Page 17 of Dawn of the Pack

As soon as I start moving Milo’s arms loosen, allowing me to turn and face him. His dark hair is adorably mussed, flat on one side from sleeping on it. When I don’t pull away completely, he gives me a sleepy version of his one-sided smile and my heart stutters.

“Do you know what time it is?”

I think he’s going to ignore my question in favor of running a lazy finger along my shoulder, but he turns and asks for the time from his phone’s AI.

I should have thought of that.

She answers that it’s only a few hours since we left Harridan House, still evening. Milo moves on to tracing patterns across my chest and down to my breasts, and while it’d be very easy to let him continue, I know I need to cut this off.

“Milo,” I start as he moves in to kiss my jaw.

“Mmm?” His tongue flicks out and taps my earlobe.

“Milo, I need to tell you something.”

“Mmm-hmm?” His kisses have moved to my neck.

“Milo!” I can’t help a giggle; it’s like he’s drunk on me. To regain control of the situation, I press both hands on his chest and he reluctantly moves a few inches back, his blue eyes promising mischief.

“I need to tell you something,” I repeat, trying to get him to take me seriously. “And I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

That did it. His playful expression changes to cautious curiosity. “Okay, I’m listening.”

Now I’m nervous. What if it really upsets him? I don’t know what kind of bomb I’m about to set off.

“Well… you know how we’re fated mates…” I begin.

His sexy smile returns. “Yes?”

“And how Landon and Jared are also my mates?”

“Of course.”

“And how none of us had a choice in the matter, it just… is?”

His smile drops. “Are you having second thoughts?”

The emotional hitch in his voice could break my heart. “Of course not! Of course not. I love you.” I lean forward and kiss him tenderly, and he accepts the reassurance. Sighing, I pull back. “There’s just… something else we have to discuss about this whole mate thing.”

His fingers are back to skimming across my skin. “What’s that?”

I force the words out in a rush. “I think Derrek is my other mate. My fourth mate.”

Milo’s hand stills immediately, the lovey-dovey expression freezing on his face and turning into a neutral mask. “He can’t be.” His voice is clear, certain.

“Why not?” Despite my own feelings on the matter, I’d love for him to have an irrefutable reason Derrek can’t be my mate. It would make things so much easier.

I can see the wheels turning behind his suddenly stormy blue eyes. “Because… he’s not from our pack.”

“Montrose split with us, so originally we were all one pack. They have the same family lines we do, so it’s not impossible.”

“The seer said we were your mates.”

“The seer told each of your families that you’d mate the Harridan heir. I didn’t have a seer present when I was born. So there was no one saying that only you three would be my mates.”

Emotion floods his voice, and his expression turns concerned. “But why would this change now? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Just… think about it for a minute with me. Before the split, the alpha took as many mates from the other seven families as she connected to. It wasn’t unheard of for her to mate the others, but they defected because she most often mated the three. What if… what if there were other alphas after the split that would have mated wolves from Montrose, if only they’d had the chance? But the curse kept them apart?”

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