BRENTON
Brenton sighed as Andrew drove off with her. Zachary stood with him while Gabe and Troy ran to their garage to cause trouble.
“That went well,” Zachary broke the silence.
“We all need to sit down and have a long talk,” Brenton growled to his second and closest friend. “About personal relationships. The entire pride… except our newest member.”
Zachary growled, which Brenton expected. Brenton had known they were all attracted to her physically. So was he. Which was why the conversation needed to happen. She needed to be able to ease into this without them fighting over the ability to sleep with her. Brenton would win in any fight but he wasn’t ready for her to just pick one of them over him and that was a real possibility.
“Yeah, I fucking know,” Zachary grumbled.
“Yup. We all physically want her so we need to set up some ground rules. Make sure everyone knows I want to seem in the den when Andrew gets back.”
At Zachary’s confirmation, Brenton left him on the front porch. He needed to clear his head. The last twelve hours had been more then he expected. He wanted to strangle Gabe and Troy, who were both more then obvious in their affections to her. He wanted to strangle Andrew, who was the nice guy and therefore the only one she actually trusted so far. He wanted to strangle his second for just existing in the same space as her. Zachary hated existing in general, much less near a woman. He wanted to strangle her for being attractive and for finding the guys attractive, because that made this even harder. He wanted strangle himself for wanting her so bad.
He barely knew her. Her scent stuck in his nose and her husky voice made him and every other guy in the pride rock hard. They needed to give her space and that was the last thing any of them wanted to do. They had never competed against each other for a woman.
He and Zachary had shared on more then one occasion when it suited them. He knew Troy and Gabe did too. And then there was Andrew being mister nice guy. He’d only had one serious lover in his twenty-eight years and only a couple of flings. If he was interested in her, then he was actually serious about it.
He closed his eyes and fell on one of the couches in the den. He didn’t really care where he landed. Then he waited.
Footsteps nearly an hour later got his attention.
“Sorry, she wanted a bite to eat so we stopped at the diner to grab a couple pieces of pie.” Andrew didn’t sound regretful at all for getting to spend the time with her. “Then she said she wanted to come back tomorrow to hear more.”
Brenton sat up and looked over his pride and they all fell on the couches. Brenton was on the middle couch. Troy and Gabe jumped on the couch to his right while Zachary and Andrew landed to his left.
“Who here wants to sleep with Riley?” He decided that he didn’t have the patience for beating around the bush. “Just fucking raise a hand.”
He did so himself and looked around the room. All of them. Obviously.
“Yeah. So until the day she shifts, sexual physical contact is off limits. Hitting on her is kept playful and nothing committing. No dates, no making out, definitely no sex. None of it.”
“Brenton!” Troy looked pissed, Gabe was incredulous next to him. Brenton knew Gabe was a little attached to her already even though they only technically met yesterday. He had dug up her entire life, knew her better then every one else in town even if she didn’t know it.
“She needs to be able to confront this without all of us trying to get in her pants, Troy,” Brenton sighed. “She needs to come in unafraid, not wondering who’s mad at who because she slept with someone. As a female, her second form will already be vulnerable compared to ours. We need to make her feel safe, not hunted.”
Silence greeted him at that.
“And here’s problem number two,” he growled. “Troy, if she sleeps with you and then falls in love with Andrew, how do you think that’s going to feel to her?”
“Probably a little shitty,” he mumbled back to his Alpha. Brenton nodded.
“Exactly. We need to give her time until her shift to get to know all of us. Get comfortable. Does that mean we just turn it all of, no.” Brenton laughed ruefully. “I don’t know how to behave with anyone unless I’m in their space and pushing their boundaries. And I’m going to do that, as her Alpha. I have to, no matter what I feel. Troy, you and Gabe are always playful with people. Zachary… Well, we won’t talk about you and how you normally behave. And Andrew is just a good guy. Be those things but don’t work on getting in her pants. She doesn’t deserve that. She needs pride mates, not perverts.”
“Says the guy who rubbed his erection all over her in public,” Gabe mumbled with a grin breaking out of his face. Brenton groaned and tried to cuff him over the head but Gabe was running across the room before Brenton could even get close.
“Yes. I did do that. My bad,” Brenton growled.
“She liked it,” Troy laughed. “Shit, you two were causing a scene on the dance floor and didn’t even know it. I never felt jealousy before I got well acquainted with it seeing that.”
“Amen,” Zachary growled to Troy. Brenton watched Andrew’s ears turn a little red. Poor guy.
“Andrew?” He needed to help the guy out.
“It was hot,” Andrew growled. “I didn’t think I would be okay with it. I wasn’t even jealous. She just looked so in the zone and it was something to watch. Watching her move like that… She was just… so in charge of herself and she owned it.”
That wasn’t what any of them expect to hear.
“Finally, someone who sees things my way!” Gabe sat back down, landing next to his brother. “Troy, don’t deny it. You love watching me fuck a girl. I love watching you fuck a girl. Right? So then why would you get jealous if it’s Brenton and not me? We’re all close.”
Brenton watched Troy consider his half-brother’s words and nod. Brenton and Zachary looked at each other and rolled their eyes. They shared a woman physically, no one was just watching when they played together. But the leopard brothers were just kinky. But so were Brenton and Zachary, so maybe they shouldn’t hypocrites. Andrew was the closest thing to normal the five of them had.
“I didn’t mean it going that far,” Andrew growled hoarsely. “Can you two just not fuck everything that walks for one day?”
Brenton snorted. They had all been hoping for that for years.
“I’ll remind you that Gabe and I have been as celibate as all of you since we moved back here!” Troy snapped, pointing at the rest of them.
Oh God, he was right. Brenton laughed at it all. None of them had gotten any since they moved home. All of them wanted the same girl and they had to introduce her to the shifter world before she got hurt.
“Look, back on topic,” Brenton laughed out, waving them all back to the conversation. “Do we all agree that we should at least let her get her first shift in before making our moves on her? Secondary to that, do we agree not fault her choices in partners in the bedroom afterwards if she still wants any of us?”
They all agreed. Everyone knew the reasoning was sound. Plus, they would easily be able to distract her from her normal game of hooking up with tourists. Just keep her more interested in shifter stuff and she’ll hang out with them whenever they wanted her too.
“We need her to feel like she can be with all of five us and not be judged by any of us for this to work,” Andrew mumbled. “So, we need to stop ourselves from being jealous and work together to win her over.”
It was settled. Once she shifted, it was game on to win Riley over to them, not just the pride.