by Tamsin Baker
“I believe Mum has just noticed your beautiful new marks, sweetheart.”
He took her hand in his as Dylan gathered her hair in his hand and lowered to kiss over his mark. She shuddered and closed her eyes for a moment.
“I’d forgotten about the bites. How will I explain them to non shifters? Two massive bite marks on either side of my throat is going to be rather hard to miss.”
Dylan laughed, but he couldn’t see the look in their mate’s eyes. She was honestly frightened. With a gentle smile, Ryan ran his free hand over his mark on her. “Only shifters can see them, baby. They weren’t real bites, but magic ones. There’s no scarring in the way you’re thinking. To a full human, your neck looks as beautifully flawless as it did yesterday.”
“Ah, okay. All this shifter stuff is going to take some getting used to.”
Now Ryan did chuckle. What would Lacey do when they had a child who could shift and climb on the roof of the house at the age of three? Now that would be an adjustment for her.
Speaking of babies, they needed to talk to her about that. As much as he’d love to start a family now, they were young and had plenty of time. With Lacey just starting a new job, he couldn’t imagine her wanting to have a baby any time soon. He glanced over at her flat belly. She would look so good rounded out with their cubs. A lump formed in his throat. Would they have twins? Would she want the traditional nine kids?
Dylan shoulder-bumped him.
“Quit eyeing off her belly. We’re not knocking her up yet, so don’t even suggest it. I want her all to ourselves for a while first. I’ve heard that kids will ruin your sex life. I’m not having that happen for at least five years. Maybe longer.”
“Gah, you are such a bloody caveman.”
With a completely unrepentant grin, Dylan led the way into the dining room, grabbing Lacey’s hand on his way to drag her in behind him. Ryan shook his head as Dylan didn’t stop until he’d towed the poor woman over to where three seats had been left empty for them. Predictably, when he stopped, he pulled out her chair and let her sit down. But naturally, he didn’t stop there. He knew his twin, knew the man would want everyone to know they’d mated her.
Sure enough, Dylan gathered her hair and gently pushing her head to the side, he pressed a kiss to the center of his mark.
“Holy shit! You claimed her! Congratulations!”
Max rose and moved to come over to them as he’d spoken, but his father beat him to Lacey and pulled her back out of the chair to give her a big bear hug. Ryan stood back, pride filling him as each one of his brothers came to give their new sister a hug. Letting her know how accepted she was, and that he and Dylan hadn’t lied to her about how welcoming their family would be.
When they all finally got settled back at the table, Max was sitting opposite Ryan.
“So, Dad gave you an early release, Max?”
Ryan had known that their father would never have kept Max on lock down once he learned Max had seen his mate.
“Yep, we spoke first thing this morning, and here I am. Free as a bird.”
Dylan spoke up. “And I guess you’ll be shadowing us when we take Lacey back to her place to pack?”
Max grinned broadly. “Sure will. I need to find Scarlet, and I’m guessing the fastest way to make that happen is with you three.”
“Wait. Why do you need to find Scarlet? Has this got something to do with the way you and her freaked out the other day when you saw each other? No wait. Don’t answer that. First, why am I packing up?”
Ryan tried not to grin but failed. He fake-coughed so he could cover his mouth with his fist. Ryan had warned his twin not to force the moving issue. Of course, like Dylan, Ryan wanted their mate living in their house with them, but he was fine with living in the two houses until they settled on a routine that worked for all of them. So long as they were together, Ryan didn’t mind where they lived. He loved his mate, and if she needed to live with Scarlet a little longer in order to be happy, then he would just move in with her there.
****
Dylan clenched his jaw as he mentally debated how he could answer Lacey without sounding like a caveman. When after a full minute he still couldn’t come up with anything, he decided to just barrel on through. “Beautiful, I assumed that now we’re mated you’d want to live with us.”
Dylan released the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding when a smile curved her lips. Maybe he hadn’t fucked it all up on their first day of being mated. She cupped his face in her palm.
“Of course I want to live with you both. But we need to discuss where, you can’t just dictate to me and expect me to fall into line. That’ll never work long term.”
Well, Dylan thought it would work just fine if she simply did what he said all the time. But his mother hadn’t raised him to be a fool, and he wanted Lacey to have her own mind and be brave enough to speak it to him always.
“I’m not sure I can handle living in the city, beautiful. I’m not built for it. Ryan and I need the space out here.”
Lacey silenced anything else with a quick kiss. “How about to start with we spend the nights between the days I have to work in the office at my place in the city and the rest of the time we’ll stay out here? I don’t want to leave Scarlet up in the air with no roommate. Everything with us happened so quickly, she wasn’t expecting me to move out yet.”
“Don’t worry about Scarlet, Lacey. I’ll make sure she’s taken care of.”
Lacey’s eyes sparked with something that looked a lot like anger, and Dylan was so glad it wasn’t directed at him. She turned from him to glare at Max.
“Scarlet is my best friend, the only one who cared about me for years. So, you’d better start explaining what the hell is going on. Especially if you want my help.”
Max just gave Lacey a lazy smile, obviously not intimidated in the least at Lacey’s fiery side coming out.
“She’s my mate, Lacey. When I saw her at the zoo the other day my cheetah knew instantly that she was mine. You said before that she acted out of character that day, too, that means she somehow picked up on our connection as well.”
Lacey’s hands snuck out, one toward Ryan and the other seeking his hand. He gladly took her palm in his and lifted it to press a kiss over the healing wound on her inner wrist. He would see that she was always protected in the future. No way would any other asshole get close enough to hurt his mate ever again.
“Um. Do all cheetah shifters end up in ménages?”
“Pretty much. Unless something happens to one of the men and it leaves a couple behind.”
Dylan winced at his father’s strained words. There should have been two fathers in their family, but the stupid lion refused to share with a cheetah. Instead the fool decided to go old school and challenge his father for their mate. Obviously, their dad won. But it was a damn shitty way to start a mating that’s for sure.
“Who else will be Scarlet’s mate? One of you, or someone else?”
“Hopefully another of my sons will be her mate. Most likely Jed or Kane as they are closest in age to Max. But you never know. Perhaps a party for your engagement, assuming you are also going to follow human traditions along with shifter ones, will allow all the boys to test for a connection with your friend?”
Lacey nodded then started giggling. Dylan frowned. What was funny about that?
“Why is having a party funny? I don’t get it.”
“Oh, it’s not the party that’s funny. It’s the fact that when you first told me you wanted to share me I spoke to her about it in vague terms. Asking what she would do if she met someone who wanted an unconventional relationship. And she said love is love and it didn’t matter what form it came in, if you find it, you latch onto it. She also said that she wasn’t sure how far she’d go to keep a man if she found one that was halfway decent. So, I was laughing because I was just thinking about how she’ll react to the whole shifters are real thing along with the fact she’ll have two mates for life. Her reaction is go
ing to be priceless.”
Dylan beamed with happiness. He loved his mate’s slightly offbeat sense of humor. He didn’t think normal chicks would find it amusing that their friend was about to fall down a rabbit hole of new realities, but his Lacey did. His mother came in the room armed with a couple of bottles of champagne at that moment.
“Max, be a dear and fetch the flutes for me. We need to celebrate me finally getting a daughter. Trust me, Lacey. After raising nine boys, I need some more estrogen around this place.”
As the drinks were poured Dylan sat back and focused on his mate. She was stunningly beautiful and looked beyond happy as she sat there chatting with his mother. The whole time she talked, she never took her hands off either him or Ryan. He couldn’t believe how much her touch settled him. They’d really only met what? A week ago? Two? And they were mated and set to spend their entire lives together.
When all the glasses had been poured and handed out, Dylan reluctantly released Lacey’s hand so she could drink hers. He slid his palm over her thigh to keep a connection before he raised his glass to toast their gorgeous mate with the best champagne their mother kept hidden away for just such occasions.
Dylan addressed the room, his heart bursting with pride. “To our Lacey, the most perfect mate any pair of shifters could ask for.”
Her eyes filled with tears as she smiled broadly and blushed at his toast. Yep, he and Ryan were one lucky pair of males, that was for sure.
Epilogue
Six months later
The newspaper’s photographer flashed a photo of her as she stepped up to the aisle with Scarlet beside her. It was her turn to officially tie the knot next month. She gave the photographer a smile as he took another.
It was so lovely of the newspaper to offer to put her wedding in the celebrations pages, Especially since she was still considered one of the newbies at the paper.
Everything was settled now. Cameron’s rescue and her subsequent story afterwards had calmed down straight after the event, and she’d found a real home for herself in the journalist’s corner.
She had a brilliant job, and the most beautiful new family she could ever dream of.
Dylan and Ryan had been her mates for six months, but today they would celebrate their loving bond in a more traditional, human way, in the small church their family had attended for generations.
The church was buzzing with voices, new friends and many old. The Monaghan family was bigger than she’d imagined, all of them fully accepting the triad the three of them created. Probably because most of them were also a part of a triad.
The twins’ parents were actually the odd ones out in this crowd!
She took a deep breath and nodded at Scarlet. “Ready?”
Her best friend giggled softly at her. “Aren’t I supposed to ask you that?”
Lacey shrugged. For her, this was more for his parents than anyone else. As far as she was concerned, she’d married them six months ago on their mating night.
“I’m so ready for this. Let’s do it.”
The music sounded, and a smile lifted her lips. A traditional wedding march that marked the occasion.
Scarlet turned around, and like the perfect maid of honor she was, gripped her flowers and began walking down the aisle with complete poise and grace. You’d never guess the woman was way more comfortable in combat boots and jeans.
Lacey took a moment to breathe and looked down at her own small bouquet of lilacs. Everything was perfect, an accurate reflection of how her life was now.
So much had changed in so little time. She was safe and happy, for the first time in her memory. Rodney had been given a two-year jail term for stalking and abducting her, but would probably get out earlier on good behavior. However, when he got released, he wasn’t allowed anywhere near her or he’d get tossed back in.
She shook those dark thoughts out of her head and stepped out from behind the pillar, facing her men and the minister that stood at the front of the church waiting for her arrival.
She smiled at them as she began her own slow walk, towards her men, and into her future.
With each step she reflected on her love for them and theirs for her. Thanks to Dylan and Ryan she wasn’t worried about anything bad happening. When the time came to deal with Rodney again, she’d be fine. Because as long as the two men she loved were by her side she’d always be safe.
She took the last step and handed her flowers to Scarlet so she had both hands free. If only today she was actually marrying her two husbands, but the law forbade it, and her newspaper would have a field day with that story.
She took Dylan’s hand. As the older his parents had suggested he be her legal husband, with her beautiful Ryan as best man, a step behind him. She looked over Dylan’s shoulder and met Ryan’s eyes, giving him her biggest smile. They all knew they had an equal partnership, and Ryan had assured her that as long as she was committed to him and took their last name, he didn’t mind whose name was on the paperwork.
“Ready?” Dylan asked her, squeezing both of her hands and giving her his characteristically cheeky smile.
“Always.”
They turned as one and stepped forward, facing the minister in front of them.
“Dearly beloved…”
As Lacey heard the age-old words and they spoke their vows and exchanged rings, Lacey’s hands trembled and the tears flowed unexpectedly. Even though she’d completed her mating months ago, this moment in time was her traditional symbol that she was married. The little girl inside of her was truly content to be standing in a church, wearing a big white dress and holding her husband’s hand.
After her messy childhood, she’d never even know this kind of love existed, let alone that she’d be lucky enough to experience it. But here she was, with the love of her two men. Mirror image twins that completed her mind, body and soul.
The End
www.tamsinbakererotic.com
Other Books by Tamsin Baker:
www.evernightpublishing.com/tamsin-baker
www.khloewren.com
Other Books by Khloe Wren:
www.evernightpublishing.com/khloe-wren
If you enjoyed this book, you may also like:
Alpha Revealed by Jocelyn Dex
BEARly Resisting by Jenika Snow
Lioness Hunting by Amber Morgan
EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
