Page 14 of The Alpha's Autumn Baby Mama (Triple L Ranch Shifters 4)

Mates.

Is that what you meant?

Mates.The tone had gone from insistent to gleeful. She always had been smarter than me.

“So what does this mean?” I was so warm and cozy between them. Such a perfect fit. “I don’t want you to feel like I am with you just to get a home at the Triple L.”

Owen winked. “We don’t even have a home there yet. Well, more or less. Our parents left their cabins when they moved, but last time we visited, they were pretty decrepit. We haven’t decided yet whether to live in one of them or build another.”

“That’s not the issue, I—”

“No, we understand.” Levi’s voice got me every time he spoke. It was like rich velvet or maybe melted chocolate. “But our point is that whatever home is ours is yours. When we get to the ranch, we’ll look at both family homes and see if one is still in good enough shape to at least be temporary. Somewhere to spend the winter.”

“You talk like it’s a done deal. Like I’m just going to tack on to the edge of your mating and join it. Don’t we need to talk about things first? Get to know each other? Find out if we’ll get along?”

“Are you a real shifter?” Owen asked, smiling at me the whole time. “If you are our fated mate, everything else will work itself out. Like babies.”

“What?” I sat straight up. “You want babies?”

“Eventually,” he said. “And you have to admit, you’re going to be better at that than either of us. I propose you carry the babies and we’ll raise them together.”

“You had me at propose.” I smiled back at him. “It’s good to know I have something to bring to this arrangement.”

“It’s not an arrangement,” Levi said sternly. “We’ll be equal. Mates together for life.”

“Equality isn’t something I’m familiar with in matings. Not in my old pack.”

“Then Triple L will probably take some getting used to. Sometime, I think our alpha female is higher in the pecking order than even her mates. They certainly listen to her advice on every important issue.”

Wouldn’t that be refreshing. “When I left with just the pack on my back, I hoped to find a place to settle. I’d heard really good things, but I was afraid to believe they were all true. I’d have accepted half as many.

Chapter Fourteen

Owen

“So, what do you say?” I brushed a kiss on Nova’s petal-soft cheek. “Do you want to throw your lot in with a couple of wolves who’ve lost everything they were building and have to start again from the ground up?”

“Would it be horrible if I didn’t hate that?”

“You want us to be poor?” Levi’s surprise carried in his tone.

“Silly. No, not that.” She sounded more confident, less hesitant than she had since the moment she arrived. “It’s just that if you had everything you need, if you were well off, why would you need me?”

“Because you’re our mate?” She really didn’t get it. “What we have we share, and we’re not actually poor because we are members of the Triple L Ranch. Everything there is held in common, and it’s a pretty prosperous spread. All the alphas ask is that each person contribute whatever skills they have to the common good. It’s a system that works pretty well for us.”

“I’m so excited to be part of it. You’re positive I can stay?”

“If you can’t,” Levi told her, “then neither can we. Provided you accept our mating?”

She paled. “I want to, but if the alphas tell me to leave, that would mean you’d lose your home. How is that fair?”

“Mating is the way of things. Unless you march right up and throw cow dung in their mate’s face, you should be fine.”

“Didn’t you say they raise sheep?”

“Both.” I kissed her hand again. “All the livestock.”

We continued to talk about small things, mostly unimportant, but they were the types of things that set Nova at ease. And helped us to get to know one another. In a way fated mates are the arranged marriages of the stars. Sometimes, like with Levi and me, the mates knew each other before they became aware of the love story before them. Other times, like with Nova, it was a brand-new meeting. I could vouch that both were amazing, and gifts from the goddess, and far more than I deserved.

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