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   The wolf in her lap finally condescended to stir itself and, for a frantic few seconds, she thought it was about to turn on her, too. But he simply raised his head and stared coolly back at the approaching predator. It was the same challenging stare he'd directed on her as she entered the room.

   He yawned, stretched, and, in a single fluid movement, jumped off her lap to stand directly in front of her, nose to nose with his obviously upset kin. She wasn't sure, but was that a…grin? He simply stared at the newcomer for a moment then wandered off to curl up on the floor in front of the fire.

   So much for her great protector! His nonchalance had made her relax a little, but there was still that cranky great beast staring at her, somehow managing to look threatening and kind of aggrieved at the same time. She watched him cautiously, watched the gradual softening of his stance and the effort he seemed to make to cover his fangs. The effort paid off—he actually seemed to look less wolf-like.

   Less wolf-like?
Less wolf-like?
She wasn't usually prone to hysteria, but how could a hundred pound wolf, the aggression still flowing off it and wrapping her in an uneasy thrall, possibly contrive to look anything less than what it so patently was. He was a massive great angry
wolf
!

   A wolf who was trying very hard to be nice, she

had to concede a few minutes later.

   He'd sprung onto the lounge beside her, arranged his limbs so he didn't crowd her, then laid his head on her lap. When she'd unconsciously tensed and shrunk away, he'd patiently waited for her to relax again, then he'd lifted his head, wetly licked her hand, and resettled himself.

   Now he was here, comfortably spread across her lap, as relaxed as the first wolf had been; the threat she'd imagined as he'd padded across the room towards her seemed simply nonsensical. He was just a big cuddly…

   …man-eating werewolf.

   Gina shook her head. She was going to have to get used to having wolves wandering around the house. If she kept imagining herself as dinner every time she saw one of them, she'd go totally insane.

   Mind you, she was having a lot of difficulty believing she hadn't seen the usurper shooting a very satisfied glance at the dispossessed wolf by the fireplace. What was worse was that she was equally certain that particular wolf was shaking with laughter at her current 'friend'. If it wasn't pure sardonic amusement she could see in his eyes, then she didn't know what it was!

* * * *

Nate forced himself to relax. It wasn't easy.

   Yes, he knew that Sebastian had a well-developed sense of humor and, yes, Sebastian was also known for having a very sharp eye when it came to his appreciation of members of the opposite sex, but that hadn't made it any easier when he'd ambled into the living room to find Sebastian racked out on her lap.

   Jealousy was a fine thing—not! He could hardly believe the instant anger, the flood of aggression that had made him want to tear Sebastian's throat out simply for daring to touch
his
woman without permission. And as to Gina…she'd looked totally unconcerned at the fact his big brother had his head practically buried between her legs! Did she have any idea what Sebastian's sense of smell was telling him about her? About what she'd done with him only a few hours earlier.

   To be fair, Sebastian, Rob and Rafe would all have known exactly what they'd been doing recently. Their wolf senses were extremely accurate and, even if they hadn't been able to recognize the scent of a wellsatisfied woman, they'd certainly have heard her moans and whimpers—not to mention her occasional screams—as he'd worked her over with his tongue.

   Oh yeah, that had been
good
. In all honesty, he didn't often take the time to pleasure a woman when he was expecting nothing in return. Sure, he wanted to make them all hot and bothered, but—usually—he did it purely because he wanted them desperate to have him inside them. It was then that he could really start enjoying himself.

   This afternoon, however, he'd made her all hot and bothered, but
he'd
had no relief. He'd tongue-fucked her until she'd fallen asleep in exhaustion and, uncomfortable as it had been, he just didn't want to jerk himself off. Rather than take a cold shower, he'd gone for a walk in the forest only to come home to find
his
woman surrounded by werewolves who were all looking more than faintly interested in what she had to offer.

   Ugh, jealousy!

   He burrowed his snout more firmly into Gina's legs, cursing the idiot sense of chivalry that had made him leave her a pair of jeans. He should have made her go naked! He wanted to smell her, to press his nose against her skin and to inhale her unique scent. Raggedy as the nightgown she'd been wearing had been, it was infinitely preferable to the unyielding denim that covered her now.

   The primitive urge to mate was hammering at his senses, and he shifted restlessly, pushing his head under her fingers and rubbing suggestively. She got the hint quickly enough, and it wasn't long before she was stroking him with the same long, gliding caresses Sebastian had been enjoying so much when Nate walked in.

   He sighed and stretched languidly, content now he was being touched by his Soulmate. What was that saying about soothing the savage beast? He couldn't remember, and it didn't matter anyway. Gina still wasn't really comfortable with him—her fingers had trembled when she first started to run them through his fur—but she was doing it. For now, it was enough.

   Nate awoke to find himself alone with Gina. The others had taken themselves off while he slept, turning off the TV and lowering the lights on their way out. The fire was ablaze but he could still smell the encroaching night air. It was damp and somehow sweeter than during the day.

   Above him, Gina was breathing deeply, her chest rising and falling in time with each breath. With her eyes closed she seemed more defenseless, and he couldn't help but admire the fact she'd actually been calm enough to fall asleep with a werewolf in her lap.

   He stirred, nudging her gently, but otherwise remained curled peaceably over her legs. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her. Her breathing hitched, her eyelids fluttered, then she was staring down on him, remaining perfectly still other than her eyes which had widened considerably as she remembered what was apparently asleep on her lap.

   Rather than leave her anticipating the worst for too long, Nate stretched broadly, his limbs extended to their fullest as he eased out the kinks from sleeping curled up in a ball. She was sitting rigidly still. Whatever she was thinking, she was obviously trying very hard not to give him any excuse to get upset with her.

   He sat up, his bottom heavy on her lap, hind legs straddling her knees, and pushed himself upright until he could easily rest his front paws on her shoulders. He heard her hastily smothered gasp, but ignored it and pushed his nose onto hers. He grinned as she shuddered—there was something truly awful about having a cold, wet nose jammed in your face— and leant back slightly so she could see his doggy smile for herself. Tongue lolling out the side of his mouth, jaw relaxed, he hoped she was seeing him as nothing other than a big gangly dog with a rotten sense of humor.

   She rewarded him with a crinkle at the side of her mouth. It was tiny, but unmistakable, and she'd even relaxed a little. He pressed the advantage, pushing lightly against her shoulders until she was forced to lean back against the sofa, trapped between it and him. He waited, half expecting her to panic at her even more vulnerable position.

   "Get out of here, you rotten great beast!" She surprised him, freeing one of her hands and swatting ineffectually. When that didn't work, she tried pushing his chin away instead. "You're slobbering all over me."

   Nate leant closer and licked her face, a long sloppy swipe of his tongue that reached from her chin to her eyebrows. Then he sat up again, watching her reaction.

   It was all he could do not to laugh at her horrified expression as his saliva dribbled down her chin and ran down the front of her shirt to pool between her breasts.

   "Yugh!" She swatted some more, laughing this time. "Naughty wolf!"

   
Naughty
wolf?

   He hadn't expected to feel such relief at her acceptance of a wolf in a playful mood and considered teasing her some more but decided she'd had enough shocks for the day. Instead, he stretched upright, fluidly transforming from wolf to man.

   Within seconds the wolf had been replaced, and he laughed aloud at the comical shock on her face. Her jaw had dropped, her mouth was open and her eyes were impossibly wide.

   "Nate!"

   "Who'd you expect?" He stroked his fingers down her cheek, smiling broadly.

   "Well, I…" She pushed against his shoulders. "You're squashing me!"

   "Am not." He smiled complacently, but shifted anyway so his weight fell on his knees rather than her thighs.

   "And you're naked!"

   "Yep." He watched a blush spread upwards from the neck of her T-shirt, and grinned. "You're embarrassed."

   Her blush deepened. "Yes."

   "You've seen me naked before," he pointed out reasonably, enjoying her mild discomfort.

   "And Sebastian and Rafe and Rob too," she muttered mutinously under her breath.

   Nate held a hand up to his ear, his grin widening. "What was that? Didn't quite hear you."

   Gina wriggled but couldn't escape him without making a scene. Even though he'd shifted a little, he was still straddling her, trapping her effectively between himself and the high-backed sofa.

   "Nothing."

   "Hmmm" He pretended to consider her answer for a minute, before relenting, still chuckling. "Do you know who you were cuddled up to before?" he asked innocently.

   "No." She attempted to pout.

   "Sebastian. He was
very
happy to be there with his head buried between your thighs." Shamelessly, he projected his own thoughts onto Sebastian. It wasn't like it would have been too far from the truth anyway. "Bet he wished you were naked, then he could have pushed his nose right into your—"

   Gina swatted him indignantly. "Don't be rude!"

   He put on his best mortally wounded expression. "I'm not. He appreciates you just as much as I do. Only thing is," he added seriously, "I saw you first, and that makes you mine."

   "Yours? Huh!"

   "Yep, mine." He nodded decisively. "Unless I choose to share you, of course."

   "Share me?" Her voice was faint.

   "Oh yeah. You did mention that fantasy about being used by all of us—probably shouldn't have said anything in front of Sebastian though…"

   Gina spluttered. "Used? Use me?"

   Nate nodded. "Of course."

   "Oh."

   He moved off her, rearranging himself so he was sitting on the sofa beside her, his legs spread wide to allow for his jutting erection. Just talking about having her was making him hard, and it was taking every bit of self-control he'd ever possessed to not turn her around, pull down her jeans, and sink himself deep into her wet, swollen cunt from behind. She was already so aroused, waves of her scent were pulsing around him with every beat of her heart, and he was hanging on by a fast-unraveling thread.

   "Did you like being tongue-fucked by a werewolf?" he enquired mildly.

   Her blush was answer enough.

   "Well, imagine all of us, all of our tongues, licking and suckling on every tiniest part of your body. We have clever tongues, babe."

   His voice had deepened, and he watched a shiver course through her. The shirt wasn't doing enough to hide her breasts and, without thinking about it, he bent down and latched on to a hard nipple, suckling through the fabric.

She wriggled, gasping as he pulled more strongly.

   "Where do you think we got our reputation?" His teeth fastened on the nipple and he tugged. As she moaned, he let go, replacing his mouth with his hands and kneading the soft flesh as he reached across to purr in her ear. "You want it, don't you?" He nuzzled then speared his tongue deep into her ear canal.

   "Just think how it'd be, babe. You're naked, your legs spread wide, held open so every little bit of you is exposed. Do you like to feel vulnerable?" he whispered, and was rewarded with an almost inaudible whimper of agreement. "Someone's tongue deep in your cunt, licking up your cream; two mouths on your breasts. Maybe even someone's cock in
your
mouth. Mustn't forget your ass, either," he murmured.

   She squirmed urgently, and coils of dark pleasure rippled through him as he continued, already planning what they'd do.

   "And four sets of hands stroking you, fondling you, teasing you. You think you've had it good before; wait until you see what it's like when we're
all
fucking you."

   He watched her force her eyes open, saw the effort it took for her to look up at him from under heavy lids. Her eyes were slightly glazed, her lips wet where she'd been running her tongue over them to moisten them while he spoke.

   "Babe," he promised huskily, "you won't want to move for a week."

Rafe padded through the forest, his paws near silent on the fragrant leaf-mold. It had rained a few hours before and the scent of moist earth was strong. His fur glistened where he'd pushed through a thicket, dislodging a shower of raindrops from the overhanging bushes, but he barely noticed. His concentration was firmly focused on a house that perched on the very edge of the forest. The house Alan West had purchased when he first arrived in town.

   He stopped, still on a rise slightly above the house, and inhaled deeply. A curl of smoke wisped from the chimney, scattering in the breeze. Washing flapped on the clothesline out back. Despite the smoke, he picked up the scents of both Alan and Cain. One wore cheap deodorant; the other's scent was a sour combination of stale cigarette smoke and sweat. They were both at home.