The Wizard's Rogue Mate

Chapter 3: My Biscuits

Grey's POV:

The door opens without me having to use a key, which is a good thing because I forgot it anyway. That means Emily is home. Good, maybe she’ll know how to deal with this.

Then again, why would she? She’s not a werewolf and the most experience she has with a relationship is a few one night stands in the club a couple of towns over.

“Em?” I call into the house, closing the door behind me and slipping my shoes off so I don’t get dirt all over the white marble floor. My voice echoes around the cream walls of the hallway, something I’ve gotten used to after five years of living here.

“In the living room!” she calls back distractedly. Wandering through the second door frame on  the right, I’m not surprised to see my guardian with a lit cigarette hanging from the side of her mouth, white hair pulled into a loose braid behind her heart shaped face and her square framed, black reading glasses perched on the tip of her nose.

There is an array of documents and pens spread out in front of her, one of which she’s staring intently at. You wouldn’t think she was a day over twenty, when in reality, she’s four hundred and seven this year.

Vampires age incredibly slowly, and that’s exactly what Emily is. It’s funny, a vampire being the guardian of a werewolf/wizard hybrid. She found me about a month after I ran away from home and tried to persuade me to go back, but I didn’t want to. I still don’t.

When I was fifteen, I shifted into a wolf and wizard at the same time. The night before, I found something in my father’s desk which I think triggered it. I couldn’t stay with him and his mate after that, so I left. I was doing okay on my own for a while, but shifting still hurt a lot, and I couldn’t control the sudden bursts of power that ran through my fingers and knocked down miles worth of trees at once. So instead of leaving me to fend for myself when she found me sleeping in a tree trunk that night, she took me into her own home; a huge mansion in the countryside.

At first, she was trapped in a child’s body because she thought that messing with a bunch of elves would be a fun time waster, but that’s a story for another time. The council banished her to a child form from midnight to seven at night. She was meant to live out the punishment until the child’s body died, but the council let her free a year after she found me. That may or may not have been because I figured out how to manipulate people’s minds with my magic, but we don’t speak of that.

“Hi.” I smile, taking a seat on the leather sofa next to her, while she sits on a huge fluffy chair in front of a silver coffee table. We make a lot of money between us, that’s no secret.

“Hey sweetie.” She replies, scribbling something down on the paper she has in front of her. Emily works as a therapist, which is funny to me, but she takes her job very seriously. That’s how we met, she was my dad’s therapist for years.

When I left them, dad stopped with the sessions. Him and his mate, Avery, looked for me for ages, but they never looked here. I should feel bad, but after I found what I did in his study, I swore I would never go back there. “How was your day?” she adds, puffing out a few clouds of smoke and leaning back in the chair. I don’t know what to tell her.

“Not quite what I expected.” I reply, flicking my wrist so a cup of coffee appears on the table in front of me. I pick up the mug and take a long sip.

“Oh no, did you have to kill her?” she asks curiously and with pity. I shake my head and put the cup down again.

“No, there was purity beneath the blood.”

“Then what’s the matter? Is it a tricky case?” she tries again, taking her glasses off and flicking them onto the desk.

“It’s going to be near impossible.” Running a hand through my hair, I subconsciously decide to tell her. I would trust Emily with my life. Even though she’s reckless, she’s always been a good replacement for my parents, and I know she will be clear headed with this information. “The girl, Athena Valens, is a rogue. In fact, she’s the leader of a rogue pack. I knew that already from the brief. She was looking for a friend in the woods when I found her. I wasn’t thinking straight, Em! I didn’t know what to do or say! I ended up piercing the minds of her whole pack and then threatening her!” My voice comes out rushed and panicked at the end, filled with regret and annoyance at myself.

“Wait, why would you do that?” Emily chuckles at my uneasiness, picking a champagne glass of blood from in front of her and sipping it gently while watching me.

“She’s my mate.” I state, watching as all the blood Emily was about to swallow comes spurting back out her mouth as she gapes at me. With a roll of my eyes, I pull the blood splatters from the white carpet with a move of my second finger and turn it to dust before chucking it out the open window.

“Y-you found your mate?” she repeats slowly, the words jumbling out her mouth in a stutter. I take another gulp of my coffee and nod.

“Yep. And she just happens to be the case I’m meant to be working on.” I sigh, running a hand through my hair.

“Should I send the case back? Someone else can do it instead?” Emily is silent for a minute, a finger on her chin in contemplation. “It gets worse. Do you remember her parents?”

“How the hell would I know who her parents are?” She replies incredulously.

“Katherine and Robert Valens.” I add, watching as her eyes grow wide with shock and she stands up from the chair, beginning to pace in front of the table, over the fluffy blue rug.

“This is quite the predicament you have found yourself in.” she sighs, closing her eyes and still pacing. This is her thinking pose. I’m just lucky she hasn’t started with the yoga yet; last time, she broke the fireplace. It was made of bricks. Bricks.

“No,” she starts after a while. I guess she must’ve had a lightbulb moment. “No, you need to continue with it. Think about it, Ben,” I glare at her for calling me that. It’s a habit of hers to call me by my legal name, but there’s a reason I changed it. Naturally, she ignores me. “The girl being your mate will just make it easier for her to trust you. You’ll have her fixed in a second! And anyway, would you really trust someone else to do it instead? You’re the best in the f*****g business; she’ll be in good hands with you.”

“But she shouldn’t trust me if I’m lying to her.” I argue.

“Honey, I hate to say this, but your job comes before your love life in this instance. At the end of it, if you’re not together, then at least she’ll be better for it.”

Eventually, I made up my mind. The moon makes an appearance as I leave the warmth of the house and I pray to God that this goes well.

When I get to her house, I transport myself straight to her room, finding her gulping down ice tea in her pyjamas.

Athena's POV:

“You know, you’re not meant to drink tea before bed.” His voice swirls around my mind like a tornado, confusing me in so many different ways.

“How did you get in here?” I ask tiredly, even though his presence makes my mind feel totally awake, my body is exhausted. I don’t want to deal with this right now. In the books, mates are either in love after a few hours of meeting, or there is something that prevents them from being together. I want us to be the first choice. I want everything to be fine and I want to have a future with my mate, with my family. Thing is, I can’t stop that flicker of doubt that sparks in my brain every time I see those black, white and purple tendrils snaking along his arms and curling around his fingers.

Grey chuckles and takes a seat on the bed, now dressed differently to earlier, with a casual V-neck shirt and a pair of black washed jeans. I don’t move away, but I don’t lean closer either.

“I’m guessing you haven’t figured out what I am yet if you’re asking that question.” He mumbles, resting his head against the pale blue wall of my bedroom. The training schedule is stuck a few centimetres above his head in replacement of the old boy band posters I used to have.

“I am way too tired to be thinking right now.” I mutter, crossing my legs and placing a pillow into my lap. My guard is up, it always is. I have a knife hidden inside the pillowcase and a gun under the mattress.

“That would explain the lack of warriors surrounding us right now.” he replies with a straight face, but I think it’s meant to be a joke. His eyes are on me every second he’s speaking, however I don’t meet his gaze. I want answers, and the way to get them is to be bold and creative. Eye contact will only distract my wolf. Eye contact will only distract me. I don’t say anything in return. “I’m a werewolf wizard hybrid.” He says eventually, causing me to immediately look at him.

I thought wizards were nearly, if not extinct, until a few years back, when a couple were on the news looking for their son. They didn’t say a lot, other than he had wizard blood, so I presumed they all were. I forget the names.

“I didn’t think hybrids existed.” I wonder out loud, genuine curiosity lacing my voice. “Genes don’t work like that.”

“And who said that?” Grey counters, half smirking. I think about it. We learnt about genes and DNA back when I still attended school, but I’ve forgotten almost everything. I leave the biology side of things to the doctors.

“I don’t know? Some human guy?” I sigh, running a hand through my hair. It’s got knotty again since I brushed it a few minutes ago. Typical.

“Exactly. But humans don’t know that the supernatural exists. Genes don’t work like that in their species, but that doesn’t mean they don’t work like that for others.” I raise an eyebrow; it sounds like he’s said that before. It sounds almost rehearsed. Not bothering to argue, I shrug my shoulders. He does have a point. We sit in silence for a few seconds, Grey in contemplation and me in confusion. If he was one of the wolves I have in the holding cells then I would’ve tortured the answers out of him in a millisecond.

But you can’t because he’s our mate. My wolf reminds me. I ignore her.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot earlier.” My mate breaks the silence with an understatement that has me laughing while he just stares at me, waiting for me to stop. 

“You hurt every single one of the rogues that I’m the leader of and will protect with my life because you wanted me to go with you, and you ‘think we got off on the wrong foot’?” I say when I’ve finally stopped with the uncontrollable laughter.

“I misjudged you, and I shouldn’t have done it. For that, I apologise.” I snap my eyes up to meet his after the words process in my brain, all tiredness gone from my system. Of course, my wolf forgives him immediately. It makes my human side want to let it go, but as they say, first impressions are everything, and considering how he met my pack, I’m not sure if giving in to him will be the smartest move as far as the group is concerned. There are at least a hundred rogues, and winning over all of them after he physically hurt them like he did is going to be very difficult.

“They hate you now. I’ve put security in order for the sole purpose of keeping them safe from you. I don’t think sorry is quite going to cut it.” I answer tightly, earning a sigh from Grey.

“Come on, Athena, I know you want to be with me. I regret causing them pain deeply; I was distracted by finding you and I wasn’t thinking right. I’ve said I’m sorry, and I stick by that.”

“It doesn’t matter what I think. I care more about my parents’ work than I do a mate.” Standing up from the bed, I decided I can’t sleep anymore, not with him here. His footsteps follow me all the way down to the kitchen, where I fill up the kettle and put it on to boil. “You should leave.” I add curtly, pulling a packet of biscuits out the cupboard and nibbling on the edge of one. Grey tries to take one too. I slap his hand away and glare at him.

“Well maybe you should change your priorities.” His voice is more agitated than I thought it would be. Turning away from him, I pull the instant hot chocolate powder off the shelf above the microwave and dump a few teaspoons of it in the biggest mug I own.

“I can’t.” My answer is short, clipped, vulnerable. But true. My job as a leader is my life. All my motivation and time has gone into making up the most feared and organised collection of rogues in the country and my mate is deluded if he thinks I will give all of mine and my parents’ achievements up for him. Without waiting for a reply, I take my now filled mug of hot chocolate to my office and set it down on the desk, grabbing the paperwork I didn’t get to finish earlier and placing it down in front of me with a pen.

It’s not a surprise that he follows me. Grey is way too persistent.

“You really shouldn’t jump to conclusions, Athena.” He strides into the room with his hands in his pockets and a determined look in his sparkling silver eyes. Maybe that’s where his name came from. Signing a signature on the front of a contract for two new rogues to be able to join us from England, I barely see him move as he puts both hands down on the edge of the oak desk, leaning over it so our faces are nearly touching. Needless to say, I nearly have a stroke when I look up. “Do me a deal.” He says huskily, breathing softly through his nose. I grip the pen with all my strength in the effort of not letting my wolf get control. It doesn’t matter who he is to her, she just wants to jump his bones.

“What’s the deal?” I mutter back shakily, my other hand flat on the table and eyes on the verge of fluttering closed. If I moved my face forward an inch, our lips would be touching.

“Go out with me tomorrow. If you still want me to leave you alone after that, then I will let you reject me, no questions asked.” He says, running his tongue over his bottom lip.

“I’m busy tomorrow.” Something in me is disappointed because of that, but I do have a lot to do tomorrow. I point vaguely in the direction of my schedule on the desk; a flimsy piece of paper with my clumsy handwriting all over it. I have to check on the training tomorrow, as well as taking a class of juveniles since the trainer is on maternity leave.

After that, I have a lunch break in which I will be checking on Liam, and then I have to go to the hospital to make sure everything is running smoothly there. I’m patrolling until dusk, and then I have the night shift of border watch again for some downtime. I really don’t have any time to spend with Grey.

I follow his eyes as he looks to the timetable, squinting to read it.

“I could always accompany you throughout your day?” he suggests, standing up straight again, thus snapping me out of my daze as he picks up the paper and eyes it with scrutiny.

“My pack hates you. That won’t sit well.” I reply, leaning back in my chair and sipping my hot chocolate.

“Who said they have to see me?” and then he’s gone. Literally, his whole body disappears. I can’t even pick up on his smell or movement. Feeling exposed, I put my mug down on the table and stand up, walking over to the wall and standing with my back flat against it. I still don’t trust Grey, and I don’t know if he would try and attack me from behind or not.

There’s a soft chuckle, but I don’t know where it comes from.

His face suddenly appears in front of mine and I knee him in the groin instinctively, but I never hit anything. I look down to see that only half of his body is actually visible now, and the rest is not there. Grey laughs loudly at my confused face, then kisses my cheek lightly.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” His breath fans against my hair as he whispers into my ear, and then his face is once again gone. I hear the rustle of a plastic wrapper, and watch as my packet of cookies goes floating out of the door.

“Hey! Come back!” I yell out the door, but it’s no use.

The bastard took my biscuits.