had hoped for.
Matt’s fingers wrapped around Ric’s sac. Stroking and gently squeezing, his touch immediately dragged Ric’s thoughts away from Nick and Beth as Matt raised his level of arousal higher.
Allowing himself the luxury of enjoying the experience, Ric moved now with a sense of purpose, driving deep inside Nick and then sliding slowly out. Aware of hot inner walls and moist, clasping muscles, he was consumed by the intimacy of the act, the sense of communion he felt with both of the men. He cast his thoughts toward Millie and found her aroused but also curious. She didn’t truly grasp the undercurrents in the room—the meaning of Beth’s anger, Nick’s arousal, Ric’s sense of purpose.
Or Matt’s laughter. He, of all of them, appeared to know exactly what kind of power play was taking place. Totally separate from the game that Ric, Nick, and Beth seemed to find so important, he contented himself with enjoying the sensuality of two other men’s bodies completely in sync with his own.
Enjoyed, and shared. Ric suddenly realized he was caught in the current of Matt’s desire, caught in the humor of the situation, the failed power play Nick had entertained and Ric’s alpha male manner of defusing it. Even Beth’s grudging anger faded beneath the powerful tide of Matt’s growing arousal and free-spirited joy in the moment.
Shared by all of them, five hearts and souls consumed by the joined sensations of licking and sucking, of penetrating and being filled, of the burn of stretched muscles and the sleek slide of mouths over taut skin, of tastes and textures.
Ric let himself go. Caught in the dark pleasure as he took Nick closer to orgasm, he no longer fought his own. Sharing his own sensations, the clasp of muscles and slick heat around his cock, the power of thrusting hips and bursting lungs. Finally he shared the hot coil of desire pooling in his groin, exploding through his balls to his cock.
Ric groaned and gave up the fight. Thrusting hard and deep, his cock spasmed as he climaxed. He dug his fingers into Nick’s sides as his hips and cock jerked with each spurt of his seed. Nick cried out. Matt’s fingers tightened around Ric’s balls, squeezing him to the point of pain as he swallowed Nick’s release while giving up his own.
It seemed to go on forever, yet it lasted only seconds. Without intending to, they’d achieved mutual climax, three disparate minds finding a common thread of desire, shared and multiplied among all of them.
Even the women had joined them. Ric slowly raised his head from Nick’s back and looked at Millie and Beth. They lay back on the couch, eyes closed, lips parted as each of them drew air into gasping lungs.
Whatever Beth had wanted from Nick tonight hadn’t occurred. Maybe something even better, had. A new sense of community? A stronger pack? He didn’t know. Wouldn’t be able to tell for quite some time how things might progress from here on out.
Funny, how Beth was the one who could tell when someone was lying. Did that make her a better liar? Was she better able to dissemble, to evade the truth and hold her own feelings closer than the others?
Something to ponder. Later. When his heart wasn’t pounding, his chest wasn’t heaving with each breath…and the anticipation of taking his mate to bed wasn’t the uppermost thought in his mind.
Tomorrow loomed closer with each passing minute. Tomorrow when he would have to look a young woman in the eye and tell her exactly how and why he had killed her father.
It made Beth’s plots and plans and power grabs seem petty by comparison.