Tessa’s POV
We settled onto one of the cushioned benches beneath a wide umbrella, plates balanced on our laps, the buzz of the party humming all armind
I hadn’t realised how hungry I was until I took the first bite of roasted chicken wrapped in herbs and citrus flavor blooming across any tongue of almost made my eyes water.
“Oh wow,” I murmured. “I forgot food could taste like this.”
Erin was already halfway through her plate, nodding emphatically with her mouth full. I swear if they fed us like this back at the facility, 14 haze neler questioned the whole mate thing.”
Fiora chuckled, her gold hoop earrings catching the light as she leaned back against the cushions. This is Rico’s way. A little chaos, a little glamour, and a whole lot of grilling. He doesn’t believe in dull meals or quiet gardens.”
“I kind of love that,” I said, glancing around again. There were wolves laughing by the poolside. A few couples danced barefoot in the grass to the Latin best playing over the speakers. Children dashed between tables with juice boxes in hand.
It didn’t feel like a stronghold or a war zone. For a brief moment, it just felt like life. Like a holiday we’d landed ourselves on.
“You’d be surprised how rare it is,” Fiora said, watching me carefully. “To see people like us smiling in a place like this.”
“People like us?” Erin asked, reaching for a drink from a tray that passed nearby.
“Humans,” Fiora clarified softly. “You weren’t raised in a pack, were you?”
I shook my head. “Raised in a facility. It was all… training. Waiting. Hoping you’d be picked by a decent male and wind up at a pack with a familiar face.”
Her face shifted. There was something like anger behind her eyes. “They called mine a ‘transition centre. A lot of girls thought it was the best shot they’d ever have here. But it was just another kind of cage. Funnily enough, I ran from it before Rico found me stumbling on to his territory.”
“You ran?” Erin asked in a gasp, stunned. “On your own?!”
Fiora nodded, her smile touched with steel now. “Yeah. I made it halfway across the country before I got caught stealing from a supply truck. She let out a dry laugh. “Luckily for me, Rico was the one driving it, became fascinated by me.”
Erin blinked. “Seriously?”
Fiora grinned. “Dead serious. He didn’t turn me in or kill me. Said he admired the guts I’d had to leave. Made me sit up front and tell him my story over a
one free to live there.” sandwich. That night he offered me a place in his territory. Not as a mate at first. Just as someone
“But you did become his mate,” I said, tilting my head, curiosity taking over me.
“Eventually,” she said, brushing a crumb off her lap. “But it wasn’t some instant mate–bond fantasy. It was time. Choice. Trust. That’s why I stay. Because he gave me all three.”
I felt something settle in me as she said that- something warm and strange and hopeful. That maybe this world, as twisted as it was, still had spaces for the kind of connection you chose, not just the kind written in your DNA.
“You think they’ll change it all?” I asked, quietly now. “Kane and Rico. You think they can really fix the way things are? The outdated rules of the councils?”
Fiora considered that for a long moment before nodding. “They’re the only ones I’ve met who are brave enough to challenge it. That counts for something.
We sat in silence for a bit after that, letting the food and the music and the breeze do the talking.
Erin broke the quiet eventually, stretching/her legs out. “If we die tomorrow, at least I got to eat a mango with my hands in the sun.
Fiora and I both burst out laughing, and I could feel some of the tension slip off my shoulders before I felt a pair of eyes settle on us from across the lawn.
Lifting my heart, I spotted Rane standing there, with Kian, Rice and Seth erranding him as they laughed and trank from child Mere
But his eyes were on me. Locked with mine.
“My mate…”
The words entered my mind so softly, like a whisper as I gasped.
Had I really heard his voice? Did I think it up on my own?
‘Kane?!‘
I think hard, watching him from across, seeing his brows raise suddenly, his features turning to sheer amusement.
‘It’s finally worked! We can mind–link one another now, my angel!‘
His words rush in to my mind quick, like an invasion of privacy that I had welcomed openly.
How could such a thing be possible?! For a human, this felt like a super power that I had managed to unlock!
‘I can hear all of your thoughts… it’s not a superpower!‘
I hear him laugh in my mind, gasping since I hadn’t actually attempted to send him a message that time.
‘So you can hear literally everything I think of now?!‘
I stare across at him, mesmerised and lost in what was happening, as Erin chatted to Fiora about a topic I had no idea about – too occupied to care.
‘I can, yes.‘
He responds again, as I watch his smirk grow across his face from afar.
It was then that my brows pulled together in confusion, before I responded mentally with a;
‘But why can’t I read all of your thoughts? I can only hear what you send to me?‘
I see him shake his head slightly in response, his teeth appearing to spread in to an amused smile.
‘Because I’m an Alpha, I don’t have a weak mind, my love.‘
He straight up insults, as I gasp, alarming the girls with the sound.
“What’s wrong?!” Erin questions first, as I wave her off with a laugh.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: My Human (Kane and Tessa)