“Dante is a good stirrer,” Alicia noted.“You say that because you hate doing it.” If I didn’t have to stand at the stove, I would have chased him around the kitchen until I caught him and planted a kiss on his lips. But my job was to ladle stock and stir until it was absorbed.“My turn to ask you questions.” Clarissa leaned on his elbows while Alicia chopped coriander and grated parmesan cheese. “Can you give me details about your life before Aspen became Alpha?”My stirring hand froze and Alicia edged closer to me. “I’ll sum it up by saying our lives were the complete opposite of what they are now.” What I didn’t say was that Clarissa might not have liked who Alicia and I were before Aspen took over.“Maybe another time,” my Beta mate muttered as he checked the seafood and peas had defrosted.“Sorry, that was thoughtless of me,” Clarissa said and changed the subject.While I resumed stirring, we chatted about our favorite food and colors, though when Clarissa asked us to name our fa

But now that curtain was pulled away. We were more than I ever dared dream—we were mates, and we had the most amazing omega. We could do everything I longed to do and more. He was mine… at last.“I love the idea of us completing my checklist.” I rolled onto my side to look at him. “I had one, you know. Most were silly stuff like climbing trees and watching the sun rise. But some were more than serious, you know?”“Like what we have with Clarissa?” Dante filled in for me.“Yes. I guess. But also no. Like the two of us being together. I want that to be special but also I want that with Clarissa, too, and I hope that you do as well. Do I make any sense at all?” Because it didn’t feel like I did.He rolled onto his side to face me full on. We were both out here, naked, inches apart, and yet this wasn’t sexual at all. It was just as intense and intimate, just in a very different way.He reached over and cupped my cheek. “You want to have this beautiful connection between us with Clarissa,

“Yes and no. They understand that fated mates cannot be separated and even if something were to happen to you two, the odds of Clarissa following you to the goddess were great, and even if he didn’t, the chances he’d take another as his mate were slim to none.” And they would be right on both accounts. “They also understand that matings often result in babies and they want control over how the young are raised.”“Problem solved.” Dante slammed both hands on the table, shaking it. “We won’t have babies. Done. If they don’t want you raising snow leopards with non-snow leopards, then we won’t have any.”I leaned into his side. “What if that’s not what we want.” My eyes were starting to fill with tears. I could and would fight the council to my death, but giving up a huge part of what I wanted in my life—to start a family—that was going to break me.“Let’s not make any rash decisions. I still have a meeting with the council to get through. Right now, they just say that the snow leopard wo

Alicia’s eyes were closed. “Tell me when we get there.”My palms were sweating buckets and I almost jumped up and shouted, “I want to get off.”Help, my bear squeaked.Clarissa’s idea of a date was not what I’d imagined. I gulped and leaned forward over the bag as a loud clunking had me copying Alicia and closing my eyes.Clarissa was talking softly, explaining what was happening, and I concentrated on his calming voice, or tried to. As the plane lifted off, it left my stomach behind on Earth as I begged the universe to spare our lives.There was an announcement, something about a cruising altitude, whatever that was, and I looked up as people got out of their seats and there were lots of little dingings.“Look.” Clarissa pointed out the window beside Alicia. We were far above the ground and he pointed out Bruin Ridge in the distance. The farmlands crisscrossed one another, intersected by the river that ran through our land.Never having seen the Earth or our home from above, I unbuck

Even before he answered, I predicted what he was going to say. “Other.”“Dante!” Clarissa sank on the couch.“It’s your fault for giving him that option.” I collapsed next to him.“Fine.” Dante peered at the samples. “The geometric one is interesting. Let’s go with that.”“Oh no, not that one.” That was Clarissa. “Yeah, I don’t like it,” I agreed.Dante put one hand on his hip while he waggled a spoon at us in the other. “Why did you include it if you didn’t like it?”Good question. “We thought you might?”“Right, so you can have the pleasure of telling me I have no taste.” “We’d never do that,” Clarissa said. “Because you chose both of us.”“You have impeccable taste.” I shared a laugh with Clarissa. “Just not when it comes to wallpaper.”Dante returned to cooking while Clarissa and I muddled through the rest of the list, and when we were done, all three of us put the items to be returned, in Clarissa’s car. While we were eating dinner and talking about wha