“Thanks,” I breathe, all my earlier confidence slipping away now that I’m back in front of the men that have just flipped my world on its axis.
Callen leans against the opposite wall, his hair messed up from running his hand through it repeatedly tonight. Ryder places a glass of water in front of me. I pick up the cool glass and take a small sip, painfully aware that they’re all watching me. I feel like my every movement is being observed, dissected, studied. As if they’re waiting for something. Watching for a crack to form, a reaction, a sign of… what, I’m not sure. Fear? Resentment? Weakness?
I clear my throat, unable to stand the silence any longer. “So I have some more questions.”
“Ask them,” Ryder nods, pulling out the chair opposite and sitting down.
I hear heavy footsteps on the stairs and I look up to see Remy. He wears nothing but a pair of shorts. His gaze lands on me immediately, and he doesn’t look away. His presence is so commanding it feels as though the entire room darkens with his arrival,
I straighten in my seat, my fingers tightening around the glass.
“Please continue. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he says, but his voice is low, gravelly with an edge I can’t place.
“You’re not,” Callen replies, tone clipped.
Remy moves around the edge of the room, slowly, looking every bit like the predator as he sizes up the scene. He grabs a bottle of beer from the fridge, pulls the cap off with his bare hand, and leans back against the counter.
I don’t miss the way his eyes flick to Callen, and I know there is something between them. It couldn’t be anymore obvious.
“I believe you were about to ask your questions,” he says, his lips twitching, but it’s not quite a smile.
I glance at Ryder, but he doesn’t move. His jaw is tight, and his eyes narrowed as if in silent conversation.
Callen pushes off the wall with a sharp breath. “Remy…
“I’m not starting anything,” Remy holds up a hand. “I just want to hear her questions and eat my dinner.”
“Go ahead, Paige. Remy will behave,” Parker says from his place at the stove, and I look over at him, returning his smile.
Out of the four of them, Parker feels the easiest to be around at the moment. He relaxes something in me. but I’m not sure why, but with him around, I feel safer. I know that’s strange because he’s a werewolf too, there is no pressure from him. He’s not laying claim to me or expecting anything, he’s just there, a friendly face in an emotionally charged room. He’s gives me a nod of encouragement and I nod back before fixing my gaze back on Ryder.
“You said I’m your mate… how does that work? Could you be wrong?”
“I’m not wrong. My wolf just knows. He feels it. He has been so unsettled for years, like some vital part of him was missing, but with you here, he is settled. He’s whole,” Ryder explains.
“Then why didn’t he know it six years ago?”
Ryder blows out a breath and shakes his head a little. He looks lost for words. Callen steps forward and puts a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s not always instant,” Callen says. “Sometimes we know with just a look, other times it’s a touch, or conversation. It can take time for us to realise what is happening, but when we do, there’s no denying it.”
“So you feel an attraction, or is it only your wolves that feel it?”
“We feel it too.” Ryder reaches over as if to take my hand, but then thinks better of it and pulls away. “It’s not just attraction. It’s like… every instinct in me is wired to protect you, to choose you, to need you. I think I felt it back then. I just didn’t understand it, because I didn’t have my wolf to guide me. The moment I saw you again, I knew. It hit me like a truck. That’s why I struggled to contain my wolf.”
I swallow, my throat tight as I study the twins in front of me. I see the truth in their eyes, but it doesn’t make this any easier for me.
“When did you know?” I ask, my eyes fixed on Callen.
He rubs a hand over his face and glances towards Remy before he answers. “I knew for sure when I saw Ryder’s reaction to you. But I felt an attraction to you straight away. I didn’t think much of it because… well, you’re hot as hell,” he shrugs.
Parker slides a bowl of pasta in front of me and hands me a fork. “Thanks,” I smile, but my appetite has completely gone.
The pasta is in some kind of creamy sauce and smells amazing. I feel rude if I don’t at least try it.
“He’s not poisoned it,” Remy snorts from behind me.
I ignore him, staring at the bowl for a moment before forcing myself to eat. The food is surprisingly good. It’s garlicky and warm, the kind of comforting meal that shouldn’t be served in a room filled with this much tension.
“It’s great, Parker, thank you,” I say, flashing him a smile that seems to make his day as he grins at me before turning to dish up more for the others.
Parker sits beside Ryder at the island and Callan stands at the end. Remy stays over by the counter. I notice all of them are giving me space, which I appreciate.
We all eat in silence for a moment before Ryder clears he throat and puts his tork down, his eyes locked on mine.
“I know you’re my mate, Paige. Not just because of instinct, but because the idea of a future without you feels wrong, Empty,”
Ryder’s voice cracks slightly. “I don’t expect you to feel the same yet. I know I hurt you. But this bond… It’s real. It’s sacred. It’s not something, I could ever feel for yone else. This is it for me. Whether you choose me. You are it for me, Paige.”
Remy lets out a low whistle, but I don’t care, because Ryder’s words are threatening to melt me. Right now, as he looks at me with a raw vulnerability, he looks like my Ryder. No matter how much I try to object to this mate bond, I can’t deny that my feelings for Rye are still there. My heart may be broken and bruised, but even after all this time, he still holds it.
**Paige’s POV **
I stare at Ryder for a long moment, my chest tight and my heart beating way too loud in my ears.
Can they hear it with their superior hearing?
Everything he just said should terrify me. It should push me further into the little fortress I’ve built around my heart. I’ve spent almost seven years pretending I didn’t miss him, pretending I was fine, pretending I didn’t still ache every time I looked at Jaxon and saw his father in his smile.
But right now… It doesn’t feel terrifying. Not when he looks at me like this.
“Rye,” I whisper, his name slipping from my lips.
I lower my eyes to the half-eaten bowl in front of me, giving myself something safe to focus on.
“I don’t know if I’m ready to fall into this the way you seem to have. I don’t feel this mate bond like you do. I don’t trust it,” I admit.
“I’m not asking you to,” he says softly. “Just don’t run. Don’t shut me… us, out.”
That almost breaks something in me. Because I have been running. I’ve been running from the past, the pain, from everything he made me feel.
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