Famous Last Words

Paul narrowed his eyes as Damien slapped Dominik upside the head. "Then maybe you should go find a woman with a shifter family. Adaline is my daughter, and while I might not understand everything about your… species, that doesn't mean that I don't love her any less."

I continued to listen to Paul's heartbeat from where I was wrapped safely and securely in his arms. I don't think that I had ever heard him speak so much as he was right now, and it made me really happy.

Here was me thinking that I had to protect him from everything, never once considering the fact that he might feel the same way.

"I can understand where you are coming from," nodded Raphael, holding up his hands in surrender. "It is a bit strange for us, too, our mate coming from a more human type background. How do you suggest we proceed?"

Paul raised an eyebrow and looked at the man. "I expect you to turn around, walk away, and come back when she is 21… no… 25. You know what? Let's make it an even 30."

Lucien let out a low growl, the silver ring around his eyes flashing brightly. "We can do that," he said, the words being forced out of his throat. "But it is going to do nothing but hurt her. Our animals cannot be separated once they have found each other. The best thing that could happen is that we go insane from the distance and eventually kill ourselves. Worst case scenario is that we go rogue, killing everyone around us until we are finally put down."

"Try to realize that we are also the strongest members of our pack. There is no one who could take us out if that happened," added Dominik. His bright silver eyes flashed as he fought for control.

"That's fine. A well-placed bullet would do a good job of putting us all out of our misery," Paul shrugged as if it weren't that big of a deal.

"And you are willing to subject your daughter to the same fate?" asked Damien, cocking his head to the side. "The bond doesn't go just one way. What we feel, she will feel, and vice versa. You are condemning her to a life where she is slowly going to deteriorate and die. Could you live with that?"

Paul looked down at me. "Is that true?"

"I have no idea," I admitted. "I mean, there are some texts that state that, but for a shifter to reject their mate or be forced away from them? It happens maybe once in a thousand years. I am sure that I could come up with something to negate the effects."

Shrugging my shoulders. I might have exaggerated just a little. Nowadays, it seemed like one out of every 20 shifters broke their bond, a cultural phenomenon brought about by the idea that no one controlled them, and that they should choose whoever they spent the rest of their lives with.

It was one of the reasons why I wondered about bunny and wolf pairings. Was it done because they felt the bond? Or was it done because it was the 'cool thing to do'? Honestly, I didn't have much faith in the younger generations to use their upper heads.

I let my brain follow the path my words just created, trying to see just how creating a new drug would work. Was there a way for someone to not feel the effects of the mate bond breaking?

I cocked my head to the side. I know that the reason why more women weren't in the shelters was because they were too scared to lose their mate and suffer continuous, crippling pain until they finally ended up killing themselves.

A rejected bond had a 100% kill rate within a month. A bond breakage due to separation, whether willingly or not, had a 100% kill rate after three years.

But maybe… if I took part of the shifter's scent, matched it with their genetics, and created an almost perfume-like scent out of their ideal mate's scent, I could trick the body into thinking that they were with their mate—even if they weren't.

"You have something going on in your head, don't you?" chuckled Paul. His hand reached up to grab my chin before he brought my face up to meet his. "Is it really that bad? Tell me the truth."

"It's a death sentence," I sigh. "Whether it is a matter of a month or a couple of years, there have been no records of two mates surviving without the bond."

"Okay then. They stay. But there will be no over night visits, no hanky panky, nothing along those lines. I am too young to be a grandfather," smiled Paul, releasing me before turning his attention back to the guys.

"Someone owes me for the damage done."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Raphael held out a hand, and Dominik placed a checkbook in it.

Who the hell wrote checks in this day and age?

------

After everything had been figured out, and Paul agreed to let the four wolves 'woo' me, the guys took off to do whatever it was that they did, and Paul and I officially opened the restaurant.

It was a long day, a crap ton of customers, but not a single wolf under the age of 21 arrived with their posse. There were a lot of wolves, a few humans, and even a couple of different shifters, including the bunny dude from before, but it was nice. And quiet.

"Are you sure? Because the last time I let you do this, you disappeared for a night, only to come back with four soulmates," grumbled Paul as I pushed him out of the back door at the end of the night. This time I had remembered to lock the front door before I did anything else.

"I'll be fine," I replied with a laugh. That was a one-time-only situation, I promise. Most shifters only have a single mate."

"I told you that you were going to burn the world down. Clearly, whatever Goddess the wolves were talking about agrees if she thinks that you need four people for your mates," chuckled Paul, good-naturedly, as he left through the kitchen door.

"Remember to lock the door behind you."

"I will," I replied with a sigh. "This isn't the first time I have done this, you know."

"I know, I just worry."

"Well, don't," I smirked. "Mice are inherently smart."

Paul rolled his eyes, "Famous last words," and I watched him walk down the alley until he was out of sight. 

Turning around to go back into the restaurant, I was hit over the back of the head, my vision turning black as I fell to the ground.