My Trauma Mate

Chapter 5

BLAKE 

If Kiera wanted a challenge, I'm her guy. No one likes a challenge more than me. Hell, I train with the pack warriors and put them on their a** for fun! This is gonna be fun! 

Pulling up to the packhouse with my mate on the seat next to me was an entirely new feeling. I haven’t let go of her hand since I started the engine. The smell of lilac was clinging to her from the field, even now, and it fits her well.  

Once the guards opened the gates for us, I could feel her body stiffen and her whole demeanor change back to the scared, hidden girl. I came face to face with in school. This damn defense mechanism she has built up is going to give me a run for my money.

I lifted her hand that I held captured in mine, and kissed the back of it, bringing her out of her shell enough to get her to meet my eyes. 

“Babe, don’t do it. I’m here.” Trying to calm her nerves, whatever she was nervous about, she didn’t have to be. 

“Do what?” She replied. 

“Disappear on me again. You have a challenge to win, remember? You aren’t gonna let me win this easily, are you?” There. I got her. I was awarded with another one of her beautiful smiles. 

“You think I’m gonna let you win?! Sir, you are sadly mistaken. If you think I’m gonna make this easy for you, you are just as insane as I thought you were.” Kiera giggles and it sounds like heaven.  

And just like that, she has me wrapped around her finger even tighter than she was before and there’s no other place I would rather be.

I pulled into my parking spot and put the truck in park just in time for my father to step out of the door and stand with his hands in his pockets like he does when he is stressed.  

“Looks like he’s waiting for us, you ready?” I asked Kiera to gauge how she was doing at the speed we were going. She seems to be doing well with everything since she’s more relaxed than when we pulled up to the gates.  

“Yea, why wouldn’t I be? Alpha Brian was very kind to me before.” She opens her door and hops out, it’s kind of cute if I think about it. But I hope she doesn’t get comfortable opening her own door. 

Opening my own door and stepping out, I noticed the smell of a possible storm. 

“Hey dad. Seems there’s a storm coming.” My father dismisses my comment quickly, causing me to rethink inviting Kiera to talk to him with me. 

“Blake, I have something I need to discuss with you. Will you come with me to my office for a moment?” His words were sharp and heavy. What’s going on with him? This isn’t my father at all. 

“Ok dad. Give me a minute and I’ll be right there.” With a nod to him, he went back inside. Turning and heading to Kieras' side of the truck, I pulled her into me. She doesn’t shrink away, instead I can feel her physically relax her muscles that she kept tensed up.

“So, I know you work here and all, but is there any chance I can get you to wait for me on the porch while I go and see what my dad needs? I want to spend more time with you.”  

“You know you can’t keep me captive. I have to make money to live. You know that, right?” Why would she have to do that? I can take care of her; she’s going to be the next Luna. She doesn’t need a job, being the Luna to a pack is a full-time job by itself. 

A low, seductive growl came out from Dean, “Just another thing for us to talk about when I get done with whatever my dad needs, hmm?” I raised my eyebrow in her direction like she did to me earlier in the day, hoping to get another show stopping smile from her. 

“Gah, go. I’ll wait here for you, please hurry. You’re cutting into my time now since we are after school hours.” She teases.

Just what I wanted too here. Leaning down to give her a small kiss, I was suddenly surprised when she latched her fingers into my hair and deepened our kiss with pleasantly hot sparks. The type of spark that runs deep to the core.  

She finally lets me go and I pull away trying to situate my thoughts so I can go in and talk politics with my father.

“Girl, you really have to warn me before you go and do that. I’m not complaining but D**N.” With another giggle escaping from her lips, I turned and headed into the packhouse and into my father's office just to be met by him and my mother sitting on one side of father's desk. I took the chair across the table from them.

“Hey mom, what’s going on dad?”  

“Blake, we've heard multiple stories all differing, but roughly the same thing. That you found your mate today at school and it's Kiera Toblin. Is this true?” My father asks me in a serious tone, almost like my finding out Kiera is my mate was a bad thing. 

“Yes dad. Dean caught her scent shortly before the last class of our day. Why is this important?”  

“Blake, I know we have kept you away from some serious things involving pack life for a while now, but I want you to know that there are reasons. And for those reasons, we need you to reject her.”  

“Excuse me?! OK, you know I love you both, but I have just met the mate that the moon goddess has chosen for me. Today. And you are gonna sit here and demand that I reject a girl who has been treated like dirt by literally everyone in her life, all because there are things I, what? Don't understand? You have GOT to be pulling my chain.” Dean is furiously pacing inside my head, growling low, trying to contain his rage. I can feel that he is going to crack if there is anything spoken about our mate that he doesn’t like. 

My mother stands up and walks around to sit in the chair beside me. “Blake, Dean. We don’t want you hurt. You are soon to be the Alpha of this pack. This empire. Being the Alpha of a pack means making the hard decisions to keep the pack safe, even if you have to sacrifice the things, the relationships that are important to you. It’s in the best interest of the pack.” She lays her hand on my shoulder, trying to be reassuring and comforting, but it isn’t either of those things.  

Shrugging my mom's hand off, I announced, “No. I will not do any such thing.”  

A sigh came from my father, “Son, you have to trust us on this one. I know you are extremely stubborn and I admire that about you, greatly. You are just like your mother in that way. But you don’t understand.” 

“ OK, so if I don’t understand, then why don’t you start to explain the real reason why you don’t want me mated with Kiera Toblin. Hmm? So, is it because she killed her parents at the age of 12? Is it the fact that you know why and you have been telling everyone that you can’t explain the situation? Or maybe it’s because you feel like she is unsafe to keep around just like everyone else?!”   

Pointing to the office door, I stated with every ounce of emotion I could not contain,

“That girl out there has been tortured at school since her accident. Kiera is about 20 lbs. skinnier than she is supposed to be because she works so much that she doesn’t get much time to eat for crying out loud. I have seen her hide within herself and talk about herself like she is unlikeable and unlovable in every way just in a matter of a few hours.” I slam my hand on the table to get the point across to my father that my mind is made up.  

“I will not be rejecting her. I am not like everyone else. That girl out there has had to be alone the majority of her life. I’m not exactly sure what happened to make her like this but that woman needs someone in her corner for once. That person will be me and, from here on out, it will always be me. I respect you and love you both as my parents and very strong, courageous people for building our pack into the potential that we have always been destined to be. But this is my decision, and I don’t agree. She is mine and I am hers.” Walking out of the office, I slammed the door hoping to get my point across to them that my decision is final.

Once outside the packhouse doors, I’m met by Kiera but she wasn't bearing the smile I was hoping she would be wearing. Her eyes were clearly full of tears and that’s when I realized.  

“I heard everything, Blake. No need to hide it.” She announced blatantly.