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“What does that mean?”
Circe gave me the summarized explanation, telling me how shifters had mates who were meant to be together, like soul mates on steroids. I listened to her, surprised.
“That can’t be right,” I said. “I’m not a shifter.”
“Yeah, I don’t know how that works, either. I know a lot of things, but mate bonds in the shifters’ world isn’t exactly my forte. I specialize more in particular spells.”
I shook my head, trying to process everything I was learning tonight. I felt like I’d learned so much in the last couple of weeks, my brain had turned into a sponge. The world I knew had changed so much, I didn’t know what was real and what I could rely on anymore.
“Why wouldn’t he tell me about the bond?” I asked. “If it’s such a big deal…”
“I don’t know that, either,” Circe said apologetically. “But I know it’s there. I can feel it on you, the mate bond and the magic that comes with it. Shifters will be able to tell, too. His scent will be all over you.”
It all sounded crazy to me.
“I don’t know about all of that,” I said. “I would have felt something different if this was such a big deal, and I don’t. Besides, Wesley doesn’t care enough for something like that.”
“That’s not how the mate bond works,” Circe said.
I shook my head. “I don’t think it’s a thing.” I didn’t want to believe that Wesley cared because that would mean that there was something between us more than just sex, and that was tough to swallow. He was going to send us back home when all this was said and done. It was easier to accept that he wasn’t planning on being a part of my life, rather than being disappointed.
“Does Emmie know?” Circe asked.
“Know what?” I asked, but I knew what she was referring to—the fact that Wesley was her father. I sighed and shook my head. “No, she doesn’t. I won’t tell her, either. She doesn’t need that kind of confusion when he ends up ditching us in the end, with everything else in our lives that’s changing.”
Circe didn’t answer me, and I was glad about that. I didn’t want her to tell me that she deserved to know because shedidn’tdeserve to get hurt, and that was all that was going to happen.
For a moment, I entertained the thought of things being different. I imagined Wesley wanting to be a part of our lives, being there for Emmie, not just as an alpha who was protecting us right now, but as someone who was there as a father figure. Maybe he could even ask us to stay in Vegas so that we would be able to see him more…
I dismissed the thoughts. It was stupid to entertain flights of fancy like that. I had to face facts. I had to accept reality. I’d learned this when I’d fallen pregnant, and again when I hadn’t been able to find Wesley. The moment I’d realized I had to do it all alone, I’d had to pull my head out of the clouds and face the real world.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” Circe finally said. “Not with the mate bond that apparently happened between you two, and not with Emmie’s magic that’s so powerful already. All I know is that I’m here to help, and at some point, we’ll get to the bottom of this. Nothing happens just because—there’s always a reason.”
I didn’t like that statement. People who always saidit’s happened for a reasonwere people who were too optimistic, people who weren’t willing to accept the facts, and I refused to be that person.
“Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate you being here.”
“I’ll be here as long as you need me,” Circe said. “I know it’s tough, but I promise this won’t last forever.”
I nodded, but I wasn’t sure what that meant anymore. A lot of what was happeningwouldlast forever, but Circe meant well, and I was more than grateful that she wanted to help, that she understood magic, and that Wesley had brought her here, so I wasn’t alone in this.
Even though I knew he was going to send us back, it did show that he cared about us a little, at least.
I would take that. It wasn’t much, but it was something.
17
DANNA
“Get dressed,” Wesley said when he found me and Emmie in the dining room, having a tea party under the table in our pajamas.
“What?” I asked.
Wesley kneeled so he could see us. “Under the table, huh?”
“It’s a castle, Wesley,” Emmie said with a giggle.
“Of course it is,” Wesley said, slapping his forehead as if he should have known. “Will the princesses come out and get dressed?”
