Ash and Malachai had grown up with Markus playing the role of their honorary little brother. As soon as their alpha heir could take his first steps his father had asked them to keep an eye on him. Being five years old at the time, the boys took this duty very seriously. Although in only a few short years Markus wasn’t so little any more and could easily keep up with the pair, holding his own in wrestling games and overtaking them in races. Originally his father had asked them to keep an eye on him as he was (well, still is) a mischievous kid and even as a toddler he didn’t know his own strength, but it didn’t take long for them to absorb him into their inner circle as their third musketeer.

Although Markus was four years their junior, and therefore still a student, they still spent as much of their free time as possible hanging out with him.

They were spending their Saturday off-duty with him playing pool in the games room when he rested his cue over his shoulders and cleared his throat awkwardly.

“I feel like you guys don’t want to talk about this…” He began.

Malachai was lounging on the bench to Markus’ right, waiting to take on the victor of their game, but he pretended not to have heard him.

“Then don’t.” Ash snorted, striking the cue ball across the green material but miraculously missing every ball in its path.

He swore quietly and stepped back with a huff to allow Markus to take his turn. The young alpha didn’t move towards the table.

“I heard you guys made out in front of all the junior officers.”

Malachai winced but still said nothing, he didn’t know what there was to be said.

“And?” Ash asked impatiently and tapped on the table with his index finger to remind Markus it was his shot.

“And I just…” Markus took the hint and slid his cue from his back and rested it on the edge of the table, “I guess I didn’t think you guys were ready to be so open yet,” he took his shot and sunk a single ball, “y’know, because of your situation…”

“There is no situation any more,” Malachai cut in, “Ash and I are perfect now.”

“I’m really glad to hear that.” Markus said both quietly and sincerely, his face did seem to show genuine relief.

Ash continued with the game instead of replying but Markus found he couldn’t stop the words pouring out of his mouth.

“Ash is my soul mate, I love him more than anyone in the whole world.” He blurted, “That doesn’t mean you and I aren’t still best mates though, you’ll always be part of our group.”

Markus grinned cheekily, “Phew, I was worried you were gonna invite me for a threesome then!” he chuckled and took his turn on the table, this time managing to vaporise two balls in one hit.

“Shut up!” Malachai laughed, “We have enough dominants in this relationship we don’t need you too!”

“Yeah,” Markus paused and straightened his back, “so how does that… work?”

Malachai looked to Ash, he desperately didn’t want to be the one to answer that question. He was ninety-nine percent sure he would get the answer wrong, or word it in a way that would offend. His mate only gave him the briefest of aloof looks before lining up his cue again.

“I’m a switch.” He said simply.

With a sharp jerk of his arm he finally managed to sink a ball.

His bravery in the honest and open way he admitted it filled Malachai with even more respect for him than he usually held, which seemed impossible given he already thought his mate was the most amazing person on the planet.

Markus nodded, more to himself than either of them, and mumbled, “Oh, I’ve never met…”

“Yeah, so consider yourself very lucky.” Malachai said light-heartedly, “I know I do.”

Ash’s lips seemed to shrink into his face and a blush spread from his cheeks to the tips of his ears. He mumbled something that sounded like ‘shut up’ but it was incredibly hard to tell, even for a werewolf, when his mouth was pinched so tightly.

Markus ignored Ash and grinned at Malachai, “I know I love when Sam shows his little badass side, it must be great to have a mate with both.”

“It is!” Malachai replied excitedly, he was so glad to be able to express how great his mate to someone other than Ash himself, “You already know dominant Ash because we’ve known him literally all of our lives but submissive Ash is so different and I love it! I’m so lucky, dude. It’s like I have everything I could ever want wrapped into one perfect person and I’m just so ready for everyone to know. I never realised before how good it felt to show off your mate!”

“I could have told you that!” Markus laughed.

He knew they were both instantly reminded of Markus lifting his mate up into the air like Simba in The Lion King and kissing him in front of their entire pack after they returned from their battle with The Council of vampires. It was pretty impressive and if Ash was a foot shorter Malachai would have done exactly the same thing.

“Oh, you are the king of showing off your mate.” Malachai agreed and joined in with his own laugh, “We get it already, Sam is cute!”

“The cutest.” Corrected Markus.

“He’s the cutest person who is not my mate.” Malachai countered with a wink at Ash who was watching them both with round eyes and a red face.

“I’ll take it!”

“Good, but don’t tell Sam I said that, I don’t want him to feel weird around me or anything…”

Another laugh was all the response he got from Markus.

“Hey, Malachai?” Ash said quietly.

“Yeah?”

“I think I’m getting a headache.”

Malachai’s stomach twisted, he had caused this. He had set off an Ash Attack with his over-excited rambling about Ash’s submissive side. It was all his fault.

He tried to stay as nonchalant as he could when he replied, “Let’s go and get you some paracetamol, babe.”

Markus pushed off from the wall and began to follow, “Are we-”

“Sorry, Markus,” Malachai cut him off with an apologetic smile, “I think I should look after my mate.”

“Yeah, no worries.” He said although his brow was creased and his mouth scrunched.

Ash put back his pool cue and Markus began returning the balls as they left.

Not a word was spoken as they retreated to Ash’s room but once they stepped inside Malachai closed the door and asked, “You wanna be alone or…?”

“I’m not having an Ash attack, I just felt so stupidly in love with you when you were talking to Markus about us and you were just so…”

“So?” Malachai asked, he could feel his cheeks aching with the grin that had burst onto his face.

Was it so wrong for him to revel in his soul mate laying down verbal love and affection on him? He felt bad that they had ditched Markus like that but this was also incredibly unlike Ash to say such soppy things and he was loving every word.

“So sweet and thoughtful and all I could think was ‘if I had ovaries they’d be squeezing right now cause I want your babies’.”

“Nice.”

“I know you like it but it still feels so weird!” Ash groaned, “I want to be dominant. I feel like my wolf is being influenced by yours… I think my thoughts and reactions are becoming more submissive as time goes on and I’m not sure I like it.”

And then it clicked for Malachai, and he realised what it was Ash wanted from him. He wanted acceptance for his dominant side. Ash had accepted his submissive side, but that was only half of their problem, he needed Malachai to accept the dominant in him. It didn’t work if both weren’t on board with both sides of his wolf. He needed to know that his dominant side was loved too, not just respected, but loved.

Malachai grabbed Ash’s hands and pulled him close, “As much as I would love for you to be submissive all of the time,” he said softly, “if you were I would miss dominant Ash too much, he’s my best friend, I grew up with him and I love him too. I’m sorry for trying to push you to be someone and something that you’re not.” he kissed his forehead gently, “I love you. Act as you please, do what you want, I’ll support you no matter what.”

“I love you so much.” Ash whispered, “I’m sorry I can’t control this… I-”

“A wise kid told me that being a switch is not something to be controlled.” Malachai said with a small smile, “So I’ve figured we just need to roll with it, you know? Like how you can’t predict the weather down to every minute. So if the weatherman says it’s gonna rain you carry an umbrella in your bag but you don’t hold it up all day.”

“You’re saying we should be prepared?”

The last time he checked there was no werewolf equivalent of the cub scouts but Malachai agreed with the sentiment.

“Yeah, and flexible. I think we need to stop worrying about your switching and just let it happen.”

Ash took a few moments to stew on his words before slowly answering, “I… agree. I want to stop hating my submissive side so much. I think it’s just my natural dominant reaction to shy away from it but… as long as you like both…” he added hesitantly.

“Of course I do! Your dominant side is the one I grew up with, best friends till the end! We wouldn’t still be so close if I didn’t like it! And your submissive side is the side that makes my heart hurt and and the tips of my fingers tingle because I just wanna squish your face so bad!”

Ash laughed awkwardly, “What?”

“Your submissive side is adorable, dude, it’s not my fault!”

“I’m so embarrassed right now.” Ash groaned, covering his face with his hands and inadvertently squeezing his own cute face.

Malachai wrapped his arms around him and planted kisses along his brow, coaxing out from behind his palms.

“Hey! No feeling embarrassed of your submissive side,” He scolded teasingly, “that’s what we’ve just vowed you’re not going to do any more!”

“You’re right.” Ash sighed, “I’m… I’m a sub as well as a dom.”

“And you’re adorable.” Malachai added.

“And I’m adorable.”

“And also a badass.”

“Adorable badass.”

Malachai laughed, “Exactly.”

“Like Sam?” Ash asked with an uncertain expression.

“Nah, you’re way cuter than Sam.”

“Do not say that in front of Markus, he WILL kill you.” Ash advised with the utmost seriousness in his voice.

They stared at each other for a few moments, eyes locked and hearts beating in sync, before dissolving into a make-out session that very quickly transitioned into Malachai pinning Ash to the bed, naked and ready to skewer him.

They grabbed and squeezed and kissed at each other’s bodies, riling themselves up more and more until all that was left was for Malachai to impale him on his hard cock. He began to line himself up with a hunger in the lower depths his belly he knew could only be sated by his mate.

“Be gentle.” Ash whispered.

That did it for Malachai, he didn’t think he had ever heard Ash sound so submissive and his body reacted instinctively, his cock pulsed and his heart rate rose and he smashed his lips down onto Ash’s roughly, sucking on his lips and biting at them. His mate may only have a reserved supply of submissiveness within him but even a drop was enough to make Malachai go fucking feral.

He pushed in with a harsh thrust and the tightness had him groaning into Ash’s mouth, he was surprised they hadn’t had any awkward instances of him coming on the first stroke yet with Ash’s vice-like ass.

The pleasure pushed him to keep going and his hips snapped back and jerked forward again with the same ferocity, in his mind he did genuinely want to be gentle, he did, but his body wanted to breed. He pounded into his mate faster and faster, forcing moans and pants out of him and occasionally even a throaty cry of “Malachai!” that made his balls throb.

As he approached his climax, the vision around his eyes blurring leaving only Ash’s face left in HD, he curved his back and pushed in as deep as he could, filling his mate to the brim with every stroke.

“Mark me.”

It was barely a whisper but Malachai’s wolf was sent into berserker mode upon hearing it. It wasn’t his imagination, Ash had definitely whispered those two words. They had come out of his mouth.

“Are you sure?” Malachai gasped, although he didn’t know if he’d be able to hold out his orgasm long enough to hear the answer.

Ash nodded, his dark eyes wide and his thick brows pulled together.

Malachai hesitated.

“Please, Mal, mark me!” Ash cried and grabbed him by the neck, pulling him down in a sudden show of his dominant strength that was both surprisingly sexy and put him in biting distance of Ash’s collar bone.

Malachai’s mouth was so close to his mate’s throat it began to water but his mind was still fighting against his wolf. Is this what dominant Ash would want?

“Mark me or I mark you.” Ash growled in his ear.

That was definitely dominant Ash. Malachai had only heard him speak like that in fights or training. His dominant mate was demanding he mark him. It was a little bit scary and massively arousing.

With consent from both parties secured absolutely, Malachai snapped his teeth around the soft skin at the base of his mate’s neck and felt his world implode.