Undone by Her Two Masters(4)
Great. A woman. A fucking millstone around my neck more like.
* * * *
York had been attracted to Nevis Greenway from the time she’d arrived on the mountain, but was certain it was just lust. A lust he had no intention of doing anything about, since she was only there for a short time. Had she been planning to stay, he might have taken it further. He and Bronx, one of the company branch managers, had talked some about sharing a woman. That sounded like a mighty fine idea to York.
All over the world shape-shifters of all descriptions were dying out. Two-thirds of all shifter babies born for the past few generations were males, and since many packs completely banned any association with humans, that meant half the young men never had a mate. For their pack, hidden high up on the mountain, the problem was compounded by their lack of opportunity to meet other women of any species. But a year or so ago the Supreme Alpha of North America had decreed that interspecies marriages, and several men sharing a woman, were acceptable, so some of the wolves had been looking for a human partner to share. And, in this case, Nevis was most deliciously human.
The problem was, would it be fair to expect her to stay on the mountain with him and wait until some unnamed future time when Bronx was reassigned back to live there, too? And the short answer to that was hell, no.
So he rubbed his blue balls and jacked off morning and night, wondering what she looked like naked. Naked in bed. Naked in bed sandwiched between him and Bronx.
He was buried deep in a coding problem, when his office door slammed back against the wall, and Bronx marched in saying, “We need to talk.”
“That may be so. But I’d prefer you not to put divots in my drywall when you open the door.”
Bronx ignored him, slamming the door shut, and saying, “I want to open a new branch. The town is ideally situated and there’s no competition. I told the Alpha all I needed was a strong, bright young man to take care of the paperwork and help keep the place running when I was away driving the truck, but no. He says I have to take a married couple because that’s what people expect in a town. Where the fuck am I to find a married couple I won’t want to strangle within ten minutes of meeting them?”
York smiled. His big friend wouldn’t really strangle anyone. Smash a hole in the drywall? Yes. But actually hurt people? No. “So who are you taking with you?”
“What?”
“Which mated pair are you taking to establish this new branch with you?”
“Oh, yeah. Kingston said he wouldn’t mind if you went with me. That you could do stuff for him remotely, and that other people could take over the hands-on tasks here. But we need a woman. The Alpha said small towns think men alone are going to be troublemakers but that if we have a woman with us we’ll be accepted better. Personally I think he’s crazy but—um, what I mean is, I’m sure the Alpha is correct, but where the fuck am I to find a woman?”
York was struggling not to laugh. Poor Bronx. He wanted to rant at Master Kingston but his innate allegiance to his Alpha wouldn’t let him. Best to put the poor man out of his misery. “Sit down, relax and let me tell you about Nevis.”
“Who’s he?”
“She.”
“Huh?”
“Nevis is a female speech therapist, a human. She’s been staying here for a couple of months to relax and plan some changes in her life. She’s not a college student. She’s maybe five, six years younger than me.”
“How did she get here if she’s human? Is one of her parents a wolf?”
“Not as far as I know. She said she was good friends with one of Kingston’s ex-girlfriends. She also likes BDSM, has a voluptuous body with rich curves, and has a great sense of humor. My dick has been wanting inside her pants since the moment I saw her.”
“Did she say no to you?”
“Nope. I didn’t ask her. Because she’s only here for a short break I thought I was wasting my time talking to her. For a start you weren’t here and weren’t likely to be here either. But now, if we’re going to start up some new branch and you need a woman, she’d be perfect. If I have to be dragged away from my nice apartment here on the mountain I’d like to be mated first. As a speech therapist presumably she’ll find some work in town or nearby, I’ll work online for the pack and do your front office stuff, and you can set up the new branch.”
“York, she’s a woman. What’s she going to say when she finds the place I want to buy as our base is a disused warehouse and her new home is a double-wide trailer?”
“We can clean it for her, let her buy curtains, and whatever girl stuff she craves. The only thing we need is a great big bed for us to fuck her on, and a front room with Internet and a table for me to use as an office. This town has got Internet, hasn’t it?”