My eyes open up slowly, and they immediately meet with a pair of green ones, very much unlike his siblings’ eyes. I was expecting brown, but I guess he got his mother’s eyes. My breath has stopped, that’s safe to say, and I don’t really know what to do except stare into his eyes. They’re so beautiful, like two bright, shiny emeralds. One corner of his mouth quirks up into a half-smile as he looks back at me.
After what feels like an eternity, I finally move my eyes to look at him, and not just his eyes. His skin is pale, just a little darker than mine, and he has a beard. My so-called soulmate has a beard, and I’m not repelled by it. It’s more like the opposite is happening, judging by the tickling feeling everywhere, even between my legs. I really want to wrap my arms around his neck and be even closer to him, but I can’t do that to myself. I need to leave soon.
His short beard is dark brown, just like his hair that moves a little in the breeze that’s surrounding us. We’re so close, it’s hard not to notice that he’s actually shirtless.
“Are you trying to impress me or something?” I ask, and I just hope that my voice sounds much more confident than it did in my own ears.
His eyes travels down my body with a raised eyebrow before he looks into my own black orbs again.
“What do you mean?” he asks, and I take one of my hands out of my crossed position, and put my index finger on one of his protruding pecks to let him know what I meant. I regret it instantly, though, with the sparks that shoot through me. “Oh, no. I just like training without a shirt on. Is that gonna be an issue?”
I shake my head, and despite how badly I want to say “yes, it’ll be a huge problem”, I don’t. I could use some eye candy if I get all sweaty and panting with this training-stuff.
“Does this ever stop?” I ask him, gesturing down to my finger that’s still lingering on his chest.
“I don’t know. You’re my mate, and we haven’t met before, so how could I possibly know that?”
“You know more than me already,” I mutter, and let my hand fall down.
He catches it in his, and brings it up to his lips. A soft peck is placed on my very visible knuckles, and he looks down at my hand, using his thumb to stroke over the bones. I try to pull my hand away, but I can’t. He’s holding onto it.
“What have you been through, mate?” he asks, and still his eyes are on my boney hand.
“Nothing,” I answer him, and it’s not technically a lie.
I haven’t really done anything noteworthy in my life, and I haven’t been through anything rough, either, I just ran away. So everything I’ve experienced since that, both good and bad, is my own doing. Which makes it even harder to tell this stranger who seem to care for me about it.
“And stop calling me your mate,” I tell him, suddenly having the courage to move his hand away from my face. “I won’t be staying.”
His eyes narrows a little, but he doesn’t move. The hand I moved away is suddenly around my waist with his other arm, and I feel even more trapped.
“We’ll see about that, mate,” he says, and leans down to kiss my forehead.
When his lips meet with my wrinkled-in-confusion forehead, the same, now familiar, feeling of sparks and mild euphoria is bubbling under the surface of my skin. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, just to steady myself and get some more courage back. I don’t know how I’ll be able to spend a whole day with this man, not when he’s acting like this all the time.
“Are you ready for some training, then?” he asks, not even waiting for me to protest on his earlier statement.
“What kind of training is this, exactly?” I ask back, as I remember I still don’t know anything about this.
He arches an eyebrow at me.
“Your wolf-training,” he answers, matter-of-factly.
“Which entails?” I arch an eyebrow back at him, and cross my arms again. Both because I want to regain some confidence and fire, and because I want some distance between us.
“What do you mean?” he asks, narrowing his eyes once again, before they look down towards my arms. I think. Or hope. He might be looking at something else, unfortunately. “When did you first shift?”
His eyes meet with mine again, and I’m not sure why that’s relevant. I shrug.
“When I turned fifteen,” I tell him. “And I mean that I don’t know what this training is going to be. Soraya just told me to meet you out here. If it’s self-defense I would like to get started so I know some tricks before I leave again.”
His eyes are basically slits now, from him narrowing them so much, but I try to make it look like I’m not affected. I am, though. My heart aches and I find myself wanting to please him, in stead of making him frustrated.
“You aren’t leaving me, mate,” he says flatly, before letting me go and taking a few steps back. “How old are you now?”
“I am leaving,” I tell him sharply, much sharper than I intended, but I’m not regretting it. “I’m twenty.”
“And you’re still in training?” he asks with disbelief, ignoring all my other words. “Why?”
“I don’t know what you mean when you say I’m ‘in training’!” I exclaim, letting my arms raise up into the air, and I don’t really think I can do this with him. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do this. I’ll just go pack my stuff.”
I turn around on my heel, and start walking back towards the entrance of the house. I don’t get far, though, before his big hand grabs my arm, and he pulls me back, so I’m so close to him. My nose is basically touching his chest, and I’m pretty sure I let out a shriek of surprise or something when he pulled me back like that. I don’t look at him. He leans down so that his nose is touching my hair, and he inhales deeply, like he wants to smell me. I don’t blame him, if I smell even half as good as he does.
“Don’t go,” he begs. “I finally found you.”
“What?” I whisper.
There’s so much I don’t know, and so much I don’t feel like I should know, for some reason. This whole “mate”-thing is the worst. He acts like he knows me, like he is allowed to touch me and hold me like this. Like I’m his, but I’m not. His arms are around me, holding me tightly against his chest, while his face is buried in my hair on the top of my head. It feels so strange, yet so… calming.
“I’ve been looking for you since I turned fifteen. I was already finished with my training and I could focus on looking for you. I went everywhere. By the time I was twenty I had lost hope. I thought you were dead, that my mate had died before we met,” he says, his voice is a lot softer than before, but still deep, and the vibrations from his chest it sending shivers down my spine.“I don’t understand,” I whisper.I find myself leaning my cheek against his warm chest. He is so warm, even though it’s cold outside. He is very aesthetically pleasing, too, which is of course a bonus, but I’m still unsure if I even believe this. Did he spend five years looking for me?“What don’t you understand, little mate?” he asks.“Everything.”He sighs, but somehow his arms tighten around me.&ldquo
I turn around to face away from Azaire, and look at my surroundings. We’re in a clearing inside the never-ending forest. It looks almost like someone has made it this way, with the tree stumps scattered around, a log there, and a fire-pit in the middle. A few meters away from me is a treehouse, leaning against one of the bigger trees surrounding the clearing. It looks like it’s filled with comic books and toys, and I take a step closer to it, just to see if I’m right.“I used to come out here with dad when I was a kid, when he had patrol,” Azaire says, but he doesn’t move. “Dad and his beta, Paul, built it for me and Paul’s son Tyler, who is my best friend. You should meet him, and his mate. I have a feeling you’d hit it off.”I turn around and frown at him.“Just because I’m supposedly your mate, it means I’d become friends with your friend&rs
My heart seems to relax a little as I listen to his words and stare into his eyes. His last words feels a little like a stab to the burnt outside of it, though, making me flinch. I try to move my head, but he won’t let me. He holds my head in place, and he keeps staring into my eyes. He’s way too intense for me to handle right now, even though I’m glad I’m already on my knees. His smoldering eyes would bring me down if not. He’s everything I’ve ever wanted, and everything I never knew I liked, in a man, but he won’t get me this easily. I still need to leave.“Why don’t you try to focus on the feelings you have when you’re a wolf?” he suggests, still staring at me.“Uhm,” I utter, trying my best to word my feelings as a wolf. “I’m free? I don’t know, honestly. I never remember much.”I clear my throat and look down at his
“Sweetie, how did training go?”I look up from my packed backpack to see Soraya standing right next to me. I didn’t even notice it, because my hearing is focused on Azaire in the other room. Just behind that wall. He’s pacing back and forth, growling now and then. It’s distracting as hell.“Not good,” I admit, and send her a small smile. “Thank you for everything, Mrs. Kaios, but I should go.”I sniffle, and look back down at my backpack. I’m about to close it, when Soraya snorts next to me.This time I hear Azaire snort on the other side of the wall. He apparently didn’t think it was that much fun doing that fucking puppy-training on me. I roll my eyes and look up at Soraya again, with a kind smile.“I appreciate it, but I just heard him laugh at that. He doesn’t want to train me,” I say, and rea
I stop to put on the shoes Soraya let me borrow earlier today, but Azaire seems to have other plans, as he spins around with his back towards me.“Hop on,” he ushers.“What? No!” I protest, and bend down to put the shoes on.“We don’t have time for this, I’ll carry you,” he says, pulling me up again. “And I think you prefer a piggyback ride instead of me carrying you bridal style.”He smirks at me, and I scrunch my nose up. He is right, but we’re wasting time. I could have put on my shoes by now if he didn’t complain so much.“No,” I tell him firmly, and rip my hand from his hold.He sighs excessively, but waits for me as I slip them on, and I send him an over-exaggerated smile as I’m done, and brush past him to exit the house. Once I’m a few meters away from the h
I stare at my two hole cards for a moment, hiding them with my hand so Azaire won’t see. He’s tried a few times already, but I always shoot him a glare. One time I even slapped his arm to get him to look away, and that seemed to work for a few rounds. Alexander is awesome, though. He’s loud and dramatic, but he’s amazing. He’s got the most chips right now, while Aiden is almost out, and Azaire and I are about the same.My cards are actually kind of good. I have the ten and Queen of spades. I can only hope the community cards are just as good, and that I’ll end up with something awesome, so I can beat Azaire and take all his chips. I’m quite competitive, which I had forgotten during these past five years, being on my own. We all place our bets, and Aiden eventually flips over the first three community cards, the flop, revealing a Jack and Ace of spades and a three of diamonds.Hope builds inside me as
I don’t know what else to say. Maybe I feel like I can trust him because he knows what it’s like for me.“Azaire told me you couldn’t mindlink because you weren’t a part of their pack,” I say, not really sure where I wanted to go with that. I bite my lip and stop, as I look at a painting on one of the walls. It’s got a lot of yellow, and a few other colors faded in the corners, but the star of the show is a black heart, dead in the center of the canvas. I love it.“I’m not,” Alexander sighs, and scrunches his nose up again. “I don’t know where my pack is. Aiden has been trying to help me find it since we met, but there’s no luck. It’s like they’ve disappeared from the face of the earth.”“I’m sorry,” I mutter, and look into his black-as-night eyes. I smile a little, and press my head into his shoulder, for a
I’m pacing back and forth inside of the guest room, in Azaire’s family home. I don’t know what to do. Should I ask Alexander what his birthmark looks like? Should I keep my mouth shut about that until I know more? Uno probably knows something, right?“Holy shit, Yohanna, can you sit down? I’m trying to sleep,” Azaire’s voice cuts through my thoughts as he speaks from his own room. I sigh, and sit down on the edge of my bed.“Sorry,” I whisper, knowing he can hear me.My ears still perk up whenever my wolf-instincts know he’s near, but it’s not anywhere near as intense as the first day. We’re just now sitting on opposite ends of our shared wall, while I’m trying to figure out what to do. I’ve kept my distance from him ever since I saw it in his eyes that he wanted to kiss me yesterday. His gaze haunted me in my dreams, and I already dreamt