“Yeah, baby.” He kissed my forehead. “I keep all of us calm. It’s my job in life. Luckily I learned how to handle you first. Did I mention how well you’ve dealt with all of this? Twenty-four hours. You held it together for twenty-four hours. Your world fell apart and you didn’t lose your shit. He hasn’t figured it out yet, so go easy on him.”
He was right. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that my she-wolf had been relatively calm. A few months back I’d required sedation when I got super emotional. I’d managed to keep my shit together for a whole day. And even when I’d gotten to Trent our reunion hadn’t been about him handling me. He’d held me and we’d mourned what we’d lost together, but there hadn’t been a violent spark in my system.
Because it wouldn’t have helped Fenrir. It wouldn’t have helped the baby growing in my body.
Because honestly, it wouldn’t have helped my husbands.
My wolf and I were on the same page. Our family was more important than our impulses. We had to temper ourselves to be good for our children, for the men who loved us.
I watched as Trent moved toward Gray.
“Did you get my message?” Trent was wearing the same jeans and T-shirt he’d worn all day, which told me the run had likely gone well. He hadn’t had to quick change and had the time to dress after he and Fenrir had finished.
Gray frowned. “No. I…didn’t check. I came here because I knew you were here and then I smelled her. I’ve been sitting in the dark trying to figure out if I should stay or leave.”
Trent moved right into that big demon’s space. “Why would you leave?”
“You know why. I can’t… Trent, please. I hate her seeing me like this.”
Trent put a hand on Gray’s chest. When Gray was in demonic form, he towered over our wolf, but Trent seemed to be the one in control. “I don’t know why. I would bet she thinks you’re hot as hell. I don’t actually have to bet. My nose works very well.”
The old human me would have been horrified that Trent could always tell when I was aroused. I let my wolf lead in most of the sexy stuff because she didn’t care as long as she got an orgasm out of it. She thought it was sexy her mate could tell when she liked what she saw.
And she had. The wolf liked Gray, too.
There were times now when I didn’t think about my she-wolf. She was simply me and I was her.
“She doesn’t understand.” Gray gasped when Trent’s hand moved over his side. He pulled up the long tunic he wore. “Fucking touch me.”
Okay. Now I was real interested.
What had they been doing? How had Trent been soothing Gray? I knew how Trent soothed me and it was mostly with his dick.
Twelve years was a long time and their relationship had naturally evolved. It would have to.
Had they moved on without me? I’d always known they would go there someday. Trent wouldn’t fight it. Trent trusted his instincts, and he’d been attracted to Gray from the beginning. Gray would see it as one more proof that he wasn’t normal.
But I didn’t understand his hesitation. There was nothing more normal than loving our mates, than finding comfort in souls we’d meshed with. If our souls were connected, I didn’t see why our bodies couldn’t be.
Gray’s eyes closed as Trent’s hand disappeared up his shirt and he ran it over the tattoo that had marked Gray from puberty. It was a sign of ownership, proof that he’d been born a legacy, his soul given to Hell by his mother before birth. But that tat was a tricky thing. While it would have allowed Gray’s father to force him to the Hell plane had his contract not been annulled, the tattoo was attached to Gray’s soul and loved the people Gray loved. When I touched it, I could feel it hum and purr under my hand.
Once it had been a mighty dragon, a symbol of his father’s house. When we married it transformed into a wolf.
I wanted to see if it was still a wolf. Still mine.
“What do you need, Gray?” Trent asked, his head tilted up. “Come back to us. She’s back. She’s here and she needs us no matter how well she handled things. She’s still feeling the loss, and now she’s worried about you. She doesn’t understand what’s gone on, and you have to know that she’s going to fuck things up because she’s Kelsey.”
“Hey.” I didn’t like the sound of that.
Trent looked back, his hand not leaving Gray’s side. “Baby, you were here for like five minutes before you started to tell me all the ways I did things wrong and how I should have done them.”
“You’re a fucking saint, Trent. I would have spanked her then and there.” Gray sounded more like Gray now.
I was not opposed to that. I quite liked a nice spanking, and throw in some bondage and I can be a happy camper. “I wasn’t trying to be a bitch.”
Trent’s lips curled up. “And yet…”
He was mean sometimes, but then the man had spent the last dozen years of his life taking care of our son and the royal kids, running a war, and apparently soothing Gray’s inner beast. “I’m sorry, babe. But you know I’ll probably do it again. And I already told Gray we’re divorced.”