Instinctive (20 page)

Jaclyn smiled. “After everything I’d been through over the last couple of weeks, I’m well past thinking anything is insane.”

Slyck touched Sunray’s hand, bringing her attention around to him. “What about Ciaran, Vall’s first? How would he be as a leader?”

“I think he’d be fair, but I won’t submit to him, either,” Sunray said. “I made a promise a long time ago. . . .”

Head down, looking emotionally battered, Sunray shivered, and everything inside Jaclyn reached out to her. She ached to soothe her friend’s pain, to push back the cold and fill the void, if only for a little while. It shocked Jaclyn to think that underneath that sparkly, passionate exterior, Sunray was nothing more than a chunk of ice, completely frozen.

Jaclyn knew there was only one way to help her. Since mating was part of their culture, a primal way to show both love and acceptance, Jaclyn exchanged a long look with Slyck, and reading her intent, he nodded his consent. If there was anything they could do to help Sunray’s internal disposition match her bubbly exterior, Jaclyn wanted to try. She was driven by a need to help build the trust among the three of them and show Sunray that they were her family now. Jaclyn inched closer until their thighs touched.

As though moving of their own volition, Sunray’s hands reached out to both Slyck and Jaclyn, searching, needing. . . . Slyck dropped to his knees in front of her. “We’re here for you, Sunray.” The intimacy in his gesture seemed to catch Sunray off guard.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“We’re your family now,” Jaclyn explained and raked her fingers through Sunray’s soft blond hair. “We want to mate with you tonight, to create an impenetrable bond among us by bringing you into our small circle—to show you how much we care for you.” With that, Jaclyn brushed her cheek over Sunray’s, and burrowed close to her neck, a low purr sounding in her throat.

“You don’t need to be lonely anymore, Sunray. You have us now,” Slyck added.

Jaclyn inhaled and noted that, unlike Sunray’s aged alpha leader, her friend had a warm, sweet puppy smell. Slyck was right: Sunray was different from the others.

Aware of the heat building among them, Sunray closed her eyes. Sunray squeezed Jaclyn’s hand as though understanding and accepting the gift they were offering her. Jaclyn could see the hardening of her friend’s nipples beneath her silk blouse. “I’ve been lonely without him,” Sunray admitted, her sweet-scented breath warm on Jaclyn’s face.

Slyck touched her cheek and let his hand trail to the buttons on her blouse. “You don’t have to be alone anymore, Sunray. You have us now.” Jaclyn’s hand slid between Sunray’s jeans-clad legs, making their intentions very clear.

With her breath quickening, Sunray turned to Jaclyn and licked her lips. Color bloomed high on her cheeks. The desire in
Sunray’s eyes and the new closeness among them all prompted Jaclyn into action. She brought her mouth to her friend’s and kissed her deep. With fevered need, Jaclyn greedily drank the passion from Sunray’s lips.

“Come with us,” Jaclyn whispered.

Slyck helped the women to their feet and ushered them to the bedroom. He cradled Sunray in his arms, and gently kissed her on the mouth before he began to remove her clothes. “Let us both take care of you,” he whispered.

Sunray reached for Jaclyn and drew her into the circle. Three tongues met and tangled, their moans of pleasure merged, and soon Slyck helped them remove their clothes before quickly shedding his own.

Slyck backed Sunray up until her knees hit the bed. Jaclyn guided her to the center of the mattress and shimmied in beside her. Slyck stood back and watched Jaclyn palm her friend’s sexy curves.

Jaclyn toyed with Sunray’s beautiful red nipples. “You’re so soft and sexy,” she murmured and found her mouth again. Attuned to her friend’s needs, Jaclyn slid her hand over Sunray’s bare skin, going lower until she reached the apex of her widened legs. Using light strokes, she brushed her finger over Sunray’s inflamed clit.

Sunray shivered violently and moved against her invading hand. “So good.” She motioned Slyck closer and whispered, “Please, Slyck. I want to feel you inside me.”

Slyck’s low primal growl filled the room as he pushed a finger into Sunray’s moist heat. A moment later, Sunray’s aroused scent saturated the room and assailed her senses.

The mattress dipped as Slyck moved in closer and sandwiched Sunray between their bodies. Jaclyn’s heart crashed against her chest as she reached for her mate and ran her hands over his sinewy muscles and washboard stomach.

Slyck began kissing Sunray’s body, his mouth going to her beautiful breasts, her stomach, her pussy. When Jaclyn began to take her hand from the other woman’s sex, Slyck stopped her.

“Don’t. It’s sexy.”

Jaclyn grinned at him, her pussy moistening with need and her breasts filling with heated blood as she watched him indulge in Sunray’s cream. As he worked his finger in and out of Sunray’s feminine heat, Jaclyn leaned forward and pulled one hard nipple into her mouth. As Jaclyn savored the sweet bud, and made love to her friend with her mouth, breath rushed from Sunray’s lungs.

“Goddamn, that feels incredible,” Sunray whispered, and writhed restlessly beneath her as she raked her fingers through Jaclyn’s hair, holding Jaclyn to her breasts.

Jaclyn moved to Sunray’s mouth and slipped her tongue inside. When she felt the other woman’s sex muscles tighten, she whispered, “Come for us. Let us taste your sweetness.”

Sunray met her eyes and murmured. “Thank you, Jaclyn.”

“My pleasure,” Jaclyn assured her with a smile. With that, Jaclyn slid down Sunray’s body and joined Slyck between her long, silken legs. Working in tandem they pushed their tongues high into Sunray’s pussy, while Jaclyn paid special attention to her clit. With the tip of her finger, she drew slow, sinuous circles around her beautiful puckered nub.

“Yesss . . . ,” Sunray hissed out, and gave herself over to the
sensations, offering them a taste of her sweet cream as she rode out her climax.

After Jaclyn and Slyck finished lapping her pussy clean, they turned to each other. Jaclyn’s body immediately reacted to the fiery passion in Slyck’s eyes. Her nipples tightened painfully, her pussy dripped with desire.

His nostrils flared. “Lie down,” he commanded, and Jaclyn nearly came then and there, from his sexy tone alone. “I need to fuck you,” he added.

After Jaclyn sprawled out on the mattress, Slyck climbed between her legs. There was a look of contentment on Sunray’s face as she ran her warm hands over Jaclyn’s naked body and moved close. The flutter of Sunray’s lashes against Jaclyn’s skin brought on a shudder, as Slyck pushed his thick cock into her and fucked her hard.

Jaclyn’s nails clawed at his back, her body spasming. God, she loved the way he filled her.

As he rode her ferociously, driving into her with wild, primal need, his mouth found hers. Even though he was fucking her hard, stoking the flames inside her, his kiss was so full of emotion and tenderness, it got to her in ways that completely astounded her and tangled her emotions in knots. She scarfed her hands around his neck and kissed him back with all the love inside her. Driven by need she bucked against him and felt him thicken with pleasure. Warmth flooded her pussy, as Sunray slipped a hand between their bodies and brushed her clit. “Slyck . . . ,” she cried out and held him tight as a powerful climax stole her next breath.

“Jaclyn, kitten . . .” He breathed the words into her mouth as he joined her in release and poured his seed inside her.

Once he had completely released himself inside her, Slyck crawled in next to her and pulled the blankets up. All three snuggled in tight, one against the other. When Jaclyn began to drift off, she heard Sunray and Slyck whispering, Slyck asking her if she really knew what she was getting into, and if she truly understood the consequences of her actions if she got caught. After Sunray’s assurances that she was in all the way, they both climbed from her bed and left the room. A moment later Jaclyn heard her back door open and close as the two carefully made their way home before sunrise.

 

After their long, thoughtful conversation with Sunray, and an evening of lovemaking, Slyck had cautiously returned home and spent the rest of the night all alone at his kitchen table, strategizing and fine-tuning the details of his timely yet risky plan.

It was fortunate for both Jaclyn and him that Sunray had been harboring a deep hatred for Vall for decades now. The strong female lycan had also bonded with Jaclyn over the last few weeks, which made her a very willing partner in his scheme. And her participation was critical for success. They needed her full cooperation if they had any chance of pulling off such a dangerous mission.

After a sleepless night, Slyck had made his way to his club to put things into motion. As midmorning neared, he hurried around Vibes and emptied every bottle of grenadine. After pouring the liquid down the drain, he dropped the bottles into the
Dumpster in the alleyway next to his club, and then hopped into his SUV.

He rarely left the community, had no reason to really. Until today. Of course, going outside the gate during the day wasn’t prohibited, provided the inhabitant had a purpose. And since it was Friday night, his busiest night at the club, Slyck had, after emptying the grenadine, given himself a perfect excuse, especially since it was a crucial ingredient in the guard’s favorite drink.

Slyck eased his SUV up to the security gate and tipped his head at the demon cowboy on duty. Yeah, that’s right: a demon cowboy. It was one of the strange personae the demon had taken on over his lifetime. Why he continued to stick with it, Slyck would never know.

And speaking of cowboys, it was too bad Slyck and Jaclyn couldn’t just ride out of town and disappear into the sunset, like Slyck used to do when he lived in the Old West. Talk about a surefire way to send his community, and his people in particular, into a tailspin. Sure Vall would love to see him gone—but he’d prefer to see them dead. That, and the overseers would classify them as rogues and undoubtedly hunt them both down. The only way Jaclyn and he were going to make it out of Serene alive was for the townsfolk to think they were dead.

“Morning, Jake.”

Jake angled his head, his amber gaze narrowing in curiosity as his leather Stetson shaded the sun from his eyes. “Where are you off to this morning, Slyck?” he asked in a slow, practiced Southern drawl that would have made Clint Eastwood proud.

Slyck clicked his tongue. “Off to get some grenadine,” he offered.
“Got stiffed on my last shipment.” Slyck gave him a knowing wink. “And I know you wouldn’t want to miss out on your tequila sunrise tonight.”

Slyck gauged the guard’s reaction as he looked him over. Christ, if the guy wanted to maintain his tough cowboy appearance, then perhaps he should opt for a drink that went along with the image. Tequila sunrises hardly fit the reputation of a rough-and-ready cowboy.

Crooked teeth flashed in a devious smile. “No, we wouldn’t want that to happen, now, would we?” Jake commented and quickly lifted the gate.

Slyck grinned. Sometimes bartending really paid off.

“Harmony left here earlier,” Jake began. “She was mumbling something about needing herbs, and how her garden had gotten drowned out in the thunderstorm last week.” Rubbing his palms together, he gave Slyck a wicked grin as mischief danced in his golden eyes. “I wonder what she’s got cooking up.”

So did Slyck.

With the strange, flirty way Harmony had been acting around Vall lately, always taking his side in a dispute, he worried whether her sudden need for herbs had something to do with her feelings for him. Love spells were strictly forbidden. She knew that. Hell, everyone knew that. Lessons learned long ago taught them all that such magick caused nothing but trouble. And Vall was trouble enough as it was.

Harmony also knew interspecies mingling was prohibited. Suddenly Slyck had another thought, a darker one. Did Harmony too suspect Vall of trying to grow his pack? Was she forming an
alliance with Vall should a shift in authority take place—she always did enjoy her place on the council—to ensure herself a position at the top in the canine pecking order?

Pushing those disturbing thoughts to the recesses of his mind to consider later, Slyck made a quick trip to the neighboring community to stock up on supplies. After he had stopped at the beauty salon, the dress shop, the perfume counter, and the optometrist’s office, it was just past lunchtime when he passed back through the gates to Serene. With his packages camouflaged, he quickly rushed to the department store, where he met up with Sunray and inconspicuously handed the supplies to her. He then dropped the bottles of grenadine off at Vibes and made his way to the town hall, where Drake awaited him.

“Slyck,” Drake greeted as he practiced his martial arts moves in the basement of the hall.

“Drake.” Slyck nodded and began to stretch and warm up his muscles. He watched his first-in-command punch the air, using slow, controlled movements, and was pleased to see his dedication. “Been here long?” Slyck asked, noting the sweat on the other man’s forehead.

“Long enough,” Drake commented, his green gaze assessing Slyck, curiosity stirring in the depths of his penetrating eyes.

As Slyck lunged forward, elongating and preparing his tight muscles, Drake stepped up beside him. The air around them grew heavy, and in that instant, Slyck knew he could no longer put off the truth. Drake had obviously been sensing his tension for weeks now, and it was time to enlighten him, whether he wanted him involved or not.

Mouth set in a solemn line, Slyck stood to his full height and turned around to face his first. He blew a slow, reserved breath and locked his gaze on a pair of curious green eyes. “We need to talk,” he declared.

“I kind of thought so.” Drake glanced around the empty room. “Is it safe here?”

Suddenly feeling very stifled, practically claustrophobic, Slyck said, “Let’s run.” He gestured to the set of steep stairs that led outdoors.