Chapter Twenty-Five
Jon’s words weighed heavily on her mind, and for the first time she felt uncomfortable. Not around them, not with them ... but just generally off, as if Jon had planted some seeds of doubt. And the twins had noticed, because something felt ... wrong.
They were acting weird. They had invited her to dinner, but truth be told, she wasn’t comfortable being seen in the city with them. Not because of them, but what would people think if they saw her flirting with two brothers? Flirting, kissing... Her mother had a name for it and it wasn’t pretty.
And she had yet to reach a conclusion about her own feelings.
It wasn’t fair for any of them if they continued in this ...
whatever the hell it was. They weren’t dating—or were they?
Was their relationship even a normal one?
They had yet to go all the way, but she had no doubts they wanted her.
The physical part was clear; they wanted her and never lost one occasion to prove it to her.
Whether surrounded by people or alone, they didn’t hesitate to kiss, flirt, and care for her as if they could never get enough of her.
They touched her, brought her to orgasm over and over again, their mouths and hands always on her, pleasuring her until she thought she would lose her mind...
But they had never completed the act. They had never once taken their cocks out and entered her.
And as for Tanya, Tara, and Evelyn ... she seriously doubted they didn’t know.
Hell, they knew and didn’t seem to care. Or think less of her for being with both brothers at the same time.
“I can hear you thinking,” said Declan, quietly.
“Share, baby girl. With words,” added Ciaran, pausing what he was doing. The way they both stopped whatever they were doing and focused their attention on her with equally rigid postures never ceased to amaze her. They were separate people, breathing and acting like one.
“I don’t... I don’t know where to start...”
“Try from the beginning. That’s usually a good place.”
“I don’t... God, this is awkward...” she whispered, hiding her face in her hands, ashamed.
Gently covering her hands with his, Declan embraced her, while Ciaran placed his hands on her waist and pulled her closer.
In their arms, it was easy to forget what she was going to say, the judgment she thought she saw in the eyes of the people on the street.
But it was there, in the back of her mind, and she needed to speak before her courage eluded her.
“I don’t know ... what is this?”
“What is what?”
“I’ve had... I... with Ciaran...”
“I know,” said Declan, perfectly calm. “And with me as well.” He smiled briefly. “I was there, remember?”
“But you... Don’t you care? This is...”
“Awkward?”
“Well, yes ... that ... and...”
“Promiscuous?”
“I was going to say a slutty thing to do, but...”
They both stood up so quickly it was as if they had been catapulted off the sofa. Ciaran had a furious look on his face, but it was Declan’s deadly air that frightened her the most.
“Who said that to you?”
“Well ... nobody, but...”
“Someone must have told you something!” Declan shouted, and how on earth was it possible for someone to shout through clenched teeth?
“It’s me, okay? I don’t know what I’m doing!” she yelled, and then opened her eyes wide in astonishment. The voice in her head was her own. Only hers. She’d let prejudice enter her mind because...
Ciaran opened his mouth to answer, but then a loud howling filled the air. Outside, several howls cut the night, and she opened her eyes wide, beginning to hyperventilate.
Ciaran’s eyes started changing from blue to yellow and Freya saw.
“You’re... You’re one of them...” she muttered and for the first time, she was afraid. No, she was terrified. She freed herself from their arms, taking several steps back, her eyes wide open. Her heart pounded erratically in her chest, and she felt herself fainting.
****
“She fears us!” cried Declan in his mind, and his voice was distorted, as his wolf was trying to take over.
“Keep your mutt down!” yelled Ciaran, but his own voice was rougher, graver, because his wolf was also close to the surface. No matter how many years they lived, they would never forget the terrified look on Freya’s face.
And then they heard it again. Howls. Outside. Nearing her house, but still on the outside.
“Fuck, they’re here!”
“Keep your motherfucking mutt down!”
****
The sound of howling filled the air, bringing with it terrible memories of nightmares. Freya gasped.
“No, no, no...”
They ... they couldn’t be. The twins ... she was falling in love with them, was divided between them, she was even feeling terrible for wanting them both ... and now ... they knew what she’d been through, they knew she was still healing ... and they ... they’d deceived her.
“No ... you won’t have me...”
“Please don’t run,” begged Declan, his voice going rougher by the second, clearly fighting his wolf to keep his human form.
“It will only bring out the hunter in them...” whispered Ciaran through clenched teeth, his veins bulging in his neck.
“No, I can’t go through this, not again...” her eyes were haunted, terrified, her mind stuck on old and painful memories. And suddenly, she wasn’t in Evelyn’s house, she was back in the forest, fighting to survive Lewis’s cruel hunting.
“You won’t have me, I won’t let you,” she whispered, her eyes filled with tears and confusion. She spun on her heels, bursting into a run across the room.
****
No sooner had she been out of the twins’ sight than they immediately lost the battle with their wolves. Fur sprouted from their skin, covering their bodies, and in the next second,
two powerful wolves leapt from the yard and chased after their mate.
“Don’t run, little one. It will only exacerbate their hunting instincts.”
“She can’t hear us!”
“Stop running!” But if Declan’s desperate yell was to his mate or his wolf, none of them knew.
She was running ahead, but in her haste and desperation, she hadn't managed to lock the door. The wolves howled and pounced on it until they managed to break it down and growled when they smelled fear in the air. They wanted to protect their mate, to annihilate evil ... and in their animal minds, they couldn’t understand that the cause of the fear and terror was them.
“No... You won’t have me... Not again, never again...” she whispered and, in the back of the wolves’ mind, they saw with astonishment that she had a gun in her hands.
When had she taken the gun? How had she managed to get it?
Her hand trembled uncontrollably, but her terrified gaze remained fixed on them as she raised it and pointed it at her own head.
One of the wolves pounced on her, knocking her down and causing the gun to accidentally discharge. The bullet shattered a lamp before lodging harmlessly in the wall, but Freya’s terrified scream was branded into the wolves’ souls.
Fear, tears, blood, dust ... confusion entered the wolf’s mind, still on top of Freya, allowing him to recede and bring back his human.
Ciaran stood naked where his wolf had been just moments ago, gently cradling his mate in his arms. While his tears showered her pale face, they left rivulets of crimson in their wake, because Freya was unconscious and bleeding from a head wound, and it was all their fault.