“Yeah, slightly weird segue but the answer is two years. Well, I guess technically one and a half since my sixteenth is in about a month and a half” I thought back glancing sideways at her quirking a brow.

“But if your mate is older then they could find you before that right?” she asked making me suspicious.

“Yeah... Why are you asking about that?” I thought back turning to face her.

“I started doing some research on your mark. It’s not a birth mark like you thought otherwise it wouldn’t have started changing colors last year. I think it’s another mating thing but there’s a catch. All the research I’ve done and people I’ve asked about it all agree, you can’t find that mate unless your wolf mate rejects you” she explained looking me in the eyes. Confused and overwhelmed, I thought “are you telling me I have two potential mates?”

“Yeah. Technically, since you were born with the mark that one is your true mate while the wolf is a secondary or maybe a second chance mate” she thought back. Taking a deep breath, I thought “okay, can you tell me the species of the first?”

“Not as a definite but most everything agrees that it’s probably a vampire” she thought back before giving me time to process everything she’d just told me.

Several hours passed before my mind finally made sense of what Reyna had told me at the start of first period. Still toying with my pendent as we walked towards the lunch room, I asked aloud “how much of what you told me earlier are you absolutely certain of?” Tapping her head, she used her magic to connect to me and explained “I can put you in touch with someone who witnessed a similar event involving her older brothers’ mate. Apparently, he was born with a mark like you and no one in his pack knew what it meant until after his Alpha mate rejected him not realizing he was opening up an avenue for him to find what she referred to as his True Mate. She said that both of them are so very happy they found each other despite what happened to get them there.”

“I think I’d like to talk to her” I thought back as we entered the lunch room to see Sebastian and a werewolf football player mid-argument drawing everyones’ attention.

“Okay, let me go give her a call and see if she’s willing to talk” she said cutting the link and pulling out her phone before turning to walk back outside while I moved into a corner to watch the scene in front of me play out. As I watched, the argument escalated into a full fledged fight and I was surprised when Sebastian managed to hit the wolf once knocking him to the ground just before he turned and walked back towards me. As he was about to pass, I quietly said “you know you really shouldn’t antagonize them.”

“Try telling him that, little wolf” he mumbled back as he passed sending a shiver up my spine. Swallowing hard just as Reyna came to stand next to me, she asked “what just happened with Sebastian?”

“Nothing why?” I asked confused as to how she knew we’d had an interaction.

“As he passed me on his way out, he said ‘keep an eye on your little wolf friend little witch’ totally confusing me until I saw the look on your face. So, what happened?” she asked again. Shrugging, I said “I told him he shouldn’t antagonize the other wolves and he said ‘try telling him that, little wolf’ before walking out. How’d you’re call go?”

“She and her brothers as she calls them are actually in town and they’re willing to meet us today after school. I did tell them it’s the first day of classes and they said if we want we can meet them during school hours off campus” she said. Taking a deep breath, I asked “did they give you a location?”

“They’re staying at The Moonlight Hotel in the presidential suit but they said they’d meet us in public if we’d like” she said taking my hand and guiding me back out of the lunch room and down the hall. As I thought about what she was telling me, we passed Sebastian who seemed to be arguing with someone on the phone in Italian. Choosing to ignore him, I followed Reyna as we moved towards the front doors and said “it would probably be better to meet them in a public place. Plus that hotel is clear on the other side of town. Let’s see if they can meet us in the park at our usual hiding place.”

“Sure, okay that makes sense. Give me a minute to call her back” she said as we walked. Toying with my pendent while she was on the phone, I wondered why Sebastian was even paying attention to me when I said that until Reyna hung up and said “they’ll meet us in the park.”

Walking in silence for a little bit, Reyna looked over at me and asked “are you okay? I mean, I'd totally get it if you weren't, I know I wouldn't be.”

“Honestly, no but I want to know what it all means” I said as we approached the park. Heading inside, we took a left then two rights before going straight until we were in a field of wild flowers. Taking a seat in the middle of the field, we’d sat there for less than ten minutes before Reyna was getting up again. Looking over to where she was looking, I saw a girl a little younger than us with a pale purple bob and pink eyes and next to her were two guys that had to be a bit older, one that had hair that was black on top and white on the bottom with bronze colored eyes and walking next to him holding his hand was a guy with black hair and forest green eyes. As they approached, Reyna extended her hand to the girl and said “you must be Serenity, Remington, and Kingston.”

“We are, yes and you must be Reyna. Would he be the friend you asked about?” Serenity asked.

“I am, yeah. I'm Micah, it's nice to meet you all. Thanks for coming to talk to us” I said extending my hand to each of them as I took in their appearance up close. The girl, Serenity, was wearing a peach colored sundress with black belt across her abdomen, sun pendent, and matching black sandals. The taller of the two guys with black and white hair, Remington, was dressed like a biker in a leather jacket, v-neck shirt, jeans, and biker boots with a sun pendent hanging around his neck. The last guy, the one with black hair that up close was streaked with dark blue, Kingston, was a wolf like me and dressed in a dark blue beanie, teal hoodie, anime t-shirt, jeans, and matching dark blue converse sneakers. Shaking my hand in turn until I reached Kingston, I smiled as they introduced themselves.

“Shall we have a seat and talk?” Reyna asked gesturing to the ground behind us.

“Sure” Serenity smiled. Taking a seat on the grass, the guy named Kingston said “so, Seri tells us that you think your friend here has a vampire mate. Why is that?”

“I was born with what I thought was a birth mark on my right hip that looks like a stylized fleur de lis. It randomly itches or hurts but I can never figure out why and usually as soon as it starts it stops again” I explained.

“Can we see it?” Rem asked as King added “or is it too far down for that?”

“Yeah, it's fine. It's right on my hip bone so...” I said. Looking around, I leaned back and pulled down the waistband of my jeans showing them the flour de lis on my hip.

“It's definitely a mating mark” King said as Rem nodded and Seri smiled.

“How are you so sure?” I asked glancing between all their faces. Looking at each other for a minute, the boys looked back at me and simultaneously reached up pulling aside the collars of their shirts to reveal identical geometric marks just under their left collar bone before King said “like you, I was born with this marking. However, no one in my pack would admit to knowing what it was at the time and my wolf, Lucifer, never told me either even though he was aware what it meant. He said it was because he wanted to give me the chance to be happy with my wolf mate. However, that never happened as he rejected me on my seventeenth birthday but I'm thankful for that everyday since it led me to Rem.” Pulling King against him, Rem kissed the side of his head as Serenity said “though they had some problems to over come in the beginning outside of their control they've been happily mated ever since and plan to be married this Christmas.”

“So, does knowing that make you feel any better?” Rem asked as I sat there silently processing everything.

“He's not ignoring you. Sometimes it takes him a little while to work through everything and today has been a lot for him to process since I only told him about the possibility this morning” Reyna said reaching over to take my hand. Taking a shuttering breath, I said “it both helped and it didn't since I won't find either of them for another year and a half.”

“Actually, Rem and I think you may have already found your vampire mate. Since your mark itches and hurts sometimes, we think your mark is trying to tell you who it belongs too” King explained as Serenity gasped making them both look at her.

“Sorry, no nothing’s wrong. I just wonder if maybe his vampire mate knows already and is just giving him time before revealing himself” she shrugged.

“Wait, I'm confused. Why'd you say nothing is wrong like someone asked you that?” Reyna asked confused.

“Oh that's because my brothers did. Part of their mating included a version of a mind link like wolf packs use that they can initiate with anyone they chose” she explained as I worked through the suggestion she made. Falling back in the grass, I heard King ask “are you okay, Micah?” Before I could answer, Reyna took my hand and said “he's fine. He's working through the possibility that one of his two mates already know who he is. He's scared that that person might have already chosen to reject him.”

“How do you know that if he hasn't said it?” Rem asked sounding confused.

“Because firstly, I'm a witch and secondly, I'm his best friend. Most of the time, I know what he's thinking before even he does” she explained as I felt a tear slid down my cheek knowing she was right. Moving to sit next to me, Serenity took my other hand and said “oh, I was not expecting that. Anyway... don't worry, I'm sure they're not thinking that. I bet you didn't know this but a vampire can spend our entire lives looking for our one. So, I'm sure whomever it is has been looking for you for a long time and won't give you up that easily.”

“Not expecting what Seri? She is right though. I spent years looking for King but never thought it was possible that my mate wasn't a vampire. When I saw his mark the day after his birthday, I was shocked speechless for a while just staring at it thinking that if I blinked it would disappear. That was the first time I experienced his amazing sense of humor when he teased me for staring” Rem laughed making King smile and shake his head before he said “well asking what was wrong didn't seem to work.” As the three of them laughed, Ronan said “I don't think they'll abandon us either.”

“Wait, you knew too? Did you not tell me for the same reason Kings’ wolf didn't tell him?” I asked as more tears escaped.

“Yes and no. While that thought had crossed my mind, my biggest worry was your anxiety attacks. I didn't want to be the reason for one and I felt that telling you would only cause one. Specially since there is a chance our wolf mate will accept us but you should know that if they don't the only way to activate the vampire mark is to have the Alpha break the mating bond completely” he said as I felt his fur pricking my hand.

“I don't even think he'd do it if I asked” I sobbed not realizing I'd spoken aloud until the other three stopped laughing.

“Sweetie, what do you mean?” Reyna asked followed by King saying “I think he was talking to his wolf but because of everything making him overwhelmed, he didn't realize he'd spoken aloud.” Sobbing, I breathed “yeah. He was telling me about the only catch to finding my vampire mate.”

“Oh, yeah I guess telling you you'd have to have the bond completely broken by your Alpha would freak you out more” King said making Reyna ask “what do you mean?”

“I wasn’t expecting him to be more like King than we realized. He’s a Recessive Omega and a really strong one at that. But what he means is that before King and Rem could find each other, King was rejected by his alpha wolf mate and then had to have the pack Alpha break the mating bond entirely otherwise it would've had the chance to heal itself” Serenity said still holding my hand. Completely shocked, I turned to her and asked “how did you know that?”

“It’s one of my gifts. Rem can do it too but he doesn’t have to have physical contact to tell. So, he probably already knew” she explained making me look at him as he just shrugged. Laughing, King said "actually, his has more to do with your power signature than just sensing it."

“Anyway, Seri is right. I didn’t know who my mate was when I did it. Rem and Lucifer of course knew but they wanted me to have time to get over the rejection first. It was only coincidence that the rejection wrecked my control of my magic which helped persuade him to break mine” King explained. Wiping my cheek, Reyna said “I know this is a lot to take but at least it'll give you time to prepare before you find them for sure.”

“Unless something happens to your wolf mate before then” Rem said making me shoot up right to look at him before I asked “meaning?”

“Meaning, if something happens to your wolf mate like say they died then it would automatically break the bond allowing you to find your vampire mate faster” he shrugged matter of factly.

“Just to be clear, he's not saying it will happen just that should it happen that would be the end result” King clarified.

“Rem would never wish death on anyone not even someone that deserves it, I can promise you that” Serenity said moving to sit next to her brother. Pulling me into a hug, Reyna said “we can trust them, they haven't lied to us yet and you know I can sense it.” Nodding, I sobbed again not realizing how true that conversation would turn out to be in eight short months.