Emma lifts her eyebrows in question, but before I can find the right way to tell her, Troy butts in.
“We fuck,” he says, his low voice raspy. “A lot. All through the night.”
“What Troy is trying to say,” I growl, “is that our half forms are wired to reproduce. And bond with our mates more deeply. So on a full moon night, we often…stay in our bedroom and do whatever feels good.”
Sebastian nods enthusiastically. “That’s when the biting comes in.”
Gods, if Emma didn’t want to run before, she most certainly will now.
“We lock ourselves in,” I tell her. I need to give her all the facts. “We fit bars on the windows, and the doors are reinforced. Because we don’t want anyone barging in on us—or one of us running off for a midnight snack in the woods, not here. We’re too close to the road and humans to risk it.”
Emma has gone pale at the mention of biting and bars on windows, her sweet scent acquiring a new layer of worry. “So you’ll do that this time around? Lock yourselves in?”
I dip my chin down. “We haven’t made arrangements with the New Hampshire pack, and the roads are too dangerous for a trip of that length anyway. But what we can do is get you out of here and to your home in time if that’s what you want.”
Growling explodes in the room, just as I knew it would. Suddenly, Emma and I are the only human-shaped creatures sitting on the couch, because Sebastian and Troy have both sprouted fur at my words.
“Guys, please. You know it’s the safest option.” I put my hand on Sebastian’s knee and squeeze, willing him to see reason. “That doesn’t mean we’d be letting Emma go. We’d just giveourselves more time to do things right. To get to know each other over the course of the next moon cycle.”
Troy is already shaking his head, his fangs showing. “Think of how difficult it will be to stay away from her. It’ll be agony, knowing she’s out there but not being able to get to her.” He casts a dark look at the door. “Are you even sure the doors will hold? Against all three of us in rut?”
I give him my most level stare. “They’ll hold. You made sure of it.”
He lets out a deep huff through his nose, then tightens his furry arms around Emma’s middle. “I hate this.”
“Me, too.” Sebastian morphs back into his human self, clearly miserable. “But I understand.”
“I don’t,” Emma says. “You said it would be dangerous for me. Because of the biting?”
“Yes,” I tell her. “It would be impossible for us to hold back. We’d claim you as ours, and that kind of bond is final. We’d be mated for life.”
Emma studies me for a moment, then says slowly, “And you don’t want that.”
She makes it sound like a statement, not a question.
It’s so ridiculous, I can’t help but stare at her. “What?”
“Of course we want that,” Sebastian says, shocked. “I’d bite you right now if you let me. You’re mine. Ours. And I won’t want anyone else, ever. Our pack is complete.”
Troy is nodding, his expression thunderous. “I want that, too.”
That only leaves me.
“I want to give you my mating bite, Emma,” I tell her earnestly. “But I’m not sure if you’re ready to make that decision so soon.”
She opens her mouth to protest, her brown eyes flashing in indignation, but I lift my hand, stalling her.
“I don’t mean to say you don’t know your own mind,” I amend quickly. “You just don’t have all the facts yet.”
“Then tell me,” she urges me. She disentangles herself from Troy’s arms and leans forward. “Lay out all the facts, and I’ll decide for myself.”
I grit my teeth, then force out, “The bites will affect you, too. They’ll send you into a heat state to help you take our knots more easily. And when that happens, I don’t think your human birth control will do much to stop us from getting you pregnant.”
Chapter
Eleven
EMMA
