Triple Dog Dare

  When they turned off the highway and down a long driveway, Mai took a sniff of the air. Cattle.

  They pulled into the yard surrounding a large, one-story ranch-style house. Three men, who appeared identical, stepped out onto the front porch at their arrival.

  Elain jumped out of the car she was in and ran into their welcoming arms.

  Mai watched, her heart aching. She wanted that, someone to love her.

  Kael opened the back door of the car and coaxed her out. She jumped out, sniffing around, and running over to the fence line to do her business out of the way. Then, sticking close to Lina’s side, she headed inside with the others.

  * * * *

  Micah dozed in bed with Jim curled in his arms. They’d had the house mostly to themselves for the day and had taken full advantage of it to wear each other out. Elain and the others would return soon.

  He wasn’t sure at first what awoke him. His eyes snapped open, ears and mind on full alert.

  Something’s wrong.

  He sat up. Jim barely stirred as he swung out of bed. That’s when he heard everyone coming inside and he knew what had set his senses off.

  A shifted coyote.

  With a growl starting deep in his throat, he threw the bedroom door open and ran out into the living room.

  * * * *

  Mai sat and stared at Elain’s three hunks.

  Lucky, lucky woman. Then she heard a door open somewhere down the hall. She barely had time to register the sound of a wolf’s dangerous growl when the naked man appeared in the doorway and glared at her.

  When he spotted her, she didn’t even think before turning and bolting with a terrified squeal toward the first open door she saw. Unfortunately, with everyone now shouting and the naked man on her heels, Mai realized she’d put herself into a dead end, running through a huge bedroom and into a bathroom. She spotted a window, but with a terrified yelp she went sprawling across the tile as the man tackled her.

  He wrapped his fingers tightly around her throat. A horrific snarl rumbled through him as he screamed, “Who are you?”

  * * * *

  Micah spotted the shifted coyote immediately. She spotted him, too, and took off running toward the master bedroom. She couldn’t escape him. Before she could jump for the window, he threw himself at her, tackling her and grabbing her by the throat. “Who are you?”

  With speed that shocked him, he was suddenly holding a naked young woman by the throat. She clawed at his fingers. “Please don’t hurt me!” she gasped.

  Ain, Brodey, and Cail caught up with them first, with the dragon men on their heels. Micah resisted their attempts to pull him off of her.

  That’s when she stopped fighting him and protectively curled her hands around her obviously swollen belly. “Please, don’t hurt me,” she begged again, tears streaking her cheeks.

  It felt like a shock wave slammed into him as an all too familiar sensation took control of his mind. He didn’t have time to process what it meant, only that instinctively, a switch had been flipped and one word pounded through his soul.

  Mate.

  He shook the Lyall brothers off as he grabbed the woman and pulled her protectively into his arms. Jim, apparently awoken by the ruckus, appeared in the doorway behind all the others.

  “What the hell is going on?” he asked, pushing his way through the other men to get to Micah’s side.

  Micah fought a wave of emotions threatening to swamp him. Anger at the intruder had given way to protective fury—for her.

  Love.

  Holy fuck.

  The girl, now sobbing in his arms, had stopped fighting him once he’d let go of her throat. He placed one hand on the swell of her belly, on top of her hands. “You’re pregnant,” he said in wonder.

  Jim dropped to his knees beside them. The world shrank until it seemed only the three of them filled it. Jim looked at him, shock on his face. “Who is she?” he asked.

  Micah had changed position on the floor so he could cradle her in his arms. He brushed her tangled blonde hair from her face. “Ours,” he whispered. He looked at Jim. “She’s ours.”

  Jim nodded, also reaching out to stroke her cheek and brush away her tears. Micah knew his mate felt it, too. After all that had happened, he wouldn’t question that he knew this woman was meant to be theirs, whoever she was. He felt as strongly about her as he had about Jim.

  Please, don’t let her be mated to someone!

  Jim grabbed a large bath towel and covered the girl with it. She looked up into their faces, her brown eyes red from crying. She wasn’t marked. Micah could tell that instinctively. But did she have a partner? Husband? He also sensed how terrified she was.

  How alone.

  The Goddess does have a twisted sense of humor. He cupped the back of her neck with his hand and looked deeply into her brown eyes. Her sobbing quieted as she stared up at him.

  “You don’t have anyone else, do you?” he asked her.

  She shook her head.

  Micah touched his forehead to hers. He’d sort the details out later. For now, he knew only one thing. “You’re ours,” he whispered.

  She softly whimpered, but nodded.

  Jim joined them, leaning in so his forehead also touched theirs. He wrapped his arms around them both. “Ours,” he echoed.

  She nodded. “Yours,” she whispered.

  * * * *

  Could my life get any more whacked out? Mai didn’t even know who these two guys were, just that the one who’d almost ripped her throat out was a wolf and the other was a human, and they were mated to each other.

  She also felt a pull to them like no other. Certainly nothing like the tepid sexual attraction she’d had in the beginning with Paul.

  The wolf stood, easily lifting her in his arms and carrying her out of the bathroom while the other man hovered close by. She threw her arms around the wolf’s neck and buried her head against his chest, afraid to let go of him now that she felt waves of protective fury flowing from him. They returned to the living room, and he sat on the couch with her still in his arms. Lina appeared with a bathrobe, which she offered to her.

  “Let me introduce you all to Mai,” Lina said. “Mai, the man holding you is Micah, a wolf shifter and cousin of the Lyalls. That other man is his mate, Jim.”

  Mai blushed as the two men helped her into the robe. Jim reached around and unbuckled the collar from her neck while everyone gathered around, questions flying so fast Mai couldn’t process them.

  Lina grabbed Mai’s hand and raised her other one to silence everyone else. “I’ve known since she joined us that she was a shifter. She needed to reveal herself at the right time.”

  Jim took the bottle of water from her. With her free hand, Mai grabbed Jim’s other hand and held him close.

  Lina smiled at her. “We can talk about all of this tomorrow. For now, let it suffice that yes, you three were meant to meet.”

  “Mate,” Micah said again. Then he looked at Jim. “Our mate.”

  Jim nodded. “Ours.”

  Mai rested her head against Micah’s shoulder and burst into tears. She sobbed against him, wailing in relief and fear and a bunch of other emotions she couldn’t even begin to process.

  Micah kissed her temple. “It’s okay,” he softly soothed. “We won’t force you. If you don’t want us… It’s okay.”

  She let go of Lina’s hand and grabbed his arm, pulling both of the men’s hands onto her belly. “I do want you. I don’t understand this, but I do. And… and…” She couldn’t finish.

  With the help of Jan and Rick, Lina carefully lowered herself to her knees next to the couch, where she could whisper to the three of them. “It’s okay,” Lina told Mai. “I’m a Seer. This was meant to be.” She laid her hand on top of all three of theirs, on Mai’s belly. “All that matters is chosen family, not bloodlines. You were meant to meet and mate with them and become a family.”

  Micah squeezed Mai’s hand. “His loss, and our gain. You’re ours, and
since you’re not mated to or marked by him, that baby is ours, as far as I’m concerned. Code of the Ancients doesn’t say anything about someone who’s pregnant, just if they’re marked or mated or not.”

  Mai burst into tears again. This was too much, too soon. She wouldn’t deny or fight it, and she wouldn’t claim to understand it, but it still overwhelmed her.

  Lina kissed her forehead. “Congratulations, Mai. Welcome to our family. Boys, why don’t you take her to your bedroom and let her calm down and, oh, say, introduce yourselves properly. Elain and I will bring her some clothes to wear until we can take her shopping tomorrow. And we’ll bring her a proper dinner. I don’t think she really wants to eat dog food anymore.”

  Mai clung to Micah as he carried her down the hallway he’d emerged from a few minutes earlier. Jim followed and closed the door behind them. Micah gently set her on their bed and the men sat on either side of her while she cried.

  Not even ten minutes ago, she’d been terrified this man was going to rip her throat out. Now?

  She couldn’t imagine life without these two men, and she didn’t even know their last names.

  Goddess, help me understand.

  * * * *

  Silence fell over the living room after the three left. Elain cleared her throat. “Well, folks, I do believe we’ve reached a new level of weirdness, even for us.”

  A nervous laugh filtered throughout the group. Lina, with Rick and Jan’s help, lumbered to her feet. “I do believe you’re right. Since I shouldn’t be drinking, I’ll take a cup of hot tea. Elain, would you like to join me and do my drinking for me?”

  “Amen, sistah!” she said as she headed for the kitchen. Lina started after her.

  “Wait for me,” Carla said. “I could use one, too.” Followed by Liam, Carla headed to the kitchen.

  “Hey,” Zack said. “Don’t leave us out. We just lost our pet dog to a couple of wolves. There’s something just plain wrong about that.”

  “Coyote,” Lina shot back over her shoulder. “And don’t forget Jim’s human.”

  “Details, details.” Despite his playful, teasing tone, Zack looked more than a little disappointed.

  “What’s wrong?” Kael asked him. He slung an arm around his shoulders.

  “I was looking forward to having a dog.”

  Brodey slapped Ain on the back. “We know where the local animal shelter is, don’t we, bro? We can get them hooked up, right?”

  Ain glared at Brodey, but nodded.

  Cail laughed. “Hey, Prime, you deserved that one for what you put us through.”

  They all crowded into the kitchen. Lina plopped herself down into one of the chairs while Elain got her hot tea started. Zack played bartender. Once everyone had a drink, Lina lifted her steaming mug in a toast.

  “To love. As fucked up and crazy as it is, it’s still a pretty damn good thing.”

  “You can say that again,” Elain agreed.

  * * * *

  Micah and Jim let Mai cry herself out, holding her, comforting her. At some point, Lina softly knocked, and she and Elain brought in a stack of clothes, some bath supplies, and a tray of food. Micah nodded their thanks to them. The two women silently departed, quietly shutting the door behind them.

  “Let’s start at the beginning,” Micah said after getting the tray for her and making her eat. “What’s your name, and how did you end up with them?”

  The longer Mai talked, the more enraged Micah felt. Mai Gallatin had only turned twenty-one a couple of months ago. Her parents and two older brothers were killed four years earlier, in a car wreck in Montana that she barely escaped from. Between her medical bills from the wreck, paying bills owed by her parents’ estate, and severe mismanagement of the remaining funds by one of her uncles, who’d been appointed her guardian, she was now broke. She’d decided to leave Montana and try to make a go of it in Connecticut with one of her cousins from her mother’s side, humans who had no knowledge of her shape-shifting abilities.

  “It was just my bad luck I met Paul,” she said. “He knew I was a shifter when we met, and I sensed he was one, too. He had money. I was lonely and stupid and gullible and I fell for him hook, line, and sinker. I don’t mean like I thought he was my mate or anything,” she said, sniffling. “But the way my life had gone, I was willing to overlook common sense and the truth. Then my period was late three months ago. I thought we were careful. I thought I was careful.”

  She shook her head. “I was scared to tell him at first. Then I couldn’t hide it any longer. I knew he wasn’t my mate, and I didn’t want to marry him. I wasn’t looking for a handout. All I wanted was to see if he wanted to be part of the baby’s life. He demanded I get an abortion. I told him no.”

  “How long have you been on the run from him?” Micah asked.

  She sniffled. “For a couple of weeks now. He said if I wouldn’t get an abortion, then he’d kill me. That his family didn’t want any ‘mutts’ in their line was how he said it. I couldn’t go back to my cousin’s house because he knew where she lived. So I ran. I had to shift because he kept catching up with me. I thought if I could get to Maine, maybe the wolves there could help me. But he tracked me there, too. I was so, so tired.” She sniffled. “Then I saw Zack and Kael stop for gas, and they had Florida plates on their car. I thought maybe I could get far enough away from Paul he couldn’t find me.”

  Jim stroked her arm, but spoke to Micah. “Do you think maybe this is why you and I were brought together in such a whacked-out way?”

  Micah nodded. “Yeah, that thought occurred to me, too.” When she looked at them questioningly, he smiled. “Jim and I are straight.”

  “But…but you’re mates.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, I know. Tell me about it. The Universe works in strange and mysterious ways.”

  A fearful look filled her face. “Are you going to make me get an abortion?” she whispered. “Since it’s not your baby?”

  Anger filled him. Not at her, at the man who put her in this position from the start. He grabbed her chin and kissed her, tenderly, waiting her out until she finally relaxed in his arms and responded, a soft whimper of need escaping her.

  “Does that answer your question?” he finally asked when he ended their kiss. “You are our mate, and no way in hell are you doing that if you don’t want to. If you want the baby, then that baby is our baby. No question. Understand?”

  She nodded, then threw her arms around both of them. “I don’t understand why I feel like this.”

  Jim chuckled. “Believe me, honey, you shouldn’t question it. Life gets a lot easier when you just go with the flow. We learned that the hard way.”

  * * * *

  Mai thought that was very good advice. It was far easier to simply go with the flow and enjoy the feelings of love and safety enveloping her from the men. All her life she’d heard about how you just knew when you met your mate. Now she understood what they’d meant.

  Micah stepped out of bed then scooped her up from the bed and carried her into their bathroom. Jim followed, carrying the bath supplies the women had brought for her. A razor and shaving gel, a brush and comb, shampoo and conditioner, body wash, a new toothbrush. Jim quickly stripped. The men gently helped her out of the robe and into the shower.

  She stood under the warm water with Jim supporting her from the front. With a tender gentleness she never knew possible, Micah carefully untangled her hair with his hands and the conditioner until he could get the comb through it. Then he shampooed her hair, massaging her scalp and nearly putting her to sleep before he used the conditioner again.

  She shaved herself, glad to be rid of leg and armpit hair and able to trim her bush close the way she liked to keep it. She was starting to feel marginally human again.

  If they could fall in love with me looking like a mangy monster, they must be in love.

  Taking their time, they slowly soaped her entire body, front and back, but avoiding her most intimate areas.

  She loved them f
or it. She wanted a long night’s safe sleep in a comfortable bed before even thinking about that despite her body wanting more from them.

  Then the baby kicked for the first time. She gasped, putting both men on high alert.

  “Are you okay?” Jim asked. “Did we hurt you?”

  She laughed and grabbed their hands, placing them on her belly. After a moment, the baby kicked again. “It’s the first time she kicked. Like she knows we’re safe now.”

  “It’s a girl?” Micah asked with a slightly awestruck tone that filled her heart with hopeful joy.

  Mai shrugged. “I…I don’t know. I just keep thinking of her as ‘she.’” Now wasn’t the time to mention her dreams.

  Micah dropped to his knees in front of her and kissed her belly, wrapping his arms around her and Jim, who stood behind her.

  “Ours,” he whispered, his cheek pressed against her flesh. “Both of you are ours.”

  * * * *

  Not that Micah didn’t love Jim, because he’d die for his mate. But he wouldn’t deny when he accepted the situation and claimed Jim that part of him mourned the fact they would never have pups of their own. It hadn’t been a huge priority, but he’d always assumed once he found his mate, they would have pups, eventually.

  Not biologically possible with a male for a mate.

  This whole thing made no sense. Why had the Goddess done things this way? It was unheard of for a wolf to pick a second mate when their first mate was still alive.

  And she was a coyote.

  He got to his feet and kissed her, tenderly, not wanting to hurt or scare her. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back.

  She broke their kiss and looked up into his eyes. “Mark me,” she whispered. “Please.”

  She didn’t have to ask twice. He turned her to face Jim. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Micah stroked her back, her shoulders, and pressed his body against hers. He’d sort out the mating aspect later. He wasn’t even sure if he should, for fear of hurting the baby. But he would mark his mate.