Chapter 470 Let us be mates

Harlan gave a helpless smile. “When Janice walked up to me half-dressed, I didn’t even look twice. So what does that tell you?” He paused, expression softening. “It was Riley’s energy that made her impossible to ignore. She lit up from the inside, and I couldn’t stop watching her. I didn’t know about the soul swap back then. I thought Janice was playing games, trying to trap me. By the time I realized something was off, I was already gone for her.”

He cupped his chin, looking genuinely troubled. “But I still can’t figure out what’s going on in her head. Sometimes it feels like she likes me too, and then the moment I get close, she pushes me away. You’re one of her best friends, Elena. Can you tell me why?”

I knew the answer. I just couldn’t give it to him.

There was a way to break the death curse , but it came at a price. If I told Harlan the truth, he might offer his life for hers without hesitation. And Riley might not want that. This wasn’t my call to make. If something went wrong, I couldn’t carry that.

Some things came down to more than just love. Fate had its own hand in everything.

Harlan watched my silence with growing anxiety, scratching his head. “Elena, you know, don’t you? Just tell me.”

I needed an excuse. “Maybe it’s because…”

“Because what? Just say it!”

“Because you fart and snore in your sleep. She can’t get past that. Lewis doesn’t snore.”

Sorry, Riley. It was the best I had.

Harlan stared at me. Blinked. “I fart and snore when I sleep?”

“Yep.”

“Is that why she won’t let me close? Because of that?”

I nodded. “You might not think it’s a big deal, but imagine spending every night of your life next to that. It’s a form of torture, Harlan.”

He glanced around nervously. “Keep your voice down. I have a reputation.”

“Right, sorry.”

“Is that all? Nothing else?”

I kept going. “You only have a six-pack.”

He looked alarmed. “She told you that?”

“She prefers eight.”

“I can work on that.”

“Your temper. She needs someone steady.”

“I’ll change.”

“Your skin tone. She likes fair.”

Harlan looked like he was about to spiral. “Fine, I’ll get treatments. Anything else?”

“Actually,” I said, keeping a straight face, “she doesn’t like men at all. She likes women.”

Without missing a beat, Harlan said, “Then I’ll get a,” He stopped. “Elena. Are you messing with me?”

I laughed. “You finally caught on.”

He looked almost relieved, then sheepish. I leaned forward. “Here’s the truth , if someone loves you, they love you as you are. If they don’t, nothing you change will matter. Harlan, if you love someone completely, she’ll feel it. But you have to love yourself first, or none of it means anything.”

He was quiet for a moment. Then: “How did you and Lewis end up together?”

I looked up just as Lewis came through the back door from his morning run, still in his training gear, a light sweat on his brow. He had pulled himself back together faster than anyone could have expected. He knew he still had me and the kids, and he refused to be swallowed by grief. That was who he was , he buried the darkness and showed up anyway, every time, for the people he loved.

I smiled. “Lewis and I? It was a destined bond.”

Harlan stared at me like that explained nothing. I set down my fork and stood up. “The steak is overcooked, by the way.”

Lewis came over, and I reached up to wipe the sweat from his forehead with a napkin. “Eat with me?”

“Sure.”

The backyard slowly filled with noise as everyone started waking up. Bill came barreling through the grass chasing a small boy. “Axel, slow down!”

Axel had Philippa’s looks more than Nicholas’s , fine features, bright eyes, soft in all the right ways. For some reason, he had latched onto Bill completely, which was strange when you thought about it, because Lucian was Bill’s actual son. Lucian, by contrast, was more independent than you’d expect from a child that age.

Bill caught up to Axel, crouching down to wipe his face and hands with a warm cloth, then playfully pinched his little nose. “Little troublemaker. If you don’t wash up next time, Daddy’s going to be upset.”

Axel immediately grabbed Bill’s arm with both hands and whimpered, “Daddy, hug.”

Bill scooped him up without effort. Axel wrapped his arms around Bill’s neck and kissed his cheek. Then Lucian wandered over, butterfly-less and left out, and grabbed onto Bill’s leg. “Hug.”

Bill looked down at Lucian’s smudged face and nudged him aside with his foot. “Go play.”

I had no words.

Lewis handed me a peeled egg, and I looked at him. “What is happening over there?”

“Look at Axel again,” he said.

I did. Lucian was a miniature copy of Bill , same jaw, same brow. But Axel looked like Philippa, with only a trace of Nicholas around the eyes.

“He loves Axel because he looks like her,” I said slowly.

Lewis nodded. When you love someone, everything connected to them carries that love too.

“I never would have guessed,” I said. “Bill’s actually a romantic.”

“You’d be surprised.”

Everyone assumed Bill had been a playboy all those years. But the truth was he had never touched anyone else. He just had a single-track heart, the same as Harlan , just better at hiding it.

Riley came downstairs yawning, looking half-asleep and thoroughly unbothered. She reached over, grabbed the egg Lewis had just peeled for me, and ate it. Lewis’s jaw tightened. If it weren’t for the history I shared with Riley, he would have had her out the door by now.

“When are you leaving?” Right on cue.

Riley chewed and looked at him. “Excuse me? You’re kicking me out?”

“Finish chewing before you talk.”

I stepped in quickly. “Lewis, remember that little town your mom loved , Caelkirk? We left so fast last time. Can we stay longer this time? I really loved it there.”

He looked at me and understood immediately what I was doing. “Alright.”

“Let’s have our bonding ceremony there. Under that big tree. No big event , just family. Just the people who matter.”

He nodded. “Alright.”

It was time to keep a promise that had been waiting a thousand years.