After they'd incarcerated him, the leaders had called a pack meeting in the Town Hall. Since neither Grant nor Sherrie were pack members, they'd been excluded. In the early hours of morning, John had given Sherrie directions to his house only a few blocks away and watched while Grant escorted her down the street. Reluctantly, he'd turned and entered the Town Hall to tell his tale once more for the assembled village. Heated discussion of how their prisoner should be dealt with had followed, but, as usual, the Council's word was law and everyone eventually bowed to it.
Now, as John walked home, he couldn't wait to take a shower and fall into bed … with Sherrie. He wished he could have her to himself, but imagined he'd find her curled up in his bed with Grant. The thought made his hackles rise.
Their threesome had been necessary, and if he was going to be honest, he'd been turned on by the panther's deep kiss. But he sure as hell didn't want to share Sherrie with him on a regular basis. If she was even his to share. His gut told him they were meant to be mated, but that didn't mean she felt the same way.
Maybe she wouldn't want to stay with him. Maybe he was completely nuts and jumping the gun by thinking of her as his.
When he reached home, the front door was unlocked as always. One of the perks of living in Browning was the practically nonexistent crime rate. Perron wasn't sleeping on the couch, and John's heart dropped as he walked back to the bedroom, expecting to find the pair of them together.
He pushed open the door. The blinds were drawn. Only a little light crept in around the edges, but it was enough to see that only one person occupied the bed. Sherrie slept naked with the covers pooled around her hips and one arm flung above her head. A gentle snore issued from her parted lips.
John stared at the delectable sight of her breasts rising and falling with every breath, her brown hair tumbled across the pillow. He wouldn't have thought he had enough energy left to raise another erection, but his cock evidently had more resiliency than he did as it sprang to attention. He didn't spare a thought about where Perron had gone as he stripped off his clothes and climbed beneath the covers beside Sherrie's soft, sleepy body. He sank gratefully into the mattress and wrapped his arm around her.
Sherrie snorted and her mouth snapped shut. She made a small grumbling sound of annoyance and rolled onto her side. John snuggled against her backside and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. She smelled of his shampoo and soap, and her hair was still a little damp. He probably should've grabbed a shower too, before lying down, but he was too damn tired.
A moment later, Sherrie shifted in his arms and pressed her bottom against his erection. "You're back," she murmured. "How'd it go?"
"Banishment. That's the worst punishment we have, sending someone away from the pack. I don't know if it's much of a punishment for Blake, but that's what they decided. If he's ever seen in our territory again, he'll be hunted and killed."
"Sounds fair, but creepy having him still out there somewhere." She glanced over her shoulder at him.
"If you could've seen inside his mind, it was a scary place."
"I worry that he might try to come after you when you go home. Maybe you should stay here awhile." She rolled onto her back and looked into his face. A smile curved her lips. "Is this your way of asking me to live with you? John, we barely know each other." He ducked his head, feeling like a fool. "I know, but I want you to stay. Not because of Blake, but because I like you. I feel … "
" … a connection," she said in unison with him. "Me, too, as crazy as it sounds. And it's not about the sex or the power-sharing. It's something more."
"We call it the mating bond. I never much bought into the idea before, but this has hit me upside the head like a baseball bat."
Her smile broadened to a grin and she reached up to touch the side of his face. "How romantic."
"Will you stay? See how you like living in Browning?" Her mouth was drawing him like a magnet.
He couldn't drag his gaze from it.
Sherrie bit her lower lip as though considering. "Got any diners in town? I may be only a mediocre actress, but I'm a helluva waitress."
He dipped his face toward hers and latched onto her mouth, tasting minty-sweet toothpaste, then he pulled away and answered. "Considering you saved our people, I think you can have about any job in town you want. We all owe you."
"Naw. It took all three of us." She curved her hand around the back of his neck and kissed him again, slowly, tenderly. "By the way, Grant's gone home. He wanted to check on his people. Says he'll drop by sometime for a visit."
"Mm."
"You don't like him much, do you?"
He shrugged. "Not just him. Panthers make me twitchy."
"And maybe just a little bit horny?" she teased. "Come on. Admit it." He shut her up with another kiss, long and lingering this time. When he pulled away at last, she sighed.
"I'll have to go back and say goodbye to some friends, quit my job and break the lease on my apartment, but yeah, I think I'd love to stay here with you." Warmth of a different kind than that percolating in his groin flooded through John, and his heart lifted. "Good."
After giving her one last kiss, he groaned and sat up. "I've got to get cleaned up. I'll be back."
"Need help in the shower?" Sherrie pushed up on her elbows, which thrust her breasts out before her, the nipples pointing enticingly.
He feasted on the luscious sight of her sprawled across his bed. "If you want to."
"Oh, yeah, I want to." She tossed back the covers and sprang up.
Suddenly he didn't feel nearly as exhausted as he led her into the bathroom and turned on the water.
They stood together beneath the hard spray, enjoying the heat and warmth for a few moments, then she picked up the shampoo and squirted a dollop on her palm.
John bowed his head so she could wash his hair. He closed his eyes and let the water stream across his face, while she lathered and massaged his scalp. He nearly whined in pleasure at her gentle touch. When she was finished rinsing the shampoo from his hair, she picked up the bath mitt, applied gel to it and began to soap his body.
"You're so sweet," he murmured as he submitted to her care.
"My pleasure."
She scrubbed his back and buttocks, his shoulders, arms and chest, and lingered on his abdomen and groin. Her hair hung in dark, dripping curtains on either side of her face, and water rolled down her cheeks like tears as she stood beneath the showerhead and lathered his cock. He remembered how she'd looked on hands and knees, her head bobbing as she sucked him off, so sexy. And Grant thrusting his hips against her ass then suddenly leaning in, curling a hand around John's neck and kissing him. His mouth tingled at the memory of that hard kiss, different from a woman's-or at least any of the women he'd been with-aggressive, demanding.
John swallowed and groaned softly. Sherrie continued sliding her hand up and down his shaft, and the tension built in his groin. He watched her face, loving her sweetness and her strength. She'd been through a rollercoaster of events and emotions over the past few days and had taken them all in stride when many people would've broken down. He admired her practicality and her composure. And right now, he simply loved what she was doing with her hands which glided slickly over his shaft.
Her stroking brought him abruptly to the edge. His climax surged through him. He thrust and released, spilling over her closed fist, and the water washed the evidence of his orgasm away.
"Thank you," he groaned, pulling her close to him again. He turned them so the water pummeled her back. Sherrie turned her face into his chest and his chin rested on top of her head as he rocked her slightly from side to side.
Suddenly, a quiver went through her. She was trembling in his embrace, wrapping her arms tight around him and squeezing. He realized she was crying.
"Sh," he soothed, kissing the top of her head and stroking her back.
Sobs wracked her body as she clung to him, and she forced out a few jerky words. "I-I'm sorry.
It's … just … "
"I know. I know. It's all too much, and you're overwhelmed."
"Yeah," she whimpered. "And at the same time I'm so damn happy to be here with you. It's horrible that all this happened, but if it hadn't, I wouldn't have met you." She lifted her face and gazed up at him, her eyelashes spiked in damp clusters. "Also, I feel bad about Evan. I want to know if he really is my brother, if what he said about my father is true. If it is, even my mom didn't know. Or maybe she did, but she never told me. There's just so much to think about, and I'll never have the chance to find out because I won't see Evan again. Even if I did, he'd probably try to kill me. I wish I could've had a DNA test done or something. I wish there was some way I could know the truth, even though it doesn't really matter. I mean, I've been without a dad all my life, so why is it suddenly important to me now?"