Suddenly, a shadow fell across her as though in direct contrast to the unbelievable view, darkening her mood before she even glanced in its direction.
“Shit. Holy fuck.”
Corbin jumped to his paws and lifted his head in the direction of the same smoky substance Laurie had spotted.
Zach breathed heavier at her other side.
Laurie cautiously stood and stepped forward.
“Babe…”
Corbin began.
“It won’t hurt me.”
Instinctively she knew that to be true. The spirit wanted her attention. It was trying to tell her something. It was not there to harm her.
The smoke coalesced in front of her eyes, drawing together until it formed the shape of some sort of creature. It reminded her of a black bear, but that might have been because of the darkness. It floated closer.
Corbin stepped partially in front of her, setting a paw out in her path.
She ignored his overprotective stance and inched forward.
It seemed to her as though the spirit looked directly at her even though it had no discernable eyes, and she wondered if Corbin and Zach thought the same thing of themselves.
So personal.
Intimate.
Quiet.
Peaceful.
A coyote howled in the distance, and instantly the black cloud sucked in on itself and vanished, leaving not a trace of evidence it had ever been there.
For several moments, the three of them stood rooted to their spots, breathing heavily and communicating nothing.
“Well, it’s hard to deny that happened,”
Zach muttered into her head.
She eased onto her haunches, needing to process what she’d seen. Definitely it was a similar apparition to the one she’d seen last week on the slopes, but that time she’d been too stunned to appreciate what was right in front of her.
This time she was more prepared. She tipped her head to the sky once more and stared at the crescent moon. Reaching out to Melinda, she called to her half-sister.
“Melinda? You happen to be shifted?”
Seconds ticked by and then,
“Laurie?”
“Yeah. Listen—”
“Laurie,”
she interrupted.
“Holy shit. Seriously? Is that you?”
“Yeah. What’s the matter?”
“I’m fucking cooking dinner. That’s what’s the matter.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt… Wait. Did you say cooking?”
Laurie stiffened.
In human form?
“Yes. How the hell…”
Her voice trailed off in Laurie’s head.
Laurie stood upright and paced the clearing. She could sense her mates hovering around her, but ignored them. She thought they might have been trying to speak to her, in fact, but she remained focused on her sister and the unbelievable.
“You aren’t shifted?”
“No. I’m standing in the kitchen, probably looking like a zombie. My mates are staring at me strangely. I think they’re trying to get my attention, but they’re blocked. I can only hear you.”
“And I you. Weird.”
“God. What happened?”
“I just saw one of those spirits. Or maybe the same one. Who could tell?”
“Where?”
“Back side of the ski mountain. We went for a run. Stopped in a clearing. It was so peaceful, and then bam, the black smoke coalesced into a shape like a large animal and hovered in front of me.”
“Any idea what it wanted?”
“Do you normally know?”
Melinda seemed to blow out an exasperated breath.
“No. But I was hoping.”
“When do you usually see these things? You said right before the earthquake and then that disaster at the casino site, right?”
“Yes. But not necessarily immediately preceding danger. I just knew I was getting a warning. A sign. Kind of a ‘wake up and pay attention’ thing. It’s hard to explain.”
“I think I get it.”
Laurie looked around. There was no evidence of the spirit now. Would it come back?
“You don’t think we’re in imminent danger?”
“You would know. Trust me.”
Laurie spun in circles, taking in the scene. Her mates closed in on her, their teeth bared as though ready for attack. She couldn’t hear them.
“I need to break this connection. Let’s talk tomorrow, yeah?”
“Yes. Why don’t you come to my shop in the morning? You haven’t seen it yet. We can talk then.”
“Perfect. I can visit Corbin in Sojourn too. That’ll make him happy. He works so far away from us, I see him less than Zach. Makes him pissy.”
She giggled into her sister’s head.
“Later then.”
As if she had been sucked into a vacuum, she was suddenly released. With a gasp of breath, she sunk to the snowy ground once more, exhausted.
“What the fuck? Laurie? Answer me?”
Zach called to her. She knew he’d been doing so for a while.
“I’m okay. Hang on,”
she communicated.
Corbin lowered to his haunches in front of her and nudged her with his nose.
“Babe?”
“I was talking to Melinda.”
“Okaaay… But why couldn’t you talk to us also?”
Corbin asked.
“Couldn’t hear you.”
“What? We were right here, practically shouting into your head,” Zach said.
“I can’t explain it. Give me a minute.”
“Let’s get the hell out of here. We can talk back at the condo.”
Zach set a paw on her.
“Give me a second first.”
She closed her eyes, knowing she needed to regroup a moment before they made their way down the mountain.
She tried to process everything that had transpired while it was still fresh. The black cloud had specifically made its presence in front of her. Why her? And there was little doubt it was warning her of something. She had no idea what.
It wasn’t imminent. It
was
ugly.
She shuddered and then dragged herself to her paws.
“Let’s go.”
»»•««
“Talk to us.” Zach paced back and forth in the living room. “What the hell happened back there?”
The men had graciously left her in peace on the way home, waiting until they entered the condo to start tossing out questions. She stared at Zach on the other side of the glass coffee table where he paced.
The inquisition continued without either man waiting for answers.
“Why was Melinda shifted? How did you manage to reach her?” Corbin plopped down on the black leather couch and reached for her.
Laurie ignored his outstretched hand and stood across from him, watching Zach pace. “She wasn’t shifted.”
“What the fuck?” Zach stopped moving abruptly and stared at her.
“She was cooking dinner.” As if anyone needed to know that detail.
“Laurie?” Corbin prodded, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.
“I don’t know what to say. I reached out, and she responded. I suspect she dropped something in the kitchen, actually. And in addition, the moment we connected, you two were blocked out. So were Trace and Keegan.”
“I’ve heard of blocking people from hearing things, but being blocked by nature to zone in on one single being? That’s crazy.” Zach rubbed his brow with one hand in confusion.
“Yeah. Trust me. It was weird. I’m going to go to her shop tomorrow and talk to her more, but for now, suffice to say, we’re being warned.”
“About what?” Corbin asked.
“No fucking clue. If I knew that, we’d be golden. I just get the ominous feeling that we need to take heed. Something’s about to happen. Whatever it is, we need to do something.”
Zach wrapped his arms around Laurie, calming her instantly. “We’ll figure it out, baby.” He kissed her temple.
“Come here.” Corbin reached out toward her again. “I need to be closer to you.”
Zach released her, and she headed toward Corbin. When his hands landed on her hips, she calmed again. Something about their touch.
Suddenly she needed more. She needed them inside her. Maybe it would ground her to press their bodies together. Reconnect. Become one.
Or maybe it was simply part of the newness of their mating that hadn’t abated since last week. Either way, she wanted the intimacy Fate had driven her to crave almost nonstop lately.
∙
•
∙
Corbin was startled when Laurie suddenly grabbed the hem of her shirt and dragged it over her head. She dropped it on the floor and popped the clasp on her bra without taking her gaze off him.
He swallowed. No matter how many times he’d seen her naked in the last week, he was still mesmerized by her beauty. He adjusted his cock inside his jeans as she lowered the zipper on hers and slipped out of them, taking her thong with her pants.
“Jeans off,” she said.
Corbin kicked off his shoes and then lifted his hips and eased his jeans over his cock hastily, like a teenage boy. He whipped his shirt off next.
Before he knew what to expect, Laurie climbed onto his lap and immediately lowered herself onto his cock.
His groan filled the room as he gripped her ass cheeks and held her steady. “Jesus, babe.”
She smiled as she tipped her head back and exposed her delectable neck to his mouth.
Corbin closed the distance and nibbled a path from her shoulder to her ear. “You taste divine.”
“Mmm.” She leaned farther over his shoulder, nudging his mouth out of the way. When she lifted off his stiff cock and thrust back down, he let his head roll onto the back of the couch.
Zach was there, he realized. And he had his hands threaded in Laurie’s hair, holding her head steady. He leaned forward and captured her mouth with his, deepening the kiss while Corbin watched.
Amazingly, there was no jealously between the three of them. Laurie looked so fucking hot with Zach that Corbin enjoyed watching the two of them together almost as much as he liked to have her for himself.
In the last week, they had taken her in so many positions, there was little left to explore. She’d been with both of them every night and most mornings. He and Zach had also had several opportunities to take her alone.
Laurie snaked her arms up Corbin’s biceps and over his head to reach for Zach behind the couch. She broke the kiss as she clasped his ass. “Step closer,” she muttered.
Zach closed the gap, and Laurie wasted no time closing her lips over his rigid length and sucking him in deep.
Zach moaned, but the sound was almost lost in Corbin’s own groan of excitement. Her full pink lips were amazing. Kissable. Fuckable. Sexy.
He almost forgot about his own cock buried inside her tight pussy.
And then she moved, lifting off him again and slamming back down without losing contact with Zach’s shaft.
The three of them were like a perfectly aligned puzzle in any position. So fucking hot.
As if she’d fucked them in this particular arrangement every day for the last several years, she moved like a pro, lifting and lowering herself while bobbing on and off Zach’s cock.
Zach gripped her shoulders while Corbin squeezed her ass cheeks so hard she would probably bruise. He wanted to slip one hand between them and stroke her clit, but she didn’t appear to need the stimulation. If her constant moaning was anything to judge by, she was close. In fact, she rocked her pussy back and forth as she ground down on him, perfecting the friction.
When she came, she was magnificent, pressing her sex as hard as possible against the base of his cock. She stiffened as her pussy pulsed around his rigid length, but she didn’t break contact with Zach.
Amazingly, she continued to suckle him. It was so fucking hot, Corbin nearly came from watching.
Suddenly, as her orgasm subsided, she sucked Zach deep, her cheeks hollowing, and picked up the pace, bouncing up and down over Corbin’s dick faster, forcing him to grit his teeth as he watched her tits bounce between them.
He dug his fingers into her ass and held on for the ride.
And what a ride.
Corbin couldn’t hold off another second when Zach tipped his head back and muttered, “Laurie… Baby…”
Corbin came right on the heels of Zack, filling their sweet mate simultaneously and once again staking their undisputed claim over her body.
Instead of heading straight to Melinda’s shop the next morning, Laurie decided to take Corbin’s advice and seek out job opportunities on the reservation. She did a quick computer search and found four preschools near Sojourn. That seemed like the best place to start.
At the first place, a young girl who couldn’t have been over eighteen was at the front desk. She smiled politely but said they weren’t currently hiring.
The older woman whom she met at the second place looked at her over her reading glasses skeptically and pursed her lips before finally asking a shocking question. “Are you from around here?”
“No. But my family is. You might know my grandmother, Mimi Bartel.”
The woman stopped shuffling papers and frowned. “You’re Joyce’s daughter then?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“So you aren’t full Native American,” she deadpanned.
Laurie shook her head. Who the hell cared if she was half white? “Is that a requirement?”
The woman hesitated. “Not specifically, but we find our families prefer the staff be Native American. It makes their children more comfortable in their surroundings.”
“Uh huh.” Laurie was too stunned to comment. She plastered on a fake smile and thanked the woman for her time.
She had leaden feet when she walked into the next preschool. And she instantly knew she was blacklisted.
Fuck
.
The woman who greeted her smiled kindly, but totally fake. She was closer to Laurie in age. She’d been warned of Laurie’s arrival. Seriously? Was this town completely out of their mind? Racism? This was the twenty-first century. How could all these businesses get away with denying her employment because of the mixed color of her skin?