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Chapter 10
Niko
The last few days had brought a truckload of revelations and changes to my life. I lay here, watching over two of my pride, two that I knew deep inside fate had chosen for me. My tiger was filled with joy and satisfaction at finding his mates; the human side of me was still trying to wrap his brain around the idea of more than one mate.
I flicked my ears back and forth, listening for any sound out of the ordinary. I breathed deeply, but only smelled the tantalizing scent of the tigress next to me and the panther bracketing her other side. My tiger and I took pride in being able to guard them while they slept. There would be time enough when we got home to crash and catch up on sleep, hopefully with these two wrapped around me in our skin and not just our fur.
I focused on my hearing as I lay here contemplating all the changes that were coming. All those changes hinged on Amelia and her ability to get past her fears and accept us both.
Mates.
I know, but we have to go slow. She doesn’t believe she’s worthy of a mate, let alone two.
Protect them.
That’s the plan. Just give us time to adjust and figure out how all of this is going to work.
Love them.
Love isn’t going to be enough. It’s going to take patience, determination, and understanding on all our parts. It’s a shock to find that we have not one but two mates. I haven’t encountered that before.
Trust me.
I do, mostly, just let me handle things when we get home.
My tiger huffed at my last comment. If it were up to him, we would have mated them both by now. I’m not sure how that was going to work either. All the possibilities running through my mind gave me a headache.
We had been taught growing up that there was a fated mate out there for all of us but finding that mate was not always easy, and many never did. Because of that, shifters had evolved and began to mate with those that they knew weren’t their fated mate. If we made a connection with someone, we could “choose” them to be our mate. The bond wouldn’t be strong, and our lives wouldn’t be tied together, but many shifters had lived happy and full lives with a chosen mate. At no time did they mention you could have more than one mate or fated mate at a time.
It was also rare to have a second fated mate, but I knew of one shifter who had been blessed with such. Sterling, a silver fox shifter in the Black Mountain Pack, had found his, what he called, a second chance mate when he was sent on a mission to root out an evil Alpha in Texas. They had been happily mated ever since. Though, his was the only second chance mate I have ever heard of.
I always assumed I would find her, the mate made just for me. Now, with reality hitting me with not only a female, but a male mate as well, things just got a whole lot more complicated. I felt a deep physical and emotional attraction to Amelia, the need to make her happy and keep her safe. I also felt that deep emotional connection to Miguel, as well as physical attraction just as strong. It was hard to explain. I wanted to cuddle him, to snuggle, and pet and tease him. I craved our scenes at the club, and when he offered to scene alone, it took all I had not to jump him then. I was worried that I might hurt him, that my craving to inflict pain would be too much for him. I wanted Amelia and Miguel both kneeling, waiting for my command, and both naked in my bed.
A low vibration filtered through my tail. Miguel had wrapped his through mine, and he was purring in his sleep. There was a sweet innocence to him as he slept snuggled up against Amelia, but still reaching toward me. In our fur, this was easy, especially since they both slept.
I could tell Miguel was feeling the same. He was more open about the physical attraction toward both Amelia and I, which I found more difficult. I know I have a lot I need to work on, but we all did. This was a new dynamic, and we would need to sit down and discuss all of it. Communication was even more important in this relationship, and none of us were that great at it. Maybe therapy could possibly help? I’d be willing to try anything to make it work and keep us all happy.
The scent of night-blooming flowers mingled with the spice of Miguel and the sweet honey of Amelia. Amelia twitched, and a hum of happiness and lust filtered through our tribond, our unique mate bond that was already developing, and another unique twist to our situation. It was overwhelming at times, feeling more than one person’s emotion. Amelia’s pulled at a desire deep inside me. I wanted her naked and beneath me soon. I wanted her naked on top of me while Miguel joined in. We would fill her to the brim and then take her over the edge into an abyss of pleasure like she’d never experienced before.
A snapping sound echoed around me, breaking me out of my own imagination, and I held my breath as I waited. There was a tug on my pride bond, someone asking to speak rather than just bursting in, which was what would normally happen.
“Yes,”I replied
“Niko, it’s Jonah. Can you meet me?
“How did you find us?”
“It wasn’t hard. Jax gave us an update, and patrol has been silently guarding all night.”
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
I had simply planned for us to go home in our fur and change there. I slowly extracted myself from the others and padded silently toward where Jonah waited.
“Hey there.” Jonah greeted. “Any way we can talk?”
I knew he was asking if I’d shift. I had to promise my tiger that we would return to fur and rejoin Amelia and Miguel as soon as I was done. I stretched once all my bones and muscles had reformed. Jonah threw me a pair of sweatpants. As shifters, nudity wasn’t something we even thought about, but once mated, or once we found our mate, we preferred to be clothed when in our skin. Only when you were with the ones your animal has identified as your mates, then you wanted to be naked and see all the skin you could as much as possible.
“What’s up, Jonah? How’s Molly?”
