When one popped up, I’d admit to thinking that was one of the coolest things I’d ever seen, but then, this was another place.

Another time.

Yeah, she’d drowsily clued me in on her nickname for this bizarre Eden as she was drifting off to sleep, and it fit.

Even as I had to wonder where we were and when, mostly I was trying to figure out what was going on.

I knew for a fact that all mated couples didn’t go through something like this.

It wasn’t that complicated. I knew because this place had an unmistakable scent.

And when Austin and Sabina had returned to us?

They’d reeked of it.

It wasn’t a bad scent, more like the earth after a good rainfall—a rich, pure aroma that was entwined with lavender and water, a smidgen of fire, and perhaps even some ozone.

I’d smelled it once before.

And that was the key word.

Once.

I’d smelled it around my parents when they were together.

That told me what was happening here.

This was the Mother’s version of a bonding exercise for the leaders of her packs, but I could have done without it. I didn’t need to be here on some kind of fucking task while I just wanted my woman.

She’d already been traumatized, and while this was evidently how an omega was prepared, how being tied to her alphas helped ground her, I didn’t need to add to the stress she was already under.

So, I was trying to understand what was happening here, and I was pretty much failing.

With the sandwich in hand, I retreated from the challenge scene, wondering if we were in danger for real.

Austin had, without a shadow of a doubt, been genuinely injured. So it wasn’t like this was a dream or a fugue state.

Any dangers were real and raw, but they were also planted for a reason.

We were being woven together like a rich tapestry by a skillful hand, that much was clear.

Munching on my sandwich, I pondered that as I returned to Sabina’s side. She’d rolled onto her back, displaying a lack of self-consciousness that surprised me.

Most human shifters were very nervous when it came to being nude and comfortable in their skin.

I guessed I had Austin to thank for that.

Neither my wolf nor I were happy until I was sitting at her side, so close that my hip touched her thigh, and I sat there, viewing the place where I’d been crash landed like a Martian on Earth.

It was spectacular. Like something from a book, with a majesty that was beyond my comprehension.

Every color was a thousand times richer than the ones on Earth. They almost sparkled with an intensity that was borderline blinding.

Everything from the grass to the sky, and to the water and the rocks that were around it.

I was amazed and enchanted, even while I was wary.

This situation was crafted purely for us, and that put me on edge.

I had a feeling I knew the Mother’s score.

Austin had to protect his mate against a large pack.

Austin, who had self-esteem issues, who hid those issues in laughter and teasing, in fucking anything that moved to prove to himself he was good enough. Austin, who wasn’t sure of his place in the pack, who probably wouldn’t be sure of his place in his relationship with his shared mate…

Now that he’d defended that mate from a pack of naturals, he was aware of his strength, knew he could defend her, and also? He knew Sabina wasn’t a delicate lily. She’d fought back. She’d helped during the fight.

Their relationship was stronger as a result, and their own esteem?

Higher.

She had faith in him to protect her, and he had faith in her that she would have his back.

The Mother was canny, but that meant she was working with our problems and our weaknesses, making us stronger, tying us tighter together.

And me?

I had a lot of issues, so that meant I was left wondering which the Mother had selected in the mate lottery.

A sleepy sigh escaped my mate, and I twisted to look down at her, amused to see she was watching me.

I tipped my chin to the side. “You okay, mate?”

She smiled. “I like it when you call me that.”

“Better than ‘love’ or ‘sweetheart’?”

Her eyes twinkled. “Yep.”

“Then you’ve got it, mate.” I reached for her hand with the one that wasn’t holding a damn sandwich, and raised it to my mouth, kissing her fingertips before I asked, “Want a bite?”

“Of your butt? Sure!”

I laughed, even as I handed her the sandwich. “It’s good.”

“Everything is here.” Her smile faded, and she stared at the sandwich with distaste, so I wasn’t surprised when she put it on the ground where it instantly disappeared. “Until it isn’t.”

Hating to see her amusement and contentedness disappear, I rolled back down to her side and turned my head to look at her.

“It has a purpose.”

“I figure everything does.” She shrugged. “Make a mated pair stronger, right?”

“Yes, but I don’t think this is something that every mated pair goes through. This is unique for the omega and her alphas.”

“What makes you think that?”

I explained about the scent she and Austin had, a scent I sometimes smelled on my parents.

“You mean they always smell of this place?”

“Either that, or they sometimes returned here.” I shrugged. “I have no way of knowing. Maybe it’s the Mother’s idea of marriage counseling.”

She laughed at that. “So whenever we don’t see eye to eye, we get shoved back here?”

“Could be,” I said dryly. “I just recognize the scent, and I know I’ve never scented it anywhere else.”

“That’s insane.”

“That’s the mate bond,” I told her. Then, I reached over and pressed my hand to her heart. Not her breasts, her heart. “I can feel yours beating for Austin now.”

“And you,” she rasped.

I shook my head. “Not yet. Not until we’re claimed. It’s there. The link.” I closed my eyes. “I can feel it burning away, but it’s not cemented in place.”

She pressed a kiss to my shoulder. “Eli?”

“Yes.”

“I-I know it’s crazy, but I already love you. Without the claiming even.”

My lips twisted as I caught her gaze with mine. “I loved you the second I saw you in Ethan’s arms.” I released a sigh, then shielded my eyes from hers, closing them so I didn’t let her see all the secrets I wasn’t sure she could handle yet. “I knew what you were to me the instant I felt them approach. I waited for them, and then, when you were there, it was only confirmed.”

“How?”

“Scent, but more than that, the connection.”

“Why didn’t the twins feel it?”

“They did, but they were confused. They’d just lost their omega, and like I told you, the omega shields the pack from a lot. She’s the barrier between the pack and the rest of the world.”

“That’s a lot of responsibility.”

“It is. But you have the shoulders to bear it, and you have the mates who will shore you up.

“Alphas rarely understand the power of the omega. Without her, we are nothing but a bunch of brutes. We have no softness, no means of seeking calm. We let the wolves out to play without fear of what that might cause. An omega is the true alpha of the pack. I, for example, am your servant. I’ve known that for a long time though, back when I saw how things were for mother. I knew it then.”