Soon, she was crying out in short, punctuated moans. Recognizing that she was enjoying herself, Alder began thrusting harder. He reveled in the feel of his sensitive cockhead slamming against the back of her tight passage as each thrust brought him closer and closer to release.

  Ecstasy soon gave way to frustration as his climax eluded him. Pressure built in his lower back, but thrusting did nothing to alleviate it. Even worse, he could feel more blood rushing to his cock, causing it to swell larger and become more sensitive. Thrusting became uncomfortable and then almost unbearable, but he couldn’t stop. He needed to come, more than he needed his next breath.

  Just when Alder thought he couldn’t take any more, he felt something within him snap. He thrust again, howling as his seed surged up and gushed into his mate’s womb.

  Alder collapsed on top of her, his body quivering with aftershocks long after he’d emptied himself.

  This was mating, he remembered. This was what it meant to claim a mate. The thought repeated itself over in his muddled mind until he perceived Hale’s approach. He knew that in his current state, he would have a difficult time contesting his brother, though his instincts urged him to do so anyway.

  In the end, Alder rolled off of her, forcing himself to temporarily relinquish his mate. Hale took her from behind as well, a look of astonishment overtaking his face as he pushed inside her. Alder knew it was only a matter of time before his brother would experience the same torment he had, and, unlike Alder, Hale was in no way prepared for what was to come.

  Alder took a perverse pleasure in watching Hale’s face slowly contort into a grimace, and then, pure agony. As Hale began thrusting harder in search of reprieve, Alder turned his attention to Taylor. Now lucid enough to worry about her comfort, he was pleased to see that she seemed to be enjoying it.

  He knew that his coherence was fleeting. Soon, perhaps even before Hale was finished, he would be hard and ready to mate again. The cycle would repeat itself for days, until her scent normalized.

  Alder hoped that when Hale was done, he would at least have the good sense to bring her over to the furs where she would be more comfortable. It was going to be a long night.

  ***

  Taylor woke to Alder climbing on top of her…or was it Hale?

  Sometime between when she had fallen asleep and now, the fire had gone out, plunging the room in darkness. She tried to take stock of her situation, but her brain felt like a bag of marbles that had been dropped on the floor. Memories scattered in every direction, rolling out to the obscure recesses of her mind.

  She felt soft fur against her cheek and knew that she must have been lying on the pallet. Her body was jostled as strong hands maneuvered her hips, causing the fur to tease at her nipples. Despite a dull ache between her thighs, she realized that she was deeply aroused.

  Her torso was angled to the side as a mouth latched on to one of her nipples. Her hands sought out her mate, and she ran her fingers through his thick hair. Behind her, a hard rod of flesh pressed against her entrance.

  Both of them. It was both of them.

  She didn’t know which was who, but as a hot tongue swirled around her nipple and a stiff member pushed inside of her, she didn’t care.

  The male at her breast reached down to gently stroke her clit with two fingers. As she was already being thrust into from behind, the soft touch was enough to send her sailing towards orgasm.

  Her body convulsed as she came, powerful sensations rippling, invigorating her tired body. The male behind her soon followed, snarling as he took his release inside her.

  She caught one of the marbles.

  Hale. He snarls when he comes.

  In fact, he’d been snarling all night. She remembered the first time Hale had climaxed, when Alder had tried to take her back. Hale had made a sound to rival that of a feral beast and she had been sure that they would fight. Rather than being afraid, the thought of them fighting over her had been…exhilarating.

  When Hale stopped shuddering, Alder released her breast. None too gently, he pushed his brother from atop her. She gasped as Hale’s softening penis slipped from her, only to moan a second later when it was immediately replaced by Alder’s fully erect one.

  As Alder began to thrust into her, Taylor’s hand sought out Hale’s in the darkness. He found hers first and he laced their fingers together.

  She caught another one of the marbles.

  Her reason for agreeing to this.

  It should have been that she wanted to be a mother, or even that she wanted to make Alder happy.

  Maybe those things had factored into her decision, but in the end, there was only one, true reason. Hale had told her early on that once she was pregnant, he’d no longer have any interest in her, and she needed him to lose interest. If he kept inserting himself into her life, if he kept smiling at her, kissing her, and holding her in his arms, she was going to fall deeply and horribly in love with him. More in love with him than she already was.

  So she was going to be with Alder, have a family with him, and move on with her life. Hale would lose interest in her, and eventually, she would lose interest in him, too.

  It was selfish of her. So fucking selfish. But she could hate herself later.

  Right now, all that existed in the darkness was sensation. She let go of the marble and allowed herself to slip back into the merciful delirium of the mating thrall.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Hale sat at the water’s edge, watching as Alder bathed Taylor in the pool. She had only just awoken and her head lolled from side to side, her heavy-lidded eyes unfocused. Holding her neck, Alder adjusted her head to rest on his shoulder before resuming their bath.

  She was in dire need of washing up. Although the water had been close by, neither male had had any interest in expending energy on anything that didn’t involve mating. The first couple nights, they hadn’t even been able to summon the energy to hunt and had eaten some of the food they’d brought for Taylor.

  The food had run out quickly and he had memories of hunting, but they were vague, as if he’d dreamed them.

  Once they were out of the water, Alder dried her off with a soft pelt and then wrapped her in a bearskin. Alder cradled her in his arms for a moment, gazing down at her with a profound affection.

  Hale sat up, feeling unsettled as Alder carried her over to the pallet and settled her in Hale’s arms.

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Keep her warm.”

  It was only then that Hale realized how cold it was in the cave. How many nights had they been gone? He couldn’t even begin to fathom.

  Taylor didn’t protest his hold, and in fact, seemed content to rest her head against his chest. The fire had nearly burned out, but it gave off enough light for him to make out the peaceful expression on her face.

  Without opening her eyes, she asked, “Is there any food left?”

  “I think Alder is going to get some meat,” he said, glancing up towards the doorway. His brother was already gone.

  Her nose crinkled. “Gross.”

  “You liked it well enough the past few days,” he told her.

  Although his memories of hunting were hazy, his mind had always seemed to clear once he was back in the cave with her. It was as if he left a part of himself behind each time he left her, and he was only whole when they were together again.

  Taylor’s eyes flew open. “I ate meat?”

  Once her food had run out, neither he nor Alder had been interested in foraging for more. Fortunately, it had not taken much convincing to get Taylor to share their kills. Hale distinctly remembered hand-feeding her venison. She had licked his fingers clean and it had aroused him beyond measure.

  “It was mostly cooked meat,” he said in an attempt to calm her.

  Her jaw dropped. “I ate raw meat?”

  Hale grinned and gently flicked her forehead. “You better get used to eating meat. You can’t be eating plants while you’re carrying my pup.”

  She sat up, her expression immediately sobering. “You mean, Alder’s pup?”

  He didn’t answer.

  Taylor freed one of her hands from the pelt and rested it on Hale’s thigh. “You don’t have to feel responsible for me. You’ve been honest about where you stood from the beginning, and I’ve accepted it.”

  She was giving him an out, he realized. The mating thrall was over. His instincts would no longer be urging him to claim her. Aside from the pup she would carry, which could just as easily be Alder’s, there was nothing tying Hale to her.

  “Is that what you want?” he asked. “You want to be done with me?”

  Taylor shifted uncomfortably in his lap. “It’s for the best.”

  He gripped her chin too tightly and forced her to meet his gaze. “That’s not an answer. Do you want to be with me, or don’t you?”

  As they faced off, Hale found himself wishing he could channel Alder’s composure. As he struggled not to betray his feelings, the muscles of his face refused to stop twitching.

  Moisture pooled in her eyes, but she didn’t blink. “Let go of me. Please.”

  Hale didn’t release her until he heard his brother’s footsteps in the passageway. Alder entered the room, smiling and completely oblivious to the tension.

  “There’s nothing around for miles,” he announced. “The animals must have caught wind of us. We should be heading back to the den anyway.”

  Alder bent down to scoop Taylor up in his arms. He went to kiss her but stopped short, concern flashing over his face.

  “You’re pale,” he said, placing the back of his hand on her forehead. “If you’re hungry, we can wait. Between Hale and I, we’re bound to find something you can eat.”

  Taylor shook her head before burying it into the crook of Alder’s neck. “No, let’s go. I’m fine. Honestly.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Alder carried Taylor on his back all the way to the cabin. The ride back was much longer than she remembered it being, though she could attribute that to time being relative. She was exhausted, cold, and sore in every place imaginable.

  Hale came with them, though he kept his distance. Only the occasional glimpse of white fur moving through the trees told her that he was still nearby. When they finally arrived at the cabin, he hung back in the woods.

  Taylor dismounted onto shaky legs, pulling the furs close to her body as she gazed around the familiar landscape of her home. It was still early morning, and a thick fog had rolled in from the lake, making her cabin look as though it were floating on a cloud.

  Having shifted back into his human form, Alder wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her from behind.

  “Is there anything you need? Want me to bring you something to eat?”

  Taylor shook her head. “No, I think I’m going to take a nap.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “All right. I’m going to head up to the den for a little bit. I’ll be back to check on you soon.”

  After another moment, Alder released her and shifted back into his wolf form. With a quick lick on her cheek, he left to join his brother in the forest. Taylor watched them both go, a heavy weight settling over her.

  The fog parted as she made her way to the porch, her steps heavier than usual. As she reached for the door handle, the door swung open, revealing a disheveled-looking Lark.

  A look of alarm spread over Lark’s face at the sight of Taylor, and she hastily stepped out of the cabin, closing the door behind her.

  Her big eyes darted around the area. “Are they gone?”

  Taylor frowned. “Nice to see you, too.”

  “Sorry!” Lark said, wincing. She spread her arms to pull Taylor into a loose hug. “You look so tired.”

  ‘Tired’ was an understatement. Over the past—however many nights it was—her sleep had been terribly fractured. Alder and Hale had been insatiable, and neither seemed to have been able to settle on one sleeping pattern. Oftentimes, when one male would finish and she would start drifting back to sleep, the other would wake and be ready to take her again.

  Even if she’d had the strength to rebuff them, her body had been at the mercy of the thrall. No matter how tired or sore she was, she couldn’t help but respond to the touches of her mates.

  The memories made her shiver.

  “Are you cold?” Lark asked, helping Taylor to tighten the furs around her shoulders.

  “Yeah, but I think I’ll feel better once I get a few solid hours of sleep.”

  She moved to open the cabin door, but Lark blocked her.

  “Before you go inside, you should see the quail coop,” she said, snatching Taylor’s hand.

  Too weak to protest, Taylor let Lark drag her across the yard, frost-kissed snow crunching under their feet.

  The quail coop had several new additions, way more than Taylor had planned for. There were now seven quail in all, most of them huddled together in the hutch. The coop was a disaster, and it was clear that no one had been cleaning it out.

  Lark held her hostage for several minutes, telling her all about each quail and asking her to guess which ones had been caught by her and which by Glenn. It wasn’t difficult.

  “I’m going to say that you caught Scratcher, Chirper, and Beaky,” Taylor said, pointing to each as she ran through their names. “And Glenn caught Claw, Razor, and Daggerwind.”

  Lark looked amazed. “Wow, you’re so intuitive.” She rubbed her chin and then added, “And kind, wise, and compassionate.”

  Taylor’s brow furrowed. “You’re being weird, Lark. Look, I’m going to get some rest and hopefully get back on a nocturnal sleeping schedule. We can talk about the quail later.”

  Lark scrambled to catch up to Taylor as she headed for her cabin. “Wait!”

  Taylor kept walking. “What?”

  “I found this, uh, great place. For mushrooms. In the forest. Are you hungry? We could go get some.”

  “You know I’m not supposed to go into the woods on my own,” Taylor said, stepping onto the porch. “Alder would have a conniption, especially now that…”

  She trailed off, becoming pensive. She had almost forgotten that there was a good chance that she could be pregnant now. The idea wasn’t as scary as she’d thought it would be, and she wondered how long before she knew for sure. Her knowledge of pregnancy didn’t extend past what she’d learned during a ten-minute slideshow of a developing fetus in grade school, and that had been a human baby.

  Taylor leaned against her front door. “Pups.”

  “Pups,” Lark repeated, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

  “Everyone keeps calling them ‘pups’. Am I going to be giving birth to a…a puppy?”

  Lark chuckled. “No, no. Shifters are always born in their human forms. We don’t usually shift until at least a month. Some think it has to do with the cycle of the moon, but I’ve seen babies shift at all different times.”

  “Does it hurt them to shift? How long until they shift back?”

  Lark joined her in leaning against the door. “Shifting hurts a little and every shifter is different. Some babies spend a lot of time in their animal forms. Others are almost always in their human forms. It just depends on their personality.”

  Taylor nodded thoughtfully. “Well, I guess I shouldn’t worry about it now. It’ll probably be weeks before I even know if I’m pregnant.”

  “Only a few days, at the most,” Lark said. “We can usually smell it a week after the thrall is over, and you were gone an extra-long time.”

  “How long were we gone?”

  “Nine-and-a-half days. We were about to send Fenix out to look for the three of you.”

  Well, that explained why it was so cold out. They had to be well into September already.

  “How long does the thrall usually last?”

  Lark shrugged. “I don’t know much about it, but the wolves in the pack said five days, a week at the most.”

  “Wow.”

  She could hardly believe they’d been gone so long. The whole thing had felt like a blur. A blur of lust and passion.

  A big grin spread over Lark’s face. “Laurel says that when mates are gone for that long, it usually means there will be more than one pup. Can you imagine having twin boys? One for Alder and one for Hale?”

  The possibility of having twins had made Taylor feel sick to her stomach, but the mention of Hale was like a punch in the gut. As Lark rattled off a list of potential baby names, Taylor closed her eyes and willed herself to keep it together.

  Putting Hale behind her would be difficult, but she’d get over him. Besides, she still had Alder, and he was more wonderful than many women could ever hope for.

  Interrupting her friend, she said, “Hey, Lark, I’ve really got to get some rest. You’re welcome to join me, but I’m too tired to hang out right now.”

  Lark didn’t budge from the door. “About that. Wouldn’t you rather I take you up to the den? I’m sure you and Alder could really use some bonding time.”

  “No, I want to sleep in my own—”

  Taylor was cut off by a clattering sound from within her cabin. Her eyes widened, and then narrowed in suspicion.

  “Lark. Who’s in there?”

  Lark laughed nervously. “Eh-heh. It’s not so much who, as what… That is, um—”

  The furs that had been draped over Taylor dropped to the floor as she put her hands on her hips. “What is in my house?”

  Lark clasped her hands together in a mimicry of a prayer. Her next words tumbled from her lips in a rapid flurry.

  “Please, please don’t be mad. I tried to hide them in the cavern, but it was wet and cold and they were scared and Holly said that if I brought them back to the den and she caught them, she’d skin them and turn them into a fur coat. She’s so heartless, Taylor. I know she’d do it.”

  With mounting anger, Taylor grabbed the door handle. Lark hustled out of the way as Taylor jerked the door open.