“How many just bonded?” she questioned softly.
My hands froze in the midst of pulling my shirt over my head. I yanked it down a second later. “What did you say?”
“You knew that would happen?” Tate was beside me, pulling clothes on as fast as I was.
“I had a suspicion,” Lulu admitted, looking slightly guilty. “After the bonding wave you mentioned on the plane, I kind of wondered. I snuck in here and watched. I’m sorry; I was curious.”
“A warning would’ve been awesome,” I said a little helplessly, shooting her an exasperated look. “We have a field full of newly bonded mates.”
“It wasn’t a sure thing, Skye. This kind of thing hasn’t happened in years. We’re talking hundreds of years.”
“Who is she?” Katy asked, flicking a finger at Lulu.
“This is Lulu,” Tate answered for me.
“The witch?”
Lulu shot Katy a withering look. “I’m not a witch.”
“She’s an elementalist,” I corrected quickly, waving a hand. “But what I want to know is why you knew this would happen. And, more importantly, why the hell you didn’t give me a heads up.”
“Skye.” Mom touched my shoulder behind me.
I turned and realized there was a tent full of women gawking at us and whispering.
“Just a heads up, but even I can scent the pheromones in the air right now,” Lulu said worriedly. “You might want to either try to wrangle things or resolve yourself to a massive mating orgy outside the tent.”
I rubbed my temples. “This isn’t happening.”
“Can someone explain to me what is happening?” Ainsley demanded behind us.
I spun to see the normally poised and confident girl now pale and practically shaking. Her eyes darted around the tent anxiously, lingering on the flaps of the opening.
“More specifically,” she stammered, tearing her eyes away, “why do I suddenly feel the need to jump the McAllister twins?”
Larkin gasped softly beside me, and a new round of whispers swirled in the air.
“Both of them?” one woman asked, stepping forward curiously.
“Yes,” Ainsley practically snarled, whirling on the older woman. “So don’t get any ideas.”
The woman stumbled back, hands outstretched. “I didn’t mean it that way!”
“Enough!” I snapped sharply. The room fell completely silent. Now I was left in a deathly quiet space with a bunch of nervous women.
Shit.
I turned to the one I could count on to handle them.
“Mom, can you please take the women outside? And maybe see if Remy can get over here so we can sort this out?”
“Of course,” she said, flashing me a thin smile. “Let’s go, ladies.”
She herded them outside, and I finally felt like I could breathe.
Ainsley stared at me. “I’ll take any explanation. If I just landed a mate, cool, but someone tell me which one it is.”
“Both of them?” Lulu offered with a bright grin.
I frowned and turned back to Lulu. “What you said before—twins can bond with the same person.”
Lulu nodded quickly. “Exactly. They’ve shared a soul since conception. It’s not uncommon at all for twins to bond to the same mate.”
“So, I get two guys because they share a damn soul?” Ainsley practically screeched.
“They’re nice guys,” Larkin offered helpfully. She would know since they had tried to date her a few months earlier before Rhodes shut that shit down.
Ainsley’s eyes narrowed. “You have your own mate, Larkin. Lay off mine.”
My eyes went big as Ainsley slapped a hand over her mouth.
“Why did I just get so mad about that?” she mumbled through her fingers.
“Because they’re your mates,” Lulu said simply. “You’re naturally possessive of them.”
“You did say you were high maintenance,” Katy pointed out with a grin. “Clearly fate knew you needed two guys to satisfy all your needs.”
“Do you want to be their mate?” Lulu asked gently, stepping forward.
“They started … fighting,” Ainsley murmured absently. “I came in here because I felt like it was my fault. Like I had to choose.”
“You don’t,” Lulu said firmly. “You can always choose not to bond with them, but—”
“But I want to,” Ainsley finished, looking a little dazed and flushed. “I want them both.”
“Then tell them it’s not a competition and claim your mates,” Lulu told her. “And have fun with it.”
Ainsley’s eyes flickered to me for a second, and all I could do was smile back. Whatever permission she seemed to be seeking, that was enough. She turned on her heel and marched back out of the tent.
Barely a second later, Remy came through the tent, followed by Rhodes, Dante and Ryder. A few moments later, Dimitri and Alexei entered with my parents trailing.
“Okay, things seem to be sorting themselves out for now,” Mom told me, fighting a blush.
I didn’t need to guess how things were being sorted out. From the sounds on the other side of the tent, some people hadn’t waited to find a private place to consummate their bond.
Group bonding orgy it was.
“What the hell is going on?” Ryder muttered, running a hand through his dark hair. “It’s like everyone lost their minds.”
“No,” Rhodes answered, shaking his head, “this is like what happened last time. But a helluva lot more.”
“A second bonding wave,” Nikolai confirmed, his gaze lingering on Lulu before they nodded at each other.
“Yeah,” I drawled slowly, “Lulu was just explaining how she thought this might happen.”
“What?” Remy’s sharp tone cut through the air like a machete.
Nikolai cleared his throat. “We both did, to be honest.”
I flinched and stepped back. “So, this was what? Another experiment?”
Remy growled and closed in to stand beside me as Nikolai held up his hands innocently.
“It’s not like that, Skye.”
“Then tell me exactly what it’s like, Nikolai.” I planted my hands on my hips and stared at him.
Now he flinched when I threw his name back at him. Those warm, fuzzy ‘dad’ feelings were quickly being replaced by a chafing annoyance.
“Lulu and I thought about what you revealed on the plane, and we remembered that there was a history of Alpha mates triggering a bonding wave amongst their pack,” he explained slowly. “We suspected it may happen tonight.”
“Tell me what you did wasn’t just another experiment like Elias did,” I went on, my voice shaking with emotion.
I was an idiot. A total, fucking idiot. Would I ever learn to not trust people who didn’t deserve it?
Remy stood behind me, wrapping an arm around my chest when I started to stalk forward.
“Easy, baby,” he murmured, so quietly I almost missed it from the blood roaring between my ears.
Nikolai’s face fell. “I never meant to deceive you. It was a guess, Skye, nothing more.”
“Skye,” Lulu started, her voice pleading, “you know I would never want to hurt you. And what just happened out there is a good thing. Don’t you see that? Don’t you see what you are?”