Ayla’s POV
“What is it you want to talk about, Ayla?” Laura asked; she sat on the edge of the sofa next to me.
I didn’t know what to ask her; I had only said I wanted Laura to stay because I didn’t wish to stay with Mason.
“Umm,” I wrack my battered brain for an idea. All the while, she stared at me, patiently waiting.
“Well, you see, I just wanted to know how things go now I have had my first shift, does my body go through changes differently now or?” the question came to me, so I said it before I forgot it. She smiled and looked pleased to be able to help. There wasn’t anything I wanted to know, but I had to ask something! Otherwise, she would know something was up.
“Well,” she smiled “, your body will automatically know what to do, so you do not need to worry, my dear” she patted Ayla’s knee. “You will feel heightened emotions. Especially around your time of the month, you will get used to it and learn to control your anger! Trust me; I did,” she said with a laugh that sounded like a melody being sung.
My mind raced to think of something else to ask my Luna, as I wasn’t all that worried about these things. It was nice to have this time with Laura without anyone else around. It’s very rare that I ever really got time with my adoptive mother. She was kind to me, but Michael was always just a little bit more of a parent to me than Laura.
A knock sounded on the door; it said hurried, urgent. I could already smell it was the Chase brothers. Their scents were mixed and came slamming through the thick wooden door. It honestly felt like a truck had hit me head-on. I physically jolted backwards on the sofa. Laura looked at me then. She instantly knew what was happening. She looked from me to the door and then back again. With a slight smile dancing across her lips, she looked at me as she walked to the door, her hand on the handle. It felt like a lifetime for her to finally squeeze the metal between her fingers and release the latch.
Heart pounding in my chest, I watch every single move she makes. Finally, the door opens, and they are all staring at me. My hand flew to my mouth as I felt this otherworldly connection, not to just one of them but all of them. When my eyes locked on to theirs, each, in turn, the link snapped into place. I gasped.
“Ayla? Are you okay, my love?” Laura asked; she looked confused? Neither of the brothers had moved. They just stood there watching me. They looked nervous if nothing else.
“Y..yes”, I stammer back. “Could we have a moment, please!” I ask her
“Of course, I’ll be right outside if you need me” she smiled at me, but it was a warning to the brothers.
Aiden moves aside to allow Laura out, never taking his eyes off me. Once she was gone, he moved into the room, closely followed by his brothers. It was too much. Them all coming at me at once was so overpowering that I couldn’t breathe.
“Stop”, I suddenly say, they all instantly halt.
“One at a time, please, something weird is going on, and it’s too much for me, so please, one at a time” my voice sounded funny, all breathy and quiet.
Aiden looked over his shoulder at his brothers; they nodded and moved to the back of the room.
“Is that better?” Aiden’s voice filled my ears. He sounded fantastic, even more so than usual. My skin felt itchy, like I had to get closer to him, or it wouldn’t stop; it would drive me insane.
“Yeah, a bit, thank you”, I answer. Running his hand through his hair, he watches me and then starts to move forward; my heart is pounding so hard as if it was trying to escape the confines of my rib cage.
“Are you okay” he whispers as he perches in front of me. I see his hands shake as he reaches up to touch my face. Sparks flew all over my skin where his fingers rested; I couldn’t hold a gasp in.
“Do you feel it too?” he whispers as he places his forehead on mine. All I can do is nod.
I reach up and hold his cheek like he is holding mine, I hear his breath hitch, and before I know it, he places his lips on mine. Time stood still for a moment. Then every sensation and feeling came crashing down on me as his kiss deepened. I hear Bria singing in my head that he was our mate, yet something still didn’t sit right; something still felt off.
“Mate”, I utter; he sighs and says the same to me.
“I can feel your emotions now, Ayla; I know why you feel the way you feel,” Aiden says, sounding relieved; I knew it was because I had accepted him, and it felt amazing.
“What do you mean?”
“You need to see Axel and Archer too,” he sighed as he stood up and let me go. Suddenly I felt empty without his touch, lost and sad. But he was right. I had a pull to them; I had to see them too.
Archer moves forward as Aiden returns to Axel; it feels weird. It’s like I couldn’t cope with all of them around me at once, or I would pass out. I felt sad watching Aiden walk away from me, yet I felt excited as Archer drew closer.
“What the hell was happening to me” the thought slipped from my lips like a strangled whisper. Archer chuckled. He knew, and it looked like his brothers did too. Was I the only blinded one here?
“Hi princess!” he breathed in my ear as he bent to kiss my cheek, but I turned, and our lips met instantly. It took us both by surprise. Breaking away, my eyes slammed into the stare of Aiden’s, but he was smiling.
“Goddess, this is confusing”, I managed to think to myself this time.
“Mate”, Bria sings again
“Mate? How?” I stammer back
Archer bends and kisses me again, muttering the words Mate against my lips; I shiver. He isn’t wrong; he was my mate as well!
Reaching up, I hold his face like I did Aiden’s, looking him in the eye and studying his face. He seemed so calm, but I wasn’t.
“It’s okay, Ayla, just see Axel, and then we will explain,” he tells me before kissing my forehead and stepping away.
Once again, I’m filled with a sudden sense of loss and sadness as he walks away.
Watching the brothers, as my second mate joins my first, they grasp hands with each other in a congratulatory way; Axel takes a deep breath and steps forward. He looks so nervous; I feel jittery as I watch him move closer.
“Don’t say anything?” I say way too quickly as he bends to sit next to me; I reach up and run my fingers through his black hair; the light catches on the silver flecks. My eyes meet his, and I lean in; I know the drill now. There was a pattern here, and I needed to know quickly if all three chase brothers were destined to be mine.
His lips met mine, and sparks flew like they did the two other times. Bria sang in my mind once more, confirming Axel as our mate. Tears fell down my cheeks as Axel pulled away and beamed at me.
“Ayla, don’t cry,” he said as he wiped my tears away with his thumb.
“How is this possible.”
“I don’t know, but we will find out, I promise”, Axel tries to reassure me.
I nod and look over his shoulder at his brothers; they both look up as I catch their eyes. They grin, and I feel this sudden urge to have them all here with me; that horrible overwhelming feeling I had before had dissipated. They didn’t need me even tell them to come over. They already knew.
“How do you feel now,” Aiden asks me. He traces small circles on the palm of my hand that he had instantly caught hold of as soon as he had reached me.
“I’m okay, confused but okay”, I admit
“I think we all are”, Axel pipes in
“Archer, you said you could explain this once I spoke with Axel?” I remind him
“Well, yes, and no. We all knew you were our mate, but we don’t know why,” he confessed.
“Wait”, Aiden stops the conversation. “We are connected now, not fully bonded but connected. That means you have had your first shift! “He states as the big news finally dawns on him
“Yes, I shifted in the woods before….” I trailed off
“Before you were attacked”, Archer growled. I could feel his wolf behind the snarl. “Do you know who it was?”
“No, I don’t, I didn’t see or hear them, but I don’t think it was male; that’s all I know”, I explain.
“We will find out, and once we do, they will pay for what they did to you, I swear”, Axel declared. There was no room for argument.
There was a knock at the door again, and then Michael strode in before an invitation was given. He stopped and took in the image before him. He looked just as confused as I felt.
“What am I looking at here” he spat.
All three of the chase brothers had hold of me in one way or another. I hadn’t even noticed; I just felt relaxed with them.
“Michael, they are my mates,” I say simply
“What all of them?” he puzzled
“Yes”
“I’m sorry, but how can that even be possible? I thought it was only Aiden” he was dumbfounded.
“How did you know about Aiden?” I quizzed him narrowing my eyes.
“Ah, that’s my fault; I kind of shouted that I thought we were mates at him when the Alpha thought I was a suspect” Aiden shrugged.
“But it’s all three of you,” Michael asks again
“Yes,” we all reply.
“I haven’t ever heard of this before, and frankly, I don’t know how I feel about it,” he tells me; I can feel his unease.
“It is what it is, Michael, don’t try to understand it before we do and please don’t try to stop it” he could tell I meant it too.