The Island Of Alphas: A BBW Paranormal Romance (11 page)

Eric soon put me back on my feet, and we talked just a bit longer. I told him everything that had happened before he'd arrived, and I assured him that Bev was all right.

After that, he told me that the village was clear, and Nate would escort me home. "I have to go sort my men into patrol shifts, then some of us will be doing surveillance a little deeper into the jungle to make sure that all the Forms have returned to the lake and aren't still lurking around, waiting to attack again."

He gave me a quick kiss and was off. Nate soon arrived, now in human form, and he and I escorted Bev home and stayed with her a while before continuing on toward my bungalow. This was the first time I'd seen him since I'd told Eric that I'd agree to stay on the island only if he'd agree to giving me a night of passion with him and Nate both.

I had no idea if Eric had told Nate about my request yet, and Nate gave no indication if he had or hadn't. On the way to my bungalow, we talked only about things relating to what had just happened, both of us puzzling over the fact that whatever the bear had done with his eyes hadn't affected me at all.

Once we reached my bungalow, I asked Nate if he'd like to come inside for a minute. "Maybe you'd like to join me for a stiff drink. I know I could sure use one right now."

He said he sure could, too, and we went inside. After I'd poured rum for us both, mine on the rocks and his neat, we took seats on the bar stools around the island in the spacious, airy kitchen.

With his forest-green eyes illuminated by the sun's last rays slanting in through the kitchen windows, he lifted his glass in a toast. "To you, and your selflessness and bravery in saving Kaylee. I ran into her mom while I was coming to get you, and she told me what you did. You're an incredible woman, Liz."

With heat rising to my face, I clinked my glass with his. "Thank you, but it was nothing."

With his mouth curving in a grin, he snorted. "That is absolutely not true at all, but now I guess I can add
humble
to your list of attributes as well. A list of attributes that also includes smart and beautiful. Oh, and 'immune to whatever strange eye tricks the bear Form is able to do.' Immune, or 'has some sort of special deflector shield.' Which...
do
you have some sort of special deflector shield? Just asking because I might like to borrow it if I'm ever faced with that bear again."

Laughing, which felt wonderful after the stressful events of the afternoon, I assured him that I definitely did not have a "special deflector shield," unfortunately. "I really have no clue why the bear's little eye trick didn't have any effect on me."

Eric knocked back at least half his rum in one gulp, not grimacing in the slightest. "Maybe it doesn't work on exceptionally brave, smart, gorgeous women."

I smiled with a bit of heat rising to my face once again. "Stop."

He did stop, but soon had me laughing again with a few more jokes about "deflector shields" and various other things. I was discovering that Nate was not only a handsome face and a long, lean, well-muscled body, he was very funny and easy to talk to, as well. I was liking him a lot. I was also raking my gaze over his body a lot, trying to be discreet about it, still wondering if Eric had told him about my request.

After we'd finished our drinks, I refilled our glasses and began making us dinner. More joking and banter ensued while I sautéed some chicken and made a salad, sipping my rum while I did so. By the time we sat down to eat, a few knots in my neck and shoulders, that had developed during the events of the afternoon, had completely loosened.

Over the course of the meal, Nate and I continued to get to know each other a little better, and I continued to like him more and more. He definitely had less of a serious nature than Eric, which I found attractive, though that wasn't to say that I
dis
liked Eric's more sober manner. I liked
both
of their personalities, though for different reasons. However, after the day I'd had, I felt like being around Nate. His frequent jokes and his easy banter were just what I needed.

Little did I know that things were about to get pretty serious, pretty fast.

When we'd finished eating, there was a lull in the conversation, and I again wondered if Nate knew about my request. Figuring that Eric had to have told him something, or else he probably wouldn't have felt so free to come in my house and eat dinner alone with me, I sat debating whether or not I should just come right out and ask him.

Just then, as if reading my mind, he drained the rest of his rum in one gulp, set the glass on the table, and cleared his throat, looking deeply into my eyes. "Eric told me this morning that you have a fantasy I can help with, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it all day. I want you, Liz, so badly that I've been fighting an urge to take you in my arms and kiss you since the moment we stepped in the door. I've wanted to kiss you since the first moment I laid eyes on you, actually."

With my head swimming from rum a little bit, I reached across the table and took one of his large, long-fingered hands in mine. "Kiss me, then. Let's start my fantasy before Eric even gets here."

CHAPTER SIX

I didn't have to ask Nate twice to kiss me. I was sitting at the head of the dining room table, with him right next to me on my left, and he immediately pulled me out of my seat and onto his lap, displaying his shifter strength, then brought his lips to mine.

He kissed me slowly and gently at first, his mouth firm and warm, but soon with increasing intensity, parting my lips and exploring my mouth with his tongue. I moaned softly, loving the feel of being kissed so hungrily, and also loving the feel of his hands roaming over my body, one of them kneading my side, and the other caressing one of my breasts. It wasn't long before I was loving the feel of something else, too. Nate soon became rock-hard, his large erection pressing into the side of my hip. 

Realizing I definitely wanted things to progress, I broke the kiss, a bit out of breath. "Take me into the bedroom. If you want to, that is."

Nate's dark green eyes seemed even a bit darker than usual, and glassy. A grin slowly curving his delectable mouth let me know that he did, in fact, want to take me into the bedroom. He hooked an arm around my back and the other under my legs, as if to pick me up, but before he could, we heard the sound of someone opening the front door. I knew exactly who would be coming through it, and my first impulse was to hop off Nate's lap. However, I didn't.

Thinking fast for a second, I reasoned that despite the fact that we'd slept together and he'd said that he cared about me and even wanted to have a child with me, I wasn't officially Eric's girlfriend, and additionally, he'd also agreed to indulge my fantasy with him and Nate "sharing" me.

Though, to be fair, I knew he'd agreed to that under the assumption that the three of us would be in bed at the same time, not just Nate and me enjoying some intense kissing at the kitchen table. But, at any rate, I didn't feel that what I was doing with Nate was particularly
wrong
, so I didn't move from his lap. Nate made no move to nudge me off or anything else, either.

Eric soon strode into the kitchen, came to a stop, and surveyed Nate and me with his dark brows drawing together. "Normally I would have knocked, Liz, but not finding Nate outside, patrolling the house as I earlier asked him to, I just figured I'd come right on in and see what the two of you were up to. And now I see. Didn't take the two of you very long, did it? I bet that half-empty bottle of rum on the counter helped."

Now I did get up from Nate's lap, a little irritated by Eric's tone. Although maybe bizarrely, at the same time, there was something about it that I liked, maybe just the hint of possessiveness I detected in it. I realized that maybe I
wanted
him to be just a tad jealous. There was something that kind of turned me on about it, even though it simultaneously rubbed me the wrong way.

Folding my arms across my chest, I came to stand in front of Eric. "Please don't act like you have any right to be slighted, because you don't. You told me just this morning that you agreed to indulge my fantasy as long as I'd stay on the island."

"Right. I did. But at the time, you described your fantasy as having Nate and me in your bed at once. You didn't describe it as you sitting on his lap in the kitchen when it's just the two of you."

I'd suspected Eric might get me on that count.

He shifted his gaze from me to Nate and back to me, scowling, though instead of making him look angry or menacing, there was something about the expression that brought to mind a little boy who'd just had a toy taken away. Maybe it was just the rum, which sometimes put me in a mood to find things endearing that normally wouldn't be, but I found his expression surprisingly adorable.

I suddenly took his hands, fighting a smile. "Look. You're right, and I apologize. Me sitting on Nate's lap with just the two of us alone wasn't what you agreed to. You agreed to letting me have you and Nate both in my bed at the same time."

Eric snorted softly. "And I believe your original request was one night with both of us in your bed, emphasis on
one
night, just to refresh your memory about that, too."

I nodded. "Yes. You're absolutely correct."

I'd actually kind of forgotten that, that our menage a trois was to be for one night only, but now I remembered.

I gave Eric's hands a squeeze, trying to reassure him. "So, are you still on board? Do I still get my fantasy?"

He hesitated before responding, looking from me to Nate to me, finally heaving a sigh. "Yes. Yes, you still get your fantasy. Not tonight, though. I still have much to do making sure the village is protected from the Forms, and I might not be back from the jungle until dawn. And in the meantime, I don't particularly want the two of you spending time together. I'll take Nate out on patrol with me and assign a new guard to watch your house overnight in his place."

Disappointed, though understanding completely that Eric was needed to protect the village, I nodded. "All right."

My disappointment must have been evident on my face, because all traces of Eric's previous scowl disappeared, the expression becoming replaced by one of tenderness.

He took one of his hands from mine and cupped the side of my face with it. "Tomorrow night. Let me and Nate deal with this Forms situation, and then tomorrow night you'll get your fantasy. You'll get all the pleasure you deserve...all the pleasure you've been dreaming about. And if you don't, well, we'll blame it on Nate."

Nate, who'd been sitting silently, suddenly scoffed. "Hilarious."

I couldn't help but crack a smile at Eric's jab at Nate. "Okay. Tomorrow night."

Eric gave me a long, lingering kiss, right in front of Nate, before telling me goodnight and heading for the door, but Nate didn't even try a peck. He did, however, briefly entwine his fingers with mine while he said good night. This casual, quick touch sent a current of something electric racing through my whole body. I watched him go while he followed Eric, noticing what a tight rear he had and how it contrasted with his broad shoulders. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to get through the wait until the following evening.

The next day, I threw myself into work at the clinic in an effort to keep my mind from thoughts of Eric and Nate. I hadn't forgotten that the women of the island still needed my help, and I was determined to give it, even though the more I spoke to Laura and Bev, and the more test results I reviewed, the more convinced I was becoming that the fertility problems on the island were caused by something modern medicine couldn't cure.

The problems seemed like they had to be supernatural in nature, and my training in medical school hadn't exactly equipped me to deal with things that didn't follow the rules of the natural world. At the same time, though, even with that being the case, I'd begun to wonder if there weren't things I could still do to help, things I could do to possibly circumvent, in a way, whatever supernatural forces were keeping the women from the island from conceiving.

With Bev being the village's general practitioner, and Laura being the senior nurse at the clinic, they'd both become my right hand ladies in my attempting to solve the fertility issues, so before lunch, I called a special meeting with them both, telling them that I had a plan. Granted, it wasn't much of one, but it was something.

After reading a few test results of various patients to them and briefly discussing them, I set a few files back on the table and looked at Bev and Laura in turn.

"Obviously, there's something going on here that's beyond the scope of science, because there's no good reason why the women of the island aren't ovulating and conceiving.

Being that I'm not a witch, I have no idea how to combat problems that may be supernatural in nature. So, the only thing I can propose is that we at least make an attempt to cure these possibly supernatural problems with the power of modern medicine.

“I propose that we start some of the women on ovulation stimulating drugs on a trial basis. Maybe just a small group of women to see what happens. With many potential side effects involved, no sense in involving everyone in the trial until we see how it goes on a small scale. At best, we'll have many sets of twins and triplets on the island, and at worst...well, things will go on how they have been, with no babies being born on the island at all. But at least, we'll have tried one method and ruled it out as a viable solution, and we can move on to something else. Eventually, we might try in vitro fertilization, though I would like to save that as a last-ditch effort, simply because, even though our lab here is advanced, I don't know if it's quite set up for all the work that in vitro would require. So....”

I took a deep breath, folding my arms atop the table. "All we need to decide now is how many women to include in the trial. It'll have to be women who aren't put off by the possibility of some side effects, maybe even some severe ones, just to take a chance on something that might ultimately turn out to be pointless."

With a salt-scented breeze blowing in through an open window tousling her pale blonde hair, Laura sat up a little straighter in her chair. "I'm willing to take a chance. Matt and I want another child badly, and Ian would love a little brother or a sister. I'm willing to risk a few side effects to at least have a shot at making that happen. I think we should include about twenty women in the trial, and I'll be the first. I'd like to get started today, provided there's enough drugs to start with. Now that I'm all excited about this, I don't think I can handle waiting until Eric goes back across the portal for more supplies."

It turned out that wouldn't be necessary, as there was already a large supply of the drugs we needed in the lab.

After a brief lunch break, the rest of my day was a non-stop flurry of activity. Bev, Laura, and I signed up twenty volunteers for the trial, started everyone on the medication, and counseled them all about the possible side effects of it. I was so harried and busy that I didn't have time for even a single thought about Eric and Nate and the evening we were going to spend together.

However, at five o' clock, when Laura, Bev, and I began closing up the clinic to go home, I quickly began to shift mental gears. I began thinking of Eric, Nate, and their long, muscular bodies. With a little shiver of anticipation, I recalled Eric's flash of seeming possessiveness of the night before, and I wondered how that was going to play out in the bedroom that evening.

But, while Laura and I sorted a few last patient files in my office, I got a text message that dashed my hopes. It was from Eric, and he said that he and Nate weren't going to be able to see me.
Unfortunately, I expect we'll be needed in the jungle all night
, the message read, in part.

Laura, who'd been scanning a text on her phone at the same time, pocketed her phone, sighing. "Well, that was from Matt, and there goes my evening plans. Did you just get a 'needed in the jungle all night' message, too?"

I snorted, pocketing my own phone. "Yep. No evening plans for me, either, now."

Laura put one more file away, shut the filing cabinet, and slumped against it, folding her arms across her chest. "It's never going to end, you know. Not until they take out the bear. Only problem is, nobody can see any way it can be done. Because of the new trick he can do with his eyes, they can't really get too near him now, or else he could easily kill all of them, and then the rest of the Gray Forms would attack the village and kill
us
all.

“Pretty much all they can do is play defense, trying to block the bear from coming near the village by positioning themselves kind of in layers so that they're not all taken out by his eye trick at once, while meanwhile, trying to keep all the other Forms away from the village as well.

“They can't do it forever. Not to mention that the men spending every single night in the jungle, away from their wives, girlfriends, and families, is no way to live. Eric has got to come up with a solution to take out the bear permanently, and he knows it. He just doesn't know what the solution is.

“He's used to dealing with all threats simply by using his strength alone, but it's not enough this time. This bear, whose name was Gabriel when he was a regular shifter, before he became a Form, is something Eric has never dealt with before. He's never had to guard another shifter while kind of trying to steer clear of him all at the same time, just on account of some strange eye trick, or spell, or whatever it is. All I know is no other Form has ever done it before."