Seducing Samantha (25 page)
Aaron frowned for a moment, and she continued, “I learned that day that people didn’t just put sick animals to sleep to stop them from suffering. Sometimes vets had to put down healthy animals because they had lousy owners. I didn’t think I could ever do that to an animal, and I knew that I’d wind up with a house full of dogs and cats and who knows what else.”
Aaron kissed her temple. “You’ve got a very tender heart, Sam. It’s one of the many things I love about you.”
His compliment warmed through her. “I had been taking piano lessons for a while at that point, and I just kept going. I thought I could play professionally some day, but I didn’t have the dedication to practice for twelve hours a day like some of the students. I taught kids how to play on the weekends during high school and college to earn money, and it just seemed like a good career. I love kids and I love music, so being a music teacher just made sense and I really enjoy my job.”
Grant sat down on her other side and took her hand, kissing the top. “The kids all love your class. I don’t think my boys ever gave much thought to music before your class, now they walk around singing the songs you teach them and asking us musical history trivia.”
Aaron stood slowly, stretching. She glanced up his lean, muscular body and felt her body flush. His eyes darkened as he looked down at her. “You’re so sexy, Sam. How did we get so lucky?”
Before she could answer that she was the lucky one, Aaron had shut the door to the bathroom, and the shower came on. Grant kissed the healing mark on the side of her neck. “Did you leave him any hot water?” she asked, turning in his arms and kissing him.
Aaron’s yelp supplied the answer as Aaron cursed at Grant, and Grant laughed, kissing her back.
* * * * *
“I thought I liked the tiger print one that she had on Monday night the best, but that little black lacey number from last night was over the top incredible,” Aaron’s muffled voice reached Sam’s ears as she got out of the shower Thursday morning.
“Yeah, that was great last night. She’s such a wild little kitten. Who knew?” Grant chuckled.
She smiled inwardly as she eavesdropped on them discussing the lingerie she wore for them every night. Last night’s barely-there lace baby doll and thong panties had been her favorite of the bunch as well, and the little scraps of fabric didn’t survive the lust fueled sex that followed.
Rubbing her hair vigorously with the towel, she dressed in jeans and a sweater and clipped her damp hair up on her head and stepped out of the bathroom. When they had woken her up that morning by giving her a slow orgasm with their fingers, they said that they wanted to do a little hunting in their cat forms and give her a chance to see the shifting process more closely and look over their shifted forms.
She was excited at the prospect of seeing them shift again. It had been dark when she’d seen them before.
Grant helped her with her coat and Aaron pulled the quilt off the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders. After Grant tugged a stocking cap over her head, making her have to adjust the hair clip so it wasn’t digging into her scalp, they seemed satisfied that she would be sufficiently warm on the front porch.
The morning sunlight greeted her when she stepped out from the cabin. Aaron put a ceramic travel mug filled with coffee on a small table next to a rustic rocking chair for her. She bundled the quilt around herself and sat down, curling her legs up so they were covered under the blanket. Her breath steamed in the crisp air, but the sunshine was warm on her face.
Grant and Aaron stepped from the porch and shucked their jeans, tossing them up onto the porch that had been cleared of snow.
“Aren’t you cold?” She shivered just thinking about being naked outside.
“Nah,” Aaron said, “We run warmer than humans.”
She hummed in her throat. “Well, just so long as you don’t freeze off any parts of yourself that I’ve recently become attached to.”
“That would be a damn shame,” Grant said and grinned. “We’re pretty fond of those parts ourselves.”
They slid down to the ground effortlessly, crouching in the snow as the change came over them. She watched, fascinated, as their gorgeous human bodies twisted, morphing into two sleek, tawny mountain lions. They both looked very similar, dark gold fur with white underbellies, and large paws that they flexed as they stretched. The coloring on their faces was where they differed. Aaron had black on his ears and around his mouth, as if someone had smudged their thumbs in black paint and squeezed his cheeks. Grant’s muzzle was golden with very light markings, and his ears were lined with white.
Sam slipped from the rocking chair and knelt on the wooden porch as the cats climbed up to greet her. She ran her hands over their furry backs, scratching behind their ears. Their pale yellow eyes regarded her with amusement and affection as she stroked over the velvety softness of their ears and touched the white of their muzzles.
She pressed her fingers gently to their throats when they purred. She leaned over and kissed the tops of their heads and said, “Don’t kill anything cute in front of me, please. I’ll have nightmares for a week.”
They chuffed at her as she stood, bumping against her legs lightly before moving down the steps on silent paws. She wrapped up in the quilt again and settled in the chair, watching her two husbands as they raced around the open space of the front yard and dodged in and out of the trees.
It was fun to watch them chase each other, the snow kicking up around them as they leapt and tumbled, looking like kittens playing together. Very big kittens. They raced around the cabin, ever the siblings looking to best each other in games. As they came back around, they roused a nest of rabbits nearby, and she lurched to her feet in alarm as Aaron snatched a baby bunny in his mouth.
“No!” she shouted. “Drop it!”
If she hadn’t been so terrified for the life of the helpless little bunny wiggling in Aaron’s jaw, she would have laughed out loud at the look on his face. She could tell exactly what he was thinking:
Did she just tell me to ‘drop it’?
“I mean it, Aaron. Don’t eat the bunny. Please.”
Grant made a sound that was suspiciously like a laugh. Aaron glared at him and then sighed audibly, lowering his head and letting the little bunny go free. It seemed surprised it was getting a reprieve, and it quickly darted off into the woods.
“Thanks,” she said to Aaron and then started to laugh. He growled, glaring at her and Grant, who came up the porch to stand next to her. “I wish I had a camera to take a picture of what you looked like when I told you drop it. Funny stuff.”
He scowled at her, and she laughed harder. He stalked up to the porch and bumped her leg, motioning with his head to the door. With some effort, she didn’t make any wisecracks about scratching at the door or shedding on the furniture. She opened the door and walked inside. When the cats were in, she kicked off her shoes and hung up her coat.
They had told her they needed to stay in their shifts for a few hours, and she smiled as they sat on their haunches on the rug, like two perfectly sculpted statues. Adding two more logs to the fireplace, she stretched out on the rug on her back and looked up at her husbands.
“I think if someone looked through the window right now they’d think I was going to get attacked by two wild animals,” she said, finding the situation a little absurd but very cool. Here she was in a cabin in the woods with two mountain lions who also happened to be her husbands. In her wildest dreams she never would have imaged that scenario for her life.
Her thoughts drifted back to reality quickly when she felt two cold noses on her neck at the same time. Goosebumps erupted over her skin as she yelped in surprise. They snuffled at her skin, their scratchy tongues raking over her neck and the marks that they had made. They purred, deep rumbling, contented sounds, and she smiled as they settled on either side of her. Their bodies were warm, and they smelled like snow and sunshine.
“I love you guys so much. I’ve never been happier.”
Several nights of staying up late making love to her new husbands caught up to her suddenly, and she yawned, rolling onto her side towards Grant and resting her cheek on his shoulder. Aaron moved closer, his body vibrating with his purr, and she drifted off to sleep, content, warm, and safe.
The last day of their honeymoon passed quickly, and before she knew it, they were heading back home to enjoy the weekend as a complete family. This time, when Aaron opened the door for her and Grant ushered her inside, the kids didn’t yell her name but instead came racing to her, shouting, “Mom’s home! Mom’s home!”
Aaron snorted good naturedly, “What am I, invisible?”
Ben looked over at him as he hugged Sam. “We’ve had you for years, Daddy. We just got our Mom.”
Kevin nodded enthusiastically. “Don’t be jealous. We love you, too.”
Sam grinned. The kids were so sweet and all hers. Five excited voices told her all about the week with her parents and how much fun grandparents were, and she let them lead her into the kitchen where many of the pride members were cleaning up after dinner. She greeted the cats warmly, enjoying the immediate sense of family that settled around her. Not just her husbands, not just her kids, but the entire pride opened their arms and hearts to her. She wouldn’t ever be lonely in a house that was so full of love.
Aaron put his arm around her waist and kissed her temple. Grant kissed her cheek and slipped an arm around her shoulders.
“Welcome home, Mrs. Fallon.”
It was good to be home.
The End
* * * * *
From The Author
: I hope you enjoyed the first book in my
Ashland Pride Series
. I’d love to hear from you!
Contact me:
Blog:
www.rebutler.wordpress.com
Email:
[email protected]
Twitter: @rebutlerauthor
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/R.E.ButlerAuthorPage
* * * * *
Wiccan-Were-Bear Novella Series
A Curve of Claw
A Flash of Fang
A Price for a Princess
A Bond of Brothers
A Bead of Blood
A Twitch of Tail (coming in 2013)
The Wolf's Mate Series
The Wolf's Mate Book 1: Jason & Cadence
The Wolf's Mate Book 2: Linus & The Angel
The Wolf's Mate Book 3: Callie & The Cats
The Wolf's Mate Book 4: Michael & Shyne
The Wolf's Mate Book 5: Bo & Reika
The Wolf’s Mate Book 6: Logan & Jenna (coming in 2013)
The Necklace Chronicles
The Tribe's Bride
The Gigolo's Bride
Hyena Heat
Every Night Forever (Hyena Heat One)
Every Dawn Forever (Hyena Heat Two coming in 2013)
Ashland Pride
Seducing Samantha
* * * * *
Loving Lachlyn
(An Ashland Pride Novel)
Coming in 2013
For many years, Alek Fallon believed that as a mountain lion, he was fated to be alone for his life. But in the past two years, he’s seen his twin brothers and two of his uncles find mates, and for the first time, hope that he may someday find a mate of his own begins to bloom in his chest. But what does a small-town police officer with a wall around his heart have to offer a woman?
She-bear Lachlyn Manning’s greatest fear was her den’s discovery that she was a shifting dud, unable to transform into her bear-self. After having stayed out of town for the last six years, a death in the family sends her home, just in time for a celebration that calls for the entire den to shift. When her king realizes she’s not shifting, he decides to force her to shift, or kill her in the process, as there’s no room in his den for a bear who can’t shift.
Jericho Night has spent the last eight years working for his father away from his home, his bear den, and the only woman he’s ever loved — Lachlyn. When he returns to the den and finds his father torturing Lachlyn, all rational thought leaves him and the only thing that matters is saving Lachlyn and keeping her safe forever.
When Alek crosses paths with Lachlyn and Jericho, will they find happiness together? Can Lachlyn bind both Alek and Jericho to herself, or will Alek’s and Jericho’s fears cost all of them their only chance at love? Be prepared for a she-bear who can’t shift trying to find her way in the world, a mountain lion male who isn’t sure he believes in love, and a pissed off male bear who won’t let anyone hurt his woman again. Contains m/f/m interaction.
