Chapter 658
“Holy fuck! He marked you?!” Nan shrieked from the doorway of the kitchen. I texted her as soon as Gavin left, and she wasted no time in making an appearance. The staff hadn’t returned yet, so it was only the two of us in this huge mansion. I had just finished eating breakfast and was cleaning the dishes when Nan showed up.
The first thing she noticed was the mark on my neck. I had my hair pulled up and in a messy bun, so my mark was on full display. It’s not like I was planning on hiding it or anything; I was proud of this mark and was excited to show it off. However, I didn’t want to tell Irene or Matt about it just yet. I wanted Gavin and I to tell them together in a proper setting.
I smiled at her as I put the last dish in the dishwasher and shut the door. I turned to look at her and nodded, feeling my cheeks flushed.
“Yeah, it happened last night,” I told her. “I’m not sure what came over him… one minute we were having sex and the next minute he couldn’t control his wolf anymore. He marked me and I didn’t stop him.”
“Holy shit,” she gasped as she came closer to me, her eyes never leaving the mark. “It’s beautiful, way better than the mark Ethan left on you. He’s such scum. I never knew what you saw in him.”
She crinkled her nose like she smelled something foul. I grinned; Nan always made her feelings towards Ethan vocal.
“At least now he has no more ties to you.”
“Our ties had all but died long ago,” I told her. “Yeah, his mark still lingered, but I could barely feel the bond. It didn’t hurt when he fucked other women anymore. Not since Gavin and I first got together.”
I remembered how painful it was when Ethan was intimate with other women, especially Irene. It nearly destroyed my wolf; I shuddered at the thought. But then once I started sleeping with Gavin, things started to get better, and gradually, over time, the pain went away altogether.
I wondered briefly if it ever hurt Ethan whenever I was intimate with Gavin… but I stopped caring about it long ago.
“Yeah, but whenever he was around or nearby, your wolf still felt it, and some of that sorrow seeped back into your heart,” Nan reminded me. “You tried to hide it, but I’m your best friend and can read you like a book.”
I knew she was right; I was relieved that it would no longer be a factor. I can now face Ethan without feeling any type of dread.
“So, are you going to tell Irene and Matt?” She asked, sitting at the breakfast nook.
“Yeah, we will have to. I can’t exactly hide this, and I refuse to be his dirty little secret,” I told her, with zero doubts in my tone.
She smiled proudly.
“I’m so happy for you. To have a chosen mate, is a beautiful thing because it means you chose each other for you and not your wolves,” she told me, stealing a piece of leftover bacon on the plate fitted with bacon that Gavin left. I didn’t want to throw it away and waste it, so I figured I’d leave it on the counter for anyone who wants it when they return to the mansion.
“Maybe at first that’s what it was,” I admitted. “But actually, he’s not a chosen mate.”
She blinked as her eyes found mine.
“What?”
I bit my lip to keep from squealing.
“At first, he was a chosen mate. Or at least, I thought he was. I mean, my wolf was always drawn to him and it seemed his was drawn to me. But I thought it was only physical attraction. When we had sexdast night, I thought it was just make-up sex after being gone for so long. The emotions of yesterday made my hormones all jumbled, and I just
needed that physical closeness. It
seemed he did, too. When he initially marked me, there was a point in time where I thought ‘this is the man I’m choosing as my mate from here on out…’ but that thought quickly was replaced with the fact that my wolf immediately recognized him as hers.”
Nan’s mouth dropped open.
“Wait… are you saying…” she started to say, but the shock of the matter was too
much for her to finish that sentence.
I knew what she was thinking, and I nodded.
“Yes,” I whispered. “She recognized him as her mate. Not just my chosen mate… but as her actual mate.”
“He’s your second chance…” She spoke it like a statement, not a question, but I nodded anyway.
“Yes,” I answered.
“Holy fucking shit, Judy!” She shrieked, jumping to her feet. “This whole time Gavin Landry was your mate?! How did you not know!!?”
I laughed, unable to contain the glee I was feeling.
“You know the rules of the second chance, mate, Nan,” I told her. “The Moon Goddess wanted us to choose one another in our hearts and not let our feelings be decided by our
pure
wolves alone. A second chance is a
chance for us to heal ourselves from
past wounds and choose one another fully. Once we mark each other, that’s when our wolves
recognize one another officially as
mates.”