Chapter Twenty
Birch
“Is there room to shift here?” I asked after Zephyr returned, since we were at a point in the night where things were getting heavy. Maybe a pause to think over things would be good for all of us. Zephyr as a human, and Cypress and me as wolves.
My wolf had plenty of things to say about tonight and what had transpired.
Without him, there was no proceeding.
“There is room to shift out back.” Cypress stood and I could sense he was as ready as I was to work off some steam, and not in the way I had fantasized about in my head.
Zephyr pulled her hair up, wrapping it this way and that until it made a complicated nest on the top of her head. Blonde tendrils framed her face, and I didn’t think it possible, but the small change had made her even more beautiful.
But her smile turned downward, and she looked at the backyard as if it had offended her.
“The two of you? Shifting?”
Poor Zephyr. If I could be like a book or a movie, I would turn her so she could shift with us. Join us. Have the second part of the bond with…wait a minute. We hadn’t even mated, and I was longing for a bond.
This was why we needed time to think. To process.
“Is that okay?” Cypress whispered in her ear, but I heard his words just fine.
“It’s fine. I need a moment anyway.”
He kissed her cheek, but she moved to kiss his lips instead. Her eyes met mine, and I felt not one bit of jealousy. Not that I had any reason to. She wasn’t mine. Yet.
Mine. Ours. Mate. Ours.
Ours? She could be ours.
I winked at her and her scent floated toward me. Approval. Oh, she liked that. The winking turned her on.
Noted.
“Go on, then.” She stood and put her hands on her hips. I wished they were my hands instead. “Let me see the big bad wolves.”
Cypress moved away from her into the grass and shifted first. His wolf was as it always had been, except bigger.
Almost identical to mine, even though we came from different fathers and mothers.
Fate had made his wolf my brother. His fur was all shades of brown, like mine, with a white neck and black paws.
People called us fated twins.
They weren’t wrong.
“Oh my Goddess. You are the same. That’s crazy.” Zephyr moved closer and ran her fingers through our fur. Sensations ran through my wolf’s body. Our mate was touching us.
Feeling our fur. Approved of us.
I walked around her, sniffing, taking in her scent. She was everything good and pleasing about autumn. Cinnamon, pumpkins, apples, nutmeg, and the warmth only a hearth could bring.
My wolf longed for her. Cypress nipped at my heels.
We raced off. Together. It was as fundamental as walking to me. I’d run with Cypress so many times, my wolf knew his by heart.
Can we still do this? My paws faltered, and I fell ass and tail over head, tumbling a few times until I caught myself and stood up.
You’re kidding. We can still…I thought this was only for mates.
He chuckled through the bond between us. A bond so thick that it superseded blood. I couldn’t even talk to my biological brothers and sisters like this.
Only him. He was my brother. All of this, tonight, it all clicked into place. We were meant to be a pack. My best friend and me.
Taking care of our mate.
Our best friend bond is strong. Still is. After all these years.
Can we talk about things? Just you and me. So much for me wanting time to think. This is better anyway.
She wants you. And as far as I’m concerned, the pact stands. But the decision belongs to Zephyr. Whatever she wants is what will be. She is my mate. I’ll do whatever she wants. It’s her word over anything I might want.
I agreed, of course.
The question is, Birch. Do you want her? Tell the truth. We are only going to get through this if there is transparency. You won’t make me upset or hurt my feelings.
I stopped to look at him. Wolf to wolf. Man to man. Friend to friend. Brother to brother.
She’s my mate, too. My wolf knows. I knew the first time I saw her. But you two are already mated and married and marked. It’s all in your hands.
He whined. No. It’s in hers. But I think Zephyr has already decided her fate and ours.
I barked once. Will she choose me? Us?
Let’s go find out.
We ran back to the house and shifted and dressed. Zephyr was sipping a glass of wine.
Her scent had deepened in our absence. It was musky and heady with ribbons of lust and need.
He was right. Our mate had already made her decision. But beneath it all was something torn and weary.
“What is it?” I asked. I had no right to. She wasn’t mine yet.
She turned and tears fell down her cheeks. “Cypress,” she whispered and he had her in his arms in seconds.
“Tell me. Talk to us, baby.”
“I want to. I want the both of you. I want this. I never was unsatisfied. I never wanted anything more than you. This wasn’t…you are the perfect husband, and I don’t want…”
“Hey, hey.” He smoothed his hand down the back of her neck. “Come here, Birch. She needs you too.”
A whimper broke from her mouth. “Cy…”
I walked over, and he spoke to her again. “Wanting him doesn’t diminish your desire for me, does it?”
She shook her head.
“Loving him doesn’t take away your love for me, does it?”
“No. Never.” Her chin quivered, and it broke my heart.
“Wanting both of us means more love, not less. More happiness, not less. You’re not cutting your heart or your love in half, you’re doubling it, mate.”
Her eyes cut to me. “If I asked you both to mate me tonight, would you? And we could all be together? You two won’t…friends…jealousy?”
I put my hand on Cypress’ shoulder. “There is no jealousy in my heart and there isn’t in his either. I would only trust you to my bond brother.”
We let the facts sit. Then she nodded and swiped away her tears. “Then mate me. Both of you. We’ll be a family. A pack. Together.”