You're Not My Mate

Happy Birthday!

Aurelia POV

“WAKE UP!!” I jump up the next morning in a panic. Crimson darts forward to the front ready to protect us against whatever is happening and then she retreats into the back of my mind when she senses no immediate threat. I can see Liam laughing in the corner of the room and my eyes narrow at him. And then the source of the screaming becomes clear. It’s Lucia. “COME ON! IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY!” She bounces on the bed and hands me a present. “Aw, thanks.” I gush, taking them off her. I open it to find a beautiful pair of dangling earrings with with emeralds. “Oh Lucia, they’re beautiful! They must have cost you a fortune!” She shrugs. “You’re worth it, babe. It’s for you to remember us.” I grin at her and pull her into a hug. As if I could ever forget them? “Junus wants to see you in his room before breakfast to give you his present too.” She calls over her shoulder as she skips out. 

“Happy birthday, sweet baby” Liam coos, walking towards me. My grin stretches across my face. “Thank you, gorgeous. Thank you for being with me. You are the best birthday present I could ever wish for.” He grins lopsided at me and pulls me into a hug. “So, you don’t want your actual birthday present?” I think about it briefly and then jump up. “Yes! Yes I do!” He chuckles and climbs over the bed to me and passes me a small box. I eye him suspiciously and open it. It’s a necklace with 2 wolves and a heart made out of sapphire.” My eyes brim with tears. “Oh Liam. It’s.. It’s. Wow. I love it.” I look up at him through tears. He kisses my tears away. “I’m so glad you like it. The sapphire is for our pack. I was so nervous if you would like it. I didn’t know what else to get you.”

I shake my head. “It’s perfect. I love it. Will you put it on for me?” I pass it to him and lift my hair up. He puts it around my neck, closing the clasp and bends down to kiss my shoulder. “You better go see Junus before we go to breakfast.” I look up at him surprised and shrug it off. Me and Crimson had been talking between ourselves last night that it really wasn’t fair on Liam having to put up with how over the top I could be with Junus. I didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable, and I know if the roles were reversed.. I would struggle to see him like that with a female.

 “It’s OK. I’ll wait until later.” And I grab his hand in mine smiling at him. He shakes his head. “Come on, get changed, go see Junus and then we’ll have breakfast together. Besides, I better go find that little sister of mine.” I stand up on the bed and reach up to wrap my arms around his neck. He flashes me his heart melting grin and I lean forward to kiss his lips gently, never wanting it to end. I pull back, stroke his face and then jump on him. He catches me, laughing. “You’re lucky I’m fast!” I smile sweetly at him. I had no doubt he would always catch me. The mating bond was intense, and even though I still barely know Liam.. At least out of the bedroom.. I know I can trust him with my life.

I go through my clothes I brought with me and sigh, not knowing what to wear. Finally, I decide on a pair of high waist jeans and a grey bodysuit. I admire my necklace in the mirror from Liam. It’s perfect but it needs just one more thing. I walk back into the bedroom and slide my feet into a pair of slippers. I climb onto the bed again and call Liam to me. He walks over, wrapping his arms around my waist. “What’s up baby?” “Hold still.” I whisper gently, and I lift my necklace up to rub it through all of his hair a few times. I pull away and lift the necklace to smell it. It smells just like hot cross buns. “Now it’s perfect.” I smile smugly at him. “Oh baby, you are something else.” He chuckles and ruffles my hair. I can’t help but giggle which just makes him wrap me up in his arms. He grabs a bobble from the bedside table and pulls my hair up in a high ponytail. “Come on, go see Junus and then I’ll meet you downstairs for breakfast.” I nod my head and take hold of his hand. He walks me to Junus’ room, kisses my cheek and walks off to find Lola. 

I knock the door and walk in. “JESUS, BOO.” He’s stood stark naked, soaking wet. He’s obviously just come out from the shower. I burst out laughing and turn around. “Are you decent yet?” I grumble, tapping my foot and huffing impatiently. I was eager to get to breakfast. I give up and turn around anyway and sit on his bed. He glares at me and I can’t help but laugh. “Oh you love me really. I’ve seen it all before anyway.” I say, gesturing a circular movement with my hand around the room. He’s at least wearing a pair of grey sweat pants now. I c**k my head to the side, looking at him. His abs are still perfect, showing just how much time and energy he puts into working out. I look up and see his piercing blue eyes looking at me. I grin at him as he laughs and comes over to sit next to me.

“Happy birthday, Boo.” And he kisses me softly on the cheek. I wrap my arms around his waist. “Thanks, Juno.” He reaches under the bed and pulls out a small gift bag. “Here’s your presents.” I squeal in excitement and take the bag from him. I look inside and see 2 presents wrapped up beautifully.There’s one larger one, and one small one. I open the large one first. It’s a diary. It has a black leather cover, with gold edges on the pages. “I figured since I had your diary, you needed a new one. You need an outlet, for sure.” I grin. “I love it, thank you.” “Open the first page.” I raise an eyebrow, and then open the diary. On the first page is a black and white drawing of me and Juno as wolves. “Happy birthday to my favourite Boo. Love, Juno. X”

“Oh Juno! I love it!” The portrait is perfect, and I stroke my fingers over the drawings. “I’m nervous about the other one. I made it myself.” This time I raise both eyebrows in shock. “Really?” I start unwrapping it and see a small box. I spare no time opening the box, and inside is a silver bracelet with three charms on it. Two wolves and a small moon. He leans over to turn the moon over. ‘Our First Shift.’

I can feel the tears filling up. “Oh Juno! This is amazing. Seriously. You MADE it?” He laughs and nods. “I got a friend to teach me. I shaped and engraved it all myself. I tried to get the wolves to look like us.” “Oh Juno, you’ve done AMAZING! I’ll wear it every day I promise.” He beams at me and I lean up to stroke his face. “Thank you.” His face looks pained as he leans into my hand and I suddenly feel guilty. Am I encouraging this by leading him on? Since finding Liam, I had honestly come to realise that I just loved Juno as a friend. Well.. More than a friend. More like a best friend / brother / protector. He’s always been there for me and I love him for that. But.. I can’t keep this up and keep hurting Liam. I know most Alpha’s would have gone crazy by now.. And yet Liam just goes along with anything that makes me happy. Which just makes me feel even guiltier.

“Seeing you happy is all I want, Boo. Come on, let’s get you some breakfast before you get hangry.” I nod and flash him a wolfish grin. He puts the bracelet on my wrist for me, before finishing getting dressed. He walks up to my bedroom with me to put the diary on my bed before we walk arm in arm down the stairs. When we get to the dining room doors, Junus pulls out of my arm, I look at him confused and he just smiles, gesturing to the door. I open the door and walk in.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” I jump back into Junus and he laughs. I look around and all of our family are here, along with the ranked members, Liam and our pack. And at the top of the table, sitting next to Liam is my father. I blink. Am I imagining things? I close the doors and walk back out into the hallway with Junus. “Why is my father there?” I ask, feeling suddenly claustrophobic. My father never showed up for things for me. He laughs. “Let’s just say, there’s more to Liam than meets the eye. He wasn’t going to let your father disrespect you any longer.” My mouth drops. 

“Baby, you OK? Do you need me?”

“I’m ok. It just threw me that uh.. Everyone is there.”

“Come on birthday girl, come in. I’ve got your empty seat right next to me. I’m missing you.”

I smile at Liam’s sweet voice, the way he can so easily put me at ease. “Liam, huh?” Junus asks. I nod, blushing. “Come on then!” He gestures to the door and I open it again. Everyone claps, and laughs as I go beetroot red. I walk up to the top of the table and Liam pulls me to the seat next to him. “Happy birthday, sweet baby.” I smile sweetly at him. “Happy birthday, Aurelia.” My eyebrows shoot up. It’s my father. “Uh, thank you, Alpha.” Liam looks at me out of the corner of his eye, with furrowed brows. My mother hurries over. “Happy birthday, sweetheart. Hurry with breakfast. Me and the girls have an exciting day planned for you.” I grin at her and start to wolf down some blueberry muffins.

“So, are you excited for your party?” Felix asks. I nod. “Yes! I can’t wait to see you all dressed up!” Lucia bursts out laughing. And then everyone joins in. Before I can pick up another blueberry muffin my mother comes rushing behind me. “Right come on, time to go.” “But!” I protest, picking up a muffin and grabbing hold of Liam’s hand hoping he’ll be able to keep me here. But he just kisses my hand. Traitor.

“If you need me, mind link me. Enjoy baby. I love you.”

“Can we mind link all day?”

“I doubt it, your eyes will be cloudy, remember?”

“But.. But I miss you already.”

“I miss you too, sweet baby. I’ll be right here. I’ll see you at the party. I love you.”

“I love you too. Thank you for my present. I can’t wait to see your costume.”

“Hmmm. You’re lucky you are so gorgeous and I love you so much.”

I giggle and close the mind link while my mother, Lucia, and Arabella rush me upstairs. “You can’t see anyone now until the party later. No mind linking either! This is a girly pampering day and your party starts at 6.” My mother roars off orders. I groan, but laugh at the strict orders and just allow myself to get dragged along to Lucia’s room. When we get there, there’s a masseuse, beautician, hairdresser and our own private butler. “Dear, you have some presents over there. Why don’t you open them while we get some drinks poured?” I nod my head at my mother and head over to the presents.

I’m surprised by the pile and get busy opening them. There’s a set of diamond earrings and a Michael Kors handbag from my parents, although I know those will be all my mother and nothing to do with my father. Caesar and Arabella have bought me a perfume set. Felix has got me a canvas photo of me, him and Caesar and a pair of slippers. They’re all perfect. And then Lucia drags me and pulls me into the craziness of a pamper day.

Liam POV

Seeing Aurelia’s face light up when she saw all her family in here for breakfast, including her father, was worth the arguments I had with him this morning. We’ve finally gotten to an understanding, thankfully. “Hey bro, you missing her already?” Lola comes to sit next to me. She knows me well. “Just a little bit.” She smiles knowingly. “Want to take Theodore for a run?” I nod quickly in response. The alternative of sitting around all day wondering what Aurelia was doing would be torture. And Theodore had been nagging me to let loose and go for a run. He was still frustrated with me because he still hadn’t met Crimson. The honest truth was that I was just enjoying spending time with Aurelia. And yet we still barely knew each other. Every time we would make plans to get to know each other, we’d end up in bed.

I let Theodore spend most of the afternoon running around the grounds. They sure do have beautiful land here. And with Theodore in charge, it helps keep my mind busy. It’s not long before the rest of our pack come and join in. Then I get a mind link from Aurelia. I smile at her sweet voice, how had I lasted all these years without her?

“Hey, are Lola, Talula and Clara-Jane with you?”

“Yes baby, why?”

“Would they like to come and get ready with us?”

I shoot quick mind links to the girls and they’re all up for it.

“They’d love to, baby. Thank you for thinking of them, they’re on their way up. I hope you’re enjoying, love you.”

“I love you too. Miss you. ”

She lets out a small sigh and I can’t help but chuckle. I shift back to my human form and head back inside the house. The gardens are full now of all fairground rides. Wow, they’re taking this Grease thing to a whole new level. I’d actually sneakily watched it in my office this week to prepare myself a little bit. It actually made me dread the whole thing that little bit more. But I’d do anything to see her smile. Cruz and Marcus come to join me. “So, are we copying the girls and getting ready together? Because man, my outfit SUCKS. Clara-Jane had a BALL getting me to try it on.” Cruz pouts. Marcus crinkles his nose as well. We all burst out laughing and head upstairs to Aurelia’s bedroom.

We take it in turns jumping in the shower, and then get changed. I pull out the outfit she’s put together for me and close my eyes with dread. When I’m done, I look in the mirror. She’d bought me black skinny jeans to wear and a black leather T-bird jacket. I’ve paired it with a white t-shirt and black shoes. I close my eyes and shake my head at how ridiculous I look right now. I turn to Cruz and Marcus who look equally ridiculous and we all end up hunched over, laughing at each other. “Alpha, can we make a new pack rule? No fancy dress costumes.” Cruz pouts. We all laugh and agree.

“Hey handsome. How’s the costume?”

“Awful. Thank you. How are you looking?”

“You’ll have to wait and see! I’ll meet you in the garden. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

“Aww look at him mind linking every 5 minutes. Our big bad Alpha is all grown up and in love.” Cruz says, wiping away fake tears. I throw a pen directly at his face and he manages to duck in time. Marcus is of course, the voice of reason. “Uh, guys. If any of us get down there with an injury, you know she’s gonna flip her lid. Especially on her birthday.” Me and Cruz grumble, but know that he’s right. “Come on, she said she’ll meet us in the garden.”

We stand in the garden, waiting, with everyone else. There’s hundreds of people here. And at least 4 different packs. This could be interesting. I wonder if Lola’s mate is here. Me, Cruz and Marcus grab drinks and sit on one of the tables facing the house. It made me nervous being away from Aurelia with all these wolves here. I was desperate to have her in my arms where I knew I could keep her safe and protected, and I had a feeling Cruz and Marcus both felt the same way.