As the fur began to recede, Kenzie remembered the other women and for some unknown reason she got really jealous. She didn't want Emmy, Pixie, and Dusty seeing Jayson's delectable muscular form or his hard cock. That was for her and for her alone. When she glanced toward them, she sighed with relief when she saw they had turned their back again.
What the hell, Kenzie?
Once Jayson was in his sexy manly form again, he lifted his gaze to hers, held her eyes locked to his for a few moments, and then he eyed her body over as he licked his lips. Her breath stuttered in her lungs as more heat invaded her pussy, breasts, and blood. A shudder of need lashed at the base of her spine before coursing up the length of her back and into her head.
She had no idea why she was responding to Jayson, Jenson, and Jordan, and while she tried to control the desire coursing through her blood, it seemed an impossible feat.
This was the first time she'd ever felt such intent sexual hunger. She'd kissed a couple of boys while she'd been in high school but that was the extent of her experience. She mentally snorted. She wasn't innocent in knowledge but in every way else, she was totally clueless about the opposite sex. Her pseudo father had seen to that after treating her like a slave and his own personal punching bag.
Even though she'd dreamed about having someone to love and someone to love her in return, she'd never expected to find someone willing to take a chance on. She was starting to rethink her decision to remain single, but she wasn't sure she was brave enough to take on one man let alone three.
She pushed her wayward thoughts aside and lowered her gaze when Jayson began to dress, but she couldn't shake the desire coursing through her body. When she saw movement, she shifted her gaze from him and bit her lip when the other men and women left the room. Broden was pulling the door closed behind him but paused and looked back at her over his shoulder. "I'll be out here if you need me. Just call out." He quietly closed the door.
A low rumbling purr vibrated against her shoulder, arm, and side and she turned to meet Jenson's hot blue-eyed gaze. "You smell so good, sweetie. I have to taste you."
Chapter Four
Jenson couldn't ignore the impotent craving to taste Kenzie's lips another second. She felt wonderful, so right in his arms. The scent of her desire had grown stronger and stronger until he felt as if he was drowning in her aroma, but it still wasn't anywhere near enough. He wanted to rub his body all over hers until their scents were mixed. He wanted to tug that blanket from her small body, rip the hospital gown into shreds, and plunge his hard, aching dick deep into her tight, hot, wet cunt. However, since he could do none of those things, he settled for lowering his lips to hers.
The first brush of his lips over hers settled into his heart, into his soul. His heart thundered against his ribs with hope and excitement, and the numbness that had settled into the shriveled-up organ dissipated until he felt so much, he was sure it was going to burst.
She gasped with shock or desire, he wasn't quite sure which, but either way it gave him the advantage he needed. Jenson licked into her mouth slowly, almost lazily, hoping he wasn't moving too fast for his mate. When she shifted on his thighs and he felt her soft breast pressing against his chest, he groaned. She moaned, and he deepened the kiss, their tongues whirling and swirling before rubbing against each other's again and again.
If she hadn't whimpered when he tightened his arm around her waist, he wasn't sure he would have stopped. He felt like a real bastard when the scent of her pain began to override the perfume of her desire, and he realized he'd inadvertently hurt his mate. Jenson broke the kiss, rested his forehead against hers, and sucked air into his lungs. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean to hurt you. Are you all right? Do you want me to get Broden?"
She jerked her head back from his and shoved to her feet. The blanket fell onto the floor, but she was too busy trying to breathe through the searing pain in her ribs to worry about being less covered. She managed to take a couple of steps away from Jenson before her knees buckled.
Strong arms swept her up before she hit the floor and she gazed up into Jordan's hot blue-eyed gaze.
"What's wrong?" Broden asked as he opened the door.
"I hurt her ribs," Jenson admitted contritely as he stood.
"What have you done to me?" Kenzie whispered as she stared into Jordan's eyes.
"We haven't done anything, baby."
"Yes, you have." She frowned and was about to continue, but quickly closed her mouth when she realized what she was about to ask. Why am I attracted to you all?
God, she was such an idiot. She was drawn to Jordan, Jenson, and Jayson. They had to be doing something to her to affect her in such a way. Did they have magical powers as well as being able to shift into animals? Were they wizards or something?
"We need to get her home so she can rest," Jayson said as he moved closer to her and Jordan.
She shook her head. What she needed to do was leave, but how could she? She had no money, no clothes, and now she didn't even have a car, though it hadn't been hers to begin with. Kenzie felt trapped, yet again.
"Dusty, come in here, baby," Broden murmured but Kenzie caught the words, if only just.
"What's wrong?" Dusty asked as she entered. "Are you okay, Kenzie?"
Kenzie shook her head and blinked back tears. She wasn't sure if she'd ever be okay again.
"Put me down," she ordered Jordan. When he just frowned down at her she said, "Please?"
Jordan reluctantly carried her toward the bed and gently lowered her to the mattress. Jayson bent, picked up the blanket and handed it to Dusty before he, his brothers, and Broden left the room. She sighed with relief when Pixie and Emmy came back in and closed the door behind them.
"They did something to me," Kenzie stated with conviction.
"What do you mean?" Emmy frowned.
"I'm not … I've never … can they do magic as well as shift into … panthers?"
Pixie covered her mouth when a giggle escaped and then she outright laughed. The other two women chuckled, and while Kenzie was a little annoyed they were laughing at her expense, she found herself joining in. She knew she was laughing because she was feeling out of control, but it was either laugh or cry.
Pixie got her humor in hand first. "No, they can't do magic, although I think being able to shift into an animal is pretty darn magical. Don't you?"
"Yeah." Kenzie lowered her gaze to the blanket and picked at the thread on the hem. "Why am I attracted to them? Can they make someone, a woman, lust after them?"
"No." Emmy smiled as she tucked the blanket around Kenzie's legs. "Shifters have only one true mate, that one special woman they can bond with physically as well as emotionally."
"Do you mean like a wife?" Kenzie asked.
"Yes and no," Pixie answered.
"What my friends are trying to say is that when a shifter finds their mate, they know she's meant to be theirs from the second they see her and smell her. To a shifter their woman's scent is the most delicious smell in the world. Being a mate is like being a wife, but that is such a pale comparison to reality. I love my guys with my whole being, with my heart and soul. It would kill me if anything happened to them and it would kill them if anything happened to me." Dusty smiled dreamily.
"Once you're mated to a shifter, you won't ever have to worry about them even glancing at another woman," Emmy took over explaining. "They fall in love with their mate almost straight away. I'm not saying that there aren't problems to resolve or issues to work out, because there will be. Just because they love their mate straight away, doesn't mean they know her likes, dislikes, or personality traits. It takes time and compromise to make a relationship work."
Pixie sat on the edge of the bed. "Our guys will never want to be separated from us. There is no such thing as divorce. In fact, they don't like being away from us for more than a couple of hours."
"Isn't that a little … stifling?" Kenzie asked.
"No." Emmy shook her head. "Not in the way you mean. Our guys are overprotective, but when they get too overbearing we stand up to them."
"They don't take us over or try to be dictatorial," Dusty said. "Well, for the most part."
"Our guys only give us orders when they think we'll get hurt or are in danger," Pixie explained. "The rest of the time they are loving."