I wasn't able to sleep that whole night, dreading to close my eyes in case my mind conjured images of the torturous things they could be putting Natalia through right now. It had been less than 24h since she disappeared, so chances were that she was still unharmed, but every minute that we wasted risked something happening to her.

It took every bit of my inner strength not to snap Amy's neck as I interrogated her earlier in the evening, seeing as she was the main responsible for the kidnapping of my sister. The fucking idiot had stupidly fallen for insane promises of those men that they will help her become my Luna. My fucking Luna! And for that she was ready to trade the life of Natalia and to harm my father, her Alpha. I always knew that all these she-wolfs were out of their minds in their efforts to get to me but I was fucking livid at the extent that Amy had dared to go.

Yet, at the same time I blamed myself. Did I ever make any promises to any of them? Of course not. If anything, it was a well-known fact that I had no interest in being mated. But I couldn't help but wonder whether even my simple hook-ups with any of them had led to this desperation that Amy had resorted to. It was only now, hours after I had extracted her confession out of her that I was able to think about it all with a semi-clear head.

I spent the hours on the way down to London replaying everything in my head. My last conversation with Natalia, the day I found out that she was injured, my mother's and my own kidnapping, the torturous hours spent in that mansion down south. I kept on trying to figure out what I could have done differently to prevent all of these from happening but I could not come up with any answers. My wolf, meanwhile, was going crazy inside my head, thinking about his mate of all things. As if that was even remotely a crucial element at this moment in time. That's why I blocked him, much to his protest.

My inner thoughts were slowly driving me insane and the confines of the car, where I was stuck with two other Alpha males and Riley Moreau of all people, were only aggravating my mood. So the moment that we stopped to fill up the car, I bolted out of it. I wanted nothing more than to shift and go for a run to clear my head but I knew it wasn't possible, so I had to make do with splashing some water on my face in the bathroom. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and all I saw was anger. Anger that was simply there to mask just how helpless I felt.

I walked out of the bathroom and made my way to the car when it hit me- the smell of her sweet arousal. It appeased and excited my wolf at the same time but my human side was not indifferent either, as my cock hardened under my jeans. I felt a throbbing pain in my crotch just at the thought of running my fingers over her naked skin before I spread her legs wide open and I...

Fucking great! Everything is going to shits and this woman is turned on, making my wolf and my dick ready to succumb to her command. What the fuck is wrong with everyone?

The power she held over me was unfathomable. Or maybe I just needed to get laid that badly. Whatever it was, I knew that I was not going to give in, not with Riley. I looked straight at her, keeping my face as neutral as I could. We locked eyes and I could see that she was struggling inside her head before she ran out of the car and into the petrol station.

I got into the car, taking over the driver's seat as it was my turn to drive for the rest of the journey, a task that I was glad to have at that moment as I needed my mind to be occupied with anything else but this woman.

When we finally pulled in front of her house, I was happy to finally reach our destination. The moment that we received the address of where we expected that Natalia was held though, I was ready to go again. Anything to save my sister. But Aiden and Riley did have a point when they argued that we had better chances attacking in the early hours of the following morning when they would least expect us.

I should have known though that going to Riley's house was not a good idea. Not only were we exposed to yet another human now- although she was luckily too smitten with Callum to ask too many questions- I had also not seen what happened next coming.

When the words came out of her mouth, I was stunned and fuming at the same time. My wolf, on the other hand, was overjoyed that he had finally found its mate, despite the fact that he was hurting for the loss of her wolf.

ome on, you idiot, claim her! Call her what she is- our mate. I heard him growl in my head. The word was right there, ready to roll off my tongue.

My whole body was betraying me as it wanted nothing more than to pull her in my arms and claim her as my own. But I couldn't. I didn't want to. I didn't need a mate. She would only slow me down in a world where there were already enough dangers. And then what- just lose another person I love one day? Losing my mother was hard enough. The thought of potentially losing my younger sister was excruciating. But losing a mate? That's something you never recover from.

I knew deep down inside that I could not allow this to happen and yet my wolf kept pushing. I could feel that he was trying to come to the surface, as he let out a growl. Mate! Mine! My wolf kept on chanting in my head but I was refusing to say it out loud. Instead, I continued taunting her. The best defence is offence, right?

Then I heard her say it. "When this is over, I want my sanity back." The same words that I had seen etched on the skin on my best friend the week before. His eyes flashed yellow as his dragon was also eager to come out and claim her. "Mine", I heard him say. I looked at Aiden, perplexed as to how this could possibly happen.

We were mated to the same woman. One that was neither a dragon nor a wolf any longer. Did the Moon and the Sun Goddesses get their lines mixed up or was this some kind of a game for them? My best friend had been hoping for a mate for a long time now and the Goddess took his happiness away by making him share her with his best friend? That was cruel.

But it was fine because no matter what my wolf wanted, Riley and I were never going to mate. The best scenario for everyone- Aiden could have his mate, and I could go back to my living my life the way I wanted. Win-win for all, right?

After Riley disappeared to her room, it took me a minute to process what had just happened. I had found my mate.My other half. My destined partner. She was not a dragon but who was I to argue with the Sun Goddess if this was the woman that I was born to love, protect and cherish.

I was not shocked when I realised that she was Rafe's mate- that I had already expected. But to find out that she was my mate too, I was mind blown. This woman already had me in awe of her from the few encounters that we've had and I couldn't help but feel relieved that my disappointment from the days before when I thought that there was no chance that she could be mine was completely unfounded.

All my dragon wanted to do was to go to her, capture her luscious lips and proclaim her mine. To tell her that everything would be okay and that she could always count on me being by her side. To assure her that although everything might seem confusing and daunting right now, the Goddess always matched mates for a reason.

The pull towards Riley had been there since the moment we met but now that I knew were mates it was even stronger. My mate. I wanted nothing more than to be with her and close to her. I had to fight my inner urges though because I knew that all of this was new to her, so I would have to let our bond grow and let Riley accept it before she could truly be mine.

But she was not just mine. She was his as well- Rafe's. And that I couldn't deny.

She was ours.

Our mate.

Would I have preferred to have her all to myself? Of course. But if Rafe and Riley felt the same way towards each other that I felt for her, there was no way that I could deny or ignore their mate bond. Would either one of them acknowledge it? Probably not. I had a best friend who refused to admit to wanting a mate and a mate who grew up as a human, therefore not understanding the mate bond. This was going to be one hell of a ride for the three of us and my gut told me that I would have to be the one to help them both see things clearly. After all, the goddesses always had a reason.

I sat down on the sofa in Riley's living room and Rafe did the same. We had both been silent since she disappeared into her room, lost in our own reflections on the matter.

"So, we have the same mate," my voice broke the silence.

"Apparently so."

"I can't say that I ever expected this but I guess if I was to share a mate, I would not want it to be with anyone else." It was the truth. Our respective mate bonds with Riley could only be strengthened by our friendship.

"Don't worry, mate- I am not going to stand in your way," Rafe said with a neutral tone. Was he really trying to deny his mate? He couldn't be serious.

"Rafe, we have been friends for a long time. Now is not the time to do anything stupid. If the Goddesses have brought the three of us, it's because they had something in mind."

"Oh, screw that, Aiden. This is messed up and you know it." Now he was fuming and I couldn't understand whether it was because he did not want a mate or because he wanted her all to himself.

"Listen, can we try to not make any rash decisions? Let's also talk to Riley about this. Is it ideal? Hell no. But we should give things a chance before we do anything that any of us might regret." I did not want to force anyone from us into something that we did not want but I had the feeling that Riley and Rafe would rather say No before they even gave the possibility a thought.

"I... I need to go for a walk," he said as he got up and made his way to the front door. Before I could even respond, he was out.

I sat there wondering what to do next. As I looked up I saw a painting hanging off the wall. Drawn on it were a red dragon and a silver-grey wolf. But not just any wolf and dragon- they were replicas for our animals with Rafe. The same animals that Riley had not seen until now and yet they were in a painting hanging in her living room. It was as if the Goddesses were giving us a sign that this was meant to be. Riley's natural hair, her eyes being a perfect mix of our animals, the birthmark, the painting- everything was pointing to the same conclusion. Our triad was not there by chance, nor it was a mix-up. We were created for each other and I was not going to give up on my mate nor on the three of us.

I made my way to Riley's room, her scent exciting my dragon the closer I got. I curled my fingers in a fist and gently knocked on her door.

"Come in."