Chapter 6

Seal the deal

-Horatio-

Waking up, the first thing I notice is pain, and the urge to whimper is quickly squashed down by the prospect of being heard and attacked. Instead, I continue to lie wherever I am, totally still, playing dead.

After a while, I wake up again, so my efforts to pretend I’m dead must have worked more effectively on my brain than I thought. This time, a comforting scent washes over me, and I crack open an eye, expecting to see my family.

Instead, I see a mop of blond hair and a hand holding my own. And as soon as I look at the person, I know it’s my mate. I mean, the weird electrical zaps of warmth coming from our joined hands gives it away, plus in my dream I was curled up with the golden wolf.

Unfortunately for me, I also recognise who this is by their scent, and that unmistakeable alpha aura. Sighing slightly, I run my fingers through his golden curls, wondering how I, a rogue with a strong hatred for alphas, could end up mated to one.

You can still back out. You don’t have to mate with him, a voice in my head reminds me, and I sigh again.

Would he just chase after me, like Karn did to my mother for so long? Would he kill those I love, just to get to me? All alphas want the same thing; they’re greedy, dominant beasts who want to control everything in their sight.

Unfortunately for this guy, I won’t be controlled. If he thinks he can make me listen to him, then he’s got another thing coming.

Slowly extricating my hand from his, I curse my soul for the small whimper I let out at the loss of his contact. Clearing my throat loudly, the alpha wakes with a start, his expression going from confused to excited to happy to…anxious?

Before he can even get a word out, however, I beat him to it. “So, you’re my mate?” He stares at me, opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish, before nodding. I hum, leaning back on the cushions behind me, finally beginning to realise that I’m not in the makeshift tent thing anymore, but in an actual building.

The room is nice, if not a little bland and colourless. “This is the room next to the one Harriet and Harli are in. I contemplated taking you to mine, but I thought you’d probably hate that, so decided on this instead.”

I glance over at him, raising an eyebrow. “Why do you think I’d hate it?” He looks slightly taken aback for a moment, before sitting up straighter, and raking his hand through his curls.

“Well, I know you hate alphas, so I’ll be honest and upfront with you,” he begins, looking me dead in the eye, letting me look for the lie in his irises. “If you don’t want to mate with me, you don’t have to. Whether you do or not, you and your family are welcome to stay here for as long as you’d like. I’m not going to force you to be my mate, especially because of what your family had to go through because of an alpha.”

I stare at him, stunned for a moment whilst he pauses, before continuing on. “However, if you’d give me a chance, let us get to know each other, and then see…I’d be really grateful,” he says gently, still not breaking eye contact.

Tapping my chin, I nod, before smirking and grabbing the alpha by the collar, pulling him towards me. I kiss him roughly and quickly, before pushing him back. He looks dazed, if not a little happily surprised.

“You have yourself a deal,” I say nonchalantly, relishing in the happy tingles the mate bond is giving me from something as small as a quick kiss.

This is going to be fun, I think with a small smile.

—————

-Xabien-

When I first realised Rat was my mate, I was fully prepared with the fact that I might never be able to have any contact with him, let alone a kiss, and I especially didn’t expect one so soon. Something I’ve quickly realised since he shifted to his human form, is that he likes to exert his control over me.

Or no, I think he thinks he’s controlling me, probably to help with his general fear and distaste of alphas. What I find amusing, however, is that he thinks him initiating any physical contact between us, is controlling me.

I’m merely being gentlemanly, and asking for permission before touching him. Rat, on the other hand, will sometimes just grab me and kiss me.

It’s cute really, how he thinks he’s so dominant for doing that.

We aren’t telling anyone that we’re mates, until we get to know each other and decide if that’s what we want. I mean, I already want him; all I have to do is look at him and it’s like any rationality goes out the window. It’s getting harder to control myself the more I get to know him, too.

Turns out, he’s even more than I thought he would be. He’s extremely protective over his family, whilst also kind and caring, sweet and boisterous, and very introverted. He isn’t particularly quiet, more like he will only spend time with his family, or occasionally, me.

And then I remember that he’s never had a pack, and that this is a whole new thing for him, and whilst Harriet and Harli have been getting to know the pack for weeks whilst he healed from the original wounds and when he reopened them, he hasn’t met anyone else yet.

He shows no interest in meeting others, seeming completely content to sit in his room on his own all day, or happy when his family visits him. Soon, he’ll be completely healed, and then he can shift again, and go on runs.

Harriet and Harli go on runs everyday, and they’re the two best runners in the pack now. At first, everyone was awed by their skill and stamina, before I remembered why they were so good at running, and then it felt like my heart was breaking from the inside out.

Harriet and Harli are wonderful. It’s truly like having a second mother, and a sister, which is nice because I only have a little brother. They’ve become good friends, which is lovely - Harli and Sebbie instantly became firm friends, thanks to their shared interests and similar ages of 18 and 19.

Even Harriet and my parents have connected; they’ve connected with most of the pack at this point. Both Harriet and Harli are bubbly and energetic, and quick to make friends with others.

Rat, on the other hand…he doesn’t take after his mother at all. I wonder if he’s more like his father then? No one has mentioned him; and all I know is that Karn killed him a few years ago.

And I also know it’s the most common scene in Rat’s nightmares.  

yo it's me nev. so i drew xabien; no clue why the lighting is so orange in comparison with rat's drawing but oh well. also i can't draw curly hair so imagine it's more curly and also blond O.O