STORY EXCERPT

Elain awoke later that afternoon, disoriented and starving.

She forced herself to lie in bed and wait until she gathered her thoughts and her wits.

Bolivia. Ortega. Rodolfo. Yeah, got it.

She slowly sat up, a brief wave of nausea sweeping through her before ravenous hunger took over again.

Her stomach growled.

She rested a hand on her abdomen. “Yeah, chill out. Give me a minute.”

Morning sickness was apparently part of her immediate future. She’d had a couple of bouts a week or so ago, but had blamed them on bad Chinese takeout and Brodey experimenting with cooking Thai food.

Maybe this wasn’t the best idea.

Just forty-eight hours earlier, she’d been traipsing through the Maine woods and doing a little innocent grave-robbing with the Devil himself.

And now…

Now I’m in fricking Bolivia.

She stood and headed to the bathroom, took care of business, and then pulled some clothes on.

Outside her door, the man stationed there nodded to her. “Ma’am.” His English sounded perfect and with very little accent.

“Show me to the kitchen, please.”

“Certainly. Please, follow me.” He led her downstairs and through the immense home into a large kitchen. She slid into the chair at one end of the large, informal table as a woman hurried into the kitchen from another door at the other end of the kitchen.

“Mrs. Lyall, welcome,” the woman said. “I’m Rosa, Señor Montalvo’s chef. What may I fix for you today?”

“May I suggest the crepes?” Lacey said from the doorway Elain had just entered through.

Elain turned and found her friend smiling. “They’re good?”

“They’re excellent.”

Elain nodded. “Those, please.”

Rosa broadly smiled. “Right away.”

“And some peppermint tea,” Lacey said. “It’ll help settle your stomach.”

“Sure.”

“I’ll get the tea for her,” Lacey told Rosa. After preparing it and setting it in front of Elain, along with a spoon and a bowl of sugar, she sat in the chair on Elain’s right. “Sleep well?”

Elain dumped a couple of spoonfuls of sugar into the tea and stirred. “Yep.” She blew across the surface of the teacup and carefully took a sip.

Almost instantly, between the sinus-clearing peppermint aroma and the taste, Elain’s slightly querulous stomach settled.

“Upset with me?”

Elain closed her eyes. “No,” she softly said.

She felt Lacey’s hand cover hers. “I’m sorry, dear. You know it had to be this way.”

Elain nodded without opening her eyes. “Yep.”

“So why are you here?”

She still wouldn’t open her eyes. Frankly, she was hoping she’d open them and find herself either at home in Florida, or in Lacey’s house in Maine.

Either one worked for her.

If she opened her eyes, it meant she really was in fricking Bolivia. “I need some questions answered.”

“From me?”

“Nope.”

Lacey sighed. Elain finally opened her eyes and stared at the Seer.

“Do you want to know the sex of your baby?” Lacey asked.

“First of all, is it healthy?”

“I believe so. I’m no substitute for Dr. Alberto.”

“Okay.” She thought about it. “It’s a girl, isn’t it?”

Lacey smiled as she nodded.

“Okay,” Elain said.

“Did you see that?”

“I had an instinct. I think I already knew I was pregnant, I just didn’t want to admit it and I was too busy with everything else to think like that. Plus, I was on the pill. I even sort of know when it happened. I’ve had this odd feeling ever since that night.”

“That’s not uncommon,” Lacey said. “I’m guessing you haven’t told your guys yet?”

“I’m here in fricking Bolivia,” Elain said. “Alone. What do you think?”

“I think you’re going to have three very eager, attentive shadows for the next several months.”

“No shit.” She took another sip of her tea.

Someone must have told Ortega that Elain was up and about, because he entered the kitchen.

“Good afternoon, Elain. I trust you slept well?” He leaned in and hugged her.

“Yes, thank you.”

He pulled out the chair to her left and took a seat.

A Seer, a retired Seer, and a jaguar walk into a kitchen…

Elain adopted a snooty tone. “The reason I’ve assembled you all here together is because I figured out the murderer’s identity—”

Lacey immediately picked up the convoluted thread of her thought. “Was it Mr. Marble in the garden with the hoe?”

Elain changed voices again, this time channeling Groucho Marx. “That was no hoe. That was my wife.”

Lacey and Elain both laughed while poor Ortega stared at them in utter confusion.

ADULT EXCERPT

The three of them surrounded her, their arms around each other and her, while from them washed peace and contentment and love and joy so deep and true she thought it might break her heart from the sheer strength of it.

At that moment she wanted them, but she wanted a hot shower even more. They were fine with that, too, quickly stripping themselves and her. Moments later, the four of them were all standing under the hot water in their huge shower.

Three pairs of hands gently washed her, three sets of lips kissed her all over. They caressed her tummy, their hands lingering there especially, pressing their cheeks to her flesh as if to listen for a heartbeat even their sensitive ears couldn’t hear yet.

They didn’t ask what she’d been doing. They didn’t ask how long she’d known.

Sensing how emotionally fragile she was at that moment, they didn’t speak except to murmur how much they loved her.

Cradled against Cail at one point, she poked Brodey in the top of the head when he once more knelt before her, his lips pressed against her navel. “You edicted me not to come while I was gone, you jerk.”

He chuckled. “I take it back. And, may I remind you, you had the option to refuse.”

“If it’s any consolation,” Cail softly said in her ear, “I didn’t come. I can’t speak for these two, but I waited.”

“Me, too,” Ain said as he laced his fingers through hers. He brought her hand to his lips and feathered them across her knuckles. “I didn’t want to do it without you.”

“Okay, fine,” Brodey mumbled. “I didn’t, either. Frankly, I’d planned to toss you over my shoulder, carry you into the bedroom, and fuck your brains out as soon as you got here.” He laughed, kissing her tummy again. “You sort of derailed my train of thought.”

All three of them were hard, but none of the made any attempts to get sexy with her yet. She felt them holding back, wanting her to set the pace, tentative now that she wasn’t just their mate, but the mother-to-be of their child.

Knowing she needed to convince them now that she didn’t turn into Dresden china just because she was pregnant, she took charge. Lacing the fingers of her other hand through Brodey’s wet hair, she grabbed a handful of hair and pushed his head down a little lower, in line with her clit. “Then why don’t you make up for the edict, starting right now.”

He needed no further coaxing. Leaning in, he swiped his tongue up her clit as she threw her head back against Cail’s shoulder.

“Yeah, like that,” she encouraged. She pulled Ain in close, placing his hand on her left breast. “And like that.”

That was the only cue he needed. Cail’s lips captured hers as Ain nibbled down the side of her throat. He cupped her breasts with his hands, gently kneading them, playing with her nipples and making her moan even more.

“That’s it,” she silently sent to them, encouraging them through their mate-bond. “I want it all.”

With Cail’s arms securely wrapped around her, refusing to let her fall, she immediately succumbed to the first orgasm pulled from her by Brodey’s talented mouth frantically working on her clit. He reached between her legs and parted her labia, two fingers slowly sliding into her pussy as he quickly worked her toward another orgasm.

Trembling in Cail’s arms, she let their love shove every other thought out of her mind. She didn’t want anything in there except their hunky hearts and minds loving her. She started to let go of Brodey’s hair, but then he let out a disappointed whimper that turned into a pleased growl when she grabbed hold of his head again.

She thrust her hips against his face in time with his hands.

“Yeesss,” she thought, glad she didn’t have to stop kissing Cail to say it. “Again. Please.”

Even mentally, Brodey’s tone sounded growly. “Oh, you’re gonna get again, baby. And again, and again, all friggin’ night long.”

Ain bent down to take her left nipple into his mouth, wet, hot heat sucking on it and sending more bolts of need straight to her clit.

“All night long,” Ain mentally added. “As much as you want, anytime you want.”

“Going to make sure you don’t want to leave us for that long again,” Cail chimed in. His tongue swept across hers, fucking her mouth, giving her a preview of what he was going to do with his cock in just a few minutes.

When Brodey turned his hand slightly and hooked his two fingers that were inside her cunt just right, he found her G-spot.

Her orgasm exploded, Cail still swallowing every cry she let out and begging for more of them.

Brodey didn’t relent, his pleased growl rumbling through her body as he worked her clit with his lips and tongue, drawing it out with that sweet, delicious pressure in the perfect spot inside her. Cail’s arms tightened around her, holding her up when her legs started trembling.

“Take it, baby,” Brodey growled. “Take every last bit of it and more, mate. You know you want to.”

She did. Whether it was hormones or horniness, she wanted to fuck not just their brains out, but her own as well.

Brodey sucked her clit between his lips, triggering an even stronger explosion inside her. Inside her, his fingers kept massaging that perfect spot, not stopping, keeping her riding along that fine, silver wire of passion that she didn’t want to stop and wasn’t sure she could survive much more of.

Ain straightened, gently gripping her chin in his hand. “Look at me,” he said, his voice thick with need.

Cail released her lips so she could tip her head forward enough to see Ain’s grey eyes. Passion had turned them dark, almost the blue of deep ocean depths. “You’re our mate and our wife and we love you. But if I don’t get my cock inside you right now, I’m going to explode.”

Brodey gently nibbled her clit and she cried out again.

Ain smiled. “Move, Brodey.”

He growled a little, but got out of the way.

Ain stepped in front of her, rubbing his cock up and down her clit, between her folds before lining it up with her cunt and thrusting home. He grabbed her behind the thighs and lifted her, her legs automatically wrapping around his waist. He dug his fingers into her ass and turned her, pressing her back against the shower wall.

A long, low, deep rumbling growl rolled through his entire body as he kissed her, fucking her with cock and tongue while she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on for the ride.

It was as if his inner Alpha struggled to be free, speaking to her inner Alpha, calling it out.

He fucked her harder, faster, hips slamming into her as his cock deeply plowed her pussy.