Inevitably Yours

MICHAEL

I don’t know if it was because of how I grew up or what within me demanded it, but I needed physical affection to a level that, as a couple, we’d realized Quinn couldn’t always give me. Until we talked about it, I never thought about why I felt like I needed s*x all the time when I was younger, but it was the touch I needed most when life got to be too much. Not that I didn’t want s*x all the time now, but Goddess, I’d been given a mate made for that, at least.

On top of how busy we’d been lately, she explained that with all the taking care of the kids and all of our other responsibilities, she just felt “touched out” by the end of the night a lot of the time. I understood what she was logically telling me, but it absolutely felt like rejection. Her presence, even if she was only leaning against me while working on something else, calmed me in a way that few other things could.

I’d resigned myself that maybe sometimes I wouldn’t get that from my mate, and it would have to be okay. Instead, I now had Quinn linking me to cuddle with my best friend, and it was apparently exactly what we all needed. I’d been so on edge, and I didn’t know why. The moment I settled down with Nic, my chest loosened, and the stress melted away. To cap it all off, Quinn crawled into my lap to make it a three-way cuddle. I didn’t know if she could feel it through the bond, but it felt like my heart might burst from the overflow of so much unexpected physical touch. She was almost purring herself, and I couldn’t believe she was so content.

They were both asleep on me when I woke up in the morning, and I was so warm and comfortable that I didn’t want to move. Unfortunately, I had to pee. So, there was a timer on how long I could stay in our family cuddle.

I needed to make sure Quinn was really okay, even though every physical indicator said she was. She wasn’t lying and smiled when she told me it was okay. Still, as wonderful as Quinn was, no girlfriend in the past had been able to handle how close and affectionate Nic and I were. To be fair, it was because I had my foot halfway out the door in those relationships at pretty much all times.

“If she were like your other girlfriends, she wouldn’t be Quinn. She wouldn’t be our fated,” Eros chimed in, interrupting my thoughts.

“It doesn’t feel like a trap to you?” I asked genuinely. He was usually the one screaming at me during things like this.

“No,” he replied calmly. “I don’t feel anything but contented pleasure from the mate bond. If she were jealous or angry, we’d know.”

It was still hard to believe my wife was just okay with it, though. My brain was still wrestling with everything, so I chose to get up to go to the bathroom, then do something with my hands. I was sure the girls would be hungry when they woke up, and I decided I would make breakfast. I’d been practicing while I was gone, but Quinn didn’t know that.

I gently replaced my leg with a pillow under Quinn’s head and lifted Nic to lay beside her. They cuddled together, both smiling. I didn’t want to leave, but nature had its own ideas.

–

“Alpha Daddy, good morning!” Judy called out when she came into the kitchen. “What smell good?”

I smiled triumphantly, even if the kitchen was a bit of a mess, “Pancakes, bacon, and eggs. You hungry?”

“Oh, I eat little bit, but Luna Mommy going to think I cook breakfast. You get so much better!”

“You’ll have to tell her then,” I winked. “Hey, I’m still getting the hang of bacon. This close to how crispy Quinn makes it?”

Judy rushed over and peered intently into my pan, “Maybe ten more second? You done then.”

Luckily for me, our various children all slept in a little longer than usual. It gave me time to get the food done, get high chairs out, and make a bottle for Belle while Judy cleared the table and readied for everyone to eat together. Just as I was about to go get the girls, Quinn walked into the kitchen, yawning and sniffing the air with her eyes closed like she was hunting the bacon. Nic followed after in a similar fashion.

“Judy, you didn’t have to make breakfast, but it smells excellent,” Quinn said, looking over the plates of food, still steaming.

“Oh, I no make,” she laughed. “Alpha Daddy say you no believe he cook. He so good now!”

Quinn looked at me in astonishment and came over with a little growl as she kissed me, “Did you cook for me?”

“I did, and I didn’t set anything on fire this time,” I replied, surprised at the desire pulsing through our bond and the wild look in her eyes. I was unaware that cooking for her would make her so ragingly horny, but it was a good piece of information to have later. I wanted to get through breakfast and talk to her.

Nic walked over and hugged me like she’d done a million times before, but as I returned it, it still felt wrong somehow, even if I knew it was okay. Quinn just smiled sweetly at us as she tip-toed up to give me another k**s.

“Wanna grab Diane, and I’ll get the other two?” Quinn asked Nic.

“Why don’t we eat, and I’ll go get them if they wake up. They’re asleep; enjoy breakfast to yourself,” I said, pushing them toward the table.

“Can’t say I’m gonna fight you there,” Nic said, dropping heavily into her chair and picking up a piece of bacon and an apple to go with her pancakes.

“If you insist,” Quinn said, still sleepy. Goddess, my mate needed more sleep. I’d have to work on that, even if it meant a sleepless night or two. Her insomnia wasn’t helping, even if it made for productive nights. I wished I could help her more, but she didn’t want me in the office. With my part of the business doing sales, training, sometimes physically going to sites, and our other family responsibilities, we were equally swamped with work. I got the general concept of the financial stuff, but taking care of it was not my strong suit; it was better to leave those things to her, so it wasn’t messed up later. I needed to sneak in to look at her to-do notebook and see if there was anything I could take off her list.

QUINN

I woke up from some of the best sleep I had had in a long time. My back was stiff from laying on the couch, but I felt much better. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and found Nic next to me. Poking her, I got her to wake up too.

“I smell food,” she mumbled as she sat up.

“Me too,” I said. “I bet Judy made breakfast.”

“Where’s M? I know I used him as an Alpha-shaped pillow last night?” she said. Then her face fell. “I hope that was okay. I wouldn’t ever try to-”

“Stop,” I smiled. “Nic, it’s really okay. Michael is my mate, but he’s also your best friend. His love for you doesn’t diminish anything between us.” I grabbed her hand and squeezed. “We all need to feel loved.”

Nic jumped forward and tackled me in a crushing hug back into the couch. “I don’t know what I would do without you both,” she said. Nic needed affection on a similar but slightly lower level to Michael and was just as eager to show it.

“We don’t know what we would do without you,” I assured her.

“There is bacon cooking, I know it,” she said, pulling away. “Let’s go!”

–

I tapped my pen against my notebook, looking down at my list of things to do. It didn’t seem so insurmountable or unattainable today, but my mind was in other places.

I wasn’t jealous. It didn’t seem real, but I wasn’t jealous at all. I felt awful that Nic’s mate rejected her, and maybe that was weighing in on how I felt about the whole thing. When I thought about Michael and Nic being affectionate, it didn’t stir anything possessive inside of me.

“Share your mate if you will,” Sapphire dismissed me. “But Eros can barely handle me. He won’t have time for any other wolves.”

“Maybe if you were, say, less maintenance, he would be able to handle you,” I proposed to her.

“Where is the fun in that? Gotta keep him on his paws!” she laughed. It didn’t happen as often as we liked, but when Michael and I could shift together, Eros and Sapphire got a very different type of exercise.

“I just feel like I’m broken,” I told her. “Not in the same way I felt about having a thousand things to do and time to take care of ten. Like, I shouldn’t want Michael to be comforted by Nic. I should get all possessive and angry about it.”

“Well, how would you feel if it were Jacqueline? or Andrea?” Sapphire asked.

A growl did roll out of my throat at that thought. “See,” she said. “You aren’t broken. It’s just Nic. Maybe she’s fae too?”

“No, I don’t think that is it,” I sighed. My office door opened, and Michael stepped in, closing the door behind him. He looked into the corner where Belle was lying in her swing with toys spinning above her head. She wasn’t asleep, but she was content.

“Hi,” I said, feeling a little shy.

“I think we should talk,” he said, his eyes returning to me. “About last night.”

I dropped my pen and pinched my lips together. “I thought you might want to talk about it,” I confessed. Michael came around my desk. I turned my chair to face him, and he leaned down to give me a deep, sweet k**s.

“Are you really okay?” he asked.

“Yea,” I told him. It confused me, but I was okay with it.

“I mean it. If you aren’t okay, even one percent, I will tell Nic no more,” he pushed. I looked up at him thoughtfully.

“Michael, do I ever have to worry about you choosing Nic over me and our pups?” I asked him bluntly.

He looked taken aback. “No, never. I swear on the Goddess I would never ever put her above you in that way. Quinn, you are my whole world. You’ve given me everything.”

Silence. That little buzzing ring that played in the back of my head when someone lied was completely silent. I smiled. “Did last night make you feel better?” I asked.

“Well yea, I mean….” he pattered off. His expression fell as he tried to sort something out in his head.

I reached up and cupped his face. He closed his eyes, relaxing into my touch. “M, listen. Things have been just bad lately for all of us. Nic got rejected, I’m behind in school, and we’re trying to navigate all the newness with this security stuff. We have all fallen completely off track with each other. I’m not upset or jealous or sad or anything. We all needed something different yesterday, and I think we actually got it.”

“I just feel like this is some sort of trap, or I’m doing something wrong,” he admitted.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“It isn’t a trap. What could even be my end game?” I asked him with a small laugh. He just shrugged. “I’m not a diabolical genius. I’m just stressed and a little tired.”

“You know I wouldn’t be okay with this kind of physical intimacy between you and someone else, right? Is that unfair?” he asked me, looking genuinely conflicted.

“If it were anyone but Nic, I don’t think I’d be okay with it either,” I confessed, realizing it was true after my conversation with Sapphire earlier. Whatever it was, Nic’s dynamic with us as mates wasn’t threatening, and I was okay with it. “I heard her last night not wanting to cross a boundary and hurt me, which made me realize it was okay. She cares about my feelings as much as yours or hers, and I love her too. We can all cuddle, or you two can when it’s too much for me and I need a touch break,” I shrugged. I couldn’t explain it, but it just made sense to me.

Michael grabbed my sides and pulled me to stand up with him. I shifted my hands to settle around his neck. He rubbed his nose along mine. “You’ll always be my first priority. You are my fated, and she will always be my friend,” he whispered.

“I know,” I told him. I couldn’t even hear the beginning of that sound. “But I’m okay with it. Really.”

“You’re the f*****g best, Q,” he muttered, pecking my lips.

“I’m alright. Not the best, though,” I argued. He nipped the tip of my nose and gave me a serious look.

“Take it back,” he growled playfully. “You don’t insult my favorite person.”

“Make me,” I smirked.