Freakn' Cougar (19 page)

Her lips twisted into a nasty grin. “Are you? I had no problems. You’re not as clever as you think. No one thinks to pay attention to a cleaning lady. The hardest part was getting hired by the different prisons. Once inside, I made it my mission to ferret you out.”

“But you didn’t do it alone.”

“Why, when I had a brother more than willing to help? He knows his way around security. How simple for him to have cameras malfunction, or to get codes for me to slip in and get rid of you, one by one, starting with the bastard who hurt me. Such tragic accidents,” she said with a mocking sneer. “And, to think, no one suspected.”

“Wrong. We caught on.”

“Not for a while.” How proud the killer seemed of her accomplishment.

“I can understand going after the guy who raped you, but why kill the others? They never hurt you. Just like we never did anything to you. Why follow us out here?”

“Because you all must die.”

So intent had they become on her words that they’d missed the subtle movement of her hands. But they couldn’t ignore the knife that stabbed forth. Stu had just a moment to knock Patricia sideways, the sharp slice of the blade cold against his skin then warm as blood streamed from the gash.

With a wild scream, the deranged human scrabbled to her feet and came after them, knife arcing for another slash.

Boom
. The single shot threw her away, arms flailing, mouth open in a hissing scream that faded into silence. On his back in the snow, Stu only needed to tilt his head slightly to note their savior.

Ricky stood, bloodied, and none-too-steady on his feet, the gun in his hand dropping as if too heavy. “That was for Joey,” Ricky mumbled before pitching face first into the snow.

Poor Patricia. Stu could see the horror in her eyes as she gazed from him to Ricky.

What a fucking nightmare this morning had turned out to be. Bodies they’d have to explain to the shifter council and also dispose of, lest human authorities question a little too deeply. Him in need of stitches before he bled out—the bitch wielded a sharp knife. Then add to the clusterfuck the fact that Ricky obviously needed a doctor before he bled out. Stu could only hope that Patricia wasn’t too traumatized, else she’d probably run. Could things get any worse?

“Oh my god. My baby’s been hurt.”

Apparently, things could get a lot worse. Ma had arrived to the rescue, bundled in a bright blue parka atop snowshoes, and of course, she hadn’t come alone. Stu almost welcomed the darkness brought on by blood loss so he wouldn’t have to deal with the gaggle of brothers who swooped in to the rescue.

The cavalry arrived in time for the cleanup. As to how Stu’s family knew to come, the killers had finally made a mistake. It seemed the human female’s brother, some kind of tech guru, made some electronic inquiries that triggered an internal alarm with the shifter council. The shifter council turned around and notified the Grayson family. When they couldn’t reach Stu on his cellphone—because his cell service didn’t work in the mountains—they descended en masse to the rescue.

And chaos ensued.

Stunned by the fact not one but both of her lovers were grievously injured, Patricia went into a bit of shock. That lasted only as long as it took for Stu’s mother to slap her out of it. Literally.

“Pull yourself together. These boys are too tough to die.”

Patricia hoped so. As to the dead bodies and the crime scene?

It took a few days to sort the mess the dead humans caused. The bodies were disposed of in a deep ravine, where the wild animals would take care of them until some hapless hiker stumbled across them. Their hotel room was cleared out and all trace of them wiped as much as possible, not a difficult task given they were loners to begin with and their already criminal behavior kept them off the grid for the most part.

Patricia, though, only learned these details later. At the time decisions were being made and evidence destroyed, she spent a harrowing ride speeding down the mountainside, one of Stu’s brother’s at the wheel. She sat in the back applying pressure on Ricky’s wound while Stu’s mother took care of her wolf. The local vet, an old grizzly shifter, was their closest medical ally, but as he joked, animals weren’t that different from humans. Not the most reassuring of comments, or so he discovered when an ashen-faced Patricia pulled her gun and warned him that if he let them die, he’d follow.

But jokes aside, the guy was adept, and although Patricia spent some tense moments as he removed the silver bullet from Ricky, on the whole, the operation went smoothly.

Because of Ricky’s shifter genes, he was soon on the path to recovery and chafing at the inactivity forced upon him. As for her wolf, Stu required a decent number of stiches to close his hero-induced wound, something his mother vented about, loudly and more colorfully than expected for a lady her size. But, with the danger from the killer a thing of the past and the guys on the mend, life in general returned to a more sane level.

Okay, maybe calling it sane was pushing it given Patricia brought home with her a wolf proudly displaying his thirty-four stiches and a panther who threatened to give him some more. But after the craziness she’d dealt with when Stu’s family arrived to the rescue, a little too late but well meaning, the peace and quiet of her apartment was a soothing balm and, in the sudden quiet, suddenly too small.

She had nowhere to hide, especially once they flanked her. Pinned by their dual gaze, she couldn’t help a frisson of … fear or anticipation? She couldn’t have said.

“Alone at last,” Ricky said in a low purr.

“About freakn’ time,” Stu grumbled. “I thought my family would never leave us alone.”

“They mean well,” Patricia said, backing away from them even as her heart rate increased at the smoldering heat aimed her way.

“Mean well?” Stu snorted. “Ha. You’ll learn. This is just the beginning. Now that you’re part of my life, they’ll be constantly over, harassing us.”

Ricky laughed. “Poor puppy.”

“Don’t laugh, cat. I already heard Ma talking about how the poor orphan kitty needs some home-cooked meals to fatten him up.”

That wiped the smile from Ricky’s face. “I do not.”

“According to her, you do. Oh, and she’s already been talking to Aunt Jezebel about knitting you a wool sweater to keep you warm because she noticed you shivering in the cold.”

“Because I was fucking naked in the snowy Rockies at the time. I don’t need her taking care of me.”

“Yeah, well good luck convincing my mother otherwise. She’s mothered tougher men than you.”

“I won’t wear a yuppie sweater.”

“You will,” Stu told him in an ominous tone.

Patricia couldn’t help but laugh. “You guys are too funny.”

“Says the woman who will start receiving less-than-subtle hints about popping out a cub.”

“A
baby
!” Patricia squeaked the word. “We’re not even mated.”

“Yet.”

“Maybe not ever,” she teased.

Ricky arched a brow. “Is it me, wolf, or did she just challenge us?”

“Oh, she definitely did,” Stu agreed. “I think she wants us to convince her.”

“Convince?” Ricky chuckled, a low sound that sent a shiver coursing through her. “I say we make her beg before we give her our mark and make her ours for a lifetime.”

“What happened to waiting?” she asked, not at all perturbed by their talk of making her beg. One kiss, one touch, and she’d probably cave to their demands—and ask for more.

“Screw waiting. I’m taking what’s mine.”

“We both are,” Stu added.

At their possessive claim, she just about came. Forget doubt, guilt, or anything else. She cared deeply for these two guys, wanted them and, after almost losing them, didn’t want to spend another moment fighting what made her happy. Time to embrace the gift of a second chance fate had given her. Time to love again.

And she wanted to fuck, because dammit all, these past few days of taking it easy and having virtually no privacy had just about killed her, especially after experiencing the pleasure she could have at their two sets of hands—and cocks.

Afterward, she couldn’t have said who moved first or how their clothes ended strewn on the floor, she did recall landing on her back on the bed, the mattress bouncing her only once before Stu swooped in to pin her as he nipped one of her nipples. The motion startled her into crying out, a cry that turned into a moan as his hot mouth sucked the erect tip of her breast. She couldn’t figure out how the tug of his lips on her nipple somehow created a sensual link to her pussy. Who cared? She didn’t want him to stop. To her delight, he cupped them and divided his attention between both breasts, and her pussy throbbed in approval.

But his wasn’t the only mouth causing havoc. A groan slipped past her lips as warm breath puffed against her clit, teasing it, making her shiver in anticipation for what would come next. Lips brushed her already throbbing bundle of nerves. Ricky then rubbed the bristled edge of his jaw against it, the friction making her arch.

She gasped. “What are you doing?”

“Preparing you to beg.”

Beg? Not quite, but she could demand. “Lick me.”

He blew on her instead. “Those aren’t the words I’m looking for.”

“Eat me.”

Ricky flicked his tongue across her clit, and her pelvis arched in reply. “Naughty cougar. You know what we want to hear.”

“Although, it should be noted, at any other time, both those requests would be promptly obeyed,” Stu chimed in.

She chuckled. She’d order her young wolf around with pleasure, later. Right now, she had a cat with a one-track mind to toy with. “Fuck me?” she asked hopefully.

Stu replied this time with a sharp bite to her nipple.

Her channel clenched, and her fingers scrabbled at the sheets as she squirmed under their dual erotic attack. Okay, perhaps she needed to stop teasing and give them what they all wanted. “Fine. Fine. You win.”

“Say it,” Ricky ordered.

“Please,” Stu added.

“Take me.” She paused for a moment, knowing the next words would forever change the course of her life for the better. “And mark me as your mate.”

Two sets of mouths stilled. “I can’t believe she said it,” Stu said, his tone one of wonderment.

“Yeah, I thought for sure she’d wait until I got my dick out and beat her sweet pussy with it.”

“Can’t we still do that?” she asked.

“We can do anything you want,
bebé
. We have the rest of our lives.”

“And, best of all, the rest of the night.”

Stu caught her lips in a torrid kiss, and she sucked at his tongue, drawing it into her mouth and stroking it with her own. Somehow, she found herself straddling him, his cock tucked under her moist sex, trapped between their bodies, while Ricky slid in behind her, his muscled body pressed against her, the hardness of his shaft poking at her ass. His lips found the sensitive spot on the back of her neck, and he sucked it.

Oh my freakn’ god. What decadence to be caught between two men, to have their naked bodies pressing against hers, skin to skin. Hot panting heat built and drove her wild with erotic hunger.

Something wet dribbled down the crack of her ass. Before Patricia could peek over her shoulder to see what Ricky was doing, Stu cupped her face and drew her forward for a kiss. Too busy with his tongue, she couldn’t utter a word when a finger followed the liquid pooling in her crevice, a finger that rubbed moisture around her rosette. Her breathing quickened. Anal sex wasn’t new to her. She’d experimented with Ryker. What she’d never done before was what she thought her guys had planned.

Was she ready for that kind of intimacy? Could she take both of them at once?

As if sensing her churning thoughts on the matter, Ricky distracted her. His fingers stroked her clit, his firm touch making her moan in Stu’s mouth and turning her body boneless.

So aroused was she that the finger penetrating her ass slid in without hindrance. As a matter of fact, as Ricky continued to strum her clit, she rocked against the finger that stretched her tight hole. It was an odd sensation, not quite comfortable and, yet, not unpleasant at the same time. A second finger slipped into her rosette, easing the tightness of the ring. Good thing because, once those digits slid out, something much larger pressed against it. Knowing what to expect, she pushed out against the pressure of his cock easing its way in. He sheathed it and held still, a thick pulsing presence in her body that had her holding her breath.

She released it when he eased all the way back out, leaving her empty and disappointed.

“Sit up,” Ricky ordered.

Leaning herself to a position that raised her above Stu’s body, she felt more than saw Stu’s cock rise as if to follow her pussy.

She watched through half-slitted eyes as Stu gripped his shaft and guided it into her channel. Without being told, she slammed back down. Mmmm. That felt good.

And then things got really interesting.

“Lean forward.”

She let herself fall forward, bracing herself on hands splayed across Stu’s chest. Ricky’s hands spread her cheeks, exposing her rosette for him. The thick head of his cock pushed its way back past the tight ring. And Patricia almost came.

It was almost too much. Filled and stretched and sandwiched between her lovers.

Every sensation, every breath, touch, slightest movement, everything became a sensual torture, an erotic delight, a decadence she savored.

But it was only just the beginning.

Ricky controlled the pace. With his hands on her waist, he slid her back and forth, a simple rhythmic motion that drew his dick in and out of her ass while, at same time, causing Stu’s cock to thrust in and out of her sex.

Talk about mind-blowing. Caught in a never-ending orgasm, a wave of rapture that kept crashing over and over, she didn’t think, didn’t hesitate; she acted. In she swooped to capture the skin above Stu’s heart with teeth that elongated without her even thinking of it. She pierced the skin with ease, leaving her mark on him. Stu arched, a deep thrust into her, and cried out, the liquid of his orgasm bathing her channel. Pushing herself back up and panting madly, she could barely say, “Bite me back.”