They trampled back to the tent, Casey’s lips to her neck and his hands groping around her hips. He had been begging to bend her over right there in the dark until she reminded him that Cove was waiting and he’d need some kind of break to get his mini Casey back upright again… oh, and he was an alpha, so they’d have to deal with a knot trapping them together afterwards, too. For how long? Who knew. They didn’t cover that part in sex ed. Unimpressed but also unable to refute her logic, Casey gave up the idea of continuing their coupling. When the time came, finally, that they could ‘go all the way’ as the kids called it, it needed to happen in a more well-prepared environment. Preferably in Casey’s private suite if they ever got round to making it a priority over other pack affairs…

The fire was almost out, hardly enough light to see their own camp through their human-like eyes. It was clear Cove had already taken himself to bed, his scent trailed into the canvas and soft, deep breaths followed. They changed just outside of it, maintaining some kind of separation of the mated couple and the brother even if he was asleep.

“After you,” Casey whispered, pointing his palm to the entrance.

Georgie shook her head disapprovingly. “You just want to see me from behind.” Still, she obliged. It was too dark to see much of anything anyway. Her nightie rode up where she bent at the waist and swooped her arms through the two halves of the tent door, delicately diving into the bed beside her other mate. He was rolled onto his side, back to the centre, broad shoulder raising and lowering in heavy breaths. He had filled the small space with his scent already, radiated it out as his body temperature rose against the autumn chill. Werewolves could withstand the hot, the cold, the wet… that wasn’t to say they enjoyed it… The thought that struck her as she scanned his curled form was what a squash it was going to be when Casey barrelled in, had it been this tight before they turned twenty-one? Surely they had done all their growing by the time they had reached double decades…

The thought that followed was a mash of confusion and shock as she felt her panties pull down her thighs. She jolted her chest up a few inches, staring wild-eyed down her body at Casey’s mischievous face nudging its way between them, her underwear straining against the back of his head. Flashing a warning glare at him, then directing her eyes at the hulking alpha beside her, she silently explained exactly why whatever Casey was thinking to do was a bad idea.

Casey did not stay within view long enough to truly take in her warning, he dove beneath the hem of her nightie and pressed his mouth to her vulva in a long kiss sliding up and down and up-

Georgie squeaked, her stomach jerking and lifting her a little off the bedding. A shock of hot pleasure shot outwards from her clit like a lighting bolt scorching all around its landing to the earth. Her mate understood this squeak to mean ‘there’ because he was a damn genius and when he latched right to the top and sucked she almost kicked those smarts out his head in a reflexive reaction to the pull on that most sensitive bud. Casey sunk his long fingers into the backs of her thighs and pressed. He flattened her struggling, folded her in half, widened his tasting platter, and offered a squeeze of possessive pleasure, all with one move. His head was completely covered by her dress’ skirt now, deep in his mission to lick her to the core.

Georgie panted at the ceiling. She couldn’t keep herself composed any more, if Cove heard her, well, he was her damn mate too! The thought of him catching her suddenly seemed… erotic. She tentatively traced her chest, stroking her nipples through her dress, thinking of her other mate, of his emerald eyes on her as she fell apart in orgasmic bliss. She thought of his enormous frame, his muscles that could cleave wood as thick as her, that could propel him through the forest-

Casey’s mouth spread over her, sucking her slick inner lips and tongue tip flicking at her clit. Despite her trapped lower half, her back bowed. She was so close and her body so hot and there was another mouth. Another mouth? Georgie’s lashes fluttered. In the tiny, blurry, shadowy gaps was her other mate. Cove kissed her like it was the second-best-thing to biting her. Like he wanted to devour her. Like the kiss would never be enough to satiate him but he’d take all he could from it anyway. He cradled her chin with one hand and brushed back her bangs with the other, but never broke the kiss. When Georgie came, she cried her ecstasy into his mouth, hands twisted in some material – her nightdress or his pjs? Maybe the bedding. She didn’t know. She didn’t care. She couldn’t stop coming.

Her body twitched between them, suspended in pleasure, unable to return to its natural processes. She may not have taken a breath for some time…

Cove released her from the kiss and turned away as seamlessly as he had turned into her. Not a rustle. Georgie fell floppy, stuttering through breaths. The afterglow came with an exhaustion so deep inside of her she could almost fall asleep with her naked butt hanging out of the tent. She felt rather than saw Casey return her panties to position, kissing the inside of her thigh lightly. In squeezing his way into the bed as well he dragged her up the rest of the way to the top of it, and took the middle position from her. She was nearly completely limp in his arms. Muscles she definitely hadn’t used ached with weariness. Her heartbeat was pulsing dully everywhere. If this was what came from just the touching of those forbidden-till-now parts she wasn’t ready for full mating experience.

“Good night, my mate,” he cooed into the shell of her ear. His warmth cuddling around her was too soothing. She garbled something similar sounding back and, using his bicep as a pillow, she fell into a deep, unstoppable sleep.

―

A surprising second wind from the summer’s sunshine filled the forest floor with yellow light splotches. Georgie was not long up – and the last one up. Uncomfortable silence had greeted her when she finally poked her face through the tent opening, sweaty and disoriented and very well-rested. She felt almost puffy from it. Casey and Cove were both busying themselves with inconsequential tasks. Playing at normalcy. Georgie could feel it, though, as maybe only a mate could, that the tension had returned. The victory of their deer hunt had not lasted as long as she had hoped.

“Morning,” she croaked.

Casey was first to leap into action: hurrying her water bottle to her.

Cove was first to comment. “Not sure this counts as morning still.”

Georgie swallowed and lowered her bottle. “All the stress of my birthday must have finally caught up with me,” she offered weakly. Or maybe her two mates had siphoned all of her energy from both ends of her body.

“What would you like to do today?”

Georgie took a moment to think, suckling on her bottle. “Let’s explore.” Just like old times. They knew the area well, and had catalogued it in one of their many hand-drawn maps, yet a bit of nostalgia might just loosen them up. Shake off the weirdness hanging in the air. There was no way that Casey could know what Cove had done, he wasn’t the one acting the grump. It was just back to square one again.

Humouring her, Casey agreed with a gentle smile. He ran a thumb over her cheek. “You’re a bit overheated.”

“I need a wash,” she replied on a sigh.

“Wait there.” Casey dutifully brought her an extra bottle of water, a bar of soap, and a cloth to wipe herself over with. She sat half-in and half-out of the tent and did just that while Cove kept his back to her and Casey attempted to feed her breakfast, dangling foods over her with pinched fingers like she was a baby bird.

Semi-clean and re-dressed, Georgie popped out of the tent properly just after midday. Her first time standing upright since waking. “Let’s go!” She put on a cheerful face, Casey did his best to match it, Cove didn’t bother, and off they trekked.

The direction she chose was random, it didn’t matter, she walked between two alphas who could sniff their way back to camp at any time and protect her from anything they came across. What mattered was that she kept the frustration from them, that the cloud between them didn’t swell.

So far, she wasn’t succeeding. They had barely spoken as she led them on a winding walk through the trees. Casey answered her when she asked a question, but didn’t seem to have it in him to come up with his own topics. Cove acted as though this were a solo stroll he was taking. Georgie chattered about a whole lot of nothing, hoping a whole lot of something might cross their paths to chat about instead.

They crested what turned out to be a small hill and found the other side to have a muddy trail crossing through it. Georgie looked to Casey, who was sharing a strange look with Cove.

“Has someone been here?” she asked, certain she was voicing the questions the twins were silently asking each other. They took an extra few seconds to confer with only eye contact before anyone answered Georgie.

“Let’s go see.” Casey took her hand and kept her from tumbling as they descended. Cove followed, his footsteps near impossible to hear without her wolf ears.

Georgie remembered this ditch as they walked it, but it had never had any tracks in it before, at least not more than one set. This looked like it was being used regularly. If she continued to remember correctly, there should be a pond at the end – or was it just a big puddle? She tried to picture the map more clearly in her mind.

Soon enough they could see water in the distance.

Casey frowned, although he didn’t stop walking towards it. “Have we been here before?”

“We have… but it looked different, I think.”

Cove didn’t answer.

A water-logged wooden causeway connected a rocky island in the centre of the pond to the foot-worn path. Whenever it had been built had to be at least a generation before them. Why was it being visited now?

They toed along the wooden planks, Casey in front holding Georgie’s hand. When she stumbled on the final step, Cove caught her elbow from behind and lugged her forward onto the mound of rock. When she thanked him, he didn’t acknowledge it, but she knew his skin must be fizzing just like hers from the contact.

They snooped around a bit and found a whole lot of stones and mud and twigs that perhaps birds had gathered. A shame, the mystery island could have been a break in the awkward air. Instead, they found themselves all too quickly stood around on a small space trying not to accidentally touch one another. Except for Georgie and Casey, of course.

That was it. Georgie gave up.

“Can one of you smell the way back, I think I need a tea and a sit down.”

Casey looked her over, worry in his brow. “Feeling okay?”

Georgie gave her best fake smile. “Nothing a nice drink won’t fix.”

The walk back was empty of any conversation. They didn’t play any games or point out any funny-looking plants or shapes in the bark, no one bothered to tell stories now that Georgie had waved her white flag.

In the end, the unsettling tension that followed them all the way back made for an abbreviated trip all around.

Despite not sharing the feeling in words, Casey made it clear he wasn’t enjoying himself either. He took down the tent after lunch and told Cove they’d set off for home in an hour or so. A whole day early. Cove didn’t complain. Georgie wondered if he was hating his time with them as much as he appeared. It tore her heart in two to think of their once treasured time together now… unbearable? She pinched her lips between her teeth to keep the tears at bay. It was like she was losing her best friend a second time, the reality that it just couldn’t be the same again hitting her harder this time. Before she could at least tell herself otherwise. She made an excuse to go pee behind a tree and sniffed back her sadness until she was confident neither would call her out for looking as blubbery as she felt.

When she marched back she put on her best brave face and let Casey tie her boots for her. They might just make it home before nightfall.

For the first time ever Georgie was relieved to leave the isolation of the forest. They needed, all three, to submerge themselves in the horde of the pack, she decided. Space from one another buffered by hundreds of wolves. Distraction in the form of community interaction. It would do them good, she told herself, as they parted ways on the twins’ doorstep.