Three Brothers, Tales from another world (being re-edited)
12.

12.

45 minutes earlier.

"Mate..."

Ivac wasn't able to take his eyes off of the pretty, little woman standing in front of him. Like every other male he had his hopes of replaceing a nice chosen mate among one of the human females. And true..., he too hoped for a woman, at least a little pleasant to the eyes, but their mate was gorgeous!

He had seen a variety of human woman, and some of them were even to be called pretty, until you looked a little better at some of the pretty ones. Most of the ones that looked good, were altered... lips, boobs, asses, HELL, they even had fake hair! Nothing more depressing than a woman with a lot of long, fake hair!

Like most of the Qas'qiari males, he wasn't a huge fan of long hair, probably due to the fact that Qas'qiari hair didn't get any longer than shoulder-length with both male and females. But if his mate would have long hair, and she would be proud of it, well..., who was he to tell her to cut it...

But their mate had a sweet, short hairdo, making her look like a fairy.

Ivac grinned inwards, he had always a sweet spot for the little fairies, even though they were, well..., rather childish...

Seeing the tall man looking at her in awe, goosebumps erupted all over, and her insides swirled like she was riding a rollercoaster. His intense gaze made her cheeks blush, Gwen felt like her whole face looked like a tomato and her ears were catching fire.

" ... hi..." Gwen's voice sounded squeaky.

Taking her eyes away from his intense gaze, Gwen looked back at Kadi, curious to see how he was handling this. He gave her that damned bite mark and called her his "mate" after all. But his face only showed curiosity, there was no sign of anger, and she turned her head back towards the tall man in front of her.

He just kept on looking at her, this really began to become awkward, and Gwen started to get nervous.

Suddenly she felt a large, warm hand, gently grabbing the back of her neck.

"Let's get to the pack house, you two can get acquainted over there. People are starting to stare."

Gwen felt a little embarrassed at the looks of the others, mostly male. Most of the women had already been relocated, to prevent the men from taking a woman without the Alpha's permission or against her will. At this moment she was one of a few women still around.

Without waiting for his brother's answer, Kadi led Gwen to their father's pack house. A twinge of jealousy ran through him as he saw his mate and brother staring at each other. Even though he didn't show it, and his mind knew she was destined to be both their mate, it still bothered him a bit and, having already marked her, he couldn't quite let go of that privilege just yet.

Fortunately for Kadi and Ivac, their fathers had left for the study with their mate, and they had the ground floor to themselves. Although Kadi had already marked and mated Gwen, Ivac wasn't about to force her to accept him as a mate in the same way, he wanted to leave her the choice. The thought of strangling Kadi occurred to him when he first saw their mate, the spot on her neck was swollen and blue, a sign that the marking had been done under duress. Kadi had been an incredible bastard. That was obvious, but he wasn't his brother, and he hoped their mate would realize that and not reject him for what Kadi had done to her.

"I was hoping my mate would look a little nice, but I didn't expect her to be this beautiful."

Ivac always weighed his words carefully, but he blurted out these word so unexpectedly, he felt his cheeks colour.

Kadi's mouth fell open at his brother's words and growled softly, how dare he flirt with his mate?

"KADI!" Ivac's voice boomed through the room, hearing his brothers low and hostile growl. In the corner of his eye he saw his mate startled at his booming voice.

"You've already mated and marked her without her permission! So don't dare challenge me now, but start acting like the Alpha you are! Even if she rejects me, she's your mate and with a little luck she'll give you pups, but this decision is not yours to make, it's hers, got that?!" The two brothers now faced each other.

Gwen held her breath during this outburst of aggression, it was like two dogs fighting over a bone. Hair on end, teeth bared and a lot of growling. On the other hand, something stirred inside her, seeing the two men quarrel over her... No man had ever put so much effort into her. Wait, what did he say? Pups? What about puppies...?

Though his fists were still clenched, Kadi took a step back with a sigh. He knew his brother was right, Ivac was entitled to call her his mate too, if she would accept him, that was...

"Fucking, smart-ass..." he growled.

"I'm going to get the sleeping area ready, whether she accepts you as a mate or not, she won't be sleeping alone tonight..."

And with those words he turned to walk away, only to be grabbed by the arm by his brother. Kadi turned his head slightly to look at his brother.

"Don't you dare challenge me on that... I kept my promise...", and fixed his gaze on Gwen.

The look he gave Gwen gave her goosebumps all over her body, the thought of his big, naked body gave her butterflies in her stomach. She hoped he wouldn't notice, but the grin on his face said something else, and a blush crept up her cheeks. ...Asshole...

A pang of jealousy pinched his stomach when Ivac saw the look his brother and their mate exchanged. His whole being screamed mate, but she wasn't, at least not jet, the only thing he could hope for was her being willing to accept him as her mate as well. He wasn't a smooth talker like Renn, or a hot headed, dominant alpha like Kadi. He thought things over and tried to negotiate, it wasn't that he was a pushover, not at all, he just tried to do what was right the best way possible.

Gwen saw the tall man turn back, so he was facing her again, and saw a glimpse of uncertainty pass over his face, but it vanished as quickly as it had come. The first impression Gwen got was, that the man looked exactly like Kadi, but now he stood so damn close to her, she was able to get abetter look at him, noticing they were as different as night and day. While Kadi was domineering, arrogant, dangerous, and violent, the first sight of this man may have been rough and dangerous, but it didn't translate into his eyes. His eyes were warm, curious, and friendly, and... he smelled really, really nice...

His hands cupped her face, carefully not to scare her with his extended talons, only to realize she had already been mating with Kadi, so she'd probably been used to claws. He sighted, now what? What should, or could he say? Usually he wasn't stuck with words, but standing in front of his beautiful mate, he was lost with words.

"What's your name?" Gwen wrinkled her nose, at her own timid and squeaky voice.

Seeing this big, wide smile appearing on his face, her heart jumped up, his smile made his whole face light up. God, he was handsome...!

"Ivac." He said with a dark and gravelly voice, making her insides swirl and her knees weak.

"I'm glad, I'm not the only one feeling awkward." And gave her a boyish grin.

The hands cupping her face, his warm eyes and enduring grin, made her feel safe and protected. And just as it had been with Kadi, she felt a familiarness with him, only now she knew it was that strange mate bond.

"Look..." Ivac didn't intended to rush things, but knowing she was his mate he just had to know...

"I know this must be overwhelming, and I doubt my brother has told you anything about us, but would you consider accepting me as your mate? I won't force you and will accept your decision if you want to reject me." Ivac felt a wave of nausea, at the thought that she might reject him.

She saw him swallow hard, and his eyes looked serious and slightly insecure.

"Yes..."

The words just left her lips, without any hesitation, and without even considering. Her life had already been upside down the past couple of weeks, that..., having this man as her "mate" as well, somehow didn't feel so strange, to be honest, it felt just..., well..., right.

His heart nearly jumped out of his chest and filled with a warm sensation of pride and... relief, the moment he heard her say that one little word, and he wasn't able to hold back the widest grin, exposing his large fangs.

Her eyes roamed his face, shivers ran over her whole body and a warm feeling started in her abdomen, seeing and feeling his reaction to her answer.

The smell of her excitation, hit his nose and without warning he lowered his head and kissed her hard on her mouth, instead of backing off she opened her lips and kissed him back just as eager.

After a while they were so out of breath from the intense kiss that they reluctantly had to let go of each other.

When Gwen pulled her head back a little further, she noticed Kadi standing in the entrance of the room, casually leaning against the door frame. Her heart sank, was he mad? But seeing the smirk appear on his face, told her otherwise, and her face reddened.

True, he reluctantly left them, but as he was checking the large bedroom he felt his brothers fear and insecurity and he couldn't help hoping Gwen would accept his brother as well. Well, his brother's psychic emotional outburst told him she indeed had...

"Now she accepted you, don't you think it's time to secure the mate bond?" He looked at the two standing in the living room with a devilish grin.

Ivac looked at Gwen. "Are you ready, little mate?"

Looking from one man to the other, Gwen swallowed. Was she ready? She was scared shitless, but she was wanted to replace out what was going to happen next, so she nodded, unable to speak out loud.

His hands let go of her face, and he grabbed one of her small hands tightly with his big, callous one. Her hands felt cold and were trembling a little, to comfort her he squeezed it softly and pulled her gently towards Kadi.

Standing between the two tall, impressive and dominating men, Gwen felt her confidence shrink rapidly. Kadi felt the fear creeping up to his mate, and cupped her face.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine, we won't do anything you're uncomfortable with."

She swallowed the large lump that had formed in her throat and looked from one to the other. Even though there was a huge attraction to him, Kadi had been hard, rough, and overwhelming, her gut told her that Ivac would make sure his brother wouldn't do anything against her wishes.

Gwen straightened her back.

"I'm ready..." Her voice sounded squeaky, jet again.

The squeaky sound of her voice made both men grin, not devilish, more..., excited. They both knew what was coming, unlike her... FUCK...