“What?” August shouted, and I slammed my hand over his mouth to shut him up immediately.
“Can’t you keep your tone low for a second?” I removed my hand from his face and sat back on my chair. It was already half-past twelve, so technically, it was morning. Diana was still unconscious. I walked into the kitchen to prepare some coffee.
August followed me silently. I looked at him from the corner of my eye; he was equally restless. I put the coffee on the stove and turned to face him.
“When do you think your parents will return?” I asked, trying to change the topic. He didn’t look at me. His eyes were fixed on the stove as if he was in deep thought.
“August?” I snapped my fingers in front of him, and he finally acknowledged my presence.
“Huh? I don’t know. We have a house in the city. It is already late. They must have stayed there,” he said, and I nodded.
I turned and poured the coffee into two cups. “Here.” I passed one cup to him, which he happily accepted.
“Where are the dead bodies now?” he asked, taking a sip from his coffee. Dead bodies.
“They were quickly cleared from the tree and sent for a post-mortem; our pack doctor will do an autopsy on them,” I said, trying not to remember the horrible scene again.
“Are you sure it was witches who killed them?” he asked, and for the first time, I saw fear in his eyes. It confused me.
“Yes, I have seen it before. The Oracle killed one in the meeting,” I said, and he was again lost in deep thought. I put my hands on his, trying to will him back to reality. “What happened?”
He shook his head and looked towards his room, where Diana was sleeping. “She is my mate, Emmy. If you are right and it was witches who slaughtered those wolves, then our pack will never accept her as my mate,” he said, and I could feel the fear and anxiety in his voice.
“I met her only a few days back.” He smiled lightly. “And now I can’t think about living away from her for a second,” he muttered sadly. I could feel what he was feeling right now.
We werewolves despised other species. We were the knights who fought evil, whether it was vampires or witches or demons. We had always been enemies.
“Also, nobody believes that she is my mate. Everyone thinks she has cast some magic over me...” he trailed off and balled his fists in anger.
He was right. It was not common to be mated with another species. There was not a single case of a werewolf mating with another supernatural entity in the last five hundred years.
The last time I checked, the Silvermoon pack’s alpha had mated with a witch, but that was seven hundred years ago. Wait.
Silvermoon pack? That was Dumeny’s pack, which meant Dumeny’s ancestor was the one who had mated with a witch, so he had the blood of a witch in him. I stood so fast the chair fell. August looked perplexed by my sudden reaction.
“What?” he asked, and I could feel that he was about to lose his temper any second.
“Dumeny.” I grinned. He looked puzzled and stared at me. “Dumeny’s grandfather mated with a witch. He can tell you if there is something in the law about mating rituals or something,” I exasperatedly answered. August finally understood and jumped from his chair to hug me.
“You are the best, sis,” he said and kissed my cheek. I slapped his chest.
“Just get lost already,” I said, and he started laughing. I soon joined him; it had been too long since we’d shared a happy moment.
***
“This is a big move. You know that, right?” Dumeny asked, and August nodded seriously. August hadn’t slept either. We had waited until Dumeny arrived, which was not until four in the morning.
As soon as he arrived, August launched himself on him. Dumeny was a great guy. He answered all his questions patiently and also told us about his grandmother, who was a witch.
She left her coven to marry his grandfather. No one except for her had ever left her coven to marry a werewolf. She was the first. And maybe the last.
“Okay then, gather all your pack members and organize the bonding ritual. You didn’t mark her yet, did you?” August grinned and shook his head.
“No, I haven’t marked her yet,” he said, and I could feel his restlessness to mark his mate.
“I will do that. John will gather the pack members, and we will organize the marking ceremony on the next full moon,” I said and looked at both of them. This time, I matched August’s enthusiasm.
“I will check on Diana now.” With that, August sprinted and closed his door behind him, leaving Dumeny and me by ourselves.
“He is impatient,” he commented wryly.
“You will be like him when you find your mate,” I said and grinned at him. He lifted one eyebrow and walked in my direction. He stood so that we were standing shoulder to shoulder.
“I don’t know if I want a mate,” he said, and there was an undercurrent in his voice. “I don’t know if she will understand me at all,” he said and looked away. I looked at him, confused.
“You don’t want a mate?” I asked, totally surprised. Everyone needed a mate; everyone wanted families.
“I want a mate, but…” he trailed off and started looking everywhere but me.
“But?” I pressed.
“But I love someone else. I’ve loved someone else since I was fourteen.” He finally looked in my direction, and there it was. The same emotion I had seen before in Reed’s eyes.
My heart started beating erratically, and I knew what he was about to say next. I stepped back. He must have noticed my reaction because his face fell for a second, but he soon hid it.
He took one step forward so that he was standing too close to me. The lightning outside couldn’t even match the turmoil inside me.
He closed the distance between us so that our faces were barely inches away from each other.
“I have known you for forever, Emmy, and you understand me like no one else does. Listen to your heart, see if you don’t feel the same about me,” he said, almost breathless.
“I…” I tried to move back again but was stopped by the wall. Dammit.
“You don’t have to say anything. I know you are confused. You have found your mate. Whatever you are feeling is the mate-bond’s doing,” he said slowly and convincingly.
Was he right? Was that really the mate-bond? Whatever I felt, whatever Reed and I shared, was it nothing but an illusion? I shook my head. No, this couldn’t be right.
Dumeny tried to close the distance between us once again. I could feel his breath on my skin.
“I love you, Emmy. I always have.”
*The End*
[Note: The author has confirmed there will be a sequel, but it is not yet available. Stay tuned for updates!]