By Hook or by Wolf

All of ours.

Natasha might be a human, but she’s definitely ours.

Chapter Seven

Cody

“I can explain,” our mother says.

“You wanted to play matchmaker,” Trevor says, instantly recognizing what had happened. I have to give my brother credit for that. I don’t know that “matchmaker” is the conclusion I would have jumped to if left to my own devices.

Mother nods.

“I’m going to die,” she says. “I thought that a woman who could get to the Gem of Malice would be worthy to wield it as her Token.” She looks sad, and for just a moment, I feel bad for my mother. The reality is that she truly is going through some changes. She really is facing the last few months of her life. She loves my brothers and me more than anything else, and it’s natural that she would want to see us happy before her death. That doesn’t excuse her using Natasha, though.

“But she didn’t take the gem,” I say.

“She didn’t,” mother shakes her head.

“Instead, she took our Tokens.”

“She brought them back,” my mom says, as though it matters, but it doesn’t. A thief is a thief. Someone who steals from others, even if it’s for a good reason, really isn’t a good person at all, are they?

“We can find our own mates,” Lee says, but I know he felt what I felt when Natasha walked through the doors. I know he felt that spark, that longing. I’ve never felt that mating call the way I did when she stepped off the elevator and darted in here full of fire and passion and mystery.

I felt it when I saw Natasha, though.

We all did.

There’s something that happens when a wolf meets a chosen mate. It’s destiny. Your heart connects with theirs and you just know. You just feel it. I always thought the idea of mates was total crap until today. Today all of my previous objections just sort of floated away when I saw her for the first time because Natasha seems...well, she seems incredible.

“Besides, shouldn’t the person we mate have their own Token?”

“Person?” My mother raises an eyebrow.

Oops.

“People, I mean,” I say quickly, but my mother seems to notice my slip of the tongue. My brothers and I have never talked about sharing a mate. Not before today. It’s not unheard of for a female wolf to share two mates, but three? That seems like a bit much.

Still, something changed deep inside of me when Natasha came into the room.

I think something changed inside all of us. My brothers and I each looked at her like she wasn’t just some random person who came into our lives. We looked at her like she was ours.

And I didn’t feel jealousy.

Or rage.

Or lust.

I felt...adoration.

I’ve never had a mate before. I’ve never felt anything like this before, but something makes me think that this, this moment, is what the mating ritual of being a wolf really is all about.

“Not everyone has a Token,” my mother shrugs. “And besides, I was trying to find one of you someone smart, which Natasha is.”

“Where did you find her?” Trevor asks casually.

My mother looks at him. Then she looks at each one of us in turn. A smile spreads over her face and she rubs her hands together.