Vixen

Vixen Midnight Liaisons - 2.1 Jessica Sims

Miko hated it when people showed up on her doorstep.

It was the one reason she’d moved to the country, after all. Well, one of many. Modern life involved a great many people crammed into very small spaces, and that was difficult to deal with when you were a were-fox with the constant need to shift to fox form. But even more than that, just being around men made her hormones sing. Were-foxes weren’t called vixens for nothing. Out in the wild, a fox vixen was prone to, well, polygamous relationships, and that carried over to their human counterparts. Spend a few hours of time around a man? She’d start to feel the need to select a mate. But if men weren’t around? No problem. No needs. No worries. No mates. Just peace and quiet, where she could relax and paint to her heart’s content.

Add in the fact that the country was serene and involved very, very few door-to-door salesmen, living outside of the city in an old farmhouse was perfect for her needs.

So it was irritating to see two men on her big wrap-around porch.

Even more irritating, they’d rung the doorbell three times now and didn’t appear to be going anywhere. She’d have to answer at some point because every time it rang, it broke her concentration. Sighing, Miko dumped her pencil into the Mason jar that held her artist supplies and left her studio, moving across the old farmhouse to the front door.

As she pushed through her kitchen, a particular object caught her ire – a delicate green bonsai tree on the counter, a leafy green oasis in the clutter. Another one of her mother’s gifts. She hadn’t realized her mother had left one the last time she came over. Seeing the bonsai just made her even more irritated, and she grabbed it and swept it into the garbage before continuing on to the front door.

That was her mother – never taking no for an answer. No matter how many times Miko told her to butt out, she’d completely ignore her daughter’s wishes. Maybe it was a were-fox trait to be stubborn and independent beyond all reason. Her mother didn’t even like the term ‘were-fox’. She preferred ‘kitsune’.

Miko preferred were-fox. Which pretty much told everything about her relationship with Yui Woodward.

Miko jerked the door open, about to snarl something unpleasant through the screen. She didn’t need her roof redone, wasn’t interested in selling the mineral rights to her land, and certainly didn’t need to buy candy bars or Girl Scout Cookies or have her lawn mowed. As soon as she glimpsed the men on her porch, though, she stopped.

If these men were roofers, damn, maybe she should get her roof redone. Because…wow. Every hormone in her body went instantly on alert. Both men were gorgeous, in that odd, mismatched pair sort of way. One was enormous, with big, broad shoulders, huge muscled arms, and a close-cropped skullcap of dark hair. It should have made him frightening except for the fact that the look in his soft brown eyes was warm and mild, as was the smile curving his mouth.

His companion was slightly more compact, his frame that of a swimmer rather than a bodybuilder, and his blond hair fell in loose, tousled waves across his forehead. Where his companion had warm eyes, this one’s sharp blue eyes sparkled with a dangerous, fun gleam. Miko could tell at a glance that they were polar opposites. The mild one and the wild child.

And judging from the mischievous look in the blonde’s eyes as she sized them up, they knew it too.

Immediately, her fox nature began to react. When a desirable male was in the area, her natural instinct was to preen and pose to make herself more attractive. To slide her hands slowly over her body when she knew they were looking. To give a man hot, possessive looks to let him know she was interested. Two handsome men? Well. It was an immediate turn-on, and she licked her lips, her voice pitching low. “Can I help you two with something?”

“I sure hope so,” said the blond, grinning at her. He hadn’t missed her quick appraisal – and approval – of their appearances.

The dark haired one cleared his throat, the hint of a blush tingeing his cheeks. He pulled out his wallet and approached the screen door. “My name is Jeremiah Russell, and this is Sam Thorpe.”

Miko kept the smile on her face. “And?”

“Yui Westwood sent us.”

God. Not another one of her mother’s matchmaking schemes. Miko raised a skeptical eyebrow and crossed her arms. “And I shouldn’t tell you both to fuck off…why, exactly?”

Sam licked his thumb and raised it to the breeze, waiting a moment for it to change. As soon as it did, she knew.

They were shifters. Just like her. Here on her doorstep. Two cat shifters, if her nose was correct. Her eyes narrowed. Well. That either made things really interesting, or really annoying. Either way, she couldn’t turn them away from her door. Miko opened the screen door, gesturing for them to come inside. “I should have guessed.”

“Your mother said you should call if you have concerns,” the darker-haired one began in a mild voice.

“Or if you’re just wowed by our charm,” the blond added with a grin and clapped his friend on the back. “Though this behemoth might make you a little anxious.”

Again, the darker one showed signs of embarrassment, but it was a good-natured embarrassment. As if the two ribbed each other all the time and the blond just happened to get the upper hand. Sam and Jeremiah, she reminded herself, trying to memorize their names. Sam the cocky blond and Jeremiah the sweet, overgrown brunette.

She wondered if they teamed up for everything. A throb of heat flashed deep inside her body, making her pulse flutter.

Frowning at her instant response, Miko shut the door and moved toward the kitchen. Annoying visitors or not, she had to offer hospitality to fellow shifters. “Can I get you guys something to drink? I need to make a quick phone call to my mother.”

“Of course,” said the tall one easily.

She poured two glasses of iced tea into tumblers and reached for the phone, cradling it to her ear and turning her back to her guests. The phone’s short cord kept her in the room, which she found irritating; the two feline shifters would be able to hear everything her mother said, even through the phone line. Shifters of all kinds had amazing hearing.

“It’s about time you called,” her mother said into the phone, in Japanese.

Miko drummed her fingers on the receiver. Her mother always spoke Japanese, but mostly did it to annoy her daughter, who hated reminders of who and what she was. For once, though, it was working in her favor. She doubted either of the shifters in her house spoke Japanese. She replied in Japanese. “Mother, why are you sending strange men over to my house?”

“Not strange men. Two shifters,” Yui corrected. “They will help you this week.”

“What do I need help with?”

“Did you find yourself a mate? Is he there to protect you?”

“God, Mother. Do you have a one track mind? I’m twenty-seven. Is that what this is? Matchmaking? I don’t need your help with men—”

“You are headstrong and foolish and you—”

“I’ll call you later, Mother,” Miko said loudly, in English. “When you’re ready to have a real conversation.”

“Miko-chan,” Yui warned, “listen to your mother—”

“Gotta go,” she said, and hung up. Miko stared at the phone, and then pinched the bridge of her nose. Why had she even called her mother? Yui didn’t approve of Miko’s quiet lifestyle and thought she should spend her time recruiting men to service her were-fox needs if she didn’t take a mate or two. Her mother – still incredibly beautiful at fifty-five – had a harem of men that she kept at her disposal, and constantly had a new boyfriend in the wings. As a child, it had been confusing. As a teenager, it had been humiliating. When she’d grown up, she’d vowed that she’d control her own were-fox nature better. No harem of men. No constant stream of new boyfriends that zipped out of her life as quickly as they zipped in. Miko preferred a quiet, celibate life.

Her mother clearly had other ideas.

Miko turned. Both of the men were still studying her, standing where she’d left them. Though one blushed at being caught staring, the other returned her frank look with a smile. She sank down in one of the two chairs, indicating that they should do the same.

At her cue, the tall one sat, awkwardly. Jeremiah, she reminded herself. “My mother probably told you that I need a big strong man around the house to see to all my needs. She’s wrong. I don’t need anyone.”

Jeremiah rubbed his face, a blush moving across his cheeks. “Actually, she hired us to be your bodyguards for this week.”

Miko sat up in surprise. Bodyguards? But both of them were so attractive. Surely that hadn’t been just luck. “Oh.”

Sam seemed to want to fill the silence with small talk. “This isn’t what I expected,” he said, glancing around her messy house with surprise. “You’re not what I expected.”

Annoyance flared in her. “Oh?” What were they expecting from a were-fox? A room full of sex toys and a guy in latex chained up in the corner? “What exactly were you expecting?”

Sam the blond gave her an assessing look. “We thought you wouldn’t be, you know.” He rubbed his nose and grinned. “Pretty. Young. What with you living out here on your own. Heck, I was expecting a bunch of cats and some knitting.”

Jeremiah put his hand over his face. “Sam…”

“What?” His partner looked surprised. “I’m just telling her the truth.”

Miko smothered a laugh. All right, then. They weren’t here to jump in the sack with her, despite what she’d suspected. She relaxed a bit, and wondered briefly if they even knew she came from a family of fox shifters. “And what is this about, exactly? Why did my mother send you to be my bodyguards?”

Jeremiah’s face grew serious, his brown eyes growing darker. “The local hunt club has a new chapter leader. An English one.”

She frowned. “So what does that mean?”

Sam finished downing his iced tea, then reached across her low table to grab Jeremiah’s and drink it as well. “Rumor has it that he’s started a fox-hunting club.”

Her breath left her lungs. “Fox hunting? That’s…that’s not allowed. It’s illegal.”

“It is illegal,” Jeremiah said calmly, glancing over at Sam, then back to her. “But we have it on good authority that it’s happening, nevertheless. Another were-fox – Hayami – was chased through the woods by several men on horseback with hunting dogs.”

Miko sucked in a breath. No wonder her mother had sent them. “Hayami’s my cousin. Is she all right?”

Why hadn’t anyone told her? Her mother had said nothing on the phone, simply started in on her usual tirades, and Miko hadn’t known to ask. Guilt surged through her. She should have known that Hayami had been attacked, but…she didn’t keep up with her family. It was easier than answering nosy questions, seeing her cousins and mother with an endless string of men, the appraising looks she got from their dates, and her own involuntary response.

Her mother seldom took Miko’s opinion into mind, choosing to drop by – or send people by – to remind her exactly who and what she was. Family was complicated. Family expected things. Family expected her to embrace her nature fully, and she’d spent years fighting that very thing. Still, hearing that her cousin had been hunted filled her with fear and a little bit of shame. She hadn’t known.

“She’s fine,” Sam assured her. “But until this gets this sorted out, other shifters have been assigned to shadow the local foxes.” He gave her a sideways glance and muttered. “And you are definitely a fox.”

“Sam,” Jeremiah warned, then gave Miko a bit of an embarrassed look. “You’ll have to ignore him. He’s a blowhard, but harmless.”

And they expected her to smile prettily and ignore that obvious invitation? If so, they didn’t know were-foxes. Even though a small voice in her head said she should ignore it, she couldn’t help but turn to Sam and give him an equally assessing look. Her gaze crossed over his shoulders and down to his crotch, and focused there. “He’s not bothering me. I’m a big girl. I can handle myself.”

At that, both men’s eyes gleamed.

It was strange, adjusting to having two men in the house when before it had only been her. She wasn’t sure if she liked the intrusions or not.

“Can I set my laptop up in here?”

Miko glanced back to see Jeremiah re-entering the house, a large leather satchel slung over one shoulder, a garment bag across the other. Obviously, he was ready to stay at her place a few days.

The sight irritated her. "I don’t have a choice, do I?" How would she possibly concentrate with strangers crawling all over her house? She needed silence to concentrate, and just knowing they were there was already like a burr stuck in her coat.

He gave her an almost apologetic look, deep brown eyes mild. "I know you don’t want us here, Ms. Westwood, but we’ll be out of your house as soon as we know you’re safe."

"I know you’re just trying to do your job, even if it’s an annoying one." Miko swept past him, opening the door to one of the guest rooms and indicating he should enter. "But please, don’t call me Ms. Westwood." It did, indeed, make her think of gray-haired cat ladies.

Or her mother.

Again, the soft, gorgeous smile. "Miko, then."

The soft ripple of his voice did dangerous things to her insides, and she clamped her legs tight together to quell the ripple of desire. "That’s right," she said, trying to keep her voice light. She moved out of his way as he entered the room and set his things down.

"Where are we staying?" asked Sam from behind her, and Miko turned. He lounged against a wall, that same sly, charming grin on his face. A grocery bag of clothing slung over his shoulder. No computer for him, and his sunny curls were a mess, his shirt un-tucked. She guessed that he was the type to go through life charging ahead, whereas Jeremiah was the cautious partner.

For some reason, she liked the thought of that – they were like a study in opposites. Sam with his charming, boyish grin and devil-may-care attitude. He’d be a spontaneous, inventive lover. Jeremiah would be more thoughtful, slow and seductive and devoted entirely to her body.

Not that she was thinking about things like that.

Flustered by how quickly her thoughts had turned to sex and mating, Miko stepped aside and gestured at the room occupied by Jeremiah. "I’ve only got one guest room."

He tilted his head, grinning. "Got room in your bed for me?"

It was on the tip of her tongue to blurt out a ‘yes’, but two things stopped her. One – she didn’t want any strings on a relationship right now, and having Sam in her bed for an unknown number of days could end up being awkward. And two, the thought of aggressively selecting Sam over Jeremiah with the soulful eyes felt somehow wrong.

She liked them both, and at the same time, was irritated at both for being here. Her fox instincts told her that either would be a good mate and a strong sexual match for her, and both were clearly interested. Even if she did feel like picking one, which would it be? If she picked one, would it destroy his relationship with the other? The were-fox in her was possessive; she wanted both men. And most men? Didn’t want to share their bed – or their woman - with another man. Sure, it was a great storyline in pornos, but she’d quickly found out that reality was far, far different than the movies.

It was a messy situation, and Miko hated those worse than anything. Clamping her thigh muscles together tightly again, she waved a hand at the door. "You figure out which one of you gets the bed. I didn’t ask you to come here, and I’m not going to hold your hand and tuck you in."

With that, she quickly moved down the hallway and out of their presence. Time to make a strategic retreat, and to regroup and relax.

"Man, she’s hot," Sam said, turning to grin at Jeremiah. "I can’t believe she’s a were-fox."

"On her mother’s side, according to Ms. Westwood," Jeremiah replied mildly, plugging his computer into the wall. "And because her family hired us, that means that you need to leave her alone. No harassing her because she’s sexy."

"So you thought she was sexy too?" Sam said with a wicked grin.

"It doesn’t matter if I did or not – the point is that we’re here to do a job, not to gang up and seduce a young fox alone."

"So you’re interested in her too?"

Jeremiah was quiet for a long moment. "Yeah. But we have a job to do first and foremost, so she calls the shots."

"Agreed," said Sam. "Let the best man win."

"Nobody’s winning anything. She’s a person." Jeremiah shook his head. Sometimes Sam could be a little too competitive, especially when it came to a gorgeous woman.

"Does that mean you’re not going to make a play for her?"

Jeremiah smiled. "I didn’t say that."

There was nothing quite like a good run through the forest to clear her head. That was why Miko indulged herself, despite the warnings she’d been given. She was aware of the danger, all right. And she’d decided to take precautionary moves against it, too. She could scout the area, look for the scent of hunting dogs and horses, and determine what the boundaries of their hunting grounds were.

On her back porch, Miko stripped out of her nightie and let the evening air caress her skin for a bare moment before she allowed the fox to take over. The familiar rippling and bunching of her muscles shivered through her body, and she bent to her haunches as her form changed. Within moments, she was in animal form, her fox tail swishing. While her nose was keen in human form, her senses were nearly overwhelming in fox form. Scents immediately crowded in – the putrid smell of something dead in the distance – roadkill maybe – the overwhelmingly crisp scent of leaves and earth, the stink of the garbage cans on the side of the house, magnified a dozen times thanks to her sensitive fox nose, and the cat-and-human smell of her two houseguests.

Miko darted into the wilderness. She’d picked this house because it was out in the country. Thick trees and wild underbrush were her only neighbors for miles. Usually she passed through the nearby golf course that backed up to her property (there was something so very attractive about the scent of cut grass, both to her and the rabbits), but with Sam and Jeremiah’s warnings rumbling through her mind, she changed paths and ducked under the nearby barbed-wire fence. Though the house was fenced, her property extended for several acres in all directions, which gave her plenty of hunting grounds, she thought, her four paws dancing down a scent trail. A squirrel tonight, maybe. She liked squirrels.

She always lost time when she did a run. Maybe it had something to do with her fox-mind, or maybe it was that she reached a kind of Zen-state when it was just her, the ground inches away, and the wildlife around her. Whatever it was, she was enjoying herself.

Until she heard the horn.

When it first pierced the night air, she thought it was a figment of her imagination. Deep, sonorous and loud…and quickly followed by the baying of hounds.

Shit.

Not only were Sam and Jeremiah right, but they’d misjudged where the hunters would go – tonight they were even on private property. Her property. In the distance, she could hear the pounding of horse hooves, and that was enough for her – Miko slunk into the underbrush, tail tucked, and began to run back to her house.

The hounds continued baying, having picked up her scent, and the adrenaline and fear began to rush through her, making it hard to concentrate on anything but her small black paws along the dirt and grasses. Home. She had to get home. They couldn’t get her there. She’d be safe at home. Home.

One of the hounds bayed alarmingly close, and Miko nearly careened into a tree. She needed a hole to hide in, somewhere to burrow and be safe- So distraught, she nearly missed the gleaming eyes of the predator that lurked in the bushes. A large cat emerged and Miko skidded to a halt, backing up. Oh, hell. She’d gone from bad to worse…wait. The sinewy, golden cougar paced past her, sniffing the ground, then took off.

Not two steps behind it, a tufted lynx bounded past.

Must have been Sam and Jeremiah in their changed forms. No predator would turn down a tasty morsel of a fox, even if she was a tiny one. And the scent of them – annoying and yet intriguing – was filling her nostrils again.

She didn’t overlook her good fortune in having them suddenly appear. Miko made a break for home and clambered up the porch, where her robe still lay discarded, and hastily began to change back. The moments of change were the most vulnerable. The hair on her body prickled at the thought of being caught mid-change, but she was back in human form within moments, and pulled on her robe. She was breathing hard, her hands shaking. That was…surreal. To think that someone had been hunting her – hunting her cousin Hayami as well. Her regular hunting grounds were no longer safe. It was rather upsetting to think about.

Upset or not, Miko grabbed a long handful of honeysuckle vines from off the side of the porch and began to drag them over her scent trail. The flowers would obscure her scent long enough to not draw small predators back to her home. It was a familiar ritual, one that she always took upon herself when she changed forms. She’d been surprised once by a hungry stray, but never again. She might be part fox, but she had a human brain, and she wasn’t about to paint a big sign on her yard that said "Come and eat me!"

That done, Miko stared at her yard. What she needed was a drink. A nice, stiff drink. Maybe a hot toddy. She went inside, glancing back once to see if the boys had returned, then put a kettle of tea on and got out the whiskey. She needed a drink, because she’d been scared out of her wits tonight, and because her mother had been right after all. Both left a sour taste in her mouth.

The two men returned a half-hour or so later, when she was on her second toddy and feeling a nice, warm buzz in her stomach that soothed her jittery nerves. They looked rather pissed off at her too, especially Sam. He hadn’t even bothered to finish dressing before storming into the house. His feet were bare and he’d barely tugged his shirt down over his chest. She caught a peek of flat, tanned stomach and a thin line of hair below his navel before it was hidden from her gaze.

Shame, that.

Jeremiah was a few steps behind him, buttoning up his shirt, jeans slung low on his hips. His mouth was a grim line of disapproval.

Amazing – the two of them in various states of undress did crazy things to her fox libido. She shifted in her seat, feeling suddenly flushed. "Welcome home."

"What the hell were you thinking," Sam burst out first, crossing her kitchen to stand over her, arms crossed over his chest in disapproval.

Miko studied him with sleepy eyes, the alcohol already affecting her system. With his wild curls and lithe, energetic body, of course he was the lynx. It fit him so well. Behind him, Jeremiah slunk against the doorframe, always hanging back, always cautious. Big. Graceful. Cougar suited him.

Sam was still standing over her, though, demanding answers. So Miko looked up at him and gave him a lazy glance. "I’m not a prisoner. This is my home. And I wanted a run, so I went for one. I kept away from the country club grounds, but it seems they are not sticking to just the grounds." When Jeremiah made a frustrated noise, she raised a hand. "I thought I was safe, but I was not. It was a stupid move, and I won’t do it again." She stood slowly from the table, eyeing both of them. "If I’m naughty again, you both have permission to spank me."

With a meaningful look at them both, she poured out her drink and left the kitchen, sashaying down the hallway. She knew she shouldn’t tease them – knew it – but the faint sound of Jeremiah’s second groan was so worth it.

Miko woke up the next morning feeling restless. She knew it was all in her head – the sensation of being crowded. She could hear her house guests talking downstairs, making themselves at home as they cooked up breakfast. How very cozy of them, she thought with a wry twist of her mouth. Add in the fact that she more or less wouldn’t be allowed to go on a run until the fox hunters were taken care of, and her skin was practically crawling with confinement. It was a feeling she hated, so she took a quick shower to clear her mind, dressed, then locked herself in her art studio. At least there she could channel all this nervous energy and make something productive.

She emerged many hours later, stomach rumbling. The sun had gone down some time ago. The artistic fervor had died away, leaving her with nothing but an empty stomach and a strangely sated mood. Drawing really did make everything better. Rubbing the graphite smell from her nose, she wandered into the kitchen.

And paused. Both men were at her kitchen table, sprawled in repose, their legs extended under the table. Empty bottles of beer decorated the table, and a few crumpled dollars lay at the center of her table. Each man held a hand of cards, and both perked up with interest at the sight of her.

"Hi," she said, feeling a little breathless at the sight of them, so relaxed in her kitchen. She could look at both of them for hours on end, just gazing at two opposite but equally beautiful pieces of masculine flesh.

"Hungry?" Jeremiah said, getting up from his chair and offering it to her. "I can make you a sandwich."

So thoughtful. They’d bought groceries for her, too? Normally she just ordered takeout. "A sandwich would be nice," she said warily. Miko watched his ass out of the corner of her eye as he bent over the fridge, pulling out bags of lunchmeat. It was tight and firm, and his pants hugged him at just the right spots.

Damn, she really needed to get laid. Distracted, she glanced over at Sam and noticed him smiling at her. He’d seen her looking at Jeremiah, and he didn’t seem to mind. Interesting. She wondered if the two had ever partnered before. The thought sent a hot flash of desire coursing through her body, and her return smile to him was wicked indeed.

"What are you boys playing?" she said, picking up Jeremiah’s facedown hand. A queen was sandwiched between a king and a jack, but the rest of his hand was garbage. She ran a finger along that queen. Lucky gal – slid between two handsome guys.

Okay, now she really needed to get laid if a hand of playing cards were making her fantasize.

"Poker," Sam said, lifting his beer and taking a swig. "Do you play?"

She laid Jeremiah’s cards back down and leaned over the table slightly, grinning at Sam as an idea struck. "Not for money."

His gaze dropped a little, watching her breasts plump as she pushed against the table. He swallowed hard. "No?"

"I’ve only played strip poker," she confessed.

Sam leaned across the table, giving her that roguish grin that made his blue eyes light up. "You interested in playing tonight?"

In the kitchen, she noticed that Jeremiah got very still, and she glanced over at him. His body radiated sexual tension, and the glance he tossed over at her was smoldering.

"Oh, I’m definitely in," she said.

Jeremiah recovered and placed the sandwich in front of her. So thoughtful – he’d even sliced it into two perfect triangles. Miko rewarded him with a beaming smile and took a bite. "Thank you." He glanced around her dining room. "You have any extra chairs?" Her small table only had two chairs – she’d been too cheap to buy more and she never used this table anyhow.

The lack of chairs did pose a bit of a problem, until another brilliant idea struck her. Miko stood, sandwich in hand, and gestured at the chair she’d just vacated. "Jeremiah, you can sit here. I’ll just sit on your lap."

She could practically hear him swallow.

The men folded the cards back into the stack, and Sam began to shuffle with expert, casual hands. She watched his hands; she liked them – strong, with thick fingers and calluses that showed he worked with his hands. She’d have bet money that Jeremiah had lean, long fingers and softer palms. He looked like a computer jockey.

Jeremiah looked reluctant, so she slid out of the seat and patted it, indicating he should sit. His dark eyes were hot upon her as he sat down, slowly sinking into the wooden chair, gaze unmoving from her face. When he’d sat in the chair, legs slightly parted as he tried to relax, she slipped one leg over his and straddled his knee, giving a slight wiggle to remind him that she was there. As if he could forget.

"Shall we play?" Miko leaned over the table, smiling. The angle would give Jeremiah a nice view of the curve of her ass and the small of her back, and she intended for it to. Even better, the move pushed her breasts against her arms and Sam’s gaze was immediately drawn there.

She was having far, far too much fun toying with the two men.

"Rules?" Sam said, his voice husky.

"We all three play," she said slowly, thinking. "Winner takes off nothing. Second place, nothing. Loser has to remove an article of clothing. Simple."

Sam dealt the cards with a faint smile on his face. Around the table he went, dealing three hands in a slow, leisurely fashion. When she had five cards in front of her, Miko picked up her hand, careful to pull it close to her chest so Jeremiah wouldn’t see it. A trash hand – five different cards, all four suits and nothing that matched. Ugh. She snuck a peek over the cards at Sam, but his face was inscrutable – that slight smile still curved his mouth.

Jeremiah shifted under her legs, her only indication that he was still there and paying attention.

Miko kept two clubs and tossed the other three down. "Three cards."

Sam dealt her three. "How many for you, Jere?"

A card slid close to her elbow. "Just one."

Damn.

She said nothing as Jeremiah picked up his new card, but his knee jiggled a little again. She wasn’t sure if that was a good jiggle or a bad jiggle.

"I’m taking two," Sam said, then discarded his and pulled two new ones. This time, he didn’t bother hiding the smile that spread across his face. His blue-eyed gaze slid back to her. "What do you have?"

She still had nothing. A pair of threes, but that wouldn’t win anything. Miko laid the cards down, face up. "I have crap. You two?"

Jeremiah leaned over her, his shoulder brushing up against her back. Prickles of awareness fluttered over her skin, and she resisted the urge to lean back against him. "I have a flush," he said in a low voice, and she could feel the warmth of his breath against her bare shoulder. With precise hands, he laid out all five cards – all hearts.

Well, that certainly beat her.

"Full house," said Sam, showing his fan of cards. Kings and deuces.

She was the big loser. Disappointment flared briefly – Miko was competitive and liked to win – but it was quickly replaced by a teasing excitement. "Guess that means I lose."

"Guess so," said Sam, grinning at her with invitation in his eyes.

She stood slowly between Jeremiah’s legs, thinking. What to take off first? Her sleeveless linen wrap-blouse? That would be what they expected her to do, and she didn’t get her kicks off of what was expected. Her sandals? Too lame. A watch? Earrings? Even lamer than shoes.

So Miko reached for the snap of her shorts and undid it, slowly teasing the zipper downward. A quick glance through her lashes showed that both men were riveted to the movement, and the air became heavy with tension. With careful, languid motions, she eased the fabric down over her hips and shimmied slightly, until her shorts fell to the floor, exposing her panties to both eagerly awaiting men.

"Are those…" Sam began.

"Ruffled," Jeremiah finished, sounding as if he were dying. He might have been – the black ruffles on the back of her lacy panties were probably bare inches away from him. She’d picked her lingerie deliberately today, thinking of the two men, though she hadn’t anticipated the fun of strip poker.

And she was definitely having fun. Far, far too much for her own good.

Miko returned to her perch on Jeremiah’s lap, straddling his knee between her thighs and giving it a slight squeeze with her inner muscles. At his groan, she couldn’t resist a slight smile and a wink at Sam, who looked as if he’d cheerfully kill to trade places with his partner. "Next hand," she said, voice light and coy.

Sam dealt again, and this time Miko watched his hands, just in case her first bad round of cards had not been a fluke. To her surprise, this hand was decent. She kept a pair of jacks and a king and indicated that she wanted two cards. The guys also drew two cards each.

Her pull was excellent, though. Another king to match. "Two pair, kings and jacks."

"Beats me," Jeremiah said, leaning over her again and turning his cards over. "Nothing."

"Ditto." Sam’s hand was nothing but a pair of tens.

She rubbed her hands and grinned, getting to her feet. "Let’s see both of you take something off, then."

"Both?" Sam gave her a skeptical look.

"Both of you." So it was a bit of a rules-bend. It was strip poker – this stuff wasn’t set in stone anyhow. "It’s you two versus me, right? So if I win, I remove something. If you two lose, you both remove something. Seems fair to me."

"You could always just pick one of us," Jeremiah said reasonably. "My hand was worse than Sam’s. I lost."

"Why should I have to pick between both of you?" Miko’s hands went to her panty-clad hips, assuming a flirty stance that belied the quiver in her stomach. "I can handle you both."

"Both at once, eh?" Sam said, a slow, lazy smile crossing his face. “Big words.”

She simply cocked her hip a little more and gave him a smile, inwardly disappointed that he didn’t seem to be taking her suggestion seriously. "Oh, definitely both at once. Don’t you worry about me. Just worry about taking those pants off."

On cue, both men reached for their zippers. She didn’t know where to look first. Sam was in front of her, so she concentrated on him. Down his pants went, revealing an all-over body tan and vibrant blue boxers. That was a shame. She was curious to see the size of his cock, she admitted to herself. He had such a lovely, compact build with the perfect amount of muscles that she was hoping the economy didn’t carry over to his dick. Speaking of…she glanced over her shoulder at Jeremiah.

No boxers there. His jeans were pooled around his ankles and dark gray boxer-briefs hugged every inch of his package. Oh, my…that was rather nice. And big. All over.

This game had just gotten very, very interesting. "So are we going to all just stand around for the next round?" She arched an eyebrow at Jeremiah.

"Why don’t you sit with me, then?" Sam said, sliding back into his chair. "If you’re so fired up to spend the game seated, anyhow."

A challenge. Well, she couldn’t let that pass her by. Miko moved over to his side of the table and trailed her fingers along the table, waiting for him to scoot his chair out so she could perch on his leg like she had with Jeremiah.

Sam didn’t pull out his chair. Instead, he patted his leg and indicated that he was ready for her to sit down. Between his lap and the table-top, there were only a few inches, just enough for her to squeeze in. His ploy was totally obvious. The question was, did she accept his dare or did she decline it?

She’d never backed down from a dare before, especially not one by a man she was considering as a potential mate. And if she was honest with herself, it had been a long time since she’d had a relationship, and both men were tweaking her interest. She was considering both of them.

So she eyed Sam’s lap, put her hands on the table, and slid in. She could hear his breath suck in slightly as she settled in, her ass flush against his erection.

"Deal," she said, her voice husky.

Sam dealt again, reaching around her to do so. His hands brushed against her arms as he laid out each card.

Her next hand was decent, but Jeremiah’s was better. Her loss. Miko shrugged and undid the buttons on her shirt, letting it slide off her shoulders and down her back. Now she straddled Sam in her panties and bra only. Jeremiah had said nothing the entire time, simply watching her with hot, unrelenting eyes. He didn’t tease or play like Sam, but she knew he was just as interested, just as intensely fascinated with where the game was going.

She lost the next hand again. Her eyes narrowed when Jeremiah quietly revealed three aces. "Is that just luck or something more?”

He gave her a slow, sweet smile. "Are you implying that I’m cheating?”

She didn’t want to offend him. Who knew how proud cougars were? Maybe they were as stiff about their honor as she was about her sexuality. "No," she said, backing off. "Just thought that maybe you wanted to see my breasts a little more than Sam here.”

"I can’t think that’s possible," Sam interjected, and he gave his hips a little roll, bouncing her and making her gasp at the feeling of his cock pressing against her ass. Heat and want flooded her body.

Sam slid a hand up her back. "Want some help?" His fingers tugged at her bra snap.

Miko shrugged, reaching behind herself to undo the clasp with expert hands and letting it fall free as well. The air conditioning made her nipples tighten, as did Jeremiah’s gaze. She felt Sam strain under her, trying to catch a glimpse. Her breasts were not large or bountiful, but they were high and tight, and her nipples were small and dark. She liked her breasts, and judging by the look on Jeremiah’s face and the way he shifted in his chair, he approved as well. Her hands glided lightly over her breasts before she leaned over the table and tossed her cards away. "Next hand."

To her surprise, her next hand contained the three aces that Jeremiah had won with in the last round. She didn’t question the fact that the three aces seemed to be chained together since it was currently working in her favor. Miko stood and gestured for the two men to remove an article of clothing. In front of her, Jeremiah slowly removed his shirt, pulling it off his body, and her mouth went dry at the sight. God, his chest was perfect. Six pack abs, tight, tanned, with only a trail of hair descending down his navel. "Very nice," she said. Very, very nice. His shoulders were large and defined with muscle. Not too much, just enough.

She glanced behind her at Sam’s body, and was delighted to see that his was equally hard and lean. Where Jeremiah was tanned, bulging muscle, Sam was a bit more compact, leaner, every muscle in his chest finely detailed. Jeremiah might be built like a brick house, but there wasn’t an inch of fat on Sam, down to the smooth plane of flesh below his navel. He had a large tribal tattoo covering an entire shoulder, a sunburst design. She decided she liked it.

"One more hand?" Sam suggested, running a hand around the waistband of his boxers, as if he were itching to get rid of them. Her nipples tightened at the sight, and she felt the curious urge to feel both men pressed against her.

Her fox hormones were going wild with two seductive men at hand. Instead of picking between them or leaning one way or another…she wanted both. Both hot, nearly naked bodies pressed against her own. Sandwiching her between them. Both mouths and four hands roaming over her needy body. A shiver rushed through her.

"One last hand," she agreed.

"Winner take all," Jeremiah said in a low voice, and that sent a bolt of heat through her. What was there to take? Other than their bodies. A visual of her pinned between them, one feeding his cock into her mouth as the other rammed her from behind – rolled through her mind like a hurricane.

The three of them stood around her small dining room table, watching with strangely tense faces as Sam slowly dealt three more hands, and Miko turned her hand over. Three aces. He’d obviously given her the winning hand this round. She laid the cards out on the table and glanced over at Sam. "So, how many rounds were really dealt?"

His mouth lifted at the corners and he gave a little shrug. "Were we not supposed to cheat?"

She didn’t know whether to be annoyed or amused. "So how am I supposed to know if this was just an excuse to see me naked?"

"Are you going to tell me you’re not even slightly interested in seeing my cock?" He gestured at Jeremiah. "Or his?"

She didn’t like how Sam was trying to take control of the situation. Or rather, she liked it, but she knew that if she wanted to keep them in control, she needed to take charge once more. So she slid over to Jeremiah and cupped his straining cock. "I have a feeling that if I wanted to see this, we wouldn’t have to play games. All I need to do is ask."

Jeremiah brushed his fingers along her jaw, a look of longing on his face.

"However," she said softly, "that won’t be tonight. I want to be the one to call the shots. Understand? My body, my house, my rules."

With that, she left the room.

The next day, she avoided the two men. Partly because she wanted them to understand that she had the upper hand in their relationship, and partly because she needed to get her head back in her work. She had a deadline, and she was going to miss it if she didn’t pay attention and start producing some pages. So she locked herself in her studio and worked. About midday, there was a knock at the door, and she answered it, only to see a sandwich and soda had been left for her. The deliverer was nowhere in sight.

It was nice to have someone fixing her lunch. The men seemed to respect her boundaries. And she could have sworn that a short while later, she heard the vacuum running.

After she’d gotten her daily allotment of panels drawn (and then some, she’d been on an artistic tear), she emerged from her study.

Her house had been cleaned, top to bottom. Floors swept, rugs vacuumed, and her shelves gleamed as if they’d been dusted. Even the burned out lightbulbs on her track lighting had been replaced. Miko knew she was a pretty terrible housekeeper – when the urge to draw came upon her, she tended to ignore everything else, and since it was just her in the house, it didn’t matter if a few lightbulbs went unchanged or an inch of dust piled up. But seeing that someone else had cleaned her house for her? That was…nice.

She could get used to having the guys around. Putter around the house, fix her leaky faucets…satisfy her needs. Ugh. Surely she wasn’t thinking relationship? Or worse, relationships. They’d barely even gotten past the flirting.

Still, she found she couldn’t shake the thought.

A head poked out of her kitchen. Sam looked over, grinning, and waved a spatula. "Hey, dinner’s almost ready. How do you like your steak?”

"Rare," she replied automatically. "I’m a fox, remember?" She liked a fresh kill as much as any other were-creature.

"Oh, I remember." He winked at her and again the spatula waved. "Everything about you is tattooed into my brain."

"Only your brain?"

“For now.” He grinned, the look so boyish and appealing that it was hard to resist.

She found herself smiling back. "Where’s Jere?"

"Upstairs. Working."

She nodded, realizing that she didn’t know what either one of them did for a living, other than working as hired muscle for other shifters. She gestured at the stairs. "I’ll tell him that dinner’s ready."

Sam nodded and disappeared back into the kitchen, and she could have sworn she heard whistling.

It was odd. Her kind either avoided men or embraced a promiscuous lifestyle. Her mother had done the latter – lover after lover entering and leaving the house during Miko’s childhood. The fox hormones made it a lifestyle choice that few could resist.

Miko had resisted, though. After seeing her mother’s relationships dissolve over and over again and her mother’s liveliness turn to bitter unhappiness, Miko had resolved to have better for herself. Her father had been a nice blond country boy from Montana, and he’d been unused to her mother’s were-fox ways, or her Japanese customs. They’d broken apart when Miko was very small, and she rarely ever saw him. After that, Yui went through lover after lover, discarding them like used tissue. Every break-up was filled with drama, and it taught Miko a valuable lesson: a simple, monogamous relationship wasn’t right for a were-fox.

So she avoided them like the plague. Miko’d had the occasional lover, but when she grew restless, she knew the cause. One man wasn’t enough to suit a were-fox’s needs, and so she’d quietly break off the relationship. Her job offered her a lot of flexibility; she could live in the countryside by herself. Didn’t need to be around others, male or female. She didn’t need anyone, she didn’t depend on anyone, and without the opposite sex around, she didn’t feel the need to be promiscuous. It was lovely and freeing. It was…kind of lonely, too, if she admitted it to herself. But she usually didn’t.

Miko knocked on Jeremiah’s door and then entered a moment later, hoping to catch him off guard. He glanced up from the computer screen and gave her the slow, thoughtful smile that she’d learned to associate with him. "Miko," he said in greeting. "I hope you don’t mind if we cleaned up a little. It’s the least we could do since we’re staying in your house."

She shrugged, moving over to his side and peering at his laptop screen. "I don’t have much of a choice since my mother sent you to stay with me."

He looked pained at her words. "I hope we’re not too much bother."

Oh, you bother me, she thought. On a whole new level. That’s the problem. "What are you working on?"

He scratched the back of his head, ruffling his thick brown hair. "Just retrieving some files off a server." He gave her a quick look. "I do network security when I’m not tied up in…other things.”

"And Sam?"

"Sam’s a plumber."

She’d have thought they’d have matching jobs to go with everything else they did. "A plumber and a computer geek? What makes the two of you team up?"

He shrugged. "Sam was my roommate in college. He dropped out, I didn’t, but we remained friends. We’re still roommates. We work well together, and he’s a good wing-man on the X-box."

How very…dorky. Still, at least they were normal. She could live with that. "I don’t have an X-box."

His shoulders lifted in a shrug. "We weren’t staying here long, remember? Just until the fox hunters go away."

"Right," she agreed, but it sounded hollow. Already she wasn’t looking forward to their leaving. How sad was that? "Dinner’s ready," she said, and left the room.

The steaks were terrific. For some reason, that depressed her. Better yet, it made her antsy. She needed a good shift and run through the wilderness. But she couldn’t, because she was trapped here. Stuck with two handsome, sexy men that she knew were terrible for her easy, quiet life but she wanted them anyhow.

It was driving her nuts. Miko threw down her fork. "I need to get out."

Sam wiped his mouth with his napkin. "You want to go to town?"

"No, I want to go for a run."

"Absolutely not," said Jeremiah. "Not until the hunters have been stopped. And until they’re caught in the act, you’re not safe."

"They can’t be out hunting every night," she argued.

"This is Texas," Same said. "You think hunting every day is out of the realm of possibility?"

He had a point, but she refused to give in. Her mind raced. "So the plan is to simply wait for the law to do something?"

"It’s not a great plan, but those are our orders, and we’re going to follow them," said Jeremiah.

“They’re not my orders.” Miko stood from the table and gave them both an impassive look. “It’s not your life being put on hold while we wait for this thing to blow over.”

“Isn’t it?” Sam retorted. “We’re here babysitting you to make sure you don’t run off straight into a pack of rabid hunting dogs. Again.”

Miko flinched.

“Sam,” Jeremiah said in a placating voice.

“That’s not what I meant,” Sam said, wiping his mouth with his napkin and giving her a frustrated look.

“Isn’t it?” The sad thing was that she understood his frustration – she didn’t like sitting around and waiting any more than they did. She understood it, she really did. “No need to apologize to me, Sam Thorpe. I can’t wait for you to get out of my hair either.”

And with that, she turned and left the room.

“That went well,” Jeremiah commented as Miko stalked out of the room.

Sam gave him an angry glare. “She’s being impossible.”

“She’s not the only one.” Jeremiah stood and began to calmly clear the dining room table, even though he was disappointed that she’d left. He always missed her when she wasn’t in the room. Just her presence warmed him. “You told her we were babysitting her. Of course she’s going to get offended.”

Sam raked a hand through his messy hair, and frustration made his jaw clench. “That’s not what I meant to say. I just…hell.” He grabbed a few of the discarded forks and began to toss them onto the plates that Jeremiah held. “She gets to me. I worry about her.”

Jeremiah remained silent, his thoughts caught up with the petite were-fox. He recognized the look on Sam’s face – he wanted Miko for himself. And if he was a good friend, Jere would back down and let Sam have her, because Sam needed a good woman in his life. Except the thought of backing off and seeing her with Sam left him with mixed emotions. He’d be happy for his friend, but Miko…

He couldn’t let her go. Even the thought of backing away left a sour taste in his mouth.

“I want her, Jere.” Sam said in a quiet voice. “And I know you do too.”

Jeremiah swallowed. Thoughts of Miko flashed through his head. Miko, smiling up at him over a hand of cards. Miko with a smudge of graphite on her nose, bent over her art table as she worked on a sketch. Miko, naked and arching up from her chair, her small breasts tight with longing. No, he couldn’t back off. “I do. So the question is, what do we do now?”

Silence hung in the room for a long moment. Neither man had the answer. Trying to quell his own emotions, Jere left the plates in the sink and paused, bracing himself against the counter. He wasn’t ready to give up on her just yet, but he was torn. Sam was his closest friend, and he wanted him to be happy.

He gripped the edge of the countertop and glanced over at the door frame, where Sam waited.

“No other option, brother. We have to let her choose,” Sam said.

Jeremiah nodded. But he knew very well that her choice would tear the two of them apart.

Sam gave him a hopeful look. “Do you suppose she—”

“Nah,” Jeremiah said. “Wishful thinking, there.”

Even though the men were content to wait around her house, Miko was not. She stalked up and down on her big wrap-around porch, her mind full of rushing thoughts – of the men in her house, the hunters, and, oddly enough, her mother. She headed back into the kitchen and picked up the phone again.

“Miko-chan?” Yui said softly when she picked up. “Is everything all right?”

The worry in her mother’s voice made Miko sick with guilt. She never called unless something was wrong, and immediately she felt like a jerk. It wasn’t her mother’s fault that Miko had issues reconciling her fox half. It wasn’t her mother’s fault that hunters had moved into the area. It wasn’t her mother’s fault that Miko hadn’t known about Hayami. Her mother had tried, and Miko had interrupted her, accusing her of matchmaking. She sighed. “Hello, Mother.”

Yui’s voice was mild, tentative. “I worry about you, Miko-chan. Are you well?”

“I’m fine,” she said softly, in English.

“You do not take good care of yourself, daughter.”

“I know.” Miko grimaced and leaned against the wall. “Look, Mother, I’m sorry. I know I should keep in touch more. I just get…caught up in things.”

“You want control over yourself. I understand these things,” her mother said in a wry voice. “When I was your age, I fought hard to be a normal human girl so I could please your father and make him happy. And in the end, I had to realize that I could not fight my nature. It is who we are, Miko. We are kitsune. It does not make us wrong. It just makes us different.”

She sighed. Normally she would roll her eyes at her mother’s teachings, but for once they had a ring of truth. She was so tired of fighting her attraction to Jeremiah and Sam. Would it be so terrible to choose one? To bring him to her bed and end this awful war with herself and her hormones? But even as she thought it, she knew that wasn’t the answer.

The fox wanted both men, of course. And that was the part she kept getting stuck on. Even if she could pick just one…how fair would it be to try to build a relationship, only for him to discover that he wasn’t enough for her after all? That she’d crave more than one man to sate her restless fox side?

That was the tricky part.

“Thank you, Mother,” she said softly. “For sending them this week. They’ve been a big help.”

Her mother gave a soft, knowing chuckle. “I sent you more than one strong man, Miko-chan. Your kitsune would be quite happy with two men in your bed, you know.”

Oh jeez. How quickly they went from a truce to TMI. “Thanks, Mother,” she said dryly. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“It would do you good to embrace your fox side, Miko-chan. Trust your mother.”

Embrace her fox side. A horn blared in the distance, so faint that human ears would never catch it. Miko stared out the window. She could embrace her fox side. Once and for all. “I will, Mother. Thank you. I’ll come by tomorrow.”

Yui made a pleased noise of surprise.

“Gotta go,” Miko added quickly, before her mother could say anything else. “Love you.”

She hung up the phone and stepped back outside onto the porch. In the distance, her heightened senses picked up the faint sound of a horn again, and her hands tightened into fists. Who was it the fox club was hunting now? Hayami again? One of the other foxes? Or was her mother next?

No matter who it was, she couldn’t sit idly by and wait for something to happen. It was sweet that her two protectors were concerned for her safety, it really was. But her fox form had a human brain, and she didn’t intend to end up as prey.

She could take care of this if she embraced her fox side, like her mother said. Fighting the inevitable only meant hiding from the world, and she was tired of hiding.

Putting her hands to the window screen, she peeked through the glass to the interior of the house. The men were speaking in the kitchen, neither looking in her direction. Perfect. Now was an ideal time to carry out her plan. Miko began to head back to the kitchen and then stopped. This conversation needed to be private. She slipped her cell phone out of her pocket and began to dial, walking down the porch to get away from the windows and any possibility that her conversation might drift to the wrong ears.

“Information,” said the voice on the other line. “What city and state?”

“I need the police department in Little Paradise, Texas.” Miko took a deep breath and lowered her voice. “I have a crime to report.”

The woman on the line made a startled noise. “A crime? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Miko replied. “The crime hasn’t happened yet.”

“Oh.” The operator got very quiet, and then cleared her throat. “I’ll connect you through.”

The line got quiet, and then a second operator picked up a few moments later, this one male. “Little Paradise police department. Can I help you?”

“Hi. I’m going to give you an address,” Miko began, realizing she probably sounded a little crazy. “There’s a crime in progress.” She quickly rattled off the street address, and since she was outside of the city, gave them landmark specifics.

The cop paused for a moment, and she could hear him typing. “What kind of crime is it?”

Oops. She hung up on him, wincing. Hopefully that vague threat would still get them to come out. Because if not, her little plan was going downhill fast. She tucked her phone back into her jeans pocket, and then began to remove her shirt.

The plan? Set herself up as fox-bait, drag the hunters right to the cops, and then escape before anyone would even notice she was gone. Her problem would be taken care of, the local foxes would be safe from the idiot hunters, and she’d finally get the two men out of her hair and her house back to herself.

So why did it feel like such a lousy idea? Why was it so very depressing to think of waking up and having an empty house tomorrow morning?

The sound of a nearby hunting horn caused both men to come out of their funk. Sam cocked his head slightly, listening for the telltale thunder of horses’ hooves in the distance. To his side, Jeremiah got to his feet, a grim expression crossing his face.

“Where’s Miko?” he asked.

Sam put down the wrench and wiped his hand on his shirt. Thinking about how dinner had turned sour had bothered him, and when Sam was bothered, he worked with his hands. He’d spent the past hour fiddling with the leak in Miko’s faucet, and had completely lost track of time. He’d thought that Jeremiah was in the other room, placating her or trying to make her understand his – their – frustration. But maybe not. “She’s not with you?”

“No. I haven’t seen her since dinner.”

The hounds bayed nearby, and the hunting horn sounded. The skin on the back of Sam’s neck prickled. It was obvious they’d found something. On a hunch, he ran out to the porch…and stared at Miko’s discarded t-shirt and the pile of her clothing. “Shit! Jere, she’s run off.”

Even as he stripped down and began to transform, Jeremiah was at his side, doing the same. Their goal was Miko’s safety, and as the horn sounded again, off in the distance, he desperately hoped they weren’t too late.

Run, run faster. Dart under bushes, weave through the grasses. Wiggle down a foxhole and come out the other side. Miko’s brain rambled directions to her, as if that could make her small black paws move faster, or stop her tail from twitching in anxiety.

The hounds were nearly upon her, the hunters hot on their heels, the horn braying in her ear. Her plan had seemed better from the safety of her porch. In fox form, her thoughts became frantic, fleeting and wild, and she struggled to maintain a sense of control over her emotions, even as she ran for her life. All she had to do was get to the road, where the police would be waiting. The fox-hunters would be caught red-handed, and her life would be her own again.

Providing she didn’t get caught first.

Providing she still wanted things – all things – to go back to normal.

A beagle bayed in her ear – too close. She slammed to the left, darting under a bush and veering away from her path toward the side of the highway. She had to – they were trying to corral her, shepherd her in a roundabout way toward safer ground for them, whereas she kept picking paths through bramble and under barbed wire fences and whatever she could to throw them off. It still wasn’t working, though – one was so close she could smell the scent of cheap dog food on his breath.

Something snapped at her tail, and it stung, fur ripping. He’d nearly caught her by her tail! Miko gave a little yelp and darted again.

She heard a growling roar, and then the sound of a cougar-scream. Miko’s already fraying nerves splintered, and it took her a moment to calm and realize that the men had come to her rescue, again. She could smell them now, a mixture of Sam, Jeremiah, and wildcat blending with the scent of the hounds and the hard, earthy smell of the dirt beneath her feet.

Behind her, the hounds scattered as the two cats appeared. One yelped, and just like that, Miko felt the heavy pressure of her followers lift off her back – they weren’t so close on her tail any longer. A rifle shot rang out, the horn brayed again, and chaos reigned.

One of the cats – the lynx, moved in step behind her, and she knew what he was thinking. He’d trail her, make it seem as if he were hunting her, and the dogs would scatter because of the difference – and dangerousness – of the new hunter. The hunt would be over.

They were going to ruin her plan.

She was out here risking her neck, and they were going to destroy everything for her. Fury shot through her mind, and when Sam sprinted forward slightly, moving to her left – an obvious herding motion – she darted through his legs and cut across the underbrush.

Back toward the highway again, where she could hear the faint wail of a siren.

The hounds began to bray once more, sensing her escape, and the chase was on again – this time it was dogs, hunters, and shapeshifting felines all chasing after her tiny fox form.

If it wasn’t for the fact that she’d be dead if they caught her, Miko would have laughed at the situation.

There, in the distance – the highway. Red and blue lights flashed, and she could hear the jingle of a police officer, the buzz of his radio. Don’t see anything out here, he was saying to the radio. Confirm address?

She ran straight for him.

It must have been an unusual sight – a tiny fox darting out of the woods to cross the empty highway. A pack of dogs hot on her heels, then behind them, a wild cat or two, and then hunters on horseback. She wanted to stop and admire her handiwork, to see the expression on the hunters’ faces as they realized they’d had the worst of luck and had landed in the lap of a law-enforcement official. But the hounds were still on her tail (literally), and so she continued to run, circling wide. She could skirt the edges of the golf course and trot her way back home, safe and sound.

“Stop there,” she could hear the police officer yell at the hunters. “Put down your weapons and call off those dogs!”

Excellent. The horn rang out again, and the dogs began to fall back. Miko wanted to do a happy dance, but she kept running, because she wasn’t an idiot and–

Something grabbed her by the scruff of her neck.

Panic shot over her again, and Miko writhed, feeling the bite of hot jaws over the back of her neck. A predator had her! She squirmed, paws flailing, as she was lifted off the ground.

But then a moment later, she was overwhelmed with the scent of Jeremiah and cougar, and she realized that the jaws on her throat were merely carrying her, like a kitten, and she relaxed slightly, though her instincts would not allow her to completely relax with his mouth around her vulnerable throat.

The lynx stepped in place next to them, and then shot ahead slightly, taking the path that Miko normally did, back to her house.

She was sure they were furious at her, but she didn’t care. Happiness shot through her body, deflecting away all anger. The hunters would be taken care of, and she and her fox cousins would be safe. She’d done it. She’d taken care of the problem.

Maybe there was something to this fox-thing after all.

Several minutes later, they arrived back to her porch, and Jeremiah’s lanky cat form slunk up the steps, then deposited Miko on her discarded clothing like he would a delicate cub. The fur on the back of her neck was damp from his mouth, and her tail stung from where the hound had bitten the fur off. Her natural instinct was to stay in animal form until the stinging went away – it wouldn’t take long and she healed much faster in fox-form, but her adrenaline was still pumping after the rush through the woods and the success of her plan.

So she crouched low on the porch and began to change back to human form.

Miko was the first one to fully retain her form, and when she did, a patch of skin on her buttock throbbed, the skin raw. She put a hand to it, wincing. Perhaps she should have stayed in fox form after all.

A quick glance over showed that the two men were finished transforming, tanned skin rippling. Sam got up from a crouch, rising to his full height next to her and she got her first look at his fully naked body.

He was beautiful. His flesh was sleek and toned, not a spare muscle or hint of fat anywhere on his body. A swimmer’s body, an athlete’s body, with a hard chest and corded shoulders. His cock, she was happy to see, was long and beautiful – everything she’d wanted it to be.

Behind him, Jeremiah stood slowly, his naked body was a thing of beauty as well. He wore a dark frown on his face, though, and strode forward, checking her over to ensure for himself that she was healed. His hands ran over her body with worry.

“You risked your neck,” Sam said in a low voice, striding toward her. “Of all the stupid, crazy things to do–”

“I knew what I was doing,” Miko protested, but her words died as Sam stepped behind her and knelt, examining her wound.

“It was still incredibly foolish,” Jeremiah said, sliding his hands over her arms, checking for wounds.

It was an incredible turn-on. Both men had their hands on her, bare flesh touching her own. Desire flooded through her, and a small sigh of pleasure escaped her throat. She wanted both of them. Together. Forgetting all about the rawness on her buttock or the fact that both men were currently pissed at her, she reached for Jeremiah with one hand, and Sam with the other.

“Miko,” Jeremiah breathed, gazing into her eyes. “What are you trying to tell us? What do you want from us?”

Sam said nothing, but she felt his hands circle her thigh, felt the gentle press of his mouth against her buttock, nipping at the place where her skin had been abraded.

Miko shook her head. “I…I can’t choose between the two of you. And I don’t want to.”

She trailed her hand across Jeremiah’s jaw, then down to his naked chest, splaying her fingers across it. She could feel his heart beating rapidly underneath her palm, felt the warmth of his skin. Her other hand – the hand on Sam’s shoulder where he crouched behind her – lifted, and she felt Sam kiss the palm. Flutters of heat moved through her.

“You want to do this?” Jeremiah whispered, then leaned in and cupped her face in his hands.

“Don’t you? Both of you?” she asked, then leaned over and bit at his thumb gently.

Sam’s fingers brushed down her thighs. “Then I suggest we go inside,” he said in a low, husky voice. “Much as I admire your porch, I don’t know if the neighbors will approve of you keeping house with two guys.”

A laugh bubbled out of her throat and she wrapped her arms around Jeremiah’s neck. “I don’t have any neighbors.”

He lifted her into the air, pulling her body close to his. She felt as light as a feather in his arms. Jeremiah was so strong, so built. She glanced backward to see if Sam was still with them, needing him there too. He had retrieved her clothing from the porch and locked the door behind them, then bounded up the stairs after Miko and Jeremiah.

Jere hesitated a moment, clearly torn between moving to the guest room or invading Miko’s bedroom.

For some reason, that touched her. Even though they were going to take the next move, he didn’t want to push her. She liked that about him – about both of them. So she leaned in and bit at Jeremiah’s shoulder gently. “My room has the biggest bed.”

“Your room it is,” Sam agreed behind them, and she felt his hand run down her back in a light caress.

Jere swung the door open and the three of them entered her bedroom. Her room was an absolute mess – the only part of the house where the men had studiously avoided going, so it wasn’t neat and tidy like the rest of the farmhouse. And she didn’t care, either. With a fluid motion, Jere tossed her down on the big king-sized bed and she stared up, waiting.

Her gaze slid over to the nearby dresser, next to the window. Her mother’s little bonsai tree sat there, no worse for the wear considering she’d tossed it out. Oddly enough, she was glad to see it. “Did one of you—”

“It looked like it needed a home,” Sam said, then his hot naked body slid onto the bed next to her and she forgot all about bonsai trees.

His mouth landed on hers in a hungry kiss. His lips were on hers, coaxing and teasing with soft tugs, his tongue sliding into her mouth to suggest further delights. Slowly, he stroked at her tongue with his, tasting her. Then again, in a more rapid motion, giving her an entirely different suggestion.

Miko kissed him back, biting at his tongue with little nips when he tried to stroke into her mouth again. Warm, large hands began to caress her body, and she realized that while Sam was coaxing her mouth with his own, Jeremiah was stroking her skin with his hands. She could feel his knuckles sliding over her side, grazing the edge of a breast and trailing down to her hip, over and over again as Sam’s mouth possessed her own. It was a thrilling dichotomy – stroking hands and thrusting kisses.

One large hand slid further down on her thigh, making her raise her hips in anticipation. So far, Jere’s caresses had been light and undemanding. Which was lovely, but she was getting anxious for more. Her hand reached for his hair, finding his close buzz and rubbing along his scalp, enjoying the textural difference between that and Sam’s soft curls.

Sam bit lightly at her lip, distracting her. A small noise of pleasure escaped her throat and she tangled her free hand in his hair, as well. So intent on the driving focus of Sam’s possessive mouth, she almost missed it when Jeremiah’s hand slid down the length of her thigh and stroked her sex.

The small pleasure-noises she’d been making turned into a full-throated moan.

“You are so beautiful,” Jeremiah whispered against her hair, his large fingers sliding down the seam of her sex, then resting on her thigh, pushing her legs open. She gladly obeyed, arching slightly on the bed to let him know that she enjoyed his touch.

Sam’s mouth pulled away from her own and began to move down her neck, kissing and nipping and biting. First her jaw-line, then down her throat, across her collarbone and working his way down to her breasts. “I’ve been wanting to put my mouth on you for days,” he breathed on her nipple. His lips brushed it slightly, and then he paused. “…decide if you taste as good in person as you do in my mind.”

“And do I?”

His tongue swiped out of his mouth, flicking across her nipple. “Better. Much, much better.”

A shiver of pleasure moved through her. Jere’s fingers grazed her sex again, not quite ready to take the next step. Always cautious and thinking of her, that Jeremiah.

Miko slid her hand from the back of Jere’s head to his neck and pulled his mouth down toward her own. She needed to taste him. As his lips met her own, his fingers slid along the wet seam again. She angled her head slightly, gazing up into his eyes. Her hips lifted at the same time, and his finger penetrated the lips of her sex, sliding to the hot valley below, and both of them sucked in a breath.

“More?” Jeremiah leaned in, his mouth hovering close to her own.

“More,” she agreed, and pulled his mouth down to her own.

Another hand slid down to the crook of her knee, and she realized Sam was pulling her other leg apart, far apart, until both her legs lay spread in a wide vee. He continued to work at her nipples, giving each one tiny, ticklish bites and nipping at them until it drove her mad. Jeremiah’s mouth on her own swallowed her moans of pleasure, but she didn’t think Sam minded.

Jeremiah’s tongue thrust deep into her mouth, and his fingers slid down her sex again, and penetrated the slick warmth. Her muscles clenched around his finger as it slid in to her passage, and he groaned at the sensation.

“How long has it been since you’ve been with a man, Miko?” He slid his finger out slowly, then pushed back in, stretching her, teasing the slick wetness through her passage. “You’re so tight.”

Sam groaned and buried his face between her breasts. “Christ, don’t tell me that. I’m going to come all over her like a schoolboy if you keep that up.”

The mental image made her giggle. “It’s been a few years.”

“Sweet Jesus, that has to be a crime.” Sam’s mouth trailed down her belly, lapping at her navel.

Jeremiah’s finger plunged deep again, almost at the same time that Sam’s tongue dove into her navel, and a bolt of desire flashed through her. “It’s complicated,” she said, forcing herself to try and breathe regularly. And failing. They were doing amazing things to her body, and it was making her mind cloud up. “Were-foxes…aren’t…like…others.” Oh god, his finger plunged in again and her words died in a low moan, her hips raising. “Foxes…are…promiscuous…We have a hard time settling with just one mate.”

“How about two mates?” Sam teased, and he shifted against her, moving lower. His mouth brushed against the curls of her sex, his breath hot.

Her entire body tensed in anticipation, and she could feel her thigh muscles clench, still pulled wide by their hands.

Jeremiah pressed light kisses to her jaw before moving back to her mouth once more. His finger thrust again, so hard that her hips raised and a whimper of pure lust escaped her throat. “You don’t have to answer that, Miko,” he breathed against her mouth. “Just be with us. We’ll figure out the rest later.”

She wanted to speak up and say something then, but Jeremiah’s mouth found her own again, and his finger thrust once more, distracting her. Before she could recover from that, Sam’s mouth slid even lower, and his tongue dipped into her sex, searching for her clit.

When he brushed against it, she screamed. Her fingers clenched against the back of Jere’s head, nails digging into his skin as her hips rose once more.

Both men chuckled, and she made a sound of disappointment as Jeremiah’s fingers slid away from her sex, only to be replaced by Sam’s hot, seeking tongue. His hands kept her thighs pulled wide, and Jeremiah sat up, licking her wetness from his hand with intense eyes. When he’d licked his fingers clean, he knelt over her and began to give attention to her breasts, pressing them together and trailing his tongue over her nipples and the valley between.

Sam’s mouth was driving her wild as well – his tongue seemed to know the exact places to touch as he licked and sucked at her clit, teasing it with tiny, rapid circles. He flicked his tongue against it, then would slide his wet mouth down her sex until he plunged his tongue into her, mimicking Jeremiah’s fingers, then moving back to her clit once more. He did all of this with smooth, unhurried motions that made her think he’d planned just this very thing – or at least thought about it – for a long time.

The thought was so erotic that her body tensed with the onset of an orgasm. As if both men sensed this, they began to work at her body even harder, trying to push her over the edge. Jeremiah bit gently on one of her nipples, his thumb flicking the other one, while Sam thrust his tongue against her clit with rapid, insistent motions. She came, ripples of pleasure shuddering through her body, the orgasm swelling over her like a tide.

Sam sat up slowly, his lips gleaming, a naughty smile on his face. He still sat placed between her legs, but his cock strained, inches away from her damp sex. As she inhaled, stretching slightly with the exultation of her amazing orgasm, he rolled his hips forward slightly, his sex sliding along her own wet one.

That was enough to get her going again. Miko sat up in bed, brushing aside their hands and pulling her legs together. She sat on her knees and put a finger to her mouth, as if contemplating what to do next, her other hand running down her stomach.

“Tease,” Sam said in a low, husky voice. His hand went to his cock and he stroked it, knowing that she watched with avid eyes.

“A tease implies that you’re not going to get what you want,” Miko said in a light voice. “And I’m not that kind of girl.”

Behind her, Jeremiah straddled her on the center of the bed, so his large thighs framed her own. She could feel the heat of his cock nudging against her buttocks, and the mental image sent new ripples of excitement through her. Knowing the image it would present in Jere’s mind, she wiggled on her knees for a moment, and then leaned forward, until her face was in Sam’s lap. Her lips played along the head of his cock for a moment, then she pulled away.

Ignoring his groan, she trailed a fingernail down Sam’s thigh. “Why don’t you lean back? And I’ll…lean forward.”

He obeyed her command, moving until he lay flat on his back, his head resting on her pillows. His cock jutted into the air, the length appealing to her senses. Such a long, thick cock. Both men were spectacularly endowed, she had to admit to herself. No complaints from her. She knelt forward, wanting to place that hard, thick length against her tongue, taste the salty moisture beading on the head of it. She knew the motion would place her ass into the air slightly, giving Jeremiah a nice, long look at it, and she knew she had a nice ass.

Both men groaned as she moved, and she saw Sam’s fists clench in the blankets as her tongue flicked out and swiped across the head of his cock. The length of it was beautiful, and she wrapped a hand around it, squeezing to test the hardness, before leaning over and swirling her tongue against it again.

“Christ,” Sam breathed.

Jeremiah’s hands were on her ass, massaging and flexing the soft skin, and she rolled her hips suggestively against his hands. His mouth brushed against her skin, and she felt him bite at the flesh there, sending another jolt of excitement through her. She moaned, then slid her mouth over the head of Sam’s cock.

One of Sam’s fisted hands went to her hair, tangling in the long, black locks. No pressure for her to move forward, just anchoring her there and letting her know how much he liked the attention. Encouraged, she leaned forward even more, and began to take the long, hard length in, sliding it deep inside her mouth.

Jere’s hands tightened on her hips and he slid a finger between her legs, teasing and fingering her sex once more, and a shudder rippled through her. “Lift your hips,” he whispered, punctuating the command with a languid thrust of his finger deep inside her.

She did as he asked, spreading her legs low and wide, excitement thrilling through her. Sam’s hand knotted hard in her hair as she sucked his cock deep into her throat, moving down the base of the shaft and then back up again, working him with her mouth over and over again.

Miko felt Jere shift behind her, felt his large hands on her hips again, and then felt the head of his cock nudge against her spread, wet sex. That was all the warning she received before he thrust into her in one swift motion, burying himself to the hilt.

She moaned around Sam’s cock, her muscles clenching as Jere thrust into her again, hard. Sam’s hand pressed the back of her head down, encouraging her to take him deeper, to work him harder.

Again, Jeremiah thrust into her, rocking her to her core. His hands pinned her hips in place, but it didn’t stop her from rolling her hips with each thrusting motion. At first, he thrust slow, hard, deep. But with each thrust, he began to pick up speed slightly, until he was pounding into her from behind, the force of his actions causing his sac to thump against her clit in a thrilling way. Over and over, he thrust into her, as she worked Sam’s cock with her mouth, pulling him so deep that he butted against her throat, his cock filling her mouth and hands.

“So…fucking…beautiful…” Sam said, punctuating each word with a thrust into her mouth that she gladly took. Her moans of pleasure were muffled by his cock, but still loud enough that both men could hear them. Her hips worked frantically as Jeremiah continued to thrust into her, his motions swift, sure, and controlled.

“Come for us,” Jere demanded in a low voice. “You came against our mouths, now we want to see you come against our cocks.”

Miko cried out and shuddered with that, the second orgasm rushing through and hitting her deep. She slid Sam’s cock out of her mouth and rubbed it against her face as the orgasm came over her, crying out over and over as Jeremiah continued to thrust, the orgasm building instead of ebbing, until she climaxed all over again, her internal muscles tensing around the cock deep inside her.

With that, Jere cursed and his fingers dug into her hips, almost painfully so, as he came, cock spurting deep inside her.

Sam’s hand knotted in her hair, pulling her toward him. His hand gripped his cock and he shot his milky cum on her breasts, the hot liquid sliding over her skin as he yelled his release, then pulled her against him so she fell forward on him. Jeremiah pushed forward as well, his hips still locked firmly against her backside, the three of them stacked together like a sandwich.

They panted for long, languid moments, no one daring to break the silence. Then Jeremiah pressed a kiss on Miko’s shoulder as he disengaged himself and got up. Miko rolled over in the bed, laying on her back, Sam’s sticky warmth still spread across her breasts – and now on his chest.

A towel landed on her face. Miko pulled it off her head and frowned, glancing over at Jeremiah, who wore a distinctly boyish look on his normally serious face. “Clean yourselves up, ladies and gentlemen.”

“Such a sweet talker,” she teased back. “Telling us that we’re too dirty for you.”

“Not too dirty for me,” Sam said, and began to wipe her down with the towel.

That was sweet, she thought, though she said nothing until he was done. Jeremiah returned to the bed a few moments later and pulled her close to him, and when Sam had finished cleaning himself, he did the same. They lay sandwiched together, the two men with their arms linked around her body.

“You’ve done that before,” Miko mused.

“Used a towel? All the time,” Sam said.

She pinched his shoulder, grinning. “No, I meant what we just did. Sharing a woman. The two of you have done that before.” She should have guessed as much when her mother had hinted that she’d sent over two men. It sounded like something her mother would have thought of. She knew Miko was sensitive about her kitsune side and wouldn’t be happy with an endless string of mates. But two men dedicated to each other and devoted to her? That would keep her fox happy for a long, long time.

Once again, her mother was right. Irritating.

“Does it bother you if we have shared a woman?” Jere asked.

“Mmm,” Miko said, tracing a finger on Sam’s chest as Jere’s big hand cupped her hip. “Actually, I prefer it. But I’m new to this. I’ve never had two men in my bed at the same time.”

“That was beginner stuff,” Sam said. “We’re just breaking you in.”

She laughed.

“Our last relationship was with a were-lynx. Female,” Jere said in a low voice, his mouth pressing against her shoulder in a casual kiss. “But she couldn’t…” He let his words trail off.

“She didn’t like two men. It made her tired,” Sam said bluntly. “She wanted a normal relationship.”

“Ah,” said Miko.

“You?” Jere asked. “Was this…what you wanted?”

She nodded. “I liked it. Far, far too much for my own good,” she said with a laugh, snuggling down between them even more. She loved the sensation of both warm bodies pressed against her own, hands on her thighs and breasts and all over her body. It was sensory overload…and it was exactly what she needed in a relationship to keep the fox inside her happy. “And you’re not the only ones with relationship troubles in the past. All my old relationships fizzled because were-foxes are generally insatiable. I wore out my old boyfriends.”

“Poor, poor things,” Sam said in a grave voice. “To think that a beautiful, insatiable were-fox is a problem.”

“It is,” she said seriously. “Our nature is to want more than one mate, and to want them often. It’s just like foxes in the wild, and it doesn’t translate so well to human relationships.”

And that was an understatement. Which was why she felt so comfortable with the two men. Knowing that they’d shared women in the past sort of made things perfect…

Except for the fact that they were sent here for a task, and that task was done.

Miko sighed.

“What?” said Sam.

“Well,” she said, trailing a finger over his chest. “We’ve just gotten together and the two of you are going to have to return to Fort Worth. You’ll have to leave.” Sure, it was only an hour away, but it wasn’t the same as having them under her roof, spending all day together.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Sam said.

“It’s going to take several months for us to determine that the threat is taken care of,” Jeremiah said in a grave voice. “What if the hunt club returns? We’d want to make sure you’re safe.”

“Plus, your pipes are terrible. I think this house needs a top-to-bottom plumbing remodel,” Sam added. “And I’m expensive – and slow. But I’m thorough.”

“I noticed,” she teased, her heart feeling light. “I could use a server overhaul too.”

She felt Jere tense against her in surprise. “You have a server?”

“Nope,” she said, and laughed. “But I could probably use one for my art. Put up an online gallery for my comic art.”

“So that’s what you do in your room all day,” Sam teased. “Here I thought you were up there drawing naked pictures of women. At least, that’s what I was fantasizing about.”

Jere chuckled against her shoulder, his breath warm.

“It is what I’m doing,” she pronounced in an overly-innocent voice. “I draw panels for a hentai manga. Lots of tentacles and naked chicks. Mostly naked chicks.”

“Holy shit,” Sam breathed. “You could quite possibly be the world’s most perfect woman.”

“Perfect for both of us,” Jeremiah agreed, pulling her closer to him.

She couldn’t have agreed more.