Abbey's Protectors [Beckett's Wolf Pack, Triad Mates 4] (Siren Publishing Menage & More) (22 page)

“Pain?” She couldn’t imagine what he was talking about.

“A triad claiming puts a great deal of stress on a woman’s body,” he explained softly. “We need to make sure you’re all right.”

Hunter reached out and carefully cupped her mound, rubbing gently against her heat. A small growl left him as her body called to his, but he pushed aside the immediate need that filled him. This was not about his need right now. It was about seeing to the comfort of their mate.

Clay’s hand slid down her shoulder until he tenderly held her left breast in his hand, rubbing his thumb across the soft swell of it. He felt her hardened nipple beneath the pad of his thumb and couldn’t prevent the growl of desire that escaped him either. He clamped hold of his desires and sent her soothing feelings to ease any aches in her body.

Abbey blushed hotly. The image of how the men had taken care of her after each of their claimings flashed through her mind. They had told her that their saliva had healing properties in it, and she was reminded of how they had laved and kissed every inch of her tender folds after they had claimed her. It had soothed her soreness, made her feel cherished and loved, and made her horny as hell.

“I’m good,” she told them, her voice cracking slightly at the arousing thoughts she was having.

Hunter looked at Clay and winked at his triad partner, loving the wide grin that was plastered on his face. He hadn’t ever seen Clay so happy. He felt exactly the same way, and it was all because of the woman who sat between them. She was amazing.

“How about you two?” she asked, suddenly feeling embarrassed that she hadn’t thought to consider how either man was doing. She blushed lightly at the whimper of loss that escaped her involuntarily when her men removed their hands from her and sat back on their haunches to look at her. She could see the desire in their eyes and suddenly realized that the golden in their eyes was quickly becoming a color she loved seeing.

“We’re fine,” Clay assured her. “How can we not be? We’ve found and claimed our mate, and we’re about to start our life together.”

“What do you mean?” Abbey asked, her brow furrowing in confusion as she thought about the ramifications of what Clay had just said.

“We’ve already been given permission by our alpha to take you home to pack land,” Hunter told her. “We have a home there that’s waiting for us to share.”

Abbey looked at Hunter then turned to face Clay, trying to decide what she should do. “I want to be with you both,” she told them honestly. “I just need to make sure my friends and my company are safe before I make that commitment. Okay?”

Both men nodded, smiling. They knew she would be with them. In their home. On pack land. She had to do what she had to do first and that was okay. They would give her all the time she needed, but she needed to realize that the commitment had already been made once the claiming had taken place. They were going to spend the rest of their lives together. And they were going to share a comfortable home and have a loving family.

“Just give me time,” Abbey whispered as she leaned forward and kissed Hunter’s lips lightly before turning and doing the same to Clay’s.

“Just remember, honey,” Clay reminded her, touching her face lightly with the back of his knuckles. “You need to keep yourself safe and completely rested. Our babies need their mother to be healthy and happy.”

“Clay,” Abbey told him, laughing. “You’re pushing it a little. There are no babies.”

“But there will be,” Hunter told her firmly. “Do you want there to be, Abbey?”

Hunter’s voice was suddenly unsure. Abbey could feel his insecurity. She reached out to hold his hand gently within her own.

“Yes, I do,” she told him sincerely. “I would like that very much.” She looked at both men shyly. “Do you?”

“I want five,” Clay spoke up immediately.

“Five?” Abbey asked, shocked.

“Yes, honey. But if you only want two, that’s fine.”

The completely honest desire his sparkling, blue eyes held as he looked at her melted her heart and made her smile. Looking at Hunter, she saw the same need in his eyes.

“What about you, Hunter?”

“Well, I don’t really have a number in mind,” he told her honestly. “I just want us to be blessed with as many cubs as we can handle. It will be up to you, sweetheart. Clay and I will love every baby, and we’ll definitely enjoy making every one of them with you. Getting you pregnant will be possibly the best way to spend our days and nights.”

Abbey laughed out loud, her heart light with joy. “I’ll just bet you’ll enjoy that,” she told them, reaching up to tug on their hair lightly. “I’ll tell you a secret.” She leaned in until she was resting her head against their necks as they pushed toward her to envelope her in their arms.

“What’s your secret, Mate?” Clay whispered.

“I’m going to enjoy you getting me pregnant, too,” she told them quietly, leaning back and looking up at them. She saw the completely satisfied, smug expressions on their faces. “I knew I shouldn’t have said that. Look how arrogant you both are!” She pushed at their chests and stood awkwardly as they refused to release their hold from around her waist.

“How can you expect us not to be arrogant when you just admitted that you like the way we make love to you?” Hunter demanded, winking at her boldly. “It makes my heart happy and my cock hard.”

Abbey burst out laughing, plopping back down onto the chair and gripping both men’s chins between her thumbs and index fingers. “Yes, you’re both quite the studs,” she told them, laughing. “Just remember one very important thing, though.”

“What?” Clay asked when he saw how serious she had become.

“You’re mine.”

The satisfied, sexy smiles that filled both men’s faces made her heart flutter. She lost all feeling in her extremities as the sudden rush of need for them both filled her. The force of her instant need for them shocked her. She was in so much trouble.

“Yes, baby. We are,” Hunter agreed, taking her hand in his and kissing her open palm. “Now, let’s get your stuff together and get out of here. We’re going home.”

* * * *

Abbey sat between them on the front bench seat of Clay’s truck. Both men cast furtive glances at her before looking at each other as worry filled them. She was completely silent and had been for the last twenty minutes of the trip. They had about forty minutes more before they arrived on Beckett land. They were determined to get her to open up to them and tell them what was wrong.

Every time they tried to search the mating bond for her feelings, they found the happiness she had in being with them. They also saw the beginning love that she was trying to hide. That particular bit of emotion made them smile secretively. If their mate wanted to tell them that she loved them in her own time and in her own way, they were good with that. Words weren’t needed. Her feelings for them were expressed every time she touched them or looked at them. They had never felt such complete acceptance and deep caring in their entire lives.

What worried them was the fear she was hiding behind a gray door off to the left of the brightness that was their bond with her. She was isolating herself from them. She was worried. And she was afraid.

“Abbey, when we get to pack land we’ll bring you to the family lodge,” Clay told her as he drove with confidence toward their home. “We’ll introduce you to Alpha Jace Beckett and Beta Jackson Scott.” He looked to his right and saw that she had turned to face him briefly before returning her attention to the road ahead of them. He could smell the fear rolling off of her. “They’re good, fair leaders. They’ve accepted many members from other packs over the years and have offered their protection and guidance. You won’t find a better alpha or beta. Beckett’s pack is a loving family. We’re very lucky to be a part of it.”

“We’ll make a request for you to be accepted and protected by the pack,” Hunter added. “Jace has already told us you’ll be welcomed so this is just a formality.”

“Okay,” Abbey whispered, never looking at either man. She covered their hands as they rested on her thighs and squeezed them gently.

“Once you’ve been officially accepted, you’ll be part of the pack family,” Clay told her.

Abbey nodded, never saying another word. They could feel the way she was trembling slightly and worried for her.

“Please tell us why you’re afraid, sweetheart,” Hunter requested gently. “We can’t help ease your fears if we don’t know what they are.”

“I’m fine,” Abbey insisted, shrugging lightly.

The men exchanged glances, knowing Abbey was anything but fine. They would get down to the bottom of it when they had her safely settled within the home that they would share.

Clay did his best to send thoughts of love and support through their mating link to their woman, smiling when he felt Hunter doing the same. He saw the soft white ribbon of the bonding surrounding their mate and happiness filled him when he saw the way Abbey drew the ribbons around both him and Hunter. Even without realizing it, she was soothing them and accepting them. She was truly the perfect mate for them.

“You know, some people may think I took the coward’s way out by running away from my husband,” she said softly after a few minutes of comfortable silence, reaching out to touch both men’s thighs, needing the connection.

“We would never think you’re a coward, honey,” Hunter told her gently.

She smiled softly as both men reached down and covered her hands with theirs, offering her their support. She wondered if they realized how important both their touch and their kindness were to her.

“I sometimes think I’m a coward,” she said softly, looking out at the road ahead of them but not really seeing anything. “Every time he was abusive to me, no one was around to see or hear it. I never knew when he would be cruel, and it was making me a nervous wreck. I couldn’t focus, I could barely sleep, and I was starting to make mistakes at work. If it weren’t for my two friends, I would have made major errors that would have cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

She paused, taking a deep breath and settling as the scents of Clay and Hunter filled her lungs. She leaned back against the bench seat and sighed as they pressed against her, keeping her tightly between them. She appreciated their silence. It helped her to focus and tell them exactly what she needed to tell them.

“When I look back on it, I realize I should have taken control of the situation much sooner than I did. I should have kicked him out of my home and should have taken precautions to make sure that he didn’t come near me, but I didn’t. I continued going to work every day, pretending that everything was fine.” She stopped talking, taking a shaky breath as she tried to calm herself. “When I finally realized that only I could fix the problem, I asked my friends to help me shield everything I was doing from Peter. I was able to have a new will drawn up that would ensure that he received nothing except what was stipulated in the prenup. I set up a date when Peter would be escorted from my home and the locks would be changed. Over the last couple of weeks, I took long walks and thought through every aspect of my plan to protect myself and my father’s company. I knew I had to keep myself away from him until the company lawyers filed the necessary papers to protect Tyler Industries.”

She turned to face Clay then faced Hunter. They remained silent but she could feel their compassion and support through their link. It gave her the needed courage to finish her explanation.

“I just needed to get away. I couldn’t continue to work and do a good job if he was constantly in my presence. Even if I had gone to my friends’ apartment, he would have found me. If I had gotten a hotel room, he would be constantly bombarding me with phone calls or showing up at work. Even though I had my phone number changed and had security stop him every time he entered the office building, it was still another moment in my day that sent me into a panic attack. I was about to collapse from the stress.”

She pulled her hands from theirs and rubbed at her eyes tiredly then settled her hands on her lap. “So I planned to get far enough away with just enough to keep me from having to worry that Peter would stop me or show up wherever I was. The night I decided to leave, Peter was in the study. I packed my car with enough clothes and personal items to see me through the next few weeks until I was able to finalize all the legal details to be free of him.”

She opened her hands, palm up on each man’s thigh and settled when they covered her hands with theirs and entwined their fingers, squeezing lightly. She gave in to the warmth of their hands. She could feel their support through their link and realized that it calmed her tremendously.

“My car wouldn’t start. I lifted the hood and found that the spark plug wires had been removed. I knew Peter had somehow figured out I was going to leave, and he did what he always did. He figured out a way to control me. Except that time, I wasn’t going to allow him to do it. I didn’t have another car, so I knew I was going to have to hike out of there. I grabbed my father’s old duffle bag and filled it with some clothes and blankets to keep me warm while I hiked the back woods near my home to get away. I knew I could run across the back of my property to a cave that was hidden there and keep myself safe until I was sure he wasn’t following me. I knew the area pretty well, so I wasn’t afraid of the journey. I grabbed a couple of bottles of water and some food. I knew I didn’t have much time to get away.”