It took me a moment to register who was in front of me. It wasn’t as though I had much cause to interact directly withthe Oracle. If she had anything to discuss regarding the pack, she typically went directly to Elias.
“Oracle.” I dipped my head in deference.
“Hello, Drake,” she said. “How are you doing?”
“Well enough,” I grunted. “Yourself?”
“Just fine.”
I glanced out at the sky. Twilight had begun to descend, and I had no intention of leaving anytime soon. It raised the question of why the Oracle had come by at this time of night.
“If you’re looking for Elias, I’m afraid he’s in a meeting. I can see if—”
The Oracle raised her hand, cutting me off. “He’s not who I’m looking for,” she said. “I’m actually here to talk to you.”
I let that sink in for a moment, mulling over that sentence for a long moment, giving it far more consideration than it merited on the surface.
“Right,” I said the word slowly, drawing it out, running through the list of reasons the Oracle would want to talk to me instead of the pack alpha. There weren’t many of them, and none of them particularly appealed to me. Still, if the Oracle showed up at your office unannounced, requesting an audience, you didn’t turn her away.
“How can I help you, then?” I asked.
She gestured at the map. “As you know, the wraith is still causing trouble for our pack,” she began. There was a protective anger there that startled me. The Oracle was normally a placid woman, warm and peaceful. Seeing this level of rage spreading across her features made me falter for just a moment.
“We’re doing everything we can, I assure you,” I said.
She held up a hand, silencing me. “I have been trying to glean insight into the future,” she continued. “Something else is coming. Something as bad as the wraith, if not worse.”
The hairs on the back of my neck prickled in warning, the papers in front of me forgotten. If there was a new danger coming our way, then we needed as much information as possible. I wasn’t certain if the town would be able to properly recover if we had to deal with two threats from different angles. We were already stretched far enough without having to add whatever the Oracle had seen.
“What is it?” I asked, but the Oracle shook her head.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Only that we are still in danger.”
“Even with the wards?”
“The wards can only protect from so much,” she said cryptically. “I tell you this not only as a warning—though you and the others must be vigilant—but to also give you an explanation for what else I am about to tell you.”
The words felt almost more ominous than her premonition. My jaw tensed for a second as I waited for whatever she was about to say. She paused, as if waiting for me to prod her. When I didn’t, she gave a short nod and continued.
“The time has come for you to join with your fated mate.”
I didn’t react at first, my face stoic as I processed the declaration. I didn’t believe in fated mates. I never had. The concept seemed too romantic and frivolous to have any merit. Elias and Sam both seemed happy enough, but that didn’t mean fated mates were a real thing. It just meant they had found mates they liked.
If I had any say in the matter, I would tell the Oracle no. I didn’t have any interest in picking a mate, let alone being toldwho that person would be. I was happy on my own and would rather remain that way for as long as possible.
Still, I knew the drill, and I knew that arguing wasn’t going to do anything. If the Oracle had decreed I had to mate someone, then that was what would happen. To her, it didn’t matter that fated mates didn’t exist. All that mattered was that, to her, somehow making these pairings was important to protecting the pack against these nebulous dangers. It didn’t matter if there was any truth to it. Once she said it, it was going to happen. As reluctant as I might be about the entire situation, I would always do my duty to the pack. If that meant taking a mate, that’s what I would do.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“Liv Fielding.”
At first, I could only stare. I must have misheard her, because there was no way she could have said Liv.
“Liv Fielding?” I repeated. The image of a round-faced woman with light brown hair that fell to her shoulders, brown eyes, a perpetual grin, and generous curves floated to the front of my mind.
The Oracle nodded. “I’m sure you remember her.”
Of course, I remembered her. For a brief moment, I was a teenager again, standing over her, telling her that there was no way we were mates and that she should leave me alone. That was the last time I had ever spoken with her in private. I saw her around town and at gatherings, but anytime I caught sight of her, it was always as part of a large cluster. If she saw me, she would typically vanish into the crowd before I could get close enough to even say hello.
