Chapter Twenty-Six
Sylvia
I had three mates.
Three mates I loved very much.
Three mates who looked at me like I hung the stars.
Three mates who could talk to my wolf in a way no other shifter had ever done before.
And yet, here I was—waking up in my bedroom on my brother’s packlands.
Again.
I’d spent nights over there in the past couple of months since we’d mated, many nights, but I hadn’t managed to go from being mated to fully immersing my life there. And with each day that passed, I felt guiltier and guiltier about it.
They deserved a mate who could be fully present, and, for some reason, I wasn’t able to quite let go. And I didn’t know why.
I was finishing up a painting of their three wolves, when my brother came out with a mug of what I guessed was coffee.
“Thought you might be thirsty,” he said, holding it out for me.
I brought it to my lips, took a small sip, and instantly regretted it.
I held it tightly, hoping it looked like I was savoring it, not that it had just made my stomach turn. My brother was great at many things, but coffee wasn’t one of them. At least I thought this was coffee. It might be really bad tea. It was hard to tell.
“I’m gonna be kind of bold here, sis.”
I nodded.
“Why are you here? And don’t tell me the view is pretty. The view in your painting is not even from here. I can see the goat in the background, and those are your mates. So your body may be here, but your mind isn’t.”
Dang, he was observant.
I handed him back the mug and fished out my phone, typing away.
I don’t know.
It was the most honest answer I could give.
“Well, talking to me isn’t gonna make it any better. You should go back to your pack lands and talk to them.”
Their pack lands, I typed and held the phone to him.
“That’s what you say about these lands too, you call them mine, but you feel at home here.”
I wrinkled up my face, attempting to look pissed. With the way he chuckled, I failed epically.
Fine. I’ll go there and tell them you kicked me out of here.
“Whatever works. But do yourself a favor. I believe you that you don’t know why you can’t fully move there, but keeping it all inside isn’t going to help you discover the answers. Talk to them. The four of you can figure it out.” He paused. “Do you want a ride?”
I thought about texting to see if one of them was available and instead nodded.
Ten minutes later, I was being dropped off.
Talon was on the porch. His face lit up as he saw me, but his expression kept flicking to my brother in confusion.
“I’m just dropping her off. Have a pleasant afternoon, Talon.”
And away my brother went, just as quick to get out of my business as he’d been to get into it. Probably for the best.
I waited until all the guys came out, and I told them point-blank, I feel my home is here, but also I feel like it’s there.
Archer took both my hands in his. “Of course you do. He is your family, and he’d been ripped from you for so much of your life.
You will always have a home with him. But also…
you’re our mate, and you feel that too. I’d be lying if I said we didn’t want you here seven days a week, but we understand you’re giving us what you can. ”
My eyes welled up, their acceptance hitting me more deeply than it normally would.
“It wasn’t easy for me,” Dax said, stepping forward. “Starting life with Archer here… You know, we met at a diner, both of us working shit jobs, then he became my family. But losing everything multiple times growing up, it makes it hard to trust enough to grow some roots.”
I hadn’t thought of it that way, but it made sense.
Talon said, stepping closer. He reached up and cupped my cheek. “If you feel like you need to be both places and can never be fully present in either, we can talk about it more practically. Maybe we could find a way to buy bigger plots of land and ask your brother to join his pack.”
I shook my head. They absolutely did not need to give up their own autonomy just for me. I started to type in my phone that they didn’t need to do that when my stomach decided it was time to revolt.
I didn’t think I ever ran as fast as I did to that toilet, barely making it, embarrassed that my nerves had gotten the best of me while we were trying to have an adult conversation.
As soon as my stomach emptied, I felt better. I brushed my teeth and went out to see three very worried mates.
“Are you—” Dax asked.
I shrugged my shoulders in confusion. Was I what?
“Pregnant?” he clarified. “Are you pregnant?”
I hadn’t considered that, but looking back, I had been tired. This was not the first time I’d puked. And Goddess knew we were doing what it took to make a baby.
I shrugged again and typed on my phone. Let’s find out.
Talon must have broken every speeding limit there was, because he came back from the store in record time with an entire bag filled with different pregnancy tests.
I took the first one, not even looking at the rest, and had it open and peed on within a minute. And then came the wait.
One line showed up instantly. The second after about thirty seconds. Might as well have been a year, the way time slowed to a near stop.
They said to wait for three minutes, but there was no way my eyes were going to tear away from that thing.
And when it announced I was pregnant, I ran out and told them.
But I didn’t tell them by showing them the stick. The words came out of my mouth.
And it was hoarse and scratchy. It didn’t sound like I remembered me sounding, but they were definitely my words.
“How—how?” I asked.
Talon said softly, “No word shall be spoken until you are safe and free, my princess. The spell…it had an ending point. I don’t know why I didn’t see that earlier.
You’ve always been safe and free with us, but for whatever reason, this news, this wonderful, amazing news, was what it took for you to feel it too. ”
I was enveloped by three alphas, all of us crying tears of joy.
We were having a baby.
And as unbelievable as it was, that news was a million times better than being able to speak again.
We were going to have a family, my mates and I.
Fate may not have given me the best growing up, but she was making up for it now.