Acceptable Risk (13 page)

“And I’m assuming you turned the football player
down?”

She smiled. “He could tell how much I cared
about whoever called, and told me I should’ve told him I was seeing
someone. He said he hoped the guy knew how lucky he was, and that
was pretty much it. I went back to work ten minutes later and
haven’t heard from him or seen him since, and don’t figure I will
unless he gets another injury.”

No one said anything, and she asked, “Are ya’ll
mad? How bad did I fuck up?” When no one said anything, she took a
breath, turned her back to them, and admitted, “Everything was
upside down with all of you gone. Nothing went right, nothing
worked
. I’ve been fine on my own all of my adult life, until
this past week.”

Mac stepped to her and pulled her into his
embrace, turning her so she faced him as he cocooned her in the
safety of his arms.

Jonathan took one step towards them and froze as
he said, “Not threatening you, Mac, just making sure Bethany is
safe.”

Mac took a breath, let it out, and said, “She’s
safe.”

“Doesn’t look like it to me, can you step away
from her, please?”

“No,” Bethany said, looking at Jonathan. “His
wolf likes me, and is backing away so Mac can be around me. Don’t
threaten him and we’ll be fine. You weren’t here earlier, but Mac
came to the cabin as a wolf and turned to human on purpose. It took
a lot longer than Ranger, but he did it. He said his wolf likes me
and wants me safe, and he’s backing off so human Mac can hold me
and be near me.” She looked at Mac, snuggled back into his warm
arms, and asked, “What were you going to say?”

“The relationship’s new, and we had to leave
kind of fast. I believe you when you say you were only
contemplating dinner, but how would you’ve felt if you got a hit
because one of us was contemplating having dinner with a college
cheerleader, or a Broadway dancer?”

She tried to pull out of his arms, but he held
tight. She looked down, ashamed, but then decided she wasn’t a
coward, so she met his gaze and said, “It would hurt my feelings,
and I’d wonder how serious you were.”

He tilted his head and lifted his eyebrows, and
she said, “Yeah, okay. I fucked up, and I’m sorry.”

Mac was still holding her, still accepting her,
so she leaned into him, put her cheek against his chest, and added,
“I really like all three of you, and not just because of the sex,
though I have to admit it’s pretty out-of-this-world.” She shook
her head and let Mac hold her a few more seconds before stepping
away.

“I don’t do relationships, and I’m not really
sure what I’m doing here, and I might screw up a few times before I
get it right, but I’m willing to give this a shot.” She looked at
Jonathan. “I don’t like being so far from work, but I know you’re
closer to Sophia when you’re home, since she lives on Lookout
Mountain, too, so I’m not really sure how to resolve where we spend
the majority of our time. I have plenty of extra bedrooms and
closet space, but…” She trailed off, suddenly unsure of what she
was suggesting.

“Are you inviting us to move in with you?”
Ranger asked.

“I don’t really know what I’m saying, except I
missed ya’ll while you were gone. It’s too soon for you to move in,
but maybe you can move some clothes and toiletries in? I have
furniture and a kitchen table.”

“And a kick-ass bathroom,” Jonathan added as he
stepped to her, pulled her hair from the ponytail holder, ran his
fingers through her tresses, and kissed her forehead. “How about we
all move some stuff to your house and try it a few weeks. If it
works, then a month from now I’ll see if some of my team wants to
rent my house, as that’ll put them closer to Sophia. I’ll keep a
room for the times I only have a few hours to rest.”

“And we’ll all chip in on your mortgage and
utilities,” Ranger told Bethany.

Bethany shook her head. “Mac won’t be working
for a while, I can’t ask him to.”

“I’m good, Cupcake,” Mac said as he layered
sausage over beef on his pizza. “I have enough saved I could take a
three year vacation if I wanted, though I wouldn’t know what to do
with myself. I’ll pay my way.”

Ranger put one of the pizzas in the oven, pulled
her into his arms, and said, “I love that he could tell you cared
about me, just by watching and hearing you talk to me. You know we
can smell truth and a lie, and while our feelings are a little
bruised, we know you’re scared shitless about your feelings for us,
but we also know the emotions are real.” He kissed her nose and
added, “Mac and I will go on a nighttime run tonight, and no matter
how good he’s doing around you now, I don’t think the three of us
should try to share you this evening. It won’t take much to set his
wolf off, and after the way he reacted to Jonathan, I don’t want to
risk it so close to the full moon. If you want some time with him,
you should do it now, while we’re waiting for the pizza to cook and
then cool. Just the two of you, while it’s still daylight, before
the moon rises.”

She hadn’t expected to be able to be near him,
and her heart somersaulted into her throat as Ranger’s words sank
in. She looked at Mac, worried it might be awkward, but he gave her
the perfect bad-boy rogue smile and she went back into his arms,
easy as pie.

Three months later

Bethany pulled into her driveway to see heavy
equipment in her yard, and rolled her eyes. The house came with a
perfectly good two car garage, but her harem had decided to build a
four car garage onto the back. Thank goodness she had a huge back
yard.

Bonus, though, was the sunroom and workout room
they were also adding, as well as another deck with a kickass six
person hot tub.

She’d moved her schedule around and now worked
slightly longer hours Wednesday through Saturday, as this allowed
the most time with all of her guys.

Mac’s control was good enough he occasionally
worked for Drake security, and he could sleep with them except the
five or six nights a month around the full moon. The foursome now
had a bed with a king and queen mattress side by side, strapped
together with a big fluffy cushion on top so no one felt the ridge
between the mattresses. Ranger made a bed, and it
totally
kicked ass. Their sheets had to be custom made now, though.

There had been problems, but nothing they
couldn’t solve with a lot of communication. Bethany had received a
few pointers from Cassie about how to survive in a testosterone
filled house, though their situations were different since Cassie’s
three guys were bisexual.

None of Bethany’s harem were homophobic, so they
didn’t freak if there was inconsequential touching, but they
never
pleasured each other. She was solely responsible for
keeping all three happy. As a self-professed sex addict,
ninety-nine percent of the time she had no complaints, and the
other one percent? The guys quickly learned when to leave her the
fuck alone. They could smell her arousal or lack of it, and forcing
her to safeword to get some peace on the rare occasion she needed
time alone just pissed her off.

Jonathan was gone a lot, and even when he was
scheduled to be home, if Aaron was called away on an emergency in
the middle of the night, Jonathan had to go to Sophia. Ranger was
often called in to help Aaron with those emergencies, which left
just Mac and Bethany at home. Some nights Mac and Ranger were on a
job, so it was just Jonathan and Bethany together, and occasionally
Mac helped Jonathan when Sophia had a personal appearance at night,
which meant Bethany had some alone time with Ranger.

Tonight and tomorrow, they would
all
be
home, and had made it clear they weren’t on call. Tomorrow was
Memorial Day, and tonight they were doing the blood-promise thing
again — and Jonathan had agreed to be fully included this time.

Tomorrow night they were invited to the Rolling
Thunder Motorcycle Club’s big Memorial Day Bash, and during the day
they’d be attending a huge party thrown by Aaron and Sophia
Drake.

Mac opened the front door as Bethany walked up
the front steps. He was dressed in nothing but a faded pair of blue
jeans, and he was pure muscle and
all
man. Her body reacted
to him as it always did — with fire and heat. As the door closed
behind her, he pressed her against the wall and angled his mouth to
hers for an incredible welcome home. She didn’t fight him, didn’t
ask questions, but let him overwhelm her senses with his kiss. When
he finally let her up, they walked towards the rear of the house
together, hand-in-hand.

“I missed you, too,” she told him, and heard
Jonathan chuff from the den.

She looked to Mac with a question in her eyes,
and he shrugged. “He’s been cat a few hours. I’m gonna go out back
and work on the deck until Ranger gets home. Why don’t you see
what’s up with the feline?”

He gave her another peck on the cheek and went
out the back door, and she went to the den. Jonathan was lying on
one of the huge pet cushions they kept on the floor, and his eyes
watched her like prey as she stepped into the room.

“If you’re trying to creep me out, you’re
succeeding. Everything okay?”

He looked the other way, ignoring her as he
twitched the very tip of his tail, and she sat in a chair so they
could see each other.

“It took me a while to agree to this new blood
bond thing tonight, so I totally get the whole cold feet
thing.”

He shook his head as if he’d just come out of
the water, and just to be sure she got the message,
growled
.
He wasn’t getting cold feet, apparently.

Bethany looked at him a few seconds and said,
“Okay, then. I’m not a mind reader. When you’re ready to talk let
me know. Meanwhile, I’m going to get a shower.”

For the longest, she had to come home and shower
before Mac could be around her much, because the smell of her
massage clients on her skin had bothered his wolf. He could handle
it okay, now, but she still tried to shower soon after arriving
home.

She hadn’t been under the water long when
Jonathan arrived in his human form, and she let him help with her
hair without talking. It was a comfortable silence, and he would
let her know when he was ready to talk.

Finally, he said, “Not getting cold feet,
Raggedy. If anything, I want more than we’ve agreed to, but it can
happen in due time, doesn’t have to happen this year.”

She knew he wanted to bind them all together
financially and legally as much as possible, so she didn’t have to
question what he meant. Instead, she asked, “Then what’s
wrong?”

“My cat isn’t happy about blood bonding with
wolves, and I needed to assure him he can be himself all day with
no problems.” He tilted her face up with a single finger, held eye
contact a few seconds. “It has nothing to do with you or the guys,
just something I needed to do for the cat. I spend some time around
Sophia as a leopard, and you know my cat loves snuggling with you
at night when it’s just the two of us, but he needed more today, so
I gave it to him.”

“Is Mac going to be okay? Bonding to a cat? Is
he strong enough to push his wolf to do it without losing control?”
She knew it was a big deal, but thought they’d all come to terms
with it. If Jonathan’s cat was having issues, how could they expect
Mac’s wolf to deal with it?

Jonathan leaned down, sucked her nipple into his
mouth, and sent her blood straight to boiling as he teased it with
his tongue. Too soon, he let it go to reach for the soap. “All of
us are crazy about you, as are our animals. You already know Mac’s
wolf behaves for you when he won’t for Mac, sometimes. Now, sit
down and let me shave you, get you ready for our evening.”

They’d all agreed no one would orgasm today, in
preparation for tonight, but she hadn’t counted on them teasing the
hell out of her.

* * * *

Three hours later, Bethany was reclined on
Ranger’s hard body, her back to his front, her knees in the air and
her feet pressed into Ranger’s thighs, with his thick cock up her
ass. The guys couldn’t give her diseases, since they couldn’t catch
them, and she was on the pill. She loved the feel of skin on skin,
and never wanted to go back to condoms.

They only gave her a few seconds to acclimate
before Mac slid into her pussy, and then Jonathan straddled her and
slid his cock between her slick, bound breasts.

All four had a drop of everyone’s blood over
their heart, and now they were all connected through Bethany.

Ranger reached for her left hand with his left,
and for Mac’s with his right. Jonathan reached for Mac’s other
hand, and then grasped Bethany’s free hand. They now formed a
circle with their arms, as well as being plugged into the sole
female of the group — the one who joined them and made them a
family.

Jonathan isn’t an Alpha, but the King of the
Lions had gifted him energy yesterday, so Jonathan could act as one
today, and he started the silent ceremony. Bethany felt something
like a small electrical current flowing from both his hand and his
cock, and she groaned as the metaphysical voltage seemed to focus
on her nipples before it spread through the rest of her body. It
wasn’t sexual, it was powerful, and something primal in her brain
wanted to run from it while the part of her that loved Jonathan
wanted to give herself to him.

Ranger’s energy joined Jonathan’s, and she
jerked as the tingle of electricity went into her ass also. When
their combined energy reached Mac, it streamed from his cock into
her pussy, and then she couldn’t think anymore.

Awash on a sea of energy, at one with her men,
Bethany felt the very essence of who they were, and it touched her
on a soul level. It was magical, spiritual, and felt as if the four
of them were one being, one creation, one entity.