“Yup. The longer we’re together, the more you’ll sense.”
“Does it work over a distance?” Leo asked. “Not that I want there to be distance between us. I mean, I know we have to leave here when our rental time is up, but we’re not gonna stay that way, right? It’ll be okay for me to move to where you guys live and get a place there, right, so we can still see each other?”
Maverick giggled at that and shook his head. “It would be more okay if we looked for a place together so we could see each other all the time.”
“Wait, you two don’t live together?” Leo asked, looking from me to Maverick and back again.
I shook my head, but it was Maverick who answered.
“We talked about getting an apartment together, but our families were not onboard with that idea and made their concerns very clear to us,” Maverick explained.
“What were their concerns?”
“That we already worked together and spent the bulk of our free time together, so living together would make it next to impossible for us to find our true mates,” Maverick said.
“When I spoke to my dad early this morning to let him know that we’d found our mate and were meant to be a trio, he was genuinely happy that things worked out for us the way we’d always wanted them to, and he apologized for pushing us to maintain some sort of distance between us. He’d just been worried that we would try to reject our mates when we finally found them, and that is an absolutely disastrous way to kick off a relationship.”
“Does, um, does it happen often that someone rejects their mate?”
“No,” Maverick replied, “it’s extremely rare and never works out well for the parties involved because their animals are screaming for their other halves while their human sides are fucking it up for them. It can be a struggle to move past, which was why I freaked out when I saw Briar’s bondmark. Not just because I’d had my hands all over someone who wasn’t mated to me, but because I knew I’d need to start changing the way I thought about him, and I had no idea how I was supposed to do that when I’d loved him for so long.”
“Where would you have gone? There’s only one other vehicle outside, so I know you came up together.”
“Home, I guess. I don’t know; I probably would have found a motel or something while I figured out what to do,” Maverick admitted.
“Now you don’t ever have to worry about that,” Leo said. “I appreciate that you would have stepped back, though; that’s kind of got me choked up over here.”
In an instant Maverick was out of his chair and bouncing onto the couch beside Leo, and I wasn’t that far behind him, nearly tipping my chair over in my haste to get to him. Maybe the rest of the conversation needed to happen this way, snuggled up together on the couch where we could hold and touch one another in the emotional moments to come, of which I was certain there would be a few. We held him between us until it no longer felt like he was about to lose it and wind up in tears, then we settled on either side of him, legs pressed to his as Maverick rested his head on Leo’s shoulder.
“I would love to find a home we could share,” Leo said, once he’d gotten his emotions back in check again. “But do you think we can? The housing market in my area is kind of shitty. I was lucky to have found my apartment when I did because a lot of people I know have had to move back into their parents’ basements or split rent with friends.”
Mav giggled at that, but I knew why, and so would Leo in just a moment.
“We won’t have an issue,” Maverick explained. “My mom is a realtor, so once we have a chance to talk about the features we’d like and how many bedrooms, she’ll be able to find us places to look at. I know she’ll make sure we won’t be inheriting the kinds of issues that sometimes come with homes people are in a hurry to get rid of.”
“Nice!” Leo said, caressing his leg. “That’s one less problem to work out then. I’ll need to give my two weeks’ notice, but that’s not an issue since I was on the verge of saying goodbye to that job in the first place. It really wasn’t a good fit for me, but it was all I could find that allowed me to use my photography skills, so I jumped all over it.”
“What would you really like to be doing with them?” I asked.
His shoulders drew up as he heaved a heavy sigh, then let out a huff, fingers dancing a path over Mav’s leg, like he was using his sleep pants for a touchstone.
“Ultimately, have a gallery space for displaying pieces while continuing to focus on selling my wildlife and landscape to magazines and individuals who’d like to have them as artwork in their homes. I’m so far away from being able to achieve that right now that I’d just be happy working for a local newspaper or even taking photos for someone’s business website.”
“We can put out some feelers for you when we get back home,” I said. “I’m sure between us and our extended family, someone will have some ideas on where you can apply.”
“Thank you. That would be a huge help. I don’t want to move in and not be able to take care of my share of the bills.”
“Don’t feel like you have to rush into something you won’t like,” Maverick said. “Moving is already going to be a big change for you in addition to being mated to shifters and being part of the loud, boisterous families we both come from. Getting settled in is more important than rushing out to try to find a job that might not be the right fit for you. It would just be putting yourself back into the same situation you’re in now, with a job that isn’t fun for you.”
“A million times that,” I chimed in. “The cookie shop is thriving because we absolutely love going in each day and working on new creations for our customers. When you love what you’re doing, it shows, and not just in the quality of thework you produce, but also in your attitude and your emotions. So, no settling, please. We won’t hurt for money if you take the time you need to make sure your job is one that will send you home to us each day smiling, not snarling about how you want to take someone’s head off.”
“Yeah, that’s not a good thing to say when you’re mated to predators,” Maverick said. “One of us,” he inclined his head towards me when he said it, “has a snarly disposition as it is, and some bloodthirsty tendencies when someone he cares about is upset.”
“In other words, I will carve a bitch to ribbons, then go home and get a good night’s sleep,” I said, grinning at Leo.
“Something tells me it’s a bitch to get blood out of snow leopard fur, so let’s take a pass on that, shall we,” he said, grinning over at me.
Shrugging, I flexed my fingers, allowing them to morph into my claws and then back again. “We’ve come across a few remedies that work wonders.”
