Their Perfect Mate [Wolf Pack Mates 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  Chapter Three

  Jarrah was really hoping security didn’t arrest him up for stalking, but he and Keir had decided the only way they could get to know Jill better was by spending time with her, which meant making themselves available.

  “I’ll patrol the main building, the sports courts, the hot tub area and around the side gardens of the main building. You watch the gardens and the cabin area. Concentrate on passing by her cabin regularly, though. At least you’ll know when the blind is pulled up and maybe you’ll get lucky enough to see Bethany or Jill leaving, or someone arriving to pick them up,” said Keir.

  “And maybe security will grab me and handcuff me and take me away, and not in a sexy way, either,” muttered Jarrah. But he knew Keir was right. They had fuck-all chance of getting to know her better unless they could pin her down long enough for a decent conversation as well as getting her to agree to sex. If he could just fuck her, he’d make every effort to blow her mind.

  By noon, Jarrah was beginning to remember that he didn’t usually go for four-hour walks. He spent a lot of his working day sitting in front of a computer remotely solving people’s IT problems, with the occasional bit of crawling around the floor under desks looking for leads that may have been disconnected or trying to reconfigure the backs of computer towers. He was also starting to wish he was wearing sports shoes instead of boots.

  He’d just finished walking around the cabins and was close to the rear of the property when his cell phone buzzed. “Get your ass here fast. She’s with a group about to have lunch at the sandwich bar. I’ll try to grab a chair near hers.”

  “On my way.”

  Jarrah slid his cell phone back into his jeans pocket and began to run across the grass back toward the main building. Of course he was about as far as he could possibly be away from it and still be on the Konference Kabins land, but that was the way the cookie crumbled. At least Keir had found her. And “with a group” was way better than if she’d just been with Sloan. Jarrah could understand that Sloan wanted to do as his pack had asked and find them a woman, and Jarrah would be happy for Sloan if the woman he convinced to mate with him was anyone at all other than Jill. Jill was his. Well, his and Keir’s. But certainly not Sloan’s, even though he knew she’d been interested in Sloan’s proposal. Whatever she was hoping for out of an alliance with Sloan, he’d do his best to provide for her if she mated him and Keir.

  When he hurried toward the sandwich stall he saw Jill sitting at a crowded little table out front of it. She had Bethany on one side of her, but Keir had managed to sit on her other side. Also at the table on the other side of Bethany were the two men interested in her, Robert and Edward, plus Sloan. Most of them had tall glasses of fruit juice, so he lined up at the fruit juice bar and chose to have apple, orange, and papaya mixed together, then picked up a chair no one was sitting on and carried it and his drink over to Jill’s table.

  There was a small amount of space between Robert and Sloan, so he set his chair there and joined them, smiling at Jill and Keir, nodding hello to the other men. He sipped his juice in silence at first, wanting to listen to the conversation before saying something in case he sounded stupid, not knowing what they’d been talking about.

  But the conversation was very general indeed, then they all built themselves sandwiches and ate them before Jill and Bethany announced they were returning to their cabin for a nap. Robert and Edward suggested they collect the two women for the boot scooting party that night. At least it’s not Sloan. But it still didn’t get him what they really needed. Time and space to talk at depth and get to know each other. And where had Jill been all morning and with whom? Obviously not sleeping in or she wouldn’t have needed a nap now. Had she been out fucking Sloan? Damn it, he wanted to know!

  “I might as well take a nap, too. My feet have done enough walking for now and I need to be able to dance all night tonight,” he said to Keir.

  “I’ll come with you. I need to do some planning and who knows, perhaps I’ll nap as well when I’m done.”

  Once they were out of the building and alone on the path to their cabin, Keir said, “Likely she’ll want to dance at least for the first few hours of the boot scooting party. But after that we’ll try to get her to come talk to us, get to know us properly. And from there it’s a short step into our bed.”

  “It might only be a short step, but it sure as hell hasn’t been an easy one to achieve so far,” said Jarrah.

  “Be confident. Tonight will be our night.”

  Uh-huh. Maybe.

  * * * *

  Jill was well rested after her nap, and quietly satisfied with her day. Some months ago a sick idiot of a panther had hacked into some of the women at Carnal Connections’ Facebook accounts and replaced their photos and status updates with pornographic images, scenes of Rwandan war graves, and pictures of destroyed wild animals.

  Michael Michaelson, usually known as MM, the young IT geek at a company associated with Carnal Connections, had taken great delight in tracing the hacker and exposing him. He’d also taught the Carnal Connections women a few tricks to protect themselves online. After she’d woken this morning, Jill had unpacked her laptop and settled down to put into practice some of the skills MM had taught her.

  Sometimes it’d taken her two or three attempts to remember exactly what he’d said to do, but after two hours Jill was feeling very happy with herself. She’d tracked online records of the company Jarrah and Keir’s pack traded as and found no bad comments about them or their behavior, then she’d followed the records for Sloan’s pack. That was a little harder as it was a single pack, not a company, but each time she’d learned a few new names she followed them, too, and there were no red flags against anyone.

  Of course, that was no gold-plated guarantee. Usually the first thing the neighbors said after the man next door was discovered to be a serial killer was, “He seemed such a nice man.” However, it was the best she could do, and she was confident MM had given her a good start on protecting herself. He was young, arrogant, and a show-off, but he was also damn good at what he did.

  Jill spent a moment wondering if Jarrah had perhaps hidden records, since he worked in IT as well, but she shrugged and decided he wouldn’t be able to totally wipe out any bad things about a company. It would be so much smarter to just change the company name and start again, and that certainly hadn’t happened. The company name had remained unchanged for twenty years.

  Once again, she was looking forward to the party tonight. The entertainment each evening had been quite different, but always good. Jill liked that the organizers had tried to cater to a wide variety of tastes. That would make the people more relaxed and more likely to enjoy themselves. She’d certainly had a good time at each party and after them as well. She was more than ready for a night of sex and sin. Jill giggled a little at her thoughts, but hey, that’s what she felt like doing. The thing was, once she slept with the men, it’d mean she was almost tied into her choice and she wasn’t sure that she was ready for that yet. The idea of going to Sloan’s pack and choosing another man or two to go with Sloan really appealed to her. The thought that she’d be wanted, needed, useful, was very important to her. Besides, Sloan had made no secret of the fact he was sexually attracted to her and she found his words and actions arousing, too.

  But she also was very drawn to Keir and Jarrah. She wasn’t stupid. She couldn’t possibly have fallen in love with them yet. Not in three days. But there truly was a connection there with them. She’d felt really happy when they’d appeared just as she was about to have lunch. She knew Bethany wanted her there as well as the two Clarke brothers, but she felt a little as though she was intruding on their party, and even having Sloan sitting at the table as well didn’t change her feelings. But when Keir had joined them, and then Jarrah, she’d felt a lot more at ease. She was pleased to be with Bethany and her men. She was happy to share the time with Sloan as well. But the real pleasure came from adding Jarrah and Keir’s presence to the mi
x, which told her a hell of a lot about her own thoughts and emotions. Mentally she might think she hadn’t made a decision yet, but emotionally she wasn’t as invested in Sloan’s pack as she had previously thought she was. Sloan himself was the main attraction about his offer, but Keir and Jarrah were a team and hard to beat.

  Before she and Bethany had come here, cougar shape-shifter twins Serena and Verity had insisted on throwing them a “practice dance party.” The community had ensured that she and Bethany were familiar with every style of dance anyone could think of. Jill was glad of the reminder since it’d been quite a while she’d been a regular attendee at anything other than BDSM parties. While Bethany had danced competently and gracefully with any of the men, Jill had needed to concentrate on her footwork, and, a few times, to stand back and watch until the steps were familiar to her again.

  She was especially glad of the rehearsal party for tonight. It’d been a very long time indeed since she’d been boot scooting, but she was looking forward to the fun of line dancing in particular. Serena had even loaned her a Stetson to wear. “You might as well dress the part, sweetie,” she’d said as she handed it over.

  The caller was just beginning his patter when she and Bethany were scanned into the ballroom and Bethany led her straight over to join in the line dancing. She knew Bethany was anticipating a lot of fun tonight. Bethany had lived in Texas for a few years as an older teenager and young adult, and Jill wondered if she missed some of the things from her time there.

  Still, the dancing was fun and a good way to get warmed up into the evening. She didn’t need to make any decisions about after the party for a long time yet, and might as well enjoy herself. Perhaps if she stopped thinking, the answers would just pop into her head themselves from her subconscious, and take the pain of trying to decide what she should do away from her.

  Jill danced with Keir and with Jarrah, with Sloan and with half a dozen other men. As always, dancing with Sloan was a delight. He moved so gracefully and fluidly as if it was no effort at all, just something as natural as breathing. Yet his hand on her lower back guided her surely as to which way he intended to turn or move. But even so, Jill was beginning to realize that while his proposition still attracted her, and while he was both handsome and charming, it was him as a person who attracted her, not his pack. He danced with a lot of other women as well as with her and with Bethany. In fact, she never once noticed him sitting a dance out. Always he was with one of the women. The problem was, he was here as a representative of his pack, not as himself. Therefore he was not the man for her unless she was prepared to take on more men from his pack. And the only other men she could think about were Keir and Jarrah. She had to hope he’d find the right woman for his pack.

  Now, the next question was, were Jarrah and Keir the right men for her, or was she just enjoying the BDSM and a bit sex-starved and horny?

  Last night, she was certain she’d seen them dancing with other women, but tonight they were totally focused on her. Did that mean they’d decided she was the one for them? Or was she imagining it? But was working in a big, orderly pack where there were other humans really what she wanted to do with her life? She needed to feel useful. Sitting at home watching daytime TV shows would bore her insane in no time at all. She wanted to work. Being a big company she expected there’d be work she could do. She wasn’t looking for a career so much as just being useful. But there were so many other questions. Were there more people who followed a BDSM lifestyle? She’d really enjoyed the community at Carnal Connections.

  And then she wondered if she was just being silly and selfish. The men needed a woman. Their pack needed women. She shouldn’t be going through this so technically, thinking about what she wanted. She should simply be willing to answer their problems.

  No. She was a person in her own right. She would be useful and helpful and contribute, but she needed to be herself as well. But if she loved them, truly loved them, wouldn’t she just jump in and say yes and leave everything else to sort itself out later? Maybe. But she wasn’t that kind of person. She was the sort of person who needed to know all the details before she could relax enough to make a decision.

  Or is the decision made already? I do want Jarrah and Keir. But I want Sloan as well.

  Jill took off her Stetson, wiggled her shoulders to release the tension in them, and flung her hair back off her shoulders before replacing the Stetson on her head. No more thinking. I’ll just dance.

  * * * *

  Keir had prepared their cabin for Jill tonight. The two beds had been remade with fresh sheets, and all the towels had been replaced with clean ones. He and Jarrah had cleaned and tidied up, and then he’d visited the adult store to buy some new toys especially for Jill.

  He was aware she still might say no, but she seemed to have been favoring them above all other men except possibly Sloan, at least tonight, which gave him hope. Besides, time was running out and he needed to convince her of how well they’d love and care for her. He did love her. It seemed strange to say the word so soon in the relationship, but truly, there were sixty women here and he’d spoken to many of them, but the only woman he wanted was Jill. She was his perfect mate. A woman who was bright, intelligent, and physically strong. One able to laugh and dance and play BDSM games, but also one who he could sit and talk to when the time for games was over. No other women made his dick as hard as she did and she hadn’t even seen or touched him yet. She didn’t know his secret. He wondered what she’d think of it when she found out.

  He’d also spent a lot of time trying to find the right words to convince her to come back to the cabin with them tonight, not just for a BDSM scene, but also for real sex. He wanted so much to hold her in his arms and demonstrate that he’d look after her always.

  Finally at eleven thirty he couldn’t wait any longer. People tended to start leaving around midnight and he couldn’t risk anyone else inviting her to leave with them. He nodded to Jarrah and they hurried across the dance floor to stand one on either side of her before anyone else could approach her.

  “Please come home with us now. Back to our cabin. We’ll do as little, or as much, as you want.” He deliberately deepened his voice on the “as much” hoping to arouse her, but not wanting to push her too hard at this stage.

  “I want to ask you some questions. We can pick up some coffee and go to your cabin if you like—that will be a nice private place to talk—but only if you both acknowledge that at this point of time I’ve only agreed to talk. There are things I need to know about you both.”

  Jarrah instantly replied, “I agree.”

  “I do, too,” added Keir. But what does she want to know? I’ve kept no information hidden from her.

  He escorted her to the door of the ballroom and she was already at the coffee shop standing in line when he and Jarrah were scanned out of the party. She ordered her coffee and Keir ordered for him and Jarrah, while Jarrah crossed to one of the other stores and picked up a couple of bags of munchies for them.

  “So what do you want to know?” asked Jarrah as soon as they left the building.

  “Let’s wait until we’re sitting down,” she replied.

  That answer intrigued Keir. Was she afraid someone would overhear their conversation? Was she worried they might be shocked at her questions? Or did she just want to be able to watch their body language as they answered, not have it disguised by darkness and them walking along the path? Well, he’d find out soon enough.

  A few minutes later they were sitting around the tiny table in his cabin. There were only two chairs, but Jarrah had dragged his suitcase across to the table and tipped it on end, which made it about the same height as the chairs. That was a good solution. They could have moved the table over to the bed, but that might not have pleased Jill. This solution was neat and comparatively non-threatening.

  “I’m ready. Ask your first question,” Keir told her, resting his gaze on her lovely face. She’d taken her hat off and shaken her hair so that it tumbled i
n waves across her shoulders. Her eyes looked very dark, but not worried, just thoughtful.

  She turned and looked fully at Jarrah. “When did you meet and how long have you been in a Dom/sub relationship.”

  “At birth, and two years.”

  “Would you care to unpack that a tad?”

  “I’m two days younger than Keir. Our mothers were in the maternity ward of the local hospital together and became good friends. At that time my parents lived in town and Keir’s family lived out on the pack lands. We attended the same schools and then I went to college. After college I decided to work for the pack instead of working in town. More and more I wanted the freedom of living with the pack instead of always having to be cautious, never betraying my shape-shifter heritage while living among humans. Once I was working for the pack it seemed crazy to live in town and commute so I moved out onto the pack lands. Eventually Keir and I became Dom and sub. That was about two years ago.”

  Jill nodded at Jarrah and focused her gaze on him. He breathed steadily though his nose and waited for her next question. Jarrah had told the absolute truth. It was only fair she know about them from before they met her.

  “Have you ever had sex together?”

  “If you mean have we fucked each other or jacked each other off, the answer is no. We’ve never even kissed. We aren’t bisexual, we’re straight. If you mean have we shared a woman, yes, but not recently. Some of the men from our pack developed the habit of going into town to the brothel every Friday night. Once, almost two years ago, Jarrah and I joined them. We hired the same woman and fucked her together. Double penetration. That clearly demonstrated what we need to do for our own woman. It’s what we really want to do with you. It unites us together, makes us a family, a triad, a unit. It’s the best way we can show you how you belong to us both.