Chapter 22
OBERON
This can not be happening!
“Oberon.” Who else would I be? My hair might be longer than my brothers’ but no one would look at the three of us and not instantly know we were kin.
“Oh.”
And that was when his scent hit me… hit me like a truck. My cock started to fill, my heart began to thump loudly enough for me to hear, and my bear was on full alert.
Mine.
Mate.
Mine.
Claim.
Stop. He is the tenant. At least I assumed he still was. The guy looked ready to bolt.
Was it just because I said he was mine and Huston’s?
Humans didn’t use the word the same as we did.
I needed to clarify it with him, but more importantly I needed to stay away from him.
I couldn’t just rush up to a human and claim them as mine, not with my teeth the way I yearned to.
There was no way this was going to end well. None.
“Oh.” He dropped his hands in front of his jeans, in an awkward pose that could only mean one thing—he sensed it too. He probably didn’t know what the pull he felt was. It was there, though,
I moved to be as far from him as I could while still being in the same room. In my head it would make things easier. My head was wrong.
“I thought maybe you were Huston at first.” And just like that he brought me back to reality.
Candrin couldn’t be mine. Huston had told me they were mates. Had the omega’s scent not completely overtaken all of me, I’d have realized that from the get go.
But it didn’t make sense. My brother wouldn’t lie to me. His bear sensed this man was his mate. And yet— mine did too. Maybe it was the human and not us. Maybe he was some weird anomaly that attracted all shifters.
“I’m Candrin. I live here.” He didn’t move from his spot as he repeated the info he’d already given me, almost as if he was pretending our first interaction hadn’t happened.
“I heard.”
I was torn. Did I stay and talk to him, determine if we had a connection besides his delicious scent or did I run out back and let my bear loose hoping it would shake the desire from him? What I wanted to do was cross the room and taste his lips.
My phone started to ring in my pocket. I ignored it. Whomever it was could leave a message.
“I’m going to go… I’m going,” he stammered, his arousal now deepening his scent.
Every fiber in my being wanted to cross over to him, to let him know that it was fine that he was feeling the way he did. Let him know it was natural— only it wasn’t. How could it be if my brother claimed him as his mate also?
My phone started going off again. This time Candrin pointed to my pants, “Get that?”
I pulled it out and before I could answer, Candrin was out of the room. I looked down to see it was Tanner. Maybe it was for the best. At least I could talk to him. If it was Huston, I didn’t know what I’d do.
“What?” I didn’t mean to snap at my brother, but with my beast so close, I was grateful that I hadn’t growled.
“Are you home yet?”
“Just. What do you want?” I was being a dick. Most people considered me the happy go lucky brother. I usually was. But right now I was barely holding it together.
Mate.
Find.
Go.
“Hold on. Let me get where I can talk.” Or at least I wasn’t completely surrounded by my mate’s scent. No, not my mate. Huston’s mate. Or worse, neither of ours.
I bolted across the room and then out of it, not stopping until I was surrounded by fresh air. I sucked in breath after breath as if my life depended on it. I had to clear his scent and calm my beast down.
Mate.
Claim.
Ours.
My plan was failing epically.
“Huston and I need to see you,” Tanner said.
“Good thing I’m home.” Or was it?
“We are at the hotel on Main. Come and meet us.” He wasn’t asking. “Room 213.”
“I can’t.” My bear was pissed I was this far away from Candrin. There was no hope of me getting into the car. “Keep Huston from the house.”
At the end of the day he was my brother. We would have to figure out something—something that wouldn’t hurt him. Ignoring my bear wasn’t going to be feasible for long. I’d never felt him this forceful before. He didn’t like my actions and he wanted to take control.
“We’ve both been needing to stay away,” he all but whispered.
What the fuck did that mean?
“Excuse me?” Maybe I heard him wrong.
“We have the same problem.”
“As in you both think he’s your…” I couldn’t bring myself to say the word. It felt wrong to say it in relation to someone else. but it wasn’t just somebody else. It was my brothers. And that made things exponentially more complicated.
“Yeah. We’re on our way.”
“I’ll be out back. My bear is having ummm… a moment.” If I didn’t leave now, I was going to fur out here.
“A moment?”
“Just get here. We’ll talk about our pain in the ass beasts when you do.” I was already walking towards the back of the house. “Hurry.”
My skin was tingling, my bear more in control than I’d felt since I was a teen during my first shift. This wasn’t good.
I started to jog until I was behind the shed and could strip my clothing without Candrin seeing. That was if he was looking. Was he peering out the window, trying to catch a glimpse, his every thought focused on me?
Shaking off the thoughts, I stripped and let my bear loose, forcing him to run away from the house. It took all of my energy, which was oddly a good thing. That kept me from thinking about the current situation my brothers and I found ourselves in.
The sound of the car pulling into the driveway alerted me to them being home and I ran back to where my clothing was and waited.
It took longer than I anticipated and I was just about to shift back and get them when they rounded the corner, Tanner’s posture all Alpha and bossy.
Great. That better not be at me. It wasn’t as if I could pick who my beast decided was mine.
“House. Now.” Tanner commanded and I shifted, threw my clothing on, and followed them inside, no one speaking.
Once we were there, Huston called to Candrin who was coming down the stairs. Was he waiting for me to come back? My brothers? Or worse, was he about to leave?
“You’re all here.” He stopped midway down the steps. “Do I need to move out? I can.”
My beast growled inside me, my eyes no longer my own. My bear didn’t like the notion of our mate leaving. I didn’t either, but Candrin was human and humans were not the same as us. And there was also the whole all three of us scenting him as ours thing.
“No!” Huston’s voice boomed. He too was more bear than human.
“Out. Shift.” Tanner demanded, his teeth clenched and his voice possibly too low for Candrin to hear from where he was. “Before you do something stupid.” This part was a little bit louder.
Tanner wasn’t usually a bossy dick like this, but then again I could scent his bear. He was close to the edge, just not quite as close as Huston and I were.
“Now.”
Huston ran out the front door and I could hear the ripping of his clothing, his bear was already loose and the human was just standing on the staircase looking at us bewildered.
“You too Oberon. I can see your beast.” Tanner was right, I needed to leave too. But I couldn’t, my bear refused to listen.
Outside. Now. We don’t want to hurt our mate.
Ours.
Mate.
Ours.
Claim.
Tanner grabbed me by the arm and started to tug, a growl building in my chest, my feet still holding firm.
“You don’t want to hurt him.”
That had my feet moving and my bear even more insistent. He dragged me bit by bit, but not quickly enough. My bear taking his fur, my clothing shredding to pieces, my four paws thumping to the floor, the room shaking.
“Fuck!” Tanner cried out.
I’d apologize later, when I could manage to get my skin back. But for now I was trapped, my beast too big for the doorway. The situation couldn’t get any worse.
Only it did. Tanner’s expletive wasn’t about me shifting. Not exactly, anyway. He was half way up the stairs, holding a passed out Candrin. I did that. I broke my mate, put him in danger. Had Tanner not caught him, he could’ve toppled down and broken his neck.
Give me back my skin.
Mate.
Yes, he’s our mate and he needs us. He needs me to help him. You scared him so much his body crumbled. I thought I might be able to help him see the error of his ways and to give me my control back. I was wrong.
My bear tipped his head toward the ceiling and let out a growl.