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The mystical nature of bonds became like a religion for some. So many studies had been performed and books written on the subject. It was in Fate’s hands, but from Ouija boards to magic creams, people loved to play with Fate, tempt it, even try to control it.

“Anyway,” I said. “Cambry will be all right. It felt like he was already bonded to someone else and I’d intruded. Maybe?”

“To another Omega?”

I nodded.

“The question is,” Kris said. “Will you be all right?”

When I didn’t answer, Kris said softly, “His name is Cambry?”

“Yeah.”

“I like it.”

If I wanted to have their honest opinions, I needed to be open. “I still scent him. I feel it like a conduit inside me, like a live pressure wanting to grow. But that will fade, won’t it?”

“Maybe.” Thorne drank more tea. “For you. If that’s what you want to believe.”

“This feeling is just a biological imperative, right? Surely, you don’t believe in the mumbo-jumbo stuff?” I asked.

Thorne looked at Kris, who raised his eyebrows but kept silent. “The pull to another? Maybe it’s only biology. In the beginning,” Throne said. “Everyone’s different. For me and Kris, it’s got some of that mumbo-jumbo you so revile. But you don’t have to believe it. Or act on it.”

“Right.” The pressure in my chest let up for a moment. “It’s chemical. The bond I felt opening between us just happened. Like on a brain chemical level. For no reason.”

Thorne let out a sputter of air. “As I said, if you want it to be for no reason, then that’s your truth.”

“I’m not looking—” I cleared my throat and started again. “I have you as my family. And Kris.”

Kris gave me a little salute and smiled.

“And our dads,” I continued, looking at my brother. Both lived far away but were loving and supportive of us and our choices. “Plus, my job. Like I said before, it’s enough for me.”

I heard my own voice in that moment with an altered perspective. It sounded hollow. Like I was reciting some speech I’d just come up with to get out of facing the feelings Cambry had given me.

“Then you’re all set. You’ve answered your own question,” Thorne said.

I pushed my hair back, rubbing my forehead. There was no sweat there. Yet. But the gesture was like wiping the cobwebs away. I blinked. My thoughts rambled. What was happening? Was Cambry different? Why? What might that mean for me? For him?

“I guess I haven’t answered my own question.”

“What did you really feel? Emotionally,” Thorne asked.

Time for the total reveal. “Whatever came over us, a bond or whatever you want to call it, wasn’t about wanting a family or buried dreams suddenly coming true. I wanted him. For my own. Permanently. Like the big bad Alpha I’m not.”

They both smiled.

“And maybe I’m asking… Is—is he my mate? Like really fated?” I looked from him to Kris again. “Is that really what you guys believe?”

They’d had such a difficult start with Kris’s family rejecting him, Thorne rescuing him and then… what? They developed something. Thorne, officially labeled a dangerous Alpha, went into one of his volatile Burns and Kris saw him through it without harm to either of them.

“Could Cambry be like it is with you two?” I looked back at Thorne. “You’re fated mates, obviously. The looks on both your faces tell me you believe it.”

Thorne shrugged. “For us it feels that way one hundred percent. Our bond is strong. But we worked on it, too. Especially with trust and vulnerability. It’s everything.”

Kris sat forward, addressing his mate. “But I was drawn to you from the moment you brought me into your house out of that winter freeze. Maybe it was meant, but all sorts of things got blown open inside me because you saved me.” He put his hand on Thorne’s shoulder.

“Like the big dangerous guy from a fairy tale rescuing the dying, runaway prince.”

We all laughed. Mine was more a nervous sound.

Kris continued. “Certainly, there were chemical releases happening all over my brain from everything I’d gone through with my own father, being locked away, and escaping here to Thorne’s place. That could have been a catalyst. Desperation and trauma open the mind and body to all possibilities.”

I shut my eyes, my mind going back to my short time with Cambry.

“You’re just confusing me, now. Our meeting was calm.

Cambry was calm, though nervous because it was his first time.

But nothing happened that was out of the ordinary.

Not for me. Except my reaction to him.” I shook my head.

“I’ve never felt that before. When he was wide open, I sensed that other presence, too.

When he regained his senses, I felt his shock and mortification.

I shut down fast. It was like cutting off a limb…

a psychic limb. Very jarring. I instantly came out of my Burn. It was no longer there.”

Thorne’s eyebrows narrowed. “Niro, do you want to explore this?”

I shrugged.

“You sound like you do,” he said.

“How would I? Cambry is locked up.”

“Go back to Zilly’s. Request him again.”

“I’d have to wait a month. Maybe two. My Burns are irregular.”

“You don’t have to wait one more day if you put a claim on him.”

“Yep,” Kris confirmed. “Alphas have all the rights. He has to date you if you demand it.”

“I could never claim someone I just met,” I said.

“That’s what dating is for,” Thorne replied.

“But it was me who shut him down. He won’t want to.” I hung my head.

“Doesn’t matter.” Thorne looked at Kris and rubbed his forearm as if in comfort. Kris had knowledge from both sides of the fence, Alpha and Omega. “It sucks for Omegas, but they have to do what their told. He can only protest if there has been violence or any threat to his well-being.”

“Something tells me he won’t,” Kris said. “Not if he felt the same thing you did.”

“Why would he be shy, then? Like he didn’t want me to see him.” I asked.

“Could be any reason. Maybe it’s the other guy you felt.” Thorne said. “Aren’t you curious?”

Of course, I was curious. I still reeled from my time with Cambry. Just talking about him made my blood run hot.

“Why would you hesitate to pursue this?” Thorne asked. “Because of your job? Is that really all you care about in your life?”

A defensive shield went up. “Well, for one thing, bro, my job is everything to me. You know that.”

Kris elbowed my brother. “That’s a very personal question bordering on judgement.”

Thorne lifted his shoulders. “He came to us to talk. I’m just talking. Can’t you have a job and a mate, too?”

I blinked hard. “Of course.” The words came out more like a soft question than a flat statement.

“Anyone can do it if it’s about a wonderful outcome like love.”

I pressed my lips tight. Love. Who had the time?

“What if he says no?” I asked.

“There it is,” Thorne said. “What are you afraid of? Rejection? That doesn’t sound like you.”

“I know, but this feels different. Important.”

“Important.” Kris echoed. “That’s a green light. Always.”

I couldn’t disagree. Somewhere in this conversation, I’d made up my mind to look into this more. I wasn’t sure when or how, but my next words proved I would do it.

“Okay, so what do I do next?”

We spent the next hour over dinner talking about my next moves and looking up Zilly’s dating/claim requirements online. Thorne and Kris kindly helped me work out a plan. I could have done it all myself, but their encouragement was something I needed when I worried I wasn’t thinking straight.

Every time I thought of Cambry my stomach went into my throat. It was as if I was watching a big wave at sea headed straight toward me and I didn’t know whether to dodge, run or dive in trusting I’d come out on the other side.

Thorne and Kris were a steadying force. I was grateful for their help. Which was why I said yes when they invited me to stay for dinner.