RANKS

Chapter Twenty Three

I had to republish this because I forgot to delete the temporary message and this chapter was started before the other one was posted so some of you might not have gotten the notification it was posted. Sorry about that!

"What are we?" I ask Mateo as we stare up at a full moon together.

"We're werewolves. Well you're almost one again," the harvest moon casts a orange glow on his face. Halloween came and left with the leaves on the trees; now Thanksgiving is approaching fast. My progress on becoming a wolf again has been much more accelerated than what Mateo thought it would be. His guess is it's because of my beta blood.

"I'm serious Mateo, what are we? Us, what we're doing right now?" I turn on my side to stare him in the eyes so he understands my seriousness.

"Well I'm your alpha and you're my beta. We're pack members."

"Beta," a small smile forms on my lips saying the word. I never thought of the possibility of being a beta again.

While his response pleases me, I'm upset. I want more, more than just pack mates, more than just his second in command to our pack of two. I want to mean something to him that goes beyond caring for a pup.

Only he's not human, and I'm not human. Love and relationships are much harder when you know that there's someone, somewhere out there for you. In most cases it's a werewolf, occasionally a human. You may go your entire life without meeting your soulmate, but that doesn't mean they aren't out there.

I casually touch his arm, willing there to be sparks and attraction. Instead I only feel the solid warmth of his skin. He flinches a bit from the sudden contact of skin to skin. It's hopeless to fantasize that Mateo is my mate, for I already know who mine was. Who my wolf was tied to.

"Have you met your mate?" I whisper into the frigid air.

"I'm not sure, I never really got the mate talk. I was too busy training to avoid punishments from Boomer. When I got older I lost all contact with the majority of the werewolf community. All I know is that there's someone out there for me."

"Touching mate is kind of like having goosebumps. You don't shiver and your skin doesn't show it, but you get a tickling sensation all over you body. Most describe it like sparks, but my mom liked to say a warm summer breeze that keeps you safe."

He lets out a big breath, one I didn't know he was holding. He reaches out for me and laces my fingers through his. My heart stops at the stupid notion of holding hands with my crush. Like always I don't feel anything; however, maybe I should be feeling something.

I watch Mateo's expression flower before me. His eyes close and a big grin threatens to rip his face in two. He pulls me closer and closer to him, gripping my hand tighter. His arms are around me when his eyes snap open and stare into mine.

"Don't you feel it too?" He gently whispers into the night air.

His voice so soft that I can barely pick it up amongst the sound of bugs and rustling trees. I'm thankful for my hyper senses that have fine tuned over the past month.

"Feel what?" I say louder than I mean to, my voice cracking and my heart racing.

"The sparks! The breeze! The connection goddammit!" He sits up pulling me into his lap as he presses me against his chest.

"Mateo," I pause not knowing how to tell him the truth.

"Maybe you can't feel it because you're human! That's it, that's what's wrong!" He starts to ramble afraid of what I'm going to say.