But that would just be weird.

  “What do we do?” Hunter asks, his voice low.

  “Shut the fuck up, man!” Castor shouts, causing Thorne to get to his feet. Hunter actually looks offended. He feels bad, I can tell. This isn’t his fault, but I can’t tell them that. I can’t fucking speak.

  “Cas, calm down, okay? We can deal with this later. Right now we need to worry about Leona.”

  Castor’s eyes flick to me and then back to Thorne before he gives a tight nod.

  “Fine. I’m going to bed.”

  It’s late, the sun will probably be up soon. Castor moves towards the bed, grabbing one of Hunter’s pillows and dropping it to the floor. Hunter is sitting with his back against the bed on the other side. Knees bent up and face in his hands.

  He really is worried about this.

  Thorne purses his lips, looking around at everyone. “Well, if no one else is sleeping with Leona, I will.”

  He pulls his shirt over his head, and I watch as all the muscles tense as he moves. The curve of his biceps, the thick lines along his back as he stretches.

  Pretty sure I’m drooling.

  I wonder if this is what it feels like when I am in human form. Like my wolf is just a back seat driver to me. I can sort of see her, though I guess it’s more of a feeling than an actual visual, but I can’t hear her. Is that how it is for her? Does she see and hear everything going on like I am now?

  After pulling off his pants, Thorne crawls into bed and gets under the blankets. He lies on his back, one arm thrown above his head. I move slowly to his side, nuzzling him as closely as I can. He puts his arm around me, like one would do with their pet dog and I try not to be insulted.

  This is the craziest night I’ve ever had.

  Forty-four

  Leona

  I wake up the next morning, more sore than I could have imagined. I somehow shifted back to my human form during the night without noticing. How could my shift to wolf be so horrible, that it’s left my body in pain, yet shifting back to a human was so simple it didn’t even wake me from sleep?

  Thorne is still sprawled out on the bed, Hunter and Castor on the floor, each on opposite sides of the bed. I feel awful they slept down there. I can’t imagine it being comfortable. I attempt to roll over and end up groaning as I do, waking Thorne.

  “You’re you,” he says with a sleepy smile that soon turns into a frown when he notices I am not happy. “Are you okay?”

  “Is it normal to be this sore?”

  “Oh, baby. No, not really. It’s because you haven’t shifted in so long, your body isn’t used to it. It’ll get easier, I promise.” He presses a soft, lingering kiss to my forehead. “I’ll run you a hot bath.” He gets out of bed, careful not to step on Castor and disappears into the bathroom. A moment later the water is running and the scent of lavender hits my now oversensitive nose. The thought of getting up and having to walk there makes the few short feet of distance look like miles.

  Thorne comes back a second later, looking completely fuckable with his bed hair, sleepy eyes, and muscled body in nothing but a pair of tight, grey briefs that leave absolutely nothing to the imagination.

  If I didn’t feel like each and every one of my bones was broken, put back together, and then broke again, I would do something about it.

  “Can you walk?”

  I slowly shift and move myself to the end of the bed, trying hard to keep my looks of pain to a minimum. Everything hurts. Thorne takes my hand as I reach the edge, placing his other hand around my waist, and helps me to my feet. I take slow steps towards the bathroom and he helps me get into the tub once I’m there. Basically lifting and placing me down gently, like I weigh nothing.

  “Shout if you need something.” He shuts off the water, kisses the top of my head, and leaves the room, closing the door but leaving it open a few inches. I settle back, letting the hot water soothe my aching muscles. It feels amazing, though I have a feeling it won’t help much in the long run. There isn’t much I know about shifters, but I do know they tend to have quicker healing powers. Hopefully, I do too and I won’t be feeling like this for long.

  It’s quiet for a long while. I’m not tired so I don’t have to fight the urge to sleep. I just enjoy the heat of the water, the scent of the refreshing lavender, and the quiet that surrounds me.

  Until it’s broken. I don’t have to strain my ears to hear them, but something tells me I would not have been able to before I shifted.

  Heightened smell and hearing with no ability to heal or shift. Perfect. I have all the things I could not care less about.

  All in good time, my girl.

  The voice comes to mind again. My recurring dream hasn’t happened recently and I wonder if it was just a fluke. Though something tells me there is more meaning behind it. Something my subconscious mind is trying to tell me. That is what dreams are, after all.

  “I don’t know what’s going on with you, haven’t for a long time, all I know is if you do anything to hurt her, I will not hesitate to cut your fucking balls off and feed them to you.” I’ve seen Castor angry, but I’ve never heard him like this. I’m still getting to know my guys. All of them. There are many parts of them I haven’t seen. Like these pieces, the very emotional ones.

  “I’m not doing anything,” Hunter defends.

  “You’re acting weird as hell. What happened to your mom, Hunter? Wanna tell us that?”

  Oh my god. He does not think he had something to do with that, does he?

  “Don’t worry about it, it has nothing to do with you.”

  Thorne speaks for the first time. “Did you do something to her?”

  There is a long moment of silence. “I only did what was necessary. I suggest you both mind your business before you make this whole situation worse.”

  “What situation?” Castor shouts and I can hear Thorne trying to calm him. He then speaks to Hunter.

  “We’re in this together, Hunt. Whether you agree to that or not. It’s always been us, and now we have Leona too. Neither of us understand what is going on with you, but we want to. Can you just help us to understand?”

  “I said what I have to say. Take it or leave it.”

  The bedroom door opens and closes and I can only assume that Hunter left.

  “I don’t trust him,” Castor growls.

  “How did we switch places?” Thorne sounds amused. “Not too long ago it was me against him and you trying to keep the peace. Look, I can admit he’s acting weird. I wouldn’t put it past Hunter to do some shady shit, but...” Thorne lets out a deep breath. “We have to trust him, Cas. Do you really think he would do anything to harm us or Leona?”

  “I didn’t think he would do anything to hurt his mother, but we can both clearly fucking see he had something to do with that!”

  “For all we know, he did her a favor. You know how his father is, maybe he’s just protecting her.”

  “Then why can’t he fucking say that and make things easier?”

  “Because he’s Hunter? I don’t know, Cas. I’m not in his head. All I know is that all of this shit is getting out of control again. I think we have things mostly handled and something else pops up. We still haven’t figured out this stuff with Leona and her dad, now we have to worry about Hunter too? I think we need to handle one thing at a time. And right now, our biggest issue is the ritual and our pack. We still have to go back to school in a few days and we still need to run this whole pack thing by Leona.”

  “Oh yeah, about that. I have some news.”

  Forty-five

  Leona

  It’s Monday morning, the first day back to school after winter vacation and I can say with one hundred percent certainty that I do not want to be here. If I had anything more than the five months left, I’d probably drop out and get my GED. Nowadays, there is no difference. Though, I still will take pride in knowing I stuck through this and got my diploma. Lina would be proud of me, and this is something I’m doing for her.

  Some days are still really hard without her, but the hard ones are far and few between.

  And Castor had a big surprise to share with us. One that I wish I—

  “Leona! There you are.”

  Two sets of bright purple eyes find me from down the hall, a horde of men following behind them.

  “Tell me again who thought this was a good idea?” Hunter drawls, rolling his eyes. He was thrilled when he found out he and his sister were not going to be attending the same school when theirs was shut down. Unlike Castor and Toni, Hunter does not appreciate nor get along with his twin sister and seems that he would be okay if he never saw her again.

  I admit, I do love their sisters. Jillian and Toni are great, they’re just a little… much. They remind me of Lina, but more. And there was just one Lina, but there are two of them. The crowd of them files over and they take turns giving me a hug while all the guys say hi to each other with bro hugs and fist bumps. We get stares as people walk by.

  “Don’t worry about it, it’s us.”

  “Yeah, we’re used to it.” Jillian shrugs, smiling at me. They both act and look like they’d be twins to each other, and not Castor and Hunter. It’s… interesting and makes a lot of inappropriate questions pop up in my head. Questions I know I could never ask. So I don’t.

  They start asking me about my classes, getting all too excited when they find out we have all but one afternoon class together.

  And there goes my quiet afternoons.

  I can’t help but smile though. I can see these girls and I will be great friends one day, I just need to get used to them. The bell rings and they take off in one direction, their men following behind, while me and mine take off in the opposite direction. Hunter and I split off at the end of the hallway, going to our first period, while the other two go to theirs. Hunter’s hand brushes against my own as we walk, and his finger reaches out to curl around mine. I smile up at him and he returns it.

  His smile truly makes me happy.

  “What pack thing were you talking about?” I ask the question at lunch, earning me a look from Castor. It’s been bothering me since I heard them speak about it and I needed to finally just ask before it turned into something more. “I heard you the other day, talking while I was in the bath. I wasn’t trying to snoop, my hearing is just better than it was.” I shrug. Thorne takes my hand, brushing a kiss across my knuckles.

  “We weren’t keeping anything from you. We didn’t say anything we wouldn’t have wanted you to hear, I just thought you were dozed off in there. It’s nothing bad, just some stuff we need to talk to you about. Can we talk about it tonight? Now’s not really a good time.”

  I look around the busy cafeteria, the loud noises striking my ears in a not so friendly way.

  I hope this is something I can learn to control, or maybe just get used to because it’s hard.

  “I’ll make dinner,” Hunter offers, earning him a glare from Cas while I smile appreciatively.

  “That would be really sweet of you.” Hunter smiles proudly.

  I love seeing this side of him. Why couldn’t he have been this way the entire time? I still can’t believe that I have all three of these guys. The bad times with Hunter are barely a memory of anything. All bad feelings washed away by the hearts in my eyes. I have my wolf to thank, because after really thinking about it, I only noticed this change in myself since she was let out. In fact, I’ve noticed quite a few changes about myself that I am now accepting with pride. I also find it easier to connect with my guys. Whereas before, everything seemed like an argument, them against me. I now feel we’re on the same side even though I still have reservations. It’s like there is a silent agreement between us all and I know in my heart everything is okay, even when my brain wants to disagree.

  It’s like I can feel it.

  “My family is not going to like this.” I chew on my bottom lip, thinking about everything they just told me. “Not one bit.”

  “They already know about it,” Thorne says quietly. “They aren’t thrilled, especially Maddox, but they understand. They know how it needs to be. If this isn’t what you want, if you’re absolutely sure you don’t want this, we don’t have to do it. We can leave the pack. We don’t have to stay there.”

  “But it’s all you know,” I say softly.

  “We will gladly learn to live without a pack to make you happy.”

  I take a moment to let that sink in. It’s all they know, I couldn’t take that away from them. But leaving my family? This is going to be a big adjustment. Inside, I’m actually excited about this. I feel like this is one more step towards having my very own family, my own life. Something I wasn’t sure I knew how to have, but now it seems so close that I can almost snatch it up.

  “I would never ask you to do that. Any of you.” I look at all of them. Staring into Thorne’s bright green eyes, then over to Hunter’s glowing blue ones, and finally landing on Castor’s dark brown orbs. “We’ll have our own place, like you said. The plan for the ritual may be a little difficult, I’m not a very good actress, but I think I can manage. And really, we’re not all that far from my family. Can we still visit? Maybe have Sunday dinners here?”

  “Baby, we can do whatever you want.” Thorne always knows what to say. “And we can talk more about the ritual thing later. We need Callan’s input on the matter, along with Lenny’s help, so it’ll take some time. We aren’t moving in tomorrow. It’ll be a few weeks.”

  The conversation we had over dinner—lemon garlic parmesan shrimp and pasta—was not easy to take in. Finding out that I have to move away from the first people that ever made me safe was almost enough to make me not want to eat anymore. The food was so good that I couldn’t shove it away though. And after taking a moment to think about it, I realized it wasn’t all that bad. I’ll get to be with my guys, starting our own life, having our own home. This is actually really great news.

  There has been so much talk the last few months about this ritual that needs to be completed within the three full moons of my eighteenth birthday. Well, it seems that since I’ve already been intimate with all three guys, the ritual is pretty much complete. It’s more of a pack thing, and not so much a universe thing. So really, the ritual is just a hunk of crap that the pack preaches to keep the wolves on a short leash when it comes to mating. The fact that I’ve already shifted, just another good sign that things are going to be okay.

  Though my wolf has been oddly silent, sleeping often and I haven’t had any urge to shift, like they said I may. It’s not something I’m worrying myself with now. One day at a time, that’s all we can do.

  Unfortunately, like with many other congregations, their pack has rules that must be followed in order to belong to it. As much as I do appreciate them being willing to give it up, that is not something I could ask of them. It’s a security they know, a life they have lived since they were born. It’s only fair of me to do this for them since they have already done so much for me. This ritual must be performed. The alpha and elders cannot know that we have all been intimate already. Hunter knows this and probably should have been a little more adamant about keeping his cock out of me, but I don’t regret it. I’ll put on my best acting face and do what needs to be done to trick those wolves into thinking the ritual is real. According to the guys, it won’t take much. A little de-scenting lotion and some masking cream to cover up our mate mark.

  Our mate marks.

  The pain Hunter went through that night, that made him pass out, that was him being branded with his mate mark. Apparently, it happened to both Thorne and Castor at the same time too. It’s what made them rush to Hunter’s house so quickly. It’s a beautiful mark, looking more like four, ragged scratch marks than anything, but something about it is so beautiful, so meaningful. It’s ours.

  I’m thankful it’s winter and the weather is cold. Our mark is easily hidden with long sleeved shirts, to keep anyone from questioning us about it. There are other Supernaturals that come to this school and anyone knowing about this mark could potentially get us thrown from the pack.

  I really don’t want that happening.

  Forty-six

  Leona

  I’m in the same maze looking building that I am in every other time I’ve had this dream. It’s strange because I know this is a dream, yet things go on like it’s real life. I can’t seem to get over it or figure it out. I don’t just know things, I can’t fly or walk through walls. All the real life rules apply as if I were in some type of simulation dream and not a deep sleep.

  I get going as I normally do, walking up and down the long, narrow hallway looking for that giant, beautiful nature-filled room that I know won’t come until my friend does. I try to look for it though, I try to seek it out.

  Only it never comes.

  I spend what feels like hours walking back and forth through the hallway, doing the same things I normally do to get attention from this man that helps me, yet this time, he never comes. I’m frustrated and somewhat disappointed as I take a seat in the spot I first showed up in. I’ve had this dream many times over the last few weeks, and this man always helps me. He pushes me, gives me just enough hints to figure things out on my own. He’s teaching me without doing much.

  Maybe it’s weird that I’m having this recurring dream about a man that helps me out of a maze, but something about it is so simple and so freeing that I can’t help but look forward to it. Like another reality. A place where I am safe, where I know the outcome. I know what is going to happen. I’m going to search, he’s going to help, and then I will find what I’m looking for.

  Only tonight, that doesn’t happen.

  And when I feel myself waking, the disappointment is even harsher than it was.