Page 129 of UNAwere

Jude shakes his head. ‘Warner wants me here. And I wanna be here.’

‘Yeah, well, this can’t keep happening,’ she says. ‘You’re being reckless.’

His nostrils flare again, but he says nothing. I meet his eye one last time, but then Hannah pulls me through the house.

‘This is dangerous,’ she murmurs when we’re outside. We’re walking through the grounds, trees surrounding us on both sides. There’s a tennis court off to our right, and a swimming pool glitters in the morning sun up ahead. ‘Dumb luck for you two to find one another. Even dumber luck for it to be the situation it is.’

‘It’s definitely something,’ I agree.

‘Did you know?’ She glances at me, zipping up her parka. The morning is cold, and I hug my cardigan closer to me. ‘When you first saw Jude? Did you know right away what he was?’

‘No,’ I say honestly. ‘But I haven’t really ever been good at social cues. Plus, I’m Demi, so I don’t really do the whole “love at first sight” thing.’

She smiles. ‘But he’s your mate.’

‘Yeah, well, I guess when I first smelt him, I couldn’t understand why he smelt so good. And when I touched him for the first time, it was like my body knew. I thought I was going crazy. Things just felt so right with him, for no reason. But when it slipped that we were mates, it all made sense.’

I peer down at the yellow and orange leaves crunching under our feet. I spot a particularly crunchy-looking one and step out of my way to get it. It crushes under my sneaker with a crackling sound that makes me grin.

‘Cronchy.’

When I glance up at Hannah, she’s side-eyeing me, a bemused smile on her face.

‘You good?’

My cheeks heat. ‘Oh, sorry. Crunchy leaves are really satisfying.’

‘They are,’ she agrees. ‘My youngest, Aspen, is always running off to crunch them.’ She laughs under her breath. ‘It’s amusing to me how different you are to Jude.’

‘Different?’ I raise my brows at her.

‘Mm. He’s so stoic. Quiet. You’re…’ She glances at me. ‘Light.’

My chest squeezes a little at that word. ‘That’s… good?’

She laughs again. ‘Mhm. It is good.’

‘Jude’s light, too,’ I murmur, training my eyes back on my sneakers as we continue to walk. I think about the way he makes me feel, and the word “light” really fits.

‘He is,’ Hannah agrees. ‘But it takes a while to dig through all the guards to get to that side of him. But you’re so open, Sybbie. And accepting.’

‘Thanks.’ I shrug a shoulder. ‘My alpha used to get frustrated by my sensitivity. Not in, like, an outward way, but I could just tell. When I told him I didn’t want to be a fighter, I knew he was disappointed in me, even though he never told me outright. But I know it’s a strength, regardless of Luminaire Weres making me feel bad for it. I was able to be a really good sister to Maeve because of it. I don’t think I could’ve gotten through what I went through without my sensitivity and connection to my empathetic side.’

‘Probably not,’ she agrees. She stops walking and takes a breath, and I glance around at the small grove we’ve stopped in. It’s quiet, and bugs chirp in the brushes by our feet. The house is nowhere in sight, and the leaves hiss above our heads as a chill wind blows through. ‘This is where the ceremony will start.’

I start, eyes widening. ‘Oh.’

‘Weren’t expecting me to say that, were you?’ she asks.

‘No.’

‘I want you to be as prepared as possible,’ she says, keeping her eyes locked on mine. ‘It’s not fair that Warner does this to you without you knowing every detail first.’

‘Should I be worried…?’

‘No.’ She sighs. ‘Well… I don’t agree with it.’ She glances around, as if afraid someone might be listening to us. And then takes a step closer to me, reaching out and grasping my fingers. ‘Not just because you’re my brother’s mate, but because it’s wrong. It’s the twenty-first century, for fuck’s sake.’

‘You swear as much as Jude does,’ I say, smiling, but it drops from my face when she doesn’t return it.