Authors: Anya Bast
Rafian was pulling food out of the fridge when he entered. Before mates had begun traveling through the veil, the Lycaon had known nothing of such things as refrigerators or running water. As shifters, they had spent a good part of their lives in animal form. Catching food as a wolf, hawk, or bear was a lot easier than as a human, after all.
Having their mostly human mates traveling over had changed their culture greatly. They didn’t have the luxuries of the Magica, for the most part, but they had a kind of magic of their own. The magic of solar and wind power.
Rafian leaned against the counter. “She is unraveling every ounce of my control.”
“Mine too.”
“The scent of her makes me crazy. The look of her skin tempts me. I want her too badly. So badly I may have to leave tonight.”
Lucas grunted. “You’re tougher than that.”
“I didn’t know the attraction would be so strong. The others told us, but experiencing it is different.”
“I know. Just be thankful she came through the veil at all.”
Rafian went silent for a moment. “But we may not be able to keep her.”
Lucas could find nothing to say to that. He walked over and placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. This was not the first mate they’d taken and Rafian blamed himself for the loss of the last one. “Take it easy, my brother. We’ll try again.”
Chapter Three
After taking a long, hot shower, in which she washed away the sweat and grime from the day—not to mention the pepper spray on her cheek—she wrapped herself in a fluffy green towel and combed out her damp hair. This place was almost like home, minus a hair dryer.
She eyed her dirty clothes piled in one corner with distaste and opted to stay wrapped in the towel. Although appearing in front of the men with so little covering her gave her pause. She figured if they meant to hurt her in that way, they’d do it no matter what.
Opening the door, she walked softly down the hallway. The scent of hot food reached her nose and made her weak in the knees. She was starving. She was also completely exhausted now that the adrenaline that had been pumping through her veins had eased a little. Low male voices murmured from the kitchen.
She stepped from the mouth of the hallway and both men stopped what they were doing and stared at her. Lucas stood at the oven and Rafian sat at the table. She fidgeted uneasily. The towel was huge, but she suddenly felt naked in front of them. The thoughts they both were having were clear on their faces. Those thoughts were very male. Carnal, in fact.
Hers were just as bad. She’d never had a particularly hard time controlling her libido, but these guys made dirty thoughts leap straight into her head.
Rafian’s hands were clenched on top of the table, almost as if he was holding himself back from her. That should have been alarming, yet she sensed no threat from him. All she could imagine were those big, strong hands stroking over her bare skin. She wondered what it would take for him to lose the control he was so obviously employing. What if she dropped her towel….
Inappropriate thought alert.
“Uhm.” She swallowed hard. “Do you have anything I could wear?”
Rafian blinked, seeming to realize he was staring. He stood and abruptly left the room. He returned a few moments later with a dress draped over his arm. He handed it to her. “It’s in the fashion of our people. I hope you don’t mind.”
She took it and smiled. It was incredibly soft, like the finest cashmere. “I don’t mind. Thank you.” She retreated back to the bathroom and slipped it over her head. It snugged against her curves, fitting her perfectly. She had no underwear or bra, but her breasts were so small it didn’t really matter.
This time when she entered the kitchen, her damp hair tangled over her shoulders, she seemed to make both men lose their words. They stood and stared at her, making her cheeks heat. “It’s really comfortable,” she said lamely, her voice quavering.
They looked like they wanted to eat her. The fact they were wolves made that revelation a little alarming.
Lucas motioned to a chair and a steaming plate of food. “Sit. Eat.”
“And you’ll tell me about this strange place I’ve slipped into.”
He nodded.
She sat and took stock of her dinner. There was something that looked like chicken, a green leafy vegetable she couldn’t identify, and a plate of red berries. A cup of what appeared to be wine sat near her fork.
Whatever.
She was ravenous. She dug in.
Closing her eyes, she groaned as the food hit her taste buds. All of it was delicious, especially the berries. All of it was familiar too. The chicken really was chicken, although far more tender and juicy than what she usually experienced. The berries were sweet and reminded her of raspberries.
“Okay,” she said after she’d eaten enough to calm the monster in her stomach. “Stop trying to protect me and spill the details. Where I am? Why am I here? Why do you think I’m your…mate?” It was hard to even say the word. “Mostly importantly, how do I get home?”
Both men had taken chairs at the table near her. As she’d expected, it was Lucas who spoke. Rafian seemed a man of few, but profound, words. “You are in a country called Selaryica. It is a place with several races, the primary and most populous of which are the Magica.”
“Is that your people?”
He shook his head. “The hunters in the woods were Magica. They have been at war with our people, the Lycaon, for centuries.”
“The Lycaon are werewolves?” She took a drink of the wine-like stuff. It was good, but tasted more like grape juice.
His gaze met Rafian’s briefly. “Not all of them. We are shapeshifters and take many different forms.”
She shrugged. “Sure, why not.” Her weirdness meter had long since jumped off the scale. She took another bite of chicken.
“You were not brought over,” continued Rafian. “You were forced over by the mate bond that holds the three of us together. Because you are mated to us, you are also part Lycaon.”
She gulped down her mouthful and set her fork down. “What did you say?”
“When the mating bond has been completed, if it is completed, you will be able to shift into your animal.”
She blinked at both men in turn. “What animal?”
“We don’t know. It could be anything,” Lucas answered. “Big cats, wolves, and birds of prey are the most common.”
She looked down at her plate. “I feel nauseous.”
“Too much, too soon.” Lucas looked smug.
Her gaze locked with his. “Lucas, fuck you. I want to know more.”
Lucas’s lips twitched with the beginning of a smile. He shrugged. “Fine. I’ll sum it up for you. Are you ready?”
She narrowed her eyes at him.
He grinned. “In ancient times magick existed in your world. The race that possessed the magick created a breed of humans to use in battle, called Lycaon, which could take the shape of a dire wolf.”
“How ancient?” she interrupted.
“Around nine thousand B.C.”
Leaning back in her chair, she folded her arms over her chest. “Convenient that there was no record keeping back then.”
“Please listen to the rest of the story.”
She pressed her lips together and nodded.
Lucas continued. “When the Lycaon decided they didn’t want to be used as slaves by the Magica, a terrible war broke out that laid to waste the civilizations of humans. A powerful force that remains unidentified shifted both races to another reality. Same earth, different place. Some of the Lycaon were left behind and those are your ancestors. Some of the Magica were left behind as well.”
She’d completely forgotten the food in front of her and was listening raptly. The story sounded so fantastical, so unbelievable and…yet, it was as if she was being told things she’d always known somewhere deep inside. She didn’t want to admit that to Lucas. She wanted to be snotty and disbelieving...but she just couldn’t.
Sitting forward, she studied his face. “Explain the mate bond.”
“The Magica never expected for the Lycaon to be able to procreate and produce offspring. Not only do we do that ability, but we spawn shifters that take forms other than wolf. Unfortunately our fertility rates are low and we produce many more males than females. There is a magical component to the fertility of the Lycaon, as well, that we call the mating bond. It links most compatible males and females, no matter where they may be, and draws them together. If a mate is beyond the veil separating our realities, it pulls that mate through.”
“But I was married once. What if I had still been married when the bond summoned me?”
Rafian answered. “It happened. The bond summoned you when you were married and it did not bring you over. We had glimpses of you, but were denied.” He held her gaze, his eyes growing darker. “It was a difficult period of time.”
Kaitlyn studied Rafian for a long moment before asking, “Why two males to one female?” She suspected she already knew the answer.
“Too many males, not enough females. This is the way our people keep our men happy. Unmated, unhappy males, especially Lycaon males, means an excess of testosterone that vents itself violently.”
She snorted. “In our world men don’t share well.”
Rafian gave Lucas a hard look. “They don’t always share well here, either, but this is our way and it works.”
A horrible thought occurred to her. “Please tell me you’re not brothers.”
“We are brothers in friendship and mate-hood,” answered Lucas, “but not by blood. We were raised in different homes.”
She let out a breath of relief. “Thank god. Are you lovers, then?”
“Some of the male Lycaon are. It’s not uncommon with such an excess of males. However, neither Rafian nor I are attracted to each other in that way.”
“Ah.” She was a little disappointed. There was something arousing about the idea of watching these two big, beautiful men together. A millisecond after the thought occurred, she mentally smacked her forehead. What was she thinking? She wasn’t going to
watch anything
happen between these two men. As powerfully as she was attracted to them, she was leaving.
She stood abruptly, making the chair fall behind her. “How do I get home? I have a family there. Sisters—”
Lucas held her gaze. “You’re not going anywhere for two weeks.”
“What do you mean?”
“The mating bond,” answered Rafian. “It will hold you here for a little over a period of your two weeks. If you reject us at its end, you can leave, but not before. The veil won’t allow you to pass.”
“But I have a job. I have sisters and friends who will worry about me!” Thank god she didn’t have any pets at home, or medications she needed to take. The mating bond didn’t seem to care about any of that.
“I’m sorry,” answered Rafian, with a slow shake of his head. “There’s no way to send word past the veil or open the veil unless you’re an upper level mage.”
Her insides rearranged themselves. Paige and Caroline would be worried sick.
Two weeks.
She’d barely avoided jumping their bones during the last couple of hours, how was she going to last two whole weeks? “How will I resist the bond for that long?”
“You’re not supposed to resist the bond.” Lucas’s voice sounded positively wolfish. “You will
never
be able to resist us.”
She looked up to find a hungry glint in his dark eyes.