Violet

Rowan settled onto the ground on my other side, close enough that his shoulder nearly brushed mine.

Without a word, he reached down and took my free hand.

His fingers laced through mine with a firmness that left no room for argument, and he held on like he had every right to.

Kael’s head turned sharply.

"What are you doing?" he hissed with a low edge in his voice.

Rowan didn’t look at him. He was staring down at my hand in his, his thumb pressing against my knuckles in a gesture so familiar it made my chest constrict.

"Holding her hand," Rowan said simply. "You’re holding the other one. I don’t see why I can’t hold this one."

Kael’s grip on my right hand tightened a bit too possessively. It felt more like he was restraining himself from doing something far less civilized.

"Because I was here first," Kael said flatly.

"That is nice. I’m not sending you away."

I sat between them, completely frozen.

My heart was slamming against my ribs so hard I was sure they could both hear it. The bond had flared the moment Rowan appeared, a surge of warmth that crashed into the steady heat already flowing from Kael’s side, and now both connections were alive and pulsing, tangling together inside my chest until I couldn’t separate one from the other.

My first instinct was to pull both hands free, stand up, and walk away.

Every self-preserving impulse I had was screaming at me to flee before this situation became something I couldn’t navigate.

I had spent months running from exactly this, from the impossible reality of caring for two people and not knowing what to do about it. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

But I decided against just running away like I always have.

Kael’s grip was steady and grounding, and his warmth was a familiar sensation I had missed.

Rowan’s felt different. His fingers were gentler against mine, his hold less demanding. Like he was cradling me.

And for a moment, I was terrified how the warmth from his touch seemed to sink deeper somehow, spreading past my skin and into the spaces between my ribs where something tender and unguarded lived.

I swallowed hard.

"Behave yourself," Kael muttered without looking at Rowan.

Rowan let out a breath that might have been a laugh. His shoulders dropped slightly, and some of the grumpy tension left his posture.

"I know," he said quietly.

He lifted my hand and studied it for a moment, turning it over gently in his. His thumb traced the faint lines across my palm, following them like he was reading something written there.

Then he looked at me.

His green eyes were softer than they had been when he first sat down. The grumpiness was fading, replaced by something warmer and more careful.

"Don’t think too much," he said gently. "Everything will be fine."

I opened my mouth to respond but nothing came out. The words were tangled somewhere between my chest and my tongue, caught in the web of everything I was feeling and couldn’t say.

What was this situation?

Two hands in mine. Two heartbeats pulsing through the bonds in my chest. Two mates who were now sitting quietly in the snow while children played with my wolf.

The wind picked up, sending another scatter of frost crystals across the courtyard. The children shrieked and ran after them, their boots leaving messy tracks in the thin snow.

Zephyr lifted her massive head, watching the children with an expression that might have been amusement. The little spherical girl had returned again and was now attempting to feed Zephyr what appeared to be a small, frozen pastry.

Zephyr sniffed it, considered it, and then ate it in one careful bite.

The girl clapped her mittened hands in delight.

I watched the scene, a faint smile pulling at my lips despite everything.

Then the girl turned.

She waddled toward us with the determined stride of someone on an important mission, her round body swaying with each step.

She stopped directly in front of the three of us, her round cheeks flushed red. Her dark eyes moved from Kael to me to Rowan with open curiosity.

She pointed a mittened hand at Kael. Then at Rowan.

"Are these your husbands?"

The question was delivered with the absolute conviction of a child who expected a straightforward answer.

My face erupted with heat.

Kael went rigid beside me, his hand tightening around mine.

Rowan made a strangled sound.

"I—what—no, they’re not—" The words fell out of me in a jumbled mess, my voice climbing higher with each syllable. "We’re not—they’re just—"

Say something!

"Both of them?" The girl tilted her head, squinting at the two men flanking me as though she was assessing their quality. "My mama says one husband is enough trouble."

This was so embarrassing.

Kael looked stunned, truthfully caught off guard. Rowan had turned his face away, but I could see him struggling to hold himself together as his body quivered with laughter.

The girl kept staring and I felt even more embarrassed as I did not know how to answer her. My tongue felt so heavy.

What could I even say?

Was having two husbands even possible?

I immediately banished the thought. Even if it were, they were both Supreme Alphas with their own territories we wouldn’t...

I sighed.

"Do you want to have two husbands?"

I blinked. Rowan was staring down at the girl, a funny smile on his lips.

Suddenly interested, she nodded so vehemently I feared it might be a desire of hers.

This was a child!

"Rowan," Kael groaned.

Just when I thought she would let go of the husband talk, she pointed at our joined hands with damning accuracy.

"You haven’t said anything. Are you friends? Friends don’t hold hands like that."

I snatched both hands free so fast that Kael and Rowan both startled.

"We were just—it’s cold—hands get cold and—"

"My mama holds my papa’s hand when it’s cold," the girl continued helpfully. "And then they kiss!"

"Okay!" I stood up, my face burning so hot the snow around me should have been melting. "That’s—thank you—you should go play—"

I grabbed her shoulders and gently nudged her away. When she caught sight of Zephyr, her interest in my wolf rekindled enough for her to waddle back to her.

I stood there, my hands clenched at my sides, refusing to look at either of them.

Neither of them said a word.

The silence was deafening.