The Dom Unleashes His Wolf [Unchained Love 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (7 page)

To his right he saw Cameron hit someone over the shoulders with a big tree branch, and the puma—or whatever it was—chase a group of people away. He allowed the man he’d jumped on to shake him off and run away then chased after a few others to hurry them out of the area.

Tor returned to Gaynor and lay at her feet. Gaynor gave a little scream, but Cameron just wrapped his arms around her and said softly, “Don’t worry, Gaynor. Tor will explain all this later. Won’t you, Tor?”

Tor grinned. That was Cameron’s courtroom voice. He wasn’t really angry, but he was likely upset and a tad confused. Hell, he was a tad confused himself. It appeared very much as though Tor wasn’t the only shape-shifter here. Ramona was, too. She was some kind of very large cat. Not a lion, though. A puma, maybe, or cougar, but not a jaguar, since she didn’t have spots.

He lay still, needing to stay in this form a little longer to heal more. He didn’t want to change back and end up in a hospital trying to explain a knife wound and stories of wolves and pumas. Besides, he needed to plan how to explain the fact he was a wolf shape-shifter to Gaynor and Cameron.

Cameron using his lawyer voice was most definitely a warning sign. It might just mean he was worrying about Gaynor and Ramona, but more likely it meant he was very upset that Tor hadn’t told him about this already.

As for Gaynor…Oh hell, he was in deep shit now. But he’d planned to tell them. He really had. Just not yet. Not for a long time yet.

A man in a red shirt came running through the trees, looking at Tor lying at Gaynor’s feet, Cameron holding a huge tree branch, and Ramona, the big cat, sitting off to the side.

“Are you okay?” he asked, glancing sideways at Ramona but trying to pretend he was talking to Gaynor and Cameron.

“Ramona’s fine,” Gaynor replied rather tartly. “However, Nicholas, it’d be absolutely awesome if you explained a few things to me.”

Ramona padded off into the tall grass and came back a few minutes later wearing her basketball uniform again. “Sorry, Gaynor,” she said.

“Yeah, you’re lucky I remembered the incident in the mall, instead of having a freaking heart attack when you turned into a lion.”

“What incident in the mall?” asked Cameron.

“Later. We need to get out of here. I have to go and bail half the team out of jail. Omar needs to see you’re all right, Ramona, before he actually kills one of these morons,” said Nicholas.

“Wait just a goddamn minute. Why were the purple people after Ramona? Who are they? Who are you?”

“They want me because I’m a shape-shifter. There’s a lot more male shifters than females around, and very few pure-blood women. Some of the bad guys are probably shifters, too, but fortunately not the couple who grabbed me. I’ll talk to you on Monday, Gaynor, and you can tell me then about your pet—dog.”

Tor winced at the way Ramona finished the sentence. It was pretty obvious she knew who he was, too. Now he had to find a way to tell the two people who mattered the most in the world to him without driving them away.

By the way, I’m a werewolf shape-shifter. Hadn’t I mentioned that before? Sorry.
Oh shit. This was going to be a tricky conversation. Very tricky.

Tor stood up and padded after the others. When he got to where he’d left his clothes he whined and Gaynor stopped. She walked back to where he was and stared at him. “What’s your problem, Tor? First some people try to abduct Ramona. Then she turns into a freaking lion. And, if that’s not enough to send me totally insane, you decide to become a wolf. Four months, Tor. Four months we’ve been together. And never so much as a hint that you’re not human. Or not completely human. Or whatever. Any normal woman would be lying on the ground, drumming her heels, having screaming hysterics about now, and damned if I won’t do that, too, real soon.”

Tor whined. He knew this was hard for her. Hated that he’d not been able to tell her about himself in time. He walked around the tree to where his clothes were scattered. Gaynor bent down and saw all the blood.

“You’re hurt. Where are you hurt? Fuck, Tor, show me.”

Tor twisted his snout around as far to his side as it would go without sitting down and stretching too much, and she ran her hands gently down his coat. When he whimpered she parted the fur and looked at him. “You’re cut. It’s not bad, not deep, doesn’t need stitches. But shit. One of those purple people must have had a knife. A knife!”

“I bet he doesn’t want to change back until it’s healed. Changing might make it worse or something. Not that this excuses him for his lack of trusting us, warning us, telling us about himself,” said Cameron.

“You’re very likely right.” Gaynor rolled Tor’s shoes and socks and ripped shirt inside his pants, then turned and pointed her finger at him. “Being hurt is not an excuse. You deceived us, Tor. I trusted you in everything and you didn’t trust us at all. Right now I feel like everything I thought we had together was just a lie.”

“When we get home we need to talk.” Cameron was using his cold, legal voice again. That hurt as much as Gaynor’s anger. Ah fuck, how could he explain everything to them? He’d done it for them. Waited to tell them until everything was just right. How was he supposed to guess someone would knife him at a basketball tournament? He’d wanted everything to be perfect for them, and now it was all messed up.

In the parking lot were a contingent of police, some paramedics, and a large crowd of onlookers. Tor nudged Gaynor with his nose, so they quietly moved on to their car. Tor noted and appreciated that Cameron kept pushing Tor between them and away from people, almost hiding the wolf between himself and Gaynor. He was big for a dog but not obviously a wolf except to people who knew about various dog breeds. He was sort of tan in color, which was a fairly standard dog color, which helped him blend into human society, too.

* * * *

When they got home Gaynor grabbed a couple bottles of water out of the refrigerator. She put two on the kitchen counter for herself and Cameron and poured the third into a bowl for Tor, then placed it on the floor.

“We never did get our hot dogs for lunch, so how about pizza? I’m hungry,” said Cameron.

“Sure,” replied Gaynor, her tummy rumbling at the thought of food. “Oh, wait. Tor, can you eat pizza? I’m not going to have to buy dog food, am I?” She looked at Tor, and he snuffled into his water bowl. “I can see communicating isn’t going to be easy. Bark if pizza is okay for lunch.”

She was almost ready to swear the wolf smiled at her, but he gave a yip, so Cameron phoned for three pizzas. “I ordered you ham and sausage, Tor. I hope you can digest it all right in that form. I have to say, I’m waiting impatiently for your explanation. All these months and never a hint of ‘Oh, by the way, I’m a werewolf’ in your conversation.”

“Yes. First it seems Ramona’s a freaking lion, and now you’re a wolf. I’ve got to say, I never believed that Halloween mumbo-jumbo. But right now I’m getting close to being converted,” added Gaynor.

“I don’t reckon she’s a lion. Maybe a cougar though, or a puma,” said Cameron.

“Whatever.” Gaynor was hot, tired, hungry, and confused. She desperately wanted Tor to change back into himself and take control. She didn’t know whether to hug him and cry that he’d been hurt, or leave him in the yard outside and lock the door to prevent him from coming near her. But it seemed Cameron was right and he needed to stay as a wolf—a fucking wolf, for God’s sake!—until he was healed. And that was another thing. Who was running around a basketball match with a knife? The purple-shirted people who wanted to abduct Ramona? Or were there other bad guys as well?

“Tell me about how you guessed Ramona was a puma. Or cougar,” said Cameron. Tor gave a little yip as well, so Gaynor guessed he wanted to know that, too.

“Sure, remember a few days ago I drove a motorcycle through the mall for a movie scene?”

“Yes. I wish I’d had the chance to do that. It sounded like the best fun.”

“Oh, it was, it was. Truly awesome. Anyway, when I was almost at the end of the mall, Ramona came rushing out of a building, almost under the wheels of the bike. I had to twist and turn and damn near fell off the thing avoiding her yet staying on my set route. I couldn’t deviate from it, because these scenes are really tightly choreographed, you know. Then, as I hit the street at the end of the mall, there’s this huge lion, or cat, or whatever.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So when we were at lunch I asked Ramona why she’d been in the mall and she said she’d been sent to get the cat. I’m sure I’ve told you before she’s really good at getting on with animals, so of course up until this morning I believed her and never thought about it again. Now, I’d love to know the truth of why she was there and why she became a cat, too.”

“I’m betting it was these people trying to abduct her then, too. She’s a mighty-fine-looking woman, and apparently, as a cat-shifter, she’s an extra-hot commodity.”

“You could be right, Cameron. It makes sense anyway.” They were both silent for a few minutes, then the doorbell rang.

“At last. I’m starved,” said Cameron, going to answer the door.

“Me, too. But I’m waiting to hear your story, Mr. Wolf. And it’d better be good. All this time I’ve trusted you, believed in us as a family, and now I don’t know what to think anymore,” she said, turning to Tor.

* * * *

Tor winced. He wanted to change right away and explain everything, but he was on shaky ground. For a start, he wasn’t fully healed yet, and if he changed now he may end up in the emergency room, which was absolutely not in his plans. Plus he needed to think. He wanted what was best for the three of them. That’s how he was built. A Dom always saw to the care of his subs.

He’d always planned their relationship to move very gradually from being friends and sexual partners, to living together, to them being a committed threesome, and then finally to them being mated and bonded forever as a family. Only when they were about to reach the final stage had he planned to tell them he was a werewolf shape-shifter. They needed to know all about him to take that final step.

But first, he’d wanted them to know deep inside themselves that they could trust him. That he would never hurt them no matter whether he was in wolf form or human form. He’d been sure that once Gaynor and Cameron were fully trusting and committed to the union then and only then could he lay bare his innermost secrets and know they’d understand and accept him for what he was—not fully human. That then and only then would they not be so shocked they would reject him and in doing that kill all hopes for the future happiness of all three of them.

Now it was out of his hands, and both Cameron and Gaynor were angry with him. Not only did he need to explain his reasoning to them, but he also had to gain back their trust, and that would be hard to do.

He craved their submission as much as they craved him to guide their sexual pleasures. When they reached the final stage of a formal bonding, he’d like to have more of a say in guiding their everyday life. Frequently what they did and how they did it was as he’d planned, but he ached for a more formalized arrangement. He certainly didn’t want them kowtowing to his every whim, but his makeup was to care for them, and part of that was managing their everyday life, not just their sexual pleasures. It was the only way he knew to demonstrate his love for them. By caring for and protecting them, saving them from themselves.

It had never occurred to him that his wolf would be outed as it had been today. And as for finding puma-shifters as well, that was really weird. Still, all kinds of shifters could coexist peacefully together, just as humans and shifters could form families with each other. The real worry was the group who’d tried to abduct Ramona. That had a very bad smell to it. If they were shifters, they would know that mating could only be successful with the free will of all parties involved. Which made him worried that the group was interested only in sex, not in making families, and wanted her as a brothel worker. Or, even worse, that they were part of some scientific research fringe group who would turn their captives into an experiment. That was a nightmare scenario, not that sexual slavery was much better.

Right now, however, he needed to recover then change and tell Gaynor and Cameron everything about himself. Only when he’d been completely frank and forthcoming could he expect them to agree to join with him as a committed threesome.

The timing sucked big hairy eyeballs, but it had happened, so he had to make the next move.

Tor sat on his haunches and twisted around to lick his side. Yes, it was completely healed. His time for thinking was up. Now it was time for him to talk.

Tor padded into the bedroom, shifted, and checked his side in the mirror. Fortunately the shift hadn’t broken the wound open again. It was still tender and bruised but was no longer bleeding at all. Thank God for shifter genes.

He washed quickly in the bathroom then dressed in a clean T-shirt and jeans and joined Cameron and Gaynor in the living room.

“First, I want to apologize about not telling you about my wolf sooner. I truly never thought I would be outed. I expected to tell you both eventually, well before we formally bonded. If you both chose to bond with me.” Tor saw that Cameron was about to speak and rushed on. “I also want you to know I have never told anyone ever before. It is not at all that it’s just something I’ve hidden from both of you. No one at all knows about me. No one,” he repeated.