Blue Moon Brides: The Complete Series (37 page)

Also true.

One more reason he didn’t deserve the woman waiting for him inside the houseboat.
Maybe you could change some
. Part of him wanted to. The problem was, he didn’t know how and no book could fix his issues.

Luc waded into the water. “Women like to talk about their feelings. How many words you given her, Dag?”

Luc didn’t turn around, just kept pushing for the boat and that was fine, because Dag didn’t have an answer for that particular question. His Alpha was probably wondering how to undo the mistake he’d made in sending Dag after Riley Jones. None of them really knew how the blue moon worked, exactly. It was possible that the moon paired up the first wolf it found with the first bride. His claiming Riley could have been dumb luck on his part, because he was in the right place at the right time. Maybe, if Jackson had come after her, the youngest Pack member would have been shacked up and mated right now. Maybe he’d stolen Jackson’s chance.

Maybe she could even have been right for Luc, even if Luc was supposed to have found his mate years earlier. If Luc had, however, he’d lost her, because his Alpha was one of the most solitary males Dag knew. He’d skirted a wide circle around the Pack’s new mates too, although they’d all played some with Rafer’s new bride. Sensual, kinky games—the sort a man dreamed about. Rafer’s bride had liked that just fine, but she’d picked Rafer in the end. Moon or no moon, she was Rafer’s through and through and he was hers.

“Dag?” Luc paused, his hand on the ladder up the boat’s side.

Yeah.
Answer the question
. “We didn’t do much talkin’,” he admitted. His feet sank into the muddy bottom of the bayou with each step he took. The water didn’t reach higher than his knee here—explaining how the houseboat sat tight year after year—but it made it a hell of a lot easier to hear anyone coming. “Maybe we should have.”

Luc swung onto the ladder. “You think?”

Not often enough and that was the problem. “Why’d you send me after her then?”

He told himself he wasn’t waiting for Luc’s answer. Because, odds were, he wouldn’t like it much. Above him, Luc dropped lightly onto the deck and Dag took his turn on the ladder.

“Because,” Luc said, when Dag had his feet firmly planted on the deck, “You’re the best tracker we have and the Pack is light on man power right now. Plus, I thought you’d want the chance.
I
wanted you to have that chance. I thought maybe with Lark—”

Lark Andrews had let him touch. Her sensual enjoyment of his attentions had been a fantasy come true and he’d enjoyed the chance to share her with Rafer. He’d been damned lucky his brother’s mate had been open to it.

“She wasn’t mine,” he said roughly. “Riley is.”

Luc didn’t move. “Good. I still wan’ to check on her, okay? See for myself.”

“Why?” And that was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it?

Luc looked almost unsure for a fleeting moment. “I don’ know, Dag. I’m curious. I wan’ to get to know your female because she’s goin’ to be part of our Pack and that’s a good thing. From everythin’ I’ve heard, she’s a strong woman.”

She was. His mate wouldn’t make him weak. He wouldn’t let her. Plus, he suspected Riley would knee him in the balls if he showed any sign of weakness. She liked strong herself. Just remembering how much had him hardening again, because his Riley really liked strong.

She had plenty in common with Luc.

Luc, he realized, had been so busy being their Alpha, so certain he had to be strong all the time, that he didn’t have his own female. Wherever she was, it wasn’t here. She wasn’t by Luc’s side, keeping him company and kicking his ass when he needed it. She certainly wasn’t loving on Luc. That was damned certain. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Luc take a woman. Unfortunately, vamps loose in the bayou meant Luc wasn’t bride hunting anytime soon.

“Are we goin’ after the vamps tomorrow?” Best to find out the plan now, before he went inside and forgot about everything but Riley. “There’s one of him and six of us,”

Running and hiding didn’t sit well. Tracking, however, was a whole other game.

“And three of us have new mates.”

That wasn’t a yes. And Luc couldn’t count. He’d start with the easier battle.

“Four.”

Luc raised a shoulder. “She’s got to say it.”

“All right.” Dag gestured towards the closed door. “Let’s go in and meet her. Do some talkin’. Some lovin’.”

Luc smiled slowly, his hand closing around the doorknob. “You sure,
boug
?”

He was. “We got to ask her,” he warned. “Maybe she won’t wan’ to play tonight. But asking’s half the fun.”

Reaching past Luc, he palmed the door open.

By the time Riley had the rope half-undone, it was pitch-black inside the houseboat. That was okay by her. She’d always liked nights on the bayou and her night vision was excellent. The sleepy sounds of the bayou settling in drifted in through the windows. Dag had dropped the mosquito netting around her, although she could have told him the bugs didn’t bother her much. She wasn’t sweet enough, or so her brothers claimed. It could be true.

The sound of low male voices on the deck floated into the room on the heels of the cicadas, the words partially muffled by the door. The rumble warned she’d missed her chance to escape. The only question now was whether she hid the evidence of the crime or brazened it out. Unfortunately, she’d never learned how to hang back or hide, so brazen it was. She lifted her chin.

What if it wasn’t Dag? She embraced the familiar—and welcome—anger. He’d left her here, a sitting duck for whatever came at her. She’d focus on her mad not her fear.

When the door eased open, her breath caught. Calling out Dag’s name would give away her position, so she didn’t. A quick taste of the bayou night wafted through the door, but the damned thing opened and closed so fast she barely spotted the silhouettes slipping through the opening. Two men, both large and sure-footed.

The latch clicked loudly into place.

Her pulse shot up. Was Dag playing another game with her? He liked playing. She’d gamble on that.

“Dag?”

“That’s not my name,
chére
.” The voice from her right had her head swing around. The unknown man chuckled. “He tied you up good, didn’t he?”

His words made it clear he knew Dag. So, logically, Dag had to be the other man. Okay. She could work with that—and yet she was intensely aware of the rope binding her right wrist to the bed. Worse, when she shifted to face the voice, the sheets rustled and the bed squeaked. Loudly. Those were sex sounds and she didn’t need to put any ideas into the stranger’s head.

And yet the stranger’s low laugh made her head buzz. “You’re not goin’ to see me,
chére
, if I don’t wan’ you to.”

She tried anyhow. She could have told him the word
no
wasn’t in her vocabulary. “There something wrong with the way you look? Did you shift all funny?”

He stilled.
Score one for me
. “Why would you say that?” he asked finally.

He’d moved closer. One more step and he could reach out and touch her. She honestly wasn’t certain where the little pulse of excitement in her belly came from. She’d teased Mary Jane about hooking up with the Breaux twins, but hadn’t been sure if she’d really do it herself. Now, she thought, hell yeah. She’d come a little too close to death and dying this week. Any sexual fantasies she had were getting moved straight to the top of her bucket list.

“Are you asking how I know you like to run around on all fours as wolfie?” He smelled dangerous. Whoever Dag Breaux had brought here, he was no tame house pet. Mentally, she ran through the list of Breauxs, although she supposed it was certainly possible the bayou hid other families of shifters. The bayou liked keeping secrets.

“Yeah,” he drawled and she felt him bump up against the bed in a move that had to be deliberate, because no way a shifter was ungraceful or moved accidentally. He wanted her to know how close he was. “I think that’s exactly what I’m askin’.”

She shrugged and wondered if she had enough time to finish undoing Dag’s knots before this man pounced. Probably not, she decided regretfully. Not only were shifters fast, but Dag’s knots were horribly complicated. He certainly hadn’t underestimated her.

She held her free hand up at him, fingers up, then proceeded to count off her points, bending a finger to emphasize each.

“One. You found this place, so you’ve either got great tracking skills or a great nose. Two, Dag’s lurking over there in the corner, so he knows you and he’s okay with you being here.” She blew her self-proclaimed a mate a sultry kiss, because, yeah, she enjoyed riling him up. “Dag doesn’t strike me as being overly friendly, so odds are high you’re part of this ‘Pack’ of his. Three, you ninja’d in the door and I’ve only seen a few other creatures move like that. Dag’s brothers, Dre and Landry, and those vamps. Since you haven’t bitten me, I’m thinking you’re no vamp.”

“I’d be happy to bite you,” he drawled, but she ignored him and kept right on talking.

“And four, you smell like wolf,” she finished cheerfully.

Oh, look. She probably should have come up with a point five, but she figured her middle finger pointing up in the air was message enough.

“She’s sassy as hell,” the stranger growled and, even though she knew he wasn’t talking to
her
, she jumped in.

“Not my problem. You don’t like it, you leave. Since I’m tied up at the moment.”

“Maybe introductions are in order,” the stranger said slowly. He sounded pleased about something, which likely meant she was in trouble.

A large masculine hand reached for her arm. He’d moved closer, she realized, but was still all shadow and no details. If the rest of him matched that hand, however, he’d be an impressive specimen.

“So you do have a name?” Her stranger’s hard, sure hand stroking down her arm just about had her coming out of her skin.

“Luc,” he said finally, when she’d almost given up on him answering. “I’m Dag’s brother.”

“As in: genetically or because you like the same things?” She twisted her head, trying and failing to make out Dag’s face in the gathering shadows. Luc smoothed his hand up her arm and over her shoulder, massaging the tension right out of her neck—and turning her face away from him. Toward where she suspected Dag stood.

“That worry you?

“I’d like to know.” Apparently her sexual curiosity did have some limits after all.

He dropped onto the mattress behind her, close enough for her to feel the heat of him. She wasn’t sure where this was going or even how far she’d let him go.

“We’re not related by blood,” he admitted. “Although we sure stuck together growing up.”

“Where?” She knew she was flushed, could feel the heat on her cheeks. Thank God for sitting in the dark. Neither Luc nor Dag could see her uncertainty. She could try whatever she wanted.

“Not here,” he said, sounding amused. “Across the pond,
chére
, in France. But that was a long time ago. Breauxs have lived in the bayou for years.”

She sensed he was holding back, doling out words like treats. Fine by her. Tonight, she didn’t want answers. She wanted to feel. To remember she was alive with plenty of living still to do before she died. Some of which she planned on doing in the arms of the Breauxs. She had no idea what was really going on here. Dag had called her his mate, but she didn’t believe in his blue moon voodoo. There was, however, no point in denying the intense sexual chemistry they shared.

Apparently the rumors were true.

The Breauxs shared everything.

She shouldn’t have found that idea so arousing, but she did. She’d made a point of never lying to herself, because if she couldn’t trust herself to be honest, she couldn’t trust anyone. Dag had driven her crazy yesterday and she’d spent far too much time today imagining how a repeat performance might go. Luc leaned in and pressed his mouth against her bare collarbone.

Heat shot through her. Yeah. He was almost as lethal as his brother. When his tongue brushed her skin, her breath caught at the erotic rasp.

“Dag here says you chose him.”  His fingers tugging gently on the wash-worn cotton, baring more skin. Her shoulder. “That true?”

She looked towards the man watching her from the shadows.

“He sure thinks so.”

“But you’re not convinced?” His raspy voice sounded like he didn’t care much either way. Maybe he just didn’t like silence. Or maybe he wanted to distract her, because his fingers laced around her wrist, raising it to the other one tied to the bed. “Hold on.”

The authority in his voice was pure turn-on. Her body melted, warming up for him. She’d put alphas on her personal no-fly list, but these two had her rethinking her rules. She wanted everything and anything he had to offer.

Letting go, she tried to turn around.

“Uh-uh.” He replaced her hand. “We’re playin’ by my rules, if we’re playin’ at all.”

“Do you wan’ to play with us?” Dag’s voice slid out of the darkness, low and husky.

“Hell,
boug
, it sounds to me like she’s not sure she wants you at all.” Luc’s low laugh simply stoked the fire inside her higher.

“She agreed last night.”

“Uh-uh.” Luc played with the hem of her T-shirt, dragging the cotton up an inch at a time. He knew exactly how to play this game. “And I’m bettin’ you waited to ask her until you had your tongue snug inside her pussy.”

Last night. Oh, God.  She’d wanted Dag in her and on her, kissing and touching her in ways she hadn’t imagined she’d enjoy. Just remembering those long hours had her wet and tight, her body jonesing for a repeat. She hoped like hell Dag planned on joining her in this bed because she needed him badly.

“So I’m thinkin’,” Luc continued, “we’d be askin’ her earlier tonight.”

“Ask me what?”

Finally, Dag moved closer, his knees bumping the foot of the bed, his big hand wrapping around her ankle. Reaching out, he ran a thumb over the arch of her foot, pressing.
Pure bliss
. She had to wonder how good his night vision was, seeing as how he was part wolf. Because all he’d given her to wear was this T-shirt. If she shifted her legs, he’d have one hell of a view from where he was sitting. She liked the idea of getting him all hot and bothered, so she put her theory to the test.

Parting her legs, she sank back against Luc. She wasn’t letting these boys drive tonight, not all the way and certainly not all night long. Allowing a pair of alpha males to take charge guaranteed she’d have a hell of a good time, but she also wouldn’t have a
say
and that mattered. Still, the sensation of her folds parting and the cooler whisper of air was good enough to moan about, and then the hoarse curse from the bottom of the bed answered her question. Dag could see just fine.

Luc nipped her ear, slipping his hand beneath the shirt and flattening his palm on her belly. “You wan’ to play with us wolves tonight,
chére
? Take a little walk on the wild side?”

She should definitely say no.

Whatever this mating business was, she should run fast and far. She’d never been looking for happily ever after because she knew all too well how fast and how bad a marriage could sour. Dag wasn’t domesticated. He’d be hot sex, sure, but he’d also be trouble. Deep, deep trouble. The problem was, his hands closed over her feet and the simple touch had her ready to beg for more. She liked him.

And that was the real problem.

He was big and grumpy, with no idea how to talk with a woman. Hell, she’d bet he didn’t spare his brothers many words, either. But he looked at her like she was the center of his universe and that surprised and pleased him as much as it rocked her own world.

“Dag?” She needed to hear this from him. If she gave in to the sensual curiosity teasing her, would he back away? Blame her for this in the morning? “You want this?”

“You’re beautiful,” he growled. “And whatever you wan’ works for me.”

Except for leaving, but she’d fight that battle later. Tomorrow. Any time but right now, when her body was going up in flames and these men were offering to make all of her fantasies come true.

Behind her, Luc stilled. Waiting for her answer, she realized, because he wouldn’t force this. When she wiggled impatiently, his fingers didn’t move. Nope. Definitely waiting.

“Okay,” she said breathlessly, giving in to the desire and because she wanted to.

“And you’ll play by my rules,” Luc warned.

“As long as I feel like it,” she promised recklessly. There was no point in lying, after all. She simply had no intention of playing by their rules for long. Dag got it, because he gave a short bark of laughter and slid his hands up her legs. To her utter delight, his big body followed.

Luc dropped his head, his next words a hot whisper that shot straight to her pussy. “Kneel up.”

She could do that. Awkwardly, she struggled to her knees, the mattress shifting beneath her knees. As soon as she was upright, he wrapped an arm around her waist and swung her around to face the headboard.

“You’ll play by my rules as long as I say so,” he countered. Before she could protest, he carefully wrapped the fingers of her left hand around the right bound to the bed. “Don’ let go.”

“What are you going to do?” Her question didn’t keep her from following his order. Dag’s hand helped her find her balance on the bed and then he tucked the shirt up around her breasts.

“She don’ care much for surprises, does she?” She could hear Dag’s smile as he asked his question.

Luc leaned in. “That clearly depends on who’s doin’ the surprisin’.”

Big hands traced a surprisingly delicate path down her bare back. She arched into his touch, which wasn’t hard enough or deep enough to satisfy the ache he’d roused in her. He explored lower, cupping her ass, and that was so much better she moaned again. Luc knew exactly how to touch her. Hard enough to please, not quite hurting, with a rough edge promising nothing was off limits.