A Faire in Paradise (6 page)

Her breath hitched as she thought about what they implied. Was that why Milla was with two men earlier? Was that why two men kept staring at Nadya with such longing?

She looked at Ryker and Wade in turn. Did they expect her to sleep with them both? She swallowed thickly when she realized that the idea appealed to her more than it should. She was almost forty-five for crying out loud. She was too old to change her ways, now.

Ryker watched the emotions chase across Alexa’s face. The last one looked a lot like regret. Why? Did she still think she was too old for them? The idea was laughable, considering their advanced years.

“Look, Alexa,
we
don’t age like humans. We’re older than we look and when we mate, our blood exchange will make you like us. You’ll slowly take on the appearance of a shifter of your age.” He pushed his fingers through his hair. “Hell, as
Leoparo
we’re still going through a kind of puberty at fifty.”

“Puberty at fifty!” She stared up at him with wide eyes. “I barely survived human puberty. I don’t think I can handle the shifter variety.” She laughed and shook her head. “Am I going mad? I know this isn’t a dream, as much as I might wish it were. I’m wide awake. I know I am. How can this be happening?”

“As you have seen, our people are different, Alexa.” Ryker wracked his brain for something else to say—something that would convince her to stay here in Paradise with them.
Should we tell her she’s our mate?
He asked Wade through their mind link.
Or do you think it’s too soon?
They might not have a choice.

We
have
to tell her. You heard Adam. He practically ordered us to do so.
Wade didn’t sound happy about any of it.
I’d rather let her get to know us first, but our alpha has taken that choice out of our hands. She’s going to continue to ask us about it until we tell her.

“Exactly how different are you?” She waved her hand with a blush. “I mean aside from the whole shifting shape thing. What did that other man want you to tell me? What did he mean when he told you to tell me what I am to you? Was it the whole mate thing? Because if it was, you can forget it. I’m not about to commit to a relationship with either of you. I don’t even know you.”

“It wouldn’t be with just one of us, Alexa. You are mate to us both.”

Her eyes widened and her cheeks turned red. “I-I’m not sure I’m following.” She cleared her throat and took a few deep breaths. “I know what
I
think, but I need clarification. Are you telling me that I would have a relationship with both of you…at the same
time?
”

Ryker almost grinned. She might act as though the idea didn’t appeal to her, but it did. The whole situation turned her on. Getting her to admit to it was the problem. “Yes, darlin’ you’d be mate to us both. He leaned forward slowly, closing the gap between them. He wanted her to smell him, feel his body heat, and let the
el calor
take hold.

The longer they were in her presence, the more the mating heat would affect her. Ultimately, the
el calor’s
hold on her would be what would make up her mind for her. She would love it, but it would take her over just as surely as it did them.

Before long, nothing would matter to her, but being with her mates, loving her mates. Ryker wasn’t sure how, but something in the
el calor,
the mating heat, always assured that mates fell in love and didn’t want to live a life without the others in it.

Sometimes, mates even experienced love at first sight. Most humans didn’t believe in that sort of thing. He didn’t know why. He’d smelled it when it happened to them. With humans, love had a scent. Every emotion smelled different and love smelled a lot like cotton candy—to him, anyway.

“That was what Adam wanted us to tell you.” Wade watched Alexa. Most likely waiting to see her reaction. “You’re our mate. As such, you will receive automatic acceptance council approval for residency in Paradise.”

Alexa looked at them and bit her lip. Ryker was growing rather fond of that little nervous habit of hers.

“I won’t be with you just to gain acceptance into your community. And I absolutely will
not
lie.” She stood straight and squared her shoulders. “I won’t bend my principals for that.” She began to pace.

Ryker wasn’t sure how she managed it in the tight confines of the trailer. Though, she
was
smaller. Perhaps that had something to do with it.”No worries, sweetheart. Adam won’t deny you just because you can’t accept us right away. If your petition to stay here in Paradise is denied, it will be for reasons that he or the council might decide not to share with the rest of us.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. Hell, maybe he should have jumped at that offer of a council seat when Adam offered it. To accept now would be suspicious and he wouldn’t blame the alpha for rejecting his acceptance now.

Alexa stopped pacing to give them both a startled glance. “Are you saying that he can deny my application and not even tell us why?” She visibly paled. “Why would he do that?”

That she used the term
us
didn’t slip past him. Ryker knew the
el calor
was already hard at work, attempting to convince Alexa that she needed them at least as much as they needed her.

“If he denies your petition, he will have good reason whether he shares it with us, or not. It’s not our place to question the motives of our alpha. Despite the fact that we have a sheriff and a police department, the bottom line is, the alpha
is
the law here.”

Ryker nodded. He couldn’t think of a way to explain it any better than Wade just had.

“Then maybe someone should tell him about Perry, the man he made the deal with in the first place. He should know that he can’t trust the man he’s doing business with.”

“We’ve already done that. Milla has informed her mates, and they, in turn, have informed our sheriff and our alpha.” Ryker sat back in his seat and crossed his legs at the ankles. “This Perry person will not be allowed to stay here indefinitely. The decision on that has already been made.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” Her shoulders fell with relief. “But that’s not what I meant.” She bit her lip and began pacing again. “I’m not sure how he does it, but he blackmails people. I’m sure of it. Why else would people just hand him envelopes full of money?” Alexa stopped pacing and met his gaze. “If anyone in this town even hints that there’s some sort of secret here, he’ll ferret it out somehow and blackmail everyone involved. It’s what he does.”

“We already have someone watching him.” Wade leaned forward as Ryker stood, rested his hand on her shoulder, and gave it a gentle squeeze. He was careful not to touch her skin. As they noticed outside, touching her skin could have disastrous consequences. He wasn’t sure how they would get past it to mate. He was sure their mate would draw the line at having sex with animals.

“Don’t worry, darlin’,” Ryker said as he pulled her into his arms. “It doesn’t matter how he’s doing it. He won’t get away with it here in Paradise. We have some secrets of our own and they’ll help us find out just what this Perry is up to.”

“Right.”
Pulling from his embrace, Alexa stared up at him with those beautiful light blue eyes of hers. “How can you be so sure?”

Alexa stared up into Ryker’s eyes. He believed what he said. She could tell that. She shifted her gaze between the two men in her trailer, hogging up all of the oxygen. It wasn’t any wonder she felt strange and disoriented around these two men. They were so big, they sucked up all of the air, making it difficult to breathe. She inhaled slowly, trying to keep herself from hyperventilating.

“We have many people with special gifts here in town. Two of our most gifted are sisters. Samantha and Sabrina both have mates here and hold their own secrets close to their chests. However, we do know that discovering other people’s gifts is one of their specialties.” Wade crossed his arms as he sat and stared at her.

His intense gaze made her stomach clench and cream slide from her womb to soak her panties. What was it about these two that made her want to strip down and have her wicked way with both of them?

“Wow,” she said instead of acting on her fantasies. “You guys have an entire town with more problems than we have.” Alexa’s face burned when she realized how that must have sounded. “I-I’m sorry. That didn’t come out quite right.”

She stared at the two men for a moment before touching the tip of her tongue to her upper lip. What would it be like to be with these two? Would she like it? The better question might have been whether or not she could handle it—and what if they suddenly turned into animals again? Alexa knew she couldn’t handle it if the two men suddenly turned into leopards while they were making love, and that thought was enough to make her keep her hands to herself—for the time being, at least.

“How…” She cleared her throat. “How do you people handle your matings?” She gave them each a look. “I mean…do you have a normal family unit with no fighting and no jealousy?”

“We’d have to show you.” Wade said as he stood and moved closer to her small sofa. “Will you allow us to give you a demonstration?” He held out his hand, waiting for her to join him.

The question was, could they keep from turning into their cats when they touched her? It didn’t take long for her to figure out that she’d finally gotten her gift, or perhaps she’d had it all along, but had never touched one of their kind before. If that was the case, she could have been ignorant of it for years, possibly forever, if she’d never come to this town.

She looked at the two men who claimed to want her, even need her so badly and she gave her head a tiny shake. No. She wasn’t sure she’d be willing to give up this experience for the comfort of ignorance.

Wade gently closed his fingers around hers when she placed her hand on his. His hand changed, shifting shape as fur shot up his arm and his face half shifted into that of his leopard. Alexa stiffened, but didn’t scream. She’d been prepared for it this time. She watched as he fought his animal, the fur disappearing on his arms only to reappear several times before he finally stood before her, fully a man.

“That’s some kind of mojo you’ve got there, darlin’.” He grinned at her as he slowly lowered himself to the sofa behind him as he turned her to face Ryker before pulling her down onto his lap. He stretched his legs out. “Rest your legs on top of mine, darlin’.”

“I’m too heavy. Let me up.” She tried to pull away, mortified that he knew exactly how heavy she was now that he’d had her in his lap.

“You’re not heavy, darlin’.” He chuckled and pulled her back against him. “We shifters are a strong lot. You don’t feel any heavier than a child to me. Now…rest your legs on top of mine if you want to know what it feels like to have two men give you the attention you deserve.”

Alexa’s stomach fluttered as she did what he asked and stretched out on top of him, her back pressed tightly against his front.

Reaching up, Wade cupped her breast in his hands. “This is going to take a lot of touching. Are you okay with that?”

With a nod, Alexa gave her consent. She couldn’t speak now. The most she could do was pant and nod as she sat on Wade’s lap, his hands cupping her breasts while the ridge of his cock pressed tight against her rear.

Her short pants changed, her breaths growing heavy, labored. Her head spun, filled with pleasure and lust as his thumbs brushed lightly over her sensitive nipples.

Warm breath tickled her ear, giving her goose bumps as he nuzzled her neck before sucking the lobe of her ear into his mouth.

He did all of that as the man, not the beast and Alexa didn’t care enough how he did it to worry about it. She wanted more of this decadent loving. She wanted to feel Ryker’s hands and mouth on her as well, even if it took a moment for him to overcome whatever it was inside her that brought out the beast in him.

Ever so slowly, Wade opened his legs, taking hers with them. Cool air brushed the inside of her thighs when her calf-length skirt rode up almost to her hips. She barely noticed Ryker until his jean-clad legs brushed her inner thighs. Startled, she opened her eyes to see him staring at her.

Was he afraid to touch her? Did he know it was something inside of her that brought out the animal in he and Wade outside and again Wade here in the trailer? She couldn’t tell. She stared back at his intense expression so full of need that something inside of her snapped. All at once she didn’t care that they were shape shifters. She didn’t care that part of them was all animal. She needed to give the man staring down at her with such desire everything he wanted and something told her that the
everything
he wanted was her.

Alexa felt heavy with desire. Decadent and wild. It was almost as though some strange previously dormant part of her finally came to life. Was it because of the mating heat they spoke of? Could some shifter chemical that was alien to her human body give her some sort of imbalance, make her want these two men so much that her body would overrule her head? Could it really make her fall in love with these two men she barely knew?

God, she hoped so.

She was tired. So tired of spending her life alone. She ate alone, exercised alone, drank alone and, most importantly, slept alone. She was so weary of being alone that living with an ape would have been preferable to another lonely night. Thankfully, these were two men not apes. Also, thankfully, they were more human than animal and, since she’d already seen them naked, Alexa knew they were well endowed men, to boot.

Ryker lowered himself to his knees careful not to tough her skin. He grasped the hem of her blouse, gently pulling it out of her skirt. “If we do anything that makes you uncomfortable, let us know and we’ll stop.”

“Okay.” She nodded, unable to say much else.

Cool air bathed the exposed skin of her belly as he lifted her shirt. Her nipples pebbled beneath the thin lace of her bra and she gasped when Ryker leaned down, pulled the cup aside and took the hardened peak into the warmth of his mouth.