Free Climbing the Ladder by BA Tortuga

could feel his teeth on her shoulder, close to her neck, and then it was Mesa that
    growled, the sound vibrating through her. Mesa pulled her up, slamming into her, and his teeth found her skin, sinking in. He made her see stars. Sammy came hard, her entire body shaking
    with it, desperate for it.
    “That’s it.” The low, raspy words shivered through her, Mesa pushing deep for two, three
    more thrusts before he came. She felt Kody thrusting behind her, the motions of his hips restless as heat sprayed up her back.
    “Good, baby. So good.” She wasn’t sure if Mesa was talking to her or Kody.
    She was so tired, and she had to move. To get up. But they were warm. She could lay her
    head down and let Kody pet her, let Mesa kiss the sweat off her brow.
    Kody was whispering to her, telling her secrets that she couldn’t quite understand.
    She wasn’t sure she wanted to.

Chapter Eight

    Mesa rolled his head on his neck. It had been a long day of driving. They’d gotten his
    truck back, and Kody had packed some random stuff—although, damn, that girl had gotten shit
    done in a couple of hours—and they’d hit the road. He’d called his brother, Canyon, when they
    stopped at their former campsite to pick up the gear. He’d had to charge the satellite phone, but it worked.
    “You on your way home?” Canyon had asked.
    “Yeah. Yeah, I got Kody.” Among other things. “You got anything new about the shit
    going down with the North Peak Clan?”
    Canyon was his second, his security advisor, and the biggest wolf in the pack who wasn’t
    Mesa. He was keeping an eye on a situation in a sister pack in Wyoming. There was something
    hinky there, something to do with Ben and Susan, how they’d been murdered. He knew it, like
    he knew his own name, but he’d be damned if he could prove a thing. Canyon had spent a shit-
    load of time training with fellow Guardian, Granite, over there, had introduced the man to his fiancée, even, and Granite was getting worried about Markus, his Alpha.
    Just what he needed, a problem with an established Alpha just one territory over. The
    universe had a vicious sense of humor and having a war in his first year of being Alpha would
    surely amuse someone.
    “Heating up, maybe. Talked to Granite, there’s…shit, man. He’s saying they’re caging
    wolves over there, keeping them in cages . White wolves.”
    “Shit.” White wolves? Really? He’d heard the rumors of the Pair his whole life, they all
    had, but they were just stories for children, right? With his luck, they were a pair of albino wolves that Markus was trying to keep safe from predators. “I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
    He’d hung up with Canyon, growly as all fuck, and he’d been driving forever. Sammy
    had slept, mostly. She’d been snuggled up in the back with Kody, who was drowsy and a little
    grumpy. They needed to get home, but he had to stop, so he started looking for a place, a
    campsite or a cabin.
    He wasn’t sure exactly what Kody was doing to her, how he kept her calm, but Mesa was
    incredibly grateful it was working.
    Hell, maybe Kody was telling her they were taking her to the hospital.
    Kody’s laughter chuffed softly in his mind. Butthead . Fuck, Kody was getting better at that.
    “Gonna have to stop, baby.” He said it softly, not wanting to wake Sammy.
    Kody nodded. “We need to eat. Sleep. Touch.”
    “Yeah.” Maybe pee in there somewhere.
    “I can keep her calm.”
    “Good.” He grinned in the rear view. “How are you holding up?”
    “Good.” Kody offered him a smile, a wink.
    “That’s what I want to hear, baby.” There. A sign advertised off-highway cabins. They
    had supplies—lots of them. Kody had had a well-stocked kitchen, and they’d stopped for the
    packs and tent as well.
    They could rest. Eat. Sleep.
    All Kody had to do was keep Sammy calm.
    Sammy had fallen deeply asleep after their little bout of mating frenzy and had been that
    way for hours. The quiet helped ease