I shivered at the image that presented. “I might be a little shy.”
“As beautiful as you are?” Blitz paused, shirt off and pants unzipped. “You shouldn’t be shy. You have so much to be proud of.”
“Compared to the three of you, I feel like a little gray mouse.”
He dropped to one knee and tipped my chin up. “You’re anything but gray or a mouse. You are as bright and colorful as anyone could wish for. I never want to hear you putting yourself down again. Got it?”
“Yes.” I felt a little embarrassed, but as they continued to remove their clothing, the distraction helped. And then, with no warning, they began to shift. From three men who could be pinups in the center of a woman’s magazine appeared three magnificent reindeer. They loomed over me, long legs holding muscular bodies. They were nothing like the pictures of reindeer I’d seen who looked a lot more spindly. Their antlers weregreat branches, their eyes deep brown, and I wanted to touch them more than anything I’d ever seen. My fingers flexed and I reached out.
The trio of deer approached me, heads bowed solemnly, and I took it as an invitation to explore their forms. Their fur was coarse but also smooth, and I petted one then the next then the third before returning to the first. After a moment, I lost track of who was who, and I made a mental note not to let that happen again. They were similar but not identical in this form. Once I’d run my hands over their bodies from head to tail, one of them bumped me with his head, somehow managing to convey that he was offering me a ride. Scared but thrilled, I threw one leg over his back and climbed on. The deer, whomever he was, carried me around for a few minutes and then the next came up, and I slid down the first one’s side and climbed on the second. Then the third. Petting his neck, I climbed off, starting to get sore but dying to keep going.
Before I could decide what to do next, they were shifting back, and all too soon fully dressed. It wasn’t especially warm in the barn, so I didn’t blame them.
“Ready to go home, mate?” Blitz asked, taking my hand. “It’s pretty cold out there.”
“Home sounds good.” It sounded better than good. Before this polar night ended, I would be mated and marked. Would have made love with three men at the same time. “Are you guys nervous?” I asked, expecting them to say no.
“Yes, of course,” Dash replied instead. “We will only have one first time with our mate, and it’s very special. We want to be sure to make it that way for you too.”
Such gentlemen.
My heart was thudding so loudly, I could hardly hear anything outside of my head. But I was going to do this if it killed me. The thought made me laugh and broke the tension once Iexplained why. They closed in around me as we returned home, and their warmth helped keep the chill away.
Chapter Twenty-One
Aideen
I sat in front of the fire, taking a moment to let the day soak in. I’d gotten on the app to find one person to spend the rest of my life with but instead, I’d found three men who wanted to spend the rest of their lives with me.
Three adventurous, adoring men.
They were worth the wait, every second of it.
“What are you thinking about?” Comet asked, coming to sit next to me. His reindeer was the biggest of the three. They’d let me pet them and even ride on their backs. I felt like I’d stepped right into a fantasy. A Christmas fantasy where the girl gets her three men and lives happily ever after in holiday bliss.
“There’s a lot to soak in,” I said.
He circled my waist with his arms and pulled me into his lap. “Is this okay?” he whispered in my ear.
“It is. I’m your mate, right?”
He moved to nuzzle my neck with his nose. He inhaled deeply. It made me shiver from head to toe. “You are. You always have been. I was hesitant to think it could be so easy to find you after searching for all this time. But once you were in our home, I couldn’t deny it. You smell like the best gingerbread cookies in the world.”
I snickered. “That’s saying something considering you’ve probably had cookies in every country in the world.”
“Santa doesn’t give us any. The sugar makes us slow. That’s what he says. I think he wants them all to himself.”
We watched the fire for a few minutes while Blitz and Dash cooked in the kitchen. We’d had a long day, so they decided on a simple pasta salad with chicken for our meal. They had explained that usually up here they ate in the communal diningroom, but that they always could cook if they wanted to, and they wanted to be alone with me tonight. “Are you sure I’m your mate? Before we go any further, are you sure? Because if you’re not, well, I think I’m going to be the one who gets their heart broken here.”
“No, that would be us. How can I make you believe me?”
“I believe you. I do. A lot has happened today.”
“It has. If you changed your mind and you only want to sleep tonight, we’re in no hurry. I mean, I would love nothing more than to make you mine tonight but this is all on your timeline.”
I turned around to face him. He had me hotter than this crackling fire ever could. “Then tonight, I want you. I want all of you. You’re going to bite me, right? Mark me as yours?”
Dash and Blitz had stopped cooking and though they said nothing, our conversation had their attention. “Yes,” Comet answered, pulling me closer to him. So close that I could feel how much he wanted to mate me. Make love to me. “It will only hurt for a second. After that, our bond will grow. We’ll know what you’re feeling. That way, we can make sure you’re always safe and loved and have everything you need.”
