CLARISSAI wasn’t sure how a bear den worked yet, not the nuances anyway. But being asked to visit the Alpha as soon as my mates were back didn’t sound ideal. Not once had I heard anyone say, “And then the Alpha called me to the Alpha house and threw me a huge surprise party.” Or something equally fun.No, there was an ominous feeling to it. And the worst part was, I had to wait—wait until my mates got back from their errand to the feed store, which left me pacing back and forth.He didn’t say it was about my kind. But it was. That was the only thing it could be. And his inability to tell me what it was without my mates present told me it was bad—potentially awful. Not that I asked him to tell me what it was about. Nope. I just stood there, words escaping me as I nodded like a little bobble doll.“Maybe I should be productive.” Operation distraction it was. I could work on one of my design projects. That would distract me.Or so I thought.Instead, I found myself staring at my compute
“Yes and no. They understand that fated mates cannot be separated and even if something were to happen to you two, the odds of Clarissa following you to the goddess were great, and even if he didn’t, the chances he’d take another as his mate were slim to none.” And they would be right on both accounts. “They also understand that matings often result in babies and they want control over how the young are raised.”“Problem solved.” Dante slammed both hands on the table, shaking it. “We won’t have babies. Done. If they don’t want you raising snow leopards with non-snow leopards, then we won’t have any.”I leaned into his side. “What if that’s not what we want.” My eyes were starting to fill with tears. I could and would fight the council to my death, but giving up a huge part of what I wanted in my life—to start a family—that was going to break me.“Let’s not make any rash decisions. I still have a meeting with the council to get through. Right now, they just say that the snow leopard wo
DANTE“Everybody up. Rise and shine.”Light flooded into the bedroom. Alicia put a pillow over his head and mumbled, “Go away. It’s my day off.”“From work maybe, but not from having fun.” Clarissa’s bubbly voice reminded me of champagne in a movie he’d streamed for us. That was one of many new experiences he’d brought into our lives.I agreed with my Beta mate. “There’s no fun to be had this early when we don’t have to work.” Maybe because snow leopard shifters didn’t have a den or a pride, they searched for ways to amuse themselves when not at their job.“I’ve planned a special date. Not a night or an afternoon but a whole day,” Clarissa told us as he yanked the bedding on the floor.“Can we do it while we’re in bed?” I opened one eye and closed it again. Clarissa’s bright-orange shirt had palm trees plastered on it and his wide, cheesy smile was too much this early in the day.“Nope. Get up or we’ll be late.”Folding my pillow against the headboard, I sat up and studied him, bleary
Alicia’s eyes were closed. “Tell me when we get there.”My palms were sweating buckets and I almost jumped up and shouted, “I want to get off.”Help, my bear squeaked.Clarissa’s idea of a date was not what I’d imagined. I gulped and leaned forward over the bag as a loud clunking had me copying Alicia and closing my eyes.Clarissa was talking softly, explaining what was happening, and I concentrated on his calming voice, or tried to. As the plane lifted off, it left my stomach behind on Earth as I begged the universe to spare our lives.There was an announcement, something about a cruising altitude, whatever that was, and I looked up as people got out of their seats and there were lots of little dingings.“Look.” Clarissa pointed out the window beside Alicia. We were far above the ground and he pointed out Bruin Ridge in the distance. The farmlands crisscrossed one another, intersected by the river that ran through our land.Never having seen the Earth or our home from above, I unbuck
ALICIA“I can’t stand this anymore.”And neither could my bear. He complained every time I got an elbow in the ribs or a slap on the face.I stood at the end of the bed, arms folded.Clarissa struggled to sit, a pillow balanced on his head, while Dante yawned and rubbed his eyes. They shared a glance and then looked at me before saying, “Can’t stand what?”“Sleeping in this small-ass bed.”My mates checked out each other’s naked butts. “Not small.”“Gorgeous.”I slow clapped. “Ha ha ha. Very funny.” While our future was in a holding pattern—I’d learned that expression when we flew back from the beach—Alpha had given us permission to choose which cabin we wanted for our triad and to make it our own. Not any cabin, mine or Dante’s.We’d been putting it off, fearful that we’d jinx something. But I was falling asleep while at work and Dante’s puffy eyes and dark circlesspelled out that he wasn’t, either, while Clarissa who worked from home, could take a nap at any time.“Come on guys. We
Even before he answered, I predicted what he was going to say. “Other.”“Dante!” Clarissa sank on the couch.“It’s your fault for giving him that option.” I collapsed next to him.“Fine.” Dante peered at the samples. “The geometric one is interesting. Let’s go with that.”“Oh no, not that one.” That was Clarissa. “Yeah, I don’t like it,” I agreed.Dante put one hand on his hip while he waggled a spoon at us in the other. “Why did you include it if you didn’t like it?”Good question. “We thought you might?”“Right, so you can have the pleasure of telling me I have no taste.” “We’d never do that,” Clarissa said. “Because you chose both of us.”“You have impeccable taste.” I shared a laugh with Clarissa. “Just not when it comes to wallpaper.”Dante returned to cooking while Clarissa and I muddled through the rest of the list, and when we were done, all three of us put the items to be returned, in Clarissa’s car. While we were eating dinner and talking about wha
Clarissa raised his hips as I tugged at his dick while he grabbed my length, and Dante clasped it, too. There was no sound in the room other than our gasping and panting while the scent of pre-cum and slick filled the air.My hands cramped as they slid over my mate’s cocks but as I inched closer to orgasm, my mind blocked out everything except giving and accepting pleasure.“I love your cock,” Dante murmured as Clarissa whimpered with each tug. “And I want it in my ass.”Someone had promised two dicks in one hole weeks ago, but the climax that was hurtling toward me blocked out the memory of who said it. I yelled, “Yes,” as cum spurted onto the new covers, followed by Clarissa, while Dante needed more pumping before he came.“We’re going to be washing our new bedding every day,” Dante noted as he rolled toward the center of the bed and slung an arm over me.As I’d been in charge of the laundry since we mated, he hadn’t noticed I had been doing exactly that. Clarissa leaped out of bed
“What? Does it not smell as good as I think it does?” I set down the knife and rinsed off my hands.“This place smells absolutely amazing,” Alicia reassured me. “We had a talk with Aspen after our meeting.”My stomach dropped. The only thing I could think of that they’d have needed to share with me would be a conversation about my council.I went to them, throwing myself in their arms. “They said no.” Aspen had tried to get the council to come and have an open dialogue with us about the entire situation. If anyone could convince them to do that, it would be him.“They said the law stands and they don’t need nor plan to discuss it further.” Dante didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to.“Then I don’t get pregnant.” I’d already told them that was the case, but at the time, I hadn’t truly believed it would be necessary. I’d been sure it would all work out—except it didn’t. “Done.”“But you already told us that that’s not what you want.” Alicia kissed the top of my head. “If there w