Arctic Spirit Read online

  “Mine, forever,” he whispered.

  Chapter Eight

  “I knew Jill was a jealous bitch,” Charlotte said on the drive home, “but I had no idea she was bat-shit crazy.”

  “She will be properly dealt with,” Drew told her. “She will never lay her fucking hands on you again.”

  Chris agreed. The first thing they were going to do when they got home was call Ash, one of the members of the LLC—Ladies and Lords of Council. He and Drew had crossed paths with him and his brother, Jase, during some of their travels.

  “What’s this Ash guy going to do?” she asked.

  “Deliver justice!”

  There was still so much Charlotte had to learn about their world now that she was going to be a part of it. He and Drew had spent the rest of the day and night making love to her on the boat, taking breaks only to eat and attend to other necessities. They had purposefully avoided the topic of who had attacked her, to give themselves time to just enjoy being together and mated. In the early hours of the next morning, they all agreed that it was time to head back home. As much as Chris wanted to stay in this perfect little bubble with his newfound mate, he knew he would not be able to fully bask in his happiness until the threat to her was dealt with.

  By all rights, he and Drew could have killed Jill for attempting to take their mate’s life, but spirit-shifter philosophy stated that life was precious and only to be taken when justice required it. Had she succeeded in her attempt, though, he would not have hesitated to end her. What had puzzled him was why Jill’s spirit tiger remained on the boat instead of fleeing right away, essentially letting Chris and Drew catch her in the act. Still, he wanted her punished, made an example of to her little gang and anyone else who wanted to harm their mate.

  When they arrived home, Charlotte insisted on making them a real breakfast and would not take no for an answer. Not that Chris wanted to protest. He was starving. The granola bar and coffee he had inhaled on the quick drive home did nothing for his rumbling stomach. It grumbled even more so as the smell of bacon and eggs began to fill the kitchen.

  He set the table while Drew made the phone call, then put on a pot of coffee. When breakfast was finally ready and all three were seated at the table, they resumed their conversation. Charlotte wanted to know more about the council, so he and Drew slowly began to fill her in. He decided to save the big bombshell for last.

  “The LLC was formed over two thousand years ago,” Chris began. Charlotte paused mid-chew, her eyes widening. “The members and those like them have been around a long time,” he continued. “Before humans … before our kind even. Our spirits actually descend from them, from their spirits.”

  Charlotte put her fork down and paid rapt attention.

  “Eat, baby,” Chris chided. “You need food in your stomach.” She was thankfully able to eat a little yesterday after being sick the day before that, and he wanted to make sure she ate a full meal now.

  Drew picked up where Chris left off. “The LLC has twenty-one members so there is always a tie-breaking vote and they rotate members every fifty years. Past members can sit on the council again, but never consecutively.”

  Chris almost laughed at Charlotte’s comical expression. She sat open-mouthed, holding an empty fork up to her mouth. “Every fifty years? Can sit on the council again?”

  “They don’t age like humans.” Chris took a deep breath. “Neither do we, for that matter.” He took another deep breath. “And neither will you now that you are mated to us.”

  Her fork clanged on the plate. “Am I going to turn into a tiger, too?”

  Chris couldn’t help but laugh, Drew right along with him, at her expression which was mixed with fear, shock, and a little giddy excitement. “No, Char. You’d have to be born a tiger for that, but our souls are connected now as well as your body to ours. You’ll age slower and be immune to diseases. We don’t live nearly as long as the dragons do, nor are we as powerful, but—”

  “Dragons?” she squeaked. “There are dragons?”

  “So much for easing her into things.” Drew took a bite out of his bacon and then took a piece off of Charlotte’s plate and held it up to her lips. “Please eat, baby.”

  She bit into the proffered bacon and chewed slowly. “I think I really did fall down a rabbit hole.”

  Chris waited until she finished chewing before continuing. There was so much of their history to enlighten her with and over time, she’d learn it all. It was part of her future. For now, he briefly explained that the dragons were an ancient race. They could shift into their dragon form from birth, and unlike the spirit shifters, they did not separate their dragon. Man, or woman, and beast were always one. “They can do some amazing things with fire, though. It can almost be a living thing in and of itself.”

  Furthermore, an army of humans and shifters could not stand against even one of them, so they created the LLC to prevent the abuse of power. They never interfere with humans, though, other than to protect them from those more powerful. Chris remembered seeing one of the council meeting facilities once from the outside when he and Drew were in Russia. The insignia etched in stone above the door read, “We are made of earth. We are made of fire.”

  “We’ve given you a lot to think about, huh?” Drew asked her.

  She nodded, clearly still trying to absorb all that she had learned in the past few days. “Not what I thought this trip would turn out to be.”

  “But…” Chris prompted. She definitely looked as if she had more to say.

  “I’ll gladly stay down this rabbit hole if it means being with the two of you.”

  Chris pushed his chair closer to her. He took the palm of her hand and brought it to his lips. “I’m so glad it turned out to be you.”

  “As am I,” Drew said. “You have no idea, baby.” He touched the mark he gave her on the left side of her neck and shut his eyes. Chris did the same to his own mark on her right and felt a shiver run through him.

  “I feel it,” Charlotte whispered, “…a connection. It’s almost like a string that tethers me to both of you.”

  Chris heard the awe in Charlotte’s voice. He felt giddy with relief that she had accepted him and his brother so easily. “Drew and I feel it, too.” She had described the sensation of the tethered link between them accurately, although as her senses slowly become more heightened by their bond, she’ll begin to feel it on a much deeper level, much the same as he and Drew do. “Most humans have soul mates, too, but they just don’t have the ability to sense their mates like we do.”

  “Some may be more intuitive than others, though,” Drew said, tapping Charlotte on the nose.

  “What makes human souls so different from yours?” she asked.

  Drew entwined his hand with hers. “Well, human souls are born singular, and while they live, their bodies are tied only to the earth. Shifters are born with soul and spirit—two parts that form one entity. We are connected to not only the earth, but the sun, moon, and stars, and whatever else that’s out there. We feel connected to the universe.”

  “And now you’re connected through us,” Chris told her. He loved the range of emotions he saw play out on her face. She went from wide-eyed and awestruck to perfectly serene. Turning to Drew, he asked, “What did Ash have to say earlier, by the way?”

  “He’ll get here in a few days. He’s dealing with a bit of a situation.”

  “What kind of situation?”

  “One of the LLC members is missing … his sister. I told him that Jill got the message for now, when she submitted to my threat on the boat.” Drew went on to explain that he didn’t get much more detail from Ash about the disappearance of his sister, and before he and Drew had time to speculate on anything, they were interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

  Chris pushed his chair back from the table in anger. He recognized her scent. “It’s Mrs. Larkin—Jill’s mother.”

  Charlotte and Drew followed him to the door. When he opened it, he glared stonily at the tall bl
onde woman while scenting the air. She came alone.

  “Please,” Mrs. Larkin began in earnest, “I know Jill can be, well … a handful, but she’s been through so much with her own mates, as you know.” She glanced over at Charlotte.

  “Don’t you fucking look at her,” Drew spat.

  “Hello, Charlotte,” she said with a shaky smile despite Drew’s warning. “I mean you no harm.” She glanced from Drew to Chris and repeated. “I mean her no harm. And neither did Jill.”

  Chris gritted his teeth. “She pushed Charlotte overboard. She could have died!”

  “She only meant to scare her.” Mrs. Larkin took a step back as Chris threateningly inched toward her. “She stayed behind, didn’t she? She wanted to make sure you got Charlotte out.” She turned to Charlotte again. “Please. I beg you. Ask them not to harm my daughter. You were all friends in high school, surely you—”

  “Jill and I were never friends,” Charlotte interrupted matter-of-factly. She paused for a moment and let out a deep breath before adding, “But I don’t wish to see her dead.”

  Chris saw the look of hopeful gratitude appear on Mrs. Larkin’s face. He stepped back and slammed the door shut, despite the woman looking as if she had more to say.

  Drew gave a sudden chuckle. “I don’t suppose we should have warned her that Mom would be paying her a visit?”

  “Nah,” Chris replied. “Why deprive Mom of her fun?” Both his parents had been furious and ready to go tear some limbs off when they heard about what happened on the boat, and when Drew was on the phone with their mom, he explained the route they wanted to take before it did escalate into taking a life. And Mrs. Larkin had been correct when she said that Jill submitted to his threat on the boat. He saw real fear in her spirit tiger’s eyes. Still, when it comes to family, messing with one is like messing with them all, and their mom was as fierce a tiger as they came when her family was in danger.

  “You okay, baby?” he asked Charlotte. After she nodded, he took her by the hand and led her back into the kitchen so that she could finish her breakfast.

  She looked pensive as she took a bite of bacon and then a few sips of her coffee. “What happened with Jill’s mates?”

  “One of them was already married to someone else—she never even laid eyes on him—and she basically drove the other away,” Chris said.

  “How did she know he was her mate then if she was never in his presence?”

  “Same way Chris and I knew we were destined to share a mate,” Drew explained. “It’s very common for brothers to have the same mate, especially if they are close in age. We feel a separate spirit link that connects us to each other with more than just a blood bond. Gale, Jill’s mate, was stationed in Taika with the Coast Guard a few years ago. Chris and I got to know him a little.”

  “Nice guy, actually,” Chris interjected. “Polar opposite of Jill.”

  “He told us about his brother,” Drew continued. “He fell in love with a human and married her. They already had two kids by then, and he had no interest in flying to Alaska to meet Jill.”

  “Maybe he was afraid of what would happen with the mating pull.” Charlotte looked as if she actually felt sorry for Jill at the moment. Truth be told, so did Chris.

  He and Drew continued to fill her in on what transpired between Gale and Jill. At first, it was like any other mating amongst shifters experiencing the pull. The first few weeks brought about a substantial change in Jill. Chris had never seen her so happy and actually even nice at times.

  It didn’t take long, however, for her to revert to her old ways as jealousy and pettiness set in with regard to her other mate. She didn’t take the rejection well and lashed out at Gale. She also flirted with other men in front of Gale as a way to punish him for not persuading his brother to leave his wife and children. Gale had finally had enough when he came home one night to find another man in their bed. Jill had said that she was owed a third and would not be deprived. Gale put in for an immediate transfer and flew out of Alaska the next day.

  “And now she wants the two of you to take the place of her mates.” Charlotte shook her head. “I was going to add over my dead body, but…”

  “Not funny, Char!” Drew stood and began clearing away the plates.

  “You cooked, we clean,” Chris told her before she could get up to help. He went over to the sink and began to rinse the dishes before loading them into the dishwasher.

  “I don’t want to think about Jill anymore,” Charlotte said.

  Chris turned around to look at her and winked. “Trust me. Drew and I will make you forget all about her.”

  He planned to make her forget repeatedly.

  Chapter Nine

  Chris had made good on his promise to help her forget about Jill and what had transpired on the boat. Over the next several days, Charlotte had spent most of her time in between her men … or underneath … or up against the wall… Now, she was excited about the prospect of both of them taking her together. She had experimented before with anal play in the form of toys. The thought of Chris and Drew taking her together had always been a fantasy of hers, and she couldn’t help but laugh at the excited twin looks they had given her the night before when she told them all about her desire. They decided to make the experience even more special by saving it for their camping trip.

  “This looks like the perfect spot.” Chris dropped his camping gear on the ground and spread his arms out to the side of him. He took in a deep breath of fresh, crisp air before exhaling loudly. “I proclaim this stead ours!”

  Charlotte threw her head back and laughed, dropping her own gear to the ground in the process. “You’re such a cheeseball.”

  “Oh, you love it.”

  “I do,” she admitted. “And I agree that this spot is amazing.” Breathtaking was probably more like it, with the scenic view of the lake in front of them and massive glaciers behind them. Plus, she’d have her own personal heating blankets to warm her up at night. The guys had finally shed some light on what had always been a mystery to her—their body temperature. It was in a shifter’s physiology to adapt comfortably to any climate, and their bodies ran hotter or colder than humans depending on the temperature.

  The March weather definitely prevented a swim, not that she was eager to get back into water that wasn’t in a bathtub anytime soon, but after setting up camp, they blew up a raft and took it out on the lake to do some fishing.

  They had her so riled up by the time they made it back to camp, with plenty of fish in hand, that if it wasn’t for her rumbling stomach, she would have demanded they take her right away. As it was, she practically inhaled her food, both out of hunger and need for her men.

  “You’re wearing too many clothes, baby,” Drew told her as he removed her jacket.

  They were inside their tent now. “You’re both extremely overdressed yourselves.” She bit her lip, causing both men to groan. The ache in her was building at a rapid rate as she watched both men divest themselves of their own jackets.

  As her men removed their shirts, Charlotte pulled her sweater up and over her head. Chris moved in behind her and trailed his hand slowly down her back to the clasp of her bra, popping it open with ease. As soon as her breasts sprang free, he reached around and cupped them, massaging and plucking at her nipples. He then held them as if an offering to Drew.

  Drew leaned forward and licked around one turgid peak. He slid his tongue around her areola before sucking her nipple into his mouth. Stabs of desire shot straight to her core, even more so when Chris began planting open-mouthed kisses to the side of her neck. They both already learned her weak spots and never hesitated to deliver special attention to them.

  As Drew proceeded to lavish the same attention onto her other breast, he went to undo first the button, then the zipper of her jeans. He popped her breast out of his mouth, and he and Chris removed the rest of her clothes as well as their own. Drew made her breath hitch when he slid his hands up her thighs, and then teasingly, with just
the tips of his fingers, skirted around her needy, wet pussy.

  “Please,” she moaned. “Please touch me.” She couldn’t take the teasing now with how badly she ached for them.

  Sensing this, Drew flipped her over onto all fours and immediately dove in to taste her from behind. She nearly convulsed when he stuck his thumb into her other hole, and as his thumb stroked her in and out, his mouth devoured her.

  “You like what Drew is doing to you, Char?”

  “Mmm,” was the only response she could muster at the moment as Drew continued his double assault. Her belly contracted with every swipe of his tongue, every stroke of his finger, and every gentle nip to the lips of her pussy. Chris, meanwhile, was rubbing up and down her back with his cock hard and inviting in front of her. She bit down on her bottom lip. “I need to taste you.”

  She licked his cockhead when he brought it close to her mouth, swallowing down the delicious salty pre-cum, and then she sucked the head into her mouth. Chris’s breathing became harsh as she continued to swallow him down, almost to the back of her throat. He threaded his fingers through her hair and began to slowly pump into her, long strokes, feeding her as much as she could take.

  “Ah! Fuck! I love seeing your lips around my cock.” A few more strokes, and he took himself out of her. “No more, baby. I want to come in your sweet little pussy.”

  God, she loved his dirty talk. “More,” she said, her voice low and throaty. “I want to hear more.” She gave a loud moan when she felt the vibrations of Drew’s soft laughter against her flesh, and louder still when he added another finger into her ass and began to scissor them inside of her. “Oh, God!”

  “You like it when I whisper sweet dirty nothings in your ear, don’t ya?” Chris asked. He leaned in and licked the shell of her ear before saying, “In a minute, it’s going to be my cock in your pussy instead of Drew’s tongue, and his dick instead of his fingers in your ass.” He kissed her hard, his tongue exploring and invading before she had a chance to respond. Not that she had a coherent response to give.