"Remy, you're after. Following Saturday." I turned to him next, watching the way his expression shifted from anticipation to nervous energy.
"A whole week to plan. No pressure or anything." He laughed, running his hand through his curls again, his amber eyes bright with a mixture of excitement and fear.
"Silas, the Saturday after that. I know you're not comfortable with... social things. So you pick what we do. Whatever feels right to you." I looked at him last, softening my voice slightly, giving him permission to be himself.
"I'll think of something. Thank you. For understanding." His pale eyes held mine, and I could see the wheels turning behind them, processing, planning. His voice was quiet, almost vulnerable, and something in my chest ached at the gratitude there.
"That's three weeks of dates. During that time, you three are going to figure out how to be in the same room without wanting to kill each other. I'm not going to babysit territorial disputes. Clear?" I sat back and looked at all of them, crossing my arms again and raising an eyebrow in challenge.
Three nods. Three murmured agreements. Three Alphas, deferring to an Omega.
"We should probably... talk. The three of us. Without you there to referee." Remy said, glancing at Harper and Silas with obvious reluctance, his jaw tight with the effort of suggesting something so clearly unpleasant.
"That's your business. Work it out however you need to. Just don't show up on my doorstep bleeding." I stood, signaling the end of the meeting, and gathered the folder and notebook and phone from the table. "I'll look through all of this tonight." I held up the evidence they'd brought.
They stood too, the three of them moving with varying degrees of grace. Harper unfolded himself from his chair slowly, his massive frame rising with deliberate care. Remy bounced to his feet with nervous energy, unable to stay still. Silas simplyappeared to be standing, no visible transition between sitting and upright, like a magic trick.
"Saturday. I'll be here at six." Harper said my name like a promise, those dark eyes holding mine with an intensity that made my knees weak. He reached out like he was going to touch me, his massive hand hovering in the air between us, then stopped himself with visible effort, his hand falling back to his side with a soft thump against his thigh.
"Saturday." I agreed, and let myself smile at him—just a little, just enough to watch the hope flare in his dark eyes like a match striking in the darkness.
They left in the same order as before—Harper first, with that lingering look over his shoulder that made my stomach flip, his boots heavy on the porch steps. Remy next, throwing me a smile that trembled at the edges, his usual swagger subdued. Silas last, pausing at the edge of the trees where the shadows waited to swallow him. He turned back, and for once, his expression wasn't carefully blank. There was something raw there, something almost afraid, something that made him look younger and more human than I'd ever seen him.
"Thank you. For giving us a chance. For giving me a chance. I won't waste it." His voice carried across the clearing, rough with emotion, and he held my gaze for one heartbeat, two, three, before melting into the shadows like he'd never been there at all.
I stood on my porch and watched the darkness settle over the bayou, Gumbo finally emerging from his hiding spot to float in the shallows near the dock, his amber eyes gleaming in the fading light.
"Well. I just agreed to date three Alphas at once." I said to him, my voice shaky with something I couldn't name, and sank into my chair like my legs had given out.
He rumbled, low and thoughtful, a sound that could have been judgment or agreement or simple indigestion.
"Yeah. I don't know what I'm doing either." I reached for my whiskey and drained the rest of it in one long swallow, the burn barely registering against the chaos in my chest, and set down the empty glass with a clink that sounded too loud in the quiet.
The moon rose over the bayou, painting everything silver and shadow, and I sat there thinking about three different scents and three different pairs of eyes and the way it had felt when each of them said yes.
Terrifying. That's what this was.
I couldn't wait to see what happened next.
Chapter Eleven
Artemis
Ichanged my dress three times before I settled on the green one. It was ridiculous. This wasn't prom. It wasn't even a real date—not in the traditional sense. It was... whatever this was. An Omega getting ready to spend the evening with one of her three Alphas. The first of three dates that would either prove this whole arrangement could work or blow up spectacularly in my face.
Gumbo watched me from the shallows, his amber eyes tracking my movement through the windows every time I passed. Judgmental as always.
"Don't start with me." I pointed at him as I checked my reflection one more time, smoothing the green sundress over my hips, the fabric soft against my nervous skin. "I'm allowed to be nervous." I muttered, tucking a strand of auburn hair behind my ear.
He blinked slowly. Unimpressed.
The sound of a truck engine made my heart stutter. I glanced at the clock—5:58. Early. Of course he was early. I walked outonto the porch and watched him sit in his truck for a full minute, his massive silhouette visible through the windshield, not moving. Just sitting there. I could practically feel his nerves radiating across the distance between us.
When he finally climbed out, the sight of him made something warm curl in my belly. Dark blue shirt that stretched across those impossibly broad shoulders, sleeves rolled up to reveal forearms corded with muscle. Dark hair combed back. Jaw freshly shaved. He looked like he'd put effort into this, like it mattered to him.
He climbed the porch steps slowly, each one creaking under his weight, and stopped in front of me with his hands hanging awkward at his sides. His scent reached me—moonshine and cedar smoke—sharpened with something that smelled like anxiety.
"You're early." I kept my voice warm, teasing, tilting my head as I looked him over, letting my green-gold eyes travel from his boots to his face with obvious appreciation.
