Trio of Mates
Chapter 39

Devin:

I slowly remove my hands from Charlie, who just waves it off.

“I don’t want your mate, Xander. I’ve got my hands full already.” Her eyes dart between Brandon and Zak, a satisfied smirk on her l!ps.

Xander shakes his head, as if coming out of a trance. “Sorry. Sorry.”

“Ok, no touching any other people for a while guys,” Brandon says, barely containing his laughter.

I dry swallow, not breaking eye contact with Xander. The look in Xander’s eyes, his low tone, and his possessiveness went straight to my lib!do and I’m having a bit of trouble here. “Right. Got it.”

He must be feeling my l**t swirling down the matebond. I see his irises begin to widen in response. Huskily, he says, “What about Mathias?”

“The prick is a homophobe,” Charlie says, disgust clear in her features and tone.

“He even rejected his mate, who happens to be the Beta of the Eclipse Pack, because her brother is openly gay,” Brandon says.

The snarl that rips through Xander and me this time has nothing to do with l**t or possessiveness. I can’t believe that, with everything that happens in our world on a regular basis, there are people who are that concerned with who is in another person’s bed.

“It doesn’t matter what he thinks,” Zak says, waving a placating hand to us. “We are a team. In two days, the five of us will be the leadership of this whole pack. If Mathias doesn’t like it, he can f*****g get out. I don’t care.”

“Thanks, Zak.” I smile in gratitude.

“We were thinking that it would be a good idea to have Lucille with us at the meeting of the two packs. Meredith, as well. If the situation is salvageable, maybe she can help us,” Charlie says.

“Not bloody likely,” I mindlink to Xander, Zak, and Charlie.

“I know, but something is telling me that she needs to be there. And it might be a good idea for your other mate to meet you one at a time,” Zak responds.

Xander and I nod, as if to what Charlie said. We still can’t tell Brandon anything until he has marked and mated Zak and Charlie.

“If you want, I can bring them to the meeting,” I offer.

“That’s what we were hoping,” Charlie responds, a tight smile on her face. This situation was going to be stressful for all of us. At least Xander and I had an outlet.

“I anticipate this first meeting going poorly,” Zak says, a grim look on his face.

“That seems to be an understatement, Alpha, knowing that he will be the cause of a Civil War,” Xander links in.

I huff in response, shaking my head. “We’ll do what we can.”

Just then, Zak’s cell phone timer goes off. My head immediately pops up and my eyes cloud with l**t.

“Go,” Zak laughs. “That’s all we needed to talk about.”

Xander and I lunge from the picnic benches. I grab him for a passionate k!ss, not caring who saw.

“Go into your f*****g room!” Brandon calls.

Xander grunts, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the barracks.

“See you at the Beta ceremony!” Charlie calls.

I flip them off as we enter the backdoor of the barracks, hearing them all laughing as the door closes.

---

Zak:

We watch Xander and Devin run into the barracks, laughing at their rush to get back to their room.

Sobering slightly, we all turn back to the table. I grab Charlie’s hand from across the table and rub Brandon’s leg under the table. Brandon’s hand lays on top of mine.

“You know that this is all going to go horribly wrong, right?” Charlie says. “This is going to be really, really, really bad.”

“I know,” I say. “Honestly, all we can do is try to minimize the damage and make sure that we are ready for it.”

“So, what do we need to do?” Brandon asks. He starts ticking things off on his hands. “Beef up patrols. Step up training. Stockpile food. Start calling in favors…”

“Whoa, Sweetcheeks,” I say, squeezing his thigh. “We’ve already started the process. All of those things are in the works. Once we knew about Xander and Devin’s mating, we knew that problems would be coming. We have called and spoken to nearly all of the packs from the East Coast. We think that many of our alliances will hold strong, though we weren’t able to talk about the crux of the issue. Food is being brought in and placed in a variety of stockpiles around the territory. Devin and Xander worked out patrol schedules and training is set to ramp up the day after Mathias arrives – “

“And probably leaves,” Charlie interrupts.

“So, what is there left to do?” Brandon asks.

“I need you to do some investigations into our alliances and Mathis’s. We need to find out all of their strengths, weaknesses, locations, numbers…the works. Plus, we need to find out if there are any strong objections to homose.xuality in any of these packs. Charlie will help you with gathering intel.”

Charlie gives a low, sedvctive purr.

“I expect you two to actually do the work!” Zak says, lightly smacking her hand. “I’ve got to finish calling the rest of the packs. And probably call back some of our strongest allies. Now that things have happened, we don’t have to be so cagey with the packs about the reason we are calling.”

“Ok,” Brandon says, nodding his head. “We can do that. Let’s go.” He stands and starts to make his way to the packhouse.

“Hold on, Big Bad,” Charlie calls after him.

He turns, a smile wide on his face. We both get up and walk over to him. Charlie wraps her arm around his waist. He puts an arm around her shoulder and she tucks her head under his arm. If I weren’t so happy that Brandon was accepting us, I would be jealous that she is able to show him affection in public without anyone batting an eye. But that will all change in a matter of days.

We walk into the packhouse together. Charlie heads to the kitchen to organize food and drinks to be sent up to us. Brandon and I head directly to my office.

I walk in after Brandon, closing the door behind me and pulling him toward me by his hand.

“Yes, Lollipop?” Brandon says, walking into my arms.

I chuckle before grabbing the back of his head and pulling him into a k!ss. I keep my hold on the back of his head, the other landing on the base of his back. Brandon hums his approval into my mouth. His hands trail under the hem of my shirt and play along the ridges of my abs. He opens his l!ps and my tongue plunges in, tasting his entire mouth.

When we finally pull away, I lean my forehead against his. “No matter what happens,” I say, my voice breathy from our k!ss, “I want you to know that I love you. As much as I love Charlie, that is how much I love you.”

Brandon’s eyes widen in surprise. He wraps his arms around my torso and pulls me into a tight hug. “I love you, too. No matter what happens. If I find my mate. If Mathias finds out that I’m gay and wages unholy war. Even if Selene herself pulls us apart. I will always love you.”

Tears stand in my eyes at the depth of feeling coursing through us both. At a knock on the door, we pull apart and I see that Brandon is near to tears as well.

“Come in,” I call.

Charlie and two omegas walk into the room loaded down with food and drinks. Brandon and I quickly turn away, me to my desk and Brandon to the bathroom.

Charlie gives us a quizzical look. “Everything ok?” she links me.

“Yeah. Happy tears.” I send her the memory of the last few minutes and I feel the happy glow down our link.

Brandon returns and Charlie pulls him into a hug.

“What’s that for?” he asks, smiling down at her.

“Just wanted to,” she says.

I can’t describe the happiness that I feel in this moment. My mates and I are so in sync, so happy together. I am so in love and it’s obvious that they feel the same way.

We easily settle into work, grabbing some sandwiches and chips from what Charlie and the omegas brought in. I sit at my desk, beginning my phone calls to my fellow alphas. Charlie and Brandon sit next to each other on one of the couches, each on their own laptop, creating spreadsheets and talking quietly about different aspects of the surrounding packs.

At 6:00, we head downstairs to dinner. Time to face the pack.

Nearly everyone is in the dining hall when we arrive. The three of us head to the high table and take our seats. The dining hall, which is usually filled with chatter, squeals, and the general hubbub of several hundred people, quiets and then becomes silent once we arrive. They look at us, me in particular. Looks of worry, expectation, and curiosity meet my stare. My pack is looking towards me for guidance after what happened yesterday.

I look to Charlie and see that she is nibbling her lower l!p, a tell that she isn’t as confident as she seemed when talking with Xander and Devin. But I have faith in our pack. And, honestly, if someone has a problem with Xander and Devin being together, I don’t want them in our pack anyway.

I give Charlie a quick k!ss on the forehead and get up to address my pack. My family. I walk away from the high table to stand on the ground below the dias, between the high table and the pack. Yes, the pack is looking to me for leadership, but I want this to be more of an open discussion instead of a ruling. I want my pack to feel comfortable in expressing their feelings about this.

I squeeze Brandon’s shoulder as I walk by and he gives me a wink of encouragement.