Claiming Their Cat (17 page)

Creed followed his
brother out, resisting the urging of his beast to launch on Rio’s back and beat the shit out of him.
His wolf needed to stake his claim and
get
back to his
sweet
mate
. Both he and Rio were
stubborn
, a family trait. There’d be no talking or negotiating, just a
brawl
, so the
way
Creed saw it, there was no need to
delay
.

“You will keep your hands off of Cat,” Rio said. “I am not sharing her.”

Creed crossed his arms over his chest and recognized the same anger boiling in Rio. “That’s good, because I’m not sharing her either.”

Rio stepped into Creed’s
space
and poked him in the chest. “I’m warning you, Creed. I’ll kill you if you
touch
her again.”

Creed pulled his shirt off and tossed it on the ground. He popped the
button
of his pants. “Man or wolf?”

“I don’t want to
fight
you, Creed. You’re my
brother
, but my wolf won’t share.”

“Let’s get this over with.
I can’t wait to slide my cock…”

Air whooshed out of Creed’s lungs as his back slammed to the ground. He blocked Rio’s
blow
and landed his fist against Rio’s
jaw
. He rolled Rio off, straddled him, and landed another
punch
to his
bro
’s face. With a growl, Rio tossed Creed
away
.
Rio popped up, fists ready.
Creed stood, put his head down, and barreled into his brother. Creed snarled when Rio landed a blow to his kidney. They circled each other, fists up, growls rumbling in their throats.

“She’s my
mate
, Creed. My wolf won’t share.”

Creed propped his hands on his hips. “What did you say?”

“She’s my mate.”

“That can’t be. She’s
my
mate
.”

His brother dropped his fists. “Are you sure?”

“Hell yeah.
Snared my wolf in a split heartbeat.
”

“Ila told me not to
kill
you until we talked. I
guess
she knew.”

“So, do we still fight for her?”

“I don’t know,” answered Rio. “My wolf doesn’t want to share.”

“Neither does mine, but you’re my favorite
bro
, and Ila would surely kill us both for fighting over something that nature decreed.”

“Yeah, and we’re pretty evenly matched.
We could fight till
dawn
, and no one would win.”

Creed
didn’t want to share, but he wouldn’t deny his brother a mate either. It was unheard of to have the same mate, but
mating wasn’t negotiable.

His
belly
clenched. “I have to ask. Is she carrying your pup?”

Rio dragged his hand through his
dirty
hair. “No. Jose Alvarez thinks it’s his and has offered twenty million dollars for the
baby
’s safe
return
.” Rio told him about his one
-
night
-
stand
with Cat in the whorehouse.

The timing seemed right to Creed. “So it could be yours?”

Creed saw
regret
in Rio’s eyes. “No. My wolf doesn’t remember mating her. She doesn’t
bear
my
mark
.”

Creed was
ashamed
at the relief that flooded him. He didn’t
want
Rio to have first dibs. “So Alvarez has to die.”

Rio nodded. “Yep, the sooner the better.”

“You got a plan?”

“Not yet.”

Creed clapped his
brother
on the shoulder. “Good. We can
devise
one together.”

Rio grinned. “That’s
fine
with me, just as long as I’m the one to
take
all the risk. Come and let me properly introduce you to our mate.”

Cat couldn’t believe
her
good
luck. Creed’s
big
, black Hummer had
the
keys in the ignition, and since the two brothers were acting like the idiots they were, it gave her the perfect opportunity to
flee
. Rio had threatened her if she ran again, but Cat couldn’t help herself.
If Creed were anything like his brother, he’d be hell bent on getting himself killed too, and neither brother would forgive her if the other died.

She’d realized her feelings for Rio ran deeply, but her body had responded to Creed just like it did to Rio
’
s, some unnatural pull that seemed as natural as breathing.
Her soul actually sang when she was with Rio and sang when Creed had settled her against his enormous cock.

Rio was spoiling her, sucking her into a point of no return. Last night, he’d awakened her with decadent sex followed by chocolate covered strawberries in that
beautiful
pink
box
he’d brought home from the restaurant.
He’d fed them to her like she was a queen.
Then this morning, after her shower, he presented her with the sexy silk stockings, lacy garters, and baby doll lingerie made for pregnant women. As part of their
deal
, she had to wear these things all day long. His
constant
erection made her feel
se
xy
. The butt plug in her ass made her feel wanton.

And none of it made any sense.

Which was why she had to leave. She would not risk another person because of her foolishness.

She slowed down to take a hairpin curve realizing the only
bad
thing about this
plan
was she had no
real
clothes
.
Rio had stashed her sweatpants, and now she was driving down the gravel driveway at breakneck speed in a stolen truck wearing no shoes and one of Rio’s gigantic shirts.

And she still didn’t have a dime to her name.

After rounding another
curve
, she stopped the
vehicle
. It never occurred to her that there would be a
gate
at the end of the longest driveway in the world. Cat rolled up to it hoping that
open
sesame
worked.
Dang
it. Glancing to the left and the
right
told her a
high
, evil-looking fence made the
gate
a better choice. She studied the
gate
.
It looked like wood, so it should shatter when this tank rammed it, right?
This was a Hummer like the military used. Surely, it could
take
out a
wooden
gate. She put the
vehicle
in reverse and backed up as far as possible. Taking a deep breath, Cat shoved the SUV into
drive
and floored the truck, praying she didn’t kill herself and the
baby
.

She tensed the nearer she got to her target. Something whizzed beside her, and in the next heartbeat, she was barreling down on Creed. Cat stood up on the breaks, but knew she wouldn’t be able to
stop
in time. When she was seconds from flattening him, he jumped straight up and landed on the hood.

When the Hummer finally stopped, Creed was crouched on the hood,
shirtless
, glaring at her through the windshield.
Hell, he must really love this truck.
Rio stood at the driver’s side window scowling too.

She shoved the truck in
park
and rested her head on her hands on the steering wheel. God, she
’d
almost killed Creed with
his own
Hummer.

Rio yanked the door open. “That was a stupid thing to do. You could have killed yourself.”

She kept her head down, not wanting to see what was in his eyes. “I thought the truck could take the gate.”

“The
gate
is solid steel encased in wood. The motor probably would have been shoved the steering wheel into you and your
…
” The rest of Creed’s words died.

Creed’s voice was harsher than Rio’s, a hard edge like a razor slicing through her.
Nausea boiled, her throat tightened, and her mouth went dry.
She tried to
swallow
, but couldn’t. How stupid could she be?
Rio
,
and she supposed his brother too, would have topnotch security—a fortress—to keep out all those people who probably wanted revenge.
One couldn’t kill
somebody
without pissing someone else off.

Creed slipped into the passenger’s seat. “Come sit and my lap, and let Rio drive us back.”

Cat lifted her gaze to his.
She didn’t know Creed
,
and therefore, she didn’t trust him to scream and yell and make her feel worse than she already did.

“Come on,” he said. “I won’t bite.”

His smile didn’t reassure her. Cat looked at Rio for guidance, and he nodded. She crawled over the console with as much grace as a pregnant woman
could
. Creed pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. She snuggled into the
heat
of his bare chest. Rio slid into the driver’s
seat
and took them home.

As soon as the Hummer stopped, Creed was out carrying her to the house—like a child. They passed Rio’s
truck
. What? “How did you get—I mean did you run?”

A look passed between the two brothers. “Yes,” answered Rio.

“But how?”

“We
’re
both very good runners,” replied Creed. “We were worried about you.”

Okay, there was no way they ran the umpteen miles to the
gate
and almost
beat
her there. They weren’t even panting from exertion. Maybe they took a shortcut, or maybe she was just losing her
mind
outright
.
The only thing she was sure of was that they had fought, because both had minor cuts and bruising on their faces.

Creed dropped onto the couch, Cat still in his lap. She stole a glance at Rio who dragged his hands through his hair as he paced.

“What?” she said. “I will not apologize for trying to save your
life
...lives.”

“Have we asked you to save
our
lives?” Creed asked.

Well, Creed hadn’t asked for anything. Why was he even in this conversation? Why was she sitting in his
lap
as if
she belonged there, or something?

“The fence is electrified, not enough to kill you, but enough of a jolt to make you think twice about breaching it,” said Rio.

Great. I could have fried my baby.

“I’ll make a deal with you,” said Rio. “Creed and I will protect you—for free—no sex involved, if you promise not to flee again.”

For some reason, his words hurt. Her body wasn’t sure that’s what it wanted. “What? I don’t have to be the
camp
whore?” She said that because Creed’s
enormous
cock was poking into her butt.

“You
were never
the
camp
whore. However,” Rio said, “you will have to
wear
the
sexy
clothes, and Creed and I will do our best to
seduce
you.
All you have to say is no to our advances, and we’ll stop.”

His face softened when he said that. Rio would stop. He’d never forced anything on her, but hell, he didn’t have to. Her body, with a mind of its own, jumped at the opportunity.
They were going to get themselves killed because of her.

“Tell me, Cat. Have you ever been seduced by two men?” Creed asked.

She pulled back to look at Creed’s face. “You mean at the same time?”

Creed nodded.

“No.”
Definitely not
.

“Well, that’s what’s going to happen, but you’re in control,” said Creed.

Her mind couldn’t even process what he said. Why would either of them, much less both, want to seduce her? Were they addicted to pregnancy hormones?

“One in front, and one behind,” Rio said.

Her anus
contracted
around the butt plug
in response to the forbidden pleasure.
Rio’s eyes were
black
with passion, and she knew Creed’s would be also. She buried her nose in the crook of Creed’s neck, because she didn’t know what to say. Creed pulled her tighter to him, making her wonder why she was so easily accepted this stranger.

“Just promise us that you’ll stay put until we solve the problem,” Creed said.

“Okay, but I don’t want you going after Alvarez.
Just
protect
me from whomever shows up to do his dirty work. I ran from you because I don’t want anyone to die for me, which seems to be something you are
hell-bent
on doing.”

Rio stopped pacing and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m a mercenary for hire. Killing’s what I do.
Creed’s the best sniper in the military.
We can handle Alvarez.”

“Maybe so, but that’s not part of our agreement. After the baby’s born, I’m going to
disappear
. That way, everyone will be
safe
.”

“No, that’s not part of the deal,” said Creed. “You’ll never be safe unless Alvarez is dead, which means you can never leave us.”

There was no reasoning with these two. Had they gotten their
way
all their lives? Ila had seemed
reasonable
—
different
, but reasonable.