address Gerri. Didn’t look like she’d get the chance now.
“Do you prefer to speak to us together or one on one?” Connor asked, reading the turmoil inside her. He was clearly perceptive and she had a difficult time as it was talking to them at the same time.
The men glanced back and forth at each other and Theron stood. “I’m going to take a shower.” He leaned over the table and kissed her. “I’ll be back shortly, beautiful.”
Connor watched indecision flash through Tally’s eyes. He smelled her confusion over the new situation between them. As Omega, his first instinct was to calm her down. As a man who wanted her for a mate, he needed to make sure she was comfortable with how things worked for their pack.
“I need to understand what it is you two want,” she said, voice low. There was a slight tremble to it that kicked him hard in the gut.
“You know we are shifters,” he stated, more to verify what she already knew.
She sipped the cup of coffee and glanced at him, her gaze direct. “Yes, but I didn’t realize you all shared women.”
“Not all packs do. Things vary from one to the next. For Wildwoods, sharing a mate is custom and part of the norm. It’s a way of life.” He grasped her hand on the table. “Other packs share a single mate among multiple pack members. We’ve come across the single couple packs. Nothing is taboo in the shifter world.”
Questions lit in the depth of her gaze. “What do you mean nothing is taboo?”
He shrugged. “When the heat strikes, couples could have sex anywhere. People shift and don’t have clothes, it’s natural to walk around naked.”
Her eyes widened and her mouth turned into a perfect pouty O. “Walk around naked?”
He grinned. She probably didn’t realize it, but when he’d said people have sex anywhere, her cheeks had turned a dark crimson and she’d licked her lips.
“Yes. Sex is natural. So is nudity. We’re very sexual creatures.” If she was going to be part of the pack, she needed to know what she would be getting into.
“So you...” She cleared her throat. “You and Theron, you want me?”
“Yes.” God, how they wanted her.
For the first time ever, the men and the animals were in sync. She’d been the answer they needed. They wanted her for a mate. And there would be no turning back.
“For how long?” She scrunched her nose. “You want me as a lover, shared between the two of you for a while?” She pushed her cup to the side and pursed her lips. “So if one of you gets tired of me, does the other one get me? Or do you both pretty much just go with mutual votes?”
Chapter Six
“Don’t do that.” He shook his head. “That’s not how we are.”
She leaned forward on the table, the scent of her distress mingled with anger. A new light of hostility sparked in her eyes. “I’m sorry but I just don’t see how a relationship of being lovers could work long-term.”
That was the main problem with non-shifter mates. They didn’t get the different way of life. “We are born and raised this way.”
He knew he wasn’t getting through to her, so he stood and marched around the table. He offered her his hand and watched her stare at it for a second. She took it. He moved to her long sofa and pulled her on his lap. She struggled for a moment, but once she saw he wasn’t letting her go, she stopped and sighed in defeat. He shifted her so her back was leaning on the armrest and he could look at her face.
“What is the one thing you’ve always wanted in a mate?”
“A partner? I guess someone who is honest and can love me for me and not for who he feels I should be.”
“Think of us as the first men that will give you that.” He pushed a stray curl behind her ear. She blinked with curiosity behind her glasses.
“What do you mean give me that?” She glanced down at his mouth.
He wanted so bad to stop the conversation and kiss her. She had the most beautiful pouty lips and he’d never tire of watching her slide her tiny pink tongue over them.
“When we search for a mate, it has to be someone who is perfect for us on multiple levels. Mainly we have to be attracted to her in our human bodies. Your scent has to attract the animal