Page 27 of Nicolette

“Yes, your heat has officially ended. Can’t you feel the difference?”

“Is that why I feel like a piece of tenderized meat?” I questioned.

He chuckled. “All the endorphins that kept you from feeling everything as you lived up, your two-and-a-half day orgy, is now being acknowledged. You should be back to normal after a full night’s rest without one of us rutting into you, but a hot shower will help.” Pressing a quick kiss to my lips like it was the most normal thing in the world, he left to let me shower alone.

This was the first time I’d been alone where I could hear my own thoughts in quite some time. It was an odd feeling, but one I needed right now. Even though I had my own tiny room at the Lucky Shot, it was attached to a shared common space. You could always hear people talking, drinking, fucking, and taking advantage of the limited free time we were given. Showers were communal, and it didn’t matter what gender or species you were. There was only one place to clean up. Even being here with my heat kicking in right away, this would be my first solo shower in years.

I mean, it was the little things in life that mattered the most, and I was going to take the longest, hottest shower known to man.

It was going to be glorious.

Chapter 12

Nicolette

The rest of the guys were a little wary of Nine the moment I entered the kitchen. Nothing happened, though, as he kissed me soundly and rubbed his scent on me, not liking I’d washed it off. However, when Circus handed me a plate of food, draping himself over my back as he set it down, Nine shot out of his chair and snarled. The second he wasn’t touching me, Nine seemed to chill the fuck out.

“Is this how things are going to be?” I demanded. “No one else can touch me? What happened to the whole free love? Females get to choose who they want, bullshit you’ve been spouting?”

Nine groaned and dropped his head in his hands. “I don’t know, things have never been like this before. Then again, there really isn’t much we know about fated pairs, so it’s going to be a learning curve for all of us.”

“Lucky me,” I muttered and dug into my food.

After putting the food away and dishes in the dishwasher, we were ready to head out. Rambler got me settled with some boots and a leather jacket which he helped me into. Nine seemed to have no problem with this, so I wrapped my arms around the tiger in a hug as an experiment.

“Nic,” Rambler warned. “I’m not sure what you’re trying to prove, but I’d prefer not to be in the middle.”

I could feel Nine’s eyes on me, but he wasn’t growling or trying to get me away from the man. Deciding to push it a step further, I rubbed my scent all over his chest since he had taken a shower washing it all off. If it only took a shower to erase all my hard work, I would need to make sure I got good and cuddly with them during the day. If I could claim what I wanted, then that is what I was going to fucking do.

The thought of having to find new bed partners to replace these guys seemed awful. How would I know if they were just as good?

Circus and that tongue, the twins, and their combined efforts were mind-blowing. Dice was the perfect rough fuck, willing to make it happen wherever I wanted right when I wanted it. Rambler was an all-around solid fuck. He could do it all and never left me wanting, especially when he would play with Nine. It was evident that Nine and Rambler had been friends long before they had these roles. The men knew how to work as a flawless team anticipating the others’ moves. Then there was the added bonus where Rambler didn’t mind being ordered around—within reason—by the lion. Nine needed to be the boss in all areas, it would seem, but damn if he didn’t make it so I wanted to surrender to him. The rewards for doing what he asked were one thousand percent worth it.

All of that added up to the fact I didn’t want anyone thinking they could steal these pussy cats from me. I wanted them, I scented them, and if a bitch had a problem, they could fuck around and find out. They’d learn real quick if catfights weren’t a thing before, they would be now. I was sure once word got around to who I’d worked for and what my job was, I wouldn’t have too much trouble.

“Nine, why can she do this without you freaking the fuck out?” Rambler asked, making me aware I’d climbed his ass so I could koala the shit out of him to scent his face. “Okay, maybe a better question is, why are you doing this, Nic?”

Pulling back, I looked into Rambler’s bright yellow-green eyes. “So no bitches back at the clubhouse steal you from me. Y’all had to go and take a shower washing off all my hard work. Now I have to put it back. This is going to take a lot of work if I need to do this to all of you every day. On the bright side, it means all of you get sex on the regular.”

Rambler looked absolutely confused at what I was saying. “Nic—”

“We used special soap to remove your scent,” Polo interjected. “Nine couldn’t be around us, and he kept threatening to strip our skin off so we wouldn’t smell like you anymore.”

“What?” I blurted, snapping my attention to Nine. “Would you care to explain what the hell you’re thinking saying shit like that to them?”

“Look, I already told you the moment my lion caught a whiff of your scent on them, he lost his shit. Now here you are, humping Rambler right in front of me to douse him in your scent, and I have zero issues with it. None of this is making any goddamn sense,” Nine ranted, tossing his hand in the air. “We need to get the fuck out of here and back home. Looks like I’m gonna need to reach out to the shifter council and see if anyone has a fucking clue what’s going on.”

Rambler grabbed my hips and tugged me off him to set me down. “All right, you heard our alpha. Time to head out.”

I followed the guys out of the house to the garage where their bikes were stored. I was rather surprised we didn’t need to deep clean the house, but they explained that there was a rotation of women who did that. Apparently, after a heat, the last thing anyone wanted to do was clean, so they made the agreement that others would do the job as long as everyone took a turn. It was rather brilliant.

“Nicolette, you’re with me,” Nine informed me.

There I was, riding bitch to my fated pair as we headed to the place I was soon to call home. With how things were starting off, I was sure this was going to go super. Everyone was just going to love the new misses that the alpha brought back home to the den.

Wait, do felines call it a den?

Whatever, all that mattered was I was some unknown woman showing up with a mark on my neck, proving that felines do indeed mate. Nine was a lost cause to them now. He was totally invested in me, even if I wasn’t feeling that type of way about him.