Aviva

Ryan looks conflicted, and I immediately change my mind. At first, I’d been more than willing to lie down on this rickety bed and let him have me just to know what it would feel like to lie with my mate. The legends painted this as something so incredibly life-altering. Finding your mate was supposed to be like having your heart torn out and remade, melded with theirs. In a way, I can feel the “heart torn out” part clearly. I get it because I feel that sensation right now in droves.

“Nevermind,” I manage to say and tear myself away from him. It takes every fiber of my...