The Solitary Mate

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter XV

Grace POV

My body refused to settle into my mattress. I tossed and turned and rearranged myself every which way and still nothing. I opened my eyes and stared into the darkness knowing the light of day would soon break through my window. I felt conflicted. Not about Aiden's offer but what it meant.

I turned to my desk and stared at the shirt that once dawned the chest of my mate. I pulled myself out of bed and crossed my room until I was standing in front of the material. It beckoned to me like a siren to a sailor and without much thought I grabbed for the material.

My fists clenched around the soft fabric, so familiar yet so different now that it had touched his skin. I brought the material to my nose and inhaled. It no longer had the faint scent of my father, my mother, my family. It smelled of James. My heart ached but it also warmed. I missed my family but with James around... I didn't feel as lonely.

I returned to my bed, gently laying the fabric beside me. I laid my head beside its soft touch and inhaled more of its trapped scent with each breath feeling more heartbroken by the second. "He'll never need me like I need him..." I bit back the dangerous tears that threatened to fall from my eyes and took a deeper breath of his scent trying to calm my soul.

My body drifted in and out of sleep after that. I felt more at ease but still part of me was deeply unsettled. It was a tragic existence living without your soulmate. I never knew it until now and it was a feeling far beyond what I felt capable of understanding. James was around but he wasn't mine. We were no more connected than one stranger would be to another. I tried to convince myself that I wrong, that there was something, but the signs just weren't there.

My mind began to wonder, imagining a world without James. A world where my parents were alive, and I had a mate that was kind. A mate that holds my hand, a mate that makes me laugh, a mate that keeps me close. He had no clear image, but he was warm. He was warm, and he was kind. He wasn't James. My wolf chastised me for my thoughts, but I fought against her. She needed to see, this is what we deserved. Someone kind. Someone caring. Someone who loves us.

I felt my heart clench and my senses heighten as James' scent washed over me stronger than before. This scent wasn't just his shirt, no. It was him. A growl broke me from my trance and I sat up in a panic looking for danger. Instead I saw my mate, glaring daggers at me. I tried to remain unsettled but by the way his body seethed and rumbled, I couldn't help but feel afraid.

"Ja-" My throat caught as he reached forward and the deep abyss that was his eyes swallowed me whole. It was his wolf, but it also wasn't. I could sense James' presence intermingled with his wolf as if they were sharing control in this moment.

"Who did this to mate?"

I had to physically stop myself from shivering at the deep growl of his voice, the feel of his hands that now held my features and the feeling of his warm breath fanning over my face. His touch felt like the best kind of fire burning me and comforting me. My wolf begged to be set free to cave to his very touch, but I kept her at bay.

"Di-did what? What do you mean?" I reached for his hand that still held my face like porcelain. I didn't know his hands could be so gentle. They looked as if they were only capable of work with the number of scars and rough patches on them, but I was wrong. His touch was the most tender I had ever felt.

"This." He grabbed my hand and pulled it towards himself and into my view. I couldn't help but notice how well our hands fit together and how beautifully they matched. They were meant to hold each other. I followed his glaring irises until my eyes zeroed in on the dark markings on my wrist.