Every Night Forever Read online

  She shifted slightly as he stared silently at her. She would have given anything to know what he was thinking at that moment. She caught the scent of his arousal just moments before he stood up and tossed the booklet aside. In two steps he was in front of her, pushing her knees apart and standing between them.

  His nose dropped to the crux of her neck, where he inhaled deeply, sending shivers cascading over her skin. “You smell like trouble, Lys,” he growled, his hands grasping her thighs and pulling her forward until her core rubbed against his erection through his pants.

  “We have time to play, Cai.” She lifted his shirt and slid her hands up his stomach, feeling each muscle flex as she moved higher and higher.

  He licked a slow line from her shoulder to her ear, biting gently on the lobe. “We don’t have time for me to be gentle, baby. You want me, it’s going to be hard and fast.” He jerked her legs again so she pressed into him and her breath caught in her throat.

  “I always want you,” she purred, desire streaking through her like a forest fire.

  He put her arms around his neck and she hugged her legs around his waist as he straightened with her in his arms, stepped around the ring and walked towards the back wall with her. Their mouths met as he pressed her against the wall in a dark corner, and he wrestled his pants down his thighs as she fed at his mouth. She felt his cock brush against her wet slit and she groaned, tipping her head back as he pulled her down forcefully onto his cock. He slammed into her, holding her captive against the wall as theirs bodies met again and again. She moaned and gripped his shoulders, hugging him tightly with her legs, as he pounded into her. Each thrust drove him deeper, faster into her, as heat pooled in her belly.

  “Oh, fuck, Cai,” she groaned, her fingers digging into him.

  “Mine, mine,” he chanted, his body crashing against hers as he held her pinned to the wall.

  She loved it. She reveled in his claiming, his passion, and the teeth he sank into her shoulder through her top. Clenching her teeth against the scream in her throat, her body clutched his as pleasure washed over her in a hot rush and he pounded into her in a frenzy. His cock spasmed inside her and she cherished that glorious moment when his cock thickened, held tightly by her pussy, and emptied deep inside.

  Panting for breath, she hugged him tightly, wanting to savor the bone-melting intensity of what they had just shared.

  She felt him pull the collar of her shirt over to expose the mark he made and he licked across it with a growling purr. “You’re going to get fucked into a coma today once Mase and Dante smell me on you.”

  She grinned. “I can take it.”

  He pressed a soft kiss to the mark and righted her clothes. “I know you can, baby. You were made for us.”

  The beeping sound of the front door alarm alerted them that someone had just walked in, cutting short their passion. He pulled his semi-hard cock from her dripping pussy and set her down on her feet. Her legs felt like jelly, but she braced herself on his outstretched arm for a moment until she knew she would be okay to walk. They righted their clothes quickly, and she went on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his mouth.

  Jonah, one of the retired boxers who was working with Cairo, walked up the stairs to the second floor. “Morning, C. Hey, Alyssa.”

  “Good morning, Jonah.” She smiled at Cairo as she walked back downstairs, and he winked at her as he settled back over the equipment he was putting together.

  True to his prediction, she was first cornered in the cramped supply closet by Mason and then by Dante in his office, and given two more love bites. When Cairo took her home for the day, she’d planned to cook dinner, but he surprised her by placing her on a bar stool on the island and preparing something for her.

  He popped a grill pan onto the stovetop and pulled chicken breasts from the fridge. After a quick marinade, they hit the sizzling hot pan and he turned his attention to packages of fresh veggies, adding asparagus spears and wedges of zucchini drizzled with olive oil and seasonings to the pan.

  A glass of white wine appeared in front of her and she took a sip, tracing her fingertip around the rim while she watched him work. He was such a unique man. As tough as any man she had ever known, but tender to the core. She had a feeling that he’d never been tender with anyone else but her, and she liked that.

  As he watched over the meal, they talked about the renovations to the gym and the new prospects. After they were finished eating, Cairo went to make some phone calls and she cleaned up the kitchen, making plates for Mason and Dante for when they were finished with their shifts. It all seemed very surreal to her; just weeks ago she had felt so alone, and now she had the boys watching over her, taking care of her, loving her. She’d wanted a man who would love her underneath all the tramp and glitter of her old life, and she’d found three of them. It was nothing short of a miracle.

  She was snuggled up against Cairo in the big bed when she heard Mason come home, and she snuck away and spent quiet time with him while he ate and then later with Dante. He chided her for continually staying up late to wait for him to get home, but the truth was that she couldn’t really sleep until all of them were there.

  She married Dante at the courthouse on December first. Mason and Cairo signed as witnesses, and later, Mason crafted a marriage certificate on the computer that listed them all as her husbands. It was framed in the office in the den.

  Just before Christmas, they headed down to the den for the first week of their denning-in. They quickly fell into a routine. Because he was a morning person, Cairo made breakfast every day. She made lunch and Mason handled dinner. On Tuesday, Mason went to the gym for his shift. On Thursday, Dante went for his shift so he could make the deposit and handle payroll. On Friday she went with Cairo for their morning shifts and on the way home they always stopped and picked up pizza or subs for dinner.

  She wasn’t sure at first if she would be able to handle weeks underground in the den, no matter the luxuries. But she quickly grew accustomed to it. Besides working on things for the gym from the office where Dante had set up a small desk space for her, she shared something special with each of them. With Dante, it was reading a book together and talking about it. The first book he had proposed was one she had been assigned back in high school but had only skimmed enough to pass the test, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Cairo recorded cooking shows and they watched them together, picking new dishes to try, everything from spicy jambalaya to his favorite dessert, peanut butter brownies. And Mason and his sci-fi movies kept her in stitches while he argued against the changes to the original three Star Wars films and the differences between the Batman movies. When she shared her love of beaded jewelry with them, they brought home a bead kit and she spent her free time crafting pretty bracelets.

  Her sister called after New Year’s and for the first time, Alyssa felt like Marie actually had developed some compassion. Marie had apologized for how miserable Alyssa had been with the pack, and that had surprised her, but not as much as her later confession.

  “I left my mate, Alyssa. He wasn’t as nice as I made him out to be.” There was a long pause and Alyssa felt like Marie was walking a fine line of losing it. “When we first got together in the pack in Havers, he was different. Kind, sweet. And then we moved so he could be with a bigger pack. He never did like how Martin ran things, and I can see now that he was just wearing a mask all that time. In the new pack, the women were all subjugated by the males, we were like slaves.”

  Sorrow knotted in her gut. “You could have told me, Marie. I would have come for you.”

  “Oh sweetheart, I know that. But I couldn’t tell you. He monitored all my calls and if I said anything less than stellar about him, he would beat me for it. But two months ago he raised a hand to my daughter, and then told me that as soon as she was of age he was giving her to the alpha, who is fifty-three. Can you imagine? As if I would stand for that!”

  “Are you safe, Marie? Where are you?”

  “Oh, I’m perfectly safe,
” Alyssa could hear the smile in her voice. “I’m living with my new pack in Alaska. One of the other females in the pack knew about an underground werewolf relocation group and they offered to help me get out. I renounced my membership in the pack and my mate in public and the group got me and the kids out. My new pack alpha made sure the old one knew that any threats against me or the kids would result in bloodshed. He’s really wonderful. I couldn’t be happier and the kids are thriving here. But enough about me — are you okay?”

  “I am now.” She smiled up at Dante as he met her eyes in the office. “I’ve never been happier.”

  “Love will do that to you,” Marie chuckled. “I’m so sorry, Alyssa. I know you felt abandoned by me, and I feel like the world’s worst sister.”

  “Thank you, Marie.” Happiness and sadness merged together as tears filled her eyes.

  “Would your husbands mind bringing you up here to visit?”

  “I know they won’t.”

  By the time the snow began to melt and the earth began to thaw, she was a thousand times more in love with them than she’d ever thought possible. She was as close to her three men as if they’d known each other since birth, and she had a feeling that the den was supposed to do that. Besides being in the hyenas’ nature to spend time away from the winter chill, the den provided a way for them to just be together. There was a time when she had thought the best thing was getting dressed up in tight clothes, flashing skin to attract men she really had no interest in, and waking up in strange beds. Now, she knew different.

  They visited Marie in Alaska in March, just after the spring solstice. They spent a week getting to know each other all over again, and spending time with the niece and nephew she had never met. Dante surprised her by making a large donation to the underground network through the alpha of Marie’s pack.

  “We’re not going back to work officially yet, love.” Dante ran his hand over her sweat-slicked back as she sprawled across him on the big bed upstairs once they had returned home.

  “No?” Her voice cracked and she winced at the sound. Cairo lounged next to her, his eyes half-lidded and sexy as hell.

  “Our parents are dying to meet you, remember? We’re going to spend two full weeks there,” Cairo said.

  Nerves skated through her. Meeting parents? She’d never done that! And now she would have three fathers-in-law and one mother-in-law.

  Mason chuckled and tickled her side. “They’ll love you, baby, don’t worry.”

  “Okay, I won’t worry,” she promised, knowing full well that she was going to do that very thing up until the moment she met them.

  Seeming to sense her refusal to stop worrying, they set about distracting her with their very talented tongues and fingers and oh-so-perfect cocks, until she couldn’t really think about anything except them. The sound of their shouts of pleasure. The feel of their skin under her hands. And the hope that bloomed inside her every time they made love that someday soon she would be able to present them with the news that she carried their child.

  Chapter 16

  Alyssa was more nervous than Mason had ever seen her as they sat together in the back of the Escalade that Dante had reserved for them at the private airport. She’d been nervous, really, since they reminded her of the trip last week, and her anxiety grew by leaps and bounds each day. Dante kept glancing at them in the rear view, and Cairo checked on her frequently. None of them liked her being uncomfortable and worried, but nothing they said would ease her mind.

  He knew that his mother would adore her. She’d been waiting for her sons to find their mate for years so she could have a daughter. And their dads would love her, too. Their parent’s clan was part of a larger group of clans called a baro. There were seven clans in the baro they had grown up in, including their grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. Six of their nine cousins weren’t mated, making up two incomplete clans. The baro was located in the farm town of Gorge, Tennessee. Their parent’s home sat on a few dozen acres of wooded farmland just outside town, where the homes of their extended family bordered the baro’s property. Because their family appreciated the woods more than the farming potential of the land, the property had been allowed to grow wild, and the result was a mini-forest that he couldn’t wait to take Alyssa exploring in. There was even a small lake on the property, just perfect for skinny-dipping and other fun, naked activities.

  The truck pulled smoothly into the winding drive of their parent’s home, and she squeezed his hand reflexively. Chuckling, he pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “They’re gonna love you, baby, I swear.”

  “Not as much as your husbands, of course,” Dante looked over his shoulder with a roguish grin and she breathed out a laugh.

  Their childhood home was a craftsman’s dream, built from the ground up by their three fathers as a gift to their mother before they mated. Every inch of it was built with careful attention, from the beautiful hardwood floors to the intricate handrail of the spiral staircase. While he and his brothers had never much cared for building things by hand, their fathers were all accomplished woodworkers. They’d run a building company before they retired and passed the company on to their mated nephews, who loved building. Now, their dads worked as contractors for the company they had built, for special projects. They also designed homes by request.

  Dante took Alyssa’s hand and helped her from the SUV. He and Cairo exited the vehicle and they moved together towards the open front door, where the soft sounds of laughter and talking were heard from inside.

  “Ma?” Dante called as they stepped into the foyer and the scent of fresh bread filled their noses. Home, Mason thought with a smile. This is what home smells like.

  Chairs scraped against the floor and their mother’s voice called, “Boys? Come in!”

  Their mother and fathers were standing in the large, open kitchen, expectant smiles on their faces.

  “Mom and Dads,” Dante said with a smile in his voice. “This is Alyssa, our mate. Lys, these are our parents. Stella, Markus, Anthony, and Colin.”

  There was a long moment where no one moved or said anything, and then their mom smiled and crossed the kitchen and hugged Alyssa. She was just barely taller than her, a full-figured woman whose heart was as big as the Blue Ridge Mountains. Cupping Alyssa’s face with her hands, she smiled and a tear escaped down her cheek. “You’re just as beautiful as my boys said you were, honey. Welcome to the family.”

  As their fathers joined them and their mother kissed and hugged all of them, Mason noticed that while Alyssa hadn’t given up her death-grip on Dante’s hand, she did seem to lose some of her nervousness. The smile he loved appeared on her face and the worry she’d harbored eased away gradually. They sat down at the table across from their parents, their eldest father, Markus, at the head as always and their mom on his left.

  The table had been set for lunch, and they ate and talked about the renovations and changes to the gym, the new members and staff, and their plans for the summer. Alyssa participated in the conversation, but she was quieter than usual, and he could see that his mother was worried about her.

  Dante and Cairo took her upstairs with their bags after lunch and Mason helped his mom clear the table.

  “She’s wonderful, honey.” She smiled at him as he handed her a stack of plates. “She seems terribly nervous. Is she okay?”

  He leaned his hip against the counter. “The first thing she said to us about meeting you, last fall when we first were together with her, was that she was worried that you wouldn’t like her because she’s not a hyena. But I think it goes deeper than that. I think her self-esteem is just so fragile that even though she knows we love her, she worries about being accepted.”

  “Your cousins’ mate Kelli is rogue wolf. I’m sure she and Alyssa will be good friends when they get to know each other. Even though a mate is accepted by her family, son, it doesn’t mean that they suddenly feel like they belong. She most likely just needs time to find herself.”

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nbsp; “Thanks, Mom.” He kissed her cheek and smiled as she shooed him out of the kitchen.

  As he made his way upstairs and down the long hallway, he heard voices coming from Dante’s old bedroom. Inside, he found Alyssa, Dante, and Cairo, appearing to be in the middle of an argument.

  “What’s up?” he asked, flopping down on the big bed.

  “Lys said she wouldn’t make love to us because the bed creaks.” Cairo rolled his eyes, but there was nothing but affection in his words.

  Her cheeks pinked but she said nothing.

  “So?” He smoothed his hand across the quilt that his grandmother Irene had made.

  Dante looked at him in confusion. “What do you mean, ‘so’? Do you want to be celibate for the next two weeks?”

  He looked at his brothers and saw that they were actually a little worried that she was going to keep her legs closed for the whole trip. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. Not by a long shot.