Could she tell them she‘d never realized there was a difference between fucking and making love? And, didn‘t that sound lame? But true. Because it wasn‘t just the physical stuff. Sex with Alec and Calum touched everything: her emotions, her spirit, her mind. Yeah, like they were the whole orchestra after listening to just the piano, changing a sweet melody to something rich and immense. But damned if she could explain that.
With a sigh, she knotted a blanket around her and rose to her feet. Unable to face them yet, she held her hands out to the fire.
"Victoria?" Calum‘s deep voice.
She shook her head without turning.
"Told you she‘d be embarrassed." Alec‘s footsteps padded toward her—and when had she become able to tell his gait from Calum‘s?
"Vixen?" He set his hands on her shoulders, and when she didn‘t answer, pulled her back against his bare chest. "You thinking about last night?"
Okay, she was braver than this. She wasn‘t a little girl unable to fess up to her actions. She‘d done the deed—deeds—and now it was time to pay the piper. She stared into the fire and confessed, "I almost went to bed with Daniel. And Zeb."
When he heard the guilt in Victoria‘s voice, Calum closed his eyes. His littermate had been right. She was more than embarrassed; she felt she‘d done something wrong. He crossed the room. A glance at Alec, and his brother turned her from the fire to face Calum.
Her lower lip trembled, but her gaze was level, and he could only marvel at her courage.
He‘d never loved her more.
"I went upstairs with Daniel and with Zeb too. Nothing happened, but…I wanted it to. At first." She looked away and back at him. "You two didn‘t...go with anyone else. But I did."
"Didn‘t Heather talk with you yesterday?" Alec asked, one hand stroking up and down her arm.
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.
