Bond Mates Read online

  As we walked in I looked around, taking in the luxury that they surrounded themselves with. The place was bright and spotlessly clean, glass and cream marble everywhere. We’d only been here once before, when I was let out of hospital and they were trying to convince us to stay in England and go to ‘university’ here instead of going home to the states - didn’t work though. We’d left for home almost as soon as I was cleared to fly.

  The receptionist smiled warmly as we walked in, this was the same girl that worked here five years ago and obviously still recognised us as she called though on her phone before we’d even got to her desk.

  “Hi,” she chirped. Her eyes drifted down to my protruding tummy and a grin spread across her face as she clapped her hands excitedly. “Oh, it’s true! I’d heard rumours but....” She sighed contently and held out a hand towards my stomach. “May I?”

  I nodded. I was used to all of the attention that the baby attracted. The people that knew about our exploits, not very many of them admittedly. but the ones that did know were already excited for her to be born. The prophesy mentions our ‘offspring’ specifically and them also being able to gift their bond mate with abilities. So naturally people were very excited for that. Some people, i.e. the council members that regularly flew to the states to meet with Sean, were looking at my stomach like it was some kind of second coming. It was a little scary the regard that Charles held my unborn daughter in. He was hopeful that she would grow up and bond with someone within his lifetime so that he could see the effects that she gifted before he died. Apparently that was his ‘new life goal’, not much of a life goal that one - well, in my opinion anyway. But to him, seeing the prophesy complete and pass onto a second generation was the most important thing in the world.

  The receptionist made a little strangled noise as she traced her hands over my swollen belly, tears filling her eyes as she beamed happily. “It’s so exciting. When’s she due? It is a girl, right? I’ve heard it’s a girl,” she gushed.

  “End of November,” I replied as Sean’s arm slipped around my shoulders and he rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion when she wasn’t looking. I stifled a laugh and elbowed him in the ribs. To be honest I would much rather be standing here talking about babies with her, than I would be sitting in some boardroom while the council and Sean made plans.

  The only thing I was interested in today was the system that Sean was trying to instigate worldwide.

  I called it the ‘dating site’, but that wasn’t exactly what it was like. Sean had been working with techno geeks back home in the states, trying to think of a way to ensure more people met their bond mate. At the moment they could be anywhere across the world, and would probably never meet their intended mate.

  What Sean had been working on was genius and was all to do with the analysis of a shifter mark.

  What he’d proposed was that certain points of each shifters marks would be loaded up into the

  ‘dating site’ and possible matches thrown out. At the moment they were trialling it in our hometown and the neighbouring towns. It worked great and had already helped ten couples find their mates, but with the council’s permission, Sean wanted to go global. He wanted to upload the shifter records in there, the analysis that every shifter has done at the age of sixteen, and do worldwide searches to see what would happen. If they approved the project today then it would take years to get all of the information input. Millions of dollars would need to be spent on the technology needed to compute that much data, but it would result in lots and lots of shifters finding their mates.

  Sean was armed with all of the facts and figures from his research that he’d been doing with the help of a couple of people that Roland had put him on to - he was to present his idea to the board again today. They hadn’t seemed to hold the idea in very high regard last time he suggested it, but with the evidence shoved in their faces hopefully today would change their minds. The council believed it to be impossible, but Sean had already proved that untrue by the trials. I had high hopes they’d go for it today but Sean refused to let me try and see how it went - he said for once he wanted a surprise.

  The elevator doors dinged and we all looked to the end of the hallway to see Roland stepping out, smiling broadly. He strutted over, pulled me into a hug and laughed. “You swallowed a football since I last saw you?” he joked, pulling back and winking at me.

  I laughed and nodded, rubbing my hand on the side of my stomach. “Feels like it sometimes,” I replied. “How are you?”

  He nodded happily. “Good thanks, Tyler.” He turned and shook Sean’s hand warmly. “Good to see you again, Sean. Flight good or did they serve the chicken again?” he asked, shuddering. Roland was a frequent visitor in our house; he probably came over every couple of months. He was the only one that knew what Sean would be pitching to the council board today.

  “It wasn’t bad. The bathrooms took some manoeuvring this time,” Sean answered, shrugging. I giggled as I thought about what he meant - us renewing our membership to the mile high club. It had definitely taken some manoeuvring this time because of my belly.

  Roland completely missed the none too subtle innuendo though. “Yeah, I hate those things,” he agreed, turning his nose up distastefully. I chewed on my lip to stifle my laugh and Sean smiled at the old man wickedly. “So anyway, are you all set for the meeting? Got everything you need?”

  Sean nodded, holding up his laptop bag and the folder with everything in it that he needed to try and convince the council to spend millions of dollars on his idea. “Yep, and I have Oliver on standby to call if they want more in-depth geek knowledge on the site.”

  “He hates being called a geek,” I interjected rolling my eyes playfully.

  Sean grinned. “And like I tell him all the time, if he hates being called a geek then he should have gone into another profession rather than techno-wizardry,” Sean countered playfully.

  Roland laughed and nodded to the elevator behind him. “Let’s get this show in the road then. I expect you two want to get some rest. Those overnight flights are a killer, especially the jet lag. I have no idea how you’re going to cope with it whilst pregnant, Tyler,” he said, smiling sympathetically at me.

  I groaned and nodded. Right now it was ten in the morning in the UK, but that meant it was around five back in the states. I really should still be snuggled in bed right now, not standing here about to go into a boring meeting with a load of old people. I actually liked the night flight though, I got to sleep a lot of the way at least.

  ~ # ~

  The following afternoon we were driving the back streets of Knebworth, trying to remember exactly where Ryce and Adelaine’s house was. We were kind of lost, but in typical guy fashion, Sean refused to stop and ask for directions. Finally, after half an hour of driving in circles around the tiny little villiage, we finally found their street and pulled up outside their house.

  I grinned excitedly. I’d been here twice before, once when they got married, and the second time was when Vinnie, their eldest boy, was born five years ago. I hadn’t seen him since he was just a babe in arms though, and I’d never personally met their youngest son, Jacob, who was four years old now.

  Just as I was climbing out of the car, their front door flew open and three blond heads came bursting out - one big one and two little ones. Adelaine grinned from the door as Ryce ran over and scooped me into a hug.

  “Hey, Tiger!” he chirped excitedly.

  I hugged him back tightly, closing my eyes, enjoying his smell. I hadn’t seen him since he came to the states almost a year ago. “Hey, Ryce,” I sang. I chewed on my lip as I pulled back and looked at the two little boys. Tears prickled in my eyes because I was seeing them in person instead of through a computer screen. “Look at you two! You’re so much bigger than you look on the screen,”

  I joked, bending and hugging them both at the same time.

  Vinnie laughed and pulled back first. “Did you bring me a present from America?”


  I grinned and nodded. I felt like I knew them both so well, we skyped at least once a month, and although I didn’t get to physically see them they were still like close family to me.

  “Of course I did. Wouldn’t be a good aunt if I didn’t get you a present, would I?” I scoffed. I pointed to Sean. “Tell him he needs to get them from the trunk.”

  Vinnie frowned. “What’s a trunk?”

  Ryce laughed and patted his eldest son on the head. “Trunk is the boot, kiddo,” he explained. Vinnie nodded with understanding and ran off towards Sean, and Ryce shook his head, pretending to be disappointed. “With an English mother and English schools it’s teaching them all the wrong stuff.

  Do you know that my kids are gonna spell realise with a freaking S instead of a Z? It’s shocking!”

  he scoffed.

  Adelaine slapped the back of his head jokingly. “You’re shocking.”

  Ryce grinned sheepishly and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to his side as he kissed her softly. Vinnie made an eww sound as he looked at their PDA and then turned away, ripping off the paper of his gift we’d bought him.

  I jumped when I felt a little hand on my tummy. I grinned down at Jacob who was staring at my belly with obvious fascination. “You have a baby in there, Mummy tolded me so.”

  I nodded, putting my hand on top of his as the baby suddenly went a little crazy, kicking and shifting around in my stomach. “You feel that? That’s her swimming around in there,” I told him, watching as his eyes went wide.

  He nodded. “It swims like me. I don’t swims good yet but Daddy’s teaching me.”

  I smiled down at him before I was pulled into a hug by Adelaine, and then the excited catch up chatter started.

  Two hours later and we were all chilling in their back yard - which they called a garden. We’d been stuffing ourselves with burgers and chicken from the grill all afternoon. Jacob had barely left my side the whole time. He was totally fascinated by my tummy and was currently sorting out his cars into two piles, one for him, and the other was for the baby - which he’d recently nicknamed ‘Frog’

  because every time he touched my belly she would suddenly ‘swim like crackers’ that was his exact words.

  “So they went for it though? That’s so great. It’ll be a lot of work though for you Sean. Are you gonna have to give up your job at the hospital?” Ryce asked, biting into his fourth burger.

  We’d just gotten done with telling Ryce and Adelaine about how the meeting had gone with the council, and that they’d approved the funding for Sean’s project. They’d been extremely impressed with the test results so far, and the projected statistics. Everyone was excited to see where it went. If Sean could really pull this off them it could potentially roll out across the world within five years.

  “Yeah, I think I’ll have to quit my job for a few years. Hopefully I’ll get back into medicine eventually though,” Sean answered.

  “You will,” I said knowingly. I’d had many a vision of Sean as a doctor; he’d get back into his chosen profession eventually for sure. Sean grinned and raised my hand to his lips, kissing my knuckles softly. At exactly the same time, Jacob went to take a sip of his drink and spilt a whole glass of milk down his shirt. Adelaine jumped up quickly and gasped.

  “Oops, sorry Mummy,” he apologised.

  She smiled and shook her head. “No worries. Let’s get it off and I’ll get you a new one,” she replied, helping him tug it off over his head. “You have all this washing to look forward to, Tyler, when you have the baby. It’s endless,” she joked, winking at me before walking off to the house to get him a fresh shirt.

  I smiled down at Jacob’s cute little face as his blue eyes sparkled sheepishly. My eyes drifted down and I felt my whole body stiffen as they settled on his mark. My wide eyes raked over the rose with the chains that looped around it and entwined at the bottom. I’d seen that mark before….

  I flicked my eyes to Sean, he was still chatting to Ryce about the project. “Er, Sean, did you see this?” I interrupted, squeezing his hand as Jacob carried on sorting out his cars for the Frog-baby.

  Sean looked at me curiously. I chewed on my lip as I nodded at the little blond four year old that was sitting close to my side on the bench, driving a car over my belly while the baby kicked and swished in my stomach.

  I knew the exact second that he realised what I was talking about, because his hand squeezed mine tightly and he gasped, jerking in his seat.

  ‘What the hell? Seriously? That’s not the same, is it?’ he asked straight into my head.

  I laughed and nodded in confirmation. It was exactly the same. Ryce’s son’s mark had the exact same centre as our little girl’s one that I’d seen in my vision on numerous occasions. The little boy who told me an hour ago “your belly makes me feel happy” was my unborn baby girl’s bond mate.

  Sean groaned. “Ryce, you need to keep your son away from my daughter until she’s at least eighteen,” he practically growled.

  Ryce frowned, confusion clear on his face. He obviously wasn’t privy to my visions. “Huh?”

  I nodded at Jacob. “My little girl has the female version of that mark,” I explained, grinning.

  He gasped and looked at my belly. “No kidding?” I nodded in confirmation and he laughed, slapping Sean on the shoulder playfully. “At least you know he comes from good genes,” he joked, winking at me teasingly. He leant forward in his chair, grinning as he rubbed my stomach. “Hey there, little girl, I’m your future father-in-law.”

  Sean groaned again, shaking his head. “Christ, at least let her be born before we start mapping out her future!” he whined.

  I laughed knowingly. “Her future’s already mapped out…. and there he is,” I stated, pointing at Jacob as he bent forward and kissed my belly softly.

  THE END