Page 29 of Miles's Pact
Ten
Miles
"Something was off back there," Mateo said as I drove down the street, and I glanced over at him.
"What do you mean?"
He shrugged, and I focused on the street, waiting as he gathered his thoughts.
"I mean, I don't know if our clan is over the top, but I always thought the news that someone you care about found their mate was something to be celebrated. Or at least to be happy about."
"I guess so. I don't think I've ever seen anyone in our clan be disappointed by something like that."
"Right? But did you see how Duckie's mom reacted? She couldn't wait to get rid of us."
My brows furrowed as I thought back, but I couldn't see it. I'd figured she wanted some privacy to talk to her son whom she hadn't seen in years. It wasn't an unfair request.
"I think you're overthinking this, which is weird because that's my thing."
Mateo snorted, then shook his head. "I'm telling you. She was not happy that Duckie has mates."
"You think she could ask Duckie to break his bonds with us?" I asked, jumping straight to the worst-case scenario.
While a completed bond was damn near unbreakable—the only thing that could break it was if one of the mates died—a growing bond was much easier to break. It was why recognizing your mate wasn't enough to make you fall in love with them. You had to get to know them to give the bond time to grow and strengthen. And if you stopped midway, the bond would start weakening and then fall apart.
It was why newly bonded mates spent a lot of time together—consciously or subconsciously—during the first few months.
"I don't know. But even if she did, I don't think he would do it."
I wasn't so sure about that. While we had grown close over the last two weeks, Heather was Duckie'smom. He'd thought she was dead. Would he be able to say no to her?
Maybe he wouldn't break our bond, but he might decide to hit pause for a few months so he could spend time with his mother. I wouldn't blame him if he did, though I didn't want him to.
"We need something to take our minds off this," Mateo declared, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"Any ideas?" I asked because he was right. I needed something else to focus on before I drove myself crazy worrying about this.
"Let me look it up," Mateo said, mumbling under his breath as he typed. "Okay, we have an escape room, a painting thing that sounds more fitting for you and Duckie, oooh, an axe-throwingplace, a Nerf battle, some mystery adventure thing, and a rage room."
I pursed my lips, but I already knew I'd be picking the axe thing or the Nerf battle since that was what Mateo would enjoy the most, and he was the only one who could getmeto enjoy them too. "How about the Nerf battle?"
Mateo grinned. "Yes! Okay, the next event starts in twenty minutes. I'm booking two spots for us."
After he'd done that, he plugged in the address for the place into the GPS, and I switched directions so I was headed the right way.
"Aww, Cam sent pictures of the baby dragons. They look like featherless birds," Mateo said, and I snuck a glance at his phone's screen, smiling at the display. They did look like birds. They were all wrinkled skin and squinted eyes.
"I'm looking forward to seeing them when we get back."
"Me too! I wonder if it's weird for Cam to have baby siblings as an adult."
"He has a mate that turns into a baby every hundred years," I reminded him, and he snickered.
"Touché. You think Raiden and Will might have more kids after these?"
I shrugged. "Given their track record and the fact that they'll live forever? Yeah."
"I guess you're right. They met when Cam was nine. So in seventeen years, they adopted two children—or at least Raiden has, since Cam was always Will's—and had another five. That's like one kid every three years."
