Allister, J. Rose - Discarded Cowboys [Lone Wolves of Shay Falls 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (10 page)

“Dare I take that gag off her?” Russell asked, pressing a hand to his injured side, which she’d sliced open pretty good. Wolves healed fast, though. Besides, he deserved it.

He slid a gaze to Drew, who was peering out a back window. “Do you think she’ll behave?”

Drew snorted. “What, Tal, behave? Don’t bet on it.”

He turned. She noted that while he, too, wore generous streaks of dirt like Russell, his breathing was once again even and he had barely broken a sweat. She saw him watching her appraisal, and the heated smile he turned on her suggested a sexual interpretation for it.

His eyes flicked to the other man. “You look half-tuckered, Russ. And here I thought I bonded myself to a real werewolf.”

Russell glared at him. “Next time,
you
carry a thrashin’ filly over your shoulder while sliced up and fleein’ halfway over the mountain.”

“Wuss.”

Russell rolled his eyes and leaned over her. She did her best to avert her eyes from the meaty cock that was now no more than a foot away from her face. “What the hell,” he said. “Might as well get this over with.”

He reached behind her head and fiddled with the knot, and miraculously, she felt the taut fabric give way.

“I should never have trusted you,” she spat as soon as the scarf was loose. “I can’t believe you tricked me like that.”

Russell laughed. “Yeah? You mean like ‘come with me and I’ll cure you’? Now, we’re even.”

“Not yet, you ain’t,” Drew said. “Put her naked in a cage and let some jackhole jab her with an electrified stick.
Then
you’ll be even.” With that, he turned and stalked through the doorway that appeared to lead into a kitchen.

Talaitha worked her jaw and licked the sides of her lips that felt dry and cracked from having the gag jammed against them. “At least I didn’t nearly give you heart failure by pretending I was dying.”

She tried to stand, but Russell pushed her back down. “No, you lured me in with promises of a phony cure for a disease I’d give my left nut to be rid of.” He bent close to her face, holding the knife cut on his side that was still seeping red. She leaned away until her head pressed into the back of the chair. “Do you really want to sit here comparin’ which of us used crueler tactics?”

She shoved him away. “No, I don’t want to
sit
here at all. I want to go back to the camp. Why did you even bring me along for the big escape, anyway?”

He stood up with a wince. “I didn’t think it’d be fittin’ to dispatch a lady the way Drew took care of your Gypsy friend,” he said. “And I couldn’t very well leave you there to sound the alarm.”

“Marko is hardly a friend.” She stood up and adjusted her blouse so the elastic rode higher on her shoulders. “And as fast as you seem able to run, I shouldn’t think it would matter if you’d let me scream all I wanted.”

“Now there’s a picture,” he said, taking advantage of her stance to close the short distance between them. “Me lettin’ you scream.”

“How did you know to fake being poisoned, anyway?” she asked, ignoring the bait. “Monkshood in small doses has no taste.”

“He didn’t exactly use a small dose. And we could smell somethin’ was off about the food when it came. Didn’t eat it.” He put a hand to the side that was still bleeding as he leaned closer, inhaling her scent from very close to her temple. “Yet, despite your people’s lax feedin’ schedule, I find I’m starved for somethin’ quite different at the moment.”

“Rein in the testosterone, stud,” Drew said, wandering back into the room. He held a longneck bottle in each hand and took a deep draw off one while handing Russell the other. “I have to decide our next move.”

Talaitha moved away from Russell, making a face as he cracked open the brew. “So it’s not enough that you break into someone’s home? You have to steal their beer, too?”

“
My
beer, you mean,” Drew said, raising the brew as if in toast.

“Sure, now that you’ve put your lips all over it.”

“There are other places my lips could be that should concern you more.”

He waggled his brows at her and took another sip. Irritating laughter sounded deep in Russell’s throat as he popped the top off his bottle and followed suit.

“Besides,” Drew went on, “this beer was mine when I put it in the fridge. This is my cabin.”

Both she and Russell stopped and glanced around. “I’m supposed to believe you broke into your own cabin?” she asked with open suspicion.

Drew raised his arms and glanced down at himself. “And where exactly do you imagine I’ve been hidin’ my key? I lost it in the woods when I shifted and shed my clothes.” He scruffed the top of his spiky hair. “My favorite hat was with ’em. Damn, I hate when that happens.”

“You live here?” Russell asked. “Seriously?”

Drew flashed him a look. “Better than where you live, I’d wager.”

“No offense,” the other man said. “It just surprised me. You said you were new around here, and lots of us in the area live a bit more in the open.”

“Not somethin’ I’m a fan of, by the way,” Drew said, setting his bottle down before crossing the room to the other doorway. “I gotta hit the can.”

As he vanished down the hall, Talaitha felt Russell’s eyes on her. Somehow, the idea of being alone with one naked werewolf was suddenly much more disconcerting than the thought of being alone with two.

“You sure have a strange sense of time,” he said, taking another long draw off his beer. He licked his lips when he was through, and her heart skipped a beat.

“What?”

He took a step closer and folded his arms. “Last time I saw you, you said you’d be right back. That was days ago.”

She shrugged, but avoided the glaze that was flaring gold. “I have things to do other than hang around a cage, you know.”

“But you thought about us, though. I could feel it.” Her feet seemed to melt into the floor when he moved closer. She saw twitches below his waist that made it evident he was becoming aroused. “I don’t get why I can sense you so strong now. I ain’t even touched you yet.”

“Haven’t touched me? You just lugged me over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes.”

“That ain’t the kind of touch I mean. Mates can pick up one another’s strong emotions once they’ve gotten physical.” His next step brought him close enough for her to feel heat pulsing off his skin. “Meanin’ once I’ve fucked you, if you still want to play coy.”

She clutched her hands together in front of her. “Don’t talk that way to me. You have no right.”

“I have every right, and you know it.” She flinched when he reached toward her, but he pressed forward and stroked his fingers through her hair. “Must be the magic you have in you that lets us sense each other already. I can feel it callin’ to mine.”

She stiffened, but a shiver passed through her at the touch of his hand.

“Heads up,” Drew called from the doorway. A pair of jeans came flying through the air. Russell caught them without missing a beat, wincing when he lifted the arm on the side he’d been cut. “I see the one between your legs already is.”

Drew pushed away from the doorframe, his boot heels striking the floor with each step he took toward her. He held a red T-shirt, along with a washrag and what appeared to be a bandage.

“Thanks,” Russell said.

“Figured Tal would appreciate not having to keep actin’ like her vision don’t extend below the waist,” Drew said.

He was already dressed, and Talaitha couldn’t help but stare at the results. It was odd to see Drew clothed at all, and the simple outfit he had chosen molded so perfectly to his form that it accentuated his physique in a wholly appealing, masculine way. Tight black denims skimmed every inch of the muscular legs and hips she’d grown quite familiar with, and the skin-hugging black muscle shirt left no doubt as to the exquisitely sculpted chest beneath. Black boots completed the picture of a well-turned cowboy, even without his hat. The kind of cowboy who had invaded her most shameful dreams. But until the past week, his face was not the one who had starred in her unspoken fantasies. That man stood in front of him, zipping the fly on a pair of blue jeans that somehow fit even more snugly than Drew’s.

Drew frowned at the cut on Russell’s front. “That should have healed already,” he said. “Damn knife must have been pure silver.”

“It was an accident,” Talaitha said. “Which wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t grabbed me like a madman.”

She watched as he used the rag to wash away the blood and then bandaged the small wound. Russell tugged on the red T-shirt, pulling it over the dressing. It took her a moment to register what the saying on the front referred to, and her mouth fell open when she did. He noticed her response and glanced down at the slogan, which was written inside the outline of a steer head with a pair of panties stuck on the horns.

He arched a brow at Drew. “‘Will Ride for Beer’?”

Drew grinned. “Won that shirt at a bull-ridin’ contest. I came in second.”

Russell’s eyes narrowed in skepticism. “You did the rodeo circuit?”

“
Mechanical
bull. As in a bar? The real thing don’t exactly take to our kind, even if I was half-cocked enough to want to try it.”

Russell snorted. “You may be many things, but half-cocked ain’t one of ’em.” The way he eyed him up and down lit a slow burn in Talaitha’s stomach. “I’d say you’re nothin’ if not one hundred percent fully cocked.”

“And ready at all times.” Drew backed up a step. “I reckon we could use a week-long shower, not that the bucket of cold water before we were supposed to make our freak show debut wasn’t appreciated. But we have a couple of things to decide first.” His gaze fell on her. “Like what to do with you while we lather up.”

She folded her arms and tried to project calm. “I’d say you’ve done quite enough. And if you’re trying to suggest I hold the soap for you while you bathe, you can forget it. Just let me go so I can return to my clan.”

Drew shook his head slowly. “You want to be here with us.” His eyes held the same note of challenge as his words. “Or else you wouldn’t have come blazin’ into that tent to rescue us from a dire fate.”

“Not quite so dire, considering you were faking.”

“Didn’t fake bein’ shocked by a cattle prod,” he snapped. “That shit was real enough.”

She lifted her chin, and not merely because his tall form continued advancing on her. “Just because I don’t believe in cruelty to animals doesn’t mean I wanted you dragging me off like primitive cavemen.”

Russell’s voice came from close behind her. Too close. “I believe cavemen used to drag their women by the hair, not over their shoulders.” His breath caressed her cheek as he leaned in, and his body heat seared her. “And they would not have resisted the urge to squeeze that ripe, round ass.”

With Russell pressed against her and Drew close enough for his tangy male aroma to short-circuit her senses, Talaitha felt very much like the meat filling in a hot, spicy sandwich. An image of the three of them tangled together without any garments between them caught her off guard, and she lurched sideways to escape their mind-twisting influence. If she stayed, things would get out of control. She knew they would.

Without hesitation, she bolted and made a beeline for the cabin door.

Chapter Five

Talaitha fully expected them to stop her from escaping and felt disappointment mingled with irritation when they didn’t. She managed to close her hand around the knob and pull it open to a rush of cool mountain air. The folly of her actions didn’t quite sink in as she bustled from the cabin and struck off through the night. She was too desperate to distance herself from the men who had a way of making her feel naked, even when she was layered up and they hadn’t a stitch on.