"Oooh." Jessica squeezed her eyes shut, imagining walking in on three people having sex. In the barn.
"Anyway, we should get back inside. Before they cut the cake and play pin the tail on the wolf pup." Justin flashed a proud grin.
Jessica cringed. There was something just wrong about that.
With a glance back at the perfection of the gorgeous northwestern landscape, Jessica followed Justin back into the house. Right on his heels, she walked straight into the crazy world she was quickly coming to realize she was going to have to own up to.
Chapter 2
Jessica kneeled on the floor, one hand rubbing the little girl's back, the other holding her hair while she vomited once again. Poor Miranda had obviously succumbed to the flu just like half of Jessica's first grade class. Fortunately, her brother Jeremy had fallen victim before school had started this morning. He'd stayed home. Unfortunately, that meant his mother was at home also, with her hands very full, unable to come pick up Miranda.
It had been a coincidence Miranda had ended up in Jessica's class. Nevertheless, Jess had a special bond with the child, who was also a shifter. Tessa, Miranda's mother, was Justin and Ryan Masters' sister.
As soon as the child had looked a little green, Jessica had phoned Tessa at home, but someone else was being sent to get the child. One of their many family members.
Jessica smiled. That family was huge. Surely someone would be along shortly. Luckily, the rest of the class was at recess in the gym, so Jessica had headed to the nurse's office with Miranda.
Of course, no doubt next week she'd probably be sicker than a dog, but she couldn't leave the little girl to suffer alone. It tore at her heartstrings.
Plus Jessica really liked Tessa. Neither of them had mentioned the huge elephant waltzing around them every time they'd met, but that had only been a handful of times so far. Meet the teacher night. A parent-teacher meeting. The baby shower for Kara last week. A few other times in passing at Kara's house.
Miranda moaned and lifted her head, dragging Jessica from her musings.
"I know, baby. You don't feel well."
"Is my mommy coming to get me?" Her voice was barely above a squeak, which said something coming from the usually loud, exuberant youngster.
"No. But someone is. One of your uncles I think."
"Uncle Charles?" Her little eyes were red and watery, but they lit up ever so slightly at the idea.
"Not sure, baby. Isn't your Uncle Charles in Texas?" When did Justin say he was coming home?
"He got back last night," she mumbled, closing her eyes and plopping her tiny self on the bathroom floor.
The child moaned and curled into a ball in the corner. Jess picked up her little frame and carried her back to the small cot in the nurse's station. Thank God there was an attached bathroom.
She set her down, smoothed her hair out of her face, and then froze, her fingers still tangled in the mass of blonde curls, her gaze still glued to Miranda's burning forehead.
Her spine stiffened. Confusion warred with her senses.
Even though she'd only heard stories about this experience and hadn't ever once acknowledged the actual validity of the idea, there was no doubt someone was in the vicinity whose pheromones called to her.
No. No. That wasn't precisely true. More than one alluring scent filled her nostrils.
Fuck.
This wasn't supposed to happen. This was exactly what she'd been worried about. The very reason she'd vowed to stay away from shifters, live a human life. Not that there was any guarantee she'd not meet a human mate at some point, but surely she could have avoided him if she did. After all, the man wouldn't really realize what was going on, and she'd be long gone before he did.
But the two scents assaulting her right this second were both wolves. Could she have avoided this moment if fate hadn't matched both her roommates with local shifters, thrusting her into a world she'd denied for all these years?
She couldn't move yet. Her gaze rose to the wall behind Miranda's head. She untangled her fingers from the little girl's hair but clenched her fists and held herself rigid for several seconds, afraid to turn around.
"Uncle Charles!" Miranda bolted to a sitting position, pushing Jessica out of the way.
Charles? Was it possible? Fuck. Again that inappropriate word popped into her mind right here in the elementary school.
"I don't feel so well, Uncle Charles." Miranda lay back down and curled onto her side, the action of sitting up so quickly having upset her stomach once again.
Jessica laid her hand on Miranda's shoulder and slowly turned her gaze toward the door, where the only sound so far had been deep breaths.
When she finally swiveled around completely, she gasped. In the doorframe were two of the sexiest men she'd ever seen. And both of them had their gazes locked on her, neither acknowledging the child.
Jessica sucked in a breath, which was a mistake, and held it. The man on the left was taller, maybe six feet two. Clearly this was the prodigal son, Charles, because he looked so much like the other men she'd met from the family. Brown hair in need of a cut, a shade lighter than Justin's and Ryan's, the two older brothers. His deep brown gaze burrowed into her soul. He was rock solid and stood like a statue, rigidly holding his own breath.
Jessica's gaze darted one foot to the right. The man squeezed partway into the doorway next to him was about an inch or two shorter, but no less stunning. Blond hair, cut shorter than his friend's, stood at all angles as though he'd just run his hands through it. His eyes were the deepest blue she'd ever seen, like the ocean.
This friend of Charles, whose name she didn't even know yet, gripped one of Charles' arms at the biceps, his fingers turning white from the effort. Charles didn't even seem to notice.
A long moan forced all of them to turn toward Miranda, just before she hurled for the third time in the last half hour, this time right on the floor beside the cot.
"Excuse me," came a muffled voice from outside the room.
When Jess glanced back at the door, Charles and his friend had separated and entered the room, allowing the nurse to get through. The poor woman had been down the hall tending to a youngster who'd fallen in the cafeteria. Since she'd returned empty handed, a Band-Aid must have done the trick.
"Oh, you poor, poor child," she sang in the sweetest voice, perfect for a school nurse. Without batting an eye, the woman grabbed a cloth, wiped Miranda's face, and then got on her hands and knees to clean the mess on the floor.
"Uncle Charles? Will you take me home?"
Finally, Charles acknowledged Miranda. "Of course, munchkin. I just need to sign a few papers up front and we'll be on our way." That voice, deep and gravelly, made Jessica nearly faint. Oh my God.
Lust slammed into her like a freight train. As if it could get any worse than the last five minutes had been.
Charles backed toward the door, but his gaze didn't leave Jessica's.
For the first time in her life, she thanked God for the smell of vomit masking the tantalizing scent of her two burly mates. It was probably the only thing keeping her from melting into a sexual frenzy right there in the school.
Finally, Charles turned and left the room to sign the release papers in the adjoining office. His friend did not. He stood as though on guard, watching Jessica until her skin pimpled with goose bumps and a chill made her shake. It wasn't cold. Nope. Nothing that simple. First the smell of throw-up disappeared, replaced by the smell of lemon Pine-Sol. And then that quickly faded when the nurse walked out of the room, leaving Jessica alone with the scent of this unnamed mate of hers.
Well, perhaps those other smells hadn't really faded but instead were just overshadowed by the pheromones emitting from the blue-eyed stalker, who was now inching toward her as though she were prey. With each step, she got a stronger whiff of him, and she had to squeeze her legs together to keep from trembling. Or maybe trembling wasn't really her primary difficulty right then. All her blood ran to her core, sending a new shiver down her spine. Her sex tightened with the strongest need she'd ever experienced.
Moisture pooled between her legs. Thank God it was casual Friday, and she'd worn jeans. If she'd been sitting there in just a skirt or thin dress pants, she'd have been visibly leaking through the material.
Get a grip, Jess. She shook her head to clear her mind and turned back to Miranda. "I'll carry her out."
She needed fresh air, and she needed the opportunity to at least exchange pleasantries with these men before she went back to class.
How the hell was she going to go back in and finish this day? Lesson plans? She suddenly had no idea what first graders needed to learn. Maybe she could pop in some sort of educational video until she could pull herself together. Three hours. That's all she needed, and then it would be Christmas vacation, and she could sort this bizarre, unintended mess.