Free Date Night by Emma Holly Page A

James had become Anso and his fellow wereseal Ty’s bloodmates. What had started out as a heat-driven abduction on a deserted beach had become an extraordinarily deep relationship.
    Consummating a blood bond was the highest form of marriage for Oceanans, combining the concept of soulmates with genetic compatibility. Though the four-way mating hadn’t turned Olivia or James into wereseals, they had experienced changes. They could breathe underwater and were stronger and healthier. Their life expectancy was as long as any shapeshifter’s. Their libidos were heightened, so it was handy that there were four of them. Olivia and James gained a smidge more intuition than they’d had as humans, making them feel more at home among Oceana’s semi-to-very magical citizens. Olivia’s triplets each had a different father, which would have been a trick to pull off if she’d still been a mundane.
    The primary sign that these things might happen had been a change in their eye color. Her and James’s irises were now the same drowning blue as Anso’s, with a touch of Ty’s bright yellow ringing their pupils. Olivia loved this evidence that they all were linked. The four of them finding each other had been the luckiest day of their lives.
    The only drawback - to Olivia’s mind anyway - was that Anso was royalty.

    Don’t be a grump , she ordered her reflection. Your life is amazing, and it’s only a damn dinner . The third damn state dinner in a week. Her babies were going to forget her name.
    Her babies would have set up a wail at the way she frowned in the full-length mirror.
    “Let me help,” Anso said soothingly. He slipped the gorgeous gown off its fancy hanger and shook it out for her to step into.
    Stifling a sigh, Olivia braced on his shoulder and did as he invited. If this had been the old days, when it was just her and James, she’d have warned her husband that if he “helped,” they’d never get where they were going. Sadly - though not for Oceana - Anso was an actual ruling king, with actual ruling duties. He shared responsibility for their city-nation with a council and legislature, but he rarely blew off anything. Olivia admired that. She simply wished he’d take two seconds to ogle her in her lacy push-up bra and thong.
    We’re not in heat , she reminded herself. You can’t expect him to always be flattering you .
    “Suck in,” he said, beginning to do up the laces at the back of the Victorian-style corset bodice. Zippers were considered outre for aristocrats, but Olivia sure missed them. To be fair, having three men to do her up was a pretty good compensation. One of them was bound to notice how nice she looked.
    “There,” Anso said, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. He
    smiled at their joined reflections in the long mirror: a tall honey-haired Viking hugging a petite redhead. “You might be miserable, sweetheart, but you’ll outshine every woman in the room.”
    Olivia pulled a little face, which of course he spotted.
    “Not your ambition?” he joshed.
    She turned in his hold, her arms naturally twining behind his strong warm neck. “First,” she said like the accountant she’d always be. “I’m only interested in three people’s opinions. Second, I couldn’t be miserable if even one of my mates was there.”
    “Uncomfortable then,” he said sympathetically.
    “I’ll put my heart into it,” she promised. “I know tonight is important to Ty.”
    Important was an understatement. Tonight’s guest of honor was the King of Tantallon, a sister underwater city hidden off the coast of Scotland. Ty’s social-climbing mother was considering moving there. Since she and her alcoholic husband had brought a great deal of real misery into Ty’s life, good relations were to be encouraged.
    None of them liked seeing the dark cloud ten minutes with his parents could cast over Ty. When he was with them, part of him forgot he was Anso’s respected co-ruler, beloved by his mates and their