Family. Mates.

  I didn’t want to do without them, but I’d worked hard to open my own clinic—even if I struggled to gain patients enough to support me. Gaining the temporary position at Lockwood had seemed a godsend, but what if it had been fate leading me toward my destiny? Would that destiny also provide a way through the sure scandal to follow should I openly declare Primrose and Jaxon as mine?

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Primrose

  I slipped out of the stores as easily as I’d arrived, my body sated for the time being. Flying over Lockwood made me long to do the same with my alpha, but Patrick’s command to stay away took me westward to his home.

  The second I walked through the unlocked door, I pulled up short, my nostrils flaring at the scent of another human. Old boots lay discarded by the stairs, too small and feminine to belong to Patrick.

  Scowling, I stayed cloaked and moved from room to room on the first floor, noting the purse on the island and the empty beer can alongside. Tilting my head back, I peered up at the ceiling as though I could pinpoint through wood and plaster the intruder in my alpha’s home.

  The scent of her strengthened as I slipped up the stairs—sour beer and sweat. Unwashed body, and a trace of old perfume or body wash wrinkled my nose.

  Patrick’s bedroom door stood open, a pile of clothing at the foot of the bed, heavy breaths coming from a lump under the comforter I snuggled beneath only hours earlier, blanketed by my mates.

  On silent feet, I crept close, anger, jealousy, and hurt swirling in a nauseating brew in my stomach.

  The woman hugged Patrick’s pillow, face relaxed and mouth open in sleep.

  My dragon growled as I glared down at her—considered lacing over her unwanted form with a single flame, one that would incinerate her to ash. Who the fuck did she think she was climbing into my alpha’s bed as though she belonged there?

  Breathing deeply didn’t lessen the sickening feeling in my gut, the anger coursing me to take action.

  A rumble grew in my chest, sneaking past my lips, and the woman stirred.

  “Patrick?” she slurred his name with a smile, her breath sour, stretching beneath his blankets. “Mmm. I can smell you on your sheets. Your cum.”

  Teeth clenched, I hurried back the way I’d come, my chest aching in a way I’d never known before.

  Patrick had a woman in his life, one quite comfortable in his bed, one who recognized the scent of his cum.

  Tears rushed down my cheeks as I once more leapt into the air and took flight in attempt to escape the pain.

  ****

  Patrick

  The work day ended, and I sped home, my dick aching at the thought of Jaxon and Primrose and how I might find them. Entwined? On their knees waiting for me? My heartbeat kicked up, and it wasn’t until I tossed my keys on the island that I realized the energy linking us should have shivered my skin—but didn’t.

  My brow furrowed at the purse on the island. “Fuck.” I jerked my head toward the hallway and hurried that way, dread eating at my stomach with every step up the stairs.

  Jessie lay burrowed under my comforter, snoring and reeking of stale beer.

  The beast inside me gnashed its teeth, wanting to rip her apart for putting her stink atop the beautiful scents of what my mates and I had created earlier that morning.

  “Jessie.” Her name coated my tongue like fish oil—gag-worthy. “Jessie!”

  She finally stirred, blinking up at me with bloodshot eyes. “Pat.”

  I ignored her outstretched hand, grabbed her clothes off the floor and tossed them at her face. “Get dressed and get out.”

  I stomped away, back downstairs to get her purse and shoes. Waiting by the front door, I simmered and shook, the need to hurt someone boiling my blood as I looked over her keyring. I’d taken my house key off, so how had she gotten in?

  The door must have been open—Primrose. Had she left it open when going to Jaxon? Had she come home to find Jessie in my house, or had she returned and Jessie walked in like she owned the place, scaring my female off?

  I growled, and Jessie appeared at the top of the stairs in her panties, clothes clutched to her chest. “The fuck is wrong with you?”

  “You.” I held up her purse and shoes. “You’re not welcome here any longer. I thought I made that clear.”

  Her brow smoothed out, and she sauntered down the stairs. Nothing about her curves, the see-through lace of her panties, enticed me to have what I’d already had my fill of.

  “Pat.” She touched my chest, but I shoved her purse and boots at her.

  “Get dressed and get the fuck out, or I’m calling the police.”

  “You don’t mean it.”

  I stalked back to the kitchen and grabbed my cell off the island. Through the hallway, she eyed me holding the phone aloft a few seconds before cursing me out and tugging on her clothes.

  “I don’t know what the fuck crawled up your ass, Pat,” she said, shoving her feet into her boots as I once more approached her, “but I’m about done offering you second chances.”

  “Good.” I pulled open the front door.

  She stepped over the threshold, turned and opened her mouth, but I slammed the door shut in her face and locked the deadbolt.

  A few choice curses made their way past the door, but I ignored them and returned to the kitchen, dialing the cell number Jaxon had called me from the night before.

  He didn’t answer, and I grabbed my keys.

  Being apart from Jaxon and Primrose wasn’t an option, so I would have to go searching for them.

  Jessie still stood on my porch as I backed out of the garage and closed the door behind me. Without a backward glance, I took off for his apartment, hellbent on making right whatever Jessie had fucked up.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Jaxon

  Fucking pain lanced my chest, and I glanced outside the storefront windows as Prim’s familiar energy rippled over me. What the fuck had happened? Scowling, I scanned the sky through the grocery’s huge windows—the parking lot—the sidewalk—no Prim.

  The manager walked my way, and I flagged him down, knowing the pain through our bond had to have whitened my face. “I gotta go,” I said, clasping my stomach. “Pretty sure I’m gonna be sick.”

  He stepped back and motioned me toward the bathroom.

  I snuck out the back, knowing Prim would find me. Although I couldn’t see her, her thoughts slammed into me, her heartache fucking ripping me to shreds.

  Another woman in Patrick’s bed.

  The same feelings of rejection from before, but tenfold.

  “Fuck, Prim.” She wrapped invisible claws around me, cloaked me, and shot into the sky, leaving my heart in my stomach.

  The elation from flying in the afternoon sun didn’t ease the twisting knife in my chest. While I appreciated Prim hadn’t been in a relationship prior to me, her lack of experience in dealing with such things made me ache for her.

  At least she hadn’t flown off, leaving me behind like the last time emotion had overwhelmed her.

  We landed in the cul-de-sac, and she continued to hold onto me while shifting back to her human form. As one, and still invisible to the eye, we hurried up the stairs to my apartment. She fell apart the second the door closed behind us.

  The memory replayed in her head, filling me in on all I needed to know.

  “That woman means nothing to him,” I said out loud, more for myself than her.

  My words didn’t make a difference to either of us, so I held her and let her cry it out while I tried and failed to fight off my anger and disappointment.

  While I wanted to give Patrick the chance to answer for what Prim had seen, I couldn’t keep from thinking that he had been trying to fuck us out of his system before getting on with his life—with whoever the fuck the woman was between his goddamn sheets.

  “Come on.” I tugged Prim toward the bed, and we curled up together. Slow kisses, tender caresses eventually calmed her fully, but the hurt remained, ricocheting off my pissiness. “I love you so fucking much,” I murmured against her lips, breathing her as deep into my lungs as possible. “Never get enough.”

  She heaved a sigh and wound her arms around me, pressing her naked chest against mine. “Too many clothes,” she whispered, tugging on the back of my t-shirt.

  My dick swelled in a heartbeat, and I pulled back to rip my clothes off.

  “Fill me, my beta.”

  Obeying was my only option, and I did, showing her my love, giving her everything that I was, everything I ever would be. I expected it wasn’t enough, same as always, but at least her hurt disappeared for a time.

  Patrick had a fucking date with my fists. His past—or his goddamn present—had trespassed into our future, one I refused to have fucked with any more.

  ****

  Primrose

  “Sex doesn’t cure everything,” I murmured against Jaxon’s neck long after he’d collapsed on me, heaving for breath.

  “Mmm. Sure as fuck helps, though.” He kissed my collarbone, his lips lingering, his satiated bliss swirling like butterflies in my stomach even though a boulder of anger lay beneath in his heart.

  “Are relationships always like this?” I whispered as the pain stung once more. “All this—shit?”

  “There’s good days and bad days.” Jaxon lifted onto his elbows, pushing strands of hair from my damp face.

  I squeezed my legs still wrapped around him while trailing my hands down over the muscles along his spine. “I like the good ones better.”

  His smirk fluttered my heart. “So do I, but bad ones are going to give us all a chance to grow.”

  The lightness in my heart faded. “I suppose.”

  “Hey.” He held my chin and brushed his lips across mine. “It’s going to be okay.”

  We both knew he truly didn’t believe that. “Relationships suck.”

  His laugh sounded forced as he finally pulled out of my pussy, our combined cum trickling down my crack. “What did you expect? A bed of roses?”

  I stared at his flexing ass as he made toward the bathroom. “Yes, actually.”

  The water ran for a few seconds, and he returned, a wet towel in his hand.

  “I thought once we bonded that everything would align—the stars, our hearts and minds… I didn’t think there would be any discord.”

  He frowned. “Sorry, baby, but this is just the beginning.”

  I huffed a breath and crossed my arms while he cleaned between my thighs.

  “Gotta have a better outlook than that, Prim.” Jaxon sprawled onto his back beside me, once finished, his hands behind his head.

  A soft snort fled my nose. “You’re one to talk with all that negativity flying about in your brain.”

  He heaved a sigh, his eyes closing. “I’m trying, Prim. Fuck, am I trying.”

  “I know,” I whispered, rolling to enjoy the view of his perfection, my focus flitting down over his pecs, his washboard abs, to the heavy cock relaxed against his thigh. “You’re so perfect,” I said on a sigh, sliding my hands beneath my cheek. “Why can’t Patrick be more like you?”

  Jaxon laughed for real and turned to face me, his blue-green eyes alight with mischief. “Patrick is hot as fuck. All dark, tortured soul who desperately needs your gentleness and my cock.”

  I found my lips responding to his grin. “You’re one arrogant man.”

  “And you love it.” He pulled me into his arms, his nose resting against mine.

  “I do,” I whispered. “And you’re right—I love Patrick’s darkness. I love that he questions everything, that he’s driven to find answers. I also love his control.”

  “I love when he lacks in that last category.”

  We laughed together, and I closed my eyes, soaking in Jaxon’s love, his feigned assurance that all would be well, but I couldn’t help but wonder, too, if it would.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Patrick

  I parked along the cul-de-sac, and the second I stepped from my car, their scents slid over the energy linking us. Knowing they felt my relief at finding them—and my anger and disgust over Jessie—I climbed the stairs to Jaxon’s balcony.

  Jaxon wrenched the door open as I lifted my hand to knock, his fist hitting me at the same time his anger did.

  I stumbled backward, hands clenched over my aching, bleeding nose, eyesight full of stars.

  “Fucking asshole.” Jaxon’s growl didn’t hide the simmering lust inside him as he towered over me, naked as a goddamn jay, the energy between us vibrating.

  “Jaxon!” Primrose pushed passed him and grabbed my arms, pressing a towel to my face. She, too, filled with desire at the proximity of our bodies, but hurt swirled thick and acidic beneath.

  “Who the fuck is she, Doc?” Jaxon’s anger lay like a black cloud over me, shrouding Prim’s emotions.

  I winced at the pressure Prim put against my nose. “Ex-girlfriend.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “That’s all she is, Jaxon.” I wiped my nose and set Prim aside, my focus on my beta. His need to fight—fuck—raced through my blood alongside my pissiness at Jessie for fucking things up. I stood, glaring at him.

  “You bonded us together, but you’re holding back.” He glowered, hands fisted at his sides. “Why the fuck should we believe you? Huh? She’s more your age—fucking safe for your upstanding, professional façade of a life.” He all but spit the last word, and I leaped forward with a growl, barreling into his chest, sending us tumbling through his door and onto the apartment floor.

  I socked him in the stomach, my face buried in his neck—goddamn delicious-smelling and bite-able.

  “Fuck you, Doc.” Jaxon slammed a fist into my side.

  I grunted as we rolled, our hard cocks pressed tight against each other, our hips grinding with desire to fuck as fists flew. I ended up on top and shoved a thigh between his legs while grabbing his wrists and pinning them to the floor alongside his head.

  Lust raced thickly between us, heating me through as we both breathed heavy, our gazes locked. I knew he knew the truth. He could fucking hear my every thought. I also knew he just needed a reason to vent—and that he wanted me to take him, hard and fast.

  “Keep your hands there,” I said with a growl, and he obeyed as I sat back on my haunches to free my aching dick. “This what you want, Jaxon?” I slid the mess of leaking pre-cum down over my length.

  Jaxon propped up on his elbows, focusing on my hand. He licked his lip, his lust rolling over me like a goddamn wave. “Yeah, that’s what I want.”

  Balls deep.

  “Yes,” Prim moaned at my dragon’s words.

  I kept my focus on Jaxon as another bead of pre-cum welled on my dick’s tip. “This is all the lube you’re getting, boy.”

  He grabbed the backs of his knees, and I crowded close, holding the head of my dick to his asshole. I shoved in, and he gasped, his body tensing.

  “Take it all, beta,” I said through clenched teeth, planking over him and pulling out an inch. Another thrust buried me fully in his ass.

  “Fuck,” he groaned and sank back to the floor, lower lip between his teeth.

  “Sit on his face,” I told Primrose while dragging my cock back out.

  Tight. Hot.

  My dragon growled rumbling my chest as Primrose obeyed my order, spreading her legs and settling over Jaxon, her wide, golden-eyed gaze latched on my face mere inches from hers, pulse thrumming in her neck.

  I clenched my jaw with the need to blow while slamming into Jaxon again. He clamped his arms around Primrose’s thighs, and the second his tongue dove deep into her pussy, her sweet, juicy tang flooded my senses.

  All three of us moaned at the same time.

  Grabbing her flowing hair, I yanked her toward me, taking her mouth in a bruising kiss as I fucked into Jaxon, trying to split his ass in two, exactly as his dragon begged for.

  My beta thought he could hit me—take out his aggression on my body. The darkness inside me swirled, steaming and growling with violence, gnashing teeth in need to tear into flesh.

  I slammed into Jaxon again, and he grunted a curse against our female’s pussy.

  The swelling need, the rush of arousal from both of my mates filled me to the point of bursting. I pulled away from Primrose’s mouth and sat back, holding Jaxon’s thighs wide with a bruising grip, watching my dick disappear into his ass.

  I’d never seen anything so goddamn sexy. Never heard sounds like those pouring from both of my mates’ lips.

  “Fuck.” I sprawled over Jaxon’s chest, trapping his dick between our abs and shoved my tongue against Primrose’s clit as she rode his face, his tongue flicking up along mine.

  “Oh!” Our female whimpered and shuddered, her hands ripping at my hair. “Please … alpha, please.”

  I plowed into Jaxon hard enough his back slid along the floor.

  Now.

  Both Jaxon and Primrose obeyed my dragon’s command. My cum erupted into Jaxon’s ass as his shot between our stomachs, and Primrose’s cream coated our lapping tongues. That sense of rightness when we had bonded, that feeling of being wrapped up in a cocoon of warmth and love flooded through me. Their release heightened mine, and dizziness swept through me until I planked, head hanging, arms shaking, tingles racing throughout my entire body.

  “Fuck.” My dick twitched one last time, and Jaxon clenched his hole around me. “Goddamn.”

  Primrose’s hands gentled in my hair, soothing it back as she tilted my head up. “Look at me.”

  I couldn’t have denied her if I’d wanted to. Golden eyes, tear-hazed and aching, peered into my soul. “Tell us. Please.”

  Pressing my lips against her palm, I pulled out of Jaxon, the sight of my cum trickling from his ass twitching my dick again. I turned without a word, went to the bathroom and cleaned myself up before returning to them with two more towels.

  Primrose lay curled beside Jaxon, who sprawled, eyes closed and brow dented. His restful mind and the purr of his dragon took me to our female first.

 

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