10. Evander

The world is blurry. Everything around me kind of looks like a watercolor.

Except Briony's face.

Her lips are moving. Distantly, I can hear her saying something. Hold on. Just wait. Hold…

Then, I hear another voice.

One that I don't really want to hear.

The fuck did you do, Evander?

Ugh. Thorne. Of course he's disappointed in me. I try to say something, but my lips won't move. I want to tell him to fuck off.

That I handled this my way.

And I didn't do too bad.

Minus the fact that my arm…

I shut my eyes.

Hopefully, I still have one.

I really hadn't expected Will to turn into a wolf. I also hadn't been expecting him to bite my arm.

Or tear it into pieces.

I feel… bad. My body is definitely telling me that this is bad. I need a doctor. Not my brother. An actual doctor. I search myself, hoping to find some clue about what's about to happen to me.

If I'm dying, I need to tell Briony that she's mine.

I need to tell her that…

My chest feels weird.

Like, kind of light. But more than that, like it's connected. There's a weird energy in the air too, and the sun seems really, really bright.

Also, I think I'm going to pass out.

The last thing I hear is Briony calling my name. I want to call back.

But darkness blots my vision, and I collapse.

When I blinkmy eyes open, there are four people around me.

Briony comes first. I see her smile at me, her eyes wet with tears. "Hey," I whisper, reaching for her hand.

"Hey," she replies, squeezing mine.

"What happened?"

"Um…" Briony smirks. "I… um…"

"You lucky shithead," my brother booms. I wince at the sound of his voice. "You're about fifty percent idiot and fifty percent moron, and you still get a fated mate!"

"Thorne. Be nice," Iris says calmly. "I'm still putting his stitches in."

"He doesn't even need them; he's healing just fine, thanks to his fated mate!"

"Dude. That's pretty cool," Zander says.

I blink. "Zander?"

He sighs. "This one wanted to make sure you were okay. She heard the screaming."

I rotate my head, and a very pretty looking red fox is looking at me from the yard.

Oh.

Okay then.

There's a lot going on here.

So, I turn back to Briony.

She's looking at me like… like she loves me.

Actually, I can kind of feel how she feels. There's something in my chest that is connected to her, somehow. Some kind of bond…

My eyes widen. "Briony," I whisper. "You're my mate."

"I am, Ev," she says back. "I really am."

I shut my eyes against the tears that prick there.

No.

There's no way.

I'm not good enough to have a fated mate. Not good enough for her. I…

I yelp as I feel something pinch my arm. "All done," Iris says.

She straightens, and I see Thorne grab her hand. "We're leaving now. Congratulations," Iris beams.

I nod at her.

Then, I remember what happened. "Will.."

"Going in the jail," Thorne rumbles. "Gonna put his ass on trial, too."

"I…" I'll deal with that later.

Right now, I just need Briony.

"See you, little brother. Congrats. You will still need to come to the council meeting tomorrow to formally petition the foxes. That was a stupid oversight on my part," he grunts.

Iris rolls her eyes. "It sure was."

"Ok. Anyway. Bye," Thorne says awkwardly.

Thorne and Iris get in their car, and Zander drifts away, following Mia, presumably back to the fox compound.

Finally, Briony and I are alone.

Sitting on her porch in a pool of my blood, but blissfully, blessedly alone.

I give her a weak smile. "So. Fated mates, huh?"

"Now you definitely have to tell me what you meant by the fact that you were waiting."

I grimace. "Do I?"

"Yes."

I sigh. "Well. When I first saw you, after you came back from getting your degree, Will and I were both at the bar, remember?"

"I remember," she says, a small smile playing on her lips.

"And, you remember Will came up to you first?"

"Yes," she says slowly.

I gulp. "Well. He beat me to it."

"What?"

"I was going to talk to you and ask you to dance. But he beat me to it."

She blinks. "So, this whole time, Will only dated me because he didn't want you to?"

"I kinda think that's what's happened. Unfortunately," I grumble.

Briony blinks. "Well. That's stupid."

"I know. I should have punched him years ago."

She laughs. "No. I meant that we could have had more time."

"Maybe. But I think… I think this was the right time. I was kind of an asshole to you. For a long time. And to a lot of people. But you've shown me that I have a lot to offer the world other than being an asshole," I say slowly. "And now that I'm not an ass anymore, I don't break your ‘no assholes' rule."

"Well. You still kind of do. Punching a wolf? Seriously?"

I lean in and kiss her cheek. "That wasn't being an asshole, babe. That was just me trying to be impressive."

"You weren't," she says flatly.

"Come on," I tease, pulling her closer. "You weren't a little impressed?"

"No. I definitely wasn't."

"Even when our mate bond…"

"Oh gosh. That wasn't you!"

"It might have been. It happened to Thorne and Iris when they were in crisis. Maybe I just did it to see if it would happen for us too," I smile at her.

Briony rolls her eyes. "You are such a dick."

"Yeah, but I'm your dick, baby."

She sighs, but I can tell it's a good sigh.

"So. How fast are you healing?" she smiles.

Her hands trail up my shoulder, resting next to my neck.

I shiver under her touch. Through the bond, I can sense what she's feeling.

And my cock rises in response.

"Pretty fast."

"Pretty fast?"

"In fact," I stand, pulling her up with me. "I'd say healed. What do you say we test this whole mate bond thing?"

She laughs. "How so?"

"Well, Briony. I've definitely got some ideas," I smirk.

When I pull her into a kiss, the world sets itself on its axis.

And minutes later, I slam the door shut.

I lock it.

Time to see what this whole fated mates thing is really about.