Chasing Tail: A reader x shifters romance

Part 19

Ash POV

They've mated. I can smell it on them the second Cody and Y/N return to our room in the lake house.

Last night, I went a little too wild, losing my human self to my panther form. We ran under the full moon, completely lost to the world. We hunted deer and gorged on their flesh. When I woke up back in my human form, I was lying naked in the leaves of the forest with blood covering my face and neck.

It was glorious.

Only when I made it back to the lake house and didn't find Y/N and Cody did I start to get worried. I didn't like not knowing where she was. I could have followed her scent and searched for her, but then I remembered the conversation we'd had the evening before. Y/N had accused us of being overbearing and clingy. That description might fit the idiot dog, but I refused to act like that. I am a cat, after all. Cats aren't clingy. We're independent, unlike those dogs who follow people around like lost puppies. We seek out humans only when it pleases us

I took a shower, telling myself that Cody must be with her, she must be safe. I would just wait until they returned.

And just when the waiting was about to become unbearable, they did return. Together. Practically reeking of sex.

I cross my arms, resisting the urge to scan Y/N for injuries, or to scoop her up into my arms and seek out her sweet scent, buried under the scent of mating. Instead, I cross my arms and say, "You two fucked."

Cody grins wide, the bastard. Y/N immediately turns red as a tomato and starts stammering. "I— we— I mean—"

"Don't deny it. I can smell it all over you." My eyes zero in on a red spot just above Y/N's collarbone. "He marked you?"

She covers the mark self-consciously. "Yes."

"You chose him as your mate?"

Hurt spikes through me, quickly followed by a wave of possessive fury. Did she ask him to mark her? Does this mean that she wants only Cody as her mate? I search Cody's body but don't find a mark in return anywhere. He's naked, so I can see there's nothing anywhere on his body. That provides me a small measure of relief. At least she hasn't marked him back.

Y/N glances at Cody, then at me. "Um, I don't really know what that entails."

She's clearly confused about the whole mating bond thing. It's no wonder. She's human, and we've never sat her down and explained how the process works with shifters. Honestly, I'm worried that once she knows how serious a mate commitment is, she'll try and run from us. Then we'd have to hunt her down and make her stay with us. That would be unfortunate.

"Are you angry?" Y/N's soft, concerned voice pulls me out of my thoughts. I realize I've been growling instinctively from the moment I saw the mark.

Cody steps closer to her, taking up a protective, hovering stance while he watches me warily. That pisses me off more. It takes serious effort for me to suppress the aggressive growl emanating from me.

I swallow my jealousy and face Y/N. "No. It's okay. We've told you that Cody and I have worked out an arrangement."

I exchange a glance with Cody, communicating silently. We did agree that both of us could accept an arrangement where she took us both as mates. But Cody's worried now what will happen if she picks only him. He should be worried. My panther is simmering just below my skin. If Y/N rejects me in favor of a dog, I'll be compelled to fight him for her. I won't have any choice about it—my instincts will demand that I try to kill him.

"So, about this mate thing." Y/N's eyes are fixed on the ground, and she's fidgeting shyly. She steps away so that she can keep both of us in her line of sight. "Is it, um... strictly a monogamous thing? Do shifters ever take more than one mate?"

Hope flares in my chest. Cody gives me a wide-eyed look. We're thinking the same thing. Is it possible she wants us both? Would we be able to live with our mate without one of us having to kill the other?

"Yes, it happens," he answers quickly. "Shifters are really possessive over their mates, so it's rare that mates have an open relationship. But there are plenty of mate bonds that involve more than two people, of any gender. We're not as uptight as you humans about who loves whom and how."

"Though it is odd for shifters of different species to be in the same mate bond," I add.

"Oh. Okay. That's good to know."

I'm having trouble reading Y/N's expression at the moment, and I can't gauge her emotions by her scent because she's still covered in the smell of sex and Cody, damn it. I wish I could tell what she's thinking.

My panther perks up in my head and gives me the solution. I can't sit idly by and wait for Y/N to figure out what she's feeling. The next time I get her alone, I will mark her and make her mine. I can only rein in my jealousy and possessive instincts for so long. While my mate wears another man's mark, my panther will not be able to rest until I've marked her, too.

Voices from outside the lake house make me perk up my ears. Y/N's friends are having coffee and chatting around the fire pit. My shifter senses can pick up their conversation even from here. They're talking about how hungover they are. One of them mentions how both Y/N and Kyle went missing for most of the night.

Cody's expression becomes thunderous. "There's something we need to discuss," he tells me.

——————

Y/N POV

In a low, clipped voice that tells you he's barely holding back his fury, Cody relays what happened last night with Kyle to Ash. How he found you trapped in the stable shed, where your "friend" tried to assault you.

Ash's expression goes completely blank, a mask of ice descending over his features. You could swear that the temperature in the room drops suddenly. He turns to you, and your heartbeat starts fluttering like a caged hummingbird in your rib cage. His impenetrable, ice-cold demeanor terrifies you.

He approaches you and strokes his arms over your shoulders, searching for any signs of injury. His eyes linger on the red mark, then move on. You can feel a few bruises developing under the skin, but they're not visible yet, and they're all from Cody's slightly rough treatment last night, which you didn't mind at all. Same goes for the soreness between your thighs.

"Did the scum hurt you?" His voice is scarily soft and even.

You shake your head. Kyle didn't get a chance to hurt you. Not physically, at least. Just remembering his face, his awful words last night, the way he tried to kiss you—it makes you shudder. It's a memory you'd rather not relive ever again.

"He tried to hurt her. Who gives a shit if he succeeded or not?" Cody snarls. "The fucker scared her. He put his hands on her. We need to deal with him."

"And we will," Ash confirms, still eerily calm.

He and Cody move to the door. You quickly put yourself between them and the way out. "What are you planning to do?"

"He's a piece of disgusting trash. What do you do with trash? You dispose of it."

You suck in a sharp breath. "You mean you're going to kill him."

"You don't need to worry about it, love. You'll be safe from now on." Ash gives you a gentle smile that makes all the hair on your arms stand on end. He wraps his arms around your waist and bends down to place a kiss on your lips. Instinctively, you melt into him. Only when he breaks the kiss do you realize that he's picked you up and placed you down out of the way of the door.

And just like that, your shifters head out to exact revenge for you.