Once out there, Lina hugged Ain. “You’re a good man. All three of you. Elain will keep you on your toes, but she needs all three of you to keep her grounded. This is going to fracture her sanity for a little while.”
Brodey’s face darkened. “I hate seeing her so upset.”
“Join the club,” Cail added.
Lina patted him on the shoulder. “I know you do, Brod, but she has to go through this. Just be there for her. Expect her to feel a little crazy. Cut her some slack when she needs it. Always stand strong for her.”
“Is that why you guys showed up early?” Cail asked.
She nodded, her expression growing grim. “It’s getting bad again. Really bad. It’s good Liam showed up tonight. I was thinking it’d be another day or two before he got here, but we need to draw the family in close. Now.”
“Spill it, Lina,” Zack said. “What aren’t you telling us?”
She looked at him, Kael, and her mates before returning her attention to Ain. “Keep Micah and Jim here with you. Don’t let them leave and go off on their own. Fat Boy is desperate, but I don’t know why yet. Everything is going to get really, really ugly before everything calms down again.” She patted her belly. “Now, would you mind if I hit your bathroom? I don’t want to walk through the living room and disturb them, but I’m about ready to wet myself.”
Brodey smiled and walked her to the sliding glass door that opened directly into the master bedroom. “There you go, kiddo,” he said as he pointed at the dark bathroom doorway. “The switch is inside, just beside the door. On the right.”
“Thank you!” She quickly waddled through the bedroom and ignored the sound of Brodey closing the slider behind her. When she reached the doorway, she fumbled for the switch but soon found it. As she was relieving herself on the toilet, she glanced up at the long, mirrored vanity.
The woman from the plane stared back at her.
Lina clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her startled scream.
Now, however, Lina knew who she was. She looked just like the picture in Maureen’s letter to Elain.
“Holy crap, Maureen! Will you quit doing that!” Lina whispered at the mirror.
The woman’s sad expression didn’t change. “You have to help her,” Maureen said. “Please.”
“I am, but could we do this at some other time than when I’m sitting on the crapper?” Lina finished and got her pants pulled up. She waddled over to the vanity and washed her hands. All the while, she stared at the woman. “I didn’t know my freaky powers were going to include talking to ghosts.” In fact, what she had learned about her powers would barely fill a shot glass.
The ghost of Maureen Alexander didn’t reply.
Lina took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Did Baba Yaga put you up to this?”
“Who?”
“Never mind.” Lina glanced behind her. The bathroom was empty except for her. She turned back to the mirror, where the ghost was plainly visible. “Why do you only come to me in mirrors? And why now, for cripes sake?”
“I always stayed with Liam before.”
Lina felt bad for the ghost, but that still didn’t answer her question. “Why pick now to appear to me?”
“I knew when you visited Liam that you were powerful. When he began his journey to our daughter, I sought you out. I was afraid to appear to you too soon.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t want you getting rid of me.”
It hadn’t even occurred to Lina that she had the ability to do that kind of thing. “I won’t get rid of you. Can you wait here just a minute?”
The ghost nodded.
Lina closed her eyes and did something she hadn’t done in over a year—she wished herself into Baba Yaga’s living room. When she looked around, she didn’t see anyone.
“Hey? Is anyone home?”
Silence greeted her.
“Crap,” she grumbled. “Hellooo?” she hollered again.
No reply.
She threw the front door open and yelled. “Hey, lady! You out there?”
Still no answer.
“Fudge.” Lina had no idea how to go about tracking down Baba Yaga if she wasn’t at her home.
It was, however, added to the top of her mental list of topic discussions next time she tracked the immortal woman down.
Lina opened her eyes and once again found herself standing in the Lyalls’ bathroom. Maureen Alexander’s ghost stared at her from the mirror. “Can we do this somewhere other than in bathrooms?” Lina asked her.
“I don’t know how. I’ve been following you around for a couple of weeks now. It’s the only way I know how to appear to you.”
“Do you have any special advice or insight? Like who or where Fat Boy is?”
Maureen shook her ghostly head.
“Great.” Lina let out an exasperated sigh. “Well, right now, I need to get back outside before one of my guys thinks I fell in and flushed myself. You and I will talk later. I need to help all of them get through this first. Dumping your existence on them, no offense, isn’t helpful at this moment. Get my drift?”
Maureen nodded and disappeared.
As Lina headed back out to the lanai, she hoped no other new powers suddenly sprang up anytime soon. She didn’t need more distractions right now.
* * * *
Elain called everyone back into the living room twenty minutes later. Ain could tell all three of them had been crying from the looks of their red eyes and swollen noses.
He engulfed Elain in a hug and kissed the top of her head. “Are you all right, sweetheart?”
“Yeah,” she whispered. “I will be. I think. Ask me again tomorrow after I’ve gotten into the booze again. I think I might need it.”
He chuckled. “We’ll get you through this without you pickling your liver. I promise.”
Brodey and Cail gathered around her, too. “Yeah,” Brodey said. “If I can kick cockatrice ass, I can let you soggy up my shoulder.”
At least he managed to coax a small smile out of her.
“For now,” Ain said, “I think it would be wise if we all head for bed and get some sleep. Cail, please show Liam to a bedroom. Thank the Goddess we have a big house.”
Cail smiled. “Any more guests, and we can open our own B&B.”
* * * *
Elain dropped her clothes on the floor next to the closet, walked into the bathroom, and brushed her teeth. Then she used the bathroom, washed her hands, and returned to the bedroom. Without another word, she crawled into bed.
The men stared at her for a moment before starting to undress. “Are you really okay, sweetheart?” Ain asked. When he finished removing his clothes, he picked hers up from the floor and put them all in the hamper.
She closed her eyes. “No, I’m not okay,” she softly said. “I don’t know what I am, but okay isn’t even within shouting distance of the top fifty on the list.”
Brodey climbed into bed with her first, followed by Ain and Cail. She snuggled against Ain, rolled into his embrace, and buried her face in the crook of his neck. “Please make this all go away,” she whispered. “Make everything normal again.”
She suspected it was Brodey who gently stroked her back. “Normal being when all you had to deal with was three men who turned into wolves?” he said.
“Yeah, that normal. That was easy.”
Ain laughed. The deep, rumbling sound rolled through her. “That was what you considered ‘easy’?”
“Yeah. All I had to do was enjoy getting my brains boinked out.”
Cail spoke from the far side of the bed, humor tingeing his words. “Seems like you had a complaint or two in there somewhere.”
“I know. Meeting you three has given ‘screwing the pooch’ new meaning.”
“Oh,” Ain groaned with a laugh. “That was horrible.”
She brushed her fingers up his chest. The fine dusting of hair along his pecs felt comfortingly soft against her hand. Warm.
Familiar.
Unlike the wackiness her life had suddenly turned into within the space of a few hours.
Amazing how a little perspective changes what’s “normal” in my life. Falling in love with three shape-shifters is a walk in the park compared to all this new bullshit.
She looked up into his face, into those familiar, grey eyes. “Please make it go away,” she whispered again. “Make it all go away. I want things back the way they were yesterday. Yesterday was good.”
“I wish I could, sweetheart,” he said, looking pained. “I would give anything to make you quit hurting.”
“I’m not hurting. I’m just…”
Overwhelmed.
She reached up and tangled her fingers in his hair. There was one surefire cure to disengage every last single conscious thought in her brain.
Elain pulled his head down until his lips covered hers. Drowning in her emotions, she kissed him, seeking a few moments, at least, of solace in his arms.
Wanting it from all three pairs of their arms.
And other body parts, of course.
She rolled on top of him and reveled in the feel of his hands sliding down her back, his fingers splayed across her ass as his cock hardened between them. She rubbed herself against him and tried to shut down her brain. With her juices already flowing, she loved the feel of her clit gliding up and down his rigid shaft.
“Mmm, that’s it,” Brodey murmured behind her. She felt his hands on her hips as he lifted her onto Ain’s cock.
With a happy sigh she impaled herself, enjoying the feel of him stretching her as she sank his full length deep inside her. His grey gaze smoldered up from the bed as he looked at her. He reached up and cupped her breasts, his palms brushing against her nipples.
“Is that what you wanted, baby?” Ain asked her.
She nodded. “Please fuck me senseless. Literally.”
Brodey began nibbling on the back of her neck while Cail’s mouth replaced Ain’s hand on one of her breasts. Each hot, wet pull of his mouth on her nipple sent another pulse of desire through her body and to her pussy, where Ain’s cock had her so deliciously filled. There was no better feeling in the world than being the center of their universe like this, surrounded by her three mates, the power of their love flowing through her.
Brodey reached around her hips even as he still nibbled on her shoulders. His fingers unerringly found her pussy, where he spread her lips open with one hand and stroked her clit with his other.
“Yes!” she whispered. She let her weight fall back on him as she rode Ain’s cock. Ain’s hands settled on her hips while Cail took over giving full attention to her breasts.
“Do you like that, baby?” Brodey whispered in her ear. She felt his impatient cock, fully engorged and ready, rubbing against her back.
“Yes,” she gasped.
“Let go to us,” Cail whispered against her flesh. “Just let go and let us make you feel good.”
I can do that. She let Ain set the pace as he slowly thrust his cock into her. Elain rocked her hips in time with his thrusts.
Cail sat up and captured her mouth with his. He cupped her breasts with both his hands, rolling her nipples against his calloused palms with his thumbs.
“This is gooood. This is sooo good.” She didn’t think it to any of them in particular, just to all three of them.
Ain chuckled. “Mission accomplished, I do believe.”
She let out a little mewing sound around where Cail was still thoroughly kissing her. She hoped they understood it was meant to be a yes.
Brodey nipped her shoulder again as he picked up the tempo with his fingers. This time, he drew a full-fledged, pleading whine from her.
“More. Please.” Times like this especially made their mental connection handy. She didn’t have to stop Cail’s delicious exploration of her mouth with his tongue to talk to them.
“Hmm,” Brodey said. “More? How much more, babe?”
“Don’t be mean,” Ain playfully scolded. “Give our girl what she wants.”
Brodey laughed. “Oh, okay. Fine.” His fingers worked harder, faster, driving her close to the edge but not quite over it.
He grazed his teeth along her shoulder. “Come for us, babe.”
Then he bit down hard.
Thank goodness Cail was kissing her. He muffled the worst of her scream as her body exploded. She was vaguely aware of Ain’s cock slamming into her from below as her head lolled back on Brodey’s shoulder. Bolts of white heat shot through her body, ricocheting through her veins, setting her nerves on fire.
She closed her eyes and allowed the sensations to flow through her, taking her mind away to a different place where she only had to feel, not think.
She felt Ain come, then before she could catch her breath Brodey had picked her up, spun her around, and had her on her back on the bed with his cock buried balls-deep inside her.
Somewhere in the transition, she’d lost Cail’s mouth. She reached out and instead her hand brushed against his ready cock.
“Good enough.” He laughed as her fingers wrapped around it and she drew him close. As Brodey started slamming his cock into her, she opened wide and engulfed Cail’s member.
He stroked her hair, entwining his fingers through it, guiding her. She needed no urging. This was one of her favorite things.
“Such a good girl,” Brodey said, leaning forward a little more so his cock perfectly hit her clit with each stroke. “You love sucking his cock, don’t you?”
She couldn’t really respond, and was too busy to even think an answer, so she mumbled an assent around the cock filling her mouth.
“Such a good girl,” Cail echoed.
From somewhere, hands cupped her breasts again. She suspected at least one of the hands belonged to Ain but she didn’t care. Her men knew how to draw every ounce of pleasure from her.
She slipped a hand between Cail’s legs and found his sac. She cupped his soft, warm flesh in her palm and gently kneaded it, squeezing just enough to make his cock grow even harder in her mouth and reward her with a few drops of salty pre-cum.
“That’s it, baby,” he gasped. “You know what I like.”
Brodey, meanwhile, had found the perfect angle and knew it. He started taking harder, shorter strokes inside her. With her clit already primed and swollen from her first orgasm, it didn’t take her long to crash over the edge again.
“That’s it, baby,” Brodey urged as her body responded, her pussy milking his cock as her orgasm swept through her.
Her moans around Cail’s cock triggered his orgasm. His hand tightened in her hair as he thrust into her mouth. She sucked harder, moaning again as she felt his cock pumping, then tasting his cum as he filled her mouth with his seed.
Brodey barely held back until she finished. Then he grabbed her legs, threw them over his shoulders, and fucked her, hard and deep, shaking the whole bed until his back arched and he let out a deep groan.
Elain released Cail’s cock and wrapped her arms around Brodey. She held on to him until his body finally relaxed and he dropped on top of her, sated, exhausted.
Too tired to talk, she thought to them, “I love all of you.”
Ain leaned in from somewhere and kissed her. “We love you, too, babe.”
On that note, she checked out, gratefully letting sleep wash over her.
Chapter Six
Elain awoke late the next morning after a blissfully dreamless sleep. Getting herself boinked senseless by her men tended to do that for her.
At least insomnia’s a problem I don’t have.
She left her men sleeping in bed and grabbed a quick shower. Instead of dressing, she grabbed her bathrobe and wrapped it around her before silently slipping out of the bedroom. The entire house lay quiet, all their guests still asleep.
She started the coffee. When it finished, she poured herself a mug then took it outside onto the lanai where she sat in a lounger. Staring at the woods beyond the backyard, she tried to process everything that had hap
pened in the past twenty-four hours. Between her mom’s bombshell, meeting Lina and her gang, and then Liam showing up…
Dad, she thought. My dad.
How many countless times had she longed for a dad growing up? Latching on to friends who had seemingly perfect families with a dad and a mom? Or, at the very least, one parent and one stepparent? All the while mourning the fact that her father was either “somewhere” or a “no-good louse,” depending on when in her life she’d asked her mom about him.
How many times had she watched moms and dads, or at least divorced parents but the dad showing up sometimes, cheering their kids on the sidelines at track meets or karate competitions?
Yes, her mom was always there for her. Always her rock, always dependable and making time for her no matter what.
But…
She sat back in the lounger, stretching out and staring at wispy clouds that drifted into view in the distance across the pasture to the east of the house.
Inside the house behind her, Elain now had her complete family gathered under one roof for the first time in her life. Men, Mom, Dad, and the siblings-slash-cousins she’d always longed for.
Let’s not forget it looks like I’m a wolf, too.
She snorted in amusement. Somehow, that factoid had slid down the importance scale with the arrival of everyone else.
She heard the sliders to the living room open. Cail, dressed in shorts, stepped out. He carried a mug of coffee.
“Good morning, sweetheart.”
She nodded to him.
He kissed her. “You all right?”
“Yeah.”
He studied her for a moment. “You want company, or do you need some space?”
She took a deep breath and held it for a moment to think before letting it out. “I think,” she quietly said, “I need some space. No offense.”
“None taken. That’s why I asked.” He leaned in again and kissed the top of her head. “Ain and Brodey are up and moving, too. I’m going to grab me something to eat and head out to the barns with Brodey. Unless you want me to hang back?”
“I’m good.” Truth be told, the irony was she did need to be alone, even though her life was suddenly filled with all the people she’d wished for over the years.