Changed by Fire (Phoenix Rising #6) - Harper Wylde Page 0,20
into their unit, but with so much going on, it was possible I’d missed something. I felt like a bad friend as we shuffled forward, reaching the front of the line.
“Everything has been going well,” Rini began, filling a mug with coffee before scooping a teaspoon of sugar into the hot liquid. I waited, grabbing a cup and pretending to survey all the juice options while I gave her a minute to finally tell me what was going on. She rolled her eyes at my silence and huffed. “I think… I think I’m ready to mate.”
I gaped, my eyes growing wide as I forgot all about the juice. “Seriously? That’s huge news!” I tempered my excitement for her, seeing her obvious distress in the downward pull of her eyebrows. “Why aren’t we celebrating right now?”
Rini had been waiting for the right time to finally seal her mating with Donovan, Barrett, and Cayden. Once Ciarán had shown up, and she found the missing piece of her group, I knew she wouldn’t want to wait long before claiming her men. I couldn’t say I blamed her either. I’d never planned on getting married young, and while I knew things were different in the shifter world, it was harder for me to reconcile the differences between marriage and mating. Both were such huge commitments, but if I’d had trouble wrapping my brain around marriage, mating was even more of a stretch. However, it was never a matter of not wanting to claim Damien, Theo, Hiro, Ryder, and Killian. I couldn’t imagine my life without them now. They’d become an integral part of me, my heart tied to each of them. Then, when Joshua entered the picture, things finally felt complete. With the war brewing, timelines and the desire to wait were starting to feel irrelevant in the face of possible death. We’d all already lost people. It was hard not to think about it.
“Ciarán’s… hesitant,” she finally replied, her grip on the spoon tightening as she shoved more sugar into her coffee. “He hasn’t been coming home at night. I think he’s avoiding me—us.”
I turned back to the juice machine and picked a random button, punching it harder than I’d intended. “That doesn’t sound like Ciarán. When I met him in my dreams last night, he seemed smitten with you.”
“You met him in your dreams?” Now it was her turn to gape, her frown turning into confusion as she eyed me. “What for?”
“He didn’t tell you?” I asked, studying the way Rini’s cheeks flushed. Other people began encroaching on our space, so I took a step back while I waited for my friend to finish adding milk to her mug. She joined me, wincing as she took a sip of her overly sweetened coffee before looking at me with raised brows, and waited for my explanation. “He was finally able to link Joshua and me.”
“Holy shit!” she squealed, some of her sunshine returning. “That’s amazing. How was it?” The Cheshire grin she wore told me she wanted all the sordid details, but it was my blush that confirmed her suspicions.
“It was so good to see him again,” I admitted, as we headed toward our seats. “Even if it wasn’t real… it felt real.”
“I bet it did.” She grinned, her white teeth gleaming. “I remember meeting in dreamland with Ciar before we met in person. It’s scary how real it all seems.”
“I miss him.” My sigh was heavy and full of all the emotions I left unsaid because I was unwilling to derail our previous conversation and let Rini off the hook. “But we aren’t talking about me. We are talking about you. Why do you think Ciarán is hesitant about mating? He’s crazy about you.”
“Maybe he was,” she griped, pursing her lips. Rini led me to pace around the exterior of the room, taking the long way back to our table to give us more alone time together. While living in such close quarters, having private girl talks had become a precious commodity. I was on the verge of telling my mates they needed to disperse and give Rini and me our room for a girls’ night—at least for a few hours.
“Rini.” I pivoted and stopped her with a hand clasped gently around her arm just above her elbow. “You can’t tell me you believe Ciarán isn’t into you. He’s head over heels, one-hundred-percent smitten. If he’s having doubts about mating, there has to be a reason for it.” Even as I said