Sugar Creek 3: Sara's Mates (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  “How the hell am I supposed to resist those puppy-dog eyes?” Sara muttered as she pushed the key into the ignition. She closed her car door, pulled her seat belt on, and put the car into reverse. As she started to back out she glanced to them again. Their shoulders were slumped and their heads were hanging down in dejection.

  An ache formed over her heart and the further away she got from them the more she hurt. Sara applied her foot to the brake and sat there, staring at them. Both of them stopped with their backs to her. They had spun around and started walking away, but they didn’t turn around to look at her. Their heads cocked as if they were listening for her next move, and since they probably had wolf super powers like enhanced hearing and senses she realized that was exactly what they were doing.

  “What can it hurt to have a cup of coffee with them, Sara?” she muttered under her breath. “It’s not like they’re asking you to marry them or anything.” At least she didn’t think so, but with wolves, who knew?

  With a sigh of resignation, she shifted into drive and edged forward again. She practically slammed the gearshift into park, yanked the parking brake on, and flung her door open. They turned to face her and she was glad she couldn’t see a smarmy smile on either of their faces. If she had she may just have taken off again. When she tried to get out of her car and her seat belt tightened across her body, she felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment.

  “Idiot,” she muttered, and released the belt. She grabbed her purse, got out of her car, and slung her purse over her shoulder. Neither of them had made a move toward her and for that she was grateful. She wasn’t sure she could handle breathing in their yummy scents again without making a move on them. After slamming her car door closed, she glared at them.

  “Just coffee, right?”

  Both men held their hands up, palms facing her, and said simultaneously, “We promise.”

  She walked toward them slowly and met each of their eyes before looking down at the ground. “Okay, lead the way.”

  They lead her toward the cabin next to the one she’d stayed in the previous evening, and Tony opened the door and stepped back so she could enter. Sara drew in a deep breath and after a brief hesitation stepped over the threshold. The front door led straight into a large living room with chunky leather furniture and dark wood tables. The floor was gleaming, polished timber, and on the far wall across from the sofa was a massive flat screen TV. Below it was an entertainment unit with all the latest stereo equipment.

  She moved further into the room and headed straight for one of the arm chairs. There was no way she would be able to concentrate if they sat next to her. She needed to keep all her wits about her, and since she could still smell their musky pine aromas, it was a hard enough feat.

  Chase and Tony stood across the room staring at her, and she cleared her throat. She was pleased that the small noise seemed to bring them out of their trance.

  “How do you like your coffee, baby?”

  “Black, please.”

  Chase and Tony stared at each other. Tony tilted to his head to the side, and if Sara hadn’t been watching them she would have sworn they were talking to each other again, but that was ludicrous because neither of them spoke a word.

  Tony broke eye contact and Chase moved across to sit on the end of the sofa. Even though he wasn’t sitting right next to her, that damnable scent assailed her senses again.

  “How old are you, Sara?”

  “Twenty-seven.” She sank further into the chair and scowled at him, then decided to ask him the same question. “How old are you?”

  “Forty.”

  “What? No.” Sara shook her head and then met his eyes again. “You’re pulling my leg. You don’t look a day over thirty.”

  “Werewolves age differently than humans. We live a lot longer, too.”

  Sara leaned forward and studied his face, but when she met his eyes she saw nothing but sincerity. “How much longer?”

  “A mated wolf lives from around two hundred and fifty to three hundred years.”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No, sugar. We would never lie to you about something like that.”

  Chase came back in carrying three mugs of coffee and placed them on the coffee table. His hands were so big and manly she could just imagine him and Tony touching…

  For God’s sake, cut that out right now.

  She pushed her carnal thoughts aside and went back over his last sentence. “What about single wolves? How long do they live for?”

  Chase sat on the sofa next to Tony and after taking a sip of his coffee, he answered her question. “Single wolves live from around one hundred and fifty to two hundred years.”

  “How old are you?” Sara asked Chase.

  “Forty-five.”

  “What’s your last name, baby?” Tony asked.

  “Wise,” Sara answered with a frown. “I thought you already knew that. You’ve met Melissa before today, right?”

  “Yeah.” Tony sighed, looking a little uncomfortable. “What do you do, Sara?”

  “I’m an accountant. What about you two? What do you do?”

  “We’re involved with the pack’s security,” Chase answered.

  “Isn’t that what Damian and Luke do?”

  “Yes, it is.” Tony smiled at her, and that smile only made him look more handsome and sexy. More of her juices slipped from her pussy and she caught both men sniffing the air. Her face heated with embarrassment and she quickly looked away.

  How the hell was she going to ignore what they did to her? Especially with how they looked at her. Their eyes met hers once again when she looked up and they looked so damn hungry, as if they wanted to spread her out naked on the floor and devour her. And if she was honest with herself, she wanted that, too, but Sara had never rushed into anything in her life. She’d never had the chance to. She’d been looking after Melissa for the last ten years.

  Their parents had died in a car wreck ten years ago and Sara had had to become Melissa’s mother, father, and sister. It had been a struggle to work as well as put herself through night school to become an accountant, but she had managed to do it. Sara was five years older than Melissa and it had been her responsibility to look after her.

  She didn’t begrudge having to take care of the house, bills, and Melissa. The situation had made her grow up a hell of a lot faster than she suspected she would have if their parents were still alive. It had damn near broken her heart when Melissa had moved out of their apartment two years ago, but she hadn’t wanted to hold her sister back. She knew that Melissa had wanted to learn to become more independent, and she’d helped her search the secondhand stores to furnish her own apartment. And it wasn’t as if they didn’t see each other often, because they did, or rather they had.

  She and Melissa had come together at least once a week to share a dinner and catch up on what was going on in each other’s lives. Sara suspected that now Melissa was mated and married they wouldn’t see each other as often. And even though she was sad about that she knew it was a good thing for her sibling to want to spend all her free time with her husbands, mates.

  If—and that was a very big and tentative if—she relented and started dating Tony and Chase, she would be able to see more of Melissa, but that wasn’t a reason to date anyone.

  She wondered if she could walk away from them and not see them ever again. The ache in her chest at that thought was nearly debilitating, and it took all of her self-control to not bend over or rub between her breasts to massage the ache away.

  “What the hell have I gotten myself into?” Sara muttered under her breath.

  Chapter Two

  Chase wondered what Sara was thinking about. He could see pain and sadness in her eyes, and she was frowning. His wolf hearing picked up her muttered sentence and he glanced over to see Tony frowning at their mate, too. He wanted to lift her up into his arms and cuddle her close until all that pain and sadness left her eyes, but he stayed where he was. He didn’t
want her to feel pressured from him or Tony or send her running again. It had been a close call before when she had started to leave and it had been the hardest thing to do to push his wolf back down. His animal had been howling and scratching inside him, pushing at him to go and get her and bring her back. And when she parked her car and got out before walking toward them he’d nearly howled with joy.

  “Tell me about what you do,” Sara said.

  “We make sure the perimeter of the estate is secure and that no one can get onto the property without us knowing about it,” Tony explained.

  “But…”

  “But what, baby?” Chase asked.

  “Melissa told me about the shooting. If you and her mates are the security, how the hell did a man hell bent on killing Tessa get onto your land and almost kill my sister?” Sara almost growled the last of her question. Chase knew that she was upset, and she had every right to be. They had failed in their jobs and had suffered from guilt over that incident ever since.

  “We’re more sorry than we can say that Melissa got hurt,” Tony said, and glanced at him.

  Chase sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “There was a problem at the Inn not long before that bastard shot Melissa. We’d not long come back to explain the situation to our Alpha. We were distracted and didn’t even realize that the power to the perimeter sensors had been disabled. We were able to track that fucker down and stop him from escaping. After detaining and restraining him we called in the law to take him away. We couldn’t even tell him that he’d shot your sister because we knew that her mates would have to give her their blood to change her and keep her alive.”

  “Shit! They gave her their blood?” Sara asked.

  Chase couldn’t take being away from her. She looked so disgusted and like she was about to throw up. He needed to hold her and offer what comfort he could and found himself standing in front of her before he even thought about moving. He scooped her up into his arms, walked back over to the sofa, sat down with her on his lap, and was very pleased when she didn’t try to get up or push away from him.

  “The only way a werewolf can change a human is for his or her mates to share their blood with her. The Lycan gene is dominant and once in the blood stream it multiplies until the wolf is formed.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Does what hurt, sugar?” Tony asked as he tentatively reached out for her hand and then laced their fingers together.

  Chase heard his brother exhale slowly, as if he had been holding his breath and waiting for Sara to pull away from him.

  “Does the Lycan gene cause any pain while the…wolf forms inside?”

  “No.”

  Sara nodded and sighed with relief. “That’s good. I can’t stand to think of Melissa in any pain. What are you called?”

  “We’ve already told you our names…”

  “That’s not what I meant, Tony.” Sara frowned as if gathering her thoughts. “Lucien’s the leader of the pack, or so Melissa said. What are you?”

  “We’re Omegas, sugar,” Chase answered. “Lucien is our Alpha. Rafe and Gabe are Betas and the younger wolves are Sigmas.”

  “What’s Tessa?”

  “Tessa is our Alpha female or queen.”

  “Wow, this is all a lot to take in. If I hadn’t seen Melissa change with my own eyes I wouldn’t believe any of this stuff. I have so many questions.”

  “You can ask us anything you’d like to, baby,” Tony said.

  “Does it hurt to change?”

  “No,” Chase replied. “The first few times we change our bones ache, sort of like growing pains, but it’s not unbearable.”

  “Can I see?”

  Chase looked at Tony and saw hope in his eyes. He was just as excited that their mate wanted to see them in their wolf form, but he was also apprehensive. If she watched the change and came face-to-face with their animals, would she freak out and want to leave again?

  “Are you sure, sugar? We don’t want to scare you.”

  Sara met his gaze and gulped before meeting Tony’s eyes. “Do you look like the werewolves in the movies?”

  “What do they look like, baby?” Tony asked.

  “You know, about seven or eight feet tall with grey hairy bodies, big teeth with saliva dripping from them and…well, just gross.”

  Chase had a hard time keeping his laughter at bay but didn’t want to upset her and make her think he was laughing at her, because he wasn’t. It was only natural for her to think that way if she’d seen such a creature on a cinema screen.

  “No we don’t look like that, Sara. Have you seen documentaries of wolves in the wild?” Chase asked.

  “Yes.”

  “We look like those wolves, honey, only maybe a little bigger.”

  Sara nodded her head and gave them a shy, chagrined smile. “Sorry, I hope I didn’t insult you. Melissa changed into her wolf for me when she told me about her, Damian and Luke, but she’s a female and I haven’t seen any of the men in their animal forms. I just wondered if y’all were different from her.”

  “You didn’t insult us, sugar. You could never do anything to insult us. It’s natural to be curious and for your imagination to run rife with things you’re not familiar with.”

  “Oh, I bet I could insult you and I won’t even need to do it on purpose. It just seems to come naturally,” Sara muttered under her breath, and then blinked at him as he watched her. “You heard that, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well shit. Can’t you close your ears off or something? I keep forgetting all of you can hear me when I talk to myself.”

  “Why do you do that, baby?” Tony asked.

  “Do what?”

  “Why do you talk to yourself?”

  “It’s a bad habit I got into after our parents died.”

  “When did you parents die, sugar? How old were you and Melissa?” Chase asked.

  “Melissa was twelve and I was seventeen.”

  “Damn. I’m sorry, sugar. That must have been hard on you.”

  “It wasn’t a picnic, that’s for sure, but Melissa needed me. She’s my sister and I wasn’t about to let anyone take her away from me. It was my responsibility to look after the both of us.”

  “Did your parents have life insurance?” Tony asked.

  Sara nodded. “They did, but not enough to pay off the mortgage.”

  Chase felt bad for bringing the subject up when he saw the sadness in her eyes again, but he wanted to know everything about her and since she was talking and answering questions he wasn’t about to stop. The more he and Tony knew about their mate and how her mind ticked, the easier it would be for them to connect with her on an emotional level and hopefully, eventually, really, really soon, on a physical level, too. It was almost impossible for a werewolf to not claim his mate during sex and that was another thing he and Tony had to explain to her.

  Chase came out of his introspection when Sara continued talking.

  “After talking to Melissa, with her agreement we decided the best thing to do was sell the house and rent out an apartment. Renting was cheaper than trying to pay off a mortgage and I had already enrolled into college, but I had to call the school and change my course to night classes because I needed to work during the day to earn money.

  “I was lucky enough to meet a really nice older woman at the apartment complex and she offered to keep an eye on Mel while I was at school.”

  “You are amazing, sugar.”

  Sara shook her head and Chase nearly moaned with desire and relief when she finally relaxed into his body. His aching cock throbbed behind the zipper of his jeans and he hoped like hell she couldn’t feel the state of his body. He had a feeling their mate wasn’t very experienced when it came to men. She wouldn’t have had much of a chance in her later teen years to form much of a relationship with the opposite sex since she had been working, studying, and looking after her younger sister.

  “Enough about me.” Sara looked between him and Tony. “
Are you going to show me?”

  Chase nodded at Tony when he met his gaze.

  Tony released Sara’s hand, rose to his feet, and pushed the coffee table out of the way. Chase kept his gaze on Sara’s face and also called to his wolf’s hearing. Her heartbeat picked up speed but he didn’t want her so frightened that she started hyperventilating or ran away screaming.

  When Tony pulled his T-shirt up over his head and dropped it onto the sofa, Sara gasped, but after inhaling he knew it wasn’t because she was scared. Their woman liked the way Tony looked. Her eyes were glued to his chest as his pecs flexed and undulated when his brother reached for the button on his jeans.

  “What are you doing?” Sara gulped.

  “I need to take off my clothes to shift into my wolf, baby. If I didn’t take them off when I change I would end up with nothing left to wear,” Tony explained.

  “Okay,” Sara squeaked, and then cleared her throat.

  “She likes what you look like, Tony,” Chase said.

  “Yeah, I can smell her desire from here. She’s going to get an eyeful. My cock’s so hard right now I could pound nails.”

  “Don’t worry about it. If we have our way she’ll be more than seeing our hard cocks very soon.”

  “I fucking hope it’s sooner rather than later.” Tony lowered his zipper and then pushed his jeans and knit boxer shorts down his legs.

  “Me, too, bro. Me, too.”

  “She smells so damn sweet. My wolf and I are itching to taste that delectable cream between her legs.”

  “I am, too, but we can’t do anything to rush her. Just hurry up and change. If she squirms on my lap one more time I’m going to fucking lose it.”

  Chase kept his gaze on Sara as Tony went down to his hands and knees on the floor. When his brother’s body began to change he heard her heartbeat escalate, as did her breathing. He pulled her in tighter against his body and her soft, small, feminine hands clutched at his forearm, her nails digging into his skin. But when he drew in a deep breath he didn’t smell fear on her, and that gave him hope that he and his brother would be able to talk her into exploring a relationship with them. At least, he hoped she would since she wasn’t actually scared of them. He could smell excitement on her, desire, and a little trepidation, but not actually out-and-out fear.