“You two must be the only guys I know who refuse sex,” I muttered, trying hard to focus on my annoyance instead of hurt.
“We aren’t refusing sex,” Marduk said. He’d shifted back to his human form and was staring at me with bright eyes. As he talked to me, Danzig went to a nearby tree and pulled something out of the branches. “There are things about us you don’t understand yet, and I don't think you want to hear them right now. We aren’t rejecting you. We’re waiting for you.”
He was right, I didn’t understand, but it was clear this had something to do with the mating bite, so I dropped it. Was I allowed to feel used if I was the only one that got to come?
“Well, thanks for the fun. It’ll be a good memory for later,” I snarked, pulling on the last of my clothes, then my shoes.
When I stood up, I saw Marduk’s hurt expression. I glanced over to where Danzig was still by the tree, holding a small duffle bag. That’s when I felt the sadness coming from both of them. My dismissive words had injured them. I felt about two inches tall.
“I’m sorry!” I said as Danzig walked back to Marduk with the duffle bag. By now both of them had shuttered their expression,but I could still feel the emotional pain I’d caused, and it made me want to cry.
Standing shoulder to shoulder, naked and looking at me with wary expressions, they both remained silent. I bit my lip, then launched into a proper apology.
“I’m human, you know? Like human-human, I didn’t even know there were shifters or magic or anything except those fake psychic shows. I always assumed every relationship had an expiration date and it was only a matter of time. Now you guys are here saying we’re fated to be together and that’s that. It’s nothing I’m used to. I keep comparing you guys to my past, or the human world I’m used to. By doing that I’m not giving our relationship a fair chance. I’m sorry, I’ll try to be better.”
As I talked, their expressions morphed to understanding, but I don’t think they really got it.
I kept talking, voicing all the fears that had been floating around in my head since first hearing Danzig call me his mate.
“What if you guys end up hating me? What if we fight all the time? You’ll be stuck with me forever because there’s no undoing the mating bite, right? That seems like a dismal life to live.”
Danzig and Marduk looked at each other, their shoulders touching. I could hear them murmuring to each other in that silent conversation they had whenever they touched each other. Finally they turned their gazes back to me.
“I never thought about what this might seem like to a human,” Marduk said. “We thought we were being patient.”
Danzig spoke next. “We’re so used to trusting the void to guide us, but to you, this is all new and scary. Our actions probably seemed outrageously overprotective and possessive.”
“I’m sorry about how we’ve acted,” Marduk said.
Danzig nodded. “From now on, we’re going to do this on a human timeline, no matter how long that takes. We won’tpressure you to accept our bite, but we still want to be your partners.”
Relief made my shoulders slump. I didn’t want them to go away. I’d been scared they’d leave the moment I voiced my doubts, but not only were they validating my feelings, but they were also agreeing with my limits.
I smiled at them. “Thank you. I know I’m a pain in the ass.”
Both of them shook their heads.
“No, you’re not. Wanting to be understood doesn’t equate to being troublesome,” Danzig said.
“We’re at fault too,” Marduk said. “But I feel more confident after this.”
“Same,” I said, then let the bag in Danzig’s hands distract me. “Where did that come from?”
“Someone dropped it into the tree,” Danzig said, opening to reveal two sets of clothing and flip-flops. Everything looked big enough to fit the guys. “Probably Mason.”
Marduk spoke up before I could feel weirded out. “I’m sure he didn’t look at us. He’s too polite for that. Everyone would’ve known that we wanted privacy, and they would know we’d both shifted while playing with everyone. It’s considered polite among shifters to lend clothing to each other when we tear out of or abandon what we were wearing.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” I said with a nod as the guys pulled on the borrowed clothing. Marduk’s clothes were somewhere back by the house because he’d stripped before shifting, but it might take a while to find them. Danzig’s were toast.
Once we were all dressed, I made sure to link my hands in theirs. The moment we were all touching, everything felt right.
Was this the first time we’d all held hands? We’d need to do it more often.
We walked off the grass and through the trees to find several wolves sitting facing away from where we’d been. Themoment they saw us, they yipped, and all moved off in different directions.
“What was that all about?” I asked.
“They were guarding us,” Danzig said.
