Page 7 of Fearless as an Eagle

“Hopefully tomorrow. I can’t go much longer without touching her and I doubt that would be welcome right now,” I mumble.

“Tell me about it. All I’ve wanted to do since I first saw her was kiss that sassy mouth. I’d wait an eternity to be with her, but it’s such sweet torture to keep my distance,” Riley groans.

Yup, we’re all feeling it. The need to be around her. The drive to complete our mate bond. If she were feeling it too, that would make this a lot easier. Unfortunately, she doesn’t, which means we have to control our baser instincts and keep our hands to ourselves.For now.

“Alright, come on. Maybe the cold air will chill us all out.” I lead the way to the front door and to the back of the Jeep. After opening the hatch, I dig through the mess of supplies that I’m now glad I brought. I don’t think we need to bring everything in, just our clothes, bedding, and food. So I pass out everyone’s bag, then find the bedding bin. Bennett gets the food as Riley carries our clothes bags and I follow with the bedding. When we enter the cabin again, Mia is standing in the hallway, looking a little stressed. I hope her call to her brother went well. I know he can be a dick sometimes, but normally it’s all in good fun.

“Oh, good. You got your stuff before it was too late. I only have one room and I’m not about to give up my bed. So you three can sleep in the living room. You can fight over the couch while I curl up in my big comfy bed,” she gloats.

“We were going to sleep on the floor tonight anyway,Cuore Mio. Don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine. Get some rest,” Bennett orders gently.

“What’s that mean?Cuore Mio?” She studies him and I watch as an uncharacteristic blush spreads across his face.

“N-nothing,” he stammers. “That’s not the important part of what I said.”

She just smirks at him before rolling her eyes. “Yeah, okay. I guess you have a good point.” She chuckles before it ends in a yawn and stretches, arching her back and tilting her head in the most provocative way.Jesus, ayawnis turning me on. Something’s wrong with me.“I’ll…. Ah… See you in the morning, I guess?”

“We’ll be here,” I agree while Riley says, “Not if I see your first.”

“God. You did not just say that. So fucking cheesy,” Bennett groans, but Mia is laughing and it hits me just how perfect she is for all of us. I can’t wait to get to know her better.

“As long as you see me while I’m awake and not hovering over my bed as I sleep… I don’t care who sees who first.” She shrugs adorably and Riley melts into a puddle at her feet. Okay, not really, but I’ll tell you, he’s completely lost to this girl and I can’t even blame him. “Night.” She waves as she turns and heads down the hallway toward her room.

We stand in complete silence for at least two whole minutes after she closes her door before we finally come back to ourselves and move to the living room. We take our time setting our beds up and after what feels like forever, Bennett walks past her door to see if he can hear her still awake. When he doesn’t hear anything, he reports back. He sits down on his bed beside me and I pull my phone out to call Alex. The sooner I get this part over with, the sooner I can start convincing her we could be good for her and she’d certainly be good for us.

The phone rings twice before the call’s connected. “Mason! How are you guys doing? You get settled in at Mia’s alright?” Alex asks.

“Yeah. We’re good, man. Thanks for sending her after us… Actually, that’s why I’m calling.”

“What do you mean?”

“We have so much to thank you for. For sending us here. For sending your sister to find us… For bringing us to our mate…”

“Your mate? Your mate’sthere?! That’s awesome, dude! I know how much you’ve been wanting to find her. I’m so fucking happy for you, man! Can’t wait to meet her.”

“Well, that’s the thing. You kinda already know her… Really well, actually.”

“I do? How’s that? And how the heck did you meet her in the woods? Talk about fate, man!” He chuckles and I laugh nervously.

“It’s Mia. She’s my mate. And Riley’s and Bennett’s.”

There’s a long pause and I’m worried he’s going to say all those things we’ve been afraid he’d say. But after a long moment, he laughs. Like straight up, cackling. “Oh, God. I’m sorry. Fuck, that’s not funny. It’s just I just… I basically just told her not to fuck any of you. Ha! You have fun with that!” he says all of that as he continues to laugh like it’s the funniest thing in the world.

“You told herwhat?! Damn it, Alex! We already had our work cut out for us. Now it’s going to be next to impossible to get her to give us the time of day,” I grumble.

“I’m sorry. I was kinda joking… But I never really thought it was an option. You know I’m not gonna stand in the way of my best friends being with their mate. But apparently, I’m okay with making it a little difficult for you.” He laughs some more and I’m ready to strangle him through the phone.

“Fuck off. We just wanted you to know what was going on before we pursue her. We don’t want you thinking we’re just fucking around with her. It’s as serious as it gets. I know why you’ve never introduced us and I understand. But that’s not us. We love you, and I’m certain by the time we leave this tiny ass cabin, we’ll love your sister too. We won’t hurt her like that fuck head did.”

“I know. And if I didn’t believe you really are her mates, I would kick your ass. But I know you won’t take advantage of her. I trust you guys with my life. If I can trust you with that, surely I can trust you with my sister, right?”

“We will spend the rest of our lives making sure she feels nothing but love and respect. I would rather disconnect from my beaver than ever cause her a second of pain,” I vow and my beaver slaps his tail and snorts in agreement. Bennett and Riley have been quiet, listening intently to my half of the conversation. At my declaration, they nod once with fierce determination and I know they feel exactly the same. It’s good that we’re all on the same page.

“Good. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for her. Especially after what happened with Mike,” he sneers the name, and I hate that I’m reminding him of that douchebag.

We had just started hanging out when the fallout happened. Mike and Alex were pretty good friends in college until one day Mike met Mia when she was in town visiting Alex. The two of them hooked up, and it ended badly. I obviously don’t know the entire story, but I know it pissed my easy going friend off bad enough to vow to never introduce his friends to his sister ever again. And he’s held by that until fate found fit to introduce us herself. I can’t blame him for wanting to protect his sister, but I’ll always wish we had met sooner. We could have saved her so much heartache had she met us that day instead of Mike.

"Well, good luck, man. Hopefully, you're snowed in long enough to get through to her. She's the most hard-headed person I know. You've got your work cut out for ya, that's for sure." He laughs again.

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