Claiming His Mountain Bride

  Dan grinned at me, his brows arching as his eyes took me in.

  “Fuck, Jules, you got hot.”

  I got hot. Dan was such a clueless asshole it was almost a joke.

  “I’m going to ask you one more time,” I spat. “What do you want, and what are you doing here?”

  His eyes — a little more haggard looking than I remembered — pulled up to mine.

  “Heard you got a pretty swank new job.”

  “And?”

  “Guess it pays having family in high places.”

  He was talking about Anya and her connections in Lorne that had gotten me this job, though how he even knew that was beyond me.

  “I’m closing this door now.”

  “Hold on.”

  His booted foot jammed into the doorway, stopping me from shutting it.

  “You going out tonight?”

  “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

  He sneered at me. “You look like a whore in that dress, so I’m just curious who’s paying.”

  “Fuck you, Dan,” I hissed, my teeth grinding.

  “Only if you ask nicely, bitch,” he spat back.

  This was ridiculous. I didn’t have time for this, and I certainly didn’t have the space in my head to deal with Dan’s crap. Not now, and honestly, not ever.

  “Goodbye, Dan. I’d move your foot unless you’d like me to amputate it with the door.”

  He grinned. “This isn’t over.”

  “Trust me that it is,” I said cooly.

  Dan just smiled this evil, horrible smile. “Be seeing you, Jules.”

  His foot slipped from the door, and I slammed it shut, locking the deadbolt and the chain lock before backing away from it.

  The town car driver called me five minutes later, but I gave it another ten before I finally left my apartment. And it wasn’t until the car pulled away that I finally let my breath out. I took another cleansing breath, clearing my head.

  Tonight wasn’t about the past. Tonight was about the future.

  The scary, exciting, wildly enticing and forbidden future.

  Tonight was about me, and the three captivating, incredible, all-consuming men who’d come into my life and held on tight.

  Tonight was about letting go, diving in, and seeing where I came up for air.

  I shivered as the car drove into the night.

  12

  Julia

  The manor house was way out in the country, out past the farmlands west of the main capital and through the forest beyond that. We’d driven in silence — calm silent from them, nervously excited silent from me — but when we pulled through the wrought-iron gates and up the curved, landscaped drive to the old stone mansion covered in ivy, I turned excitedly to them.

  “This is it?”

  “This is it,” Luke said with a glimmer in his eye, his hand dropping to my knee. “At least for tonight. Like I said, the location changes every time.”

  The car came to a stop, and I shivered.

  “Here, gorgeous,” Victor murmured, handing me a lush, black velvet mask. It was totally different from the cheap plastic ones we’d worn at the Masquerade night before — this one was rich, opulent, and somehow sexier as I ran my hands over it.

  Or maybe it was just what I knew wearing it would bring tonight.

  We put our masks on as we stepped from the limo and walked up the large stone steps up to the huge wooden front door. Two huge men in black suits blocked our path, but Micah stepped forward.

  “Crown, castle, throne of old. Three kings seek to enter this house of gold.”

  The men nodded as they stepped to the side.

  Whoa.

  Victor and Luke, on either side of me, found my hands, taking them in theirs as we stepped through the entryway and into the darkness beyond.

  I gasped as we entered the manor. The place was all low light, dark wood, and red velvet — the very walls oozing raw sexuality and the floor practically pulsing with sexual energy.

  I shivered.

  Other men — all wearing tuxedos and masks like my three princes — moved past us. Some turned, their eyes behind their masks lingering on me in ways that had me blushing and biting my lip.

  “Ours,” Micah growled, stepping towards a group of three men who’d lingered a little longer, their eyes sweeping over me.

  “She’s spoken for,” he said menacingly, his hands tightening to fists at his sides.

  The men nodded wordlessly and moved on.

  We moved deeper into the house, and I felt my pulse roaring louder and louder with each step. There were other groups there — foursomes of three gorgeous men in tuxedos with stunningly beautiful women in elegant gowns and cocktail dresses. The masks made the whole thing somehow even sexier, and the fact that I knew the men were all royalty made it even more scandalously hot.

  It was like a dirty little secret that burned deep inside, sending tendrils of fire through my body.

  Luke passed me a flute of champagne as we stepped into another sumptuously elegant room. A woman with chestnut brown hair sat on a couch, moaning softly as a man in a tux sitting next to her kissed her deeply. On her other side, a second man nuzzled her neck, his hands skimming up her sides before he pulled her from the first man and twisted her head. He kissed her next, harder than the first man, his hands wandering boldly over her breast. Behind the couch, a third man leaned down, pulling her hair back and bringing his lips to her bare shoulder.

  Raw heat pulsed through me, and I squeezed my legs together as the tingling feeling teased through my pussy.

  The scene in the next room made me gasp. In there, a woman in a black cocktail dress similar to mine sat astride a man’s lap in a big chair. Her dress was pulled up around her waist, the man’s hands wandering her ass and teasing over her black thong. Her hands were between them, and my eyes went wide as I saw the way her arms were pumping.

  Behind me, I felt one of my guys move in close. He growled, both he and Victor, teasing kisses up my neck as I watched the couple in the chair. A second man moved next to them, and wordless, she turned and started to pull at his zipper.

  My jaw dropped.

  Victor, Micah, and Luke had told me exactly what this place was, but watching it here in the flesh was another thing altogether. I gasped as she reached inside and pulled out his thick, rock-hard cock. My eyes wide, my breath hovering on my lips and Victor’s hands sliding up my sides, I watched as she leaned forward and wrapped her pouty lips around his cock.

  It was the third man, moving to her other side and pulling his own cock out that sent a tremor through me. She turned, a hungry moan dripping from her lips as she opened her mouth and slurped him inside. Beneath her, the man whose lap she was straddling pushed her up a little. I watched, almost gasping out loud as he stroked his huge cock. He slipped her panties to the side and eased his head against her glistening pussy. She sat down on him, taking every inch of him and crying out as she sucked at the other man’s cock.

  I was soaked.

  I was buzzing with energy, and as I felt Micah and Luke move in around me, lips and fingers stroking my skin, I knew why I was here.

  …I wanted this.

  I wanted to experience this, and jump into the deep end.

  I wanted them, and I wanted it all with them.

  I turned my head, and before they could say anything, I grabbed Micah by the collar and yanked his mouth to mine. He growled into the kiss, his tongue seeking entrance as he pulled me against him. I turned, falling into Victor and doing the same to him. His hands grabbed my ass, grinding his thick erection into my belly as he tugged at the hem of my dress.

  Luke was next, cupping my jaw and kissing me hungrily.

  “Tonight is whatever you want it to be, beautiful,” he murmured.

  “I want it all,” I gasped quietly.

  “Soon,” Micah purred into my ear. “There’s more first.”

  They started to pull me into another room, when suddenly, something flash
ed at me from my peripheral vision.

  I yanked my head around, my pulse skipping a beat as I watch the brunette disappear around a corner.

  No. Freaking. Way.

  I wanted to say I was of course mistaken, and that there was no damn way I’d just seen who I thought I’d seen. But there are some people you know so well that even a mask won’t hide who they are when you see them in a place like that.

  And I was ninety-nine percent sure I’d just seen my cousin Anya disappear around the corner of the Triple Crown Club.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said absently, pulling away from my men.

  “Wait,” Luke pulled me back by the wrist.

  “I just need to—”

  His smile stopped me. “I don’t mean wait like you’re not allowed to go anywhere, Julia.” He shook his head. “I’d like to say you’re mine — that you’re ours — but you’re not our property. You can go where you please here, but before you do…”

  He reached into his pocket and drew out a small box. He opened it, and my eyes went wide at the little gold chain inside. It was a bracelet - delicate and elegant and covered in diamonds. And there, set in the middle of it, were three elegantly curved, diamond studded crowns.

  He held my wrist out and put it on me, kissing the inside of my wrist as he clasped the bracelet on me.

  “This just says you’re spoken for. If anyone approaches you, you just show them this, and the matter will be dropped.”

  “It’s an understood rule here,” Micah added.

  I swallowed, tracing a finger over it.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  “Fits you well then,” Victor murmured.

  I looked up at them. “I’ll be right back, there’s just something I have to look into.”

  “We’ll be right in here,” Luke nodded through an open doorway to a darker, sultry looking room.

  I nodded, kissing each of them quickly before turning and heading off to find out if I was seeing things.

  * * *

  I caught a glimpse of her unmistakably gorgeous and enviable chestnut hair again as I watched her quickly step up a curved staircase through a crowd. I moved past the other groups, only once having to hold my wrist up and nod at the bracelet when a gorgeous man with a thick beard put a hand on my hip.

  I followed the mystery girl up the staircase, stepping quickly after her as I watched her disappear around a corner.

  I wanted to say there was no way it was Anya, but I’d known my cousin my whole life. If this wasn’t her, then she had a twin no one knew about.

  I rounded the corner and frowned, my shoulders slumping as I looked down a long, totally empty hallway.

  Damn.

  I’d lost her.

  I was turning to leave, when I noticed the women’s restroom sign on the door next to me and decided to duck in to take a breath before I rejoined my three men. And I was just pushing the door open, when it yanked open by itself, and I tumbled right into her.

  This time, there wasn’t a shred doubt who it was.

  Our eyes locked, and both of us gasped in shock at the same time.

  “Anya?!”

  “Jules?!”

  We gaped at each other, jaws on the floor and eyes wide behind our masks.

  “What— I mean, why. How?!” She balked at me, her face turning a shade of crimson that I’m sure matched mine.

  …It’s not everyday you run into your cousin at an elicit, exclusive sex club.

  She grabbed my hand and yanked me into the bathroom, poking her head out into the hallway and looking around before stepping inside and locking the door.

  She yanked her mask off, and I did the same.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” She hissed, her eyes wide.

  “I could ask you the same!”

  She blushed bright red. “I— I’m just…”

  Anya swallowed, her face looking worried.

  “Jules, you can’t tell anyone about this.”

  “You think?” I threw back sarcastically before I frowned. Anya didn’t just look embarrassed to be caught here, she looked worried.

  “Hey,” I reached out and touched her arm. “Don’t worry, I’m not telling a freaking soul about this. Trust me, this is just as insane for me.”

  “No, Jules…” Her lips twisted, her brow furrowing as she glanced at the door.

  “It’s more than that,” she whispered.

  I shivered.

  “Anya, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, I just…” she bit her lip. “I should go.”

  “Hey, hang on,” I snagged her arm as she tried to brush past me. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”

  She said nothing out loud, but her look said enough.

  “Look, Anya, the guys I’m here with — they’re powerful, and they can—”

  She barked out a brittle laugh.

  “Help me?” She rolled her eyes. “Jules, all the guys here are powerful, and rich, and have all sorts of influence.” She sighed, forcing a smile to her face.

  “Sorry, I’m not trying to freak you out. I really am fine, there’s just this situation I’m trying to avoid.”

  “We can go right now,” I said quietly, meaning it. However important that night was for me and my guys, Anya was family, and making sure she was okay was even more important.

  She grinned at me. “You don’t really want to go right now.”

  “I would, and I will if you’re in trouble.”

  She smiled, pulling me into a hug.

  “This I why you’re my favorite cousin, you know.”

  “I’m you’re only cousin,” I giggled, making her laugh.

  “I’m really okay, Jules. There’s just—” she signed. “My being here is maybe a tiny bit more complicated than you being here.”

  “Wanna bet?” I muttered.

  “Yes.”

  I glanced up at her, my brow worrying again. “If you’re in trouble, we’re getting out of here right now.”

  “If I need an escape, I’ll find you.” She smiled. “I’m okay, Jules.”

  I nodded.

  “I’d ask how you managed to find yourself in this place, but,” she grinned, winking at me. “I’m betting it has something to do with your new job at a certain Prince’s offices?”

  She glanced down at my wrist, and her brows went up.

  “Taken, I see?”

  I blushed, glancing down to see she didn’t have a bracelet on, which somehow seemed dangerous in a place like this.

  “You’re sure everything is okay?”

  She nodded. “You?”

  I shrugged, swallowing. “Yeah, I’m just… this place is overwhelming.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it. I’ve heard about this before — you know, just whispers and rumors around Lorne, but being here…” She whistled. “It’s a little crazy isn’t it.”

  “Uh, just a little.”

  She grinned again. “Should we maybe get back out there instead of hanging out in the ladies room all night?”

  I laughed. “Probably. You’re sure you’re okay?”

  “I will be,” she said quietly.

  “Better come get me if you need me.”

  “Deal.”

  We put our masks back on before we slipped out and headed back down the stairs into the fray of it all. I gasped as I saw a blonde woman off in another room draped across a huge four-poster bed with three gorgeous men with bodies sculpted from steel kneeling around her, their mouths wandering over every inch of her body.

  “I’ve got someone I need to find,” Anya whispered, nudging me. “Better go find your dates.”

  * * *

  “We were about to come looking for you,” Victor murmured, pulling me close. I’d just found them, right inside the doorway to the dark room I’d left them in.

  “Everything okay?” Luke purred into my ear, his hand slipping up my spine. I melted against him.

  “Yeah, all good. I just saw—” I shook my head. The whole point of thi
s place was anonymity, right?

  “There was something I had to check out. Sorry.”

  “No problem at all,” Micah said, moving in to run a hand over my hip. “Anyone try anything with you?”

  I grinned, holding my bracelet up.

  “Good,” Micah growled, pulling me close and kissing me deeply.

  All of a sudden, the lights in the room dimmed even more, and the murmurs of the groups around the room died down.

  “You’ll want to watch this,” Luke whispered darkly in my ear. “And I’ve got a feeling you’re going to enjoy it.”

  Soft lights came on in the middle of the space, and I realized the room was a sort of theatre in the round — a slightly raised, circular stage in the middle of the room with all of us standing around it. There was a big, sumptuous looking bed on the stage, and as we all watched, suddenly, four figures made their way through the crowd towards it.

  The woman stepped up first — jet-black hair, porcelain skin, and an enviable figure. Besides her black mask, she wore red lace lingerie that left literally nothing to the imagination, and she moved in slow, swaying steps towards the bed. The men followed next — three of them in just black dress pants and masks. Their perfect, sculpted bodies rippled under the soft lights, and my eyes landed one, two, and then a third crown tattoo on each of them.

  An energy settled over the room as the men moved in around her. I felt my pulse quicken as they began to strip, pants and boxers dropping to the floor and three huge, thick cocks bobbing out proudly from chiseled abs.

  I felt hands move up my sides as Luke pressed himself against me, his erection pressing into my ass. Victor and Micah moved in on either side of me — three sets of hands lightly tracing over my skin.

  The men on stage pushed the woman back onto the bed, and we could hear her gasp as they began to tear her bra and panties away. Two men pushed between her legs, spreading them wide and running their mouths up her thighs. She cried out as they both centered on her pussy, and my whole body hummed at the thought of two tongues teasing me there.

  The third man moved onto the bed and knelt next to her head, stroking his cock. He ran his fingers through her hair, and she moaned as she turned her head, opened her mouth, and sucked him between her lips.