His Chosen Mate (Complete- Standalone)

Chapter 5

I shook out my dress as best as I possible could before getting dressed, opting not to put on my damp panties and bra. I don’t know why all these girls' belongings bothered me so much, it just did. I remembered Emily’s words from last night. We don’t date the red flags, we ride the ride. Get out of your feelings Ashleigh, he is a stranger. So what, you f****d. Don’t think too much about it.

As much as I tried to get it out of my head, I couldn’t. We toured the house and in every room I noticed something that screamed of a woman’s touch. He is probably married or mated. I know he gave you that line about Full Howl not having mates, but that's a load of sh*t. Wolves are wolves, all the same.

“Hey, now that I’ve seen the house, do you think we could head back? It is getting pretty late,” I asked.

“Yeah, sure.” He said a little suprised, but playing it cool.

I grabbed my things and stuffed them into my purse. Immediately, heading for the door. He took a minute to come out behind me, turning the lights off and locking the doors.

I waited patiently as he came over to open my door.

“Is everything alright?” He asked.

“Of course, thank you for bringing me to the beach. I hadn’t been there since I was a kid and it was a lot of fun.” I watched him get into the car. He seemed like he wanted to say something but kept stopping himself.

We got into the car and started off on the drive back, the silence was deafening and the tension was incredibly apparent. I was about to hit his radio when I heard my phone vibrate in my bag.

“I don’t want to be rude, but do you mind if I check my phone real quick?" I asked before he nodded.

3 missed calls

7 unread messages

Emily: Hope you made it home safe.

Emily: Any news from Mr. Red Flag?

Emily: Work sucks, why you never work on weekend?

Mom: Hey call me back when you have a chance!

Garth:You still coming to Vegas this year. I was just talking to Nikki and we were thinking, wolf rave in the desert, thoughts?

Pete: I hope they gave me the right number and I didn’t scare you off my my bad pun.

Pete: This is Pete, from speed dating. Hope you have a great weekend, talk soon?

“Hey, uh my mom called three times and that's not really like her. If I wait till we are back with the time difference, it will be too late to call her. Do you mind?” I asked, holding up my phone.

“No, sure, go ahead.” Kingston said.

“Hey mom, everything okay?”

“Yeah, just wanted to check on fourth of July plans, you still coming home?”

“Yeah, I have the weekend off and my flight comes Tuesday afternoon.”

"Oh great, I can’t wait to see you.”

“Is everything okay though?”

“Yeah , why are you asking?”

“Cause you called three times and your text had an exclamation point. Made it sound urgent mom.”

“Oh, not urgent. Just miss talking to you.”

“Ok, well, I am out right now.”

She interrupted me, "Ohhh on a date?”

“No mom, just a friend.”

Kingston cleared his throat. Wolves with their hearing, I thought.

“Anyway, mom, I will call you tomorrow, okay?”

“Alright Ashby, love you”

“Love you too, bye mom.”

“Sorry about that.” I turned the music on.

Meanwhile, my brain was over analyzing everything. I felt embarrassed about how quickly I had hooked up with him. I was mortified about how exposed I had been on the beach, in the daylight, in my underwear. I suddenly thought about the fact we didn't use protection, sure I was on birth control but this stranger just came inside me. The panic was in full swing.

Kingston put his hand on my leg, “You are not okay, something clearly happened. You can talk to me?” I wasn't aware my anxiety was congesting the car, usually that was my job. To be overly aware of others' emotions and take them on myself.

“I think I was in the sun for too long, just feeling a little tired. I haven't been sleeping great the past few nights. But I am fine.”

“It just feels like you turned a switch off on me. Like I don’t know how else to describe it but-”

I interrupted him, “I’ve told you several times. I have no intention of having anything to do with wolves. Nothing changed. Today was fun. I hope you had a good time. I know I did.” I fake smiled at him.

"So, that's it. A good time?" there was a gruff to his voice that I hadn't heard before.

"Yeah," I played dumb before turning to look out the window.

He scoffed at me and pulled his hand away. “ OK, cool.”

We drove the rest of the way home in silence. He dropped me off. I got out before he could walk around and let me out. I walked tall and swift to my door. Turning around and waving goodbye to him as I shut the door. Faking a smile and wave.

I walked through my house into my bedroom, stripping out of the dress I was in, I hopped into my shower. I felt the need to scrub my skin again. I shouldn’t but I cried, I needed the release, I was starting to get into my feelings about Kingston. I hardly know him. It needed to be cut off. He had too many red flags, that was clear. I knew that but I was still sad about it.

I threw my pjs then started a load of laundry. Emptied the dishwasher and made some tea, looked around the kitchen realizing I had only eaten that picnic today and was really hungry. I needed to go grocery shopping, I thought, all I had was meal prep stuff and nothing was gonna hit the spot. I turned on Netflix. How am I three episodes behind in this? I thought. I headed back into my room to grab my blanket and my phone, to order food.

A knock at my door. I sensed who it was. That's Kingston, never been told no before, doesn’t understand how it works. I throw my blanket on the couch and head for the door, opening it visibly annoyed.

“Can we talk?” Kingston asked.

"I don't really see the point." I offered.

"Please." His eyes staring into me, I could feel the intensity of his plea. I wanted to resist but I just couldn't.

“Sure.” I made a gesture like the floor is yours.

“Could I come in?” He had gone home and changed, he had grey sweats on and a black hoodie.

“I guess,” I opened the door for him.

I plopped down on my couch, grabbed the blanket and draped it over myself. “Sit wherever.”

“I am gonna be vulnerable and honest with you, cause that's what my cousin said I should do.” He was pacing. He didn't wait for a response, he just started in, looking at the floor as he walked back and fourth.

“When I was 18 I went full bloodthirsty alpha, went to avenge my parent's death. I met my fated mate during that period of time. I hated that a stranger could have this hold over me. She wasn’t my type, and we didn’t have any shared interests. I honestly didn’t even like her company, but my body was drawn to her."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I knew telling you this was stupid." He shook his head and I felt guilt. I was being cruel, mean even. Putting my own s**t on him.

"I'm sorry, I'm closed off and it's a knee jerk reaction. Please continue." He sat down next to me. We both took in a big breath of air. He was silent for some time before I squeezed his hand, encouraging him to continue.

"I met my mate, she was a psycho. Had a horrible reputation and was not a nice girl. I rejected her but she didn't take no for an answer. In some sort of sick way to make me want her, she would use our mate bond against me. Sleeping with guys because she knew I felt it and wanted the jealousy to make me claim her. It was f*****g toxic. She followed me down here and did some pretty f****d up things to my cousins because she thought I was dating them. I ended up nearly killing her, then I officially rejected her, which did kill her.” He took another big breath. “ I haven’t been interested in dating since, that kind of turned me off to relationships. Everyone seems to be too interested in themselves or have an ulterior motive. Girls throw themselves at me and try to manipulate me and I just can’t stand it. It reminds me of that whole situation."

“Sorry you went through all that. That's a lot.”

“It's so hard to find real people, real connections. Everyone is so tied up in their own s**t, social media, fake appearances, all that. Today was hands down one of the best days of my life. I’ve never felt more comfortable with someone. Your smile makes me want to worship the ground you walk on. That first night I saw you, I thought you were stunning and wouldn’t be interested in me. When I saw you running on the track at my gym, I was stunned that we had crossed paths again. I watched you for thirty minutes just in awe, your pace and focus were phenomenal. You looked so radiant.”

He shook his head, “Sorry that's a little too gym bruh.” I smiled at him.

“It felt like it was beyond coincidence that you were in my gym and then at Fridays. Like, what are the f*****g odds?” He was shaking his head.

“I'm sure you thought I followed you or something, but that was by complete chance. I couldn’t believe it and then speed dating? Like what bigger sign did I need? It wasn’t some fake BS mate bond but the universe bringing you to me, over and over, being like this one is a real one, right here. And you keep showing me that, today you went straight into that water without a care in the world. You didn’t pull out your phone once. You listened to me and made me feel important. And to have felt your touch, my f*****g god. Heaven on earth exists.” He said, his hand moving onto my thigh.

“You have stuff, reservations, and worries. I can feel it. You’ve only told me like 10 times that you hate wolves and you don’t want to be near any. I really will respect that if that's the case. But if the rule is flexible at all, please give me that chance. I like that you are guarded, independent, and cautious about wolves. I want to earn your trust and just please don’t shut me out, I want to get to know you, I'd be honored to.”

We looked at each other for several moments. This was a lot, this was a big unload after one date. But something about him, something about his honesty didn't seem desperate or too intense. It felt honest and healthy. Like open communication and setting boundaries. Things people in healthy relationships did. I wanted to crawl in his lap, have him hold me, apologize for my insecurities, but instead, “I was gonna order some doordash, I am so hungry. Could you eat some pizza and wings? Also, sorry, I zoned out there, you were rambling a bit, could you um just repeat everything after you talked with your cousin? I stopped listening around there.” I smiled, he looked at me in disbelief. Then realized I was only jokin and he tackled me, wrapping his arms around me, burying his head against my stomach.

“If you wanted me gone, you shouldn’t have made jokes.’ He pulled the blanket up around us. “I live here now.”

We spent the evening together, we ate, we cuddled. He sat through an episode he had already seen and then we watched the next one together. While watching, my mind was wildly active thinking on everything he said. The courage it must have taken to come here and lay out his history like that. It wasn't really first date confessions, but for some reason it did make me believe him and it did make me trust him, a little at least. He was so handsome and I felt safe with him. At some point, we both fell asleep. I was between his legs, my head on his chest when I woke up the next morning. Fully rested and totally enamored.