Push and Pull

[Slate]

“I asked a question, Slate, and I demand an answer,” Ash is stomping her feet while holding the door open, “Now!”

“What am I doing?” I question myself internally.

“You’re claiming our mate,” Sage insists.

“But she doesn’t have a wolf, not yet, how can she be our mate?” I interrogate my wolf. “What we are feeling isn’t the mate pull.”

“Maybe it is,” Sage suggests. “But maybe it is just weak because her wolf isn’t ready yet.”

“But what if we’re wrong?” I insist.

What if I’m wrong? What if I've been wrong this whole time?

My hands fall to my sides as I slowly stand to face Ashlynd. The expression in her eyes is anger and something else, disbelief--as if this scenario isn’t just offensive, and upsetting, but impossible.

"Let's talk about this outside," I insist. Looking back at their father lying prone in the bed behind us. "This is not the place for this conversation."

"We're going to talk here and now," she stomps her feet again like a whining child, her face red and puffy w