Page 53 of Marked

“These are thousand-dollar pillows!” I wasn’t sure if that was true, but everything in this house screamed ‘if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.’ “I will not hesitate to use them!”

I spun, trying to keep all three wolves in view, which meant a lot of… friction… with my impromptu coverage. The velvet pillow was getting more action than I’d had in months. Not that I was thinking about that. Or about how the silk one against my chest was making my nipples tingle with each movement.

“Stay back!” I brandished my silk shield, trying to ignore how my body was reacting to all this… movement. “I mean it! I’ve seenDances with Wolves! I know how this ends!”

But my threats fell on deaf ears—or maybe amused ones, given how the black one sat regally, watching my panic with what looked suspiciously like amusement. The gray one’s muscles tensed, and oh God, was that an actual military-style head signal to its packmates?

“Don’t you dare—” I didn’t finish before the golden one pounced, sending me tumbling backward. The gray one darted in from the left while the black one calmly cut off my escape route.

I screamed this time. “Smart puppy!” might have escaped my lips, followed by a desperate “Go faster, GO FASTER!” and possibly a shrieked “SOMEBODY HELP!” though there wasn’t actually anyone around to help anything. All my dignity was officially extinct, just like my chances of surviving this wolf-dog ambush.

The bedroom door burst open. Marcus stood there, took one look at the scene—me, naked and cornered by three massive wolf-dogs, clutching designer pillows while wrapped in shredded silk sheets—and his eyes flashed red.

I didn’t think. I just launched myself at him, pillows forgotten, sheets trailing behind me like a makeshift toga. My legs wrapped around his waist, arms locked around his neck, pressing every naked inch of myself against the fine wool of his suit as I pointed back toward the chaos. “Wolves! You have WOLVES in here! Actual, coordinated, tactical assault wolves!”

Strong hands caught me instinctively, sliding down to support my weight. They settled on my lower back, dangerously close to… other areas.

Thundering footsteps announced the arrival of Derek and Caleb, both freezing at the sight of me koala-clinging to their brother, trailing silk sheets like some kind of terrified Greek god.

“Shadow, Storm, and Scout?” Derek managed, though his voice had gone rough. “They’re harmless.”

“Harmless?” I buried my face in Marcus’ neck, trying not to think about how good he smelled. “That’s not a dog pack; that’s the elite special forces of the canine world! Did you steal them from a military experiment? Are they secretly supernatural? Because I swear the black one was plotting geometric vectors of attack!”

“I can take him,” Derek offered, stepping forward with his arms out. “Military training. Used to carrying heavy loads.”

“He seems fine where he is.” Marcus’ grip tightened possessively, hands sliding lower on my bare skin.

“Does he?” Caleb’s voice dripped innocence. “Because I could—”

Twin growls cut him off. And they definitely weren’t from the wolves.

I snuck a glance behind me. The three beasts sat in perfect formation in the room, looking far too pleased with themselves. The golden one actually had a pillow tassel hanging from its mouth, tail still wagging like this was the best game ever. The black one maintained its regal posture—and I swear it was smirking—while the gray one sat at perfect military attention like this had been a planned operation all along.

“Shouldn’t someone be dealing with the actual wolf situation?” I squeaked, very aware of how naked I was and how three pairs of heated human eyes were focused on me instead of their tactical assault pets.

“Shadow, Storm, Scout,” Marcus commanded, but the playful golden one just wagged his tail harder while the black and gray beasts remained in their dignified positions, all three clearly enjoying the chaos they’d created. “Down.”

“I’m not moving until those beasts are gone,” I declared into Marcus’ collar. Then I realized I was still very naked and lodged very intimately against him. Every breath pressed bare skin against expensive wool. “Um. Could you… there’s a sheet over there.” I pointed weakly toward the destroyed bed. “Maybe if you just…”

“Of course,” Marcus purred, and dear God, his voice shouldn’t sound that good. He moved toward the bed, my body still wrapped around him like a particularly naked koala.

“Little to the left,” I directed, trying to maintain some dignity while basically using Marcus as a human climbing wall. “Now bend—no, not that much! Just… there!”

I stretched out one arm, still clinging desperately with the other, and managed to snag a trailing edge of silk. The movement pressed me even closer to Marcus, if that was possible. With some awkward wiggling that definitely didn’t make all three brothers growl, I managed to wrap the sheet around my waist.

“Storm, Scout, kitchen,” Derek finally called, his voice rough. The gray and golden wolves looked disappointed but obeyed, padding toward the door.

“Shadow,” Marcus rumbled, and the black wolf finally followed its packmates, though not without what looked suspiciously like an eye roll.

Maria appeared, took one look at the scene—me wrapped in silk and still clinging to Marcus while his brothers hovered possessively—and muttered something in rapid Spanish, her head shake suggesting this wasn’t the first time she’d dealt with such chaos.

“Come,” she commanded with motherly authority. “Leave the poor boy alone. Though really,” she added under her breath as she herded the wolf-dogs away, “with those three, the dogs are the least of his problems.”

The beasts bounded after her, leaving me with a new problem. Three very attractive, very intense problems who seemed more interested in who got to hold me than in my current state of semi-undress.

“Okay,” I breathed. “I can get down now.”

Except… I couldn’t. My body absolutely refused to unlock itself from around Marcus. My arms and legs might as well have been welded in place. What the actual hell?

---