Chapter 2

Jayce

The advanced knowledge that I’d run into Shay tonight did nothing to ease the punch in my gut when I walked through the door of Twins and saw her sitting on a barstool.

Ours.

My bull’s insistence with each encounter grows.

The ticking of the mate call is what the Fates use to ensure that two mates who’ve never met and might never run into one another in a chance encounter will meet.

Sometimes a Minotaur meets his other half before her biological clock ticks. There isn’t a definitive stamp like the ticking call, but our bull somehow knows. Like a dog with a bone, he’ll never let go once he’s found her.

I, the man, didn’t need my bull’s chants, mine, ours, mate, to know I’d met the woman the Fates picked for me that night she stood before me and my cousins half naked.

When my eyes landed on Shay, time stopped. My heart skipped a beat before racing with an intensity I’d never known. It was as if the world had faded into a blur, leaving only her in sharp, vivid focus. Her existence lit up the night sky, while her eyes radiated a warmth that I felt deep in my chest. A welcome home sign flashed in front of my eyes.

A wave of emotions hit me all at once, overpowering the fear I felt for Anjal and Priscilla that night. Excitement, awe, and an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as if I’d been waiting for this moment my entire life.

My stomach fluttered with a mixture of nervousness and joy, and the undeniable pull toward her. I didn’t see it, but an invisible thread connected our souls.

I never considered myself chauvinistic about what a woman wore around other men until she stood there with her perky nipples poking through her crop top. Pierced nipples. I nearly growled at my cousins to look away.

Her refusal to cover up angered and excited me. I don’t want a woman who’s going to roll over at my every whim. I need a challenge.

Maybe that’s the difference. I’ve grown accustomed to the heifers in my herd who jump when I say jump. They meet my sexual needs for a night, but they bore me.

I’ve never had to ask a woman twice to come home with me. While Shay has me standing outside of her door often, just hoping she’ll let me ask her out. My determination hasn’t worn her down—yet. I’ve no doubt it will—soon.

Shay rolls her eyes at her sister when I step in behind her. Like she knew the night’s plans had been setup to bring us together.

Cill hadn’t told me they were meeting Shay, but I knew by the glint in her eyes that my cousin Anjal’s mate didn’t really want to spend the evening with me when she invited me to tag along. And I jumped at the chance to see Shay for more than the moment it took her to look me up and down before closing her door in my face.

Priscilla, or Cill as those close to her call her, and Shay, were both raised by humans. Separated at birth and adopted, neither knew they were sisters, fraternal twins, in fact. Nor did they know anything about their demigod heritage as children of Helios. Heifers.

Heifer is the term the females of the herd prefer over cow. While my counterpart is a bull, our females’ counterpart is a heifer. It’s not an offense to our women like it is to a human.

Our females don’t shift. The shifted beast is only a bull. While the blood of a demigod flows through the veins of the women in our herd, they don’t turn into the embodiment of a heifer. The animal remains buried, clawing at the surface.

Sometimes our women are more hotheaded than us. We have the advantage of letting our beastly other half out when we shift, and they do not.

What must it be like to have two natures warring inside of you with no way of letting one of them roam free?

My bull claws at my insides for me to let him out at least once a day. More regularly now that we’ve found our mate.

She’s distant around me, but I know she feels what I feel. Her heart is screaming that we belong together, even if she’s hesitant.

I’ve waited this long for her. She just needs to get to know me.

I laughed at Anjal’s awkward emotions when he realized he had to date his mate the way humans date. Only I find myself in the same position with no clue how to proceed.

When I approach, Shay straightens her posture while taking a deep inhale. It’s clearly one of frustration, yet it confuses me because I can smell her arousal.

The human ways embedded in her nature intrigue me. She glances my way, and I wink before she rises to follow Anjal and Priscilla to a table.

Nikolaos slides a cold one across the counter my way as I linger behind to watch her stride. Any other heifer in the bar vying for my attention would sashay their hips in invitation.

Not Shay. She remains true to herself.