The Foxx Among Wolves

Chapter 5

*Beatrice's POV*

After leaving the packhouse to return to my cottage, my brain was spinning. Why would the Moon Goddess give ME a second chance mate? I wasnt even able to protect and save my first mate.

I walked through the front door and screamed in frustration. This man, Seth, was gorgeous. He was kind, compassionate, and strong. I felt my cheeks burning at the thought of him staring into my eyes again.

No, I shook my head to push the thoughts away. I'm on a mission, I cannot let this mate bond compromise it. But it's also sacred and to be cherished. And this man had already survived the death of one mate, my rejection would kill him.

Flinn's last words came creeping into my mind.

"I love you, dont worry about me."

He had went to patrol the boarders that night. I had a sickening feeling in my stomach and asked him to please ask the Alpha to switch his shift, but there was no use. Flinn was a very loyal Gamma and would have still went, even if he had known the imminent danger he was going to face.

I grabbed my notebook and went out to the front porch. Every time I felt frustrated or confused, I wrote a letter to Flinn. I knew he would never read them but it helped me make more sense of what was going on in my head. He always knew how to make my brain shut up for a few minutes.

As I was writing, I heard footsteps in the woods. For a human, I had pretty exceptional hearing. I froze for a moment but it was like deja vu. Flinn had come creeping up on my cabin at Redwood when I came to visit Stevenson after his Beta ceremony. I knew it was Seth. The mate bond was strong in humans, but nothing compared to werewolves.

I heard Seth rustling around and watched as he emerged from the treeline across from me.

"Hey, sorry to scare you." he said, he rubbed the back of his head. "I just wanted to make sure you made it back to your cottage okay." He was standing there fidgeting with his hands, looking anywhere but directly at me. My brain flashed back to an almost identical scene of Flinn at the front door to my cabin, apologetic and so nervous. Love with a human is something foreign to them; they know it's a possibility but nobody talks about what happens if you do end up mated to a human. I blinked my eyes a few times and was back to Seth in front of me in the yard.

"Its okay. I appreciate you checking on me. I'm fine, really." I half smiled. My head continued to flash back and forth between images of Flinn and the reality of Seth in front of me.

"I know why you're really here." I whispered under my breath. I knew he would hear me still, and he did. His eyes widened for just a second as he attempted to contain his composure.

"Oh? So you feel it, too?"

"Yes, I do. But that's not why I came here. And I have a mission to complete before I could even think about being with someone again." The flashbacks were so intense, I felt as if I were stuck between different dimensions. I couldnt help but let a few tears roll from my eyes. I had turned away from Flinn, as well, when he first came to me about our mate bond.

"I'm not going to reject you." I said, almost repeating word for word what I had said to Flinn. "But I do ask for some time and space. I have work to be done." My voice wavered but I stood my ground. I reeled my emotions back in. Now was not the time or place for tears.

He blinked a few times, shock swept across his face first. Then relief.

"I understand that. And I really appreciate you being honest with me. Maybe we can get to know each other better over the course of this mission." He said. His grey eyes almost alight with joy, it was infectious. I couldnt help but smile as I stretched my hand out to him.

"I think that's a great idea. I'm Beatrice Foxx."

"I'm Seth Haight. I'm so glad to meet you."

I tried to prepare myself for the sparks but it was no use. He grabbed my hand to shake it and it felt like electric shot up my arm and straight into my heart. My stomach flooded with butterflies in an instant. My eyes went wide for a second, but I quickly recovered and pulled away. f*****g mate bond, I thought to myself. It was going to be the death of me.

I tucked a stray hair behind my ear and felt my face turn red. This was going to make things a little more difficult. Good thing I'm persistent.

"Can I escort you back to the pack house to meet with my teams?" he asked.

"Sure. Let me get changed." I smirked at him. He was going to respect my boundaries. But that didnt mean he wouldn't be as close as possible to the boundary. Werewolves, I rolled my eyes inwardly.

As we walked back to the packhouse, he walked next to me with his arms behind his back. He told me about the other pack members that lived here. Most of them worked in the local towns amongst the humans, or in the pack house or hospital. There was only about 500 of them including children and newborns. I talked a little about my stays at Redwood and how I'd even been given a guest room in the packhouse there.

"Wow, you must be a special human, huh?" he joked. I laughed.

"Name another human who's been training with werewolves since she was a fresh teenager."

We finally made it back to Seth's office. He must've mindlinked them before arriving as they were all sitting with their own perspective notes, ready to go.

"I'm going to let you all get acquainted with Ms. Foxx while I go change." Seth smiled reassuringly at me before ducking back out the door.

Patrick came from around the table to pull a chair out for me. "Here, I'll go ahead with the introductions. That's Heidi, and you already know her mate Felix." Patrick pointed to the far end where Felix had been seated before but was now accompanied by a short, stocky brunette with the same thin smile.

"Then theres Jackson and Ellie, they are our best trackers. Probably the best on the East coast, honestly." He laughed as Jackson rolled his eyes and smirked.

"Its very nice to meet you." Ellie said very kindly. They both had black hair, but Ellie was Hispanic where as Jackson was Korean.

"And then we have Urie and Serena. They specialize in martial arts, hand to hand combat, and training our marksmen."

They both smiled hesitantly. Urie was large and reminded me of Hans, only his beard was snow white. Serena was graying slightly and had crows feet, but otherwise gave no hint to her age. I remembered Hans talking about a man named Urie who was an excellent trainer and would have him come to train our warriors every couple years.

Urie's eyes darted between Patrick and I, at one point mind linking.

"I'm Beatrice Foxx, it's very nice to meet all of you. Hans spoke very fondly of you, Urie." I said very happily, assuring Urie that I did indeed remember him.

Everyone's eyes shot to look at Urie and I. I bore my eyes into his, not looking away until the door opened behind me. Seth had returned, dressed in a white button down and dress pants.

"So where are we at, guys?" he began, not looking up as he rolled his sleeves. I turned to look back at Urie who was pale as his beard now.

"Oh, just finishing up introductions.." Patrick trailed off. His eyes filming over as he mindlinked Seth, no doubt telling him that I just connected the dots. Urie never looked away from me.

"Yeah, we just were talking about Hans and how fond he was of Urie." I stated. Time to address the elephant in the room.