Curves 'em Right(33)

The next few days, she saw them individually again. Blake took her to a movie and Kane took her for a hike. Sadly for Kane, he discovered during their hike that she hadn’t gone hiking in years and was in serious bad shape. They ended up having to stop every few minutes for her to rest. Whoever invited hiking in hills and mountain trails needed to be shot in the balls!

The three were on a group date a week later when they discussed the topic of the pack and their acceptance.

“What happens if your pack doesn’t like that I’m human?” She sat on the bed, between both men.

Kane placed a kiss on her shoulder while Blake drew circles on her palm with his finger.

“They have to accept you. Kane is Alpha. Nobody goes up against him. They know I have his back,” Blake said.

That didn’t really answer the question. “Could others get angry? Fight?”

She hated the idea of bringing them problems. Marcos had always spoken of the respect the pack had for both men. The last thing she wanted was to bring tension into their lives.

“There’s always a possibility that someone will want to fight when there is a change. Shifters, especially wolves, tend to like to be leaders. Only the strongest can do it. Kane is a formidable Alpha. He’s stronger than anyone in the pack.”

“That’s physically,” Kane said. “With Blake by my side I’m even more. If we add you, the three of us would be unbeatable. Not to mention we’d have an even deeper link between me and Blake. You’d center us. Give us the ability to lead with a human and soul-reaching connection.”

She leaned back against the pillows, her mind a whirlwind of emotions. Spending time with them had reinforced the feelings she’d developed long ago. This wasn’t just lust. There was a big amount of that, but once you took that away, she was left wanting to spend time with both men anyway. She wanted to do simple things like have them watch their stupid sports while she read romance novels in bed. It was still amazing to her that they didn’t fight over time with her or over who got to do what with her. They were so connected that they encouraged the other to do whatever made him happy. The result ended up being that they divided their time evenly with her.

If one came over to the library to meet her for lunch, the other one would spend time with her at dinner. Maybe the three would share meals or her bed, but it was never about spending more time with one over the other. She’d been confused at first, thinking it was just not possible for it to work, but it had. It had and now she didn’t want it to stop. Now she wanted it to continue just like this. For them to be with her and make love to her and make her feel like she was the most precious person in their lives.

Marcos would return from his trip in a few days. How would his opinion impact the friendship of almost twenty years with the shifters? And more importantly, how would he react to knowing his sister had mated the two? That is, if she accepted their proposal.

She leaned into Kane, loving that he immediately pulled her into a hug.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “I can tell something’s bothering you.”

She glanced up at him with a sad smile. “I love Marcos. He’s always been there for me. I don’t want to hurt his feelings.”

Blake sighed and lifted her hand to his lips, kissing her softly at the center of her palm. “We know. We don’t want to damage our friendship with him either.”

“What do we do?” she asked.

She didn’t get a response. Her cell phone rang. A glance at the screen and she cringed. It was Tom. Again. She’d tried to politely decline his continued invitations, stating she was now seeing someone new. Other times, she’d plain ignored his calls. He was never rude or mean, just pushy. And that pushiness was starting to get on her last nerve.

She sent the call to voicemail and hoped he would stop calling. The past few weeks, he’d acted like none of the times she’d rejected his proposals had ever happened. He’d continued to invite her for dinners and outings. At first she thought he meant to continue their friendship, which she was more than happy to do, but then she’d heard from one of her co-workers that he’d come by on her day off and had told them that she was seeing him. That was an outright lie and she’d called him on it. He’d denied ever saying it, but she didn’t trust him anymore. The friendship they’d shared was tainted with his inability to accept her refusal.

“Is everything okay?” Blake asked, his shrewd gaze on her face.

“Yes. Everything’s good.”

She’d have to tell Tom a little more forcefully that he needed to cut his crap and let it go. She’d gone to some outings with him as a friend but had never promised him anything. The day he’d proposed she’d been so shocked she hadn’t known what to say. Who the hell proposed to someone without knowing them? Without kissing them? Hell, without even touching them? Tom did.