Page 5 of This Fate That Guides Us
Bea whoops and spins me around. In her excitement, she knocks us both into the edge of the couch and sends it sliding across the floor several feet. “Oops.” She shrugs but wraps me in a hug. “Let’s figure out what you are going to say in response, then we will shelf all thoughts of mates and the future. We have a birthday to celebrate after all!”
I help her push the couch back into place before joining her at the table, leaving my arm laid out where we can both see the words. “Do you think it will stay there forever?” I murmur as I uncap my pen.
Bea cackles, her head shaking. “No, Omen, I don’t think it will be there forever. Oh! I’m going to take a picture! So you have something to remember them by until you feel safe enough to pursue the connection.” She grabs her phone and snaps several pictures.
“Perfect! Okay, let’s see. The first line was from you. An idea for a title for one of your photos?” she asks as she copies the words down on a blank piece of notebook paper. She’s been the sounding board for my work over the past two years so she recognizes my writing style. “The second line came from your mate? Together they sound like a poem. Or sappy song lyrics.”
Her pen stops on the paper as she turns narrowed eyes to me. “If you wind up mated to musicians and I’m not, I will be the saltiest bitch on the planet.”
I hold my hands up and roll my eyes. “You’ll have all the musician dick you want, B. That’s why you’re studying to become a manager in the industry, remember?”
“You’re right.” Her lips purse as she stares off into space with a dreamy look in her eyes. They say omegas are insatiable horny beasts and the description fits my best friend to a tee. I hope her future pack is huge so they can keep up with her appetite without over-exhausting themselves.
“So, your response,” Bea says, blinking. “You should tell them you are interested, but any pursuit can’t happen yet. And you can ask them to wait until you are ready to meet them.”
My attention turns back to the words on my arm and I know what I want to say. My pen shakes slightly until the tip presses into my skin below their response.
‘Despite the yearning in my heart, I cannot be yours.
Perhaps one day that will change,
but I understand if you do not wish to wait for me.’
Bea raises one perfectly manicured eyebrow my way. I know she disagrees with my choice to not ask them to wait but I don’t feel comfortable pressuring them when I have no timeline for my freedom. They deserve the chance to live their own life without the weight of my absence.
If that is the path they choose.
We wait in silence staring at my arm. Nothing happens. Fifteen minutes have passed when Bea asks if maybe I haven’t done it right. I shrug. “I don’t know what I’m doing. How does this stuff even work?”
Bea opens her laptop and does a quick internet search for details about communicating between Fate matched mates. There are entirely too many results and I’m grateful she is the one skimming them. I would be too overwhelmed by all the information.
“It says after the first time it is all about intent. So you have to write the message intending to send it to your mate. I think. Let’s try it.”
I pick up my pen once more and write over the letters again, focusing on sending the words to the mystery mate on the other side of the connection. My arm is warm as I finish the line and I know it worked this time. “I think you were right. It felt different this time.”
My stomach revolts as we sit and wait for a response. I jump in my seat when Bea claps her hands together. “Well, while I love sitting here staring at your arm, we need to start getting ready for a night on the town. So let’s move this party to the bathroom. It’s hair and make-up time! With music of course!”
Discovering my Fated connection was a surprise I was nowhere near ready to face. Fear of the future and panic over their safety overwhelmed me during those first few days. Several times I reconsidered Bea’s advice and almost reached out to end the connection.
Now, a year later, I’ve come to terms with the distance I’ve put between us. They don’t know who I am, and I know nothing about them aside from the single initial they use at the end of their messages. If my birth family were to find me tomorrow, they would be safe.
That is what matters most.
Our happily ever after can wait.
CHAPTER TWO
NOW PLAYING: DISTRACTION- Sleep Token
Thinking of my group of mystery mates, I decide to do something I have avidly avoided for the past year: reach out to them. What better way to sate my anxiety-driven insomnia than writing a message to mates I don’t deserve? Grabbing an easy clean marker I press the ink to my skin and write.
‘In the depths of joy, do you often find the darkest thoughts?’
Not having felt their energies or sent any messages in so long, it takes single-minded focus to get the message to send. The telltale warmth of my success brings both trepidation and excitement coursing through my limbs. What if they answer? What if they don’t?
Which option would weigh the heaviest on my soul?
It’s only moments before my skin turns scratchy with a response.
