by Nora Phoenix
And as soon as he had formulated his question, he knew. It was why Grayson had been able to help Sven through his first heat with such relative restraint, as the omega had told him, because they were mates. Not mates as in together, but mates as in fated mates. Grayson had reacted differently to Sven because they were supposed to be together.
“Fated mates,” he whispered. “Because they were fated mates. And you think that’s the same for us.”
He didn’t put it as a question, but as a statement. Their eyes were burning into each other’s, Kean’s filled with insecurity as he nodded. “I do, but I didn’t want to tell you, because I don’t want you to feel pressured into anything. I’m not even sure if you believe in this theory.”
Ruari raised an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t I believe in it when the evidence is all around us here? I’ve heard the stories of the alpha and his men, and Sven has told me enough about him, Grayson, and Lars to know they’re definitely meant to be as well. What’s not to believe?”
“Bray doesn’t,” Kean said with a sigh. “He figures it’s manipulative bullshit.”
The moment his name was mentioned, Ruari remembered what his brain had tried to connect earlier, but had failed at. He had talked to Palani about his experience with Bray, and why Bray hadn’t reacted as strongly to him and had been able to control himself enough to sign the contract first. What was it Palani had said? Interesting, he had called it interesting.
Then it rushed through him, the deep sense of truth in the only conclusion he could draw.
“Oh my god,” he whispered. “You, me, Bray…we're fated mates.”
20
“Yes,” Kean said, seeing no reason to pretend anymore.
It had weighed heavily on him, his discovery about the three of them and not telling either one of his supposed mates about it. Kean wasn’t even sure when he had figured it out, but sometime that night after Bray had caught them making out, he had realized it. He wasn’t Bray’s mate or Ruari’s mate. He was both. They were supposed to be together, the three of them.
Not telling Bray made total sense, considering the alpha’s strong objections against the concept of mates, but it had killed Kean to not say anything to Ruari. He hadn’t lied though; he had merely kept his mouth shut out of fear it would put pressure on the omega.
“But… But what does that mean for us?” Ruari asked, looking stunned.
“Honestly? I don’t know.”
“When did you realize it?” Ruari wanted to know.
“I’ve had my suspicions about me and Bray from the moment I met him, but when he didn’t respond to me the same way, I reckoned I was wrong. And then when we broke up, and he was pretty mean, I decided I had been mistaken, because I figured the man who was my intended mate would not talk to me like that. Then I met you and we had this weird connection, so I reasoned you might be the one, but I couldn’t let go of Bray. But when he saw us kissing, he looked jealous, and that made me think about you and him, and I realized the truth.”
Ruari slowly shook his head. “I don’t see how that is going to happen with Bray refusing to accept the concept.”
“That’s your biggest concern? How about the fact that me and Bray have ended things and you and Bray were never a thing in the first place, and the two of us are still trying to figure out what we are?” Kean said, amazed at Ruari's acceptance of the whole thing.
Ruari sent him a sweet smile. “We can safely say we have answered that last question, wouldn’t you say? Mates, that’s what we are, you and me. But apparently, we’re missing a third person, so the question is how we convince him he belongs with us.”
“I can’t believe how okay you are with this,” Kean remarked. “I had kind of expected you to freak out about it, especially since it’s Bray.”
Ruari’s smile widened and he got up from his chair, then without a second’s doubt, parked himself on Kean’s lap. “There are worse things than hearing you are supposed to be with not one but two super-hot guys, can I just point that out?” he teased.
Kean couldn’t help but smile. “Bray is damn sexy,” he admitted.
“Damn right he is. And his cock is a work of art,” Ruari said, and that made Kean snicker.
Who would’ve ever thought he would be sitting with his—well he guessed he could call Ruari his boyfriend now—on his lap, gushing over a mutual ex who was at the same time their intended third? It was almost too far-fetched to be true, and yet that was where they were.
“It is,” he affirmed, getting hard at the thought of that fat cock in his ass.
Ruari leaned his head against his shoulder, and Kean held him close. “How do you want to proceed?” he asked Ruari after they’d been sitting like that for a while. “Because if we tell Bray, he'll balk. The harder we try to convince him, the faster he will run.”
“I’ll admit it’s gonna take some time for me to switch my perception of Bray from not even a friend to my mate,” Ruari admitted. “I mean, it is a big change, even for us. We can’t fault Bray for not believing us if we tell him we want to be with him when you broke up with him and I told him to prove himself worthy of my friendship.”
Ruari had a good point there, Kean admitted to himself. If he hadn’t seen his brother’s reaction to being separated from Vieno, if he hadn’t realized the dynamics between the alpha and his three men as well as Grayson and his boys, Kean would’ve felt differently about the realization that he belonged with Ruari and Bray. So yes, Ruari had a point that it might be hard for Bray to take it seriously, especially with their history.
“So we don’t tell him,” he said. “We build a friendship with him and let it develop naturally.”
He played with Ruari’s hair as he waited for the omega to speak. “Under different circumstances, I would’ve agreed that’s a good strategy,” Ruari said. “But you’re forgetting one major complication: my heat. I have maybe a week before it starts, and I’m gonna need to ask an alpha for help. Do you really think I should ask anyone else but Bray with what we know now?”
Kean was not a jealous person by nature, but the thought of Ruari with anyone else but him or Bray made his vision grow red. He hadn’t realized it till then, how familiar the idea of Ruari and Bray together felt. If nothing else, that convinced him of the fact that they were meant to be together.
“You’re right,” he said. “You can’t ask anyone else but him.”
“Both of you.” Ruari leaned back so he could meet Kean’s eyes. “I want it to be both of you, not just him.”
A rush of pleasure surged through Kean. “Are you sure? It’s him you need, not me.”
Ruari shifted on his lap so he straddled him, and then he grabbed Kean’s face with both his hands. “I do need you. I don’t even think I realize how much I need you, but I do.”
They both leaned forward for a soft kiss, and the comfort of that gesture made Kean’s beta deeply content.
“There’s a lot about this we have to figure out,” Ruari said. “But I only have to sense my soul’s peace with all of this to know it’s the right thing. My omega has accepted the both of you as mates, even if Bray isn’t quite there yet.”
“Same here,” Kean said. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. I belong with the both of you, and while it terrifies me considering the circumstances, I know it’s right.”
Ruari let his forehead rest against Kean’s, and they sat like that for a little while. “What if we don’t tell him?” Ruari asked. “What if I approach him for my heat and don’t explain anything other than I want it to be the two of you? Would he go for that?”
Kean considered it. It felt a tad dishonest, though they wouldn’t be lying. But would Bray go for it?
“Maybe you should try to make him offer,” he thought out loud. “He’s a good guy, and if he felt you were in a pickle, he would offer to help you out. I mean, I’m sure he wants to anyway, but he’d be scared to offer out of fear you’d reject him, I’m sure.”
Ruari chuckled. “T
hat’s a pretty passive-aggressive approach,” he said. “I like it. But I would have to do it soon, because as you said, I need to go into seclusion.”
“So do it now. Tell him you are sequestering yourself and that you can’t figure out who to ask because you don’t know the others. I know he’ll offer to help.”
Ruari slowly nodded. “Okay. I’ll find him. But Kean, when I’m done talking to Bray, can we meet in my room?”
“Sure. You want to talk some more?”
Ruari leaned in for another kiss, but this one was anything but soft. It was fiery, deep, and it left Kean wanting more.
“No. Talking is not what I had in mind.”
Bray was so surprised when Ruari walked up to him that he dropped his phone. Luckily, it bounced on the grass without sustaining any damage, and he quickly picked it up again.
“Hi, Bray,” Ruari said, and there was something in his voice that hadn’t been there before, a friendliness and openness that had been absent so far.
“Hi,” Bray said lamely, feeling like a blustering teenager on his first date. What was it about this omega that made him feel like he was back in high school?
“The time has come for me to sequester myself, in case you were wondering where I was the next week or so.”
His heat was coming. Bray had to swallow at the thought, memories of their time together assaulting him. Maybe he’d romanticized it over time, but their first encounter had been almost magical. The single best sex of his life, though if he was honest, the sex with Kean had been damn spectacular as well. Maybe that was because he was a beta and that was new to Bray? He shook his head to clear his thoughts.
“H-have you found an alpha to help you?” he asked, then mentally slapped himself. That was absolutely none of his business, and he had no doubt Ruari would ream him out for even asking.
To his surprise, Ruari’s shoulders dropped a little as he looked at the ground. “I don’t know what to do. I want Kean to be there, but I don’t know who to ask who would be okay with that. I need an alpha, Enar was crystal clear on that, but I don’t want to exclude Kean.”
Bray could barely breathe. Sex with Ruari and Kean at the same time? Being in a room with the two of them, naked, having permission to do everything dirty he wanted? That was like a dream come true. What alpha wouldn’t go for that?
And yet, when he tried to imagine any of the single alphas on the ranch with those two, his mind not only blocked the image, but it sent a red-hot surge of anger through him. They didn’t deserve them, none of them. No matter how honorable and good men like Adar and Isam were, they weren’t good enough for him, nor for Kean. Bray knew what Kean liked, how the beta liked it rough and hard. And dammit, Ruari had been the same.
And god, watching them together in the hallway, that kiss that had made him so hard he almost came on the spot…with Ruari’s small hand grinding Kean’s dick until he’d come in his pants… Bray had been so hard, so aroused, and so…jealous? He’d wanted in on the action, though that made zero sense.
But after watching that, his mind had kept imagining the two of them together, naked flesh slapping against naked flesh, Kean’s sturdy frame against Ruari’s much smaller one, Kean fucking Ruari again and again. Dammit, Bray’s cock was throbbing in his shorts just thinking about it.
“I can do it,” he heard himself say. “It may sound awkward and complicated, but Kean and I have a history, and we’re a good match sexually. And so were you and I. We have our differences, I get that, but I respect your boundaries, and Kean would keep me in check. I would have no problem with him being there, would allow him to take care of you. I wouldn’t be jealous like many other alphas, I guess is what I’m saying.”
He stopped talking, abhorred by the speech that had fallen off his lips and convinced Ruari was about to laugh in his face. Instead, the omega canted his head and studied him. “You’re serious about this? You’re absolutely sure this wouldn’t be a problem for you?”
Was he considering it? A rush of energy flowed through Bray. “Yes. One hundred percent serious. I would love to do this for you.”
That sounded a little too altruistic. “It’s not like it would be a hardship for me,” he added. “Despite our differences, I loved being with Kean in the bedroom, and I had a wonderful time with you the first time. The idea of a repeat, but then with both of you with the same time, is really attractive.”
He tried to word it as politely as he could while still speaking the truth. He didn’t know Ruari well enough to guess what the omega was used to or how much frankness he appreciated.
Ruari’s mouth pulled up in a sly grin. “What you’re saying is that the thought of the two of us naked makes you horny as fuck.”
Well, that answered the question of what Ruari was used to, and considering he was hard as iron right now, Bray didn’t see much use in denying it.
“Pretty much,” Bray admitted, allowing himself to smile back since the omega didn’t seem to have a problem with that concept. “Will you at least consider it?” Bray asked carefully.
“I don’t need to. I would love to take you up on your offer.”
Bray could barely prevent his mouth from dropping open. “You would? Are you sure?”
Ruari laughed. “Are you telling me there are reasons why I shouldn’t? You should really take a course in sales techniques, Bray, because you suck at it.”
He laughed back, because Ruari had a point. “I'm honored that you trust me with this, and I promise to make it a good experience for you.”
Ruari reached out and put his hand on Bray’s arm, sending a shock wave through him. “I know you will.”
Bray swallowed. “What will you do with Jax?”
Ruari left his hand on Bray’s arm as he answered. “He’ll stay with me until my heat starts, and then Sven will take care of him until it’s over, with Vieno as his back up.”
Bray nodded. “You can trust those two to take care of him,” he said. “They won’t let anything happen to him.”
Ruari’s eyes seemed to soften as he squeezed Bray’s arm before letting go. “I'm so grateful to have found a home on the ranch here. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I hadn’t made all these wonderful new friends.”
It spoke volumes about how lonely the omega had been before coming to the ranch, Bray thought. He didn’t know anything about Ruari’s past, but this simple statement was so revealing.
“You know you can always talk to me, right?” he said, then jammed both of his hands in his pocket to hide how nervous and self-conscious he felt about even saying this. Of course, Ruari would not talk to him. Why would he? He had Kean, and he had new friends here on the ranch, friends who weren’t the alpha-asshole who’d gotten him pregnant, he thought miserably.
Ruari took a long, hard look at him, then stepped in, reached up and pressed a soft kiss on Bray’s cheek, leaving him trembling. Ruari shot him a last glance, then walked off.
“I’ll send a message when my heat starts,” he called out over his shoulder.
Bray stood there, watching the omega until he was out of his sight. Maybe he was making progress on that whole proving-to-be-worthy thing after all.
It still felt strange, being without his son, Ruari thought. You would think that after two weeks on the ranch, he would be used to it, leaving Jax in Sven’s capable hands, but it still felt weird. Especially now, when he was in his own room in the omega bunkhouse, not having Jax made him restless. He really had lost all sense of his previous life, when he was able to entertain himself, he thought wryly. Well, if everything went according to plan, the entertainment would soon show up, right?
Or maybe that restlessness was because of his coming heat, surely a plausible explanation as well. Not that he had much experience with it, considering this was only his third heat ever. Enar had said it could take anywhere between a few days to another two whole weeks, but not much longer. But he had warned this was the estimate for normal omegas after a pregnancy, not for gene carriers. They di
dn’t have enough information for those yet.
He might not be in heat, but he was certainly looking forward to tonight. Not with the same crazy, desperate yearning he’d had during both his heats, but the thought of being with Kean didn’t leave him unaffected; on the contrary, as he had taken a shower, he’d wondered how it would be between them. He had been with betas before his first heat, and it had been good. Not spectacular, but that was to be expected when he himself didn’t have much experience yet and his partner hadn’t either. It had been clumsy, adorable, and yet satisfying. But he had a sneaky suspicion his experience with Kean would be ten times better.
His body was perfect, he mused, all male and strong, yet somehow soft and cuddly at the same time. Whereas Bray made him feel weak, though in the best way, Kean made him feel protected.
He wondered how it would be, sex with both of them. It was almost too crazy to even consider, and yet here they were. Who would’ve ever thought he would find himself in a position where he would have not one, but two mates? And not any mates either, but both good, honorable, strong men.
He couldn’t quite wrap his head around it, Bray especially. It was hard to reconcile, the deep knowledge that he was his mate while at the same time realizing he was far from perfect. Then again, the same could be said for Kean and for him, he realized. None of them were perfect, and they all made mistakes. Maybe the difference was that Bray’s flaws had come to light earlier or in a more obvious way.
But it wasn’t even Bray that Ruari was most worried about in their relationship, if he could even call it that yet when one of them wasn’t even aware he was part of it. No, it was his father, his family, the biggest secret he was keeping from them. They needed to know. They deserved to know. He had to tell them, but selfishly, he didn’t want to do it before his heat. He needed Bray and Kean both, and he wasn’t risking the chance of them saying no after he told him about his father. After his heat, he'd tell them. After they'd had a chance to be together with the three of them, if only for a sexual encounter.
