Chapter Twenty-Five
Sebastian hung up the phone with his mother, she agreed to let the boys stay longer and he was grateful she didn’t ask any questions. He stared down at their cribs, he hadn’t been away from them this long since the day he met them. Pictures of the day they were born hung on the wall, a thought penetrated his mind.
A knot settled in the pit of his stomach, he found Aeslyn in the kitchen cleaning up the rest of the breakfast dishes. “So, I just thought of something, the shower sex was amazing, so good in fact I just realized we didn’t use protection. Is there any chance you are on birth control?”
Aeslyn grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the kitchen table. “I know you don’t know a lot about shifters so there are a few things I need to explain to you. First of all, we can’t get STD’s so you don’t have to worry about that from me. Second, mates are a real thing in our world. Every person has that one other person that is meant for them. We recognize our mate as soon as we meet them. Once you’ve found each other you have to be together, it can drive you to a point of insanity if you deny it.” She leaned forward, “This next part is going to get deep,” she paused waiting for him to nod, “you are my mate. If you choose to accept me I can claim you and there is a possibility you could become a shifter too.”
His mind was reeling, he knew about soul mates but this seemed to be on a whole nother level. “What happens to you if we don’t stay together?”
“It’s hard to say, it’s different for everyone. Some people go insane, some die, one thing's for sure you never really live a full life. I don’t want that to sway you though, I know you didn’t ask for any of this and I would never ask you to be with me if you didn’t want to. Once you’ve claimed your mate you are bonded for life. We usually end up dying around the same time, one unable to go on living without the other. We don’t get sick and we live longer than the average human so it’s not like you are risking having a short life because you are tied to me.”
Nausea rolled through him, this was more serious than he expected and he honestly didn’t know how to process it. He was wondering why he was attracted to her so fast and desperate to be with her but he couldn’t have imagined it was a life or death situation for him to be with her. And did he even want to be a shifter?
He needed time to think and ironically it was his competition who was going to give him the distraction. He could see Ash walking up the sidewalk to the house, “I guess I don’t need to worry about him stealing you from me if you’re mine, right? Does he know yet because he is going to be devastated?”
“There has never been anything between Ash and me so you were never in jeopardy of me choosing him over you.”
She couldn’t actually be that clueless, could she? “You know he’s in love with you right?”
She looked at him, confusion written all over her face, “No, he’s my brother. He’s never felt anything towards me.”
“I actually feel a little bad for the guy now.” The doorbell rang ending their conversation. He left her at the table, he could see she was analyzing her relationship with Ash to see how she missed it.
He swung the door open, both men stood staring at each other without saying a word. Finally, Ash held out his hand, “Aeslyn says she might have died if it weren’t for you.” Sebastian shook his hand, not saying a word, “I wouldn’t have been able to survive if something had happened to her. I owe you now so I will make sure we find the person who’s after you.” With that, the man shoved past him and headed towards the kitchen.
Ash handed Aeslyn a bag of clothes than sat down with a huff. Living with her all these years knowing she didn’t return his feelings must have been torture for the other man.
“You two be nice, I’m going to get dressed.” She took the bag and left the kitchen. It didn’t matter how early in the day it was, this situation was a good enough reason for a beer. He brought three bottles to the table and handed one to Ash. Neither man spoke, they sat there staring daggers at each other for the three minutes she was gone.
“Okay, let’s get down to business.” Aeslyn marched back in still pulling her hair into a ponytail as she sat down. “A couple of days ago your grandmother had her friend hire us to come down and watch out for you, apparently she had a dream you were in danger which obviously proved to be true.”
Sebastian held his hand up to stop her. “Both of my grandmothers are dead, there is no way this came from one of them unless you mean one of them reached out from beyond the grave?”
Aeslyn and Ash shared a glance, she was laughing, Ash looked ready to murder someone. “What did I miss?”
“The woman who hired us, Gerri, is well known in our world because she runs a paranormal dating agency. It would appear she tricked me into finding my mate.” Ash growled next to her, Sebastian ignored him and waited for her to continue. “She’s an unusual woman and even though she could have told me what you were to me knowing I would have come to find you she chose to make it more of a game. That’s something she’s famous for doing, and I fell right into her trap.”
“Fucking Gerri.” Aeslyn’s face snapped towards Ash.
“You can’t keep saying that, you know how powerful she is, she can probably hear us now and is going to give you hell when she sees you again. You don’t question her.” Aeslyn admonished Ash.
“I don’t care if he’s your mate or not, you belong to me, we’ve been together since birth. Gerri has no right to break us up. We have a good life together, I can make you happy.”
Sebastian sat quietly, he didn’t know enough about their politics yet to get involved.
Aeslyn glanced at Ash horrified, “You know I can’t walk away from him, he is mine.” She rested her hand against Ash’s cheek. A look of pure anguish on his face, “You will always be my best friend but we were never meant to be lovers. You have a mate out there too, once you meet her you’ll realize you were wrong to ask me to deny my right to happiness.”
“Let’s just talk about the case then we can talk more about this in private.” Sebastian couldn’t believe Ash wasn’t letting up, even he was getting the gravity of the bond he was forming with Aeslyn.
She turned back towards Sebastian, he could see she was trying to control her anger. “Even though Gerri sent me to you it’s obvious she was right about your safety. We need to know who is trying to hurt you. I know you want the boys to come home, help us figure this out and life can return to normal.”
Sebastian sat back, racking his brain for the tenth time since the shooting. “I honestly don’t know, I don’t have enemies, I’ve never done anything illegal, I’ve never even been in a fight outside of combat.”
“Pussy.” Ash rolled his eyes refusing to look at Sebastian.
“Connor and I both have the guy’s scent, if you don’t know where to start then we need to lay a trap for him. I already caught him following you at the water park and again at the bar and it’s obvious he knows where you live. I think you need to go out today, go somewhere very public so he doesn’t try shooting again. Connor, Ash and I will follow you at a distance.” She leaned forward and grabbed his hand, “I know you can take care of yourself so if possible let the guy take you, we won’t lose you, but we need to get him and find out why he is doing this and make sure this ends with him.”
Fear ran cold through his veins, not for himself but for the boys that he is risking orphaning if something goes wrong. But she was right, this needed to end. “Let’s call Connor.”