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"I…we thought you had Jules' best interests at heart. We thought you wanted to keep her safe. We thought you loved her."

"I…" Brandon let his voice trail away. His eyes dropped to the ground, and I saw his shoulders slump.

I wanted to go over, cheer him up out of this mood, and make everything better, but I couldn't. In some ways, Slade was right—if this was our pack and the only thing that kept us together was my meddling, then we would never make it.

We had to sort this out, and we had to decide to make it work.

"I do," Brandon said finally, jerking his head up.

"That's the thing that none of you seem to get.

With the information I had, I could have replaced the lot of you.

I could've gotten on side with Jules early, steered her towards guys who would be easier to manipulate, who'd do exactly what I wanted, but I didn't. I loved her, before you even knew who she was, before you'd even considered taking a mate.

I loved her, and did my damnedest to use the information I had to make sure she succeeded. "

He scuffed the dirt with his boot and then straightened.

"I was the one that drove her back when she ran.

I made sure the right antibiotics had been ordered when I brought her home.

There were other black wolves that could have come through that night, they were supposed to, but I stuffed around with the rosters and made sure there were extra soldiers on deck.

I helped Finn find her on her first mating hunt.

I made sure you knew about the choosing hall. "

"And what about me?" Aaron said, taking a step towards him. "What did you see of me?"

Brandon shook his head, forcing a smile, but it looked desolate.

"I saw us, both with and without Jules, and I was selfish enough that I wanted her at the centre of things.

" Aaron was obviously stunned by this. "Sometimes we were in a relationship when she came, and we ended up becoming her gay best friends.

We were happy together." Brandon's eyes grew unfocused as he seemed to re-experience something we couldn't see.

“Sometimes one or the other of us were in her pack, but it was always when the two of us were together that things went best. You're calm and grounded, stopping her and the others she's collected from going too far, and I help her keep everyone on track, until now." Brandon sighed, raking his hand through his hair. “I’m just as invested in all of your relationships with Jules as you are. I know exactly how important you are to her, and you all treat me like I’m some piece of shit you trod in.”

Aaron flinched, wavering slightly on his feet, then his eyes flicked up to scour Brandon’s form, as if committing to memory every aspect of his body.

That seemed to tug him forward, his steps eating up the space between him and Brandon, and for the first time, neither man looked at me as one jerked the other into his arms. Aaron’s mouth was on Brandon’s, the smaller man’s hands flying up in the air in surprise before slowly, cautiously going around the other man’s back.

There’s a curious pleasure that comes from seeing two of your partners reunite.

Tears welled in my eyes as I watched Aaron groan the moment Brandon’s hand landed, obviously getting what the other man was feeling down the bond.

They were so fucking beautiful together as Aaron was the aggressor for once, his fingers raking through the other man’s hair, his tongue halfway down Brandon’s throat.

I watched their muscles flex and smooth as they seemed to fight to get closer, like they didn’t want anything between them.

Including me. That was the curious part.

A selfish part of me stung to see them unload on each other so thoroughly, even though I was the one trying to get them to talk to each other.

I took a long shuddering breath through the feeling and just let it go.

Going into this practice, I’d felt sure of the relationships between all three of us, and now I wasn’t so sure.

That was the problem with Brandon, he introduced uncertainty where we didn’t want it.

Or did he? Part of me felt guilty for potentially keeping the two men apart, but I hadn’t, had I?

Brandon had made his choice. I’d checked in with both of them several times to see what they wanted to do, relationship-wise, and keeping it an occasional sexual thing rather than an emotional thing was what they both stressed that they wanted. But perhaps not now.

I wasn’t totally sure how to get out of this inner space, but I started to feel around for a way to do so, to leave the two of them to it and give them the time to sort whatever this was together.

“No.”

All of a sudden, the two of them were right next to me, one arm around each other but their other held open for me to step within.

“Look, I think you need—” I started.

“I know what I need,” Aaron said, hooking me about the waist and making me the meat in a very nice sandwich.

“You’re exactly what we need,” Brandon said, nuzzling the back of my neck.

“We’re exactly what we need,” Aaron corrected.

He glanced over my shoulder, eyes on Brandon, and while I couldn’t see it, I could feel it down the bond. It rang like a bell now, pure and sweet. For this precious moment, we were together, completely together. I closed my eyes, resting my head back on Brandon’s shoulder, and just let go.

I began to see why Sylvan felt it was so important for us to bond.

When we were all moving in the same direction, and the power I felt down our bond was immense.

Could it be used in any real way? Would we be able to use it against the Volken or the Great Wolf?

Would we end up with an adult equivalent of the Care Bear Stare, using the power of love to triumph over evil, and would I be the green one because that’s my favourite colour?

“That’s not letting go,” Brandon said, tapping me on the head.

“Heard that, did you? Look, I did for a second, which is like a world freaking record for me.”

“Ah, Jules, that crazy head of yours,” Aaron said, kissing the top of said cranium, and then he drew my lips up for something a whole lot more satisfying.

They knew what they were doing, their hands roaming, their lips trailing.

It stopped the Brain Train in its tracks and drew me right back down to Planet Let’s Fuck Now.

“Can we have sex in this inner space?”

As soon as my words were out of my mouth, the world shifted and lightened, the old spare bedroom in the honeymoon cottage reappearing. We were now lying on the bed, and everyone was naked. Aaron’s eyes blinked as he took this in, then he smiled.

“Mmm… I remember this place,” he said with a grin as he prowled over and dropped kisses on my lips, then Brandon’s.

“I assume that’s a yes,” Brandon replied, his voice a little breathless.

His fingers tangled with mine, then he pulled me across so I lay on top of him.

His breath hitched as I spread my legs, thrusting my hips back and forth in small movements and sliding along his length.

God, that felt amazing. Like the most beautifully violent wrench inside, the sexual tension ratcheted up more rapidly than I’d ever managed in real life.

My head dropped down and twisted sideways, my lips grazing his as I began to pant while he made the same sounds.

“This is so intense. Why is it so intense?” I mumbled.

“No reality here,” he gasped, his fingers digging into my hips. “You want to be turned on, so you are.”

“Fuck, so whatever we want to feel or do will happen?”

He nodded as I placed a hand on his chest and sent what I hoped was waves of desire through our link. It seemed to work as his jaw clamped down, his teeth grinding as his hips jerked upwards, trying to force more contact between us.

“You teasing our boy?” Aaron’s voice rumbled in my ear as his torso came to rest against my spine.

My neck flopped as I felt the massive spike of lust spear through me from his side of the bond.

I didn’t, couldn’t reply, as my body felt like it was on fire.

I arched my back, rubbing my arse back on his rigidity, which just had his hands clamping down on me.

“Stop that, you little minx. I’m already feeling fit to burst as it is. ”

“But that doesn’t matter, does it?” I said between kisses.

Brandon’s lips seemed to draw mine like magnets, pulling me closer over and over.

He smiled at this, seeming to like the effect he had on me.

I pulled away, narrowing my eyes in mock condemnation.

I leant against Aaron’s chest, his hands covering my breasts, fingers plucking, and his mouth found mine.

“What doesn’t matter?” he prompted finally.

My brain stuttered as Brandon moved beneath me, his hand going to his dick, prising it away from where it was drawn up hard against his belly, then grabbing it to rub the head against my clit.

Aaron’s lips felt like velvet on my shoulders, and my nipples pulled tight under his ministrations. “Jules?”

“What?”

They both chuckled as I stared at them blankly.

“What doesn’t matter?”

“Oh, coming. This is a psychic space. Whatever you can imagine, can happen. You guys can have multiple orgasms like a woman if you like. You can be hard again in a second. Reality doesn’t exist, so neither do refractory times or gravity.”