My mate and my gift

Chapter seven: Mira

We headed downstairs for the dining hall. I was starving, and a part of me not only for food. I had this sinking feeling in my stomach. I pushed those thoughts aside and let my nose guide me.

In the kitchen I could see three girls baking bread, slicing ham and cheese, and filling bowls with different fillings.

“It sure is going to be boring the next few days with Colin and Matthew on patrol” One of the girls complained. Now that she mentioned it, I did detect a faint trace of Matthews scent coming from the kitchen. It must have been a couple of hours since they left. Relief and disappointment filled me.

One of the girls turned around when we entered the dining hall. “Hi!” she said with a smile.

I gave her a weak smile in return. It seemed like no matter how hard I tried I would not be allowed to forget about Matthew. At least I knew he was on patrol for a few days. I tried to tell myself I was happy about this, but the twist in my stomach was evidence I wasn’t.

“You look pale, dear!” An older wolf came out of a door by the back wall, bringing with her the smell of fresh fruit and vegetables. I guessed the door she came from led to a walk-in pantry.

My stomach growled in hunger and the girls laughed, one of them pointing to the two long tables at the other end of the room. Each one could easily hold 20 people.

“Thanks” I said without thinking. I saw Sascha sitting at one of the tables, waving for us to come join her. On the table was bread, buns, various spreads, ham, cheese, fruit, sausages, bacon, eggs and more.

A few wolves were already sitting at the tables. I sat down next to Sascha, filled my plate with a little bit of everything and started to dig in. The older wolf from the kitchen brought me a cup of coffee.

“You look like you could need something strong” she said with a smile. I smiled back and took the cup, putting it down in front of me with no intention of actually drinking it. Roxy sat down opposite of Sascha.

We spend a few minutes eating in silence when Roxy couldn’t sit still anymore. “So, are you two free, like, right now?” she blurted out.

Sascha and I looked at each other, slightly worried. “Yes?” Sascha said with a hint of curiosity. I couldn’t decide if Roxy had something on her mind or if she just wanted to spend time with us.

Roxy was squirming in her seat under Sascha’s gaze, but she didn’t elaborate.

“What did you have in mind?” I said, eager for the conversation to move forward. I had decided to spend as much time with these two as I could, before Matthew got back, and I would have to talk to him about our… situation. With any luck, he would feel the same way I did, and we could go about our lives the way we had before, but I didn’t have high hopes of that happening. But maybe I was lucky, and Matthew wanted to keep fooling around with all the girls that swarmed around him every day. I felt a stab of jealousy that I tried hard to ignore.

“I want to go shopping for a new pair of yoga pants before dance class later” Roxy said. I was grateful for the distraction from my thoughts, even if it was about one of my least favorite activities.

“I could do with a new top” I heard Sascha say. Both of them looked at me expectantly. I looked back and forth between the two of them, frozen in the middle of the bite I was about to take of my sandwich.

They looked at each other and back to me before Roxy said, “Mira, no offense, but you need an entire outfit, complete with shoes and hairband”

“Huh?” I managed to get out. I wasn’t offended, I just didn’t know what she was talking about.

“Remember? You said you would join our dance class this week.” That’s right, I had said that a couple of days ago. Oh well, and I had promised myself to spend as much time with Sascha and Roxy as I could, so might as well join their dance class today and suffer through some shopping.

A few hours later I was once again standing in the room full of mirrors, this time dressed in a pair of black and orange yoga pants, a matching tank top and a new pair of extremely flexible shoes, complete with a high ponytail.

The teacher began with some basic stretching and warmed up with high knee exercises.

Once again one of my songs came on, and I lost myself in the excitement of seeing a room full of girls all enjoying my work.

Dance class flew by in the blink of an eye and soon we were all sitting at one of the dinner tables, talking about the class. It had dragged out and we were all still in our sweaty dance clothes. When Roxy excused herself and got up from the table, I was quick to follow her. Despite all of the girls being nice to me, I was still uncomfortable being around so many people. Roxy didn’t seem to mind and laced her arm through mine and walked with me back towards our rooms. She left me by my door, and I heard her humming as she walked away with a little bounce in her steps.

Inside my room, I grabbed some clean clothes, a towel, and my shower supplies. As I headed for the showers, I involuntarily looked towards Matthew’s room. My heart sped up when I thought of him coming out of the room and picking me up in his arms. No! What was wrong with me? Stupid Mira!

I shook my head and hurried for the showers. I slammed the door shut and knocked my forehead against it. The pain was a welcome distraction from my thoughts that kept going back to Matthew.

I heard the door to the shower next to mine open and close, and I could hear Roxy sing off the top of her lungs. Somehow, that made me smile and relax a little.

The following morning, I was sitting with my laptop, waiting for Roxy to come and grab me for early morning dance class. I had spent most of the day yesterday with Roxy and Sascha. First there had been dance class in the afternoon, and then they had spent hours and hours talking about clothes and makeup and boys, and finally we had spent the evening watching old romance movies. I had found the way people fell in love in old movies strange, but in a weird way, I yearned for a world where I had a choice to choose my partner – if I wanted one - Which I didn’t.

At around 6 am I heard a knock on the door. I looked at the time on my screen. Class wasn’t until 7 am and Roxy was usually a wake-up-at-the-last-minute kind of girl.

When I opened the door, my heart went flying. In front of me was Matthew. He was panting and his skin was damp; he must just have been running. I was staring at him. He easily filled the entire doorframe, his arms above his head holding onto the top beam of the frame. For the first time I noticed his legs were just as massive as his arms. His t-shirt was sticking to his torso, outlining his six-pack and his slim waist. His hair was wet and beginning to curl. His dark eyes were fixed on me, making my heart skip a beat.

A drop of sweat rolled down his temple and along his square jawline. I also noticed that he had a tattoo on his arm that I hadn’t seen before. It was big and seemed to cover his entire left bicep, but it was partly covered by his t-shirt. Before I could make out what it was supposed to look like, he grabbed me by the hips, lifted me up off the floor and pushed me against the wall. He kicked the door shut with his foot. I barely had time to process what was happening when he pressed his lips against mine. His scent was so strong it was overwhelming; he had clearly not showered in a couple of days. He pushed his body against mine, pinning me between him and the wall. The pure, raw smell of him was intoxicating and I dug my nails into his shoulders, grabbing his shirt. His grip on my thighs tightened and I felt heat course through my body. I heard a moan escape me. He bit down on my lower lip and tugged lightly on it. My hands were in his damp hair, grabbing at it as if it could keep me from drowning in the burning sensation in my body. A low rumble sounded in his chest and I could feel it vibrating through my own. He pushed his pelvis harder against me and I felt something hard moving against the inside of my thigh. I gasped as he rubbed harder against me and I wrapped my legs around his hips. I wanted to resist him, to push him away from me, but my body refused to listen to me.

There was a knock on the door, but Matthew ignored it, kissing me along the jaw, down my neck. He slowly slid one of his hands further up my thigh, making my body burn and my breathing shallow.

There was another knock, and I fought to clear my head. Goddess, what was this man doing to me?

“There’s someone at the door” I said, hoping it would make him stop. Part of me wished he wouldn’t listen.

“So?” he said in a husky voice. Oh yes! Just like that.

His hand slipped further up my thigh and I felt myself losing control. This couldn’t be happening.

“Matthew, please, I have to open the door. It’s probably Roxy” I whispered. I felt a small clench in my gut as Matthew put me down. Mentioning Roxy’s name had worked as intended, but I wasn’t sure I liked that fact.

There was fear and guilt written all over his face, and a part of me felt momentarily glad that he was in distress over his past actions.

I turned towards the door, but he grabbed me and pulled me towards him. The heat from his body was transferred to my back, and he whispered my name in my ear.

His breath hit my neck and my knees threatened to give in, his hands starting to sneak underneath my shirt.

I was suddenly embarrassed that I was wearing such shabby clothes.

I managed to untangle myself from him and went to the door. I opened it and, as I suspected, Roxy was standing outside.

“Hi” she said with a smile that quickly faded when she looked past me and saw Matthew standing there, breathing heavy and his sweaty clothes sticking to his body.

“Matthew…” she whispered, her eyes big. “You’re back. What are you doing in here?” she asked confused. She looked at me and it was clear she was hurt. She looked back at Matthew.

“I wanted to spend time with my mate as soon as I got home” Matthew said bluntly.

“Ma…” Roxy started, but she never finished. Her hands came up to cover her mouth and tears welled up in her eyes and she was clearly struggling to keep herself calm. “No…” she whispered as her eyes fixed on me.

“No! Wait!” I exclaimed, not wanting her to misunderstand the situation.

She looked at me again, shook her head and with a quivering voice said, “I just came by to tell you that class has been cancelled.” And then she ran to her room before I could stop her.

Matthew came up behind me, and even though he made my heartbeat faster, I was too furious to care. How dared he share something that was clearly a matter between just the two of us? How dared he declare himself my mate without asking, without even talking to me about it? Was I just some object to him that he could claim as his own, if he saw fit? I curled my hands into fists at my side.

“Get out!” I said with barely contained anger.

“What?!” He said in disbelief.

“You heard me!” I almost snarled at him “Leave!”

“But… I am your mate!” He was clearly angry now, but I still didn’t care.

“You are no such thing!” I said “Now, get out!”

I could tell he was using all his strength to keep his wolf and his temper in control.

He stomped out the room and down the hall to his own. I heard the door slam hard and I closed my own, leaning my back against it. I let the back of my head fall against the door and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down.