Evolution’s chosen mate

Chapter 15

Lisa

A tear slipped down my cheek. “I’m sorry, Lace. I know this makes everything harder for you. I told him it doesn’t matter how we feel or if there is a mate bond or not. This can never happen again.”

Rowan’s face dropped, a growl slipping through his lips in frustration. “No, Lis. You do not need to worry about how this affects me. He is your mate and, as someone who tried, that’s not an easy bond to fight. I would never want you to and miss out on a love like Fin and I have. We will figure it out.”

I hiccuped, trying to keep the sobs pressing against my throat from escaping. “How? You know the council would never allow it.”

Lacey sighed. “I know the elders won’t like it, but a chunk of the council is in this room right now,” Lacey said, pointing between her, Sydney, and myself.

“We will figure out a way to tell the elders. We just have to be smart about it, make them feel like it’s their idea, and if we can get the whole council to present it then it will be a whole lot easier to get the pack and coven to agree.”

Lacey explained and I could already see the wheels turning in her mind behind her eyes.

“You just have to be careful until then. Do not let anyone else find out about you guys or that fated mate bonds are happening between witches and wolves. Hell, maybe it’s happening to others and we can find more cross species mate bonds.”

Sydney nodded quickly along with Rowan. “Yeah, if we find them then if the elders push back too hard we can push it as something that is already happening, the goddesses pushing evolution and even the elders answer to the gods’ will, and if they don’t then the packs and covens will turn against them.”

Rowan mused, a smirk forming on his face. “That is absolutely brilliant,” he added, looking between the three of us.

“Well that wasn’t exactly what I was saying, but it will probably work,” Lacey added with a shrug, her own smile forming.

“See, Lisa, we will find a way.” Sydney’s voice was filled with hope that I couldn’t help but feel myself, and that scared me more. If I let the hope build, if I imagined sharing my future with the mate I had always dreamed of and then it was ripped away, then I don’t know if I would ever recover and I am almost certain Lucille never would.

More tears slipped from my eyes at the thought, then suddenly Rowan was right there, his hand reaching for me and landing on my cheek. He looked into my eyes, his own filled with unfallen tears.

“Whatever you are thinking, never think it again. Nothing has to be decided right now, but we will get through everything together and if I feel that kind of devastation through the bond again, I will find you, mark you, and say to hell with all of the politics.”

My breath caught at the intensity in his voice. There was no teasing left in it now, none of the cocky amusement he usually carried around so easily. Every word sounded like a promise he fully intended to keep.

Lucille surged forward in my mind at the mention of him marking us, warmth spreading through my chest so quickly it almost hurt. The bond pulsed hard between us, tugging me closer until I didn’t even realize I had stepped into him until his hand slid around my waist automatically.

“You can’t just threaten me with life altering decisions every time I get upset,” I muttered weakly, trying to regain some sort of control over myself.

A small smile tugged at Rowan’s lips. “Sure I can.”

Sydney gagged dramatically from across the room. “Okay, wow. You two are disgustingly bonded already.”

Lacey snorted softly beside her. “Honestly it’s kind of adorable.”

I groaned immediately. “Please stop talking about me like I’m not standing right here.”

“Oh no,” Sydney said quickly, pointing toward Rowan. “I’m definitely talking about him too. The Rowan I know would usually be halfway out the window by now if emotions got involved.”

Rowan rolled his eyes. “That is not true.”

Sydney and Lacey both just stared at him.

He sighed. “Fine. Maybe a little true.”

Despite everything, a small laugh escaped me, the sound surprising even myself. Rowan’s eyes immediately snapped back to me, something soft flashing across his face at the sound.

That look alone made my stomach flip.

Dangerous.

Everything about this felt dangerous.

Not just because of the council or the coven or the packs, but because I could already feel myself falling too fast. Like every second around him only tightened the bond further until I wasn’t sure where it ended and where I began.

Lacey’s expression softened as she watched me. “Hey,” she said quietly, stepping closer. “You don’t have to carry all of this alone, okay? You spent years helping me survive everything thrown at me. Let us help you now.”

Fresh tears burned my eyes instantly.

Goddess, I was emotional today.

“I just…” My voice cracked and I looked away. “I spent so long convincing myself I would never get this. Most people don’t anymore. I accepted it. I built my whole life around the idea that I would just focus on work and helping everyone else and be okay with that.”

My hand pressed lightly against my chest where the bond ached warmly.

“And then he just shows up.”

The room fell quiet.

Because they all understood what I meant.

Fated mates were rare now. Painfully rare. Entire generations were growing up without finding theirs at all, settling into chosen bonds instead because there simply weren’t enough people left after the war.

But somehow mine had found me.

And somehow it was impossible.

Rowan’s fingers tilted my chin gently until I looked back at him. “Maybe impossible just means nobody has done it yet.”

My chest tightened painfully at those words.

Sydney pointed at him immediately. “See? That. That right there is why she’s screwed.”

I laughed through the tears still clinging to my face and Rowan looked entirely too pleased with himself for managing it.

A knock suddenly sounded somewhere farther down the hall outside the room, followed by muffled voices drifting through the palace.

Lacey’s expression shifted immediately, all warmth fading as alertness settled into her features.

“The elders are looking for us,” she muttered.

The tension instantly returned.

Reality crashing back in.

Sydney sighed heavily. “That means we need to leave before someone notices all four of us disappeared together.”

“And before someone notices Lisa and Rowan looking at each other like that,” Lacey added.

I blinked. “Looking like what?”

Neither of them answered.

Which honestly answered enough.

Rowan’s thumb brushed lightly against my waist before he stepped back, though I could feel reluctance through the bond as clearly as if it were my own.

“We should probably avoid being seen alone together for a little while,” he admitted reluctantly.

My stomach twisted painfully at the idea.

Lucille whined loudly in my mind.

“But,” Rowan added, his glowing green eyes locking onto mine again, “that doesn’t mean I’m going anywhere.”

And somehow, despite everything stacked against us, those words planted just enough hope in my chest to terrify me all over again.