Through the Veil Read online

  She pushed on the screen, wiggling until she popped the right places and it slipped free. It hit the ground and Reggie held her breath again until she was sure that no one was coming. The screen hitting had been loud to her but hopefully no one else had noticed. Nodding her head, she pulled herself through the window, landing on her hands and then her knees. Glancing all around her, she took off at a sprint, wishing she still had her running shoes and own clothes instead of a lacy gown and bare feet.

  She hit the tree line and though her feet screamed she refused to slow down. She had no idea how long she would have before he discovered her gone and they came after her.

  Chapter Two

  Reggie didn’t know how long she’d been running when she first heard the song. It was beautiful though she couldn’t make out the words. They seemed to be in a language that she wasn’t familiar with. All she knew was that someone was either singing it or playing it and if she could just find that person she might find help.

  There was something comforting about the song, as if safety would be given if she just followed where it led her. She wondered vaguely if they had given her more than the sleeping drug. Or maybe it was just the pain that was now radiating from her feet up and through her entire body. She knew that they were bruised, torn and bloody from the scratches they bore. But she couldn’t afford to stop until she found help or at the very least a safe place to hide.

  She kept running until she saw the fog rising from the ground. It grew thicker until it was like a veil separating her from the path behind her. She floundered forward, hands out in hopes of preventing herself from running into something. She prayed she wasn’t heading toward a ledge and serious injury or death if she fell. But just as suddenly as it appeared the veil of fog seemed to lift.

  It was as if by disappearing as suddenly as it had appeared, it lifted a covering or screen from her eyes. The forest around her seemed brighter, more colorful and alive than it had been before. She heard the trickle of a waterfall and headed in that direction. The song had stopped and though that should worry her she felt as if she were safe now. It was hard to explain even to herself, but she felt as though she was where she was supposed to be.

  She came upon the pool of water and sighed in appreciation. It was in a lush garden oasis surrounded by rich green bushes and flowers. The water she had heard was from a waterfall that fed the pool from above. It wasn’t very big but appeared deep enough to swim in. Reggie wanted nothing more than to strip and jump in, washing off all that had been done to her and all that could have been done to her, still would be if she hadn’t managed to escape.

  She made her way down the path that led to the pool and stood at the bank, just looking into the clear water. She dipped her foot in and sighed as the water seemed to ease the burn in her foot. She ripped at the material in her hurry to lift it up and over her head, just wanting to rid herself of what they had put on her. She sat on the edge, dangling both legs into the pool, and felt the caress of the water on them.

  It was as she imagined a lover’s hands would feel, warming and stroking over her skin. She slid all the way into the water, letting it embrace her as she slipped fully beneath its surface. It held her, making her body come alive everywhere it touched her. With a gasp she surfaced, inhaling deep breaths of air into her lungs. Her hands rubbed over her body, trying to soothe the burn she felt now.

  Her entire body was alive and churning with desire. The more she moved in the water the higher the burn seemed to go. She swam quickly over to a rock that rested just beneath the fall of water. Hopping up, she leaned back on it, spreading her thighs so that the water fell onto her body like a million tiny hands stroking her flesh. It was so good and yet still it wasn’t enough. One hand moved down between her thighs while the other played with her breasts and nipples. She wondered if this was due to some drug that they had given her in preparation for her wedding night that had just kicked in.

  Whatever it was she would probably jump the first thing that came upon her if her body didn’t settle down. For a woman who had never known a lover’s touch she certainly craved it now. She rubbed her thumb over her turgid clit and felt the flood of juice from her pussy as she orgasmed. But it wasn’t enough. She needed more, a deeper touch, something to fill her clenching channel.

  She leaned her head back and closed her eyes as her fingers moved in and out of her pussy. She held her pussy lips open with one hand so that the water continued caressing her clit while she fucked herself with the fingers of the other hand. She needed more. Her eyes flew open and, gazing up, she saw two men at the top of the path she had taken down. They just stood there, watching her as if they couldn’t believe that she was there.

  They didn’t look like anyone she had seen in the camp where her mother had tricked her into going. They wore nothing but brown pants that might be leather or something similar. She couldn’t really tell from where she was. They had long hair, just past their shoulders, whereas all the men she had seen in the camp had worn military-short hair. The color appeared to change as they moved in the sunlight. Brown, then blond, then red, and she realized as they moved down the path and closer to her that it held all of those colors.

  They were big, easily taller than her five-foot-five-inch frame, with broad shoulders and well-formed arms. Hair spread across their chests and then tapered into a thin line that trailed down their six-pack abs to disappear into the band of their pants, where very noticeable bulges showed. She licked her lips as they squatted by the edge of the water and looked at her.

  Chocolate. That was the warm color of their eyes. She licked her lips again and arched her breasts up into the water’s caress and wished it was their hands on her. She had no idea why she suddenly wanted these two men, but she did. Both of them. She had just run from one man, hoping to escape his touch on her body and now here she was craving the touch of another. Not just one but two. What was wrong with her?

  “You need to get out of the pool,” one of them said and his voice was deep and seductive like a verbal caress to her senses.

  “I can’t,” she whispered.

  “The need will only get stronger the longer you stay in the water,” the other one said and though his voice wasn’t as deep it was just as stimulating.

  “They drugged me,” she said. “I must still be drugged.”

  “They?” the first one again. “I promise you that what you are feeling is from the waters of the bridal pool.”

  “Bridal pool?” she asked, gasping as the sexual desire raged through her body.

  “The pool that you are in is the bridal pool,” the second one spoke. “It is used strictly by our women to wash in prior to forming a mating bond.”

  “Oh God,” she moaned. It seemed that she had left one cult behind only to find herself in another one. A mating bond? Her body was on fire and she was finding it hard to fight against the pull she felt to leave the water and join them on the banks.

  “Are you saying that you do not know of the pool? That you are not promised in a mating bond?” She was beyond knowing which of them was speaking now. Need burned thick and strong through her, making it hard to focus on anything but her body.

  “No,” she moaned.

  “But it is forbidden to be here unless you are to bond,” one of them said.

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  “I am Jamison Ballard,” the one with the deep voice said. “And this is my brother Taggart. What is your name?”

  “Reggie,” she breathed out.

  “Such a harsh name for such a beautiful woman,” Taggart said.

  She chose to ignore that. After the past day she was damned if she wanted to be called Regina by anyone again. “Where am I?”

  “You are in the valley,” Jamison spoke softly. “White Valley.”

  “I’ve never heard of White Valley,” she said. She hadn’t spent much time at the national park and even less once she hit her teen years. Still, growing up, she’d never heard anyone mention a place ca
lled White Valley.

  “Only those worthy can enter the valley,” Taggart told her.

  Great. It was some other type of cult. When did they start popping up around her hometown? She hadn’t heard of any before she left and she hadn’t really been gone that long.

  “You must come out of the water,” Jamison said.

  “Come get me,” she said instead, not feeling up to moving just yet. She was struggling to think as it was. She needed to work on a plan to get her out of this new mess. But this time her body was fighting her. Instead of the revulsion of earlier she was craving their touch, which made no sense whatsoever. She didn’t know them or anything about this valley they called home.

  “It is forbidden for men to enter the sacred waters of the bridal pool, Reggie,” Taggart said.

  “You must come to us,” Jamison added in that deep seductive voice of his. “We can help to ease you.”

  “Ease me,” she repeated, knowing that he meant they would take care of the physical need rampaging through her body. It made no sense and yet she suddenly didn’t care. She wanted to give in to the desire, wanted to feel them against her, inside her. There would be time enough later to figure out where she was, when her mind could focus on more than her body’s need. At least she hoped there would be. Surely the flames of desire couldn’t stay this intense for too much longer.

  “I hurt,” she breathed as she slipped back into the water and moved toward them. “I ache.”

  “It is the water,” Jamison assured her. “It prepares you to mate, making the desire for touch so powerful that it cannot be denied.”

  “Yes,” she agreed as she reached the bank. Taggart held a hand out to her and she took it. He pulled her easily from the water and she found herself naked between the two brothers. “Touch me,” she pleaded, wanting nothing more than to feel their hands on her. Jamison was right, she couldn’t fight the desire surging through her.

  “Our hands are tied until you say the words,” Taggart said.

  “What words?” she demanded. “What do you need me to say?” At this point she would say anything if it would help alleviate the painful desire she felt.

  “You must choose us as your mates,” Jamison stated softly. “You must say the words that will allow us to claim you and begin the bond as mates.”

  Mates? Claim? There was something wrong about that but she couldn’t seem to focus on that right now. “Yes, yes,” she cried, her hands massaging her aching breasts. “I choose you.”

  Jamison and Taggart both chuckled. “You must say the bonding words,” Taggart said.

  Words came to her, filling her mind, and it was as if a voice whispered them to her, the voice she had followed here, the one who sang the song. “I choose Jamison and Taggart Ballard as my mates.”

  Jamison and Taggart had been waiting all their adult lives to hear those words. They were the most beautiful words that a man could hear. Bonding words that assured a man that a woman chose him to form her life bond with. For in their valley the weres mated for life, only death could separate them.

  Just this morning they had awoken to the message that Lynx wanted to see them. No one kept the old wolf waiting so Jamison and Taggart had hurried to see what he needed of them. What they had heard had been hard to believe.

  “The fairy queen has begun issuing a mating call,” Lynx told them. “This morning the rest of the village will see the truth of that when Dimitri and Sebastian Cordova officially introduce their new mate Dakota.”

  “It is true!” Taggart exclaimed but Jamison had remained silent.

  “It is true,” Lynx nodded. “The fairy queen issues the call through song and only those worthy will hear and be allowed to cross beyond the veil and enter White Valley.”

  “How is that possible?” Jamison asked. “I thought it was impossible to cross the veil since so many left long ago?”

  “All things are possible if the queen decides so,” Lynx replied but something in his eyes made Jamison wonder. “The thing you must understand is that the women who come from the other side live in a different world, one where they are no longer treated as the treasures that they are. They often work harder and longer than any man. They are sometimes discarded and left by those who they trusted to care for them.”

  “How could any man do that?” Taggart demanded. Women were to be cherished and protected above all else.

  “Things are very different outside the valley,” Lynx said. “Just know that a woman may not be used to avid attention, to the care and love that we are known to shower on our mates. They are leery and uncertain of the sincerity of what you say and do. Sex is no longer a bond in their world.”

  Jamison heard the words and shook his head. To lie with a woman was a sacred act, one to be taken only when the mating bond was begun. To do otherwise was to bring disgrace to her and to himself. It was also strange hearing the words from a confirmed bachelor like Lynx. It was well known that he still refused to form the triad bond with his brother and the mate his brother had chosen.

  Though no one knew why, there were many stories that were spread. All Jamison knew was that by not forming the bond he denied the woman the ability to find her inner wolf and fully enjoy the shifter lifestyle. Jamison felt that was selfish and he knew that Taggart felt the same way.

  They had always known that they would form the triad bond together, sharing one mate for the rest of their lives. That was just the way it was among their people. And once the bond was fully formed the wolf they had known since puberty would awaken in their mate and she would transform for the first time under their watch and care. At that point they would be inseparable, a unit, a triad.

  “Why tell us this?” Taggart asked and Jamison nodded in agreement with his brother’s question.

  “Because even now your mate makes her way through the forest to the veil,” Lynx said. “She runs from something that she fears. She will have much doubt of what you tell her. You will have your hands full as you lead her through the bonding and help her to embrace her inner wolf and release it.”

  “What is it that she runs from? That she fears?” Jamison asked.

  “That I have not been told,” Lynx stated, shaking his head. “I only know that you must be there when she finds the pool. You must not stop her as she makes her way to the sacred waters and enters. You will know when the time is right to approach her. Only by letting the waters prepare her will she allow the mating bond to begin. If you interrupt before the time is right then you will lose her forever.”

  “We will not lose her,” Taggart vowed.

  “We will watch and wait until the right time is revealed to us,” Jamison vowed.

  Lynx nodded. “Then I wish you a smooth journey during the days ahead. Remember that she will not believe at first, even if she sees with her eyes what we are. We are a myth in her world, often feared as monsters. You must find a way into her heart.”

  Jamison and Taggart had both nodded.

  “May the goddess’s blessing smooth your way,” Lynx said then turned and left them.

  A mate? Jamison asked his brother as they shifted to their wolf forms for quicker travel. When they shifted back they would once again be in the clothes their human selves were wearing so they shouldn’t scare her.

  A chance to find the woman who will complete us,Taggart replied. A woman for us to love and treasure for all our lives. One who will love and treasure us in return.

  A mate, Jamison said again. And with a prayer to the goddess he and Taggart tore across the field, headed for the bridal pool and the woman they hoped to win over and form a mating bond with.

  Now that she stood in front of them, their Reggie, and had whispered the words that would allow them to bond with her, it was better than either of them could have anticipated. It was time to claim their mate.

  Chapter Three

  Reggie saw their relief as the words they required left her lips and then thankfully she felt their hands on her skin. Taggart pulled her back so that she
rested against his chest while his hands came up to replace hers on her breasts. Long fingers cupped and molded her firm flesh before thumb and finger moved to pinch and tug at her nipples. She reveled in his touch, loving the way his hands felt on her aching breasts.

  Jamison leaned in and took her mouth in a searing kiss. His big hands framed her face as his tongue pushed past her lips to forge into her mouth and explore. Her eyes drifted shut as she was lost in a whirlwind of pure sensation. By the time he pulled back she was gasping for air, desperate to feel more.

  Taggart’s lips were moving over her neck, licking and sucking at her skin while Jamison moved his mouth down to her chest. His lips wrapped around one firm nipple that Taggart held out to him and he sucked greedily at it. She cried out and reached out to grasp his hair and hold him closer to her. He moved back and forth between her nipples and the tugging pull of his lips had her pussy clenching in growing need.

  Jamison left to blaze a wet trail over her trembling abs to the top of her cunt which was now completely bare. It seemed to give him pause but only for a moment then she felt the tip of his tongue dipping into the top of her folds to rub against her swollen clit. She moaned and her head fell back to rest against Taggart. Turning her head, she licked at his skin, her hips canting out toward Jamison and his magic tongue.

  Two things happened at once, sending her into a sensation overload that had her screaming into the air. Jamison used two fingers to spread the lips of her cunt and latched on to her clit, sucking it as he had her nipples. Almost at the exact moment Taggart leaned closer to lick and bite down where her neck met her shoulder. She could swear she felt sharp teeth penetrate her skin, like what a dog’s bite might feel like and then Taggart was sucking and licking over the mark he must have left.

  Fire moved through her veins but was quickly replaced by a euphoric sensation that had her body loosening and relaxing between them.

  “You bit me,” she whispered and then cried out again as Jamison thrust one finger into her pussy and began fucking her as he continued to worship her clit with his mouth.