21. Ava
Ava
I woke to the sounds of arguing in another room.
It was muffled, and I couldn’t make out all of the words, but I sensed the fear and anger reverberating through the bond.
Poe’s bond. I touched the mark on my neck and smiled before the pain from my ribs caught up to me.
Just as I tried to push myself upright, a sharp tug yanked at my heart.
Something had happened to my mate, and before I could question it, another dominant presence took root, twisting around my magic like an invisible thread.
Lycan.
It resonated with the tiny bit of him still inside me, kicking up dust and embers.
“Poe?” I called. “Is that Lycan?”
The door opened, and the sight of a tall, silver-haired male made me relax. His eyes swept over me as he leaned against the doorjamb and crossed his arms. His lips were red and swollen, like he’d rushed to wipe something off them before confronting me.
He sucked through his teeth and shook his head. “I’m very disappointed with you, Trouble.”
“Well, I’m so happy to see you, I don’t care.” I sank back against the pillows and held out a hand for him.
He huffed and pushed upright, stalking toward me.
I watched the sway of his hips and the careful way he walked, like a man who knew he was the most powerful thing in any room he walked into.
He sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped his fingers around my palm, bringing my knuckles to his lips for a gentle kiss.
“You scared me,” he said. “Don’t do it again.”
I smiled and closed my eyes to relish the connection.
He smelled like cedar and outside and sunshine…
and faintly of blood…Poe’s blood. When I looked at him again, I noticed the crimson drips on his black T-shirt.
Had he hurt my mate because of what we’d done?
Had he taken out my impulsiveness on the wrong person?
I should have been ashamed of how badly I wanted him, both of them, especially since I’d been mated for less than twenty-four hours.
“Where’s Poe?” I asked, glancing toward the door.
“I imagine he’s in the bathroom, trying and failing to wipe away any trace of me.” Lycan shifted his hips and scooted closer. “You’ve been a very naughty girl.”
“Did you hurt him?” I couldn’t keep the accusation from my tone.
My wolf reared up, ready to destroy him if I had to.
Even if I was technically married to Lycan, my instincts still propelled me to protect my mate.
Poe was mine. I was his. It was confusing and complicated, but that made it even more perfect.
Lycan licked his lips. “No. Not much.”
“It was my fault,” I said. “I bit him first. I wanted… Well, I don’t really know what I wanted. I got carried away.”
I remembered wanting to do it, and wanting Lycan to be there, and wanting Lycan to see for reasons I couldn’t fully understand.
He dragged his knuckles down one of my cheeks. “Shh. Poe told me.”
“What did you do to him?”
Before Lycan could answer, Poe walked into the room and froze, his gaze darting between the two of us. I focused on the fresh bite mark on his neck, still swollen and angry, and a hot streak of jealousy roared through me. I looked at Lycan, his crimson lips, the flush in his cheeks.
Oh.
It all fell together like tumblers in a safe. Lycan had seen my bite mark, gotten pissed, and bit Poe as retaliation. Suddenly, I didn’t know whether I was upset that Lycan had marked Poe or that he hadn’t marked me.
A sharp pang rattled under my ribs, and the thought that I might lose them both made me catch my breath.
Lycan had chosen Poe. Wasn’t that what I wanted?
Wasn’t that the whole point? Hadn’t I been trying to get them back together, knowing I would fade into the background, merely a footnote in their reconciliation arc?
Poe stiffened and stepped back, preparing himself to be thrown out of the room.
“No,” I said, holding up my free palm. “Come here. Please.”
I couldn’t deal with his absence, not again, and I wouldn’t have him thinking I didn’t want him. Maybe I’d marked him in the heat of the moment, but the choice had been made long before I understood what it meant.
Poe crossed the room and sat on the other side of the bed to wrap his fingers around mine.
“We need to talk about this,” I said.
“Trouble,” Lycan cut in. “You need to rest.”
“I’m fine,” I said. Yes, my ribs were killing me, and yes, the faint trace of silver still circulating in my blood made my muscles hurt, but the healer had done a good job, and the bond to Poe resonated in those aching places.
This was important. We needed to clear the air, to find out where each of us stood.
I let go of Poe’s hand and touched the fresh bite mark on his neck.
He winced and turned his head into my hand before closing his eyes and sighing.
“What does this mean?” I asked, shifting my attention to Lycan. “Is Poe your mate?”
The answers came at the same time—a clipped “No” from Poe and a stern “Yes” from Lycan.
Poe pursed his lips and directed a hard look at my husband, who inhaled through his nose and raised an eyebrow in the distinctly disapproving way that meant he was about two seconds from yanking Poe across his lap and spanking his ass with his belt.
“I’ve never heard of two shifters biting the same person,” Poe said. “My wolf could reject one.”
“He won’t,” Lycan said, his eyes starting to glow.
“And you fucking know everything, do you?” Poe spat. “The center of the universe. Takes what he wants and fuck everyone else. You didn’t even want to be mated.”
“Enough,” I cut in. “There’s something between us. The three of us. I feel it. I know you both do, too.”
Poe squared his jaw and shifted his attention to the bed. Lycan smirked and moved to sit beside me against the headboard, his shoulder brushing mine, his bonding scent so heavy it almost intoxicated me. I leaned my head against him and nuzzled into his arm.
“I don’t know of any shifter with two bite marks, no,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.”
Poe looked between us. “Fuck, I should have just stayed in Montana. None of this would have happened.”
“Well, tough,” I said. “You’re here, and I’m thankful for it. Now, let’s figure this out.”
Poe shifted his weight so he was on my other side, the heat from his body radiating into my side.
My wolf hummed in the back of my mind, now surrounded by her two favorite people.
She felt safe. Protected. Adored. Yes, it was a mess, and yes, the emotional stakes were high, but how could this not be perfect?
Poe’s pheromones mixed with Lycan’s in a delicate blend of woods and leather and male, complementing each other so perfectly, I almost moaned.
“How do you feel, Poe?” I asked.
He swallowed and looked up at the ceiling, opening his mouth while he searched for the right words. “Okay, I guess.”
“You have to give me more than that,” I said. Even though I sensed his contentment and frustration through our bond, I wanted him to say the words out loud. I wanted him to admit it to himself, to all of us.
“It’s…itchy,” he said. “In my soul. Like something’s half complete. Like I need to finish the job.”
“You’ll need to mark me back,” Lycan explained, “for the bond to fully form.”
“Is that what you want?” Poe snapped.
“Is that what you want?” Lycan retorted.
“Don’t answer a question with a question,” Poe replied.
“Why? You fucked my wife and bit her neck. I think I deserve a little leeway.”
“And then you marked me,” Poe said. “You didn’t even ask—”
“I want both of you,” I said, mostly to distract them.
They obviously had a lot of things to work out between them, but if I didn’t get the upper hand in the conversation, we’d be here all night.
“I think I’m supposed to be with both of you.
I think you’re supposed to be with each other. We’re all supposed to be together.”
My confession was met with a heavy silence that sucked all the air out of the room. Lycan ran a hand over his face, and Poe made a humorless laughing sound.
“Matings don’t work like that,” he said.
“Shifters are notoriously possessive. Two dominant males have been known to tear each other apart to get to their female, and two females?” He blew out a breath and shook his head.
“Anyone who thinks males are more ferocious has never seen two female shifters in a fight.”
I opened my mouth to argue, to insist that my wolf understood this situation better than any of our human sides, but Lycan’s phone rang and stopped my train of thought. He reached into his pocket and answered when he realized it was Kodiak.
“Hey,” Lycan said. “What’s the plan?”
“I’m sending Orion and a team to you. I’ve managed to secure a Harlot and her warrior for the trip,” he said.
“Everything you’ve already done falls apart if you don’t get Scott, so we have to risk confronting her there.
Head to London. It was the next stop on the tour, and Evelyn will expect you to go there. ”
Lycan pinched the bridge of his nose. “So we’re drawing her out?”
Kodiak paused, perhaps sensing what Lycan wasn’t saying. We were bait. I was bait.
“She’s been tracking you for weeks, and we don’t know how,” he said.
“There’s a Bastards chapter in London who will let us use one of their townhouses in St. Albans as a base.
Orion will be there tomorrow morning. I can’t send Morwyn.
We’ve got too many shifters in the medbay, but Aquila’s been showing signs of the healing gift.
I’m sending him instead. Pack up your shit and hit the road. Keep a low profile.”
“We still have our emergency kits,” Poe said, pushing to his feet. “I’ll get Locust and Bow.”
“Turn your phones off,” Kodiak said. “Reach out to Orion from the burner when you get there.”
“Got it,” Lycan said. “Did Channing dig up anything else about Evelyn’s background or why she’s on this manhunt?”
Kodiak sighed, and Poe stiffened next to the bed.
“We’re working on it,” he said. “I’ll fill you in when I know more.”