Loving Lachlyn (Ashland Pride Two) (8 page)

In an instant, he left her lower body, sliding over top of her body and aligning his cock against her tingling, throbbing pussy.  Her legs slid around his lean hips as he stroked inside her, joining them together until they were as tightly wed as possible.  His head pressed against her throat, his breath fast and hot against her flesh.

She felt his teeth against her neck, hard enough to bruise but not mark permanently, and she shifted her hips and hugged him closer with her legs, her nails digging into his back.  Licking the bruise, he lifted his head and stared into her eyes as he pulled almost completely out of her body before stroking back inside.  She curled her hands over his shoulders and met his thrusts, her body still reeling from her orgasm as sweat slicked their bodies.  His movements became jerky and frantic, and he shouted her name as his cock spasmed inside her.

His arms slipped under her, and he lowered himself down with a groan. She held him, feeling happy tears sting her eyes.  She reached out for Jericho, and his hand clasped hers.

Alek lifted his head and kissed a tear from her cheek.  His own eyes were shining with unshed tears.  “I didn’t know it would feel so good to find my mate, Lachlyn,” he said with a rough voice.  “I’m yours and you’re mine and Jericho’s.”

Their lips met and they held each other for several minutes, until he eased away from her with a kiss.  “Thank you for letting us have this first time together,” he said to Jericho.

“It’s what she wanted,” Jericho said, “and I’d do anything to make her happy.”

She was feeling pretty damn happy right now.  But she wouldn’t be completely fulfilled until she and Jericho had made love.  It had been too long, really.  Almost a year since he had journeyed to Georgia to visit her.  But that night, although nice, had been missing what they shared right now.  The missing piece of their mating.  Alek.  Her second mate.

Jericho hauled her onto his lap with a short growl, and she straddled him.  With a laugh, she pushed her hair from her face.  “Impatient?”

“You were getting that wistful
I’m thinking
look on your face, and my cock is so hard I could drive nails through concrete.”

“I’ll think later, then,” she giggled, reaching for his hard cock and angling it toward her pussy.  Her legs wrapped around his back as she slid down until she was seated fully, his cock twitching inside her.

His large hands splayed across her hips, lifting her and lowering her with ease.  She was always amazed at his strength.  Her hands slipped across his broad shoulders and tightened on his neck as she leaned forward to kiss him.

When their lips met and parted, their tongues touching, the part of her that felt like a bear roared in happiness in her mind.  She’d never felt a true connection to Jericho before.  Not like this.  Now she knew, without a doubt, that he was her mate, as much as Alek was.

He nipped at her bottom lip.  “Mine,” he growled, flexing his hips and driving her harder and faster against him.  Her clit rubbed against his stomach, and she moaned, dropping her head back and digging her nails into his shoulders.  Pleasure bloomed in her core, and she moaned loudly.  He moved her faster, his fingers digging into her flesh.  She began to use her legs to meet his thrusts, digging her heels into his back and slamming herself forward.  One of his hands grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled back, stretching her neck.  Teeth closed around her pulse, and she shattered, her body spasming around his cock as shivers raced up and down her spine.

She shrieked his name as he released her neck and came, bellowing her name and wrapping his thick arms around her to hold her close.

Jericho lifted her off his lap and laid her down at the top of the bed, her head landing on a soft pillow.  Another set of hands touched her, and she opened her eyes and smiled at Alek who was stretched out on her other side, mirroring Jericho.  She lifted one of each of their hands and kissed their palms.

“My mates,” she said.  “I’m finally home.”

Chapter 9

Alek hadn’t slept so well in his entire life than he did when he finally succumbed to sleep on Sunday night.  For once, his mind didn’t wonder about whether he’d ever be happy.  His heart didn’t pang with loneliness.  Instead, he fell asleep with Lachlyn’s sweet scent in his nose and her smooth skin under his hand, her body nestled between him and Jericho.

He was the first one awake, but within a few minutes of his eyes cracking open and his heart swelling at the sight of Lachlyn asleep next to him, his two bedmates were awake and looking at him in anticipation.

“How about we clean up and then get some breakfast?” he suggested.

Lachlyn sat up and stretched, kissing both of them and then sliding off the bed.  She strode into the bathroom and flipped on the light.  The shower started and he glanced at Jericho who was scratching his jaw and yawning.

Jericho said, “I don’t think I’ve ever really felt at home somewhere before.  But it’s nice here.  Lachlyn’s happy and safe, and my bear is at ease for the first time in years.”

He smiled in understanding and got out of bed, gathering clothes from the dresser.  He knew that truemates existed because he saw how his brothers and uncles were with their mates, but until he met Lachlyn and felt that instant connection to her, he hadn’t thought he was meant to have a truemate himself.  By the time he walked into the bathroom, Lachlyn was peeking out from the shower curtain, asking for a towel.  He grabbed one for her from the cabinet, and she stepped from the shower and wrapped it around herself.

He showered and dressed quickly.  While Jericho cleaned up, he helped Lachlyn put away her clothes.  A half hour later, they were down in the kitchen.  Tristan, the resident breakfast maker, grinned at Alek and pulled a casserole dish from the oven.  “I’m Tristan,” he said to Lachlyn and Jericho.  “My brother Micah and I live on the third floor.  We’re not related to the Fallons, but we are from the same pride in King.  There’s coffee and juice on the table and plenty of my French toast casserole.”

The table was set for them, and Alek thanked Tristan for saving them breakfast and brought the coffee pot over to the table where Jericho and Lachlyn were sitting already.

While they ate, they made plans for the day.  When the meal was over, Jericho stood and picked up his plate and Lachlyn’s.  “Go watch TV, Sunshine.  Alek and I will handle the dishes.”

“Really?”  She stood and kissed Jericho’s cheek.  “I could get used to never doing dishes.”

She kissed Alek on the cheek as she walked by, and Jericho waited until they heard her saying hi to whomever was watching television, before he said, “I need access to a computer so I can get the money for our IDs after I talk to the guy who makes them.  Then I’ll need to drive up there to pick them up.  When do you work today?”

Alek carried his dishes over to the sink and turned on the water.  He said, “I don’t.  I work Tuesday through Saturday, one night shift and the rest morning shifts.  We have a computer in the office on this floor that you can use, and the keys to my car are hanging up on the hook by the front door.  It’s the black Challenger.”

Jericho leaned against the counter next to the sink and looked out the window.  As Alek washed a plate and rinsed it off, he said, “There’s something that I wanted to ask you about.”

Jericho didn’t look at him.  “Yeah?”

“Why does your dad hate that Lachlyn can’t shift?”

Jericho turned away from the window, leaning his back against the counter and folding his arms across his chest.  “We’ve been tight since we were in elementary school.  My dad didn’t care, until she couldn’t shift.  Every month that she didn’t turn into a bear, he grew more and more suspicious that she never would shift.  My father believes that bears that can’t shift are genetic rejects and will taint the den if they’re allowed to stay and mate and have children.  When she moved to Georgia for college and her parents joined her there shortly after, he thought that things were over between us.  He didn’t know that I was still seeing her from time to time and keeping in touch.  About a year ago, he told me it was time for me to get mated, and when I wouldn’t settle down with any of the unmated she-bears in the den, he was pissed, but I thought he’d dropped it.  I think that he found out about my trips to visit her.  When she came home to settle her grandma’s estate, he took the opportunity to get her out of my life permanently.”

Alek rinsed off the last dish and turned off the water, drying his hands on a towel.  “What can I do to help keep her safe?”

Jericho looked at him.  “Stay vigilant.  You’ll be out patrolling and from what you said, Ashland is a pretty small town.  If you notice anything out of the ordinary, then you can call me and I’ll help you investigate.”

Alek opened his mouth to protest that he was perfectly capable of protecting Lachlyn, but before he could speak, Jericho raised his hand.  “I’m not saying you can’t handle things, Alek, because I’m certain that you can in most instances.  But if my father were to find out where we live, the men he would send here would not be the sorts that would fight fair.”

Alek wasn’t the type to piss and moan when someone told the truth.  Jericho was a big man and, judging from what little Alek had learned last night of his history in the den, he was a fierce warrior.  Alek had always considered himself capable of defending his future mate under any circumstances, but he’d never anticipated coming up against pissed off bears with murder on their minds.

Jericho’s hand landed on Alek’s shoulder.  “You don’t have to be everything for Lachlyn.  The benefit of being part of a mating trio is that we can share the responsibilities of the mating together.  You’re stronger than me in some areas, and I’m stronger than you in others.  Together, we’ll be the perfect mate for her.”

Alek liked that idea a lot.  He wondered if his brothers and uncles had come to similar terms when they first mated to their women.

When the dishes were dried and put away, they joined Lachlyn in the large family room where she sat in the middle of one of the couches and discussed the finer points of SpongeBob with two of his cousins, Nathan and Owen.

“Why is there a lake under the ocean?” she was asking when they came into the room.  She looked up at them and winked.

“Lachlyn,” Owen said, shaking his head, “it’s a cartoon.  It’s not real.”

She tilted her head to the side.  “Oh.  But they’re cooking underwater.”

Nathan laughed.  “It’s just pretend!”

“I see you’ve met my cousins,” Alek said as the boys hopped up and darted over to another couch.

He sat on one side of her and Jericho sat on the other.  “Yes, they’ve been setting me straight about the yellow sponge.”

Alek introduced Jericho to the boys.

“You’re a bear, like Lachlyn, but you can shift, right?” Nathan asked.

“Yes,” Jericho answered.

“Cool,” Owen grinned.  The boys turned their attentions back to the television, and Lachlyn leaned against Alek and sighed.

“Tired, sweetheart?” he murmured in her ear.

“A little, but it’s a good tired.”

They sat in silence while the show continued on, and by the time the credits rolled, Lachlyn was asleep, her head in his lap.

Jericho smiled and stood.  “I’d like to use the computer now,” he said with a low voice.

“The office is down the hallway, the last door on the left.”  As Jericho stepped around the coffee table, Alek said, “I can help pay for the IDs. You shouldn’t have to shoulder the burden by yourself.”

Jericho shook his head.  Keeping his voice low, he said, “It’s probably going to be around ten grand for her and I to have new identities.  I appreciate the gesture, but it’s my deranged father who’s causing the issue, and I have plenty of money saved up.”

“You never said what you did before you left your den.”

His brow furrowed.  “I was my father’s enforcer.”

Without another word, Jericho left the family room, and Alek was left thinking about Jericho’s job.

Tuesday morning, Alek left the warmth of Lachlyn’s side and got ready for work.  He absolutely didn’t want to go into work, but he now had a mate to provide for and needed his job and the benefits that came with it for their new family.  Jericho had made arrangements for new identifications for himself and Lachlyn, and he was going to pick them up later today at Don’s house.  He was waiting until Alek got off work so that they could go together since Jericho didn’t have a vehicle of his own.

Leaning over, he kissed his still-sleeping sweetheart’s cheek and nodded at Jericho, who was using Alek’s iPad to read the local news, and headed into work.

Pauline was pouring a cup of coffee when he walked into the station, and she turned towards him with a smile and reached for another cup.

“How was your weekend, Pauline?” he asked, accepting the cup and fixing it to his liking.

“Good.  Grandkids spent the night Saturday, so we had a campout on the back porch.  How was yours?”

Although he wanted to shout to the heavens that he’d found his mate, he and Jericho had agreed that keeping things quiet for now was a good idea.

“I had a really nice weekend, Pauline.”

Heading into the office, he got to work, waiting anxiously for his shift to be over so he could see Lachlyn again.

By the time he’d made the rounds through town, written a few tickets, and done his paperwork, he was practically twitching with the need to see Lachlyn.  Three o’clock couldn’t come fast enough.

As he clocked out and his father clocked in, he chuckled, “In a hurry, Son?”

Alek fisted his keys and grinned at his dad.  “I really am.  I had no idea it would be like this, but it’s amazing.  Thanks for making me go to dinner with you.”

His dad squeezed his shoulder.  “You deserve to be happy.”

Feeling as though his cheeks would split from his broad smile, he said goodbye to Pauline and his dad, and headed home.  His cat was pacing in his mind as he drove the short distance from the station to the boarding house.  It was a relief to walk into the house and catch the faint scent of her skin.  He followed it into the kitchen where she stood at the island with Jericho and talked to his young cousin, Henry.

Lachlyn closed the distance to Alek in a few short strides, a happy rumbling sound coming from her chest as she leapt up into his arms, locking her arms around his neck.  Their mouths met, and he groaned at the sweet relief that filled him.

When their kiss ended, Jericho asked, “Did you make that sound, Lachlyn?”

Alek lowered her until her feet touched the ground.  “I guess I did.  I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“It sounded like a bear’s happy growl,” Jericho said.  At the odd tone in his voice — as if there were something wrong — Alek looked at him in alarm.

Lachlyn said, “The part of me that feels like a bear, way deep in my mind, feels more prominent now.”

“Is something wrong, Jericho?” Alek asked.  Jericho met his eyes and frowned, but shook his head.

Henry asked, “Can I go with you to Don’s?”

Jericho said, “Sorry, man.  But if you like later on, we can work out some more, if that sounds cool.”

Henry’s eyes brightened, and he moved off the stool and left the kitchen.

“You worked out with him today?” Alek asked in surprise.

“Sunshine was making brownies with the younger kids, and I decided to work out for a bit in the weight room, and Henry was in there but wasn’t lifting right, so I helped him out.”

Lachlyn smiled warmly at Jericho and went on her toes to kiss him.  “What was that for, Sunshine?”  Jericho smiled.

“You’re just very sweet.”

Jericho made a face, but Alek imagined that Jericho didn’t really mind being called ‘sweet,’ especially by their mate.

Lachlyn stuck her hand out towards Alek and he stepped to her, sandwiching her between their bodies.  “This is nice,” she whispered.

It
was
nice.  He could stand here all day with her soft curves against him, but they couldn’t.  Kissing her shoulder, he said, “We should get going.”

In no time, they were on their way to Don’s.  Lachlyn sat in the front seat and Jericho sat in the back.  She leaned on his shoulder and wrapped her arm around his.

“Did you have a good day, sweetheart?”

“I did!  I helped Tristan make breakfast, and then I played soccer with the kids in the backyard while Jericho helped your dad clean out the gutters.”

Alek looked in the mirror at Jericho and he shrugged with a half smile.

“Oh,” Lachlyn said, “and I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”