جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 30

I settled down at the kitchen table as Aunt Mara handed me my cup of coffee in my favorite mug. A very large one with an opossum on it that said 'Every day is trash day'. She was still huddled up in her robe as she took a seat opposite me, tugging at the fabric to cover the exposed skin around her neck.The little wooden home wasn't particularly warm, but to make up for it, the sound of the rain on the roof was more soothing than any other sound in the world. It drummed on, setting a soothing backdrop while my mind wandered back to Ryder's lips."So?!" Aunt Mara pressed, hunching over her coffee mug and looking at me with wide, expectant eyes."So?" I replied evasively."Oh my God, Katelyn! Do I need to drag it out of you?!" she asked, desperate for more information.She was perched on the edge of her seat, her eyes glittering with excitement while she wrapped her hands firmly around her pink coffee mug."What if it went really badly and you're sitting here smiling like some kind of so

(Tyler's POV)Lying on my bed in my dimly lit room, the rain pummeled furiously on my bedroom window. Finally, my phone buzzed indicating a message. I knew it was Katelyn.Katelyn:Don't think your parents liked me 😢 God, how was I going to fix this? She probably felt like she wasn't good enough. What if she wanted to call this whole thing off? What if the lack of support from my family was just too much for her to deal with?I sent her another message asking if I could call her, hoping to try and work things out without anything being misunderstood or misconstrued over text messages.It took her ages to respond and I had begun to doom-scroll on my phone while I waited until I eventually got a response.Katelyn:Give me 5 5 minutes... I could do that. At least I had a time frame to work with.I messaged her, asking her to let me know when she was ready, then I continued to doom-scroll while I waited, desperately needing a distraction.It was more like 15 minutes, but she finally sen

"Hang on, Kate," Tyler's voice echoed faintly as I pictured him navigating his way out of the resonating bathroom, the door clicking shut behind him and abruptly muting the cascade of water that had become white noise to me by this point."Okay. Sorry about that. Ryder is—" Tyler was saying, likely trying to come up with reasons or excuses for his brother's bad behavior. "A pig?" I suggested, butting in and saving him the trouble. He chuckled to himself but made no arguments, and we went on to discuss our plans for Saturday. Tyler suggested a proper date night with dinner and a movie, just the two of us. It sounded great, especially since I wasn't going to be able to see him much during the week. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much I was looking forward to it. We spoke a little more about his parents and how he agreed that their approval of our relationship wasn't necessary. It was reassuring to know that we seemed to be on the same page in that regard, but I c

Ryder and I headed out to his car, but there was an air of awkwardness between us after our little altercation.He helped me in and closed the door before heading around to the driver's seat. When he got in he sat for a moment, staring at the rain as it fell on the windscreen. I was certain he wanted to say something, but he either thought better of it or wasn't sure how.Instead, he simply started the car and we headed toward his house in total silence."Wanna put some music on?" I suggested hopefully, trying to fill the space between us with some kind of sound. "Sure. No problem," Ryder agreed, but he made no attempt to put the music on and the silence lingered.I was about to ask again when he spoke up, "You mad at me?" he asked, sounding a little on edge."A little," I replied honestly. "But it feels like the kind of thing a stack of pancakes might be able to fix," I joked, trying to lighten the mood.A small smile spread across his lips, relieved to hear that I wasn't planning to

"What do you mean you aren't going to be Alpha? You're twins, right? Shouldn't you like, share the title or something?" I asked, surprised by his revelation.He shook his head vehemently. "No way. That might be Tyler's dream, but it sure as shit isn't mine," he explained, bitterness lacing his voice.It all seemed to suddenly make sense. This was the reason he was such a huge disappointment to his parents, why he had a far more flexible schedule than Tyler. I stared at him in surprise for a moment as it all fell into place."So, sorry to disappoint you, but you're mated to one future Alpha... and me," he finished, the bitterness morphing into disdain as he gestured toward himself.He seemed annoyed and was suddenly staring at me as if waiting for my reaction, his eyes burning with defiance.I looked at him, my own eyes wide and filled with worry as I whispered, "I don't want to be Luna," shaking my head slightly as I revealed the truth to him.His expression softened. "Does Tyler know?