Page 44 of The Alpha's Mates

They had, and she agreed. Bell spun in a small circle, taking in the rest of the space before coming face-to-face with both of her mates. Their open, desired-filled expressions startled her. “I like your place.”

Jackson’s chest puffed out. “Thank you. Of course, it’s not my style or how my home used to look, but I like this atmosphere.”

She licked her lips and pointed to the glass. “Why?”

He took a step toward her. “Do you really want to know?”

She swallowed hard. “Yes.”

“Then we need to go upstairs.” He held his hand out to her. “You’re in control here, Bell. Whatever you want to happen or need to have happen here, you only have to ask.”

She slipped her hand into his and then Christoph’s when he came up beside her. “No more waiting or worrying about what’s going to happen. You’re ours. Period.”

Her heart fluttered. Her pulse raced. “I’m afraid.” Her words had barely been above a whisper as she followed them up the stairs. “I’m afraid of messing this up. Of us compounding our problems.”

“Nothing to be afraid of.” Jackson cupped her cheek while he bent his head to kiss her. “When this night is over, we will be one. We’re stronger together, Bell. Believe that when you lose your way.”

“Will the both of you... You know, be together too?” She gave a nervous chuckle before clearing her throat. The idea of seeing Christoph and Jackson having sex made her pussy clench and her clit throb. Her nipples, already hard points, ached to be touched. If someone didn’t get their hands on her soon, she worried she’d combust. Even though they were still not estrus, the full moon spoke to her in ways she couldn’t comprehend.Is this what Nico and Hayden experienced month after month?The forbidden pull. The stretch of her skin prickling as the tiny hairs stood on end. The yowl of her lioness clawing at her to be released, all because one of her mates was ruled by the cycles of the moon.

“One step at a time, beautiful.” Christoph crowded into her side, connecting all three of them. “If you’re not ready for everything we’re offering you tonight, then we’ll go slow. That is my vow to you.”

“All for me?”

Both men nodded. They were so… Sure. Pillars of confidence.Pillars? Really. You’re standing in front of two of the sexiest men alive, and you call them pillars?Her hands trembled when she pressed her palms to their chests. Their hearts pounded. From excitement?

Fear?

Both?

Straightening her shoulders, Bell lifted her chin before she climbed the stairs to the four-poster bed surrounded by books, under a clear night sky. Her feet carried her to where she wanted to be. She realized, standing in her yard listening to what happened to the poor girl in the hotel and her new son, Isaac, she had to make it all right. She had to cement their relationship so no one could tear them apart. Leaving the mating open like they had given Christoph’s father and Aislinn’s father the ability to dictate what happened.

Well, not anymore.

She couldn’t allow either of them, Christoph, or Jackson, to wonder day after day if she would accept them. She wouldn’t allow someone else to rule their lives anymore. Bell had to confront her fears and face them head-on. She walked into her relationship with them wide-eyed. From the moment she caught the hint of sweet grass and brimstone, to the second they stepped into that room at the hotel after the gala to now, Jackson and Christoph were laying the framework for their mating. Tonight, they would finish it.

But moving to this point had been the hardest thing she’d ever done. Maybe it was the expectations of her family—father. Or perhaps she worried about what they would think of her after she mated them. She’d realized she wasted time. She had a problem with overthinking things, in a way she and Hayden were more alike than different. Except she saw the issue and now she meant to remedy it. Plus, her father would be more pissed at her for not grabbing ahold of her destiny and claiming it than getting down and dirty with two guys.

When she reached the top of the landing, she looked out over the house. It reminded her more of an aviary than a house.Just how many dragons are on the school campus for him to need a space like this?Then she mentally kicked herself for getting distracted. Who gave a shit how many people lived in the house? She hadn’t been there for them, but for the two men joining her.

“What’s going on in that sweet little head of yours?” Jackson reached her first. He pushed the material of her shirt out of the way and skimmed her sides with the pads of his fingertips, teasing her heated skin. The jolt of power that followed hummed through her, startling her.

“I’m giving myself a pep talk.” Her voice wobbled with nervousness. “Do you know, before the gala, I asked Hayden what it’s like? You know to—”

“To fuck?” Christoph, for all his refined, polished, upitiness, he had a crass edge to him, reminding her of her father.

Her cheeks heated, and she tingled from head to toe. “Yes.” She bit her lip and gazed up at him through her lashes. “It’s silly, really. I’ve been with both of you before, so I knew, but, well, I—Well, I wanted every detail perfect this time. Mating is different, right? Like, this seals everything, binding us together.”

Christoph gripped her hip. The heat radiating from him washed over her like a thick blanket on a cold winter’s day. It also ratcheted up the pulse-pounding excitement shooting through her system. “Will you tell them about us?” He leaned down and brushed his lips over the shell of her ear. “About how you mated the king of the jungle and the heir-apparent to a clan? How afterwards I fucked Jackson while you watched?”

Her breath hitched as she licked her bottom lip. “No.”

He gave a breathy chuckle before drawing the lobe of her ear into his mouth. “Why not?”

“It’s personal. Between us.” There were certain things no one needed to know about.

Jackson slipped his hand beneath the hem of her skirt and squeezed her rear. “You should know something. Something I hadn’t told you about before because we hadn’t fully mated you yet.”

She snapped her head up. “What?”

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