…THEN…
It has finally gone too far.
If I ever thought that having all three of them was an option, I have never been more wrong than I am right now.
Kage is starting to suspect things; I saw the way he looked at Slater when I ever so subtly brushed passed him just now. I just could not help myself; I have been craving Slater’s touch for days now, but he has been avoiding me. He believes that he is doing the right thing by Kage, but he is only pushing me into the arms of Niko.
And Niko…
His touch drives me to want that of Kage even more.
Why can Kage not just be enough?
Why did I have to fall in love with them all?
The Xavier brothers have brought me to my knees. I would like to believe that they have been my undoing when it is only myself that I have to blame. For far too long have they all safely shared my bed… Kage none the wiser, Niko and Slater not even suspecting that I was playing them both of them.
Well, that is what I believed.
Until today…
“Avyanna,” I hear the voice of Kage creeping over my shoulders as he locks his arms around my waist. “What is going on?” His voice begging, yet I can sense the anger lurking underneath, “Is something going on between you and Slater?” He leaves his breath lingering down the bare of my neck, he knows his presence is only but rising my burning passion. Still, he continues, “Or is it Niko?”
For a fraction of a second, my breathing stops, and as I close my eyes, I turn to face his questioning eyes, “Kage,” My voice drops to that of a whisper. As he stares down at my parted lips, he lays them hungrily against mine, “I belong to you.” Giving him the access to what he desires, he slides his tongue inside. “Only to you, and no one else,” with a soft whimper escaping from my chest, he finds mine and we intertwine.
His kiss is begging for the answers that he is so desperately seeking though he has been so afraid of asking for such a long time coming. With each stroke, the battle is raging not only between our bodies but in my mind. I need him to believe that there is nothing, that it is only his insecurities that are taking shape again.
For the briefest of moments, I open my eyes and beg him to stop, “Kage…” Though he only continues to devour, sliding his hands down my ass, he digs his fingers deep into my flesh. “Kage…” ignoring my please, he wraps my legs around his waist and lifts me onto the counter.
His gaze falls over my body, trembling at his touch, then as the oceans in his eyes flood mine, he finally breaks the silence, “I will fucking kill the man that lays his hands on you.” Pulling me deeper into his chest, I can feel it rise and fall, “Promise me that nothing is going on between you and my brothers.”
My heart cannot bear to tell this lie anymore.
I cannot lie to him.
I cannot lie to the man I love.
The fact is, I cannot lie to any one of them.
I love them all.
But I can also not be the one that breaks them.
So as Kage continues to beg for the truth, I have no other option but to, “Kage, I promise you. I love you and only you.”
There is a hint of a smile that returns to the corners of those soft lips, “Good.” His voice growing into a rumble. “I will destroy you if you ever come between me and my brothers.” With that, he steps back and leaves me cold, not even giving me an inch of his touch. “I do not fucking share.”
Turning his back on me, I watch as he walks out of the room, leaving me with a new fear that is with each beat of my heart slowly starting to consume me…
I have to end this.
Not only with Kage, but with Slater and Niko too.
Even if it means that I remove myself from their lives…
But this thought only lasts for the ticking of five seconds for next I see Slater making his way through the door. The moment he sees me still sitting motionless on the counter, he glances over his shoulder…
I know exactly what he is thinking…
Not hesitating for a moment, he picks me up and pushes me back up against the wall, and as his hands roam down my cleavage, he only but hisses, “God, Avy. I have missed you.”
With him only but tormenting me with his fingers while he runs them in circles over the bare skin of my stomach, I can hardly form a single word, “Then why have you been ignoring me?”
“Kage came to me,” he only but mumbles, pinning my hands firmly above my head as he starts to devour every inch of my bare skin with his lips. “He asked me what is going on between us,” and much to my own agony, he stops.
“He asked me too.”
His eyes grow even wider, yet the fire in them still raging, “What did you tell him?”
“Nothing,” my breath hitches as he nips at my earlobe. “I will never tell him.”
Then, in almost the blink of an eye, the fire within him dies, “And you will never be mine.” Letting go of my hands, he steps away from my body. “You will never love me.”
And with that, he turns and makes his way to the door, yet another one of the Xavier brothers leaving me cold.
I cannot help but curse at myself, “Fuck.”
Why are they making this so hard for me? Slater knows that I am fated to be with Kage whether I like it or not. He was always going to be the brother that I would end up with.
But then again, whoever decided that?
Not me!
There is only one thing left to do…
I need to get away from them.
And is with this very intention that I drag my sorry ass upstairs to my room, the desire to have Slater not leaving me once yet the burning for Kage not dying either. Both of them know exactly what they are doing…
They are playing me…
Kage is testing me to see if his suspicion about his brothers is true, and as for Slater, the man is doing it on pure purpose in the attempt to gauge if I will ditch his brother and take him as my alpha instead…
Well, I am not playing…
But if I thought that would be the end of it, I am sadly proven that things are always bound to get out of complete control…
As I get into view of my room, I am snapped back to the present as my eyes fall upon Niko that is ever so goddamn casually standing leaning against the door. My first instinct is to scan the hallway, yet, he only chuckles, “Don’t worry your pretty little head, Anna, he has gone out.”
“But, Sla…”
The syllables do not even leave my lips and Niko is pushing me through the door, and as he slams it shut, he spins me around, pushing me down onto the bed, “You can scream my name, he is not here to hear either.”
“Niko, we…”
“What? You have been teasing me the whole day, we are definitely going to finish what you started.”
“Niko…”
But it is absolutely futile…
Niko cages me between his arms as he slides his legs over my body, straddling me, he only but growls. “I am going to show you once and for all that I am the one that you want, not Kage.”
Slowly he starts to crawl his hands up my thigh, finding the edges of my shorts, he scrunches them between his fingers. All reasoning that has ever existed leaves my mind, my words begging him as they escape from my trembling lips, “Niko, please take me.”
“Fuck, don’t beg me twice,” he only but grins as if asking was the only thing that has been stopping him from ripping every inch of cloth from my skin.
But instead, he only lingers…
With nothing but confusion settling in, I listen as the door clicks open…
There is a chill that settles over my spine…
Forcing my eyes to look in the direction, I see Kage come walking into the room…
Though that is not the end of it… Next is Slater, following behind him…
Both of them are mad as hell…
This was a trap…
They fucking set me up.
And as I try to find the words to say to Kage as he comes to stand in front of me, he only raises his finger, “Get out.”
…NOW…I am awakened by a persistent buzzing.As I glance over at the clock on my bedside table, I am annoyed to see that it yet still very early morning. With nothing but a growl escaping my lips, I reluctantly accept the call, “You do know that it is two in the morning?”But instead of the cheerful voice, I have grown so accustomed to, there is nothing but sobs coming from the other end. Immediately I sit up straight, and with hesitation in my voice, I can only but stutter, “Olivia, what is wrong?”“Avy…” she pauses for a moment, “I think it is time that you come home.”“Why what is wrong?”“It is mom.”“No! Please, Olivia, don’t tell me?”“Avy…” she pauses yet again, “Just come home.”With that, there is utter silence…And as a million reasons try to stop me from saying the words, I cannot help but, “Okay, I will be there as soon as I can.”Falling back, I cover my head with my pillow, “Fuck!”I am not ready to go back.Not now, not ever.But my mom is sick, and I know that she does
What are the odds that by some wicked chance the Alphas claiming Jackson are the very ones that had claimed me all those years ago?They do have this habit of thinking that everything fucking belongs to them.The mere thought of having to face them sends my stomach curling. Yet, lingering just underneath the surface is a sea of emotion that I thought I had long forgotten. There is no denying that behind this façade, the wall that I had built is slowly crumbling.And before that happens, I need to decide…I am either all Liam or no man at all.I owe it to him and moreover, I owe it to myself.The Xavier brothers are destroying me all over again and I am giving them the power.It will not fucking happen.Not again!So, as I glance over to the only man that should be wandering through my mind, I lay my hand gently on his arm, “Why don’t we book into the hotel before we go over to my mom?”With nothing but a hint of lust filling those eyes, he cocks his head, and brings the car to a scree
…THEN…“Kage…”His eyes are smoldering, and with every goddamn bone in my body, I am praying that it is from his arousal, yet he is nothing but raging mad.“Get out!”“Kage…” With his grip tightening around my wrists, he is pushing me down the stairs. “Kage, please wait! I can explain.”His voice grows louder as he bursts out in a rumble of laughter, “Please tell me how you can explain my goddamn brother all over you?”“Kage…” The tears rolling like thundering clouds down my face, “He caught me by surprise. I promise you nothing happened.”For a fraction of a second, his breathing stops, and he spits out in disgust, “The same way that Slater was feeling you up in the kitchen?”“How…”He brings the tips of his finger to my lips, “How? Is that what you want to know?” Pushing me up against the very next wall presenting itself, he continues to pin my hands above my head, “Is this the way you like it?”“Kage, please…”Stepping through the dining room, he clears the table of its very conten
…KAGE POV…Moving with pure elegance, I watch her sway those goddamn hips with utmost tormented purpose. Flicking them from side to side, that skirt flares just enough to give me a full view of her tight ass. Every emotion that was ever filled with rage, is set on fire…That fire that once burned for her ignites right the fuck alight.And in a mere than the blink of an eye, my only desire is to taste Avyanna Tate…It takes me less than two strides, and I burst through the back door only to catch a glimpse of her as she disappears around the corner. With a nothing but smirk and the hint of a growl, I adjust my growing erection, “Not so fast, my little wolf.” Then from underneath my breath, I whisper, “I am not done with you yet.”But as I take that corner, sneaking up from the side, I see her toy boy pushing his way through the door, short on the heels of my prize, into the lady’s bathroom.Picking up the pace, I slip in behind just as the door is about to close, then with nothing but
…NIKO POV…“You still believe that she belongs to you? To you and you alone?”I watch Kage as his eyes grow wide with rage, “You are damn fucking right about that. Now, do I need to repeat myself?”I cannot help but spit back at him in utter fury, “If you have not noticed, she is with someone else.”“And if you have forgotten, she is back in town because I wanted her to be here.”The mere thought of the lengths this man would go to get what he wants sets every emotion racing. He was the one that did everything in his power to get Anna out of town, and now, after all these years, he wants her back.Yes, Kage has come under fire for not having marked Anna when he had the chance, but what he has done now…It is fucking insane.Yet, he would be wise to remember that our dear Anna does not like to be told what to do and let alone be pushed into a corner.So, as I slowly rise from my chair, I give Kage a once-over, “You are playing a dangerous game. You think you lost her ten years ago, wai
…SLATER POV…Staring at Kage, still burning white-hot with fury, it brings back all those nights. Nights when I was so angry at him, and myself for the part we both played in chasing Avy away. The plan never was to get her to leave town, we were trying to teach her a lesson for playing us all.But Kage had a temper, and he felt betrayed.There was no way that he was going to let Avy make him look like a fool. So he pushed her as far as he could, so far that she eventually left.And it broke me.It splintered my heart into so many goddamn pieces, I could not find anything that would put it back together again.But now, she is back.And all those feelings, those emotions, they have been pulled from the grave that has been my heart.I know I should not.But I feel alive again for the first time in years.Though this thing with Kage and Niko, I need them to stop because if they don’t, it will push Avy away again. Yes, I am the last one that approves of what Kage did to get her here, but s
If my life was not a mess before, then it is now nothing but a fuck up. I have not been in this town for a goddamn hour and I have had all three Xavier brothers doing what they do best…Claiming what they think is theirs.And did I stop them?Not the least fucking bit.I need to get as far away from the three of them, but what my head tells me is not what my body wants. My body has done nothing but betray me with each encounter I have had. It seems that not only did these boys do some growing up, but the addiction they bring, has me craving them stronger than any drug.Stronger than ever before.With each whispered breath, they have by their heated touch set my body completely alight. I am so near damn close to exploding, if one of them edges their way over my lace panties, I might just erupt.Standing here with Slater as he pulls me back closer to him, there is nothing that I want more than to give in. Seeing him bulging in those skinny jeans, has me wanting the one thing that I cann
The very words send a chill to my spine.How can my father possibly be in trouble with the Xavier brothers?What I have learned only but an hour ago from Slater is that they own this pub. But my father is not a drinker and even less is my mother. The possibility of them causing trouble here is more like slim to nothing. So how has my father gotten himself mixed up with the brothers?Do I even want to know?Guess I will have to find out.So very reluctantly and shit scared to learn the truth, I push Olivia for the answers, “How is dad mixed up with the Xavier brothers?She only but stares at me, and from the terrified look on her face, she is not willing to go into detail. Judging from her reluctance, it must be bad.But still…How is the Xavier brother involved in this?I need to know what the fuck is going on here.“Olivia, if this is the reason you dragged my ass back home, then at least give me a fucking explanation.”“It… was…” I watch as she hesitates. Something has her spooked,
Watching the light of the moon fall through the tiny windows in the corner, the terrifying reality sets in that in little less than a couple of hours that bright ball will reach its apex and let its curse consume the earth.Unlike the power that Kage, Slater, and Niko have mastered, I still turn into an uncontrollable beast. But saying this, I am chained to this bed so there won’t be any danger of this beast letting loose between any of the innocent souls that are wandering town at this ungodly hour.Though I cannot say the same for Liam as I have never seen him turn, but his intention is quite clear, he wants to mark me and there will be no way he will be leaving this room until he has done the very thing.I need to get away from him before that even happens.Even though he is still severely hurt from the pain that Kage inflicted on him, I still do not think that I can take him on. And there is the little problem of his friends lurking outside there somewhere. If I can only get a sli
…KAGE POV…I am not a man that shows fear nor can you easily get me on the edge but take a man that has nothing to lose and all the determination in the world, and he sets a horrific fear to course through my veins.But what this man has also created for himself is a promise that once I set my hands on him, this time he will not walk away alive.We all have underestimated Liam.But that won't be a mistake that I will be making twice.My only problem now…Where the fuck do I find this man?Slater has put the word out on the street for any strange behavior that might cause an alarm, as where Nico is scouring each and every possible empty factory or building that there might be around.But there is a nagging feeling creeping up my bone that we are not even close to looking in the right places. I know this town like the back of my fucking hand, I would have known if there had been another pack making themselves far too comfortable in my territory. This leaves me to believe only one thing…
Laying in utter darkness, listening as the wheels slowly roll over the tar road, the only feeling that consumes me is utter fear. It is not so much being in the trunk of a car, but the fact that I am about to face a furious Liam. On his best days, his temper was a force that drove him to be the monster that I do know now he is.I would like to believe that he would go easy on me but I have not only embarrassed him but also lied to him about where I was staying. How I never knew that Liam was a werewolf is beyond me. I was too busy hiding my true identity from him that I did not notice that he had just as big of a secret.So as each ticking second passes by, I prepare myself to feel his full wrath that will come down on me. The fact that he not only once but on more than one occasion disregarded Kage’s threats tells me that he is a man that truly does not care what lengths he would go to. If getting rid of me is what he needs to do then I am sure he will do it with one damn big smile o
…KAGE POV…Driving to the pub where this Alpha has last been spotted, every nagging bone in my body tells me that I should not have left Avyanna all alone at home or at least have left either Slater or Niko with her. But the thing is that we do not know what we are up against, so I need both my brothers by my side when I confront this man.I am finding it strange that only a mere hour after teaching that scumbug Liam a lesson that his Alpha decides to stroll into my town. The agreement has been very clear with every single pack that they do not set foot into my territory. Him doing so has not only gone against the agreement but it is a clear declaration of war.The further question begs, is he alone or are there others that are just waiting around in the shadows? Whichever way, he is soon going to learn the error of his fatal mistake.So as we pull up at the back of the pub, I glance over to Slater and Niko, “You do nothing until I give the order. There are people behind those doors th
…KAGE POV… I think that I did not quite hear Slater clearly, “What did you just say?” Slater raises his voice but a fraction, “I said Liam is downstairs with his pack demanding for you to hand over Avyanna.” “Do you want to tell me that we failed to notice that Liam is a werewolf?” “The man was pretty convincing, but I suggest you come downstairs before they start ripping the place apart.” Glancing over my shoulder at Avyanna, I can see the clear disappointment and betrayal in her eyes. Sliding from underneath the covers, she starts to dress. Walking up to her, I wrap her hands in mine, “You are not going downstairs.” With a hint of anger in her voice, she makes her intention quite clear, “Liam is my problem.” Feeling slightly annoyed, my eyes pierce into hers. “What you fail to understand is that anything concerning you is my problem.” Slipping back into my jeans, I grab my shirt and head for the door. Just as I pull it open, Avyanna pushes past. I try calling after her, but s
…KAGE POV…If I for some fucked up reason did not care for upsetting Avyanna, I would have punched this smirk off this asshole’s face. Where in his warped universe would he ever accept what Avyanna is? I can see his bones trembling at the mere thought that things such as werewolves exist. The only reason this idiot is saying he is fine with it is because he cannot stomach the fact that he might lose her to me.Well, guess what?She is mine.I can see that longing in her eyes. It is not a longing for him, but for me. Avyanna knows deep down in the bottom of her heart and, dare I even say soul, that she wants me. She needs me. If there is anyone that knows what her body longs for, then it is me. Liam has been a means to an end, someone to fill that gap that I have left behind. But fuck, if she chooses him.It will shatter me.So with half a hand reaching out to her and a hand coming from that asshole at the very same time, I can barely breathe. I feel like slicing that idiot’s hand off
What is wrong with me?The second one of them gets lost in me, I submit without even thinking twice. Of all of them, Kage is the one that I would sell my soul to. Even though I am devoted to Liam, the instant that Kage merely touches me, I lose all sense of reality and desire takes over every fibre of that part of me that needs to be satisfied in a way that Liam never could. Kage used to set my body alight in a way that no man ever could, and being around him again has got me wanting to feel that way again.But I can’t. I am with Liam.And it is Liam that is lighting up my phone now.So taking a deep breath, and clearing my mind of everything that is Kage, I answer his call, “Hey babe.”“Fuck baby, I am missing you.” I can clearly hear the desperation in his voice as he takes a stuttered breath, “I need to see you.”“Babe, I will see you soon,” I say with the full knowledge that I have no idea when I will see him again, for I have no idea how long this arrangement with Kage i
…Kage POV…I knew that this was a bad idea.I knew trying to trap Avyanna in this deal would do me more harm than good.The fact is, and a piece of information that I will never reveal, but I could have easily written her father’s debt to me off. I have done it before, not only for him, but for many others. I might seem like a ruthless and cold-hearted bastard, but there is something about a man that is willing to lose it all just to protect his family that I respect.So yes, I grabbed onto the opportunity to get the only woman that I have ever loved back into my bed. I was a fool for letting her slip away from me all those years ago, and I will be damned if I let it happen now again. But the fact is, she hates everything that I stand for, and I hate her just as much for her betrayal that caused me to chase her away.Is it something that I ever will get over?Fuck knows, but all I know as I am standing here, and my eyes are scanning over every inch of that body, is that I am going to
Oh that is so not happening!Feeling as the rage slowly crawl over my skin, it takes me less than two giant strides and I have my hand firmly pressed into Kage’s shoulder and spinning him around, “What did you just say?”With nothing but a wicked smirk growing at the edges of those lips, he brings his mouth only inches away from mine, “I do not like repeating myself but taken that trembling lip is turning me the fuck on, I will say this once again.” Then as he brushes his lips over mine, I can feel him smile, “You will be staying with me for the next three months. And by with me, I mean in my room.”“That will not fucking happen. That was not part of the deal.”“Oh Avyanna, you should ask next time before you agree to do something.”“I don’t give a shit, Kage. I will not share a room and even moreover a bed for that matter.”Keeping my eyes locked with his, with his lips only inches away from mine, I can feel the heat starting to consume him. I am not sure if it is from the rage build