STORY EXCERPT

Shane looked down at the small bundle of dirty fur in Brayden’s lap and wanted to shift and hunt down whoever had hurt the poor little wolf. His fingers ached as his claws punched through his skin. He heard the splash of his blood landing on the polished wood floor as it dripped freely from his fingertips.

“What the fuck did they do to her?” Shane hardly recognized the voice as his own. It was harsh and deep as he pushed it past a constriction that had formed in his throat. He felt a foreign pain deep in his chest. So I have a fucking heart after all. Who knew?

“Of course. My apologies,” the female vampire said. “We can catch up later, if Kaitlyn is agreeable to this.” She smiled at her daughter and turned to look down at the injured wolf, Brayden’s mate.

Aiden spoke directly into Shane’s mind. “Your mate, too, young wolf. Your heart led you back here.” 

Shane didn’t want anyone in his mind. “I may kill you. Just to shut you the fuck up, vampire.”

“But you know that would hurt Kaitlyn, and you like her.”

“Not that much.” Shane could see, from the small smirk on the vampire’s face, that he knew the threat to be an empty one. The rest of the pride believed him and Josh to be completely feral and without emotion. Aiden saw the truth—they were just very angry with the world.

“Two or three vampires entered the cages to take blood from them each day, sometimes more often. They were beaten into submission each time they fought them.” The vampire looked down at Brayden’s mate, her expression haunted.

“Beaten and drained. What else, Isabelle?” Brayden said softly. Shane wanted to reach out and cover her mouth to stop more words coming out. He’d heard enough. He had enough horrors of his own stuck in his head without adding more. He didn’t think he could live with any more.

“Are you aware of the effects the hybrid blood has on vampires?” Isabelle asked. She looked at Brayden, then up at Josh, and finally to Shane.

Don’t say it. Don’t say anything more. Shane didn’t know if he was saying the words to himself or to the vampire. He just knew he couldn’t hear anymore. He was also incapable of leaving. He’d be tortured more if he didn’t know everything they’d done to this woman. My woman.

“Not really,” Brayden said. “Only that it’s addictive and gives them a high.”

“Yes, I imagine it is like a drug-induced high,” Isabelle said. “But from the conversations amongst the vampires I gleaned that along with the euphoria it also acts like the vampire equivalent of Viagra. When Selwyn Graves was not at the camp, the other vampires would feed directly from the hybrids and sate their resultant sexual urges on them. No matter how unwilling the hybrids were.”

Shane never battled his wolf when he was enraged. He and Josh were always very close to their wolves and could meld with them effortlessly into a half-shift born of that intense rage. Their wolves were able to share in the rage of the man when they merged like this.

Isabelle took a step back, even though she was already a good ten feet away from Shane and his brother. He knew how frightening they looked like this. He liked it. It made people run away. Then he didn’t have to talk to them.

“She’ll need all of us to help her recover from this ordeal,” Brayden said. 

He stood and carefully handed the unconscious wolf to Shane. Meg actually gasped as Shane took the tiny wolf in his fur-covered arms. His claws had fully emerged from the ends of his furred fingers.

“Oh shit, who pissed of the Brothers Grimm?” Brody said. 

Shane and Josh both growled at the demon as he appeared directly in front of them. He was holding the hand of a very pale woman. Shane bared his extended canines in his elongated face. He would have told the little guy not to worry, that their anger was not directed at anyone here, but he was incapable of speech in this form. Plus, he didn’t really care to relieve the demon’s anxiety. He didn’t give a flying fuck who he scared.

The wolf in his arms stirred and whimpered. The sound was filled with fear and pain. In an instant he shifted back to fully human and stroked his hand over her coat. The pain in his chest returned with a burning urgency. “The doctor is here now, tiny wolf.”

“Jesus,” the new doctor said. “That is one strange way to travel. I think I’m going to puke.”

Brody vanished, only to reappear an instant later with a bucket. “You get used to it,” he said, holding the doctor’s long brown hair out of the way while she threw up noisily into the bucket.

“Brody, do you need help collecting her luggage, her equipment, her car?” Elliot said. He came to stand beside the demon and kissed the top of his head hesitantly. “I’m sorry for embarrassing you earlier. I was a dick.”

“Yes, but you’re my dick.” Brody smiled up at his mate, and Elliot blushed scarlet.

“This is a mate thing, isn’t it?” Josh said. He had a very sour expression as he slowly shook his head and cursed under his breath. 

Shane shared his brother’s disgust. Mates were nauseating with each other. Then he remembered the tender words he’d spoken to the wolf in his arms only a few seconds ago.

“Take her.” Shane handed the wolf carefully to Josh and wiped his hands down his jeans. He knew it was childish, but he didn’t want to have these feelings for her, and her scent was driving him crazy.

ADULT EXCERPT

Abbie let Shane carry her to the shower, and all her men surrounded her as they washed her hair and body. She felt so scared. What would she do if two of her mates died trying to protect her.

“We’ll all die if you do, Abbie,” Josh said. “I can feel your fear. You know that if they take you from us we’ll all die. We have to end this threat, or we’ll never have a life together. This is simply what must be done.”

“We want a life now, Abbie,” Shane said. “And we will have it, all four of us.”

She tried hard to bury her fear. Her hard, muscled warriors with their hearts of glass surrounded her, kissing her neck, touching her breasts, and igniting her desire for them. They were steel on the outside. Warriors sculpted from the years of running wild. Their souls were newly bonded to hers, and she could feel the threads holding them together growing stronger with each touch, each caress.

“I’m going to do a sweep of the property before we go to sleep,” Brayden said.

Brayden stepped from the shower stall, and Abbie felt the loss of him immediately. What will it be like in a few hours when Josh and Shane are gone, gone to Canada to fight, gone to face death?

Her need grew desperate as Josh lifted her and kissed her with an equal desperation. Their tongues probed, and their teeth clashed. Abbie wrapped her arms and legs around her huge Josh and pulled herself closer still. His erection was hot and hard against her stomach. He growled as she moved and rubbed against it teasingly. He moved his hands to cup her ass, holding her still and grazing her pussy softly with his fingertips.

Shane pressed himself to her back, his erection pressing between the cheeks of her ass. The water was hot as it streamed over them and lubricated her as she moved between her mate’s cocks.

“Can we love you together, Abbie,” Shane said, his breath exciting the sensitive skin of her neck. He nibbled and sucked, making her moan and squirm. “If you’re not ready we can come like this. Just keep moving like that and I’m going to cover your back with my cum.”

“God, the things you say, Shane,” Abbie said. Her voice was low and husky as her wolf demanded her mates. “I need you now. I need you inside me so badly.”

Josh released one hand from her ass and guided his cock to the entrance of her pussy. “You’re so sexy, angel.” 

He held her ass and thrust his cock deeply inside her. She tried to move, to rock against him, to slide him deeper, but he held her still. 

“Wait for Shane. If you move now, I’ll come. You feel so fucking good.”

Shane reached for the body wash. “I saw how you liked it when Brayden touched you here.” 

She felt Shane’s fingers massaging the cold liquid into her anus with his finger. She gasped as the muscle burned and stretched, but he continued to slowly stroke his finger in and out.

Josh started to thrust inside her and he felt so good that she sighed and relaxed, the burn in her ass turning to a thrill of pleasure. Josh kissed her as he started to thrust deeper and her whole body hummed.

“Here I come, sweetheart,” Shane said. Abbie was lost, lost to sensation. The hard muscles of her mates pressed against her skin, their hard cocks pressed deeply inside her. She was stretched so tight, the glide of their cocks filling her and pleasuring her like nothing before ever had. They made love to her together, each filling her in turn. She was connected to them, surrounded by them, and she had never felt anything so wonderful.

Josh withdrew from their kiss and lowered his head to his mark on her neck. “Come for us, Abbie.”