Betraying the Pack (12 page)

Then there was Jaxon. While he drove the others nuts, he provided a
much-needed comic relief to their more serious demeanors. He quite honestly
cracked her up, and while his timing wasn’t always the best, she truly enjoyed
that about him. It didn’t hurt that he looked like yummy chocolate candy too.
She couldn’t deny her attraction to him, and her intrigue at his repeated hints
at a fivesome. Was such a combination even possible?

And would Wyatt or Gavin allow it?

Oh my God, what is happening with
me? A few days ago, I’d never have even contemplated taking more than one man
at a time to bed, and now I’m planning on four.
The realization shook her.
It seemed as if they’d placed her under a spell that lowered her morals and
made her want to do things, taboo things. As if a veil lifted from her eyes,
she resolved to slow things down. There was no need to be hasty. After all, she
had Gavin to satisfy her needs. If these men truly wanted her, they could wait
as she settled into her new life and decided if she wanted to keep it.

“Something’s changed about you,”
Gavin said to Wyatt a few hours into their journey. Up to that point, they’d carefully
watched for signs of pursuit and called in a report to Nathan. According to
their leader, the rogue incidences seemed to have stopped for the moment, but
it wasn’t news Gavin or his pack brother celebrated, not when it coincided with
their rescue of Bailey.

Could Roderick have banded all the rogues and set them on our trail?

It made his blood run cold to
even think it. He kept in regular contact with Parker, ahead of them with his
precious mate, but he wouldn’t breathe easy until they’d caught up.

“What makes you think
anything’s different?” Wyatt asked, turning to face him.

“You seem more relaxed for one,
and you’ve stopped making smart-ass remarks about my mate.”

A smile ghosted over his
friend’s lips. “Let’s just say, I think I might have found what’s been missing
in my life.”

“For real? So you admit she’s
your mate too.” A touch of chagrin touched him that he wouldn’t get Bailey to
himself for much longer, but the gladness that knowing his best friend would
end up as part of his mating group more than compensated for it.

“Yes, but I’m content to wait
until she’s ready to accept me.”

“Okay, who the hell are you,
and what have you done with my best friend? Seriously, man, since when are you
so Zen-like?”

“Since I met the right woman
and realized a few truths about myself. Now shut up before I make you eat my
fist.”

“That’s more like it,” Gavin
said laughing. “On another note, what are we going to do about the full moon
tonight?” While adult Lycans could control their beast side on full moons, it
didn’t mean they didn’t crave, and need, to run wild under its luminous glow.

“We’ll have to take turns, I
guess.”

Gavin frowned. “So, what, one
of us goes for a run at a time?”

“Or a pair. If we don’t go far,
then we’ll be close if something were to happen.”

“Okay, then if we go with that
scenario, then we’ll let Jaxon go for a run first, since he’s the youngest and
will have the hardest time fighting the impulse to shift. We’ll send Parker
with him. Once he’s blown off a bit of steam, you and I will let our wolves out
and run in widening circles around the camp, keeping an eye out for rogues
until it’s time to swap places again.”

“You don’t think we’ve lost
them?”

“Ever get the feeling that
danger is lurking just out of sight? My gut is telling me they’re out there,
just waiting for their moment to swoop in. And what better time than the full
moon, when our beasts are at their strongest and most distracted?”

“I won’t argue with your gut
instinct. It’s saved our asses more than once. So, we’ll take turns running
with the moon and patrolling. What about Bailey?”

“What about her?”

“She was asking me yesterday to
shift in front of her. I refused, not wanting her to start shrieking again,

but . . .” Wyatt paused, and
concern creased his face. “Are we gonna let her see us in all our glory, or are
we doing it out of sight so as to not freak her?”

Lucky for him, Gavin had spent
time pondering this question, so he had a ready answer. “The sooner she gets
used to it, the better. We’ll be in the compound by tomorrow afternoon. Better
she gets over her shock now, in private, with us, than with the whole pack.”

“Good point.”

After that, they lapsed into
silence again, although Gavin’s thoughts were anything but. Yesterday, so much
happened that he still hadn’t processed it all. He’d bitten Bailey and forged a
blood bond, which he then cemented with the most glorious lovemaking he could
have imagined. It annoyed him that a morning repeat ended up interrupted by
Jaxon, but then again, he couldn’t fault the pup, not when he knew his three
pack mates were all itching to bind themselves to her and have a taste of their
own.

It pleased him to no end to
know Wyatt was slowly coming around. Not all matings were lucky enough to have
a bond of friendship beforehand. Personally, he thought it made the transition
for sharing something so intimate as a woman, and a home, much easier. Knowing
she might also end up choosing Parker and Jaxon also didn’t bother him as much
as he’d feared. They were men he trusted with his own life, and seeing the protective
expressions that had taken up residence on their faces since Bailey had come
into their lives, he knew he could trust her well-being with them.

And as for
really
sharing her, while Gavin might have joked with Wyatt about
them taking her at the same time, it was only one step from there to wondering
about them all coming together in an orgy of bodies. The idea intrigued him.
While touching another man held no appeal, he’d found just watching Wyatt
kissing Bailey yesterday, as he pleasured her, one of the most erotic
experiences of his life. He could only imagine how much more titillating it
would be to have more than one man driving her over the edge.

But he was getting ahead of
himself. That type of scenario still remained far in the future, so in the
meantime, he’d enjoy his one-on-one time with Bailey. Learning her luscious
body . . . tasting her unique flavor . . .

“Would you stop it already?”
Wyatt’s gruff voice broke into his sensual reverie.

“What?”

“You and that silly grin on
your face are going to wrap us around a tree. Keep your mind on the business at
hand.”

“But it’s my business to think
of new ways of pleasuring my mate.”

“Now you sound like Jaxon.”

“Brother, that was so uncalled
for. And I have been paying attention, enough to know we’re being followed.”

“What!” Wyatt craned in his seat
and began cursing. “Fuck. Are you sure?”

“Nope, but my wolf seems to
think so.”

“What are we gonna do?”

A feral smile pulled Gavin’s
lips taut. “We ambush them first.”

Bailey couldn’t help from
lighting up when she saw Gavin and Wyatt strutting into the roadside diner. It
especially pleased her that their grim expressions melted into warm smiles of
welcome upon seeing her. In short order, she found herself squished in the
center of the U-shaped booth, ringed by men. It was enough to render a woman
breathless—and make her girly parts moisten.

As the new arrivals ordered,
Bailey frowned, noting some contusions on their knuckles and faces, marks that
seemed days old, but which she knew neither had sported that morning.

“What happened to you?”

Stretching his arm across the
top of her shoulders, Gavin hugged her into him. “Nothing, except I missed
you.”

“It looks like you were in a
fight.” She flicked her gaze up to him, but he met her query with a soft smile.

“Nothing Wyatt and I couldn’t
take care of. Don’t worry. You’re safe.”

“I’m not worried about my
safety,” she said, her stomach suddenly tight. “I’m worried about you all
getting hurt. Was it them? Are they following us?”

She didn’t miss the look Gavin
and Wyatt shot each other, making it easy to spot the lie when it came.

“Nope. Just some local boys who
wanted to play tough. No big deal. Happens all the time.”

Dropping her gaze, she tucked
her hands in her lap, lest they see them trembling.
Oh my God, those psychos are following us.
Despite Gavin and
Wyatt’s assurances, trepidation filled her. She couldn’t have said what she
ate, although it sat like lead in her stomach.

Exiting the diner, she didn’t
really pay attention to anything until she found herself ensconced in a
different vehicle, with Wyatt and Gavin as her new companions.

Only once they pulled onto the
road, Wyatt at the wheel, did Gavin probe her.

“What’s wrong, darling?”

“Nothing.” Apparently, he
didn’t believe her lie because he frowned at her.

“I wish you wouldn’t lie to me.”

The comment annoyed her, and it
showed in her tone when she sassed, “Funny, I could say the same thing with
your bullshit story of earlier.”

Gavin sighed and sat back,
rubbing a hand over his face.

“Just tell her the truth,”
Wyatt said quietly from the front.

“It’s all I’ve ever asked for,”
she added.

“I don’t want to scare you,
though.” Frustration threaded his reply.

“I’m already terrified, and when
you lie, it makes it worse.”

“You want the truth? Then fine.
We ran into some rogues on the road.”

Okay maybe the bald truth
wasn’t any better. She swallowed hard at the fear that suddenly made her shake
and her eyes blur.

“Ah shoot.” Brawny arms yanked
her until she sat cradled in Gavin’s lap. A hand stroked her hair as he
murmured to her. “It’s going to be all right, darling. We’re almost home, and
once inside the compound, you won’t have to worry.”

“So I’ll be a prisoner?” she asked
through a throat tight with tears.

“Of course not,” he retorted.
“Although when you do leave, for the first little while at any rate, you’ll
probably need an escort. But that’s pretty standard anyway with all the females,
to ensure their safety.”

“That still makes me sound like
a prisoner.”

“Think of it more as a precious
princess and her bodyguards.”

His analogy made her snort.
“Anyone ever tell you that you’re full of crap?”

“All the time,” Wyatt replied
dryly. “But in this case, he’s right. Besides, why carry groceries yourself
when you can get a man to do it for you?”

Since they didn’t seem worried,
perhaps she should find her courage and stop acting like such a baby. She
straightened in Gavin’s lap. “And what will you do when I need to get my hair
cut?”

“Get our nails done,” Wyatt
joked.

“Wax our backs,” Gavin added.

As the list of things they’d do
continued, getting sillier and sillier, Bailey found her tension easing, but it
never completely disappeared, not when she could see them both anxiously
glancing in the mirrors at the road behind them, looking for pursuit.

Their new campsite looked much
like the one of the night before—lots of woods, no toilets, and filled with men
who somehow seemed more vibrant than ever. Watching them from her perch as they
set up camp—her feeble attempts to help more like hindrance—she wondered what
made them seem larger than life as they stalked about, filled to the brim with a
simmering energy.

It was over a dinner of roasted
hot dogs and salad that Gavin casually dropped the bomb. “The full moon’s
tonight, so we’re going to take turns going for a run, if that’s okay?”

She almost spat out her
mouthful of food. “Say that again?”

Jaxon laughed. “When the moon
shines bright, we turn into furry frights.”

“Do you want to cuff him, or
shall I?” Parker asked Gavin quite seriously.

“Oh, don’t hit him,” she
exclaimed. “It was rather poetic.”

A trio of snorts met her words,
but Jaxon beamed. “I have another one if you like that. Roses are red, violets
are blue, your lips look so juicy, and I’ll bet your pus—”

Parker clapped his hand over
Jaxon’s mouth before he could finish. No matter, Bailey still blushed as she
giggled. She laughed even harder at the glares both Wyatt and Gavin threw his
way.

“Parker, why don’t you take
Jaxon for a walk and let his wolf pee on some trees? I mean, if he’s going to
speak like an uncouth animal, then he should act like one.”

Jaxon hung his head at their
rebuke. She thought him repentant until he winked at her. Bailey bit her lip so
as to not give him away.

When he would have left them to
do as ordered, Wyatt stopped him and addressed Gavin. “No time like the present
for her to see, don’t you think?”

Gavin shot her a look and then
nodded his head. “Jaxon, change in front of her, but no funny business, or I’ll
neuter you myself.”

“As you command, oh mighty
leader.”

A shiver of fear, or
anticipation, possibly both, went up her spine as Jaxon, with a smirk, began to
unbutton his shirt and pulled it off, revealing a smooth, cocoa-covered chest. Lean
muscles made his stomach taut and tapered down to lean hips. When she would
have looked away as his hands went to his pants, Gavin, who’d come up behind
her, tilted her head back.

“You need to watch. Within our
community, nudity is not considered taboo, not given our need to let our beasts
out to run. It’s something you need to get used to.”

Unbelievable, I’ve been commanded by my lover to watch another man
undress.
Surreal didn’t
begin to describe it, but once she allowed herself to gaze upon him with cheeks
that burned hot, she soon realized she couldn’t have dragged her gaze away even
if she wanted to. Jaxon kicked off his shoes and shucked off his slacks,
standing only in his tight emerald green briefs.