Chapter 1
Levi
Fate works in mysterious ways.
Reggie had repeated it to all seven of us kids. At least five times a week. Even as we had turned into adults, he would keep saying it. He pressed the point with me and my shifter brothers that one day we would each find our mates through fate. Then all we would have to do is, “Sweep her off her feet.”
He would often say that while doing so with my mother, his beloved Julia, if she was around us in the moment. It made her laugh every time. Like in any family, I grew up hearing the story of how my parents got together. How every other shifter in the family got together with their mates. And, those who did not, who got rejected, sometimes worse. One of my uncles had merely found his mate, that she died in a car accident. He never got back from that, killed himself three years later.
This is why I had been apprehensive after I fell upon one book my sister was reading. In early June. My older sister Missy and her one-year-old were spending time at our parents’ house. I still lived there with my brothers and our little sister. Everybody had work. Except Mom, and her two youngest. Me and Lilly. School had ended and Lily had been caught spray painting the equipment shed at night after her last exam. She was supposed to watch our nephew. Mom thought it would keep her in the house as she was supposed to be grounded.
I was enjoying my day off from renovating city hall in our quaint little town of Hannibal Missouri. Babysitting was not the way Lily did things. As soon as Julia and Missy had gone shopping, she pushed to kid unto me, claiming some bull about gender equality. We both knew she would not have done the same with any of our big brothers on their day off.
Fate came around for me. That book. If little Eli had not guided us to it while I walked him around, holding his hands. Or if it had not been flipped on its front. Then I would not have found my mate.
As soon as I saw that picture. That bored expression, those pouty lips, and that stare. Right through the lens of the camera, making it seem like she had been reaching out of the back cover to grab my heart. Right at that moment, I was struck with a burst of dread and anxiety. In one arm, I rushed to carry Eli to his play area in the living room to sit him in front of his car ramps. My other hand held the book. I searched for the author’s name, feeling like I couldn’t make sense of words anymore. All I could hear was the sound of Eli’s wooden car falling from ramp to ramp until he could put it back to the top giggling.
Sade Boislar, it had a good ring to it. As soon as I said it out loud, there weren’t butterflies fluttering in my stomach. Fear ran through my veins. It even pushed me to lock the doors. I stayed calm best I could, until Missy came back with Mom. As soon as she let down her bags to pick up her son, I ran to my room and hid with the book. It hurt every time I looked at it. I couldn’t take my eyes off that picture. Eventually, it would settle into a still numbness.
I did not even hear Reg and my older brothers coming back from the work site. A knock, and my door creaked opened. Reggie sat on my bed, next to me. I was confused and scared, then very worried. He said she must have been my mate, and that I was feeling her feelings. After that my whole family was worrying for whom, we concluded was my mate. Missy helped me find more information on this Sade. It was hard to find anything about her, but she had appeared on a podcast to promote her book. Missy pointed out how popular it was getting online. In the podcast, Sade had mentioned living in Montreal. I had to look it up, and I was lucky I had just renewed my passport the week prior because it was up in Canada.
Concerned about my mate’s pain, my parents insisted on buying me a ticket to fly to that city. I booked a hotel room in its downtown area on the street near all sorts of public transport. I would be able to go around without needing to rent a car. It would be easier to find her on the sidewalk than the road. Even the bus from the airport stopped there.
Before I left at Saint-Louis international, Reg repeated one last time his warning, “Once you find her, you get her out of trouble and do not let her know you can shapeshift. You wait until she’s safe, and do not take things too quickly.”
I arrived and reached my hotel. There, the numbness intensified every time I watched that podcast episode. It had been put out three weeks prior. In it she had been all smiles, jokes and laughs. There was something ominous about that laugh. I spent a whole week exploring the city, hoping we’d bump into each other somehow. Like in those stories I was told growing up. I put my trust in fate, but I was getting nervous. It wasn’t just her emotions, although it was hard to sleep with how alert she made me at night. During that week I ate at different restaurants twice a day in different parts of the city. I scaled the streets and metro stations some more in the process. I hated the thought of it, but maybe she was locked up somewhere. Maybe she was drugged too, and that was why she felt so numb at times.
The night I found her. The weight of the world flew off my shoulders. Because I did find her, fate brought us together as it did all pairs. She had been cheerful that evening, as cheerful as she seemed she could get. With my mind more at ease, I went to eat at the first place I went to the day I arrived. It was a brewery near the hotel I stayed at. As I walked in, I had a full-body shiver. She had to be in the vicinity, very nearby. As the waiter guided me to the bar, my breath was taken away. I saw the messy bun of overgrown dyed black hair from the podcast. Then I heard that laugh I had memorised. They seated me next to her, and she glanced at me before continuing her conversation with the bartender. He handed me a bar menu while listening to her,
“I sent it Lex, I can’t believe it, but she’s finally done.” She rose her glass.
He chuckled shaking his head. “Does that mean you’re in a good mood to tip?” he asked.
“I always tip well,” she defended herself.
He leaned in and sang, “Not when you started coming here.”
“I was a broke student at the time.” She took a big sip.
“Why didn’t you go to your university bar again?”
“They didn’t serve food. You know that. I complained about it every time I came here.”
This Lex raised a brow at me. I mustn’t have been good at hiding how I was eves dropping.
he pointed at my menu asking, “are you ready to order drinks?”
“What did she have?” I panicked a little forgetting what I had ordered the first time around.
“You should get the sample platter if you don’t know what you want.” She turned towards me. “My name is Sade by the way. But that doesn’t mean I’m sad.” She tipped her glass, half-full of a light beer.
God her accent was beautiful. It had not been as pronounced on the podcast. I loved the way she slightly rolled her Rs and deepened her As. She spoke a bit fast though.
I couldn’t help my smile, “Thanks for the advice. I’ll have that.”
“So, it’s one beer sample platter.” The bartender waved to get my attention. “I’ll give you more time to order your food.” He turned to his other clients while preparing my order.
“My name is Levi. Nice to meet you.” I offered her my hand.
She did not take it. Just grinned, leaning on the counter. “Hi, Levi. You sound American.”
Damn it I was about to gush over her already. “I’m from Missouri. I grew up there, but half my family is from Louisiana.”
She nodded along to my answer. “I always wanted to go to Louisiana.” She dipped closer to me. “I’m a born and bred Quebecer. My ancestors were amongst the firsts to come here on boats. But their wives were there before them.”
She had to be my mate with the eyes she was giving me.
I changed the subject, “are you celebratin’ something?”
She had a little smile that felt like a grin, “I just sent my book to the publisher an hour ago.”
“That’s great.” I didn’t know what it meant yet. I knew it gave her a lot of relief.
“I know right,” she giggled, pointing at the menu. “They have some exquisite burgers here. With fancy bread and everything.” She gasped, “did you try poutine yet?”
“I have,” I nodded like a fool. “Felt like shit after. Still tried it again after two days.”
“Yea,” she took a little sip of her beer. “That’s how you know you have made a delicious mistake.”
I glanced at the bartender’s back. “You seem like a regular here.”
“That’s because I am. I’ve been coming here every odd week for the last three years.”
“What burger would you recommend?”
She pointed at each one of them while giving them their descriptors, “The bacon and cheese is always a safe bet, so is the tradition one. The Trois Brasseurs is for the adventurous. And bacon confit is for when you feel fancy.”
“Which one is your favorite?”
“That’s not how it works, you see. I showed you your options, but it’s for you to decide.”
The bartender walked to us behind his two-sided bar. “What will it be?” he stared at me, analysing.
What if he was her boyfriend? Reg never told me what to do in that case.
I said the first one that came to mind, “the tradition burger.” It sounded mysterious.
“That’s the one she ordered.” He waited for my reaction.
“But I get it with extra cheese,” Sade specified.
“That sounds delicious.” I was just being honest.
“One tradition with cheese?” he asked for confirmation.
“Yes,” I nodded.
He left to type down the order for the kitchen on the pos.
Sade grabbed my immediate and full attention by poking my arm with a finger, “since I am celebrating. I am in the mood for a little contest.”
“What kind?” I humored her.
“Drinking.” She raised her glass.
“With whom?” I hoped it was her way to keep talking to me all evening.
“You,” she pointed at me, “if you are willing.”
I would have done anything she asked me to.
