Chapter Thirty-Four
From Alpha’s house they went to the gym, and Tara breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she saw them.
“Finally, these papers were driving me crazy!” exclaimed the teenager, immediately dropping the papers.
Ciaran frowned.
“They’re just a few pieces of paper, Bee, what’s the problem?”
“The problem is I know next to nothing of how this program works because nobody told me, so I decided to write everything down. But then a gust of wind threw everything to the ground! Here, all yours.” She threw a stack of papers into Declan’s hands and disappeared out the door, yelling a “Great to see you again, Frey!”
“Someone’s in a hurry,” muttered Declan, leafing through the pages distractedly.
Freya snorted, torn between exasperation and amusement, and snatched the papers from his hand.
She launched the program and immediately began typing.
After a short while, she stopped, observed them, and asked, “Are you going to stand there all day?”
And that was enough to make them walk away toward the gym, but not before giving her a kiss that made her toes curl.
She worked in silence, distracted by the distinct sound of grunts that she could hear in the distance. The day passed blissfully calmly, and by the end of the day, she was more than ready to go home.
“You worked too much,” said Declan, accusingly.
Flanked by her twins, she couldn’t deny that she felt tired, but at the same time, she knew it was good.
Her body was used to working with little fuel and even less rest; for a long time, that was how she had managed to rest for a few hours.
But now, she would be lying if she said she didn't want to stop, rest, snuggle up with her mates and simply let herself be loved.
Stopping by a pizzeria on their way home, they bought dinner and returned home.
“What’s on your mind, angel? You’ve been awfully quiet all day.”
“It’s something your uncle said,” she answered absentmindedly. “He said you needed to mate me, so that your scent would be on me.”
“So?” asked Declan, exchanging a glance with his twin. His face was carefully blank, but Freya didn’t notice it.
“How does that work?”
“The mating? Well, you see angel, when a wolf finds and loves his mate...”
“Not that!” she said, blushing. “The scent part. How long does it take for the scent to fade?”
She was thinking about Lewis, clearly. They both sighed in relief when they understood where her mind was at.
“If you’re already mated, it can take a while to fade, as it ingrains in the mate’s body, even after the death of your mate,” said Ciaran, slowly.
“But you were never truly mated, were you, little one?” asked Declan, sharply. He brushed the hair away from her neck and inspected both sides. Her skin was smooth and white, without any marks. If she had been marked, traces would remain, even after her partner’s physical death.
“Oh, he touched me enough times, believe me,” she answered bitterly, and Declan took a deep breath. Of course, she only knew the bad part of a mating with a shifter.
“But he never marked you,” he said.
“Never marked me? Want to see my back again? The scars, the...”
“That’s not what he meant,” Ciaran said quickly. “In the shifter world, when we truly want to mark our mate, we leave a mark on their neck. And our mate in ours. It usually happens during sex, and that mark shows the world we’re taken.”
“It also changes our scent because it mingles with our mate’s,” added Declan. “That shows other shifters that we’re taken. And if any of the mates has sex with other people, their mate feels it because it can be physically painful.”
“Oh...” they could see the gears in her mind turning, because they sighed and said at the same time, “Words, please.”
“But I cannot mark you. You’ll never have my scent, nor will you be marked. It will be as if we’d never mated.”
Their hearts did not leap; instead, they bent backward and exulted with joy. She was considering their mating, what joy!
“Maybe ... but you’re all we need.”
“Besides, you’ll have our scent and every shifter in the world will know that you belong to us.”
“Oh...” she blushed furiously and then added, “But ... how that’s that work? You know ... during sex?”
She was like a kitten with a ball of yarn, once she had one idea...
“We need to be inside you,” Declan answered bluntly, and her eyes widened.
“At the same time?” she gasped.
“We’re twins. There’s no other way. Otherwise, you’d only mate one of us and the other would be permanently left alone.”
“Oh my God!” she hid her face in her hands and Ciaran smiled mischievously.
“Don’t worry, angel. You’ll be more than ready once the time comes.”
Was that a promise? They said nothing, but the heat in their eyes spoke volumes.