Page 23 of Baseball and Shifters

The fight drains out of him and I finally realize what he's saying.

Rachel is my mate. There's no doubt about it. Our bond is complete. I can feel the whispers of the new bond tying her to my soul. But Bas is a tiger, and while wolves have been known to pack up, it’s practically unheard of for a tiger to have more than one mate.

Could she be Bas’ mate too? I don't know.

There's only one person who can answer that

“We'll figure it out, Bas. If your tiger is telling you she's yours, trust that. My wolf has never let me down. I'm sure your tiger is the same. Tigers may only have one mate but there are plentyof shifters that usually have multiple mates, maybe she’s one of them. Just because she's my mate doesn't mean she can’t be yours as well.”

“Thanks man.”

We’re hugging it out when Derrick returns.

“Alright, you ready to find your mate? Bas, you here to help lover boy out, too?” he asks with a smile, oblivious to the conversation that just happened.

Just then a breeze blows a familiar scent to my nose. I inhale deeply on instinct and the scent goes straight to my dick.

She was here.

Bas must catch the scent as well because we both turn our heads to look in the same direction just in time to see a figure with long black hair disappear in the distance.

It feels like hours later when we finally give up the search though I know it’s only been minutes. When her scent trail dead ends directly into the front door of the girls’ dorm we have to agree to give up for tonight. I don’t know what kind of magic they use to keep boys out of the girls dorm after curfew but it’s hella strong. When D tries to open the door it’s quite a shocking experience. Bas and I can’t help but stare in awe when it throws him back like five feet. He’s a damn dragon, if it did that to him then I can only imagine what would happen if Bas or I touched it. We’d probably end up all the way across campus by the fountain. Like a couple of kicked puppies, we yield to Derrick’s demand that we pick this up tomorrow morning and head back to our dorm.

On the walk back we begin to try and formulate a plan on how to move forward with my elusive Moonbeam. Derrick suggests we discuss it more over food and puts in an order for delivery with the local pizza joint. I don’t know what sort of supes run the local pizza joint but in the fifteen minutes it takes us to get to our front door Derrick gets a text alerting us that the deliveryguy is on his way up. We wait in the hall outside our door for the elevator to make it back down and bring our pizza up. With the pizzas secured we head into our dorm only to find a pissed off Liam waiting for us.

“Does someone want to tell me what the fuck is going on around here?” Liam seethes but I have no idea why.

“That girl, Rachel, that I landed on today is my mate.” I excitedly thrust my arm at him. “See! She marked me when my hand touched her thigh.”

“You found our fucking mate?” His growled words only get harsher as he goes. “I thought we had agreed? Finding our mate would only ever hold us back. Tie us down to a life with a dozen fucking pups and a damn mortgage! What the hell were you thinking?”

“Calm down Liam. Just because she’s my mate doesn’t mean she’s your mate too. I know that’s usually how twins work, but not always. And it’s not like it was on purpose, why do I keep having to explain that plummeting into your mate's lap is not a great introduction?” My words do nothing to calm the storm brewing in my brother’s dark blue eyes.

“Maybe she’s not my mate? Really Lucas that’s what you fucking say to me? MAYBE SHE’S NOT MY FUCKING MATE!?!” His fists clench tight at his sides, a low growl slipping from his throat. He stomps towards his room slamming the door open.

“Liam,” I plead with him. “Don’t act like this, just talk to me.”

“I seriously cannot fucking believe you of all people would do this to me,” the disappointment and sadness drips from his tone

An awkward silence hangs in the air as he shuts his door and the lock clicks into place.

“Holy shit, what crawled up his ass and died?” Derrick asks.

“He seemed off when I brought up Rachel the other day as well. Maybe something happened?” Bas offers with a shrug.

“I don’t know,” I reply, sadly, “but honestly I think I’m over today. I’m going to bed.”

Making my way to my room I gather the needed supplies then hop in the shower. The warm water does little to soothe my aching soul so I finish quickly. Throwing on some clean and comfortable clothes I make my way over to my bed against the opposite wall. I climb under the thick blue plaid comforter and try to sleep. The thoughts racing through my head don’t make it easy. I replay the events of today all the way up to Liam’s look of sadness and anger when he closed his door. I stare at the ceiling and wonder, not for the first time since arriving at Eldergrove, what the hell is Liam hiding from me?

Rachel

“She’s mine”

“I never even wanted a mate”

“I would have picked a different…”

I don’t stick around long enough to hear the end of that one, but I know how it ends.A different mate.That was how he was going to finish. Because, of course, that’s what my first fated mate would do. What else could he say? Who could ever love someone as unloveable as me? Someone who killed her own mother. Someone whose own father couldn’t even stand to look at her. Someone who is a whore with four mates and good for nothing but bringing shame.

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