Page 3 of Miles's Pact
One
Miles
I stopped short with my hand on the doorknob as a loud squawk reached my ears, and let my eyes fall shut. If our new pet was what it sounded like it was, I only had myself to blame. I'd told Mateo he could pick, and I should've expected he would pick something... unusual.
Bracing myself, I pushed the door open and stepped in, closing it behind myself as I eased my shoes and jacket off before padding deeper into the house.
Mateo and I shared a modest house with an open-plan kitchen and living room, and two bedrooms upstairs. While we both had jobs, our dads had bought the house for us because Cassian Romanov—Dad—was the last of the Romanovs, a powerful fire mage family. Unlike his predecessors, Dad had no interest in hoarding his wealth, and Papa—Gustave Baudelaire, a vampirewho'd rejoined society after being trapped in an eternal sleep—loved spending their money on us.
"Mateo?" I called out when I found the living room empty.
"In the bathroom!" he called from the downstairs bathroom, and I headed over, peeking in to find him sitting cross-legged on the white tiled floor, the sleeves of his sweatshirt pulled up to his elbows, and his blond hair in even more disarray than usual.
While Mateo and I were identical twins, it wasn't hard to tell us apart. I preferred to dress in button-downs or turtlenecks, keep my hair styled, and wear sensible shoes, while Mateo didn't know how to use a comb, and preferred sweatshirts or hoodies, and thick boots that clunked when he walked.
But Mateo's hair was the least of my concerns at the moment, because beside him, floating in the porcelain tub, was a duck.
I did a double-take. The duck was ashifter. Why the hell had Mateo brought homea shifter?
Before I could ask Mat that very question, something else about the duck settled into my mind. They were so much more than that. Oh fuck.
"Mateo..." I murmured, and he glanced up at me with wide brown eyes that mirrored my shock.
"Right? He was at Rebba's, and he doesn't want to shift back. Believe me, I know," he said, showing off his arms that were covered in almost-healed scratches.
"I just... how? How did you know?" I asked, walking deeper into the room as the duck shifter eyed me with distrust. I sank down beside Mateo, keeping my distance from the uneasy shifter.
"Know what? That he's a shifter? It's pretty easy to tell, don't you think?"
"No, not that," I murmured, turning to look at him. "The fact that he's my mate."
Mateo opened his mouth, then closed it, then repeated the whole motion again.
"What is it?" I asked, nudging his side.
He licked his lips, then glanced from the shifter to me. "Well, I didn't know that. I brought him home because, well, because he'smymate too."
I blinked, then blinked some more, too stunned to formulate words. I'd always worried about how the other would handle it when one of us found our mate. It was why we'd made a pact as kids that no matter who found his mate first, we'd always stick close.
Until we were ten, we'd only ever had each other to depend on, to love, and we'd sworn that we would stay each other's number one. Always.
"It's not weird. Right? I'm platonic all the way, so... it's not weird. Right?"
Catching the hint of panic in Mateo's voice, I grabbed his hand, knocking my head against his.
"No, Mat. It's not weird."
I turned to look at the shifter, who'd been taking in our exchange, and wondered what he was thinking. Why did he refuse to shift? How long had it been since he'd last shifted?
"You know, if he doesn't want to shift to his human form..." I trailed off, raising a brow at Mateo, and he grinned.
"That's a good idea!"
Mateo sprang into action, shedding his clothes right there before he shifted. Neither of us were shy—shifters rarely were—and I rushed to follow suit.
Mateo and I were both barn owl shifters, and the only difference in our appearance was our beaks. While my beak was black, Mateo's was brown.
The duck shifter squawked, startled, his wings snapping up like he planned to take off, and I hopped back, giving him some space.
