More Than Pride (3 page)

“Hey, big guy, I’m just trying to help,” Evin said.

Chester glanced up to see that Dillon’s fangs had dropped and now extended past his lips.
1
Damn that was sexy. Before his brain could catch up with his body, Chester walked over to Dillon, went onto his tiptoes and kissed the lion shifter.

A low rolling growl vibrated his lips.

“Mmmhmmm,” Chester agreed. Heat poured through him like a warm furnace and his cock hardened as he rubbed against the large shifter’s body. His conscience tried to whisper that he wasn’t in any condition to mate with someone but his body overruled his pesky brain. It had been so long since he’d felt the slide of someone inside him. Too long.

An odd sound snapped him out of the passionate haze caused by warm hands and a man who knew what to do with them.

“What?” Chester whimpered when Dillon lifted his mouth to snarl at the owl shifter.

“D-don’t touch him,” Evin’s rough voice sounded as if he’d gargled rocks.

Chester turned around in the shelter of Dillon’s arms to face the other man.

Evin’s skin had tiny feathers fanning around his eyebrows and cheeks, and his face had the fierce cast of his owl form.

Dillon wrapped an arm across Chester’s front keeping him tight against his body.

“What’s the problem, Evin?” Dillon kept his voice level as if he didn’t want to trigger the other shifter’s change.

“Mate.” Evin’s neck bobbed as his bird half tried to break past its human guardian.

“Oh, hell no.” Dillon’s grip on Chester tightened almost painfully. “He’s mine. You’ve got feathers in your head if you think you can have him.”

Oh, crap
. There was no way this was going to end well.

Dillon let out a full lion roar. Chester clamped his hands over his ears.

“What the hell is going on in here?” A new voice entered the fray and this one had Chester’s spine snapping to attention.

Taking a deep breath, Chester dared to peek around Dillon’s wide chest.

Talan.

Pictures of the man didn’t do him justice. Where Dillon was large and muscular, Talan was even more so. The leader of the lions was a beautiful man. Chester could almost feel the man’s aura of command wrap around him and demand he submit. Adrian stood beside the lion. Chester would’ve thought the smaller wolf shifter would appear diminished beside his
1
larger mate, but instead it was almost as if he were part of the whole. As if Talan would be missing something if there weren’t a wolf-shifter-sized shape standing beside him.

“Mate!” Evin insisted, his voice ending in a hoot as the man tried to fight back his bird nature.

“Who’s your mate?” Talan’s eyes raked over Chester and he froze like a mouse spotted by a hawk.

Evin moved his head in that boneless way again. Chester gave an involuntary shudder.

He’d seen
The Exorcist
and Linda Blair had nothing on Evin. If he spewed up a mouse pellet, Chester was out of there.

“I-I don’t know,” Evin replied with a soft hoot.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Dillon growled. “How can you not know?”

Evin glared at Dillon. “When you stand together, I can’t tell which one of you is my mate.”

“Dillon, release the cat shifter and step to the side. I want you apart so Evin can sense you separately,” Talan ordered.

Evin twitched as Dillon released his hold on the kitten. The big lion had a majestic masculine beauty. Evin could almost imagine the man in lion form prancing around the grasslands. Chester fidgeted beneath Evin’s stare. He didn’t know if it was his owl features showing, or whether the younger man truly held a grudge from Evin grabbing him earlier, but he appeared intensely nervous over being watched.

“Can you tell?” The alpha’s tone indicated that he thought Evin was an idiot for not being able to know his mate right away.

“Not all of us can tell at first sight,” Evin snapped.

“By a picture,” Talan said in a smug tone. “I knew Adrian was mine by a photo. Now figure out which one is your mate. I’ll not have you tearing apart my pride by breaking Dillon’s heart. Dillon, is Chester your mate?”

“Yes.” There was no prevarication in Dillon’s tone. “Chester is my mate.”

“Then the matter is resolved,” Talan proclaimed. “Evin, you are free to stay and seek shelter with us, but I won’t have you causing problems between a mated pair.”
1
A protest lodged in Evin’s throat but what could he say? He didn’t know which of them was his mate and Talan was right. If he claimed Chester, Dillon would rip him apart. It didn’t matter that he was equally attracted to Dillon—big and buff had always excited him in the past and this time was no different.

Evin shook his head to clear out the fantasies running rampant through his imagination.

He’d find another place to live. He couldn’t stay here and watch the two men he wanted for his own find joy exclusively with each other.

“What if they are both his mates?” Adrian spoke up.

“What?” Talan frowned at the wolf shifter. “What are you talking about, love?”

Adrian shrugged. “What if they are all mates? There are a few cases of three people being mated. This could be one of those times. Why not?”

Why not, indeed? It happened more with birds than any of the cat breeds but it wasn’t unheard of…though Evin had never thought he’d be put in that sort of situation. Of course, he’d never thought his brother would go insane and make a deal with psychotic hunters either. Life was just full of surprises.

“I’ve never heard of it happening with lions,” Talan said, but his tone was musing, not dismissive. Evin had a feeling that, if anyone else had suggested the idea, Talan would have tossed it out the window.

“It happens with bird shifters,” Adrian argued. “I’ve even heard of it happening in a few of the wolf packs. None in my pack, but I have heard of it.”

Talan snarled at Adrian, his expression so much like a pissed off cat that Evin had to hold back laughter. “You don’t belong to a pack, you belong to a pride.”

Adrian shook his head. “I consider it like dual citizenship. I’m not going to break ties with my brother, so you’ll just have to cope.”

Evin turned his head fast to hide his laughter. Adrian had no fear of his mate. When confronted by his mate’s fierce frown, the wolf stood his ground and didn’t change his calm expression even when Talan snarled. He just waited him out.

Talan gripped the back of Adrian’s head and kissed him until he melted against the larger man. When the alpha finally released his mate, Adrian swayed slightly. “As long as your first loyalty is to me.”
2
“Always,” Adrian responded without hesitation. “Now, how are we going to figure this out?”

Adrian examined each of them carefully. Evin could almost feel the man dissecting different ideas and tossing them aside.

“We could go with the old tried and true method,” Talan mused.

“Throw them in a room together and not let them come out until they fuck?” Adrian asked.

“Yep.” Talan gave Evin a wide grin. “That way, you’ll either come out mated or dinner—it’s all the same to me. The shifter council might give me hell but I’m sure they’ll get over it.”

Adrian shook his head at his mate’s statement. “Dillon, do you want to use your room or someplace neutral.”

Dillon smiled. “I’ll use my room. My bed’s big enough and we’re kind of short with all the newcomers.”

“True,” Adrian agreed.

“Then get to it.” Talan turned and headed to the door. He grabbed Adrian by the wrist on his way out, dragging the smaller man behind him.

“Is he always like that?” Evin asked, tilting his head towards the departing couple.

Dillon folded his arms across his chest. “Like what?”

“Dismissive of other breeds.”

“I’ll let that slide because you’re new here, but Talan has the biggest fucking heart of any alpha I’ve ever met. Most alphas would rip you apart and send you back to your nest in pieces just for being on their land. When a bunch of homeless shifters were dumped on our porch, Talan didn’t kick them out on their asses. Instead, he found most of them homes or jobs to support themselves. He might give Adrian a hard time about his pack, but if Adrian’s brother had any problems, you’d find a pride of lions protecting his back. I’ve met a lot of alphas in my life and Talan’s one of the good ones.”

Evin held his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t mean any harm. He just doesn’t seem to like birds.”

“I think he’s more concerned about you claiming my kitten than the fact that you sprout feathers.”
2
Evin shrugged. “Maybe.”

“I’m not a kitten.” Chester snarled like a pissed off cat. Evin laughed.

“Of course you’re not.” Dillon stroked Chester’s head like a pet. “You’re a bad-ass tabby.”

“That’s right.” Chester nodded his head, his amber eyes flashing.

Evin had never seen a person who so closely resembled his shifter form while human before. Chester’s wavy red-gold strands had a tabby pattern, and his eyes, although with human pupils, were the same amber as a cat’s. He was fascinating.

“My bedroom’s back here.” Dillon led the way down the hall towards the back of the building. Chester obediently followed Dillon, and Evin followed Chester’s amazing ass, which looked like it would fill his hands to perfection. Until Dillon led the way into another room, Evin barely paid attention to where they were going.

“This is it.” Dillon announced, circling around and closing the door behind them. His not so subtle locking of the door sounded loud to Evin’s ears. His survival instincts had him searching for other exits. Luckily the two big windows appeared to open wide and would allow perfect egress for an aerial-minded shifter.

Once satisfied that exits were available, he turned his attention to the rest of the room.

It took him a moment to realise what he was staring at. All along the walls were pictures of owls. Photos, sketches and small statues decorated Dillon’s room—all owls.

“Wow, that’s a lot of birds,” Chester said in awe.

Evin caught Dillon’s gaze. “I guess you don’t really have any question as to me being your mate, do you?”

Dillon shook his head. “I just didn’t think you’d believe me, and I didn’t know if I could give up Chester to accept you. It’s easier to take a kitten than a bird.”

“You were willing to give him up for me?” Chester asked.

“Yeah, and I know I would’ve regretted it for the rest of my life.”

Dillon’s expression went a lot towards soothing Evin’s battered heart. He’d always wondered why the birds pairing off at the nest had never appealed to him. The few hurried encounters he’d had never calmed him or kept him sated. He’d thought for a long time that maybe he wasn’t worthy of a mate. Now he found out he was, in fact, worthy of two…and what fine mates they were.
2
“I think we should follow Talan’s advice and make sure we’re compatible.” Evin couldn’t stop the wide smile crossing his face…not for all the honey seed in the world.

Taking a deep breath he pushed his bird back under the surface. He doubted either man wanted to kiss him with a feathery face.

“You make a handsome human,” Chester remarked.

Evin thought he detected a bit of relief over his reversion to fully human. He’d let it go this time. Eventually the kitten would have to get used to all of his forms but right now he’d do whatever made life easier.

Keeping an eye on Dillon, Evin moved cautiously closer. Thinking they were mates was a far cry from watching a stranger kiss the one you were already positive was your mate.

Owl statues notwithstanding, just because Dillon had dreamt of an owl didn’t mean Evin was the owl he’d been dreaming about.

“Go ahead,” Dillon encouraged, breaking the last bit of restraint Evin had scraped together.

Evin stepped closer to Chester and waited for a nod from the man before brushing his lips against the cat shifter’s. Chester let out a little moan. Taking that as further permission to continue, Evin kissed him again.

“Oh fuck, you two look so good together.” Dillon let out a soft noise of need.

Evin barely paid him any attention as he leaned in to absorb the perfection of Chester’s mouth against his. A low purr vibrated his lips. Evin laughed.

He couldn’t remember the last time his heart hadn’t borne the burden of the bird shifters. His brother was the leader but Evin worked as his second in command. At least he had, until his brother had gone bat-shit crazy. He willingly let all his problems fade into the background while he claimed his mate.

A low growl had him lifting his mouth. Dillon watched them with hungry eyes.

Reluctantly he released Chester, grabbing the man before he fell. “Strip,” Evin ordered before turning his attention to Dillon.

“I guess that makes me next,” Dillon said. His voice, rough with desire, went straight to Evin’s balls.

Evin cleared his throat. “I guess it does.”
2
Where his attraction to Chester was warm like a summer day, his attraction to Dillon crackled like an out-of-control forest fire. Dillon’s taller physique threw him off for a moment. His lovers were usually shorter or Evin’s height. He’d never kissed a man taller than himself. As one of the larger owls in the aviary, Evin had never made love to anyone as big as Dillon. He didn’t know if he would like being in the more submissive position.

However, he doubted he would have a choice. Dillon exuded alpha characteristics that were only overpowered by the man’s pride alpha. Evin didn’t know how pride hierarchy worked, but he’d bet Dillon was at the top of the power ladder.

Dillon broke their kiss, his eyes showing a flash of cat in the pupils.

Evin gave a low growl that sounded suspiciously like a cat purr. Damn, the felines were already wearing off on him.

Dillon began to pull off his shirt and a soft voice whispered “Wow” from the bed. Evin had to agree. The lion shifter’s chest was definitely wow-worthy. Muscles rippled as Dillon removed the garment and tossed it on the floor behind him. His eyes never left Evin during the entire proceeding.

Dillon licked his lips.

Evin shuddered.

A low purr came from the bed. Evin and Dillon turned to see Chester lying on his back, his legs spread and his hand wrapped around his long, dripping cock.