Page 40 of Alpha's Claim

The three kilted players crowd around. They’re all so tall, I feel like I’ve shrunk. “Hey, aren’t you going to introduce us?”

“Paloma, these are the triplets. Hutch,” Darius points to the one in the white shirt, “and Bern.” He points to the one in the black shirt.

“What about me?” The shirtless one pushes between the other two. Up close, his chest is even more amazing. Sweat runs down the grooves of his muscles and darkens the light hair at his temples.

“Put on a shirt, and I’ll think about it,” Darius growls.

“Canyon.” The shirtless one puts a hand to his chest. “Mi’lady.” The triplets all bow.

I stifle a laugh. They’re all so huge and adorable.

Darius squeezes me closer. He’s being all possessive, but I don’t hate it. “These are my stupid brothers.”

“Oh,” I make a mental note. The triplets and Axel all seem younger than Darius and Matthias.

“How many of us has she met?” Bern asks.

“Five. She met Matthias back at the cabin.”

“Has she met Teddy?” Canyon asks.

Darius stiffens at the mention of his twin. “Not yet.”

Hutch says, “That just leaves–”

Branches snap behind us, and I turn to see the bear from this morning pushing through the bushes. Darius doesn’t seem worried, but I clutch at him. The bear rises to hind legs and offers Axel the rugby ball. Axel calmly accepts it. He’s got the blunt sticking out of the corner of his mouth. I get that not much fazes him, but no one else is freaking out at the fact a giant bear is standing right next to us. And it apparently knows how to play catch.

Just me.

“Holy shit,” I breathe.

“It’s okay,” says Hutch. “It’s just–”

Bern elbows him in the gut, and he doubles over.

“Just a random bear–” Bern assures me.

“Our pet bear,” Canyon says at the same time.

“Uh yeah, ourpet,” Hutch adds, rubbing the spot where Bern elbowed him. “He escaped from the zoo.”

The bear cocks its head at them. It looks faintly disapproving. Then it drops to all fours and lumbers away. It moves silently, and remarkably fast for such a giant animal.

I shudder, and Darius covers my shoulder with his huge hand. The weight is comforting. He dips his head and murmurs, “Welcome to Bad Bear Mountain.”

Darius

“Your brothers are sweet,” Paloma tells me. We’re back at the cabin, and I’m making us salmon on the grill. I was going to walk up to Teddy’s, but her stomach started togrowl, and I was happy to cut our walk short and put off meeting my twin.

Now we’re blissfully alone. Matthias has gone to his shift at the hospital, and I managed to communicate to the triplets that Paloma and I needed some space. Axel wandered off, probably to work on one of his perpetual projects–either a car or a motorcycle. And I told Hutch and Bern to keep Everest busy. Two bear sightings in one day is enough. If he wants to meet Paloma, he needs to show up in human form.

“They can be,” I grunt. “But mostly they’re assholes. Especially my twin.”

Paloma’s head pops up. “You have a twin?”

“Yeah, Teddy.”

“Does he look like you?”