“The first time is always the worst. Your body changes. The pain is what scares you. After that first time, it gets easier.”
Poppy nodded. Her mother had told her the exact same thing. It had been painful, but once she’d turned into her wolf and ran, it had been an exhilarating experience. One she hoped to try again and again.
Greg cooked up some more pancakes. They weren’t great, but she ate them because she didn’t want to be rude.
“So, you transitioned, and you didn’t find your … mate.”
Poppy sipped at her coffee, and she didn’t choke on it. Was this what he was getting at? Her finding her mate?
“Er, why do you ask?”
“A beautiful woman like yourself. Once you find that special someone, it is hard to deny them. Hard to ignore them as well.”
“You never found your mate?” Poppy asked.
“No, I haven’t.”
“I’m sure she’s out there, right? We all have a special someone.” She sipped at her coffee, trying to think of something else to talk about.
The guilt started to build within her.
She had Klaus. Her mate was Klaus.
Some men and women never got the chance to be with their mate, and hers was right there, in the pack, on her eighteenth birthday. This was the stuff of fairy tales, and yet, she hadn’t wanted anyone to know. Still didn’t want anyone to know.
“I … I don’t think everyone has a special someone,” Greg said.
“Oh, they don’t?”
“I have heard of men and women coming together, enjoying a wonderful life with each other. Falling in love. Eventually having kids.”
“Kids?” Poppy asked. She thought about her mother. “How is that possible? My mom said she couldn’t ever have kids because of her mate and … you know.”
“Ah, yes, that is, if a wolf has been mated, then children are only possible between that couple. For couples who are not mated, but love blooms, then it is indeed possible.”
“Oh.” This was news for Poppy.
She was never going to have kids. Klaus was her mate.
“Don’t you think it’s a little risky?” Poppy asked.
“What is?”
“Picking someone who isn’t your mate? What if one of their mates turns up? Then you’ve got a family that could be torn apart, and there is a whole bunch of drama just waiting to unfold, and that can’t be good for anyone, can it?” she asked.
She really didn’t care.
Klaus was her mate.
This was … complicated.
Did she intend to go her whole life without mating to him? She had no idea.
There were moments she wanted to give in and say what the hell. Then other moments when she wanted to tell him to fuck off. To leave her alone. That he’d been a dick to her and she couldn’t stand him.
Her feelings changed so often about him. It was hard to have one distinctive thought.
Before Greg got a chance to answer, her doorbell rang. It was only seven thirty.