Ready or not.
PENELOPE.
Aiden thinks he’s my “mate.”
Mate as in soulmate.
He thinks we’re meant to be together.
I don’t want to hurt his feelings, but how can we be meant to be when I literally just met him? I don’t know him well enough to be together with him.
Plus, the fact that whatever I feel for him, whatever connection we have, I also have that same connection with the other three guys. I try to keep that out of my mind, but it’s impossible. I cringe, thinking about him listening in on my private thoughts. He’s talking with Liam at the moment. He’s on the other side of the deck, but I know he can hear me.
I groan.
Great.
Now my “mate” knows that I also have feelings for his three best friends. This thing is turning out great so far.
I’m also worried about my family. Liam told me I can call them once I arrive at the school, as long as I promise not to talk about the fact that I’m at a school for werewolves.
They don’t like being called werewolves. They say they’re wolf shifters and that there are all kinds of shifters at the school where we’re going. It’s still hard to wrap my brain around that. I also hope that I don’t turn into some kind of animal. Like, no offense to these guys, but the last thing I want to do is turn into a furry creature.
I look up and see Aiden smirking at me.
My face grows warm and I look away.
Am I ever going to remember that he can hear my thoughts?
This isn’t normal.
Though, who am I to judge what normal is? With one touch, I can read every thought and ever emotion that anybody has ever felt and thought through their entire life. That isn’t normal.
Why couldn’t I see Aiden’s entire life?
I’m kind of glad I didn’t see. I want to learn about his past because he wants to tell me and not because we accidentally touched.
Okay, it wasn’t an accidental touch, but he feels guilty enough, so I don’t want to think about that.
I see something off in the distance.
Is that an island?
As we get closer, I realize that it is an island. A big island. And there is a… castle?
Why is there a castle?
Wait… where are we?
“That’s the school.” Parker points to the castle as he comes up beside me. He keeps a small distance from me. He’s closer than I’m comfortable with, but I know he won’t reach out to touch me.
“Where are we?” I ask. “And why have I never seen this castle before? We can’t be that far from Florida. I mean, how long was I out?”
He laughs. “We left from Key West. This island is a ways off the coast. We have it cloaked with magic so nobody will find it.”
“How does that work?”
“If anybody gets close, they automatically go around it,” he says. “They will never even realize they turned by the time they’re away from the island.”
“Huh, that’s cool.”
I look at the castle off in the distance. As it gets closer, I realize just how big it is.
Of course it’s big. It’s a castle.
“Welcome to Hogwarts,” I mumble to myself.
“Hog what?” Parker asks.
“Hogwarts,” I repeat.
“What?”
“You know,” I say. “The school from Harry Potter.”
“Who’s Harry Potter?”
I narrow my eyes as I look at him.
He’s got to be messing with me, right?
But, no. Parker looks genuinely confused.
“It’s a book. And a movie.”
“Ah,” he drawls out. “We don’t really like human entertainment.”
“You guys have books and TV though, right?”
He nods. “We just have our own shows and stories.”
That’s… kind of cool, actually. A whole new world of books and movies to explore. Though, something tells me I won’t be having much time to do things like that with these guys around. They’re far more entertaining than anything I could watch on TV.
Uh, I’m supposed to be mad at them. They kidnapped me. And they sent somebody to mess with the minds of my family. How am I just okay with them?
Maybe it’s because I’ve always known I was different. I’ve wanted answers, and now I feel like I’m finally about to get them. Somebody is bound to know what is wrong with me. Why do I have these powers? I’m just human.
Or am I?
I’ve always questioned if I was adopted. Mom and Dad laughed it off whenever I asked, but I was genuinely curious. I know they love me, and I love them, but I’ve never really fit in. I don’t look like them and I don’t act like them. I’ve always thought of myself as the black sheep of the family, but what if it’s something else?
“Are you okay? Your eyes are gray again.” Parker’s gaze flicks back and forth between my eyes as he studies me with a concerned expression.
“Sorry.” My shoulders slump as I heave out a sigh. “I was just thinking about my family.”
“You miss them?”
I nod.
I will miss them so much.
“My older sister, Alyssa, was about to give birth. She’s about two weeks out from her due date,” I say, hating the tears that fill my eyes. “She’s having a girl. My first niece.”
“We will arrange a way for you to go see them when she gives birth.”
“Really?”
Parker nods.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
I throw my arms around his waist, careful not to touch my skin to his. He, too, is cautious as he hugs me back.
“You’re welcome.”
His voice is low, and it vibrates through my entire body.
Am I seriously thinking about how sexy his voice is right now? Is making fun of Paige for being so boy crazy for all those years finally catching up to me?
I back away from his embrace first. I don’t think I’m ready to let him go, but the hug was already lasting too long to be normal. I just… really like the feeling of being in his arms. Which makes me feel guilty because Aiden thinks he’s my soulmate and he’s listening to my every thought.
I cautiously look over at him and he’s smiling at me.
Okaaaay…
Maybe he’s fine with me having feelings for his best friend.
Or maybe he’s just not listening. That could be it. Maybe he’s trying to give me my privacy.
Come to think of it, I can’t hear his thoughts right now.
I’m just blocking you so I don’t overwhelm you.
That is so freaky.
Will I ever get used to hearing Aiden’s voice in my head?
When I look back at the island, I see that we’re almost there. My heart pounds and I feel a bit sick to my stomach.
This is it.
My new school.
My new life.
Ready or not, it’s happening.
I think I’m going to be sick.
She hugged me.
Maybe that wouldn’t be a big deal if she were anybody else, but she’s not. She’s Penelope. My mate. The other half of my soul.
She doesn’t like touching, and yet she reached out to me and wrapped her arms around me. The second she did that, my heart melted.
Aiden opened his mind to the rest of us, but blocked out Penelope, so we can all hear her thoughts through him. Her thoughts are cute. She has feelings for me. She has feelings for us all.
We won’t have to wait too long before we tell her the truth—that she belongs to all of us and not just Aiden. That we belong to her, because this goes both ways.
I’m impatient. I want to tell her now, but I see why we haven’t. It’s a lot already. We’ve introduced her to the supernatural world and now we’re bringing her to Shifter Academy. We took her from her family and the only life she’s ever known. She needs time to process that before we drop another bomb on her.
Liam and Cole are the most impatient though. It was initially Liam’s order for us to wait, but I think he partially regrets that now, even though he knows it’s for the best. He and Cole are both fighting against their own nature not to touch her. The fact that they’ve shown so much self-control shows just how much they care about her.
It’s crazy that a few days ago I didn’t even know her. Now, I couldn’t live without her.
How did I exist before her?