The Challenge

LORELAI

I had no furniture left. No energy. No breath. My alphas had claimed it all.

The heat had well and truly seared every part of me. The power from my alphas, the way my shadows writhed beneath me—it had been intense. Like the dam had broken the second we had been alone.

I had been naked in a second and claimed in the next. I felt bad that my mother was stuck in a room alone, but I couldn’t resist the heat or my alphas.

The howls had finally died down from outside the window, though the pack power was still hot in my veins.

My magic had been enough to keep the females satisfied, every single one finding the sated feeling that I did, and no Taylor outbursts this time, which was nice.

I let out a heavy breath, my eyes fluttering closed as my body tried to tap out. I had well and truly been ravaged, my alphas not leaving a single piece of furniture untouched, and my skin was mottled with fingerprints.

My mother might kill them yet for that, but for now, I was relishing in the satiated peace that the aftermath provided.

And then all three of them were over me. Massaging, kissing, licking every part of me. The aftercare part that was almost just as intense.

Their love and care replaced the heat within me, our connection strengthening as I trembled beneath their caresses.

They cleaned me up, massaged my sore muscles, took care of me with tender hands and soft touches.

I sighed as I felt their skin too, running my fingers over their impressive pecs, their abs, brushing their cocks, kissing their eager mouths.

Brax’s first, he was there with his harsh kisses on my lips, then over my jaw and neck as Kai’s mouth came for mine a second later.

I moaned as Derik’s hands massaged my calves, his tongue stroking up my stomach, the roundness not deterring any of them.

Derik’s mouth was hot on my skin, and I frowned a little as it came over my breasts, forcing my eyes open.

“Derik,” I breathed, and reached for him.

His eyes flung to mine and then he was on me, kissing me fiercely, his hands burying in my hair like the heat had never left us, but it was different.

Like the connection of the aftermath had combined with the desire in the heat to create this intense pull between us.

I went to him like a magnet, unable to think of anything else, kissing and holding him to me like a lifeline.

And that’s when I felt it, the warmth that curled through me, the way it slid through my body like a silk ribbon brushing everything as it passed, wrapping tightly around my heart and soul.

The heat pulled away, rushing from my heart as my mouth kept up with his. He released a growl, a low, desperate one, before it turned to a whine, and I hissed as pain hit me.

A burn so distinct on my wrist that I grinned against his mouth.

He kissed me harder, everything else falling away, nothing else existing as I felt every part of his soul lace with mine.

I sucked in a breath as light and warmth kept filling me, his light, his warmth, even the tinge of his darkness sinking inside me. But I wanted it all.

And then he was inside me, mating, consummating, joining us physically as our entire beings became linked. It was heady and overwhelming, but in the best way.

I cried out as he filled me over and over again. I met his thrusts, I opened my heart to him as much as I could, and then I rolled us, claiming him right back as he released a howl.

In the back of the mating fog that kept me tethered to Derik, I heard Brax and Kai howl with it. It made me shudder, my orgasm racing up on me so fast.

I rode Derik, his strokes filling me as his need for release built inside me too. We were both just as desperate, and I slammed onto him harder and faster until he was there with me.

I cried out, screaming his name as my head tipped back, our connection making the edge so much sharper, the climax with him so much more.

I shuddered and stilled around him, my pussy claiming him, greedily emptying every last drop of him.

I collapsed on top of him, my hand grasping his as my heart hammered in my chest. My ears rang and my breath was dangerously hard to come by, but I didn’t care because Derik was mine.

Officially.

He was my mate too, and I don’t know how or why I deserved two of my alphas in such a way, but I did, and it made me so damn happy.

“Mate,” Derik breathed, and I nodded against his chest, looking at our wrists and the brands that were there.

Mine was shadowing Kai’s, layering on top of it, and I smiled. I didn’t think I would be allowed to mate with one of them, let alone two.

The fog cleared as Derik patted my hair down, and my eyes flickered to Brax, who was scowling a little.

“I’ve never been jealous before. It’s a shit feeling,” he admitted.

I sat up on Derik, pulling Brax to me. I kissed him fully, showing him I loved him just as much.

“Don’t be. The fates wouldn’t give me just them, just be patient,” I tried, not entirely sure I was telling the truth.

“Or because of what I am and what I did to become what I am, I will not get to mate at all,” Brax said, looking away as he climbed off the bed.

I shook my head. “Brax, I’m a winter born human, pregnant with a werewolf, mated to two of them, linked to all three of you.

“If ever there was an example of defying the odds, of being the exception to the rule, it is us,” I reassured him, which had him glancing down at my stomach.

He traced a finger down it, then leaned down to kiss me. “Congratulations, Spitfire,” he said, then left before I could call him back.

I sighed and turned to Derik, who was eyeing me with an intense look that made me shiver. Kai had the same look. Something solidified between them, both recognizing me as their mate.

It made me happy, and I wanted them both as mates, I just wished Brax could be a part of that. I hated that he was left out.

I needed him too. He was my connection, he was the one that understood my shadows, understood that part of me like the others didn’t and probably never would.

But I believed what we had was strong enough, and I had hope that Brax would eventually be mine too. So, for now, I was going to enjoy my mates and when Brax came back, him too.

I moved to the bathroom, looking over my shoulder at my hungry mates on the bed. They were insatiable, and I had a small window to get the last of the heat from my veins.

“Coming with me? I need to wash before going to see my mother.” I smiled, and they both came in with me.

I sat in the bath, my alphas washing me, caressing me, still stuck in the aftercare stage of the heat. I wasn’t complaining, but my heart ached for Brax.

~“Brax?”~ I asked down our link, and he let me in. He was running as his wolf.

~“Just clearing my head, Spitfire. I’ll be there soon,”~ he said, and I watched through his eyes as he ran.

~“It doesn’t feel right without you here, the aftercare stuff. It feels like a part of me is missing,”~ I said quietly, communicating in our minds.

Kai and Derik respected the privacy of our conversation and stayed silent, but I had no doubt they were listening.

Brax slowed his run, then sighed and began to run back. ~“I’m on my way, Spitfire,”~ he breathed, and I smiled, that smile faltering as a wolf padded out in front of Brax.

He paused, and his heart raced harder. I frowned and leaned forward in the bath, watching what was going to happen.

Brax was annoyed, but I couldn’t understand why. Not until the wolf shifted. Fucking Garrett. Brax snarled, and my breath hitched as Garrett snarled right back.

“Kai. Derik,” I whispered.

They were frozen, probably watching the same thing I was.

“Fuck,” Kai said, and stood.

I did too, and looked as Derik and Kai pulled their pants on. “What’s wrong?” I asked, knowing something was as I watched Garrett circle Brax.

~“Brax?”~ I whispered, and he tried to soothe my worry, but I couldn’t stow it away. The tension was too tight in the link.

“Garrett’s going to challenge him. Caught him on his own so we wouldn’t be there as backup.”

I looked back down the link as Garrett smirked.

“Brax. The youngest. The weakest.”

He grinned, and I scoffed. He was an idiot if he thought Brax was the weakest.

He was the most controlled around the others, the most standoffish, and maybe to a werewolf that seemed weak, but Brax wasn’t.

He had his shadows, and the rage that brought was something unrivaled—even by a pissed-off werewolf.

~“Brax, you’ve got this. Even if he challenges you, you can beat him,”~ I said, and Brax smiled, his eyes never leaving Garrett.

~“Thanks, Spitfire,”~ he breathed, right before Garrett howled and announced his challenge.

Kai and Derik each kissed me before heading out the door. I wrapped a towel around myself and followed them through.

“I’m going to go sit with my mom. I’ll be watching. Please be safe,” I said, and Kai grinned, rolling his shoulders back.

“We just got all filled with the heat and mating, and your magic runs in our link, a fact that Garrett doesn’t know but is about to learn the hard way. A new runt to the litter sounds fun though.”

He laughed and walked away as Derik shook his head. “We’ll be careful. Sorry we can’t enjoy the mating moment a little more. We have to go be there for Brax,” he said, and I nodded.

“Of course. Go.” I gave him one last kiss, my finger brushing over the mating mark.

He deepened the kiss, then gave me a reluctant look before taking off after Kai.

I rushed over to the window and saw them turning into wolves, howling like crazy as the rest of the pack started surrounding Garrett and Brax.

~“Be careful, Brax,”~ I said, and he nodded once, his eyes trained in on Garrett, who was circling.

Brax was bigger than Garrett and had the alpha advantage.

~“I will. I’m going to push you out a little, Spitfire. When he lands his hit, I don’t want you feeling it,”~ Brax said, and I let him do it.

But I still hovered, needing to make sure he was going to be okay.

I rushed through to the wardrobe, throwing on the easiest dress to put on myself, then slipped my feet into the flats that were there.

I ran down to my mom’s room and knocked. She let me in, her smile faltering as she took in my expression. I shut the door behind me and went to her, hugging her tight.

“Did something happen?” she asked, and I nodded.

“Wolf politics. They’re a little violent.” I winced as Garrett went for Brax, bursting into his wolf to attack.

Brax sidestepped and swiped his claws across him, clamping his mouth down on his neck, throwing him across the clearing with a feral snarl.

Garrett charged again, and I tensed as his teeth came too close to Brax.

Nausea swirled in my stomach as I watched.

“Sit down, sweetie,” my mom said, helping me to the little table and chairs by her window.

I sank into a chair and she poured me a tea. I held it, drawing on the warmth as I watched Brax in my mind.

“Brax is being challenged; he’s fighting with another wolf for the alpha spot. I hate seeing him so close to being hurt.”

My mom’s hand came over mine, and I blinked away the tears that had sprung up as Garrett’s teeth sank into Brax’s hide. He yelped and swatted Garrett away, claws scraping across his face.

I winced as Brax fought for dominance.

He was clearly faster and stronger, but he was refusing to use his shadows on his pack member. He didn’t want to have that advantage, he wanted to beat him as a wolf, but I hated seeing him hurt.

“You’re quite pale. Maybe pull back a little? I don’t understand the link stuff, but maybe it is not safe for you?” she said, but I shook my head.

“I have to know he is okay.” I trembled as he was pinned to the ground, Garrett’s teeth gnashing at him, almost reaching his neck.

Brax growled and threw him off as Kai and Derik edged the sidelines, looking deadly as they stood there, legs apart, hulking frames dominating the space.

They were lending strength to Brax, and he was refusing it.

I shook my head at the thoughts he was trying to keep to himself. The self-destructive ones. The ones that told him he was strong enough on his own, that he didn’t need the others' strength.

But that was the point of having merged the three separate packs, to be one unit, and not using Derik’s and Kai’s power seemed like a distinctly sulky move after not mating.

I understood it, I just didn’t agree with it.

~“Let them help,”~ I urged Brax as Garrett landed a few more shots.

I gripped the table as Brax stumbled back, snarling as blood dripped down his face. Garrett looked tired and bloody too, but just as determined.

My heart was racing, panic filling my veins as Garrett pounced and Brax’s head smacked into a tree. The tree broke, and Garrett pressed him back, the shards of the broken stump piercing Brax’s coat.

He hissed and writhed, trying to get through, but Garrett wasn’t getting off.

“Brax!” I screamed as he tried to kick Garrett off, fighting back.

I stood from my chair, pain piercing my stomach. I sucked in a breath and clutched it as tears leaked from my eyes.

My mom rushed over. “Lorelai. Stop this. Leave the wolves to their politics,” she snapped.

I shook my head, clutching her as the throbbing ache and sharp pains attacked my stomach.

“No. He has to be okay, Mom,” I said, and pushed some of my strength through the link. I had to.

Pain filled me, and I clutched Mom tighter, forcing it on Brax.

“~Brax, stop this. There’s a reason you are alpha. Your connection with the other two. That’s the point, being able to work together. ~

~“Do you think if Garrett takes over from you that we have a hope in beating the humans? That he’ll just fall into the fold and work with Kai and Derik? He won’t, and we’ll fall apart. ~

~“Please, just win, however you have to. It doesn’t make you weaker, it makes you stronger,”~ I begged.

He snarled, tugging on all three of us, me, Derik, and Kai, accepting our strength before roaring and throwing Garrett off him.

I let out a sigh of relief, maintaining the connection despite my heart racing, my ears ringing.

Pain was covering my body, the sharpness centered in my stomach as my mother held me, patting my hair down.

She offered me some tea, and I sipped it before giving it back, the taste making my stomach swirl.

“Mom, no. What’d you do?” I demanded.

She smiled softly at me. “The wolves may be yours, sweetie, but you are mine, and I will not let you sit here in pain like this to save them.

“Not when you carry a child, and definitely not when you are pale and shivering and don’t even notice because you are too busy protecting them.

“I am your mother, Lorelai. I will protect you,” she said as my mind went foggy.

“No. I have to help,” I whispered, the strength in my body waning with my connection.

“No, sweetie. You don’t. You need them to be okay, but I need you to be okay. And they will be. So will you,” she said against my head, kissing it as my eyes fluttered closed.

I tried to keep them open, but it was too late, the darkness was edging my vision.

I had no idea if Brax was going to be okay. I had no idea whether they were going to know what my mom had done either, but I hoped when I woke up that she was right.