Page 30 of Return to the Pack

“What’s this about marriage?” Warrick says, wiping his hands on a shop rag as he strides into the kitchen.

Callan and Ethan trail behind him. “Who’s getting married?”

“Axel and I are!” Luna says brightly.

“What the fuck?” Warrick says, coming up to me and shoving me backward.

“Hey,” I shout and shove him back.

“Real smooth waiting for us to be gone before you made your move with Luna,” Warrick growls. He hauls back his arm as if to slug me.

“Stop!” Luna cries, seizing Warrick’s arm. “No more fighting, remember? We can all get married if you tell me what marriage is.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Ethan snarls, approaching Axel with rage in his eyes. “Marriage is a commitment between two people. Axel was hoping to separate you from us.”

Luna sidles between us and extends her arms between my chest and Ethan’s. “I said no fighting! You all agreed to share, so we’ll share. Let’s all get married.”

Warrick, Ethan, Callan, and I eye one another uneasily.

“It’s never been done,” Warrick says, shooting daggers into my eyes.

“I don’t care if it’s never been done,” Luna says. “That’s what you said about us all being mates with me, too. Did that stop us?” She folds her arms across her chest, and damn if she isn’t the most adorable spitfire of a woman who ever existed.

My gaze is still locked with Warrick’s. Using our pack bond, I telepathically communicate with him. She’s right. The pack accepted it. The world will just have to deal with it, too.

His bushy eyebrows launch high on his forehead as if he’s unused to such subtle communication.

A light, bright silvery voice cuts into our stare-down.

“I love you,” Luna says, her eyes pleading. “I love all of y’all. No one more than anyone else.” A pretty smile spreads across her face, and she studies us each in turn, as if to get our reassurance that we all love her, too.

“About this marriage business…” Warrick says, still appearing to simmer.

“I’m so in love with this woman I can’t and won’t exist without her,” I say flatly. I’m not one who does big emotions easily, but for Luna, it’s worth it. “I didn’t intend to separate her from the rest of you. I only meant to secure our commitment with a proposal. It didn’t cross my mind to ask permission because I wasn’t doing anything wrong. If she’s having a baby, one of us should make an honest woman out of her, and it makes most sense for it to be me. I’m the Alpha, and being the Alpha’s wife gives her most status and protection. She can have as many mates as she wants.”

Luna scoffs. “While I do love each and every one of you, I think I’m at my limit. Four lovers are plenty.”

Laughter breaks out among us, easing the tension.

“Still,” I say. “Someone’s gotta marry her, and it might cause some disturbance in the pack if we all tried to claim her as a wife. I mean…Luna and her four husbands?”

Shaking his head, Ethan pulls out a longneck for himself, then looks to his brothers.

Warrick and Callan lift their chins in assent.

Ethan tosses each a bottle of beer.

They catch them and twists the tops off. Foam bubbles out of the top, shooting all over their hands as they swig their beverages.

Callan pulls out a kitchen chair and settles into it, and the rest of us follow suit.

“It’s up to Luna,” Callan says. “If she wants four men, she gets four men, as long it’s us four.”

“I agree,” Ethan says, resting his bottle on the kitchen table. “We’ve all fucked tons of women and didn’t worry about public opinion even when we shared or passed them around, club whores and shit. Why should we worry about it now? Anyone who wants to give her shit can come talk to us.”

I don’t like him comparing my precious mate to a motorcycle club whore, but Luna doesn’t seem to notice. She picks up a tortilla chip from the half-empty bowl on the table and nibbles at it. “What does this marriage business entail? Why do I need to do it for a baby?”

“It’s a sacred bond between a woman and a man,” I say. “Someone officiates the ceremony and others bear witness—typically the pack, in our case.”