Two seconds later, with her robe firmly in place, Ani left their room. Mayne raced to the door, listening as she took possession of his old room right next door. Before they had their mate, Brody and Mayne did not share a bed. It was never about that with their kind of partnership.
The men were friends, brothers, not lovers. Their goal was always only to find their third. To love and worship her, cherish, respect, protect. And now this?
Damn.
His Wolf snarled and howled, mourning the loss of their mate.
Brody had fucked this all up.
Royally.
“You weren’t alone in that, my friend.”
“Fucking hell, Mayne. How can we make this up to her?”
“I have an idea.”
He shared his idea telepathically and Brody grinned. As far as plans went, this one was a doozy. It would show Ani they meant it when they said they loved her and would do anything to ensure her happiness and well-being.
Chapter 11
Ani bit herlip nervously as she combed her hair back away from her face and secured her low ponytail with a rubber band. Her new jeans and chambray shirt fit her perfectly, as did the pair of Crocs she insisted on wearing instead of cowboy boots.
Unfortunately, Ani was not as confident as she led her mates to believe the night before. She had two left feet and wearing anything other than Crocs only increased her chances at falling with every other step. But she could do this. She had to.
Figuring out the impossible was something she did on the daily at her old job. Hitting send on her resignation email only moments ago was her own way of saying she had this. She was not losing her mates to some cheap delusional floozy!
A knock at the bedroom door she was sleeping in brought her head up fast. It was only five o’clock in the morning. She had another hour at least. Ani swallowed down her worry and tried for composed when she opened the door.
“Yes?” She yelped as a pair of arms grabbed her and squeezed her to within an inch of her life.
“Ani, you’re safe!” Ginger squeaked as she kissed her sister’s cheek.
“What up, slut?” Sage’s teasing voice had her giggling despite the tears that rained down her face in full force.
“Hey. Come on, let’s go inside and you can get us all caught up on this mess you are in,” Sage instructed.
“Okay.” Ani nodded.
She looked up to see her mates with two other sets of males standing in the hallway. The strangers were staring at her sisters with puppy dog eyes, while Brody and Mayne seemed so sad and contrite, her heart almost broke. She nodded her head, mouthing a small thank you before shutting the door in their faces.
This was no time to turn into putty. She needed her wits and her focus to be on winning this thing. Then she could pummel her mates for their doubts and kiss and makeup after.
Yep. Good plan.
“Alright, those two yahoos filled us in when they called us, Ani. Now, how the hell are you gonna win this thing?” Sage demanded.
Her older sister had a way of getting right to the point. Ani sat down and opened her laptop. She’d been researching strategies all night long. The truth was, even with all her research, Ani still had to physically compete with a she-Wolf. That was not easy to do for a normal.
Gulp.
“Um, ladies,” Ginger hedged when Ani finished with her presentation. “Did either of you experience anything unusual with your being mated?”
“Besides being fucked stupid and my guys actually breaking my pussy? No, I don’t think so,” Ani snorted.
“TMI! Gross, little sis,” the redhead said, play punching her in the arm.
“Actually,” Sage began. “I can sort of draw on my mates’ magic and use it to protect myself and them. I don’t know how it really works, but it was cool. You see, a Dark Witch messed with the Council of Triads and human peeps meet and greet. It’s a long story.”