“Back up a little.” She shook her head. Obviously this guy was delusional. First he claimed that he was the wolf that saved her life eleven years ago, and now he was telling her he was a werewolf? Surely his friend had a better explanation. Exasperated, Maggie sat up, careful to keep the blankets around her to hide the embarrassing and somewhat unexplainable hardness of her nipples, and looked them both up and down. “Do you have names?”
Blue-eyes laughed. “Sorry, sugar, I guess that’s the first thing we should have shared. I’m Gavin Campbell and this is Kade Ridges. Hensen Bright—he’s the werewolf who changed you—should be back soon. He’s just gone to…” He glanced at Kade, apparently uncertain what Hensen had gone to do.
“Hensen went to speak to the alpha of his pack and the alpha of my pack to explain what happened and to make arrangements for the wolf pack that attacked you to be relocated.”
“Were they werewolves, too?” she asked, accepting for the moment that both men in front of her seemed to be delusional.
“No, sweetheart,” Kade said, coming closer to the cot and then checking the spot on her throat where she remembered being wounded, “they were just hungry wolves. It’s been a lean winter.”
“But you two are werewolves.”
“Actually I’m one-hundred-percent confused human at the moment. Kade and Hensen are the werewolves,” Gavin said.
“And you believe them?” she asked skeptically, sort of hoping the guy would wink and promise to get her out of here as soon as he could.
“I believe what I saw,” he said, brushing a hand over her forehead and pushing her hair from where it had fallen over her eye. “I’ve seen enough wounds to know you should have died.”
She nodded. She unfortunately had a very clear memory of him holding his hands against her throat. At the time she’d known that she was dying. Perhaps she shouldn’t be so quick to deny her second chance at life.
“So…um…what do werewolves do? I mean are we as dangerous as the TV shows tell us?”
Gavin laughed softly but waited for Kade to answer. “I’m not sure what television shows you these days. We’ve only just gained access to that human technology. For the most part we live in peace and stay away from humans. We also spend a lot of time protecting other shifters from human discovery.”
“Other shifters?” Maggie asked, feeling maybe just a little bit sick.
“Sure,” Kade said with a smile. “Most animals on this mountain have a shifter species as well as a natural one. Most of the smaller shifters spend their entire lives in their animal forms.”
“So this is home?” she asked, glancing around the poorly lit bomb shelter. She was fairly certain they were underground.
“No,” Kade said, giving her a brilliant smile. “We live in houses. Dry Creek pack live in rather rustic accommodations, but I understand that Hensen’s pack is far more modern. I suppose we’ll get to see his home since we’re mates. I can’t imagine he would want to stay here. He’s actually quite well thought of in his own pack. And now that they don’t have anything against unusual matings it shouldn’t be a problem.”
She smiled when Gavin put his arm around Kade and pulled him close. “I think you’re overwhelming her with a few too many details.”
“Sorry,” the younger man said as he blushed and wrapped his arms around Gavin’s waist. “I’m just a little bit excited. I never expected to find one mate, let alone three.”
“Three?” Gavin asked, seeming almost confused by the arm he had wrapped around Kade.
But his demeanor changed a moment later, a gun springing into his hand seemingly from nowhere. He pushed Kade behind him, his attention on the corner of the bunker where there seemed to be some sort of doorway.
“It’s just me,” a deep voice said before a naked man stepped around the corner. He was huge, maybe even bigger than Gavin.
“This is Hensen,” Kade said quickly, moving aside so that the newcomer could loom over her bed as well. Gavin quickly holstered his weapon and took a step back. It seemed that Kade’s declaration that he had three mates had really thrown him, but it was clear that Gavin was going to protect them all regardless of his own confusion.
“Hi, Maggie,” Hensen said with a smile. “How’re you feeling?”
She shrugged. Was there any sort of answer that didn’t sound crazy? “Fine. I think. I…um…am I really a werewolf?”
“Mostly,” he said, dropping to his knees and leaning over to see her throat. “It’ll take several weeks for the change to be complete, but the initial stages took care of your wounds.”
“So is she impervious to injury now?” Gavin asked, sounding just a little bit less freaked out than he had when Kade mentioned having three mates.
“Actually, no,” Hensen said as he stood up and turned to the big human. “Until she can change easily between forms she’s vulnerable. She’s stronger than a human now, but still unable to heal like that again until she has the ability to morph into a wolf and back again.”
“Do you have enemies?” The question was certainly blunt enough to be taken as an insult. Fortunately Hensen didn’t seem to take it as such.
“No,” he replied easily, “unless you want to count humans. Rumor suggests our experience with military wouldn’t be very pleasant.”
“You shouldn’t listen to rumors,” Gavin said offhandedly, but it was clear he wasn’t entirely comfortable with the knowledge he was gaining. “So, now what?”
“Now we get to take Maggie home. Well sort of. We need to drop by Dry Creek and pick up the rest of my supplies, but since the assignment is pretty much complete, the alpha ordered me and my mates to come home.”
“What about Suzanne?” Gavin asked in a worried-sounding voice. “Did you get to speak to her? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. Excited to see you. Surprised that you’d come looking for her.”
“Who’s Suzanne?” Maggie asked in a jealous, snippy voice. Good grief, considering the day she’d had, getting territorial over a man she didn’t know was kind of…well, actually no, it wasn’t “kind of” anything—it
was
insane.
“Suzanne is Gavin’s sister,” Hensen said with a wide grin on his face. “You feel it, too.” It wasn’t said as a question. More like a statement of fact.
“Feel what?” she asked suspiciously.
“That Gavin belongs with us.”
* * * *
“What the fuck?”
The stupid thing was that even as the words left his mouth, a part of Gavin knew that what Hensen said was true. Gavin couldn’t for the life of him explain it, but he was deeply attracted to all three people in the room. For a man struggling with a newly awakened sexuality it was a little more information than he wanted to take in right at the moment.
“It’s okay,” Kade said anxiously. “There’s no rush. We can take just one day at a time.”
“How about we don’t,” Gavin said callously. “I came looking for my sister. As soon as I can check on her welfare, I’m heading home.”
“But…” Kade said, shaking his head in denial. “I know that you feel it. Just like Maggie did. You know there’s a connection between us.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Maggie narrowed her eyes at him, clearly disbelieving his statement, but he forged on anyway. “Just tell me where I can find my sister and I’ll be on my way.”
Hensen nodded once, apparently angry at him for some strange reason. Did they really think he’d fall for all that “love connection” bullshit? It was probably just a way for them to try and keep their secret about werewolves.
“You’ll need to come with us,” Hensen said in a dismissive tone. “Even if you somehow manage to find Shy River pack on your own there’s a good chance you won’t be welcome.”
“That’s n—” Kade cut off his words when Hensen pulled him into his embrace.
“We’ll be okay, baby,” he said reaching for Maggie’s hand, very clearly excluding Gavin from their little group. “The alpha of Shy River is anxious to meet you both.”
Maggie wobbled as she tried to stand up and Gavin’s first instinct was to move and help her. He watched instead as Hensen lifted her into his embrace and then held her close while Kade gathered the belongings from her ruined backpack and led them out of the cave.
“Do you have a vehicle?” Hensen asked Gavin as they stepped into the bright sunshine.
“It’s parked at my sister’s old place. About a mile south of here.”
“Dry Creek is about seventeen miles north and mostly uphill. We’ll double back to collect your vehicle first. It will be more comfortable for Maggie.”
“Of course,” Gavin said, bristling just a little at what seemed to be an order rather than a request. He turned back the way they’d come, his mind and emotions completely out of control. He wanted to demand explanations. He wanted to rage at the confusion flowing through his mind. He wanted to understand why here, why now, why these three people.
But most of all he wanted them.
All three of them.
And that just pissed him off even more.
* * * *
Hensen held Maggie close as she slept. She was little by werewolf standards, but she was in good shape, her muscles toned from exercise, her weight suiting her frame without being too skinny. Over the decades he’d watched the trends on what humans considered popular. Thank heavens Maggie didn’t seem to be the type to strive for the stick thin, underfed, skin-and-bones shape that seemed fashionable for human women at the moment. It probably made him old fashioned, but he lamented the loss of the hourglass figure humans had adored in the fifties.
Kade stayed beside him as they followed Gavin back to where they’d first found Maggie. The ex-Navy SEAL radiated anger in every step, but it was his reason behind it that Hensen could most relate to. He hadn’t expected to find one female and two male mates either.
And if he hadn’t witnessed the acceptance and love that Gideon and his mates had received upon returning home, he might have tried to deny the connection himself.
“Why did you avoid me for the past seven months?” he asked Kade. He made sure that his tone was friendly, because the answer didn’t really matter. He just wanted to know for curiosity’s sake.
Kade shrugged. “I thought it was what you wanted.” Hensen glanced at the younger wolf who shrugged. “I saw you the first time you picked up my scent. It was obvious that you weren’t happy to have found me, so I…um…stayed out of your way.”
Hell, the answer did matter. It mattered a lot, and Hensen had some serious groveling to do.
“I’m sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“It’s okay. I sort of understood your reasons. I saw the way the old beta of Shy River reacted to his own son when he admitted Brigden was his mate. With a pack attitude like that, it might have been dangerous for both of us.”
Hensen winced, too embarrassed to admit the actual truth but knowing that he would have to explain eventually. He hadn’t even noticed that his mate was male, so the whole “pack attitude” excuse wasn’t going to wash. Considering that he already had one mate seriously pissed off at them, he chose to change the subject rather than confess right now.
“Tell me about the night Maggie fell.”
Kade’s expression softened and it was clear that he adored the memories he held of this woman. “I heard a young woman screaming. Dry Creek didn’t have phones back then, so my plan was really just to identify where she was and then head back to the pack and send someone who could pass as human down the mountain to report it.” He smiled and reached to touch Maggie where she slept in Hensen’s arms. “But the sun was going down and I realized I couldn’t leave her alone. When I caught her scent, it was all I could do not to howl with joy.”
“So you knew straight away who she was?”
“Of course,” Kade said his smile directed at the woman sleeping in Hensen’s arms. “But she was young and not badly injured. I knew I couldn’t tell her anything.” He stared at the back of their other human mate as he stomped along the walking track. “She needed time to know herself before she learned about me…well, us…and werewolves and shifters and everything else that humans don’t know about.”
Hensen glanced at the rigid set of Gavin’s shoulders. His anger and confusion were telegraphed very clearly in every step. Obviously Kade wasn’t just referring to Maggie’s adjustment to life as a werewolf.
“Don’t be angry with him,” Kade said quietly, apparently already reading Hensen’s emotions quite clearly. “He just needs some time.”
“It took Maggie eleven years to come back to you,” he said with a catch in his voice. He sure as hell hoped it wouldn’t take Gavin that long. Being rejected by a true-mate was proving to be a horrible experience. Guilt at the way he’d treated Kade over the past seven months swelled through him once more.
Of course Kade seemed to sense that emotion, too.
“The past isn’t important,” Kade said, his hand running along the muscle in Hensen’s upper arm. “We’ll find a way for all of us to be happy.”
Hensen nodded and sincerely hoped his mate was right.
* * * *
Kade could feel the hope that slid through Hensen’s emotions. He considered confessing his own guilt over the past seven months—he hadn’t actually tried to garner the man’s attentions after all—but it didn’t seem like the appropriate time. Their relationship was so new and unexpected. Even Maggie, who’d come back to the place where she’d met him eleven years ago had seemed confused by the link between all four of them.