Chapter 4

It was like my mind was in a whirlwind. I was finally here in front of my mate and he knew who I was.

My heart fluttered at the word mate. It felt nice to hear him admit it. Did this mean he accepted it?

His hand gently touched my face while his eyes searched mine. A warm sensation filled my body and tingles were left behind by his touch. Before I knew what I was doing I was leaning into it. I craved more.

The world had now stopped and we were the only ones in it. Nothing mattered besides me and him. I wanted him. No I needed him and I could only hope he felt the same about me.

He silence was deafening, offering no insight to his true feeling for me. He was revealing nothing. His smile was enough to assure me, but when it became suddenly serious I felt doubtful again.  

“You ran from me.” He mumbled sounding a bit hurt and dropping his hand by his side. “Why?”

That brought me out of my trance and all my senses came back to me. I took that moment to step away from him. I can’t let him feel anything for me until he knows everything. He deserves to know what I have done.

At first he had a look of confusion on his face from my actions, but it was only seconds before it turned into anger.

“You’re rejecting me?” He asked.

I flinched at his harsh tone.

“No.” I insisted. “Not exactly.”

“Then what?” He demanded.

He wasn’t using his Alpha tone on me which I was thankful for, but it didn’t make me feel any better either. It didn’t ease the guilt I was feeling over my actions.

I let my eyes wonder back to the ground again as I thought over my ways to explain to him. It would not be easy.

“So it’s true then. She is your mate.” His dad said emotionlessly.

“She is.” Daniel confirmed.

“Then why did you run?” Robert now asked me.

The disappointment still etched across his features unrelenting.

“I have a better question.” My mate said. “Why didn’t you look as surprised to find out I was your mate as I did. In fact you didn’t seem surprised at all.”

“I-I um…” I started, but failed to find the words to continue.

I honestly didn’t know what to say to him. Should I tell him I’ve known for nearly a week now?

“You already knew didn’t you?” He asked “And don’t lie. I’ll know if you are.”

I nodded my head regretfully before looking back up to meet his eyes.  

“For a few days.” I admitted. “I’ve known since the pack meeting.”

I heard a gasp come from my mom and dad at my confession, but didn’t dare look at them. I knew they were not happy with my secret.

“And you still went out to that horrid club with that no good Jennifer?” Mom scolded.

At that Daniel went livid. I don’t think I’d ever seen him so mad in my life. It scared me.

I started to slowly back away from him in case his wolf lost it because right now I wasn’t so sure he had himself under control.

“You went to a club with other men?” He yelled.

His fist quickly collided with the hood of the vehicle in front of him causing a massive dint to form on it.

My heart rate sky rocketed at his anger.

I was scared.

“I didn’t do anything.” I said, but it only came out a mere whisper. “I only went to-”

“To what? Drink and possibly be taken advantage of by some stranger. Are you that reckless?”

His tone was harsh towards us and it made my wolf feel ashamed. She just wanted his affection but instead all he offered us was anger. He was too upset to show us anything else.

“She shows no discipline Daniel. She is too rebellious to be Luna,” Robert interjected. “She should be punished.”

My wolf was growing angry at his father for butting in where he didn’t belong. This was between Daniel and me. It had nothing to do with him.

She growled at him inwardly. It was low and threatening. 

“I’ll handle this father,” he snapped before taking a step closer to me. 

“Look, I’m sorry I ran, but it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I never meant for you to find out.” I said.

“So you were just going to hide this from me forever?” He said disbelieving.

“You were- are with Jasmine. Who was I to come between you?”

“You are my mate, that’s who.” He shouted.

Anger was making its way back into his voice. I didn’t like seeing him this way. When he saw my reaction toward him he visibly calmed.

“You should have told me,” he said a little more controlled now.

“I know that now,” I confessed. “I was in the wrong and I should have handled it differently, but nothing can be done about it now. What happened has happened.”

You hurt him. My wolf whined. You hurt our mate.

I know, but what can I do about it now? I stated.

Comfort him. Make him feel better. She suggested.

As much as I wanted to I didn’t know if that was a good idea or not. We still hadn’t settled things and he has not made it clear what he plans to do about us yet.

He may not want us. And even if he does, all of that might change after I tell him about the man in the diner. I don’t know what he will do when he finds out what I have done.

After a long silence he finally decided to speak up again.

“Look,” he sighed. “It’s already late and I don’t feel like dealing with what I came here for now. I think we should all rest and deal with this in the morning with a clear mind.”

I couldn’t have agreed more with his statement. I think it would be for the best tonight. So much had already happened and there was no sense in adding anymore to it. Besides, maybe if I give him a day to calm down over what has already happened he will be more forgiving then delivering all the news to him at once.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Mom said. “You two can talk about this in the morning when everyone has had time to calm down and think.”

“Can I trust you until then or should I take you home and lock you away?” He asked me. He was dead serious and it caused me to swallow nervously while my heart beat at an irregular rate.

I knew better than to test him right now. One wrong thing could cause him to go crazy wolf on me again and that I didn’t care to see that. One time was enough for now.

“Yes.” I answered. “I promise not to run again.”

“I don’t trust her.” Robert spoke again.

I had to hold myself back from snapping at him. If it wasn’t for the he was my mate’s father I would have. I don’t think he would like that very much no matter the circumstance. However my wolf was dying to bite his head off.

Daniel was quiet for a moment, seemingly to be in thought from his father’s words. With a contemplated sigh he finally spoke.“Maybe it would be a good idea if you came with us.”

“What? No.” I shook my head. “I’m fine here. I promised you I wouldn’t run.”

My wolf was angry at me for that. She wanted him to take us with them because that would mean we were together. She wanted Daniel’s wolf and I didn’t know if I could stop her. That was part of the reason I refused to go.

I don’t want to do anything I’ll regret later. When our wolves take over we are merely backseat passengers to our lives. We can only watch what is happening not control it and that was a problem for me. I didn’t like to relinquish control to anyone.

“I know, but my wolf doesn’t want to let you go after we just found you. The only thing that will put him at ease is to be near you,” he explained.

“And what about Jasmine?” I questioned. “You’ve hardly mentioned her in all of this. What does this mean for her?”

I waited impatiently for his answer as did my wolf. She was just as curious about it as I was. We both needed his answer before this could go any further. He had to choose what was most important to him.

“I don’t know.” He replied wearily. “I can’t think about it right now.”

That was not the answer I wanted to hear.  If he couldn’t choose me over her then I obviously didn’t mean as much to him as he has let on.

“Then I won’t go with you. I refuse to be second place to my own mate. You need to choose and until then I’m staying here.” I declared.

Daniel immediately looked regretful of his words and tried to reach out and grab my hand. Seeing his attempt to touch me, I quickly pulled away from him sending him a glare. I wouldn’t allow him to influence me with our bond. There is no way that would be a fair fight. I wouldn’t be able to resist him that way.

I needed my mind to be clear and unaffected by him. It was the only way to keep my distance until he made his choice.

“I don’t know if I can let you. I want you with me,” He admitted.

“If you force me to go, I’ll never forgive you. You’ll have to take me kicking and screaming,” I warned.

He looked torn by his options, but didn’t object. It made me respect him just a little bit more that he was taking my decision into consideration. He could have made me go regardless of the consequence so that gave me hope that maybe he cared enough about me to give me a choice. I still couldn’t hide my hurt though. He still had not picked me, and my wolf was not happy.

“We can send someone to patrol the house if you’d like.” 

That was the first time James had spoken since everything came out about the two of us. He probably suspected something was up though by my pleading in the woods. I’m sure it all made sense to him now.

“If it will help keep your wolf at ease I then I would have to agree,” his dad piped in.

“Whoever we send won’t let her leave, if that’s what you want,” James added.

My anger rose and I sent the beta a glare. They were standing here talking about me as if I weren’t even here. They are treating me like some adolescent child in need of punishment.

I am an adult! They can’t keep me captive in my own house.

With the nod of his head Daniel agreed. “It is.”

This time I couldn’t stop the growl that erupted in me. I was angry and I was letting everyone around me know it.

“No! I have school and a Job. You can’t keep me here.”

I could see that trust was going to be an issue between us from now on. He still didn’t trust me on my own even after I had promised him. That wasn’t going to be easy to forgiving. When I promise something I always stick to it, but he wouldn’t give me a chance to prove that to him.

“Then you will be followed to and from.” He stated.

“I don’t need babysitters. I am perfectly capable of getting there on my own.”

He had only found out I was his mate less than an hour ago and he was already smothering me. One of the down sides of belonging to an Alpha I suppose. Plus the fact that I ran from him didn’t help my case in the trust department. That was my own fault I guess.

Like he hadn’t even heard me, he nodded his head at the beta then looked back to me. “James will stay here until I send out someone else. You can go to school and work but that is all.”

“That’s not fair!” I shouted.

He took another step forward until our chests were almost touching. I could feel his breath fanning my face driving my wolf crazy. She was clawing at me to get out.

His face became grave when he looked at me, making me feel a little more intimidated than I’m used to. “I am your Alpha. I am not required to be fair. I do what I believe is best and having someone watching over you is best. I won’t hear anymore about it, is that clear?”

He used his Alpha tone on me. It hurt. Not physically, but emotionally it did. He was ordering his own mate around like I was just another pack member. Why would he treat me any different? That was a silly thing to expect from him. He took his duty very seriously. His job came first before anything else.

“Is that clear?” he repeated. His eyes were hard.

I swallowed trying to push back my unshed tears and nodded.

“Good.” His face softened slightly. He tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear and backed away from me.

“I’ll be back tomorrow morning before you leave for school. Be expecting me.”

He opened the door to the vehicle without taking his eyes from me and started to slide in. Before he could close the door after him I couldn’t stop myself from calling after him. He paused at the sound of his name.

“Thanks for trusting me.” I replied, sarcasm was heavy in my voice.

He frowned at my statement. “Trust is earned not given.”

“But how can I earn it when I’ve not even been given the chance to?” I shot.

With a heavy sigh he replied, “We’ll discuss it tomorrow.”

He quickly got inside the escalade followed by his father, leaving James behind, just as he had promised. My parents disapproving eyes were on me the entire time.

When they pulled away, James jumped into his wolf form shredding what clothes he was wearing and ran into the woods behind us. I could feel his eyes on us from the distance. He was taking his job seriously. Not that I thought he wouldn’t. He was very loyal to Daniel and they were best friends so it was to be expected, I guess.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Mom asked, not hiding her disappointment.

“Mom can we please not do this right now?” I sighed walking into the house ahead of them.

Dad cleared his throat. “I think you owe us an explanation, don’t you?”

Once we were inside the living room I spun to face them. “I don’t know what I can tell you that you don’t already know. At the pack meeting, when he announced his wedding and mating to Jasmine, I recognized him as my mate. Before he could find out about me I left and decided not to tell him to keep from ruining his relationship and possible rejection. That’s it. That’s all there is to it.”

I was feeling irritated again after having to explain the situation to them all over again. I really didn’t know why they needed to ask anyway. I thought it was quite obvious after mine and Daniel little confrontation tonight.

“That’s not what I meant.” He clarified. “Why did you keep it from us? You know that you could tell us anything.”

His eyes held deep disappointment in them. If he was trying to make me feel guilty then he was successful in it. I should have known this would come back to bite me in the butt sooner or later.

“I know.” I mumbled looking down in shame. “I guess I just wanted to forget. The less people that knew about this, the better. “

It was the truth. That’s why I hadn’t even told my very best friend, Jennifer. She would bug me about just like everyone else and I’d never hear the end of it. At some point the word would have gotten around Daniel to and that’s what I was trying to prevent, but to no avail. 

It seemed to be unavoidable.

When no one said anything I took the opportunity to end the conversation for time being. I really did just want to put my mind to rest. After today I had a lot to think about.

“I’m going to bed. Our problems will still be here in the morning. Goodnight.”

They didn’t stop me when I left the room and proceeded up the stairs. For once, I think they understood my need to be alone.

I yawned as I reached my bed, but I was far from sleepy. I had too much to think about for that. I needed to figure out what I was going to do about my situation and most importantly, Daniel. There was still so much to work out.

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A/N

Hey guys. So this is where the updates will slow down. I have two more chapters written out before I have to start writing them again. I don’t want to get too overwhelmed with updates right now. If I happen to get an overwhelming response on this chapter then I might put up one more but I don’t expect that right now, so it will most likely be 5-7 days before I post another chapter. Thanks for reading guys!

Again, chapters are unedited. 

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