“So you think that whoever’s next is probably going to be paired with their true mate?” I asked, still keeping my tone casual.
“Definitely looks like it,” Rachel said. “Assuming the Oracle keeps on her streak.”
I gnawed the inside of my cheek, a little twinge of anxiety piercing through the pleasant day. I forced a smile onto my face.
“Sounds delightful,” I said.
Rachel frowned, studying me, concern creasing her features. “Are you all right, Liv?”
I forced the smile back onto my face. “Oh, I’m fine! I think Isaac might need his diaper changed, that’s all. I can take care of it for you.”
Without another word, I whisked Isaac over to his changing station in the next room, giving myself time to think and gain my composure.
Once I was alone, I let myself take a deep breath. The problem was that I knew who my mate was. I had known since Iwas a kid. I could still sense the pull, even after I had promised myself that I would have nothing to do with him. It was worse whenever I stumbled across him in town. My heart would still stutter, and my stomach would still lurch, and I would still feel that wild need for him that had never fully disappeared. The day he had rejected me was one of the worst of my life. The person I was sure I could trust, who I knew would love me because we were mates, had told me he felt nothing. It had torn me to ribbons.
Still, in a way, I couldn’t hate what had happened. I had needed the wakeup call. It had forced me to start loving myself instead of wallowing in self-loathing. I had hated myself so much as a kid. It wasn’t until Drake shattered my world that I realized I couldn’t wait for someone else to love me, and I had to be kinder to myself, because no one else would be.
I had him to thank for that. It didn’t mean that I had any intention of being with him, fated mate or no.
Don’t think about it,I told myself.Just because the Oracle is pairing mates doesn’t mean that it’s going to be you next.
That mantra could only give me so much comfort. The problem was the second bit that always crept in after I reassured myself it was never going to happen: What would I do if she did?
***
“No, I didn’t—”
“Yes, you did—”
I looked up from my desk to see two boys in a heated argument, shoving one another and baring their teeth.
“No, I—”
“Hey, you two, knock it off,” I said. “You don’t want Ms. Amelia to see the two of you arguing.”
They separated, looking more than a little sheepish.
“Sorry, Ms. Liv,” they said in unison.
“That’s better,” I said. “If you two are still annoyed at one another in ten minutes, I’m sure you can ask Ms. Amelia to let you spar on the mat under supervision to settle it.”
The two kids nodded, one of them scuffing their shoe against the floor. I gave a laugh, and both of them perked up.
“All right, you two get on in there before you’re late,” I said.
They nodded, scurrying off.
I grinned as I began running through attendance on the computer. One of the best decisions I’d made in the last several years was quitting my job at the store and getting out from underneath the thumb of my old boss, Jenson. I almost hadn’t, considering I didn’t have anything lined up after. But once Rachel left, there was nothing really holding me there, either. When Amelia, the woman who ran the training school for kids who were beginning to shift, heard I’d quit, she offered me a job as an admin at her school.
It was the perfect fit. I loved working with kids, and getting to help them even in a small way made me feel like I was contributing to the pack. Amelia was a fantastic boss, and I was good at the job.
I went through my routine, and just like always, before I knew it, Amelia was ushering the last of the kids out, and we were closing up for the day.
“See you, Liv,” Amelia said as I walked out the door. “Thanks as always.”
“Of course!” I winked. “It’s almost like you pay me for it.”
Amelia laughed, and that sound carried me out of the building and into the warm summer evening. Everything seemed perfect.
