Laurann Dohner: Something Wicked This Way Comes, Volume 2

He grinned and shook his head. “You’d better get used to Nate and me taking care of you. Give me a minute to pull on some jeans and I’ll run and grab your stuff. We probably need to get a move on since we need to meet with Lieutenant Lopez in a few hours.”

After Daniel had gone, Nate shrugged into his own jeans as Livvy looked around the room. “Do you like it?”

“The room? Yes, it’s beautiful, but somehow I can’t imagine you guys liking the whole girly motif.” She smiled shyly as she took in the hand-carved four-poster bed with its pale-yellow spread. A matching vanity dresser sat in one corner and an old-fashioned wardrobe rested along one wall. Along with the antiques were modern touches that included a large flat-screen television hanging on one wall.

Nathan laughed. “It’s not our room, honey, it’s yours. In case you haven’t noticed, Daniel and I aren’t a couple. We’re like brothers. Best friends. Comrades and partners in the search for our mate. Looks to me like we finally got lucky.”

Livvy reddened again and shook her head, laughing a little. “I have so much to learn about you guys.”

“We aren’t going anywhere. We have plenty of time.”

“Well, if this is my room, where do you sleep?”

Nate lifted a brow and grinned. “Hopefully with you but we both have our own rooms right across the hall. We’ll give you a tour of everything whenever you want. Mainly we just want you to be happy here.”

Livvy stood and tugged the towel tighter over her breasts as she walked around the room, finally stopping at the vanity dresser with its adjustable mirrors. Smiling, she picked up a delicate crystal perfume bottle. “It’s beautiful. Is this for me?”

Nate sprawled on the unmade bed and crossed his feet at the ankles, wallowing in the sight of her admiring the things they’d bought over the years. “Yep. Still remember the day Daniel and I bought that. It was at the turn of the century, nineteen of two, I think, and we were traveling in San Francisco.”

He shrugged. “We weren’t having any luck finding a mate in Texas so in an act of frustration, we headed to the West Coast. Just to explore, really. One day we walked into a store and thought…I don’t know, maybe our future mate would fill it with something that smelled pretty. We figured maybe she’d like something like that. Matter of fact, we furnished almost this entire room with things we found in our travels.”

She turned, a look of wonder on her face. “Even then you were picking out things?”

Nate nodded, remembering the exuberance of their youth and how they’d longed to find the one woman who would belong to them.

Women of their species were lucky. Once they went into heat, around the age of thirty, they mated. They didn’t suffer the years of loneliness—sometimes hundreds— experienced by many males.

Realizing again how very lucky he and Daniel were, Nate smiled. “How could we not, honey? We were just a couple of young cubs. Impatient. We’ve been waiting for a very long time. Looking. Scenting the air. One day we’ll tell you all about our travels and how damn hard we searched for you.”

Livvy looked again at the crystal bottle, tracing it with the tip of her finger, and when she glanced back at him, Nate’s breath hitched. Her gaze had gone all soft. Tears filled her eyes, making them shine in the sunlight.

“I love the bottle, Nathan. I love it very much.”

A little over a week later, as the hot afternoon sun beat down upon her and her guest, Olivia reached into an ice bucket in the center of the patio table and grabbed a chilled bottle of white wine. Topping off Violet’s glass and then her own, she replaced the bottle in its bed of ice, marveling at how relaxing the past few hours had been.

“Good thing jag shifters can’t get drunk, huh?” Livvy smiled at Violet Littlehawk–O’Malley, who aside from Livvy’s mom was the only other shifter female she’d ever met. “Don’t know what the guys would think if they came home from work and I was sloshed. Not the best way to start things off with them, huh?”

Violet, a beautiful brunette, grinned and lifted her glass. “Oh honey, I doubt they’d mind all that much, but tipsy is good and I’m definitely that .” Noah Littlehawk and Aaron O’Malley’s mate had arrived earlier, bearing gifts of home-baked goodies and several nice bottles of wine. “I can’t tell you how great it is to finally have another woman in the area. With all these alpha-type jags around, we’re definitely outnumbered.”

“But the question is, would you want it any other way?”

Violet laughed. “Hell no. I love things just the way they are.” The smile faded from her face as she leaned back in her chair. “Any word from the police about the man who grabbed you?”

“Yes, they arrested him, and it didn’t take them long either. Lieutenant Lopez got in touch yesterday and said he’d been arrested in the Dallas area. As Lopez suspected, he was mostly just a scared kid. From what he told Nate and Daniel, the guy confessed. In the beginning, he just wanted to jack my car but the dumb punk took me when I got a good look at his face.”

Violet shivered. “Scary shit.”

“Thank the gods Daniel and Nate found me when they did.”

“Providence. Meant to be.” Violet reached across the table and took her hand. Instant kinship wrapped around Olivia, soothing and peaceful. Having a friend was such a good thing. Especially now. “Are you okay? I know full change hasn’t happened yet, just the beginnings of it, but I wondered if you had questions.”

Livvy sighed. “So many. Mom was great about preparing me for the physical aspect of what I’ll be going through but I’m still a little confused about the emotional stuff.”

“Oh sweetie, I understand. Noah and Aaron were strangers to me too. I was so afraid and alone when the heat came over me. There was nothing to do but take a deep breath and accept what was coming. Unstoppable.”

Livvy thought back to the fast and furious matings between the three of them. Pleasure whipped unexpectedly through her veins, practically stealing her breath. Powerful. Intense. And it was only the beginning.

Since the morning after her arrival, they’d left her in her room at night, undemanding and patient, saying only that she should rest. Despite that, she knew they wanted her, hungered for her. As the days moved by they returned to work but the rest of their time was spent filling her in on their lives, their thoughts and worries. They included her in their plans for the future with an ease that was astonishing. She’d learned Nathan had a wicked, outrageous sense of humor and sometimes Daniel tended to brood. No, they weren’t perfect, but then neither was she.

“I can’t help but be a little afraid,” she finally said. Her gaze connected with Violet’s and she saw understanding there. “The little bit of sexual hunger that I’ve experienced with them up until now has been so powerful. I can’t imagine more.”

“You have to trust them to see you through this, Livvy.”

She shrugged. “I do trust them. Already I feel bound to them. We’re connected in a way I can’t begin to understand. It’s so weird how it happens.”

“Tell me about it. We’re raised knowing that it’s a mystical union but until it happens, we have no real understanding. Finally we accept, thankful that we’ve found our mates. We live, we love. That’s good enough for me. You’ll make it through your first shift just fine. I know it. Daniel and Nate are good men. I’ve known them for several years and know how they’ve longed to find you. They’ll treat you as the treasure you are.”

Dusk had fallen by the time Violet finally headed for home. Despite several glasses of wine, Olivia wasn’t as relaxed as she’d been earlier. A fine trembling set up in her limbs and a rush of adrenaline whipped through her bloodstream, alerting her to sudden changes in her body. Dizzy, she leaned against the wide front door and closed her eyes.