Mates?

7

It hadn't been long until I heard rustling behind me. I ran as fast and as far as I could until I finally had to give in to the throbbing pain and lay down. Tears were pooling in my wolf-like eyes and all I wanted was to see my dad again and talk to him about this.

"Winter?!" The voice belonged to Cole. I whipped my head in his direction and bared my teeth. He looked more solemn than angry. 

"I wish I could say Ash has changed, but I don't want to lie to you. But I do know he was better once he found you. I'm not asking you to come back, or forgive him, I'm just asking you to think about it."

I went to take a step toward him to give him a warning but my hip just wouldn't let me. I unconsciously yelped. He stalked closer until I was pinned against a nearby tree. I shifted and I felt the searing pain from the Lover's Bite. I let out a scream by accident from the pain.

"No way," Cole muttered in amazement. "He marked you?" He asked, smiling a little.

"I didn't exactly let him. He did it because of what I said."

His face fell.

"Winter I'm sorry. I never meant for this to happen."

"Tell Ash to go screw himself. I never wanna see him again, especially after what he did to my pack."

"Winter you don't need to do this. Ash is a better person now." Cole pleaded.

"No, he's not. Just go back to Ash and tell him to find a substitute mate." I said while fuming.

"He's waited for you for so long Winter." Cole said sadly.

"I didn't stutter. I'm not going back." I said then shifted back and ran off.

I was done with Ash, done with Cole, done with everyone. In fact, I knew where I was going. I was going to- My thoughts were interrupted by Ash making a mind link to communicate with me.

"Winter. Please. I'm hurting. Come back to me babygirl."

"Use your precious vampire blood to help you. I'm done. I never want to hear as little as your name again. I hate you." I fired back before cutting off the mind link.

I kept running. Further and further. But it was weird, the more I ran, the more alone I felt. I mean, not like being alone in a forest, but like missing someone you knew. All in all, I didn't know anyone at Ash's village that well. The memory of all the pets came back to me. Those poor girls, especially the young ones. I pushed the memory aside as I kept running. I couldn't really shake the feeling the memory gave me, but after a while all the fatigue and pain became too much and I had to sleep. I found a tree to lean against so I don't roll down a hill and break my leg again. Once I found a tree, I curled up against it and drifted off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up to a warm feeling beside me. Wait- Who the heck is beside me? I jumped up and bared my teeth into a snarl in an attempt to fend off the intruder.

The sick person who decided to cuddle up to me was actually a wolf. A giant wolf. At least three times the size of me. He bared his teeth and snarled back.

I'm 99% sure that this guy is an Alpha. He towered over me and I backed up, accidentally hitting the tree, cowering and whining.

This guy could tear me to shreds with the whack of his paw. I looked at the wolf, examining the patterns. I had seen him before, I just don't know where.

Maybe it was the Alpha who chased me out of his pack when I was a rogue and accidentally wandered into a pack's territory.

He inched closer to me, his brown and white splotches of color on his fur shimmering in the early sunlight as he stalked closer.

Soon, he had me pinned against the tree, his nose nuzzled in my neck, smelling me. I was terrified. I made the only logical decision in my head at that point. I shifted.

"Look, I'm sorry, I'm only passing through, I mean no harm, I can be gone within a couple of hours at most, depending on how large your land is." I stammered frantically.

The wolf backed up, in awe. When he backed up, instinct took over and I bolted. I didn't want to take the time to shift, even though I would be much faster. I could hear his paws pounding on the ground behind me.

I tried to pick up more speed but failed. I felt something collide with my back and crush me into the ground, causing me to fall unconscious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up and I was laying in a bed, and it was actually really comfortable. The blankets were really soft and warm and the bed was soft too. Wait- where am I?

My eyes shot open and I looked around. A cabin? A log cabin? I've only ever been in dens and Ash's mansion. I moved out of the bed and a burning pain developed on left side.

I doubled over in pain from the burning sensation. Tears threatened to pour from my eyes, but I stopped them. I forced myself into walking. I had heard footsteps and I decided to follow them.

Doing my best to ignore the pain, I kept wandering. My feet forced me into the kitchen. I gasped when I saw a guy who was extremely attractive standing in the kitchen.

He had brown hair and green eyes and he was built. He heard me gasp and he looked at me. He dropped what he was doing and rushed to my side. He put an arm around my back and pushed me back to where he was basically holding me.

"What are you doing?! You have three broken ribs! You shouldn't be walking!" He said while looking at me, shocked.

"Where am I? What do you want with me? Why do you care?" I asked frantically while trying to push him away.

He picked me up bridal style and I sent him a glare. He just smirked back at me and took me back into the room where I woke up and laid me down on the bed.

"Winter, I'm the Alpha here, which means what I say goes. So, I ask questions." He said while sitting on the large bed beside me.

I knew he was an Alpha! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! Wait- what if he's working with Ash? What if Ash is on his way right now?

"How do you know my name? That's the only thing I'll ask." I said, trying not to show how much I was freaking out on the inside.

"I have my ways. Now, what were you running from when I found you? It was obvious you were running away from something before you decided to take a nap against that tree." He asked, leaning in.

So he's not working with Ash? Maybe he met me back at Tyran's pack. I reached out to touch his brown hair, he was changed into a wolf, hence the natural hair color, so how did he become Alpha? I brushed my fingers over his hair before bringing my hand back down.

"I was running from nothing. I was just running around and I got really tired." I lied.

He leaned in toward my ear and whispered.

"Haven't you ever been told to never lie to an Alpha? I'm going to give you another chance. Don't blow it." He threatened.

I shivered a little by the severity of his voice. He smiled into my neck.

"I was running from my mate. He marked me." I said, half lying, half telling the truth.

"Good girl. Also, he marked you by force, right? It looks a little too inflamed to be a normal mark." He said, putting his hand on my hip. I looked up at him suspiciously. "I changed you." He explained. I looked down at what I was wearing and I had on a large men's shirt. It came down to around mid-thigh, but I still tried to pull it down a little more. "Stop" He growled.

My eyes shot up toward him. His eyes were black with arousal. I tried to change the subject.

"How did I break my ribs?" I asked nervously.

"When I tackled you, the weight of my wolf form crushed your ribs. You shouldn't have run." He explained.

I realized that I was burning up. I probably had a fever.

"Is having a fever a side effect of breaking bones?" I asked stupidly.

He moved really close to me.

"No, but it is a side effect of going into heat." He whispered.

No no no no no. Of course, now is the time nature decides for this happen. I personally feel like nature hates me. First I'm mated with Ash, now this.

"No. This can't be happening." I said in disbelief.

"Oh, but it is." He said huskily.

I didn't want to be part of this conversation anymore.

"I'm really tired, can I just go to sleep?" I asked hopefully.

"Of course. You've had a long day. But, let me look at how your ribs look first, then, you can sleep all you want." He said while moving in front of me and making a move to pull my shirt up.

I pushed him away on instinct. I immediately regretted it and bowed my head in submission.

"I-I'm sorry Alpha." I apologized.

He lifted my head up with two fingers and he had a sympathetic look in his eyes.

"Don't be sorry. I crossed the line. I mean, I kinda changed your clothes while you were out cold, so, I didn't think it would be that big of a deal."

"Well I'm conscious now." I announced.

"I can tell." He laughed silently. "But come on, it's not like I haven't seen a half-naked girl before."

"That's... True." I whispered to myself.

"So please let me look, if it's getting better, you can become part of my pack sooner." He scooted closer.

"What makes you think I wanna be part of this pack?" I asked with a mad look on my face.

"The fact you won't make it as a rogue and you don't have another pack to go to." He smirked.

I gasped at his statement about becoming a rogue.

"I've been a rogue before, I'll do it again happily."

"Really? Is that where all the scars on your body came from?" He raised an eyebrow.

"It was unavoidable. Either I let the vampire have his way with me, or he would have killed me, and if he killed me, there would be no survivors left from my pack, so, I needed to stay to continue the lineage." I clarified, but also lied because I'm not having children.

"Did you ever find him and get revenge?" He asked, rubbing my ankle.

With him being an Alpha, he could tell that there was a fresh wound that had been covered up on my body.

"He was my mate. I let my guard down for one second and he marked me. After that, the truth was revealed and I attacked him and ran away."

"That must suck. Especially having nowhere safe to go during your heat." He frowned while just staring at my leg.

"What do you mean 'nowhere safe to go?'" I asked cautiously.

"I mean, you obviously don't trust me, even though I would protect you, you have no one you trust to turn to." He said solemnly.

I shifted a little in the bed and I felt my side practically catch on fire. I bit my lip and squeezed my eyes shut, hoping the pain would die down.

"Winter, what's wrong?" He asked urgently.

My face became wet with tears as the burning pain became unbearable. He removed my shirt, (well technically his shirt) and threw it behind me. He pushed me back on the bed and looked at my side more thoroughly.

"Something's wrong. You're not healing like you should be."

I thought for a couple of seconds about what could be wrong. I came up with nothing until I thought back to earlier.

"It's where I'm in heat. It stunts everything." I sighed, remembering everything Tyran had told me about it.

"Winter... If this doesn't start healing right, you will die." He warned, deadly serious.

(Pun intended)

I felt every bit of common sense leave me when I spoke my next few words.

"Stop the heat." I stated simply, trying not to let him see how much it took me to say it.

His head snapped up to mine. After a few moments, while letting the powerful words sink in, he responded.

"Are you sure Winter? You know it'll hurt you physically and your mate mentally."

"I'm sure. Nothing can hurt as bad as slowly dying without actually being able to do anything about it. As for my mate, I wish him good riddance."

He looked at me sympathetically.

"Winter, when you find out who I am, you're going to regret this." He cautioned while climbing on top of me.

"No, I won't. Please, just, be gentle. It's my first time." I said nervously.

"Okay. You asked for it." He said before capturing my lips in a breathtaking kiss.