You Have Always Been Mine

Chapter 11 ~ Mate part 2

Ginny gasps, her eyes widening, and leans forward so much he fears she would fall off the balcony. “Really!?”

"Yes," Goddess, it feels good to be able to tell someone! He takes a deep breath and laughs. “Yes, I can hear his voice in my head and talk to him now.”

“Oh my goddess!” Ginny starts jumping up and down in excitement. “Have you shifted too!? Do my parents know!? What’s your wolf like!? Can I see him right now!? Wait, isn’t your birthday next month!? How is it possible you already shifted!? Maybe your birthday is wrong. Oh, please, show me, show me!”

He chuckles, excited and pleased by her reaction. “Actually, I haven’t shifted yet, but somehow I can already hear him inside my head—”

“What!?" she frowns, looking adorably confused. "I’ve never heard of a wolf spirit waking up prior to shifting. Usually, it’s the other way around, isn’t it?”

He shrugs. “Well, that may be but we have already started having conversations. He says hi, by the way. And he says to tell you—” he blushes, nearly biting his tongue. 'I'm not gonna tell her that! Not yet, at least!'

“What!? Tell me what!?”

He sighs, deciding to just improvise. “To tell you you’re beautiful and…”

“Aww! How sweet! And..?”

Max clears his throat. “And that you smell good…”

‘That’s not what I said…’ his wolf teases him, chuckling. ‘Coward!’

‘It’s not cowardice, it’s called finesse and not being a creep,’ he mutters defensively, feeling his ears burning hot. 'It's too soon to tell her such things...'

‘Oh, sure. Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better. Doesn’t make it true.’

Max rolls his eyes, starting to miss the privacy of his own thoughts with no running commentary. And it hasn’t even been a full hour since his wolf has awakened.

“So what’s your wolf’s name?” Ginny asks.

“Huh?”

She giggles. “His name! C’mon, Max! Don’t tell me you haven’t asked him. That is such guy thing to do!”

He scratches the back of his head. “Well, it’s not even an hour since and I… I haven’t gotten around to doing that…yet. To be fair, he didn’t ask me about mine either…” he adds lamely, wincing as he realizes he just made things worse.

His wolf snorts but says nothing.

“Boys!” Ginny clicks her tongue in mock disapproval. “Well? Ask him now!”

Max turns inward. ‘So… what is it? She’s asking for your name… Do you already have one or am I supposed to give you a name myself?’

‘Tell her she can call me anything she wants. I will accept whatever name she comes up with,’ his wolf huffs. ‘In any case, I'm sure she will come up with something much better than anything you’d pull out of your ass.’

'Is that so?' Max grins. “He says his name is Buddy.”

‘You’re just proving me right, jerk!’

Ginny frowns. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No, not at all,” Max tells her with a straight face, while laughing inside. “It’s Buddy all right.”

‘Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want. She’ll find out you’re an i***t anyway, as soon as I take form because she’s going to hear it from me.’

Max smirks. ‘Yeah, but by that time, Buddy would have already stuck.’

He knows he’s kind of acting out of character but he’s not quite himself right now. There’s something quite liberating about the certainty of his future that he feels rather giddy as he mercilessly teases his wolf back. Add to the giddiness of being back on good terms with Ginny again and no longer worrying for his mom…

For the first time in forever, he feels young and carefree.

Ginny narrows her eyes at him and clicks her tongue again. “I find that hard to believe somehow. Not that it’s a horrible name, it’s just… not very dignified for a wolf.” She winces and mutters. “It sounds more like a dog name.”

Max shrugs, unbothered. “Humble origins and all that. I like it.”

She sighs. “I think I’m gonna wait until you shift so I can see if it fits him. I may even give him a proper nickname, if he’s cool with that.”

'Now I understand why you chose her. I love her already.'

Max ignores him. “You should probably go inside already, Momogin. It’s late and you don’t want to be late for school tomorrow.”

“Sleep!? No way! How do you expect me to sleep now, when you just told me such exciting news!? I mean, I can’t wait to see everyone’s face when they find out!”

“Oh, yeah, about that,” he clears his throat. “We can’t tell anyone yet. At least, not until after I’ve shifted.”

“What!? But that’s not for another month!”

“They will want proof and I have nothing yet except the extra voice in my head only I can seem to hear. You see, I went to your father this evening hoping he could sense my wolf already without me telling him but he doesn’t seem to notice yet and I have… very specific instructions not to tell anyone what happened tonight.”

“What do you mean? What happened?”

Max takes a deep breath. “The Moon Goddess came to me tonight, I guess, to awaken my wolf.”

“And Dad doesn’t know? Oh wow… that’s… weird,” Ginny gasps. “Wait, but you told me about it---”

“Yes.”

“But… I thought you said---I mean, won’t that get you into trouble?”

He stares at her for a long time before whispering “Not for telling my mate.”