ERIK

A man. My fated mate was a man. The person I had been looking for all these years was a man. I had never been interested in men. I was not gay or bisexual, I considered myself straight and only dated women in the past. The God/dess must be laughing at me by giving me a man as my fated mate. Fuck. A man. Really? I felt his piercing blue eyes on me, but I was frozen in place. I didn’t know what to do or say, I couldn’t even move. How could my fated mate be a man?

‘I have no problem with Raven being our mate. He is beautiful and I’m already in love.’ Ed said in my mind, and I disagreed with him. 

‘We are not gay, Ed.’ I said to him, but he laughed at my statement. 

‘Yet. I mean, are you seeing our mate? He is gorgeous. We have to court him.’ Ed insisted.

‘No, we can’t.’ I said in a serious tone.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself down, my eyes met with Raven’s. Ed was right, he was beautiful, it was a fact, but I couldn’t see it in myself to mate with him. The shock hadn’t left my body yet. I put the bouquet down, and the omega arched his brow at me. Then, he rolled his eyes and walked past me and his omega father, going down the stairs. Unconsciously, I followed his movements with my gaze. I ignored the comments Ed said about his ass as Raven walked to the door.

“Raven, where are you going?” Soren asked, breaking the awkward silence in the room.

“I have band practice. I’ll be back later.” Raven said, and that’s when I noticed him carrying a guitar case. ‘He plays the guitar in a band? Sexy.’ Ed said.

“He is such a rude brat. We are sorry about him, Erik.” Lesly said, glaring in the direction Raven went, and then smiled at me.

“Yeah, we are sorry. He is always acting like that.” Lana said, smiling softly at me.

“Yeah, so rude.” Lesly said placing her hand on my arm and softly squeezing it. ‘She is trying too damn hard. Hands off, lady.’ Ed said and I agreed. “So what did you say about him being your fated mate? Is that true?”

“Well…” I found my voice again, but was interrupted before I could say anything.

“Girls. You are dismissed.” Soren said with a serious expression. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“But dad—” Josie tried to say, but Soren stopped her.

“Go. Now.” Soren said again with a frown. 

“Fine.” Josie said, huffing, and went up the stairs. Her sisters followed her until it was just Esme, Soren, and me.

“I can take the bouquet if you want. I will put it in water.” Esme offered, and I nodded, handing it to him.

“Thank you.” I said and he gave me an apologetic smile.

“Erik, please follow me.” The alpha looked at me, and I felt chills go down my spine. He was a scary man. “We have to talk.”

I followed the alpha through the mansion. I didn’t know where he was taking me because I was new to the building. The silence was killing me. What did he want to talk about? Well, of course, I was the fated mate of his only omega son. He probably wanted to talk about that. A door came into view, and we walked into a study, its walls lined with bookshelves, a cozy sofa, and a desk with papers and a computer. It was Soren’s office. The alpha walked around the desk and sat in his chair. With his hand, he pointed at two other chairs in front of the desk. I didn’t hesitate and took a seat.

“I would like to apologize for Raven’s behaviour. He tends to get irritated when people misgender him.” Soren said, breaking the silence, and I nodded.

“It’s okay, sir. I apologize for doing that. I just…” I tried to think of what to say, but in the end decided to tell the truth. “I will be honest with you Mr. Powell. I have considered myself straight my whole life, and finding out my fated mate is a man was shocking. I’m still startled and confused by that. It was unexpected.”

“I understand. I have been there before.” Soren said nodding, leaving me confused.

“You have? What do you mean?” I asked, curious but also confused.

“Just like you, I was straight. Women were all I cared for, but then I crossed paths with Esme. I was shocked at first and even thought of rejecting the bond.” He explained and then smiled. “But then, as I got to meet him, we grew closer, and slowly I realized I didn’t care he was a man. I fell for him, and well, the rest you have seen.”

“Oh…but how did you?” I still couldn’t understand how someone’s preference could change that fast.

“It just happened. We had a lot in common, and until today, I’m glad I took him as my mate.” He proudly said with a smile. “My point is I want you to just think about it, give it time. You are a guest in our house, you are free to stay however long you want, and we will respect your decision.”

“Yes, sir. I will take some time to think about it.” I answered unsure, but I did have a lot to think about and process.

“Okay. You are in your house so just relax and take all the time you need.” Soren said with a gentle smile and I nodded.

“Yes, thank you Mr. Powell.” I said with a polite smile.

RAVEN

‘Oh my God/dess! Oh my God/dess! OMG!’ Rion, my animal self, shouted in my mind nonstop as I walked to my motorbike. Like him, I was shocked, even angry, but I didn’t have time. I had band practice. 

‘I can’t believe it’s him. Our fated mate, we found him! Are you listening to me, Rae? Did you see him? He is so fucking hot!’ Rion kept talking nonstop about that alpha.

And I agreed. Erik Bennet was hot, so hot he looked like a Ken doll. He smelled like unripe mangoes. His looks were unreal, and I must confess my type, but no. I didn’t need a mate, especially not one that screamed ‘straight’ all over. The reaction he gave to finding out I was a man gave it away. 

‘He also said we are beautiful. God/dess, I can’t stop thinking about him, and you were so rude to him, Rae. You should have stayed, talked to him, but no, band practice seems to be more important than our fated mate.’ Rion scolded me and I rolled my eyes as I got on my motorbike and started it. Riding outside of the manor and on the way to the pride’s main gate.

‘Do I have to remind you that he misgendered us? He thought I was a woman, he is straight. He will probably reject us too, so don’t get your hopes up, Rion.’

‘Reject us? No! Never! He wouldn’t. Bonds don’t work like that.’ Rion roared at me, offended by my statement. 

‘You know, there are ways to reject bonds. He could reject us and mate with someone else.’ 

‘No! No! No! I refuse to think that. La! La! La! I can’t hear you.’ Rion said, making noises and trying to stop me from talking.

I sighed and focused on the road, but inside, I was still raging about what happened. My own fated mate thought I was a woman. Growing up with a bunch of sisters, I often got confused as a girl, and that irritated me. I blame it on Papa’s genes and being an omega. Even if Rion was hopeful to mate with Erik, I wasn’t. Just looking at him gave it away that a bond between us would be impossible. At least from my part, I wasn’t going to try to approach him. If he wanted me, he would have to come to me first, apologize for misgendering, and if he wanted to court me, he was free to do it. But that most likely wasn’t going to happen because Erik Bennet looked straight as fuck.

I parked the bike outside the studio, and after securing it, I walked inside the building and to our usual room. Thanks to my good hearing, I could already hear my friends chatting from outside. The door to the practice room opened before I could do it, and a tall, familiar alpha was waiting for me with a smile. 

“Hey, Rae. We were waiting for you.” Liam was one of my best friends and the bass guitarist of our band. He was part of the pride, and we have been friends since we were babies. 

“Hey, Liam.” I said with a soft smile and walked inside the room, greeting my other friends and bandmates. 

“Did something happen, Rae?” Jaden, the vocalist and my best omega friend said with concern. He always knew how to read me, even if I didn’t show my true feelings. Like Liam, he was also friends with me since baby age. “You look upset. Did your sisters do something again?” 

“Your sisters again? I don’t get why they keep treating you like shit. You are their little brother.” Westley—Wes for short— said this time. He was my beta best friend and our drummer. 

“No, it wasn’t them. It was something else.” I said taking my guitar out of its case. 

“What was it then?” Wes asked curiously. I sighed and decided to tell the truth.

“I found my fated mate,” I confessed. 

“What?” Liam and Jaden said at the same time.

“How? Who? What?” Wes asked extremely confused.

“Shocking, I know. We have a guest over and turns out he is my fated mate.” I explained to my friends.

“Okay, but why are you upset? Fated mates are a good thing.” Jaden asked confused.

“He is straight.” I sighed.

“Oh…” Was all Jaden said.

“And also thought I was a woman,” I said frowning, remembering Erik’s words, the glow in his eyes when he saw me, and the way it disappeared once he found out my gender. 

“Damn.” Wes said, they knew I hated being misgendered. 

“So what are you going to do about him?” Liam asked with a frown.

“I don’t know. I left after finding out and came here.” I said taking my guitar and standing close to one of the microphones. My friends followed me with their eyes, and I sighed. “I don’t even want to think about it. Can we start practicing? I need to de-stress from all this.”

“Okay.” They said and took their places.

Practice went smoothly, and I was thankful no one mentioned Erik again. Not even Wes, who loved to annoy me for fun, said a thing. Another odd thing was that Liam was quiet and a bit distant. I couldn’t tell what was bothering me, and Jaden was just his usual self. When practice came to an end, we went our separate ways. Once I got back home, there was still a long time before dinner, so I decided to lock myself in my room. On my way there, I saw Lesly’s bedroom door not fully closed, allowing me to hear what was going on inside. I was going to pass by it, but then I heard her mention my name. She wasn’t alone; Josie, Jean, and Lana were also inside.

“I can’t believe Erik’s fated mate is Raven,” Josie said, by the tone of her voice, I could tell she was offended. “How can the God/dess do that?”

“Honestly, Erik looks so straight I don’t think he will bond with Raven,” Lesly said.

“Yeah, he is probably going to reject him, and maybe then we get a chance to win Erik,” Jean said this time.

“I so want Raven to get rejected,” Lana said with a chuckle.

“Me too. I want to try and win Erik.” Josie said with mischief.

Pain spread across my body, hearing what my sisters said about me. They had always been like that, but wishing to be rejected by a fated mate, something that dangerous was not what you would wish even to your enemies. I walked past the door quickly and carefully, not to be noticed, and went inside my room as fast as I could. Leaning my back on the door, I felt tears trying to come out of my eyes. Growing up, it had always been the same. Always being looked down on by some of my sisters, acting and saying hurtful things out of envy because our Papa gave me more attention. Lilah, Robin, and Roxanne were the only ones who treated me well. You would think I would get used to it with time, but I never did. I just acted stronger in front of them and never showed my true feelings; only my friends knew them. I wiped my tears away, placed my guitar case in its place, and got on the bed, scrolling through my phone, trying not to think about what was going to happen at dinner.

‘God/dess, I don’t want to see him.’