#12 The Triplets of Emerald Forest

Gabriel

“What in the actual hell?” Godric looked pissed off after the whole incident with Gina, Victoria, Robin, and our mate.

“We should’ve known they would try and pull something like that.” I sighed, throwing myself down on the living room couch.

“Seriously? I’ve been dodging Vikki since birth and she really thought she could wiggle between me and my mate now?” Griffin was the most annoyed out of the three of us.

It was true, Vikki, Gina, and Robin were the best of friends all our lives, and they constantly followed us around ever since grade school. In middle and high school they made themselves available to us as our girlfriends. Available might not be the best word, they threw themselves at us desperately and repeatedly. Of course, Saint Griffin had none of it. He ignored, dodged, and flat out avoided Vikki every single day of school and, after a very loud and very embarrassing public shut down, she finally seemed to get the hint; or at least so we thought.

Ric and I were less chaste. I entertained Robin and Ric, Gina for whatever needs arose throughout the years. They were our first kiss, first make out, and first lay. They were our dates to the school dances and, publicly, they were our girlfriends in high school so the other she-wolves would leave us alone. Whenever we were bored, they provided the in-room entertainment. But, one thing was always obvious: they were not our mates and would never be the Luna. We never gave them false hope or lied about our intentions.

They started getting super clingy over the last couple of years and, thus, Ric and I both cut off Gina and Robin. We took a page from Griff’s playbook and cut them off completely over the last year. As with Vikki, they mustn’t have taken the not-so-subtle hint very well.

“If they so much as look in Harlow’s direction I’ll kick them out of this pack.” I grumbled with a sour expression.

“If you don’t, I will.” Godric nodded in agreement as he fixed us some drinks.

“I can’t believe how well she handled it, though.” Griff said,

“Right? You were worried she would be pissed at us for not being virgins and here she is, not giving a single fuck.” I laughed at him. Ric handed me a whisky, Griff a glass of bourbon, and poured a scotch for himself.

“Shut up.” Griff mumbled as he tilted back the swallow of ginger liquid. He waved it around for Ric to refill.

“I mean, I don’t love the fact that she flat out admitted to having other…partners, but I’m trying to be less hypocritical.” Ric grunted, plopping down on the leather arm chair.

“Hypocritical seems to be our word of the month.” I smirked.

“To not being hypocritical.” Griff said, raising his glass in toast.

“Amen.” I clinked my glass against his and threw it back.

“Anyway, Mom said that Harlow’s favorite flower is a purple iris and I think that was a hint towards us to do something special for her.” I said, setting down my glass.

“We should fill her bedroom with flowers and officially ask her to move in with us. Or, rather, us moving in with her.” Griff suggested.

“That, my brother, is why you’re the romantic one.” Ric snorted.

“I have a thought as well.” I cleared my throat, feeling a little nervous about my idea.

“Oh no, not Gabe thinking!” Griff pretended to be scared, fake biting his fingernails.

“Shut up,” I scoffed, “Anyway, I think we should propose to her and make the Luna ceremony a wedding as well. We should do the human thing as well as the werewolf thing.” I shrugged like what I was saying was so casual.

“You think she’s ready for that?” Griff sat up a little straighter in his chair.

“I mean, she’s agreed to everything else. Is this really that much more of a stretch?” I asked.

“To her, it might be. She doesn’t necessarily know what it means to have a Luna ceremony but she does know what it means to get married.” Griff pointed out.

“Oh.” I felt the disappointment dampening my mood.

“I’m not saying no. I want to be married to that woman, I want to be tied to her in every way possible. I just don’t want to scare her away.” Griff spoke quickly. I looked over at Ric who was unusually quiet.

“I….I already bought a ring.” Ric confessed and I felt my eyes widen.

“You what?” Griff and I copied each other.

“I was going to bring it up to you guys and see if you wanted to be involved as well, but I was already there. I didn’t really think about all the things Griff said, but I still know it’s what I want to do.” I have never seen Ric look so serious about something before.

“Let’s see the ring.” Griff grinned.

“Okay, so, I actually got two different ones because I didn’t know if you guys would be into it or not. I got one just from me in case you weren’t, but then I got this triplet ring thing specially made.” Ric mumbled, looking embarrassed at the amount of forethought he put into all of this.

He dug two velvet boxes out of the pocket of his dress pants. He sat them both down on the table but opened up the one that was the triplet speciality ring. I had to admit, I was impressed with my brother’s taste. The ring was actually three separate silver bands; one had a ruby, the second had an emerald, and the third had a sapphire. The bands curved around each other and the gems were arranged on each band so they laid together in a half circle. Protruding from the center of the half circle was a teardrop shaped diamond.

“I love this, Ric. It’s perfect to represent all of us.” I said, holding the box closer to my face so I could get a good look at it.

“She’s our diamond, so, yeah, it’s exactly right.” Griff nodded, swallowing back a lump in his throat.

“So, we’re all on board?” Ric asked and we nodded silently. I sat down the box and Griff picked it up to observe it as well.

“We can do it with Griff’s flower idea.” I suggested.

“Yeah, we can do the flowers and ask to move in with her and then get down on one knee.” Griff nodded in agreement.

“Done.” Ric agreed with one word.

“Now, before or after the Luna ceremony?” I asked.

“Let’s ask the girls.” Griff said and he sent out a mass mindlink to Annie, Kori, Matti, Sammy, Nova, Callie, and our mother so she didn’t feel left out.

“We want to propose to Harlow and ask if we can officially move into her room with her by filling her room with flowers. Should we do it before or after the ceremony?” He asked.

In all of two seconds, the responses flowed in.

“Before.” Said Annie.

“Before, definitely.” Said Matti.

“Now, do it right freaking now!” Nova squealed.

“Before.” Sammy replied.

“Before, before, before!” Kori shouted.

“I’m so proud of you boys. Definitely before so you can get married at the ceremony and introduce the Luna as your wife as well.” Mom replied thoughtfully, “Just let me know so I can make the proper arrangements.”

“Thanks everyone. We’ll let you know.”

“Before it is.” I chuckled.

“We better get planning. Where do we find purple irises?” Ric cocked an eyebrow.

Turns out, finding purple irises was a lot harder than we thought. It would take two days for the irises in the quantity we wanted to arrive, which brought us right up to the day before the ceremony. Our Mom wasn’t pleased but she just assumed Harlow would say yes and started secretly adding the wedding details into the Luna ceremony.

Harlow had to go out for her last dress fitting that day anyway, so it worked out as a distraction for us to prepare her bedroom. We covered the entire room with flowers, literally. It might’ve been a bit overboard, but whatever. Her bed was covered, the floor, the sitting area, the bath tub, the shower, even the sinks were overflowing with purple irises. My brothers and I were dressed in our designated colors, wearing nice dress slacks, white cotton button up shirts without a tie, and suit jackets.

Since Godric designed and bought the ring, we thought it was only fair to have him be the one to pull it out, but we would all hit our knees and each had a very fancy speech prepared. I could feel the nerves coming in waves off of my brothers as all three of us paced the room. I was so nervous I wanted to throw up.

“She’s back. We’re sending her up.” Nova mindlinked us.

“Go time, brothers.” I grinned, clapping my hands together.