Tempted (Two Marks 1)

“They aren’t overprotective and possessive now?” I asked, and they laughed again. “What if… what if I say no?”

Shelby and her mom exchanged a glance. “They could go moon mad. It’s when—”

“I know,” I interrupted grimly, remembering that was how Wade’s dad died. “I know that one.”

“They won’t ever stop pursuing you,” Shelby said. “They can’t. It’s literally ride or die, if you know what I mean.”

I smiled at the urban culture reference.

“So… I basically have no choice? These guys are mine, whether I want them or not?”

Shelby tipped her head. “Or you condemn them to death.”

I was shocked, but no part of me wanted to refuse Wade or Landry. I never had. And the idea that I couldn’t… well, it actually sent something warm and gooey floating through my chest.

“So that’s why you need to know you’re in the driver’s seat. You own them. Make them work for it, if you want. Make it work for you.” She glanced toward the house. “My two just showed up at my work one day, wanting to carry me off here to Wyoming. It was a tough thing for me to swallow. I didn’t want to leave my pack, and I was especially upset about leaving my mom behind. As soon as they figured that out…” She spread her hands.

I smiled. “They brought your mom, too.”

“Yep. So give them a chance to work out whatever roadblocks you have. I’m sure they’ll move mountains to be with you.”

Landry opened the door and stepped out onto the deck with us, the sun picking up the dark glints in his hair. “Any mountain, sugar,” he said, obviously overhearing. “Which one do you want moved?”

I laughed and stood, stepping into the circle of his arms. “I don’t know yet,” I admitted. “I’m still assimilating.” I lifted my face to his. “Am I really your true mate? Forever?”

He brushed his lips across mine. “We’re both yours. Forever.”

18

WADE

Caitlyn seemed excited on the drive back to my place. Sexually excited. Even without the sweet perfume of her arousal—which I couldn’t miss—I would have known by the way she kept shifting in her seat, or by the slight flush to her skin. The way she kept touching both of us as she squirmed between us.

Something Shelby had shared had our mate turned on, which made my jeans way too fucking tight in the crotch area. A perpetual problem.

“What secrets of ours did Shelby spill?” I asked, my heart stuttering when she stroked a hand up and down my thigh. Fuck me, even that was hot. Pre-cum was probably staining my pants.

Caitlyn went still, and I tried to figure out why that had been the wrong question. “She told me if you don’t mark me, you could go moon mad.” Her voice was rusty, like fear was choking her, and her fingers dug into my thighs, as if that would keep me from shifting.

“Oh sugar, you don’t need to worry about us,” Landry said immediately, setting a hand on her leg. “We aren’t anywhere near that. There’s time for you to get used to the idea. You know only a little about what moon mad means.”

She nodded, looked up between us. It was when she was wedged between us like this that I realized how tiny she was. “Yes, some. Cord explained this morning." Another wiggle of her hips had my cock punching against the zipper of my jeans.

“So you understand why we do it?” Landry asked.

“Yes,” she breathed.

"Are you… willing?" I asked. If Cord had told her, then that made this conversation a lot easier. Of course, I didn’t think we’d be doing it in my truck. "We'd be gentle with you, Caitlyn. We’d never hurt you."

She nodded again. “I know. I… I want you to mark me," she said in a rush.

"You sure?" Landry asked, his voice dropping an octave.

"Not marking me will only endanger you both,” she countered.

She was the one pushing for it, and we were the ones resisting. The tables had been turned.

“Why delay what’s inevitable?” She looked up at me with those dark eyes.

Yeah, it was inevitable we’d mark her and make her ours. I’d considered her to be mine forever since the bar in Granger, and for Landry, it was when he got his first hit of her scent at the fence.

But she was human, and we hadn’t gotten around to working through all the complexities of her being two shifters’ mate. We’d been slow. Patient. But thank fuck for Cord.

I wouldn’t have to strangle him for even looking at Caitlyn any longer. I owed him a thanks and a beer.

“I’m ready.”

I sucked in a sharp breath at her words. My vision sharpened like I was on a hunt and my teeth punched through my gums, ready to mark her right here, in the truck.