Trained by Three Panthers [Caves of Correction 3] (13 page)

Kenz relaxed against Declan’s hard chest, with all three of them holding her and pressing kisses to her sweaty skin. That felt so good—all of them skin to skin like this. All of them still joined by their intertwined limbs. She could feel their souls connecting and was convinced they belonged together.

* * * *

Asher clambered off the bed and headed into the bathroom. It was a larger than normal room deliberately designed so a group could shower together as part of the Caves of Correction theme. He closed the drain in the tub and turned the faucet on full, and by that time Colter was carrying Kenz into the bathroom. He set her in the large tub, and she leaned back and sighed with pleasure. Declan followed them into the bathroom and rummaged through the drawer beside the sink, then brought bath gel across to Kenz. Asher took the hint, got the bottles of shampoo and conditioner out of the shower, and gave them to her.

They were small bottles, and he smiled when he saw them. Likely his Kenz had complained about the luggage allowance when she came to pack her toiletries as well.

Once the tub was filled with water, Declan jumped in the shower. Asher wandered back out to the bedroom and remade the rumpled bed so it’d be nice for her to sleep in. By then Colter was in the shower, and he didn’t have to wait long for his own turn.

In the tub, Kenz hadn’t moved. The gel and shampoo sat untouched on the side of the tub, and she was lying in the water, her eyes closed. He wondered if she was asleep. He knew she wouldn’t drown, and he didn’t want to wake her, but he didn’t think they should leave her there either in case she caught a chill as the water cooled.

“Are you very tired, love?” he asked softly.

Her eyes opened, and she smiled at him. “It’s been a hell of a day one way and another. I am tired, but mostly I was just relaxing. I don’t have a tub in my apartment, and this one is so big it’s a real treat to lie in.”

“No tub?” Declan asked.

“It’s a nice apartment in a nice neighborhood in a nice part of town.”

“That’s an awful lot of nice,” Colter said, staring at her.

“Mm. I like that I can walk safely at night and that I’m not too far from the center of town. The apartment isn’t old, and it’s quite sturdy. It’s not one of those places with paper-thin walls where people automatically say, ‘Bless you,’ when their neighbor upstairs sneezes. But it is small. I mean, I’m not complaining. I’m just one person I don’t need a lot of space. But yes, not a whole lot of storage space and no tub.”

Asher hoped that meant she’d be more likely to come live with them. He’d been worried that she adored her apartment and wouldn’t want to leave it. He already knew she liked the benefits of her job more than the actual work, so that was a point for her coming to live with them as well, he thought. So far so good.

“Why did you choose
paycheck
as your safe word?” Declan asked, wrapping the towel held just dried himself with around his waist and leaning against the outside glass wall of the shower.

Asher decided Declan had the right idea, and he wrapped his towel around himself before sitting on the bathmat beside Kenz, but just far enough down the line of the tub so he could watch her expressive face.

Kenz laughed and blushed. “It’s my mantra. It’s what I say to myself every time I feel like telling my boss to go fuck himself. My paycheck is my lifeline. It’s why I work. I never want to be like my grandmother, alone, with a baby and no way of supporting it or herself.”

“I’ve been wondering about that. Where were her parents, her siblings, and her extended family? Why didn’t they help her?” Asher asked. He couldn’t imagine someone not stepping forward to help a young pregnant girl.

“You’re forgetting the era. This isn’t today. It’s getting on for a hundred years ago. Back then illegitimate children were considered evil. They were a living reminder of their mother’s sin. Always the mother’s sin because the father had usually disappeared by then. Otherwise, there would have been a shotgun wedding and a baby born quote early unquote.”

Asher nodded and spoke slowly as he remembered what he’d heard. “The girl was sent away to the country to vacation with some family friend or relative. The baby was given up for adoption, and the girl returned home and everyone got on with their lives. Is that right?”

“Exactly, except my grandmother decided she wanted to keep her child. He was the result of an ill-considered fling with a married man, but the child was welcomed and loved. It was just damn hard for my grandmother to find work to support them. Back then women didn’t earn nearly as much money as men, so even cleaning or waitressing was so low paid it wasn’t enough for her to live on. But she managed and kept my dad, and I’m proud of her for that.”

Asher nodded. “You have every right to be proud of her. She was a very brave woman indeed.”

Colter coughed and cleared his throat and Asher understood he was telling them it was time to broach the subject they all wanted to talk about—the future. But surely they should get Kenz dried and dressed first?

Colter knew he was maybe rushing things, but seeing Kenz lying there in the tub, the warm water swirling over her rounded breasts, her creamy skin shimmering under the movement of the water, her pert pink nipples poking through the bubbles, he couldn’t wait any longer.

The knowledge crashed over him with all the force of a tidal wave, that if he couldn’t have her as his mate, he’d been inconsolable.

He knew he wanted her. He knew both his brothers wanted her as well. He assumed she liked them. She’d certainly enjoyed the sex and the BDSM scenes, and she’d made no attempt to stay away from them during the day. In fact, the opposite had occurred. She’d asked to spend time with them.

However, he wasn’t sure whether that added up to her wanting to spend the rest of her life with them. It might have just been Kenz enjoying her vacation.

For him this wasn’t about her vacation. Giving clients what they’d asked for was his job, well, one of his jobs. But pleasing Kenz was something he longed to do with all of his mind, his body, and his strength, for the rest of their lives.

By the time she’d washed herself and shampooed her hair and done all the things women deemed essential in the bathroom, she’d likely crawl into bed and sleep for eight hours. He wouldn’t be able to sleep for a minute until he’d asked her to mate them. Even if she said no he had a few more days to help her change her mind. And if she said, yes she’d make him the happiest panther ever.

So he ignored Asher’s worried look and Declan’s cheeky grin and sat on the side of the tub.

“Kenz, you know we talked about panthers and living here on this island?”

“Sure. I haven’t forgotten.”

“We told you that under panther law several males were permitted to share one woman.”

“I remember.”

He knew she would have. She was intelligent. She was also looking at him very thoughtfully, so he guessed that smart brain was likely way ahead of his speech. He wasn’t going to hurry though. He wanted to build his case point by point in a logical manner.

“Asher, Declan, and I decided several years ago that we’d look for a woman to share. One of the reasons why we agreed to host women coming to the Caves of Correction was so we might have a chance to get to meet a woman who appealed to all of us.”

As soon as she pushed her glasses higher up her nose Colter knew he’d gotten her. That was what she did instead of answering a question. He hadn’t asked her a question, but it was very strongly implied and that was her response. Likely she’d agree. Oh, maybe she’d impose some hurdles for them to meet, or put a time frame on it, but she hadn’t said no, and that was a clear win for him and his brothers.

“You’ve seen our house. If you agree to mate us it would be yours to decorate and arrange as you please. You would be free to work or not work whatever you want, and since the Caves of Correction is a growing business, more and different job opportunities will come in the future if there’s nothing you want to do right now. But most important of all is that Declan, Asher, and I love you. We want to love and cherish you forever. We want you to be the heart and center of our family, the single focus for all of us for the rest of all our lives.”

Declan flung himself into her arms and hugged her. “Colter’s given you the business proposal. Let me give you the one in my heart. I love you, and I want you, and I need you, and I promise faithfully you will always be the center of my world.”

Colter felt a little embarrassed. She was determined not to be poor and she needed to know that they’d ensure she was never left alone on the streets to support herself. But Declan’s method was good as well. She did need to know they loved her, because, speaking for himself, he truly did.

Asher was pushing Declan out of the way. “I love you, too, Mackenzie Weymouth, and I will never let you suffer or be hurt. I’ll always look after you.”

Colter picked up her hand. “I love you, Kenz. I want you, I need you, and I promise to look after you.”

Kenz sprang up out of the water and encompassed them all in a splashy hug. “I love you all, too. I need to know more about mating, but I’m open to the idea of staying here and partnering with you all. I appreciate your words of love, they mean a lot to me, but we do need the business side of it as well. Your love is special to me. I wouldn’t consider living here without it. But there’ll be a hell of a lot of practical stuff to deal with as well.”

“At least we have a whole other week to talk about it and organize it,” Asher said.

“Are you willing to mate us? Tonight?” Colter asked, suddenly emboldened to push ahead with his plans since she’d agreed to everything so far.

Kenz stepped out of the tub, and Declan handed her a fresh towel. “What does mating involve first?”

“Sex,” Asher said and licked his lips.

They all laughed, and then Colter said, “When we come, we bite you.”

“That’s right. You said before a woman can’t get pregnant unless you bite her. I suppose the mating has to be condom free, does it?”

“Yes it does, but we’ll wear condoms after tonight if that’s what you want, although we’d welcome a child. You must know we’d never neglect any child of yours.”

“Even if it’s a horrible brat who screams all night?”

They knew she was teasing, but Declan answered anyway. “We’ll order some earmuffs, really thick ones.”

“Besides, there are three of us to take turns walking him—or her.”

Kenz laughed. “You could put the baby in the wheelbarrow like your mom did for Declan when he broke his leg and walk it all around the island.”

Colter scooped her up in his arms. “We’ll work out the details later. Right now we have a mate to mate.”

* * * *

Kenz laughed as they carried her back to bed. She hadn’t even washed herself in the tub, although likely the water had rinsed the last of the wax from her back.

For the past few days her mind had been working away at memories of things the men had said to her, but she hadn’t been able to convince herself they were meant personally for her. She’d decided that talk of panthers and matings and life on the island was no more than polite hosts informing a guest. Now it was all in the open, though. They did love her, and she knew without a shadow of doubt that she loved them. She was also certain that even though it might take a few months, she would extricate herself from her apartment, her job, and her entire life on the mainland, and settle happily here with these men.

She noticed that someone had tidied the bed and that warmed her spirit. They were all so very caring and considerate of her. How could she not love such wonderful men? They expressed their love for her in their actions all the time.

It wasn’t even an hour since she’d had an enormous orgasm, but her body was ramping up for more. Already her pussy was wet and her nipples tight. It was crazy to think she was about to fuck them all again, but she was ready for it and her nerves were alight at the opportunity to love and be loved.

“Climb up on all fours,” Colter ordered in his bossy Dom voice.

Kenz knew she would tease him about it in the future, but not right now. She did as he asked and Asher moved behind her to begin massaging the muscles around her back door before she was properly balanced on all fours.

Declan and Colter slid their heads under her body and Declan began to suck one nipple while stroking the other breast. Kenz gasped and looked down underneath herself just as Colter licked along her slit.

“Oh,” she moaned. Two mouths, one on her breast and the other on her cunt, were almost enough to send her into release without any fucking at all.

But the men moderated their touches, teasing her lightly, taking it in turns to suck a nipple, or her clit, or just to stroke their fingers featherlight over her skin, until she was almost ready to beg them to touch her properly.

Declan slid farther under her, pressed her breasts together, and flicked his tongue from one nipple to the other, while Colter lay on his side, sliding his tongue up and down her slit, sucking her clit, and then tonguing her cunt. Meanwhile, Asher had two fingers deep in her ass, massaging her opening and stretching and softening her walls.

“You’ve just fucked me. I have to be ready for you to enter me again, I can’t wait.” Her voice was almost a wail. She found the tone of it embarrassing. But the men were teasing her so much, and she really needed them to fuck her right now.

“Has anyone ever told you before how juicy your cunt is?” Colter asked and nibbled along her pussy lips.

“Or how delicious your breasts are?” Declan added. He sucked and licked over the globes before drawing the nipple and entire areola of one of them into his mouth.

Kenz pressed back onto Asher’s fingers, needing so much more than just his gentle touch there right now.

Still they made her wait, Declan paying attention to first one nipple, and then the other, and Colter moving from her clit, to her cunt, to play with her nether lips so that she never knew where he’d touch her next. In the back of her mind she knew it was a damn good technique to keep her on edge, but the front of her mind was too filled with the need for three big cocks, to deal with their undoubted skills at arousing her right now.