Atticus woke slowly in the dark room, disoriented as he tried to figure out what time it was. Sophia still slept, her head on his chest, though she made a face in her sleep and burrowed closer to his side. He closed his eyes again and stroked her arm, wanting to smooth the wrinkles from her forehead. The door creaked and he froze, the lion wide awake to determine the threat.
Benedict poked his head into the room and kept his voice down. "Let's go. It's past seven already."
Atticus tried to untangle himself but Sophia clung to him like a barnacle. Her leg, hooked over his, tightened and she muttered as she pressed her face against his neck. He raised his hands in defeat to his brother, and Benedict sighed before retreating. Atticus stared at the ceiling, confident he would pay a price for violating Edgar's orders, but Sophia made a soft, content sound that sent his heart pounding and his lion purring. He liked having her warm and safe next to him. He kissed her forehead and went back to sleep.
Carter knocked some time later and laughed as he told them both to get up. Sophia grumbled as she got up and got dressed, and Atticus loved every minute of watching her all sleepy and crabby. He didn't feel any better about being awake that early, so they both shuffled down the hall in silence. Carter led the way into the garden behind the house, saying, "We can meditate out here," over his shoulder.
Atticus kissed Sophia and turned to go, but Carter cleared his throat. "Stay for a bit, Att. You can meditate with us. Maybe that will help the leopard relax."
So he dropped to sit next to Sophia on the dewy grass, the cool air making his skin prickle, as Carter started some weird breathing exercises. He wanted to make fun but Sophia clearly believed in it, settling into a weird cross-legged position and humming under her breath. He tried to do the breathing stuff but eventually just dozed as the sun warmed his skin and a bee buzzed around his head. But as the quiet and calm settled around him and he had nothing to think about, a strange thing happened.
His lion quieted. Settled down. Coexisted with him in peace. And even started to relax, releasing some of the anxiety that drove them from fight to fight. Atticus resisted the urge to think too hard about why it happened and instead just sat with his lion, trying to bridge the gap between them. Like she said, two sides of the same hand, struggling to hold on.
When he finally pried his eyes open, feeling lighter, he found both Carter and Sophia watching him. "What?" he asked, batting away an insect that landed on his cheek.
"Nothing." Sophia's nose wrinkled. "You just looked really peaceful."
Atticus snorted and shoved to his feet. "Right. Peaceful. Let's get some peaceful breakfast and then I have to get to work before Edgar peacefully fires me."
"He agreed you could help us today," Carter said, tone mild as he got to his feet. "If you're up for it."
Atticus took a breath and wound up a smart response about wanting to spend time with his mate, then held off as he looked at Sophia. "If you want me here, I'll stay. But I don't want to distract you."
She smiled and went up on her toes to kiss him. "You're definitely a distraction. Let's get breakfast and see how we feel. Deal?"
"Deal." He grabbed her and tossed her over his shoulder for the hike back up to the house and the eat-in kitchen, Carter following and rolling his eyes.
Atticus put her in a chair at the table and started gathering ingredients for omelets, intent on cooking for his mate, but he struggled for something to say to Sophia. So instead he looked at his brother. "How's the dating thing going for real, Carter?"
"Yeah, how does a matchmaker work for shifters?" Sophia asked, leaning her elbows on the table.
Carter sighed and pulled a few pitchers of fresh-squeezed juice out of the fridge. "Well, if you're not going to tease me about it..." He looked at them both, snorting when he saw the 'who me?' look Atticus put on, and retrieved three glasses from the cupboard. "Great. It's fine. It was an interview with the owner, you fill out a profile, and you leave an article of clothing there."
"Clothing? What the hell for? So someone can judge your style?" Sophia made a face and got up to stretch, all lithe and limber. Atticus nearly dropped the eggs as he watched her bend over.
Carter elbowed him and pointed at the skillet. "You're burning that, brother." He leaned back against the island to address Sophia, remarkably unmoved by her contortions, and Atticus wanted to hug his middle brother more than ever. "Well, most of the communication shifters do is by scent. So if I go in there and smell a few pieces of clothing, I should be able to tell pretty quickly if there's a possibility to match or not. Recognizing my mate shouldn't take much more than that."
"Regardless of what they look like or do or think or believe?" Her eyebrows arched as Carter handed her a bunch of silverware to set the table. "What if you get stuck with a mate who's a total bitch? Or just really unpleasant? Or awful? Awful people have mates, too, right?"
"Well, yeah." Carter rubbed his shoulder, looking bashful. "Everyone has a mate somewhere. I guess if you discover your mate isn't really a good match, you don't have to settle with them. It's just — painful, I would think, to know your mate is there but not be able to be with them."
Atticus concentrated on the skillet and the mess of eggs and peppers and onions. He dumped cheese onto it and pondered his culinary skills so he wouldn't think about what Carter said. Atticus knew in his bones Sophia was his mate, and there wasn't anything anyone in the world could say or do to get him to leave her. Unless the Council decided she had to die. He cleared his throat and pointed at the eggs with the spatula. "You want some of this, Carter, or you gonna make your own?"
Carter, always the diplomat, glanced at the skillet and shook his head. "I'll make my own, thanks."
Atticus split the scrambled mess onto two plates and carried them over to the table. He put one in front of Sophia and sat next to her. She blinked and leaned against his shoulder, saying, "Thanks, big guy."
A pleased grumble started in his chest as he watched her eat. The lion liked feeding their mate. He wanted her sated and full. Sophia studied Carter as he made his own egg white omelet. "So what happens if one mate wants to get together but the other one doesn't?"
Atticus answered instead, shaking his head as he looked at his plate. "They used to practice bride-napping. Some of the packs out west still keep with the old ways, and every now and then we have a family in the city who do the same. They didn't use to ask the girls at all. If a man said a girl was his mate, that was the end of it. He would know, right? They've gotten away from that, and now both parties have to agree."
"But it doesn't always happen that way?" Sophia looked at them both as they shook their heads, and she frowned. "So I guess a matchmaker is better than bride-napping."
"Infinitely." Carter finished his plate and took a seat across from them. "And much better than the Auction."
"Auction?"
Atticus sighed and gave Carter a dark look for bringing up sensitive subjects. "Nothing for you to worry about, Soph. The wolves have a shortage of women, so the packs that have unmated women bring them to one place and all the guys are there to —"
"Buy them?" Horror made her hazel eyes darker. "You're fucking kidding me. You guys know about that and let it happen?"
Silence. Atticus didn't have a good defense, so he offered none. "Yeah. The Council is planning how to shut it down, but they're trying to figure out how to regulate it so no one gets hurt. It's complicated."
"Sounds pretty fucking simple to me," she said, and poked him in the side. "Women being auctioned off is slavery. That shit's illegal. End it."
"We're working on it," Carter said.
Sophia scowled at her plate and Atticus wanted to pull her onto his lap to cuddle. She stabbed a pepper with her fork and brandished it at him, and he thought better of getting closer until there weren't pointy implements around. "So what happens if one mate dies and the other doesn't? What then?"
His breath caught and he wasn't sure he could actually answer. Just the thought of enduring the loss of a mate made it difficult to inhale.
Carter rubbed his jaw and answered for him. "They survive, at least for a while. I'm told it's like losing part of your soul. There's just emptiness. It's rare for a surviving mate to live very long after the death of their partner, unless there's a strong family or pack network to keep them present. Most just waste away. If the mate bond isn't well-established, there is less damage done."
She put the fork down and rubbed her temples. "That's sad. Do you know anyone who lost their mate?"
Atticus couldn't look at her. Edgar's secrets were his own, and not for his brothers to share. Carter shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "Sure. I think one of the bears lost his mate. There are rumors that one of the Evershaw brothers lost a mate, but they don't talk about it. Most people won't."
"I can imagine." Sophia leaned against Atticus's shoulder. "I don't want to think about that."
"Me either." He pulled her close enough to kiss her forehead. "So get your ass to the gym and meet your leopard. I've gotta go find Edgar."
He shoved back from the table before she could say anything else and strode away. Her questions alone gave him anxiety. He would be too worried, too angry, to help her focus during her work with Carter. Better for him to stay in his room than distract her. He barely made it to Edgar's office before the shift took him and he curled up behind the desk as a lion, hiding away until he could stop thinking about what it would feel like to lose her and half of his soul.