Page 44 of Nicolette

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered, rubbing my temples. “You’re going to give me a migraine with all this whiplash. Now, who the hell is going to tell me what’s happening? I thought fated pairs were a one-time thing. Why is Rambler saying that I’m his as well?”

None of them answered, but Polo left the office space calling over his shoulder. “Be right back. I need to check something.”

That sounded promising. He’d probably decided that sticking around was a terrible idea and bounced. Either way, it left me with these two idiots acting like I was their favorite toy that they didn’t know how to share.

“Rambler, you said something about letting Nine have time with me?” I ventured, hoping getting any information might help.

The tiger rubbed the back of his neck as he nodded. “Yeah, I don’t know what happened, but the moment he marked you, it was as if something in my tiger’s brain clicked, and I just knew. Or maybe a better way to explain it is that I felt like it was my turn. Nine is the alpha, and he claimed you first as is his right, but since I’m second, it was safe for me to make my move. The problem was you weren’t on board with being a mate to anyone, so the two of you had to work through that. It was hard on you to accept it, and I didn’t want to add on yet another thing to fuck up your life with.”

Hearing him talk like that had my lioness snarling. I had to agree with her, though. That kind of bullshit wasn’t allowed to come out of his mouth.

“First of all, I appreciate you taking that into consideration, but if you ever talk down about yourself ever again, the one who’s going to be spanked is you,” I warned. “Secondly, this is not my first rodeo with my life changing in the blink of an eye or the flick of a pen. Being mated to one of you or all of you isn’t going to change the fact that I’m bound to this place one way or another. Can I say I’m super happy about that? No. However, that’s more of a me problem because I’m fucking pissed that once more in my life, I haven’t had a choice in the change.”

I didn’t know if that made any sense to them, but it did to me, so I guess that’s what really mattered.

“Look, my time at Lucky Shot was coming to an end. I know you know it, and the spectators knew it. That’s why a fucking ghoul won out for me to fight. Did I plan to become a shifter? Not so much, but I’m damn well glad to have whiskers than be turned into a human servant to a vampire. One way or another, my life would have been altered, and between the two options, this is a far better situation,” I said, gesturing to all of them.

None of them looked overjoyed, but they didn’t seem quite so put out either, especially Marco. I got it. He was the one who made the choice and set the transition in motion. He expected me to be pissed at him, and I might have been if I saw no hope of finding a place here. While most of the pride might hate me for taking what they wanted when I claimed the leadership as mine, I still saw potential. Who knew? Once they got to know me, they might find me endearing. Yeah, that might be a bit too much, so I’d settle for tolerating me at this point.

“I found it,” Polo announced as he rejoined us with a rather old-looking book in his hands.

Chapter 18

Nicolette

Rambler frowned, then headed over to grab the book out of Polo’s hands.

“I knew we kept records about this pride even before Savage started the MC,” Polo explained. “I remembered you going on and on about this previous alpha whose woman had mates, but they called them something different.”

“If it’s who I think you’re talking about, this isn’t the right book,” Rambler pointed out, turning to his desk. “I found that in the personal diary of alpha Layton. You’re right, by the way. I always found him interesting to study because he was a jaguar. Not many of them have ever led a pride. Pretty sure his wife was a tiger, but since females can’t be alpha, it fell to him.”

As he talked, Rambler looked through the lower drawers of his desk until he found what he was looking for. With a triumphant cry, he held up a leather-bound notebook and smiled before flipping through the pages. “Okay, this took place before his wife had a baby because he made a comment about hoping it was his. Let’s see… ah… here we are. His wife had two other lovers, but they were more than that, and in a show of devotion, the three of them marked her, and she marked them. The exact wording he used is, “they became a bask that they might forever live in the warmth of each other’s love.” ”

“So you think they were fated pairs with his wife?” I questioned. “To me, it sounds a lot like what happened with Nine and me other than me marking him.”

“Ah…” Nine interjected. “You might not have marked me with your teeth, but I have claw marks that run down my back that have healed as a scar.”

“What? Turn around,” I demanded as I slipped my feet free from Dice.

Nine did as I asked, and I yanked up his shirt. Sure as shit, there they were. It was clear that these were not normal scratch marks but happened when my claws came out.

“Should I apologize for that?” I asked as I traced a finger over one in particular that had been deep.

“Absolutely the fuck not,” Nine said, snatching my hand and kissing the back of it. “The way you respond to me when I touch the place I marked you, that’s exactly what it feels like for me. If you kept stroking those marks, I’d be coming right here in my fucking jeans. I’m proud to wear your mark on me just as I am to have my crew’s colors on the back of my leathers.”

“Wait, does this mean all of us could be her mates, pair, blaze, bask, whatever the fuck you want to call it?” Marco asked. “Because that would certainly explain why the hell I was so determined not to let her die.”

“Not to mention why the two of us were so obsessed with her as a human,” Polo added. “Seriously, it was making me think there might be something wrong with me. I’d never been the type of guy to obsess, but fuck. When we noticed Nicolette for the first time, it was like my caracal knew, and that was it. I was hooked.”

Circus let out a dramatic sigh and dropped into a chair opposite Rambler’s desk. “Thank fuck, because I was super worried I’d have to do something drastic like kill Nine and take over the pride so I could keep my Neko.”

“Excuse me?” Nine demanded. “You thought about killing me?”

“That can’t be the first time someone’s said that to you, surely? I feel like if more people were honest with their feelings, they would admit they’ve thought about it at least once. Just to be clear, this wasn’t the first time, but it has been the one time I felt really sad about having to do it,” Circus answered, then he clapped his hands cheerfully. “Now, none of that matters since I will be able to claim Neko too.”

Marco gave Circus a disbelieving look. “How are you not locked up in a padded room somewhere?”

“Wait, there are padded rooms in jail? Why does everyone make it sound so bad, then? Think of all the fun you could have. Is it like our feline exercise room?” Circus said, barraging Marco with questions.