Free Quarantine by Dakota Rebel

just gives him more time to track me down!” I jumped to my feet and glared down at him. “I could have been miles from here by now.”
    “Jo, think about it. Who would have called in a fake threat to the CDC? Don’t you think this was just a plot to keep you here? I think he already knows exactly where you are. He’s using them to trap you.”
    “If he knows where I am, why hasn’t he just come and grabbed me?”
    “Well, from what you’ve told me about him, I think he’s stronger in his animal form. I think he wants to wait until the full moon when he’s more of a threat.”
    “Speaking of threats,” I said, looking around at the men as the realization of what would happen Friday night washed over me. “What’s going to happen to those innocent CDC people when the full moon breaks and the residents of the town go furry? Will they be safe out there?”
    “Why wouldn’t they be safe?” Jasen asked, his tone defensive.
    “She’s just a baby, Jasen.” Nate laid his hand over the younger man’s in a calming gesture. “Remember what it was like for the first year? She still can’t control herself.”
    “Sorry,” Jasen said to me with a half smile. “I guess I didn’t realize what you’ve been going through lately. As time goes on, you’ll be able to keep a better sense of yourself. It should get better with every shift.”
    “Really?” Relief washed over me at his words. “You mean I won’t always rip apart livestock when I change?”
    “No.” Dean reached over and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “It helps if you load up on protein for the few days before the full moon.”
    “I did finally figure that one out. But there were some pretty scary mornings after the first few moon cycles.” I shuddered as I remembered the feel of raw animal meat in my mouth, blood and dirt under my nails, and the fear of not knowing for sure where I’d been or what exactly I’d done in my cougar form.
    Now, that I really thought about it I supposed Jasen was right. The shifts had been different the last couple times. I was more myself for some of it, more aware of what was happening. It hadn’t lasted the whole night, but there were definite moments of clarity when the beast let me use my own brain again.
    “It had to be hard going through all of that alone. I think sometimes we forget how lucky we are to have each other,” Nate said, looking around at his friends.
    “Speak for yourself,” Jasen replied in a hurt tone. “I never forget how fortunate I am.”
    Nate leaned over to kiss his lover. It made me smile to see the tenderness between them.
    “Are you sure you want to leave all of this?” Dean whispered in my ear. “You could stay here if you want. We can keep you safe. If you’d let us, we could make you happy.”
    “You’ve made me happy,” I said, blinking back tears of regret. “Happier than I’ve ever been. But I can’t stay here.”
    Dean nodded, his eyes almost as sad as I felt. I wanted to stay. More than anything I wanted to spend the rest of my life waking up next to his hard body. And maybe, sometimes, we could all fall asleep together, piled into a soft bed to keep warm on winter nights.
    I lost the fight and began to sob, my shoulders shaking as tears rolled down my cheeks. Dean slid to the floor and wrapped his arms around me. I lowered my head to his shoulder and let all of the stress and sadness I’d swallowed for months flow from my body. More arms and hands came to comfort me as Jasen and Nate joined my pity party.

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Seven
     
     
    Our clothes disappeared in a rush of hands as we realized none of us were going to feel better until we were touching as much of each other as we could. We were back on our makeshift bed, but the frenzied need we’d felt for the past two days had morphed into something even more meaningful.
    My tears were kissed away by Nate as Jasen and Dean each pressed their lips against the rest of my body. I lay on the floor