Waiting for his Luna

Chapter 5

*Present*

So, being her actual mate, Archer can't even tell her as he would get thrown in the same category as all those id*ots that can only lie and are only after one thing.

So he just has to pass her in the hallway and take in her scent to keep his wolf satiated. The only saving grace is that Josie has no romantic attachments, never giving any men the time of day, which is good, but probably led to this situation in the first place.

Archer had run out of class as soon as it finished, flying down the hallway using every bit of his speed to get to the front of her class room before the final bell chimed. He covered the entire distance of the school from one end to the other in the time that it takes for the bell to chime three times, utilizing the empty corridors to make it to Josie’s classroom without being seen.

Until he finally got to the front of her classroom. Just because he already touched her hand today, one would think that would be enough.

But it is far from enough.

It will never be enough.

It just left him craving more.

Josie came barrelling out of the classroom faster than he expected, he didn't even have time to move as she smashed head first into his chest. His breath hitched as her whole body pressed against him at full force. As she started to fall back, he wrapped his arms around her to hold her steady, pressing her closer, holding her firmly.

He feels her tense and he worries that she will push him away. He is not sure his wolf can take that rejection from his mate, but then she relaxes in his arms, her warm body in his arms, her body so very close, her eyes on him.

And that's how he ended up here, his wolf so close to bursting forth, holding on by….. a hair is too much, the thread that he is hanging on by is smaller than a hair.

Zeke touched Archer's mate, in front of him, called Archer's very own mate, his, in front of Archer.

Zeke is the problem. He is one of the reasons that Archer is not able to hold his beloved every day, that this rare encounter that lasted barely a couple of minutes is all that has gotten in all this time. He had to endure seeing her every day, but not even trusting himself enough to talk to her in-case he says the dreaded words and she looks at him with the same disgust that she looks at the others with.

Not daring to touch her or be near her in-case he does something he shouldn't.

Yet Zeke just casually touches her and says he is her mate without any regard for the actual meaning of that. Not understanding the magnitude of saying these things, by saying such things so casually, is completely disregarding how sacred those words are. Making the whole concept of a mate seem like a joke.

When something like that becomes a pick-up line instead of a life-changing event.

It makes light of something so special.

As soon as Archer has got through all this, as soon as he has marked her, that is if she accepts him. He is going to find all the men that dared to say such things and beat them to within an inch of their lives. It still won’t give him back the four months, but it may make him feel slightly better.

Josie looks at Archer, all her nervousness gone as she inspects his face. She steps forward and grabs his arm, while everyone else is shaking in fear. With Josie's blood, family and power, she feels none of it. She just feels concern for the man in front of her that is struggling. She forgets her crush and forgets her feelings, just wanting to help him.

"Are you okay, Archer?"

Archer breathes deeply, trying to push down all the surging emotions. Her small hand on his arm helps, her scent helps, but just the knowledge of the casual words uttered by so many keeps him from the thing that he desires the most makes it virtually impossible.

"I am fine"

He says through gritted teeth. Josie, of course, isn't buying that for a second. She grew up in a house filled with alpha wolves. She has seen her brother's lose it more times than she can count. She is well aware that once they get to this point it is nearly impossible to press down.

Alpha wolves are just naturally stronger. Once they want to escape, once they make themselves known, they do not want to hide any longer, they just want to show the whole world who is boss, they want the blood of whoever disrespected them.

She hooks Archer’s elbow and starts walking with him through the hallway, taking the most direct route through to the trees, guiding him easily through the throng, keeping him away from any agitation.

She knows it is very hard for her brothers, so she treats him the same, but his circumstances are different because, while she is part of the reason that he got agitated to start with, she is also the only one that can calm him down quickly. Of course she just doesn’t know that.

Archer just watches Josie's back, feeling her small hand with a firm grip on his large arm, her dark ponytail swinging from side to side, side to side in some sort of hypnotic fashion, the anger long gone, the urge to grab that shiny thick and dark ponytail, pulling her head back and making her scream his name in pleasure while he kisses her neck has replaced it.

He is not sure which feeling is harder to suppress.

"Where are we going?"

"Away from the humans, your wolf is nearly exposed"

Josie says so matter-of-factly like it couldn't be any more obvious. Archer nods, his wolf is under control to a point, it is nothing that he can't handle. After months of wanting her and not being able to claim her, he has a matured control on his wolf, one not usually held by a wolf of his age. He had to gain control quickly. If he didn't, Josie would spend her days outrunning the wolf. The wolf that is wildly trying to claim her.

But he is hardly going to tell her that he is in control and is fine, because it comes with the risk of her taking her hand away, and her leaving. None of which he wants. The more time he can spend with her the better.

Josie turns back and looks at Archer, whose eyes are back to golden. They shine with a beautiful light as they look back at her. Her heart jumps but she feigns calm.

She faces the direction that they are walking again, too scared to dare meet those eyes again, the eyes that set her soul on fire.

"Your wolf is pretty intimidating"

Archer looks at her and smiles, increasing his pace so he can walk beside her instead of behind her. That also allows them to be closer. He stares at her beautiful side face.

"Did you expect him to be weak?"

Josie shakes her head somewhat aggressively, she wouldn't think anything about him is weak. But daring to look at him as her thoughts stray to places that they shouldn't.

"I would like to see him one day"

"You would?"

Archer's voice holds such a touch of surprise. Josie finally meets his eyes, her long black eyelashes blink over innocent eyes as she looks at him in confusion.

"Of course"

Archer looks at her gorgeous face coupled with her big innocent eyes that are trained on him, nearly all reason evades him.

The urge to press her against the closest tree and do all the things he has been wanting to do for so long, the urge to lay her down and kiss her till her lips are swollen. There is no way that she could let her meet his wolf. That would be the world's worst idea.

His whole job when he is around her is to restrain his wolf. Letting him free would jeopardize all the hard work that he has put in of desperately avoiding her.

It is lunch period. Josie naturally sits down within the treeline. Her goal is to get his wolf calm. From here she can send him for a run, so it is the safest place to be. She doesn't think any more of it, knowing that Archer is not interested in her, while he is her guilty pleasure, she is not actually desperate enough to throw herself at him.

Archer, on the other hand, sits down, close enough that he can be immersed in her scent, far enough away that he can not easily touch her, eliminating the ease, eliminates the risk.