Page 39 of Shadowlands Sector 2

He nods. “About marking what’s his.”

Fire fuels my words. “From what I understand, you three are mine as much as I am yours, so we should have a say in this together.”

Lucien smirks. “You’ve been listening to Bardhyl too much. What the Denmark pack does and what Ash Wolves do are not always aligned. But they will sort it out, even if it comes down to a fight.”

I stiffen. “What the hell? Did you fight Dušan too? That’s barbaric!”

As though he can’t stand it a second longer, he reaches over and takes my arms, drawing me against him. “We are barbarians, my little bird, and our Alpha Dušan has the right to accept or reject another man for his fated mate.”

“But it’s my wolf who picks!”

“And Dušan gets the final say, even if it breaks your heart and Bardhyl’s. What Dušan says is law. You will have Dušan and me, so your Omega wolf won’t suffer.”

I hate the sound of this. Fury churns in my chest because what I felt with Bardhyl is animalistic and wild and… well… I don’t know what to make of my feelings, but I should get to make that choice, not Dušan.

I spin on my heels and march in the direction of the woods where Dušan and Bardhyl vanished when strong arms clasp around my waist and whip me up off my feet.

“I can’t let you do that,” Lucien whispers.

“Why the hell not?”

“Trust me. Men just need to get shit off their chests sometimes, and both Alphas have dark pasts they may not be ready to share with you.”

That statement leaves me stunned, and suddenly I feel like I don’t know any of these men.

I shove myself out of Lucien’s grasp. How in the world can I be so needy for their attention, have their presence physically eliminate the pain their absence caused, and yet have them seem like strangers on another level?

“What’syourdark secret then?” I blurt out, eyeing him up and down. “Is it related to your cowboy boots?”

His face loses some of its color at my question, and it’s clear I’ve taken him off guard. He never blinks his steel-gray eyes, while the breeze ruffles his short, brown hair. He’s six-foot-three, rugged and smoldering, everything about him screamingwolf. My attraction to him started the second we met by the side of the road when he picked up Dušan and me. Even now, standing before him, all I can think about is going to him, tasting his lips, remembering how he claimed me. But I stand my ground, wanting answers. Lucien is everything I’ve ever desired in a man, and he looks at me with hunger.

But he doesn’t make a move, either.

“The boots are all I have left of my father,” he finally answers. “And if you need to know the truth, I lost my first fated mate not that long ago to the undead. So yeah, we all have dark shit in our past, Meira. And we deal with it the only way we know how. It’s why you run, isn’t it? It’s all you’ve ever known.”

I can’t move or even find my voice, as what he’s said weighs heavily on my mind. There are so many questions I contemplate asking, yet only one pushes forward. “Y-You already found your fated mate?”

He runs a hand through his hair and glances to his feet momentarily before meeting my gaze. “Until I met you, I still dreamt of her. They say a true fated mate is for life, but that isn’t the case. Look at us. We all come from twisted pasts, and we are bound to you.” He stands tall, and his stormy irises lock on to mine, making it clear he wholeheartedly believes every word he says. But part of me worries that maybe I can’t live up to his initial mate. He loved her first, and she will always be with him. What if I’m not good enough?

I want to apologize for my earlier anger at him, to draw him in my arms, because I struggled severely from being away from the Alphas over a few days, and it would have been a lot worse without Bardhyl next to me. I can’t even imagine how losing her felt. But the thought of losing one’s mate brings back the heartache from when my mama died. It was so long ago, yet it feels like it happened yesterday, and that familiar sharpness in my chest rises again.

Striding closer to him, I slide my hands in his, our fingers interlacing, and I just hold him, because no words can ease the grief.

Three Alphas, each so similar but so different.

Dušan is the one in charge, dominating and never letting his guard down.

Lucien brings patience and understanding to our group, but there’s a fire in his eyes that makes him unpredictable.

Bardhyl’s the joker, but he’s using that to hide the real him. It’s so obvious.

And me… I complete the circle of misfits by being shattered and lost.

Maybe I’m where I should be, among these three. After all, we’re all trying to find out where we belong in this world, right?

An ear-piercing howl slices through the silence, and I flinch, my head jerking in the direction of the woods Dušan and Bardhyl disappeared in.

Dread flares over me, and I jump into a run toward them.

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