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I looked at Theo. His lips were moving and he was no longer speaking about business but heaping praise upon me.

“Theo, come home, I want you here,” I said and closed my eyes.

“I will be there tomorrow, sunshine.”

I scrunched my brows.

“Isn’t sunshine bad for you? Don’t wanna be sunshine...” I mumbled.

“Sweetcakes, then,” Theo laughed.

Cakes were good. Something the vampires didn’t need but wanted anyway. Something like me. I nodded in approval while Tristan pulled out of me then scooped me in his arms. I curled into him and I was asleep even before he set me down on his bed.

Chapter Twenty-five

Theo

While all three of us tried not to act completely nocturnal we preferred to get up around noon so it was pretty normal to find Victoria already up before us. I staggered into the kitchen to find Vic fiddling nervously with the fresh fruits in the bowl on the table. At least she let me drown myself in sweet, sweet coffee before she pushed the wrapped gift towards me.

“For you. Remember you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to!” She stood up and leaned forward, bracing herself on the table and the white, bold letters spelling ‘MATE’ on the solid blue backdrop of her t-shirt caught my attention. “I will leave you to it! Bye!”

She was gone before I could even react. I poked the innocent package with a fork but when that, predictably, didn’t reveal any answers, I swallowed thickly and reached for the bow. Just as I thought, it was something connected to the ‘less conventional methods’ Vic wanted to try. The moment I saw fabric I had to swallow nausea but I pushed through. Somehow, her choice ofleaving me alone with the package, giving me a space to think, helped with this.

With one fast motion, I opened the packaging completely and revealed what was inside.

A t-shirt.

With the word ‘SOUL’ on the front. The fabric was the same blue Victoria wore. My hand froze when the realization struck me.

Soul. Mate.

Soulmate.

It wasn’t just a t-shirt. It was acouple’s shirtand even more than that: it was Victoria’s first acknowledgment we were indeed soulmates. A concept she refused to believe just a week ago.

How could I not wear it, when it was a physical manifestation of the bond between us?

Taking off the shirt I wore was the easiest part but when I reached for the new one my hands shook.Soulmate, I chanted in my head.Soulmate. She wants us to be connected. She is giving me something Matthias and Tristan would love but this is for me. Just for me.

When the blue fabric slid over my head I had to give myself fifteen minutes to just breathe but when I stood up after that and made my way to find Victoria there was a thrum of exhilaration in my chest.

I found Vic in the reading room, cozied up with a book. When she saw me in the shirt she gasped and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug. Then she positioned herself to my left and beamed.

“Soul, mate. Soulmate!” She pointed between the words as if I could miss that. “Do you like it?”

To my surprise, I found out... I did.

Victoria beamed at my nod.

“Should we show our matching shirts to the boys?” she asked and I balked.

I shook my head. I wasn’t ready to be shown to anyone, even Tristan and Theo.

“That’s alright,” Victoria cooed. “Let’s keep this between us, then. Hey, have you read this book? Because I have to tell you, you are missing out if you haven’t. It’s a biography of acatand it’s hilarious.”

It was easy to let myself be distracted by Victoria describing her newest read and to settle with her in one of the reading nooks.

The first step in my unconventional therapy was a success.