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I had some things to sort after my run, so I don't make it round to Felicity's until after lunch. I'm glad I didn't come over straight after seeing Altus, I was all riled up and I don't want Felicity seeing me angry like that.

Something is different when I knock on the door. I can't tell what it is. I lift my head and smell the air. Satura has been here, I'd recognise my alpha's scent anywhere.

The door suddenly opens, and I realise what is different.

My mate is no longer human.

Felicity's scent has changed. She smells like me now, like one of my kind. She looks a little different too. She was beautiful before, but her skin has this glow about it now and she looks refreshed. I'm confused as hell.

"Felicity?" Her name falls from my lips.

"Hey, Asper," she says with a smile. "Do you want to come in?"

"Yeah," I respond quickly and step into the house.

She walks through to the kitchen and it's hard not to stare at her ass as her hips sway temptingly. I need to focus and find out what the hell happened in the half a day that I haven't been with her.

"Felicity...you smell different," I tell her when she takes a seat at the kitchen table.

She gives me a funny look. "What? Do I smell bad?" She asks self-consciously and holds a chunk of hair to her nose.

"No! I just mean you smell not-human. You smell like...me."

She grins at me. "I shifted."

If I thought I was confused before, I am completely baffled now. "Pardon?"

"I was feeling really hot this morning and everything ached. Satura came round and told me I was in the middle of shifting. She stayed with me and showed me how to shift."

My mouth drops open in surprise. "You can shift into a wolf?"

"Yes," she says proudly. "Satura thinks that I inherited the genes from my mother, but they have been lying dormant all this time. She thinks meeting you triggered them to be expressed."

Put in that way, it makes perfect sense. It is possible to pass on the werewolf gene to offspring when shifters and humans mate together, but it's so rare that we mate outside our species. Felicity's existence as a hybrid is rare in itself, let alone being raised human and then changing into a shifter when she's in her twenties.

"This is...this is crazy," I struggle to find the words as I sit down on the nearest chair. "You're one of us now, then. You will age slower, heal faster." I look at her with concern. "How do you feel? Are you okay? I can't even imagine what is going on in your head right now."

She giggles and nods at me. "It's was a bit mad this morning, I'll admit. It's still sinking in that it wasn't a dream and it actually happened. I had to take a nap earlier because it wiped me out."

"I remember my first shift, I was exhausted after it," I share with her.

"Would you maybe..." She trails off shyly. "Want to, uh, run together some time?"

I grip the wooden table in front of me, trying to rein in my animal instincts. She has no idea how tempting her offer is. There is nothing I would like more than to shift and go running with my mate.

"I'd love that, but I'm not sure it would be a good idea," I confess to her. "When we're in our wolf form, we're more in touch with our animal sides. Actions tend to be instinctual rather than thought-out. I would probably try and mark you."

Her eyebrows raise up in surprise. "Mark me?"

"Yes, it's how mates show that they're taken. We mark each other and the bite mark is only visible to other shifters. It's sort of like a wedding ring, I guess. It's a sign of commitment."

"Oh, right," she mumbles, looking lost in thought momentarily. "How would that work with Altus as well?"

At the mention of our other mate's name, my mood sours slightly. "We would mark each other, each of us would get two marks, one on each side of our necks."

"Oh." Felicity goes shy all of a sudden and looks down at the grain on the table with interest. "Did you see Altus this morning?"

I imagine my face says it all for her. I nod grimly. "Yeah, I did."

"I take it that it didn't go well?"

"You could say that again. He's in denial about us being mates. I'm sorry that he's being like this, it's my fault."

"Don't blame yourself," she urges me. "Really, he can't keep being mad at you for a choice you made five years ago. If anything, we have more grounds to be mad at him, he's cheating on both of us with that woman."

The mention of Mare makes my mood even worse. I try to keep the scowl off my face for Felicity's sake.

"Let's not talk about them anymore," I suggest. "Why don't we do something for the rest of the afternoon?"

"I want to speak to him," she states. I want to disagree with the idea, but I can tell from the determined look on her face that I won't get very far in my discouragement. "You've spoken to him, now I'd like to try."

"He might be unpleasant to you, Felicity."

"I can handle it; I barely know him."

"But he's your mate," I insist. "I don't want you to be hurt. Please don't take anything he says to heart, it's nothing to do with you, it's me he is angry at."

"I know," she reassures me. "I'll be fine, I just have to hear it from him."

I purse my lips together, still not keen on the idea. I can deal with him being an ass to me, but I'm very protective of Felicity. I don't want him hurting her feelings for something I did.

"Look, how about you come with me? You can wait in the car if you want. Then, we can go out for dinner tonight and forget all about it."

I smile back at her but both of us know that we're not going to 'forget all about it'. The three of us are mates, we're supposed to be together. As happy as Felicity and I might make each other, we will always feel a sense of emptiness with Altus missing from our lives. I can only hope that emptiness becomes too much for him and he caves.

We get into my car, and I drive us over to Altus' house again. Part of me is hoping he won't' be there, but his car is on the drive when I pull up. I tell Felicity that she doesn't have to do this, but she insists on going through with it. I understand her determination, she wants to know her mate. She is drawn to him just as much as I am.

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My palms feel clammy as I walk up to the front door and knock on it. It opens after a minute and the blonde woman stands there. She looks me up and down and gives me a slightly confused smile.

"Hi. Can I help you?" She asks.

In this moment, my mind goes blank. I desperately try to find something to say. Even hello would suffice, but all I can think about is that her name is Mare, and she is the girlfriend of my mate.

"Who is it?"

I hear Altus' voice in the background. He suddenly appears behind Mare and his eyes narrow as he sees me standing on his door step. He is wearing all black clothes that show off his muscular physique. He puts his hand on Mare's back.

"I'll speak to her. Can you give us a minute?" He asks his girlfriend.

Mare looks confused but she nods and steps back inside. Altus moves onto the door mat, making me take a step back and closes the door so that Mare can't eavesdrop. He crosses his thick arms over his chest in a defensive position. He is almost a foot taller than me. He looks me up and down and his eyebrows raise.

"You're no longer human," he comments.

"I shifted," I reply, finally finding my words. "Apparently, I needed to meet my mate to activate my shifter DNA."

At the mention of mates, Altus' jaw clenches. He looks over my shoulder at Asper in the car and then back at me.

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to ask you something," I reply.

He inhales sharply through his nose. "What?" He says bluntly.

I make sure to look him straight in the eye. I study his face for any hint of dishonesty.

"Are you, or are you not, my mate?" I ask him simply.

His entire being tenses uncomfortably. His jaw ticks and he inhales again. I wait for his answer. He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. He closes it again. It appears he doesn't want to be truthful, but he cannot lie to me, either.

"Altus, are you my mate?" I ask him, more firmly this time.

He grinds his teeth together but reluctantly answers, "Yes."

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I will alternate between updating this and The School Nerd, I hope that's okay! ❤️