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A flurry of activity passes by in a blur after the attack. Dawn shows up and takes me immediately to see the commander.

Slightly happy to get away from the four raging assholes, I wave Dawn off and make my way into the office where a large black desk overlooks the main campus.

A tall, built male has his back to me, his short, dark brown hair well-kept with not a strand out of place.

A female that looks only a few years older than me with short black hair walks in before shutting the door behind her. The male turns around as soon as she arrives, revealing a fake smile that doesn’t reach his dark green eyes.

“It’s nice to meet you, Sena. I’m Commander Talos.” His eyes flicker to the female. “And this is Sloane.”

Sloane dips her head to me and gives me a real smile. But one filled with apprehension.

“I heard you lost your memory,” Talos says while glancing through some papers on his desk.

“Yes,” I answer, trying to keep as much information to myself as possible.

He frowns. “Well, that’s unfortunate. But you’ve been settling in well?”

I glance at Sloane, wondering if he’s going to get to the point. “I have.”

“Good.” He finally glances up at me. “I want to apologize for the attack. We were testing the shield, and one came down. Unfortunately, those terrigons slipped past while it happened.” He works his face into what I’m guessing is compassion but everything about it is wrong, fake and overly exaggerated. “It won’t happen again.”

I feign a smile, playing along with whatever this is with the hope I can get out of here quickly. “Good to know.” Also nice to know that there’s a way for the shield to come down. Maybe I can work with that.

“Now onto the most obvious,” he says with a sigh. “You called on one of your companion’s weapons.”

“I didn’t mean to.” I glance between him and Sloane, wondering if that’s why I’m here and if I’m in trouble because of it.

Sloane steps forward. “It means you’re not a companion; you’re their mate.”

Ice fills my veins as I glance between them both. “I don’t understand.”

“A companion is a human female that is compatible with a male Shadow. They have a very small percentage of Shadow DNA. And although they can help ease the pull to the dark, they will never be able to fully help rid them of it,” she says.

“Whereas a mate can. Once fully bonded, a Shadow never needs to worry about the madness ever again.”

I shake my head, still not understanding what she’s trying to tell me. Because it sure as hell can’t be what I’m thinking.

Her expression grows gentle and patient. “A mate is another part of you. A part of your soul.”

Everything inside me freezes. “Wait. You’re saying those four…” I stop myself from saying assholes, getting way too used to the word when it comes to them. “You’re saying that they’re my soul… mates?”

I swallow hard, trying to wrap my mind around it. It was bad enough being stuck with those four until I figured a way out of here. But having them be my soul mates takes on a whole other problem.

“We haven’t seen one in nearly two decades.” She shares a look with Talos before glancing back at me. “And with four Elite is… extremely rare.”

“We will check in with you from time to time,” Talos says. “This is all very new to us too. So, we will figure it out as we go along.”

He waits for me to look at him before continuing his little spiel.

‘This is good thing, Sena,” he says as if trying to convince me. “For us all. Mates only make us stronger.”

Mates make them stronger. Now I’m not just a relaxer but a damn steroid.

I nod, holding back my biting words. “Can I go now?”

Talos smiles that fake smile again. But this times there’s an edge to it. A warning.

“Of course. You must want to get back to your mates. I’m sure you have a lot to talk about it.”

“Yes. Lots.” I mirror his smile with my own warning, ensuring he knows I’m not going to be playing by his rules anytime soon.

His smile only grows.

W alking toward the house feels like I’m walking to the gallows. Each step gets slower, more dragged out.

I should be angry. Furious that I have four dicks for soulmates.

How is this even possible? I’m not even a Shadow…

A memory of the attack in the forest and the light from my hands flashes across my memory, making me pause.

What was that? I glance down at my hands trying to find anything different, but they look the same as they have these past weeks.

Feeling stupid for standing here looking at my hands, I get moving and hope I can deal with whatever all this is after some sleep.

It’s late. Maybe I can bypass the four dicks and just head straight to bed.

But I open the door to find said dicks all waiting with scowls and glares directed right at me.

I guess that little plan went right out the window.

“How did you do it?” Knox demands.

So instead of dealing with their bullshit, I go for dark humor. “I summoned a demon and gave him my soul in turn for a trade. He obviously fucked me over on the deal though. But I suppose my soul wasn’t really that good to begin with.”

Malakai doesn’t seem to like my joke, growing more irate by the second. “Stop fucking around and tell us the truth.”

I throw my hands up. “What do you want me to tell you? I hadn’t a clue mates existed before Commander Talos pulled me into his office to explain. So how on earth would I ever know I was yours?”

“You did something,” Knox grits out. “You had to have. You can’t be our mate. There’s no way.”

The others nod, agreeing with him.

“I was left in the woods by four assholes that already knew I was exhausted and hungry. I then had to walk back alone in the dark and ended up getting ambushed by not one but two terrigons.” I glare at each of them as their anger slowly lessons and morphs into a myriad of frowns and confusion.

“Fuck you and your assumptions,” I tell them. “And for the record I don’t want to be your mate either.”

“Are you hurt?” Cyrus moves toward me, his eyes running over my face and body. I’d actually believe he cared if he hadn’t just fucked me over with the others. A second time.

I narrow my eyes on him. “Like you care.” I step around him and head straight up to my room, locking the door behind me.

It’s not until I’m showered and in bed do I realize that maybe they are right. Maybe I’m not their soulmate. Maybe it was the old Sena that was. And instead of feeling happy, something about it just leaves me feeling sad.