Episode Thirty-Three Many Ways to Share

N adira

I'm the luckiest female on the planet. To have not one but two of the nicest males I've ever met become my mates? Yes, lucky.

Except we're getting closer to home. Even Dhar's emotions are changing. I'm still riding his wide, muscular shoulders, but they're stiffer.

I don't know what he's apprehensive about, but I certainly know what I'm dreading. I love Azael. More than once today, I reassured him I wouldn't love anyone but him. How in the span of a few hours have I developed affection for the orc? It's going to break the monk's heart.

"Um." I clear my throat. "Maybe we don't have to tell him right away."

Dhar grunts. "Orcs have an excellent sense of smell, better than monks, but he'd have to be nose-blind not to smell me on you." His voice deepens, "In you."

"Oh," I say dejectedly.

"And did you forget about your second mate mark? He's not blind."

"Right."

"And what about our agreement not to have secrets?"

"I just don't want to hurt him."

"We're mates. He knew we would have sex today. He's not stupid. He probably knew we would do it before we returned to his village."

"I… it's just that I told him I wouldn't love any of my mates but him," my voice is somewhere between a moan and a whine.

I'm so lost in my misery I'm completely taken by surprise when he pulls me off his shoulders, sets me on the ground, bends to my level, and gives me a bone-crushing hug, then a kiss.

"Love, 'Dira?"

His questing look, so eager and sincere, could break my heart.

"I'm not sure it's love yet, Dhar." I almost don't finish my sentence, but we agreed not to lie to each other. "But keep being as tender and thoughtful as you have been, and it will be."

He kisses me again and again. Maybe the matebond changed me somehow, but it's as if I can feel his emotions. So much affection from such a big male is almost overwhelming.

"Azael's a good male," he says as he rises and puts me back on his shoulders. "Well respected among all the tribes. That's why everyone agreed to his ridiculous idea of forming packs from different tribes. None of us thought it mattered. I mean, how many times a year are human females going to fall from the sky?"

He moves from gripping my ankles to tenderly rubbing my shins.

"Your mate is smart and strong and practical. He knows this is the way it should be. A good mating will be stronger if we all like each other."

This gives me a moment of comfort, then I moan when I think there's one more male in this equation. Since he flies, he's probably already there, waiting for me. "Thallose hates me."

I feel even worse when the orc, now in peacemaking mode, doesn't argue.

Instead of slowing his pace, he quickens it.

"We'll be at your hut soon. He's had hours to think. Mayhap he'll have seen reason and softened his heart."

" Our hut," I correct.

It's fully dark when we arrive at the village. The dozens of monks cooking around the common firepit don't even try to hide their curiosity. Azael must have told them we were coming, because none of them try to bar our entry.

Dhar has no trouble climbing the vines to the hut I point to and wastes little time knocking at the flimsy door.

"Come," Azael says. "You live here now."

The orc sets me down on the small deck, presses his large hand at the small of my back, opens the door, and urges me through.

How can I love two males at once? I don't know, but my insides flood with affection when I see Azael. I run into his welcoming arms.

He's such a magnificent male. He spares me the pain of telling him what we did.

"I smell what's done," he says, his voice so monotone I can't read his emotions. "And…" He pulls all three layers of my tunics to the edge of my shoulder to reveal my new mate mark. "You've got a proper mate mark."

I hear it now, the tightness in his voice, but when I pull away to look into his handsome face, it's obvious he's trying hard not to show anything but a welcoming attitude.

He kisses me. It must be terrible for him. Because of his animal DNA, or whatever his mutation is, I'm certain he smells and tastes the orc on me.

"Come," he says to the orc as he motions with one hand. "We're all mates now."

Dhar comes closer. If I'm not mistaken, his footsteps are as slow as he can make them.

When he joins us, Azael puts his arm around the orc's waist, tugs him close so we're in a three-way hug, then plants a kiss on Dhar's shocked lips.

"I… I…" Dhar sputters.

"Alliana's mates will share in many ways," Azael says. "We can forge our own pack in our own way. We have time to discuss how we want to do that."