Stronger as One (#1, Completed)

19. Me, myself and I

RILEY

Anna was grinning from ear to ear as if she had just told me I'd won the jackpot.

"What do you mean, I have met my mates?" I was practically shouting, but this evening was just getting weird and weirder by the minute. I started pacing up and down the room, forgetting that by now I was just in my underwear. "First of all, I am human- I don't do this whole mate business. Second, mates? As in plural? And most importantly, why on earth would you ever think so?" My heart was beating like a drum and I felt as if an invisible grip was slowly squeezing the air out of my lungs. For fuck sake, Riley-pull yourself together!

"Breathe, hun, breathe. This is wonderful news!" She was hugging me and her voice was full of happiness.

I took a deep breath before I could continue. "Sure, for someone like you and Lucien. But I am not like you two. I don't believe in these things- not even in normal human love. So let's just cut the joke short please." Honestly, I really needed to get some sleep and focus on more important things, like finding the eagle tattoo stranger.

"Listen, Lucien explained to you how when we first touch our mate, soon after we get a tattoo-like text on our body of what we are going to hear them say, right?" She asked me as if I had taken a class on the shifter world. I had to admit though that I did remember Lucien's bizarre explanation about mates and finding one's mate. So I nodded. "Well, this is what is causing your itch. You can see it for yourself in the mirror- the text is very clear! And although it just seems like a very long text, if you look closely, you can see that the colours are slightly different. That can only mean one thing, as unusual as it is- you have more than one mate, Riley!"

I walked over to the floor-length mirror on my wardrobe door and turned to the side to get a better look. There it was- a beautiful cursive text, split across two lines, etched on my skin. I ran my hand across my side but I could not feel anything, aside from my ribs. My skin was so smooth like it wasn't there but I could clearly see it in my reflection in the mirror. This is crazy!

I took a closer look and I realised that the two sentences indeed had somewhat different shades. One was a hue of silver, the other of gold. The text was not too small but I felt the urge to move closer to the mirror to see it better, perhaps because I did not believe it was really there.

You make a lot of noise for someone who says nothing useful. 

She is a badass.

I stared at the words, reading them over and over again. What the hell was happening? How had that appeared there? I was wracking my brain to come up with a logical explanation but I had none. In all fairness, the more I thought about it the more it actually started to sink in that it was indeed there. After all, the kind of things that I had witnessed ever since that Saturday afternoon at my parents' house should be enough of a proof for me to stop doubting all of these unexplainable shifter things.

I collapsed on the bed again but this time the tiredness was long forgotten. Instead I was just staring at the ceiling with one single thought stuck in my mind- what did this all mean?

To say that I barely got any sleep during the night would be an understatement. I kept on tossing and turning, a million thoughts rushing through my mind the whole time.

Did I, the human, really have a mate- that supposed other half of your soul that was meant to be there for you through thick and thin? No, that was not possible- I was nobody's half. Just me, myself and I against the world. That's how it had always been and how it would always be, at least as far as matters of the heart were concerned. Now I was suddenly meant to believe that this was no longer the case?! That I had not one but supposedly two mates to have my back?! And if this really was true, who were they? I had touched so many shifters at that party that it could be anyone.

It didn't matter whether I had one or two or none, however. I didn't need a mate. I didn't want a mate. These goddesses have clearly mixed up their lines. And weren't shifters meant to be mating with their own kind anyway?! Whatever the case though, I had made up my mind- I would be nobody's mate.

Before I knew it, I felt the first rays of the sun break through the darkness in my room. As the light started filling up the space, a sense of calm wrapped itself around me and my eyes finally gave in to the fatigue.

***

The week after the Macalister event went in a bit of daze. Sharing with Lucien my information about the eagle tattoo men only made him more determined that the threat was closer than anyone thought and that there were shifters involved in the death of our parents. Despite our best efforts though, we were unable to determine who the man was, apart from the fact that he was a wolf. It was like he was a ghost. Suspicion immediately fell on the Windcrest pack but without any proof or link to the mysterious man, we had nothing more than a guess in hand.

Anna and Lucien also tried to talk to me about the whole mates story but I managed to avoid the conversation every time that they attempted to bring it up. The furthest we got was Lucien exclaiming over breakfast one morning "I hope it's not that smug bear Alpha. The itch to punch him in the face still hasn't passed." I knew that my brother was just being protective but he had nothing to worry about- whoever my supposed mates were, there was never going to be anything between us.

The whole thing had me so on the edge, however, that I had ended up being a bit rougher with some of the younger pack warriors in the past days. They could take it, of course- they were shifters after all- but my bad mood was clearly visible.

"Woah, Miss Thundercloud, what has gotten into you lately?" Connor asked, as I threw him on the floor a little harder than I should have during one of our training demos.

Nope. I was not going to talk about this with anyone. "I don't know what you are talking about? I'm fine."

"Sure you are. As if we all don't know women and saying 'I'm fine'," he grinned smugly, making me want to wipe that smile off his face. "Nothing is ever fine when a woman says that."

I glared at Connor. Okay, he was right but he was just making assumptions based on well-known clichés which was wrong. And I didn't plan on giving him the satisfaction of knowing that he was right.

We both got back into our attack stances, ready to continue with the exercise. I decided to strike first because I didn't have the patience to wait for him and I wanted us to finish this round so that I could run away and avoid any further questions from Connor too. Yet, my hastiness worked against me- Connor had expected that and so he managed to grab my kick and throw me on the ground in no time. As he did that, my T-shirt rolled up just enough to reveal a small part of my newly-acquired tattoo.

Connor's eyes widened like he had seen a UFO.

"Is that-"

Before he could continue though, I grabbed his arm, pulling him down to the floor. Then I rolled over and I pinned him down so he couldn't move any longer. I might not have a wolf but in a hand to hand combat I was capable of kicking the arse of any shifter.

"Never let your guard down, Beta Evans! A fight is never over until your opponent has been neutralised," I smirked.

Finally, the training was over. I let go of Connor and started walking back to the packhouse.

"You are kind of a badass, Riley!" I nearly froze in my place as I heard Connor shout after me. The familiar words sent a shiver down my spine and not the good kind. Could he be one of my mates? No- what he said was different from what was etched on my skin. I ran my fingertips over the spot where the two lines were imprinted and I felt my skin grow a little warmer at my touch before a soothing sensation swept through my body.

I needed to take my mind of all of this and I knew who could help me with that. Once I reached my room, I took my phone out and dialed the now familiar number.