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I don’t know who’s on the end of the line, but whatever is said makes Blue freeze. There’s a nervous scent that clings to him, tinged with a hint of confusion, but he doesn’t seem upset or angry, so I stay where I am on the sofa.

When I woke up this morning, my thoughts were so loud I thought they might disturb him. As if he could hear them rattling around inside my head while he slept beside me, exhausted from the last couple of days.

The heat had been unexpected, but Blue was everything I’d imagined and more. He’d been so good for me, taking my knot several times, while marking me as his with his cum, tears and kisses.

The obsession was in full bloom. I couldn’t get enough of him and that’s why I’d forced myself to come downstairs. I owed us both a little space to process and rest.

One thing had become clear as we’d come out of the heat haze together—I couldn’t do this job anymore. It was personal. I’ve seen my target naked, well, almost naked. There was something he was hiding under that T-shirt, but he didn’t want anyone to see. I wasn’t going to push those boundaries until he was ready. After all, when you thought about it, we were still strangers, even if my fox disagrees.

I should’ve recognized who he was to me, but my mind and my fox had been so out of tune with one another because of this job. Constantly being torn between doing what I felt was right and fulfilling my obligations was messing with my mind. I needed the money, but I wanted him.

It wasn’t until I was buried inside him that all the pieces clicked fully into place.

He was my Fated Mate.

I’d suspected it, and my fox had been convinced but until I’d knotted him there was still lingering doubt. He already occupied so many of my thoughts, I’m surprised I hadn’t figured it out sooner. Fated mates were rare. They were the ultimate daydream for most shifters, but in reality, the chances of finding your soulmate were so incredibly low that some people argued there was no such thing as Fated Mate. But there was no other way to describe what I’d experienced over the last four days.

I should be freaking out, panicking or overwhelmed with what was happening, but instead, there was a calm sort of acceptance. This was who I’d be waiting for. Blue Aubin was mine. There was a bond between us, and although it wasn’t fully in place, I could feel it. This link between us. A flowing of energy that made me feel like we were almost one.

I wanted to ask him about it this morning, but the hesitation in his eyes, the nervousness around me, told me that he hadn’t yet realized what we were to one another. My fox side bristles at this, wanting to claim, wanting my mate to know, but my human side is grateful. It gives me time to unpack the tangled web of deceit that I find myself wrapped up.

How am I gonna explain who I am and what I’m doing in Aurora Pines without destroying what's developing between us? Could I convince Abiel to stop this manhunt and leave Blue alone? Would I be able to keep him safe? How am I supposed to pay for my mother’s treatment without this job?

Sitting on his couch, I try to process all of these thoughts and feelings while also trying to come up with a plan where I can have a future with him without all the lies. I need time, space to think clearly and weigh up my options.

Fate must be on my side because, after his call, Blue approaches me cautiously, chewing on his bottom lip. My gaze is drawn to his neck and the marks I left on his skin. The feral, possessive part of my brain loves it.

“I’m so sorry, I need to take a shower and meet a friend. There’s been a...situation.”

“Can we talk about this–us–later?” He avoids my gaze, as if he’s guilty of something, although when I inhale, all I can pick up is traces of curiosity. Confusion still laces his usual crisp, fresh scent.

“Of course.” This unexpected perk of finding my mate, being able to more clearly pick up his emotions, makes me smile softly. “I’ll see you in The Antler tonight?”

Looking like a doe in the headlights, he blinks slowly and rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah. Yes. Probably.”

There’s something he’s hiding, but I don’t push. A lot has happened in the last couple of days.

Chuckling, I get to my feet and grab my bag. I found it on the doorstep where I must have dropped it last night. “Well, you, and the whole town, know where I am when you’re ready for that talk.”

Does this confidence come with knowing someone is your mate? Despite his hesitation, I know I’ll see him later. I know that we’ll handle whatever comes our way. I know it because, in the simplest terms, he’s mine and I am his. Our souls are entwined forever, whether he realizes it or not.

At the door, we exchange numbers and I pull him in for a kiss that’s indecent, continuing for far too long for a goodbye kiss, before taking my leave so he can shower and visit his friend. I hate leaving him, and I don’t get very far before I feel an urge to go back, but I push through.

Weaving between trees, feeling the dirt beneath my feet, I follow the edge of the lake back towards my truck. I say a silent prayer to the Goddess that Blue was so consumed with his heat, and the situation with his friend, that he never realized my truck wasn’t parked outside the cabin. Or that I’m not wearing any shoes.

Letting my bag fall onto the forest floor, I shift. My fox is ecstatic, excited to be in the woodlands again and since I have nothing else planned for today, I decide to spend the next couple of hours indulging that part of my nature. Working up a sweat running around, scenting the woods, digging a small den, I eventually go for a cold swim. It’s supposed to be spring, but apparently Aurora Pines was behind schedule as the swim makes my teeth chatter. I warm myself up chasing a young deer before I finally make my way back to my car and force another shift.

Still not quite ready to leave, I pull on my clothes and call my mother. It had been a few days since I’d checked in because of Blue’s heat. She picks after only two rings.

“If it isn’t my favorite son!” My mother’s cheery voice down the line instantly makes me grin.

Ettie Stirling was a fiery woman who raised four boys all on her own after my good-for-nothing father had vanished like a thief in the night with his latest squeeze. Her family had originally come from Wales, and even before the diagnosis, she lived life like she had no filter. Old age and illness hadn’t changed anything about that. It was the valley’s blood in her veins, she used to say.

“I heard that, old woman.” I can hear my brother Finn in the background, and I know I’m on speakerphone. Finn is the most practical Stirling sibling, and he’d often spend time while the girls were at school at my mother’s house. I'm sure his common sense and practicality has something to do with being a parent to a six-year-old and a two-year-old.

“You were supposed to,” she murmurs under her breath before raising her voice to say, “I have cancer, I’m allowed to say that.”

“You had cancer. You’re in remission, so try again.” Finn makes a huffing noise and I can just picture him now, standing there glaring at her with his arms crossed. He perfected the disapproving parent look, picking it up instantly when my niece was born.

“Fine. One of my favorite sons. Is that better?” Again, I can almost hear my mother roll her eyes as I picture them sitting out on her garden patio, which is where she likes to spend most of her days.

“Mam, are you giving Finn a hard time?” I snicker with mock disapproval.

My mother laughs. “Not at all. I’m just reminding him that I’m an adult, and not of his children.”

“Madddddd—she’s being a pain. Make her stop,” my brother pleads, making me grin even though I know they can’t see me.

“Oh! Tattling to your big brother.” She laughs and my heart feels lighter. She’s in safe hands while I’m in Aurora and that’s a huge weight off my mind. “Well...it’ll stop when I’m —”

“Don’t you dare say it.” Finn warns her, his tone sharp. My mother had never been the type of person to take things too seriously. She believed that was how you let life drag you down into the pits of despair. The rest of us struggled a little with that outlook.

Taking a deep breath, she pauses before spelling it out. “D.E.A.D.”

I can hear Finn cursing in the background as he carries on doing whatever he was doing.

“Stop being a menace.” I chide, tossing my head back with a chuckle. “You sound good Mam.”

“So do you.” There’s a knowing tone to her words. There was something about parents, in particular mothers of any gender, a sixth sense of sorts, where they just knew. They knew when you were naughty or lying or hurting. They were attuned to your feelings, as if you were still somehow a part of them. Some people speculated that more than just mating bonds, familial bonds, also existed, but there wasn’t much research on it.

“I haven’t said anything.”

“And yet I can still hear it.”

“Plus, you laughed,” my brother yells. Was my brother always this annoying? Or was I only just noticing it since we’d been apart for a few weeks?

“We’d almost forgotten what that sounds like.” My mother hums in agreement, and it’s like a sharp stinging pain across my skin.

Had I been that miserable and grumpy lately? I’d been so focused on supporting her through her illness that I had put my life almost on hold. How could I go out and have a good time while she was suffering? While my family had to rearrange their lives to accommodate this horrible thing that was outside of our control?

“So, who is she or he?”

“Or they.” Another interjection from Finn.

“His name is Blue.” I hesitate, not sure how much I’m ready to share, but also needing to talk to someone. There was so much push and pull threatening to drag me under.

“Oh, I like that. Like the sky on a sunny day.” My mother’s voice is soft and warm, and I already know that she would love Blue, and he would love her. She had that effect on people.

I think about the young man I’ve got to know over the last couple of weeks, deciding that sunshine and blue skies weren’t quite right when describing him. No, he was calmer, quieter. There was a confidence about him, an assuredness as he seemed to move through life, but I’d seen beyond that this morning when he’d been worried about me—about us.

“More like a cool, clear lake in the mountains.”

“Refreshing. Also, sometimes lonely.” Once again, she hits the nail on the head. I think some part of Blue is lonely, so whatever it is that’s stopping him from going back to his family and The Warren, well, it must be pretty big.

“Things are complicated,” I admit, scrubbing my face.

Even if I refused to finish this job, Abiel would just send someone else. He wasn’t going to let this go. I’d already ignored his calls again this week due to Blue’s heat, so no doubt he was getting anxious waiting to hear from me.

There’s a sadness in my mother’s voice, as she almost whispers, “Aren’t they always?”

She’d never given us the full rundown of what happened when my father left, but she didn’t need to—we knew enough. He’d never been a reliable man, always late home, forgetting to pay bills, forgetting to sign school permission slips or collect us from sports, vanishing at family events. He was a physically present (mostly), but emotionally absent father.

Raising four rowdy fox shifters had meant that after my father’s swift departure, my mother never really had time to fall in love again. When we teased her about dating, she’d joke that she had already found the loves of her life through us. I think that’s why we were all so fiercely protective of her. She’d given her life for us, repeatedly, and now it was our turn to return the favor.

“He’s 10 years younger than me. And we’ve only known each other for a couple of weeks.” I couldn’t exactly tell my mother that we’d probably spent more time fucking than we had talking.

Tapping on my steering wheel, I lean back with a sigh. “There’s also the issue that he’s the person I was sent here to find. But he doesn’t wanna be found and I don’t want to be the one to find him. Everything is all messed up.”

There’s quiet down the line before my brother finally speaks, sounding kinder and calmer than he had earlier. “Oh shit, Mad. What are you gonna do?”

“Does he know?”

Snorting, I close my eyes. “Obviously not.”

“Don’t you think starting there might be a good idea before he finds out from someone else?” My mother tuts, and I miss that noise and the way her eyes crinkle when she makes it. I miss them all. This case had taken me from home and across three different states before finally arriving in Aurora Pines. I hadn’t been home in six weeks or so.

As if he knows where my mind has gone, my brother asks, “Does that mean you’re not coming home?”

“I don’t know, nothing has gotten that far. I literally just left his cabin this morning.” From where my truck was parked, I could see across the lake, the water moving with soft ripples. It was a view I could get used to waking up to each day.

“Well, I can’t wait to meet him.”

“If he still wants me after this.” That was a reality I might have to face. I hadn’t claimed him, and he could still reject the mating bond if he wanted to. The thought of a broken bond makes me feel nauseous, like I’ve been punched and the air has been sucked out of my lungs.

“I’ve never heard you like this, Mad. It’s almost like your obsession with that little jewel thief.”

“Oh Goddess, I thought we agreed never to talk about Mad’s Ghost ever again?” Finn groans, and if I’d been there in person I would have smacked the back of his head or pinched his side. “I’m telling Arlo that you broke the pact and you need to put $10 in the jar.”

My brothers had spent years making fun of my case, calling The Ghost ‘The One Who Got Away’ as if there was some sort of romantic relationship between the notorious jewel thief and me.

What if I took work home and tried to use my free time to look for clues into his identity? Maybe I did spend my phone calls home to my family, looking for their thoughts on why someone would steal vintage diamonds. It was just a job. He was just a target. And I was just the officer assigned to catch him.

When I handed my notice in, it had grieved me that I hadn’t been able to close out the case and see it to the end. I’d tried to keep following along, but from the outside everything had gone quiet and for a while I’d struggled with that. It’s what led Arlo to impose a ‘Ghost ban’ where I had to put 20 dollars in a jar if I mentioned him, and the others had to cough up 10 dollars for triggering me if they were the ones to talk about him. I didn’t realize they even still had ‘The Ghost jar’, since it had been over a year since we’d talked about my vanishing thief.

“You're a right snitch today, aren’t you boy? Will you tell Kingsley I didn’t eat my peas at lunch too? Then you can all gripe at me. Can’t an old woman just be cantankerous these days?” I bet she’s frowning now, pulling her favorite pink oversized knitted cardigan tighter around her small frame while she grumbles.

“I don’t think that’s the right word, Mam,” my brother intones. “There are definitely several that are more suitable.”

Interrupting them before another round of bickering can break out, I blurt, “I think... I think he’s my Fated Mate.”

I was still coming to terms with it myself, freaking out if I lingered for too long on the knowledge that Blue was it for me. He was the one.

“What?!” My brother screeches loud enough that even I wince, several states over. “And you didn’t think to start with that?”

My mother is more reserved, sounding speculative. “Interesting. Now I want to meet him even more.”

“Of course you do.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Why wouldn’t a mother want to meet her favorite son’s new partner? Meet the future parent of her grandbabies? You know how much I want hordes of grandbabies.”

Finn huffs, and I can hear the hose being turned on. He must be watering the flower garden and her vegetable plot for her. “You already have grandbabies, you silly old woman.”

“I have beautiful grandchildren. But they’re not babies any longer.” Finn had found out he was expecting his second child not long after our mother’s diagnosis. He wouldn’t (or couldn’t) tell us who the father was. My nieces, Devon and Lottie, were a handful, at 2 and 6, but they were very much the joy my family needed when things felt dark. “They don’t have that new baby smell anymore.”

“Shit and milk?” Finn cackles, but a minute later I hear, “Oft!”

I’m willing to bet my mother has thrown her slipper at him. No one talks smack about her grandchildren, not even their parents.

“You know, I’ve never been to Aurora Pines before.”

Instantly I tense, not liking the speculative tone in her voice. “And you aren’t coming now.”

Things were already complicated. The last thing this whole volatile concoction needed was my mother added into the mix. Could you imagine? I shudder.

“Hmmm.”

“Don’t hmmm me, mother.” I warn, adding a hint of a growl to my voice. “Finn, don’t you dare let her book a flight.”

My traitorous brother says nothing, but I hear him chuckling away faintly.

After we end the call, I finally make the journey back to town. When I return to the apartment, there’s a message from Blue to say that he won’t be at The Antler today, so he’ll see me tomorrow. I hope whatever the situation is with his friend, is resolved soon. I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to keep away. There’s a building itch, a craving simmering beneath my skin, eager to see him again.

Reluctantly forcing myself to stay home, I grab a much-needed shower and a nap. I know heats are difficult for an omega, but they weren’t always easy for an alpha either.

A heat or a rut is much more than the need to breed, although that’s a huge part of it. Omegas release a pheromone that can drive an alpha partner wild if they don’t trigger a rut altogether. It’s not quite a rut, but it’s enough to make sure we’re just as affected as they are. We don’t stop until they do and while I knew Blue’s species had a prolonged mating period, I didn’t realize that his heats were as intense as the last four days had been.

In a species more like my own, the heat is less intense but lasts longer, usually around a full week. For a heat to end after only four days would usually mean pregnancy, but Blue was a different shifter breed, so I wasn’t entirely sure how it worked. In the heat of the moment, neither of us had actually thought about contraception or any form of protection. We were just desperate to touch, taste, and feel one another. I miss him already.

As I drift to sleep, the thought of having a baby with Blue makes my jaw unclench and my body relax, allowing me to fall into a peaceful sleep. Mine. Mate. Family.