Life Without You

Chapter 15 - Tommo

“Bloody hell, look at the state of you two.” Mary, the older she-wolf who runs the pack kitchen with military precision, greets us as we walk into her domain. “I know you have to let your hair down a bit when you come back here, but goddess you both look rough this morning.” She continues with a huge, beaming smile as she walks towards us and takes Jace into a hug.

“Gee, thanks Mary. You know my philosophy though. Work hard, play harder.” Jace grins at her.

“I’ve heard all about your playing harder from Daphne. But you.” She pauses when it’s time for my embrace, squeezing me tight, before stepping back and poking me firmly in the chest. “I thought you had more sense.”

“Me? I don’t know what gave you that idea.” I smile innocently at her, and she pokes my chest again, a bit harder this time.

“So what can I get you?” She asks cheerfully.

“Blueberry pancakes please.” I place my order courteously.

“Same for me. The pancakes at the academy are not a patch on yours.” Jace adds pleasantly.

“They’ll just be a couple of minutes.” She explains, looking around the kitchen to check on the cooks working under her command.

“Mary, Mary, tut tut tut.” Jace tuts playfully, “you’re letting your standards slip, first batch of pancakes are usually ready by now.” I can’t help giggling at Mary’s irate face as Jace scolds her, whilst tapping an imaginary watch on his wrist.

“I’ll have you know, the first batch was ready exactly when it should be. Rex took them, not five minutes before you got here.” She replies, giving us both a gentle slap on the back of the head.

“Rex?” Jace almost shouts in faux annoyance. “You gave our pancakes to Rex?”

“He was here first. And anyway he’s got a surf lesson to get to, so he needed to eat early.” Mary explains, defending her decision to give my uncle the first pancakes.

“Rex, surfing? This we have to see. What have you got that we can take to go, now?” Jace asks eagerly.

“Nothing, you can wait like everyone else and leave poor Rex to his lesson in peace.”

“Where’s the fun in that? Come on you must have something that’s ready to eat now?” Jace continues teasingly.

“Grab an apple each then.” She replies sternly whilst pointing to the large fruit bowl.

“An apple?” Jace utters, grabbing onto the worktop to stop himself from falling.

“Ok, fine.” She replies with a sigh, whilst rolling her eyes. “It smells like the next batch of pancakes is almost ready, you can share, and be grateful that you are getting some at all.” She walks over to a stove where a young she-wolf has been busily cooking and removes the freshly cooked pancakes from the pan, placing them on a large plate, before walking back over to us.

“Thanks Mary. You’re the best.” I smile at her as I take half of the offered pancakes, before turning to leave.

“So, Tommo, who’s the lucky she-wolf?” She asks just before I reach the door, but I don’t bother to dignify her question with a response.

We walk out of the pack house in silence as we hurriedly eat our breakfast. They would be better with syrup, but straight out of the pan they still taste good. We decide to ride our bikes to the beach. It’s been months since we last rode them and I’m glad of a ‘legitimate’ reason to go to the beach this early. Even though I’d prefer to be going alone, I’m sure Jace won’t hang around for long once he’s seen Rex make a tit of himself.

***

By the time we reach the beach Uncle Rex is already in the water. Surprisingly, he looks pretty good, much to Jace’s disappointment. He hangs around on the sand with me for a few minutes but the lure of his mate becomes too much and he heads back to the pack house, leaving me alone to wait for the surf shop to open. I stare out to the horizon, enjoying the peacefulness when I smell the beautiful faint scent of my mate. I resist the urge to turn around, and look at her as my heart starts to beat quicker. I have been planning this moment for two weeks, but my mind goes blank and I can’t remember anything that I planned to say, so I stay still staring straight ahead. That is until the ache in my heart returns, snapping me out of the trance. How could she do that whilst I’m so close? I spin around and my eyes instantly focus on her. A man, that judging by his scent and stature is a human, has his arm around her shoulders pulling her towards him, whilst he kisses the side of her face repeatedly.

“You better tell him to get his hands off our mate.” Ash demands furiously.

“I can’t.” I growl, staring in disbelief as we witness the betrayal with our own eyes.

“Not here Sunny.” She eventually says, gently pushing him away.

“Ok, but you’ll have to make it up to me later, babe.” The human says giving her a final kiss before releasing her. The second his hands are off her the pain starts to subside, leaving the awful emptiness that I felt all night. She lifts her hand in a gentle wave as he leaves her side, picks up a surfboard and runs right past me into the sea.

My mate turns her back to us without even acknowledging our presence, then walks into the shop. I check to make sure the guy isn’t watching, then follow her inside.

“We’re not open yet.” She says, her eyes staring wide at me as if in fear, and I can hear her heart pounding in her chest, almost matching the rapid beats of my own.

“I’m not here to shop.” I reply tersely.

“Then why are you here?” She asks with a shaky voice.

“You’re my mate. I came to see you.” I answer honestly.

“Look, I’m sure you’re lovely and everything, but I don’t want to be in this mate bond with you.”

“Please, just give me a chance.” I beg desperately. The anger at witnessing the betrayal of our bond is gone, replaced by a terrible feeling of exasperation.

“A chance for what exactly? I have a boyfriend. I was happy with him before I met you, I would be happy with him again if I didn’t have this bond with you. I never asked for a mate. I don’t want one, and I certainly don’t need one. I want to be free to choose who I want to be with.” Her words sting one after the other as she unleashes them in a vicious torrent.

“You are free to choose, just give us a chance to get to know each other first.” I try to reason with her.

“If I’m free to choose, then I choose Sunny.” She delivers her death blow with precision, and it actually feels like my heart is breaking into a million pieces that fall down into the pit of my stomach.

“Ok.” I mutter, fighting back the tears. “I am going to say something to you. It might hurt a lot at first, but when I have finished you have to repeat it back to me, but with your name instead of mine, ok? I, Thomas James, future …” Ash objects loudly, as he tries to wrestle control away from me, but our mate has already made up her mind. She doesn’t want us, and there is nothing left for us to do. This is the only way to break her free from this bond and allow her to be happy, even if that means she will be happy with someone else.

“What are you saying?” Her beautiful eyes widen in shock. I don’t feel any physical pain yet, so I can’t imagine that she is feeling any, but her expression is one of hurt.

“It’s a rejection. It will sever the mate bond between us forever. You will no longer feel the need to be with me. You can go back to being happy with your boyfriend.” I can’t bear to look at her anymore, to see what I am losing forever, so I close my eyes tightly and try to block her face from my memory.

“What about you?” She asks, her voice barely a whisper.

“I think even without the mate bond I will still want to be with you, but I won’t be drawn to you like I am now.” I pause to take a deep breath. “Ok. I, Thomas James, future Beta of the ...” I can’t hold the tears back any longer and they leave my closed eyes, and roll down my face.