“It is,” he confirms, smiling wryly. “I left the ballroom to go looking for you, and Shayne stayed. Turns out if I’d stayed put, I probably would have bumped into you like he did.”
I suck in a breath, my eyes widening. “You came to the party withhim?”
He knows the Alpha I bumped into that night!
I saw them walk in together, but I didn’t think too much about that at the time, other than my realization that I could be attracted to the right kind of Alphas.
“He’s … a part of my pack,” he admits, chewing on his lower lip for a second afterward.
“You have a pack?” I ask, wondering what that means, exactly.
He nods slowly. “Shayne’s the one who felt the true mate bond and made me realize I felt that with you that night we met. I didn’t see it then, because I wasn’t looking for it. If I had … If I’d known, I never would have left your side.”
My stomach flips when I hear the promise in that final statement.
It feels like he’s being serious.
As crazy as it sounds, he really thinks I’m fated for him.
“I … I think I would have liked that.” The admission makes me blush.
It makes me wish my memory of him hadn’t slipped away during my time in the medical ward.
Though even if it had stuck in my mind, I don’t think it would have altered anything.
I remembered him when I was meant to.
Fate works like that.
“I’m sorry I didn’t see it when I should have,” he apologizes. “I don’t always notice or pay attention to my instincts. I’ve never been able to figure out why.”
“But isn’t that what drives an Alpha?”
His wry smile deepens. “Oh, I’ve used those instincts to make a fortune, and I’ve kept my mates safe from harm, but beyond that, I don’t know. It’s like that sense is duller than it should be or something.”
“You have mates?” I ask, raising an eyebrow at him.
I half-expect him to back-pedal on that, as if it was a mistake to say it out loud, but he nods.
“You met Shayne. We have a Beta called Jay, and an Omega called Harper. In all honesty, we thought our pack was complete. Until you.”
I blink at him, trying to take that news in.
He has multiple mates, and his pack isn’t platonic.
Packs have been a thing since forever. I know that much.
In the movies, packs are usually shown as an alternative lifestyle that the lead’s best friend might be into, if she’s a party girl or a little bit different. The dynamics can be interesting, but they’re often only hinted at. I didn’t realize the men involved could actually be mated to each other. I thought that was just some kind of sexed up version of reality.
Packs aren’t romanticized and idealized like couples are.
Fated mates are always portrayed as an Alpha male meeting an Omega female.
I don’t know how to wrap my head around true mates existing within a pack.
It’s not something I’ve ever seen or thought about.
And now here I am, standing in front of a hot Alpha, while he explains he’s part of a pack with another incredibly attractive Alpha, and that they both want me to be their mate.
