was on the same channel that my brother communicated with me on, but in this form, we didn’t really talk that much, except for in emergencies, and with her, the connection seemed faulty. Like a poorly tuned radio station in the car. Slipping in and out of clarity with every second.
I didn’t see Eli’s expression change, but I felt his body spring into an alertness that hadn’t been there before.
Had he heard her too?
What in the Mother’s name was happening here?
Austin recovered first, and he padded through the trees, no longer trying to be stealthy, rushing over to Eli’s and the she-wolf’s sides.
He butted into Eli until the alpha grunted and rubbed his hand over his ears before scratching them. I huffed when the she-wolf did the same, mimicking Austin, butting her snout against Eli’s other hand until he scratched her too. When the alpha laughed, my heart stuttered a little. He did that so rarely, and on the morning after we’d lost his mother? The omega? The natural balance in the pack? It came as more of a surprise.
Cautiously, I stepped forward, not wanting to intrude, but also feeling a need to be a part of something I didn’t understand. I didn’t want to be on the outside looking in. Austin and I existed on the outside, and it was a cold and lonely place to be. Here, in this small circle, I knew there was no cold.
Only warmth.
When I pressed against the she-wolf, she grunted slightly, twisting until her hindquarters rubbed against mine.
Eli muttered, “What the hell is going on?” even as he patted me on the head too.
Why I wanted that, to be treated like a damn dog, I had no clue, but to be included felt like heaven. Christ, it felt like a kiss straight from the Mother’s lips.
My throat almost closed at that, and because it was too weird, too powerful, and made me feel raw inside, I shifted. It put me in close proximity to Eli, but he didn’t mind. Neither did I. We were pack. We were used to being this close and being naked at the same time. The she-wolf? Not so much.
The pair of us laughed as she sprang up, jolting with her surprise at the speed of my shift, before landing. Badly. She tumbled back onto her rear with an inelegance that really didn’t suit her.
Every inch of her was elegant. She oozed it, just like Eli oozed power. But her lack of dexterity wasn’t unusual, not so close to her transformation.
When Austin shifted back too, the three of us sat around in a circle with her.
“I’m surprised she hasn’t shifted back.” Being around powerful shifters triggered the change in weaker wolves.
Eli cast me a look. “She’s my mate. She’s strong in her own way.”
My throat closed at his statement. Austin’s, on the other hand, didn’t. “What? She’s your mate?”
Eli reached up and rubbed his chest like there was an ache there. “Yeah. She is.” He blew out a breath, and I got the feeling his next words pained him to say them.
When he uttered them, I totally understood why.
Eli
“Is she your mate too?”
I couldn’t look at them, couldn’t take them in when I was feeling this fucking vulnerable.
I was alpha, not just the alpha, but alpha to my marrow. Right in my very soul, I was dominant. Being vulnerable wasn’t something I did on the regular, not at all, but fuck me, I knew my life was changing, and not just by my mother dying yesterday either.
I could feel my world shaking from the inside out, and even though I hated change with a passion, how could I hate it when this beautiful she-wolf was a part of the transformation?
Neither Austin nor Ethan put me out of my misery. Instead, Ethan—ever the clinical bastard and always the fucking thinker—muttered, “Only omegas have multiple mates.”
I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from snapping at him. Instead, I glowered, and his eyes widened as he muttered, “Oh. Of course.”
“Oh, what?” Austin questioned. Unlike his brother, he was as slow as fucking frozen maple syrup some days.
“Oh, he thinks she’s the next omega, dumbass.”
Austin’s mouth worked. “Omegas are always naturals.”
He wasn’t wrong. “I know. But she’s mine. I can feel it. She’s my mate, which means she has to be the omega. She’s different than I expected though.”
“More ways than one,” Austin mumbled.
“Well, that’s just rude.”
The three of us froze, and I knew the twins had heard that too.
“Am I losing