“Is that the omega you want to be with?”
“He is. Um… this is delicate. The coffee shop caused problems between us. He believes it would be best if we made our mating official, you and I, not me with him.”
“What?” I asked, horrified.
“He knows we have an agreement you are happy with because you are getting something out of it, too. He’s just jealous we don’t get to be open. He wanted me to make this real with you.”
“I met my fated mate!” I blurted out, unable to hold back. I felt sorry for Baxter. He needed to know I had a mate of my own.
“What?” Orson’s head whipped around so fast, I worried about him injuringhimself.
“Okay, maybe I didn’t tell you everything over text. Thought it was best. The dingo I saw in the woods? Well, I went back. We talked. I, uh, kissed him and it told me that he’s my fated mate!”
“That’s… that’s great!”
Was it? He didn’t sound so sure. Maybe it was a vibe I was giving off.
“Meh, not so great. He denied it, wouldn’t tell me his name, and dropped me home without a backwards glance, but I’m close to cracking that hard exterior, y’know?”
Orson chuckled, his hands loosened on the armchair. “How so?”
I couldn’t tell him about the baby, but I could tell him about our wild night together.
“We had sex. More than once. I forgot to take my suppressants and it just sort of happened. Our chemistry is out of this world!”
Orson blushed. “There’s more to a relationship than compatibility in bed.”
“True but there was just this spark between us, y’know?”
“Yeah, I know. Why did he deny he was your fated?”
“He said predators and prey can’t be together here. Didn’t make sense to me… now though… I’m wondering.”
“So you have a predator for a mate and he sees the town as it truly is.” He fixed me with a look. “This is why I can’t be with Baxter. My parents wouldn’t want me to have a Pallas cat for a mate.”
“Is Baxter your fated?”
Orson frowned. “I’m not sure.”
“How can’t you be sure?” the words were sort of rudely spoken. “Sorry, that was—“
“It’s fine. We’ve just never had our inhibitors off around each other. He’s worried he might do something to hurt me since he’s never been around a prey shifter without one. And the inhibitor affects our senses, it’s possible we could be missing the bond.”
“Oh, wow! I… Well, I never thought about it like that. I always thought when a mating was close to happening we would take off our inhibitors and then we’d know, y’know?” Orson nodded. “But if he’s a predator, then there’s a chance…”
“That he could attack me. You’ve had to have seen how few predator/prey matings happen in Haenvale. We don’t mix with eachother much.” He sighed. “Baxter is from here. He’s never been anywhere else. Sully… you don’t see how badly predators are treated here. There’s few places they can be themselves, without magic stealing their animals.”
“Stealing their animals? What d’you mean?”
“They can’t shift with their inhibitors on. Baxter has to take his off first. There’s something in the ones they make for predators that stops them from shifting.”
“Seriously?” If I didn’t take mine off, it fell off after a shift, since it didn’t change size with me. I hadn’t realized at all that predators couldn’t shift with them on.
“Yeah. I didn’t notice until he pointed it out, but theirs are different from ours.”
“Really?”
“Next time take a closer look at how their inhibitor is made. Theirs are thicker, with more magic in them. It cuts them off from their animal senses.”
