The Beta's Human Mate

Thank You For Telling Me

  Serenity took a deep breath and turned her torso to look at him too.  She rubbed her hands on her thighs a couple times and looked down as he grabbed her closest hand and entwined his fingers in hers. She felt the almost familiar warmth and met his eyes.

  “Is it going to feel like this every time we touch?” She asked without thinking. He paused for a second then a slow smile spread across his lips. She watched, fascinated by every muscle, and realized she loved his smile. If his touch made her feel warm, this made fireworks go off in her stomach.

  “From what I know, yes. I feel it too, ya know.” He used the arm that was behind her and stroked her hair. She leaned into his palm and breathed in. When she looked up again, he was still smiling and gold flecks danced over the surface of his eyes. She found herself wanting to tell him everything.

  “I’ve never really talked about it. The council is great at training people to repress emotions.”

  His smile disappeared, but he started stroking her hair again, and that helped her. She knew she would have to leave a lot of details out. He couldn’t know she hated him.

  “I can’t remember where I’m from anymore. I just remember that my father, mother, and I were on a road trip and we were going to rent a cabin in the middle of the forest to go for a hike to a waterfall my mother wanted to see. That night I heard them being murdered in the other room. My mother was able to help me escape out of a window and I just kept running through the trees.”

 Serenity paused. She didn’t want to remember those screams and the sound of tearing flesh. She didn’t want to see the shadows and hear the howling and growling of the wolves that killed her family without mercy. Her mother had been lucky to be able to get to her daughter’s room. Even luckier that once she broke through the windows and tossed her daughter out of it, the window was too tiny for the giant wolf.

  She looked up at Damien. With the memory fresh in her mind, she remembered what he was. A monster. A murderer. She was only alive because he had that stupid bond drawing him to her. If not for that he would kill her without a thought. She pulled her hand from his unconsciously and turned to look at the floor.

  “Vladimir found me in the forest close to sunrise. He could have finished me off, but I guess I wasn’t even worth it. He took me to the council and said he would train me too never be powerless again.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Ten.”

  Damien was silent for a moment. His hand was still where she had left it on his lap. She was repulsed with herself that she ever let him touch her. She imagined those hands turning into claws and tearing through her stomach. She imagined that he was one of the wolves that she had heard growling before cutting off her mother’s screams.

  “Vladimir never turned you?”

  “He started offering when I turned eighteen, but I kept saying no. And would have, always. I have nothing against vampires personally, but I just have no interest in being one.”

  Damien nodded and reached for her hand again, but she turned and refused to look at him.

  “Thank you for telling me. I know, it’s hard to live through past trauma.” Something in his voice made her turn and meet his eye again. She could see her own pain reflected there. “Serenity, I promise, I’ll never let anything like that happen to you again.”

  “I can take care of myself.” She looked straight ahead. She wished she hadn’t told him anything. She could have deflected. She knew she needed to earn his trust, but she wanted nothing more than to run away right now.

  “Serenity, as long as I’m around, you don’t have to do it alone. That’s the great thing about the bond, and a pack. From now on, all your troubles are mine, and you have a whole pack to protect you.” She was sure he meant it to be comforting, but all she could think was “protect me from innocent people sleeping out in the woods?”

  She didn’t let any expression on her face and allowed him to take her hand again, as much as she wanted to slap him away. This time the warm feeling that flowed through her made her feel gross, like she was betraying her family by feeling good around him.

  Damien seemed to see that she was uncomfortable and sighed.

  “I hate to leave you again, but I have to see to my troops. Also, fair warning, Mel mentioned throwing a party to welcome you to the pack in the next few days.”

  “Yeah, we’re going clothes shopping tomorrow morning.” Serenity groaned.

  Damien raised an eyebrow at her. She crossed her arms. “Not every girl automatically loves clothes shopping.” She stated.

  He smiled again, and Serenity kicked herself for loving that she’d seen him smile twice. “I’ll be back before dinner to take you to the dining room. Until then you’re welcome to make this place as comfortable as you like. There’s a tv, a laptop in the drawer, books of course…,” He pointed to each item.

  “The piano?” She asked. She still couldn’t wrap her head around Damien sitting down and playing Chopin.

  “You play?”

  “A little. You?”

  “Not at all”

  She looked at him and he sighed. “A story for another time.” He pulled her close for a second and planted a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be back before you know it.” He said and let her go.

  Don’t hurry back. She growled to herself.

  She turned on the TV that she had missed in the bedroom and sat at the end of bed, flipping through the channels. She had never been much for TV, and quickly got bored. Same with the books, though she did set aside some she might want to read at a different time. Finally her eyes landed on the piano. Since she had first hear Markus she had loved the instrument. Quickly she found her collection of sheet music on her tablet and started playing.

 She didn’t even realize it when Damien entered the room again, maybe two hours later. The room was soundproof, but when he opened the door the sweetest, most haunting melody drifted through the air. He stood for a moment and listened. He didn’t recognize the tune, but he immediately thought of his family. His heart ached for a moment before he hardened it again and stepped fully into the study. Her back was to him and he watched as she swayed lightly each time she moved her hands.

  He sat on the couch and watched her for a moment. He wasn’t sure how to tell her how he was in the room after all this time, and he didn’t really want her to stop playing. Even with her back to him she seemed more comfortable now than she had since they’d met. Even Grim was quiet and enjoying the music.

  When one of the gammas mind-linked him to say that dinner was ready he sighed and stood. He tried to make his steps as heavy as possible to alert her, and once he got close enough it worked, but better than he wanted. She jumped up, knocking over the stool and backing up. He noticed she reached for her hip, the same way he would if he was carrying a knife. What’s that about? He wondered. Have you not seen her? She’s a warrior, duh. Grim’s voice was lathered in sarcasm.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” He raised his hands. She didn’t say anything and the angry look on her face didn’t go away. “You play beautifully.” He stated, hoping it would break the tension. She just looked at the floor. Why is she like this? It’s hot and cold. Damien felt discouragement hit him. Every other mated couple seemed so happy all the time. Maybe it was true. He wasn’t meant for a mate. It seemed like she didn’t even want him most of the time. She even tried to reject him! Grim growled angrily at the memory. If she knew about the mate bond she knew what a big deal that was, and how much saying those words would hurt him.

  “Dinner is ready. You’ll get the chance to meet a couple of the elders.” He lowered his hands and kept any emotion from his voice, even as he felt his heart growing heavy.

  She looked up at him in surprise and then down at her watch. There was no way it was time for dinner already.

  “Right. Sorry, I lost track of time.” She said sheepishly. Even though Grim was right and she looked like a total badass, her looking sheepish made her look adorable.

  “No worries. I’m glad you like the piano.” She glanced up at him and he saw the beginning of a grin on her lips. He couldn’t stop himself and he stepped in front of her, lifted her chin and caught her lips with his own. Her lips were incredibly soft and when she moaned and leaned into him he stopped caring about her being cold. She was his and he only wanted her forever.

  “What happened to dinner?” He could feel her grin against his lips and growled while letting one onto his own.

  “I had something else in mind.” He moved his hand to her hips and pulled her close so she could feel what she was doing to him. She licked his bottom lip seductively and then pulled her face away, causing him to pout, which she obviously thought was hilarious.

  “What if I’m hungry?” She asked, letting her eyes go wide and pouting lightly.

  He growled at her and rolled his eyes, but inside he was happy she was messing with him. He grabbed her hand and led her downstairs.

  Dinner passed uneventfully. Elders Luke and Killian were there, but they were wrapped up in conversation with each other fairly quickly. Apparently two of their grandchildren were mated and planning a wedding.

  Serenity leaned over to Melissa, who was seated beside her. “I didn’t think werewolves bothered with marriage, since the bond was commitment enough?”

  “Some don’t bother with it, but others still appreciate the chance to express the love.” Mel explained.  “And others just want to throw a big party so they can drink and act stupid.” Her voice got hard and she glared at Peter, who shrugged.

  “You had fun too and you know it.” He went back to his plate and Mel shook her head, but also smiled a little and nodded at Serenity to say that she did indeed have fun.

  “You never saw a rogue wedding? I heard they get even wilder.” Mel asked.

  “No, most of the rogues in the council were rejected. The few I saw get together tended to not publicly show affection…. it’s very different there.” Serenity said. She didn’t know how to say that affection was a sign of weakness in the council, where everyone was expected to be battle ready at all times.

  After dinner Damien offered to show her around the pack-house. Every new hallway was filled with artwork and portraits, columns and stained windows that were designed to bring light and beauty into the place. Damien held her hand and pointed out certain people who passed if he felt they were important. Serenity met the head cook, who was horrified to find that she didn’t have a favorite food because she hadn’t ever eaten anything but what she could throw together in a few minutes. She was promised a wide variety of food in the coming weeks to make up for the years of what was termed “tortuous blandness”.

  She noticed that no matter where they went everyone was very respectful to Damien, but also gave him a wide berth. At one point she saw three men lounging on some benches. As soon as they saw Damien they were up, almost at attention and began walking with purpose in the opposite direction. She assumed they were supposed to be on patrol, and chuckled to herself. She didn’t doubt they were afraid of him. Who wouldn’t be when he might be half mountain.

   After a while she started to yawn despite herself. “We can go back to the room…” Damien suggested, pulling her close to his side.

  “Sorry. I'm so used to sleeping during the day. I feel like I haven’t slept in forever.” She said through a yawn. Before she could stop him he had picked her up bridal style and started walking towards their room.

  “I can walk.” She protested and started to wiggle. He chuckled and held her tighter into his chest.  “But as long as I’m here you don’t have to.” He breathed into her ear. With all his muscles around her she decided not to fight and curled into him for the ride.

  She must have even dozed off for a moment because before she knew it she was being laid down in bed. Through the haze she felt his arms disappear and that bothered her. In the next moment she felt the opposite side of the bed dip and turned to him. When she reached out to put her hands back on his chest she realized he had taken his shirt off.

  Her eyes flew open when her fingers touched his skin, the warmth she had felt before nothing to feeling and seeing him. He chuckled at her wide eyes.

  “Like what you see?” The jerk was smug. He knew exactly how she felt. She didn’t even try to hide her amazement when she ran her fingers down his chest and felt the boulders that were his abs. She pressed lightly and felt absolutely no give. This guy must train constantly.

  He moved closer to her and pulled the sheet over them both. Trapped under the sheet with his warmth she felt herself being sucked back into slumber. With her fingers tracing his abs, and his fingers running through her hair, the pair fell asleep.