Logan’s eyes narrowed. “Then what the hell was this all about? Still trying to protect me, the weakest member of the pack? That’s bullshit and you know it. You may be an inch taller, but I can outrun you any day of the week.”
“Whatever, Logan.”
“No, not whatever. Look, I need sex and touch. So do you. We’re Ravagers. And even though you’d rather be tortured than admit it, you need affection just as much. Wanting to belong doesn’t make me weak, and denying it doesn’t make you strong.”
“We’re not getting into this now. Not when we have Kate to save. You want her? Then get your ass in gear. It’s past time to claim Kate for our own.”
“Don’t think we won’t talk about this later.” Logan stood on shaky legs and straightened his clothes. “Shit. You mean it about going after Kate?” Cautious excitement replaced Logan’s annoyance. “What about Prime?”
“What about him? Eric has the clan to worry about. Besides, he’s busy with Vicki, Dom, and Malcolm.” Eric’s pack. “Kate’s ours, Logan. It’s time we showed her that, once and for all.”
Chapter Three
Afew hours after she’d checked in, Kate shifted again in bed, restless and still unable to sleep, her body on fire. She’d been suffering for weeks, but lately her needs had begun to actually hurt. Flashes of Logan’s laughing eyes and Jesse’s sober smile called to herguer, demanding she cement the bonds that had started two months ago, when Eric had declared her new pack status and she’d acknowledged Jesse and Logan as mates. Mates she hadn’t yet mated, because she wanted something from them they were incapable of giving.
She rolled to her feet and ignored the throbbing in her body. The heavy air conditioner made her internal temperature somewhat bearable, but her need never quite died. Masturbation didn’t work. It only made her sex cramp in denial. Time to hit the shower.
As she entered the smaller room, she considered her pathetic circumstances. She should have been basking in her new pack. Two males to call her own, the autonomy of being the sole female in her own family. But nothing about her mating had gone according to tradition. Prime had more or lessordered herto take Logan and Jesse. She couldn’t stop wondering if they’d said yes to obey Eric or because they wanted her. And that really hurt.
Kate knew she was foolish to believe in love and happily ever after. Human concepts that failed time and time again in this world, as evidenced by the divorce statistics growing daily. But Kate wasn’t human. Ravagers lived by a different standard, where sex shouldn’t necessitate affection but fulfilled a biological need.
So why couldn’t she just accept Jesse and Logan as hers? Why should she care that they craved Vicki, the prime’s female? The constant flirting, the affectionate glances, the praise they heaped on the woman, all if of it drove her insane. She couldn’t be around them without wanting to scream. Why couldn’t they feel that way abouther?
Ripping the shower curtain from the bar in a rage, she growled and tossed it aside. After turning the water to cold, she stepped in the tub. As the freezing drops pelted her sensitive skin, she absorbed the tiny stings, hoping to drown out her anguish. By the Voids, what she wouldn’t give for some peace from this heat and her messed up emotions.
She stood under the shower for close to an hour, just letting the water wash away her cares. When Kate could move without thoughts of Jesse and Logan shadowing her every step, she left the shower, dried off, and padded through her room to the bed. The curtains remained closed, sheltering her from the light of her current reality, and she fell into an exhausted slumber the second her head hit the pillow.
Awakening to the subtle sounds of movement in her room, Kate couldn’t tell how much time had passed in the dark. She felt much better, both physically and mentally. Until she tried to roll out of bed.
Kate tugged at her wrists and ankles and found her limbs spread out, her body in the shape of an X, unable to move. She blinked up at darkness—into a blindfold. Sounds rustled from two different directions. More than one trespasser and she couldn’t move.
A fogging lassitude of fear crept over her and made it difficult to think. Kate prized control, and the feel of ties around her wrists and ankles scared the hell out of her. Even worse, in her confusion, she couldn’t smell more than a hint of the wildness proclaiming her captors Ravagers. Had Mike and his asshole friend returned to finish what they’d started this morning?
Before she could speak, strong hands lifted her head and muted her with a ball gag.
Garbled behind the ball, her promises to destroy her captors came out much less than threatening.
One of the men groaned, and she heard something familiar in his voice. Then he spoke, and she wanted to gut him from stem to sternum.
“That has got to be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. Kate Savage tied up, blindfolded, and gagged.” Logan sighed, and suddenly his scent filled the area.
To her irritation, anticipation made her dizzy with desire. She knew the scent of her need would soon fill the room, if it hadn’t already.
If Logan was here, then Jesse had to be close by. She shouldn’t want them, shouldn’t care that they’d tracked her down and tied her up. Taking advantage of her while she’d been asleep was a cowardly act, yet also a strangely provocative one.
Rough fingers traced the inside of her leg from her calf to her thigh. And stopped.
“You’re ours,” Jesse stated, his voice low, gravelly, and sexy as hell. “Hear that, Kate?”
Logan added, “We gave you time. I tried to be nice for your sake, Kate. But really, enough is enough.”
Nice?She’d give them nice. She swore at them behind the gag and twisted and turned. Her claws came out but couldn’t do any damage to the ties binding her tight. When she made a move to use herguer,to change into the physical manifestation of her warrior’s spirit, she got her second huge shock of the night.
Her energy had been blocked somehow.
“Now, Kate, that’s just cheating. We’ve stayed human. You should too.” Jesse’s finger teased her skin, staying close to her knee, not giving her anything she needed. “But if you want to put up a fight, you know we won’t stop you. Nothing a Ravager likes more than a challenge.”
He planted a soft kiss on her belly, and the feel of his touch brought tears to her eyes.
