Julian POV
I hold my mate close to my chest as I watch her sleep. She warm breath brushes across my chest. Her arm was wrapped around me tightly. Tyler was spooning her from behind.
"So, how do you really feel?" He asks me quietly.
"I don't know. What do you think?" I ask him confused. I was torn. I never would have thought when I found my mate, I would have to share her, much less with the guy I grew up hating.
"Well I am trying to embrace it as I see how happy you make her. I am trying to hold my tongue and not say anything to upset you as it would hurt her. I think what we just did proves this can work. My wolf as much as I thought it would be clawing at me to kill you for touching her, did not once get upset. I feel like my wolf accepts the mate bond we have with her more than my emotions or brain wants too." He says seriously. I chuckle.
I agree, my wolf was not mad watching them like I thought he would be, but my personal emotions did not like it. "I agree. My wolf was ok, it was more my personal emotions that were upset. It is hard Tyler. We never liked each other but now with her I feel like I would do anything, even live with you the rest of my life if it meant she was happy. When are we going to mark her as Luna? Does this mean our packs are joining?" I ask him.
"We need to explain the marking to her first. And eventually I think it would mean the packs our combined with our pups as the next alphas." Tyler says.
"Ok. Maybe tomorrow we should talk about it. I don't want a pack member asking her why she isn't marked and making her feel bad." I tell him.
"I agree, speaking of, has she met Madison yet?" He asks me looking over our mate at me.
"No, and I'm dreading it. What about all of your past lovers are they going to be problems?" I ask him curious.
"No, I never dated anyone. I would only ever do that for my mate. Everyone else was just a means to an end." He says pragmatically.
"I see, so no jealous lovers?" I press, just because he felt that way doesn't mean they felt that way.
"No, if there is, they know to stay away from my mate. My pack was notified after the first time I saw her that she was mine and mine alone. I'm honestly shocked none of them tried to separate you and her in public." He says laughing.
"Guess you don't have that good of watch dogs as you thought." I tease him laughing. He laughed too. This was the first time I had ever had a nice conversation with this man. He and I normally butted heads, but with her we felt like new men.
I felt her cuddling into me more in her sleep. "She's adorable." Tyler says watching her. I smile at her and place a kiss on her head.
"Yeah, she's pretty amazing." I agree.
"Are you going to be ok with her kinky tendencies?" Tyler asks me teasing me. I know tonight was the first of many nights like that, but I didn't mind it.
"Yes, I am fine with it. I just never had anyone that wanted to do those things." I explain. Madison and I really were mechanical. I believed I had loved her because I should love someone, I spent four years with. I did not want to be with her, but she would never let me break up with her, she always threw a tantrum and threatened other girls. The more I am with my mate and in a real relationship the more I realized how fucked up my relationship with Madison was.
"Good, I know she wants both of us to play with her because she doesn't want to leave one of us out." He explains.
"I know. She is probably having a hard time making sure she is fair to both of us. Her ex cheated on her and from what I gather she walked in on it. He had been calling and threatening her until I blocked his number. I think she took her stuff and moved out and he wanted her to come back." I explain to him. He growls at it.
"Do you think he can find her here?" He asks me.
"I don't know. I hope not. The second she heard his voice, I watched her break in front of me and it was enough to feel like someone shot me." I say reliving the first night I spent with her. "I think I'd kill him if I ever saw him." I add and Tyler nods. "I also think it's why she was so hesitant at first because she didn't want one of us to feel like she was cheating on them."
"I understand that. She is really caring, and I could see how that situation would make her acceptance of this harder. It's why you and I need to not fight in front of her. She will take us arguing harder than we ever will." He tells me and I agree.
"We need to always put her first." I say and he nods in agreement.
"I agree. I will also try to make sure you have one on one time with her. I will be with her a lot for school and basketball, so I will make an effort to respect your time with her." He tells me and honestly, I'm surprised. I was already jealous of them getting to spend time together and me being at work. I knew they were working but he still got to be with her, and I didn't.
"I appreciate that. We can make date nights and stuff so it's a clear boundary. Same with you taking her out for stuff like that. I know you guys are working most of the time together which isn't the most romantic so I will respect if you want to take her out." I tell him.
"Thanks man. You know we are going out of town for a tournament in a couple days for a week. I think it would be good if you surprised her during it." He tells me and again I am shocked he is suggesting this.
"I'll see what I can do at the precinct. I would love to watch her coach. She is so passionate talking about both teams." I say remembering how she told me all about each player and what she wanted to work on with them. I was amazed at her basketball intellect, she talked way over my head half the time and had to draw out some of what she was talking about.
"She is so fucking smart it is scary. She sees things I never would have and adjust so quickly. I can't even imagine her as a real player. I mean she plays in the drills and things and she is so much better than everyone else, but it's based on intellect. She knows her weaknesses and exploits everyone else's. It's a sight to see man. I'm gonna try to get her to play in the Homecoming Week game just to watch her play." He says and I can tell by his voice full of adoration that she really was amazing.
"She tries to tell me that she isn't that great of a coach." I told him and he laughed loudly. She stirs and opens her eyes grumpily.
"What is so funny?" She mumbles into my chest. I laugh at her adorable grumpy voice. She sits up and rubs her eyes before looking at the clock.
"Nothing darling, I'm sorry for waking you." Tyler tells her and she yawns.
"Come lay back down baby girl." I tell her and she looks at both of us with sleepy eyes.
"Why are you guys still awake?" She asks us as she yawns again. Her eyelids droop as she is fighting sleep.
"We were just talking sweetheart. Lay down so I can cuddle you again." Tyler coax her into laying down. She settles between us and we both hold her close, Tyler spooning her and me with her on my chest.
"What about?" She asks us.
"You, silly girl." I tell her and she giggles sleepily. She kisses my chest as she nuzzles into me and I can't believe the sparks that shoot through my body at her actions.
"What do I do that's so funny?" She persistently asks.
"You are very inquisitive for someone so tired." Tyler says, reading my mind.
"Just tell me." She whines and I melt.
"It's funny to us that you can't see how amazing you are." I tell her and she relaxes against me.
"You guys are so silly then," She says as she starts to drift off.
We stay quiet until she snores softly against my chest. "She is so cute sometimes." Tyler says as he kisses her shoulder. She leans into him and I can see his smile at her actions.
"Yeah, I'm so glad she is my mate." I say seriously as I watch her.
"Me too." He says.
We finally fall asleep and I wake up with her cuddled on my chest. She kisses my chest when she sees that I'm awake.
"Morning." She says to me and I love her sweet voice waking me up. I smile at her and run my hand over her cheek as I lean down and kiss her forehead.
"Morning baby." I say softly, "How did you sleep?" I ask her. She grins up at me and her eyes are absolutely beautiful in the early morning light. The green was flecked with brown specks and it was mesmerizing.
"I slept great. How did you sleep?" She asks me. I smile at her.
"I slept great." I tell her. I finally look over at Tyler who is still asleep holding on to her tightly. I chuckle at the sight.
"Would you like to go out for breakfast today?" I ask her. She smiles and nods. "Then we should get moving. Do you want to wake up your other mate?" I ask her and she giggles. She rolls over in his arms and runs her fingers down his face.
"Wake up sweetheart." She says softly and he mumbles but doesn't wake up. "Tyler wake up." She says as she nudges his shoulder. He opens his eyes and grumbles.
"No." He says before pulling her closer and hiding his face in her neck. She laughs and pushes him back.
"Please I'm hungry. I want to go get breakfast, but I want you to come too." She whines to him. He pulls back and looks at her before nodding.
"Fine, but I want to sleep in tomorrow. I'm tired." He says as he rolls on his back. She sits up and lightly hits his chest.
"Then you shouldn't stay up all night gossiping with Julian." She says as she scoots off the bed and looks at me. I look back not knowing what she wants me to do.
"Yes?" I ask cluelessly.
"You said we had to get moving but you aren't moving." She crosses her arms over her chest and says to me. She bends down and pulls on her clothes from yesterday. Tyler and I slide out of bed and pull on clothes.
"We really need to stash clothes at all of our places." Tyler grumbles. Someone was obviously not a morning person. His hair was disheveled, and he looked exhausted. I hadn't thought about them having clothes. I was not about to suggest she wear something of Madison's, which I had plenty of her clothes in my closet.
She looks at me as I glace to the closet and she walks over and opens it to reveal rows of Madison's clothes. She stands there with her mouth open in shock. I didn't know what to do. It felt like someone just sucker punched me. I hadn't brought Madison her clothes after the break up and now I realized what a mistake that was.
Tyler glares at me like I'm a fucking idiot and I was, but damn I didn't appreciate it. He motions to her and I walk over slowly. I put a hand on her shoulder and say, "Baby, I will get this all out of here. I hadn't thought of giving them back to her since, I've been spending all my time with you or thinking about you. I am so sorry. I know how this looks, but I will get all of this out of here today. I would love for you to move your stuff in here, if that is what you want to do." I say, trying to get my voice to convey how apologetic I was about this.
She composes herself and puts on a blank expression. She looks at me and gives a small smile. "It's fine. Let's just go eat." She says and I knew I was in trouble. No woman is ever just fine. She turns and walks out without waiting for Tyler and I.
"Seriously, you didn't think to get rid of her stuff before having our mate stay the night. The day I fucking let it slip that you were dating Madison, she ran out of my office crying but still went on the date with you that night. I didn't know her background then but obviously cheating makes her upset and this must feel like you dumped Madison to be with her, which I am going to take a wild stab in the dark and say it's true." Tyler growls at me. I growl back and try to control my wolf. This was my mistake and he was right.
I hang my head as I look at the floor. "I did break up with her after meeting Rachel. I just don't use the closet because Madison filled it with her stuff so I didn't think about it." I say and he nods.
"I understand, truly I do, but I don't think she will. This is so new and she is going to have a hard time with this situation more than we are." He says and I nod. We walk out and find her standing by the front door. She smiles a fake smile at us and opens the door and walks up to my SUV. She gets in the back and doesn't say a word as Tyler and I hop in and head to the café.