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“No,” she says with an exasperated sigh. “I should have told you sooner. Or built it up more. I don’t know. Technically, I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but you’re my bestie and you live here in Twisted Oak, so you were going to have some questions eventually.”
“Uh-huh,” I say, stretching out the word while I set my hot chocolate down on the coffee table. Just in case the milk went bad or something and that’s what’s making Phoenix hallucinate.
“I’m serious,” my friend says, her eyes pleading with me to listen. “It sounds crazy, and until I saw it for myself, I was very skeptical as well. But we live in a town filled with shifters. Twisted Oak isn’t just the name of the town, it’s the name of the pack of shifters who live here.”
“Does Griffin know?” I ask. Her words hardly make sense, but she’s saying them with such sincerity, I have to give her the benefit of the doubt. For now, at least.
Phoenix laughs. “Yes, who do you think told me about shifters in the first place? He’s a wolf shifter, which means he can shift between his wolf and human form at any time. Griffin and Ryker moved here last year to clean things up after the last pack leader and mayor royally screwed up everything.”
“The fake books,” I say under my breath. “The previous pack leader was also the mayor? And he had trouble keeping the finances straight?” I ask. Phoenix nods. Then something else she said catches my ear. “Wait, Ryker is a shifter, too?”
“Shoot. I honestly don’t know if you’re supposed to know that. I figured at some point we’d have a deeper conversation about it and about the work you’ve been doing on the ledgers, but…”
I nod, letting this information sink in. I’m still not even sure I believe half of what Phoenix is saying.
"Anyway," my friend says after a few moments of quiet. "The whole point of me telling you about shifters is to say that they have fated mates. Every shifter has one person out there made just for them. Their other half. They are only ever attracted to their fated mate, and mates are considered special, and precious, and must be protected at all costs. Shifters smell their mates out, so it's like this whole body and soul feeling when they first meet. So I'm told. Obviously, I'm not the shifter in this equation."
I listen to my friend in stunned silence, yet my heart is beating out of my chest. Is she telling me she’s found that with Griffin? She deserves a love like that. Someone who is bound to her and will take care of her and worship the ground she walks on.
“You and Griffin?” I whisper. Phoenix nods, happy tears welling up in her eyes.
"He's so good to me, Eden," she says, matching my soft tone. "And when I'm with him, it's like… like nothing can hurt me. Like he's the only one in my universe. He makes me feel seen,loved, and appreciated. And that's all in between the mating moon heat…"
She trails off, fanning her face dramatically.
“Mating moon heat? Is that as, um,sexualas it sounds?” I squeak out. My face erupts in a bright red blush, I’m sure of it, but Phoenix is the only person in the world I could ask something like that to.
Phoenix laughs, but not in a mean-spirited way. I know she’s just as inexperienced as I am. Or, she was, at least. Before settling down here in Twisted Oak.
“Let’s just say, it’s like lust times a million. I swear Iachefor Griffin when it gets close. I always thought I was broken, maybe I just wasn’t attracted to anyone, but when I met Griffin, I realized it washim. It was the wholefated matesthing.”
“Yeah…” I say, nodding along with her. “I actually… huh.”
I was never attracted to anyone in high school either, no matter their gender or preferences. I assumed, like Phoenix, I was either a late bloomer or broken. But when I met Ryker, it was like all that pent-up, unfelt lust slammed into me at once.
“Do you think…” I start, but stop, not wanting to jinx myself.
“Do I think…?” Phoenix repeats.
“Never mind. I’m so happy for you and Griffin. Truly,” I tell my friend. She beams at me, though I know she can tell I have something else on my mind. “It’s a lot to take in, I hedge. Shifters, mates, stuff like that.” It’s not exactly a lie, but it’s not the whole truth, either. I just don’t think Phoenix is the person I need to be discussing my suspicions with.
If Ryker is a shifter, and I’m his fated mate… why hasn’t he said anything? He’s smelled me enough times when I was tripping and falling into his arms or when he was carrying me over his shoulder. If I’m his fated mate, surely he knows. Why hasn’t he said anything?
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Phoenix asks. “I know that was a lot to dump on you. I couldn’t hold it in any longer. Do you think maybe you have a fated mate here?”
I look over at my best friend, my heart warmed by the excitement and hope I see in her eyes. She wants me to be loved the way she is, and I won’t lie, I want that as well. I just need to figure out why the hell Ryker makes me feel the way I feel if he’s not meant to be mine.
“Maybe,” I tell her, stifling a yawn. We were supposed to watch a movie together tonight, but my head is spinning with all of this new information. “Would you hate me if I rescheduled our movie night? I have a bit of a headache.”
“No worries,” Phoenix assures me. “Can I walk you home at least?”
“I’ll be fine. It’s like across the yard,” I tease.
We hug and I let myself out, striding over to my cabin. When I get closer, I hear the sound of power tools coming from inside, and I know I’m about to confront Ryker about everything I just learned.
I’m not sure if I’m more angry at him for not telling me or more heartbroken that he clearly doesn’t want me. Of course, I could be wrong about this whole thing and I might be making a total fool of myself, but by the time I swing open my unlocked front door, I’m already too worked up to back down.
“I know you’re a shifter,” I say as soon as I step inside.
