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But they didn’t mind our PDA. A cheer rose up around us. I pulled back, flushed and grinning. “Sorry.”
Aaron outright laughed at my apology. “For what? They loved that.” His smile turned roguish. “And so did I. Shifters aren’t shy about showing affection any more than we’re worried about showing our bodies. Lookaround.”
He nodded to the crowd. I let my gaze travel over the mass of bodies around our little platform. The crowd stretched all across the massive courtyard to the ring of marble arches at its border and the stretch of trees beyond. Despite the lanterns scattered around the place, it was getting pretty dark. I hadn’t noticed the behavior he was talking about until I peeredharder.
Oh. All across the fringes of the courtyard, pressed up against the columns of the arches or right in the midst of their fellow revelers, couples were going at it. Kissing, heavy petting, the works. I saw one young couple who looked ready to seal the deal right there on a stone bench between two of the arches. A woman lolled her head in bliss as her partner stroked her breasts beneath her shirt. A group of three were taking turns devouring each other’s mouths. Apparently dragon shifters weren’t the only ones who enjoyed multiplemates.
The flush on my face trickled right down my body. “Wow. Okay, I guess if I should worry about anything, it’s that your kin are going to think I’m aprude.”
Aaron looped his arm around my waist. “Youshouldn’tworry about anything. They’ll take you exactly as you are. And those activities might be a little more, er, extreme tonight than is usual in public even for us. People have a lot of time to make upfor.”
It took me a second to realize what he was talking about. West had told me that none of the shifter kin could have children while their alpha went un-mated. Now it was no holds barred in the baby-making department. I guessed there’d be an awful lot of new avians being born nine months fromnow.
An awful lot of all sorts of shifter babies, once I fully accepted all of mymates.
The thought gave me a strange twinge: giddy excitement and anxious uncertainty mixed together. I shouldn’t be neglecting the other guys, even now—I wouldn’t ignore Aaron when we were at the other kin-group estates, afterall.
I searched the crowd again, this time looking for the rest of my mates. I didn’t spot Nate or West, although my innate sense of their presence told me they were nearby. Marco was standing near one of the arches, talking with a few othershifters.
And frowning, which was not an expression I saw on his face often. My stomach twisted. Was somethingwrong?
“Hey,” I said to Aaron. “Is it all right if I circulate around a little, or am I supposed to stay up here the wholetime?”
“Go right ahead,” he said. “The estate should be completely safe. I have people checking everyone who’s arrived for their kinsign.”
I hopped off the platform and was immediately swept up in the bustle of the celebration. Aaron’s kin grasped my arms with friendly squeezes, shouted joyful comments into my ears, and beamed at me as if... well, as if they’d been waiting sixteen years just to meet me. I smiled back until my face ached with it. My heart thumped fast, but I didn’t want to leave this chaosyet.
This was the first time I’d been somewhere I completely belonged since I’d fled with my mother all those yearsago.
I gradually wove through the crowd toward the arch where I’d seen Marco. When I reached it, at first I thought he was gone. Then I heard his voice carrying from the other side of the thick marblecolumn.
“I don’t see how that’s any of yourbusiness.”
“None of our business?” a guy retorted. “We’re your kin. And the security of our kin-group depends on you getting off your ass and locking herin.”
Locking her in. What were they talking about? I hesitated, suspecting that if I walked right into that conversation, it’d stop in aninstant.
“I’m working on it,” Marco said. “I’m sure it was a hell of a lot easier for the alphas whose mates knew what they were getting into more than a couple weeks inadvance.”
Someone else, this one a woman, snorted. “Where are those charms you always speak so highly of? You know how many there are who’d happily take your place if it looks like there’s an opening. And until you’ve consummated thatbond—”
“Iknow,” Marco snapped. “Thank you so much for your concern, but I assure you I’ll get the job done. And before wolf boy or our resident grizzly gets in theretoo.”
His tone was so callous my hackles rose. I backed up, merging back with the crowd, suddenly hating the thought of any of them noticing I wasthere.
It was me they were talking about, obviously. They were hassling Marco about our uncertain bond. But he hadn’t exactly defending me, had he? He’d made it sound as if... as if being my mate was some kind of competition. Or ajob. That word he’d actuallyused.
My mind darted back to the way he’d talked to me the other night when we almost had consummated our relationship. He’d gone on about how much he cared about me, about the life we’d havetogether...
My stomach turned. Had he really meant any of that? Or had he just thought a bunch of sweet nothings was the best way to get me to give in to his “charms”?
More avian shifters greeted me, and I managed to smile, but a sliver of pain jabbed at my gut. I’d assumed if I could trustanyone, it was my mates. Even West, despite his gruffness. What if I’d beenwrong?
Without meaning to, I wandered back into the vicinity of the platform. Aaron hopped down to meet me. He took in my expression and brought his hand to the side of my face. I leaned into his touch, taking as much comfort from it as Icould.
“Is the celebration getting to be a bit much?” hesaid.
No. I wasn’t going to let some stupid remarks stop me from making the most of this moment. I could decide how to deal with Marco later, when I could speak to him alone. Tonight was about celebrating what we’dgained.
