Page 69 of Unhinged Magic
I inwardly groaned: real fucking subtle. I pressed my palms into my pants, like the motion could calm my nerves. As if.
Tyler spoke first, his deep voice rumbling from his chest, directing his question at me. “What exactlyisthis?”
I had never been afraid of Tyler. Of what he would say, how he might react. But it’s not every day you tell your brother his best friend has been sucking face with his sister.
I turned to Scar for reassurance, and she nodded.
“Skye?” Morgan’s voice broke the silence. “Is everything ok?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but the words refused to surface, as if buried in a coffin six feet under for eternity.
I willed myself to speak, but how to start? What should I say?
Scar’s voice came beside me. “Wes is Skye’s fated mate.”
My eyes blew wide, craning my neck to look at her. Could she not have worked up to that?
“Fuck off he is,” said Tyler from across the circle. His words had a bite to them I was expecting, but I still cringed at the tone.It only served to make me more nervous. He made to stand, but Morgan’s hand grasped his, stilling his movements.
“Ty,” she whispered, her arm holding onto his. He bristled momentarily; locked in some form of freaky nonverbal thing between them.
“Sit down,” came Colton’s steady voice from across the circle.
Ty scoffed, a hand lifting in the air. “This is bullshit. He nearly killed Morgan!”
My palms turned clammy, my pulse wreaking havoc in my chest. Scar pulled her chair closer, taking my hand in hers.
Her grip squeezed mine with reassurance. “Go ahead.”
I swung my gaze around the room, choosing to direct my words at Colton. He seemed the most likely of the group to keep his cool, not bite my head off.
“It’s true,” I said finally.
“No fucking way.” Tyler fixed me with his steel glare.
Colton lifted a finger in his direction, motioning him to quiet, causing Tyler to release an exasperated breath. Colton’s brow quirked in my direction. “You believe Wes is your fated mate?”
I nodded, squirming under the intensity of his pale blue irises. He was the eldest of the group, the go-to guy. Reliable, apparently, should have been his middle name.
“He isnotyour fated mate,” came Tyler’s voice again. Morgan fixed him with a heavy glare.
I turned my attention back to Colton. “When I introduced Morgan to the group the first time, it was also the first time I had seen Wesley in years. He felt the bond instantly… I didn’t.”
“That’s not how it works. You both feel it,” Tyler stated, and this time I wholeheartedly pleaded with him. Let him see how drained I was, how hard this had been for me.
“I know, trust me, I get it.” Swirling my ring around my thumb, I dared to hold his hardened stare. “I didn’t believe it either at first.”
Moments passed where silence lingered between us, filling the group with questionable looks and uncomfortable breaths.
It wasn’t until Colton spoke that I realized I had been holding my own.
“Go on,” he urged.
I stared down at my hands, splotchy, clammy, and… empty. Taking a deep breath, I imagined Wesley’s hand in mine, the way it should have been when we finally broke our news to the group. I gathered any confidence the universe could offer me in the moment. “Wesley feels our bond in its entirety, but I don’t.”
“You’re wrong,” Tyler levelled, obviously trying to keep his shit together. All fisted palms and darkened eyes, he looked on the edge of an attack. “He wouldn’t keep a thing like this from me.”
“Wouldn’t he?” I countered. “He knew you would act like this, knew you wouldn’t have a bar of him sniffing around me. That’s why we kept this between us until we figured out what was going on.”
