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He looked at me, panic in his eyes.
Ha. Didn’t mean to say that, did you?
Monique turned to me, her gaze narrowing as all signs of our passionate encounter disappeared.
“Xander, explain.”
I reached for my sweater. Better to be covered up for this conversation, though it didn’t really matter. If Monique wanted us both naked, or in snow suits, she obviously had enough magic to achieve either option with a snap of her fingers.
“Well,” I said, pulling my sweater over my head and down over my heated body, “maybe you should sit down.”
Monique opened her mouth, then slammed it shut again. Then she marched over to the kitchen table, waved her arms around, and conjured lunch: plates of sandwiches, fruit, and miniature pies.
“Sit. Eat. And explain,” she said, creating jugs of what looked like homemade lemonade, complete with ice cubes and slices of lemon. “Both of you.”
I walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
Kyle took a little longer to comply. Red slashes of anger colored his cheeks.
I didn’t feel guilty. Not completely, anyway. I had every right to kiss Monique whenever I wanted to. She wasmyfated mate.
When Kyle finally sat down opposite me, Monique stood nearby, her hands on her hips. “Tell me what’s going on.”
I took a deep breath and looked right at her. May as well explain everything from the start. “Most wolf shifters have a fated mate, a woman meant only for him or her.”
Monique frowned. “You mean like... a soul mate?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Not everyone has one. But when you find them, you know instantly.”
Realization dawned on Monique’s face. “How do you know?”
“Well, for us, we feel an intense need to be with the other person. Not just in a sexual way, though that’s a big part of it.”
Her cheeks flushed a delicate pink.
“It’s everything about the mate,” I continued. “Their scent, their very presence. It makes us feel alive, like we never have before.”
“And experience an intense jealousy if they’re with anyone else,” Kyle added.
I didn’t bother looking at him but kept my gaze on Monique. “You’remy fated mate, Monique. I knew it the moment I saw you.”
Her mouth curved up at the edges, her eyes shimmering as she stared at me. My heart pumped a little harder, and love soared inside my chest.
This was what it was meant to feel like when you metthe one: so intense it was almost painful. Like I could die if she left me, and I’d soar to the clouds if she smiled my way.
Then her gaze slid past me, to Kyle.
My heart broke a little when I realized she had feelings for another.
I turned to look at my Beta, anger pushing through my gut.
He wasn’t looking at me. Instead, he was staring at my mate, and even though I knew how he felt, every part of me was in denial. It couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t.
Monique couldn’t be Kyle’s fated mate. She was mine. I couldn’t bear to share her, but I wouldn’t give her up. So, what choice did I have? Fight my best friend, share her with him, or ask her to choose?
Life without her would be unbearable for whichever one of us she didn’t choose, so could I condemn Kyle to that life? And would I survive if she didn’t choose me?
