Mated to a Human

☽ 17 ☾

I take a short, reassuring breath. "I'm willing to learn more about mates and see how this goes, so I don't want to reject each other."

"Abby told you about rejection?"

"She did. Briefly."

"Alright." He adjusts. "I agree we shouldn't reject each other."

"I also want to know more about our mate bond. If werewolves aren't supposed to be mated with humans, why are we mated?"

"It's a bit of a story — why we're mated."

"It is? There's a reason?"

"My dad told me our Alpha Bloodline began with Dr. Norwood's wife. She was the daughter of an Alpha — whose pack is now extinct — but she fell in love with a human, Dr. Norwood, before he came to Black Lake and worked in the lab here. She rejected her Goddess-given mate for a human, and so the bloodline she created with Dr. Norwood was supposedly cursed. Her sons and the sons of her sons were fated to humans." Harvey clears his throat. "Whether or not there is a curse hasn't changed the fact that every man in our bloodline has been mated to a human."

"So your mother was human?"

"Yes," Harvey confirms. "And my grandmother and so on all leading back to Dr. Norwood and his wife."

"And having a bloodline mixed with humans doesn't affect the werewolf part? Wouldn't it dilute it?"

"It hasn't so far. There's always been an alpha-blooded son to take his father's place all because Mrs. Norwood's father was an Alpha; she had his blood. Human genetics don't seem to alter the children; they're like any other werewolf child."

"Okay. Then we're mated because you're supposedly cursed? Is being mated to a human really a punishment?" I say lightly, even though my fear is genuine.

"If you believe in the curse, it sounds like a punishment, but that isn't how my family's seen it."

"You've accepted it?"

"Yes."

"You aren't angry? I mean, you had no say. You shouldn't endure the consequences of someone else's choices."

He looks at me, unwavering. "I've accepted it, Mia. I'm not remotely upset — I never really was."

I murmur, "Okay."

"If it was a curse that mated us, or the moon goddess, or something else — whatever it is, it doesn't matter to me. The way things are, are the way they are."

"That's fair."

"Besides, you had no say in this, yet you aren't angry. How do you feel about it?"

I mull it over in my head then decide, "Curious."

"You're curious? That's better than I'd hoped for. I see why Abby was ready to drag you in here with the pack."

"Should I be upset?"

"I expected you to be, that's all. It looks like we both expected the same of each other."

"Yeah, it does." I glance at the windows. "Abby also told me how you're only able to find your mate once you turn eighteen, so that means when I turned eighteen, you felt the bond. Have you really felt it for a year?"

"Yes."

"Why did you never come to me?"

"I checked in on you while shifted, and I told myself that was enough for a long time. But I became impatient. The night you saw my wolf the first time, I was being careless, and I let myself be seen because I was tired of hiding. I then decided to introduce myself in a normal way without the chaos of what I am, and it was enough for now to see you and talk to you through the society."