LINK

        I looked across the table and I wondered how the hell we had gotten to this point.

        I didn’t want another mate. I had a mate and she was murdered. I watched as her life slipped away from her and there was nothing I could do to protect her. I watched as my pup paid the price for James’ ignorance and he callously took its life away. I didn’t need Jamie trying to replace her and neither did I need her love.

        I probably sound like some sort of bastard but I had always said if I was given a second chance at love, I would reject them because I didn’t want them and they didn’t need someone as messed as I am for their mate.

        I couldn’t reject her though. Not knowing that Blake was her brother and Ellie was his mate. The both of them would have me for dinner if they found out I had rejected Jamie without a valid reason and I didn’t want to upset either of them – not when they were both already dealing with their own shit.

        “Are you ever going to talk to me Link or are you just going to continue pretending I don’t exist?” Jamie asked. I couldn’t even bring myself to look at her because I didn’t want to see the pain which I was causing her.

        “I told you that I never wanted another mate,” I muttered.

        “It’s been two years since we found each other. And you still treat me like I am some sort of kid,” she argued. I didn’t need to look at her to know she was holding back a whole load of tears. I had become used to hearing her cry herself to sleep in the room next me and I hated that I was the reason for her tears.

        I hated that I couldn’t let go of the past and accept the chance which I had been given. Jamie was wonderful and sweet. She always smiled even though I knew she was falling apart on the inside. She could make anyone laugh and everyone seemed to love her – even I had fallen in love with her and it was becoming pretty much impossible for me to stay away from her.

        But I didn’t want to let down my defences. I didn’t want to let another person in just to have them so cruelly snatched away from me while I watched on, unable to do anything to keep them safe because they were being used in some game against me. I didn’t want to let someone love me and I didn’t want to love another either.

        I couldn’t handle that sort of pain twice in one lifetime. Even I know that’s a lame excuse for going two years without any form of contact with Jamie – hell I hadn’t even marked her and that meant all the un-mated males looked at her with lust every single time she was out.

        “It would be so much easier if you rejected me,” Jamie muttered when I didn’t reply.

        “Why don’t you reject me?” I replied quickly. I knew why though because she had already told me the reasons.

        “I will never have another chance. You are my one real chance of happiness but I guess I am never going to have that. You are never going to make me happy and you are probably never going to accept me as your mate either,” Jamie chuckled humourlessly.

        “Your brother and my sister would kill me if I rejected you. I know I am a shitty mate but I don’t want anything to happen to you. I can’t let anything happen to you,” I sighed. It sounded even shittier when I said it aloud than it did when I was going through the reasons in my own head.

        “Surely marking me and properly accepting me as your mate would be safer than you pretending I don’t even exist?” she asked in frustration. Her food was now to the side of the table and I looked at her to see her glaring at me. I could see the shimmer of tears glossing over her eyes and I suddenly felt like the world’s biggest ass.

        She was right. If I marked her she would be safe because the un-mated males would know she was mine and they would keep the hell away from her. But I didn’t want an enemy to use her against me. I didn’t want them to torture her until she told them everything they know.

        She’s at risk of that anyway. Her brother is mated to the Alpha. How about you tell me something I don’t already know which I might find helpful?

        You’re an idiot who needs to get his head out of his ass and see what’s right in front of him? Wow. You never cease to amaze me with your brilliant comments. I thought I said helpful not insulting?

         It’s been two years. You love her. And I know that you want her. So what’s really stopping you from mating with her?

        And there it was. The question I didn’t really have the answer to. I told myself that it was to protect her and to keep her safe because I couldn’t stand the thought of losing another person I loved – but her brother was mates with my sister. He helped control the biggest and most powerful pack in the country.

        Her life was always going to be in danger. Her life was always going to be at risk because there was always going to be someone who wanted to get to her to make Blake suffer or to make a show of Ellie. There was always the chance that her life was going to be used in some sick game, not to get to me, but to get to the people in power.

        I knew that and she knew that too. But I didn’t want to tell myself that was the reason I didn’t want to mate with her. I didn’t want to convince myself that there was another reason I didn’t want her other than I was still trapped in my previous life – the pain from that life constantly haunting me and following me around everywhere I went.

        “I know you don’t want to let me in Link. But, please, I just want a chance. I don’t ever want to replace your previous mate and I know you can never love me in the same way you loved her, I will never even complain about that, I just want to make you happy and I want you to make me happy in return,” she finally spoke again. Her tone was much calmer this time and I didn’t even realise that she had stood up from her seat until she was almost sitting on my lap.

        In the last two years she had changed so much. She was no longer the pretty girl I first laid eyes on in the forest, she was now a beautiful woman I had fallen in love with and wanted nothing more than to make her happy. Her hair was a lighter shade of red and it had grown so it was now at her hips and, even though she was probably the saddest person I knew, her eyes still shone with happiness and hope.

        “I don’t want to hurt you Jamie,” the words came out as a whisper. I couldn’t even look her in the eyes when I told her that because I didn’t want to accept that I was hurting her. I guess there is a lot I didn’t want to accept because I am just a stubborn old fool who will never know real happiness again.

        “Have I ever told you how much you remind me of Blake?” Jamie suddenly asked though I could hear the humour in her tone and I couldn’t help the slight smile which graced my face with its presence.

        “No. I don’t think you have,” I chuckled. I tried to restrain myself but, with her sitting on my lap and her head resting casually resting on my shoulders, I couldn’t stop myself from wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her closer to my body. This was the first time I had even touched her like this and I couldn’t ignore how good it made me feel.

        I don’t think I have felt her wolf happier than she is right now. Well done. Congratulations on growing some balls. Oh shut up. You haven’t exactly tried to force me make a move. You could have taken over at any point and made her ours.

        I could have done. But you would have fought and you would have made sure you win. Well done. It’s good to know you’re not totally stupid and you do know that you would lose.

        “He is a stubborn ass too. He has to believe that he’s right about everything even when he’s totally wrong. He doesn’t like to lose and, when he has something in his head, it’s pretty much impossible for him to let go of that thought. But he also knows what he wants and he doesn’t ever give up until he’s got what he wants,” Jamie replied.

        “Ellie?”

        “Indeed. She pretty much rejected him when they first met and didn’t want anything to do with Blake. But he didn’t give up on her and sure, it took some time, but Blake got Ellie in the end,” Jamie replied. I had never really asked Ellie about how her relationship with Blake came about nor how the two of them met – but I had always assumed it had something to do with her being on Jayson’s territory.

        I had never really had interest in her relationship with Blake. What the two of them did was their own business and, as long as I wasn’t around to see it, I didn’t really care what the two of them did. I was just happy that she was alive and I was even happier that she had found someone who could put her back together again.

        “Are you comparing our relationship to that of Blake and Ellie’s?” I asked.

        “All I am saying is that I won’t give up on us. You don’t have to tell me that you love me, I just want to know that you actually want me. Is that really too much to ask for Link?”

         “I do want you Jamie. Fuck do I want you. I know you’re everything I need and I want to make you happy. It’s just—“

        “You can’t get what happened to your previous mate out of your head and you don’t want the same thing to happen to me?” she finished for me. I had told her this before and, though I had meant it, it was becoming increasingly more difficult to live by that philosophy.

        When males met their mate, they tended to become possessive of them and they would want to mark them as soon as possible to ensure no other male touched them in a way which wasn’t appropriate. They would want to show the world that they were taken and, if they so much as looked at their mate in the wrong way, then there was trouble coming their way.

        I had seen how Blake was with Ellie. I was extremely protective of her and he despised when other males so much as looked at her – even when they were another Alpha and had their own mate with them, Blake would still growl at them and show them that Ellie belonged to him. I remember the time he shouted at Alpha Mason because he had dared to hug Ellie when they had first signed their treaty with each other.

        Though Ellie, being the Alpha and everything, was even worse than Blake at times. She had punched females for looking at Blake and she even put one in hospital because she dared to touch Blake’s arm in a way which Ellie considered flirting – after that incident the unmated females of the pack kept their eyes to the ground whenever they saw Blake around and they were even more cautious when they saw Ellie with Blake.

        “I am pretty sure you’re in more danger than I am. You know, being Ellie’s brother and all, enemies are more likely to go after you than they are after me,” Jamie laughed slightly and just that sound made me smile. It had been so long since I last heard her laugh and since I was the reason for that laugh too that I couldn’t help but smile.

        “It’s weird. Blake being Ellie’s mate and you being my second chance. I am going to have words with that Moon Goddess,” I chuckled as I thought about it.

        I know the Moon Goddess pairs people together for a reason. So I want to know her reason for pairing my sister with Jamie’s brother and then pairing myself with Jamie. I definitely needed her more than I wanted to admit to myself and it was time I stopped living in the past, it was time I moved on and accepted I had been given a second chance at happiness, even if I didn’t want to have the chance.

        I had been given the chance and I needed to take it. I needed to get over myself and I needed to realise that, while I was suffering and I was fighting with myself over what was the right thing to do, Jamie was also suffering and she was probably in more pain than I was. I had, after all, neglected her for the last two years and that was as good as rejecting her to her face.

        “If Blake and Ellie can find happiness with each other then perhaps there is hope for us. I know it’s not going to be easy but, maybe, we could start again with each other and give this relationship a proper chance before we take to officially rejecting each other?” Jamie said and I looked down to see that she was now looking up at me with hope in her eyes. I wrapped my arms a little tighter around her body and put a gentle kiss on the side of her head with a smile on my face.

        “I don’t want to reject you Jamie. I just want you,” I muttered softly.

        “And I want you too. I want you too,” she whispered. She moved so that she was snuggled against my chest with her arms wrapped around my torso a little and I placed another kiss on the top of her head as I watched her fall asleep. And, for the first time since I realised who she was, I actually thought we could have the happy ending she really deserved.

- Jamie can be seen above there. AND HOW CUTE WAS THIS CHAPTER THOUGH? I hope you see that I haven't forgotten about these two and they are still in the story.