Bonus Chapter 4

Her doe eyes snap to mine, wide and frightened.
Behind me, Lily doesn’t make a sound. Not before the tiny woman looks up her way, so scared it almost breaks me. “Lil?”
Lily comes forward, closer to the door. Then I hear her saying, “Come here, angel.”
Right away, the tiny woman runs into Lily’s open arms and hugs her tightly. She is so much shorter than Lily that Lily can easily rest her chin on her head. “Shh, everything is going to be okay.” 
I hear her say in a scared voice against Lily’s breasts. “I felt you. I felt something strong in my heart, and I came right away.” 
It’s not completely true; she’s not telling everything. Lily doesn’t know, though. 
I know this because I’m an Alpha. I can see the tiny woman’s aura. 
“Close the door, Az,” Lily says, looking at me. 
I’m still standing here. Not knowing what to do. But I close the door and lean behind it, the wood is so cheap that I hear a breaking noise. 
“Angel, it’s okay. He won’t hurt you.” 
I immediately dash behind the door and go to them, but I slow down when I notice the woman in Lily’s arms flinching at my sudden movement.
“What the hell is going on, Lily?” I ask her.
Carefully stroking the woman’s straight hair, she looks at me with an apologetic look. Well, that is until the woman in her arms flinches at my tone. Then Lily glares at me.
“Hey, sunshine, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m sorry for yelling.”
She turns just enough for her eyes to see mine.
*Sunshine*. I said it without even realizing it. As if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Lil?” She turns her eyes up to Lily.
“Angel, this is Az. Remember what I told you about him?”
She nods, brushing the tip of her delicate chin against Lily’s cleavage as doing so. Fuck. I want them both in my arms.
Lily turns her eyes to me and sighs. “Az, this is my other fated mate.”
*Wait*.
Are the three of us fated mates?
I look around. Where she has been living for Goddess knows how long. Or all this time.
I feel a pang of pain in my heart for not having been with the two of them all this time. So that’s why I never felt any mark of Lily’s betrayal on my body as a consequence of her being with her other fated mate.
The two of them are my fated mates as well.
“What’s your name, sunshine?”
Once again, I find myself calling the small woman that.
That’s just how I feel looking at her.
My sunshine.
While Lily is my hurricane, she is my sunshine.
She buries her face in Lily’s chest again, but not before I hear her sweet voice say, “Poppy.”
I frown, confused because Lily looks scared and so does Poppy.
Wait.
*No*.
“That can’t be,” I say absentmindedly, shaking my head.
Lily nods slowly, her lips thin.
“Is she *Poppy*?” Lily nods again. “Like Pops and Auntie Vi’s *Poppy*?” She nods once more.
I place both hands on my head, then run them through my hair.
Fuuuuuuck.
“*How*?”
“Az, let’s sit down, shall we?” Lily starts to walk with Poppy, who is still clinging to her. 
Their small home doesn’t have a couch, but it does have two chairs. She sits on one and places Poppy on her lap, and I sit on the other, facing the two of them, with only a small rusty garden iron table between us.
“Angel,” Lily starts to say, one hand wrapped around her hip and the other cupping Poppy’s delicate face. “Az is not here to harm you—”
I stand up abruptly, the chair scraping back. “I would never do that!”
Lily glares at me as Poppy winces. ‘Sit down and stop making sudden movements, for Goddess’ sake!’ She mindlinks me.
Fuck. I have forgotten how good it feels to hear my fated mate in my head. 
My wolf howls in happiness.
“As you saw, you are his fated mate too, angel,” Lily goes on as I sit slowly down again. “Honestly, I didn’t know how I was going to explain my mate bond with you to him, but now it all makes sense, don’t you think? And I’m sure as shit you two will understand each other soon, okay?”
Poppy nods.
Lily kisses her forehead and my hands itch to grab them both and place them on my legs. One on each side and then I’ll be the one kissing each of their foreheads.
My dick twitches, already getting hard. I shift. Not now. Not the fuck now!
Lily smirks my way, surely knowing what’s going on in my head. But it’s Poppy who says, “Um, hi.”
Our eyes meet, and she gives me the smallest of smiles, but it’s so sweet, so tender, so fucking addictive that before I know it, I’m already grinning from ear to ear.
“Not that I’m not grateful for it, sunshine,” I start, and I can’t help but notice the way she blushes when I call her that again. “But how did you survive? From what Cedar told us, you and your mother were killed.”
“Yeah... About that... Mom knew we were being chased, yet her escape plans all went wrong. So when we were cornered, and she couldn’t find any way out, she switched my body with an already dead child,” she says with a sad look, tears starting to form in her eyes.
I can’t believe I’m grateful for something that fucking evil witch did. The same one who cursed Pops for never finding his fated mate, my mother. And now... her daughter is nothing less than my other fated mate.
Lily’s fingers keep stroking her, her arms around Poppy’s hips like she’s giving strength to her to keep going. “Mom didn’t leave me with much but enough to run away,” Poppy continues. “But I had to live alone in the woods for a long time. Without anyone.” 
Lily wipes her tears away. The two look into each other’s eyes. A strong bond was created there long before I showed up. I can’t feel a hint of jealousy, but rather anguish for not being around, for not having witnessed it. 
“Well, not before I found Li.” 
Lily smiles. It’s impossible not to. The sweet and loving way Poppy says it is too surreal. 
Turning her eyes to me, Poppy studies my face, my shoulders before moving her doe eyes up to mine. She bites her lower lip hesitantly. I don’t see any fear in her aura anymore. Which is quite a relief. 
“Come here, sunshine.” I pat my leg. “I want to see you better.” 
She stands up without even thinking but then seems to realize it, and she looks back at Lily. Lily nods with a smirk on her sinful lips. 
Poppy then approaches me. My hand reaches out and grabs hers, bringing her to my wide open legs. “Hi,” I say, kind of at a loss for words.
Fuck. Me. 
She’s so perfect.
“Hi,” she says with a shy smile. She looks back again as if she needs Lily’s confirmation once more, and I see a flash of fear in her aura.
Goddess... My girl has been through hell to be this scared. I need to assure her.
“Poppy.” She looks back at me as I call her name. Then I say firmly, “I promise you that I will never harm you. I will protect you with my life. I don’t care who I have to kill. I’ll kill anyone who even tries to touch you two.” 
Her pupils dilate.
“But none of that will be necessary, sunshine, because you will be safe in our pack when we get back—”
“No!” Poppy snaps, taking an angry step back. But I don’t let go of her hand. Fear returns to adorn her face. “Li,” she whines. “He will hurt me.”
“He won’t, angel.”
“I would never hurt you, sunshine,” I squeeze her hand. Fuck. What the hell did I do to scare her so much?
“Not you! The werewolf who hurt me when I was a kid,” she says, her chin trembling. “He’s been in my nightmares ever since. He will hurt me!”
Oh, fucking hell!
*Pops*?!
Oh, shit. Oh, fuck.
I take a deep breath.
“Sunshine, Pops would never hurt you—”
“He already hurt me once. What guarantees me he won’t do it again? I’ll never join his pack. Are you crazy?” She trembles. “No. No. No! He might succeed in killing me this time since he failed with Lily’s mom last time.”
I pull her into my lap, her body shaking. I run a hand down her back as I hug her, trying to calm her down, and thank Goddess, she lets me. 
Lily is right there, stroking her head and playing with her ponytail. “We can’t go back, Az.”
“You know neither of them nor anyone else would ever hurt her, Lily,” I say fiercely. 
“Oh, please! I know what my mother’s capable of.” Lily scoffs. “She’s going to be absolutely thrilled to play the victim. Give her five minutes, and she’ll have the whole pack weeping over how the Moon Goddess gave me Poppy just to spite her. She’ll twist this into some grand tragedy where she’s the wounded saint!”  
“I don’t want to go,” Poppy says against my neck. 
I smell her hair, which immediately calms me down. 
Fucking hell. I never imagined that when I met Lily again, it would be like this. 
Every instinct screams to drag them both back to our pack, my pack. The land that I’ll be the next Alpha.
It pulls at me, this need to claim, to protect. But I can’t bark them both around and drag them out of here right now. 
Should.
But I can’t.
Not when Poppy’s trust hangs by a thread. Not with the way Poppy tenses when I move too fast—like I’m just another predator. One wrong move, one Alpha command barked too harshly, and she’ll bolt. 
And Lily... 
—Lily might follow her.
“Okay, let’s not make any big decisions yet. Is that okay, sunshine?” I ask, holding the back of her neck. My other hand firmly grips Lily’s hip. I look up at her, and I take a deep breath. Fuck, she’s so much thinner. What has my little hurricane been through?
“Okay,” I hear Poppy’s little voice say, nuzzling her face against my skin as Lily gives me a firm nod. 
She knows this isn’t over yet.

🐺 🐺 🐺

They slept one in each of my arms. The bed was so damn small and thin it was impossible to even shift without waking someone up—or hurting. 
At one point in the night, Poppy climbed completely on top of me, still sleeping. I don’t even know how or when—one second, she was pressed to my side, and the next, she was sprawled across my chest like a blanket. That was the only time she actually seemed to sleep deeply, her tiny body rising and falling with each breath, soft little snores brushing my neck.
I didn’t sleep well. Not because of how uncomfortable it was—though it was—but because my mind wouldn’t shut the hell up. I lay there, one hand buried in Lily’s tangled hair, the other curled protectively around Poppy’s waist, and all I could think about was how the fuck I’m supposed to convince them to come back with me. Back to the pack. Back home.
And how I’ll never sleep right again if they don’t.
There’s barely enough room to breathe in this place, and everything feels like it’s going to collapse with one wrong move. But I’ve never felt so grounded.
I’m not leaving.
No matter how long it takes, I’ll stay until they both come with me. They’re mine. And I don’t give a damn if Lily snarls and glares or if Poppy flinches away from the thought of going back.
I’ll fix this. I have to.
Their sweet scents make everything so fucking difficult. My cock is painful and swollen.
It’s still at the crack of dawn. I look to the side at my little hurricane. Her face is pressed to my biceps, her breathing soft and steady. Her brow twitches, her jaw clenched like she’s dreaming of war.
Goddess, I missed her.
Suddenly, Lily stirs, groaning and throwing an arm over her eyes. “Why is the sun so fucking judgmental this early?”
I bet my car they wake up at this hour every damn day. 
They have to.
No choice. Rent won’t wait, and neither will those shitty jobs that pay them next to nothing for way too much. It reminds me of when my mom was in this situation when I was a kid. But that was before Pops, and just like him, I’ll not let my mates stay in this fucking situation.
I chuckle. “Maybe it just missed you too, Lil.”
She peeks at me under her arm. “I forget how annoyingly poetic you are in the morning.” She tries to hide her smile by narrowing her eyes at me.
“Only when I’m looking at you, my little hurricane.”
She rolls her eyes but doesn’t hide the way her lips twitch this time. “Ugh. You’re disgustingly sweet,” Lily mumbles.
I grin. “You love it.” I drag her closer to me and kiss her forehead.
Poppy’s still on top of me, completely sprawled out like I’m her personal mattress. Her soft snores puff against my neck, and I can feel every delicate shift of her breathing. I don’t move, not even when my back protests from the unforgiving bed.
But then, she stirs and stretches like a kitten, rubbing her cheek against my chest before her eyes flutter open. “Morning,” she whispers, her adorable voice still sleepy.
Then she realizes where she is, blinks once, and blushes furiously before scrambling off of me.
A second later, she’s on Lily’s side. 
“Good morning, sunshine,” I say. 
She opens a shy smile, hugging Lily. “Mor-Morning.”
Lily kisses and hugs her tightly. “Morning, angel.”
“Morning, love of my life,” she says to Lily.
“Ugh. You’re disgusting,” Lily mumbles.
“You’re beautiful,” Poppy giggles, and I swear Lily blushes.
She hides it behind a stretch and mutters something about being too early for this and needing coffee.
They’re like fire and honey, those two. And I’m the wolf that wants to drown in both.

🐺 🐺 🐺

The walk to work is quiet after I park my car. Lily grips Poppy’s hand like she’s made of glass, and the world’s out to break her. I walk beside them, eyes scanning every car, every damn shadow.
When we get to Poppy’s work, she hesitates at the door. Her fingers tighten in Lily’s for a second longer, then she smiles like she’s trying to be brave.
I feel an ache in my heart.
“I’ll be fine,” she says.
“Text me if he says anything weird,” Lily growls.
I frown.
Poppy nods, kisses her cheek, and disappears inside.
Lily exhales like she’s holding her entire world in, and it’s barely staying in place. I walk her to the corner and lean against the wall as she looks at the cloudy sky.
“You still don’t want to go back,” I say, placing my arm around her shoulder. “Lil—”
“I don’t want to go back to *her*,” she snaps. “To that house, that... whole pack looking at me like I’m a stain.”
“They won’t dare. Not anymore.”
“You don’t get it.”
“I do. You just don’t want to admit that you miss it. That part of you still needs it. You’re a Werewolf, my hurricane. You can’t just howl alone.”
“I’d rather!” she snarls.
My jaw clenches hard. Goddess, give me strength.
“My little hurricane indeed,” I murmur, kissing the top of her head.
She narrows her eyes up to me. “You’re lucky I still love you.”
“You’re lucky I never stopped.”
She looks away. “Touché.”
The thing with my mate is that I know her; I know that despite her bitchy attitude, I can feel her heart, and I know how much she loves me. That’s why I don’t mind her taking her anger out on me. Most of the time, I feel like Lily says these things to *test* me. 
To make sure that I’ll be there, no matter how bad she is, no matter how horrible she acts. And I will be, because she’s not a bad person, she just needs help. My help. Not to change her, but so that she understands that it’s okay for her to be vulnerable. To be herself. Because to me, she’s perfect.
I watch her walk into her job in the building across the road, slamming the door behind her like it’s an argument. Goddess, I love that female.
I wait in my car until their shift’s halfway through before I head back toward Poppy’s work. Maybe I’m paranoid. But I trust my gut.
And that’s when I hear it.
“Where’s your girlfriend now, huh? She’s not here to protect you today.”
My blood turns to ice.
Poppy’s voice is small and trembling. “Please stop. I’m working.”