He Will Be Mine (New Horizon Book 1)

We Need to Talk

Matt

As we start getting closer to Aly’s, some of the landmarks and scenery are looking familiar. Each mile seems to drive my anxiety up that much more. I’m excited to be coming home with her, of course. It’s something I’ve been wanting since the summer, since the moment when she told me that I’d have to trust her with my van because she couldn’t let us remain on the property. It made me curious, but more than that, it made me want to get close to her so she could let me in. It killed me when I found out Tyler was invited here for Thanksgiving, and then again when he started bragging about coming back over winter break.

Well, now I’m in the inner circle, and I have mixed feelings about it. “Be careful what you wish for” comes to mind. I wanted this so badly, but it comes at the cost of learning that some people really can turn into wolves, and my uncle really is one of them. So is Aly. Beautiful, perfect Aly … is also a big, black wolf. It’s not that I find that aversive; I think I’m just still a little in shock about it, and I don’t really know what to expect. Aly doesn’t bother me, but the idea that her dad can also do that kind of terrifies me. He’s frightening when he looks human.

I guess I zone out thinking about it because I don’t notice when Tyler turns the car into her driveway, and we start making our way past the area near the highway where I’ve been before. Next thing I know, the car is stopped and we’re not really anywhere yet. Just parked on the driveway back a bit farther into the woods. Though I don’t know what’s going on, I follow their lead and get out of the car.

“Looked like we were losing you back there,” Aly teases, her face smiling but her expression concerned. “I thought maybe you’d appreciate walking with me so we can take our time and talk.”

“What about the car?” I ask, still not understanding exactly what’s going on.

“Tyler is going to drive it up to the house and we’ll join him later.”

I still just stand there blinking at her, so she adds, “Babe, come with me,” as she reaches for my arm.

A thrilling, tingling sensation shoots up my spine and through my limbs when I hear her call me that. She’s never done that before, and I realize by the look on her face that it surprises her as much as me. It seemed to just slip out naturally, which is what makes it feel even better. I glance at Tyler to see if he noticed, and I think he did. I can’t read how he feels about it, though. I hope it isn’t going to cause problems between us, but I’m also not sorry about it.

He reaches out for a side-hug from Aly and pats me on the side of my shoulder, then turns to get back in the car.

“See you guys in a bit,” he calls out before he shuts the door.

After we watch him pull away, Aly turns to look up at me.

“So, Tyler and I were talking, and he pointed out something I hadn’t considered. There’s another thing I need to tell you, and it needs to come from me. I don’t want to take the chance that my parents will blurt it out before I do. But first, I need to know something.”

“Uh, okay,” I respond, feeling all kinds of things at once. Scared mostly, because I don’t know if I can handle any more big secrets, but also curious, wondering what she wants to know and how anything I have to say could be important enough to keep her from telling me whatever it is she needs to.

“I know the timing of this is terrible for you, because of the whole thing with Jess, but I’m just wondering how you feel. About me, I mean. Like, if at some point in the future when your heart is a bit more healed, would you want to be with me? In a serious capacity, I mean? It’s just -”

I realize she is going to just keep rambling if I let her, because the question she had for me has already been asked. She just for whatever reason feels a need to keep trying to explain it, I guess because she feels uncomfortable about the recency of my breakup with Jess.

So, I do the thing I’ve been dying to do, the thing I thought I couldn’t because it would be disrespectful to Tyler when he has been so good to me. I kiss her, not even worrying about the fact that we’re in the middle of the woods by her house, which probably means we’re surrounded by werewolves, one of which might be her dad.

I lean down, cupping her face in both of my hands, and smash my lips into hers, stealing the rest of the words from her. I only hope it conveys everything I feel, because I know if I try to use my words to say it all, I’ll ramble and trip over myself so much worse than she was doing.

“So, yes?” she says once we pull apart, both of us breathless, and we laugh at that.

“Yeah, of course, yes!” I enthuse, still laughing. It’s a happy, euphoric, but also incredibly nervous sort of laugh. I’m sure that to her I sound insane.

“But what about Tyler?” I wonder after a moment.

“Yeah, there’s a whole conversation we all need to have, but we can do that later. I just needed to know because I’m tossing around ideas in my head about what it is I truly want, and you’re a big part of that decision. I need to tell you the truth about what you are to me. How I go about telling you depends on what it will mean to you, so … ah, screw it. I’m just rambling and stalling again.”

She takes a breath, shaking out her arms seeming to try to shake off her nerves.

I’m pretty confused at this point. I can sense that she’s trying to work up the nerve to tell me something pretty important, but the way she’s doing it is making it hard for me to resist the urge to just start asking questions and demanding answers.

What do you mean what I am to you? What big decision are you making? Are you saying you’re thinking about breaking up with Tyler? Why are we doing this now? But I don’t ask anything, not yet.

Instead, I reach out and take her hand to pull her close to my side. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and lean down to kiss the top of her head as we slowly stroll in the direction of her house. I see what might be a little house a little way up the driveway from us, and then I realize there are a couple others. I start to wonder if it’s more of a private road than a driveway. Is one of these houses Aly’s? But there’s no sign of Tyler yet.

She relaxes against me, winding her arm around my back, and I feel her start to pull me in a different direction than the way we’ve been headed. Now we’re headed away from the houses we were just approaching. I decide I’m just going to trust that Aly knows what she’s doing and where she’s going.

“What do you think about the concept of soulmates?” she asks me after she has been quiet for a few moments, the two of us slowly strolling in this new direction.

God, I hope this conversation is headed the way I think it is.

“I think you might be mine,” I tease, and then immediately feel stupid because that was such a corny line. I feel the familiar heat in my face and know I’m probably blushing.

She looks up at me with an expression that is a mix of surprise and amusement, her smile a bit lopsided.

“What if I told you that you’re right about that?” she asks now, gazing at me expectantly.

“I’d say that we’re the worst at flirting. I’m sorry, I know you were probably hoping for a more intelligent response than that god-awful line I gave you. I didn’t mean to ruin whatever point you were making, but to answer your question, I mean, yeah I want soulmates to be a real thing. I love the idea of there being someone out there who is made just for me, who would make my life complete. I go back and forth on whether I believe it’s possible, though. Trevor tells me it all comes down to chemical compatibility, electrical impulses, and hormones and stuff. He says it’s biology, not mysticism.”

“Why can’t it be both? Why can’t part of being made for each other mean having just the right biology for each other?”

“Yeah, I mean that’s a good point that I wish I would have thought of any of the times I’ve argued it with Trevor,” I laugh, catching myself doing that stupid thing I do where I scratch my neck when I’m feeling nervous or awkward. “So, I take it you’re a believer, then.”

The idea that she thinks of relationships the way I do makes my heart race and my palms a little sweaty. It’s exciting and overwhelming all at once. There’s only one reason I can think of why we’d be talking about this, and that is that she feels the same about me as I do her.

“Absolutely, but it’s more than that. Mates are sacred and special to werewolves. They’re kind of a blend of mating like all kinds of animals do with the concept of soulmates, and then add in the influence of fate and destiny and a higher power at work bringing it all together, and you basically arrive at the werewolf concept of mates. It’s a big deal, in other words, and we take it pretty seriously.”

“Oh,” is all I can think of to say to that. All of what she just said makes my head spin. What is she even telling me right now?

“Yeah, so, all werewolves have a mate, and they’re linked together at birth, literally destined to be together. When they meet, there’s this sense of some greater force that pulls them together. The more time they spend together, the stronger that pull and the bond between them gets. They’re selected for each other because they’re each a perfect complement to the other, balancing each other out, challenging each other to become their best selves, and just naturally belonging together. Being with your mate just feels good, and right.”

“That sounds incredible,” I tell her honestly. Assuming this isn’t just some romanticized fairy tale that they tell their children and it’s a real thing they get to experience, I’m actually a bit jealous.

“Have you met your mate yet?” I ask, dreading the answer. It sounds so perfect. There’s no way I can compete with that.

“I have. I first found him when I was 16,” she admits, looking up at me expectantly.

She has this little smirk that I can’t quite figure out. It’s kind of teasing, kind of flirty. I like it, but I also hate it. It’s almost rubbing it in my face.

Oh wait. I think I get it. She’s telling me this now because her mate is waiting at home, and she wanted me to know before I get blindsided by it. Tyler must know already which is why she sent him on ahead. But how is he okay with that? I guess because she’s not committed to the guy. I guess it also makes sense now why she could never commit to Tyler, either.

Then I remember that this conversation started with her asking how I felt, and she said something about what I want factoring into her decision. Is she considering choosing me over her mate? I feel dizzy and physically sick all of a sudden. I’m so ill-equipped to be competing with so much. First Tyler, and now this?

Wait. She once told me that her dad was upset about Tyler because he had someone else in mind, and it was me. We first saw each other when we were 16. But how? I’m not even a werewolf.

“Is your mate a werewolf?” I ask. It feels like everything hinges on whatever she says next, and I realize I am literally holding my breath.

“He’s not. He’s human,” she says, now grinning at me.

Thankfully, she puts me out of my misery before I can overthink it further.

“I think I just watched you figure it out, so I’ll just come out and say it. It’s you. You’re my mate," she tells me the one and only thing I ever wanted to hear her say, and my heart soars at the revelation.

"I knew it the instant that I caught your scent before I could even see the car you were in," she goes on. "My greatest regret is not chasing after that car with everything I had until I got to you.”

She turns to me and reaches out to hold onto both of my arms. She must sense that I feel like I’m going to float away if she doesn’t. I’m dizzy, and it feels hard to breathe. This is the best news I could have ever hoped for, so I don’t understand what is happening right now, but even my vision is losing focus. She’s saying something to me, but her voice is so far away that I can’t tell what it is. I have the vague sense that I feel something against my back before there’s just nothing.

-

-

Aly

“I’m apparently really bad at delivering news to him,” I tell Tyler as he runs over to us.

I mind-linked my dad and asked him to tell Tyler to come back for us after Matt passed out. I made sure to lower him to the ground slowly and have just been holding onto him after that. I still don’t even understand what happened. He seemed to be happy about the news that he’s my mate, and then he started panicking again. This man is possibly the most anxious person I’ve ever known, and I don’t know what to do with that.

“He has no fewer than six panic attacks per semester, and I can’t always understand what triggers them or figure out how to avoid it,” Tyler explains as he helps me get Matt in the car. "And things that should trigger a panic attack often don't. I think it's like a mood thing, or maybe he like hits a threshold of stress that he can't handle anything past or something. Trevor is way more in tune to it than I am."

Matt is starting to stir a little bit, which I take as a good sign. I’m not all that familiar with panic attacks, but I know losing consciousness isn’t a great outcome. It scared me, and I hate that I caused it.

I get in the back seat with him, gently stroking up and down his arms and playing with his hair as he leans against me. Tyler drives us back up to the house, and by the time we get there, Matt is coming around again. He mostly just seems embarrassed but hasn’t said much other than to apologize.

“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have waited until the last minute to tell you all this. It’s obviously too much to take in all at once,” I apologize in return. “The other part of my plan was to let Mari out so you could meet her before we got to the house, but I think I’ve scared you enough for one day.”

“I’m not scared,” Matt argues, seeming kind of sleepy. “Just surprised. I do want to meet Mari.”

“Maybe later. We’ll get you settled in first,” I insist, as Mari whimpers in my mind.

She wants to meet her mate and is disappointed by how badly I screwed everything up. My words, not hers. She doesn’t blame me, though she is worried about Matt.

“Did you know about mates?” Matt asks Tyler, sitting up on his own now.

“I did,” Tyler admits, glancing up at him in the rearview. “If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t have the best reaction at first, either. I wanted to be her mate, and you were not my favorite person when I found out it was you,” he laughs, shaking his head. “But I came around to it. I just hope that you guys let me stick around now that I’m the odd guy out.”

“You’re not,” I insist. “Of course we want you around. Nothing changes.”

I'm desperate for that to be true, and I know that as soon as Matt is ready, the three of us need to discuss it.

Matt is quiet, obviously still thinking and processing everything. Unfortunately, though I had wanted to give him time and space to slowly make his way up to the house, since we drove the rest of the way instead, we’re already there.

My parents are waiting for us in the garage, and seeing them makes me feel warm and happy to be home.

“Hello again, Tyler. Long time, no see,” Dad teases as we get out.

Ah, I missed the dad jokes. I’m sure that will wear off quickly, though.

“And Matt,” Mom says as she pulls him away from the car and into a hug. “Welcome. It’s so good to meet you.”

Then my parents switch, and Mom is hugging Tyler while Dad shakes Matt’s hand and greets him warmly. I stand and watch for a few moments. It amuses me that they went right for my guys and have so far ignored that their only child is home.

Finally, I clear my throat to get their attention. “Forgetting anyone?” I demand playfully, crossing my arms over my chest dramatically.

“Get over here, brat,” Mom teases, holding out an arm for me.

I launch myself at her for a hug and Dad joins, the guys standing back to let us enjoy our little family reunion. When we finally pull away, Dad gives me that stern, serious expression that means he has something important to say and I had better listen.

“I need to see you in my office once you get settled in,” he informs me in his dad tone that isn’t quite his Alpha tone. So, it’s serious but not serious. “You’re not in trouble, but it is important, so please don’t keep me waiting too long.”