by Alyse Zaftig
“You should go first,” I responded.
Jasper took a deep breath before turning to her and saying, “How much do you know about shifters?”
8
Reveal
JASMINE
My gaze swung between the two of them as if I were watching a tennis match. Both of them had a certain tightness in their face that showed some tension. I got what they were trying to tell me.
“I don’t know much about shifters, only that they have two forms, human and animal. Are you trying to tell me that you’re shifters?”
Jasper said, “It’s in my name.” He shifted just one hand into a furry paw, which made me gasp.
“Jasper Wolfe,” I said. “Of course.” I looked at Blue. “Are you a wolf, too?”
“Guilty as charged, beautiful,” he said with a grin so charming I almost shed my comforting blanket and slid into his lap. But I raised my chin and said, “Is there anything else you need to tell me? What implications does you two being wolves have for me?”
Blue started to say something, then he stopped. “Are you sure you want to know?”
“Yes,” I said as firmly as I could even though the thought of starting a relationship with not one but two werewolves was enough to make me run for the hills. I’d never even dated a shifter before, and now I was going to take on two of them?
“I’m his beta, as he is the alpha of our pack. He makes the decisions and is also the CEO of a separate non-Pack business. Most of our personal expenses are handled by that business, even though the Pack takes care of its own. Think of a kibbutz.”
“Shifters are hippies?” I asked.
Both of them burst out laughing. “No. But we can’t deny that there are some similarities. We definitely always take care of one another. There are no starving shifters. It’s a bad idea to have a hungry wolf around.”
I looked at Jasper. “Is that why you’re so aggressive?”
“Alphas aren’t good at hearing the word no, but with Blue’s help, I’ll try to respect your boundaries. It’s hard because…”
“Because I’m not a wolf and not subject to your command. Gotcha.”
I looked back at Blue. “You listen to him?”
“Most of the time.” Blue slid his hand up my leg in a very distracting way.
Jasper snorted.
“Some of the time,” Blue amended. “When it matters.”
“I wish the rest of the Pack could see you now,” Jasper said, wiping tears from his eyes as his entire body shook with laughter. “Most of the time my butt.”
I grinned at Blue. “Sounds like you’re quite a bad boy.”
“I don’t kiss and tell,” he said. “But maybe I can be persuaded to do both if I’m offered the right encouragement.” His hand settled on my hip as he moved too fast for me to see. He laid a light kiss on my lips. I expected him to touch me like a ravenous wolf. I could feel the heat rising between us and smell his arousal.
“Maybe,” I responded, tearing my mouth from his, even though it was one of the hardest things I’d ever done. “But am I right when I say that I got the impression that if I take one of you, I take both?”
“Yes,” they chimed in unison.
“How does it work? Do I marry both of you?” America had barely gotten on board with same sex marriage. I shuddered to think what would happen with polyamorous marriage.
“Yes,” they told me. “Shifter law is separate.”
I nodded at them. It made sense. There were plenty of pockets of people in America who followed different customs than the rest.
“I need some time to think about this,” I said.
“Is there anything we can do to help clarify your decision?” Blue asked, getting to his feet. I admired his ass from my position on the couch.
“No,” I said.
“We’ll be here with breakfast tomorrow,” Jasper said. “So wake up at dawn.”
I scrunched up my nose. “Dawn?”
“We’ll bring bacon,” Blue promised.
“I think I can wake up for bacon,” I said. “But I can’t make any promises. I guess I’ll give you my spare key in case I’m not awake yet when you knock on my door.” I went to my junk drawer and took out the key that I left with my neighbor, Madison, when I went on vacation. “Promise to be respectful about having a key, okay?” I said to Blue.
He winked at me as he snagged the key out of my hand. “I would never be disrespectful about it,” he answered.
I leaned on my doorframe as they left my house. I could see a little skip in Blue’s step that meant he thought that things were going well. There was a little heaviness in Jasper’s stride. I knew that he was used to being in control and setting the rules up. With me, he didn’t get to be in charge. I didn’t know how he’d feel about it down the line, but for now, we needed to establish boundaries and expectations. Our relationship, if you could even call it that, was so new that I already recognized that he’d stomp all over me given half a chance. So I couldn’t give him one.
9
Breakfast
BLUE
“Are you sure about this?” I asked my alpha.
“Yes,” he said, shifting the weight of the grocery bags in his arms so that he could unlock the door to our mate’s home. “She’ll love it.”
I didn’t know if she’d like a home-cooked breakfast. My own mother fought like a banshee anytime someone tried to cook on her stove. I gave it a fifty-fifty shot. I prayed that our mate would forgive us for working in her kitchen.
We turned on the lights in the kitchen and hunted for everything we needed as quietly as we could, not wanting to wake her before dawn. Soon, we had a pan of bacon sizzling on the stove, a tray of buttered toast in the oven, and a gigantic pan of scrambled eggs on the rack under the toast.
“Smells good.”
We turned to look at our mate, whose footsteps we hadn’t heard over the crackle of the bacon cooking on the stove and the sound of the blower.
“You look good enough to eat,” I said. “Good morning.”
She was wearing a silk pajama set. I lifted her up and set her on the counter, nuzzling her neck so I could smell her unique scent. “You smell better than bacon,” I told her.
“Quite a compliment,” she responded in a dry tone. “But don’t think that you can distract me from breakfast.” Her stomach growled. “I’m as hungry as a bear.”
“Probably not as hungry as a werebear,” Jasper remarked, pulling the toast and eggs out of the oven.
“Smells heavenly,” she moaned. “Hurry up.”
Jasper had worked in a restaurant kitchen when he was a teenager, which meant that he knew how to plate food quickly in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Before I could blink, he had fixed three plates with the first helpings of breakfast.
“Is breakfast your only meal of the day?” our mate asked us.
“No,” I told her. “And that’s only the first serving.”
She blinked, but we steered her towards the table that I’d already set. We dug into our food. She only ate about 5% of what was on her plate.
“Do you not like eggs, toast, and bacon?” I asked. “We can get you something else.” I shoved Jasper’s shoulder. “I told you we should’ve just gone to Yoder’s.”
“No!” she yelped. “I love eggs, toast, and bacon. It’s just that the amount of food on my plate could keep me happy for a week.”
We both looked at it. “But it’s just a small fraction of breakfast.”
She gulped hard. “I guess shifter appetites are something that I’ll have to get used to if we…”
“We will,” Jasper announced, even though I glared a warning at him.
“What happened to take it slow and making sure she was comfortable?” I asked, standing to get more eggs and bacon. I wasn’t sure if the toast would fit on my plate.
“I can speak for myself, you know,” Jasmine interjected. “And our relationship isn’t real yet.”
“Real? We have a key to your ho
use. What more is there?”
She crossed her arms and muttered, “Dick.”
I felt my lips twitch, but I lost the smile when Jasper looked like he was about to blow. We were right back where we were yesterday, which I could only take on a full stomach. More bacon was required for this conversation.
10
Discussion
JASPER
“What more could you possibly want from us?” I nearly roared.
“For you to chill out,” Jasmine replied. “You’re acting as if I should just go with the flow, but I barely know you guys.”
“What does that even mean? How much more can I do for you?”
“It’s about respecting my boundaries!” Jasmine threw back at me. “Blue doesn’t seem to have a problem with them, but you do.”
“Because I don’t feel like they’re defined,” I explained. “You want me to respect lines that don’t even exist anywhere but your head. If you want me to respect your boundaries, you need to buy me a vowel or something here.”
She sighed. “I guess it’s not fair to tell you to back off but not tell you where the line is.”
“Yeah,” I said. “You think?”
“Stop being a dick and listen to her,” Blue said. “That’s all she wants.”
I leaned back in my chair, my appetite lost even though Blue seemed to have no trouble eating what looked like the rest of the bacon.
“Is there even any bacon left?” I asked him.
“There’s toast. Eggs,” he muttered.
“So that’s a no,” I sighed. I pushed my plate away. “Let’s negotiate.”
“I want you to stop pushing me so hard,” Jasmine said to me. “You keep making decisions like you’re the only one with the capacity to make decisions, but there are two other adults in this relationship. Blue has no trouble stating his own needs and respecting mine. But while you have zero problems stating what you want, you don’t seem to listen when I say what I need.”
It was a hard pill to swallow, even if it was something I needed to hear. “So what do you want from me?”
“Listen to me,” Jasmine said. “You two are hot as hell.”
I perked up a little bit. “Go on.”
“But your personality can ruin everything.” She shrugged and took a bite of toast. After swallowing, she said, “If you can listen to me, then this thing will work. If not, it’s going to all fall to pieces.”
“I can try,” I told her. “That’s the best I can do.”
“That’s what I’m asking for,” she responded. “Come here.” She stood and held out her hand. I stood and touched her cheek. Her skin was as smooth as butter. Her eyes were locked on mine. I could see a smile inside of them and thought about what color eyes our cubs would have. I hoped that they would have the warm chocolate brown eyes that she did.
“I’m willing to work with you,” she promised. “I’ll even be your mate. But if you can’t listen to me, then none of this will work.”
“I want this,” I told her. “Seriously.”
“Then I guess I’ll leave some bacon for the rest of you,” Blue said, getting to his feet. Suddenly I was gently but inexorably being pulled along with Jasmine into her bedroom. I could smell her scent along with Blue’s with a whopping side of bacon.
I pulled Jasmine’s pajamas off before I said, “I’m ready to eat another kind of breakfast.” I knelt and devoured her.
She moved her hips like she’d never felt anything so good. I went at it as she cried out over and over again. I ate her like I’d never see another meal in my life.
“No more,” she gasped after the dozenth orgasm. “I can’t take anymore pleasure.”
My wolf still wanted more, but today we needed to establish trust between us. I wrapped my arm around her and gently bit her shoulder before licking it. Blue bit and licked the opposite shoulder. Now she had our mate bond marked on her. My hand settled on the upper curve of her ass while Blue’s landed on the soft swell of her stomach.
“I promise you that we’ll try our best to make this work,” I said.
“So do I,” Blue said. “And I think she’ll be ready for Round Two in a few minutes. Just let her rest for a while.”
I became hyper-aware of everything happening in the bed. I could hear ever rustle of the sheets as Jasmine breathed. I was overwhelmed by how good she smelled right now. I was also aware that Blue was behind her, his hand gently traveling and exploring all of the rich, exposed skin. He cupped her breast and pinched her nipple gently. She bucked her hips against me.
“Are you ready?” Blue whispered in her ear.
In response, she raised her hand and touched the top of my hip. I shuddered under the rightness and warm glow that I felt spreading throughout my body. I’d never felt anything as good as my mate touching me.
“Yes,” she breathed. “I’m ready.”
I captured her mouth with mine as I began to rub her clit in a steady rhythm. She put her tongue in my mouth, taking control. I had no idea how hot it was for a woman to do that until that very moment. Blue was doing something that was causing her to buck harder and harder with each moment.
11
Resolution
JASMINE
I nearly screamed from the pleasure coursing through my body. Jasper had his mouth glued to mine while Blue had his fingers inside of my wet sheath. But as he stroked my G-spot, I nearly orgasmed. A half second before I reached my peak, he pulled his fingers out of me.
“Not yet,” he whispered in my ear.
I felt like I’d die if I didn’t finish. I pulled my top leg over Jasper’s hip and growled, “Now,” at him.
That’s all it took for him to guide himself inside of me. We looked into each other’s eyes as he slowed eased inside of my body for the first time.
It felt right. He was so large that my body burned as he pushed inside, but it was a good kind of burn. I could feel my body accepting him fully as he seated himself inside of my body.
“Blue,” he groaned.
“You trust us?” Blue asked.
“Yes,” I said. I was naked and in bed with them. And they’d already proven to me that they’d stop if necessary.
I felt something cold and wet pressing against my back door. I yelped, “Cold!”
“Relax, gorgeous,” Blue coaxed. “It’ll warm up soon.” His finger stopped probing at my back entrance as I felt something much thicker press against it.
“I’ve never done that before,” I cautioned him.
“Trust us,” Blue said before he eased inside of me. “Push out.”
I tried to breathe slowly. Jasper was making me stretch already. I didn’t feel like there was any room for Blue to fit inside of me, too, but I tried to let him push further inside of me. Finally, he made it past my sphincter in slid home.
“Perfect,” he praised me. Then he slid a little bit back before pushing back inside.
I couldn’t speak anymore. All I could do was feel as they pulled my body between their bodies in a rhythm that would stoke the fires in all of us. I closed my eyes, overwhelmed by what was happening. I felt like I was literally on fire, my bed about to combust at any moment. From the sounds that they were making, I knew that they felt it, too.
After a few minutes, I was reaching that peak that Blue refused to push me over before. And this time, they weren’t stopping. I screamed the loudest that I’d ever screamed in my life as I fell over the cliff. Their groans told me that they felt the same thing as they chased their own releases.
I was breathing like someone who had just run a marathon by the time that it was over.
“So what do you think?” Blue asked, as casually as if he wasn’t still inside of me. “You ready for the three of us?”
“I’m happy to be mated to both of you,” I answered. I kissed Jasper’s mouth then turned so that Blue could kiss me, too.
Shots
JASMINE
“Do you seriously want to come to the pediatrician’s office?” I ask
ed Jasper. “You know what happened last time.”
“I promise not to growl at any nurses,” he said. “It can’t get worse.”
I shook my head. “I’m glad that our pediatrician will even agree to keep looking after our boys,” I replied. “Blue can come, but you need to behave yourself. No growling at any nurses, even if they make your sons cry.”
I looked at our little angels, fast asleep. I loved every single inch of them, from their downy heads to their tiny toes. They had my dark hair and the blue eyes that their fathers had. Their skin looked beautifully brown.
“Will there be more shots today?” Jasper asked.
“Babies get a lot of shots, so you’re going to have to man up,” I retorted. “Blue can hold one and you can hold the other. Maybe that’ll help you control yourself.”
It tore my heart out when our little ones cried as the nurses stuck needles inside of them, but I considered the prospect of them dying from a preventable disease far worse than bearing the sound of their cries as they were stabbed with needles. Blue and Jasper tried to tell me that werewolf cubs didn’t get sick, but my sons were half human. I didn’t want to take any chances.
“I’ll get them in the car,” Blue said, picking up our boys. He kissed the top of one’s head while deftly maneuvering the other into the upper crook of his arm so he could still open the door. The babies cooed at him, making little sounds that meant that they were happy and content. It killed me to cause them any harm, but the harm of not taking them to the doctor exceeded the horrible minutes when they cried their lungs out. Blue had them strapped into their carseats in half the time it would’ve taken me. Werewolf speed was something I’d had to figure out, but once I got used to it, I appreciated how much easier it made everything.