Sharing a Mate Read online

  “But nothing!” Kayla insisted. “You two are good together. And you were together a long time before I came around. I’m not about to break up your friendship—I refuse to be your Yoko!”

  “What?” A look of confusion spread over Bron’s strong features. But Sorin, who was something of a connoisseur of Earth music, got it.

  “She’s making a reference to a band that was extremely popular on Earth in the 1960’s,” he told the Beast Kindred. “They were called The Beagles and they were broken up when one of the members of the band fell in love with a female who ruined their group dynamic.”

  “It was the Beatles,” Kayla snapped. “But otherwise, you got it right. I’m not going to break the two of you up.”

  “That’s a noble sentiment, Kayla, but at some point I think you’re going to have to choose between—” Bron began.

  “Oh my God, this is too much for me.” Kayla walked away from them both, heading for the door that led from the kitchen to the hallway and her bedroom. “Look,” she said, turning around in the doorway. “This is a non-issue because I am fine. So neither one of you is going to have to help me ever again the way you, uh, helped me in the lab. So we’re going to drop this right now and never talk about it again. Understand?”

  Both of them looked a little shocked, she thought. She usually was soft-spoken and easy-going with her guys. But this was serious business and she could stand up for herself when she had to.

  “Well, since you haven’t had another attack,” Sorin said slowly. “I guess you’re right—it’s a non-issue.”

  “Other than the fact that she can’t touch one of us without the other unless she wants to experience severe pain,” Bron growled.

  “And why would she need to touch us?” Sorin demanded.

  “What are you talking about?” Bron frowned. “You touch people you care about—hug them, hold them…it’s what you do. It’s what my people do, anyway.”

  “Not mine.” There was a cold remoteness in Sorin’s voice that Kayla hadn’t heard before. She remembered the way he always said he came from a “repressed” family but he would never elaborate on it.

  “All right, Bron has a point,” she said reluctantly. “The three of us do touch each other a lot. Bron is always hugging you or me, or both of us together, Sorin. And you’re always giving him or me neck-rubs. And I like being close to both of you.”

  “True,” Sorin admitted stiffly. “I…enjoy our contact as well.”

  “I’m going to miss it,” Kayla said wistfully.

  “Why should you?” Bron asked, frowning. “We can still touch each other—we just have to be careful and be sure both of us are touching you at the same time.”

  “That sounds like a lot of coordination for a hug or a neck-rub,” Sorin pointed out, frowning.

  “Fine.” Bron glowered at him. “Would you rather go without? Just stop touching each other altogether?”

  “I didn’t say that,” Sorin said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I just said—”

  “Look, the two of you are going to have to figure this out on your own,” Kayla snapped. “I’ll go along with whatever you decide but I will not be fought over like a bone between two dogs. Got it?”

  Bron gave her a lazy salute. “Yes, Ma’am!” he rumbled.

  Sorin said quietly, “Agreed.”

  “All right, good.” Kayla nodded at both of them. “Now I’m going to go grab myself a protein bar and pack. We need to go find an antidote to this damn lust potion ASAP so I can get cured and we can get back to our normal lives!”

  Then she turned on her heel and stalked out of the kitchen. But inside she was wondering if anything would ever be normal again.

  Five

  “Well that was a fucking mess,” Bron rumbled, frowning as they watched Kayla exit the food prep area in what could only be described as a state of high dudgeon.

  “It wouldn’t have been if you hadn’t tried to force her to choose between us,” Sorin snarled. He didn’t know what hurt the worse—the fact that his best friend had finally shattered the glass ball of camaraderie the three of them had lived in so long or that he had shown more interest in bonding Kayla to him than in keeping their friendship, which Sorin has regarded as the best one of his life.

  “Damn it, Sorin—she’ll have to choose eventually,” the Beast Kindred growled. “Don’t pretend you don’t know that. We’ve both wanted her from the minute she first walked into our lives.”

  “I never—” Sorin began.

  “Don’t say you haven’t wanted her from day one,” Bron interrupted. “Don’t you remember? You bit your lip because your fucking fangs suddenly got so sharp—you know as well as I that a Blood Kindred’s fangs don’t get sharp until he meets the female he wants to mate.” He sighed. “And I wanted her too. The moment I saw her and heard her sweet voice, the mating fist at the base of my shaft began to ache. We both know it—Kayla’s fucking perfect for us.”

  “Don’t you mean perfect for you?” Sorin asked coldly.

  “No, I mean us,” Bron said, frowning. “Because like it or fucking not, she can’t touch one of us alone. We have to both be touching her at the same time or we can’t touch her at all.”

  “I choose the second option,” Sorin informed him. “No touching is fine with me.”

  “No, it’s not.” Bron’s voice was suddenly soft. “Sorin…when I first met you, you were aching for touch. So fucking lonely I could feel it coming off you in waves.”

  “What are you talking about?” Sorin demanded, but his voice wavered just a little. Bron shouldn’t be talking about this—it was unspoken between them but never expressed aloud. It felt like his friend was breaking the rules.

  “It’s true,” Bron said, still speaking quietly. “I saw how your parents act when you took me home to Tranq Prime for the star-blossom festival or whatever the fuck it was. They barely ever touch each other—let alone you. That couldn’t have been an easy way to grow up.”

  “Oh, and your family is so much better?” Sorin glared at him.

  “My family is loud, angry, rude and crude and they’d punch you in the face as soon as look at you,” Bron admitted. “But there’s never been a lack of physical affection. They hand out hugs as easily as punches. It’s in their nature—my nature—to be physical and affectionate.”

  “What are you saying?” Sorin raised an eyebrow at him. “Could you get to the point, please?”

  “I’m saying don’t cut yourself off from something you need—something we all need, Kayla included,” Bron said. “You may not feel like hugging me now—you’d probably rather fucking punch me. But eventually you’ll get over that and need a hug. Everybody needs a hug sometimes.” He looked meaningfully at Sorin. “And I want to be able to give you one when you do. And to hug Kayla too.”

  Sorin pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to push back the tension headache that threatened. Only Bron would be so upfront about his desire for physical affection—his need to hug and be hugged. He was the kind of male who wore his emotions on his sleeve and didn’t give a damn who saw them. Probably because he was big enough and scary enough that no one would ever dare make fun of him for it.

  Sorin just wasn’t like that. He hadn’t grown up in a demonstrative family and though he was comfortable enough to enjoy being enveloped in one of his friend’s bone-crushing hugs, he most definitely wasn’t comfortable enough to talk about it.

  “I…need to go,” he said at last. “I need to pack. We have to outfit one of the shuttles with the right equipment.”

  “Fine, go.” Bron shook his head. “But know this, Brother—we’ll have to deal with this sooner of fucking later. If Kayla has another episode of needing, she’s going to need both of us to get her through it.”

  “She’s not going to have another episode,” Sorin snapped. “What happened in the lab was a one-off. She said so herself.”

  “You know damn good and well that just because she’s only had one episode so far doesn’t mean