Page 17

NIRO

E ven next to Cambry, Angell looked small. I wanted to lift him into my arms again. Protective mode was still clanging its alarm in my mind.

Once inside my home, with Thorne promising to deliver my car by the afternoon, I wasn’t sure what to do with them. My Omegas.

Angell clapped his hands when he saw the pool out back glistening like a jewel in the warm morning light.

“A swimmer?” I asked.

He nodded fervently.

“Part fish,” Cambry said.

Upstairs, the energy levels between us changed. Cambry was the most closed off of the two of them.

“I won’t presume anything, I promise,” I said. I opened the first door we came to. “This is the guest room.”

“Is this where we’ll sleep?” Angell signed.

I was happy to see the bond had given me fluency in his language. “The two of you, yes.”

“Why?” Angell narrowed his eyebrows.

Cambry matched his frown.

“I thought you both might like some time to, um, process things? Together?”

Angell shook his head hard. He moved quickly toward me and bumped me in the sternum with his head. His arms went around my waist.

Cambry looked stunned. The bond between us was misty, wavery, but his insecurity came through, while Angell had no such qualms. He was the one I thought would be the shier, more aloof Omega. Well, I’d gotten that quite wrong.

“The primary bedroom is open to you, of course. But it’s your choice. I’m not here to push either of you into this bond. I’m willing to let it grow at its own rate.”

“Seems like that rate is fast,” Cambry said. “After only two nights.”

“I admit, Angell’s accident crashed any barriers I had,” I said. I wanted to start on an honest footing. They should know that my mind was surprisingly open.

Angell hugged me tighter. I put one arm across his shoulders. Swirls of affection flowed through me, gently rocking back and forth between us. I looked down at the top of his head, then lifted his face to mine.

“I thought you’d be afraid of me,” I said to him.

His fingers dug into my back.

“Angell’s not afraid of anything,” Cambry answered for him.

Angell’s essence whispered. I was afraid. Of never ever leaving the farm. Cambry caught the dream his first time with you. I thought I would have to let him go and be alone forever.

“I’m so sorry, Angell.” I hugged him to me again.

Cambry stepped forward. “He spoke to you through the bond. I almost heard it. What did he say? Why can’t I hear it?”

I stretched my hand out to him beyond Angell’s back. “He was afraid he would have to let you go.”

Tears welled in his eyes. “I would never have let him go. Not ever!”

“I know that,” I began.

Cambry stomped his foot. “He knows that. He knows!” He brushed my hand away. “Don’t you know that, Angell?”

Angell pulled back from me and turned. But it was too slow. Cambry had already swiveled and run from the guest room. I heard his footsteps tromp down the staircase and through the living room and dining room. Then, nothing.

Angell raised his hands. “He’s out by the pool.”

I nodded and together we left the room.

I stood in the patio shadows and watched Angell approach his bondmate.

Cambry had to know that was what they were to each other, as we three were each to each.

He had never been left out. But maybe I myself was still learning about the bond.

Maybe when one person shut down, he stopped feeling included.

Even with two mates, Cambry could be experiencing an odd man out sensation.

A loneliness that often accompanied too-quick change.

I wanted to go to him, but I knew Angell had to be first. After his long night in the infirmary, Angell was showing strength I had not realized before.

He was handling things like an adult twice his age.

I let him walk ahead and kneel by the pool where Cambry sat, shoes off, dangling his feet in the blue water.

Angell took his shoes off and sat beside him, putting his feet in the water and sloshing them around next to Cambry’s, gently kicking at him.

Even from here, I could read his rapidly moving hands. “We just had this talk by the porch. No one comes between us, right? But there are three of us now.”

Sunlight glinted through the patio slats and got in my eyes, so I missed his next sentence. I moved forward in time to see him say, “Equals.”

Cambry mumbled. “I know . But how could you say to Niro you were afraid I’d leave you?”

“Because I was. The bond is that strong with you two, but you’ve closed off.”

“No. He closed me off.”

I bowed my head. Cambry wasn’t lying. That first time when I was with him I’d felt myself lose control.

That wasn’t me. It scared me. I’d soared through the heights of pleasure like never before, unabashed, laughing, crying.

It was too much. Cambry had experienced the same.

It had reverberated back and forth between us.

He was stuck in ecstasy and nearly passed out when it was over.

I’d quickly gotten up, covered him, and shut down all my senses. It didn’t entirely work, but still could have felt like a slap in the face.

“Okay. Maybe that’s true.” Angell’s hands had slowed. “But he was shocked, too, right? Don’t you think?”

“I know he was. I’m sure he wasn’t looking for someone like me. It just happened.”

“Someone like you? You’re the best. But also, you weren’t looking for someone like him, either.”

Cambry sniffed. “True.”

“It happened because it was meant to be,” Angell signed. “You know how hard that is for me to say because neither of us believes in predestination or anything like that.”

“I know.”

“Free will is what I believe. The bond we have grew between us over time. This bond with him is a mate-bond. It’s both the same and different. I don’t know. They don’t tell us about this stuff in classes about how to serve Alphas.”

It was time for me to speak up. “I don’t expect either of you to serve me. I hate that word. Serve. If anything, it is I who wishes to care for you.”

Both their sun-kissed faces glanced up at me as I came out from under the patio. My heart leaped. They were mine. So mine. I never would have believed it if someone had told me a week ago I’d have two Omega mates.

The bond flickered between the three of us.

It was nothing less than astonishing. The depth of it, all the way into my every cell, as if we’d already shared lifetimes of meaningful connections.

I loved them. I didn’t know how that was possible when we’d just met.

But I loved them enough to want to give them everything. My life, my heart, my soul.

I lived in a world that offered this rare beauty, but I had ignored it. Never really believed. It wasn’t for me. I wanted success and to me that definition involved work and a career and promotions. It involved money and the respect that came with it.

Thorne knew. He’d always known it existed for himself.

He’d talked about it to me, both with his first bondmate and the grief upon his death, and when Kris came into his life and healed his broken heart.

I listened as a good brother should, but I applied none of what he said to myself.

Everything he experienced was for himself. Not me.

Now I had not one but two Omegas. It was the wildest tale I would ever tell myself.

I knelt down on the hard poolside cement beside them. “I am very interested in getting to know you both. I want to care for you in every way. I can’t help it. If it’s chemical reactions associated with a spontaneous bond, I don’t care. The compulsion is to welcome you both, equally, into my life.”

I had never been so open in my speaking.

I had friendships for years that never hit that level of intimacy.

Even Thorne, whom I loved, I tuned out far too often in an attempt to protect myself.

I emulated our Alpha father, who had always been the strict parent, and the aloof, smart, hard worker. I wanted to be just like him.

“We are both honored,” Angell signed.

Cambry squinted. “I am honored, that’s the truth. But still afraid, I guess….”

“What are you afraid of?” I asked.

“That it’s not real?” His face scrunched up again.

“We’ll make it real. Very real,” I said softly. “For all of us. If you’ll have me as your Alpha in your beautiful relationship.”

Suddenly, it seemed like we were getting married. Right in this moment. The words flowing out of me like nothing I’d ever spoken before. Yet they were inside all along, waiting to get out. Waiting for the right time, the right day. The right two Omegas.

“I—I do like this place,” Cambry said softly.

Well, it was a start. I came with the place so maybe he’d like me in due time.

Angell signed. “Me, too. The pool is a keeper.”

Cambry let out a strangled laugh. “Yeah. We won’t have to wait our turn for swim time anymore. And we can go outside anytime, right?”

“Right.” My smile hurt. They were just that adorable.

“And the guy who lives here,” Angell spelled. “He’s nice.”

“I know.” Cambry continued to watch me.

I put my hand on both their backs. “Do we have trust, at least?”

They both nodded.

“I will never come between you if that’s your wish.”

Angell reached back, brushing my calf.

“No one can,” Cambry replied. “But you have already joined us.”

I leaned over Angell’s shoulder and watched his hands. “I never knew Alphas could be so nice.”

I wanted to laugh, but it was such a sad statement. It was not an all too happy world where they came from.