Bonds of Another Kind Part Two

Chapter 2

Toby

11:38 PM (22 minutes left of being 16)

He could have just mind linked with her, but what fun would that be? He pulled a little trick from her favorite movie, Jurassic Park. Brady lent him a flashlight just for this.

She was staying with the old Alpha, Darrin, and his wife, Rose.

Conveniently… right next door to Brady’s house—the old Beta. Brady was cool with this, so it wasn’t a secret with him, but no one else knew.

Toby covered the edge of the flashlight with his hand until he pointed it right into the room Ayanne was living in. Rhythmically, he uncovered and covered it. If either of them knew morse code, it would make this better.

But his brother made some asshole comments about it when he brought the book home, and he never picked it up again.

Whatever. None of it mattered. When she slid her window open and hopped onto the small landing outside her bedroom, all thoughts were forgotten.

They were both turning 17 in a matter of minutes. He would never forget that first feeling he had when she plopped down beside him in the library on her first day at school and inserted herself into his life.

He was so grateful when she did it. He probably would have never worked up the courage to actually talk to her. Girls were never his thing. Books? Helping out his mom? Serial killer shows? Easy. The opposite s*x? Not so much.

Whether or not Toby was actually noticed before, what with his brother getting all the attention at school, he had never cared about until Ayanne forced her way into his eyeline. Not a day has passed they haven’t spoken. Whether it was a few texts here and there, a full phone conversation, or actually seeing one another.

Since her mom let her come to school at Diamond Sky, there wasn’t a day that went by they weren’t basically attached at the hip.

Two years. A long and amazing friendship had deepened this connection over the course of two years and, no doubt, they would be more than that starting at midnight.

Brandon may have pissed Zuri off enough that she wanted nothing to do with him, but Toby saw Ayanne for what she was, the missing piece in his life, and refused to let her go.

They were patient. For two long years, he waited to actually kiss this girl. There were no actual rules or parameters set between them, they just seemed to go with it. She was a tease for most of it, but it wouldn’t matter. She would be his in 20 damn minutes. After she finished shimmying down the side of the house like she was trying to do the macarena.

“You good, Ayanne?” The view wasn’t exactly disappointing, anyway.

She finally dropped to the ground and Toby snorted when he took in her outfit. “That’s what you decided to wear for this one, defining moment in our life?”

It wasn’t bad… but…

“You have something against Katy Perry, T? She happens to be one of my favorites.”

It was a pink Katy Perry shirt from that album where she was on a cloud. He didn’t know the name, but his mom was a fan. “Nope. My mom loves her. Sings her songs in the car on her way to work.” She proudly wore that shirt along with a pair of his sweatpants she had stolen and rolled up at the waist and flip flops. He already knew what she had on underneath. That red one-piece with the slits on the sides.

Ayanne rolled her eyes. “You mean your mom used to.”

“Yeah.” He took her hand and headed down the street. They made a pact for this. Wait to shift until after it happened. After everything changed.

After that mate bond pulled them together.

And so, since Brady wasn’t using it, he lent Toby his old truck to use.

Toby walked her around the corner where he had it parked and ready to go without waking Ayanne’s hosts when the engine backfired. It was an old Ford Ranger that Brady said was his first real purchase after getting married, which was why he kept it. Toby worked on the truck with him until it was drivable.

Opening the door, he helped her inside and shut the door and lightly jogged around the front to get in on his side. “Ready?”

“No, maybe we should just forget the whole thing and ignore one another the rest of our lives,” she said dryly. “I don’t like you that much, anyway.”

“Sarcasm isn’t your best look, babe, let’s leave that to the ones that can pull it off.” He started the engine and shifted gears, pulling onto the street. The drive would be maybe ten minutes if he hurried his ass up.

Ayanne snorted and turned on the radio. “Two years, Toby. I’d say we have the patience of saints or something.”

Maybe, but he knew people with more patience. He lived with the king of patience—Brady. But it was the longest two years of his life, no doubt. Going only as far as the hand holding, he felt like even that was scandalous at times. And she thought it was a damn joke at times. Laughing and giggling at everything. “You nervous?”

“Nope.” He didn’t buy it. She was just as nervous, but that’s how she was. Always covering up her anxiety with bravado. That’s okay. He liked her all the more.

Loved, actually. Sure, teenage love or whatever, but this was real and it was forever.

Originally, Ayanne was supposed to live with Brady, and Toby back with Cal and Kai, but Rose had commented that she never got to have a girl in the home, and so they ended up where they were.

No skin off his back, he liked knowing she slept twenty feet from him in the house next door.

He also liked…

That they had dinner together often.

That they could go to and from school together daily.

That he knew her whereabouts at all times.

Fine, yes. Stalker vibes. Control freak. Possessive Alpha-type? Fine, but it was in his blood, so he had every biological right to act that way. But call him whatever. She was his best friend—other than Brandon—and he’d do anything to make sure she was safe and happy.

And in 18 minutes, she’ll be his mate.

Mac Miller’s My Favorite Part played on the radio while Ayanne hummed along to the tune.

When they finally pulled up to the old cave in the center of the territory, he glanced around to make sure no one was awake or happened to be going for a midnight stroll for whatever reason.

“I think we’re clear.”

There were a few houses behind the cave—the Alphas’, the Beta, and the rest of their crew. Family, really. A family he was happy to be part of, really, even with all of their flaws. They weren’t that much older, anyway, so they were more like friends.

He opened his door and pulled Ayanne across the cab to his side and out his door.

The cave…

The other thing they waited for, knowing it would have answered this question they already knew the answer to. If they saw water on the inside, they were mates. If not, well, it wouldn’t turn out that way. They were born on the same day. Their siblings had the same birthday, and were absolutely mates. They just hadn’t seen each other since Ayanne’s sister took off and never looked back.

But none of it mattered. This wasn’t about Brandon and Zuri. Not right now.

“Ready?” he asked her while linking their fingers together. She was a bit shorter, but he had the insanely tall genes. She was by no means short, but Ayanne didn’t come from a family of short women and tall men. She was close to six feet, where he was at his uncle’s clear seven.

Her cheeks rose, and her smile lit up her face. She had dimples in her cheeks. “Yeah.”

He let out a chuckle and they took off running toward the mouth of the cave.

There were two minutes left.

Once inside, he lit the flashlight back up to light their path. They didn’t really need it, but it helped.

One more minute.

“Hey, Toby? I know we’ve waited, but I just wanted to say that I lov—”

“Shh,” he grinned while holding a finger to those lips. She wouldn’t take it from him. He was saying it first. In mere seconds, he’d say what he planned to tell her and they’d take a dive into that water, and everything would change.

But she wasn’t going to take the first step. He would. He’d stand in front for her, test the waters so she didn’t have to.

“Just wait.”

They continued walking until they hit a dead end. “Do you think we missed a turn?” she asked.

He pursed his lips and checked around for any missed turns, but didn’t see anything.

“Hey, what time is it?”

Toby glanced at his phone.

12:01.

Toby frowned and looked up at her. He didn’t feel anything new. No monumental “MATE!” call from within everyone talks about. No pull to be with her—well, not more than he already had for the last two years.

“Check your phone, mine might be wrong.”

She pulled out her phone and he saw the same lock screen on hers that he had. A selfie with the two of them in one of those social media filters with hearts on the edges.

“Toby…?” she looked up with worried eyes. They were starting to wet with tears. “Toby, I don’t…”

“There must be some mistake.” There was an explanation for this. Wasn’t the time change in August? Fall-backward or something? Maybe they needed to wait an hour.

***

They exited the cave at sunrise. School was in an hour.

He stopped checking the time after one AM.

If he kept looking at his phone, at their happy faces, he was going to throw his phone across the cave. Something had to be wrong. Why else would there be this whole…

Just… what? What was happening?

Ayanne hadn’t spoken since she checked her phone that one time. Entirely closed off.

Toby’s fists clenched at his sides when the morning sun hit them from between the trees. Next to Brady’s old truck, Brady, Callum, James, Carter, and Zack all stood by with wide smiles as they leaned against the Ranger with arms crossed.

“So?” Zack wiggled his eyebrows at them. Toby always had to refrain from hitting Zack in the face, knowing he was Ayanne’s first kiss.

Guess they all knew what the plan was all along.

Behind him, Ayanne shifted and took off toward the road back toward Darrin and Rose’s house without so much as a goodbye.

Toby watched over her form as she disappeared from view.

“Lover’s spat so soon?” Zack joked, patting him on the back. “The hell happened?”

Toby met Brady’s eyes and then Cal’s. “We’re…” this was hard, and he fought against that lump in his throat. “We’re not.” That’s all he could say.

Despite all the odds, all the signs, they weren’t mates.