“Let’s just read the articles and try to see if we can figure it out.” Cash opened his email application.
He quickly sent the link to his brother. They sat silently across from each other, reading the articles. Essentially what it came down to was that one in a thousand sets of twins had the same mate. The way other twins had resolved it in the past was for one twin to mate with the person while the other twin went without. The other option was for both twins to claim the same mate.
“I love you, bro, but I’m not going to share a mate with you,” Cash grumbled.
“The feeling is mutual.” Cal had to admit that he was more than a little disgusted with the situation. He was angry with his brother, himself, the website, and his entire family. He was angry with the shifter community for not telling him about this. The only person he wasn’t angry with was River, who he was sure was more than a bit confused.
“What are we supposed to do?” Cash finally said.
“Hell if I know.”
“Did River seem like the kind of woman who would be interested in having two mates?” Cash growled, and they stared each other down.
“What are we supposed to do?”
“The other suggestion was that we could both date her and then she could choose one of us.”
“But that would mean the other never had a mate. Not their true mate, anyway.”
Cash felt a wave of despair wash over him. “What other option do we have?”
“I don’t know.”
“Even if I was willing to share my mate with you, which I’m not, we couldn’t possibly expect River to do it.”
“So the only option is that we both date her and then she chooses who she wants.” Cal turned his back to his brother.
“But then what happens between us…?”
“There is another option that the website didn’t mention,” Cal said, his back to his brother.
“And what’s that?” Cash said.
“That we both let her go.” Cal’s voice was almost a whisper.
“Let’s just keep that one in the back of our minds. It’s possible that she won’t want either of us anyway. Did you see how she looked when she saw us? It was like the worst thing that ever happened to her in her life.” The horror in her eyes was etched into his memory.
Cal turned back to his brother. “Okay, let’s keep this all fair and aboveboard. We allow her to decide who she wants, and if she doesn’t want either of us, we let her go.”
“And what if she chooses one of us, and the other can’t let her go?”
“We’ll deal with that possibility when the time comes.”
“Are you willing to let our mate destroy our brotherhood?” Cash asked.
“I don’t think either of us wants that. But unless we’re both willing to walk away now, it’s a risk we’ll have to take.”
“We’re decided, then,” Cash said, reaching out to his brother. “We’ll both court River until she decides who she wants. And then the one she doesn’t choose will let her go.”
Cal grasped his hand. Cash felt like he was sealing his fate. This was a pact he didn’t want to make, but he knew deep down that it was the only choice. If either of them ever wanted to have a mate and a family, one of them was going to have to give River up.
6
River whistled sharply at Boo and shouted, “Come by.” He turned left and wheeled around the herd of cattle. She whistled again, encouraging Boo to bring the herd toward her and through the open gate. The twins were on the other side of the fence, watching her with hungry eyes that made her entire body quiver with confused heat.
The deep blue Colorado sky spread out overhead, kissing the tips of the emerald evergreens. A soft summer breeze blew over the fields, carrying the scent of pine and hay. River tipped back her cowboy hat and wiped the sweat from her brow as she guided the cattle through the gate.
She closed the gate and watched them watching her as they walked across the field. She gulped hard and tried not to blush. It was all too much for her to comprehend. She wanted to run and hide from her feelings, but there was nowhere to go, nowhere to run to, and no one to ask for help.
“That was amazing, what you did,” one of the twins said. She believed it was the one named Cal.
“Thank you,” she said, feeling like an idiot who had no idea what to say or how to speak.
“You obviously know your stuff,” said Cash.
“I’ve spent the last few years training.”
“What are your plans when you’re done with the internship?” Cal asked.
“I’d like to start a ranch of my own. Or help my grandparents transition their small property. Their operation isn’t anything like this, but I believe in regenerative practices, and I think that they would be productive even with a small operation.”
“Yes, absolutely,” said Cal.
She was beginning to see the differences between the two men. Cal had a tiny mole above his left eyebrow, and Cash had slightly deeper laugh lines. But they were essentially identical, including their personalities.
In the short conversations she’d with them since arriving, she’d found them both genuine, friendly, fun-loving people. Even if they could come across as a little bit scattered from time to time, she could tell their hearts were in the right place. Which made her desire to completely run away and hide an even bigger challenge.
“Are you settling in well in the intern house?”
“Yes.” She didn’t know what else to say.
“Are you comfortable? Is there anything that you need?” Cal asked.
“No. I think I have everything I need already.” All the words that came out of her mouth sounded so dismissive and flat. She had more to say, but everything inside her wanted to run away like a scared animal. Her inner fox was somewhere between yelling for her mates and screaming with insecurity. The beast was as baffled as she was, which really wasn’t helping matters.
“We wanted to talk to you about the whole mate situation yesterday,” Cash said. Cal elbowed him in the stomach, and Cash glared back angrily.
“What about?” she asked with genuine curiosity.
“I called Mate.com,” Cash said reluctantly.
“Oh?” she asked. “Did they sort out the matching error?”
“They did, in a manner of speaking.”
The normally self-confident twins seemed as awkward as she felt.
“It turns out that there was no error,” Cash continued.
“No error? What does that mean?” she asked.
“It appears that you are the fated mate of both of us,” Cash blurted.”
“I see,” she said thoughtfully, taking a step back. “Isn’t that impossible?”
“That’s what we thought. But I guess one in a thousand sets of twins has the same mate. And there seems to be a common way that they deal with it.”
“And what is that?” she asked.
“The mate decides which twin she wants. Or she chooses both.”
River’s eyes went wide. In the hyena compound, many of the captive women had been shared among the men. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have more than one mate. She couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to have one.