Betraying the Pack (15 page)

Dana’s shoulders lifted in a
shrug. “Who knows why he does anything? He was a sick bastard when he was
sentenced for his crimes against the pack and humanity, and he’s an even more
sadistic one now that he’s a vampire. But you don’t need to worry about him
anymore. Now that you’re with the pack, you’re safe.”

A shiver went down Bailey’s
spine, and a superstitious urge to knock on wood assailed her. She knew with a
bone-deep certainty that somewhere, Murphy, and his damned law, giggled madly,
waiting for his chance. The more she heard claims the compound was safe, the
more Bailey started to doubt it. However, she kept her fears to herself. No one
needed to know what a paranoid scaredy-cat—um, wolf—she was.

Halting in front of a house
finished with pale yellow siding and a white front door, Dana said, “Welcome to
your new home.”

Staring up at the cute
bungalow, Bailey couldn’t help but fall in love with it. Of course, it would
need a few feminine touches, like white shutters to frame the pair of windows,
and some flower beds to break the plainness of the front lawn, but all in all,
it was picture-book perfect.

So of course, she burst into
tears.

Sobbing noisily, she let Dana
lead her inside and seat her on a massive leather couch.

“Oh crap. What’s wrong? What
did I do?” Dana seemed at a loss as she patted Bailey on the back.

“I-I . . .” Bailey couldn’t
express what exactly had set her off. The house was adorable. The men ardent.
The community welcoming.
So why am I
crying like an idiot?
For a moment the answer eluded her, then hit—acceptance,
and a sense of coming home.

Since her parents’ death, she’d
floated along, alone, and despairing of ever feeling whole again. Wanted. In
just a few days, she’d gone from nothing and a future of bleakness to a life
filled with passion, adventure, and more. Surely it wouldn’t last.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,”
Dana said as if reading her mind. “When I came back after being away so long, I
kept thinking I’d wake up and everything I’d come to love would disappear and
I’d be back on the run, alone and scared.”

The words mirrored her
thoughts. “What if it doesn’t work?” Bailey whispered through a throat tight
with tears. “It’s all happened so fast. What if they decide they don’t want me?
Where will I go? What will I do?”

“First off,” said Gavin,
startling her. She looked up to see him standing in the doorway, having
approached them without warning. “I will always want you. Second, this is your
home now. Even if you decide you hate me and Wyatt tomorrow, and throw us out
on our ears, you never have to leave. Ever.” He stressed the last word.

“And three,” Wyatt added,
joining Gavin in the doorframe. “Haven’t you figured it out yet that we love
you?”

“You do?” Bailey knew her mouth
hung wide open, but she couldn’t help it. Their announcement shocked her. “But
you barely know me.”

“Oh, they know more than you
think,” Dana stated before standing up. She moved to the door, but before
leaving paused to say, “You’ve got to trust somebody sometime. And I can tell
you right now, these two men, once they give their word, they don’t break it. Don’t
make the same mistakes I did. Give them a chance. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Dana left, and Gavin came into
the room and sat beside her. Wyatt followed, taking up position on her other
side.

Brushing a strand of hair from
her forehead, Gavin leaned into her, rubbing his nose against hers. “Oh, darling,
I wish you’d believe me when I say I love you. Can’t you see how wonderful you
are? How brave?”

“He’s right, you know,” Wyatt murmured
from behind her ear. “Hell, do you think I would have fallen as quickly as I
did for you if there wasn’t something special about you?”

“Is it me or the whole wolf
thing, though?”

“Oh, most definitely you,”
Gavin whispered against her lips. “I wanted you even when I thought you were
the cutest human I’d ever seen.”

“I fought wanting you with
every ounce of my being, but in the end, how could I resist you?” Wyatt added.

“Even if I’m not skinny like
the others?” It hadn’t escaped her notice that the women she’d seen during her
trek through the compound didn’t seem to own any spare fat, unlike her.

“I like your curves. A lot.” Gavin’s
words fluttered across her lips before he took them.

Wyatt pressed in on her other
side, his warm breath in the shell of her ear sending delightful shivers
through her frame. “Since she doesn’t seem to believe us, brother, I think we
need to show her.”

She didn’t have time to
question what he meant because the sensual onslaught began. While Gavin claimed
her mouth, Wyatt teased her ear and neck. Caught between them, she could only
feel . . . and enjoy.

What a decadent delight to have
the two of them so ardently embracing her. It didn’t even occur to her to
protest this surely taboo exploration of her body by both of them at once. On the
contrary, when their hands went to her clothing, she aided them in denuding her
body, laying herself bare to their electric touch.

And touch her they did. They
left no part of her body unexplored. Two sets of hands roamed her skin, raising
goose bumps in their path, lighting her nerve endings with fire until she
panted. When their mouths latched onto her breasts, one for each, tugging and
pulling, she cried out. She couldn’t resist opening her eyes and looking down
at them, their heads pressed to her breast, one so fair, the other dark. The
decadence of it made her breath catch. Gone were the doubts about the rightness
or wrongness of having them both at once. Who cared when it felt so good?

She placed her hands on their
heads, the contrast of their hair beneath her fingertips fascinating, but not
as fascinating as the sudden path their hands took down her body to her thighs.
Pried apart, she moaned as their fingers circled around her cleft, teasing her
lips and skirting her clit. When they each thrust a finger into her, she
bucked, a frantic cry escaping her.

In and out they thrust their
digits, their counterclockwise motions inside her making her squirm and pant.

“Please. Oh God.” She could
only incoherently plead at their exquisite torture.

“Who gets to taste first?”
Gavin asked.

“I’m oldest,” Wyatt said
hoarsely. “Isn’t it age before beauty?”

Bailey wondered at their words,
especially when their fingers left her body. She couldn’t help her mewl of
displeasure.

“Shh, darling. We’re not done
with you yet.”

She opened her eyes to find
Gavin seating himself on the couch, nude, his cock jutting from his thighs. He
stroked it for her, and she licked her lips in anticipation.

Rough hands grasped her waist,
and her gaze flew forward to find an equally naked and aroused Wyatt. His eyes
smoldered as he lifted her to hold her over Gavin’s lap. Gavin’s hands grabbed
at her thighs, spreading her, exposing her, which in turn made her tremble and
her juices flow.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Wyatt
lowered her onto Gavin’s cock, letting the fat head part her lips and stretch
her. They had all the control, and what a turn-on it was. Inch by inch, Wyatt
pushed her down on the hard dick until she sat, his cock fully sheathed and her
buttocks resting on Gavin’s thighs. Placing her feet on either side of his
legs, keeping her spread, Gavin then cupped her breasts, his thumbs rubbing
over her erect tips. A part of her wanted to close her eyes and throw her head
back, basking in the pleasure, as he gently rolled his hips under her, swirling
his cock ever so deliciously while he pinched her hard nubs. But, she couldn’t
tear her gaze from Wyatt and the way he stroked his cock in front of her, the
tip swollen and glistening, begging for a mouth to suck. Her mouth.

He dropped to his knees before
her and came almost eye level with her pussy, her pussy that was getting fucked
by his friend’s cock. It was the most shocking yet intimate moment of her life.
And then Wyatt did something so unexpected.

He licked her. Oh God, the
sensation. Oral sex rocked on its own. Getting plowed by either of her lovers
made her see stars, but combine the two? She couldn’t help the keening cry as
her body bucked. Caught between the two of them, impaled on a cock, their hands
holding her steady, she couldn’t escape the lash of his tongue as he flicked it
across her clit. She came, hard and furious, her channel milking Gavin’s cock
as he gasped under her. He undulated faster into her, and Wyatt kept up his
oral attention, sucking at her nub, plying her with tongue, until she rolled
from her first orgasm into her second. And that one just kept going and going,
until she thought she’d go hoarse and black out from the pleasure of it.

Gavin grunted as he gave a
final thrust up into her, the hot splash of his seed marking his culmination,
and she thought they were done.

Wrong.

She found herself pulled off
Gavin’s cock and sitting on the couch, Gavin holding her limp legs wide so that
Wyatt could kneel between them. Then it was his turn to fuck her. She should
have been spent from her first two orgasms, sore, or even sleeping. Instead, she
wanted more. Her mouth was caught by Gavin, who plucked at her sensitive
nipples as Wyatt’s flesh slapped against hers, his thick cock sliding smoothly
in and out of her passage, which rippled with aftershocks around him. Diving
deep, he butted up against her G-spot, striking it over and over, coiling her
pleasure. He wasn’t long in coming, his bellow of success coming on the heels
of a third orgasm that made her body tighten and arch, her scream so intense it
came out as a soundless croak.

Withdrawing, Wyatt climbed onto
the couch to snuggle her on one side, while Gavin took the other. Boneless,
possibly dead, but completely blown away, she let herself slumber against them,
their naked, sweaty bodies a surely intriguing pretzel.

Or so she assumed, given
Jaxon’s comment of, “Hot damn, I think we need a bigger couch.”

For once, she was too tired to
even blush.

Lessons on helping Bailey accept her wolf began the next morning, with the
decision made that Parker and Dana would act the part of teachers instead of
using strangers.

The arrangement suited Parker just fine, as it would allow him to spend
time with Bailey. However, he’d imagined it as a pleasant interval spent
talking, and maybe flirting. He’d not counted on her fear of the whole shifting
process making her ornery.

It took a lot to hold back a sigh of impatience at her now millionth
time repeated, “But it hurts.”

“I know, baby, but that’s only because you’re new to the whole shifting
experience. Over time, you’ll get used to it.”

Seated in the shade of a tree, away from the hustle and bustle that
comprised daily life in the compound, Bailey sighed and looked down at her lap,
where her fingers restlessly weaved together. “So you all keep saying. Might I
say that as a pep talk it sucks? Why can’t I just stay in this body? I could
hide in the basement on full moons and stay away from cars so I don’t chase
them.”

Her rueful smile made him chuckle. “It doesn’t work that way, baby.
Once your wolf becomes an active part of your psyche, you need to let it out
for the occasional run. If you don’t, it will take over when you let your
attention lapse, like when you sleep. You don’t want to get in a fight for
dominance with your wolf. Trust me, it’s not a good thing.”

He’d seen that happen once before with his great-grandma, who went a
little crazy after all her mates died, leaving her alone. She’d refused to
change into her beast, saying running wild through the woods reminded her too
much of what she’d lost. One day, while she napped, her wolf took over. Even after
they caught her, and she switched back to her human shape, she was never the
same again. It still made Parker sad to think of her, especially her last days,
until her death a few years ago, which she spent vacant-eyed and locked up for
her own safety. No, he knew firsthand caging one’s wolf in a prison of your own
flesh was never the right solution. Now, he just needed to make Bailey
understand.

“Gee, this whole Lycan thing is getting more and more attractive all
the time,” she drawled sarcastically before crossing her arms and pouting. She
looked so adorably petulant that Parker couldn’t help laughing.

“Oh, baby, I thought Wyatt was a stubborn cuss, but you totally take the
cake.”

Her reply? A delectable pink tongue stuck out at him. Parker shifted
his frame, yet again, to hide his erection, an ever-present problem around the
fascinating Bailey. An idea hit him. “You know what? Let’s stop talking about
the whole shifting thing—”

“Sounds good to me.”

“And go straight to some of your new abilities in this form.”

That got her attention. “What do you mean by abilities?”

He shook his head and laughed. “Nope, I’m done explaining. This time,
you’re going to experience.”

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “I don’t know if that’s such
a good idea.”

Sensing her sudden trepidation, he stood and crossed the short distance
between them, plopping himself cross-legged on the verdant grass. “This isn’t
going to hurt one bit,” he said, tugging her onto his lap. “But, you need to be
calm.”

“And how is sitting me on your lap supposed to help?” she asked, craning
back to look at him, a teasing curve to her lips.

“It doesn’t, but it sure beats sitting alone.” It warmed him to no end
to see the smile that bloomed on her face at his words. Then a shadow of
uncertainty.

“What about Gavin and Wyatt? Won’t this bother them?”

“It’s okay, baby. Remember, this is how it works in the pack. You can
choose up to two more males, or not. It’s up to you, but I’ll be damned if I
sit back and do nothing to woo you into selecting me as one of your mates.”

“Woo me?” she laughed. “God, that sounds like something out of the Dark
Ages.”

“Now you’ve wounded me,” he said with a rumbling chuckle. “But enough
distracting me with your feminine wiles. I was going to help you discover your
new abilities.”

She sobered, and he could feel tension tighten her frame, but at least
it wasn’t him or his size causing her disturbance. Even among Lycans, Parker
was considered a big fellow. While some women found his bulk appealing, a
greater number—especially humans, of which Bailey had recently belonged to—tended
toward the camp of intimidated. He didn’t want Bailey to ever cower out of fear
before him. He would never harm a hair on her head, and despite his girth,
would always treat her with the gentlest of hands. Or, he would once she chose
him as a mate.

“Close your eyes,” he whispered against her hair, which tickled him
like the softest of silk. When she fidgeted—something his cock enjoyed way too
much—he grasped her hands and placed them on his thighs. It made him smile to
feel the shiver that went through her body accompanied by the faint scent of
her arousal. She was not indifferent to him.

“Now, I want you to listen. Listen carefully, and tell me what you
hear.”

“I hear you telling me to act all Zen-like,” she sassed.

“Baby, I swear I am going to gag you if you don’t obey,” he said in a
mock growl, and then immediately fought a vivid image of her mouth eagerly
bobbing on his cock.

As if in cahoots with his lusty thinking, she giggled and bounced a bit
in his lap, which made him bite back a groan. Did she even know how she
affected him? Snuggling deeper into him with a sigh, he realized she probably
did, the vixen.

“Okay, I’ll be serious. I hear insects.”

“Too easy, keep listening. Expand your senses. Let yourself really
hear.”

She stopped wisecracking, and her breathing evened. Her words came
slowly. “Birds, somewhere to the left. I hear water, something like a stream.”
Her body leaned forward, and he braced her lest she land on her face in her
trance. “Voices. A mother telling Peter to stop bothering his sister.”

Parker smiled. Whether she believed it or not, Bailey had tapped into
her enhanced hearing. “Go on.”

“I hear . . .” She hesitated. “I don’t know what I hear, but it’s like
a thumping sound.” Opening her eyes, she craned to look at him. “What is it?”

“Put your ear against my chest.”

She scrunched her nose up, but did as he said. At first incomprehension
clouded her features, then dawning enlightenment. “I heard your heart! But
that’s impossible.” She sat up straight and almost bashed him in the chin.

He narrowly avoided the collision. “No, it’s part of your new
abilities. Guess what else you can do?”

“Leap a building in a single bound?”

“No, smarty-pants. Read that sign over there.”

“What sign?” she asked, turning to follow his pointed finger to a tiny
blob of white by the gravel path that ringed the inner part of the village. She
laughed. “Are you insane? It’s like a postage stamp from here.”

“Really? Look again.”

A loud sigh escaped her, but she didn’t say another word as she gazed
at the posted sign. “No parking. Holy shit.” She hopped up from his lap and
spun to face him, excitement lighting her face. “Okay, now this is getting
cool. What else can I do?”

“Sniff.”

“I’d rather use a hankie,” she joked, but she closed her eyes and took
a deep inhalation through her nose and then started coughing. “Oh my God, too
much.”

Hopping up, Parker stroked her back as she got over her fit. “Oops, I
guess I should have chosen a spot a little less ripe,” he said with chagrin.
Used to sifting smells, he’d not taken in to account how it would affect her
for the first time when she truly tried to scent the air around her. The
pungent aroma of skunk added a crowning touch.

“It’s okay. At least this whole smelling thing explains why I seem to
recognize you all even before I see you.”

“You can differentiate our scents?” he asked with surprise.

A flush crept over her cheeks. “Yeah. Weird, huh?”

“Nope,” he said, pulling her in for a brief hug. “It just means you’re
starting to use some of your Lycan abilities even without thinking about it.”

“Okay, so that’s three of my five senses. Do the other two get a boost
too?” she asked.

“Spirit is not a thing you can tangibly touch or see, but we do have
the mating bond, which is esoteric in nature.”

“I felt it, actually,” she said, ducking her head as if shy.

“You can talk about it. It won’t rouse my jealousy. This is the pack
way, remember? A law we all abide by.”

“Yeah, I know, but give a girl brownie points for not trying to shove
it in your face,” she said looking up with a grin. “Like I said, when we did
that whole biting thing, it’s like a circle completed, or snapped shut. And
since that time, I kind of feel Gavin and Wyatt in me. Not their thoughts or
what they are doing or anything, but I seem to know, more or less, where they
are. I can feel some of their emotions too, like when Wyatt is annoyed at
Jaxon.”

“Everyone can feel that,” Parker joked.

“Okay, so that now covers four of my senses. What about the fifth,
touch? I can’t say as I’ve noticed a difference there.”

A smile curved his lips. “Think of it more as body instead of touch.
This is the one facet the boys enjoy and boast of most. Increased strength,
speed, and dexterity compared to humans. And, of course, our rapid ability to
heal.”

“Wait a second. I started healing before you even saved me from those
guys in the woods. Doesn’t that blow one of the theories that my mating with
Gavin triggered my wolf?”

“Ah, but were you healing like that before you met Gavin in the bar?”

“No.”

“So, perhaps it was the scent, or the psychic aspect of meeting your
mate, that launched it. We’ll probably never know for sure, and it doesn’t
really matter anymore at this point. Now, do you want to dissect the why and
how you became a wolf, or do you want to see if you can beat me in a footrace?”

She eyed him up and down. “Your legs are, like, twice the length of
mine. There’s no way I can beat you.”

“Speed isn’t just about taking the biggest or fastest steps. A race
also relies on the runner’s nimbleness, and that is my weak spot. But if it
makes you feel better, I will give you a ten-second start. So on your mark,
set, go!”

A squeal escaped her, and with her eyes dancing excitedly, she took off
sprinting. Parker watched her form recede into the woods as he counted before
taking off after her. Hot damn was she quick. New to her abilities or not, she
managed to tap into them with an effortless ease that pleased him. She wouldn’t
need many lessons in that regard, although, when it came to embracing her
actual wolf, he got the feeling they still had a ways to go.

Realizing the little vixen had pulled ahead, Parker poured on some more
speed that turned into a headlong bull rush when he heard her scream.

Shambling into a clearing near the edge of the compound boundary, he
came across Bailey, safe, in the arms of Jaxon, who grinned.

“Look, Parker. I caught me a hottie!”

Bailey’s cheeks bloomed, and Parker chuckled even though a vague sense
of disappointment suffused him that he’d not gotten to catch her. He’d planned
to kiss her silly when he did.

There was always the next lesson, though.

Gavin paced Nathan’s office, disturbed by the report he read. He
slapped it down on the desk with a curse.

“How the fuck could we not know this was possible?”

“Care to explain?” Wyatt asked, seated in a casual pose. Only Gavin’s
long acquaintance with him let him know his friend was anything but.

John, Nathan’s second-in-command and pack doctor, launched into a
summary. “We’ve been digging into Bailey’s roots. We first traced her father’s
line since it was easy, given we had his last name and date of birth. Nothing
jumped out at us. He’s a born and bred American, from a long line of humans.
Where it got tricky was when it came to tracing the mother.”

Over the last few days, as Bailey settled into pack living, Gavin and
Wyatt had unobtrusively gleaned information from her on her family. What little
she knew, that was. Having wanted to keep her good humor intact, and her fear
at bay, they’d decided against outright questioning. It had taken longer, but
Gavin considered it well worth it given the smiles she greeted them with every
day—and the passion she shared with them at night.

Back to the situation at hand, though, they’d managed to pry the
knowledge that Bailey’s mother, Mary Jean, born Mary Jean Smith, claimed no
family living. Worse, without her birth certificate or license, they had to
literally dig from scratch to find anything out.

John continued with his summary. “Mary Jean wasn’t born in a hospital.
Actually, until she was about twenty, Mary Jean didn’t seem to exist at all.”

“So she changed her name?”

“Nope. She kept it the same, which is the only reason why we discovered
there used to be a Mary Jean Smith with the same date of birth who used to live
with a small Maine pack.”

“What?” Wyatt’s shock mirrored his own when he’d read that tidbit. “Why
would they let a she-wolf leave?”

Nathan’s fingers drummed on his desktop. “They didn’t, or did it not
occur to you that a Lycan female cannot produce a child with a human?”

“So she was a dormant,” Gavin concluded. “But since when do dormants
birth wolves?”

“I think the better question,” John said, “is how many more latent
wolves are roaming around out there?”

For a moment stunned silence reigned before their voices all rang out
in a cacophony of voices where no one was heard.

“Silence.” Nathan’s command cut through their chatter. “I think it’s
becoming clear that dormants might not be the nonwolves we once thought. Dana
herself was believed to be one until she shifted abruptly in her late teens.
Bailey is another example.”