Sebastian

"Morning, lovely," Eric said, recovering faster than me.

I was too busy taking my spitfire in. She had to stop surprising me in the kitchen by showing up looking so fucking delectable. The bed cover might be hiding her sexy curves but her bare toes peaking under the hem were just begging for a nip. Her hair was a messy halo of red curls that made my fingers itch to sink in there and pull her in for a kiss. And her exposed neck with Dean's mark visible on one side was inspiring all kinds of dirty ideas about the way I would place mine on the other side.

The heat that bloomed on her cheeks under my gaze snapped me out of the lusty haze. "Morning, darlin'."

"What were you two doing?" she asked, pulling the bed cover up to her chin. "You were being loud and I rushed in to prevent a fight, and instead... Is something burning?"

I was burning – for her. But the smoke from the pan indicated a pancake was burning as well.

"Fuck." I quickly got to fixing the problem. If Dean found out I had fallen to his level of cooking, I wouldn't hear the end of his teasing.

"So... you two were laughing?" Samantha finished her thought. She sounded incredulous.

I couldn't blame her. Me and Eric enjoying each other's company and flipping pancakes next to each other, like some old friends? How had that happened?

But now that Samantha had arrived, would the tension return between us males? I tensed as Eric headed her way, in anticipation of my tiger rising to the surface of my mind with murderous intent.

"Bas and I are all right, lovely," he told her with a smile on. "You are, too, right?"

She bit her lip. "I... Eric, I..."

"You look lovely. Glowing," he told her, the smooth talker. Then he cupped her cheek with one hand and pulled her closer with the other at the small of her back. "The mark suits you."

"Oh..."

"Do I get a good-morning kiss?"

Samantha bit her bottom lip again and glanced my way.

What reaction did she expect? All-consuming jealousy?

There were many emotions swirling inside me at the moment but, surprisingly, jealousy wasn't among them. My tiger was focused on where Eric was touching Samantha but wasn't projecting any maiming thoughts. There was no trace of the animal's aggressiveness from those times when I had tried to picture Eric and Samantha together. When faced with the same image in real life, my tiger simply felt curious about what Eric would do next.

My human half felt anticipation: would Samantha sigh into the kiss or moan into it? There was also impatience: when would I get my kiss? Annoyance as well: why the fuck was Eric asking for permission for a kiss? He should surprise the shit out of our mate by taking her lips – and her breath – away.

The annoyance eventually prevailed. "At least use some tongue, to add an element of surprise."

That got two sets of eyes staring at me.

"What? You want me to show you how it's done?" I grinned a bit as I said it.

Samantha went red yet again, while Eric's lips curled into a light smile. He then turned to face Samantha again and gave her a tender brush of lips.

I scoffed. "What are you, panther? A monk?"

His smile broadened as he quickly returned to my side and his pan. "No. I'm a cook who doesn't burn his pancakes."

I huffed. As if that would help him. My pancakes were a work of art.

"Did someone burn my breakfast?" a distressed yell sounded from the corridor. A moment later, Dean entered the kitchen in a towel hanging dangerously low on his hips. "You know I hate burned pancakes, Bas."

I shot him a look. "And you know I hate slackers. Did you make the bed after you got up?"

He winced. "I was just getting to it, Mom." Then a mischievous smile bloomed on his face. "But let me grope my new mate first."

"Wha–" Samantha squeaked in surprise when Dean wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against him for a deep kiss with lots of tongue that left her gasping for air.

I nudged Eric in the shoulder. "See? That's how it's done."

I caught him looking insistently at the pancake in his pan. His stance and scent didn't indicate jealousy, so he had to be looking away from the lip and tongue action out of shyness. Would I have to cure him of that weakness the way I had done for Samantha?

Actually, it might be too early to say our mate had been cured. Since she left the kitchen in a hurry immediately after Dean's kiss, mumbling something about a shower. And leaving me without a kiss.

She was deeply mistaken if she thought she would get away from my lips for long.

It took Eric and I ten minutes after that to finish with the cooking, but Samantha was yet to return. Was she hiding in the bathroom from us? From me?

"Dean, don't you have a clean T-shirt to put on?" I grumbled as I slammed the plate overflowing with pancakes on the table.

He had gone to his room to get dressed, only to return in a pair of shorts and nothing else.

"Don't you, pal?" Dean replied, flashing me a smug smile from his chair. "Not having gotten your way with our sweetie yet doesn't mean you alone have the right to seduce her."

I growled his way and sat at the table, scowling. I needed no reminders of the fact Samantha and I were not yet bonded. If we were, I wouldn't be sitting here idly like Dean and Eric. I would be under the shower with my spitfire, taking her up against the wall. Licking the droplets of water sliding down her perk pink nipples. Watching how she took my cock between her soft creamy thighs. Roaring along with her as the climax swept us both–

"Maybe I should lose the shirt, too?"

Eric's question took my thoughts out of the gutter. I looked his way, sitting next to Dean as he was, and saw he was smiling. He had joked about the shirt, then. However...

"Yes, go shirtless, Eric."

His eyes widened.

"Come on, act like a shifter. You'll be officially part of the pride soon so you're going to get naked in male company for our group hunts."

"Oh, yeah," Dean tuned in, "those are great sausage parties."

"It's not that I'm not used to our kind's nudity, guys. Don't you think it would be... inappropriate? As in too much for our mate? After all, we're supposed to be having breakfast. Three of us bare-chested at the table? Come now."

Dean nodded with a serious face. "It's ridiculous." Then he smiled wickedly. "We should totally do it. Pal, you're a genius. Hurry, bud, before she comes back. Show us those abs."

I shook my head at Dean's antics but they worked. Eric sighed but began unbuttoning his shirt.

"Prey that we don't scare her back into hiding, guys," he muttered as he remained in his black jeans only.

Hiding was the exact word. Clearly I wasn't the only one suspecting Samantha was taking too long a shower on purpose.

"She needs to see all three of us are comfortable in each other's company," I told them.

"Are we, though?" Dean looked demonstratively between me and Eric.

"Are you?" I countered.

He shrugged. "I had some doubts last week, but now that I've marked our sweetie, my jaguar is like a cuddly kitty, no aggression whatsoever. So yeah, I'm at ease in your abs' company, buddies. Eric is too, right?"

I looked Eric's way and our gazes met.

"We're good," he told me. "As long as you don't question my kissing or other techniques."

Dean snickered.

"I'm just making sure our mate isn't dissatisfied," I said firmly.

"She hasn't complained yet. Nor have any of my previous lovers."

I crossed my arms over my bare chest. "Not complaining doesn't equal full satisfaction. Females are good at faking their orgasms."

Eric mirrored my stance as he declared calmly, "There can be no faking when I taste the truth on my tongue."

Dean laughed.

I was impressed by Eric saying something like that without his neck turning five shades of red. There might be hope for the prude yet.

"Yes, I saw your mating mark from up close," I told the panther. "Very close."

Its location was thoughtful, since it left space on Samantha's neck for my mark. Not that I would ever thank him - I scoffed inwardly.

"What I haven't seen" I continued, "is the actual success of your technique. Until I do, you'll swallow some advice. You have my permission to copy a thing or two from my skill set as well."

This time Eric blushed. "I'm not planning on participating in a foursome, Bas, I already told you. At least not anytime soon."

"We'll see."

Dean snickered.

I slapped his thieving hand. The smartass thought I was too distracted to notice he'd torn a piece of pancake and was about to shove it in his mouth? Not on my watch.

"Ouch." He returned the piece in the big plate. "Grumpy Bear. You need to get laid, so I can get my big softie of a friend back."

I huffed. A softie? Me? Like fuck.

"Speaking of soft," Dean said, "I was thinking... Eric, say your Omega powers start acting up during our forthcoming foursome, blasting us with soothing vibes. Does that mean we won't be able to keep it up?"

Eric burst out laughing. "God, no... And stop it with the foursome talking, you two. It's not forthcoming."

I snorted.

Which only made Dean laugh harder.

That was how Samantha found us when she entered in the next moment. She was in the sexy black dress from last night, the one with the zipper at the back that I had imagined opening with my teeth so many times.

She stood at the door for several seconds, her gaze taking all of us in. Then she started laughing.

"Look at you!" she giggled, the sound making me smile a bit myself. "Three hunks ready for the camera to start rolling for a cheesy chick flick. This is priceless."

Dean wiggled his eyebrows. "Perhaps we'll be starring in a pancake syrup commercial." Grabbing the bottle of honey from the table, he added, "Want to be the assistant who pours the product all over our chests? Or will you star in the commercial yourself, as the one who tries the product... from our abs?"

My eyes shifted to amber at the idea of Samantha's little pink tongue on my abs. And going lower.

I was now sporting a wood harder than the kitchen table.

"We can always clear the table," I told our blushing female, "put you on it and taste the product off your naked body instead."

Samantha covered her face with her hands.

Eric cleared his throat.

Dean raised both his hands. "Count me in! I won't take a single penny for the role – the honey is that good... I tried it last night. You've tried it daily for a week now, haven't you, Eric?"

The panther coughed.

I smiled inwardly. Judging by the scent of Samantha's arousal, she would be giving us a taste of her honey very soon.

For now, she managed to say, "Stop it, guys. I really need to eat." At Dean's brow-wiggle, she quickly specified, "Real food! However..." she bit her lip shyly, "you can put the honey away for... later use."

I grinned. I had just gotten the answer to my earlier inner question.

Last night's nudge that Dean and I had given Samantha had done its job. She was cured of the shyness and feeling of guilt preventing her from admitting her true desires.

Now we just had to convince her to take the last step.

To take me as her third mate.