12. Marcelo

Chapter 12

Marcelo

It was date night, and I was like a kid at Christmas. When Jackson called both of us on video chat after he and Brooklyn went out to dinner, I loved listening to each and every detail they shared. Fine, maybe I wasn't happy with Michael deciding to be a dick, but knowing that Jackson was comfortable enough in the three of us being together that he didn't let it faze him? Priceless.

They had much fun on their date, and I loved that for them. It also had me doubly excited for my own date with Brooklyn.

Jackson had taken Brooklyn to Fred's for dinner, and I had gone with Jackson to the wedding. Both events were on the fancier side, and that was great. But for our date tonight, he said he was planning something very low-key, private, and informal. I didn't want to spend the evening around snobby people, and I also didn't want to spend it around people we couldn't talk freely in front of. I wanted it to just be Brooklyn and me, both of us free to be ourselves.

That was something I longed for with the three of us, too, and I planned to discuss it with Brooklyn tonight. We had to tell him about our beasts. But also we had to protect him. Shifters weren't supposed to tell everyone all willy-nilly about who they were. And this wouldn't be that, but until he decided we were both his for the long haul, it was against the rules, and they were not rules to be taken lightly.

It felt like Jackson was there already, but we hadn't had the official conversation. More than once, Brooklyn and I had mentioned in passing how it was common in the communities we grew up in, and he seemed to both accept that and find comfort in it. But we never talked much past that, and we for sure didn't touch on how deep our bond was going to be once we mated. There was so much that we needed to talk through, and I was hoping tonight the two of us would figure out a plan.

I hated keeping secrets from him, but I didn't know what else to do. At least for the meantime. Telling someone they were your mate and that you sprouted wings and scales and could burn things to the ground wasn't exactly everyday conversation.

A knock on the door gave me butterflies in my belly. He was here. I opened up, and he handed me a plant.

"Is this…" Looking down, I instantly recognized it was a snapdragon. "It's perfect."

He'd given one to Jackson, and it made him ridiculously happy. And now it was my turn to get one. He was so thoughtful and had a sense of humor. I loved it.

"It's beautiful." I had a brown thumb and had no idea if I was going to be able to keep it alive, but I was going to love it for the time it was here, that was for sure.

"I thought I should give one to you, seeing I gave one to our mate." He kissed my cheek. "Also as a hint for our date."

I put my present down, freeing my arms to hug my mate. "Missed you." I snuggled into his arms.

"And I missed you." He hugged me close and kissed the top of my head. "Now, let's get going before we don't want to anymore."

I almost kind of didn't want to already.

"Where are we going? Is it a cave?" All the childhood stories had us in caves or castles. As a kid it irked me, not because it was a stereotype but because I wanted both and had neither.

"Someplace better. I have a picnic basket in the back of the car. I thought I would take you to my favorite place to shift."

I wasn't going to argue with that. It had been too long since I stretched my wings. I'd been wanting to be home for any and all calls I might have with my mates, and that had been great, but it meant I'd been neglecting my beast, and he was ready for some freedom.

"That's going to be interesting to explain to our mate when he asks for a play-by-play of our night." I didn't want to ruin our date by getting all serious right away, but it was the elephant in the room, and it needed to move along.

"We can just stick with talking about the picnic, and maybe not tell him about the part where we get naked and sprout wings?"

I agreed to that plan, and we both agreed that we needed to figure out how to tell him about us sooner rather than later. It would be so much easier if we weren't so scared of pushing him away. I tried to tell myself that fate didn't make mistakes and it would all work out, but that was easier said than believed.

Brooklyn drove me down to an area I'd never been to before and down a road I would never have guessed was a road. I had to give it to him, the place he chose was perfect.

We set up our blanket in the ideal location. There was the sound of water rushing behind us, and paired with the beautiful view in front of us, it was perfection.

We ate sandwiches he packed, along with some fruit, nothing too over the top, and that made it better. It made this less about showing off or being romantic and more about us spending time together. And enjoy the time we did. I told him about my day at work, and he told me about his, including the bird that flew into his building and the silliness that transpired as they managed to get it out.

We also talked a little about Jackson and how we were going to break the news to him. We both agreed that in order to keep in line with the rules, we were going to wait until he had fully agreed to a commitment before doing so. No one needed to be in a pickle with the shifter council. No one.

After we'd eaten, we each took our clothing off. I was careful to avert my eyes. I was already sporting a semi simply spending time with him. I didn't need one because I full-on stared at his glorious body. And besides that, Jackson wasn't here, and it felt like our first time enjoying each other naked should include all three of us.

Once undressed, we stepped further into the clearing and each of us took our wings. Brooklyn's dragon was bigger than mine, but not by much. And wow, was he ever magnificent. If I were a painter I'd want to capture him on canvas in all of his glory. But sadly, I was not, and taking a photograph was firmly out of the question.

I let him take to the air first, and then I followed behind, chasing him low to the ground so as not to be seen, even though I was pretty sure we were far enough away from civilization for that to be the case. And besides, he wouldn't put me in danger. Not my alpha, neither of them. Of that I was confident.

We wove through trees, and as darkness settled in, we went higher and higher, chasing each other, doing flips in the air… just having dragon fun.

But as with all good things, the time had come for us to go home.

"Wow!" he said as he grabbed his clothes.

"Wow what?" It felt like there was more to his statement, and there was.

"I usually shift with my neighbor Mark—he's a bear, and we have fun, but I forgot how great it is to just fly with somebody. We should do that more often."

"I think that can be arranged. Although, unless we're planning on staying here and getting sucked dry," I slapped a mosquito off my leg, "we should probably get the rest of the way dressed and go."

"Yeah, this is not the place to be when the evening comes unless you have your scales on." We packed up and stopped at a little ice cream stand on the way home.

I wasn't ready for our date to be over, but we had agreed that we would do solo dates and then a three-person date and go from there. Spending the night was off the table for now. And I got it. Heck, I helped come up with the rule. Didn't mean I had to like it.

"I had a great night." He pulled up outside of my place. "I'd walk you in, but then I'd want to stay."

"I'd want that too." I unclicked my belt and leaned in for a kiss. "Remind me why that's a bad thing again?" I rubbed my nose against his. "Just kidding. I know why. See you next time, mate."

"See you next time."

One more peck and I was out of the vehicle and walking inside. One day all three of us would live together; until then, at least I offered him a great view of my ass walking away.