The Merry Moose’s Mates (Male-Order Mates #16)

Chapter Fifteen

Austin

After I tucked Alice in bed, I rejoined my “mates”—I was getting used to the term —in front of the fire. We’d become a family so quickly that sometimes it was hard to remember what life had been like before these two men entered it.

Alice had taken to them right away, and them to her, and we’d already begun making plans for the future together. Something that had never quite happened with my late ex. His promises were always vague and usually involved a timeline that never quite came to pass. All the plans for dinners or trips that just didn’t happen. Business offered him a great excuse not to follow through. The closest I came to finding him out was when I suggested traveling with him to his other office —when he was pregnant.

He handled that by saying it was the last time he’d go before the baby came, so he needed no distractions. And then he stayed with me for the last month —must have been when he couldn’t hide it anymore.

I wondered many times if his other alpha, or maybe his only legitimate one, and he were close. If they slept in the same bed, no way could he have managed to get even that far without him knowing the truth. Clothing could only hide so much, after all. They did share children, though, and now that I was past the anger and hurt I could feel for them. They and his alpha had been betrayed just as much as me. The only real difference was that they inherited all the stuff. But even that didn’t bother me anymore because if I had gotten something, say enough to stay in the penthouse, I’d never have ended up here with the two best mates in the world.

Briar sat in the middle of the sofa, a bowl of popcorn on his lap and Shay on his right. I plopped down on the other side of him and took a handful of buttery goodness.

“I heard on the radio that the roads are open again,” I said. We had done what they told me was mating, essentially like being married but better and much more likely to last, but we hadn’t talked things out. Like what that would mean in the long term. Funny we’d gone from thinking we were arriving to someone we knew for a relationship, learning he wasn’t expecting us, and all the rest until we were sitting here like people who knew one another well and would enjoy an evening chatting in front of the fire.

“Yes,” Briar said quietly. “I can no longer hold you all here against your will.” How things had changed from when he was stuck with us to the wistful note at the thought of us leaving. “Only if you want to stay.”

My heart rate sped up. We’d grown so close, it shouldn’t have been a surprise, but I hadn’t really allowed myself to dream. We’d been through so much, Alice and I, and she seemed so happy here with the guys. They were kind to her and appeared to genuinely enjoy her.

Shay chuckled. “I had already decided I’d only leave if you asked me to. Mates belong together, after all. Austin?”

“How could I not want to stay with you both? I’ve never been so happy, but I’ll have to get a job and pull my own weight.”

Briar waved my words away. “Whenever you’re ready. For now, it seems to me that Alice needs her daddy while she adjusts to her new environment. And when I bought this place, I planned to live alone. It isn’t big enough for all of us to be comfortable in. Didn’t you mention doing handyman work?”

“Among everything else.” I rolled my eyes. “But I am not a contractor, if you were thinking of someone to add a room or two to the place.”

“Actually, in the long term —if you both agree to stay forever —yes. And I was thinking you would probably be able to use all your knowledge to be in charge of that project, keeping track of the contractors, etc. But for now, at least until spring when they actually will be able to do a lot of that work, there are small repairs and lots of cosmetic things to make the place fit for Miss Alice to live in. After what you told us about the penthouse, she must really be puzzled by living in this beat-up old cabin.”

“The only thing wrong with this cabin is we need more space for all of us. Alice, if you hadn’t noticed, is not a snob, and loves it here. I am afraid if I suggested we move on, she’d balk and want to stay with the two of you.”

Shay burst into laughter. “Thanks for saying that even though it’s not true. We are falling hard for her, and she seems to like us fine, an honor I do not take lightly, but she adores her daddy.”

How did they both always know exactly what to say to touch my heart?

“The penthouse was nice, not gonna lie, but it was lonely for us. I didn’t know the reason my late ex rarely took us anywhere was to try to keep us a secret, but the overall effect was that we had very few friends, mostly just old Mrs. Connolly next door who was almost a complete shut in herself.” I cleared my throat. “Maybe we can visit her someday. She was so kind to Alice and me.”

“Absolutely.” Shay enveloped me in a big hug.

Briar wrapped his arms around us both. “That sounds like a deal. Sounds like Shay is in, too, so we have plans to make!”

We sure did!