His Second Mate

Chapter 4

~~~~~~~~~ 3 years later ~~~~~~~~~

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Lillian-Marie's POV

"Alrighty everyone, I want you to get into your fighting stances!" I yell out and watch as the trainees start following my orders. I blow my whistle after a couple of seconds, and some of the year 1 wolves get tackled by year 2 and I silently observe. Our enemies will not hesitate to take someone out, especially if they notice we are not ready. While pacing back and forth with my clipboard I watch the spars in front of me and note constructive criticism. I love delegating some of the training, it was one of the many perks of being the daughter of a gamma. I know battle, even at its worst.

'I need to run soon Lilly' I let out a soft sigh, I knew she did, I wanted to as well, I love the feeling of earth under my paws and the wind rushing through my coat. Plus we had found a pretty creek on one of our adventures, it is so darn beautiful in these woods. Our packs are genuinely blessed to have such outstanding scenery. I loved to explore, so I usually sign up for the boarder control whenever dad is needed at home or has to attend to other matters. As much as I am a lover I know that sometimes the occasion causes for a fight, which is why I trained so hard, to protect my people. I cherished the people around me, my family, friends, our pack,..... Alexander.

I sighed focusing my mind on the layout in front of me, I saw Brandon a year 2 put Jesse on his back knocking the wind out of him, I couldn't help but feel bad for the year 1. Dad figured what better way to train than with already somewhat skilled soldiers. I knew I could take any of them in combat but I wouldn't break a nail just for sport. I gave a short nod to Brandon which caused him to be distracted and smile in approval. Jesse used that as his opportunity to flip the big guy over causing me to smile brightly in his direction. You should never let a woman distract you, especially in battle.

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I gazed at my little cottage, I moved out on my own just last year and I was definitely enjoying the quiet. It was just outside my father's land but not too close to restricted territory. If anything were to happen I could probably take at least 3 wolves by myself and by that time I would have mind-linked the pack of an attack. Mom was sill nervous about it and had me text her every night. I placed my bag next to the couch and sat down with my phone after grabbing a cookie I made the other day. I munched happily until I saw a text from Alex, it was a simple 'hello' but my response will be more than complex. It was sent just an hour ago, near the end of training. I scrolled up a bit to see our very small awkward conversation just two days ago, he had asked if he could crash at mine a few days while visiting. Very dumbly I agreed and I have regretted that since. He would be here in only 3 days. I jumped off the couch and tossed my phone on the cushion, and put away a half eaten cookie, no longer having a sweet tooth. Stepping outside I got a moment of clarity before aggravation took over. I discarded my clothing and took off in a sprint, before letting Lia out to stretch her legs. I got to think while she got to run, a win-win situation. I felt more in control of my feelings when I'm in my human form, it was hard to keep her in line at times, especially when it comes to our mate.

As Lia ran I was quiet, I hadn't let her out in around 2 weeks, and I felt selfish, not once did she complain. My mind wandered to seeing Alex soon. The last time he graced me with his presence was a little over a month ago. There was a meeting with Alpha Derek about rumors of a pack of rouges, I saw him while leaving the bakery with Mia and Derek and I could tell by the look on his face that he missed me but by the time he was free, I was gone. The mate bond was just too painful for us, lucky me, Alex wanted to find his mate so I didn't have to see him with another girl every few weeks. Still, it was hard when all I wanted was to kiss and be held by him, feeling comfort in his arms every night. Getting to hear his laugh, seeing his green eyes sparkle under the moonlight. Feeling him. All of him... As my thoughts ran wild I noticed I was crying, feeling like a shell of myself.

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By the time I made it home it was 12:10 and I had 2 missed calls, one from just 10 minutes ago, both from him. I sat in the shower a good 30 minutes before listening to my voicemail.

'Hey Lilly, I just wanted to let you know I'm coming tomorrow afternoon, figured we needed some time to catch up anyways before I'm busy. Uhm I wanted to give you a warning but I guess you're asleep. Anyways what's better than a surprise?' And with a chuckle, it was over. However, I was shocked, I stood naked gathering my thoughts, mentally I was prepared for Sunday, not Friday. Eventually, I made my way to my king-size bed and found myself drifting off to sleep with one question on my mind: How is it that I'm the only one mate bonded? No matter what, I was determined to find out in the morning.

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I awoke bright and early to my, oh so wonderful, alarm clock. Usually, I would snooze and stay in bed for another hour or so, but I was on a mission. Jumping up I went to start my coffee, If I wanted to get anything done I would need at least a cup or two. I lazily sat on the toilet and turned the shower on to a cool setting, needing to wake myself up more. As I stepped into the shower I started to come alive, I quickly washed my body with my cocoa butter body wash and let the cold water rinse me off. After washing my face I stepped out, wrapped my fluffy pink towel around me, and walked to the closet. Sighing I started to decide what to wear today. I thought of just wearing sweats but I didn't want to seem down around him, however, I didn't want to do too much. After looking through multiple blouses and dressed I let out a huff and just grabbed a maroon-colored crop top that was just shy of my belly button. I chewed my bottom lip and I tried to decide between a pair of leggings or jeans. In the end, I wore dark high-waisted jeans and black converses. I settled on putting most of my hair up in a high ponytail with just two braids in the front. I fluffed my hair out as much as possible and did some quick baby hairs. While staring at myself in the mirror a frown came upon my face, I looked like a tried. Or did it just look like I care about myself? I sighed, quickly shutting my closet door, and looked at my reflection, at least I didn't look heartbroken. I went and filled my mug with coffee and grabbed my laptop while sitting at my little table. I opened up an incognito browser and typed 'one-sided mate'. Of course, I had looked into this before but it had been well over a year. As far as I could tell it was extremely rare and meant you were probably hated by the woman herself. This wasn't a topic to bring up in typical conversation and no one in my pack had ever experienced this, at least, not that I know of. I sipped my coffee as I scrolled past articles I had previously read. Suddenly an updated link caught my eye. I scrolled back up while glancing at the time, 9 am, I still had time. Biting my lip I clicked on the forum.

Help??!! My mate doesn't know we are mates?!!

Q: I just found my mate but it was as if she didn't know yet. I haven't felt this happy before but she seems as if she couldn't care less. -Posted 2003 by Anonymous

I gulped and drank some more coffee, I checked this link before but there had been no knowledge, only sympathy for the poster, now there was a response from 7 months ago. I scrolled down, my heart began beating erratically against my chest, this could be the closest answer I have gotten.

A: Hello, I am sure you won't see this. I'm not even sure I should be sharing this information. I don't know your exact situation but something similar happened to my aunt years ago. She found her mate but he didn't view her as the same. My aunt went to great lengths to find the meaning of her curse. She visited a witch one day who told her there were only two reasons the moon goddess would set such a cruel fate, and one of them was just her own speculation. The first reason being, that one of the two hasn't found their true mate but once do, they will have eyes opened to the truth they will have to choose who they love most. Once the choice has been made the one sided mate bond would break and the cursed one will be free, and if not chosen they will never be able to mate to another soul. Or the other option being that the two are destined for greatness beyond our comprehension and everything under the moon will try and prevent it. My aunt however found her mate and was rejected. She tried to live with the pain but in the end it killed her.

My head was spinning, and my heart hurt for a complete stranger. This poor lady was dead because of a stupid curse, and why? What was the reason for the anguish? Why did we deserve to suffer? A sudden sadness came over me and before I knew it my coffee had gone cold. I let out a single tear before a chime filled the still air. I jumped in my seat and then immediately felt silly, no one was coming to get me. Picking up my phone I saw Alex's name and a mixture of dread and excitement came over me. As much as I wanted to cry, his message said he would see me in 10 minutes and he hoped I was awake because he was bringing breakfast.