They trampled back to the tent, Casey’s lips to his neck and his hands groping around his hips. He had been begging to bend Georgie over right there in the dark until he 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 his 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 his head disapprovingly. “You just want to see me from behind.” Still, he obliged. It was too dark to see much of anything anyway. His stolen t-shirt (courtesy of Casey’s dresser) nightie rode up where he bent at the waist and swooped his arms through the two halves of the tent door, delicately diving into the bed beside his other mate. Cove 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 Georgie as he scanned Cove’s 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 he felt his pants pull down his thighs. He jolted his chest up a few inches, staring wild-eyed down his body at Casey’s mischievous face nudging its way between them, Georgie’s underwear straining against the back of his head. Flashing a warning glare at him, then directing his eyes at the hulking alpha beside him, Georgie 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 his warning, he dove beneath the hem of his own t-shirt and pressed his mouth to Georgie’s awakening mini Georgie in a long kiss sliding up and down and up-

Georgie squeaked, his stomach jerking and lifting him a little off the bedding. A shock of hot pleasure shot outwards from his tip like a lighting bolt scorching all around its landing to the earth. His mate understood this squeak to mean ‘there’ because he was a damn genius and when he latched right to the top and sucked Georgie almost kicked those smarts out his head in a reflexive reaction to the pull on that most sensitive area. Casey sunk his long fingers into the backs of Georgie’s thighs and pressed. He flattened his struggling, folded him in half, widened his own tasting platter, and offered a squeeze of possessive pleasure, all with one move. His head was completely covered by the tee now, deep in his mission to lick Georgie to the root. He followed his length down, letting the head bump the roof of his mouth as though Georgie were fucking his face. He couldn’t if he wanted to, his mate had him utterly pinned.

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

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

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

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

“Good night, my mate,” Casey cooed into the shell of his ear. His warmth cuddling around him was too soothing. Georgie garbled something similar sounding back and, using Casey’s bicep as a pillow, he 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 him when he finally poked his face through the tent opening, sweaty and disoriented and very well-rested. He 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 he had hoped.

“Morning,” he croaked.

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

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

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

“What would you like to do today?”

Georgie took a moment to think, suckling on his 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 him, Casey agreed with a gentle smile. He ran a thumb over his cheek. “You’re a bit overheated.”

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

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

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

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

So far, he wasn’t succeeding. They had barely spoken as he led them on a winding walk through the trees. Casey answered him when he 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?” he asked, certain he 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 his hand and kept him from tumbling as they descended. Cove followed, his footsteps near impossible to hear without his 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 he continued to remember correctly, there should be a pond at the end – or was it just a big puddle? He tried to picture the map more clearly in his 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 he stumbled on the final step, Cove caught his elbow from behind and lugged him forward onto the mound of rock. When he thanked him, he didn’t acknowledge it, but Georgie knew his skin must be fizzing just like his 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 him over, worry in his brow. “Feeling okay?”

Georgie gave his 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 his 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 his heart in two to think of their once treasured time together now… unbearable? He pinched his lips between his teeth to keep the tears at bay. It was like he was losing his best friend a second time, the reality that it just couldn’t be the same again hitting him harder this time. Before he could at least tell himself otherwise. He made an excuse to go pee behind a tree and sniffed back his sadness until he was confident neither would call him out for looking as blubbery as he felt.

When he marched back he put on his best brave face and let Casey tie his boots for him. 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, he decided. Space from one another buffered by hundreds of wolves. Distraction in the form of community interaction. It would do them good, he told himself, as they parted ways on the twins’ doorstep.