Page 49 of Their Fated Magic

“What’s wrong?” Drogo takes my hand.

I don’t want to worry them. I need to shake this off. “Nothing,” I tell him, giving his hand a squeeze.

When I try to take a step forward, he stops me, those dark eyes of his holding mine. “What’s wrong?”

I hesitate, then decide the hell with it. “I don’t want what happened between us to hurt Garrick. Garrick was kind and loyal to me when you guys were treating me like garbage.”

Their shoulders slump. I didn’t want to say it, but it’s out there now.

Drogo’s gaze meets mine again. “We’ll do whatever we have to in order to fix things with Garrick. We know you two are a package deal, and we’ve accepted it. Hell, we accepted it when we signed the alliance.”

I nod, taking a deep breath, and step into the cave.

Garrick is dressed, and our packs are put together again, save for an outfit he’s left out for me. He’s sitting on a rock, a knowing look on his face.

He stands when we approach. “Did you make nice?” he asks, tilting his head to the side.

My face heats up, and I know I’m red in the face right now. We more than made nice. But I can’t bring myself to say that.

Rinan grins. “We made very nice. Now our mate smells like us too.”

My wolves seem proud of themselves, but that’s not unexpected. I’m focused on Garrick. On his reaction.

Garrick puts his hands on his hips and surveys the four of us, before letting out a deep sigh. His gaze meets mine. “Are they going to treat you right?”

Drogo is quick to answer. “Yes.”

“We realized what idiots, what assholes, we’ve been,” Rinan adds, his gaze meeting Garrick’s.

The bear shifter looks doubtful.

“She’s our mate,” Arlys says softly, and his words seem to change something with Garrick. “When she left with you, we realized the truth. It was hell. The worst time in our lives. We won’t do anything to lose her ever again.”

Garrick gives them a shit-eating grin. “I figured out a long time ago that she was your mate. I just also figured you idiots didn’t deserve her for being such shit heads.”

“Maybe we didn’t.” Drogo looks more sad than angry. “But she’s working to forgive us. Which is better than we deserve.”

Garrick’s grin falls away, and he looks thoughtful. “I guess maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks. You guys have actually… grown, huh?”

Rinan gives him a look. “We’re wolves, not dogs, and we’re always learning. Thus is the fate of the stupid.”

Drogo and Arlys don’t look amused, but they don’t seem to disagree with Rinan either.

“Still,” Garrick says, dragging out the words. “As much as I’m not going to take any of my bride’s mates away, if you three decide to act like dicks again, I’m going to put you in your place. I’m going to hurt you a thousand times worse than you hurt her beautiful heart.” His tone is casual, but his eyes are dangerous.

Drogo offers him his hand. “Agreed.”

And to my surprise, the bear shifter takes it. They shake long and hard, eyes locked, before dropping hands. A new energy flows between them, a less tense one that I like.

Garrick picks up my clothes and hands them to me. “I bet you want to get dressed, sweetheart.”

“Thanks,” I say, moving away from them and then dropping my blanket as I put on the clothes.

Rinan gives a low whistle. “I’ll never get sick of seeing that.”

“Me neither,” Garrick says, crossing his big arms over his chest.

I glance at him, my face hot. All four men are staring, not just looking, but full-on staring at my naked body. Like I’m a steak, and they can’t wait to eat me up.

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