Chapter Nine
Aimee had felt quite pleased with herself for having the foresight to stop on the way up to purchase a sturdy battery-operated lantern and bottled water. Now, as every pebble poked at her feet through her low-heeled pumps while she walked through the cave tunnel, she cursed herself for lacking the brains to change into decent footwear as well. Maybe one of these days she’d get these trips to the mountains right. Assuming there would ever be one again.
She was already standing in the vacant cave room when she realized she hadn’t really expected either of the men to be there. Dillon hadn’t bothered to chain himself up during the previous night’s full moon, and tonight’s moon would be the weakest of the three. Besides, it wasn’t even nightfall yet. Nevertheless, she wondered whether he might have stashed the ring in the cave. She used the lantern and a flashlight from her car to search the dirt floor for it.
“Damn it,” she said when she came up empty handed. She set the lantern and flashlight down near the pile of chains against the far wall. A thought hit, and she carefully uncoiled the pile to check underneath. Nothing.
She dropped the chains with a rattle but held onto Dillon’s heavy metal collar while she sat down on the cave floor. She turned the collar over in her hands, trying to picture what it was like to be restrained that way. How did he feel, chained up all alone while waiting for Kyle and for the full moon to rise and trigger the curse?
Sitting the flashlight in her lap, she opened the hinge on the collar and slid it around her neck without clicking the lock in place. She hadn’t seen a key, so tethering herself to the wall didn’t seem like the greatest idea. The collar was big and hung over her collarbone colder and heavier than she expected. Still, she couldn’t pretend she didn’t feel the tiny trickle of pleasure at the sense of being so naughty and wanton. Chained like an animal, to restrain the wild thing she became whenever the two men who taught her the ways of lust put their hands on her.
“You know, I had that same idea myself.”
She jerked her head up to see Dillon standing just inside the tunnel, staring at her with an amused expression. A western-yoked tan shirt had been paired with today’s jeans, and his hat was in his hand. “What idea?” she asked.
He walked toward her, his boot steps echoing in the cave. “To chain you up right there so you couldn’t run away from me again.”
She shrugged and ran a finger along the rugged chain. “Instead, you decided to run away yourself. I suppose I deserved it.”
He stopped and squatted down in front of her. “I didn’t run away.”
Her eyes refused to meet his. “When I woke up this morning, you were gone.” She was surprised and a little annoyed at how small and girlish her voice sounded.
A warm finger slid under her chin and lifted her face to his. “I didn’t run away.” He said each word slower this time. “We left in the middle of the night. Kyle had to get back before the pack got suspicious.”
“You could have said something.”
A pang of guilt crossed his features. “Kyle wouldn’t let me wake you to say good-bye.”
Her heart skipped in frustration. “Why not?”
“He said we shouldn’t play with your emotions, what with you not wantin’ us and all. Said we needed to give you time and space to think on things, and then you’d be back.” His eyes searched hers. “I didn’t agree, but here I find you a few hours later. Guess he was right.”
“Where is Kyle? With the other pack?”
He nodded. “We split up at the foot of the mountain. Haven’t seen him since.”
“Are you expecting him later since it’s still a full moon?”
“He wasn’t plannin’ to come here tonight. He’s tryin’ to lie low with the pack since he’s been takin’ off so much lately.” Dillon arched a brow. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were more interested in seein’ Kyle than you are me.”
She offered him a smile. “I confess that I came up here hoping to see you both. That doesn’t bother you, does it?”
He reached out and fingered her collar. “No. It’s expected.”
“Expected?” She laughed. “Why, because you’re both so handsome and charming, even though one of you is intimidating as hell and the other annoyingly devious?”
His grin in return quickened her pulse. “Because the mate of a werewolf will be naturally attracted to the rest of his pack.”
Her smile faded. “But I’m not your mate. Not officially.”
His fingers slid from the collar along her shoulder, sending chills down her arm. “You’ll still feel the draw. But if you were to take Kyle’s mark as our mate, the need you feel for us already would grow much more intense.” His eyes threatened to consume her. “Much more difficult to resist.”
She wondered how her desire for them could possibly get any harder to resist while his words and touch wove a spell around her. “Kyle’s mark? You told me in the bar that you wanted to mark me.”
Gold flared in his eyes in perfect tune to the heat spreading low in her pelvis. “Oh, I aim to mark you in ways that’ll drive you crazy, darlin’.” His eyes flickered, then dimmed to their normal bluish color. “Male weres have an urge to mark their mates, and we do, at times. But the only way for you to be officially recognized as a bond mate is for the alpha to make the mark while your mate is inside you.”
Prickles shot along her skin at the thought. “So in effect it’s like giving their blessing?”
“More than that. The alpha’s mark warns off other males and claims you for the pack, bonding you to all the weres in it—and them to you.”
“‘All’ meaning just you and Kyle, right?” She frowned. “I wouldn’t be bonded to your old pack or to his current one?”
He shook his head. “You’d be drawn only to those under Kyle’s control. He is alpha only to me.”
“I see,” she said, wishing she truly did. “But would Kyle’s bite make me a wolf?”
“Not the way we intend to do it. Once you’re claimed, a mark by pack mates durin’ sex won’t change you. Before you’re claimed, however, any bite would infect you—even mine. That’s why I’ve had to hold off on some of my urges.”
She glanced at him. “That’s how you both became wolves?”
He nodded. “Six years ago for me. Longer for Kyle. Solomon turned him to save his life after a mountain lion attacked him in the woods.”
“Is that how he got the scar?”
“No. He got thrown by a horse the year before. Landed face first on a barbed wire fence. He doesn’t like to talk about it much, as you’ve probably figured. Apparently he got quite the cold shoulder from the ladies after that.”
She clutched at her chest. “Jesus. And you? Was Blaise trying to save you from something?”
Dillon snorted. “Hardly. He wasn’t tryin’ to turn me. He wanted to kill me.”
Her eyes widened. “Why?”
“I was workin’ a ranch down the mountain and tried to chase off his pack when they came sniffin’ around the cattle. He attacked me and left me for dead. When I came to, I was alone out by the perimeter fence. I began the first shift right away because of the full moon. Not a good night, all around. Instinct led me straight to Blaise, and he had a fang hold on me ever since until Kade Winchester challenged and killed him.”
Her heart pounded as images flashed through her mind. “And Kyle? What happened to him?”
He sighed. “Kyle, Kyle, Kyle. You have quite the one-track mind.”
“And you have quite the devious one.” She cocked her head. “Speaking of which, you stole something of mine, I believe.”
“Did I?” He laid a finger on his lips and glanced upward. “Hm. Let me think. Your virginity? Sorry, darlin’, but that’s long gone.”
She crossed her arms. “Funny, but not what I meant.”
“You must be talkin’ about your heart, then.”
She attempted a glare but couldn’t pull it off. “It’s smaller than that. Round, has a shiny rock in the middle?”
“Ah, so your love for me is bigger than a diamond.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring, peering at the stone shimmering in the lantern light. “I suspected as much.”
“Also not what I meant.” She held out her hand. “Let me have my ring back, Dillon.”
His eyes shifted to her, the hint of golden glimmers sending a shiver through her. “Is it, Aimee? Is it truly yours?”
Her legs weakened from the intensity of his stare. “No. But it isn’t yours, either. I have to return it to the man it does belong to.”
“So, you decided not to marry for money, after all.”
“I decided I can’t pretend to do the right thing if it isn’t the right thing.”
He lifted her left hand and slid the ring onto her finger. Her heart skipped like crazy with every millimeter the band advanced. The symbolism in his gesture screamed in her mind, even though she knew it was neither his ring nor a proposal. “And what is the right thing?” he whispered.
She had to swallow to try and catch her breath. “To follow my heart, not trail after my fear.”
“And your heart keeps leadin’ you here.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “I do want you. Kyle, too. If it’s not too late to admit that.”
His fingers stroked upwards along her arm. “You admitted that the day you first wandered in here, lost and cold and so innocent that I ached to hold you.”
Her answer was drowned in the bottomless desire in his kiss. That brush of his lips erased everything else—her money woes, David’s engagement plans, fear and doubt. There was no denying that what Kyle said her first time there was true. Dillon possessed a magic that enthralled her. His need for her became the only force that held her feet to the earth, yet catapulted her emotions sky-high. She felt so complete in his arms, and yet something was missing.
Kyle.
“I’m not sure whether to be happy to have you all to myself or to wish Kyle were here with us,” she said when he finally broke away from her lips.
His laugh smoldered with eroticism. “I know the feelin’. But I expect he’ll be along any time now.”
“But you said he wasn’t coming tonight.”
“That was before he felt what’s happenin’ between us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Pack mates sense strong emotions in each other, no matter where we are. Danger, despair.” He moved close enough to feel his breath on her cheek. “Passion.”
Strong emotion. The thought penetrated the sexual fog blowing around her. “Is that why Kyle always looks so stiff? Is he holding back so the other pack won’t sense what he’s doing?”
Dillon nodded. “That meditation mumbo jumbo he uses ain’t only to control his shifts. Not anymore. He’s takin’ quite a risk, bein’ with me. The worst was when he got hit by the truck. I thought for sure that would bring his pack runnin’. Even then, he managed to rein up hard enough to keep them from sensin’ his pain. But I don’t hide what I’m feelin’, Aimee. And I’m bettin’ he got the jolt loud and clear the second I walked in here and saw you sittin’ in those chains.”
His cock was stiff in his jeans as he pulled her up against him, both of them on their knees as they clutched at one another. His tongue circled hers until her pussy flooded with wet heat. Damn, how she wanted him. She inhaled his warm scent and reached a hand into his hair, knocking his hat to the ground.
“Do you feel that energy risin’ up under your skin?” he whispered against her lips. “The sense that your body will explode if you don’t let that wave of electricity take you over?”
“Yes.” Her heart pounded like crazy, and she rubbed her torso against him to revel in the pleasure tingling through the delectable hardness of her nipples.
“That’s what a shift feels like when you give in to it,” he said. “Until I met you, I never knew it’s also how it would feel to give in to the mate you were destined for.”
“I am giving in to you, Dillon. I can’t fight this shift anymore. I have to be yours.”
His eyes were no longer blue, nor were they fiery gold. They had gone nearly black. “You’ve always been mine.”
With that he pulled off her collar, and when she opened her mouth to protest, he silenced her by brushing his upper lip over hers. Then he yanked her knit sweater up over her head. With a growl, he slid her bra straps off her shoulders and freed her breasts. He slipped the collar around her neck again before capturing a nipple in his mouth, grazing it lightly with his teeth. She let out a desperate moan as her head fell back, though it was soon halted by the wide metal restraint around her neck.
“Thought that was her I was feelin’.”
Dillon and Aimee’s attention snapped back to see Kyle stride into the cave, looking a shade irritated but delectably cowboy in his blue plaid shirt and faded jeans. He took his hat off and scrubbed a hand through his hair before replacing it.
“That was me you were feelin’,” Dillon said. “You just guessed why I was feelin’ it.”
“The bigger why is why is she here?” Kyle’s face appeared taut in the lantern light, and the joy bubbling up inside her at seeing him again slid lower in her throat. “This ain’t a good time.”
“What’s stuck in your paw?” Dillon asked. “I thought you’d be glad to see her back.”
Kyle’s blue stare turned on her, ice cold. “You thought wrong.”
Her stomach churned. So, his generous donation had been just a parting shot. Dillon still wanted her, but Kyle didn’t. A week ago, she couldn’t have cared less whether one man was interested in her, let alone two. Now, her heart thudded like a dull lump of lead because she didn’t have them both.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Dillon asked. “This time.”
“Did you ask her?” Kyle’s eyes held the same accusing glare she’d faced in her own reflection on the way up.
“Ask her what?”
“Why she’s here.”
“She changed her mind,” Dillon said. “She ain’t gonna marry David. She wants us.”
“Really. And you didn’t stop to wonder about the sudden change of heart?” Kyle stalked closer, and the smile that breached the scarred side of his face held a dangerous edge to it. When he stood over her, he folded his arms and stared down like a judge on a high bench. “I dangled the carrot, darlin’, and you done failed the test.”
“Test?” Aimee asked.
“Would you stop talkin’ in riddles?” Dillon added, rising from his knees to stand close in Kyle’s face. “What the hot fuck is goin’ on?”
“She’s only here for the money, partner,” Kyle spat out. “That’s why she’d let you chain her up and ride her like a well-groomed pony. Ain’t that right, sugar?”
She shook her head. “That’s not true.”
Dillon’s expression bore outright confusion. “What money?”
“I’ll admit you got here faster than I expected.” Kyle brushed off Dillon’s hat and settled it on the man’s head before staring back down at her. “Figured it’d take at least a few days before you found out about it. Guess I didn’t give your dollar radar enough credit.”
Dillon bent down and took her by the arm. “What the devil is he talkin’ about, Aimee?”
She kept her eyes on Kyle as she answered. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s dead wrong about me.”
“Am I?” Kyle knelt down the way Dillon had earlier, only his encroachment into her personal space prodded her into pulling back. “Funny, because it seems like you and I both know exactly what I’m talkin’ about.”
Dillon stuck his face down in front of Kyle’s, breaking his staring contest with Aimee. “And I’d like to know exactly what you’re talkin’ about—and why the hell you’re actin’ like she’s our enemy.”
“I wanted to test our hot little vixen’s sincerity,” Kyle said, straightening up again. “I suspected that if she knew the truth about me, she’d come runnin’ back with a fire on her tail. So I set up a little experiment.”
“Just what the hell did you do after we parted ways this mornin’?” Dillon asked.
Kyle folded his arms. “I paid a call on the nursin’ home Aimee told you her mother was at and made a little contribution to her care.”
“A little contribution?” Aimee laughed, turning to Dillon. “He paid Applewood one hundred thousand dollars.”
Dillon let go of her and rose as well, narrowing his eyes at her. Kyle flashed a greasy smile. “Didn’t guess just how well that little trick would work to bring her runnin’ back.” He shook his head with a sigh. “I had hoped to God I was wrong about her.”
“You are wrong about me.” She pushed at Dillon’s legs, which were barring her view of Kyle. Her chain rattled as she scooted on her knees as close to Kyle as she could get. “I didn’t come up here to sell out to the highest bidder. I came here to admit I was wrong to let money be a factor in my decision in the first place.”
“Coincidentally the very day you found out Kyle ain’t the scruffy stray dog that I am,” Dillon said. “How philanthropic of you.” Her eyes widened, and he laughed. “Yeah, darlin’, I know big words and everythin’. Kyle ain’t the only one who came from a life of comfort once upon a time. He, fortunately, still has access to some of that comfort.” He eyed her up and down as though she’d been dragged in by the family cat. “I, on the other hand, seem to keep losin’ every damn last thing I try and take comfort in.”
“Not every last thing,” Kyle said.
Dillon turned to him with a snort. “What, you? I don’t have you most of the time, and when you are with me, you hold yourself back because you don’t want to get too close.”
The other man’s eyes flashed. “You know why I have to.”
“There ain’t no real comfort in it, regardless.”
Angry tears threatened Aimee’s vision, and she blinked them back hard while she jammed a hand into her blazer pocket. “Here,” she snapped off, pulling her cell phone from her pocket and holding it out to Kyle.
He scowled at her. “What’s that for?”
“Call the damn clinic. Tell them to reverse the payment.”
His jaw tightened. “No.”
“Fine.” She flipped it open. “I’ll do it myself.”
“Forget your phony games,” Dillon said with a note of disgust. “You know good and well you won’t get a signal in here.”
Staring at the empty bars on her phone display, she heaved a sigh. “So I’ll go outside and do it myself.” She glared back and forth between the men. “I told you, I didn’t come racing up here all fluttery eyed because Kyle has money. I came here to undo the mistakes I’ve made these past few days. I came to apologize, even knowing it could mean losing Kyle’s help and my job.”
“Makes a pretty speech, anyway,” Kyle said, reaching over to grab her shirt and blazer and drop them in front of her. “Don’t bother. Just leave.” He gave a disgusted growl. “Take this damn thing off.”
He took hold of the collar hanging loose around her neck, but she flinched away from him and backed up on hands and knees until she was pressed to the wall. “No.” In desperation, she reached up and squeezed the collar latch together until it locked with a metallic click.
Kyle sighed. “I have the key, you know.”
He fished in his pockets, but she held up a hand. “Don’t. Just hear me out.” She took a deep breath to steel herself against the dual pair of distrusting gazes that were trained on her. “I’ve obviously screwed things up. I’m not exactly an expert on relationships, you know. I’ve only been on a few dates in my life, most in high school.” She tossed her phone lightly on top of the blazer lying in a heap a few feet away. “My mother has been sick since I was seventeen, but I can’t honestly blame her illness for robbing me of a love life. I just never cared about romance before.” She rubbed at the knees that were throbbing in protest of having knelt on the packed dirt. “Mom is my responsibility—not yours, and not David’s. She will be until the day she passes, and that fact is completely separate from my involvement with any man.”
Kyle grunted. “Yet you were plannin’ to marry the man payin’ for her care.”
“Helping to pay,” she said with a biting edge. “That’s because I spent years thinking love was just a fantasy. David said he felt the same way when he proposed. I started thinking maybe there was one reason to let a man into my life, and it had nothing to do with desire. When I stumbled into this cave, however, I discovered that there are actually two reasons, and both of them are standing right here.”
Kyle’s expression was still guarded, but Dillon’s eyes had warmed with a bare hint of golden glow.
“I’m sorry if I acted like you weren’t good enough,” she went on, meeting that warm gaze. “That wasn’t my intention. I wasn’t judging your right to be in my life. I was judging myself for feeling so out of control around you. I was afraid if I truly gave into you that I’d go off the deep end and throw my duty to Mom right out the door. It wouldn’t be right to turn my back on her for the sake of selfish desires. I’ve never looked for anyone to lift her burden off my shoulders. I don’t need a sugar daddy. But I have been terrified to realize just how badly I seem to need you both.”
She stopped and looked up at them both with pleading eyes. They eyed her, then each other, and then her again.
Without a word, Kyle reached into his snug jeans, sliding one hand and then the other into his pockets in an obvious search for the key. Her heart sank, pulsing in her gut while he patted himself down. After pulling his hands from his back pockets, he sighed. “Well, it seems fate has decided.”
“What’s that mean?” Dillon asked.
Kyle was still eyeing her. “It means she’s stuck here. I was in such a hot rush when I sensed you goin’ wild on her that I forgot the damn key in my other pants.”
Her mouth fell open, and her hands flew up to the collar. Great. Well, at least now he couldn’t throw her out.
Dillon broke into a wide grin. “Yep, fate decided, all right. And so have I.”
He was on his knees in front of her in a flash, pulling her into his arms and grinding her lips against his with near fury. “I believe you, Aimee. I know you want me. I could feel it from the first moment you entered this cave. I can’t wait anymore to have you as my own.”
His fevered lips boldly roamed along her jaw, pressing kisses right to the metal collar and down to her breasts. She arched her back and reached between his legs, rubbing the thick ridge behind the fly of his jeans. He ground his hips against her hand and moaned against the nipple he pulled into his mouth, sending a shudder through her. Her pussy released hot juices she could feel dampening her panties.
“I want your clothes off,” she whispered. “Now.”
“You first.” He reached around her to unhook the bra he’d pushed out of the way in his earlier haste, and she moved her hands out of the way so he could undo her slacks and shove them down over her hips. When she was naked at last, his tongue laved her breasts while his hands groped and kneaded the flesh of her buttocks. “Your ass is so perfect,” he growled. “Every inch of you makes my cock ache.”
Her hands got busy tugging on the zipper of his jeans while he pulled his shirt off. She pressed her nose to his broad chest, inhaling the potent male aroma that drove her wild. He hastily pushed down his jeans to let them fall to the knees he rested on, but he didn’t bother to take them the rest of the way off. He grasped his pulsing cock and slid it between her thighs, flaring the heat and need inside of her. She spread her legs as best she could and arched herself until she felt the delicious, unbearably sensual feel of his cock spearing her wet heat.
“I’ve thought of little else but doin’ this to you again,” he said, pushing himself deeper and shutting his eyes. “You feel like thick, warm honey coatin’ my dick.”
She didn’t get a chance to reply because Kyle strode up, already naked and with his cock jutting out temptingly near her lips. She glanced up at him. “Fate decided?”
“I decided.”
Dillon arched back out of the way a little, grabbing her ass cheeks to steady himself while Kyle took hold of the back of her head and pressed himself closer. He guided her to his musky, purpled erection, and she licked her lips nervously while remembering the way Dillon had eagerly sucked Kyle’s long cock. She hesitantly flicked out with her tongue to taste the shiny tip. A drip of salty-sweet musk greeted her, and the taste infused her with need, as though the clear fluid held a potent aphrodisiac.
She opened her mouth and slid the head in just a few inches at first, but then she greedily slurped in as much of Kyle’s shaft as would fit. She felt him stiffen as he moaned, still holding her hair. Instinct replaced uncertainty, and she worked her mouth back and forth to fuck his cock with her mouth in a rhythm that matched each thrust of Dillon’s hips against hers. Her tongue swirled along the length as she sucked, sampling the ridge of every vein, the velvet texture of the shaft, and circling the tight, satiny feel of the mushroom head she was fast coming to favor.
The sensation of being fucked in two orifices this way was decidedly different than in the shower the previous night, but no less erotic. Her clit practically screamed in excitement, each thrust tightening her need into a coil she knew would unleash with volcanic force.
Her hand ran up along Kyle’s taut, corded thigh to brush against his ball sac, and the smooth skin reacted by wrinkling and pulling close to his body. Fascinated, she let her fingertips explore the ridges while she sucked his rod with enough fervor to send saliva dribbling down her chin.
Kyle’s growl deepened, and his grip in her hair tightened. He began pressing his hips forward, meeting her with each stroke to push his cock almost to the back of her throat.
“Jesus, look how much you’re lovin’ his cock in your mouth,” Dillon said, ramming himself into her until his pubic bone bounced off hers. “You hot bitch, you’ve got my animal risin’ right up under my skin.”
Hot tingles ran through her at hearing him talk to her that way. It made her feel so sexy. Erotic. Still, she pulled away from Kyle to throw Dillon a mocking look. “Don’t call me a bitch.”
“Didn’t mean no offense, darlin’. What do you want me to call you, then?”
She bent close to him, hovering just over his lips. “Just call me yours.”
He growled and captured her mouth with his while he started to move inside her again. Kyle came around to kneel behind her, and she felt him spread her ass cheeks. His cock was still slick with her saliva while he pressed the tip against her anus, and with a gentler nudge than he’d given her in the shower, his hard shaft began to fill her to the brink of madness.
“Oh, God,” she cried out. “When you both fill me like this I can barely move.” Her head fell back against his hot shoulder.
“That’s right,” Kyle said. “Give me your submission. Tip your head to the side to show me that delicious neck.” He thrust his cock deep in her ass, and she cried out in pleasure.
“Make the mark,” Dillon said, pushing himself in and out. “Now, before she changes her mind.”
“I won’t,” she breathed, feeling the swirling near ache of orgasm already climbing.
“I accept that you are Dillon’s true mate,” Kyle growled in her ear. “And mine. I accept you into my pack. Do you take both of us as part of you? Are you sure that you want this?”
“More than anything.”
“Then take my mark and be bound to us for life.”
She bent her head aside to give him access and steeled herself for his bite.
“Well, lookie what the fuck we’ve got here.”
Aimee gasped at the intrusive new voice, and her head whipped around to see four—no, five—men filing in through the cave tunnel. The black-haired man in front, who she assumed was the speaker, was the tallest of the group and also the most imposing. Tall but decidedly not skinny, every inch of the man’s body was solid, and the tight, gray sweater and jeans he wore did little to hide it. While the men grouped around him came in different sizes and hair colors, they all had two things in common—an intimidating amount of muscle and familiar gold flecks in their eyes that glittered with varying intensity.
“Solomon James,” Dillon muttered. “Shit.”
“Got that right, boy,” the leader said, spitting on the ground. The narrow, brown-gold eyes glaring out from his square face turned first on Kyle, then on Aimee, who Dillon was doing his best to shield with his body. She willed herself to shrink into the dirt and disappear as Solomon’s eyes slid along her curves as if she weren’t tightly sandwiched between two men. Then he spotted the collar and chain around her neck. “I hadn’t figured out exactly what the hell you’ve been up to lately,” he said to Kyle, “but this is the God damn last thing I expected.” He lacked a cowboy’s drawl, instead snapping off each word like a drill sergeant. Combined with his closely shaved haircut, the man carried a distinct military air.
“Buddying up to one of Blaise’s bastards and banging a human slave,” he went on, shaking his head. “You trying to channel that ruthless cocksucker’s cold, rotting corpse?”
“It’s not like that,” Aimee said. “I’m not a slave.”
“Aimee,” Dillon growled in warning.
“You two outcasts shut the hell up,” the man shot back. “This doesn’t concern you. Yet.” His gaze, which was firing hotter by the moment, flicked back to Kyle. “Get the fuck out of that disgusting tangle and show me your submission. Now.”
Kyle’s hot flesh, pressed to her back, gave way instantly to sleek, satiny fur, and his black wolf approached the man with his head lowered and tail held between his legs. After lowering himself to the ground, he flipped over on his back, exposing his paler underbelly. Aimee swallowed. It didn’t take much deduction to figure that Solomon was Kyle’s alpha. His pack had found them out.
“Now get up on your knees as a man,” he snapped at the wolf.
Kyle complied and sat on his heels, facing away from her. Dillon, whose cock had gone flaccid and slipped out of her, was slowly trying to make a grab for Aimee’s clothes.
“Don’t you make a move,” the alpha boomed out, pointing at Dillon. “Jack. Adam.”
Without another word, the two men on the farthest ends of the group shrugged out of jackets and shirts and dropped to the ground as gray wolves. Two others followed suit, and within seconds clothing lay in piles while the pack stood at four-legged attention, with wild, gold eyes and lethal-looking fangs focused on Dillon. He tensed and pushed Aimee more fully behind him, but their stares flicked her way more and more often. She crossed one arm over her chest and the other over her pubic hair, but it did little to keep the leering hunger from their feral eyes.
“Care to tell me just why the hell you not only defied my orders regarding Blaise’s omega a-holes,” Solomon was saying, “but spun it around on its ass and perverted it to epic proportions?”
“The bond,” Kyle said. “I was settin’ up to make my move on him when I felt it.”
“You made a move, all right. Moved right onto hell’s path. I can’t believe that you, of all my wolves, would drag yourself down to the lowest of the low. Fuckin’ a lone wolf and his slave bitch.”
“She ain’t a slave,” Kyle said. “She’s his bond mate.”
“Bullshit.” Solomon strutted over to Aimee, along with two of his wolves. She scrambled away from behind Dillon and tried to press herself to the wall. Dillon slid back as well to shield her, but the wolves bared fangs and growled in his face. The pack alpha leaned down over Aimee, his dark eyes squinting as she tried to cover herself. He grabbed hold of her blazer and gave a firm tug to bare her shoulders “You’re lying, boy. She has no breeder mark on her.”
Her mouth fell open as she scrambled to shrug the blazer back on. “A what mark?”
He ignored the comment and sniffed at her. His mouth contorted into a vile approximation of a grin. “She smells like the devil’s dessert, though. I’ll give you that. Makes my dick twitch.”
“We were about to finish the claim,” Kyle said.
Solomon’s eyes narrowed. “‘We’ were? And just how the hell do you figure in to the claiming?”
Kyle raised his chin. “I aim to make the pack mark on her. Dillon has acknowledged me as his alpha.”
The laugh that Solomon bellowed contained zero humor but a good deal of incredulity. “Alpha? You’re in a pack that already has an alpha. I think the two of you are a bit confused on the subject of how the whole alpha thing works.”
“No, sir,” Kyle said. “I just believed it to be the only choice at the time.”
Her chest thumped in frustration, and she couldn’t help but ask Dillon, “Which is it, a pack mark, or a breeder mark?”
“Not now,” Dillon said to her under his breath.
“And when were you planning on telling me you want to breed me?” she whispered.
“It ain’t what it sounds like,” he whispered back over his shoulder. “It’s just the old term for a mate.”
“You cannot be in two packs at the same time,” Solomon was saying to Kyle, enunciating every word as though he was speaking to a child. “It’s impossible.”
“Apparently, it ain’t,” Dillon interjected. “His alpha bond took on me immediately. But his bond to you still holds true.”
Solomon’s fists flexed. “When I want your input, it’ll be for only one reason—to decide whether you want to die on all fours or as the pitiful excuse for a man that you are.” He turned and walked back over to Kyle.
The wolves followed him, and while their backs were turned, Dillon used the opportunity to snatch up Aimee’s blazer. She tugged it on while he sat on the ground beside her, wishing it was had buttons down the front and was long enough to cover her genitals. “And just what the fuck is your goal?” Solomon went on. “Did you figure you’d play alpha with this reject loser until you grew big enough cojones to take me on?”
Kyle shook his head. “I have no desire to challenge you for pack rights.”
“Well, what a relief to hear you aren’t one hundred percent moron. Then what is this about? Why did you take up with this disowned cowboy?”
He sighed and exchanged a glance with Dillon. “I was preparin’ to carry out your orders to kill Blaise’s old pack members on sight. But the minute I looked Dillon in the eye, I sensed the bond. I knew I couldn’t bring him into the pack because you would never accept him.” He glanced at the ground. “And I knew he was too wild to trust as an alpha.”
Aimee felt Dillon shift uncomfortably beside her.
“Got one thing right, anyway,” Solomon said. “Go on.”
Kyle looked up at him. “So, rather than renounce my pack and come in under his leadership, I offered to help him learn to control his nature, and he accepted me as his alpha.”
Solomon sneered at them. “And the two of you lived happily ever after. Oh, wait, that’s not it. You turned thousands of years of tradition inside out, lied to your alpha, and snuck around behind your pack’s behinds in hopes that you’d get away with it. Not smart, Kyle. Not smart at all.”
A thick cloud of added tension descended when talk ceased, and Aimee’s heart began pounding against her sternum as she watched the man stare down at Kyle. At least while the man was jawing on about alpha rights and such, nobody was getting hurt. With silence, however, came the sharp edge of threat that Solomon or his pack of fanged dogs would strike at any moment. She felt Dillon tense beside her and knew he was thinking the same thing. Kyle, for his part, met the other man’s eyes in the same calm, poised regard he wore like a mantle.
After what seemed an unbearable span of quiet in which nothing echoed through the cave except the sound of Aimee’s pulse in her ears, Solomon whooshed out a sigh. “Normally, when a wolf tries to jump packs and the alpha disputes the claim, he would challenge the new alpha to either retake his wolf or to a winner-takes-all pack rights fight. But now you present me with the little problem of you being the alpha. If I kill you and win the challenge, I still lose you. But if you think I’m going to stand by while one of my wolves runs off to tie on an apron and set up housekeeping up with one of Blaise’s protégés, you’ve got another fucking thing coming.”
Kyle rose, brushing off his knees, standing naked and silent while facing his alpha. Aimee watched the men’s profiles shift into grim resolve as they stood a few feet away.
The other man growled in obvious disapproval. “Yeah, I see just how well that bond to me has held. I don’t recall giving you permission to get up.”
“I’m not risin’ as your beta.” Kyle set his hands on his bare hips. “I’m standin’ in defense of the pack you are threatenin’.”
Solomon’s dark brows rose to comical heights. “Well, now, look who’s talking like someone looking to take the old man on, after all.”
“I ain’t lookin’ for that. I never wanted to renounce you or leave my pack. But I don’t see as how you’re leavin’ me much choice.”
“Choice is the one weapon a man always has.” Solomon’s measuring stare slid along Kyle’s tense, firm body. “Even if he’s broke, starved, and naked as the day his mama squirted him out.”
“Then you can make that same choice.” Kyle glanced at Dillon and Aimee, and she felt the small current run through her when his eyes found hers. “Let this go. Don’t turn this into somethin’ it doesn’t have to be.”
“Well, that’s just the thing, boy. This does have to be something because I don’t think you’re playing this hand with a full deck.” He turned and gestured to Dillon. “You know the shit he comes from. Disowned by his own alpha. You saw firsthand how they treated your pack. How can you turn around and wet your dick with one of Blaise’s vicious dogs after what they did?”
“It was never my choice to be part of Blaise’s pack,” Dillon snapped off with a bitter tone. “And I never agreed with what he did.”
“But you still obeyed, didn’t you, you son of a bitch?” Solomon said. “You went out and did unto others at Blaise’s command. You did unto mine.”
“There are ways of showin’ submission without strictly obeyin’,” Dillon said.
Solomon laughed. “A strategy I see you’ve rubbed off on Kyle.” His gaze flicked to Kyle. “I suppose you figure you can control one of Blaise’s betas when he’ll flat out make a claim like that right in front of his alpha?”
“This was never about control,” Kyle said. “It was about honorin’ the bond I knew was inevitable between us and helpin’ Dillon find his way back from his experiences in Blaise’s pack.”
“I just don’t understand how you can look at the man who killed your pack mates and want to bond with him.”
Aimee’s eyes widened. Dillon had told her his past had made him despondent enough to choose death. But she hadn’t ever thought of him as a killer.
“I don’t pretend to understand it,” Kyle said. “The bond chooses us. We don’t choose it. And Dillon wasn’t involved in the campground battle.”
“Don’t lie!” Solomon’s control cracked as he shouted the accusation. “I recognize the little bastard’s scent.”
“I was there that night,” Dillon said, and Aimee’s head whipped around to him. “But I didn’t kill anyone. I’ve never killed anyone. Blaise and his betas did the killin’. I refused to play any part and retreated into the woods until it was over.”
Solomon snorted. “So, you’re a pussy omega, then. You are still one of his, groomed by the bastard who ripped apart three of my wolves that night. And for what? The right to walk within the boundaries of a public campground.” He stalked forward and spat in the dirt. “So you see why there’s no way I can allow you to live.”
Aimee’s heart seized. Jesus, what would happen to Dillon? To her?
Kyle stepped in front of Solomon. “And as alpha, you can see why I cannot allow you to harm one of my own.”
“Your own are the ones standing behind me.”
“You’re no murderer. Don’t let what Blaise did four years ago change you into a creature no better than he was.”
The man pointed a finger at Kyle’s face. “You may fancy yourself the alpha of that no-account little prick over there, but you do not give me orders.”
“You’ve never been opposed to hearin’ counsel from members of your pack.”
“That was before one of my pack lost his fool head and ran off to join the enemy.” He pushed up his sleeves, eyes glowing with golden menace. “So let’s call this what it is and declare the stakes.”
“No,” Dillon said, jumping to his feet. Four wolves immediately planted themselves in a line in front of their alpha, snarling at Dillon. Aimee pressed herself tighter to the wall and silently prayed for the nightmare to end without bloodshed, even knowing she wanted the impossible.
“Dillon,” Kyle growled. “Back off.”
“He doesn’t want to fight you,” Dillon said, taking a step forward. Crumbles of cave dirt fell off his back and taut ass as he moved. “The whole reason he’s challengin’ you at all is because of me. I’m the hated outcast of Blaise Forrester. I’m the one Solomon wants to tear apart. So let me stand in your place.”
“Out of the question,” Kyle said. “You know I can’t let you do that.”
“Yes, you can.” Dillon took another step forward, their eyes locked. “You’ve been throwin’ yourself in front of harm’s way since the moment we met. But you can’t protect me from my own past. Your alpha hates me because my blood was tainted by a vicious murderer who laughed while his crimes were bein’ committed. He won’t rest until he knows he took his best shot at me, and you know it.”
Solomon was staring at Dillon with what seemed a mixture of spite and curious regard. Then he gave a curt nod. “Can’t say it speaks well of a beta’s faith in his alpha if he has to jump up to take his leader’s place in a challenge. But it does speak well of his loyalty.” He glanced at his wolves, then at Kyle, whose nostrils were flared in apparent frustration. “The boy’s right. Maybe you can’t control who the mating bond chooses. And I can find a much sweeter revenge by settling the matter on his hide rather than yours.”
Kyle gritted his teeth. “Sounds like I’ve been outvoted.”
Solomon chuckled. “It’s decided.” His narrow eyes shifted to Aimee. “And the woman?”
Her stomach lurched. Dillon walked straight up to the man, who stood a good head taller than both he and Kyle. “If I agree to fight you in Kyle’s stead, I want your guarantee that she will go free regardless of the outcome.”
“No deal,” Solomon said. “Kyle was about to set his mark on her. She’s as good as ours already.”
“She ain’t part of this.”
Solomon leaned closer. “I say she is. If I win, Kyle will return to the pack without further repercussion—and with his female.”
Aimee’s eyes flew wide. Lose Dillon and have to be part of Solomon’s pack? She couldn’t deny that Kyle had a piece of her heart. But Dillon was fast becoming her soul. And no part of her wanted to even think that she would be marked for another pack. Solomon and his snarling beasts would be her mates too? God, would that mean she’d suddenly be drawn to them if her mate came under the rule of another alpha? Or would they just take what they wanted, the way they assumed Kyle had been doing when they’d arrived to see him banging a chained-up “slave”?
She glanced up to see Kyle watching her. Guilt flashed through her at the revulsion she knew must be showing on her face, but it wasn’t Kyle she was rejecting. Still, she could see otherwise in his expression. No doubt he assumed she was disgusted at the idea of being with him.
He turned back to Solomon. “No,” Kyle said. “Dillon is her primary bond mate. If he dies, the bond will be severed. She has to go free.”
Her jaw dropped. Was this truly going to be a fight to the death? “Dillon,” she murmured, but no one heard.
“You want her, that much is obvious.” Solomon’s beady eyes took in Kyle’s scrutiny of her. “You should be happy with these terms. If I win, you’ll be my prize and she’ll be your consolation. That’s the deal.”
“No!” Aimee felt tears burning her eyes. “Kyle, don’t let him fight Dillon.”
She jerked at the venom in Kyle’s expression when he whirled on her. “I’m sure you’d rather I be the one to die. Believe me, this ain’t the way I want it, either.”
His words punched like a fist into her solar plexus. “That’s not what I meant, Kyle. Not at all.”
He raised a hand to his scar and turned to the other man. “She goes free, if that is her wish. Or have you decided that Blaise’s habit of keepin’ human slaves is within your tastes, after all?”
Somehow, the man’s steel gaze hardened further still. “You best take your tone down three notches to me, boy.” His sharp stare lanced Aimee. “Fine. She walks when this is over.” His tone and eyes lacked sincerity.
“And you walk if Dillon pins you.”
“Just because I have a soft spot for females doesn’t mean I’m going to make this a friendly game of arm wrestling. An alpha challenge only ends two ways. Dead or left for dead.”
Kyle shook his head. “This ain’t an alpha challenge, strictly speakin’.”
Solomon leaned closer. “You’ve pushed me as far as you’re going to. Besides, the one makin’ the challenge is the one who must accept the terms.” He cocked his head at Dillon. “Though I suppose a little cunt who hid in the woods durin’ his alpha’s battles is going to try and talk me out of going rough on him.”
Dillon straightened and squared his shoulders. “I agree to your terms. Dead or left for dead.”
“No!” Aimee shouted again. “You can’t.”
“She’s right about that, you know,” Solomon said. “You can’t win. Even she knows you’re too pussy to survive your big talk.”
Dillon’s eyes flashed. “First you’re murderously pissed on account of you thinkin’ I killed your wolves, and now you’re tauntin’ me because I refused to commit that atrocity.”
That seemed to take Solomon aback, and his wolves growled under their breaths. Still, the alpha recovered quickly. “I’m just saying you aren’t likely up for the stakes, considering your past approach.”
“I didn’t have nothin’ to fight for back then,” Dillon said. “I think you’ll find me a much different opponent now that I have three things.”
Solomon glanced between them. “What’s that, the three of you?”
“Life, love, and honor. What else is there?”
Solomon regarded him for a moment and then tugged his sweater over his head. “Then let’s stop the chitchat and get this done.”
Aimee took in the man’s bulging upper body. He was obviously a good deal older than Dillon, but that made him no less frightening. His chest was thickly sculpted beneath a heavy layer of curly, black hair. His stomach was rock solid, and his shoulders and arms had muscles on top of muscles. Scars were evident in several spots. This man had been no stranger to battle. How could Dillon win a fight against someone like that?
Solomon kicked off his boots and loosened his gold belt buckle while he addressed the others. “The terms are set. You know the rules. No one interferes, or that side loses by default. We go until one is dead or left for dead.”
He dropped his gray jeans, and Aimee’s eyes flew where they didn’t belong without a thought. He was no less intimidating from the waist down. His wink to her when she raised her eyes forced a hot flood of angry embarrassment into her cheeks. She set her jaw and turned her attention to Dillon and Kyle, who stood there, impassive.
“Back off,” Solomon said to Kyle, who appeared reluctant to move. “Back off now, or this whole thing will be over before it starts.”
Kyle put a hand on Dillon’s bare, muscled shoulder. “You don’t have to do this,” he said.
“Yes, I do. And I will.”
Kyle squeezed his shoulder before letting his hand fall away. With a look of resignation, he turned and walked over to Aimee until his cock was in her eye line. She tried to stand, but the collar chain kept her from straightening all the way. Instead, she sat there while he turned and stood next to her with his arms folded across his chest.
“In flesh or fur?” Solomon asked Dillon.
“As men would be the bigger challenge,” Dillon said. “But this is a wolf matter.”
With a single nod, Solomon’s skin rippled in an odd shiver and disappeared. His body dropped forward into a large, pale gray wolf. Dillon shifted and faced off with the other wolf, and the four others spread into a half circle behind them. Their howls threatened to shatter the very cave walls, and Aimee slapped her hands over her ears as goose bumps stabbed at her. Dillon and Solomon snarled, gnashing their teeth as they circled one another with tails high and ears flattened.
Aimee circled Kyle’s leg with an arm, hugging herself close to him. His muscles had gone rigid, but he stepped closer to her and laid a hand on her head. She pressed it against his warm thigh.
“Please let him be all right,” she said, as much to the universe as to Kyle. “He can’t die.”
“He won’t,” Kyle said through a tight jaw. “Keep strong and positive. It will help him.”
She could no more frame this in a positive light than understand how doing so could help. She’d finally given in to the love she’d been battling, only to lose it in a battle of an entirely different sort.
The animals kept sidestepping and circling, but Dillon flashed out with his jaws and got a brief grip on Solomon’s nose. The other wolf pulled out and bark-snarled angrily, then got hold of the scruff of Dillon’s neck. The other wolves planted their front feet wide apart and lowered their heads to bark what seemed encouragement to their alpha. Fur began to fly, literally, along with puffs of dirt that triggered a coughing fit. Waves of anxiety crested over Aimee, and the tears that filled her eyes weren’t only from the dust.
Solomon yanked his teeth away with a tearing motion that set loose a stream of blood through Dillon’s thick fur. She could practically feel the searing pain as Dillon yelped and staggered back. Solomon was lunging at him again when the scene erupted in an explosion that threatened to split Aimee’s skull and deafened the wolves’ piteous cries to a faint, dull muffle.
All motion stopped as the wolves stood dazed and frozen with confusion. Her hold on Kyle tightened, and she blinked through the dust floating to the ground. When smoke and dirt had cleared, she saw what had caused the explosion and gasped in shock.
David stood just inside the tunnel, a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other.