Stealing Their Harley, page 11
With that he picks me up and cradles me to his chest and carries me back to the car they must have driven here. Rico and my dad have my mother in the backseat with her head on Dad’s lap and her feet on Rico’s.
Kacen pulls me into the middle row of the SUV. Alekai jumps into the driver's seat and Dawson into the passenger side. “Just hang in there, baby, we will be home soon.”
Chapter 13
I curl into Kacen and allow myself to drift in and out of consciousness for the duration of the car ride. The next thing I know, I’m being lifted from Kacen’s lap by Alekai. My eyes won’t stay open long enough for me to follow the path he takes, but it isn’t long before I’m placed on a soft surface; a bed.
“They’re both much worse. Her father has her mother in the other room.” Kacen’s whisper breaks through the fog of my brain and soothes the crushing pain radiating through me.
“Kacen ,” I murmur, unsure he heard my pathetic attempt at calling for him.
A cool hand pushes the hair from my forehead. “I’m right here, baby. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Alekai? Dawson?” It takes all my energy to ask for them as well, but I need to tell them something before it’s too late.
“We’re here, love.” The raw pain in Dawson’s tone guts me. I don’t want them hurting because of me.
“I need to say…” I stop and groan as the pain grows, and I curl onto my side in the fetal position. It does nothing to ease the new waves of pain. Still, I push through and force the words past the hurt. “I love you. All three of you.”
Sobs reach my ears and my heart shatters for them. Kacen kisses me softly, his lips wet from his tears. “I love you, too, baby. We love you so damned much.”
“I loved you the moment I stole you that first day,” Alekai whispers in my ear, his voice breaking toward the end.
Dawson inhales deeply, but it does nothing to stop the tears streaming down his perfect face. “I love you, Harley. Dammit, I love you. Please don’t leave us.”
“I’ll try.” As soon as the words leave my mouth a searing pain shoots up my spine and a pop sounds over the guys’ sobs. I scream as the pop occurs again and I realize it’s my spine. It happens again and again.
“Something’s not right,” Dawson gasps, his hand fluttering over my back. “This isn’t supposed to happen.”
“What do we do, Kacen ?” Alekai asks as I scream in pain once again.
The guys come in and out of focus while I writhe on the bed. I catch Kacen shaking his head, fear evident in his eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t understand what’s happening.”
The popping continues down my spine, then onto other bones in my body and I realize they’re all breaking. The pain becomes unbearable and I desperately want to succumb to the darkness threatening to takeover. I fight it, though, for my guys.
I grab onto someone’s hand, I’m not sure who. “Please, make it stop!”
“I don’t know how, baby,” Kacen cries. “Fuck, I don’t know how.”
Several more breaks and a ripping sound, then the pain stops. I’m dead. It’s the only explanation. The pain was just too much for my body and I couldn’t handle it any longer. I cry out for my guys, knowing the pain they must be in. A whimpering sound hits my ears and it startles me.
Suddenly, my senses come back to me one by one. I feel the soft bed underneath me. I hear the rapid breaths of the guys around the room, along with their racing hearts. My own heartbeat mingles with theirs, beating in sync. I chance opening my eyes and find I’m lying on my stomach. I try to roll onto my back, but it proves difficult for my sore body. I go to sit up, but something catches my eye. Are those paws?
The sight of paws where my hands should be startles me so bad, I roll right off the side of the bed and land on my side. I whimper while trying to jump to my feet, only to stumble and fall over. I glance down at the rest of my body only to find silvery fur much like Kacen’s wolf, only his has more of a white hue to it. The fur covering my body is on the grey side.
“Holy shit.” Alekai’s awed whisper startles me and I spin around to find him. I don’t mean to growl at him, but he scared me.
He holds his hands up and backs away a step. “It’s okay, sugar. It’s just me.”
I whimper again and rush at him, knocking him over as I jump on him. Dawson and Kacen hurry over, shouting for me to stop. They’re likely worried I’m attacking Alekai, but I simply lay on top of him. I want to hug him, but I can’t figure out how.
“Even as a wolf she’s tiny,” Alekai mutters, petting my back slowly. “She’s fine guys, she’s just lying here.”
Dawson and Kacen relax slightly, sitting on either side of Alekai. “You’re really alive,” Dawson whispers in awe. “You’re alive and you’re a wolf. How did this happen?”
Before anyone can say another word, a dark brown wolf comes racing into the room with my father and Rico hot on its heels. The idea of another wolf anywhere near my guys has my gut clenching. I scramble off Alekai and jump in front of them, my stance threatening. I growl out a low warning at the wolf, but it’s cut short when I smell something familiar. It’s coming off the brown wolf in waves and it comforts me.
I stand up straighter on all fours and shuffle slowly toward the wolf. It stands stock still while I circle it and sniff, trying to place the scent.
“Harley? Is that you?” My father distracts me and I want to laugh. Who else would I be?
I try to answer him but instead a bark comes out and scares the crap out of me and the other wolf in the room. We both yip and cower, wondering where the sound came from.
That would be why he doesn’t know if it’s me. Because I’m a freaking wolf. This is too weird. I spin around and trot over to my guys, desperate for them to help me change back. I try to tell them that I want to be a human again but it only comes out as a series of barks and whines.
“Baby, we don’t understand what you’re trying to tell us,” Kacen murmurs. He kneels beside me and runs his hand through my fur. It feels amazing and I lean into his touch. “Can you try and shift back for us?”
I snort. If I could do that, I wouldn’t be asking them for help, but he doesn’t know that.
“I don’t know how this happened,” my dad murmurs in awe. “One minute she was in so much pain and I thought it was some kind of horrible reaction to the scratch. The next thing I know, she’s a wolf.”
“That’s how it happened for Harley, also.” Dawson frowns and shakes his head. “I don’t understand it.”
So, the brown wolf is my mother. That’s why the scent is so familiar. I couldn’t place it until now, but it makes sense. She always smells like sunshine.
I have a theory on why we turned into wolves instead of dying, but I can’t tell them. When I try, all I manage is a series of barks. Alekai starts to laugh after a while and I find myself growling at him. He raises his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry, but I know you’re trying to tell us something and it’s so fucking adorable. Just so you know, when a wolf barks, it’s usually a warning to back off.”
“What is she trying to say?” Rico asks, finally entering the room. When I spin on him, he smirks at me. “What is it, Lassie? Is Timmy stuck in the well again?”
I lunge at him, sending him to the ground and knocking the wind out of him. He lies on the ground, gasping for air and cursing me to hell and back. My only response is to give him a big lick across his cheek.
“Argh!” He uses both hands to wipe his face off. “Dog slobber. Yuck!”
Rico has always been a cat person. This is going to be so much fun. I mock raise my back leg, acting like I’m gonna pee on him. Everyone laughs at the girl-like scream that comes from his lips. When he realizes I’m not serious, he lets out a curse. “Brat!”
It should freak me the hell out to have fur and paws, but it doesn’t. It feels… right somehow. It’s like this is how I was always meant to be. A piece of me that was missing clicked into place and I’m now complete and whole. I have my guys and I have my wolf. My family is safe. My world is finally right again, more so than ever before.
It’s anyone’s guess what the future will hold, but for right now, I’m over the moon. No pun intended.
“Let’s let these two get some rest. Kacen still needs to clean up after his fight and we could use showers, also.” Alekai points down the hall, toward the guest room I was in. “There’s a room for you, Richard, and Debra if she wants to sleep in there. It has its own bathroom and there should be everything you need in there.”
“Thank you, Alekai.” Dad pats Alekai’s shoulder and gives him a meaningful look, along with Kacen and Dawson. “You three saved me and my girls. I can never thank you enough for what you’ve done.”
“Richard, I don’t think you know this yet,” Kacen sighs, rubbing at his forehead, “but Harley is our mate. She belongs with the three of us. We would die for her. She’s our entire world now.”
Dad watches them with wide eyes and runs a weary hand across his brow. “Well, I didn’t see that coming.”
“You’re not kidding,” Rico chimes in, finally getting to his feet. He pats the top of my head and I huff. I’m not a dog… technically. “It shocked the shit out of me, too. But when you see the four of them together for more than five minutes, you just know it’s real. She’s never been happier and they do that for her. It’s the only reason I didn’t freak the fuck out.”
I try to scoff but it comes out more like a sneeze and Rico cringes. “Okay, I didn’t freak out as much as I wanted to.” The guys laugh and Rico shrugs. “She’s like a little sister to me. I wasn’t going to just be cool with her wanting to be with three dudes. Sue me for being a little ambivalent.”
“Thankfully, I know how these things work,” Dad says with a chuckle. “I know what a mate bond is like. Not only that but you three just spent the last two weeks protecting my daughter. I’d say she could do a hell of a lot worse in a mate… or mates.”
“Yeah, like Rico,” Alekai jests. He dodges an elbow Rico tries to throw his way and laughs. “I’m just fucking with you, man.”
“I’m going to shower. You’re all dicks,” Rico pouts. He points to me. “Especially you, furball.”
I snap my jaws at him before he leaves the room, laughing freely. Jerk.
“We’re going to work on getting your mom back to human form, Scooter,” Dad tells me with a nervous smile. “She and I have a lot to talk about.” He pets the top of my head, then waits as I rub my face against my mom. It’s the closest thing to a hug I can manage. She does the same to me before they leave the room.
“I’m going to shower,” Kacen mutters as he heads toward the attached bathroom. “I’ll be back in a few.”
It doesn’t take long for all three of my guys to be freshly showered. I work on turning back to human the entire time they take to get clean. I fail miserably each try. “Come lie with us, Harley,” Dawson calls. I turn to find the three of them spread out on the giant bed. Dawson pats the bed between him and Kacen. I relent easily and hop onto the bed between them, plopping down with a huff.
Alekai chuckles from the other side of Dawson. “You’ll be able to shift once you finally relax, sugar.”
I growl at him, which only serves to entertain him more. Kacen drops an arm over my back and glares at Alekai. “Quit teasing her. If I remember correctly, you couldn’t shift back for a week when you had your first shift.”
“Kacen !” Alekai whines. “That was supposed to be information taken to the grave.”
“Yeah, well you weren’t supposed to make fun of our girl,” Kacen retorts. “Now, shut it. I’m exhausted.”
We all relax and drift into a deep sleep after that. It was a long day and I don’t think any of us had any energy left. At some point in the early morning hours I grow uncomfortable on my stomach and roll to my side. Kacen pulls my back against his front, his arm over my stomach. Dawson takes my hand in his and sighs contentedly.
It isn’t until Alekai curses low and long that I really wake up. When I do, I find hands instead of paws and look down at my very naked body pressed between two of my guys. Alekai’s eyes are hot and hooded as they roam over me. Kacen’s arm tightens around my stomach and he bites his lip when his eyes finally pop open.
“I guess I know how to shift back, now,” I mutter in an attempt to make light of the situation.
None of them laugh. Instead, they look at me like wild animals and I’m their next meal.
My analogy isn’t far from the truth when moments later the three of them devour every inch of me in the most delicious way possible. I realize afterward what they mean by the bond being fully complete. I literally feel the three of them inside my soul, like their hearts now live inside of me and mine in them. It’s an incredible feeling. I settle back between them and fall into a blissful rest, feeling complete.
Epilogue
6 years later
* * *
I watch as my best friend tries to hide his giant body behind a tiny tree in our backyard. Four little giggles sound from around the yard after “ready or not” is called out. Warm arms wrap around my growing belly at the same time Rico is found by our four eldest children. My guys can’t seem to stay off me and somehow talked me into one more baby which makes six.
The warm arms rub my stomach and soft lips come to rest on my neck. I sigh happily and lean into my Alpha. “Did the baby go down for her nap okay?”
“Of course not.” He chuckles against my neck and it sends shivers through my body. “She put up her usual fight. Climbed out of the crib four times. Tried to call for Uncle Rico to save her.”
I bite my lip to hold in my laughter. “That sounds about right.”
The obvious biological father of our wild child stomps onto the porch where Kacen and I watch Rico swinging around our six-year-old in one arm and our five-year-old in the other. The twins giggle and jump up and down, calling out for their turns next. Thank god for Rico. He has enough energy to keep the four of them occupied for hours.
“Your daughter tried to fucking bite me, sugar,” Alekai grumbles. Of course, our little girl is more his than mine. She’s just as crazy as he is and then some.
I hold in my laughter and feign innocence. “Which one?”
Our eldest two are boys, then came the twin girls, then another girl. The guys are all hoping the one in my belly is a boy to even things out. I don’t mind either way. I have a feeling they won’t be done asking me to give them more babies even though they claim to be. Two for each man was their excuse. Our two boys are biologically Kacen’s. The twins are Dawson’s, and Alekai is responsible for our youngest little spitfire and the one on the way. They wanted to each have a chance at giving me a baby, but we couldn’t stay away from each other so it’s just happenstance that it worked out in the end.
I’m not as oblivious as they think I am though. They love me being pregnant and they love having tiny babies and giggles running around. If I’m honest with myself, I love it, too.
“You know damn well which one,” Alekai answers while coming around to stand in front of me. Kacen laughs silently behind me, his hands still rubbing my bump. “The twins are too mellow for that kind of shit.”
“I can’t imagine why,” Dawson mutters, stepping out onto the deck. “Alana is asleep, by the way.”
Alekai rounds on him, his arms spread wide. “How the fuck do you do that?”
“I rocked her to sleep.” Dawson shrugs. “It’s not that hard.”
Kacen can’t hold in his laughter anymore and Dawson follows with his own.
“Speak for yourself,” Alekai mutters. He turns to me and pokes out a pouty lip. I giggle at his exaggerated whine. “Sugar, they’re being mean to me.”
“Come here, Alekai,” I coo, holding my arms wide. “I’ll make it all better.”
“Baby, we have to meet your parents for dinner tonight, are you sure you have time to make all of his issues better?” Kacen asks with another chuckle.
“Fuck off,” Alekai growls and pulls me from Kacen’s arms into his own.
I glance over at Rico and an idea forms in my mind. “We have a few hours before we have to meet my parents,” I start, pulling Alekai’s lips down to mine. “I can think of a few ways I can make the three of you feel much better before then.”
Before I can blink, I’m cradled in Alekai’s arms and he’s storming toward the house. I hear Kacen yelling before the back door slides shut. “Rico, watch the kids for a few hours, yeah?”
“One day, when I have a girl of my own, you’ll pay me back for this shit,” Rico yells back and I throw my head back laughing.
What he doesn’t realize is that I already know he’s head over heels for a girl he thinks he can never have. She’s a shifter and because he’s human, he doesn’t think he can pursue her. I’m working with Kacen to rectify that stupid rule and I can’t wait to tell Rico that there’s nothing stopping him from asking her out.
As soon as Alekai lays me down in our giant bed, all thoughts of changing laws and my best friend fly from my mind and the only thing in the world is me and my three men. Perfection. I’ll always be grateful for the day they stole me.
* * *
THE END
Also By
by Amanda Perry
Chosen Storm
Hidden Embers
Burning Roses
From Ashes
* * *
Silver Lining
Fostering Hope
Finding Serenity
by AJ Anders
* * *
Suoja Guild
