The Dom's Patience is Rewarded [Unchained Love 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  Pete took Omar’s truck down a rutted dirt track, parking deep under some trees. Oliver followed but turned his car so it faced outward again, ready for a faster getaway. While the other men undressed, put their clothing inside the truck, and left the car key under a handy rock, Oliver pulled a navy-blue knitted cap over his pale hair and stomped his booted feet in the undergrowth.

  “Ready?” asked Josh.

  Oliver nodded and the two men transformed into panthers then paced through the trees, tails held low, every sense very evidently on the alert. Oliver let them get twenty feet ahead of him, wanting to be far enough behind them to act on any warning they may give but not so far back as to lose track of where they went.

  It was cold and damp under the trees, but apprehension was sending a trickle of sweat down his back as he tried to step quietly through the undergrowth. Josh stopped and lifted his head, sniffing the air. Suddenly, Oliver smelled it, too. Someone, presumably Sam, had lit a wood fire.

  The panthers moved faster now, but Oliver still tried to step silently. The last thing he wanted was to startle Sam and get himself shot. The man was completely unstable and had already shot his own daughter, never mind someone unexpected coming toward him through the bushes.

  Josh stopped again, tilting his head. At the very farthest reaches of his hearing Oliver sensed some noises. It was much too soft to discern what kind of noise, but it was unlikely to be a bird singing, so it must be Sam doing something.

  The panthers moved more slowly now, weaving their way around shrubs and trees. Oliver followed them, moving up to about ten feet behind them. Now he could hear two men speaking quietly. As yet, he couldn’t discern the words, but it was definitely male speech. Who did Sam have there with him? Who had come here to meet Sam? Or was it the other way around? Had Sam come here to meet someone else?

  Pete was crawling under a thick bush now. Josh moved toward the right and was suddenly completely invisible. Oliver looked around. There was a sturdy tree a little way to the left with a climbable branch not too high off the ground. Mentally cursing his luck, Oliver jumped up, grabbed the branch, and swung himself into the tree. He had to climb up several branches higher before he had any kind of view at all, then he had to turn right around to be facing in the correct direction.

  He was looking out over several tents with a large fire pit in the center. This campsite had been in use for a while. The big tent had quite a lot of fallen leaves on the flat awning over the opening. Sam was sitting almost in the coals of the fire, his boots on a rock lining the fire pit and his back to Oliver. But the other man was facing him and caused Oliver to almost lose his grip on the branch he was holding. The other man was the panther with long, dirty-blond hair. The leader of the rogue panthers and the one who’d ridden a horse in a scene Ramona had filmed for the movie studio. The man he’d decided was only half-panther. Now why the fucking hell would Sam be talking to him?

  Oliver remained silent and unmoving but couldn’t hear what was being said, so finally he slid down the tree and walked back to where they’d left the vehicles. He could wait in warmth and comfort until either Pete or Josh returned to tell him anything extra they’d heard. Pete might have been closer. In panther form, his hearing would be more acute. Maybe he could hear what they were saying.

  Oliver supposed if he stayed there he may have seen more people, but there was no sign of anyone else being nearby and he really wanted to be well away if a large number of rogue panthers appeared.

  Back at his car he stomped his feet to warm them and wiggled his shoulders to ease the tension that had built up. He marched around the small area where they’d parked two or three times then turned as he sensed someone approaching. It was Josh.

  “I don’t think Omar’s going to be happy to find out Sam’s talking with the leader of the rogue panthers,” said Josh, unlocking Omar’s truck and getting dressed.

  “Hell no. But it doesn’t make sense. He’s been so desperate to protect Leticia from the rogue panthers, and now he’s out socializing with their leader? It’s crazy. The whole scenario is crazy.”

  “You got that correct. You need to tell Omar all about it right quick. It’s just a fucking nuisance that I couldn’t hear what they were talking about. Their voices were very low. When you leave I’ll block off this track near the road then pitch our tent over there.” Josh waved at some dense undergrowth.

  “Before you do that, it might be wise to scout around a bit more to check that there’s only one campsite. That there’s not another pack of them just a bit farther away.”

  “Good point. I’ll do that. Want me to help push your car back to the road so you don’t make any noise starting the engine?”

  “No, but thanks anyway. It’s not a noisy vehicle. If you get any information or need anything, send Omar a text message and someone will meet you where you block the track. Keep your head down. Stay safe.”

  “Fuck yes. Sam’s not to be trusted, and the rogue panthers sure as hell aren’t, either.”

  Oliver waved and climbed back in his car, traveling very slowly until he reached the road. Telling Omar is one thing, but how the hell am I going to explain it to Leticia?

  Chapter Two

  “Leticia, I need to talk seriously to you.”

  She looked up into Oliver’s stern face. She was out in the garden, where she planned to spend some of her time for the next few months. Well, until it started snowing. Although hopefully she’d have the garden cleared, weeded, and ready for spring planting before then. Leticia wiggled from her knees onto her bottom, so she was sitting comfortably on the folded old blanket she’d been using as a kneeling pad. Carefully, she stretched her sore shoulder. Today was the first day she’d been allowed to take off the strapping and it was still aching, but at least it would start getting strong again. “Yes, Oliver?”

  Suddenly, a terrible thought struck her. “My father’s not dead, is he? Or in jail again?”

  Oliver shook his head. “No, but he is the basis for the conversation we need to have.”

  William walked across from where he’d been tipping a wheelbarrow load of weeds into a compost bin. “It’s lucky I didn’t have to work today and could be here as well then, isn’t it?”

  Leticia hid a grin. It was fortunate that Oliver’s Alpha, Omar, and William’s best friend, Tor, were both in committed ménage relationships. Because of her father’s overprotectiveness, she’d never said anything to anyone about her personal feelings for Oliver and William, but both still knew instinctively it was a both-or-neither kind of deal. They were so very different from each other, but she loved them equally.

  Because of her father keeping her under his eye all the time recently, she hadn’t been on any dates with either man. But just as she and William had shared long talks and chaste kisses in hospital, so, too, had Oliver endlessly demonstrated his love for her in discreet ways, with gentle hand touches, burning gazes, and sweet words and actions. Whenever her father had let her be with the pack she’d felt Oliver’s gaze on her. It made her feel warm and loved, much more so that her father’s controlling presence. Oliver had been never-endingly patient. As a Dom, that must have been so hard for him, yet he’d never once tried to force her to come to him. He’d watched and waited and shown his love for her in understated ways that wouldn’t annoy her father. Her father had likely never even noticed. But she’d noticed them and loved him for it.

  She was confident they’d settle into a threesome under Oliver’s Dominance. She knew she and William were both natural subs, so that would be fine. That was one really good thing about living here. Even though she’d been confined to her room so much, when she had talked with the other women she’d gotten to understand the BDSM lifestyle and knew she’d fit right in. It was what she was inside. Like coming home. This entire community gave her the feeling of being at home at last.

  She could see it would take quite some work to arrange for the three of them to be together, though. Her father was going to resist that idea v
ery strongly. Her father. Oh! “What has my father done now, Oliver?”

  Oliver and William settled on the blanket beside her, and Oliver asked, “You know JB planted an electronic bug on your father’s car?”

  “No, I didn’t know that, but it makes sense now why no one followed him when he ran away from here.”

  “Yes, well, today a couple of people followed the bug to see where he was staying, and he’s with the rogue panthers. In fact he was sitting talking to the head of the rogue panther group this morning.” Oliver’s voice was cold and steady, but his gray eyes were looking deep into her own eyes. She knew he was worried about how she’d react to this news.

  “Uh-oh,” said William.

  “But that doesn’t make sense. Why would he do that?” She couldn’t understand it. Her father was terrified of the rogue panthers. Why would he talk to them? Leticia smoothed her hands over her thighs, aware she was trembling from the shock of the revelation.

  “Sweetie, nothing your father has done for the last year makes sense. What’s logical about shooting you?”

  “I don’t understand. He’s been so adamant the rogue panthers are the devil incarnate.” Leticia shook her head wildly from side to side then winced as her shoulder reminded her to move slowly and gently. Her shoulder. Just another sign that her father had changed so much lately. Twelve months ago, even six months ago, she would have been ready to swear her father would never harm her. That he would die to save her. Since then, he’d shot her through the leg—by accident, he said, although he’d never apologized for doing it—and then dislocated her shoulder trying to drag her into his car. Wait!

  “Does that mean when he was trying to force me to go with him a few weeks ago, he was actually taking me to the rogue panthers? That he was going to give me to them after saying over and over again only he could protect me from them?”

  “Holy shit!”

  “I don’t know, Leticia. Going to meet the leader may have been his plan B when plan A of taking you away with him failed. But it’s possible that was his idea all along.”

  “Oliver, you’re scaring me worse than the head nurse at the hospital doing an unscheduled inspection on my patients does. If Sam is hanging around the rogue panthers, we’re going to have our work cut out protecting Leticia from her own father, let alone from the entire rogue panther pack,” said William, jumping to his feet and pacing up and down between the rows of garden beds.

  “You are not locking me in my room and lying across the doorway. I’m never going to stand for that again,” said Leticia. She’d only just started to discover freedom and make friends. No way was she turning the clock backward.

  “No, nothing like that. William and I have an option that wasn’t available to your father. All you have to do is commit to the two of us. Mate with William and me. That means you’re no longer of value to the rogue panthers and, incidentally, it fulfills a wish I’ve held for a long time, to make you mine,” said Oliver.

  His eyes were filled with love. A line creased his forehead and his lips tilted up at the ends with the hint of a smile. Leticia knew he wanted to say much more to her, but didn’t plan to push her at all. She loved the way he showed his care for her like that. He was giving her a free choice, not trying to demand she accept him.

  “Do marry me please, Leticia. I love you,” added William. William’s big dark eyes were just like a puppy dog’s, huge, dark, and filled with pleading. But again, just like Oliver, he didn’t demand she accept him. He was asking, not forcing.

  Oh, how she wanted to marry them both. She loved them so much, appreciated them, wanted to be with them. But no. It was much too soon, and there were so many other considerations to worry about. Could she even think about doing something her father would oppose so violently? What if what Oliver was talking about was all a misunderstanding? And what about the other unmated females?

  “But won’t that make life more dangerous for Autumn and for Serena and Verity?”

  “For a start, I don’t think Autumn’s in danger, being only half-panther. But even if she is, I’m pretty sure she could solve that little issue herself right quickly.”

  William laughed. “I don’t live here, and even I know that Nicholas and Curtis want her and she wants them!”

  “As for the cougar twins, there’s never been the least hint of danger around them. In fact, the only person who was ever attacked was Ramona. Not you, despite what your father may have worried about. Anyway, whatever happens, the community here will protect all its women. But if your father is working with the rogues, you will be in danger,” added Oliver.

  Leticia was having some horrible thoughts. “Do you think he’s going to get them to kidnap me just to prove he was right all along and I was in danger? Then he’ll rescue me from them?”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea to try to figure out what your father has in mind. He hasn’t been thinking logically lately, and we could tie ourselves in knots trying to second-guess him and still be wrong. I wish he’d talked to the counselor when the court ordered him to, but he didn’t. Meanwhile, as Oliver has said, the problem is solved if you marry us. We want to marry you. Will you agree?” asked William.

  Leticia looked down at the tiny green shoots of plants half-hidden under a blanket of weeds. That was so like her life had been lately. Her personhood had been carefully hidden while she tried to be the daughter her father seemed to want. Yet nothing had pleased him. No matter how patiently she’d waited all day in her room, he still never seemed to want to let her talk to anyone, not even other female panthers.

  She’d been attracted to Oliver for a long time now. Maybe even a year. But she’d never dared to do anything about her attraction. She knew if she started a friendship with him her father would have banned him from seeing her or speaking to her, possibly even thrown him out of the pack. Then when she’d first met William, with Tor, she’d wondered if she was going crazy, liking two men at once. Of course she’d soon learned it was possible to have two men. Once she’d seen how well Gaynor’s relationship with both Tor and Cameron had worked, she’d known that’s what she wanted for herself.

  But how well did she really know them? She wasn’t exactly experienced in sexual relationships or even in deep male/female nonsexual relationships. And what if she found she didn’t like BDSM? Talking about it was likely very different from doing it.

  What if Oliver and William couldn’t coexist harmoniously? There was no divorce in panther matings. If they weren’t happy they were still stuck with each other. Besides, her parents had been unhappy before her mother died. What if she ended up like her mother, suffering a lifetime of unhappiness and no possibility of mating with Mr. Right?

  What if her father was engaged in doing something important to help her? If the watchers had missed the point, simply didn’t understand the facts? What if when he came back to explain everything to her she done something rash and it was all too late?

  No. Much better to take no irrevocable steps right now.

  But how could she protect herself? What if her father really was going to sell her to the rogue panthers?

  How could she balance all these things? There had to be a way.

  Leticia glanced at both men. William seemed very tense, his hands twisting on his lap, but he was still looking at her with hope shining over his face.

  Oliver’s face was impassive, but the line on his forehead was deeper. Actually, there were two lines there now and his hands were in his pockets. Was that to stop him fidgeting with them like William?

  Suddenly, the answer came to her.

  “A long time ago people used to get handfasted. It was sort of halfway between being engaged and being married, or mated. The ceremony was performed, the vows said, the couple—or trio, I guess—moved in together and lived together, but there was a period of time when everything could be dissolved if one of the parties was unhappy. I will agree to that. A ceremony and a trial marriage or handfasting, but with the option to undo it all if a
ny of us decides it doesn’t work. How about we have a three-month contract marriage? I think I’ll know if this is going to work after three months. If we are all happy the marriage stays. Otherwise we agree to dissolve it completely at the end of the three months’ trial period. What about you two?”

  William stared at her. His mouth opened and closed again, then he gulped, but he didn’t say anything.

  Oliver frowned. “You want the mating ceremony in front of the pack and the community, so it’s as if we were married. But the paperwork will state we can dissolve the marriage after three months unless all of us are content?” he asked.

  “We may as well have the ceremony. Hopefully, we’ll all be happy and we’ll continue on as we are. But I’m not ready for an irrevocable decision. I need the freedom to leave if it’s not working. I’ve never lived with a sexual partner, far less two of them. I’ve never been involved in BDSM. For the past few months I’ve done nothing, communicated with almost no one, lived a very strange life. This is a major adjustment. I need to be free to change my mind if it’s not working.”

  Leticia spoke firmly and looked both the men in the face. She meant this. It was a brilliant idea and gave her everything she needed—the men she loved and wanted, plus an escape clause if she needed it. Or if either of them did. She couldn’t bear the thought of them being locked into a relationship if one or more of them hated it.

  “I agree,” said William, gently stroking her cheek with one finger.

  “Very well.” Oliver nodded. He stood up and straightened his back, instantly looking very businesslike.

  “I’ll have to explain all this to Omar. Then I’ll see if we can use Carey’s apartment as our pied-à-terre until we can build a house of our own. It’s very small, and you’ll both need to put most of your things in storage, but hopefully it won’t be for too long. At least we’ll be able to spend the nights together there,” said Oliver.