Their Border Lands Refuge [Men of the Border Lands 9] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (12 page)

The sound of another vehicle pulling up the road had her scrambling for the stairs as Owen jumped up with the rifle.

“It’s okay. I recognize Simon’s truck.” He walked over to the door and peeked through the window next to it.

Skyler blew out a relived breath and walked back down the stairs. She couldn’t wait to see Simon. She realized that she needed to see that he was safe as well. Something had finally clicked inside of her and she knew loving both men was the right thing to do. She needed to tell Simon how she felt but was nervous at the same time. She was sure he didn’t love her, but she knew he cared about her and would protect her. Would her confession make him uncomfortable when he couldn’t reciprocate? She didn’t want to do that to him, but she felt like she needed to tell him.

The sound of the front door opening snapped her attention back. Owen had opened the door for Simon. The other man took one look at the gun and then at her and scowled.

“What happened?”

“Three men showed up not long after you left looking for Skyler. They’ve been watching us evidently. Luckily, they hadn’t noticed that Skyler wasn’t with you when you left. I told them she was.”

“They looked anyway.” Skyler hurried down the stairs and wrapped her arms around Simon.

If he was surprised by her actions, he didn’t show it. He just wrapped his arm around her and continued to look at Owen.

“I can’t believe the audacity of them to think they could just walk in and take her like that.” Simon shook his head. “What did they say?”

“Said that they knew we had a woman, and they planned to take her from us. One of them said that if we weren’t strong enough to keep her, we didn’t deserve to have one.” Owen drew in a deep breath and let it out. “I told them that we owned her and by law they couldn’t have her. One of them laughed and told me that there was no law out here anymore.”

“Fuck! I was afraid of this. With more and more families moving out here, we need some sort of law. The damn agents are working together now. Three at one time. That’s dangerous for all families.”

“What did you find out from your trip?” Owen reached out and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Were there any women?” She couldn’t help asking. She really wanted to meet another woman.

“I could use some coffee. Let’s go into the kitchen to talk.” Simon drew her along with him as he headed for the other room.

“I’ll fix the coffee. I have sandwiches already made up.” She hurried to set up the pot with water to boil.

“I met a family next to us. Their names are Jeremy, Micah, and Rachael. Looks like Rachael is several months pregnant. They’re good with us joining their group to hunt. They may even have someone that has extra hens for us.”

“That’s one problem we have under control.” Owen set plates out on the table. “When do we hunt?”

“They are going to contact the other families and let us know. We’ll have to get the cellar ready for their women. They like to keep them all together in a cellar with one or two men to keep the safe while they are out hunting. It makes sense with these blasted agents in the area.”

“We’ve got plenty of supplies to keep them comfortable.” Skyler stood by the stove listening to them. “I will pull out all the blankets and pillows to take down there. What else do we need?”

“I think you should make up snacks and we’ll haul water down there to drink. We have some extra chairs besides these that we can put down there so no one will be on the cold floor.” Owen sat down across from Simon.

“I can’t wait! I’ll get to talk to the other women and maybe learn some things I need to know. Do you know how many?”

“Not for sure, Sky. He said we needed enough room for five or six people, so I think maybe four women with one or two men to guard you with.” Simon took the cup she handed him.

“What are we going to do about the agents? You know they’ll be back.” Owen sipped his coffee as Skyler sat down.

“We’ll talk to the others about it for one thing. The best we can do is to stay alert and keep all the doors and windows locked. I know they can break in, but we’ll hear them if they do. Don’t go anywhere without your rifle. Skyler, that goes for you, too. I’m going to let you keep that pistol I fixed for you with you all the time. You’re going to have to be careful with it.”

“I will. I know what to do. Aim for the center of their body and slip off the safety before I pull the trigger.”

“Good girl. Unless one of us is with you in the kitchen, I want you to stay upstairs, so if you hear anything you can hide faster.” Simon stared at her.

“She’s going to be cold up there, Simon.” Owen didn’t look happy with the idea.

“It won’t be all the time and she can wear more clothes. It’s better than letting her be vulnerable to the black market agents.”

“You’re right. This is crazy. I don’t want her to have to hide all the time. She had to do that back east.”

“I know, but until we talk to the others and figure something out, we’re going to be safe.” He looked over at Skyler and reached out to her.

Skyler took his hand and pulled it to her lips. She tried to convey through her expression how much she loved him. She just couldn’t push the words past her lips yet. She needed more time. Unfortunately, they might not have a lot of time left.

Owen had just finished checking the herd and was walking in the kitchen door when there was a knock at the front door. He hadn’t heard a truck pull up, but the four inches of snow on the ground from the night before had everything muffled. He hurried into the other room to find Simon standing at the door with his rifle.

“It’s Micah and another man. Skyler went upstairs to hide. I’m going to let them in.” Simon opened the door and greeted the two men.

“Come in. This is Owen. Owen, this is Micah.”

Owen held out his hand to shake Micah’s hand. The other man smiled and held out his hand.

“I’m Luke. Pleased to meet you.”

They walked farther into the room and sat down to talk. Owen locked the door behind everyone and stood next to the fireplace close to the stairs. He was surprised that he instantly liked the two men. He’d been suspicious of other males for so long that it seemed almost foreign to him to feel that way.

“We’ve set up a hunt for day after tomorrow. We usually hunt around dusk. It’s when the wolves are normally out the most. There will be a total of four families coming to your place around three in the afternoon. Is that fine with you?”

“Sounds good to me.” Simon looked up at Owen. “How about you?”

“I’m fine with it. I’m looking forward to cutting back one of our problems.”

Micah frowned. “One of your problems?”

“When I was at your place the other day, three agents showed up at the house and held Owen at gunpoint while they searched the house for Skyler. Thankfully they didn’t find her and gave up, believing that she had gone with me.” Simon filled them in on the ordeal.

“That’s the first time there have been more than two working together that I know of,” Luke said.

“They weren’t worried at all about there being resistance. We’re worried that they are going to catch us off guard and snatch Skyler.” Simon’s face showed none of his worry to the other men though.

“We all need to be worried about that. Hell. Something’s got to be done about them.” Micah stood up and walked over to the window before turning around again. “Some of the other families out here have joined together and formed a co-op of sorts. I wasn’t for it to begin with because I like my privacy. Maybe I need to rethink it though.”

“What do you mean a co-op?” Owen was interested in anything that might keep Skyler safe.

“Some of the families moved in together with the idea that there is greater safety in numbers. They all work together on a large garden and herd. There are more men to keep the women safe that way.” Luke ran a hand through his hair.

“I’m like you, Micah. I don’t much want to lose our privacy. But if we can’t keep our women safe the way we’re living now, I’ll do whatever it takes.” Simon looked up at Owen.

“We need to talk about it when we meet up here to hunt. In the meantime, we’ll all keep our eyes open for the agents.” Micah stood up, obviously eager to return to his woman.

Luke and Simon stood as well, walking toward the door with Micah. Owen followed and stepped out on the front porch with his rifle to watch them as they made their way toward their truck. He didn’t want a wolf to attack them on their property.

As the men backed out of the drive, Simon walked back inside and he followed. He could tell there was a lot on the other man’s mind. Hell, there was a lot on his mind as well. The idea of living in a commune of sorts wasn’t his idea of comfortable, but keeping Skyler safe was more important than how he felt about it. He glanced over at the stairs.

“I’m going to get Skyler. She’s probably a nervous wreck waiting on us.”

“I’m going to build the fire back up. She’ll need the warmth, I’m sure.”

Owen hurried up the stairs and down the hall to the room they used as storage and Skyler’s hiding place. Since the agents had been there, they had arranged the boxes and bags so that there was a small hiding spot amongst the boxes that wouldn’t be visible or easily located. Once inside the little space, she pushed a box over to hide her entrance. There were plastic garbage bags of clothes resting on top.

“Skyler! You can come out now. It was our neighbors and they’re gone.”

He could hear the scrape of a box and then she crawled from around the side of the room before standing up again. She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. He couldn’t help himself. Owen bent down and took her mouth in a fierce kiss. He loved her so damn much. Losing her scared him to death.

“Does this mean they’re coming?” she asked as soon as he released her from the kiss.

“Yep, they’ll be here day after tomorrow. I’m glad we already got everything ready except for the food and water.”

“Me, too. I need to work on making some snacks for everyone. Do you know how many?”

Owen led her back down the hall toward the stairs. She was excited now and over the brief scare from hearing the knocking at the door. He smiled and answered her questions as fast as she asked them.

“Sounds like Skyler is excited.” Simon smiled at them from across the room as they reached the bottom of the staircase.

“You could say that.” Owen grinned down at her.

“I can’t help it.” She pouted at them and turned to walk into the kitchen.

Owen hurried to double-check the back door and the windows before returning to talk to Simon. He left her busily working on what to fix their guests.

“Your house is big enough for another family if it comes down to it, Simon.”

“Our house. It’s ours not mine.” The other man scowled at him. “Yeah, but I don’t want to do it if we don’t have to. The more people there are, the harder it is to keep the peace.”

“I know.” Owen agreed with that observation.

It wasn’t any different than when new towns sprung up in the West during the pioneer days. More people meant more attitudes and personalities to deal with. It took strong men to survive in The Border Lands. Strong men wouldn’t like to give in easily to others. But if it was for the best of their women, surely they could work together and put their pride to the side.

“We’ll talk with the others when they arrive. There’s always the chance that the agents will make a mistake and get shot. Then we won’t have to worry about them anymore.”

Owen frowned. “There’ll be more moving in, though. You know that.”

His friend poked at the fire before answering. “I know.”

“It would be nice to be able to take care of the herd and the garden without worrying every second about Skyler, though. If there were four men, two could handle the outside and two could keep the women safe.”

“We’ll talk about it later.” Simon’s voice rose.

Owen had never seen him this upset before. He truly didn’t want to share their space. He wondered if he’d had as much trouble allowing them to move in as he was having now with the thought of adding another family.

He kept that thought to himself and returned to the kitchen to help Skyler. It was obvious that Simon had some thinking to do, and he needed some time alone to do it. With it being too dangerous for him to leave them alone, he couldn’t go out to the barn to do it, either. Owen kept Skyler busy and in the kitchen to give the other man some space.

* * * *

“Simon was quiet during dinner tonight. Is everything okay?” Skyler was worried about the other man.

“He just has a lot on his mind with the others coming. Don’t worry about it, babe.”

She watched Owen climb into bed beside her. He pulled her into his arms and began to kiss all along her face and down to her neck. She shivered more from his attention than from the cool air in the room. Simon had yet to come upstairs to bed. She was worried about him.

Owen’s mouth at her shoulder pulled her thoughts back to him once again. He nibbled along her collarbone before returning to her eager lips. His lips sipped at hers before he plunged his tongue deep into her mouth, mimicking what he planned to do to her wet pussy later. She sighed into his mouth and reached for his hard cock. She loved touching him and Simon, loved the way they felt like silk over hard steel. She pumped his heavy dick as he devoured her mouth with his.

When he pulled back a few seconds later, she expected him to have her suck his cock. Instead, he lowered his mouth to her breast and licked all around her nipple with his hot tongue. Then he moved over to work on the other one. Cold air tightened the abandoned peak even as his hot mouth caressed its twin. The dueling sensations had her wet and wanting in seconds.

“Oh, God. Owen, I can’t wait. Please.”

“Easy, Sky. Just feel, baby.” He lowered his mouth to her breast again, only this time he sucked in a tight nipple and teased it with his teeth.

The bed dipped, and Simon’s hands began to massage her calves, working his way slowly up her legs to her thighs. When his hands reached the juncture of her hips, he spread her legs apart and moved between them. Skyler gasped at the sudden touch of his tongue on her pussy lips. Even though she knew where he had been heading, it was still a pleasant shock that sent tingles down to her toes.