On the other side of Nevis, York mumbled and rolled over. Yeah, he didn’t want to lose his best friend either. They were a triad, nothing more and nothing less. Master Kingston, their Alpha, was in a ménage now, too. He and Raleigh had mated Andorra, and everyone could see they were very happy together.
Should the ménages be kept quiet for the sake of the business? They didn’t ever talk about their shape-shifter status. That was always kept hidden from the human world. Of course some people believed in shape-shifters and recognized them. Other people had shape-shifter family members so knew about them because of that. Whether or not someone became a shape-shifter was genetic, the gene passed down from parent to child like the gene for curly hair. So when a shape-shifter mated a human there was a fifty-fifty chance their child would be a shape-shifter.
Over the last few generations fewer and fewer female shape-shifters had been born, which meant more males had found human mates, or, more recently again, formed ménages. He and York had done both. As had Master Kingston. But would their Alpha be upset if the ménage became known? After all, he’d sent them here. He must have thought it was a possibility at the very least.
Bronx slid off the bed and walked into the office. He booted up his computer and wrote an email telling Kingston all about Nevis’s feelings, then asked if he would mind them making the ménage public.
Certain he’d done all he could for now, Bronx closed down the computer, and went back to bed. Wrapping an arm around Nevis, although not leaning against her back in case it was still a little sore, he finally relaxed. She belongs in my arms, just like this.
* * * *
Master Kingston sat in his office, his back to the floor-to-ceiling glass window out over the magnificent mountain scenery. As Alpha of the Hot Springs Mountain Pack, and CEO of Hot Springs Transportation, Bronx had done the correct thing in letting him know about their problem. Bronx, York and Nevis had done a great job establishing the new branch office. Realistically Kingston didn’t expect it to fail. Bronx had done a lot of research before moving to Pine Corner, and although three quarters of new businesses failed within the first few years, Kingston was sure this one wouldn’t. But he did expect it to run at a loss for as much as a year, as well as having to pay for the establishment costs such as buying the property and upgrading it. He expected they’d soon have paying clients and gradually build up enough customers to make the branch office run at a profit. However, what he hadn’t expected was having to be judge and jury on sexual matters.
He picked up his cell phone and texted his mates, Raleigh, and Andorra. Need to talk. R U free now?
They arrived together less than five minutes later, and once again he realized how lucky he was. The responsibilities of Alpha weighed heavily on him. He had over a hundred people to care for and provide for, plus a large and prosperous business to run. But these two people, his mates, his best friend, and his wonderful woman, were what made his life complete.
“What’s up?” asked Raleigh, leaning against the wall as Andorra dropped into a chair beside his desk.
“Nevis has refused to mate Bronx and York because she’s worried that the town won’t accept a ménage and that the business will fail because of her. Which is silly. Why blame her instead of the men? Anyway, that’s how she feels about it. Bronx has asked my advice. I was going to reply that since the Supreme Alpha of North America has declared interspecies marriages, and two-men-one-woman marriages to be not just acceptable, but desirable, he should go for it. But then I began to see it as far more complicated than that, so I wanted your advice.”
“Nevis is right, you know. When there’s sexual issues the woman is always the one blamed. Think how often with a rape victim people say she asked for it because she was out late at night or wearing a short skirt. Too bad if she was coming home from her job, wearing a uniform, they still say it,” said Andorra.
“Is the town accepting of them? Are the people friendly?” asked Raleigh.
Kingston couldn’t help smiling at that. “Andorra wowed them with her helicopter stunt. The town was right onboard after that. But what we do here might have implications for other branches in the future. Ménages really are the best way forward for shape-shifters. It solves the lack of women problem but also, it provides a strong basis for a union . Each partner has two others to support them in their daily life. So while decisions still need to be made on a case-by-case basis, this first one does have ramifications the others might not have.”
“I was thinking there are several religions where it’s not just one man and one woman. But the ones I can think of have one man and several women, not one woman and two men,” said Raleigh.