Brooke, Leah - Panthers' Prey [Black Panthers 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (45 page)

She could still feel the warmth on her forehead where they’d each kissed her good-bye, welcoming her to their family.

Even now, they turned before driving away, waving to her as they pulled away.

Returning their waves, she grinned, still finding it hard to believe that Marc and James’s friends had accepted her. She understood their concern for their friends and had to admit it had been quite a shock.

They weren’t worried that she would
stay
. Their concern came from the fact that she could
leave
and break their friends’ hearts.

For the first time in her life, someone needed her and wanted her around.

Still smiling, she turned to watch Marc and James make their way back into the house, their eyes going to hers as soon as they came inside.

She wore nothing beneath the plush robe she’d slipped on after taking her shower, and her nipples pebbled, poking against the soft material as James strode toward her while Marc dealt with locking up.

As his smooth strides brought him closer, his eyes raked over her, the concern and lust in them sending a surge of love for him through her and making her heart beat faster.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Reaching for him came easier now, and she ran her hands up his chest to play with his collar as he moved in, wrapping his arms around her. The feel of his body against hers, always so exciting, felt more familiar now, and she rubbed up against him in an automatic gesture she’d just recently developed. Looking up at him through her lashes, she smiled.

“You and Marc both checked me out, but now that everyone’s gone, I think it would be a good idea if we checked each other out a little more thoroughly.”

She didn’t have much experience when it came to flirting and figured she’d said something wrong when, instead of laughing and making some sort of a dirty comeback, he threaded his fingers through her hair and pulled her even closer.

“God. I’m never sleeping again. The thought of those men having you and what they planned to do with you is going to give me nightmares for a long time to come. I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

Tightening his fingers in her hair, he pulled her head back, his eyes dark and mysterious.

“I love you so fucking much. If they’d hurt you, I—”

“They didn’t.”

Standing on her toes, she touched her lips to his, her heart swelling with love.

“I knew when you got there. I sensed it. I also knew which one of them would attack first.”

She glanced at Marc, who came to stand at her side. With one hand on each of their chests, she looked back and forth between them.

“It was like I could
feel
the night. Everything got sharper.”

Their brows went up as they looked at each other.

Marc toyed with the belt at her waist, loosening it.

“Interesting. It seems that now that we’re mated,
both
of us, you’ve developed a little of our instincts. Good. Just listen to them. It’s something we’re going to have to work on and tell the others about.”

Grimacing, he pulled her closer. “If I hadn’t come to my senses in time, you might not have had even that small advantage.”

Knowing what a tough time he’d had in coming to terms with their mating, she cupped his jaw.

“Do you regret it?”

She didn’t know what she would do if he did, but she hoped he’d come to accept it as much as she did.

Marc’s eyes narrowed as they searched hers.

Dropping the belt of the robe to the floor, he bent slightly and lifted her against him, urging her to wrap her legs around his waist.

With her legs spread and her clit brushing up against his taut belly with every step, she gripped his shoulders, unable to prevent shooting a look of concern at James as he followed.

“Marc, I asked you a question.”

He nodded once, holding her with one hand and rubbing her bottom with the other.

“I’m about to answer it.”

Instead of taking her to his bedroom as she’d expected, he paused outside one of the closed doors in the hallway.

“This is my workroom.” He opened the door and pressed a finger against her puckered opening.

“Stay out unless you’re invited.”

Sucking in a breath at the slight sting, Bailey smiled as her pussy clenched, leaking moisture against his shirt.

“You don’t have to threaten me.”

Marc’s grin sent another wave of need through her.

“It’s obviously not much of a threat if your pussy’s soaking the front of my shirt. Look.”

Surprised, Bailey turned her head to follow where he pointed, sucking in a breath as he pulled a cloth from a breathtakingly beautiful sculpture.

The naked woman sat with her legs tucked to the side, some sort of material draped all around her and covering her legs and her mound.

Her breasts thrust upward, the pointed nipples evident as she reached out for something.

She reached for her lover.

Bailey knew it as well as she knew her own name, the look of love and yearning as clear on the woman’s face as if it were a photograph.

“I had that vision in my head, but it wouldn’t come into focus.”

Setting her on her feet, he turned her to face the beautiful piece and slid her robe from her shoulders.

“Then James and I rescued you and brought you home. As soon as I saw you lying there, the vision came into sharp focus. It’s you, Bailey.”

Running his hands over her, he cupped a breast, toying with her nipple while he slid the other hand down her body to her pussy and slipped a finger into her.

Brushing her clit with his thumb, he leaned over her, his breath warm against her neck.

“That next morning, that’s the way you looked, but instead of reaching out for me, you held a hand out as if to push me away. When we got back from taking you to town, I started this. Every night I spent away from you, I made you here. In my home. Looking at me with love in your eyes—the way I wanted you to that morning. I’ve been dying to see that look on your face ever since.”

Leaning back against him, Bailey moaned and spread her thighs wider to give him better access. She couldn’t believe someone like her could inspire such a masterpiece. Turning to look at him over her shoulder, she nuzzled against him.

“I do love you.”

Marc smiled, a smile filled with male satisfaction and need.

“I know. Come to bed, my mate, and I’ll show you how much I love you, too.”

James came to stand beside her and held out a hand, smiling when she readily took it.

“We both will.”

Walking hand and hand with them, Bailey glanced up at Marc.

“When are you going to sell it?”

Marc smiled and shook his head.

“It’s you, my mate, and I wouldn’t part with either one of you for all the money in the world. I’m—we’re keeping both of you forever.”

Epilogue

“Damn it, I hate these fucking woods.”

Bailey came to her feet after tripping over another root, determined that this time she would outmaneuver them.

She’d become more comfortable here over the last several months, a fact that seemed to please Marc and James immensely. Once they’d discovered her fear of going back into these woods, they’d brought her out here with them as much as her schedule allowed, in an effort to get over her fear.

After several outings, they’d started to play games with her, both of them fascinated with her sharpened senses.

“No, you don’t. Stop complaining and pay attention. How are you going to hear us stalking you if you’re talking to yourself?”

James’s voice came from her left, the frustration in it making her smile.

Wiping her hands on her sweatpants, she shone the flashlight in that direction, unsurprised to see he’d already gone.

She turned the flashlight back off again and moved behind the tree closest to her, listening for any movement.

The rules were simple. She had a head start and made her way into the woods, and after five minutes, they came in after her. All she had to do was shine the light of the flashlight on them before they could reach her and she won.

She’d only won once, so far, and she had a sneaky suspicion that it had only been because they let her.

Memories of that still had the ability to make her horny as hell. The winner got whatever sexual favor they wanted from the loser, or losers. Her clit tingled at the memory of how they’d both licked her from head to toe that night, lingering on every one of her erogenous zones until she’d become so aroused she’d cried and begged for release from their torment.

A release they gave her over and over until she couldn’t even move.

Determined to get that kind of treatment again tonight, she remained motionless. She kept her breathing slow, hoping they would think she’d moved from her position and would be searching elsewhere, or wonder if she’d been hurt and come to investigate.

Staring straight ahead, she focused on her surroundings. She smiled to herself, feeling the warmth and safety of Marc and James around her. Knowing that nothing could happen to her out here freed her to concentrate on the task at hand, with nothing to distract her except thoughts of the pleasure ahead.

Several minutes must have passed, long minutes in which she didn’t move at all.

She knew they had to smell her and would be trying to move in closer.

So, she waited.

Damn, they had more patience than she ever would.

She had no idea where they’d gone, only knew that they remained close.

Another minute went by, one filled with frustration, and she decided she couldn’t stand it anymore.

Separating herself from the cover of the tree, she took a step, and then another, wincing at the snap of a twig beneath her booted foot.

With their hearing, she knew it would be a matter of seconds before they caught her.

She could still win, though, if she shone the flashlight on them before they did.

With a snap, she turned it on. Since they would already know her position, she might as well go on the offense. Sweeping the light around the surrounding area, she screamed at the feel of tugging coming from both sides of the back of her jacket.

Alarmed, she tried to run, falling to the ground when they both let go of her at the same time.

Cursing, she flipped to her back, shining the flashlight into the faces of two sleek black panthers, panthers who looked suspiciously amused.

Unsurprised that they’d chosen to stalk her in panther form, something they did with increasing frequency, she shone the flashlight in their eyes, knowing it annoyed them because it messed up their night vision.

“Very funny.”

Marc shifted from powerful, graceful panther to powerful, naked man in one smooth transition.

“You’re always too impatient, my mate.”