The lost mate
Chapter 65: The Curious Case of Annie and Damien

Chapter 65: The Curious Case of Annie and Damien

Annie sighed, sinking deeper into the cushions. "Not great," she admitted. "We’re always fighting. And then there’s his mother."

Emily winced.

"You have no idea." Annie groaned. "She hates me. Like, seriously hates me."

Emily’s eyes widened with concern. "What did she say?"

"She made it pretty clear that I’m not good enough for Damien. Or for the pack, for that matter. Apparently, I’m a huge liability." Annie rolled her eyes but couldn’t hide the frustration in her voice.

Emily bit her lip thoughtfully, then leant closer. "Okay, forget about his mum for a second. What about Damien? Do you like him?"

"Do I... like him?" She repeated it as if the concept were foreign. She cast a quick glance over at Damien, who was now helping Ryan with something he had broken.

"I... don’t have a choice, Em. He’s my mate."

Emily wasn’t satisfied with that answer. "Sure, he’s your mate. But that doesn’t mean you automatically like him. I mean, do you want to be with him?"

Annie hesitated. "He’s... very caring. He tries. But I don’t know what to feel, Emily. We barely knew each other, and now we’re thrown together again after years. And then there’s Ryan."

Emily nodded, her expression sympathetic. "It’s a lot to handle."

Annie let out another sigh, sinking further into the couch. "Exactly. And we keep butting heads. I feel like every conversation ends in an argument. He’s so... overbearing sometimes."

"Well, he is an Alpha," Emily pointed out with a small smile.

"Tell me about it," Annie muttered. "And don’t even get me started on the shopping trip he wants to drag us on."

Emily laughed. "Ah, the old ’buy your problems away’ approach. Classic."

Annie couldn’t help but chuckle too, shaking her head. "Yeah, because a new wardrobe is going to magically fix everything."

"Maybe you can buy yourself a nice ’I Survived Meeting My Mate’ t-shirt," Emily teased, making Annie burst out laughing.

Emily grinned, giving her a light nudge. "He does seem to care about you. That’s something, right?"

Annie glanced over at Damien again. He caught her eye for a brief moment and gave her a small, reassuring smile. She felt her heart skip a beat despite herself.

"Yeah," she said softly.

"Hey, have you ever read The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?" Emily asked.

Annie raised an eyebrow, wondering where this was going. "I’ve seen the movie. Why?"

Emily took a sip of her tea, her lips twitching into a mischievous smile. "Because your life, my dear, is basically Benjamin Button."

Annie blinked, processing that. "Come again?"

"You know," Emily gestured dramatically, clearly enjoying herself. "Normally people meet, fall in love, move in together, then have a baby. But with you and Damien, it’s like you’re living life in reverse. You two started with the baby—complete strangers, mind you—then moved in together, and now... well, now you’ve got to figure out the whole ’falling in love’ part."

Annie let out a short laugh, shaking her head in disbelief. "That’s... surprisingly accurate."

"I’m telling you," Emily continued, her voice full of mock seriousness, "you are doing everything in the wrong order. What’s next? You meet for the first time after Ryan’s graduation."

Annie snorted. "Perhaps we’ll be dating by the time he’s in college."

Emily burst out laughing.

She leant in closer, lowering her voice like she was sharing some great secret. "Do you even remember what it was like before Ryan?"

"We didn’t really have a ’before Ryan.’ We skipped right to the complicated part."

Emily grinned. "Exactly! You’ve already done the hard part—raising a kid alone, surviving awkward reunions, battling with his mother—and now you get to experience the fun part of falling in love."

Annie rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help but laugh.

"He’s good with Ryan. And yeah, he’s not the worst thing to look at. But that doesn’t mean I’m ready to just... fall in love with him."

Emily nodded, her expression softening. "I get it. You’ve got a lot of baggage between the two of you. It’s not easy to just switch gears and start feeling all warm and fuzzy."

Annie sighed. "Exactly. And then there’s his mum breathing down my neck, reminding me I’m not good enough for him."

Emily’s face turned serious for a moment. "Forget his mum. What do you want?"

Annie paused, considering that. "I don’t know. He’s trying, you know? He really is. But it’s hard. We’re so different."

"Well, no one said love was easy," Emily said with a shrug. "But here’s the thing—most people don’t get a second chance like this. You already have a family with him; just forget everything and try to be close to him. You know what I mean."

Annie stared at the ground for a moment, tapping her fingers on the armrest. "Do you really think we can make it work? What if we’re just too... messed up?"

Emily leant back, crossing her legs. "You’ve already been through the hardest parts. If you two can survive everything life has thrown at you so far, falling in love should be a breeze."

Annie groaned. "You’re really sticking with this Benjamin Button theory, aren’t you?"

"Hey, if the shoe fits." Emily grinned, standing up and stretching. "Now all you have to do is let yourself enjoy the ride. Open your heart to him."

Annie smiled, though her mind was still spinning. Maybe Emily was right—maybe it was time to stop fighting every step of the way and let things unfold.

"Thanks, Emily; that was very inspiring. Have you ever considered becoming a therapist ?"

Emily chuckled. "Maybe in a few years. For now, I’ll stick to giving unsolicited advice to my friends." Annie laughed, feeling a sense of relief wash over her.

While Annie and Emily dissected the complexities of reverse love lives, Damien and Chris were having a far more serious conversation on the porch.

Damien leant against the wooden railing, his gaze fixed on the distant horizon.

"Did you find out anything about Zane Marlow?" he asked, his voice low.

Chris sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he sat on the porch steps. "It’s as we suspected. Zane Marlow is a fake name. The guy doesn’t exist in any official records—not in any pack, not in human systems. It’s a cover, plain and simple."

Damien’s jaw clenched, the muscles in his neck visibly tensing. "Of course it is. But what about the money? How are these mercenaries getting funded?"

"That’s where it gets tricky," Chris replied, looking up at Damien with a grim expression. "The payments were all in cryptocurrency, which makes it damn near impossible to trace. But..." He paused, clearly weighing the importance of what he was about to reveal. "I did manage to track down the origin of the funds. They came from the back office of a hotel in New York."

Damien’s brow furrowed, his mind racing. "A hotel? How is that even connected to any of this?"

Chris’s face darkened. "It’s not just any hotel, Damien. That place is regularly used by the Alpha Council. High-level meetings, discreet deals."

Damien stood up straight, his full attention now on Chris. "Are you saying the council is involved in this?"