by J. L. Wilder
“I don’t want us to fall apart again. There’s more riding on us keeping our shit together this time, but honestly? I just don’t want to fight with you two. I love you both. I don’t want to lose either one of you again. So, we talk. We figure shit out. And we don’t kill each other.”
Maverick finally blew out a breath and nodded. “Fine. Okay.”
Wyatt wasn’t sure how to say what he needed to say. He didn’t know how to even start the conversation, but he knew it had to be done. “Well...I think...shit.”
Maverick laughed, his sour mood seeming to lift slightly. “Thank god I’m not the only one unsure of where the fuck to even start this.”
“God, this is so fucking weird.” Sawyer shook his head. “There’s a reason we never talked about it before and why we haven’t up till now. This is weird as hell.”
Wyatt groaned. “Let’s just start with something simple. Like the fact that we’re all seeing Maggie.”
Maverick exploded from his seat. “What the fuck?”
Sawyer and Wyatt stared at each other and then at their brother. They were both trying to figure out how to explain what they thought they all knew to Mav when the asshole starting laughing and sat back down.
“Just kidding. See? Aren’t we all feeling much better now?”
Wyatt growled and leaned over to punch his brother in the arm. “Scared the hell out of me. Don’t do that!”
Sawyer just rolled his eyes and sank back in his chair. “Okay, so we’re all seeing Maggie. That’s the known. What’s next?”
“The other obvious thing is that Maggie seems to care about all of us.” Wyatt sighed and rubbed at his temples. “She wouldn’t be doing this unless she cared about us.”
Maverick finished his beer and nodded. “She’s too good for that.”
“So, she cares about all of us and we all care about her. Great.” Sawyer stood up and walked over to lean against the porch railing. “We’re still involved in a strange relationship with the same woman.”
Thinking about how he wanted to say what he needed to say, Wyatt picked up his glass and stared into the amber liquid. He just had to say it. There was no other way to get it out. “I feel the mating pull with her.”
Silence followed his revelation. The mating pull was serious. Mates weren’t always easy to find and they were meant to be cherished when they were found. They were never shared.
Maverick swore and tossed his bottle into the recycling. “Of course, you do.”
Wyatt narrowed his eyes. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
He laughed bitterly. “Let me guess. You feel it, too, Sawyer?”
Sawyer nodded without waiting a second. “Yeah.”
Wyatt frowned and looked at his brothers. “You both feel the mating pull to her?”
“I have to fight to keep myself from marking her every single time I’m near her. My dragon is driving me nuts about it. So, yeah, I feel the fucking mating pull.”
Sawyer winced. “Yeah, same. It’s not easy resisting it, either. That drive.”
Wyatt sank back into his chair, all the wind leaving his sails. “Well, shit. Here I was, thinking I was special.”
“Just as special as the rest of us.” Maverick opened another beer and twisted the cap in his fingers. “How is that possible? How do we all feel it?”
“Has that ever happened before?” Wyatt directed that question to Sawyer. “You’re always talking with the uncles about history and shit. Has this ever happened before?”
“You think I’ve been asking the uncles about mates?” Scoffing, Sawyer jerkily shook his head. “No. Not at all. Not even once.”
“This is insane, though, right? All three of us feeling it?” Wyatt was even more frustrated than when he thought he was the only one feeling that special pull. He wanted to know what the hell was going on. “Have you both always felt it?”
Sawyer moved back into his chair and drained another glass of whiskey. “Yeah. Always.”
“Why else would I have ever been willing to lie to you both about seeing her the last time? I can be a fuck up but I wouldn’t chance our relationship for just some random woman who didn’t mean anything to me. Maggie is different. I...” Maverick sighed. “I care. A lot.”
“You’re not a fuck up. You really still think that shit?” Wyatt stared at his brother in confusion. “Mav, you’re not a fuck up.”
Sawyer nodded. “Not at all. You’re probably the best one out of all of us. Not that I’d ever tell Maggie that. Plus, you helped Maggie give us Milo. Besides the fact that the kid saved this clan, he’s pretty great.”
“I didn’t say it fishing for compliments.” Maverick shifted, clearly uncomfortable. “I just meant to say that Maggie means everything to me.”
“Okay, so we all feel the mating call with Maggie. We all want to be with her. We’re all technically with her currently. Now what?”
Wyatt returned Sawyer’s blank expression. He didn’t have a clue what they were supposed to do. “I don’t know. I’m not giving her up and I know that I can’t ask either of you to, either. I don’t even know if Maggie wants just one of us. Or one of us more than the others.”
Maverick clenched his jaw and then stood up with a heavy sigh. “Then maybe it’s time we ask her.”
Wyatt’s stomach dropped because asking her was something they’d never been brave enough to do. Asking her meant she would make a choice and two of them would be fucking crushed. He ran his hands over his face and considered his choices. Continue on like they were, no one really sure of what was happening and them each sneaking time with her while they could, or...they asked. One of them would get to really, openly be with her. What would that mean for the other two, though? Would they just sit by and watch, despite the feelings they had?
Sawyer growled and stood up. “Fine. We ask her. This isn’t getting us anywhere.”
Wyatt stayed in his chair, a lump of dread sitting heavy on his chest. “Okay. We ask her. And we deal with whatever she says. Together.”
“Not tonight. Tonight, I just need to pretend like none of this shit is happening. I have work to get done and I just need to focus on that for a bit. Not this.” Sawyer stomped down the steps towards his truck. “We’re family. No matter what. We stick together. If this doesn’t go the way I want it to, I’m still going to be here.”
Maverick followed after Sawyer, going to his own truck. “Same.”
Wyatt nodded to each of them and saluted them with his drink. “Brothers.”
After they drove away and there was just the sound of nature all around him, Wyatt rested his elbows on the table and just sat there, taking it all in. There was a feeling in him that knew that if Maggie chose someone else, that sound would never be the same. Her leaving before had hurt him deeply and he’d never recovered, but she hadn’t left just him. She’d run from them all. This time, it would be him.
His dragon pouted, torn between throwing an epic fit to get what he wanted and backing down because he loved his brothers. They were both loyal to a fault. He would’ve given up anything and everything for his brothers. Besides Maggie. But it might come to that, too.
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he eventually went inside once the sun had set and night had taken over. He didn’t bother turning lights on. He just went straight to bed and got in without even undressing. Dread carried him to sleep that night.
21.
***Maggie***
She had a break from the alpha ceremony practice so she decided to walk around the downtown area of Brady. She wanted to visit the ice cream store that the girls had taken Milo to the night before. She was craving chocolate ice cream with Oreos on top.
She hadn’t spent much time in that area of town because it was always busier than the rest of town. She was faring better with the other members of the clan, but there were still several people who gave her dirty looks and made comments about her. Thankfully, those comments were fewer and fewer. The ones made to her face, a
nyway.
She wasn’t sure why the town was choosing to ignore her relationships with all three Walker men all of a sudden, but she was grateful. She felt guilty enough without the entire town calling her names over it.
Inside the ice cream store, she ordered her cone and stood aside while the teenager working behind the counter scooped it. The girl, around the twins age, looked up at Maggie several times and then looked away. Each time she looked like she wanted to say something but stopped herself.
Finally, Maggie smiled and leaned in. “What is it?”
Blushing, the girl rolled her eyes and looked away. “You’re Aubrey and Gabbi’s aunt, right?”
Nodding, Maggie shifted even closer, the girl’s voice so quiet that she had to strain to hear her, even with her better hearing. “I am. Do you go to school with them?”
“Yeah.” She stopped and stared down at the ice cream cone for a few seconds. “I heard how people were mean to you.”
“Yeah, some people were.”
“I don’t really shift, either. I think that my dragon might be scary, too.” She hurriedly scooped more ice cream into the cone and then poured a hefty amount of topping on. “Um, here you go.”
Maggie’s heart went out to the girl. “What makes you think that?”
“She’s angry a lot.”
Nodding, Maggie took the cone and gently caught her hand. “Hey, mine, too. Can I tell you something? Something I haven’t told anyone?”
“What?”
“I’ve been shifting alone in the woods and just...spending time with my dragon.” Maggie shrugged. “She’s kind of a jerk at times, but she’s not so bad. I think I just didn’t understand her.”
“You think maybe I just don’t understand my dragon?”
“Maybe. I don’t know for sure, but you seem really nice. I can’t imagine your dragon is a monster. Even my dragon, who has done some bad things, isn’t a monster.” Maggie smiled gently at the girl. “If you ever have questions or need help, you can talk to me. It’s kind of what I do. Talk to kids who are struggling. Well, it was what I did in Los Angeles. Now, I just attend alpha ceremony practice and try not to tear my hair out.”
The girl laughed and nodded. “Okay. That would be nice.”
“I’m living with the twins right now, so just swing by their house. What’s your name?”
“Anna. I know where they live.” She looked up as another customer walked in. “Thank you.”
Maggie took a lick of her ice cream and grinned. “No, thank you. See you later, Anna.”
Maggie walked out of the store, feeling better than she had in a while. There were more dragons like her. At least one. She’d thought that no one else went through what she’d gone through, but maybe she was wrong. Maybe more kids in the clan needed help. If she could help even one kid not go into adulthood feeling like she did, she wanted to. Her heart felt lighter at the thought of helping others.
She sat on a bench in the little park just off of the main street and ate her ice cream while thinking about how to start her office again. There wasn’t a therapist in Brady. She could offer that to the town. She was so convinced before that no one would need her or want her, but maybe she was selling people short.
It was strange to her the amount of care she already felt for the clan. She wanted to help them, wanted to make a difference. She also wanted to be liked by them. If she was going to stay, she wanted them to see her as more than who she was as a teenager. She wanted more than that. She wanted to be someone that she could be proud of.
When she finished her ice cream and had plotted out how she could open an office in town, she got up and headed back towards the meeting space. She’d left Milo with the triplets for long enough. It was time to save them.
She stopped in the town square and looked out at the small business spaces on the streets around it and noted that a few were empty, and one of them, especially, would make a perfect office space for her. Her hopes were climbing as the idea turned into a solid plan. Things were going to change and she was going to take control. It felt liberating to feel in control of something in her life.
The sound of a hollow laugh sent a chill down her spine and she knew she should walk away before she even turned and saw Jessi Flint walking towards her with two other women, all of them scowling at her.
Maggie told her feet to move, but she found herself frozen, her dragon too close to the surface, the memory of the woman threatening Milo still too fresh. She didn’t want to deal with the woman, but her dragon had other plans.
“Well, look who it is. What are you doing, showing your face around town?” Jessi looked her over and her face told Maggie that she was lacking.
One of the other women she was with, a redhead with pretty green eyes, crossed her arms over her chest and snarled. “God, I would never be able to show my face if the whole town knew I was fucking three brothers at the same time. Sick.”
The other one, a brunette with large teeth that reminded Maggie of one of Wyatt’s horses, nodded. “I hope you at least take some time between brothers.”
Jessi laughed. “I heard they all screw you at the same time. And maybe each other.”
Maggie growled low in her chest and saw a flash of fear in Jessi’s eyes. Good. The woman needed to back off. “Why is this still something you’re doing? Why does it matter to you who I do or don’t sleep with?”
“I’m just concerned about you giving our soon-to-be alphas STDs. Who knows where you’ve been.”
Rolling her eyes at the pettiness of it, Maggie raised her hands and took a step back. “I shouldn’t be surprised that you’d attempt to slut-shame a woman and then joke about STIs. Just leave me alone, Jessi.”
The redhead scoffed. “Why would she leave you alone? You ruined her life.”
Jessi crossed her arms and smiled as her friends carried on. The brunette added on to her friend’s thoughts. “You ruined her life and cost her a chance at alpha. She had plans and you messed them up.”
“Are we sure the alphas even sniffed that kid? Lord only knows whose kid he really is.”
Maggie felt heat crawling up her neck. She met Jessi’s eyes and took in a deep breath. “Stop them. Stop this all.”
Jessi smirked. “It’s just what everyone is thinking. You’re a whore, Maggie. No one thinks your kid is true alpha lineage. No one thinks you’re anything more than the same slut you always were.”
“That’s not true, and that must eat you up. Some people still think like you, I’m sure, but I’m also sure they’ll change their minds eventually.”
Jessi stepped closer. “You believe that? You really think that you can come back to town and just take over? You think that you can change everyone’s minds about you? Make them think that you’re not trash? It’s never going to happen, Maggie. The best thing for this clan would be you and your entire trash family leaving.”
Her minions laughed, and the redhead had the audacity to reach out and poke Maggie. “Trashy, trashy Maggie. How’s your sister, by the way?”
Maggie felt her dragon trying to get out. Her dragon wanted to end the conversation with her claws. How dare they insult her family? How dare they say any of the things they were saying? It was unacceptable, and her dragon wanted to put an end to it. Maggie fought her, though. She couldn’t shift and threaten them. That wasn’t how people handled their differences. She just had to fight it and stay calm.
Jessi stepped closer and dug her nail into Maggie’s shoulder. “Go away, whore. No one wants you here.”
“You need to stop.” Maggie gritted her teeth and shook with the effort of containing her dragon. She was too close to the surface, too on edge. “Please, stop.”
Jessi laughed. “You really are pathetic, aren’t you? God, what kind of alpha do they think you could even produce? Your son will be the end of this clan with his weak blood and sure to be pathetic character.”
Fire engulfed Maggie. She cried out even as her dragon took over because she knew she’d just
given the women what they wanted. She was shifting in front of the town square, where people would see. She was once again the woman people thought of as dangerous because she had no self-control.
Those thoughts faded as her dragon took over and snapped her teeth an inch from Jessi’s pale face. Letting out a roar that shook the ground, she lowered her head until she was directly in Jessi’s face, and then she snarled. “This is our clan. We are not leaving. I will snap your neck and eat your organs for a snack if you talk about our son again. This is your second warning. There won’t be a third.”
Jessi backed away, bumping into her friends. She stunk of fear and it made Maggie’s dragon feel powerful.
“Run. Run away or I’ll end you all.” Her dragon purred in satisfaction as the three women turned and ran away. She wouldn’t allow them to hurt Maggie or the clan. Especially not their family.
Maggie took control again and envisioned her human body, standing there. She was getting better at shifting back, but it still took time, and when she was panicked like she was in that moment, it wasn’t easy. She was scared of what she’d done and scared of how people would react. She was also scared of how easily her dragon had slipped out and threatened to kill someone.
It took so long that Maggie was crying when she shifted back. Great big sobs shook her naked body and she looked around to see that there were several people watching her. Without even glancing at their faces to read their expressions, she ran. She didn’t stop until she was in Sasha’s house, in her bed, crawling under the covers and hiding. She’d lost control again, in public, and there was no coming back from that. She was an embarrassment, and she was out of control.
She couldn’t be trusted. She was a danger to their clan and to other people. Her dragon was bloodthirsty. She couldn’t let her out, couldn’t trust her. How could she ever think that she could help other people with their issues?
She sobbed herself into a terrible headache and felt exhaustion pulling at her. She wanted to sleep and to spend the rest of the day hidden away. She couldn’t, though. She had to get Milo and help Sasha around the house. She couldn’t just give up. No matter how much she wanted to.