Laurie's Wolves Read online

  “Any idea what it wanted?”

  “Do you normally know?”

  Melinda seemed to blow out an exasperated breath. “No. But I was hoping.”

  “When do you usually see these things? You said right before the earthquake and then that disaster at the casino site, right?”

  “Yes. But not necessarily immediately preceding danger. I just knew I was getting a warning. A sign. Kind of a ‘wake up and pay attention’ thing. It’s hard to explain.”

  “I think I get it.” Laurie looked around. There was no evidence of the spirit now. Would it come back? “You don’t think we’re in imminent danger?”

  “You would know. Trust me.”

  Laurie spun in circles, taking in the scene. Her mates closed in on her, their teeth bared as though ready for attack. She couldn’t hear them. “I need to break this connection. Let’s talk tomorrow, yeah?”

  “Yes. Why don’t you come to my shop in the morning? You haven’t seen it yet. We can talk then.”

  “Perfect. I can visit Corbin in Sojourn too. That’ll make him happy. He works so far away from us, I see him less than Zach. Makes him pissy.” She giggled into her sister’s head. “Later then.”

  As if she had been sucked into a vacuum, she was suddenly released. With a gasp of breath, she sunk to the snowy ground once more, exhausted.

  “What the fuck? Laurie? Answer me?” Zach called to her. She knew he’d been doing so for a while.

  “I’m okay. Hang on,” she communicated.

  Corbin lowered to his haunches in front of her and nudged her with his nose. “Babe?”

  “I was talking to Melinda.”

  “Okaaay… But why couldn’t you talk to us also?” Corbin asked.

  “Couldn’t hear you.”

  “What? We were right here, practically shouting into your head,” Zach said.

  “I can’t explain it. Give me a minute.”

  “Let’s get the hell out of here. We can talk back at the condo.” Zach set a paw on her.

  “Give me a second first.” She closed her eyes, knowing she needed to regroup a moment before they made their way down the mountain.

  She tried to process everything that had transpired while it was still fresh. The black cloud had specifically made its presence in front of her. Why her? And there was little doubt it was warning her of something. She had no idea what.

  It wasn’t imminent. It was ugly.

  She shuddered and then dragged herself to her paws. “Let’s go.”

  »»•««

  “Talk to us.” Zach paced back and forth in the living room. “What the hell happened back there?”

  The men had graciously left her in peace on the way home, waiting until they entered the condo to start tossing out questions. She stared at Zach on the other side of the glass coffee table where he paced.

  The inquisition continued without either man waiting for answers.

  “Why was Melinda shifted? How did you manage to reach her?” Corbin plopped down on the black leather couch and reached for her.

  Laurie ignored his outstretched hand and stood across from him, watching Zach pace. “She wasn’t shifted.”

  “What the fuck?” Zach stopped moving abruptly and stared at her.

  “She was cooking dinner.” As if anyone needed to know that detail.

  “Laurie?” Corbin prodded, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

  “I don’t know what to say. I reached out, and she responded. I suspect she dropped something in the kitchen, actually. And in addition, the moment we connected, you two were blocked out. So were Trace and Keegan.”

  “I’ve heard of blocking people from hearing things, but being blocked by nature to zone in on one single being? That’s crazy.” Zach rubbed his brow with one hand in confusion.

  “Yeah. Trust me. It was weird. I’m going to go to her shop tomorrow and talk to her more, but for now, suffice to say, we’re being warned.”

  “About what?” Corbin asked.

  “No fucking clue. If I knew that, we’d be golden. I just get the ominous feeling that we need to take heed. Something’s about to happen. Whatever it is, we need to do something.”

  Zach wrapped his arms around Laurie, calming her instantly. “We’ll figure it out, baby.” He kissed her temple.

  “Come here.” Corbin reached out toward her again. “I need to be closer to you.”

  Zach released her, and she headed toward Corbin. When his hands landed on her hips, she calmed again. Something about their touch.

  Suddenly she needed more. She needed them inside her. Maybe it would ground her to press their bodies together. Reconnect. Become one.

  Or maybe it was simply part of the newness of their mating that hadn’t abated since last week. Either way, she wanted the intimacy Fate had driven her to crave almost nonstop lately.

  ∙•∙

  Corbin was startled when Laurie suddenly grabbed the hem of her shirt and dragged it over her head. She dropped it on the floor and popped the clasp on her bra without taking her gaze off him.

  He swallowed. No matter how many times he’d seen her naked in the last week, he was still mesmerized by her beauty. He adjusted his cock inside his jeans as she lowered the zipper on hers and slipped out of them, taking her thong with her pants.

  “Jeans off,” she said.

  Corbin kicked off his shoes and then lifted his hips and eased his jeans over his cock hastily, like a teenage boy. He whipped his shirt off next.

  Before he knew what to expect, Laurie climbed onto his lap and immediately lowered herself onto his cock.

  His groan filled the room as he gripped her ass cheeks and held her steady. “Jesus, babe.”

  She smiled as she tipped her head back and exposed her delectable neck to his mouth.

  Corbin closed the distance and nibbled a path from her shoulder to her ear. “You taste divine.”

  “Mmm.” She leaned farther over his shoulder, nudging his mouth out of the way. When she lifted off his stiff cock and thrust back down, he let his head roll onto the back of the couch.

  Zach was there, he realized. And he had his hands threaded in Laurie’s hair, holding her head steady. He leaned forward and captured her mouth with his, deepening the kiss while Corbin watched.

  Amazingly, there was no jealously between the three of them. Laurie looked so fucking hot with Zach that Corbin enjoyed watching the two of them together almost as much as he liked to have her for himself.

  In the last week, they had taken her in so many positions, there was little left to explore. She’d been with both of them every night and most mornings. He and Zach had also had several opportunities to take her alone.

  Laurie snaked her arms up Corbin’s biceps and over his head to reach for Zach behind the couch. She broke the kiss as she clasped his ass. “Step closer,” she muttered.

  Zach closed the gap, and Laurie wasted no time closing her lips over his rigid length and sucking him in deep.

  Zach moaned, but the sound was almost lost in Corbin’s own groan of excitement. Her full pink lips were amazing. Kissable. Fuckable. Sexy.

  He almost forgot about his own cock buried inside her tight pussy.

  And then she moved, lifting off him again and slamming back down without losing contact with Zach’s shaft.

  The three of them were like a perfectly aligned puzzle in any position. So fucking hot.

  As if she’d fucked them in this particular arrangement every day for the last several years, she moved like a pro, lifting and lowering herself while bobbing on and off Zach’s cock.

  Zach gripped her shoulders while Corbin squeezed her ass cheeks so hard she would probably bruise. He wanted to slip one hand between them and stroke her clit, but she didn’t appear to need the stimulation. If her constant moaning was anything to judge by, she was close. In fact, she rocked her pussy back and forth as she ground down on him, perfecting the friction.

  When she came, she was magnificent, pressing her sex
as hard as possible against the base of his cock. She stiffened as her pussy pulsed around his rigid length, but she didn’t break contact with Zach.

  Amazingly, she continued to suckle him. It was so fucking hot, Corbin nearly came from watching.

  Suddenly, as her orgasm subsided, she sucked Zach deep, her cheeks hollowing, and picked up the pace, bouncing up and down over Corbin’s dick faster, forcing him to grit his teeth as he watched her tits bounce between them.

  He dug his fingers into her ass and held on for the ride.

  And what a ride.

  Corbin couldn’t hold off another second when Zach tipped his head back and muttered, “Laurie… Baby…”

  Corbin came right on the heels of Zack, filling their sweet mate simultaneously and once again staking their undisputed claim over her body.

  Chapter Nine

  Instead of heading straight to Melinda’s shop the next morning, Laurie decided to take Corbin’s advice and seek out job opportunities on the reservation. She did a quick computer search and found four preschools near Sojourn. That seemed like the best place to start.

  At the first place, a young girl who couldn’t have been over eighteen was at the front desk. She smiled politely but said they weren’t currently hiring.

  The older woman whom she met at the second place looked at her over her reading glasses skeptically and pursed her lips before finally asking a shocking question. “Are you from around here?”

  “No. But my family is. You might know my grandmother, Mimi Bartel.”

  The woman stopped shuffling papers and frowned. “You’re Joyce’s daughter then?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “So you aren’t full Native American,” she deadpanned.

  Laurie shook her head. Who the hell cared if she was half white? “Is that a requirement?”

  The woman hesitated. “Not specifically, but we find our families prefer the staff be Native American. It makes their children more comfortable in their surroundings.”

  “Uh huh.” Laurie was too stunned to comment. She plastered on a fake smile and thanked the woman for her time.

  She had leaden feet when she walked into the next preschool. And she instantly knew she was blacklisted.

  Fuck.

  The woman who greeted her smiled kindly, but totally fake. She was closer to Laurie in age. She’d been warned of Laurie’s arrival. Seriously? Was this town completely out of their mind? Racism? This was the twenty-first century. How could all these businesses get away with denying her employment because of the mixed color of her skin?

  Nevertheless, she gave the woman her spiel and kept her chin up, not willing to admit defeat.

  Surprisingly, the woman calmly told her she knew who she was, and instead of insinuating that her clientele didn’t care for mixed race teachers, she sat on the front corner of her desk and peered down at Laurie. “I’ll be honest with you because it doesn’t seem anyone else in this town has the balls to speak straight.”

  “I think I get the picture. No one is willing to hire me because my skin isn’t red enough.” Ironically, she was sure her face was a hundred shades of red at the moment.

  “Unfortunately that’s true. But it’s more than that. Rumor has it you’re living with two men.”

  Laurie swallowed heavily. Dammit.

  The woman nodded when she saw her answer on Laurie’s face. If she’d been a shifter, she wouldn’t have found the idea so appalling. Neither would any of the other women she’d spoken to that morning. But the reality was that not every Native American living on the reservation was a shifter. There was only the one tribe on the west side of the rez. The rest of the county was filled with Native Americans who had no idea of the existence of shifters.

  And those people were appalled. The Native Americans weren’t simply concerned with the purity of her blood line. They were also worried about her sleeping with two men. And how could she blame them? It was awkward to say the least.

  But this was her life now. Right? There wasn’t a damn thing she could do to change it.

  “I’ll warn you,” the woman continued, “people around here are shocked. Like wildfire, word is spreading you aren’t the only one living this lifestyle. Rumor has it there’s a group of you. A colony.”

  Now Laurie gasped. “That’s crazy. And besides, it’s no one’s business.”

  “It is if you want to find a job.” She blew out a breath. “I’m so sorry. I’m just telling you the truth. If I hired you, families would pull their kids out of my school before the end of the week.” She truly did seem regretful, but that didn’t dampen the sting of her words and the reality of their truth.

  Shit. Laurie stood. This was a lost cause. She straightened her skirt, smoothing out the invisible wrinkles, and stepped toward the door. “Thanks for your time.” With that she left.

  She fought back tears until she got to the car. And then she let them slide down her face.

  Corbin was in her head in an instant. “Babe, what happened?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Like hell, nothing. Talk to me.”

  “Later. I’m heading to Melinda’s shop now. Can we discuss this later?” She wasn’t in the mood to hash this stumbling block with Corbin telepathically. Not to mention it would be much easier to tell the story one time.

  Tonight. Over dinner. With both men.

  They were meeting at Corbin’s place that night. Since Laurie was already in Sojourn and neither she nor Zach had been to his place yet, they’d opted for reconvening there after everyone got off work.

  Luckily, Corbin let it go for the time being. “Okay, but please let me know if you need me. I’ll be around Sojourn most of the day.”

  “I will.”

  »»•««

  Jazmine’s hand shook as she held her cell phone to her ear and waited for Mary to pick up. “Come on. Come on…” she muttered. She’d met Mary almost six months ago at a preschool forum, and the two of them had become close friends.

  “Hey, Jaz. How’s it going?”

  Jazmine blew out a breath. “That woman you mentioned was just here looking for a job.”

  Mary inhaled deeply. “I figured that would happen. What did you do?”

  “I told her the truth—that people around here don’t want to have anything to do with her lifestyle. Someone had to tell her. Sucks that it had to be me. She seemed perfectly nice, and she’s more than qualified. I could use her. But the reality is my patrons would flip a lid if they found out she lived with two men. Hell, many of their heads would spin simply because she isn’t full Native American. It’s the same for me as it is for you. If I hired her, I’d lose clients. My stomach roiled the entire time I spoke to her. I felt like such a hypocrite.”

  “I’m sorry, Jaz. But you’re right. And I hate it.”

  “Before Laurie Hamilton showed up at my preschool, two people had already called to warn me she would probably be coming. Word spread fast. What’s the matter with people?”

  “I don’t know, but at the Church on the Hill, the members are blowing a gasket over Laurie’s mixed race. Since they realize that won’t stick, they’re easily willing to use the polygamist card as well. She’s doomed in both communities.”

  “How can you stand to continue to go to that church? It’s totally over the top, Mary. It’s one thing to cave under society’s pressure to preserve our business. But how can you sit week after week in a pew next to those bigots?” Jazmine asked.

  “I can’t. Not anymore. But I feel like I should fake for a while, anyway. They’re like a mob now. What if they plan to injure someone? It seems I’m stuck. I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt over something like race or who they sleep with. That’s crazy.”

  “I agree. My hands are tied. People would pull their kids out of my school if I didn’t turn Ms. Hamilton away. I heard parents grumbling this morning about quote ‘the half-breed who waltzed into town like she’s all Native American and runs the place.’”

  “Jesus, the woma
n barely got here a week ago. Why is she so popular?” Mary asked.

  “No idea, but they act like their entire way of life is threatened. I’m not sure if anyone is really concerned with her mixed race or lifestyle choice, or if it has more to do with her specific choice in men. One of the guys is a Native American who works as a deputy here on the rez. I can’t believe that will go over well at the sheriff’s office, but most of the deputies are from the western tribe—the Yobuka. It’s the most populated tribe of Natives on the reservation, and the sheriff’s office is located in the more populated area. Who knows?”

  “Well, the other man—the Caucasian—is a member of the wealthiest family in Cambridge, the Masters. It’s frightening to think people from both sides of the lake are up in arms over this. I’m worried,” Mary added.

  “Maybe there are more polygamist groups than we know about closer to the lake. Of all the murmuring I’ve heard, none of it has been from the Yobuka. They seem inordinately tolerant of the threesomes. I know they’ve had disagreements about race in the past, but I haven’t heard any of them pissing and moaning about polygamy. Perhaps it’s accepted among them.”

  “Is there a shortage of women among the Yobuka?”

  “Not that I know of.” Jazmine thought about that.

  “You think maybe they’re trying to preserve not just the Native American way of life, but within their own tribe?”

  “Could be. I’ll look into the idea of them lacking women. Seems ludicrous. I mean what woman would willingly marry two men just because there aren’t enough?”

  Mary laughed. “Lots of them, probably. Not me, of course, but most women would jump at the idea of being taken care of by two men, right?”

  Jazmine smiled. “True. Besides, that angle doesn’t jive because these three ménages we know about are not within the Yobuka. They’re all mixed combos of white and Native. So, that doesn’t explain anything.”

  Mary sighed. “Shit. You’re right.”

  Jazmine sighed. Surely this would all blow over eventually. Right? “You still okay with tonight?”

  “Of course. Looking forward to it.”

  Jazmine relaxed her shoulders. “’Kay, see you then.”