“Hey,” I said, twisting my fingers together in front of me.
He took a breath and pressed forward. “I’m sorry you saw us like that. We were actually dressed but then we saw you and both shifted again. It wasn’t intentional, and I didn’t consider that you may be scared by seeing us in wolf form.”
Oh, he was sorry about the shifter thing, not about the fact that I got to see them completely naked within two days of meeting them.
“Oh, it’s fine,” I said, trying to brush off the fact that he’d caught me out. I’d definitely been scared. “It’s something I have to get used to, right?”
Jackson nodded, his eyes darkening as he stared at me.
Billy stepped into the lounge room, his gaze going straight to me.
“Hi,” I said, feeling strangely awkward and excited at the same time.
Billy nodded back, but once again was completely mute. I wasn’t sure I’d even heard his voice before.
“Well…” Jackson said.
“Well,” I repeated, and we all began to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.
Darren grabbed my hand. “Let’s sit on the couch.”
Jackson charged forward and took my other hand. “My turn, Darren.”
Darren let go of me and Jackson dragged me to the couch, sat down, and pulled me into his lap.
It was strange, this huge man, who I barely knew, holding me. His breath was on my hair, his hands on my waist.
But soon, too soon, I began to melt into his heat. Into the feeling of familiarity, although I’d never known such a thing before.
I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder, turning over a little so I could listen to the beat of his heart beneath my ear.
A soft growl, like a contented purr, rolled through Jackson’s chest as his arms came around me and held me even tighter.
No-one spoke, so I closed my eyes and took a second to memorize the moment. To recollect what this felt like, so I would remember for all time.
So, when I told the story of how I met my triad of men, and fell in love with them, I could tell my grandkids about this moment.
About how right everything felt. How safe I was. How warm.
How aroused… no, definitely wouldn’t tell the grandkids that part.
Jackson stroked along my arms, one hand on my waist. I could feel tendrils of heat curling through my blood, inside my belly.
Lower down, even.
“So,” Darren said, who seemed to be the only one able to speak to me with any sort of ease, “are we as much of a surprise to you, as you are to us?”
I opened my eyes and turned towards him, not lifting my head off Jackson’s chest. His hands on me were tight, and I could feel the possessiveness in him. His need to hold me, touch me.
It was thrilling, to be wanted so much, by such a beautiful, impressive man.
What was Darren’s question again? Oh, yeah…
“Surprised? By the fact that there’s three of you? Or that you’re wolves?”
Darren grinned and even Billy smiled.
“Well, both, I suppose.” Darren answered.
I nodded. “Well, same for me. I never expected three… mates, I suppose. And I never thought I’d marry a wolf shifter. Well…”
I cleared my throat and glanced away from Darren.
“Well, what?” Darren asked.
I shifted off Jackson’s lap, though he pulled me close as I settled on the couch next to him.
“Well, I never thought I had anything except witch blood in me,” I said.
Billy coughed, clearing his throat as he took a seat opposite us. “And now?”
My eyebrows flickered up. His voice was even deeper than Jackson’s.
“Tonight, after my mom magicked you all back here, she finally confessed to me that my father wasn’t a warlock, like I’d been told. See, I grew up with just my mom. She told me my father left before I was born.”
Billy leaned forward on his chair, his brow lowered and fierce. “What was he?”
I swallowed hard. This would be the first time I’d actually said it aloud.
“He was a wolf shifter.”
Billy hissed out a gasp. “Who was he? Is he still around?”
Jackson pulled me in tighter, closer to him. “That makes sense. Why we want you. Why you’d be our mate.”
“It made more sense to me too,” I agreed. “Though, I’m still kinda pissed at my mom for lying to me all these years.”
“Why would she do that?” Darren asked.
“And did you get a name?” Billy said. “We should make sure none of us are related to you.”
Darren rolled his eyes. “The Fated mates magic wouldn’t be that stupid, Billy.”
I grinned at him. “That’s a cool way of looking at it. That you guys have magic too.”
“Well, it is magic of a sort,” Darren said with a smile. “Even if the wolves don’t want to call it that. Fated mates is something that can’t be explained in any other way, and the best part about it, is that it’s always right. Always perfect.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to touch that one. I certainly wasn’t perfect, even if they were.
Instead, I looked over at Billy. “Um, to answer your question, no, I don’t know who he was. Mom said that he disappeared before I was born, and she never heard from him again.”
A sudden quiet stillness filled the air, the three men around me freezing.
“When was this?” Jackson asked.
“Well, I just turned twenty-two.” Like literally, today… “So, it would be twenty-two years ago, or a bit longer.”
Jackson went rigid beneath my hands and I glanced from one wolf to the other, watching their shocked expressions.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Jackson cleared his throat and Billy stood up and clenched his fists.
I sat up straighter on the couch and stared at Darren. He would tell me the truth, if there was something horrifying to reveal.
“What is it, Darren?” I asked. “What are you not telling me?”
Darren ran a hand through his hair, looking uncomfortable. “There were three cousins that went missing twenty-three years ago. They went running in the woods one day and never returned. If your father was one of those three, then you are a piece of a puzzle our people have been trying to solve for over two decades.”
Jackson sat up, breaking the constant contact with my body. “And according to my father, that was when everything changed for the pack.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Jackson turned towards me. “Well, for one thing, ever since that night, only three females have been born to our pack. Every other birth has been a male wolf.”
My mouth dropped open. Was that why I was fated to these three? Because of something that had happened to my father?
Or was there something more insidious, more… sinister, going on in this town?
Jackson
Suspicion swam through my mind like an inky, dark cloud.
Were the witches the reason we couldn’t mate within our own pack in this generation?
It seemed too terrible, too absurd to be true. And yet everything pointed to it.
I opened my mouth to ask exactly that, but Billy pinned me with a stare I couldn’t ignore. His dark eyes blazed, the hint of his wolf showing in the pupil shape and flash of yellow coloring in the iris.
It was a warning. To me.
When he shook his head, ever so slightly, my suspicion was confirmed. My cousin didn’t want me questioning our mate. Not about this topic.
Besides, what would Ruby know? She was conceived around the time it had all happened. She wasn’t responsible.
But those that were should be punished.
“What’s wrong, Jackson?” Ruby asked quietly, and I moved my focus over to the beautiful girl sitting beside me on my couch. In my home. Within touching distance.
I could smell her arousal. Her need for me. For us. That was what I needed to focus on, not t
he mystery of the wolves versus witches feud that had been going on for generations.
I shook myself and forced a smile to my lips so that she wouldn’t know how deep my apprehensions ran. “Nothing, sweetheart. Sorry, I just got to thinking about those three men that went missing, that’s all. But I shouldn’t be focusing on that. I should be focusing on you. Come back here.”
I reached out to her and she came into my arms willingly. Happiness soared through my veins as I pulled her back into my lap.
As soon as she had settled, all my dark thoughts, my insecurities and misgivings, disappeared, as though they’d never even existed.
How was that possible? She already affected me so much.
I sighed and breathed in the orange scent of her hair. “God, you smell good.”
She moaned softly. “So, do you. Why do I feel so safe, and happy, here with you all?”
Darren grinned. “Because you’re our fated mated, which means you’re designed for us, and we’re designed for you.”
“All of you?” Ruby asked, as though she didn’t really understand this.
And if I was frank, I didn’t either.
Why this one witch, who I now knew was half wolf shifter, needed three mates, was beyond me.
Darren nodded and grinned, and Billy stared at her.
She turned her head and glanced up at me with her eyebrows raised high. “Courtney said that wolves are notoriously possessive and wouldn’t like to share a mate. Is that true?”
Talk about getting straight to the point.
I had to be honest. “Well, if I’m honest, yes. We are.”
She shuffled in my lap, sitting up a little straighter. “So, you’re not happy about this… relationship then?”
“Well…” How could I be honest with her about this and still keep her happy?
When I didn’t answer straight away, she twisted around and looked at the other two.
Ruby sighed. “It seems like Darren’s the only one that’s actually happy about us.”
Billy glanced at me but didn’t speak.
Darren jumped into the silence. “It’s not that they’re unhappy and I’m happy, Ruby. It’s just, with their stronger wolf genetics, as you said, they’re struggling with the jealous streak that makes it hard to share a mate. I think my warlock genes make it easier, but I’m only guessing. I never thought I’d share a mate either, but I’m willing to if that’s what the Fates have decided on.”
“The Fates? Is that what you think this is?” Ruby asked, her voice taking on an oddly high-pitched tone.
“Well, yes. That’s what we call it,” Darren answered.
Ruby slid off my lap, and I let her go, feeling anxiety pulsing through her. “I hope you all know that I didn’t plan this. I didn’t mean to make you feel jealous, or possessive, or any of those things.”
I frowned at her. Why was she taking on the responsibility for all of this? “Of course, you didn’t, Ruby. Don’t be silly.”
She twisted her hands in front of her, looking nervous and strangely guilty. Did she really feel that bad about this situation?
“Do you think it would be better if I just… dated one of you?” she asked.
None of us answered, instead looking at one another, stupefied. Was she serious? How would she even begin to choose?
“Which one…” I began to ask, then realized that wasn’t a question I should ask. If we stayed together, the four of us, as it was intended, for the next fifty years, I didn’t want her answer haunting us throughout time.
She turned towards Darren and gestured to him. “Since Darren is the only one who doesn’t care about me being a witch, I suppose it would make the most sense to…”
“No!”
The pained roar didn’t come from my throat, like I’d expected it to. It came from a place to my left. From my cousin.
Billy was on his feet, staring straight at Ruby, his hands clenched at his sides.
He looked angry, defiant. But I knew that wasn’t a true depiction of his feelings. He was frustrated as all hell.
I jumped to my feet too, not wanting our mate to be afraid of my cousin—one of her three men. “Ruby, please don’t mind Billy. He—”
Billy growled at me, the sound as threatening as I’d ever heard from him. “Don’t make excuses for me, Jackson. It’s not your place.”
Ruby took a few steps forward, towards Billy, which made me nervous. If he shifted now, he could do a lot of damage to our mate.
“Ruby, be careful. He’s…”
She put her hand out to me. “It’s fine. Billy, tell me.”
I took a breath and readied myself as much as I could to jump in if everything turned ugly. I would have to be faster than fast; I would have to be super human to save her from his wolf.
Billy.
As Ruby moved closer to me, my anger rolled together with everything else I was feeling—jealousy and possessiveness, just as she’d said, but worse, a fear of rejection was the most prominent. It was the main thing that swam up and blinded me to everything else.
That was why I’d called out to her. To stop her from choosing Jackson. The Alpha. The strongest and best of us.
Or Darren, the warlock-wolf, who was cool and calm and… a nice guy.
I was never going to be the one she would pick out of the three of us. In fact, I would be the last one she would choose. She didn’t know me; I’d barely spoken to her. But that didn’t mean I was wrong for her, or that I didn’t want her.
I did. Despite her witch blood. Despite the force of the fated mates bond. Despite the fact I would have to share her, with two other men, forever.
I wanted her more than all of that.
“Why shouldn’t I choose just one of you, Billy?” Ruby asked quietly.
I struggled to push forward with the conversation, through my wolf’s hold on my throat. He wanted my humanity to be second to his animal control. It was often safer that way.
But in this moment, I didn’t agree. My mate needed to know how I felt. Getting that out would take everything I had.
I swallowed hard, clenching my hands so tightly my nails cut into my palms.
I physically forced the wolf down and back, out of my mind and away. I would let him run tonight. He needed to relax, get back in place.
“I don’t want you to choose…them.”
I exhaled sharply, relieved to have gotten the main message out. The rest should be easier.
Her eyebrows flew up. “You want me to choose you?”
She sounded surprised and I realized that my insecurities indeed had merit. She had no idea that I wanted her.
I shook my head. “I don’t want you to choose, at all. That’s not what is meant to be.”
And it wasn’t. I knew that. If Jackson and Darren could get their heads around sharing Ruby, then so could I.
Ruby bit her lip. “But if I was going to choose then you’d want me to choose…”
I shook my head again. “I want you. As much as Jackson. As much as Darren. I want you too.”
My words sounded rough, and I wasn’t sure how to express my feelings.
She smiled at me and when she did, I saw the relief, the happiness in her green eyes.
A part of me melted, and I knew then, I would die for this woman. My mate.
“I’m glad,” she said. “I mean, I wasn’t sure. But—”
I charged forward and grabbed her, needing to kiss her more than anything. To show her that I desired her also.
I slid my hands around her waist and pulled her into me. I paused for just a moment, to gauge if she was going to rebuff my advances.
Even though she’d kissed Jackson before her mother had blasted us back to our own town, and she’d been kissing Darren when Jackson and I had found her half an hour ago, a rather large part of me thought that she would stop me.
And if she looked even remotely bullied, or uncomfortable, I would leave.
Instead of looking afraid, her eyes went a little wide as thoug
h she was surprised, but then she lifted her chin to meet my gaze and offered me her lips.
A satisfied growl rolled through me as I moved my hands up to her beautiful face, cupped her cheeks, and kissed her. I poured every bit of desperation, and love and frustration, into the move.
Ruby kissed me back, her arms wrapping around my waist and holding me to her as she opened her mouth and swept her tongue against mine.
I groaned and grabbed her up in my arms, her legs going around my waist as we came together.
I grabbed her ass, plundering her mouth with my tongue, marveling in the taste of her, of the perfection of how she felt in my arms.
Her hands went to my shirt buttons and she pulled at my clothes.
I dragged my mouth away from hers and stared into her lust-filled eyes.
I didn’t put her down—I couldn’t—but instead I held tighter to her and turned to my cousin. “Where are we going?”
“Bed,” Jackson said and charged towards his room off the lounge.
I didn’t bother checking with Darren. I just followed my cousin into whatever came next.
Ruby
I could barely keep my eyes open. All I could see were fireworks and flashes of white light inside my mind.
My skin was on fire. Everywhere Billy touched was alight, and everywhere he hadn’t yet visited was screaming out for attention.
Billy was my bad boy. Trouble. The one that ignited things in me I’d ignored, and sometimes hoped wasn’t there.
He made me want to be naughty.
He walked us into a darkened room and set me down on my feet, keeping a hand on my waist and holding me close.
I sagged against his strong body, my knees weakened and wobbly. I forced my eyes open, though I felt drunk on pleasure, drugged on one of my wolves.
We were in a bedroom. A large, dark, male bedroom. Jackson’s, I had to assume since we were in his house.
This was it. The moment I’d been dreaming about for so long. The night I would lose my virginity and learn what true pleasure was.
Darren stepped into the room and I shivered, anticipation and nervousness pulsing through me.
Would I make love to all three of them? At once? Or all together? How would this work?
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