Ha. Hadn’t thought of it like that.
“There’s one,” Billy said.
I swung into the spot outside a restaurant with a large fish painted on the window. We didn’t eat much in town, but this place looked decent.
I turned off the truck and tried to ignore the tension and stress radiating through my body. I didn’t want to do this. Any of it.
I didn’t want to be walking around town in the height of Halloween and I certainly didn’t want to go in search of our little mate.
Darren reached over and squeezed my shoulder. “Hey. If you’ve changed your mind, it’s all good. I can find my own way back at the end of the night.”
And give him free reign to bond with my mate? Not a chance in hell.
My teeth clamped down and I shook my head, that stupid Alpha growl rolling in my throat. I couldn’t control it, and I didn’t like it, but it came out none-the-less.
Darren laughed, the impudent pup, and opened the door. “Yeah, thought not. Let’s go.”
He jumped out of the truck and slammed the door.
I glanced over at Billy who was staring at the busy streets.
“You sure you want to live with him for the rest of your life?” I asked, only partly joking.
Billy looked over at me while he unfastened his seat belt. “You sure you wanna live without her… for the rest of your life?”
I frowned as he shrugged and got out of the truck.
I’d been joking about living with Darren, sort of. Because the truth was, I wasn’t sure I could share my house, my space, with anyone for the rest of my life.
There was a reason I’d built a big house and never invited anyone to live with me. I liked my own company, my own space. And yet I suddenly was being compelled to not only accept one mate, but three different people?
And that wasn’t going over well with the lone wolf part of me.
You’re not a lone wolf; you have the genes of an Alpha.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I stepped out of the truck, locked it, and pocketed the keys. “Which way?”
I had no idea where we were going, nor what we would do once we arrived. But Darren probably had a plan, so I for once, was following him.
“Let’s start with just looking around. I’m hungry,” Darren said.
I shrugged. Sounded like as good a plan as any, and I followed the two other men down the street.
Food trucks were parked along the street, and food stalls lined the pavement. Even the restaurants were open. The fear on some of the human’s faces when they saw me made my stomach churn. They’d shouldn’t be afraid of me; I’d never hurt any of them. Never would.
I shook off the feeling and focused on the scents of the food and candies around me. The tightness in my shoulders lifted and my tense muscles relaxed.
I sighed. Yeah, that’s better.
And you know it’s not their fault they’re afraid of us. It stops them wanting to mate with us.
“Jackson!”
I glanced up when my name was called out, seeing a familiar woman standing with Darren and Billy.
Warmth spread through my chest. “Grandma. What are you doing here?”
I walked up and gave her a hug, her body small in my arms.
She chuckled in my ear. “I think that’s my line. I live in town and I happen to enjoy Halloween. What are you doing here?”
She was standing next to a stall serving candy corn and cotton candy.
“We… ah…”
How to explain what had happened in the past twenty-four hours?
“Come to see if the red-head from the florist is around?” Grandma asked with a grin.
My gaze slid to Darren and Billy. “Yeah… we are.”
Grandma’s eyes widened as she glanced from me, to Billy, to Darren, then back to me again.
“She’s… all of your mates?” she asked, sounding shocked.
I frowned. “How did you put that together so quickly?”
She shrugged. “It kind of makes sense, in a way. The whole last generation of the pack has produced three to four times as many males as they have females. I told your grandfather years ago that the only solution was to breed outside the pack, or to partner off the females with multiple mates. But in this case… it seems like you’re doing both.”
I couldn’t believe she was being so calm about it.
“I—”
Darren butted in and claimed my grandmother’s attention. “I’m not sure if you remember me at all, Mrs. Davis. I’m Darren.”
Grandma took the hand Darren offered and shook it. “Of course I do, young man. Call me Rose. Your grandmother was one of my best-friends before she died.”
Darren’s mouth dropped open. “I… didn’t know that.”
I didn’t either but wasn’t surprised. They were the only two non-wolf-shifter women in our whole pack of their generation. It would have made sense for them to bond.
“Oh, yes. And she was a truly good-hearted woman. I can see you have inherited a lot of her.” Grandma stared at Darren for a long moment, then smiled. “You must be happy to find out that your fated mate is a witch as well.”
Darren grinned. “Well… yes. I am.”
Grandma beamed. “I can’t wait to meet the girl! I came into town hoping she’d be working, but Andrea said she isn’t on until tomorrow.”
“We’re hoping to find her tonight, as well,” Darren said. “She told me today that she’d be around.”
“Well, I can’t help you there, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t even know who to point you towards, or who to ask. The witches are pretty secretive in town. Most of the humans don’t even know they exist.”
I frowned. “How do they hide themselves so well?”
Surely there would be too many unusual things about the witches for a human to ignore?
“Well, for one thing, they look as human as I do. And they have a church outside town that I believe they use for Coven meetings.”
“Could she be there tonight then?” Billy asked, jumping into the conversation.
Grandma shrugged. “Who knows?”
Darren shook his head. “No. She said she’s be around town.”
“Then go look for her,” Grandma said, fluttering her hands at us with a big smile on her face.
I bent forward and kissed my grandmother on the cheek. “Thank you.”
She cupped my cheek in a familiar gesture, then walked in the opposite direction. We turned and as a group, surged into the crowd once again.
“She’s so lovely.” Darren beamed as we made our way down the street between the stalls and the humans dressed as demons, witches, and ghosts. “I wish my grandmother was still around.”
He shook his head and I glanced at a guilty-looking Billy. We both knew we were lucky to have her in our family, and we didn’t give her the respect or time she deserved.
“I think I see her,” Darren said, stopping in his tracks.
“Where?” I demanded, looking around and inhaling sharply. I couldn’t smell her, and my senses were the most heightened of the three of us.
“There. See the green… Look, just follow me.” Darren took off through the crowd and across the road.
Billy and I chased after him, and I found myself annoyed that I wasn’t the one in the lead. A stupid thought, but even so…
Then I saw her. My heart stopped.
Damn, she’s beautiful.
Darren walked right up to her and she turned to smile at him, then she looked towards me and our gazes met.
My wolf howled inside of me as my skin tingled and my jaw locked down.
I closed my eyes and froze where I stood, fighting to keep my shifter under control. The last thing I needed was to wolf out in the middle of town, in front of my mate and every human around.
That would break several of our laws, not to mention, probably terrify my mate.
I clamped down on him, though he fought me every step of the way. But when I finally managed to shove him way down, with the
promise of a long run when we got home tonight, I opened my eyes again and found everyone staring at me.
Heat flushed up my cheeks and I shoved my hands into my jean pockets as I walked forward to join the group.
“Hey,” I said, tilting my head up at Ruby in greeting.
“Hey Jackson,” she said back, her face as flushed as I expected mine to be.
She wore a spectacular dress that highlighted every curve of her body. Every twist and turn called to me, to run my hands over, sink my teeth into…
“Guys, these are my friends, Bella and Tiffany,” Ruby said, calling me back and away from my fantasies.
“Hey,” I greeted them and Billy nodded. Was he having trouble speaking again?
Probably.
Darren jumped in. “Hey. I’m Darren. This is Billy and Jackson. It’s nice to meet you both.”
The girls grinned at each other and I finally looked at them. One was a gorgeous blonde whose outfit was a little too risqué for my tastes. The other, the brunette, was super cute, but dressed in the weirdest Halloween costume.
My mate was by far the most attractive, most serene. But I wasn’t biased.
Not at all.
“You guys come in for Halloween every year?” the blonde one—Tiffany, I thought—was asking.
I shook my head and Darren chuckled. “Nah. We’re not the biggest Halloween fans. We just came in to see Ruby again.”
Darren stared at our mate and she smiled, then glanced up at me.
That was the moment I knew that she knew. That all three of us were hers, and she was ours.
I stepped closer. “The humans around here are a little freaked out by us. Can we go somewhere a little less… crowded?”
Ruby glanced at her friends, “Well, um…”
Tiffany grinned and linked arms with the brunette, Bella. “No problem at all. We’re gonna grab something to eat. Catch you in a bit, Ruby.”
Tiffany hauled Bella away and we were left standing in the street, Ruby, shining brightly, her wolf pack clustered around her.
I stepped a little closer, and Ruby had to tilt her head back to look at me.
“Where do you want to go, Jackson?” she asked, then licked her lips, staring up at me.
I shrugged. “Anywhere’s good, although somewhere quiet would be best.”
Ruby pressed her lips together then tilted her head. “How about we walk for a bit, and see where it takes us?”
A growl rolled through my throat and I swallowed hard, trying to force it down.
She didn’t flinch. Instead, she smiled as she started walking away, and all three of us began to follow her.
Ruby
I wanted to squeal, to scream. Jump up and down with excitement. But that would have been juvenile. And I didn’t want the three men that were following me—literally following me—to think I was a child.
It was obvious already that all three of them were older than me, but how much so?
We cleared the edges of the shops and the crowds began to thin down. My plan was to walk the three wolf shifters the long way back to my house, and if I wanted to invite them in for a drink or something, I could.
If I didn’t, if I wasn’t comfortable inviting them into my mother’s house, I could just keep walking and do the lap back to the shops.
But I wasn’t going to tell them that was the plan. For now, we were just walking.
“Hey, how old are you guys?” I asked, tossing the question over my shoulder as I waited for them to catch up.
Darren jogged up to my side with a grin on his face. “You want the four-one-one on all of us?”
I laughed. “You can do that?”
He shrugged. “Sure. Will save some time.”
I nodded. “Okay, great. Go for it.”
We stopped at the edge of a road and Darren turned to the other two men, who were frowning at him, but not speaking.
Interesting…
Darren pointed at Jackson. “Jackson’s twenty-eight, a jack of all trades, and an Alpha wolf. Did you pick up on that already?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I did.”
He grinned. “Your instincts are in good shape then. Billy is Jackson’s cousin, and he’s a plumber. He’s twenty-seven.”
I had to ask. “And a… beta wolf? Do you guys still use those terms?”
I’d done a little reading today about wolf shifter packs, but the internet had little on what true paranormals were like so I wasn’t sure I could trust it as a good source of information.
Darren shrugged. “Kind of. We’re not a traditional pack in that sense. We don’t have a hierarchy where one member is higher than another, unless there’s an emergency, or an attack. Then we would revert, pretty quickly, to our pack hierarchy. And yes, Billy would be there, fighting right beside Jackson.”
I wanted to reach over and touch Darren. He was so warm and vibrant. But I didn’t dare at the moment. It felt too early.
“And you?” I asked Darren.
“Me?” he said, his dark eyes twinkling with mischief. “Guess.”
I bit my bottom lip. “But I might be wrong.”
He shrugged again. “Doesn’t matter.”
Okay…
“I think you’re a tradie too, not sure which kind. You’re closer to my age, so maybe twenty-three? And as far as your wolf origins go, I know you have witch in your genetics. A grandmother or grandfather maybe?”
Darren laughed and grabbed me about the waist, hugging me against his body and swinging me around so that my feet lifted off the ground.
I squealed, unable to hold the sound in, until he finally planted me back on the ground.
“You’re awesome,” he said, with a big smile. “Yes, my grandmother was a witch. I’m twenty-five and a sparky.”
I glanced at the other two men who were now growling softly in their throats. I didn’t really like the sound—it made my skin crawl—but I was also pretty sure the sound wasn’t directed at me.
I stepped closer to Darren. “Why are they doing that?”
He grinned. “They’re jealous I touched you, but it’s okay. They’ll get used to it.”
I took the opportunity to ask the glaringly obvious, but rather embarrassing, question. “So… all three of you…?”
I couldn’t say it. How vain would I sound to ask if all three of them wanted me?
He lifted one eyebrow. “All three of us… what?”
“You know…” I said, gesturing between him and me, and the other two men and me.
He laughed. “Are you asking me if all three of us are here for you? If we want you?”
I nodded, trying to stay calm, though a heated brushfire stole up my cheeks.
“Of course, we do.” Darren said. “All three of us believe you’re our fated mate. Do you feel the connection too?”
I nodded, though the terminology was foreign to me. “Fated mate?”
“Yes, it pretty much means that Fate designed us for you, and you for us. We’re a perfect balance of personalities and strengths.”
“Ah, okay.,” I said. Soul mates. Destiny. Something, anyway. So my spell had worked after all. “Is this common in your pack? To have three men and one woman? Because I can tell you, for the witches, this is very unusual.”
My mother was going to flip out when she found out.
Jackson growled louder and shook his head.
I looked over at Darren. “How come they can’t talk to me, and you can?”
He chuckled. “I think it’s the witch in me. I don’t respond to my wolf shifter in the same way they do. And I don’t respond to Jackson’s Alpha dominance thing either. But to answer your question, no, it’s not common to have three men to one woman in our pack. I’ve never heard of it, actually. And the reason they can’t talk is because they’re fighting their shifters back. I think. I’ll ask them later.”
I glanced over at the two huge men and saw the strain in their jaws, the anger in their gazes.
“Are they mad at me?” I asked qu
ietly.
Jackson and Billy both shook their heads and Jackson managed to growl out a garbled, “No…”
Darren took my hand in his and a fission of excitement danced along my skin.
“Let’s keep walking,” he said and pulled me across the street.
I held his hand tight and directed them up the street around the block, and down my street.
As we stepped closer to my house, nerves began to creep in. My gut tightened and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
“So, tell me more about you guys,” I said, not sure what I needed to know, but wanting to hear them speak all the same.
“I think we’d like to hear about you, Ruby. Tell us about your family, work. College, anything? I’d like to hear more about your magic too,” Darren said with a grin.
I took that to mean that the other two probably wouldn’t want to know about my witch abilities.
“Oh… sure, but can I ask you a question first?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“How come wolf shifters don’t like witches? I mean, it’s obvious from your grandparents’ marriage that not all witches are shunned by your pack, but from everything I’ve heard today from my friends, and their moms, you guys generally have an issue with us. Is that true?”
Darren glanced over at the other two walking behind us and I stopped, making the other men stop also.
I turned to look at the big men behind me and raised my eyebrows. “Well?”
When they didn’t respond I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at them.
“I want you to talk, not just Darren,” I said. “It’s not fair.”
“Ruby, they can’t…” Darren tried to excuse them, but I was getting annoyed. If they’d come into town to see me, to court me, whatever the expression was, I wasn’t going to get a good feel of them with those stupid glares on their faces all the time.
I may as well just choose Darren and be done with it. Release Jackson and Billy to date someone they could talk to.
The mere thought made my belly ache, but I put those feelings into my voice, my anger and frustration rolling through.
I flicked my gaze at Darren. “Well, then they can go home then, can’t they? We’re away from the crowds, I’m not touching you, they have no reason to let their animal half take over and rob them of their speech. It’s not fair to me. So if they don’t want to talk to me, they can go home, and you can come with me.”
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