Tasting 294

294–Mate! Oh My Mate!

Nora:

“Akira! No! That can’t be. Our three mates have already hurt us enough and the fourth is also their

brother?” I refused to listen to her. Another mate! And my stepbrother at that. They don’t care about

me anymore.

“Maybe once he feels the mate bond with us, he will grow affectionate towards us,” she urged.

“You don’t understand–” The way she had to pause made me realize she was barely holding it

together. The pain she was feeling was surfacing, and if she didn’t express it, she might slip into a

coma inside. me. This had never happened before. But maybe it was because I had found my

mates so soon.

“Silas is also our mate,” I was in shock. I should have known that would happen. Why would only

one brother not be our mate? But the fact that we hadn’t discovered him for so long must have been

agonizing for Akira.

“I will do this for you,” I closed my eyes, and a tear escaped. I knew the moment I knocked on his

door, he would yell at me. This is how exhausted I felt.

With my arms wrapped around my stomach, I walked to his room and knocked on the door. I didn’t

even bother adjusting the ring on my finger at this point.

The door swung open as if he had been waiting on the other side. But why would he?

294–Matel Oh My Mate!

His eyes met mine, and a strange spark ran through my body. There were tears in his eyes too,

filled with nothing but love. That’s how I knew it wasn’t a dream. They had stopped looking at me

with such adoration.

Then my wolf howled inside me, crying out, “Mate!” It was the loudest and most desperate urge to

call for her mate ever. My heart began to pound in sync with Silas’s, our rhythms connecting and

becoming one.

The silence grew thick, and then he stepped forward once our hearts. separated, and everything

returned to normal.

I was over, I

“I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have bothered you–” Now that it knew I had to fix my mistake. But before I

could finish, he cupped my face in his hands and crashed his lips against mine.

Oh, the softness mesmerized me. I felt like all the pain had drifted. away.

“Silas!” Breaking the kiss, I said his name through gasps.

“If you hadn’t found me, I would have found you,” he uttered, throwing his glasses away and pulling

me into the room with him.

Now I stood with my back pressed hard against the wall.

“I don’t care what happened, I just feel like somewhere deep down in me I knew—I knew you were

the one for me,” he said, pacing in front of me, not anxiously but happily.

“You’re not angry at me?” I asked, my lips quivering.

He stopped pacing and turned to face me. “Why would I be angry at you?”

294 Matel Ch My Matel

“Because I’m a bad person and I cause trouble?” As soon as I said that, he tilted his head and

looked at me as if I were being silly.

“Tell me, you’re angry with me,” I couldn’t believe I was in such a desperate state.

“I can never be angry with you, Nora!” With that, he took my hand and kissed the back of it, but I

quickly pulled my hand away and shook my head.

“No! This isn’t true. This has to be a dream,” I was losing my mind now. How could he become so

soft with me so quickly?

“I know you’re upset with us, but trust me—it was in your best interest that you came here,” he

began scratching his neck, almost as if he was anxious.

“How? I was kicked out of my pack,” I grimaced, tears welling up in

my eyes.

“For—now only—but Nora–” I couldn’t even understand what he was saying.

“I had to come here—for you—you were right. I didn’t come here for any case—I had seen you in

dreams—calling for me–” He placed his hands. on the wall, encircling me with his arms.

“What?” I wasn’t sure what I was hearing at this point.

“I saw you in my dreams. You were calling for me, so I came here– despite not being allowed—now

—for now,” he lowered his head and shook it.

“Fuck!” I watched him kneel down and cover his head with his hands.

204–Matel Oh My Mate!

What was happening to him?