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I’m not sure about other women, but for me, there is no place more awkward than the playground.

We got out of Peter’s truck in the park carpark, and I could see Aidan sitting there, watching Kade play, separate from a large group of mums. I flinched when I felt a hand take mine but settled when I saw it was Peter.

Of course it was Peter, but my nervous system hadn’t seemed to get that message yet.

He rubbed a thumb across my knuckles, and then we walked over.

I felt the eyes of the other mothers on us as we went, not unfriendly, not malicious, but intent. We were animals on their turf, and they were sizing us up. I forced myself to turn and look back, and I was greeted by a series of waves and smiles.

Should we go over? I thought. There’s some familiar faces there, I think.

“Go say g’day,” Peter said. “I’ll catch up with Aidan. See how he’s doing.”

And fill him in on what had happened. I guessed that’s how it worked when you had a multi-partner relationship.

“OK,” I said, taking a deep breath.

They’re trying their best , I thought as I approached. Everyone looked up, welcoming smiles plastered over their faces, though I could see the eyes roaming, taking in me and the boys beyond me. Were they looking for signs of injury? And was it from Rick or Peter?

Monster…

The urge to strut a little rose and was instantly smothered. Were they looking at the woman they thought had ridden the biggest cock in town? Maybe they’re looking for evidence of bow legs , I thought with an internal snicker.

“Hi, you’re Flick, right? I’m Amy, and this little button is Ella,” a pretty woman nursing a baby said as I pulled up.

“Yep and hi, Amy. And you guys?”

“Janice,” a pretty woman with grey eyes and dark hair said with a smile. “I’m here watching some of my grand niece and nephews.”

“Arelia,” a woman said, holding out a hand. She sat stiff backed, regal as a queen. I took it awkwardly, the other women’s eyes widening. “My daughter, Kiralee is quite taken with your Kade.”

“Of course,” I said. “She’s very precocious. She seems to know her own mind about things.”

And then I saw it, on the other woman’s face—that split second of fear.

The mask slipped for a moment as her eyes darted around, scanning the playground for hidden enemies that were never going to be there.

She mastered it with a widening of her eyes and then a conscious smoothing of her features, something no one else would have noticed, but I did.

I sat down on her end of the bench, something that earned me another smile, one a little more heartfelt.

“So, you’re mated to Monster…” Amy said, but this earned her a quick shake of the head from Janice. “Sorry, I’ve known him since we were kids. It was what we always called him, being such a big guy. Peter, huh? What’s that like?”

I smiled, slow and theatrical like, then looked over at her and said, “Fulfilling in ways I had never thought possible.”

Which is accurate, despite the deliberate double entendre , I thought when I looked over at the kids and the boys.

They’d been roped into the games, and both men had more kids climbing on them than the play equipment.

They were laughing, and obviously, some great weight had been lifted from Peter by today, which brought an echoing feeling in my own heart.

That I could… That I could have that kind of impact on anyone, especially someone like him, was so dizzying, it took me a while to realise the ladies were talking to me.

“It’s good to see Peter has found his mate,” Janice said. “I knew one of his fathers well. He’d be proud to see how well he’s doing. And your boy seems to have taken to them.”

“Yeah, Aidan particularly, but I think he’s warming to both of them.

He’s done it tough.” My eyes fell to the dirt beneath our feet, studying the gum nuts and dead leaves beneath them.

“He had a lot of nightmares, he…” There had been days where we just watched endless episodes of Star Wars: Clone Wars , sitting on the couch while he snuggled up to me and then Aidan as well. “We’re getting there.”

“You poor things,” Amy clucked. “I just can’t imagine my mates turning their fists on me.

” A godawful growl came from her chest, causing the baby’s eyes to flicking open for a moment, then settle again when her mother cooed at her.

“Nor Ella.” She turned to me, her eyes flashing green for a moment. “You were right to walk away, Flick.”

“You were brutalised by your former mate?” Arelia asked before I had a chance to reply. That same haunted cast I’m sure was a mirror to mine returned to her eyes. “My Kiralee, she has been pestering me each day for… What is it called when a child asks another to their house?”

“A play date?” I asked. How did a mother of a child not know what a play date was? “That’d be great. Kade would love it. Do you have a phone number?”

Arelia pursed her lips and then shook her head.

“Arelia’s still finding her feet too,” Janice said. She then proceeded to explain how the woman could use the walkie talkie system to contact me, and we worked out where we each lived.

“It’d be good to start meeting some of the parents, or packs you feel comfortable with,” Janice said. “The full moon is coming soon. If you turn…”

You’ll go into heat , I thought, my eyes automatically straying to the guys. Whatever that means.

I just nodded, getting to my feet with promises to meet Arelia and Kiralee tomorrow.

“And men. You’ll want to meet more of the single men and see who you want to test out. Even if you don’t go into heat, it's a stimulating time,” Amy said with a waggle of her eyebrows.

“Not if she does not wish for their attentions,” Arelia said stiffly.

“We can put the word around that you don’t want to look at any other contenders, but…

” Janice said, her face looking a little drawn.

“That’ll… It’s the time when instincts run high and all our human qualms get shouldered to one side.

We’ll make sure you’re safe, even if every woman in the town has to stand guard at your door. ”

“I’ll fight them to a man,” Arelia said with a growl.

I just looked at them, Amy somewhat dreamy eyed, as if remembering something gorgeous, Arelia about to take on the world.

“Sorry, I think we need to go one step backwards,” I said. “This whole idea has only been brought up briefly.”

So they circled around and filled me in.

I watched the guys when we got inside the car, sitting in the back with Kade.

My eyes took in every damn detail hungrily.

The long swoop of Aidan’s blond hair, tucked behind his ears, the increasingly long beard he was sporting.

What would that feel like between my thighs?

I thought, never having had a man with a beard go down on me.

Wait, what?

They are your mates. You will go through your first heat with them , my Tirian said smugly. It is natural to start to anticipate that.

Is that what this is? I wondered, my eyes scanning every detail of them I could get from where I sat, something they seemed to sense. Peter’s eyes went to the rearview mirror, Aidan turning around to look into the back.

“Mum said I can go round to Kiralee’s place!” Kade said, thinking he was doing so for him. “Are you gonna come with us?”

“Of course, mate, if that’s what you want,” Aidan replied. “Everything OK, Flick?”

No, no, no it’s not. I’ve just found out I’m going to be hit with the equivalent of paranormal Viagra for days on end, where my instincts will make me think taking on any and all attractive guys is a good thing.

Sen’s grey eyes popped into mind for a moment, creased with a smile.

That sent a quick shiver through me. But when they faded away, it was Aidan’s hazel ones that bore into mine, and I didn’t feel any less aware of the way my body warmed and softened, as if ready to surrender to his, to feel exactly what those blunt tipped fingers would be like on my skin and in my?—

“I think I need to see Ophelia,” I said.