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I laugh, and it startles Dare from his sleep. His dark eyes shoot open, and for a brief moment, he looks terrified. Then that expression fades from his face and he smiles, tugging my fingers up from his chest to his lips before he closes his eyes again.
Happiness bubbles up inside me, so overwhelming it feels like my body can’t possibly contain it all. I could stay here forever.
“We did skip dinner,” I point out, craning my neck a little to look at Archer. “It should have been hours ago.”
“I’ve got food,” Ridge says.
Trystan latches on to my leg and snuggles his face into the crook of my knee. “No, let’s just stay here.”
“We need to eat,” I tell him, though his touch is making me reconsider my words even as they come out of my mouth. “If I’m hungry, I know you guys must be starving.”
Dare’s voice rumbles beneath my fingers as he says, “Well, we did work up an appetite.”
I catch his eye and flush at the heat in his gaze. Seems to me his little nap got him ready for round two, and as much as I’m ready to go again, the niggling emptiness in my stomach tells me I need to fortify myself before doing that.
Ridge rolls out of bed and opens his closet. He disappears inside, and a moment later, clothes start flying out to land on top of Trystan at the end of the bed. I untangle myself from all the limbs, and we each grab clothes from the offerings.
I end up in only a large t-shirt, but it feels right to crawl out of the bed where I solidified my mate bond with all of my mates in just a t-shirt. I’ve reached peak trust with these men, in a way I never thought I would.
Plus, something feels different now. The bond, I guess, connecting me to each of them more strongly than ever before. I felt hints of it in the early days, when they claimed me and my wolf had yet to show her hand. But now, it’s vivid and real.
Nobody feels like cooking, but Ridge has a stash of microwave meals in his pantry. We pick our poisons and take turns heating up our dishes, then move the party to the kitchen table with cans of cold soda from the fridge. My first sip is divine, just the right amount of sweetness and carbonation to clear away some of the fog.
We’re too busy stuffing our faces to chat for several moments. The cabin is cool and quiet, the silence broken only by the sound of our silverware, or the clunk of cans on the tabletop. But there’s nothing awkward about this silence—it’s the silence of five people content to just exist in one another’s space.
Until someone knocks at the door.
Trystan, Dare, and Archer stiffen and glance toward the front of the cabin, but Ridge wipes his mouth with his napkin and chuckles.
“Down, boys. It’s Amora.” He pushes his chair back and disappears down the hallway to let her in.
“Does he… smell her?” I ask Archer.
“Scent is a big part of how we recognize each other,” Archer agrees. “But it could be an overall sense too. You’ll begin to recognize that everyone close to you will have a certain ‘feeling.’”
Ridge
returns with the gorgeous brunette shifter behind him and takes his seat back at the table.
Amora looks around at our group, each of us mussed and half-dressed. “Bizarre,” she says with a grin, her green eyes dancing. “Four men to one woman and a completed mate bond for all. That’s gotta make for a full mattress.”
Heat flares in my cheeks, and I stare down into my microwaved mac n’ cheese, horrified that she’s so easily read the situation. Is nothing secret or sacred in shifter territory?
“Aw, don’t be embarrassed.” Amora laughs again, stooping to give me a one-armed hug. I get a whiff of her scent—something strong and citrusy. “I suspected Ridge had met his true mate by the way he acted from the first moment he met you. That’s not something to be ashamed of. I’m glad everyone is sorted and the bonds are in place.”
“Not that I don’t appreciate your support, but what are you doing here?” Ridge asks as he polishes off the last of his meal. “It’s nine o’clock at night.”
Amora grips the back of my chair and leans on it, letting out a long breath. “So, some of the pack are pretty freaked,” she says, addressing Ridge across the table. “Obviously, most people trust you, and they trust the elders who are in support of you one hundred percent.”
“If they trust me, what’s the issue?”
“I support this thing you’ve got going here because I know traditions change and evolve, but the goodwill is only going to last so long before the more outspoken members of the pack demand answers.” Amora gestures vaguely around the table. “This is a strange and fucked up situation. Not the bond so much as the fact that Sable is a witch.”
“Part witch.” The words rush from my lips before I even know I’m thinking them. I glance up at Amora, then look away quickly before she can see the irritation in my eyes. “I’m part witch. I’m also part wolf.”
“I know that,” the tall woman assures me. “The whole pack knows that. Everyone saw it with their own damn eyes, so there’s no disputing or arguing that fact. But it doesn’t answer any of the pack’s questions about safety and security.”
“Are they going to cast me out?” I ask, my heart stuttering.
