Their Unexpected Mate [Paranormal Protection Unit] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (7 page)

“Sure,” Scythe murmured. “We will work it out.” He felt for his brothers-in-arms, truly felt bad for them, but that was neither here or there because they simply needed to ensure that their bond-mate was cared for.

“I know we will,” both men said in unison. Right now all that mattered was ensuring her safety and talking her into accepting all three of them as hers.

At the restaurant Kat found herself surrounded by Sullivan and Trey. Both men seemed to need to touch her, need to be close to her, and she found she was fine with that. Sitting at the round table she was amazed by the fact that the men shifted so that they were closer to her and left Mac pretty much with half the table all to himself. Shaking her head, she finally said, “You guys are something else.” She mused with a grin. “Poor Mac over there all by himself.”

Sully grinned. “I don’t mind that he’s all alone over there. Do you, Trey?”

“Nope, not a bit.” He looked down at Kat and grinned. “Besides, when we eat next, Mac will likely make us go where there are square tables so that he can corner you and have you all to himself on one side and make me and Sully sit over on the other.”

“You bet your—” Mac was going to say
ass
but instead he said, “Last dollar, I am.” His eyes gleamed amusement as he said those words. “I get her next, all to myself.”

That had Kat frowning, “I’m not a toy, you know. You can’t pass me around like I’m some kind of object.”

All three men frowned, but it was Sully who brushed her hair back from her shoulder and leaned close to whisper in her ear. “Darlin’, you are so much more than an object. You are salvation and one day you’re gonna realize that,” he murmured before pressing a gentle kiss on the curve of her neck.

Katherine shivered, in a very, very good way, at the possessive touch of Sullivan’s lips to the curve of her neck, and all but whimpered at the heat she found there in his gaze. Licking her lips, she heard herself whispering, because sound just didn’t seem to want to escape her right now. “Good grief, you all three make me melt with just words.” She wondered just what it was that would happen if she allowed them to do more than just talk, more than just caress and touch her.

With a wicked grin Sullivan leaned in closer and nibbled her earlobe. “Trust me, darlin’, this is far from over, and when we truly want to make your toes curl”—his tongue swiped the shell of her ear and whispered—“we will make them curl.” The three men inhaled the sweet scent that was their mate’s pussy as it suddenly released a lovely aroma of her need and hunger.

The trio of men growled low and animalistic growls that sounded as their eyes flashed changing colors, colors that Kat couldn’t help but notice. “What?” She only said the one word as she took them in. She should have been worried about the growls and the shifting eyes, but she found that she could lose herself in them, and found a sudden aching and burning need.

“Darlin’, you keep on comin’ like that and we are going to take you home and dine on you instead of this lovely food that we have here before us.” Mac growled across the table, his cock so hard behind his zipper that he was ready to pound nails into cement.

She whimpered. Holy schmoley, she tried to stop her body’s reactions, but she truly couldn’t stop her reaction to these men. They were all so over the top. It seemed these three men dripped testosterone and sex appeal. There was Trey with his boyish good looks, his dark brown hair that was long enough that it hung just past his shoulders in a silky curtain that made her want to reach out and stroke it, his chocolate-brown eyes, the extreme height of him, at least six foot nine, and the heavy muscular bulk of his wide shoulders and massive arms. He was just…wow. She looked to the brothers. She could tell they were brothers because they looked identical, their height about three inches shorter than Trey, their raven’s-wing-black hair that cut military short, and their blue eyes that sparked intelligence and humor. The only way she could tell the difference between the two was that Mac had a dimple on his chin and Sullivan had one on his left cheek.

“You are thinkin’ awful hard, darlin’,” Mac mused as he broke bread, leaning back and simply watching the trio on the other side of the table from him. “We will talk about everything later, love. For now just enjoy eatin’ your dinner with your men, darlin’, and then later we will talk about what’s happenin’ between us all, deal?”

Katherine nodded. “All right,” she murmured quietly.

“Darlin’, we will make sure to tell you all. I swear it,” Trey told her without hesitation or question. “I promise to you, love, we will tell you give you the whole kit and caboodle.” Trey just hoped that when they did tell her they would be able to talk her into keeping them, all three of them.

“Thank you for that, then,” she murmured softly. “All right then, enough of this uncertainty. So let us look at the menus because I, for one, am starving,” she told the men with a smile.

When their waitress finally came over to them, she was agog at the three men, her eyes moving to Mac, the one who sat “alone” at the table, and smiled brightly for him. It was very clear the way she moved, the way she reacted, that if Kat were going to have two of the men, she would take one.

Not giving the woman a second glance, Mac looked over the menu. “I will have a pint of whatever is on tap and an appetizer of the ribs. For my full order, I want a 20-ounce porterhouse with all the trimmings, baked potato, and house salad.” Closing the menu, he looked over to Kat and winked. “What about you, darlin’? What would you like to eat?”

“Let’s let either Trey or Sully choose first,” she said with a smile, her face buried in the menu as she tried to decide what she wanted to eat, even if she had a hard time because of Sullivan’s hand on her knee.

Lifting his gaze, Trey said, “I want the 20-ounce prime rib. I want French fries with that, no salad.” He looked to Mac and grinned. “Salad is for rabbits,” the wolf teased his friend.

Mac growled at his friend, his eyes flashing as they did so. “We will talk about that later, wolf.” Mac growled.

“Why do you call him that?” Noticing the waitress, she shook her head. “Answer later.” Looking to the woman, she smiled. “I would like to have a spicy chicken salad with extra chicken and cheese, please. I would like that with the spicy Italian dressing that the house makes as well, please.”

Sully gave her leg another squeeze and said, “I want the same thing as Mac, only double the appetizer ribs because I know that the wolf on the other side of this amazing woman will be stealing my food as well.” Passing off the menu he toyed with a curl of Katherine’s honey-blonde hair and asked, “What do you want to drink, sugar?”

“I would like water. Not really into clouding my taste palate with soda or beer or anything.” She turned to Trey. “What about you, what do you want to drink?”

“Beer, whatever is on tap.” Trey’s eyes never left Katherine’s, the wolf in him fighting right now, fighting to claim his mate. When the waitress left in a huff because none of the men were giving her one drop of attention, Katherine looked at Trey and grinned, which brought a growl from him before he leaned in and nuzzled the side of her neck with his mouth and teeth.

“Trey.” The one word, his name, came out in a breathless sound of absolute wonder. “Oh my.” She was thankful that they were in a slightly darkened corner of the room in a round table because she felt her body melting into him.

“I love the way you say my name, baby,” Trey whispered before leaning in closer to her and taking her lips with his. Kissing her, because he could, he pulled her in closer to him and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her all of him.

Sullivan’s hand moved up her thigh, squeezing higher on her legs, and then as soon as Trey released her, pulled her close to him once more. His thumb brushed over her lower lip and leaned in closer. “Will you let me kiss you, little Kat?”

She would be completely, fully stupid to tell him no, so she nodded. “I would really like that,” she whispered, her eyes glittering in hunger and need.

“Your wish, my love, is my command,” he whispered before seizing her lips with his in a sizzling kiss that shook him to his very soul. When Sullivan pulled back finally, he saw the glazed look on her face and smiled. “Thank you for letting me kiss you, too, kitten,” he murmured and leaned in to kiss her very gently again. Pulling back, he nuzzled his lips to the side of her neck and bit the curve of her shoulder gently.

“Damn, that was hot,” Mac growled when Sullivan and Katherine parted.

“Don’t cuss in front of me.” She chastised with a grin, a happy smile on her face as she said it.

“Sorry, kitten,” Mac said with regret. He did feel bad for cursing in front of her and loved that she had her very own set of morals and wasn’t afraid to stand up for them.

“It’s okay, I will forgive you this one time,” she said with a grin. Taking in a deep breath, she looked to the men and then let it out. Good lord, she was being surrounded by so very much testosterone that it was nearly suffocating.

Katherine noticed the subtle shift in the air between the men, noticed how Trey gave Sullivan more room, room to be closer to her, and she would have commented on it if they hadn’t been where they were. No, these three men were holding something back from her, something that was life-altering, and she knew it as well as she knew her own name. The question was going to be, would she survive what they had to tell her?

“Don’t look so tense, love,” Sully said as he stroked his thumb over her knee gently, lovingly. “I promise you that it’s not a bad thing. We won’t bite.” He got this look in his eyes of pure, heated, promised passion and added, “Much.” Oh, they would bite her for sure. They had to in order to form the mating bond, but yes, it was going to be inside of so much pleasure that she wouldn’t feel the pain of their bite. He would ensure it.

She was starting to feel overwhelmed, the feeling of need that swamped her when these men were around, the way that they all looked at her as if she were their salvation. It was
intense
. It was
surreal
. Scooting her chair back she excused herself with, “I’m sorry gentlemen, I need a moment in the ladies’ room, please.” She needed to get herself together. She needed to look at herself and make sure that she wasn’t going to fall apart when one of them touched her.

All three men rose to their feet, each of them touching her, if only her hand, and watched as she ran from them. Oh, she didn’t run, she walked calmly, but all three of them could see how they were affecting her.

Mac leaned back after all three men took their seats again, from his vantage able to watch her closer than the other two. “We are pushing too hard,” he murmured. “She’s not used to anything like us, at all. If I had to guess, I would wager our little mate is either a virgin or has only had one lover in her life.” He would bet that she had never done anything more than missionary if she had even done anything.

Trey sighed and nodded. “This is very true. Our little mate is as vanilla as they get.” And they were going to demand something of her that she might or might not be able to accept. With a sigh he looked to his friends. “And what are we going to do if she can’t handle all three of us as hers?” That was the hardest question he ever, ever had to ask.

Mac shook his head and leaned in. Folding his hands under his chin, he said, “Honestly? I don’t fucking know.” They all wanted her. The three of them needed her, but if she couldn’t handle having all of them then somehow the men would have to come up with a way so that at least one of them could have her and ensure that she was safe and happy with life.

“She will need us all,” Sully mumbled with his chin on his chest. “We wouldn’t all be her mates if she couldn’t handle us. She belongs with all three of us and only the three of us will be able to make her happy.” He knew it for the truth as it was.

While the men spoke quietly, Kat herself had a mini breakdown in the bathroom. Standing there before the mirror she gave herself a pep talk. “You can do this, Kat.” She whispered so that hopefully no one else would hear her. “They don’t seem to have an issue with all three of them liking you, so why in the world would you have issue with it?” She was speaking to herself and that was something that would make any other woman question her sanity, but Kat didn’t. Kat simply spoke to herself to reassure herself that she was going to be fine with this.

“I should give them all a chance, have a nice lovely dinner with them, enjoy my time with them, and then when they take me home I will listen to them with an open mind.” Because truth be told she was very, very interested in all three of them. Katherine felt a pull to all three men, and when she had been kissed by them all, she had been more than a lot turned on. “All right, gosh darn it all, enough of being such a child. It’s time to actually live my life.”

Her father would have told her to get out there and grab onto those boys and hold on for all she was worth. He would have wanted her to be happy no matter what. God rest her father’s soul, he hadn’t been stuck on tradition, and neither was she for that matter. The only thing that was holding her back was that they were three. The men were all larger than life, they were all amazing men that made her body ache with need, but…they were
three
!

Grabbing some of the paper towels, she wet them with some cold water and patted her face softly. Steeling her nerves, she smiled at herself and nodded. “All right, then,” she murmured. “I’m taking life and I’m making it mine. I’m going to do what feels right to me, for me. To heck with what everyone else feels and thinks.” She looked toward the ceiling and smiled. “Thanks, Daddy,” she whispered and almost felt as if her father was there telling her to go for it, to go for what she wanted.

Walking back out to the table, she smiled when, as one, the three men rose to their feet to greet her. “Thank you,” she said to Sullivan when he pulled her seat out for her. Taking her seat once more she took a sip of her water and leaned back. Looking from one to another of the men she simply smiled. “I’m trying,” she told them all. “It’s just that you are all so…” She took in a breath. “You are all so over-the-top. So intense. So, everything,” she murmured. “Give me time?”