He put his arms up in defense. “It’s a theory. But you’re the Matefinder. You have yet to start getting visions of mated couples because you haven’t found your mate yet. Now, these dreams in which you awake pretty hot and heavy–”
“Jaxon!” my father roared, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.
‘I’m gonna kill you.’I would throttle him later. He may have a longer reach, but I was more dominant and if I could take him to the ground, it was over. I was the wrestling champion of this pack; learned from the best: my mom.
‘I’m your protector, you can’t kill me.’He winked in typical Jax charm.
My mother was staring at me. “Jax might be right. Did he smell sick? Cancer? Who was he with? Did you get any feelings that he may be in danger?”
I groaned and leaned forward, letting my forehead rest on the table. “No, no one, and no. He was a human guy. That’s it.”
My mom put a cool hand on my back.
“Okay. Maybe we can see the witches about this.” Mom’s voice was calm, but I knew she was worried. It was kind of worrying when I stopped to think about it. The dream had been reoccurring for weeks now and the body heating up thing was weird. Always the same dream, except sometimes I felt like he looked right at me.
I shrugged. “Okay.”
I adored our coven but they didn’t usually like to get mixed in with the werewolf stuff. Twenty years ago, my father outed our race to the humans along with the vampires, but the witches managed to stay hidden. They didn’t mingle with our werewolf kind much anymore for fear of being found out. We had to go to spell casting and coven meetings in secret. Recently, Jax and I had taken our affinity test. I had an affinity for future sight, like my mom, and Jax was a powerful spell caster. Any spell he did was ten times more powerful than one I did. Lucky bastard. Seeing the witches about this was a good idea. It felt right, and maybe a dark witch was doing magic on me and this guy from my dreams didn’t even exist.
Then, my father said the unthinkable. “Maybe you should delay going off to college.” His posture, tight shoulders, sitting erect told me that he was going to stand firm.
My eyes widened, but my mother had my back before I could even protest.
“Kai, don’t you dare punish her for having visions! I will not stand for that.” She locked his gaze and her eyes went yellow.
Yes! Thank you, Mom! She knew what it was like to have this weird dream vision stuff. I shouldn’t have college taken away because of that.
He sighed but held her gaze, his own eyes turning the color of a sunflower. “How can we help her with this dream issue from two hours away?!” he roared, Alpha power oozing from his words and saturating our pack bonds. The air grew heavy, breathing became difficult, and I felt the urge to kneel.
My mother stood, crossing her arms over her chest, giving dad the stare down. “A phone! A car! Visits on the weekends.”
After a few more moments of intense staring, my father rolled his eyes, breaking away, leaving my mom short of breath and sweating.
“Fine,” he growled.
I knew they must have been having their own mate conversation in their heads.
Jax grinned.‘Mom is such a badass.’
I nodded in agreement. That was a close one. One day I was sure Mom would make him kneel. She wasn’t much for pack politics and didn’t enjoy the job of being Alpha and having to worry about everyone. But I could see it in her eyes; she could dominate Dad if needed. Mentally anyway, physically was another story. Even though my mom had a black belt, ran a domestic violence shelter and women’s self-defense class studio that now had four locations, Dad was stronger.
I knew my dad was just worried about me so I stood, setting my Chai on the table, and walked over to him. He was watching me in a calculated way, like I was a bomb about to explode with crazy Matefinder powers. Maybe I was.
I placed both of my hands on his shoulders and leveled his gaze. “Jax and I will be fine, Dad. How many other college juniors do you know of that have a black belt in karate, can shoot five types of guns, and can shift into a werewolf and rip someone’s head off.”
My dad’s eyes lit up as he laughed but all too soon his face become serious. “You still sleep with a silver stake under your bed, too, right?”
I chuckled. “And that.” We had found an awkward peace with the vampires ever since they kidnapped my mom and tried to use her blood to procreate. But that peace might end one day and Dad wanted us prepared.
Jax flexed his left bicep. “I think you are forgetting the most dangerous thing in your arsenal, sister.”
We all laughed as mom squeezed Jax’s arm, feigning in freight.
As I looked around the table, I felt a little sad. I would miss these random five o’clock Chai sessions with my crazy family. But damn, I was ready for some freedom.
‘Hells yeah,’Jax echoed my sentiments. The twin bond, sometimes he heard my loud thoughts even when I didn’t intend. I gave Jax a knowing smile.
“Twins,” my mom said, addressing us both in her favorite shared word. Why even give us separate names? “You might as well go get ready. Today is Devon’s annual remembrance.”
