Page 104 of Beasts of Mine

The tension I hadn’t realized had gathered across my shoulders loosened.

Good.

“So the three of you expected to share one Omega eventually.” I adjusted the strap crossing my shoulder as the trail leveled out again.

“If we met someone all three of us wanted, and she wanted us.” Luca glanced toward me as he answered, his emphasis settling just as firmly on the second half.

Something about the way he looked at me made my next step slow. Tavian had gone unusually quiet ahead of us. When I glanced toward him, he was watching me instead of the trail, the easy humor that normally sat somewhere in his expression noticeably absent. Behind me, Malek’s footsteps stopped altogether.

I looked from one man to another.

“Why do I suddenly feel like this stopped being a general lesson about leopard-shifter relationships?” I asked them as my fingers tightened slightly around the strap of my camera bag.

“It did.” Malek answered from a few paces behind me, his golden-brown eyes holding mine when I turned toward him. The simple answer did absolutely nothing helpful for the strange little twist beneath my ribs.

“We’re interested in you, Evie.” Luca added from beside me, his voice warm but direct as he shifted the rolled tarp beneath his arm. “All three of us.”

I stared at him.

Then Tavian.

Then Malek.

For once, Tavian seemed perfectly willing to let the silence sit there.

“You mean interested as in…” I let the unfinished question hang between us because apparently my ability to form complete sentences had abandoned me at an inconvenient time.

“As in we’d like the chance to see where this could go.” Tavian answered from beside the nearest tree, his expression more serious than I was used to seeing on him. “With you.”

There it was.

Not a discussion about some future Omega they might meet one day.

Me.

My first reaction probably should have involved the fact that three attractive Alpha shifters had just admitted they were interested in me. Instead, one particular detail from the conversation lodged itself firmly in my head.

“Is this because I’m an Omega?” I asked them, my grip tightening briefly around my camera strap. “You’ve always known you wanted one shared Omega, and then I wandered into your territory unattached.”

“No.” Malek answered so quickly that my attention snapped back to him. His expression had gone completely serious, whatever amusement he’d carried earlier disappearing.

“There are other Omegas, Evie.” Malek continued as he shifted one of my bags higher against his shoulder. “If having an Omega in the pack was all we wanted, we could have pursued someone years ago.”

“That would also have been considerably easier than waiting for one to arrive carrying half a camera store.” Tavian added from beside the tree, carefully letting a little humor back into the conversation.

“It is not that much equipment.” I gave Tavian an offended look, grateful for something easier to respond to.

“You brought six bags.” Tavian pointed toward the collection currently hanging from Malek, his amber eyes brightening as though the evidence spoke for itself.

“Five. The other one folds down.” I corrected Tavian automatically.

“It still turns into a bag.” Tavian’s grin widened.

“Can you survive one serious conversation?” Luca asked Tavian as he tipped his head toward him, though the smile pulling at his own mouth took most of the bite from the question.

“Usually.” Tavian pushed away from the tree and straightened. “I make no promises.”

The interruption gave me enough time to let the more important answer settle. They could have pursued another Omega. They hadn’t.