Oracle looked at her son—her wild, fearless, fun-loving, trouble-making son—with pride. Here was a man who put the less fortunate before himself. Smiling, Oracle thanked the Fates for giving her Slate. He was her miracle pup. She nearly died giving birth to his brother and Maximus was adamant about not having another child. But she persisted, assuring her mate she would be fine. It was a gamble because the Fates were silent about the matter. In the end, everything was okay and Slate was born without any problems.
Now, her youngest and last son was ready to move on with life but was finding every excuse not to take the next step. Contemplating what she could say, Oracle almost missed Slate’s comment.
“This isn’t the only reason I came, I also wanted to see Kieran.”
Narrowing her eyes, she examined her son’s expression and his body language, trying to find the reason behind that statement. She knew her son and the pending High Council deposition wasn’t why he wanted to see Kieran—so after seeing him squirm, she confirmed her suspicion. “Kieran is the Fated Mate of Logan, Jackson’s twin brother. He was not meant for you.”
“Mom, I know that…now. I’m not going to interfere with Fated Mates, don’t worry. It’s just that I thought…well never mind, it doesn’t matter now. Look, the main reason I came to see you was if you knew of a way I could end mytoirchighearly. I just don’t have time to go looking for my Fated Mate right now and I was hoping you could help me.”
Releasing Slate’s hands, she sat back and studied him. The wrinkles of exhaustion around his eyes, the deep worry lines creasing his forehead and the tightness around his mouth spoke of a shifter that clearly needed something more in his life than just work. “I will have to do some research to see if it is even possible. Maybe Mystia can help. That is all I can do right now.”
Smiling at the possibility of some relief, Slate said, “Mom, that’s great. I’ll be here for a few days. I want to hand over the grant work to Carson. I think he’s ready and it would lift a big burden off me. If he runs into any problems, he could ask Dad or Steel to help him.”
“That is a wonderful idea. I think Carson will do a very good job.”
“I’m hoping.” Then he asked quietly, “Oh, mom, will you keep this to yourself? I’m just not ready for the world to know right now.”
Oracle rose, leaned over and gave her son a gentle kiss on the forehead. “Other than your father and Mystia, both of whom will be able to help me research it, I will not say a word.”
“Thanks. I just can’t deal with my brother ragging me right now.”
“Hmmm.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking about all the teasing you did to him when he was in histoirchigh.”
Groaning, Slate said, “Don’t remind me. I’m surprised he didn’t beat me up. I owe him for that.”
Laughing softly, Oracle said, “Your brother loves you and only wants the best for you. You know as well as Ido, if you told him, he would do everything in his power to help you find your Fated Mate.”
“Yeah, I know that, Mom. I guess that’s part of why I don’t want him to know right now. I’m still trying to get used to the idea of being mated,” Slate said, running his hands through his hair. “For some strange reason, I thought it would be years before this happens.”
“Slate, sweetie, it may indeed be years before you find your Fated Mate. Steel went through a number oftoirchighsbefore he found Jackson.”
“Yeah. I remember but I don’t want it hanging over my head that long. The Fates want me to have Dire Wolf pups so I figure I should get on with it.”
“Slate, a Fated Mate is a gift…not something to ‘get on with’.”
“Sorry, that wasn’t what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?”
Slate looked down at his hands. No matter how he said it, his mother wasn’t going to be happy. He was resentful sometimes that the Fates could decide his life for him and this was one of them. Slate knew he was going to be a terrible father—always on the go, never in any one place for very long. Not that he minded that part—in fact he loved the travel but how would a Fated Mate like it if he was gone all the time. From what he could see of his brother’s relationship with Jackson, once he mated, he wouldn’t be going anywhere.
“Mom, please forget I said that. It slipped out because I’m exhausted and if you don’t mind, I would love to find my bedroom and take a nap.”
Oracle rubbed Slate’s shoulder. “Oh sweetie, it is all right. Come on, I will take you to your bedroom.”
Slate stood, weaving a bit before steadying himself. He didn’t know if it was thetoirchighor just plain exhaustion, but he felt like he could sleep for a year. Following his mother out, he prayed she’d find a way to end the turmoil his body was experiencing.
~/~/~/~/~
Putting in a call to Penn, Jackson looked down at Daniel in his lap, playing with his stuffed wolf. He was growing so fast since his first full shift, he knew it was time to bring out the bigger sizes of clothing he bought and pass Daniel’s smaller ones on to Cody and Colton for their pups. His brow furrowed, thinking of Colton’s concern about Ian. He wondered if his mate should find another doctor who could stand in for Ian while he was pregnant. Probably not a bad idea. Jackson made a mental note to himself just as Steel’s phone rang.
“Penn? I’m putting you on speaker. Jackson is with me,” said Steel
“Hi Penn. Jackson here.”
