A Twitch of Tail by R. E. Butler Page A

male to make that choice.”
    Tera looked back at Melo.
    Melo touched the rough tips of his fingers to the soft skin of her jaw.  She was so delicate, but she had an inner strength that he was just beginning to see.  A powerful Wiccan, sure, but she would be a strong mate as well.
    “I would throw Midas over a cliff to save you in a heartbeat, sweetheart.”  He wasn’t sure he’d ever said anything quite as truthful as he had at that moment.
    She laughed and her eyes shone with humor.  “I’m not so sure your king would be glad about that, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
    “It’s the truth, Tera.”
    Tahlon said, “I’m going to get dressed.”
    He glanced at the clock purposely and then at Melo, a silent reminder that Melo needed to leave.  Well, he didn’t want to, damn it, but he had no choice.
    “I need to get ready, sweetheart.  I’d love to stay here in bed all day, but the outside world beckons.”  He eased away from her as she rolled to her back and stretched.
    “Outside world sucks,” she said.
    He agreed completely.
    Tera got in the shower when Melo was done, and he dressed and walked out to the kitchen to fill a travel mug with coffee.  His feet were dragging.  He didn’t want to leave the house.  Or the bed.  Or Tera’s arms.  For about a thousand years.
    “What are your plans today?” Melo asked Tahlon, who was stirring milk into a coffee mug.  He was surprised that Tahlon had made coffee, because his brother had never been much for kitchen activities outside of eating.  But he was grateful, even though he was fairly certain that his brother only made coffee because their mate was a caffeine-hound and needed at least two cups to start her day.
    “I told Tera I’d take her over to her townhouse and help her pack a few bags.”
    She had packed a bag on Saturday, but only for a few days.  Melo hadn’t hesitated to ask her to move into the house.
    He cleared his throat.  “I don’t know if I even need to say this, Tahl, but my house is ours now.  Yours, mine, and Tera’s.”
    Tahlon turned slowly and faced Melo.  Melo hadn’t been around his brother in three years, but he could still read his younger brother like a book.  Tahlon was surprised and grateful.
    Tahlon reached his hand out and laid it on Melo’s broad shoulder.  “I never thought we’d be sharing a woman again, Mel.”
    “Who did you share before?” Tera asked as she came into the kitchen wearing only a long sleeved shirt and white and green striped panties.
    He and Tahlon both froze.
    “Wow,” Tera laughed, “you guys look like a couple of deer caught in headlights.”
    Tahlon snagged Tera around the waist and drew her between them.  She faced Melo, as Tahlon buried his face in her neck and drew in a deep breath.
    When Tahlon didn’t start talking right away, Melo figured his brother didn’t want to tell the story, but Tera deserved to know.  So he told her everything, from being selected to join the harem to the queen’s lies to his own leaving.
    Melo tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.  “It wasn’t like this, sweetheart.  There wasn’t any emotion between the queen and us.  It was an honor to be chosen as part of her harem.  At first, anyway.  Then it became a duty, something I came to dread very quickly.  I left because I couldn’t handle going through another heat and risk having a cub with her.  I hated to leave Tahl behind, but he wouldn’t come with me.”
    Tahlon lifted his head and looked at Melo intensely.  “I stayed for you.”
    “What?”
    Tahlon straightened, but drew Tera closer.  “When you told the king you were going to leave the ambush, the queen called me into her chambers. I was going to go with you.  I had every intention of it.  Then she told me that if I left, too, that she would make sure you died.”
    Shock tore through Melo.  “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    Tahlon shrugged.  “What could you have done?  She told me that she didn’t want to