Wolf Bargain: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (Wolfish Book 3) Read online

  His eyes glow brighter for a second. “It only says we can’t before.”

  Rory’s jaw works as he considers this.

  “There are things that we’re supposed to do and things that we’re not really supposed to do. Some of the things are actual rules and others are more of, well, suggestions,” he says. After a second, his eyes start to glow a bit too, and they drop to rest on mine. “As far as mating is concerned … I suppose there’s nothing explicitly wrong with it happening after the turning’s begun. The virgin’s blood has already been spilled.”

  His head tilts downward at that, his nostrils flaring for a moment as he drinks me in—fully.

  Kaleb crawls closer to me and runs his hand along the side of my face, pausing to twirl a strand of my hair between his fingers as he kisses me.

  “Lydia did say that she needed some comforting,” he says as he turns his head over his shoulder to look at Rory and Marlowe. When he looks back at me, his eyes are fiercely glowing.

  As are both of theirs.

  I know, in this moment, that this is a day that will stay with me forever.

  Kaleb kisses me and I taste his tongue with heightened senses. I feel his arms wrap behind my back and I feel my knees softly bend as he lowers me onto the plush, mossy ground. I can sense Rory and Marlowe coming onto the ground next to me too, even with my eyes closed.

  I can almost seem to feel the burning of their eyes that is fueled by a primal passion to have me. When Kaleb pulls his mouth from mine, I open my eyes and see all three of them around me. All three sets of scorching, golden eyes and muscular bodies, and all three men that I love.

  It is a luscious feeling to have three sets of hands all gently pulling the clothes off my body, over my head and down my legs. I pull Kaleb’s shirt up and over his shoulders and watch as Rory and Marlowe remove theirs as well. I can see the bulging desire they each have as I undo first Kaleb’s pants and then the others’.

  As I lay on my back beneath the glistening sky and surrounded by the scent of the wildflowers and trees, and the sound of the crashing waterfall; I am usurped with sensation and longing for each of them.

  Kaleb crawls over the top of my body and rests his swollen self against my thighs. He keeps his weight on his elbows and his chest muscles flex as he leans down to kiss me. I urge my body against his and part my thighs to let him know that I am ready.

  I am ready for him, for all of them, in every way that I can be joined with them and be closer to them.

  I reach my hands out to either side of me as I feel Rory kiss the top of my shoulder and Marlowe kiss the side of my chest. I feel their engorged and throbbing desire in my hands. They are ready too; we are all ready.

  “Do you feel it now?” Kaleb whispers against my mouth. “The touch; the overwhelming sensation of your bonded mates?”

  I try to tell him yes, but only a small moan of pleasure comes out of my mouth.

  “I want to make love to you now,” Kaleb says as he brushes his lips against my cheek and presses himself harder between my thighs, pausing just before the breaking point and holding himself there. “We all want to make love to you now and this time we won’t stop, if that’s what you want.”

  “I want to make love to my mates,” I say as I lean my face toward his mouth to kiss him again. “I don’t want any of you to stop.”

  At my words, Kaleb, with one swift and powerful movement, pushes into me and all at once every feeling that I have ever had disappears and gives way to the feeling of pure and consuming ecstasy.

  11

  Sabrina

  They say that there’s a glow that a woman has after she makes love.

  If that’s true, then I must be radiating as brilliantly as the sun after making love to Kaleb, Marlowe, and Rory. There are no words to describe how complete and connected to them I feel now.

  I thought the bond was sealed before, at the wedding ceremony.

  But that was just the beginning.

  I have no sense of how much time has passed, only a sense of utopian bliss as I lay in the grass surrounded by my three devoted lovers. I want to do this every day and night for the rest of my life. I want to lay in their arms with our limbs all tangled together like we are now, after having pushed our bodies past satiation with hours of love-making beneath the trees.

  And now we can.

  There’s nothing left to pull us apart now.

  As we give our bodies a few moments of rest and replenishment, I am once again overcome by my feelings for them.

  “I want more,” I say, pulling each of them closer into me and feeling as if we will all never be able to get close enough.

  Rory laughs.

  “Don’t worry,” he says. “There’ll never be a time when we aren’t ready to have you. You will have much, much more. But now, since it is almost dusk, and since tomorrow is your turning; we really should get back.”

  Oh, right.

  I’m dragged back to reality with the stark reminder of what really lies at home. Home. No longer the derelict cabin at the bottom of the hill, my home is now in the same place as the boys, my head resting beneath the living beams of the great oak tree.

  Marlowe scoops me up and sets me down on my feet as everyone begins to get up and get dressed. Once we all have our clothes back on, Rory takes my hand to go, but I’m not yet ready. I’m not ready to face Remus and his pack again.

  Not when I know something about them is still so very, very wrong. Even here, miles away amidst the trees, I can’t shake that feeling.

  “What’s wrong?” Marlowe asks, all three of them looking at me with concern.

  Their eyes aren’t glowing now. They are a fulfilled, rich brown that glistens in the dusky changing light.

  “Nothing is wrong,” I say, knowing it’s a lie, but also knowing I don’t want to be the one to bring darkness in on this perfect moment. “I just can’t believe how very much in love with the three of you I am.”

  Kaleb grins, too blinded by his own emotions to read past my words. “Well, I should hope so. You married us already.”

  I laugh and the three of them circle around me with interlocking arms in a hug that makes me feel more protected and loved than I have ever felt in my life. I nuzzle my face against their chests.

  This.

  This is the reason I can go back to that house, even with Remus’s hands digging into the soil around it as we speak. Rory, Marlowe, Kaleb—they will never let them hurt me. So long as they are here, beside me, I am safe.

  “I love you,” I whisper inside the cocoon of their embrace. “All of you.”

  “We love you too,” Rory says quietly.

  The walk back to the house is peaceful and the sky paints itself into an array of muted colors that seem to echo the sultry day that we’ve enjoyed. When we get back to the house, Romulus and Lydia are sitting by the fireplace having drinks and talking. Lydia looks up as we come in and smiles.

  Remus, for once, is nowhere to be seen. I know it’s too much to hope that they’ve gone. They must have just retreated into the woods for the night, doubtless working on whatever nefarious plans they have hidden.

  But for now, I will relish the time without them.

  “Did you have a nice afternoon together?” Lydia asks as we settle down.

  “Yes,” I answer with a smile that I know covers my whole face. I want to tell her that it was the best afternoon that I’ve ever had and could ever imagine—but I’m pretty sure by the smile that she gives me in return, she already knows that.

  If she didn’t already from the redness coloring my cheeks.

  “Come,” Romulus says. “Join us for dinner.”

  The four of us sit by the fire next to Lydia as Romulus goes to bring some platters of meats and cheeses into the room and fill our glasses for us. I hadn’t realized how ravenously hungry I was until the smell of the meats wafts into my nose.

  It’s as if this afternoon has awakened my new senses. I am fully overcome by the strength, the richness of
the scent now.

  Romulus chuckles. “You can tell that she’s turning,” he says to the boys, glancing their way. “She has the appetite of a wolf already.

  Kaleb gives me a look that hints at what we were really doing all day that’s dredged up such an appetite in me, and I feel the secret smile well inside of me again.

  After we eat and talk and drink delicious wine, we all head up to bed. I am so wonderfully exhausted that the very moment my body lays down and my head rests on the pillow, my eyes start to close. And as soon as I feel Rory, Marlowe, and Kaleb curl around me, I fall asleep.

  The dream I have that night is one that I already know is going to be important and mean something, even from the very beginning. I’ve always been a dreamer, at least … ever since I met the boys. It’s as if something was awakened in me then, something that burns brighter in my mind once I’ve closed my eyes.

  Now, as the turning has awakened my other senses, it seems it’s awakened this one too.

  In my dream, I am sitting in the forest glade where the boys and I were today, but instead of being human, we are all wolves.

  There is howling, a bunch of howling, but it isn’t any of us making the noise. The howling is small and high-pitched but coming from more than one source. It is all encompassing and devastating. It is all I can do to see it out, to search for its source … but the harder I look, the further away it seems.

  I look and look and look to see if I can find what is making the noise but instead of seeing anything in my dreams, I wake up hungry instead.

  12

  Sabrina

  It’s the last day of the turning ceremony and I feel surprisingly calm. Much calmer than I expected.

  The bond between the boys and I, and the act of finally being able to physically join with them, has made the transformation much smoother than I think any of us anticipated. I know for me it has. It’s as if all the uncertainty has melted away, even where Remus and his pack are concerned. Well … almost all the uncertainty.

  It would be a lot easier if they weren’t still here. Unfortunately, and of course, he and his pack still are.

  Sure, I still know they’re up to something. But somehow, I feel it will still all work out in the end.

  Maybe I’m a fool for thinking that, but I’m a happy fool.

  Tonight, on the last night of the ceremony, I will have my first shift. I couldn’t be more excited.

  After my shift Remus and his pack will eventually have to leave, and with the ceremony finally over, I’ll actually be allowed to settle into this new life. I’m looking forward to that almost as much as I am looking forward to completing my transformation.

  There’s just something about having Remus around that brings with it a looming sense of dread … no matter how much I try to convince myself otherwise. No matter how much I try to tell myself that maybe Romulus is right.

  I find myself alone in the kitchen the morning of my turning.

  It’s a strange, foreign feeling now … alone.

  I feel as if I haven’t had so much as a moment to myself since the night of the wedding. Not that I mind, exactly. I’ve had all too much experience with alone before.

  When I got up this morning, the boys were already gone, which although is a bit unusual for them, I imagine it has something to do with preparations for tonight.

  After I quench my thirst and calm my growling stomach, I’ll head out to find them. My appetite has been growing lately, another thing I chalk up to the changes happening in my body. I’ll need energy for tonight.

  A juice carafe is already out on the table, still beaded with drops of perspiration, so it looks like the boys can’t have been gone long. I grab a glass and take a big gulp while opening the fridge door, looking to see if I’ll be as lucky with breakfast. Too big of a gulp, apparently, because it makes me choke. I have to stop when I’m doing and sit down for a minute just to catch my breath.

  Slow down, I remind myself. I need to stop living as if each moment is a rush to get to the next. As if, at any moment, if I stop moving I’m somehow not going to be able to catch up.

  That may have been true when I was a human, but it isn’t anymore.

  Or it soon won’t be.

  Not now. Not now that I’m one of them.

  I sit down for a few minutes to catch my breath and finish my juice, my mind wandering to thoughts of the change that’s taking place within me. Gone are the days of worrying about time. The gift I’ve been given … sometimes, I have to sit and think for a minute just to wrap my head around it. It’s more than the boys, though the gift of them would have been enough.

  It’s a whole other life. Several of them.

  I could live for half a millennium. Maybe longer, if I’m lucky.

  That thought alone is enough to make me dizzy.

  Though maybe not as dizzy as I actually feel when I do move to get up from the table. As soon as I stand up, stars erupt in front of my eyes and I have to grab the side of the table to steady myself for a moment.

  And then two.

  And then more … but the dizziness doesn’t pass. Instead, it’s heightened and I start to feel sick to my stomach.

  Something’s wrong.

  “Having trouble?” Remus’ voice calls from the doorway.

  I freeze instantly, my eyes lifting to meet his where he stands. Alone. I am not alone, after all.

  He glances between the empty juice glass and my teetering posture as I struggle to hold on to the table—the look on his face betraying him in an instant.

  “You did this,” I say as I struggle to catch my breath, my eyes following the path his just made as I begin to connect the dots. “You … you put something in the juice.”

  Even as I say it, I feel a stabbing pain in my stomach that makes me double over. I should have sensed the addition, should have smelled it, tasted it. I shouldn’t have been so stupid.

  I want to yell and alert the others, but I can barely summon a voice to speak, nonetheless yell.

  And Remus knows it. He fixes me with a cool glare from the doorway, where he makes no move to aid me … even as I stumble forward on to my knees, unable to support myself even in a sitting position.

  “There are few things that I wouldn’t do in order to protect the pure-blooded lines of the pack,” he says, continuing that cold stare. “I take that back, there’s nothing that I wouldn’t do in order to make sure that Romulus doesn’t breed more of you.”

  He’s trying to keep his face composed, but I don’t miss the way he glances once over his shoulder, down the hall, before he looks back to me and continues.

  I knew something like this was coming. Even now, as the sight of Remus blinks in and out of sight, I can’t believe I was so stupid to let my guard down, even for a second.

  “Do you think I could just sit back and let him do it? Let him turn another human and even worse, allow his sons to breed with you? You would have pups with all three of his sons and the bloodline would be forever tainted. Romulus would grow his pack in the most disgusting and impure of ways.”

  Somehow, at last, I find my voice. It’s small and broken … but I know he hears it.

  “Romulus and the boys will make you pay for whatever you have done,” I say, knowing my threat sounds empty. My voice, along with the threat, sounds weak and meaningless as my vision starts to fuzz and blur at the edges. I try to stay lucid and face Remus until someone comes to find me.

  Maybe, if I’m lucky, it will be one of our own come to help.

  If I’m not so lucky …

  I shake my head, my vision blurring further.

  No. I can’t think of that. I can’t think of what will happen if it’s one of Remus’ pack that finds us first.

  Remus isn’t done with me yet.

  “You’re such a foolish girl to think that I care what my brother and his mutts will do,” he says, stepping forward to loom over me even further. “Why do you think I chose to go after you instead of just killing Romulus myself?”

/>   “Because you’re a coward?” I snarl.

  Remus laughs. The sound of it makes the room feel as if it’s spinning.

  “I did it because this will hurt my brother and those boys much more than anything else I could possibly do. This will cause them more suffering than they will be able to bear. This will be the end of Romulus’ pack for good. Let them shrink back like the beaten dogs they are. There will be nothing they can do to recover his pack from a most certain demise now.”

  “I … you …”

  I get ready to hurl another insult at Remus, but I feel my hand slip from the table. Before I’m able to muster up the courage, the voice, another stab of pain hits me like a truck in the abdomen, and all goes black.

  And silent.

  That is the worst part.

  13

  Sabrina

  When I wake up—surprised as I am to even wake up—there is an uneasy quiet still around me. It’s not the first time that I’ve been ill or have passed out and woken up to a sea of staring faces, but this time feels different. This time I can tell that something is still wrong.

  Rory, Marlowe, and Kaleb are all sitting on the sides of my bed around me. Something doesn’t feel right. Lydia and Romulus are there too.

  “Hey,” Rory says as he gently takes my hand and leans forward to kiss me on the top of my forehead. “How are you feeling?”

  “Strange,” I say, squinting up at him. The aching pain is gone, but the emptiness it’s left behind …

  It’s like the silence before.

  It feels wrong.

  It feels somehow worse.

  All three boys seem to simultaneously share a look of pain, not physical pain … more of a heartache.

  “What’s going on?” I ask, trying to sit up as panic starts to sweep over me. “What’s happened?” I feel myself starting to get hysterical, which only intensifies as I notice Kaleb look away with an expression as if he’s just been shot in the gut.