“I wanted to come back and apologize for disappearing earlier,” I explained, skimping on the wilderness retreat, “but itsounds like there was more drama in my head than in reality. Not that I wanted to stress anyone out, but I?—”
Impact sent me swinging forward, and I would have hit the sidewalk if not for Rían and Sloane steadying me via our linked arms. I grunted as a solid weight crept up my back, cinching around my throat. Certain I was being attacked, I almost screamed, but then the sobs registered against my nape.
“I told Liam not to be mean,” a muffled voice pressed into my skin. “I told him, and he did it anyway.”
“Goldie.” I freed myself from my saviors as soon as I regained my balance, hooking my hands under a pair of bony knees to keep Goldie from falling. “Does Fayne know you’re here?”
“I wrapped a blanket around my beanbag chair in the fort.” She sniffled. “She thinks I’m napping.”
“The wards will come down soon,” I warned her gently. “You can’t run around without an adult, okay?”
“But you weregone. I heard that Liam made you sad and that’s why you left. Then I couldn’t find Rían to tell him we had to get you back, and then I was scared he left me too.” She hiccupped from the outburst as her little heart pounded against my spine. “I went to Gran, and she told me to go play like I was some dumb kid.” Her fists twisted in the fabric of my shirt. “Please don’t leave, Ana.Please.And if you have to go, don’t take Rían with you.”
“Your brother would never leave you. He loves you too much.”
“But you’re his mate.”
“We’re not mates, Girlboss, just engaged.” I boosted her higher. “You’re his little sister, and that’smuchmore important.”
“No. You’re hismate. That’s why he made the bargain to—” Her voice cut off midsentence as her weight vanished from myhold with a grunt. “Rían, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to tell.” Her sobs resumed, her voice hoarse. “Don’t be mad at me.”
“I’m not mad.” He tucked her against his broad chest. “It was wrong for me to keep secrets from Ana.”
Mate? Bargain? Secrets?
Oxygen whistled through my nose, but my lungs refused to expand, and my heart rioted in my chest.
“Ana.” Rían couldn’t look at me. “I’m going to take her to Fayne’s and put her to bed.”
“We need to talk,” I forced out, lips gone numb, and started walking toward his house in a daze.
Two whole minutes later, a record for Sloane, she couldn’t hold it in anymore. “The mate thing is freaking you out, huh?”
“Goldie told me he would tear the world apart with his bare hands to find his mate. I thought she had assigned me that role, you know? Like we were betrothed, so of course we must be mates. But I spent my whole life believing I was a latent. I never let myself dream of having a mate, let alone a fated one.”
The betrothal? That, at least, made sense. I had seen other alphas’ daughters sold to the highest bidders in the name of forging alliances or cementing business partnerships. But this? I wasn’t prepared for this.
“It’s so rare, even with more common shifter breeds, that no one believes it will happen to them.”
For me, it had been biological fact. Latents didn’t have mates.
“Rían didn’t dispute it.” I couldn’t blame it on a child’s slip of the tongue. “It’s real. Likereallyreal.”
“Don’t melt down until after you talk to him.” She tipped her chin. “Any idea what the bargain thing was about?” She frowned. “Goldie’s called you his mate before, so was that what made Rían snap? He didn’t grab her until she mentioned the bargain.”
“Okay, I missed that, and now I want to throw up.”
“Secret bargains do come standard with the alpha package, but you’ve got nothing to worry about, Ana. Rían told us day one you can ask him anything. So, ask. Don’t torture yourself wondering. Let him do the explaining. Give him a chance to make good on his word.”
“You’re right.” I convinced myself that was the truth. “I’m already in information overload, and my brain is pretty cooked, so he’s not wrong to dole out the details as they become relevant.”
“Exactly.”
We reached the house and let ourselves in. The quiet was odd. I should have been used to it, after living alone for so long, but I had come to expect Goldie rushing around underfoot and Rían passing me in the hall.
“Go shower.” Sloane shoved me toward the bathroom. “You’ve got time before Rían gets back, and you smell like dead fish. I would prefer you not stink up our bed, so kindly go scrub the lake off you.”
From the sound of it, I wasn’t going to get my bed, or my room, to myself anytime soon.
