Seduced by Wolves (6 page)

“If you force me to choose between you
two,” Zane whispered into his ear low enough the other wolves
wouldn’t hear, “I’ll ignore the mating pull no matter how
destructive I become. I won’t give you up. Take Selena with
me.”

Outraged Zane would place the burden of
Pack survival on his shoulders, he ripped his hand free and brought
Zane back down beside him with a swift chop of his arm. The
metallic scent of blood coated the air as he rested his claws
directly beside his lover’s carotid. “You’re a bloody idiot,
Zane.”

He watched the normally warm brown eyes
of his partner turn cold as they narrowed and waited. A detached
piece of him knew he’d pay for insulting his Alpha in public.
“She’s your mate,” Cory pointed to Selena with his free hand.
“Yours.” He growled.

The sacred mating bond existed between
two individuals. No threesome possible. No matter what trash Zane
mouthed, he craved Selena, needed her to stay in his life. Cory
wouldn’t ruin that by tarnishing their time together. It took a
certain kind of woman to accept two powerful, demanding men and she
wasn’t it.

And he knew firsthand that hoping for
it to be otherwise would end up in disaster.

“She’s either both of ours or neither
of ours. Your choice, love.”

Gritting his teeth against the hunger
he experienced as the Alpha refused to exclude him, he shook his
head and growled. His wolf wanted to believe. To trust their
leader. When another of Selena’s whimpers carried to his ears, he
pulled his claws back, fearful of scaring her away. The Pack
desperately needed her healing touch. Zane took the moment’s
reprieve to knock him sideways and scramble to his
knees.

“Mate her,” Cory demanded
roughly.

Zane leaned back on his haunches,
retracting his claws to swipe at the blood dripping from his hard
chest. Cory knew he was furious as hell for fighting him here, for
dragging their private matters in front of the Pack’s
impressionable youth with Selena watching. But dammit, their
stubborn, thick-headed leader needed to address this.

“Make me,” Zane taunted with a devilish
grin, clearly enjoying a win in their tête-à-tête.

Ignoring the rules governing the
training circle, Cory shifted into his wolf form, fully intending
to do exactly what Zane asked despite the pain numbing his hands
and legs from breaking the magic of the circle. Before he could
prowl closer, Selena burst into the ring, throwing herself between
the two predators.

“Knock it off this instant,” she
shouted, her face flush from either fear or anger. More likely a
healthy combination of both.

Chapter Six

Selena peered down at the magnificent
wolf before her, her anger cooling as she probed the depths of
Cory’s remarkable gold eyes. They were hauntingly familiar to those
of the man and the pain clouding the edges squeezed her
heart.

“Show’s over boys,” Zane’s voice was
hard steel behind her. “Ian, get them out of here.”

She waited while the group of boys
shuffled away, never taking her gaze from Cory’s. She knew they
fought over her—hell, every youth and hunter here did—and couldn’t
believe how ridiculous the whole situation was. Claws, blood,
snarling teeth.

Sometimes men made no sense at
all.

But as she stared into the concerned
gold orbs of the man who drove her delirious this morning with
mind-blowing pleasure, she understood his anger. Zane’s firm hand
stroked down her back, resting at the curve above her hip. She
shivered at the possessive touch, her body waking for more. From
him. He leaned down and nipped her ear lobe before resting his
forehead on her shoulders. Her stomach clenched.

“Are you hurt, Zane?” Her voice cracked
with worry, fear evident in every soft syllable.

He squeezed her hip, drawing her tight
to him. Possessive. Hungry. Like a dominant lover comfortable in
his own skin. “No,” he whispered, breathing hot puffs of air across
her exposed neck.

Selena stepped away from his comforting
presence, simply knowing what it was that needed to be done. “I’d
like to talk to Cory alone then.”

Surprisingly, Zane pulled back,
trailing his fingers down her arm before stepping away. The loss of
his heat was substantial, but she stood still wanting to make this
right. Needing to. When she finally tore her gaze from the wolf,
she was shocked by the tenderness in her mate’s dark eyes. It was
almost possible to believe he admired her, loved her even. Just
like that. Fate.

Forever.

“I’m going to wash up,” he said after a
silent moment. He turned to Cory. “Be stubborn all you want but
don’t leave her alone. That’s a fucking order from your Alpha if
you need clarification.”

With that he left the training area,
leaving Selena standing beside a beautiful gray and white wolf
nearly as tall as she. Hands on her hips, she narrowed her eyes.
“Shift back and let me see your injury right this minute,
Cory.”

A marvelous flash of sparkly white
followed her demand and in the next second Cory knelt on the hard
ground, naked as the day he was born. She blushed a crimson red
taking in every inch of tanned, hardened muscle sculpting the man
before her. And there was plenty to feast on.

“I didn’t realize you’d be naked.” She
whispered, breathless.

Expecting a teasing smile, she was
disappointed when he pushed his bloody hand toward her without a
word. Frowning at the tension vibrating like a ticking bomb between
them, she asked “can I clean it or do you just want me to touch the
wound like the boys did?”

Selena had been surprised by the young
wolves’ requests. Naturally they healed faster than humans and Zane
had been careful to just surface scratch most of them but they all
requested she touch the wound. It was as if they believed her warm
contact would help them heal.

“Both.”

She retrieved a nearby water bottle and
dumped a generous amount of cool liquid over his skinned hand to
clear both blood and dirt. Using her shirt, and old one of Zane’s,
she wiped carefully at the wound, tears burning the corners of her
eyes. His pain was her fault and knowing that horrified
her.

“I’m sorry, Cory.”

She lifted his injured hand to her
lips, placing a slow, tender kiss across each of the jagged ridges
of his knuckles. The gashes sliced across the length of his hand
but it was clear Zane hadn’t held him too tight. She couldn’t bear
the thought of them beating each other up further.

This wasn’t what I meant when I dreamed
of being the center of their attentions.

“You have nothing to apologize for,
little one.”

He lifted his uninjured hand to her
face, catching her tears from rolling to her lips. She shivered as
his rough fingertips lingered, leaning her cheek into his palm and
sighing. “I’ve upset things between you and Zane.”

Biting her lip to keep back a sob, she
pulled a bandage out of her pocket and distracted herself by
wrapping it around his marred hand. Cory continued to smooth his
fingers over her face as she worked, catching the tears that just
wouldn’t stop.

Both he and Zane cared so deeply about
her feelings, her comfort and security. She’d never experienced
such a connection before, no matter how hungry she’d been to find
one. Their tenderness moved her like nothing else.

“It was bound to happen sooner or
later, Selena. We both knew you were out there.”

Selena closed both her hands around
Cory’s bandaged one, letting her warmth soak into him. He closed
his eyes and she watched him take a deep breath. This powerful,
handsome man fought over her. For her. Trailing her fingertips to
his, she let go. “Why were you two looking for me?”

Cory opened his eyes slowly, as if her
touch left him drugged. But her warmth hadn’t placated his pain as
it did with the others. His hazel eyes, rimmed with sorrow,
tormented her. Her desire to comfort rushed back to the
surface.

“The Pack is hurting, Selena. An
Alpha’s mate fills the role as Pack healer. Not just our physical
wounds either.”

His words were a hoarse whisper, and
deep down she knew he’d done everything in his power to make it
otherwise. Moved, she closed his fingers in hers, squeezing against
his hurt. “When you touched the boys today, you soothed something
inside them. I can’t wear those shoes.”

She stared stunned until Cory scanned
the vicinity around them. Certainly this powerful, considerate,
passionate man didn’t find himself inadequate? Yet the sheer misery
in his voice could not be ignored. With gentle strokes, she
smoothed her fingers higher, past his wrists and over the roped
muscle of his forearms.

Whatever guilt he carried, whatever
doubts he had over his ability to be the man Zane needed and she
wanted, Selena would purge because nobody had ever cared so deeply
for her or treated her with such tenderness. She would not let
anyone leave Cory behind—the sadness and fear of having been in his
same situation hardening her determination.

But if she was meant to be the Pack
healer, then—“Would Zane mate me just for duty?”

Cory dropped his gaze back to hers, the
gold flecks of his eyes shimmering. As if sensing her inner
struggle, knowing that his answer could very well be the straw that
broke the camel’s back, he lowered his lips to her forehead and
gently kissed her heated skin.

She shivered against the explosion
rocking her insides from the tender touch. He wrapped his firm arms
around her. “Zane’s job is to keep the Pack healthy and safe. But
you’ve captured a piece of him, Selena. One he’s never shared with
me.”

Too much hurt, fear and doubt in the
both of them, she thought. Snaking her arms around Cory’s narrow
hips, she splayed her hands over the tight muscles of his ass. “He
wants to share it with you, Cory. He’s hurting without
you.”

After being together with Zane for
multiple years, wasn’t Cory able to decipher Zane’s ferocious need
for him? In the span of less than twenty-four hours, Selena already
picked up on the deep bond these two men shared. As easily as she
picked up on their simmering tension.

“I won’t come between you two,” she
whispered into the warm skin of his chest.

Cory stiffened and stepped away,
scrubbing his eyes with his hands. When she stepped forward, he
backed away, shaking his head. “You don’t realize what you’re
asking.”

His voice was rough, shaky, as if at
any moment he would simply fall apart. “Have you ever been in a
threesome before?”

Was he simply over-concerned for her?
She shook her head softly and took another step, reaching out and
circling his wrist with her thin fingers. “You’re worried you’ll
hurt me.”

He let out a cynical laugh, his eyes
blazing with some dark emotion she didn’t understand. She pressed
closer, determined to abolish his lingering doubt, to secure this
man in her life because suddenly she knew it would never be the
same without him.

“More like start a jealous feud when
you decide later you don’t want to share his love” he grated
through clenched teeth.

Selena frowned before sliding her
tongue over his collarbone, the highest point she could reach
without him bending lower. Every word had been torn from him, his
heart still bleeding from whatever happened in his past. “You
forget I’m not a wolf. Share is in my vocabulary. And I’m fairly
certain there’s enough of this particular Alpha to go
around.”

Cory shivered against her then gripped
her arms tight and tugged her off him. The look in his quickly
darkening eyes burned a hole right through her. “Don’t say that,
Selena. I’m serious. I love Zane to death and if you didn’t enjoy
both of us that first time, it would kill him. He will not
willingly let either of us go. Ever.”

Slipping his hand lower to twine their
fingers together, he stepped away and began pulling her across the
deserted vacant lot. He paused when they reached the property line,
rifling through a series of storage benches until finding a pair of
jeans his size. Heat flooded her cheeks as she watched him pull the
rigid denim over his tanned, sculpted calves and thighs. Warmth
pooled at the apex of her thighs as she raked her gaze over his
hardened shaft, the tip glistening with promise. She swallowed as
moisture soaked her panties.

Cory’s gaze was near feral when he
snapped it back to hers. It took her a moment to realize he could
scent her arousal. If that was the case then certainly he would
understand that she wasn’t afraid of either of them, right? If only
he knew how desperately she ached to be loved so thoroughly, to
bask in a ray of the love they shared for each other.

He slipped on a pair of jogging shoes
before standing upright before her. When he held out his roughened
hand, Selena extended hers and immediately found herself tucked
against the hard planes of his bare chest. Despite the cool
weather, his skin burned hot. “Could you ever love me like you love
Zane?”

She shivered as his fingers pushed up
her spine to tangle into the thick ends of her long hair. Pressed
so intimately together, she could still feel his erection throbbing
behind the barrier of denim. His hesitation to answer only
intensified her worry. What would she do if he said no? She
couldn’t come between him and Zane which left only one
alternative.