Melinda’s Wolves(4)

Keegan squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. I think we’re all three stunned and confused. I don’t have the answers. We get to know each other and take it one step at a time.”

“Where do you live? What do you do? Have you two known each other long?” She sucked in a breath after that rush of questions.

“Come on.” Trace nodded toward the steps Zachary had ascended. “Let’s walk.” He grabbed her free hand and tugged her off the deck and across the expanse of newly placed strips of grass behind the house. Keegan followed behind her, releasing her hand as they stepped away.

“Wait.” Melinda tugged her hand free of Trace and bent to remove her heels. She could barely walk as it was. She didn’t need the added difficulty of navigating the lawn on unsteady feet. “That’s better.” She left them where they lay and continued across the grass, putting some distance between the three of them and the house—at least enough space to not be overheard.

Finally, she stopped, both men halting on either side of her. She stared out at the land. “This is going to be complicated, isn’t it?”





Chapter Two


Trace couldn’t believe this was happening. His mind raced with the possibilities. How was this evening going to end? Whose house should they go to? How long did they need to stay at the party before they could make their escape?

Keegan stepped in front of Melinda and took her face in his hands. “It’s complicated, and it’s simple.” His face was serious. “The logistics will work themselves out. For now, we need to do whatever feels natural, get to know each other.”

Trace stepped up behind his mate. He was drawn to do so as though there was a magnetic pull between them. He set his hands on her slender waist and leaned into her back, sandwiching her with Keegan at her front.

Melinda leaned back against his chest. “Oh God. It’s overwhelming.” She had the same dark hair as Miles, though hers was long and wavy. Her skin was stunningly clear, a lighter shade than many Native Americans in the area. Her face was round like Miles, and her brown eyes danced in the same jovial manner. The similarities stopped there, however. While Miles was over six feet tall, Melinda was barely five feet.

“It is.” He stroked his hands up her arms until he reached her bare shoulders. When he flipped her hair away from her neck, he couldn’t resist leaning in to kiss her skin.

Melinda shivered beneath his touch, her body stiffening a moment later. “Oh God…” she repeated, her voice lower this time.

Trace watched as Keegan kissed her forehead, inhaling long and slow. He fidgeted as he drew back a few inches. If his cock was half as hard as Trace’s, he had to be hurting.

Melinda rolled her head forward, setting it on Keegan’s chest. “I never expected… I mean two of you…” Her voice was soft, barely audible. She faced the ground between them.

“Yeah, I guess that would be a shock for you,” Trace said.

She lifted her face and twisted it to look at Trace. “It’s not a shock for you?”

Trace shrugged. “Well, not all of it. After Griffen mated with two people, it was pretty obvious all the Masters men would do the same.”

“Why?”

“All of our first cousins, the male ones anyway, on my dad’s side also mated with another man and a woman. When it happened to Griffen, the rest of us assumed we would succumb to the same fate.”

“I’m just damn lucky to be the other guy,” Keegan said.

“You’ve been friends for a while?” she asked.

Trace brushed more of her hair back and squeezed her shoulders. Her bone structure was miniature compared to him and Keegan. “Yes, since kindergarten.”

She sucked in a breath. “That long? I’m at a severe disadvantage.” She giggled. The sound of her voice tinkling like that made his balls draw up tight.

He suddenly wondered if he might come in his pants.

“I don’t care how long you’ve been friends,” she continued. “It still has to be weird to share a woman.”

Trace didn’t say a word. He didn’t even breathe as he met Keegan’s gaze over her head. The two of them wouldn’t keep secrets from her, but divulging their sexual preferences this early in the relationship was uncomfortable. At the moment he’d rather have hairs plucked from his legs.

Luckily, she caught on fast before either he or Keegan spoke. She groaned. “Oh God. I’m such an idiot.” She wiggled out from between them and faced them from the side. “You’ve shared women before.”

Trace hated the way she crossed her arms under her breasts, closing herself off. He nodded.