Fire of the Wolf [The Gray Pack] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (8 page)

The kitchen behind her was immaculate, which proved Damon’s statement about their lack of cooking skills, and Caroline’s urge to get in there and cook something took her breath away. She desperately had a need to cook for her men and take care of them.

What the hell? Her men? When did they become her men? Caroline put her hand to her temple, trying to rub away this crazy possessive feeling.

“Caroline, are you okay? Is the house not okay? What’s wrong, sugar?” Both men stood before her with concern in their eyes. And was that fear on their faces?

“I’m good, just tired, and I got a little light-headed. I just need to eat something and maybe sit down.” She moved to the couch, and let herself get swallowed up in the overstuffed cushions. This is heaven, she thought as she kicked off the tennis shoes she wore and tucked her legs up under her.

She caught them smiling at her, and she blushed.

“Ummm, are we going to get some food, or can I least get a beer while you stand there staring at me?” They both jerked back to reality, and while Damon called for pizza, Devin headed for the fridge.

“So what do you guys usually do on a Friday night?” she asked as she took the ice-cold bottle from Devin who had already popped the top for her. She took a big swig of it, enjoying the feeling of the icy beer sliding down her throat, and then looked at Devin expectantly.

His eyes were suddenly like glowing emeralds watching her swallow the beer, and she wondered if he was picturing her swallowing him. He met her hesitant gaze, and flashing his dimple at her, he settled himself onto the couch next to her. He sat close enough to reach her thigh and rest his hand on it. He seemed to feel a need to touch her constantly. His fingers stroked her through the denim in lazy figure eights, and he took a deep breath before he answered.

“Usually Friday night we go out to a bar or club, or whatever if we’re not working. Depends on our schedule. Working at the firehouse in twenty-four-hour shifts means that we can’t plan too far ahead. Sometimes, we will go visit family just outside of town. What about you, sugar, what do you do on a Friday night for fun?” He watched her, almost like a predator watches his prey right before he pounces, but she tried to relax and just open up to him. She wanted to open up to them, which was unusual for her.

“I’m a homebody, so I don’t go out too much. Most Friday nights I would babysit Tyler for Molly so that she could work an extra shift at the restaurant she waitressed at.” She paused to keep herself from tearing up while talking about them. “I guess I will have to find new entertainment for Fridays now.”

“Gotcha covered. Just let me entertain you, Caroline, I promise you will enjoy it.” Damon tumbled over the back of the couch to lay next to her with his head on her lap. He wiggled his eyebrows at her, and she laughed at his dimpled, charming smile.

“Really? I’m sure I will be just fine entertaining myself, thank you very much,” she responded, laughing.

“Why do for yourself what someone else is willing to do for you?” he asked.

“What if I can do it better myself?” she asked. She was flirting with him, and enjoying it immensely. The double meaning of their banter was not lost on her, and she wondered for the millionth time what it would feel like to have both of them loving her.

“Then I guess you would just have to let me sit back and watch so that I would know what you liked,” he countered, and her breathing hitched. She liked this playful side to him, and she let herself reach out and stroke his cheek. His eyes closed, and he clenched his jaw. Startled that he wouldn’t want her touch, she yanked her hand back.

“I’m sorry, Damon, I didn’t mean to, ummm…I think I will go take a quick shower while we wait for the pizza.” She tried to jump up from the couch, and Devin stepped in front of her while Damon turned his face into her without lifting his head so that she couldn’t move. His eyes were in line with her breasts, and she felt her nipples harden at the close proximity of his mouth to them. He zeroed in on them quickly, and she watched his tongue dart out to lick his lips. She looked up at Devin to see the painful desire written on his face. She wanted these men, but she was scared.

“I don’t know what to do here, guys. I’m new to this. I’m not even sure what
this
is?” She closed her eyes tightly and rubbed her fingertips against her temple again. Trying to calm her heart and her physical reaction to Damon’s hot breath against her breasts, she slowly lifted her gaze, meeting first Damon’s deep-green eyes, and then Devin’s lighter green ones.

Damon moved his head away from her luscious breasts, and he sat up to face her directly. Devin knelt in front of her with his hands on her knees, and stared into her eyes.

“Don’t run away, beautiful. I definitely want you, and I love you touching me.” Damon sounded sincere, and she wanted to believe him, but she was so unsure of herself with these men.

“Caroline, we need to talk, and explain some things to you before this goes any further. But we need you to promise to keep an open mind and not freak out. Can you do that, sugar?” Devin asked her with such sincerity, and the pleading in his voice had her nodding her head. His hands were hot on her legs, and even though he didn’t move, her skin was prickling with desire. His words frightened her a little bit, but she wanted to hear what he had to say.

“When Damon rescued you, when he first picked you up and held you, he knew you were meant to be his mate. It’s fate that you belong to him, and he can sense it in his soul. Amazingly when I walked into your hospital room with him, I knew that you were my mate also. ” Devin spoke directly to her soul as he stared into her eyes, and the tension in the two men was suffocating as they waited for her response.

“Do you mean like love at first sight? You thought you loved me when you saw me?” she asked them warily. “That’s sweet, guys, but…”

Devin gave a slight grunt and interrupted her. “Sort of, but not exactly. More like soul mates, but I hope we will learn to love each other.” The vibration of his voice, paired with the heat their two bodies so close to her, brought back that foggy feeling in her brain.

“You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. I feel something for you both, but that’s lust, or maybe it’s the pain meds they gave me. I don’t know.” She paused, and then said, “Why do you keep calling me your mate? I’m not an animal.” She turned her head to ask Damon, her lips just inches from his.

“No, beautiful, you’re not an animal, but we are. Devin and I are werewolves.” Damon paused for her reaction, but she just stared silently at him.

“Like sprout-fur, howl-at-the-moon, and eat-humans werewolves?” Her wary gaze went back and forth between the two men, and her muscles braced to flee when he continued to talk.

“Caroline, we are human, but not completely. We share our blood with the wolf, and wolves claim a mate for life. Werewolves don’t eat humans, but I can’t deny that I sprout fur and enjoy howling at the moon.” Damon responded lightly, but Caroline kept quiet, processing everything they were telling her.

* * * *

Her continued silence made him nervous, so Damon pushed forward. “We need you to want to be our mate as well, so that we can claim you. In our world a woman is protected and loved by her mate, as well as protects him and cares for him. It is something we take very seriously. In order to claim you, you must willingly claim us as well. The mating bond can’t be created against someone’s will. We must make love to you, and leave our mark on you.”

She silently stared at him, and he wasn’t sure what to do. He couldn’t take the pleading tone out of his voice when he spoke next. “There is no other way. I can only promise we will go slow, and protect you from whatever your fears are.”

Moments passed with no response to what he had told her, and finally Devin broke the silence. “Please say something, Caroline. We need to know what you’re thinking.”

Damon’s wolf was struggling inside of him to get out and lay claim to this woman that was his mate. Her soft lilac fragrance drifted to his nose, and he watched his brother’s hand clenching open and closed at his side like he was physically grasping for his control.

“I don’t know what to say. I thought you guys were normal, and maybe even respectable. Now I’m scared that you’re crazy, and you’re trying to make me crazy, too. I’m in a home with two strange men I met yesterday after I almost died in a burning house, and they think they are werewolves, and I’m their mate. Now they want me to agree to let them fuck me, because they think they need to
mark
me in some way? I think I’m losing my mind! You two really need to work on your pick-up lines.” She started to giggle nervously, and the more she giggled the more it began to sound like sobs. Suddenly she broke down, and huge sobs wracked her small frame as she struggled to breathe through them.

We should have waited
. Damon glared at Devin while they both tried to console Caroline without scaring her more. Devin had his arms wrapped around her shaking shoulders, and Damon had his arm around her waist with his chin on top of her head.

We can’t wait, and you know it. She wants us almost as much as we want her, and if we fuck her without her knowing the truth she will hate us. She has to choose us, or we can’t have her.

I know, but I’m not sure I could let her go.

The doorbell rang, and Damon pulled away to get the pizza, leaving her clutching tightly to his brother as she sobbed. By the time he got back to the kitchen and set up plates and napkins, her sobs had turned to sniffles, and she watched him cautiously move around the kitchen. She pulled away from Devin, and he reluctantly let her go so that he could go to the kitchen to help Damon. They had to give her space, but they weren’t sure what else to do with themselves.

* * * *

Watching them move around the kitchen, Caroline immediately missed their closeness, and found herself getting up from the couch and following to be closer to them. As she moved around the breakfast bar, the brothers reached for her. Maybe they could sense her need for their touch, or maybe they just felt the same need to touch her? She decided she really didn’t care what the reason was as Damon wrapped his arms around her with her head on his shoulder, hugging her close, and she felt Devin cuddle up to her back with his hands resting on her shoulders and his nose in her hair. They stood there silently for several minutes before she broke the embrace.

“I want you. Both of you, so that part isn’t the problem, but I need some time. Let me think on it for awhile, okay?” She saw the flash of uninhibited joy go through Damon’s eyes when he heard her, and had to stop herself from laughing. This was serious, and they needed to understand that she wasn’t just going to just accept what they were telling her.

“We know that, sugar, and we want you to accept us willingly. When you are ready to talk more, just come to one of us, but until then, get used to having us around. We aren’t leaving your side.” Devin gently turned her around to face him while he spoke to her, and she could see the fear of rejection in his eyes followed quickly by a flash of possession. It heated her blood hearing him. She mentally fought her body’s horny reaction to him, and tucked her hair behind her ears in a nervous gesture.

Refusing to meet his possessive stare, she reached for the pizza box on the counter and quickly asked, “So what kind of pizza did you get?”

“Being wolves, we aren’t really into vegetables, so I ordered an all meat and a plain pepperoni. Is that okay?” Damon was already handing her a plate, and clearly wanted to hear her approval.

“That’s perfect, thank you. I’m absolutely starving.” She tentatively smiled at him and helped herself to two pieces of pizza.

They ate pizza together at the bar in companionable silence, and Caroline drank her beer, thinking to herself about what the men had told her. How could they think they were werewolves? Were they crazy or was she? She had to admit to herself that there were odd things about these men, outside of the fact that they wanted to share
her
with each other. When they kissed her their eyes always seemed to brighten, until it almost seemed that they were glowing. She had dismissed it before, but now…she just wasn’t sure what to think.

Surely they were just joking with her or trying to scare her? I’m a grown woman, and I don’t want to play games, she thought to herself. Well, maybe I will just call their bluff then.

“Show me,” she said quietly.

“Caroline…” Damon started to shake his head no, but Devin stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Are you sure?” he asked her, and she lifted her gaze to meet his.

“Yes. Show me. That way I can prove to myself if you’re crazy or not. I won’t accept it until I’ve seen it with my own eyes.” She kept her voice and gaze steady, but she could feel her insides trembling with nerves. Now that she had actually asked, she wondered if she was really sure she wanted to see it.

Nodding, Devin stood up and pulled her over to the couch. After she settled into the seat, Damon sat next to her and took her hand as Devin moved to the middle of the living room. She watched intently to see what he was going to do. Before she knew it, he had taken off his shirt, and his hands moved to the buttons on his Levi’s. Her breathing increased and desire filled her belly as her gaze ate up his tight abs and sculpted chest, following the trail of dark hair down to the top of the buttons on his jeans.