Page 2 of Deadly Reckoning (Broken Ashes #7)

“So how did he help?” Ransom asks, as curious as the rest of us, especially since even they didn’t know about kitsune mate marks.

“He knew about kitsune mate bond marks. Apparently, he has sources and loves to read. That’s all he told me, and I was too shocked to question him further. He even knew what the shape of it was,” River replies, his eyebrows dipping down slightly.

“I have never found any books that mention kitsune’s having mate bond marks, and I’ve done a lot of research into kitsune mates so I could prove to you that Neith is yours, and even before Neith turned up, I was looking into them to prove to you that you could have a mate,” Raiden explains.

River smiles gratefully, “Thanks, man.”

Raiden nods, but he’s on a roll, so he just continues what he was saying, looking extremely intrigued, “I’d be really interested to know where he got the books from, and who his source is.”

River shrugs, “The best thing to do would be to ask him.”

Raiden nods thoughtfully, “Yeah, I will.” His eyes suddenly widen, “Shit. If Logan knows enough about kitsune marks to know that they exist, and what they look like, then he’s going to know what the whole thing means.”

It takes me a moment to catch up to where Raiden’s brain has gone.

“Shit, the number. He’s going to know that it means how many tails you have,” I say as soon as I realize.

“Fuck, that’s not good,” Griff frowns. “I like Logan, though. He’s a good guy. Maybe just speak to him about it.”

“Griff’s right. If he knows as much as he seems to about kitsunes, then I would think that he knows how rare it is, and how much danger you could be in if it gets out how many you have,” Reed points out.

“I don’t think he would want you to be in danger,” I say. And feel my eyes tingle with the shift as I add, “If he does, I’ll rip out his throat.”

“So fucking hot,” Raiden mutters.

I feel my eyes go back to normal, and grin, “Wait, do my eyes do the thing that you all do when you're mad?”

The guys all smile at me.

“Yeah, they do, Nene,” Van replies, with a proud smile.

“So fucking cool. I’m a badass, I always knew I was,” I reply teasingly, and then, because my brain, of course, went there next, I add, “Oh, I wonder if they will do it when I’m turned on?”

River smirks and starts to move toward me, “One way to find out.”

I grin and hold up my hand to stop his forward momentum, “As much as I would love to see what you have in mind, I don’t think we have the time. Especially now that we need to go and find Logan, make sure that he hasn’t told anyone about your tails, and ask him not to.”

Van nods, “Plus, we need to go and help out. There will be a lot of chaos back at the pack house. A lot of things have changed for the pack over the last couple of hours, not to mention the injured wolves that need to be moved into the medical building.”

“Good point,” River frowns. “Come on, let’s go. This has taken longer than it probably should have.”

We all nod in agreement, and as we start walking, Griff pulls off his button-down, revealing a deliciously tight t-shirt stretching across his muscles.

“Damn, you’re hot. You should wear tight shirts more often,” I say out loud without meaning to.

Griff grins as he stops and pulls me closer.

He bends forward, and I go up on tiptoes so I can kiss him.

Sometimes I forget just how big he is. He’s not only stupidly tall, and only just shorter than Reed, who is the tallest out of the guys, but he’s broad as well, which makes him seem even bigger than Coen, even though Coen’s the same height, he’s built slimmer.

I love it.

When he steps back, his smile is soft as he swings the button down that he just took off around my shoulders and threads my arms through the sleeves, and I look up at him curiously.

Before he can answer my silent question, it clicks, “Oh, the mark. You can probably see it in the tear.”

“And your ass, Love, that’s just for us,” Coen adds, sounding possessive.

“Well said,” River grins, sharing a look with Coen.

When we start to move again, we pick up the pace. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, and it’s really late now.

The slight knot that had been growing in my stomach eases at River’s words.

I know that it’s extremely selfish of me, but I’m really fucking glad that being his mate doesn’t mean that I can’t be with the others too.

By this point, they all hold a piece of my heart, and it would hurt a lot if I couldn’t be with them as well.

So the fact that River isn’t bothered by Griff kissing me, or by Coen claiming my ass as theirs only, which was really hot, I love it when he gets all possessive.

I momentarily manage to distract myself by thinking about a possessive Coen, and I frown when I try to remember what it was that I was thinking about.

River, as I was saying, it’s a big relief that he doesn’t seem to mind that even though I’m his mate, I have a special relationship with the others too.

I’m so fucking grateful that I realized that before I started to overthink everything and then did something ridiculous like try to push the others away or even leave because I didn’t want to hurt anyone.

That is definitely something that I would have done, because I feel just as strongly about the others as I do about River, and if I had to, I wouldn’t be able to choose.

“Are you okay?” Reed suddenly asks me as we carry on running, and I realize that we’re getting pretty close to the pack grounds.

I know that this isn’t the time, but I know me and I will panic, overthink, and make it into something a lot bigger than it is, and if I wait any longer to talk to them about what’s bothering me, then I will do the same thing and freak myself out so much that I will lose the nerve to talk to them about it all.

It’s a whole vicious circle thing.

I stop running, “Can you guys stop for a second?”

Everyone immediately stops and comes to stand near me.

“What’s wrong, Neith?” Coen asks, “You’ve got that look.”

“I don’t know how to say this, and I know that this isn’t the right time, but you all need to know,” I start, and all of their smiles slip off their faces as they look at me with concern.

I continue before any of them can say anything, “I know that I’m River’s mate, but you should all know that I can’t choose between you, and I won’t.

I know we haven’t spoken about it as such, or at all really, but I care about you all a lot, probably more than I should, and I can’t choose between you.

I will leave before I will ever consider even entertaining the idea of choosing.

I’m a greedy bitch, I want all or nothing.

If that’s not something that you guys can deal with, then that’s perfectly fine, and I’ll talk to Ty about reassigning me.

” I decide that I may as well lay everything on the table because I seem to be on a roll, and I continue, without giving them a chance to say anything.

“I am, of course, aware that the rest of you will find your mates or your other halves, and that will be the end of us, and that’s okay too.

I’m just happy to carry on how we are until then. ”