Authors: Lacey Thorn
“I am sorry that your people have so little character that
they would judge what they do not know,” Jamison said.
“So what do you judge on?” she asked.
“We don’t really judge,” he answered and she laughed.
“I guess perhaps we judge by a person’s actions,” he
conceded. “How they treat others as well as themselves. We look to a person’s
heart and know the beauty that lies inside.”
That sounded wonderful, but was it truly possible to live
like that?
“We have never known of any other way to live,” Jamison
said.
“It sounds nice,” she said. “But I don’t understand why I am
here.”
“I’m not exactly sure myself,” he answered. “Taggart and I
were told that you would be at the bridal pool and that we should go and see if
you would choose to mate with us.”
She remembered saying the words that had popped into her
head, choosing them as mates. What had she committed herself to? How long would
she be forced to remain here?
“You will never be forced to do anything that you do not
desire,” Jamison said and there was anger in his voice again. “What type of
society did you live in that such a thought would occur to you?”
“You’re reading my thoughts again,” she said, deciding not
to answer him. How did she explain to him that women were bedded and discarded
all the time? That marriages rarely lasted forever. That it was common to marry
and divorce several times.
“It is a sad world that you live in,” Jamison spoke softly.
“I can’t imagine anyone wanting to go back to such a place.”
He was right. She had nothing to go back for, no one who
would care. Her mother might want her but only so that her place in the cult
she was now a part of would be sealed. It appeared that her mother had finally
lost her mind and Reggie doubted that she would ever be able to save her. The
only thing she would do would be to find herself trapped and married as the
first wife to some religious dictator. She shuddered at the thought.
“How could a mother put her child in such a place?” Jamison
asked. “How could a man desire more than one woman to be his life mate, to
bring his children to life? We have no divorce as you call it here. When we
take a mate we form a bond that lasts forever.”
“Is that what I did when I spoke those words?” Reggie asked.
“Did I form a bond with you and your brother?”
“Yes,” Jamison nodded. “You accepted our desire to bond and
mate with you.”
She nodded. So what did it mean to mate or bond with
someone? Obviously it lasted forever to them? So did they not die? Age? What?
Jamison laughed. “Yes, we grow old and die. It is the cycle
of life. Death gives way to birth and all life has time. But the bond we have
formed is more than a physical one. Already I hear your thoughts and fears and
they become mine. I sense your needs and want nothing more than to meet every
one of them. I begin to know you and love the person before me. Do you not feel
anything for me?”
Well, yes, of course she felt something for him. She
wouldn’t say that it was love. She couldn’t believe that. Love didn’t happen
that quickly. But there was something there. She knew that she didn’t want to
hurt him. That it mattered to her what he thought and felt. And there was this
thing inside her that kept wanting to take over, to have her give in to all
that he desired. It was getting hard to fight. And her bones were starting to
ache.
“Your bones ache already?” Jamison exclaimed and she knew it
would do no good to remind him again to stay out of her head. “The process is
moving quickly. I must call Taggart back.”
“Where exactly is Taggart?” she wanted to know.
“He went for a run after you had fallen asleep,” Jamison
said absently as he seemed to concentrate on something.
“Are you calling him without words?” she asked. “Can you
just reach out no matter where he is and contact him?” Hell, that was better
than a cell phone.
“Yes,” he said. “Our bond allows us to communicate no matter
how far apart we might be. He is on his way back.” He sighed. “There are
certain things you should know before he arrives.”
“Such as?” she questioned.
Jamison sighed again and shook his head. “I don’t know where
to begin or how to share with you what I must without scaring you.”
“Well, telling me that is making me nervous so maybe you
should just come right out and say what you need to say,” she stated.
“White Valley is the only home that I have ever known,” he
said. “I have heard tales of what lies beyond the veil but I’ve never crossed.”
That was still a little weird to think about. How exactly
did a fog create a veil between worlds? How did she manage to cross it and,
more importantly, what did it mean? She’d never heard of a White Valley.
“That is because it does not exist in your world,” he
answered softly.
What did that mean? She was no longer in America? No longer
on Planet Earth? What the hell?
“I knew that this would be difficult,” he said again. “You
are and yet you aren’t.”
“Well, that explains it,” she said dryly.
“I’m trying, Reggie,” he said. “My fear of losing you is
holding me back from what I need to tell you.”
“We’ve only just met,” she said. “How could you fear losing
me?”
“Perhaps you didn’t understand what I said earlier,” he
replied. “We have already formed a triad bond. To lose you now would mean that
Taggart and I would walk the rest of our days alone. We mate for life, there
can never be another for us at this point.”
“I don’t want to hurt you, Jamison,” she said sadly. “I know
that something inside me calls to you, desires to be with you, almost demands
it. But I-I just…”
“You don’t believe,” he said.
He was right. Part of her was still convinced that this was
some dream she was still in the middle of.
“It is no dream,” he promised. “I do not know how to convince
you of that. Soon, sooner than we anticipated you will know beyond a shadow of
a doubt that this is real, we are real. I cannot shelter you from what lies
ahead.”
“And what is that?” she asked. “What lies ahead?”
“When Taggart and I both claimed you at the same time and we
all reached fulfillment together we formed the final mating,” he said. “It is
that act that begins the process that you feel inside you.”
“What process?” she demanded. What the hell had they done to
her?
“There is still so much to explain,” he sighed. “The why,
the how, so much detail. But I have run out of time. Taggart is here.”
He rose from the bed, doing nothing to cover his nakedness
and she couldn’t help the way her body responded to his. He was perfection. He
moved across to the door and opened it just as a dog ran in. Hell, that was no
dog. It was a wolf. A big one at that. She moved to the center of the bed on
her knees, eyes wide as the wolf moved toward her.
His coat was beautiful, reminding her of Jamison’s hair with
varying shades of brown, blond, and red. And the eyes were the same chocolate
color. The wolf came right over to her and put his front paws on the bed,
leaning in to lick her face.
“What is this wolf doing here?” she asked and she knew her
voice was shaking with the fear she felt. Those jaws looked strong enough to
tear her apart with one bite.
“He would never hurt you,” Jamison said.
“I’m glad you’re sure of that,” she murmured.
“Taggart, you are scaring her,” Jamison said.
“Taggart?” she asked and looked back toward the door that
Jamison had already closed. “Where is he?”
“Right in front of you,” Jamison replied, watching her.
“Are you trying to tell me that Taggart is the wolf?” she
laughed.
“Show her,” Jamison said with a sigh. “I think it might be
the only way that you start to believe.”
The wolf moved back so that all four paws were on the floor.
She could hear popping noises and then right before her eyes the wolf began to
change. So much happened at once that she couldn’t keep her eyes on just one
spot. The muzzle retreated, the fur began to shimmer and transform to skin and
soon the wolf was gone and Taggart rose to stand in his place.
“You’re-you’re…” she was stuttering and her mind was as
well. There was no way that she had just seen a wolf transform into a man.
Werewolves didn’t really exist. Not outside books and movies.
“We do exist,” Jamison answered quietly as Taggart just
stood before her, watching her. “And soon you will see for yourself.”
“What does that mean?” she wanted to know.
“You’re one of us now,” Taggart replied. “Your wolf is
already awakening and soon you will transform as well.”
“That is why you feel the ache in your bones,” Jamison
added.
A wolf? Werewolves? A veil that separated worlds? She must
be going crazy. That was it, had to be it. She was locked up in some hospital
somewhere because she had lost her mind. She closed her eyes, squeezing them
tight.
When I open my eyes, I’ll be back home. When I open my
eyes all of this will disappear. When I open my eyes, I won’t be here. When I
open my eyes I’ll be in my bed at home and this will have all been just a
dream. Just a dream.
Chapter Five
“We are not a dream,” Taggart said. “And when you open your
eyes we will still be right here.”
Jamison watched her eyes flash open, saw the fear and uncertainty
in them, heard the echo of panic in her thoughts and felt them like a knife to
his heart, to his soul. How was he to protect his mate from her fears when what
she feared the most was him? Lynx had warned them that this would be hard, that
the woman meant for them would be filled with doubt. Jamison had hoped
differently. But now he understood exactly what they faced. And if they didn’t
convince her before the change began in earnest, before her wolf forced the
shift, Reggie might not survive.
“You must calm down and listen to us,” Jamison urged,
wanting to move closer to her, to take her in his arms and yet knowing that she
would not be accepting of such an act in her current state. “Reggie, I am
begging you to stop panicking and listen to me, to us.”
He watched her struggle to gain control and felt pride when
she finally managed and gave them a nod. This was their one chance to win her
over. They had to fight past the fears and doubts she’d brought from her world
and open her up to how life worked in theirs.
“You have bonded with us,” Taggart said. “You are now mated
to us for life. Soon your wolf will call and you will have no choice but to
answer and let it free.”
Well, apparently his brother would be of no help. But then
Taggart had always been the one to act first and think later.
You are not helping the situation
, Jamison told him.
No, he’s not.
He started as he heard Reggie’s voice
in his head. Not her chaotic thoughts but her actual voice.
He smiled. He couldn’t help it. “You spoke to us,” he told
us. “We heard you.”
She shook her head. “None of this makes sense. What you are
asking me to believe just isn’t possible.”
Taggart stepped forward and took her hand, pulling it until
it rested against his chest. “And yet I am real. I am the man who made love to
you until you passed out from the pleasure. It was my cock buried in the snug
grip of your ass. Tell me you don’t remember the pleasure you experienced with
us.”
Jamison watched Reggie blush, read the memories of the
previous night in her thoughts and smiled.
“Perhaps we should show you again?” Taggart asked and
Jamison watched his brother move her hand down until it touched his straining
cock. Jamison wanted that touch for himself. “Is that what you want? To feel us
again and know that we are real and not some figment of your imagination?”
Jamison could read the hunger in her, felt it as his own.
She wanted them, wanted to believe and yet a part of her just couldn’t seem to.
Maybe Taggart was right. Maybe what they needed to do first was convince her
that they were real, alive and all hers. Then maybe she would be more willing
to listen and believe what they were trying to tell her.
Reggie didn’t know what to say or what to do or, heaven help
her, what was even real anymore. Except that she could feel Taggart. Could feel
the heat and firmness of his flesh. He was real. He had to be. No dream could
feel this way. No imaginary man would feel so alive beneath her hand. Taggart’s
question took root in her mind and she couldn’t think of anything else. Yes,
that was exactly what she wanted right now. Not to think, or question or
wonder. But to feel them and know that they weren’t going to disappear.
She let her fingers wrap around Taggart’s shaft and stroked
up and down the length. He groaned and stepped closer, placing one knee up on
the bed. “I want you to be real,” she whispered.
“I am,” he promised, reaching out to touch her face and let
his fingers trail down her cheek. “But I am more than you have ever known.”
A werewolf. They were men capable of shifting into animals,
wolves. She had thought such things didn’t exist in real life but Taggart had
changed right in front of her eyes. And Jamison said that she would be able to
change too. How was that possible? She’d never changed in her life. Why would
she be able to now?
“We will answer the rest of your questions after,” Taggart
promised as he moved onto the bed with her. “First I desire only to assure you
that I am flesh and blood, alive and all yours.”
She nodded and when he leaned in to take her mouth, to push
his tongue inside and explore she gave herself over to every sensation he
evoked. Her hands found his shoulders and her nails gripped him. He was flesh
and blood and male. And yes, he was hers, all hers. She couldn’t touch enough
of him. Although it wasn’t as debilitating as her desire had seemed the first
time she still wanted him, craved him and couldn’t wait to feel him inside her.