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Chapter Twelve
Analise
Their scent nearly overwhelmed me; it permeated their bedding and had me ready to tear my clothes off and offer myself to them. In fact, I had offered myself to them. In a way, but they wanted more than I was prepared to give. They wanted everything. And I had run away from that. Rod might not be alpha in his pack now, but he would be one day, making me alpha female there, too.
But how could I compare that situation to this? I felt nothing but disgust for Rod and fear of his father. Sawyer and Tadeo were kind. “Would it be all right if I thought about this for a while?” I needed to breathe. “I know you’re offering me a great honor, but it’s such a surprise, I just…I don’t know what to do.”
“Sure.” Sawyer stood and drew me to my feet. “Why don’t you relax, have more coffee, think about it all day if you want. Nobody is going to make it here from the other side of the mountains in the storm, so you’re safe for the time being.”
“And if you want to stay here but you don’t want to mate with us, we’ll work that out, too.”
“Is it all right if I take a bath?”
I spent two hours in the tub, but it wasn’t as relaxing as I had anticipated when I first saw the jetted beauty. Rather than luxuriating, I was hiding from the alphas who awaited my answer. They were handsome and charming and kind, but they weren’t asking me to mate with them for love but for the baby I could give them. They were too honorable to accept my offer to have a baby and leave.
And as my panic eased, I recognized that I’d never be able to do that anyway. If I got pregnant immediately, and there was no guarantee I would, it would still be nine months before the baby came. By then, high summer would have opened the pass. If I was here and unmated, there’d be no way for Tadeo and Sawyer to keep my father and my would-be father-in-law from demanding my return. Pregnant or not. And if they refused…
Well, I couldn’t be responsible for the battle that might break out. People would be hurt. Maybe killed. And I couldn’t let that happen. I also couldn’t deny how strongly these males affected me. I’d tried to, knowing they were a couple. But that couple invited me to make it a trio. I’d never known anyone who mated with more than one other person, but alphas were in charge of their own packs and made the rules.
I’d added hot water more than once by the time I stepped out of the tub and pulled the stopper. Somehow, when I ran away, I’d thought I could go somewhere and start fresh with nobody controlling my life. A heavy robe hung on the back of the door, and I slipped my arms into it and belted it at my waist. It hung nearly to the floor, reminding me how much bigger these alphas were than me.
I remembered their banter last night, their easy companionship, and the affection they displayed to one another. Would their affection extend to me, someday? Had the Lady truly led me here?
“Analise, come and eat. Nobody’s going to pressure you to make a decision until you’re ready.”
I opened the door and faced Sawyer. “Thanks, but I’m not very hungry.”
“It’s not flattering that the thought of mating us has stolen your appetite.” He smiled. “Relax, and let’s spend the day getting to know each other. After we eat, we thought maybe we’d put on a movie? Tadeo and I are usually so busy we don’t have time for entertainment, except when weather keeps us at home.”
He made it sound so easy and natural. “Got another set of sweats for me?”
“Just go in the bedroom and help yourself. We share our clothes, at least some of them, and if you become our mate, you, too, will be able to access the common closet.”
He said it with such gravitas, I giggled. “I think if I stay, I would like some clothes in my size.”
“Deal!”
My laughter stopped. “Wait, no, I didn’t agree to stay, I just said…”
“Relax, Analise. Nobody is going to bite you here, unless you want us to.”
I went into the bedroom and found a T-shirt and another pair of sweatpants and added a pair of thick socks before returning to find the alphas back on the sofa in front of the fireplace where a cheerful blaze crackled. A plate of sandwiches and a bowl of chips along with some soft drinks were on the low table in front of them.
We decided together to watch a new action/adventure release and settled down to enjoy the afternoon. Once again I sat between them, but instead of being interrogated, I was plied with barbeque chips and ham sandwiches. A much more pleasant experience than earlier. Sawyer was as nice as I thought, and Tadeo was funny. Not as in telling jokes but in finding the humor in everyday things.
Sawyer pulled the afghan off the back of the couch and laid it across all our laps, creating an air of intimacy that had my tense muscles relaxing. When the movie ended, we just sat and talked, sharing stories of our childhoods, likes and dislikes, all the first-date stuff. Or so I’d heard, since I’d never had a first date. We watched a couple more movies and ate more snacks while outside the storm continued unabated.
Finally, Sawyer stood up. “We’ve got a lot of batteries on the solar, but I’m not sure how long the storm’s going to last, so I think we should go to bed and save power.”
“Sounds good, mate.” Tadeo also rose. “It’s been a nice day, Analise. Will you be okay here on the couch? We haven’t furnished the guest room yet, so the only other option is our bed.”
I’d never blushed so often in my life as the last twenty-four hours. “I’m fine, thanks. You go on ahead. I’ll just cuddle up here with my afghan.”
Sawyer’s smile was wistful. “All right. But if you decide to join us, it’s much warmer sharing body heat.”
“If you want to come in and just sleep, that’s all right, too,” Tadeo assured me.
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” I didn’t even know why I wasn’t going with them. I recognized the solution to all my problems lay between them in that big bed, but maybe that was why I didn’t go. They deserved better than to be a solution to someone else’s problems. Sure, I could give them the baby they wanted, but it came with a price tag.
Me.
The alphas turned off the lights as they went, and with the cloud cover shutting out the moon, darkness closed in around me. I tried to go to sleep, but we’d had such a relaxing day, I wasn’t really tired. The wind rose and fell, and between gusts, voices carried to me from the bedroom, as if the conversation we’d been having continued, only without me.
I closed my eyes firmly, and tried to will myself to sleep, but the harder I tried, the more awake I grew. And the more I yearned to be in that other room, in the big, warm bed, between the two alphas.
The storm grew more frenzied, the windowpanes banging in their frames, and I began to imagine I could hear voices in the screaming gusts. Finally, I jumped to my feet and headed down the hall for the bedroom. The fire in the fireplace was going out, and it was getting cold as well. They had offered me just sleeping as a option, and I decided to take them up on it.
