I Found My Mate in the Woods

Chapter 4

To say dinner was awkward would be an understatement. It was deathly quiet, the only sound was from my pack mates scraping silverware along their plates as they shifted their food. No one made any move to eat the food, which added to the awkwardness because wolves were always hungry.

At least they had the decency to try and hide, though rather unsuccessfully, their shock and discomfort over the whole situation. My dad didn’t bother. He just sat there in deep thought, glanced at me with confusion, and then went back to his thoughts. Over and over again he repeated this cycle. I wished he would say something, yell even. The quiet was too unnerving.

But I was the one who was feeling the most awkward. As soon as Mom ushered us inside to eat, Caleb lassoed his arm around my waist with an ironclad grip, hauled me in before anyone else, sat down at the table, and placed me on his lap. The flush from that moment still hadn’t faded and even though I was starving I couldn’t find the will to eat. My wolf was very aware of how close our mate was, how his breath felt on our neck, how he smelt so enchanting smell, how his touch seemed to evolve us in a pit of passion. Every now and then he’d lean in and kiss me—my hair, my neck, my shoulders—and I’m pretty sure that if I was not a wolf I would have died from a heart attack. It took all of my concentration to not ravish him, then and there, at the family dinner table.

“We need to talk,” My father finally decided settling his unemotional eyes on Caleb. “Family only.”

My pack mates stood up without a word and left, but I could feel their disgruntlement. They wanted to hear too. Well, if this conversation was anything like the one Mom and I had early, then I’m sure they’d hear it loud and clear.

Caleb jerked his head at his pack mates and they left too. Mom started to clear the uneaten food plates from the table.

“How?” My father snapped at me.

Caleb growled at his tone, his hand coiling tighter around my waist. Instinctively I touched his hand and his grip lessened significantly.

“In the woods,” I whispered, highly aware of the fact that Caleb had started to play with my hair.

“Does it even matter Roger?” My mother said settling back down at the table. “What’s done is done. We knew this would happen one day.”

“With someone in the same pack!” My dad shouted. “Not some mongrel from a treacherous tribe!”

I heard the snarl before realizing it was coming from me. My wolf was filled with a overwhelming urge to attack my father—my Alpha!—and force him to take back those words. No one spoke to my mate like that.

“If this,” Caleb sneered, “is your attitude then it is impossible for us to negotiate with you. We will fight you again for the land. But Autumn is mine.”

“Over my rotting corpse!” Dad hissed.

Caleb shrugged indifferently, but his eyes turned to slits. “If it must be, then be.”

The pressure was suffocating. My wolf and I were torn between our loyalty to my mate, Caleb, and my pack, my Alpha. How was I supposed to choose between the two things I loved most?

“Shut up! Both of you!” I snapped, enraged. Didn’t they realize what their stupid bickering was doing to me?! I shouldn’t be forced to choose like that. “Neither of you speak for me! I make my own decisions. And right now I’d only be with either of you over my dead body!”

I shot up instantly missing—and cursing at myself for missing—Caleb’s warmth. With in an instant I was upstairs, in my room, door locked.

Caleb was at more door first, pleading softly. “Autumn, please open up. We can talk about this.”

My father wasn’t long after him. “Get out here right now! You can’t run away from this!”

“Go away!” I shouted, sobbing. I crawled myself to the closet and shut the door. Hearing Caleb’s voice pushed my wolf to frenzy. She wanted to listen to him, to make him happy, to do anything he wanted, but I wasn’t as willing at the moment. Everything—the mating, the rogue, healing, finding Caleb again—was all so fast. It had barley been 24 hours for Pete’s sake!

Mom must have come and took them from the door. I didn’t notice. I was too busy crying.