Chapter Nine

Caspian

I had never dared to let the fantasy be a reality. To be inside Sage’s body, his heat closed around me, the only problem making it last. I was not a virgin—what alpha was? And of course with the deal we’d made, I felt required to at least try to find the omega Fate meant for me, just in fairness, as if it were a bet. But the stolen kisses and light petting with Sage had been far more satisfying than actual fucking with the willing omegas who presented their firm bodies for a night of…fucking.

It was never more than that, and after sowing a few wild oats, my brain and heart and even my wolf convinced my body that we were not into the momentary fun that inevitably led to days of regret. No…if I could not have the one Fate intended for me, who I became more convinced by the day was Sage, then it would be nobody.

But how could I not hope for our thirtieth birthdays to arrive and find us unattached to others? I just wasn’t sure how the physical mating would happen. I knew what I wanted…but I would do anything to be with him. Within reason or without.

And then to learn he had the same fantasy?

If I were any harder, I’d have been able to drill through walls.

Not that I’d want to. Who would want to?

Our foreplay sizzled, and I used a liberal amount of lube both on Sage and myself. His pleasure was critical to mine, and causing him pain was the last thing I wanted. When we finally lined up to make our mating a reality, my heart was as swollen as my cock. I was afraid I’d wake up and find out it was a dream.

But if this be a dream, let me never wake.

Douglas moaned, the sound tearing through any fears I had that this was not reality. My mates were here, warm and real and, in Sage’s case, hot and tight around me. From his panting breaths, Douglas was the same. We moved in a rhythm as old as time and as new as this second. Nothing awkward or off about how we came together. Instinctively, our bodies knew what to do. Of course they did, since we were fated mates.

His muscles flexed around my cock, driving me higher, faster than I would want and testing the vaunted alpha control I’d been promised by the pack elders when I reached adolescence. You will take your pleasure after your mate has his. Not a second before if you are a worthy alpha.

Stroking into his heat, breathing the scents of each of us blending with something I could only describe as sex on steroids. It went to my head, and I was moving with even more speed, deeper, balls smacking Sage’s firm rounded ass cheeks.

I slapped one, unable to resist, the crack adding a layer of sound to the panting breaths and groans. He was getting hotter around me, tighter, though I didn’t know how that could be. Or how I’d manage to keep from spilling in the next two seconds.

“Are you…”

“Close,” they chorused.

“Thank the gods.”

“Fate…” Sage gasped. “Blessed Fate.”

Blessed Fate.

I would freeze this motion in time and live in it forever if the option were there…but then I would have missed out on the tidal-wave orgasm that rolled over the three of us simultaneously. The blinding impossibility of such a thing happening mattered not at all because I could feel not only my body pouring cum into my alpha mate’s body but his into our omega’s and Douglas’ into Sage’s pumping hand.

I blacked out for a second or two, shooting stars behind my eyelids the only light in the universe. If I had not somehow had the presence of mind to brace myself on the mattress, someone—Douglas likely—could have gotten hurt.

When my vision returned, my knot bound me to Sage, and his to Douglas. I knew that without anyone having to say so. The connection between us had opened in a way I’d never have predicted, something to keep in mind next time we tried this because my wobbling knees were going to pay the price of remaining upright, even with the bracing. But Sage’s vulnerable neck clicked me back awake.

I leaned close to his ear. “I want to mark you now.”

He nodded, unable to respond because his teeth were piercing Douglas’ upper shoulder.

I shuddered from head to foot before sinking my fangs into Sage’s skin. His blood filled my mouth before my fangs retracted and I lapped the wound closed.

When my knot shrank, I fell to the side, bringing Sage with me. We lay that way, the three of us spooned until we’d regained enough breath and presence of mind to speak.

“Let’s do that again.” Trust our adorable reindeer to say what we were all thinking.

“In a while,” Sage said, his voice still a little hoarse from shouting. “But let’s not limit ourselves. Three is a very interesting number with so many configurations possible.”

“I never thought of it that way.” Reaching around Sage, I managed to embrace them both. “And we have a lifetime to try them out.”

Sometime after that, we fell asleep, but only for an hour or so because we still had all those possible “configurations” to try out.