Page 33 of Blood and Trouble

“Wait, slow down,” I said. “This is a lot to take in, Maeve. Are you screwing with me?”

“No, I swear it, Ava,” she said. “I wouldn’t do that to you, not about this. That’s what was wrong with my heart. I’ve been mated to Mill since he worked on the ranch all those years ago. It wasn’t sealed, but my shifter recognized it in him. When his heart stopped, so did mine.”

“How did you know he was your mate? Do you only have one mate? Or can you have multiples?”

“Only one, I think. My shifter side is pretty territorial over Mill, so I don’t see how having more than one would actually work.” She laughed. “Trust me, your shifter will know. You don’t pick, and you can’t talk yourself into it. Some shifters have tried to force it onto someone who wasn’t meant for them.” Maeve paused to let that sink in. “It didn’t end well for either party.”

Is Lycan my mate?

“Look, I wanted to get to you before Lycan did. I didn’t want to believe Mill first, and it wasn’t until I talked to Guin that I bought into it. But it’s true. I swear it. It’s all true. Shifters, vampires, fairies. Hell, probably mermaids and the Loch Ness monster for all I know.”

Setting aside disbelief, another emotion welled in my chest. Betrayal.

“How could you keep this from me? You’ve known about this for weeks?”

That explained the gap I’d sensed between us. She’d been hiding something, and here it was.

“I couldn’t tell you,” Maeve pleaded. “I wanted to, believe me, I wanted to. But I just…I couldn’t.”

“Guin and Sol, too?”

My family had lied to me, and it burned like a bitter pill in my veins.

“Kodiak’s the alpha, the boss. It’s a rule in the pack. If humans found out, they’d hunt us down. Experiment on us. Kill us. Some humans are in the pack. They know, of course, but only because they’re mated to shifters.”

“Maeve…” I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. “This is…”

“I know,” she said. “And you might not really believe me until you change, but I’m not lying to you. This is real, and this is happening. You’ll start to notice little things. Scents are stronger. Lights are brighter. There’s a voice in your head that’s almost like you but separate. That’s your other half. Mine’s a fox, like Guin and Sol. Yours probably is, too.”

She told me our sisters believed our mother was also a shifter, but there was no way to prove that. After our mother’s disappearance, we may never know what truly happened to her.

Lycan appeared in the doorway and leaned against the jamb, his hands in his jeans pockets. I ran my gaze over him, pausing at the signs of what I’d done—the bite marks at his neck, the pallor of his skin, the protruding ribs. I’d drained his magic, and he’d willingly let me.

“Is that Lycan?” Maeve shouted. “Hi, Lycan! Thank you for helping my sister!”

I hung my head as Lycan laughed and headed toward the bathroom. “Hi, Maeve. You’re welcome.”

After he shut the door behind him, I returned my attention to my twin.

“How was it with him?” She wagged her eyebrows. “Everything I’ve heard and more?”

“I don’t remember most of it.” I rubbed my face again, but this time, Maeve gasped, catching my attention.

“Avalon Presley Vanderbilt, what is that?”

“What?” I froze.

“The ring on your finger. What the hell? Did you get married?”

Oh. Right. Damn it.

“It’s a long story,” I said. “I might have made a few mistakes in Denmark.”

“You got married? And you didn’t tell me?”

“Well, you’re the one to talk,” I replied. “We’re in a horror story, Maeve. Getting married is the least of my concerns.”

She completely ignored my protest. “When did this happen? How? Is it Lycan?”