You’re here to make food, I told myself bitterly as I stomped down the hallway, just think about that and only that. Do not think about a certain person with wings. Do not.

I made it to the kitchen, barely containing those thoughts. My boots hitting the floor beneath me in a rhythmical thud as I walked kept them at bay.

As I stepped through the door, the normal smell of the kitchen and the ingredients within wafted my way and I took a deep breath, leaning against the wall for a moment. It was as if the second I stopped, everything came racing back to me.

Fallyn.

His killer smile.

I groaned.

This was going to get bad.

We’d run into Fallyn and my father in the hallway, practically right after leaving my room. And…

Dad laughed. He saw my face and laughed. He tried to hide it, sure, but it didn’t work, did it?!

I sighed.

Oh, gosh, Fallyn knows now, doesn’t he? He knows I like him for sure.

Ugh.

I put my head in my hands.

After they’d spotted us, he’d put a hand on Fallyn’s shoulder and led him off to his room.

“Your room is this way.”

But there was totally some kind of mischief in his gaze as he nodded to mom with an overly large grin. And then, right before they were out of sight, Fallyn looked back at me.

He actually did the ‘turn back and look at the protagonist with a smile as I wander off out of sight’ thing.

And he looked really good doing it.

Only problem?

It was me. He looked back at me like that.

But could he really be satisfied with settling for me? I mean, how on earth could I make someone like him happy?

I didn’t know his struggles. I didn’t know much about him at all. We were… practically strangers. And I totally embarrassed myself in front of him when I was a kid.

Jeez. That was another thing!

He was older than me by six years. That meant he’d lived through a much unhappier time in wolf shifter history. He’d been a part of it. He’d been a twin during the time that they were getting locked up for being alive.

And me?

Who was I?

Did I even know the answer to something like that?

I wasn’t really anything special at all…

“Mom?”

“Hm?” She turned to look at me as we maneuvered to the other end of the kitchen.

“Why did you guys call Falllyn here to help?”

She was silent for a moment, and I didn’t have a clear view of her face as she walked in front of me.

“It was just a choice your father and I made.”

“But why?”

If I recalled correctly, and I did, Aunt Briar’s mate could use telekinesis. She could fly with it too. And considering she was older, technically, she’d likely have better control of her abilities… not that Fallyn didn’t. I wasn’t sure how his differed from others in difficulty. Maybe it just came naturally? I wouldn’t know. I was an only child. I wasn't a twin.

Still.

There were other people they could’ve asked, at least one, and they ended up choosing the guy I had a crush on?! That couldn’t be a coincidence. And I wasn’t quite sure if I’d call it lucky.

“Why do you want to know, Lizzie?”

She turned around to face me with an amused grin.

Well, I can’t say it’s because I’m freaking out about it, can I?

And it’s not like I’m going to outright say that they chose the one guy I’ve been crushing on for years. My parents had way too many embarrassing stories in their heads. And if we were all having dinner together tonight, I didn’t want her to get ideas for conversation topics.

“Uh… because he… hasn’t been up here in like nine years?”

She tilted her head, her eyes searching mine.

What… are you doing? Mother?

Please don’t let it be obvious.

Is it all over my face?

Am I currently being an open book, instead of being one tucked up on the shelf out of an immediate line of sight?

She sighed, pulling some flour off the counter only to place it in my hands. I stared down at the lid of the container.

Right.

We were here to work.

“It’s because he hasn’t been up here in some time.”

Huh?

What was that supposed to mean?

All I managed to utter in reply to her words was a small, “What?”

“Your dad has heard a lot about him from your Uncle James, you know.” She grinned again. “Is it so wrong for us to want him to come say hi?”

So…

They called him up here because he’s an interesting person that Uncle James just happened to adopt over a decade ago and they haven’t been able to spend much time with him because he doesn’t come to the reunions?

Right.

That... actually kind of made some sense.

But dang, it took them long enough to invite him up here!

In that train of thought, things were definitely suspicious.

Definitely.

But I couldn’t outright say that either.

So I just shrugged and carried the flour over to the counter.

“It’s not wrong. I was just wondering.”

As we worked side by side in near silence, I kneaded the dough while she mixed up more ingredients.

In that quiet space, doing monotonous work, my thoughts seemed to take over.

Fallyn and I were going to have to talk about earlier. Deep down I knew it. But part of me was worried, despite the way that he’d smiled at me earlier, despite all the smiles he’s given me already today, was there even a chance for me to reach for his heart? That is, without looking crazy.

I wasn’t sure.

Was he going to have questions?

If we were to end up together, where would we live?

Everything was swirling in my mind as I thought everything over.

There was always the chance of saying no. The connection we shared wasn’t a given. It wasn’t as if the stars and the universe were saying you have no choice in the matter, so you have to be together. It wasn’t like that. We could say no and still turn the other way.

That would be difficult for me, I thought, I’m feeling tired already at just the thought of doing that.

I sighed and rested my chin on my hand.

Soon enough, we were taking a short break from cooking to clean things up a bit. A lot of the other workers in here were chatting by the stove as I contemplated the rest of my future.

True mates, huh.

How’d I get so… do I even get to use the word lucky at this point? Was it luck or was it just plain terrible? I mean, he could totally just shred my heart into pieces if he wanted to, but I really didn’t think he’d be the type to do something so cruel. However, sometimes people do cruel things in a way that they thought they were doing something good to spare pain on the other person, but it breaks them even more completely because they’d given them hope for something more right from the start, only to have never felt that way.

Oh, my gosh.

This was a never-ending spiral.

For a split-second, I forgot where I was, as I let my face land lightly against the counter.

The small cloud that rose around me made me realize what I’d just done.

I lifted my head, only to see my mom laugh happily.

“Lizzie, what are you doing?”

“I was thinking…”

“Here, let me.”

She grabbed a towel and wet it a little before wiping my face and some of my hair off.

It was like the opposite of tomato. It was called flour face. Super pale. White as a sheet.

She chuckled more as she wiped the flour off.

At least nobody else was watching this.

That…

That would be very embarrassing.