“You must have just moved to town,” Patrick says.
“Yeah, a few months ago.”
He frowns at that, and I know he’s upset that he didn’t find her the second she set foot onto his pack's land.
“Well, I’m the Alpha of North Star. Wade and Ezra are the Alphas of the Silver Pine and Rose Bend packs,” Patrick tells her.
“And you’re my mate,” Wade says.
“No, you’re my mate,” I butt in, glaring at Wade.
She frowns harder, and I get another whiff of her scent. I knew I smelled something different about her, but my wolf and I must have been too flustered by Wade and Patrick to let it sink in.
My mate is human.
Shit. She’s not going to have any idea what we’re talking about.We’re going to seem just as crazy as we did when we were all fighting and screaming at each other on her front lawn a few minutes ago.
We’re still messing this up.
“You’re human,” I state, and she cocks her head at me.
“Um, yeah?”
Patrick and Wade grunt. I’m not sure if they figured it out already or if it’s just dawning on them as well.
“Okay, well, this has been… interesting,” Emily starts, her green eyes jumping from my face to Patrick’s and then Wade’s. “But you’re certainly not clearing anything up here. I’m just going to…” Our mate trails off, taking a step back and closing the door in our faces.
“Wait!” Wade shouts, his hand shooting out to stop the door from closing all the way.
“We’re shifters. Wolf shifters,” I start. “We can change from human to wolf form at will.”
“We’re also Alphas, which means we’re in charge of our packs,” Patrick explains.
“Shifters have fated mates, their one true love. You’re mine. Or ours. I don’t know yet. It’s complicated, but we can smell it,” Wade finishes.
“Uh-huh,” she says, looking around like she thinks this might be a prank. Or maybe she’s waiting for a bunch of nurses dressed in white to come and take us back to the psych ward. “Look, I’m… flattered. I think.” Emily scrunches her nose up, and even though my wolf is ready to rip the door open and sink his teeth into her neck, I can’t help but notice how adorable she is.
“It’s true. We can prove it,” I insist.
“Oh, that’s okay. I’m just going to close the door now.”
“We’ll show you! We’ll shift right now. We almost did it earlier when we were fighting over you anyway,” Wade says.
“I’m not sure what your game is, but…” She trails off, her gaze wandering down our bodies as we start pulling our clothes off. We strip quickly, and she blinks, obviously surprised by our actions. “Holy crap, give a girl some notice!” she squeaks out, her cheeks turning bright pink.
“Don’t want to rip our clothes,” I explain with a shrug.
She nods, averting her eyes as her cheeks turn bright pink.
“I should go,” she says, starting to inch back into her house.
“Wait! Just let us show you. Then you’ll believe us,” Patrick says.
Before she can argue, we all share a look, stepping back to make room and then starting to shift for her.
It happens quickly. Our nails elongate, turning into claws. Fur starts to overtake our skin, and in the blink of an eye, we’re landing on all fours in front of her. Our wolves eye each other, and I can feel the tension starting to grow between the three of us. Emily must be able to feel it, too, because she shifts uneasily, still frozen in the doorway of her house.
“Whoa,” she breathes, taking a tentative step towards us. “How… what? I mean, I saw it, but I still can’t… quite… believe it.” Emily whispers the last few words, lifting a trembling hand out toward us.