Shay's Shifters [Mountain Men of Montana 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 8

  “That’s for her to decide,” ground out Walker. “You know that’s our way. You can’t tell me to leave. Not now. Not ever, if that’s what she wants.”

  Rosh rose to squat on the narrow ledge. “I brought her here, and that makes her my responsibility. That makes me the first one she’ll choose. Then Renkon. If she wants another, then she can make that decision after she answers us.”

  “Fine with me because I know she’ll choose me, too.” Walker closed his eyes a moment as though trying to regroup before opening them again. “Come on, man. Give it a rest between us.”

  “Hey, hold up.” She pressed her palms against their hard chests. “I don’t have a clue what you’re going on about. Choose who? For what? For sex? Because if that’s it, then, yeah, I’m the one who says who I want and don’t want. Or even if I want.”

  Yeah, right. Like I’m going to turn them away.

  “If you three don’t want to play nice, then you’ll have to learn what any kindergartener knows. You’ll have to learn to take turns and share.”

  She dragged in a breath. Had she just promised to have sex with them? Separate or together? When had she become so promiscuous? Yet they made the decision easy. She took a good look at each of them in turn. Other than Rosh having a problem with Walker, they seemed to like the idea.

  Hell, yeah, I’ll have them. I’d be crazy not to. But only on my terms.

  She tried to focus. How had they gotten off track again? She needed answers, and she needed a guide to take her home. “Look, guys. We’re going to have to shelve this discussion for later. Rosh, I understand that you thought you were saving me and everything, and truthfully, this whole adventure has been really fun. Aside from the whole throwing-me-over-the-cliff thing. But let’s get down to business. Which one of you is going to take me back to Montana?”

  Renkon shook his head. “Shay, babe, you’re still in Montana. We’re not even that far from where you met Rosh.”

  “Like hell I am. It’s winter and cold and snowy in Montana and—”

  A growl filtered through the wall of water. More growls echoed the first.

  Rosh clamped a hand over her mouth as Walker and Renkon twisted toward the pond beyond. She squinted and took Rosh’s hand away, nodding that she’d stay quiet.

  Another growl rent the air.

  Renkon dove under, lengthening his form as he kicked his feet and tunneled his fingers through the water. Rosh tensed then nodded at Walker as though acknowledging a silent message before diving after his cousin.

  Walker took her hand and held it firmly. “Listen to me. You have to do exactly what I tell you to do.”

  The intensity in his eyes kept her silent as tension crawled into her neck. She inclined her head and waited for him to go on.

  “There are things out there, like the one you saw on the road. They’re dangerous, vicious, and willing to do almost anything to find a human woman to take as their own.”

  “A human woman?” As opposed to what? An inhuman one?

  “I can’t explain it right now. There’s no time.”

  A series of growls erupted, sounding as though they were all around them. She narrowed her eyes, trying to see past the waterfall. “What are they?”

  “Again. Later.” He took her face in his hands and made her look at him. “Stay close to me. No matter what happens, no matter what you see, do not leave my side. And above all else, don’t get out of the water until at least one of us or our friends comes for you.”

  “I don’t understand. If these things are that dangerous, why doesn’t someone call the police?”

  “We handle our own problems here.” He tried to hide the wince he made as yet another series of growls came. “Tell me you understand.”

  “I understand. I need to stick next to you and stay wet. Got it.”

  “Good. Follow me.” He took her hand again and eased into the water. He helped her down, and she paddled her feet and held on to his shoulder. “Don’t be afraid. We won’t let them take you.”

  Take me? Oh, my God.

  He winked at her then kissed her cheek, an obvious attempt to ease her fear. Then, with a solemn expression, he sank beneath the surface. She took a deep breath and slipped under to find him waiting for her. Pivoting toward the falls, he led her under the pounding water and into the pond.

  Chapter Five

  Shay shook her head then ran her fingers through her hair to get it out of her face. She wiped the dripping water away from her eyes then gaped at the shore, not believing what she saw.

  Two large, black wolves paced the ground where the men’s clothing lay. Their amber eyes flamed with challenge as they pulled their lips back into snarls, exposing sharp fangs. Closer to the tree line, six black forms bent over, their long arms grazing the leaves like great apes. Their skeletal bodies appeared almost human, yet each sported a straight, furless tail.

  But it was their faces that fired panic in her heart. Reminding her of the popular drawings of aliens, they were oval-shaped with two holes bored into the flesh serving as nostrils. They had no hair and no fur. Pointed ears stuck out from their heads while red, soulless eyes glittered with evil ferocity, completing their otherworldly appearance. She lowered her gaze from those awful eyes and wished she hadn’t. Each of them sported a huge, thick black cock.

  One larger monster stood apart from the others. He appeared to be directing his friends with short barks of a language she couldn’t understand. His slitted eyes locked on to hers, and she shivered. “Is that their leader?”

  “Yeah. He’s called Burac. He’s smarter, faster, meaner than the others, and he’s the only one who can speak any English. They have their own language, but we’ve yet to learn it.”

  She had to break eye contact with Burac. He had a terrifying allure about him, a siren’s call that, if she wasn’t careful, could take her over with its cold, dark spell. She forced her eyes closed and turned her head away from him then opened them to focus on Walker.

  “His eyes. It’s like he can see into my soul and yank it out.”

  Walker, treading water beside her, pulled her closer when she let out a small cry of dismay. “It’s okay, I’m here. But try not to look at him. He has power and won’t hesitate to use it.”

  “Why aren’t they coming for us? They outnumber us.”

  “They hate water and won’t risk getting wet. Not even Burac. You’re safe here. Try to swim in the middle for as long as you can, but if we have to, you can stand in the shallow part.”

  “Can’t we go back behind the waterfall?”

  “No. We need to stay out in the open and keep them exposed, too. They could sneak up on us if we’re on the ledge.”

  “But where are Renkon and Rosh? Did they go for help? Those things didn’t get them, did they?” She didn’t know them well, and yet she knew that they would never have deserted her.

  But she didn’t see their bodies. Had the creatures dragged them away? An ache was like a splinter in her heart. Could she have lost them?

  “No, they’re fine.”

  “Then where are they? I know they wouldn’t run off and leave us. “And where did the wolves come from?”

  Walker brought her legs around his waist, giving her time to rest. She clung to his neck as the creatures skittered back and forth in front of the wolves. “Rosh hasn’t told you yet.”

  “He hasn’t told me what?” Her heart leapt to her throat as one of the beasts jumped at the larger wolf. The wolf caught it in midair and, with a great shake of his head, tossed it back at the others. Its scream made her skin crawl.

  “We have so much to explain to you.”

  “Just tell me where they are. Those…things…didn’t get them, did they?”

  “Shay, the wolves? That’s Rosh and Renkon.”

  Rosh and Renkon are the wolves? “That’s insane. How can that be?”

  “Baby, they’re werewolves.”

  At that moment, the largest wolf twisted around to look at her. His blazing eyes b
ored into her, but for a moment, she thought she saw a plea for understanding in them. “Werewolves? Like in the movies? That’s ridiculous. Werewolves aren’t real.” Yet how else could she explain what she was seeing?

  “Are those other things real?”

  She studied the creatures stalking in front of the wolves. Could they be a species of animal that no one knew existed? Even if that were true, she could see that they possessed cunning and intelligence. They were monsters, and they were real. And if they were real, why couldn’t werewolves be real?

  The wolves were extraordinarily large with eyes unlike any other wolf’s. They moved with deliberate steps, each never going too far from the other. Yet it was that pleading look that convinced her.

  “Where am I? What is this place?” she whispered, awed by the realization that the world around her was not the same world she’d grown up in.

  Before Walker could answer, howls and snarls bellowed, raising a horrible din. Three wolves, a buck, two brown bears, and a coyote emerged from the forest, jumping on top of the terrible creatures. The wolves—Rosh and Renkon!—joined in the battle that didn’t last long. As soon as they could break free, the things rushed into the woods and disappeared. A few of the other animals followed, but most chased them only as far as the tree line.

  Rosh and Renkon skirted the group and faced her. Shaking their heads, they began to change.

  “Watch, Shay. But remember. They’re still the same men underneath their fur.”

  As the rest of the animals drifted back into the darkness, the two wolves’ bodies blurred. Cracking sounds coincided with the emergence of human limbs, and smooth human skin flowed over their bodies to replace the black fur. They put their backs to her as they twisted their bodies and the transformation continued. Pointed ears disappeared as rounded human ones replaced them. She wondered what their faces would look like as they regained their masculine shape, but they kept them averted.

  She squinted, trying to see better, thinking that if she could make her brain believe what her eyes told her, she’d understand. Walker turned her loose then took her hand, and together, they swam toward the shore.

  “You have nothing to fear from them. They’d die before they ever let any harm come to you. And I’d do the same.”

  She stood in shallow water, her pulse pounding a quick rhythm in her ears. Since awakening from her crash, the world hadn’t been the same, but she hadn’t thought it had changed that much. She’d come to a primitive yet amazing place. A place that she’d come to think of as odd but not entirely different from the rest of the world. But she’d gotten it wrong. The men she’d met, the men she was attracted to in every sense of the word, were the stuff fairy tales and monster movies were made of. Rosh and Renkon were werewolves.

  Although she let Walker lead her closer to the shore, she wouldn’t come out of the water. Walker didn’t force her to follow him as he came to stand beside the other two men.

  “Am I hallucinating? Or did I die in the crash and end up in another world? Maybe I’m in a coma and freaking out.”

  Rosh started to enter the water, but she shook her head and backed up. “It’s okay, Shay. We’d never hurt you. Not as men and not as wolves.”

  “This is crazy. It’s the gash on my head. It’s making me see and hear strange things.”

  “What gash, Shay?”

  She touched her forehead, only now remembering that the gash had healed quicker than she’d have thought possible. “I’m imagining that, too. That’s got to be it. Those creatures and werewolves don’t exist.”

  Renkon joined his cousin. “We’re as real as you are. You’ll realize that lots of things are real once you open your mind as well as your eyes. Just because you didn’t know it before doesn’t make them any less real.”

  She searched Walker. “Are you a werewolf, too?”

  Walker held out his hand. “Trust us, baby. Come back with us and we’ll explain everything.”

  Rosh twisted around to glare at him. “This isn’t the way she was supposed to find out.”

  “But it’s the way she did. You should’ve told her from the beginning. If you had, maybe she wouldn’t have run off and almost gotten abducted by Burac and his kind.”

  Almost at once, Rosh lost his animosity. “You’re right. And I’m glad you were here to help her.”

  Walker appeared surprised at Rosh’s sudden shift in attitude. “You’re the ones who fought them off.”

  “We want the same thing. For her to stay safe and be happy.”

  Walker nodded. “We do. That’s all I’m asking for.”

  The two men regarded each other for a moment as though an unspoken truce had been reached. They shifted their attention back to her.

  Her head spun with questions even as she tried to think clearly. If what she was seeing was true, didn’t she want to know the how and why of it? But if she was imagining everything, why not continue the dream until she could wake up? In either case, her curiosity got the better of her. What other amazing sights would she see? Besides, she couldn’t stay waist deep in water until she either woke up or figured out that another magical world existed. What if Burac and the others came back? Real or not, she didn’t want to risk that.

  “Shay, are you coming with us?”

  She’d almost responded to Renkon’s question when the idea hit her. “Why can’t you take me back to my car? Unless I dreamed the accident, too.”

  “We can’t. It’s one of the rules of The Hidden.” Rosh spread his arms wide, indicating the world around them. “Those who can come and go can only do so at specific times. Until then, you have to stay.”

  “That’s what you call this world? The Hidden?”

  “That’s right, and the world you know is what we call The Outside. Those things are called The Cursed.”

  “So it’s not that you won’t show me the way out. It’s that you can’t. How convenient.” She wanted to take back the words when she saw the hurt on their faces. Instead, she held her head high and walked toward the shore.

  “Then you’re coming back with us?”

  The hope, the excitement in Renkon’s tone was unmistakable.

  “For now. But I want to know everything. Don’t you dare leave any detail out. Now put on your clothes and let’s get going.” She pushed them away from her as they tried to take her arms, her hands. Gathering her nerve, she marched into the forest and prayed that no monsters waited in the underbrush.

  * * * *

  The four of them remained quiet as they hurried back to the camp. Renkon didn’t know what his cousin or Walker intended to say, but he was ready to tell her everything if for no other reason than to keep her safe. Maybe if she’d known about The Cursed, she wouldn’t have gone into the forest, especially at night. And now that she’d seen them in their wolf forms, what else was there to keep from her?

  He cringed inwardly as the answer came. She still didn’t realize that they wanted her as their mate. Whether that meant Rosh and he would share her, or if she’d want Walker in the relationship didn’t matter to him. As long as he had her, he’d accept anything she wanted.

  He glanced at the other two men who flanked her as he brought up the rear. He loved his cousin, and he liked Walker well enough. But could they get along? They often got on each other’s nerves, but when things had gotten serious with The Cursed’s attempt to take Shay, they’d come together. Had they come to an agreement afterward? Could she be the glue that would bind them together?

  He lowered his gaze and smiled. Her round bottom was what most men would call a big booty, but it was perfect for him. Society outside The Hidden would never have called her beautiful. She wasn’t skinny, blonde, or tall. But he loved the shape of her body. She had curves and valleys that he wanted to explore for the rest of his life. He was glad that werewolves lived longer than humans, and if she agreed to the change, she’d live as long as they did.

  He wouldn’t have believed that he could fall for someone so fast, but he had. At f
irst, he’d thought Rosh had made a huge mistake in bringing her into The Hidden. Then to state that they both wanted her for their mate? He’d understood that Rosh had said so to keep The Council from sending her back, but at the time, he’d thought Rosh insane for sticking his neck out for a stranger. Yet when he’d entered their hut and seen her, he’d quickly understood. No one, especially not his cousin and him, would want to see her harmed.

  At first, he’d still tried to deny it, to chalk his feelings up to simple sexual attraction, but the longer he gazed on her beautiful face, so pale while she was recuperating, the more he grew to want to know her, to wonder what her laugh would sound like, to yearn to touch her.

  Soon, he’d have to tell her how he felt. He’d taken his time while Rosh and then Walker enjoyed her, but that was his way. Where his cousin was brash and ready to leap into action, he was careful, considering his moves before doing anything.

  Taking care of her had opened a warm place in his heart that he hadn’t known existed. The way she’d moaned while tossing in her sleep, seeing her smooth forehead marred with lines as she dreamed had made him want to soothe and comfort her. And when she’d opened her eyes and yet hadn’t really seen him, it didn’t matter. He’d gazed deeply into hers and had known, right then and there, that he’d do anything to keep her safe.

  At first reticent about helping to care for her, he’d soon found himself spending more and more time in the hut. He and his cousin had talked of taking turns watching her, but soon that idea vanished and they’d both found themselves taking care. He could still remember the way her pink lips parted when he’d lifted her head and urged her to drink. He could still see the rise and fall of her chest that made his cock harden while his heart softened.

  He’d found his cousin and had questioned him at length about her. The way Rosh spoke of her, how she’d tried to protect what she’d thought was a helpless fawn, told him of her compassion. But she had courage, too. Not only was she willing to fight the wolf about to attack the fawn, she was brave—albeit foolish—enough to try to run off on her own. He’d always hoped that his mate would have both empathy and courage.