Jessica's Wolves(11)

Charles turned to face him. "How? Because why would anyone bother to  tell us some woman we've presumably only met in passing for the first  time yesterday and assuredly have no connection to whatsoever was coming  over to visit her girlfriends in this crowded house." He was  practically reprimanding Reese, and he hadn't meant to. They were both  on edge. Lowering his voice, he continued. "What I want to know is why  Jessica didn't tell us herself last night. And  …  what the hell do we do  now?"

It was a rhetorical question, and Reese treated it as such.

Both men heaved deep breaths and looked around in vain as if the answers to their problems were between the snowflakes.

"It's fucking cold out here."

Charles didn't respond. Sure, it was cold, but it beat the alternative. "What should we do?"

"I think we need to talk to her."

"How are we going to do that? Here? In my brother's living room?"

"No, we'll have to wait until tonight. She agreed to meet with us later  at her apartment. I hope she still sticks to that promise."

"Her pheromones are going to make me come in my pants. She's fucking ovulating of all days."

"Ya think I didn't notice?" Reese glared.

"Sorry."

"I know."

Charles jerked his gaze to his friend. "And what the fuck should we do about Alyssa? She's pissed."

"Ain't that the truth?"

"Can we leave that one off for another day also?"

"I don't think so. What if we tell her the truth? I mean, it isn't like  we planned this. It just happened." Reese held his hands in the air in  defeat.

"Have you met Alyssa?" Charles laughed. It wasn't funny at all, but he was losing it.

The woman was hell on wheels when she wanted to be. And there was little doubt that wouldn't hold up in this instance.





Chapter 7



"I'm sorry I'm such poor company," Jessica mumbled under her breath.

Kara smiled. "Honey, I totally understand. Granted, it's been a few  months since I've experienced the cruel fate of PMS, but it's still  fresh in my mind."

Lindsey entwined her fingers with Jessica's. "Why don't you go lie down  for a while? Take some ibuprofen. I bet you'll feel 100 percent better  in a few hours with a good nap." She turned to Kara. "Is the guest room  okay?"

"Of course." Kara scrambled back from the kitchen island and tugged on  Jess' arm. "Not sure why I didn't think of that. The weather sucks out  there anyway. You might as well plan on spending the night."

Jessica sucked in a breath. If I have to stay here one more hour than absolutely necessary, I will surely die.                       
       
           



       

The escape afforded by the fake PMS was welcomed, however. Niggling in  the back of her mind, she wondered if the only two beings fooled by this  farce were Kara and Lindsey. Since she wasn't technically mated to the  men who'd weaseled out the back door, she didn't know if everyone in the  room could smell her lie or not. It wasn't the sort of thing her mother  would have explained to her before she was ten.

As soon as her friends had graciously seen she had everything she could  possibly need, they left her alone to rest on the guest bed, a bottle of  water, two yellow pills, and a heating pad for the fake cramps.

Jessica immediately swallowed the ibuprofen, figuring it couldn't hurt  and might even provide some sort of relief for the actual pain in her  belly. What the hell was that about anyway? She was nowhere near that  time of the month. Worse, it had something to do with the men angling to  claim her and their proximity, but it was nothing like her reaction  yesterday. Today, she was experiencing actual pain on occasion, as  though her insides were revolting against her clear denial of that which  mother nature had deemed necessary-that she mate soon, fast, and often  with two men, against her wishes.

She nestled on top of the bed, not bothering to pull back the soft  comforter. Curled in a ball, she closed her eyes and tried to calm her  nerves.

Think.

For the first time in her life, Jessica was rather pissed at her naïveté  where it pertained to wolves. She'd been so young when her parents died  she'd missed a lot of details. Details she'd cared nothing about until  yesterday. Details that would come in handy as she dealt with this  situation.

Breathing in short, shallow breaths, she considered what she did know.

First, she was completely unable to control or deny Reese and Charles  were her mates. Even after they'd left last night, she'd been unable to  sleep. Every time she drifted restlessly into dreamland, she'd suffered  from assaulting images of the three of them engaged in sexual acts, the  likes of which she'd never even conjured in her mind to get herself off  with her vibrator.

Jessica squirmed against the bed, trying to get more comfortable. Oh,  who was she kidding? She was rubbing her aching clit against the  mattress. She should get up and lock the door, but she had no desire to  move.

Second, a few people might have noticed something was amiss, especially  Nancy, but the men must need to actually claim her before all the world  would be privy to the information. On second thought, it was possible  everyone was choosing to just pretend not to be aware of her plight,  just like they were all zipped tight about the fact she was a wolf.

Damn. She could scratch that one off the list of things of which she was certain.

So, back to two. Something about today was significantly different from  yesterday. She was needier today. Her pussy ached with the need to be  filled. Even standing in the kitchen she'd had to bite her tongue to  keep from moaning, and her damn hands had itched to rub herself to  completion. There was a dull pain in her womb that demanded fulfilling.

What the fuck was that all about?

Jessica squinted her eyes shut and concentrated. It was hard with the  scent of Charles and Reese seeping under the door. She'd even known the  moment they'd come back inside.

She squeezed her hands between her tucked legs and held still. The last  thing she needed was to be caught masturbating in Kara's guest room. She  felt like she had a fever. Her brow was sweating even now that she'd  left the main rooms.

She was shivering like a sick person. And there was another thing she  knew for sure. She wasn't sick. She was  …  in heat? No, that would imply  she was having her period, right?

Whatever.

Jessica froze, held rigid with another fact she'd been avoiding. There  was another woman out there in the living room she'd never seen before.  And that woman had been glaring at Reese and Charles as though she  wanted to strangle them. Interesting. Were they involved with her? Or  had been in the past? If they truly believed Jessica was their intended  mate, why the hell did they have another woman with them today? Anger  made her ears ring.

And why the hell did that raise the heat level of Jessica's face until she shook with jealousy? She was so fucked.

* * * *

The scrawny teenager shuffled into the home office and faced Fredrick on wobbly legs. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

"I did, Leslie." Fredrick took a deep breath and sat at his desk.  "Please, have a seat." He motioned toward the chair opposite. It would  do no good to start shouting. In the last twenty-four hours, Fredrick  had calmed  …  marginally. He'd get much more out of Leslie if he remained  calm.

"Tell me what you know about Alyssa, son." He held his voice calm.

The kid squirmed in his seat and sat on his hands. He didn't make eye contact.

Fredrick hadn't ever had the pleasure of making this boy's acquaintance  before, and frankly he'd been surprised to find the kid was the same age  as Alyssa.

Fredrick waited, impatiently bouncing his leg under the table.

Finally, Leslie cleared his throat. "She took off in the night, sir." He barely mumbled the words.

"She told you this? Have you spoken to her?"

Leslie shook his head. "No. No. She doesn't even know I followed her."

"Then how did you know to follow her, may I ask?" Fredrick clenched his  teeth, seething, but not wanting Leslie to see his displeasure. It was  like pulling teeth getting information out of the kid.

"I didn't." The boy swallowed and glanced at Fredrick. "I was  …  um  …   watching her house. It was a coincidence. I just happened to see her  sneak out the window." His head dipped again.

"You were spying on her?"

Silence for several moments, and then the kid started crying. Crying. "I  didn't mean nothin' by it, sir. I just like her and, and, and she's  …   pretty." He choked on a sob.

Fredrick had to cover his mouth to stifle the grin spreading. It  wouldn't do for the kid to realize he found this humorous. What  red-blooded boy didn't at one point or another peep at a girl?

"Then what happened?" If they moved on, perhaps Leslie would calm and get the rest of the story out.