Defying Pack Law (12 page)

She wanted to turn around and join them, naked,
feel those heavy bodies pressed to hers and rolling around in a
frenzy. With a gasp, she faced forward and almost dragged John in
her hurry to escape before she made her mental image a
reality.

She made a beeline for the room Nathan had put
her in. John stayed glued to her side, which didn’t helping the
tingling arousal sweeping through her. The heat pouring from her
was great enough that she didn’t dare allow him to follow her in.
His calming presence was not working in the face of her body’s
erotic longing, and her body begged her to try to see if it could
make him lose that steady demeanor. She whirled at the door and
with a bright smile said, “Thanks. Dinner and dessert were great.
See you in the morning.”

John’s eyes glinted with humor, and his lips
tilted in a half smile. When she would have fled, he gripped her
about the waist. “Hold on a second. It’s my turn to say good
night.”

He leaned in and brushed his lips across hers,
a light touch that would have almost been chaste if not for the
erection pressing against her stomach. Dana kept her hands clenched
at her side, her nails digging into her palms lest she forget
herself.

“
Sweet dreams,” he whispered against
her mouth before letting her go.

Lips tingling, Dana tumbled into the bedroom
and slammed the door shut. She leaned against the door and closed
her eyes, trying to locate her control—a lost cause considering how
they’d shredded it with their dinner foreplay.

Hot damn. I’ve never been so fucking
horny in my life.

The thought of fleeing again briefly crossed
her mind, but a quick glimpse out the window showed they’d placed a
guard on patrol at the bottom of her previous escape route. She
eyed the bedroom door, but she didn’t figure she could flee past
the three boys downstairs.

Nor was she entirely sure anymore that she
wanted to run.

Being horny sure beats loneliness
any day.

However, no matter her body’s clamoring for
satisfaction, it didn’t mean she was ready yet to bind herself to
them, but the idea was rapidly losing its repugnance. She couldn’t
deny her attraction to all three men, but could it just be
hormones? What if she fucked them, allowed them to pleasure
her?

Would she change her mind about staying
after?

Somehow she didn’t think a few orgasms would
ever be enough.

* * * *

His hands caressed her, sliding down
her body in a way that made her shiver and writhe. His large hand
cupped her sex, and she arched against his palm.

“
Please,” she whispered.

Her lover, though, ignored her
“please” and moved his touch back up to slide under her top to cup
and squeeze her breasts. His mouth came down and sucked at her
protruding nipple through the fabric. Then he bit down . .
.

Dana’s hold on the dream slipped. Her slow
waking didn’t stop the pleasurable sensations, though. She squirmed
as the rough hands stroking up under her T-shirt made her skin burn
and her nipples tighten. She gasped at the hot kiss placed at the
base of her neck. Those same lips moved upward and caught hers in a
torrid embrace that left her panting. She vaguely wondered, as she
opened her mouth to a sinuous tongue, if perhaps she dreamt
still.

“
Oh, Dana.”

The gruffly whispered words against her mouth
made her open her eyes. “Nathan?” she murmured against the mouth
that traced the outline of hers.

He grunted in reply, his lips moving sideways
to find the lobe of her ear and nipping it. Dana, still half
asleep, fought the sensual languor invading her body—a battle she
was quickly losing and without a fight. His hands under her shirt
cupped her breasts, and he stroked his thumbs over the erect tips.
Dana sucked in a breath and arched. For a moment she couldn’t
speak, too caught up in the sensations he provoked. His pinch of
her nubs sent a jolt of pleasurable pain that shot right to her
pussy. It also helped her find her voice.

“
What are you doing here?” she
whispered, her hands twining in his hair instead of pushing him
away like she knew she should.

“
It’s my bed,” he replied before
bringing his mouth back to hers. She allowed him to kiss her,
reveled in the familiar and yet different feeling of his mouth on
hers, his immature embraces of their youth now much harder and
sensual in nature. Her body burned as arousal ignited all her nerve
endings. Cream pooled in her cleft, aching for something to ease
it. As if sensing her desire, he slid one hand down and, like her
dream, cupped her sex.

Still horny from earlier, she could only moan
as he rubbed her. A part of her knew she should stop him, protest
his taking advantage of her. But instead she bucked as his fingers
slipped under the fabric covering her cleft and he stroked her
clit.

She could only hold tight to his shoulders as
he circled her nub, teasing touches that had her gasping. His mouth
bent and caught a nipple through her sleep shirt. He sucked it
while his fingers delved between her moist folds and plunged into
her channel.

Dana came. She bit her lip so as to hold back
the scream as her orgasm tore through her body and left her
trembling. Her shudders hadn’t stopped when Nathan withdrew his
fingers and rolled his much bigger body onto hers, bracing his
weight on his forearms. He inserted a leg between her thighs and
rubbed it against her mound. For a moment she allowed herself to
enjoy it, and pushed her pelvis back against him for the welcome
friction against her pussy. Even though she’d climaxed, her body
yearned for more, to feel his big cock claiming her.

But, Dana was no wanton, even if she’d
temporarily lost her mind. She also had too many things still to
sort through without complicating matters with sex—even if that sex
would be scorching and satisfying. Bad enough she’d allowed him to
fondle her. “Stop,” she panted.

“
Why?” He resumed his pressure
against her sex, and her fingers dug into his shoulders at the
pleasure of it.

However, she well knew pleasure was fleeting,
and she fought his erotic onslaught. “You need to stop because I
don’t know if I want this.” Not entirely true. Her body definitely
wanted what he

offered. Her heart, however, still sat on the
fence.

He paused and inhaled. “I can smell you
do.”

“
Arousing my body isn’t the same as
convincing my mind,” she retorted, his chauvinistic attitude making
it easier to assert herself.

“
But I want you,” he replied,
nudging her again with his erection.

“
Not my problem.”

“
Easy for you to say,” he grumbled.
“You got your pleasure.”

Dana shoved at him, his implacable weight not
budging. “You took advantage of me while I was sleeping. You and I
both know had you tried that while I was awake, you’d have ended up
with a throbbing dick for an entirely other reason.”

Nathan sighed and rolled off. “Are you still
mad at me? I’ve said I was sorry about the past. I love you, Dana.
I never stopped, and I went through hell these last twelve years
waiting to find you again.”

“
A hell you brought on yourself,”
she snapped. The blame he laid at her feet doused the last of her
ardor and roused her anger.

“
So how long are you going to hold a
grudge?”

“
Forever at this rate. You can’t
expect to waltz back into my life and just resume where we left
off.”

“
You wouldn’t have a life if I
hadn’t saved it,” he growled.

“
And I thank you for your timely
intervention.” Without his rescue, she shuddered to think what
would have happened.

“
I’d rather you thanked me a
different way.” He left no doubt as to his meaning.

Isn’t that just like a man to assume
he should get payment for doing the right thing?

“
God. You men are all such pigs. Me!
Me! Me!” she yelled, sitting up so she could properly glare at him.
“Did it ever occur to you for one freaking second that maybe I
should get a say in this? What about what I want? Doesn’t that
count?”

“
Of course it does, but—”

“
See, there you go again. There is
no ‘but.’ I want the freedom to make my own choices.”

“
So you can choose John,” he said in
a nasty tone.

“
No. So I can do what’s right for
me. If John is right, then yes.” At Nathan’s snarl, she tempered
her words. “If you’re what I need, then I’ll choose you. If it
turns out I need both, or even three of you, then that’s fine, but
I want to make that choice. Me. Not you, your dick, and your stupid
pack laws.”

She expected him to yell at her, argue, maybe
even hit her given she didn’t fully know the man he’d grown into.
But, he surprised her. “I love you, Dana.” He said the words
quietly, and she could read the sincerity in his tone.

She laid her hand on his chest, the heat of his
bare skin scorching, the steady thumping of his heart reverberating
against her hand. “I know you do. And truthfully, I still love you
too, or at least my memory of the boy I once knew. But”—she held up
a hand to forestall him—“a teenage infatuation isn’t a reason to
join myself to you for the rest of my life. And neither are
hormones. I need time to come to grips with everything that’s
happened. Time to figure out what’s best for me. Please, can you do
that for me?”

“
I’d do anything for
you.”

Dana smiled, if tremulously. Tears clung to her
lashes, and for a moment, she almost forgot her own plea, the urge
to throw herself into his arms almost overwhelming. But that would
be a mistake, and this time, she wanted to do things
right.

“
Thank you for understanding,
Nathan. I really appreciate that. I guess I’ll see you in the
morning.”

“
Night, Dana.” Nathan rolled onto
his side and pulled the sheet up over his shoulder.

Dana gaped at his back. “Um,
Nathan?”

“
Yes?”

“
What are you doing?”

“
Trying to sleep. It is my bed,
after all.”

Dana’s ire exploded.
Stupid fucking jerk. He just doesn’t get
it.
Grabbing her pillow, she hopped out of
the bed.

“
Where are you going?” he asked,
sitting up.

“
To find another bed,” she
snarled.

“
There aren’t any empty ones,” he
warned.

Dana whipped her pillow to the floor and lay
down on the carpet, curling her legs up to her chest and hugging
them.

Nathan sighed. She heard the mattress springs
squeak a moment before strong hands scooped her up and deposited
her back on the bed.

“
Stubborn little minx. Take the bed.
I’ll sleep elsewhere.”

He tucked the blanket around her, and Dana,
feeling contrite, said, “Kiss me good night.”

He did so quickly, as if afraid she’d change
her mind. His hard lips clung to hers for a heart-stopping
moment.

“
I don’t suppose you’d change your
mind?” he asked gruffly.

“
Nice try,” she sassed with a
smile.

“
See you in the morning.”

Nathan left, and Dana snuggled into her sheets.
His good-night embrace had reawakened some of her desire, and she
wrapped the warmth of it around her as she allowed herself to
imagine experiencing it every night. To give Nathan what he
wanted—her. To sleep spooned in his arms, taking the love he had to
give, and finally returning the emotions she’d bottled for so
long.

But he wasn’t the only one she wanted that
with.

Her thoughts strayed to another man
who gave her a different kind of peace in his presence.
John.
There wasn’t the
emotional baggage with John that she shared with Nathan, and she
enjoyed that about him. She enjoyed how he made her feel, along
with his calming presence that masked how he could set her on fire
in a moment with just a brush of his lips.

And then there was the gorgeous Kody. His
dancing green eyes and mischievous smile made her want to run and
play like she hadn’t since childhood.

Three very different men, and yet
she found herself drawn to all of them. If someone were to force
the decision on her right this second, and said,
Choose one
, she’d find
herself hard pressed.

Fuck me, I don’t understand why this
is happening, but I want them all.

Chapter
Ten

John hadn’t slept much, his mind too consumed
with thoughts of Dana. He’d heard Dana’s fight with Nathan the
previous night. How could he not with his enhanced werewolf
hearing? He’d waited with bated breath to see if Nathan’s plan to
seduce her would work, but Dana prevailed, and with her plea to
give her time and a choice, broke his heart.

John heard the hurt in her tone, the confusion
as she struggled to sort through her emotions. He didn’t consider
it self-centered to admit he knew he played a part in her turmoil.
It was evident to anyone with half a brain. Dana struggled with
what her body and wolf wanted and what she, the woman, needed.
Raised in a dysfunctional household, how could she not fight what
they proposed?