Claimed Mate by Roxie Ray
Liv
Iwoke up at a reasonable hour. It was sort of a novelty for me, really. Ten in the morning used to be early, but maybe it was everything that had happened in the past week that had changed my sleeping habits. A hard reset, or something. I yawned, feeling still and calm; the warmth that curled around me was a welcome change. While I felt like I could probably linger tucked between the sheets and against Cal’s chest—Cal’s chest!!—for another three hours, I wanted to embrace this change.
New year, new me.
Except it was the end of summer, so maybe not. The thought made me laugh and I bit my lip to keep from waking the man beside me. Carefully, I untangled myself from his arm, slipping out from under the covers and landing silently against the floor. I cast him a fond look. His face had gone slack in his slumber, lashes resting against his deep brown skin. I don’t think I’d ever seen him so…relaxed. Something about that thought made my heart twist and squeeze uncomfortably; I turned away, slinking through the bathroom into the rest of the living space.
I’d only packed one duffel worth of clothing, so my choices were limited as I rooted through the pack we’d left on the living room floor. Clean underthings, thank goodness, and a concert tee. Taylor Swift. My mouth twisted at the memory and I tugged my dirty clothing off, tugged the tee on. My jeans, at least, were still relatively clean, so they could be worn again. I had to ration my clothing until we found a washing machine, or something.
Did a farming community have a washing machine? Surely, someone here had decent appliances.
Like a coffee maker.
With my clothing situation settled, I wandered into the kitchen. We had a mini-fridge which was empty, a dish set—three plates, four bowls, and seven cups, and a hot plate which was ancient. Notably, we lacked a pot to put on the hot plate, and more importantly, there was nothing to make coffee with. Further investigation also revealed a complete lack of coffee grounds.
“Knock, knock!” The door opened and Maren appeared. “Oh, good, you’re up!”
I frowned, putting one hand on my hip. “What if I was naked?” I asked, unable to keep the small smirk off my face.
Maren giggled and shut the door behind her. “Oh, nothing I wouldn’t have seen before!” She winked. “You weren’t very sneaky those times you forgot your bath towel in your bedroom, Liv.” I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Maren to actually witness my naked dashes…and be kind enough not to say anything. “Anyways, I was stopping by to invite you for breakfast. Unless you’ve eaten?”
My stomach growled and my cheeks turned a little pink. “Breakfast sounds great,” I said. “Your place?”
She shook her head. “Oh, no. Most everyone usually eats breakfast together. I think Corin mentioned something about it being her turn to cook.”
Both my wolf and I perked up with curiosity. What would a witch make for breakfast? Only one way to find out! “Let me just get Cal up—”
“Cal’s up,” a sleepy voice said around a yawn. The man appeared a moment later, still tugging a tee over his head. “Hi, Maren. Where’s Cal going?”
“Breakfast,” I said.
Cal shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. “Great.”
I smiled; it was easy, for some reason, despite everything that happened. Maybe it was that I had an actual friend here. Maybe it was Cal and Maren getting along. Maybe it was just Cal, warm and sleepy and as calm as I’d ever seen him. Maybe it was none of the above.
I opted not to look into it too deeply and instead, waved towards the door. “Lead the way.”
It wasn’t a long walk;honestly, I hadn’t left once Corin showed us to the cottage yesterday. I hadn’t done a lot of looking around on the way, either. This morning, though, I couldn’t stop looking. There were several other little homes; some plain looking, others a little more customized with flowers and bright colors. I could smell ducks, but couldn’t see them yet; the lush gardens were heavy with the season’s labor. Was it still a harvest, if it was just a few vegetable plots?
“What, is this an office and a dining hall? Do you do everything in here?” Cal’s voice brought me back to the moment.
Maren was letting us into a much larger building. I glanced over at Cal questioningly, not really sure how he knew it, but neither seemed to notice my look. “Pretty much,” Maren said with a shrug once we walked inside. “It’s not like one office takes up a lot of space. Besides, it’s important to have a place where people can gather.” Immediately, the smell of French toast hit me. My stomach growled, and I imagined if I could, I’d absolutely wag my tail. Hell, maybe my wolf liked French toast, too.
A worthy experiment.
Though she led us to some sort of dining room, the sheer smell along could have gotten me there, if not all the voices. I paused, realizing Maren hadn’t meant just breakfast with herself and Corin. My heart skipped a beat; it was too late. Everyone had already quieted down as Maren waved.
“Hi, guys! These are our new arrivals. This is Liv…” I waved, awkward and suddenly self-conscious. “…and this is Cal. They’re both wolves, and they’ll be around a bit, so play nice!” There was a chorus of murmured greetings, but thankfully, the morning chatter started back up.
“Well, grab a seat!” Corin shouldered by me with a heaping platter of French toast. As soon as she set it down, forks seemed to appear, slices being shoveled on to plates.
It didn’t take me long to get the picture.
There were only three empty seats left, so I chose the middle, sandwiched between Maren and Cal. Neither seemed as excited about breakfast as I was, but that was their loss. There was the toast, of course, with butter and syrup and berries. And coffee! An entire carafe of it!
I leaned over to whisper in Cal’s ear. “I could stay here forever!” I giggled, licking a drop of syrup off my finger. When all the man gave me was a simple side-eye, I tipped my head to one side. “What’s up?”
Finally, I realized who he was looking at. I glanced at the head of the table, seated on Maren’s left was a man who seemed to glow like sunshine personified; if he was a sunrise on a bright summer morning, then the woman who sat with him was the sunset of a beautiful winter evening. They were both radiant and I sat for a moment, transfixed.
Maren cleared her throat. “Sir, you’ve already met Calum Meyers.”
“Cal.”
She ignored Cal and motioned to me. “This is Olivia Burns. Liv, this is Prince Malachi Ó hAodha, and his sister, Princess Finola Ó hAodha.” She paused for a breath and looked between the four of us.
Prince Malachi, sitting closer, reached across the table to put one hand over mine. I really should have been annoyed by the assumption, but found myself only curious instead. “It is a pleasure to have you both here,” he said, but his eyes were only for me. I blinked back, noting that they almost seemed gray in the room’s lighting.
Beside me, Cal growled. I could see his top lip tremble out of the corner of my eye and gave him a sideways kick. Manners! I thought, hoping the man would sense my displeasure. I was a grown woman!
Thankfully, the prince didn’t seem to mind. He was already leaning back into his chair, reaching for his cup of coffee. He watched me over the rim. “Maren filled me in on some details last night, Liv…is that all right, Liv? Or do you prefer Olivia?”
“Liv is fine.” I swallowed, trying not to sound awestruck. He was just a prince. No need to make a fool out of myself!
“Very good. Maren has given me some details, but goodness! I can already see the power in you.” I frankly had no idea what the fae meant by power, but my wolf preened all the same. The prophecy was one thing, but as far as I could tell, I hadn’t exhibited anything like power yet. It occurred to me that maybe the prince was better at sensing these things than I was, and I sat a little straighter. My embarrassed smile became something a little more true. “Once you are settled in this little community, I would love to start training you.”
“I could start today,” I rushed out, ignoring the look Cal was giving the side of my face. “I mean, if you don’t mind.”
The prince’s laughter was one of the most mesmerizing sounds I’d ever heard. “Oh, I like your enthusiasm! Well, I am a bit busy before lunch, but let us meet at three o’clock, yes?”
I beamed. I had no idea what ‘training’ was going to entail, but if it was with a prince, and it was about my power, it had to be a good thing. No matter what prophecy Maren had heard, it wasn’t going to do me a lick of good if I had no idea how to be a proper fae, much less use any sort of fae magic. “Wonderful! It’s a date,” I said, belatedly realizing how poorly that might sound to Cal.
Beside me, he grumbled again and speared a piece of pancake with his fork, but said nothing about it. I’d have to make it up to him later. “So, where’s my dad?” he said after a beat of silence.
Maren politely ignored the blatant change in topic. “David doesn’t usually have breakfast with us. I can take you to see him afterwards,” she offered. Cal grumbled again; I could practically feel the irritation rolling off of him in waves.
Or maybe I could feel it. Interesting.
In either case, Maren and the other table members were unaffected. Chatter continued for a bit, and at some point, Prince Malachi turned to Maren. “Now, I know how most folks ended up here. What about you, dear Maren?”
On some level,I felt bad for Maren, put on the spot like that. How was she supposed to say no? To her prince, no less? I offered her a sympathetic smile, but she didn’t look at me.
Instead, she stared into her cup of tea and began.
“Well, as I’m sure you’ve all noticed, my abilities haven’t fully awakened yet.” There were some murmurs and nods, and from the color on the back of Maren’s neck, I was forced to assume that was unusual. I chewed my lip, wondering exactly how unusual it was. I didn’t have any powers, either.
“And my parents were sidhe in the Unseelie’s high court. My brother, Storm, has blossomed…spectacularly.” She paused and made a small face into her cup, taking a sip as if it could wash away a sour taste. “He is…a very strong individual, and very talented. We don’t view court machinations in the same light exactly, and you know how families can be!”
If I didn’t know better, I would say Maren almost sounded nervous.
“Families can be quite challenging,” Finola purred, sharing a look with Malachi. For a moment, I’d almost forgotten the table was full. She patted her brother’s hand. “So, have you defected, then?”
My roommate hunched her shoulders a little more. “I…that’s a very strong word for it? I just don’t support what they’re doing, and…” She offered me a sideways look. “I’ve found people I’d rather support. Staying out of way would be a better description, I think.”
I wasn’t entirely sold on Maren’s description, but the rest of her audience seemed to accept it. The fae across from us were already back to stealing pieces of pineapple from one another. Finola and Malachi were discussing something, voices low and heads tipped. Even Cal seemed distant, ferreting looks towards the door like no one could see him.
I exhaled and patted Maren’s knee. “Brothers can be a lot,” I said, hoping I wasn’t coming off as patronizing. She’d met Ben, after all. “Do you want to get together, later? Just me and you, a bottle of wine…” I trailed off as Corin appeared again, dropping off a final plate of pancakes before coming to a stop. The witch finally poured herself a cup of coffee, surveying her feast.
“Is breakfast like this every day?”
Maren laughed and shook her head. “No, Corin is just…well, Corin.”
“Do you want to invite her too?” I asked.
My roommate — or was she my ex-roommate, now? — brightened. “That’s a great idea. We’ll come to your place. I’ll bring something to drink, and I’ll tell Corin to make snacks.”
I laughed. “Perfect!”
It wasn’t a pack, I realized, but it was damn close, and I was genuinely looking forward to it.
