by Bec Adams
“Not now,” he whispered, already knowing it was fruitless to argue.
“He can’t pull us apart now,” Sogarn said, leaning over to press a kiss to Wendy’s forehead and then to Donovan’s lips. “I won’t be long.”
“We’ll be there with you,” Donovan said, feeling the link between them strengthen even more.
“I know,” Sogarn said as he dragged on clothes and headed out of the room.
Chapter Eleven
Sogarn had every intention of confronting his father then and there, but as with most of life, things didn’t quite go as planned. Too caught up in what he intended to say, he nearly tripped over the large black-and-white python slithering across the veranda. He backed up quickly, heading toward Wendy’s newly purchased shotgun. He didn’t want to kill a being who was essentially doing the job he was paid for, but he wouldn’t let his family come to harm either.
They’d expected a nighttime raid, so the snake’s appearance during daylight was puzzling. A hurried glance through every window showed several more snake-shifters slithering around the house. Sogarn could already feel his mates reacting to his emotions. Donovan and Wendy were dressing quickly. He didn’t even warn them to be careful. He could hear and feel their every intention.
“I love you,” he sent to them both with a smile in his telepathic voice. He didn’t even have to look up to know that they’d joined him in the living area. Wendy held the rifle she’d used on the last snake-shifters, and Donovan had chosen to dress only in his boxer shorts, his wolf just below the surface, ready to break free should it become necessary.
“I think this is the diversion,” Donovan said telepathically as he also did a quick check on the windows.
“I think you’re right. The question is how they’ll react when the shifters going after the cockatoos are ambushed by a dozen or more wolves.”
“You’re thinking they might try to use us as hostages?” Wendy asked calmly. He raised an eyebrow at her, but she just smiled and shrugged. “It’s what I would do in my books.”
“So it is,” Donovan said without taking his eyes off the three big snakes guarding the back porch. “Any ideas on how your heroes would handle it?”
She giggled softly, her faith that they would protect her very solid in her mind.
“I don’t think we’ll need to do anything,” Sogarn said out loud as he watched several of the snake-shifters move away from the house. They were followed by several more coming from the direction of the makeshift aviary. None of them seemed to be in any hurry.
Sogarn’s jaw nearly hit the ground when his father stepped from the tree line and morphed back into human form the same time one of the snakes did. They shook hands like old friends. After a brief conversation that involved wide grins and victorious sounding laughter, the snake-shifter turned back into a snake and followed the rest. Sogarn’s father turned and headed toward the house.
It was almost surreal when the alpha stepped onto the porch with a broad smile and knocked on the glass door. At the last moment, sense kicked in and Sogarn grabbed a towel for his father to wrap around his hips. Having been so recently human, Wendy might not be as comfortable with nudity as most shifters were. It also seemed a good idea for her first meeting with her father-in-law for the man to be at least partially dressed.
The alpha smiled broadly when he saw the slightly purple hue of Wendy’s skin and sensed the mating bond Sogarn had created with her. His smile faltered, however, when he realized Sogarn had claimed Donovan as well. His father shook his head as if to clear it and then turned to Sogarn once more.
“Gop-tru-alcarn is on his way home to claim his throne. His father is in custody, charged with a multitude of offenses, most relating to the attempted murder of his own son.” He shook his head and smiled. “I still can’t believe the stupid birdbrain thought snake-shifters would keep his secrets.”
Sogarn managed a smile at his father’s words. Most snake-shifters were guns for hire. They tended to work in family groups so their loyalty to each other was solid but their loyalty elsewise lay with whoever had the deepest pockets. It would have been very difficult—even for a king of the avian flocks—to siphon away enough money to pay the snake-shifters without getting caught. Apparently the alpha had access to more funds than a dishonest avian king.
“So will Polly be safe now?” Wendy asked, her concern for one of her closest companions very clear in her tone.
“Very safe,” the alpha said with a smile. “It appears that the avian kingdoms have been unhappy with their leader, and the grandchild who would succeed him. It seems that because of who his mother was, Gop-tru-alcarn was always seen as the better choice. It is most likely why the king sent his son into exile in the first place.”
Wendy tried to hide a smile. “So of the three of them, Polly—sorry Gop-tru-alcarn—was the best choice?”
“Hard to believe considering the reports my son and”—the alpha hesitated, glanced at Sogarn, and then at Donovan, before turning his attention back to Wendy—“his…his mate kept filing. But yes, of the three of them the one who will bring peace to the avian flocks is ironically the shifter you’ve known as Polly.”
“Will I be able to visit him one day?” Wendy asked as Sogarn suddenly realized the feelings of loss were coming from her. He was still trying to fathom the meaning behind his father’s words. He’d acknowledged Donovan as Sogarn’s mate. Did that mean anything special¸ or was it just a polite choice of words in front of the she-wolf the alpha hoped would provide him with grandchildren?
“Of course,” the alpha said with a smile for both of Sogarn’s mates. “But I’d appreciate it if you’d drop by the pack first.” He turned back to Sogarn. “Your mother misses you. Perhaps you three could come home for a few days. Maybe even consider moving back into pack territory.”
Sogarn watched his father warily. Less than two hours ago, he’d been trying to send Donovan away from him. It seemed too good to be true that he might accept the man into their family now when he’d spent the last six decades denying Donovan’s importance in Sogarn’s life.
“Why, Dad?” Sogarn asked, using the word for the first time in many, many years.
The older man shook his head, glanced at Wendy, and actually seemed to blush. “I was wrong, and I’m sorry, and I want my son back in my life. But most of all I just want him to be happy.” The words were rushed, quiet, and probably the last Sogarn would ever hear on the matter.
“It’s a true-mates bond,” Sogarn said as Wendy and Donovan both moved closer to him. He could sense their willingness to let him handle this situation however he saw best. They’d support him if he wanted to move back into pack territory, and they’d support him just as strongly if he didn’t.
“I know,” the alpha said gruffly, his voice a little deeper than he probably intended. “I’ll tell your mother to expect you and both your mates for dinner tomorrow night.”
Without waiting for an answer, the alpha turned and left the way he’d come. He dropped the towel on the veranda as he changed back into his furry form and then bounded into the forest.
“That was unexpected,” Donovan said, wrapping his arms around Sogarn, somehow pulling Wendy into the three-way embrace at the same time that he relieved them of the guns they both carried.
“I won’t let him favor me,” Wendy said in a tone that brooked no argument. “Either he accepts all of us as we are or…or else.”
Sogarn smiled as he realized that Wendy could already sense his relief at his father’s change of heart. He’d been fully prepared to stay away from the pack, to build a family with just the three of them, but it was nice to know their children would have doting grandparents. Sogarn’s mother had always been polite to Donovan, even when the rest of the pack had shunned him, and she was simply going to adore Wendy.
“Come on,” Donovan said as he shuffled them toward the bedroom. “I have an insatiable need to see my mates naked.”
Laughing happily, Wendy leaped into Sogarn
’s arms, holding on tightly as they hurried into her bedroom. He kissed her passionately, his mates’ combined arousal sending his excitement back into the stratosphere. He dragged at Wendy’s clothes, his own hitting the ground at the same time, and pulled her onto the bed. Lying on his side, he lifted her leg over his hip and sank his cock into her pussy, the feeling of union, of love overwhelming in its purity. He groaned in delight as Donovan lay behind him, his lubed-up cock breaching his ass a moment later, the sudden sense of being complete bringing tears to his eyes. And as the three of them started to move slowly, he sensed their bond growing stronger.
Hopefully the rest of the pack would follow his parents’ lead and accept their mate bond, but even if they didn’t, he no longer cared. They had each other. And that’s what mattered most.
Epilogue
Wendy sat on the veranda of her new home, staring out at the thickly forested area surrounding the Shy River pack lands and lamented the loss of her morning coffee. She’d been stubborn enough to want to keep the only cup of coffee each day that she truly enjoyed, but the babies had given her enough morning sickness to make the taste unpalatable.
“You’re up early,” a familiar voice said as Polly landed on her shoulder.
“Couldn’t sleep,” she replied as the twins seemed to roll inside her belly. At only four months pregnant, it was the strangest feeling, almost like motion sickness while she was sitting still.
“Where are your mates?” the cockatoo asked with genuine-sounding annoyance. Despite his elevation to king status, he’d become more concerned about the people around him, not less as she and Donovan and Sogarn had pretty much expected.
“They’re lying in bed, aware of everything I say and everything I do.”
Polly made a bird-style laughing sound, snickering harder as she smiled.
“So the true-mate bond takes a little getting used to then?” Polly asked, apparently genuinely amused.
“It does,” she said with a smile. There had been times over the past twelve months when she’d wished for just a little privacy, but knowing exactly how her men felt for her and each other, and now for the children she carried, was a precious gift that she was happy to live with. Yes, there was a downside, but it was far outweighed by the feeling of finally finding where she belonged.
She felt her lovers’ emotions even as they turned to each other, their arousal leaking through the mate bond and catching her interest, their amusement as she tried to hide her reaction from Polly coming through loud and clear also.
“They’re doing it again, aren’t they?” Polly asked, sounding annoyed. “You’d think they could hold off for five minutes while you catch up with an old friend.”
Wendy laughed softly, but her men did attempt to block some of their arousal coming through the bond so that she could concentrate. She sent them both a grateful thank-you and turned her attention back to the ruffled feathers of avian royalty.
“How is your son doing?”
“Much better, I think,” Polly said, rubbing his face against her neck affectionately. Many advisors—avian and otherwise—had recommended for him to set the young shifter aside. Considering that he’d been born illegitimately, outside of an officially sanctioned royal mating, it would have been easy to do. But Polly had stood up for his son, seeing something in him that most others had overlooked. Despite his grandfather’s horrendous influence in his earlier years, he’d grown into a seemingly decent young man. Only time would tell, but Wendy felt confident that with Polly’s positive influence the future for the avian-shifters looked bright.
Rather ironic considering the spoiled, self-centered, narcissistic cockatoo she’d once thought him to be.
“I miss Agnes,” Polly said quietly.
“Me, too,” Wendy agreed. Her grandmother had truly been one of a kind. She would have delighted in having great-grandchildren to dote upon—even the “wolf-shifters” part wouldn’t have thrown her. She’d always taken everything in stride.
“Do you think she ever knew?”
“Knew what?”
“That she was influencing the thoughts and beliefs of a future king?”
Wendy laughed softly. “I don’t know,” she said quietly, “but I think I like the idea. She was an amazing lady. Even I didn’t truly appreciate how special she was until after she was gone.”
“Anyway,” Polly said, stretching his feathers as if to pretend he hadn’t gotten mushy and emotional, “I dropped by to issue an invitation.”
“Oh? Don’t you have servants for that type of thing?” she teased.
“Of course I do,” Polly said, sounding surprised for a moment before he realized she was joking, “but I thought I would deliver this one myself.” He waited for several moments, his flare for the dramatic not having lessened in the slightest. “I’m getting married.”
Wendy’s first instinct was to be happy for him, but then she remembered the stories he’d told of the marriage his father had arranged and realized that for royalty love wasn’t always a factor.
“Do I know her?”
“Of course,” Polly said just as a second cockatoo landed on the veranda.
“Kris-anda-coral,” Wendy said in delight as the female cockatoo joined her soon-to-be husband on Wendy’s shoulder. They’d met many times at official functions over the past year, and had, surprisingly, formed quite a close friendship. “So you’ve finally forgiven him?” Wendy smiled as Polly’s claws gripped her just a little tighter. His selfishness as a young, spoiled royal wasn’t something he enjoyed being reminded of.
“Not quite,” Kris-anda-coral said with a very cockatoo-sounding whistle. It was clear that she was teasing Polly. “But it seems that I’m hopelessly in love him anyway. Will you come to the wedding?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Perfect,” Kris-anda-coral said as she pressed a birdy version of a kiss to her cheek. “Someone will drop the official invitation off in a day or two. Right now, though,” she said, turning to the cockatoo that she loved, “we need to get moving or we’ll be late for brunch with my parents.”
“Okay, I’ll just be one more moment,” Polly said as he watched his mate launch into the air. Several other cockatoos rose from the trees, apparently the avian equivalent of a security detail for the soon-to-be queen. “I get it now…what you feel for your mates. I’m sorry I called you ‘the help’ back at that safe house.”
“Polly, that was almost a year ago.”
“Am I forgiven?” he asked, rubbing his feathered head against her hair the way he’d done when she’d thought him just a cockatoo.
“Of course,” she said, reaching up to rub the feathers at the side of his neck.
“Good,” he said, moving away and hoping onto the railing in front of her. “Go join your mates. My hearing might not be as good as a wolf’s, but even I can hear what they’re up to.”
Wendy smiled. “Thank you, Polly.”
“See you at the wedding,” he said a moment before lifting into the air, his own security detail joining him almost instantly.
Wendy concentrated on her mates for a moment, glorying in the link that was sometimes overwhelming. “We love you,” they both whispered into her mind. “And the bed is cold without you,” Donovan added, his telepathic voice hitching as Sogarn took his cock into his mouth. She couldn’t see them, but she could feel everything they felt, the love and emotion flooding through their connection once more.
“I’ll be right there,” she sent with a soft laugh.
Her life had changed dramatically in the past twelve months. She’d gone from a lonely, isolated woman hiding from the world to a wife and soon-to-be mother truly loved and deeply appreciated. Yes, the true-mates bond was overwhelming at times, but she wouldn’t change her life one iota.
Wendy smiled as she joined her men on the bed, her arousal already growing more intense as the both pulled her closer. She’d found exactly where she belonged, and for that she’d be forever grateful.
THE END
BECADAMSEROTICROMANCE.BLOGSPOT.COM
RACHELCLARKEROTICROMANCE.BLOGSPOT.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rachel Clark loves romance in all its forms. She writes contemporary, BDSM, paranormal, and science fiction in MMF, MF, MFM, MMMF, FFM, and lots of other pairings. Unfortunately this can also lead to confusion over what her next book might contain.
So Rachel created Bec Adams.
Rachel will continue to write only the stories with FFM and MMFF couplings, and Bec will write the rest.
Of course, since Bec and Rachel are the same person in the real world, Bec shares Rachel’s love of all things romance, including her one unbreakable rule that every story must have a very happy ending.
For all titles by Bec Adams writing as
Rachel Clark, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/rachel-clark
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com