I looked down and shuffled back so that I was resting against the bed head.
“Is that everything, Claire?” I swallowed hard as my voice shook, but I forced myself to keep going. “I mean not that… that isn’t enough. But I feel like there could be more?”
Claire nodded, “There is. The truth is, these three are your mates. Fate, as it was, has chosen you to be with them. Love them. Marry them—however you want to put it. As Fate chose me for my three.”
Shock ricocheted through me like machine gun fire, one bullet after another, puncturing everything I knew about myself.
I’d believed I was meant to be alone. Apparently not.
I wasn’t good enough for anyone to love. Or so my ex- boyfriend said.
But what was Claire saying now, right in front of me?
“Let me get this right. You think that these three, men, if I can call them that.” They did, after all, allegedly turn into a wolf if they wanted to, so I wasn’t sure on the exact terminology. “Are my… husbands?”
“Well, mates is a better term for it. Grayson is your protector, Aaron would die for you, and Brad will be your best friend and companion forever. They are everything you’ve ever wanted in a man, and so much more. I’m telling you this to save you some time, but it probably won’t help. You’re even more stubborn than me.”
I’d give her that, she was probably right.
“Ah… okay. What do you want me to say, Claire?”
“I want you to say that you’ll stay here for a few days. We need to identify the bear shifter who was following you and I think you owe it to your triad, and yourself, to see if you can make this work.”
I knew who the bear shifter was, or at least part of me did.
One night, I’d seen a man turn into a bear, but I’d spent years convincing myself it was a dream. A bad memory that needed to be blocked.
And had been.
Mostly.
“I… ah, can do that.”
What choice did I have?
Claire looked at me strangely once again. “You’re taking this too well.”
I took another sip of water.
“Well, to be honest, I don’t have much left to fight, and after what just happened, I doubt my car is drivable.”
I glanced across to Grayson, meeting his gaze for one of the very first times.
He was so intense.
His eyes dug into my soul, deep, where I kept only the darkest of my desires and secrets.
My stomach fluttered, my heart squeezed.
And I knew…
I KNEW…. They were right.
There was something mythical and magical about this place. About these people.
And I knew they were telling the truth about me, about these men.
But how was I ever going to let them into the walled-up fortress my heart had become?