Maze of Trees

Hercules

The car ride was a long and silent one. Most of it spent with my head leaning against the car door, the window open, and the wind rushing past my face in such a way that it drowned out the sounds around me. As we turned down the street to my dorm, I shifted to sit more upright. “Alright, so without you interrupting, let me tell you what I’m hearing.” I spoke slowly as he parked his car across the street from the dorm. " Just nod or shake your head to everything I say, I want to make sure I have this all correct.” He nodded.

“You and I are mates.” He nodded.

“Your Dad is my history professor.” He nodded, shifting his body so that his back was against the door and he was facing in, kind of.

“Your dad is your pack’s Alpha?” He nodded again.

“You, and your dad, leave pack territory every week to come here so that your dad can work here, at a college, leaving your mother at home.” Again, he nodded, this time a little slower.

“Ok, but how the heck does that work? I mean. .. what about pack duties, and the mate bond? Is your mother really okay with being separated from him for a week at a time?” I shot the questions out a little faster than I had originally intended. This definitely went smoother in my head.

“My mother takes care of a lot of the pack duties. What she can’t handle my father takes care of when he’s home. The mate bond allows them to keep in constant contact, even over a distance, so they aren’t really without each other. And as far as being okay with being separated, they make up for it when they are together.” He explained and smiled at my embarrassment when I realized just what he meant about them making up for it.

“ Ah, okay, that makes a little more sense. I just can’t fathom a pack allowing this to happen, much less their alpha being the one to do it.” I said with a sideways glance at him.

“My father's a little more... progressive, let's say. He doesn’t want us giving up on what we want to do because of an invisible fence of sorts.” He said, looking more at ease now that I had calmed down a little. "I don’t really agree with him, but he makes it work.”

I nodded. His father sounded pretty awesome. Greyson, on the other hand, sounded like he might not let me do what I wanted if we ever did complete the mate ceremony. He sounded like he valued the traditional ways of old. Another reason that I needed to stay strong and avoid this whole mate bond issue until I was ready.

We finished the night with some small talk, and he walked me to the main entrance to the dorm. We said goodbye but before he could walk away I practically ran into his arms when we hugged. His scent and the strength that I felt from being near him and touching him just couldn’t be matched. It was becoming almost like an addiction, or what I imagined being addicted to something would be like. He kissed my forehead as we separated, and I felt my skin tingle where his lips had touched my skin. I wanted so badly to feel what that would be like on my lips. But I shook the thought away and headed inside, smiling like a loon once my back was turned and he couldn't see.

The next morning I woke up feeling like I had just slept for 5 days. I had never felt so refreshed. During the night I dreamed about him, kissing him, and. ... I shook my head vigorously but I knew my wolf was continuing where I had stopped and letting her own mind wander. Sometimes I wondered if she wasn’t the one who orchestrated my dreams.

Clarke had already left for her physics class, so I had the room to myself. I got ready slowly, replaying my date with Greyson and the information that I had learned. It still seemed like so much, and I knew that I would need a little more time to understand it all. But for now I needed to focus on getting ready for math class which started in., . 15 minutes!!! I hurridly threw on whatever I could find and rushed out the door. I hadn’t realized how lost in thought I had been that I wasn’t paying attention to the clock!

I walked quickly through the door to the hall, barely ahead of the teacher, and sat down at the first available seat just as she shut the door behind her. I reached down into my bag and grabbed my notebook, my pencil case, and discovered that my math book was nowhere to be found. I groaned silently. I had forgotten it in my hurry to get to class on time. I would have to do without it today.

I felt an elbow nudge me in the side causing me to straighten up and turn to the man sitting to my left. My jaw practically dropped and my eyes turned to saucers as though I was Hercules having just spotted Meg. There, sitting right next to me, was someone I did not mind having to look at. His features reminded me of the descriptions of Gods and Heroes from the Greek mythology we were covering in history class. He had well chiseled features, muscles for days that were hinted at through his tight but not too tight shirt, and baby blue eyes hidden under a mess of dirty blond waves. Holy Toledo! Where had he been for the other math classes?

He moved his book so that it was positioned between us on the table. I quietly whispered a thank you with a small simile. Why had I dilly dallied this morning? If I ever took my time again I needed to use it much more wisely. My hair was still in a messy bun from overnight, and I’m pretty sure some of my mascara was making the circles under my eyes look ten times worse than they actually were!

“Hi, I'm Andrew.” He whispered as the teacher droned on about some quadratic equation or something like that.

“Amberleigh,” I said with a smile and offered my hand under the table. He had a strong grip I noted as we shook hands quickly.

" I haven’t seen you in class before?” I said, it was more of a question than a statement. “Family issues, today's my first day and I'm playing catch up.” He whispered.

“Well, if you need help, I’m always in the library after 4 if you need help.” I offered. I felt my wolf's hackles rise as she sensed my attraction to Andrew.

for the rest of the class we didn’t speak, just took notes and worked out example problems the teacher gave us to make sure we were paying attention. Andrew didn’t ask for help a single time so either he had been keeping up with class outside of it or had studied the night before. The end of class came around. and I thanked him for letting me share his textbook with him.

"Not a problem. You said you’d be at the library after 4?” He asked as he zipped up his book bag.

“Yeah, I have physical education next, then will be at the library around 4.” I smiled at him as we walked out of the room together. We walked up the hill to the large area in front of the chapel where we said our goodbyes. Goodbyes apparently meant standing and talking for an additional 15 minutes before Andrew realized that he was late for class and had to sprint off, promising to meet me in the library later.

"Do you actually like him? He’s completely unnecessary you know? We've already found our mate, Greyson. If you want a man to fawn over, he is just a phone call away. Or has being in the human world caused you to act like them too? Moving from mate to mate without a care in the world?” My wolf snarled at me, or maybe it was directed at Andrew’s retreating form.

"No, YOU found your mate. I'm not a wolf, if you haven't noticed and I haven’t agreed to that yet. There’s no mark on my neck and until there is I can explore and study all the fish that I find in the ocean.” I said primly. She really wasn’t pleased with my answer and I shut her out quickly before she could respond.

I rushed up the stairs and walked into our dorm room to grab my gym gear and got to talk to Clarke in private for all of 30 minutes. Filling her in on all the details from my date with Greyson last night as well as my new classmate who I was very interested in getting to know more. She listened intently, taking it all in and asking short questions here and there such as: What’s his name? What did you eat? Can we go to the BBQ place?

“Some girls just have all the luck. Meanwhile, here I am single as a rock in a penny fountain.” She said with a laugh, but I knew there was a hint of hurt there too. I gave her a hug before we walked to the gym together. It was the one class that we had together which I was glad for. It gave us more time to talk and hang out, even though most people would have gotten sick of each other by this point. And then she asked the one question I was concerned about.

"So, what is Greyson going to think about this Andrew guy coming onto the scene?” I gulped and shrugged.

What was Greyson going to do when he found out I was spending time with another male, alone, and enjoying myself? I knew how my wolf had responded, so I had a clue that even if Greyson kept his cool his wolf definitely would not.