Only she didn’t want his mouth, didn’t want him.
She wanted Bram, and she couldn’t have him. She’d been forsaken by the moon goddess, and because of that, she had a feeling if she were to try to be with Shane, no bond would form there either. It had almost killed her once to go through that, and she couldn’t do it again. Since Bram was the purest and most loyal wolf she knew, the fault had to lie with her and the blood that ran through her veins.
She didn’t want this man, this human, who wasn’t quite human any longer. Her wolf might feel the need for him now, but that would pass. Instead of succumbing to her hormones, she’d back away and do her duty before locking herself away once more. It was the only way she could stay sane.
It had been working for the past few years, and damn it, it would just have to keep working.
“What haven’t they told me?” she asked again.
Shane was the one to pull away this time, and though she immediately felt the loss, she was grateful.
“You’re not the only one who can calm the beast inside me.”
How could that be possible? She wasn’t sure that Shane knew about mating and how everything that came with that worked, and because of that fact, she didn’t mention it just then. She didn’t have the words or the energy to venture down that path. But if someone else could calm him, maybe it wasn’t mating heat and wolf actions that were at play here. Maybe it was something else.
Or maybe…maybe Shane had a second potential mate within his reach.
“Who…” She cleared her throat. “Who else?”
“Me.”
She whirled at the sound of Bram’s voice, her claws sliding from her fingertips, and her wolf slamming forward. She’d been so caught up in Shane, she hadn’t known Bram was so close. Her wolf clawed at her, and her body shook, even as she forced her claws to retract. Bram could calm Shane? How was that possible?
Bram met her gaze but didn’t say anything. There were so many words left unsaid between them, so many promises that would never be kept if they continued on as they were.
“Bram.” Her voice was a whisper, yet in the quiet gym with only the sound of their breathing and heartbeats to take up the space, it sounded like a scream.
“I didn’t quite believe it myself,” Bram said after a moment. He looked over Charlotte’s shoulder then. “It’s good to see you out of bed.” He raked his gaze along Shane much as she had before, and Charlotte had a sinking feeling things weren’t as they seemed.
“It’s good to be out of bed,” Shane answered. “I take it you two know each other.”
Charlotte turned so she faced the two of them. They made a triangle, three points, three connections, three souls who she feared would never be the same after this moment.
“We do,” she said, her voice annoyingly shaky.
“We’re both Redwoods,” Bram said after a moment. “That much you already knew. The two of us have been friends since we were children.”
Shane frowned between them, seeming to sense the unspoken history and tension. “And yet you didn’t mention to her that you’ve come to see me a couple of times to help me heal?”
Charlotte turned to Bram, glaring. “You have?”
Bram shrugged, but she could see the anger in his eyes. “You didn’t seem like you were coming back, and he needed help.”
“You could have told me,” Charlotte snapped. “You know what this means, and yet—” She cut herself off, aware Shane was watching them with avid interest. “You know what, I’m going to go. I need to think about what all of this means, and I can’t do that here.”
She stormed away but stopped at the door, looking over her shoulder as she spoke, “I’m glad you’re out of bed, Shane. I’m sorry… I’m just sorry.”
She left Bram and Shane to speak to each other in the gym, unsure what to think. One part of her hoped Bram would explain everything so she wouldn’t have to, but, of course, that made a coward out of her.
She just hadn’t been prepared for the magnitude of what she’d just seen and felt. She’d figured Shane was her potential mate and knew Bram was as well despite the fact that they couldn’t bond.
But if Bram and Shane were also potential mates… Did that mean the three of them were a different kind of potential when all together? She’d known of some triads, but only knew one personally. Her aunt and uncles were a rare triad in that they held the trinity bond, a bond that had its own sense of magic and wonder and strength.
Charlotte wasn’t sure there could be two trinity bonds in existence, and while people lived in triads, she didn’t know if those were bonded matings. She’d never asked, and now she felt all the fool for not doing so.
Could Shane and Bram not only be her mates but be mates with each other? If that were the case, could they become a true triad? Even if that were true, she was still broken. Her birth father’s sins had marked her as someone who couldn’t find the happiness she craved, of that much she was sure.