His Blind Mate

Chapter 20 Before The Storm

Kyhan

Wind fluttered the white lace curtains in. I had those doors closed since she disappeared, wanting to have her scent contained within the room for a little longer. When it eventually faded, I thought I’d lose my mind. Margo had to convince me for a whole month before I handed her the sheets, pillowcases, and our clothes for washing. That was the last time anyone had ever touched her stuff besides me. Even I hesitated at times, feeling like I’d sully her memory by polluting her space. Her memory. I knew she was alive, but figured she’d ran away for good.

Right now, though? She was back in our room, peacefully asleep on her side. Her thick hair splayed on the white pillow, there was a faint color of pink on her cheeks, and a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead from the heat of the comforter.

Awake, she looked like she was trying her hardest to hide every emotion behind an expressionless face. She had it perfected to the tiniest muscle. Or so she thought. Even the almost unnoticeable flaring of her nose was a reaction to her surroundings. Her body wasn’t as honest if one observed closely.

Asleep, she looked more in peace and relaxed. It suited her better. Her long lashes curled against her cheeks, and her pouty lips were just begging to be kissed. I smiled at the memory of those lips on mine. Admittedly, I was too much of a coward to steal a quick kiss as our first. Still, it was more than what I deserved for deserting her.[s1]

I chose to sit on a stool beside her instead of joining her in bed. We were working on us. The last thing I needed was for my urges to take control and ruin this once more. She asked for boundaries. I brought her to our room. I was already skating on thin ice.

Kai had been wagging his tail, excited to have her close to us again. He missed our mate, too. At one point, it became really bad between us that he stopped talking to me for months.

“You good there, Kai?”

“Happy,” he answered with a howl.

“Yeah. I am too,” I replied, content with watching her.

When the wind became chilly, I stood to close the doors that led to the balcony. Thick gray clouds appeared overhead. The tree lines had an edge to them across the darkening horizon and the silhouette of a flock of birds that progressively got smaller as the distance lengthened. The sight caused an unease in my gut like a malignant foretelling.

I shook the feeling off as I set my gaze back to her. Only to see her trying to prop herself up on her elbows.

“Hey, easy.” I helped her sit up with her back against the headboard.

“Where am I?” she asked, her brows furrowed.

“Yula said you need to rest,” I answered, unsure how she’ll respond to the truth. She pulled on the comforter until she was covered with it up to her neck. “Are you cold?”

She nodded. That made me smile. It was easier when she was willing to talk.

I took out a black pullover sweater with a large cute bear design on the front; bought it just two months ago when I went out to buy clothes for myself. The cabinet was running out of space again. I’d have to get another – except there wasn’t space left big enough for it.

“Put this on.” I guided her arms through the sleeves. She just let me, which was a little surprising.

“This smell new.”

“It is.”

“Oh. Is this yours?”

“It’s yours,” I said truthfully. “You left a lot of clothes back then. Couldn’t throw them out.” That was technically still the truth.

“Hm.”

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“Why am I here?” she sighed.

“You fainted and I carried you here.”

“Kyhan, your scent is everywhere. I know I’m in your bedroom.”

I sat beside her, the mattress dipping from our combined weight. “Are you mad?”

She gathered her knees together and rested her chin on top of them. “I don’t know,” she said. “I suppose it’s familiar.”

“Is it the bad kind of familiar?” My nerves were on edge from the long pause.

“I don’t think so. Didn’t think I’d be back here again, with you, in your bed.”

I reached out to pat her head. “Didn’t think I’d find you again. Figured you were keeping it low profile but living a normal life.” My hand hovered above her head, hesitating, then I curled my fingers in and drew it back. She … might not appreciate me touching her right now.

“Hm. We don’t get to have a normal life. We’re wolves. I suppose everyone made it back alive?” she asked, steering the conversation away from those dreary times.

I nodded. Then quickly correcting myself, said, “Yeah.”

Luan tilted her head towards me and offered a small smile. My heart would literally explode if she didn’t stop being cute. “That’s a relief.”

“Think of yourself for now. Yula didn’t find anything out of the ordinary but I know damn well wolves don’t faint without reason.” I sighed. “We don’t have to talk about it.”

To save me from the building awkwardness, a heaven-sent knock came from the door. I left her side and opened the door to find Margo smiling widely at me, a tray on her hands. “Margo!” I exclaimed, surprised to find her here.

“Oops. Am I interrupting, Alpha?” she asked with a knowing wink.

I chuckled at her expressive face. “No, not at all. Come in.”

“Luan, I’d like you to meet Margo. She’s the Head Omega of the pack. Margo, this is my mate, Luan.”

“Oh, there’s no need to get up dear,” she fussed, passing over the tray to me as she went to her side. “How are you feeling? I hope the Alpha isn’t giving you any trouble. The packhouse emptied itself after he growled at everyone who had eyes. It’s a wonder he’s not growling right now.”

If there was ever a time in my life that I wished the floor would split and swallow me whole, this was it. She did not need to know that. What if Luan twisted her words in her head and she thought of me as an over possessive mate – that’d have anyone running! It was just a slight overreaction.

“Damn right.” Kai nodded.

I put the tray down on the nightstand and glared at Margo. “What are you doing?” I mouthed, but she was too preoccupied with my mate that she didn’t bother looking my way. Or even if she noticed, she chose to ignore me.

Margo sat beside her and held her hand between hers. Luan returned her smile like she could see it. Unexpectedly, she didn’t recoil or frown since Margo had been in the pack for years.

“I was told you settled somewhere outside the pack. When did you come back?” she asked.

Margo’s smile faltered a little. The truth was that she never left. It was clear that someone lied to her before. Margo was dismissed of her duties under the reason that she was too old to work, by none other than my dad. When I returned, I found her living alone on her family’s cabin which was near the pack’s northern borders.

“Alpha Kyhan asked me to come back when he took the title,” she lied. “You’ve grown so much, Luan.”

“Well, it’s been a long time,” Luan replied. “It’s nice to meet you again, Margo. I should’ve realized it was you at the clinic.”

“It’s fine, dear,” she said as she lovingly stroked her hair. Her eyes were glassy like she wanted to cry. Margo was too soft. She wasn’t involved in the abuse but she knew, and she was helpless to do anything to stop it. An Alpha Order chained her wolf down. “I should be getting back now. Dinner won’t cook itself,” she said, her voice a little high-pitched.

“Thanks for the soup, Margo. It smells delicious.”

Margo didn’t even glance back at me. She bowed lowly at her and hurried out of the door, looking like she was about to burst into tears.

What just happened?

“You know each other?” I couldn’t help but ask the question.

“She was friends with my Mom. She’d bring my brothers and I cookies every weekend. When our parents died, Samuel told me she moved out. I don’t understand why she’d lie to me now.”[s2]

“Lie about what?”

Her voice fell flat and her poker face returned. “She lied. She never left the pack. I’m not stupid, Kyhan. You knew it too.”

“I –”

She sighed as she buried herself under the sheets. “Makes me wonder just many lies I was told back then. Our house didn’t burn down, did it?”[s3]

“Your brothers told you that?”

“I guess not.”

“Luan –”

“Don’t do that,” she said, fluffing up her pillow. “I don’t need you to pity me.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Don’t lie to me, too.” Luan patted the spot beside her. “If you want this to work, don’t lie to me. I can’t stand it. It feels like I’m being betrayed.”

I laid beside her; the soup forgotten. It didn’t seem like she wanted to eat tonight. I didn’t have the heart to force her to. “How do you that? Can you read minds?” I grinned. “’Cause there’s a lot I got to hide from you.”

“Would this be over if I knew?” She was on her side, facing me.

“Maybe. Or maybe it’ll turn you on.”

Her nose scrunched up, I almost laughed at her face. “Ugh. Is that all you think about?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“No,” she said quickly.

“Well …,” I drawled, pausing to poke at the stress lines between her eyebrows, “If you really must know …”

“Ew.”

I chuckled. “That’s not what I heard that morning.”

Her cheeks flamed. She buried half of her face under the comforter. “Kyhan!”

“Want to pick up where we left off?”

“Kyhan!” she gasped, fully burying herself under. I laughed at how childish that was.

“Cute mate,” said Kai.

“Is that a, yes?” I asked teasingly as I pulled on the comforter until the top of her head peeked out.

“We are not doing that,” she whispered like someone was around to hear us. The packhouse was practically empty save for the Omegas in the kitchen.

“Kai says you’re cute when you’re embarrassed.”

“Ugh … tell your flirty wolf to back off.”

“Ha! Cupcake, I’m the flirt. Kai’s all hormones and instinct. Women spend one second with him and they ‘back off’.”

“What!” Kai blurted out.

“Well, it’s not a lie.”

“Yes, but –”

“You growl at them and look at them like they’re pests. Good boy.”

He snarled. “Do not treat me like a dog!”

I grinned at my mate, but her expression was a deadly one.

“Hm. Must’ve been a fun two years, mate.” She turned her back on me, clearly cutting the conversation.

Where did that even come from?

Oh.

I messed up.

“Idiot.”

“Must you remind me?” I groaned. That wasn’t what I meant.

“Do it,” Kai urged.

“Not a good idea.”

Kai had the nerve to growl. “You’re thinking it. If you don’t, I’ll do it myself,” he threatened. It wouldn’t be easy for him to take control of my body, but it’d be a pain to have to fight him for it. “I’m waiting.”

Goddess, why’d you give me this wolf?

I moved closer to her. I placed an arm around her waist and pressed my chest against her back. “There was never anyone else,” I explained, looking down at her. She had the most alluring scent – comfortable and familiar. It might be why she didn’t insist on leaving this room just yet and instead decided to stay the night. It was just a short time, but it might not have been a failure after all – if I could give her even a moment’s peace in here, I must’ve done something right two years ago. “Never had a fling and will never have one. You’re the only one for me, Luan.”

You’ve always been the only one. I buried my nose on the crook of her neck, her skin smooth and supple. My gums itched from the desire to claim her, finally sealing our bond. She was warm and soft against me – this bed just wasn’t the same without her. She was as still as a rock in running water, unyielding to the currents. Then I caught her sweet scent and the subtle movement of her thighs. Instincts urged for me to leave a sort of mark on her – a little bite, my scent on her skin, anything to let other wolves know that she was off limits because she was mine.

“Come here, cupcake.”

I smiled when she faced me again. She buried her face on my chest – as if she could hide the pink on her cheeks. “If you read my mind, you’ll know it’s true.”

“I can’t read minds,” she sighed. “But I can tell when people lie and I don’t like it.”

“Your skill or the lying?”

“Kyhan!”

I chuckled at how easy it was to annoy her. I raised the comforter up to her neck and stroked her head, running my fingers down her brown waves.

“So … you’ve never … you know,” she mumbled. “That … you …”

I hummed, amused by how her voice got quieter as she tried to ask. “Yeah, rewind that one more time?”

She slapped my chest lightly and groaned. “That thing … you’ve never. Ah. Never mind!”

I quickly kissed her hair then let out a breath as I sank into the mattress. A comfortable silence blanketed over us, but I wanted to hear her voice. “Penny for your thoughts?”

“Go die.”

“Only if you want me to.”

“That’s reassuring,” she grumbled.

You’re cute when you’re jealous. “If you really must know, I, Kyhan Stone, Alpha of the Moonstone Pack and mate to Luan Laister, my sweet innocent cupcake who won’t be innocent soon -”

She scoffed at that, and I held back a laugh.

I cleared my throat and resumed. “ – I … am confidently inexperienced.”

“Huh?” She raised herself to face me, her mouth agape. I couldn’t help but grin as I waited for my words to sink in. “No …” she said, disbelief coating her voice.

“What do you take me for? I’m not one to screw anyone who throw themselves at me.”

“But you’re an Alpha!” she argued, pointing an accusatory finger at me.

“Hey, we don’t all live up to that reputation.”

“Are you really an Alpha?” she asked while crossing her arms and arching a brow.

“Damn right I am.” I suddenly yanked her forward that she was too close, I could steal a kiss. Would she rather I fooled around with strangers? Kai would rather throw up than envision someone else on bed with us. “Besides, only my mate can turn me on,” I whispered in her ear, which almost immediately turned red. “Any other woman just doesn’t cut it for me. They’re all sacks of potatoes compared to you.”

Luan pressed down on my chest and threw her leg over to the other side of my thigh, straddling me. Her face was as red as an apple, but there was a teasing grin on her face. She leaned in, grasped my jaw, then bit her lip with a strangled moan that sent a command to my d**k to wake the hell up. “Hmm … Are they now?”

Her hair fell on the sides of her face and grazed on my cheeks; her lips dangerously close. They glistened when she licked them, pink tongue darting out in a split second. I swallowed hard. Luan then ground her hips slowly, making me groan. She moved lithely with her lips hovering above mine.

We exchanged breaths as the air got heavier, as her scent made me heady that she was all I could think of. She should be resting, this minx. She was surprisingly full of energy. As though my body had finally snapped from its state of shock, I grabbed her hair from behind and mashed our lips together. Euphoria. I nibbled on her bottom lip until it was red and swollen before fighting her tongue for dominance. I swallowed her moans as my d**k pressed up against her, as I sucked on her sweet goading tongue.

We were both panting when we parted for air, her arousal forceful on my senses. She was all I could see and smell and taste and feel. It was like seeing her again on the first day I met her, seeing everything about her that made me fall for her before it clicked on my maturing mind.

Those bright green eyes that glinted like emeralds when the light caught them at the right angle, alive and cheerful with a hint of childlike curiosity and naivete, along with a smile that shamed the clusters of purple flowers in bloom, had been my undoing.[s4]

Would she ever understand how I longed to be beside her? Would she ever feel the ache in my chest from having to leave her, forbidden to see her until my training was complete? I was too much of a coward to be able to confide everything to her and too much of an i***t to do so properly. I’d mess it up somehow, along the way, like I always do.[s5]

The Goddess was too merciful. Luan deserved someone better than me and yet here she was, grounding on top of me like I was worthy to be beneath her.

I held her hips, keeping her still. As much as I wanted to keep this going, it was too fast for both of us.

She smiled triumphantly, still panting. “It seems I do turn you on,” she said playfully.

“You have no idea,” I replied, playing along.

Luan giggled, a sound that had lived in my head and my dreams for years. She gave me a quick kiss then dismounted. She hugged me tightly to her side.

“Now that I have a raging boner and you’re dripping, are you happy we’re both horny and unsatisfied?”

“Yes,” she said shamelessly, a wide smile plastered on her face. “I can’t believe you’re really a virgin.”

Where’d the prude go? I liked that version of her but this one was hot too.

“What makes you think I won’t flip you over and have my way with you?” I smirked. “I’m a very, very deprived Alpha.”

“Rejection,” she said casually.

I might as well have been sprayed with pressurized freezing water then thrown into the waters of the Arctic Ocean. This girl could be as cold as liquid nitrogen and she wouldn’t even notice. “You won’t reject me,” I said calmly.

“How can you be so sure?” she asked, yawning.

“Admit it, Luan. You … like me.”

“Hm.” She covered us again when she shivered from the cold air. “Maybe. You’re not too bad.”

“Goddess, I missed you.”

Luan didn’t reply at that. She hummed and snuggled closer to me, taking in my scent. Soon her breathing evened out. I was left with the silence, the interesting ceiling, and her sweet scent of arousal that had me straining myself from slipping away into the bathroom to deal with it on my own.

Someone was out for her. The moon would fall before I let her get herself in more danger. If something went wrong today, if the rogues were waiting for them and not on their way to them, if that vampire kidnapped her – I shook my head at these thoughts. I wasn’t losing her again.

I closed my eyes and linked my Head Gamma.

“Are we doing it tonight, Alpha?” he asked, a bit of uncertainty in his voice. Was he nervous because the captured rogue was female? Rogues are rogues. That woman would’ve ripped his throat out if given the chance.

“I’ll be there in an hour.”

“Understood, Alpha. I’ll have the gammas prepare everything.”

“Good. I’m doing this alone, Siel. Have a good night.”

“But Alpha –”

This was between me and that rogue. I hugged Luan closer still, careful not to wake her. Sleep had long departed from my body. This wasn’t a night I’d waste by closing my eyes. No, tonight, before I did something she’d never catch wind of, I wanted to feel her body against mine and let her scent envelope me and claim me as hers. Before I did something that’d possibly end what we had now, I’d rather imprint these peaceful moments in my head and bask in every second of it.

What kind of mate would I be if I failed to protect her this time? I’d be fine so long as she was alive and healthy and looked after.

I wasn’t as powerless as before. I was the Alpha now.[s6]

My hand froze from stroking her hair when she suddenly giggled. I arched my neck to see her smiling … in her sleep. Then she pouted and said, “S-Stoo … Stooberry.”

Kai’s ears perked. This couldn’t be happening. Why hasn’t she said anything? Does she remember?

XXX

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N:

We are all potatows ... M not even mad xD

Po - tay - tow - sss ...