Still off balance in an emotional sense, she somehow managed to dredge up her sarcasm and pour it into a single word. “Peachy.”
Daegan laughed and then wandered over to the spot where she’d spent most of the day cleaning. “I got as much of it up as I could last night, but it was kind of hard in the dark, and I sure as hell didn’t want to attract attention by turning on the lights.” He moved back to stand beside her. “You did a good job. I can’t even smell the blood anymore.”
“Yeah, well turns out my nose is pretty sensitive today. I had to keep scrubbing.” And even as she’d done it, she’d wondered what it meant. If she accepted everything she’d seen and heard last night, then it meant her life had changed forever. With these two standing in front of her, it seemed unlikely that she could once again convince herself that the events of last night were all imagination.
She turned into Isaac’s embrace, happy for the moment to deny the undeniable.
She didn’t even realize she was crying until Daegan pressed against her back and whispered, “It’s going to be okay, Andrea. I promise you everything will work out.”
“I nearly died last night, didn’t I?” Hell, was that breathless, tiny voice really hers?
“You would have if we hadn’t changed you,” Isaac said quietly. She nodded against his chest, swallowing hard as emotion crowded her thought processes.
“We’re sorry we didn’t have a chance to give you the choice,” Daegan said, “but we couldn’t let you go.”
“Because I’m your mate?” she whispered. She still had no idea what that meant. The way they’d described it felt an awful lot like an arranged marriage. Even if it was some higher power calling the shots, she much preferred the idea of making her own decisions. “But what if you don’t like me? What then?”
“Trust us, beautiful. We already like you. Love will come.”
“Seriously?” It sounded way too simple. These men were strangers. Just because her body seemed to have a mind of its own at the moment, it didn’t mean the future was bright and easy. She’d done the whole married thing before, and to say it hadn’t gone well was a seriously huge understatement.
“So how does this ‘mate’ thing work?”
“It starts with what we call a mating link. You’ll feel a connection to us, just the way we feel connected to you.”
“Because of what you did last night?”
“No, changing you doesn’t make you our mate. You were our mate even before you became a werewolf. If you hadn’t been dying we would have taken time to get to know you before making you a wolf.”
“Oh, so I would have gotten a choice?” She didn’t mean the words to sound so snarky—they’d saved her life after all—but she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that the future she’d planned had been stolen before she’d truly begun to enjoy it. Of course, that was probably more the shooter’s fault than Isaac and Daegan’s. She shook her head sharply, trying to think rationally. “So then what? Last night you said claiming me was the werewolf equivalent of a marriage.”
“That’s right. When we all agree the time is right,” Isaac said with a kind smile, “Xavier, Daegan, and I will give you a mating mark—it’s a special kind of bite that will leave a silvery sort of scar on your skin—and when you have control of your wolf side, you’ll do the same for us.” Isaac looked so hopeful she wondered if she should remind him again that she wasn’t going to marry, or mate, three strangers.
“Come on. We’ll help you lock up and take you to dinner. We can do the whole dating thing if you like,” Daegan said with a happy grin.
“Ah, sure, I guess.” She glanced around the room, wondering if perhaps this was the hallucination. They both seemed so nice and not the least bit annoyed even though she’d spent a good deal of time yelling at them last night. “I need a shower though.”
Daegan’s chuckle was pure sin. “We could help.”
Hell, the way her insides damn near liquefied, her body thought that was a really good idea. But the sex had been imaginary, right? She was sure she’d dreamed that part after they’d left. She was still shaking inside from the alarm clock’s poorly timed interruption. Her body wanted them. There was no doubt about that, but thankfully her brain was still in charge—for the moment at least. “I think I can manage by myself this time.”
Daegan stepped away, pulled her gently from his brother’s arms, and turned her toward the stairs to her apartment. “Go get ready. We’ll wait here.”