by J. L. Wilder
Maggie gasped and tried to lean over, but the woman doing her hair tugged her back. “Wait. You just told him all of that and then what?”
“He asked me about the cancer. He’s a doctor. He was interested and then he told me that he thought my prognosis was great so he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”
Maggie squealed and clapped her hands. “Sasha! That’s so cute! He’s so cute! You better have said yes!”
“I told him that I wasn’t going to commit to anything until I get my first scans back and I can know if the treatment is working.” She met Maggie’s eyes and blinked back tears. “He called in a favor at the hospital and had my doctor call me right away. The treatment is working. The tumor is smaller.”
Maggie yanked away from the woman doing her hair and threw herself into Sasha. She held her as they both cried, the stress and fear finally starting to fade away. “Oh, Sash! That’s the best news! I’m so happy!”
“I have to go on a date now. He made me promise if the treatment was working, we’d go out.” Sasha wiped her eyes and looked down at her hands. “I haven’t been on a date in two decades.”
Sitting back in her chair, Maggie clutched her sister’s hand and grinned. “It’s a bit like riding a bike. You realize you forgot how to while you’re on a bike tour and then you fall over a lot.”
“Oh, that’s helpful!”
“I’m so excited to fuck with you. I hope you know that. I have so much revenge to exact.”
“Don’t forget I know where you sleep.”
Maggie grinned. “Not here most nights.”
Sasha laughed and then they were poked and prodded even more until it was time to head to the meeting room.
With her family at her side, she walked into the room, just to have Maverick grab her and pull her out into the hallway and then into one of the backrooms. She thought he was aiming for a quickie until she saw Wyatt and Sawyer waiting for them.
Wyatt pulled her into a tight embrace and then kissed her gently. “Don’t want to mess up your makeup.”
She grinned and went up on her toes to kiss Sawyer and Maverick, too. “What’s this secret rendezvous?”
Sawyer laughed in a nervous way she’d never heard before. “We wanted to talk to you before the ceremony. About us.”
Maverick started next, just as nervous sounding as Sawyer. “Yeah, so we found out some stuff. The uncles knew all along that it’s possible to have more than one mate with some people.”
“And it seems like we may be one of those people. Three of those people. Four of those people?” Wyatt cleared his throat and kept going. “We all feel the mating call for you, Maggie. You’re our mate.”
Sawyer rushed on. “Of course, it’s not conventional, but we’ve never been that. We really believe this and we think—”
“We know that you’re our mate.” Maverick finished for him, and then there was silence.
Maggie looked at her big strong alphas and a giggle escaped her lips. She tried to stop, but it was too late. She was fully in a giggle fit, and tears leaked from her eyes. “Sorry! S-sorry! I just...you’re all so nervous. Do you think I’m going to disagree with you?”
Wyatt growled. “And she’s laughing at us. This is why I told you we couldn’t tell her in the meeting in front of everyone. Look at this.”
Maverick was laughing, too. “This is ridiculous.”
“I’m a little unsure about what’s happening.” Sawyer shook his head and looked at Wyatt. “I don’t feel like I’m being rejected, but I know I’m being laughed at.”
Maggie caught her breath and shook her head. “I don’t know why I got the giggles. I’m so sorry. I’m just...I’m happy. I never knew someone could have more than one mate, but I don’t need convincing. I feel this. I was afraid to say it, but I know that you’re my mates. I love all of you so much and we’re going to have a baby and Milo is going to be a big brother. And I found a kitten on the way here, and it’s in Sasha’s purse. Everything is happening all at once.”
She realized she was crying and started laughing again. Her hormones were already all over the place, making her emotions soar both up and down at any given time.
Wyatt tugged her into his chest and chuckled. “I love you, baby.”
Sawyer gently kissed the tears from her cheeks and cupped her face. “And I love you.”
Maverick ran his thumb over her lips and smiled. “And I love you.”
She looked at her three men and then frowned. “You were going to announce that in front of everyone?”
Wyatt nodded towards Maverick. “Someone thought it would be romantic.”
“In my defense, I thought a grand gesture would be nice.” He shrugged. “I know better now.”
Maggie stroked her fingers through Maverick’s wild beard and grinned. “It would’ve been sweet either way.”
Sawyer cleared his throat. “Then you won’t mind us announcing to the clan that we’re mates and that we’re expecting a baby and that we expect your dragon to act as another alpha to the clan?”
Her mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”
“Yeah, we made some decisions. The clan needs to know who you are. Our mate, the mother of our children, and their leader. Your dragon has proven herself to be a fierce protector, Maggie. She deserves this. You deserve this.”
She was shocked. She looked between the three of them and questioned them. “You all feel this way? You all think that?”
All of them nodded. They believed in her and they wanted her. They wanted to claim her as their own in front of the clan.
She laughed quietly and shook her head. “I don’t know if I deserve that role, but I care about this clan. I care about the people and I won’t take it lightly.”
“We know, mate.”
Maggie grinned and felt her heart flutter at that label even more than the idea of alpha. “Just a quick question. What about the mate mark?”
Wyatt took his turn clearing his throat. “Um. Maybe we should talk about that after? Wouldn’t want to be late for our own alpha ceremony.”
Maverick agreed quickly. “Also, we hope you were paying attention to the vows.”
“And you look stunning, by the way.”
Maggie narrowed her eyes but went along with them as they swept her back into the hallway and towards the meeting room. “I never realized what a bunch of chickens you are.”
Her mates all laughed and the sound carried into the meeting room, starting off their stay as alphas with the clan clearly knowing just how happy their new leaders were. The room was lighter because of it.
32.
***Sawyer***
Because of work restraints, Sawyer was the last to take his honeymoon with Maggie. He hadn’t seen her in two weeks and he was aching for her. After a small wedding, he’d kissed her and then she’d gone off with Maverick. Then, Wyatt had met up with her. Finally, it was his turn. He was nervous, his stomach never quite calm as he counted down the minutes until she’d walk into their cabin.
It wasn’t just that he missed her, though. He was nervous that things had changed. Both of his brothers had marked her on their honeymoon. It was the plan they’d all four come up with when they talked about it and Sawyer was the only one left. He was nervous down to his bones that Maggie would see him and the spark wouldn’t be there for her. He knew it would always be there for him. He loved her more than he loved life itself.
The marking had him jittery, too. Even though he knew that she was his mate, a part of him was terrified he would hurt her. He would walk through fire to avoid hurting her feelings, much less hurting her physically, on purpose. He was just unsure of things.
The time away had been hard. He hadn’t been jealous the way he worried he might be. He’d just missed her. Desperately.
He was going over the cabin again when he heard a car pull up outside. A door slammed and then Maggie was throwing open the cabin door and bounding into him. She hit him so hard and fast that he stumbled backward and they bot
h went down. She laughed even as she kissed him, wrapping her arms around his head and holding on tight.
“Saw, I missed you! I missed you so much. I never want to spend this much time away from you again, okay?” She kissed him between sentences, her eagerness at being near him clear. “I got an earlier flight. I wanted to surprise you. Are you surprised?”
He rolled them over and kissed her deeper, tasting her and breathing her in. Fuck, he’d missed her. “I’m surprised. I missed you, Mags. I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to let you go again.”
She wrapped her arms and legs around him and grinned. “Don’t. I don’t want you to.”
He scented the marks from his brothers, but they didn’t make a difference. He felt at peace knowing they were mated to her and would take care of her for life if something ever happened to him. “I made plans for us to have dinner out but I’m canceling them. That was stupid.”
She nodded and lifted her hips against his. “Were you thinking you’d suddenly not want to jump my bones? Or that I wouldn’t be wet and ready for you the moment I walked in the door?”
Sawyer growled and ground his erection into her, all of his nerves about her wanting him gone. “I was thinking I’d be a gentleman to my mate.”
She nipped his chin, her desire clear. “You can be a gentleman later, Saw. Right now, I just need you in me. It’s been so long and I’ve missed you like crazy. I want you now.”
He climbed to his feet with her hanging onto him and made his way to the bedroom. He at least would take her in a bed. It didn’t always happen that way, but he was going to mark her, and he wanted to do it right.
Maggie stroked her hands down his back and gripped his ass as he walked. She bit his neck and then soothed the slight pain with her tongue. She was wild against him, already moaning and working herself into a frenzy for him.
It was always desperate with them, their hunger for each other out of control. He never could get enough of her and she seemed to hunger for him nonstop. It was intoxicating.
He lowered her to the bed and sat up long enough to drag her shirt over her head. Looking down at her bare chest, he growled. “No bra?”
She grinned and tugged at his shirt until he yanked it off. “No bra. No panties, either.”
He growled again at the thought of her near other males on the plane with no panties on. That ache to mark her grew larger and he knew she’d done it on purpose. She loved teasing him. “You’re naughty, Mags.”
She moaned and twisted her hips as much as she could under his weight. “Just for you.”
He cupped her full breasts and teased her nipples while watching the way pleasure contorted her pretty face. He loved watching her face, finding those marks under her chin when she came, and memorizing the way she bit her lip as she drew close. “Tell me how much you missed me again.”
She smiled and worked on unbuttoning his pants. “I missed you desperately. You saw how often I messaged you.”
He bent down and sucked one of her nipples into his mouth. “Want me to tell you how much I missed you?”
She got his pants unbuttoned and forced the zipper down so she could squeeze her hand in and squeeze him. “Please.”
He pumped himself into her hand and growled. “Every night, I laid in bed and thought about you. I would try to go to sleep, but I’d be so hard that I couldn’t.”
“Did you touch yourself?” She licked her lips and arched her back, giving him even more of her breasts.
“Every night. I’d stroke myself until I came, imagining I was coming in this pretty little mouth.”
Maggie gasped and squeezed him harder. “Sawyer, I need you now. Enough teasing.”
He climbed off of her and stripped out of his clothes while watching her do the same. Then, before he could get back to her in the bed, she was on her knees in front of him, sliding his cock into her mouth with hungry little sounds that slammed through him like a hurricane. He locked his hands in her hair and swore.
Maggie sucked hard and seemed like she was content to keep sucking until he came, but he wanted to be in her. He pulled her up and turned her around so she was bent over the side of the bed, her ass out. He leaned down and sank his teeth into the fleshy part of her ass before lowering his face and eating her out from behind. He loved eating her that way, with his face completely buried in her wetness.
He couldn’t wait for long, though. His need to be in her, to mark her finally, was too strong. He stood up and stroked his cock against her core, rubbing her clit with his head.
“Saw! Fuck me, please!”
Giving in to her had never been easier. Sawyer pushed into her with one hard stroke and filled her completely. She moaned and buried her face in the bed while he gripped her ass and slapped her cheeks before pulling out and stroking back in.
The more he gave, the more she wanted. He thrust hard and fast, fucking her the way they needed. He knew he wasn’t going to last long the first time, so he wrapped his arm around her waist and found her clit.
Maggie moaned and jerked upright, pressing her body into his. “Mark me, Sawyer. Make me yours.”
He didn’t have time to be nervous. He knew she was his. He pulled her head to the side and sank his teeth into her neck, marking her. Instantly, pleasure exploded through him and they were both coming hard and fast. Maggie’s body locked around his so tight that he shouted her name as he came apart, forever hers.
When it was over, Sawyer didn’t even know what’d happened right away. He was dazed from coming so hard. He put them both into the bed and held her against his chest while he tried to gather himself.
Maggie melted into him, her breathing just as hard as his. When she could talk again, she looked over at him and laughed. “I love you.”
He grinned. “I love you, too.”
She stretched her leg out over his thighs and kissed his bicep. “I missed you. I know I keep saying it, but I did. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you. I felt like I was going crazy without you. I’d started to drive myself insane. I was even starting to worry that you weren’t going to like me anymore.”
“That’s never going to happen. I’m crazy about you.” She kissed him and smiled. “You’re mine now.”
He nodded and dragged her on top of him. “Yeah, I am. And you’re mine.”
She sat up and looked down at him. “We’re all together now.”
“You belong to all of us, and all of us belong to you.” He looked at the clock on the bedside table. “Milo should be here in another few hours.”
She shook her head. “I saw him last night. So, I changed the plans a bit. He’s going to come tomorrow. Tonight, it’s just us.”
His cock jumped at the idea. “Just us, huh? I like the sound of that.”
“I can tell.” She shifted so his shaft was trapped between them, pressed into her wet folds. “By the way, expect a rude interruption from my sister at some point.”
Before Sawyer could question what she meant, his emergency phone for the clan started ringing. Swearing, he leaned over to grab his pants and grab the phone. “I told them not to call.”
Maggie just sat back and rolled her eyes. “Twenty bucks says it’s Sasha.”
He answered the phone and shook his head as Sasha’s voice came over the line. Sighing, he handed the phone to Maggie and gripped her hips.
“You’re interrupting something really great.” She switched Sasha to speakerphone. “What do you want?”
“Well, I needed to give you updates.”
“Are you marrying the doctor yet?”
“It’s been a couple of weeks. Jeez.”
Sawyer lifted Maggie and then pulled her back down onto his shaft. He watched color bloom across her face and chest and grinned.
“Um. Sasha, you’d better hurry.”
“Okay. First of all, your rash cream came in.”
Maggie growled. “Not funny.”
Sawyer laughed even as he slowly wor
ked his cock in and out of his mate. “Goodbye, Sasha.”
Sasha groaned. “Fine. Go on. It’s not like I miss my sister or anything.”
“Call you later!” She hung up the phone and threw it away before leaning down and kissing Sawyer. “She’ll call back. She thinks she’s hilarious.”
Sawyer caught the back of her head and kept her there, kissing him. He didn’t care about anything else. He just wanted her, wanted to lose himself in her, and wanted her to lose herself in him. He did just that until he needed to move faster, to drive them both to orgasm again. Then he drove his hips up, fucking Maggie hard until they both came for a second time.
When he could finally catch his breath, he laughed.
Maggie bit his chest and grunted. “What’s funny?”
“Just thinking about your rash cream.”
“Sawyer, that’s not funny. You can’t encourage my sister. She’s got problems.”
“I think encouraging her sounds like a great plan. She’s really been keeping me entertained the last couple of weeks.”
Growling slightly, Maggie sat up and narrowed her eyes at him. “What do you mean?”
He bit his lip, helpless to finding her jealousy hot. “She made a scrapbook of the memories she has of different times you embarrassed yourself.”
Mouth open, eyes wide, Maggie shook her head. “She did not.”
“She’s submitting it to the clan archives.” Sawyer laughed harder, finally able to appreciate the bullshit that Sasha pulled since he had Maggie with him finally.
Maggie smacked his chest. “And you let her?”
He wiped tears from his eyes and easily flipped them over so he was on top of her, pinning her to the bed. “I was a little distracted by how much I missed you. I’m just now realizing how diabolical your sister is.”
“I’m going to kill her.”
“Can it wait a week?”
“Fine, but I’m going to be plotting. She’s got to pay.”
Sawyer flicked his tongue over the spot he’d marked. When she moaned and her arms tightened around him, he growled. “Plot later. I’ll even help. Right now, I need to make up for lost time.”
