Book 1: Chapter 77

“Hey Sol?” Sam looked up at Aelia who was leaning back into my side.

She hummed, taking a sip of her half-drunk whisky sour.

“What happens if mates don’t do anything about their connection?”

“You mean if they don’t mark each other or reject each other?”

Sam nodded.

Aelia narrowed her eyes for a second before answering. “In a normal connection, nothing bad would technically happen. As long as you aren’t in close proximity with each other, it would be easier to ignore. The issue would be if you were in close proximity. Our wolves are very possessive and once they know their mate, all they want to do is mark them. So it becomes very hard to control your wolf or want to be part from them.”

“What’s a non-normal case look like?” Charles asked.

I felt out of the loop in their line of questioning. They seemed so familiar with speaking with Aelia that it was shocking, especially Charles. Nate also looked like he felt the same as me, looking at them curiously, but our minds were too liquored up to ask about it.

“Finn and Noah. Finn probably would have died and Noah would have shortly followed.”

Sam sat up. “But otherwise it would be okay to try and ignore the bond?”

Aelia narrowed her eyes. “Bonds aren’t meant to be ignored, Sam. They are your fated. The bond is there to help grow your relationship. You still define who you want to be. The biggest issue with letting a bond just sit there is that neither of you would be able to move on.”

I looked down at Aelia and she was smiling absently at her drink as she continued. “They are a piece of your soul. They are a part of you as much as your wolf is. If you choose to ignore it, not only do you not have a chance at a rare kind of love but if you don’t actually want to be with that person, you’re stopping them from being able to have a second chance for happiness with someone else.”

Sam opened his mouth by Nate slammed his fist on the table. Charles and I reached out to steady our drinks. I glared at Nate but his flushed face made me think he wouldn’t even see me.

“Then why the hell wouldn’t you just mate?”

Aelia looked at him. “Depends on the situation, Nate. Are you talking about Sam or are you talking about us?”

Nate swallowed hard, his eyes filling with tears. “What if it would heal you? Noah said you were better quicker after Silas give his blood. Maybe…maybe the mate bond…”

Aelia chuckled. “Nate, we aren’t in a rom-com. Love doesn’t heal internal bleeding. It doesn’t heal cancer or the shutting down of ones entire nervous system. Hell, it won’t even wake someone up from a coma. Life doesn’t work that way. All it would do is not only subject you to the death of a mate, which is already going to fuck you up without us solidifying the bond but also…” She swished her drink around before taking the whole thing in one gulp. “…I told you. I’m not the mate meant for you. You have someone you’re supposed to be with, they are the one who you need to mate.”

Her hand came up and she took hold of something invisible in the air. She looked at it lovingly, stroking what was most likely a thread with her thumb. “Plus, maybe if Silas was hooked up to me twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week I might last another month but not only would that never actually work but it would hurt Silas too much.”

“But I don’t want anyone else!” Nate slammed his hands flat out on the table. “You’re all I want Aelia…”

Aelia sighed. “You will.” Her eyes met Nate. “And when you do, I want you to know that I wholeheartedly approve of it. That it’s a match that I couldn’t do myself.” A true smile filled her face as she let go of the thread out of her hand.

Sam suddenly coughed through his drink he was sipping. “You…”

All of us turned to Sam and I chuckled. “Oh no, A. You’ve been made.”

She slapped my chest. “Shut up, Sil.”

Sam’s hand went up and waved his hands in the space between him and Charles. “You did this! I thought…but…I…how…”

“Aelia, the magical matchmaker. Success rate is 99.8%. She sees all, knows all, and understands what people need. If she sees a match, she just can’t help herself.” Nate mumbled and I chortled.

“I can’t believe you remember that after all these years.”

He shrugged. “You used to yell it when she set up her booth at the faire every quarter. It was ridiculous.”

Aelia was laughing, shaking her head. “Oh man. I tried to make it out like I was a fortune teller. Goddess, those were the days. Now, I just secretly fuck around with people when I run into them. Honestly, sometimes it’s not that it’s wrong, it’s just that there is a better match out there.”

“SOLARIS!” Sam yelled and even Charles jumped.

“Yes Sam?”

He was near tears. “You said that my mate was ten years younger, not older.”

That was enough for Charles to realize exactly what was going. His drink fell out of his hand and the glass shattered on the floor. He looked from Sam to Aelia.

Aelia sighed. “Sam, you would have had to wait till you were as old as Sil is. No one should have to go through that. On top of that, there is a chance they could grow into someone who wasn’t strong enough for you. Just because your body realized that their genes were stronger, doesn’t mean that they will be a stronger personality.”

I rubbed Aelia’s arm as she leveled with Sam.

“I’ve seen connections before without bonds and I decided to help one along. That’s all.”

Sam stood up, nearly knocking the table back. “Take it back, Solaris. Take it back now.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why should I?”

“Because Charles shouldn’t need to be stuck with someone like me!” His exclamation stunned us all.

Aelia sat up and for the first time, I saw her genuine anger. Sam shrank back as even I swallowed at her Alpha power. It just served to remind us that she was an Alpha Prince and she had more of an Alpha presence than I would ever have. It was always shocking every time I felt it.

“Don’t you fucking dare say that, Samuel Guess. I don’t want to hear that fucking sentence out of that mouth of yours again, do you understand me?”

Sam sat his ass back down in the booth. Charles was frozen in his seat but he was staring at Sam, not Aelia.

“Not only is that not your fucking decision but you are worthy of being taken care of and loved. You dare think you aren’t worthy of that, then you can fuck off right now. But never again will I hear that out of your mouth.”

“Sol, drop it, now.” Noah was striding over here, anger in his features as well. “Drop it now.”

The air got a lot lighter as she leaned back away from Sam. She still had a frown on her face but Aelia was no longer emanating her power. Looking over at Noah, he was shaking his head.

“You use that power again Sol, so help me I’ll remove all the whiskey out of this place.”

Aelia looked down at the table. Grimacing, she moved out of the booth. Noah grabbed her hand and lifted it up, checking her pulse. He sighed and brought her hand up, kissing it.

“Don’t do it again, Sol. You might not be so lucky next time.”

She nodded to him. Turning to us, she let her eyes sweep over us. “Sorry, have a good rest of your day boys. I’m tired so I’ll leave you to it.”

We all watched as Noah helped her up the stairs. Finn was standing at the end of the bar, watching her go too. He shook his head.

“That power is what is killing her faster. Try not to piss her off too much. We’d like to at least get another two weeks out of her please.”

Charles turned to him. “Two weeks? That’s it? I thought…”

“I think we will be lucky if we get that, honestly. She’s already nearly slipped from our grasp twice in the past week. It’s only a matter of time.” Finn was sad, staring at the glasses he was cleaning.

Sam was still shaking in the chair, his eyes stuck wide. I tapped the table and he looked up at me.

“You okay, Sam?”

“I didn’t realize she would get so mad.”

Charles was the one who spoke up. “I can understand her anger.”

Sam turned to him, stunned. “W…what?”

“You’re not giving yourself enough credit. Plus, you also aren’t allowing any room in your thoughts for what the other person may actually think.” Charles looked up at Sam, their eyes locked. “I know it’s shocking and I’m not sure how I feel about Sol playing matchmaker without permission but…” He paused for a moment, chewing on his words. “…I’m not going to shy away from what she has seen and what she’s decided might be best.”

Sam shakily reached out and barely touched Charles with his fingers. The simple brush made both of them shift in their seats. I smiled. It was actually sweet seeing this. It was rare when you got to really see up close when two mates met. The movies and books always made it look like they see each other or smell each other across the room, then suddenly they are in each other arms.

That’s not how it worked. You still needed to build a relationship with that person. Most of the time, it was a very shy and awkward meeting. Never lips locking and dry humping right off the bat. There was more to it than that. It would help though that these two had been in contact and actually knew each other. That friendship would be as base of their relationship.

“Silas, you knew…knew that Sol had done this?” Charles struggled to break eye contact with Sam but he looked at me.

“I did. She actually asked my permission first.”

Sam and Charles both furrowed their brows.

“I always trusted Aelia when it came to her matches. She sees much more than I think people understand. Through the bonds and in life. I knew she told you that he was ten years younger but that’s not all she sees, Sam. Aelia sees all of it. Who they are, where they are, what they are like. It’s a lot more information than what she provides even when you ask her.”

I glanced at Nate. “She’s cryptic about it because she needs to be. Sometimes she sees stuff that isn’t good and she can’t do anything about it. But I trust her and her judgement. Honestly, I agree with her and I’m with Charles on this one. While I wasn’t directly involved, you asking her to change it back, not because of some valid reason but because you think you aren’t someone to be loved is downright infuriating.”

“I didn’t mean…that I shouldn’t be loved…I just…” Sam was stammering now.

“Stop Sam. Just stop.” Charles growled and I was surprised.

Sam shrunk back into his seat. I’m sure Charles’ tone was nearly as strong a feeling as Aelia’s was for him. Your mate had an effect on you much more than anyone else, it was double if not triple for an Omega.

Charles got up, his hands were jammed into his pockets. “I’m going to head out. I’ll talk to you guys later.”

Sam baulked and started to reach for Charles but he turned, headed out of bar. The door slammed shut and tears spilled out of Sam. Getting up, I sat down on the booth next to Sam, pulling him to me. He buried his head in my shoulder and cried. I held him as he cried. Finn came over, giving us a sad smile and putting three glasses of ice water on the table while cleaning off not just our glasses but also the shatter glass from Charles.

“He hates me.”

I sighed. “He doesn’t hate you, Sam. It’s just a lot of information to process. Give him some time. He isn’t like us, he didn’t grow up with all this being normal.”

“Solaris was right though.”

I cocked my head to the side.

“I liked him. I’ve been crushing on Charles for years.”

My eyes widened and I looked at Nate who was smirking. Rubbing his back, I picked up the water and had him take a drink.

“Give him some time. Don’t worry, alright? We are going to go back, you’re going to hand me a ruthless stack of paperwork and we are going to focus on work for a while. Sound good?”

He nodded, hiccuping. “That sounds good.”