Chapter 28 – Mates
Rex
The mating haze of shifter heat never lasted more than five days, and today was the start of the sixth day. It may have been an open rooftop terrace, but the tension at the breakfast table as we waited for Lukas and Selena to finally emerge from the hotel suite was thick. Zane emerged with Cynder first, and Wylder tried to rip his throat out.
Caspian held Flaym back while I had to subdue Wylder. It pained my father to give the Alpha order to Wylder and Mateo, which kept them from trying to attack my cousins and brother. They had done nothing wrong and had acted on natural instinct. Unfortunately for Zane, Ranger, and Lukas, the forced heat had caused Wylder and Mateo to experience lethal outrage.
“Flaym, Honey, you should sit down and eat something,” Grandma Dori suggested. “You’re going to wear a hole out on the floor with all that pacing.”
“Mateo is taking it better than Wylder,” Caspian said through the mind link.
“Cynder is a Daddy’s girl,” I replied. “He’s not giving her up to anyone… not even to her true mate. Whoever the poor sucker is, he’s going to have to move to our pack.”
“You sure it’s not Zane?”
“No mate bond,” I said just as my eyes fell on the mark Zane had left on Cynder’s neck.
Ranger emerged next with a possessive arm wrapped around Sol. His steely gray eyes had turned black with the presence of his wolf, and the static forming overhead warned everyone to be careful. Like his father, Ranger also had the gift to manipulate air.
“You will stand in the far corner with Zane and wait for Lukas,” my father ordered in his Alpha voice. He looked to the sky and neutralized Ranger's element with his. “No one will attack anyone. Is that clear?”
“Dad’s no fun,” Storm snickered, and Caspian stifled a laugh. He was always pulling the rug out from under us with our elements and neutralizing us. Shifters typically had control over one element, but my father and brother had control of all four.
Grandma reached for the champagne bottle in the middle of the breakfast spread on the table before us. “I swear there are more restaurants in this city than you can poke a baguette at,” she quipped.
No one was eating, not even Flaym or Wylder. Zane and Cynder stood quietly with Ranger and Sol, and I couldn’t help noticing how they were drawn to each other. Zane is the Alpha of our LaRue family pack, Crescent Moon, and there’s a good chance Grammy Lucy would never forgive him for taking a chosen mate and offending the Moon Goddess. There was an even greater chance she would make him give up the pack if he allowed Cynder to become Luna.
Ranger is the eldest son of Uncle Zeus and the next Alpha of Moon Realm West. Judging by how he held Sol, no one would get close enough to take her from him. I wasn’t sure how this would play out, but the tension in the air said it probably wouldn’t end well.
I sensed them before I saw them. Lukas pulled the rooftop door open and stepped out with Selena. My eyes locked on the mate mark on her neck, and I knew he would never let her go. Fated mate be damned, Lukas would never, ever give her up now.
“You marked her!” Dad seemed to notice.
“She’s my mate!” Lukas looked ready to take on the world and everything that stood in his way.
“Sweetheart, everyone loves Selena,” mom said gently. “We all thought you were destined for one another—”
“I don’t care about the Moon Goddess. My lycan knows what she is to me,” Lukas contended, and I couldn’t help the jealousy that washed through me. He wouldn’t let the Moon Goddess’s match-making game stand in the way of what he wanted. Who he truly wanted his entire life.
Ranger and Zane both argued the same. Claiming they were mates. Visions of Maeve swam through my mind, and I forced them out. It had been a year and a half, and she hadn’t bothered to come home to see her grandparents. She had likely fallen in love with the man from my vision and moved on.
Cynder launched a flying shoe at her brother, and though I had missed what was being said, I knew she was angry.
“News flash,” my sister interjected. “No one has found a true soulmate in over a decade… maybe even two decades.”
Uncle Balthazar moved closer to Lukas, sniffing the air with caution. He was a mated male and should not be a threat to my brother, but lycans were unpredictable.
“Do you three recall taking anything that would induce heat?” Uncle Balthazar questioned.
“You think he can pick that up in their scent?” Storm asked me through the mind link. The wind shifted in our direction, and I knew she was trying to pick up whatever Uncle Balthazar was scenting.
“He’s got the best nose here,” I told her and took a deep breath, trying to pick up anything unusual. Selena smelled strongly of Lukas, and I didn’t need my nose to tell me they had spent the last five days mating.
“No,” Selena replied to Uncle Balthazar’s question. “I had my last heat suppressant injection when I came home for the holidays.”
“Heat sets in once you’ve met your destined mate,” my father said. “Did any of you find your mate and reject them?”
“No,” Cynder shook her head. “The only one my wolf has ever felt a draw to is Zane.”
“It’s a chocolate croissant,” Grandma said, shifting a platter toward Caspian. “I don’t understand why the French insist on calling it pain au chocolat?”
“Something isn’t making sense,” my father’s eyes darted between Uncle Balthazar and Wylder.
“I know,” Grandma continued. “The pronunciation is even funny, pan oh shock-o-lah .”
“Grandma, he’s not talking about croissants,” I said as I reached for the platter of pastries.
Maeve loved warmed chocolate croissants.
“Maybe the Moon Goddess has decided to stop playing matchmaking games and let us pick our mates,” my sister suggested, sounding like a broken record.
“Then all the unmated females would go into heat upon reaching maturity,” I told her. “We’d have a lot more pups running around.”
A low whine echoed in my head at the thought of pups running around. Breeding was a primal instinct and need for the animal within—a need my beast wanted to slake with Maeve.
“Lycans can only reproduce with their destined mates,” Aunt Demeter reminded us, and she was right. Werewolves could produce offspring with a chosen mate, though it didn’t happen often, but a lycan could only produce offspring with their destined mate.
“Don’t you want pups?” Selena’s mother sniffled.
“Rex and Storm can produce heirs for the throne,” my brother said, nodding in our direction. “I don’t care about offspring.”
“Is that so?” Uncle Balthazar said with amusement. “You should care.”
“Why’s that?” Lukas questioned.
“Because you’re expecting a pup.”
It was a spoken bomb that stunned us all with disbelief. I knew what I had heard, but my mind struggled to accept it.
“I’m what?” Lukas seemed just as dazed as the rest of us.
“You’re having a pup,” Uncle Balthazar grinned with confidence.
The commotion and questions circled fast, and I wondered if Storm was right. Maybe the Moon Goddess had just stopped matching us. Maybe… No… there would be more pups if there weren’t any destined mates.
“That was quick,” I muttered, still in disbelief. If lycans could only produce with their fated mates, then…
“The question we should be asking is how this is possible,” Mateo turned to my uncle. “Balthazar, are you sure lycans can only reproduce with their destined mates?”
It was the question on everyone’s mind.
“Hello?” Grandma tutted. “Two thousand years of experience, of course, he’s sure. What do you think caused lycans to go extinct?”
Uncle Balthazar had lived for over two thousand years as an immortal frozen in time before his curse was broken. If anyone knew what was happening, it was him.
“I’m sure,” Balthazar nodded with a smile. “They’re the proud parents and destined mates. But I’m wondering why they can’t feel the typical mate bond sensations?”
“Could it be some kind of magic or curse?” My mother asked.
Uncle Balthazar took a moment before he replied. “I don’t know.”
“My wolf has always wanted Sol,” Ranger insisted.
“Don’t you start, too!” Mateo clipped, pointing a finger and looking beside himself.
“I know Cynder is my other half,” Zane claimed with certainty. “I don’t need the zings. Something is wrong with the bonds.”
“I can hear Selena’s thoughts after I marked her. Just as a true mate should,” Lukas told us.
“Me too,” Ranger announced.
If they could hear their mates' thoughts after being marked, then what they claimed had to be true. It was the only logical explanation. They’re mates.
“I told you,” Storm said. “Something is wrong here.”
“It still doesn’t explain why three females all went into heat at the same time if they had been given heat suppressants,” Mom tried to make sense of it.
“They had already met their mates,” Storm replied. “The reason they needed heat suppressants in the first place was because they had met their mates, but they just didn’t know it.”
Storm was right. She had been right all along. And if her guess was correct, this could have something to do with the Moon Goddess.
“So, the mate bonds are defective?” Caspian came to the same conclusion.
“If the mate bonds are defective… I might still have a chance with Valaria!” Flaym nearly jumped with excitement.
“Don’t hold your breath,” I shook my head.
My mother started crying excitedly over the idea of being a grandmother and rushed to the happy couple with Selena’s mother. Lukas stood tall and proud. He was over the moon, but Selena looked just as stunned as Mateo. Zane kissed Cynder, and Ranger held his crying mate.
“Looks like we don’t need to produce offspring for the throne after all,” Storm teased in a whisper. “Our big brother seems to have changed his mind about wanting pups.”
“I knew it would sort itself out,” Grandma told us as she reached for her champagne. “Anyone with one good eye could see they were born to be mates.”
Mates.
They were all mates and had always been.
“This means that my sister and Zane…” Flaym started to say.
“Mates,” Storm told him. “Try to keep up here.”
“You’ll have to excuse us,” Lukas swept Selena up in his arms. “She needs to rest.”
“Overly protective Alpha Dad mode activated,” Caspian whispered.
“You haven’t had breakfast yet!” Grandma Dori said.
“Send an order to my room,” he called out as he rushed Selena back to bed.
“Ah, to be young again,” Grandma sighed.
“You mean young and in love,” Caspian replied.
“No, I mean young,” she said. “I’d make my way from Portugal to Saudi Arabia, sampling all the flavors.”
“GRANDMA!” Flaym gawked.
“What?” She shrugged. “You’ve got to get it while the getting is good.” She lifted the pastry platter, “croissant?”
“I’m going to go call Grammy Lucy and tell her the good news,” Zane rushed off with Cynder.
“We should go call my parents,” Ranger said, making a quick exit with his mate.
“I’ll go to the kitchen and get some food together for Lukas,” Storm pushed back from the table, and I followed her.
“Storm…” I entered the stairwell behind her.
“This is the part where you tell me I was right.”
“You were right, but…”
“But it doesn’t explain why there’s something wrong with the bonds,” she continued. “And why something is brewing in Paris.”
Call it twin intuition or something deeper, but I could feel my sister's skepticism through our bond. There was something more she suspected but wasn’t sharing, and I wanted to know why.
“You think this could be a curse?”
“It’s not magic,” she replied. “There isn’t enough magic in the world to affect all the shifter bonds worldwide.”
“They’re mates! What if we’ve met our mates already and didn’t know it?”
“Then mine is dead,” she said as she quickly descended the stairs.
“You don’t know that.”
“All three men I’ve been with have died in some freak accident,” she reminded me. “It’s a good thing Remy didn’t sleep with me because he would have ended up driving his motorcycle off a bridge in some freak accident or something.”
“That’s the bartender.”
“The lucky bastard who escaped the curse of Storm,” she sighed.
We stepped inside a teeming kitchen of chefs, dishwashers, and everything in between. Storm spoke in French, asking the kitchen manager for a tray, and had one within minutes. She had been delivering food to Lukas and Selena during the mating haze. I followed her to the small elevator, pressed the button for the top floor, and waited until the doors closed before I spoke again.
“You’re not cursed.”
“You’re right, I’m not cursed,” she said. “I was just born a jinx.”
“There’s no such thing as a jinx. You probably haven’t met your mate yet.”
“Looks like I’ll have eight hundred years or more to figure it out.”
“You think this is bigger than magic?”
“Aunt Hazel is a child of Hecate, the strongest mage we know of, and her power also has limits.”
“That only leaves the Moon Goddess.”
“What do your visions tell you?” She asked in a low whisper.
I wasn’t sure what my visions were trying to tell me, or how accurate they were. Everything was a jumbled mess, and I only saw quick glimpses. The elevator door slid open, and I followed her to the suite where Lukas and Selena were holed up. I knocked and reached into her pocket for the key card.
“Come in,” Lukas called out, and I pushed the door open for my sister.
“Okay, something strange is definitely happening here,” she said as she walked through the suite and set the tray down.
Lukas scratched the back of his head, looking regretful. “I should have listened to you sooner.”
I poked my head through the door, knowing how possessive Lukas might be with an unmated male around his mate. “Is it okay if I come closer, or will you attack me?”
“Come have a seat,” he motioned with his head. Selena was already seated on his lap, but his arm held her closer to him.
“Congratulations,” I smiled, truly happy for them. “I can’t tell you how happy and relieved I am for both of you.”
“Thank you,” Selena murmured softly. “I… I think I might be in shock.”
“I think everyone is!” I sat down and felt the energy of my sister shift.
We filled Lukas in on what had transpired while he had been preoccupied the last five days. My sister continued pacing, her eyes shifting between her usual blue to her swirling silver lycan eyes. Her energy shifted again, and I felt an eerie sensation grip me when I noticed her eyes had stopped swirling and turned completely white.
She stopped pacing and remained still. “It’s brewing,” she said breathlessly.
“What is?” Lukas questioned in alarm, but I had seen this once before and a few times since we arrived in Paris.
“The storm.”
“Storm?” Lukas asked as I tried to tap into her thoughts.
“The gates of hell,” she mumbled, and I caught a glimpse of her vision. A giant creature with golden horns held a glowing scepter.
“What gates?” I asked, and she blinked. Her eyes returned to their normal cool blue.
Lukas’ gaze shifted from her to me, then back to her again. She had denied having visions the first time I saw it, and I had been so wrapped up with Maeve’s disappearance that I didn’t press her.
“Storm, when did your visions begin?” Lukas asked.
She blinked again, looking confused. “What visions?”
“Either you just had a vision, or we need to get an exorcism because you’ve been possessed,” I told her.
“Who’s been possessed?” Grandma Dori strolled through the door, reaching into her purse. “I have holy water in my purse… picked it up when I visited the Vatican some years back.”