Between Two Mates

Chapter 12

A reminder that this is a short story and it is free to read. It is a side story from the first book Hating my Mate.

-Rose POV-

“This is such bull shit.” My voice echoes through my empty room.

I am angry.

A few days have passed. I was sad at first and cried for two days but now I am angry.

I am not playing this little game. The goddess is having a laugh at my expense and I am not having it.

I haven't seen Helix. Supposedly, Harper hasn’t either. We are supposed to stay away from each other. It is hard cause my wolf yearns for him. I can’t understand how I still want to be with this guy who is causing me all this pain. I should be wanting to rip his head off for what he did. I still can’t believe that he and Harper... slept together.

(Oh, goddess please don’t let her be pregnant.)

I hug my pillow tight, suppressing a scream that wants to come out.

Nova said she would look into what happened. She found a few of the bottles we drank out of but hasn’t been able to pinpoint anything yet. I do have to admit that the circumstances are strange. But I don’t think... or rather, I never thought that Harper could do something like this.

“Hey! Stop moping around and come on a run with me.” Gabriel says, standing in my bedroom doorway.

“What? Did dad make you ask?”

“No...” He looks away. “Yeah.”

I sigh. “Fine.”

I get up and slip on my flip-flops. I follow him out and we start walking down the stairs but as we go down, we see Laura walking in. She stares right at me with a look of malice in her eye as she passes by us.

"Don't mind her. Dad and I are watching her." Gabriel says.

"You are?"

"Yeah. She's been acting very strange lately."

"How so?"

Gabriel looks at both sides as if making sure no one is listening in.

"Dad had me follow her two nights ago. She met with someone in town.

"How is that suspicious?"

"That person didn't look right. I couldn't get close enough to take their scent in but it just felt different."

"Did you tell the Alpha?"

"No. We don't have any evidence that she did something wrong

I sigh because he is right. The Alpha might just order them to stop watching her.

As I am deep in thought, I can feel Gabriel looking at me.

“What?” I ask, with a hint of attitude.

“Hey, I get it but listen... if things don’t work out with Helix, you know you’re a catch and I am sure that the goddess would not be so cruel as to leave you without a mate. You know she’ll probably give you a second chance mate.”

“But... I don’t want a second chance mate. I want Helix.”

“I know. But you need to toughen up sis. Life is not all sunshine and rainbows. We don’t all get a happy ending.”

“Why are you saying that?”

He looks down. “No reason.”

I stare at him, realizing something. He has a secret.

“Bull s**t! Why did you say that?”

“What? No reason. Forget it.” He says.

“You know I won’t. I’m going to pester you until you tell me now.”

He sighs. “Rose, I’m just saying that... being rejected by your mate is not the end of the world. It might feel like that at the beginning but it’s not. You’ll go on.”

I gasp suddenly realizing something.

“Gabriel! No!”

“What?!” He asks, panicking at my reaction.

“Did you find your mate? Did she reject you?!”

His eyes widen. “How... the hell were you able to know that just by what I said?!”

(So, it is true!)

I now remember something. A few months after he turned eighteen, he came home and was sad. For a few weeks, he looked depressed though he would try to hide it. I never thought that this is what had happened to him.

(My poor brother.)

“What happened? Who was it?”

He grunts, annoyed. “I don’t want to talk about it, Rose. It’s in the past and I got over it... and don’t tell mom and dad!”

“I won’t. I’m so sorry.”

He takes a deep breath. “This is why I am telling you that if things don’t work out with Helix, you’ll still be fine.”

I nod, understanding.

We make it outside and start to walk into the forest but as if the goddess wishes to torture me more, Helix comes out with Dominic and he is shirtless and sweaty.

(Torture! TORTURE! He couldn’t just be my mate and someone else's... Noooo of course not. He also has to be this damn good-looking!)

He is smaller than Dominic but you can see that he is fast catching up to Dominic’s stature and build.

We all stop as if we were all startled to see each other.

Helix's eyes are trained on me and mine on him. I tremble because the pull is strong. I was angry before but now I am just sad. The man that is supposed to be my mate is right in front of me and I can’t have him.

Dominic and my brother look at each other and then at us.

“Gabriel... I needed to talk to you.” Dominic says.

Gabriel nods. “Okay... yeah.”

“We’ll be right back.” Dominic says.

(Men really can’t be subtle at all.)

They leave us and now both Helix and I stand just staring at each other.

“How... have you been?” Helix asks.

His voice is like a punch to my heart.

“G... good... no... not good actually.”

He nods. “I’m sorry. I'm sorry for the pain you are in. I’m sorry for what I did. I swear to you Rose, I would not have done what I did had I been in my right mind. I am starting to understand my wolf now. He is the one that is confused. I know what I want but... he won’t let me have it-”

I shake my head. “Please stop. Don’t put hope in my heart. It will just make it hurt more.”

“I...” He stops and nods. “... your right. I’m sorry.”

(He still did it. My heart now leaps with hope.)

He scratches his cheek, looking down, and then looks up at me, then, gives me a smile.

This blond bombshell of a guy is killing me. All I want to do is jump him and have my way with him.

I stop my train of thought when I notice that he seems just a bit different. I’m not sure what it is but it is not physical.

“Are you okay?” I ask him.

He seems surprised by the question.

“This... can’t be any easier for you either.” I say.

He stares at me for a few seconds and I can see all manners of emotions go through him but quickly, he settles on the most familiar one and it seems to me that this is a mask.

He gives me his usual flirty smile. “I’m fine beautiful. You don’t have to worry about me.”

We suddenly hear the guys walking back to us.

Helix rolls his eyes and mumbles. “Great, Lucy and Ethel are back.”

“Lucy and Ethel?” Dominic asks.

Gabriel squints his eyes. “What the hell? Are you giving us girl names now?”

“And why those names?” Dominic asks.

Helix swats his hands dismissively and mumbles. “Never mind. You two wouldn’t know. Blame my sister Stella, she went through the nineteen fifties show obsession phase.”

“Fine, break is over. Let's continue.” Dominic says.

Helix sighs. He turns around giving me a smile and follows Dominic back into the forest.

Gabriel puts a hand over my shoulder. “Let’s go.”

I nod and follow him into the forest where we spend a few hours letting our wolves out. We run for a few hours and I have to say, this actually helped me relax a little.

When we are done, I leave Gabriel outside and go inside. I head to the kitchen to get something to eat but quickly find Harper coming out.

(So much for us stating in our rooms.)

We stop and look at each other and I swear I envision myself jumping on her and punching the s**t out of her face. But it is just that, a very vivid thought.

She starts to walk past me but stops. “I can feel it you know. We werewolves can sense this. I’m sure I am pregnant.”

I turn to her and do a very Nova thing. I ram her and we fall to the ground where I start punching and she does the same.

I don’t care if she is pregnant, I'm beating the s**t out of her. But before I can do any damage, we are pulled back away from each other by some of the pack members.

“Rose, stop.” My mom stands next to me.

I stop flailing my arms around.

“Fine.”

The pack members let me go now that I am a bit calm.

She looks at Harper and then at me with a sighs. “Stay away from her for now.”

“But-”

“Leave it, Rose.” Her tone has command. “Now come.”

“Uh!” I stomp as I follow her into the kitchen.

“You’ve barely eaten the last few days. It’s time to stop that nonsense.”

I sit at the counter while she prepares me a meal. With mom, I always feel bratty. Not like a bad kid but just childish because she’s always coddled me.

After a few minutes, she puts a plate in front of me with food and then taps my head with a smile. “You’ll be fine, sweetheart.”

She gives me a smile and I almost feel like everything will be okay.

Mom and dad always make things better. They are the best.