This will either be a disaster or the best night of my life—I can’t decide. I wanted to do something special for our wedding, but maybe I should have just kept things normal, bought a pretty set of lingerie, and laid myself out on the bed like an offering.
Instead, I’m here, running in the dark with nothing but a flashlight, sweating my ass off when I could be seducing my husbands right now.
“Dammit, Emma,” I mutter to myself, “you should have taken the easy route.”
A twig cracks somewhere behind me, and I skid to a stop, studying the dark forest. For the first time, it occurs to me that I might not be alone here. We don’t usually get wildlife close to the cabin because wild animals, including large predators such as wolves and bears, avoid the werewolves’ territory. But I’ve run far from the house, close to a mile. Well, maybe not, but it’s nighttime, so who knows what else is crawling around in these woods?
Now my heartbeat speeds up from something other than excitement. Cold sweat breaks out on my skin, and I take a careful step to the side, considering whether I should turn back and run toward the cabin, but…
Crack.
Another sound, somewhere to my left.
Shit.
It’s either the guys, and they’re punishing me for running from them, or I’m about to be mauled by a bear on my wedding night, which would be the stupidest?—
A large, dark form peels itself from the shadows, and I jerk back, dropping my flashlight. A scream makes its way halfway up my throat before I recognize Sebastian, my beautiful russet-colored wolf. In the darkness, he doesn’t resemble the cuddly mate I know and love, though. He’s massive, his teeth glinting in the beam of my fallen flashlight.
“Oh my God.” I drop to a crouch, hanging my head. “You scared the crap out of me.”
He doesn’t shift immediately, though. He stalks closer and puts his snout to my neck, snuffling at my skin. His rough tongue comes out, and he licks the sweat off my shoulder, moving to my back, then surprises me by jumping onto me. His weight tipsme off-balance, and I sprawl on the forest floor, leaves and grass breaking my fall.
“Oh!”
I try to push myself off the ground, but Sebastian puts his front paws on my shoulders and won’t let me. Instead, he nuzzles my neck again and licks my skin, right over Troy’s mating bite. Pleasure shivers through me, and somewhere in the forest, a wolf howls, answering my body’s call.
“Sebastian,” I whisper. “Let me up.”
He makes a huffing sound but doesn’t move. He can’t communicate with me directly, but I interpret that huff to mean, “Deal with it, human.”
It seems that I’m Sebastian’s prize because he was the first to catch me.
From the corner of my eye, I sense movement, so I turn my head to peer in that direction. Troy emerges from the trees, magnificent in his full wolf form. Did they all shift to track me? I search for Carter from my limited vantage point, and sure enough, there he is, a black shape stalking from the shadows, inspecting his pack mate’s prey.
Because that’s what I am. I put myself in this position, running from them, goading them to catch me.
I tempted the wolves, and now I’ll have to pay.
A groan, and Sebastian shifts to his half form behind me. His clawed hands roam my back, then he grabs my waist and pulls my ass up from the ground. “Emma.”
I gasp, realizing he means to have me right here. “Wait. I have blankets and snacks, they’re not far from?—”
Carter shifts as well, crouching in front of me where I’m still face down in the leaves. He brushes my hair from my face and smiles. “You thought you could run from us, wife? And that we’d play by your rules?”
My body goes soft at his growling voice. Maybe I’m weird for loving this, but I married my guys because I love every aspect of them, including this possessive side.
“N-no,” I breathe. “I just wanted to give you—ah—give you somethingfun…”
My voice rises with each word as Sebastian palms my ass with his big hands, running his fingers under the hem of my shorts.
“Need you,” he growls.
O-kay. I guess we’re not moving over to the pretty setup on the clearing. I’m hot all over, half from the running but mostly from anticipation. I wiggle, trying to figure out how to get out of my clothes while Sebastian still has me pinned to the ground, but he claws at the waistband of my shorts and rends them clear down the middle.
A chorus of groans reverberates around me.
“You’re wet.” Sebastian’s words are short, choppy, like he’s barely holding himself back. He’s the sweetest of my mates, but right now, he holds me like he might never let me go.
