My mom sits down next to me. “It’s not your fault either, Sweetheart.”
“Yeah, well I’m the one who made friends with the enemy.”
“Don’t,” my father says in a stern voice. “None of us knew.”
“What about Reid?” my mom asks quietly.
“It’s,” I pause, searching for the words. “It’s a lot.” I take a breath and start to compartmentalize. “If Zane will stop acting like a jerk, everything is okay.” He wisely stays quiet, or maybemy father mentally gives him a command to stay silent. “Reid and I are going to wait to bond, so that will give us time to process and work though everything. I’ll be able to start basketball and get a feel for that on top of my classes.” It takes me a moment to realize they’re all looking at me with matching expressions of surprise and concern. “What?”
“You’re not going to bond right away?” my mom asks gently.
“No.”
“Why not?” my father asks.
“We’re just waiting.”
“For what?” my father asks.
“Was this your idea or Reid’s, Honey?” my mom asks.
I pause. “Mine.” My mom looks over at my dad. “What?” I ask again.
My mom is gentle with her words. “It’s not good to wait for long, Sweetheart.”
I frown. “How is it okay that Evie and Zane waited, and we can’t?”
“Evie’s human,” Zane rumbles.
“Well, yeah, but you guys still waited.”
“Because she didn’t know any different,” Zane argues.
“So?”
“It’s not good for wolves to test the bond,” my father adds. “The longer you go, the harder it will be on the two of you. Ask Zane or Slate how hard it was, and they will tell you. It will be even harder on you and Reid because you’re both shifters. The bond has already attached you, unlike how it worked with Zane and Evie or Tessa and Slater.”
“Don’t you want to bond with Reid?” my mom asks gently.
I feel my stress mounting. “I literally just found out tonight. I just asked him for some time.”
“But he’s your mate,” my mom counters. “You shouldn’t want time from your mate. Everything in you should be yearning to be with him.”
The pressure builds in my head, and I feel a headache building. “Yeah, I get it. But I just found out tonight that the guy who’s all but ignored me for the last three years is my mate. Oh, and that was after the guy Ithoughtwas my friend ended up being one of our mortal enemies, and Reid killed him. So, I’m sorry if I’m not exactly jumping into a bond with Reid. And if you guys knew, why didn’t you tell me?”
“We didn’t know,” Zane argues.
Evie makes a face, and I catch it. “You knew, didn’t you?” I ask.
She bites her lip, even as Zane looks at her. “I did; I’m sorry.”
Zane frowns. “You knew?”
She nods, looking miserable. “I mean, he didn’t tell me. I figured it out.”
“How?” Zane asks in exasperation.
She laughs softly. “It was painfully obvious, Zane. When Riley’s in the room, no one else exists in Reid’s world. I saw it the first time I met her in the coffee shop.” She shrugs. “I asked him about it, and he confirmed it.”
