Sacred Bond: A Human Mate for Beta

Chapter Five

JOE

The patrollers start to come down the hill from the pack house in small groups. Night has fallen already, but it is only barely 7:30 pm. My warriors circle around me waiting for my word. Once I feel everyone is here, I do a mental head count. We have 15 of the 45 warriors assigned to patrol tonight. The others are free to do what they will, which is usually go into town and drink at the pubs.

“Alright. Dawson, you take Charlie team and head to the South perimeter. We are just keeping an eye open for any new scents and nothing out of the ordinary as we check on our new land.” I say.

Dawson nods in acknowledgement.

I see the omega staff coming with empty containers. They stop halfway down and wait. They collect our clothes for us and leave them covered so they don’t get ruined or buried by the January snow.

“Bravo team, you’re with me. We will begin going north. The end of of run, we should meet up by the new cabins. It’s about an hour’s run directly back to here from that point. Expect to be finished with duty around 1:30 AM.” I shout.

Several members get a glazed look over their face as they mindlink their loved ones about the return time.

I begin to unbutton my flannel shirt from the top down, shrugging it off and folding it over once. Pulling off my white T-shirt, I see Jess making her way down the hill in a white T-shirt and jeans. Jess is a girl I’ve been seeing casually. She lost her mate four years ago and has come through the other side fairly well.

“Hey there, Beta. I’ll take your clothes back to my room.” Her flirtatious voice is in my head.

I nod as she hovers back, not wanting to disrupt.

The warriors are all standing at attention waiting for my signal. We are naked but it’s not a worry as it’s part of us. The last thing I take off is my wrist watch. 7:34 pm, the face reads as I stack it on my pile.

I shift and everyone follows suit. Dawson nods at me and trots off to the south with his team.

My team begins to head north. I look back and I see Jess reach my clothes. She puts my flannel on and waves, walking back up the hill.

I run ahead to the front of the pack passing all the warriors in wolf form. My huge paws pad the ground and I easily catch up. We take it slow. We have six hours after all. My coat is white with specks of gray throughout it. My grey eyes stay the same in my wolf form.

I look over my shoulder at the wolf by me mindlinking him, “I’m going to scout a head. Keep this pace and I’ll circle back.”

I tear off, letting my body fully extend each paw in a powerful run. I take in the scents around me of the pines, the snow that’s melting on the tree trunks. It feels good to run.

Hours had passed and we were grouped up again. I could smell Dawson’s scent approaching knowing we were close to the meet up point. There was a wooded hill right behind the cabins. My team stopped when I did and I mindlinked them all to say it was safe for a rest. They flopped down, still in wolf form and some had mindlink conversations. I turned to head towards the edge of the tree line. The moonlight reflected off the snow and the lights were on on the farthest back cabin. I listened. I could her girls faintly giggling and heavy footsteps on one side of the house.

Dawson mindlinked me, “Beta, everything on the perimeter was in tact. Nothing out of the ordinary, sir.”

“Have a quick rest. We can run straight shot back to the pack house. Should be quicker.” I reply. His wolf leaves my side.

Just then, I heard the back door of the cabin creak open. Curious about our first guests, I watched as a beautiful girl with short cropped blonde hair stepped out on the deck. She had a small smile on her face with her eyes closed as she turned her face up to the night sky. A gust of wind snapped her out of it as she shuddered and turned to go back inside. That’s when her scent hit me right in the face. “Mate.” My wolf just leaned back and howled.

All my pack was on alert and ran over to see.

“Stand down. Beta found his mate!” Dawson mindlinked the group. I couldn't care. I wanted to tear down this hilltop and get to her.

She bolted inside. Damn, I thought. A human mate, all this time!

This was acceptable, but very tricky. Explaining our world to a human made the process that much more difficult. Starting with, they need to willing come onto our pack land.

I saw my little mate flurrying around in the kitchen. I couldn’t look away.

I couldn’t stop my excitement, I howled. .

I heard glass shatter from inside the cabin. I stepped forward instinctually, wanting to make sure she was ok.

Seeing her beautiful face again made me yearn for her. I howled again.

A scream pierced the air all the way from inside the cabin. All my pack had their haunches up now. I backed into the woods again. Struggling to leave her.

“Beta, I’ll take them home. I’ll check on you in a bit.” Dawson mindlinked me.

Knowing better than to wait for my reply, he rounded up the wolves and took off towards the pack house.

Not being able to help myself, I stayed to learn what I could about her. I had to come up with something so we could “run into each other.” I very well couldn’t just know on her door, buck ass naked right now to say hi I’m your life long mate.

I sat in the trees. I saw her humming about. She was making plans to hike tomorrow from what I could hear, her friends weren’t too happy.

I moved to another tree to see better inside her room. I saw her take off her overall dress and dig into her suitcase with just her panties and shirt on. She stood up straight and yanked her shirt over her head exposing a fit and petite body. Her t**s looked incredible in her lace bra, I actually drooled. I could stare at her all night. She put on a t-shirt and tight fitting athletic pants and went back out of the room. She flitted around the house picking up things and checking in with her friends. She has a good heart, I thought. Her friends seem to love her, too. I heard her friend mumble something inaudibly from the living room couch and my mate jumped up to the window and cracked it. I couldn’t help myself. I wanted another whiff. I slinked down the hill staying close to the house. I wound up under the cracked window and too a deep breath. There it was again! A light orange citrus with fresh warm cinnamon scent. I laid on my back with my paws up.

“Ok, now it’s too cold.” A pretty girl with chocolate brown skin said, making her way to the window to shut it.

Damn!

“Joe, are you ok? Dawson said you found your mate! I look forward to meeting her.”

Alpha Andrew’s voice snapped me alert. What the hell am I doing? I got to get out of here.

I take off, exhilarated from that last hit of her scent. I howl. I can’t help it. I pound my paws through the forest to get back to the pack house.

“I’m great, Alpha! She’s human.” I mindlink Andrew back.

“Ah, makes sense. She is welcome, but please be discreet and cautious. It’s a lot to take in as an outsider.” Andrew said, encouragingly.

After some time, I slow to a jog. I am nearing the pack house. By now the whole pack probably knows I found my mate. It’s been a long time coming. I hope they are all happy for me. Especially Jess. Jess! Ah, great. Going to have a really awkward conversation tonight.

I shift back to my human self. I get dressed realizing my flannel is still missing. Jess has it.

I make my way up the outdoor deck stairs and enter the back door. A group of girls are drunkenly stumbling in, laughing so loud. Jess is among them. She notices me and stands up straight. If she’s just arriving back to the pack house, she probably doesn’t know my news of finding my mate.

“Beta. You’re just in time.” She smirks at me.

The other girls laugh at each other and say in teasing tones, “‘Night, Beta. ‘Night, Jesssss!” And they walk off.

Jess walks over to me and runs her hands on my chest. “Let’s go upstairs.” She says, suggestively.

I grab both her hands. “Ok.” I say and slowly remove them from my chest. She looks up, little confused. I step back and offer her to lead the way.

Dawson already briefed Alpha on our patrol. I get to just go to bed. I follow Jess up to her room, and for the first time ever, awkwardly step inside. It’s never been awkward between us. I shut the door.

“Jess—there’s something I gotta—“

“Your mate is here. She’s in the city.” She cuts me off.

Startled, I say, “What?”

“Your mate. She’s human. She’s here. I saw her.” She spits out. “She’s very pretty.” She sighs.

“How do you know you saw her?” I ask incredulously

“I past her going into the pub. She smelled cedarwood. She said it out loud.” She sits on her bed.

“We all know that humans' senses are usually too weak to smell us, let alone call out the various scents. Unless there’s a mate bond. And Cedarwood? That’s all you. I was wearing your shirt.” She says.

I scratch the back of my neck. “I am sorry that it is ending like this. I hope you can understand.” I say.

Jess gets off the bed and runs over to me, throwing her arms around my neck. “Thank you. Thank you for helping me, however that looked for us. I couldn’t bare it.” She cried into my neck. She kissed the sensitive spot on my neck where werewolves mark their mates. “You deserve to be happy. Even if it makes me sad.” She pulled away and opened her door.

“Good night.” Was all she said, standing by her open door.

Not knowing what else to say, I left her room. I made my way across the atrium to my living quarters. Damn, that was rough. I hope she can get past this.

Later, I was laying in bed, too worked up and ready for the morning to come. I was going to meet my mate.