Chapter 50
“Mate?” I squeaked.
Ronan nodded. “Destined for all of us.”
My heart thudded against my ribs in a staccato beat. “All of you.” Images of Sam with her boyfriends in the hall flashed in my mind.
A smile played on Dash’s lips. “Every single one.”
There was that traitorous hope fluttering its wings in my chest again. I wanted it so badly to be true, but I was terrified to let myself believe it.
Colt moved closer. “An anchor isn’t always your true mate, but when they are, those bonds are that much stronger.”
“But I’m not an anchor, not really,” I said, disappointment flooding me.
Grief flashed through Colt’s expression. “You are. Just because you didn’t manifest doesn’t mean you aren’t an anchor. It doesn’t mean our mate bond won’t be incredibly powerful.”
“How do you know we’re mates?”
Declan’s gaze roamed over my face. “Don’t you feel it? That pull that doesn’t necessarily make logical sense?”
I swallowed against the dryness in my throat. “Yes.” How else did you explain me wanting to cuddle up to Trace, who had made me feel nothing but unwelcome since I got here? “But that could just be because you’re all gorgeous.”
The corner of Ronan’s mouth kicked up. “Thanks, Firecracker.”
“I’m being serious,” I chastised him. “A pull could be hormones.”
“It’s more than that,” Declan argued. “For us shifters, your scent tells us.”
A memory flashed in my mind. Colt’s eyes flashing with specks of gold as he inhaled deeply, Ronan telling him to rein it in. “My scent tells you I’m your mate?”
Declan nodded. “It’s indescribable in any sort of earthly terms. But it feels like being on fire and coming home all at once.”
Pressure built behind my eyes. God, I wanted that. To belong to these guys. To have a place where I would be loved and cherished. Where I would be safe. To have people who I could love in return who would appreciate that love and not throw it away like common garbage.
I looked at Ronan, who gave a begrudging nod. “He’s right. That’s exactly how it feels.”
Colt smiled at me. “I think I’ve known since the moment I met you.
There’s always been this deep need to protect you, to have you as close as possible.
Whenever Dad and I would leave Michigan at the end of the summer, I’d be in a depression for weeks.
I used to beg him to move us there full time so I could be near you. ”
I remembered the way the world would always look gray after Colt’s departures. How the things I loved weren’t quite as fun anymore.
I glanced at Dash, and he grinned. “I feel it here.” He circled his sternum. “It’s like a deep tug the moment you walk into the room. Like my heart is trying to get to yours.”
My gaze jerked to Trace because that was exactly how I’d felt after the night of my attack. The night he’d held me.
Trace’s face was a blank mask. “I know because they’re my bond, and they’re sure.”
His words cut me to the quick.
Dash scowled at him. “Don’t be an ass.”
Trace shrugged. “I’m not going to lie to protect her feelings. I feel drawn to every female on the planet.”
It was as if someone had jabbed a hot poker through my chest.
“Bullshit,” Declan barked. “I’ve seen the way you look at her. Seen how you hover just out of sight to make sure she’s okay. Don’t spew bullshit in an attempt to keep Leighton at arm’s length.”
Trace’s eyes blazed, that purple going molten. “You don’t know a damn thing.”
“I know more than you think. I know that what happened with Sarah wasn’t your—”
Trace moved in a flash, pinning Declan to the wall with his hand around Declan’s throat. “Don’t you speak her name.”
Colt and Dash hurried to pull Trace off Declan. He coughed and sputtered as Trace shook off Colt and Dash.
“Get off me!” The second Trace was free, he stormed out of the greenhouse.
A whole new kind of pain pulsed through me. Did he love someone else? Someone that he had chosen for himself? Not some random girl he’d been stuck with.
Ronan glared at his brother. “You can’t go there.”
A muscle in Declan’s jaw ticked. “He needs to quit playing the martyr and pull his head out of his ass. He’s hurting Leighton just to try to keep a distance that will never last.”
Ronan let out a low growl. “You don’t know Trace like we do. He needs time. Understanding.”
“You all baby him. What he needs is someone to kick his ass.”
“Enough,” Colt said low. “This isn’t the time.”
“I’m not going to make anyone be with me,” I whispered. “I would never do that. Would never want that.”
Colt moved into my space, cupping my cheeks. “I know, LeeLee. But it’s more than that. Our souls were woven from the same thread. There’s only so long you can deny that.”
A tear slipped free, cascading down my cheek. “I don’t want to hurt him.”
“I know.” Colt pressed his forehead to mine. “This is a gift. I promise. It will help us all become who we were meant to be.”
“Doesn’t feel like that right now.”
His thumbs swept across my cheeks as he pulled back. “Did you experience something the first time you touched us?”
My breath hitched.
“It was a vision, wasn’t it?” Colt pressed.
“I thought it was just my imagination.”
Colt shook his head. “It’s so that you know you’ve met one of your mates.”
My brow furrowed. “It looked like something from the past and something from the future.”
He grinned. “I can’t wait to hear what you saw.”
“You can’t,” Dash chastised. “They’re for the mated pair only.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Colt waved him off.
“I don’t see how this can work.” Six people in a relationship? Not all of them overly excited about being forced into it? Trace was dead set against it, and I could tell Ronan had his reservations.
“It won’t work.”
The guys whirled at the sound of Darius’s voice as he strode into the room. He scowled at them all. “This is exactly what I warned you of. You exposed Leighton when she has no way of protecting herself.”
Colt’s lip curled. “We protected her.”
“Barely. And for how long?”
“Forever,” Declan vowed.
Darius shook his head. “She didn’t manifest. She’ll never be able to ground your powers. You want to descend into insanity?”
Everything in me twisted, panic setting in.
Dash glared at Darius. “We’re going to find another way.”
“There is no other way. You need an anchor who can tether you.”
The world slowed around me as snippets of conversations flitted through my mind. Ice slid through my veins. “Chloe. They expect you to bond with Chloe.”
The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, nausea fast on their heels.
“Not bloody likely,” Colt snarled.
Darius’s eyes flashed. “You don’t have a choice. She’s the strongest we’ve got, and if you don’t, all you have in your future is madness and death.”