Redefining Home

by Megan Linden

Patrick obviously wanted to change the subject, and Adrian didn’t protest. He knew how to pick his battles.

  “I’m a grown man. I can take care of myself,” he told Patrick. “My leg’s fine, I have all I need here and, oh, yes, let’s not forget that I’m a grown man,” he repeated. When he saw his friend still hesitating, he went on. “Listen, I know you don’t know almost anyone and it probably sucks, but you do know a few people, don’t you? You’ve met all the Harringtons, probably a few others…”

  “Full Moon Run isn’t exactly a meet and greet, though.”

  Adrian shrugged. He had a feeling Patrick’s main reason for skipping the run was that he was nervous, but he wasn’t going to throw that in his friend’s face. “No, but it’s a start. Besides,” he added, raising an eyebrow, “you may make more friends when you actually can’t say anything.”

  “Ha-ha, very funny, asshole.” Patrick shoved at him but got up from the couch. “I’m going to shower since I’m apparently getting thrown out of my own apartment.”

  “Perfect.” Adrian stretched out on the couch and reached for the remote. “Go groom yourself or whatever.”

  He’d deserved the finger Patrick showed him before disappearing into his bedroom.

  * * * *

  Adrian tried to concentrate on what was happening on the screen but his thoughts kept drifting off to things he tried not to dwell on when Patrick was there. The guy could read him like a freaking open book and claimed it was a ‘werewolf thing’. According to Adrian, when one couldn’t be miserable in peace, it was more a breach of privacy than anything else, but Patrick didn’t seem like he cared much.

  Tonight, though, Adrian could mope and stare at the wall for as long as he felt like it.

  It had been the day before yesterday when he’d left Roy and Bill’s house after what had felt like, in perspective, a life-altering experience. It hadn’t been just sex, even if it had been the best sex he’d ever had. As corny as it sounded, it felt like he’d left a part of himself behind when he’d walked out of that door, feeling Bill’s eyes on the back of his neck the entire way to Patrick’s car.

  He hadn’t heard from them since.

  And Adrian had known… He’d known it was going to end like this. That was why he’d left, after all. Still, there had been moments… There had been moments back in that bedroom of theirs when he’d believed that maybe, just maybe, things could be different. And it hurt like hell to have that small flare of hope slowly burning out.

  The sudden loud music coming from TV when the show went to a commercial made him start. Fuck it. He wasn’t watching it, anyway. He hit the Off button on the remote and tossed it aside as he got up.

  Fresh air. Fresh air should be good for him.

  He opened the patio door and paused in the entrance as he looked around. It had never been so quiet in the evening before. No one was around. The yard and all other patios or balconies were empty and dark.

  Adrian tightened his grip on the beer bottle he’d brought with him. It all seemed kind of spooky, and he considered maybe stepping back inside, but then he rolled his eyes at himself and walked out.

  He sat down on the top of the patio steps and exhaled slowly before taking a drink. The air really was different here. Maybe he didn’t have to move to a big city. Maybe he could find some small town like this one, with forest everywhere and small houses and…

  Well. There were some things no other small town in North America had, but Adrian would learn to live with that. He’d done just fine without them up till now. He could do it again.

  Then something caught his eye on his left. When he turned, he almost jumped out of his skin.

  “Jesus fucking Christ!”

  Two big wolves were lying in the shadow, right next to the patio steps, and their eyes were locked on him, stealing his breath away.

  For the longest time, he couldn’t do anything but stare at them as his heart tried to pound its way out of his chest. He’d never seen Roy or Bill in their wolf forms, but he knew it was them. He would bet the black, bigger wolf who lay there unmoving was Bill, and the light gray one with his ears standing up as he scrambled to a sitting position was Roy.

  “You scared the crap out of me,” Adrian said when he didn’t feel like he was going to die any second.

  Roy—it was incredible how easily Adrian could recognize them for who they were—whined, one of his ears twitching. Bill moved to lean more heavily against him.

  What are you doing here? What the fuck? Why didn’t you come as humans? Why now? Why—

  Adrian realized he wasn’t going to get any answers out of them like this.

  “Could you shift, please? I need some—”

  He forgot what he was going to say, because as soon as he asked, they pushed themselves onto all fours and shifted. And they stood there, naked, just a few feet away, out in the open and looking unbothered about it all.

  Their gazes were steady, and he tried not to let his fall too low. He was glad he had his knees drawn to his chest or else they would notice his body’s instinctual response.

  Then both their noses twitched and, crap, they knew, anyway. Adrian scrambled up onto his feet.

  “Come on. I’ll give you something to wear,” he said in a hurry, already walking into the apartment. “Patrick’s clothes should—”

  “Yours,” Bill cut in, making Adrian turn.

  “What?”

  “We can dress if you want, but we don’t want his clothes,” Bill explained, and Roy nodded, huffing for emphasis.

  Adrian wanted to argue that his clothes would be too small, but he had two naked men he was completely crazy over standing in front of him, so he decided it wasn’t time to discuss their fashion choices. They wanted his clothes, so they would get his clothes.

  “Wait here.”

  A few minutes later, they were dressed and sat on the couch as Adrian curled up in the armchair next to them.

  When he’d gone to find them clothes, his hands had shaken as every cell in his body had been chanting, They came, they came, they came. Now, he’d folded his hands over his knees and waited.

  “Listen, we—” Bill rubbed the side of his neck as he looked at Adrian.

  “We want you,” Roy blurted out and winced at Bill. “Sorry. I just— I can’t do the calm and collected routine.” He turned to Adrian, whose mind seemed stuck on repeating ‘We want you’, like an echo. “We don’t just want you for sex. We want you as our… partner. Here. We want you to stay and be with us for real.” He swallowed, curling his hands in his lap. “But it’s both of us—not just…not just me or just him. We are a package deal, so if that’s a deal breaker—”

  “It isn’t,” Adrian assured him as the small, tentative flicker of hope exploded inside him into an all-consuming fire. Then he glanced at Bill. “Are you sure? That you want this, too?” That you want me, too?

  Because it was much easier to believe Roy, whom Adrian had shared history with, than Bill, who not so long ago had probably wished Adrian had never met either of them…

  “I’m sure.” Bill’s voice was steady, and his gaze didn’t waver from his even once. “We’re both serious about what this, the three of us, may become down the line. One day, if everything goes right, we would like to mate with you.”

  Mate. His mind went blank for a few seconds. They wanted to mate with him. They wanted him as their mate.

  “Unless you don’t—” Bill’s strained voice pulled him out of shock.

  “I do!”

  Adrian had no idea how or when that had happened, but now he wanted Bill as much as he wanted Roy. He wanted them, because they were, as Roy had said, a package deal. Adrian understood that now, and it didn’t scare him anymore, not if they wanted him, too. “I didn’t even consider the mates part.”

  Bill glanced at Roy before looking back at Adrian. “It’s instinctual to us, but we know it’s different for humans. There’s no rush. It’s also not a deal-breaker.”

  “We just want you to know
we’re serious,” Roy said, leaning forward. “We want this. We want you.”

  All he needed to do now was to say the words. He took a deep breath. “I want both of you, too.”

  Roy and Bill both reached to rub their chests right over their hearts at the same time and, for some reason, it made Adrian grin harder than anything he could remember.

  These men right here? They were his now.

  And he was theirs.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Roy wouldn’t be able to recall the ride to their place, because he was trying hard not to leap into the backseat and start fucking Adrian right then and there until he was filled with them, their scent, their seed, everything. The need to mark and claim was stronger than anything he could remember since perhaps the first time he and Bill had had sex. Only back then, neither of them had been good at it, if Roy were being honest, and the marks had turned out to be messy and pretty painful. They’d both ended up sporting some unfortunate scratches, too, and they’d had to sleep in the forest that night, as they’d waited for their healing to take care of the mess.

  It had been worth it, and Roy had never regretted it, but he also knew that he could do much better this time around. And since it marked a new beginning, maybe they could count tonight as a do-over, too.

  Fuck, they were really going to do this. They were going to become a triad and, Moon willing, one day they’d mate as a triad, too. His senses were high-wired just from that thought, but the full moon made it even harder to control.

  Bill’s hand on his thigh pinned him to his seat, and he realized he was trembling. Roy licked his lips, rolling his head to look at Bill in the driver’s seat. Damn, Bill’s control was so hot. He could seem unruffled when he wanted to, and most people knew him like that—unruffled, unmoved, steady as a rock.

  Roy wanted to wreck him tonight, and he was pretty sure Adrian would be on board with that.

  Right after Bill would fuck Adrian through the bed, that was. Because if Roy could have one wish for tonight, it was that.

  “Fuck, Roy, calm down or we’re going to crash,” Bill told him, clasping his hand harder on Roy’s thigh.

  Roy answered by spreading his legs and smirking. “Don’t you want to know what I’m thinking about, though?” he asked.

  “I do,” Adrian spoke from the backseat and met Roy’s gaze in the rearview mirror. Oh yeah, he was totally up for the two of them wrecking Bill together.

  Roy grinned, licking his lips. “I was picturing Bill fucking you hard into the mattress.”

  Bill stopped the car with the screech of the tires, and for a second, Roy thought they were going to fuck in the middle of— Oh. They were at their place. Good timing.

  “We’re going straight to the bedroom,” Bill gritted out through clenched teeth, and Roy glanced at Adrian to share a knowing grin, but the guy was staring at Bill with glassy eyes and flushed cheeks. It seemed Roy wasn’t the only one who needed it to happen. Perfect.

  They all hurried upstairs, dropping clothes on their way, because they had no time for slow right now. Maybe later, but not now.

  Bill grasped Adrian by his hips once they were both naked, and he pushed him toward the bed until Adrian was spread out on it, flushed and hard, and tossing his head back, because the bastard was a quick learner like that. Bill covered Adrian’s body with his, licking and sucking on his neck. Roy grabbed the lube and joined them, settling on his side right next to them both. Bill moved a bit to the other side of Adrian, probably making room for Roy so he could kiss and lick his way up Adrian’s neck as well.

  “Fuck, I need you inside me. Come on, fuck,” Adrian was babbling as he clasped his hands on Bill’s shoulders hard enough to turn his knuckles white.

  Bill growled low in his throat but pulled back, settling on his knees between Adrian’s spread legs. Roy handed him lube and leaned up on his forearms so he could kiss Adrian while Bill worked him open.

  He swallowed every moan and curse from Adrian’s lips, getting high on the taste and the smell. The entire room was filled with them, and it seemed stronger than ever before, even when neither of them had come yet.

  “He’s going to fill you so good,” he whispered against Adrian’s hot cheek. “So deep. He’s incredible at it, too.” He turned sideways so he would be able to see what Bill was doing without pulling away from Adrian. “He’s gonna make you forget everything but this,” he added when Bill’s gaze fell on him, and he let a dirty smile show as Bill’s eyes darkened when they met his.

  Then Bill looked at Adrian, running his hand up and down his thigh. “You good?”

  Adrian nodded frantically, almost headbutting Roy in his haste. “Yes. Fuck, yes, come on.”

  And Roy didn’t know where to look—at Bill’s face, at his cock disappearing inside Adrian or perhaps at Adrian’s face, at the way his eyes widened as he let out a breathless moan when Bill sank into him.

  “Fuck, so good.”

  It took Roy a second to realize he was the one who’d spoken. Then he moved his hand to lie flat on Adrian’s stomach, brushing against his cock but not quite touching. Not yet.

  The sounds were driving Roy crazy—Adrian’s quiet moans growing louder, the slaps of Bill’s body slamming into Adrian again and again, their heartbeats flying high and somehow staying in tune, creating the best sound Roy could ever imagine.

  He was so hard that he thought of just rutting on Adrian or maybe jerking himself off to the rhythm of Bill’s thrusts, but then he had another idea, one he couldn’t let go of once he’d thought of it.

  “I’m gonna fuck you once he’s done with you,” he whispered into Adrian’s ear, knowing full well Bill heard every word. “While you’re stretched open and loose and wet. I’m gonna fuck you, and when I come, you will smell like both of us. Like you are ours.”

  Adrian arched his back when he came suddenly, breathlessly, and Roy could only watch in awe as he spilled over his stomach, chest and Roy’s hand that wasn’t even touching his cock.

  Bill followed Adrian a few moments later and fell forward, catching Adrian’s mouth into a bruising kiss.

  “Ours,” he whispered when he pulled back, only to turn to Roy and lick into his mouth with no less ferocity.

  Then he pulled out from Adrian and fell on his other side, and they both looked at Roy with bright but expectant eyes.

  He didn’t need any more encouragement. A moment later, he was between Adrian’s thighs and guiding his cock inside him. “Fuck,” he moaned when he bottomed out, and he clasped his hands hard over Adrian’s hips before he remembered Adrian was human and more breakable than either him or Bill.

  An apology was on the tip of his tongue, but Adrian just pushed back hard and clasped his hands over Roy’s. “Come on,” he urged as he tilted his head to rest against Bill’s shoulder. “You said something about fucking me.”

  Oh, it’s on. There was no way Roy was going to last long, not with how worked up he was, but he fucked Adrian hard and fast until he came with a moan so loud that he might as well be screaming.

  Then, when he’d caught his breath and he and Bill sandwiched Adrian, scenting his neck and shoulders, Adrian ran his hands over their forearms and whispered, “Yours.”

  It felt like the last missing piece of the puzzle clicked into place and Roy could take a deep breath while indescribable joy washed over him, smoothing out everything on its path. He was whole in a way he’d never felt before when his gaze met Bill’s.

  Ours.

  * * * *

  They switched at some point after round two, and now Bill was lying in the middle, with Roy and Adrian curled up against his sides. Bill had his hands on the napes of their necks, and it might be Roy’s new favorite position, with how right it felt—how safe and grounded. He’d known for years that Bill was his touchstone, but now it seemed to run deeper somehow.

  From how content Adrian smelled right now, he had to be feeling pretty similar. His eyelids were dropping shut, and he nuzzled into Bill’s skin as if he
were a werewolf as well.

  “What happens now?” Adrian mumbled. Then his eyelids flew wide open, and he paused what he was doing. It was obvious he hadn’t meant to ask that, at least not now.

  Bill tightened his grip on their necks in a calming gesture and ran his finger over the shell of Adrian’s ear. “Now, we figure it out one day at the time.”

  It was such an unlike-Bill thing to say that Roy tilted his head to stare at him.

  It earned him a smile and a shrug. “Okay, fine. We will talk about it at length and probably argue about things, then make up through the hottest sex you can imagine. Then, we will take on everyone who will think they have a right to comment on this.” He squeezed their napes again, looking from Roy to Adrian and back. “Then, we will take our happily ever after one day at the time, hopefully cementing the mate bonds at some point. Satisfied?”

  Fuck, I love you. Roy didn’t say it, but he was pretty sure Bill could read it on his face if the short nod was any indication.

  “It’s not a bad plan,” Roy finally said, glancing at Adrian, who nodded.

  “Not a bad one at all.”

  They settled back down to rest over Bill’s chest, and Roy closed his eyes. Sure, they were going to have some trouble adjusting and figuring things out, but if the payout was this, right here?

  Roy was ready to take on the world for it.

  Right after he slept.

  Epilogue

  Three months later

  Adrian woke up to someone massaging his head, brushing their fingers through his hair. Mmmm, nice.

  He wanted to drift right back to sleep but he wasn’t so lucky.

  “Time to get up. It’s your turn to make breakfast,” Bill told him, nudging him from where Adrian was lying on his partner’s—his mate’s chest.

  Fuck. The word was still so new that it felt like a revelation every time it crossed his mind.

  “Give me half an hour, and I’ll make it my turn for a morning blowjob instead. How about that?” Adrian muttered without opening his eyes and got rewarded with a chuckle and another head rub.