Arranged Mate Bond

9.- The talk

Brooke’s POV

“I think I’m gonna puke,” Will muttered. Even a few feet away he was still able to hear Madeline’s question about Aiden and me mating. As if he read my mind, Will moved further away from us so he was out of earshot, but still able to see us.

“I’m sorry. I’m not comfortable talking about that,” I told her honestly. I just met the woman a couple of hours ago. That was nowhere near enough time to feel that comfortable talking to her about my nonexistent intimate moments with Aiden. 

“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just that I didn’t notice anything different in Aiden’s scent and yours doesn’t carry much of his..” she trailed off.

“We’re taking things slow.”

Madeline tucked the reddish brown strands of hair behind her ear as her eyes wandered over the yard in a moment of silence. “I knew Emma,” she suddenly said, her voice so soft I almost didn’t hear her.

“I figured as much. Aiden and Cole have been friends for a very long time. It only makes sense that he would’ve introduced her to you.”

This was the first time someone brought up Emma in front of me and I didn’t quite know how to feel about that. The sorrowful expression on Madeline’s face indicated that they were close.

“Emma was a good friend. It seems like it was just yesterday she came up here, all upset and mopping about Aiden because they had one of their arguments. She was always so stubborn, which got her into trouble with the pack.” Madeline turned to face me. “This was her refuge from it all. She always turned to me when things got complicated. You see, Emma wasn’t used to having an important title in a pack. She was used to doing her thing, without restrictions. And as you know, that attitude doesn’t go well with being a Luna.”

I didn’t expect to find myself genuinely interested in the person Emma was. No one talked about her around me, not even Caleb. So I was used to not knowing anything about the mysterious Emma. Hearing Madeline talk about her changed that for me. I wanted to find out more about her. That way I was able to find out more about Aiden too, since he was so closed off.

“She sounds very adventurous,” I commented.

“She was. What I’m actually trying to say is, I know how Emma and Aiden were together. How much they cared for each other, even when she ran off to us,” Madeline grinned at the memory.

I didn’t like the unsettling feeling starting to form in my stomach. Michael was my past and Emma was Aiden’s. I knew that before I was thrown into this situation, so that wasn’t what bothered me. What bothered me however was where Madeline was headed with her story.

“They were mates after all. It would’ve been very unusual if they didn’t care for each other,” I told Madeline, trying to wrap her story up.

“You know, their unconditional love always reminded me of the love I have for Cole. The kind of unique love that only ignites when two mates find each other. So I was a bit surprised when I heard Aiden found someone to share that bond with after she died. A bond that’s only supposed to come around once in a lifetime.”

I thought I was feeling uncomfortable before, well that was nothing compared to how I was feeling at that moment. I knew there was a big chance that someone would look through all the nonsense we were feeding shifters and realize this was all fake.

As much as I wanted to respond to Madeline, I didn’t know how. I thought Aiden and I made a pretty good impression on them, but maybe I was wrong. My temperature started to rise and my heart was beating faster than it was supposed to. Madeline wasn’t done talking and I wondered if I should have been relieved or worried about that.