The Mate Deal

Chapter 15

“Well what’s the big deal?  It’s not like whoever it was was just going to starting eating everyone in there,” Renee said.

“No,” Matt said, “Maybe not.  But I wasn’t going to take that chance?”

“Why not?”  Matt was getting frustrated.  He wished she understood.

“Because, if we stayed, you might have gotten hurt.”

“But how likely would that have been?”

Matt was driving away, with no destination in mind. Just trying to get away.  Stephanie was quiet for once, letting him deal with this himself.

“Look, it doesn’t matter how likely it was,” he said through his teeth.  “If there was a ninety-nine percent chance you would have been fine.  I had to get you out of there.  It was instinctive.”

“Why?”  She sounded shocked.

He glanced back at Stephanie, pleading for help, and luckily, she was helpful.  “Renee, remember that thing we talked about earlier?”

Renee looked back and frowned at Stephanie.  “Which thing?”

“That thing involving Tyce,” she prompted.  “And the deal.  You know, the reason I know Matt in the first place.”

“Yeah.  The mate thing…”

“Yeah, well Matt here has something to tell you.”  She tapped my shoulder, and without looking at her I knew she was smiling to herself.

“What?  Guys, what’s going on,” Renee yelled.

Matt could feel two sets of eyes looking at him.  Stephanie, probably hoping he’d finally tell Renee, and Renee, wondering what the heck was happening.

“Renee,” Matt began, slowing the car a little bit.

“Yeah,” she asked, encouraging him to finish.

“You’re my mate.”

Matt expected a moment of silence and confusion, or her to think he was crazy.  But instead, she burst out laughing.

“You know, you almost got me there,” she said through giggles.

“What?”  Matt was confused and frustrated with her.  She didn’t believe him?  Why not?

“Please.  That’s a werewolf thing, right?”

“Actually, Ray, not so much,” Stephanie interjected.  “Even werewolves and vampires can be mates.  Species doesn’t really matter.”

“You’re in on it too,” Renee asked her.  Matt resisted his sudden urge to constantly hit his head on the steering wheel, but only because if he did that, he could get in an accident, and Renee could get hurt.

He didn’t like this connection he had to her.  He hated that he was falling in love with her, because he’d hardly ever cared for anyone like this, and she didn’t understand that.

“Renee, I’m not in on anything,” Stephanie said seriously.

“Really,” Renee squeaked, all laughter gone from her voice.  “You mean then… Oh my gosh!”

Then, for the first time ever, or at least for as long as he’s known her, Renee stopped talking.  Not to say she annoyed him, in fact, it saddened him to not hear her voice, no matter how crazy that sounded.

“Matt, stop the car.”

Without thinking, he listened to Stephanie.  He pulled over to the side of the nearly abandoned road, where no one was driving past.  It was around nine o’clock, and the stars were shining brightly in the dark sky.

Stephanie didn’t say anything else, but just opened her door and jumped out of the car.

“Where are you going,” I called after her.

“I’m going for a run.  You two are going to talk.  You got it,” she demanded in a controlling voice.

“Yes, Mom,” Renee pouted.  And then, Steph was gone, shifting as she ran to the woods.

There was a long silence between Matt and Renee.  It was a mix of awkwardness and comfort, a strange sensation.

“So…” Renee said, finally breaking the silence.

“So…” Matt repeated in a nearly agreeing tone.

“Can you explain this whole thing to me?  Like, how do you know it’s me?”

Matt laughed without humor.  “You were glowing last night.  You still are, a little bit.  But there was like…” he searched for the right words, and then looked back at her.  “A halo of sunshine around you.  Consuming you.  And then, there was no doubt in my mind.”

“But how come I can’t sense anything?  I didn’t see any halo around you.”

“It’s because you’re human.  The mate bond is strong, but the werewolf is the one who usually senses it first.  In the stories I’ve heard, the werewolf knows first, and then the human seems to just know as soon as they’re told, that it’s true.”

She looked up at him and smiled.  “You know, I think that maybe, that’s exactly how I’m feeling right now.”  She sounded weak, and pathetic, and Matt realized that there was nothing wrong with that.  She was human, but that didn’t mean she was inferior to him.

“Really,” He asked.  Everything was so quiet, that if he had been able to notice anything aside from the two of them, he would have heard crickets outside, and cars zooming past every few minutes.  But they just sat in the car, looking at each other, not knowing what to say or do.

Matt laughed silently at himself.  Before now, he’d never been alone in a parked car with a girl, and just been looking at her.  This was so much more pleasant than hooking up with the school bleach blonde cheerleader with a nose job.

“It’s funny,” Renee said after what might have been ten minutes, or might have been ten hours.  Matt was completely unaware of time right then.

“What,” he mumbled.

“Before today, I’d never have believed in any of this.  But now, I’m not surprised at all that vampires and werewolves are real, and that I’m a werewolf’s mate.  It’s all too bizarre for someone to make up, I guess,” she sighed.

“I guess you’re right,” he laughed.  “But, I’ve never known anything else.  It’s not bizarre to me at all.  I grew up as a werewolf, and I knew all along that humans weren’t the only species out there.  In fact, I always thought that humans were too weak to live.”

“What changed your mind?”

“I met this human girl last night, and I kind of just realized she was stronger than all the other humans I’d ever met.”

She smiled, and then closed the distance between their faces, thanking him for his compliment, silently with a kiss.

[A/N: So, new chapter!  Have I mentioned how much I love writing werewolf books?  Which is kind of funny because I’m so pro-vampire.  But in all my books, vampires are evil and soulless.  So, team Stephanie or team Renee?  I want to know!  And yay!  I have my first wattpad reader follower.  But I want more!  I’m not just gonna do a twitcam with just one!  And I’ll do fun things on the twitcam, too!  Like, I might do dare night, where I do your dares on camera, or things like that!  Oh, and what do you guys think about me writing a sequal?  If I do, it will be a co-writing thing.  But I guess I should wait to decide after I finish this book, shouldn’t I?  Well, the basics!  Vote, comment, and fan!  I’ll try to update soon, but school is kind of time consuming.]