Hour of the Lion

She nodded.

Calum frowned. Heather had promised she’d go over everything. He could have explained, or Alec, but they’d decided a female friend would be more believable than the two men who wanted her so badly. What would she have thought when they said, Go to bed with anyone you want, especially us two-that’s what shifters do. Really. “Heather told you what happens during a Gathering?”

“Uh-huh.” She bit her lip. “But you two didn’t-”

He dared to move closer and stroke her cheek. “When a female comes into heat, the need to join with a male can’t be controlled, cariad. Your instincts are to mate, and to whatever males are the best. Or who appeal to you most. To limit yourself to one-or even two-is impossible unless you’re lifemated.”

When a frown appeared on her forehead, relief eased the tightness in his gut. She was thinking, not reacting.

“But you two-” she started to repeat.

He glanced at Alec, and his silver-tongued, cowardly brother jerked his chin for Calum to continue. “Indeed, we did not join with anyone else.” He let a wry smile appear. “Males do not come into heat. The scent of a female’s arousal is all we need. But as the years go on, the desire to mate with every interested female begins to flag. Alec and I are no longer cubs, and we are very much in love with you. Last night, you were the only one we could see.”

The glimmer of tears in her eyes was shocking. Terrifying. What had he said wrong?

“I…care about you too. And Alec. But I still went upstairs with-”

Alec picked her up in his arms and sank down into the blankets. “You’re not hearing him. Shut up and listen, Vixen.”

She stiffened, her gaze meeting Alec’s eyes, and then she sighed. “You’re right. Okay.”

Calum sat beside them. He pressed a kiss to her wrist, felt the tiny pulse throbbing away. “For our race to continue, a woman needs to mate with many, Victoria. And we recognize that. We honor that. The Gatherings are not only biological, they’re traditional.”

“I really didn’t do anything wrong?” She bit her lip.

She looked so like a little girl for a moment that Calum had a flash of how appealing her children would be.

“And,” she continued, “neither of you are mad at me? Or at Daniel, or-”

Alec gave a short laugh. “What’s there to get mad at? You can’t fight biology, Vixen.”

“You really aren’t,” she said wonderingly. “Okay. Well, okay.” She tipped her head back to kiss Alec and bestowed one on Calum.

“I very much needed that,” Calum murmured. “I was quite worried there.”

“Me, too.” Victoria took a deep breath. “Where I come from, what I did-well.”

“You wanted the other men-and then you didn’t. That shows you’ve formed an attachment. To us.” Calum nodded at Alec. His brother set Victoria gently onto the blankets, and went to rummage in the small pack he’d carried up the mountain.

Finding it hard to think, Calum continued. “Some people set up households. Much like human marriages.”

“Heather told me. And that sometimes there were more than just one man, one woman.” She stared at her hands. “I was glad, since I… I…”

Calum’s heart gave a massive thud. “Since?”

She scowled at the floor, then at him, her hands fisting. “How can this be so fucking hard to say?” Her mouth firmed and her chin came up and she looked like Joan of Arc heading for the fires. “Okay. Listen up-I love you. And Alec. Both of you.”

She pressed her hand over her chest, wheezing a little.

It took all Calum’s control not to just grab her right then. Alec, finally, returned-the slow bastard-and handed Calum a lifemating bracelet, keeping one for himself. They knelt together, shoulder to shoulder, as they’d spent their life. The rightness of it made Calum’s throat tighten.

Victoria’s eyes had widened. “What-”

Alec cleared his throat, his eyes suspiciously shiny. “Vicki. We love you-both of us love you. And-”

Calum opened his hand, showed her the thin bracelet of tiny silvery discs held together with interlaced strands of special elastic. “Will you be our lifemate?”

Oh. My. God. Vic wrapped her arms around herself, unable to speak. The brothers knelt in front of her, Alec like a golden god, Calum a dark lord, both powerfully masculine. The most courageous, honorable men she’d ever known. Honest. Caring. And they want me.

She’d never thought she’d find a family outside of the military. But…they wanted her. Alec’s eyes had no laughter in them, just…need. He needed her and Calum… His gaze was steady, controlled, but she could see-when had she learned to read him so well?-could see he needed her too. And loved her. They wanted her in their lives. Even as her throat tightened, tingling fireworks were going off in her chest. Yes, yes, yes.

No. Think, Sergeant. Could she accept? Really? But the idea of saying no was intolerable, and her answer escaped before she talked herself out of it. “Oh, yes. Yes, yes. Fucking-A, yes.”

Alec grinned at Calum. “I think that means she accepts.” He grabbed the knot on her blanket, yanking her forward to kiss her, oh, so sweetly. “I love you, Vixen,” he whispered.

And then Calum pulled her toward him. He framed her face with his hands, seemed about to say something, and kissed her instead. Tender and yet with that unconscious demand that she offer all of herself. He raised his head and traced her wet lips with one finger, then said, “Give me your hand.”

She put her fingers in his, and when he slid the bracelet onto her left arm and pressed a kiss to her wrist, her eyes blurred with tears.

“My turn.” Alec cupped her face, using his thumbs to wipe away the wetness. He took her hand and slid his bracelet onto the same wrist. “I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” he muttered, making her laugh before she kissed him.

“Now you.” Alec handed her two larger bracelets.

Her eyes widened. “I get to tag you as mine?” Damn right. When they offered their left hands, she slid one on each man, admired the glinting discs against the dark and golden skin. “Hey. What happens when we trawsfur?”

Alec’s smile was almost lethal. “We’ll show you. In a bit.” Grinning, he hauled her out of the blankets. “Why don’t you have something to eat? Calum and I need to chop up some firewood before we leave.”

Leave huh? She sighed. Reality always came too soon. After she took care of necessities, washed up, and dressed, she found that they’d left a pot of soup simmering on the fire. Coffee. Soup. Not a bad breakfast.

As the men came back in, stomping snow off their boots, she blinked at the view through the open door. The last rays of the sun showed in the west. “I slept all day?”

Calum joined her at the table, nuzzling her neck. “We thought you’d never wake up. How do you feel?”

“Fine.” Her eyes narrowed at his odd expression. “Why?” she asked suspiciously. Why were they watching her as if she was a fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie?

Alec came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her. “The bracelets show we’re lifemated-married, so to speak. Tonight is”-he thought for a second-“kind of a bonus ritual. If everyone in the lifemating is the same animal, like we’re all werecats, then there’s a special magic for us.”

“Like what?”

Calum glanced at Alec, smiled slightly. “You’ll see.”

“Let’s go play in the snow,” Alec said, his voice hoarse.

Again? “Excuse me, but it’s really cold out there, guys. I don’t feel like freezing my ass o-”

Calum’s eyes were intent. “Strip, cariad. Now.”

Her nipples tightened under the power of his gaze, and heat unfurled inside her. Protest? Hell, no. Sir, yes, sir. She pulled her shirt over her head, then the rest.

Following suit, the men dropped their clothing on the floor and dragged her out the door.