Let the Wild Out (7 page)

She swayed, falling to the ground once more. Rachel closed
her eyes, letting darkness take her. She didn’t want to see any more.

William glanced into the rearview mirror, watching Douglas
as he cradled an unconscious Rachel in his arms. He sped through the forest,
listening to his cellular phone ring.

“Hello?”

“Magda, it’s me. We’re switching locations. We were at that
forest sanctuary near where my flight landed. It’s on the old maps. Someone set
the lodge on fire while we were inside. We need—”

“I’ll handle the fire,” she assured him, her voice calm. He
heard the clicking of computer keys as she spoke. William didn’t even bother
asking how she would take care of it from the other side of the ocean. She just
would. “I’ll send you coordinates to a safe house and let our friends know
you’re on the way.”

“I have two with me,” he said, meeting William’s eyes.

“Two?” she asked. He wasn’t sure if she sounded disappointed
or simply preoccupied.

William said, “It was the sanctuary woman’s home that burned
and my,” he glanced at Douglas, “counterpart.”

“Very well. For the sake of appearances, I’ll order the
lodge rebuilt. Make sure she knows that we expect no grievances from her on the
matter. For all we know, it was because of her that the accident happened in
the first place.”

“You assume a lot from an ocean away,” he grumbled.

“I will text you the safe house location.” Magda didn’t
deign to answer his comment. “Who set the fire, boy?”

“Mountain lion. Female,” he answered. “I didn’t recognize
who it was and she got away.”

“Ah yes, that must be St. Joan. She’s an American claw for
hire with connections to a couple families here in the UK. Has a flare for
setting things on fire. I’ll check into it.” More computer keys clicked in the
background.

“An assassination attempt?”

“What?” Douglas said from the back seat.

“Claw for hire. UK family connections,” William told him
quickly before turning back to his conversation.

“I warned you when you left that you would have to be careful
with your location. Until you are married, properly, and in possession of an
heir, you are in a dangerous position. There are those who would be glad to
challenge you for your throne. And if they can see to it that you have an
accident before that time…” She sighed heavily. “I’ll have bodyguards on the
next flight.”

“What’s happening?”

“Do we want bodyguards?” William asked.

“No,” Douglas said.

“No guards, Magda,” William said into the phone.

“But—” she began to protest.

“Tell whoever you’re talking to that we’re coming home,”
Douglas said. “I’ll have my people arrange the private jet. It’s stashed
nearby.”

“Magda, get a place ready. We’re coming home.”

“All three of you?” she asked.

“Yes, all three of us.” William met Douglas’s gaze. The man
nodded once and a silent understanding passed between them. “Travel
arrangements are taken care of.”

Rachel’s mind drifted through a fog. She vaguely registered
being carried, being in a car, being in pain and then not in pain until finally
she was oddly numb. It was almost like she’d been dosed with painkillers. By
the time she could open her eyes long enough to concentrate, she had no idea
where she was. The room was small, with rounded, white walls and a narrow bed.
Small windows lined the walls on each side. She frowned. If she wasn’t
mistaken, it looked like the inside of an airplane.

She reached for her face. The flesh was healed. Crawling out
of the bed, she limped to a window and pushed up the shade. Clouds stretched
before her. The plane was airborne.

The stiffness of her muscles made her steps a little zombie-like
as she crossed to the door. Someone had dressed her in what equated to blue
doctor scrubs. She heard William and Douglas whispering as she pressed on the
latch. The sound instantly stopped when she entered the lounge area. They each
sat in thick, camel-colored chairs with drinks in hand. The room looked like
the pimped-out private jet of a rock star—flat screen TV, stocked bar, leather
chairs. All that was missing was a bunch of drunk, scantily clad chicks running
around, and a smarmy manager trying to get some action off a drunken groupie.

“What have you done?” she demanded. Their answering
expressions were a cross between relief and guilt.

“You should not be up,” William said. He wore blue jeans and
a white button-down shirt. She could see the outline of his undershirt beneath
it.

“The cuts were deep. You need rest.” Douglas stood, offering
his chair though there were others in the cabin. His dark slacks and a gray
designer shirt were in stark contrast to the other man’s relaxed style.

One elegant and one primal. They were different, yet both
powerful, both beautiful, both sexy as sin. Her body tingled. She wanted both
of them, and by the look in their eyes, they wanted her. Why was she resisting?
The shifter world did not judge as the human world did. The human world did not
have the passion the shifter world did.

Rachel glanced towards a small window, seeing the clouds.
“What happened? Where are we going?”

“Someplace safe,” Douglas assured her.

“The lodge was lost. People were sent to tend the fire, but
there was nothing left.” William’s manner a little more blunt than the other
man’s. “We have men looking into it, but we’re pretty sure the attempt was on
our lives, not yours. I’ve already dispatched builders to the area. They will
clean up and rebuild the sanctuary.”

“So you thought it best to bring me with you while I’m
waiting on the repairs?” Rachel questioned. Douglas and William both nodded.
“You thought it best to bring me with
you
,
the
targets
of an assassination attempt?”

Smart thinking, fellas.

Their expressions fell.

“Nothing will happen to you,” Douglas said.

“Nothing,” William asserted.

Everything,
Rachel thought, as she looked at them.

“We know that rebuilding the cabin won’t be the same as your
childhood home,” Douglas said.

“If there is anything we can do to make up that loss to you,
simply name it,” William added.

“Name it and it’s yours,” Douglas agreed. “Anything.”

She didn’t want to think about the fire or her childhood
memories that were lost to it. Not right now. Her muscles ached and her head
was a little dizzy. “I can’t think about this right now. I need a beer.”

William was on his feet, instantly going to the stocked bar
to fulfill her request. He seemed eager to do it.

“Is there anything to eat?” she asked. “I would have healed
faster if you’d just let me eat and run.”

Douglas crossed to a small cabinet.

“Speaking of shifting,” William began.

“Trout?” Douglas finished the thought with an arch of his
brow. “Diluted blood?”

Rachel didn’t speak for a long moment. She hadn’t meant for
them to see her in shifted form. Her secret was out. Both men looked
expectantly at her, one holding a beer, the other holding a big sandwich
wrapped in cellophane. To her great surprise, she realized she wasn’t upset
about them knowing. They were the shifter chiefs and they looked ready to do
her every bidding. She felt protected and strangely powerful.

“Why would I tell you what I am? You were a stranger following
me in a bookstore,” she answered.

“I would follow you anywhere, lass,” Douglas stated
smoothly.

She felt a small thrill at his words. Being alone with them
in the cabin had been tough. Alone in a plane? She couldn’t very well jump out
of a window. Feeling hot, she glanced at the window. Could she make it? If she
fell in human form until she was a few feet from the ground, then shifted, then
possibly…

“I would do whatever you commanded,” William said, holding
out the beer.

With shaking hands, she took it. His finger reached out to
caress hers. Feeling a little lightheaded, she asked, “Whatever I commanded?”

William nodded.

“I would as well,” Douglas said, unwrapping the sandwich to give
it to her.

Rachel took it. Her skin began to tingle. She moved back towards
the small room. Right before she turned to enter the onboard bedroom, she
stated, “I am a little sore.”

She heard shuffling behind her and tried not to laugh. One
man pushed the other aside and she heard a loud thump. Rachel crawled onto the
bed, lying on her stomach. She took a quick drink and set the beer bottle on
the floor. Then, propping up on her elbows, she took a bite of the sandwich.
The bed shifted by her left leg and then her right. She took another bite. “Mm,
so good. I feel like I haven’t been fed in days.”

“We fed you,” Douglas assured her. “Broth.”

A hand touched her right ankle, massaging up her leg beneath
the loose pants. Seconds later, another hand touched her left ankle, sliding
upward to the back of her knee. The rougher texture of their palms made her
think of their royal brands. Her blood stirred, pumping fiercely through her
veins. Their hands moved in agonizingly slow caresses, mimicking each other as
they slid up and down her leg.

Rachel tried to keep eating, but her breathing became too
ragged. She dropped the sandwich on the floor next to the beer. She heard a
thud and the sound of liquor sloshing out of the bottle, but didn’t care. Hands
fisted the material behind her knees and pulled. They bared her ass easily,
forcing the unresisting material down off her hips.

Her eyes stared forward, but her attention was focused
behind her. Soft breath fanned her flesh, tickling the back of her calf. Warm
lips followed, near her ankle first, trailing up her leg to the sensitive flesh
at the back of her knee. Hands massaged into the other leg, pressing deeply.
Her chest heaved with ragged breaths. Her heart beat faster. She twisted her
fingers into the bedding, which was still messed up from her earlier rest.

She squirmed on the bed, lifting her hips slightly as a
mouth kissed the bottom curve of her ass. The way teeth grazed flesh, she knew
the mouth to be William’s. He bit lightly. The hands left her and the
unmistakable whisper of clothing followed. Soon, cooler lips replaced the warm,
only they too heated quickly against her flesh. Douglas’s kisses were smooth,
and he traced gentle lines with his tongue. She heard William undress before
joining them on the bed once more.

Rachel still didn’t turn to look. The sight of two gorgeous,
naked men might be her undoing. She became mindless under the euphoria of their
caresses. Hands and lips moved over her ass, down her legs, up her back. They
pulled at her loose shirt until she tugged it over her head and threw it aside.
Her naked breasts rubbed into the bed. One massaged her back, the other her
legs. Moisture gathered between her thighs, pooling along her sex.

Douglas stretched out next to her on the bed. She glanced at
him from the corner of her eye. He lifted her hair, pushing it aside so he
could kiss her neck. Shivers racked her from where his lips touched, so light
and warm. Lips trailed to his jaw, and she found herself turning towards him.
He grinned before drawing her mouth to his. His tongue traced the seam of her
mouth, urging her lips to part. The thick, naked length of his cock brushed against
her stomach and he moaned.

Behind her, William’s hands moved up her thighs. She parted
them automatically, allowing him access. Fingers grazed along her sex. She
moaned softly into Douglas’s mouth. William stroked her clit as his body
sandwiched her against Douglas’s. The pleasure overwhelmed her senses until she
could no longer tell whose hands were where. They were on her breasts, her
pussy, her back, and ass. She reached behind her, taking William by the hip and
pulling him closer. Her legs tangled with his.

“Mm.” Douglas pulled his mouth away. “Turn around.”

Their hands turned her and she faced William. His kiss was
harder, rougher. He pulled her leg over his hip and his cock brushed against
her sex. She hesitated, unsure how this should work—with two men and only one
of her. Douglas, as if answering her unasked questions, moved his hand down the
back of her thigh, as if encouraging her to take William first.

William grabbed her breast, pinching the nipple. She arched
back into him and reached for his cock as William brought himself along her
entrance. He kissed her hard as he thrust inside her. The position didn’t allow
for him to go deep.

She was forced to let go of Douglas’s arousal as he moved to
press his cock along the cleft of her ass. He pressed into her, controlling her
thrusts onto William’s cock with the pressure of his hips. William’s moved his hard
kisses along her neck, biting lightly. She wanted more, wanted him deeper and
harder. The slow pace was agonizing torture.

With a groan, she pushed her body up from between them so
she could straddle William. He made a loud noise of approval, his silver tinted
eyes penetrating her with their hot desire.