BK 5 - Chapter 28 - Family
Mariam wasn't sure she heard Roger correctly. He had said he could be mated to a human, and then he said she was his mate. She'd just found out that there were people who could change into animals, and now he was telling her that she was his mate. She didn't know what to say.
"If you need time to process this, that's okay. I wasn't planning on coming at you with everything tonight, but Penelope kind of blew up my plans." He said softly. Roger was worried that Mariam would reject him after learning the truth. The longer she stayed quiet, the more he was certain she would ask to leave.
"What does that mean exactly?" She asked slowly. She had come to dinner to meet her heroes, but now she's being told that those people are lions and their grandson is a bear and her mate. Was she dreaming? Had she finally succumbed to the mental illness her mother had, and she was actually at home in bed having hallucinations?
"It means that if you accept me as your mate, I will mark you, and you'll become like me. You'll have a bear and be able to shift. It means you and I will be together for the rest of our lives. Shifter mates aren't like humans. We don't date multiple people to find the right one because we know that there is one person out there for us. We feel like we're cheating on our mates if we're with anyone else, so most of us stay alone no matter how long it takes." Roger explained. Mariam stared at him, still in shock. He hadn't said anything that made her want to leave. In fact, everything he said made her want to stay. Who wouldn't want to find out that a man had been waiting for them their whole life?
"What happens if one mate doesn't want the other? Does that ever happen?" Mariam asked. Roger's face fell. She was going to reject him, wasn't she?
"In that case, then they can reject their mate. It happens sometimes, but it's rare. It can cause severe pain when mates reject each other as though they're losing part of themselves. Don't let that influence you, though. You can reject me if you decide this life isn't for you. I don't want you to feel pressured." Mariam smiled at him slightly and shook her head.
"I wasn't asking because I don't want you. I was afraid you may not want me, and I wanted to know what would happen if that were the case." She said sadly. Roger took her hand and smiled.
"I would never reject you. The minute Duke and I saw you today, we knew you were our mate. It was hard to go the whole day without telling or touching you." He moved closer, and Mariam looked into her dark eyes, drowning in the chocolate pools.
"So what happens now?" She asked, squeezing his hand.
"That's up to you. I want you to take some time to think about what you want." Roger told her. Mariam nodded and leaned forward to kiss him. She knew what she wanted, but she had to wrap her head around everything before she admitted it.
"I may not be someone who can change into an animal, but I've never been with a man. I was too busy caring for my mom and then going to school to worry about men. I know this is fast, but when we leave tonight, will you go to my apartment with me? Is that okay?" Mariam asked, stroking his handsome face with her hand.
"I'll do whatever you want. Doing anything before you decide will make our connection grow and be harder on us both if you reject me." Roger kissed her forehead and then her cheek before moving to her mouth. When they pulled apart, Mariam smiled.
"Well then, it's a good thing that I don't plan on rejecting you. I don't think I'm ready to be marked yet, but I'm not going to reject you." Roger pulled her onto his lap and kissed her deeply. When he pulled back, he put his forehead against hers.
"There's something else I need to tell you." He figured it was best to get it all out and tell her about the magic he and Emma had.
"Okay," Mariam said, lying her head against him. Sitting across his lap with his arms around her, Mariam thought she was in heaven.
"I have a twin sister named Emma. Right after we were born, a Native American witch, Atzi, who was staying with our family, fought an evil witch who kidnapped Emma and me. She and her husband sacrificed themselves so that our family could live. Her magic transferred into me and my sister. Supposedly, something big is going to come for us, and we'll need the magic to defeat whatever it is. I don't know how this will impact you as my mate if I mark you, but you should know everything." Roger watched her expression, and she went from surprise to chuckling.
"At this point, nothing surprises me. When you mark me, we'll take everything as it comes." Mariam said, smiling up at him. Roger smiled back, noticing she said when he marked her, not if.
"Can I ask you something?" He asked, kissing her forehead.
"Sure." Her mom was constantly dealing with the voices in her head, and she didn't know how to comfort Mariam when she was sad or just needed a hug. In just a few hours, Roger had shown more affection towards her than anyone had her entire life.
"Where's your mom?" He asked gently. He wasn't sure it was his place to ask, but he hoped to help her if possible.
"She died a couple years ago. The meds she was on made her better for a while, and when she was better, she stopped taking them. I could usually sneak them into her food, but somehow, she discovered what I was doing. I was in school, and as I came out of my last class, the police were waiting for me. They said my mom had been killed when she ran into traffic on a busy street. She'd had other close calls, but I wasn't there to protect her that time." Mariam's tears started falling. She'd blamed herself for a long time for her mother's death.
"I'm sorry," Roger said, holding her tight until she stopped crying.
"I know it was inevitable because of how sick she was, but I miss her. She wasn't a mom like most moms, and we had more bad times than good times, but she was my mom. She was the only family I had." Mariam had never really grieved the loss of her mom, even though she knew how important it was to go through the process of healing.
"Of course, you miss her, and you should. Just think about the good times you had and everything you did to make her life a little easier." Roger was cut off by the sound of knocking on the door.
"Are you guys coming out to eat, or are you going to be in there all night?" Penelope asked through the door. Mariam wiped her tears away and chuckled.
"I guess we better go eat before we disappoint the princess." She said.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Roger asked. Mariam kissed him and then stood up.
"Yeah, I'm good." He wasn't totally convinced, but he figured they could talk more when they left. Roger opened the door, and Penelope greeted them with her arms crossed, tapping her foot impatiently.
"It's about time. I thought you were going to make me starve." She said, looking between them. Mariam smiled and held her hand out to her.
"Please accept my apologies, princess." She said to the little girl. Penelope giggled as she took each of their hands, pulling them toward the dining room.
"I have them." She said. Mariam's face turned red when everyone looked at them.
"Penelope, we told you to leave them alone. No one was making you wait to eat." Bailey said from across the room. Her daughter shook her head as she pulled them to the empty seats she'd saved for Roger and Mariam.
"You said it's not polite to eat before your guests. Mariam is a guest. Everyone else was rude because they ate already, but I waited." Penelope had Roger sit on one side of her and Miriam on the other.
"You're turning more and more into your Aunt Lisa," Alex said. Mariam looked over at Roger's dad and smiled. They looked more like brothers than father and son. She was shocked to discover his mom was blind when Grandma Cat introduced her to everyone.
"Being a strong woman isn't a bad thing. Right, Aunt Lisa?" Penelope asked, looking across the table.
"That's right, sweetheart. Don't let them tell you any different." Lisa said, winking at her. Next to Lisa, her nineteen-year-old daughter Shelby nodded. She looked like Lisa's twin with the same long, curly blonde hair and blue eyes.
Mariam loved watching the family dynamics. There were so many people there, but one thing was clear. The women were the leaders in this family, with Cat being the matriarch, the one everyone looked up to. She ate her dinner while Lisa and Shelby continued talking about men trying to silence strong women.
Lisa's mate Jayce just smiled next to her. He had learned a long time ago it was best to just let them have their say. Their son Cameron was twenty and was unable to make it to dinner. Neither of Lisa's or Jayce's children had found their mates yet. They all knew it would happen when the time was right.
After dinner, Roger and Mariam stayed a little longer to visit. Cat made sure that Mariam would come to Valerie's birthday party in a few days before hugging and kissing them both on the cheeks. She loved it when her family mated to humans. She still believed that the humans who mated with shifters were ones who had difficult pasts and needed to be shown how strong they were. They didn't need to be shifters, but being surrounded by a loving family seemed to help them shine.
"So, what did you think of the family?" Roger asked as they drove back toward Sacramento. He'd thrown some things into a duffle bag and told his parents he wouldn't return home that night. He hoped Mariam still wanted him to stay with her.
"I think they're incredible. I don't understand something, though. Your grandparents are a lion and vampire, yet your dad is a grizzly. How does that work?" She slid to the middle to sit against him again.
"My dad and Aunt Lisa are not their biological children. They were literally cut from the wombs of their mothers and kept in cages until my grandparents found them when they were about Penelope's age. Many people in our family came from broken homes. Grandma Cat was one of the worst. She was human, and her mom died from cancer when she was only six. Her uncle molested her until she got him sent to jail when she was twelve. Her life had been hard until she met Grandpa Trey. She's the strongest woman I have ever met with the biggest heart. Everyone who has been in our group homes is welcomed into the family."
They rode in silence the rest of the way to her apartment. She couldn't stop thinking about Roger's family. They had been so welcoming to her, and their love for each other was like a warm blanket that touched everyone they welcomed into their fold. When Roger stopped in front of Mariam's building, she was brought out of her thoughts.
"It's okay if you don't want me to stay. I can go back home." He thought maybe that was the reason she was so quiet. Was she having second thoughts? Mariam turned and shook her head.
"If anything, I want you here more than I did earlier. I've just never met a family like yours. Everyone was so amazing. I'm still trying to process everything and make sure I'm not dreaming." She replied.
"You're not dreaming. I told you they'd love you." Roger said, placing his hand on her cheek.
"How about we go upstairs, and you show me what else grizzlies can do?" Mariam said, kissing him. Roger didn't need to be told twice. He opened the truck door, grabbed his bag, and helped Mariam out. Once inside, she wasted no time pulling him into the bedroom. She wanted him to mark her, but tonight, she wanted to be a human sleeping with a grizzly bear.
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Not far away, a man picks up his phone to make a call. They'd been waiting and watching for years. Soon, everything would fall into place just as they knew it would.
"Hello." The man on the other end answered.
"The twins have found their mates. It's almost time."
"Great. Let me know about the others. You know what we're waiting for, and we can't make a move until that happens."
The call was disconnected, and the man started the car. He knew what the boss wanted. The whole world was about to be turned upside down.
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