Page 15 of Ronen (Sweet Alps Legacy #1)

Chapter Eleven

Mason

Drumming my fingers across my bare thigh, I waited impatiently for my brother to pick up his phone.

Hank had shown up at the hospital to check in on me shortly after Jamie Sinclair had disappeared from my room. No lie, one second the man had been there, and then I had blinked, and he was literally gone.

Hank had driven me home and helped me get inside and settled.

Once he had left, after assuring me that Ronen had not pushed me, I had managed to change out of my clothes, pulling on a pair of green and blue plaid sleep shorts and a navy T-shirt.

Exhaustion from the day–and the night before with Cinnamon–plus the pain had me opting for comfort over style.

The boot on my ankle was a nuisance, as was maneuvering around on the broken bone.

The hospital had sent me home with a pair of crutches, but after two steps I had tossed them in a corner.

They were awful, pinching into my armpits, and slowing me down.

I could limp along well enough in just the boot for the next day or two, as long as I didn’t put too much weight on it. Then I could ditch the thing entirely.

It was a relief to have confirmation that Ronen hadn’t pushed me. I hadn’t really thought he had when I had accused him, but I was sure I had felt someone’s hands on me, just before I had fallen.

Hank had told me that he had not only spoken to Ronen, but also the witnesses, and reviewed the security footage from the camera I knew was located at the front of the library.

No one had been behind me, or even around me. It was nothing more than a simple case of me tripping, possibly due to my exhaustion from being up all night. But the feeling of cold hands touching my back lingered like the remnants of a bad dream.

Sinking into the soft sofa cushions of my couch, I propped my leg on my coffee table, breathing a sigh of relief at getting off of it.

Pointing the remote at the television, I turned it on, then muted it. I needed to make some calls before I could try to relax and maybe get some sleep. When I had changed clothes, I had reluctantly downed a couple ibuprofen, hoping they didn’t make me too loopy.

Hank had been kind enough to remind me of my off key singing about Ronen and me kissing, and I had promptly told him he was fired. He’d laughed heartily, said he’d check on me tomorrow, and honked his horn as he’d driven away. Asshole.

I really hoped I hadn’t been singing for anyone to hear, since I knew I couldn’t carry a tune to save my life. The only people who remotely appreciated my efforts were my animals, and even they balked at times .

Shooting off a quick text to Micah Hawkins, the teenage kid that lived on the next farm over, I briefly explained about my accident and asked if he had time to stop by and feed and water the animals for me. He said he’d be over shortly, and I was relieved my babies would be taken care of.

Hobbling into the kitchen, I grabbed a bottle of water, before slowly making my way back to my sofa.

Sweat was pouring off me by the time I managed to get myself and my leg situated once again. I knew the pain would be ten times better by tomorrow–I could already feel the bones knitting back together–but right now my heartbeat throbbed in my leg, and I was cursing my metabolism.

Pain pills–the strong kind–seemed like a real good idea about now, even if they did make me goofy.

Taking a drink, I thumbed over my contacts, until I found my brother’s name. It rang three times before connecting.

“How’s it hanging, Po Po?” Connor’s deep voice, laced with laughter, asked.

“You’re so not funny,” I told him dryly, leaning to put the bottle on the table.

“I’m fucking hilarious, and you know it!” he chortled, while I just shook my head. “What’s up little brother?”

“Where are you? Can you talk?”

“I’m watching Dad try to break a pretty little filly we just got,” Connor told me, and I could hear the sounds of ranch hands cheering in the background. “She’s not impressed at all. Papa, as usual, is pretending he’s not watching from the back door. Oof, Dad just hit the dirt.”

“When is he going to realize he’s getting too old to be on the back of unbroken horses?” I asked, staring morosely at the boot on my foot, and feeling just a bit sorry for myself .

I hated not being able to move around freely. Though I was thankful it was only for a few days and not six to eight weeks, like a human. I would lose my fucking mind if I had to wait that long to heal.

“Oh, probably when he’s dead,” Connor joked, but we both knew that was closer to the truth than not. Dad was a fourth generation rancher; it was in his blood, and he was happiest on the back of a horse. “Now, what’s up? You don’t usually randomly call me at…four in the afternoon.”

“Something’s happened and I need your advice,” I told him quietly, stretching to pick up the bottle of water I had just sat on the table.

My hands needed something to do, so I started picking at the label.

“You okay?” His voice turned serious, and I heard his concern.

“I had a bit of a tiny accident today.” I relayed the events of the day, starting with Cinnamon birthing her twins, the argument with Ronen, and me tripping and falling down the stairs. “Hank said I was singing about kissing Ronen,” I finished, not able to keep the horror out of my voice.

“Goddess, you’ll need to pay people hazard pay if they had to be subjected to your wailing,” Connor gasped, laughing at the day I had had.

“We can’t all be choir boys,” I told him, “and thanks for laughing at my pain, asshole.”

“It’s not my fault I have a voice like an angel. Like you wouldn’t be laughing your ass off if it was me all this had happened to. I am sorry about the ankle though. They didn’t cast it, did they. ”

“Naw, a boot. I woke up from the pain meds in time to stop them. That’s not why I called though.”

“You mean you didn’t call to have me laugh at you? That’s disappointing.”

“Shut it. This is serious.”

“I’m listening. Hold on,” he put the phone away from his mouth to shout, “You just planning to eat dirt for dinner, old man? Shit, Papa’s coming! You’d better look like you are in one piece before he gets here!”

Laying my head back on the couch, I stared up at the water spot on the ceiling I needed to deal with at some point. “He okay?”

“He’s fine,” Connor said, “You know how tough he is. I don’t know why Papa even gets so upset. Even if he wasn’t fine, he soon would be. Now, I’m all yours. You have my undivided attention.”

Taking a deep breath, I whispered, “I want to tell Ronen what I am.”

Silence met my confession, and I waited for my brother to say something. Anything.

“I’m going somewhere away from the crowd,” Connor spoke quietly, and I could hear his boots crunching as he walked away from the corral.

I could almost see it in my mind; the corral, the ranch house, the barn and outbuildings. I missed it, but not enough to go back for more than a yearly visit.

I loved horses, and the land, but I was never meant to be a horse breeder. Being a cop had been my dream since I was five years old, much to my parents’ disappointment.

Thankfully, Connor was as horse crazy as our dad and was happy to carry on the legacy .

“Okay, I’m in the barn,” Connor said, “Just me and the horses. And what the actual fuck, Mason? You can’t reveal yourself to anyone but your true mate. You know that. Them's the rules.”

None of us really knew who had made up the rules. Just that they had been passed down from generation to generation, for hundreds–possibly thousands–of years.

“About that,” I tempted wiggling my toes in the boot and then thought better of. Much better to just stare up at my water-stained ceiling. “Something happened during my fall. Well, after it. I…found my fated mate.”

The stunned silence that followed my admission had me on edge, before Connor exclaimed, “Ohhh my Goddess! It’s Ronen, the librarian you are always going on about, isn’t it? Is Ronen your true mate?! Holy fuck, Mason! That’s incredible!”

“True mate, fated mate,” I sighed, “whatever you want to call it, he is. We are. Yeah.”

“Well, that changes everything then,” Connor declared, matter-of-factly. “You can tell him if he’s your true mate.”

“Problem is, I’m not sure he wants to even acknowledge the fact,” I sighed, peeling off half the label on my water. “He doesn’t even like me. Like, not at all.”

“Mmmm,” Connor hummed in my ear, “I don’t know about that. From what you’ve told me about your interactions, I think he might. It’s like…what do they call it in those romance books you read? Enemies-to-lovers? Maybe opposites attract? Hate sex?”

“We aren’t any of that,” I rolled my eyes. “We definitely aren’t the last thing. Well, okay, we are opposites for sure.”

“How is it you guys didn’t know this before today?

” Connor wanted to know. “You like see him practically every day, don’t you?

I mean, you’ve had a massive crush since the first day you saw him.

It’s always Ronen this and Ronen that. Blah, it’s like we were in high school again, listening to you go on about some omega that caught your eye. ”

“We’ve never actually touched before today,” I confessed.

In between getting the boot on my foot, and the time it took for the hospital to discharge me, I’d had more than enough time to sort that answer out.

“He waits until someone puts their books on the counter, scoots them over to himself, then scoots them back. He never touches anyone. At first, I thought it was just me he did it to, but today I realized he does it to everyone.”

“Library books probably have a shit ton of germs on them,” Connor said, “I mean, when you think about it. All kinds of people are touching them, coughing and sneezing, and who knows what else on them. Gross. I’m switching to eBooks from now on. Thanks for making me think these thoughts.”

“You probably don’t want me to tell you how dirty digital devices get.

Think about your cell phone,” I smiled when I heard his gasped outrage of ick.

Man, I did like fucking with Connor’s head sometimes.

“Today, when I fell, he came running down the steps and he touched me. I think he might have been trying to comfort me.”

Which was shocking and sweet at the same time.

“And that’s when you knew?”

“Yeah,” I breathed the word out, making it longer than it was.

“It was…indescribable. Even through the blinding pain, I knew what it was. It was like…my entire world shifted beneath me, but when it stopped moving, it was just so right. Something had changed inside me. I felt more…alive, but also calmer? More at peace. Like I just knew my world was right, somehow. It’s hard to explain. ”

“And you don’t think he felt the same thing?” Connor questioned, and I heard the shuffling of horse’s hooves through the phone, their quiet nays and snickers.

“He didn’t come to the hospital to even see how I was,” I sighed, feeling sorry for myself.

“He hasn’t even called or sent a text. Nothing.

Radio silence. And I really like him, Connor.

He’s so…beautiful, but not in a conventional way.

His hair is always a mess, like he can’t be bothered to care enough to brush it.

It’s perpetual bedhead and mayhem on top of his head, all the time.

He’s always got every button of his shirts and cuffs buttoned up tight, like he’s super prim and proper.

And he’s sharp tongued and snippy, all the time, but he’s smart.

Really smart. The type where you can just tell someone is smarter than everyone in the room, ya know.

And he has a sarcastic, dry sense of humor.

But today, oh today! I forgot! Oh my Goddess!

” I exclaimed, nearly sitting up on the couch in my excitement.

“He had the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows, and the top two buttons of his shirt undone and open, and Connor!”

“What?” my brother exclaimed, joining in my excitement.

“He has fucking tattoos!” I almost shrieked the words, because how could I have forgotten that tiny tidbit of important information about Ronen. “A lot of tattoos from what I could see. His arms were covered, and there was one peeking out on his chest. I think that was a wolf.”

“Oh boy,” Connor whistled, “well, that’s your catnip. No wonder you’re gone on this guy. Maybe you somehow knew what he was hiding under his clothes.”

“No shit, I guess Fate does know what she’s doing.” I took another swallow of my water, my mouth suddenly dry. “It’s like he puts on this front for the world to see, all buttoned up, fussy and grumpy, but underneath there’s a…a… ”

Connor laughed, “A tattooed bad boy?”

“I don’t know, maybe? But I’d sure like to find out. He just does it for me.”

“Oh, I’m aware. I feel like I know the guy already, you go on about him so fucking much.”

“I just wish I knew how he feels about us being fated,” I lamented quietly.

“Maybe he just needs a minute,” Connor’s voice turned serious.

“I mean, I think finding out the guy you’ve been giving a hard time to, for how long now?

Over a year? Is your fated mate…that might fuck with your head, ya know?

But Mason, just be careful, okay? I don’t think you should show him your…

” he hesitated, likely checking to see if anyone might be within earshot, “animal until you are both sure about what you want. You need to be able to trust him. If our secret got out…”

He didn’t need to finish his sentence or issue the warning.

“I know,” I whispered. “I just thought if I showed him…I don’t know…but, you’re right. Ronen and I need to talk before I make any rash decisions where my dragon is concerned.”

“Yeah, you do.”

“Thanks for listening, Connor,” I yawned, covering my mouth. “Sorry, I need some sleep, and I think the ibuprofen might be kicking in.”

“Take care of yourself,” Connor ordered, before asking, “Am I to share any of this with the ‘rents?”

“Um,” I hesitated, nibbling on my bottom lip. “Just the parts about Cinnamon and her babies, and me falling. Make sure they know I’m fine! But the rest, I’ll tell them once Ronen and I have had a chance to talk.”

And if we decided we weren’t going to pursue anything further between us, I might not tell my parents at all.

They longed for the day Connor and I found our own mates, hoping we would be as happy as they were, and I didn’t want to have to see the disappointment in their eyes if Ronen decided to walk away.

Because I had no plans on walking away, if I could help it.

Ronen Sinclair was my mate, and I intended to be the best alpha I could be for him.