Decide Your Fate, Choose Your Mate!

Chapter 6: Rogues, seriously?

Yesi

“I’m not through with you yet.”

My eyes widened as his words registered, snapping me out of my exhaustion. My p***y was already leaking in preparation of whatever he had planned. With a gulp, I tentatively opened my mouth to ask what he had meant.

Then I was blinded by a bright white light, and when it receded a second later, I found myself all alone in a dark room. I blinked, trying to force my eyes to adjust to the sudden shift in lighting…

I was back in my bedroom.

My covers had been kicked off, leaving my body vulnerable to the cool air. The mint green tank top I’d worn to bed had been pulled up until my breasts were free, and my matching black shorts with tiny mint hearts were nowhere to be found. My panties had been shoved to the side, and two of my fingers were buried deep in my slit.

I delicately removed my fingers with a sigh. I was right--it was only a dream.



Begrudgingly, I pushed myself off the mattress and clicked on my bedside lamp. The yellowish light bathed the room, revealing that my shorts had fallen off the side of the bed. I snatched them up and made my way to my bathroom, where I cleaned myself up before slipping back into my shorts and returning to my room. Then I fixed my comforter and crawled underneath it, snuggling up to one of my extra pillows as a huff escaped my lips.

My mind was abuzz, consumed with my dream. I shut my eyes, but all I saw was the face of the mysterious man that my subconscious had conjured up. His smooth, dark complexion. His messy black hair. His soft lips on my skin, his rippling muscles beneath my touch.

His grey eyes gazing into mine.

My bottom lip quivered as I hugged the pillow tighter. Why do I feel this way? It’s not the first time I dreamt of finding my divine partner… But it felt so real. He felt so real--his body, his touch, his voice… And I felt his emotions so clearly.

Just like I did with Lyric.

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。

Nox

My vision was blinded by a bright light, and I was sucked out of my dream just as my body was violently shaken. I shot up into a sitting position, waving off the hands of the person who woke me up. “What the hell--?”

“Hey! It’s just me,” said Hendrix, the pack’s delta. His brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and his green eyes studied me with curiosity and a hint of amusement. I could hear the sounds of other pack members bustling through the pack house.

I buried my face in my hands with a grumble. “What is it?”

I could almost feel his hesitation. “Outsiders have been spotted in the Basin.”

That revelation got me out of bed and onto my feet. “What are we dealing with?” I asked as I made my way over to the closet.

Hendrix sighed. “Not vamps, that’s for sure.”

“That’d make things too easy,” I joked.

“According to our scouts, two wolves were seen just north of Hahns Peak not fifteen minutes ago. When our guys tried to track ‘em down, the trail went cold.”

Hunched over, I hastily slipped a pair of gym shorts on. “Rogues, seriously? They’re so rare these days…”

I had just finished putting on a tank top when I turned back to the delta, his eyes averted and glazed over. By the time they refocused on me, I had retrieved my old worn sneakers from the closet floor and sat on the bench at the foot of my bed. “I’ve got a group ready, if you want to hang back and run point.”

I c****d an eyebrow and continued tying my laces. “Since when do I stay behind when it comes to our pack’s security? It’s not like I step on your toes.”

When my best friend chewed on the inside of his cheek, I took that as a bad sign. Ready to go, I stood from the bench and gestured expectantly at Hendrix. “What’s going on?”

Hendrix took a deep breath. “Paisley and Avery think you should stay behind.”

My eyes narrowed. “What?”

“Well, you know, man--between you passing out yesterday, and you not taking on a chosen mate--”

“I already have a mate,” I growled.

“Trust me, man, I get it,” he insisted before gesturing behind him toward my bedroom door. “But the pack’s getting antsy. We can see what not having her beside you is doing to you, and we just want you to be happy.”

I scoffed. “So I’m no good to you guys until I find her. Is that it?”

“Just--” Hendrix paused, deliberating over his words. “Just go talk to Paisley and Avery, okay? I’ll head out there, and if my report makes you feel like joining us out there, then so be it.”

It appeared I didn’t have any options. With a grunt, I scratched the back of my head and watched as Hendrix turned to leave. He was nearly out the door when I remembered my manners.

“Oh, Rix--how, uh, how’s Aubrey these days?”

My best friend broke out in a wide grin. “She’s great, man--pregnant again.”

“Holy s**t! Congrats,” I beamed, nudging him playfully as I followed him out the door. “Damn, what is that? Baby number three?”

He held up a finger in a shushing motion as we descended from the loft to the second story. He glanced around briefly before whispering, “Babies three and four, actually.”

My eyes were as wide as my smile. “Twins? Dude, your mom’s gonna flip when she hears that.”

“I know. She’s been begging me for ‘just one more grandkid’ for years,” he snickered. He and Aubrey had been blessed with two little girls back to back--first Jenyfer, and then Mya. “She’s been hoping for a little boy.”

“Imagine if the twins are both boys,” I mused, shaking my head as we continued toward the alpha’s office.

“If that’s the case, their names are Rhett and Link.”

I couldn’t help the laugh that boomed out of me. “Yeah, like Aubrey will go for that.”

“Hey, she and I have a deal!” Hendrix protested. “She got to name the girls--and if these two are girls, she’ll get to name them, too. I’ll get to name the boys--”

We were nearly at my destination when Paisley burst out of the office and, overhearing our conversation, let out an overexaggerated gasp. “You and Aubrey are having twin boys?!”

We could hear Avery’s own gasp from somewhere within the office. “Holy s**t, I gotta call Heath and congratulate him--”

“Nope! No, don’t do that--” I shouted at the gamma, almost missing as Hendrix threw his hands up in defeat and muttered, “Why the f**k would you congratulate him? I did all the work--he wasn’t even there.”

“Goddess, I hope not,” Paisley grimaced. Then she ushered me into the office and waved Hendrix off, all but shutting the door in his face.

Upon entering the sizable office, I found the gamma, Avery Thunder, seated in one of the two accent chairs before a long, contemporary L-shaped desk. He was in the process of typing up a congratulatory text with his meaty thumbs when I smacked my hand down onto his husky shoulder. “I think Rix and Aubrey want to be the ones to tell their parents, Ave. Hold off on the congrats for now.”

The older man grumbled as he put his phone away. “Back in my day, the grandparents were the first to know…”

Paisley and I snickered at his mutterings before she sat beside him and added, “Someone’s eager to be a great uncle.”

“Yeah, except Cody’s not keen on making me one, it seems.”

I leaned against the desk as another boisterous laugh left me. “That’s kind of difficult for him and his husband to accomplish.”

“They can adopt!” Avery countered. His soot black hair was left loose, framing his square face, and his eyes were closer to the shade of golden sand as they scowled at nothing in particular.

“You know, I’m real glad I get to be here for this conversation instead of hunting down rogues,” I heaved out a deep breath, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Otherwise, I’d have to miss all this action.”

“Yeah, we get it, kid,” Paisley dismissed my sarcasm with a wave of her hand. Her own golden waves were pulled up in a messy bun that sat atop her head, stray hair sticking out here and there. Dark circles beneath her green eyes gave her tawny complexion a sunken look, broadcasting her lack of sleep. She rubbed her eyes briefly before leaning back in her chair and sizing me up. “We just wanted to talk, that’s all.”

“Okay, what about?”

The beta and gamma swapped wary glances before Avery cleared his throat. “We’re worried about you.”

My eyebrows rose. “Worried? About me?”

“What are you, a parrot?” he asked. It was then I noticed Avery looked almost as tired as Paisley. “We want to know why you haven’t found your mate yet.”

“This again?” I challenged, only for the beta to blurt out, “Let us finish!”

Crossing my arms, I nodded for them to continue, stifling my own yawn--which Paisley caught.

“See! You’ve spent the better part of the last six years exhausted. If you aren’t dreaming about your mate, then you’re experiencing her panic attacks and night terrors. This is taking its toll on you, Nox--you need to find her, soon.”

“I know,” I conceded, hoping to cut off Paisley’s lecture. “I went to start yesterday, but Ray dropped Storm on me, and I didn’t want to leave them at the pack house while I went out and searched… But I was so focused on not strangling the kid that I couldn’t put all my energy into my mate. I’m not even sure where to start.”

“If you can feel her emotions to the point that you know when she’s in distress, then she has to be close,” Avery explained. “Hell, I’ve been with Jess for fifteen years now, and I couldn’t feel her emotions until after we’d completed the mate bond.”

I fidgeted from my spot. “That… Might be an issue.”

“If she’s human, the mate bond is complete once you’ve marked her--” Paisley pointed out, but I shook my head.

“No, she’s not human. She’s a witch.”

The two wolves before me fell into a stunned silence as they first studied my expression, then swapped shocked looks, all before turning back to me. “Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure.”

“How long have you known?” asked the beta.

“I found out tonight,” I said, alluding to my dream. “I… Got to talk to her.”

The elder wolves were silent for a short spell before Paisley blurted out, “Did you hook up?”

“I’m not going to answer that,” I forewarned.

The two of them swapped knowing glances before nodding. “They fooled around,” Avery concluded.

“Yup.”

“That’s not--anyway!” I hurriedly changed the subject, warmth flooding my cheeks. “She’s a witch, about five-four, with black hair and dark brown eyes.”

“Okay,” Avery chuckled. “And?”

I shrugged. “That’s all I got.”

“You couldn’t be bothered to ask for her name?!” shouted Paisley as she shot up from her seat. “Did you at least give her your name?”

When the best I could offer the beta was a grimace, she threw her hands up in defeat. “Unbelievable! Un-fuckin’-believable…”

“If she’s a witch in our territory, she’s gotta be in Colorado Springs,” disclosed Avery. He pulled his reading glasses out of his jacket’s inner pocket and began scrolling through his smartphone’s contact list. “Give me ‘til six and I’ll have a list of witches for you to look up on MyStar, or whatever you kids use these days.”

“They use DarkScene,” Paisley revealed, a wry smile on her face.

I rolled my eyes at the pair of them and their mentions of occult social media sites. “I’m counting the days until Rosetta and Rigby can take over for you people--we need young blood in this office.”

Paisley scoffed. “Yeah, right! You can barely handle me, let alone my Rosie.”

“Let us worry about prepping our kids,” the gamma assured me as he stood. He towered over me by at least half a foot, so he looked like a giant compared to Paisley. “You, Alpha Cloud, need only worry about finding our Luna.”