Page 28 of Match My Alpha
Callum:Very reassuring. Thank you.
I put the phone in my pocket, climb into the truck, and drive to the café. I try not to think about the fact that in thirty minutes, I'm going to tell my sister I've been secretly mating her best friend. In her bathroom. In my apartment. On her kitchen counter while she cooked ten feet away.
That is not the kind of information that improves sibling relationships.
I get there first. I always get there first. It gives me time to pick a table, order Ava's drink, and sit here staring at a mug I'm not going to drink from while I try to figure out how the hell to do this. I run into burning buildings for a living, but trying to figure out how to tell my little sister I claimed her best friend makes my palms sweat.
Ava blows in seven minutes late. Her bag is falling off one shoulder, her hair is half-up, and she's talking before she even sits down.
"I'm so sorry, my professor went over and then there was a line at—ooh, you got my drink." She slides into the chair across from me and wraps her hands around the latte. "You're the best brother. I should get that tattooed."
"Please don't."
"Too late, I'm committed. How was shift? Did Marco leave food on the counter again?"
I listen to her talk. I love her. I'd take a bullet for her. But right now, her rapid-fire stories are making the knot in my stomach pull tighter. I've been lying to her for almost two weeks, and it's eating me alive.
"Shift was fine," I say. "How's your week been?"
She tells me about her week. A group project disaster, a professor she loves, a new coffee shop that uses oat milk she thinks Milo would like.
"Speaking of Milo, have you talked to him lately?" she asks. "He's been so weird. He bailed on movie night again, and last time I saw him he was wearing this massive sweater in seventy-degree weather. And he smelled like—" She frowns. "I don't know. Different. Like someone else's soap. Do you think he's seeing someone?"
My grip tightens on my mug. "Maybe."
"It's that KnotMe guy, isn't it? The anonymous one he matched with?" She takes a sip of her latte. "I just want to knowhe's okay, you know? He gets so quiet when something's actually big."
"He's okay," I say. My voice comes out a little too careful.
Ava stops. She puts the latte down and studies me. Her head tilts. She's looking at me the exact same way she did when I accidentally backed into her car. She knows something is off.
"Okay," she says slowly. "What's going on with you?"
"Nothing. Just tired from—"
"Callum. You're doing the face. The one you do when you're about to tell me something I'm not going to like." She narrows her eyes. "Please tell me you didn't back into my car again."
"I didn't back into your car."
"Then what?"
I planned this. I had sentences ready. But looking at her across the table, every rehearsed word just evaporates. All I have is the truth.
"I met someone," I say. "On KnotMe. You were right about that."
Her face lights up. "I KNEW it. Okay, tell me everything. When? How long? Is it serious?"
"It's a mate bond."
That shuts her up. Her eyes go wide. She knows what a mate bond means.
"A mate bond," she repeats, her voice dropping. "Cal, that's... that's huge. Who is—"
"It's someone you know."
She stares at me. Her hands go completely still on her mug. I can practically see the gears turning in her head, running through every single person we both know.
"It's Milo," I say. I can't let her guess.
