Chapter 9
MONIQUE
I showed the guys around the village, not that there was a lot to see. But we had winding roads and gorgeous little homes, with flowers and beauty galore. Everything was neat and pretty, and pride surged through me as we meandered.
We kept to the paved paths because many of the witches had wards up around their houses and I wasn’t sure the wolf shifters would survive the approach.
“I’m surprised your town isn’t bigger,” Kyle said, walking beside me while Xander followed a step or two behind us. “After all, if no one ever leaves, wouldn’t your population kind of expand?”
He interlaced our fingers. The familiar shot of heat made a smile lift my lips. It seemed I really did have the same reaction to both of these beautiful men.
I turned to Kyle to answer. “We don’t have many children. Most of us only have one, so...”
“So your population literally can’t grow,” he said. “That’s not even replacement value.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” I said, shrugging. I’d never really thought about what it meant for the future to only have one child. “We do have witches and warlocks move in from other towns, though. So there is some expansion in that way. Our community just plods along happily.”
The explanation sounded ridiculous even to my own ears. Why had I never thought about this before?
“Tell me about your pack, then. How big is it?” I said.
Kyle bit his lip like he was trying not to laugh.
There was a large tree up ahead with a park bench beneath it. I sat down on the bench and patted each side of me so they’d join me.
When they sat, I was enfolded with warmth. I shivered and sighed at the same time, unable to fully process all the pleasurable feelings that ran through me when I was around these two.
I still hadn’t really thought about what they’d told me so far, and what it meant. I was their soul mate, as far as they were concerned. Did that mean they loved me? Like, insta-love? Or did it mean they would love me in the future? They certainly didn’t hide their interest in being with me, more than anyone I’d ever met.
Even Michael, my childhood crush, had never made me feel quite this way. But then, his interest in me had always seemed driven by obligation, not animal attraction.
“Our pack...” Xander began, then sighed with a hint of sadness. “It is dying.”
I gasped as I twisted around to look at him. “What do you mean?”
Xander clenched his jaw, a muscle popping in the side of his face. “I mean exactly that. For the last thirty years, no one within our pack has birthed a daughter, and anyone who tries to breed outside of our pack has stillborn babies.”
I covered my mouth with my hand, horrified at the idea. “So... you...”
I swallowed hard, unable to even think of the next sentence.
“With no women to carry on the line, we’ll die out soon enough,” Kyle said.
I twisted around to see him as he continued. “We have plenty of babies in the pack—all sons. Xander’s sister just gave birth to her sixth boy, but with no females to marry...”
I nodded, understanding what they were saying. “But you two found me—your fated mate—here. Is it possible that there are other wolves in your pack who might also have witch mates?”
Kyle stilled, and I turned to Xander, whose eyes changed color from their usual brilliant blue to shifter yellow and then back again. It was as if the idea of witch mates for his pack had given him a shock.
I stood up and twirled around.
“You guys stay sitting. I’m getting dizzy looking between the two of you.” I put my hands on my hips and stared down at them. “What’s with the angst-filled faces? Would it be so terrible for your pack to be full of witch fated mates?”
Xander swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “It’s not terrible. I just hadn’t even thought of that possibility.”
“But it’s not bad. Not at all,” Kyle reassured me.
“No. Quite the opposite,” Xander said. “We’ll try to lift the curse, of course, but you might be right. If our pack’s fated mates are still out there, but they aren’t wolf shifters... then our friends and family members need to start searching.”