a way.
Then there is Gage, whose body cages mine and who does not even realize he has become a similar star in my lustful dreams. I can still remember the flash of anger on his face when told him I had kissed Brandon, even though I haven’t. Why did I do that?
Oh, this is such a mess!
Gage’s growl reverberates through me where we are pressed together. His arms are around my waist so that he can hold the reins, but now they tighten.
Fen tries to cut Brandon off, but he barely notices the larger Alpha as he storms down the steps of the king’s home and hall.
“Get down from the fucking horse, Jessa!”
Gage’s hands tighten further, and his growl rattles with menace. Violence coils in his body. The same in Brandon as his wolf threatens to burst. If he shifts… No, he cannot shift. It will start a clan war, and we are barely civil as it is.
“Let me go,” I say to Gage.
“I am not letting you down. The mutt is un-fucking-stable.”
“Let me down!” My voice carries authority. I sense this moment is important in ways more than stopping a fight. “He won’t hurt me.”
Brandon is nearly upon us when Gage slips from the saddle, hauls me down, and shoves me behind him. His great horse dances beside us.
“No!” Slipping under Gage’s arm, I plant myself between them. One hand against the warm, firm flesh of Gage’s stomach behind me. The other landing in the center of Brandon’s chest as he barrels forward.
They both still instantly, although they continue growling at one another over my head. Goddess, it sets my body tingling in ways naught to do with fear of being between these two dominant males. Brandon is head and shoulders over me, and Gage is head and shoulders over Brandon. I feel tiny and yet powerful between these two towering walls of muscle. My belly turns over, and my pussy clenches so sharply, I have to bite back my whimper.
Brandon’s nostrils flare, and he flicks a glance at me before returning his glare to Gage. “Jessa, move aside.”
“No!” I repeat. “Not until you stop acting like a pair of whelps!”
Heat fills my cheeks that I dare to call a grown man a whelp. I am a polite, dutiful lass. I have no idea where this rogue madness comes from.
I hear a chuckle, low and masculine. Fen is standing a few paces away. “The lass has the measure of you both by the looks of it,” he says, and still smirking, folds his arms like he is getting ready for a show.
“Stand down the pair of you!” The newcomer is Jack’s second, Glen. The Alpha does not look amused by the nonsense happening in our village square. A frown crosses his face. “What has happened to you? Did you get into a fight with a bear?”
“Orc,” Gage says gruffly. “I killed it.”
I hear collective gasps from the nosy villagers watching. Fen straightens, and the smile is wiped from his face.
Gage is no longer growling, and neither is Brandon. The tension leaves the two men I touch in slow, hard-won increments.
“I was at the ford and closer to your village than mine,” Gage continues. “I found Jessa and thought it best to bring her home.”
Brandon growls at the mention of me being found away from home.
Gage takes a step back. I miss the connection. No sooner do my hands drop to my sides then Brandon snatches me up.
“Oh!”
Brandon tosses me over his shoulder. Behind, I can hear Gage’s low warning growl.
I bounce about over Brandon’s shoulder as he stalks from the village square. Pushing my hair aside, I strain to look back.
I can sense Gage’s fury. Both Fen and Glen shift to cut him off. Goddess, Gage is so powerful, I think if he set his mind to it, they could not stop him.
“Oh! Put me down!”
I get a spank to my bottom for my wriggling. I get another when I curse.
“Quieten down, lass,” Brandon says, voice a barely tempered growl. “Or you will be getting a lot more than my palm against your bottom.”
“Goddess!” I mutter, feeling that unmistakable wetness pooling between my legs. Does he mean to spank me again?
He makes a sharp cut to the left into a nearby hay barn, mostly empty at this time of year with a few bales scattered about the ground. Sitting on one, he tosses me over his lap.
Spank! Spank! Spank!
“What the fuck were you doing so far away from the