“Have you seen Colt or Nikoli?” I ask Tam as I pass his room. I've been looking for either of them all morning, but I can't find them.
“Training,” he tells me before giving me a little smile and going back to his paperwork in front of him. I walk down the corridor towards the back of the house, and open the closed doors to the training room. The room keeps the sound in, so when I open the door, I'm met with a big crowd that is cheering. They don’t even notice me open the door and I push through the people to get to the front to see what they are cheering for. I stop when I see Colt and Nikoli, both of them with long silver spears in their hands, and it's clear they have been fighting for a while. I never really thought about how lucky a woman I am, but seeing both my destined mates topless, I realize I'm quite fortunate. They are complete opposites of each other. Colt, with his light blond hair, thinner build, and playful face. Then there is Nikoli. He is built huge, like most shifters, with his dark hair and a serious expression that I rarely see leave his face. However, they are nothing like the saying I've heard; opposites do not attract. If anything, they just explode. What I'm sure started as training has changed because they are both hitting each other as hard as they can. Nikoli flips backwards, putting space between him and Colton, and landing perfectly, but Colton uses his ability to move so fast to land a hit on Nikoli’s arm as he falls. Nikoli swings his own spear around, and Colton blocks it before it makes contact. Over and over, they place to hit after hit.
“That’s the best you have, wolf?” Colton teases, and Nikoli only growls in warning before his strikes become brutal and he lands another strong hit to Colton’s back. My wolf growls, and my body starts shaking as I watch them fight with each other. While some part of me knows it’s just training, another part of me wonders if this will be what happens if I ever mate with one of them. They would never let me be with them both; this fight alone proves they are nowhere near being friends. My wolf fills my mind, and I let her take over, shifting and feeling people move away from me. My wolf runs straight over to Colt and Nikoli, jumping in the middle of them, and they both instantly stop.
“Harper?” Colt asks, and it dawns on me that he hasn’t seen me like this. I look up as he puts the spear gently on the ground and lifts a hand towards me. Anger fills me when I look at the blood pouring down the side of his head; he’s hurt.
“Harper, it was just training,” Nikoli says to me, but my wolf doesn’t want to listen. She turns and runs out the open door on the other side of the room, hearing Colt and Nikoli calling after me, yet ignoring them. As my wolf runs through the house and into the woods, the image of Nikoli and Colt trying to kill each other just races through my mind. They could do that; they would kill each other over me. My wolf whines as she reaches the lake in the middle of the woods and I remember my human form as she crouches down. She lets me shift back, and I sit naked on the stones by the lake. I pull my knees to my chest, watching the calm lake. Tears fall down my face as I try to make everything work in my head. I remain in place, even when I hear two people coming towards me from behind, their feet crunching on the fallen leaves.
“Aren't you cold? Or do wolves not get cold?” Colt asks when I feel him step to the left of me and Nikoli pauses on the other side.
“We feel the cold, but it's never that bad. We won't get ill or die from it,” Nikoli answers his question.
“Can we sit?” Colt asks me gently after a few moments of silence. I don’t answer, but I nod my head, keeping still as they sit on either side of me. Both of them are pressed close to my sides, keeping me warm.
“What happened today?” Nikoli asks me.
“Seeing you both fight like that, it scared me.”
“Because you think we will kill each other, or attempt to kill each other like we fight in training?” Colt says, knowing me well enough to guess.
“Harper. I won't lie to you. The number of times I thought about killing the vampire is high, but you know what changed only recently?” Nikoli asks me gently.
“What?” I whisper.
“He is my friend,” Nikoli tells me, and I know he wouldn’t lie to me.
“Same here,” Colt answers, and I sit quietly as I take in their words. I look over at Nikoli, who keeps eye contact with me and nods once before I look over at Colt. Colt holds a hand out for me, and I take it, letting him help me stand. I hear Nikoli stand up behind me, and there's silence as I realise that I'm naked between them, and they aren’t arguing. I lean forward, kissing Colt gently, pulling away before he can even grab me for a deeper kiss. I mentally hold my breath as I turn around and walk up to Nikoli, who tensely keeps his hands at his sides but doesn’t stop me as I lean up and kiss him the same way I did Colton.
“This can work?” I ask when I step back, and they both answer in unison.
“Yes.”