6.
"How did your private time with the Alpha go?" I was expecting her to ask sooner, but her mind had been on a certain dark, handsome werewolf since we walked into the market square.
"Oh, now you recall that I've been right beside you." I rolled my eyes, the fine-ass werewolf she likes has left and now she has my time?
"What did I do?" She played the innocence card by trying to hide her blush.
"Follow him, as long as I'm concerned I came to the market alone and I'll leave without you." I picked some fruits and added them to the rest of the things I bought in my wooden cart. I paid with some coins and moved onto the next stall.
"Come on, can't I admire people?" She followed behind me as I walked along the path like I was alone.
"You're allowed." I shrugged and kept walking.
"Okay, I'm sorry."
"You ignored me totally," I turned to her. "I even asked a series of questions about what I wanted to choose and you completely deaf me because of some fuck boy!" It was irritating now I remember how stupid I looked when I was requesting her attention and she was all about the guy.
"What can I do to make you forgive me." She tried using some puppy eye charm to calm me down.
"You can start by carrying this for me." I gave her the cart and walked along.
"Just turn me to your slave already." She joked and at last, I could smile.
"You deserve it." Just before I could say something else, Alessia invited herself into our conversation.
"Sweet Marina, I wonder why you stoop so low with this girl. You're more than her." Alessia always find a way to get on my nerves, it's her insecurities that make her so mean.
"Too late for me to realize that," Marina played along "She's already my best friend what can I do."
Marina was from a big family in the pack and everyone expected her to be friends with Alessia but she hated the girl's guts.
"Wrong choice Mari, wrong one." Alessia hit me like I was in her way as she walked passed us.
I would have dragged her hair and beat her up on a normal day, but I'm trying to stay out of trouble until the witch confirms my acceptance in the pack. Then, I'll have all the right to do as I want cause it's my pack officially.
"Just ignore her, she's just looking for trouble. If you give her what she wants it will only boost her ego." Marina gave me a soft smile and gestured for us to continue our walk home.
And of course our banter about how annoyed I was continued.
"So tell me about your little private time with our alpha." Her face looked like she was suspicious about something.
"It is not what your mind is cooking up." I chuckled.
"Okay?"
"He wanted the pack witch to get a reading of me, where I came from and if it's safe for me to be in his pack, that's all. It was pack duty he was doing." I explained.
"Boring, why didn't you stir things up a bit." She whined.
"How? He's way above my league and why would I even do that? Look at the age difference, the status difference, and everything. He's not into me at all, there's no emotion in his eyes." I said, frustrated that my attar toon to the Alpha was bleeding into my tone.
"You're beautiful, like way beautiful."
"That's all I have Marina, my beauty didn't come with riches or at least parents." It broke my heart to remember that I'm an orphan, but I'm used to it now at least.
"Come on, don't be like that." She stood up from my bed and hugged me. "You do know that you'll have to be mated soon, we're at the reaping age. It's better now than when we are older." She said.
Honestly, female werewolves should indeed get mated early, the few that stay till they are way older find it hard to get any unmated male to be marked by.
Marina and I made lunch together in my small kitchen and we ate before she left for her own home.
"Don't think too much about the alpha." She teased me before running out of my room.
I smiled and fell on my bed. "I don't wish to think of him, he just comes to my thoughts naturally."
By nightfall I went into the woods to do some training on my own, I loved fighting, it was what kept me alive before I found the shelter of this pack.
While at it with one of the trees, I sensed someone behind me and I turned and punched the person instead.
"Fuck!" He held his nose, I noticed a trail of red liquid pouring out of it.
"Mason?" It's now I could see his face clearly. "What the hell are you doing creeping around?" I folded my hands below my chest, deep down I was happy it was him the punch landed on.
"It's my pack, I should be asking you." He pointed me with his bloody hands.
My wolf laughed inwardly. "What a weak man," she mocked him.
"I was letting out some steam and you could see that." I said quietly.
"You should apologize." He demanded.
I let out a dry laugh and looked at his face well to read his expression. "It's like you are asking for another one," I smirked.
"Just say you miss me, I'll take you back." I wonder what got into his head, he hasn't spoken to me since he displayed his stupidity of rejecting me in the market square and now he's talking of taking me back, like I'm begging.
"Over my dead body. You're not even the least thing on my mind cause you're not on my mind at all." I turned back to continue what I was doing.
He stopped me, held my waist from behind, and pressed his front on me. "I miss you, Ava." He was hard as fuck down there.
We've never even had sex, why would he be horny when he knows that I won't give in.
"Go to hell, Mason." I pushed him away from me and left.
Thankfully, he didn't follow me.
The next day, the alpha returned from his trip. The soldiers arranged a feast for his victory and survival as usual. After which he went to see the witch.
I knew because I was stalking him, waiting to get the news about what the witch saw.
I even went as far as tracing him to the witch hut to eavesdrop on their conversation, but it was useless, I couldn't hear anything they were saying. It seemed like the witch had a noise-proof spell covering her hut. I gave up and went on my way.
Before I could leave the woods, I noticed Damien behind me, I quickly hid behind a tree so he could pass without noticing me.
"I was coming to you, seems like you beat me to it." I heard his husky voice behind me, unlike when Mason held my waist from behind and I was irritated, his dad's arms made me feel like melting into him.
"I...I'm..." I shuttered.
"Guess you're an asset to my pack after all, you're officially one of us now."
I was happy, it was good news, but I still couldn't form words from my mind to my mouth yet. He made me feel uneasy in a good way.
"You smell nice." He smelt my hair like it was some good meal. I didn't know what to read to that gesture.
"Uhm... thanks?" I swallowed, trying to form words to distract myself from the intensity of his touch "So what did the witch say about me?" I would like to know.
"She said you lived a hard life, and I should make sure to take good care of you. You're going to be a great asset to the pack. That was her reading." He explained.
I turned when I realized he had let go of me.
"I still owe you an apology." He said
"It's okay, I'm just glad that the case is not you throwing me out of the pack right now." I forced a smile.
"Follow me." As usual, his authoritative tone always made me do as he said.
I followed behind him and we came to a riverside at the west of the pack, still in the woods.
I saw a beautifully set table and two chairs with meat and drinks. "I hope you like the atmosphere here."
"It's beautiful." A blush darkened my cheeks.
"Please, take a seat." He took out the chair for me like a gentleman.
We ate silently until I was too full to take in any more.
"This is so sweet, it's been a long time since I tasted such freshly made beef." My wolf moaned so loudly that I almost did as well. I haven't had money to buy good dishes, so I really appreciated his kindness.
"Thank you for the meal," I said.
"You're welcome." All through this meal, he has been watching me, studying me, like he was trying to piece a puzzle together.
"You're the one." He said like he just concluded something in his mind.
I stopped eating and watched his face in confusion.