I’d never thought to see these two best friends argue like this, but as it continued, I struggled not to intervene. Stunned by learning Aramis was the legendary prince my parents had spoken of once or twice, and he was my mate, I was also deeply disturbed by the two of them in such conflict. If Brax chose not to be Aramis’s beta, did it mean they would go their separate ways and I’d have to choose between them? Or divide my time between them? My wolf would not settle for one or the other. She wanted the whole enchilada of mates.
Both. Mine.
I get it. I don’t know what to do.
Males are like that.
My wolf’s dry sense of humor had made me smile more than once, but today the tension was too high. I wrung my hands and watched them say terrible things to one another, things they might not be able to take back. These two men were best friends and my mates, and if I were to consider staying with them for life—the long life my shifter heritage granted—we’d all have to get along or be utterly miserable. Sure, Aramis was used to being the one who took the chances, the alpha protector. I’d already gotten as much. But Braxton had as much at stake in this issue. Any one of us could be killed, couldn’t we?
And then I knew. A piece of information I hadn’t had before completed the picture.
Rising from my seat, I strutted over to where my men’s argument had reached ridiculous proportions, and volume, and stood between them, a hand on each chest. “Enough.”
I wasn’t sure it would work, whether I had the necessary oomph and power to stop these two strong personalities, but to my pleasure and mild shock, they both snapped their mouths closed and focused on me.
“Aramis,” I said in an even tone, “they want you.”
“What?” His brows furrowed. “Why would they want me? They just…they…oh shit.”
Taking their hands, I led them to the sofa and sat, bringing them with me. Their thighs pressed mine, and my wolf growled low, but the time for mating and other pleasures was not now. First, we had the run and, second, a day of tests. If I let my desires loose, we’d miss both. And while my grades were very important to me, so was Aramis’s life, and we had strategizing to do. “Maybe you should skip this morning’s run, Aramis. I am sure you would have a better idea than I why they are singling you out. Maybe something to do with rival royalty? Is there someone who wants to steal your throne?”
He gave a bitter chuckle. “No, not that I’ve ever heard. It’s not much of a throne, and I am an only child. But my wolf agrees there’s a connection. I never understand how he knows as much as he does. And it’s a good theory, although there’d be a lot more in it for someone to kidnap me for ransom than shoot me.”
Brax, who’d also settled down as if they’d never exchanged a cross word, squeezed my hand and offered him a serious look. “Maybe they wanted to wound you. Capturing you in full good health and strength wouldn’t be easy. Those tracks were left by humans, I’m almost sure of it. Even in human form, shifters walk lighter.”
“So what do we do now?” Aramis linked our fingers, stroking my palm with his thumb. “I can’t lie low. If they were willing to brave the campus to get me, they aren’t going to give up easily. Ideas?”
He’d be a good leader, I thought, ready to hear the ideas of others rather than assuming he had all the answers. “My first thought is you should skip the run, as I mentioned before. It’s too dangerous.”
“No.” He brushed my lips with a kiss. “I appreciate you want me to live long, but I cannot allow myself to be driven to ground. I need to be visible and live my life as if I have no idea they’ve singled me out. If they were to learn we are on to them, they might change their strategy.”
Braxton lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it. “Sorry, but he’s right, Jade. And honestly, if we stay in the group, I don’t think they will act this morning.” He grinned, and my heart pounded harder. “But we need to be ready for them. Because when I do get my claws and teeth into them, they won’t have time to regret menacing my alpha.”
Aramis laughed. “Wait. I thought you weren’t my beta.”
He shook his head. “When was there ever any doubt? Now, I have some ideas how we can trap these bastards and give us all a chance to rend them limb from limb.”
“My beta’s a thinker.”
Braxton glowered. “Shut up and listen.”
The years with these men stretched out before me, and as I listened to them crafting their scheme, I knew it would never be dull.
Chapter Twenty
Jade
My wolf enjoyed running. I mean, I was sure all wolves enjoyed running, but not as much as mine. She loved the feel of tree bark scratching her skin beneath her fur. She loved the feel of dew-kissed grass threading between her claws as she pounded the ground. The scent of the forest and the trees and everything outdoors made her prance.
Yeah, my wolf was a fucking prancer. I would try to keep it under wraps until my mates got to know me better.
Because prancing.
Aramis and Braxton stayed at my flanks, but, at the same time, let me run free. It was as though they didn’t want to hover but stayed within hearing distance. If anything tried to get me, they would be on them in milliseconds. That I was sure of.
We were supposed to run as a pack, but after miles and miles, we’d split off, and I was left with my mates who were now playing games, hiding behind trees, chasing us, and driving us crazy.
Goddess, they were incredible in their wolf forms—each one unique and yet stunning in their own ways.
After a while, I stopped looking around for an enemy, listening for the sounds of someone uninvited—and just had fun with my mates.
We must’ve run for hours because, by the time we were shifted and dressed, it was time for me to head to my first final. Aramis seemed relieved nothing had happened during the run, but it didn’t stop him from looking back to the woods several times as we made our way closer to the school. Even in the hallways, he was stiff-postured and seemed tense.
There was something I could do about it, but it would have to wait for tonight.
Something else had happened in the woods—something I’d made sure my minx of a wolf kept to herself. I wasn’t completely positive she had, but the boys hadn’t said anything thus far. And I was fairly sure she’d already been communicating with them on other topics.
My wolf had fallen for them both, completely and wholly.
And she had taken me with her.
The need for her to mark them as ours, to be marked as theirs, and finish the mating rites overpowered us both until I could barely walk to class, my legs shaking.
Calm down. They will be ours. Tonight.
She growled at me, loud and proud, reaffirming what I already knew. My wolf was a fast mover in the mating department, and, after the run, it took everything in me to stop her from pulling them both back to their posh suite and making sure they knew it.
“Let me walk you to class,” Aramis whispered in my ear, fueling the fire without knowing it. I looked up at him to see a sly smirk on his face as I nodded.
“Okay,” I answered, and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders as we walked, garnering looks from every damned female in the place—and some males.
Aramis had never shown much interest in any one girl, never even gone steady. It was no secret Aramis had his conquests, but now he was a taken man.
He sighed. “Hey, don’t let them bother you.”
I chuffed back, “I’m trying, but they—”
Before I knew what was happening, he’d pressed me under the nearest stairwell and his hips had me locked in place against the wall. “They what, female? Be honest here.”
Fuck. This was the part I didn’t want. The part where I faced something ugly inside me. “They’ve all been with you—before me.”
Aramis looked down, his blues not meeting my greens. He blew out a weighted breath, and I regretted my words immediately. “I wish I could take it back, but I can’t. If I’d known it was you�
�all along, right under my damned nose—I would’ve waited, love. I would’ve waited for you.”
He ran his hand down my face and flattened it against my sternum. “But you’re mine now.” My wolf was speaking now, through me. “Say you’re mine.”
He rocked his hips against mine, his hardness against my softness almost taking me over the cliff of lust right here in the hallway. I’d never been touched like this, not even close. “I’m yours, always, Jade. You own me.”
I nodded, and he chuckled, shaking us both. “It’s your turn to say it, gorgeous. You weren’t the only one jealous out there, you know.”
“Why would you be jealous? No one looked at me before you two.”
His eyes blazed. “You never noticed them. And I ́m glad.” He leaned down and trailed his lips along my jawline.
“I’m yours,” I said, lungs finally working after a struggle to regain my breath.
“Good. Now you’re late for class. Get going.”
I stepped away, legs barely working, knees wobbling. And then I squeaked loud and ear-piercing as Aramis popped me on the ass.
“Move it before you’re late for your final, mate.”
I hurried up and smiled along the way.
Fuck. I enjoyed that little swat more than I wanted to admit.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jade
How I got through a full day of finals, I’d never know. And I suspected I might have earned lower grades than usual. But after years of making it a priority, of proving to my family my going to the academy was worth it to them, suddenly, I was done. I’d never been a good fit in the bakery biz and had been scrambling to find another way, another place in life.
I’d had vague ideas about teaching at the academy myself after graduation, although I’d never picked an actual subject to focus on. They were all interesting enough but not something I wanted to spend my life learning about and imparting to young minds. As the year went by, I’d grown more and more worried about what I’d be when I grew up. Because if I didn’t decide, I’d be home in the bakery, enjoying an arranged marriage.
To be honest, I was an okay baker, could certainly have been respectable in the business if not passionate. The arranged marriage thing had me fighting for my independence. Somewhere deep inside, I think I’d always known I was among the lucky ones who had a mate out there. Turned out it was two. And the next time I saw my family, it would be a done deal. I’d be a mated woman.
And as to what my future held, mate of the alpha was a job. So was mate of the beta. I no longer had to search for a calling. In accepting these men, I was also taking on a career or two. Right after dinner, which I enjoyed at three tables pushed together to accommodate my friends and Nora’s and my mates, I hurried to my room to change into a short nightie that only covered the important bits if I stood straight. I’d thought it was a little longer when I bought it, and as a result, this would be my first wearing since I tried it on and embarrassed myself looking at my reflection in the mirror. If there ever was a time to be sexy, this was it. I covered it with sweats and grabbed some toiletries and ducked out the door, headed for my Waterloo. I always did think that song at the end of Mama Mia referred to sex. Probably just with one guy.
Outside their suite, I froze, hand lifted to knock. It might be easier if I were more experienced. My limbs were shaking, and I almost turned to run away when the door opened to reveal both of my mates, and all the worry and fear and chaotic thoughts disappeared. Poof! Instead, my limbs went warm and soft and my heart rate doubled.
“Hi.” Because I am as erudite as the next girl. I speak good under stress. “I umm…can I stay over?”
“Depends.” Aramis, wearing only black lounge pants that hung from his lean hips, leaned against the doorframe. “What did you have in mind?”
“Because,” chimed in the similarly clad, only in gray, Braxton, “you look like you have some naughtiness in mind, and we’re not easy.”
Biting my lip to suppress my grin, I shrugged. “Yeah, I did. Very naughty ideas. But I guess I’ll have to go find other boys to carry them out with.” I turned back the way I’d come, calling over my shoulder, “I wonder who I can…oof!”
Aramis, who’d slammed me over his shoulder, gave me a firm whack on the bottom. “Our mate is not going off to get nasty with somebody else.”
“I said naughty!” I protested as he strode toward the master suite while Braxton closed the door behind us. “Not nasty.”
“With us, it’s naughty.” He punctuated his words with another firm spank on my rear end. “With anyone else it’s nasty. You belong to us.”
“Are you going to put me down?” I kicked at him, struggling but not really wanting him to let me go. He was so big and strong and his body so warm. “I don’t belong to anyone but myself.” My protest sounded weak even to me.
“I sure am.” He lifted me from his shoulder and let me drop, flailing in the fraction of a second before bouncing off the mattress then coming to a halt. I giggled, and both men laughed, but then the mood suddenly shifted and no one was chuckling. They sank to sit on either side of me, enfolding me in their embrace.
“I-I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here,” I protested, a bit overwhelmed.
“It’s a first for us, too,” Braxton said, nuzzling my jaw. “We’ll learn together.”
“What?” I was shocked. “I thought you two might…you’re such close friends that…”
“You thought we shared girls?” Aramis was quick on the uptake. “No. While I can’t hide the fact I’ve, umm, dated quite a bit, it’s never been a group activity.”
“Not that he wouldn’t,” Braxton murmured in my ear, my lobe caught in his teeth, “but one of us had to have morals.”
“I heard that.” Aramis growled. “I had morals. They might not have been especially high. But it’s over. You’re my mate—our mate—and no other girls exist.”
“I never doubted it. My wolf has good taste and wouldn’t want any part of you if she didn’t trust you. She also loves your wolf, who she claims wasn’t half the wolf you were.”
“My wolf is right.” And he was also nibbling at the skin of my neck. They both were. Which meant… “Are you ready to mate us, Jade? Because I can’t wait much longer.”
I tipped my head back, letting out a sigh that had to come from my toes. They accepted my invitation. As Aramis sank his teeth into the crook of my neck on one side, Brax did on the other. They didn’t drink my blood—vampires imbibed the crimson fluid. The bite, the mark it left, was what our wolves demanded to seal the deal. After they moved back and lapped the wounds closed, they each solemnly presented their necks to me, and I marked them in return. And it was done. Well, partly. Nobody could separate us now, not even my marriage-arranging parents. We were a trio whose lives depended on one another. If anything happened to one of us, the others might not survive.
But tonight was not for gloom and doom. It was for learning everything we could about one another’s bodies and hearts. They helped me out of my sweats and offered praise for my outfit, and what lay under it, that made me glow. And as Braxton cradled me in his lap and tipped me back, cupping my breasts in his big palms, Aramis knelt between my legs and lapped and sucked me to my first of what would be many orgasms at their hands. I had not much anything to go on, but he had me writhing and begging for more as they taught me the ways of loving them. Aramis took me first, as an alpha would, piercing my hymen quickly, the pain sharp and forgotten as he stroked deeply into my body, Braxton’s lips claiming mine with kisses that stole my breath even as Aramis drove me over the edge into another orgasm. Then they switched positions, and Braxton filled me. He was less fierce, moved slower and took longer, holding me on the edge for a long time while Aramis kissed my lips and upper body and played with my nipples. My nightie was long gone, but I had no idea when it had been stripped off of me.
By the time Braxton poured his cum into me, I was exhausted and happy to curl up in their arms for sleep. No
t that they let me rest long. My men were voracious and tender lovers who woke me at least three times during the night to make love to me together and separately. I wondered if I would be sleep-deprived for the rest of my life.
Part of me hoped so.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Aramis
I woke up with hair tickling my nose. Under any other circumstances, it would’ve been jarring first thing in the morning, to have someone else’s hair being a menace before my alarm went off, but instead, I plucked the strands from where they were stuck with sweat to my pecs and tried to go back to sleep.
Until I realized how much I could get used to waking up before my mate if it meant looking at her like this.
She and Brax faced each other while, in her sleep, her ass ground into my groin, wiggling a little. A faint moan came from her lips, and she tucked her feet in between mine. They were like ice, and my wolf chastised me for allowing such a thing to happen. I sat up and pulled the covers over the three of us. We’d basically passed out after our first time together, all of us spent in the best way possible.
I lay down on my pillow, a sigh leaving my mouth, thinking about the night before. With no experience with how our relationship would work, so we’d allowed our animal sides to guide us, and they knew by instinct alone how we would all fit.
I ran a finger down the length of her arm as she slept and then let it linger on her waist before giving in to the desire to touch her hip. Her skin was like brushed silk, and every cell of mine reacted to hers.
Regardless of it being her first time, nothing in the entire universe could compare to making love to my mate.
Fully awake in all ways possible, I decided to take a shower and make a breakfast run. After the night we had, we all needed coffee and sustenance. I cranked on the hot water and, soon after, stepped into the spray, reveling in the warm water cascading down my body.
I heard the door open but didn’t let it interrupt my shower until footsteps caught my attention—tiny footsteps from tiny feet. With my hand, I cleared a circle on the otherwise steam-laden glass door and watched as my mate approached the shower.
Jaded Love (The Lycan Academy Book 4) Page 7
