Her Grey Men

Can I balance

Jennifer

Brian and I waited in the living room while Dave took some time for himself outside. I really didn’t know what to do. I love my husband, he is my mate, and the father of my child, my partner in all things. This. This was a lot to be dumped in my lap all of a sudden. Up until I found Brian my pack was failing, like Dave’s home pack no one wanted to find a mate in hopes that the Moon Goddess would bless us once more. Then as soon as my eyes locked with Brian’s hope was renewed. This felt selfish. This felt like I was betraying my pack because they still didn’t have given mates. 

I leaned into my husband listening to the bustling pack that we were visiting. I noticed a lot of children running around the house. This was odd for me. Did these wolves just accept that they wouldn’t have mates? Did they just make bonds the human way? I was a little jealous that they felt confident. One older woman came into the large living room and sat down across from us. She looked like she had just gotten off work and was wearing a set of scrubs.

She looked at us like she was evaluating us for a few breaths before introducing herself. “I’m Kayliegh. You two look like you’ve just met the Masters.”

I nodded and swallowed. “Yeah. quite intimidating.” I answered.

She whistled. “You must have quite the conundrum to need to talk to them.”

Brian nodded. “Yeah, you can say that.” 

“Hmm, will you be staying the night? I’ll have a room set up.” she asked. She must be high ranked in this pack. Probably a beta.

“I don’t know yet. The mage that brought us is still talking to alpha...er Minerva.” I responded.

Kayliegh laughed. “Don’t worry everyone calls her alpha after meeting her. Her mom’s cousin is our alpha, but she runs this part of the pack because Black River is based in New York and we are in Maine.”

“Why isn’t this place it’s own pack?” I wondered.

“Oh that history is pretty interesting. You can ask Maggie about it later. Probably not my place to say anything. But I’ll have a room set up for you anyway.” the woman slapped her leg and stood up leaving the living room. “If you need anything ask anyone that you run into, everyone has been instructed to help you out.”

Brian and I nodded. Kayliegh was pleasant. She gave me the feeling that she was a super understanding aunt. I think I needed that, this pack was slightly overwhelming. The aura, and energy that everyone had here was super overpowering. I don’t think that this pack would ever be attacked, the very sensation of walking through the door had me wanting to submit, and I am a strong alpha. 

We sat enjoying the ambience of activity, and not being required to partake in any of it. A rare thing in our pack. After about an hour Dave came back in and joined us in the living room sitting in a chair adjacent to the love seat that I shared with Brian. His face was pained as he gazed at us and our entwined hands. I self consciously made space between me and my mate, I mean husband. I know this must be very hard for the man to see. Wolves have only ever had one mate. The ultimate monogamy.

I cleared my throat before speaking. “Um we should probably have this conversation.” Dave looked panicked.

He shook his head. “I understand. This isn’t my place.”

I know that I need to reject him, but this mating pull and this bond that our souls are already forging keeps my tongue behind my teeth. I begin to turn red in embarrassment as images of him and me flash through my mind. Gods and planets why can’t I just say the words. I tremble at the thought of losing my mate, but I already have a mate, and he is supremely devoted to me. I feel like I’m betraying him, just as much as the man sitting across from us. 

It felt like an eternity of my mind running wild with the what ifs and the shame of wanting to make something with this other man that I don’t even know. My husband has been there for me for so many years, through so much of my life. He is my first love, and is supposed to be my last! Why can’t I just reject this newcomer like I should?

After what seemed like a thousand years my husband saved me. “We should find another room. To talk. I’m sure that we don’t want to talk about this in front of others.” Dave and I absently nod in agreement. 

Brian stood up to find a pack member to take us to the room that Kayliegh had set up for us. I sighed out of confusion and annoyance. Why can’t I just say it? Why can’t I just reject this man? Probably because my tratorous soul is greedy and can only recognize the bond. 

My fairy husband comes back with our guide, a young man, that smells vaguely like a vampire that escorted us to our room. The kid left us at the door letting us know that he will tell the mage where we are. We walk in finding a spacious room with a huge king size bed and a magnificently appointed bathroom that I saw through the door. 

I didn’t know what to do or say so I dumbly stood in the middle of the bedroom still holding my overnight bag. Brian took my bag and set it on the desk in the corner before saying something that had me floored. “Don’t reject him.”

Dave looked shocked and took a step back. “Why?”

“Yeah why?” I wanted to know too.

“Because I don’t know if rejecting him will cause you to reject me as well.” Brian answered. “These bonds that are wrapping around us are too tight. This is the fabric of the universe weaving us together, and like that viking said some gods are setting us up for something. What if the only way to reject him causes you to sever my bonds too? I would rather live with you having two mates than letting you go.”

“I..” I need to breathe. “I need to run.” I turned to the door to leave when it slammed open. 

“Wait!” Maggie yelled rushing into the room with the three of us. “Oh good I found you.” This woman goes from one extreme to the next like flipping like a light switch. 

Dave asked his boss. “Wait for what?”

“Umm, nothing.” the mage turned and left the room leaving us perplexed and me slightly irritated.

“I’m going for a run now. I need to process this shit.” I huffed before walking out the door and tracking down a pack member. I found the vampire kid and asked him to take me outside so I could run, as he was taking me to their property I noticed Minerva and Maggie having a heated discussion with arms waving and faces shouting, but even with my wolf ears I couldn’t hear any of it, must be some mage magic. I just continued outside.

“Alpha, the gazebo has cubbys to leave your clothes if you need to shift, you’ll feel our boundary, try to stay on it so we don’t confuse you with an intruder.” the kid said. I nodded. I’ll feel the boundary? That’s new. But with such powerful auras I guess it makes sense.

I could smell that Dave must have used this gazebo for the same reason as I stepped in and pulled the door closed behind me. It was heady and my wolf was pacing in my head wanting to go to him. Damn this bond, I don’t know what to do with myself. I stood in the cedar structure just trying to breathe as my head swirled with what Brian told me. The Viking and Brian both said something to encourage me to keep both. But how could I? I’m a freaking wolf, we don’t do multiple relationships! We find the one, ONE, half to our soul and live with them until one of us dies! Second chances aren’t guaranteed and we don’t count on them. We live with the one person that the goddess gives us or we don’t.

I finally decided to just walk the trails in the forest behind their pack house. I couldn’t trust my wolf to behave. And I needed to be in control. I took the path behind the house and wandered through the woods for a while smelling the fresh air and listening to the wildlife. For a wolf’s territory there are a lot of animals. Normally wolves are given a huge berth, this was seriously out of the ordinary. I tried not to think about these strange wolves, and just let my surroundings calm me down. 

I sat in a clearing near the running trails till the sun dipped under the trees before deciding to  head back to the pack house. At this point I'm grateful for the offered room, I know that I am in no mood to go back to my home right now, not until I figure out what I really want. The only thing that I am certain of is that I don’t want to risk breaking my bond with Brian, but can I handle keeping the bond that was actively weaving with Dave?

As I got back to the gazebo the two in question were waiting for me. My husband held my hand and looked at me. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just a lot to handle right now.” I said shaking my head.

“I know, but we need to finish this conversation. Look, you know that as a fairy I can see the paths of energies and everything right?” what is he getting at?

I nod unsure of what else he had to say. “Yeah, what about it?”

“I found you because I was able to follow the path of our bond, weeks before Dave showed up I could see another bond wrapping around you. I know as a wolf you wouldn’t be affected by it, but I also knew that there was a chance that this could happen.” Brian explained. 

“You knew? Why didn’t you say anything?” I was starting to get angry that my husband kept this from me, but waited for him to explain. 

“Because at that point it was still a really slim chance that this exact situation would happen.” he sighed. “But more than that, there is this weird bond path between me and Dave.”

“Did you two talk about this?” I asked.

Dave nodded with a guarded expression on his face. “I didn’t know that fairies had this ability, pretty convenient, doesn't put me anymore at ease, and this is still up to you.” the investigator gestured between me and him.

“I don’t know what to do.” I admitted. “My wolf is on cloud nine right now, waay more than before with just you, Brian. But I still have this feeling of guilt. Maybe shame? I don’t know. This isn’t what wolves do.”

“Oh honey! Please don’t! I couldn’t handle being the cause of my mate’s distress.” Dave stepped closer to me even as Brian pulled me in for a hug. The sparks and calmness of having my husband close to me were complimented by the caring tone in this stranger’s voice. It didn’t even bother me that he used a term of endearment for me already. Gods this is so strange.

I could feel my anxiety pulling this new bond taught, none of us even noticed that Dave placed his hand on my arm before sparks erupted under our skin. I gasped at the intensity of it. I was in contact with both of them and my wolf was roaring to the surface at the knowledge of being surrounded by her mates. I gasped at the overwhelming sensation of such a simple touch. Gods and planets if I succumbed to this insane idea, how was I going to handle more?

“What was that?” Brian asked.

Dave dropped his hand and shook his head. “I have no idea but that is intense!” after a few breaths collecting himself. “Uh is that a normal mate bond thing?”

My husband shook his head fervently. “No not at all. It has never been that extreme.”

I stood dumbfounded. What next? “Do we want to do this? How would we even manage?”

“Honey, this is all on you at this point. I still feel like an intruder.” Dave said then smirked. “As much as I want more.”

Brian rolled his eyes. “Fairies are somewhat more open to these situations. My mother was mated to my father, but she had a fairy husband too. The queen has to have a king, and Dragons don’t qualify.”

I was stunned. “You never said anything about that.”

“She didn’t have a relationship with him, it was like a working partner, so it didn’t matter.” Brian told us. “The rules changed after that guy's death though.”

“Why would they do that when fairies can only have children with their mate?” It didn’t make sense to have a political marriage like that.

“Ehhh, not the whole truth. Fairies can’t have kids with inhumans outside their species unless it’s their mate. The fairy race would have died out millenia ago if we could only breed with our mates. Most fairies don’t have mates at all.” Brian grimaced. 

Dave sniggered. “I should be writing all this down, I’m learning more about council secrets off duty than the last five years in the archives.”

“Unbelievable. Why would they keep that misinformation circulating?” I asked. I was a little hurt that my husband didn’t fully explain this to me when we first met. 

“Keeps outsiders away from the Vale. No point in trying to mate with a fairy if you can’t have a kid.” He shrugged. 

Dave scoffed. “People don’t want to make it with a fairy just for the offspring, some weirdos just want to do it to put that notch on their belt.”

I shook my head laughing with the wolf. “A hundred years old and you are so naive.” 

My husband turned beat red at Dave’s crudeness and my ribbing. “Well uh, just shut up.” he crossed his arms in annoyance. “I know about that.” he muttered.

We laughed and chatted for a few more minutes before deciding to head back into the house. As we entered I could smell dinner and my stomach growled. It just hit me that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. It’s hard to believe everything that happened today. The vampire kid, his name is Andrew by the way, met us at the back door and brought us to the large dining room. 

The three of us sat at one side of their super long table with Dave on my right and Brian on my left. Maggie and Minerva joined us and sat across from us. The aggravatingly gorgeous wolf smirked at me and asked. “So you going to keep him?”

I blushed and dropped my head toward my plate before mumbling. “It’s complicated.”

“What’s so complicated about it? They can take turns or you can reject the grey man so I can take him.” She bit a carrot and raised an eyebrow. I growled in response. “Sounds like your wolf has already decided.”

Brian laughed then said. “You’ll catch flies if you don’t pick up your jaw there Dave.” then continued to quietly eat his dinner. The mage looked bored. What is with that woman? How is it that this seems like the most blaise thing in the world? 

“Simple, little alpha, we’ve seen some shit.” Minerva replied. Wait. What? Damn it I forgot these people can read minds. 

I just glared at the woman, eating my dinner no longer wishing to know anything else. Maggie and Minerva chatted with their pack and caught up with family. I gathered from their conversation that they are cousins. How a mage and a wolf are cousins is bizarre to me, but then I met both of these women’s parents. Minerva’s parents aura told me that they are extremely strong wolves, but they don’t smell like wolves. Then the mage's mother smells like a wolf, but her father’s smell is nothing that I have ever encountered before. I feel like I’ve been dumped in the middle of something that I will never truly understand. 

As uneasy as I felt in this pack house I was still welcomed by all the members. I almost felt like a member of this pack myself, it was deceptive and bewitching. I need to get home as soon as possible, my little boy needs his mom. I’ll give my dad a call once I get to our room. Which we headed to once we finished dinner. 

Brian and I headed down the hall followed by Dave after saying thank you and good night to Minerva and Maggie, we were hopefully going to be taken back home in the morning. I walked in, kicked my shoes off and sat on the foot of the bed and pulled my phone out to dial my dad. I looked up to see Brian and Dave standing awkwardly in front of me. “What’s up?”

“Uhh.” Dave started.

I rubbed my face with my free hand. “Lemme guess they didn’t bother giving you a room?”

Dave nodded.

“I’m calling my kid. We will deal with this in a minute.” I stated then hit the call button.

I waited until I heard my dad pick up. “Hey Jenny bean. Fix that issue yet?”

“Uhh, still working on it, but should be heading home tomorrow or the next day. How’s Sammy?” I sighed.

“The pup’s fine, your mom just bathed him, here I’ll get him.” I waited a few moments before hearing my baby's voice.

“Momma! Pop pop gave me a whole candy bar!” he squealed in delight. I heard my dad shushing him in the background and just laughed. 

“Did he? Oh my gosh I bet that was the best huh?” I asked.

He laughed then said. “Yeah, momma! Then we played at the playground and I get to sleep in a fort!” man when I leave my dad with Sammy they are terrible.

“Oh my gosh that sounds awesome! Well I called to tell you good night, I love you little man.”

Night momma, grammy is going to read me your favorite book.” I heard shuffling then my dad came back on the line.

“It was a fun size bar by the way, little snitch.”

I laughed again. “Okay dad, night then, see you soon.”

“Night Jenny Bean, love you.” My dad clicked end on the call, leaving me with my ‘issue’ staring at me.

The three of us looked at each other for a few minutes not knowing what to do. I feel like this is some matchmaker move that Minerva or Maggie staged. Why the hell didn’t they think to get Dave a room? What if we decided that it would be best to sever the bond? I just couldn’t believe the surety that these people had that I would accept this. And yet I could feel my wolf surfacing just being in a room alone with these two men. Gods the thoughts running through my head.

My heart was beating faster and I knew that my eyes were already shifting to the color of my wolf. My husband is gorgeous, has those amazing fairy genes, just flawless, perfect skin, light brown hair, and brilliant blue eyes. His body was toned and he was several inches taller than me. 

Then I looked at Dave, actually looked at him. Black hair eyes so dark they were black, his tanned complexion told me that he spent his life outside, and his stubble just made me want to drag my fingers across his face to his perfect sculpted lips. I had to shake my head to recenter myself and pull myself out of that aroused state. 

However once I looked back up the man in question was much closer. I could feel his breath on my face. I panicked and looked at my husband to save me. But Brian was now just sitting on the couch watching me. What the hell man? Come pull me out of this! The fairy smirked and shook his head. 

I gasped as Dave’s fingers gently trailed sparks from my jaw to my neck. He whispered as he brought his face close to mine. “Do you want to be my mate?” I shuddered at the thrill. 

Why did this feel like p**n? Why did this feel indecent? And why did I want this? Brian continued to watch. Why wasn’t he stopping me? I’m his wife for crying out loud! “Um.”

“I can hear your heart racing, and your smell is driving me insane.” Dave leaned closer. “I have to taste you.” I closed my eyes and bit my lip begging, but I didn’t know what for. Do I even want this to stop? 

I shakily asked both men. “What do you want?”

Dave chuckled as he leaned closer inhaling my scent. “That is a very dangerous question honey.”

I opened my eyes looking for Brian again. What was I wanting from him? Do I want him to rescue me? Do I want his permission? Having this man in my space touching me while my husband just let this happen was maddening. He finally spoke up leaving my jaw hanging. “I just want you, and if my bond being wrapped up in his bond lets me keep you then I’m happy.”

“But.” I choked out.

“Baby, I’m not worried about it, I know you love me. As long as you are comfortable, just accept this. You are in charge.” Brian flattly said and stood up to join me on the bed. 

Dave moved slightly to allow Brian some room, but it only brought him closer to me. My heart was pounding out of my chest. I need air. I need air now! I shot up pushing them both away from me. “I uh need a shower.” then after looking at the lusty haze on their faces I added. “Alone!” I grabbed my bag and quickly retreated to the bathroom locking the door behind me. 

What am I thinking? Can I have them both? Can I make this work? Can I keep them both happy?

I heard them quietly talking behind the door. I needed to shut them out for a bit so turned on the water. I want a hot shower to ease the stress away, but feel that I need a cold shower to wash away my arousal. While under the water I just kept thinking about how when they both touched me my body felt like I was strapped to an electric fence. I shuddered more from the memory than the cold water running down my body. I couldn’t decide if the goose bumps were from excitement or the shower. I decided to turn the water to hot. Goosebumps still present, well I’m royally screwed. Crap! No not that way!

After about a half hour I decided that it was time to face the music and confront this. Whatever this was. But when I walked out of the bathroom both of them were gone. I found a note on the foot of the bed stating that they would both be staying in a separate room since they were making me uncomfortable. I sighed and rubbed my face. Fine. I don’t think I’ll sleep anyway though.