Page 125 of The Wolves of Forest Grove

Clay still wasn’t back from Grove’s End.

It was full dark now, and Jared had returned an hour ago, though he was still in the cabin getting ready. I liked a good hot shower as much as the next person, but he liked to drain every drop out of the hot water tank. Good thing I’d already showered before he got home from the quarry.

“Have you seen Clay yet?” I asked Viv as she came over to sit next to me, passing me a beer I wasn’t sure I could stomach, but I took anyway.

Though the bonfire warmed my skin and baked the fronts of my jeans, there was a coldness within that had me hunching, arms tucked in against it. I hadn’t been able to shake it for hours.

She frowned and shook her head. “Why? His patrol isn’t for another couple hours.”

“No reason. Just thought he’d be back by now.”

Viv narrowed her eyes at me but didn’t pry for once. I drew my phone out of my pocket and fired off a text to set my mind at ease.

Allie: Have you left yet?

When my phone didn’t ping with a reply straight away, I clutched it tighter as though willing a reply message to appear.

I’d checked to make sure the witch hadn’t followed me to Grove’s End. My eyes had been glued to the rear- view in the Chevelle just as much as they were on the road. And I hadn’t picked up his scent anywhere around the pub when I left.

He left town, I reassured myself.

I turned him down so he had no reason to hang around. With a resigned sigh, I put the red cup to my lips and sipped the frothy beer, my head a million miles away.

“You want to talk about it?”

I blinked, almost having forgotten Viv was there. “You guys fighting or something?”

I chuckled a little at that. It wouldn’t have been unheard of if we were.

Clay and I had some of the most epic arguments.

He once slept outside in his wolf form for an entire month when he was pissed at me.

But he never left pack camp, and he slept only a stone’s throw from the cabin, unable to stay too far away.

“Nah,” I told her. “Just on edge today.”

“What is it? The new recruits?”

My phone pinged a moment later, and I fumbled to lift it, thumbing the screen to life to view the message.

Clay: I already grabbed your books from the car, woman. Chill. Leaving now.

I sat up and tucked my phone away, taking a longer swallow of my beer this time. “Nah. Everything’s good.”

“Want me to get everything set up? We should start soon.”

“Thanks Viv.”

“No problem, Allie cat,” she said with a wink, rising to clear a space and fill the ceremonial bowl Layla had bought for the pack a couple years back with whiskey.

The brass combined with the amber liquid that reflected the flames from the roaring bonfire made the drink look like liquid fire.

It was such an archaic tradition, but at least blooding in a new pack member was less barbaric than blooding them out.

I’d only had to release two shifters since I became alpha four years ago.

And they only left because they mated to shifters from other packs whose alphas wouldn’t release them to join us.

Someone had to be the bigger person, but the fact that it seemed it always had to be me got old.

The screen door of our cabin clattered shut, and I turned to find Jared bounding down the steps, his dirty blonde hair still damp from the shower.

His toned chest and abs glistened from the flicker of the firelight as he strode toward me in only a pair of low hanging gym shorts that left nothing to the imagination.

His smile radiated the warmth I felt as my inner wolf felt him draw near, banishing the rest of the coldness from my bones.

I shuddered as he settled himself onto the arm of my chair, snaking a hand through my hair to brush over the back of my neck.

Like he always did, Jared swept the immediate area before leaning down to press his lips to mine.

Where Clay was all hard edges—the darkness that harbored my moon—Jared was the complete opposite. He was my sun.

He was warmth and comfort. A steadying presence that I could always count on no matter what.

His hand tugged lightly at my hair, tipping my head back more so that he could sweep in with his tongue and steal my breath away from my lungs.

“Get a room,” Viv teased, and Jared broke the kiss, leaving me to glare at my best friend.

She smirked before passing me the matching blade to go with the ceremonial bowl.

“Are we waiting for Clay?” Jared asked, running a finger down the side of my neck in the way that he knew drove me insane until I shied away, giving him an accusing look to which he just chuckled.

“No need,” Clay grunted, appearing as though from nowhere like he always did. For a guy his size, he was insanely light on his feet. If it weren’t for our mate bond tugging at my core whenever he was near, he’d scare the ever-loving shit out of me on a daily basis.

As it was, he still did sometimes, but only when I was distracted. Like when I was just kissing my other mate.

“Great, we’re all here then. I’ll grab the guys.”

Viv fled to go and wrangle the newbies while Clay, barefoot and bare chested, in only a pair of dark jean shorts, dropped my book bag onto my lap.

He ran a hand through his tousled black hair, clearing his throat as he fell into the chair next to mine.

“How’s it going at the pub?” Jared asked, starting a conversation with his best friend and removing his hands from my body, making a muscle twitch in my jaw and a hollow feeling settle in my gut.

As they bantered back and forth with me between them, we reverted to what I dubbed stasis mode.

At first, when we decided it was time to stop trying to fight our instincts and take the relationships to the next level, it seemed like I was going to be able to have it all.

Both of my mates. The three of us together in the way that I desperately craved.

That was not how it happened though. They tried at first, but in the end, their territorial instinct made it almost impossible. Especially when sex was put on the table.

Their inner wolves couldn’t be subdued, plus, I suspected, on some level, it was also to do with the very human notion that you’re not supposed to share a lover. But who the fuck came up with that rule, anyway?

If what I felt for both of my mates was unnatural, then I didn’t want to be natural.

I’d have fought their decision to keep things separate. I wanted to, but I wouldn’t risk putting any more strain on their friendship than there already was.

I could wait.

As long as it wasn’t forever.

Layla rushed in with Seth from their patrol, both of them ass naked, as several others were, preferring to remain in the nude to allow for easier shifting back and forth. Seth made a beeline for the beer keg and Layla came to greet the three of us.

“All clear,” she reported, her long dark hair covering her nipples as she settled herself onto a stool by the fire.

It always was these days. I was so glad to be done with the constant trespasses on our land.

They’d happened frequently when I first took over as alpha.

Mostly spurred by curiosity. There hadn’t ever been a female alpha.

And there definitely hadn’t ever been one who had mated to two other shifters and sported two tails.

Vivian walked Archer and Callum into the ring, putting her fingers to her lips to give one of her signature ear-splitting whistles to get everyone’s attention.

I rose and tucked my books away behind the chair, as far from the fire as I could get them and lifted the bowl and dagger from the stump where Viv had left them.

Shaking off my unease, I walked them to the cleared area where Viv waited with them. Clay, Jared, and Layla on my heels. Charity fell in line behind them, standing in as the fourth official witness.

Callum grinned widely, stretching the skin of the gnarly scar in his cheek. Somehow, it didn’t diminish his good looks, but rather seemed to almost enhance them—give them an edge to make him look just as intimidating as his massive mate.

“You know the words?” I asked them, accepting Viv’s help as she stepped forward and took the bowl from my hand, holding it out to me as I put my hand over it, readying the blade.

They both nodded and the gathering quieted. The air still, save for the rush of heat from the fire and crackle of the wood burning.

“Of my own will I enter into this pack,” they said as one, their eyes betraying no hint of uncertainty.

One after another, they spoke the final binding words.

“With the moon and all in attendance here as witnesses, I hereby submit myself to the rule of the alpha.”

I sliced the blade into the flesh of my palm, grimacing as my blood dripped down to mix with the whiskey in the bowl. The stream slowed and stopped a moment later, the wound already healed, leaving only an annoying itch behind.

I took the bowl from Viv, trading it for the blade, and gave it first to Archer for a drink, and then Callum.

Closing my eyes, I felt the connection form like a growing thing inside of me.

Like another branch of a tree, or perhaps a new root sinking deeper into the earth.

I sighed as the sensation passed, my wolf hedging to the surface to greet her new kin, her twin souls flushed with raw energy vying for release.

“Welcome to the pack,” I told them, and they shared a look, embracing as cheers and whoops rose all around. Foamy beer sprayed in our direction, and I lifted an arm to shield my face from the brunt of it as Viv clapped the new recruits on the backs and called for a round of shots.

I’d have to tell them the rest tomorrow unless someone else spilled the beans first. I wished I could explain it all up front, before they joined the pack, but no one outside of this territory knew and we liked to keep it that way.

Much like how Grams’ blindness gave her the ability of a different form of sight, my twin soul afforded me some...perks. Depending on how you looked at it.