Melissa's Acceptance (9 page)

“I don’t know what to do,” Melissa whispered, and Damian could hear the torment in her voice.

He shifted his chair back clasped her hand in his and then pulled her onto his lap. “You don’t have to do anything right now, baby. Take a little time to figure out what it is you want. We won’t pressure you in any way.”

Damian prayed that their mate would come to care for him and Luke and accept them and need them as much as they needed her.

* * * *

Luke’s mind was at war. He wanted to pick Melissa up, carry her into the bedroom, strip her naked, bury his cock into her tight, wet pussy, and claim her. But he couldn’t. If he did, he knew they would lose her. She looked so damn confused and even though his heart went out to her at her turmoil, he wanted his mate with him at his side for all time.

What he and Damian could do or say to convince her that they were right for her, he had no clue. At first, he’d been pissed at Damian for calling a halt to their lovemaking but eventually he came around to his brother’s way of thinking. It had been the right thing to do. It wasn’t just about his and Damian’s needs, it was about Melissa’s mental and physical well-being.

They had probably overloaded her with information in regards to what they were and it hadn’t been very long since they had told and shown her they were werewolves. He’d tried really hard to put himself in her shoes and realized that if he hadn’t been a werewolf or aware of their existence, he would have had a hard time accepting being told they existed.

No wonder she was having trouble making a decision. What she needed was time. Time to think things through and decide what
she
wanted.

He and Damian had been selfish. Selfish to tell her what they were and then expect her to jump at the chance to mate with them. Of course she would hesitate in accepting their claim that she was their mate. He would have too.

Luke glanced at the clock and realized it was just past noon, and decided that it would be best if Melissa did go home. They would make sure she had their home phone as well as cell phone numbers so that she could contact them any time she liked. Day or night. It didn’t matter to him. What did matter was that she did eventually call. At least he hoped she would.

“Are you hungry, honey?” Luke asked.

“No.”

“We can give you a lift back to your car if you want to go home.”

Melissa didn’t answer him. She just stared at him with a stoic expression. He would have given anything to know what was going on in her mind, but that wasn’t possible. But he needed to reiterate that she could stay if she wanted to as well. “You can stay here if you’d like, Mel. We would love to have you as long as you want.”

Melissa cleared her throat. “No. Thanks, but I think I should head back home.”

“Can I have your cell phone number, sweetheart? I would love to be able to call you and if you don’t mind giving us your address, maybe we could visit you, too.”

“Sure,” Melissa answered, and then got her phone from her purse and handed it over to Luke.

He called his own phone and then programmed her number into his cell, and his and Damian’s into hers. After getting and writing down her address, he looked at her expectantly. He wasn’t sure if she wanted to leave now or later in the day. As far as he was concerned, the later the better.

Luke was going to miss her like hell. Now that they’d found and spent time with their mate, it was going to be really hard with her gone.

Melissa slung her purse over her shoulder and started walking toward the door. Damian rose to his feet and followed Melissa and him out.

The drive to the inn was totally silent, each of them lost in their own thoughts. Luke was gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were white and he thought it was a wonder he didn’t break it in half.

Melissa sat between him and Damian, totally still, staring out the front of the windscreen while clutching her purse to her chest. Luke just hoped she was as cut up about leaving them as he and Damian were about her leaving.

He was going to have to keep himself busy. It was the only way he was going to be able to get through the long, lonely days ahead. Instead of sending out other Omegas to patrol, he and Damian would do it instead. Maybe they would be able to hold onto their sanity if they did.

The pain in his heart wouldn’t let up and the closer they got to the Shifter Inn, the more the ache intensified. Minutes later Luke pulled up next to the lone car in the parking lot. The inn didn’t open until around three o’clock and there was no one about.

Damian got out of the truck and helped Melissa down. Even though he didn’t want to say good-bye—it would mean finalizing what he and his brother had started with their mate—Luke got out of the truck and walked around it until he was standing beside Melissa.

She kept her head down and licked her lips. “It’s been…interesting. Thank you for taking care of me.”

Her voice was so quiet that if he and Damian hadn’t been werewolves, he doubted whether they would have heard her.

“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” Luke pushed her hair back from her face, trying to see her expression, her eyes, but since she kept her gaze down it was impossible. “We loved looking after you, Mel. You’re welcome at our place anytime.”

“Thank you. I’d better…go.”

She turned around and walked toward her car. Her shoulders were down in a slump as if she was feeling depressed, but there was nothing he and Damian could do. His and his brother’s life and happiness were all in her hands. So was her own, but he couldn’t tell her that.

Damian was leaning against the truck as if his knees would buckle out from under him if it weren’t for the support behind his back. Luke knew just how he felt. He took a step back and leaned next to his brother. They watched her get into her car, start the engine, put her safety belt on, and then she backed out of the parking space. With a quick glance in their direction, she waved and then drove away.

Luke’s wolf was howling inside him with pain, grief, and rage. His animal didn’t understand why he was letting their mate leave.

“Do you think she’ll come back?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I fucking hope so.”

When they could no longer see Melissa’s car, they got into the truck and headed home.

* * * *

Melissa felt like her heart was breaking in two. The further she got away from the Shifter’s Inn and Luke and Damian, the more she questioned her decision to leave. The wrench as she drove away was nearly more than she could stand. Tears burned the back of her eyes and the more she tried to quell them, the more they welled.

Finally, she pulled over onto the shoulder of the road, turned the ignition off, and bawled her eyes out. She’d never felt such pain before and didn’t know if she could continue to endure it. The agony she felt in her heart didn’t even compare to the embarrassment and humiliation she’d felt with Wesley Sands and she had known him for months before taking that next awful step with him.

She didn’t seem to know her own mind anymore, had no idea what she was supposed to do or feel, but one thing was certain. She couldn’t leave. Not now. Not ever.

Somehow, Damian and Luke had worked their way into her heart in such a short amount of time. No matter the consequences she couldn’t walk, or drive away.

When her tears slowed, she searched her purse for a tissue and after wiping her eyes and blowing her nose she shored up her backbone, started her car again and turned the car around.

Thankfully, she had taken note how to get to the pack land and headed toward it.

She was worried that she had done her dash with Damian and Luke, had wrecked any chance she had to be their mate.

Hopefully they would accept her back when she knocked on their door.

Nothing else mattered but being with them. Not her job or her sister, nothing. She was already half in love with them and had known them for just over twenty-four hours. How would she feel after knowing them longer?

Melissa hoped that they would forgive her reticence, her indecision, and welcome her with open arms.

There was only one way to find out if they cared for her and she was about to find out if what they said had been true.

Damian had been sitting in the living room staring into space since he and Luke had gotten home. He didn’t bother to look at the car he heard pull up outside the cabin, nor did he get up to answer the knock on the door. He didn’t think he’d ever feel alive again. He was numb inside and didn’t want to make nice with anyone visiting. He breathed in deeply, trying to dispel some of the pain in his chest, but it didn’t help. All he could smell was Melissa’s scent. Her natural perfume seemed to be everywhere and even though he’d opened all the windows to lessen her lingering aroma, it didn’t seem to help. In fact, he could have sworn that is was stronger now than it was before.

Luke came out of the kitchen where he’d been brooding when another knock sounded on the door. His brother glared at him as he went to answer it, but Damian wasn’t in the mood to glare back. He just shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

“Melissa?” Luke said when he opened the door.

Damian’s first instinct was to run to the door and hug their mate, but he was still feeling too hurt that she had left, so he stayed seated.

“Can I come in?” Melissa asked.

Damian couldn’t see Luke or her, but he suspected that Luke nodded when he didn’t hear his brother’s reply, because the next thing he knew she was standing in their living room looking nervous and sexy as hell.

“Is there something wrong?” Damian asked in cold, emotionless voice “Maybe you have a problem with your car?”

Melissa flinched like he struck her, but then she moved over to the sofa and sat down on the edge of the cushion. Damian knew he was being a real bastard, but she’d hurt him and his brother when she’d left, and he was striking out at her for causing his pain.

Luke moved across to the armchair close to Melissa and sat down.

“There is nothing wrong with my car.” Melissa’s voice was just as cool as his had been and although she thrust her chin out at him, she wasn’t able to pull off the stoic expression he knew he had on his face. She looked so sad and hurt, but he wasn’t about to open himself up for another slap down until he knew why she had come back.

“I’m sorry that I left. I know I hurt you. I hurt myself as well, but you have to realize that this,” Melissa swept her hand out to him and Luke, “was a lot to take in.”

“What…” Luke began but paused when Melissa held up her hand, palm out.

“I have never felt connected to a man the way I do with the both of you. I’ve never been turned on as much as you both turn me on. I was frightened by what you made me feel, especially after just breaking up with a man who made me feel dirty and humiliated. I was running scared.”

“And now?” Damian asked as he leaned forward in his seat. He glanced at Luke and saw that his brother was just as tense as he was as they awaited her reply.

“If you still want me, then I would like to be with you.” Melissa paused and drew in a ragged breath before licking her lips and exhaling. “And you can claim me.”

The roaring in Damian’s ears was so loud he didn’t think he would have been able to hear if Melissa had continued talking. His cock went from half-mast to fully engorged within the blink of an eye.

He wanted to scoop her up off the sofa, carry her to the bedroom, rip her clothes off, and sink deep into her pussy, but he stayed where he was.

“You do realize that once we mate you then there is no going back,” Damian said more than asked.

She nodded her head.

“Is this really what you want, Mel?” Luke asked. “To be tied to two werewolves for the rest of your life?”

“Yes.”

That word was the sweetest Damian had heard in his whole life, but there were still some issues he wanted cleared up before they claimed their mate.

“I can be a real hard-ass sometimes. I can and will tell you what to do if your life is ever in danger and I will expect you to obey me, us, without question. Can you do that?”

“Yes,” Melissa said, then continued on. “I’m not saying that we won’t butt heads because I know we will. I won’t be told what to do all the time, though, except if there is danger.”

“Agreed,” Damian said, and then he softened his expression and held his hand out to her.

Melissa placed her purse on the coffee table as she rose to her feet and took a tentative step toward him. She took another step and then another until she was standing right in front of him, and then she placed her hand in his.

Damian tugged and she landed in his lap. He shifted her until she was comfortable and wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tight. “God, I missed you. I thought we’d blown all our chances with you.”

She lifted her arm and cupped his cheek. Tears formed in her eyes and then spilled over and down her face. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too, baby. You have no idea how glad I am to have you back. I know you don’t understand it and I’m not expecting you to feel the same, but you mean the world to me. To
us
. We would have been like bears with sore heads to live with, without you by our sides.”

“That goes for me too, honey,” Luke said as he rose from the chair and came over to him and Melissa. He squatted down in front of her, took her hand in his, and lifted it to his mouth. He kissed the back of her hand and then placed her palm on his chest over his heart. “It would have been hell without you in our lives. I’m so glad you came back. Thank you.”

Damian watched as Luke bent forward and kissed her. His arousal grew another notch and his body began to heat as he watched his mate and sibling kiss. He’d never seen anything sexier and the only thing that would turn him on more was when he tasted that delicious mouth with his own again.

Their tongues twirled and glided along each other’s, and finally Luke eased the kiss down and lifted his head. Damian couldn’t wait another moment. He tugged on her hair to get her attention and when Melissa was looking at him, he wrapped his hand around the front of her throat and used his long fingers to tilt her head up even more. And then he swooped down and covered her mouth with his.