Stanley, Gale - Hellfire [Southwest Shifters 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (6 page)

Tanner heard Gage cry out with his release and felt himself approaching the point of no return. He reached around Shi to grip his cock and stroke him to completion. A garbled sound came from Shi’s throat, and his wet heat spread over Tanner’s hand. Tanner gave one last thrust and felt the ball-tightening spasm that signaled an orgasm. Shi ground back against him, he saw stars behind his eyelids, and his hot cum filled the cowboy’s ass. Abandoning himself to one of the longest, hottest orgasms of his life, Tanner rested his head against the broad back under him and rode out his climax.

* * * *

The three men lay next to each other in companionable silence.
Shiloh
, in the middle, shifted and rolled to his side. He propped his head on a hand and looked down at the dark-haired man on his left.

Gage’s eyes fluttered open, and he smiled up at the blond.
Shiloh
thought he had never seen anyone more attractive, except maybe the man on his right. Gage looked delicious with his long, dark hair spread over the pillows, his heavy-lidded gaze wandering up and down Shi’s body, leaving heat in its wake. Shi played with the man’s hair, letting the long strands slide through his fingers. A twinge of guilt made him uneasy. Although he didn’t know anything about them and he made it a practice not to see any man more than once, he wanted to see Gage and Tanner again. If he did, it would take more time from Kate, and he really didn’t like leaving her alone so much. One day she would tire of him, find a man who could give her what she wanted, and he would lose her. The thought made his heart ache. Despite their strange situation, he loved her.

Gage narrowed his brows. “Something bothering you, cowboy?”

Shi pursed his lips and shook his head. “No, I was just wishing you could stay the night.”

“Why don’t you go home?”

“No point to it. It’s getting late, and pretty soon, I’ll have to get ready for an early show. It’s the last day of the rodeo.”

“We have an early day tomorrow, too,” Gage told him. “This has been great.” Gage reached up a hand to smooth back his hair. “But we need to get back.”

Tanner rolled up behind him and put an arm around him. Being sandwiched between them felt right. Shi looked over his shoulder. “I wanted you since the first time I saw you, both of you.” He hesitated. “I want more…”

“But?” Tanner asked.

“But I don’t want to hurt Kate.”

Gage scowled. “I thought you said she knew about your affairs.”

“She does. We don’t hide anything from each other.”
Shiloh
hesitated as he caught a strange look pass between Gage and Tanner.

“Go on,” Tanner prodded him.

“Kate knows me really well. She picked up on my interest and attraction to you guys, and she never intended to come tonight. Look, Kate and I want to be together, but we both know we’re not getting everything we need from each other, so we found our own solution—outside friendships.”

Gage’s brow furrowed and his expression turned dark. “So you’re saying Kate has other men? Or women?”

Shiloh
shook his head. “No, she hasn’t met anyone she’s interested in, but I have, and she’s okay with it as long as I’m careful. Up ’til now, it’s only been one-night flings. This feels different, and I’d like to see where it leads, but I don’t want to rub her nose in it. We’re sensitive to each other’s feelings.”

“You don’t have to worry. We don’t want to hurt her either. Right, Tanner?” Gage asked.

“Of course. What happens between us stays between us.”

Shi sighed in relief. “Good, I’m leaving with the rodeo after tomorrow’s show. I’ll be back in a week. You have my cell number. Use it if you want to.”

Chapter Six

Tanner kept one hand on the steering wheel. The other fiddled with the AC. “Are you sure this is a good idea? We don’t even know if she’s at home.”

“Well how else are we going to find out?” Gage shook his head in disgust. “Maybe I should have just come out and asked
Shiloh
. Ah, excuse me, but are you sure Kate will be home tomorrow so we can fuck her? And by the way, she’s a wolf.”

“Well at least we know how she keeps her secret. He admitted they have separate lives, and he travels a lot. That would make it a lot easier.”

“Yeah, and living so far out, she can run without worrying about being caught.” Gage leaned back in his seat and looked at the passing landscape: dry creek beds, tumbleweeds, dust devils,
hazy heat waves, as if they were in a fucking desert. “Although I’d bet she’s not doing much running in this heat.”

“Yeah, about as much as we are,” Tanner complained. “I don’t think she’ll be happy to see us.”

“You don’t know that.
Shiloh
wasn’t the only one we connected with. Kate felt something, too. She didn’t show up because she doesn’t step on
Shiloh
’s toes. Besides, she’s on the down-low and hiding. Actually, they both are. The cowboy identifies as straight but prefers sex with men, and Kate…well, Kate’s hiding who she really is, and I want to know what she’s afraid of.”

Tanner snorted. “Us, for starters.”

“Right. Don’t barge in there like a wolf in a china shop.”

“What do you take me for, anyway?” Tanner chuckled.

“I can’t trust you. Look what you got us into last night.”

“Me? You’re the one who made the date. And you had a good time, didn’t you?”

“Okay, okay. I’ll take half the blame. Just keep your eyes on the road, and be good when we get to her house.”

“I promise I’ll be on my best behavior.”

They rode in silence for a few miles. Then Gage spoke up. “I’m surprised she puts up with his fooling around. Wolves are territorial. Despite the Alpha’s crazy breeding schedules, we don’t like our rightful partners running with strangers.” Gage paused for effect.

“I hope you’re not insinuating that I would do something like that.”

Gage laughed. “Course not. You can hardly keep up with me.”

“You’re so full of wolf shit, your eyes are brown. I think I held up my end pretty good last night.”

Gage cupped his crotch. “Yes, you did, sweetheart. I’m getting a hard-on just thinking about.”

“Want me to stop the car and take care of that?”

Gage sighed regretfully. “No, I don’t want to meet her smelling like I just got fucked.”

“Gotcha.” Tanner agreed. “And she puts up with it because it suits them. They’re using each other. He’s in the closet, playing macho cowboy, and Kate is the beard. She’s hiding, and he’s providing security. But is she hiding from her own kind or someone else? It’s important to find out. Maybe we should be hiding, too.”

Gage furrowed his brow. “You’re right. I never thought of that.”

“Whatever the problem, she’s better off with her own kind. Humans can’t be trusted. And I’d bet my last dollar she hasn’t told
Shiloh
what she really is because deep down she doesn’t trust him.”
 

“But she doesn’t know us well enough to trust us either, and convincing her might not be so easy.”

Tanner pounded on the wheel. “So let’s just take her. We bring her in and—”

“And what? Keep her under lock and key? That’s not going to work.”

“What if she doesn’t want to come willingly?”

“She will.” Despite the confidence he tried to project to Tanner, Gage had his own doubts. And if Kate wouldn’t listen to reason, they might have to take her against her will. That was a last resort.

Tanner cleared his throat. “Hey, navigator,” he grumbled, “are you sure we’re going the right way?”

“My internal GPS says we are, and it’s never wrong.”
Even though it doesn’t have much to go on.
There was no real road, more like a byway, and not a tire tread to mark the way. Kate and
Shiloh
must have used a shortcut to get around because this wasn’t their route.

At last Gage scented her, faint but detectable. Tanner crested a low range of hills, and Gage spied the house below them, dead center in a clearing surrounded by leafless trees and dry grasses. “Will you look at that? This has to be the worst drought we’ve had since we settled here.”

Tanner stopped the truck. “I don’t like it, Gage, not one little bit. They say the lake levels are so low right now, you can see tree stumps out in the middle of the water and no rain in sight.”

“We’re more likely to see smoke from wildfires than rain,” Gage said softly. He looked at the puny tufts of green poking through the dirt and felt a thrill of fear run down his spine. He didn’t scare easy, but fire terrified him. Since the great fire sixteen years ago, he couldn’t sit by a campfire without feeling anxious.

“I hear ya. Worst-case scenario, we’ll evacuate.”

“And go where? Conditions are bad all over—”

Tanner squeezed his shoulder so hard Gage feared he would leave fingerprints. “Well, that answers one question. She’s home, all right.”

“So I see.” Gage’s wolf wanted to sit up and howl at the sight of Kate in her little cutoff shorts. Tanner was right—she needed a wolf, or two, and they were just the men for the job. He wanted those mile-long legs wrapped around his waist while he pumped his seed inside her, staking his claim.

“Okay, baby, put that wolfish charm to good use.” Tanner had a hand poised over the ignition, but Gage stopped him. “Let’s walk. I don’t want to spook her.”

Tanner shrugged. “If you think so.”

“I don’t know what to think. I’m going on instinct here.” Despite the AC, his sweat-soaked T-shirt stuck to his body. Unbelievably, he felt as nervous as a pup on his first date. He took a deep breath to calm his racing heart and got out of the truck.

The she-wolf’s house was constructed of hand-hewn logs, and Gage wondered if the cowboy had built it himself. A lot of love had gone into the building, but it wasn’t a luxurious lifestyle by any means. Still, it was a manner of living that a wolf would prefer, especially one who wanted to hide. Halfway down the low ridge, Gage stopped abruptly. He felt like an intruder, as if he were poking into a private life better left untouched.

“What is it?”

“Nothing. Let’s get this over with.”

* * * *

Kate had come outside for a breath of air, but there was no relief from the blistering heat. She lifted the hem of her tank top to wipe the sweat dripping down her face. Then, hands on hips, she looked around the property, but there was not even a shade tree to take refuge under for a few minutes. She and
Shiloh
weren’t farmers, but she liked greenery around her.
Must be the wolf in me
. But with the drought so bad, the grounds and greenery were too parched to survive. Conditions had gotten so bad, forest managers had imposed campfire restrictions, and smoking was prohibited except inside buildings and vehicles. Campers couldn’t even take a motor vehicle off the road. Who’d want to camp in this weather, anyway?

Guess we should have installed AC.
The fans didn’t do much but push around the hot air. When
Shiloh
built the house, he’d assured Kate over and over he would add on to it later.
Whatever you need, baby, just let me know.
Then he got more popular on the rodeo circuit and started traveling all the time.

So the house was pretty much the way it had been when Shi first built it. He didn’t believe her when she insisted she loved living small, but it was true. She could clean her eight hundred square feet in no time at all, and they didn’t have to spend a lot on furniture or maintenance. The living area had a lot of built-ins and comfy overstuffed chairs. There was no dining room, and the kitchen island served as their table as well as work space.
Shiloh
had built the bedroom and bath large with plenty of closet space, and there was a small laundry room with a back door. As far as she was concerned, the house was absolutely perfect—except for the lack of AC.

If only the rest of her life were as perfect. Lately she’d been feeling really down. She had a great guy, but he was always on the road, and she spent most of her time alone. Plus, Shi had his own secret life, and their infrequent couplings were lacking in passion. She needed something he couldn’t provide, and her lackluster performance in the bedroom didn’t light his fire. They were some pair. Somebody needed to light a match under them.

At first she’d been content, but as time went by, she started craving more—more companionship, more sex, more people like herself…No wonder she’d found herself attracted to the two strangers. They were like her.

All night she’d lain awake thinking about Shi with those two men, wondering what they were doing, imagining them in bed together, picturing those three naked, sweaty bodies fucking each other. She had never been jealous a day in her life, but here she was lusting after two strangers and angry with Shi because he was doing what she wanted to do. If she were honest with herself, she’d admit it wasn’t Shi she was angry at, but herself. Why didn’t she go last night? Shi would have been shocked, but not that shocked. He knew she needed more—he just didn’t know what more she needed. She hadn’t known either, until these men showed up.