The Alpha's Melded Mate

The One With the Barrier

I went straight to Abbi's instead of going home. I certainly couldn't talk to my mom about this, she had likely met her quota of Dad talk for the day. There was no way I could tell her that the Alpha's son was my mate. I rang the bell, shifting from foot to foot while I waited for someone to answer the door. 

I sighed when Abbi was the one to open the door. "Thank the Goddess. I really need to talk to you." 

"Do you want to come in?"

"Take a walk?" I wasn't really sure this was something that I wanted to talk about inside where wolf ears might be able to hear what was going on. Since Abbi was my only friend, it was inevitable that our mothers talked to one another. Constantly. 

"Let me grab my shoes." Abbi ducked back inside and I set the blanket down on the front porch, clutching the book tightly. 

Everything raced through my mind. Neal, mates, the endless possibilities for my powers. The thoughts were nearly a mile a minute. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath trying to slow it all down. There was no way I was going to be able to form a coherent sentence if everything was this jumbled in my head. 

The door opened again and Abbi stepped out. "Let's go!" 

We went behind the house into the trees to walk around in order to keep away from any pack members so we could talk freely. 

"So what's up, Cyn?" Abbi asked once we were far enough away. 

My knuckles started to turn white as I clutched the book tighter. 

"Neal is my mate."

Abbi stopped in her tracks. "Wait, what? For real?" 

"For real. Abbi, he found me when I was out trying to practice. Apparently I gave off some massive magical signature, so he came out to see what it was since I was close to the pack line. I think he was making sure that there wasn't an invader or something, I don't know. The point is, he was there and I sort of tried out one of the abilities."

"What ability?" Abbi started to walk again and I followed after. 

"So, you know how I can feel emotions, and if I let everything down enough then I can just hear the thought vomit from everyone, right?"

Abbi nodded along. 

"Well, Neal is the only other person besides you that I've found who is able to keep everything blocked off. I don't know if it's some sort of Alpha training they do since they used to have a mentalist, or if it's just a trait that the Alpha bloodline possesses or what, but he kept it in. One of the powers that my dad had was the ability to reach into people's minds and actually hear thoughts on purpose. More than just all the thought vomit that I normally get."

"So, basically he was a mind reader, but a purposeful one." Abbi picked up a long stick, breaking off small pieces as we walked. 

"He was so much more than that, but yes. He could basically read minds. So I was curious and I tried it. It was like this whole extension of me. I don't really know how to explain it. I couldn't get a good read on him though, I only got bits and pieces of thoughts, but one of those thoughts was 'mate.'"

I could feel Abbi's surprise like a shock to my system. 

"So he felt it too. You two are actually mates?" 

"It would appear so."

"What are you going to do?" Abbi stopped again. She had none of her normal sass or quips. It was quite unlike her. 

"Honestly, I have no idea. I don't really see any version of this working out between the two of us though. I mean he's going to be the Alpha and I'm just a mistake that should have never happened."