AN: Crossover chapter with "The Assassin's Mate" by cajun_queen00

Driving back to Philly, millions of thoughts were going through my mind as I was still trying to process everything that Eden shared with me. Could it be that my own triad had a bigger meaning than just bringing the three of us together as lovers? Only the Sun and Moon Goddesses could tell me what the truth was, so I had already decided on asking my parents to help me get in touch with them. I guessed- no, I hoped- that warlocks had a way of contacting them.

My thoughts went back to Eden. She looked genuinely happy. Loved. Having two mates was clearly good for her and they made it work for them. I wondered if that could ever be Rafe, Aiden and myself- could we ever embrace the bonds between the three of us? Could we be happy? Most importantly, did I want that?

I pushed all thoughts to the back of my mind and focused on the road ahead. Soon enough we parked in the garage of the building and made our way back to the penthouse. The guys decided to have a nightcap but I was too exhausted due to the jet lag so I called it a night.

It was already late morning by the time I woke up. I could hear laughter in the kitchen so I got out of bed and made my way over. Aiden and Rafe were waiting for me with a cup of coffee and a full breakfast buffet laid out on the island.

"Good morning, love," Aiden exclaimed when he saw me. "Did you sleep well?"

"I guess so."

"You must have been tired because you slept for quite a while," I heard Rafe say as he motioned for me to move closer to them.

I neared the island and grabbed a strawberry from the fruit platter, biting into it and savouring the sweet taste that burst inside my mouth.

"Mmmm, these strawberries are delicious," I moaned.

I was enjoying the flavour on my tongue so much that I hadn't realised that I was suddenly sandwiched between the guys who were now standing on each side of me.

"You have a drop here," Rafe murmured as he ran his thumb across my chin, making me shiver.

As I looked at his lust-filled eyes,I felt Aiden's warm hand brush across my tummy underneath the fabric of my top. I turned around and I saw the same intense fire in his eyes that Rafe had.

The dragon shifter leaned in and purred in my ear, "Do you know what it does to us to see you like this, mate?"

What does he mean?

I glanced at what I was wearing and I realised that I had walked into the kitchen in my high-cut baby blue cotton sleeping shorts and strappy top, both of which barely left much to the imagination. I had no bra on so my now-hard nipples from Rafe touch were clearly visible, while my butt was just about covered by my shorts.

Yeap, this was an error of judgement on my part- clearly, I was still too sleepy when I came out of the room. And yet, the realisation of how I looked and the way that both of them were staring at me set my body on fire. Heat pooled in my belly, my own lust growing inside me.

Aiden tongue gently traced my earlobe and my knees went weak. "We want you, Riley."

"You do?" I looked from one to the other.

"Of course we do. More than anything," Rafe replied, licking his lips. "Always."

"We want to fuck you senseless until you remember nothing but our names," Aiden added.

I swallowed loudly as I felt so out of depth at that moment. Two immensely hot guys, the attraction to whom I could no longer deny, were staring at me like they wanted to devour me if I allowed them to.

I felt multiple small electric shots across my inner thigh as Rafe's hand landed there and glid upwards towards my core. Seconds later, Aiden's hand did exactly the same to my other thigh, the same electric shots sending my body into overdrive now. The closer their hands got to my pussy, the wetter I got.

"Do you want-" Rafe began to say.

"-us?" Aiden finished his sentence.

As they spoke, one of them had his free hand on the small of my back, while the other one rested his at the back of my head. I felt their fingers caress my core through the flimsy fabric of panties underneath my shorts.

Aiden began nuzzling my neck, gently sucking on my skin. Rafe ran his tongue along my lower lip before it slipped in my mouth, exploring it with burning desire.

God, I wanted them! Both of them. They were like two missing pieces of my soul, and suddenly I felt like I could only feel whole again if I had both of them. Together. A triad, like we were meant to be.

I moaned as Rafe kissed me, letting out a cry when their fingers slipped under my panties, teasing and torturing me.

"We will always pleasure you, Riley," Aiden's voice reached me as I was slowly starting to slip under a haze of gratification.

"We are at your service, mate. Here to love you and cherish you," Rafe added.

One of them plunged his fingers in my pussy, while the other one massaged my clit. They continued kissing and grabbing my body, hungry for contact with me. I felt my release near, grinding myself against their fingers to reach my climax. A loud cry escaped my lips as I orgasmed, bathing in the adoration of my mates.

I opened my eyes to look at them both but instead, I found myself alone in my bed. I checked the clock on my phone and I realised it was still early morning but, more importantly, that it had all been only a dream.

Relief washed over me... for about three seconds before it was replaced by a nagging feeling of disappointment. If anyone asked, I would deny it but the reality was that I was not as indifferent to Rafe and Aiden as I tried to make it out to everyone and that scared me a bit.

I got out of bed and got dressed, stopping by the bathroom to get myself ready before I went to the kitchen. Aiden was nowhere to be seen but I found Rafe there.

"Good morning," I said warily.

"Good morning. Want something to eat?"

"You can cook?" I didn't mean to sound as surprised as I did but I couldn't help it. "I would love to have something if you promise that you won't try to poison me," I smirked as Rafe gave me an unimpressed look.

Seconds later, a plate with omelette, bacon, fried mushrooms and toast landed in front of me. Everything smelled delicious and it tasted even better when I tried it, but I did not want to boost Rafe's already huge ego.

"Not bad. I think I will live."

"Good thing that you didn't taste the sleeping pills I slipped inside."

Ha ha, very funny. I stuck my tongue out at him and continued eating.

"Good morning," Aiden sleepily greeted us as he came out of his room.

Rafe didn't respond and instead passed him an espresso that he had prepared, prompting an appreciative grin from his best friend.

"You know me too well, Rafe. Nothing beats a fine espresso in the morning." His eyes were twinkling with happiness until they landed on me and something even stronger took over. It was the same look of adoration and total happiness like in the morning after our date. "Well, there is something actually."

I was lucky that I was sitting or my legs would have given way under the intensity of his gaze. A glimpse from my sexy dream popped up in my head, and I suddenly felt all hot and bothered. I could swear that Aiden could sense it as his eyes were burning with desire, like they had in my dream.

"I have the corniest man in this world a best friend," Rafe huffed and turned around but I caught the same desire in his eyes before he looked away. Clearly, all of us were affected but he was able to control it better than the rest of us. Or at least it seemed so.

Eventually, we all dug into the breakfast that Rafe had prepared, discussing the shifter world in the States and what Markolf could possibly be trying to do here. The conversation evolved into my mates' thoughts on the future of shifters and their own visions of how to modernise everyone's thinking. I was struck by how progressive they both were, clearly recognising the need for cooperation and good leadership. My mother would have certainly been pleased to hear that her ideas had not died with her and I could not help but feel a tinge of pride of the kind of leaders that Rafe and Aiden were. Both could have easily conformed to the old norms, especially as they came from very old, traditional families but instead, they saw the errors in the way of their parents and recognised that those were not the way forward. Once again my mind wandered off, wondering whether this was what our mornings and days would be like if we accepted our triad like Eden, Jace and Blake had.

I was browsing through a guide to Philadelphia when I heard the elevator ding. In walked a tall, muscular guy with brown hair and stunning blue-grey eyes.

"Ah, you must be Aurelie. Agent Tanner Reeves," he said with a smile as he stretched out his hand to shake mine. " I've heard so much about you from your brother- he worked very hard to track you down."

"I'm happy he finally found me," I replied and pointed at the guys who had joined us in the living room. "I guess you also know who Rafe and Aiden are."

Our contact greeted each of them before he chuckled. "I would be pretty shit at my job if I didn't. I work for the Werewolf Bureau of Investigation after all."

I didn't even know that this was a thing. "You mean like the FBI?"

"Yeah, like the FBI but for the werewolves here in America. That's actually how I met you brother- he reached out regarding his investigation of the mysterious disappearances and death of shifters in the UK and wanted to know if we had similar cases. I've been investigating the disappearances of young girls here in the US so I picked up the case on this end to see if there was a connection."

My mind instantly thought about how Markolf had kidnapped Natalia, even if there was a concrete reason to target her, and how all those missing girls must have gone through the same or similar horrible ordeal.

"Is there?" Aiden asked behind me.

"We are still investigating. But we certainly found other cases across all the different states that fit the MO of the cases that Lucian had come across." Agent Reeves paused for a second. "He told me about your latest discoveries and, needless to say, the WBI- are going to help you in any way that we can. This cambion is a threat to all of us, irrelevant where we are based and what kind of shifters we are."

I watched him speak and I could tell that he was the kind of guy who would not stop until he got to the bottom of something and solved the case. His authority and assertiveness were the perfect mix for an agent. There was something beastly about him and I imagined that one would regret getting on the wrong side of him but, at the same time, I sensed that he also cared deeply about the cases he was working on and the missing girls one seemed to be particularly important to him.

"Have you found any of them?" I spoke in muted tones as I knew what it was like to work protecting others and sometimes failing to do so despite your best efforts.

"Some." The pain in his voice was evident. "But we will. We will find them all, no matter what it takes. Let's focus on tonight's gala first."

"Do you have any intel on the cambion's whereabouts?" Rafe asked.

"Unfortunately not. He is one cunning bastard and knows how to cover his tracks. We have no idea what he looks like, which has made tracking him without any leads pretty difficult. The guest list for the gala is pretty difficult to get on as it's only open to the shifters elite in the US, so for him to be there he must either have pretty good connections or he is assuming someone else's identity."

Tanner's word's made me realise exactly how complicated our mission was- we did not know who we were looking for, visually, amongst the hundreds of guests that were going to be there tonight.

"How are we getting in then if the guest list is that strict? I guess we have cover identities." I had worked enough undercover stints to know how this worked.

"I see that I am in the company of a professional," his lips curled in a smirk. "You are right- I have arranged cover stories for all of you. Names, local packs, etc. Riley and Aiden will need to cover up their scents for the event though as we can't have anyone figure out that Riley is human and dragons are too rare in the US to be able to pull off a cover identity. No one will suspect a thing as these events have the tendency to get a bit wild after certain times, so some shifters prefer to keep a lower profile with their desires by covering up their scents and their arousal."

Blimey, I thought this was meant to be a high-class event but I guess that all these VIPs also had the need to let loose.

"I forgot to mention that you will also be staying overnight at the venue, so the suits and Riley's dress for the gala are already waiting for you in your respective rooms. Unfortunately, the WBI cannot get involved officially as it would cause panic across the elite, so I will have to sit this one out. This also means that you won't get any help once you get to the estate and you will need to have each other's backs."

"Thank you- for everything." I gave Agent Reeves a hug, which didn't sit too well with my mates, but they both kept their cool as all of us appreciated Tanner's help.

Two hours later the three of us arrived at the venue.

Linwood Estate was absolutely stunning. The private estate sat on 300+ acres of gorgeous grounds and Great Appalachian Valley woodlands, and the stunning 19th century Pennsylvania Dutch Country historic mansion with its beautiful white pillars at the front was the crown jewel. The remote location was chosen to allow the guests to enjoy the gala away from any possible interruption by humans.

I settled into my room, which was located between Rafe and Aiden's rooms, both of them having connecting doors to mine. I wondered whether Agent Reeves knew that we were mates or whether this was only a coincidence but I quickly forgot about it all when I found my dress for the gala. In front of me was a gorgeous lacy soft pink ruffle gown, with a pair of high heel sandals set on the side. Admittedly, not the most convenient outfit if I was to chase after a cambion but I guess I needed to think of a classier way to do so tonight.

I jumped into the shower before I started getting ready in order to clear my mind for the mission at hand. I was not quite sure how one would catch a cambion but we were about to find out, I hoped. The problem was that we had no idea who we were looking for. The gala was meant to be for shifters only and if Markolf was here, it could mean one of two things- either he was working with shifters against their own kind or he was cocky enough to work on his plan in plain sight. Frankly, I didn't put either scenario past him. Or maybe he was doing both at the same time.

Consumed by my own thoughts I readied myself for the gala, slipping into my gown and tying my hair up in a loose bun. I was having a final look in the mirror when I heard two knocks on the door and I didn't need to guess who it was.

Sure enough, on the other side of the door stood two tall, incredibly gorgeous men in their elegant suits. My whole body tingled just at the sight of them.

"You look..erm.. good, Moreau," I heard Rafe say after he took a deep breath.

Aiden shook his head. "What this idiot means is that you look stunning, Riley."

Heat and desire were emanating from both of them and I could feel my skin burning under their gazes.

"Thank you. Erm....right, shall we head down?" My voice broke the tension of the moment.

As we mingled with the guests at the gala, it was as if we were back at the Macalister party weeks ago when I first met Aiden and Rafe and had no idea about the connection between us. It was true that the way I had felt around them back then was definitely like nothing I had experienced before but I put it more down to how angry I had gotten with Rafe and how grateful I was to Aiden for being the sensible, calm presence at that moment.

Thinking about it again, not much had changed since. And yet so much had. Ugh, I missed the days when my life was simpler but then again I was not really a fan of simple things.

Most of the evening went by like any gala would- drinking, dancing, eating and listening to speeches. No sign of Markolf though and that was putting all of us on the edge.

I was returning from the ladies' room when across the hall saw two model-like women corner my mates by the bar where they were having a drink. The women were clearly doing their best to flirt with them, flaunting their cleavages in front of the guys and giving a rather desperate vibe off, as they were obviously looking for men to fuck. Rafe was laughing at whatever they were saying, while Aiden looked bored. What pissed me off though was seeing the two tramps run their hands over my mates.

I saw red. How dared they touch my mates!

My heart rate picked up, an unfamiliar emotion bubbling to the surface. The fury I felt was hitting its peak and with a clenched jaw and tense muscles, I began marching through the room. I was on a mission, ready to rip their arms to start with until I froze in my tracks.

Walking towards me was someone I knew intimately and yet I didn't even know his name. He was a stranger- or so I thought until today. Because there was only one way he could also be here and my heart ached as I knew the answer.