Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 116662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Andaya pulled out her cell. “I’ll contact the omegas and ask them to start getting the preparations ready for the celebration.”
“Way ahead of you on that. I texted Bree earlier.” As the primary omega, she took the lead in all omega-related matters. “She said to tell you that if you wanted to be involved just give her a call, so it seems she guessed that you’d want a hand in organizing the celebration.”
A pleased smile graced Andaya’s face. “I’ll call her once I leave here.” She eyed him carefully. “I know an arranged mating isn’t what you initially pictured for yourself, and I know it might continue to hurt for a very long time that you’ll never know what it is to be bonded to the other half of your soul. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be happy. You just have to be open to it.”
Isaiah felt his brow pinch. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because some elemental part of you may feel guilty for allowing yourself to be happy with anyone other than your predestined mate,” she explained. “And bonding with another can feel much like giving up all hope.”
His frown deepened. “I already did give it up.”
“There’s a difference between being aware that it would be foolish to hope and being able to shake it off all the way. Sometimes, ‘hope’ is a defense mechanism. We hold onto it for our emotional sake.”
“I don’t believe I’m still doing that.”
“Do you still keep tabs on Lucinda?” The question held a pinch of challenge.
“No.” It had been hard to stop—he was so used to monitoring her activities, to watching over her in his way, that ceasing to do so had felt strange.
“Do you still dream of her?”
Isaiah stilled. “How did you …”
“Your father used to dream of his. It stopped when we imprinted. But before that, she’d invade his dreams.”
Isaiah rubbed at his nape, uncomfortable. “It doesn’t happen as often as it used to.”
“They’ll occur less and less as you settle into your mating,” Koen assured him. “Once a bond forms between you and Quinley, they’ll cease altogether. Hand on heart, I don’t regret not having been able to claim my own fated mate. Your mother and I have something very special. I can’t imagine that I would ever have been happier with another woman. It’s a ludicrous thought.”
“That may seem hard to believe, but true mate bonds aren’t the be all and end all, Isaiah,” said his mother. “They certainly don’t guarantee happiness. The only thing they guarantee is that your mate never has an out.”
That was the thing about imprint bonds: they could reverse themselves if the relationship deteriorated, or if either of the couple or their inner animal withdrew from the mating.
“What we’re trying to say is that you haven’t missed out on the chance to have something special,” Andaya continued. “It’s just that you won’t have it with the person you originally thought you would.”
Isaiah liked to think he’d have a mating as solid as that of other imprinted couples around him—not only his parents, but Deke and Bailey, and also Bree and Alex. But … “It’ll be hard when I don’t have my cat’s support. For as long as he holds back from Quinley, it’ll put a strain on our attempt to form a bond.”
Koen nodded, sighing. “Like it won’t be difficult enough to form one with a relative stranger. Imprinting is always harder for shifters entering an arranged mating, because they generally weren’t a couple before then. They’re usually two relative strangers thrust together, like your mother and I were. But if this FindYourMate website is as successful as it claims to be, you have a better chance than most at making it work.”
Isaiah looked from one parent to the other. “It was four months before you felt the stirrings of imprinting, right?”
“Yes, which is fairly good,” said Koen. “But don’t be disheartened if you have to wait longer. I know you, son. You get annoyed if things don’t move at your pace. You can start to believe you’re wasting your time—something you hate to do—and then pour your energy into something else. Imprinting moves at a pace we can’t control or understand.”
Andaya nodded. “Don’t lose hope or positivity if things drag out—that would only slow the process down. Be patient. Focus not on forming an imprint bond but on building a relationship. You can’t have one without the other.”
“I just don’t like that I won’t get a chance to meet him before the celebration,” complained Raya, drumming her nails on the kitchen countertop. “I want to feel sure that you’re mating someone who’ll be good for you.”
Quinley briefly looked away from the dish she was washing. “None of us can be sure of that. Isaiah and I don’t know each other—”
“That’s my point.”
“This is just how arranged matings work. You know that.” Her sister just liked to moan, especially if she felt left out. “I haven’t even been in a room alone with Isaiah. Why should there be an exception for you?”