I burst out laughing, I couldn’t help it.
“Claire, seriously. This isn’t the movies. We’re not the mob. And even if you wanted to tell the world, who would believe you? That’s not our concern.”
Well, in a way it was. It was forbidden to tell the outside world about us, but that was the last thing I was worried about at this point in time.
“What is, then?”
I sighed.
“Look, Claire, whether you believe us or not, you’re the woman we’re meant to be with. There is no one else, and there can’t be anyone else for us. Not now. Don’t you understand? If you don’t want us, then we’ll live here, just the three of us, forever.”
And although yesterday I was settled with the idea of the three of us being a family unit, today was different.
Today I didn’t need to settle for less.
Today I knew the truth.
Humans were going to save our pack from extinction. New blood was necessary to keep us strong and help us survive.
Perhaps that had been the plan all along?
She gave me a strange smile. “That sounds… totally bonkers. You know that, Jay?”
I shrugged. “Maybe to you, but that’s how we were brought up. One true mate for all of us. So, yes… this is something different, even for us. For one, you’re not a wolf shifter, and two, there’s only one of you and three of us. Neither is the norm, but I’m sure you can handle us.”
I gave her the sexiest grin I had in my arsenal and blood flooded her cheeks and she looked down.
But she didn’t say anything.
“You can feel it too, can’t you?” I asked her. “You can feel the connection, the need, the desire?”
She still wouldn’t look at me and I reached over and lifted her chin with my fingers.
Electricity sizzled through our connection, but in a muted, comfortable way.
When her gaze lifted to connect with mine I smiled at her. “Don’t be afraid of us.”
She sighed heavily and pulled her chin out of my grasp. “It’s not that I’m afraid, exactly. It’s just that this is… well… crazy! I’m a logical woman. Cold and calculating if any of my ex-boyfriends are to be believed.”
A growl rattled through me at the idea of her bedding other men.
When she looked at me, I coughed to cover it up, but the possessive wolf in me raised his head.
“Sorry… Anyway. You aren’t crazy. I can guarantee you that. And if you’re designed for us, you really must be the most remarkable woman.”
She stopped shaking her head and looked at me properly.
“What do you mean?”
I stared at Claire for a moment and realised that this was the key. The words, the compliments. She was beginning to open up like a flower ready to drink in the rain.
How deprived had she been of such words? Affection, too, perhaps?
“Would you sit with me on the couch? I promise I won’t do anything weird.”
She smiled and wiped at a stray tear that fell down her cheek. “Okay.”
I took her hand, loving the feel of the pulses of pleasure such a small touch brought and took her to the couch.