Every Night Forever (16 page)

He turned back and watched his brothers and Alyssa together.  She fit so perfectly in their clan.  He finally knew what his fathers had told him for so many years, that once they found their mate, they would know it.  The women before, the ones that they’d hoped might be the right fit but never were — they all paled next to the rightness of Alyssa in their lives.

And his brothers were as happy as he’d ever seen them.  He was, too, in fact.  Now that she was with them, now that she knew what was going on between all of them, she was gradually accepting her importance to them.  They had a ways to go, he thought, but in the whole scheme of their lives it didn’t matter how long it took for her to love them back.

“Cai?”  Alyssa called his name and he snapped out of his reverie and grinned at her.  He loped forward, caught her up in his arms and swung her around.  She laughed, letting her head fall back and closing her eyes, looking carefree and youthful, just like she should.  Her feet hung down, not touching the ground, as he held her tight to his chest and she looked into his eyes.  “Penny for your thoughts.”

He let her slide down his body until her feet were firmly on the ground.  Grasping her hands in his, he thought of the hundred things he could say right at that moment and went with the most truthful.  “I’m really glad you’re in our lives, Lys.”

Her sweet smile lit up her face and she hugged him before turning to his brothers and hugging them, too.  They resumed their leisurely walk around their property, and when they reached the house, they went back down into the den.

After dinner, they lounged on the couch to watch a movie, Alyssa sprawled across all three of their laps while the movie played on the flat screen.  She fell asleep with her head on Mason’s lap, and they put her to bed and settled around her, he and Dante on either side of her sweet curves and Mason next to him.

“You heading out?”   Dante whispered the next morning, waking up as Cairo stopped to slip on his tennis shoes.

“Yeah, I want to get in a little early and make sure everything is cool.”

“Later,” Dante yawned, turning back to Alyssa and easing her closer.  Mason woke up just enough to take Cairo’s place at her back and was already breathing deeply in sleep.

He really, really didn’t want to go to work, but they had responsibilities and clients.  Not that any of that seemed important now, when the center of his universe was still sleeping soundly between his brothers.

Dante had done a good job of cleaning up while the glass company repaired the front doors, so all Cairo needed to do was sweep up one last time and hang a plaque over the hole in the wall where Dante had knifed the guy’s hand.

By the time Alyssa came in with Dante, Cairo was going through some serious withdrawal.  Spending two solid days with her had been like visiting heaven for a short while.  He wanted an all-access pass, all the time.

“Hey beautiful.”  He came up behind her in the break room as she tucked her purse into one of the staff lockers.  He planted his hands on either side of her head as she turned around slowly and met his eyes.

Her hands slid around his shoulders to his neck and she pulled him down for a kiss, parting her lips immediately and stroking her tongue against his.  She made a sound in her throat that was a cross between a purr and a growl, and every inch of his body tightened, his muscles gripping his bones as his cock strained against his workout shorts.  As her hand moved down towards his cock, he caught it and pressed it against the locker and pulled away from her slightly.

“But I want to touch you, Cai.”  She wiggled in his grasp as he caught her other hand and held her captive against the lockers.

Oh, hell
.  “I know, baby, and I want to touch you, too.  But if you start touching me, then I’m going to have a hard time controlling myself.  We told you, baby, that the first time that we make love, it will be all of us together.  It’s the way of our people and important for our clanning.”

 “Clanning?”

“When we mark you as our bride and you accept us as your clanmates.”

She frowned and stopped moving.  He hated to see her losing the fire in her eyes.  “You don’t think I’m ready.”

“There’s no time frame; we’re not on a schedule.  This is about all of us, and everything is still so new for you.  So no, I don’t think you’re ready, but neither do my brothers.”

He watched her carefully as she stared at him in silence.  Emotions flickered fast over her face — fear and rejection first, and then a spark of hope that bloomed and heated with affection.

“You’re so good to me.  All of you.”  Her smile lifted the corners of her perfect mouth and the hint of gleaming white teeth greeted him.

“You deserve it, baby.”

* * * * *

Thursday night, Mason traced invisible patterns across Alyssa’s bare stomach as she panted for breath after her fourth orgasm.  Her eyes were bright and unfocused, her lips swollen from kissing him and his brothers, and her body twitched uncontrollably from time to time as pleasure washed over her again and again.  It was as if her body had instant recall and was reminding her how good climaxes were by giving her a flashback.

Dante lounged next to her, stroking her hair back while Cairo lay between her legs and played his fingers across her heated flesh.  Mason could still taste her on his tongue, and he savored the decadent flavor of her:  sweetly honeyed woman.  He slipped from her side to get a bottle of water from the fridge for her.  She smiled gratefully as he settled back next to her and she drank half down without stopping.

He put the bottle on the nightstand and watched as she wiggled herself out from under the three of them and leaned against the mound of pillows at the top of the bed.  All of them remained silent as she toyed with the fringe of a blanket, her body tensing slightly.  Her eyes were bright when she lifted them, unshed tears pooling in the pretty chocolate depths.  They spilled over as she said the three words that they’d been longing to hear... “I love you.”

Dante pulled her into his arms with a happy growl and he and Cairo crowded them, trading kisses and returning her sweet, honest words of love.  He’d known that the weekend had changed things for her, and there were times during the week that he was certain she had stopped herself from saying it.  Her old fears and doubts had prevented a lot of happiness for her, and he was glad to be part of the reason she was gradually healing.

“I wanted to tell you before, but I thought you’d think it was too soon,” she admitted, lowering her eyes again.

Dante tipped her chin up.  “Your feelings for us are right on time, sweetheart.  You never have to censor yourself or worry over what we’re going to think.”

“Good.”  She moved out of his lap and knelt in front of them.  “I want to become your clanmate.  I’m ready to be yours forever, and to have you be mine.”

Overwhelmed by her words, he felt his eyes sting with tears.  Damn it, he hated having such a tender heart, but he couldn’t help it with her.  She was so strong underneath the broken bits of her heart.  She’d just needed time to heal.

Dante met his and Cairo’s eyes silently and then said to Alyssa, “Next Saturday night, then.  We’ll need time to get things ready, and we’ll have to make arrangements to close the gym for the weekend as well.”

Excitement glittered in her eyes as she leaned forward and grabbed a handful of Mason’s hair and planted a kiss on his mouth that was a cross between bliss and possession.  She was one happy girl.

Later, when Alyssa was tucked into bed and sound asleep, the three men gathered in the office and discussed the ceremony and joining.  Dante first contacted their parents and shared the news, which was met with cheers from their three fathers and mother.

It felt like ages since they’d been to see their parents.  Their parents — hell, their whole extended family of uncles and cousins — were a tight-knit group.  They would welcome Alyssa with open arms and shower her with the sort of family affection she’d missed her whole life.  It was just one more reason that he was glad she was theirs.

When they joined Alyssa’s sleeping form in bed, he looked at Cairo.  “Tomorrow’s the fight.”

“I know, Mase.  We’ve been watching for signs that he’s got eyes on us, and we haven’t seen any evidence.  When I don’t show up, we’ll have drawn a line in the sand with him and we’ll see what happens.”  Cairo settled against Alyssa’s back.  When they stretched out on the bed, she had rolled right over into Mason, and he stroked her hand that was lying on his chest.

“I don’t like just waiting for him to make a move,” Mason said quietly, worry skating through him.

“Neither do we, Mase.  All we can do is be vigilant, and keep Lys safe at all times,” Dante said from where he lay on the other side of Cairo.

He looked down at his sleeping sweetheart, and vowed to do just that.

Chapter 13

When the night of the fight came and went and they heard nothing from Grady, Alyssa began to relax.  She hadn’t thought Grady would back down, but maybe they were right all along and he was just trying to test them to see if they would push back when he pushed.  They remained vigilant but cautiously optimistic, and she chose to follow their lead.

Saturday night came both fast and slow in that weird way that something you look forward to can.  In just a few hours, Alyssa would be making love to her three boys for the first time, and this would secure her as their mate through a sacred ceremony similar to the mating ceremony that wolves performed.  They’d already discussed her taking their last name, marrying Dante on paper to make things legal, because he was the oldest.  She was happy to be getting rid of the Morgan last name and taking theirs.  Alyssa Stone...it had a nice ring to it.

During the day, each man had disappeared for a couple hours at a time while she stayed in the house unpacking the things that they had brought over from her apartment.  Mason had shared how he had paid for a large chunk of the rent on the apartment so she could afford to stay there, and she was humbled once more at just how much they really cared.

Since it wasn’t quite time to den-in for the winter, she unpacked her clothing in the enormous walk-in closet in the master bedroom.  It had been Dante’s room, and now it belonged to all of them.  As she hung up a long-sleeved top on one section of an empty rod, she looked at the mixture of clothing already in there.  Mason’s laid-back, casual shirts and jeans.  Cairo’s sports t-shirts and track pants.  Dante’s trendy slacks and dress shirts.  They were so different, but they came together as easily as if they were cut from the same cloth.  She was the bonding agent for them, and as much as she couldn’t believe it was real, she was the center of their world now and forever.  Once she let down the last walls of her old fears and embraced them, they wrapped her up in their strength and love and gave her a future worth looking forward to.

Going back to work on Monday had been an exercise in dealing with stress.  Her wolf’s hackles had been raised all day, her senses on high alert.  She couldn’t help but start at every sound, jump at the scratch of the front door as it swung open.  The worry faded, as Mason installed upgraded security around the gym, and stayed close by her for the first few days.  And then Thursday arrived and the day wore into evening until it was time for Dante to take the deposit to the bank.  To her surprise, Mason and Cairo both walked in before Dante left, locking the door as he departed.  Although she protested their return to the gym, she was relieved they were there for her.  And later that night, back in the den, all worrisome thoughts disappeared in a hot rush of pleasure as they took turns making her insides melt.

“Baby?”  Dante startled her from her thoughts.

She smiled at him as she hung up a pair of slacks and he held out a stack of dark fabric.  “Take a shower, sweetheart, and dress only in these things.  Use the soap that Mason put on the counter, it’s special.  Use it in your hair, too.  When you’re dressed, come downstairs and out onto the back porch. We’ll be waiting.”

She took the clothes from him, noticing he was wearing dark pants with no shirt or shoes, and black leather gloves on both hands.  He disappeared quickly, and she turned off the light in the closet and went into the bathroom.

When the water was hot, she stepped into the glass-enclosed shower and sniffed at the soap.  It was greenish-white and smelled very faintly like rosemary.  She washed her hair and body and dried off, rubbing at her hair with a towel until it was damp.  She dried it completely with a hair dryer from under the sink and turned to the pile of fabric.