Page 9 of Night’s Bride (Ragoru Origins #3)

E mily studied the unconscious male, pursing her lips. He had been sleeping for a whole day. Shouldn’t he wake up soon? It would be good once he was able to leave so that her mates would no longer be distressed by his presence. Granted, it wasn’t entirely fair for her to already be thinking about kicking him out when the snow storm raged outside in a whiteout, but at that moment she wasn’t feeling particularly compassionate when she saw what the stress of the male’s presence was doing to her mates.

Maybe he was faking it?

Leaning forward, she poked the side of his muzzle with a short little jab. Nothing. Hooking her finger, she pulled at the corner of his mouth, drawing back his lip to expose his massive canines. Yikes! She immediately released him and sat back disconcertedly, then jumped at the sound of laughter behind her. Her eyes leaped up to meet Vrel’s amused gaze as he entered the room with a mug of tea and set it in front of her.

“Attempting to wake him up, rya?” he teased. “Here I thought we were enough company for you.”

Despite his light tone and the note of amusement in his voice, Emily didn’t miss the faint shadow of doubt in his eyes. That wouldn’t do. She smirked up at him and shook her head.

“More like three is a crowd and I am trying to get rid of him quicker,” she quipped. “If he were awake and able to move around by himself, we could probably push him off on Evelyn. And then he could be her problem to worry about instead of ours.”

Vikt chuffed quietly as he joined them, his ears tipping toward the male curiously. “He does take up a lot of space.”

“Reminds me of the ratty fur rug my father insisted on keeping despite the fact that it was matted and beginning to fall apart,” she grumbled as she turned and grabbed her brush that she’d left on the small table to her right.

She stared at his mane with a grimace before carefully tackling it. With each tiny stroke of her brush, she gradually began working out twigs, winter straw, and bits of other debris that had become knotted in his once-wet fur. Even one small section of his mane was a terrible chore. She tackled it as patiently as possible, but at length she became increasingly aware of the weight of stares focused her way.

She looked up and had to bite back a smile at the jealousy stamped across the faces of her males, their eyes trained on the brush running through the alpha’s mane. Vrel fidgeted with a segment of his own mane, twisting it unconsciously as if attempting to knot it. She stopped mid-stroke and looked at them curiously until they became aware of the fact, and their eyes gradually pulled away from the male to fix upon her face. Their ears twitched in unison with their embarrassment, but Emily simply smiled in return, keeping her body language relaxed. She wasn’t the least bit upset at their show of territoriality, even if it was slightly misplaced. She knew that the best way to soothe them then was to remain calm and unaffected until they gradually matched her calm state.

Vrel’s ears twitched and pricked toward her, and slowly the tension bled from him. He glanced once more, warily, at the unconscious male before moving quickly to her side to crouch beside her. His reaction seemed to break whatever reluctance Vikt was feeling against standing down and the other male also hastened to her side. Grinning, Emily backed away from the alpha to make room for him so that she could have both of her males right beside her. Their warmth surrounded her as they crouched on either side of her, pressing in close against her. She burrowed into their warmth as eight arms curled around her. Vikt’s tail was just shy of grazing the alpha’s face due to their position, but Emily chose to ignore it. As undignified as it probably was, the big male was in no position to complain. And even if he were, he could just suffer through it for a little while. It wasn’t like Vikt’s butt was directly in his face. So she didn’t feel even a little bit guilty about indulging in the closeness with her mates as she brushed her fingers through thick fur at their jaws and sank her hands into the long, dense fur of their manes.

She leaned against Vikt, a contented sigh escaping her as his arms came around her. Settling against him, she brought her brush up and gently began to run it through Vrel’s mane. His happy little rumble melted her heart, and she continued to pass it through the thick filaments as she admired the healthy sheen of it as his mane spilled over her hands. It was luxurious in a way that stood out starkly against the pitiful state of the alpha’s fur.

Vrel pillowed his head against her legs and brushed his muzzle affectionately against her thigh. “If… if you had a choice,” he rasped, “you would not leave us for a chance for a triad and a real family with an alpha, would you?”

Her heart ached at the worry in his voice. “No,” she replied quietly as she continued to draw the brush through his mane. “I have the family I want right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

Vikt’s jaw brushed her hair for a moment before settling against the top of her head with a heartfelt sigh. He held her there, tucking her close to his heart as Vrel rested the weight of his head against her knees. The brush fell from Emily’s hand, clattering against the floor as she clung to her mates in turn. Something seemed to pass between them in that moment—a deeper communion and sharing of spirit that brought them closer together as they held each other while the snowstorm howled just outside their walls.

There was no leaving them. Not when her heart spilled over with love for them and the memory of their touch was carved deep within her bones.

This was the forever that she’d been promised. The forever that she had not quite believed through the long trek to them. And now that she had it, she was never giving it back.