Panthers' Pleasure [Impulse 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (17 page)

Instead of cashing in on their powers, the colony was doing so much good without letting anyone know it. They didn’t need money or public acclaim. They just had the common decency to do the right thing.

Somehow she had to find the strength to emulate their example.

“Ready, Mrs. Landon-Tanner?” Rafe proffered his arm.

“Absolutely, let’s do it.”

She entered the bar flanked by her two mates and barely recognized the place.

“Oh!” She felt giddy with pleasure as she took in the colorful decorations, the party streamers and the sparkling fairy lights. The overwhelming perfume given off by dozens of fragrant flower arrangements and the scented candles that appeared to occupy every surface made her gasp with delight. The place was packed with beaming colony members, all of them clapping and cheering when the three of them walked in. Rice was thrown at them, people came up to rub their faces, and everyone made a big fuss over Chantal.

“Glad you made the right decision,” Lily said, hugging her. “You won’t regret it.”

Irena flashed a knowing grin. “You look like a lady who’s just been thoroughly fucked.”

Chantal put on a bored expression, which probably didn’t fool anyone. “It’s part of my duties, apparently.”

Irena hooted with laughter. “That’s what my guys keep telling me.”

“Do they ever get less demanding?”

“Nope,” Lily and Irena said together.

“Good!”

“Lovely collar,” Lily said, touching it with the tips of her fingers. “It suits you.”

The girls were soon separated as others came up to claim Chantal. The booze flowed freely, a table groaned under the weight of the food that Rochelle and her helpers had somehow cooked up in no time flat, and everyone appeared to be in a party mood. Even so, Chantal noticed lots of the males coming and going. Rafe clearly wasn’t letting his guard down. She reminded herself that such a high state of alert wouldn’t be necessary if it wasn’t for her, but refused to dwell upon her regrets. This party was for her and it was impossible not to be swept up by the prevailing mood of optimism.

A band played in one corner of the room. Chantal was already starting to recognize faces. She was sure that was a puma playing a hauntingly beautiful melody on the trombone, and wasn’t that one of the young tigers scraping a bow across a violin?

“Care to dance, Mrs. Landon-Tanner?” Rafe asked, wrapping his arms round her waist from behind.

The floor cleared and everyone applauded as Rafe swung her into his arms. His breath peppered her face and his hands clasped her ass, pulling her against his hard-on. No one seemed to think that the slightest bit strange. Swept up by the mood, Chantal shamelessly rubbed herself against his length. Rafe dropped his head and captured her lips in a drugging kiss as they swayed to the music, feet barely moving, virtually fucking in front of over a hundred people.

“Do you know what I’d like to do to you right now?” he murmured in her ear.

“No, tell me.”

“My turn.” Vilas tapped Rafe on the shoulder and took his place.

“You’ll have to be punished for that later,” Vilas whispered.

“For what?” Chantal asked, raising a brow in innocent query.

“I saw you making a show of yourself, rubbing up against Rafe’s cock.”

“It’s well worth rubbing against.”

“Even so.”

“If I’m going to be punished, I might as well make it worthwhile.”

Chantal pushed her groin against Vilas’s hard length, laughing when he groaned aloud. Others had joined them on the floor now and Chantal decided she’d better behave herself.

“Later,” Vilas said, wagging a finger beneath her nose as Mikael took his place and swung her into an energetic salsa. He was a great dancer and Chantal loved to dance.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Mikael said to her. “You’ve already worked wonders for Rafe and Vilas.”

“That obvious, is it?”

“Honey, when you’ve waited as long as those two have to get laid, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what the three of you have been doing all day.”

Chantal blushed. “Is there anyone here tonight who
doesn’t
know?”

Mikael shook his head. “I doubt it.”

“Oh hell!”

Chantal was sorry when full darkness fell and the party started to break up.

“I suppose you two are off out for the night.”

Chantal tried to suppress her disappointment as she linked arms with her two mates. The thought of slipping away while they were gone made her feel like the worst kind of jerk, especially after the party the colony had just thrown for her. She reminded herself that she’d done what she’d set out to do. She’d restored their power and there was no point in prolonging the agony.

“Are you kidding me?” Rafe looked at her like she’d taken leave of her senses.

“This is our wedding night,” Vilas reminded her, like she needed any reminding.

“Vadim’s got security covered tonight,” Rafe said, “leaving us free to cover you.”

Chantal didn’t know if she was more ecstatic or desolate. Of course she wanted to spend the night with them, but each time she so much as touched either one of them, she fell a little more in love with them both. Having them for an entire night would make it even harder for her to leave them tomorrow.

“What are we waiting for then?” she asked, somehow managing to summon up a bright smile, even though her heart was breaking.

Chantal felt a little tipsy as the guys escorted back upstairs. She must have had more champagne than she’d realized. She wasn’t a big drinker and it had gone straight to her head.

“Hey, steady there.” Rafe caught her in his strong arms when she missed her step. “Don’t want you hurting yourself.”

“Whoops!” She giggled and swayed against him.

Vilas laughed. “Our mate seems to have enjoyed the party a bit too much.”

“I did…hic, really I did.” She flashed a smile at each of them, but their features seemed a little blurred. Must be the dim lighting, she supposed. “There’s one thing I don’t understand, though,” she said when they reached the sitting room.

“What’s that, honey?” Rafe asked.

Chantal kicked off her shoes, sighed with relief when her toes started to regain some feeling in them, and curled up in the corner of a sofa with her feet tucked beneath her. “Well, Irena and Lily both have two mates.”

“Right.”

“But some of the others I spoke to only have one, while some seem to have three.” She frowned. “What’s the norm?”

Rafe shrugged. “There is none. Vilas and I always knew we would share our mate because we’ve been together for so long—”

“And you love each other and wouldn’t want to be separated.” Chantal nodded. “I get that bit.”

“Those with one partner are usually mated to another shifter early on in their lives,” Vilas explained.

“I see.” She canted her head and blinked but still couldn’t get them into clear focus. “And those with three or more?”

“Like us, they grew up together, waiting for the right mate.”

“What about Rochelle then? I know you said she’s a lynx. Is she waiting for a human mate?”

Rafe shook his head, his expression somber. “Rochelle was mated to another lynx. He was killed about a year ago when the bears took us by surprise with a raid.”

“Oh no, how terrible!”

“Rafe was damned near killed in another attack,” Vilas said, touching his buddy’s arm and scowling at the memory.

“That slash across your belly?” Chantal asked.

“Yeah, but it’s better now, thanks to Mikael.”

“Like hell it is!” Vilas growled. “You’d just better not get it ripped open again.”

“I wasn’t planning to. Mikael’s cures are miraculous, but they hurt like a bitch.”

“Rochelle’s cooking is really good,” Chantal said hastily, not wanting to think about Rafe getting injured. “Can she look for another lynx to mate with, or does she have to live out her life alone?” Chantal sniffed, feeling suddenly like she was on emotional overload. Rochelle having to live out her life alone seemed like the saddest thing in the world. Perhaps that was because Chantal was feeling sorry for herself. She would have to do the same thing if she wanted to keep her mates safe. “That seems such a waste.”

“She can mate again if she wants to,” Rafe said. “With either a lynx or a human. The same rules don’t apply to female shifters.”

Chantal rolled her eyes, propelled out of her momentary self-pity by Rafe’s chauvinistic-sounding comment. “Of course they don’t!”

“She hasn’t shown any indication of wanting anyone else,” Vilas added. “It’s probably too soon.”

“She looked so alone tonight.” Chantal wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Everyone else seemed to be paired off and she just stood on the sidelines, watching but not joining in.”

“Don’t let it upset you, babe.” Rafe crouched beside her and caught another tear with his forefinger. “Shit happens, but Rochelle will recover in time.”

“She hasn’t met another mate who’s right for her yet,” Vilas said. “Hopefully that will happen.”

“Anyway,” Rafe said, kissing the top of her head as though she was a small child. “You’re not allowed to be sad. This is your wedding day, remember.”

Like I can forget. How many brides walk out on their grooms on the very first day?
“Yeah,” she said, stretching her arms above her head. “So what happens now?”

Their responding chuckles were decidedly wicked. “Are you sober enough for anything to happen?” Rafe asked.

“Sure I am.”

Rafe laughed. “Okay then, stand up and prove it. See if you can walk to the other side of the room and back again without falling over.”

“I love it when you get all authoritative on me,” Chantal said, blowing him a kiss as she sprang to her feet with an agility that belied her supposedly drunken state. Sitting down had made the world stop spinning and she could see them clearly again. That wasn’t such a good thing. She realized now that she’d probably drunk as much as she had to blot out the pain of separation, but it didn’t seem to have worked. She was sober again and the pain hadn’t gone anywhere. She tripped lightly across the room without wobbling, returned to where the guys were standing and offered them an extravagant bow. “See,” she said triumphantly. “Stober as a dudge,” she said, deliberately slurring and mispronouncing her words. “When do I get my prize?”

“You’ll do,” Rafe said, an anticipatory grin gracing his beautiful face as he patted her backside.

He and Vilas sat themselves on the sofa she’d just vacated, leaving her standing in front of them. They were in dominant mode again and she knew better than to move a muscle without their permission.

“Take your clothes off for us, Chantal,” Rafe said, focusing his eyes on her with unnerving stillness.

Chantal didn’t have much to take off—just the dress and her underwear. Even so, she’d do her damnedest to give them a show. First off she took the pins from her hair, slowly shook her head, and it tumbled down her back in a tangle of disorderly curls. Her dress came next. She managed to unzip it without help and let it fall from her shoulders in what she hoped was a tantalizing fashion.

They hadn’t seen the only decent set of matching underwear that she owned and wore with the dress—a black gauze bra with a colorful edge around the cups and matching thong. Her nipples hardened as she lowered the dress, letting it go completely so that it pooled around her feet with a soft whooshing sound. The guys both sighed, clearly liking what they saw, filling her with the impulse to tease them a bit more. She stepped away from the ruinously expensive dress, leaving it where it had fallen, and danced around the room in her flimsy underwear. Chantal felt drunk again, drunk on the power she wielded over these two as they watched her with avid fascination. Judging by the bulges tenting their pants, they were as anxious to get down to business as she was, but they had to catch her first.

“Come back here and take your bra off, Chantal.”

Rafe’s voice was rife with authority and, much as she wanted to continue taunting them, she was powerless to disobey. When her bra fell away, she threw it aside with reckless abandon and cupped her breasts with her hands, figuring they’d like to see her play with herself. Rafe inhaled sharply.

“The thong, too,” he said curtly.

Chantal stepped out of it, twirled it around her index finger like a sling, and threw it at them. Vilas caught it and, laughing, put it in his pocket.

“We’ve got something for you to put on for us,” Rafe said when she was wearing nothing except her diamond collar and an anticipatory smile. “Come here.”

“Am I allowed to ask what it is?”

All those leather straps and metal rings looked a bit weird to Chantal, but she didn’t hesitate to let them put it on her. The leather webbing harness crisscrossed her torso and left her tits poking out through the gaps. One strap fixed to the top and held up the flimsy bottom half that resembled the pants of a bikini, except nothing covered her pussy or the crack in her ass.

Neither guy answered her question, busying themselves instead with tightening straps until she was trussed up to their satisfaction. They’d both kicked off their shoes, she noticed, but apart from that they were still fully dressed, whereas she appeared to be wearing some sort of fetish outfit. It was hugely arousing to see the appreciation in their eyes and her pussy throbbed almost painfully as she waited for one of them to touch her. Please God let them touch her before she disgraced herself again and her pussy leaked all over the place.