india.arie, the truth.

Re-entering the house all that could be heard is loud laughter. Amanda followed the voices back to her mate as Raheem lead me upstairs. We took the left staircase and turned left into the area of their rooms. There were several doors, way more than I had anticipated.

"Are there this many doors on the other side?" I looked behind me as if I could see into the other passageway.

He let out a light chuckle as his thumb continues to stroke the back of my hand, "Yeah, it's pretty identical honestly. We don't use that side though so it's usually empty besides the guest rooms."

I nod my head, "Where are we going?"

"To the rooms, you can pick whichever one you want for the duration of our stay."

My eyebrows almost blend with my baby hairs they shot up so high, "Really? I assumed..." I let the sentence die on my tongue not sure if I want to say it.

He shakes his head lightly, "Nah, you let me stay in a guest room. I owe you the same curtesy... Or you can... uhm... choose."

As cruel as it may sound, the bond... no, not even the bond. My emotions and emotional attachment to this man has grown so much since my other mateship ceased to exist. This must be what he felt all this time, with his first mate gone too.

Everything is so real, raw and unhindered.

I feel him in every space between my bones and in every piece of my being. I'm completely and utterly consumed by him, in him.

It's incredible.

I hate that I was denied all of this until now.

"I have a question," I begin before my tone takes a slight dip before I continue, "That will help me with my decision." I murmur as I glance up at him.

He nods lightly though his face shows his curiosity, as he encourages me to ask my question. I twist my lips to the side as I prepare myself, hoping he'll understand my feelings.

"Is... is this how you've always felt about me? Heck, around me?" It's vague but I think he understands as his eyes begin to brighten, "I mean... your emotions, your body, has it always reacted to me like this?" I gesture to myself and he chuckles.

"It is, it's nothing like what I felt the first time... I feel this," he gestures between the two of us, "I feel it in the marrow of my bones."

A light I'm-trying-not-to-cry laugh escapes my lips as words get caught in my throat. My eyes presumably shinning with unshed tears, goddess, it's finally me.

I'm the happy girl at the end of a whirlwind fairytale, I'm the girl that gets chosen over and over again, I'm the girl that gets the guy.

I'm the girl that gets to be happy with someone else.

With that thought the tears begin to cascade and I bury myself in his arms, my face right below the beat of his heart. My tears soak his shirt as he says nothing but right as I take my breath I hear him take the exact same one — he's crying too.

I want to pull away and wipe his tears even though I have my own but he's grip on me is solid. His cheek probably patterned with the strands of my braids.

I don't know how long we stand like this but I don't care. Eventually our tears dry but we stay rooted, cocooned within each other.

He finally lifts his head then I lift mine, his hands move to my cheeks and he gives me that knee crushing smile he gave me that very first day I met him.

"I love you." He whispers, "I love you," a little louder, "I love you," kiss, "I love you," kiss on the month, kiss on my forehead.

Lips moving against my forehead, "I love you so fucking much."

"Are you trying to make me cry again?" I chuckle, "Goodness gracious, just as I thought I could not get any happier this evening."

My eyes lift up as my neck cranes, "I love you, so fucking much." My hands move to his neck and I bring him down for a kiss.

I pull away just as tears begin to pool again, "I can't believe the tango foxtrot we had to do to get here."

As if on cue his booming laugh ricochets in the passage. He sobers up before his thumb caresses my cheek, "Yeah, but it brought us together, didn't it? We've been connected since before we even met."

He's right, everything that happened brought us to one another, without the first mates that we both had our meeting would've never happened. Before reading that newspaper headline I never would've thought about leaving the country, sure a girl dreams of travelling but it wouldn't have lead to my meeting Khalil.

Even if he wasn't the one who introduced us, I would've never gone skydiving without that heartbreak. Our paths would've drawn close but I'm not so sure if they would've passed.

Our fate was just so tangled but now it all makes sense, it all falls perfectly into place. Making quite the story and I wouldn't have had it any other way, as painful as the deaths were.

"Or maybe you just willed me into your life." I say after a while, we've started to walk towards the stairs now.

"How so?"

I shrug, "Samira. Had she never been captured we wouldn't be here. At all. So, perhaps your unexpected loss and grief for her willed another mateship into play." Another shrug.

He ponders the thought for a moment, even pausing on a step, "Siya?"

Goddess, there were a lot of deaths.

My mouth twists to one side, "Ah," I had forgotten about him, "Maybe it started with hi —"

"Blah blah, you've had more than enough alone time. Come be social you two!" Amanda yells.

I chuckle as I squeeze his hand bringing his attention to my eyes, I love you I mouth up to him. I love you too he mouths back.

—

who likes a good 🤔 well, it's not really a conspiracy so — who likes a good theory? clearly, Lerato does. 😂

Do you??

three chapters left!!! can you believe it!?