Tempted (Two Marks 1)

“Thank you, sugar. You’re so fucking sweet.” My own eyes smarted for a moment and I had to look down at the table. Not a day went by that I still didn’t miss both my parents.

“Was it one of them?” Caitlyn demanded, suddenly full of indignation. Her hands formed fists, and a flush crept up her cheeks.

“We don’t know,” Landry said quickly. “It seems likely. They’re open about their hatred of wolves. My brother organized a group to look into it, but there are no eyewitnesses, no proof. Nothing to tie anyone specifically to the… murder.”

Caitlyn threaded her fingers through mine at the table. “I’m so sorry.”

I squeezed her fingers back before letting go. I didn’t want those assholes to see her being passed between Landry and me. I’d seen the way they talked about and treated women, and they wouldn’t take kindly to one they believed was being passed between two men. I wouldn’t put it past any of them to say something to or about Caitlyn that would make us have to tear out their throats.

And of course, that couldn’t happen. But it would, if they disrespected our mate. Now it was my fists that were clenched tight.

“Where’s… is your dad still alive? How is he doing with this?”

My throat worked but I couldn’t answer.

“His father went moon mad as a result of her death.”

“Moon mad?” she echoed in a shocked whisper. A little frown formed in her brow, and I wanted to reach up and smooth it away. I looked to Landry, who grabbed her chair and pulled her closer to him so he could wrap his arm around her back.

“It’s when a wolf goes feral,” I explained. “He can’t turn back to human form and becomes a danger to humans. When that happens… well, he has to be put down.”

For a second time, Caitlyn gasped and covered her mouth. “Wade.”

When I didn’t answer, she dropped her head and stared at the table. A salty tear dropped to the wood.

My wolf caught the scent of it, and whined. “Sugar, please. Don’t cry for me. It is what it is.”

When she lifted her head, her expression was twisted in misery. “Now I understand what Cord said about my research. He told me the pack wouldn’t like it because they thought it would change the wolves’ hunting designation. No wonder everyone’s so nervous. God, I had no idea what I was stirring up when I decided to come up here and barge onto your land uninvited. I’m so sorry.”

“No,” I said firmly. “I’m not sorry, Caitlyn. Not for a minute. We never would have met you if you hadn’t been determined to study our wolves. It was Fate, for sure.”

16

CAITLYN

I’d returned to West Springs for the weekend with the intention of tagging more wolves. Plus, spending more time with Wade and Landry. In bed and out. But I’d learned that the two guys I was falling for were shifters, men who turned into wolves.

Yeah, completely crazy, yet for some reason, I wasn’t losing my shit over it. I had no idea why, and that was something I’d have to figure out. Maybe it was because I’d spent all my time since undergrad studying the animals. It was my job to know everything about them.

Not shifters, of course. That had been fiction. Until this weekend.

Now they were two very big, very virile, very into-me guys in the other room.

I wasn’t tagging any more wolves. I could leave West land and go elsewhere in Wyoming for my research, but I wouldn’t know if any animal I aimed my tranq gun at was a shifter. While I had always been respectful of the species, my entire perspective had changed. I couldn’t do it anymore. I didn’t want to.

Not that I imagined either Landry or Wade being okay with me going off on my own to do so. They’d punished me for disobeying. Sure, it had been a very pleasurable punishment, but I’d sensed their disappointment, and I didn’t like that. I wanted to please them, to make them happy. Like any woman would in a relationship. Which meant they were definitely more than just a fling.

They certainly thought so, since they’d brought me into their confidence as well as their bed. This was why they weren’t going to take me to find more wolves either. Landry had intentionally kept me from the animals last Sunday, and would do so again. He wouldn’t lead me on a three mile hike, but toss me over his legs and spank me.

After Wade shared about what happened to his mother, I hadn’t been all that eager to remain at the diner. I was sad and tried really hard not to cry, not to fling myself into his arms and comfort him with hugs and kisses. That wouldn’t have kept our three-person relationship on the down low, that was for sure.