Free Healing Their Mate (The Love of a Shifter) by Bryce Evans

bellowed out as she looked at Ash for help.  Reece and Jonas leaned forward as her scent penetrated their senses.
    Her eyes widened as she glared at the men who continued to move closer to her.  “Please…back off.  Back off now, and I mean now,” River growled the words as she shook from the closeness of the men.  She didn’t like how her body was acting toward them.  She wanted to touch them too.  What the fuck, River?  Get it together.
    Jonas hated doing it but they inched back to give her some space.  Not a lot because he couldn ’t stand being too far away from her.  He could see her hands tighten on the chair as it creaked from the death grip she had on it.  She needed time to sit and think this over.  He knew he should give her time, but Jonas didn’t know if he could.  All he wanted to do was get close to her.  His body urged him to touch River and rub his scent all over her.  Mark her as his.  That way other shifters would know she was his.
    Ash looked over at her big strong uncle who was the leader of his clan and at Jonas who was an Alpha of a pack and they looked like whipped puppy dogs waiting to be fed as they knelt in front of her.  She would have burst out laughing if it wouldn’t have upset River any more than she already was. 
    River watched as the men only inched away from her.  “What is a mate?”  She looked at Ash again for the answer.  “Well, a mate is your other half.”  River watched as Ash got up, went, and stood between Larken and the Sheriff.  River narrowed her eyes wondering why Larken possessively had his arm around her and the Sheriff was holding her hand.  “A mate, River, is your destined partner who sees only you.  It is the equivalent to a wife or husband but much, much more in our world.  They will never stray or leave you for another woman.  Nobody is better looking than you or has a better body then you.  It’s what shifters and vampires use to describe their wife or husband except we mate for life.  Your soul mate is what they are.  We never get divorced or stray.”  River was still confused as to why both men were looking like they loved her.
    “ Then why is Larken looking at you that way?” River asked, unsure she wanted to know the answer.
    “ Because the fates have granted me two mates.  I’m their mate and we have mated for life,” Ash explained.
    “ Get out of here.”  River leaned forward, not believing what she was hearing but seeing the threesome right in front of her.  They were both touching her all the time.  She noticed all the touching, but with the vampire in the room, her attention had been focused on him. 
    “ You mean you have sex with both…” All the men in the room laughed at River’s comment.  River blushed at what she had just blurted out.  She couldn’t believe she said that aloud.  She had sex before but never with two men at the same time or even in the same room together.  She always wondered what that would feel like.  But if she blurted that out now, everyone will think she was a freak , River chastised herself.
    Ash smiled.  She showed no embarrassment, only love for her two men.  “Yes, I have sex with them together and by themselves sometimes.  We love each other and we make it work,” Ash said lovingly as she looked at her mates.  River could see the love in their eyes as they kissed her on the cheek.
    “ And we will make it work.”  Reece reached out and touched River’s hand.  She looked down at Reece and Jonas and the realization of what they were talking about dawned on her.  She jerked her hand away as she fell backwards trying to get away from them.  Jonas and Reece couldn’t help it.  She ran and they wanted to chase her.  She was fast as she made it to the door when Jonas got to her first and picked her up. 
    “ Calm down, River.  Nobody is going to hurt you.”  River became frantic to get away, she started kicking and hitting him.  Screaming at the top of her