Nine

Being back home feels wrong.No matter how conflicted my mind is right now, my heart is back in Coral Springs with Marley.

The sting of her words is still fresh. It took a couple of days before I was able to listen to her voicemails and read her texts. Each one of them made me even more confused. I hated to hear her upset, but no matter how much I want to be back there with her, it would never work unless she truly could accept me for who I am.

I'd never ask someone to choose me over another, but in this case, would that be too much to ask? For her to pick me, her mate, over such hateful-minded so-called friends of hers?

Okay, so she doesn't know we're mates, yet, but wasn't our summer together enough to show her just how much we're meant to be?

"Luci, sweetheart." My mother's voice sounds from the other side of my bedroom door. "You need to come out of your room at some point."

I've already filled my mom in on everything. She's not an easy person to keep things from. She took one look at me and knew something was up.

Sighing, I close the lock screen on my phone—a photo of me and Marley that I've been staring at endlessly for an unhealthy amount of time—and head for the door.

"Why?" I ask her. "What"s out there for me to do that I can't do in here?"

She crosses her arms and raises a brow, her brown hair pulled up in a messy bun. She's a lot shorter than me, coming to right about my chest. Her face means business but it's hard to take her seriously when she's so tiny.

"First off, you have to make a choice on what you"re going to do. If it's Coral Springs, you have only a few days before you need to head back for orientation, school starts just a few days after that. And if your choice is the internship, then that's in two weeks."

"I know." I sigh heavily, running a hand through my messy brown locks. "Trust me, I know. It's all I've been thinking about, okay?"

"Don't get snippy with me. I brought you into this world, I can take you right out of it. Now, go shower, you smell like a damn barn. And then I want you to go see your friends. They've always been the ones to help you through things like this. As much as I wish you would take my advice, I know you need at least three more people putting in their opinions before you make a choice." She's not wrong. I've never been someone to just make decisions on a whim.

I like to think things through, know what I'm getting myself into, and make sure it's the right choice.

Marley was the one thing that I didn't need to think twice about, not really. I knew I wanted her from the moment I laid eyes on her. Finding out she was my mate was just the cherry on top.

But now? Now I don't know. We live such different lives. Yes, she's open to being around monsters, but clearly, her friends aren't as open as she is.

Fuck. My mind is a mess. And the need, the want, the craving to be with her is starting to drive me mad and take away any logical thinking, tossing it out the window.

"Fine." I nod. "I'll shower and head over to Sawyer's house."

An hour later, I'm showered, dressed, and on Sawyer's doorstep. Sawyer's house is ironically the biggest of all of ours, considering she's the smallest of our group.

"Look what the cat dragged in," Garrett drawls as he opens the door.

"Fuck off," I mutter, pushing my way into the house. "Where is everyone?"

"Out back, like always."

Garrett follows me out back, his Minotaur body looming over me. We find the rest of our group lounging around by the pool.

"About time you came over," Brooks says as he slides up to the edge of the saltwater pool. I'm not the only one in our group that's half-human, or at least have some human in them. Brooks's father is a kraken, while his mother is part human, part mermaid. Meaning he's a mix of everything. From the waist up, he has a human body. Waist down, all eight tentacles. But his body is covered in scales and he has gills on his neck.

Being primarily a water monster, I'm not surprised to find him in the pool.

"Leave him alone," Sawyer says as she gets up from her chair. "Hey, you."

"Hey." I give her a hug, careful to avoid her wings. She's so warm and fuzzy. But if you tell her that, she's ready to claw your eyes out. She's one scary Sphinx when she wants to be.

"Come in. Sit. Tell us what"s going on," she tells me, grabbing my hand and leading me toward one of the chairs.

"What makes you think anything is going on?" I frown at her.

She crosses her arms and gives me a sassy look, raising a brow. "Because you"re home for one. I thought you would still be locked up with that girl of yours. But you"re here and she's there. And, well, we stopped by the house when you stopped texting us and your mother asked if we knew why you were being a broody asshole."

I groan, leaning my head back against the chair.

"I'm so damn confused. I don't know what to do."

"About what?" Garrett asks.

"Marley, school, this internship."

"Wait, did you get it?" Flynn asks, sitting up from where he's sunbathing in the grass, his deep auburn fur almost glittering in the sun. His long manticore tail swishing beside him.

"I did." I nod. "And I officially got accepted into Coral Springs University. Now, I have to choose. And I don't know what one to pick."

"Ah, Coral Springs. Dah. Are you nuts!" Sawyer gapes at me like I'm an idiot. "How is this even a discussion right now?"

"It's not that easy, Sawyer," Brooks adds. "Lucius has been dreaming about this internship program."

"She's his mate." Sawyer swings a glare over to Brooks. "Nothing tops a mate." Then she brings her attention back to me. "What is wrong with you? I thought you were all in with this girl."

"I was," I growl, leaning forward, my hooves clicking against the stone below. "But then I overheard her talking to her friends. They made it clear they didn't like me. Along with the fact she called me a summer fling."

"Ouch." Flynn whistles. "Sorry, man."

"Lucius, does this girl know you"re her mate?" Sawyer asks.

My cheeks heat. "Ah, no."

"For fuck sake," she groans. "All of you. Stupid stupid boys." She shakes her head. "And did she know for sure you were going to attend Coral Springs?"

"Ahh, another no."

She leans over and grabs my shoulders. "You stupid idiot!" she shouts, then slaps me upside the head.

"Ouch!" I grumble, rubbing the side of my head. "That hurt."

"Good." She crosses her arms. "You"re here, bitching about this girl calling you a summer fling when she didn't have any reason to think it was more than that."

"She did," I insist. "We"re connected, she has feelings. It was more than just a fling."

"Did you think maybe she was saying that to make herself feel better in case you were going to leave at the end of summer? And dude, you kind of did. Because again, here you are."

"Fuck." I don't mention the phone calls and texts confessing she didn't mean it. That she thinks I'm incredible and so is what we've built in such a short time. There was one voicemail I haven't listened to, I've been putting it off because hearing her voice hurt too much. "I need to do something," I tell them, grabbing my phone from my pocket.

Bringing up my voicemail, I finally listen to that last message.

My friends gather around, their noisy ears listening in. When Marley's voice rings through my phone, my heart clenches in my chest. God, I fucking miss her.

Most of it is things she's already said in some way or another but it's the last part of her voicemail that has me going deathly still.

"Do you know what I'm trying to say? I love you. I am wholly, uncontrollably in love with you, Monster or not. Please, call me back. I know we can get past this and I swear I'll never tone down what you are to me or let anyone dim your light, Lucius."

"Holy shit," Brooks murmurs. "Yeah, forget what I said before. You have to go to Coral Springs. You would be a damn fool if you didn"t. Also, we're all going too, so, it just makes sense you go."

"She loves me," I whisper in disbelief, more to myself than anyone.

"What do you feel for her?" Sawyers asks.

I blink up at her. "I love her too." And I do. So damn much. I think I've loved her from the moment I saw her. How could I not? She's fucking amazing.

God, I really am stupid, aren"t I? The choice was so damn obvious.

"I think you got your answer. And you could always call up the internship program and see if taking you after you graduate is an option. If they want you now, I'm sure they would want you with a few degrees under your belt."

Nodding my head, I let all of this sink in. "I'm going to Coral Springs."

"Damn right, you are." Garret slaps me on the back, making me wince. "The next few years are going to be some of the best of our lives."

I don't stay long, rushing home to email the school, letting them know I'll be attending. I should call Marley, but I can't. I don't know what to say to her. I've been ignoring her for days now. No, I need to talk to her in person. Let her know that I love her too. I want to see where this goes, to work on us. To give us a real fighting chance.

I just hope I didn't fuck this all up and that"s something she still wants. I'm not going down without a fight. I'll give her space if she needs it, but if she meant what she said, that she loves me, I plan on showing her just how much I love her too.