Chapter 25

[ 1,105 words ]

True mate

25: 25.

True mate Liam

As I approach my cabin, I groan.

I can already scent Ronan, Barric, and Kade inside waiting for me.

After the day I had, I thought the only good part of it would be that I could finally get home and have some peace before having to face the reality that my sister is a wolf and she’s mated to my beast friends.

I resist the urge to throw up.

I walk inside and take off my boots.

“Can we do this tomorrow? I’m not in the mood.”

I don’t think I’ll ever be in the mood.

“We need to talk about this,” Ronan says in a tone that is supposed to be casual.

“About what?” I say just to annoy him.

Too many things were floating around my head after my conversation with Felix.

“About Aria being our true mate,” Barric says.

I lean against the door frame to the living room.

“That sounds like something for all of you to figure out.

Not sure how I’m needed in that conversation.”

“Don’t be a dick,” Kade says, tossing a pillow at me.

I catch it and toss it to the side.

“I already stood aside.

If you think I’m going to celebrate the fact that you’re going to… whatever with my sister, then your elevator doesn’t go all the way up.”

“We’re not asking you to be happy about it, but your sister will feel your discomfort, and it will bother her.”

“Ah.

So that’s why you’re here.

To make sure my feelings don’t interfere with how quickly Aria accepts you.”

Ronan frowns.

“No. We’re here for you. Your pack, and our friend. I know this is hard for you. We’re not doing this to hurt you.”

I know that.

It doesn’t make the situation less shitty.

“What’s your point?” I’m not willing to cumbiya with anyone right now.

“If you have a problem with us, keep it with us until there isn’t one,” Ronan says.

“You care about Aria, don’t do something that will hurt her during this confusing time.”

Fuck.

The bastard knows exactly how to play me.

I give a stiff nod, then say, “I’ll be by in the morning.

Remember to keep the windows closed.

Those fuckers know she’s at Barric and they’re trying to get eyes on her.”

“They won’t,” Kade asserts, his voice deathly quiet.

“Good. Whatever the Assembly wants. I don’t think it’s good, and I don’t believe you do either.”

Ronan studied him in that intense Alpha way of his.

“What did you do today?”

“I did some research on Syphers and their extinction.” That had all the males sitting up.

“I’m still doing research. Nothing to report yet. I just have this feeling.”

Ronan knows enough about my feelings not to question me on it.

“Alright.

I’ll be waiting for whatever you find.”

“So…” Kade dragged out the word.

“We good?”

“Cuz I’d hate to lose a sparring partner,” Barric added lightly.

I look at them and sigh, making a show of looking at you to the sky and asking a higher power why they continuously test me.

Who am I kidding?

Like it or not, there is no getting between fate.

She could do worse, I suppose.

“Yeah. We’re good. Now, get the fuck out of my house.”

Aria

I wake up choking on light.

It’s too bright—too sharp—like every color in the room has been turned up past what should be possible.

The white walls aren’t just white, they’re blinding.

The shadows aren’t dim, they’re deep and layered and moving.

Sound crashes into me next.

A cabinet door slams somewhere downstairs.

Footsteps pass outside—multiple people, different rhythms, different weights.

A car engine hums down the street.

Leaves rustle.

No—wait—something smaller.

Scratching.

Tiny claws on bark.

A squirrel.

I freeze.

I can hear a squirrel.

“What the—”

Smell hits last, and it’s the worst of it.

I gag, pressing the back of my hand to my mouth.

It’s like being shoved into three places at once—sweet sugar and warm bread, sharp chemicals, sawdust, and something metallic underneath it all.

“Jesus—”

I squeeze my eyes shut and throw my arm over my face, blocking out the light.

“Easy there.”

Barric’s voice cuts through the chaos, low and steady, but even that feels too loud, too layered.

I can hear the subtle rasp in his throat, the shift of his weight, the faint thud of his heartbeat.

My head snaps toward him.

Heartbeat.

I can hear his heartbeat.

Panic spikes, sharp and immediate.

I reach blindly, and his hands are there instantly—warm, strong, grounding.

He pulls me up slowly, like I might shatter.

“What happened?” My voice comes out rough, unfamiliar to my own ears.

Something inside me stirs at the sound of him.

Not fear.

Not confusion.

Something warm.

Something… pleased.

Content.

And—

Heat floods low in my stomach, sudden and startling.

“What the hell?” I whisper, more to myself than him.

“It’s okay,” Barric says, his voice softer now, like he’s trying to wrap it around me.

“You’re okay. Everything is going to feel like a lot for a while.”

I swallow, my fingers tightening on his arm.

“A while?” I ask, blinking up at him and finding his piercing eyes focused on me.

He hesitates for half a second, then, “You shifted, Aria. Your wolf has emerged.”

Silence.

My brain tries to catch up, but it’s like wading through fog.

Shifted.

Wolf.

It finally got free.

Mine, a voice purrs inside me.

I jerk.

Mate.

My breath stutters.

Before I can stop myself, the words tumble out.

“I want to run.”

Barric stills.

“Shift. Is your wolf talking to you?”

I blink up at him, realizing I’d drifted somewhere else for a second.

My thoughts feel… crowded.

“Yes,” I say slowly.

“She wants to go for a run.”

I do not mention the mate thing.

Absolutely not.

If it’s in the biblical, animal, plant way I’m thinking, I’m not sure how that will help right now.

I take another look at Barric and all those hard bronze muscles, and suddenly I’m not sure how it won’t help.

My wolf practically purrs in agreement, urging me to get a little bit closer.

Oh my God, I have a wolf.

And she’s a slut.

My heart kicks up again, but the panic doesn’t fully land.

It should.

This should be terrifying.

In fact, finding out you’re not human is terrifying.

But at the same time, it’s not.

Not completely.

Because there’s something else under it.

Calm.

Warmth.

Like I’m… not alone in my own head anymore.

Barric studies me for a long moment, then nods.

“Okay. First things first. Bathroom. I’ll be right outside.”

He guides me—literally guides me, hand at my back—like I might wander off or fall over.

Honestly?

Not entirely wrong.

Everything still feels like too much.

The bathroom light is a nightmare.

I hiss and squint, fumbling through washing my face, using the toilet, trying to ignore how loud everything is.

The water rushing through the pipes sounds like a waterfall.

My own breathing is too sharp, too present.

And under it all—

The wolf.

She prowls.

Curious.

Awake.

Ours, she hums.

Mine, I shoot back instinctively.

She doesn’t argue.

When I step back out, Barric is exactly where he said he’d be.

Waiting.

Relief hits me so hard it’s almost embarrassing.

I twist my hair up into a messy bun, hands moving automatically.

“Okay,” I say, exhaling.

“So… what now?”

He smiles, just a little.

“I expected you to freak out more.”

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