Gale, Avery - Jenna's Submission [The ShadowDance Club 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More)

JENNA’S SUBMISSION

The ShadowDance Club 2

AVERY GALE

Copyright © 2013

Chapter 1

Jenna Lamont pulled her baby-blue 1967 Triumph Spitfire off the side of the drive leading to ShadowDance and for several long minutes just tried to steel herself for what she knew would be a very long few days with her family. Oh, she loved them all more than life itself, but there was a lot about her they didn’t know, and keeping secrets was exhausting when your older twin brothers were Dominants, and virtually impossible when their best friend and chief of security was the only man to ever completely unnerve the unflappable and independent woman that she had always considered herself to be. Running her hands absently over her little pride and joy’s soft white leather interior as she admired the details of the imposing steel gates blocking her entrance, Jenna had to admit, the entrance’s overhaul was truly jaw-dropping. Looking to the left, Jenna felt tears sting the backs of her eyes as she saw that her brothers, Alex and Zach, had done the one thing she’d asked of them when they had broached the subject of a major overhaul of the entire property at a Lamont Holdings, Inc. Board of Directors meeting three years earlier.

Membership on the Lamont Industries Board of Directors was a bit of a family joke, since the entire conglomerate was still entirely privately held and her parents, Daniel and Catherine Lamont, her brothers and their new wife, Katarina, and Jenna were the entire board. And although technically her father was still CEO, he stepped back further each year, allowing his children to each head areas of the Holdings Co., as it was affectionately dubbed, that they had a particular interest in. Jenna had often wondered whether she and her brothers had become interested in “their areas,” as Dad called them, or if her parents had created those “areas” based on their abilities and interests. Shaking off her mental meanderings, Jenna stepped out of the little classic car she treated more like a child than a mode of transportation. When they had said they planned to remodel everything, including the front entrance, Jenna had asked her brothers to leave Henry’s Gatehouse intact.

Henry Lott’s wife, Sherry, had been her father’s secretary for over forty years before her passing when Jenna was in high school. Sherry and Henry had moved with her parents to the mountain when her brothers were first born. Daniel had not wanted his children to be raised in the city and had built what he’d called a mountain retreat on ShadowDance Mountain. The mountain had been a part of local folklore for a more than a hundred years. Tribal elders had always said it was a place for spiritual rejuvenation where the Great Spirit came down to Earth to celebrate and dance in the shadows of the mountain splendor. Legend or not, Jenna knew to the bottom of her heart that this would always be her home, and that this was the one place she could return to renew her tired soul. That didn’t mean the place didn’t have its thorns, namely Colt Matthews. Her brothers had first brought their team leader home the Christmas of Jenna’s junior year of high school, and she had developed a crush to end all crushes in the seven short days he’d spent with her family. He’d been tall, dark, handsome, mysterious, and dangerous, every teen girl’s dream.

Colt had to have known. God, she’d followed him around like a lab puppy. He’d treated her like an annoying kid sister, teasing her even more than her brothers had. Jenna had always been close to both of her brothers, and she had always been the one who stressed that, even though they were mirror images of each other, their personalities were very different, and her relationship with each of them was unique as a result. Alex had always been the more alpha of the two very alpha brothers. Alex was the thinker, the planner, the rule maker, and rule follower. There had always been very little in Alex’s world that wasn’t either clearly black or clearly white. When someone had a problem that needed a well-thought-out solution, they went to Alex first.

Zach, on the other hand, was the more reflective of the twins. Zach often judged a situation or person with his heart. Anyone needing to just talk it out or a shoulder to cry on always went to Zach. Now that they were both married to her best friend, Kat, she had to wonder how Kat navigated the stormy waters that often surrounded the two brothers. Smiling to herself, Jenna had every confidence in Kat…Hell, Kat had practically grown up at ShadowDance she’d spent so much time here, so it wasn’t like she hadn’t known what she was getting into marrying those two yahoos!

Jenna’s thinking came back to Henry, who had always been the caretaker of the grounds, but after Sherry lost her battle with cancer, Henry’s health had also begun to fail. Henry and Sherry had become a part of the Lamonts’ extended family. They even lived in a small house Daniel and Catherine had built for them behind the main house. When Henry had gotten to the point that he wasn’t able to maintain the grounds any longer, he had told Jenna’s parents he felt he should “probably just move to that old folks’ home in town.” Catherine Lamont had stalled while Daniel had built a small gatehouse beside the entrance at the base of the long, winding drive leading to ShadowDance. Within weeks her parents were suddenly
very concerned
with “security” and installed huge steel gates that could be opened from inside the small gatehouse that they begged Henry to man. Jenna had always known deep down that the threats to their security had either been completely manufactured or grossly exaggerated by her parents in order to keep Henry close to the only family he had left. Henry had faithfully driven his enclosed ATV to the gatehouse to protect “his peoples” every day until his death three years ago. Her brothers had waited until after Henry’s passing to install all the electronic surveillance equipment that was now used to make sure their family and Club members were safe.

Jenna was thrilled to see her brothers had honored her request and that Henry’s Gatehouse, as it was known to everyone, sat beside the drive just as it had for so many years. Looking into the large window, Jenna felt tears roll down her cheeks when she saw a large picture of a smiling Henry hung inside the small building. The picture was one she had taken late one summer afternoon when she’d been home from college. She’d been out walking and had stopped to spend a few minutes with her beloved friend and had taken a few posed and several candid shots while they’d talked about all sorts of nothing. There was also a large bronze plaque mounted to the small stone building, the words
Henry’s Gatehouse
boldly paying homage to the man they had all loved. Jenna knew her dad had a similar picture of Sherry hanging in what had been his office and that he’d put a similar plaque on Sherry’s desk. That beautiful oak desk was now being used by Kat, who had been given the solarium just off of Alex and Zach’s office.

Jenna and Kat’s friendship had survived Kat’s run from Alex and Zach years earlier, and according to Kat, they were none too happy with their little sister when they discovered she’d known where Kat was and had been communicating with her for several years. But that communication had set the stage for Kat’s return to ShadowDance after a terrifying experience with a crazed sadist, so Jenna didn’t think they had too much to bitch about, and she’d be more than happy to explain it to them in great detail.

Jenna was very proud of Kat’s success as a web designer. Kat’s business was a wonderful creative outlet and allowed her to work from home. And God knew the Brothers Grimm, as Jenna often referred to them, weren’t going to let their pregnant wife very far from their loving care. Jenna slowly shook her head, thinking about how her future niece or nephew was going to have two daddies that never missed a trick and worked from home. Poor kid was never going to get away with a thing! Sighing softly to herself, she moved back toward her car. Might as well head on up to the mansion on the hill and find out what could be so important that she’d been called home from halfway around the world. The telegram she’d received from Alex had only said that it was imperative that she attend the next board meeting and given her details of the travel arrangements he’d already made for her. She still shook her head at the message’s last word. It was so typical Alex…
nonnegotiable.

* * * *

The top floor of the ShadowDance Club housed what was known as the Crow’s Nest. The Crow’s Nest was the security and electronics hub for the entire ShadowDance property. Every hidden camera, every security device used funneled directly into this central monitoring location. The Eye in the Sky, as it was sometimes referred to because of their link to numerous military satellites, was always staffed by at least two men, and during Club events, there was at least one additional “watcher” helping keep an eye on the dozens of monitors wirelessly connected to the hundreds of cameras that covered every inch of the property both inside and out. The only place not monitored full time was the suite, which was a group of rooms at one end of the mansion’s second floor that was the private area used by Alex and Zach, The Club’s owners, and their wife, Katarina. Colt Matthews was the chief of security, but the Crow’s Nest was Mitch Grayson’s domain. Grayson had been a part of the “teams” and had been recruited by the Lamonts as soon as they learned he hadn’t re-upped with Uncle Sam after his last tour.

Colt knew Jenna was due to return anytime, so he made sure he was in the Crow’s Nest so he’d have a chance to observe her before she made it up to the “house.” He’d always found it amusing that the Lamont family members all referred to their sprawling mansion as just a house. His team referred to it by the much more accurate term, “mansion.” Good Lord, the place was enormous. The suite alone was larger than most single-family homes. Colt was brought out of his musings when he saw Jenna’s classic sports car pull up and park off to the side of the front gate. What the hell was the little hellion up to now?