“I figured it out,” Irene announced as she stepped into the drawing room. Everyone in the room’s attention was grabbed by her words instantly. She smiled and glanced at Asher, “Do you feel connected to Naomi? Did you start noticing it long before the mating mark stuff happened?”

“From the moment I first saw her in the woods. I have been pulled to her like a magnet and…she was the reason I went to the human realm,” he revealed, glancing at his parents and knowing that wasn’t exactly what he told them but he had to be truthful now if he wants to find the solution to his problem. “I had wanted to find her, because I couldn’t understand why I would feel such connection to a human.”

Irene nodded, “and Edward, you had felt the connection to Aliyah when you saw her for the first time too, right?”

Edward nodded. “In the human club, she was the only woman that got my attention.”

“So you and Asher had the same experience and both of you accidentally marked the women in question.”

“Yes, but Aliyah turned out to be my mate, it’s not the same case with Asher,” Edward said and Aliyah and Asher nodded.

Irene smiled, “we all know how demons mate right? They are like us, we don’t wait for the blood moon night to assign us a mate, we choose mates. In my theory, Edward, your demon part chose Aliyah as your mate and when you bit her while trying to kill her, you marked her, just like how every demon does when they choose a mate.” Everyone was speechless at that. “Your demon part already laid a claim to Aliyah long before she was assigned your mate. So what we have been identifying as accidental marking has not been accidental at all. Your demon part chose a mate and marked her, laying a claim. But in Edward’s case, you were lucky that Aliyah ended up being your fated mate and so we didn’t figure it out then. But the same is not to be said about Asher. Each of Asher’s identities got a mate with Naomi being his Demon’s chosen mate.”

Everyone was stunned at the revelation and finding out that it made perfect sense.

“There is no such thing as accidental marking,” Irene continued, “there has never been. We just didn’t understand but now we do. So Asher has three mates.”

“Fuck,” Rasmus whispered, “what a lucky guy.”

“I am not feeling the luck, uncle Rasmus,” Asher replied.

“So what are we going to do now, Naomi has been pretty broken since last night,” Aliyah asked.

“It’s all left for Asher. He either accepts all three or he rejects some. And if he is going to reject, it would have to be Naomi.”

“Why her?” Asher asked.

“You are the next Alpha King, you can’t reject a werewolf. Nightwalker is your root, you can’t reject your origin. While the demon’s mates are chosen, it can’t be compared to a fated one. Any reasonable person would choose a fated mate over a chosen, the bonds are stronger.”

“I don’t see the demons having a problem with it.”

“You are not pure demon Asher. You have other roots, what applies to them may not apply to you. Don’t get me wrong, I like Naomi and I was actually looking forward to her joining the family but you can’t choose her over a fated. Demons can choose another mate if their previous mate dies, but once you lose a fated, you are never getting another one. It’s going to be hard to explain her presence to Stella and Maya. Those two are not even in good terms, I noticed it between them last night even though they tried to hide it. No woman would love to share her mate, absolutely not and this is the first time we are witnessing this. And now you want to tell them there is another one? Naomi is the weakest among them, then can easily kill her off. Sure she is a pure blood witch but she did not grow in spells, it will take her time to learn the spells to protect herself. And they might even kill her before she learns to.”

“I think Irene is right,” Aliyah spoke up. “Naomi is a nice and gentle girl and shouldn’t be caught up in our world. Let’s not forget, we have a big fight brewing, and no one knows when Catherine would show up. What do you think would happen if she learns that you have a human mate, you can’t protect all three at once and being the weaker one, she is going to be the easier target. The best would be to set her free and let her mingle in her own world, she would find someone to love her there.”

“Can I say something?” Anita spoke up for the first time and everyone turned to her. With her not saying anything, they had all forgotten she was there. She turned to Asher, “when I asked you if you loved her in the woods, you couldn’t give me a straight answer, so why is it hard for you to let her go now? You know it’s the best way to protect her, cut her out from our problem. She is better off in the human world, besides, you once told me she is not your ideal type of woman, so it shouldn’t be hard, should it?”

Asher closed his eyes and didn’t know the best way to answer. Yes, Naomi is not his type of woman but there is just something about her that just calms him and even now that everyone is suggesting he let her go, he can’t just bring himself to do that.

“Chosen mate, fated mate, a mate is still a mate,” Edward said, “but if it was just only her, it would be easier to protect her. But now, your attention would be divided. No matter how strong the other two may be, you will still want to protect them as a male. Now the real question is, how many places can you be at a time?”

Everyone stared at Asher, with all three being his mates, he can’t really see one in trouble and decides to save the other first. He would be saving whoever was in trouble and while the others can protect themselves for some time, Naomi can’t. Asher sighed in resignation, “what about the mark on her?” he whispered.

“I believe it would disappear if you mark the others and reject her,” Irene answered.

Asher sat down with his hands buried in his hair. He didn’t know what to do, he doesn’t want to let Naomi go but he doesn’t want to reject his fated either. He has longed for a fated mate and now he has two of them, even though Naomi was chosen by his demon, their bond can never be as strong as the fated and to make it worse, Naomi can never mark him, she doesn’t have the fangs to do so. He glanced at Rasmus, he doesn’t have a mark because Irene couldn’t mark him but their case was different. They were fated. According to their story, they had chosen each other on his parents wedding but on the next blood moon night, Rasmus discovered that Irene was his mate. So whether she marked him or not, as long as he marked her, their bond is already in place but it’s not the same with him and Naomi.

A knock sounded on the door then, grabbing their attention. “Come in,” Aliyah called and the door opened, a servant entered and bowed to them.

“Your highnesses, I want to report that Miss Naomi is gone and she left this,” he presented a paper, “from the faint scent on the paper, it should be said that she left over seven hours ago.”

“Thank you, Dimitri,” Aliyah said and Dimitri passed the note to her and with another bow, he left the room.

Aliyah handed the note to Asher and when he took it, she glanced at Edward. They both nodded and stood up. With one last glance at him, they sighed and left the room, followed by the rest of them. This was probably the best, Asher just have to mark his mates and rejects Naomi, setting her free.

All alone in the drawing room, Asher couldn’t bare to read the note, he doesn’t want to read what last words Naomi could have left him. He would rather stay curious, at least, it would make him feel like there was still a part of her with him. “I, Prince Asher of the Blue Moon pack, future Alpha king, prince of Demons and second-generation Nightwalker, rejects…” he paused, he opened his mouth to continue the spell but he just couldn’t, he really couldn’t and he found himself asking why. He knows he doesn’t love Naomi so why can’t he just let her go? Why?