We reached the alpha house, and they showed me in, all four of them, staring at me. Their expressions ranged from confused to blank to openly hostile. I wasn’t sure how to respond. Maybe I should say something. Maybe I should try to ease the tension?
“Penelope told me that when the Goddess declared her marriage to her alphas, she specifically told them to give Penelope a daughter,” I blurted. It wasn’t often that I left Tyrell, but occasionally we met up for coffee in the city.
Less so now, since Penelope had, in fact, given birth to a girl recently.
All of their gazes sharpened on me.
“But the Goddess didn’t say anything about that,” I continued, my voice growing smaller. Seriously, why had I even brought it up? “Which means…we don’t…”
Ah, now that I said it, I understood. Marriage came with two things. A ceremony and sex. Four men and one woman? It was impossible. I’d never so much as kissed a man; how could I satisfy four virile alphas? I shuddered at the thought. I had even read plenty of group-sex erotica, and it always left me more puzzled than turned on.
“I should say right away, I don’t want this to be a closed marriage,” I babbled, heat rushing to my cheeks as they all continued to stare at me. “Which means, you four are free to keep sleeping around with whomever you want. I don’t need to know about it, even. The Goddess didn’t say we had to be faithful or have children. In fact, it might be best for you to keep your women. You’d find any sort of sexual relationship with me disgusting, I’m sure.”
It was here that Killian interrupted. “You will go into heat.”
I winced. “I…suppose I will.”
“Only your mates will be able to relieve the pain of it,” he said. His voice was soft as velvet, softer than I would have expected.
I stared into his violet eyes, grimacing. “Or I could lock myself away and wait for the heat to pass. It’s not fatal.”
“Or are you expecting us to just stand back and let you run off and fuck some random men?” Owen growled.
Goosebumps rose along my arms, and my wolf cowered before him. “No. I didn’t think that at all. I thought that you wouldn’t want to stay faithful in a marriage you didn’t want, and I just want to make it clear that I have no expectations—”
“When you have your heat, we will take care of it,” Jace said, his tone no-nonsense. “As for the rest of it, it’d be a piss-poor look for the alphas to step out on a Goddess-ordained marriage.”
I glanced between the four of them, my heart sinking. My mouth opened, but I stopped myself from asking. “Okay,” I said instead, my voice small. “If that’s what you want.”
“Let’s get you to your room,” Jace muttered, gesturing toward the stairs.
I followed silently. The old dorms were as shabby as the rest of town, but in better repair than the place I lived. It should be a perk, having better housing. Being married to them should have been a relief. Being the alphas’ mate should offer me protection and comfort.
But they all hated me already.
How much more would they hate me now?
Chapter 3 - Jace
After a restless sleep in which my wolf kept nudging me to go to Jasmine, to figure out what was so impressive about her, I finally got up at the ass crack of dawn. With my thoughts tumbling over themselves in my head, I went for a run. I kept thinking of the Goddess’s face when she called Jasmine. There had been a secretive smile on her face, as though the situation was amusing to her.
That didn’t sound like how the alphas of Tyrell described their ritual. When the Goddess came to them, she had been all dignity and urgency. Perhaps it was because the darkness was encroaching more rapidly on their settlement?
The run didn’t help clear my head at all, so I returned to the house. Killian, Owen, and Renz were all in the kitchen, busy with their morning routine, so I headed up the stairs and knocked on Jasmine’s door. Regardless of how we had found ourselves in this situation, we were in it, and I required that she understand what was expected of her from here on out.
She didn’t answer my knock. I tried again, and when she still didn’t answer, I opened the door. I expected to find her inside, ignoring me, but instead, her room was empty.
Back downstairs, I asked the others if they had seen her.
Owen’s eyes immediately flared with suspicion. “She must have snuck out. We need to go find her and drag her back.”
I held up a hand, stopping him. “Or she could have gone for a run, like I did. So just calm down. I’ll go find her.”
Owen opened his mouth to protest, but when Killian nudged his ribs, he snapped it shut. He glared at all three of us before shrugging and turning back to his breakfast. I headed outagain, irritation spiking through me. Was this what we should expect from our new bride? That she’d take off at every turn, never telling us where she was going?
Maybe we’d have to install stronger security. Despite my words to Owen about not jumping to conclusions, that was where my mind had gone, too.
I found her a while later, whispering with another omega. The other woman was short and round, though not quite as round as Jasmine.
