Chapter 15
fifteen
LIV
I drove immediately to Callum's and Kat's house, after checking the app we used to track each other's locations to make sure he was home.
He was.
I rang the doorbell a dozen times, then waited on the porch for five minutes before walking in. After accidentally catching them fucking in their entryway a few months earlier, I didn't take chances anymore.
It ended up being a good call, because they didn't come out of their bedroom for another five minutes. They kept a stack of desserts and other baked goods from Kat's cafes in their fridge, which I liked to pretend was for my sake.
They didn't care if I ate them, so they might as well have been there for me.
I'd already downed an entire cinnamon roll and was starting on a slab of coffee cake when they came strolling out of their bedroom, hand in hand.
"What happened?" Callum asked, eyeing the new, gigantic bargain mark on my leg.
"Nothing," I said around a mouthful of cake.
Kat squeezed my shoulder supportively on her way to the fancy coffee machine on their countertop. She had a bag of decaf beans in her cabinet, just for me, and I forced myself to focus on my coffee cake instead of getting emotional about it.
I was so tired of feeling things. This had to be the longest day of my life. I was glad it was getting dark outside, but it would be an incredibly long night, too.
I never got to rest.
My magic was always there, riding my ass and driving me crazy.
Callum sat next to me while Kat made decaf lattes for all three of us. They weren't even her favorite drink. She was doing it for me.
She took a seat next to Callum, and he casually rested his hand on the part of her thigh that was left bare by the stretchy shorts she always wore.
I cleared my throat and sat back in my seat. "Niall gave me an ultimatum."
Callum's eyes narrowed.
He was about to offer to torture my... whatever Niall was to me now.
"He's not willing to bargain with me at all. He wants to be mates, whether or not we're fated," I explained.
They both stared at me, their foreheads creasing as they processed the words.
"You haven't been together in two years, and he wants to seal a mate bond?" Kat finally asked. "That's crazy, right?"
I took another bite of my cake, sipping my coffee with it.
She looked at Callum, who grimaced. "I wouldn't say it's crazy for Niall."
"What? Why not?"
"Niall and Liv..." He trailed off, like he was considering how to explain it.
I took another bite. "I'm pretty sure our family likes him more than they like me, if that tells you anything. They took my side anyway. True loyalty."
Callum ignored my statement. "What reasoning did he give?"
"He thinks we're fated because we've all told him there's no way he could've known that I wasn't going to die when I felt my magic reaching burnout. But he's not willing to risk losing me, so he's not going to bet on it."
"He wants you to take the bet instead?" Kat's eyebrows lifted. "That's harsh. He sounds like an asshole."
"He is an asshole," I said with a grumble. "The best kind of asshole."
"Can you imagine Liv with a man who isn't abrasive?" Callum asked Kat, gesturing toward me and the two desserts I'd taken from the fridge.
"That's rude," I shot back.
"Sometimes the truth is rude."
"What's so special about him that you think it's valid for him to want her to take a bet on a mate bond, though?" Kat asked. "After two years apart?"
"They were happy together. Outrageously so. He couldn't control her power, but he could seem to tell when she was going to spiral, and he always knew what would fix it."
"Not like you two." I gestured between them with my fork.
"He couldn't just fix it by touching my leg or whatever.
He just knew me well enough that if I was about to lose my shit, he knew my options and would pick one for me.
Which doesn't sound completely healthy, but when your magic creates anxiety, it's nice to have someone make decisions that erase your stress. "
"That's why you guys didn't kill him when Liv thought he risked her life?" Kat checked. "Because they were so close?"
"No. We didn't kill him because when we showed up to do it, he told us that he would never have let her die, there was a damn good chance he was her fated mate, and that she would eventually take him back."
My gaze snapped to Callum. "What?"
"We had enough questions about that night and his ability to calm you down that we couldn't go through with it," Callum admitted.
Kat's silence told me she must've heard at least part of that story before, unlike me.
"You didn't tell me you tried to kill him." I looked at Callum. "He was your friend. I thought—"
"You thought we valued his life over yours? We've been family for centuries, Liv. If there had been any less uncertainty, we would've done it, but none of us have ever met someone who could talk us out of paying the price of our power like he can for you. Even if you're not fated, that's valuable."
I took another bite of my cake.
They sipped their coffee.
"I don't know what to do," I said quietly. "I miss him. I obviously still love him. I just don't know what the future looks like if we seal a bond and we aren't fated. Not five or ten years down the line, but fifty? One hundred? Two? He has to get tired of this eventually." I gestured to myself.
"Why?" Kat asked.
"What do you mean, why? It's relentless.
After a century together, you don't think he'll get tired of having to fuck me in a bathroom stall in the middle of every one of his awards ceremonies?
You don't think he'll start asking me to stay home?
You don't think he'll get tired of rolling me on top of him and talking me through my anxiety?
That he'll want to have a lazy Sunday morning every now and then with his mate?
One that doesn't require moving between the pool and the hot tub and the gym? "
"I think you should ask him that question," Callum said.
"What if he thinks he can handle it, and he's wrong? That would fucking destroy me." I stabbed my cake.
"What if he thinks he can handle it, and he's right?" Kat asked.
I didn't have a response for that.
"This isn't a decision you can make quickly or easily," Callum told me. "Take a few weeks. Months. Years, if you need to. I can't see him going anywhere, and if he does, your choice is made for you."
"He's not going anywhere, and he's not going to handle waiting as well as either of you think. He has paintings of us together in his bedroom. He sleeps with the bedding I thought I threw out."
"Why does he care so much about this bedding?" Kat asked.
"I had it enchanted to smell like us. He pulled it out of the bin I put it in, and had it cleaned."
Her eyes widened, her coffee cup stilling just in front of her bottom lip. "He's been walking around smelling like you the whole time you were apart?"
She'd know the significance of it more than Callum and I did.
"I guess."
"Holy fuck. If he's doing that, he already considers you his mate." She looked at Callum. "I want an enchanted blanket."
"I'll get you three." He didn't bat an eye.
"How does he feel about your new bargain mark?" Kat checked.
"Fucking pissed."
She nodded. "That would be weird for most immortals, but a mark that big, from a male you thought you might be fated to, who you slept with..."
"Niall is also a painter, with multiple erotic, nude paintings of her bare body without the marks," Callum put in.
Kat flashed him a surprised look. "You didn't tell me there were nude paintings involved."
I was totally right about her only pretending not to know some of this stuff, but I had never expected him to keep it from her. You couldn't keep secrets from your mate. I definitely wouldn't, assuming I ever actually had one.
"I agree with Callum. The possessiveness makes sense. You might need to come up with a way to call in your favor with Jonah as soon as you fill your side of the bargain with him," Kat said.
"What is the bargain?" Callum checked.
I sighed, but launched into a long explanation that left both of them with their eyebrows high in their foreheads.
"What the fuck were you thinking?" my best friend finally asked.
"I was thinking I was going to say and do whatever I had to so I could be done with the wolves." I glanced at Kat. "No offense."
"No." Callum shook his head. "That was your bleeding heart. You could've told Gwen to fuck off, at the very least."
"Maybe."
"Definitely."
"It's done, now," Kat put in. "Can you just... forgive the favor with Jonah? After you've paid off his debt, obviously."
We both looked at her like she was crazy.
"That would be a waste of a bargain, Kitten," Callum told her.
"Is it possible, though?"
"Technically, yeah." I nodded.
"So just tell him you consider his friendship over the last few months enough of a repayment.
If you want the mark off your leg for your mate's sake, what does it really matter?
It's not like you guys will notice the loss of money.
If it was everything Liv had, the rest of you would just transfer cash over," Kat said.
"This is why you shouldn't have mated with a werewolf," I finally told Callum, looking his way. "She's trying to make us nice."
"Now you're just being rude," Kat tossed back with a grin.
"I don't know if he's told you, but the truth is rude sometimes."
Kat laughed.
Callum's lips were curved in an honest to god smile. Whoever my best friend had become since mating with her, I liked him. Most of the time.
"What are you going to do about the shapeshifter?" he asked me.
"I have no idea. It's his turn to make a move, so I guess we'll see what he does next."
"Ooh. Update us," Kat smiled.
"Only if I can take some of your desserts home."
"They're all yours."
Kat helped me load my arms full of to-go boxes, then grabbed a few more and helped me carry them out to the passenger seat of my car.
Regardless of anything else, I wasn't alone.