Chapter Ten

David’s gun was pointed at the ceiling, but slowly lowered. His eyes flicked wildly around the scene at Aimee, the restraint around her neck, Kyle standing naked beside her, and the assortment of wolves blocking his way to her. He still had on the shirt and slacks from the office, but the tie was gone and his collar was unbuttoned. The unzipped, heavy hiking jacket she’d last seen tossed in the backseat of his car made for an odd coupling with his business attire.

“Jesus Christ,” David said. Two of the wolves broke off and advanced toward him, stopping when he raised the gun. “Ha!” he shouted, waving his arms. “Get back!” He glanced at Kyle. “I knew there was something very wrong about you.” The gun changed its angle to level at the naked man. “But kidnapping a woman and chaining her up in a den of wolves? What kind of sick fuck are you?”

Kyle raised his hands in response to the gun pointed at his chest. “There is somethin’ wrong with me, you’re right about that. But kidnappin’ ain’t even close.”

“He didn’t kidnap me,” Aimee said, clutching the edges of her blazer tighter over her breasts. “I came here on my own.”

“I know you drove up here.” His eyes held layers of regret, pain, and accusation. “I followed you.”

“Why did you do that?” she asked, her insides hardening. He was still spying on her?

A muscle worked in his jaw. “I had a feeling that your so-called errands would lead you back to the cowboys. I had to see for myself. I’m just sorry I didn’t track you through the woods fast enough to stop him from doing this to you.”

“If you followed me, what kept you?” She tried to keep the sarcastic bitterness out of her voice.

“Rangers stopped me at the station and made me move my car. They’re getting tired of hikers parking in their lot, apparently. They’re planning to tow your car if we aren’t back within the hour. Though that seems to be the least of your problems at the moment.”

His eyes were still racing back and forth between Kyle and the wolves, obviously trying to make some sort of sense out of the bizarre scene. Then he focused on Kyle while he cocked the trigger with an ominous click. “Now, you are going to release Aimee from those chains and give her back the rest of her clothes. Then you stand in front of her to shield her from these animals while making your way over to me nice and slow.”

The wolves began growling, positioning themselves with feet planted and ears pricked toward David. The gray wolf Solomon advanced on David with a snarling bark that pierced the space, and the gun whirled on him. He stopped, his yellow eyes glaring murderously at the man.

“Don’t fucking move, wolf,” David said, waving his gun slightly. “Yeah, you know what this is, don’t you? You know I can shoot you and your buddies dead.”

Except that a normal gun wouldn’t work, and Aimee wondered why the wolves weren’t taking advantage of that fact. Did they think David knew about werewolves? Maybe they assumed he had silver bullets in his gun, like the red-haired huntress. Otherwise, they could easily have overpowered him by now. Aimee swallowed.

He addressed Kyle while still staring Solomon down. “I don’t see any movement over there. Hurry the fuck up and get her out of that collar.”

Kyle cleared his throat. “I suppose this is a bad time to admit I left the key in my other pants.”

“Fuck you,” David spat out. “Get her out of that sick restraint now.”

“I’m the one who put the collar on,” Aimee said. “So don’t stand there with the wrong idea about Kyle. He tried to get me to leave. I refused and locked myself into this thing.”

David’s lip curled. “Why the hell would you do that?”

The gray wolf barked again, then shivered violently. His body expanded while fur retracted, and Solomon rose naked with every bulging muscle tensed. “Who gives a fuck?”

“Holy shit!” David threw himself backwards at the sight of the wolf morphing into human form. His back hit the cave wall, and his eyes were bugged half out of his skull. “What the hell are you?”

“Thought so,” Solomon said, his ass twitching as he strode closer to David. “He’s packing a normal weapon, boys. It’s all right.”

One by one, the wolves transformed around David until all Aimee could see was muscled backs, tight, pale buttocks, and toned legs. Dillon phased as well, but stayed crouched between the pack and Aimee. Blood streamed down his back from the ragged tooth holes Solomon had torn into him, and she felt an answering pang of sympathy twist in her gut.

David spotted Dillon, and his mouth fell open. He glanced at Aimee through the ranks of naked males. “That cowboy’s one of them?” He eyed her up and down. “And you?”

She shook her head. “I’m human.”

“And a waste of my time,” Solomon said, whipping his head toward her for a moment before turning his still-golden stare back on David. “Both of you. You just interrupted some important pack business, and you made me tip my hand. Afraid that leaves us with a bit of a quandary.”

David stared at him. “What are you?”

“Something you shouldn’t have tangled with, son. The question now is what to do about it.”

“You don’t need to do nothin’,” Dillon said, rising to his feet. “He’s nobody. Just a businessman.” He wandered over and stood by Kyle, with Aimee on the ground between them.

“I’m Aimee’s fiancé,” David retorted. “I only care about seeing her back to safety.”

Solomon laughed. “Fiancé? Well, this really isn’t your day, is it? Might interest you to know just what your little bondage slave was doing with those cowboys when my pack and I came in.”

David’s face reddened, and his eyes narrowed as he glowered at the three of them together along the back wall, but he shook his head. “No, I don’t want to know.” He looked at Aimee’s hand, then back up at her. “All I know is that you’re wearing my ring again. That has to mean something.”

Sorrow flooded her chest. “I came up here to get the ring so that I could give it back to you. I’m just wearing it for safekeeping.” A hiccup of emotion broke over the last word. “I’m sorry, David. I’ve made my decision.”

“No. I don’t believe that.” He started toward her, but Solomon’s pack tightened their formation and glared him down.

“She’s a load and a half of trouble, I see,” Solomon said. “Good thing we interrupted Kyle before he finished his claim on her. We’d have had our hands full of feminine wiles.”

David glared at Kyle with his nostrils flared, but said nothing.

“Let him go, Solomon,” Kyle said, moving forward. “His business here is done.”

“You know I can’t. He’s aware of our kind now.”

“Thanks to you,” Dillon spat.

“I don’t know a damn thing,” David said. “I have no idea what the hell you are, and I don’t care. The only thing I did care about apparently doesn’t exist anymore. The rest of whatever is going on here doesn’t concern me.”

Solomon snorted. “And I’m supposed to believe you’ll just leave here and never think about what you saw again? That you’ll never mention it to anyone?” He leaned closer to David, and he raised his gun. “That you won’t get it in your head to come back in a jealous rage to get revenge?”

“Why?” The gun quivered slightly. “You aren’t the one who stole my girl.”

“I can’t say that’s entirely true. But one of my pack members did. And I can’t leave a threat like that hanging loose.” Solomon glanced down the barrel of the gun. “Might as well put that away before you hurt yourself. It’ll do you no good on us.”

Instead, David lifted the gun higher so that it was pointed between Solomon’s flickering eyes. “Maybe, maybe not. But I bet it’d hurt like fucking hell.”

Solomon laughed. “You know, I kind of like your gumption. Shame this isn’t going to end well for you.”

David let out an indignant snort. “I just found the woman I love chained up half-naked in a cave with a bunch of naked men—by her own choice, apparently. I’d say things have already ended on a rather sour note.”

Aimee’s stomach twisted into a knot of remorse.

“Solomon, please,” Kyle said. “You’re no murderer, especially of innocent humans.”

“You’re right.” Solomon turned away from the still-quivering gun and wandered back to Kyle. “This entire shit pile is your fault. You’re the one who’s going to have to shovel it.”

Kyle stiffened, as did Aimee and Dillon.

“I’m not going to kill him,” Kyle said.

“I didn’t say anything about killing,” Solomon retorted. “You’re going to turn him.”

“Turn me?” David asked. “What the hell’s that?”

No one paid any attention. Aimee tried to struggle to her feet. “You can’t do that! This wasn’t his fault.”

“It’s the perfect answer.” Solomon’s grin held a mocking edge. “Don’t you see? Kyle wants to be an alpha, and I’ll release him on the condition that he takes this man into his pack. That way, our secret stays safe, Blaise’s outcast loser won’t have to fight me, and David gets to have you after all. Everyone walks away happy, and no one gets hurt.”

Solomon’s pack nodded and muttered assent, but her heart pounded and tears sprang to her eyes. It was her doing that brought David up here. “David will get hurt.”

Solomon bent over her. “David will get a gift unlike anything he’s ever known.”

“What if David doesn’t want a gift?” David asked.

Kyle shook his head. “I can’t do it. I won’t do it.”

His alpha stood up. Aimee turned away from Solomon’s cock, which was dangling too near her face and pulsing with interest. “Oh, come now, don’t tell me you don’t want your romantic rival in your pack. You know this is the best way, Kyle. You caused all this. You’re going to have to suck up some consequences for it. Lord knows I’ve sucked up consequences for you.”

One of the men grunted assent. Kyle gritted his teeth and fell silent.

“Listen, assholes,” David said from across the cave, and Solomon finally turned to him. “I don’t know what the hell all was going on when I came in here, but I have no intention of being someone else’s consequence.”

Solomon sighed. “I know it’s a shitstorm of bad luck that you staggered into this steaming pile, but I’m afraid there’s only one way out. I’m sorry, David. I truly am.”

He nodded to his men, who began moving toward David. The two on opposite ends of the group shifted and gnashed their sharp fangs at him in warning.

“Stay back or I will shoot you,” David said to them, his gun moving back and forth between the pack members as he backed into the tunnel.

One of the wolves sprang at him. With another deafening roar, the gun went off. The wolf went down with a sickening yelp, but the second one was on David with a vicious snarl before he could get another shot off. David began screaming as the creature tore into him.

Aimee shrieked. “God, no! Leave him alone!” She was writhing in her restraints now, furiously tugging at the collar and chain in a futile attempt to yank the latter out of the cave wall. “Kyle, Dillon, help him! Damn it.”

Both of them stood frozen with horrified expressions as Solomon issued a stern command. “Jack! Stop.”

“David!” Tears streamed down her face while she shouted over the muffled ringing in her ears from the latest gunshot. “Oh, David, please.” Her arms and neck ached from trying to force her way out of the collar. “Jesus, someone get me out of this thing.”

“Relax,” Solomon said. “You’ll break your pretty little neck.” He eyed her up and down. “And the way you’re jiggling and writhing has my wolves thinking maybe it’s a mistake to let another pack claim you.” He inhaled and let out a growl of need. “I’ve been around a long time and have damn good control over my nature. But with your bitch-in-heat scent, even I’d love to sink my nine-incher deep in that hot, dripping cunt until you scream my name.”

She froze in wide-eyed shock as she realized that in her struggle to get free, she was no longer covering herself. Instead she was upright on her knees, which were parted wide in the dirt. The blazer had fallen completely open, exposing her breasts and pussy to the men who were now staring at her with a look she recognized far too well.

Dillon knelt down in front of her while she yanked the blazer closed. “Like hell, you’ve got nine inches,” he said. “Go stick it up your own ass, Solomon. Consider her claimed.” She was relieved to see that the blood had dried on his back and the wounds were no longer visible.

The man laughed and reached down to toy with the dick twitching between his legs. “We’ll see about that.”

Rage rose in her chest. “You stay the hell away from me. You killed David, and he did nothing to you.”

“Nothing? He threatened me with a gun and shot one of my wolves. And nobody’s dead.” He sighed. “Although it seems my plan for Kyle to turn him has been unfortunately waylaid.”

Two of Solomon’s men carried David by arms and legs, dropping him on his back in the middle of the cave floor. The jacket was gone, and his striped business shirt was ripped and bloody near the shoulder David clutched when they dumped him on the ground. He moaned in obvious pain as Aimee tried to crawl over to him, but the chain was too short.

“David!” she began to sob. “How bad is he hurt? Bring him closer. Let me help him.”

“Oh, that wouldn’t be a smart idea, hot thing,” Solomon said, standing over David with his hands fisted on his hips. “It’s a full moon tonight. The change is going to come on him almost immediately.”

“Shit,” she heard Dillon mutter. He circled her shoulders with his arm. “He’s right. I’m so sorry, Aimee. If only I hadn’t been such a smart-ass and taken that ring, this wouldn’t have happened.”

She shook her head and sniffed. “No, it’s my fault. I’d have come up here anyway. That seems to be all I want to do anymore.” Another tear dripped onto the dirt.

Kyle knelt at David’s side and unbuttoned his shirt to check the gaping wounds that were pouring red blood. “We have to get him out of here.”

“Where are you taking him?” Aimee asked, panicked.

“Nowhere,” Solomon said. “He’s in no shape to leave right now.”

Kyle folded his arms. “If you let him transform right where the woman he wants is chained up, you know the first thing he’s gonna want to do is get at her.”

“And that’s my problem why?” Solomon bellowed. “This shit is your fault, you disobedient son of a bitch. If you didn’t want him to have her, you should have claimed her.”

Kyle’s tone rose to a similar volume. “I would have claimed her if you hadn’t come in and stopped me.”

Aimee glanced back at David. The wound on his shoulder had not only stopped bleeding, but the holes were somehow closing. He didn’t appear to be in any less pain, however. He continued to moan, his head rolling back and forth in the dirt. He glistened with sweat and shivered as though a fever had come on him hard and fast. “David?” she said. “David, please talk to me. Tell me you’ll be okay.”

“He’ll be more than okay,” Solomon told her. “Just not until the infection completes the mutation cycle.”

Kyle looked up at her. “This isn’t safe, lettin’ him make the change here.”

“You got no choice,” Solomon said. “It’s already started.”

“It’s okay,” Aimee said to Kyle, wishing as she smiled at him that she felt the least bit of the reassurance she was trying to offer. “You’ll protect me.”

His return gaze was even less reassuring. “He won’t have our control. He won’t even understand what’s happenin’. He’ll tap into somethin’ deep and primal, and he’ll react without thinkin’. It could get ugly.”

“It already is ugly!” she shouted, spittle flying from her lips. She sniffed back tears. “You can’t throw him out into the wild alone just because I’m in here. Haven’t I done enough to him?”

She broke down at this point, sobbing so that her ribs heaved and tears dripped down into the dirt.

“He won’t be alone,” Solomon said. “He’s one of mine now, and we take care of our own.” He folded his arms. “Get his clothes off.”

“Don’t,” Aimee said. “You all might not mind prancing around naked, but give him his dignity, at least.”

“It’ll be easier for him,” Dillon said. “Trust me.”

Kyle pulled David’s shirt off and tossed it aside. When he began tugging on the zipper of David’s slacks, however, Aimee averted her gaze and watched Solomon turn to the man who knelt over the wolf David had shot. That wolf had morphed back into human form and was groaning in pain. His dark-haired pack mate dug a finger into the bullet hole, and the injured one tensed up and shrieked. The bullet came out between bloody fingers and was thrown in the dirt.

“Jack,” Solomon said.

The dark-haired man turned. His eyes were flaming in gold, and his pointed jaw clenched tight.

“Do you dispute my claim that David now falls under the rule of your alpha?” Solomon went on. “Or are you going to pull a Kyle and decide to go rogue, too?”

Jack shook his head. “I would never turn on my own pack.” He glared at Kyle, who flinched visibly while he tossed aside David’s remaining clothes. Jack wiped his brow with the back of his hand, despite the blood covering his fingers. “David is yours now. I’m sorry for interferin’ with your orders, sir. I know you meant for Kyle to take him as his.” Another look of animosity shot Kyle’s direction, and if Aimee wasn’t mistaken, a glimmer of jealousy as well.

“You were looking out for the pack’s best interest,” Solomon said. “It’s Kyle’s mess you had to clean up. There will be no punishment for your actions.”

Before Aimee could lash out with a reminder that there had been plenty of punishment for Jack’s actions already, David stopped moaning. Her eyes shifted to find him rolling onto his side, facing her. He was completely naked now. Although he was leaner than the others in the cave, he still had obvious muscle tone in every place that counted. She couldn’t help but look between his legs and then wonder whether girls in high school who joked about poor endowment were lying. None of the male anatomy she’d seen in the past few days seemed to confirm the possibility that small cocks even existed.

David tried to push himself up, but his arms faltered. He only made it as far as kneeling on all fours. His head was lowered toward the ground with his sweat-dampened bangs hanging in his face. His eyes were squeezed shut tight while his chest heaved with exertion.

Aimee let go of the blazer clutched around her and shifted her body to get as close to him as possible. Her neck throbbed from straining against the collar. “David?” she whispered.

He didn’t answer. His heavy panting grew thicker and more graveled until it almost resembled a growl.

“Best you don’t provoke him,” Dillon said, but she ignored him and yanked away when he tried to pull her back.

“Can you hear me?” she asked.

The odd panting ceased, and his eyes snapped open with glowing, yellow fire. She gasped at the intensity of that golden stare. It held less humanity than she’d ever seen when Kyle’s or Dillon’s eyes changed. Those eyes held no glimmer of the man she knew as they quickly raked over her exposed flesh.

Her heart faltered. “David?”

The growl returned, feral and terrible, and he lunged for her. Kyle was on him in a second, along with one of the others from the pack. David snarled, saliva dripping down the corner of his lips as he struggled against the other men and fought to get at her. Kyle had been right. Her heart hammered desperately inside her chest as Dillon drew her behind him, and she looked over his shoulder in shock at the man she’d never seen lose his cool until earlier that day. The chase around her desk had been her fault, too. He’d been reacting to her scent because she hadn’t been claimed.

And still hadn’t.

David’s struggle sent more dust flying into the air, but she could see every twist, tug, and contortion of his body while he tried to fight his way over to her. His penis was no longer hanging against his thigh, either. It stood straight out, purpled with veins and straining as though as desperate to get near Aimee as David was.

She gripped Dillon’s tense biceps while he crouched in front of her in a defensive posture. “Drag him back, Kyle,” Dillon shouted. “The closer he gets to her scent, the harder he’s gonna fight.”

“He’s strong as shit,” Jack said, who was on Kyle’s opposite side, trying to restrain David. “Would have helped to be able to chain him up instead of your woman. Hot as she looks with that collar on.”

Regret pounded through her veins. Locking herself into the restraint had been stupid, and the reasons for it kept multiplying.

David gave a powerful tug and loosened Jack’s grip long enough to lunge closer to Aimee, and he caught hold of the edge of her blazer. Dillon’s fist came down and knocked David’s hand away, and another beta in Solomon’s pack joined the struggle to finally pull him back and pin him face down on the ground.

Dillon had barely relaxed his guard and pulled Aimee in under his arm when David let out an inhuman shriek. Her stomach recoiled into a hard knot. “Stop it!” she shouted at the three men holding David to the ground. “You’re hurting him!”

“They’re not doin’ it,” Dillon said in a somber tone. “It’s the change.”

Another ear-splitting scream came out of him, and her tears returned. The three men released David and backed away. He got up on all fours again but made no move toward her nor even seemed to register that anyone else was there. Small twitches resembling nervous tics sprang up along the skin on his arms and face, which was contorted in obvious distress.

She whipped her head toward Dillon, who still had his arm around her. “What’s happening? Why is he in so much pain? You didn’t look that bad when you were fighting the change.”

Dillon embraced her tighter. “The first transformation is by far the most difficult. And painful.”

“It’s a damn bitch, is what it is,” Solomon said, watching David alternately lower his upper half to the ground, then come up on all fours and toss his head back. “Every cell in your body is trying to fight off the infection and reject the change. Ligaments and bone that have never morphed before are being altered, preparing to contort in wholly unnatural ways. It’s akin to childbirth, I’m told, only every inch of your body is being stretched, torn, and reshaped.”

His explanation was drowned out by David’s next scream. Aimee gaped in horrified despair as the small twitches grew into lumps of muscle churning beneath his flesh. She heard a sickening crunch when his mouth opened for the next cry of anguish, and this time his jaw didn’t close. It lengthened, one side at a time, while thousands of white dots began to sprout along the rippling muscles. Tears blurred her vision when his body began a violent shaking, and she hastily wiped at them with hands that were quivering as well.

For a strange moment, everything stopped all at once. No more crackling sounds, no more screams, no more rippling, crawling flesh. David’s eyes flew open and met hers. While they blazed with an animal orange-gold fury, she saw a flicker of recognition in their depths.

“Aimee,” he breathed in a half sob, half plea.

Her heart seized in her throat. “David.”

Then he was gone.

The animal took over, fur shooting out of the white dots everywhere at once, and his final shriek of agony tossed his head back as a man but then became the howl of an animal. The human part of David simply melted away to leave behind a white wolf.

Every male present shifted around her, including Kyle and Dillon. They raised their heads, calling out to the moon in a unified chorus that left her shivering. Kyle and Dillon flanked her, sitting on their haunches while they stared at the new wolf whose gleaming white fur was marred only by a black diamond between his eyes. The golden eyes blinked as if dazed for several moments. Then David staggered to get to his feet. He got all four beneath him but stumbled and fell on the third step. No one intervened. He tried again and again, and on the fourth attempt, he was able to walk toward her on shaky legs.

Kyle and Dillon issued low, rumbled growls with their ears forward and fur ruffled. David approached slowly but did not waver at their warning. Aimee tensed when he got within a foot of her but just held her breath. He blinked again, slowly, staring at her with a powerful gaze that was at once beautiful and frightening. His nostrils flared and he began to sniff the air in front of her. Kyle’s growl sharpened. Then the white wolf’s head dipped down to find her hand, which was gripping her knee. His nose pressed lightly to the ring on her finger, and he gave the diamond a gentle lick. His rough tongue left a wet streak along the back of her hand.

“He knows who he is,” she said, breathless. “He remembers.”

He moved closer, raising his head to her face. He sniffed at her ear, his cold nose sending a slight chill through her as he nuzzled down from her ear to her neck, pushing open her blazer with his snout. His front paws were nearly in her lap now, and his nuzzling became more intense. He rubbed his silken neck and chest fur along her body.

Dillon and Kyle snapped and shot forward, snarling and barking at David. He backed away from Aimee but held his ground, barking and baring fangs at the wolves on either side of her. She shrank back and pulled the garment tight over her breasts.

Then a roaring bark silenced all three wolves, especially David. He retreated immediately and stood with tail between his legs. Solomon strutted up, his head and tail held high and proud, and his teeth bared in a murderous wolf smile. He took hold of David’s muzzle with his fangs and pushed him down until his body lowered to the ground.

Aimee sucked in a breath. “Please don’t hurt him,” she whispered.

Solomon held David in this pose for a moment, growling all the while. When he let go, he barked a command, and David stayed in place. Solomon’s other wolves gathered around with short barks of excitement while Solomon moved around behind David and snarled another command. David lifted his tail and stood. Solomon promptly planted his front legs on David’s furry shoulders, effectively mounting him.

Aimee clapped a hand to her mouth. “God, what is he doing?”

“Solomon will assert his dominance now,” Kyle said, and her head shot around to see that he had shifted back and was squatting on his heels beside her. “And make the pack mark that will officially make David his.”

“Not the same way you were going to do it to me?” she asked, staring as Solomon’s fur-covered prick emerged red and wet from its sheath as he straddled David.

“Very much so.”

“But Solomon and David are both male,” she said, eyes wide. Kyle raised a brow at her, and she quickly added, “Not that I have a problem with that. It’s damn erotic when you and Dillon, you know. But David’s not gay.”

“It’s not about human preference.” Dillon was speaking now, and he smiled at her when she turned to see him back to his normal self, too. “It’s just a natural part of werewolf pack life.”

“Sex between pack members is part of our dominance structure,” Kyle added. “It also helps us tame down our urges We usually have to wait a fair span of time before findin’ our true mates. Sex helps us fight blood lust and the need to shift on a full moon.”

Her eyes wandered back to the two wolves, and her face heated with embarrassment at the sight of the animal on David’s back thrusting that cock beneath the other wolf’s tail. David didn’t seem upset by it, though. On the contrary, he was grunting and growling in obvious pleasure, and she could see that his dick was unsheathed and pointing out from beneath him.

“Don’t worry about David,” Kyle said. “He’ll be fine now. We got a much bigger problem about to rear up and kick us in the head.”

She stared at the writhing creatures and noticed that the other wolves were doing more than watching the show—they were fully aroused and moving in on the action. The dark wolf she knew was Jack walked up to David and nuzzled his neck, licking his ears and muzzle. “What bigger problem?” she asked.

“They’re caught up in a pack thing right now,” Kyle said, dropping his voice low. “They have to officially induct him into the group. Sexual tension is burnin’ through every wolf here. I feel it strong.” He turned to her and took her by the chin. “It’s about to get a lot fuckin’ hotter between them, and the second they finish markin’ David, he won’t be the only one tryin’ to bring the party to the sole unclaimed female in this cave. The entire pack will make a challenge for you.”

Her eyes shot open. “For me?”

He nodded. “You have to let me finish the claim, Aimee. Right now.”

Her eyes shifted to the wolves who were grouping together in very provocative poses. “But they’re all in here, watching.”

Dillon shook his head. “No one’s watchin’. They’re too focused on their own ritual right now. But it ain’t gonna last. And I’m not sure Kyle and I can fight them all off when they decide to challenge us for you.”

Her pulse shot into overdrive as she tried to picture what would happen if a pack of sex-crazed wolves were to come after her. She was chained up, and it would be six wolves against two. Still, how could she let her cowboys have sex with her in a cave full of wild animals? No, a cave full of wild men? Especially since David was one of them. It was just too bizarre.

She shook her head. “I can’t do this. It wouldn’t be right, giving myself over after what just happened to David because of me.”

Dillon moved into her line of sight, barring her vision of the other wolves. Her eyes met his, and they were churning with hot, golden need. Her stomach began to churn as well.

“You can do this,” he said to her in a smoldering tone that curled her toes. “You know you were meant to be mine, and you know why it has to be now.” He reached out and let his fingers lightly graze her throat, and the shiver that coursed through her stiffened her nipples until they tingled with desire. “Forget the rest, Aimee. Block out everythin’ that ain’t your need for me and your desire for Kyle. I’m goin’ to make love to you right here, right now. And this time, we ain’t gonna stop until you’re completely, inescapably mine.”

“Just keep it quiet,” Kyle whispered in her ear, close enough for Dillon to hear also. “I’d better sit it out, too.”

“Why?” Aimee asked, looking up at him over her shoulder and wondering if she was actually getting turned on enough to allow what they were proposing. “I want you, too.”

He gave her a smile, but a tight one. “They can still sense my emotions, and with everythin’ goin’ on, I don’t trust myself to keep a tight enough lid on ’em. Best if they can’t read my intentions and catch on.”

“But you have to be the one to make the mark.”

He stroked her hair. “Oh, I’ll be right here, darlin’. Don’t you worry.”

Then he pulled back, and Dillon’s hands were on her, sliding open her blazer to roam beneath the fabric over her bare shoulders while his lips took greedy little nibbles along her jaw. Worry vanished. Self-consciousness disappeared. The sounds of the wolves snarling and grunting in mating pleasure faded into no more than an erotic soundtrack, heightened by the electric sizzle of Dillon’s touch. Kyle’s presence was palpable behind her, even though he did not lay a finger on either of them. All other life and drama fell away as her blazer dropped to the ground behind her. Dillon stirred a yearning inside of her that shaped their need into the center of its own universe, and she knew that she had to belong to him before another night passed, with or without the threat of other challengers.

His mouth moved down to suck her aching nipples, and she no longer cared who watched while she gave into him. Keeping quiet while tingles of pleasure ran along her body seemed a monumental task, and she bit down on her lip to manage it. To reward herself, she reached down to take hold of the cock rubbing against her pubic mound, teasing her until wet juices warmed the insides of her thighs. His erection was pulsing with need, and she milked him in her fist while pressing the tip of his thick head against her clit.

“I’ve got no time or patience for proper foreplay, darlin’,” he said in a low growl. “I aim to take you right this fuckin’ minute.”

“Hurry up already,” she said, leaning in closer to bite his ear. “Fuck me and make me yours.”

She parted her thighs and tried to slide him into place, but she was too frantic with need and her motions were awkward. She whimpered in frustration, and with a sexy laugh, Dillon pushed her hand away and positioned himself. She felt Kyle close in behind her, and she shut her eyes on the wish that he had changed his mind and decided to join in after all. Instead, he settled his hands on her waist and lifted her up enough for Dillon’s cock to drive deep inside of her. She stiffened in bliss while Dillon wrapped his arms around her back and thrust that hot, stiff shaft down to the hilt. To stifle the cry that desperately wanted escape, she let out a low hiss of pleasure, but apparently it was louder than was prudent because Kyle reached around and clamped a hand over her mouth. Her cunt contracted and throbbed, and climax rushed up to an impossibly fast, breath-stealing peak. Dillon kept her right on the edge of that bliss, stopping his motions so his dick was still and buried inside her for long seconds on each stroke. Never had a divine heaven been such a hellish torment.

Kyle’s erection brushed against her ass as his hot breath caressed her ear. “No official speech this time. You’ve heard it before, and we all know damn well what we want.”

She pulled his hand off her mouth. “Third time’s the charm,” she whispered in jerky breaths as Dillon drove himself deep again and again.

“Dillon,” Kyle said, “fight it.”

“I know.”

“I love you,” Kyle said in a monotone voice. She tensed in surprise at the sudden declaration, which shocked her no less than if he’d said it with the emotion one might expect from somebody making it for the first time.

“Hurry, Kyle,” she said, grinding her hips against Dillon’s pelvis to try and bring her orgasm over the edge. “Do it. Make the claim.”

She tensed, waiting for the bite that had been thwarted twice before, and heard in his growl the animal flaring to the surface. She knew his jaw was lengthening as she’d seen before, that his fangs were erupting into place. Her eyes closed in anticipation of that sharp bite.

A rough hand closed around her arm. “Stop.”

Her eyes flew back open to see Solomon, who was no longer buried inside David. He had shifted back human and was staring down at her with undisguised lust. His cock was jutting straight toward her mouth, and she jerked her head away while trying to pull her arm from his grip. Kyle and Dillon growled in a warning that wasn’t remotely human.

In her struggle, her eyes fell to David. He hadn’t moved, but had also transformed back at some point and was staring straight at her with wild, golden eyes.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve had a change of heart about the woman,” Solomon said with a smoldering leer. “She’s too hot a firebrand to let slip away. Do not mark her until I think on it, Kyle. That’s an order. You will wait until my claim on David is finished.”

Frustration poured through her while her eyes and David’s held, both panting silently while they regarded each other’s flushed, desperate expressions.

“No.” Kyle shoved Solomon back and let out a low growl that stood her arm hairs on end.

White-hot needles sank into her shoulder, and she gasped at the pain that flared. Solomon glowered at Kyle, but made no move toward them. David watched with a flat, unreadable expression while Aimee gave into the bite. Then Solomon growled in disgust and marched over to David, bent him forward, and jammed his red, straining cock deep in the man’s ass. David barely had time to react before Solomon leaned over to sink his jaws into David’s neck. She watched his body stiffen, wincing while his eyes fluttered.

Her pain almost immediately gave way to an unbelievable flood of completion and erotic power that she saw reflected in David’s eyes as well. Their gazes unlocked when their heads tossed back, each of them lost in a private universe as they were called into rival packs. The tidal wave that washed over her raged with far more than mere orgasm. Her body lit aflame with emotion—love and joy and beauty shooting out of her until she imagined that white light must be visible escaping her pores. The sense of belonging was almost enough to crumble her to the ground, were Dillon and Kyle not bearing her up on her knees.

“Oh, Jesus, baby,” Dillon said, gripping her tighter as they knelt together with him still inside her. He buried his head against the unoccupied side of her neck. “Yes, Aimee. I feel you in me. You’re mine now. Really mine.”

“I feel it,” she somehow managed to whisper while Kyle pulled his fangs from her sensitive flesh. She pulled Dillon’s face to hers, and when their eyes met, she could barely breathe from the electric waves of emotion arcing between them. He kissed her with desperation that she matched readily, her tongue bold as it plunged into his mouth to sample his tangy-sweet taste. When she broke off the kiss, she also wriggled her hips back until his wet, partially erect cock slipped out. She held up a hand in a “wait” gesture and gave him a weighted look. He nodded with a smile, and she knew that they were in tune enough for him to know what she had planned. Her body wasn’t done after that tumultuous climax. She had to have more. And she had to have it from one man alone.

Her knees ached from their position, but she didn’t care. She maneuvered herself around to face Kyle. His face was handsome and undistorted, but a trickle of blood ran down the corner of his mouth to drip from his hard jaw. He flinched when she reached for him, but she persisted and gently wiped the smear away so she could survey his lip. He wasn’t injured, and it dawned on her whose blood he was wearing.

She glanced down at her left shoulder and saw fiery red punctures trailing thin ribbons of blood down over her breast.

“It shouldn’t hurt,” Kyle said, but he eyed the marks with a questioning look.

She shook her head. “It feels warm there, is all.” She scooted closer, letting her fingers trace the square, taut angle of his jaw. “I feel warm. Hot, even.”

Threads of the bond connecting their gazes sparked but lacked the unrestrained flow of energy she shared with Dillon. Was it because Dillon was the true mate and Kyle the alpha, or was Kyle still holding back?

She ran a hand along his smooth, muscled chest. “Do you sense it, Kyle? Do you feel that warmth between us?”

His cock was still hard and she felt it jump when she stroked his torso, and the gold in his pale blue eyes pulsed like a second heartbeat as he watched her. But his body was tense, and she saw a muscle twitching near his eye. “I feel it,” he said through gritted teeth, almost as if it pained him to say the words.

“Really?” She cocked her head at him. “I’m not so sure that you do.” Her hand smoothed lower down his body, over the abdomen that quivered beneath her touch. When her fingers grazed the velvet hardness of his dick, however, he captured her hand in his and pulled it away.

“You defied Solomon in order to have me,” she said, wondering why he was resisting. “How was it possible to disobey when he is your alpha?”

Kyle’s mouth twitched. “He’s not ‘mine.’ Not anymore. You are.” His eyes glimmered with a need that sent a rush of new wetness along the walls of her still-pulsating cunt.

“No, I’m not. I still feel the wall around you.” She was vaguely aware of the sounds of David, Solomon, and others culminating their union in what seemed mind-bending orgasms, but she was focused on Kyle. “The pack knows now that you’ve chosen Dillon and me. There’s no reason to fight off your emotions anymore. Is there?”

She saw the inner turmoil in his expression, the battle waging inside of him that she didn’t quite understand.

“Roll over on your back,” she said in a sultry, commanding tone.

He narrowed his eyes, but his growl lacked serious threat. “Few get to say that to an alpha, especially humans.”

She lifted her chin and enunciated every word while holding his gaze. “Lay down on your back. Alpha.”

“Why?”

With a smile, she twisted the hand he still held out of his grip. “Because while you have apparently claimed me, I have yet to claim you.”

The apprehension in his gaze began to crack, heat seeping through to flare his eyes bright yellow. “Bold words for a chained up slave.” An undertone of amusement colored the words as he flicked her collar lightly.

She gave him a coy smile and gripped the chain, sliding her hand over it the way she would stroke his cock. “Yeah, well I’m finding the whole bondage thing a lot hotter than I thought I would. Better you not waste it.”

That brought a seductive curve to his lips, and his eyes never left hers while he slowly lowered onto his back beside her. She wasted no time straddling his waist, and they both moaned when her damp pussy dragged along the rigid erection lying along his belly. She lifted up enough to fiddle beneath her and stick his cock along her soaking wet channel. After two tries she sank down, giving a gasp of shock when he bottomed out and took the wind right from her.

“Oh,” she said in a languid tone. “You’re almost buried to my throat.”

As much as part of her wanted to let the feeling of him being so deep wash over her, her body revolted when he groaned and rotated his hips beneath her. Her hips took control, grinding on his cock. Her thighs tensed as she rose up and settled down over and over, riding his pole until she had a momentary absurd image of taking a turn on a carousel.

“Are you sure that being a were’s mate won’t turn me into one too?” she asked, not missing a beat with her hip thrusts.

Kyle’s eyes rolled back while he appeared to struggle to retain composure. “My mark won’t affect you that way. Why?”

She wriggled herself to slam her hips on his pelvis harder, her breasts bouncing with each motion. “Because ever since I met you, I feel like there’s a wild animal inside me that’s desperate to claw its way out.”

“That so? I’m not sure I believe you. Yet.” He grabbed her hips tight while his wide hands helped grind her pelvis on his.

She shook her head, reveling in the feel of him working her hips to make her clit rub against his pubic bone. “It’s undeniably, irrevocably true. Why else would a woman who was a virgin twenty-four hours ago chain herself up in your cave and ride your cock in front of a pack of leering wolves?”

His eyes flashed, setting off little beacons of pleasure in her stomach. “You’re just sayin’ that because you’re tryin’ to get me to lose control.”

“No. But just for the record, is it working?”

With a feral growl, Kyle flipped their bodies over, and in a flash she was pinned beneath him. His rod still pulsed deep inside her. “Yeah. It might be workin’.”

He flexed his buttocks slowly and maddeningly to push himself down to her core. Every nerve ending in her body erupted in erotic tingles, and she tensed as pressure built in her pelvis. She wasn’t ready to come just yet. Not nearly. Yet the feel of being beneath her lover this way was exquisite. Every new position she had tried during her brief tenure as a sexual being unleashed a whole new dimension of eroticism, and while she thoroughly enjoyed dominating Kyle on top, she could definitely see the appeal of having him looming over her to take command of every stroke.

Desire was etched along every line and tense muscle on his rugged, masculine face, and her heart began skipping erratically as he stared down at her and swiveled his hips. She reached up to caress his face. “You are so damn sexy that I can’t stand it,” she said.

He jerked his head away from her hand. “Stop that,” he growled.

“Stop what?” She moved her hand along his face again, over the scar.

His gaze darkened and he pinned her arms over her head, no longer thrusting inside her. “Pretendin’ I’m not scarred, damaged goods don’t make it true, and it don’t turn me on.”

She scowled up at him. “The only thing that’s damaged is your common sense. I happen to find that scar damn sexy.” She lifted her head and ran her tongue seductively along the puckered groove. “Everything about you turns me on.”

Kyle twisted away so she could no longer see that side of his face. “Give it a rest.”

Aimee yanked her arms out from under his. “Is that what this is about? You’ll fuck me, but not make love to me because you think a mark on your skin turns me off?” He glared at her but didn’t reply. “Get off that pity train. When I say your scar looks hot, that isn’t just some hollow, patronizing claim. It’s a hard fact of sexual chemistry. So deal with my attraction to you already. Because it just got a whole lot more intense.”

With an angry little grunt, Aimee pulled his head down to hers and dragged his lower lip between her teeth while she began rotating her hips beneath him. “I love you, Kyle,” she whispered against his mouth. “And I want you to make love to me in a way that will let you know it.”

He stopped thrusting, his breathing ragged and hot against her lips as he studied her face. Her pussy throbbed for attention, but she lay still beneath him and fought the urge to gyrate her pelvis. Then he rose up so that he stared down from well above her, supporting his weight on his hands. “So you chained yourself up naked in a cave, ordered me onto my back so you could ride me wild durin’ a werewolf orgy, and now you expect me to make sweet love to you?”

She shrugged and fluttered her eyelids. “Is that a problem?”

He froze for a long moment, then let his head fall back while he pulled his thick, hard cock backward a torturous centimeter at a time until the wide head was stretching her entrance. There he hesitated until her heart hammered and her clit pulsed with vicious need. When his gaze returned to hers, his pupils were wide and rimmed in the orange-gold of an island sunset. That stare pulled her straight into its depths, where she could finally see him. Where she could see a longing that pierced her to the marrow.

He pushed his hips forward, and every inch grew more intense, more personal, until finally he let out a long, low groan. “Yeah, I think I can manage that.”

“Oh, God,” she whispered, spinning so high within his gaze that she knew she had to break contact, yet found herself unable to look away. Her body ignited with a blaze of yearning that made her wonder for a brief moment whether she’d opened a Pandora’s box she hadn’t been prepared for.

Aimee averted her eyes first, shutting hers when his next thrust threatened to unhinge her from reality completely. She’d wanted to experience his feelings for her, and now the intensity was almost too incredible to bear.

Her eyes fluttered back open when she felt him press a tender, feather-light kiss on her forehead. His expression when he pulled away melted her insides. “You have been one surprise after the other since I saw you standin’ in this cave at the exact wrong moment,” he said. “You ain’t nothin’ like I expected, Aimee Jo Stevens. But damn if you ain’t everythin’ that I want.”

She swallowed a thick lump that sprang to her throat. “Then show me.”

He seemed to unhinge at that. His eyes squeezed shut as he pumped himself inside her pussy, deep and long strokes that were far from the pistoning action of a man merely taking selfish pleasure inside a woman. Each time his cock bottomed out inside her, he touched a brimming pool of emotion in her and sent it rippling outward, wider and higher each time until she felt as dizzy as if she were on a roller coaster plummeting down a steep track. There was no denying that what she felt for the men she’d only known a few days was bigger than her entire body or spirit could hold. It flared and pushed out of her every time he moved, leaving her fighting to catch her breath.

The cave had gone completely silent now, save for her and Kyle’s ragged gasps with every stroke. As her impending climax suddenly sharpened toward the apex, Kyle bent down and whispered in her ear. “I do love you, Aimee. I feel so damn lucky that you agreed to be mine. I thought you never would.”

She felt a hot tear roll back along her temple into her hair, and his eyes bore a suspicious sheen when he rose up to look at her. “Oh, Kyle,” was all she could say. She threaded her hands through the back of his hair and pulled him down to her breast as he rocked against her. He stiffened and sucked in a breath, and together they shouted out an orgasm that took her completely out of the cave, Shay Falls, and her senses.

She was still clutching him tightly to her bosom, both of them panting heavily and slick with sweat, when she came floating back to reality some while later. When her eyes opened, Dillon was sitting above her head, stroking a hand through her hair. Every pair of eyes in the cave, human and canine alike, was riveted to her and Kyle.

Kyle raised his head from her chest and glanced at Dillon. “I’m sorry that I’ve been such a tight-ass,” Kyle said.

Dillon leaned over to grab one of Kyle’s round globes. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I kinda like your tight ass.”

She was entranced by the moment passing between the men when Solomon cleared his throat and shattered the reverie. “I hate to admit it,” the man said, “but I’d say what I just witnessed settles things rather completely.”

Kyle glanced down at her, then back up at the alpha. “Because you felt my love for her when we cemented the bond.”

Solomon shook his head. “No. Because I didn’t.” He stood up and tugged on his jeans. “And judging from the way you were looking at her while you two were making love, I know I should have.”

Without answering, Kyle pulled out of Aimee and rolled beside her. Dillon was there right away with her blazer to hide the curves she was no longer quite as eager to have on public display.

“The bond between us was severed the moment you marked your woman,” Solomon went on while Kyle and Dillon grabbed their own jeans. “I felt it clear enough. I’m just sorry I wasn’t thinking clear enough to realize it was inevitable before anyone got hurt.” He glanced her way, and Aimee knew he was apologizing as much to her as he was to Kyle. “And I’ve been a shifter long enough that I am not normally swayed by the scent of a female. That might have gotten in the way some as well.”

She nodded and glanced at David, who had shifted into wolf form again. He sat on his haunches beside two of the others. He wasn’t looking at her anymore. His attention was focused on Solomon.

“This is where we part ways,” Solomon said to Kyle. “I’m sorry to lose you.”

Kyle, who was tugging on his boots, stopped and faced the man. They stared at each other for a weighted span, their eyes flaring gold. Aimee wondered what passed between them in that moment.

The contact broke and Solomon turned away. His wolves fell into line and followed, except for Jack, who picked up the pack’s scattered garments and carried them along. David rose on all fours and brought up the rear, but stopped to gaze at Aimee with his new yellow eyes. The moment lasted as long as Solomon’s had with Kyle, and she had the odd feeling he was saying goodbye.

Then he turned and trotted off behind the pack.

“David,” she whispered. But he was already gone.

“I’m sorry,” Dillon said, coming over to put an arm around her. He was shirtless and barefoot, and his pants were zipped but still unsnapped.

Her heart thudded as she stared into the empty tunnel. “What about his job? His life?”

“He’ll be okay,” Kyle said, buckling his belt.

She scowled at him. “Will he? Neither of you seemed particularly happy with your situation.”

Kyle strode over and knelt in front of her. “Not always. But humans aren’t immune to hard times, either. Just because you get a raw deal don’t mean you can’t turn it around for good.” He tenderly brushed back a strand of her hair. “I did.”

“One of us should go move her car before the rangers have it hauled off,” Dillon said.

Her car. Aimee had totally forgotten that such mundane matters even existed.

“I’ll check on it,” Kyle said. “I’m gonna have to go grab my things and bring back the key to that collar, anyway.” He sighed. “You realize they most likely towed the car by now.”

Dillon nodded. “Probably.”

She crossed her arms. “Guess I’m stuck up here, unless I can ride a wolf home piggyback.”

Kyle shot her a wry grin. “I was thinkin’ more along the lines of drivin’ you back in my truck.”

Dillon arched a brow. “You have a truck? You never mentioned that.”

He shrugged. “I have a lot of things.”

“But you never mentioned it.”

“That’s because what matters most to me is right here.” He turned on his heel and snugged on his hat.

She rubbed at her neck, which was chafing from the heavy collar. “You two can stay the night at my place, unless you’re in a rush to get back to this dusty old cave.”

“Oh, you and I ain’t quite finished with this dusty old cave yet,” Dillon said, grabbing a hold of the chain. “Or this collar. We’ll discuss it while he’s gone.”

Kyle chuckled as he loped off with a sexy cowboy walk. “In that case, I’ll make it quick.”