Page 26 of Forsaken (The Nightwolf Pack #3)

CHAPTER 26

S erafina

When I come to, it’s with a small moan as something cool and soothing moves over the insides of my thighs.

With all of the energy I can muster, I lift my head, to find Ronan standing between my legs at the end of the bed, wiping me down with a wet washcloth. A sigh passes through my lips, causing him to look up.

His eyes have darkened to the point that they match the forest green leaves on the trees surrounding the cabin. Moreso, the look reminds me of his fierceness. The wolf that lurks beneath the surface.

The smirk on his pink lips speaks to his pride. Which, naturally, I can’t let slide easily.

“What are you smiling about?” I sit up on my elbows.

He chuckles. “You passed out.”

I roll my eyes and look up at the ceiling. “I did no such thing. I merely needed a nap.”

I level a glare on him when he makes a disapproving sound at the back of his throat.

“A nap … right.” He grunts and tosses the washcloth onto the black chest behind him.

A lump forms in my throat when he places a knee on the bed and begins crawling toward me. He’s still naked and his semi-erect cock is a distraction I can’t keep my eyes off of, no matter how hard I try.

That is until Ronan smacks my thigh.

“Stop it. You just woke up from your nap . You are not ready for another round.”

My top lip curls as I pull away from him, folding my arms over my chest. “Says who? You? I’m the one in charge of my body, thank you very much.”

He doesn’t respond to my protest. Instead, his eyes glitter with mischief as he slowly looks over my body, his gaze lingering on my exposed breasts.

“Are you ready for another round, Serafina?”

His voice sends shockwaves down my spine. But that’s when I feel the soreness in my ass. I barely keep myself from wincing.

“No,” I admit.

A snort of laughter before he leans back against the mountain of pillows, crosses his long legs, and spreads his arms wide.

“Come here.”

He hasn’t used his alpha voice, but I still feel compelled to go to him. To settle in his arms as if it were my ho?—

No.

Not my home.

Just a place I want to reside for now, I tell myself.

Still, I go to Ronan and let his long arms envelop me. A breath steals from my lungs when I realize how right it feels to have my skin against his. Not just while we’re having sex, but right now, with him holding me in his arms, on his massive bed.

I snuggle deeper into his embrace, and Ronan places a kiss to the top of my head. I almost let out another sigh but I manage to hold it in.

Mine.

The thought I can’t stop or escape continues to parade through my mind. I swore it would only come to me during sex, but it’s still here. It must just be the after-glow thing happening.

“I’m surprised Montgomery or Noah haven’t come home yet,” I say in an attempt to distract myself from how right this position feels.

Ronan pulls me in impossibly tighter. “I told them to beat it for a few hours.”

“What?” I look up at him.

That same prideful smirk plays on his lips. “They’ve had you for days. I wanted some alone time with you.”

“So you could screw my brains out,” I joke.

“And this,” he adds before nuzzling his face into the side of my neck and inhaling.

Tingles flood all of my nerve endings.

“I missed you, Serafina.”

My breathing halts as I pull away to turn and stare at him. He looks me directly in the eyes, his gaze piercing.

“You what?”

Ronan lifts a hand, rubbing his palm against my cheek. “I know you heard me the first time, but I’ll say it again. I missed you.”

Yeah, I did hear him the first time. And yet, hearing those words again are just as surprising.

“Wh-While you were away for work?” I ask to clarify.

“Long before that,” he says.

“Before …” I repeat.

“Do you think it was easy walking away from you?”

I shake my head and start to move, but he wraps his arms around me, preventing me from pulling away.

“You couldn’t have believed it was easy to give you up?”

Give me up? Why is he making it sound like it was a sacrifice? As if the decision he made was against his will or something?

“Well,” I say, turning my head to look away from him, “you had your pack.” His true home. Both his and Noah’s and Montgomery’s. The Blackclaw is where they truly belong.

Unlike me.

The Nightwolf pack should be my home but how can I belong to them if I pose a threat? How can I belong anywhere if I’m a danger?

I shake my head, pushing those ugly thoughts away. I know it’s for the best that I continue to push for the information that I’m seeking, and get as far away from Ronan, Noah, and Montgomery as soon as possible.

My chest tightens so much that it threatens to steal my ability to breathe.

Before I can clear my thoughts, though, Ronan’s fingers on my chin turn my head until I’m staring him in the eyes once again.

“Serafina—” He’s cut off by a loud knock on the door.

I startle as the door flies open.

“Are you two coming down to eat or what?” Noah asks, leaning against the doorframe, arms folded, staring at us.

“You don’t know how to knock?” Ronan asks, gruffly, obviously annoyed.

Noah keeps his gaze on me while answering, “I knocked.”

His eyes sparkle, making my nipples harden even more. I probably should be embarrassed or ashamed or something, right?

I mean, I’ve spent the past few nights with Noah and Montgomery. Now, I’m naked in Ronan’s bed after obviously fucking him. Instead of shame, though, my nipples harden from the way Noah’s watching me.

“Cut those thoughts out right now, Little Hellraiser,” Noah says in a growly voice. “Montgomery will have my ass if I end up fucking you while I’m supposed to be summoning you down to dinner.”

A smirk plays at my lips.

Noah takes a step inside of the bedroom. “Fuck it, I can take him.”

“No,” Ronan says, making Noah stop and glare at him. “She needs to eat. I can feel her hunger, too.”

My hand immediately goes to my growling stomach. I’m just noticing how hungry I am. And apparently, so are they.

“You’re right,” Noah adds, begrudgingly. He sighs before pulling out a shirt from his back pocket.

“You can wear this to dinner,” he says, smirking as he looks down at the tatters of what used to be my dress on the floor. “We’ll bring down the rest of your clothing from the upstairs bedroom after dinner.”

I take the shirt, placing the henley shirt over my head before pulling my arms through the sleeves.

He takes a step back, eyeing me up and down. “I like you in my clothes.”

I sniff at the shirt. “It does smell like you.” I bite my tongue to keep from telling him that I like having his scent on me. I like having all three of their scents surrounding me.

Noah pulls me into him.

His hands land on my ass, squeezing my cheeks, causing me to hiss.

Noah pulls back, glancing between me and Noah. “You took her ass, huh?” He chuckles.

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not right here.” I push at his chest. “Especially not if you ever want the chance to take me in the ass.”

“Mother Moon, fuck!” He grunts and buries his face into the crook of my neck, making me toss my head back and laugh.

A moan escapes me when he bites the skin of my neck.

If I thought I was turned on before, I severely underestimated things. I can feel Ronan move behind me while Noah continues to nibble at my neck. My body heat rises in an instant.

“Stop that!” a deep voice growls.

The three of us pull apart to find a semi-red faced Montgomery. My stomach ripples in fear. Is he jealous seeing me with his two brothers?

In an instant all of the doubts and fears of what it means to be the mate of not one, not two, but three different men invades my mind.

“She’s hungry.” Montgomery glares at his two brothers before taking my arm, pulling me away from them. “You both can sense it as well as I can.”

I look at Ronan and Noah. They look thoroughly chagrined.

“You need to eat,” Montgomery tells me in that crooning voice of his that makes my pussy lips quiver. “No.” He shakes his head as if he knows the thoughts going through my mind.

“You need to eat. You probably haven’t had any water or anything to drink either.”

He gives Ronan one final glare before wrapping an arm around my waist.

“I’ve had beef stew cooking all day in the slow cooker. We also have some leftover lemonade, but I was going to make my homemade peach ice tea while the second batch of biscuits finishes baking.”

My stomach growls the more he talks.

“See? I knew you were hungry.”

I press my free hand to my stomach, laughing. He’s so cute when he gets worked up over my hunger like this.

“They should’ve known better,” Montgomery continues to grumble all while he butters a biscuit, drizzles honey over it, and slides the plate in front of me, at the kitchen island.

“That’ll hold you over until the table is set.”

I grin and happily take the first bite of my biscuit. Per usual, it’s delicious.

Within minutes, Ronan and Noah have set the table, as all four of us are seated, bowls of beef stew and honey biscuits in front of us. The fear over potential jealousies and rivalries between the three brothers melt away.

“These biscuits are the best I’ve ever had. Even better than …” Noah trails off.

The table goes quiet.

“Better than Mom’s,” Ronan finishes.

Montgomery looks between his brothers.

“She’d be proud of your cooking,” Noah says. “Ronan and me are shit in the kitchen.”

Montgomery dips his head, but I don’t miss the way his lips spread.

“The position at the school is permanent,” Ronan suddenly says, catching my attention. “If you want it.”

I raise an eyebrow.

“We’ve been meaning to tell you. Sheila’s former assistant, Jacee, wants to stay home with her pup,” Ronan informs me.

“That’s awesome. I’d love to be a stay-at-home mom,” I say without thinking. It’s not until there’s complete silence that I pause chewing the bite of my biscuit to look around the table.

Three pairs of wolf, alpha eyes are all pinned on me. And they’re glowing.

What did …

“Oh,” I say as I recall the mistake I just made. I never meant to tell anyone about my desire to be a stay-at-home mother. It was a long ago dream that I thought I’d managed to tamp down on.

“Um, I meant that would be nice for someone if she wanted to do that.” I wiggle in my chair. “I don’t want to?—”

“You want to be a mom?” Montgomery asks, his voice full of awe.

“Teacher,” I quickly correct. “I want to be a teacher. That’s why I got my degree in education.” I can’t meet any of their gazes.

“For now, I would love to continue working with Sheila as an assistant teacher for the third grade. The position is still open, right?” I attempt to steer the direction in a different direction.

“Of course.” Noah is the first to speak.

I release the breath I’ve been holding as they all seem to calm down. Thank Mother Moon getting pregnant by any of them isn’t a possibility, not yet. Not until we’re officially bond mated can that happen.

My heart sinks at the reminder but I ignore it.

“As Alpha Queen, whatever position you want is yours,” Noah adds. His eyes, while still intense, are no longer glowing.

“That would be awesome,” I say before asking Ronan about his work trip to change the conversation.

Soon, Noah chimes in with talk about a piece of furniture he’s building for Ms. Sheila and her mate to welcome their new pup. It’s a surprise, but his eyes sparkle as he talks about the crib he’s making them.

My heart tightens as I listen to the three of them talk about their days.

In spite of myself, hope blooms in my chest. This is starting to feel like … like a fam ?—

“I’ll get it,” Noah says, interrupting my thoughts. Montgomery mentioned leaving something of his by the door.

“Might as well pick up the rest of the mess you two left by the door, too,” he says scornfully to Ronan and me, but with a grin on his face.

“Thanks,” I saucily toss back at him. The way he glares makes my nipples harden. Two pairs of growls cause me to look to my left and my right. Montgomery and Ronan’s eyes are on me.

Montgomery sniffs the air and my face heats up. They can smell how turned on I got just from Noah’s minor teasing. I don’t know if that’s something I’ll ever get used to. How tuned in to my senses they are.

The voice in my head again screams, reminding me that these men are my mates. How can that be when I don’t even have a wolf?

I’ve always felt drawn to Noah and Ronan. Back when I believed I was a shifter, I thought it was the mate bond. Then, as I realized I didn’t have a wolf, I tried to convince myself it was no more than mere physical attraction and that I’d get over the hurt of their rejection.

Yet, years later, here I am. More connected than ever to them and feeling a growing strangeness inside of me with each passing day.

But I can’t commit to anything.

“What the hell is this?” Noah’s booming voice interrupts my musings.

I look up to find my burner phone in his hand.

Shit.