But it all came down to one thing. She loved them and she couldn’t leave them. And the time had come to tell them.
She heard voices drifting from down the hallway. She’d hoped to find them all together. It was nearly eight p.m., and they probably thought she was in bed. They seemed to expect her to sleep twelve hours and still nap during the day. She moved closer to the open doorway and peeked in. They were all in there. Good.
Joe sat behind the desk, Garret was sprawled on the sofa, and Sawyer paced. She smiled at the scene. It was just how she would have pictured them.
Sawyer slammed his fist down on the desk, in front of Joe. This had to be his office. They hadn’t taken her on a proper tour yet. Hadn’t wanted to tire her out, apparently.
“Something has got to change. We cannot let her leave us.” His voice was filled with anger, but there was pain in there too. Her chest tightened.
“We can’t make her stay, Sawyer,” Garret said reasonably. But his voice sounded almost defeated.
Jesus, had she taken too long?
“We can. We lock her up until she agrees.” That was Sawyer. He never worried about bending the rules when it suited him.
“And have her hate us?” Joe asked him tiredly. “How will that help? We just need to wait. Georgina will come around.”
“And if she doesn’t, what then?”
Silence filled the room. Enough. She walked into the room. “I believe I can answer that.”
Joe stood. Both Sawyer and Garret turned to look at her.
“What are you doing?” Joe moved towards her but stopped before he touched her. “You should be in bed asleep.”
She sighed. It was a long, drawn out affair. “I’m not fragile, Joe.”
“Yes, you are.” Sawyer gave her a firm look. “And you were injured. You’re supposed to rest.”
“I’ve rested for three weeks. I’m sick of resting. And I’m tired of you all treating me like I’ll break from a touch. You’re tiptoeing around me and it’s got to stop.”
“You’ve been recuperating from a beating,” Joe pointed out stiffly. “How should we be treating you?”
She took a breath. Now or never. “Like a mate.”
They all froze. Then Garret stood. “You’ve decided?”
“Yes.”
“And?” Sawyer snapped.
“I want to be your mate.”
There was silence. Their reaction was a bit of a let-down. “I, at the very least, expected a smile.”
“Are you sure?” Joe whispered.
“I’m sure. I wasn’t to begin with. I was uncertain about all of this.” She waved her hand around. “Being with the three of you was hard enough to wrap my head around. Then you hit me with the shape-shifting stuff and the legend and the fact that you’re super old, and well . . . it was a lot to take in.”
Garret stepped toward her. “You’re going to be our mate.”
“I’m going to be your mate.”
He clasped her around the waist and swung her around. “Our mate!”
“Garret, put her down!” Joe roared.
Garret ignored him. But he did set her down then pulled her to him and kissed her. “Our mate. You’ll live here with us. Be ours. I get to fuck you whenever I want.”
She laughed. Because it was Garret, and sex was never far from his mind. Sawyer tugged her away from his brother, then cupped her face between his hands and kissed her as well. “I thought I was going to have to lock you in the dungeon until we made up your mind for you.”
She lightly punched him. “Just as well you didn’t, asshole. I’m going to have to work hard to keep you in line.”
He grinned. “Mating is forever. You’ll have plenty of time.”
She hoped so, she really did. She turned to Joe next. He watched her.
“Joe? Are you happy about this?” Uncertainty filled her.
His eyes widened? “Happy? No, I’m not happy. I’m dumbstruck. I can’t believe you’re saying yes. Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I’m sure.”
He drew her in gently, kissed her softly until her insides melted.
“There are a few stipulations though,” she told them.
“Uh-oh,” Garret said playfully. “She’s making demands already. She’s going to have us wrapped around her little finger.”
She raised an eyebrow. “And you’re complaining?”
“If he is, I’ll beat it out of him,” Sawyer promised her.
She patted his cheek. “That’s my wild man.”
“What are these demands?” Joe asked.
“Stipulations,” she repeated. “And they’re not that bad, so don’t look so worried. I just have a few things I need.” She took a deep breath. “I want to see my brother. Regularly.”
Joe nodded. “Of course. But if you wish to go to Oldstown, you will have one of us escorting you.”
She could compromise. “All right. That’s fine. I also don’t want to be locked up in this castle for years. It might be okay for you guys, but I want to be able to go out, see a bit of the world.”
They looked at each other. She thought this might be a sticking point, especially for Sawyer.
“I think we can manage that,” Joe said. “We’ve seen a lot of the world over the years, but it would be different exploring it with you.”
“If money is an issue, I can get jobs along the way—”
Garret waved his hand. “Money’s no issue. We’re loaded.”
She’d suspected it but hadn’t been sure. “You are?”
“Joe’s good with money,” Sawyer told her. “We have more than enough.”
“Well, in that case, can I do a bit of redecorating?”
“Redecorating?” Joe repeated. “Well, that might come with a cost.”
She placed her hands on her hips. “Oh, yeah, what cost?”
“I’m sure we can come up with a payment plan.” Garret winked at her.
“We’ll need to arrange the mating ceremony,” Joe told her. “We’ll get a high priest to come to bless us.”
“It makes things official,” Garret told her, taking her hand. “But in our hearts, you’re already our mate.”
“Okay, well, there’s one more thing.”
They waited.
“I want to see your bears.”
They all stared at each other.
“Is that a problem?”
“No, not a problem exactly,” Joe told her. “It’s just . . .” he broke off with a grimace.
“We don’t exactly have control over them yet,” Garret told her.
“What?”
Sawyer shrugged. “Joe has the best control. It seems that when we experience a high emotion our ability to keep them from surfacing shatters, and the bear takes over. Getting back to human form is more difficult.”
“Visualisation my ass,” Garret muttered.
“Oh,” she said. She wasn’t quite sure what to say, it wasn’t as though she had any experience with this sort of stuff. She was still having trouble wrapping her head around the whole “shifting into a bear” thing.
“We’re consulting with some bear shifters we know via email,” Joe told her. “But it’s taking a lot of practice to figure this all out.”
“Okay, then I guess I’ll wait.” She wrapped her arms around Garret’s neck. “Some things are worth waiting for.”
Garret smiled down at her. “They most certainly are.”
15
Two weeks. She fumed. Two weeks it had taken for that damn high priest to arrive and her men had done little more than some heavy petting with her. Oh, they’d given her a few orgasms, but they hadn’t even let her return the favor, let alone gone any further.
They’d been worried about injuring her and had wanted to give her time to heal properly so they’d decided to wait until the ceremony was complete for them to take her together. They hadn’t cared that they were killing her slowly with growing need. She wanted them so badly she could barely sleep. Her every thought
was of them. She woke up at night in the middle of a sex dream so turned on she couldn’t get back to sleep.
And worst of all, it hardly seemed to affect them at all. They’d been so busy working on their control over shifting that they hadn’t had time to get all worked up and horny. That pissed her off even more. Shouldn’t they be suffering just as much as she was?
A knock at the door had her turning with a snarl. She yanked the door open. “What?”
“Hello to you too, sunshine,” Carlin said calmly. “In a good mood today, I see.”
“No,” she replied even though it hadn’t been a question.
“Bridezilla strikes?”
They’d told her brother it was a wedding rather than a mating ceremony. The fact that her three husbands-to-be were bear shifters was a closely guarded secret. Of course, Carlin had had enough trouble with her marrying three men, finding out that they were shifters probably would have sent him over the edge.
“You can still back out. I can have you out of here before they even know what’s happened.” He smiled. “I’d enjoy that.”
She shook her head. The four men had an uneasy truce. Joe, Garret, and Sawyer had promised her brother they’d never hurt her, and he’d agreed not to murder them in their sleep. Although for once in her life, her money wasn’t on Carlin. Her men weren’t easily intimidated. Or killed.
But Carlin didn’t know they weren’t ordinary men, and she didn’t want him getting hurt.
“Carlin, I love them. I know it’s weird that I’m marrying all three, but it’s what I want. Please try to understand. As my only family, I want your blessing.”
Her brother sighed. “All right, I’ll stop trying to talk you out of it.” He looked her over. “You look beautiful.”
She looked down at the pink dress she wore. It was a little old-fashioned looking. It had a tight bodice, fitted sleeves, and then flared out from the hips into a full skirt. She’d found it in a closet in her room. Apparently, this room had once been their mother’s private space. When she’d tried it on, she’d known right away she wanted to get married—well, mated—in this dress.
“Thank you.”
He cupped her face between his hands. “I know I haven’t always shown it, haven’t always done the right thing, not even close most of the time, but I do love you, little sister. And I wish you all the happiness in the world.”
She blinked back tears. “Thank you.”
* * *
She looked nervously towards the high priest. He was an impressive looking man with shoulders about twice the width of hers and stood at least a head taller than Joe. He had a long, dark beard with flecks of gray and a lined face. Whether he’d gotten those lines from frowning or laughing she wasn’t sure. She had yet to see him do either.
“Hold your hands out, one on top of the other, with both of hers between yours.”
Sawyer extended his arm, holding his hand palm down.
“Put your hand on top of his, sweetheart,” Joe told her.
She placed her hand on top of Sawyer’s, immediately feeling calmer. Garret followed with his hand. She laid her other hand on top of his. It should have seemed awkward. Like some sort of pre-game ritual. But when Joe laid a hand on top of hers, they felt complete.
The priest started to mutter something and flicked some water from the jewelled cup he held. It was all very medieval and mystical but before she could start to feel silly, the room around her rocked. She gasped, her head spinning. She closed her eyes as hot, sharp light burst through her. Then before she could even gather the breath to scream, it was gone.
And she was sitting on the floor, her men looming over her.
“What the fuck just happened? What do you do to her?” Her brother’s voice sounded throughout the room. “Get out of my way.”
She looked over to see the priest talking quietly to her brother.
“Are you all right?” Joe asked her in concern as he crouched beside her.
“Maybe the ceremony isn’t meant to be done with a human?” Garret worried.
“Does anything hurt? Are you injured?” Sawyer shot the questions at her.
“I’m fine,” she told them. “In fact, I feel great. Different but great.”
She stopped for a moment, tried to figure out what was different about her. “I-I feel something. I don’t know what.” She closed her eyes then opened them slowly and looked at each of them. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I feel closer to you guys. Like inside.” She touched her chest. “Sounds silly, huh?”
“No,” Joe told her. “It sounds like the mating bond.”
“Really? But I’m human.” And she’d worried that meant they wouldn’t have a proper bond.
“Just because we don’t know if it’s been done with a human before doesn’t mean it couldn’t be done,” Joe told her. “And for each of us it’s different. To me it feels like pieces of a puzzle fitting in together.”
“For me it’s music,” Garret told her.
She looked over at Sawyer. “Chains, holding the three of you to me.”
She thought about it for a moment. “Golden ribbons.” She couldn’t see them exactly but that’s what it felt like. “Binding us together.”
Joe smiled. “I like that.” He glanced over his shoulder as her brother’s yells increased. “Come on, we better let your brother know that you’re all right before the high priest turns him into a frog.”
Her eyes widened. “He can do that?”
They all looked at her seriously for a moment before bursting into laughter.
“Assholes,” she muttered.
* * *
Gigi found herself unable to eat. The knot of nerves in her stomach made her feel nauseous. She jumped as Joe stood.
He reached over and grasped her shoulder, giving her a gentle smile. “Easy, baby.”
“Sorry, bit jittery.”
Sawyer snorted. “You’re acting like you expect us to jump you at any minute.”
“We do have more control than that, sweetheart,” Garret added.
She took a deep breath then let it out slowly. “Sorry. I’m being silly.”
“We know you’re nervous,” Joe told her. “Fact is, we’re a little nervous ourselves.”
“About sleeping with me?” she asked in surprise.
“There won’t be much sleeping going on,” Garret told her with a wink.
“And that’s not exactly why we’re nervous,” Joe added, giving his brother a look. Garret and Sawyer stood as well. Suddenly, they started to strip.
“Um.” She gave a shocked laugh. “Are we starting already? I kind of thought we’d go into the bedroom. I need to get changed and—” Then they were naked and standing in front of her, and her mouth went dry. Her heart raced and she felt a little light-headed. “Wow.”
“Why would you need to change?” Garret asked her. “You’re going to end up naked anyway.”
She licked her dry lips. “I-I—”
“We’re ready to show you,” Joe told her.
Show her? Show her what? Their impressive erections? She could already see them. She stared from one to the other. How they hell had she ended up here? With not one gorgeous hunk, but three? And they were all hers.
“Show me,” she said huskily.
Joe’s eyes darkened while Garret’s grin widened. Sawyer looked from her to his brothers. “Well?”
“I don’t think she’s talking about our bears, bro.” Garret smacked his hand down on Sawyer’s back.
“Oh. Right.” Sawyer looked her up and down. “Do you need help getting out of that dress?”
“Wait. You’re going to show me your bears?”
“We were,” Joe told her, stalking towards her. He reached down and plucked her from her chair. “That was before you looked at us like you were starving and we were chocolate cake.”
“I did not.” He carried her out of the room. “Although, I do love chocolate cake.”
“Uh-huh.”
Garr
et moved ahead of them, opening a door to a room she’d never been in. Not that that was any surprise, this place was huge. He led them into a big room with a truly enormous bed in the middle.
“This is the master suite,” Joe told her. “It’s where we’ll all come to be together. You can move in here if you like.”
It was lovely, but it wasn’t her room. She shook her head. “I like my room.” He set her down on the plush mattress. “Although, I can see that this does have its advantages. How big is this bed?”
Garret grinned and came towards her. “It’s big enough.”
He picked her up and threw her lightly into the middle.
“Garret, her ribs!” Joe barked.
“They’re fine, aren’t they, darling?” Garret asked as he crawled towards her. Holy fuck.
“Georgina?” Joe came to sit on her other side.
“What?”
“Are your ribs all right? If you need us to wait, we will.”
She licked her dry lips as she stared from one to the other. “If you wait any longer you will kill me. My ribs are fine. They don’t hurt me at all anymore. There’s only one part of me aching.”
“Poor baby,” Garret crooned. “Shall I kiss it better?”
Oh, hell, did she ever want that.
They rolled her onto her tummy, undoing the buttons on her dress and laying soft kisses over her back.
“You’re not wearing a bra,” Garret said, running his hand down her back.
“I didn’t need one.”
“Very naughty, makes me wonder if you’re wearing underwear.”
“Shall we find out?” Joe said. They rolled her back over and started pulling the dress down her body. Sawyer stood at the base of the bed, just watching. His thick erection told her he was liking the show.
The dress was pulled off her arms, exposing her breasts. She shivered as Joe brushed his hand over one tight nub.
“Fuck me,” she whispered.
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