by Maia Dylan
“You were projecting quite loudly,” Wyatt reasoned. “Perhaps she has some psychic ability like Faith does?” Faith was the human mate of their alpha pair Ty and Trent Jamieson. They had met her years before they had managed to claim her, and they learned that she had always been able to get readings from their thoughts and feelings even before they were mated. It was a damn shame they hadn’t claimed her as soon as they met her though. Faith had been taken from them and it took them two years to get her back. Wyatt shook his head as he thought about what Faith had to endure.
“She’s safe and sound with her mates now, so it’s better just to think of their happily ever after rather than their ‘what could have been,’ Wyatt,” Xanthe spoke softly from the center of the kitchen, bringing him out of his musings. Damn, she freaked him out when she did that. Nodding at her, he gathered the rest of his tools as his brothers came traipsing back into the room.
“Well, Xanthe my darling.” Chase still flirted as Chase always would, but his affection for the woman as he put his arm around was very much sisterly. “Did we do good, or did we do good?”
“You done good, boys.” Xanthe grinned as she returned the half embrace. “I love it! I am totally going to be able to build my business up even further with this kitchen.” Xanthe owned and operated Lotions and Potions in town. She made and sold a range of beauty products and homeopathic medicines that the town was just going crazy for.
She had only been in town for a few months now, but she had a very serious following. She matched what she made for her clients to their personalities and auras. From what he was scenting from the women at Country Blue lately, she was damn good at it, too.
“Thanks, Xanthe, we are pretty proud of it, too!” Luke grinned and handed her a folder. “All the warranties and information for the commercial kitchen equipment are all in here. You are good to go! Get creating and we’ll get out of your hair so you can get on with your day.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. All three of them had come to care for Xanthe in the weeks they had been fixing up her kitchen for her.
“Don’t forget you were going to make me a love potion for that new waitress out at Molly’s diner. She still won’t give me the time of day!”
Xanthe’s eyes became glassy for a moment and a secret smile crossed her face.
“I don’t think you are going to need that potion, and I’d forget about Marcy if I were you. She’s not for you three. Now”—she turned her face to accept Chase’s kiss and then Wyatt’s as they made moves to leave—“off you go. Head on over the Country Blue for lunch and I’ll talk with y’all later.”
Wyatt looked at her as her face took on an “I know something you don’t know” expression. “Well, we were going to head on back to our place to work on our own kitchen.” He stopped when Xanthe shook her head at him.
“Nope, don’t head home. Go to Country Blue. Go now, otherwise you will have to wait longer, and I can tell that you are all anxious to meet her.” She turned her blue eyes on him and he felt like she was staring right into his soul. “One of you more than the others.”
Wyatt frowned at her but turned and walked out of the house with his brothers right behind him. He stowed his tools in the back of their work truck and went to climb in. “Wyatt!” He paused and looked back at Xanthe, who was leaning up against the front door frame. “Don’t think about the whys and hows of it all. Just go and have lunch. That’s all I’m saying.”
He nodded, waved, and then jumped into the truck. His brothers were looking at him as he started the truck and drove out her driveway, turning right and heading back into town. “What?” he said as he felt both of them still staring at him.
“Are we gonna go?” Chase asked, excitement in his tone. Wyatt drove for a bit, gathering his thoughts.
“Nah, I reckon we stick to our original plan and head back home. I like Xanthe as much as you two, but she is a little on the odd side.” He stopped at the stop sign at the end of Xanthe’s street. If he turned right, he would be heading back to their place. Left would take them to Country Blue. “I know she said ‘meet her’ but what the hell could that mean? It’s not like she said, get to Country Blue your mate is about to arrive now did she? And even if she did that would be just too fucking freaky for words.”
There was no doubting that Xanthe had a special aura and ability. Hell, he had heard from so many different women about her ability to match the perfect lotion and shampoo to their skin type and personality that you couldn’t help but notice that she had an ability to read people and situations. But to predict the damn future? Be able to tell a person when their prospective mate may or may not be coming into their town and walking into their bar? That seemed like too much of a stretch as far as Wyatt was concerned.
“Ah, Wyatt?” Luke spoke and Wyatt heard amusement in his tone.
“Yeah?”
“I know you said we were heading home, but ah, you’ve parked in the Country Blue parking lot and we’ve been trying to get you to tell us why for the past minute or so.” Wyatt looked around and sure enough they were parked outside the bar. Chase was chuckling in the back and Luke covered his laugh with a cough.
“Shut the fuck up.” Wyatt shook his head at his own actions. Sighing deeply and steeling himself for the disappointment he knew was coming, he climbed out of the car. He punched both his brothers in the arm because—well because they were laughing at him and they were his brothers and it was his right and responsibility to do it, and to do it as often as possible. Then they headed into the restaurant, his mouth watering at the smell of barbeque. Well, if nothing else, at least they’d have a good lunch!
Pushing open the door, they saw that there were quite a few people in the restaurant for lunch already. “Hey, guys!” Cassadee Shaw waved from behind the bar. She was the mate of two of their pack mates AJ and Sam, who also owned the bar. A few months ago they had helped with a little situation she had with her previous pride and wasn’t that just a kick in the ass. They now had a lioness as part of their wolf pack.
“I’ll bring y’all a beer over in a minute.” Nodding his thanks, Wyatt moved toward Lucy. Lucy was the mate of another two pack mates. It had happened fast, the three triads coming together quickly. Wyatt had watched with joy for his friends and no small amount of envy.
“Hey, guys!” Lucy grinned in welcome and then popped up to give all three of them a kiss on the cheek. She laughed out loud, and then she turned to poke her tongue out at the large table toward the side of the restaurant. Wyatt looked around her and saw her mates sitting there glaring in their direction. “You two just get over yourselves!” Ty, Trent, Faith, AJ, and Sam were there, too, laughing at the antics of their three friends.
Chase, who—as Wyatt had suspected his whole life—apparently didn’t have a brain in his head, suddenly bent her back over his arm claiming, “Come away with me, Lucy, and I’ll show you the world!”
“If you don’t let go of our mate,” Brendan growled in their direction, “I’ll show you your spleen up close and real personal like.”
Wyatt laughed as Chase went slightly green and stepped away from Lucy, who put her hands on her hips, turned, and glared and Brendan. “What the hell is it with you and threatening to remove people’s spleens?” She shook her head at them and led Wyatt and his brothers over to the table.
“It’s my internal organ of choice, Luce, you know that,” Brendan sassed her with a wink. Lucy shook her head at him, her smile clearly showing that she adored the man she looked at, there for the entire world to see. Wyatt grinned as he sat down.
“Looks like the whole gang are in for lunch. What’s the occasion?” Wyatt took the beer Cassadee put down in front of him with a thank-you.
“No occasion, brother.” Ty grinned. “The food’s good, company’s great, and our mate is looking for her next matchmaking victims.” That was when Wyatt caught sight of the light in Faith’s eyes. Goddamn it, had she been talking with Xanthe? Was all of this just a huge setup? Despite this being
exactly what he thought it would be, he felt his spirits plummet.
“Ty, stop it.” Faith smacked him on the arm, but her assessing gaze never left him and his brothers. “But, now that you mention it, what kind of woman are y’all looking for?” She grinned at them, telling them she was kidding, but Wyatt knew it was only half a joke. For some reason she had taken it upon herself to ensure that the unmated pack mates in Grey River fell hard and fast. Finding their fated ones and settling down.
“We would be happy to sit down and talk to you about it, Faith, any time. Have you talked with Kyle and Grant Snow lately? Grant was mumbling something about being lonely and yearning for the love he sees y’all enjoying. It was quite heartfelt and sad if you ask me.” Thank God for Chase and his quick thinking. Wyatt watched as her gaze became calculating and lifted his beer to his lips to hide his grin.
“Did he really say that?” Luke asked down their link.
“Fuck no, but it got her looking somewhere else,” Chase came back with, amusement clear in his tone.
“You know if Grant finds out you sicced the alpha’s mate on him,” Wyatt chipped in, “he is going to kick your ass. I’ve seen that big bastard fight. He’ll make you bleed.”
“Yeah, but then you two will have to jump in and defend me because I just saved all our asses,” Chase sent with a grin. That sounded fair enough.
Hell, they had already attended three Binding Ceremonies in the past six months and that had to be some kind of a record. And looking at Faith, she was hell-bent on making sure there was a fourth. He was just about to answer when something over his shoulder caught her eye and she squealed, her whole face lighting up.
“Oh my god, Rowena!” She leapt up and ran past them. Curious to see who had Faith so excited to see them that she squealed, he turned in his seat to see the newcomer. He had heard them talk about Rowena. She was apparently some big-city shrink who had helped Faith and Lucy deal with some of the shit that had happened in their lives. As far as Wyatt was concerned, this person had befriended and helped two women he respected the hell out of so she was all good in his book.
When he finally caught sight of her, his jaw dropped. Hot, holy hotter than hot. Damn, she was more than just good in his books. She was off the fucking charts! She had red hair with those blond-colored streaks women liked to put in their hair. Her eyes were a pale gray that took his breath away, and her smile? Goddamn, her smile made him forget his own damn name.
He was vaguely aware when Ty and Trent stood up then walked over to the three women who were all hugging each other. At some point Lucy had wandered over as well. Wyatt cast a quick glance at his brothers and noticed that both of them were just as enthralled as he was. Then he caught her scent, and everything in his body tensed to the point where it felt like all his muscles were vibrating.
“The Quickening.” Luke’s growl came down their link as the realization hit Wyatt, too. As was the way with their kind, as soon as they scented their mate their body reacted viscerally to her. Wyatt felt light-headed and then a humming started in his body, one that gathered strength until it felt like he was going to come out of his skin.
Something snapped into place within him. A bond forming between the three of them and the woman they couldn’t take their eyes off of. From speaking with his mated friends, he knew that was the mating bond falling into place. Soon, he would be able to feel her emotions down that link and would then know a little about what she was thinking. And all of them would be able to communicate with her.
He knew that all three of them were growling, a continuous rumbling, and no doubt their eyes were flashing arctic blue. He watched as Ty and Trent suddenly froze on their approach to the women and turned in their direction. Ty took one look at the three of them, and Wyatt saw shock and then amusement flicker across his face. Bastard.
“Looks like our mate’s matchmaking is not required here, Trent,” Ty sent down their common link, this one connected him and Trent to all male pack members.
“Ha! Apparently not.” Trent laughed. “So I’m guessing that Rowena is someone special then, huh, boys?”
“Mate!” All three of them growled out loud, their dominance filling the room, claiming their mate as theirs to pursue to all those in the restaurant. Rowena must have caught onto the sudden tension in the room because she turned to face them. When she saw the three of them standing their staring at her, she did an almost comical double take. Wyatt wanted to howl in satisfaction when he saw interest flicker in her eyes.
Yeah, she may not be a shifter who experienced the Quickening the moment they scented their fated one, but she wasn’t immune to them either. Something about them spoke to her. She was their mate, and she was here.
“What do we do, Wyatt?” Chase questioned down their link.
“As much as I want to say throw her over my shoulder and take her home and claim her”—Wyatt felt the need of his brother’s to do just that flow down their link—“I think we gotta play this one smart. She’s here and we know who she is. We need to make sure she gets to know more about us. Then we talk about what we want from her.”
“Agreed,” Luke sent back. “But I gotta warn you, Wyatt, I don’t know how long I can hold my wolf back. Her scent is driving me fucking crazy!” Wyatt agreed but he knew he was right. She wasn’t just going to come to them and accept them as her mates. No, they would have to work for it. And Wyatt knew that the best things in life didn’t come without hard work. This woman, their mate, she would be worth it.
Chapter 2
Rowena hated not knowing when something was going on around her. She had never been one that liked surprises. She liked to know the whens, whys, and hows of everything that was going on around her. She knew that something big was taking place and it had to do with the three men who were currently staring at her as if she were a steak dinner and they hadn’t eaten in a month.
Rowena was an intelligent thirty-two-year-old woman who knew what a man looked like when he found her attractive, but she had never been stared at so intensely by one man, let alone three before. Good lord, she felt as if she was being hunted and they hadn’t even made a move in her direction. Faith wrapped her in another welcoming hug and she found her gaze drawn again to the three men over her shoulder.
They were built like men should be, lean and muscled with broad shoulders and arms that looked like they could hold her forever and never let go. All three were blond and wore their hair short at the sides but spiked on top. She knew they were brothers and very close in age. Triplets perhaps? One had what looked like a tattoo peeping out from the neck of his shirt, which made her want to rip the shirt off. There was nothing hotter to her than ink on a sculpted male body.
One was slightly shorter than the other two but was just as muscled, and he grinned and winked at her as if he knew she was checking him out. That one was trouble with a capital T. He was a born flirt, and she could tell he would be a lot of fun to be around.
The third guy looked similar to the other two, but had an even more intense gleam in his eye. Almost as if he were unsure of what to do, not a lack of confidence as such, but something that had him more nervous than his brothers. She smiled at him, sensing his hesitation and concern and instinctively wanting to ease his concern. She watched as his face relaxed and he smiled back.
Individually they were good-looking men that would have caught her eye in their own right. Together they would stop traffic. At least they would if she were driving. She felt Faith tense and turn around to look in their direction. “Oh, this is fantastic!” She squealed as she turned back to her. “Come on! There are three men I just have to introduce you to.” Rowena held her ground.
“Wait! Faith, there is someone here I need to introduce you to first.” Rowena laughed at her friend’s exuberance. Faith turned back with a look of horror that had Rowena stepping back a little. What the hell?
“Oh, my god!” Faith gasped and then whispered, “It’s not a man, is it?” Then suddenly all three of the men wh
o had been looking at her, two of whom had even been smiling, were now making a noise that sounded suspiciously like they were snarling. At her. She narrowed her eyes at them, hoping they caught the fact that she was not impressed at all by their little temper tantrum. Two of them managed to stop growling and looked mildly sheepish. The other one, the one with the tattoo showing, simply took a step forward and cocked his eyebrow at her. She interpreted that as “What? Answer the damn question!”
Fighting the urge to bare her teeth at him, she looked back at Faith and said, “No, of course not. I wanted to introduce you to Angel.” Rowena turned and waved her friend over to them. She had been standing against the wall and Rowena knew she was trying to hide and make herself as small as possible. Angel came walking over, hand protectively on her round tummy and a hesitant smile on her face.
Faith didn’t disappoint Rowena and the reception she knew she would have for the pregnant woman. Faith engulfed Angel in her arms with a “Hi, Angel! My, you are simply glowing! Pregnancy definitely agrees with you.” She leaned back and looked down at her protruding and obviously pregnant tummy. “Now why don’t you come join us at our table and take a seat. You’re probably tired and hungry after your drive. Ty, could you grab Angel and Rowena a soda please, honey?” And just like that Faith had embraced them both and brought them into the fold.
Rowena walked behind the two of them over to the table, feeling her eyes mist when she saw Angel give Faith a genuine smile. That woman had been through more shit in her life than any woman should have to endure. She hadn’t had much to smile about. But here she could be herself. Here she could find who she was and Rowena was determined to help her do it. Getting to the table, she saw that the only seat left was directly between two of the three men who she had been staring at, with the third sitting across from her. She sat down, not wanting to make a scene, but she was almost positive that the entire table had shifted and changed seats so that she would be surrounded by these men.
