Escaping Duty

Chapter 8

Mason rocked on his heels rubbing his hands together in the midnight chill. He didn't get cold since a wolf's body temperature ran a lot higher than humans, but he figured it must've been a habit from when he was a kid. He easily got cold back then compared to now.

"Is she still coming?" Jaden asked breaking Masons focus on the moon.

"I don't know, she didn't pick up when I called. She has a reason not to" he replied shoving his hands in his pocket.

He regretted the way he treated her earlier, it might've been too rude, and he couldn't blame the moon or his wolf for his actions. What was even worse was after discussing it with Jaden they realized they did need her to tell them more about the rogue threat. He had to call her since she was more likely to answer him over Jaden but in the end, he could only leave her a message.

Jaden didn't respond since he knew Mason would already be upset about it, and kept his comments to himself. If anything, he was torn between staying to hear the news and going to check the perimeter of town.

"You can go, I'll wait for her" Mason said crushing some leaves under his sneakers.

"I'm just going to check the perimeter and be right back," Jaden said nodding, and sprinted in the opposite direction through the trees.

Mason listened as he left, and turned in the direction of the new sound.

"Why'd you send him away?" Yasmin asked approaching Mason through the trees.

"So, we can talk in private" Mason said nonchalantly as Yasmin stood a few feet in front of him.

She kept her distance from him, but he could see the soft glow of her pale grey eyes in the moonlight. Clearing his throat Mason looked down for a moment, to break his gaze away from hers.

"I'm sorry about earlier, I was being a dick"

"Yeah, you were" Yasmin agreed folding her arms.

Mason looked up meeting her eyes again, and saw she had walked a few feet closer to him. She wanted more of an apology from him, for him to say he didn't mean those words about not caring for her anymore.

"Do you really mean it, Mason? Do you really not care about me anymore?" Yasmin asked stepping closer to him.

"Yasmin I –," he started but she cut him off.

"My pack used to say mates were paired together by the moon goddess since birth, and are destined to find each other, my whole family believed that. When I came to Adams pack I didn't want to believe mates were only a matter of attraction, and choosing to spend your life with them. It was so...mundane" Yasmin spat.

"I wasn't born a wolf, so even by your packs standard we wouldn't be mates"

"It's rare but a human and wolf could be mates. I had thought you were mine"

With that statement, Yasmin had started sliding her hands around Mason's waist wanting to hold him close to her. The heat of her skin matched his, and Masons mind spun, this wasn't a good idea with the full moon. Gently he removed her hands pushing them back towards her.

"Yasmin, of course, I still care about you, but not in the way you want. I had called you out here because of what you said about the rogues" he said ignoring the hurt in her eyes.

He expected her to protest or complain, but instead, she sighed sitting down on the leaves and crossing her legs. When she spoke, her tone was quiet and defeated.

"It started 3 months ago, not only our pack, but others have noticed the rogues growing in number and seeming more organized...they're not blindly attacking packs they're slowly knocking down our numbers and that's saying something since most of them barely have their humanity.