ONE

Ethan

"YES, WE'LL BE on pack lands tomorrow, Luna," Xander replies into the phone, his voice rough and tired. He slides his matching tired eyes to me, looking for confirmation. I jerk a nod before refocusing on my phone and the email I'm constructing. "Yes, Ethan's will send the photos of the damage to Jax's car over tonight. Yes, to Bruce, you, and Dawson." He sighs before going back to silently listening to her. I feel the dip of the couch before he leans closer to me, against me. Without thinking about it, I lift my arm and drape it around his broad shoulders. He leans farther into me, and both of our bodies release tension at the feeling of touching each other. "Good, just keep us posted please. Good night, Luna."

After I've sent all the images of the damage over and also cc'd our lawyer, Warren DeLuca, I set my phone down on the coffee table beside his. Neither of us speak, both of us just blankly gazing out the large windows that look onto the dark backyard. We sit in silence, either too numb or too caught up in processing what we saw tonight, what our lifelong friend and pack-mate was subjected to.

Xander's jaw audibly snaps, and I turn my head to him. The back of his head lies on my arm over the back of the couch. His eyes glow briefly before he takes several long gulping breaths. "Xander," I say close enough to nudge his cheek with my nose. He flops his head to the side to look at me with raised brows. "Your mother was right. You can't protect us or yourself from every attack, and it's not all your responsibility. Jax and I are your betas. We're the first line of defense."

"I didn't even realize he wasn't with us, Ethan," Xander groans, leaning forward and out of my hold. Bracing his forearms on his thighs, both of us still in our costumes, he hangs his head low and in a broken voice says, "Then to see him being assaulted like that, to feel what he was feeling." His teeth grind, and he snarls, "And to have to not react, to not chase after him, in order to make sure the whole thing is handled appropriately."

Now I'm leaning forward like him, my mind taken over by those images. Seeing Jax swatting her hand away, hearing him crying and screaming at her in his head but not able to do anything while she assaulted him. Her using drugs to alter his shifter's biochemistry and his own body's response. I grip Xander's knee and shake my head. "I know, Xander, but it's not all on you. We can't have you take responsibility for what happens all the time." I think about Billie running through the woods, tackling Amber without a thought, and I scoff. "Not to mention I don't think our mate will put up with that."

Xander leans back and shakes his head muttering, "Fuck, I can't believe she took Amber down and ripped off her ear."

The image of Amber's wounds and our mate's words about the ear being hers has my balls pulling up and my teeth taking hold of my lip ring. Not trusting my voice, I can only grunt my agreement. Just then, a loud thud from her bedroom above vibrates through the house.

Without even enough time for a thought to pass, we're both up and out of seats, vaulting over the couch and sprinting upstairs. We make it to the top just in time to see a flash of bright light fade from under her closed door. My heart is in my throat, and my stomach has dropped to the floor. Within seconds we've barged into her room, ready to do whatever needs to be done, to be whoever they need us to be.

All thoughts and possible actions are obliterated once we break through the threshold. The air is so thick with the scent of her arousal that I can feel it like a mist on my skin. I can see it like a steamy fog in the air. One inhale, and I'm engulfed in her to the point that I'm surrounded by a translucent mirage of thousands of orange blossoms, delicate star-shaped white petals encircling a ring of small yellow stamen. Both Xander and I stumble, falling against the wall. I grip the door handle to the bathroom, just trying to hold myself up while all of my blood flows south with an instant raging hard-on pressing against the thin fabric of my athletic pants. I gulp down breath after breath, and it seems like when I've reached a certain limit—like the terminal velocity of arousal—I can finally see clearly again.

My eyes focus on the floor where our mates sit naked on the braided rainbow rug, Billie straddling Jax's lap. Their arms are wrapped around each other while they lick, cry, suck, and laugh together. Her whole body is covered in little red nibble marks. Up high on Jax's chest cresting over his collarbone to just above his heart is a new bitemark that looks like a shooting star or a comet. I look back to Billie, searching, and besides the hundreds of nibble marks I see an almost perfectly circular bitemark already scarring over just below her ear.

They look up to us. There are tears in their glowing eyes, and Billie's face is still scratched up on one side, but their mouths, which are smeared in each other's blood, are spread into wide joyous smiles. I'm still holding on to the door handle, while Xander has regained control of his body and urgently steps over to them. Kneeling down, he spreads his arms wide and takes them both into his embrace, hugging them tightly, kissing their heads, cheeks, ears, and lips. They open for him, each wrapping an arm around his back. I move to their other side, both of them pull me in, and I do the same as Xander: kissing them both with all the love I have, love that I would never have felt without them.

I'm nuzzling Jax's face and neck as my wolf did. I sniff and inhale, murmuring against his flesh, "Jax, why do you smell and"—I lick his neck and moan— "taste like Billie's arousal."

I feel his laughter under my mouth. Lifting my head up, I see his face stretched out into an expression of complete joy and love. With tears of happiness, he inhales a warbly breath and blubbers through smiling lips, "She claimed me, completely covered me in her, yea." He winks and Billie groans, flopping her head against his chest.

"Wait, seriously?" Xander asks in a muffled voice, his face smushed against Billie's neck. Lifting his head up, he presses his face against Jax's upper chest. I hear the whoosh of his deep sucking inhale and the low groan that crawls up his throat. Opening his mouth, he lashes his tongue out, licking his way over Jax's collarbone, moaning as he keeps moving up to his neck.

Jax's body shudders, and Xander begins kissing and sucking his sensitive skin. "Fuck, X, your lips," Jax moans, the side of his head resting on my shoulder, giving Xander better access. Xander nips him lightly before pulling back to meet Jax's half-lidded eyes, which are filled with equal parts desire and mirthful smugness. Jax waggles his brows and says, "She finger painted my whole body in her juices."

My wide eyes fall to our mate's head resting on one side of Jax's chest. I brush my lips over her hair and drily croak, "Love, I want that."

Her body trembles with her stuttering inhale, and her hair tickles my face as she shakes her head and mumbles something completely indiscernible.

Xander clamps his hand around the back of Billie's neck, and she releases a throaty moan as he guides her head up to face us. His eyes narrow as he gazes between Jax's and Billie's eyes, and he grunts a wry chuckle. "So are you going with epic orgasm for this one too?"

I follow his gaze with the same intensity, confirming that both of their eyes have changed. A quarter of Billie's cornea is now a dark blue, making it tri-colored, while Jax's left eye is green like Billie's but with his dark-blue outline. Billie lets her body fall sideways, resting her head against Xander's chest. He wraps his arm around her back, and she hitches a lazy shoulder while blowing out a long breath. "It's the truth, and keeping things consistent will add credibility to the lie or the truth, however people choose to perceive it."

Jax rests his head against my shoulder. I tighten my hold around his back, hugging him firmly. My other hand comes up to cup his cheek, and my head bows down. Inhaling a quivering breath, I kiss his head, his cheek, his lips, his nose, and even his eyelids. I don't say anything, I don't question anything. I just let myself embrace my pack-mate, embrace the feelings of love I have for him, and embrace the relief that he is with us. We will get through this. Jax nuzzles his head into my affection, soaking up everything that I'm giving him. "I'll be okay," he affirms in a low throaty voice, then adds with a little more life. "But, yeah, snuggles will be in high demand."

Hugging him even tighter, my lips curl up into a crooked smile and I murmur "Whatever you need, Jax. We've got you."

"We've got each other" Jax says on a quaky inhale.

"We take care of each other first, always" Xander adds with a tone of firm resolution in his voice. I peek over at my alpha and I see the determination in the hard set of his jaw and press of his lips but I also see the concern in his eyes, like his words are more for him than us, as if he's seeing battles ahead and making the decision here and now as to what position he'll take. I give him a firm nod, letting him know I'll remember this vow and be there to remind him of this moment should he need me to.