by Lia Davis
His head perked up, and I swore the beast gave a short nod. They were more intelligent than I'd thought. Meda smirked at the hound. "Good. Now, tomorrow is the full moon. Our lycan sentries will be going with Tala, Ami, and myself to the Collective Estate for our monthly moon run. It’s the only time we can let our wolves out and we need the time for our sanity. I prefer the vampires and witches stay on campus and watch out for the crazy-demon-bitch."
I stood and yawned. I’d been up all night, and I was fucking tired. "Well, I’m not going to class today." Then I realized we had History and Shifter History today. "Tell Paw…" I met Fenton’s gaze and sighed. What the hell was I going to tell my parents? What would they tell Paw? That I was up all night with my Mixology teach, then we fought off Hellhounds? No, our niswi didn’t need to find out about my mates or that Calista was back in that way. "Fuck it. I’ll shower and meet y'all in class."
Chapter Eight
"Class isn't for another four hours," Meda said. "I'm napping."
I looked at my mates, all three under one roof. We really needed to sit down and discuss how the dynamic was possibly going to work.
As Meda and her mates and Ami and her mates walked out of the room, I decided the night had been too eventful. We could wait another day to figure out the logistics of our brand new relationship.
"I'm going to nap as well. The three of you are welcome to join me, but the bed isn't really big enough for four."
Randell glared at Kevin. "I'll pass." He stood and walked over to where I still sat on Fenton's lap. Pressing a kiss to my cheek, he didn't say anything, but I knew he wasn't mad. Just uncomfortable.
"It'll come with time," I whispered. He nodded and walked out of the room.
"Me, too, actually," Kevin said, hopping up. "I'm hungry and horny, and like I told you last time, the first time will be special. And not shared," he said, pointedly staring at Fenton. "Nor will it be rushed."
He leaned over and pressed a kiss to my other cheek. "No offense, man," he said, looking at Fenton.
"None taken."
I watched him walk out of the room with my chin on the floor. "He's going to be trouble," I said.
"He came with that reputation."
Twisting around to look at Fenton, I furrowed my brow. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, they sent some warning to the teachers about him being related to Trinity, and how we needed to keep a close eye on him."
"Trinity," I said flatly.
He nodded.
"The Trinity?"
"Yup."
"Son of a bitch. My mate is related to the vampire that nearly got my mom and niswi killed."
"Seems that way."
"I wonder if he knows," I mused, looking toward the door. "He did tell me something about having family problems."
"It seems highly likely he does."
Spending some time with my mysterious mate became more important. I'd have to carve out some time, and soon. With the possibility of an attack imminent, I had no idea when I'd be able to make it happen.
The day went by in a blur, and as soon as my classes were over, I went straight back to my dorm and slept. I woke up in time to go back to the manor for our run. The moon was already high in the sky and the urge to shift was strong. I stuck my head in the sentries’s dorm and eyeballed Harper. "Hey," I called. "Do me a favor?"
"Anything for you, babe." She gave me a big smile.
"Will you look Kevin up and kinda get to know him? As a vamp, you guys may end up thrown together along with Elijah and Dorian."
"I was thinking about that." She hopped up and banged on one of the bedroom doors as Randell came out of his bedroom. "Hey, Elijah, let's go make friends."
Randell walked the mile to the compound with me. The silence between us was comfortable. "I need to get to know Kevin," I said. "He's a mystery."
"I've looked into him." He didn't sound worried.
"You know who he's related to?"
He nodded. "From what I can tell, he never even met her. She was his cousin."
"Well, that's something. Should I be concerned?" I trusted his opinion.
"I think you should talk to him. Use your powers to feel him out. You'll see."
"You're right." I took his hand. "I have to tell the niswi tonight."
With a sigh, he looked down at me. The urge to shift was as strong on him as it was me as we walked under the powerful moon toward our waiting pack. I could see it in his eyes. We picked up the pace and soon caught sight of Ami and Meda ahead of us. Elijah and Harper, as vampires, stayed back on campus, but Noah and Peter walked with my sisters.
I hoped Harper was making headway with Kevin. It would be nice if they could all be friends.
By the time the rest of the pack came into sight in the massive field behind the manor, Randell and I were racing each other.
I decided to give his ego a boost and slowed my run by a hair so he entered the field first. Grinning, I slowed to a stop.
"You let me win!" He rounded on me, pissed. His yell caught the attention of my parents, all but Dad standing in front of the members of the pack that had turned up to run with us.
Papa headed our way. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, Papa, but is Dad nearby?"
"He's at the house."
I didn't want to tell them about Randell, Fenton, and Kevin without all of them being present. "Nah, I have something to talk about, but it can wait until Sunday."
Shrugging, he turned to get the group ready to run when I remembered the hellhounds.
"Oh, wait. I do need to tell you one thing. We should've called earlier, but--"
He cut me off. "The hellhounds?"
Nodding, I looked at Randell. How'd he know?
"Meda called this morning."
"Oh, good. Well, Sterling is working on changing the ward so that Calista can't teleport in."
"We've got more sentries on campus. We're pretty safe tonight with most of the pack here, but we called in extra vamps and witches to patrol the campus while we're running."
I was glad to hear it. I would've hated for Calista to get one over on us while we were shifted. Surely she wasn't stupid enough to try it, though. We were in close proximity for our run, and a shifted lycan was something to be reckoned with.
My mom's voice rose above the din of the crowd. "Everyone ready?"
A huge cheer rose from the waiting lycans, eager to get shifted and run. "You know the rules. No biting anything that can think for itself!"
Most of the crowd laughed and began stripping. I jogged over to the large bush my sisters and I had claimed as our own as children. It hid our naughty bits from the general population. Most of them weren't terribly shy, and we weren't either, really, but everyone was curious about us and tried to peek to see if we were identical all over.
We were.
Once we laid our clothes out, we shifted quickly, eager to get out into the woods and run.
I loped around the bush, shaking my fur out. The first few minutes of being shifted were always exhilarating, adrenaline coursing through my veins. I hopped around, my sisters doing much the same, and looked for Randell.
He was on the other side of the bush, shaking his head as the shift completed. As soon as it was, he raised his nose to the air, sniffing, then brought his black-eyed gaze over to me.
Loping my way, he chuffed, greeting me by touching his nose to mine.
I'd been very interested to see how this went. I was an alpha, and the only other alphas I recognized were Meda and my mom. Even Ami and my niswi were my betas. Not that I'd ever pull rank on them, of course. Probably.
Randell had a strong alpha personality, on top of being a lycan alpha as well.
The hierarchy of the lycans was convoluted at best. Randell was under my mom's instruction as my sentry, and even a direct order from me wouldn't override one of hers. However, as my mate?
I didn't know what was going to happen.
Or if we'd have to establish dominance tonight. May
be we could just play.
That would be nice. I turned from my mate and ran off, but stopped after a few feet and turned back, bouncing around playfully.
He took the bait, following me closely. I dodged and ducked, never quite letting him catch me.
Before I knew it, we were deep in the forest with nobody around. I stopped running and let him catch me, nuzzling against him. He needed to know I felt affectionate toward him. He couldn’t ready my emotions the way I could his. I’d have to make a point to actually show each of my mates how I felt about them as my feelings grew and changed, as they inevitably would.
We played that way for a long while, chasing each other then reversing and running. After a while, I caught the scent of a rabbit, so we had fun hunting and eating.
The urge to fuck had never hit me while shifted. I wondered if it had to do with the fact that we were totally naked in a way. Sure, there was fur, but if lycans wanted to have sex the whole time we were shifted, we'd never get anything else done.
A howl echoed through the forest, our signal to bring it back in.
We ran in shifts when we did pack runs, and checked in often. It was too easy to be discovered, especially when so many of us shifted together. We didn't look like natural wolves, not up close, so if someone came across a human they'd be in danger of exposing the entire race.
We met back at our bush, slipping our dresses over our heads. We'd learned very young that dresses or robes were the easiest thing to wear to a pack run. In and out quickly.
"I think I want to call it a night," I said, watching Randell over the bush. He had zero shyness and changed in front of the rest of the pack. I slipped my panties on and walked around the bush. He was putting his tee on. "Ready?"
"You're done?" He looked surprised.
"Yeah, with everything going on, I really want to be on campus, close to everyone."
They were there alone without any lycans around. It made me feel vulnerable.
"I'm with you," Meda said. "I want to be near Sterling and Dorian."
"Yeah," Ami said. "Harper will be happy to see us back so soon."
We hadn't discussed the Ami, Harper situation. Same-sex fated mates happened, but they weren't very common and still had some stigma in the community.
Having one of the famous triplets with a same-sex fated mate hopefully would help considerably.
We walked back as a group, comparing kills and romps. Meda and Peter had bagged a deer and shared it with the parental units, but Ami and Noah had gone farther than anyone, it seemed. Ami loved to run when shifted.
"I guess we're the middle of the pack," I told Randell, putting my hand in his.
"Middle is fine, as long as you're with me." He smiled down at me affectionately.
I leaned away from him, giving him an impressed look. "Nice," I said. "Smooth."
"I'm more than a pretty face."
We laughed and teased our way back to the building. As we climbed the stairs, I remembered the hellhound. "As soon as we check on everyone, we need to name the dog."
"Ohhh, yeah," Meda said. "I've got ideas."
Randell and Noah peeled off to check their dorm and bring everyone around. "If they're asleep, let 'em sleep," Ami said. "No need to wake everyone."
"They're not asleep," Randell said with a laugh. "None of us felt good about separating."
I peered over his shoulder. Sure enough, all our vampires were crowded in the room with the witches, seated around a table playing poker.
"Come over when you're done if you want," I called into the room, inviting anyone that wanted to come.
"We're done," Fenton said, rising from the table. Everyone else followed.
Meda opened the door to our dorm, looking back at us. "I can smell him. He smells like woodsmoke and something that's familiar, but won't come to me."
"The hellhound?" Sterling asked from behind me. We all crowded Meda, but she'd stopped inside the door.
I pushed forward to see what the hold up was. Following her line of sight, I froze and felt Ami do the same beside me as we took in the man sitting on the couch.
"Another one?" Meda breathed. "No way."
"What are you talking about?" I couldn’t take my eyes away from the man sitting on our couch. "How can you tell?" As soon as the words left me, the feeling washed over me. Connection. Home. Family. Mate.
"After the first three, I think I know when I'm looking at one of my mates."
"Sorry, ladies," Ami said, her breathy voice gone totally serious. "That's my third mate."
"Shut the front door," I whispered.
Someone behind me shut the fucking door. "Asshole," I called, a hundred percent sure it had been Elijah.
Pushing Meda forward and reaching behind me at the same time, I jerked the door open again. "Not literally!" I didn't spare them a second glance. "Whoever did that is a jackass."
Elijah snickered. "You've definitely called me that before."
"Get in here and help us sort this out."
I continued to push Meda forward until the three of us stood in front of the stranger. He sat in the middle of our couch, with black hair, dark olive-toned skin, and the most beautiful teal eyes I'd ever seen. If the eyes weren't enough to give him away, the silver streaks in his hair would've.
"You're my hellhound," I whispered. "A shifter."
"Wow," Ami sighed. "And you're my mate."
"Ami," Meda said, sounding awfully annoyed. "He's not your mate. That's not possible."
"Ladies," the teal-eyed man said, smiling at the three of us. "If my extensive knowledge on the subject is correct, I am mate to all three of you."
"That's gonna be fucking awkward," I said.
"No." Dorian was surely not the first of all of our mates that would protest. "Three's company. Four's a fucking crowd. The bed is about to fall to the ground as it is."
Randell snorted. "No lie."
"Someone tell me this," I said, confused as hell. "Why am I so certain he's my mate, but also I don't feel the compulsion to fuck him?"
"That would be because I'm asexual." The hellhound look immensely self satisfied. I was confused.
"A-who now?" I leaned forward. I'd heard the term, but hearing it applied to someone that I knew was my mate as surely as I knew water was my element was throwing me way off.
"I don't feel sexual desire. None of my brethren do. We mate to procreate, of course, but that is more of a... task than a pleasurable encounter."
Well, that was a new one to me. My jaw dropped. "How are you here?"
"Well, I came at the request of your grandfather. The mating bond aspect is as much of a surprise to me as it is you."
"Did you feel it as a hound?" Ami asked, cocking her head at him. "Can I touch you?"
"I wish you would."
We surged forward together, all three of us apparently feeling the urge to put our hands on him. Meda sat on one side, and Ami on the other. I sat on the coffee table facing him. The three of us had a hand on him, my sisters on his arms and me on his knees.
"I've never had a mate," he said. "But it's been described to me. This seems normal, the desire to touch, except it would ordinarily only be only one of you."
Once I had a hand on him, I was able to look away. I glanced behind me to see our entire group of sentries and mates huddled together in the doorway, each with a face full of shock.
"Come on in, if you're not used to weird by now you haven't been with us long enough."
Kevin raised his hand. "Not used to weird."
"Well, sorry, dear. It only gets weirder from here." I smiled at him to try to encourage him. The last thing I needed at this point was for him to run. I'd make a point to spend some time getting to know him, and soon.
"So, does that mean your grandfather sent the hellhounds to attack if he sent this one?" Fenton brought up a good point.
"Yeah, how'd that happen? Oh, and what's your name?"
"I'm called Phenex. Your grandfather had a vision that hellhounds would a
ttack, but his vision ended at the standoff, probably before Meda commanded us to stop. He didn't know who would send us or when. Lucifer contacted me and asked me to go along with the group if we happened to be summoned."
"Who summoned you?" I asked.
"Calista."
Of course. "Well, we could've guessed that. What else can you tell us?"
"Not much. I would've helped stop the other hounds had you not been able to make them stand down. When hellhounds are summoned, shifter hounds have the ability to refuse the call or come as our moods take us."
"So, you came to help, and turns out you're our mate?" Meda looked a little bit overwhelmed. "But, sex won't be a factor, though we still want to be near you, touch you, be affectionate with you?"
He pursed his lips. "Sounds about right, as far as I know it."
"How old are you," Ami asked with narrowed eyes. "You feel like time."
"How does someone feel like time?" I asked her.
"I...I have no idea," she whispered. "I don't know where it came from, but he feels so old."
"I am two hundred and fifty years old," he said proudly. "We have extended life, but can choose to start aging if we meet our mates."
"So, you'll grow old with us physically?"
The thought of him dying broke my heart. "This is really intense. And I didn't sleep last night. I'm going to bed. Any of my mates is welcome to join me, but I'm sleeping. No hanky-panky." Standing, I stretched, suddenly exhausted.
"As hanky-panky is already off the table for me, would you mind if I join you? It would be nice to be connected to someone."
"Sure," I said, suddenly eager to curl up with him. "Why not?" Turning, I was faced with all three of my mates.
"Are you sure about this?" Randell looked pissed, and Kevin stood beside him, looking equally stubborn. Fenton didn't look much better on Randell's other side.
"Oh, suddenly you three are best friends? If he was in dog form, you wouldn't blink an eye." Pushing past them, I opened my bedroom door. "Either come and sleep or go away."
Holding the door open for Phenex, I glared at the three of them. "Get used to the weird." It was who we were, Phenex’s asexuality notwithstanding. Hell, my sisters and I were going to share a hellhound shifter mate. Weird.