Page 45 of Banished From the Pack

Twirling and tweaking them sends shooting stars through my limbs, and the heat between my legs builds and aches with a starving kind of need. My lips part, and I’m panting now, unsure what to do with all the heat coursing through me but not wanting it to stop.

“Callan,” I gasp. “I need—”

I don’t know what I need. I feel a hurricane build inside me. When hurricanes came, Mama and I would hide, but this is the kind of storm that would make me race into the woods, dance naked in the wind, water and leaves plastering themselves to my body, throwing themselves against its indestructible power. That’s what I feel inside as Callan’s cock grinds into my belly. He slips a hand between my legs, where my pants are wet and hot. I moan, my head dropping back at the exquisite sensation of his fingers pressing against my swollen flesh.

“Oh, god, Luna… I’m about to…”

I don’t know what he’s about to do, but if it’s the same thing pulsing through me, I’m about to do it, too. Suddenly, he yanks back. “Fuck,” he says loudly, almost a yell.

“What?” I ask, torn between the pleasure and the fear that he’s going to hurt me like Axel.

“I promised Ethan…” He points to the table. “Take that hairbrush and brush out your hair.”

With that, he storms down the hall and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him and leaving me confused and bewildered.

Chapter Eighteen

Luna

The triplets go off to a new job installing wires the next day after a quiet breakfast. I make dinner, but hardly anyone speaks through the meal. For some reason, I find myself thinking of this one time when I caught my foot in Virginia Creeper vines while a gator was eyeing me for its supper. Mama was having one of her funny feelings that day, so she was hiding in the house, sure that wolves were going to come for us. But we had to eat, so I went out anyway. I knew there were no wolves in the swamp, even if she didn’t.

I shifted and raced into the woods, hoping for a lucky day and a fast catch. But then I got caught in the vines. I shifted back in a flash, used my fingers to free myself, and ran before the gator could grab me. That night, I headed home empty-handed to find Mama with a knife in her hand, ready to slit my throat because she thought I was one of the wolves, come to murder her.

Tonight feels almost as tense.

I cooked the swamp rabbits that were in Callan’s traps today, but I just cooked it a little, leaving the meat nice and bloody. Still, the triplets are quiet, focused on eating, not even making conversation with one another.

“Did I cook the dinner wrong again?” I ask at last.

“It’s great,” Ethan says, wiping pink juice from his chin.

“Are you mad that I checked the traps without you?”

“It would be safer if you stayed with one of us when you go into the woods,” Warrick says, scowling at me. “The Jacksonville pack doesn’t take kindly to us using their hunting grounds.”

“Besides, they might not like that you’re living with us,” Callan says.

“Why not?” I ask. “They didn’t want me living with them. They can’t pick where I do live.”

Callan gives me a tight smile. “They might not like how it looks, you being Axel’s former mate and all.”

“How what looks?” I ask, glancing around in confusion.

“A pretty little lady like you, living with three ugly old dogs like us,” Ethan says.

“What does it look like?” I ask. “Like you took me in and accepted me when they didn’t?”

Warrick gives a rare grin, just one corner of his mouth pulling up. “That, too,” he says with a chuckle.

“We’ll show you where to hunt on your own, in case you get a hankering while we’re out,” Callan says, patting my hand. Then he pulls back real quick and casts a guilty look at Ethan. I remember what he said last night when he ran out of the kitchen, and I wonder what he promised his brother.

“I can take you out any time,” Ethan says with a grin, covering my other hand with his. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you shift.”

Callan’s foot shoots across the small space under the square table and clobbers Ethan’s shin. Ethan curses and rubs at the bruise.

“Cut it out, you two,” Warrick growls, and I feel that dominant energy pressing down on the table, forcing me to drop my gaze. The other two drop their heads and grumble.

There’s more awkward silence.