Pawn Among Wolves Ch. 17 Extended Scene

Not at first, no - like you,all ties were ripped apart. But Twin - he thought he was going mad at first, when he started hearing me in his head again, years back.Mac scraped the chair out of the way, leaned forward, and bit her shoulder gently, sending a shiver down her spine. Then he began to kiss her better.

That's what gave me hope, picchu. I know you're as strong as me, and I just - hoped against hope.

Gemma squirmed aside and halted his advancing lips with an offered piece of food.I haven't run out of questions,she admonished. Gently Mac's teeth closed on her offering, and his lips caressed her fingertips in a brief kiss.

You're twisting my tail,Mac cried, his mind-voice echoing with disbelief and jubilation. His brows creased and a frown crossed his eyes, the joyous gleam dampened by resignation.

Shut up and kiss your mate,he then added incongruously. The second conveyance was clearer, without the faint echo, although the difference was so slight it was almost imperceptible. Gemma's breath caught while she stared at him, then looked to her right at theotherMac approaching from the open double doorway of the auditorium, hand in hand with his platinum-blonde companion.

You just accepted meat from a girl?The teasing words bounded again in Mac's head, sounding clearly within Gemma's. But, she realised with a flop of her heart, they did not originatefrom her mate.

She can run rings around you, Ulf, stop it,a female voice rebuked from a great distance. For all its faintness, Gemma recognised that voice from one stressful encounter months ago: Natasha.

Flabbergasted, she watched the couple join them cross-legged around the chair. The Mackeld twins, sitting side-by-side on the flagged floor opposite her, took Gemma's breath away. Her matealwaystook her breath away. Two of them was justunfair.

"You were the one who yelled at me," she murmured on a sudden realisation, heart pounding and head blundering in confusion. When she'd been driving the Porsche. Mesmerised, she couldn't help but stare, wide-eyed at the rugged beauty of them. Blatantly unfair.

Ulf grimaced, and Mac slanted a sideways look at his twin, leaving him to answer.

"I'm sorry, Gemma. You kept wanting to kill Nick. And while I applauded the sentiment, I couldn't risk the consequences," Ulf replied. His eyes ignited with feeling, and he stared across the short space at Natasha. His mate leaned forward and gently touched a finger to his lips.

"He couldn't keep his mouth shut," Mac translated wryly. "So I cut him off - didn't want you distracted just then."

Mac's brother twitched his eyes back to Gemma, the fierce light in them dying, and added, "Not the best way of introducing myself, apologies." Then a spark of amusement gleamed, "But I love what you've done to my natál." His gaze slanted sideways at his twin. Mac sighed.

Taking meat from a girl,Ulf taunted again.

Gemma was startled at the accusation. "I thought 'mates share kill'?" she quoted.

An eyebrow lifted. "Is that what he told you?" replied Mac's twin, swaying aside to evade the palm Mac was pushing at the side of his face in an attempt to tip him over. "Oh ho ho - right words, wrong sentiment:a malehunts for his mate, and they sharehiskill." He slanted a second mock-disgusted look at Mac. "Does lazy Twin send you off hunting for him too?"

Mac's arm and leg blurred, and his brother went rolling off across the floor, laughing.

A little smile tugged at Gemma's mouth, and she blinked away the sting in her eyes. Mac with Ulf was just - right. They were so at peace with each other, relaxed. A pair.

But she was also a little sad. Shelikedfeeding Mac. Sharing that intimacy.

"Ignore my mate," Natasha advised on Gemma's right.

"Mostmales won't accept meat from their mate," Mac corroborated. He was carefully not looking at his brother when he added: "Feeble ones who worry about upholding their image."

There was a blur of tawny limbs, which resolved into Ulf skidding across the floor shouting "Dammit, Mac!" through increased laughter.

"He calls you Mac?" she asked tentatively.

The smile that flickered across his face held a depth of unholy mischief. Natasha sighed heavily. "They both call each other Mac. They started as cubs, to cause as much confusion and mayhem as possible, swopping places incessantly." What a surprise. Gemma looked steadily into Mac's eyes, her own narrowed.

Mac's smile deepened and he tilted the bowl containing the little remaining stew toward Gemma, distracting her. "Many sjeste would feel uncomfortable with this too." Gemma couldn't help but return that grin, picking out a succulent piece to present to his lips.

"No sjeste will hunt on the rut or after, when she might be carrying - too many have shifted automatically during the chase and lost the litter - so her mate hunts for her then," Natasha explained while she watched Mac accept Gemma's offering, his lips brushing against her fingertips in a brief kiss. "But most females hunt at other times. Yet somehow the 'Mates share kill' adage seems to have solidified into one-way machismo."

He would never have let Grace do that,the Vanilchov sjeste added privately, the direct conveyance clear in Gemma's mind.

Gemma turned her head to the woman sitting beside her, startled and questioning. Clear blue eyes met hers, shadowed but tentatively welcoming. Gemma felt a tiny knot of tension inside her twist and crumble.

"I wanted to come and say thank-you," Natasha said quietly.

"You just did," Gemma replied, blinking back a sudden burn to her eyes. She couldn't explain what that simple conveyance meant to her. She felt as though Tasha had just patted her on the back approvingly.

A blur out of the corner of her eye, and Gemma and Tasha both turned their heads to watch a furry, cartwheeling ball of flashing claws and teeth tumble across the flags opposite. Ulf had pounced on Mac. Gemma rose to her feet, mouth open at the abrupt, vicious fight, but her companion reached out a hand and patted her calf, letting out another long sigh.

"They are Alpha natál. They love fighting each other, it's some weird form of relaxation," Natasha soothed. "And they haven't actually seen each other in years."

As if to prove her right, the ball suddenly catapulted apart, both figures panting with laughter while each checked his headlong career across the floor. After a moment of stillness, the pair rose to their feet and shared a grin, identical gleams on identical faces. They stepped in unison across to where their mates waited and folded with synchronous grace to sit cross-legged across from them again, still panting harsh breaths.

Gemma's eyes were darting from one to the other. There must be some difference. But she could see nothing physical, not now that her Mac had honed down over the months of her captivity to the same gaunt figure as his brother. Her eyes burned a little while they rested on her mate.

It was still impossible to mistake which was hers. Both had that lean, relaxed air of a top predator, both were sheathed in the invisible cloak of responsibility, leadership. Ulf was definitely someone you would be insane to mess with.

But Mac was in a whole different league.

Gemma shifted uneasily, aware that her scent had changed, and looked away quickly from the gleam that lit her mate's eyes. His scent also changed, and Gemma could feel the little hairs along her skin rising to excited attention, her breath quickening.

Stop it,Gemma admonished.

Mac raised an eyebrow, and his scent thickened further.You want me to stop being aroused by you? Dream on, picchu.

Ulf also raised an amused eyebrow to his twin, then shifted his weight backwards to evade an admonitory slap from his mate, who was snapping, "Don't be rude!"

Gemma's cheeks were burning.

Can Ulf hear everything I say to you?she demanded indignantly, stomach churning.

Of course not - as soon as your thoughts turn naughty or private, we both tighten our shields automatically and go one-to-one. Mac's smile across at her was crooked. Tash was rebuking him because it's impolite to overtly notice lust in another wolf's scent.That we can't hide.

"Tor," Natasha's strained voice broke in. "All these long years, all you've given me -." The words were wavering, tone rising while her throat tightened.

"Twin!" Mac interrupted, voice clipped and eyes soft on his adoptive little sister. Ulf leaned forward, closing both of his hands gently around the pair his mate had begun to twist together in her lap.

"Givenme," Ulf corrected Natasha softly. "As I would do for him."

Harmony hummed soundlessly between the brothers. There were no words, just a mental affirmation of who they were. Of all that never needed to be said.

"But you deceived your mate, to protect me," Natasha protested. "Gemma thought I wasyourbetrothed."

Gemma shrugged when the troubled gaze turned to her. "I trusted Mac," she replied casually.

Mac's mouth crooked at the corner.

I'm an idiot,she told him privately. She could feel Mac's link with his twin now, the thread twined oh so deeply through her mate, an inborn, unnoticed part of him. She could also feel the block hiding what she was currently conveying.

Gemma's eyes turned to Ulf, wondering how he felt to be blocked out, and he shot her a brief, enchanting smile before stepping forward to enfold Tasha in a hug, turning his attention to her. Gemma swallowed, taking a long breath, trembling when she looked across atherMac. That smile had shared such a wealth of meaning. Ulf knew. Other wolves speculated, argued or flatly vetoed the idea that a werewolf could be this amazing Alpha's songmate. Ulfknew. And smiled.

She crossed the flagstones, sinking into Mac's lap and feeling his arms close around her, his breath snuffling at her neck. That delighted, welcoming smile from his twin made her tremble so badly.

Are they songmates too? You said it would have killed them if Nick had succeeded.Gemma asked.

No, picchu. Lovemates, lifemates, soon to be bondmates - they have always been very close, but it is love alone. Love can kill. Love can heal.

Mac tilted up her chin with a gentle hand.

*

It took some time, later again, for indignant words to penetrate the fog of lust and love enclosing Gemma. The speaker was striding across the foyer: "I know you two are identical, but would you quit with the synchronised smooching, Mac?"