Page 7 of Big Bad Alphas

My wolf preens. He loves having her attention on us. We take a step toward her at the same time Patrick and Wade do, and then we all growl at each other.

Emily jumps back, and I whimper. We shouldn’t have been fighting. I just can’t seem to help it. I want my mate all to myself, and I know Patrick and Wade do too.

I sit down, trying to show her that I’m calm, and the other two Alphas follow my lead, sitting back so that we’re all lined up in front of her.

We’re all about the same height in human form, and our wolves are too. The only way to tell us apart is our eye color. Patrick has dark brown eyes, while Wade’s are bright green, and mine are somewhere in the middle, more of a hazel. Aside from that, all of our wolves are the same light brown fur color.

Emily hesitates, but when she sees that we’re not moving, she slowly inches out until she’s standing in front of us. She slowly reaches her hand out again to touch us, and I lick my lips. Her hand brushes over my head, her fingers sinking into my soft fur.

“Huh,” she says softly as she moves to pet each one of us.

The three of us remain motionless, letting her explore us in wolf form as much as she wants. When she finally steps back, we all start to shift back to human form.

We’re silent as we pull our clothes back on and then stand to face her.

“Okay, so you’re wolves, or shifters, or whatever. I believe you now,” she says, stepping back towards the front door.

“And you’re our fated mate,” I say.

“If you say so. I don’t really understand that part. I barely understand the shifter part,” she adds in a whisper.

“Shifters are fated to love only one person. We’ll never want another,” Patrick tells her.

“Okay, and I’m your… fated one?” She asks.

“Yes, you’re meant to be ours. All of ours, apparently,” I add.

Patrick, Wade, and I share a tense look before we focus back on our mate.

“So, I’m destined to be with you. Like in a relationship? Like the whole marriage and kids thing?”

“Well, it’s more of a bite,” Wade says.

“What?” Emily exclaims.

“We bite our mates and mark them as ours, usually during the mating moon. Shifters can get married, but it’s not like a requirement or anything,” I explain. “It’s more of a human institution, but I’d do anything to make you happy.”

“I would, too,” Wade interjects, puffing out his chest. I roll my eyes.

“Do you want to get married?” Patrick asks her.

“I, well, I haven’t given much thought to it, but… Wait, hold up.” Emily holds her hand out, stopping any response we might have. “This is a lot. Too much. Marriage? Mating moon? Who even are you? Why should I trust you? Any of you?”

“I know you have questions. We’ll answer everything,” Patrick promises her.

She pauses, thinking things over for a minute, and we wait to see what she’ll ask next.

“So, earlier, in the yard, you were fighting over… me?” She sounds surprised like the idea is completely absurd.

“Yes,” we answer in unison.

“You’re my mate,” Patrick says. I grunt while Wade clears his throat. “Ourmate,” Patrick corrects himself. “You belong to all three of us. That’s unusual for shifters. Usually, it’s one mate per shifter.”

“And you’re mad that you have to share me?” she clarifies.

“Yes,” we answer at the same time. We’ve gotta stop doing that. It’s a little too on the nose.

“We all want you to ourselves,” I add.

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