Willow·hai
Before our mating ceremony, my mate, Pavel Blackwell, took me and my older sister, Vivienne, out for seafood.
The server recognized them and came over smiling.
"The usual for you two?"
Pavel nodded.
He slid into the seat beside Vivienne without a second thought.
The crab came out of the steamer, and he cracked the shell open piece by piece and passed the meat to her.
I had been put at a spare chair shoved into the aisle, without so much as a dish of sauce in front of me.
Halfway through the meal, the server appeared with a couples' silverware set.
"Pavel, Vivienne, this is your hundredth visit to us. That means you get your custom set."
A line was engraved on the back of each piece.
"Pavel and Vivienne. Never apart."
The earliest date on the record was three years ago today.
It took me a moment to place the date. That was the day a severe allergic reaction sent me into surgery and I nearly didn't make it out.
So for the three hours my life hung in the balance, Pavel had not been waiting outside that door at all.
Vivienne ran a finger over the engraving and gave a mischievous smile.
"Pavel, once you and my little sister are mated, she won't stop you from going out with me, will she?"
Pavel ruffled her hair and turned to look at me.
"Of course not. She's always been reasonable.
"Besides, you and I have known each other for ten years. Ashlyn and I have only known we were fated mates for four. If it bothers her, she can learn to live with it."
On the way back, I got into the back seat on my own.
The front seat had always belonged to Vivienne.
Then the car's voice assistant chimed in.
"Welcome aboard, Vivienne! Pavel will get you home safely!"
I watched the scenery stream past the window, and suddenly I was tired of all of it.
So I took out my phone and sent my father a message.
"I agree to the pack's arranged mating."
Ten years of closeness had turned the two of them into a habit.
Then let me be the one to quit mine. Four years of it.