The Ocean's Call: Part One | ✔

Part Twenty Two

"I was thinking about Harley and my brother. So, Harley is a half-blood, because well I've seen her majority of my life walking on land so yeah. But if she's a half-blood that means she had to go through the rebirth ritual, right?"

"Right." He nods, munching on a handful of fries.

I nod, pulling the foil off the top of my wrap. "And after the ritual she should be able to hear or feel her mate, correct?"

He shakes his head. "Only if her mate is a pure blood or has also gone through the rebirth ritual."

I frown. "How does that work? If you are destined to be with someone, shouldn't you be able to feel that always?"

"That's not how it works, unfortunately. I'm not entirely sure but its merfolk genes. Take you for example, you had no idea I even existed before you drowned."

"Correction, I had no idea you existed until I saw you at the bar. I was in the middle of convincing myself I just had a vivid imagination, a really really good one at that." I take a bit of my wrap.

He laughs. "Okay, I'll give you that but it's the same thing. You need to be a merfolk to have the ability to find your mate."

I frown, recalling what he told me on the beach the other day. "But you said I pulled you to where I was before I even died, which means technically I was human when I did that."

"An anomaly."

I roll my eyes. "Okay fine. Back to Harley, she hasn't got a mate at all?"

He shakes his head. "I don't think so. It's not really something we go around discussing openly with each other. We don't have that kind of relationship."

I nod. "She wouldn't be with my brother if she did have a mate."

"That is true."

I take another bite of my wrap, the food sitting uncomfortably in my stomach. What if Harley does meet her mate while she's dating my brother?

"What would happen if she does feel her mate eventually?"

Austin doesn't look at me right away, he continues watching his fries as he chews. "I've seen it happen, it's not very pleasant."

The uncomfortably feeling stirs around faster in my stomach. I put my wrap down on the napkin and take a small breath to ease my stomach. "What happens?"

He meets my eyes. "If Harley does eventually find her mate it'll be like your brother never existed. She would move on immediately and he'd be left without a real explanation. Like I said, I've seen it happen, it's not very pleasant to witness."

I nod, looking down at my wrap. Food doesn't sound so appealing anymore. I don't know how Harley can date my brother when there is even a remote possibility she'll find her mate. How could she stomach doing that to him?

"There is also the chance that Harley found her mate and rejected him." Austin shrugs, grabbing his burger.

"Rejected him? I thought you said that almost never happens."

He nods. "I did but the key word is almost. It still happens."

"So, say she did that, she can then choose to be with her whoever she wants."

He chews his mouthful nodding. "I've heard rejecting your mate is like losing a piece of yourself, you have to live with that missing piece for the rest of your life."

Losing a piece of yourself? I watch Austin bite his burger, the sauce lingering on the corner of his mouth as he chews watching his fries. If I were to reject Austin as my mate, a guy I barely know, I would be losing a piece of myself. That said piece I'd had to live with not having for the rest of my life.