The Protector of Wolves

Chapter 12: Brunch

Lacy's POV

I wake up the next morning and feel giddy about possibly seeing Jake again. Last night started out pretty sucky, but the ending was wonderful. Even my wolf is feeling elated. I pull out my phone hoping to see a text from Jake. There is notification and my heart starts to race. I am slightly disappointed when I see a text from Lena. I meant to text her last night after I got home to ask her if everything was okay, but I was preoccupied thinking about Jake and it completely slipped my mind.

Selena: Hey girl! Just wanted to let you know all is good now. Again, so sorry to cancel last minute.

Me: Hiya! It's fine, no worries. I'm glad that things are okay now!

Me: I miss you though! Wanna come over for brunch? I have to tell you about last night :)

Selena: Girl!?! What happened last night?

Me: You'll have to come over and find out ;)

Selena: UGH. Fine. Be there at 11?

Me: Sounds good!

I smile and close my phone screen. I really can't stop thinking about Jake. He is tall, with broad shoulders and muscular arms decorated with tattoos. He has short, wavy, dark brown hair and brown eyes. I told myself after Caleb I wouldn't date humans, but I just can't help but feel very drawn to Jake. I could have sworn I felt faint tingles when our hands touched last night, but I probably just imagined it. My ring hides my wolf, so there's no way I would be able to find my mate with it on. Though being around Jake seemed to make Cecelia happy, for once.

Jake seems very genuine, and his friends all made me feel at ease, too. It's very unexpected because I barely know him, but I feel like I can trust him – something that does not come easy for me.

Nor should it, given my current predicament.

But a part of me is also thinking I'm being very naïve. Humans don't have mates. They tend to date multiple people throughout their lives, and when two people feel they are compatible, then they will sometimes get married. But that doesn't always last either, and that bond doesn't force faithfulness. Wolves are mates for life, fated together by the Moon Goddess (except in rare situations where one chooses their mate), and they never have eyes for another. Cheating on your mate is almost impossible; it causes pain for both mates, not only emotionally, but physically.

Caleb and I started dating a few months after I left home. We met when he came to the bakery one day to grab a quick coffee and pastry before his early morning college class. The longer I was away from home, the more hopeless I became about finding my mate. Caleb felt like light in my dark days. We spent so much time together – watching movies, getting late night take-out, taking walks along the river at midnight when we were supposed to be sleeping.

Then he started wanting to hang out less and less and I could feel him slipping away. Something in our relationship changed, but I didn't want to believe it. One day, I went to his apartment to surprise him with his favorite cookies I had made him. I knocked at his door, but he did not answer, though I heard his voice inside. I used the key he had given me to open the door, and that's when I saw him.

Naked.

In bed with another woman.

The plate of cookies I was holding slipped through my hands and crashed to the ground. I could not get out of there fast enough. He called after me but I did not wait to hear his excuse. Nothing he could say would make this okay.

The emotional heartache was so bad, I physically felt it throughout my body.

Caleb was not officially my chosen mate. He never knew I was a wolf and I never marked him. Cecelia would never have let that happen. She hated Caleb and always contested my relationship with him. Regardless though, I could feel her empathize with my heartbreak.

"Good riddance." I remember her telling me.

Good riddance indeed. Maybe there was a good reason Cecelia always hated him. It was after that betrayal, the day I found Caleb having s*x with another woman, that I told myself that I would never date another human. That I'd wait for my fated mate.

Thankfully, before I even met Caleb, my friendship with Lena was also growing. We became fast friends. Lena is a very smart and powerful witch, and she's helped me learn how to use my magic over the last two years. She's the only one in my life right now that knows I'm a werewolf.

I wish I could tell Lena everything, but I know I have to keep my protector identity from her as well. She thinks I'm half werewolf and half witch. I told her that there is a power-hungry werewolf after me, threatening to hurt my pack and my family, and that's why I am hiding. It's so close to the truth that it's barely a lie.

I made Lena swear not to tell anyone. I don't think Lena is a dark witch, but I don't want to risk word getting around in her coven about me in case she is in close proximity to one.

When Lena found me, it was alarming that I had no scent at all. She told me she was impressed at how well I hid my scent for being a "newbie" (her words). However, she also made it very clear that having no scent at all would draw even more attention to myself from other mystical beings. She helped me to enchant my ring so that it masks my wolf and my scent, but also makes me smell like a human. She's a true genius.

It's been so hard living with my wolf masked. Some days it's easier to pretend I'm not even a wolf. I think about what it would be like to live out my days posing as a human.Those are the days Cecelia and I fight the most. I think she's starting to deeply feel the pain of not being around other wolves, and not even having a chance to find her mate.

Lena has been so patient with me while I've been in hiding. But I have to wonder, if she knew who I really was, the protector of wolves, would she be disappointed in me for hiding for so long?

For a while, I kept justifying my actions by telling myself that I'm doing this for my pack, to protect them. But now I'm not so sure. It's hard for me to admit, but I think I secretly like hiding. Sure, I am very sad that I won't meet my fated mate this way. But all the pressure of being the protector, saving my entire species from extinction, is off my shoulders.

For now at least.

I'm lucky that with Lena being a witch and all, she has some occasional interactions with wolves. She's been able to tell me that my family and my pack are all safe, and that there hasn't been any major attacks on werewolves since my time away. This eases my guilt of being away for so long.

I hear a knock at the door and through the little peep hole I see Lena, holding a bottle of champagne and a small white box. As I open the door, she looks me dead in the eye and sternly says, "You better have orange juice."

I roll my eyes and laugh at her. I never get tired of her offbeat sense of humor.

"Yes, Lena, I have orange juice. And I also made French toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon."

"Yum! You're the best!" Lena says as she walks into my kitchen. “Oh, Cora sent me up with some of these.”

Lena sets the small white box down on the table and opens it up.

“Mmm,” I hum. “Chocolate croissants! I never get tired of these.”

Lena laughs and heads over to my fridge, pulling out the orange juice.

Lena is a very beautiful witch. She has jet black hair with purple highlights, a change from the red color she had when I met her. I always admire the color she puts into her hair. She's tried to convince me to color my hair a few times, but I can't bring myself to do it. It's something that's frowned upon in the wolf community – if we dye our hair it affects our wolf's coat, too. Cecelia would not be happy, and she's already mad at me because I hardly ever let her out.

"I got the champagne flutes!" Lena says while reaching into one of my cabinets. "Let's eat!"

We sit at my small dining table and dig into our brunch. Before I get into the details of last night, we catch up from the last few weeks. Though Lena can't get into too much detail about what goes on at the coven, she tells me that there was a spell that went wrong last night that she had to help fix urgently.

Lena's main job is to teach little witches and wizards how to use their magic, and sometimes they don't quite get it right. I can relate though; I definitely made a few errors when I was first learning to use my magic. But Lena was so patient with me, as I'm sure she was with her students. She's the best teacher.

After finishing our brunch, we grab our mimosas and sit on the couch.

Lena turns her body towards me. "Okay, I've been waiting long enough; you need to tell me what happened last night!"

"Umm, well long story short, I saw this guy try spike his date's drink while she was in the bathroom, but I was able to stop it before she came back and drank any." I feel a slight pang of anger start to build up in my chest at the thought of that guy.

"What!" Lena gasps. "That’s terrible! Lacy, I am so sorry I wasn't there. I'm glad you noticed before anything bad happened, though."

"It's actually fine because I think that I would have been too distracted to notice if you were there. And that whole situation was really bad and I'm still a little shook up over it, BUT, there were some people who saw the whole thing and they invited me to their table. And Lena, one of the guys was SO sexy. I feel like we really hit it off, and he invited me to go on a hike with him. I know I said I'd never date a human, but I can't stop thinking about him." Cecelia starts stirring in my head again at the thought of Jake.

"Lacy that's great! You deserve to find some happiness. I'm so glad that you are allowing yourself a little more freedom."

"Yeah, I guess." I nervously fidget with my ring. "But, he hasn't texted me today."

"I know it probably feels like it's been a long time, but you only just met him last night and that really isn't that long. Give it some more time," she says with a soft smile while patting my shoulder.

I know Lena is right. It really hasn't been that long. But doubt starts to creep in my mind. "Maybe I shouldn't have given him my number though. Maybe it was a bad idea."

"Lacy, no. I don't think it was a bad idea. I know I don't really understand your wolfy-mate-bond thing that well, but if you aren't able to find your mate, that doesn't mean you deserve to be alone."

I don't have a lot of people in my life right now that I can talk to about this sort of thing. Actually – Lena is the only one, so I am lucky that she has great insight into things like this. I am so thankful she was there for me after my breakup with Caleb.

I look down at the floor and frown. "I don't know if it's a good idea for me to be with a human, though. What happened with Caleb was so painful..." I feel the tears welling up in my eyes.

"Caleb is a jerk!" She pauses, and I look up at her. She sighs. "Some humans are jerks, Lacy," she continues. "Some wolves are jerks, too, like Travis. But there are also a lot of good people out there, Lena, wolf or not. You can't close yourself off to everyone just because of Caleb. I'm not saying you have to jump into a relationship right away, but give it a chance at least. It might be scary at first, but maybe it will turn out to be a wonderful thing."

"Thank you, Lena." She smiles and pulls me into a hug.

"Lacy, you're one of the best people I know. Anyone who is worth your time will see that." She pats my back and then releases us from the hug. "Here, let's put on a funny movie," she suggests, grabbing the remote off the table.

Partway through the movie, I feel my phone buzz. I look at the notifications and immediately start smiling.

Travis' POV

"Alpha!" I hear a low-ranked wolf say as he barges into my office.

"Did I tell you that you could enter my office? Next time knock," I say with a snarl. His eyes dart to the floor.

"Disrespect me again and I will kick you from my pack."

"Y-yes, Alpha," he says, his voice quivering.

How pathetic.

"What do you want?" I growl at him.

"W-we found her!"



I immediately jump up from my desk. "Go gather the warriors and have them meet me in the conference room IMMEDIATELY!" I bark. He quickly turns around and starts to head out the door.

"Hey!" I shout at him. He turns around with wide eyes. "Do not let my brother know."