I answered with a shaky breath, but my eyes darted to the corner of the screen.
2:07 PM.
What? I had been out all night and almost all day?
I hate my brother!
I put the phone to my ear, and my mother’s voice almost punctured my eardrum.
“Kasmine! Where the hell have you been?!”
I winced, pulling the phone back slightly. She sounded on the verge of tears-or rage. Maybe both.
“Do you know what you’ve put me through? You left the transition just like that? No calls? No messages? Not even a damn note?!”
I squeezed my eyes shut and forced my breathing to steady. “Mum-
“No! Don’t ‘Mum’ me! You had everyone worried sick! I thought-” Her voice cracked. “I thought something happened to you, baby. And the only reason I didn’t fly off the rails was because Kester told me you were okay. That you just needed space.”
Kester.
My stomach knotted all over again.
He’d been covering for me.
Of course, he was. Why wouldn’t he?
“Why did you run off?” she pressed, “Is it because you found your mate and didn’t like who it was?”
The breath caught in my throat. I stared ahead, my eyes wide and mouth half-open. I sincerely didn’t know how to answer that.
My throat dried. “I don’t want o talk about this right now.”
“But it’s important,” she pushed. “You don’t get to pretend it doesnt matter. This is your future we’re talking about.”
“I know, Mum. Maybe some other time. Please.” I sighed.
“That’s fine,” She said, “Well, a lot happened when you left. I wish you were here to witness them. It was equal parts celebration and near tragedy after the transition.”
I got interested, “What happened?” I asked, rubbing my temples.
It wasn’t every time my Mum got chatty. So, this had to be good.
“You remember Sela, right? One of the girls that transitioned with you?”
I blinked, “Yeah?”
“She ended up being mated to her step-cousin.”
I frowned. “Her what?”
“Her step-cousin,” she said with disgust, practically spitting the word. “Can you imagine? What kind of abomination is that? It’s practically incest. I told Jareel it’s sick, and I still stand by that.”
I blinked, confused and disoriented. “But… Mum, they’re not blood-related.”
“So what?” she snapped, cutting me off like I hadn’t even spoken. “It’s still twisted! That’s supposed to be family, Kasmine. Family. It’s just wrong.”
My throat tightened.
I rubbed my forehead, exhaustion creeping up my spine like cold fingers. “Mum, they didn’t grow up together. They’re not related by blood. It doesn’t count-“
“Oh, don’t start with that nonsense,” she hissed. “That’s the kind of logic people use to justify perversion. I don’t care if they met yesterday or never shared a single holiday growing up-once someone becomes part of your family, that’s off-limits. Period.”
I stared ahead blankly, my hand trembling slightly as I lowered the phone from my ear for a second.
I knew my mother. This thing between me and Kester would never ever be welcomed, even if I decide to accept the bond.
She will never accept it. Not in this lifetime. Not in the next. It would destroy her.
I clenched the phone tighter to my ear again, forcing my voice to stay even. “I just… I don’t think it’s the same thing.”
“It’s exactly the same,” she spat. “I felt so bad for her mother, Rachel. That could never be me. That would have been over my dead body. It’s a good thing we and the council were able to convince them to reject each other.”
A chill swept down my spine.
They went that far?
This meant there was not a single hope for me and Kester, even if I wanted to accept him.
What happens when they learn that the same family who spearheaded the purging of a “sinful bond have children tangled in one fat more forbidden?
Not just step-cousins.
But step-siblings.
Raised under the same roof from a young age.
My stomach lurched.
A wave of nausea climbed up my throat, bitter and burning. My fingers went numb around the phone.
It would be a scandal. A disaster. A stain that would never wash out,
But I still pushed.
“We can’t fault fate, can we? The Moon Goddess willed it.” I tried to defend.
Why was I even defending this when I was going to ask Kester to reject me?
“I don’t care what kind of divine joke that is,” she continued. “You don’t mate with someone tied to your family. I don’t care how ‘fated’ it is. That’s not destiny-that’s disgusting.”
She was practically yelling now, her voice rising with every syllable.
I shut my eyes, wishing I could just disappear into the mattress.
“Can you imagine the shame?” she hissed. “Can you imagine what people would say if that happened in our family? I’d die, Kasmine. I’d drop dead before I let that happen.”
I could feel the tight cage closing in on my lungs.
She wasn’t just drawing a line in the sand.
She was building a wall I could never cross.
And I was already standing on the other side of it.
My voice cracked despite my efforts. “Fine, Mum. You win.”
“Good,” he said stiffly. “But you listen to me, Kasmine. If you find your mate and it’s someone.., wrong, you reject them. You hear me? You don’t entertain it. I don’t care if he’s the most powerful Alpha on earth-if he’s tied to our bloodline or the family in any way, you reject him.”
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