A Guardians Passion (13 page)

Freya did recall something about Rayne biting Fenris for attempting foot play, which only made the notion of having a true submissive that much more appealing. Still, she had to deal with an alpha first.

“What is his name?”

“Ezra. Ezra Dai.”

Fenris lowered eyes thoughtfully. “I’ll be sure to do a background check.”

His plan sounded good to her only because she had been planning on doing the same. It still didn’t change the fact that Fenris didn’t seem ready to leave. “Right. So look, Fen. Four days is all I am asking for, and I will have it.”

“Are you growling at me?” he asked with eyes narrowed as if he weren’t sure if she truly meant what she had said.

Freya might have believed that her mate was a little off if he hadn’t been licking his lips. Again with the seduction. Helena had been right when she mentioned how difficult controlling her mates would be. “Really, Fen?”

“Come on, Freya. Walk with me at least,” he pleaded. He stepped forward and tried to capture her waist again. “Are you sure that you don’t want to tussle? I’ll be careful of your belly, wolf. I’ll even let you win. That will be empowering, won’t it?”

“Hold the hell up,” she snapped, definitely growling as she backed away. Out of the corner of her eye, she noted a familiar shape approaching. Several in fact.

Helena strode up to Freya with both Rayne and Ezra following close behind. Rayne’s brow was knitted, his lips pressed into a thin, angry line, betraying his natural beauty.

Ezra appeared fearful. His eyes were downcast, and he was shaking as if he were cold. Freya immediately understood why as they came to a stop before her, and Rayne slapped a clawed hand upon Ezra’s dark shoulder. Ezra cringed, looking as if he wanted to faint as he set his eyes and nostrils to Fenris’s towering frame. Freya didn’t know whether Ezra’s state was due to the chat he had obviously had with Rayne or if was due to being in the presence of a Luna. She had the feeling it was a bit of both.

“You want to deal with this,” Helena said matter-of-factly.

It wasn’t a question.

* * * *

“It’s a beautiful night. Warm but nice.”

Seated on the beach, Freya gazed up at her alpha, who was standing. Fenris had a worried look on his face, his gaze flitting about as he checked on her. She couldn’t say that she had ever seen him so anxious and unsure of himself. He was wrong, and so was her oddly brooding beta. Rayne hadn’t said a word since they found a patch of sand a quarter mile away from the resort.

When her gaze moved from Fenris to Rayne, she found her beta still incensed and glaring at Ezra, who wisely kept his eyes upon the sand. Sitting together, they looked more like captor and hostage than strangers.

Oddly enough, it was as if Fenris and Rayne had switched designations, Rayne taking on the aggressive hackles of an alpha while Fenris took the more supportive position.

Rayne had begun to show more dominant traits the day her pregnancy had become visually evident. Before, he had always worked in together with Fenris to overwhelm her, but after, he had changed. Not having the first clue how to deal with Rayne’s new disposition, Freya gnashed her teeth, wishing she had the strength and agility to put her beta back into his place.

The alternative—Helena’s lessons in reassurance—seemed too paltry to work.
Kissing his ass for behaving badly
… She’d be damned if she would try negotiating with him, at least in that moment.

“If they don’t let me back in, I’m taking off one of your arms,” she said. “One arm from each of you—yanking them right out of your fucking sockets. Really? You couldn’t bear to be without me for a week? For a goddamn week?”

Neither of her males had a thing to say.

Instead, Ezra whispered low, “They will let you back in. This happens a lot.”

“Really,” Rayne sneered, finding his voice then. “And are
you
often involved?”

“Um, no.”

“Just this time, eh?”

Freya had to close her mouth, which had been gaping wide at Rayne’s tone. She came to the quivering omega’s defense. “Don’t make this about him. This is about you two, who want to pretend that I’m some helpless maiden or some shit. I’m not helpless. I’m clueless. There’s a difference. But that is about to change.”

“Why? Because you have an omega?” Rayne rolled his eyes.

Fenris walked over to join the semicircle that Freya, Rayne, and Ezra sat in. He came to stand beside Rayne and nudged him with the toe of his boot. “She mentioned bringing him home. What do you think?”

“We don’t need a fucking ball licker.”

“Rayne!” Freya had never heard such venom from her usually sweet beta.

“What? We don’t. We take care of you just fine.” Jealousy stirred within his hazel eyes, his sneer changing into a worrisome frown. “Don’t we?”

“You do. You overdo it sometimes, but you do. Ezra isn’t a threat, baby.”

“My potions, my powers don’t soothe you?”

Freya chewed her lip as she realized just where the angst was coming from. Because Rayne prided himself on his healing powers, he must have suspected Ezra of trying to best him somehow. “He uses your products. Can’t you smell it?”

Rayne’s nostrils flared as if he needed proof, but finding the truth only caused Rayne to draw back. He ignored the topic completely, choosing to rant. “He was stroking your feet, Freya.”

“Listen to yourself, Rayne. He was stroking my
feet
, not my pussy and not your precious tits, because I know you think that they belong to you.” Freya shook her head, trying not to play into the competitiveness that seemed to be in the air. “Why don’t you two just accept that I’m not planning anything scandalous, not running away with an omega, and certainly not drinking all of the Sohon Kool-Aid?

“It’s about me learning how to deal with diapers, rashes, allergies. It’s about me learning what nutrition will be good for myself—not sticky buns or meat pies or lemon tarts. I need more fruit, greens, and complex grains. Anyway, it’s about more than just that,” she insisted. “I’ve learned a lot, but nothing for you to be threatened about.

“I’m rooming with another pack mother. She has cubs. Twins. I get to hold them, help with the feeding. Practice is what I’m getting, not loving. This retreat is a good thing. That is what this is about! You want to protect me? Keep an eye on me? I get that. It’s sweet, and it’s noted. I love you both more than breathing, but you are wearing me out.”

Rayne let out a sigh and softened after her words. Her message seemed to finally penetrate through the cloud of anger that had been swirling within him.

Even Fenris nodded, showing some understanding. “Sweet or not, it is not wrong for us to want to…keep an eye out? To be protective of our love. This…event is fine,” he said, gesturing to the Sohon party not far away. “But we will not be far, and we would like to escort you back home when it is time. We want you to know that we will always be near if and when you need us. ”

Freya looked out at the rolling waves and tried to recall the tenets of Helena’s teaching.
Be firm, not cruel. Encourage but stay true to your goal
. “I get that, and I appreciate it,” she replied, looking at the pair of her males and making sure that she had eye contact from both. “Now would you like to know what
I
want?”

Rayne’s eyes went wide with interest while Fenris’s narrowed with suspicion.

Fenris came over and sat down next to her. “Yes?”

Aware of her alpha’s proximity, Freya replied, “I want to go back to my room and help Melissa put the cubs to bed. Then I want to get some sleep so that I can get up and do my yoga and—”

“Yoga?”

“New agey, stretchy, exercise thing,” Rayne clarified for his alpha.

Fenris snickered, and Freya had to resist the urge to get up and pounce. Probably thinks I’ve gone nine ways of soft, she surmised, swearing that she could see the insinuation in his eyes. Anything that wasn’t sparring, weight lifting, or running drills had once been suspect to her too. Determined not to let his cynicism get to her, Freya sought a solid resolution. Helena had mentioned how important it was to be finite, to end conversations or negotiations as they tended to be between mates before they could reignite or lead to failure.

She decided to put away her pleas of explanation, having stated why she needed to be at the resort in the first place. Freya looked to her helper, wanting to know if he was as eager as he smelled. “Ezra, do you think my mates are hot, sexy wolves?”

Ezra had been distracting himself with a tiny, feisty sand crab. When called out, he quickly surveyed Fenris and Rayne before lowering his gaze to the sand. “They are…incredible. They look strong, fierce.”

“They are. They have a lot of energy, and sometimes I just can’t keep up with them. It can be a problem because, really, they do need attention, and they do deserve it. Wish you could help me with them…”

Ezra shifted upon the sand, as if the position he was in was uncomfortable. She knew interest when she saw it, and Ezra was practically sparking with nerves and arousal. Freya figured what better time to test if the omega would truly be a match.

She got up from the sand and moved over to Fenris, who eagerly welcomed her upon his lap. As his heavy, corded arm fastened about her waist, Freya commanded Rayne closer with a crook of her finger. He too wrapped an arm around her.

Being in their hold was flirting with danger for Freya, but she had a plan as she stretched her legs over Rayne’s thighs. Her mates both curled in toward her, Rayne’s hands possessively lying atop Fenris’s arm. Looking to Ezra, an orphan in darkness, she wondered aloud. “I’m not putting any pressure on you. You can go back to the retreat if you want. But I have to deal with these two, and they are a handful. Would you even be interested in helping me?”

“Bet he would,” Rayne snarled. “The little ball licker is leaking right now. I can smell his heat. He wants something.”

Rayne was nuzzling against her breast, his breath hot upon her skin. She was framed on both sides, Fenris against her neck and under her ass, and Rayne covering her from the front. Two pairs of hands were gently roaming her belly, shoulders, and hips.

“He just needs someone to cower under.” Fenris was much more understanding, the alpha’s need to protect finally showing itself. “Don’t you, cur?”

All eyes and wanting, Ezra was gazing directly at Freya and her males, longing evident not just in the way that he scooted closer but in the questioning cant of his chin. “Yes.” It was more of a breath than an answer.

Freya stretched out her arms so that she had one around Fenris’s back and the other around Rayne’s. She gripped them tightly as she made her case to Ezra. “I can see it now. I would barely be able to feed my cub in peace or get any sleep for these two fine-ass wolves. Now don’t get me wrong. I can handle them, but this one right here can fuck long and hard. He’s a goddamn bull,” she added, gesturing to Fenris. Freya then turned to Rayne and placed a kiss upon the crown of his head. “And this beauty right here, the one with the sassy-ass temper, can destroy a chick with his tongue and his fingers.”

“But—”

She slapped her hand over Rayne’s mouth, preventing him from ruining the trance she had Ezra locked in. “All I’m saying is once in a while, I might need my senses, might need to wake up refreshed in the morning rather than sleeping half the day away. Wanna really help me?”

Ezra inched closer, his chest rising, pulse racing in anticipation. “I…I do.”

“Good. Come here then,” Freya commanded.

Chapter Eight

Ezra attempted to come as commanded. Rayne only allowed him so far, however, before clapping a hand behind the back of his neck. Freya tried to reach for Rayne and quickly found herself caught around the waist by Fenris. She hated how easy it was for her alpha to manhandle her but kept her attention before her.

Rayne leaned in, inhaling Ezra’s fear. Her beta, so often submissive with her, was showing his true colors, it seemed, snarling and growling softly against the side of Ezra’s cheek. Ezra cowered; he bowed his head, his posture that of ultimate surrender. He went down upon his forearms, raising his ass high in the air.

It was a sight that no wolf could resist for all of its alluring connotations. Freya certainly couldn’t tear her eyes away from the visual communication of “I am no threat.” Fenris had drawn her back to his chest, his large paws stroking her rounded belly. He had rested his chin on her shoulder and was gently placing kisses upon the bare skin there. “He’s a nice little appetizer,” Fenris stated, the display not having gone unnoticed by him. “I’m more of a main-course type of guy, though.”

Freya caught Fenris’s hand as it closed around her left breast. She rolled her gaze to the purple sky and its sequin-like stars, even as she shifted against a wall of steel. Fuck yeah, it felt good to be locked in her alpha’s embrace, but as Helena said, boundaries had to be set in place, no matter how skilled the elements.

And Fenris was beyond being an expert at manipulation. While Rayne worried Ezra, Fenris maneuvered Freya sideways across his thighs.

She felt his thick forefinger underneath her chin, urging her toward his gaze, and began to growl. This was her show, not his, yet the searing brand of his lips upon hers brought about nothing but the pounding of her pulse. Curses that she had been prepared to throw at him went mute under the rapture of his kiss.

Damn, but Fenris could send her heart beating out of her chest and make her remember combat, danger, and exhilaration all at once. Freya felt the cool air against her breasts and knew that she had been exposed, could feel her right nipple being rolled between the pads of thick, meaty fingers—the added prick of nails that had lengthened.

She mewled!

Fenris was doing it. More of a magician than even her beloved Rayne, he had her prisoner, both in the coil of his gigantic arms as well as by the noose his tongue had bound around hers.

She slammed her fist into her alpha’s shoulder, needing air and common sense, but when Fenris released her, it was only to witness another oncoming attack. No sooner had she opened her eyes than she saw Rayne before her, closing his lips around the very nipple that Fenris had primed.