mother hadn’t cared much about her, so Sydney had been able to come and go as she pleased. Where others might fall into the trap of becoming a troubled teenager, she had buckled down and worked hard in school. All of her hard work had been for nothing in the end, though. The books she read in school hadn’t prepared her for the hard life that awaited her once her mother sold her. And that burned like acid. It had been bad enough when Sydney had thought her mom had given her to the alpha because she couldn’t stand her. But to know that her mom had accepted money…it just made her feel worse. It was no wonder that her former mate had treated her like property. She’d been purchased for him. For all intents and purposes, she was his toy to use and abuse at his whim.
But escape had brought her to Kentucky and into the home of the three kindest men she’d ever known. She knew that they looked at her as an obligation to fulfill to the relo group and her cousin, but in the darkness in the bedroom they had given her, she liked to pretend that they cared about her. Truly cared about her. Ever since the revelation that hyenas shared a mate, she hadn’t been able to get her mind out of thinking about them that way. The three of them. Touching her. At the same time. During the daylight hours, she forced those lurid thoughts away. They were sweet and generous by nature and would treat any female they’d rescued from a nightmare of abuse with the same kid gloves that they handled her with. But at night, she could dream all she wanted about giving herself to them. She already knew that they would never be anything but tender to her.
She spoke to Jan every few days. Jan was anxious for Sydney to join her in Alaska, and Sydney wished that she’d been able to go there immediately. The longer she lived with Orion, Crux, and Sterling, the harder it was becoming to keep her nighttime thoughts out of the daylight.
The gym had been a welcome reprieve from staying in the house. Although she knew that she could come and go as she pleased, and they’d even given her the keys to Orion’s Mustang after she had gotten her driver’s license, she still felt like she was trapped in the house. Not in the way she’d felt trapped before, with locked doors and nailed-shut windows. But trapped with her emotions. Every kindness they showed to her made her long for them as more than whatever they were now. Not really friends but more than acquaintances. Every time Sterling called her ‘Little One’, her heart thudded irregularly in her chest. When Crux walked with her for hours through the woods, sometimes never saying a word, her mind would picture walking with him and holding the hand of a small child, with her blue eyes and his dark blond hair. And Orion’s sensible leadership over his clan, including her in everything that they did, made her feel as if she did fit right in with them. But she knew she didn’t. Not once in the last three weeks had they done more than hug her or hold her hand. There had been no stolen kisses. No snuggling on the couch. No whispered invitations to the bedroom. They held her at arms’ length and she wasn’t sure if it was because they believed she was fragile or if they just didn’t want her, but the demons from her past whispered in her ear that she was as unwanted in their home as she’d been in the other homes she’d lived in.
On Wednesday, the day of the full moon, she opted to stay home and not go into work. She was feeling restless and horny, her wolf itching to run free and her body aching for pleasure. She’d asked them to touch her before, when the drugs had made her lose control of her own body’s reactions. She couldn’t bear to ask them again, not when they’d never given her any hint over the past weeks that there could be anything between them. She’d known with utter certainty that she wasn’t going to be
But escape had brought her to Kentucky and into the home of the three kindest men she’d ever known. She knew that they looked at her as an obligation to fulfill to the relo group and her cousin, but in the darkness in the bedroom they had given her, she liked to pretend that they cared about her. Truly cared about her. Ever since the revelation that hyenas shared a mate, she hadn’t been able to get her mind out of thinking about them that way. The three of them. Touching her. At the same time. During the daylight hours, she forced those lurid thoughts away. They were sweet and generous by nature and would treat any female they’d rescued from a nightmare of abuse with the same kid gloves that they handled her with. But at night, she could dream all she wanted about giving herself to them. She already knew that they would never be anything but tender to her.
She spoke to Jan every few days. Jan was anxious for Sydney to join her in Alaska, and Sydney wished that she’d been able to go there immediately. The longer she lived with Orion, Crux, and Sterling, the harder it was becoming to keep her nighttime thoughts out of the daylight.
The gym had been a welcome reprieve from staying in the house. Although she knew that she could come and go as she pleased, and they’d even given her the keys to Orion’s Mustang after she had gotten her driver’s license, she still felt like she was trapped in the house. Not in the way she’d felt trapped before, with locked doors and nailed-shut windows. But trapped with her emotions. Every kindness they showed to her made her long for them as more than whatever they were now. Not really friends but more than acquaintances. Every time Sterling called her ‘Little One’, her heart thudded irregularly in her chest. When Crux walked with her for hours through the woods, sometimes never saying a word, her mind would picture walking with him and holding the hand of a small child, with her blue eyes and his dark blond hair. And Orion’s sensible leadership over his clan, including her in everything that they did, made her feel as if she did fit right in with them. But she knew she didn’t. Not once in the last three weeks had they done more than hug her or hold her hand. There had been no stolen kisses. No snuggling on the couch. No whispered invitations to the bedroom. They held her at arms’ length and she wasn’t sure if it was because they believed she was fragile or if they just didn’t want her, but the demons from her past whispered in her ear that she was as unwanted in their home as she’d been in the other homes she’d lived in.
On Wednesday, the day of the full moon, she opted to stay home and not go into work. She was feeling restless and horny, her wolf itching to run free and her body aching for pleasure. She’d asked them to touch her before, when the drugs had made her lose control of her own body’s reactions. She couldn’t bear to ask them again, not when they’d never given her any hint over the past weeks that there could be anything between them. She’d known with utter certainty that she wasn’t going to be
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