Lindsey's Wolves (26 page)

They’d talked just last night about moving out, getting a place, but Lindsey had turned down the idea. She felt safe here. She was never alone. It was going to take a while for her to venture out on her own after the craziness of the last few weeks.

She was a strong woman at heart, but still… And Ryan and Alex had breathed a collective sigh of relief that she had no intention of doing anything foolish.

Through the connection, she knew they were both secretly elated she was willing to stay with Ryan’s parents for a while. It eased their minds. They’d only brought the subject up to make sure she was okay with the current arrangement. Neither of them could stomach the idea of moving out right now.

She’d not been able to start the teaching position she’d intended to begin last week. The idea had been stressful at first, feeling as though she’d wasted her education by not moving on to that stage in her life, but she got over it. Life on a farm was always busy. She was enjoying learning all the jobs that needed to be done around here and glad she could help out. It kept her from feeling like a total freeloader.

Alex had lectured her two days ago. “You’re not a freeloader,
mi amor
. You’re our mate. Even if you did nothing but lie in bed all day and wait for our return, we’d be elated. We love you. And you do plenty, more than we would like. Take some time to find yourself, regroup so to speak. A lot has happened. If you still want to teach next year, we’ll make it happen.”

He was right. She needed to relax, wrap her mind around everything that had been dumped on her plate in less than three weeks.

Apparently the transition after the claiming was quite a bit harder for a human than a wolf. She had so much to learn. And she still wondered when on earth she would stop craving sex day in and day out. Sort of.

They’d been to see Alejandro’s aunt, uncle, and cousins several times in the past two weeks. Everyone was so kind and thoughtful, they brought tears to her eyes. So much family in such a short time was overwhelming to a woman who’d had no family at all for several years.

Even though the Thompsons insisted it wasn’t necessary, Alex still spent a few days a week working with his family on their own farm. He didn’t like the idea of abandoning them after coming to the states specifically to help them out.

Ryan dragged her from her thoughts. “Jessica is planning to move back into the apartment and look for a new roommate or two.”

“She is? She didn’t tell me that. How did you know? When?”

“Today. Kara told me. So if you want to head over there later, you could see her for a bit while we get you packed.”

These men were both so thoughtful. And the one currently eyeing her like she was a delicacy to be savored began to stalk her like the wolf he was. She backed away from his possessive eyes giggling, which in retrospect was most likely his intention, because before she knew it she was down the hall and in the bedroom she shared with both men. Alex materialized out of thin air, shut the door behind him, and turned the lock with a loud click.

They’d teased her at first about the lock issue. No matter what they said about wolves knowing, sensing, or God forbid smelling, everything with their finely tuned noses, she couldn’t stomach the idea of having sex or even being naked with the door unlocked so anyone in the family could easily just walk in. She’d be mortified beyond belief if that happened.

“How about a quicky and then we’ll take you to your apartment.” Ryan tugged on her shirt without waiting for an answer.

“A quicky?” She snorted. “You don’t even know the meaning of the word.” Nothing they ever did could be called a “quicky.” Not once had she had sex with either one or both of them without coming at least twice under the skilled touch of their mouths, hands, and cocks.

Semantics
, she thought while speeding up the process by popping the button of her jeans and wiggling her ass enough to make them fall to the floor before stepping away from the constricting garment.

“You can give me an English lesson later,
mi alma
. Right now I want you to lie in the center of that bed, spread your legs, and let us have our way with you.”

The usual shiver coursed through her body as she did as she was told. It always made her wet and needy when they bossed her around in the bedroom like that. If they dared to demand her compliance outside the bedroom, they’d have another thing coming. But, in regards to their sexual escapades, she found it incredibly arousing when they told her what to do, held her body down, and tortured it to orgasm.

Ryan spread his legs and straddled her torso so fast she gasped as his heavenly cock bobbed in front of her face. She licked her lips, knowing it would drive him insane.

He moaned, grasped both her hands, and pressed them into the pillow behind her head. His length was inches from her mouth, which watered with the need to taste him, but he wasn’t close enough.

The assault on her below the waist began just as she managed to get one desperate lick across Ryan’s balls.

Her thighs were spread wide and held open to Alex’s perusal. He teased her mercilessly with his breath so close to her sex, knowing by now what drove her mad with need. Her legs shook, her sex clenched, and she felt her arousal running down between her legs.

No one had touched her, she realized. And she was so close to coming she moaned. “Please,” she begged.

Why must they always torture me into an orgasm before they enter me?

“Because we can,” Ryan said. “And because you look so sexy and hot when we do. And because … you love it.” He smiled down at her.

Sometimes it was infuriating that they could read her thoughts so easily. She hadn’t begun to master the art of blocking some of them. At least she needed to learn to shut out some of the more lascivious ones or she’d never get a moment’s peace.

Or maybe she’d rather not learn that particular skill.

Ryan’s free hand toyed with her nipples, barely grazing over them, bringing them to stiff peaks. She strained in vain to lift her chest and get more friction against his fingers.

Alex licked a circle around her clit and pushed one finger inside her.

Together, in a most certainly arranged composition, both men increased their assault, Ryan pinching her nipples in earnest while Alex sucked her clit deep into his mouth and pressed his tongue against the exposed bud.

“Come for us, hon. I want to watch you as you explode around Alex’s fingers.”

She sucked in a breath and held Ryan’s gaze while Alex twisted his hand and dragged at least two fingers across her G-spot.

The explosion was intense, as always, shaking her body as she pulsed around Alex’s hand and moaned in a tone she still couldn’t believe was her own.

Before she could come down from her high, Ryan let his cock fall into her hungry mouth while Alex lifted her torso, stuffed two pillows beneath her ass to lift her, and plunged into her depths. His own groan of satisfaction mixed with hers.

She sucked as hard as she dared on Ryan, as though he were the last meal on earth and she wanted to savor every morsel. It wasn’t far from the truth.

When all three came together and collapsed in a tangled heap across the bed, she felt like the luckiest woman alive.

Man, I love these men
.

“And we love you,
mi amor
.”

Two hours later, the three of them walked into Lindsey’s apartment still high on their lust, joking and laughing with each other without a care in the world.

And then the ground dropped out from under them.

“Where’s Jessica? I thought she’d be here by now.” The apartment was too silent. Eerie. “Jess?” A tingle crawled up Lindsey’s spine and across her neck. “Jess?”

She practically ran down the hall calling her name when she didn’t answer.

And then she came back to the front room and froze.

Ryan stood still as a statue in the middle of the room, his eyes wide, a piece of paper dangling from his hand.

“Ryan?” Fear threatened to bring up her lunch as she watched the white page of a notebook flutter to the ground, its ragged edges seeming to metaphorically attest to the message she’d find on the paper.

In slow motion, Lindsey fell to the floor and crawled toward the paper as it settled against the rug. Alex grabbed her around the waist, but even he wasn’t strong enough to keep her from her goal, and she reached out her hand just far enough to snag the object that would tip her world on its axis.

Dear Sister Mary Martha,

It appears you do not fully understand the severity of your actions.

It was deemed by your grandmother that you would marry the man of our choosing on your twenty-second birthday. That date has come and gone.

In your stead, we have decided your roommate will be a perfectly suitable replacement. After all, her own twenty-second birthday is coming up this Friday.

Now, we realize you may find it in your heart to repent your evil ways in light of this new information. Should you choose to do so, please present yourself at our building this Friday, September third, precisely at noon, prepared to repent for your sins and exchange yourself for your dear friend, Jessica.

Should you choose not to arrive by the requested hour, or to do so other than completely alone, we will be forced to marry Jessica in your stead.

Trust me, she will never be seen again.

Yours truly, Pastor Stone

The room spun around Lindsey for several seconds before everything went black.

Lindsey paced the kitchen floor for the thousandth time, her hands fisted at her side to avoid biting her nails any more than she already had.

Two more hours until the designated rendezvous. Two long hours.

She hadn’t slept more than a few hours at a time since Wednesday afternoon. And when she did drift off, she always awoke screaming in terror.

Jeez, those bastards have Jess. And they have for two days. What the hell have they done to her?

Her stomach threatened to purge itself again. She’d thrown up nearly everything she’d swallowed in the last forty-eight hours.

“Ma’am, let’s go over this one more time.” The officer sitting at the Masters’ kitchen table this morning was calm and understanding, but she was tired of rehearsing.

Ryan stopped her in her tracks on the billionth path. “You’re wearing a hole in the floor.” He didn’t crack a smile, just took her in his arms and held her … again.

Lindsey groaned. “I’ve got it. We don’t need to run through any more scenarios.”

She was uneasy about the amount of police involvement. There’d been no way in the world to stop Alex and Ryan from calling the authorities, and on one level she wholeheartedly agreed, but Jess’s life was at stake. She didn’t want to fuck this up even if she had to give up her own life to spare her friend.

“Nothing is going to happen to you. We won’t let it.”
Alex reached out to her from somewhere outside. Babysitting duty was Ryan’s this morning.

While Lindsey was concerned about how much the police and her new family could possibly be a threat to the rescue, they were just as equally insistent that she not even show up at all.

Alex and Ryan had emphatically insisted she stay out of it in the beginning. No way in the world were they going to risk her life by sending her to the “wolves.”

In the end, the police agreed to a certain extent with Lindsey. She should go into the church at noon as demanded, by all appearances alone.

The building would be surrounded. She’d have an invisible ear mic so the officer in charge could communicate with her.

Of course there was no way for the police to realize she had a far better form of communication readily in place with Alex and Ryan. Thank goodness.

Even if things went awry, she could always let them know what was going on.

The officer cleared his throat and walked into her line of sight, narrowing his gaze on her. “Don’t say anything more than necessary when you get inside. Just ask the questions we discussed. Hopefully you’ll get the answers we need on tape to arrest these people and put an end to this once and for all.”

Ryan squeezed her back against his chest and wrapped his arms around her middle. No matter how tight he held her now, or what sort of cocoon he imagined he could use to protect her, he was going to have to let go soon. The clock was ticking.

“Got it.” Lindsey nodded agreement.

“What if they have weapons?” Ryan asked.

They’d been over this. Lindsey rolled her eyes toward the police officer so Ryan couldn’t see. “Weapons of God?” She tried to laugh, but it came out sounding forced.

“Ha ha.” He tightened his grip and she wiggled to get free.

“You’re squishing the breath out of me.” She twisted around to face him. “I’ll be fine. I know these people, don’t forget. I’ll do what I have to do to play along and get Jess out of there.”

“And then what? What about you?” His brow furrowed and he gave her a shake.

“Then I run like hell if I have to. We have every possible scenario covered, Ryan. Everything from someone grabbing me, to weapons, to an eternal prayer service for my soul. I’ll be perfectly safe. Hell, cops will be everywhere.”

“I don’t like it.” He laid his forehead against hers. “But, seeing as you’re stubborn and you’ll be surrounded, I’ll bite my tongue. I love you.” The last words came out on a breath. “Don’t do anything foolish or I’ll have to punish you for giving me heart failure.” This he whispered right inside her ear so no one could overhear. Thank goodness.

The smile on his face when he gazed back into her eyes was all she needed to know what kind of punishment he had in mind. Perhaps she’d be just a little less compliant with the plan than arranged, just for the opportunity to experience his kind of discipline.

“Don’t look at me like that you little imp.”

“We should go. It’s almost time to meet with the rest of the team at the motel across the street from His Mighty Sword.” The officer shook his head in disbelief at the name of the church alone, and not for the first time.