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“Can’t sleep?” Mom asks as I round the kitchen island and take the stool next to her.
“You tell me,” I grumble. “You clearly knew we’d be having this conversation.”
She breathes a sigh, setting her hand on top of mine comfortingly. “It isn’t easy coming back, is it?”
“You have no idea,” I murmur, picking up an Oreo.
“Madd giving you hell?”
“Of course.”
I twist the cookie to split it, licking the white frosting off the inside.
“He’s struggled since you left,” Mom comments, watching me. “I’ll bet he’s glad you’re back, even if he doesn’t show it.”
“Yeah right,” I snort, turning to face her. “Hehatesme, Mom. Like actual hate. I never thought Madd could look at me the way he did today.” I shake my head, popping half of the cookie into my mouth and crunching down. “I’ll bet he wishes I was the one the hunters took out in Denver,” I mumble around bits of Oreo as I chew.
“Don’t even say things like that,” Mom admonishes, furrowing her brow and shaking her head.
“It’s true.”
She pins me with a hard look. “It’snot.”
I reach for the glass of milk, taking a sip to wash the cookie down. Then I lick my lips, turning back to her. “Can’t you just tell me whether or not we’re fated mates, put me out of my misery?”
Fated mates are basically the shifter equivalent of what humans call soulmates- but while humans merely speculate that someone is their soulmate, we actually receive confirmation. If we’re within proximity of our fated mate while running under the light of the full moon, the tug of the bond will lead us to one another. The moment we lay eyes on each other, the bond will snap into place, and we’ll know we’re fated; meant to be.
It all sounds like sunshine and roses, but a lot of things have to go right for that to happen. For starters, it has to be a full moon for our wolves to fully recognize the bond and come together. We have to be close enough to be able to feel it and actually get to one another, so if your mate is out running with another pack, better luck next time. Our wolves can’t recognize the mate bond until after our eighteenth birthday, and even then, only under the full moon and when in close proximity. Oh, and if all those things do fall into place, you still have to seal it with a marking before the next full moon, or the bond is ripped away in an agonizing, excruciating fashion.Fun, right?
Given all those factors, it’s a miracle that anyone finds their fated mate. Shifters can take a chosen mate instead by marking one another beneath the full moon to forge a bond, but it’s not the soul-deep bond that comes with being fated. That’s why a lot of us wait, with the hope we’ll find the one person meant for us. Some wait their whole lives and never do.
My parents did. A lot of things had to fall together for them to find each other, but I guess that’s where fate comes into play, right? If two people are destined for one another, fate will find a way to bring them together under all the right circumstances for the bond to snap in. Madd and I always speculated that the two of us could be fated, but I left when we were seventeen, so we never had a chance to run together under the full moon after we came of age.
We were just two kids that were crazy in love, so it was probably wishful thinking that we were cosmically destined for one another. Though now that I’m back, I can’t help but wonder if fate had a hand in putting us back in each other’s lives.
Mom lets out a giggle, curls bouncing as she shakes her head. “If only it was that easy, right?” She picks up my hand, tucking it between hers and looking into my eyes. “Honestly, I haven’t seen it. But even if I did know your future with Madd, you know what I’d say.”
“That I have to work it out on my own,” I grumble, frowning. I pull my hand back, waving it in the air. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard the whole song and dance about not messing with fate. Doesn’t mean you can’t give a girl a little heads-up once in a while.” I pick up another Oreo, splitting it and licking the frosting. “He’s seeing someone, anyways,” I say absently.
“And what about you?” Mom probes. “Are you and Garrett still…?”
“No,” I answer quickly, stuffing the cookie in my mouth.
She watches me chew, searching my face until I finally swallow it down and elaborate. “We broke things off months ago. It just wasn’t working. And I guess it’s a good thing we did, in hindsight, since Dad didn’t really give me an option when he told me to come back home.”
“He just wants what’s best for you,” Mom says gently.
I roll my eyes, frowning. “As if ripping me away from everyone and everything I care about is what’s best.” I throw up two fingers. “Make that twice, now.”
“You’ll learn to forgive him for it someday,” she sighs, stealing half of my cookie and popping it in her mouth.
“Yeah, right around when Madd forgives me,” I scoff. I can’t hide the bitter resentment dripping from my tone. If I learned anything today, it’s that time does not in fact heal all wounds. Some are far too deep for even time to touch. I reach up to my forehead, absently tracing the raised skin of my scar with a fingertip.
My mom catches me doing it, eyes filling with sadness. I quickly jerk my hand away, sweeping my hair back over the scar and picking up another cookie.
The accident was hard on all of us. I overheard my mom crying to my dad a few days after I woke up, blaming herself for not knowing I was going to get hurt that day, as if she could’ve somehow prevented it. Though her gift gives her visions of both the past and future, she’s never been able to control them. She only sees what fate wants her to see, and she never saw the accident coming. None of us did.
“Hey, I wanted to ask you,” I start cautiously, eyes flickering over to her. “I had this dream, the night the hunters attacked those wolves in Denver.”
