Reynolds Pack (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  “We certainly do,” Joe said as he entered the living room with two full glasses of OJ. “When a werewolf meets his mate, he always instantly falls in love with his female.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “The scent of a mate is the first thing to hit a werewolf,” Joe began to explain. “The sensation of seeing your mate the first time feels like being sucker-punched, but in a good way, of course. The perfume of one’s mate is unique and is what draws the male, or males, and inner animals to the woman. Once we’ve smelled our woman’s scent, our wolves want to mate and claim her right away. Of course our human side knows that isn’t possible, and we have to fight our beasts from that moment on so he doesn’t become too aggressive and does something stupid, like claim his mate without her permission.”

  “Has that ever happened before?” Mel asked.

  “Not in my time, but I heard that a trio of wolves claimed their woman a few generations ago.”

  “Did they have a good relationship? The people involved? Wait.” Mel held up her hand to stop Joe from answering her questions. “Does that mean they raped the woman?” She held her breath as she awaited the answer.

  “No, they didn’t rape her, but they bit and marked her. There was no going back after that. And, no, their relationship didn’t have a great start. The woman took off because she was scared out of her mind, but once a mate has been claimed, she and her man, or men, need to be in each other’s company regularly and often. If mates are separated for any length of time, depression sets in, and if the despondency gets bad enough, they end up ignoring their body’s needs.”

  “Like what?” Mel leaned forward in her seat.

  “Well, they might stop eating, and their wolves become more aggressive, and in some cases, I’ve heard of the wolves going rogue.”

  “What do you mean by rogue?” Jenny asked with a frown.

  “It gets harder and harder for the shifter to call to their human side, and in some cases, the wolf ends up taking over. All the animal’s thoughts are consumed with hunting and killing.”

  “Humans?” Mel didn’t realise she’d fisted her hands until her knuckles began to ache.

  “No, thank goodness. The only time a werewolf would attack a human was in self-defence,” Joe replied.

  Mel sighed with relief and sat back farther into her seat.

  “I’ll leave you ladies to talk. I’ll be in the kitchen if you have more questions,” Joe said and then left the room.

  “Wow, even I didn’t know that. I’ve been mated for nearly twelve months, and I’m still learning about my mates and their kind.”

  “Sorry, baby,” Joe called from the kitchen.

  “Is there anything else you’ve forgotten to tell me?” Jenny asked without raising her voice, and Mel was surprised when Joe replied.

  “Probably.”

  Jenny must have seen the surprise on Mel’s face because she smiled and then said,” Werewolves have exceptional hearing.”

  “No shit,” Mel said.

  Jenny burst out laughing, and Mel couldn’t help but join in.

  “Their sense of smell and eyesight are beyond what you could imagine them to be, plus they are damn fast and strong.”

  “So they could pretty much whip my arse without hardly lifting a finger.” Mel took a sip of her drink.

  “Yes.”

  “Great.”

  “Don’t worry about anyone on this estate hurting you. All the men on Reynolds Pack land would cut out their hearts before they hurt a woman or child.” Jenny uncurled her legs and sat up straighter.

  “That’s good to know,” Mel muttered.

  “So, you have some questions for me?”

  “Yeah, but there are so many rattling around inside my head I don’t know where to start.”

  “Just ask the first one that comes to mind,” Jenny suggested.

  “Okay.” Mel drew in a deep breath and released it before continuing on. “Here goes. If, and that is definitely a big if, if I agreed to this mating, would I be turned into a werewolf?”

  “No.”

  Mel didn’t realise how tense she was until she heard that answer and felt the tautness in her muscles dissipate slightly.

  “Didn’t the others tell you that earlier?” Jenny asked.

  “They might have, but I felt so overwhelmed with everything I couldn’t remember.”

  “Understandable,” Jenny murmured. “Okay, next question.”

  “Are you a werewolf?”

  “No, but since I mated with Blue and Joe, I no longer succumb to human illnesses, and if I get hurt I heal a lot quicker. Also, my sense of smell is far greater than it was, as is my hearing, and my eyesight is phenomenal. I am faster and stronger, too. We think that's because when Blue and Joe claimed me, some of their DNA was passed over to me.”

  That explains how she was able to smell a drop or two of my blood. “What illnesses?”

  “Colds, flu, cancer, anything that may inflict the average person can no longer touch me.”

  “Wow, that’s a good thing.”

  “It sure is. And you can’t get sexually transmitted diseases either.”

  “Here’s another. Can I still have children?”

  Jenny smiled and rubbed her protruding belly. “That’s a definite. I think I got pregnant the night my guys claimed me. Why did you ask that question?”

  “I don’t know. It’s just that I’ve always wanted to have kids, and I thought that if I accepted being mated with Johnny, Kris, and Jules that I wouldn’t be able to conceive.”

  She'd often fantasised about making love with more than one man. She was a healthy woman with natural urges, and she liked to read erotic romance books, too. What woman wouldn't fantasise about something like that? The more she thought about having Johnny, Kris, and Jules touching her, the more the thought appealed and her body reacted. But having kids had also been one of her dreams, and if that wasn't possible with those three men, maybe it would be best to steer clear of them. However, fantasy wasn't reality, and she didn't know if she could handle one wolf shifter let alone three.

  She pushed her roiling thoughts aside and came back to the present.

  “Why is that?” Jenny asked.

  “Well, I don’t want to insult you all or anything, but the men are a different species, and I just thought that maybe it would be impossible for mixed species to procreate.”

  “The proof is in the pudding,” Jenny said with a chuckle, still rubbing her belly.

  “So it is.” Mel smiled. “Will you give birth to a normal baby? Oh! Wait! Sorry, that didn’t come out right. Will you give birth to a human baby or a little wolf?”

  Jenny burst out laughing and didn’t stop until she had tears rolling down her face. After she wiped the moisture from her cheeks, she inhaled deeply before answering. “Sorry, I wasn’t laughing at you. I asked the same question. No, you definitely won’t give birth to a pup. A werewolf doesn’t go through their first change until they hit puberty. The hormones, as they hit adolescence, kick in, and they are able to call their wolves forward.”

  “Do they only change on a full moon?”

  “No, they can change whenever they want, but apparently the pull of a full moon is hard to resist. The wolves like being free to run when the moon is full. Although from what Blue and Joe have said, they like running whenever they can.”

  Mel nodded to let Jenny know she understood where her humour had been coming from.

  “If you do mate with those three men, they will love you for the rest of your life. They’ll never want to be with another woman, and the smell of other females sexually interested in them getting too close to them is a huge turn-off.

  “Your eyesight and hearing will be so much more acute. You’ll be stronger, faster, heal rapidly, and you won’t ever have men more attentive than your werewolf mates.”

  Even though Jenny had already told her those things, she nodded. “And if I decide not to mate with them?” Mel asked. Although she’d alre
ady had that question answered, she needed Jenny’s reiteration for some reason.

  “Now that Johnny, Kris, and Jules have met you, they won’t ever be able to be with another woman. As I said a moment ago, once they’ve scented their true mate, the smell of other sexually-interested women will be repugnant from now on. If you decide not to accept them, their wolves will become more aggressive, and there is a danger that their animals will take over and their human side will be buried so deep they won’t ever get them back. I didn't know that until tonight. I am still learning about my mates, too.”

  “So I really don’t have much of a choice.”

  “Of course you do,” Jenny said. “We would never hold it against you if you decide not to let them claim you, but don’t think I won’t do anything and everything I can to sway your decision. And I know that Blue and Joe will, too.”

  “I hope you don’t expect me to rush into a decision.”

  “Of course not and your mates won’t either. It’s going to take time for you to get to know them and vice versa. They aren’t going to pressure you, but they will want to spend as much time as they can with you. Subject change.” Jenny paused to take a breath. “I know you’ve only been here for a matter of hours and haven’t seen much yet, but do you think you could be happy living here?”

  “Yes, actually I do.”

  “Well, that’s a plus. And just remember that you can ask anybody any question you like. No one is going to get their nose out of joint or think you’re being nosy. I have no doubt that everyone in the pack has already heard that you are a mate. You know most Aussies are laid-back and friendly and will go out of their way to help out.”

  “So, when I met Shayne at the gate, he asked me if I could handle cooking for twenty. I’m used to cooking for more people than that, and if someone is willing to play apprentice chef and-or kitchen hand, I would have no worries about cooking for everyone.”

  Jenny laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m sure that pack members will be dropping in regularly to sample your cooking.”

  “Are there any other women here besides you?”

  Jenny shook her head and looked sad for a moment. “No. When Blue told me he’d hired a chef and that you were a woman, I just about squealed the house down. You should have seen all the Omegas come running. Some of them only managed to strip down to bare skin and didn’t even take the time to shift into their wolves.”

  “Why did they do that?”

  “They thought something was wrong or that I was being hurt or some such thing. But let me tell you I definitely enjoyed the view.”

  “I heard that,” Joe called from the other room.

  “I’m a healthy woman, and I can look as long as I don’t touch. You know all the men here are handsome and buff.”

  Joe hurried into the room, sat beside Jenny, clasped her chin between finger and thumb, and then devoured her mouth with a very hot, passionate kiss. Melanie felt like an interloper and looked anywhere but at them.

  “Joe, cut it out. We have company.”

  “Melanie is an employee.” Joe winked at her. “You’re going to have to get used to seeing Blue and me kiss and touch our mate often. Wolves are very touchy, feely animals. In fact you’re going to have to get used to the other men touching you, too.”

  Mel must have looked horrified or wary or both because Jenny piped in as she opened her mouth to speak.

  “Don’t worry about any of the men touching you inappropriately because they won’t. Plus, your mates would rip their throats out if they did.”

  “Shit! Does that sort of thing happen often?”

  “No,” Jenny answered as she shoved Joe’s hand from her chin. “The only time a wolf becomes aggressive is if they feel threatened or if another wolf challenges them, which never happens in the Reynolds Pack. However, if their mate is threatened, they can become deadly.”

  A shiver of fear ran up her spine, but before it could take hold, Joe changed the subject.

  “Has anyone explained the pack hierarchy to you, yet?” Joe asked as he slung an arm around Jenny and pulled her close up against his side.

  “Uh…I know that Blue is the Alpha and that Jenny is the Alpha female.”

  “Yes, that’s correct. I’m the pack Beta. A Beta is second-in-command to the Alpha and next comes the Omegas, and if we had more mated couples, we would have Sigmas and pups.”

  “Are your parents still alive?”

  When Joe started growling deep in his chest and his top lip lifted in a snarl, Mel wished she could retract her question, but since the cat was already out of the bag and she couldn’t go back in time, she held her breath instead. However, when she looked into Joe’s eyes and saw the sadness within their depths, she didn’t need him to answer her question.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.”

  Joe inhaled and exhaled a few times and then met her gaze again. “You have no reason to be sorry. We told you, you could ask us anything, and I meant it. Unfortunately the answer to that question is no. All of our parents went for a run one night a lot of years past. Because we were so young and hadn’t hit puberty yet, we couldn’t shift and couldn’t go with them.”

  Jenny clasped Joe's hand in hers.

  “At the time the kangaroo numbers were many and the government decided they needed to be culled because they were inundating the area and many other parts of the country back then.

  “There was a group of about fifty men who lived in Broken Hill, and after they’d spent the afternoon drinking, they decided they wanted to have a bit of fun and hunt down some roos. There were five men who didn’t limit their shooting to just the kangaroos.”

  Melanie dug her nails into the palms of her hands because she had a feeling she knew what was coming.

  “Of course it probably didn’t help that wolves aren’t native to our country, but that’s neither here nor there. Anyway, those bastards must have come upon all the adults from downwind. I can’t think of another reason for humans to surprise our kind because our noses are thousands of times better than a man’s. What I will never understand is how those arseholes snuck up on so many wolves. Those fuckers killed all or wounded every single adult wolf in our pack. Blue’s dad was the only one to make it back home, but his heart had been nicked and he was bleeding out. However, he made sure Blue memorised the names and descriptions of the five men who’d shot and killed them and made his son promise to avenge their deaths.

  “Our Alpha, Blue’s dad, died minutes later, but he was able to warn us about the danger. After the initial grief, Blue began to question why everyone had died when we have amazing healing powers.” Joe took a moment to take and deep breath, and he swallowed audibly. Jenny crawled up into his lap and rested her cheek against his chest.

  Melanie had to blink because of the tears in her eyes, and she had difficulty swallowing around the lump of emotion constricting her throat.

  “We think that one of those fucking bastards knew our parents were shifters because every one of them had been shot with silver bullets. A werewolf can’t tolerate any silver. Our skin burns, and any wounds with silver in them won’t heal unless the silver is removed, and even then it takes longer for the healing process to complete.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Melanie said, her voice husky with emotion. “What happened to the men who murdered your parents?”

  “Blue was only fourteen and hadn’t gone through puberty, plus, since he was the new Alpha, he took on the responsibility of looking after the rest of us. We all helped out as much as possible of course, but Blue took his obligation seriously. He tried to hide it. Nonetheless, I could see the grief and anger in his eyes and knew that, one day, there would be a reckoning.”

  “What happened?”

  “Blue bided his time, and each time he went into Broken Hill for supplies, he searched out the culprits. He hunted those five men down, followed them, and waited till they were alone and killed each one.”


  Melanie covered her mouth with her hand as tears spilled down her cheeks.

  “After the last one was dead, Blue said he would carry the guilt of murdering them for the rest of his life, although as far as I’m concerned those arseholes deserved everything they got. They didn’t have any wives, kids, or family of their own and wouldn’t be missed, but Blue said what he’d done hadn’t changed a thing. His actions wouldn’t bring back everyone we’d lost and what he’d done made him no better than those fuckers.”

  “And that’s one of the reasons I love Blue and you so much,” Jenny said with a sniff and wiped her hands over her wet eyes and face. “You are both loving and compassionate and know that revenge can’t change the past.”

  “But you know he would have felt even guiltier if he hadn’t avenged all our dead pack members.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Joe gave her a sad smile.

  “I’m changing the subject, and I hope you don’t think I’m being rude, but what do you all do for a living?” Mel asked.

  “We own a lot of properties in Broken Hill, and we rent them out to the miners. When the mines started flying in people, we sold a few of those and built the shopping mall. We lease out the shops, and we also have a couple of tourist buses. Tourism in this area is very lucrative.”

  “I’ll bet it is with all the silver and ore mines in the area. How often do you order in supplies?”

  “We have a couple of the Omegas go into Broken Hill once a week. Every Thursday night we get a list from our pack members, enter the supplies into an Excel spread sheet, and print out the things we need.”

  “Wow, that’s doing things the hard way.”

  Jenny leaned forward. “How would you suggest we do it?”

  “Do you own a supermarket?” Mel asked.

  “No, we only own the buildings and lease them.”

  “Oh, sorry, I misunderstood, but I’m sure you could email through the things you need and have them delivered. Most places offer those services.”

  “You’re still thinking like you’re in the city.” Jenny smiled. “Things don’t work like that out here.”

  “Oh, I suppose not.”