Consequences.

Beau.

"What happens if you have sex with your mate before the mating ritual?" I ask Rex out of the blue. He is lying on his side with a book pressed to his nose on the floor of my room, this is how we usually spend our evenings. He looks up from the book with raised brows.

He doesn't express shock at my question. Rex is not nosy; he doesn't ask too many questions. "You can't," he says matter-of-fact.

I frown "What do you mean? It's just sex."

He nods "But the mating ritual joins you and your mate. Having sex before will sever the ties that bound you together. You have to wait,'' at this point he is warning me. He already knows that we are talking about me.

"That can't be right," I don't want to believe that I almost ruined my chance with him. He sits up on the bed "I studied the mating ritual. I even have a book written by our forefathers. I could go get it for you," he suggests, standing up from the floor.

"Wait," I stop him. I don't want to read this off a book.

He seems to know more about this "What happens if the ties are severed?" I ask curiously because i want to know the consequences of what i almost did.

"There's a ritual to plead with the Deities. It happens every 2 years. You and your mate will have to be locked up for 6 months prior. Starved off food and survival necessities. It is a whole thing, best to be avoided." he explains with a blank expression plastered to his face.

"How come I didn't know all this?"

He shrugs "We learnt this when we turned 16." he attacks. I don't remember anyone telling me THAT in particular.

"I have been having random sex with random girls. Couldn't that have ruined my chances. No one stopped me," I emphasize because this is not fair. Why do I have to wait for two months before I can become one with him. I need Lanis and I need him now.

"Dude, you would've known if one of those girls was THE ONE," he rolls his eyes. He is being snarky which is a rare thing with him, he must be having fun with all this.

"I almost fucked him," I cry in desperation at the situation. These things need to be explained clearly. I didn't know the repercussions would be as bad as he is saying. I almost threw all caution to the wind for a moment with Lanis.

"Dude, as long as you didn't, you're fine," he tries to rationalize with me but I am not happy. This makes no sense. Why do I have to hold off on being intimate with him. That's all I can think about.

It's not fair.

My room door opens and father walks in, without even knocking. Rex stands up to his feet cowering by my side. I can feel the fear; he is scared. A strong alpha like my father intimidates him, hell father intimidates everyone. "Father" I stay seated on the bed.

"Excuse us," he orders Rex glaringly.

Rex runs out of the room, leaving his books on the floor. You should get a clearer picture of how scared Rex is of father. His books are his prized possession. He never leaves without them.

"Who is this girl?" he goes straight to the point.

"There is no girl"

He frowns "Stop messing around Beau. Alby is never wrong." he is getting inpatient with me.

"I am being serious. There is NO girl" I am telling him the truth but as usual he thinks I am trying to be stubborn.

"What does that mean?" he moves closer to me. On reflex I take a step back. I don't want a hit from him right now. When he gets angry, I never know what he'd do to me.

"It's not a girl," I look away from him terrified to see his expression. I am expecting disappointment. I don't want that memory etched to my mind forever.

"I still don't understand what you mean. Say it to me clearly before I lose my temper," he warns agitated already.

I sigh "I didn't mate with a girl. It's a guy," you see. The sooner I get him to accept this. The better. But I have to tread carefully. One step at a time. We start with the gender and see how he reacts and then we move up to scary part.

"Is that possible?" he is confused but not the reaction I was expecting. I was going for anger or hurt. Confusion I can handle.

"Alby said it is. He seems excited about it."

"Have you ever been attracted to a male?"

I shake my head "Never"

"Could this be a mistake?"

I shake my head again "I confirmed it today." I remember my date with Lanis. A smile comes up to my face but I wipe it out knowing this is not the right time.

"I need to speak to Alby." he walks out of the room not even waiting for a reply. I release my breath and it almost feels like a weight has been lifted off my chest. This is just the tiny part; I haven't told him the most important information.

I just want to see how he'd react to this one first. Hopefully Alby doesn't let him know everything.

***********

Isabelle walks into my room a couple of minutes after father and she frowns at me. Guess she is upset "What's wrong?"

She sits on the chair at the far end of my room. My room is not so big but it is spacious enough to have a kind sized bed, a couch, a work table and chair. I walk over to her "You upset?" I am being captain obvious right now. I wish she'd talk to me.

"Come on Bells" I urge her.

She folds her arms across her chest. She is not budging. I go on my knees and look up at her "Tell me what's wrong."

She sighs still frowning "Why didn't you tell me you found your mate?" Okay. There we go. How did she find out? No one knows about it. I know there is talk around the community but nothing is sure yet.

"Who told you?"

She stands up and pushes me but I regain my steps and grab unto her wrist. She forces my grip away "That's what's important?" she is fuming now.

Shaking my head "No, I just don't want people spreading the wrong thing. You are important" I tell her honestly because she is important.

"Is it true?" she asks.

I take a deep breath because I am scared to be honest. It is getting too real. I don't know if I am ready for it all to be out in the open "Yes," I manage.

Her eyes well up at the brink of tears. "Shit, don't cry. Please. You know I can't stand you in tears," she ignores my pleads and the tears fall off her face. Why is she crying?

"No baby. Stop," I wipe the tears off her face and wrap her in my arms. "I am sorry I didn't tell you, it's very complicated. I didn't know how to explain it. I am sorry," I apologize.

She pulls away "What's complicated about it. It's a good thing. You finally found her."

See. No one can even imagine it.

"Will you stop crying?" I ask her before I divulge the whole truth to her. Bells isn't ready for this truth but the longer I keep it from her, the angrier she will be.

"Yes," she nods and sniffs.

"Come on," I lead her to the bed. Once we are seated "This isn't normal. I freaked out when I found out. I am still trying to wrap my head around the situation."

"What situation? Is she human or an alpha?"

I shake my head "Promise you won't freak out."

She nods.

I switch to a mind link because I don't want to say it out loud.

Lanis is my mate.

Her eyes open wide. The shocked expression on her face was predicted beforehand. I knew this was going to be her reaction. It was expected but unlike Rex she continues our conversation in her mind.

How is this possible?

I shrug because I still don't have the answer to that question. I only know that he is mine but I don't know how. At this point I don't care. All I care about is being with him. I can't wait to become one with him.

Does he know?

Bells asks.

Yes, he does.

She sighs out loud.

Does he feel the same? What was his reaction? Oh shit, no wonder he asked about you at school.

She has so many questions that it is making my head hurt. "Calm down baby. One at a time," I say out loud because I have lost all train of thought. She manages a faint smile.

"He knows. We met earlier today to figure this thing out and my heart felt like it was about to explode," I say it with a smile which in turn makes her smile even wider than me. "You met him? Oh my God. This is crazy; I don't suddenly hate him anymore now that you love him. Shit this is so crazy," she grabs my hands and squeezes it encouragingly.

"Calm down Bells, I haven't told anyone. Just you and Rex. Dad doesn't know it's a vamp."

Her eyes open wide "Why haven't you told him?"

"Cause I am scared," I tell her honestly.

Furrowing her brows "It's not like you chose this. It's out of your control," this is her reasoning and even mine too but once this gets out, people will judge. People will hate, no one will understand. There will be questions, wondering how I am worthy of being the Alpha.

I already know what I am about to face. Once father gets back, I will see what to do next. How he reacts to this will determine if I should tell him the complete truth.

"It doesn't matter. It will still be wrong in people's eyes," people will always find a way to find something wrong with me and now loving someone could be the end of me.