Rich rolled his shoulders to ease the tension as he carried Ally’s carry-on case into the cabin he and Deni shared. It took some getting used to, living together with the chief as more than the clan’s lead enforcer. Once Deni decided on a course, he didn’t relent, and arguing with the stubborn bear was neigh impossible. But Deni’s typical bulldozer manner, though amazing in the bedroom, could ruin their chances of bringing their mate onboard. She hovered closer to Rich, and the sight pained him. She belonged to them, and she shouldn’t have sought the safety of his closeness to counteract her stress of Deni’s approach. She should want, and need, both with equal measure for this to work. As it stood, his bear loved that she preferred him, and Rich knew that would only inflame the battle for supremacy further.

Let me talk to her for a bit. She isn’t a shifter and doesn’t understand all this, he sent to Deni over their connection.

It felt like forcing his fingers through mud lately, but he had to try. Deni glanced at him over his shoulder, a quizzical look on his face that he quickly masked. But Rich caught it, and wondered if his chief was having trouble with their link as well. They needed to talk, and soon.

Rich sighed. “How about you get us some food cooking, chief, and I’ll get Ally settled in?”

Deni glared at him, his animal pushing against the tight confines of his face. But his gaze traveled to her when she sucked in a shaky breath. Instantly the animal disappeared and Deni nodded. No matter how gruff Deni may be, he wouldn’t hurt his mate, or anyone else he cared about. Rich grew up with a loving older brother who fought bullies and protected him on hunts. It wasn’t until much later into puberty that Rich gained any size, and by then Deni was full grown. It never occurred to Rich that Deni didn’t belong as chief. Blood didn’t matter, and Deni never treated Rich as anything else but family. His fierce loyalty and love for Rich made Rich believed that Deni was the better bear to rule. Losing his family made Deni look to the clan as more than just friend and those he needed to take care of. For Deni, clan was family, and each one deserved everything he could give them. The fight between their bears, pushing them to claim Ally and find out who between them was truly the strongest muddied the waters, but Rich knew that Deni deserved his position.

“Kabobs okay?” Deni asked.

Ally said nothing, so Rich answered for her. “Sounds good. Come on, Ally. Let me show you to your room.” Shifters had fast metabolisms, and ate often to keep up. Ally may not be hungry, it wouldn’t take long before Rich and Deni were, and two hungry shifters was never a good thing.

She padded behind him silently as they passed by the large open plan of the cabin. Bear preferred to live in dens—dark, warm expanses that had one entrance that was easy to defend. Of course, their human sides needed creature comforts, and the home had been built to allow for the clan to come and go comfortably. The living room could seat up to fifteen, with a large projector screen for viewing. Wide open floor to ceiling windows opened to the private woods the clan owned. A turn to the right would take them to the state of the art kitchen Deni required and out to the patio where he often grilled. Rich took Ally left though the room and past the dining room.

“You serving an army?” she quipped.

“Something like that.” Rich tossed a smile over his shoulder at her. “As Chief, Deni has to meet to hear problems and help his clanmates find solutions. A lot of the times, things end better on a full stomach.”

“Hmmm.”

They walked beyond and to the stairs where Deni had the master suite take up half the floor space, before he’d added a bathroom and a two guest rooms. In a perfect world, they’d all be in the master together, but Rich knew Ally wasn’t ready for that. He directed her to proceed him through the room to his left.

“Bathroom is at the end of the hall, and I’m across from you.”

“You guys live together?”

“It’s a recent development.”

“That sounds a bit like I’m feeling,” she told him, a smile playing on her lips.

He liked the way her plump lips did that. It was flirty and simple. God, he’d never met a woman more beautiful than the one standing in front of him.

“You take my breath away,” he told her.

She slid a hand through her hair. “You mean that.”

He cocked his head and lazed against the doorjamb before putting her bag down. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”

She shook her head. “Yeah, actually.”

He appreciated her honesty. The mixed scents of her arousal and Deni and his possession clung to her skin, and he loved it. But the troubled, confused emotions in her gaze gave him pause. “You aren’t familiar with shifters, are you?”

“Not really. I mean, I know what you are, and that you live among us. That you always have.” She shrugged. “And I know that you mate with one, or sometimes in a group of three.”

“Sometimes more,” he added.

“Really?”

“There are packs that bond and the female is expected to take care of all the males in the group. It helps with cohesion, and blends the men.”

She stared at him, her jaw open. He snorted. “Well,” she started but stopped.

“To each his own.”

“You won’t expect me to do that.”

It wasn’t a question. “Of course not. For bears it’s not exactly the norm to mate in triads.”

“Then why are you guys doing it?”

That was a loaded question. He didn’t know how much to tell her and not scare the shit out of her. How exactly could he explain that he and Deni were desperate to save their friendship, and clan? That they didn’t want to lose everything they’d built together because they couldn’t control their basic instinct? She’d imagine two large bears ripping each other to shreds—and probably her between them. So, he went for the truth…smoothed over.

“Deni and I have always been best friends, brothers. We grew up together, and I’d always known I’d have his back. You know wolves have alphas and betas?”

“Yes, I’ve read about that. The beta is just a bit weaker than the alpha, right?”

Rich nodded. “For bears, the chief of the clan is the strongest, most considerate, and strategic bear. Those who support and lend their strength are enforcers. As a group, we are his betas. I stand at the top of that list. But lately,” he sighed. “Lately my bear wants more.”

“And you thought a mate would fix that?” She stared at him like he’d grown a horn. “A woman between two dicks is fucked, whether in an enjoyable way or not, it still has the same effect.”

He laughed, surprised by her spark of spunk, but liking it. “You’re probably right. But Deni and I, we’re different. We’ve always shared everything. And when he took his mantle, I helped him put it on. We used to joke that we’d end up falling in love with the same woman, but the idea took hold as we got older. Maybe we were right all along. Neither of us could find a woman to interest us. No matter who we met, if the other bear didn’t like her it was over. You are the first woman to ever push us to a feverish pitch.”

She sat down on the bed and folded her hands in her lap. “Normally, I’d pick apart that decision, or talk to you about displaced attachment, but I’m too tired to think. This, between us,” she said, motioning in the air, “is attraction. I’m good with that. Can’t we just have fun while I’m here and leave the rest alone?”

Rich swallowed his growl, and figured attacking her on the bed, and showing her just how idiotic that response was, wouldn’t get him any brownie points. “Let me get this straight. Instead of having two men worship you, please you in every way imaginable, and fall desperately in love while doing it, you’d rather we just fuck?”

Rich stood from the doorjamb and approached her with purposeful steps. “You want me to ignore the way my bear is clamoring to claim you, to make you mine in ways you wouldn’t imagine, just so I can let you go in four short weeks?”

He was pushing it, he knew it, but her response to him pissed him off. And the way her pussy smelled, thickening with desire and need, begged him to take her. He crowded her against the bed and forced her to lay back. He pressed his face into her neck, felt her pulse pounding against his lips. She may not believe what they wanted from her was real, but she wanted it.

“We don’t have to think about forever right now,” she told him.

“Shifters need forever. I want to know the woman I love will always be with me. I want to know that when I give everything to her, my dark and my light, she’ll accept me. Just the way I am.” He lifted his head and looked into her eyes. “Imagine a love like that, Alejandra. No thought, now worry. You will, beyond a shadow of a doubt, know that when I touch you, I’m showing you emotions I can’t even put into words. And no one will ever mean as much to me as you.”

He ignored his need to take her lips, to taste her. Instead, he left her panting on her bed and forced one foot in front of the other until he’d reached Deni out on the patio.

“That went well,” Deni told him.

“I knew your hearing was good, but that’s a bit freaky,” Rich returned.

Deni shrugged. “It helps. She’s still fighting it.”

“To be fair, she’s human, and she just met us today. This would be a lot to take in.”

Deni rotated the mouthwatering kabobs—of beef, onion, green pepper, shrimp, and chunks of local fish—and looked over at Rich. “We don’t have the luxury of waiting for her to catch up.”

“Then we make the time, Deni. If we don’t convince that woman, our mate I’ll remind you, that we’re it for her, we will lose more than our chance at cubs.”

Sorrowful eyes met his, and Rich hated that he had to remind his best friend of the battle brewing between them.

“I can’t hear you clearly anymore,” Deni told him.

Rich’s stomach fell to his feet, and his mouth went dry. “How long has then been happening?”

“For the last two months. I can’t hear you, and when you’re close to me without her, I want to remind you who’s boss. My bear wants to give you a good thrashing and run you off. I cannot lose you too,” Deni finished.

The lump in Rich’s throat made it impossible to speak. He watched silently as Deni basted the kabobs with his signature garlic butter sauce before he lowered the grills lid. They stood there in the fading sunlight, the sounds of the forest closing in around them. Just a floor away their mate rested, and yet she couldn’t have felt further. Maybe they’d waited too long, not sure what was happening between them. Gerri had slapped them both on the heads when she’d met them, and told them they should have been wolves. Maybe then they’d have seen what was coming and got it through their thick skulls. Rich wished they had. Each moment spent with his friend felt like they were courting the last. They eased around each other, and walked on eggshells. Compared to the easy way they used to help each other with every little thing. Hell, they couldn’t even mock fight to keep Deni strong against intruders without feeling bloodlust whip over them. Deni handed him a Kabob, and took one for himself. They ate in silence, taking in the scenery, the calm of the Alaskan night.

Rich cleared his throat. “I don’t want to lose you either. We’ll make her see.”