She squeezed her legs together and gritted her teeth to keep from making any telltale noises. She crossed her arms under her breasts in an effort to hold herself together.
However, without looking directly at her, Logan silently trailed his fingers across her forearm until he threaded them with hers and pulled her hand into his lap. His knuckles grazed her nipples on the way by, making her flush. “I understand you spoke to Laurie this morning,” he said to Mary.
Mary nodded, her gaze taking in everything in front of her.
Sawyer set his hand on Amanda’s thigh, letting his fingers rest between her legs on her bare skin where he proceeded to draw small circles that drove her instantly insane with need. “I know this is shocking to you.”
“Understatement,” Mary muttered, her eyes lowering to the spot where Sawyer fondled Amanda to total distraction.
Amanda set her hand on his and squeezed, trying to get him to stop the maddening stroke of his fingers, but he reached across with his other hand, clasped her smaller one in his, and brought it to his lips before lowering it to his lap.
She was trapped. Each man had a hand, and one man had a grip on her thigh that promised amazing things with the simple contact.
Logan spoke again. “I swear to you, as unconventional as all this may seem, it is part of our normal existence, and we would never do anything to make Amanda feel less than loved, adored, and cherished for the rest of her life. It’s how we’re made. It’s fast, but it is binding and unbreakable.”
Mary nodded again, licking her lips.
Amanda’s heart pounded at his words. She knew they were true. She was scared out of her mind about how things were going to play out, especially for the rest of the day, but it calmed her to hear his promises.
This was not a passing thing. They would never use her and discard her. They couldn’t, apparently.
“It’s so fast,” Mary muttered.
Sawyer spoke next. “We know. And we’ll take every precaution to ensure we don’t rush her and she feels as if she has made her own decisions with regard to this claiming.”
“Claiming?” Mary asked.
Amanda was still hung up on the way he’d carefully worded his sentence. He hadn’t said she would have any choices. Only that they would try to make her feel as if she had.
“That’s what we call the act of uniting two wolves, or in this case two wolves and a human,” Logan explained. “A claiming.”
“And what does that entail?” Mary asked.
Amanda was curious as well. She’d have to thank Mary later for asking the hard questions Amanda was unable to pull into sentences in her crazy state of confusion.
“It’s not complicated. We don’t marry like humans do. Well, sometimes we marry for the sake of appearances, but that’s a lot more complicated when we’re in groups of three,” Logan said. He did not, however, answer the question.
Clearly, Mary was aware of that too. Her mouth opened, and she hesitated a moment. “So you have like a ceremony or something? Will I attend?”
Sawyer shook his head, his fingers tightening around Amanda’s. “No. We don’t do that either. If we did, we would of course have you attend. But a claiming a private uniting between mates. It doesn’t involve other people.”
Amanda grew nervous. She hadn’t really considered this side of things. She understood the concept that they seemed fated to be together because she felt the same pull as them, but she wasn’t clear on what would happen privately to make that binding.
Well, she wasn’t an idiot. Sex would be involved. She got that, but what else? That seemed pretty simple to her, although totally frightening on a level she would never be able to explain.
“I see,” Mary said. Her gaze darted back and forth between Logan and Sawyer before settling on Amanda. “And you’re okay with this? You don’t feel pressured or coerced?”
“No.” She felt drawn in a way that was out of her control, but not forced. Nature seemed to control things, not specifically the men at her sides. They were in the same predicament as her as far as she could tell. “I’m fine, Mary. I want this.”
“You had no idea this even existed yesterday.”
“I know, but it does. And it’s powerful. It’s not to be denied. I’m certain of that.” She wasn’t lying.
Sawyer lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles again. When his lips met her skin, she closed her eyes. She wanted those lips on the rest of her body. Like now. Or ten minutes ago. She hadn’t stopped thinking about the way he’d already claimed her with his mouth since she first woke up and realized she wasn’t dreaming.