Chapter 285

I clean up as best as I can, wearing Beau’s boxers. They are bulky under my more form-fitting pants. The waistband peeks out from under the waist of my jeans. My shirt covers it so long as I’m standing straight. Hopefully no one will look if I have to bend over and my shirt draws up.

“You ready?” Beau asks. He’s so damn smug and pleased with himself. He’s really enjoying me in his boxers, even if it means his brothers might get pissed. Actually, he probably likes it in part because of that.

Gods all of these brothers are insufferable. I have no idea what I’m doing spending some much time with them.

Except I do. Because I’m everything, basically, but in love with them. Even with that, I sometimes wonder.

“I’m ready,” I tell him. Ready as I ever be. He peeks out into the hallway, then waves me forward.

We step into the hallway together. Unfortunately, at the very same time, Archer steps out of his own room and sees us. His eyes immediately go to my waistband.

He shouldn’t be able to see anything!

His eyes narrow instead.

Beau steps in his way, shielding me with his body. The two brothers begin to square up like they are about to have a full-blown Alpha fight right there in the hallway of my Mom’s house.

Archer starts to growl.

This is too much!

I push forward, and shove my way around Beau so that I am separating the two.

“Knock it off, you guys,” I snap. “Don’t we have bigger things to worry about right now?”

“Get out of the way, Chloe,” Archer’s growl only gets louder, more pronounced.

Beau’s starting to growl too. “Move, Nanny.”

Oh my Gods, whatever. You know what? Fine. If they want to tear each other’s heads off over something as stupid as me wearing Beau’s boxers in lieu of my own being so tragically ruined, then to hell with it.

“If you two want to kill each other, fine. See if I care,” I snap. “But for fuck’s sake, go back to the Pyramid to do it. Hasn’t my Mom been through enough?”

The growling, slowly, begins to die down. At least they can be cowed with the current motivation, I guess. They won’t kill each other because they don’t want to inconvenience their host.

Honestly at this point, I’ll take it.

I’ll take whatever I can get that gets them to back off and cool down.

“Fine,” Archer says, his growl softer but no less threatening.

“Fine,” Beau agrees. “Whatever.”

“Good.” I cross my eyes and take turns staring each one down. Beau grumbles and leaves first. Archer steps closer, looking like he might want to say something. But he quickly thinks better of it and heads off in the other direction instead.

When they are both done, I think I’m in the clear. I take exactly one step.

“Are all the brothers infatuated with you?” Mom asks.

I freeze and turn. Mom is standing in her own doorway, watching me. She has a bemused expression on her face, so at least I know she’s not super pissed at me. Or too terribly disappointed, either.

I haven’t been sharing with her everything that’s been going on for many reasons. One of them is that I expect harsh judgement for my current choices. To sleep with one of the brothers is bad enough. But to be sexually and romantically entangled with all four?

Listen, I know that makes me look like a slut.

But I’m kind of okay with that?

I can imagine my mom wouldn’t be though.

Mom just looks at me with something like sympathy. “You want to talk about it?”

Gods, I wish I could. But I wouldn’t even know where to start. Mom must see my exhaustion on my face. She just smiles slightly and shakes her head.

“You like them all too, don’t you?” she asks.

“How can I not?” I reply.

Mom comes closer to me. She places her hands on my shoulders and gives me one of those kind, exasperated looks that moms tend to give their wayward daughters.

“Don’t worry so much about it,” Mom says. “Your wolf is manifesting right? You feel it growing stronger all the time?”

I don’t know if I feel it growing stronger, exactly, but I have noticed that I’m healing faster all the time. Aches and pains that I’d previously felt for hours fade away much quicker now. Hell, my virility in bed is enough to tell me that my body heals quickly.

Beau can fuck me for an hour and I feel fine.

I’m not going to say that to mom, however. That one is going into my vault.

Fortunately Mom doesn’t wait for an answer. “As your wolf continues to manifest, it will become clearer which of the four is your true mate.” She shrugs. “Your body is likely confused right now because they are brothers. Their genetic makeup is so similar, you can’t tell right now which one is the right one.”

I scoff a little at the mere suggestion that one of the Hayes brothers could actually belong to me. “Mom. Come on. You know none of the brothers are going to want anything to do with me like that.” Even if somehow, I am fated with one of them, I can’t imagine any of them actually sticking with me.

Right now, it’s sex, and that’s it. The minute it gets more complicated, I doubt even Neil or Steven would stick by side.

But even thinking that far ahead is so ridiculous. The Hayes brothers are powerful Alphas. They are bound for great things. There’s no way any of them would be bound by the moon to be my match.

They are more likely to be paired with supermodels or some other fashionistas. Beautiful, thin women who would look great on their arms.

Not me.

“Don’t talk like that, Mom,” I say. “I like them because they are attractive. They amuse themselves with me because I am available and nearby. That’s all there is.”

Mom looks at me closer. “You don’t actually believe that.”

So what if I do or don’t? It doesn’t change the reality that whatever my feelings for the brothers, we are not going to end up together.

Everything is temporary. Someday they will stop needing a nanny and the danger with their father will have passed. Then they will have no need to keep me around. There will be no danger to protect me from.

Without that excitement, that reasoning, we’ll go our separate ways.

And without the convenience of my being close, they will let whatever this relationship is between us drop.

I shouldn’t care anyway. I have dreams more important to me than mates and babies and fate.

I want to be a warrior. The last thing I need on my path to that greatness is some mate who disagrees with my life choices and seeks to stand in my way.

“It doesn’t matter what I actually believe,” I say. “This isn’t some great fated love, Mom. It’s a passing fancy. I’m not going to let myself get attached.”

Mom sees right through me of course. I should have known better than to try to fool her.

Mom looks at me and says, “You are already attached.”

And she’s not wrong.