Her Brother, Her Mate

Mark POV

I spent the better half of the morning after my brother and I walked Hadley to work, working on getting my parent’s yacht ready for this date tonight. Mitch had time alone with Hadley already, so now it was my turn. It didn’t take much convincing to get him to give into this for me. He said he had s**t to take care of anyway. I know he has been meaning to deal with that pain in the a*s, Suzie, and wanted to get it taken care of before our father lifts the bond placed on our magic tonight.

I’m so excited about this date. I covered the whole cabin with white roses and stocks of lavender, the sweet fragrances mixing in the air and enhancing Hadley’s scent just like I knew they would. I have a chef in the kitchen, courtesy of Vincent, and soft music playing over the speakers.

“This is beautiful,” Hadley croons, looking around at all the flowers, “You didn’t leave any cringy notes on those flowers, did you?” She smirks at me.

I chuckle, my cheeks showing my embarrassment. I grip her waist and rest my face on her shoulder to hide my discomposure. “No, no notes.”

“I still have your last one in my purse if you want to sneak it into one of these really fast,” she teases me, making me g***n.

“Just throw it away,” I muttered.

She giggles, instantly alleviating my embarrassment, “Nope. I’m saving it forever.”

“Why?” I laughed, resting my head on hers.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“So we can show our kids what not to do one day?” The way her voice lifts at the end, like she was unsure if I wanted to have kids with her or not, is adorable.

“You can show all 10 of them,” I smirk, making her hit me in the chest playfully. I want nothing more than to see Hadley growing round with our child.

Mitch and I share the same DNA. All our kids with Hadley will be both of ours. It may be weird for humans to have a polygamous relationship, but it is quite common for twins or even triplets in our supernatural world. The beast inside us is an animal and has animalistic traits when it comes to mating. If you have the same DNA as your twin or triplet, chances are you are going to share a mate as well. If you Google polygamous, the first definition actually says it’s the animalistic trait of having more than one mate. Mitch and I work better when we share, and now that we have Hadley, we know why. Sharing kids will not be a problem for us.

We sat and got settled at the table. The captain I hired for the evening started up the engine and took us out into open water, not too far from the shoreline. After we were steady and anchored, I poured both of us glasses of wine and signaled the staff to bring over the appetizers.

Hadley being accepting and open with me is like a dream come true. She is laughing and joking with me, her smile lighting up my entire world.

“Are you nervous for tonight?” she asks me, taking a bite of her risotto.

I shrug, “I’m not really nervous. Ready for it to be over. I’m excited about what comes after, though,” I told her.

“What comes after? The magic?” Oh, there will be magic, alright. Magic in the bedroom.

I shook my head, smirking over my wine glass. “The mating.”

Her face falls momentarily, “You mean having s*x?” she asks nervously.

“Well,” I bit my l*p. I would be lying if I told her no, and I don’t want to lie to her right now, “Eventually, but I’d be happy if I could just k**s you without the risk of hurting you.”

She nods, looking down at her lap, then back up at me through her lashes, “Are you going to do the biting thing to me?”

She looks almost scared as she asks, “I want to. I want us to have kids with you, and don’t want you to have to go through all the s**t my mom did. Getting eggs harvested and us cumming in a cup over and over again isn’t ideal.”

She still looks uneasy about it.

“It doesn’t hurt, Hadley. If anything, it feels amazing. That’s what I heard anyway. Marking you will give all of us a euphoric feeling.”

She nods, worrying and knotting her hands, “But I won’t be able to mark you?”

Oh. That’s what’s bothering her. “Not unless we turn you, but I’m not sure I’m willing to risk that. It hurts like hell to transform, and if your body can’t handle the mutation, it could kill you.”

“Oh,” was all she said. I know it’s not very fair. The bond is probably driving her to claim us too. I’ll have to talk with Mitch and see if there is anything we can do for her in place of marking us. I know Laura had Simon’s k**s mark tattooed on her neck. Maybe we could do something like that for Hadley.

The lull in our conversation created by talking about mating and marking eased, and we started talking about our jobs and how much Hadley likes hers. Her family didn’t give her the freedom to work before. She liked her opinions being respected and having a voice. Mom loves her, which surprised me considering what happened between Hadley’s mother and mine. I know mom is trying to right the wrongs of her past.

No, Sabrina never should have tried to get dad to accept her. Werewolves are possessive and it never would have worked without a bond in place. She didn’t have to throw her out, but I understand why she did. I couldn’t tolerate sharing Hadley with anyone other than Mitch. Just the thought makes me homicidal. Mom thought after she threw Sabrina out, that she could go into hiding or find someone like Amanda to help. She didn’t expect Sabrina to be killed. Neither did my father.

Seers are so valuable to covens that mom and dad never thought Fadel would kill Sabrina if he found her.

I’m not necessarily excited about getting magic, but I like the fact I will have another way to protect my mate if her past finds her. Me and my brother are her future. We won’t let anything jeopardize that. Having magic means we will just have more ways to defend and protect our mate.

We finish dinner, then as the sun sets, I pull Hadley out to the deck to watch, holding her tight in my arms as we sway softly to the music.

“This was a great night, Mark. Thank you.”

I smiled, “Thank you! I didn’t think I was going to be able to get you on this boat for a minute there.”

“You weren’t going to get me on the boat for a minute there,” she laughed, “Have you seen The Shallows? What about Jaws?”

I chuckled softly, “I haven’t seen either of those.”

“What?! You live by the ocean. You have to watch them! How are you going to be prepared for a shark attack?”

I lean back and grin at her, showing my teeth, then let my canines slip.

“Oh. Yeah, you might be fine,” she giggles.

“Did you think I was going to let a shark eat you?” I teased her.

“I didn’t think you would let one eat me, but I don’t expect a shark to ask your permission either if I fell off the boat.”

I tsked my tongue at her, “So you think I’d let you fall in?”

“I don’t know,” she says, exasperated, “I wasn’t thinking of anything but the sharks.”

“Aww, and the only thing I can think about is you,” I ran my nose down her neck, making her shiver.

“Mmh,” is all she manages to say.

“I would never let a shark or anything else hurt you, sugar. Nothing. You never have to worry about anything when you are with me.”

“Somehow, I think you are more dangerous than a shark,” she smirks at me.

“Oh, I am,” I chuckle, “To anything that tries to harm my sugar mama.”

“That is not going to be a nickname for me,” She c***s her eyebrow at me in challenge, “Ever.”

“How about just sugar?” I asked, running my nose down her neck again, inhaling her sweet honey and lavender scent.

“As long as ‘mama’ never comes after it,” she says in a breathy m**n.

“Deal.”