Penn, Jenny - Chasing Lacie [Sea Island Wolves 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (6 page)

“I’m your mate?”

“Our one and only,” Davis assured her, his breath brushing over her lips in a soft caress that was almost too good not to savor.

“Then where the hell are my flowers?” Gathering her strength, she delivered that shout along with a forceful shove. Planting two hands on Davis’s warm, smooth chest, she sent him stumbling backward before her fingertips could give in to the temptation to let her hands roam over his hard body.

“Flowers?” Davis repeated in confusion as he regained his footing. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the way you’ve been treating me.” And just having to explain it irritated her all the more.

“Baby, you should be thankful you aren’t getting the spanking you deserve.” Chance came around the edge of truck past where his bumper should have been, looking ready to deliver on his threat. “Because I’m getting tired of this attitude.”

Lacie wasn’t too tickled by his, either. “Do. Not. Call me the same thing you call your truck.”

“I’ll call you whatever I want,” Chance shot back, full of cocky confidence. “Because you belong to me,
baby
.”

“Do you just delight in irritating me? Because I can make your lives hell, and I just might if you don’t stop with the
attitude
and start with the wooing.”

“Wooing?” Davis gave a bark of laughter, waving her dirty look away when she turned to glare at him. “Sorry, honey, it’s just that Chance and I don’t actually do the woo.”

“Then you better start learning how. I’m your mate. You’re supposed to take me out and shower me with affection and then get down on bended damn knee and beg—”

“There is only going to be one person begging in this relationship,” Chance informed her. “And it isn’t going to be us, baby.”

Oh, he was asking for it. Once Lacie figured out what kind of reward he deserved, she’d be all too happy to give it to him. Until then she could only snarl at the smug bastard. “Is that fact?”

“Give me five minutes and I’ll prove it to you.”

“Give me a lifetime and I’ll make you regret it,” Lacie assured Chance with equal sincerity. “Now I want an apology. Then you two are going to get dressed, take me home, and
maybe
I’ll consider your request after a proper courting has taken place.”

“Sure thing, honey.” Davis smirked. “We’ll get right on that.”

“You better.” Lacie searched for something to follow that but couldn’t come up with anything beyond the classic, “Or you better sleep with one eye open for the rest of your life.”

Davis snorted at that.

“I mean it.”

“I believe you.” Davis so clearly lied that it made his agreement all the more insulting.

“Damnit,” Lacie spat, annoyed that she couldn’t think of anything worse to threaten him with and pissed that she never really would follow through on anything even if she did think of it. “You owe me an apology and flowers.”

“Okay,” Davis sighed, appearing to grow more serious, though Lacie suspected it was all an act. “You’re right that we didn’t do things the more traditional way, but we just got back from the field a few days ago and didn’t stop to get our itches—no, wait. That’s not what I…well, it’s just…”

“You didn’t stop by the whorehouse,” Lacie filled in what Davis was so clearly trying to back away from.

After a lifetime of spent around lycans, Lacie had no doubt that’s what he meant to say. At the age of eighteen, most lycans went off to war in other, far away worlds. When they came back, they tended to overindulge in one of the most basic of urges—fucking. Given the way Davis actually blushed at her words, Lacie could tell that had been the plan. Something had gone wrong, and she doubted it had anything to do with her.

“I feel so honored,” Lacie stated with complete disgust. “I guess, at least, now I don’t have to take you in for a flea dip.”

“Don’t be that way, baby.” Unrepentant and full of cheer, Chance cajoled her in a clear attempt to annoy her. “We could always go find a more willing lady if you want to take some time to come to terms with your situation. Just say the word and we’ll give you all the space you need.”

The very idea of them with another woman made her want to kill something, like him. Somehow they’d turned this whole conversation around on her. She was supposed to be the one irritating them. They were the ones who were supposed to be groveling.

“Are you going to cry?” Davis sounded more alarmed than concerned, making it hard for Lacie to control the snicker that ached to form on her lips. Everybody had a weakness. Tears were obviously theirs.

“Oh, God. You are crying.”

“No,” Lacie snapped, putting enough heat into the word to make it sound defensive enough to be a lie. “I’m just feeling sick over the realization that I’ve got two mates who obviously don’t care about my feelings at all.”

“Well, that’s not true,” Davis denied instantly. “I care about you. Chance, tell her you care about her.”

“Of course I care,” Chance grunted, sounding more annoyed than sincere. “The damn woman knows that. She’s just playing with you. Don’t trust her, Davis.”

“What a horrible thing to suggest.” Lacie gasped, playing the outraged party even though Chance had it exactly right. “I’m trying to be honest here and you—”

“Honest.” Chance barked up a harsh laugh at that thought. “Like tears rolling down your cheeks, voice quivering, and making me feel like the slime beneath the belly of the snake? That kind of honesty?”

“You deserve it,” Lacie shot back, forgetting for the moment to make her voice tremble with sadness. “You’re the one implying you’re going to cheat on me if I don’t put out.”

“Oh, please.” Chance rolled his eyes. “Baby, you’re definitely going to be putting out, as often as I want, so you really have nothing to worry over.”

Chance’s taunt had Lacie seeing red and losing all reason for a moment. She just wanted to smack that arrogant smirk right off his face, but the bastard was too far away. His clothes weren’t. From shirts to socks, all their clothes were piled up in a bundle just over the edge of the truck bed, well within reach.

Chapter 5

Without thought of the consequences, Lacie started snatching things up and chunking them over her shoulder. Piece by piece, she emptied the entire pile into the pond until every article of their clothing floated on its smooth surface. Their expensive work boots had already sunk to the bottom.

Her frustrations released, Lacie stood there at the water’s edge admiring her handiwork. She felt calm and reasonable, capable of finally handling the situation. She was their mate, but that didn’t mean Lacie would let them turn her into a lap dog.

Now maybe they’d understand that fact. Though she couldn’t be sure what they thought. Neither Davis nor Chance had said a word or made a move to stop her. Neither shocked nor pissed, they both appeared to be studying the spring with simple curiosity.

Finally, Davis broke the silence with a sigh. “That was just wrong, honey.”

Chance nodded, talking more to the water than to her. “You know we have a lycan law—”

“A wrong is only made right by retribution of equal measure,” Davis filled in.

“Yep.” Chance shot her a little smile. “It helps keep feuds from forming and things from escalating.”

“You wouldn’t want things to escalate, now would you, honey?” Davis asked in a tone too polite and reasonable to be trusted.

Lacie swallowed down the shivers trying course out of her spine and forced herself to keep an even tone. “It was an accident.”

Chance laughed at that, a short roll of obnoxious chuckles that ended sharply. “I’m still going to have to ask you to hand over your shirt and pants along with any undergarments you might be wearing.”

Like he hadn’t always intended on taking them. After all, they had this thing planned out apparently. Well, Chance could just stick to the script because Lacie wouldn’t be handing anything over. She might not get the wooing she’d dreamed of, but she sure as hell would get the ravishment she’d fantasized about.

With a lift of her chin, she offered Chance a challenge she knew he couldn’t refuse. “You want them? Come and get them.”

“That’s a bold thing to tempt a man with,” Chance warned her. With a smirk, he gave her a once-over that had her warming with something a whole lot more dangerous than anger. “Especially when you ain’t got nowhere left to run, baby.”

“That’s what you think,” Lacie shot back and then dove for the ground. Before either man could stop her, she rolled right under the truck and started squirming for the other side as fast as she could. Above her the truck groaned and shuddered, bouncing under the weight of the two men clearly climbing over it.

She’d never make it before they did. The only choice Lacie had was to drop back and slip out the original side. Jumping straight to her feet, she met Chance’s scowl over the bed of truck with a smile.

“You’re still stuck, baby,” Chance assured her with no dent to his confidence. “And I’m not in a mood to chase you around his truck. So why don’t you do the mature thing and hand over your clothes?”

Lacie rolled her eyes at that bit of arrogance and whipped open the driver’s door. She made it into the cab and almost had the door closed when it flew back open, ripped out of her grasp by a grinning Davis.

“Gotcha.”

He moved too quickly for Lacie to fend off the hands that swooped in to latch on to her waist. A second later he yanked her back into the bright sunlight. Bud had taught her a few moves that would have wiped the smug smile from Davis’s face, but Lacie didn’t use them. Her heart wasn’t into escaping, especially not when he plastered her to his chest, though the position did make trying a little more fun.

With her breasts flattened against the hard wall of his chest, all her wiggling and struggling aroused a primitive response in her blood. Firing through her body, it uncurled a flame of wicked delight that had her panting from more than just her exertions. The arrogant bastard knew it.

Davis’s smile said as much as his hand slid boldly over her ass and clamped down, forcing her mound to grind against the thickened bulge pressing out against his jeans. Striding forward, he taught her just how powerful a full-body rub could be. The sensation robbed her of her reason and left her without the breath to moan over the thrill.

In some distant part of her mind, Lacie expected him to toss her into the pound. She wasn’t prepared to be carried right over the edge and plummeted into a deep, cool chasm. Davis didn’t release her as they sank into the dark water. Instead, he took complete advantage of her captivity to slide his palm down around her ass and fold his fingers between her legs.

Like a heated blanket, his hand cupped her mound and one naughty finger pressed in, rubbing the sodden fabric of her slacks and panties right into the sensitive nub of her clit. Lacie jerked hard as a bolt of pure rapture shot right through her and straight out the lips that parted on a moan.

Water rushed into her mouth, searing past her throat to flood her lungs. Fear overwhelmed every other thought as she instinctively shoved away from Davis to kick her way back up toward the lifesaving air. Breaking the surface, Lacie instantly began coughing as she tried to regain her breath.

“Oh, baby, you all right?” Just like that she found herself trapped in another solid pair of arms. Chance looked honestly concerned, his big hands rubbing her back as he soothed her. “What did that dumbass do to you?”

“He didn’t give me room to breathe,” Lacie muttered and shoved Chance back. As good as his touch felt, the sparkly excitement dancing over her nerve endings didn’t make it any easier for her lungs to work.

Finding the edge of the spring, she clung to it as she focused on nothing but living through the burn enflaming her throat and lungs. That had actually hurt, but as the painful sensation started to fade, Lacie admitted she should have been expecting Davis’s bold move. These were her mates, and they hadn’t brought her out here to discuss current events.

Glancing back at where Chance and Davis bobbed, Lacie didn’t have to see more than their faces to know what came next. Davis’s smile had faded along with Chance’s worry. Now they wore identical expressions of hunger. Darkened with predatory intent, both their gazes promised her their patience had come to an end.

There would be no more running, nor more stalling, and Lacie wouldn’t be objecting. She wanted this, but that didn’t mean she wanted to make it too easy for them. It could be dangerous to let them think they could get away with treating her any way they wanted. Next time they’d remember to give her some damn flowers before chasing her through the fields.

With that in mind, she offered them a quick grin. “Suckers.”

Lacie didn’t hesitate, sure that taunt would snap their leashes. Flying over the edge of the pond, she only made it halfway before a firm grip on her ankle yanked her right back beneath the surface. Instantly, she kicked free and dove deep, having no choice but to swim toward the middle of the pond.

When Lacie surfaced she found herself flanked on either side by one of her mates. She didn’t hesitate there, knowing she had seconds before one of them lunged. With a deep breath, she slipped back under the water and swam for the end of the pond and freedom.