Chapter Nine
I’d heard other she–wolves talk about how it felt when they met their mates. The scent, the pull–I felt it all.
“Do you feel it?” I asked him, and a small smirk spread on his face.
“Feel what?” he asked. “The mate bond?”
“You knew.” My tone was accusing.
“I’ve known for a very long time now, Kaida. Even before I agreed to your father’s proposal.”
“How long ago did you know?”
“Your father and his beta made constant visits to this pack your scent was all over them.”
“And yet you made no move, why?”
“I don’t say this to offend you, but you aren’t exactly my type.”
“Oh, I know. I guess brunettes are your type, and maybe you’d have preferred a girl who would fall on her knees and worship the very ground you walk upon, a girl who would obey every single word you utter without questions.”
“I would have liked that, but that wasn’t what I was referring to. You see only a few girls shut the doors to love and choose the parts of becoming ‘warriors‘. Of course, most times there were reasons behind such decisions. The thing is I don’t like my toys broken.”
I was no toy of his, and I had made sure he knew that.
Yet, his last statement penetrated into me–though I would never let him see that; it only did hurt because I knew he had had a glimpse of my imperfections, my scars, and just like I had expected, it repulsed him.
My scars were the one thing I felt self–conscious about, and that’s why I needed time; that’s why I wouldn’t mind Alexander taking whores to bed, because I wasn’t bold or confident enough to stand before him, naked and marked with scars–let’s not forget my missing pinky finger.
“You could have rejected me. I never did want a mate.”
“Of course you didn’t, what you wanted the most was to become an Alpha.”
I paused, staring up at him.
“How did you know that?”
“I’ve heard of many strange and abnormal things, but nothing beats this. I have to say, I admire you for that.”
He did not answer my question; I didn’t miss that.
“I have one more request.” I said to him, “I ask that you give a suitable position to Beta Aric.”
“You’ve run out of favors, Kaida. Aric would be treated like every other soldier in this pack, till he chooses to retire.”
“But he is no ordinary soldier. He will be of great use to this pack, I promise you.”
“You are very close to this… Aric. Who is he to you?”
“I don’t understand your question.”
Chapter Nine
+25 BONUS
“Do you fuck him?”
“He is the pack’s Beta!”
“And that makes him… out of reach?”
There were a lot of things I wanted to do; smacking him didn’t feel like such a bad idea at this moment. Instead, I took a deep breath and let go of the anger and fury I felt; he was only baiting me.
“Aric and I are just friends, nothing more than that.”
“Friends who share the same room.”
Now I understood him; I had invited Aric to stay in the very same room with me the last time I had been here. It didn’t seem like such a big deal; we didn’t share a bed; We both slept on the couch because I refused to sleep in the bed while he slept on the couch, and his ego wouldn’t let him take the bed. Neither of us yielded, so we ended up on the couch, which wasn’t so bad.
“And if I do bed my Beta, why should you care?”
“My wolf is possessive of you. If you have an itch, come to me-no one else.”
I would have challenged him, but I was the one who came up with the idea of him meeting with other women till I was ready.
I didn’t see Aric that way–not just because he was ten years older than me, but because the bond we shared had always been one of friendship. I hadn’t bedded any man before, not because I was preserving myself for a mate, but because I never felt the need to have sex.
