My Beta's Mate

Just Friends

Sam

It's the next day. I'm not sure if I slept at all. I fell asleep on a mat in the gym. Not even bothering to walk to my room. I feel like hell. My eyes sting from crying angry tears. My muscles hurt from beating the sh%t out of our boxing dummies. I'm not mad at Jewel, maybe just my luck in life. I've been putting off such an angry aura that no one dared approach me. 

My wolf is anxiously talking in my mind. "She didn't say the words to reject us. She didn't.. we just have to fight for her.". I've been tuning him out. I can't deal with that right now. 

I hear someone approaching and I can smell that it's my sister. She comes in with two coffees.

"Don't worry, I didn't make these. I bought them," she says with a half-smile. She sits next to me on the mat.

"What happened with Jewel?" asks Amber.

"She's my second chance mate," I say. 

"I had a feeling that would happen. A full Moon's blessing," replies Amber.

"It might seem like a blessing, but it made things even harder. I had planned to just take things slow with her. How in the hell am I going to take things slow with the Mate Bond affecting me." I ask.

At this time Eric walks in and sits on the other side of me.

"I had to wait months for Amber to get her wolf and we didn't even know if she would get her wolf. It's not easy. It takes a lot of discipline. I didn't kiss her either. It was one of the hardest things that I've ever done, but it's possible." encourages Eric. 

"Yeah, but you knew that your mate loved you," I say back.

"And that made it harder, not easier. But we both really wanted to wait until she had her wolf. We waited for her wolf, now you're waiting for Jewel's heart to heal." says Eric.

I sigh.

"What do I do now? how do I even do this?" I ask.

"You guys have been friends and working together for how many months now?" asks Eric.

"Almost a year," I say back.

"You just keep doing what you've been doing. Jewel will come around eventually," says Eric.

"You might want to talk to her though. Let her know that you don't expect her to follow the normal course," suggests Amber.

"Of course I don't expect that of her. What does she think that I'll mate and mark her even though she's hurting?" I say back.

Oh, Goddess. I really hope that she doesn't think that. I'm not that guy. I'm not an @sshole. 

"I don't know what she is thinking, but you should talk to her," replies Amber. 

"Where is she? I'll go talk to her right now." I say standing up.

"Last I heard, she was going for a run," suggested Eric.

"Top tip though, you need a shower," says my sister as she holds her nose a bit and they both leave.

"Thanks for that!" I call back and head to shower.

Jewel

I ran away from him. Why did I run away?

I lost my parents. I lose my mate. Everyone I love dies and I'm just broken. Losing my parents was hard enough, but then watching my mate die right in front of me. I'm broken. Sam deserves better than me and I know it. 

"Our mate will love us though. You just need to give him a chance." says my wolf Shay.

"Maybe, but he deserves to love someone that can love him back," I say in reply.

"Only someone that loves their mate would make that choice," replies Shay.

 That realization shocks me. Did I really love Sam? How is that possible?

I hear some approaching and I can smell him. Sam smells like Pine and something else manly that I can't quite put my finger on.

Sam

My wolf and I walk up to Jewel. Her wolf's fur is shining in the sunlight. My wolf rests its head across her neck. In wolf form, this is their version of cuddling. She allows it, but I know that it isn't her. We've been letting our wolves do this for months. We both figured that they were just lonely, but maybe they knew about being mates before we did. 

"Jewel, I don't expect you to care for me just because we're second chance mates. I know that you're still healing. Please don't ignore me though. I couldn't take losing my friend and my mate." I say through the mind link.

Shay's ears perk up.

Being friends would hurt like hell, but it would be better than nothing at all or worse her leaving. That would probably make my wolf sick from mate withdrawal. 

"You're really okay with us being friends?" asks Jewel.

"It's better than nothing and I'm pretty sure losing another mate would kill me," I say honestly. 

I'll wait as long as she needs. If she falls in love with me then great, if not I'll deal with that pain when it comes. 

For now, I wait and I hope that things work out the way that I want.

"Okay, friends then," says Jewel.

"Are you okay with me staying on as your beta?" she asks.

"Yes, please stay," I say back.

Yes please stay. Please stay as close to me as possible. I'm hopelessly in love with you. You can have all of me. My mind, my body, my soul. Please stay for the love of the Moon Goddess.... just don't leave. 

These are things that I would love to say to her, but now is not the time or the place for that. 

We both get up and head back to the packhouse. Breakfast is being served. I'm greeted with the normal sounds of breakfast being served. We're like one huge family. 

Hopefully, this family will have a Luna soon. I will wait and fight for her. Even if it kills me.