The Dom Tests Her Serenity [Unchained Love 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  He stopped in a sheltered area under heavy trees and brush where there was almost no snow on the ground at all. She flopped to the ground panting at first then pricked up her ears. Now they would fuck as panthers and cougar. Watching the sunrise had been amazing, and the run had been a lot of fun, but fucking in animal form was the part she was most looking forward to.

  Yeah, me, too, said Josh.

  That makes three of us.

  Talking like this is pretty amazing.

  Well, just stand still and let Josh mate with you. It’s too cold to stay still out here for long.

  Obediently she let Josh mount her, loving the gentle way he grabbed the scruff of her neck to balance himself as he pumped into her. In animal form it was over much faster than in human form, likely because of the danger out in the wild. But on the other hand, watching the sunrise and running together could be counted as foreplay.

  Josh stood guard over her as Pete began to fuck her and she realized that Pete had probably been on guard for Josh. The men worked together so well as a team. She was doubly blessed to have both of them to care for and protect her. She truly did love them both. They showed their love for her in the way they looked after her, although they seemed to be getting the idea of using words as well, which was good.

  When they’d all come, she rubbed her muzzle across their faces, using her nose to scratch under their jaws, first Pete’s then Josh’s. Josh nipped her tail gently and Pete rubbed his side against hers.

  Pete led them back along the tiny creek. It was frozen solid and they ran along it as if it was a highway, a nice clean route taking them in the direction they needed to go, although it was fucking cold on her paws.

  Back in the tiny cave they got dressed, then Pete and Josh swiftly rolled up the mats and sleeping bags, packing them into amazingly small parcels. Everything fit into two large backpacks, except the broom and shovel. Pete dismantled them and thrust them through the straps of the backpacks, then he and Josh put on one each, and they left the den, Pete once again disguising the opening.

  “Do you think Noah and Ezra and Verity will use it?” Serena asked.

  “Would you rather share it or keep it as our secret?” Pete asked in reply.

  She hadn’t considered keeping it secret. Serena thought for a while then said, “It took a lot of effort to make. It’d be better to let others share it so it gets plenty of use.”

  “I like that idea,” said Josh.

  They were almost back to Carnal Connections when a searing pain ripped through Serena’s head. It was so sudden and severe she almost fell over.

  Josh, who was behind her, grabbed her, and Pete whipped around to look at her. “Is something wrong with Verity?” he asked.

  “No, Leticia,” she gasped, holding her head with both hands.

  “What’s wrong with her?” asked Josh.

  Pete pulled her hands from her head and gripped one of them in his then grasped Josh’s hand in his other hand. Instantly Josh completed the circle, taking Serena’s spare hand.

  “Ask her,” Pete ordered.

  Chapter Seven

  Leticia. Stop screaming and tell me what’s wrong. Are you hurt? Is it a rogue panther attack?

  Serena?

  The pain in Serena’s head subsided, to be replaced with a bubbling unease. Yes, it’s Serena. You nearly blew the top off my head with your screams. What’s wrong?

  I’m sorry. I just checked my Facebook and it’s been hacked by the rogue panthers. They’ve written some awful, horrible things and posted terrible, ghastly pictures…It’s dreadful, Serena, just dreadful.

  Don’t try to take it down. Leave it ’til Verity and I get there. There’re people at our work who can check back to get the hacker. We want him punished, understand?

  Yes. Oliver’s here now. I’ll be okay. I’m sorry I screamed in your head. I didn’t know that was possible.

  Oliver will care for you. I’ll be back inside half an hour.

  “What’s wrong with Leticia?”

  “Is Carnal Connections under attack?”

  Josh and Pete spoke together the moment she opened her eyes. Serena hadn’t even been aware she’d closed them to concentrate better on what Leticia was saying to her. Once she stopped screaming—or whatever it was she’d actually been doing to create such a mental alarm bell—Leticia’s voice had been soft and hard to hear. Serena realized she must have closed her eyes to enhance her sense of hearing. That was something BDSM had taught her. Remove one sense to heighten another. Well, it’d worked. Leticia had still been faint but quite clear in her head.

  Just then her phone vibrated in her pocket. She’d forgotten she was even carrying it, but putting it in her pocket was such second nature she’d evidently done it before leaving her bedroom without even thinking. At least it had been on vibrate, not ringing. A ringing phone in the middle of the sex last night would have been a real turnoff.

  By the time she’d pulled off her glove and unzipped her pocket it’d stopped vibrating, but she still picked it up anyway, just as a text message arrived. “Verity. She wants to know if I’m okay. She must have felt the pain in my head because she wouldn’t be contacting me otherwise.”

  Serena hit call back and speaker and Verity spoke instantly. “I’m really embarrassed calling you while you’re on your mating, but I just felt something was wrong.”

  “It seems I can hear Leticia now and she’s very upset about her Facebook being hacked. Oliver’s with her. Go and make sure they don’t simply delete her account. We need to get that nerdy little guy from work to look at it. He’s a genius with hackers.”

  “Oh, MM. Right, I’ll tell her. Bye.”

  “It’s too cold to just stand here and hold a conversation. Can you tell us what’s happening while we start back toward Carnal Connections, honey?” asked Pete.

  “Sure.” Serena followed Pete into an easy glide on her skis, staying just a fraction to the left of his tracks. “First I thought my head was going to explode with pain. Then I realized Leticia was upset and it was her pain I was receiving. Someone, likely one of the rogue panthers, has hacked into her Facebook account and left nasty stuff there. I told her not to delete it. There’s this pimply little man at work. He looks about sixteen, skinny with huge glasses, but of course he has to be my age or even older, although still…anyway…he’s an absolute genius at tracing hackers and then the company follows them up with the police. That’s who Leticia, or Oliver, who’s with her now, needs to talk to.”

  Serena finished in a rush, almost breathless with talking and skiing and thinking about what had happened all at once. Less than an hour ago she’d been completing her mating in animal form, out under the trees, at one with nature and her two mates. Now the shit had hit the fan in a major sort of way as the rogue panthers had started a different kind of attack against them.

  “I don’t understand what their motive is. When they were trying to kidnap wives, at least that made sense in a twisted kind of way. But why deface Leticia’s Facebook page?”

  “Vengeance. They didn’t get what they wanted and now they think someone should pay,” said Pete.

  “As soon as we get back, all you women need to check your Facebooks. Your company nerd may have his hands full for some time to come. What’s his name?” asked Josh.

  “Michael Michaelson. We usually call him MM. Do you really think they will have hacked into more than just Leticia’s page?”

  “I reckon so. They didn’t especially want Leticia. They wanted any or all of you. Now you’re all in relationships and out of their reach,” said Pete.

  Josh gave her a gentle nudge, and Serena realized she’d slowed down. She got her arms and legs moving in a faster rhythm. Both the men were carrying heavy backpacks and it was mighty cold out here even though they were all wearing snowsuits and moving. But best get home a little faster and find out exactly what was going on. Then she needed to think about this whole mental telepathy thing, too. She’d always had a small amount of it with h
er twin. She and Verity had always known when the other was in emotional turmoil. But now it seemed her powers had just gotten a whole lot stronger if she was hearing not just her mates but Leticia as well. Although Leticia was mighty noisy!

  * * * *

  Pete and Josh had to put all the gear away in the storage barn, so Serena hoped she had time for a quick shower. She’d been fucked thoroughly and had also gotten sweaty with the skiing and running around. She wanted to know what was happening with Leticia and the other panther women but figured five minutes for a superfast shower and change of clothes was necessary.

  It was more like fifteen minutes when she reached the barn, clean, her hair washed, blow-dried, and tied up in ponytail, wearing thick socks inside fresh boots, black jeans, and a red wool sweater.

  Leticia was sitting on Oliver’s lap, something she’d never seen before, and several people had laptops open on their knees and on the little tables. Serena went straight to Verity. “Fill me in.”

  “Better check your Facebook and Twitter. It’s not just Leticia who’s been hacked.”

  “Armpits! That’s what Josh said may have happened.”

  “Larry knows your CEO at DNK Technology and he’s already talking to Donald Thomas. They’re hopeful they can catch whoever it is,” said Ramona.

  “I reckon it’ll be Drew and Charlie. They were the smart ones. They’ve never been caught doing anything bad, unlike most of the humans. And Jim of course,” said Autumn.

  “Keep your purse ready at all times,” joked Gaynor, reminding them of the fact that Autumn had hit Jim with her heavy purse when she’d been attacked.

  Everyone laughed and it lightened the tension. Serena glanced at Gaynor. She bet that had been Gaynor’s intention all along. She was very perceptive like that and understood how they all felt.

  She sat down and scrolled through her phone, logging into Facebook. She couldn’t help the gasp of horror when she saw her new profile picture. It was a big cat whose belly had been ripped open. “How could he do that? He’s a panther, too,” she whispered.

  “Change your password now,” ordered Ramona, handing her a gadget.

  “What’s that?”

  “It generates random passwords which are almost impossible to hack. Of course you need to remember it,” said Ramona.

  Serena drew in a deep breath, centered herself, and changed her password, making up a mnemonic to remember the new one, a mishmash of letters and numbers and symbols. Her Twitter account was untouched, but she changed the password anyway, just for safety’s sake, then handed the gadget back to Ramona.

  Pete and Josh arrived then and she noticed they’d taken the time to change and likely showered as well. Josh held the door open for Jubilee, who followed him holding a heavy tray of something that smelled rich and chocolaty.

  Pete took the tray from her and brought it over to where Leticia was sitting. “From Jubilee,” he said.

  “Thank you, Jubilee. You’re wonderful.” Leticia smiled at Jubilee.

  Serena nodded. Jubilee was a truly kind-hearted person, and no one would ever say no to fresh-baked chocolate cookies with extra chocolate chips.

  Larry and Omar walked in just then. Omar stood possessively behind Ramona, and Larry stroked a hand over Jubilee’s shoulder. Both in their own ways were showing love and support for their women. Neither of them said anything, but no one could deny their actions. Maybe words aren’t always needed after all.

  What was that old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words” or something like that? I need Jubilee to tell me. But it was true. Omar was big and bossy but also protective. Larry was silent and unobtrusive, but he acknowledged the thoughtfulness of Jubilee’s hard work without saying a word. Serena glanced at her men. Josh had opened the door and Pete had carried the heavy tray. Neither of them had said anything, but both had helped Jubilee without any fuss or expecting any thanks. They were truly good men, her mates. And she loved them.

  “All right, people. Donald Thomas, the CEO of DNK Technology, is going to have his research staff check into this for us. Since Drew was the person we identified hanging around DNK’s parking lot, Donald’s convinced it could be a sign of them targeting his company, and he’s prepared to give a couple of his staff all the time they need to track down the hacker or hackers. It may not be Drew of course. Anyone who can hack into a dozen Facebook and Twitter accounts can pretend to be anyone they want to be.”

  “MM is very competent. If he’s doing the searching, I’m sure we’ll hear the result sooner rather than later,” said Verity.

  “Yeah, Donald said one of his staff seemed to take it as a personal insult and was on the job within seconds,” added Omar.

  The barn door opened wide and Noah and Ezra rushed in, the door slamming shut behind them. They raced across the room, side by side, moving like a tidal wave across a beach, impervious to anyone around them. They scooped Verity out of the crowd and stopped in front of Omar.

  “This rogue panther shit is never going to stop until all the unmated females are mated. We’ve been planning to mate Verity for ages,” said Noah.

  “Summer would have been better since we have to do an outdoor scene apparently, but we’re not waiting that long. Anything could happen by then,” added Ezra.

  “We’re also not going to risk another tantrum like Pete and Josh faced. So right here, right now, we’re telling everyone we love you, Verity, and we’re going to mate you, as soon as your Alpha and Larry tell us we can do it. Are you okay with that?” asked Noah.

  “Romantic, much?” Autumn giggled.

  “Of course I agree. I’ve just been waiting for you to ask,” said Verity.

  “Larry, Omar, do we have your agreement? And we need to set a date.”

  Omar drew himself up to his full, imposing height. “You have to ask my permission,” he said, looking every inch a black panther Alpha.

  Noah and Ezra kept hold of Verity and both men nodded. “We wish to mate Verity. We love her and promise to care for her. Do we have your permission?” asked Noah.

  “You promise to love and cherish her? To always care for her?”

  “Yes,” said Noah.

  “Yes, Sir,” added Ezra.

  “Do you wish to mate these humans, Verity?” asked Omar.

  “Yes. I love them,” she replied.

  “You have my permission.”

  Still holding Verity between them they swiveled to face Larry directly. “How soon can we do it?”

  Serena wasn’t sure whether she would die of embarrassment in Verity’s position or whether she’d be overwhelmed with their need for her. It was certainly different, no one could deny that.

  “What, exactly, do you wish to do?” asked Larry, pulling out his cell phone.

  “Have a party here like we did for Verity’s twenty-first, but just with the entire community. A meal, some BDSM scenes, then I’d need one of the private dungeons,” said Noah.

  It sure sounded like he had planned everything already, which meant he was telling the truth when he said he’d been wanting to do it for a while.

  “Come to my office then and we’ll get it booked,” said Larry.

  Serena leaned back in her chair. Well, it sure looked like her twin would be mated very soon. And MM was on the track of the Facebook hacker, so life could go back to normal.

  Oh wait! Where was she going to live now? Pete hadn’t said anything about that. Surely the three of them would be living together now they were mated. Everything in her room was exactly as she’d left it. Pete hadn’t said anything about moving into a house or anything. Did he really expect them just to go back to how they were before, except having sex more often? This was not what she’d expected at all.

  * * * *

  Josh was quite happy to leave the hacker cracking to a professional, but he wasn’t content to not know what had been put on various panthers’ Facebook sites. He hadn’t even seen what Serena’s profile picture had been changed to, although he’d heard her distresse
d remark about it being a wounded big cat.

  He went back to the house he and Pete shared with several other unmated panthers to get his laptop. Well, he supposed it was the apartment he used to share, since he was mated now. But all his things were still in his room. Getting the three of them settled into their new home was a job for later.

  It’d been damn hard to keep it a secret. He and Pete had spent hours painting and furnishing their new home but didn’t want Serena to know anything about it. It was supposed to be a surprise. They’d even worked on the idea of “romantic” a bit as well.

  He hung the strap of his laptop bag over his shoulder and ran back to the barn. Fucking hell it was cold outside without a coat. He hadn’t thought he’d need it for a two-minute walk, but he was wrong. Winter was just about here already.

  Back at the barn he looked around for Serena and picked up a chair to place beside hers. He caught Pete’s eye and Pete nodded and came over to them. Pete would have seen him leave and return with the laptop. He’d likely already guessed what Josh would say. They often thought alike. Josh suddenly remembered the whole mind-talking thing and asked, Hey, Pete. Do you know what I’m planning?

  You want her to check her Facebook account properly in public so she can get it in perspective faster than if she did it alone? She only looked at the profile picture before she closed it up before.

  More than that. If we analyze the changes we may get some clues about the perpetrator, especially if there’s a bunch of similarities in the ways various women’s pages have been changed.

  Good idea. Hang on while I get a notepad and pen so I can take notes while people look. And brainstorm.

  Josh put his arm around Serena and felt her lean on him. Ah, that was so nice. His woman. His! At last.

  When Pete joined them he said, “Serena, you need to look at your Facebook and Twitter properly.”