Page 77 of Rugged

I laughed. “Yes. I didn’t want Lyssa intruding on our intimate times.”

Johnny pointed toward the door. “Like we just intruded on hers?” We fell into another fit of laughter.

When it petered out, Johnny ran his knuckles down my cheek. His dark eyes met and held mine. “I love you, Emma. I know I still have a lot to learn about you and how to make you happy, but I’m all in. I’m your guy, thick or thin. Forever.”

36

JOHNNY

When a shifter diedin wolf form, he didn’t shift back to human. That made proving Chapman’s death to the human world a real issue, but that wasn’t our problem. The Shifter Council would deal with the fall-out of the failed capture. He tried to kill a human, and more importantly to the Council’s perspective, my marked mate’s sister. That alone warranted a death sentence.

Knox, Travis, and I carried Chapman’s wolf body out to a far field to let the buzzards take care of it. The Council dispatched someone to repair the broken glass at the property straight away. As soon as Lyssa and Emma packed, plus the place buttoned up, we left for Wolf Ranch. All five of us.

Emma and Lyssa weren’t ready to be parted, and there was no way Knox and Travis were going to let their mate out of their sight, so I invited them to the ranch. Once we arrived at the bunkhouse–where the trio would stay during their visit–we had some beers and ate take-out BBQ we’d picked up on the way home.

I sat back and learned about my mate and her sister as Knox and Travis grilled them over dinner, hungry for every last detail. Lyssa apparently already knew about us being wolves–Emma had told her right before we arrived–and she seemed open to the idea of belonging to two men. I wasn’t sure if it was because she was into doing wild and impulsive things, like being with two guys at once, and wasn’t sure if she fully understood it all yet. Her mates would be there for her as she figured it out. And settled in. There would be no more roaming for her.

I hoped she liked winters in Wyoming.

They shared about their childhood in Pittsburgh, their parents, who still lived there, and the antics they used to play trading places in school growing up.

“Lyssa is the extra one, so it makes sense that she’d get two mates,” Emma laughed.

“Are you extra, babygirl?” Knox had Lyssa on his lap. Her legs extended onto Travis’ lap, so she was touching both.

Lyssa nodded then grinned, not ashamed to admit, “I’m a lot to handle.”

“Oh, we’ll handle you, angel,” Travis promised, toying with one of her long locks of black hair. “You’ll never be too much for us.”

I caught Emma’s eye. “And you’ll always be enough for me,” I told her and watched a lovely flush fill her cheeks.

“To the most beautiful and intelligent twins who ever walked this earth.” Knox raised his beer bottle.

“Here, here.” I lifted mine, and we all clinked bottles and drank. “And now I’m desperate for some alone time with my mate, and I’m sure you guys are, too.” I stood and picked Emma off the couch, swinging her up into my arms.

She gasped then laughed.

“Last one to make their mate come is a rotten egg.” I dashed off to the bedroom as the main room exploded with laughter.

“Challenge accepted!” Travis shouted after us.

I carried Emma into our bedroom and kicked the door closed. I eased her down to her feet, keeping our bodies connected the entire time. I heard Knox’s and Travis’s voices then Lyssa giggle. Then a door slam shut.

“Finally, I get you alone,” I murmured.

She looked up at me, her brown eyes warm, her full lips parted. I scented her arousal already.

“It feels like an eternity since you left this bed.” The pain of her walking out this morning returned but with a duller ache. So much had happened since then. I wanted to wash it all away, to return it to just me and Emma. Us. Together.

No surprise twin sister.

No rogue shifter.

No secrets.

“To me, too,” she whispered.

I cupped her face. “Don’t leave me again,” I begged, my thumbs stroking over her soft skin. “Stay and communicate. We can always work things out.”

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