Authors: Loribelle Hunt
brother’s interest? Like this fiasco wasn’t bad enough, they both had to witness it?
With impatience, she waited for Bill to call an end to the bidding—she wanted to escape and fast—but before he could, the bid was upped again. The voice that called out one hundred seventy sent shivers up her a spine, and not in a good way. Ripping her gaze from the twins, she turned to the corner booth where Gage, the Alpha, held court. His lips turned up in the slightest smile and he lifted his beer to her in salute.
Her stomach flip‐flopped. What the hell was he up to? The last thing she wanted was to come to the attention of the Panhandle Alpha. No way, no how. Thank you very much.
She whipped back around to Rule and Lawe. One of them had damned well better raise the bid. She was tempted to do it herself, but didn’t dare do anything that might embarrass Gage. He ruled the pack with an iron fist. As an unmated female associated with it, she was allowed a certain amount of latitude. But publicly opposing him… She shuddered. She didn’t want to know how he’d respond. Thankfully, Rule countered with two hundred. Gage held his gaze a long moment, nodded once, and let the bidding end.
Bill explained that all the women would return to the stage to unmask. They would start with the first entrant, who would find her date in the crowd so they could make plans and move on through the line, but Abby barely heard him.
She waited her turn, calmer now that the danger of Gage winning
was over, watching Rule and Lawe. They were identical, yet so different.
Finally, she looked at Alex. He was beautiful in his own way. Tall and lean. But he’d never exuded the raw energy, the strength of the twins. Not to her, at least. She’d definitely gotten the short end of the deal when she’d married Alex.
Young and stupid, I guess.
But that was too simplistic. True, but not the whole story.
At eighteen, she was fresh out of school and anxious for some independence from her overprotective parents, anxious to be clear of the pack before someone decided to claim her and any chance for freedom she had went up in smoke. College had been just the thing, but the world was 10
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bigger than she’d believed, and she missed the small but tight werewolf community she’d grown up in.
Then she’d met Alex. He filled up the lonely spaces. Alex had been
determined to have her, and since he was a cat, not a wolf, she hadn’t been afraid of becoming involved with him. If it didn’t work out, she’d be able to walk away. Before she knew it, she was quitting school and getting married. That’s where the young and stupid part came in. And okay, a heaping dose of lonely. But that didn’t last long since they moved to her hometown, Panama City, after the wedding, where she was once again surrounded by her pack.
Having just finished business school, he’d decided he needed a wife. Ever the fool, she’d convinced herself he loved her while he molded her into the uptight, reserved wife he wanted. She’d gone to him a virgin, and it wasn’t long before he’d convinced her she was frigid. They hardly ever had sex after the first couple of years. She knew better now, though.
He’d never made much effort to discover otherwise, and the first thing she’d done when they separated was find a lover.
She’d needed to know and was pleased to report, nope, not frigid.
But the casual sex thing was not for her. She’d proven to herself she could have a sexually fulfilling relationship, but she’d also figured out real quick she needed emotional involvement, too. She yearned for the deep kind of love her parents had shared, even if the idea of being with a werewolf filled her with dread. Mom had been sweet and smart and funny and completely dependent on her werewolf mate.
Abby struggled to let the memories go, to let the worry go. She’d grown up pack. If there was a mate for her, she’d know by now. After Alex, she wasn’t convinced she’d ever really be able to trust any man, shifter or human, with her heart.
And yet, despite the years of sexual deprivation, she would have stayed with Alex. She hadn’t known better after all, and she took her marriage vows very seriously. Who didn’t? It was the other women that did it. That small kernel of self‐respect she’d had left rebelled loudly at continuing to live with an adulterer. She’d been working her way around to divorce for a long time, but her parents’ passing was the final nudge.
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Her woolgathering came to a hasty end when she realized the ninth
woman was leaving the stage. She was up. Abby met Rule’s gaze across the smoky bar, calm, steady and unreadable. She wondered if he knew whom he’d won a date with. It was his family’s bar, but she’d never seen him participate in these things before. Surely, he knew.
When Bill gave the signal, she reached for the bottom edges of the
mask, lifting it up, not breaking eye contact until she was forced to. There was only a split second break. When she looked back into Rule’s eyes, his expression hadn’t changed at all.
So, did he know it was me, or is his poker
face that good?
She’d played cards with him several times and knew it was.
Which begged the question: why? Did he know it was her? Did he think she was someone else? She didn’t dare hope he was interested. She was positive he wasn’t, and imagining otherwise wouldn’t do anything but open her up to a world of hurt. God, what was she thinking? She didn’t want to get emotionally involved. She had to be able to leave.
She walked down the short makeshift steps and worked her way carefully through the crowd. The heels she wore were not only much higher than her usual but slick on the bottoms. She had a mortifying vision of herself slipping right onto her ass in front of everyone.
Finally, she was through the crowd, and the brothers were only a few feet away with her ex hovering nearby. Their heads were bent together, dark hair blending so one was indistinguishable from the other.
Alex looked up at her with an expression of such fury, she forgot to look where she was stepping. She felt her right foot go out from under her and waited for the crash. It didn’t come.
Instead, she got a different kind of jolt when Rule stepped forward, taking her by the elbow. Momentum toppled her closer, and she grabbed his shoulders for support. Shocked at his touch, embarrassment over her near mishap warred with irritation at the amusement that flared in his eyes. She steadied herself and pulled away, but he kept a hand on her arm. It felt proprietary, like a claiming. And Alex didn’t like it one bit. He stepped forward aggressively, practically growling at Rule.
“Get your hands off my wife.”
Astounded, Abby blinked, snapping her gaping mouth shut. He’d
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never been jealous, hadn’t seemed to care about her one way or the other over the last few years. Was this just a territorial side of the werepanther she’d never seen before?
Rule chuckled, a low sound that more resembled a purr than a laugh, but it was Lawe who replied.
“She’s not your wife anymore, Alex.” He looked over and held her
gaze. Her heart stopped beating at the smoldering heat she saw in them.
“You always wanted her,” Alex answered in a low voice.
What? No way. They’d always treated her like a little sister, like they treated Marilyn and Maggie.
“Take her, then. She’s all yours. She can’t begin to give you what you want, anyway.” Alex’s laugh was a bitter scrape against her nerves.
“Maybe that’s the appeal. You always liked ’em trainable. She’s not, you know. Frigid as the day is long.”
Her face flooding with embarrassment, she grabbed Rule’s arm before he could lunge at her ex.
“Don’t,” she choked out and glanced around them. People were beginning to take notice of the argument. “It’s not worth it.”
It also wasn’t true, but she wasn’t about to have
that
conversation with any of them. Right now, she just wanted to melt into the floor. Since that obviously wasn’t an option, she’d settle for getting out of here and barricading herself inside her apartment with a pint of Rocky Road.
Definitely a plan with merit.
“Sure thing, sweetheart.” Rule gave her a brief smile then jerked his head at Alex. “Office. Now.”
When he didn’t release her arm, she was afraid she was going to get dragged into the middle of a feud. Then Marilyn and Maggie redeemed themselves in a major way. Giggling, they tottered over tipsily, pulling her away over Rule’s weak protests. Abby wasn’t fooled for a minute. Marilyn’s eyes were clear in sharp contrast to her wobbly body language, and Maggie rarely drank.
Abby turned to look over her shoulder and caught all three men scowling in her direction before they turned to the office and slammed the door shut behind them. She released a sigh of pure relief. Time to make 13
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her escape.
“Are you okay, hon?” Marilyn asked, glaring at her brothers’ backs.
“What was that about?” Maggie added.
“I have no idea,” she huffed. “Could we just get out of here?”
She needed time to digest what had happened tonight. It took some
fast‐talking, but she convinced the girls to drop her off at home alone.
Claiming fatigue, crankiness, and the need for a hot soak, she promised to call in the morning.
She settled for a quick shower. Dressed in her favorite old robe, a short satin number that slid over her skin whenever she moved, she grabbed the ice cream out of the freezer, and walked to the desk secluded in one corner of the living room. Turning on her laptop, she dug into the ice cream while the computer signed on. Licking the bottom of the spoon, she used the touchpad to open her email program and watched while it downloaded.
Right off, she saw an email from a prominent review site. Her stomach knotted with anxiety. Writing had started as a hobby. Now it was a dirty little secret. She wasn’t in a big hurry for anyone to discover she was writing and selling erotic romance, but she sure hoped one day she could make a good enough living at it to quit the dreaded waitressing job.
She’d probably have to come clean then.
Maybe she could just move. The idea had appeal. Just disappear.
Start all over in a new town, with new friends and create a new life. Invent a new Abby. As interesting as the idea was, she dismissed it as quickly as it came. She loved her friends, but the real reason was she’d miss Rule and Lawe desperately. If she’d learned one thing in the last year, it was that it was better to deal with the heartaches life dealt out than live alone or in avoidance. She’d spent years doing the avoidance thing. No more. So when the time came to fess up to her secret life, she’d find a way to do it.
She pushed those worries away and concentrated on the computer
screen, exhaling a sigh of relief, a slow smile spreading across her face.
A
fresh new voice in erotic romance…
These were the kind of reviews she liked.
She saved the email—she’d add a quote to her website later—and hurried through the rest of her inbox.
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When she’d flagged everything that needed her attention for later,
she closed the program and opened the document that contained her latest book. Frowning, she scrolled down to reread the last few pages she’d written. It wasn’t working for her. She backspaced through a few paragraphs, then rested her fingers on the keys, waiting for inspiration to strike.
After staring at the flashing cursor and the white space she’d added since she sat down for several minutes, she ground her teeth and stood, rolling the kinks out of her shoulders. Maybe a break would help. She picked up the ice cream carton and was carrying it back to the kitchen when her doorbell rang.
Annoyance surged through her. Assuming it was Marilyn or
Maggie come back to badger her about the scene with Rule, Lawe, and Alex, she didn’t even look in the peephole before snatching the handle and jerking the door open.
Oh shit
. Big mistake.
Rule leaned casually against the jam, his arms crossed over his broad chest, scowling down at her.
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Chapter Two
“Do you always answer the door after midnight in your robe?”
His voice was gruffer than he intended.
Great, dumb ass.
After that scene with Alex, she really didn’t need him berating her. The werepanther needed a major lesson in manners. He didn’t even want to contemplate what Gage had been about, bidding against him. Then, he’d practically had to tie Lawe down to get her alone. What a mess.
She didn’t know that they were her mates, since they hadn’t even realized it until after she’d married that dumb ass. The best day of his life had been hearing she’d filed for divorce. He and Lawe had rushed home to find her broken and hurting and decided to wait, to let her heal. It had been hell not claiming her, and they’d taken to switching off time at home.
Each stayed as long as he could stand it, then called in reinforcements.
Now all bets were off. His nostrils flared as he took in her scent, and his gaze swept over her body.
His woman.
Damn, the robe didn’t hide much, and what it did his imagination