Page 22

Rachel

W alking back down towards where the other vendors are, I can’t help but bask in the sunshine. My bonds with Bas and Lucas are happily thrumming in my chest and it fills me with warmth and joy. Missing my stoic dragon, I decide to send some of the joy I’m feeling down our bond. It only takes a moment for the feeling to be reciprocated, making me ponder why it is that our bonds seem so much stronger today.

We pass a table with jewelry and a sign that says they do engraving before Lucas drags me to a comic book stall. I laugh at his excitement and wonder if I could use it to my advantage. When he lets me go, to flip through comics, I know this is my chance. I slip away from his side without him even noticing and find Bas racking his eyes over my body. I blush instantly and he smirks.

“Not ashamed of looking at my mate, Firefly. So don’t look at me like that,” he drawls with his hands in the pockets of his pants, the picture of casual cockiness.

I step into him, giving him an up and down and licking my lips, loving the instant flare of his eyes. Putting my lips as close to his ear as I can without touching him, I grin when his breath hitches. He’s not immune to this pull either.

“I’m going next door for Lucas’s present,” I murmur, fighting to hide my amusement when his entire body deflates. Not exactly the type of thing he was wanting me to whisper in his ear. “Watch him for me so he doesn’t see?”

I pull back and look him in the eye, trying to make him see how much it means for me to do this for my mate’s birthday. I felt terrible seeing him yesterday and not having a gift. I know he said my presence is present enough, and I know he means it, but I want to do something for him. I’ve never had anyone who cared about me before… not since Ms. Coleman and I want him… them to know what that means to me.

“Of course, Firefly. Go get your mate a present. I’ll make sure he stays distracted and doesn’t ruin your surprise.”

I’m so lucky to have such understanding mates. From what little I know about men, I’ve won the freaking lottery. So, there’s one that’s not a hundred percent on board yet? That’s not so bad in the grand scheme of things. At least none of them got jealous and possessive or went crazy over me having multiple mates like I’ve feared my whole life.

I kiss his cheek before sneaking off with one last glance at my nerdy mate. My eyes roam the jewelry booth when something catches my eye. I smile as I pick up a set of black dog tags as an idea takes root.

A gangly teen boy sporting a neon green mohawk and an eyebrow piercing stops in front of me, looking at the dog tags.

“You want that engraved?” he asks the way only a bored teenager can.

He looks like he’s only here because his parents dragged him and he definitely doesn’t care about selling a set of dog tags this early in the morning… if ever.

“Yeah. Can you put R & L inside a heart on one side and You are not alone on the other?”

“Whatever.” He rolls his shoulder and takes the chain from me. “You gonna wait or come back?”

Shit. I didn’t think about how long it would take. I’ll have to find another reason to sneak away. If I’m gone much longer, Lucas might come looking.

“I’ll come back.” I nod to myself and he gives me a weird look. Paying for my purchase, I take my receipt, agreeing to return before they close and head back to my mates with a smile. My cheeks actually hurt from how much smiling I’ve done this morning. It’s kinda crazy. I’ve never really had much reason to smile until lately. My muscles aren’t used to being flexed so often.

I get back to my mates and freeze when I see an attractive woman clearly flirting with Bas.

What the fuck? I’m gone for five minutes and someone swarms in on my territory?

Lucas, my sweet oblivious mate, is still enraptured in his comics as this girl flips her long blonde hair and giggles at something Bas says.

I trust my mate. He’s probably telling her he’s taken and she’ll storm off any second.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. Instead, she puts her hand on his chest and I see red. I’m all for women supporting women and we lift each other up, not tear each other down, but that bitch just touched my mate.

My fox growls in my head and all sense leaves me as I snarl at the woman who had the audacity to put her hands on what’s mine .

“Get your hand off my mate!” I know it’s me saying the words, but I don’t recognize the viciousness in my voice.

She startles away from Bas with wide eyes and he turns to me with a smile the size of Texas on his face. Lucas finally looks up from his comics and his eyes flick between me, Bas, and the girl.

“A little jealous there, Moonbeam?” Lucas chuckles.

“I kind of love the murderous gleam in her eyes,” Bas says, his smile not dimming. “You have nothing to worry about, Firefly. I told her she couldn’t hold a candle to my mate.”

His reassurance and giddiness have me relaxing as my fox huffs and curls up in the back of my head, apparently pacified by his response. The girl disappears while my mates distract me but I’ve suddenly lost the desire to separate her hand from her wrist.

Odd .

“You ready to get out of here, nerd boy? I think our mate is ready to move on,” Bas says, that stupid smile not leaving his face.

“Sure, let’s go somewhere else. Maybe I can get hit on next and she’ll get all possessive over me.” He winks at me and I roll my eyes.

“I did not go all possessive,” I huff.

“Whatever you say, Moonbeam. That was some serious “pissed off female” energy. I bet they felt it on the other side of the market.”

“Whatever,” I grumble, walking away from my insufferable mates. They follow, laughing, and I mutter to myself until I see another sign that makes me stumble to a stop.

“What is it, Firefly?” Bas asks as I stare at the ‘ We embroider’ sign.

The wheels spin as an idea surfaces. Ignoring my mates questions, I walk up to the table, scanning the items, hoping they’ll have what I’m looking for. I smile when I find a black padded camera strap and a lens cleaning cloth as well.

This time the attendant looks happy to be here and greets me with a smile.

“Find what you’re looking for?”

“You know? I think so. Can I get these embroidered?” I raise my spoils up and hold my breath.

The old man takes them from me and motions me to the side of the booth.

“What do you want on it?” he asks with a kind smile.

“Do you think… would it be too much if…” I stammer, suddenly not sure it’s a good idea.

“We can do anything, sweetheart. I’m sure whatever design you think of isn’t too elaborate. Trust me, we’ve had some interesting demands in the past,” he assures me.

Sighing, I look him in the eye and ask, “can you put a wolf head on the strap and then maybe just his name on the cloth?”

“Easy as pie!” he quips. “Come back in about thirty minutes. I’ll have this done in a jiffy.”

After finishing up my order we move on, stopping in random booths and buying a few things here and there. We’re almost to the end of the aisle when a dress in a booth a few stalls down catches my eye. Without thinking, my feet carry me directly to it, and I reach out to touch the fabric. The yellow fabric is buttery soft and so flowy, I almost want to strip right here and try it on. I pick it up and hold it up to myself, the wrap style dress falls just below my knee and has sleeves that just barely cap the shoulders. I do a spin imagining wearing the dress until I look down and notice the price tag. Regardless of how beautiful the dress is, I won't be paying that much for it. I go to hang the dress back where I found it when Bas comes and snatches it out of my hands.

“Excellent choice, Firefly. I’ll be right back.” He spins on his heel and marches over to the checkout before I have a chance to protest.

When he strides back over to me, a cocky grin firmly in place, he has not one, but four purple plastic garment bags slung over his arm.

“What did you do, Bas? One dress was way too expensive for me, why do you have four?” I glare at my mate.

“What? One from each of your mates.” He shrugs.

“You can’t buy me stuff and say it’s from someone else.” I roll my eyes.

“Sure I can. D gave me money this morning and told me to get you something pretty. Pretty sure this counts.”

“Mmhmm. And the other dresses?” I arch a brow as I cross my arms.

“Why won’t you let me spoil you, Firefly? It’s just clothes. They’re more for me anyway. I’m the one that gets to see you wearing them. Trust me, that’s worth any price tag.”

“I agree. And I speak for my idiot brother too,” Lucas chimes in.

They both look so earnest and remembering how Lucas glowed when I wore the dress he picked out for me today has me deflating. I may not be used to anyone caring enough about me to “spoil” me, but I can’t deny it makes them happy to do so. Who am I to refuse something that puts that look on their faces?

“Fine. You can buy the dresses,” I relent.

Bas chuckles. “Oh, they’re already bought, Firefly.” He kisses me on the tip of my nose, and grabs my hand, pulling me away from the booth. “You gotta get used to being spoiled. I know I’m not the only one that wants to do it. If Derrick was here, you’d be leaving with a lot more than just a few dresses.”

As we weave our way through the last of the vendors I remember I need to go and grab the gifts I ordered earlier. Stopping in my tracks, I glance back towards the booths trying to envision a mental map back to the booths I ordered from.

“I need to go back and get the stuff I ordered.” I tell the guys. “Can I meet you two back at the car?”

“No biggie, Moonbeam, we can go with you.” Lucas offers.

“NO!” I blurt out, a little too loudly, making a couple of heads turn our way.

Lucas freezes, shocked by my outburst. “Uhh… why?” His brows furrow and his head tilts to one side like a confused puppy.

“Umm… ummm…” My mind goes completely blank as I grapple trying to come up with literally any excuse.

Bas sees me floundering and steps in to save me. “Obviously because you should take our mate and her new dresses to the car while I run and grab her items.”

Lucas blinks at Bas, then turns back to me, his confusion deepening. “Wait... what?”

“Yes! Exactly!” I nod my head much to quickly latching onto Bas’s excuse like a lifeline. “Bas knows where the booth is so it will be quicker for him to just run and grab it and I’m so tired of walking I’d really love to just go sit in the car.”

“You just said you’d meet us at the car…” Lucas’s eyes narrow, his suspicion growing.

“Yeah, well…” I stall, my mind racing. “That was before I realized how close we actually are to the car. And I missed you, Lucas. Don’t you want to spend some alone time with me?”

I see the moment my lies fail as a smile stretches across his face. “Ohhh… I see what’s happening here. You’re hiding something.”

“Nuh-uh!” I lie way too quickly.

“Oh, you totally are,” he chuckles, crossing his arms with a smug grin. “Alright, Moonbeam, you keep your secrets. Let’s go to the car.”

The drive back to campus is peaceful, soft music fills the cab and the comforting thrum of my bonds with Bas and Lucas fill my chest. My fingers tangle with Lucas’s as he drives while Bas sits in the back. Occasionally he meets my eyes in the rearview mirror and shoots me another knowing smirk. He’s clearly still amused by my earlier antics.

We pull into the parking lot and the three of us step out of the car, gathering our bags. Turning to Bas I pass him the bag containing Liam’s gift.

“Can you please give this to Liam for me tonight?” I ask, my voice quieter than I intend.

“You can come, you know. It’s a party for one of your mates, attended exclusively by your other mates. You have a right to be there.” Bas implores me, not for the first time, to crash Liam’s birthday celebration.

“Like I said, it’s not fair to Liam for me to take his people from him when he is just trying to figure things out. You guys gave me space when I needed it and I can do the same for him.”

“If you insist,” he mutters, clearly not happy that I won’t be spending the night with them again.

“I’ll miss you too,” I murmur, wrapping my arms around his waist and looking up into his eyes. “Why don’t you hold on to my dresses? Give me a reason to come over tomorrow,” I tease.

“Seeing your mates isn’t reason enough?” He glares at me playfully.

“Always,” I chirp. “But that’ll be an added benefit.” I wink before kissing him, stealing the rebuke from his lips. “Thank you for today. I had a great time.”

“I’m glad. So did I.” He smiles down at me as he tucks a stray hair behind my ear.

After a moment of soaking up the adoration that pours from him when he looks at me like that, I finally pull away and face my other mate. Lucas meets my gaze with a gleam in his eyes and a smirk on his face. It really doesn’t bother him, seeing me with my other mate, his best friend. There’s no jealousy in his eyes as he gazes at me longingly. Only the kind of pure happiness that radiates off of a golden retriever when their owner comes home.

“Walk me home?”

“Just me?” Lucas asks, his eyebrows in his hairline.

I duck my head to hide my smile. “Just you.”

“I’ll see you guys later. Have a good night, I love you, Firefly.” Bas runs his hand down my back and I shiver. He kisses my check before stepping away.

“I love you, too, Bas.” My cheeks are on fire as I watch him leave but I think maybe I could get used to all the PDA if it means feeling this elation that fills me anytime I’m close to any of my mates.

When Bas is almost out of sight, Lucas clears his throat, snapping my attention back to him. “You ready, Moonbeam?”

Damn. He caught me checking out my other mate again.

And still, he’s not mad.

“I’m ready.” I smile and take his hand, leading the way as he quietly chuckles following beside me.

There’s not many people out, so I stop when we get to the Unity Fountain. This should be private enough, to give him his gift. I sit down, Lucas sitting beside me with a bemused smirk.

“What’s up, Moonbeam? This isn’t your dorm.”

“Really?” I gasp, looking around with wide eyes.

“Are you finally going to tell me what you’ve been hiding all day?” His grin widens and I roll my eyes.

“I wanted to give you something for your birthday-” I start.

“Moonbeam, you gave me everything I could have wanted last night and this morning. I don’t need anything else. Just you.”

Swoon.

Why is he so freaking sweet?

“That may be but still… I got you something.” I pass him the bag, chewing on my bottom lip as he takes it.

What if he hates it?

What if he doesn’t get the significance?

“It’s not much but I thought…”

Ignoring me and my rambling, he pulls out the dog tags and I hold my breath as he inspects them. His lips twitch in a smile and when he flips them over, it completely takes over his face.

“I love it,” he says. “We’ll have to get you a chain for yours.”

“Mine?”

“I don’t need two tags. I want you to have one. We’ll have matching necklaces. It’ll be cute.” He winks at me. “I’ll hold on to yours until we get you a chain.”

“Okay,” I agree with a laugh, shaking my head.

“You’re not alone, either. I think the dog tag will be a nice constant reminder for you.” He cups my cheek and leans in, brushing his lips against mine in a barely there kiss.