84- Lose control

The entire time that Milan was making lunch I watched him, grinning like an idiot. My true mate. He was my mate and he had agreed to be turned. And now he was making me lunch. And he owned a coffee shop. Well, he didn't really like coffee, but that could change. Right?

I could make the perfect cup of coffee for anyone. I was sure that I could find one that he would like, besides, what did it matter? In the end I had a mate at last. And who knew, in three months I might even have a child!

I wished I hadn't left my phone on the beach, I wanted to call Carrick and tell him immediately. On the other hand… My thoughts drifted to Rion, who showed up unannounced at my aunt and uncle's house with his true mate and new baby in tow. In fact, Verona hadn't even been a new baby, she was practically crawling by then.

Maybe it would be better to just show up and surprise the family like Rion had. It would certainly be fun.

Milan set a sandwich down in front of me, before sliding into his chair. “Sorry,” he said. “I don't have much to choose from.”

“It's okay.” I took a bite of the sandwich and smiled. “It's delicious.” “I hope you like tuna.”

I grinned at him. “Well, I am a cat.”

He laughed nervously. “Right. That's going to take a lot of getting used to.” “We have time,” I said with a smile.

He nodded in agreement. I took another bite, savoring the first meal my true mate made for me. It was indeed delicious, maybe a little bland, but I couldn't complain, not if Milan had anything to do with it.

“So, I think I've explained most things…” I was trying to think if there was anything else that he needed to know before making his decision, even though he seemed pretty committed.

Milan nodded. After a long silence he asked softly, “So, you said your parents are dead?”

“Yeah. They died when I was still a baby,” I added, noticing that Milan was about to extend his sympathies. “They were killed by a Hunter.”

“Hunter? Like a…” He hesitated.

“Like a werewolf hunter,” I said. “Yes. My mother was actually a wolf. My father was a cat.” “And yet, you're all cat?”

“Yes,” I said with a chuckle. “There aren't any weird animal hybrids in the shifter world.”

“No, cause that would be much weirder than humans who turn into normal animals every night,” Milan said, with a charming grin.

I returned it with a shrug. “It doesn't seem weird when you've been doing it your whole life.” “How does that work?” he asked. “If one parent is a cat and the other a wolf.”

“You become whatever your sire is. That’s either which of your parents is the alpha or who turns you. My father was a cat and an alpha, so I became a cat. Since I'm going to turn you, I’ll be your sire, which makes you a cat.” Milan nodded along.

“So, your parents could never have had any wolf children, since your mother wasn’t an alpha?” “Exactly.”

He pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Which means…” he said slowly. “Your father didn’t change your mother. Otherwise she’d be a cat?”

I smiled, pleased by how quickly he was catching on. “Right.” “Does that mean they weren’t mates? I mean, like us.”

“True mates,” I supplied. “Yes, they were. But they were both born shifters, not humans. My mother, obviously, and was sired by a wolf and my father, a cat.”

“Which makes your mother…” He paused in thought, then remembered the term before I could remind him. “A beta?”

“Yes!” I said happily.

“And alphas are the only ones who can change somebody into an omega?”

“Right. Alphas and betas are born as shifters. Most are betas, actually. An alpha can only be born to a true mate pair. Rarely you do get a pair of beta true mates who give birth to an alpha. And then omegas are turned by alphas. So, our children will be a mix of alphas and betas.” I decided I should probably add, “And we’re only allowed to have four alphas.”

“What do you mean?”

“If we have…” I felt myself flushing. “If we have lots of kids.” Milan nodded and looked surprised, but not opposed to the idea, so I continued. “The Alpha Parliament has a law that states we can’t have more than four alphas. So, if we go nuts and have a bunch of kids, and the first four are all alphas, we have to stop. If the first four are betas… well, we could keep going and have eight, minimum.”

“That’s a lot of children.”

“We heal fast and our gestation is only three months.” Milan laughed nervously. “Right. Still though…”

“My aunt and uncle have six. Seven with me. And my mother was one of six as well.”

“Wow.” He shook his head in disbelief, before fixing me with a curious look. “Seven with you?” “My aunt and uncle took me in,” I explained. “I was raised like one of the family alongside my

cousins.”

“The ones you've mentioned, who have true mates?” he asked. I nodded. “That must have been nice.”

“It was,” I said.

Milan narrowed his eyes at me. “You don't sound entirely convinced about that.”

I laughed. “Oh, boy. This true mate stuff is going to be tough. You already read me like a book.” He chuckled nervously. “So? Why wasn’t it nice?”

“It was,” I said. “Truly. My aunt and uncle, and my cousins love me. I have no doubt, but I never fit in that well with them. It made me kind of a loner.”

“How come?”

“Well, for starters, they're all wolves. I'm a cat. We can't play together the same way when we're changed. And they have different concerns than I do during the full moon. And, I don't know, I guess I always kind of kept myself at arm's length, just because…” I sighed. It wasn’t something I had admitted out loud before. “I was afraid for a long time that they’d decide I didn't really belong with them.”

He was nodding along in sympathy, but tilted his head curiously at me when I was done. “What sort of concerns would wolves have that are different than cats? And why full moons specifically?”

“Oh, crap. I didn't tell you that yet,” I said with a weak laugh. “That's probably something you need to know before you make your final decision. During full moons, we turn into our animal form

the moment the sun sets, and we can't change back again until it rises, and…” I hesitated. “And we lose control of ourselves.”

Milan frowned in concern. “What do you mean lose control?”