The Woodland Packs

“Well, yes. There was going to be too much infighting. Too many Alphas who couldn’t mate. The hormones, the anger, the frustration. It could have led to the downfall of our pack.”

I still had some questions. “So why three, then?”

I could see there were differences between Jay, Taylor and Dexter, but I really couldn’t work out exactly what the balance was.

“An Alpha, Beta and Omega. The perfect triad of men.” Mary told me in a tone that indicated I should understand what she was saying.

“Ah…” I didn’t really want to ask her to explain again, but I still didn’t understand.

She sighed. “An Alpha is a leader, the strongest and the biggest of the wolves. A Beta is close behind him. Slightly smaller in stature, he is an Alpha’s right-hand man. An Omega is the smallest of our family, but the sweetest and most family-oriented of all.”

“So…” This was easy. “Dexter’s the Alpha, Taylor’s the Beta and Jay’s the Omega.”

Mary nodded. “Yes, it’s pretty easy once you see them all together.”

“Okay, I’m understanding why you put them into families, but what does that have to do with me?”

Mary grinned. “You get the best of all worlds. I married an Alpha, see, and he is beautiful, but he is standoffish and can often put the needs of the pack above mine. More often than not, actually.” She sighed and took a sip of tea. “But if you have all three men, you’ll always be taken care of. You’ll never be alone. All your physical and emotional needs will be taken care of.”

My mind went blank, in the strangest way. Like it had been blown apart and I could comprehend nothing other than the extreme amount that I didn’t know.

Could it be possible?

“I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

I’d always been amazed by the flaws in a one-to-one ratio of women to men. I didn’t know a single woman who was fully satisfied by her husband.

There was always something lacking. Sex, or friendship, or help around the house.

Every one of my married friends complained about their husbands in some way.

They didn’t help with the kids.

They didn’t make enough money.

There was no emotional support.

No sex.

Too much sex.

The lists were always endless, and for me, I always agreed with them. The few boyfriends I’d had were shallow creeps. No one even came close to fulfilling the emotional needs of my heart, let alone the physical needs of my body.

Was it really possible that this was what I needed? Three men? And shifters, at that.

Because I knew that solitary human males had failed every task I’d ever set.

“Thanks for the chat, Mary. It looks like I have a lot of thinking to do.”

Mary pushed another homemade cookie at me and smiled. “You do that. And no pressure or anything, but I would love to have you as a daughter-in-law. After four sons, I crave female company more than anything.”

Tears sprung to my eyes, though there was nothing to cry about. But Mary’s words were so heartfelt that I had to walk around the bench and hug her. How could I not?

She laughed as I held her. Then I remembered the other reason we’d come over.

“Oh, Mary. Is there any way I could borrow some clothes for a few days? Looks like I’m sticking around and I don’t think the boys want to drive me home at the moment.”

I had so many clothes at home it was embarrassing. The fact that I had to ask to borrow some was ridiculous.