Loving Lachlyn (Ashland Pride Two) (19 page)

Lachlyn felt tears sting her eyes as she accepted the ring and pushed it onto her index finger.  The women stepped together and hugged, all of them sniffling now and wiping away tears.

“Are you ready to be married?” Sam asked as they turned and walked back to the clearing.

“I am.”

The ceremony, given by were-bear Pastor Giselle, was beautiful.  Don gave Lachlyn away, and the pastor changed the vows to include Jericho.  While she’d been getting ready, Jericho and Alek had changed into dress slacks and shirts with matching blue ties.  When the marriage ceremony was finished, and they had exchanged wedding bands, James stepped forward and asked if the pride would accept Jericho as a member, and the cheers and whistles told her just how much the pride cared for him.

They walked back to the house, Jericho carrying her so she didn’t stumble in the rapidly approaching darkness.  Tables had been set up outside.  A cake, frosted white with blue flowers, was brought out and the three of them cut it and shared the first piece together.  Grant hooked his iPod to a speaker system and music filled the air.  She danced with Alek and Jericho together, sandwiched between them.  She danced with all of her new uncles, her new brothers-in-law, and her little cousins.

Alek pulled her into his arms and kissed her cheek.  “Are you ready for our wedding night, my darling wife?”

She liked the sound of that.
Wife
.  “Absolutely.”

They said goodbye to the pride, leaving them to continue on with the dancing.  Alek carried her into the house, but surprised her when he bypassed the stairs.  Jericho opened the front door, and Alek carried her outside and to the camper that was parked at the side of the house.  Jericho opened the door and Alek maneuvered them through.

Jericho shut and locked the door.  Alek smiled down at her.  “Welcome to the honeymoon suite.”

She smiled.  Anywhere was paradise with her mates.  “It’s perfect.”

Alek carried her back to the bedroom, and Jericho began to turn on electric candles, setting them on every available flat surface.  “It’s not exactly perfect, but until we can get away for a real honeymoon, then it’s as close as we can get,” Jericho said.

“You two are my husbands.  Anywhere we are is perfect in my mind.”

Alek laughed.  “Are there any two luckier males in the whole world than us?”

“I don’t believe so.”

Jericho and Alek stood at the end of the bed.  Alek crooked his finger at her, and she moved on her knees to the edge of the mattress where he caught her hips with his hands and kissed her.  She heard movement to the side and knew that Jericho was stripping his clothes off.  The bed tipped and she felt Jericho’s hot, naked body press against her.

Alek pulled away from the drugging kiss, and Jericho turned her around and kissed her.  His tongue tangled with hers as he pulled her close.  She heard the sound of Alek’s clothes hitting the floor, and then his hands were on the zipper of her dress.  Jericho found the pins holding her veil.  He removed them and laid it reverently on a small side table next to the bed.

Jericho laid her back as Alek pulled the dress from her body and then joined them on her other side.  She loved the heated looks in their eyes as they looked at her lace-covered body.

Alek kissed her as Jericho pulled on the ribbon holding the corset closed, and then Alek slid down the bed and ran his finger along the inside of her panties.

Jericho growled lightly as he freed the ribbon and spread open the soft lace of the corset.  He palmed one of her breasts and leaned down to suck the nipple into his mouth, his cheeks hollowing with the motion.  She arched up, her hands gripping the blanket underneath her.

Alek pulled her panties off and pushed her thighs apart, settling between them.  He nuzzled the inside of her thigh, and she felt his teeth gently scrape there, making shivers run up and down her body.  He paused for a moment, his hot breath washing over her throbbing pussy, and then he spread her apart with his thumbs and inhaled deeply.  He purred and then flicked his tongue across her clit before spearing it inside.  Jericho’s fingers found her other nipple, and he began to pinch the bud rhythmically, his teeth mimicking the same motion.  Her stomach began to clench as Alek worked her pussy, alternating between tonguing her core and lapping at her clit.

Her muscles trembled and she panted as heat filled her and her climax loomed over her.  Alek stroked the length of her pussy and then sucked her clit into his mouth, and she fell apart, writhing underneath them as they wrung every last ounce of pleasure from her climax.

Boneless and pleasure hazed, she frowned when a cock brushed against her cheek.  She realized that they had rearranged her and themselves so she was no longer on her back but was on her hands and knees between Jericho’s legs.  Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the adoration in Alek’s eyes as he looked at her.  He knelt behind her, and she knew that this was the perfect way to spend their wedding night.  The three of them, truly together.

Opening her mouth wide, she took Jericho into her mouth and gripped the base of his thick cock with one hand.  Alek slid inside her pussy, and she moaned.  Jericho groaned and pushed his fingers into her hair and gripped her.  The salty, spicy taste of Jericho filled her mouth as she worked him with the same pace that Alek made love to her.  Alek’s hands dug into her hips, holding her still as he twisted and circled his hips as he drove inside her.

She circled the head of Jericho’s cock, deviling the sensitive underside where the shaft met the crown, and nibbled her lips down the thick vein.  Her fingers slipped down to his balls as one of Alek’s hands moved from her hip to her pussy and his fingers began to strum quickly on the sensitive bud.

“Oh, Alek, oh,” she moaned.

Her body began to tremble, and she knew she was close to coming.  She wanted to take them with her.  Diving back down on Jericho’s cock, she took him as far back into her mouth as she could, massaging his balls.

“Damn, I’m close,” Alek groaned, his voice edged with a growl.

She squeezed her pussy, and he pinched her clit, tugging with the same fast pace that he thrust into her.  She fell apart at the same moment she felt Jericho’s cock spasm and tasted the first of his come as it splashed against her tongue.

“Sunshine!” Jericho’s hands tightened almost painfully in her hair, but she was too caught up in her own pleasure to care.  Alek said her name a dozen times as he came deep inside her.  With a groan, Alek slipped down to the bed and pulled her with him, and she wound up sprawled half over Jericho and cuddled tight in Alek’s arms.

Silence came back quickly in the trailer as they caught their breaths.

“That was amazing,” she whispered.  “I loved you guys sharing me like that.”

Jericho stroked his fingers along her jaw.  “It seemed appropriate to share you like this on our wedding night.  I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

Alek tightened his hold on her.  “You didn’t mind our surprise wedding?”

“I loved it.  And I love you both,” she promised.

Alek got up and returned with a bottle of wine and three glasses, and they toasted their marriage and their future.

The future was looking very good indeed.

Chapter 22

Lachlyn climbed out of the RV and stretched with a groan.  “It’s good to be out of that thing.”

Alek grinned, agreeing entirely.  They’d decided to make a non-stop trip to Virginia, so he and Jericho had taken shifts driving.  It wasn’t a bad drive, just a long one.

The door to a trailer opened, and a man stepped out.  “You didn’t have to bring that bucket of bolts back here, you know.”

Jericho hugged the man with a laugh.  “Of course I did.  Parking is limited at the house, and this lawn sculpture was taking up way too much space.”

Jericho introduced Alek to his Uncle Brio, and Alek shook his hand.  Lachlyn hugged Brio.  “Thank you for helping us,” she said.

“That’s what family does.”  He turned and opened the door to the trailer.  “Have a seat at the picnic table.  I’ve got lunch.”

They sat beneath the shade of a tree and had sandwiches and potato salad.  Jericho and Lachlyn filled Brio in on what happened.

“What’s happened to the den since we’ve been gone?” Jericho asked.

Brio swallowed the bite of sandwich, washing it down with a drink of sweet tea, and asked, “Do you remember Nina?”

Jericho asked, “Is that the female you dated in high school, whose mate died serving in the army a few years ago?”

“The very same.  Anyway, Nina has always fed me information about the den in exchange for certain services that we can provide for each other.”

Lachlyn chuckled.  “Services?  Is that what they call it now?”

Brio grinned.  “Well, it’s not anything romantic, just two lonely people getting together once in awhile.  At any rate, Nina said that your father had Will watching all the databases — Feds, DMV, the works — looking for you and Lachlyn.”

At Alek’s confused look, Jericho clarified, “Will is a cop and also a den member.  My father used Will to make sure that he and the rest of the den never got caught doing anything illegal.”

Alek nodded.  If one was going to have a criminal enterprise like Detroit had, then having a crooked cop in the den was a good thing.

“The last time I talked to Nina, the strangest thing had happened.  A woman had apparently called Detroit and given him the address of the house where you two were staying.  By the time I got the information, Detroit was already gone, so I called Don and he told me everything that happened.  I wish I’d gotten the information faster so I could have helped, but I’m glad that things worked out okay.”

Jericho nodded.  “If it weren’t for the pride’s help, we would have been in serious trouble.  My father didn’t bring his men up there to have a conversation.”

Lachlyn asked, “Did my grandmother’s house sell?”

Brio nodded.  “It sold pretty quickly.  A young mated couple bought it.”  He got up from the picnic table and went into the trailer.  He returned with a cardboard box.

“Oh!”  Lachlyn gasped and stood, going to him and looking into the box.  “You saved it.  Thank you!”

She took the box from Brio and gave him a one-armed hug.

“It was my pleasure.”

She brought the box back to the table and looked inside.  Alek could tell by the look on her face that she hadn’t expected to ever see the contents again.  After a long moment, she looked at Alek and him told she’d saved some items from her grandmother’s house.  She pulled a purse from inside the box and breathed a sigh of relief when she unzipped it and retrieved a cell phone and wallet.

“It’s amazing how lost I felt without my wallet,” she said, opening it and running her fingers across the cards tucked into the slots.

“I wish I could have gotten your things for you, Sunshine,” Jericho said.

She shrugged.  “I wouldn’t have been able to use them anyway.  I’m glad to have them back now, and my favorite Ed Hardy purse.”  She patted the gray and white cheetah patterned purse fondly.

Jericho asked Brio what was happening with the bear den.  Alek was curious about that as well.  As a lion pride, they had no official leader, so if someone left or died, although it would be heartbreaking, it wouldn’t leave the pride floundering.  Bear dens were run by a king bear.  The position of king was hereditary, passed down from generation to generation.  If Jericho hadn’t left the den, he would have eventually become king.  From what Lachlyn had told him, his father would never have allowed Jericho to mate with a non-shifting bear, so she had never thought they would end up together.

“Since you
ekscluhded
yourself from the den and Detroit and his cronies are gone, the elders asked me to take over the den,” Brio said.

“Really?” Lachlyn asked.  “What did you say?”

He chuckled.  “I said that I’d be happy to lead the den as long as they didn’t expect me to carry on in Detroit’s footsteps.”

Jericho said, “I bet they jumped up and down in joy.”

“Who are the elders?” Alek asked.

“They’re the oldest members of the den.  They are supposed to be counselors to the king.  Detroit disbanded the council when he took over kingship, but they continued to meet in secrecy.  I think they knew he would eventually do something so insane that it would lead to his death.”  Brio paused and looked at the three of them.  “I would offer to let you join the den again, but I know that you’re happy where you are with the mountain lions.  I’m happy that you three have found each other, and I wish you a lifetime of happiness.”

They stayed for a while longer and then Jericho wanted to see his mother’s grave before they left.  As they said goodbye to Brio, he shook Alek’s hand.  “Take good care of your family, Alek.  You have a precious gift to watch over.”

“I will,” Alek promised.

As Brio hugged Lachlyn and she thanked him for everything, he said, “If you really want to thank me, you can name one of your sons after me.”

Lachlyn said, “Brio Fallon has a nice ring to it.”

Alek thought so as well.  They left the trailer and drove Jericho’s pickup to a cemetery at the Long Grove Methodist Church.  Jericho drove through the cemetery, turning this way and that as they wove through the headstones, before he stopped and turned off the truck.  Alek was going to leave Jericho to his privacy and stay in the car with Lachlyn, but Jericho stood at the open truck door and said, “Would you guys come with me?”

Alek opened his door and held Lachlyn’s hand as she got out of the truck.  The three of them walked together until Jericho stopped at a pink marble headstone with two names carved into it.

Myra Knight and Farris Knight.

They stood together in front of the headstone.  He and Jericho held Lachlyn’s hands as she stood between them.  The cemetery was quiet save for the sounds of a light breeze rustling the leaves in the trees and birds singing.

“I wish she could have known you, Lachlyn.  And you, too, Alek.  She would have loved you both and been happy for us.”

Alek and Lachlyn both said they would have loved to know her, too.  Silence settled over them again, and his mind drifted to his past.  Alek’s mother was somewhere out in the world, but she had never acknowledged him or his brothers.  He envied Jericho’s and Lachlyn’s relationships with their mothers, even if Jericho’s had been fleeting.  At least they had both been loved and wanted.

He had Lachlyn now, and he knew that she would be a wonderful mother to their children.  Not only because she’d had a good example to follow, but also because she was so compassionate and giving.  What he and Jericho lacked in upbringing, both of them with personal demons of varying degrees, Lachlyn would fill in the gaps, and together the three of them would build a life for themselves and their children that no one would be able to tear down.  Their kids would be loved because their parents loved and cared for each other.

After awhile, Jericho was ready to leave, and they began the journey to Fremont, Georgia, to pack up Lachlyn’s apartment and settle her affairs before heading home to Ashland.

Lachlyn leaned her head on his shoulder and yawned.

“Sleepy, sweetheart?” he asked, kissing the top of her head.

“It’s tiring work having two mates.”

He heard the smile in her voice.

He and Jericho chuckled.

She added, “Tiring but worth it.”

Finding Lachlyn, sharing her, loving her…it was all worth the anguish of the past few days and the loneliness he’d experienced before she came into his life.  With their safety assured, they could now live their lives as they wanted to.  And he wanted to love Lachlyn to the best of his abilities forever.

She was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and he couldn’t wait to see what their future held.

The End

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Contact the Author

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Also from R. E. Butler

Wiccan-Were-Bear Novella Series

A Curve of Claw

A Flash of Fang

A Price for a Princess

A Bond of Brothers

A Bead of Blood

A Twitch of Tail

The Wolf’s Mate Series

The Wolf’s Mate Book 1:  Jason & Cadence

The Wolf’s Mate Book 2:  Linus & The Angel

The Wolf’s Mate Book 3:  Callie & The Cats

The Wolf’s Mate Book 4:  Michael & Shyne

The Wolf’s Mate Book 5:  Bo & Reika

The Wolf’s Mate Book 6:  Logan & Jenna

The Necklace Chronicles

The Tribe’s Bride

The Gigolo’s Bride

Ashland Pride Series

Seducing Samantha (Ashland Pride One)

Loving Lachlyn (Ashland Pride Two)

Hyena Heat Series

Every Night Forever (Hyena Heat One)

Every Dawn Forever (Hyena Heat Two)

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Coming Soon in the Ashland Pride Series,
Marking Melody
, Book Three.

All were-mountain-lion Melody Marx ever wanted was to find her mate and start a family.  After being rescued from her own people by two mountain lions, she knows that she’s found not just one mate, but two.  She goes with them to their old home in Pennsylvania, but finds an even chillier reception than she found in Ashland.

Tristan and Micah Harrison would do anything to keep Melody safe, even if it means walking away from the Ashland Pride and their own family forever.  When problems arise in their hometown of King, Pennsylvania, it turns out that the males aren’t the only ones who don’t approve of their mating.

Be prepared for two males with plans to hold onto their mate forever, a female searching for a place to call home, and an enemy who is always looking for new ways to wreak havoc in the males’ lives.  This book contains sweet males, a feisty female, and plenty of scorching m/f/m action.

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