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The first lunar eclipse following her eighteenth birthday is when she’s due to become alpha. According to the almanac, that’s just over three months from today.
The full moon is barely a week away.
And Lex still doesn’t know about any of it.
The guilt has been eating me alive. Landon, Jared, and I have discussed how to tell her endlessly. Dom charged us with preparing her for it, and as her mates, it makes sense.
But as an eighteen-year-old who just met my fated mate a week ago, it feels like way too much responsibility to bear.
Still, it has to be done.
I stare blankly at my phone, pretending to read something while Landon feigns watching tv in order to give Jared Lex’s full attention. His confidence around her has grown since she agreed to wear his jersey, and he’s finally acting like himself around her. Still a little reserved, but then we all are, a little. There are so many secrets to keep, we have to be cautious at all times.
Right now he’s regaling her with his collection of dad jokes, and an involuntary grin curls my lip when she laughs delightedly at each one.
“Okay, okay: What did the Gingerbread Man put on his bed?” Jared’s grin is a mile wide and ultra white against his dark complexion.
“I dunno,” Lex answers with a giggle. “What did the Gingerbread Man put on his bed?”
“Cookie Sheets!”
Lex snorts another laugh. “Did you get that one from a cookie-themed Laffy Taffy?”
Jared had told her that the reason he likes the candy so much is because he enjoyed the jokes as a kid. He always had one of them in his lunch, and he used to write the cheesy jokes down in a notebook every day.
“Nah, that one I got from the internet.”
Lex yawns and stretches, faking boredom, but I sense her underlying tension. “So, you guys said you’ve come here a lot, growing up?”
“Yep,” Jared answers. “We all have close family who work here or used to, and it’s kind of like one enormous family, anyway.”
I work to stop myself from snorting.Understatement of the year.
“So you guys must know a lot more about this house than I do? I bet you’ve explored the whole place.” She’s getting closer to what she wants. Her heart rate is picking up.
Landon turns from the tv to catch my eye, and when Jared hesitates, I take over.
“Yeah, a little,” I answer with equal nonchalance. “It’s hard to resist a game of hide and seek in a place like this as a kid.”
“Did you ever come into this room? Mr. Carson said it used to be my mother’s.”
“I can’t say that we did, to be honest. We mostly kept to the common spaces for fear of getting caught by Mr. Carson.”
Landon chuckles in agreement, and Jared nods. “We got the run of the place, within reason.”
“Did you ever go into the attic?”
This is the thing she’s desperate to know. My eyes dart from Jared to Landon, but I can’t think of a reason to deny it; it seems harmless enough.
“Yes, I think we did once or twice,” I answer carefully, watching her reaction.
There is no mistaking it; excitement and hope fill her eyes and she lights up like a kid on Christmas morning.
“Could you show me?”
“Why do you want to see the attic?” Of course, I want to give her anything she asks for, but the necessity of concealing our nature until the time is right takes precedence.
“Because Mr. Carson told me this used to be my mom’s suite, and they put all of her things in storage in the attic when they decorated it for me.” Her eyes dart around the room between the three of us. “I feel like the woman I knew, the woman who raised me before she died, was a stranger. I didn’t even know her real name. I hoped that coming here I’d get some answers, but no one will tell me anything.” Her gaze drops to the ground and her tone is softer, sadder, when she continues. “I just want to know more about who I am.”
