Bared for Them

“Hold her,” Victor barked. He fished a dagger from his pile of clothes.

Chase sat atop my thighs and quickly unknotted the rope at my waist. peeling open my cloak.

“I’ve never seen her open this thing,” he murmured, eyeing my cloak as if he’d just realized that.

He was right. I always kept the cloak carefully around me.

Now Chase noticed the bodice of the dress was half laced so it hung limply in front to keep from emphasizing any shape beneath the cloak.

~And to accommodate the thickness wrapped around my waist.~

“We gotta see what’s going on under here.” Chase twisted to give Victor a long look.

“Then we’ll know how grave this is.”

~Grave.~

“The alpha will want to know,” Huntley remarked, frowning. All my fears were brought together with that one sentence.

~He could have me beat. Or worse…~

Victor tossed his dagger to Chase and fetched another from another pile of their clothes.

“Wait!” I shouted, afraid of what they were going to find.

At my struggling, Chase hopped forward to straddle my hips just under my breasts. Though he held most of his weight off me, it was still enough to pin me there for Victor to finish his inspection.

“No! Get off me!” I pushed at his chest to dislodge him. But his whole body was iron hard, wound with muscles which were now tightened to hold him in place.

He gave me a quizzical glance, peering under the hood of my cloak. “You actually thought you could move me? You’re too bloody tiny.”

He shook his head in disbelief.

~He’s right.~

My heart hammered against my ribs.

Victor, that vicious green-eyed rogue, returned and headed underneath my skirt, determined to discover all I hid.

Under my skirt, I could feel Victor’s hot chest against my pelvis and thighs. He slid higher with his blade.

His warm breath against my bare skin made my nerves tingle.

I shivered. Startled enough to writhe a bit in order to put distance between our bodies. The way he was sliding over me was building an indefinable ache below my waist, burning up through my center.

“Damn, woman, contain yourself!” Victor was muffled under my skirt. “Your scent is destroying me.”

“What does that mean?” The words slipped out of me as I continued to struggle.

Huntley’s feet appeared in my peripheral, and he hooked my hood with his toes. Pushing it back to expose the scrap of cloth I tied over my hair.

I blanched.

Chase leaned over and plucked it off my head. “Well, look at this!”

My blonde hair was bound back in a ponytail which I rolled around my crown.

Now it flipped loose and surrounded my cheeks and shoulders with its shimmering length.

I felt the brush of cold steel, though no pain of being cut. There was a sudden release of pressure around my torso, then jerking around my waist and back. It was being lifted off me and pulled and cut until the wet cloth encircling me unraveled. I felt a sudden rush of air along my flat belly. The bindings were gone.

I gasped a relieved breath, from having their weight and heat off. But at the same time, I closed my eyes against their disapproving faces, understanding the truth.

~They know…~

All their heads were bowed over me, as they watched my face. There was an expression I hadn’t seen before on all their faces.

I gazed back at them all. My heart hammered my chest as if it would emerge from it.

Martha had told me they could attack me instantly if they knew what I really looked like. They’d be infuriated by my betrayal of the pack.

I assumed that was what I was seeing now.

It hurt. Somehow, their disappointment in me was crushing. I wanted them to look at me like I was special, not something to be mocked.

Victor paused. And I felt movement beneath my skirt and realized that he had it lifted, and his hand was still beneath. The sudden, light brush of his rough fingertips along my crease was enough to have me leap from my skin.

He’d found the precise place that had ached for him during the Mating Moon, and it was there that he stroked me. Slow titillating circles that had me coming undone. That tiny touch made my legs quiver and me gasp.

He made a low rumbling sound. A tone which sounded undeniably hungry.

My back arched beneath Chase and my head tipped back. I panted as I tried to focus, but having them all so close, touching me was nearly enough to drive me insane.

Chase caught the top of my bodice and bent it back. It was stiff, and laced so loosely that it slid down around me, until bumping into Chase’s knees straddling me.

That left only the dingy gray fabric of my coarse, oversized dress to cover me.

And beneath that, the layers of fabric, which restricted my breasts.

~Oh, no.~

The dagger exchanged hands and Huntley stuck the blade in the shadow of my smashed cleavage and carefully twisted it up. He leaned over intently as he gave a couple sawing motions.

The cloth ripped the last bit and tossed open. My white breasts burst free and the nippled peaks rested against the bend of my peeled back bodice. One globe brushed against Chase’s knuckles.

That slight touch was enough to have my animal raging.

~Hush girl.~ I willed her. Closing my eyes and twisting my head, I fought her back. She was climbing through me. A sort of straining which felt as though it would burst from my skin at any moment. I felt like I barely held a grip on her.

“What have you done?” Victor scolded me. His fingers continued to stoke the rising desire in me. “Do you know what the alpha would say about this?”

“It is the responsibility of our pack to bear young,” Huntley added. “You included.”

“And you’ve been hiding that you’re very breedable,” Chase contributed.

~Breedable.~ I hated that word. ~Did it mean I was attractive, young, or able-bodied?~

No matter what the actual definition of it was, it lumped me with Katy and Alana.

~I’m nothing like them!~

I remembered Katy’s hideously contorted face as she threatened me, transforming to absolute sweetness when she peered up at Victor who’d pulled her off me.

~She wanted their attention.~

“I don’t know what that means,” I muttered, looking away.

“It means that you’re healthy and able to be marked and bear young. Capable of being bred to further the pack and our wolf lineage.”

I startled at something hard and velvety protruding against my breasts. Chase shifted and dragged his skin against mine.

“What if that’s not what I want?” I asked.

“There’s fewer of us each year because of the pack plagues,” Huntley said.

Chase explained, “Our pack was established by gathering enough strong wolves to form our own. But we’re a pack still in its infancy and pups are needed to set us as a recognized pack.”

“Which keeps us all safer,” Huntley said. “We’re less likely to be attacked by interlopers looking for territory if we have another generation prepared to take our places.”

“It’s required of all of us, in fact,” Victor said harshly. He retracted those delicious fingers and dropped my skirt.

Without his touches I could shove my wolf down and gather a few thoughts.

“It’s only cloth…” I murmured so quietly I doubted they heard me.

They were acting like hiding my figure was sacrilegious.

“Do you not care a wit for our laws?” Victor growled.

“It’s you trying to hide yourself from a proper mate,” Chase said angrily. “That’s not okay.”

“All this discovery and wonder is getting me excited,” Huntley said.

The three of them shared a look and seemed like they agreed on something.

“There’s a cost for us to keep your secret, Valerie,” Chase said.

Victor climbed to his feet and he stepped near my head.

I looked up at him nervously. He looked down at me with an unreadable expression.

“Not that!” I covered my face. “Please don’t.”

“I think it’s the least of what we’ll be doing to you the next Mating Moon.”

I blanched and ducked my head.

But my wolf heard his words. There was no fear in her.

She was writhing with anticipation.