His One and Only Mate

Chapter 2

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*ALINA POV- 14 YEARS OLD*

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Being tracked by two wolves is no fun. Especially after four miles.

I continue to run and dash through the familiar trees of our private land, so I know I’m getting closer than they are. I hear a howl and my heartrate picks up- they probably found the small drop of blood when I stupidly tripped over a root awhile back.

Sweat beads the back of my neck and catches into my tank top. My legs have long since been tired, but we don’t have much time to waste today. Up ahead I see the clearing, and I put the rest of my energy into a full sprint. Once the sun greets my body through the canopy of trees, I come to a stop, leaning over to gather breath, and smile to myself as my mom raises from her seated position on the ground. Dressed in the similar sweat pants and black tank top that I am, she takes position with a proud smile. “You…. you promise not to-to hold back?” I ask in between panting breaths.

“If that’s what you want,” she now smirks, her eyes beginning to glow white. “Just remember what’s at stake, dear daughter.” I try my best not to roll my eyes. There’s no way in hell I’m wearing pink to that stupid party.

My own eyes copy hers as I feel the power pulsing through my body. Neither of us hesitate as we run towards each other. Just as I raise my hands to hold off her swipes and grabs, she shocks me almost still as she jumps right in front of me, spinning in a circle and landing on my shoulders, hooking her feet under my arms, then sending her body forward, flipping me backward onto my back straight into the ground.

It all happened too fast…. And I’m struggling to take a breath. Man, I want to learn that trick.

Instead of continuing her attacks like she should, she gives me the chance to stand on my own two feet. I turn around, fully aware on how I must look after that pounding. I glare at mom as soft glowing orbs form in my hands. As soon as I start to lift myself up into the air, I hear the ground break, and roots immediately shoot to grab ahold of my ankles. “Argh!” I swing a force of light to cut off the roots and quickly rise myself higher, trying to think quickly of what I can use against her.

“Not quick enough, Alina!” she screams, throwing a burst of wind at me, and causing me to tumble back onto the ground with a stupid yelp. I rush to my feet and take control of her own wind, sending it to funnel it around her body. I concentrate and intermingle leaves and twigs from the surrounding area, making it go faster and faster that we both lose our sight of each other.

Then I hear her bones quickly breaking, and I make the smart decision of running towards the castle instead of fighting with her in wolf form.

This is a game after all.

I try to hold the power surrounding her as long as I can while I run, but I can already feel her magic pulsing through mine for control. Following the quickest path back, I will the trees to intertwine, creating a barrier, but once my mom’s wolf howls, followed by a couple more, I realize I’m in deep s**t- they all sound way too close.

I continue to run, and I can hear the wolves gaining on me, hunting me…. especially the bursts of magic warming my back as mom demolishes the blockage. Movement at my right makes me jump in midair, swinging my body sideways, but I bring a bolt of lightning from the skies right in front of the wolf that attempted to collide with me. She immediately jumps back with a look of confusion and fear on her face when I land on both feet again, then I quickly use the earth from the strike to hold her paws into place. “Sorry, Maddie!”

I take off again. Overhead, I can hear the thunder rolling as rain begins to tatter down, specifically right over my head and no where else. “Mother…” I groan. She knows full well I hate the rain, and this is truly a pathetic use of magic… making me regret doing it when I was younger to my guards.

I skid/slip to a stop, seeing another wolf blocking my path, growling at me.

Evette.

This time, I do roll my eyes. She’s probably mad that she wasn’t able to catch me before I got to mom. First time that’s ever happened. It might have something to do with the run around I gave her, putting my scent on every tree within the first mile even before the game started, but what can I say? I got tired of losing.

Just as she charges me, I don’t even have to blink as I lift her straight up into the air. Her wolf’s startled yelp has me laugh out, but then I feel a snout at the base of my neck. I slowly turn my head and have to crane my neck upwards to look into my mom’s wolf form, giving me ‘the look’.

My attention is taken off of Evette as I hear her crashing to the ground, but before the next breath is taken, I quickly form a portal at my feet and slide through. I land on my butt and get up quickly, checking my surroundings. “I’m going to be in sooo much trouble….” I’m not supposed to be using portals without mom or another portal witch, because I always get them wrong. At least this time, it looks like I’m only half a mile from the castle, and still in the woods, so that’s a plus. Of course, I was envisioning my bedroom, but hey, I’ll take what I can get.

The ground vibrates with my mom’s fierce howl, and I take a moment to reveal my scent, just for a moment, so she knows that I didn’t end up in the vampire kingdom… again.

I start running again, and in no time, I can see the walls of my home. A large smile graces my face. I have finally won! The closer I get to the back entrance, I can’t contain my excitement. No pink dress! No random magic quizzes for a month! No mor- OOMPFFH!!!

Ground, meet face.

After the paralysis from the impact fades, I slowly roll to my back and try to focus my blurry vision on the blonde boy that I’m seriously considering exiling from best friend status. Not only does he have that stupid smile on, he’s also snapping his fingers in front of my face. It takes a few seconds to actually hear them. “Ah, there we are…. Thought I lost ya for a bit,” he laughs, holding out his hand to help me up.

Right as I lift my head, I lower it back down in defeat, and partial dizziness. I can already feel the presence of my mom and the others, meaning I totally lost. “I hate you, Micah,” I grit through my teeth, accepting his hand to help me up. While I dust myself off, I chance glances at the women I should have beaten. Evette has a stupid smirk in place while Maddie gives me a small wave, and mom is looking like she’s about to s**t a rainbow. I could literally spit. “You said this was girls only! That’s cheating!”

Everyone chuckles around me, fueling my pouting more. “Sorry honey,” Maddie starts. “He overheard me and your mom talking, and well, it was either let him help, or have him snitch to his father, who would definitely tell yours.” When I turn my anger towards Micah, she quickly licks her hand and smooths down Micah’s cowlick that never stays down. “Oh, you’re just getting so big,” she coos.

“Mooommm!”

Now that has me smiling again. Serves him right.

“Better luck next time, kid,” Evette says, bumping her shoulder against mine while passing me, and not in a playful manner. “Nice distraction at the start, but if you ever suspend me twenty feet in the air again, I’ll be the one to tell your dad…. And make sure I get your grounding duties.”

I swallow at her threat, because it only took me one time of having her as my guard to straighten me up, at least publicly. The men are cakewalks compared to her, which is probably why she’s one of the head guards in dad’s court. “Yea, sorry….”

“And even if you did beat us home, I would still make you wear that dress for pulling that portal stunt, Alina Paxton!” I wince from her tone, but she comes to hug me anyways. “You did better than I expected,” she whispers, and I hug her back, smiling from the praise. I did better than I expected as well. “Now, I’m going to clean up our mess in the woods. Maddie, I don’t think the men are due until dinner, but if-“

“If they show up, definitely have them go over the party expectations and put them on decorating duty,” Maddie finishes with an amused smile. She kisses Micah’s cheek and walks into the castle as mom goes into the woods. I see Micah pick up a Bo staff and prop it into the ground, looking at me with an amused smile.

“I see you found Nate’s gift,” I say with a bored tone, since he basically tripped me with it only minutes ago.

“You like?” He does some twirly action thing, definitely with no grace, but I can tell he likes it. “He’s going to start training me how to use it next week!” I try not to laugh watching him do moves he’s seen the men do during season games, but the truth is, the staff is meant for an adult, and Micah has yet to hit his second growth spurt. I plop to the ground and cross my legs, watching the light show from mom’s magic fixing the forest back to the way it was. “So how long has this been going on?” he asks, taking a seat next to me and enjoying the same view.

There’s no judgement in his tone, but I can tell from his aura it doesn’t make him feel good. We usually tell each other everything... well, mostly everything. I sigh as I start to unbraid my sweaty hair, enjoying the evening’s breeze. “Almost a year…”

We sit in quiet, and I can practically hear the gears turning in his head. Micah isn’t stupid.

“Since he came back,” he states while we both look to the colors splayed across the sky while the sun sets, and I simply nod, unwilling to open that jar of worms out loud.

When I left with my parents for the fae kingdom around Caden’s birthday, I was gone longer than what was foreseeable. Turns out, Queen Vera was expecting triplets, and hosted a party with their closest allies. And since we were already packed and out of our territory, dad had a grand idea to travel around the realm, performing our royal duties, maintaining peace and alliances. I hated every minute of it.

What’s worse is that I never heard from Caden.

I know mom and dad got letters from back home, but it seemed everyone was keeping secrets from me. My emotions got the best of me, and my magic became uncontrollable without my mother’s help. Apparently, that triggered my growth with magic, because I ended up staying at Queen Margery’s for months to get it back under control.

It was the loneliest I’ve ever felt. Dad had to return home. Mom did all she could, but all I wanted to do was go home and be with Caden. The ability to control my emotions was the worst, and yet, still today, I feel everything so much more intensely than the average witch.

When I was deemed safe enough to return home, he wasn’t here.

I heard Acker sent him with others his age for a training camp, however, when he’s usually gone, it was only for a few weeks. This training was apparently for months… and I never… not once… heard from him. Caden didn’t even leave anything at our waterfall, telling me why he left without me knowing or if he missed me, and I knew then something was off.

Once he was home, I knew things had changed. I tried following him around like I used to, but he kept avoiding me. We were no longer sharing the same studies, and it seemed that his training for the guard became his whole life. At first, I tried to make excuses that he was busy or tired for the intense amount of responsibilities he was suddenly dealing with, but I missed the sparks and the happiness I felt with him.

He also seemed miserable. Every time I found him, his gaze was distant. I finally got the guts to run up to him one day in the library, and hugged him from behind, silently as tears rolled down my face. His aura was just too sad to ignore. For the briefest time, everything snapped back into place and felt better, but then he pushed me away. I yelled at him through my tears, and he said it was time for both of us to grow up…. And he simply left.

I close my eyes, wishing everything could be back the way it was. I keep telling myself that when I turn 16, it’ll all be worth it. I know Caden is probably struggling, knowing I’m near, but he can’t put any claim on me, with me being underage. Even when I do turn 16, we still have my father to deal with…. I’ve never heard of mates who grew up with each other like we have, but I know dad will have issues with us being so young, and under his household.

But it sucks. My whole home dynamic has shifted simply because I don’t have that bond with Caden like I used to.

“So why can’t our dads find out? Oh, and by the way, I’m totally joining in from now on.”

We both laugh, and I try not to groan. “You remember how dad was when I had basic self defense a couple of years ago… he literally tried to stuff pillows around me… “

“Man, the way you faceplanted!”

He continues to laugh, despite my glaring, and I wait patiently as he gets himself together. “Anyways, mom could tell I was emotionally frustrated and suggested we practice our magic together, which lead to a lot of competition. Your mom decided to be a spectator, and Evette simply raised the stakes and suggested physical games as well as magic. Any time both our dads are gone, we send the staff on leave for whatever time, and let out some steam.”

“You mean, get your ass handed to you…”

I shove him off balance, making us laugh once again. I decide to tell him about my less finer moments, and the really fun ones, especially when it comes to his mom’s hand to hand combat. She has over a hundred years on us and still can’t throw a decent punch.

We laugh until silence surrounds the air, then the dread from us no longer being a trio invades our thoughts.

Micah is the type to silently struggle alone and not express his true emotions out loud, but he has felt the effects with his brother too. We both miss the old Caden. “Happy early birthday, by the way,” I say, nudging his shoulder with mine. He smiles softly, tracing his fingers over the details of his new toy.

Just as I thought he was going to say something nice or serious, he leans back on his elbows with a dramatic, forlorn sigh. “I can’t wait to see you in that pink dress.”

I roll my eyes. “Don’t remind me.” Off in the distance, we can hear the guards yelling at the top of the tower to open the gates. Seems like the first of the guests have arrived for tomorrow’s event. “Why did you want an elaborate party again? Couldn’t you have spent it like every other year with friends and family?”

“Aww come on, don’t be like that. When’s the last time you made a friend outside the castle?.... And not Thomas! He doesn’t count because you wouldn’t have met him if not for your mom… plus, he’s like 10 years older than you.”

I put on a pout, but Micah’s aura is calling out loneliness to me. He wants to meet more people our age. He’s not as active as Caden is when it comes to serving for the guard and traveling for trainings. He’s more into diplomatic duties like his mother, and connections are important, even as teenagers. And in reality, we don’t see each other as much as we used to when studying the same subjects. I guess he’s using this as an opportunity to find something to fill both of those holes in his life.

I stand up and dust off my pants. “Fine, I guess my love for you isn’t enough,” I play off, tapping his side with my foot and pulling a smile out of both of us. “I’m headed in… you coming?”

“In a bit. Chess before I head home?”

“Of course!” I flip my hair forward to hit him in the face, then running back towards the door before he can retaliate. “See ya!” Before I open the door, I look back and see Micah still observing the quiet sky, and my heart breaks a little, wishing I could fix everything for all of us.

I go inside and trot up through the halls and stairwell of the secret entrance only few people know about. It used to be a quick exit when running from our guards as kids, but now, we all use it just to get some fresh air without alerting the entire castle.

I strip off my sweat soaked tank top, practically dancing up the stone steps for that hot shower that I so desperately need. Just as I step through the door, I collide with a hard body, making me stumble. I look up right as an arm touches my elbow for balance and the sparks are immediate.

Caden.

My eyes somewhat widen as his face attempts to hold no emotion, but I see the dilated pupils and the widening of his nostrils from my scent. Everything becomes intense as his gaze bores into mine.

“I-I was just getting back from a run…” I could almost laugh at myself. It’s funny, in a way. I’ve known he was my mate even before I know the word, but now I don’t even know how to talk to him.

He nods his head slightly, both of us barely a foot apart. His hand is still on my elbow, and everything inside of me is screaming for that kiss that he gave me almost two years ago.

He gently pushes me to the side to head down the steps. I blink out of the trance I was in. “Micah’s down there,” I rush, causing him to look back at me with those blue eyes that always make me feel whole. I just want him near me for just a little longer. “He misses you.” I miss you, I really want to say. For what seems like the shortest eternity, he finally takes a step towards me. Hope blooms in my chest as his foot takes another.

Voices carry from the entrance of the hall, snapping him to the present, and he turns again, jogging down the stairs. “Bye, Alina.”

I turn my back to the wall and thud my head against it, closing my eyes and wishing I was brave enough to confront him… to beg him to hold me, even if it was just for a moment.

“Whoa, naked teenager!” My eyes snap open and see Reggie, Nate, Mark, and Sven all covering their eyes dramatically and turning sideways. “Put those mosquito bites away girl!” Reggie so gracefully exclaims.

I look down and red crawls up my face in sheer embarrassment. I’m in my freaking bra!