Page 30 of Red

Kyx gave him an incredulous look. “You are denying that you have grown more attached to her—that you crave her even though you’ve been tending to her as if she were already our mate.”

“It could just be that our instincts are confused,” Rager replied quietly. “We’ve been put into close confines with an unmated female and then discover just recently that it’s possible for our species to mate. We’ve been bombarded with information through our senses without the space to consider what it would mean for us as a triad. Whether this compulsion we feel is real.”

Kyx barked out a laugh and shook his head. “You make it sound as if we are afflicted with something.”

“What would you have me do…display for a human who would not know what it means? And what of Arie? How will she understand anything of our dynamic and what it means to survive so far from other humans. We would be asking her to give up everything.” His eyes lowered to the basket. “I cannot rip her away from what she wants and needs to be happy.” He shook his head. “I need her to be happy. Arie has had enough disappointments and hardships. I will not add to her burden. Not if what she needs is in The Citadel—away from us.”

That Kyx understood. He didn’t agree but he understood. He lowered himself so that he too was crouching and regarded his lead. “My mother did so… and happily. Don’t you think that should be a choice that she is allowed to make? Or do you intend just to pine for her long before she’s even gone and endure the heartbreak afterward?”

“It had been my hope that she would see what all we had to offer and decide to choose us,” Rager grumbled. “We slake her need. We care for her. We have demonstrated ourselves to be capable of providing for her and doting on her, providing affection and tenderness unasked for. We just need to be patient and wait for her decision one way or the other.”

Kyx gave him an incredulous look. “And I suppose we are to tear each other apart and all will be well as we suffer through the Withering Days? Are you fine with doing this in front of her where it will be bound the terrify her?”

The big male scowled. “Females enjoy seeing males fight. You have not had the up-close experience to prove this to you. But I have seen it many times. Often with rival triad and interlopers but even sometimes disturbance among the triad in response to her pheromones.”

“Bur Arie is not Ragoru, and as you’ve said, she knows nothing of our kind. She has no way to even know what’s going on,” Kyx bit out in affront. “And I think I have more experience with a human female’s behavior than you do,” he snarled with great daring. It was incredibly foolish and begged for the lead to strike him down, but Rager didn’t move. Instead, the male regarded him flatly as if trying to weigh unfamiliar information. “It is more likely to terrify her than excite her,” Kyx clarified in a rush.

Rager gave him a sharp look. “What is your solution then? You would have me claim her like some brutish monster rather than wait for her welcome? We are not rogues,” he snarled, his teeth snapping on the last word. “I will not subject a tender female of my heart to that.”

Kyx’s brow rose at the sentimental words but set them aside to examine later. He couldn’t let Rager distract him. That the male was at war with himself was evident. He wanted her but wanted to protect her even as he wished to approach this as he had every courtship before without realizing that they were way beyond that point.

“I’m not speaking of forcing her. I’m speaking of issuing your claim and setting into motion what we already began when we started to bond with her,” Kyx rebutted. “Just make her understand that she is already ours and be done with it. She will listen to you. She already looks to you for guidance, among other things,” he pointed out. “You are already her lead male in deed even if not by her word. So, make yourself her lead mate by your own word so that we can move forward as a family.”

Rager gave a dry laugh. “Say that I agree to do this and successfully exert my claim and take for us everything I’ve been dreaming of for a great many nights—do you really think Warol will go along with this. Never mind what his opinion is on taking her as our mate and where his heart lies, he’s the most traditional among us. He will never consent to abandoning our mating traditions.”

“There is only one way to find out,” Kyx pointed out and watched the slow acceptance creep across the male’s face as he recognized the truth of it.

Warol would have to be reasoned with, but Kyx had every bit of confidence that Rager was up for the job. The other male could be a bit difficult at times when he got especially set in the ways in which he was raised, but his heart was loyal and true. He would not abandon Arie for any cost, of that much Kyx was certain. He squinted hard at his lead and sighed.

“Let me put plainly what our reality will be like if we let this opportunity pass without claiming her for our own. Imagine this: our world without Arie it. Without the sound of laughter or her gentleness. Without her compassion and humor. Ask yourself if you would be unaffected if she were gone? Because if we can’t get this resolved by the Withering Days, I will take her and escort her to my mother. I will not leave her trapped with us to suffer,” he swore.

Rager eyed him for a long moment and stiffly inclined his head as he picked up the basket and another handful of snow again. “I will speak to Warol, and then I will decide.”

Kyx released a long breath and nodded. That was all that any of them could do at this point. Beyond that, they would have to put it into action and hope that he hadn’t imagined everything, much less the love that was so often in her eyes.

Chapter

Seventeen

Warol breathed in deeply the sharp scent of snow. He ached terribly and it was making him irrational. Winter was never so difficult for their triad before, but they never had a warm female that they desired to claim before driving them to the edge of rut. Their breeding time was only for a couple of weeks during the depths of the winter, but he was already feeling on edge. And it was only bound to get worse.

The need to claim Arie was causing his aggression to spike… and Rager’s as well. He should have known that it would happen. He had felt the whisper of warning when he first felt the pull toward her. For the briefest of moments, much to his shame, he’d been unreasonably angry with her, as the thought sprung to his mind that she was the cause of their sudden aggression. But that unworthy thought had dissolved quickly in the next breath with the acknowledgement that it was not her whom he was angry with. He hated himself for being unable to resist his need for her presence enough to eliminate the distress in their triad and restore peace. But then, when she stopped lying between them and retreated from their embrace, he grew despondent, desperate for even the slightest touch or affection from her.

He didn’t know why Kyx wasn’t feeling the full effects of it but perhaps it was due to the male’s generally more affable nature that the aggression born from the need to claim, and breed wasn’t yet showing its influence. It would eventually. Not even Kyx would remain untouched by its burn.

Snow crunched behind him, and Warol flattened his ears as he dragged in Rager’s scent. “I’m not in the mood, brother,” he growled, his hackles raising.

Their alpha sighed deeply but stopped a short distance from him. “We need to discuss Arie,” he rumbled.

Warol glanced warily behind him and narrowed his eyes as he turned to face his lead. “What is there to discuss? Speaking of Arie, shouldn’t you be in the den with her?”

Rager bared his teeth in frustration. “She is still sleeping which is why we need to have this conversation now. Do not pretend like you don’t know what is going on, Warol. Kyx is beginning to insist that he remove Arie and take her to his mother because we cannot keep ourselves under control. I need to know if this is what you want?”

Warol stared back at him speechlessly, cognizant of little other than the wind tugging at his fur and the denial that raged through him. He snarled and turned toward the den, suddenly worried that Kyx was sneaking in at that moment while they were distracted and stealing their female. He didn’t get more than a step, however, before he was yanked back off his feet so hard that he dropped into the snow with Rager looming over him.

“Don’t be an idiot,” the male growled. “Rushing to her because your instinct drives you to protect her from an imaginary threat from our brother isn’t going to solve the problem. It is, in fact, part of what we need to discuss. You know why we are reacting this way.”

“Of course, I know,” Warol snapped. “The Withering Days will be arriving soon and with it our need to breed.”

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