Eight

“To Kinsey!” Eve yelled as everyone lifted their shot glasses in the air and then downed the tequila.

The fiery liquid burned its way down Kinsey’s throat as she swallowed. Setting the glass back down on the bistro table, she felt herself shiver as the alcohol coursed through her body, warming her. She shook once, eyes closed, as the sensation washed over her. When she opened her eyes, she noticed Lainie and Eve both staring at her, grinning ear to ear before busting out in laughter.

“Not a big drinker?” Eve asked, setting her empty shot glass on the table.

Kinsey shook her head. “Not since my first year of college, but then, I think everyone drinks pretty heavily that first year just to bust loose. Once I got the itch out of my system, I settled down to my studies. Outside of an occasional glass of wine at dinner or before bed, I’m not much for drinking.” She then held a hand up quickly, worried she offended someone. “Not that I think there’s anything wrong with drinking, mind you. I just haven’t had any friends to go out drinking with.”

“Well, now you’re surrounded by friends,” Alanna said as she tucked a loose strand of her red hair behind her ear. “We love to drink, and we love ladies night here.”

Kinsey glanced around the bar, smiling as she nodded. “I can see why. It’s definitely not what I expected when you said you were hitting a bar in the middle of nowhere.”

Dimitri laughed. “Well, Everglades has gone through a little makeover as of late thanks to the Order of Wardens.” He then went on to tell her how Jeremiah Prescott and the Order of Wardens destroyed the bar a few weeks back in an effort to drive the owner, Wes Stapleton, who happened to be the bear shifter Kinsey wanted to talk to, out of town. They demolished everything on the inside of the bar, wrote on the walls outside, and smashed windows. The place was a disaster, but thanks to Wes and his mates, Noel Hastings and Jake Goodman, they rebuilt the bar quickly, even adding a new addition with two pool tables and several dart boards.

Josh laughed as he leaned on the table with his elbow, a beer bottle dangling from two fingers. “The only thing Wes didn’t replace was that damn jukebox,” he said. “Still sounds like shit.”

“And yet, we keep putting quarters in so we can listen to the worn-out records,” Alanna said with a giggle. “Speaking of which, give me a quarter.” She held her hand out to him, wiggling her fingers.

Josh sighed as everyone else just laughed, but Kinsey watched as he dug into his front pocket for some change and obediently passed it over. As Alanna kissed his cheek and sauntered off, Kinsey couldn’t help but notice the aroma of animals in heat when Alanna and Josh neared each other. They ignored the mating bond, for whatever reason, and Kinsey could tell their animals grew restless. They played a dangerous game, as she could attest to with how her panther paced within her since Fitz married Mandy.

“Here’s the next round,” the busty, blond Noel said as she slid a tray onto the table and started setting the drinks around. She glanced over at Kinsey, smiling. “Welcome to Everglades,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve seen you in here before.”

“Noel, this is Kinsey Pickford,” Dimitri said, gesturing to Kinsey with his whiskey glass in his hand. “She’s a longtime friend of the family from Draven Falls and is staying in Bull Creek for a while.”

“Well, Kinsey, friend of the family, welcome to Bull Creek then,” Noel said with a wink. “If I can get you anything, just let me know.”

“Well, if that offer includes some answers to some nosy questions, I’d very much like to take you up on that offer,” Kinsey said before she could chicken out. She reached out, taking her Merlot in her hand to have something to steady her shaking hands. “Everyone here has told me about your unique relationship, and I’d very much like to ask you about it. I’m kind of in a conundrum I don’t exactly understand at the moment, and I’m hoping you might be able to settle some confusion.”

“Oh? And what kind of questions are those?” Noel asked, tucking the serving tray under her arm and leaning against the table as she faced Kinsey.

Kinsey took a deep breath, not even really sure what she needed to ask. She glanced around the table at everyone staring at them, suddenly feeling nervous about exposing her problems to such a crowd.

Adira must have picked up on her uneasiness, as she grabbed Dimitri’s hand and started to drag him away from the table. “Come on, group, let’s show these people how to dance,” she said, pulling on Dimitri’s arm.

The others picked up on her cue and started following her out to the dance floor, giving shouts as they weaved their way through the crowd and tables to the new hardwood dance floor toward the back of the bar.

Kinsey smiled as she watched them leave. She was lucky to have found such an accepting and understanding group.

Noel followed her gaze. “They’re about the best group of friends anyone could ask for,” she said. “Each one of them was here when the bar was vandalized, and then when the Order of Wardens tried to burn Wes’ cabin down.” She turned back to Kinsey, smiling. “Your secrets are yours, of course, but I’ll tell you now, each one in that group would have your back in an instant. You can trust them with anything.”

Kinsey nodded as she turned to face Noel. “I kind of already got that impression. I’ve known Dimitri and Lainie for years.” She took a deep breath. “My panther actually scented their older brother as its mate, but then his father married him off to another woman, another panther.” She gave Noel a brief rundown of the past year and a half, about returning from college to find Fitz engaged to Amanda Taylor, even though Fitz knew that their panthers had scented their mate. “So, I left a few days ago. I had to get away because the denial of that call was driving me crazy.” She shook her head. “At times, I just wanted to scream.”

Noel shifted a little, setting the tray on the table as she leaned on it with both arms. “The men told me something of that when they both told me they scented me as their mate.” She shrugged. “Being human, I didn’t have that pull, just my heart. I loved them both, but really had no idea how the calling worked. Luckily, I could just go with the flow, and they both agreed to sharing me. Shifters are quite a bit more open than humans about such matters, it seems.”

“Well, the strange thing is, Fitz’s wife, Mandy, came to see me the morning I left, and just before I got into my car, my panther felt this pull toward her, just as if she were Fitz.” Kinsey shook her head. “At first, I thought that’s what it was, that my panther sensed Fitz through his connection to Mandy. Then, last night at the bonfire, I heard about the three of you. So now, I’m wondering if perhaps my panther scented two mates and if Mandy didn’t feel the same thing. Is that even possible?”

Noel giggled. “Honey, you’re asking the wrong one. This is all still new to me. Hold on.” Kinsey watched as the short blonde turned to the bar and called a shaggy looking man over. He had thick hair the color of walnuts and a large frame. He wiped his thick hands with a bar towel as he walked over, smiling at Noel as if she was the center of his universe. Kinsey remembered that same look in Fitz’s eyes at one time.

As soon as he neared, Kinsey scented the bear within him. “This is one of my mates, Wes, also one of the owners of Everglades. Wes, this is Kinsey, and she has some puzzling questions.” She then told Wes all about what Kinsey felt and asked him if it were possible for a shifter to scent two mates, Kinsey looking on with hope in her eyes that she might have a solution to her dilemma at hand.

Wes stretched an arm out to shake Kinsey’s hand. “Pleased to meet you.” Kinsey shook his hand in turn, and then the giant of a man leaned on the table beside Noel as he slipped an arm around the blonde’s waist, pulling her close. “I must admit, this is still kind of new to us as well, but from what I’ve learned, these animals within us sometimes have a mind of their own. When Jake showed up, it was the first time I ever heard of two animals scenting the same mate. Since then, I’ve learned all sorts of things, such as poly families thrive in the panther world as well as a few others. While it’s not the norm by any stretch of the imagination, it still exists and makes for some interesting relationships. the three of us have had a time of it figuring out the dynamics of how we work together as a triad. Calls for a lot of communication.”

Noel nodded. “There’s a lot of sacrifice and compromise as well. We’re not two couples, even though that’s part of it. We’re a triad, each with an equal voice in the relationship. I have to work on my relationship with each of them, and they each have to respect that there’s something I might have with one and not the other.”

Kinsey glanced at Wes, feeling odd about her next question. “And you and your other partner, are you two, you know, together as well?” She felt the blush creep up her neck.

Wes, however, just laughed off her nervousness. “Not in the romantic sense, but in every other way. We’re just as committed to each other as we are to this little elf right here. Jake and I have to work on our relationship as well. We just do it with our pants on.” He winked at Kinsey.

She felt the blush warm her face even more.

“Oh, stop tormenting the poor woman,” Noel said as she swatted at Wes’ arm. “Don’t listen to him. They’re naked together all the time. I’m just usually pinned between them.”

Wes nuzzled Noel’s neck, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her close. “My little nymph.”

Kinsey smiled at their playfulness, but she still had questions. “Have you known anyone else besides yourselves who have done it?” Kinsey asked. She knew there was a triad back home, but their union had been brought about partly by magic, so she wasn’t sure that counted exactly. Still, if there were others out there, she wanted to know.

Wes shook his head. “No, or I would have been more prepared when it happened to us. Are you sure your panther has scented two different mates?”

Kinsey nodded, turning her attention to her wine as she mulled over what he told her.

“Have you talked to them?” Noel asked, putting her hand on Kinsey’s forearm. “Have they felt the same thing?”

“You said Fitz didn’t feel the mating pull to his wife?” Wes asked. “It was a prearranged mating?”

Again, Kinsey nodded. “His father arranged the marriage because of a business merger. Daniel Everest doesn’t believe in destined mates.” She then turned to Noel, noticing Dimitri and Adira out of the corner of her eye leaving the dance floor, walking back to the table and leaving the others behind. “And no, I haven’t spoken to either one of them about it. I didn’t even tell Fitz I was leaving. He doesn’t know I’m here.”

Dimitri neared the table and stopped, staring behind the others. “I don’t think that’s exactly true,” he said.

Turning, Kinsey could only stare as Fitz and Mandy walked through the front door and started to approach the table where they stood. Kinsey’s animal purred, while her stomach twisted into new knots.