Chapter 11
Werewolves were real, and my life was ruined. But at least I had a nice cup of oolong and was the juicy center of a hot guy sandwich. Look on the bright side and all that.
Another bright side was that I had run out of fucks to give about how the woman who walked into the wolves’ house saw my juicy sandwich center ass on the couch in my pajamas, wedged between Dom and Ellis.
She had sharp blue eyes just like Ellis, and I saw the family resemblance in the cheekbones too.
Her look around the room was the cataloging kind, like a health inspector in a fast-food joint looking for rat poop.
I very much tried not to feel like rodent droppings, doubly grateful now for my bath earlier.
“Ellie,” she said, taking another step forward. I wasn’t sure what invisible boundary she had crossed, but all of a sudden Dom was growling louder than before, and Lincoln had stepped forward to block her. Or rather, he stepped in front of me. To block her from getting to me. What the fuck?
“Is she going to eat me?” I’d learned to do quick mental edits before I spoke, but I was so very much out of fucks to give.
Dom snorted. “She can try.”
The woman tsked. “Back down, boys. I’m not going to eat your human. I just wanted to get a good look at him.”
Linc huffed. “He’s our mate, Vi. You can see him fine from where you are.”
I only saw Linc’s back—a very well-proportioned back—but the tension in the air made it feel like the bit in cowboy movies when everyone had their guns out and was aiming at everyone else. The Mexican standoff or whatever. I wasn’t sure what Mexico had to do with it.
I rolled my eyes. I wanted to walk away, but Dom and Ellis had their arms around me, and I was pretty sure moving would be a big no-no in their werewolf book. I sighed. At least there was oolong. I sipped some of that. It was the best thing.
“Fine.” The woman took a slow, deliberate step back, and Linc stepped aside, though he remained standing, presumably ready to confront this mysterious Vi in order to protect me, even though she didn’t want to eat me. Yeah, life made sense out here in the woods. Where the werewolves lived.
“Vi, this is Marcus,” Ellis said. “Marcus, Vi, my aunt.”
I waved at her. “Hi there. Would shake, but I’m kinda caught in the middle of something.”
Vi grinned at me, and Dom leaned farther into my space. “Hush. She’s not touching you. Don’t encourage it.”
“Why the fuck do you think you have any say in who gets to touch me and who doesn’t?”
The heat in my words surprised me. I immediately blamed Steven, and also, maybe, potentially werewolf serial killers were a thing and I was protecting myself? I pushed the feelings of guilt over snapping at Dom away. I tried to.
Dom frowned, but he didn’t budge.
“He didn’t mean it like that, Marcus.” Ellis’s voice was all seductive and rumbly in his large chest.
“Well, he does a little bit.” Vi’s words prompted more growling from Dom. Vi ignored it and went on. “When an alpha finds their mate, letting someone else near them can be extremely uncomfortable, especially if the bond isn’t completed.”
Linc took a step toward her. “Damn it, Viola. This is none of your business. We just found Marcus yesterday.”
“So I’ve been told.” Her blue eyes focused on me.
“Tell me, Marcus. What were you doing out in the woods?” The tone of voice suggested she knew I’d done something.
I wasn’t sure what she thought I had been up to while blindly stumbling about and nearly breaking my neck, but once more, no fucks in the tank whatsoever.
I shrugged. “Oh, you know. Summoning the goat-horned one to give me power. What else does anyone do out in the woods? How’s that bond thing completed? I’m guessing not by true love’s kiss.”
Dom chuckled. “That’s our boy. Goat-horned one. Cute.”
I looked at him. “You tell me how that bond you say we have is completed, then, if I’m so cute.”
Yup, that wiped the grin right off his face, and I felt a bit guilty all over again. He’d brought me the tea, and he’d fed me waffles earlier. Damn, he’d all but cut them up for me and hand-fed me. I’d had to take the cutlery from him to stop that from happening.
Before Dom could answer me, Vi said, “By a mating bite. Was there anyone else in the woods with you yesterday?”
I gaped at her. “No, there was no one in the fucking woods with me. Also, no one is fucking biting me, are we clear on that?”
Ellis did his cooing thing again. “We wouldn’t do anything like that without your consent.”
Lincoln grunted in agreement. “No, we’d never. And we’d have preferred to explain it to you ourselves.”
Dom flinched. “Wait. Oh, shit. Shit. There was a dead wolf in the woods, not too far away from where we found Marcus. He was shot.”
That got Vi’s attention, and her scalpel eyes were on Dom rather than me for a change. “You didn’t think to tell me this?”
Dom ground his teeth. “I… Shit. I forgot to tell anyone. Marcus was hurt, and I was awake all night watching over him, you know? I was worried.”
Vi sighed and put her hands on her hips. “Okay, fine. You still should’ve called me, but I get it.” Just like that, she took her jacket off and went to unbutton her blouse. “Show me where you found the wolf.”
“Nope. Sorry, no. Can’t do boobs.” I wiggled out from between the two wolves. Or tried to. The blouse was about to drop, and I had to leave.
Lincoln stepped in front of Vi again. “If you could do that outside?”
She snorted but stopped with the buttons. “The human should get used to it.”
“But the human doesn’t want to get used to it. The human doesn’t want to rub the lotion on its skin.”
Dom ran his hand up my spine, looking a tiny bit perplexed. Or no, happily amused. His touch felt like praise, which was weird.
“What lotion? Are you sure his head is okay?” There was genuine concern in Vi’s voice. Perhaps if I died here, she’d have to help dig the grave or something.
Lincoln clicked his tongue. “It’s a movie reference.”
She groaned. “Fuck me. Another dork.”
“Hey!” at least two of the wolves said.
Dom’s eyes were on me, his hand still stroking, still praising.
“I’ll show you if you can stop upsetting Marcus.
And, Marcus, I really want to complete our mate bond, but only if you want to.
If you ask me to.” Then, because apparently my life wasn’t weird enough, he leaned in and kissed me on the forehead.
“Goat-horned one. I love it. I’ll be back soon. ”
The werewolf presence on my right vanished, and I was left an open-faced sandwich. Hmm. It had been nice, sitting wedged between Dom and Ellis, there was no denying that. Ellis alone next to me was still nice, but one wolf on each side had been nicer. Damn. What was I even thinking?
Linc ushered Vi and Dom—probably more Vi than Dom—toward the back door, and Ellis pulled me closer to him. In fact, he pulled me right into his lap.
“She likes you,” he whispered in my ear.
I’d had a shitty day. Was it wrong to want a good book to curl up with, a fantasy world to escape into? I didn’t have that. All I had was a large werewolf to curl up against. It was something, and I took it.
I’d fallen asleep pretty much as soon as my head hit that warm werewolf chest, so I was a little alarmed when I woke up and found myself in bed, under the covers with…
I wasn’t even sure. I wiggled away from whoever was holding me and looked around.
This room was larger than the one I’d been in before, and the bed was larger too.
“It’s okay. You’re safe.”
Linc’s voice, belonging to the person whose arm was draped around my middle. That meant at some point, I’d been handed off from one werewolf to another. I really wasn’t sure fever and a cold excused that kind of treatment.
I coughed, my throat dry. “I was thinking more along the lines of—where am I?”
“You’re in my bed. We felt you’d be safer upstairs.”
That explained nothing, but before I could point that out, the door opened, and a sliver of light drifted into the room, along with two large shapes. Dom and Ellis.
What time was it? Had they just woken up as well and decided to crawl into this bed? Because that was what they were doing. Where was Vi? When had Dom gotten back from his naked hike into the woods to look at a dead wolf?
Those were all excellent questions, but also, I was tired. Everything still sort of hurt, but at least I was warm—even warmer when a second set of arms came around my middle.
“Go back to sleep,” Ellis said from my other side. I was still dressed. A part of me was disappointed, and another part of me was wondering whether all of them were naked. That meant that most of me was inappropriately horny.
It didn’t help that, as close as we were, it was impossible not to touch, and I had to put my hands somewhere. Since I was lying on my side, my back to Lincoln, they sort of ended up on Ellis’s chest.
That placement was very much not conducive to going back to sleep.
Ellis was shirtless and firm, just like a werewolf from a movie.
I’d seen Lincoln without his clothes, and Dom too—the ginger had trouble keeping his clothes on for longer than a few hours from what I’d gathered—Ellis, I’d only imagined.
Right now, I was imagining being able to see more than an outline of him.
My palm was flat on his pec, and the pad of my thumb had inadvertently come to rest on his nipple.
Talk about awkward. Talk about erotic. He went still under my touch, and I became very aware that I was in bed with three hot guys—every gay man’s dream.
My cock decided that was a fabulous thing and totally worth a thumbs-up.
Three hot werewolves and a hard-on might have made a killer title for my memoir. In reality, it was one awkward situation. Just my luck.