Shay's Shifters [Mountain Men of Montana 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (12 page)

“Tell her the rest.” Walker’s eyes darkened.

“What’s he talking about?”

“Shay, even if the time was right, you couldn’t leave by yourself. You have to have one of us to lead the way and get you through. If you tried, you’d never find the way out.”

“So I’m stuck here until you decide to let me go? I thought I wasn’t kidnapped, but I’m a prisoner all the same.”

“Again, I know that’s how it seems, but I had no choice.”

She rested back on her hands, her eyes clouded in confusion. “This is all too much, and you haven’t even told me about the werewolf thing yet.” She laughed, a short, caustic sound. “The werewolf thing. I can’t believe I’m saying those words.”

Walker took his hand off her but leaned forward, his intensity flowing off of him. “Maybe you should take some time to let what we’ve told you sink in. We can tell you the rest later.”

She shook her head vigorously. “No way. I want to hear it all. Keep going.”

Rosh grabbed the bottle containing wine and then four cups. “Let’s have a drink. I think we’re all going to need it.”

Shay took her cup, as did the others, and waited for Rosh to pick up the story. She took a long drink, closed her eyes, then opened them and settled her gaze on him.

“The stories you’ve heard all your life are real. On The Outside, we’re ordinary people with regular lives and jobs. I was an attorney, Renkon did all sorts of jobs, and Walker was a plastic surgeon. We did well and had money, but we weren’t happy there. How could we be when we had to hide what we were?”

“Werewolves.” Her eyes grew big as she turned to Walker, the question she’d asked before written on her face.

“Yes, I’m a werewolf, too. But not everyone in The Hidden is.”

Rosh took a drink. “I’m not sure who found The Hidden first because it was so long ago, before records were kept. Some say it was a Sioux warrior. But from that point on, certain people of the supernatural world have used it as a place where we can come, shift without fear of being seen, and run free and wild. As werewolves, we can hunt the regular animals of the forest and get lost in our other side.”

“Kind of like a Club Med for supernaturals, but the vacation never ends.” Renkon grinned. A little humor never hurt.

“Renkon’s right. If we didn’t have this place to release and let our other half out, I think we’d go crazy. Other supernatural beings can live on the outside and be fine, but the ones who make it inside here are different. I don’t know why that is, but I know it’s true.”

“So you’re telling me that not only are there people like you here, there are more of them on The Outside”—she added quotes around the words—“living with humans, and no one knows it?”

“That’s right.” Walker helped himself to more wine.

“Holy shit.” She chugged the rest of her drink and let him refill her cup. “Are there communities of supernaturals? Like in Los Angeles and places like that?”

“Exactly. And even in smaller towns across the country and spread out over the world. Most of the werewolves, at least, tend to mate two or more men to one woman, so if you see that kind of arrangement, it could mean that they’re werewolves.”

Her eyes grew big again. “Oh, my God. One of my best friends, Tatum Griffin, is living with three men in Passion, Colorado. She told me they’re special and different, but I thought she meant the normal kind of special and different. Could she be involved with werewolves and not know it?”

Renkon wanted to hold her and comfort her. “First, we consider ourselves normal, too. Some of us, from werewolves to fairies to shape-shifters, were born the way we are. Other shifters were made, changed by someone else. But to answer your question about your friend, no werewolves would do that without the woman knowing what they are. But, yeah, it’s possible that she’s involved with supernaturals. I’ve heard that Passion has a fairly large shifter community.”

She put her cup down and put her hands over her face. Was she crying? Had they told her too much, too soon?

* * * *

This is crazy. I’m sitting in a hut with three gorgeous men who are telling me they’re werewolves. And that they live in a hidden world deep inside a mountain.

She dropped her hands and swallowed hard. She wasn’t dreaming, not when Walker’s touch was real enough to send shivers through her. Even after all they’d told her, she ached to pull them to her and let them do whatever they wanted to her body.

“Are you okay?”

Renkon, the more easygoing one of the three, stared at her, worry making lines in his forehead where usually there were none. She didn’t want to be the cause of that. “Yeah, I’m okay. I just need a little time. But you have more to tell me, don’t you?”

“You need to know about Burac and The Cursed.” Walker fisted his hands. “After what they almost did to you, I could throttle each and every one of them.”

“It’s one of the few things we agree on.” Rosh shot her a soft look. “Aside from you, of course.”

“What are they? Another kind of supernatural?”

“Yes and no.” Renkon’s tone was mellower and filled with pity. “They’re…different. We don’t know why it happened since they came into being a long time ago, but the tales say that they were born to werewolf parents but they couldn’t change. You see, werewolf babies will transform within a few weeks of being born. It’s only a quick change, and I won’t lie, it’s painful, but it gets their body ready to morph into a full werewolf later on. But the legend says that The Cursed tried to go through the change and made only a partial transformation. They’re stuck between their human and werewolf bodies.”

“So that’s why they look the way they do.” As hard as it was to believe that she could feel anything but revulsion toward Burac and his kind, her heart bled for them. “That’s the thing that I almost hit before I ran off the road. So they’re in the real world, too?”

“Only Burac can leave The Hidden. The others don’t have enough power. But he can’t go far.”

“Thank goodness. I’d hate to think of those things running around the city.”

“If they got out, they’d expose not only themselves but all other supernaturals, too. We’re trying to make sure that Burac can’t leave, but sometimes he manages to get out for a short time.”

“Our ancestors lived in a different era, when only the strong could survive. Nonetheless, they couldn’t bring themselves to kill the poor things so, once the babies had grown into children, they brought them here to live or die on their own.”

“But surely their parents loved them. How could they abandon their children?” She didn’t care what problems a child of hers might have, she could never turn her back on him.

“It was a harder time. Our kind was barely surviving. They did what they thought was best for the pack.”

She understood what Rosh was saying, but it didn’t make her feel any better about it. “Obviously some of them survived.”

“They did and even flourished, breeding among themselves.”

“It’s why they hate the rest of us.” Renkon took a drink then set his cup down. “Their kind wants revenge for abandoning their ancestors, but I think their hatred is fueled by jealousy, too. They want what we have, our homes and our families. Instead, they live like brutal animals, unable to control their beast sides. They try to harm us whenever they can, but they’re cowards at heart. Although they’ll attack groups, most of the time, they wait to catch one of us alone.”

“Have they killed anyone?” How close had she come to losing her life?

“Not until recent years.”

“About thirty years ago, Burac was born. He’s more intelligent than the rest, but he’s also crueler. He rules over them, and they do as he commands. Until he came along, they’d never managed to kill one of us. He wants to rule The Hidden.”

“Tell her what else he wants.” Walker rose and paced to the door to pull back the flap. He stood, staring into the night.

Rosh didn’t answer right away. Instead, he and Renkon bowed their heads, keeping their gazes from hers.

“Tell me, Rosh.” Her words came out a whisper.

Rosh lifted his head, his dark eyes flashing bits of amber. “He wants you.”

She was a strong woman, both in body and in mind, but she couldn’t hide the panic Rosh saw in her eyes. If he could take away her fear, he would. But maybe being afraid would make her realize how close she’d come to disaster.

“Why does he want me?”

She had to know, had to be ready if Burac tried anything else. “The Cursed believe that if they mate with a human woman, then their children will have more human blood running in their veins. Then their children’s children can mate with a human and dilute The Cursed’s bloodline even more. They think that it will eventually bring their race back to human form and might even allow them to leave The Hidden.”

“He wants to mate with me?” Her hand came to her throat. “Oh, crap. That totally sucks.”

Her spunk always made him smile. “You can say that again. But we won’t let him get to you. Or at least, we’ll do our best provided you listen to us and stay put.”

The flash of anger in her eyes brought him relief. After everything she’d gone through and all that they’d told her, she wasn’t ready to acquiesce to his orders. Still, she had to realize that they were only trying to keep her safe. “It’s for your own good.”

“You can understand that, can’t you, Shay?”

Renkon’s softer approach reached her, as he saw the fire in her lessen. “Yeah. I can.”

“Good. Then we won’t have to worry about chasing after you again, right?” He knew he was pushing, but he had to make sure.

“I said so, didn’t I?” She tugged her dress over her knees. “I’ll stay until you can take me home.”

“If you still want to go by then, I will. But I’m hoping you’ll want to stay on. In the meantime, promise us that you’ll get to know the others. Look at how they live. Look at how they love.”

“I think I already got an eyeful of that part of their lives.” The corners of her mouth twitched up.

“I’m not talking about sex. I’m talking about how they treat each other. Get to know the people of The Hidden. Get to know us better before you decide. Can you promise that you’ll do that?”

“I can live with that. And until I leave, I sleep here? Alone?”

Rosh felt his cock twitch in anticipation. “Yes. But not alone. Renkon and I will be here.”

“And me.” Walker faced them, his eyebrow lifted to dare Rosh to argue.

Rosh ground out his words. “We haven’t told her about that.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “It seems you didn’t tell me a lot of things. So spit it out. What else don’t I know?”

“We want you as our mate.”

She gawked at Renkon. “As your mate? You want me to what? Live here for the rest of my life? With all of you?”

Rosh tossed a hard look at Walker. “When I brought you inside, that was the same as declaring to the others that I intended to take you as a mate. Along with Renkon. We’ve wanted to find one woman to share since we were teenagers living on The Outside. I thought that all came to an end when Renkon left home and didn’t return. But I found him, along with The Hidden, and we’re here to stay.”

“I want you, too. I knew it from the first second I saw you.”

Walker glanced at Rosh as though expecting him to argue, then went on. “In The Hidden, a woman has the right to choose who she will mate with. If one man doesn’t like the next man she’s chosen, then he can decide whether or not to stay with her. But I’ve never seen anyone turn down their mate or refuse to accept her choice in a lover.”

“Although Walker and I aren’t exactly friends, we both care for you and want you as our mate, along with Renkon. I think caring about you has made us see the light. We’d do anything for you. Even if that means accepting each other.”

Walker chuckled along with him. “He’s not right a lot of the time, but this time he is.” He winced at Rosh’s glare. “Sorry. That didn’t come out right.”

“What these two are trying to say is that the three of us have fallen for you. We love you, Shay. Sure, we’ve only known you for a short time, but as far as we’re concerned, love doesn’t have a learning curve. We knew you were the one before you’d even opened your eyes. We want you as our mate for the rest of our lives.” Renkon touched her hand. “If you’ll have us.”

“So let me make sure I’ve got this right. All three of you want to be my mate. Together. At the same time and sleeping in the same bed? Holy shit.”

Rosh couldn’t tell if that was a good “holy shit” or a bad one. “You don’t know us well, I realize that, and we don’t know you very well, either. But werewolves have a sixth sense about these things. Most of us recognize the woman we want as our mate within a few days, even a few hours of meeting her. Humans call it falling in love at first sight. It’s rare for humans, but for my kind, it’s the rule rather than the exception.”

“My father fell in love with my mother two hours after they met. He said he knew she was the one when she took a huge bite out of his ice-cream bar then wouldn’t give it back.” Renkon was all smiles. “Love isn’t logical, especially when dealing with werewolves.”

“You can say that again. Nothing has seemed very logical from the moment I woke up here.” Her mouth parted, tempting him to kiss her, as she gaped at Renkon. “Wait. Does that mean you were born a werewolf?”

“Yeah. All three of us were, but not all werewolves are. Some are born and some are changed.” Rosh hoped they weren’t overwhelming her with everything they were telling her. “If you agree to stay, you can decide to stay human or you can become a werewolf. But don’t think about that part yet. Make that decision later.”

“Shay, do this for us. Try listening to your heart before deciding. Humans may not have the instincts we do, but they do have intuition. After a few days, we’ll ask again for your decision.”

“We’ll accept whatever you decide.” Walker pivoted to glance outside again then turned back. “We’ll leave you alone for tonight so you can think. But soon, we’re going to want to lie with you.”

Rosh didn’t want to leave her tonight or for any night in the future, but he realized Walker’s idea was best. He had to give her time. “Renkon and I will sleep outside the hut and take turns standing guard. None of The Cursed has ever ventured this close, but I don’t want to take any chances.”