Defying Pack Law (16 page)

“
Dresses? God, it’s been a while
since I’ve worn something other than pants.” She’d had no reason to
dress up or indulge in feminine articles.

“
I’d prefer you naked, but there’s
something to be said about unwrapping.” Kody flashed her a cocky
grin.

Dana laughed. “What am I going to do with
you?”

“
Anything you want,” he replied in a
serious tone.

The intent look he tossed her way
flustered her a bit. If it hadn’t been for what she’d begun with
Nathan, she would have flung off her towel and shown him what she
wanted—him naked.
I am turning into a
veritable slut.
And she couldn’t care
less.

Dana approached the bed and opened the nearest
bag. She pulled out some light summer frocks along with some
sandals and scraps of material that made her gasp. “You bought me
thongs!”

“
Damned straight I did,” Kody said
with an unrepentant leer that went well with his twinkling green
eyes. “And I’m hoping you’ll wear one to dinner along with one of
your new dresses ’cause after my shower, I was planning on going
barefoot.” He waggled his brows at her, and Dana laughed at his
audacity.

“
You are so bad!”

“
Funny, I was going to say I
was
really good.
”

He came up off the bed so quickly Dana took a
step back. He stood in front of her and stared down, not saying
anything, but his intent was clear in his gaze. Dana’s eyes
fluttered shut as he leaned in and brushed her lips with his. She
moved in closer to him and parted her mouth in invitation. He
didn’t press his advantage. He tugged her lower lip between his and
sucked it before letting it go and stepping back.

“
See you at dinner,” he whispered
with bright eyes. “And thanks for not maiming me this
time.”

He began to walk toward the door. Dana whipped
off her towel and yodeled, “Oh, Kody.”

His head craned to look back. She licked a
finger and ran it down her body. Then she winked and said, “I can’t
wait.”

His eyes widened, and still in motion, he
walked into the doorjamb. He bounced back and scowled at her even
as his lips tried to tug upward into a smile. “And they say I’m the
bad one.”

She blew him a kiss, which he caught with a
grin before he closed the door.

Dana debated wearing her own clothes, but in
the end wore what Kody had chosen for her. She had to give him
credit. The man had taste and an eye for size. The dress fit her
perfectly and, while it hit her knee, clung to her figure in a
flattering manner. She stepped into the flimsy panties, biting her
lip at the strange sensation of the stringlike part sliding up
between her cheeks. Funny how a pair of undergarments could make
her wet and cause her to blush. She ended up not wearing a bra. She
liked the way her nipples protruded through the fabric when she
tweaked them.

Tonight was about seduction and changing her
life. Hopefully for the better.

Dana slipped on a pair of sandals but refrained
from makeup. She wasn’t into unnatural artifice, and her wolves
didn’t seem to mind. She dried and brushed her hair until it
crackled and floated about her in a silken wave. She peered at
herself in the mirror, stunned. Gone were the lines of tension in
her forehead. Her cheeks held a pink flush. Her eyes glowed with
brightness, and her lips appeared lush and full—like a woman who
kept getting kissed.

Taking a deep breath, nervous at what she
planned to do later on—namely exchange marks with Nathan—she left
the room. She heard the murmur of the boys’ voices as she
approached the stairs, but as she descended, it got dead silent.
She wondered if she’d managed to tuck her skirt into her undies or
something given the way they regarded her with dropped
jaws.

“
What?” she asked when she reached
the bottom and they still didn’t say a word. She craned to peer
behind her, but everything seemed in place.

John recovered first and approached her to grab
her hand. “You look beautiful,” he murmured. He drew her in for a
chaste kiss, or at least that might have been his intention. She
licked the seam of his lips and heard his breath hitch. She looked
forward to the near future when she’d get to see her calm doctor
lose his cool.

“
Thanks,” she murmured, her insides
tingling at their brief touch.

Kody hip-checked John aside and lifted her hand
to place a kiss on the palm of it—with a bit of tongue. “You are
delicious-looking,” he added.

Heat pooled between her thighs, and she knew he
caught the scent of her arousal when he winked. Dana blushed even
hotter.

Nathan picked Kody up and moved him aside,
which made her giggle. He then stared down at her with burning
eyes.

“
What, don’t you have something to
say?” she teased.

He didn’t reply, just drew her up for a deep
kiss that left her in no doubt he liked her look.

“
Hey, are you going to let her
breathe anytime soon, because I think your dinner is burning,” Kody
announced.

Nathan let her go, reluctantly. “Later,” he
whispered.

Dana just bit her lip and nodded. As Nathan
busied himself at the oven, she allowed John to seat her, his hands
lingering at her back in a way that made her want to turn in his
arms for another kiss.

“
I trust you had a good workout,”
John asked, sitting beside her.

“
Um, you could say that,” Dana
stammered

Kody sat across from her and
smirked. “I can’t wait to
work out
with you.”

Dana stuck her tongue out at him, and Kody
laughed. “Don’t point that thing unless you’re prepared to use
it.”

Dana almost replied with,
Who says I’m not?
but
held back. Until she marked all three of them, and they her, she
needed to tread carefully, especially around Nathan, who seemed
determined that she partner with him first.

John’s arm rested across the back of her chair,
and his fingers tickled her nape, making her all too aware of him
beside her. The heat in her body made her wish she could hurry
through dinner to get to the main event with Nathan—and then
tomorrow with John, and then the next day with Kody. A pity she
couldn’t just do them all at once.

Dana almost sank under the table at
the thought.
Am I so horny that I’m ready
to just jump in bed with all three of them just like that?
She looked around at them, each appealing in his
own right, each determined to make her happy.
Actually, yes, yes I am.

The best part about her decision to give in to
her nature—and listen to her wolf—was the inner peace. She wasn’t
doing this because she had to or because they were forcing her. Her
decision to embark on a true mating came about because she wanted
it.

And her body craved it.

Dinner ended up almost a repeat of the previous
day’s with the exception that there was a lot less tension between
the boys. However, the touches and smiles had the same
arousal-heightening effect. Dana felt drunk with all the innocent
stimulation, enough that she abstained from the wine they served.
With her luck it would go straight to her crotch, and she’d end up
on the table begging them to take her. She wanted her first time
with each to be one-on-one and special, something she could later
remember as the moment she’d chosen to link her fate with a man who
made her happy. Kody, despite his earlier tease of playing with
her, kept his feet to himself—how unfortunate. But she knew it was
out of respect for Nathan and the fact this was to be his night.
Not that it stopped them from teasing her in other ways.

In an effort to clear her thoughts, she
broached Nathan’s ill-timed phone call of earlier. “So what did the
council want?” she asked, taking a bite of the decadent pasta
covered in cream sauce that Nathan had prepared for dinner along
with some toasted cheese baguette.

“
Knowing we’d rescued you, they were
curious to know if you’d been claimed yet.”

“
And you told them?” she
urged.

“
That you would do so when you felt
the time was right.”

Dana shot him a smile, pleased with his answer.
“That doesn’t sound so urgent to me.”

Nathan shifted in his seat. “They also sent a
warning that one of their trackers followed some rogues, possibly
the same ones who captured you, into the area.”

Dana froze, her fork held in midair. Fear sent
icy fingers up her spine, and she bit back a whimper as the memory
of the pain and despair they’d subjected her to came back to haunt
her. She suffered the memory and fear only for a moment before her
inner courage and the comforting presence of the men around her
melted that temporary emotion. “Let me know when you’re going
hunting. I’d love to be part of the group that takes those
slimeballs down.”

She saw the boys exchange a look and
wanted to roll her eyes at their transparency. Like she didn’t know
they’d attempt to keep her at home, where they thought it
safe.
Men can be so predictable. I do have
to admit, it is kind of cute, not to mention nice, to know I’ve got
someone, make that several someones, watching my back.

Their conversation veered by design as they
distracted her from the Lycan council’s warning, but Dana made a
mental note to pull out her pistol loaded with silver bullets from
her duffel bag. From now on, she wasn’t going anywhere without the
weapon she called The Equalizer. Brute strength and testosterone
were no match for a well-placed bullet.

Around dessert, relaxed if horny, she broached
something that nagged at her. “I don’t get it. How come none of you
have girlfriends? I mean, you’re good-looking, young, and
house-trained. You should have women lining up to leash you,” she
asked, suddenly wondering in horror if perhaps they’d begun to toy
with her while stringing along some other poor girl. While female
Lycans were prized as mates and not available for dallying, there
were dormants and widows available, and even if human girls
couldn’t carry pups, they could sate a male’s baser
needs.

John replied first. “I haven’t been with anyone
in about two years now. I honestly just didn’t have any interest. I
must have known you were coming.” He squeezed her thigh when he
spoke.

Nathan and Kody both groaned at his cheesy
line, but Dana smiled at him. Corny or not, she’d liked
it.

“
I never keep a regular girlfriend,”
Kody boasted. “I don’t need to because everywhere I go, women fall
all over me.” Dana arched a brow at him, and Kody turned red. “Of
course, that’s changed since I met you. I swear, once you mark me,
I will be the most faithful wolf you ever saw. Why wouldn’t I be
when you make my wolf howl without even touching me?”

“
Oh please,” Dana
laughed.

Kody’s expression turned serious. “I mean it,
Dana. Since I met you, I haven’t even looked at another female,
even the ones who’ve thrown themselves at me.”

For a moment Dana saw green as the
idea of women touching Kody—
my
man
—roused a jealousy she’d never known she
had in her.

Shaking off her possessive feelings, she turned
with a smile to Nathan. “And I know you haven’t been with anyone
because you were looking and waiting for me.”

Nathan shifted uncomfortably. “Um, that’s not
entirely true.”

“
What do you mean?” Dana
asked.

“
You left, and I wasn’t sure if I
would ever see you again. And,”—his eyes dropped as he fiddled with
his flatware—“well, a man’s got needs.”

She thought she misunderstood him. Surely,
after all his claims of always loving her, he wouldn’t have
betrayed her with another woman? “Are you telling me you’ve slept
with someone else?”

“
You were gone, so yeah, I did. But
they meant nothing to me. I only ever loved you.”

Dana heard a roaring in her head, and a sharp
pain gripped her heart. “They? How many women have you fucked?” The
crude word slipped out, and she saw Nathan wince.

“
I don’t know, a few. But not as
many as Kody. Why the hell aren’t you getting mad at him or John?
It’s not like they haven’t buried their pricks in pussies other
than yours.” Nathan bristled, and Dana wanted to crawl into a hole
and cry at her naïveté.

Tears filled her eyes. “But they’re not the
ones claiming they never stopped loving me or looking for me in the
last twelve years.”

“
I was horny, and you were gone.
What the fuck did you expect me to do?”

Dana understood with some part of her mind that
she acted irrationally, not that she cared. The thought of Nathan
touching another woman, pleasuring some slut like he’d pleasured
her, drove her to it. And broke her heart. “You know, there’s
something called masturbation when you get horny and the one you
love isn’t around. Or, if your hands aren’t good enough, then you
should have invested in a fucking pocket pussy.”

Nathan stood and glowered down at her. “Why the
fuck would I do that when I could get the real thing anytime,
anywhere?”