"Home," I echoed the neutral word. Having no connections to that word, it stirred no reactions inside me. "You went... to the Central territory?"

"No." A chuckle escaped Solomon's mouth, shaking his shoulders and shifting a few blonde strands across them.

My question also earned me another snort from Caleb, who made me wonder if he was part pig with all his nasal grunts.

Explains his rude, suggestive comments.

"If anything," Solomon grabbed my attention. "I've been moving between the West and North in the group, posing as rogues."

"That's where you come in?" My eyes shifted over to Caleb. "What's in it for you?"

"The pleasure of your company," was his dry response. "Sad to say, I'm a bit disappointed."

"Feeling's mutual," I shot back and repressed the urge to stick my tongue out at him.

"Glad you two are getting along so well," Solomon's voice was as dry as the mountains shrinking in our rearview mirror. "Caleb here is going to escort you south, keep you safe until I can return from you."

'If you can keep from killing each other.' He winked.

His teasing coaxed a groan out my lips. 'What roadside ditch did you find this guy in!?'

"I can take care of myself," I replied, the words feeling lame when said out loud. Both their heads turned and their eyes inspected me, swelling my chest with equal parts oxygen and defensiveness. "I shot Tobias, didn't I?"

"Shooting one unarmed guy in the leg is one thing." Caleb's brown eyes shifted a shade darker. "Even if you did that twat Tobias a favor making it look like we attacked him."

"Glad to see you don't discriminate," I teased. "You're horrible to everyone."

A smile tugged on his lips. Instead of answering, he looked out the window and muttered, "You have no idea, Princess."

"I don't want to even think about it." My tone turned bitter once Mr. Stinky hit the end of my patience.

I poked one finger into his upper arm, on repeat, until he cocked his head in my direction. His darkening eyes flicked between my finger and my glare. The shift in his expression, shifted from amused to annoyance, threaded a sense of satisfaction through me.

My finger jabbed him with each word, until the pad of my finger bent back "What's. With. The. Princess?"

On my next jab, his hand reached out and grabbed my finger. On the surface, we looked like we played a horrible 'Pull my finger' move, but the guy infuriated me like a parasite wormed its way under my skin.

Warmth spread both into my cheeks and down my finger from his touch. Both were very much unwelcomed.

Without a blink, his eyes trained on mine. The dull, bored tone he used matched the eyeroll he gave me, "Your name."

"Zara means princess," Solomon offered with a hint of amusement in his tone of voice. The glint in his eyes as he looked between us had my finger snatched back.

"True, but I don't see anyone calling you King," I retorted.

"Fair enough." A small smile quirked his pale, thin lips. "Werewolves don't have kings though. Only Alphas, which Cassius has managed to put all under his control... Until now."

"What happened to Alpha Faelon?" I whispered. "What changed his mind?"

Solomon's eyes darkened and his fist tightened. "Nothing. Faelon knew Cassius was evil, even helped him almost twenty years ago."

"He... what!?" I stared at my brother, who remained stoic in both his posture and his resolve.

"Zara." The chill in his voice shot straight through my bones and raised goosebumps on my forearms. "I'm going to tell you something very serious."

Caleb erupted another snort from my left side. My lips tugged to one side as I struggled not to swat at him like a mosquito buzzing in my ear. "Really, Sol? Why don't you lay down some ominous music tracks?"

"Perhaps you could explain better," Solomon clipped back.

My head swiveled back and forth between them like I watched a tennis match. "Will one of you please tell me?"

"Almost twenty years ago, Cassius helped Faelon attack your country, left your pack numbers decimated, and stole the Luna," Caleb matched Solomon's bitterness word for word, shifting his eyes over my head. "How's that, Sol?"

"A bit harsh, like always," was Solomon's response, before his eyes flicked to mine. "But true."

The vehicle's airspace thickened with silent tension. A sensation that I needed to escape for fresh air threatened to overtake my senses, so I squeezed my eyes shut and breathed against the denial that rose inside me. A slight rasp tickled my throat.

Slow, deep breaths.

Is he serious!? Can we really trust him? Are you believing this, Lumi?

'Not... unreasonable.'

Caleb's sarcasm cut through my thoughts before I responded to Lumi, "You're not seriously in heat again, are you!?"

My eyes flipped open then narrowed at him. "What!? No, I still have... nevermind. Why would you ask me that?"

"You're breathing thing." His eyes scanned mine for a moment, then shifted down to my parted lips. "Makes me... uncomfortable."

"Good," was the immature response my brain mustered, followed up by a few exaggerated pants.

"Zara..." Solomon tapped my shoulder. "I don't think you're grasping the gravity of the situation here."

Now I was the one who snorted. For the record, mine sounded much cuter than any of Caleb's pig grunts. "What, that we're not from this country? Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously." Solomon had a point. He hadn't cracked a real, true, happy smile since I met him.

He screams seriousness.

"It's a bit much to swallow," I admitted, then facepalmed my poor choice of words. My cheeks burned at the look I felt Caleb shooting at the back of my head. Wrenching my lips shut, I refused to look, for fear I indulged his annoying teasing. "Alpha Faelon was nothing but welcoming when I visited there."

"The guy who threw you in prison," Caleb muttered.

"I deserved that." My eyes dropped down to my lap.

"He was channeling guilt from his past mistakes," Solomon spoke slowly, like he chose his words. "Before we were born, the Istas pack thrived in the far north. Past the sea you saw in the Northern territory, located in the true north."

True north? Istas?

'Snow.'

How Lumi knew that, given her limited vocabulary, blew my mind.

'Limited options. Snow, ice, water.'

You're terrible Lumi. I still love you though.

"The North Sea... where my phone and laptop live." I side-eyed Caleb, whose mouth curled up at my words.

"Same one." Solomon sighed and brought his fist back up near his mouth. "The Silverback pack was much larger than it is now. Istas was smaller but thriving, making Faelon threatened by our numbers. We had no interest in their affairs but Cassius supported him in almost wiping out our pack. The Silverbacks lost as many pack members in the attack. After Istas was left in ruins, Cassius took Nieve, the Luna."

"Our mother." My tone of voice, like every cell in my body, grew quiet. The weight of Solomon's words settled inside me. I swallowed against the dryness that crept up the back of my throat.

"Our mother," he confirmed in a monotone voice, his fist tightening. His gaze shifted out the window, where now rolling green hills passed on either side of the vehicle. "We have to stop soon."

"But wait!" I rushed, my hands lifted and clutching his arm. "I have so many unanswered questions!"

"The West was never safe for us, Sister," his sad tone of voice plucked at my heartstrings. "But the South will offer your asylum under Caleb and Cole's protection as long as Cassius thinks you're still on that stupid mate tour."

'No -'

Solomon reached over, took my nearest hand, and wrapped both of his around it. "I don't want you anywhere near Cassius, but the war will spread to the rest of the country in weeks. The sooner I get you out of here, get you home, the better for all of us."

While my heart leapt at his words, they also settled a weighted sensation in my stomach.

"We can't run away, turn our backs on everyone," I whispered.

The idea that I turned a blind eye, walking away from my friends and the only place I knew as home slumped my shoulders. Guilt gnawed at my stomach from the inside out like acid and my lower lip rolled in between my teeth.

If Cassius wins, who's to stop him from coming after us again?

"Quite noble, Princess," Caleb's quiet, calm voice sounded foreign, coming from him. "But not your war."

"Not mine?" I lifted an eyebrow at him. "What role do you play?"

"Shipping and handling," was his crass response while his eyes scanned out his window. "Of annoying, precious cargo."

"Is that all?" Now both my eyebrows lifted.

Before he responded, I dropped Solomon's grasp and grabbed Caleb's right forearm. I ignored the warmth of his smooth skin under my finger pads and slid his coat sleeve up to his elbow. Rolling his wrist, I turned his forearm over to look at the inside skin.

"Looking for something?" he husked, a raspy sound above a whisper. My fingers traced over the warm, smooth skin on the inside of his forearm.

I don't understand... Where did it go?

A frown creased tension between my eyebrows and my eyes met his. "Your tattoo?"

"Don't see one, do you now, Babe?" He yanked his arm back and his eyes narrowed into a glare.

"Guess not," I mumbled while my cheeks warmed again. My hand lifted to my neck, the pads of my fingers touching bare skin where my necklace used to sit.

I keep forgetting I stupidly discarded it in the west.

His lips curled up at the corners and his eyes flashed down at me. "Flower, if you want to put your hands on me, all you have -"

"We're here," Solomon cut off Caleb's latest inappropriate comments. Grateful for the interruption, no part of me appreciated his words because they meant our reunion was cut short.

The SUV stopped and I wasn't surprised to see we were in the middle of nowhere. Once we stepped out of the vehicle, a dirt road extended in one direction and grassy, rolling hills stretched as far as my eyes saw. A gentle breeze lifted the hair off my back.

I pushed a few strands out of my face while I stared up at Solomon. "You c-can't leave!" Rushing forward, I wrapped my arms around his waist and buried my cheek in his chest. My voice husked from the fresh set of tears that sprung into my eyes. "I need you."

"You'll see me again." A warm hand rubbed over the top of my head, while another slid behind my shoulders.

Since my words were choked off by tears, I tightened my grip around my brother and whimpered. Unlike Caleb, a deep breath of Solomon's scent chilled over my skin, calming my muscles like a relaxant.

Solomon's chin rested on the top of my head. "I promise, Zara. I'll come back for you."

'Trust Caleb. He'll keep you safe.'

'I'll trust him as far as I'm allowed to throw him.' My comment earned me Solomon's chest bumping my cheek and warm laughs in my ear. 'Did you miss the part where he threw our car into the ocean!?'

'He's a bit rough but he brought us together. Give him a chance.'

Our attention turned at the sound of doors slammed and footsteps approaching. My eyes met Cole's first, then Raina's, Idris, and Simon. While their dark eyes studied me curiously, I scanned over their physical appearances, memorizing their differences.

I thought I was... weird.

But I can't... have them babysit me then abandon them.

"Solomon," I started to argue that we were all affected here. "What about the East? We can't -"

"I'm offering our assistance to Faelon in the first wave attack, in return for getting us home. Getting you home," he stressed and pulled back from our embrace. "The only thing you need to do is stay alive."

His arms released me but his hands cupped my cheeks, thumbs sweeping my damp cheeks. Swirls of blue and green looked straight into mine, like he swore me to my own promise, when the sound of crushed gravel hit my ears.

"Please, Zara... stay alive," he whispered into my hairline, followed by a soft press of his lips. "You're so important to Istas, you have no idea."

'You stay alive,' he added. 'And I'll bring you home.'

Solomon stopped at Caleb's side, where they exchanged a handshake and muttered words. With the wind's direction, I caught bits of phrases. The words, 'Make sure she knows the truth,' lifted my eyes up to a scowl from Caleb.

My heart, which had felt fuller since I first saw and touched my brother, shrunk when he climbed back into the SUV then headed back in the direction from which we came. Silently, I raised one hand, exerting no control on the tears streaming down my cheeks.

'Take care of yourself,' I mindlinked him. Lumi whined in the back of my mind.

"Let's go, Princess," Cole called from behind me. Pushing Caleb's shoulder on my way to Cole's opened door shifted Cole's expression into a smirk.

"Not very hospitable." He exhaled out his nose. "Caleb is -"

"Caleb can walk," I grumbled under my breath.

The three breaths of non-Caleb scented air I drew before climbing in the SUV refreshed my lungs. I coughed when he sat next to me and leaned over, waves of it hitting my nose again.

"Don't tempt me, Babygirl," he whispered, hot breath fanning down the side of my neck.

"Too late," I whispered back with a huff.

The ride from the southern part of the Western territory and into the South was quiet, crowded, and uncomfortable. Cole, Raina, Idris, Simon, Caleb and I wedged ourselves into the one SUV.

In the strangest road trip ever, Cole the control freak drove with Idris up front, Simon and Raina sat in the middle captain's chairs, and Caleb and I wedged ourselves in the back in a child-sized third-row seat like we were punished.

Despite positioning myself as far away from him as possible, Caleb's eye-watering scent of Axe body spray and whatever cologne made him smell like he bathed in cinnamon overwhelmed me.

I think it permeated into my own clothes and skin.

"When we get to the South, you're taking a bath," I whispered at one point to him.

"You get more and more pleasant, don't you?" His eyes shifted sideways with, of course, another muttered torment, "Does someone need a nap?"

He had a point, I was in an incredibly bad mood.

I'm not telling him he's right.

Every second, every foot of added distance between me and my brother, the more alone I felt. Crammed like sardines in a can, sitting next to the stinkiest one, I felt abandoned.

The cruel reality of my life was that my first taste of family, real family, was only that - a taste. And like a child who'd gotten a taste of candy they shouldn't have had, it was yanked away from me before I had my fill.

That's a terrible analogy.

I also had so many unanswered questions traveling through my mind, my frustration might have projected on my stinky fellow passenger.

Are all the Istas wolves white? Does everyone look like us?

Do we have more family there? Why didn't anyone come for us sooner?

If our mother was the Luna, then is Solomon the Alpha? Or did they have someone else fill the position in his absence?

Argh, so frustrating.

Lumi felt the distance, projecting her own annoyance from not meeting Nor onto me. But shredding our clothes was not an option.

No freaking way I'm stripping down in front of Caleb.

His brute voice from behind me cut through my thoughts, "If I asked a penny for your thoughts, babe, then I'd have... a penny."

Speaking of the devil himself...

"Hey, Raina?" I ignored Caleb, leaned forward, and rested my chin on the side of her seat. "Not that I'm not happy you're here, but why aren't you in the North?"

"Thought that was the plan," she tossed over her shoulder with a sigh. "Alpha Faelon had other ideas. He sent anyone who can't fight to a safehouse location and told us to stay south, to secure our interests."

The dark look in her eye paused my next question for a moment. Curiosity won me over and I prodded, "Are you okay with that?"

"Not much choice." Her shoulders. Casting one look at Caleb, she groaned when he wiggled his fingers. "I can't explain it but feel compelled to go, Zara. Mist wants to give me a migraine, so I'll need to let her out to run once we get there."

"Oh." I flopped back in my seat.

"Idris up there." Raina jerked her thumb at the shotgun seat. "Obviously wanted to see Rose. Cole is equally pussy-whipped."

"Have you heard from Elena and Rose?" My voice softened since the last time I saw them, we rushed out of the Western territory like uninvited guests.

Simon turned to me, his face beaming with a smile that creased lines around his eyes and mouth. "My family reached the South yesterday with them. I can't thank you enough."

"You -" I started when Caleb interrupted me.

"You're welcome." He winked at me before he looked back at Simon.

My mouth couldn't have dropped open any wider, seeing how Simon sure had directed his response to Caleb.

"Shouldn't be so judgmental, Babe," he tossed me a lopsided grin thatI wanted to punch right off his stupid face. He sprinkled gasoline on the sparks of irritation warming my belly, "I'm quite a generous guy, if you gave me a chance."

"Chance..." I echoed the word in a mumble, then leaned closer to Raina's seat again. "Any chance we can tie Caleb to the roof rack for the rest of the trip?"

"Hey -" Caleb's scowl was worth the entire insult.

"Not likely." Raina snorted. "I don't think the Red Valley pack would appreciate it if we showed up with one of their future Alphas strapped on the roof like a piece of luggage."

"One of their..." My neck stitched with how fast my head turned to Caleb. "You're a..."

"A what?" His brown eyes glinted at me. "Handsome devil? Eligible bachelor?"

"Complete jerk." Now my lips turned down. "Alphas are supposed to be polite, well-mannered, and... smell better."

"Not sure what kind of alphas you've been hanging out with, Princess," he retorted. "But I assure you my brother Theo is none of those things."

"I'm sure he's twice the alpha you'd be." I narrowed my eyes.

"I've heard he's quite the meathead." Raina snickered over her shoulder.

"Not wrong," Caleb replied to Raina, then shifted his gaze to me. "Not wrong either."

"Woah, woah." I leaned back and clenched Caleb's rock-hard bicep, then dropped it like I burned my hand. "Hold the stinky testosterone. Cole? You grew up with this... this?"

"Same one." Cole nodded, his eyes shifting up to the rearview moment.

"But the North... You didn't? I don't know? Recognize each other? Have a..." My eyes shifted to the smirk curling Caleb's mouth. "Bro moment?"

"Wasn't really given a chance to see him until we left," Cole tossed back, earning him a grin from Caleb.

"Plenty of bro moments on the ride down," he lifted his chin to Cole and Idris, who both belted out hearty laughs.

Idris too!? I'm so lost.

"I didn't know who he was," Raina hissed over her shoulder, then narrowed her eyes. "Not sure I trust him either."

Even though I assumed Caleb's identity was obvious, I asked, "You're the younger twin?"

"Supposedly." His shoulders lifted.

"That means you're... not..." My voice trailed off as an uncomfortable emotion washed over me. A slight sense of disappointment filled me at the idea he wasn't...

Wasn't what, Zara? My mate? Subject four?

I didn't know where I was going thinking those crazy thoughts. My eyes blinked, as if the action removed them from my head. A conversation topic change was beyond needed, so I asked him, "What's your wolf's name?"

"I..." For once, Caleb was near speechless. 

When I started to consider that the silence wasn't so bad because his teasing had stopped, his gaze dropped down to his hands. His voice was a quiet but steady half-mumble, half-whisper,"I don't have one."

"What!?" His eyes shot wide when I screeched in his face. "So, you're... human?"

How the heck did he flip over our car into the North Sea?

"No." He shook his head. "My wolf... is absent. He's been like that for years. I don't shift either."

"Oh gosh." Before I realized my hand moved, it was on top of his. "I'm... sorry."

Warmth flowed from between us, like a small fire glowed in my palm, and his eyes lifted to mine. They shifted from one of my eyes to the other, like he searched for an answer. In doing so, one of his eyes slipped.

No, not eye. Contact lens.

A tiny, millimeter-wide crescent moon-shaped sliver of light blue outlined his right iris. He blinked and it was gone, leaving me convinced I imagined his eye slipped.

Weird.

While Caleb's closed-off, sarcastic teasing vibe projected he hid something, my place wasn't to nose into his business. I withdrew my hand, rested it on my lap, and changed the subject again, "What are we supposed to do in the South while we're there?"

"Not die?" He lifted his eyebrows.

"The pack event..." I tapped one finger on my chin and searched my memory. "Elena said it was... a ball?"

Raina's head swiveled around like she experienced an exorcism. "A what!?"

"Yup," Caleb sounded as enthused as the rest of us about that idea. "For the sake of appearances, of course."

Before I responded, his eyes flashed at me and his lips curled up into a smirk. "Good luck dancing with Theo. He'll break half your toes with one stomp."

"I'm sure he's lovely." I scoffed. "Doesn't matter, I've had lessons."

Youtube tutorials. Same difference.

"That I'd like to see, Princess," was his sarcastic response.

The events over the past twenty-four hours, plus the endless rolling, emerald green hills lulled me into a heavy sleep. A warm, weighted blanket sensation wrapped around me in a dreamless state of content that I didn't want to wake up from. For the first time that I remembered, I slept in a cocoon of warmth and security.

The strong smell of body spray and cinnamon twitched my nose, so I pried my eyes open. A blurry peach-colored shape filled my line of vision. I blinked and blinked, but the view didn't change, until it bobbed and moved with a saliva swallow.

"Oh gosh!" I bolted upright and scooted as far away from Caleb as possible, bumping my head on the window.

My hands scrubbed over my face when I realized I pressed up against his side, with my forehead pushed against his neck and one hand in the middle of his chest. Worse, my outside leg flung over his lap. His hand held my knee and my foot dangled over his opposite knee. His other arm dropped off my shoulders with a thump and he blinked open his eyes.

"Why did you get up?" his raspy, sleep-filled voice sounded deep and rich in my ears. "It was nice."

My eyes couldn't have stretched any farther open if I tried. "What -"

"The silence," he corrected with a smirk. "You weren't talking, it was nice."

"Fine." I huffed, crossed my arms over my chest, and turned away from him. "I - ouch!"

With a yank back, strands of my hair tugged on my scalp. A small yelp left me as his fingers wound into my hair. Tears beaded up in my eyes at the stings from his hair pulls. "Get it out!"

"It's... caught in my coat," he muttered, then released the tension. "There."

"Thanks," I grunted and shifted away, wincing at the blonde hairball caught in his zipper.

The sight of rolling, rich farmlands straightened my spine. What looked like hundreds of farms passed by my vision. Agricultural crops like hay and feed corn to livestock like cattle and pigs, to edible foods like soybeans, fruits, and vegetables to rows of beautiful sunflowers, farm after farm held my attention.

The South really does have the farmers.

Hours later, our single-lane gravel road drove up to what I assumed was the Southern territory's pack house. A beautiful, red-bricked manor-like structure stood tall and imposing, with white-outlined arched windows and tall corner spires that jutted high up into the sky.

"It's beautiful," I mumbled.

The grounds around the packhouse, the smallest of the four but most resembled a home, consisted of open grassy areas on sloping hills. Unlike the West, where the mountains enclosed the packhouse like a natural barrier, here felt open and airy.

My hair clinging to the side of my neck during our last stopping break reminded me of the obvious.

Whew, it's hot. And humid.

"It's home," Caleb announced with a sigh.

My eyes darted in his direction, where he shrugged. Tired of talking to anyone but in particular him at this point, I stayed quiet.

The straight road led to a circular drive entrance around a multi-layer, cement fountain. Pulling in front of the packhouse, Cole and Idris jumped out and removed a few suitcases from the trunk. My lips curled up once they moved to the luggage rack.

Caleb would've fit.

A wall of humidity hit my face as soon as Simon and Raina opened the doors. My legs moved stiff when stepping out of the SUV. I stretched my arms overhead and cracked my spine and fingers.

Caleb walked around the SUV and in an actual gentleman moment, rested his palm on the small of my back and escorted me to a set of large, rectangular doors. Within my mind, Lumi flinched at the contact, jarring her attention. Warmth flowed from his hand into my back, melting the tension knotting my lower back muscles.

I paused and admired the intricate mural painted on the doors, a beautiful, multi-colored sunset cast over two hills. They slanted down in a V-shape, parted with a sparkling blue river. Once I stopped, Caleb's chest bumped into my back.

We caused a domino effect, as Cole bumped into Caleb, Idris into Cole, then Raina, who turned and held up a hand for Simon not to even consider it.

"Red Valley." My fingers traced over the intricate strokes of color. "It's stunning."

I wasn't sure why the mural mesmerized me, but Lumi's attention was grabbed. She paced a circular path in my mind, hackles raised.

You okay?

I had no idea what had her spooked and she offered no explanation, so I assumed she just didn't know. Still, her restlessness pulsed the start of a headache in my forehead, so I made a mental note we needed a run just as much as Raina's wolf Mist.

"Thanks." Caleb gave me a lazy smile but his eyes sparkled.

"You did this?" My eyes darted from the mural to his expression.

"Might surprise you if you actually -" He pushed the doors open with a grin.

All of his subsequent words went into my ears, interrupted by Lumi splitting my thoughts with the absolute last word I expected from her.

'Mate!'

Huh?

The only logical explanation I had was that my tired brain imagined Lumi's thought, so I pushed it aside.

My lips parted into a small gasp at the enormous, two-story foyer area we stepped into. A two-sided, V-shaped staircase wove to the front door. Dark wood and black iron balusters were accented by a giant black-iron chandelier that cast rays of light and shadow down the high walls.

My eyes lifted to the small group gathered in front of us. A tall, wide-framed male with short, golden brown hair stood in the center, his chest lifted up in a manner that I assumed was Alpha Sandolf. A stunning woman stood on his arm, with shoulder-length brown hair shining with glossy highlights. With her stock projection and close proximity to Alpha Sandolf, I assumed she was the pack's Luna but couldn't place her name from Elena's history lessons.

Next to them stood a few others with a similar appearance, one of whom stood out and grabbed my immediate attention.

His tall, wide frame dominated the foyer space. The guy had muscles upon muscles piled on his large body and gave off an aura of raw power, stamina, and strength. A few strands of his thick brown hair fell messy across his forehead. His light brown eyes snapped in our direction immediately, which dropped Caleb's hand from my back.

Only my eyes moved while they watched as Caleb stepped forward and embraced his brother with an affectionate punch in the shoulder.

Lumi followed up her 'not-imagined-by-me' thought, purring the happiest sound in the back of my mind. After three months of grumpy 'Not mate' from her, I couldn't believe it. My heart pounded in my ears and my palms dampened, although they'd been sweaty since I stepped out of our vehicle.

Really!? Here?

'Mate! Him.'

I blinked, counting more than one male.

Him who? There's at least two hims.

Two and half, giving Caleb more credit than he deserves.

'Mate!'

For the love of... Which one!?

Caleb's voice cut through my inner monologue with Lumi. "Zara, this is Theo. The better Alpha or -" his eyes shifted over my shoulder and a wide grin split his face. "- the meathead."

At Caleb's words, Lumi flipped delusional. My head spun from the sensation that she circle-chased her own tail in a frenzy, I tried my best to focus even though my mind rushed dizzy, to the point I clutched my forehead in both hands and needed to sit down.

If Lumi can identify our mate, then I should as well. Right?

Probably not. I'm so bad with boys.

With a determined sigh, I looked at both of them. Examining every detail of their expressions and body language revealed two different reactions.

Caleb showed no response. His eyes were dull, averted to a nonexistent horizon line. He couldn't have written disinterest more obvious over his face. His eyes averted, refusing to make eye contact, like if did then he revealed a secret he wanted hidden.

Something's buried deep inside. But what?

In contrast, Theo left no doubts to his reactions. Stepping forward, his face flushed red and nostrils flared. His breath fanned short, sharp, and hot waves, the pants cutting through the thick, tense air. Every muscle fiber on his body clenched in tension, extra veins popping out of his neck and biceps. His eyes dripped yellow into pools of pure obsidian black while he struggled to control his wolf.

His jaw clenched shut so tight, I had no idea how he found space for his lips to curl back into the most menacing scowl I had ever seen. His wolf was in complete control, as a loud growl vibrated from the center of his chest, up his throat, and out of those scowling lips. Its vibrations washed over me, sending trembles down from my shoulders to elbows. The warning sound pierced fear right into my heart.

He stood there and practically gasped air violently as if he drowned in my presence, before he relaxed his jaw and released one word.

"Mate."