Raula
He carries me effortlessly into the bathroom. I don't ask or object. I feel too comfortable in his arms. The heat coursing through my veins, through my muscles as my belly cramps with unbearable pain. I cling onto his chest, holding tight onto his shoulders, I can feel my nails digging into the muscles of his shoulders. I sob endlessly into his shirt as he stands leaning against the bathroom wall, waiting on me with unbelievable patience. The fact that it's not my mate who is doing this for me makes my heart sink even more. Here I am in a stranger's arms, soaking damn wet between my legs.
When I am done sobbing hysterically into his shirt, I look up into his icy green eyes. He has an unflinching aura of roughness on his face but he is also surprisingly patient with me.
Who is this man?
Why does he look like a god the more I keep staring into those eyes that look like a green flash as the sun sets over the horizon of the White Mountains? He looks phenomenal. Out of this world.
He raises an eyebrow at me, and I look away.
What's wrong with me? I am literally gushing wetness down there, and the fact that he looks so good doesn't help in the least.
"I know the heat you are experiencing right now is literally scalding your skin. I can't take it away completely, but I can cool it down at least," he says, green eyes boring into me.
Did I hear that well?
What is he gonna do to me?
He is not my mate, so he can't take the heat away completely. Even if he mounted- I mean fucked me, it would only cool it down temporarily.
He is hot, yes, and I am pretty sure he is very capable of -
"It's not what you are thinking," he cuts off my line of thought.
"Huh!" I cough, startled and embarrassed by my wild thoughts. I am sure my face is now cherry red from all the blushing.
His cheeks stretch into a devilish smirk, and before I know it, cold water hits my skin from the shower head above us, soaking the both of us.
Gasping loudly, I stare at him in disbelief. He lets out a soft chuckle, and for the moment I am captured in a trance; and it's only him, his smile, his face, his scent...
His mouthwatering scent, as the artificial musk washes off his body and clothes, fills my nostrils. My wolf's ears shoot up, but she has been silent, probably because of the disappointment she went through last night.
His earthly scent, the smell of the first rain after a drought, the smell of blooming Jasmine's...
Hmm...
The water cascading over us no longer feels cold. The heat from my body slowly subdues.
I drag my gaze to his lips, full kissable lips. My mouth is suddenly dry. I inch my face closer. I want to kiss him so bad. I slowly wrap my arm around his neck, trying to lower his head so that he can ease the access for me.
And he doesn't stop me: he comes down, his face only inches from mine, his lips brush against mine, and my wolf almost howls out of my skin.
"I know you don't want this. You are only being forced by your heat. You will regret it when it's gone," he murmurs against my lips.
I am shaken awake by his words.
He slowly puts me down and I stand up, the t-shirt clinging onto every curve of my body and so are his clothes. He looks like an athlete with all those muscles.
"I am going to leave you here to clean up and you can come out when you feel better," he says, running his fingers through his wet hair, as if leaving me in the bathroom is so hard for him as if he is trying so hard to keep his composure.
And with that, he turns to walk out of the bathroom.
What was that?
What on earth just happened?
I slide onto the floor under the shower and curl up, holding my knees to my chest. I close my eyes and let the cold water cool me slowly by slowly.
How did he even know about this method of cooling down heat?
Is he mated?
My heart does a flip and I feel uncomfortable at the thought of having been in the arms of a mated male a few minutes ago.
****
I dress up in a pair of drawstring pants and a huge grey T-shirt I find placed on the bed when I come out of the shower. The pants are huge but at least they've got drawstrings. I wouldn't fit in any other pants of his otherwise.
He is too meticulous for a wolf male. All the males in my pack have a disorganized wild behavior about them.
I walk out of the room, following his scent, to look for him. I have to go through a corridor and then down a staircase. This house looks so modern and stylish inside. That's unlike most if not all the houses in our pack. This has a more human touch, a touch of expensive furniture and decorations.
Who is this guy?
"Are you feeling better?" his familiar voice sounds from downstairs in what I suppose is the living room. He has changed into a pair of faded jeans and a black t-shirt. He looks effortlessly sexy as hell. I find myself licking my lips.
"Where is your mate?" I blurt out the words that have been itching my head.
He cocks his head to the side as if trying to decipher the meaning of my words. I am now undoubtedly sure that he is a werewolf so I am not speaking gibberish.
"She is no more?" he responds without flinching.
Oh! Now I feel stupid for asking him like that.
"I am so sorry," I begin stammering, clumsily rubbing my awkward hands on my oversized pants.
"Don't be. It has been four years now. I had hardly even got time to know her properly before I lost her," he says quickly, trying to save me the awkwardness.
I knew he must have been mated somehow because there was no way he would be so considerate...
"No, I am so sorry. I thought...," I smile nervously, not knowing how to put it properly. "I thought-"
"There is no need to apologize. Things do happen. It's the way of life. It can't be explained how I ended up finding you in the woods in the middle of the night when you should have been with your mate in your nest," he says.
Oh, I haven't even told him about that...
"Well, I was rejected," I respond quickly, and add, "I was rejected because I am not good enough to be a Luna of a pack because I am a lowborn lone female with no ranks whatsoever in the park."
I smile nervously and go ahead to narrate before I lose the courage to talk "I was thrown away by my own mate and I don't matter to him at all. That's why."
He stares silently at me as I try to drag a calming breath into my lungs. I am on the brink of tears, and I really don't want to cry right now. This stranger has been nothing but good to me, and I can't just keep weeping in his face. I force a smile on my face to show him that I am still strong nonetheless.
"Thank you for finding me and taking good care of me. I will forever be indebted," I add.
"Was it Ulfred Kessler?" he asks, his handsome green eyes suddenly dark.
What? Does he know him? Of course, he knows him. He is the most powerful Alpha in the land.
"That asshole has never grown some sense up to now!" he cusses through clenched teeth. He balls up his fists, fuming with sudden fury.
"What?"
This is the first time I have heard someone call out the Alpha like that, well at least verbally.
"Do you know Ulfred Kessler? I mean, like personally" I inquire.
"Yes, I know him from childhood. He has always been such a dick-head, and of all the terrible things he could do, I wouldn't think he would reject the female the heavens prepared for him. I am surprised his park hasn't fallen apart yet," he responds. The way he drags in his breath, I can tell he is on the edge. Fur spurts out of his knuckles.
I am at a loss for words.
"So you are not a member of the Starry Banes pack?" I ask him.
"No, not anymore," he responds.
"Then how did you find me?"
I am sure I couldn't have run that far to go past the pack's territory.
"You called me," he responds.
What? I don't even know his name.
"You called me. I followed your wolf's call, and that's how I found you," he replies, looking so deadly serious that I can't even begin to think that he might be joking.
"How's that even possible?" I could have called my mate. I called to his wolf and it responded but the man wasn't interested.
"Because are my second chance mate," he responds, with so much confidence that I am left speechless.