Her Life Her Wolf

Chapter 7

*Jeremiah's POV*

I stepped outside the diner and called my Beta. After exchanging basic pleasantries, I got right to the point. "I need you to prepare the Luna's quarters. I intend to bring my mate back with me, but she needs to have her own space. I also need you to look into birth and adoption records from eighteen years ago. She said at breakfast that she was born in Ontario, and that her adoptive parents left for here when she was a baby. Find out what you can about the DuPree family. I don't know a birth family name, but if her parents were telling Corinne the truth, we should be able to find the records. Call in whatever connections we need. There's more to this story than simply moving away as a baby, and I intend to find out what it is." Abel blew out a long whistle, "Woah. That's a lot to take in. I'm glad she accepted the mate bond, and I'll get our guys digging in to the records. Congratulations, Alpha." I sighed, "Well, hold off on that, I haven't told her about the bond, or about us. I just know that I'm not leaving without her." Looking towards the diner, I saw Alpha Eric holding the door open while my mate and his exited through the doors, arms linked. "I've got to go, they're coming out now. I'll call again tonight," I said, hanging up the phone and putting it in my pocket. Smiling at Corinne, I opened her door for her and said, "Ready?"

On the way back to Corinne’s house, her and Stephanie joked and laughed. I wasn’t paying much attention to what they were saying. Instead, I was focused on how radiant Corinne looked when she laughed. I told myself I wanted to be the one that brought her that kind of joy every day. I wanted to be the reason for her smile. We pulled up into the driveway and said our goodbyes to Eric and Stephanie. Eric nodded at me knowingly and Stephanie winked as they left. I followed Corinne to the door and waited for her to open it. Once we were inside, she gestured to the living room. “You can go ahead and sit, I’m going to put my leftovers away and I’ll be there in a minute,” she said, walking towards her kitchen. I grabbed a seat on the sofa, suddenly nervous, her scent surrounding me in a way that both calmed and agitated. I wanted to scoop her up and mark her as mine. I wanted to keep her next to me for forever. I wanted everyone to know she was my mate and Luna. I had absolutely no idea how to tell her about being a werewolf, let alone her being my mate and a Potential.

“Just calm down and tell her the truth when the time is right,” Finn said through our connection. I scoffed and said sarcastically, “Gee thanks. Here I was planning to tell her when the time was wrong. I’m so glad we cleared that up.” Finn grumbled at me, “You know what I meant. You tell her no lies because she will never trust you, and you tell her after you know she is ready. For now, you let her lead this conversation.” I sighed. He was right. She had questions, and I promised to answer them. She sat down at the other end of the sofa, her leg tucked under her, facing me. I could see hesitation in her eyes, as she said, “So, I don’t really know much about where I came from. And I mean that both in geography, and my own origin story. I will tell you what I know, but I need you to promise me that you won’t interrupt. It’s not an easy story to tell, but I feel like I have to tell it.”, she finished and looked at me expectantly. I leaned forward and grasped her hand, the gentle sparks radiating up my arm and said, “Whatever you want to tell me, I’ll listen. Just tell me what you need from me, and I’ll do my best to do that for you.” She withdrew her hand after a quick squeeze, and I felt an emptiness from her withdrawal. She picked up a crochet hook and some yarn and said, “I need to busy my hands and focus on this. The repetition is soothing to me.” I nodded and waited for her to begin.

*Corinne POV*

I drew in a shaky breath and looked at my crochet. Finding a rhythm, I allowed my heart rate to slow, and focused on the movement of the yarn as I made crochet stitch after crochet stitch. I began my story, falling back into the memories. I told him everything. I told him about my upbringing and moving out to the middle of nowhere when I was a child. I told him what I could remember about Deana and Willard before they became so awful. I told him about the mistreatment, the beatings, the teasing, the starvation, the abuse. I told him about my longing to know my family, my never feeling like I belonged. I told him about how I felt out of place and different. I told him about how Deana and Willard said I belonged to them, like I was a lamp, not their daughter. I told him about how they burned my records, and how I fled. I told him about Deana and Willard showing up at my hotel. I told him about the police and the protective order. I told him about the strange man that hit on me in the elevator, and about the text message. I told him about Anwar and Keith, and how kind they had been towards me. I told him everything, the words and tears spilling out of me for hours, until I was out of both.

I’m not sure when the air shifted, but as I finished talking, I knew it had. I looked up at Jeremiah, his face was a whirlwind of emotions. I saw anger, hurt, confusion, and other qualities I did not quite understand how to read. It was nearly like his eyes were changing colors in front of me. I knew I should probably be afraid, but I wasn’t. I was mesmerized. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but it felt like this was a very important moment, and any misstep, it would be lost forever. I let my crochet go, and slowly reached out for him, terrified that he would be disgusted with me after everything I told him, and equally terrified that he wouldn’t be. He jumped a little bit at the contact, and I tried not to flinch. Dropping my hand and my eyes, I said quietly, “I guess that’s it. Do you have any questions?”

I felt a warmth as Jeremiah gently but firmly placed his hand under my chin and lifted my face until I was looking him in his eyes. All of the anger and hurt I’d seen before was replaced by tenderness and understanding. “I have a statement before I ask any questions, if that’s okay with you,” he said quietly, dropping his hand to mine. I nodded in agreement and waited. “I’m sorry if my reaction frightened or disappointed you. I promise that the anger you saw was not at you, but at everyone that harmed you or made you feel less than. I am honored that you trusted me with your story, and I will do everything I can to make sure that trust never feels misplaced. You deserve to know the whole truth about who you are, your origins, and your family. If you’ll allow me, I will be there to help you every step of the way. But there are things about me that you do not know, and I want to be as honest with you as you were with me. Do you want to know the truth of who I am, and who I know you are to me?” he asked, looking at me with hope and trepidation.

I wasn’t sure what he had to tell me, but something inside me said to go for it. I squared my shoulders, and said, “I always want the truth. I’ve had enough secrets and lies to last me until the day I die.” He hesitated for a moment, and then let my hands go. “This may be hard to believe,” he said, “but I am the Alpha werewolf of the Silentclaw Shadows pack in Northern Ontario. Eric and Stephanie are the Alpha and Luna of the River Growlers pack here in the city, and all of their employees that work at the wildlife sanctuary are also werewolves. They are the wildlife that they keep hidden from the humans. The River Growlers and the Silentclaw Shadows packs are allies. When you contacted them, they sensed something special about you, and wanted to protect you. They reached out to me and told me about you being followed and harassed, and my wolf, Finn, and I had an overwhelming need to come ourselves. I hate to drop all of this on you at once, but you have a right to know the whole truth.” He stared at me for what seemed like an eternity, waiting. He was right. This was hard to believe, and yet, it was clear he wasn’t lying to me.

“Show me,” I said. He stood up and hesitated. “There’s more I need to tell you, Corinne. About who we think you may be, and who you are to me. I don’t want my wolf to scare you, either,” he said.

I nodded, and said, “I understand that, but show me. I need to see.”

He nodded reluctantly and said, “It would probably be best if I did this outside.” I stood up and gestured to my backyard saying, “We can go back there if you’d prefer. Probably a little bit more private than in the driveway.” He chuckled and followed me out to the back porch, walking down the steps until he was standing on the lawn. I sat on the step and waited, looking up at him expectantly when he started to take off his clothes. I made a surprised squeaking noise and looked everywhere but at his figure that was become more and more naked by the second. I heard him chuckle out, “Us werewolves don’t usually shift fully clothed. Tears our outfits all up, and when we shift back, we don’t have anything to put back on. I either get naked now, or I’d have to stay naked after.” I could feel my face flush a red that was a mix between a tomato and a cherry. I stood up and turned my back to him, also closing my eyes as I said, “Well how was I supposed to know that?! Just let me know when you’re done and it’s safe to turn around.”

He laughed once more, and I heard a sickening pop sound, like bones breaking. A few seconds later it was quiet. I was suddenly very unsure of myself, and called out, “Are you okay? Can I turn around?” I heard the stair creak, and something gently bump the back of my leg. I turned around and opened my eyes. What I saw left me speechless. Even though he told me, I was still utterly in shock. Where Jeremiah had been standing only moments before, there was now a huge black wolf in his place. My jaw slacked open, and I sat back down and stared. The wolf softly whined and laid down, rolling over to show me his belly. I couldn’t help but grin and giggle.

“I am assuming you can still understand me?” I said, talking to the wolf. He rolled back to sitting and nodded his head, a wolfy smile breaking out on his face. I looked into his eyes, which were both dark and different, but yet still familiar to me. After staring at him for a moment, I called out, “Finn?” The wolf looked thrilled and nodded his head and took two steps toward me. I lifted my hand, and questioningly asked, “May I?” Finn leaned his snout into my hand and closed his eyes. I stroked his fur and stared at him. He was huge, and fearsome, but yet I was not afraid. His fur was as soft as finely spun silk. Feeling braver, I leaned forward and threw both of my arms around his neck, giving him a hug. “Thank you for meeting me, Finn. I hope to see you again sometime. For now, can Jeremiah come back? I think we have a lot more to discuss.”

Finn made a chuffing sound that I took to mean yes and let go of his neck. He leaned in and sniffed me once more and licked a stripe across my face before backing away. I heard the sounds of bones cracking again, and quickly averted my eyes. After a moment, I heard Jeremiah’s voice say, “You can look now.” I looked up at him and although he had put his pants back on, he was still shirtless. I blushed again and cleared my throat. Looking at his face I said, “Thank you for showing me your wolf. He’s wonderful.” Jeremiah laughed and said, “You’re going to give him an even bigger head than he already has.” I was surprised, “So, he can hear me now, too?” I asked. Jeremiah nodded, yes. He can still hear you unless I block my connection to him, which I very rarely do. I nodded slowly, “Could he hear me before, when I told you about what happened to me,” I asked quietly.

“Yes,” Jeremiah confirmed, “He was as upset as I was about what you went through.” Realization dawned on me. “Your eyes,” I exclaimed, “That’s why they looked like they were changing colors earlier. I could see Finn, couldn’t I?” Jeremiah nodded, “Yes, he came closer to the surface when you were sharing your story earlier, as his need to protect you is as strong as mine.” I blew out a breath. “Well, let’s go back inside. I’ll make us some coffee and lunch while you fill me in on the rest you needed to tell me.” Jeremiah nodded and offered me his arm. I laughed and took it, and we went back inside to the kitchen.

We had already talked through a reasonable lunch time, and I was actually getting pretty hungry. The freedom to eat when I wanted was still pretty new to me, but I was loving it. Jeremiah sat in a stool at the kitchen island, and I pulled out all of the ingredients for a chicken with mustard mascarpone marsala sauce. It was one of my favorite meals, and I wanted to treat Jeremiah to it after the day we had. I sat a large pot of water to boil on the stove for the noodles. Turning to Jeremiah, I said, “Tell me the rest while I cook up some food for us.” He tilted his head to the side, and said, “You don’t need to cook for us. I can have something brought in.” I shook my head, “I want to,” I said as I tossed the cut chicken breasts into a skillet with butter so they would begin to cook. “I enjoy cooking, so consider it my treat, while you tell me the things I don’t know yet.”

I grabbed the mushrooms onions and garlic, and moved over to the kitchen island to slice and prep them. Jeremiah took in a breath, and while I sliced and prepped, adding ingredients to the stock, he told me about the legend of a Potential, and how he, Eric, and Stephanie all believed I was one. He also explained about werewolf mates, and how they’re like the equivalent of a human’s soul mate, and it was akin to the idea of love at first sight. I stirred the wine and mascarpone into the stock, waiting for the reduction to finish and added the fettucine noodles to the boiling water. “So, you think that I’m your mate, and that even though I’m not a werewolf I could become one if I wanted to?” I asked him. “No, I know you’re my mate. I knew it the second I saw you on your porch swing the night I arrived. Finn called out to you through my connection as well.” Turning off the heat to the pasta and the sauce, I put some garlic bread in the oven and said, “I see.”

I gestured to the pot of water, and Jeremiah hopped up to strain the noodles while I got down some plates. “Jeremiah,” I asked, “When you said I was a Potential, and I could become a wolf, does that mean I have to? Could I choose to stay a human being, or be a fairy or a dragon or something? Do you still think I’m your mate if I’m not a werewolf?” After a moment of silence, he said, “Corinne, you are my mate right now, and will always be my mate unless you reject me. Human or not doesn’t matter to me. But I have to be honest, I don’t know enough about Potentials to know what happens next.” I nodded and served our plates, stacking his much higher than my own, remembering how much he ate at breakfast. We sat in my little breakfast nook, and he reached his hand out and grasped my own. “I want you to know that I know this is a lot to take in. I don’t expect you to make any permanent decisions today. I’m just asking that you give me a chance. I know this might be too much, and I understand if you say no, but I want you to come back to Canada with me, and see it all for yourself. We can contact some elders and try to get more information on being a Potential, and I can also try to help you find information on your origins. You’ll of course be free to leave if you want, but I hope you’ll choose to stay with me and make that your home.”

I looked into his eyes and considered his words. Feeling bold, I said, “Alright. I’ll come with you to your land in Canada. I haven’t made any decision about the mate thing though. It may be natural for you, but it’s unusual in the human world in general, and as you know, I wasn’t dating around. It may take some time, but if you’re willing to be patient with me, I’m willing to give you a chance. When did you want to leave?” His face broke out into a luminous smile as he laughed and said, “I’d say let’s leave right now, but this food smells amazing, so how about after dinner?” I blushed and giggled. “I think that might be a little hasty, I don’t even have a passport,” I deadpanned. He just shrugged and said, “I’ll have my second in command gather all the papers you’ll need from Canada, and he can bring them when he comes to get us. He can probably have them in the next three days.” My eyes widened in surprise. “Wow, that's pretty fast but I'd rather find out sooner than later so three days it is,” I said, and we began to eat.