“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Holt soothed immediately, climbing off the bed and approaching me, his arms out. “He’s a wolf shifter. He wasn’t going to hurt you. We’re a different species. We mate in pairs. Fuck!” He swung his fist in the air with frustration. “That all came out wrong.”
Theo was also now on his feet. Theo was naked, Holt still dressed. Both were careful not to come at me. They kept their hands where I could see them, palms out. “Ali, I’m so sorry. I just got excited. It was too good. I felt too much, and couldn’t control it. I would never hurt you, baby. You’re our mate.” He, too, winced and shot a glance at Holt. “We suck at this.”
“Wh-what do you mean, mate?” I asked, a quaver in my voice as my gaze darted back and forth between them. My heart was racing, and I felt lightheaded from the recent orgasm and the following adrenaline push.
“Okay, so… we’re wolf shifters,” Holt attempted to explain again. “This wasn’t how we planned to tell you. But our particular species mates in pairs—two males for one female. There’s only one female in the entire world who can be our match, our fated mate. And that’s you. You’re our mate.”
I took another step back because this was all too much to assimilate, and I stumbled on Theo’s discarded clothing. Both men instantly darted forward to catch me, one at each elbow.
“Come here, sweet thing. Let us take care of you,” Theo murmured, swinging me easily into his arms.
Now that I knew these guys were different, it seemed so obvious that they had super-strength. I was what society called big-boned, and I weighed absolutely nothing to them. Theo carried me back to the bed and Holt climbed on to join us. Theo sat me sideways on his lap, my back cradled by his arm, facing Holt, who stroked his rough palm up and down my lower leg. His touch was warm and gentle.
“Can you… can you take the plug out?” I asked, my cheeks hot. After what we’d done, it seemed strange to be embarrassed, but we weren’t playing any longer.
Theo didn’t say anything, just lowered his arm and gently tugged the object from me. I hissed and shifted at the withdrawal, but settled into his hold again after he dropped it to the floor. Forgotten.
“I’m sorry this is such a shock,” Holt said, his gaze earnest. “We never meant to startle or scare you. I was stopping Theo from marking you. It’s a love bite wolves give to embed their scent into their mate and show other wolves that she’s taken. Obviously, we would never do it without your consent, but Theo got carried away, so I had to stop him. That’s all. He wouldn’t hurt you.”
I shook my head. My heart was still beating faster than usual, but I was starting to calm down. Yet I wasn’t sure if my ears or brain were working properly. “I didn’t think he was going to hurt me,” I said honestly. “I just didn’t understand what was happening.”
Both men remained silent, waiting for me to say more. I looked between them, my mind still reeling. Wolves? Them? Seriously?
“I did see a wolf outside tonight, didn’t I?” I asked.
“Guilty,” Theo said. He reached up and caressed my cheek. It was more reverent than sexual. “I had to dash in while Holt brought you around the deck.”
A hysterical laugh came out of my mouth and I covered it. I’d seen Theo as a wolf? “That was you?”
He nodded, but this time he appeared proud of the fact, which made me smother my humor. I would never laugh at them for being who and what they were.
Then another, more horrifying, thought occurred to me. I sat up ramrod straight and gasped, almost bumping Theo in the chin in the process. "The wolves last year. My dad and the other ranchers had been hunting them. Killing them!”
My mind was spinning out.
Holt seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. "Yeah," he said, his voice turning grim. "You can see why what they did is a big deal to our kind."
"The wolves," I choked again. I thought of Ariel, that sweet innocent child. She could have been shot by my father when they had those wolves chipped. "Were they… what do you call them? Shifters?"
"No," Theo supplied, shaking his head. "They were standard wolves—canis lupus. But one of our kind was killed by Hollaroy years back."
I gasped, thinking of that. Of how my dad had thought it fun to go after the wolves. He’d even admitted to using the tracking collars as a way to find them easily. “Does my father know about shifters? I mean, he—”
They shook their heads. “No. Our species is kept a secret from anyone human, except mates. Like you, now. Your father believes he’s killing animals, nothing more,” Holt added.
"That's why there's so much animosity between the ranchers and the rest of the town,” I guessed. “Wait—is all of West Springs your kind?"
"No. About half," Holt said. “Everyone who lives here in the forest on the West land. Everyone who works at the distillery. There are others who work with humans, like me and the town doctor.”
I processed that, trying to comprehend the new reality for me. It was as if leprechauns really were real, and I could finally see where they’d been hiding all this time.
“And…” I was still digesting everything they’d told me. “You mate in pairs? Not just sex?”
Theo smiled encouragingly, even though I’d repeated what they’d already said. “That’s right. It’s a quirk of our genes. Many males in the pack have what we call a scent-match. Another male who smells exactly the same as him. So they know they’re destined to share a mate. Holt and I learned as teens, and we’ve been hoping to find you ever since.”
I blinked. “Find me.” I set my hand on my chest and remembered I was naked. A slow thrum started up between my legs. These two big, burly men—these wolf-men—thought I was their mate. I felt a little bit like Cinderella. Extremely special. A little bit magical. “And… and now that you have?”
Both men gave me what could only be construed as feral smiles. Like they’d captured their prey, and now they were going to devour me.
“Now you see why we demanded exclusivity on the first date,” Holt said.
“Because I’m… it for you?” They were giving me so much to process, I was trying to keep up. Trina was engaged. To one man. Sure, she and Melissa had wanted me to have a wild fling with Theo and Holt, but I was sure my friends never imagined the hot guys to be shifters or scent-matches. And I was their mate. The One.
They nodded in unison, and eyed at me with a mix of adoration and need.
The early stages of dating definitely meant getting to know each other. Over time, secrets were revealed and bonds formed. I hadn’t gotten too far in the process with guys I’d gone out with. Some definitely longer than the two days I’d known Holt and Theo, but shit…
I’d approached them only for a one-night stand! There wasn’t anything more secretive than what they’d just shared. More unusual. If I hadn’t seen Theo’s teeth or the way his eyes changed color, I wouldn’t have believed it.
I did, though.
They hadn’t been anything but direct and honest with me.
“Would you… would you have eventually told me about this—” I swirled my finger in the air, “—at some point, or only because it kinda slipped out?”