Sebastian

"It's Samantha!" Dean told me around a mouthful.

As if the look on his face hadn't said it all. I'd gone on edge the second he had stopped chewing, eyes going wide.

Why was Samantha calling? Was it because she missed us as fucking much as we did her? Or was it because she wanted to ask something about tomorrow's court hearing?

What if something bad was happening and she was calling for help?

My hands balled into fists. If she was in danger...

Dean placed his phone between us on the table and put it on loudspeaker. "Sweetie?"

"Sorry but no," a male voice replied. "It's Eric."

Dean's shoulders slumped.

My brow furrowed further. Why was he calling? I had given him a courteous call yesterday to ask how he was and inform him a new phone would be waiting for him on Monday, so that he wouldn't have to use Samantha's anymore. We had agreed on how we were going to attend the hearing together and not talk again until then.

"Is Samantha okay?" I asked directly. I could see no other reason for his call.

"Oh, hi Bas... You're both there, perfect. Samantha is all right; she's taking a shower as we speak. That's why I'm calling you now."

Dean and I exchanged a look. Why would he want to hide this conversation from our mate?

"Since our time is limited," Eric kept talking, sounding hesitant, "I'll cut to the chase. Samantha and I... are officially mated."

I gripped the table's edge so hard the whole thing creaked. My claws extended and sank into the wood.

Dean winced. "Easy there, pal," he whispered over the phone. "We knew this could happen... In fact, it's a good thing, isn't it?"

I retracted my claws but kept gritting my teeth. It truly was a good sigh that Samantha had linked herself with one of us when days ago she had kept repeating she didn't want a mate like a mantra. Still, I couldn't accept the news as fucking positively as Dean.

Another shifter had placed his mating mark on my spitfire before me, and I didn't even know if I would ever get to do the same. The thought of Samantha walking around with someone's mating mark on her but not mine was maddening.

That was precisely why Dean and I had agreed to mark Samantha together, even if that would delay the moment because of her being more comfortable with Dean than me.

"You there, guys?" Eric spoke tentatively.

I growled at the phone. "Is that why you're calling? To gloat?"

Dean winced again.

He should be happy I was reining in my territoriality as much as I was. Otherwise we would be in need of a new kitchen table and Samantha, of a new Eric.

"God, of course not!" Eric replied to my question. "I'm telling you of the mating because you need to know in advance. To have time to come to terms with it until our meeting tomorrow."

"I'll 'come to terms with it'," I bared my teeth at the phone, "when Samantha is wearing my mark as well."

Eric sighed. "See, that's why I'm calling. Samantha needs you two."

I felt like pulling my beard's hairs out. "You said she was all right!"

"She is! But she needs your mating marks."

I grunted. That wasn't any news for us.

"Hmm..." Dean tuned in. "Are you calling because she doesn't dare do it herself?"

Eric sighed again. "More or less. She's in denial, guys. She refuses to admit she needs more than me being linked to her. I told her several times I will not be offended if she adds more males to the relationship, but she doesn't want to hear about such 'disrespect towards our special connection'."

"Our sweetie feels guilty about wanting more than one male."

"Fucking outdated standards," I grumbled.

Samantha had called herself a hussy once because she had slept with Eric and then kissed me, when she should simply follow her instincts and Mother Nature's will. Adhering to the standards of some monogamous fuckers of old wouldn't make her happy. Dean and I–Eric, Dean and I would make her happy.

"Being an Omega," Eric continued, "I can sense emotional imbalances. And that's exactly what I've been sensing in Samantha since the morning after we sealed the mating bond. I believe that the activation of our link made the need for the links with the two of you more pressing. She is trying to deny that need but it is causing an imbalance in her emotional state. There could be serious damage in the long run."

I growled low in my throat. Samantha was too stubborn for her own good.

"What are you suggesting we do, bud?" Dean asked, his features twisted in concern.

"Stop waiting for Samantha to make the first move. Giving her space for a week was a smart thing to do but any results from here onward will require the first step to come from you, guys."

Dean gave me a look, his lips curling into a smile. "Seems like you and Bas think alike, Eric. You should find out what else you have in common when things get intimate between you two tomorrow night."

"What?!"

"The fuck?"

Dean laughed. "Relax, guys. I'm talking about the celebration Bas has planned to get our sweetie's iron control over her desires slip."

"Ah..." Eric cleared his throat. "Good, you already have something planned. I'm in if it's going to convince Samantha to accept your mating marks." He cleared his throat again. "But don't expect me to join you in bed or something. I'm not into... I can't go there yet."

I huffed. "No one is offering a foursome here. I might have accepted you'll be part of our family with Samantha, but that doesn't mean I can handle seeing your dick inside her." My tiger hissed in my mind at the mere thought.

Eric coughed.

Dean snickered at the Omega's discomfort and gave me an amused look.

I shrugged. Eric better get used to my crude words, because he was going to hear them a lot.

Speaking of getting used to...

"We have to change the plan for tomorrow a bit," I told the others.

"How so?"

"Samantha is shy about being with one of us while another is watching, right? Since shyness can only be cured with an overdose of the very reason for it..."

"We'll have to up our game," Dean finished for me. "I mean, up the upped game we talked about earlier."

I nodded. We would need some extra hands on deck for what I had in mind, but the plan should work.

Dean grinned. "Our sweetie won't know what hit her."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Eric butted in, "but my time is up so I guess I'll just follow your lead tomorrow... Just no involving me in... bedroom stuff, please."

"Got it, buddy. See you tomorrow." Dean ended the call, still smiling broadly.

"What a prude," I muttered and pushed my chair back with a screech. "I hate the guy."

Dean laughed, leaning back in his chair. "You do? Because you said the same thing about me when we were having our first real conversation ever. Remember?"

I did. It had been right after we had fought over some female at a club. Once she had ditched us both, Dean had offered that we drink to our own stupidity. I had told him to go fuck himself. "You sound like a nice guy, I like you already," he had replied. My answer? "And I hate you already."

We had ended up drinking and talking for hours afterwards.

"Look at us now, pal!" Dean winked at me. "A couple in love."

"You think you're funny, smartass? Let me tell you what you really are."

"Do tell, honey."

My lips stretched into a grin of my own. "Late for work."

One look at the time on his phone, and he was running to go get dressed for enforcement duty with a, "Damn it!"

I grunted with amusement and got to work myself. First I placed Dean's half-eaten omelette in his lunch box – like fuck was I going to let him go hungry for hours. Then I went to put our bedrooms in order.

Everything had to be perfect for tomorrow night.