The Dom Collars His Sub [Unchained Love 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (4 page)

Humming to herself, she swept, dusted, and changed the linens then went out into the garden to pick some flowers.

Both she and Leticia were only children, but there the similarity between them ended. Jubilee’s mother had been forty-five when she was born and her father only a few weeks short of sixty. Her parents had long given up on hoping for a child and had been stunned when they learned she was expected.

Her dad had arrived at work the day after she was born and had handed in his notice. “I may not be around for her thirtieth birthday, but I’ll be damned if I miss a day of her life while I am around,” he’d told his astonished boss before rushing out to buy all his coworkers cigars.

Her parents had homeschooled her, not wanting to miss out on any of her childhood, and had taken her to a farm to see cows milked and sheep shorn as well as to the beach and the mountains. But realistically, her mind had been filled with bits and pieces of knowledge, not the test-focused studies of kids in school. Her father had died during her eighteenth year, and her mother had just seemed to fade away after that, passing in her sleep almost exactly twelve months later.

While Leticia’s father had seemed to want to be near her to control everything she did, Jubilee’s parents had been more inclined to want to be there to watch her live her life. Yet she’d craved discipline and boundaries, had turned to the BDSM lifestyle, and had known instantly she was a sub. Meeting Carey was the best day of her adult life. If only he wanted to collar her, to claim her, to make her his as she longed to be.

Sighing, Jubilee returned inside with half a dozen sweet-smelling roses from the garden for Leticia’s room.

“Be strong, Leticia. Don’t let Sam steal your life from you. Claim what you want,” she whispered to the empty room before closing the door again.

Then she grinned at herself wryly. “‘Physician, heal thyself’—the Holy Bible, Saint Luke, chapter four, verse twenty-three. There must be something I can do to make Carey want to claim me.”

* * * *

Larry leaned against the outside wall of the barn, facing the parking lot, as Omar’s large truck drove in. He was not at all happy about them bringing Sam back here, but agreed there was no other obvious solution as to what to do about him.

Sam was dwarfed between Omar, who was well over six feet tall and extremely solidly built, every ounce of it muscle, and Oliver, who was also six feet tall.

Omar stopped in front of Larry. “The judge has released Sam upon certain conditions.”

Larry nodded and waited for Sam or Omar to continue. Sam’s body was tense, wedged between the two other men, but his gaze was firmly on the ground.

“He is not permitted to ever be alone with Leticia, and she doesn’t have to see him if she doesn’t want to. Also, Sam has a weekly counseling session with a court-appointed counselor to help him deal with his anger and concerns regarding Leticia. One of my men will be taking him to that each time. In fact, one of my men will be with him at all times, won’t they, Sam?”

Again, Sam stood silently looking down. Oliver elbowed him. “Answer your Alpha.”

“The judge has ordered me to attend counseling and Omar has ordered me never to be alone.” Sam’s words were quiet but resentful. It was obvious to Larry he had not acknowledged he’d brought these conditions upon himself by his own actions. Still, if he’d given his word to Omar, surely he wouldn’t be stupid enough to break it. That was grounds for exclusion from the pack or even death under shape-shifter law. Sam may be paranoid, but he’d never seemed to Larry to be stupid.

“Very well. Sam, understand that you are only accepted at Carnal Connections under the guardianship of your Alpha. If you hurt any person here for any reason whatsoever, you will be commanded to leave and there will be no reprieves. Do you understand me?”

Sam’s gaze met Larry’s very briefly. The man’s eyes were hooded, but intelligent. He’d understood Larry. There was no doubt about that.

Once again Oliver elbowed Sam. “Answer him.”

“I understand,” said Sam.

But he didn’t say he agreed with the instructions, or that he’d behave himself. He is totally unrepentant and certain to cause more trouble. Fuck!

Leticia was the only unmated, of-age, pure-blood panther female in their pack. This made her the most obvious target for the rogue panthers. Her father, Sam, had been the pack Alpha briefly after his brother, the previous Alpha, died. The situation was beyond messy, beyond complicated, and a total fuckup. Yet she had a right to happiness and the support of her pack, and her happiness seemed to include having her father in her life, and living here with her pack and her friends.

Oliver could only hope this whole situation wasn’t going to turn into a total train wreck.

* * * *

“Carey, Jubilee, thanks for giving up your Saturday for the community.” Larry waved them over to the table where he’d spread out the big map of Carnal Connections. Larry was a bit nervous about his idea for them to spend time together, alone, just the three of them. He’d known them both through Carnal Connections for a couple of years and he certainly trusted and liked Carey and Jubilee, but he wanted to get to know them much better. Become, well, friends, he supposed. He craved not just more time in the dungeon together, but a deeper connection as well. He just hoped to hell today worked out all right.

“Not a problem. We’re always happy to help out. But I’m not exactly sure what you want us to do,” replied Carey.

“It seems likely to me that the rogue panthers will be back.”

“Hell, yes. And not when and where we expect them, either,” said Jubilee.

“Exactly. We’ve got the alarms and cameras at the front gate and the high wire fence right around the property, plus the electric inner fence, but I’m concerned that there’s so much of the area that’s vulnerable to attack. I mean, likely they could cut the outer fence, avoid the inner fence, and spread out all through the place without anyone being the wiser. We wouldn’t know a thing unless they came within range of the CCTV in the old barn or one of our patrols noticed the outer fence had been cut,” said Larry.

“So what exactly do you want us to do?” Carey asked again.

Larry ran his hands through his brown hair, wishing he’d had a lot more sleep and that his brain was sharper this morning. “Sorry. I thought it’d be good to actually walk the area, as humans, looking for weak places in our defense and other places where we could install a few more cameras.”

“I don’t mean to be rude, and I’m happy to do it, but wouldn’t it be a whole lot easier for you to run around checking in your wolf form?” asked Jubilee.

“I’ll do that, too, likely with Kurt and Tor, but humans see things differently from shifters, and I’m almost positive some of the rogue pack are human.”

“Hey, I thought that, too. Otherwise the couple who tried to abduct Ramona from the basketball match would have shifted when she did,” said Jubilee.

“Exactly. You’re a smart woman.”

Carey bent over the map on the table. “That old barn is on a bit of a rise, which means from the hayloft there’s a good view out between the trees. It’s a shame this map doesn’t show the hills.”

“Google Earth.”

“Huh?”

“Google Earth shows the terrain,” said Jubilee.

“I don’t think I’ve ever used that program,” said Carey.

“Me either, but I guess now’s as good a time as any,” said Larry, moving back to his desk and clicking the icon.

Carey and Jubilee stood behind him, and with Jubilee’s help he soon had zoomed in to their location. It was harder to find exactly where their land extended to, until Jubilee showed him how to overlay Google Earth over Google Maps. Then it was all crystal clear.

“Damn, woman, you’re a treasure,” said Larry.

Carey turned and grinned at Jubilee. ‘“A witty woman is a treasure. A witty beauty is a power.’ English poet George Meredith.”

“Nope. Doesn’t count. He didn’t say I was witty,” objected Jubilee.

“So now if I say you’re witty, you’ll be more likely to hit me than thank me. I can’t win here,” groaned Larry.

“So let’s get back to this long hike we’re taking today. I’d say we need to come along here and go this way, across this higher area, and back through here.” Jubilee ran her finger along the map.

Carey immediately began arguing about the curve of their direction, and Jubilee remained silent while he and Larry drew their planned route then printed the map off. Larry flicked a glance at Jubilee and knew she’d misdirected them deliberately to get Carey focused back on the maps. She was indeed smart and a lot deeper than he’d realized. And she loved Carey with a passion that underlaid every breath she took.

Why didn’t I ever find a woman like her?

Because at those BDSM clubs you were too busy trying to hide the fact you’re a werewolf shape-shifter to ever open yourself up to a woman.

That, added to the minor, tiny, insignificant detail of being a switch, unable to decide whether I want a Dom or a sub.

Yup. That, too. Here, where people I trust know I’m a wolf, I don’t want them focusing on the fact I’m a switch. The two sides of me are incompatible.

“Okay, let’s go. We’d better pick up a couple bottles of water on the way through the kitchen, though,” he said.

“I already packed a bottle of water each and some insect repellant. Are there nasty bugs deep among the trees?” asked Jubilee.

“I don’t think there’s bugs. Maybe at dusk. Anyway it won’t hurt to take it with us,” replied Larry, crossing the room and opening his office door for them to go through.

* * * *

Jubilee enjoyed the next three hours very much. Well, apart from the fact that her feet hurt and she knew her legs were going to ache like crazy tomorrow. But she was with Carey, and that always made her happy. Besides, what they were doing was not only fun but also useful, and she loved the thought that she was helping the community. Ramona was her good friend, and Jubilee knew Ramona worried that she’d exposed Leticia, Verity, and Serena to more danger by taking herself off the list of unmarried shape-shifters when she’d mated with Omar and JB. Even Autumn may be in danger. Autumn was only half-panther, but who was to say whether those crazy rogue panthers might not decide a half-panther was better than a human and snatch her anyway?

To the north of the undeveloped land was a moderately high hill, and the ridge extended for maybe half a mile. Jubilee sat there and rested her aching feet.

Larry dropped down beside her. “A penny for your thoughts,” he said.

“The saying dates back hundreds of years, but you didn’t have to hand over genuine money—” began Jubilee.

“It was also an episode of the original series of
The Twilight Zone
,” added Carey.

“Okay, you each earn one point. Jubilee, would you like to answer the question?” asked Larry.

“I was thinking this would be the perfect place for an early warning system. But what kind of a system? Digging a pit trap or putting up stakes or something wouldn’t work because too many of the community are shifters who love to go running, especially at night. However, closed-circuit cameras mean either someone has to keep coming out and changing over the battery packs or else there needs to be electricity. So, how else can we use this ridge?”

“I suppose we could build a guard cottage here, but the whole beauty of this land is that it’s completely untouched. To bring in lumber and cement we’d have to build some kind of road through the trees, and that would destroy the whole ambience of the area,” said Larry.

Jubilee looked all around her. Here on the ridge was virtually a three-sixty-degree panorama of wild land. Trees, shrubs, grasses, and no sign of humans at all.

“As well as that, if you had people coming out here every day they’d soon wear a track through the grasses and it’d be just another ordinary pathway, not like it is now,” added Carey.

“The problem is that to be an alarm system, we need the information instantly. Without either people here or technology, I can’t see how we can do it,” said Larry.

Jubilee thought he sounded frustrated.
Yeah, I guess I’d be frustrated, too. On the one hand, we want to keep the land in a natural state. Yet that’s not possible if we have to protect ourselves against attack as well.

“The rogue panthers aren’t going to be around forever. I mean, hopefully, sooner or later they’ll get the message and move on or do something stupid and be taken away, like those ones who tried the ram raid, right?” she asked.

“What’s your point?” asked Carey.

“I’m getting there. What if two people hiked out here and stayed in a tent for a week? Perhaps half-hidden under the brow of the hill, but with cell phones so they could instantly tell security if there were any invaders. They’d only bring essentials. Food, water, maybe a few books to read. Then when the next two arrived the first two would go back. So the tent and sleeping bags would stay here, people would only need to bring their food and water, and they could be told to walk in by a slightly different route each time to avoid making too big a trail,” suggested Jubilee.

“Would people really agree to stay out here for a week, though? It’s a big commitment,” said Carey.