Mitchell didn’t say anything for a moment, and Alejandro wanted to punch him as Francine’s face fell.
His jaw tense, Mitchell finally nodded in agreement. “Fine. We’ll see how that works. But if you don’t mind, I’d like for us to look for a bigger house. Somewhere we won’t be on top of each other all the time.”
Reaching out a hand, Francine covered Mitchell’s. “We’ll make this work,” she said softly.
A vow Alejandro silently repeated to himself. No matter what Mitchell did or said, he’d have to keep his cool. Francine already looked torn at the situation, an unneeded stress caused by Mitchell, who couldn’t handle his jealousy.
He liked the second option a lot as a matter of fact.
Despite Mitchell’s ornery nature, they slipped into a routine, a scheduled one that made Alejandro want to bang his head off a wall. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he got to sleep-very little-with his darling Francine. Mitchell got Tuesdays, Wednesday and Saturday nights, with the weekend daytime spent doing together activities like laundry, housework, or hiking. Sundays were Francine’s day of rest and as an added maddening bonus, included family dinner with Mitchell’s family. The only saving grace was watching the family dynamics at work.
Alejandro revised his earlier opinion that his family was more chaotic. One food fight at Mitchell’s parent’s house, taught him otherwise.
With them working during the day, and only meeting up at dinner, they spent the hours during the week before bedtime conversing, not as stiffly as in the beginning, especially once Mitchell realized Alejandro was a sports fanatic. Of course, it took the dog some soft pleadings on Francine’s part to accept her sitting between them on the couch when they watched television. Alejandro knew he should not antagonize the fragile peace during these moments of truce, but whenever Mitchell got up to get them a beer or hit the bathroom, he had a tendency of making sure to have his tongue meshed with Francine’s before the dog came back. Mitchell never said a word when that happened, although his jaw would tighten and he’d sit stiffly for a bit. Until Alejandro left the room that was, then he’d come back to find the wolf all over Francine, rubbing his scent into her, flashing him a triumphant smile that made their mate shake her head.
“Like a fucking chew toy,” she’d mutter. But so long as they didn’t come to physical blows, she let them handle their marking of territory their way. Alejandro found the situation kind of amusing, especially since he knew Mitchell enjoyed watching him with Francine, and while he’d spent a few nights at his parents the first week of their arrangement, he now stayed home the nights Alejandro made Francine scream in passion. And if he were to guess, Mitchell did the same thing Alejandro did when he heard the moaning start. Got the lube out of the drawer and fisted himself.
But he knew things couldn’t go on the way they were. This clear division of territory wore on poor Francine, although she never said a word of protest, unwilling to rock the tentative boat.
Things came to a head about a month after they claimed her, and at the Sunday family dinner of all things.
Chris, the family fight instigator, finally lit the match that caused the situation to explode.
“Hey brother, what’s this I hear about you keeping a separate bedroom? Afraid Jag’s cock will put yours to shame?”
Already tense, because Sundays was the day all of them slept alone because of Mitchell, the wolf snapped and dove over the table at his brother. While they rolled around the floor, trading blows, their mother ignoring them as she cleared the table for dessert, Alejandro looked over to Francine and saw her sniffing back tears.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked, immediately concerned.
“Nothing,” she cried before jumping up to run from the table.
Moving to follow, he found himself restrained and looked down to see Naomi’s hand on his arm, her nails digging into his arm. “Sit down.”
“But Francine-”
“Will be fine for a minute. Ethan, grab my brother, will you? The stupid one, not the ugly one.”
Her bear shrugged and swooped down to grab a still swinging Mitchell. With a snarl, the wolf righted himself and glared at his sister. “What?”
“Are you done being an idiot? Can’t you see you’re making Francine miserable?”
“What are you talking a-” Mitchell looked around, and not finding their mate, concern blossomed.
“She’s gone off to cry. Again.”
“What do you mean again?” Mitchell whispered sitting down hard. “I haven’t seen her crying.”
“Okay, so this is only the second time that I know of. Still, it’s two times too many, and it’s all your fault.”
“Me? Why is it my fault? Why not blame that stupid cat over there? He’s her mate too, you know?”
“He is, and I know for a fact he’s not the one acting like a jealous ass all the time. Can’t you see that your insistence not to share her and to make her choose between you constantly is hurting her? Do you care so little for her that you would let your ego hurt the one person who doesn’t deserve it?”
“She’s right.” Mitchell’s mother agreed, coming in with two cakes-vanilla and chocolate. “You never did share well with others. I was hoping that would change with both your animals choosing her as mate, but I guess there’s a first time for fate to be wrong.”
“Francine’s my mate.” Mitchell almost shouted the claim.
“And mine too.”
“So you say, and yet, you’re both here while she’s off crying.”
“You stopped me from going after her,” Alejandro corrected.
“Yes, I did because it’s not one of you at a time she needs. It’s both of you. So, are you going to smarten up and do right by her, or am I going to have to-Oooh.”
“Naomi?” Javier jumped up from his seat and hovered over her.
“I think-Ow! Dammit, I wasn’t done talking, but it seems the babies are coming.”
Alejandro quite enjoyed the panic in brother’s eyes, almost as much as the white faced-shock of Ethan.
“Call a doctor. Boil some water,” Javier yelled.
Ethan scooped her up and growled at people to get out of his way while Naomi giggled. “I’m going into labor, not dying. Mama, would you tell them to not panic?”
“But it’s our first child,” Javier said, standing shoulder to shoulder with Ethan.
“Yes, but we’re a team. Remember, no matter what, we’re going to do this together. I love you, and now get ready because we’re about to make that love grow.” Ethan and Javier gazed into their mate’s face with such love that Alejandro had to look away, feeling as if he encroached on something personal, something special.
Flicking a glance over at Mitchell, he caught him just turning away as well. As their eyes met, Alejandro saw understanding lighten his eyes, followed by resolve. “If you’ll excuse us, Alejandro and I need to find Francine and let her know.”
As they left the room, following Francine’s trace outside and wandering into the woods, Mitchell said only one thing as he stripped and left his clothes atop Francine’s already discarded ones. “Let’s go give our mate what she needs.”
How ironic, that what their mate needed was a good bout of loving with both of her men at once. All couples should have such a solution to their marital problems.
Chapter Fourteen
Francine didn’t know why she took off, tears streaming down her face. Mitchell getting upset over someone mentioning their odd living arrangement happened more often than she liked. And she liked it less and less. The longer the situation went on, with her belonging to two men but forced to keep them apart, the more she felt like a
