Shifter Mate Tri-Totem (Shifter World - Book Thirteen) (Series of 13 Short Stories)

-After Kota leaves with Amelia and their kids-

“Shar just called!” Allora called out with excitement as she ran into the living room of Bishop’s small apartment.

“What happened?” Marry-Beth asked as she turned to her mate.

Allora grinned, “Kota came back and took his wife and their little ones home.”

Marry-Beth smiled, “that’s so wonderful. If anyone deserves a proper goodbye, it’s Kota.”

“I know,” Allora said with a sigh, “he has done so much for the Fated Mates, and he’s not even one.”

“Yeah. Too bad his children can’t be one either. Could you imagine if their daughter happened to be our son’s Fated Mate or their son, our daughter’s?”

Allora beamed at her mate. Their son or daughter. She was so excited! She and Marry-Beth had discussed going to a clinic to get Marry-Beth pregnant, many times. Because she doesn’t want to go through it, but Marry-Beth has always dreamed about it. And now they don’t have to, because they have Bishop!

Ohmigod, they have a man in their life. That was never in their plans. But she likes having him around. He’s sweet, caring, sexy as hell, and seems to love Marry-Beth, even though the words have not been spoken.

“Good evening, ladies,” Bishop said as he entered the apartment.

Both women turned to him, twinkles in their eyes.

“What’s going on?” He asked, looking at their shining faces.

Allora told him the news of Kota returning for his family, and Bishop smiled.

“That’s wonderful news,” he said as he walked to the kitchen and set the takeout bags on the counter. “You two hungry?”

“Starving,” Marry-Beth said as she stood up from the couch.

Allora walked into the kitchen with her mate, and they each took a seat at the small bar.

“Chinese okay?” Bishop asked, placing plates and forks in front of them.

“Perfect,” Marry-Beth said with a smile.

Bishop smiled back as he dished out their food.

They ate in silence, each taking a peek at the other. After everything they have been through this week, the silence felt like a death sentence. So much action and hollering and crying...

“So, what do you feel like doing?” Bishop asked, breaking the silence.

“How about movies?” Allora asked, then took a bite of an eggroll.

“Sounds good to me,” Bishop said with a smile. “Do we stay in or go out?”

“In.” Marry-Beth and Allora said at the same time.

“Do you have Netflix?” Marry-Beth asked, then set her fork on her empty plate.

Bishop nodded, then got to his feet and cleared away the dishes.

“When did you rent this apartment?” Allora asked as she helped Marry-Beth off the stool and walked with her to the living room.

“Not long ago,” Bishop said then picked up the remote and turned on the TV.

“Sharissa and Pearl are looking into finding us a really nice house with plenty of rooms. And they said they’re going to find the biggest, strongest bed for the master bedroom, since there’s three of us,” Marry-Beth said, giving her mates a wink.

Allora chuckled then sat on Marry-Beth’s left and snuggled against her.

Bishop plopped down on the couch, making both women giggle as the couch cushions flung them at him. Bishop grinned and wrapped his arm around Marry-Beth’s shoulder and held her to his side. His hand touched Allora’s hair, and he found himself sliding his fingers through the silky strands. Having two women in his life will be a lot of fun. He already loves them both so much.

“What do you ladies want to watch?” He asked, flipping through the movies on Netflix.

“That one.” Marry-Beth and Allora said at the same time when Bishop landed on a romantic-comedy.

They sat on the couch together and watched the movie. Thoughts of their future and the future of the Fated Mates floating through their minds.

Exhaustion took Marry-Beth out within the first hour of the movie. Allora lasted fifteen minutes longer, and Bishop stayed awake long enough to finish the movie. He looked down at his mates and smiled. They looked so cute he didn’t want to disturb them. But if he didn’t, they would both have sore necks in the morning.

Bishop lightly jostled Allora awake. She groaned and opened her eyes, then looked up at him. He placed a finger to his lips and looked down at Marry-Beth.

Allora looked at her mate and smiled. She looked so peaceful. She nodded, then gently pulled away from Marry-Beth and got to her feet.

Bishop lifted Marry-Beth into his arms and carried her to the bedroom. He laid her on the bed and started stripping her. When Bishop finished, he turned and found Allora already undressed and ready for bed. She was so sexy, and he will have the privilege of looking at her for the rest of his life.

He looked back at his Fated Mate and groaned. Marry-Beth was by far the sexiest creature ever created, and she was all his. How will he survive being in love with two women? He blinked. Fuck, he is in love with them both.

Bishop quickly undressed and slid into bed with his mates. He laid on the left side of Marry-Beth while Allora laid on her right. They placed their hand on Marry-Beth’s stomach at the same time and looked into each other’s eyes.

“Thank you,” Allora whispered.

“For what?” Bishop asked.

Allora smiled, “for giving us happiness, we never knew we were missing. For giving us this bundle of joy,” she said, rubbing Marry-Beth’s stomach. “For loving Marry-Beth as much as I do,” she said, then laid her head beside Marry-Beth and closed her eyes.

Bishop took in a deep breath and laid his head on his pillow. His hand rubbed Marry-Beth’s still flat stomach in a circular motion, while Allora’s hand laid still, off to the side.

“I love you too, Allora Manning,” he breathed, then let himself fall into a deep sleep.

~💘~

-Two Months Later-

“No, no, no,” Marry-Beth said as she watched the decorators place the crib in the wrong place. “It goes over there,” she said, pointing to the place they had visibly marked for the crib. They have to be blind or just dumb.

“Marry-Beth,” Allora said as she entered the nursery.

Marry-Beth turned to Allora and smiled. “Yes, my love?”

“You’re turning back into the bar owner.”

Marry-Beth snorted. “What do you expect when you give me people who can’t read signs?”

Allora smiled. “Why don’t you let Bishop handle this? You can come help me with the master bedroom...”

Marry-Beth shook her head. “Bishop won’t make sure everything is placed where it needs to be.”

“I think I remember where everything goes, Mafilia,” Bishop said, stepping into the room behind Allora.

Marry-Beth snorted, “I...” She didn’t get to finish what she was going to say as a crash came from the living room. “What the fuck now?!” Marry-Beth demanded, pushing past her mates.

“You need to watch your language,” Allora said, following her mate down the stairs.

Marry-Beth huffed as she stepped off the last step and rushed into the living room. She skidded to a stop, and her mates bumped into her, making her stumble forward.

Bishop caught Marry-Beth by the arm, keeping her from falling. Her stomach is big enough; it often pulled her down when she lost her balance.

“Who the fuck are you?!” Marry-Beth demanded, glaring at the stranger in her living room.

“Mafilia, language,” Allora whispered.

“Screw language,” Marry-Beth growled, “we have an intruder...”

“Sorry about that. They let me in when I told them I was a friend,” the stranger said.

Bishop glared at the man. He hasn’t seen him in months. The man continued to call him practically every day, but he has been so busy with his wives (he understands that he’s only married to Marry-Beth, but he can’t stop his love for Allora). Then there’s the moving, and Marry-Beth turning into the bar owner, as Allora put it. Apparently, being pregnant makes her as bitchy as she was when she owned the bar.

“Why are you here?” Bishop demanded.

“That’s how you treat your bud after not seeing him for months?”

Marry-Beth looked from the stranger to Bishop and back again. Recognition hit her, and she calmed down a little. “I remember you,” she said.

The man smiled, “I’m happy to hear that. So, since you never showed up to prove that you’re Fated Mates, and my friend there didn’t cockblock some poor son of a bitch, how about you show me now?”

Marry-Beth growled and moved to attack the man, how dare he call them liars.

Bishop took hold of her arm and handed her over to Allora. Allora held onto Marry-Beth and watched Bishop.

Bishop walked over to his old friend and showed him his wrists. He had taken a picture of the markings with his phone and sent them to his friends. But none of them believed they were real.

His friend pulled out a knife, and both his women growled. His friend looked at them then at Bishop.

“I have to make sure it’s real,” he said, holding the knife in his hand.

“How dare you!” Marry-Beth screamed as she tried to pull away from Allora.

Allora had a hard time holding onto her. She has gotten so strong with all the sex they’ve been having for the past two months. But she has gotten strong too since she’s Marry-Beth’s Fated Mate as well.

“Stay back, Mafilia,” Bishop grumbled. “I should have known you would come after your own proof,” he said with a growl.

“After all the cockblocking, do you really think I’d let you get away with it?” The man said, then scraped the knife over the Marking. He smiled as he looked at the knife. The Marking didn’t fade, rub off, smear, or leave a mark on the blade. He looked at his friend’s wrist and sighed with relief, the silver blade hadn’t made a mark on his skin. The Marking had protected the area. He put the knife away then bowed to his friend. “It is an honor to call you my friend again.”

Bishop snorted. “Yeah, whatever,” he said, then backed away and walked over to his mates.

The man looked at Marry-Beth’s stomach and smiled. “Congratulations,” he said with a nod to her baby bump.

Marry-Beth smirked. “Do you need to check ours too?”

He shook his head. “Nope...” He stopped talking and looked at Allora. “No,” he said, then laughed. “Let me see,” he said with his hand out.

“Fuck you,” Marry-Beth said with a growl.

The man looked at Marry-Beth. “You are the only Tri-Totem. I must make sure it’s real.”

“Who are you working for?” Bishop asked.

His friend smirked, “the Elders came to me shortly after you left with your mate; and told me about the cockblocking. Apparently, Shifters have found a way to mimic the markings. The only way to tell they’re real is to scrape them with a silver knife.”

“You touched my mate with silver?!” Marry-Beth screamed.

“Only on the marking,” the man said, “the marking isn’t affected by silver, if it was fake, we’d know.”

“Just do it,” Allora grumbled, holding her wrist up.

The man walked over to Allora and pulled out his knife. He scrapped it across her wrist and grinned when nothing happened.

“I guess there’s a first for everything,” he said, then winked at her.

“So, this is why you wouldn’t accept the pictures as proof?” Bishop asked.

The man nodded, “yeah. Well, I better be going. I have a lot of wrists to scrape,” he said as he headed for the door.

“Can you do me a favor?” Marry-Beth asked.

The man turned to her with a smile. “Anything for my buddy’s Fated Mate.”

She nodded. “Can you only scrape the men’s wrists? I don’t want the women freaking out. Some are pregnant.”

He thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “I think that can be arranged. Well, catch you on the upside,” he said with a wave then left the house.

“You have odd friends,” Allora said with a scowl.

Bishop sighed. He couldn’t argue with her on that.

~💘~

“I love this house,” Marry-Beth said as she laid on her right side, Bishop behind her, his hand splayed across her large stomach.

Allora smiled as she laid there, in front of Marry-Beth, her mate’s hand playing with her breast. She closed her eyes and sighed with contentment. They had just finished making love, and all three of them were exhausted.

“I love you,” Bishop whispered into Marry-Beth’s ear.

Marry-Beth paused her movement on Allora’s breast, and Allora’s eyes popped open. She looked up at Bishop, who was looking down at her, his mouth still close to Marry-Beth’s ear. Was he talking to both of them? No, he was talking to his Fated Mate, surely...

“Bishop?” Marry-Beth whispered as she turned her head to him.

Bishop kissed Marry-Beth, making her moan against his mouth. When he lifted his head, he moved his hand from her stomach, and instead of caressing Marry-Beth’s cheek as they thought, he caressed Allora’s cheek, his eyes still on Marry-Beth.

“I fell in love with you the moment I laid eyes on you,” Bishop said, his eyes never leaving Marry-Beth. Then his eyes traveled to Allora. “And when I discovered she came with another mate; I knew you were both meant to be mine. And...” He paused and looked between them and smiled. “I love you both so much, my heart sings every time I look at either of you.”

Marry-Beth started to cry, and Allora stared at him dumbfounded.

“I love you too,” Marry-Beth cried and turned to face him, kissing him with all the love she felt for both her Fated Mates. “I am so glad you didn’t accept Cael’s offer to leave us.”

Bishop snorted, “he told you- of course, he did.”

Bishop watched Allora turn onto her side and wrap her body around Marry-Beth. He moved his hand back to her cheek and caressed it as he looked into her eyes. She smiled and leaned her cheek into his touch.

“I never thought I could love a man,” she whispered, “but you have stolen my heart, Bishop King. And for the first time in my life, I love a man. I love you.”

Bishop smiled and wrapped his hand in her hair. She smiled as he pulled her to him and kissed her.

Marry-Beth smiled and started to cry again.

Bishop pulled back from the kiss and looked down at his Fated Mate. “Mafilia?” He asked.

Marry-Beth hiccupped, “it’s the pregnancy,” she said against his chest.

He chuckled and kissed her on the cheek.

“We are the first and only Tri-Totem,” Allora said, holding onto Bishop’s arm.

Bishop looked at her. “I may not be able to fuck you silly, but I have other talents,” he said, wagging his eyebrows.

Allora chuckled, “don’t I know it. And you please me enough, Mafilio. Because you make my mate happy.”

Bishop smiled, “I hope I also make you happy.”

Allora grinned as she leaned against Marry-Beth’s back and pressed her lips to his. “Oh yes,” she whispered, then licked his lips.

Bishop growled and pulled her over Marry-Beth. Marry-Beth squealed and moved out of their way. She chuckled as she moved to her knees and watched her husband drag her wife up to his mouth. She watched his cock grow steadily hard as he ate Allora until she screamed.

With a smirk, Marry-Beth straddled her husband, and together they showed each other how much a Tri-Totem can truly love.