KateUndone (4 page)

She opened her mouth, and he inwardly cringed, waiting for
the worst. Would she deny them? Demand they set her free? Would she insist
instead that they ease her heat then keep their distance, the way many Ravager
females used to?

Instead, Kate, who never cried, burst into tears.

Logan looked panicked.

Jesse felt the same.
Oh shit.
“Kate, honey, I’m so
sorry—”

“What took you so long?”

Chapter Three

Will Lawless stared at the lifeless curs before him with
bitter frustration. Mike and Toby lay broken and bloodied after confessing just
what they’d done to earn a night in jail. Ravagers at the mercy of the fucking
Salinas. How could any Ravager hold his head high when he let human enforcement
lock him up like a dog?

Will scoffed and turned away from them, preening in the
mirror. His room sat two floors below Kate’s. He’d booked it for the next few
days, content to wait her out while he formulated his best plan of attack. None
of the Savages had detected his presence, he was sure, or he’d now be dead.

He credited his new appearance as the reason for his success
in staying hidden. Will had cut his dark brown hair and cleaned it thoroughly.
No more remaining in his
guer
for hours on end. He made sure to bathe
daily, despite his distaste for human cleanliness. And he applied several
layers of deodorant and cologne, masking his natural scent with some citrusy
smell the humans preferred. He couldn’t do much about his claws that refused to
retract since his battle with the Savages a few weeks prior. Since that
skirmish that had ended the Lawless prime’s life, Will had been working on
plans for his new future. One that included Kate.

Under Nev Lawless’ reign, he’d been forced to wait until his
prime took a mate before finding one of his own. Nev had been a leader without
equal, or so Will had thought. Strong in
guer
, aggressive, dominant and
true to his roots. Yet he’d been bested by Eric Savage, and now the Lawless
Clan, as a whole, had been ordered disbanded, the name dead.

Fuck that. Will hadn’t spent the past three decades kissing
Nev’s ass just so he could bow to the asshole who’d mated a human, polluting
their bloodlines. No, Will intended to make his race proud again. With Kate by
his side, he’d sire strong young. He’d thought for a time that her older sister
Diana might suit him better, but the bitch had claimed a human. Soft, unworthy
and not too intelligent if she’d chosen a male without
guer
instead of
her own kind.

Kate had fire. The female had bested two of his men. He had
a feeling she’d taken Savages’ castoffs, Logan and Jesse, as mates to please
her prime, because she’d discarded them at the first opportunity. He remembered
how fierce she’d been a few weeks ago when he’d nearly had the prime’s new
queen under his thumb. The taste of Vicki Fox’s blood had been sweet, but
Kate’s would be sweeter.

According to Mike and Toby, she was in heat, and so enticing
they’d lost their minds and confronted her in a public coffee house, of all
places. For their stupidity, they’d earned just punishment. But for their
loyalty, he’d given them quick deaths.

Will shifted on the balls of his feet, uncomfortable with
his raging hungers in his man’s form. His cock was too smooth and too small. He
much preferred rubbing his furry shaft inside a male’s slick anus or a female’s
soft, unforgiving pussy. Nothing beat raping a smaller, softer lover. Reaming a
virgin hole, smelling a mixture of blood and his semen, never failed to get him
off. Even now he grew hard just thinking about it.

Taming Kate’s aggression would be fun, arousing and
rewarding. She’d make a fine breedmate and an even finer queen. Because once he
had her by his side, he planned on taking Eric Savage out of the clan for good.
Ravagers bowed to the strongest, the best. And Will wouldn’t back down until
all of the prime’s pack met their unfortunate ends.

He ran a hand over his short hair, not pleased at its
softness. Between the shampoo and his new cut, he’d lost the coarseness his
once untamable pelt had afforded. A knock at the door interrupted his perusal,
and he glanced away from his hard abs and erect shaft aching for release.

Will moved to the door and peered out at a slight female
wheeling a tray laden with something that smelled delicious. The rare steak
he’d ordered. He hadn’t anticipated he’d get his dessert included.

Will stepped back and behind the door as he opened it. “Come
on in.” After she entered, he quickly closed the door, grabbed the waitress and
slammed her head against the wall, knocking her dizzy. He tossed her on the bed
and threw the locks, then grabbed a cloth napkin and stuffed it in her mouth.
With one hand he held her immobile, his weight effectively dismissing her
attempts to go free.

The blood on her temple beckoned, and he licked it,
quivering with excitement to taste her fear, the smell of it like a ripe
perfume in the air. “Your timing is impeccable.” Will smiled and ground his
erection into her belly, cherishing her whimpers. “But you’re going to have to
work hard to earn your tip.”

* * * * *

Kate blinked away her stupid tears, embarrassed and
aggravated by her weakness when it came to Jesse and Logan. She felt so grateful
that they’d come after her, so damn joyful at the pleasure they’d given her
that her body still sang with undisguised satisfaction. How could she have,
even for a minute, forgotten why she’d been miserable in the first place?

To them she said, “I’m not okay. I’m in heat, assholes. What
do you think I’ve been doing with myself while you two idiots have been fucking
each other senseless?” Like hell they’d been celibate. One of the best things
in her life, until today, had been watching them love each other. Seeing strong
Ravagers take one another with affection and care was so sexy, even more so
when they turned savage, lost in animalistic desire.

Jesse and Logan exchanged a glance, then turned as one,
entered the bathroom together and shut the door.

What the hell?

She heard a toilet flush, water running and lowered voices,
but she couldn’t make out what they said.

They returned smelling of soap and raw male. God, she wanted
to eat them up. Both a head taller than her with broad shoulders, trim hips and
the lean, corded muscle of true predators, her mates looked enough alike to be
siblings. Like most Ravager males, they possessed brown hair and brown eyes.
But there their similarities ended. As she’d already seen, Jesse had a darker
side to him, one she couldn’t wait to experience again. From the look on his
face, she didn’t figure she had much time to wait.

Logan and he stood next to the bed as they studied her.
Jesse’s furrowed brow was so dear and familiar she wanted to smooth it out and
kiss him there.
No, not kiss him there, kick him there,
she reminded
herself.
He’d rather Vicki kiss him than you, don’t forget.

“It’s okay, honey. I know it hurts.” Jesse tugged the chain
between her breasts and she gasped in pleasured pain. “You still need it. Some
hot cock in that pussy.”

“And that mouth, apparently,” Logan added with a leer. But
on Logan, the look just made him sexier. “I bet more cum would tame that coarse
language. Really, Kate. Aren’t Ravager females supposed to settle down once
they take their mates? Why don’t you finish claiming us so we can take care of
you?”

She snorted, trying to ignore the tingles of awareness
spearing her clit as Jesse toyed with the chain. His eyes were so dark they
looked black. She hissed out her pleasure and glared at him. “Let’s just be
honest with each other.”

“Oh let’s,” Jesse agreed in a soft voice that sent shivers
down her spine.

Logan gave him a sharp look but said nothing.

Don’t say it, Kate. You’ll look like a jealous moron
.
Jesse tugged on the chain again, his lips quirked in an arrogant twist, and the
bitterness that had been growing inside her for weeks—for years—suddenly boiled
free. “You two have had a hard-on for Vicki ever since you laid eyes on her.
You never really wanted me. I don’t know if you just didn’t want to disappoint
Eric, or if you thought it would elevate your status in the clan to get a
female. But we all know you accepted me for the wrong reasons.”

On one of the most important days of her life, Kate had
stood before the crowd of Ravagers and listened as Eric acknowledged her
separation from his pack, as well as the creation of her new pack. Then he’d
said the words she’d waited forever to hear, that Logan and Jesse would be
joining her.

All her years of not being good enough, of simply existing
in her sister’s shadow, of being the unwanted, annoying little sister, had
suddenly been unimportant. The two males she wanted more than anything belonged
to her and her alone.

She’d been so happy, so briefly. Because seconds later Eric
announced he’d taken Vicki, a human, as not only mate but to be his queen.

Logan and Jesse had sworn, looking heartbroken, and she’d
left behind her mates and her dreams of a new life where she mattered as more
than a breedmate.

“I wish I knew what the hell was going on in that thing you
call a brain,” Jesse rumbled. “How the fuck you could think we still want Vicki
when we’ve been waiting
years
for you to get your head out of your ass
is beyond me.”

“My—what?”

Logan glared at her, no longer the happy-go-lucky seducer.
“Are you kidding me? Do you really think I give a shit about clan status?” To
her shock, his
guer
flared, taunting her to claim him. Normally she
could sense Logan, but she’d never felt him so intimately before. Their spirits
were nearly touching, and she could almost feel his pain.

“Well—”

Jesse cut her off. “I dreamed of a day when you’d claim me.
When I’d finally have a female of my own. Not just any female, Kate.
You.
But you walked away from me. From us.” Anger pulsed from him in palpable waves
of energy. His
guer
snarled at hers, poking, prodding, when normally her
guer
couldn’t feel his at all. “You kept pushing and pushing, Kate.
Always waving that pretty little ass, just daring me to take you the way I
wanted to. But out of respect for
you
, I resisted. Fuck the clan. Fuck
the prime. It’s
you
we want, Kate. And then you turn away from us like
we’re nothing but shit beneath your feet?”

She wanted so badly to believe him. But she knew what she’d
seen. “You were practically crying when Vicki became queen.”

He and Logan looked at each other then back at her in
bewilderment. “Crying?” Logan asked. “I had no idea a human could become queen,
but I was thrilled. Eric finally had a real pack, and the clan finally had a
queen. A queen means more young, children I’d hoped to someday have with you.”

Jesse nodded. “Logan and I never really belonged with Eric,
and we knew it. But we were with you in the pack, so it didn’t matter.” He
frowned. “Until we were finally given a chance to make you see us as more than
Eric’s fuck toys.”

“I never thought that.” She flushed. In some of her more
annoyed moments, she had thought that very thing.

“Yeah,” Jesse sneered. “You did. I knew it and Logan knew
it. But we thought we still had a chance, because you liked to watch us fuck.
We knew you were there, Kate. Oh not at first, but after. And we didn’t care.
We wanted your attention. But we only had it for a split second, just long
enough for you to twist the knife when you walked away from us at the claiming
ceremony.”

Logan nodded, his mouth in a tight, unhappy line.

Kate hadn’t thought about anything but her own pain that
night. “I didn’t think you’d miss me,” she said bluntly. “And how the hell
would I know anything about what you felt, since you never told me any of this?
After the ceremony, you left me
alone
.” She blinked back her tears at
the reminder. “I need mates who wanted me enough to do whatever it took to have
me. Males who were strong enough to hold onto me and show me how much they
cared. No matter what.”

Jesse scowled and tugged on her chain again. He reiterated
through his teeth, “We left you alone as a sign we cared for and respected you.
Ravager tradition is about the
female
choosing worthy mates, not the
other way around. You know that. You chose us then walked away,” his voice
rose. Jesse never yelled, never screamed.

She stared up at him in astonishment.

“How could you walk away from us?” Logan asked, suppressed
anger and pain vibrating in his voice. “I’ve always known you were mine. But
you were too young, and you weren’t ready. So I buried my feelings. Ravagers
aren’t supposed to love, are we?” He shot Jesse a side glance that the other
male ignored. Then he turned back to her with his fists clenched. “So I bided
my time, never knowing Jesse felt the same until we figured out we both wanted
you as more than a friend, as more than a female to
respect
,” he choked
on the word. “I love you, Kate. I’ve always loved you, and I’ve been waiting
for you to grow the hell up and see me. But instead you threw us away. You
didn’t even ask what we thought or felt. You didn’t care. Hell, maybe we’re
just too late.”

To her shock, Logan grabbed his clothes, threw them on and
left the room.

Kate didn’t know what to say. Love? Logan loved
her
,
not Vicki?

“That Ravager has never gone a few days without sex since he
matured. Not in all the time I’ve known him,” Jesse said quietly, the burn of
rage in his dark eyes. “But for you we waited. For an entire month we went
without, until I forced it on him. His
guer
suffered for you, Kate. And
you couldn’t give a shit.”

Tears blurred her vision. “That’s not true. I wanted him.
Him and you, but I thought…I was scared that you…”