His Pain & His Passion

Chapter Four

Rafael's POV

"whoa... whoa" Shane said while shaking his head with his hands lifted "I was just teasing didn't realize you called dibs"

"I didn't call dibs. She's not some toy! I just don't want you referring to women in general like that. I have a younger sister you know" I said apologetically

I didn't know what was going on with me. Raze was antsy but I couldn't put a finger on why, I had almost taken my friend's head off just cause of a flippant comment. Maybe I needed to let Raze out for a run later today, we had all this pent up energy and I needed a constructive outlet.

I quickly pulled on slacks and a black dress shirt and turned to Shane, "hey, I need to stay for this meeting but you wanna hang out in the evening we can go out and have some drinks. I promise to keep Raze in check" I said with a smirk

"Sure thing, let's meet up at say 8pm we can start at Blue Bar and end up at Midnight. he replied

I walked downstairs to the Alpha's office I was looking at my watch, trying to think of what reason I could give for being 10 minutes late when I heard it. A small gasp, I turned around and there she was all 5ft7 of her, if I thought she was gorgeous from a distance I was not prepared for her up close. We stood like that for a while staring I could hear her taking small gasps of air like she couldn't breathe right. I was attracted to her but I knew she wasn't my mate, what was going on here I wondered.

"Rafael" I heard my dad call from behind me "I see you've met Jane she is Beta George's 17year old daughter" I whipped my head to my dad wondering why he was adding that information when he mind linked

"stop looking at her like you want to eat her she's underage"

'Maybe I had lost my mind' I thought to myself shaking my head as if that would clear all the thoughts that were rolling around inside.

"Hello Jane, I'm Rafael" I said giving her a little wave "it's a pleasure to meet you"

My father and I walked back into the Alpha's Office and I immediately got sucked into the meeting. Luckily I was able to put Jane out of my mind long enough to absorb the treaty points and actually contribute to the negotiations. I intended to be a great alpha I wanted my people to want me and not just be forced to tolerate me because of who my father was, so I didn't ever play with an opportunity to negotiate in my pack's best interests.

The meeting was concluded, Beta George had the final draft of our agreement in his possession once he went back home Alpha Tate would look it over and sign, we all sat discussing other light hearted matters and as usual the issue of my mate came up. Finding a mate in the werewolf clan was one of the vital parts of our life journey infact most of our vital portions stemmed from having found your mate add to that my mate was going to be the Luna of a very influential pack. So it didn't surprise me that everyone wanted to talk about it, I needed the moon goddess to put her in path quickly, I couldn't wait to meet her mate her and mark her so we could start the business of living our lives as one.

"you know maybe she hasn't turned 18 yet" Beta George said referring to my mate. "You've probably met her she just isn't of age yet"

The wheels in my brain started turning, the moon goddess had made it so that you and your mate had to be of age for the mate bond to snap into effect. Wolfs are possessive creatures by nature, could you imagine knowing some one was your mate, it wouldn't matter if she was 15 all you would want to do would be to mate her. So the moon goddess ensured that the underage wolves would always be protected. I started re-evaluating every encounter I had had, there had to be a way to know for sure. I reasoned. I just wanted to know if I had met her and how long I would have to wait till she became of age. In my mind I was already striking bargains with the moon goddess begging her to show me who she was, I promised I would wait I just needed to know she was out there and I would patiently wait.

But deep down I knew there was no way around that rule I just had to be patient. The moon goddess had made some laws sacred and this was one of the. I could not negotiate my way out of this.

Walking into the bar I caught a group of girls eyes and they all giggled. I threw a wink at one of them and she threw me a smirk. Saying if you want it come and get it. I had seen that look so many times. I was good looking no doubt about it, throw in the alpha aura you had a double knock out punch.

"Hey, Shane I'm here, I've been here for a while where are you?" I said leaving a voice mail for Shane. I stood up and looked around the bar trying to see if he had come in and gotten distracted by some lady. I had been at our regular meet-up spot for over an hour waiting for my best friend to show up. People always thought it was weird that I had a vampire as someone in my inner circle but Shane and I saw each other as 2 beings dealing with the same amount of pressure. Preparing for leadership was never easy. The fact that we were born into it didn’t mean we had a cheat sheet in my opinion it even made it more difficult growing up. You always had the burden of future alpha (or future vampire king in Shane’s case).

Raze wasn’t calming down he kept trying to take control. As I sat in the bar I was feeling on edge. ‘Raze, what’s going on?’ I asked in my mind ‘something has me on edge. Call Shane again!’ He growled in that demanding tone.

After leaving another voicemail for Shane it was so weird that Shane hadn’t shown up he was never one to miss a good night out. As I stood up to leave Raze let out a very loud howl in my head. So loud my head felt like it was tearing in two. I dripped my head and fell to the ground suddenly very unsteady on my feet. Something was very wrong I just didn’t know what.