“Something has got to change. We cannot let her leave us.” His voice was filled with anger, but there was pain in there too. Her chest tightened.
“We can’t make her stay, Sawyer,” Garret said reasonably. But his voice sounded almost defeated.
Jesus, had she taken too long?
“We can. We lock her up until she agrees.” That was Sawyer. He never worried about bending the rules when it suited him.
“And have her hate us?” Joe asked him tiredly. “How will that help? We just need to wait. Georgina will come around.”
“And if she doesn’t, what then?”
Silence filled the room. Enough. She walked into the room. “I believe I can answer that.”
Joe stood. Both Sawyer and Garret turned to look at her.
“What are you doing?” Joe moved towards her but stopped before he touched her. “You should be in bed asleep.”
She sighed. It was a long, drawn out affair. “I’m not fragile, Joe.”
“Yes, you are.” Sawyer gave her a firm look. “And you were injured. You’re supposed to rest.”
“I’ve rested for three weeks. I’m sick of resting. And I’m tired of you all treating me like I’ll break from a touch. You’re tiptoeing around me and it’s got to stop.”
“You’ve been recuperating from a beating,” Joe pointed out stiffly. “How should we be treating you?”
She took a breath. Now or never. “Like a mate.”
They all froze. Then Garret stood. “You’ve decided?”
“Yes.”
“And?” Sawyer snapped.
“I want to be your mate.”
There was silence. Their reaction was a bit of a let-down. “I, at the very least, expected a smile.”
“Are you sure?” Joe whispered.
“I’m sure. I wasn’t to begin with. I was uncertain about all of this.” She waved her hand around. “Being with the three of you was hard enough to wrap my head around. Then you hit me with the shape-shifting stuff and the legend and the fact that you’re super old, and well . . . it was a lot to take in.”
Garret stepped toward her. “You’re going to be our mate.”
“I’m going to be your mate.”
He clasped her around the waist and swung her around. “Our mate!”
“Garret, put her down!” Joe roared.
Garret ignored him. But he did set her down then pulled her to him and kissed her. “Our mate. You’ll live here with us. Be ours. I get to fuck you whenever I want.”
She laughed. Because it was Garret, and sex was never far from his mind. Sawyer tugged her away from his brother, then cupped her face between his hands and kissed her as well. “I thought I was going to have to lock you in the dungeon until we made up your mind for you.”
She lightly punched him. “Just as well you didn’t, asshole. I’m going to have to work hard to keep you in line.”
He grinned. “Mating is forever. You’ll have plenty of time.”
She hoped so, she really did. She turned to Joe next. He watched her.