I was glad for his sake though.

The meal ended with a massive sundae that had more toppings and candy on it than I could imagine, served with a slice of cake that had more buttercream frosting on it than actual cake, and it was then it hit me.

This was what every kid would want for a birthday meal.

Just looking at Daniel told me that. He was in a catatonic state of bliss as he scooped up the mountains of ice cream, syrup, candy, and brownie bites…

This was for the kids in us.

The kids who hadn’t been allowed to be that for too long before our culture had started to batter us.

Mother blessed, we were lucky men.

Lucky, lucky men to have a mate like this at our side.

And I’d never forget that.

Not as long as we lived.

Sixteen

Ethan

When I plunged into her, she was slick and hot, full of a fire that branded me. It filled me with a heat that melted the ice that took up such a large part of my soul and spilled out of my pores, enabling me to be me when I was around her.

The true me.

A side of myself that I only recognized around her.

A side that was free from the pack’s prejudices, that was uncaring over whether I was liked or disliked. That was liberated from a lifetime of being ostracized.

Knowing who I was, that we were tied to Eli, that we were mated to this glorious woman, was all I needed to know—that my past had caught up with me in the best way imaginable.

I blew out a breath as I settled in deep, and I wasn’t, I’d admit, surprised when I heard footsteps padding toward us.

Sabina’s bedroom was a communal space. Over the past two weeks since we’d been mated, we’d taken turns sleeping with her. I wasn’t sure when that would change. Didn’t know if it even would.

We were all alphas. All used to having our own dens, our own areas that weren’t tainted with others, so maybe this would always be how it worked…for Eli in particular.

Austin and I were a little different.

I’d wondered when he’d come to us, and I wasn’t surprised it was tonight on our birthday.

Not because he wanted a birthday gift in Sabina’s body too, but because he was as messed up over things as me.

She twisted her head to look at him, and her cheeks instantly heated up in a way that had me burrowing my face in her throat, hiding a laugh as I sucked on her there, wanting to mark her for all to see.

“Austin?” she squeaked, making me laugh a little more, so much so that I couldn’t control my shaking shoulders.

Sabina slapped my back. “Stop giggling, you.”

“I’m an alpha,” I countered, though the words were muffled. “I don’t giggle.”

She sniffed. “I say you do.” She cleared her throat, which had her body doing interesting things beneath me, “What are you doing here, Austin?”

“I didn’t want to sleep alone tonight.”

She sighed at that, then mumbled, “I’m kind of in the middle of things.”

Austin snorted. “I can see that. Don’t worry. Carry on.”

“Carry on?” she echoed, bewildered. “With you watching?”

I nipped her throat. “Watching you be pleasured is something I’d like to enjoy too.”

Her mouth dropped open, and when I reared up to look at her, I had to stifle another laugh.

She looked like she’d swallowed a fish.

My lips twitched as I moved to kiss her cheek. “Don’t worry. Everything that happens in this room is all about pleasure, isn’t it? No shame, no fear. Just joy.”

She relaxed a little at my words. “No shame, no fear, just joy,” she repeated breathily. “I think I like the sound of that.”

Austin hummed as he walked toward the bed and climbed on it. She didn’t tense up, but she did twist a little to see him in the flickering firelight.

When he cuddled up close to her, I moved my head out of the way, knowing that he’d kiss her, soothe her.

She’d tightened up on me, her tension translating to inner tension, but I knew Austin would relax her.

Both of us were careful not to talk to one another because we were well aware she could hear, and the last thing either of us fucking needed was her knowing that this wasn’t the first time we’d done this.

Neither would it be the last.

I’d known the three of us would head down this path together, I just hadn’t thought it would be so close to the claiming.

Still, I got it.

Austin rarely let on about feeling vulnerable, but we hated our birthdays.

With a passion.

Rebekkah, I felt so much better calling her that and not mother, always forgot our fucking birthdays, and it had just been a nightmare at school for us.

In a pack school, birthdays were celebrated in class.

For us? It was a horror just unfolding before our eyes, because kids didn’t want to celebrate the twin freaks’ birthdays.

Memories and kids were both bitches.

Not wanting to lose my erection, not when my dick had breached heaven’s gate, I groaned as I started to nip at her throat again, sucking and laving as Austin began to twist her mind and make her breathless as he stole kisses from her.

I could feel the instant her body softened, her acceptance coming to the forefront as she opened up to me, her nails no longer digging into my spine as she relaxed and invited us both in.

Satisfied, I started to rock my hips, but I leaned down and began to suck on her tits too, nipping here and there, sucking hard and fast on her nipples, raking my teeth with them, until I heard her breath catch.

She moaned into Austin’s mouth before her hips started to rock back, arching up to meet me until she was as eager as I was.

A groan escaped me as she tightened that delicious pussy around my dick, and I curved up over her, putting my hands on either side of her arms so I could find my balance. Once I’d reached it, I pushed into her harder, grinding down as I leaned up on one hand and used the other to rub her clit.

She came within seconds, surging to that peak so fucking fast that I almost blinded myself in the fireworks that exploded to life in my head as I was drawn into the mix too.

With the knot, it wasn’t like in the past where we could screw and take turns. I’d be in her for hours now, but I figured Austin was aware of that and just wanted to hunker down with us.

As I groaned out my release, her high-pitched shriek had me wanting to laugh as she clung to me, clutching at me as the knot forged into being, triggering her second orgasm that made me cry out too.

“Fuck!” I ground out, my head falling back, neck arching as I dealt with the pummeling blows of pleasure on my nerve endings.

Jesus, that felt so good!

I roared with the release, not stopping until her pussy calmed around me, no longer drawing every ounce of cum from my balls.

As the pleasure turned into a memory, I slumped on her before Austin helped roll me onto my back so she was draped over me like a blanket of warm female curves I would never be able to get enough of.

When he pressed a kiss between Sabina’s shoulders, I knew he wasn’t jealous or annoyed at not getting any. This was different.

This was our mate.

Things changed when you were mated.

Stuff like blowjobs and anal were no longer on the menu. Well, they were, but you couldn’t end that way.