Reluctant (6 page)

Sid’s hands, long-fingered and graceful, cradled her skull as he rode her mouth. With his body spread out underneath her, she felt as if it were
him
that served as an Anchor. The emotions of the bond swirled through her, dark and light, but they weren’t confusing and terrifying anymore, they were enormous but wonderful and she opened herself to them, knowing she wouldn’t drown because neither of these men would allow it.

And things felt
right.
After the confusion of having her carefully made plans totally fall apart, the rightness of the bond and her connection to the man beneath her body clicked into place and she knew without a doubt that they would make it work because it was meant to. Corner office at work and with this wolf at her side at home, she’d continue on a path she could feel proud of achieving. She could still be her own person within something larger than that. She could be a Warden and still be
Layla
. She could be Sid’s wife and mate and still be
Layla
. She could be a successful businesswoman and still be
Layla
.

That revelation seemed so totally simple, even as it had eluded her for twenty-five years.

“Oh, honey,” Sid murmured, pleasure tingeing his voice. He’d felt her emotions through their bond and then her satisfaction and resolution. She could feel his joy at that.

Moments later, Sid’s hands in her hair tightened as he came with a long groan. Her hands cupped his balls and fingertips pressed into that sensitive spot just behind them. His taste flooded her, consumed her senses.

After he finished, she kissed his softening cock and laid her head on his thigh, arching her back as Shane continued to stroke into her pussy.

The broad girth of him filled her in a different way than Sid did.
Stretched her.
Sid’s hands moved to her shoulders, pushing her back into Shane’s thrusts. Shane reached around and pressed two fingers into her mouth, wetting them, and moved them to her clit.

She wasn’t sure she could take more but his touch was just the right amount of pressure, his thrusts into her giving the friction against his touch rather than his fingers doing it.

“Come around his cock,
Layla
,” Sid whispered in a hoarse voice. “He’ll only taste you this once, let him feel how good it is.”

With a deep cry,
Layla
began to come again, this orgasm a deep, muscle-wrenching climax laced with emotion as well as physical pleasure.

She heard Shane’s stuttered curse behind her and his thrusts got harder and deeper as he fucked into her body with ferocity.

Her nipples brushed over the wiry hair on Sid’s thighs with each stroke Shane made into her. Holding on, her fingers dug into Sid’s hips as Shane’s cock jerked and began to pulse with his orgasm.

And when his semen began to fill her, the cacophony of the lack of the anchor bond that she’d been managing, silenced. A moment of disorientation and then it all clicked into place. She felt the fullness of her connection with Sid but also that small part that was bonded with Shane.

Gently, they helped her down to the bed and she reached up and took the blindfold off. Craning her neck, she looked up at Sid and smiled as he leaned down to kiss her. Getting to her knees, she moved to Shane and hugged him, brushing her lips over his briefly.

“Thank you both.”

Sid reached over and handed her the robe, which she put on, and Shane chuckled. “
Layla
, it wasn’t a chore by any stretch of the imagination.”

Sid stood and shook his cousin’s hand. “Thank you, Shane.”

Shane nodded at his cousin. “I’m going to take a shower and then why don’t we get all your stuff moved to
Layla’s
.
Unless you want me to go right away?”

Layla
shook her head. “No. I’d like to get to know you better. Plus, I’d like for you both to meet my family. They’re going to be mad enough that I did all of this without telling them, you two can protect me.”

“Oh great.
That’s the way to start off as a son-in-law!”

“No, they’ll be mad at me. But we should take
Tia
over there too. I need to thank her for helping you to find me and for telling me off when I needed it.”

After they’d given up the hotel room to Shane and moved Sid’s stuff to her condo, they picked up
Tia
and headed out to
Cade
and
Lex’s
house for a family dinner
Layla
had hastily arranged.

As predicted, her family was angry she’d waited so long for the tri-bond but they all seemed to really like Sid, especially fourteen-year-old Tracy, who wouldn’t stop talking about tattoos and
piercings
.

Epilogue

Ten Years Later

Layla
watched as her children played in a now-mated, twenty-four-year-old Tracy’s yard. Sid and her brothers and brothers-in-law ran around with the kids and a wildly barking three-legged dog.

“Isn’t it funny how this fate thing works?”
Layla
murmured.

“Yeah.
We all lucked out in a big way,
dontcha
think?”
Lex’s
mate Nina watched him hungrily.
Layla
was sure she wore the same look whenever she watched Sid. The desire for him hadn’t waned one bit in ten years.

“And to think you didn’t want him at first!” Tracy laughed as Sid allowed the kids and dog to tackle him.

“I wanted him from the first time I laid eyes on him. My body knew exactly what needed to happen. My wolf knew. It was my brain that was reluctant.”

“Well, two kids, ten years and a minivan later, you’re the happiest werewolf soccer mom I know.”

Layla
threw her head back and laughed. Sid heard it and turned. Heat flared between them as their gazes locked. Thank goodness all parts of her were now on the same page. She’d want Sid Rosario until the day she ceased to draw
breath
.

Also by Lauren Dane

Enforcer

Sudden Desire

Witches Knot 1: Triad

Witches Knot 2: A Touch of
Fae

Witches Knot 3: Vengeance Due

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