Page 2 of Finding Love with the Fae King

Rose made sure that I had food and a clean house, but I had everything taken care of. She didn’t have to take care of me. I became very independent through the years of already being alone, but she still checked. I loved Rose and her family to pieces. They included me in everything.

Or so I thought. One secret they kept from me was now staring me in the face.

I sat down in the grass while Tulip went behind a tree to change.

Alec squatted next to me. “Hey, are you all right?” He put his hand on my back in comfort, and I pushed him away.

I think the one thing I was most deprived of was touch. Tulip’s parents often hugged me, but it just wasn’t the same. I couldn’t tell if it was a pity hug or not. If Tulip was given a hug, one quickly followed for me as well. I was sure their intentions were good. They had always been there, but the doubt was still hovering over me. I could thank my biological parents for that.

“I’m fine.” I waved him off.

I waited to talk to Tulip. I didn’t know Alec from Adam and Eve, if those people were even real now that my entire beliefs about the world had just come crashing down.

Tulip tugged her sweatshirt back on over her head as she came from behind the tree. Alec acted like he hadn’t seen her in a week and pulled her in for a kiss. I sighed and started coughing to break them up.I don’t need to watch them have sex out in the open.

Tulip turned to me and held her arms out for a hug. She was really the only one I thought loved me unconditionally, but now, after dropping the biggest bomb of the century on me, I wasn’t so sure. I had told her everything about me, from the heartbreak of my parents to crushes in high school to my questions about her parents caring for me or just pitying me. I told her everything, yet she kept this secret. Hurt was the only thing I felt right now.

I let her embrace me. I needed some sort of contact. My arms slowly slid up her back, and I laid my head on her shoulder. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. We are supposed to keep it a secret until necessary.”

“So, all of you, your whole family?” Tulip nodded. “This is called a pack, then, right?” She nodded again. The pieces of the puzzle fell together. The large house where everyone hung out, people training early in the morning, which I could never watch, people eating large quantities of food without gaining weight. They were all wolves. Every single one of them. I let out a gigantic sigh. At least I wasn’t freaking out. I was taking it quite well, honestly.

“Hey.” Tulip put both of her hands on my face. “Once I got permission, I told you as quickly as I could. Humans aren’t supposed to know. It’s for pack safety, understand?”

I nodded my head. Even though the stab in my heart hurt, I couldn’t fault her for having to follow some Alpha leader dude. If they functioned anything like actual wolves, I understood that.

“Why are you allowed to tell me now?” I looked up at her. Being only five-foot-three was annoying as heck. Everyone was taller than me.

“Well”—Tulip reached for Alec’s hand—“I found my mate, my soulmate.” Her eyes sparkled as she looked at him, and he grabbed her by her waist and kissed him.

“Soulmate? How do you know?” I questioned.

“His smell is magnified to me, and he smells of my favorite aromas. Sparks fly across our skin as we touch, and we have this instant connection. We’re mates.”

“Oh,” I acted sheepishly. “What does that mean, then?”

“It means we will be together forever.” She smiled up at him. “Our souls are intertwined with each other, and we are having a mating ceremony, like a wedding, and I’m going to need my best friend to be there with me.” Her smile had a glint of mischief in it, and I stood in shock.

“You just met the guy! You can’t do it now!” I squealed.

Alec growled and pulled Tulip closer, and I gave him a glare.

“It is different with werewolves, Melina.” Tulip looked back at Alec. “The Moon Goddess picks our mates. She spends time with each soul, and once they are bonded together, it will be forever. I have an everlasting attraction to him, and he does me. He will only have eyes for me and me to him—no cheating, no leaving each other. We are mates forever.”

This was all happening so fast. How could they think I would be okay with this? She’d known the guy for only a week, and now she wanted to spend eternity with him? Knowing that they were werewolves and this was a common occurrence, I guessed I could let it slide. If that was how she truly felt, and her parents wanted the same, why should I stop them? They were a whole different species, and I didn’t even know my best friend anymore.

My eyes teared up. I wished I could believe that mates could be forever. After dealing with my birth parents’ marriage that ended up failing because of me, two people that were supposedly in love, in my heart, I didn’t believe it. I gave Tulip a fake smile. “Well, when is this mating ceremony, and what do you want me to do?”

“The thing is”—Tulip’s eyes shone at Alec again with so much love and lust—“we are going to do it at his home pack in Bergarian.”

“Where is that?” I had never heard of such a place. Alec grabbed my hand and pulled us toward the community—I mean, packhouse.

“Let us tell you all about it,” he said with a wink.

Chapter Two

Melina

Therewassilenceaswe walked through the forest back to the packhouse. Tulip and Alec intertwined their hands, and I couldn’t help but look on.It must be nice to fall in love like that, but will it last?I saw none of her family members or people from her community—I mean pack—get a divorce. They all seemed really in love, but was it love or this “bond” thing they kept talking about? Did they have a choice? Maybe humans were just different.

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