Alejo

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I picked up random things and moved them in the name of cleaning. I had been an idiot for not telling her about mates sooner. What if she hated me now for having kept it from her? It had felt so easy to not say anything at the time. So easy to convince myself that it was okay to be a bit selfish. I had never regretted something as much before.

I was in the middle of moving a book back to where it had stood in the bookshelf when the doorbell rang. My heart jumped high and my lips spread wide, then I realized Morana had a key so she would just come in.

Everything felt heavy as I walked over to open the door. As soon as it was open the tiniest bit, the person on the outside pulled it wide open.

"Geez, slow much dude?" a booming voice let out followed by laughter. "Not gonna let me in? You look like you've seen a ghost."

In the doorway a tall and brawly man stood with bushy brown beard and shoulder long hair. He really did look like a bear, which was very fitting considering he was a bear shifter.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked, but stepped to the side to let him in. It wasn't uncommon for him to show up unannounced, and he would always force me to tag along to something when he did. Always something that would turn out incredibly fun.

"Had nothing better to do, so thought I'd crash here a couple of days," Rick answered and walked in. He kicked off his shoes and threw a rug sack on the floor. "Got a mattress ready?"

"You should have called. You can't stay here," I muttered, and the temporary excitement of seeing Rick disappeared as I thought of Morana again.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He walked towards the extra room, which was now Morana's room. "When have I ever..."

"Don't go in..." I yelled, but he had already pulled the door open and frozen. I hurried over and tore the door out of his grip to close it, but had time to see that most likely his eyes were on Morana's underwear, which was haphazardly thrown over a chair.

"Man seriously!" I yelled at him. "Have you ever heard of the word boundaries, Rick?"

"You got a girl staying here?" he yelled back and looked at me as if I had sprouted horns. Then he took a sniff of the air and his face turned sullen. "She's a witch."

"She's not like other witches," I answered, earning myself a glare. "Can you just slow down a little and let me explain?"

"What? She's hot? By the looks of those bras, she prob..."

Anger flamed up in me and I didn't even think before I hurled him into the wall using magic.

"Never talked about her like that again!" I shouted at him.

He had landed in a defensive fighting position, but relaxed instantly.

"She's your mate," he said, but before his smile could spread far, I shook my head.

"She isn't," I mumbled and turned away from him.

"Fucking don't lie to me! What was that reaction if she's not your mate?"

"It's possible to care about someone, even if they're not your mate."

"Yeah, sure. But hell, you almost broke the wall! Are you sure she isn't your mate?"

"I'm fucking sure!" I yelled and turned back to him. "You have no idea how fucking much I wish she was! She's perfect and I want her so badly. But one day she'll look into someone else's eyes and forget all about me!"

"Okay, dude! Chill!" Rick rubbed his neck with a hand and looked everywhere but at me.

I sighed. I had known Rick since he was ten years old. He had grown up to become a great friend who always had your back. More than once had he acted as a bodyguard when I had been around a huge gathering of witches. Drinking, joking, flirting were also among his specialties. Feelings though... Not so much. If a problem couldn't be solved with muscles or alcohol, he was completely lost.

"You want a beer?" I asked to bring him out of his misery of trying to find the right thing to say.

"I probably should find a hotel first," he said awkwardly.

"You fine with the couch? Gotta check with Morana also, but she'll probably be fine with it."

He nodded and then followed me to the living room. He slumped down on the couch while I fetched a beer each.

"Morana, huh?" he asked as I sat down on one of the armchairs and handed him a can.

"Yeah," I answered and took a mouthful of the beer.

"She is fine, though? Being a witch and all?"

I smiled. "Yeah. You really don't have to worry about that. Like said, she's not like other witches."

"Oh yeah?"

"It's her story to tell, but she didn't grow up with other witches. I'm the first witch she's befriended."

"Okay. And..." He took a big gulp of the beer. "And what makes her so special?"

"I don't know. Everything?" I sighed and for a moment I tried to find the right words, but there weren't any, so instead it became a long string of them. "She's just perfect. Already from our first conversation, it just felt easy. Everything is natural around her. I feel at home and like everything is good. Even when everything is shit, just one word or a smile or a hug from her and everything is alright. And I want to spend all my time making her happy. All that matters is that she's happy and safe."

Rick looked perplexed and then shook his head. "I know you said she isn't, but that really sounds like she's your mate."

"She isn't though. It's just not there. Honestly, yeah, everything feels as if she's my mate except that the bond doesn't exist." Though the conversation didn't make anything clearer to me, it was surprisingly nice to tell Rick about this. Part of all the confusion I had felt since meeting her was finally verbalized.

"Couldn't that happen? There must be spells to hide a mate bond."

I snorted and shook my head. "Please, don't make me hope. I'm going crazy enough as it is."

"What does she think about this?"

"I don't know. She didn't know about mates until I told her like an hour ago to explain to her why I didn't have sex with her yesterday."

Rick let out a whistle, and I glared in response.

"Can you please behave when she comes home?" I asked him then.

"When have I not behaved?" he huffed. "Fine, fine, fine, I'll behave," he then added under my piercing gaze.

We didn't get further as the sound of the door opening came.