Where There is Hope [Taos Wolven Mates 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 4

  “That’s not what worries me.” Braxton turned to face her, his expression grim. “Wolven males don’t get bad feelings over trivial matters. If something is wrong, you’re much safer with us than you would be here alone.”

  “Oh.” She hadn’t thought of that. Hope stared down at her feet and wondered just what they thought was wrong. What kind of trouble would give a man the size of these two the heebie-jeebies? She frowned. The better question might be, what could cause such trepidation in men like them? If they really were some sort of magical were-being from another planet, they had a huge advantage over human men.

  Hope shivered at the thought and rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “You know, I really think I should stay here.” How would she survive a long ride with either of these two? She couldn’t let them make her ride out with them. If they were were-beings like they claimed, they would smell her arousal every step of the way. Hope couldn’t imagine a more humiliating experience. Going with them was dangerous in more ways than one.

  Heck, if these guys were on alert the way they were, she wanted nothing to do with heading into any type of trouble zone with them. She wasn’t stupid.

  “We cannot leave you here, Hope,” Joran said as he led his saddled horse from its stall. “It would divide our attention. We can protect you much better if you remain by our sides.”

  He stopped in front of her to reach up and cup her cheek. “Besides,” he said with a grin, “neither Braxton nor I can think unless you’re close enough to touch.”

  Quickly, before she could protest, he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

  Her breath hitched as his warm lips covered hers. Her nipples tightened and arrows of desire shot through her blood, headed straight to her womb. Her toes curled in the ugly, serviceable shoes they provided for her, and her head spun. She felt herself beginning to sway on her feet when he grasped her shoulders and steadied her before pulling back to look at her.

  Hope stood staring up at him, speechless. What could she say to the fact that she was attracted to a man nearly half her age? Other than telling herself she was the clichéd cradle robber, there really was nothing else to say. Stepping back, she took a deep breath and opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

  Joran rested his finger against her lips. “Shh, darlin’. You have nothing to feel ashamed about.”

  “I’m not—” She tried to pull away, but he followed her, his finger still firm on her lips.

  “Yes you are. You forget our other form is that of a wolf. We can smell it.” He grinned. “We can also smell your arousal, so don’t try to deny that either.”

  “Oh!” Hope spun around, covering her face with her hands. They could smell that. How humiliating! Did she need a bath or something? She did spend all day out in the damned heat.

  “There is nothing for you to be embarrassed about, sweetheart. It is totally natural. And,” he said with a wink and a smile, “we can’t tell you how happy we are to know that you desire us.”

  God, could things get any worse? Hope couldn’t face them again, she just couldn’t. How could she continue to keep company with these two when they practically knew her every thought by the way she smelled?

  “Just leave me here and go see what’s causing your weird radar to act up.” She started to walk back to the house. “I’ll stay inside. I’ll even barricade myself in the cellar if you have one. Just promise me I don’t have to go with you.”

  Hope was halfway to the house when Joran scooped her up, sat her across his saddle then climbed up behind her. “We are not leaving you here. Whatever Braxton feels is not good. Now turn yourself astride unless you want to ride sidesaddle.”

  Lifting her skirt, she maneuvered her right leg over the neck of the horse and patted the folds of material in place. Hope shivered when his breath tickled her ear. Goose bumps covered her flesh, and she tried to ignore the fact that his hard cock pressed into the cleft of her rear.

  One thing was certain, they weren’t lying when they said they were attracted to her. Both of them had been sporting a hard-on since she’d regained consciousness. She’d tried to ignore that, she really had.

  Shaking her head, Hope closed her eyes and wondered what she had ever done to deserve this madness in her life. She’d been a good wife. She’d even wanted to be a good mother. Apparently, motherhood just wasn’t in the cards for her. Otherwise, she would have been one by now. She never used birth control in all the years she’d been married.

  That Bob’s girlfriend got pregnant almost immediately told her that she needn’t ever consult a fertility doctor. It was more than obvious that Hope was the one at fault for their childless union.

  “Whatever you’re thinking about, Hope, stop it,” Joran said against her ear before he pressed a kiss to the side of her neck.

  Liquid heat rushed from her womb to soak her panties. If he kept that up, she would be so wet by the time they got where they were going, she’d need a change of underwear. Maybe she should have worn the archaic pantaloons they’d provided. At least that way she would have had another bunch of ruffled material between her and the saddle that kept rubbing her already sensitive and throbbing clit with every swaying step of his horse.

  All Hope knew was that if they decided to break out into a canter, she was a goner. Swallowing thickly, Hope closed her eyes and tried to ignore the sensation, but it just wouldn’t go away. She would come if she had even the slightest bit of extra stimulation. That was saying quite a bit considering she hadn’t been able to bring herself off since Bob left her.

  “Oh, my God.” She gasped as Joran’s fingers slipped beneath the elastic of her panties and circled her clit. It was all the stimulation she needed to finish what he had inadvertently begun by placing her on the back of his horse and whispering in her ear.

  Her orgasm washed over her in wave after wave of sensation while he continued to strum the now-oversensitive nub. Hope grabbed his hand through her skirt and pressed it tight against her as she panted through her climax.

  Nothing could have prepared her for the utter shame and dejection she felt once she came down from her peak. Her face burned with mortification. How could she let him do that with his friend riding just in front of them?

  Braxton most likely even heard her when she came. What was wrong with her that she could throw her conservative upbringing aside and allow a man she had just met to thrust his hand between her thighs and bring her off like some free-love maven from the sixties?

  “Shh, love. Don’t beat yourself up so. Braxton and I told you we brought you here to be our mate. That means we want you to be a mate to both of us.” He pointed to Braxton who had stopped and turned his horse around. “Look at him, Hope. See the way he smiles at you? Does that look like a man who thinks you did something wrong?”

  “It doesn’t matter what he thinks. Jesus, Joran. I’m almost old enough to be your mother!” The last came out on an embarrassed hiss.

  “I doubt that, dear heart.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek.

  Braxton dug his heels into his mount’s sides and trotted back to them, with a laugh. “You are most assuredly not anywhere near old enough to be our mother, Hope.” Reaching across the space between them, he tucked two fingers under her chin and looked deep into her eyes. “We are much older than we look.”

  “Yeah, right.” She pulled away to swipe her eyes with the back of her hand. “What are you two, twenty-five, twenty-six tops?”

  Braxton chuckled and shook his head. “No, Hope. I am nearly three-hundred years old.” He tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

  “Bull chips! There’s no way you are that old. It’s impossible.”

  “It’s impossible for humans. It is not impossible for us.”

  Turning, she glanced back a Joran. “How old are you going to claim to be, five hundred?” she asked with a snort. If they thought she was going to believe that crap, they were even crazier than she thought.

  “No,” Joran
said with a laugh. “I’m only two hundred and twenty.”

  “God, you’re both delusional.” Her face burned. What did they call women who dated younger men? “And I’m a jaguar or something.”

  “You’re a what?” both of the men said at the same time.

  “I don’t know. They call women who date younger men some kind of cat name. I don’t know what it is.” Of course she didn’t. She had never once entertained the idea of dating a younger man. Hell, she’d been married since she was eighteen and here she was, nearly forty-eight and single again.

  She wasn’t supposed to be single. After thirty years, she had entertained the idea of retiring with Bob and traveling around the world until they were too old to do it anymore. Hope had scrimped and saved their entire lives to save up enough for them to retire in less than two years and how did he thank her? He withdrew the money and bought a house for his new girlfriend then sold their home out from under her.

  She looked out over the grassy plain they crossed to the stand of trees on the other side and swiped the tears from her eyes. “How long before we get to your friends’ house?” It felt as though they’d been riding for hours. Hope needed to dismount and stretch her legs. As it was, she knew she wouldn’t be able to walk in the morning.

  “It’s just through that stand of trees,” Joran pointed off to the left in front of them. “We should be there in less than an hour. Faster if we canter.”

  “Canter if you want. I can handle it.” Hope didn’t know if her rear could handle it, but she did know that the two men were anxious to see why their friends hadn’t cared for their ranch while they were gone.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive,” she said with a nod.

  Ten minutes of hard riding later, Hope muttered to herself. “Only fools are positive, you idiot.” Her butt already hurt so much she didn’t know if she’d be able to stand when they finally arrived at their friend’s ranch, let alone walk.

  The countryside was quiet when they arrived. It was too quiet as they cantered across another flat stretch of green grass littered with cows and horses grazing. The two men finally slowed their horses to approach the ranch at a more sedate pace.

  “Something doesn’t smell right.” Braxton tilted his head back and took a deep breath. “I scent death in the air.”

  “They probably can’t cook either,” Joran said with a chuckle. “I’d hate it if we were interrupting their meal.”

  “We aren’t interrupting their meal.” Braxton shook his head. “Take a deep breath, Joran. If I’m not mistaken, Robio and Dradon were the meal.”

  Braxton and Joran spurred their horses to action, taking off like a shot toward the barn.

  The closer they got, the more Hope could smell the odor that the other two must have from so far away. She wanted to believe that they told her the truth about what they were and their sense of smell went a long way toward convincing her, but she still wasn’t sure she believed them.

  The two men dismounted and ran toward the barn door. Almost as though it was an afterthought, Joran turned. “Stay out here, Hope. I don’t know what we’ll find inside and I want you safe.”

  Hope wanted to be safe, too. That was why she refused to let them leave her on the back of a horse she didn’t know in a part of the country she knew nothing about. What if there were coyotes or wolves hanging around waiting to eat her—and not in a good way?

  Face burning, Hope slid down off the back of the horse. It was a good thing she’d kept a tight grip on the pommel or she would have fallen on her face in the dirt. Just as she’d expected, her legs almost gave out when she hit the ground. She stood there for a moment then managed to make her way through the barn door and screamed.

  Chapter Eight

  “Shit!” Joran turned around and saw Hope standing just inside the door, her face as white as the bow on the collar of her dress.

  She stood staring at what was left of Robio’s body that lay just to the left of the door. Torn to shreds, the man would have been unrecognizable had they been human and relied on appearance alone to identify him. Robio’s and Dradon’s scents permeated the interior of the barn with the sour scent of bodies just beginning to turn ripe.

  Joran watched as she turned her horrified gaze to him. “Oh, my God, Joran. What happened here?” She started to shake. Joran knew it was only a matter of time before she fainted or went into shock. Either way, he had precious little time to make his way to her before she hit the floor.

  As soon as she started to sway on her feet, Joran ran to her side. He caught her just as her eyes closed and she fell into a dead faint.

  He looked down at her pale complexion and her wine red lips and felt his cock harden. “You can’t have her now, damn it, you randy wolf.” He scooped her up in his arms and turned to Braxton, who merely stood staring at them. “I’ll take her outside and get her some fresh air. You continue to investigate. Try to find a scent.”

  “There won’t be one. They used parada pepper to cover their scent.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Joran turned around and led the way out of the barn. “We need to call the alpha and his men here. If I’m not mistaken, the alpha can still track them, even if they’ve hidden behind the odor of that shit. He’s done it before.”

  Braxton followed him from the barn. Turning, he closed and latched the door. They didn’t need any more animals wandering in and adding their scent to the mix before the alpha got a shot at figuring out who it was.

  “Here you go,” Joran said as he handed Hope to Braxton. “You’ll have to take her because I don’t want to risk harming her when I mount.” He smiled as he looked at their mate. “I’m proud of her, you know. It took her almost a full minute for her to faint. That’s saying something for someone who’s likely never seen a mutilated human body before.”

  It was. Though Braxton felt the same pride Joran felt in their mate, he couldn’t help but think of Robio and Dradon. What happened to those poor bastards? Who did that to them, and more importantly, when and where would the murderers attack again?

  “Invitation or not, we need to go see the alpha.” He hated arriving uninvited. The alpha never made them feel unwanted. Never that. Braxton always felt as though they were interrupting something very important. Perhaps they were just interrupting the undoubtedly hot sex between the three mates. Whatever it was, he was always uncomfortable showing up at the alpha’s, hat in hand as though he’d come begging.

  He looked down into Hope’s slack face and knew that he must interrupt whatever goings-on there were at the alpha’s home tonight. Whatever it was they interrupted, even the pleasant undertaking of making of a cub, must take second place to protecting the females of Serenity Falls.

  Braxton glanced down and shifted Hope in his arms. He loved the fact that he could bear her slight weight in his arms. Had she been awake, he had no doubt she would protest their close proximity.

  “She is a sweet burden to bear, is she not?” Joran asked as he moved to pace beside him as they headed for their mounts.

  “Yes.” Braxton smiled down at her and hoped she could come to terms with what they were and bond with them. “She is beautiful and we are damned lucky to have her.”

  “She’s also awake,” Hope said as she opened her eyes, lifted her head and glared at them both. “Put me down.”

  Braxton set her on the ground, keeping his hands on her shoulders until she regained her balance.

  “I’m not some prize that you two can carry around showing off or expecting…” She paused, paced back and forth a bit, then stomped her foot. “Well, I don’t know what you expect, but just don’t!” She spun around to face the barn and the color drained from her face. “I–I—Oh, God! What happened in there?”

  She brought her hand to her throat and gagged. Stumbling over to the paddock fence, Hope leaned against the post and retched. “I can’t stay here. I just—” She retched again. “I just can’t.”

  Both Joran and he ran to her side. Joran brush
ed the stray strands of hair from her face while Braxton held her shoulders so she wouldn’t fall face-first into her vomit.

  Who could have done such a thing? There hasn’t been violence here since we all moved to this place. Why now?

  That’s a good question, Joran said through their mind link. It’s one I would love to know the answer to.

  We must go to the alpha. They needed to step up their security levels throughout the area before something like this happened again. The protection of their females must always come first.

  You’re right. Joran looked out over the rolling grass between the barn and the alpha’s ranch. It’s a long ride from here to Lorcan’s. We’ll be vulnerable with Hope. He grimaced. Very vulnerable. I don’t want to risk her, but just leaving her at the ranch would put her at risk.

  Joran was correct. Either way, their mate was at risk. It almost made him wish they’d never gone to her world and collected her. If they’d left her alone, she would be safe and they would have no worries other than catching a murderer.

  “We must all go to the alpha’s. We must also stop by the general store and pick up Fleur and Amelie. They’ll need protection as well.”

  “Did they ever get that buggy they talked about?”

  “No.” Braxton shook his head. “They got a buckboard instead. They thought it better to have the wagon to make deliveries if needed.”

  “Who do they expect to load and unload the wagon?” Joran scoffed. “Those two look like they would have a difficult time picking up a kitten.”

  “They hired Big Joe from the home back east.” Braxton grinned. “He’s been good for them. They needn’t fear for their safety with him there.” He shook his head. “Well, they needn’t fear human men.” He waved his arm toward the barn. “You know as well as I do that this…this was the work of an elitist.”

  They turned toward town. “What’s an elitist?” Hope asked with a frown.