Tightly Held [Werewolves of Hanson Mall 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (7 page)

“What’s the First Seeds Project?” asked Nolan.

I’d like to know that, too.

“I expect we’ll hear a lot more detail about it while we’re here, but it’s about preserving the original plants from this land. Things that may already have died out or are endangered.”

“Oh, so that’s what you mean. I expect it’s very important they breed true, not get cross-pollinated. Okay, I get it now,” said Nolan.

That made sense to Ethan as well, but he still concentrated strictly on his driving. Who knew what might pop out of the trees for him to deal with next? There was another river or moat or whatever it was to cross, and another car wash before he pulled up in front of what had presumably once been a huge old house, but which now had several multistory wings sticking out of each side of the central two-story section.

“I guess everyone lives all together in this house,” said Georgia.

A man in a security guard’s uniform came out of the house with a long-handled broom wrapped in white paper, which he rubbed across the roof of the car. He inspected his broom carefully, pulled one sheet of paper off it, and balled it up, leaving another sheet of paper visible on the broom, and brushed the underside of the car, before checking the broom again. Finally he nodded, pulled the second piece of paper off the broom, and put the broom down. Only then did the Alpha—well, Ethan assumed it was the Alpha—come out of the house followed by a man with half a dozen pairs of shoe coverings like people wear in a hospital.

Okay, this is going to be really interesting.

Georgia was incredibly excited about being allowed to visit this pack. Until they’d arrived it hadn’t occurred to her how much trust the pack had placed in her to let her come here. Georgia, being a wolf herself, was well aware that some packs had been unfairly targeted and discriminated against by bigoted humans who didn’t understand the reality of shape-shifters. No bite from a werewolf was going to turn someone furry, mad, and howling at a full moon. Shape-shifting was a gene, passed from parent to child, much the same way she’d received the blue eye gene from her two brown-eyed parents.

In her case, her eyes were blue because she’d been given the recessive blue eye gene from both parents. There was a one in four chance of that happening and she’d beaten the odds and ended up with blue eyes. If a human married a werewolf, their children would have a fifty-fifty chance of being a shape-shifter. Part of the family history project’s work was to track whether human offspring of werewolf-human matings who later mated a werewolf had a three in four chance of having a shape-shifter child, or if it stayed as fifty-fifty. Finding that out would be a huge help to the project.

The car doors were opened and everyone was handed protective coverings to put over their shoes before the Alpha escorted them inside. “We’re grateful you came back to talk to us again. We’re hoping to add more information to your study. I’ll explain everything inside,” he said.

There must have been about twenty people sitting in a large open plan dining room when Georgia walked in. The Alpha’s mate took her immediately to a table of seniors and sat her down. Small sandwiches, cupcakes, and coffee were served. The older people introduced themselves and she asked them about the First Seeds Project. For a start, she was genuinely interested in it, but also she wanted them relaxed around her before the formal interviewing began.

They remained at the table as more people joined in, until the chairs were squashed together even though a second table had been added to the first one. Ethan must have gone out to the car because he returned with her briefcase and laptop, and the discussions began. Women brought out more sandwiches, and mugs of soup, and still people kept talking about their ancestors, the stories flowing fast.

Only when the food was all gone and the stories finally trickled to a halt, did she ask if they’d ever heard the rhyme.

When two are in the garden,

A son will soon make three.

When three are in the garden

You’ll be blessed with a family.

Several people spoke at once, saying they didn’t know it, but finally one old man said, “Wait.”

Everyone turned to look at him and he said, “Think about the words of that poem. Don’t just look at the surface.”

Georgia hid her smile and quoted it again. Had the senior worked out the ménage theory? Did he know of a ménage relationship? Was the pattern of ménages not really something new at all, but a strategy that had been used in the past? Or was the poem not really about ménages? Was a modern generation putting a modern interpretation on an innocent old rhyme?

“Oh my goodness! Great-Aunt Daisy and William and Thaddeus.”

“Who?”

“Old Tad. Remember Old Tad?”

As unobtrusively as possible, Georgia wrote down the names mentioned, and those of the old man who’d first queried the rhyme and the old woman who’d remembered Great-Aunt Daisy. Certainly it sounded like a woman with two men, but possibly it was quite chaste. Brothers and a sister even. But Georgia found herself crossing her fingers under the table, hoping she’d found a new lead to solve the shape-shifter mystery.

When more food was served around the table, Georgia’s first thought was that she’d done nothing but eat since she’d arrived, but as she bit into spicy vegetable samosa she realized she was hungry again and several hours had passed while they’d all been talking.

“Many people will be tired after their long day. Will beginning at ten tomorrow be all right with you?” the Alpha asked Georgia.

“Of course. I’m very grateful for the time everyone has given me today. I hadn’t realized how late it had gotten,” she said.

“The cooks didn’t want to bring out the food earlier in case it distracted people.”

“They timed it perfectly. The conversation had wound down, and I’ll talk to people separately tomorrow, as well as together.”

“Excellent.” The Alpha lifted his arm in the air and clicked his fingers.

Half a dozen teenagers, who must have been waiting out in the hallway, arrived and started helping people to their homes. Or rooms, she supposed.

“Does everyone live in this building?” she asked the Alpha.

“Yes. When we joined the First Seeds Project it became really important not to track dirt from one area of the property to other areas, so it was much easier if everyone lived in the one place and this house was the obvious building for us all to use. Besides, there were plenty of vacant rooms to turn into bedrooms and apartments. If you want to run there’s a specific area set aside for that. Just tell someone and they’ll escort you.”

“I’d love to run and perhaps my assistants would, too. Can we do that after we finish tomorrow, perhaps? Unless it’s too late.”

“Of course. I’ll arrange it myself.”

“Thank you. You’ve been extremely helpful.”

He nodded and a teenager said, “Follow me.”

Ethan and Nolan had been waiting for her and they followed her up the stairs to the top floor when they were shown to three adjacent rooms. Hers was the corner one with a huge window out over the property. It was pitch dark now, but she knew that in the morning there’d be an amazing view.

“We’ll go get the luggage,” said Nolan.

Georgia hid a smile. They’d be back and she was looking forward to another night in their arms. Her body still tingled with the memories from two days ago. She’d been disappointed they couldn’t sleep together last night, but the work was much more important than sex. However, tonight would be perfect for sex, especially with a late start tomorrow morning.

* * * *

Ethan wasn’t surprised to see a man waiting down by the front door when he and Nolan approached. “Do you need help with your luggage?” he asked.

“No thank you. We’ll be fine.” Ethan hoped that was true. They hadn’t brought flashlights, but the SUV was white and there was a light in the trunk so they should be all right.

The guard flicked on a porch light, which gave plenty of illumination, and they had no trouble walking to the car and collecting their suitcase and Georgia’s two bags. He’d brought her laptop bag and briefcase in for her before they’d begun the interviews because he knew she’d want to record the session. They’d only been traveling with her for a few short days, but already both he and Nolan knew which bags had her papers and work in them, and which one had her clothing. One roll-on bag looked much like any other roll-on bag to him, but so far she’d always used the one with the blue zipper for papers and the other one for clothing, so that system worked for him.

It was difficult to climb the stairs because his dick was so hard. Ethan was sure Georgia would let them make love to her tonight. Well, almost sure. Their work had to come first, but the Alpha had been clear that the seniors would be tired and the day couldn’t start until ten, which gave them plenty of time to make love tonight and for Georgia still to get enough sleep. He knew she had to be highly mentally alert to look for clues as to whom she ought to interview and the questions she should ask, and he’d never try to hinder her from doing her best work. But hell, it wasn’t even midnight yet so there was plenty of time left for him and Nolan to love her thoroughly.

And this time he’d packed condoms and lube. On the day they’d had between the road trips he’d paid a visit to the adult store. It was full of absolutely amazing things, and he’d promised himself to go back there one day and spend a lot of time looking all around. In particular, he wanted to get Georgia some nipple clips. Her breasts were beautiful, and deserved to be decorated by some pretty jewelry. However, all he’d purchased was condoms and lube, which would be enough for tonight. With people sleeping in rooms all around them he wanted her to have several not-too-loud climaxes. Maybe he could give her one where she screamed her lungs out when they took her to the farm as Nolan had suggested for their date.

On their way home he and Nolan needed to ask her about that. Maybe they would find a scenic lookout and kiss her there as well. Or perhaps kiss her first and then ask her out. That might be better.

Ethan knocked on Georgia’s door instead of suggesting Nolan take the suitcase to another room. Besides, whose room would they leave it in, his or Nolan’s? All their clothing was together. They’d figure out what to do about their luggage only if Georgia didn’t want them to stay the night with her. But hopefully she’d want what he and Nolan wanted. All of them in bed together once again.

Georgia opened the door and silently stepped back inside, letting them in. Ethan looked around but there was no obvious place to leave her carry-on case. It wasn’t like a hotel room with a counter or a rack where guests were meant to leave their cases, so he just put it on the floor against the wall where he hoped none of them would trip over it. He noticed her briefcase and laptop were sitting on a chair. So she wasn’t working on the interviews. He was glad about that. Ethan really, really hoped that meant she was ready to spend time with them.

Nolan moved as fast as Ethan thought. He crossed the room and took Georgia in his arms, kissing her. Ethan pushed the bags Nolan had brought hard against the wall, and followed him. He kneeled down and stared at the shoe covers. Hmm. He hadn’t thought that out. Likely he shouldn’t remove them or the dirt on their shoes would drop onto the floor and then it’d be swept out and possibly end up on the ground outside to be blown around and risk damaging this pack’s First Seeds Project. Carefully, he removed Georgia’s shoes, making sure to keep them inside the bootie. Then he took his own boots off and stacked their footwear against the wall where it shouldn’t be knocked over by any of them in the dark.

Nolan was still kissing Georgia so Ethan opened the suitcase and took out the condoms and lube, then closed the case again. He placed the items on the nightstand and moved behind Georgia, stroking her back and her neck. She arched her back like a cat when petted, so he did it again, before reaching around her waist and undoing the button at the top of her jeans.

When Nolan stepped back a little, he tugged her sweater, lifting it off over her head, and followed that action up immediately by removing her T-shirt and bra. Once her top was bare he turned her to face him and cupped her breasts, rubbing his thumb over her nipples. They were already hard and she pushed herself up into his palms.

Ethan kept his hands cupped under the globes and began to suck and lick her delicate flesh. She tasted so delicious, all woman with the faintest overlay of salt. She smelled of all woman as well. She always had the slightest floral aroma around her. It must be powder or shampoo or something she used. Whatever it was, it was a highly addictive scent and he wanted, no needed, more of her.

As Ethan sucked and licked her breasts, he was aware of Nolan removing her jeans and panties. He wondered whether Nolan would tease her ass. The lube was a bit of a giveaway of what he hoped would happen, but he hadn’t had the opportunity to talk with Nolan about their plans today. However, he suspected his friend would be thinking along a very similar path to himself.

Meanwhile, her breasts were in his hands, in his mouth, calling to him and driving his need to possess her, to hold her, to love her, ever higher. First he rolled a nipple with his tongue, around and around in his mouth, and then he pressed the wet little nub to the roof of his mouth while he sucked more of the soft flesh inside.