“You know, you both keep coming up with these scenarios that are way more out there than anything I’m actually thinking.” She shook her head, a smile lingering on her lips. “There are some boxes in the closet left over from when I moved in; I think I’ve got a big suitcase in my room. If we’re going to do this, we might as well get down to it.”
Aedan nodded. He wanted Nina back home; preferably in either his room or hers, fully naked once more. Or maybe bent over the kitchen table, or sprawled on the living room couch.
They went to work, quickly packing away the things that Nina absolutely couldn’t bear to part with; without either of them telling her, she seemed to have apprehended that she might not get another opportunity to gather her belongings. Aedan sorted through her drawers eagerly, piling folded clothes into the suitcase starting from the bottom—he knew that between himself and Soren, they had more than enough income to completely replace her wardrobe if need be, but the comfort of her own things, well-worn, couldn’t be denied her. There’s a damn sight little we’d deny her anymore, other than leaving, Aedan thought as they moved up towards the top drawer. He glanced at Nina. She was already blushing; that must mean that they were coming to what he was really interested in, the real reason he had volunteered to help her with this particular task.
Aedan opened the drawer to reveal a tightly organized collection of lingerie that any enthusiast would appreciate; stockings, panties, bras, a few delicate negligees, lacy confections he had no words in his vocabulary to name. The scent of lavender and roses met his nose—a sachet tucked somewhere in the depths of the drawer. “Ah, now this is all you’d actually need to bring with you,” Aedan told Nina, grinning at her. “As it is, Soren and I are discussing ways to keep you naked as much as possible.” Nina rolled her eyes, giving him a playful shove. The impact of her fear-filled, angry, “I hate you,” hadn’t quite left him—it would take a long time before it dwindled out of his memory—but the fact that she had come around, that she had agreed to be with him, that she touched him voluntarily and melted into his seductions readily, gave Aedan some relief.
“Just because there’s a lion majority doesn’t mean I don’t call the shots sometimes,” she told him archly.
“Oh, absolutely,” Aedan said, leaning in closer to her, dropping his lips to the line of her neck. “You can demand to be on top or bottom—or in the middle, you can turn us down if you really don’t feel like being fucked mindless… but what’s the point in being so god-lovely sexy if you’re going to hide it from our delighted eyes all the time?” Nina shivered, tilting her head, giving into him minutely, and Aedan had to once more suppress the urge to strip her clothes off. Her bed—full of her scent, and Aedan caught enough to know that some of her fluids marked the sheets—was only a few feet away.
“Books are done,” Soren called from the living room. Aedan pulled back from Nina, getting hold of himself once more. It has to pall after a while, he thought, taking a deep breath and determinedly not letting his nose pick up the scent of her arousal. There is no way any of us is going to function if Soren and I can’t keep our cocks under control around her.
“Come on in here then,” Nina called back. Aedan began to scoop up her underwear, depositing it carefully in the suitcase. They had decided to take care of her books, her clothes, and the most precious heirlooms and decorations in this trip; assuming that they had the chance later, she could come back for whatever else she decided she needed. Aedan had seen a few things around the house that his practiced eye knew were valuable to her—whatever their nominal value was.
On the way to the apartment, Nina had discarded the idea of bringing any of her furniture with her outright. “I mean, it’s nice—and if I was moving to an empty place, I’d take it with me, obviously. But the bedroom at your house is already furnished, and it’s not like you need another sofa. As long as I have the important things, the rest of it…” she had shrugged. “I mean, ultimately it’s just stuff.”
Soren came into the room and Aedan half-flinched under his glance; the Alpha would have scented the combined arousal pheromones immediately. There was no hiding the fact that he’d teased Nina. But she was in control—this was her space, and instinctively, Aedan and Soren both reacted to that; while it made their lust perk up, it also was a situation that any lion would respond to with at least a token amount of deference. “None of my sheets would fit the bed at your place,” she said, glancing from Aedan to Soren. “No point in packing those.”
They gave her as much time as the situation would allow, helping her—putting things carefully into boxes, wrapping up what was fragile. There was a crystal bowl that had been given to her as a birthday present when she was young, an old fashioned wooden nutcracker that she had taken from her Grandmother’s house at the woman’s passing, and a jewelry box, which Aedan had peeked into and decided privately that he and Soren would contribute to as soon as she was settled into life as their mate, and was willing to take such gifts from them. Nina carefully wrapped a decanter set, passed down from previous generations, and gently packed a teddy bear that played a lullaby when prompted by the turning of a crank in its back.
By the time they were finished, there were two cartons of books, a box and a half of odds and ends, a suitcase, and a few non-boxed but necessary items—most of them framed pictures or prints—loaded into Nina’s car and into Soren’s. Aedan watched as the woman he loved looked around her apartment with slightly sad eyes; as if she knew that she wouldn’t be back, and wanted to make sure that she hadn’t missed out on anything she would regret losing. “I know the feeling, love,” Aedan said, giving her a sympathetic smile.
Nina blinked, stirring herself out of her thoughts, and looked at him.
“Yeah,” she said. “I suppose you would. You’ve had to move around a lot.” She took a deep breath and exhaled it in a gusty sigh. “I just… keep having this feeling that there’s something here that… if I remember it later, if it becomes too late…” She shook her head. “But most of it is just stuff. How much am I really going to miss the couch, or the coffee table?”
“Take as long as you need,” Soren said, coming back into the apartment from loading the last of the items downstairs. “I can hope that you’ll have a chance to come back if you find you’ve forgotten something but…” He grimaced, and Aedan knew that their mate’s resignation, her worry and sadness, were affecting them both. “I can’t promise that the members of the Pride who are against me won’t try and track you here, or try and retaliate.”
“I know,” Nina said, worrying at her bottom lip. “Even if that wasn’t a problem, there’s only so much stuff I can take with me.” Aedan saw the shimmer of a tear forming in her eye. “I guess part of it is that this makes it sort of… final.” Nina took a deep breath and threw herself with haphazard grace onto the couch, wincing slightly as the movement rippled through muscles that Aedan knew must be sore from the sexual acrobatics of the past few days. “I’m being ridiculous. If something is important to me, if I really want to keep it with me forever, it should have occurred to me by now, shouldn’t it?”
Aedan sank down, sitting on the surprisingly solid coffee table. How did she even get it up here? Certainly not on her own.
“Don’t stress it too much, love. Walk around, let your eye go over everything, and if nothing cries out to you, accept that it’s just not that important to you—no matter if it was in the past.” He watched as she weighed his words, pressed her lips together in decision, and stood.
By silent agreement, he and Soren let her range around the apartment on her own; in the small space, if someone broke in, they would know about it possibly before she even would, their sensitive ears on alert for the slightest unusual noise. Aedan looked at his fellow lion, smiling in wry sympathy. It was difficult for them all—though a very different kind of difficulty for himself and for Soren. Hopefully, Aedan thought as he followed the soft sounds of Nina’s feet through the carpeted rooms, she would bounce back from it qu
ickly. They could distract her from her misgivings, soothe her, and then everything would be right with the world, and she would settle into the day-to-day life of being their mate. One of us is going to have to tell her that she can’t go to work tomorrow either. Or the next day. Not until everything is decided. Aedan pressed his lips together. I’ll leave that for Soren.
*
Nina looked around her room in Soren’s house; it was a rare moment of quiet, of space between herself and her two lovers. She had asked for—and they had, thankfully, granted—some time to organize the things she had hauled from her apartment. Her clothes were put away, most of them; tucked into drawers, hung in the closet. Her boxes of books would await new shelves. Staring into a container with the odd assortment of knickknacks and heirlooms she had gathered up in a frenzy, Nina had to ask herself an important question: Am I making a huge mistake?
She had known without Aedan or Soren saying anything to the point that with the situation the way it was amongst the Pride, there was a strong possibility that she wouldn’t be able to go back if she wanted to. The fact that she knew the truth of their nature only made it more impossible for her to make any other choice. Nina had realized by the time her “weekend” with the two men was over, and Soren had asked her how she felt, what she thought, that she didn’t really have much choice in the situation. She had considered, a few times between when she had seen Soren transform and when the time came to make her decision, the possibility of running away. Of slipping out of the house, getting into her car as quickly as possible, and driving to her apartment.
But then, she thought, it would have been difficult to get out of the house. Aedan or Soren would have heard her, probably at any time of the day or night she tried it. Even if she could, there was no guarantee she could get to her car. And if she managed to get into her car, she was fairly certain they could track her. Find her. If the members of their Pride had managed to catch her scent, then they could too. It was too dangerous for her to back out.
She wasn’t entirely unwilling—it wasn’t against her will that she had made the choice. There were plenty of benefits. Nina grinned, looking down at a pink crystal bowl her numb hands had unwrapped. The two men had made it abundantly clear that she was not expected to be some kind of domestic or sex slave—but they had also made their continually high level of interest in sex with her extremely apparent. She thought of how often she saw each of them—both of them—suppressing the animalistic arousal that her scent seemed to generate, pushing it aside and mastering themselves so as not to overwhelm her, so as to get something done. Nina had to believe that eventually the first high passion of their ardor would cool at least a little bit; she didn’t fear that either man would stray, but after three days of going from one pair of arms to another—of even being wrapped up between two bodies, both lavishing her with attention, touching and teasing her everywhere—she was starting to become sore in a less-than-pleasant way.
The issue lurking underneath all of her concerns was the situation with the Pride. Nina had accepted—with difficulty—the assertion that Soren and Aedan could keep her safe from those members who had risen up against them. As long as she stayed with them. The trip to her apartment had been bittersweet—there had been a brief feeling of freedom, but then she had realized that she couldn’t be truly alone, away from both men at the same time. One of them had to be watching. Someone from the Pride might choose to do to her what they’d done to Anna, Soren’s cousin.
Nina chewed her bottom lip, setting the box down on the floor at her feet. You’re upset because you don’t feel like you have control. And, hell, you’re not wrong there, she thought wryly. So how do you fix this? You take control of the things you can. You got your space, you got some alone time. Nina took a deep breath. You’re going to have to come to terms with both of these men. You’re going to have to figure out what position you occupy, and then occupy the hell out of it. Nina smiled to herself. After a week of not reporting to work—or nearly a week—without a very good excuse, she thought it would be likely she might show up on Friday to discover that she no longer had a job. At least she had plenty of support. She remembered abruptly that she was going to be expected to carry children for both men; well—at least in that case, she wouldn’t have to worry about maternity leave, if she was already unemployed.
She took another deep breath and stood. She smiled to herself, thinking of the ways in which she could take at least a little bit of her own control back. Digging through her drawers, she found one of the items that had taken Aedan’s particular interest. It was a slinky, light-weight negligee, with a soft floral pattern and a sweetheart neckline, complete with a light robe that went with it. Nina slipped out of her clothes, glancing at the door, wondering if the two men were listening for her. She got the impression sometimes that when she was alone—rare as it was—she was still somewhat under surveillance. “What should we have for dinner?” Nina asked her reflection in the bedroom mirror with a grin. She slithered into the lingerie she had brought with her and in the back of her mind, thought of the scenes she had seen—of lion tamers dealing with their animals, of the misdirection and confidence, the commanding presence. She could tame a couple of lions, if it came to that, she thought.
THE FINAL CHAPTER
Aedan stood as still as jangling nerves would allow, watching as the members of the Pride arrived at the site of the monthly hunt. A few feet away from him, Nina stood, her eyes like saucers but her pheromones mostly under control; a steady undercurrent of anxiety trickled through the warm spicy sweetness, mingled with his own musk scent and the sharper, slightly more vegetal scent-mark from Soren’s body. As members arrived, Aedan saw them sniffing the air, scenting the mood of the group as a whole; some of them sidled and slunk, casting furtive glances at Nina. One thing we forgot to tell her, Aedan thought, with a stab of regret. On the off chance Soren doesn’t win, she’d be a prize for whoever in the Pride is able to grab her. The animal in him rebelled at the thought; if Soren didn’t put down this rebellion, he was going to snatch Nina away and take her with him—whether or not he could keep Soren from being killed.
He was glad—for Nina’s sake—that the Pride had a rule that they would all arrive at the hunting site in their human forms. While the site of a group of lions didn’t bother him any more—having grown up with that sight until he was expelled from his own Pride—he knew that Nina was still shaky on the realities of living with were-lions, and the sight of about fifty lions advancing towards her might have thrown the whole situation to the dogs.
Aedan smiled privately to himself, remembering the change that had come over Nina a few days before; after he and Soren had given her some space, knowing that she needed to adjust, needed to cope with the fact that her entire life was uprooted, Nina had come out of her bedroom dressed in a deliciously skimpy negligee and robe combination, in a fabric that simply begged to be touched, that clung to the full, lush curves of her body perfectly. She had forestalled the leap that Soren and Aedan were both prepared to make to grab her, holding up her hands, and announced that she was going to make dinner, that they were going to have to decide between the two of them who was going to wash the dishes, and that they would have no say in what she prepared.
It marked a transition—and one that Aedan was pleased to see. Nina was assuming an active role in the relationship. She had clearly decided that after days of letting herself be persuaded and lightly manipulated, she was going to not only stick with her choice, but enforce her ability to choose. Aedan had worried, for a while, that she was going along with him and Soren a little too readily, that she had given in with less fight than her feisty, charismatic demeanor had originally suggested.
Aedan took a deep breath as the last members of the Pride appeared, slinking out of the darkness, their other natures obvious in their body language. Alex moved forward, his gaze on Soren at all times, leaving the group behind him—both his supporters and those who were still on Soren’s side. Alex assumed the
demeanor of a challenging male, and Aedan heard Nina’s sharp intake of breath—smelled the scent of her subtle fear pheromones intensifying. But he couldn’t look at her. Not now. Now for a little bit of theatre, Aedan thought drily.
Before Alex could issue the challenge, Soren raised his hands, calling for the attention of the Pride as a whole, standing up a little taller, moving forward in almost-imperceptible steps. “I am aware that Alex is interested in challenging me for the leadership of the Pride,” Soren said, raising his voice, projecting as if he were on a stage. “But first I must make two announcements.” Aedan suppressed the smile that threatened to form on his face at how well Soren was performing, at the calm, dominant confidence in the Alpha’s demeanor. “The first is that Aedan has fulfilled his obligation to find a mate, in order to remain with the Pride.” There was a flicker—a brief ripple of tension through the ranged Pride standing around. “Because Aedan has found a mate, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome him into our Pride as a full member.” Soren glanced at him.
“Who’s the human?” Someone—one of Alex’s confederates—called out. Soren turned his attention onto the lion in question, his face barely changing expression, but his body language altering entirely.
“The human is Aedan’s mate. She is also my mate.” Another murmur—almost subliminal—through the waiting, anticipating Pride. “That is correct; Aedan and I are sharing a mate. Nina has agreed to be shared by us. She will bear children by both of us, increasing the diversity of the Pride. Some more of you—unattached males and females alike—will need to find human mates as well. We will discuss that another time.”
Aedan glanced at Soren’s challenger; Alex was furious, barely containing his change. It was easy to see that this solution robbed Alex of most of his support. Some of the people on the fringes of his support network started to seep away, moving towards the slightly separated group that supported Soren. Aedan shook his head ever so slightly to himself. A were who couldn’t control himself completely—whose face and hands started to shift into his animal form without his conscious choice, simply because he was angry—was not a good potential Alpha.
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