Pack of 3 Page 2

  “It’s okay,” Merc said, surprising her. She hadn’t expected an answer. He covered her hand with his large one. He had a deep, even voice. “I didn’t expect you to pick me. Werewolves are stronger.”

  “Then why bite me?”

  He patted her hand and closed his eyes, opening the golden orbs when her panic spiked. “Safer for you to be marked. We lost the war, but we kept that.”

  Her brow furrowed, trying to understand, trying to make the logic jump that they were either avoiding telling her or Merc was just too far gone to convey. “Okay. I get it. You both marked me for this mate thing to keep me safe. Why? Why me? Why stay together if you don’t share?”

  Merc patted her hand again. A ghost of a smile twitched his lips. God even injured, he was handsome in a blunt military way. Put him in a uniform and the women would go nuts. “Because canines are pack animals.”

  She felt so stupid. “But why? Why not with your own kind? Surely there are other were-pit bulls or were-wolves for you guys to join? Why?”

  Merc jerked, the snort made him gasp. For a moment she thought he was going into convulsions then realized he was stifling some painful laughter. “Stop that,” she snapped.

  He smiled then, transforming his strong caveman features into a really sexy, and pale, man. Then the happy light went out, replaced by sadness and pain. “We lost, Jill. The guardians really tried. We held the dark legion back for eons. But…we lost. Humans were collateral damage.”

  He focused on the door right before Uncas came back in then patted her hand again. His eyes tracked the werewolf, but he patted her hand. “It’s okay. I conceded from the first.”

  “No. I do not give you that right,” Uncas barked the sentence like a drill sergeant. His jaw hardened as he dropped a load of blankets, towels, and sheets on the floor. “You will not give up on your own.” He laid a hand on Jill’s shoulder, forcing her to meet his gaze. The look there was pure demand. “It’s your choice, Jill. You decide our fate.”

  She was appalled. “You want me to pick between you? Just like that?” Pulling away from them, she stood and crossed her arms over her chest, then pointed at Merc. “That’s not fair. Look at him. He’s hurt and all ready to do the ‘step aside’ thing for you. And you want me to choose?” Fury enveloped her. She’d travelled for months with them. Everyone doing a job in their little pack. Everyone looking out for everyone else.

  “Fuck you, Uncas.” Her eyes burned as she twisted to face Merc. Her voice caught, thick with tears. “Fuck you too. Why do I have to pick ‘one or the other’? We all have choices. Why can’t we work together?”

  “It’s not how we normally do things,” Uncas answered, swinging her wrath back to him.

  “And what about this whole thing is normal?” Her voice rose. She knew better, but she couldn’t help it. Damn it, she didn’t want to lose either one of them. Dogs or men, she knew both Uncas and Merc. “Six months ago, I got up every day at five-fucking-thirty to do my face, hair. I wore stilettos and a killer dress to work to impress money-hungry self-centered assholes.

  “That was normal. I ordered a coffee that took nearly five minutes to say, because hell—it was normal. I had a mortgage that I could barely afford and a car payment I certainly couldn’t—because it was normal!” She took a breath, realizing that in her rant that she’d started poking Uncas in one nicely formed shoulder.

  Fisting her hands, she stomped to the other side of the room, cursing the lingering lust from the incubus. Damn, she had to put some clothes on these men. And how sick was it that she wanted to jump poor Merc while he could barely move?

  “Today, it’s normal for pixies to swarm you like killer bees. It’s normal for zombies to stalk you. It’s normal for…” She shook her head and looked at them both, feeling emotionally devastated. “I don’t want your version of normal.”

  “Say it,” Uncas’s words startled her from her rant. “Think carefully, and say exactly what you want, Jill.”

  She looked from one to the other. Frankly, Merc looked a lot less injured than he had before. Uncas looked dangerous and volatile. She licked her lips, noticing that both of their eyes fixated and dilated at the movement. Both of them stilled while blood rushed south in her body, drawing her eyes to some very well-developed male anatomy. Could she do this?

  “Why do I have to be the one?” Jill whined. She knew she was stalling. Everything that she knew about mythology had turned out to be wrong months ago. Now her view was changing one more time.

  She could not bear the thought of picking one and the other leaving.

  Closing her eyes, she knew that was how it would end. Merc would live. But whoever she chose would go away. Maybe he’d find another girl or maybe not. A spurt of jealousy gripped her. She already hated that bitch. But the fact was, whoever she didn’t chose would be alone with no one to watch his back.

  “Because the mating marks tied our wills to yours,” Merc’s answer earned him a growl that he dismissed. “Nothing in life worth living is stagnant. And you are very much worth living for.”

  “Fine then.” She lifted her chin. Defiance lit her eyes. Crossing her arms while she studied the two creatures who’d come to mean everything to her. “I choose both.”

  “That is not normally done,” Uncas said. His arms crossed over his chest.

  “Yeah, you said that,” Jill shot back. “Fuck that. I made my choice.”

  “Actually, I said that.” Merc sat up on the futon, his color a little less sick. Obviously, shapeshifters were fast healers.

  Jill took stock of the beloved shifter’s movements. “Did you miss the 'fuck that' part of the program?”

  “God, I hope not. That’s the best part.” Merc eyed Uncas. “This should be interesting.”

  The werewolf closed the distance between them, reaching out to turn her to face him. Merc tentatively touched her shoulder from behind. Sudden nerves went through Jill as she realized what she’d just demanded. Both.

  She’d picked both a werewolf and a shapeshifter as mates, spouse, whatever. And apparently, they were taking the ‘both’ part very seriously. She looked over her shoulder at Merc. “Isn’t it a bit soon for you to be up?” Then she saw the very thick, very up cock that defied her question.

  “He won’t be on his feet for long, love.” Uncas grabbed the hem of her long sleeved shirt and tugged.

  Stunned, she lifted her arms and he whisked it away, leaving her in her sports bra. “Your soldier still needs his rest.”

  Behind her, Merc chuckled. His fingers touched her waist, sending a wave of goose bumps over her skin. “I’ll manage.”

  Uncas suddenly knelt, making quick work of her boots and socks, while Merc's hands delved under the sports bra; his fingers tweaked her nipples. Cool air hit her thighs as her fatigue pants dropped. Behind her, Merc's hot breath whispered over her neck. His lips closed over her collarbone. Sinking into the wall of him, her mind went blank until a soft brush of sensation touched her core.

  Jill sucked in a breath, moaning as her underwear slipped down and hot, clever fingers delved into her wet channel. Uncas stopped to rub over her clit, another sound shuddered out of her.

  At some point, her bra disappeared. And while she had no memory of it leaving her body, she didn’t care as long as Merc rubbed his thick hard cock against the crack of her ass. Uncas rhythmically probed her pussy with his fingers, building the sensation inside her womb.

  God, it had been so long. Her breath shortened and she knew she was almost there and…the fucking bastard stopped. Both of them.

  She opened her eyes, glaring down.

  “Down. Now,” Merc said from behind her. She missed the heat of his body as he moved away.

  Uncas nodded, getting up to drag the futon mattress off its frame then grabbing a blanket to toss over it. He nodded. Merc lay down. “I don’t have the energy to work you from behind.” Apology and a bit of shame touched his eyes. Immediately, Jill crawled over to Merc, touching the still raw gouges on his shou
lders and abdomen.

  “No. God, no. I should have realized.” She was experienced, but not experienced enough to lead this show. She glanced at Uncas. “Um. What’s the order here?”

  A smile touched his mouth. “Mating is completed when the couple orgasms together.”

  She frowned, thinking that through. Would she do one then the other? She looked from Uncas, down to Merc. Both were ready, heavy and hard.

  Expectant. Uncas’s smile grew bigger. “You will mount Merc and suck me off.”

  She blinked, and then grew red. Um. Okay. That was something she’d only read about in romance novels.

  Both men grinned and she frowned. “You know, for guys that say this isn’t normal, you’re finding a lot bonding time over this.”

  “We’re guys,” Merc answered, wriggling the tips of his fingers in a ‘come here’ motion. “It’s all about the getting laid.”

  Jill blushed even harder and climbed carefully over Merc’s waist. She knew he was big, but damn. As she straddled him, she realized that he was as big around as a barrel. His cock was huge. Crouched over him, she looked down, then into his eyes.

  Brushing his knuckles down her cheek loosened the knot of nerves that had suddenly gripped her.

  His hands slid down her thighs, guiding her down. When his cock probed her entrance, her nipples turned diamond hard. She exhaled sharply at the sensation of his shaft entering, and then filling her pussy so completely. She shuddered in an almost-mini orgasm as every wall stretched and expanded.

  Under her, Merc groaned and she stopped. “Did I hurt you?”

  He gripped her hips and swallowed. The look in his amber eyes wasn’t pain, and she relaxed. Suddenly a hand fisted in her hair, turning her face upward. She couldn’t read Uncas’s expression. It was dark, manic, and he bent, claiming her lips. His tongue forged past her lips and teeth, thrusting as the cock in her pussy met the same pace.

  In and out, their mouths met, fused and mated until his pulled away. The dark lust in his eyes made her even wetter. “I wanted something first too.” The raw confession made her pull him down for another kiss that made her squirm.

  “Stop.” Merc gripped her hips. When she left Uncas’s mouth to look down, her pale warrior’s face was very determined. Something, an understanding passed between the men. “The two of you are going to make me come.” It niggled at her.

  “Did you two have this planned from the beginning?” She narrowed her gaze at the obvious leader in this plan, Uncas.

  His lips twitched.

  “I want your mouth on me. I want to watch you suck me off while Merc fucks you.” Each word came out of him a little more breathless than the last. “I want for us all to come at the same time so that no one questions my right to alpha mate status.”

  It was a non-answer. But frankly, with his cock right in front of her face, the suspicions drowned under a raging torrent of lust. Uncas wasn’t quite as thick around as Merc, but as she touched the hanging sac, she wondered how much of him she could take. Blow jobs weren’t her sexual forte, but the way Uncas put it, she ground her hips down, drawing a moan from Merc.

  She lovingly traced the path from sac to shaft, deliberately wrapping her fingers around his beautiful carved member. She squeezed. When she heard the small gurgle of pleasure that escaped, she twirled her tongue over the head, and then closed her eyes as she took him deep into her mouth. Carefully, Jill relished working her tongue over the smooth and hard texture of his cock.

  She felt warm hands caressing her breasts, the thrust of another cock into her pussy as they worked out their own cadence. Uncas’s dominant grip in her hair urged her to suck harder. She experimented, alternating squeezing his shaft with her hands and working him in and out, forgetting the past as the present built up inside her.

  Pleasure spiraled from her center in shuddering waves as she fought not to lose the pace. She moaned and clenched around Merc, exploding in sensation as she reflexively gripped Uncas harder. She exploded again at the sudden hard thrust of Merc’s thick cock upward, the tight grip in her hair and Uncas’s yell.

  He pumped into her mouth and came, the shuddering violence of it made her come again, burning the familiar spots in her shoulder and ankle with searing pleasure. She let go, gripping Uncas’s hips to ride them both until her climax receded enough to open her eyes.

  Above her, Uncas looked like a pagan god. He kept Jill in place while he moved his sensitive member out of reach. His muscles etched in sharp relief as he fisted her hair to immobilize her. She didn’t realize that he held her seeking hand in his other grip. Below Merc tried to catch his breath as he held her hip steady and held fast to her opposite hand.

  Gently, Uncas untangled his hand from her locks and dropped to his knees.

  Merc shifted, dislodging Jill between them. He shuddered and caught his breath as he slipped free from her channel while Uncas found and spread another blanket over them. Neither man spoke as they settled into the ritual of either one beside her.

  Except this time, they were men, not animals. She felt oddly and fiercely protective watching them drift into sleep.

  * * * * *

  Jill woke, feeling watched. Above her, both men considered her and each other. The air was charged with a confusion of emotions. “What’s up?”

  They met her questions with different expressions. Merc wary. Uncas raised an eyebrow.

  “I mean the mating thing took, right?”

  They both nodded.

  “Soooo. What’s wrong?”

  They looked weird. Merc looked away, not meeting anyone’s eyes. It was odd, but very much the way he would have acted as a pit bull. Uncas frowned, his lips thinning as he apparently tried to put words to emotions.

  She wanted to sigh. Men.

  “We expected to both be mated to you,” he finally said. “It worked a little too well.”

  “And that means…” Oh, good grief. She flopped back down, waiting for the testosterone to work itself out. Why on earth would any woman in her right mind pick two men at the same time? Neither of them answered, but the emotion still stirred between them. Finally, enough was enough.

  Jill flipped the blanket back and began to search for her clothes, and then pulled them on. “Okay guys. I’m hungry and we’ve got to get on the road.” Tying her boots, she stood to look for her backpack. “I know what my place in this is. What about you?”

  The two men, one so pale and strong, the other dark and dangerous, looked at her then each other. Uncas said, “We’re a pack of three. We take care of each other.”

  “And find some clothes. I was getting really tired of the dog show.”

  Merc stood and stretched, scratching his nearly healed stomach.

  The sight was enough to make her eyes glaze over. Her body went on alert.

  “Amen to that.” Uncas, already in the lead, opened the door.

  His fine, tight ass distracted Jill from the snarky comment on the tip of her tongue. “You know, I saw an Outdoor Outfit Outlet store a few miles away. The incubus would have already cleared out the bigger game. Probably only a zombie or two will be wandering around there.”

  “Don’t forget that used lot with the Hummer.” Merc followed him out. “We could fit a lot of stuff in that. Or an SUV hybrid. I used to help this off-the-grid guy fully convert them to hydro. I’m telling you; forget that expensive solar powered shit. Water is the fuel of the future.”

  Jill waited a moment, listening to the two men, her mates—face it, husbands, chatter about camping gear and weapons before it hit her. “Wait a minute! You mean we could have had tents?” She stomped after them, fuming. “We didn’t have to walk?”

  The End.

  Author Biography

  Buffi BeCraft (previously writing as Buffi BeCraft-Woodall)

  It all began in seventh grade math class when Buffi decided that writing a novel was a much better use for her notebook than taking notes. Six weeks later, she was grounded from reading (gasp!) and the grand epic spac
e adventure was put away so that she could actually participate in class. Buffi never developed a love of math, but she did pass the class and got her library card back.

  About fifteen years and two kids later, the writing bug struck again urging her (again) to write the next great epic (that to this day stays strictly in the closet).

  The gauntlet was tossed down when her mother said that no one could write a paranormal or fantasy book that she'd understand. A year later, Weremones was finished and her mom avidly waits for each new book. Even the non-werewolf ones!

  Lately, Buffi has been expanding out into the realms of science fiction, horror, and whatever other genre that tickles her fancy. As always, she still likes to mix it up with a bit of romance and humor, because as she puts it, “Life sucks if you can’t love and laugh in the ups and downs that the world throws at you.”

  Besides the usual social network hangouts, Buffi BeCraft can found at www.buffibecraft.com