My Married Mate

The Rescue

(Unknown POV)

I started my day as usual. I got up early to workout, went work to take care of the important things and then headed towards the beach to meet with my friend Oliver. We met up everyday to take a swim. Oliver was a dolphin shifter. It was weird for a dolphin shifter and a werewolf to be friends. I loved swimming though and having a dolphin for a friend helped keep most predators away when I swam. It's not that I wasn't capable of defending myself, but being in human form while swimming had it's disadvantages if I were attacked. Not that that was the reason I was friends with him. Oliver overall was a great guy. He helped me keep myself calm when s**t at work would become too much for me. Having a "bodyguard" while swimming though was a plus. I made my way down to the beach and Oliver wasn't where we normally met up at. I looked around to see if I could spot him, but no luck. I decided to go for a jog alongside the shore hoping that I would see him along the way. I stopped dead in my tracks. The most amazing aroma hit me and I started into a full sprint. The sweet smell of vanilla and lavender mixed with a feminine smell I couldn't put my finger on filled the air. I had to follow the scent. I knew what I was running towards or rather who. My mate. I heard her before I saw her. I stopped about 20 yards away and watched as a gorgeous brunette ran into the ocean. I wanted to run after her, but I could now sense it. She was a human. How... how was my mate a human? Why would the Moon Goddess do this to me? I had waited all my life for my mate and here she was before me, but I couldn't just go to her and tell her that she was mine. Nor would she know if she saw me that I was hers. I stayed back and watched my beautiful mate skillfully rush through the water. She stopped once she reached a small child and embraced her. "I got to touch a dolphin Mommy." I hear the girl say. Mommy? My mate had a child? Pain pierced my heart at the thought of my mate with another man. I didn't know how to feel. I started to turn to walk away, but then I smelled her fear. I looked closely at the water. s**t, there was a shark. Not just any shark, a shark shifter. He must had been waiting and watching. I couldn't just let my mate and her daughter become fish food. I ran towards the water and just before I got there Oliver showed up out of nowhere and started fighting the shark still in dolphin form. I looked back to see where my mate was and she and her daughter were nowhere in sight. I could still smell her scent though as if she were right next to me. I dived into the water and tried my best to see if they were under the water. I wasn't able to see anything. I went back up to the surface for some air and then I saw my mate and her daughter further out in the ocean. I immediately swam towards them. I got about three feet away from them and my mate spoke to me. "Please, please help my daughter. She's only three and can't swim very well. We were just carried out here by the undertow." The fear in her eyes pained my heart. I would do anything for my mate. "I am here to help you both. I can get you both to shore. Hold on to me." She handed her daughter to me who I placed on my back. "I can swim, please just make sure Aubrey is okay. I'm not strong enough to swim with her, but I can swim back myself." I didn't want to push her into doing anything she didn't want to. "Swim ahead of me. I'll be right behind you. I will make sure to get your daughter there safely." She nodded and started to swim, but glanced back every few seconds to make sure that I was still right behind her. I could have easily passed by her, but I needed to make sure that she would be okay. We made it to shore and I handed Aubrey to her mother. Aubrey turned to me and smiled. "Thank you big strong man." I smiled proudly at her. "Anything for such a beautiful princess." She smiled even bigger at me, but my mate grabbed her daughter and pulled her closer to her. It seemed to be in defense to what I had said. I frowned at her discomfort. "Thank you...I don't know how to repay you." 

"You're welcome, I'm glad I was here to help." I smiled at her and then noticed a change in her heart rate. Maybe she could feel that I was her mate too, but most likely not. Surely that was just wishful thinking on my part. "Mommy, can he have lunch with us?" I stared at my mate wondering if she would consider it. I still didn't know how I felt about her having a child, but so far it wasn't so bad. She was a sweet little girl. No doubt she learned to be sweet from her mother. "No, we don't have lunch with strangers even if they just saved our lives." Her bluntness stabbed me, but I couldn't blame her. I couldn't expect her to automatically trust me. "Aw, okay." Aubrey said while she pouted and looked back at me. "Mommy doesn't like strangers. I'm sorry mr..." I cut her off. "Garrett. You can call me Garrett sweet girl." I smiled sweetly at her. My mate pulled Aubrey closer to her once again and I couldn't help, but feel pain knowing she didn't trust me. "Thank you Mr. Garrett, but we have to get back. I'm sure my husband is worried about us." She said in a firm voice. My heart shattered. My mate was married. This couldn't get any worse. I looked my mate in the eyes and saw a coldness in them, but it wasn't towards me. What was she thinking about? "I understand, I hope you both stay safe. I don't want to have to save you from the water again." I smiled once again and my mate's heart rate picked up again. I loved knowing just that had some affect on her. My mate turned around and walked away picking Aubrey up in her arms. I watched as she headed towards the condos on the beach. There was no doubt in my mind that I would be trying to pick up her scent later to find out where she was staying. I know that was creepy, but I needed to find out more about her. Damn it, I should have asked for her name. I felt a wave of hurt come over me. What was wrong with me? You know what's wrong. Our mate is married and has a child. We can never have her. There is no point in knowing her name. My wolf painfully admitted exactly what I already knew. I hadn't stopped hurting about it ever since those words left her mouth. She had a husband. In our werewolf law, you did not interfere with marriage or bonded mates. The pain of my reality set in. I needed to get away from her scent. It was making me hurt even more. I ran the other way and then remembered that Oliver had been fighting a shark during the time I was rescuing the girls. I looked around to see if I could spot him anywhere. I only had to search for about five minutes  until I found him. He was dressing a couple of wounds the he had no doubt gotten from the fight. "It was lucky that you came by when you did Garrett." Oliver said to me as I walked up. That shark did some damage to him, but luckily Oliver is able to handle himself. "What happened to the shark?" I asked hoping that he would say he killed it. "He was able to swim away, but I did some damage." That wasn't good enough. I clenched my fist in anger, wishing I could have killed the shark with my bare hands for threatening the life of my mate. "I didn't even sense the shark until he was right on the girls." Then it hit me. Aubrey said she got to touch a dolphin. "Were you the reason the girl was in the water?" Oliver shifted his gaze down, almost as if he was ashamed. "I was going to bring that little girl back to shore right before her mother freaked out and made me swim away. I didn't mean to leave her vulnerable like that." It was Oliver's fault? "Listen, before you say anything I know that it was stupid what I did. I just couldn't help myself. I was swimming nearby while I was waiting for you and I heard the little girl talking to the water about how she wanted a dolphin friend to take home and pet. She was absolutely adorable and I wanted to make her dreams come true if only slightly. I didn't expect for her to get on top of me when I approached her. I should have gotten her off somehow, but I started to swim instead and before I could take her back to the shore her mother came running after her." I clenched my fists in anger. "You're the reason my mate was in danger?!" I was taken aback by my confession. Oliver looked at me with wide eyes. "Your mate? You must be mistaken friend. That was a human. There's no way a human is your mate."