Authors: Dahlia Rose
“Jesus, Alex
,
must you be an ass
?
” Dominic snapped. He held the door closed as she tried to turn the knob. “Tempest, it
’
s wailing like hell out there
. Y
ou can’t go out in this.”
“I made it here
,
didn’t I
?
I’ve lived through wors
e
weather
than
this
. I was b
orn into it actually. I’m part of this land and it won’t hurt me
. N
ow let me out
,
”
s
he demanded.
“Fuck
.
I’m sorry
,
ok
ay?
What I said
was a low blow,” Alex said after Dominic shoved him in the shoulder.
“Don’t do me any favors,” she muttered. “Do you think I wanted to come here?”
“Alex is really a good guy
. J
ust a little rough around the edges,” Dominic said a
s he
steered her towards a door off the hallway. “Get her a towel or three, Alex
,
so
she can get warm and dry in front of the fire. Oh
,
and some brandy too
. S
he has to be chilled from the inside out.”
“
Well
,
hell
,
why don’t we offer her my robe and some warm socks too
?
” Alex muttered as he turned away.
“That would work
. T
hanks for thinking of it
, brohemoth,” Dominic said.
Alex growled and muttered under his breath as he walked away.
“Brohemoth?” Tempest
asked
curiously
.
“Alex and I had a rough go of it early on
and t
he nickname came out of it
.
” Dominic smiled and sat her down on the rug in front of the fireplace. “
Since
we’re friends now
, Tempest,
e
ventually you might he
ar
about it.”
“Ok
ay
,” she said si
mply. She had no reason to push
. W
ith all she had seen in her mind’s eye
,
Tempest knew for a fact
everyone had
secrets.
“I wonder what made you run through a storm to our house, Tempest,” Dominic murmured.
“Me too
.
” Alex came in with a snifter of brandy
,
a stack of thick towels,
and
even a robe and held them out. “Here.”
“Thanks
,
I guess
.
I really think you need to learn how to talk to people,” Tempest said.
“Well
,
I find talking to people sucks ass half the time so…”
H
e shrugged.
She understood
completely
and nodded. “
The looks, the whispers,
the
gossip
. I
t all gets
to be
a bit much.”
“See
. Y
ou’re commiserating
. W
e’re all going to be friends,” Dominic grinned and took the b
r
andy from Alex and handed it to her. “Drink
up
and get warm. Then tell us why you braved this harsh weather to see us.”
Tempest took
a gulp of the amber liquid in the glass and it burned
a line
down her throat into her belly. She coughed a little and fanned her face.
“
Whew
,
I’m not used to this.”
“You don’t drink?” Alex asked
as he
s
at
down.
Tempest shook her head. He was wearing a gr
a
y long sleeved cotton shirt with the two buttons open at the neck and a pair of blue jeans
that clung to his tight figure
. Dominic was in a black
T
-shirt and basketball shorts
. His muscular thighs and calves on display
.
It seemed
Dominic
was in bed
when she showed up while Alex
was
not
. She looked around
, taking in
the changes they made to the house. The sunk
-
in living room
had a plush beige carpet, while the
two steps
that
lead to the hallway
and the hallway itself were
a luxurious dark
mahogany
hardwood
.
The last time she saw the fireplace it
had been boarded up, dusty and old. Now
,
they had revealed the true beauty of the fireplace
with
quartzite stone
. Everything had been changed and given a contemporary feel
. M
ahogany
also
shone on the stairs.
There was dimly lit track lighting on the ceiling.
The walls were decorated with beautiful abstract painting
s
.
“You guys sure did change the place
.”
“You’ve been here before?” Alex asked.
Tempest smiled. “I used to come here with my brother when I was a kid
when the place
was abandoned.”
“Where’s
your brother
now?” Dominic sat back in the overstuffed chair.
She shrugged
. “W
ho knows
. H
e left when he was eighteen. He hated the fact that he was part of the crazy gypsy family who lived outside of town. Even when my grandmother and my mother died he never came back.”
“Coward,” Alex muttered.
She
turned to him,
angry.
“Don’t you say that about him! Jeremy got beat up for me when I couldn’t stop the vision in high school. He stopped t
w
o boys from trying to rape me in the woods. There was only so much he could take and wanted to take me with him. M
om
ma wouldn’t let him and
,
in the end
,
he had to look out for himself.”
“He never came back,” Alex snapped and waved his hand. “You live in the swamp by yourself with those same people around
,
only grown up
now
and more dangerous. He could’ve come back
for
you.”
The
bottle of brandy fell
from
her
hand and shattered against the stone of the fireplace
as she stood quickly
. She didn’t look down
,
but her hands were clenched at her sides. “I told him not to, damn you. I wanted him to have a life instead of have to deal with these bastards
. H
e spent his entire childhood running from bullies and when he was too big, he had to restrain himself or he would be in jail or worse. He deserved a
fucking
life!”
“
Ok
ay,
calm down,” Alex said softly. “I’m sorry again
. J
eez
,
I seem to have to say that a lot around you.”
“
That’s because you have an incurable case of foot in your damn mouth disease
.”
S
he glared at him.
“
I need a dustpan and broom to clean up my mess
,
please.”
“In a minute
. Y
ou need not tell us why you’re here,” Alex replied.
She sighed and sat
back
down. Here
it was
,
the truth
,
and boy was it one hell
of
a story. “My visions led me here to both of you.” She let her gaze
drift
from one man to the next, both
incredibly
sexy. She knew without a shadow of
a
doubt she wa
s meant to be theirs. “In my visions
,
I saw both of you in your true nature.” She turned to Dominic
. “Your wolf has a white underbelly and your fur is
silver
.” She met Alex’s eyes. “Your wolf is like your hair, pitch black a
n
d dark as midnight. In my vision
,
I’m with you, a human woman with her pack, three outcasts become a family. I’m yours and it seems both of you are mine.”
Dominic gave a low whistle. “Well
,
I sure as hell didn’t expect that.”
Alex stood up. “I think we need something stronger than brandy
.
I’ll bring whiskey and three glasses.”
It didn’t go as bad as she expected
,
telling two
men who shifted into wolves tha
t she was their mate.
Dominic looked bemused and scratched
his
head
and Alex felt they all needed
something more
to drink. All and all
,
at least they didn’t kick
her
back out in the rain
,
laughing and slamming the door. Stage one was over and Tempest wondered what stage two would entail. Curiosity mixed with excitement
produced
butterflies in her stomach
. Even with
h
er visions
,
this future was unknown territory.
Chapter Two
Well, if this doesn’t beat it all
.
Alex thought he’d heard everything
,
but this took the cake. Here stood a woman, gorgeous even though
right now
she looked like a drown
ed
rat in damp cotton pajamas.
Her s
kin
was
the color of espresso with a hint of milk and wide almond
-
shaped eyes with dark irises. Her lips were sh
a
ped so perfectly he wanted to run his finger o
n
the soft skin. Her body was like a punch to the groin
;
full breasts
,
slim waist
,
and curvaceous hips.
Instant hard
-
on
. And Tempest said she was theirs. He didn’t know if he should fall to his knees and praise the heavens or have her mind checked. She knew their secret
,
even the color of their
wolf
.
He came back in with the whiskey
and
a d
u
st pan and a broom for the broken glass. The brandy had already been sucked into the stone and dried by the hea
t
of the fireplace. The power had gone out hours ago and th
e glow from the fireplace
was the only light
in the house
. Hell
,
she looked delectable by firelight. He wondered what she tasted like.
Whoa, buddy,
now is not the time for
such
thoughts
.
With the glass cleaned up
,
he sat
back
down on the carpet and poured them each a glass.
“So you’re saying you are both our mate, that we share you
?
”
She shrugged.
“
I don’t know how it works either. It
’
s not like I ever did this before
,
but yes
,
in
part of my vision
,
I saw all th
ree
of
us
naked and coupled.”
“
As in sex,
”
Dominic said.
“No
,
as in playing ring
around the ros
ie
,” she joked. “Of course
,
sexually
. Y
ou guys are close
;
I don’t need a vision to see that. Is it to
o
far off in saying that you both date
d and
found something
that appealed to you in each other’s girlfriend and v
is
e
versa
?
I guess
I’m it for both of you
—
the perfect package.” She laughed and took a sip of the whiskey before grimacing. “
This is awful and l
ook at me promoting myself to two men
. W
ho the hell am I?”
“I’m wondering if I’m dreaming,” Dominic said.
“
This is
real al
l
right
. And s
he’s right
. R
emember those girls when we were in boot camp?” Alex asked. “
T
hey both shared qualities we wanted
,
but in two separate packages.”
Dominic smiled and nodded. “So is this like some kind of three way dating thing?”
“I
don’t
think we’re
the
going out to dinner
,
flowers
,
and candy kind of people, not in Cormina anyway,” Tempest announced. “So let’s just get to know each other and see where it goes.”
“And you’re certain
this was in a vision you had?” Alex asked.
He watched her
as she
leaned forward and met his gaze. “
The
first vision
I ever had
made me pass out in middle school and from there it
’
s been hell. I’ve seen death and life, cheating and murder.
I see h
ate
,
lust
,
and greed in the residents of Cormina and when I step out of this town. This is why they hate me because I can see their dirty little secrets. I’m alone, always by myself
,
and maybe this is meant to cure me of my loneliness. Either way
,
I know what I see and it never changes.” She pointed to herself the
n
Alex and finally Dominic.
“
The three of us are meant to be
—
destiny.”
Dominic got up and held out his hand. “Needless to say
,
we can’t hash this out tonight and you said you were tired. How
about you take a shower and get some sleep
? We
have a guestroom
you can use
. We
can
talk again in the morning.”
“
This storm is not going to let up anytime soon,” Alex commented. “I heard on the weather radio that Tropical Storm Abigail plans to
grace us with
her presence
tomorrow as well
.”
“I love this weather,
”
she murmured and smiled. She closed her eyes
so
as
to better hear
the weather outside
and
Alex felt his chest tighten with
a feeling he’d never felt before
.
Tempest was exquisite.
“It relaxes me for some reason.”
“We’ll show you where you can get cleaned up
.
I can loa
n
you a
T
-shirt to sleep in,” Dominic said.
Dominic
led the way out the room
. Without any power and without the light from the fireplace, it was pitch black in the house, but the two men knew the house like the back of their hand
. Tempest
was
beside Dominic
while Alex brought up the rear.
Both men
w
ere hyper
aware of her, her scent and the heat of her body. Dominic held her hand and she reach
ed
back to take
Alex’s
. It was a simple move,
but one of trust,
one that left
Alex
tongue-tied.
Holy hell
,
we are
in trouble
, he
thought
after
they left her at the bathroom
with several lit candles for light
and went into the master bedroom to talk.
“Do you believe
everything she’s telling us
?” Alex asked
as he fished a battery-powered lantern out of the closet and turned it on.
“I’m thinking about not looking
a
gift horse in the mouth and accepting what literally landed on our doorstep
,
” Dominic answered mildly.
He
gazed
at
Alex.
“
How long have we talked about searching for a mate we could share
? H
ell
,
not in this backward ass town
,
but going out and
actually
searching for that someone?”
“I know
.
” Alex ran his hand through his hair and sighed.
“
I don’t wan
t
to get our hopes up and then she bails
,
you know? I don’t want to wake up one day and find her gone and we’re beaten down again.”
Dominic put his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “We’ve never been beaten down because we
always
get our asses
back
up.
But this feels right, brohemoth
. T
his is fated for us and only us.”
“Are you two taking about me?”
H
er voice
, filled with humor,
drifted from the bathroom across the hall
.
“
Trying to figure out if
you should
keep me or send me away?”
“
I don’t think we could ever
do that,
”
Alex said ruefully. “
See
,
right now
,
no foot-in-mouth.”
She walked in
to
the room
.
Long silky legs and a bit of butt cheek peeked from under
the
T
-shirt Dominic
had given
her
to wear
. She had to be at least five
-
six or seven
. He reminded himself to thank his friend for
not knowing how to work the wash
ing
machine and
shrinking
his
clothes.
Tempest laughed huskily. “I see that
. N
ow
,
where am I sleeping?”
“The room down the hall
. W
e’ll take you
—
”
“Where do both of you
sleep
?” she asked
,
cutting
Alex off.
“We both have rooms close by,” Dominic answered.
“And then who sleeps in here?” Tempest asked.
“No one
—
”
“It’s the room that
you built in case you ever found the one,” she said knowingly.
She knew because the room was beautiful but sensual. The bed was a black iron canopy draped with black sheers and lace
, while the comforter
and sheets
were
made of
the finest Egyptian white cotton
.
Cream-colored
couch and loveseat
complimented the dark wine red wall
s
and dark
colors
of the bed.
“
Blast it
,
woman
. Y
ou don’t let a man finish a sentence,” Alex growled.
“Yes
,
you’re right. I
t’s the room we ha
d in mind
for
after
we found
a mate,” Dominic said quietly.
She
walked past them
, parted the black sheers
and
climbed
o
nto the
bed
.
At first glance, she had thought it was king-sized, but it was definitely larger. Maybe they had it custom made
because it was huge.
The m
e
n
watched the curve of her ass as she crawled over the wide bed and la
y
in the middle.
Seeing her there with her hair loose on the pillows left Alex with
an
ache so strong it reminded him how
often
he pushed
back his
need to be mated
.
Tempest patted both si
des of the bed. “We should sleep together to see if we fit. No hanky panky
. J
ust sleep.”
“A
w,
no hanky panky
.
I’m disappointed,” Dominic murmured.
“There will be time for that late
r, I promise you,” Alex growled. He found himself moving towards the bed as if some invisible cord pulled him towards her. Dominic followed and soon they were nestled together.
Alex
inhaled her scent and did it again
and again
,
memorizing her. She took his hand and rested it against her hip. Tempest shifted and he felt Dominic’s hand next to his before she covered them both with her own. He growled and so did his brother not by blood but by a bond much closer. He could sense it in Dominic and felt it in himself
too—
a
complete sense of
peace
being
with that
special
someone
. They fit together like three pieces in a perfect puzzle and Alex slept.