Jessica’s Wolves(22)

“Yeah, some … men.” Leslie wiggled in his seat and drew a random pattern on the floor with his shoe.

“Then what happened?” Jesus. Spit it out. Fucking men? That didn’t seem promising.

“She left with them.”

“Left? As in got in their car and drove away?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Did she know them? Did you?”

“Never seen them before, sir. But Alyssa seemed to know them.”

Great. “Is there anything else you can remember? Anything at all. Any detail you can provide would be helpful.”

Leslie looked up, fear for his friend’s safety warring with his fidelity toward her.

“You wouldn’t want anything to happen to her, would you? She’s a good girl. We need to find her before she gets hurt.” Hopefully that would be the trump card. Appeal to the kid’s sense of fear.

Leslie leaned backward in his seat and stretched one leg to reach into his pocket. He pulled out a small slip of paper and handed it to Fredrick with trembling fingers. “Will this help?”

Fredrick smiled broadly for the first time in two days.

* * * *

Someone was calling her name. No, whispering it. Right next to her ear. Dragging her from sleep.

Jessica bolted up. How long had she been asleep? Please tell me it’s been hours because I sure didn’t get more than twenty minutes at a time last night.

Glancing back and forth, she became aware of Reese and Charles flanking her on either side.

“Sorry, baby. I hated to wake you. You were finally so peaceful. You’ve been wiggling around forever as though caught in a nightmare.” Charles ran a hand up and down her arm.

Jessica sank back onto the bed. So, what’s the emergency?

“You were watching me sleep? What time is it?”

“Almost midnight. And yes. Well, not for very long. We were acutely aware of you even when we weren’t in the room though.”

“Midnight? Seriously?” Jessica realized they were whispering. It was very dark. Of course, she could see fine in the dark, but she still knew it was late.

There wasn’t another sound in the house.

“Everyone’s asleep.” Reese eased alongside her on the left.

Charles did the same on the right. They cocooned her in their warmth, each with a hand on her, rubbing her arm, her belly. That tight knot in her stomach flared anew.

“I need to go home. Why didn’t anyone wake me?”

“No one wanted to bother you. You were clearly tired and upset. Kara and Lindsey were very protective, insisting you be left alone.” Reese was the one with his palm on her middle section. With his fingers spread, his hand spanned distinctly from under her breasts to the top of her jeans.

“And now?”

“Now, we were finally able to talk to you without the whole world knowing.” Charles grinned.

Memory slammed back. “Who was the woman with you?” She wasn’t asleep now.

Charles turned his grin into a chuckle. “Caught that, did you?”

“She went home hours ago with Nancy.” Reese moved that damn hand as he spoke, driving her mad. “It’s complicated. Can we talk about it later? We really want to focus on you right now.”

“No, we can’t fucking talk about it later. Are you guys with her? Why the hell would you be pursuing me if you already have a woman in your bed?” Ooh. She stiffened.

And even with that information, her damn body continued to warm and respond to the finger climbing up her arm and the palm pressing into her belly. She squeezed her legs together. She needed to be mad right now. “Why would you chase me like rabid dogs yesterday and then bring another woman to Kara’s party today? Even if you were together with her before you met me, why the hell would you not have broken it off with her yesterday as soon as we met? How crude. How can you claim to be my mates but still keep another woman in your beds?”

“She isn’t a threat to you. We are most definitely not with her. It’s a long story. I promise. Trust us.” Charles leaned in and planted kisses along the line of her neck. Between them he continued to murmur. “Can we talk about Alyssa later?”

Jessica held still, rigid. She willed her body to stop coming alive under their touch. It was infuriating the way she reacted. They turned her brain to mush. She prayed for some sort of God to put an end to the maddening scent of their presence threatening to drive her to do something she would later regret. “Why are you still here?”

“Conveniently, we got trapped.” Reese pressed into her side, making her acutely aware of his hard-on against her leg.

“Trapped?” That was not exactly the most romantic way to lure a woman you clearly wanted to fuck.