Christmas Moon (5 page)

Cain wrapped his hands under her thighs and lifted her again, turning so her back was pressed to Abel’s chest. Abel’s hands came up to caress her breasts, fingers pinching both nipples, tugging the tiny balls imbedded through them. Cain couldn’t believe what the sight did to him. His balls hardened until they hurt, and he knew he wasn’t going to last long at all. He met Abel’s gaze.

“I’m not going to last.”

Abel’s eyes glowed. “She has that effect on you.”

The words barely registered, the orgasm already taking him over even as he tried to fight it off. He might have lasted a few strokes more if she hadn’t starting shaking, if her pussy hadn’t tightened impossibly hard around him. If she hadn’t screamed his name. It was the most amazing thing he’d ever heard, and he threw his head back and came with a roar.

She slumped against him, and he circled her waist with his arms, holding her up, enjoying the sated little sighs she exhaled. He lifted his gaze to meet his brother’s and scowled. It wasn’t even six yet, Saturday morning to boot, and he was dressed to leave.

“Where are you going?”

“Up to the house. Jackson called.”

Now why the hell did Jackson need his Enforcer at the ass crack of dawn on the weekend? He’d heard that Summer and Chloe had both demanded work be done at a bare minimum on weekends, and then emergencies only. He was going to ask what was going on but was stalled by Abel’s significant look at Delilah. Whatever it was, he wasn’t ready to share it with their mate, who pulled out of his embrace and faced Abel.

“I should go with you. I haven’t talked to Chloe yet, and I have no idea when Jackson wants me to start work.”

A growl welled in his throat before he could repress it, and she shot him an alarmed look. He was still pissed about her working in the big house, as the pack referred to the Alpha’s home. Logically, he knew there was no threat to her. She was the pack Enforcer’s and his twin brother’s mate. No one would dare harm her or hurt her in any way. But there were too many people, males specifically, in and out of there for his peace of mind. He didn’t like it one damn bit. He wanted her here in their house where she could be properly guarded, properly cared for. And fucked at his whim.

“Why don’t you go get cleaned up, baby? After breakfast, Cain can bring you up.”

He’d been watching her through hooded eyes, wondering how long he’d have to wait to order her to quit working for Jackson when Abel spoke. It was the same measured tone as usual, but something menacing lurked in it. Cain jerked his gaze from Delilah and looked at his brother. She stepped between them and put her hands on her hips, glaring back and forth from him to Abel.

“If you’re trying to get rid of me so you can talk about what happened, forget it. Believe me, it won’t happen again. This morning or last night.”

This time he didn’t even think of tempering his growl as he stepped toward her. “The hell it won’t.”

She blinked, took a deep breath that raised her tantalizing breasts, and tried to look nonchalant. It didn’t work; he could smell her fear. Before he could decide what to do about that, Abel interfered, his voice light and cajoling.

“Doesn’t have anything to do with you, babe. I just need to talk to Cain a minute before I go to work.”

She was standing close enough for him to lift a hand, brush it down her cheek, and she turned her face into it, sighing and closing her eyes. She welcomed Abel’s touch and responded it to it instantly. Cain felt a pang of jealousy as he wondered how to get her to react to him like that.

“Go on,” Abel whispered.

With one last, lingering gaze at him, she turned and left the room.

“You have to teach me how to do that,” Cain muttered. He watched her sashay out of the room, admiring the swing of her perfect ass. He was hard again, half tempted to follow her and take her in the shower. The woman was going to kill him. “Damn.”

Abel chuckled. “Yeah. Something like that.”

Cain grinned. Abel knew exactly what he was thinking, because he was thinking it, too. He bent to retrieve his boxers and pulled them on before going to the teakettle. He poured two mugs of the hot water and got bags out of the cabinet, then handed one to his brother. He pulled out a chair and sat at the table, cocking an eyebrow when his brother didn’t follow suit.

“Talk.”

Abel’s expression shut down, and his eyes glowing with a feral intensity that Cain recognized. He was in Hunting mode, as if a switch had been flipped. Most people believed Cain was the more dangerous of the twins. They were dead wrong.

“Greg Thompson was attacked last night.”

Cain stood, the slowness of the movement at odds with the need to act rushing through his body. Greg was one half of the only other identical twin set of their age in the pack, and they’d recently mated.

“Is he okay? Where was Jeff? And their mate?”

He should remember the woman’s name but didn’t feel too bad about it. She was so new no one had met her, yet. The Thompson brothers had just brought her home.

“He’ll live, and she’s fine. Her name is Michelle, by the way.”

“And Jeff?”

Abel pressed his lips together. “No sign of him. He went into Knoxville for supplies and never made it back. Greg thinks he holed up somewhere to wait the storm out. Greg and Michelle are up at the big house. They’ll stay there until he heals.”

The storm had been bad enough to keep people off the mountain roads for a few hours, which meant whoever had attacked Greg had already been in place.

“Who was it?”

Abel shook his head. “Greg didn’t recognize him.”

He heard a hair dryer start upstairs and smiled. Delilah had rushed through a shower. He’d heard the water turn on and off while he and Abel talked. She must be worried about what was going on downstairs.

“You better get going. We’ll be up in a little while.”

Abel hesitated, looking like he might argue with the plan. Cain knew he wanted to, but finally he nodded. “Until we know what’s going on, I’ll feel better if we’re both with her. And there’s enough people at the house she’ll be safe, even if we can’t both be there for some reason.”

Cain didn’t respond to that, but they both knew she wouldn’t be alone. He’d retired from the Hunters and had come home intending to finally write that book he’d always promised himself he would. With a laptop he could do that just as easily at the big house as in his own office. He and Abel shared an almost psychic bond. There were no words on that mental path, but they knew the others feelings, the others thoughts. Abel understood that he could perform his duty to the pack, and Cain would watch over their mate. It was the nature of such bonds. They exchanged a look that spoke their mutual understanding. Words weren’t necessary. When they heard Delilah’s hair dryer switch off, Abel spun around and left the house through the kitchen door.

Delilah had no idea what to expect when she returned to the kitchen, but it was not Cain leaning casually back in a chair smiling at her with a cat-ate-the-canary grin on his lips. There was no sign of Abel, and she half expected Cain to leap up and grab her.

She wasn’t sure if she was ready for that again and looked around. A platter of scrambled eggs sat warming on the stove, and bacon sizzled in a pan. She walked over to check it, but that was only a few seconds of diversion and, swamped by awkwardness and confusion, she had to turn around and face him. By this point, that seemed par for the course. She desperately needed space from both brothers and blushed as she remembered in vivid detail how little space she’d had minutes ago.

She’d never done anything like that, had never slept with two men in less than twenty-four hours’ time. She was uneasy not because of that, but because she wasn’t upset by it. It was so out of character, and now that they’d both had her, she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to resist further advances. But for her own peace of mind, she’d have to. She felt the walls around her heart weakening whenever either one looked at her, and she was afraid it would be a disaster to fall in love with one or both of them.

They seemed to like sharing women, but that didn’t mean they’d share one they cared for. They’d given her the perfect opportunity to explore a side of her sexuality she’d only dreamed of, but she was not a casual sex kind of girl. It was incredible, but she wanted something else, something more.

“All that thinking.”

She blinked, realizing she’d been lost in her thoughts for several minutes.

Cain beckoned with a crook of his finger and a gleam in his eyes that made her panties melt. “Come sit down, Delilah. Do some of that thinking out loud.”

She opened the refrigerator first and pulled out one of the Diet Cokes she’d seen earlier then went to the table and sat across from him. He took the can and opened it, handing it back after he took a sip and made a face. She frowned. It seemed an odd thing to find in the fridge of two single men.

“Chloe said you drink that stuff,” he answered before she could ask. “I don’t see how.”

Come to think of it, it was pretty odd for two such macho men to be tea drinkers, wasn’t it? Not a drop of coffee in sight, and she’d looked everywhere she could think of, even the freezer. It was definitely time to get some answers.

“So, you and Abel... You’re…”

She couldn’t bring herself to say it. It seemed so ridiculous. Maybe she’d imagined the whole thing after all. Cain cocked an eyebrow and waited her out. She rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers. Was it any weirder than her being able to communicate with animals?

“It’s okay, sweetheart. You can say it. I won’t bite. Much,” he added with a sexy grin.

She crossed her arms over her chest. They were going to have a real conversation. Even if it killed her. And judging by the way his pupils dilated with heat, and the bulge rising in his boxers, it just might.

“I was obviously hallucinating last night.”

Why she insisted when she knew damn well she hadn’t done any such thing was beyond her. He smiled and slowly got to his feet, as if he was calling her bluff. He slid the boxers over his jutting erection and down his thighs, until they pooled at his feet. His expression sobered, then closed. She couldn’t read him at all.

“Watch.”

He stepped into the middle of the room and…changed. She held her breath while she watched, unable to describe it, to believe it. One minute he stood there a man, and the next his body twisted, contorted, shifted, until he was a wolf. He padded closer to her, stopped at her knee, and sat down on his hind legs. Amazing.

“Werewolf,” she whispered, reaching her hand out cautiously, unsure if she was allowed to touch him like this.

He put his head on her thigh, turning his muzzle so she could scratch behind his ears. She laughed softly and tried to share the wonder she was feeling with him. For a moment he was as closed to her as they’d been last night. Then she felt relief. Overwhelming relief.

He stood, stepped away, and changed back. He pulled the boxers back on and returned to his seat, tilting his head to one side and studying her. When he spoke it was a subject she didn’t expect. “How long have you kept that secret? Your ability to talk to animals?”

She was suddenly cold and mentally kicked herself. Of course he would realize. At least he wasn’t spazzing out like one of her old boyfriends who had calling her a freak. Cain waited for her to answer, and she shrugged.

“Always. A few people have realized I seem to have a bond with animals, but I certainly don’t bring it up.” She forced a smile. “They think it’s weird.”

He reached for her hand, lacing their fingers together. His expression never changed, but she felt comforted.

“We consider that a valuable talent here, but you can see why you can’t approach any wolves you don’t know. Never know who they might be.”

She took in a long breath, understanding why they’d ordered her not to approach any wolves last night. “There are more of you.”

She’d thought it odd that Jackson, who owned many companies, lived isolated on this mountaintop, that the people around him treated him with such deference.

Cain smiled. “There are many of us here. Everyone. Well, the males at least.”

She frowned. She’d seen many women at Jackson’s and the small village Chloe had shown her around. What did they do with the female werewolves? For that matter, how did one become a werewolf? He must have seen the questions in her eyes.

“There are no female werewolves. Our daughters are all born human. And no, you can’t be changed into a werewolf. You’re born one or not. We’re a different species entirely.”

“So who exactly is Jackson? What does Abel do for him? And what do you do?

He grinned and held his hand up. “Patience, sweetheart.”

He stood, went to the stove, and flipped the bacon before returning. He took a deep breath, and a long silence stretched while he seemed to consider his words.

“We’re a lot like real wolves. We’re organized in packs—this is the Appalachian pack. We have some visitors for Christmas from the Alabama pack. You’ll meet them later, since they’re staying with Jackson and Summer. There are other packs all over the country.

“Like wolf packs, we have an Alpha and Beta. Jackson and Billy. We also have an Enforcer. Abel.”