Micah fought a wave of emotions threatening to swamp him. Anger at the intruder had given way to protective fury—for her.
Love.
Holy fuck.
The girl, now sobbing in his arms, had stopped fighting him once he’d let go of her throat. He placed one hand on the swell of her belly, on top of her hands. “You’re pregnant,” he said in wonder.
Jim dropped to his knees beside them. The world shrank until it seemed only the three of them filled it. Jim looked at him, shock on his face. “Who is she?” he asked.
Micah had changed position on the floor so he could cradle her in his arms. He brushed her tangled blonde hair from her face. “Ours,” he whispered. He looked at Jim. “She’s ours.”
Jim nodded, also reaching out to stroke her cheek and brush away her tears. Micah knew his mate felt it, too. After all that had happened, he wouldn’t question that he knew this woman was meant to be theirs, whoever she was. He felt as strongly about her as he had about Jim.
Please, don’t let her be mated to someone!
Jim grabbed a large bath towel and covered the girl with it. She looked up into their faces, her brown eyes red from crying. She wasn’t marked. Micah could tell that instinctively. But did she have a partner? Husband? He also sensed how terrified she was.
How alone.
The Goddess does have a twisted sense of humor. He cupped the back of her neck with his hand and looked deeply into her brown eyes. Her sobbing quieted as she stared up at him.
“You don’t have anyone else, do you?” he asked her.
She shook her head.
Micah touched his forehead to hers. He’d sort the details out later. For now, he knew only one thing. “You’re ours,” he whispered.
She softly whimpered, but nodded.
Jim joined them, leaning in so his forehead also touched theirs. He wrapped his arms around them both. “Ours,” he echoed.
She nodded. “Yours,” she whispered.
Could my life get any more whacked out? Mai didn’t even know who these two guys were, just that the one who’d almost ripped her throat out was a wolf and the other was a human, and they were mated to each other.
She also felt a pull to them like no other. Certainly nothing like the tepid sexual attraction she’d had in the beginning with Paul.
The wolf stood, easily lifting her in his arms and carrying her out of the bathroom while the other man hovered close by. She threw her arms around the wolf’s neck and buried her head against his chest, afraid to let go of him now that she felt waves of protective fury flowing from him. They returned to the living room, and he sat on the couch with her still in his arms. Lina appeared with a bathrobe, which she offered to her.
“Let me introduce you all to Mai,” Lina said. “Mai, the man holding you is Micah, a wolf shifter and cousin of the Lyalls. That other man is his mate, Jim.”
Mai blushed as the two men helped her into the robe. Jim reached around and unbuckled the collar from her neck while everyone gathered around, questions flying so fast Mai couldn’t process them.
Lina grabbed Mai’s hand and raised her other one to silence everyone else. “I’ve known since she joined us that she was a shifter. She needed to reveal herself at the right time.”
Jim took the bottle of water from her. With her free hand, Mai grabbed Jim’s other hand and held him close.
Lina smiled at her. “We can talk about all of this tomorrow. For now, let it suffice that yes, you three were meant to meet.”
“Mate,” Micah said again. Then he looked at Jim. “Our mate.”
Jim nodded. “Ours.”
Mai rested her head against Micah’s shoulder and burst into tears. She sobbed against him, wailing in relief and fear and a bunch of other emotions she couldn’t even begin to process.
Micah kissed her temple. “It’s okay,” he softly soothed. “We won’t force you. If you don’t want us… It’s okay.”
She let go of Lina’s hand and grabbed his arm, pulling both of the men’s hands onto her belly. “I do want you. I don’t understand this, but I do. And… and…” She couldn’t finish.
With the help of Jan and Rick, Lina carefully lowered herself to her knees next to the couch, where she could whisper to the three of them. “It’s okay,” Lina told Mai. “I’m a Seer. This was meant to be.” She laid her hand on top of all three of theirs, on Mai’s belly. “All that matters is chosen family, not bloodlines. You were meant to meet and mate with them and become a family.”
Micah squeezed Mai’s hand. “His loss, and our gain. You’re ours, and since you’re not mated to or marked by him, that baby is ours, as far as I’m concerned. Code of the Ancients doesn’t say anything about someone who’s pregnant, just if they’re marked or mated or not.”
Mai burst into tears again. This was too much, too soon. She wouldn’t deny or fight it, and she wouldn’t claim to understand it, but it still overwhelmed her.
Lina kissed her forehead. “Congratulations, Mai. Welcome to our family. Boys, why don’t you take her to your bedroom and let her calm down and, oh, say, introduce yourselves properly. Elain and I will bring her some clothes to wear until we can take her shopping tomorrow. And we’ll bring her a proper dinner. I don’t think she really wants to eat dog food anymore.”
Mai clung to Micah as he carried her down the hallway he’d emerged from a few minutes earlier. Jim followed and closed the door behind them. Micah gently set her on their bed and the men sat on either side of her while she cried.
Not even ten minutes ago, she’d been terrified this man was going to rip her throat out. Now?
She couldn’t imagine life without these two men, and she didn’t even know their last names.
Goddess, help me understand.
Silence fell over the living room after the three left. Elain cleared her throat. “Well, folks, I do believe we’ve reached a new level of weirdness, even for us.”
A nervous laugh filtered throughout the group. Lina, with Rick and Jan’s help, lumbered to her feet. “I do believe you’re right. Since I shouldn’t be drinking, I’ll take a cup of hot tea. Elain, would you like to join me and do my drinking for me?”
“Amen, sistah!” she said as she headed for the kitchen. Lina started after her.
“Wait for me,” Carla said. “I could use one, too.” Followed by Liam, Carla headed to the kitchen.
“Hey,” Zack said. “Don’t leave us out. We just lost our pet dog to a couple of wolves. There’s something just plain wrong about that.”
“Coyote,” Lina shot back over her shoulder. “And don’t forget Jim’s human.”
“Details, details.” Despite his playful, teasing tone, Zack looked more than a little disappointed.
“What’s wrong?” Kael asked him. He slung an arm around his shoulders.
“I was looking forward to having a dog.”
Brodey slapped Ain on the back. “We know where the local animal shelter is, don’t we, bro? We can get them hooked up, right?”
Ain glared at Brodey, but nodded.
Cail laughed. “Hey, Prime, you deserved that one for what you put us through.”
They all crowded into the kitchen. Lina plopped herself down into one of the chairs while Elain got her hot tea started. Zack played bartender. Once everyone had a drink, Lina lifted her steaming mug in a toast.
“To love. As fucked up and crazy as it is, it’s still a pretty damn good thing.”
“You can say that again,” Elain agreed.
Micah and Jim let Mai cry herself out, holding her, comforting her. At some point, Lina softly knocked, and she and Elain brought in a stack of clothes, some bath supplies, and a tray of food. Micah nodded their thanks to them. The two women silently departed, quietly shutting the door behind them.