Once Rejected, Thrice Accepted
Chapter 5

Draco stopped before opening the door to the meeting room. He seemed to be breathing hard and arguing with himself or his wolf with the way he is shaking his head. Sylvia used to do this in the beginning but eventually the cruel bitch side won. "Will you be ok with so many dominate wolves in one room? I was linked that the Alpha's older brother is with them as well as an elder." He looked so down like he already knew my answer and was waiting for me to bolt. "I didn't know. I am so sorry." I walked up and pulled him into a hug making sure to watch out for my burns. "I have you to help me handle it and I want to trust you. So I need to do this and I hope you can prove your one of the good guys." I cut off my babbling and stepped back. He smiled and told me he had my back. They may be his Alphas but I would be leaving her with an offer to join the pack or with my life in tact while he helps me replace another pack. He doesn't think that last one will happen but at least he was honest about it all. He opened the door and let me walk in first. Everyone's eyes turned toward me as they stopped talking causing me to have a slight panic and take a deep breath. Moonlight howled at the caramel coffee scent that was mixed in with a pineapple coconut fruit scent and another that I couldn't quite figure out but it had notes of cotton candy.

I heard growls and three of the men in the room stood up. They side eyed each other before speaking.

"Mate." They all said.

I was floored. I could feel panic setting in as Moonlight did her best to calm me but she was so focused on getting to her mates she missed the signs of me making a run for it. I also ignore the fact that my brother was right behind me blocking the only way out. "She is my mate. What are you thinking brother?" One of the men yelled glaring at the other two.

"So needed to make a splash, huh sis?" Draco laughed, holding me against him so I wouldn't try to run around or under him. "How about we all calm down before we do something stupid like scare my sister that I just found?"

They stared at him for what seemed like forever but really it was only a few minutes. They nodded and sat back down. Draco led me over to the small meeting table and had me sit the farthest away from them all.

"Ok, so let me introduce my sister, Gemma. She is the girl I linked you about at the last pack." He finally took a seat next to me and leaned with his arms on the table.

One of the twins stood, shoving his chair back hard enough for it to fall, and growled. "You mean she is the one who was being tortured? Who was hurting my mate? I am going to kill them." He pounded his fist on the table making me flinch backwards hard and lowering my gaze to the ground waiting for him to take it out on me.

'He wasn't threatening us. His wolf promises they would never hurt us.' Moonlight told me purring to help calm down my heart rate.

He moved his eyes to me, widening them in shock and horror at what he had done, and instantly sat down. "I am so sorry, my mate. I would never hurt you. Please believe me."

"Good job scaring my mate, jack ass." The other twin slapped his arm before turning back to me. "No one will ever hurt you again. I promise."

The older version of the twins and my supposed third mate stood back against the wall not moving his gaze from me. I was doing my best to ignore him but Moonlight kept pushing for a quick peek at her handsome older man. I told her to stuff her perverted ass and zip it.

"Sis, you OK?" Draco asked me putting his hand on my shoulder, causing me to instantly relax.

Growls started around the room which pissed me off. I looked up and glared at their side of the table.

"Shut your traps. He is my brother and you have no say over me so if I want his hand on my shoulder to make me feel safe in a room full of bull-headed jerks I will." I was pissed. "No one will ever push me around, tell me what to do, or hurt me for their enjoyment again. You got it?"

Draco laughed a big booming laugh and Cass joined him after shutting the door with his hip. He was packed with tons of snacks and had snuck in on the tail end of my rant. He gave me a wink before sitting down all the snacks by me.

"Well, it seems like I missed something. How about you tell me all about it, sweetheart, and then we can get this meeting over with?" Cass sat down on the other side of me and the peanut gallery kept from growling but their scowls showed their anger at his choice of seat.

"Deal." I launched into the whole mate thing and the few things that were said. I went ahead and went into detail about some of the things that happened in my last pack and the things I expected of my new pack. I made sure to mention mate or not I would only stay if things were good here. My wolf and I deserved better.

'I agree even though I would miss those sex on a stick men. Maybe one roll in the hay with each of them or all of us together. I rolled my eyes and ignored her.

"Ok, well let me take it from here." Cass gave me a small, dramatic bow before continuing. "Let me introduce your neanderthal mates. The old man you got stuck with is Duncan and he is twenty-six. The twins are twenty-one and the biggest pain in the asses." The twins growled but Cass ignored them and continued. Duncan just kept staring at me but at least it wasn't in the sense that he wanted to kill me.

"The twin on the left is Leo the nerd of the two. He is great with computers, business plans, and video games. Girls not so much." The one who slapped his twin blushed and told Cass to fuck off. "The other wonder twin is Lucas. He is the brute of the two who thinks knocking some heads together fixes everything."

"Thanks, Cass. Make us sound like shit mates." Lucas huffed.

"You kind of did that on your own, Alpha." Draco growled.

I could feel my brother's wolf getting even more agitated and protective. I never had someone get mad at someone else because they were mean to me. This was new territory. What the heck should I do?

"Is there anything else we need to discuss in this meeting, or can my bro show me around?" I smiled at my mates.

It was Duncan who spoke, which surprised the hell out of me. "We need to discuss this whole mate thing and what that means if you decide to join our pack, but I think a break would be good.

"Awe, come on." Leo whined. "I wanted to show our mate around. Can I join you, Princess?"

"No way. I want to go, baby girl." Lucas said as he playfully shoved his twin.

"Umm. Draco?" I looked at him. I needed him to see that I trusted him and that I was going to follow his lead.

"Duncan, you want to show your mate anything?' Draco didn't sound too happy with Duncan.

I can't lie and say I wasn't nervous about his answer. One mates rejection sucked but now that I have three, even one of them saying they didn't want me would absolutely s**k. It seemed like the twins were all for it but from experience, I knew looks could be deceiving.

"It is up to Gemma. Cass is right about me being older." Duncan looked at me. It felt like I could see his sadness and acceptance of the rejection he thought I would be giving.

"So, I have already found my first mate and he rejected me. I won't be do that to any of you as long as you are honest and treat me with respect. I would love to get to know you outside a stuffy meeting room."

He nodded, walked over to help me out of my chair, and led me out of the room holding my hand. My twin mates were complaining about him not sharing but I was all for a take-control kind of guy. Maybe my wolf was right about these guys being yummy.