Miles’s Pact (Heirs of Mistvale #3)

Chapter 0

Zero

Mateo

The afternoon sun filtered through the windshield as I parked my car across the street from the animal shelter, grabbed my phone, and got out.

I paused for a moment, and breathed in the cool, crisp air of Mistvale.

It'd rained this morning, and the concrete below my feet was still wet, the scent of moss and wet bark thick in the air, though it couldn't erase the various animal scents that emanated from The Happy Place.

Of course, a human wouldn't be able to tell, but my shifter senses were much stronger.

Before I could cross the street, my phone buzzed in my hand. Seeing my twin brother's name on the lockscreen, I pulled up his text. Was he here already? While I wasn't a punctual person, I was right on time today, and he'd somehow still beat me to the punch.

Miles: Neel and Pax need me to go over a few ideas with them, so I won't be able to make it. Sorry, Mat!

Frowning, I typed back a short reply.

Me: Do you want to reschedule then?

His response was almost instant.

Miles: Nah. I'm sure you'll pick something I'll love. You go ahead.

Me: Are you sure?

Miles: Yes, Mateo. I trust you.

Blowing out a breath, I shook my head before assuring him I'd pick the best pet ever.

We'd moved out of our parents' house a few years ago, and we'd been planning to get a pet ever since, but we'd kept postponing it for one reason or another until now.

Getting out of the car, I slid my phone into my jeans pocket before making my way across the street to the animal shelter.

It wasn't quite in the center of town, but the small, one-story structure had been like a second home to me growing up. It didn't look like much on the outside, but on the inside, it was very true to its name.

The Happy Place was owned and run by Rebba—nobody called her Rebecca except her mate when she was in trouble—who was also a wolf shifter and the alpha of Mistvale's shifter pack, aka my alpha.

It was also a part of the larger Mistvale clan, which included all the supes who wanted to be a part of our family.

With an early childhood spent in group homes, the huge family had always felt like a gift to me, like a reward for surviving the shitstorm.

"Mateo," Rebba greeted as soon as I stepped through the doors, though she wasn't in the front room.

The front room was small, with a narrow counter crowded by a printer, an old computer, and a stack of forms. A few old chairs leaned against the far wall, but I couldn't recall the last time they'd been used.

"Hey, Rebba!" I called back, and she came in from the back room a moment later, wiping her hands on a washcloth.

"Are you here to help out?" she asked with a raised brow, her dark braids up in a knot on top of her head. Her brown eyes watched me with curiosity, and I shook my head.

Growing up, Miles and I had spent many a day here at the shelter, helping Rebba take care of the many animals she sheltered.

When we first came to Mistvale, being around the animals had been calming, and being close to Rebba, whom our shifter sides had recognized as an alpha—as our alpha—had made us feel safe.

"I'm here to adopt," I said, and Rebba grinned. Finding homes for the fur babies was her—and my—favorite part of the job.

"That's great. Is Miles coming too?"

"Nah, he's busy. But he said he'd be happy with whatever I picked."

Rebba's brows shot up, and she tilted her head. "Did he now?"

"Yeah. It surprised me too. Trust me," I said with a chuckle, making her smile.

It wasn't that I wasn't trustworthy, but I could be described as.

.. impulsive, and scatterbrained. It made some people—not my brothers or dads, though—think that I couldn't handle responsibility, but that wasn't true.

I liked doing things in my own chaotic ways, and not everyone could see the method to my particular brand of madness.

It was why Miles was helping design the interior of Neel and Pax's B&B, while I was helping my brother-in-law Cam with the haunted house. We'd both studied interior design in school, and we were putting our own spins on our separate projects because we had very different tastes.

"All right then. What were you thinking? Cat, dog, rabbit, something else?"

I pursed my lips, thought about it, then shrugged. "I'll know it when I see them."

"Okay. Before we do that, there's someone I'd like you to see," Rebba said. She had a curious look on her face, hopeful and like whatever she was about to show me was important.

"What is it?" I asked, guessing she had a particular animal she was hoping to get adopted.

"Come with me," she said, before leading me into the back. Walking past the cat and dog rooms, she led me straight to the storage room in the back where I knew she kept the pet food, litter, and other supplies.

She opened the door, and for a moment, I remembered another door, and a closet Miles and I were forced into with the others at the end of the day, where we spent the night in the cramped space, sleeping fitfully as one of us kept watch, not that it did us much good.

I shook my head, finding myself in a rearranged storage room. Everything had been pushed to one side, while the other side had a small inflatable pool, food and water bowls, and... a duck.

A duck that wasn't a duck at all. I sucked in a breath, my eyes roaming over the larger-than-normal duck.

They had a shiny green head, a yellow beak, and the front of their chest was brown, while the rest was white.

They peered at me with beady black eyes before giving a loud squawk and retreating to the other side of the room.

"Oh fuck," I muttered as the realization sank in. I couldn't believe it.

Growing up, it hadn't taken me long to figure out that I wasn't like most people around me. I'd never had a crush, never experienced physical attraction, never wanted to sleep with someone.

Fortunately, Dad was ace, and a few conversations with him had helped me figure out that I was too. I also had no interest in a romantic relationship. Not to say I didn't or couldn't love people. I just didn't want to be in love with anyone.

Because of that, I'd always assumed Miles would be the first to find his mate. Platonic mates were so much rarer than romantic ones after all.

"He's yours, isn't he?" Rebba murmured, and all I could do was nod.