"Bad, bad news, one of us is gonna lose. I'm the powder, you're the fuse. Just add some friction. You are my strange addiction."
~Billie Eilish, 'My Strange Addiction'

~~~

*Can's POV*

What the fuck just happened?

From my place on the floor, I look up at Tin with my jaw dropped and cheeks flushed. Tin just... kissed me! And I let him!

Everyone's eyes are locked on us, snapping me out of my daze as I scramble to my feet. Tin looks just as surprised and embarrassed as I do, causing an adorable blush to spread across his face.

Wait, adorable?

"Uhh... Can?" Ae says awkwardly, breaking the silence. Gritting my teeth, I turn my glare to Tin.

"Come with me," I growl, grabbing his wrist and pulling him up to my room. He follows behind me without argument, which is unnervingly out of character for him.

As soon as my bedroom door is shut, Tin yanks his arm of out my grasp. "Don't touch me," he snarls.

I scoff. "You don't want me to touch you? I'm not the one who kissed you just a few minutes ago!"

"It wasn't me," Tin huffs. "It was my wolf."

"It's the same thing! You still kissed me."

"Whatever," he waves me off, making me bristle with anger. "It doesn't matter."

"Don't brush this off! We're mates! What the hell are we going to do?"

That manages to make him pause. "You know we're mates?"

My shoulders relax. "Yeah. Turns out the doctor who examined me when I was adopted got a few things wrong. My age, for example. I turned eighteen today."

"Today?" Tin confirms with a raised brow. "We have the same birthday?"

"Apparently," I grumble, crossing my arms. "Otherwise, I would've punched you for even standing that close to me earlier."

He tilts his head curiously. "Why didn't you?"

"I don't know!" I throw my hands up. "I'm just as affected by the mate bond as you are. Wait, why am I the one explaining myself? You fucking kissed me!"

Tin wrinkles his nose. "Do you have to use such filthy language?"

I roll my eyes. "Stop avoiding the subject."

"Can, what do you want me to say?" Tin sighs, exasperated. "I was momentarily confused. My wolf was practically screaming in my head about us being mates, and it was clashing with my magic. I did the only thing I could think of the silence my wolf."

"Are you okay?" I blurt, reverting back to the old Can, who was best friends with the old Tin. "Er... with your magic and your wolf. Isn't it a lot?"

"Why do you care?" He narrows his dark eyes. "Just because we're mates doesn't mean you have to suddenly pretend to care about me."

"Oh, for fuck's sake," I growl. "Can't you stop bitching and have a normal conversation with me?"

"No."

I'm seriously going to kill him.

"So, what?" I question pointedly. "I hate you, you hate me, we don't want to be mates. What, are you going to reject me?"

As soon as the word leaves my lips, it hangs in the air like an icy cold threat. Tin looks at me with conflict in his eyes. While we do hate each other, rejection is... extreme. It causes a lot of pain to both wolves. I've even heard that it can cause death. But that only happens to wolves who were marked or in love when they got rejected.

Which will never be us.

"Don't be so rash," Tin scolds me, as if I'm some child getting lectured by their parent. "Let's think this through. We're mates. That doesn't mean we have to act like mates."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We don't reject each other. We don't mark each other. We go on with our lives like normal."

"Do you think that'll work?" I ask, genuinely curious. "Isn't it dangerous for wolves to not mark their mates? Besides, I'm supposed to become Alpha in a few years, and that would make you my—"

Luna.

Tin's glare darkens. "I'm not going to be your Luna. Don't even entertain that ridiculous notion."

"I wasn't asking you to be," I fire back. "All I'm saying is that there are certain things expected of me, and one of them is that I have a Luna."

"Then sink your teeth into someone else," he snaps, stunning me momentarily.

"I-I can't!" I sputter. "That's the same as rejecting you. We'd both be punished by the Moon."

Tin runs his hand through his chestnut hair, messing up its pristine style. "I need time to come up with a plan. In the meantime, don't do anything stupid that'll get us hurt."

"Don't do anything stupid, blah, blah, blah," I mimic under my breath, and Tin shoots another one of his famous glares my way.

A knock resounds at the door before it slowly creaks open. "Boys?" Dad says hesitantly. "Is everything alright?"

"No," I grumble. Tin rolls his eyes.

"Should we send everyone home? Your father just started pulling the cake out but we can—"

"Cake!!" I shriek, pushing out of the room and racing downstairs. The guests are still waiting in the living room, shifting around uncomfortably as they murmur amongst themselves. My grin widens when I see Pond and Pete arrived while we were upstairs.

"Can," Ae hisses, grabbing my arm and pulling me aside. "What the hell was that about? Why did Tin kiss you?"

"Tin kissed you?" Pond appears out of fucking nowhere, scaring the shit out of me.

"He what?" Pete gasps, scurrying over to our circle. Goddess, is every single person eavesdropping now? Ae smiles softly at Pete, who blushes lightly. Pete's eyes dart over to Pond, making his blush deepen. What the hell?

"You guys are not going to believe this!" I squeal excitedly. "I'm eighteen today!"

They all stare at me with blank, dumbfounded expressions.

"I'm sorry, what?" Pond's thick brows furrow together. "You're sixteen."

I nod my head while bouncing. "Yeah, right, that's what the pack doctor thought! But he was wrong! I turned eighteen today! I felt my connection with my wolf and everything!"

"Holy shit," Ae breathes out. "Dude, you basically just lost a whole year of your life."

My mood instantly deflates. "Don't put it that way," I whine. "I'm just excited that I'm actually older than you three! Isn't that awesome?!"

"Yeah, but..." Pete starts quietly. "What does that have to do with Tin kissing you?"

"Oh, that's just because we're mates and his wolf was freaking out or something so he kissed me without thinking about it. I'm actually still pretty mad that he just took my first kiss without asking me first—"

"Stop!" Ae cuts off my rambling, forcing me to take a breath. "You guys are mates?"

"Yup," I sigh with a pout. "I don't want to be his mate, but what choice do I have? I need a Luna if I'm going to be Alpha."

"Tin as a Luna," Pond snickers. "That, I would pay to see."

"Don't you guys hate each other?" Pete questions skeptically. "How are you going to be mates if you hate each other?"

"It's not like we have to date," I scowl. "We just have to not reject each other. There's no reason we can't still hate each other."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Pond nudges me with a teasing grin. "What are you going to do when you hit your heats? My mom said the heat is pretty intense."

I wrinkle my nose. "There's no way the heat will be strong enough to make me want Tin. Nothing in this entire world is strong enough to make me wanna have sex with that guy."

"Who said I want to have sex with you?" Tin's voice makes me jump.

"No one," I snap. "I wouldn't sleep with you even if you begged."

His eyes flash with amusement. "Is that so?" He asks, his voice dropping an octave. The husky timbre sends a shiver up my spine. "You're saying that if I... touched you," his fingertips trail up my arm, making my mouth go dry, "you wouldn't be affected?"

"N-No," I stammer out, watching as my body betrays me by creating goosebumps where Tin touched me.

"And if I begged for you..." he whispers, brushing his lips over my ear in a way that makes my knees wobble, "you would push me away?"

"Mhmm," I nod, suddenly unable to produce words. Who turned up the temperature in here?

Tin's soft lips hover over mine without making contact, and I whimper slightly.

"And if I kissed you, you wouldn't kiss me back?"

This time, I don't answer. My chin tilts up towards him, feeling drawn to his presence. The affect he's having on me is completely new, and it's terrifying and exciting at the same time. When I take too long to respond, Tin smirks and steps away.

"That's what I thought," he says, stuffing his hands into his pockets and walking away. My face burns with humiliation, and I turn back to my friends. Their jaws are dropped, making my face burn even hotter.

"What the hell was that?" Ae ponders out loud, looking between me and Tin in a daze.

Mentally cursing, I scowl at my chest as my heart continues to beat rapidly. Dammit.

***

A whole week.

That's how long I try to avoid Tin.

I leave early for school, and I run out the door the minute the last bell rings. Whatever I need to do to stay out of Tin's path, I'm doing.

What the fuck is wrong with me? I hate the guy. I've hated him for years. And yet, my body is acting like its completely forgotten that very important fact! Whenever I see Tin, my heart races without permission. Whenever I catch his scent, I yearn to crawl into his lap and feel him holding me.

W-Which is stupid! Because I hate him! Obviously.

Stupid mate bond.

All we have to do is avoid each other without either of us rejecting the other... for the rest of our lives.

Simple, right?

After the party last week, my dads interrogated me about what happened with Tin. I tried lying by saying Tin kissed me as a prank, but papa saw right through it. He guessed that we're mates, and I don't have the best poker face.

I had to sit through an hour of them lecturing me on the dangers of rejection. I reassured them that we're not rejecting each other, but they still seemed worried. Hell, I'm still worried. Who's to say Tin won't change his mind and reject me? I'm the one who needs a mate to be Alpha. Tin could reject me and walk away with a slap on the wrist from the Moon Goddess.

The final bell rings, and I jump from my desk. I run to my locker to grab my things so I can leave as quickly as possible before Tin sees me. Just as I think my plan is working perfectly, I feel that familiar tug from down the hall. Turning my head in that direction, my eyes narrow at what I see.

Tin leans against his locker with Pete standing close to him. Way too close. The Omega reaches over and squeezes Tin's arm, and foreign jealously shoots through me like a rocket. A loud growl rips from my throat, causing everyone in the hall to freeze and look my way. Pete pales and steps away from Tin, who's now looking at with an amused smirk.

Shit.

~~~

My brain hurts today 😀

Thoughts?? Predictions?? Complaints??
Keep that last one to yourselves 🌝

See you next time, Gumballs!
-Gumbie