My Mate, His Mate and Me

Chapter Two: Casey

CASEY

"Casey!" Dylan gasped, pushing me slightly.

"Just trust me," I insisted, kissing him again and draping my arm around his back. He grabbed my arms, squirming against my hold.

"Wait, wait," he said, sticking his fingers over my mouth. His breathing had become labored, and I caught myself smiling a little at the way his entire face flared up. It was a color of red I had never seen him wear. It suited him. "If I'm guessing what you're thinking, I want to be wrong. Casey, we can't."

"Why not? I love you."

"Not like that."

"I love you."

"Not like your mate. Casey, you're going to be the Alpha. You're going to need your actual mate to be the Luna. If you... if we do this, they won't let you lead them and not to mention, the Moon Goddess will feel betrayed and—"

"I don't care about all of that if it means I can save your life. If you're my mate, they can't hurt you. The whole pack will be forced to protect you, so we can figure out what's happening and either stop it or live with it or whatever but..."

I took a deep breath and released him, stepping away to give him the space he deserved. "But if you don't want to do it, then I won't make you. It has to be something we both decide."

Dylan closed his eyes. "You'd make a terrible Alpha."

I laughed, a miserable sound in these circumstances. My whole body vibrated with the want to go over there and hold him again. It felt better, safer when he was in my arms. The thought of him disappearing nearly made me lose everything in my stomach. Thinking that, I took a meager step closer, lightly touching his arms as if testing the water. Dylan didn't move, but he didn't try to run away.

His eyes studied mine, searching my face, though his brow hadn't stopped scrunching together since I walked into the room. Slowly, I leaned forward, waiting for him to change his mind, for him to reject me, but he didn't. He only pulled me forward like the tide.

Dylan leaned up, hesitantly approaching my lips. My chest tightened with the anticipation as we kissed with the softest touch, the gentlest of ease. I wanted to be gentle to prove I'd never hurt him. I'd never do anything to cause him harm.

I hadn't managed to do a lot of kissing in my life. A few girls here. A couple of guys there. Nothing was quite like this as my whole body flushed. Dylan tightened his hands around my arms.

"Um," he whispered as I kissed him again, thinking I could maybe get addicted to it. "Um, we should find um..." He swallowed, suddenly breathless. "Should we lie down?"

"Yeah," I whispered, feeling stupid for just standing there. I braided our fingers together as I led him back towards the living room, far away from the blood and the first part of our conversation. I didn't want him to think about it. Not now. Not when he should only be thinking of me.

The living room was huge with so much open space and towering windows. Outside the snow was falling and covering the town. "It's cold," Dylan whispered too. It felt strange to speak up. This act felt like a secret, like something that could only be shared in hushed tones.

"Okay uh..." I nodded. "Run back to my room and open the top drawer in my nightstand. We'll uh need the stuff in there."

"Perv." Dylan smirked a little but didn't argue. He left while I quickly fixed up the fireplace and soon warmth poured into the room. When I turned around, Dylan was back and pulling his shirt off. I gulped. Scars ran across his chest in jagged lines from the vampire attack. They healed fast, maybe because of the wolf thing or maybe because of his... new thing.