Wolves' Bite [PUP Squad Alpha 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (7 page)

The king gave his wife a tired and worried look and then turned his gaze back to Thomas.

“Nobody else knows you’re here. This is our private residence, and I need your assurance that you won’t repeat a word of what I am about to tell you to anyone outside of PUP Squad Alpha.”

Thomas shook his head. As much as he wanted to lie and say he’d keep the information to himself, ultimately it was Benjamin’s call. If Benjamin reported this conversation to their Administrative Supervisor, Cassandra would follow the standard procedure and that could lead to disaster. It was obvious that their new supervisor was trying her best to do the job properly, but on rare occasions a situation developed that needed more secrecy than the PUP squad procedural guidelines allowed.

“Perhaps it would be best to wait for my commanding officer to give you that assurance.”

The king looked annoyed, as expected, but the queen gave him a smile and nodded her approval.

“We appreciate your honesty.” She glanced at her husband. “We also appreciate your restraint. I am sure my husband would have handled the situation differently had he realized that Jennifer was your mate.”

The king looked surprised by her comments, but Thomas felt absolutely stunned. Considering that Jennifer had left here cradled in Adam’s arms, and Thomas hadn’t so much as touched her, the queen’s correct assumption left him reeling.

She smiled. “A woman knows these things,” she said lightly, but Thomas couldn’t shake the idea that maybe the pixie queen was using skills nobody realized she had.

Fortunately, Alex and Benjamin stepped into the room a moment later, cutting off any further comment on his mate.

* * * *

Jennifer kept her eyes closed, too worried that the tears would fall if she opened them. She’d hurt Adam with her knee-jerk reaction, but it hadn’t truly been her intention. She’d been embarrassed and frightened to realize her fantasies were real. She’d been so focused on worrying about the things she’d said and done inside her dreams that she hadn’t really considered the things her men had said and done. The promises they’d made hadn’t been said in a fantasy. Both men had known the dreams were real. They’d truly said those things knowing they were saying them to her.

It was a very big relief to know she wasn’t losing her mind or having a breakdown, but it left her with a whole new set of problems.

The car traveled the winding dirt road at a leisurely pace, finally stopping out the front of Skye’s home. Jennifer had visited her sister only once since she’d moved to Sugarvale, but the pain of seeing Thomas for only a moment had left her convinced it would be better for Skye to visit her instead.

Nausea still gripped her as Skye helped her out of the car, so she didn’t see the man standing on the veranda waiting for her until she was almost on top of him.

Skye seemed to bristle defensively, but Jennifer was completely distracted by the hard planes of Adam’s naked chest. Just like in their dreams Adam was as sexy as hell and even harder to resist. She stepped into his arms, the words “I’m sorry” coming straight from her heart. She knew she’d hurt him with her panicked reaction, so it was a huge relief to have him wrap his arms around her and hold on tight.

“It’s okay, beautiful. We’ll sort it out.”

“And Thomas?” Despite the dreams of sharing her, both men struck her as being rather territorial. It would be near impossible to maintain any sort of relationship if she constantly felt the need to balance her time and affections.

“Thomas and I know we’re both your mates. We’ll find a way to make it work,” Adam said quietly as he pressed her against his heart. She could hear the steady beating, feel his warmth, and sense the exact same emotions that she’d felt in her dreams.

“It doesn’t seem possible,” she whispered almost to herself. The moment the words left her mouth she realized how they could be interpreted, but Adam laughed softly, allaying her fears immediately.

“Just give us a chance to be happy together. That’s all we ask, beautiful.”

She nodded against his chest, feeling safe and loved and, for the first time since her parents’ tragic deaths so many years ago, like she was truly home.

* * * *

“We think we have a traitor within the PLA,” the king finally admitted after several tense minutes of dancing around the truth. Thomas felt certain that they wouldn’t have gotten anything at all if Emmallina hadn’t intervened time and time again. Clearly, despite her public personality, she was a force to be reckoned with. Fortunately the king seemed to trust her judgment so they were finally getting somewhere. It also lent credence to Thomas’s own theory that the pixie queen had more skills than what were commonly known pixie traits.

“We’ve just identified a traitor of our own,” Benjamin admitted, surprising Thomas and Alex with his candid reply. “Something is happening outside of normal channels. It all revolves around the assassination of an Oracle twenty-seven years ago.”

The queen looked confused, but the king’s face suddenly paled. “That’s what this is all about?” he blurted in shock before he managed to pull his reaction under control. He suddenly stilled, the steely, intimidating demeanor he was most known for dropping over him like a cloak. “This meeting is done.”

“What about Conni?” Emmallina asked in shock. It seemed pretty obvious that she had no idea why her husband was suddenly pulling the plug on his best chance to learn what happened to his daughter.

“Not important,” the king said dismissively as if he weren’t referring to his own child.

“Dex,” Emmallina said, but the king cut off any words she was going to say with a single look.

He turned his attention to Benjamin, Alex, and Thomas. “You have thirty seconds to leave this room before I send my personal guard in to eliminate the intruders in my wife’s bedchamber.”

The king reached for his wife and they both disappeared into thin air.

“What the hell?” Alex asked, looking around the room as if they might find some sort of hidden camera.

Benjamin shrugged. “Alex, get us out of here. We’ll fig—” His words cut off when Emmallina slipped back into the room.

She gave Thomas a wide-eyed, panicked look. “Give me a way to contact you,” she said quickly. Alex dragged a beacon button from his vest and pressed it into her hand.

“Just push the button and I’ll come to you.”

She nodded once and was gone.

* * * *

“How are you feeling?” Adam asked as he opened the door to an old house that seemed to be undergoing a great deal of reconstruction. “Still nauseous?”

“A little,” Jennifer answered nervously. She probably should have accepted Skye’s offer of hospitality, or maybe even Brody’s offer to take her home. Apparently dragon jump vortex was slightly less nauseating than slip travel, but with her head still pounding it had been the least palatable of her options. Of course, her choice to stay in Sugarvale had more to do with wanting to stay close to Adam and Thomas than with any actual practicalities. “I should probably call the office though, and let them know what happened.”

Adam gave her a crooked smile. She laughed softly in response.

“True,” she said, agreeing to his unspoken words. “I won’t actually tell them what happened. I’d rather tell them something that doesn’t suggest I’m having a delusional episode.”

“Do you think Emmallina was telling the truth about her daughter? Is it possible they really thought she was attacking humans because of some sort of delusion?”

Jennifer nodded. “I think Emmallina was being honest. I really do. The shock when Thomas told her about the replacement assassins seemed quite genuine.”

“I thought so, too.” He pulled her into his arms. “Hopefully, Thomas, Alex, and Benjamin can figure out what’s going on. I’m sorry you got dragged into this, but you handled yourself very well. ”

She grimaced and shook her head. “It’s kind of hard to panic when you feel that nauseous.”

Adam stepped back, holding her at arm’s length as he searched her face. “Don’t put yourself down like that. Even as ill as you were, you’re the one who convinced us to stay and listen. You were well aware of the effect rescuing you would have on the trust between us and the pixie queen.”

“I suppose,” she said, feeling embarrassed by the genuine praise. She’d just spoken her mind. It wasn’t like she’d stepped into a dangerous situation on purpose. “I’ll just call the office and let them know I’m dealing with a family emergency and need a day or two off.”

“Why not just hand in your resignation instead?”

* * * *

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Adam knew they were the exact wrong thing to say under the circumstances. It didn’t matter that in his head their future together was already mapped out. Jennifer had only just learned that the Adam and Thomas in her dreams were actual men. After her experience with the pixie king she was likely looking to return to the familiar. It wasn’t exactly an optimal time to start a whole new life.

The worst part was that she had that “deer in the headlights” look that suggested she was desperately trying to find a way to refuse without actually upsetting him. Whatever was about to come out of her mouth was very likely going to be the last thing he wanted to hear. He wanted a future with his mate, and damn it, he planned to have it.

“Forget I said that,” he said, pulling her into his embrace once more. “Just call the office and tell them whatever you need to.”

She stiffened in his arms again, and he desperately searched his brain for the words to make things right. He wanted her here, in his arms, planning a future together, but he wanted her to be happy, too. In his eagerness to get their life together started, he was scaring her off.

“Come on, babe,” Thomas said as he walked in the door, reached for Jennifer’s hand, and pulled her from Adam’s embrace. “I need a cuddle. Two slip travels in one day is not my idea of fun.” Jennifer looked surprised by Thomas’s words but seemed to relax when he yawned tiredly and snuggled her closer. “I think what I really need is a nap. Any chance you’ll hold me while I get some sleep?”

Adam watched as Jennifer assessed Thomas’s condition. It was clear that Thomas was exhausted. His face was pale and his movement sluggish. Adam had no doubt that if there was an emergency the man would shake it off quickly, but it was obvious by Jennifer’s decisive nod and the arm she wrapped around his waist as she helped him up the stairs that Thomas had chosen the right approach.

Jennifer was a nurturer. Put very simply she needed to be needed. She wouldn’t be happy sitting at home waiting for them to return from a mission. She would need a challenge, something to keep her busy and fulfilled. The first thing to come to mind was children, but it wasn’t fair to leave Jennifer to face the challenges of parenthood alone while they went off on endless missions. A mission like the last one could literally take them away for months on end. If the three of them were going to have a family and a future together then at least one of them had to retire from PUP Squad Alpha. Thomas loved the work, so it would most likely fall to Adam to make that leap of faith.

Strange how when retirement was something he would do in the future he’d been looking forward to it, but now that the choice was here he wasn’t quite ready to make it.

And of course he might very well be jumping the gun with the whole starting-a-family idea. Just because they were mates, fate unfortunately didn’t guarantee they would actually like each other. It was rare, but it was a possibility.

He watched the couple move up the stairs and out of sight and wondered what the hell to do next.

Jennifer wasn’t surprised to find them both waiting for her in her dream. A distant part of her mind registered that Thomas had his arms wrapped around her as they both slept, but inside her dreamscape they sat in simple wooden chairs facing each other.

“Interesting choice,” Thomas said, glancing around the emptiness that surrounded them. “I think I preferred the whole naked bit from previous dreams, but I suppose this will do.”

“Do for what?” she asked.

“For the talk you obviously want to have with us.”

“Oh,” she said, not really sure what she wanted to say. Now that she knew that inside these dreams she was actually talking to Adam and Thomas and not to herself, words didn’t seem to want to come.

“I’m sorry I upset you before,” Adam said, leaning forward as if he wanted to touch her.

“You didn’t upset me,” she said quietly. “I was just shocked that you would suggest resigning. We barely know each other, yet you want me to give up everything I know. What am I supposed to do while you two are off playing superhero?” She tried not to react to the way Adam closed his eyes at her words. Was that because he’d thought about what she would do, or because he hadn’t?

“You could join our PUP squad,” Thomas said with a smile.

She rolled her eyes and snorted at the ridiculous suggestion. “Sure. Right. Me play superhero. Not likely.”

“Why not?” Adam asked. It was obvious that he was trying to hide his distaste for that idea, but Jennifer could see that he was making an effort to find a compromise.

“Well, for starters I’m human.”