“Except Nash isn’t from here, so it won’t be an issue,” I said, thinking aloud. “He said he was from out of state.” I raised an inquisitive brow at Shelby for more information, since she was the one who grew up with him.
She nodded. “He’s from Montana. He helped my mom move her favorite armoire down here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he decided to stick around.”
“If the guys are into it, into you, keep an open mind about dating both of them,” Caitlyn counseled. “I thought it was nuts at first, but I couldn’t have chosen between Wade and Landry, and it seems to work perfectly for all three of us.”
“There’s no jealousy or weirdness?” I had a million more questions now. It was really hard to imagine how this sort of arrangement could work. I remembered sibling rivalry with my brother Kevin when we were kids. I couldn’t imagine the rivalry between partners in a threesome.
Shelby answered. “Oddly, no. It all works out. That’s my experience, too. But believe me, I was not on board in the beginning at all. I mean, I was attracted to both of them, but it also felt way too much. My guys are both dominant and possessive so I had to get used to the idea of having not one, but two intense mates—I mean, partners.” She blushed and gave Caitlyn a look.
“They’re possessive, but not with each other? In… in bed?” I still couldn’t believe it.
“No. But that’s where I think the West Springs history comes into play. They grew up with threesomes being normal,” Shelby explained.
I glanced toward the house, wondering what was going on in there. I didn’t hear anything. “You don’t think they kept on fighting, do you?”
“No chance,” Shelby said firmly. “Gibson wouldn’t allow it. I’m certain they are figuring out a way to share you right now.”
A way to share me.
“But I barely spoke to Nash.”
Both ladies shook their heads. “He doesn’t need time to know he wants you,” Caitlyn replied. “I mean, how long did Cord take? I bet not very long.”
I laughed. “About five minutes.”
They gave me the same look: See?
The thought shouldn’t be so exciting. It shouldn’t absolutely thrill me.
Just a little while ago, I was debating whether to even come to this barbecue at all, because I didn’t need man complications. I had that back in California. But I’d come to the party with Cord and now I had double the trouble.
Yet happy butterflies flapped in my chest.
If there was such a thing as fate, and fate sent me to West Springs, could it be for this? For Cord and Nash?
The idea was ludicrous. I didn’t even believe in fate.
Why, then, were my panties damp at the idea?
5
CORD
“This makes no fucking sense,” he said. Him. The guy who’d tried to take Rachel from me. My mate. Even with the revelation that he was my scent match, I was still seething at the fucker’s audacity.
I tried to calm my breathing, but my wolf was still agitated. I was a doctor. I studied the DNA of shifters for inherited traits, but it made no sense to me either. This guy, Nash, sitting beside me, was my scent match. He wasn’t even from our pack. All my research up to this point had indicated that scent matches only happened within the pack. I had a working theory that they developed due to proximity during puberty. But Nash had been nowhere near me growing up. So that theory just got blown out of the water.
“It’s simple to me,” Gibson replied.
After we’d cleaned up the great room—like little kids after making a mess—we’d gone into the alpha’s office down the hall. The door was closed. The party went on outside. Rachel was somewhere, and not knowing where exactly made me twitchy and my wolf riled.
Gibson leaned forward, and set his forearms on the desk. “Doc, what does being scent matched mean?”
I tipped my head and eyed him, wondering if his question was serious. He was scent matched with Ben, and had found Shelby. He knew what the fuck a scent match was. Yet he was staring at me, waiting. Of course it was serious. He didn’t joke. At least, not when he was in an alpha meeting. I grew up with his younger brother, Landry, and had known Gib long before he became alpha and leader of the Two Marks pack. Once he took over after his father’s death, I respected and deferred to him. My wolf was powerless when it came to defying his command. Yet I could still be pissed.
“Scent matches share a certain amount of DNA, including the gene associated with pheromone emission. This unusual phenomenon allows for true fated mate pairings to happen in duplicate—two males for one she-wolf, as the she-wolf is equally attracted to both males,” I explained.