Enemy Mates

Chapter 6

I'm 23 years old and I feel like I am going to lose control of my wolf, like I'm a pup. Breathe. I tell myself. Just breathe, don't shift, don't kill him. I tell myself over and over again until I get my wolf under control. I can't lose my head here.

"I didn't let anyone touch my body, but even if I did, it would be none of your concern." I growl through gritted teeth. I can't stop the glare that I throw at Grayson. "I can take care of myself, I always have."

I wrench my wrist out of Grayson's hand and push off of him. Thankfully, Rae is already back on her feet and standing defensively beside me.

"Is this what you call taking care of yourself? Working at a bar like a low ranked w***e and needing your w***e friends for backup?" Greyson says with a sinister smile playing on his lips. He looks down at me with disgust written all over his hard face, "No wonder you have no fated mate. I see there is so much work to be done with you. You are lucky you have a nice enough face; You are a disgrace otherwise."

I can feel the air change around me, and it makes my skin prickle with anticipation. But it's not me who loses my cool, it isn't me who shifts, it's Rae. Suddenly, at breakneck speed, there is a sandy colored wolf with a snarl on her lips. She looks like she is about to lunge at him, but she can't. Not with Kaela's life on the line. Not with my niece or nephews' life on the line. I want to kill Grayson where he stands too, but I have so much at stake. I can't let her attack him without terrible consequence. I can hear a cruel laugh from Alpha Grayson who looks at Rae mockingly.

"This is who you associate yourself with?" He asks, tilting his head to the side "Little girls who can't even keep their wolves under control? Pathetic."

"Rae," I warn, my voice low. "He isn't worth it. He will get what's coming to him, I promise."

Rae shakes her head causing her fur to ripple and howls before she runs out of the front door. I want to run after her, but I know Rae, she needs a good run and some time to clear her head, so instead I muster up as much courage as I can manage to face Grayson.

"Don't you ever insult my friends again." I say pointing my finger in his face. I push past him to gain entry to the hall and run up the stairs to my room, locking the door quickly and hope that he won't come after me. Looking around the large space, I wonder how my life became such a mess. Maybe there is some merit to the word Grayson said: I don't have a mate and I am shameful because of it. Maybe I am broken, maybe I am a disgrace. But who is the man I have been dreaming about all these years? Are they just dreams or is the Moon Goddess telling me not to give up looking for him? It's always the same scent, always the same voice. I wish my mother was here to give me her wisdom.

Once I was sure Grayson wasn't going to break into my room, I took a long shower and got into bed. The sheets smell the same as they always have, like a mixture of my mother and me. My mother used to sit on the end of my bed every night when I was a pup and tell me tales of our pack and our land. I used to think that one day, when I was old enough that I would be here with my mate for holidays, and I would tell my own pups the stories of my homelands, but it seems like that day may never come for me. When I finally fall asleep, I'm sure I will be plagued with nightmares.

"Mate?" I yell into the night. I'm in the woods again, with my pack house to my back. I smell his scent again, its heading north, so I follow. The smell is divine; Oak and aged whiskey and something purely power. It's like this smell was made just for me and I guess in a way it was. The leaves on the ground crunch beneath my feet as I walk quicker though the forest. Keep going something whispers to me and I feel like the moon itself is trying to guide me to the man. I try to connect with the moon and ask her for strength and I feel my senses sharpen. Thank you, I whisper to the Moon Goddess. The night is clear, and I can hear the sounds of the forest animals scurrying, the sounds of the trees creaking. I can almost hear the stars themselves twinkling.

Suddenly, the trail turns east, toward the ocean and I am afraid that all the salt water will make me lose his scent, but I follow anyway. I have finally met a dead end to his scent, but I can still smell him lingering and that when I hear it. I hear him. He only speaks one word, and I can't tell if he is happy or angry or scared when he says it. Maybe it's a mixture of all of them, but my heart feels so complete when he says it.

"Mate."