Authors: Anya Nowlan
“It’s simple. Shifters recognize their mates. Sometimes it’s easier, sometimes it’s harder. Me and Argo, we didn’t want to roam the world, hoping to stumble onto the right woman. The way we figured was that we’d put the message out into the universe that we’re ready for our third and fate would bring her to us,” Cooper said, squeezing her hand.
“I took one look at your photo and knew you had to be the one. And when you arrived at the diner, I had no more doubts. Now, it’s all up to you. We’ll give you all the time you need. All the space you need. Or we’ll take all of it away and give you all the closeness you can take. Whatever works for you. I know you’re meant to be here. Cooper knows it. Now the question is, do you?”
Argo’s gaze pierced through her again and his words spoke right to her heart. Did she know that this was right? She certainly felt more comfortable here than she ever had in Georgia, and she’d just been in Idaho for a little over a day. And though she’d always been a bit shy and aloof with dating, she felt damn near brazen around Argo and Cooper.
Her throat went dry as the plethora of thoughts bounced around freely in her head, vying for her attention. Argo’s and Cooper’s hands were so warm and the energy they exuded made her feel feather-light. She hadn’t expected to have a conversation quite as deep with them so early, but she wasn’t going to complain.
They’d put her in charge of how things were going to play out. Now, she just needed to figure out how she wanted things to go. That was a far stretch from her usual situation, where she was just the one observing from the sidelines instead of living. Claire felt up to the challenge. Especially if the prize on the other side was two dreamy men who seemed to already
know
they couldn’t live without her.
“Okay. I think I can figure that out.”
“You better,” Cooper growled playfully as they let go of her hands.
Cooper winked at her and she giggled, finally feeling the apprehension and nervousness lift from her. Argo just gave her a look, and dammit if those blue eyes of his weren’t just enough to drown in.
It’s your game now, Claire. So how are you going to play it?
CHAPTER SIX
Claire
She could still taste the syrup on her lips as she licked across them with her tongue, easing into the passenger seat of Argo’s and Cooper’s big pickup. Cooper revved the engine and Claire waved to Argo as they peeled out of the driveway, the pickup making a tight, even turn that Claire would have never expected the big lumbering car to manage.
“Whoa!” she yelped, her nails digging into the seat as Cooper made the truck roar down the narrow path that could barely be called a road.
“Don’t worry! I’ve got this!” Cooper said with a wicked grin, showing a side of him that she hadn’t seen yet.
Compared to Argo, he seemed too subdued and pleasant that it was a surprise to see him tearing up the dirt road now. He shifted gears easily as they rounded a corner, making Claire’s stomach twist and turn with more than just the excitement of being alone with him. He gunned it again and Claire was pushed back into her seat, a grin plastered on her lips.
This was
fun
.
“You’re a maniac!” she laughed, leaning her body forward a bit and staring at him with wide eyes.
Where’d this demon come from and how could she get some more?
“Naw, I’m just a mild-mannered race car driver, set loose upon the unsuspecting roads of the Idaho countryside,” Cooper bellowed triumphantly, the wind blowing in through the rolled-down window, which made his short dark hair bounce around wildly.
He took one death-defying corner after the next, manhandling the big truck and making it maneuver in a way Claire doubted it was ever meant to. She kept scrunching her nails down into the upholstery as the trees whizzed by, half-expecting a deer to scamper onto the road and send them veering into one of the thick tree trunks. But a part of her was completely sure that if something were to happen, Cooper would get them both through it safe and sound.
Suddenly, she could see a wider streak of light in the distance, and when the truck tore onto the gravel road that led to Shifter Grove, Cooper slowed down immediately. Like nothing had happened at all.
“What was that about?!” Claire called, not even trying to fake irritation.
That had been just about the most exhilarating thing she’d ever done. Well, aside from meeting the wolves, that was. Her pulse was sky high and her heart beat in her throat. Cooper chuckled, putting one hand on her thigh and giving it a squeeze like he had in the diner.
“That was us having a blast. Argo keeps trying to tell me to behave myself, but I get the feeling you need a little bit of wild in your life, my dear.”
He flashed her a grin and Claire fell back against the backrest, putting her hand on top of his. He was right. She did need it. And she was damn well going to be brazen when the situation called for it. Even if just putting her hand on his wasn’t exactly the wildest thing she could think of. It was a start, anyway.
“So you’re really a race car driver?” Claire asked, peeking at the suave, grinning wolf next to her.
She’d been in touch with them for a while, but most of their conversations had been about their shared motivation to meet and see where things could go, rather than their individual backgrounds. Claire knew that Argo was originally from Montana, but had lived in Idaho as well, and he and Cooper had decided to return to Idaho for various reasons. But she had to admit that now that she was spending time with the two men, she was discovering that she didn’t know half as much as she perhaps should have before running off to the woods with them.
“I am. Former race car driver, anyway. I now own a team, but I’ve taken a backseat role, if you will,” he said, chuckling at his own joke.
“Why did you stop?”
“I’d like to say that I was getting old,” Cooper mused, his gray eyes twinkling with mischief. “But it was mostly because of Argo. After we met, I didn’t feel like being away from him for long stretches of time, and racing takes you all over the world if you’re of a certain caliber. He isn’t the traveling type and the distance was getting too much for both of us. So I did what I had to do.”
“Do you miss it?”
Cooper paused, shrugging. “I’d miss him more.”
That made Claire smile. She’d seen the two of them looking at each other with the kind of emotion she’d rarely seen between two people. It wasn’t just love or affection for one another, but a deeper bond that couldn’t be put into words. And she’d noticed them playing it low key with their public displays of affection when she was around, but she wouldn’t have minded if they’d cut that out. Nothing hotter than two sinfully sexy men having a hard time keeping their hands off of each other, after all.
“So what made you two decide to start looking for a mate?” Claire asked, easing into the conversation.
Her eyes took in the beautiful nature that they drove past, the winding roads sometimes giving her majestic views of deep gorges and hidden valleys within the countless mountain peaks. She squeezed his hand sometimes when they took a faster curve and the pleasant warmth that had spread through her from the site of his touch still lingered and pulsed within her. Claire hoped he couldn’t smell her excitement, though considering the little looks he sneaked at her, she was guessing she wasn’t quite so lucky.
But aren’t you supposed to feel desire for your potential mate? He can’t blame me for getting hot and bothered for him, right?
She grinned at the thought.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you two seem perfectly happy with just the two of you…” she said, stuttering a little as a deep red blush crept over her cheeks.
Cooper chuckled, shaking his head and patting her thigh playfully.
“Argo and I aren’t gay. We’re not even bi, I guess, but that’s the best way to describe it in human terms. I’d never so much as looked at a man as more than a potentially impressive creation of nature before I met Argo, and I think the same goes for him. It’s just when we met, we very quickly understood what we were dealing with. We were meant to be together as an Alpha pair. If you are born as an Alpha twin, then the connection between you and your twin is different. You are two sides of the same whole, parted right down the middle. Your body and your mind are the same.”
He licked his lips, hesitating before continuing on with his explanation. Claire forgot all about the view and focused her attention on Cooper, her heart thrumming loudly in her chest.
“But when you lose your other half, your twin, you don’t often get the chance to find someone to fill that void. To complete you like that. But we did. When it’s someone else, when the Alpha pair is built from two people who are not brothers, the process is different. There’s an emotional connection, and a physical one. Think of it like two soulmates meeting in the human world. Usually, it’s a man and a woman. But if your soulmate is not the most typical of choices, do you turn them away? We don’t. Shifters recognize that connection and it doesn’t matter what gender the other is. Love, in that sense, is pure for us. I think it’s even stronger for Alpha pairs like me and Argo, though our combination is of course very rare. At least in wolves.”
Cooper smirked, glancing at Claire. She nodded softly, chewing on her bottom lip a little. She could understand what they meant. Or at least try to. Though she had seen a lot of bigotry, and a lot of hate and disdain for different couples in her life, she had always been raised to accept love as something that transcended race, color, or gender. It was amazing to hear that it was so ingrained in shifter culture.
“And where does the third fit in?” she asked, legitimately curious now.
“Above it all,” Cooper said. “The third fits around the Alpha pair, binding them together even stronger. We like to say that the Alpha pairs are two sides of the same whole, right? But it’s a bit more complicated. There’s always cracks, always differences and edges that need to be smoothed over. The third does that. She, or he, takes all the rough edges and all the pieces that don’t fit together quite right, and fills them, binding the Alpha triad into something that’s far stronger than the sum of its parts.”
Suddenly, Cooper broke out laughing and shook his head. They passed under the Shifter Grove town sign just at that moment as well.
“Listen to me. A real racer poet. What I’m trying to say is that I might be good with Argo, but we’d be hell of a lot better with you, my dear.”
Claire grinned. She could deal with that.
They stopped in front of
Pearl’s
store and picked up a bunch of groceries and some necessities. While the house was gorgeous, the wolves had moved in there in a rush and it showed. For a homemaker like Claire, there were plenty of things that were glaringly absent from a good home. Like a decent waffle iron, for one.
After piling the truck high with food and shopping bags, Cooper convinced her to take a little stroll around town. She tingled all over from the feeling of Cooper’s strong hand gripping her palm and leading her casually down the streets, greeting locals and making small talk along the way. It had been years since she’d been on a date and even longer since she’d really felt comfortable around someone. The fact that Cooper and Argo just sort of pulled her in and made her feel at ease in a matter of days and hours was completely blowing her mind.
Cooper made a sudden right and walked through a gap between the still-new buildings, inspecting them quietly. As smoothly as Shifter Grove had begun, it seemed to end right behind Main Street, with countless little footpaths leading into the forests and the surrounding areas. Claire couldn’t help but notice how none of the areas around town seemed to have any landscaping other than neatly-trimmed lawns. Her mind immediately went to work, imagining beautiful gardens and little ponds and neatly piled rocks that would create nature within nature.
She was so consumed by her thoughts that she didn’t notice they’d reached a wide river before Cooper stopped on the bridge leading across it. The bridge still smelled of wood lacquer and it looked completely new. The Warfang brothers must have just put it up.
“Why are we stopping?” she asked, leaning on the railing and looking at the water trailing past and underneath them.
Shifter Grove was buzzing somewhere behind them, but they were now completely alone, out of view of any curious, peering eyes. Claire had quickly discovered the inhabitants of Shifter Grove were equally as welcoming as they were understanding of the need of privacy at times. It was unlike her neighbors at Greenville, who seemed to have a compulsion to know
everything
that was going on with everyone else.
“I thought we could enjoy the view for a moment,” Cooper said, a hint of deepness grumbling through his words like the low growl of a predator.
But Cooper wasn’t looking at the water or the beautiful summer scenery around them. He was looking right at Claire and when she realized that, it took everything to keep from collapsing against the railing. Her heart skipped a beat and her eyes went wide as he slid one hand around her thick waist and pulled her closer to him. She was so close to him that his musky scent invaded all her senses, capturing her in a little bubble that only seemed to allow for the existence of her and Cooper at that moment.
“I’m glad you decided to come here, Claire. I think you’ll enjoy being in Idaho more than I would have liked being in Georgia,” he said, winking.
She bit her lower lip. For a ludicrous moment, she imagined the shocked and appalled looks she would have gotten from her neighbors if she suddenly shacked up with Argo and Cooper in her Greenville home. It was almost funny enough to wish it had actually happened.
“I’m glad I came here too,” she said breathlessly.
He must have felt the way she was shuddering, because when Cooper leaned in to kiss her, he gave her one last maddening smirk before his lips met hers. To say that the kiss was making her world spin was an understatement. Claire’s hands gripped the front of his shirt and she hung on for dear life, raising up on her tippy toes as Cooper slid one hand behind her head and made the kiss deeper. His tongue invaded her mouth and the luscious, longing moan she let out carried so much desire that it surprised even Claire herself.