Chapter 2
Dominic’s home was a rural settlement compared to Apex Woods which was more like a big city. Here, they had cute little houses located around the base of the Aldov Mountains.
Life looked simple here and the people welcomed us with bright smiles and cheerful greetings.
“Our cottage is right after the bend,” said Dominic. “It’s a bit far away from the rest of the village but I’m sure you’ll like it.”
“Sure,” I said with a grin. I couldn’t wait to see my new home. We had shifted back to our human forms and were walking hand-in-hand along the windy dirt road that led to our destination.
The cottage was a beautiful brown brick house with a high roof and wide windows. It was surrounded by hedges of colourful flowers, shrubs and trees.
“This place is beautiful!” I gushed.
“Thank you,” said Dominic with a grin. “I’m glad you like it.”
We followed the walkway lined with interlocked stones leading to the front door. I could already see myself living in this adorable house with my mate and raising our little cubs here. This was truly a dream come true!
“Home sweet home,” Dominic said with what sounded like a nervous laugh.
“I don’t care if the inside is a mess right now. I’m happy to clean it up and make it comfy for us,” I assured him. I knew guys could be messy, so I totally understood his nervousness.
To my surprise, instead of grabbing his keys from his bag to open the door, he lifted his right hand and knocked on the door with a closed fist.
I giggled. “What are you doing? Do you have a resident ghost in your cottage or what?”
The front door swung open and I found myself staring at Dominic on the other side of the door. No, it wasn’t Dominic, was it? He was standing beside me!
“What the –“ I began to say but I swallowed the rest of my question when the door opened wider and another Dominic appeared beside the second one.
“No!” I screamed at the top of my lungs and ran away from the three Dominics as fast as my legs could carry me. In my haste to get away from the identical trio, I stumbled on a rock and fell head first on the ground.
As I began to regain consciousness, I could hear the three Dominics talking in hushed tones near me. They were arguing about me, so I decided to pretend to still be unconscious so that I could get more info about my current bizarre situation.
“Why didn’t you tell her?”
“I wanted to surprise her. Besides, I didn’t want to freak her out.”
“Well, you’ve done exactly that, so what now?”
Sigh.
“I don’t know. What if she tries to run away when she wakes up?”
“Why would she? Is she not our mate?”
“She is, but – “
My eyes flew open. “What?”
They looked at me at the same time and the Dominic that brought me here took a step toward the couch where I was lying. “My love, you’re awake,” he said tenderly.
“Stay away from me,” I said. “What did I just hear you say? That I am your mate? I mean, to the three of you? What is going on here, Dominic?”
“I'm sorry, Jade,” he apologized. “I thought this would be an exciting surprise for you.”
“Exciting?” I asked. My head was pounding because of my earlier fall but I was more interested in getting to the bottom of this weird turn of events.
“I am the oldest of a set of triplets,” he began. “These are my brothers, Damian and Darius.”
The one who had opened the door was Damian and the other one was Darius. It was freaky staring at three men who were identical in looks and physique, and I felt goosebumps prickling my skin as I stared at them. If they weren’t dressed differently, I’d never be able to tell them apart.
“Our father died before we were born,” Dominic continued. “Our mother fled here from another land and became a member of the Mountain Pack. She is a descendant of a powerful sorceress and she had the gift of sorcery too."
"Wow..." I said, amazed.
"She foretold our future to Nana our guardian wolf who raised us and told her that I and my brothers have a rare spiritual bond that makes us seem like one person. We were destined to be mated to only one female in this lifetime and whoever found her first would bring her home to the others. This is our destiny, Jade. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I just assumed you would be happy to know that you'll have three of me instead of just one.”
I exhaled slowly as I rose to a sitting position on the soft couch. “Let me get this straight; some kind of spooky force from your mother bound you guys together and thus, you only get to share one mate, right? So, doesn’t the mate in question have a say in any of this?”
“It’s called destiny, Jade. You don’t get to have a say,” said Darius.
I disliked him immediately.
“Watch your tone, brother,” Dominic warned him.
“Seriously, though! Look at her. How is this our mate?” Darius argued. “There’s nothing remarkable about her except for her sparkling green eyes which must have earned her her name. She has mousy brown hair, a flat chest and skinny limbs. I mean, come on!”
Dominic turned toward his brother with blazing eyes and balled fists. “One more insult from you and I’ll punch your teeth out.”
“Stop it, you two!” Said Damian, coming between his brothers. “You’re making a shitty first impression, Darius. Be kind with your words, please.”
He walked over to the couch and crouched in front of me. “Please, pardon my brother’s manners. He’s harmless, I assure you.”
“Thank you, Damian,” I said with a smile. “So, what now?”
“I’m considered the cynic of the family, so I hope you’ll pardon me for wanting to confirm if you’re indeed our mate or not,” he said with a straight face.
“Do you think Dominic may be wrong about me being your mate?” I asked.
“Maybe,” he said. “My brother is a hopeless romantic and he may have misinterpreted his desires to mean what they may not be.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Dominic snapped. “She felt the mate bond just as I did.”
"Aren't we supposed to feel it too?" Darius asked. "I don't even smell the mysterious mate scent."
"I'm telling you, she's the one," Dominic insisted.
“Then you shouldn’t have a problem with me confirming it,” Damian insisted.
“How do you plan to do this?” I asked him.
“Our mother left us a special necklace which Nana gave to us when we came of age. It’s supposed to glow when it is worn on the neck of our true mate,” he said.
“I’ll get it,” Darius offered gleefully. “My gut tells me that this woman is not the one. No offence, Jade, but I feel that Dominic may be wrong about you.”
I could tell that Darius was the Brianna of this family but I wasn’t worried much. I already had loads of experience with living with his kind.
He went into one of the bedrooms and returned shortly after with a small black box in his hand which he gave to Damian who opened it to reveal a silver necklace inside with a wolf head pendant made of jade.
“That’s very telling, isn’t it?” Dominic asked with a confident smile.
“Maybe,” said Damian and he wore the necklace around my neck. It felt cold and the pendant nestled comfortably between my bosom.
At first, nothing happened, but then I began to feel the pendant growing warm and when I looked down, it was glowing like a lantern.
“I’ll be damned,” Darius whispered in awe. His eyes were huge as he stared at the glowing pendant in wonder.
“Well, that settles it,” said Dominic with a victorious smile.
I looked at Damian, waiting for his reaction and when he finally tore his eyes away from the pendant to look at mine, his lips curved into a warm smile.
“I guess the fates have spoken,” he said softly. “Welcome home, Jade. It’s good to finally have you here.”
Although I still felt weird about the odd situation, a part of me felt relieved to be the one they’d been waiting for and it felt so good to be needed, accepted and welcomed.
For once, I felt like a part of a family and not just an outsider who was trying to fit in. This wasn’t a conventional relationship but it didn’t matter to me anymore – I was finally home where I belonged.