Golden Binds

“I don’t know anything about virgins.” Sawyer was panicking now. He could feel it. He didn’t panic. Ever. He was temperamental, given to bouts of anger, and the occasional sulk. But he didn’t panic.

“What do you need to know about them? Garret asked impatiently. “All you have to know is that you need to take your time. Go slowly and don’t hurt her.”

“I’d never hurt her.”

“We’re getting off topic,” Joe warned. “We’ll need to discuss taking her later. But right now, we need to know what you said to her.”

“Who she is complicates things,” Garret said with a frown. “Blake isn’t a trusting man and he guards his sister closely.”

“Not closely enough if she can sneak away and break into other people’s houses.” He frowned. Had she done that often? Was she a criminal like her brother? Not that it mattered. She wouldn’t be doing anything remotely dangerous again. He’d surround her in so much protection she wouldn’t be able to use the bathroom without him knowing.

“I don’t like the look of your face,” Garret said.

“What look?”

“You’re smiling,” Joe told him. “Stop it. It’s disturbing.”

He sighed. “We’ll guard her better. Her B&E days are over. Was she there because of him? Did he pressure her into it?”

“She says no. I believe her. But she wouldn’t tell me why she broke in here.”

“Her brother’s a criminal. It’s not hard to believe she could be involved in what he does,” Joe said.

Garret shook his head. “You don’t know as much about him as I do. People talk to me. I hear the stories. And rumor has it she’s guarded like a crown jewel. She’s protected. And probably smothered all at the same time.”

“Then how come he didn’t know what she was up to? How did she manage to get here without him noticing?” Sawyer asked.

“Because only she knew about the tunnels. They were in her mother’s diary.”

Now, that was interesting.

“We don’t need him finding out about them,” Sawyer said. “They’re a security risk.”

“Then you can go through and dynamite them all,” Joe told him. “After we have our mate safely under our roof.”

“Yeah, well, there might be a problem with that. More than just who her brother is,” Garret said with a grimace.

“And what would that be?” Joe asked in a cold voice. “Does this have something to do with why you didn’t bring her back with you?”

“I had to leave before my bear appeared and scared her to death,” Garret told him with a frown.

“How did that happen?” Sawyer asked. “Did something make you angry?”

Garret blew out a breath. “You could say that. I might have told her that I wouldn’t have sex with her until the three of us could take her together. And she might have reacted badly to the idea of the three of us taking her.”

“Jesus, why didn’t you wait until we had her back here to tell her that.” Joe closed his eyes for a moment.

“You were supposed to charm her, not piss her off,” Sawyer snapped. He might have been stuck in his bear form, but he’d still taken everything in.

“I know. But I was more impatient than I thought I’d be. I needed her. Needed to taste her. Give her pleasure. Possess her. Nothing else mattered and my charm seemed to disappear. I could feel the beast pushing at me. It was rolling beneath my skin, and I had to get out quickly before it broke free. That might be why I didn’t guard my words as much as I should have. But, God, if you could have seen her come, heard those noises of pleasure, you’d understand.”

“We might never know, because she’ll probably shoot us on sight,” Joe snapped.

Garret looked worried. “We need to get her out of there. I’ll go back and talk to her.”

“No,” Joe said quickly. “You’re not going this time. I am.”

“You can’t go,” Sawyer said.