Melvin smiled into his coffee and shook his head. “It’s not about him being a wolf.”
Jasmine’s grin eased into something more thoughtful. “Then what is it about?”
Melvin didn’t answer right away. Avoiding it didn’t make sense anymore.
“It’s just… him,” he said.
She nodded slowly, as if that told her everything.
They sat with that while the coffee cooled. The thought that had been circling Melvin since the night before pressed closer now that he’d stopped pushing it away.
“You love him,” Jasmine said.
It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah.”
The word stayed with him longer than he expected. Then, quieter, almost like he was discovering it as he spoke, “I think he might be my Mate.”
The words left his mouth and didn’t feel like words anymore. They felt like a lock clicking shut.
He stared down at the coffee as if it might anchor him to something familiar, but the world felt subtly shifted.
Jasmine didn’t tease him. When he glanced over, her expression was sharp, searching.
“Melvin,” she said.
He shook his head, not disagreeing, just steadying himself. “I didn’t mean to say that.”
Even as he said it, he knew it wasn’t true.
He let out a slow breath. “I think it’s true.”
Something like wonder crossed her face before it settled into something sure. “Well,” she said, “that explains a lot.”
“What does?”
“The way you talked about him,” she said. “Even when you didn’t realize you were doing it.”
A small smile touched one corner of her mouth. “You don’t circle back to people like that unless they matter.”
Melvin looked down at his hands, the paper cup turning slowly between his fingers.
“When I finally got word he was coming,” he said, “it wasn’t excitement exactly. It was more like something in me stopped feeling off.”
He searched for the shape of it. “And when he walked through the door it felt normal. Like that was how things were supposed to be.”
Jasmine shook her head once. “That’s about as close to a textbook answer as you get without someone from the Council taking notes.”
A quiet laugh slipped out of him.
She bumped his shoulder with hers. “My brother ends up with his Mate and he turns out to be a wolf. I’m still wrapping my head around that part.”
Melvin smiled faintly.
After a beat, Jasmine’s voice softened. “You’re sure?”
Melvin took his time. “No. But I’ve never been this close to sure about anything.”
