STORY EXCERPT

Tabitha could feel Ryken and Luken’s eyes on her as she boarded the plane. Neither had said much during the two-hour ride to the airport. She was aware they had questions. She just didn’t have any answers.

Or anything I’m willing to share just yet. I’m so confused.

Living with the twins at McCarthy Ranch offered an isolated location that was perfect during her transition into the werewolf community, and it was the perfect place to run and hunt. But that was also an issue.

Not long ago, she’d been bitten and everything in her world was turned upside down. She once had a lucrative job where she earned a good income and provided a nice living for herself. She’d been independent and had friends that were human. Plus, she had a chance at a normal life. Things were drastically different now. Not that she hated being a werewolf or no longer loved Ryken and Luken. That wasn’t it, at all. She did love them, but lately those feelings were being drowned out by anxiety, and even regret.

Since Christmas, Tabitha felt as if she were suffocating, watching everyone around her get married, pregnant, sometimes more than once, and all the while she stayed just a mate. In the beginning, she was content, but slowly she grew to want more—marriage, children, and a career. She craved a little of what she’d once had, but her mates kept her close, making her more of a homemaker and a sex kitten. They made love so often she was shocked that she hadn’t gotten pregnant. Things had become all about them and it was tearing her apart that neither could see how unhappy she had become. She feared that things with her mates would never change, and the tumbling spiral of despair would only grow.

What if this is all I can expect in our relationship?

The death of her aunt, as sad as it was, couldn’t have come at a better time. She needed an escape, even for a short while. A trip back to her roots may be the one thing that could give her clarity and heal her breaking heart.

The few-hour plane ride ended faster than she’d expected as she’d been caught up in her thoughts. She hailed a cab and made her way to the hotel where she’d made reservations. Then she changed her clothes and headed to the attorney’s office that had called her with the news of her aunt’s death.

Tabitha waited in the lobby of Joseph Warner’s office, the attorney she was scheduled to visit with. A door opened and out stepped a man that forced Tabitha’s tongue to roll from her mouth. His eyes were an intense blue, his hair midnight black with slight brushes of gray, and his dazzling white smile rendered her breathless. She quickly recovered as he called out her name. “Ms. Burns?” Hearing her name forced her legs to lock into an upright position.

“Hi. Hello. Hi.” She cleared her throat, regaining her composure. “I’m Tabitha Burns.”

His smile broadened. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Burns. I’m sorry about your aunt June.”

“Thank you,” she muttered.

“Please come in,” he said, sweeping his hand to the side to indicate that he wanted her to come into his office.

She sat down on the black leather chair across from his desk.

“Can I get you a water?”

“No. I’m fine, thank you.”

He jumped into business, opening a file and pulling out her aunt’s will. “As you probably know, you are the last remaining relative your aunt had, and she left you everything.”

Tabitha had no idea what that meant since she barely knew the woman. She wasn’t sure why her aunt had been so distant. She just had.

“She gives no specific instructions on the estate. She only stated that it now belongs to you in her death.” He flipped a page. “She is leaving you with a substantial financial inheritance. Through her investments and insurance plans you will receive 3.5 million dollars.”

He continued to talk, but Tabitha heard nothing. She was stunned. A woman she’d barely known had left her a fortune. She didn’t know if she should smile, shout, or refuse to accept it. It didn’t seem right.

“Wait,” Tabitha finally managed to say. “I’m a little… I could really use that water now.”

Joseph nodded. “Sure.”

He pressed the button on his phone and asked his assistant to bring in a bottle of water. The water was in Tabitha’s hands in a few moments, and she quickly guzzled a few sips.

“Are you all right, Ms. Burns?”

Tabitha frowned. “Not really.”

How could she be? She was unsure of anything lately. She felt constricted at McCarthy Ranch. Loved her mates, but hated feeling that her life wasn’t her own, that her choices were made for her, and that she had no budding future. She was the last of her bloodline alive. She was now financially independent, and apparently now she didn’t need anyone to take care of her anymore.

Somebody stop me. I want off this ride.

She considered pinching herself to make sure she wasn’t experiencing some kind of odd dream.

Joseph pulled out an envelope from the file and stood. “I know this is difficult. I’ve been your aunt’s attorney for over fifteen years. For a woman who had the money she had, she lived a solitary life. But there was one thing she regretted in the end and that was not getting to know you.” He stepped around his desk and handed Tabitha the letter. “Before she died, she wrote this for you. I hope it gives you answers and closure.”

Tabitha took the letter and Joseph left the room. She inhaled a deep breath of air and opened it. Her eyes scanned over the letter, spotting the date as the day before her aunt’s death. A chill moved through her body as she began to read.

ADULT EXCERPT

Tabitha opened the door to her hotel room and instantly inhaled her mate’s scents. She switched on the light and slammed the door at her back. “Did Brie send you here?” she barked, feeling like she was being stalked or babysat.

Why couldn’t they just give me space?

Neither of them answered. They only eyed her hard from the chairs beside the desk table at the far end of the room.

“I knew it,” she shouted at them. “You didn’t come for me because you wanted to. You came because she told you to.”

“That’s not true,” Ryken replied, standing. “I was ready to drag your ass back home this morning, but he said you needed space.” He pointed a determined finger toward Luken as he too rose to his full height. “I didn’t want you to go in the first place.”

“I was only doing what you asked of us,” Luken added, glaring at his brother before softening his gaze toward Tabitha.

Her throat constricted as her world began to spiral. She couldn’t see through the fog of her emotions. They were all too scattered, too hard to make sense of. “I can’t do this right now. You should leave.”

“The hell we will,” countered Ryken. “You are our mate. You belong to us.”

Belong to them? They haven’t even asked me to marry them. What a joke. “As I recall, I don’t belong to anyone. I’m my own person. I have my own dreams. My own desires,” she blurted out, anger rippling through her blood.

Luken took several strides toward her. “I thought you desired us.”

She shook her head and took a step back as he drew closer. Before she knew what was happening Ryken was also closing in on her. Her pulse thundered at her temples and her wolf was suddenly very aware of them. “I never said I didn’t desire you, but I desire other things as well. Things neither of you have cared to discover.”

“Then tell us,” Luken told her, lowering his voice.

She shook her head again, closing her eyes. “I shouldn’t have to tell you. You should both know what I want because you should want it too.”

Ryken chuckled. “Brie is the mind reader, darlin’. Not us. Tell us what’s going on. Do you not want a life with us anymore?”

She wanted to laugh. A life with them had been all she’d ever wanted. They were the ones who were launching all the mixed singles.

Ryken brushed his fingers over the skin of her bare arm and she shivered. “I never said I didn’t.” Her eyes watered as she felt the power of their touch overwhelm her. Making love with them had never been the issue. “I just need time to figure things out.”

“What’s to figure out” Ryken asked, closing the distance between them completely, pulling her against his chest. “You still want us. I can smell just how much. What else is there to figure out?”

The sight of his hypnotic blue eyes as she stared up at him was her undoing. She pressed to her toes and kissed him, wrapping her arms around him as the desire for her lovers erupted in her mind. God, she missed them. Her wolf had gone primal, coaxing her to receive what only they could offer her.

“This changes nothing,” she muttered as he pressed savage kisses along her jaw and neck. “I still have so much to think about.”

He opened her pants, dipped his finger inside the hem of her panties, and sank a digit into her wetness. She gasped. “The only thing you should be thinking about is how well Luken and I are about to fuck you.”

“I’m serious,” she said on a breath, wrapping her fingers around his wrist to stop him from sinking them back inside her. “I still need to figure things out.”

Shirtless, Luken placed his shoulder against the door that Ryken had her plastered up against. His devilish smile was saying more than words could. He opened the button of her blouse to free the top portion of her breasts and swiped his fingers inside her bra to free the soft mounds.

Licking his lips, he asked, “What’s to figure out? We want you more than you may realize, and we want you right now.”

He lowered his mouth to suckle her nipple and again Ryken’s fingers plunged inside her. She weaved her fingers through Ryken’s hair as he teased the pad of his thumb over her clit. She arched her neck, bumping the door with her head, as primal desires stripped her of all the reasons to fight the burning lust.

The demands of her wolf, their wolves, were all she could hear, feel. The need for each other clawed its way into her mind and robbed her of breath. Their hands were all over her, tearing at her clothing as well as their own, until they were naked, skin to skin.

Ryken dropped to his knees and lifted her up to rest her legs over his shoulders. He parted the damp folds of her pussy and began to lick and suck at her clit. She cried out, anchoring herself to him by fisting his long hair in her hands. Her gaze was quick to devour Luken who had wandered to the bed, lain on his back, and slowly stroked his hard cock.

“Oh God,” she muttered, her nipples beading as the need for them intensified.

Just then, her body was engulfed in flames as Ryken pushed her over the edge. Her release was fierce, but only heightened her need for more. He lowered her feet to the floor and led her toward the bed. She pulled her hand from Ryken’s and climbed over the top of Luken, sinking onto his awaiting cock.