In This Life And The Next ✔️

Chapter 29: Mother Of All Mates

ARI

"My mother is Zander's mate." I said to myself for the tenth time. "My mother is-"

"Ari! I know this is shocking but get over it!" Jennifer yelled at me.

I gasped and squinted my eyes at her. "You get over it!" I retorted childishly.

The room was mostly empty expect for Jen, Alex and Matt who stayed after everyone else left.

Carter had left with his family to the guest rooms an hour ago after telling me what had happened to Jen leading up to her death.

Matt was sitting next to Alex on the couch, pouting after Nathan yelled at him for hugging me.

I didn't mind though. After Alex stopped me from following my mother, Matt came out of nowhere and hugged me saying, "I've been wanting to do that since forever! I've missed you so much and I know you're not Jen but she was my best friend and it hurts me to know that you look like her but aren't her. I'm sorry." He told me sadly.

"Matt! What did I say!" Nathan came and told him.

Matt only sat on the couch and pouted and hasn't moved since.

Jen left after I started to mutter to myself again. I paced the living room, waiting for my mother to come back. It was dark out and their was this psycho killer on the loose.

I knew Zander was with her but I didn't know the dude! I can't trust him even if he is my mother's mate. Which was still really hard to believe!

She does deserve happiness after being alone for almost 10 years now and Zander seemed like a good guy.

I was starting to accept the fact that they were mates even though it still felt weird.

Holy Shit, he's basically my stepfather. I said to myself, trying not to panic.

Alex was sitting on the couch, watching me. His eyes followed me around the room but I could tell he was thinking about something else.

I sat down in between Matt and Alex and turned to Matt. "Hey, I know I'm not Jennifer but that doesn't mean we can't be friends." I said to him smiling. "She was brave and seemed like a really good person."

Matt smiled in return and sighed. "She really was the best." He said sadly again. "I know it must get really annoying, but you're so much like her. You're nice too." He chuckled.

"Why thank you!" I fake bowed and laughed because you can't really fake bow.

"Well, I should get back to training." He told me before getting up to leave. He stopped in the doorway and turned to me. "Thank you." He said sincerely. I only smiled at him.

I glanced at Alex who was still deep in thought. "Whatcha thinkin' about?" I asked casually, bumping my shoulder with his.

He pursed his lips. "Nothing really." He said with a gruff voice. "I was thinking about Shawn and his murderous mind and how this dude is me. How I am this dude."

I almost growled in anger. "Stop it! You are not Shawn."

I said trying to convince him but he wouldn't listen. His head turned away from me in anger or shame, I don't know.

"If I'm not him, then why do I act just like him!" He turned back to me, his eyes red with so much emotion. "If I was Alex and not Shawn I wouldn't have treated you the way I did! I wouldn't have done the things that I did if I was a good person!" He yelled in frustration, gripping his hair.

I don't know how to make him feel better. I didn't know if anything I said would make change his mind on how he sees himself.

So I did the only thing I could think of.