Not-So-Fated Mates

Chapter 28: Shower Thoughts

Layla POV-Three Days Later

She let the deliciously hot water pour over her body, relaxing her muscles and cleaning the sweat from training off her skin. She hummed happily as she grabbed her shampoo, pouring a bit before working it through her hair. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this happy. It was weird, actually. Of course, it wasn’t like she hadn’t had plenty of happy times, even after being rejected, but it wasn’t like this. This was a whole new kind of happy, and it was certainly something she wanted to continue.

It had to be the s*x. She’d always wondered what was so great about it that the mated females and the females who slept around tended to have a certain glow about them afterward. Now that she knew, she really didn’t want to go without. Which was a problem, now that she thought about it. She knew Drake would have to leave soon, and considering what he’d told her about his pack sighting more and more rogues near his territory, she knew it would probably be soon.

The very thought made her frown. Could she possibly have something like this with someone in her pack? She scrubbed her body as she thought about it, wincing as the soreness between her legs grew worse as she cleaned there. She smiled again, remembering how hot things had been between them last night. She’d never thought being sore would be a good thing, yet here she was, loving every second of it.

Of course, that just led right back to the same problem. She thought about every unmated male in her pack, but none of them had ever gotten her attention, and it was no different now. In fact, it was worse. Where she could’ve found some of them at least a bit attractive before, now they just seemed…not right, for some reason. Actually, she knew the very reason why, but she didn’t want to acknowledge it, even as a small part of her whispered his name from within. She couldn’t let herself be attached to him, in any way. That had been their agreement from the start, and, even if she did let herself go down that path, she knew he couldn’t return anything. Even if he’d been able to care for her in that way, he was the alpha of a different pack, and she was the commander of the warriors for hers. It just couldn’t work…could it?

No, no, she told herself. It won’t work. She knew all too well that Alpha Richard needed her as commander, and she loved her position. If they’d been mates, it would’ve been rough, but there were more allowances for that. Alpha Richard would’ve understood that, and perhaps she could’ve even helped find someone to fill her position. Still, that was all pointless to think about. They couldn’t have feelings for each other, and even if she did feel something for him, she knew he was too traumatized to ever feel anything for her. And she wasn’t luna material anyways. If she had been, her own mate might have stayed.

She shook her head as she washed the suds off her body and cleaned the conditioner out of her hair, spraying droplets of water onto the shower curtain and the walls surrounding her tub. Instead of continuing to mull over stupid things that couldn’t happen, she turned her mind to training. After she’d explained her process to Drake and Jackson, she’d started letting them help her with that part of the training sessions, and, thankfully, they were beginning to get the hang of it all. She’d also showed them the plans she’d written out for different types of training sessions once she’d fine-tuned the process, then made them copies for their own pack.

They’d have to figure out what worked best for their own wolves, of course, as training wolves in partial-transformation was an individual process. Sure, you could do overall exercises where they all participated, but there were plenty of parts that had to be tailored specifically to each wolf. Luckily, she knew between Drake and Jackson, they’d be able to figure it out. Though, Jackson was certainly better at learning how to approach each wolf individually, social butterfly and epic flirt that he was.

Come to think of it, though, she’d noticed he wasn’t as flirtatious with the other female wolves in the pack as he’d been at first. Ever since he and Chelsea had been doing their thing, it seemed he looked less at other females and focused more on her. She’d even caught him watching Chelsea from across the room more times than she cared to count, though she hadn’t called attention to it since the first time a couple days ago. They’d been at dinner, and had sat down with their food before Chelsea had come in a little later than usual. When she’d noticed the longing in his eyes as he stared at her friend, she’d made a joke of it and he proceeded to vehemently deny it, the blushing and the fact that he didn’t joke about it back telling her it was a sensitive subject. Normally, she’d just keep poking fun at him, but she didn’t want to drive him away from her best friend.

Chelsea hadn’t told her exactly what they were to each other, but she knew her friend was falling fast for the Black Shadow pack’s goofy beta, and she certainly didn’t want to end up screwing it up for them because of a silly joke. Drake seemed to be of the same thought process, as she knew he saw it all as well, yet he hadn’t made a single comment about it and had even ignored the joke she’d made that she hadn’t thought through before it came out of her mouth.

Layla sighed as she opened the curtain, grabbing her towel and drying herself before stepping out. She stood in front of the mirror as she dabbed her wet hair with the towel, yet she barely saw what was in front of her. At least Jackson and Chelsea had a chance, and they both deserved the best. And while Jackson was a bit of an ass, she knew he’d take care of her friend.

She only wished she could have the same. But it was okay, wasn’t it? She’d taken care of herself all this time. Yes, she’d miss her if Chelsea ended up going to the Black Shadow pack with Jackson, and she’d be more alone than when the boys first came here, but she’d deal as long as they were happy. She smiled sadly, her reflection giving her the same sad smile, as if it understood her pain.