Blake, Abby - Wild Fascination [A Bride for Eight Brothers 3] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) by Abby Blake

Warm fingers wiped away the tears on her face, and his soft voice pleaded one more time. “Tell me.”
    “I will love you until the end of time. You’re mine, Lachlan Davidson, and don’t you ever forget it.”
    He smiled, leaned over to kiss her softly, and then pulled her back into his arms. They lay quietly together for a moment, but then he chuckled and said, “Don’t think this gets you out of a whipping. You lied to me, little one, so you’ll pay tomorrow.”
    She snuggled closer. She could barely wait.

Epilogue

    It felt strange to have neighbors. Even on the ice planet that had essentially been an established mining colony, she hadn’t had any actual neighbors. Now they had a second, smaller research station basically parked at their front door. Thankfully the three female medical scientists had quickly identified the chemical part of the creature’s mating musk that affected humans and discovered its effects could be overcome by daily doses of a simple, specially blended multivitamin elixir.
    The women had used so many medical terms when explaining the problem and cure that Mikayla had barely understood a word. Still feeling a little territorial over her men, she’d contacted Tracey, who’d contacted a medical friend, who’d explained that the science behind the discovery seemed solid. So now, Mikayla breathed a little easier.
    It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her men to be faithful, but after seeing them affected by the mating musk, she didn’t want there to be any misunderstandings between them and three unattached women. The fact that the women had more in common with her highly educated husbands hadn’t missed Mikayla’s notice either.
    “What is that delicious smell?” Bryce came into the kitchen with a broad smile on his face. She enjoyed cooking, but she wasn’t exactly a master chef.
    “Just pot roast,” she said as he pulled her into his embrace. He still limped on his damaged leg but stubbornly refused to get it fixed. There was a procedure that would easily replace the damaged thigh and hip bone with a polymer implant, but it meant several days in hospital and weeks of physical therapy. Bryce had simply refused to go back to Earth to get it done. Considering what happened last time they were in a hospital, she couldn’t blame him for his reticence.
    “Nope,” he said against her hair, “the delicious smell is far sweeter than pot roast. It must be you.” She giggled as he kissed and nibbled her ear for a moment, but then Matt seemed to grow serious.
    “I’m sorry we didn’t figure it out sooner,” he said as Bryce hugged her closer. “Are you okay?”
    She looked at Matt, wondering how the hell he could think she wasn’t okay. “Matt, I’m fine. More than fine. None of you did anything to scare me. Hell, I was more concerned that my husbands were pulling away, and I didn’t know why.”
    “I can’t describe how intense and immediate the pheromone’s effects were. It was kind of frightening. I’m really glad I wasn’t anywhere near you at the time.”
    He looked so remorseful that she couldn’t decide whether to drag him into a hug or verbally smack him upside the head. The guy not only got a full dose of the mating musk at its strongest, but he managed to stay calm enough to identify and remove the source. It didn’t matter how wild his need for her had been, he’d recognized the symptoms immediately and controlled himself.
    But gentle reassurance never worked with this husband. She eased out of Bryce’s embrace, marched over to Matt, and waved a finger in his face. “Matt Davidson, you are, seriously , the biggest pain in the ass.” The look on his face would’ve been comical if his remorse hadn’t been so ridiculous. Bryce laughed behind her as she said, “Matt, you did everything right, so stop with the guilt already.”
    “Finally,” Bryce said with a laugh, “the voice of reason.”
    Matt grabbed her hand, held it to his heart for a moment as